greenranger

This one is not working for me. I sort of thought it was either going to be wonderful or awful on me....unfortunately, this isn't wonderful.

 

I did smell the cherry brandy...at first.

 

Then all the cherries packed up their things and left. What I have left on my skin might possibly be an alcoholic...cleaning solution? Maybe?

 

Ah well. More for everyone else, I suppose.

In the imp and wet on me, wow orchid! And red musk!

 

Drying, I get a whiff of patchouli and then the spices take over.

 

Dry, it settles down and blends together. It's a sweet, musky, captivating scent. I can definitely see this one getting it's wiles wrapped around you and never letting go.

Imagine, if you will, a garden. Fenced in wood, but untended, as the weather has been too hot. There is no scent of turned earth or the sap of cut stems. There is no dust in the air, as the garden is deserted, except for you and maybe a lizard dozing on a stone in the afternoon's heat.

Imagine an overcast but hot day, and a need for solitude. Sit on a bench in the garden and lean back against the rough cypress trees. Inhale the hot air, and close your eyes. You are alone, the world is silent, and the air is still.

Later, as you rejoin the rushing crowds, you surreptitiously sniff the skin of your hands where you ran them over the rough, hardy greenery. You wear a reminder of the still silence as a airy talisman to carry you through the teeming, chattering night.


****


You might be able to tell that I liked this scent very much.

It starts off as heated bare dry stone, like a rocky path. The wood and the greenery take several minutes to show up. The cypress and sandalwood take over the scent slowly, like the heat seeping into the greenery or the sun passing overhead...


It is lasting very nicely on my skin as well, with the sandalwood and a faint hint of cypress as the last notes hanging on. The roses never showed up, on me, which was fine. I amp roses, though I have found blends where they work on me, and in this I couldn't even tell there were any there.

Wet on me, and drying, this is sweet. I don't find anything bitter at all. The initial blast of scent was nearly candyish, but, it has settled down a little.

 

Dry, this is all sweet herbs and frankincense.

I suspect this one will only get better with time.

 

On me, this is a quiet scent. It isn't warm...or cool. It seems to be a little like that moment in the weather where it hasn't quite tipped over to Fall yet.

 

It's also really well blended and smooth. If I reeeeeally work at it I can almost smell the lavender and the roses. I think I might be smelling just a hint of the leaves. I smell just a little of something that reminds me of last year's "Blade of Grass." The scent seems to be getting just a little sweeter as I wear it, but, the sweetness is the leaves I think.

Nice...just a dark, fluttery, well blended scent. I can't really pick anything out. With benzoin, oppoponax and gardenia, I had to try it.

 

However, the ambergris is a very worrysome note for me, as it usually kidnaps the scent entirely...and, there it goes. Right on schedule.

 

I'll try this again in a few months and see if the ambergris has relented enough to let me have the scent back.

 

~edit~spelling.

Wet, it is all leather.

 

Drying, the sandalwood begins to emerge.

 

Subtle, understated and warm. I think this will improve a great deal with a little bit of time.

 

This layers very well with Sachs

With two vanillas and chamomile, I had to try this!

 

Wet, it's a very sweet vanilla, with maybe a bit of chamomile tea scent hiding somewhere in it. It's almost sweet enough to be candy.

 

Drying, it gets much more subtle. Fresh from the lab, maybe it is too subtle. I may have to give it a day or two to settle.

On wet, this reminded me very strongly of the Piper at the Gates of Dawn, one of last year's yule scents. Probably it is the blood orange and the amber that is similar.

 

This one doesn't last very long on me...but, it only arrived today, and sometimes things last longer after I give them a little while to settle.

 

It's a very orange/gold scent. On me it is mostly oranges and resins, with a little bit of sunflower and a few of the leaves poking up after the first hour.

 

 

Oooooh.

 

At first, it smelled a lot like all the things listed in the book, cinnamon, sage, lavender twigs...the entire list. I'm pretty sure there were raisins in it as well. Possibly there was beer as well. Probably there is charcoal.

 

 

 

My skin loves resins, and what this dries down to is an amazing woody spicy resin scent, with a touch of sweetness and smoke. I love it.

 

 

 

Dragon's blood(the lilac/floral version), vetiver and ...cinnamon? The spices come and go, as does the vetiver. The dragon's blood stays constant.

 

This is a little too floral for me, mostly due to the way the dragon's blood is showing up on me. It's interesting, though, and the vetiver does lend it a slitheryness that is intriguing.

Against Idleness and Mischief in the Mad Tea Party smells a little bit like Mead Moon(08-since that is the one I have tried).

 

It isn't exact. It's less spicy, but, on me it has a similar dry honey vibe.

 

 

In the bottle, berries, warm berries on the bramble.

 

On me, the berries apear first. To me it smells like the blackberries I used to pick in this canyon near our house when I was a kid. I know blackberries aren't listed, but, it reminds me of them.

 

As it dries, it changes. It gets muskier, and the honey comes forward. It is also blending more and becoming more of a sweet musky scent, rather than being a series of notes. I like it very much so far, and if it behaves like most musks on me(crosses fingers) then it should only get better with time. =)

Wet, on me, sweetness. More sweetness. And sweetness.

 

I actually like the sweet fruitiness of it. The flowers are only just beginning to make their way past all the fruit.

 

Ah, a whiff of pollen; Now something must be blooming! I still can't tell which flower is which, though.

 

This is a light, sweet scent. Nothing is heavy, or dark, or brooding.

 

 

 

I was wandering around the reviews, and I noticed that I hadn't tried this one yet...and there was an imp of it right at the top of my "untested" pile. Serendipity?

 

 

I've had decent luck with oriental musks, and citrus(though citrus sometimes fades fast on me), and excellent luck with vanilla and most sandalwoods. Neroli and white florals? Hm. Maybe.

 

It's a mild scent; it's mildly sweet, mildly floral, mildly citrus. Not any zing or pow to the lemons. There's nothing about the vanilla that makes you want to inhale it or nibble.

 

It smells....sophisticated?

 

Well, it doesn't smell in any way extravagant, over the top, or hedonistic.

 

It's a perfectly put together scent...and I find myself wishing for a few more wind blown hairs or stray leaves. It's like, not love. I can definitely see wearing it when I might need to appear sophisticated and mild. I can't see needing this scent in any passionate way.

 

Although I have been wrong before.

I also like the smell of roses, but haven't had much luck with rose scents. They amp on me, and there are only a few roses that I have found that really truly behave on my skin.

 

Therefore, it is my pleasure to recommend:

 

Snooty Rose, from the Garden of Live Flowers, in the Mad Tea Party section. It has red rose, oud, plum, bergamot, and red sandalwood. On my skin, the rose did not scream, pout, throw things or amp uncontrollably. It just smelled like a lush, spicy, full, deep red rose. After many hours it did dry down to mostly sandalwood with some rose and plum.

 

Oh, and my husband liked it too! Or at least he said it was ok, which for him, on any perfume, is amazing praise!

A spicy and elegant scent...but, not for me I think.

 

The scent changes quite a bit on me over time, but, it's hard to pick out individual notes for a very long time.

 

The scent dries down, eventually, to mostly just frankincense and ginger with a bit of the flowers.

 

Although it has things in it that I thought I might love, this one just isn't me. I don't know how it could possibly be, but, I like Snooty Rose better. The world must be ending soon.

Yum.

 

Oh, I need to actually review? Well...um...

 

Right now this is a wonderful herby golden scent. It was sharper when I put it on, but, it is smoothing out...

 

I really really need a garden that smells like this. This is golden summertime in a bottle. Summertime, in a hammock, under a pear tree.

 

 

~editing for more detail~

I'm loving this one. I have worn it several times and I have to keep myself from slathering it on, as I adore the scent, but, others might not. So I am trying to keep a lighter hand on application. The throw is pretty decent without slathering. =)

 

Wet, it is all resin and lavender. Soooo much lovely resin and all the lavender I could wish for(I love lavender, though).

 

Drying, the lavender takes a huge step back into the background and the gardenia and pear take the stage.

 

Dry, it is mostly lush gardenia and tasty pear, grounded with the golden warm resin, with the lavender only detectable as a bit of color and contrast in the background. I would really love to have a garden that smelled exactly like this.

 

It lasts and lasts and lasts on me. =) I can still smell it on me in the morning after the day I have worn it. At that far deep drydown, most of what is left is the sweet golden resin with only a hint of the pear and gardenia, but, ooooh, I like this scent!

 

 

If you love the resin part of this, try Penitence.

 

If you love the gardenia part of it, you might try Euphrosyne.

I wore this at work without the notes handy, came back to review, and stared at the listed notes in puzzlement. How on earth does all that add up to a slightly sweet warm scent like golden motes of dust in the sun?

 

Only Beth knows how, I suppose.

 

It doesn't last they way I want, yet. I'm greedy and want more than 4 hours. Maybe a bit more settling and aging will help it.

It was a little sharper when it was wet, but, as it dries it becomes a smooth herby honey scent. It's closer to a chamomile honey than a chamomile tea with honey in it, but, smoother...and there's no beeswax listed but I seem to smell it anyway? Maybe it's the tonka.

In the imp, I smell rose. It reminds me of the big Chrysler Imperial red roses that my parents grew. Second sniff...and getting it all over my hands, I smell resin...or sandalwood?

 

There might possibly be enough other notes to keep the rose in line, but, this imp was a gamble for me. Rose often amps...

 

On me, the rose is the strongest note, but, it isn't screaming like it sometimes does. I have hope!

 

It isn't quite like the Chrysler Imperial rose anymore, but, it's still a full spicy red rose. This is certainly not a hedgerose, or a little miniature rose. It is the fancy rosebush that needs its special pruning and fertilizer and to be talked to and treated just so...in order to bear the most beautiful huge deep red velvety blossoms with that rich spicy rose scent.

 

I'm not sure I want a bottle...but...possibly...maybe...I have an imp of a rose scent that I may wear.

 

If I actually reach for it enough to use up that imp, maybe then I'll think of a bottle.

 

(edited to add link to the rose it reminded me of. Interestingly, the description says the Chrysler Imperial rose has a citrus scent.)

 

 

Light, sweet, and cheerful. On me, it's mostly a light dusting of sugar over cheerfull flowers, with just enough pepper to make it slightly energetic.

 

I'm hoping that the carnation is more noticable as it ages, but, even if it stays just as it is, I love it. I actually have some hope that this will be a scent my husband will like. He's so very picky, and he doesn't tend to like my resins or woods.

Wet, I have smelled a soap, somewhere, that was remarkably like this in feel. I don't normally get "soap" from scents. Hm.

 

 

Drying, there's the moss, and a whiff of parsley...the honey makes an apearance...Mostly, though, I think I am smelling copal? The flowers and the frankincense are missing. I'll have to hold on to this and see if it changes, but, right now it is mostly copal with a few green leaves.

 

What I really need, I suppose, is for my memory of what I wanted from the scent to fade a bit so that I can see if I like it without missing the flowers that I was hoping to smell. I kind of wanted a honeysuckle/carnation/gardenia scent, with enough resin to make the flowers last. I don't think this is that scent, but, if I forget that I wanted flowers, for once, maybe I can be happy with the resin that I do have?

 

 

 

In the bottle, alcohol. Stroooong alcohol. Rum and whiskey.

 

On me, there's a blast of all the sweet notes, the licorice, cotton candy and marshmallow, all rolled into one very intense sugar rush.

 

Then it's all whisky again, with just a faint bit of the sugar rush sticking stubbornly to the edge of the scent. It smells like I just rinsed my hands in the whiskey. The sugar holds on, and the alcohol fades a little, and now it is slightly toasted(both meanings) cotton candy scent with just a bit of licorice hanging out at the edges.

----

I called this "scary clown" when I reviewed it in the will call thread. I was never a fan of clowns; they really did frighten me as a kid, and the clown on the label, if encountered in person, would have sent me crying and possibly running in terror as a child if it had gotten too near me(20 feet or so, I think...or anything aproaching eye contact).

 

I'm still waiting on the drydown. I had to wash all the scent off after coming home from will call in deference to my husband's over sensitive nose. Even after washing this off, the next morning I could smell a really lovely lush(again, both meanings of the word) vanilla.

----

About 15 minutes in, the whiskey and all the sugar rush are still there, and maybe I can detect the peanuts...or perhaps it is just the hint of the salt that makes the sweetness of all that sugar more intense and makes you thirsty. There is also the suggestion of the greasepaint. Thankfully, the greasepaint is in the background.

 

------

30 minutes in, the cigars arrive. They aren't taking over though, so, basically, I have whiskey, sugar rush, a tiny bit of saltyness? and cigars. I think the vanilla is beginning to assert itself, and the whisky is finally beginning to smell more like a flavoring, and less like I poured whiskey on my hands. =) Alcohol loves my skin, but, fortunately, vanilla is a good friend to me and is willing to drive me home.

 

The scent as it settles in for the long haul is Vanilla, steeped in enough whiskey to make an extract, and poured over sweet sugared tobacco. Not bad at all.

It starts off pear, musk, and patchouli. I think I can detect something metallic...

 

Another yummy one. With Amber in it, it will probably keep getting better for a while on me as well. Amber is never at its best for me till a few months have passed.