crazyredhead17

I'm working through my un-sniffed stuff so I can clear out the stuff I never touch, and tonight I grabbed this scent and put it on one of my wrists. In the imp, it was a sweet but not cloying floral. Wet, I could smell something nutty and something a bit spicy and I could detect a bit of dragon's blood in the background. As it dried, the florals come out (I'm not a floral person, so I can't say what flowers). Now, usually, dragon's blood and almost any floral beat the shit out of any other note in a blend, and something in this one is keeping both of them down (maybe they're dueling with each other?). But the end result is a darker floral that hugs my skin and that my husband likes and it doesn't set off my allergies. A keeper, I think.

Disclaimer: My nose has been stuffy recently and while I still have a semi-decent sense of smell I may miss subleties. In the imp, it's a very fresh, oceany scent. On me, it doesn't really change at all. It's just a very subtle ocean breeze scent. I don't get any lime or much in the way of salt or gunpowder. I'll try it again if/when my nose clears out, but there's other aquatics that I like better.

My nose has been stuffy as of late so my note sniffing may be off somewhat. In the imp/decant/whatever, it's berries and cream (the good cream - ie that one that's bad for you), and very different than the original, at least to me. Wet, it's cherry cough syrup. As it dries, its gone from cough syrup to Strawberry Shortcake Doll and now it's almost Strawberry scented Play-Do. At least it's a faint Play-Do, unlike O, which was Play-Do with POWER. Vanilla doesn't always play well on my skin.. this must be one of the vanilla's that doesn't work well for me.

In the imp, this is a bright, citrus-y scent. Wet, it's really strong grapefruit. As it dries, the grapefruit fades out fast, and the florals come out. I don't care for delphinium, I don't like chamomile (it can make me queasy) and the only blend I like lavender in is Somnus.. and I don't smell it for long in that blend. As a result, it kinda smells like that carpet powder stuff, which is fine for a carpet, but not for me.

I've recently discovered aquatics as being good on me, for the most part. Not this one. While it's a strong ocean scent in the imp, on me it's straight up soap, with a little bit of salt. Not a keeper, sadly.

I'm trying to remember what possessed me to get a decant of this when spring flowers give me bad spring allergies. Wet, this is just like a headache inducing spring garden. I can smell a bit of the stems too, so it's almost like Spring in a cut flower case. It's very girlie and pretty, and it's giving me a headache, so off it goes.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet! I have a two year old imp that looks like it's spent part of it's time on an actual pirate ship. It's all stained and smeared and beat up looking. In the imp, wet on me, and dry on me it's a like a butterscotch-y rum. The rum keeps the butterscotch in check, but it also makes this a scent that I can't wear very often because I kinda reek like rum when I wear it. Not a BPAL for a job interview, heh.

My nose was clogged when I first put this on, so the initial sniffs are probably off some. In the imp, all I could smell was lemon. Wet, I got lemon pledge and flowers of death. At this point, my nose decided to drain. I got a few whiffs of a wonderful, perfect coconut scent, but it's been eaten by Peony of Doom. With a side of Lemon Pledge and a sinus headache that's making stabby pains at my temple. note to self - peony is bad. look at descriptions first next time.

In the bottle: Very much like a vegetable garden, as people above have posted. Wet, it was a very green vegetable garden, with what I originally interpreted as the smell of freshly turned dirt, but the more I sniffed the more it reminded me of the smell of the air after turning damp soil. As it dried, the honeysuckle came out and tried to overtake things, but the earthy background notes managed to hold their ground, because now the honeysuckle is moving into the background and getting softer, leaving the whole blend as a soft, beautiful garden that I've never touched that's thriving and blooming and just gorgeous. As Vampy posted, while this doesn't jump out as an OMG!Favorite! it is a very comforting blend. My only other comfort blend is Blood Kiss, but they're two very different comfort blends. I can see myself reaching for Virgo on those intangibly stressful days that I need something to ground and almost support me, if that makes any sense to anyone else. So pretty, and so perfect.

In the Imp: I don't know what I'm smelling.. it smells like somewhere I've been before (I've never visited Portland, OR) but I can't place where. Wet, there's a something.. my brain wants to say pine but I've smelled a lot of pines and this is like no pine I've smelled. There's salty sea spray and something sorta metallic.. maybe sea spray on rocks. I've pinpointed the place to Portland, Maine - I was there for a 5 day conference just after Christmas when I was college, and we were close enough to the water that a lot of the days we could smell the sea spray. Anywho, as this has dried the "pine" note has kinda soured - soured might be the wrong word - spent too much time in salt water? morphed into the actual plant-like thing it's supposed to be? No clue. It's also getting a bit powdery and a bit like a dryer sheet on me - maybe there's some juniper in there since that's gone powdery on me before. It it had never morphed out of the wet phase, I'd have needed to track down more. My budget rejoices.

I'm on the tail end of a cold that stole my sense of smell for a few days, so my note sniffing is off. In the imp, it's very creamy but bright and non-foody sweet. Wet, it's OMG!Flowers with a small side of cream. As it's drying, the flowers seem to calm down leaving it a warm, creamy, almost spicy sweet scent. It's very pretty, but it does give me a twinge of a sinus headache (although that could be the cold). Not something I'd reach for often, but a very pretty scent indeed - I'm glad I got to try it.

In the imp, this is something green and something aquatic and lots of death flowers. I kinda really don't want to dab any on, but I will anyways. Wet, it's green, with heady florals behind it. No jasmine (yet).. I'm pretty sure I'm smelling the gardenia. And dude.. I took the little imp wand and put a tiny tiny drop on the back of my hand and it's gone straight to my sinuses. I'm not going to last until drydown with this one - it's rapidly moving into the "get it off me!" phase.

I got to try this courtesy of Ahania's European sniffing circle. In the imp, it's a wonderful berry pastry with that good creme in the center, with powdered sugar on top. Wet, it's scone with spice. I thought cinnamon at first, but it's quite possibly cardamom. It stays true to that, although it's fading a bit as time goes on. It's also smelling a bit like brown sugar as time goes on. It's also making the itty bitty spot where I put it on the back of my hand itch, and I'm wondering if the minty/"cinnamon-y" CTIII I got last year that gave me hives was cardamom instead of cinnamon. I'm glad I got to try this, because I now know it's not something I'd ever reach for if I had an imp or a bottle.

I love minty scents, so when I got this as a freebie with an ebay purchase I was thrilled. Until I put it on. In the imp, it's a very clean scent. Wet: Hello wet Lotus. I see you decided to come and smash every other scent into oblivion. And damn, aren't you aggravating my sinuses. As it's drying, the mint is peeking out and the spot on my wrist is getting the cool, minty feeling. Sadly, that fades and it's more lotus! (complete with more sinus pain) I could catch whiffs of juniper, no fruit tho. As it continues to dry, it's like a mint vs lotus war. Like any war, it's not exactly pleasant. Silly skin. Although my husband really likes it.. so I guess it smells good on me even though I don't care for florals. - I'll have to try this again.

In the imp, this was a creamy, mysterious scent. Wet it smelled like someone put almond milk into Death Adder. Things would have been great if it stayed that way. As it dried I could sniff more of the black patchouli and something else. I know what white pine, sasparilla, and tobacco smell like it wasn't any of them, but right around this time something in my sinuses picked up the tobacco because I got a screeching sinus headache. It's been scrubbed off, which is sad, because it was promising.. but I can't wear stuff that gives me headaches.

In the imp, all I got was spicy mysterious things. Wet, it was fruit fruit fruit and a bit of spice (and a teeny hint of peanuts, which is how vetiver smells on my skin when it's freshly wet). The fruitiness dies down as it dries, and for about twenty minutes or so it's spicy baby powder. The powder passes, and I smell warm almonds with a hint of fruit (the cherry, I think) with spices in the back. These aren't foody spices.. they're dark, sexy spices, and overall it's a sexy, sexy scent on me. My hubby appears to like it too. This shall require more testing.

In the bottle: Bottled Thunderstorm - kinda a cross between those last few seconds before the storm hits when it's silent and the wind's not blowing crossed with how the air feels when a bolt of lighting strikes 50 feet away - it smells like if you give it a shake you'll be in the middle of a storm. Wet: It's very rainy and cleansing and almost goes soapy, but something stops it. As it dries, something warm emerges in the background, and I can sniff the most subtle florals (and my skin usually amps florals to the point of ruining blends). The drydown is more of what it smells like outside after the storm has passed. The water on the ground is cool but ground is still warm and the air is cool. It never gets sporty or masculine for me, but it never goes over-the-top ozone either. I'm glad I got a bottle. edits: Man, this scent goes the whole storm.. after a few hours of wear it was florals and just overall kinda blah. I'll give it another wear, but meh @ the final drydown.

In the imp, this is effervescently fruity and candy-like - very bright and perky. Wet, it's the same as in the bottle. As it dries, it gets a little bit cleanser like, but that fades back out again and I'm left with a sort of powdery, effervescent fruity scent. I put a little bit on the back of my hand and it immediately perked me up and I felt a lot of the tension I store in my shoulders lift. I walked into the other room to have my husband sniffed it and he perked up a lot (it's 1am here) and said that this was the best scent I've tried on in a long time (I wouldn't quite go that far, but it is very nice on me). I've been wearing this for about half an hour, and it's cleared away the mental gunk that White Light can't (more the self-nagging thoughts than icky bits picked up from other people). I think the two of them will do a one-two punch on all the stuff that keeps dragging me down, which is most needed. I think I'm going to need a bottle of this.

In the bottle: Thin Mints. Wet on me: A soft mint, with creamy vanilla. As it dries, the vanilla seems to disappear (as is standard) and the mint gets almost a bitter quality. It's also very very faint. I'll definitely try this one again in a week or two, but if nothing changes then it's off to the swap pile - I'd rather wear Nuclear Winter or Gennivre if I want a more subtle mint.

I got this as a frimp with a decant circle, and it's my favorite from the group. Wet, it's a very very clean scent (but with nothing floral). Wet, it's the scent the ocean has when it's still warm but the air above it is cold - if that makes any sense. As it dries, it goes to dish detergent on me (although I was loading the dishwasher at the time, so maybe my nose was filling in the scent there or something).. but once it gets past that point the detergent smell fades and a light aquatic takes over. I've been wearing it for about a half hour now though, and unless I stick my nose to my wrist I can barely smell anything.. and what I can smell I can't identify (possibly the ambergris, since I have no clue how that smells), although there's still a tiny hint of aquatic there. That all said, I'm on the tail-end of my menstrual cycle so I'll wait a week or two to see if there are any changes.

In the imp, this is a sweet, creamy, almost edible scent. Wet on me, it immediately turns to milk that's somewhere significantly past sour, with grapes in the background. It's making me kinda queasy, actually. I'm glad I just got a decant and not a whole bottle.

In the imp, this was a fruity floral. Wet, it was a very sweet fruit. If only it stayed that way. As it dried, the jasmine woke up and took over. My skin amps jasmine, so this isn't news, and the sinus headache that I still have after washing this off is still raging. Off to take some advil and have some hot tea.

In the Imp: A Juicy Saltwater scent. And the juicy refers to an unknown fruit of some sort. Wet, the juicy fruit comes out more (I see others mention smelling melon, and as soon as I read that I was all eureka!) When it's fresh wet, it's a wet, juicy melon. As it dries, the saltwater comes out more, but the melon is still there, keeping this a bright, sparkling scent. I think this will be a great spring and summer scent for when I don't want to wear minty scents. It's so fresh and perky and clean.

Wet in the imp, this smells like a summer storm. Wet on me, it's a very very sharp ozone that's giving me a wicked sinus headache and is making my chest feel tight. Usually vetivert makes my chest loosen some, so this is weird. There's also a rotten note here. But man, this is killing my allergies more than a strong floral does. I'm washing this puppy off.

I'm a bad imp mommy - I throw them all in a pile in the same box as my bottles. Well, a couple months ago I noticed that the box smelled really good and that a bunch of the imp labels were wet. Today, when I opened my imp of Manhattan, I found the culprit as it was pretty much empty. I was able to get a lil bit on my wrists for testing but that's about it. Wet on me: Mint with a hint of citrus. Not very Manhattan to me. As it dries, the mint and citrus goes away, and the orchid comes out, because I'm getting florals tempered by something - maybe the teakwood - I'm not quite placing it. I'm not a floral person, so I'm not sure if I like this. And the more it sits, the more it's flowers and wood. Guess it's not a bad thing my imp is empty. My memories of Manhattan are just not meshing up with this scent though - I lived in Northern NJ (about 5 minutes by car / 15 minutes by foot from a mid-town direct train station). I worked for a few summers as an intern in Spanish Harlem, but I've never been to the fancier stores or spent any time in the ritzier neighborhoods - I usually linger in midtown/Times Square area or in the Village. I think this scent is just too upscale for me. Although it makes my bpal box smell damn good.