mandragora

Ooh, lovely fresh-smelling citrus. The grapefruit kind. On my skin, this just blooms to a more beautiful blend of clean and fresh citrus and floral combo. Dry, still mostly grapefruit with light hints of floral in the background and now with a bit of an ozone feel to it. There's a bit of an aftershave note as others have noted but it goes back to the lovely fruity/floral blend that's just too pretty to be masculine. Queen of Diamonds is another queen that I will cherish and use sparingly. Please, please Beth revisit these Forum-only series. I hope and pray that Baobhan Sith (or any of the other grapefruit GCs) is as beautiful as the QoD.

Sweet, smokey with a teeny bit of spice in the imp. On my skin, it's woody but with intense berry notes. Wet, the plum and blackberries command center attention. As it dries, the florals shyly starts to emerge around the berries and make their presence known. The scent remains beautifully smokey around the light flowers and berries with a spicy kick. A very lovely, complex blend. I'm in love with Queen of Spades. I will treasure my imp and use it sparingly until the lab takes pity and re-visits these set of Forum-only scents. If that happens, I will definitely hoard .

Hmm, I smell sour-smelling florals as I sniff the imp. Reminding me of 2, 5 and 7. But, but, but, I see no rose in the description. *hesitantly applies a bit on my right wrist* Yep, this is the screaming roses of love, passion and desire ... and doom on my skin. Where's the honey? This is all heady, powdery sour-smelling roses on me. *sigh* I had such high hopes for Osun. Verdict: No sour roses for me please. Off to the swaps. *and off to the sink to wash my right wrist*.

"MELONS!" It screams, when I sniffed Yemaya from the bottle. It seriously smells like the cantaloupe-flavored candy I liked back in grade school. Cloyingly sweet cantaloupe, had to resist from licking my wrists. Dry, it drastically mellows, bringing down the sweetness to a tolerable level. Still mostly cantaloupe, with very faint traces of light, pale florals and a bit of a green note (sea mosses?). Verdict: Lovely melon-y scent. On a scale of 1-5, this is a 4.

Straight from the lab. In the bottle, Shango is a fruity, tropical smoothie with an unusual minty kick. Wet on my skin, sweet, sweet fruits. All the fruit components just bust out and party. The apple boogies with the banana, while the pomegranate shimmies with the pineapple. And the coconut keeps everybody from becoming too wild . As it dries down, it mellows to a well-blended fruity nummyness with some spicy chili pepper backround. Oh my, this is just beyond lovely. After my initial misgivings on the wet stage (like getting a Jamba Juice spilled on me), Shango more than made up for it when it morphed beautifully later on. It sticks close to the skin and lasts about 8+ hours on me. Verdict: Two thumbs up! .

In the imp: Eek, sour floral. Wet on me: Still mostly sour but a bit muted now. Drydown: The plumeria blooms and the tart pear adding fruity sweetness. Verdict: Meh, the drydown is pretty but I'm not exactly wowed. Mostly turned off by the sour start.

In the imp: Ooh peaches. Sticky, juicy peaches. Wet on me: Yummy smelling sweet peachy goodness. Like the Lipton Peach Ice Tea. Must resist the urge to lick my arm. Drydown: This is like Fae lite. There's a sparkly note in the background making me think of champagne. The musk grounding the scent keeping it from being cloyingly sweet. Verdict: Love this. This is what I wanted Fae to smell like. This one goes to the "keep and slather later on" file.

The Lovely. She is the Muse of mimicry, and inspires both erotic and romantic poetry. She is crowned in roses, holding a lyre. Her scent inspires creative expressions of love and lust: a crush of roses with sweet pea, myrrh, ylang ylang, orris and stephanotis. In the imp: Roses and sweet pea with a sour note. Wet on me: Sour smelling rose scent, the ylang-ylang and myrrh step up but is beaten back by the sour-smelling rose. Drydown: This reminds me of the sour milk association I got with 2, 5 and 7 but not quite as pronounced or as off-putting. Verdict: Should have read the description first and stayed away. Roses and I don't see eye to eye. Buh-bye Erato.

In the imp: Smells very pink, must be the carnation. Wet on me: Turned pale and light musky floral. Drydown: Creamy and silky with a slight dark edge kinda floral. I do not get any lemon at all and my skin amps lemon, wierd huh. Verdict: And later on Euterpe turned to a powdery smell. Lovely and ladylike powder but powder just the same.

In the imp: Bright and refreshing citrus with a hint of mint. Wet on me: Tart and spicy lemony blend. Drydown: Crisp and sharply tart citrus blended with thyme and almond. No hint of lavender though. Verdict: Calliope is like a feminine version of Dorian without the musk.

In the imp: Sweet and earthy fruity/floral combo. Wet on me: The fruity sweetness mellows to a happy, sparkly scent. Drydown: Lovely bright smelling blood orange/apricot blend with the lovely flowers hugging it and a touch of honey providing the sweetness. Very light, feminine and pretty. Verdict: While Urania is likened to evening in the rain, Thaleia is like sunshiney morning walking, wait no, skipping thru an orange/apricot grove. I can see a bottle in the future.

In the imp: Fresh ozone-y floral. Wet on me: Very pale and light smelling evening flower. Drydown: Beautifully blended floral with ozone green feel to it. Like standing in a moonlit garden after a light evening rain. Very romantic and elegant. Verdict: While very pleasant, Urania turned to soap later on. Moderate throw. Interesting but not me.

In the imp, sweet smelling fruity with an herbal tone. On my skin, the frankincense comes out, with a bright crispy fruit surrounding it. Dry, it's bright and fruity as I type, but I get frankincense when I hold my wrist up my nose. It's very uplifting.

In the imp, I smell sharp eucalyptus. On my skin, it turned to an off-putting mentholated flu medicine smell. The medicine smell dissipates as it dries and leaves an anise-smelling and airy herbal relaxing scent.

In the imp, refreshing citrus, lemon I think. Wet on my skin, soft lemon and herbs. The lemon mellows and develops a creamy quality. Later on it turned slightly powdery on me but still remained nice. This scent stays quite close to the skin as all the other Chakras do and does not have a lot of throw. It's refreshing yet calming at the same time.

In the imp, soft creamy florals. On my skin, it turned sort-of bubble-gummy but not unpleasant. Dry, it is soft and feminine, jasmine and gardenia moving forward with slight muskiness in the background. It's very lovely.

In the imp: Smells a lot like Smut without the boozy note. Wet on me: Turned into spicy-smelling bittersweet cocoa. Drydown: Dragon's blood with the cocoa and musk providing a lovely background. Verdict: Just a lovely, warm and gender-neutral scent. Definitely bottle-worthy.

The King of Pain, the Famed Fakir. Frankincense and sweet clove, mandarin and bourbon, lemon peel and leather, grasses and smoke, lime and vetiver, ambergris and deep musk. In the imp: Spicy smelling citrus with leather and smoke undertones. Wet on me: Aah, sweet incense and leather, reminding me of De Sade. Drydown: Definitely masculine, Torture King is a more complex version of De Sade. The freshness of the citrus and the smokiness provides a nice background for the yummy leather and musky scent. Verdict: This would be lovely on the husband. I might nab a bottle of this if/when it is re-released on the next moon.

In the imp: Light floral with a bit of minty fresh background ... interesting. Wet on me: Musky incense with light floral undertones. Very mysterious and alluring. Drydown: Smells like smoke and candles surrounding a luscious rose scent. Later: Alas, the amber musk turns powdery on me. Verdict: Aaghh, I'm disappointed and Gypsy Queen had such a promising start too. That's 0-2 for the CNs. At this point I'm pinning my hopes on Freak Show.

A seductive and flowing exaltation of femininity: Turkish rose, stargazer lily, violet, honeysuckle, amber, star jasmine and vanilla. In the imp: Ooomphh! Strong and perfumey floral. Wet on me: Doesn't change much from the imp. This is a decidedly strong smelling spicy floral blend. Drydown: All flowers, I don't even smell the amber nor the vanilla. The scent however, stays true from imp to drydown for me, no morphing on this one. I can't say that this scent is pretty but it's commanding in it's strength. Verdict: The Bearded Lady is too strong for me. I don't think I will be able to do justice to it.

Imp courtesy of Kiena's Small Tarot Decant Circle In the imp, Mars is RED, in color and in scent. Wet on me, it smells very similar to Dragon's Blood. As it driesdown, it becomes a little spicy, cloves perhaps. Later on, it's straight up Dragon's blood on my skin. I like Dragon's blood, so I'll be keeping the imp.

In the bottle, I smell wood shavings, cedar wood shavings with a slightly sour note to be precise. Wet on me, it turns to a sour smelling fruit. Later on, it dries down to a sweet plum note with the bitter smelling wood surrounding it. Jupiter is a decidedly masculine scent. I know I won't be wearing this and I'm not sure that the husband would like this either.

This is just lovely. In the imp, very fresh perfumey floral. Wet on my skin, it turns to a very soft yet clear almost ozone-y scent. Later, it dries down to a rich, deep earthy smelling orchid. A scent that is meant to be worn on beautiful starlit evenings. I can't wait until it is released by the lab. It's just absolutely divine, I give it a 5/5.

In the imp: Sour smelling booze. Wet on me: Very boozy with some light fruity, floral tones. Drydown: The wood notes come out as it dries, with traces of the sour fruity booze note. The sour note is turning me off. Verdict: A very confusing blend. I'm not enamored, yet not completely repulsed either. It's a "meh" kind of reaction. On a scale of 1-5, a 2.

In the imp: Well hello JASMINE. Wet on me: Strange that it has the sweet pea note, kinda like Aeval but I don't see sweet pea on the description. It's different though, dryer, flatter smelling. Drydown: It sweetens as it dries down and has some dark undertones. Verdict: Slightly dark feminine, floral scent. It's intriguing, but it's too close to Aeval and Annabel Lee to my nose. So it's off to the swaps.