greenranger

I'm reviewing this because I tested the imp, and I feel like I ought to write something...I don't have anything interesting to say about this one, though.

 

This was a frimp. It wasn't something that I would have picked for myself, especially since I usually amp rose.

 

I actually didn't amp the rose in this one, but, it didn't help much. On my skin, this is a muddle. A muddy muddle. I can't pick anything out, but, the scent doesn't strike me as anything interesting the way my skin is presenting it.

 

Swap pile. Hopefully it will tempt someone else.

*reads the scent notes* There was musk in this? Where?

 

On me, wet, this was Sweet Lemon. I could picture a whole bowl full of sliced up lemons with sugar poured over the top.

 

Drying, I was thinking about lemonade. Sweet and powerful lemonade, with the lemons still floating in amongst the ice.

 

When it faded, it smelled like the rind of a lemon.

I have found a scent with rose in it that doesn't amp rose on me!

 

Unfortunately, it amped the lemongrass instead. Hee!

 

Usually, I amp rose. Usually, cedarwood, patchouli and sandalwood would all last on my skin.

 

This scent doesn't know about "usually" apparently, since the only note I could really tell was there was lemongrass.

 

It started off a strong golden lemongrass. Maybe there might have been some spices behind it. Maybe.

 

Eventually it dried down to lemongrass, with perhaps a little bit of spicyness from the patchouli and woods.

The sea spray is definitely the top note. The rest of the notes are way way WAY in the background. I am barely getting wood, leather and maybe rum. It fades fairly quickly on me as well.

It started off as a floral scent. Not an innocent walk-in-the-meadow flower scent, but more the kind of floral that a woman who worked or danced in a tavern of hell might wear: A Complex, and heavily ornamented distraction from the fact that she's been around the block more than a few times and may or may not be enjoying herself or your company.

 

After about an hour and a half it is merely the faint residue of whisky and tobacco. The party is over, but, the wooden bar hasn't been cleaned yet.

 

I actually don't mind the drydown. Wood and whisky and tobacco are usually fairly appealing to me, scent wise. I'm not certain why it isn't grabbing me, except that perhaps I am comparing it to Perversion, and I like that one much better. Plus Perversion doesn't start with the florals. There are florals that I like...there just aren't very many of them that I'd wear.

Floral...an interesting floral, though I don't know the notes well enough to pick them out.

 

It's a pretty scent, but, although I like it, I don't think it is me. I may try it again some night when I am dressing up to go out.

Apple and honeydew melon, with maybe some floral behind it?

 

This may appeal to someone else, but, it isn't speaking to me.

In the imp, frankincense, backed by myrrh.

 

On me, wet, frankincense and myrrh. To me, the frankincense is a peppery, spicy resin, and the myrrh is the warmth behind it.

 

Drying, the myrrh is coming forward more, and now it is myrrh with a slight peppery kick from the frankincense. These are two notes that I had actually bought as single note essential oils a while ago. I usually have some trouble picking out myrrh when it is it blended with more notes than this.

 

This is nice.

 

(I found this halfway across the livingroom on the floor today. I suspect one of the cats of knocking off the table and carrying it off. I wonder what else I am missing? )

 

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Came back to this scent after a while trying others. I was looking for something a bit more bearable in the lack of reliable air conditioning at work, and I tried this since I recalled it being less "warm and spicy" than some of my other favorites.

 

Today, it is all warm sweet golden shimmering myrrh. The frankincense starts out prominent at first and then relaxes it's grip and lets the myrrh persuade it to lay back. It isn't a cool refreshing scent by any means, but, it smelled fantastic today.

 

I even put a bit more on as I was running errands after work. Of course when I got home, my latest BPAL package was waiting for me(Squeeeeee!) and now I have to decide between keeping this scent on, which is doing fabulous things on my skin today, or wash it off to try the new smellies.

 

So very torn.

 

In a side note, today, this smelled very much like Athens did on me, but, without the wine. If you like Penitence, and also like rich sweet wine, you might try that one.

Wet, it's wood, rum, salt and a hint of flowers...which is different and unexpected simply because I so rarely get all the notes of a perfume on my skin.

 

 

Drying, it is staying remarkably stable. I don't know that I am excited by the scent itself, but, it is still odd that I actually am getting all the notes on my skin.

 

There is a slight bit of variation, since my elbow is smelling more of the flowers and salt, and my wrist seems to have found out that it was spiced rum...there seems to be at least a little in the way of spices in Port Royal. The wood is becoming the dominant note, but, just barely. It still seems nicely blended, and very piratey.

On me, wet, the coconut was the first note I identified.

 

Drying, the coconut stepped back and the apple and banana stepped forward.

 

Now, though, it's just....blended. It's slightly fruity, but not too sweet. I suspect the chili pepper might be keeping the sweetness in check, even though I can't pick it out in the blend. At the moment, it is a really nice, rich, very well blended scent, with just a litle spicy edge, but, I don't know how it will last on my skin.

On me, sweet lemony incense. The lemony part is amping up to make it intensely lemon incense.

 

 

Drying, the lemon begins to back down slightly. Nothing else has really stepped forward, though. Now it is a softer, more resiny lemon incense.

In the imp, I think I smell vanilla...and flowers.

Wet on me, jasmine. There's a lot of scents listed, and I get, just, jasmine. It isn't very powerful, but, it is the only scent showing up so far.

Dry, on me, jasmine. I was hoping for so much more.
Opium, tobacco, sandalwood, leather, and vanilla are often strong notes on my skin. Tea leaf has shown up on me before. Champaca, lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, mandarin, and peru balsam are new to me, but, I was hopeful.

...and jasmine is all I get.

Sigh.


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Several hours later, I sniff to see what has changed, and I get a very faint, but nice, incense scent. I'm afraid it is too faint, and too long a wait for the jasmine to fade enough so that I can smell it, though.

On me, the cinnamon was the most apparent, and behind that the rest of the amber, sandalwood, and black patchouli just seemed to blend into a musky dark background. In fact, I didn't have the scent notes with me today, and I thought for sure there was musk in this blend.

 

The whole scent sticks around fairly well, but the cinnamon slowly moves in to be more apparent next to the skin, rather than wafting, over the course of about three hours.

This is another one that I tried at work, far away from the scent description. I thought I was smelling anise or caraway...with a slight celery scent that came and went, all overlaying a base of tobacco and maybe musk.

I'm looking over the list of scents and wondering where they all were? For me, this is mostly cinnamon with maybe a little spice in the background. It lasts all day long, as most of the ars draconis scents do on me, but, the only note that is identifiable to me is cinnamon. Even the dragons' blood never shows up.

 

I may try it in a locket to see what the rest of the scent is that never shows up on my skin, but, I still love the scent. I love cinnamon, and this one lasts longer than any other cinnamon scent that i have tried wearing so far.

In the imp, it was wine.

 

On me, wet, wine....for a few seconds. Then the rose amped up. Fortunately there are enough other notes that the rose didn't take over completely.

 

Drying, the roses stepped back and the leather came up. Then...it began to fade.

On me, it's a sweet golden scent with a good deal of staying power. I know from other scents that cedar and musk tend to last on my skin. There are other notes that are also lasting well, though. I haven't encountered litsea cubeba before, and amber and saffron I haven't tried enough of yet to know how well my skin likes them. There's a warmth to the scent that might be saffron, but, I'm not certain.

 

 

Well, it is a spicy, musky warm scent that is lasting fairly well on me. I'll probably use the imp fairly often.

A frimp from the lab. =)

 

In the imp, cinnamon.

 

Wet on me, cinnamon...and wood?

 

Drying, on me, cinnamon and some kind of wood backing it up. I still can't tell what kind, but, I might be able to tell later, if it is one of the ones that stays strong on me for ages.

In the imp, I couldn't smell much of anything.

 

On me, wet, I can smell coconut.

 

Drying, on me, maybe there's a floral coming forward...Iris? The coconut just...faded. It might be a slight sweetness lingering in the background, but, it isn't identifiably "coconut" anymore.

 

Actually, I don't think I can pull any one note out anymore. It's light and sweet and different from anything else I have tried so far. I'll use the imp and see how I feel about it over time.

In the imp, fruity? Sweet.

 

Wet on me, fruity, but, developing a floral scent...I can't identify anything. I can't find the coconut, and I don't know what blood musk or orris smell like, yet.

 

This is...interesting. The fruityness is fading, and the scent is still sweet, but....I can't really say it smells floral to me now. It is interesting. Rich, sweet, and intriguing. Though some of the intrigue is that I can't identify a thing in it.

 

Now that it is dry, I think I now know what "blood musk" smells like. I'll give it some time on my skin to see if it changes again. Right this moment I don't care for it much. It's reminding me strongly of a musky dragon's blood and though I seem to do ok with DB well blended with other things, I'm still not looking for anything even resembling a DB single note. It's taking over the scent like rose often does on me.

In the imp, smoke and dragon's blood.

 

 

On me, wet, dragon's blood and smoke. The smoke vanished pretty quick. The dragon's blood is being just it's floral smelling self.

 

The dragon's blood is a light floral scent, right now, clean, sweet, and somewhat airy. Once in a while I think I get a whiff of the smoke again, but it's gone when I sniff for it. Maybe there might possibly be amber in the background.

 

This is pretty much staying just dragon's blood on me. The interesting thing is that it seems to be getting slightly stronger over time, instead of fading. If it is like most dragon's blood scents on me it will also last a long time...but, I'm not looking for a DB single note. I was hoping for amber. I'm washing it off to try something else.

In the imp, it was allll vanilla.

 

This is all vanilla cake on me. There might possibly be a very sweet currant jam filling inside the heavily frosted, very vanilla cake. Maybe.

 

It's lasting pretty well, but, though I like some vanilla scents this one is just way too foody for my taste.

 

I suspect my slight distaste for the scent has to do with my distaste for the practice of smushing wedding cake in your new spouse's face at the reception of your wedding. This scent is pretty much a wedding cake scent to me, and I don't like the idea of wearing wedding cake. Fortunately, I married a guy who agreed with me that smushing wedding cake in each other's faces would not be amusing. This must mean I found the right guy for me. *

This scent, though, is heading straight for the swap pile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Disclaimer. I don't mean to criticize anyone else for participating in this modern tradition. I didn't want to do it, and I was amazed at the pressure applied by mere acquaintances when I expressed that I didn't want to do it. It's my face. If I don't want cake in my face at my wedding, no-one should tell me that I am being a spoilsport! Soooooo, wearing a scent that smells like wedding cake? Just not for me. Might fit someone else really well though.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I love this scent.

 

Before I started sampling the different scents, and before I tried a frimp of Bordello, I might not have ordered this one. Bordello is the reason I tried Athens, since before that I had no idea that I might like wine as a scent. Bordello was fun, but this one. Mmmmm!

 

When I applied this I was lost for a moment in the glorious unfolding of the scent. It was warm, rich, sweet and I just sat there and sniffed it for a couple minutes. I've been sniffing at my wrists all day. On my skin the scent lasts reasonably well for about ten hours. It does change slightly from a rich fruity red scent(mostly wine, I think), to a more spicy and subtle golden scent(mostly myrrh and honey), but it takes hours and hours, and the change is gradual.

 

Near the begining, I did think I was smelling raisins...or raisins soaked in wine, sweetened by honey and myrrh, warmed by the sun or being simmered on a stove. It was still a glorious scent, and all I could think of was, how was I supposed to know that I liked smelling like that? I don't normally like raisins to eat, but, here the scent was so rich and sweet and edible, it distracted me all day.

The oil in the imp is green.

 

Which is appropriate since it starts out very "green" smelling. There are a lot of notes listed here that I don't know well yet. Green, strong, and cologne like.

 

Since so many of the scent notes are unfamiliar to me, I'll just say that this definitely could be the scent of a pair of metal and leather goggles, with enough electricity left in them to zing the unwary person who picks them up.

 

I'm not sure that I will wear this one much, but, the imagery is definitely there for me.

In the imp, it smelled like leather...not the "perfume" smell I get before most leather notes dry on me, but, nice suede leather, right there in the imp.

 

On, it was a lovely warm scent. The musk, wood, and grasses started things off, and the doeskin made its way leisurely to the forefront in about an hour.

 

This lasted all day long at work. It wasn't strong enough that I worried about offending the people around me with it, but, I could smell it.

 

It was a warm, soft, fuzzy scent, and it made me smile all day.