Christine Daae

Another one that I'm pretty sure I've been hanging on to for a while. In the imp, the oil is dark and viscous, and it smells like what must be the ginger. There's a common note here with Vixen (which I still have on the other wrist), so it must be the ginger. On my skin, it develops a nice, spicy quality that I actually really like. The jasmine is playing nice and letting the spice come out, too, and the sweet apricot is hanging back a bit. This is really pretty. Sweet, spicy and floral at the same time. It's a keeper!

This imp has been fairly aged - I'm not sure for how long, but I'm sure I've had it a while and just not properly reviewed it. The oil is really thick and dark now. In the imp, it's mostly orange blossom with a bit of something earthy or spicy underneath. On my skin, it starts off with that high-pitched, sweet orange blossom, but starts developing something else entirely underneath. This does not come off as "spicy" on me at all. It's sweet orange-blossomy goodness with a bit of something I don't terribly like underneath. (I don't know if it's the patch or the ginger, but something is not agreeing with me.) I can see the resemblance to Snake Oil (must be the patchouli), but this is just not for me at all.

In the imp, this is bitter, herbal and very, very green (in appearance and scent). Wet on my skin, it develops a bit of an incensy smell, but it's really very reminiscent of Vick's Vapor Rub (as someone else said). Not really sure if I like it. As it dries, the green, menthol-y quality dies down and it develops a more earthy, sweet quality. It's actually quite nice, though not generally my cup of tea. Smells a bit like a forest, with a bit of something earthy and warm underneath. Really lovely, but not my thing at all.

Definitely starts off with something sweet and honeyed, along with what must be skin musk. Wet on my skin, it continues to be dominated by the skin musk. I've never smelled anything like it before. It really does smell like...well, like sex. ...Coated in almonds and honey, even! I wish the vanilla would come out more, but it's the cherry/almond smell (which I like!) accompanied by honey (which may be the musky-something I'm smelling). It's very subtle. I wouldn't say "light," but it stays close to the skin. This is a subtle, honeyed vanilla all the way. Really yummy and golden. Definitely keeping the imp, if not getting more (someday...sigh).

In the imp and wet, this is entirely apricot, which I like, surprisingly. Nice and sweet and fruity and only a hint of the clove spice. As it dries, it goes back and forth between apricot and clove, and it's juicy and spicy and really, really nice (and this coming from someone who generally doesn't like fruity smells!). It's really well-blended and simple, and pretty. Very sweet and yummy! I am definitely keeping the imp, if not ordering more.

In the imp, this is all grapefruit (I've never smelled a grapefruit blend before, so this is interesting!). Wet on my skin, it's juicy and fruity and less bitter than you'd expect grapefruit to smell. As it dries, the currant (I suppose?) becomes more prominent. It does have a bit of the musk, now that I look for it, but it's very understated and definitely less prominent than the currant and the grapefruit. This is really interesting. I don't know if I'll hold onto it or not, as fruity smells aren't generally my thing.

In the imp, this is very dry and woody. On my skin, it continues this way. No hint of herbs or florals, which is odd, since my skin usually amps florals. As it dries, it's still mostly just...sandalwood? With maybe a bit of floral underneath, but hardly any. Not really my thing, but lovely for what it is.

Not surprisingly, in the imp this is sweetish leather. I don't get on with leather much, but let's see how this goes. Floral-berryish sweetness (yay Dragon's blood!) with the leather underneath, wet. This actually doesn't do a whole lot of morphing. It's a well-blended leather-dragon's blood scent, though that's not really for me.

I open the imp and my mind goes "Christmas !" I take a closer sniff and I get "orangey Christmas!" Wet on, the pine jumps out first, with the mint close behind. This, I fear, will be far too masculine for me. As it dries, I get a bit more sweetness underneath, with the clove coming up a little bit more. Eventually it turns into one of those little green pine air fresheners shaped like trees that you hang in your car. But nicer, obviously. My chemistry obviously just doesn't agree with this one. Will put it up for sale or swaps, eventually!

In the imp, this is mossy dirt. It's quite nice, for those people who like that sort of thing. Wet on, this is...actually, really nice. Wow. I never thought I'd like a "dirt" scent. It's very damp and warm smelling, somehow. As it dries it gets warmer, I don't smell as much mossiness. I'm really surprised at how much I like this scent. It's got something sweet and warm underneath the damp soil. I agree with the people who said it smells like there's a bit of vanilla in it. I'm really surprised at how sophisticated and lovely this is (I know I shouldn't be, but I am!). Another imp I'll be keeping. To think, I started going through my scents like this so that I could figure out what to get rid of!

I'm trying to go through and review scents that I have sitting in my imp box that I haven't worn yet or at least not reviewed yet. ! In the imp: slightly-soapy, sharp florals and a bit of sweetness and grassiness. Wet on, it doesn't change much. Maybe a bit more grassiness. Smells flowery, sweet, and green. It's the lilies that translate to "soap" in my nose, which is too bad. I love lilies with something other than flowers in the mix, something to ground them. This is all lilies and grass to me. As it dries, the lilies calm down a bit, and it's less "YAY SOAPY LILIES." It's actually quite pretty, in a sombre, grown-up, very floral way. It's soft and sweet, with a bit of spice from the carnation (love!). This is what I really wanted Ophelia to smell like, actually. I'll definitely be keeping the imp, but only time will tell if I'll buy any more.

In the bottle: Pale, sweet mint and a bit of…cucumber? Wet: Mostly that light, almost sharply-sweet mint with a bit of something else behind it. It’s lovely, cool and pale. Drydown: As this dries, it gets sweeter (surprise, surprise with my chemistry). It’s really lovely, very wet and cool (not cold). It’s just very sweet and lightly minty and watery. I like this, because it’s minty without making me smell of toothpaste (which is what I was afraid of!!). Verdict: Light, sweet, watery mint. I honestly don’t get a lot of throw out of this – I have to push my nose right up to my wrist to smell it over the Snow Moon on the other wrist! – but it’s still really pretty.

I'm going through and re-testing a lot of bottles and imps I never reviewed before, but I can't believe I never posted about this one, I got it when it first came out! In the bottle: Sweet holy mother of Christmas trees! Very sweet evergreen. Wet: Minty-sweet evergreen. I honestly smell like a freshly-cut Christmas tree. There’s a hint of something floral behind this, too. Drydown: This has some serious throw, which I didn’t notice when I’ve worn it, but I keep getting wafts of sweet evergreen. (My chemistry amps anything sweet, though, which is nice, because that’s what I like!) It’s lightly floral behind the icy-cold evergreen and really very pretty. Verdict: This turns into serious Yankee Candle-type sweet evergreen on me with not a whole lot else unless I huff my wrist, where I smell a bit of the florals (which, I think, is the reason I got it in the first place). It gets sweeter and less evergreen and more floral as the wear goes on.

Last night, while I was backstage at that-show-I-hate-doing with the other girls that hate doing the show ( ) I let them raid my perfume stash (or "crate o' perfume" as the BF calls it). These were the most popular scents (some to my surprise!): 1. Black Pearl (I can't wear coconut, so this was surprising to me!) 2. Sugar Skull (I couldn't let them take this one, though.) 3. Embalming Fluid (I can't wear this one due to lemon.) 4. The Unicorn 5. Phantom Queen 6. Kindly Moon (again, I wouldn't let them take this one!!) If you don't have imps of Kindly Moon or Sugar Skull, two others that were popular were Maiden and Persephone. And Bon Vivant!

Also, if you have my weird skin chemistry and you can find it, Trick or Treat smells exactly like spiced Chai tea on me. You can also try layering tea scents with pumpkin or pumpkin pie scents since they're spiced with all that nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Ahh, didn't read thoroughly enough! Thank you for the reccomendation!!

Frimp from the lab that I'm testing today! In the bottle: Vanilla, lemon and white flowers. Wet: Errm, lemon? Oh, no. Lemon hates me. This smells sweet and citrusy, and lemon always turns a blend bad on me, but we'll see. Drydown: Okay, this smells exactly like Antique Lace on me now. Well, from what I remember (Antique Lace gives me a headache if I wear it too long so I don't, very often). It's this vague dryer-sheet-ish sort of white flowery smell with a bit of vanilla (not enough to save the blend for me, though). Boo. I can probably smell the sandalwood, but...I don't know. Verdict: Unfortunately, Antique Lace and this dry down to a very generic, white-flowers-plus-linens (lemon)-and-vanilla on me. I don't like either of them enough to keep.

Tea is one of my all-time favourite notes (and drinks, hee!). I love Alice and Maiden, but most teas with lemon or citrusy notes go "off" on me. I was actually wondering if there's a scent close to the scent of a nice, spicy chai.

As my handle no doubt gives away, I'm a huge PotO fan (though mostly of the book). I seem to recall there being a discussion about this awhile back... Anyway, my personal pick for Erik (the Phantom) is Thanatos. And I think the closest thing I've found to something that "smells like Christine" to me is Alice.

My darling isn't much for scents one way or the other (he wears some cologne simply because Dean Martin wore it [rolls eyes]), but I have gotten a few compliments from him (mostly when I say "hey, smell this"). The first unsolicited comment I've ever gotten from him was for Lucy Westenra, which is good, because it's my favourite. The second was for Kindly Moon. Kindly Moon. That I spilled half my bottle of in the bathroom. Wah!

Resurrected! In the bottle: Very floral, very jasmine. This is my first jasmine blend, so I don't know if it works for me or not, yet. Wet: Still very much jasmine, as I know precisely what rose and heliotrope smell like, and this is neither of them. Very...sophisticated. Drydown: This is very much a sophisticated, pale-woman-in-a-black-dress perfume. The jasmine, for whatever reason, gives a very 'Southern belle' feel to this, for me. I think I just associate heady flowers with Southern summers. I don't know if this is particularly will-o-the-wisp-ish to me, it's more substantial than that. Verdict: A very soft, pretty floral blend. I love it.

Resurrected! (How could I resist a name like Glitter? Even with pear?) In the bottle: Fruity bubblegum! Mmmm. Wet: Holy crap, this smells just like Dubble Bubble on me, which must be the lotus. Like, exactly. I just went to ask my brother what he thought and he said "Dubble Bubble!" too. Weird! I like it, though. Drydown: The bubblegum smell mellows out a little bit, letting a little bit of the pear through, which - surprisingly! - I also like. This is really lovely. Then again, I'm a big fan of anything that screams "SUGAR!" anyway. And this most certainly does. I only get a little tiny bit of an alcoholic note, and I can tell that there's heliotrope there, but I can't really smell it. It just adds more "wheeee sweet!" to the scent. Verdict: This fades fairly quickly, but it's really gorgeous. Hardly any throw, which is normal per me + BPAL, but...yum! I'm so glad I took a risk and ordered this.

Frimp from the lab! (I got a million with my most recent order.) In the bottle: Sweet, slightly...floral? I haven't tried a whole lot with Dragon's Blood or amber, so you'll have to forgive me. Wet: Ohhh, that must be the amber. Very warm and sultry, with that little bit of floral sweetness underneath. I swear, floral. I don't know why. Drydown: This is less floral, more warm and yummy on the drydown. Very golden-red, as people have noted. This is almost honeyed to me. I like. But then it goes almost fruity on me, and fruit + me (in general) = ew, so...I don't know. Verdict: I'm not sure if I like this enough to hang on to it. I wanted to like amber more, but it's not doing much for me!

Frimp from the lab! <3 In the bottle: Mmmm, the same orange blossom note as it is in Lolita (which is one of my favourites, and one of only two big bottles I got before they stopped making them). Promising! Wet: Still very candyish and orangey, bright and juicy with just a hint of spice. I was sort of afraid that this was going to smell like a pomander... Drydown: Shaper, less juicy, but still orange-blossomy. As it dries, it gets less orange!orange blossomy, and more blossom!orange blossomy. "Blossomy" is still not a word. The spice is in the background, very much so - not a huge presence on my skin. This is vaguely "perfume-y" on me, if you know what I mean? Verdict: This is very pretty, sort of a more grown-up Lolita with some spice. This does not at all smell like a pomander, but is still sweetly spicy orange. I like this a lot, and will be keeping the imp!

Has anyone mentioned Lucy Westenra yet? I guess I just can't get enough of it, but on me it's a sweet, slightly-floral orange. It's really pretty and creamy and lovely.

Frimp from the Lab! In the bottle: The slightly-odd rose note that I get in Persephone & 2, 5 & 7 along with a bit of an alcoholic smell. I don't get that in all the rose blends, just some of them. And usually it's worth it to stick with the blend anyway. Wet: Sweet, sticky roses. Ooooh. This is actually quite lovely. Drydown: The lotus and the rose play off each other nicely - very sweet and floral, almost fruity but not quite, in a bubblegum sort of way that I associate with lotus. Verdict: This is very nice, but not anything special on me. I have a lot of rose blends already, but I'm interested to see how this would layer with, say, Alice.