clover

I would recommend Love and Pain from The Salon. It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful lavender scent. I prefer it to both Yvaine & TKO.

I'm also looking for the ultimate lilac. I tried Cordelia yesterday, which was a wonderful lemon-lilac, but now I'm wondering if I can find such a nice, strong, natural lilac somewhere else, maybe in a combination better than lemon. You should try His Station and Four Aces, if you can find some. It's a gorgeous lilac blend - by far my favorite. Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree also has a really lovely lilac note, although it's maybe not quite as prominent as the lilac note in HS&FA. Also Villain (or possibly Whitechapel - I always get those two mixed up) is a great, slightly-masculine lilac. I'm pretty sure it's Villain I'm thinking of.

You should really try Monna Vanna, from the Salon. I think it's the most true-to-life rose in the catalog - above Rose Red even. But it's also got lots of supporting florals, too. When I saw "florist's shop", it was the first scent that came to mind.

Sniffing from the imp I get a fresh, damp greeness - what I'm guessing is the palm. Upon application that scent sticks around for a while, but is gradually replaced by a slithering dark muskiness. I'm not sure what that is, but I really like it. I don't really think it's the leather (which I don't smell at all) - and if it's the tobacco, it's not the kind I'm usually used to. It's very earthy, slightly sweet, a little bit bitter and surprisingly animalistic. I love it.....but would really love it on a man. The wear length is good - I've been wearing it for about eight hours and I can still smell it floating around me.

Sniffing from the bottle: woah, that's sharp. Upon application: Completely different from how it smells in the bottle. It smells exactly, EXACTLY, like dry and barren corn fields. (Trust me, I'm from corn country, I know. How does a Califonia girl like Beth know? I have no idea? ) Actually, when I first applied this I sort of didn't remember what the poem was all about, and I was all "Huh? Dead fields?"...and then I remembered. Really amazing. But the best part is that scent is fleeting, and after a few minutes it settles down into a gorgeous, lightly spicy, warm, traditional perfume. Which is great, because while the scent of barren fields is extremely evocative, who want to smell like that all of the time. The clove is really strong on me, and it's set against a backdrop that is dry and lovely, like leaves rustling in the wind. I will wear this a lot this fall. Conclusion: Besides being beautiful and really wearable, I think this a very smart perfume. Big thumbs up!

This was nothing at all like I was expecting, and for the first time in quite a while I had my heart broken by a scent. Sniffing from the bottle: really light spice. Upon application: It goes through a lightly spicy stage, but turns pretty quickly to a light coconut scent. And coconut, on me, smells exactly like plastic. There's not a hint of musk, or anything feral or animalistic. Weird. I'm even wondering if there's something strange with my bottle. Conclusion: I was really looking forward to this, even though lunar scents don't generally call my name, but I would never wear it.

Sniffing from the bottle the first thing I notice is the scent of dirt. This makes me happy, because I was sort of afraid I would get aquatics. I was a little bit afraid of the verb "sprayed" in the description. But yay! There's nothing even remotely aquatic in Singing Moon - to my nose anyway. The scent of dirt lingers when I put it on my skin, but not in a way I am used to. It's incredibly soft (dirt is usually the only thing I can smell when it's a component in a perfume), and takes a back seat to all of the other notes in the blend. Which, to be honest, I'm going to have trouble describing. Not quite floral, not quite fruity. Maybe like wildflowers? I'll say this - it's BEAUTIFUL. Gorgeous. I love it. I'm actually considering scribbling Clover + Singing Moon = True Love Forever with a big heart around it on my forearm where I slathered the perfume. It's that good.

The Emathides is one of those scents that smells completely different in the bottle than it does on my skin. Sniffing from the bottle I get a light, herbal fruitiness. I can definitely smell the lavender, and maybe a bit of the black currant - something fruity, anyway. Once it hits my skin, though - deep, dark, caramel-like amber. The deepest, richest, most syrupy amber you can imagine. Did I say deep? It's deep. And dark. After a while I get traces of some of the from-the-bottle herbiness floating around as well. I get a little bit of musk, and a little bit of what I think might be the wood violet (although I'm not positive). On me it turns really sweet after a while. It's all smooth edges - nothing floral or bitter or herbal at all. Yep - rich and sweet and smooth. Good stuff.

I think something in the vein of Leanan Sidhe or Zephyr - clean, white, sophisticated but a little bit innocent.

Join us, won't you?

Aww, I hope you don't have to stay away for too long. For what it's worth, it's been driving me crazy, too. The weird talk was fine in the macro thread (although I'm not sure I personally get it)...but in the swaps forum and especially in the Update thread, it makes me want to start poking eyes out. I sincerely hope that it's just a phase.

Are you making sure to roll them between your palms when you get them to re-mix them?

Not a scent name, per se...but how do y'all pronounce galangal? I've heard gall-en-gall & gal-en-gail. The second always sounds odd to me. I always want to say ga-LONG-ull, but I know that's not right. Is it?

This scent is *just* like the painting - piercing white & yellow. It virtually screams white & yellow. It settles down after a while, but it's still strongly aquatic and floral. Not really my thing, I'm afraid.

This one catches me off guard, too. I didn't think I was going to like it - I'm never a fan of ozone or metallics. But, I don't get even a hint of either of those here. This scent is mostly leather on me, and I love the way leather smells. It's a little bit dusty - for some reason I'm reminded of really old books - but mostly sweet leather. Although, to be honest, it could smell like mugwort & colophony & ajowan, and I'd never know it. It's very good stuff, but since it's so predominantly leather on me, I'm not sure I need it when I already have a handful of leathery faves.

On first application I'm hit with a blast (a gentle blast, but a blast nonetheless) of citrus. And a bunch of garden-y flowers. It's pretty for a little while, but it starts to go slightly bitter on my skin. A little bit sharp and spiky. I'm not a huge fan of citrus in my perfumes, admittedly. After a while things start to soften up. It's pretty....and then it goes watery and disappears. My skin doesn't like this one as much as a lot of the other new Salons.

Such a beautiful rose scent. Rose is definitely the dominant note - front and center, no question about it. Beyond the rose, though, this scent is seamless. I know there's a whole bunch of good stuff going on there, I can tell, but I have no idea what it is. I'm just imagining all of the supporting notes as slaves, carrying the rose around on an elevated pillow like the queen that she is. Juicy, natural, classical, colorful, rich....and yet small, and intimate. Truly gorgeous.

It goes on as a very green, very crisp watery floral. Had I not looked at the description, I would have sworn up and down that this had jasmine in it. After a while it goes a bit dirty. I'm not sure what that is, maybe the bark? But it's dirtying it right up, in a really sharp kind of way. This is a very linear, piercing kind of floral. It's not messing around at all. I like it. It's probably not something I'd reach for a lot, as I like my scents softer around the edges, but I do like it.

Out of all of the new Salon scents, to me this is the most regal. It's Floral with a capital F. I'm not really sure what sunflowers actually smell like, but I was thinking more along the lines of a wildflower. This, to me, smells more like a grand bulb plant - narcissus or jonquil or lily or something along those lines. It's got a hint of greeness and a hint of fruitiness to it as well. Gorgeous, but I'm not sure I can pull it off. It's too impressive. I think I'm not tall enough.

I have to say I *loved* the concept of this perfume when I first saw it described on the site. I wanna smell like all those poisons! And the first thing that I notice when I put this on my skin is that it does not smell like a classically composed perfume. It's definitely one of Beth's creations that is meant to be evocative more than anything else. Which is not to say it doesn't smell good, because it does. The strongest notes on me are the almond and honey. And something that smells slightly grainy or grassy, although I'm not sure what that is. It's almost edible, really. After a while I start to get a touch of the resins - the scent dries out a bit - but the overhwelming impression, to me, is grains and nuts baked in oil and dried in the sun, and then drizzled with honey. It's warmed and dried a bit past golden. There's definitely an oiliness to the scent as well - like coconut oil or cocoa butter. I wonder if that's the chocolate scent that previous reviewers were picking up on. Although I really like the scent of this, it's probably a bit more subtle than I usually like to wear.

I can tell sniffing from the imp that this isn't going to be my kind of scent. When I put it on my skin, the pomegranate dominates. Pomegranate seems like it would be such a harmless note - but it's a total scent killer for me. For some reason, pomegranate just smells god awful on me - it has ruined many a promising perfume with it's evil astringent juiciness. So, the pomegranate is bugging me, and I'm not a huge fan of hyssop or patchouli either. And, unfortunately, none of the florals come out to play on my skin. Definitely not a scent for me.

Sniffing from the imp and in the first couple of seconds on the skin, there's something really off-putting about this scent to me. I have no idea what it is...but luckily it is gone in the blink of an eye. After just a few seconds, that odd bite of a scent is gone (I tried this a couple of times, because, literally, it changes immediately after going onto my skin), and a sweet, floral powderiness comes out. Powdery is the last thing I think of when I think of Asian-inspired scents - but that might be why I like this scent more than I usually like Asian scents. They generally have a crispness to them that just doesn't work with my chemistry. This scent, on the other hand is all soft edges - as feminine and delicate as the image. If a scent can be diaphanous, this is the scent. It's a lovely balance of the softest pear, the gentlest sandalwood and the wispiest florals. Very approachably elegant. I absolutely love this one.

When this first goes on, it's almost all fruit - although I can sense a crispness to the scent as well. The fruit isn't particularly voluptuous - it's slightly astringent and feminine. I suspect it's the matcha that is clarifying the scent. After a while a very light floral starts to peak out. At this point, the scent reminds me of putting your nose into a bag of lovely floral tea - like jasmine tea or, I guess, plum blossom tea. Eventually the salty aquatics come out on my skin as well. This is a little disappointing, because I'm not an aquatics girl at all...but I notice that the saltiness stays pretty close to my skin, and it's the lovely tea scent that is wafting all around me. This is really pretty, and exactly the kind of scent I used to love to wear when I was younger, although it's not quite my style now.

Sniffing from the bottle: soft. subtle. I....can't really smell it. Upon application: Soft florals. The orchid is the only one that really stands out to me. I love the clarity of orchid, and with a whole bouquet of other flowers and wildflowers to back it up, it makes for a sweet nosegay of a perfume. This is the kind of floral perfume I love and adore - sweet, soft, gentle, clear, pure. Like an English garden. An english garden at dusk. This reminds me of Annick Goutal fragrance, and I adore Annick Goutal. And, as a kicker, it lasts a surprising long time. So very pretty.

I've been wracking my brain trying to remember what this reminds me of. Is it Athens?!? Gah. Anyway...honey and wine is the impression that I get. It smells enticing and evocative - a bacchancalian dream of a scent. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have a ton of lasting power...which just means I'm going to have to slather more on, because this is freaking fantastic. ETA: I finally figured out that it was Tintagel that it reminded me of.