Shollin

It's one of the Dream Formulas, in the Somnium category of the Lab's site. Here are the reviews.

First sniff: A little bit of dust sprinkled over warm, woody richness. It’s very reminiscent of Jazz Funeral – that same smooth-wood warmth.

 

Wearing: Green warmth, soft spices and a poof of dust.

First sniff: The third Thirteen is fruitier and spicier than the others I’ve tried. Mostly spicier. The cardamom is really strong – in the decant it reminds me of what might happen if you mixed cocoa and chai.

Wearing: Yep, cocoa and chai. Spicy, herby, and not quite my thing.

First sniff: Marguerite is quite the prim and proper lady, all genteel roses and sweet gardenia.

 

Wearing: Gently, sweetly floral, with a whole lot of rose and an undercurrent of gardenia. Roses rarely work on me, but this is really nice.

First sniff: Earthy, musky, fruity and quite dark.

 

Wearing: Everything else disappears into voluptuous red velvet. I’m drowning in Marianne’s skirts. To be sure, there are worse fates.

First sniff: A light, sweet, elegant floral. It’s very airy and floaty and a little bit green, and fits the lovely lady in the absinthe tank perfectly.

 

Wearing: Jasmine explosion! That sudden flurry of white sweetness fades quickly to a lovely wispy greenness.

I found a decant in my giant pile whose label had turned solid pink, making the words disappear. I had no clue what it was and couldn't figure it out by sniffing or trying it on... I eventually sent it off as a frimp, so maybe someone else can solve the mystery.

 

And for blackheartedangel, if you're looking for reviews of Y'ha-nthlei, voila. I think the search engine sees the hyphen as a "minus" sign, so it's hard to find.

First sniff: Wonderful candy-sweet mint. I’ve been fighting the creeping crud for a couple of weeks and this feels amazingly good to my sinuses right now. If I didn’t know it was an incredibly bad idea, I’d be tempted to pour the whole bottle straight up my nose...

 

Wearing: It’s pure candy cane, at least at first. When the original Lick It hit my skin, it went from peppermint to something very like Sugar Skull within minutes. For now, it’s making my nose very tingly and very happy. …Ah, here we go. There’s that warm burned-sugar thing happening underneath. And… oh, dear, it’s going plasticky, which the first one never did. I think I’ll stick with the original.

First sniff: Berries and dark honey and a fantastic deep sweetness.

 

Wearing: Gorgeous honeyed fruit. Seductively sweet. The berry develops a crisp tartness as it dries.

(2006) First sniff: It’s all leather and musk. Very intimidating.

Wearing: Pretty much straight leather. I discovered a couple weeks ago that my guy and I both amp leather like crazy, so we really can’t wear it. Sadly.

(2006) First sniff: Piney sweetness, chilly and green and bright with the promise of a sugary dessert somewhere far off in the distance.

 

Wearing: Someone’s set up a Krispy Kreme in the middle of the woods, and there are indeed Hot Doughnuts Now… the only problem is, you have to tramp through miles of snow to get to them.

First sniff: High-pitched and hyper, a citrusy-ozoney brightness with some very light musk underneath.

 

Wearing: It’s the White Rain hairspray note from Stardust, and a lot of spinny neon craziness.

Haloa 2006:

 

First sniff: This is seriously rich, cakey and buttery and a little fruity. Yum.

 

Wearing: On me it goes immediately to grapes and green wood, like my arms are entwined with grapevines. The cake-scent disappears completely.

First sniff: Powdery flowers dusted with snow.

 

Wearing: It’s sweeter than I expected, a very gentle, quiet sweetness shining through the cold.

First, I must direct your attention to Ask A Ninja’s interview of the Blades of Glory stars, in which they speculate that Black Ice would be an excellent name for a rock band, or possibly a cologne. It’s roundabout the 3:15 mark.

 

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, my sweetheart hit a patch of black ice a couple of winters ago and flipped his car over a snowbank… so I came into this scent with a serious bias.

 

First sniff: Very very cold, and menacing, and generally not my friend. It’s freezing darkness, stranded on a winter’s night, unhappiness all 'round.

 

Wearing: Slushy cold… you know the noise your boots make when you have to slog through that nasty grey snowy-icy-slushy stuff in the parking lot when it snowed hard a couple days ago and no one’s cleaned it up properly? I’ve been hearing that noise a lot over the past few weeks, thanks to the winter storms that keep shooting through Washington state, and it’s exactly what this reminds me of.

First sniff: Wintergreen, cold rocks, and dirt.

 

Wearing: Wintergreen, cold rocks, and dirt. The mint is a bit softer on me, and the dirt isn’t as dusty, but it’s still pretty much wintergreen, cold rocks, and dirt.

First sniff: It’s quite a bit warmer than I expected, and something almost-vanilla is the main player there – I guess that must be tonka. There’s a very warm spiciness to it too, and a very subtle sweetness in the afterscent. This should be really nice on me; ginger likes me a lot.

 

Wearing: Oh, this is really nice. Golden wood paneling in a cozy study with a big patch of sunbeam warming the golden wood floor. It’s all warmth and coziness and soft ginger and sunlight on polished wood. It’s the retreat of a dignified older gentleman who’s generally very serious but keeps a secret stash of candy and a few good stories for when his grandchildren visit.

CCXVI. A swap from ayelienne; no previous reviews.

 

First sniff: There’s something really sharp in here. The underscent smells like white grapes, and it’s quite nice, but there’s a sharpness that goes owie right up my nose. It makes me think of the SN Mimosa that hated me so very much when I tried it on.

 

Wearing: Gah! Whatever the sharpness is, it’s very prominent, and the pretty fruity underneath part doesn’t save it. Dang.

First sniff: Hee hee! I was expecting Jolly Ranchers and that’s exactly what I’m getting. It’s super-fruity but crystallized and candy-sweet. Mostly watermelon and citrus.

 

Wearing: My wrists are made of lollipops! And the tart citrus takes the edge off the sugary sweetness. To the point that – astonishingly – it actually becomes a little too tart for me as it dries. Which is just nuts considering the amount of sugar in the wet stages. Mighty Morphin’ Power Treat!

First sniff: Well, that’s interesting, it’s… hmmm. Boozey red. Loud. Bright. Crowded. Not the kind of place I’d want to hang out.

 

Wearing: I can’t even focus properly on this; it’s just giving me images of a too-loud bar with too much neon and waaay too many people jammed into one room. Frenzied delirium, indeed.

First sniff: Yay purple! It’s definitely a regal and majestic purple, rather than a playful silly color. I get mostly wine and dark fruit from the vial.

 

Wearing: Dark fruit and blanket-warmth. Very cozy.

First sniff: This scent makes me think of falling into the spiky center of a giant red poppy – a heady floral with a sharp edge to it.

 

Wearing: Much cooler and greener on me. It’s still quite floral, but the mood has changed completely.

First sniff: Mmmmmm. White musk and soft lemon.

 

Wearing: Very, very lemon, a bit blurred and soft-focus around the edges. It gets a bit dry-woody as it dries.

First sniff: A chocolate-orange truffle with a coconut aftertaste. Oh, hallelujah. Except now I’m really hungry.

 

Wearing: Bright orange and mint over wonderfully deep chocolate. And the coconut intensifies as it dries. YUM.

First sniff: Yikes. Mr. Zahn seriously needs to tune his instrument. His Music is a sharp, loud cacophony of … something unpleasant. Vetiver is never nice to me, so I didn’t expect to like this one.

 

Wearing: The topnote is really nice, a very interesting bright golden note I don’t think I’ve smelled before. Tamarind, maybe? But underneath is the swampy vetiver and thick black musk, and the lovely soprano melody isn’t enough to save it from the pounding bass dissonance below.