fufu_berry

Happy early birthday! Not sure if I can help too much with choosing a Blue Moon, but I do have a decant of Blue Moon 2009 - Elizabeth's Creation, which is really similar to Blue Moon 2012 - looks like the only difference is that it has orchid instead of hyssop, and doesn't have the evening stock or rose milkweed. It's a very cool "blue" smelling scent if that makes any sense, although something in it smelled like pickles on me after I washed my hands. I got a lot of the florals and musk from it, not too much of the fruits or herbs. PS: A white mango is a kind of mango that I think grows mostly in the Caribbean - the flesh is white, the outside looks like a regular mango. One of my Haitian friends loooooves them.

This was a frimp from the Lab. In the imp: Grape Kool-Aid? On: Went through a brief soap phase, but after about 10 min it did exactly what it says on the tin - rose and wine. A very bright floral/fruity scent, with just a touch of something powdery underneath. It's very interesting and would serve rose lovers well, but just not my style.

On me, this smelled like Sleepy Moon (which I liked a lot) + a LOT of flowers (which I did not care for so much). I got a little bit of the spices, but they were mostly drowned out by the strong florals. I spilled a little on my fingers when I was opening the decant, and then after I washed my hands, I got an extremely strong smell of pickles! Not sure what is doing that (cucumber + something else?), but not terribly pleasant. Glad to have gotten to try it, but I don't think this was a winner for me.

This one was a weird experience. At first when I put it on, it smelled really soapy and sharp, which I think must have been the florals. Then it got really really sweet and powdery - maybe the flowers + bourbon? About every 10 minutes it would switch between sweet and soapy. It wasn't terribly unpleasant, but I never got any bay rum or dirt, which is what I was really looking forward to. I think this will have to find a new home.

In the imp, I got kind of a fruity spiced rum - not something I would have picked for myself (it was a frimp from the Lab), but intriguing. Wet, all I got was a kind of foody potpourri - sort of like opening a jam jar in a candle store. The ginger was nowhere to be found on me, which was a bummer as it's a favorite note of mine. After a couple hours, it dried down into pure baby powder, again not a scent I'm fond of. I might try this in a scent locket, but I probably won't hang on to it, as I have other boozy (Centzon Totochtin) and cinnamon-y (Chimera) scents I prefer.

I picked this up at SDCC, and I'm so glad that I did! I was a little worried about the apricot since I had a bad experience with Grand Guignol, but this smells *amazing* on. I was hoping that the black tea note would replicate some of the unique fresh-rubber smell I got from the opening of Bvlgari Black, and it totally did. That wore off pretty quickly, but it left behind a lovely, fresh, spicy apricot-ginger-vetiver. A little tart, a little bright, a little earthy. It got a little powdery after a few hours, which I wasn't sure about, but it never got too sharp for my taste. Awesome stuff!

Art was the only class in which I was nervous about passing, and I never got past pencils, so I can't say that I'm familiar with the scent of india ink or ink in general. In the bottle, this smelled kind of pine-y - lots of resin and sap. On, I definitely got the paper/ink smell, sort like a stronger-smelling newspaper. However, I also got a kind of odd earthy vegetable smell, like cooking a winter vegetable soup. The vegetable smell dissipated after about 20 min, but it took most of the rest of the scent with it. I don't know how much I liked this as a scent to wear on me, but it was very interesting. I'll give it a few more tries before I decide whether to hang on to it or not.

I loved the cocoa in Tezcatlipoca, so I was excited to try this. The cocoa was very soft and earthy, and it definitely got overpowered by the wine initially. The wine note didn't really smell much like wine on me, but it was bright and fruity and not sour like some of the reviewers got. It wasn't my favorite, but I didn't dislike it either - the fruitiness of the wine didn't go crazy on me like some fruits do (peach especially was bad). After an hour or so, the wine dried down and the cocoa came back a little bit. This wasn't my favorite, but it was pleasant enough.

The very generous stellans gave me a frimp of this. It sounded lovely, as I like most of the notes in it, but I hadn't tried anything with rose. Unfortunately, the rose was a big bummer - it was very very strong immediately, and hung around until I had to rinse it off. On me, it smelled extremely perfumey and almost sharp, somewhere between a very fancy lady and Aquanet. My mom took a whiff and said, "ugh, old lady's closet!" So I think this is probably not a keeper. :/

I received this as a frimp from the lovely and generous stellans. In the imp, it smells very green and herbal - lots of lavender, chamomile, and what I imagine is the bamboo pulp. On, I really only get the ylang-ylang and sandalwood, which is not a surprise as my skin loves sandalwood. Fortunately, I love it too! The ylang-ylang gives it a bright sweetness that's really interesting. It's a little sweeter and lighter than what I might normally like to wear out (I tend to gravitate toward spicy/earthy smells), but I can see this being great for a stressful day. It did feel very calming!

I had high hopes for this scent, and it did not disappoint! The drydown was fascinating - I kind of got each layer of scent one after the other. First cocoa, then flowers, then leather, then patchouli and incense. After about 20 min, it dried down into a delicious spicy-earthy scent, exactly what I was looking for. Will definitely have to invest in more of Tezcatlipoca.

In the imp and wet, this smelled like fruity potpourri, but I was hopeful that it would be earthy and spicy with just a hint of freshness from the fruit since it has a lot of notes I like - cinnamon, clove, patchouli, incense! But when I put it on, it turned into peach iced tea. No incense, cinnamon and clove are very faint in the background. Peach iced tea is a fine scent in its own right, but not exactly my style. Edit: After the peach iced tea, it turned into something sour and powdery. Definitely not working for me.

This smells great on - getting a lot of clove and nutmeg, and just a hint of sassafras. It smells like a slightly more medicinal chai, very light and warm. In the imp and wet on the skin, the "green" smell of the poppy combined with the smoky/spicy background makes it smell pretty similar to another kind of "green" herb (if you catch my drift), so you might want to be careful of that!

In the imp, this smelled very strongly of cinnamon, almost like the inside of a craft store or a strong potpourri. Once I put it on, the honeysuckle and myrrh came out, giving the cinnamon a nice creaminess - not too cloying or foody, but a little sweeter than I would have expected. The throw is not too strong, but the staying power is great - I put it on at 12 pm, and at 9 pm it's still going, with a little more of the copal coming out. I wasn't sure if I was in love with this since it's a little sweeter than I expected, but I got a couple compliments on it, so I think I'll give it another shot.

Not getting any of the booze, just bright, tart apricot on me. But the weird thing is the throw is so strong it made my eyes water! I put on just the tiniest dab, like I usually do, but I had to rinse several times to get the scent down to a manageable level. I like the smell, but not sure if I can handle how strong it is.

I didn't get the citrus that a lot of the other review mentioned - it went on a little soapy and sour, kind of like bubble mixture (you know, the kind you mix up to blow bubbles). But after an hour or so, it got very brackish and salty, exactly what I was looking for. I drove over to the beach to see how it stacked up, since I've been looking for a scent to remind me of the ocean in San Diego when I'm away. It was remarkably similar - lots of salt and seaweed, and a little bit of a sweeter smell, like the smell of your hair after you've been swimming in the ocean. I don't know if I think it really smells good on me (I tend to do better with the spicier and incense scents), but it really evoked good memories, so I'll definitely be keeping it.

I was really worried when I smelled this in the imp - it was very strong, with kind of an astringent, soapy smell. Wet, it was still pretty cologne-y, with just a little bit of the patchouli peeking through. After about an hour, the sarsaparilla really started to come through, and it smelled almost powdery, with a hint of metal. It reminded me really strongly of a free makeup bag my grandma got from Estee Lauder, spilled some powder in, and then gave to me to use for a coin purse. Old coins and makeup - really weird! After a couple hours, I finally started getting the salty ocean smell I was hoping for, with a little bit of the rum and patchouli. It mellowed out really nicely, but the stages it went through to get there were very odd. I'll definitely hang on to it, but make sure to apply it a while before I'm going out.