skylarkza

In bottle: Burnt sugar and... booze. Huh? Wet: Currants and burnt sugar and... something green. Moss, is that you? Bizarre, but not unpleasant. Dry: Green. Like grass (though I think that is just the moss) and currants and a bit of sugary something in the background. I can't help but think of being at a picnic. Delightful! A while later: I smell like some kind of pudding! Vanilla and fruit and baked sugary. Yum!

In the bottle: Earth. Rich, wet, dark soil. Like if you go gardening after rain. Wet: Now it smells like flowers and mud and rain. But not mud in the bad sense - mud as in great big stonking puddles in that soil from earlier. Dry: Wow! This is breathe takingly exotic and slightly spicy and wet. The spices and myrhh have temporarily hidden the mud, which is now just providing grounding and depth. After a while: It still smells watery - but more like a puddle in a dirt path. Its a comforting and earthy kind of wet. But not too "muddy". Intriguing. But awesome.

In the bottle: Limes and mint with just a hint of melon. A very bright scent. Wet: Melons and lime and I think I am getting some tea! Sharp and crisp and bright. Dry: This is a bright and shimmery scent! I can't quite place all the notes at the moment, there is definitely melon and mint and tea - but it somehow seems to sparkle in my nose! A while later: It is over 9 hours since I applied it, and I can still smell it if I sniff my wrists. Melon and mint and something sparkly. Delightful!

In the bottle: It smells like a lavender bush after the rain. Far more earthy than I would imagine for a star. (Then again, I associate lavendar with chameleons and chameleons are not very star-like) Wet: The lavender is still there and still strong, but I think that the magnolia may be coming out to play. It is less earthy lavender bush and more otherworldly lavender now. Dry: The lavender fades to the background to ground the cool, crisp scents of the other florals. This is like a clear starry night when the stars are glittery and so far away and you are very aware of their distance. Perfect for this scent! After a while: Hmmmm... still lavender. But with something brighter and colder peeking out. Cool and aloof. But very nice!

The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices. In the imp: Gingersnaps shot through with lime. Wet: Freshly cut ginger and lime. Maybe some cloves and nutmeg? Smells like everything is fresh, fresh, fresh! Dry: Ginger and spicy smoke. Gingersnaps? Yes... but a little darker. Lovely. After a while: Hmmm... ginger still wafts up occasionally. This lasts amazingly well! But there is also something smoky and beckoning just behind the ginger. This is proving to be a great pick me up on a day where I needed one and I can see this being a very sexy scent too in an odd way. You smell good enough to eat and there is that something beckoning too... mmmmmm...

In the imp: Forget Irish coffee! This is a Don Pedro with a healthy lick of butterscotch sauce! Wet: Whisky! Whisky and butterscotch! Dry: Cream and coffee and brown sugar... with a woody background. And I am still getting butterscotch. A while later: Hmmm... a kind of smoky wood smell with coffee and butterscotch. I don't know where I am getting the butterscotch - but to me it is really prominent in this - and divine! I forsee a bottle of this in my future. It is the perfect curling-up-under-the-covers-with-a-book scent! P.S. Putting a dash of Shub-niggurath somewhere like your hair while wearing this turns it into pure magic!

In bottle: This smells like idealized fresh water! Very wet and aquatic and yet shimmery and clear! The perfect "water" scent! Wet: Whatever is adding the almost floral/citrussy tang is a bit stronger once it goes on. But still a very wet smell. Dry: Its is lovely and wet, with a slight hint of perfumed fruity/floralness. Like swimming in a clear river with a wonderful breeze bringing a hint of plants. A while later: A crystal scent, clear and sparkling. It is close to the skin, but not too faint. It evokes the feeling of being just under the surface of the water and looking up at the sun sparkling on the surface.

In imp: Wet, very wet and floral. Lavender with just a hint of jasmine. Wet: A very wet recent rain smell and hello honeysuckle! It has jumped to centre stage. Dry: Honeysuckle and jasmine. But with something adding depth and a touch of coolness. After a while: A faint waft of honeysuckle and jasmine... like remembering the old garden path that they used to grow on just before falling asleep. Not terribly strong, but nice!

I just opened my bottle of The Festival of Anuket to take a quick sniff (I am already wearing Twilight today, so it was just a "New bottle! Must sniff contents!" thing) and oh my hat! It is the most perfect Aquatic scent I have ever encountered - it IS the ideal of fresh, clean water to me. Bright and sparkling and fresh. If it smells as great on my skin as it does in the bottle - I am in trouble! Bearing in mind that this is a perfect aquatic to my nose, what other aquatics from the GC would you recommend?

In the imp: Very green (I think this is the fig... I don't recall ever smelling a real one), with a dash of spicy darkness lurking behind it. Intriguing. Wet: Woody and green. Like my neighbour's overgrown backyard when the mulberries were not in season. Dry: The woodsy is starting to go away and the green is stronger. The dark background spices are coming out to play, stronger than in the imp. A while later: Spicy and warm, with just a dash of what I guess is the fig. But mostly spicy. This is what I imagine freshly baked fig newtons would smell like.

In imp: Wet and slightly honeyed smelling. Like fresh green leaves and flowers in a stream. Wet: Something musky to it now. It has lost most of the wet smell and is now strongly floral and musky. Maybe somebody just stepped out the stream and is covered in those flowers? Dry: HELLO honeysuckle! Jasmine - I see you there too, trying to hide behind hineysuckle. Why are you two beating up the other notes? I mean - it does not smell bad, but a bit more variety would be nice. Ah, who am I kidding - I love jasmine and honeysuckle and smelling like them is NOT a bad thing. Later: Hmmm... this now reminds me of where the honeysuckle and jasmine grew in our garden when I grew up. But with a greeny-damp scent behind it. Like near the bird bath at night, but a bit stronger. Lovely.

In the bottle: It smells earthy and wet. And kind of mossy. Odd. Wet: Muddy and flowery and spicy. Like you wish that people who have been out in the dirt all day smell like instead of what they actually smell like. Dry: The florals are headier now. And the spices. But it still has a deliciously earthy undertone. Not the kind of scent I would expect to like, but I do. Later: It smella like you always imagine a shady dappled brook smelling. Damp and earthy, yet with something floral in the background. The spices add just the right amount of interest to make it a person-scent and not a room scent. This one is also lasting for HOURS on me. I love how good it makes me smell. YUM.

In the bottle: It smells like a jungle... and roses. Roses in a jungle? Huh? Wet: Sugary flowers! It smells like sugary flowers! Dry: Ooh, the sugar is dying down to something almost smoky and the flowers are mellowing into an almost tropical blend that the roses are just managing to dominate. A while later: Roses. And possibly honey. Definitely some other more exotic florals keeping it from smelling like my gran. Quite strong still - it has good staying power, and wafts up to my nose occaisonally to remind me it is there. Very nice.

In the bottle: This smells sharp and kind of sour. Uh-oh. Wet: Oooh! The incence and a wood scent are making themselves apparent as soon as it hits the skin. Still a bit sharp, though. Dry: Now I smell the roses...and the wood scent. Hmmm - like being in a church with roses just outside by an open window. A while later: Still mostly roses and wood - but churchy wood. Unfortunately only very close to the skin. Lovely, but the decant imp is not going to go far. Oh well. But an awesome scent that I am happy to have tried.

In the bottle: It smells... clean. Like you would imagine stars smelling. I think it is the grape screaming through the myrrh. Wet: Hmmm, still clean - but a lot more incensey. It is like the section of the local holistic fair near the frankincense and myrrh shop, but underneath the grape-clean starry smell. Dry: Ah yes, now the grape is calming down and I smell like the best section of the holistic fair (not counting the food court). Incense and frankincense and myrrh. Later: It fades to something that sticks close to the skin, but smells divine. More of an excuse to reapply after a few hours I guess. Overall, LOVE. I am glad I bought this bottle.

I got a free imp of this from a forum member today. In the bottle: Sweet and floral, yet... brooding. Wet, on skin: Dark, dark florals! Like being in a flower garden at midnight when the flowers are mostly closed, but you can still smell them. Dry, on skin: Creamy and brooding - can still smell the flowers, but they are starting to fade into the darker scent that I can't quite place. Hours later: Either I have gotten used to the smell - it happens - or it does not carry very far, I can only smell it when I hold my wrist to my nose. Pity I don't have somebody else I can ask. The smell has gotten sharper and ever so slightly more dangerous. I LOVE it. Hmmm... depending on what other imps that I have coming in do, this may be a bottle scent. It is LOVELY.