xoe

Kyoto was at first sweet, bright cherries. But quickly morphed into a lovely blend. My experience was the opposite of many of the above reviewers. On me, Kyoto went from being mainly cherry to being mainly sandalwood and star anise. It's a really great springtime scent. And it does evoke images of Japan. Wow!

On me, Libertine is all rosewood. Maybe a little bit of something else, adding some depth, but mainly Rosewood. It is quite beautiful, and rich. A lovely, lovely blend.

I tried Verdandi last night, not remembering what was in it at all. I was struck by how familiar yet strange was this scent. I kept sniffing it. I could tell there were some herbs, but what herbs I have no idea, and something warm.

Now that I know that there is apple and amber in this, I smack my forehead and say "of course!"

Quite good.

Hmmm. Wolf Moon. For me Wolf Moon is definitely not piney. Definitely not sharp. A soft aquatic floral blend is what I get. And it's lovely fresh water... possibly melting snow! The florals are very light, yet warm. There is now powderiness whatsoever.

I really like this one. Whoever said that it was similar to Water of Notre Dame was spot on. The difference, I think, lies in the floral element. Whereas Water of Notre Dame is quite rosy, this is something else entirely... but I don't know what the flowers are. Just pretty spring blossoms.

This is beautiful and I am keeping it. Which is a shame because I had bought it for a friend whose totem animal is the wolf. But this is just too feminine. I really couldn't see him wearing this at all. Ah well.

Gluttony is very very buttery and sweet and delicious. It is like a huge bucket of warm caramel popcorn. Unbelievably rich and edible. Yum!

I see that many reviewers perceived Fallen as masculine. I did not have that experience at all. For me, Fallen was a pale floral blend. After a good bit of time, the amber came out a little. Never did I get a hint of the sandalwood, nor the vetiver. Sad because those were the parts I was most looking forward to.

Fallen was nice, but not really what I was looking for. Oh well.

For me, Vixen was sweet and deep, with a little bit of a glimmer. The orange blossom provided the sweetness, the ginger provided the glimmering high note and the patchouli really rounded and deepened the whole thing.

A young scent, as is fitting. Something to be worn to a rock concert or a bonfire. It really is very vixenish. I don't know how she does it!

Temple of Dreams is of course very very lavendar. It is beautiful and soothing, and for me brought to mind the importance of sleep. I slept very well while wearing it.

Interestingly, upon waking there is a faint, sweet flowery scent still on my wrists. It isn't lavendar, but I can't quite place what it is.

Another winner in the dreams series!

Sacred Whore of Babylon made me feel very glamorous. Like a 1930s film star! It was mainly gardenia and jasmine, with some other indecipherable goodies thrown in. A little too heady for a trip to the grocery store, but perfect for some sort of black-tie, romantic evening.

Really, what more could you want from a Sacred Whore?

Nanshe is my favorite of the dream blends. The lavendar is just beautiful there is a bit of lemon or some kind of citrus and a little bit of some sort of herbal spiciness to it. Just as everyone else has said.

I definitely appreciate both the scent and the effect. I can still remember my dream from last night, and part of the dream was me explaining to myself what the recurring symbols in my dreams mean. That was pretty darn nifty!

Another one to go on the big bottle list! This one combined with baku would be great. Or, I mean.... wear this one, and keep baku at the bedside. If a horrible nightmare ensues, douse on the baku and ask him to eat the dream. Sort of a delete button, or escape hatch. At least, that's how I plan on using them.

Well, for me Tum is almost entirely fizzy grape. My co-worker really liked it on me, but I didn't. I felt uncomfortable with Tum. Strange. Oh well.

For me, Szepasszony is a clear, light aquatic. A little bit citrussy, a very light bit of florals. It is quite soft and lovely. But, my skin apparently eats it up because it was gone within 2 hours.

Oh so BEAUTIFUL! When first applied, I too got the melon impression. It quickly changed to pear with flowers. And it IS light and feminine and airy and beautiful. I feel gorgeous wearing this perfume.

** off to update my big bottle wishlist.

Follow me Boy is very Jasmine for me. But usually anything with jasmine is very Jasmine for me, so that's ok. I just put a little drop in my cleavage. It isn't as SHOCKING as Love me. I think Love Me has gardenia as well as Jasmine and that's what makes that one knock my socks off. I haven't really noticed any Voodoo effects from Follow Me Boy. But that's ok, because when I think about it I don't really want boys following me.

WOW. I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet.

For me, Mantis is light and airy and .. it's really delicate. Which makes sense. Those Mantisses are pretty delicate looking creatures. I really love it. I turned my little imp into a linen spray and spray and now my linens smell light and lovely.

I put on #20 Love Oil today, and my boyfriend immediately said, "Hmm. Well, it doesn't make me love you twenty times more. False advertising." I said, "It's not 20 Times Love Oil, it's #20 Love Oil." He said, "Well, then let's try #21." But he is being much more attentive, lovey and flirty than usual... so methinks he doth protest too much.

I'd just like to put in a recommendation for Oisin. It is a beautiful light musk. Really beautiful!

Ra is really great at capturing the feeling of dawn. I can't really describe it better than that. It's sort of grey and pink and yellow. The scent starts out quite thick and then becomes more powdery. Not like baby-powder, just powdery. I can't think of a better way to describe it than that.

It isn't what I expected, but it is great.

I didn't read the description before doing my review, so didn't realize that this had Jasmine. But Jasmine is always weird on me and this may be why things turned out the way they did. That said, here're my thoughts on Wicked.

Floral, herby, slightly soapy. Becomes soapier on drydown. And somehow a sort of thicker smell emerges. I don't know if the thicker smell is what others have described as "sooty" or what they have described as "scorched" or if it's something else entirely. Definitely not me.

The Sin oil itself is so very dark that I was sort of afraid to try it. But, try it I did. And it is Patchouli. All Patchoili. Maybe a little something sweetening the deal. As it dries on my skin it is more, more, more patchouli. The description says that it contains amber, sandalwood, black patchouli & cinnamon. But for me it is all patchouli. While I like patchouli, I don't like it this much. But, for a patchouli lover this would be great.

These are all great suggestions. I'm like Tesseljoan, rubbing alcohol is the one thing that has consistently worked for me. But, I haven't tried all of these other things... don't have babies or oily skin, so no baby-wipes or astringent pads. The other oil tip sounds pretty interesting, I'll remember that next time I try a head-ache inducing or civet-including blend.

Banshee is at first a very dry, dusty lemon scent. It's sort of like Phobos, but much more dry. I've never smelled anything this dry before. About 15 minutes later, it starts to smell sort of rosey. There aren't any roses in it, so I don't know what that is.

Now all that's there is that rosiness. Weird.

Banshee was a nice one, but I still wonder where that rosiness came from.

Succubus is a musky orange scent when wet. And either it wafts really, spectacularly well or I got some in my nose. Bergamot, neroli & mimosa all smell like orange to me, so this is just orange, orange, many shades of orange. As it dries, it's like an orange candy.

Really, if you like orange, then this is the one for you!

Scarecrow reminds me of something from my childhood, I'm not exactly sure what it is. It brings back memories of a friend's bedroom. I think she had some make-up or a perfume or something. After a brief while, Scarecrow became overwhelmingly strong to me and I had to wash it off. Oh well.

To me Yggdrasil was a very light, woodsy/citrus scent. Though the citrus may be something else like chamomile or something. It is very light and breezy and beautiful. If I wasn't already in love with Wolfsbane as my woodsy scent, I would totally go for Yggdrasil. ...Not that they're really very similar, but I feel like I can only have one woodsy scent. But that's probably just because I am a weirdo.

** editing on 12/21/05 -- We used up the rest of the imp in a 4 oz bottle of (otherwise) unscented lotion. It is fantastic! Yggdrasil makes a wonderful lotion. The complexity is much more obvious. Really light and wonderful!