Seismogenic

Granite! It mentions granite specifically! I am so excited! That in and of itself is why I wanted to try this one, though it has the added bonus of being from Stardust, which is a wonderful little book.

In the imp: A lot like Lightning - water and ozone, though not quite as electric. Maaaybe something earthy in the background.

Wet on skin: Something dusty comes in under the ozone and water. This must be rocks! I hope it will clarify itself as rocks.

Drydown: Freshly dry, I'm starting to get some of the vetiver, though not in an overpowering way. There's also something back there that does smell wonderfully like wet rocks. Ozoney rain is still the main element of this scent, though. For about fifteen minutes after this, the wet rock note gets stronger, but by the one hour mark, that's pretty much gone, and what's left is cold ozoney rain.

Five hours later: Cold ozoney rain, though less of it than before.

End of the day: Ozone, and still quite a bit of it.

Overall: Why must rocks be so elusive? The first twenty minutes or so, when the rocks were smellable, were amazing. A perfect mix of rock, cold water, and a bit of electricity. I think that totally nailed the Stormhold as described in the book. Once the rocks faded, this was definitely still the Stormhold's usual weather pattern, but as a geologist, I am stubbornly more interested in rocks than rain. I like the rain scent, but there are other oils I can get it from. In mixing mineral and water, I think Visiting the Temple of Auspicious Fortune nails it better on my skin, even if it is a LE.

This one made it onto my wish list for one specific word: "volcanic." I figured that today would be an appropriate day to test it, since we had a field trip to the La Brea Tar Pits - musk of dangerous beasts, plus geological gases? Perfect.

In the imp: Dark, musky, and with the tang of fresh vegetation. Nothing volcanic yet.

Wet on skin: Now something a little smoky is coming out, if not coming to the fore. The musk and the green tang are still back there.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's mostly musk and slightly acrid smoke, though the green isn't completely gone. Within an hour, the musk is the most prominent note, with dark greenery and some smoke still staying in the background.

Five hours later: This is pretty much all musk now - dark, slightly sweet, and relatively faint.

End of the day: There's a tiny whiff of musk left on my wrists.

Overall: This was less geological than I'd hoped, though I still liked it, particularly in the earliest stages of drydown, where all of the major notes were identifiable. The smoke there was definitely pretty volcanic, and I wish it'd lasted longer, but that's mostly my geekery talking. The musk and vague greenness does suggest nasty beasties in a dark jungle, which fits the inspiration well. I'm not sure how often I'd wear this, since there are other musks and volcanoes I like more, but I'm still going to hold onto the imp for now.

Another dirt scent, woohoo! As a geologically-inclined person, the mere concept of dirt scents makes me happy, and the Lab's dirt is very realistic. I like how it combines with other notes in various other blends, and I like moss and the way real yew trees smell (though I haven't tried it in an oil), so I'm curious to see how this blend works on me.

In the imp: A sort of sharp, dirty floral. The flowers would probably be white if they didn't have dirt on them.

Wet on skin: Less flowers, more dirt, which is what I was hoping. That geranium is still under there, sweetening things, but the soft fresh dirt is coming out on top.

Drydown: As soon as it dries, the flowers come back with a vengeance. There's wonderful soft fresh dark dirt under them, but you definitely have to jam your face through the field of geraniums to sniff the earth. At an hour in, the flowers have amped even more, to the point of making me sneeze a little. Where is my dirt?! By two hours, dirt is showing back up a little, but it's still mostly flowery.

Five hours later: Faint flowery dirt.

End of the day: Faint flowers, sans dirt.

Overall: Oh flowers, why must you spoil my lovely lovely dirt?! I think the smell of Graveyard Dirt in and of itself is amazing, and I love the dirt/rock notes in Badger and Kumari Kandam...well, any of that was all covered up here. I wouldn't have objected to dirt with a faint bit of flowers, but this one is the opposite, and the flower smell early on was enough to make me sneezy. I also never got a whiff of the yew or moss, at least not as something heterogeneous enough to ID on its own. I think I'll be passing this one along to someone else.

Though I'd heard the hype about this one, that's not why I was interested in trying it. I have to say that the name is what intrigued me initially; I hadn't heard of the artifact before, but it didn't seem like the kind of name that could be made up, and BPAL prompted me to look it up. The fact that it is an incredibly cool artifact made this blend all the more appealing. Add in the fact that I like wood notes and vanilla, and that the woods-and-vanilla of Tombstone work so well on me, and I knew I had to give The Antikythera Mechanism a shot.

In the imp: Rich, dark, slightly sharp, sweet wood.

Wet on skin: This smoothes out immediately, and while the previous description still applies, it's harder to ID those as individual notes. Very nicely blended!

Drydown: Freshly dry, the tobacco becomes more evident, though it's not dominant at all. It's something that continues to smooth out the wood, and the vanilla is an undercurrent to that. An hour later, it's pretty much the same - wonderfully smooth, dark, and slightly sweet wood.

Five hours later: The same seamless blend as at the one hour mark, only slightly fainter. Definitely still very present.

End of the day: There's still a good amount of scent on my wrists, though at this point, it's mostly just wood, drier than it was before.

Overall: I can totally see why this is so popular - it's wonderful! It is, as others have said, a very refined smell; I agree with the assessment that it smells how polished dark wood looks, and that mental image does make me think of a room with antique furniture, which then plays into the whole steampunk thing. I am absolutely going to make use of this imp, if not more than that.

There's this part in Sondheim's musical Into the Woods where the Witch basically raps about the invasion of her garden, and the words to that rap are, in part, pretty much the notes list for this oil. I've played in the pit orchestra for two separate productions of that musical, and I think the Witch Garden Rap scene is still one of my favorites. That in and of itself was enough to make me want to try this, though I also do love the smell of fresh salad herbs/greens.

In the imp: Green green green! Fresh, thickly leafy, and herbal.

Wet on skin: Still a very fresh and herbal green.

Drydown: Freshly dry, this is still pronouncedly herbal, though it actually smells drier now. An hour in, the herbs are still very strong, and they are dry in the sense of there not being extraneous moisture on the leaves, rather than being desiccated. When the oil was wet, it smelled like there was dew or rain on the leaves. I really can't ID the individual notes, though I can tell there are several distinct things in there.

Five hours later: A dusky herby green, fainter than at one hour, but still very much present.

End of the day: A faint herbal dust remains.

Overall: This is Power Salad, seriously, and I mean it as a complement. This is not unlike walking into a farmer's market herb and veggie stall, or opening a fresh bag of herb salad, but it's much darker than that. There's a heaviness to this scent that makes the fresh herbs seem foreboding and menacing, exactly like the kind of things a witch would choose to grow. The fresh greenness is inviting, definitely, but this salad bites back. I think it nails the concept, and I like it quite a lot.

I don't know what half of the notes in this smell like, but I'm still intrigued by it. I'd expect a small bird to smell dusty and brown, and that's what the suggestion already seems to suggest. There are other dusty and brown scents that I really like, so I'm hoping this is one I can add to that list.

In the imp: This manages to be dusty and soapy all at once. Odd!

Wet on skin: There's still something distinctly soapy about this, though it is kind of a soft brown soap, if that makes any sense.

Drydown: Freshly dry, I'm wheezing a little! No! I wonder if sandalwood is my allergy culprit, since it's in The Coiled Serpent as well. That said, it's still woody dusty liquid soap. At an hour in, it's less soapy and more powdery, but still woody, and it still makes me cough every time I sniff it. Not a dangerous reaction, but not pleasant.

Five hours later: Powder. The good thing is that it's not making me sneeze or wheeze anymore.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall: Well, that didn't work. I didn't know what to expect from seeds and sedge, and while dusty brown makes sense, soap and powder really don't, nor do I like the soapy or powdery edge. I also really really don't like my allergies! It's not fun to wheeze whenever you smell something, that's for sure. On a positive note, I think I've figured out that my mystery allergen is sandalwood, so I know what to look out for.

Out of all the new Märchen scents, this one might be the one that intrigues me most, and the appeal comes as part of a search for a brushfire kind of scent. Don't ask me why I'd want to smell like brushfire, since the seasonal ones scare the crud out of me, but I continue the search anyway.

In the imp: Definitely firewood and ash! A little vetiver, too, and I thiiiink I can ID the cardamom if I think about it.

Wet on skin: Still thickly smoky and dark. A little less vetiver-y now, but maybe more peppery.

Drydown: Freshly dry, more of the spice is starting to come out, which is, oddly, making this seem even more like natural woodsmoke to me. The vetiver is still there, but it's not taking over, which is odd for vetiver. At one hour in, there is more vetiver, but it's still only one component of the smoke. I'm definitely getting some of the nutmeg specifically now, too.

Five hours later: Almost entirely gone. A little bit smoky, a little bit nutmeggy and a whole lot faint.

End of the day: Long gone.

Overall: I'm disappointed and surprised that this faded and disappeared so quickly on me. The other smoky scents I've tried so far (namely, Djinn and Moai, and I guess Fearful Pleasure sort of counts) have lasted pretty long on me, though the smoke in Rumpelstilzchen does strike me as being different from those three. I think this is quite close to that brushfire smell I've been looking for so far, even with all the spices; I'm not gonna wear this when the Santa Anas are blowing, lest I inadvertently worry there's a real fire! I also like that the vetiver didn't get out of control, as it sometimes does on me. Pity, really, that it doesn't last long, because the beginning is great!

I have to admit, when I sniffed this one at Will Call, my initial reaction was along the lines of, "Yikes, cleaning fluid!" I am not going to let that sway my nose now that I get to do a proper test, though!

In the imp: Uhh. This sits somewhere between fizzy citrus soda and...yeah, lemon cleaning fluid.

Wet on skin: This sweetens immediately, fortunately pushing it more toward soda and away from Pledge, even though the fizzy aspect also seems to have disappeared.

Drydown: Freshly dry, something more cola-like has shown up, likely as the lemon fades. It's rather like that diet lemon pepsi they used to sell. At one hour in, the lemon has faded even further, and the cola smell is less cola-y, though I honestly can't quite figure out what it does smell like.

Five hours later: Oddly - extremely oddly - this now smells like something that is partially burnt, but was extinguished before completely being reduced to ash. No, I don't know where that's coming from! It is perhaps also faintly lemony still, but it sure ain't cola anymore.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall: Well, that as certainly the weirdest progression of smells to ever come out of a BPAL oil on my wrist! I'm rather baffled by it, and I certainly wouldn't have expected that from my impression at Will Call. That said, I'm still not a fan. If it'd stayed in the fizzy citrus cola stage, that would've been good, but that stage went away far too quickly to be considered the dominant blend here. As it was, the bizarre burned smell lasted the longest, and I could do without that. I'll probably try to swap this for another one of the political party imps.

When this update went live, reading the notes for Tabella was rather like reading a shopping list of things I think smell good. (There are a couple of notes that I don't know what they smell like at all, but the things that smell awesome camp totally wins out.) I also get to say that I bought this on the day that Obama was elected, which wins even more. It's more lasting than the I Voted sticker which they failed to give me at the poll!

In the bottle: Soft and extremely well-blended; I'm not really picking out many individual notes yet. I'd say "smooth" and "lightly spiced" are good words right now.

Wet on skin: Many of the other notes immediately come into play, though it's still fantastically well-blended. I think I'm getting some of the fig now, and I think I can pick out the benzoin and sage. It's sweetening, but still rather dry.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it continues to sweeten - mostly from fig and benzoin, I thiiiink, but that could also be some of the flowers I didn't know about - and more of the spices are rounding it out as well. I'm definitely getting sage, and if I concentrate, I think I can pick up the bergamot and ginger now. At an hour in, it's at pretty much this same point - a wonderful blend of smooth, spicy, and sweet.

Five hours later: It's faded quite a bit, or at least the sweet stuff is. There's still quite a bit of dry herbal left, with the sage the most persistent of the lot. I'm even picking up something that could almost be called earthy, but that might just be my brain associating sage with rocks, since my entire fieldwork experience has been in the desert of southern California, which has plenty of sage.

End of the day: Gone unless I sniff my wrist really hard. This may not be the fairest test, though, since I did go on a nine mile hike today. I suspect the wearlength would be longer on a less active day.

Overall: I agree with the previous posters who said this is a serious scent, though not somber or solemn. It has a definite presence and sense of importance about it, which suits the whole voting process, if you ask me. If this is the essence of voting, it really stresses the importance! Tabella turned out to be a much lighter scent than I expected, but that doesn't do anything to bring it away from the "things I think smell awesome" description, even though I can't necessarily identify the individual things, since it's blended so well. This isn't one I'll wear for day-to-day things, due to the seriousness of it, but it's a definite keeper and go-to for special/major occasions.

If you place an order to be picked up at Will Call, do you get frimps and/or other goodies with your order?

I still got frimps and a postcard when I bought something at Will Call, and it wasn't even an order that I'd placed in advance.

I have to admit, the name of this one makes me think of Weird Al's song "Christmas at Ground Zero" a whole lot. I know I actually ordered the decant because I like the smell of snow and the smell of mint, but I'd be lying to say that song wasn't a factor at all.

In the imp: Cold, slushy, and minty.

Wet on skin: This is another one of those oils that actually makes the air in my nose feel cold when I sniff it! It's cold and sharply minty right now.

Drydown; Freshly dry, it's still slushy and minty, with the mint fusing into the snow note. I'm amazed at how snowy this really smells. At one hour in, the mint has faded entirely into the snow, and I'm left with a soft slushy cold smell. There's nothing sweet in here whatsoever.

Five hours later: All that's left is a little ozone. It faded to this point between the two and three hour mark, in fact.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall: For the two hours or so that this maintained its smell, it was amazingly convincingly wintery. I was sitting in my apartment catching whiffs and feeling utterly convinced that I was keeping warm inside, and that the bright air outside was bitterly cold and the occasional sparkling through the window was from ice and snow. Sure, opening the door reminded me that I'm in southern California and it was 70 today and the sparkling was light reflecting off the swimming pool, and that we don't get that kind of winter here - but for a little while, this scent brought winter home. Problem is, it was too little of a while. All the mint and slush was gone by three hours in, and the ozone that was left could have been from any number of other ozone blends. I guess it's also a far departure from real life that I'd be wanting the snow and ice to stick around longer, but that's how it goes!

Hey, look at me, getting all my holidays crossed! It might be Thanksgiving, but I'm up for a little Hanukkah anyway. It's always better when Hanukkah comes earlier, anyway, since it gets swamped by the Christmas stuff if it's at the end of December, like this year. Bleh. Anyway, I'm interested in this one both for the fact that I am, technically, Jewish (not that I've done anything about it in years), and that the notes in this one all appeal to me individually. I can't say I ever sniffed the Hanukkah candles when we celebrated when I was little, but I'm also kind of hoping for this to bring up some memories.

In the imp: Smooth, vaguely (and surprisingly) orangey beeswax.

Wet on skin: I think the smoothness might be the olive oil. It's coming out more relative to the beeswax, and the sharper citrus impression is fading.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still sweet beeswax and olive oil. No smoke yet, but no more orange either. It's a very warm and comforting scent so far. One hour later, I was driving back from a last second Thanksgiving grocery store run, and had a definitely, "Whoa, it smells good in my car!" moment. This has a surprising amount of throw for something meant to represent a candle without added scent, and this is a good thing! I'm still not really getting smoke, but the combination of sweet beeswax and olive oil is lovely.

Five hours later: Still going very strong, with the same wonderful warm combination of beeswax and olive oil. If I think about it, that might be smoke at the back of my nose, but I'm not entirely sure.

End of the day: And it's still going! Not even terribly much fainter than at the five hour mark, also.

Overall: This is one that lasts and lasts -- which makes absolute perfect sense considering the whole Hanukkah legend involves a very small amount of oil being effective for eight days. It also captures the candle extraordinary well, with its warm sweet wax. The scent practically does glow warmly, and I think it would be an extremely comforting scent on a cold and dark winter day. This is also definitely one of the more unusual BPALs I've tried so far, and I like it very much for that as well.

EDIT: I didn't wash it off before bed, and I can still smell it now, a full 24 hours after putting it on. Whoa.

Pirates? Small fuzzy critters? Being from a storybook I loved when I was little? Also reminding me of Redwall, never mind that the sea rats in those books are the bad guys? Yes plz!

In the imp: Rather cologney, but also sweet. I can't tell what's contributing to the sweet yet. It's not unlike how Frederic smells in the bottle.

Wet on skin: This immediately gets more complex and less overtly cologney. I'm getting wood, something berryish, and a few herbs.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's spiced incensey wood with berries and musk. No seaweed yet, and I'm not sure if I'd know ambergris if it punched me in the nose; it could also be in there. After about an hour, it's pretty much the same combination/balance of notes, though perhaps more seamlessly blended.

Five hours later: Seems like there's more musk and less of the berrylike smell now, but the overall effect of sweetened spiced wood remains. The throw has faded somewhat, but the scent is still quite present.

End of the day: A faint bit of muskiness remains, if I sniff for it. This faded pretty quickly past the five hour mark.

Overall: I think this nails the character: piratical but refined, not to mention furry. However, without thinking of the inspiration and only comparing to other smells I have sniffed, The Sea Rat really reminds me a whole lot of Frederic. The specific things that make Sea Rat sweet are different from what make Frederic sweet, but they're close enough, and the other notes are also quite close, which makes them very comparable on my skin. The Sea Rat is what you'd get if you went to a staging of Pirates of Penzance in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals! This said, I like Frederic a lot, which means I also like The Sea Rat a lot, but since I already have a bottle of Frederic, there's no urgency in upgrading Sea Rat.

I was excited about this one for a couple of reasons. The notes themselves are intriguing, and also the concept, even aside from the place in the Wind in the WIllows story. I've done a lot of driving around to small places that might not be anywhere in particular, but are still very meaningful in some way (for me, that way is usually geological, sometimes musical); I'm hoping Nowhere In Particular will nail the beauty of small places, even if they're different small places from the ones I know.

In the imp: Ozone and faint fresh greenness.

Wet on skin: Mostly ozone. The green is there if I think about it.

Drydown: Freshly dry, the ozone has receded a lot already, though it's still there at the back of my nose, along with something faintly sweet and fruity. Dust is definitely coming into the foreground now, though it is also subtle; it's not taking over from anything. At one hour in, the vague greenness has really turned into a proper orchard - a mix of warm fruit and foliage. It's still definitely distant, though. It's obscured by dust, and by something else I can't quite figure out. There's not really any ozone anymore.

Five hours later: This is barely perceptible anymore; the whiffs that I do get still are of the orchard smell.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall:When this is fresh, it reminds me a bit of several somewheres in particular, though it evades being any one of them dead on. I am so very sad, however, that this doesn't last longer! It's unique and beautifully evocative in the early stages of wear - there's definitely dust and definitely fruit retaining residual heat from the day but definitely not actual atmospheric heat anymore! - but it's gone so fast that it's like speeding past this spot, rather than enjoying a slow trip down that road.

I was very intrigued by this one, though more for the rain and dust than for the incense. Rain is not something we get much where I live, and yet it's a nice smell when it happens. We do, however, have plenty of dust, and that's geological enough to tickle my fancy even more.

In the imp: A cold and wet smell with a bit of citrusy bite.

Wet on skin: Still cold and wet, to the point where my nose feels cold when I sniff, but the citrus aspect goes byebye the second it hits my skin.

Drydown: Freshly dry, the smell has already faded, though I still definitely get the wetness of the rain, and now also the dryness of the dust. No incense yet, though. At the one hour mark, it's still cold fresh rain on the dusty ground, or possibly even the dirty pavement. It's not citrusy anymore, and it's only incensey if I really think about it hard.

Five hours later: Cold rain on dusty pavement, still. One would expect the dust would be mud if it had been raining for that five hours, but this still smells like the drizzle started recently enough to still be able to find some dry dust.

End of the day: The slightest hint of something ozoney.

Overall: I didn't get any of the temple incense mentioned in this blend, but what I did get was an incredibly evocative temperate winter scent. This is "chilled" in the parts of the world that don't actually get enough chill for snow. If anything, this could be winter in Riverside, when rain finally comes late in the year and clears all the dust off of everything. It may be a little desolate, but it's also purifying. While I'm curious what the incense would have added to this blend, I also think it's fantastic as it is on my skin.

This was a generous frimp from septima_pica, and I was pretty excited to try it, since I'm a fan of the Wanderlust category in general, and since it's such a historic blend.

In the imp: Largely sweet, but with a tangy, maybe alcoholic, bite to it that sort of manifests at the back of my nose. If that makes any sense.

Wet on skin: Pretty much the same as in the imp, though it becomes clearer that the sweetness is honey specifically, and that the tartness could be lemongrass. Not getting anything that reminds me of incense yet, though.

Drydown: Freshly dry, this is already developing quite a throw! I think I am getting some wine in there now, though it's subtle, rather than drowning in booze. I'm also still getting a lot of the probably-lemongrass, and still some honey. An hour later, it's essentially the same - sweet and tart at once, with something deeper under there.

Five hours later[/b]: Pretty much the same state of blendedness as at one hour, just with slightly less intensity. The citrusy aspect that's making this tart is still there, which is impressive, since I usually make citrus die.

End of the day: That same bright sharpness is still there, though somewhat fainter. It may be a little less sweet now, but on the whole, it's far from faded away.

Overall: I really really like this. It's a sharp and unique scent, and while I'm not getting any of the typical incense that the description seems to imply, I still like what's in there very much. I'm also amazed that something even vaguely citrusy managed to stay that way on me for so long. This seems like the kind of scent that would go well with hot weather, which means it should get plenty of use from me!

Well now, here's something I never expected to get a chance to try! Many thanks to Persephone76 for the testable sniffie! I enjoy Gaiman's work, I've had good luck with BPAL's apple note so far, and SGA is just plain infamous already, so I'm excited to get to test it.

In the imp: Frigidly cold tart green apples. It's a smooth smell - I guess that's the glass!

Wet on skin: Less sharply cold now, though these are still very freshly-cut Granny Smiths. It is still incredibly glassy smooth, though I couldn't begin to tell you what's making it that way.

Drydown: Freshly dry, I get a little more of the snow note again, but the apple is sweeting up some. It's still very smooth. I'm getting a little of something darker that I can't for the life of me identify, but it's not dominant. After an hour, this is smooth cold ozoney apple, with perhaps a bit of musk lurking in the background.

Five hours later: Faintly apple-y ozone. It's still pretty present, though the balance of notes has changed significantly over time.

End of the day: Ozone.

Overall: The name of this oil hits the nail square on the head, particularly early on. It's cold, glassy smooth, and apple-y all at once. Even if I'd never read the story, I'd say the name and the smell match perfectly. And having read the story, the faint darker/musky stuff that showed up earlier on also fits the tale. I wish, though, that the apple stuck around longer! The ozone is the dominant player in later stages of wear, which is fine, but that's not what makes this blend work so well. I wish the namesake combination of notes persisted the entire time! Even though the fact that they don't means I won't be needing to shell out the cash for a larger quantity of this.

This was a frimp from septima_pica, a dirt scent handed from one geologist to another. Hehhehheh! I'd been considering trying this one at some point anyway, precisely because of the dirt note, but it hadn't made wishlist status yet because I was a little wary of "perfume evocative of noir heroines." I am glad the opportunity presented itself for trying this without me having to make a decision!

In the imp: Though none of the notes describe it that way, it honestly smells kind of spiced-cakey to me right now, with some vague sweet florals.

Wet on skin: There is still something oddly sweet about this that I really can't figure out. It's maybe a little gingery and a little dusty. I'm not really getting loam.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's getting a little more distinctly earthy, but there's still an iced spice cake kind of thing going on that doesn't make much sense to me. Someone left the cake out in the dust, oh noooooo! An hour later, it's definitely still spice cake in the dirt. Smells like good cake, and good dirt.

Five hours later: Still going strong with the sweet spice cake in the dirt. This hasn't morphed since the one hour mark, nor has it faded much.

End of the day: It's still there! It's still dusty cake: maybe a little more dusty than cake at this point. It's faded some since the five hour mark, but it's still very far from gone.

Overall: This was very much not what I expected. I thought it would be something more along the lines of Kumari Kandam, with the earthy notes most prominent and carrying the faintest bit of noir heroine perfume. I did not expect the balance to go the other way, nor did I expect noir heroine perfume to smell like spice cake. Penny Dreadful is pretty darn weird in that way! Being the geology geek that I am, I was hoping for more dirt all along. I'm not really sure how I feel about the cake. I like to eat cake, but the jury is still out on how I feel about smelling like it.

Thanks to septima_pica for the frimp! I have to admit that I know next to nothing about Lovecraft's work, and nothing at all about the story that Brown Jenkins comes from. I'm afraid I'm no good for evaluating how true to the concept of a small freaky rat-thing with flowery wordy sentences this scent may or may not be. I can be more generally descriptive, though, even if Lovecraft would not approve!

In the imp: Coconutty cologne.

Wet on skin: More coconutty, less cologney. It definitely does register as "brown" to me.

Freshly dry: Freshly dry, it's a sort of dusty, fuzzy, musky, coconut. I can't really differentiate the other stuff yet. One hour later, the coconut is still in charge, with a musky backdrop and some slightly spicy dust.

Five hours later: Very faint dusty coconut.

End of the day: Maybe the slightest whiff of musk.

Overall: Brown Jenkins is an odd scent, and I think it does capture "brown and fuzzy" accurately. There's enough other stuff in there to keep the coconut from going all creamy white, even though the coconut is the most prominent note in this for me. It also fits with "small," in that it's never a very strong smell, and doesn't last particularly long. It's not creepy in the least, though; as others have said, it's warm, rather comforting, and nice.

Many thanks to Persephone76 for this testable sniffie she gave me a few weeks ago at a MnS! I probably wouldn't have thought to test a scent that has tobacco and cookies together on my own, but at the same time, I really liked the character of Mr. Nancy in Anansi Boys, and I certainly wasn't about to turn down an offered opportunity for testing!

In the imp: Sweet and citrus-tart at the same time. I'm guessing that's the cookies part of this!

Wet on skin: Still mostly limey cookies, though with a little bit of the darker spicier stuff starting to peek out.

Drydown: Freshly dry, I'm definitely getting more of the bay rum. It's making the cookies less overwhelmingly sweet, which is nice. The lime is, true to citrus form, already disappearing on me. An hour later, the tobacco and bay rum fill out the scent, which is still sweet but less sugary. It's comfortable and lively at once.

Five hours later: Not much left, but it's at the same state of blending as at one hour, minus any trace of lime.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall: This is a scent that is both quirky and comfortable at the same time. That, to my mind, describes the character of Mr. Nancy as well! Tobacco and cookies work surprisingly well together, and with the bay rum, become something complex and roundly spicy-sweet. The lime was never really a factor on me (unsurprisingly, since I make citrus disappear), but I like this a lot as is.

So, yesterday we had a drill for a fake 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault and then an awareness fair showing just what kind of damage comes from that sort of earthquake. Today, we have real Santa Ana winds in the forecast. Santa Barbara is already on fire. It's going to be 90 here today. Sounds like an appropriate day for a scent based on the embodiment of fear and panic!

In the imp: Very sharply lemon. Not of the citrus cleaner variety, but definitely extremely lemon.

Wet on skin: More of an herbal lemon now, which makes sense if it's lemongrass and lemon verbena rather than straight up lemon.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's sweetening up quite a bit. I'm guessing that might be the work of the grapefruit and the musk. It doesn't smell overtly musky, though; it's still very citrus, which means I doubt it will last long on me. At an hour in, it's lemon hard candy dusted in powdered sugar. I'm still assuming the musk is what's making it go sweet, though it still doesn't smell musky.

Five hours later: Sweet and lightly musky, with a little bit of an herbal lemon edge left.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall: First of all, I'm amazed that any of the citrus element in this made it to the five hour mark on me! Second of all, lemon drops do not speak to me of fear. My skin didn't want to listen to the "chilling" in the description, and I got sweet instead, which kind of goes against the concept of fear and terror. I do not necessarily wish to smell terrifying, of course, but I was looking forward to the "chilling" aspect. I certainly don't dislike the scent, but it also doesn't really do anything for me.

The wonderful Persephone76 was kind enough to give me a testable sniffie of Boomslang at a MnS last weekend. For this summer's Carnaval Pecheur game on the forum, my character was the Boomslang, so I'm excited to get to try this one properly, even though a brief sniff at Will Call was already chocolate overload. But yes, here goes with my first evar CD review.

In the imp: Rich strong dark chocolate, with the slightest suggestion of something spicy behind it.

Wet on skin: Holy viscosity, Batman! This didn't want to come out of the imp! Now that it has, it's still a wonderful rich chocolate with some spice. I'm guessing that's the Snake Oil! Is this the part where I admit I've never tried regular Snake Oil? Also, there are brown spots on my wrists.

Drydown: Freshly dry, the chocolate is still the main note, but the other elements are becoming more noticeable, even if I can't put a finger on what they actually are. I'm guessing the smoothish one is the rice milk, since it's not really vanilla-y. I can't yet tell if the edge to it is all the spices from Snake Oil, or if the teakwood is also involved. At an hour in, the chocolate has receded further; it's still an active melding note of the blend, but it's not the total foreground anymore. I'm getting more of what I assume is the rice milk, and I can tell there's something more woodlike (I assume that's the teak, though I'm not sure what that smells like on its own) among the spices.

Five hours later: Even less chocolate now. I'm definitely getting more of the Snake Oil spices (I assume) now, and a creamy wood smell that I really couldn't tell you if it's just teak or if that's the rice milk and/or vanilla getting involved. While it was chocolate with an edge before, now it's an edge with a little chocolate. The scent is still quite strong and present, and it's a lot more complex now than it was earlier on.

End of the day: More chocolate again! It becomes apparent that the other scents were amping earlier, rather than the chocolate fading away. Seems that chocolate has a longer wear time on me than the other stuff in this blend. Though the smell has faded some by now, it's still nowhere near being gone, and I didn't apply much.

Overall: When I sniffed Boomslang at Will Call, I dismissed it because I thought wearing something that chocolatey would make me crave chocolate all day. I'm glad Persephone76 gave me enough of this oil to properly try! I'm impressed how well the chocolate blends, and how it can become something complex and not inherently candylike. I like Boomslang, and I think it'd be a comforting scent for colder weather. I also have to say that I'm surprised to see other reviews that say this disappears so quickly - I have a feeling I'm still going have hints of this on my wrists when I wake up in the morning.

The last frimp from my recent order! This is one that I'd been kind of curious about while skimming the Wanderlust page, but not enough relative to others for me to actually put it on my wishlist. But now it has made its way here anyway!

In the imp: Salty seawater. Smells pretty much exactly like the beach!

Wet on skin: Salt water and something greenly salty, which I assume is the seaweed. Again, exactly like the beach.

Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same: salty seaweedy beachy water. At one hour in, it still hasn't morphed scentwise at all, though it is less strong.

Five hours later: There's something very faintly salty left, but I have to press my nose onto my wrist to get it.

End of the day: Completely gone.

Overall: This smells exactly as I expected based on the description, and is incredibly evocative of the beach (though as others in this thread have said, this is one unusually clean beach). Staying power is not its strong suit, though. While I do like this, I still think I prefer Lightning in terms of aquatics, which adds electricity to the mix and which lasts a lot longer on me.

Another Lab frimp, which came to me in a state of cracked leakage. I got a big whiff of jasmine when I opened the box for that order, and there was enough of the oil still in the vial to assure me that white florals were in my reviewing future.

In the imp: Vaguely perfumey white florals. I can't differentiate them yet.

Wet on skin: Hello, jasmine! The whole thing is still homogeneously white floral, with jasmine being the one identifiable aspect so far.

Drydown: Freshly dry, still plenty of jasmine. Some of the spicier stuff seems to be showing up a little underneath there, though I can't differentiate those notes yet either. At one hour in, it's pretty much a white floral, with jasmine as the most prominent note still.

Five hours later: The florals have receded enough that I'm finally getting a little whiff of the spicier notes under there. It's faint, though.

End of the day: Gone.

Overall: Well, seems like half of the notes listed for this one never even showed up on me. Musk? Vanilla? Where? It was pretty much exclusively jasmine most of the time, and the brief appearance of what was presumably (though not entirely identifiably) clove and laurel was too little and too late to really be worthwhile. This wasn't objectionable to my nose, but neither is it something I'm anxious to wear again. No reason to be heartbroken about that broken imp.

I've gotta admit, I can't help thinking of the name of this one in a Wall-E voice.

Anyhow, Eve was another Lab frimp, and it's certainly not something I would have thought to order for myself, but I am absolutely up for experimentation anyway.

In the imp: Predominantly tart apple (think Granny Smith) sweetened by a little honey. There is a vague breath of floral behind it.

Wet on skin: The apple smell becomes more floral - I guess that's why it's apple blossom and not just apple listed, since this doesn't smell like rose or like what I'm pretty sure ylang ylang smells like.

Drydown: Freshly dry, the apple has faded further, and the non-rose florals have ramped up a bit. It smells like spring! By half an hour, there were signs of it turning into Not Another White Floral, but at the one hour mark, the apple comes back again - still a tart apple sweetened by subtle florals and maybe some honey.

Five hours later: Much the same blending as at the one hour mark, only fainter. Crisp apple with a floral undertone. Definitely still springy.

End of the day: There is some residual tartness on my wrists, though it's no longer readily identifiable as apple.

Overall: I actually really like this. The tart apple that is the main note is nice and refreshing, and the florals made a good call in lingering in the background rather than taking over. It's a good balance. That said, I suspect Eve is too feminine for me to get away with, because of the light-spring-fruity-flowers thing, but that does not change the fact that this smells really good.