gangstaknitta

In bottle: Yup, apricot brandy. The brandy keeps it from being so sweet. Wet: like sweet, fruity booze. The liquor smell is very strong and smells a little antiseptic-y on me. Dry: powdery and fruity, almost like peach gummy candies. A little too sweet for me.

I got this one because I was looking for something like queen mab. It is similar--it the bottle, it smells like the "daytime" version of QM. Sadly, it turned soapy and ultra-sweet on my skin and remained that way. However, I think I've discovered that yummy earthy-smoky-floral note--black orchid?

In bottle: it smells like a sweet floral. I'm not getting any musk from this. Wet: very very very sweet apricots and maybe some orange. It smells very fruity, juicy and sweet--my mouth watered a bit. Dry: All the notes just seem to run together and it is very sweet, kinda like juicy juice.

In bottle: It smells like a very sweet foral...mostly jasmine, rose (but not old-lady rose) and a touch of vanilla. No coffee, tonka, or fig, but fig tends to turn up more on my skin. We shall see. Wet: the jasmine is VERY sweet and the roses immediately go a little powdery. Five minutes later--make that a LOT powdery. There is a very faint earthy note in the background, but the roses are def. the stars of the show. Dry: Okay, now I smell like old lady and bubble gum. Oh well.

In bottle: A very sweet floral. The rose is much sweeter than the other rose blends I've tried. Very "rich" smelling, in all of it's many connotations. It is an appropriately named blend. Wet: Holy candied narcissus, batman. That stuff is sweet. The rose is...oh no...don't do it... Dry:...ARRRRGHH! It went powdery. Stupid rose.

In bottle: It literally smells like smoke and incense. Smoke. Smoke! How? Wet: Smoke, smoke smoke...and a little bit of incense. Something candyish is coming out. Dry: Smoke and candy. It's a little too sweet and def. too smoky for me.

Wow. This was not at all what I expected. It smells very herbal and green in the bottle. On my skin, it smells almost peppery and gingery at first, but without the bite that typically goes with ginger. It smells like damp, mossy woods (but not like actual wood, if that makes any sense ) and barely sweet herbals. It seriously smells like the swamp at night in the summer. On the dry-down, there is something that smells ripe and juicy, but not fruity. I'm probably not making any sense but I'm keeping this one!

In the bottle, this really smells like coppertone sunblock. It's simultaneously warm and tart (like citrus). On my skin it somehow morphs into lemon Pledge with an herby feel to it and lasts a really long time. Going up on the swaplist...

This smells like a masculine, clean woody floral in the bottle. On my skin, all of the woody notes and some pine come out...definitely very masculine. Sadly, patchouli and pine don't agree with me at all. It smells like a less musky version of abercrombie & fitch's woods. Do they even make that anymore?

One time my parents went out of town in the winter when I was in middle school. They came home at night and we rushed to the door to greet them. My mother wrapped me up in her coat and I remember the icy bite from the fabric from having just come inside. This is what she smelled like. It's a light floral, kind of clean, but not at all cloying.

I was expecting this one to be much sweeter. It smells very clean in the bottle. There is a hint of apple in the background, but just barely. The combo of the sandalwood, musk and geranium give it a very clean floral. My skin latched on to the cleaner notes and amped them up a LOT...not really for me. It had good staying power, though.

Jupiter is overwhelmingly woodsy. It smells like musk-ified sap and old trees. It's a very masculine scent...I'm thinking lumberjacks It stays for a REALLY long time. Not really for me, but then I like girly scents.

This is really an interesting cacauphony of scents. I smell chocolate and coffee and sweet tobacco...there's a ripe juiciness in the background. On my skin it definitely smells like chocolate, but more like pure cocoa rather than the sweetness in bliss. I really think I smell tobacco, but I could be wrong. Dry, it smells like chocolatey coffee--I never really got a whole lot of fruit, it's very faint in the background. It smells maybe a little figgy too. I really like it, but the chocolate overwhelms everything on the dry-down.

In bottle: a very light floral, i'm picking up a bit of lemon, but it's very very light. Wet: a very clean, but not cloying, fragrance. The aquatic notes are very light and a little bit sweet. If that is lemon in there, then I've finally found one that doesn't smell like disinfectant on me! Dry: this blend is so light and airy; it reminds me of the beginning of spring. The heavier notes fade after a few hours, but the aquatic notes linger softly on the skin for quite some time. Nothing went powdery or sour on me like most of the "clean" scents do. This is more wonderful than I expected.

In bottle: Gardenia is the strongest scent. It is sweetened by the vanilla. Overall a very warm, sweet but light scent Wet: the jasmine comes out more, tempering the sweetness of the vanilla and gardenia. The tea rose is just barely in the background, but still there. Dry: the gardenia re-emerges as the most dominant note and it's almost too sweet for me. It has taken a kind of woody-powdery smell, which is typical of tea rose on me. I really like this, but I don't know if it'll make it into my bottle stash.

In bottle: sweet, sweet magnolia. Wet: still magnolia...still sweet. It's not overpowering at all. I'm not sure how to describe it. It's strong but light, if that makes any sense at all. Dry: I really like this. It simply smells like sweet magnolia and I love it. It fades rather quickly, but magnolia is a pretty heady bloom anyway, so it balances well.

In bottle: I was expecting a clean, powdery rose scent but what I got was much softer and sweeter. I can definitely smell the dried rose and tearose. Wet: It smells just like tea rose--both the bloom and the green of the leaves. Amazing. How does Beth do this??? Dry: Shit. I totally went powdery on me. Dammit. I think that I would like to make soap out of this though.

In bottle: this is a very "purple" scent--dark and fruity Wet: still very purple-fruity, but not sweet. I'm not getting many spices at all, maybe faintly in the background. Dry: it cleans up a lot on the dry-down, and smells a little like dryer sheets. But the good news is that the rose didn't go powdery on me. Now if I can only figure out which kind of rose...

In bottle: it is simultaneously dark and light...the lemon verbena is the strongest, with a woodsy note underneath Wet: ohhhhh...pine-sol Dry: more pine-sol. Rats. I don't think lemon verbena and I will ever be friends.

In bottle: energizing--clean, citrusy and a little bite...like ginger Wet: lemon lemon lemon...still with a bit of a bite Dry: this scent goes kind of rancid on me. I've never had that happen before with a blend.

In bottle: a very sweet, light floral. Something bubble gummy underneath Wet: the bubble gum scent fades a bit and the lilies emerge and suffocate everything else. Dry: the lilies finally calm down, but by then there is barely a trace left of the scent. It definitely get cleaner on me as it dries

In bottle: very green and a little bit woodsy. The florals are extremely light and ephemeral--you have to try hard to catch them. They come out more if you give the bottle a good roll before you open it. Wet: woah...antiseptic...lemon scented soft scrub. My skin does this to some note that I can't quite figure out yet. Dry: straight-up cleaning products with a base note of chlorine. It did not wash off.

The Finnish Goddess of Agony, Torment and the joy found in inflicting pain on others. The Mistress of Torture, she has transformed in the modern era into the patron Goddess of Dominatrixes. The slap of slick, hot leather punctuates the warm, sensual embrace of black amber, red musk and dark, lascivious myrrh. In bottle: very dark and earthy, a little bit sweet. I can't smell the leather at all. Wet: this blend is very warm and earthy but suprisingly light. It gets sweeter on my skin. Dry: Red musk and I do NOT get along. It overpowers everything else with an earthy powdery-ness. I never detected any of the leather, but that's probably because the red musk was busy covering everything else up.

In bottle: so yummy...earthy, sweet and musky Wet: the roses, as per usual, go powdery on me within seconds. I can smell the musk in the background, but it would seem (from trying other blends) that red musk goes kinda powdery on me as well, so overall it smells like spicy baby powder. Ick. Dry: red musk is far too powdery and pungent for me. Rats. I might try to scent my car with this one because it is just soooo delicious in the bottle.

In bottle: very floral, fruity and sweet; something in there smells like bubble gum Wet: Bazooka bubble gum--powdery and candyish. Overwhelming on my skin Dry: the florals come out more, but there's still that bubble gum scent to it that I can't seem to shake. It lingered for several hours.