SophieCedar

Wet: not sure how people use this for meditation or yogic practices. The green tea is too stimulating and distracting for me! There's aloe in this for sure and some lemon. Drydown: still green tea with lemon. It's strange because I know this is a great scent and I like it, however my senses hate it. I'm convinced there are 2 types of noses: those that can stand green tea and those that cannot. I'm in the cannot section unfortunately.

Sweet pine. smells like the xmas tree I'm sitting next to! Oh wait.. there's eucalyptus. it's bright green blue and sharp now. This is actually a great refresher for the senses. I want to bring this to boring old work but I have a feeling everyone would pop up out of their cubes wondering where the stench is coming from. Mmmm. Quickly orange comes out too. Thinking now this would be good xmas party camouflage...well not really. It would be me standing in the corner like a deer in the headlights with my malfunctioning invisible cloak. People whispering in concern and bewilderment.. Hmm ok, as magical as I think bpal perfumes are, they are still just perfumes. Regardless, this is a lovely atmospheric scent. It definitely needs to be heated up for the orange to release. Perfect for those unsafe (and now archaic with the invention of energy saving bulbs) yet awesome metal scent diffusing lamp rings.

When I saw this I said to myself "now WHY haven't I noticed this one until NOW?!?" Wet: oooh boy! There's something that smells like a dash of brimstone, but I think that's the dragon's blood and vetivert. Red musk and patchouli are definitely there. I love this scent because you definitely know what you're getting into by ordering it. There's no mistaking or unexpected morphing. Drydown: red musk and a drop of vetivert amping dragon's blood with a silky cloud of patchouli. Ordering this was a no brainer. The combination is perfect for me. I fear vetivert mostly, but here it just keeps a dreamy haze around it.

Wet: mmmm.. dark musk I love you. This scent is simple and the notes compliment each other perfectly. It's singing on my skin. The myrrh is amped by the musk, the attar of rose offers a feminine touch without squashing the sexy image and the ylang ylang..well it makes this intoxicating to me. Drydown: the rose and myrrh goes a bit powdery on me. What a shame! I think I would have preferred black rose over attar but then again if we're talking phantoms in the victorian sense, I would expect attar of rose. Oh well!

Wet: the lemongrass is powerful. I can't really smell anything else. Drydown: ok there's the rose.. and the lemongrass.. and who? I can barely pick out the sandalwood. The cedarwood is there but it blends right in behind the rose and lemongrass. There's little pops of jasmine here and there.. it's a bizarre one! It turns mostly jasmine and lemongrass with a breath of patchouli and cedarwood. It keeps morphing! This one will have me intrigued for hours.

I popped this in my bag and have been loving it for the past few days. Wet: sweet wine-like ylang ylang and heady oleander flower with an undercurrent of earthy dark patchouli. Great dynamic. Perfect throw. totally relaxes me and soothes my ego on those tough days at work. Neroli is there but just brightening and sharpening the other elements. Drydown: This turns into ylang ylang oleander honey on my skin. There's still a bit of dirty patchouli but mostly it smells like it should belong in Rappaccini's apiary. I wish it lasted a bit longer but that's why we buy bottles, right?

Wet: sweet pink white golden musk with vanilla tea. Does Babylonian musk have fig in it? This is sweet, meaty, and heavy. I can smell the coconut but it vacillates between strong and weak..constantly. strange! Faint hint of lilac however the decant I received looks pretty old and I bet the lilac has seen better days...the tonka and tobacco are there. Tonka is usually much stronger on me. It seems to interlock with the musk and vanilla tea, making it almost impossible to pick out. Drydown: The lilac, what hint there was, is gone. The tobacco comes out a fraction more but the tonka is the one that amps here! Not bad but this is a bit too.. uhm what's the word I'm looking for here.. uh fatty? for me. It's so meaty and musky that there's something in here making me think of animal fat! I can't help it!

trying to shake the bac-o's association... that's not what I smelled at first but I'm too open to suggestion sometimes. (If my husband says "*smirk* It smells like....." I'll go running in the other room with my ears blocked yelling "lalalalalalala!!" so he can't ruin a scent on me.) Wet: this is the 2nd time I'm trying this. 1st time was not good.. smells better now! Definite vetivert and neroli with a sandalwood undercurrent. Very straightforward. It develops in the way I anticipated it to. Strong dark vetivert with tinges of bittersweet neroli heightening my senses and sandalwood a calmness that I can sense but it's just out of reach. Drydown: just like love, the twist & bittersweetness is there.. I smell neroli most prominently with vetivert taking a backseat! Sandalwood is there and still slightly unattainable. Interesting!

I'm starting to realize I love fig in all it's forms. This one is sweet and very sticky. The combination is festive in that winter holiday sense. At first, the mandarin is tart for a moment, then mellows to a lovely juicy compliment to the ripe fig.

Wet: jasmine sambac and violet water with a touch of the other 3. The violet and jasmine clash on my skin for a minute then the vanilla bean warms up, making the other 2 amicable. Drydown: this is a very light scent. I can see it was a tall order and making the mix too strong could be fatal.. but I wish it was slightly stronger. Maybe a touch more dark musk? The drydown is lovely, regardless. The vanilla develops a lot, making it a creamier scent.

Wet: sweet spruce and shea milk. Nice! Drydown: ugh..something in the herbs is making me a little queasy. That's unusual. This turns really sour and bile-like on me. If there's melon in this, that could do it...melon hates my skin! I'm a little envious of everyone else's positive experience with this one. maybe I need to come back to it...

Wet: oooh red wine and red musk? No? Why am I smelling red wine? Uuhhh...maybe it's the mix of the 3 roses and red musk and the amber's just super syrupy. This is incredibly sweet on me. The amber is beautiful. Drydown: apparently, there's a rose out there that actually likes my skin. I don't know which.. maybe white (ex: shadowy & sublime)? The amber keeps amping and red musk gets spicier. It turns a little powdery after I rub it into my skin more, but that passes. Note to self, just don't agitate it and it'll stay sweet as pie. What a funny one!

Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, and Spanish sage. 1st impression: rose and ...sweet amber? and something sweeter with a white floral. Wet: aaahhh it was rose otto with tonka, coconut, and skin musk. Faint breeze of lily. It's very fresh and realistic as opposed to dried or potpourri stinkiness. Drydown: went back to primarily rose (hard to win over that primary note..) and lily with spanish moss. Very faint tonka.. barely there. It's a gorgeous unique rose scent.

Wet: within a foot of a testing patch for Pride, this is the cutest sweetest berry and wine mix. After blocking Pride, I can smell a bit more thyme and boozy sweet wine. I actually really like this one. Not sure I should wear it to work lest coworkers think I have a problem.. Drydown: more herbal and still sweet with currants and berries. slight wine smell. More acceptable. I think I can get away with this one at work now..

Wet: whoa ROSE! Stand up straight forward marching foot stomping rose. I just woke up..I'm not prepared for this. The narcissus is slinking around in the background placing wooden supports & curtains everywhere to enhance the illusion of an all powerful rose. I feel like I'm at the emerald city but instead of that green floaty head thing, it's roses. Drydown: still incredibly rosy. For a second I thought the narcissus was going neck to neck with the rose, but it lost. I'll have to keep this for crucial moments when I need some mental kryptonite for boring meetings. (oh come on spellcheck.. you don't recognize kryptonite by now? How long ago was Superman? psh..)

Wet: when I tested blindly, I thought this had tea, rice milk, black pepper and some weird fruit note in the background. Hmm.. I wouldn't make a very good "Nose"..well that professional dream is out.. anyways, it's star anise with a touch of cherry blossom. Drydown: still very peppery from the star anise. The cherry blossom is kinda obscured by it. I can only make out an edge of the sandalwood.

Wet: ok weird.. white leather equates to luxury car smell. The sandalwood brings it down to a less cheesy level, but I can't shake the cadillac smell. Drydown: it's slightly sweeter, but still disturbing.

Wet: Warm tonka, dark black and blue musk, clove, and a bit of black pepper. drydown: oppoponax and neroli come out more and the tonka gets sweeter (tonka loves me) It's a much sweeter cuddlier scent than I expected!

Wrist away from nose, the leather note is strongest, followed by lilac. Wrist closer to nose, plum juice is warm sweet and slightly tart with fresh brown leather second and a waft of lilac. I really like the color impressions: light and dark purples with warm brown and flashes of red. This stays the same on drydown too! nice!

It's funny.. I've tested this 3 times with the intention of reviewing it.. but forgot. It's really light and relaxing so it tends to make me space out. Wet: White rose and funeral lilies with a foggy mist wet note. Strange that it's simultaneously direct and atmospheric. The rose keeps a bit of awareness/directness, lily a bittersweet floral adding a bit of drama, and the mist makes everything hazy and surreal. Drydown: same!

Hmm. This was strange.. 1st test was really peachy and the second much more rose, lavender, and myrtle. I can even smell the yarrow. Wet: herbal peach, astringent lavender, sandalwood, and peach blossom. Drydown: the peach becomes more earthy and grounded by the sandalwood. The rose comes out STRONG for a second then subsides. Strange that the most prominent notes here are the myrtle and yarrow, of course still behind the peach and sandalwood. Something turns strange on this one after 10 minutes.. peach keeps disappearing. I like this but I think I prefer Silence more.

I received this as a frimp w/ egle from the lab! Wet: very creamy milky with a light oceanic salty note. A bit more pacific than atlantic, but that's ok. (I haven't been to the west coast yet, but have smelled relics from both.) I love this scent. Creamy salty aquatic. Refreshing and comforting. Drydown: It turns a bit tropical? The milk note now smells like coconut milk and the salt air aquatic note is still there. This is lovely. Storing for summertime on the Maine coast!

I LOVE the thyme note in this. Some blends it can really go wonky, but this one, it works perfectly! Wet: peach jumps out right away, followed by a cream note (?), fig, apple blossom, and honey. The red sandalwood is brilliant. So is the thyme. Everything is present and dancing merrily together. Drydown: less peach, more fig, the honey absolute turns creamier instead of powdery (yay!), and the thyme and sandalwood stick around. I love it. It's a very natural, close to the skin, sweet musky creamy slightly herbal smell.

Man, the hairline on these guys! hahhaa anyways.. Wet: khus was really strong the 1st time I tested this, but 2nd and 3rd test? Not really. This does strike me as a masculine earthy cologne mix. I smell the leather and tobacco strongest, then khus, orris and ambrette. Not sure where the currant is this time.. it was there strongly on 2nd testing? Strange. Drydown: slight currant comes out, but I wouldn't be able to identify it blindly. The ambrette and cabrueva develop and orris goes a bit powdery, but with the other notes, it just makes this even darker. I don't know what life everlasting smells like but a web description says it's a flower part of the mint family and smells of curry when crushed.. uhm. Don't smell that? Maybe a bit but the familiar notes are obscuring my senses... overall, nice masculine blend. Powerful and attention grabbing in a dark, brooding sort of way.

Wet: whoa! Pink peony and soft rose. There's only a slight underlying green herbal smell.. and that's with tons of slathering. On 1st test, all I smelled was peony. Unexpectedly sweet, cute, and very pink! Drydown: It's peony and sugar with a touch of sweet rose. Like Alice but cuter. I can kinda equate it with Euphoria from CK as well. I'm really amused with the way I'm amping this...this is one to wear if you're in court defending your innocence. You'd smell so sweet & pure they'd have to believe you...but let's hope that day never has to come...