Kimbernunk

Wet: FIR. Dry: Very strong fir note, with dirt and moss. I can only smell the nighttime air when I get right up against my wrist, which is a shame because the lab's nighttime air note is one of my favorites. Overall, I'm glad to have an imp of this as I could see myself being in the mood for it from time to time. I don't think I'll want it often enough to want a bottle. Nice winter scent!

Wet, this is deeply aquatic/resinous (this is usually what description comes to mind with ambergris) with an overlay of herbs. Dry, this is an exercise in "HELLO FRANKINCENSE." It's been a while since I've tried anything with frankincense and I'd sort of forgotten the tendency my skin has to make frankincense go nuts, especially when in combination with herbs. It even killed the ambergris. That said, it's a fairly pleasant, masculine smell. If I can somehow convince my husband to try this, I'll edit the review to post how it works on him.

Does anyone have any recommendations for something that smells like Big shampoo? I just tried this and I'm obsessed. I searched through the thread and saw that a few people had asked about it back in '07 but there haven't been any suggestions. Just wondering if anything has occurred to anyone. For Silky Underwear: Dana O'Shee went strongly almond on me, so that didn't work. I found Veil to be a bit closer, but a bit more floral than SU. It does layer really well!

I LOVE THIS. Wet and during the initial drydown, it's quite strong, very apple-y. The mist and dew notes keep it from being hugely sweet and foody. When it's settled in, it's apple trees with a definite wood note, and the mist and dew clinging strongly to it. The throw, which was initially quite strong, has backed off quite a bit so that this is more of a personal scent, something for me alone. It's like the Springtime version of To Autumn (the absence of the nutmeat seems to brighten up The Hesperides quite a bit), and a much lighter apple scent than Poisoned Apple. It's a much damper scent than Nowhere in Particular - whereas Nowhere in Particular (on my skin, anyway) is walking through an apple orchard on a dry night, this is very much walking through that orchard in the very early morning as the sun is peaking through post-raining clouds. I really need a bottle of this!

I had high hopes for this one going in, as the lab's berry notes usually work well on me, citrus usually works well, and neroli is about my favorite scent on the planet. In the imp, it really is Fruity Pebbles. Once I put it on and it settled a little, it turned into a super-juicy combo of blood orange and raspberry with a very distinct neroli note on top. Once it hit this stage about 5 minutes in, it stayed like this for hours. I *love* it, because for me the neroli keeps it from being too sticky sweet. My partner, on the other hand, thought it smelled rather like cough syrup. The deciding factor on whether or not I get a bottle will be figuring out whether or not my partner ever notices the cough syrup scent without me making him sniff my wrists directly. For my part, I think it's lovely - very bright, cheery and uplifting.

In the imp and wet, this stuff makes my mouth water - it's really really wonderful fruity mandarin orange on me, with a hint of the mango in the back. I want this stuff to be a sorbet. It dries and disappears way too quickly, unfortunately - After half an hour I can smell a faint whiff of a slightly citrus-y sandalwood. I smell very little musk, but the lab's white musk note usually does a good job of grounding things on me rather than being a note that I notice on its own all that often. Overall, 5/5 to start out with, but a 2/5 once it's dried. Its time passes far too quickly.

I can't figure this scent out. I got a bottle right when it went live, and I haven't been able to review it because I just don't know what to say about it. It's *fantastic* in the bottle - grassy, green, and yet distinctly snowy, as though the snow were melting and running in muddy rivulets all over a field. On my skin, it changes dramatically depending on the soap I use, hormones, how warm/cold my skin is and anything else that could possibly change it. Some days it stays fairly cool, crisp, and green. Those are the great days. Other days, it will morph into a very herbal rosy scent. That can get overpowering and headache-inducing. Still other days, it goes a faint rosy-berry and loses *everything* that it is in the beginning. All told, I'm not sure what to make of it, even after a month and a half. I really want to like it, but it's so unpredictable I'm almost afraid to wear it. However, it's so glorious in the wet phase that I refuse to give up on it. I think this may be the scent that makes me finally invest in a scent locket.

This is GLORIOUS. Wet and during the drydown it had a faint vanilla note, which then went through a brief sandalwood phase. Dry, this is EXACTLY the incense used at Midnight Mass in my church every Christmas Eve. I was blown away - every sniff made me think of bells and candlelight and clouds of incense and waking up the next morning with my hair and pillow smelling just like the church did the night before. I *need* a bottle of this!

Wet: Very sweet, very tart, slightly berry. So, it's a pink SweetTart. Dry: Sweet plum/berry combo. No rose. Maybe a hint of lilac and gardenia, but (for once) not overpowering. No opium at all on my skin. It's nice and bright and fun, and not at all the sinister blend I would have thought more fitting for the name. However, it's fun and I'll enjoy the imp. Average throw, above average wear time. Rating: 3.5/5

Scherezade would be totally hot sexy on the right person. The red musk/saffron combo is awesome in the imp. Unfortunately, after trying this, I've been able to establish for sure that red musk smells like rotting Dr. Pepper on me. It's the only musk I can't wear, and I *really* can't wear it. This little imp is hitting the swap pile!

In the imp: smells like a heavily vetiver-laden aquatic. This might be really good. Wet on skin: vetiver and something dank and green. Not entirely pleasant. Mid-drydown: I can't decide if I smell like flowers or a port-a-potty. Dry (after about 30 minutes): Port-a-potty air-freshener. I can't take it. I'm washing it off. FAIL. Off to try something else.

I decided I needed a bottle because it seemed wrong not to have one. It is definitely not good for my wallet that BPAL inspires my collector impulses... Anyway, to review. This is the 2008 version. Wet, this was all food on me - lots and lots of roasting apples and pumpkins, warm, sweet, and almost overpowering. My skin likes to sweeten things a bunch, and this is no exception - the apples and pumpkins smell like someone has dumped brown sugar all over them. Dry, I get a little wood and a little spice, but it's stll mostly apple and pumpkin. It's nice, but I was hoping for more wood. I get more wood on occasion when I sniff at my wrist, but then five minutes later it returns to sugary apples again. Fortunately, there isn't any plasticky bandaid smell on me - apples and pumpkins both seem to work on my skin. It isn't my favorite fall scent ever, but it's growing on me. I like it more every time I try it. I'm also hoping that it gets woodsier as it ages. *crosses fingers*

This one is a major morpher on me. In the bottle and wet on my skin, it's almost minty, but not quite - I suspect it's a combination of the fir and the frozen berry note - anyway, it literally smells COLD, like cold air outside. The effect on my nose is chilling, like the temperature has somehow dropped. This stuff is worth a bottle for that effect alone. The cold effect wears away after about ten minutes, like the perfume puts on a sweater and warms up a bit (albeit not completely). At this point, the rose and amber come out. I'm not big on rose and amber can go a bit too saccharine, so this part scared me the first time. However, sandalwood is an awesome "fix everything" note for me - things that ordinarily amp or go nuts or go plastic (like rose on me) are all calmed and relaxed with sandalwood. The upshot is that sandalwood usually means I can wear things I otherwise wouldn't touch. It's the same thing here - after about a half hour of the rose, everything settles down remarkably. The dry phase (which lasts for HOURS) is very mellow, relaxing, subtly sexy, and just all around AMAZING. Like Yvaine said, it's not a scent that's hugely noticeable as "OMG PERFUME." It's sandalwood and skin musk primarily; the other notes sort of drape over the top very lightly, swirling with the lightly musky sandalwood. The throw is fairly average - I notice whiffs of it from time to time but it's so subtle that I almost forget that it's the oil that I'm smelling. It's been going strong now for 5 hours - the first time I wore it I could still smell it well over 10 hours later, and I'm not a slatherer. It just lasts. Overall verdict: I MUST HORDE THIS. This is the first oil I'm getting multiple bottles of. It is a 10/10 LOVE.

Absolutely super amazing dead on mulled cider, which is *exactly* what I was hoping for. I was worried that the smoke note would go out of control and kill it, but I barely notice it. This did morph a ton on me - in the bottle it was all apples and a touch of moss; on skin it's cider with the distinct orange and spice that comes from mulling it for a while. *drool* I'm glad I have a bottle!

Before this comes near my skin, while it's just in the imp, it smells like a really lovely, androgynous perfume. When it touches my skin it turns into SOAP on the order of Irish Springs or some other really cheap drug store soap. It's TERRIBLE. Dry, after an hour: It's resiny, slightly citrus, slightly spicy. And still, fundamentally, and underneath all of the pleasantness just described, it's SOAP. The soap is making my nose run. Not for me, at least on my skin. It's lovely before my skin ruins it, though, so I may try it in a locket.

This is one of the first scents I've put on that makes me think "purple" in about six different shades. The musk note definitely has a purple quality to it, the florals are well-blended but not powdery (which is blowing my mind), the lavender moss has a very mossy, earthy, but still clean and lavender scent to it, and the sandalwood provides a wonderful base for the other notes to play on. The mint makes it slightly brighter than it might be otherwise. I really, really like this blend and am considering a bottle. Also, the imp leaked a bit, which made me sad. So I stuck it upright in the bathroom, and the whole bathroom now has a faintly violet/lilac/lavender smell to it, which makes me very happy.

Wet, lots of amber and musk which makes me have high hopes for it. Dry: PEACH WINE. This is peach wine on me. Peachy enough to hide the amber and the musk. It's very sweet and summery. Too sweet for me at the moment. Verdict: I'm going to hold on to the imp and age it to see if the peach wine scent calms down to bearable levels. If it does, I think this is a blend I could really love. Otherwise, I'll pass it on eventually.

Wet, this is FLORALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL with patchouli in the background. Dry, the ylang ylang and the oleander have murdered the other notes. Perhaps this is why Tisiphone is an appropriate name for this blend? They are seriously GONE. It makes me sad. All that's left is powdery sweet floral UGH.

Wet, this is mostly apple and wood and leaf and nutmeat. No poppy or galangal. Dry, the poppy and the nutmeat are predominant on me, followed by the leaves, with a mellow gingery apple behind it and a swirl of aquatic (the mist!!) on top of it. It's like sitting next to an apple tree mostly. I really like it! It's a very soothing blend.

This one takes a while to settle down, if it ever does; it seems like it morphs about every 20 minutes into something slightly different. It's extremely astringent to begin - I can smell the fir and the sage, but nothing else. After a few minutes it begins to throw out wafts of deep cherry, followed by plum. The grapes appear after maybe an hour. Then little bits of clove-y spice round everything out. When it's finally calmed down and reached some sort of stasis, I have a deep fruity (definitely dark cherry rather than apple) deep evergreen scent. It's lovely and I'm very happy with it!

PATCHOULI. The rest of it (the non-PATCHOULI-raging part) smells extremely peppery and pleasant. I end up smelling very much like someone dumped black pepper into a bottle of patchouli oil and let it hang out for a while. Hubby loves this on me so I think I will pass it to him and see if he likes it as well on himself. I'm not huge on smelling quite this strongly of patchouli - I like it to be a bit better balanced.

For me, this is a very non-foody vanilla. It's a calm, cool vanilla with a faint hint of clean clothes. This isn't a sexy perfume to me, it's more a relaxing-on-a-rainy-Sunday scent. It didn't morph much for me from bottle to skin, and it doesn't have much throw on me. I can smell it when I hold my wrist near my nose, but that's about it. It's like it's for me only. Overall, it's nice but not something I'd reach for very often because vanilla isn't really my thing. I like it though.

Bottle No. MLXII (1062): "Rhapsody on Cascade Hops" (it needed a name) I had to wear this a few times to make sure I was doing it justice before I reviewed it. Preface: I adore really good beer. I like brewing and I love tasting it. Hops are one of my favorite scents in the world - they're all forms of grassy-grapefruity goodness. Cascades in particular are cheery wonderful red grapefruit happy, colored, as it were, in a blazing yellow green. THIS OIL SMELLS LIKE CASCADE HOPS. I don't know that there are actually hops in the perfume at all - I know it's a note that the lab doesn't so much use very often and that the fragrant oils/acids in hops are prone to collapse way too easily and way too quickly for much use in perfume. Because of this, I think my bottle is actually a combination of: - neroli - grapefruit - lemongrass - perhaps a bit of green tea - just a touch of white musk to round it out It's lorious. It has the every so slightly floral quality of Cascades while still growing, but it blooms on my skin almost immediately into a hugely bright grapefruit-lemongrass smell that takes bad feelings and stress and melodramatically defenestrates them. After several hours it lingers on, the drop of white musk working to keep it on my skin much longer than citrus scents usually stay. If anyone else wants to smell what this oil smells like, just go to a homebrew shop and buy a little packet of Cascades. Pop it open and sniff. That's what I smell like. I'm in LOVE and I want an unlimited supply of this stuff. Naturally, that's impossible. I am going to horde this bottle like there's no tomorrow. THANK YOU LABBIES!!!! It's like you put everything I love into a bottle.

In the imp, it's very amber with a touch of mixed warm spices. Wet, it's the same - very little morphing. Once it's dried and settled in and my skin has had time to do its oft-frustrating sweeten-everything-in-range routine, I smell mostly like a freshly-baked snickerdoodle. Normally I hate smelling like food, baked goods in particular. The Lion, however, avoids going completely FOOD on me. It's a really lovely, golden, warm, resinous scent with lots of clove and cinnamon. It will be awesome in mid-Winter. As a side note, I started running about a month ago. I tested the Lion about half an hour before I went out for a run today. As I was running I noticed little whiffs of the scent from time to time, which was really nice. This ended up being the first day since I started running that I managed to go two full miles without having to stop and walk for a few minutes. I don't know if the Lion helped, but I sort of feel like it did.

In the imp: Very sweet and salty, rather like a sweettart candy or something. A hint of aquatic. On skin, wet: SWEETTARTS. On skin, dry: Oh gah. That's gardenia hiding in there, yes? As the 'thin undercurrent' of flowers? My skin has gone NUTS with it and it's almost all I can smell. I can sort of tell that there's something aquatic, but it's generally not good. Overall: This would be *glorious* on the right person with the right skin chemistry. That person is emphatically not me. Off to swaps.