Shollin

First sniff: My nose really wants there to be apple in Undertow, and I haven’t a clue why – very bright green apples, unripe and hard and far too tart to eat. There’s mint too, and a general sense of greenness, but I’m definitely getting apples. WEIRD.

Wearing: Chilling and green and there’s still the random appleness. This would be a fantastic winter scent, especially on a snowy day. Doesn’t last too long on me.

First sniff: Envy is an herb garden where mint and basil grow intertwined, both intensely green. It’s as if someone picked a few leaves from each and bruised them in his hand – the scent is very wet and a bit rumpled like crushed leaves.

Wearing: The dark green herbs are predominant, and I can’t smell the mint so much as feel it as a breath of cool air swirling over the top of the greenery. I think my skin sucked it up immediately – I can’t smell an aura at all, just when I put my nose right against my wrist. It doesn’t resonate in the “fresh and clean” category like so many greens do – it’s more of a natural scent, and by that I mean nature-y, like bright green grass and dark green herbs and walking through the garden barefoot. (Can you tell from this and Morella that’s something I like to do? ) Turned soapy on me after about half an hour, goshdarnit.

I really adore the candy-red colour of all these dragon blends.

First sniff: The dragon of Dragon's Eye is bright white, opalescent scales and autumn-sky-blue eyes, curled up in a dangerously beautiful ice cave shimmering with crystals. Sweet-floral, but with teeth.

Wearing: The sweet whiteness of lily of the valley is apparent immediately, a big white cloud of tiny flowerbells. It smells a bit soapy, but I can’t figure out whether it actually smells soapy or if I just associate lily of the valley with soap because it’s my sister’s shower gel. Stayed true all evening, and I can still smell it if I sniff my wrists. Not really me.

I'm not a big fan of florals (or at least I always thought I wasn't until I found the Lab...) and I ADORE Old Venice and Twilight. Wicked is another floral that's right up my alley - a cooler, greener version of Twilight, might be one to keep in mind if you end up liking Twilight.

First sniff: Lazy, heavy and reddish-purple. I can picture the Caterpillar’s smoke smelling like this as he lounges about on his mushroom, though it’s not overtly smoky. "How cheerfully he seems to grin, how neatly spreads his claws..."

Wearing: This almost has a dark musky berry flavor to it, and reddish-purple is definitely the right colour – it’s the draping fabric of a harem tent. I’d expected this to be more of a green scent, given the notes, but it’s very earthy and warm.

I just have to say that "Scorpionic" is one of the coolest words I've ever seen.

Done being a grammar geek now.

Ligeia was very bright sweet jasmine on me, and after a couple of hours there was a faint hint of green grounding it down a bit. I had to hop in the shower so I didn't get to see how it developed after that, but I'm definitely going to try it again.

The spice in Old New Orleans was very apparent to my nose, but not loud - just a gentle dusting of spice over the flowers. It's also quite sweet and very honeysucklish.

The other scent I've tried that screamed honeysuckle at me was Circe. I don't know what the actual notes are in it, but it was very sweet and golden, what my nose identifies as honeysuckle.

Seraglio and Othello are both spiced roses, but in Seraglio the sweet almond is definitely the topnote. Neither is as screamingly rosey as Harlot.

Hope at least some of this helps.

First sniff: Water of Notre Dame is clean. Pure. So light I almost can’t smell it, and very pale blue, the colour of Mary’s robes. Appropriate, of course, as she’s the Notre Dame in question.

Wearing: Very fresh and aquatic aura – if I sniff my wrist it smells a bit like soap. A lot like soap, actually… darn it. After a couple of hours the soap-smell fades and it goes very pale green and fluid, almost a grassy scent, which is much much nicer than the soap and worth waiting for.

First sniff: Psyche is cool purple, floral but not soft. Like the slight sharpness of real lavender buds rather than the fakey lavender stuff that everything smells like these days. A bit of greenery too. Delicious. This actually smells quite a bit like lavender tastes if you cook with it – almost like rosemary, but softer.

Wearing: I like this one a lot. Very cool floral, somewhere between the chilliness of Wicked and the gentle warmth of Twilight. There’s a hint of nose-twitching spice under the flowers, I’m guessing that’s frankincense. The rose is completely hidden – maybe she’ll show up later, but at the moment it’s all that slightly sharp, cool lavender with warm spice underneath. The sharpness fades quickly and it goes pillowy-soft and the slightest bit sweet, a bit powdery but not annoyingly so.

I suspect this is one I’ll have to slather on if I want it to last – it’s already (within a couple of hours) faded to the point that I can’t smell it unless I stick my wrist right up against my nose.

First sniff: Kuang Shi is aggressively fruity, with the smoky strength to back it up.

Wearing: Wow. YUM. The fruitiness backs off quickly – it’s still there, but slithering around underneath rather than leaping straight up your nose. What’s left is slightly smoky, very warm, very bright and utterly delicious. I don’t know why – the scent isn’t the slightest bit boozey – but I want to find a cocktail that smells like this.

First sniff: Morella is very soft cool green, herbal and comforting in a kitcheny way. Sunshine on an herb garden, barefoot in early spring when it’s really still too cold to go barefoot but you can’t help it because everything’s growing and you need to connect with it.

Wearing: Still very green, but I can feel the pale-blue powderiness of the iris trying to peek out just behind the greenery. (If I hadn’t tried the single-note iris I don’t think I would have been able to pinpoint it – it’s very subtle.) After a few minutes the iris is more pronounced, a single bloom surrounded by soft green. It faded fairly quickly, and went very softly sweet before it disappeared entirely.

It’s very unusual, in a good way – I need to try it again.

I’m doing Zephyr backwards because I put it on in the few seconds I was home today before dashing off to work, so I wore it before I had a chance to sniff it in the vial.

Wearing: Very white musk – warm and soft and bright and very slightly sweet. It’s a heavier scent than I expected, and seemed to stay true all night (though I didn’t really have much time to pay attention to it; what with Golf Hell coming up we’re insanely busy at the paper).

Not-really-first sniff: There’s more of a fruity undertaste to the scent on the wand than there is on my skin. It’s definitely not a food scent, but it made me hungry when I put it on, and it’s having the same effect now. OK, having looked it up, there’s vanilla in it, and that always makes me hungry – obviously my stomach recognises these notes better than my nose does.

I like this one a lot more than I expected to - sandalwood in the ingredients still makes me a bit nervous, and from the list of notes it seems like it should be full-on citrus overload, but on me I didn't smell fruit at all, and it wasn't floraly either. Just very warm and very white - even though those two qualities seem like they'd be a contradiction.

I've been trying very hard to get a couple of my guy friends hooked (sadly they live far away from me so I won't be able to sniff them). My friend Barbara absconded with my Ingenue when I went up to see her, so I swiped her Wicked in retaliation.

So far she's my only official convert, unless the guys have been ordering and not telling me. I bet some of the gals on my needlework e-mail list might be interested though... *dashes off to post*

First sniff: Veil is a very dry white floral, and there’s something warm and almost musky underneath, which doesn’t seem to fit – maybe it’s just my nose being weird again.

Wearing: There’s some sort of spice in this that reminds me of Indian food. It’s really strange to my nose and sticks out plainly under the flowers, which are predominant though I can’t pick out any specific notes. Still very dry but in a dry-white-wine way, not a dusty way. I hope the weird spice wanders off quickly – it’s making my nose not happy, though I can only smell it if I sniff my wrist. A few minutes in and the spice isn’t quite so distinct, but there’s still an odd sharpness, almost acrid, undertaste to this scent. It turned very honeysuckle-sweet on me at work.

I'm not a big fan of this one – Shroud behaved itself much better on my skin - but I plan to try it on again when Mother Nature has left town, considering how many of us have quite different reactions to scents based on our cycle.

First sniff: Lightning is another beautiful sea scent, with an edge to it. Makes my nose itch a bit.

Wearing: This reminds me quite a bit of Yankee’s Storm Watch candle – it’s the same sort of clean, rain-washed-air scent with a hint of sharpness.

One of these days I'm going to have to try Lightning, Jolly Roger and Tempest all on together and see if I can pin down the differences, because while they're similar marine scents, they're definitely not the same.

First sniff: Jolly Roger absolutely smells like the sea – very clean and crisp and wet.

Wearing: Pure bright seawater in Caribbean blue, with a definite salt-air tang to it. At one point I thought I smelled coconut, but I think that’s more a factor of my brain associating rum with coconut and assuming it’s there when it’s not. Fantastic mood-enhancer – transports me straight to the beach. Very unisex and clean.

First sniff: The Ace of Pentacles is gorgeously piney and earthy, with a hint of round wet sweetness.

Wearing: The pine pops out right away, but it’s not at all sharp – more like you brushed past a low-hanging pine branch and the needles tickled your skin, leaving a very soft scent. I can’t quite identify anything else in this scent, but it’s very round and balanced, earthy without smelling like dirt, piney without smelling like PineSol. I also can’t quite decide whether it’s a warm or a cool scent. It’s a bit of both, I think – walking in the woods on a hot muggy day and suddenly feeling a cool breeze from the river. There's a lovely sweetness that develops throughout, more of a honey-ish sweetness than anything overly sugary or floral.

I like this one a lot. Thanks for the rec, VV!

I got a prototype of Xiuhtecuhtli.

First sniff: This one keeps changing even in the vial. At first I thought it was one of those flowers that smells fruity, then it turned citrusy or berryish. It’s not a creamy scent at all, but it has that texture – like cocoa butter, something rich and comforting to slather on before bedtime.

Wearing: This is really beautiful – enormous tropical blossoms in the bright sunshine, ruffled by a gentle breeze. I thought I smelled grapefruit under the flowers on my wrist. Gently smooth-sweet and fruity-floral and just really gorgeous. A perfect scent for the beach – it’s definitely going with me to Virginia this summer.

First sniff: Shroud is very dry, with a hint of dried flowers. An old wedding bouquet in a dusty attic with the barest hint of sunlight creeping in through the vents.

Wearing: Goes on powdery, and the flowers are a bit warmer and sweeter. I can smell a woody dryness underneath, but it’s not screaming at me like sandalwood tends to, and the attic-feeling has warmed up – I don’t get the same dryness from this one that I do from Séance. This is very pretty and very quiet.

*pounce!*

Very glad you're feeling better. Good luck with the e-mails - I know it'll be a huge relief when that "stack of stuff to do" gets cut down a bit.

First sniff: Phobos is aggressively lemony, with something sweet and smooth, almost buttery, sliding underneath.

Wearing: I tend to compare all lemon scents to Phantasm, and this one is sharper and brighter, more definite – where Phantasm is a soft clean lemon scent, this is more like slicing a lemon open and sticking your nose in. Around the lemon I can smell the faint bitterness of the inside of a grapefruit peel.

I like it, and it seems to have better staying power on me than Phantasm (which my skin just soaks right up, alas).

First sniff: Gorgeous peppermint, and very crisp, the sound a soft-peppermint stick makes when you snap it in half. Mad Hatter is the white of new-fallen snow, but there’s a faint hint of green underneath.

Wearing: I really like this. The mint is very strong but not sharp, and after a few minutes it’s somehow warm, that same sort of paradoxical minty warmth that mint tea has. I can smell something darker lurking around the edges of the white mint, and on my left wrist it’s even gone a little bit spicy.

I was going to put something else on to wear to work after I shower, but this one has thoroughly seduced me (trying not to get a mental image of being seduced by the actual Mad Hatter… *shudder*)

Added after washing with Lush's Freeze shower gel, just as a point of comparison: I identify Freeze as a very "blue" mint (influenced not at all, I'm sure, by the fact that the gel is blue... ), and it's a bit sharper than this - Mad Hatter is both brighter and softer than Freeze, and there's obviously more going on with the scent.

I don't know offhand of a BP that works for nose-clearing, but if you have access to Burt's Bees stuff, their bath crystals are fantastic for that. It's very intense menthol and eucalyptus, so much that if you aren't having sinus issues it's waaaaaaay too much, but it's about the only thing that fixed my sniffer a few months ago when I lost my sense of smell because of a cold (and y'all can imagine how much that freaked me out!)

First sniff: “Slithery” is the first word I came up with to describe Deimos. It seems to be a bit fruity, but dark, dark fruit, eaten in a red-lit room as part of a wicked ritual.

Wearing: Powerful and arrogant. The fruit is sharper now, more distinctly orange through the red haze that permeates this scent. After Puck I was really worried about the civet, but I’m not getting that black animal smell from this one, thankfully – though there’s something in this that makes it undeniably masculine despite the oranges. It does go a bit powdery after a few minutes.

It's definitely interesting, but I don’t think I like it enough to wear it often.

Carnal is fig and mandarin. The orange is primary, but the fig provides a nice grounding to the bold brightness. I think Dragon's Heart has fig too, but I can't pick that one out specifically.

Have you tried the search engine at the Lab's website? Probably the quickest way to find everything with fig in it.

And welcome!