mirutai

In the imp, a sharp, piercing jasmine, with a hint of... lavender? Something herbal. Wet, it's more of the same. Jasmine definately dominates, but there's a tangy sharpness stopping it from becomeing too perfumey and heady. Can't decide whether I like this or not... ... aaaaaand then it goes straight to soap, rendering the question moot. Nope!

Well, er, it's dragon blood and amber. Just like the label says. It smells just like you'd expect dragon's blood and amber to smell - warm, reddish-gold, slightly spicey, slightly incensey. On me the amber tends to dominate the dragon's blood, so this goes powdery rather than having that juicy dragon's blood fruit-tang. The blood sweetens up the blend a little, but it's basically straight-up, warm amber. No morphing, no changes, no complexity. If you love amber, you'll like this one. Personally, it's nice, but not my thing - there's not enough going on to keep my interest. I like Brisangamen better, as a more complex amber-based scent.

I really like the smell of this in the imp - bold, bright mandarin backed up by yummy deep spiciness. Yummy! And, on my wrists, the scent stays true, wafting gorgeous clouds of spicy-fruit goodness... ... for about an hour, after which the fig/spice note disappears, and the fresh mandarins turn into sickly-sweet fake-orange candies. Nooooo! Maybe one for a scent locket.

I put this on my wrist, and immediately get slapped in the face with a bunch of boozy, liqueur-soaked cherries. Yeow, that's one STRONG scent! Within 30 seconds, the cherry-slapper has run away giggling, and left behind his invisible, clove-smoking friend. I am surrounded by a veritable miasma of cloves. This eventually dries down to a sweet, spicy, rich red scent. It's a nice scent, but way too strong for light-floral-loving me - I feel like I need to be wearing thigh-high boots and a kick-ass leather jacket to match the olfactory presence!

Sweet, delicate flowers - peony and tulip, I presume - planted on a grassy bank, the scent wafting on the breeze across a crystal-clear stream. Very springtime, very pretty... ... aaaaaand gone within an hour. Have to press my nose right to my wrists in order to catch even the faintest whiff. A shame, because this is gorgeous! But I'd need a 10ml to slather/douse a scent locket in order to get any staying power at all.

I was dismayed by the sharpness of this in the imp - would have sworn it contained jasmine - but on application this bloomed into a warm, golden, floral scent. It's still quite sharp while it's wet, but once it dries the amber, sandlewood and honey wrestle past the florals to take control. To me, this scent is rich, sexy, and warm - a floral version of O. This smells like the perfume of a beautiful Indian woman wearing a gorgeously embroidered sari, walking langurously across the verandahs of her palace as the heat of the day fades into evening. Not my usual sort of thing - not something I'd reach for before heading out to work in the morning - but very pleasant and evocative nonetheless.

In the imp: A sharp, piercing jasmine. Hoo boy. Wet: A veritable cloud of jasmine surrounds me! Very heady, quite sharp, very "perfumey". If I loved jasmine, this would be a good thing. However, since I only moderately like jasmine, this is a bit cloying. Dry: OH. For about thirty glorious minutes, the geranium and juniper wrestle the jasmine into submission, producing a floral, spicey, slightly tart scent. Still quite heady, but very nice. ... and then the jasmine reigns supreme again. It's now a soft, wafting jasmine - has lost that sharp edge - but I can no longer detect the presence of the other components. Just too much jasmine for me, although the brief emergence of the other notes was nice!

Auuugh! I was so taken with the list of notes - amber, tea, wisteria, rose, YUM - that I overlooked the presence of my nemesis, gardenia. In the imp, Iambe is a slightly sharp generic floral. On me, there's a nice grounding base of amber, with patchouli punching it up a bit, and then a light hint of rose and white florals... all covered with the delightful scent of stagnant, rotting pond water. Thank you, gardenia. At least I didn't fall in love with the scent in the imp (like I did with Lady of Shalott), so not too much heartbreak over this one. Off to swaps!

In the imp: Pina colada. What? Wet on my wrist, I get enveloped in a big cloud of moist coconut. There's a hint of fruitiness that my brain insists on interpreting as pineapple, because in my world coconut + fruit is usually a pina colada. It's not actually sharp enough to be pineapple, though - apple? At this stage, I'm getting some serious dissonance between the way this smells and the name. Pina colada = hot summer sun, not winter snow! During dry-down, the fruitiness dies back and the coconut gets creamier and sweeter. Not coconut suntan oil, though, but vanilla-cream-coconut, like one of those frozen coconut desserts you get in Indian restaurants. After an hour, this is a skin scent. Breathing deeply, I detect a tiiiiiny breath of florals. It's evoking a very strange feeling - although I strongly associate coconut with summer and warmth, something about this _is_ suggesting deep, soft drifts of snow (maybe magic "fairytale" snow for fairies to dance through looking pretty and ethereal, without actually getting cold or wet). Or maybe... meringue? YES! That's it! This is a coconut meringue pie! Looks like snow but isn't! By mid-day, I have to bury my nose in my wrists to get a whiff of Snow White, and by mid-afternoon, it's all gone. People who like creamy/vanilla/foody scents should really like this one; I'm more a green/floral fan, so I'm unsure how often I'd reach for this one. It is quite lovely, though, if you can handle the coconut.

Sweet, fruity wine in the imp turned... straight into astringent smoke and burnt wood on my wrists, like someone bombed a vinyard. VERY smoky and bitter. I get woods and mosses, and maybe a tiny touch of leather, but floating on the top of this is a peculiar bitter, almost rancid, note. Maybe this is the ambergris? (never tried another blend with this note, though I have encountered all of the other notes in this elsewhere) The scent certainly fits the description - devastation and ruin. Unfortunately, to me devastation and ruin are not a pleasurable olfacory experience!

I'll put in a plug for Coyote. I find there's something immensely comforting and protective about it - like being followed by a big, warm, furry, good-humoured invisible guard dog.

I'm working on an AppleWorks database of scents. It's mainly intended to keep track of which scents I've tried and what I thought of them, so it doesn't do all the clever swap/buy/sell tracking that the Excel file does, but if anyone is interested in a copy drop me a PM!