hypatia

At first: Sweet violets, and lots of them. The iris is there too, lightening it up and making it airier. As it's drying, I can smell the neroli if I concentrate, but not so much after it dries. After several hours, the florals recede and the musk comes out; it ends on an almost cocoa-ish musk note, very close to the skin. One of the many good things about the scents I've tried so far is that they've completely gotten rid of my initial fear of musk. Musk and I get along very well, and The Raven is one of the blends that convinced me of that. I always associate violets with my grandmother's dressing table (she had a lot of little bottles of perfume, and one of them must have been violet, because that's invariably what I picture whenever I smell violets), but The Raven has enough complexity to keep me from feeling old-ladyish when I wear it.

The three notes in this one were very clear and distinct to my nose. In the imp, it smells most strongly of rosemary. On my skin, the notes came out one after the other: first the rosemary, then the orange blossom, then, after a little while, the rose. On drydown, the rose predominates, but there's a creamy orange tinge to it, and the rosemary is just barely there in the background. It's lovely, and I'm not even one who usually wears florals. I find myself thinking of the interaction between the notes in terms of music -- you know how people compare really complex fragrances to symphonies? Well, Catherine is a trio. Each instrument enters one at a time, and then they all play together. Eventually the rose ends up soaring over the other two, but all three are very much a part of the whole.

I like this one a lot. On me it's mostly lavender, and it doesn't morph all that much. The lavender manages to be distinct without smelling too much like a sachet or a bowl of potpourri. The amber takes a bit of the herbal edge off of it. At first there's an almost smoky note, and something a little sharp in the background (can't tell what); then the lavender and amber and moss merge together and stay that way. At the very end, the carnation comes out. To my nose, it doesn't register as carnation so much as "oh, wow, smells like Morocco minus the spices!" I put some on first thing this morning, and now, 12 hours later, I can still detect faint whiffs. It's very good for wearing to work; it's a clean, put-together kind of scent. Definitely one I'm considering getting a bottle of.