oatmealneko

Vial: Green ivy, a little chilly. Wet: It smells chilly - like a cold breeze, the ozone has this feeling to it. It's a light ozone, not the heavier type you'd find in Storm Moon. It's even lighter than Neo-Tokyo. Green ivy & a light floral, barely noticeable. Dry: Florals sneaks in, lily & iris (I think, I'm still not very good at picking out florals because I usually avoid them), it sneaks in among the ivy - you barely notice it at first, but then it's there. It blends in with the ivy, while a cold breeze swirls around it. Quiet with staying power. Received this from a swap as a freebie, it was a wish list scent for me. I'm tempted to purchase this in a bottle, even for a floral hater like me.

Among the others that have already been mentioned, I would also include Aizen-Myoo, The Hanging Gardens, & Mi-Go Brain Canister. Mi-Go is more fruity than The Hanging Gardens & leans a little more towards summer than spring.

Bottle: Fruity - general fruity, no specific note popping out. Wet: It goes to melons on me. Honeydew & pomegranate. Or maybe mango & pomegranate. Dry: Now it's more floral. Jasmine, then white tea. Then it's white tea & jasmine. Some fruit. It's a fruity floral, but it fades quickly.

Vial: Spicy floral with hints of blackberry. Wet: Heather smells spicy. Not sure why. Blackberry was strong initially, but appears to be fading. Dry: Heather now smells rosy. Blackberry came back, thought it would disappear, but nope, it returned. More heather than blackberry, very floral.

Bottle: Dark, deep floral. Unlike a lot of florals I've sniffed, it's definitely not a "happy" type. Wet: Dabbed a bit on one wrist. I didn't think it was that strong, but my friend told she could smell Hades on the other side of the room! Dry: STRONG floral. Lots of throw. It's dark & sinister. Narcissus tends to be very strong on me, but I think due to the opoponax, it's doesn't smell like a flower. Dark & murky, growing below the surface, a strange wafting scent that sneaks up behind you & wraps you in an evil shadow. That's Hades.

Vial: Tangy ozone! No resin, oddly enough. Wet: More tangy ozone, similar to that in Lightning. There's a bit of resin, but not much. The ozone is laying claim to this scent in this stage. Dry: Tang is gone & there is only ozone & resin. What happens when ozone (which likes me) & resin (which likes me) get together? ozone + resin = rubber Rubber scent means I SCRUB. Hard. Probably means I can only take one or the other, I shouldn't wear both in the same blend or this will happen.

Sensual, robust, and silken: voluptuous red rose bursting with lascivious red wine and sultry dragon’s blood resin. Vial: Dragon's blood resin & sweet red wine. Wet: Sweet wine, then resin. The resin isn't as strong in this as it is in other blends with dragon's blood resin. The wine in Blood Rose smells exactly like the same sweet red scent I get from Lady MacBeth. Wine notes love my skin & sometimes I get false readings off the scent because the wine can smell fruity on me. Usually this happens when I wear anything with a sweet red wine note in it (like Lady MacBeth, though that one was much sweeter due to the currants). I caught a bit of rose in the wet stage, but not a whole lot. Dry: Sweet wine scent fades, the resin gets stronger, & then meet in the middle. There's resin & sweet wine, but the sweet wine fades in & out of the resin. I'm not picking up any rose, which is good. I despise roses. This was a real big surprise to me - I thought I would hate this one, but I decided to try it & see how it wears. It wears great on me. Definitely a keeper.

Bottle: Very fruity! Pomegranate & plum are the strongest. There's some gardenia too. Wet: Still very fruity. Same fruits that I smelled in the bottle, however the gardenia is gaining in strength. I detect no rose at this point, which is the one note that could ruin this for me. Dry: Gardenias are stronger than the fruit now, but it doesn't overpower the scent. I picked up a bit of rose, & it's slightly incensy too. There's fruit & floral in even measure, a bit of incense, which makes this an interesting scent. I was convinced it was turn horribly floral when it dried, but it didn't. I like it, but it wil probably take a few wearings to see how good it is. Wrist vs. neck, sometimes other notes come through, & others may hide.

Vial: Dark chocolate with a tangy, sweet red wine note. Wet: Dark chocolate, wine note has faded somewhat. Dry: Smells less like chocolate, has deepened into a earthy/spicy scent. It's chocolate dirt. Wine note is gone. It reminds me of Nosferatu, which had the same red wine note, but dried down to dirt. I don't like the smell of dirt, so this must go.

Vial: Herbs mixed with red wine. Wet: Herbs & red wine. Same. Dry: This is where I realized I didn't like Nosferatu. Sweet tangy wine note disappeared. The herbs turned spicy & sweet. Then I started to smell dirt. Dirt. Lots of it. Then I ran to scrub this off. Tried it since I received it as a freebie. It was interesting, but most definitely not my type of scent.

Neo-Tokyo for a spring shower, if it's actually raining. Empyreal Mist has that same feeling, without the ozone, more green. It's light & slightly tangy. So maybe that for a light sprinkle.

Wow. I can't believe I forgot to review Bordello, especially since it's one of my favorites. It's also the best plum scent by far. In the bottle, I smells lots of candy plums. On me, sweet plums, got that same candy sweet scent as Midwinter's Eve, but as it dries down, the scent launches into the air. Wine notes love my skin & any fruit note combined with the wine note makes the scent launch. I don't get any scent from wine notes. Literally. I had a friend follow me through the store by scent. It's the scent of sweet purple plums wafting about me, though the amaretto likes to hang closer to the skin. The candy scent is less noticeable by this point, but I reek of plums. I still haven't found another plum scent to match this one.

Galangal is also in Tzadikim Nistarim. I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to smell like, because in Tzadikim Nistarim, it smells very fruity. I know it's a ginger root. In that blend, it smells like pineapple or mango. Has anyone else had bad reactions to black amber? I thought Verdandi was fluke, but after I tried Megaera, I realized it couldn't be a coincidence. Black amber gives me headaches & makes a little nauseous too. Amber tends to be tricky, sometimes it smells funny on me, but that's about it. Is black amber very different from amber?

I love Neo-Tokyo a lot. I also love Storm Moon. I noticed the other day that Neo-Tokyo is the lighter version of Storm Moon. Neo-Tokyo is the light spring shower, while Storm Moon is the spring storm.

The dry, thin scent of a draconic ossuary. Dragon's blood resin with white sandalwood, dusty orris and crisp blondewood. Vial: Dragon's blood resin. Wet: Still very resiny. Picking up a floral, I'm fairly sure this is orris. Oh boy. Orris is building up in strength. I'm surprised I'm not getting any sandalwood because it does love my skin a lot. Dry: Resin has faded a lot, which is weird! Usually, dragon's blood resin is very strong on me. Constant with staying power. It's very weak right now. Still no sandalwood. Orris, yes, but like the resin, growing weaker. It's very perfumey throughout. Definitely my least favorite dragon oil.

Vial: Slightly spicy. Vanilla too. Wet: Lots of spices & sweet vanilla. Dry: Burnt spices with sugary sweet vanilla. I think there's a burning plastic smell too. I wanted to try this to see what all the fuss was about, but knowing how much vanilla doesn't like me, I knew this wasn't going to end well. Even if it weren't for the burnt plastic smell, the vanilla is sickeningly sweet.

Vial: Lightly plum. Wet: Plum & grapefruit. Very fruity! Dry: Grapefruit sure doesn't last long. Gone by the time Megaera's dry. Plum is still there, but it's a subtle plum. Muted, like most plum scents that lack wine become on me. I could smell like a floral throughout, but that's gone now. Black amber begins to peek through. I had to wash it off because black amber makes my head hurt. We don't get along.

Vial: Fruity ozone. Usually I get a citrus tang off on an ozone scented oil, but not this one. It's berry-like. Wet: Fruity ozone, but here comes the florals. It's not strong, but it mixes in there with the fruity scented ozone well. Hard to pick it out unless I'm sniffing closely. Dry: Florals have gone away, but it's on the cusp of turning soapy. But it doesn't. Yes, it's still fruity ozone. Berry ozone. I'm undecided about this one, I think I may keep the imp, but it's weird. I'll have to try it again.

I wasn't able to wear this for longer than ten minutes after I put it on my skin. The jasmine completely overwhelms all the other notes until that's all I can smell. Jasmine has about a 50-50 chance of taking over a scent, but I can never tell which one it will happen in. Scrubbed off quickly & passed the imp on to someone else.

Vial: Strawberry & black cherry, very fruity & sweet. Wet: Strawberry & musk, some black cherry also. Dry: Same as above, but oddly enough, I don't pick up any heliotrope, which normally causes the scent to smell too sweet on my skin. I also don't get any amber or vanilla from this, which also works against me. It does smell too sweet overall. I don't like the scent of strawberry on me, & I have a feeling if I let this age, the amber, vanilla, or heliotrope will come through & make this scent smell even worse, so I'm not going to keep this one.

In the vial, wet, & dry, it smells exactly the same. One of those scents that doesn't morph at all once it hits the skin. It smells of peony & tea. I don't like flowers with my tea. If it's green & herbal, it's fine, but it's too much floral than I can take during this time of year.

Bottle: There's some berries in here! Ack. Florals. Can't pick out what kind. Smells promising. Wet: Florals. LOTS of them. But wait...it's an orchid. I like orchids. Orchid & slightly berry. Just a hint of berries, which are rapidly giving way to the orchid. Dry: Orchid has disappeared. There's rose, & I think a little bit of gardenia. Mostly rose. The berry scent is back again. Ten minutes later, the gardenia isn't there anymore & it's rose & berries, but mostly rose. I wished & hoped this would be a fruity scent on me. Alas, it was not meant for me. It's good, but a tad too floral for me. Unfortunately, rose ruins every scent I've tried simply because it becomes too strong & overwhelms everything else. It's not overwhelming in this, but overall it's too floral for me. Even the bit of berries in the drydown doesn't save this one. It's a lovely scent, but it's lovely on someone else.

Vial: Either oleander or magnolia with a sweet mandarin. Wet: Probably magnolia with a sweet & juicy mandarin, plus lots of musk. Dry: The musk has toned down, & mixes in with the magnolia & mandarin, which still smells juicy & sweet. I don't love it or hate it, it's in the middle for me. It's not an overpowering floral for once (yay!), but it's also not very fruity. I wanted to try this because I was curious, but it doesn't do anything for me.

I was trying a bunch of scents that were similar to Embalming Fluid, which is one of my favorites. I decided to give Zephyr a whirl. Vial: Slightly lemon with some light florals. Wet: No lemon at all! Definitely sandalwood with florals & some musk, but only a little bit. Dry: Musk is gone. It's mostly sandalwood & the florals are much stronger. Eh. I don't really like this scent either. I like lemon & lemon verbena, some green tea, but anything with florals destroys the scent for me. I'm going to have to pass on this one as well.

In the vial & wet on my skin, it smells the same. Lemon & jasmine. But once it dries, the jasmine fades & the lemon remains. But the lemon is fading fast. I have a feeling this one isn't going to last past an hour or two on me. I wanted to try it because it shared ingredients with Embalming Fluid, but it's nowhere near as strong nor does it last very long.