CiaoBonefish

Kenjari - The Hesperides wasn't all that great on me so I don't know if apple works or not, BUT I didn't get much of an apples smell from the Hesperides anyway. I'll have to give Ladon a try!

 

Skyelyric - Dragon's bone was on my list of things to try and has now been bumped higher on the list!

Just wanted to revive this thread because I've recently discovered I actually like Dragon's Blood A LOT.

 

After initially trying Dragon's Milk I was turned off on dragon's blood in general because Dragon's Milk was SO sweet and syrupy on me. It was also ridiculously floral at first. After a little aging it isn't quite so floral anymore and better blended, but it is STILL far too sweet for my liking.

 

I did however try Tintagel the other day and I absolutely adore it, but dragon's blood is quite prominent in it which confused my nose. It is more of a spicy DB though with some nice dry woods thrown in and a deepness from a touch of leather and a slight sweetness from the wine. I really love it.

 

SO. I was wondering if there are any other DB scents that I should try? I'm not a fan of super florals, but I do like light and crisp ones (violet, orchid, poppy, carnation, night-blooming flowers, lotus and such). Woods are nice too, but I tend to stay away from overly HOT blends like ones with nuts (aside from almond, I LOVE almond). Fruit is good, astringent is bad (I don't like it when a blend pierces my nose). I really like dry scents as well (like hellfire). Aquatics work well on me too, as do musks and tea blends! Coconut is iffy as is rum and anything overly boozy. I can't say I love cherry. Vetiver is good as long as it isn't dominant, and I LOVE BEESWAX and vanilla and milk and creamy and foody blends. Anything sugared though has the potential to be WAY too sweet on me (my skin just amps it).

 

I don't know if that helped a lot... but there it is! I would really appreciate some help

This smells like strawberry jam initially, though not as sticky or as sweet. I'm not getting anything distinctly chocolatey, but there is a kind of creaminess to it.

 

On my skin the creaminess comes out a bit more without having much of an actual scent to it. I can't detect pepper but I have a feeling it is keeping the strawberry and white chocolate from being overly sweet. The pepper becomes slightly stronger and I'm getting an almost watery feel to the chocolate. Hmm.

 

While drying this is light strawberry jam with a hint of creaminess and some watery pepper thrown in. Gah. Just not liking this pepper combination thrown in. I understand how it works for some people, but the pepper becomes too prominent for my taste.

 

A little while after drydown the chocolate comes out more and the strawberry recedes somewhat. Hmm. Wow. This is really becoming pretty now. The pepper has integrated itself really well into the blend balancing out the strawberry and white chocolate.

 

On second thought this smells like a creamier Beaver Moon 07 on me with a dash of pepper.

 

I initially thought I liked this less than White Chocolate, Black Raspberry, and Apricot Cordial Truffle, but now I am not so sure. Not sure if it is bottle worthy, but gee I'm really starting to like it now!

 

Edit: Yep this is my favorite truffle of the box!

Initially on my skin and in the imp I'm getting woods that have a slight edge to them (juniper probably), leather and a hint of wine that's adding sweetness to the blend. There is also a hint of Dragon's Blood that is making everything lightly spicy, but in a good way.

 

As it dries the leather scent pretty much disappears and the woods become much more melded into everything else. They've lost their edge. I'm not detecting much juniper anymore either; it too has dissolved into everything else.

 

When the scent is pretty much dry I'm getting dragon's blood and wine (but not too much wine, just enough to sweeten and add some depth to the blend) fused together with warm comforting woods; I think there is a touch of leather there too deepening the blend and adding to the warmth. I can hardly pick out the notes anymore. It's just such a complex and well blended scent. I did not expect to like it this much.

 

The scent is extremely evocative of Tintagel too. I can smell the feasting and the leather and clash of armor and the wonders of the days of King Arthur. Truly glorious! A wonderful comforting scent

 

Milk and honey and carnation, but mainly milk and carnation.

 

When I first tested this a zillion times I didn't think I needed a bottle. It just seemed almost too simple for me. I put it away for later use thinking an imp would be enough. I was, however, strangely drawn to it and didn't notice at the time how much i was using it.

 

The other day I whipped it open to put on before I sleep and lo and behold my imp was pretty near empty. I felt sad.

 

In the imp and on my skin it remains pretty much the same: a gorgeous, warm, comforting, creamy milk stirred with carnation. The carnation itself is a touch spicy but not overly so. It's really the perfect sleep scent or feeling warm and toasty scent for me. It fades to a creamy milk with a touch of carnation and the throw is fairly strong and it lasts about an average time.

 

Why have I waited so long! I need a bottle!

 

ETA: I was looking through my old review and realized that lately I've been even smelling a touch of rose in this! It is really pretty! Definitely heavy on the milk, but the carnation and rose just bring it to a completely different level for me! Amazing!

Hello lovelies!! I had the fortune of trying some carnival scents through some lovely forumites and i think im hooked! my problem is that its soo big i dont know what to try next. So far my favorite has been the illustrated woman. i love the dry down stage how its creamy vanilla. I also enjoyed cytherea and faiza. I like foody scents too and was thinking about trying boomslang...but the snake oil scares me. I can only wear it after its set for a few months. my favorite scent list includes:

Bastet

Les Bijoux

Enchanted Florist

two five and seven

 

All help would be MUCH MUCH MUCH appreciated

 

If you like Bastet then you must try Asp Viper! On me it is pretty much a lighter Bastet plus Snake Oil which is DIVINE. I'm actually wearing both right now because I wanted to compare them. Bastet is definitely more warm and comforting almond on me, Asp Viper gives it a bit of an edge. It isn't quite as sweet but has a slight smokiness I associate with Snake Oil on my skin. It's absolutely delicious!

 

If you're scared of Snake Oil I would try getting a decant of Asp Viper off the forums. I'm sure someone is selling it!

 

Well if you were thinking about trying Boomslang (which I've heard is predominantly cocoa) may be you should give Wulric, the Wolfman a go? On me it's mainly cocoa and vetiver (if you're afraid of vetiver DON'T BE because in this blend it's lovely and coming from a vetiver despiser that's definitely saying something). It's not foody per se, but definitely amazing!

 

I've only tried a handful of the CDs myself so I'm sorry I couldn't help as much! I actually have some more CD decants coming to me soon though!

 

Started off as amazing chestnut and rice power. The most promising Shunga of all!

 

On my skin that glorious chestnut rice power lasted for about a minute, and then I get straight up soap. Weird. I've never had a scent go so completely soapy on me before. So sad. On a second whiff of the decant, I notice that there is the slightest hint of soapiness in it. I guess my skin just amped it like crazy.

 

How upsetting. It smelled so good...

 

The scent in the decant, well, I can only describe it as the smell of this middle eastern desert, palette cleanser type thing called paan (a kind of wrap made from a betel leaf with its contents being a combination of fruit preserves, dried coconut flakes, candied spices and herbs such as fennel, and a whole lot of different syrups made from saffron, dates, honey and brown palm sugar).

 

Now sweet paan is one of those things you love or hate. Personally I used to really like it, but now I can't stomach it. Something about the flavor is just off and it ROTS your teeth. I also associate the scent to the dirtier places of Pakistan and bad Pakistani food restaurants. I don't know why (and I don't mean to offend anyone either)! Well. I digress! This smells like sweet paan in the imp. Its a really clear smell though, not muddled at all, but I can't say I like it.

 

As it dries the sweet paan scent fades a bit and instead I start smelling... hmm. Well. You know that smell of really glossy paper? Like in new text books? It gets up your nose and is a combination of paper and metal? That is what is smells like in combination with sweet paan.

 

It pretty much stays that scent too.

 

So disappointed. I thought I would love this because I love the rock/mineral note in Black Opal and the metallic-ness of Silver Phoenix, but no. This just doesn't do it for me :/

 

I was really, REALLY looking forward to this one. In the decant it is surprisingly sweet florals, but the florals aren't delicate or heady, they are more slightly juicy if that makes any sense. The grasses and sap are coming into play and its really pretty, but familiar...

 

On my skin it blooms into something quite sweet, and I remember what it reminds me of: Hope and Faith. This scent is very much like sugared grasses and juicy flowers on my skin. Ahhh! Sugar notes AMP on me ridiculously, but there isn't any sugar in this (at least I don't think). So I must conclude that it is the sap making this overly sweet.

 

Very pretty in the decant, but it just sweetened WAY too much on application for me.

 

Oh my goodness. I did not expect this to be so lovely, but it is.

 

The main reasons I wanted to try this scent were the red bush tea, vanilla, peach, and myrrh. The combination sounded too amazing. Amber is good on me usually, but I'm not a huge fan of OVERLY amber scents, mandarin can be soapy on, and lotus I had no idea about. So I was hesitant to get a bottle straight away... I should have!

 

In the decant this is predominantly tea and fruity-ness. It smelled promising, but I was hoping for more myrrh. I don't know what red bush tea smells like, but this tea note reminded me very much of black tea sweetened with honey that has a slight bit of spice or depth to it (which is probably my delicious myrrh peeping through).

 

I HAD to try it immediately. I've been looking for a creamy, wonderful, tea scent! On my skin it remains more or less the same, BUT the myrrh makes a grand entrance and it's lovely! The amber peaks through slightly too helping out the myrrh. Overall it is a deep tea scent that is warm and fruity, but the fruit is more of a spice fruit without truly being spicy. Like peach dipped in resin.

 

If you have ever had Tangerine Orange Zinger tea by Celestial seasonings, it is VERY reminiscent of that scent. To me anyway, and seeing as I love that tea I was so excited. The only real difference is that the vanilla and myrrh add a creamy deepening and the mandarin/peach is not as strong.

 

This also fades quite well with the fruits fading and the scent becoming overall more meshed together and like delicious warm tea. Throw is average.

 

Ah. Gorgeous! I know that may have all been quite confusing up there so I'm going to summarize this scent as a red tea, peach, mandarin, and myrrh scent. Overall, warm and red-ish golden with a slight spice to it. So very comforting and lovely. I need a bottlleee!

This is the first of my decants I tried and wow. It does not disappoint.

 

In the decant it's mainly apricot and black raspberry. The black raspberry being quite more dominant. It's not overly juicy either which I like and is sweetened by a hint of creamy white chocolate WITHOUT being overly sweet or sugared (but don't get me wrong, this IS a sweet scent haha).

 

On my skin the white chocolate becomes more prominent and the black raspberry calms down ever so slightly while still remaining dominant over the apricot, but the apricot keeps this from being too raspberry-ish of that makes any sense.

 

Over time the raspberry becomes less dominant and dissolves into the chocolate and apricot. At the days end I can still smell it, but I'm left with something hmm. Not light, but not as intense. Like warmed white chocolate and roasted raspberries. My skin tends to make things smoky as they fade which is odd, but it definitely happened for me on this scent without it really being SMOKY. Lovely dry down.

 

Overall this is a really, really lovely white chocolate black raspberry with a hint of apricot scent on me. Quite spot on and realistic! I'm contemplating a bottle!!!

 

Oh by the way. This is foody, but as the day does no it morphs into something that is more than just chocolate, something better!

 

Resurrecting this thread looking for suggestions...

 

I would dearly love to pick up a CD blend or two, but I can't afford more than that one or two...I've discovered I like wood and spice notes, amber, and vanilla and honey seem to play nice on my skin. Jasmine and patchouli are serious death notes; I don't really do many florals well in general either. With that preface, the short list:

 

Saw-Scaled Viper

Habu

Aeronwen

Inez

 

Gennivre and Marcilla sound really interesting too, but I think with the still cold weather here I'm leaning towards warmer scents.

Saw-Scaled Viper was EXTREMELY spicy on me. I couldn't even wear it, and I'm rather fond of spicy scents. So a word of caution there.

 

I'm going to recommend Asp Viper but only if you like almond. It's pretty much a warm smoky almond snake oil type scent. You mentioned you like honey and amber and that combination is very warm and smooth to my nose so you might like Asp Viper, but it's just a thought though! I'm just going by the feel of scents here.

 

Habu, Aeronwen, and Inez sound like good choices though, but I can't say I've tried any of them!

Favorite cocoa scents everyone? Specifically NOT chocolate BUT cocoa!

 

I know, weird right? The chocolate note goes rather nutty on me and warm so I've noticed, but I absolutely adore cocoa. I've only tried Wulric though (which was a HUGE success! Chocolate-y cocoa deepened slightly by vetiver with a touch of lavender. Mmmmm )

 

So lets see them! Favorite/best cocoa blends!

 

The only cocoa blend I've tried is Black Temple Burlesque Troupe and it's absolutely wonderful. I tend to think "brownies/brownie mix" before "chocolate bar" with this one. On me, it's mainly a musky cocoa with a very faint touch of tobacco. Very grown-up and not entirely foody.

 

Edited to add: This was a Yule 2009 release but you might be able to find it on the sales boards.

 

Drat! I new I should have picked that up! I'll keep a close eye for it now!

 

Favorite cocoa scents everyone? Specifically NOT chocolate BUT cocoa!

 

I know, weird right? The chocolate note goes rather nutty on me and warm so I've noticed, but I absolutely adore cocoa. I've only tried Wulric though (which was a HUGE success! Chocolate-y cocoa deepened slightly by vetiver with a touch of lavender. Mmmmm )

 

So lets see them! Favorite/best cocoa blends!

In the bottle I got a very mysterious scent. It was so well blended that the only notes I could really make out were sweet quince with a dash of honey, but the entire blend was so lovely. I had to put it on.

 

Wet I'm starting to smell the quince more strongly with a dash of mandarin, and the honey scent becomes more prominent as well. Except this honey is different. It isn't a sharp honey, but it is quite a bit more decadent tan beeswax... what is that smell? It was the vanilla! Of course! The vanilla and honey together create a very thick rich sweet warm and delicious honey. It sweetens the quince lovingly making it more of a honeyed quince.

 

Now the tobacco appears in full bloom with a touch of cognac, definitely not too boozy at all, but there is a hint of it. Now I love, LOVE the smell of Beth's tobacco note, but this is just beautiful. Honey quince and tobacco? Woah.

 

As this sits on my arm the quince recedes ever so slightly and the tobacco rounds out the sweetness of the honey and vanilla. Making this flat out divinity in a bottle.

 

A truly decadent scent that is just comforting AND sexy at the same time. Swoon. I may need another bottle of this, or two!

 

This is one scent I was most anticipating from the Lupercalia update this year. Lychee? I LOVE LYCHEE. When I opened this bottle, I immediately gasped, "Oh my god, Lychee?" I actually said that out loud. It smelled like the most heavenly blend of lychee and rose, but in the bottle the lychee is far more prominent. No hint of cistus yet.

 

I hastened to put this on my skin and it just bloomed. The lychee and rose melt perfectly into each other into a sweet sticky, almost jam like consistency. (How am I getting that from just smelling it? I don't know!) This is by no means a light scent, and I keep getting whiffs of it as I move about. In the wet stages the rose and lychee fight it out, and rose does become more prominent, but that is okay... for now anyway.

 

Once dry, however, the lychee and rose are pretty much equal, the rose adding a soft sweetness to the lychee and the lychee adding a burst of fresh juiciness to the rose. Very beautiful. Still no cistus, but I believe it is helping to hold everything together because this is one blend where the rose isn't going super powdery on me like it does sometimes (Hope I'm talking to you!)

 

Overall, I love this! I wish the lychee had been more prominent than the rose otto, but it is still wonderful. Really unique. Glad I have a bottle!

 

Oh my, oh my. So glad I ordered this last minute (impulse buy)! I was really spot on.

 

My first thoughts on this scent were mainly, "Hmmm. Silver? Metallic? I don't know if that is me." After reading reviews, however, I became intrigued as to how "silver" might smell.

 

In the bottle this is very herbal. It's a transparent green smell with a flash of yellow here and there. I'm smelling the orris and moonflower for sure, a slight hint of juniper, and perhaps a hint of pear in this (I love BPAL's pear note but you don't come across it very often) adding a lovely sweetness. The orris, or is it mugwort? is giving a slight sourness though. Rather like cilantro, but not in a bad way. Very herbal and yummy.

 

On my skin it's more or less the same scent, but now the notes are blending so seamlessly together that I cannot even pick them apart! This also sweetens and the sour note I had before is gone. Wow. So deliciously pretty and light and herbal floral. Definitely my favorite kind of scent.

 

I'm getting very much the violet vibe others have talked about, without really smelling pure violet. It's more just a violet feel if that makes any sense. Others have also compared this to Black Opal and I REALLY REALLY get that comparison. The first time I wore it I thought it smelled exactly like Black Opal, but after wearing it more often I can see just how different they truly are. Black Opal IS one of my favorites, but I think Silver Phoenix surpasses it by far.

 

On a final note. This really does smell like silver! Elusive, gleaming, delicate, beautiful, and just mesmerizing. I have one bottle now, but I may track another later on depending on how fast I go through this

 

Ever since watching The Parent Trap again, I've been wondering what a "peppermint and pipe tobacco" scent would smell like hahahaha. Any suggestions?

 

GC scents perferably and I'd be up for any tobacco and mint combination really. If anyone has any layering ideas, those are welcome too!

Wow. Was frimped this in my last order and dear goodness I love it. The imp smelled oddly fruity and sweet to my nose with a dash of leather thrown in there and a tinge of incense and tobacco. Very interesting.

 

On my skin the fruity-ish note fades into a sweet pipe tobacco surrounded by warm gentle leather. I'm also getting the musk and incense now, but they're only attributing a soft smokiness to add some depth to the scent. When dry the leather was quite may be not sharp, but prominent and very warm, hot almost. As it dries completely it rounds out, though, and becomes wonderfully soft and dry and warm. Yes! Yes! Yes!

 

Overall this is sweet pipe tobacco and dry leather with a touch of incense-y musk on me. Smells like hellfire alright, but a very warm dry and inviting one! Depending on how fast i got through my imp I'll be picking up a bottle eventually!

 

In the bottle, I smelled amazingly lovely violets sweetened with sugar. A little creamy, but not overly so. Just perfect actually. The violets are still crisp and flowery, rather than candied. Mmmm.

 

As soon as I apply this, it sweetens even MORE. The creaminess becomes far more prominent and now I'm smelling candied creamy violet custard with way too much sugar. What. Happened? The crispness of the sugared violets in the bottle completely disappeared. I feel more like I'm smelling sugar violets than sugared violets.

 

I thought I would love this scent, but alas it is too creamy and far too sweet on me. The violets in Faith don't hold their ground like the roses do in Hope, and unfortunately the sugar takes over making the blend EXTREMELY sweet. I'll give this a week or may be a few weeks until I decided to swap. I really, really wanted to love this one. If worse comes to worse I'll decant some and sell the rest.

 

Sigh... Oh Faith. Why did you not work when I so looked forward to our relationship? It appears Hope has seduced me instead!

This is for the '09 version.

 

Wow. This is so awesome. I can't quite make out the individual notes apart from the spring berries, but I can tell you what this reminds me of: a more feminine, lighter, sweeter, Old Moon (I LOVE Old Moon by the way).

 

In the decant this smelled promising, some kind of cold forest-y scent with berries and pretty flowers. It didn't seem very sweet, but was surprisingly sharp and green to my nose. Really pretty snow-forest is what I'm getting, but a snow-forest that is almost thawing for spring.

 

I applied this and it instantly became less sharp and much sweeter. I get snow covered forests with spring berries peeping through and the first display of gorgeous daffodil and ylang ylang. As time goes by the flowers and berries get stronger until balancing out the green trees. So feminine but green and cold at the same time. Lovely! I can smell the spring turning into a frost covered spring!

 

I don't think I'll be grabbing a bottle though because I have Old Moon, and feel it satisfies my ultimate snow-forest blend need. Gorgeous, gorgeous blend though. Definitely recommended! If it comes back next year, I may have to pick up a bottle

 

When I first tried this, I had to was it off almost immediately. The cinnamon was SO strong it pretty much went up my nose. Very peppery almost. I put it in my swaps pile without thinking about it again... until today that is.

Today I decided to give it a try because I was craving cinnamon. (which I truly love, but I don't feel like smelling like straight up cinnamon really... it has to be blended!) I noticed that in the imp it was still pretty much pure cinnamon, but not the sweet candied cinnamon, but more like a stick of actual cinnamon. It had however, cooled off somewhat since my last encounter.

I put it on, and with bated breath waited. At first it was the same cinnamon, but something instantly changed. Something was different than before! It started getting creamy rather than more peppery! I started to smell the myrrh and copal (I love myrrh!) and it really rounded out the scent nicely. The honeysuckle is nowhere to be seen, but on closer inspection, if I put my wrists to my nose I smell the faintest hint of sweet honeysuckle keeping the cinnamon from being too, too peppery.

The overall effect is very much like hot creamy milk and actual cinnamon sticks, foody, but not too foody. Divine. I can't stop sniffing my wrists. Oh, Chimera. Why did you tease me so! I think I'm going to eat my arm! This smells AMAZING! If one month of aging made it go this lovely, I think we will have a very lovely relationship this imp and I.

I also need a bottle now... AND this has shot up to my top 10 in scents. Delicious!

I was excited to try this blend because I've heard of it as a softer version of Snake Oil. Snake Oil is lovely, but a bit much for me for everyday wear (I'll have to try it aged, hopefully that brings out the vanilla more).

 

In the imp this smells glorious! All delicious almond a slight fint of snake oil underneath. This isn't the cherry-ish almond note that I get from Dana O'Shee either. It's more of a warm sweet well rounded almond like in Bastet. I'm pretty positive the myrrh is adding to the warmth and rounding out the scent beautifully.

 

On my skin this blend goes slightly smoky as snake oil does for me and becomes deeper as the scents blend seemlessly into each other. As the hours go by, the scent is still going on strong! Average throw but GREAT wear length. Also the blend gets smokier too as the almond slowly fades without ever fading completely. So gorgeous!

 

It never gets off my skin either!

 

I really love this blend. It was kind of a stealth favorite of mine, and I didn't realized how much I loved it until yesterday. I'll have to acquire a bottle of this eventually before the Carnaval leaves town!

 

ETA: I get no mandarin in this... which I was actually quite happy about hahaha.

I'm currently wearing this, and It is just lovely. In the imp I am getting pear, but wonderful fresh juicy pear. Mmmm. Tasty.

 

On skin this sweetens very much so, but not in the cloying kind of way. It's more of a crystalline sugared like sweet to my nose. The white musk and rose are just adding on to the pear and making it slightly powerdy, but not overly so. It's EXTREMELY feminine., so it is hard for me to believe that some think its more masculine!

 

Overall it dries to a wonderful crisp pear, rose, and white musk scent. I'm not a huge fan of lily of the valley and glad that it doesn't make a distincy appearance, but I'm sure it is adding to the flowery element in this blend. It's really pretty, but I think I prefered the juicy pear scent in the imp (juicy pear? I mean come on! Delish!)

 

That being said I will keep the imp! You never know when the urge to smell pear-y and rose-y will come over you (and this is one fresh rose scent if there ever was one)!

Bumpity bump because I'm looking for a delicious creamy black tea scent with mint. Specifically ONLY black tea with mint. Green tea and mint and honey scents are nice and I've looked over them to see which ones I want to try, but they are raly fresh and I'm in he mood for creamy.

 

What I'm really after is something that smells like milk and STRONG black tea with honey drizzled and swirled into the mixture and a spring of mint on the side adding to the sweetness and freshness, while it still being a pretty creamy tea blend.

 

No nuts or spices really, please.

 

Any thoughts?