trollgirl

After a brief search, I finally found someone willing to sell me Strawberry Moon! Yesssss....

In the bottle it was tart strawberry candy layered over something green, bitter and herbaceous. And... huh, it's smells almost creamy. Weird.

On me I get the deeeeelicious dandelion sap note that I get in Roadhouse. Nommmm... and there's a small hint of strawberry plastic. Oops. But the plasticky note fades fast, and I end up with fresh ripe strawberries dusted with sugar. I also get a strange powdery sugar vibe, kind of like sticking my nose in a bag of confectioner's sugar--that sort of powdery. The grass and dandelion really stop the strawberry from becoming too candy-sweet. After a while the green notes come to the fore, and I end up with something that's really close to my skin--a soft, fresh and only slightly sweet strawberry scent, like I rolled around in a big barrel of grass and strawberries and came out with my skin lightly scented with the juices. Lovely.

I also let my boy sniff the wrist. His reaction: "Poached pears?"

In the vial: Boozy coconut with a spritz of pineapple juice. Noms. Also getting a whiff of buttery cinnamon buns.

On me: Cinnamon of Death that's just on the verge of pencil shavings. I can't smell anything else. I'm very sad because I can smell the pineapple on the toothpick I used. Skin, you suck.

Sugar Skull 2008 smelled like raisins and incense with a sprinkling of brown sugar. But mostly raisins.

After about ten minutes, I smelled like a rum-soaked fruitcake.

This was a sweet light incensy-rose in the bottle. On me I immediately got a huge blast of beeswax, which calmed down quite quickly and became a beautifully sweet floral scent (mostly roses to me) that was nicely complemented by the beeswax and frankincense. It was lovely with a bit of a funereal feel to it, like a hall full of beautiful white candles and flowers. For a while there it looked like Day of the Skulls was going to become one of my favourites.

And then over the course of the day something went a bit wonky. The flowers mostly faded off and the beeswax started to become really thick and waxen and cloying. The funereal feel I got became really, really creepy. There's something in that waxy smell that I find hugely unsettling. It smells like old, old candles in a long forgotten crypt. Every so often I'll catch a whiff of the fresh florals again and go "Awww. Pretty." But then I sniff my wrist and the wax is all creepy and making ghostly "woo-woo" noises at me.

I tried on Inez last night and I have to say that on me, Inez (Golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood) smelled almost exactly like Lyonesse (Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss). The only difference is that Inez had a darker incense-y feel from the myrrh.

Does anyone know how much shipping costs are for orders larger than 12 items going to Canada? I emailed the lab about it but I want to make an order before some of the blends go away on Aug 18. I'll probably wait till then to see if I hear from them but it would be nice to have a ballpark figure if anyone else knows.

ETA: Never mind. The lab explained it to me. *is silly*

In the bottle: Marianne is red musk with just a hint of sweetness. And yes, very, very dark.

On me: Oh, yes.... I see why everyone says this is like Scherezade. It smells very similar on me. I get mostly red musk as first, and then some patchouli. I smell no flowers. This is very dry and sweet, very much like incense. I'm really baffled because I get absolutely no bergamot and usually citrus overwhelms everything else on my skin, especially for the first fifteen minutes or so.

For a while I was just sort of "meh" about Marianne, just as I was about Scherezade, but then over the course of the day I kept getting whiffs of this wonderful evocative scent--sweet, velvety, seductive. And I only applied a testing amount, from a toothpick! Wow. So gorgeous. It smells exactly like a carved sandalwood fan I remember my mother bought while we were on holiday somewhere. And I can imagine the lady in the artwork carrying a carved fan like that. She's elegant, sophisticated, mysterious, and absolutely beautiful, like her scent.

In the bottle: Crawdad dream smells like berries. There's a note in this that I smell also in Fairy Wine, I suspect it is the red currants. It smells like blueberries, currants and honey. Just enough of the berry tartness to balance the sweetness. It's promising!

On me: At first I get juicy juicy blueberries. They're bright and fresh and bouncing happily in a basket shortly after having been picked. The scent is sweet, but not overwhelming. I still get that sweet honey-like note, but it's in the background. Just there.

And then suddenly it all goes downhill. My basket of blueberries is thrown into a pie-pan, and a huge load of vanilla and sugar is mixed in. A sweet crust is tossed cruelly over the startled blueberries, masking their freshness and the whole thing is pushed unceremoniously into a hellishly hot oven. The blueberries, hearing the metal door slam shut, realize that it is their death knell. They scream frantically to be let out but to no avail. Slowly, one by one, they start boiling from the inside and burst. Their juices are cooked and all freshness is gone from them. Mixed with the vanilla and the sugar they become goopy, cloying, and overwhelmingly sweet...

Er, anyway. Yes, it is very very very sweet, so sweet that it makes my throat want to swell shut. It's a musky blueberry pie filling with just a whisper of green tea. I am reminded of the time when I was little and every weekend would ask my parents if I could go look in the Strawberry Shortcake doll store. They would say yes, but stay outside because the smell was just too much. Crawdad Dream reminds me of the smell coming from that store. I have to go wash off now.

I'm going to hang on to this one for a month or so to see if I'm just having a weird skin day, but this one might be a swapper.

Edge of Chaos LXIX

69, lovingly christened "And you should wash your hands after".

Because you totally should, you know, wash your hands after... with something that smells like this!

In the bottle this smells like a clean, slightly aquatic green floral with a hint of musk. It's almost Irish Spring-y in its cleaness, and unisex. Refreshing.

On me I get some kind of creamy white floral. I thought it might be lily of the valley at first, because it reminds me of some lily of the valley handsoap we used to have when I was little. However, I'm now more inclined to believe that it is orchid. It does, however, smell exactly like freshly laundered bed linen. Mmm, clean linen. I think there might also be some white musk in here. It reminds me a little of Oberon (which I really like by the way), without the bergamot.

ETA: I just tested Phantom Queen and this Chaos Theory is very much like Phantom Queen, but less sweetly floral.

I tried 13 when she arrived--lab-fresh and eager for loving--on my desk. I couldn't give 13 the love she so craved. Her apple-ness was saccharine and reminded me of artificially flavoured apple candies. The chocolate was overwhelmingly foody and sweet. I felt as though I had fallen into a vat of experimental disaster fruit chocolate. Alas. I put 13 in the dark, dark corner of my bottle box and told her that she was meant for the swaps.

Fortunately for 13, I am incredibly lazy and never put up a swap post.

I tried her on again yesterday, almost two months later because she was keening to me from her little corner in my bottle box going, "Love me! I'm a good girl now, you'll see!"

In the bottle she was all bitter cocoa powder. Dry, a little bit spicy, and very, very bitter. Almost coffee-like in her bitterness. Not promising. But 13 was all like, "Pleez to be putting on the skin nao?"

So I did, a tiny, tiny dab from the tip of a tiny, tiny toothpick. 13 was then sweet, creamy chocolate. Milk chocolate sweetened with gorgeous smooth honey. And then the apple scent emerged, and if there's fruit in anything, it just comes to the forefront on my skin. So I ended up with slices of fresh, crisp apple that had been dipped in a velvety chocolate dip. But it was goooooood. 13 was sweet and uplifting and made me happy.

13 actually reminded me a lot of Lush's Soft Coeur massage bar. Chocolately, with a hint of fruitiness.

I'm not sure if it's a mood thing or a skin chemistry thing but 13 will get the love she deserves now. It can be hugs tiem.

Ooooh! Fun topic! I especially like your picks for Dawn (green energy, teehee!), Tara and Dru. I think Giles should smell of some kind of tea as well though.

Xander- An all American guy, and fellow sidekick- along with Willow- to Buffy. Kind hearted, loyal friend, brave.

Hmmm, tricky one. Dragon's Heart comes to mind though. Xander is the ordinary everyday guy, and the fact that he's right in the fighting the good fight with Buffy shows that he's the bravest of them all.

Dragon's Heart - A scent pulsing with vitality, warmth and insurmountable strength: dragon's blood resin, red and black musks, a throb of fig and a sliver of black currant.

Riley- An all American guy born and raised in the Midwest, an ask no questions soldier. Very loyal, strong, and set in his ways.

I don't know why but I thought of Dirty immediately. I always imagine Riley smelling clean, and he's such a normal (well, mostly), clean-cut guy. He might be out fighting demons in camo but he always, always scrubs thoroughly after.

Dirty - A wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.

Spike- A punk badass vampire and former upper class English pansy poet.

Spike? Severin, definitely, since Spike's relationship with Buffy was so twisted and violent (but omgsohot). I think a liberal sprinkling of Nosferatu wouldn't be out of place either, since Spike lives in dusty old crypt.

Severin - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the Father of Masochism and sexual surrender, had planned on writing six volumes of erotic literature entitled The Heritage of Cain. Only the first two volumes were completed, the more famous of the two being the notorious Venus in Furs. This novel tells the tale of a man, Severin, that enters into a relationship of slavery and increasingly debauched degradation with his mistress, Wanda. Dry black teas, Earl Gray, and leather.

Nosferatu - As soft as grave dust and as dry as a breath drawn within a long forgotten crypt, this is Nosferatu: desiccated herbs and gritty earth brought to life with a swell of robust and sanguineous red wines.

And just for fun, I bet Adam smells like Embalming Fluid.

I got Roadhouse as a frimp and when I looked at the scent description I was a bit fearful of putting it on. I mean, truck stop sleaze, booze and cigarettes? Srsly nao...

So, I read the description out for my boyfriend. He asked me if I wanted him to buy some for me. I said, "Why? I already have a sample." He replied, "Well, I thought you might want more."

Well, he was right. The minute I tried Roadhouse I knew I needed more.

I cannot express how much I Roadhouse. It perks me right up, like golden glee in liquid form. In the imp it smells like one of my favourite beers, a microbrewed India Pale Ale with a ton of hops in it. It's green floral hoppiness and I want to inhale it. On me sweet grass and dandelion sap emerge as well. It's a clean, fresh, bright and breezy scent, like rolling around in a grass meadow. I never got the tobacco, but that's fine. It doesn't morph at all on my skin and stays true to its fresh grassiness for about four hours.

Have I mentioned I like beer? I really like beer. Maybe that's why I like Roadhouse so much. And perfume-indifferent but beer-loving boyfriend says he likes this one too.

Since I've started slathering more I up-end on wrists or stop up the bottle with a finger and then dab. For stronger scents I use a disposable coffee stirrer. If it's a new bottle I've never tried before I use a toothpick to test it and if I like it it goes into the "apply in whichever way is most convenient at the time" pile. I try to keep the possible swaps uncontaminated.

I actually started calling it BAY-pal and I do not know why, but it's like a glitch that I can't get rid of now. No idea where I got the "ay" from.

Maybe you wanted it to rhyme with Paypal.

Imp was a frimp!

In the imp Imp was peach candy.

On me Imp was fuzzy peach, earthy peach, ripe peach, sweet peach, peachy peach, peachpeachpeach... and mint?

Imp smells like a peach iced tea with a spring of mint. Yes.

In imp: Hello banana and pineapple! This is definitely tropical--fruity and green.

On me: This blend goes through three distinct stages on me. First I get fruit. Citrus, and my guess would be lime. It's clean and fresh and wet. Love it. Also bananas and pineapples, maybe mango. This is very tropical fruit punch-like. Then the florals take over. They're light, and absolutely gorgeous. Orchids are in there I think, but I'm not going to try to name the others. And then finally I get the smooth, sweet amber scent that I love. Stunning. This also smells like something my mother used to wear. It's a nice scent memory.

I'm definitely getting a bottle of this at some point. This would be a great summer scent for hot days.

In imp: Woah, spicy floral, almost cinnamon-ey. Also get a whiff of something… citrus? Interesting.

On me: Er, juicy citrus? I swear I'm smelling limes or lemon or something. With a woody base. Bizarre. This lily is voodoo-ing up my nose. This is like a spicy lemon tea to me. Every so often I get a slight whiff of creamy flowers taunting me. Extremely odd, not what I was expecting at all.

Overall: Much brighter and less floral than I thought it would be. Expected heady, creamy lilies, got lemon spice. Looking at other reviews it seems this is really different on a lot of people. I'm not super-surprised, if there is any kind of citrus-like component in a blend my skin will make sure it overpowers everything else. Still like it though.

Um, has anyone else noticed that Paypal now only lets you put 300 characters in? For bigger orders, it will be impossible to get them all into the comments field.

 

Am I the only one experiencing this?

Me too! I had to trim down the number of characters in my order today, omitting unnecessary the's and such. Also I figure the lab knows who Mme. Moriarty is and I didn't have to include her title of "Misfortune Teller". I only wanted bottles this time but if I had wanted several imp packs I don't know how I would've been able to put it all in.

Severin!

And Antikythera Mechanism if he's being Bruce Wayne, because that blend smells so classy to me--like the warm wood paneling of a library and pipe tobacco.

Not much to add here that everyone else hasn't already said, except that to me Zombi smells very aquatic. These are not a big, blooming, dewy roses, but grey, faint drowned roses. The scent feels cold, blue-grey and damp. Much more mossy in dry down, however. This lasts an extremely long time on me and smells absolutely divine the entire time.

In imp: Bright citrus, a little bitter. Bergamot, lemon or grapefruit. It also feels very resiny, and almost oily. It's very golden and also very masculine.

Wet: Citrus explosion! And this smells very much like Lemon Pledge, the oils from zests of lemon being rubbed into wood.

Dry: As this dries the citrus calms down and the woodiness comes through. About fifteen minutes in it's nice and balanced. At this point it smells like any number of mens' aftershaves that I've smelled over the years. Very masculine and sexy. And then, like a teeter-totter, it gets unbalanced on my skin again, with the cedar jumping out screaming "Pencil shavings!" And not just regular pencil shavings either. I get a whiff of waxy crayons. This is like a pile of shavings from a writing implement that's a pencil and crayon hybrid.

Not really me. Sigh. Off to swap box.

In the imp: Ooh, fruity. Whiff of delicious red wine with the myrrh and patchouli keeping it from getting too juicy. I think I might like this one. It smells dark and glossy and rich.

Wet: Oh, so yummy, wine and myrrh and...oh wait, what's that? Is that you again, jasmine? Jasmine is like all over my skin. I'm watching TV and not even moving and and Jasmine is jumping up and wafting at me going "Hi! Hi hihi!" I sniff the wrist and I can smell the wine and roses and myrrh lurking in the background and they are so absolutely gorgeous and elegant. Jasmine is being kind of obnoxious, but strangely enough, I don't really dislike her as much as I usually do. She's... kinda growing on me.

Dry: And now it smells absolutely stunning. Jasmine has settled down and is playing nicely, and the rose is quite gentle. The wine is to die for. It smells like an amazing incense, just enough sweetness balanced with bitterness. After a couple hours it's pretty much all just sandalwood, but wow, what a really fun journey getting there.

Much adoration.

This was a frimp (yay!) and it was a lovely surprise I was going to order an imp with my next order. Go lab!

In imp: Dragon's blood sweetness, with a little drop of myrrh in the background.

Wet: Dragon's blood, which makes my brain go "nom nom nom nom nom". Now there something hot and spicy coming out. I was going to say cinnamon but a split second later it's like TADA!--and it's obviously clove.

Dry: Wow, clove made a dramatic entrance and really does not want to be ignored. The trickle of clove in the description is a huge gushing river of clove on me. Myrrh and dragon's blood have been pushed to the back and are being meek back-up singers. After several hours clove seems to give up and fades off a bit leaving a really huffable dragon's blood scent.

I thought I didn't like dragon's blood but it's starting to seriously grow on me. We got off on the wrong foot with blends that didn't work and I started blaming dragon's blood, but I think I may owe it an apology. I'm going to hang on to this for a while in the hopes that the clove will mellow out with time.

In imp: Very dark and sweet, like fruit with honey. Doesn't seem that interesting in the imp.

Wet: Incense and resin over sweet fruit. The incense note reminds me of myrrh--bitter and dark, but amazing. It might just be the dark amber.

Dry: The bitter edge has gone and it's now a lovely dark velvety scent. The fruits in this are ripe and honeyed and so comforting, like a warm fruit compote. The resin gives it depth. This is dark and womanly and gorgeous. Drydown is typical amber, sweet and powdery.

Overall: Love this. Reminds me of Mme. Moriarty, but with less of the sexxeh. The fruit notes are probably quite similar. Would be a great autumn scent. I think this is going in my top ten.

I find Gennivre L'Artiste du Diable very sugar-caney. It's very much green tea and sugarcane on me and reminds me of freshly squeezed sugarcane juice (which I haven't had in years *sniffle*). It's green and fresh, yet sweet. Yummy.