kakiphony

In the imp: This is a rich scent, and I can smell vanilla, nutmeg and some underlying spiciness that might be patchouli or sandalwood. It's pleasant.

Wet: The spiciness comes through stronger than in the imp, and I can see why this might be a gender neutral scent. It's a resinous spice and I like it. It's more subtle than vixen, but has the same kind of sweetness with spicy depth to it.

Early dry down: I'm getting hit with nutmeg so much I feel like I'm in grandma's kitchen. It's a nice scent, but very wintry. Not really a scent for the tail end of July, but pleasant. The boyfriend pronounces it "Nice, but not as nice as the stuff yesterday" (which was Vixen).

Late dry down: This scent changed wildly over time on me. It started out sweet spicy and has ended up powdery and vaguely floral. It's much more like a traditional perfume than I expected it to be from either the imp or the early stages on my skin. I don't hate it, but neither would I wear it regularly.

In the imp: I smell oranges, but spicy oranges with no sweetness. I would say this is a "thick" citrus rather than a clean one. The patchouli coming through is adding depth and keeping the orange from being cloying. It's not a hippy incense patchouli smell, it's more like a woody, bottom of a grandma's cedar chest smell. The ginger is there, but very faintly. I'm intrigued.

Wet: The orange is still the most prevalent component, but that patchouli is kicking up a notch, as is the ginger. After a few minutes, the ginger is kicking up even more, and suddenly the smell has morphed from a warm, kitcheny spice smell to something much sharper. It doesn't smell like incense exactly, but it smells like the inside of certain new age/pagan shops when all the incense and oil scents have blended together to form a strong odor that can't be reproduced by buying one or two types of scent.

Early dry down: After about half an hour the patchouli has come to the front and I have almost entirely lost the oranges. They've just completely disappeared into the spice. (I can smell more orange on the wrist I placed the oil on than the wrist I patted against it.) It's not an unpleasant scent, just very VERY patchouli. The ginger is an underlying sharp note which wafts up occasionally. It's a slightly astringent, slightly woodsy and spicy scent which reminds me very strongly of the inside of the palmist's I used to frequent in Boston.

Final dry down: After about an hour, the scent faded into a sweet, slightly gingery, warm and food-like scent. My boyfriend stuck to assessments of "vanilla" and "yum" while I thought it smelled like a molasses cookie from the Amish bakery in Shipshewana. Neither of us smelled orange. However, we both agreed that it was a delicious scent. It just smells like me, only better. This one is a definite keeper for me, and I've already ordered a bottle!

In the imp: This is sweeter than I expected from the description and I'm not getting "fiery" at all. In fact, I'm a little dubious of this scent because it smells more like an old lady perfume than anything I would normally wear or order. I can pick out the melati (which I understand is a variety of jasmine) note, and some underlying sweetness which I suspect is that mandarin. I'm curious to see how the dragon's blood develops after yesterday's go-round with Blood, so I'll try it despite my misgivings.

Wet: Whew. I don't think this will be my thing. This is very floral on my skin, and I honestly can't detect the dragon's blood under the melati and the rose geranium. I'm hoping these fade, or I may have to go wash. I've already sneezed three times.

Dry down: Thank goodness. As time has gone on the florals have faded and the amber has risen to the surface. I no longer smell the sweet note of the mandarin. This has become spicy and resinous. That shouldn't surprise me since my skin tends to retain and amplify resin scents, but in this case it does because those florals were so strong when wet. I can still smell just the slightest hint of the melati, but it's a spicy floral and not a sweet one. I never have detected the dragon's blood. It totally disappeared under the florals and the amber. After the first twenty minutes of wear, this no longer made me sneeze, so that's a plus. It reminds me of some strongly scented powder my mother used back in the 70's. Taboo maybe? This scent has also faded incredibly quickly. I think it has the least staying power of any of the bpals I've tried to date. Several reviewers over in the forums noted that this developed into a soapy smell on their skin and, after it faded on me, I understood what they meant. When I use a strong deodorant soap my skin maintains it all day if you put your nose right up to me and sniff, but it's not detectable is you're less than an inch from my skin. Rage faded just like that. It's not unpleasant, and it's a nice clean smell, but it doesn't dazzle the senses.

Final verdict: In the end the scent was pretty non-offensive to my nose, but it didn't "zing!" for me the way my favorite bpals do. I think this pretty much proved to me that I haven't been lying when I say that I just don't do well with florals, no matter what they're mixed with. It was a good learning experience, but to the swap pile it goes...

In the imp: Wow. My first impression is that this is a powerful scent, and very complex. I can't begin to pick out individual notes, but it's a warm, spicy scent with a hint of incense. There's not much underlying sweetness there; it smells like the base is all musk.

Wet: This isn't quite as strong on my wrist as in the bottle, but it's still very spicy and musky. I'm picking up just a hint of the saffron as a sweet floral note. (Note: It smells nothing like the saffron rice I've bought from the grocery store, but I'm just like the saffron ice that a friend in Boston once tested on me before serving it at an SCA event. That was made with saffron ribbons, which are apparently super-duper expensive and hard to find.) It's more classically perfume smelling than what I would normally wear, but it hasn't made me sneeze yet. It reminds me just a bit of Samsara, but without whatever it is that makes me head fill up with snot and sneeze uncontrollably.

Dry down: As this first settled on my skin the musk rose to the surface and practically overpowered the more subtle spice notes. After about an hour it started smelling like a very expensive men's soap; like something a dashing South American polo player would use. I kept catching whiffs of it and looking around to see which of my male clients had walked into the office! After that first hour, a sweet undertone began making its way to the surface. It's more a sweet floral than a food sweet like vanilla or honey, and I suspect it's the saffron peeking through the musk again.

Interestingly, the oil seems to have developed quite differently on my right wrist than on my left. (I apply the oil directly to the left and then blot my right against it as I'm right handed.) On the right, it's much sweeter, with that sweet floral undertone, a very light powdery note and a hint of sweet almond. On the left, it's much muskier and spicier. I suspect that as the day goes on the left will fade to match the right, which will make me very happy indeed.

Over all impression: I think this is a very beautiful scent: Complex, bold, spicy, exotic, and just sweet enough on the dry down to be feminine. However, the boyfriend's comment was to wrinkle up his nose and say, "Too powdery." So now, I'm doubting my own power of sniff. I'm going to keep this one though I think. I'll just wear it on the rare occasions the boy isn't around.

In the imp: Very patchouli, but with an astringent or medicinal undertone, possibly from the cedar.

Wet: The medicinal quality I sniffed in the bottle is even stronger on my wrist and reminds me of the highly toxic bug spray my mother used to spray us with as children. It's a bitter, medicinal, and very strong odor. Ick. I'm hoping it will turn into the usual spicy scent I get from patchouli on dry-down, with some woody undertones from the cedar. I swapped for this hoping it would make me smell like the inside of my cedar box after I've stored incense in it.

Dry down: Unfortunately, prolonged contact with my skin has not helped this one. It has stayed medicinal and unpleasant, and it makes me sneeze. After just under an hour, I couldn't take any more, and I went and washed my wrists in very hot water and sweet smelling soap.

After wash: This scent definitely has staying power. After washing with super hot water and Bath & Body Works Cucumber-Melon soap, I could still smell the oil. Thankfully, it had toned it down enough to be bearable. After the soap and water, all I was left with was a vague whiff of hippy patchouli. Later that night I also swam in a pool for about an hour and when I toweled off there was still a faint trace of the odor.

This as a rousing NOT! on me, which made me sad because I had such high hopes for it. I think it may be the combination of patchouli and cedar which doesn't work for me, because individually I like both scents just fine.

In the imp: Vanilla extract. It's a thin, alcoholy vanilla scent.

Wet: The minute I put this on my skin the vanilla deepened and richened to do away with that nasty extract alcohol smell. On first sniff the amber is just barely present, the vanilla smells deliciously like vanilla pudding, and I'm getting a biting note of something even sweeter than the vanilla.

Dry down: The sweet vanilla has given way to the amber. There's still some vanilla left, it only adds a sweet depth to the scent. I don't smell foody at all, I just smell like me, but sweetened. There's a bit of a powdery finish, but not baby powder. It's more like those edible body powders, but in no flavor I've ever tried. If I had to name a flavor I'd say it's some kind of spicy honey. It almost smells like there's sandalwood in there somewhere along with the vanilla and amber. I have to run this one past the boyfriend, but I'd say odds are very, VERY good that this a keeper. Maybe even a 5 or 10 ml scent for me!

In the imp: Mmmm. This smells like dark chocolate hazelnut liqueur truffles.

Wet: Still pretty mmmmm, but less chocolate and more cocoa butter with hazelnut. This is the first strictly foody scent I've tried, so I'm interested to see how true it stays on my skin and what my body chemistry does to all these rich/sweet candy notes.

Dry down: After about an hour, this scent has faded a lot. I have to stick my wrist right up to my nose in order to get a whiff. Said whiff, however, is very very nice. The nuts smells have come to the fore and I smell mainly of hazelnut with a hint of toffee. There's a buttery base to the scent, which makes it rich and heady. I'm also detecting a very faint note of something cinnamon-like which reminds me of baking pecan rolls. Once again, my left and right wrists (despite having oil applied straight to them both this time) have developed in subtly different ways. On the left, there's a hint of something sharp and alcoholic, like a hazelnut liqueur, while on the right it's much sweeter and more buttery.

Final verdict: Darn. Here's what I wrote after two hours of dry-down: "I will definitely use my imp of this, and expect I may crave a larger size come winter. It's really a little heavy for warm weather, but I know I'll wear it when I want to hear the boyfriend say, "I could eat you up." I don't feel gluttonous when I wear it; I feel warm and motherly, like someone who has been baking or making fudge all day for the people she loves." Unfortunately, it is all a big fat lie. Shortly after the preceding statement was written, Gluttony and my body chemistry decided to conspire to become completely bloody evil together. It turned into horrible saccharine smell not unlike a Wal-Mart knock-off of a Bath & Body Works spray which made me sneeze and burst a damn of snot in my head to completely flood my sinuses. In fact, it provoked the most virulent reaction of any bpal fragrance to date. I am so unhappy with my silly hormones I could kick their asses.

In the imp: I smell the cherries right away, and thankfully it's a fresh black cherry scent and not the fake cherry scent I associate with cough medicine. (I've been hesitant to try any of the scents with a cherry note because I loathe that cough medicine smell so much. I'm very pleased to see that my fears were utterly without basis. I should have had more faith the lab.) Under the cherry, I can detect something dark and spicy and a slightly bitter note which I believe is the myrrh. Overall, it's a nice, complex scent with plenty of resin/spice to interact with my skin chemistry and not enough fruit to smell teeny-boppery. It's also an amazing dark red color, almost exactly the color of blood when I have it drawn at the hospital. It would look awesome sitting on my vanity in a glass perfume bottle, so I have high hopes for this one.

Wet: Hmm...The cherry is still the strongest note, and it's not quite as nice on my wrist as it was in the imp. Not that's morphed into bad cough medicine exactly...but there's the faintest trace of something medicinal there. I think it may be because the myrrh is stronger on my skin than in the bottle and that is what I'm smelling. Another sniff of the wrist reassures me that the resin is still there under the cherries and the bitter. I'm willing to see how these cherries and myrrh settle in.

Dry down: Whatever fears I had that this scent would be too fruity for me have now been safely laid to rest. The cherry more or less vanished after about half an hour, leaving me with a vaguely sweet, incense smelling blend. Once in a while, if I sniff deeply and hold the scent in before I exhale, I can detect the faintest hint of what smells like cherry pits. It's cherry mixed with wood. However, it's very very faint. The clove finally came to the surface after a while, and that's what's providing the sweetness now. Between the clove and the resin, I smell like a palmist's shop where someone smoked a clove cigarette a few hours ago.

Over all impression: There is absolutely nothing unpleasant about this scent, but there's also nothing terribly special. The complexity that intrigued me from the imp is gone, leaving me with a nice incensy resin scent. Because it just doesn't wow me like my favorite bpals do, this one is probably destined for my swap pile, but I really can't say anything too negative about it. It's just sort of blah on me. On to the next scent...