Janie

Gorgeous. Why have I waited 3 months before even opening the bottle?? Oh, that's right - because I moved house and my life was in chaos. How could I forget?

Lovely. Green, fresh, great throw. Immediately upon application it's all green tea. It changes to a more astringent, almost citrusy green scent within an hour. Then stays that way. Seriously lovely.

I don't think many people here have been down an opal mine. I have. I lived for many years in the outback, 2 hours fast driving from Lightning Ridge, home of the black opal in Australia.

This is the smell of where black opals come from. The mines are small and dark, with damp, cool air. The walls give off a smell that is not earthy, instead you can smell the rocks. You go down narrow tunnels and then suddenly they open into a ballroom where the miners have obviously had a good strike. Above, on the surface, everything bakes in 110 degree heat.

I love opals and I love this oil. It takes me back to the mines, mullock heaps and mad miners of the Coocooran opal fields

The initial stage of this is very dusty and dry. It conjures up visions of an old attic with motes of dust falling through shafts of filtered sunlight.

On wearing the rose note becomes stronger, with the dusty note as an undertone. I still haven't found the hazel.

Not a lot of throw, reasonable lasting power.

Had someone told me this had oudh (agar) wood in it I would have agreed. I guess the sharp resinous wood I smell is cypress.

This is a gorgeous astringent woody blend. Everything takes a back seat to the wood, but I like that. Good sillage, good lasting power. Nice, very nice.

I ordered this when the first set of reviews came out - when it was all very confusing and some Snake Charmer went out disguised as HoM.

Light, aquatic, ozone scents are not my favourites. That said, this is nicer than some. I think the amber adds a lovely touch.

On me it is short-lived. It opens with a fanfare of citrus and clear notes and doesn't last much longer than initial drydown. Nice, but not my cuppa.

this is lovely. The opening blast of chocolate and lemon falls away to a dark golden fruity goodness. Another CN winner.

In the vial, a spicy, buttery scent which stays true on skin with the exception of a later developing - is it peach? - note.

It has excellent sillage and good staying power. The buttery note is too overwhelming for me, but I can see why it has its die-hard fans.

A delicious oil - decadent and voluptuous. It has excellent sillage and lasting power.

Simply lovely. I'm not a rose-lover, but this is a superb spicy rose with a smooth vanilla undertone. Very unusual and interesting.

If I could wish for anything it would be that it lasted longer. I have only applied lightly, so will be interested to see if applying more oil changes the amount of throw and lasting power.

Like many others I get the grape bubblegum note on opening, followed by cloves on drydown. The mimosa never comes out to play on me.

Soft throw, lasts moderately.

I love Honey Moon. I generally find jasmine goes over the top on me, but in this scent it belnds beautifully with honey (and the other florals). The longer it dries down, the more the honey comes through. And I love honey.

I very much enjoy wearing this to bed - I love falling asleep to the smell of honey and waking up to it as well. Lovely without being cloying.

This is yummy. I can't add anything that hasn't already been written! It's a rich, spicy ginger delight - deep and powerful. Great throw, good lasting power. Glad I got this one - it was a last minute SiA order.

On initial application I get a hint of almost mint-like green-ness. It settles down to a heady floral with deeper undertones. Not a lot of tobacco, but enough comes through to safe this from overwhelming floralcy for me. Not much rum either.

Very sniffable.

edited to add - the longer I wore this the more utterly lovely it became. It is deep and entrancing and absolutely bewitching.

A sweet floral (lots of neroli and mimosa come out to play). The clove is muted. It lasts well enough and is pleasant to wear. It doesn't scream "look at me I AM FLORAL".

This was a frimp - thanks labbies.

This opens with a trumpet fanfare of orris/iris. It has that lovely catch-in-the-back-of-my-throat dry powdery iris note I just adore.

It dries down to a spicy, quasi floral but still has an underlying woody feel to it. Nothing is overwhelming, but everything feels voluptuous and elegant.

Good sillage, reasonable lasting power. A lovely oil, well worth trying.

A frimp from the lab. Blood Pearl has one of my favourite notes - orris. I love orris in most things. I love its dryness. I really didn't smell much coconut, and the musk was playing a subtle understudy role. This was very low key on me - it stayed close to home and didn't really "waft" much.

A golden warm floral - enveloping and embracing. The jasmine doesn't overpower and the ylang ylang shines in the opening.

Suspiro has excellent sillage and lasts a reasonable amount of time - I could still smell it 5 hours later and was catching faint whiffs up to 8 hours later.

No doubting this one - rose and narcissus indeed. Although I could swear I caught some jasmine - that indole note was lurking in the background, or so I thought.

Strong. Good throw. Not for me, as I'm not a rosy sort, but interesting to try. If you like roses, this could be for you.

Another review that isn't quite sure how to adequately describe this scent.

I'll start by saying it has little throw and stays close. It is sharp without being acrid, light without being ephemeral, fresh without being green.

I like it, but I can't see it getting a lot of wear in winter. To me it is a scent to cut through the warm fug of overpowering summer days.

A blast of chocolate in the bottle (and initially on skin) develops into an interesting, complex and varied accord of notes. It has a variety of permutations until it drys down into a delightful tea scent.

At first, I smelled like a chocolate orange cake baking, but now I just smell divine.

DLV (555)

I have worn CT2 DLV (555) three times now in the hopes that I could write a decent review of it.

In the bottle I smell a slightly sweet, fruity scent with a light, airy feel to it.

As soon as it hits my skin it turns into strawberries. Delicious, sunwarmed strawberries, at their peak of juiciness.

It doesn't change a great deal at all, although as it progresses towards drydown, the underlying base notes become SLIGHTLY more apparent. I don't get any woods, no incense, certainly no patchouli. If there is musk it is a light, skin scent, like white musk . If anything, I *think* I pick up a tad more sweetness and it develops an underlying light creaminess. Vanilla I think, but not dark, dirty vanilla. Vanilla ice-cream vanilla.

Excellent sillage, and pretty good staying power. I have had it on for 7 hours and in that time I have done 5km on a horse, untacked, hosed the horse and completed various other chores around the house and I can still smell it. It's faint, but there.

So there. CT2 DLV. Strawberries and ice cream.

edited to add: I did a side by side comparison with Swank - it is similar, so perhaps I am getting pomegranate as well?

A dark, subterranean scent, cleverly constructed so no one note gains predominance. It wears close to the skin, with minimal sillage. Not terribly long lasting, but oh so nice while it is around.

Like many others, I find the opening earth notes give way to fruity/berry notes, but the vanilla amber base hasn't yet made itself felt much on me. A lovely, warm, complex scent - wonderful to wear in winter (which it is here right now).

Good throw, good staying power. Pleased I got this one.

The pepper comes to the fore early in this one - lovely sharp black pepper, tempered by an almost light airy scent.

As it dries down it develops in complexity and darkness - it's not spicy on me, but it has a sharp green medicinal note. I hardly notice the cardamom. Not a lot of throw and only light staying power, but very nice nonetheless.

Someone earlier used the word "ethereal" to describe this oil. For me, that is exactly right. It's mostly apple blossom scent with a somewhat airy and ethereal feel to it.

It only lasts a short time on me, and is a very close scent - virtually no throw to speak of. Pleasant, but not for me.