strahlend

In the imp this smells beautifully woody and musky.

On my skin it smells even better. The slightly bitter edge the wood had in the imp becomes instantly sweeter and softer when it's on. This smells Really Good. What's particularly nice is that this manages to be a dark and woodsy smell without being too heavy, intense cologny, or pungent. This smells like dry fragrant wood sitting by a warm fireplace - it seems to have a simple, natural feel to it. It would make a great everyday scent and seems like it would be good in any season. I need to put this one on the bottle list.

In the imp I can barely smell anything. What I do get seems like a very pale floral.

On my skin - this is really light, I can't quite think of how to describe something I can hardly smell. It seems vaguely perfumy, there's something kind of giving me the feeling of perfume alcohol for some reason, I can hardly smell it but what I do get is kind of sharp. When it softens up a bit it seems like a barely there floral again. Probably the least present bpal I've ever sniffed.

In the imp I smell mostly jasmine. Sweet, floral, dark.

On my skin the rose comes out really quickly and for a second it seems like it's going to take over. It doesn't though, this is beautifully balanced. There's a bit of spice that's making me think of carnations, more likely though it's the myrrh interacting with the jasmine.

This is a very lovely scent, but roses and I aren't a good match so Nyx and I will part ways here and remain distant friends.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... this smells so freakin' good it almost can't be put into words.

This scent is dark, woody, and amazingly sexy. I almost get a feeling of chocolate which I believe must be the vanilla - this has happened before where my nose identifies vanilla as chocolate - but I would never call this blend foody because of it. There's something here giving me a cologny vibe, maybe that's the oak. I would think there's musk and leather in here but no such things are listed, but this really does strike me as a musky, leathery, woody blend. I can't believe how much I love this scent. It's a strong scent and a little goes a long way, which is nice because I'll have time to get another bottle before this one runs out.

I just got a bottle in the mail today and I'm totally in love.

Wet in the bottle - it smells kind of sharp and herbal.

Wet on my skin - a lovely amber colored oil, sweet and incensy

After a little while - this is sexy musky sweetness. There's still a feeling of herbs or resin hanging around, but overall this is gorgeous snake oil all sweetened up and incense-ified.

Dries down to - snake oil PLUS awesome... whatever the additional elements are they work beautifully here. They don't just tag along for the ride, this blend forms a new whole that is its own animal.

My only complaint is that for some reason this seems to fade off of my skin extra quickly (some of the others in the snake pit have also) but it smells so good I don't mind reapplying.

I really love the way this smells in my imp.

As soon as it hits my skin though it's a menthol and juniper mess that is not so much what I'm looking for. Juniper and I have a hard time together though and I'm guessing this is totally a skin chemistry issue. I wish the smell in the imp was what happened on my skin, it's really lovely.

 

Edit: My opinion of this scent changed a lot over time. My opinion now is that it smells like menthol and juniper, but in a fresh and interesting way. It's woody without being heavy, and cold without being soapy. It doesn't take much time at all and a lovely vanilla comes in and sweetens this up considerably.

It reminds me of an evergreen wreath with juniper berries and a vanilla candle burning in the middle.

In the bottle - a unique scent. It's dark and woodsy/musky but with the most interesting green element to it. It's not one I fell in love with at first sniff, but I was curious to know more.
On my skin - this smells like black musk to me, not skin musk. It seems like all the listed notes are in here if you look for them. This is a stunningly beautiful blend. It smells exotic and kind of wild and alluring. It's not a scent that's messing around, it seems like a strong willed scent that you want to wear with confidence. It's sweet and dark and mysterious and just a little bit like doing secret things in the woods. I can't say enough how much I love this scent. In my all time top 10, for sure. Also, one of only two scents strangers have ever complimented me on.

My nose is interpreting this as being kind of metallic for some reason. It's pungent wood. I was looking forward to carrot seed, but I can't smell anything that makes me think of carrot seed here. I'm also not getting patchouli, myrrh, or really anything else - this is pretty directly a bitter wood. It seems to soften up a bit after a few minutes, but even when the edge is off it seems medicinal. Ok, the patchouli does come in after about 10 minutes or so and brings with it some sweetness, warmth and a little hint of spice. This is an interesting scent if left to run its full course. It's reminding me of the inside of an old wood box. Oddly enough, after an awful first impression it's starting to grow on me.

I love earthy scents.

That said, some of the earthy blends I come across end up smelling like soapy dirt (off the top of my head I'm thinking of Worm Moon & Planting Moon). To my nose Shadows of What May Be fits into the "clean dirt" category. Like someone spilled a mountain air scented laundry soap on a mound of freshly turned earth. I really want to like this scent, but it's not working for me.

My first impression was that it smelled like manly soap.

I wasn't too eager to try it on but put it to the side of my desk to try later. The next morning I'm sitting at my desk and I keep smelling soap. Eventually it's so soapy and overwhelming that I start to feel kind of ill. When I checked around to find the source it was a leaky imp of Galvanic Goggles. On paper this blend should be heaven for me, but the reality is quite the opposite.

I was really looking forward to this scent since my tastes generally run toward the woodsy and musky.

First sniff – Ths mainly seems leathery and metallic. Not woodsy or even vetiver... kind of odd. I'm really not sure how I feel about this scent at all.

Skin test – Woodsy, mildly sweet after being worn for quite a while. It's nice enough but I'm not sure it's distinct enough from similar blends.

Another skin test - hmm... after just a few minutes on my skin this changes into a totally different scent. The metallic element fades off quick and what remains for the duration is an interesting leather and oakmoss blend. I suppose if you told me I could pick out the pepper, but it doesn't stand out. I can't pick out tonka in here at all. I think it's the cumin mixing with the leather that's giving it kind of a warm spiced feeling.

Then one skin test led to another and another and eventually I got a partial bottle. Although I can't really say what it is that's so compelling about Scrooge it DOES have a draw.

I've been thinking that I want to spend more time with resin/incense blends. I'm really fond of myrrh and frankincense incense but somehow these types of scents have been overlooked in my perfume oils. So here I am with an imp of Cathedral. In the imp it's a beautiful blend of warmth and wood and kind of bitter resins - exactly what I was looking for. On my skin the blend stays very much the same and I love it.

The problem is that this vanishes off of my skin within about half an hour. If I press my nose to my arm I can get a gentle whiff of it, but I would have to drench myself in this stuff for it to last very long. I wish it were more potent, I think this would be a great everyday scent for me if it had more staying power.

To my nose this blend is a giant lemon with a side of lemons and lemons for dessert.

This is not one I would normally be drawn to, juniper, rosewood and pine are all iffy for me. I tried it on and felt kind of Meh about it. The pine was a bit too much for me. I like "masculine" scents but this one just didn't ring my bell. On my partner though this is super fantastic vanilla in the forest goodness. I don't have a lot of bpal friends around to experience scents with different skin chemistry but this time it's a really amazing how differently this smells on each of us.

 

ETA - I must have been having an off day when I tested this before. This is actually fantastic on me and now I need to get a bottle for myself too. When my partner wears this scent I notice the most wonderful woodsy vanilla cloud around him. Since it's hard to detect the cloud effect when I'm the one wearing perfume I don't know if that happens when I wear it or not, but I have noticed that it's much more of a foresty vanilla than I initially thought. I got a bottle for him and now I have one on the way for myself. I'm totally in love with this scent. Happily it doesn't go powdery on either one of us, and we both do have issues with that sometimes.

This has a very sugary sweet mint feel to it, like wintergreen or spearamint. If you like those kinds of wintery mint smells, this would be a good bet for you.

In my imp this says - "hello, I'm vetiver. I'm not the normal char-smoke-root vetiver you think you know. I'm a kinder, gentler vetiver. Let's talk."

On my skin the myrrh says - "Ya, that's me, I'm the one balancing out this vetiver rascal. We make quite a good pair, yes?"

 

And I say yes. Yes they make a great pair. The myrrh adds some sweetness and depth and keeps the vetiver contained to merely a woodsy base note instead of being all in your face.

All in all this ends up being a mainly resinous scent with extra oomph - which works great for me because some resin blends are a bit too mild for my liking.

 

I don't hear from the blackcurrant as such at any point, and that's fine with me. Generally speaking fruity smells are not my favorite.

When wet this does have a "perfumy" element to it, but that fades quickly.

I can smell the orange blossom clearly. At first with a little green tinge to it, then that fades and a soft vanilla comes in. I can smell a hint of spice that I think is the carnation.

This is very lovely but Ravenous has my heart as far as orange blossom scents go. Changing the Shadows reminds me of the sweet little newborn niece of Ravenous. It smells kind of young and girly and soft.

I was really looking forward to this scent.

This starts out smelling very metallic and tangy on my skin. There's something herbal, almost medicinal about it. It smells kind of sour and bitter.

After it has time to dry The School does soften up quite a bit and lose that metallic tang. Now it seems kind of warm and almost amber-like to me, sweet and still a hint of something herbal.

Fades down to a sort of unusual herbal something and honeymusk that, I assume, is beeswax.

Not quite the scent adventure I expected. The opening stages are so unpleasant I wouldn't want to go through it again to get to the dry down.

Since last years Joulumuori I've been quite interested in hearth scents.

On my skin this smells like berries or currants of some kind. Foody all the way. I was really hoping for something more woodsy or smokey.

There's a cherry tootsie-pop in my imp!

I do love lavender, patchouli, and cognac... I tend to not love so much the blackberry. However this was one I really looked forward to trying.

First sniff – lavender incense, it's dusky and musky and has a feeling of resins and powder.

On my skin – this is a powdery pleasant lavender. Very powdery. I can't distinguish any of the listed notes after a bit of dry down.

On my skin for a second test, this is pretty and powdery and it does smell like some kind of resin. I don't get the sense of blackberry or cognac or even patchouli. All the notes blend so well together that it forms a whole.

Powdery isn't usually something I feel like wearing though. I would be happy to take a bottle if it landed in my lap

 

update:

I found a low level bottle for sale and have found that it seems quite different than my initial impression from the imp I had. This bottle is Very Strong Lavender. It reminds me of when I'm on a walk and I pass by some lavender and give it a squeeze with my fingers. That fresh, sharp, intense lavender is what I get from the bottle. On my skin it smells the same. Very potent. I'm not smelling anything but lavender - not a hint of patchouli, resins, or powder. After a bit of dry down it has turned into a slightly softer version of itself but it still smells like a very true lavender. At this point it smells like I've been rolling around in fields of lavender and then laying in the sun - it's warmed up considerably. Not what I expected from my imp, but nice in a different way.

This is a very lovely scent. It's sweet and a little spiced, reminding me of soft leather and mild cloves. It's warm and snuggly. On the drydown it reminds me very much of Marquis de Carabas.

Initially there's a lot of vetiver happening here. It's the most prominant note in the imp and wet on my skin. After a considerable amount of time the vetiver has mellowed out enough that the lavender and rose start to come forward. More lavender than rose. I'm not getting amber here, but I'm guessing it's blending with the vetiver. When everything has mellowed and softened up it becomes a rich, warm scent. This smells sophisticated and expensive.

I didn't have high expectations for this scent. When my decants got here and I sniffed the imp I was surprised how much I liked it. In the imp it's very pretty in that musky-dusky floral kid of way. I smell quite a bit of frankincense and musk and a maybe spiced floral. I like this more than I anticipated.
On my skin – this is sweet and resinous smelling. Something is reminding me of expensive hand soap.
After dry down, this is soapy enough that is is outside of my range of preference but it is compelling and very pretty.

This blend smells to me like vanilla and skin musk. It's very pretty and girly. I agree with others that this would make a nice spring or summer scent.