Xiabelle

Evidently Tombstone is the magic potion on me. One of my male coworkers walked in when I was wearing it one day, sniffed, announced something smelled good, sat down in a chair, leaned over towards me and sniffed again, then moved about three feet closer. And the boy kept trying to eat my wrists when I wore it the other day. Seriously. He'd act like he was going to take a bite every time I held it out for him to sniff. He's also responded well to Beaver Moon, which he says smells like Christmas. And Antique Lace is popular as well. Yeah, he's a vanilla whore.

I thought Versailles was extremely expensive smelling and elegant. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to it, but it was lovely for the day I suffered through the allergy attack.... It would have been my dress-up perfume had it not made my nose run off my face. And you can never go wrong, IMO, with Dorian, Snake Oil or Antique Lace.

I swapped for this one and I'm so very happy. This is the one I wanted the most.. or Snow Angel. The Mitzvah I received was not my cup of tea. In the bottle and fresh on... it frankly scares me. That's a lot of honeydew. It smells like a sugary melon ball, and all I smell is watery, sweet fruit, and the barest hint of sunflower and vanilla. I was afraid this was going to be too much. I can definitely see the Titania vibe. As it dries down, I get a burst of sunflower. I adore sunflower. But it's fleeting, and goes back to melon. It stays that way with a bit more vanilla for a good half hour. In fact, in part, this smells precisely like Republic of Tea's Honeydew Melon White Tea. (Not a surprise given the components!) And then, boom! Glorious Dorian vanilla tea with a hint of sweet fruity florals. I'm so glad my chemistry plays nice with vanilla and tea, becuse I love them. In fact, this more than makes up for my bottle of Dorian not having the tea vibe I loved in my imp. This is going to be just perfect for summer . Here's hoping it lasts for a good while on my skin.

I've had to stop putting oils on the boy, since he's complained the last two times I've tried. Not because of smell or anything, or even because it burns... but that his skin gets red and irritated and scaly in a perfect track where I put the oil. Man, his skin is sensitive. I'm not sure what was in those oils, but one made it really red and the other just slightly. And I'm just swiping him on the back of the hand or arm!

OMG. Why didn't I order another bottle of this? Actually, why did I wait so long to order this? I was so apprehensive about this once when I ordered, since honey likes to amp into very bad sex on me. But oooh... In the bottle, this is honey vanilla strawberry. Sweet, sweet, sweet. Very pink. When I frist tried it on, I went "Whoa! Pink! Smell this!" and stuck my wrist under the boy's nose. He agreed. Wet it was veyr much strawberry candy floss sweetness, with the fruit and vanilla coming to the fore. I thought I was going to have my nice super-sweet scent for a while. It's definitely sweet, but I like it a lot. At one point in the dry down it went very odd on me. I could smell the strawberries and sweet peas, so very light and fluffy sweet, but there was something darker and a little dirty on me. Almost musky. It wasn't quite honey, wasn't quite vanilla... I guess it was a combination of the honeycomb and vanilla bean. It was a bit sharp, and it surprised me. That's my least favorite part because it's kind of clashing. Final dry-down, though.... This turns to a rich vanilla sweetness that's nowhere near as silly as it is at first. In fact, it's sexy as all hell to be honest. It reminds me a LOT of the drydown of Pink Moon on me. It's sweet, sugary vanilla and it has an edge to it that keeps it from being cloying and with a faint breath of nice florals. Not sure what causes it, but I love it. It's not what I expected it to be, but yum yum!

Oh, if the tea is coming out with age, I'll keep hoping and tuck it away for a while. It's just so vividly different that when I had the boy smell my arm with the imp then the one with the bottle, he didn't believe me when I told him it was the same thing. I was expecting more vanilla to develop. Both came fresh from the lab, and the imp always smelled much much different though. Could be a batch variation though... maybe I'll get myself another imp to play with while waiting on the bottle, though, since I'm going to use my current one up quickly.

Darn you people. Now I want cheese. And I actually can get free cheese at the grocery store. Half the time when I buy from the deli, they give me samples. It's not much, but it's cheese! I also want free panties, but that's because I'm a lingerie whore. (OK, that didn't come out right, did it?) I am... resisting the urge to speculate on the Devil's Panties, as well. Although I think my image of red hots is incredibly wrong. Back on topic... I've only had to contact CS once, and that was for the trading post when I didn't get a CnS. We found it quickly, Ted was very very apologetic (my order had been marked as done, but it... wasn't) and it was all sent out with some extra frimps in there. All happy.

For what it's worth, in my last order the imps I ordered were less full. Since they came in the Yule rush, I attributed them to them being very busy and in a hurry; the frimps I got were more full than the ones I ordered, amusingly, which points to a being busy issue to me. However, before that, every imp I ordered and received came VERY full, sometimes so full I was afraid to open them. They also would sometimes come a bit less full, but generally at least to the labels. I've had one 5 ml bottle come in a hair below the shoulder, but Beth made a post somewhere (I forget where) about some new machine they had which automatically filled things to 5 mls, so you'd see some variations, mostly to do with the thickness of the bottle. However, if it's only half-way up the label, that seems odd. It didn't leak, did it? Definitely give them a few days to respond if you haven't already. With the prep for the willcall and everything else, I'm sure they're busy.

I can't think of a lot.... Since I go for warm scents all the time. But... March: Eos. It smells like buttercups and spring air to me, and in March all the wildflowers are bursting into full bloom around here. April: Zephyr, maybe. More sweet lovely air. May: Tamora. So sweet and summery.... I'm honestly not sure of the rest, to be honest.

Meyerlemon, I have the exact same issue with my bottle of Dorian. I absolutely adore the imp of Dorian I got from the lab. It's such gorgeous lemony black tea vanilla goodness -- really has a gorgeous spiciness to it, and the lemon is so glowing. I want to bathe in it. So I ordered a bottle... and even on my skin, they don't smell alike. My bottle is sweet sugary vanilla with the faintest hint of tea. I'm SO disappointed. I wanted the tea! And there's absolutely no lemon that I can pick up at all. My imp is sexy as all hell, but the bottle... Sigh. I admit, I really don't know if it's just an imp versus bottle thing or not, as this is the first GC bottle I've bought after smelling an imp. My Bearded Lady decant and bottle were the same, though.

Mmm, I love this. In the vial, it's vanilla and sassafras, like somebody mixed cream soda and rootbeer together, with a bit of something behind it. On, it's more of the same, except the sassafras is stronger... and as it begins to dry down the cedar comes out in full force. This is my least favorite part, since cedar doesn't like me -- it smells fabulous, but too much and my chest hurts. That stage is only a half hour, though, and then it's back to soft sassafras and vanilla. This is marshmallow sweet and soft, edged lightly with a woody backnote. It's gorgeous, and smells just fabulous on me. And throw! I put this on at 6:15 in the morning, and at almost 4 pm, one of my (male) coworkers walked into my office to talk to my officemate, announced 'Something smells good in here', glanced at me, then moved his chair over next to my desk. My officemate agreed, which amused me. Definitely a winner. I might just need a bottle of this, although I seem to have the sweet vanilla category overrepresented....

Alas, this is the one I was hoping for the least from among the Nice scents, as the only truly foody scent I've found that I can wear is Beaver Moon. So, that said... Mitzvah is knock you over, sweet, dead-on caramel to me. When I opened the bottle, before I put it on, I got a whiff and thought 'Wow, sweet caramel! Amazing!' Fresh on, it blooms into... buttery caramel popcorn. I'm worried. Too much better here. As it starts to dry that dies away, and then... hey, wait. Where'd it go? For several minutes I just can't smell it. At all. I do believe this would be the first scent that my skin has literally eaten in 5 minutes flat. And dry down.. oh, there it is. It's back, but it's a close skin scent to me. Unfortunately, it smells like buttery burnt caramel to me, and the burnt smell's a bit too sharp. It's not as bad as Pink Sugar burnt marshmallows, at least. I can stand it. But this isn't a me scent and if it were more sweet and less burnt I might keep it. It's not a me scent, although it's lovely and would work much better on someone whose chemistry works with buttery scents.

Not an imp, but I got a bottle of Dorian in my most recent order that doesn't smell at all like my imp. My imp is gorgeous spicy vanilla tea that I want to bathe in. The bottle is mostly sugared vanilla with no tea. I'm hoping that a bit of time will remedy that problem, since I miss the tea! I think I'll have to do a side by side comparison of this....

In the imp, this is tobacco and spices, with the musk warming it and chocolate making it rich. Warm and rich, really, almost heady. It strikes me as a masculine blend at first. It almost strikes me as sandalwood for some reason at first, but I think it's the combination because that dies away. It is, indeed, very warm as a scent and it warms my skin a bit, too, but doesn't cause a red mark. It goes through citrus and tobacco stages, before it mellows out. I love citrus musk scents. This warms mellows out to a gorgeous red citrus musk on me, and it's really quite lovely... but it's not me. It's a bit disconceting because while I really like the way this smells, it feels like I'm smelling someone elses skin. Honestly, I want to put this on the boy, but he won't let me because his skin has started getting welts when I put oil on him, Boo! This would be lovely on him. I guess this will either go in my brother's Christmas gift (since we haven't had our family Christmas yet), or off to swaps, but I'm going to hang onto it for another few days first.

I can sort of see the Haunted Palace-Tamora comparison, but on me Tamora is creamy peaches with vanilla beans, whereas Haunted Palace is rich, sexy floral citrus. Honestly, for me, Haunted Palace is what I wanted Versailles to be, although they don't smell way too much alike. (Versailles, for one, gave me faucet-sinuses)

Fenris Wolf is the sexiest smelling thing ever on me. Damn. Unfortunately, it's a bit masculine on me -- the sandalwood is a bit strong -- but god it's gorgeous. I immediately informed the boy he was trying it. Laudanum is gorgeous, as well. Again, not quite what I'd wear, but so so close if it were just a hair softer. It smells like fires in winter to me. Mmm. The main one I wear is Whitechapel, which is gorgeous soft lilacs on me. Lime? Where?

To my nose, Block Buster has a strong apple cider component. I was debating trying to layer Jack (which I don't own, but keep intending on ordering an imp of) with Block Buster to try and duplicate Pumpkin Patch 1. Not that I have any idea how that would work, just that I went and put on some PP1 after trying Block Buster to see if I was just remembering the cider smell wrong. To my nose, Velvet has a nice cocoa, but it's nothing like that lovely note in PP2.

I third Silk Road. It's the first thing I thought of. It's definitely clear, clean spice. Quite lovely.

... I got an imp of Regan in my latest order. My first thought when I put it on was: OMG. If I ever get married, I am so wearing this one!

I love this and hate it at the same time. In the imp, it's truly gorgeous and yummy spices. I adore cinnamon. I like smelling like cinnamon. And this isn't burny like Bengal, it's soft and warm and cuddly. And the first stages are great. It's lovely lovely lovely with a nice warming spicy kick to it. Smells fabulous wafting from my skin. I want to smell like this all the time. And, if it would stay here, this would vault to be an absolute favorite. However, it dries down too much like cookies. Cookies are a good thing, but this is just way too much. It dries down to the something sicky sweet and a little almondish or something, reminding me of Eclipse. Eclipse also dries down in a way I don't like, and Chimera's final stage just... bugs me. I'll have to think about this one. Maybe with a scent locket....

Ahh, Sudha Segara, how I wanted to love you.... In the imp: Wow, that's ginger all right. Wet: Yup. Ginger. And lemon, which is probably just the ginger. In fact, this smells rather like some ginger lemon herb tea I have. Yummy and bright. Rather sharp. I was expecting this to be creamier for some reason, I'm not sure why. Dry: Fades down to a pale ginger spike, and then it's gone. Total time: about 3 hours. I was hoping to get more creaminess. Not so impressed. Pretty but I don't want to have to bathe in it to smell it, and my skin just isn't hanging onto this one like it does most scents.

In the bottle, this is reaching into a river and pulling up a stone and smelling it. It's the most bizarre thing: I feel like I'm out river-tubing, because this smells exactly like river rocks to me when it's wet. And not porous rocks, either, oh no. It's not limestone or sandstone. This smells like a geode, with crystal and quartz in it. It has a very strong mineral component to it and while it doesn't necessarily smell like opals, it goes have a glittery smell to me. This dries mostly to a pale, translucent musk on my skin, very refined, dusted with vanilla powder. The vanilla is so faint to me in this, and usually I amp vanilla like there's no tomorrow. I have to slather it, in fact, to get the vanilla at all. The musk has some sharpness, but it's lovely. Overall, it's very light and pale and professional. This seems like it'd be good to wear to the office for me. It does have those mineral flashes still, softened by a touch of vanilla. Absolutely not what I expected, but I think I like it. I suspect when aged it will get truly gorgeous. I'm going to hang onto it for a while and see what it does.

I absolutely adore this. So very gorgeous. In the bottle, this is bright, clear orange and a breath of florals. One of my favorite commercial perfumes is Coco Mademoiselle, and this reminds me of it a bit in the bottle with its warm citrus. Fresh on, it just blooms into gorgeous warm citrus, underlit by the rose and other florals. It's yummy and not overpowering at all, and I can see this being a good all-season blend; it doesn't scream any season to me at all. The dry down stays true, and it just softens a bit without really changing a whole lot on me. Love it. This is exactly what I wanted Versailles to be, without whatever the component in Versailles was that made my nose run off my face. I think I'm going to need another bottle.

Oh, what a surprise! I ordered this fully expecting to have to swap this away. I don't care for foody scents but really... it sounded fun and I wanted to smell it. I mean, Spooky is hideous on me, and while I love Bliss I can't bring myself to wear it. But this... oh, this.... In the bottle, it's definitely sweet and edible. Yum. I want to go bake now, thankyou. I get the red velvet cake, in that it's cream cheese frosting and buttercream, but no chocolate. Just the frosting. Sweet and yummy. As it starts to dry down, I get... cinnamon! Oh, joy, I love cinnamon, and spices work very very well on me. In fact, this reminds me a bit of Snake Oil, of all things, without the cloying note that that one sometimes gives me. It has to be the sweet and spice combined. As it dries, it sweetens a bit more and keeps smelling edible, but that spice is still there. I just love this. It's foody in a good way, and I'm willing to wear it despite my usual food aversion. It lasts forever, and after hours of wear the spice had died down a bit, to a sweet soft vanilla. The boy proclaimed I smelled 'really good, like Christmas baking' when I asked last night, and he kept snuffling at my neck, so evidently something's right in this one. Incidently this has great staying power, too. I got some on the sweatshirt I was wearing yesterday and when I tossed it on this morning to walk the dog, I kept smelling this wonderful waft. Mmmm. Why did I only order one bottle of this? I need more!

Oh, I was so excited to try this one. In the bottle it's kind of odd to me. I can't quite define it. There's lily musk in this, right? I can smell lilies... it's got that watery bulb flower scent to it. Now, I ADORE the smell of bulb flowers. Tulips and irises and most lilies? Mmmmm. Fresh on me, I smell lilies. It's that easter lily smell, very white and waxy and pure. For a moment at least. As it dries down, it turns. It's no longer fresh and pure. It starts to get creamy, and creamier and.... is that coconut? It smells like someone put lilies in cream and left them out in the sun for a few hours on me. Sort of curdled and icky. I'm coming to learn that coconut just does not like me. Now that I've seen the coconut comments, I'm recognizing the same scent in here that I didn't like in blood pearl, to my chagrin. This is heartbreaking. I can smell that there's something lovely under here, but on me, it's plastic and artificial and curdled, and it's making me nauseous besides. I might have to go scrub it off. I might try this again in a couple of weeks, but I don't hold much hope. Why do these classics not work on me?