Indefatigable

This is very odd. I know that rose doesn't work on me; it usually turns into baby powder. So if you like rose, don't take my advice. This smells like Twizzlers, both on me and in the bottle. I'm assuming it's the wine note, because I haven't tried anything else with a wine note in it, and neither rose nor dragon's blood does exactly this on me.

In the vial: roses. On me: er, roses! Not powder! Huh. Maybe the lilac too. Drying down: lilac and baby powder. Aah well. Got my hopes up, that one. Into the swap it goes.

In the vial: leather and sweet citrus. Very neat combination. On me: Leather and citrus are still apparent. I'm guessing this floral note is the orchid. I really like it. There's something sweeter and fresher behind it which is probably the tea and mint. Yep, definitely tea. Fantastic, I've never had a tea scent before that really worked! The tea usually gets buried behind other stuff. Drydown: none of the notes are hiding, they're all there in equal parts, and the overall effect is very cool, sophisticated, and energetic. This is something to wear with a power suit. This goes on the list of bottles to buy!

In the vial: flowers, herbs, musk. Funny, I usually can't smell musk until it hits my skin. On me: the herbs pop right out initially, and then die back. I'm getting lots of musk and some heady flowers. None of the sweet floral (e.g. jasmine) that's supposed to be in here is really apparent. One of the floral notes is a bit soapy, but not unpleasantly so, especially with the musk behind it. Drying down: yup, musk and flowers. (I really do love BPAL's white musk.) This is a good one -- a deeper, greener scent than my other favourite musk blend, Katharina. The astronomy geek in me is going *squee* right now.

In the vial: grapefruit candy. There's a tart citrus note with a sweetish, almost vanilla-y overlay. Wet: mmm, grapefruit. Or grapefruit zest, it's a little bitter. Lots of sweet floral comes out very fast as it dries. Wisteria and jasmine are two of my favourite real flowers to have in a garden, and they're lovely with the citrus. I wish I could get a little bit more of the tea and ginger. I can't really find them. Dry: this is turning into a sweet floral with grapefruit in the background to keep it fresh. Mmmmmaybe there's some tea in there too. This is definitely a keeper -- I'm still hunting for a tea blend that smells like tea, but I found my citrus.

Man... I wished this one would work on me, but no dice, I think. In the vial it was a lovely sharp green herbal, piney and damp like a forest. On me, everything but the musk faded very quickly. I never got the berries or the tea. Maybe there was a bit of berry, because the musk was sweetish and powdery for a bit, but that went away. All that's left is musk. (It's a nice musk, mind -- I'll look for other things with this dark musk note in them.) I also put it on the collar of my bathrobe to see if it did anything different when it dried somewhere other than my skin. It started out herbal, went soapy, and now it's a rather candyish berry with a bit of musk underneath. Not big on this one.

This is so complex in the vial that I can't identify any one single note -- it's a jungle of flowers and wood and fruit. Once it hits my skin, it goes all flowery with just a hint of something else more complex -- the wood keeps it sexy and the fruit sweetens it a little. There's such a little bit of rose that even my skin doesn't amp it, so it isn't really going powdery. It's a heady, warm summer evening floral. There's a hint of something that reminds me of incense, that smells like a church, but it's not too solemn -- it's like a joyful prayer to life itself. Okay, I have no idea where that came from, I never say things like that. It's just getting more complex as it dries, with the flowers and the fruit both coming out equally (ooh, I think I can definitely get plum out of there now), and the wood staying in the background to darken it. This is a keeper.

I'm loving All Night Long and Wrath. Both have lots of cinnamon and some pepper and cloves.

*reads description* Mmmm, grapefruit and tea... that would do it, yeah. I'm starting to think Phantom Queen might be a good SAD blend. I'm one of those people who doesn't see a battle goddess in that one at all. It's more like a sunny spring meadow before the armies get there.

Um... I opened the vial and suddenly got drowned in syrupy cherries and booze. It's like one of those ads for candy where someone eats the product and then gets splashed with 'flavour' out of nowhere. I could not get past this. I tried putting it on my wrist and I got the same thing, maybe with some spices or wood in the background somewhere, but the boozy notes were just way too intense for me.

In the vial: a grassy, dewy floral. On me: the florals are dominating the herbs, but it's still very sweet and fresh. I think the apple blossom is the one that's coming out on top. Dry: this is sweet without being sharp, with a very real and natural flowering-plant scent. There's none of the cloying soapiness or powder that I usually get from florals. Definitely a keeper.

In the bottle: apples! How appropriate for Eris. On me: um... Jolly Rancher green apple candies. Drying down: the apple fades back and some floral comes out, but eventually it all melts into an amorphous, sweet, chalky marshmallow. Dangit.

In the vial, this is one of the most beautiful florals I've ever sniffed, soft and feminine but made solemn and poignant by lavender. On my skin, it's baby powder and soap. I think this will be the one that finally makes me buy a poison locket, so that I can have perfume near me without it being on me.

In the vial: cloves with a biting sweetness of some kind. On me: cloves cloves cloves. And then... mint? I wish I hadn't looked at the rest of this thread, because then I wouldn't have identified this odd scent combination as 'root beer'. Fortunately it doesn't stay root beer for very long -- in the length of time it took to type that sentence, the mint warmed up and faded back. Now it's just a sweet, mysterious, smoky spice blend. I've seen this listed as a men's scent, but nothing about it is really striking me as masculine or feminine. It's clean and androgynous, not sexy but invigorating. Maybe I shouldn't have put it on before bed, because it might keep me awake! Maybe I'll keep it around for wake-me-up aromatherapy purposes. Mrrr... unfortunately, as it dries it's going a bit powdery, and that makes the mint come out and smell like toothpaste. If this was a warmer scent it would work, but there's an icy note that is doing weird things. Aah well.

Mm, I would love some tea scents. I have my eye on Kumiho. I got a decant of Dragon Moon, and while I can smell the tea in the vial, it gets buried in the dragon's blood once it hits my skin. Whatever I get with tea in it must not have rose, vanilla, or (I suspect) resin.

In the vial: pears. In ice cream. On me: vanilla! It's a sweet, pleasant vanilla, but where did the pear go? Drying down: mostly just vanilla. Maybe a bit of a smoky incensey undercurrent, which is nice. I think I've discovered another of those scents that just blots out everything else when it hits my skin. Pretty enough, but I don't like pure vanilla that much.

Sugar Skull 06: In the vial: how odd, it smells like cherries! There's also something sharp and woody that I can't identify. On me: burnt caramel and buttered rum. YUM. Drying down: it fades to a very short throw very quickly. The fact that the caramel is burned keeps it interesting and it doesn't smell too foody. This is really lovely stuff. I might have to hunt down a bottle.

In the vial: very green and wet and leafy. On me: a sweet, bright, surprisingly fresh floral (must be the oleander, as the roses are thankfully faint in this one), with something sugary like berries or sap. I'd like some of that greenness to come back. Drying down: there's a faintly spicy note keeping it from being too sweet. It's almost musky but I don't know if there's any musk in here. It's probably some kind of wood. I think... this is a floral I can actually wear. Definitely going to hang onto this.

My strategy is going to be playing with all kinds of fresh planty scents to remind me of growing green things. I'll let people know when I hit on a good one.

Well, this was neat. I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to wear aromatherapy oil to bed like perfume, or just put it near me. In the vial this smelled like lavender and licorice, almost medicinal, but comforting. When I put it on my wrists the lavender disappeared and I smelled like I'd spilled sambuca on myself. And then it wore off and I could hardly smell it within half an hour. Then I put a little drop of it on my pillow and went to bed. The licorice didn't stand out too much, but just added a cooling note to the lavender. It was very soothing and relaxing, and I think I fell asleep a lot faster than I usually do. (I had dreams, but I don't remember if they were particularly good or bad.)

In the vial: herbs and coniferous trees. On me: herbal, bitter, grassy, green. There's also some kind of tart floral. Drying down: I'm not getting any of the brighter herbals at all now, like the lavender and mint -- it's all floral/piney, and going soapy. Poo. I really like it in the vial -- maybe I need to wear it in a locket.

In the vial: honey! And oranges. Very very sweet. On me: orange creamsicle and baby powder. Stupid roses do that to me every time. Aah well. Drying down: yeah, the orange is completely gone and it's all powder.

In the vial: a bit powdery, with definite roses. Still risking it, because it's the most gorgeous colour I've ever seen. On me: holy crap, it still smells like roses! Sweet feral roses like that crazy single-blossomed pink rugosa that we had to dig up because it kept eating our patio table. I can't believe it, I was really about to give up on smelling like roses instead of baby powder. Drying down: the musk and/or amber are just there in the background, adding a note that I can only describe as 'dusty'. It's staying just barely more complex than a single note, but not getting powdery or soapy.

In the vial: mmm, tea. And dragon's blood. I'm getting to recognize the dragon's blood scent now. On me: very strong dragon's blood. There's just a hint of the tea and sandalwood making a high crisp note in the background, keeping it from being too heavy and soapy. Drying down: the sandalwood is coming out more, and the dragon's blood is less soapy. I wish the tea would come back, because otherwise it smells a bit like aftershave. Pleasant enough, but not really 'me'. The initial tea note made it more feminine.

Wet: there's a flowery, almost soapy note that's prevalent, with a flash of cinnamon and -- sandalwood? Mint? It's like there's something different every time I sniff. It's unpredictable. Drying: there's a scent here that reminds me of some oatmeal goat's-milk soap that I like. But it's still not really a soapy smell. There's an oat note. There's also sweetish incense, but with enough clove and spice to keep it from smelling like a hippie shop. The spice notes are coming out more as it dries. Oooh, and there's the pepper, yay. I think I like this. It's like an early-evening version of All Night Long. Not as overwhelmingly sexy, but fiery and energetic.