levelek

I got this as a frimp. My first thought when it went on was that it smells like the mix between an 8-year old and a grandma. It got mildly less offensive on drydown. Still: blech. Annoyingly enough, most flower scents go soapy on me and this one doesn't... it figures. For the record, the dominant notes are rose with gardenia (not a combo that appeals to me). Later, the helitrope and its vanilla aura pushes the rose+gardenia into the background... much better but still not for me.

Wet: TKO rolled around in vanilla and went on the prowl. Drydown: the tea note emerges strongly. Dry: Vanilla is the most dominant , the tea is only there to keep it fresh, and TKO recedes to the background. I prefer tonka to vanilla, and not mad about tea. Not a favourite, but I will use it up.

Warm jasmine and honeysuckle, glowing in the sun. Plus soap. Gah. A scent that stays close to the skin. Must try in my hair to avoid it turning into soap.

Sugary beeswax. Smoke in the background, when smelled from close up - inobtrusive. And now, a strong floral blossoming over the beeswax! I can't identify it but it's warm, almost heady. Very interesting - a floral that is not turning to soap on me. Now the sugar is turning more into vanilla. I like it better this way. Wait, it's becoming buttery, and creamy, a foody scent, with the beeswax and the flower playing second fiddle! What a morpher! And now the flower is disappearing. Pity that I am amping the sweetness, as usual.

Not overly offensive, but a little too mature for my tastes. (Not a great correspondence to the description for me, then!) Almost fruity, like dragon's blood. Could also be smelling the pansy. ETA: just read stardreamer's review. Aha! Very interesting. Must be the wild pansy then. Still not for me.

A frimp. In the vial: the orchid is jumping out at me. On wet: the orchid is still the strongest note, but much darker and warmer and resiny than at first sniff. I think it's mingling with the labdanum. Drydown: This morphed completely! Now it has a strong salty, almost aquatic overtone. Interesting! The cypress is faint in the background. I seem to have had a very similar experience to the description in the first post by Belladonnastrap.

Frimp. I am tired, but probably won't try this again, so here we go. I get cassia, wood and mango mainly, in this order. The cassia and wood together is just too much, it's a bit stale and graceless and on the verge of nauseating. However, it is a very interesting combination - kind of messing with your head when you try to decide if it is wrong, and how wrong. I might keep the imp around to show to people for nose training purposes. Or I might pass it on. Ha.

Got this as a frimp and I am testing it before passing it on. I dislike apricot scents so I don't expect to like this. On application: it's apricot all right. It's not nauseating like March Hare, much lighter and more graceful. Makes me think of a '50s swing dress and its owner moving lightly across the house towards the spring sunshine. Pretty straightforward, with the musk lending warmth, and the orange blossom lending it more interest and elegance. I'll still be happy to pass it on.

Got this as a frimp. Overall summary: the first buds of spring. In the vial: smells like concentrated fresh sweet-green flowers. I am not super familiar with all of these individual notes, but I think the sweet pea, calla lily and heliotrope form the strongest impression. I can also tell it's not all floral. On wet: the pear blends extremely well with the florals, almost impossible to distinguish. The intensive sweet-green aspect abates (a good thing, for me). Not too soapy, considering all the florals, thank goodness. Dry: doesn't really morph. Overall, completely not me, and completely not the image I want to project of myself either, but I might keep the imp around for those first days of spring.

I got a sniffie of this with a forum purchase - I coaxed the last drop out of the vial. Insofar as that is representative of the scent... I am amping the sweet/foody/figgy notes, as expected. The overall impression is dense, creamy, but not sickening, beautifully blended. Fig is not my favourite note, but I would wear this scent (or would have done so, if I had had the chance!) I seem to do well with leather notes, they are very subdued on my skin but they probably provide the grounding that I like.

I love the variety of scents that people are getting out of this. LOL. On me, it's the grape and some other sweet note that smells like dragonsblood to me. It reminds me of Wolf's Heart. The slightest hint of soap, which may be that lotus that people have been mentioning? (I don't have a lot of experience with that note.) The grape is not the fresh fruit, - it feels like it has been cooked (but not nauseating). I only put it on a little while ago, so can't comment on anything else.

Another frimp from the lab. In the vial: smells like a sophisticated man's cologne, with lots of lavender. On wet: as above. The patchouli is more apparent. On drydown: turns more citrussy and creamy. Patchouli goes away again. The lavender is still there, and it's still a very male scent (suprise!). It's reminding me of Detox at the moment, except with a heavy base that is leaning on its elbow and wiggling its eyebrow at me. I wonder what is making it smell so manly to me. Not that I wouldn't wear it! Another kickass work scent.

This was a frimp. An uncomplicated scent. In the vial: orange. Wet: whoa, orange! Then it sweetens further. Carnal is fleshy allright, but it's the flesh of a juicy mandarin left out in the sun to warm. I could not identify the other warm scent that is rounding out the mandarin - reading the notes, it is of course the fig. Not normally a scent I would wear, but this morning I am exhausted, and this is keeping me relatively awake without the aggressive slaps that mint or ozone would deliver. Fades super fast.

A frimp; never would have picked it out by myself! A perfect balance of green and incense-spice. Fresh and warm at the same time. Clove, myrrh and pine are the strongest notes for me. But the others are also there - perceptible but wonderfully blended. It is refreshing (mint! pine!) but sweaty at the same time (vetiver!) - not in the sense of smelling like sweat, but evoking the image of hot, intertwined bodies. ETA - I wrote this before reading that part in the scent description, so it certainly did its job in evoking the intended image! Very, very interesting, and I like this a lot more than I expected. Its closest competitor among the scents I have tried so far is No 93 Engine, and that is more versatile. I can't dedide yet what would be a good occasion to wear it. Sitting in a slinky dress in an overheated room in front of a large fireplace in the winter, slightly dizzy with good booze and hormones in male company, but perfectly clear that conversation is the only thing that will be happening that night?

Very very good smelling grapefruit shower gel. Not too soapy, but that is the association. I can pick out the other notes if I go looking for them, but the main act here is the citrus. Also, disappears fast. If I loved grapefruit scents, I would love this.

TKO smells like marshmallow and lavender on me. A lot of reviews have talked about a sugary, sweet scent, but I expected that to soften the lavender, not to play prime fiddle. Instead, marshmallow is definitely the strongest of the notes. I bought this as a gift for someone who suffers greatly from insomnia, but who also dislikes sugar. I think I'll have to swap this away.

I ordered a bottle unsniffed. And I am disappointed The rice milk is far too strong. Together with the cocoa and the rest of the scent, it just comes across as far too cloying, dense, sticky and sweet on me. Boo hoo! Back to Western Diamondback for me.

Ooh, I like this! In the vial: reminds me of Calvin Klein's Obsession. (The sandalwood might have something to do with it. ) Dry: the saffron is dominant. I can't identify the other spices, but they lend a lovely, delicate, graceful background. I also detect a slight soapy note, but my chemistry may well be off today. Warm and not too smoky! I also agree with the person who was reminded of amber but without the powder.

Disclaimer: I am recovering from flu, which may be affecting my chemistry as well as my olfactory sense! In the vial: well blended, light and sweet - almost perfumey! Wet: very woody. Even though I dislike classically feminine scents, this may be a bit too masculine for me. Dry: The vanilla emerges and gently warms it - it is still not dominant. Also - it smells strangely soapy! The one relief is that the tobacco is not strong. I must come back and try this another day. I hope my chemistry is just wonky today. ETA: I have tried this again, and the soapy smell is almost entirely gone The vanilla is imperceptible as a note, but its effect in softening the blend is obvious. The tobacco thankfully is subdued - it smells like the memories of tobacco and male cologne in a wood panelled room where the wood had soaked it up, rather than someone smoking at present. I think this will be a great work scent for being taken seriously in male dominated environments! Definitely to be worn with a trouser suit, not a dress.

I wanted the bergamot and the musk from this, above all, with some woodsy freshness. In the vial: soapy aquatic with almost a peachy undertone. Drydown: still a soapy aquatic, but with a definite floral character now: the orchid overtakes. It feels very salty! I can identify only hints of the juniper and the citrus. Really, really do not like this. Dry: soapy orchid with a strong, masculine, aquatic character. The juniper asserts itself more strongly and that must be what is giving it the strength. Ooh - it's almost balancing out the orchid now! And it's giving out a 'don't mess with me' feel. ETA: reading the above reviews, I can definitely see the lump of wood analogy. With soap smeared all over it /ETA Very interesting. I don't hate it the way I did at first, but I still don't like it

In the vial: well-blended, warm, smooth, sweet, but not foody, more fruity/floral - could that be the dragon's blood, which I have never smelt? And soft cloves. Drydown: the cloves give way to florals. I am also getting the narcissus and jasmine that others mentioned. I am steeling myself for the soap that most flowers become on my skin. Dry: the florals pull back a bit (thank heavens) and the balance shifts again towards a fruity-round scent. It's self-confident but there is nothing sharp or loud about it. If there are herbs in here, they are far in the background.

Apricot. Clove. In this order, but both are distinct. I am detecting something else with the apricot but I don't know what it is! It's like... apricot jam with fizzy white wine and clove. Definitely not something that I want to smell like on a daily basis, but I think I'll keep it for a while.

Another one I was really looking forward to try! As soon as it hit my skin, it turned into soap. Just soap. Definitely no.

Disclaimer: I have never smelt Snake Oil or any of the other Snake Pit oils, and am not too certain of patchouli either. Or bpal's leather notes in fact In the vial: mainly medicinal/herbal, with what I am assuming is the SO/patchouli in the background, and some vanilla/tonka firmly surrounding the whole scent. On wet: I am surprised how little throw this has. I have to struggle to make out the notes. Drydown: still medicinal with perfumey vanilla. Dry: AMPING the vanilla! The herbal note is there, but behaving much better. It was on the verge of threatening with a headache. I have a bottle of Boomslang on order and I am starting to get worried if all I'll get from it will be vanilla and cocoa. I get quite a lot of creaminess from this, probably the tonka bean. It's basically a complex vanilla (but still firmly a vanilla) on my left wrist, with a herbal core, while on the right it's somehow better blended but much fainter. Pity, because as usual, I'd much rather have the smell on my right wrist!

In the vial: the mandarin is by far the strongest scent, with magnolia playing second fiddle. On wet: the mandarin immediately recedes and the scent becomes very sweet. Drydown: the florals are edging towards soap... here we go again. The musk comes out and lends depth and creaminess. Until the florals turn more soapy, I really like sniffing it from close, even though it's a little too sweet for my tastes. It doesn't have great throw on me.