northatlantic

Sniff from the imp: Pure sandalwood. Mmmmm.

Wet: Sandalwood incense and just a hint of vanilla and spice, maybe nutmeg or clove. Wonderful!

Drydown: oh no, what is this sweet plasticky scent emerging...crap, it's the same bubblegum that ruined Bastet for me. There's lotus in this, which I guess shouldn't have surprised me in a meditation blend, but. Dammit. Bazooka is NOT calming and centering to me. This is probably gorgeous on someone who doesn't amp lotus like mad.

I've found that tonka stays and stays and stays and STAYS on me, and also seems to reinforce other notes. The combination of tonka and champaca in Vasakasajja and now in Kubla Khan doesn't have much throw, but it clings to the skin like crazy and I can still smell it when I shower at night after appling in the morning or if I've put it on before bed in the morning when I get up

For a citrusy scent that stays, Spider sticks like crazy, one of the few that's clearly discernable after an hour or so on me. I'll have to try the hair thing with Schroedinger's Cat, I love it to death but it's got no stamina on the skin so I don't know if I can justify a bottle purchase without some way to extend it.

In the bottle: Lime and vetiver in the forefront.

Wet: Citrus in the foreground, sharp and fresh and bright with an herbal edge from the artemisia. I can see how on some people this could go more traditionally masculine than they'd want, but with my chemistry's tendency to sweeten things it just smells like I've been peeling limes, with a whisper of something deeper and more grassy.

Drydown: After a couple of minutes, the ginger and nutmeg warm to life and the mandarin starts peering around the edges to sweeten. The crisp edge goes heated and sensual, an entirely different kind of bite. It's got a lot of throw on me and manages to somehow convey both crisp breeze and heated skin. Delicious.

In the imp: Sweet floral with a hint of herbs

Wet: Delicious - lightly floral with a whisper of delicate candy-sweetness, not enough to be cloying--and lavender. Lavender. Lavender.

Drydown: All lavender. No incense, no grass, no flowers, no candied fruit. Lavender soap. No Fairy Market for me. sigh. Everlasting lavender indeed.

In the imp: Sweet fruit, almost melon-y...possibilities?

Wet: I agree with the earlier reviewers, the first whiff reminds me of a peachy Danube until ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROSE! sigh. It doesn't even wait until drydown, it's a sour rotting-stem rose, and suddenly I smell like a vase of week-old flowers. eeeeewwwwwww. I don't know if it's JUST the rose, because I wouldn't know melilot if it walked up and bit me and myrtle in other scents I've tried has gone really sharp, but something here is combining really unfortunately and the rose is as usual pushing and elbowing her way to the forefront. sigh.

Drydown: Sorry, couldn't wait for it, had to go scrub my arm. This beautiful lady may be made for both love and pain but pain's all I'm getting.

a few different types for you to choose from!

Green and fresh-type herbal: The Apothecary - Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig. (category Illyria)

Spicy herbal: Silk Road - A panoply of cultural treasures, spanning the herbs, flowers, oils and balms of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Mediterranean, the Levant, Northern China, Eastern Europe, Iran, the Bulgar-Kypchak, Mesopotamia, the Crimean Peninsula, Anatolia, Antioch, and North Africa. (category Wanderlust)

Autumn herbal: Verdandi - Deep herbs and apple with black amber. (category Excolo: The Norns)

That's about the point she starts talking and spreading negative energy to all of us.

in TALs, purpose 1 and 2 sounds like the kind of thing STFU was made for: Silences gossip, slander, and perfidy. Helps you shake off the negative effects of other people’s sniping. Also consider Jinx Removing (Use on the night of the new moon to banish the baneful effects of negativity directed at us on a daily basis: e.g., dirty looks, rude gestures, smarmy remarks. Banishes the residue of everyday F*ck Yous. Use in bath, on self and to dress white candles) and for purpose #3, Euphony (Creates an atmosphere of trust, harmony, compassion and understanding).

Bengal - honey and skin musk for sweetness, and lots and lots of spices. And of course, the classic Snake Oil.

Searching on "peony," Shoggoth sounds like it was made for her: An amorphous, radiant, incandescent scent. Ever changing, protoplasmic and primordial: white amber, green coconut meat, iris, palmarosa, Chinese peony, lime, water lily, snowdrop, muguet, lemongrass, osmanthus, wisteria, glassy musk, and hinoki.

I'm betting that 51 would be another one you could introduce her to, with its light dry woods, light musks and a juicy floral-fruity character--I've enabled another three people easily frightened by perfume since it's come out.

ooooh, seconded. That sounds lovely.

 

A soft floral with woodsmoke notes...anyone have any ideas?

I don't know that that's attainable in a single scent, but maybe layering something like Dragon's Eye with Brimstone? Or, depending on how opium goes on you, Blood Countess might be worth checking out...

Grassy scents: The Apothecary is a thick, sweetly grassy scent to me, the ripe smell of fresh-cut grass under summer sun.

Autumn apples: Verdandi. It has not only the apple but the scent of fallen leaves and crisp air to me, something about the herbs and amber both cold and bright. Punkie Night went a little craft-store on me because of the cranberry (Lampades did the same), and the Hesperides was okay but went a little perfumier on me than Verdandi, less appley. Ladon is another apple scent a lot of people around here really like, but that one I haven't tried.

Happy winter scents: Hmm. If you're willing to wait until this fall around Halloween, there are usually some brighter and cheerier winter offerings when Beth puts up the Yule LEs: I don't know if there's ever been a hot chocolate scent, but I know a lot of people have asked for one! but candy canes (Lick It/Lick It Again), Christmas cookies (Sugar Cookie, Gingerbread Poppet, Jolasveinar), warm hearths (Hearth), Christmas church scents (Midnight Mass) and happier snowy-woods scents like Snow White, Snow-Flakes, Snow Bunny, Mistletoe and Yuletide have been offered. Alternatively, you might be able to find any/all of them on the forums if you keep your eyes open.

A cool tea scent/Spring: Baobhan Sith is a great choice there for GC; if you can get hold of Spirits of the Dead, it's kind of my canonical tender green leaves and bright but not hot sunlight scent, closely followed by Holiday Moon which is a little colder and wetter, April showers maybe more than May linden flowers. Neo-Tokyo may be another possibility, because of the greenness of the bamboo mingled with the light cherry blossoms, or Whipporwill, although that's even harder to find than Spirits of the Dead, I think. Mr. Ibis and Embalming Fluid also have a fresh light quality to them. Phantom Queen sort of bridges the border between this scent and the heavier, more lush scent of summer, I think.

there, enough babbling for you?

whatever green musk is, in 51? will be looking for more of that. Hummina.

Does anyone know of a scent that smells like the incense that they use in a Catholic funeral rite?

All Saint's or Midnight Mass are probably most like what you're looking for; they were limited editions, but you may be able to swap for them on the forums. In the general catalog, try Penitence, Hymn or Cathedral.

In the vial: alcohol. High-octane alcohol.

Wet: Gin, straight-up. Powerful, potent, slightly ill-making. Juniper is one of those notes that can make my throat close sometimes, and this one is making me cough off to wash off. If I'd remembered what Twenty-One was before I'd tried the frimp, I probably wouldn't have done.

It's a really good interpretation of the concept, it smells like a really smooth and potent cocktail--for people who don't react badly to juniper, I'd say go for it.

In the vial: Smells like honeydew single note, if there is such a thing. Hopefully, that recedes a little bit--I don't mind fruity, but this is SUPER fruity. Like, ants will follow me around, fruity.

Wet: oh, MOMMA. No single note jumps out fruit or floral, it's just a glowing, soft spring scent, like new leaves.

Drydown: The amber and musk emerge more, giving it more of a richness, a soft skin scent as the heady brightness of the top notes starts to fade. The only thing that kinda kills me about this scent is, it has no staying power. An hour and it's pretty much gone. If I get this, I'm gonna have to slather the hell out of it. But I might, it's SO yummy. And whatever green musk is? I'm a fan. Sign me up. The base of this is FABULOUS.

It seems like a kissing cousin to Mag Mell and Mantis: they all share the freshly sweet neroli-amber vibe on me, but Mag Mell has an aquatic edge, this one fruity and Mantis a deeper, earthier base with the red patchouli. If you like Mag Mell or Mantis, you'll probably like this, to me it feels like a variation on that theme.

in the vial: y halo ther red sandalwood. This does not bode well.

Wet: Pickles? Pickles? Yep. Dill pickles. Female sexuality is a brined cucumber?

Drydown: The sour pickley smell, which I'm not sure if I should blame the red sandalwood or the palmarosa for, recedes a little bit, and apparently attar of rose, as opposed to plain ol' straight-up rose, I can wear without it going screaming like some of the other rose blends do. That said, I don't see wearing this, the undertone is still kind of unpleasant, even though the rose component is pleasantly sweet and non-air-freshener-y.

Final assay: not for me, but may be willing to try other attar-of-rose blends, which I may not have otherwise. If red sandalwood and palmarosa play nice on you, definitely check this one out.

I'm thinking citrus scents might be good, but I don't want to smell like Lemon Pledge. Thoughts?

Hmmm. How about grapefruit? Baobhan Sith is very bright and alert-making on me, it's grapefruit, white tea, and ginger, with a little apple blossom to soften it a touch. Some people also find green or white tea notes citrusy and bright too, like Kumiho or Embalming Fluid, which also has lemon in it but not a huge amount.

A lot of the reviews of Vasakasajja are calling it tropical, and having tried a decant, I would agree. It's exotic floral-fruity love. also, Black Pearl is a wonderful, warm beachy scent.

In the imp: Wow, yeah...that's some sandalwood, right there. Yep. Right there.

Wet: Oooh, golden amber, yes, oude, yes, massoia...

and before we can even get to the poor little currant, it all turns to Red Sandalwood O' Doom, just like Anne Bonney, in a slapfight with Killer Honey, gone all dry and powdery. Darn it! Should have known better. Both red sandalwood and honey are like a jealous ex on me: they cling, and stink, and suck the life out of everything else. I wanted this to work, and I should have known better. sigh.

off to someone else, little decant. It's not you, it's me.

In the imp - alarmingly, almost sickeningly sweet. Banana cream pie. Please no, I hate banana cream pie, I certainly don't want to smell like one!

Wet - the orchid immediately emerges along with a floral note I don't quite recognize that I think must be the champaca, turning it from unrelieved sweetness into consummate femininity. Still sweet but not foody at all, a little bit tart but smoothly sensual all at the same time. Wow, what a transformation!

Drydown: Becomes a little muskier and warmer, but stays somehow playful and clean, the vanilla never really evident on me AS vanilla, just as a velvety sweetness as it blends perfectly with the skin musk. It's sexy, but in a lighthearted flirtatious sort of way, not hot-and-heavy.

I SO didn't expect to love this, but I do.

Tried some of the mentioned scents and there was no grass to me Had so far: Amsterdam, The Dormouse, Rosalind, The Unicorn, Phantom Queen.

Antaria, none of those smelled like grass on me either. I would try The Apothecary if you haven't; also, Mag Mell has a detectable grassy note on me but YMMV, there are a lot of notes in it like amber, verbena and sage that really amp up on some people and may hide the meadowy goodness.

In the imp: Apple. All apple. One-hundred-percent, worryingly sweet apple. Sweet fruit and I are usually NOT friends. Please don't let this be apple Jolly Ranchers...

Wet: Whew! Definitely apple but not at all cloying--tart, crisp, juicy and cold.

Drydown: The amber and herbs start to come forward to mingle with that juicy apple; to me, they combine for an impression of dry fall leaves and the crunch of frost underfoot, maybe a tiny hint of smoke and hay: the orchard surrounding that beautiful apple. Amazing. I'm not at all a fan of spiced-apple blends, they never quite smell real to me, but this? This is perfect. Big bottle, absolutely.

[2006 version]

Let me preface this by saying, I love ginger. LOVE. But I was unsure about this in the LE version because resins and I have a tumultous relationship. Particularly frankincense and myrrh (actually okay together, separately notsomuch. go fig). So when it said "dark resins" I was leery; what does that MEAN? But I figured now that it's available in imp form, why not give it a shot?

In the imp: Buttered popcorn and Pine-Sol. This is not allaying my fears at all.

Wet: A second--and I do mean second--of buttery Pine-Sol and then PEPPARKAKOR. Exactly like the wonderful Nyaker's orange pepparkakor at World Market that I have forbidden myself to buy any more because I'll eat the entire box in a sitting. I was wondering what I would do when my Gingerbread Poppet ran out--I wonder no more. A big bottle of this is definitely in my future, provided it doesn't dry down weird.

Drydown: Nope. Still cookies, although they gentle down to a softer ginger-cookie scent, more big soft cookies than pepparkakor. The citrusy note also remains, like a touch of orange or lemon zest in the frosting. Pretty good throw, I tested with a tiny wipe of the imp and it's still wafting up from my hand pretty strongly at time +1 hour. LOVE. Big bottle.

In the bottle: An almost medicinal sniff: all I get is a very sharp orange and musk. Buh? Where's my tea and cardamom?

On, wet: Musk attacks! some of Beth's musks are yummy on me, and some of them are stridently cologne-y. Apparently amber musk is one of the latter. Nooooo! I want to smell the spicy orange tea!

Drydown: (+10 minutes, approximately) The cardamom and tea leaf are shyly poking their heads out along with a tiny bit of orange as the musk monster starts to calm down; it's beginning to smell like Constant Comment tea, although the musk is definitely still present, prowling in the background. I don't get an amber quality from this at all, although it's definitely not a black or red musk. It is definitely a golden scent, however, and at this stage I like it a lot.

+1 hour: the kittymonster is almost gone.

This is definitely a beautiful wild creature, it's just a little TOO wild to begin with and if I have to reapply frequently, I need to figure out some way to settle that musk down. This may have to go to the back of the BPAL drawer to age a little, or possibly be layered with a vanilla or softer tea scent to soothe the cologne beast.

ETA: I got a little droplet on my shirt and it smells much sweeter and more balanced there, so this may be a scent locket candidate.

I haven't smelled it, but by notes Ode on Melancholy, Shroud, and Zephyr seem to be similarly soft combinations of light floral, sandalwood and white musk.