starfish327

I do my reviews on facebook first, and I test without the note list first. Orris, violet, and white musk almost never work on me. I had no idea I owned this and don't even recognize the name

This is where a bad skin fit still is a great perfume

In the imp: oh redacted what is that. No idea. Chemically but obliviously deliberately that way

Wet: white musk and lemon

Dry: it reminds me both of a hospital and J Horror. This is truly evocative and truly not me. There’s wood in there, and something base

With notes

Ok. There’s the musk, the lemon is yuzu. I can tell the amber and lilac now that I know. The orris and violet are the baseness I was getting. sometimes it shifts into a really nice lovely spring perfume and sometimes it shifts into all the ways these notes can go wrong on me.

In the imp: oh god Orris root or violet. Like nose wrinkling bad. Not notes I love

Wet: nothing. Then restrained orris. It’s not the worst on me but I don’t enjoy it either

Dry: musky orris. And a floral, maybe rose? I'm guessing that's trying to be the coconut, or something that makes up blood musk.

This isn’t ‘meat violet’ but this isn’t a blend I -like- either so it’s in the enabling bag even before notes

2020

vetiver likes me but it likes me a little too much. Once if ages it calms down and lets the rest of the blend play.

right now this nothing but a new vetiver single note. It’s a very green almost mentholy vetiver. I’ll let this age and the vetiver calm down before I make a call

In the imp: Rose and I think Apple

Wet: rose and fruit

Dry: classic rose. Tea rose. What’s sometimes called old lady rose. Pink rose. There’s enough fruit to keep it from going powdered

My scent interests have shifted to where I can appreciate a rose when it’s not stomping everything else into oblivion. This is rose, and one or the combo of the fruits are making this work. It’s not a weak rose though and I can see this getting the old lady perfume criticism out of some people but if you like classic perfume types and can ever find this one do it.

This starts as smoked pine, almost as a single note. It’s not burning pine, it’s smoked pine which is distinction I’m not sure I’ve come across before. It does hit a smoked amber state, and eventually settles into dark amber. I’m not getting the dead leaf note at all.

i like smoke, pine and amber so I’ll keep the decant but this isn’t a bottle upgrade. 

My mod team for the Halloween group I modmin for asked me to review this one

it’s clear with black blobs

in the imp: almost minty with woods and smoke. It smells like cork grease

wet: cork grease with smoke 

dry: cork grease with woods and a distinct motor oil note. It settles into an incense with the oily woods and cork grease

it smells like the inside of my old clarinet case and Halloween. I wouldn’t call it pretty but it’s very wearable and I really like it

skin scent: citrus, spices, dark. reminds me of a yule

energetically: I work in a highly chaotic and intense industry, one that sounds more staid and balanced on paper than what often works out. Things go sideways so frequently I almost function better in high chaos than 'normal' calm days because I don't know how to just...move forward in a calm manner. 2020 threw us specific challenges and changes that caused a near 180 shifts in some situations.

When I pull energy, and it really gets moving, I sometimes laugh, and this gives me that feeling. it's like being on a roller coaster or a haunted house. It definitely feels like a boost in energetic movement, but in a very calculated way. This feels like one of the darker TALs I've worked with, though that's certainly not a negative and definitely has its place in my box.

This came in less than 24 hours ago, and this one still needs to settle 

*dark oil when applied

in the bottle-sort of dusty/stale cardamom and slight amber

wet: absolutely nothing (not rare for oils that need to settle more on my skin), then a gorgeous sugared style amber. 
dry: this is my favorite style amber, and it’s beautiful. Nothing here yells cardamom right now with my chem but it’s also not a straight up amber. Something is sort of warm and spicy hiding in the background.

I’m hoping age pulls the cardamom forward a little but even if it never does this is a pretty enough amber that I’m still happy with this blend 

(Unsure if this is a repeat review for me, my imp is new as of 2021)
 

In the imp- Pom with something keeping it from being a single note. I don’t think I would call it a rose but the pom isn’t alone in there

wet- yup that’s a pomegranate. It’s actually a gorgeous almost winey pomegranate 

dry-pom, pom, pom, HI I AM THE ROSE YOU ORDERED. it’s one of the better roses I’ve tried wearing but it is absolutely dominating this blend, it might as well be a spicy rose single note. 
 

I rarely if ever want to smell this plainly of rose but I have a friend who wants to test this so it already has a new home.

I didn’t even know there was a red one. I found it in a grab bag.

In the imp-something woody, spicy and sweet. Immediate impressions, the old fashioned candy store at the top of the hill

Wet- oh I like this. This is my favorite lace so far. Red sweet candy grounded out so it’s not foodie or youthful. Wine if you took the booze bite out.

Dry: BIG. Big red fruits and resins. I get the lace feel more than the normal vanilla that comes through. I think it’s helping warm this. I don’t get the musk or the patch other than a sort of dirtiness other than again there’s a solid base that’s keeping this from being a foodie.

Longer dry: the wood and the tobacco start showing up in the sillage but not on skin. This hasn't hit a phase that I haven't liked.

This is truly very nice.

I work in a fairly high stress fast paced industry. This is a very centering but not necessarily grounding oil, it's good for moving energy forward and finding the best usage of that energy. My personal review elsewhere was that it's the type of feeling you get after a good strategy session.

It's not necessarily an oil I would reach for as a perfume oil, it's pretty dry and too woody. It's not unpleasant however.

In the imp- hello vetiver

Wet- the vetiver would like you to know that the rumors are true, it can in fact smell like bbq and creosote

Dry down-I like vet blends enough to know to ride it out. Eventually the vet calms down to a murky greeness in the background and the blend becomes surprisingly light. It's very vegetal and I suspect a black resin in there somewhere.

Heavily masculine and probably would do well in a body product. I honestly don't hate it but I'm not sure I'm ever going to want to smell like this straight up but I'm in a 'try layering everything with amber' stage and this might be fun to dirty up blends.

I get nothing of the apple or even the rum.

It's straight up pastry, maybe oatmeal cookies. Something very close to skin is going plasticy. At least this cookie is baked, unlike my issues with gingerbread notes reading as raw on my skin.

It's actually very comforting though I will try layering it with an apple dominate blend.

Overbearing pink gum and something that smells like that pink antibiotic they gave kids in the 80s.

Almost single note citrus, straight through. The longer on skin, it warms up a little. It's a wet, juicy orange, not like cleaner.

This is another blend that goes a little flat on me alone but will be nice for layering to boost other orange blends.

In the imp-perfumy apple. Not fall candle apple, but closer to that than orchard apples

Wet: apples and water. Definitely smells like the bobbing tub

Dry: it keeps alternating between a pure sweet aquatic and the wet stage

I wish there were slightly more apple with this, but apple is currently one of the notes I'm hoarding so I'm sure I could layer it

I've been out of the loop for awhile now.

If I like Eve, which is rose, apple blossom, honey, and something else I don't remember off the top of my head, is there something I should be keeping an eye out for?

In the imp-I get apple and something woody

Wet-all apple

Dry-apple and vanilla with something like a wood, but may not be a wood, in the background.

It's not terribly complex on me, but I've bought three or four blends like this since Yule so this is definitely the type of oil in into right now. It's actually very pretty.

In the imp: honey with a floral I don't recognize

Wet: it smells like honey cough syrup. The floral is still there but it smells like an herbal, like herbal tea

Dry down: the longer it's on the more complexity it picks up. The honey gets very rich and sticky, and I can see the candy comparison. There's something in this that reads as red fruit but I suspect is actually a flower interacting with the honey.

This is the best of the plant + honey blends I've tried. Sensual though I wouldn't necessarily call it sexy.

I worried a little about this one, metal often turns to screaming and headaches on me

In the imp: high pitched citrus

Wet: sage, citrus, and amber. Not navel orange, maybe orange and lemon?

Dry: the amber pulls back and is just the citrus and the sage. The sage starts fading and I get a nice sweet citrus.

I rather like it.

I bought a bottle when first released and it was a very dry honey dominant blend.

It has aged into a lovely, creamy orange and strawberry blend. I don't necessarily get Creamsicle from it, the honey is still fairly dry and keeps it from going that foodie on me.

In the imp I get a vaguely sweet sharpness [i'm still getting my note awareness back]

Wet on the skin: ...nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's actually disconcerting.

Dry: I eventually I get something like the long dry down of a floral incense with a smoke note. If I try I get the maple note, but it's the way sap smells when being boiled.

Either I'm completely nose blind to this one or my meds are doing it no favors.

3/7/2021

I am slowly retesting everything, since my imp collection is...it's a lot. And I have shifted at least some of my meds over time, plus my own aging, etc

in the imp: ok wow. this is not what I was expecting based on the reviews. very sweet incense, and 'new' stick incense. this is incense like you took it out of the box, not burning it

wet: very very sweet incense but sugar. reviews were talking molasses, maple syrup, golden syrup, etc. this is straight sugar on me with the incense. this is nothing like I was expecting

dry: it may be counterintuitive but this is another white blend, but white incense. that's def jasmine with the incense and sugar.

I actually like this one. I was fully expecting this to be another test and dump, but this is surprisingly light, femme, and spring-y for a blend named after the necronomicon 

This one will require another testing but I think I like it?

Something in this is trying to go sour on my skin but woods as a whole tend to work well on my skin and are keeping this fairly stable. The vanilla and the peach push this to the sweet side.

The longer it's on skin the sweeter and warmer it becomes. It had been slightly powdery, but both the softness and the powdery feel are burning off.

I don't know if I'm going to want this to wear alone but as a layering blend it has space in my box.

Hmmm...another white floral that smells slightly off on me that turns to soap.

-However- this is a ritual oil of a type [i'm sure there's a better word, the coffee hasn't kicked in yet] so I'm interested to see if it works as intended.

I'm retesting and re-reviewing everything I own due to medical/medicine changes.

In the imp-I would have pegged this as a white floral, but I sometimes get that from lilac

Wet: Oh gods what have I done. Something in this does not like me at all. I would have definitely put money on there being white musk in this blend.

Dry: Meat. It smells like meat. And hairspray. Sometimes violet on me is great, and sometimes it's meat. This is a meat blend.

into the frimp box you go.