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LIX

In the bottle, wet to dry: Smells like a Lemonhead candy.

On my skin, kind of a generic, low-throw yellow-floral perfume. ::shrug:: Florals and me were just not meant to be.

In the imp: Mmmm, buttery! This usually means that it will smell godawful on my skin.

Wet: Mmmmmmmm! Butterscotch!

Drying: Cloying-sweet butterscotch.

Dry: Baby powder. Aw, man!

In the imp, this smelled watery and clean.

On my skin, it immediately turns to...well...P.inched with Four Aces, without the coffee. I swear I'm not making it up. I've even tried it twice at different times of the month, and it still has that warm, creamy undertone that Pinched does. The only thing missing is the coffee!

I have no idea what, if anything, those two scents share. ::boggles:: Isn't skin chemistry weird?

Wet, this is sharp and sour, very bitter-ish smelling. Made my nose wrinkle.

Dry, this is a dry blend of many unusual flowers, with a slightly green undertone, growing fainter as it dries. It's got a wispy throw, which lends itself well to the 'night-blooming' aspect. Interesting, but not for me.

Hmm. I can see where some might say it's near to P.umpkin Q.ueen in tone (same amber, I believe), but on my skin, it is all powdery frankinscense, and is giving me one hell of a headache.

Glad to know I won't be pining for it.

This smelled of tea liberally mixed with some sort of fruity syrup - a sweet and deep scent that was nearly cloying. Very unusual, and I think I'll have to try this three or four times to really get a handle on whether I like it or not.

In the bottle: Generic floral

Wet: LiliesLiliesLiliesLiliesLilies. Did I mention Lilies? Oh, sure, there's a little something cool underneath them, but it's difficult to discern.

Dry: As it dries, the lily gets fainter and fainter and fainter until I have to lift my wrist to my nose to smell anything. All throw has vanished. When the lilies are finally gone, there's a faint trace of what I'm pretty sure is the orris, but nothing else.

Verdict: Where's the hyacinth? I wanted hyacinth! No cucumber, either. Meh.

This is heavily aquatic, with the florals subsumed beneath deep watery notes. Very unusual - I think with the right skin chemistry, this could be amazing. On me, it's rapidly heading for 'dryer sheets'. As with many of BPAL's aquatics, it's also giving me a headache.

I confess, this was a huge surprise. I expected it to be uber-masculine - between the vetiver and the lavender, I thought it would be much like any other 'gentleman's blend'. Boy, was I wrong!

In the imp it was kind of sharp-smelling, and I wrinkled my nose at it, expecting it to be godawful on my skin.

Wet, it resolved into loud lavender.

Dry? It's this gorgeous complex lavender scent, sweet without being cloying, old-fashioned without being old-ladyish. It has a faint suggestion of dusting powder that serves to keep it soft and gentle without slipping into baby powder. Just beautiful. I traded for the bottle thinking it would be good for my husband, but I'm keeping it for me.

ETA: Today, I went to put it on, seeking the lovely complex lavender, and got...lemon. This seriously smells like a lemon drop. I picked the bottle up three times to make sure I had the right one. It's just another lesson that I should try perfumes periodically all month, and not just make decisions based on one day's wear.

You know, I'm not a floral-type person, but this is just flat out pretty. It's light, not overwhelming. Sticks fairly close to the skin, instead of enveloping me in a toxic flower cloud. The notes seem familiar, but I can't pinpoint which flowers I'm smelling. Nice. I think I'll keep the imp for my 'girly' days.

In the bottle, and wet on my skin - ew, wintergreen.

::sniff:: Except...it's not really wintergreen. It appears to be the juxtaposition of some different notes that causes the rather unpleasant wintergreen/menthol thing.

After a moment, I can tell that the smell has to do with a tree resin, because I can almost taste the sap in my mouth. (Bleeeccch, for the record.) I'm determined to wait it out, because it's fading, but it is a bit overwhelming.

Now that five or ten minutes have gone past, the pine is starting to peek out - now I can detect snowy notes, crisp air, and the faintest breath of flowers, but it's very, very faint.

If it weren't for those five or ten minutes of resiny wintergreen hell, I'd love this scent. (ETA: No, I wouldn't. It's giving me a HUGE headache.) Also, it now smells of gin, which I suppose must be the juniper.

In the imp, sweet and fruity, though it doesn't smell like pomegranates, as I expected.

Wet, the amber makes itself known immediately, overwhelming the fruitiness (which still doesn't smell like pomegranates, wtf?). For a few minutes it's warm and sweet and spicy, and I quite like it, and then it dries....and turns right to powder.

The hell? I love amber, and it loves me! It never ever goes powdery on me! Come on, don't be that way, baby.

::sniffs:: Dammit. Powder.

None of the other formulations of 13 worked on me, so I didn't hold out much hope for this one.

In the bottle: Chocolatey!

Wet: The same sour chocolate smell that I got from The C.andy B.utcher

Dry: Sour Chocolate. Ugh.

Dry, 10 minutes later: Sour chocolate overlaying a faint, sweet, creamy scent. Bleah. Damn my skin chemistry!

Dry, 25 minutes later: Sweet, creamy and honeyed scent with just a whiff of sour chocolate. Actually, this stage smells a lot like Milk Moon '07, but with a pervading sourness. Urgh.

I'll save it to try at a different time of month, but I don't think this is going to work.

ETA: Tried three times, at different stages of my cycle. All three times: rotting chocolate. ::sigh::

I'd suggest hitting the Snake Pit (specifically Saw-Scaled Viper, if you like the spicy stuff.) Mmm, good.

In the bottle: There's that same bitter, horrible note that made me hate Y.uki-Onna with a blinding passion.

Wet: Still smells like rancid orange peel.

Dry: Some sort of sweet blossom covered with rancid orange peel. Ugh.

And....big headache.

Conclusion: Anybody want this?

ETA: Dry, some minutes later, I smell sweet linden blossoms and perhaps the faintest rose. This stage is absolutely beautiful, but it's so faint I have to press my nose to my wrist to smell it. Certainly not enough to put up with the rotting orange peel to get to it.

This was a generous swap from The Perfumed Ferret.

Overall impression: A very pretty floral, if a little old-fashioned.

On closer sniff: Yes, there's rose in there, somewhere, but there's also a sharp greenish note that serves to make it a little more stand-offish than it might be otherwise. Throw is veryvery low - my nose must be near my skin to get the full effect. Made, I think, for those who love intimate florals.

In the imp, I smelled nothing.

Wet, nothing.

Dry? Well, maybe a little whiff of sawdust, but mostly nothing.

And then, something happened. The scent warmed up on my skin, and became this sweet, dusty sandalwood-type fragrance. Just enough throw to waft up to my waiting nose. Warm, comforting, and a brilliant interpretation of this particular character.

I think either Boomslang (hee!) or Pumpkin Queen. So hard to choose...

Night-Gaunt. Especially once the grapefruit has burnt off, so what you smell is night-time flowers and cold dark. Mmmm.

In the bottle, this smells of power. I found it a comforting and relaxing scent. Last night, I anointed my forehead and heart with dabs of it to try and jump-start my creativity.

Nearly all the magickal blends smell exactly the same to me - a peculiar herbal blend - and Nine Muses was no exception. This oil also had a slightly menthol-y note. It enveloped me like a cloud while I slept, and I woke up feeling like I was ready to make a start on some more short stories. I think I'll be getting a lot of use out of this oil.

In the imp: Sour and 'off'-smelling.

On me: Single-note jasmine. Quel surprise (any jasmine at all means the blend smells of nothing but on my skin.)

Incense and resins are not my thing. But I had to try all the Arkham scents, so eventually I got around to this one.

In the imp, it smelled...brown. Soft and brown. Not at all what I'd expected. Wet, it disappeared, and then bloomed up with a slightly acrid smell. Dry, the acrid-ness went away, and in its place was a balanced, subtle, smoky scent. Now I understand why the incense-lovers went ga-ga over this. I can detect sandalwood, and maybe some sort of smoky musk, and it's just gorgeous. Not my thing, but still - wonderful, classic perfume.

Sweet bubbly blend that is light and effervescent. Heavy on the plumeria - an intoxicating fragrance that I love when smelled from our tree, but may be a bit much on my wrist. This strikes me as a very girly fragrance in the traditional sense - heady and feminine.

More of that 'sporty' masculine aquatic action. Spicy, salty, and warm, and there's something there that reminds me strongly of a popular men's cologne (can't think of which one, though). Might try it on Manly later, but it's not for me. Classed with T.hunder Moon, J.azz Funeral, and S.hadwell for masculine charm.