Dharklady

In bottle this is a lovely sugary mix of mango and mandarin. Wet the ginger and pumpkin make themselves known adding a velvety, slightly spicy layer. The mandarin and sugar really pop over it. Definitely a bright orange scent and the citrus helps keep it from falling into the foodie category with all that sugar. Drydown is a lovely balance of sweet sugar, spicy ginger, and the mandarin and pumpkin. This will be a fantastic early fall scent.

From bottle to dry down I get straight bourbon vanilla with a touch of tonka and cardamom adding depth once it warms up. While the vanilla is sweet, this is definitely a drier smell (maybe due to the musk making itself felt if not smelled). This is a lovely light brown scent and a winner for me!

Sweet and candy like is the immediate impression I get from this. The scent is almost entirely citrus and sugar, with perhaps a touch of the pear. It also fades after about an hour on me. A good choice for someone looking for a sugary, candy or citrus scent!

This one definitely surprised me. It has a lot of notes and different notes seem to be popping depending on chemistry which always tends to make me leery. I don't think I would have tried this on my own, so I'm grateful that someone frimped it to me and I decided to try it on before tossing it in the swap pile! Wet is smells like a sweet and sugary floral over aquatics, but it's a quick morpher and as it dries down and warms up the vanilla, a touch of leather, and the hint of balsam emerges. The aquatics fade but the sweetness doesn’t leaving me with a heavy vanilla/leather blend that has depth and complexity from the hints of other notes that burble along the edges. Like one of the previous posters said, it feels similar to Bow and Crown of Conquest, I may need to test em out against each other to see which I like more!

In bottle: Sandalwood, carnation, and a touch of bay, vanilla, and clove Wet: A little sharp and spicy. The sandalwood and patchouli are fighting with the carnation. Dry: This deepens and grows very smooth as it warms up, becoming a spicy carnation and sandalwood mellowed by the woods and vanilla. It honestly smells like what I imagine soft, brown feathers to be. Notes: Very similar in feel to Raven Moon but brown where Raven is black. I’m in love.

In Bottle: Cinnamony apples Wet: Beautiful fall spices, cinnamon and apples Dry: The cinnamon and spice is just fantastic, the apple remains a sweet hint of cider lurking around the edges. Notes: A fantastic autumnal blend! A must try for anyone who enjoys cider/apple/warm fall scents!

In bottle: A strong, rough green scent. Wet: Strong sappy pine. Dry: Yup still pine. Notes: While I like wood scents, this was a bit too much of a bright evergreen association for me.

In bottle: Earthy, smokey (thanks vetiver) sweet greenery. Wet: I’m not super familiar with civet, but the notes in this swirl and spin, painting a picture of a dark, murky cave, covered in moss. Inside lurks something feral and dangerous, just waiting for you to stop paying attention to it. Dry: Upon drydown this lightened up though it never loses that damp cave feel. More of a smokey green scent overlayed on the stone. Notes: Interesting and the scent provokes some wonderful imagery for the imagination to play with.

In bottle: Lemongrass and grapefruit Wet: This is mostly lemon grass/verbana, though I do catch an occasional tart bite of citrus. Dry: The musk emerges a little and the lemon calms down. After a little bit the grapefruit citrus makes itself known. Notes: This would be a good pick to try for anyone who likes lemon/citrus

In bottle: Buttercream Wet: a boozy, nutty little sweet buttercream scent. I think this can safely be described as foodie since my arm now smells like the best thing since sliced bread. Dry: The rum and almond take the foreground in a lovely duet with the mead and buttercream playing backup. Fortunately it gets less foodie with the drydown. Notes: This one can safely be described as delicious (and mean it in more ways then one!) Definitely a keeper though I’ll need to test some more to tell if it’s bottle worthy for me.

In bottle: Thick myrrh and florals. Wet: Same as in bottle, this is super strong, even just a touch goes far Dry: The myrrh stays dominant but is lightened by the jasmine. As time passes the jasmine continues to amp up as the myrrh fades, until it is mostly jasmine with a touch of myrrh. Notes: This is one strong blend, proceed with caution!

In bottle: Herbal, (maybe a touch of florals?) and honey Wet: Sharp sweet floral and honey Dry: Almost cloyingly sweet floral with just a touch of honey. Notes: It reminds me a lot of Jezebel. If you are a fan of the floral + honey combos, give this one a shot!

Cool, a Changeling player! Give them my regards; I'm a consummate White Wolf fan. Awesome! And I was afraid people would throw tomatos. I sniffed Destroying Angel and got bell peppers weirdly enough but I'll have to give my friend the imp (enabling yay!) I'm also considering Zombi and Yorick. The great thing about black phoenix is it has almost any character you want already covered. Boggan? Dana O'Shee and so on... I definitely suggest Black Annis for a sluagh.

In Bottle: Soft dark florals Wet: This scent shines and shimmers. I can’t particularly pick out any resins or florals, but it has a beautiful freshness to it. Dry: A soft shiney non-floral scent. Notes: This is really pretty.

In Bottle: lavender, citrus and mint Wet: lavender is the dominant scent layered on top of the citrus melody with the mint providing a base. Dry: The citrus melody comes forward with the grapefruit really popping. The lavender fades to the background and the chocolate/mint adds toning more then a noticeable scent to the mixture. Notes: This is a great little scent. The grapefruit/lavender/choc mint combo is delicious.

In Bottle: Ozoney incense and very perfume-esque Wet: Ozone and incensy perfume. Dry: The perfume feeling fades leaving behind dry ozone. Notes: I really like the concept behind this one as there are a number of great stories and songs about the King of Kings, Ozymandias. Unfortunately I get a lot of sweet ozone and not much else.

In Bottle: Sandalwood and incensey patchouli. Wet: Strong patchouli with flashes of the sandalwood and incense. Dry: The three deepen and blend so it becomes more difficult to tell them apart. This is a very “red” scent, fitting for the pirate Red Queen. Eventually the patchouli amps up again. Notes: Fun, but a bit too much patchouli for me!

In bottle: Delicious buttery rum Wet: Still delicious buttery- wait, where are you going? Ack! Where did the sharp bite of coconut suntan lotion come from? Noooooo…. Dry: Still has that sharp coconut suntan smell overlaying my delicious rum. Notes: If it hasn’t turned into suntan lotion, it smells soooo good in the bottle.

In Bottle: mint, lavender, and resin Wet: Mint, ozone, and lavender. Dry: The currant starts to come out just a touch under the mint and lavender. Notes: I actually kinda like this one, it’s a fresh clean scent. It’s subtle but I think it would be nice on a hot day.

In bottle: Sweet, slightly fruity strong raw honey. Wet: Strong cinnamon followed by a minty evergreen that glides over the raw honey. Dry: The minty evergreen takes dominance with the cinnamon falling into a supporting role for a short while and it really pretty. Then the cinnamon slaps the evergreen back into place and asserts it’s authority. The whole scent is sweetened by the honey though its specific note doesn’t stand out anymore. Notes: Not at all what I was expecting and I’m not such a big fan of strong cinnamon. Off to swaps it goes.

In bottle: Patchouli and spice. Wet: Clove and cinnamon bark. Dry: Mostly a dry cinnamon bark with very little else, it does sweeten up as it fades but mostly cinnamon. Notes: Sadly I didn’t get a lot of complexity, the cinnamon is lovely, much nicer then the one in Bengal, but still far too dominant.

In bottle: Aloe and musk Wet: While it smells exactly the same as the in bottle smell…there is a dryiness that you can practically feel. Dry: As it warms up the sandalwood emerges to tone the musk and there is just the hint of vanilla. Notes: Once again this is a fantastic concept blend. Very fitting for the character.

In bottle: Something bitter and herbs Wet: Bitter herbs and dust, a touch of apple and emerges more and more as it warms up, this strikes me as perfect for the concept. Dry: Spiced, dry herbs and still just that hint of apple. The herbs are a really great complex blend. I didn’t think a scent could smell dry and dusty, but the lab has achieved exactly that with this one! It's baffling and intriguing all at once. Notes: This is a great concept blend, and makes me want to go find more with apples in them...

In bottle: Musk and cedar with the hint of black feathers. Wet: Musk and cedar with a panoply of other notes that swirl in and out among those two base lines and sweeten the whole affair. Dry: This smells like a sweet musky perfume. It evokes images of a black feather floating over an sweet herb garden. Notes: It’s pretty though I’m not certain it's a keeper.

In bottle: Melon and aquatics Wet: This smells predominantly of melon and aquatics, staying true to the in-bottle smell. Dry: As it warms up, soft florals emerge. Notes: A lovely soft, light summer blend.