torikitty

First thought when wet: Oversweet. Funnel cake that was left out in the sun, sitting next to some honey, for a few hours. Drydown: The typical Snake Oil comes out and evens out the funnel cakeness. Somehow the vegetalness sticks out slightly higher than normal, but it's not overwhelming. Dry: It mellows out to a slightly sweeter Snake Oil. I feel like the powdered sugar is easy to pick out. It's nice, I can see this aging nicely.

Wet: BANANA!!🍌🍌🍌 Drydown: Fig and ylang ylang start to show up. Fancy bananas! Actually, bananas recede to the background quickly. Amber and guava start dancing around the fig and ylang and ylang. Dry: This has a nice spa-like quality to it. Sweet, fruity, and comforting. Not entirely heavy on any one note. Very well-balanced, and a close skin scent.

Starts out: Almond and clean? Like fresh linen? Wow, I would not get any of the notes listed, except, perhaps, the lily. It's like a white floral that is quickly pushing away any gourmand notes, and leaning heavier on the laundry detergent side. Not enjoyable for me. Drydown: Still a clean, white floral with more a bit more depth. It's pretty, but it's definitely not for me.

This is all pumpkin and coconut on me. Like Halloween on the islands. So nice and comforting.

Most people see anise, and think of black licorice. This is not that. This leans closer to salty, nuanced European absinthe sans alcohol, and it's not overpowering. Kinda like a burnt sugar that leans on the musky side. It's so simple, yet so hard to describe. I don't feel like the cardamom is easy to pick out, but grounds this nicely. This would be comparing it to the cardamom in Blueberries, Cream, and Cardamom. And the amber doesn't make it feel perfumey, as I'm used to amber doing. I haven't smelled star anise in a while, so I'm realizing that I wrote this for regular anise, and that's not even listed in the notes. Yet, somehow, some of the lighter European absinthes still come to mind. It's not in your face at all, but hangs out for a while. It's a very comforting scent to me. I know this would get lumped into gourmand, but I guess the way that my body chemistry reacts with the star anise and the cardamom, it feels more musky. Like kitchen musk, is that a category? It doesn't make me think of food, but is very comforting while being a great skin smell.

Coffee and Halloween. This is so evocative, but because it's lighter, and somehow ethereal. Like, I have a pumpkin coffee, which is super in-your-face. This is not that. Wow, what a fantastic blend that I can pick up the individual notes if I read them, but it blends so well together, each doesn't scream by itself.

Clove and carnation. This reminds me of the smell of walking into a flower shop. Just a comforting, generic shop smell. This didn't really change on me. I think this would make a great room spray.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet. I've bought so many bottles. This is incredibly unisex and super well-balanced. Although the sweetness could turn away some more masculine noses. My husband adores it, and it smells amazing on him. I couldn't pick out one note very easily. And I love how this smells different on everyone. Chocolate and wine are the most apparent while it's wet. Cinnamon starts to eek out. I could even see it having that yeasty, fermented quality that spilled beer has after it starts to dry. But, you get close to the skin, and there's so much nuance in the spices and depth with the octli. This hits me the same way that Dark Chocolate with Merlot-Infused Black Cherries and Star Anise hits my nose. There's the wine note which comes across as very sexy and dreamy, backed up by chocolate which is grounding. The spices make it entirely too enchanting. Feast can even end up leaning slightly smokey, chewy tobacco side on the right skin chemistry.

So, imagine you're in the backseat of a car, it's winter. Maybe the heater is on really high, and it's too hot. You rolled down the window just a bit for some relief. You just left somewhere they are pumping in artificial tree smell or burning a ChRisTmAs candle, which has permeated your sweater. As the smell drifts up to escape the window, that's what I'm getting out of this. I'm not very good at picking out sandalwood. 🤡

Not nearly as fruity as I was expecting. The white musk ends up coming across as white tea, to me, which ends up smelling kinda perfumey. The currant is in the background, giving it a chewyness that is nice, but not enough to give it enough sweetness for my taste. Definitely not for me.

Darn you, honey, making things smell acrid again. The other things around it smell pretty, but there's just an acridness that is just too much for me to enjoy this.

I was expecting this to smell more like artificial, overly-sweet cereal, and it doesn't! Kinda like that little kid smell, after they've eaten something super artificial, half sweet, yet somehow half stinky. It does initially have that blast of artificial cereal, but evolves into a creamy, fruity, and the vanilla skin musk. I think the vanilla really grounds it, and strawberry lends to a more balanced sweet/fruity experience. Strawberry fans: I think Eat the Strawberries is more of a strawberry that really meets those needs, this could be disappointing. But, sweet, fruity fans will love this.

So pretty, and very springtimey. It doesn't have the acrid, bitter note that I usually get with neroli, so the orange blossom is different here. I can see the high-end spa perfume as being a good category. It's soft floral, nothing sharp in here.

This is pretty simple. The frankincense is stronger at the beginning, but eventually floats behind the bourbon tobacco. I don't have a handle of tonka bean, so I can't pick it out specifically and speak to it. This ends up feeling mostly single-note tobacco to me. I'd say that if you're a tobacco fiend, this is nice, but not necessarily a must-have. I think there's other tobacco blends that are more nuanced than this. If you're a frank and tobacco fan specifically, go for it. I think I'd wear this when I'm wanting something with tobacco, but on the "prettier" side of things

I wish my nose translated neroli like everyone else. I had a Bitter Orange tree, and loved smelling the blossoms. Neroli from the lab doesn't smell like those blossoms. It smells more acrid to me, like a dying plant, or branches and leaves that are being cut from the tree in the hot sun. And then mown over with a hot lawnmower. But I was hopeful with the patchouli. Going on wet, the neroli takes over. As it dries, the patchouli starts to come out. There's a woody quality to it now. The patchouli balances out eventually, but I'm still getting the acrid neroli in the background. This just solidifies for me that I don't like the lab's neroli. If you smell neroli differently, and enjoy patchouli, this could work for you.

My immediate impression is rooibos tea. Ugh. I think my nose interprets that scent up a bit weird since it seems very monotone to my palate, but it seems like no one else experiences it that way. They seem to be able to assign chocolate and nuts notes to it, but it ends up smelling/tasting the same way to me no matter what flavoring is used. I know smell and taste are too different senses, but I am floored but how utterly one-note this is to my nose. I do feel an apple/cinnamon note starting to peek through, but the rooibos tea really overpowers.

I guess I can see candy strawberries and peaches, but like, the gummy candies. I can see how it would lean more towards fruit roll-ups, it's got that sweet, mascerated fruit smell, too. I don't know, I don't have one thing I can point to. It's just incredibly comforting in a sweet, dull, fruit sense. It's not over-the-top or super bright. It's not trying to get your attention, it's just a lovely bowl of ripe strawberries and peaches. MOAR PLZ!

Immediately on the skin, this totally reminds me of these little bath pearls my grandma used to have in the 80s. This being the rosy one. It quickly morphs into a salty ozonic smell. It reminds me of the smell of my skin after spending hours at the beach. Salt, sweat, and slightly sweet skin musk leftover sunscreen smell. Nothing atrocious, and keeps very close to the skin. The rose smell is just about gone, but I think changes to what I'm perceiving as skin musk. ETA: A few hours later this reminds me a bit of Aegir. Definitely not the same, but that salty, skin musk is nearly identical. I would allllllmost say that this would be a good replacement for Aegir, but I'm sure lavender fans would completely disagree.

Gothy cherry? I don't know how else to describe it. I wouldn't say musky. It's not dry. I guess it's got that tea note. What's interesting is that the cherry feels like it's sitting on top of Dorian, so the image on the bottle is very apt. I don't know why I was thinking that this was lime and poundcake for the longest time, and failed to review this. Must have been another Lilith I got it mixed up with. This has been sitting in my swap box for ages. Who wants an "aged" Dorian variant? 😄

This smells like THE BEST LAUNDRY! Sandalwood and sage, sweetened by the vanilla. Much different than the other trios I've tried. This is sweet and approachable. And from a simple skin test, I feel like this has a pretty good amount of throw. I might just amp the sandalwood, though. This is a really great blend.

I initially didn't enjoy this, it leaned too dry and masculine. I think the vetiver overpowers in the imp. Once on, the spiced rum sweetens up and mellows things out. This would be a great room scent for fall, but I wonder if it's my skin that is allowing things to blend together better. Maybe I'll experiment.

I didn't realize that this was Twilight Alchemy, so I don't know if these are meant to be reviewed differently or not. I just tried this on a bit of my wrist. I've been sitting on this for a while, I didn't realize no one else had reviewed it. This is so lemon baaaaaalm to me. I could be mis-interpreting the lemon peel and the passion flower, though. This very much smells like a good herbal tea with chamomile and lemon peel. It's got that overall herbal vibe that makes me want to spend some time in the garden.

Super good: I started off with a nearly empty bottle of Harigata II, added an imp of Blood Pearl. Added a small vial of OHWTO of Lost at Sea. And threw in another imp of Alkemia County Fair and Irrésistible. Bottle 1: (sweet, musky, sexy, currently labeled "Great Underpants for Womb Furie and Sinning) Great Sword of War, L'Enlèvement, Womb Furie 2012, Aelophile, Mag Mell, Sin, Solstice Scents Blueberry Violet Truffle, Arcana Bawd, Arcana Frilly Underpants, Alkemia Bohémiens en Voyage Bottle 2: (going for orange and tobacco): SN: Sweet Orange, Centzon Totochtin, Blodughadda, Only a Sip, The Antikythera Mechanism, Kali, Dee, Possets Ego, Pumpkin IV Bottle 3: (wanted to see if I could make Mischief wearable, currently labeled "weird") Mischief, Alkemia Carmen 7, Alkemia Echoed Ecstacy, Possets Chichicastenango, Possets Chivitavecchia, Possets Silver Carnation, Solstice Scents Rose Sugar Cardamom Bottle 4: (based off the theme, we've lovingly dubbed this "Halloween at Heidi's") Bordello, Yipe, Haus of Gloi Risque, Sin, Perversion, Scary Cat, Alkemia Trick or Treat, Alkemia Black Magic Woman Bottle 5: (berries, citrus, and light things): Bewitched, Bones of Capys, drop of Horny Panda, Delirium, Dead Leaves + Blackberries, Golden Priapus, The Dodo, Night-Gaunt, Dia de los Muertos 2012, Possets A Poem of Villeneuve St. Georges Bottle 6: (Red apples and red musk) Daruma Doll, Love Me, Veil, Tushnamatay, Skuld, Ogun, The Ifrit, Bard, Autumn Cider 2011, Arcana Apples Crave Cake, WoobieBath.com Hocus Pocus

I decided to try this on a whim in a swap. First impressions are woody, like maybe dried, woody lotus root? Not quite pencil shavings. Or maybe I'm amping the fir and sandalwood? I'm not getting anything sweet or bubblegummy. After a bit, the woodiness calms down. The fig starts to make it's way out. Then it has this clean smell of woodiness in a massage room. Half a day later...the woodiness is gone. It's like a sweet, creamy, kinda clean "floral". "Floral" makes me think really harsh, headache-inducing, but it's not. It's actually really wearable, but not very much sillage. I'm impressed with how long it stuck around, though.

I hate to say this, but my first thought is "Bath&Body Works". This smells similar to some of their summer coconut scents. Tropical and sweet, slightly creamy and clean; very approachable. I think the fig lends the "cream" and "clean" note. I love coconut scents, but this doesn't seem particularly nuanced. As time wears on, the coconut calms down a bit, but it's not interesting enough for me to keep.