Diva Urd

I love the poem "Ozymandias", so I was stoked when this blend was introduced! In the vial: I can definitely see why so many people compare this to commercial perfumes. It does have a very "department store perfume" feel to it in the vial. I cannot tell any defining note in the vial. On me: Goes on sharp when wet... and immediately turns into a very strong and off-putting soap smell that will not go away until the whole scent fades. Oh Ozzy, I was ready to love you... ... but you don't love me back, so off to the swap pile you go!

In the vial: The cedar and carnation stand in the foreground, making this seem rather sharp. On me: Wet, the cedar spikes like it tends to on my skin. On drydown, though, the leather, vanilla and lavender do show up in the background. This is so perfectly blended that, once it's dry, I can barely tell the different notes apart anymore. It's rugged, but slightly sweet, it has a hint of floral without being remotely girly... I like! It also seems to have decent wearing length, which is always a plus. This one is going on my bottle list... it doesn't have high priority, but it definitely belongs on there.

In the vial: Unidentifiable woody/spicy OOMPH! On me: Wet, it's quite the sharp woody scent. On drydown, it softens a little bit, letting a bit of the saffron and musk shine through. Even though I usually amp patchouli, I didn't get any of it here. It's mostly dark woods, with an almost chocolatey undertone to it. It seems to last pretty long - to be expected from a blend that consists of mainly woody and resiny notes. Overall, it's rather nice and something different, but I think this one will stay an imp for me... it doesn't have that certain je ne sais quoi that I need for it to become a bigger bottle.

In the vial: a sharp, concentrated amber note, mingled with musk. On me: Wow. This takes next to no time to dry down on me... and as soon as it does, it turns to pure baby powder. My personal amber/musk combo demon strikes again... Well, Coyote, I'm gonna have to send you to the swap pile...

With so many awesome reviews for this, as a lily lover, I had to try this! In the vial: Sweetened lily, I think vanilla and honey may be present. On me: A very soft and understated scent, pretty much the same combination as in the vial. The scent stays very close to my skin, if I don't put my nose to it, I barely know it's there. Shortly after drydown, the scent pretty much vanishes on me. My verdict: While I love lilies, this one doesn't have nearly enough oomph for me and is also a little to sweet for me. Might hold on to the imp and experiment a bit more with it, but I don't think I'll reorder.

Loved the name, had to try it! In the vial: a whole lotta pepper (five exclamation marks!) with musk underneath. On me: Wet, the pepper really spikes and emits a very sharp, almost vicious stinging scent, barely grounded by the musk and maybe a hint of leather. This is what I was expecting from the High Priest! On drydown, the chamomile shows up and softens the scent quite a bit, mingling with the musk. The sharpness of the pepper vanishes relatively quickly after complete drydown, the hint of leather sadly follows suit. The scent lasts only about 2-3 hours tops on me... not bad, but also not superb. It does a bit better on cloth, though - might wear it on those instead of directly on skin to get a bit more mileage out of it! Overall, this is nice, but right now, I am still on the fence of whether I want more of it - there are still so many other scents I want bigger bottles of...

This was a frimp from the lab. In the imp: Hm... mixture of Vicks Vapo-rub and a more organic-smelling Pine-Sol. On me: Wow, what a change! I usually shy away from scents with strong pine notes (see the unfortunate likenings to Pine-Sol, turpentine and cheap air freshener in public restrooms), as I'm usually not too lucky with the note - it tends to overpower everything, even the strongest base notes are no match for Pinezilla! But this... this is... solemn and tranquil, like a walk in a forest. The pine is softened quite a bit by what I believe is the juniper (it smells like the note in Wings of Azrael, at any rate) and the musk rounds it off, making for a deep, masculine blend with the pine only adding a certain amount of almost-spicyness to the mix. It also smells quite good on the husband - I feared he'd over-amp the pine again, but it's very similar to what it smells like on my own skin. Very interesting. I quite enjoy it, even though I don't know yet whether I'll get more. I'll definitely use up the imp, though!

In the imp: WHOA, CITRUS! On me: Just that. Citrus, lemon dominating, every once in a while, I catch a whiff of something more bitter, which would be the grapefruit. I don't get any of the musk - it is all citrus, all the way. While this isn't quite as cleanerish as some of the other citrus scents I've tried (it smells a little more natural than, say, Nyarlathotep), it's absolutely WAY too much citrus for my personal level of comfort. The husband doesn't like it, either. Therefore... off to swaps with you, Phobos!

In the imp: It smells like a... band aid?! *passes over to the husband* Yup, band aid city. On me, the band aid smell vanishes after complete dry down and turns into spiced tea, kind of similar to Blockbuster, yet not, if that makes sense. It stays at that point until it is gone completely (which only takes about an hour or so). Nope, this one sadly didn't really gel with me... off to the swap pile!

Vechernyaya does not have an inordinate amount of oomph, but if I get some of it on my shirt, I can still smell it when I sort the laundry up to a week later. Worn on my skin, it easily lasts through a hard day at work, and since you say musks last well on you... Vech is three white musks with poppy and patchouli. In the same "not overwhelming, but longlasting" category is Samael, which is a floral combination with a generous dash of honey and maybe the tiniest hint of musk (at least as far as I can tell). If vanilla is another scent that lasts well on you, you could also try Black Opal, which is a lot softer than the other two but yet another Energizer bunny, at least for me.

Seconding Samael and Anubis, both have a very strong and longlasting honey note for me.

In the vial, it smells... odd. It's a golden-brown type of scent, and it packs a certain kind of sticky sweetness. On me, the scent quickly separates in the unknown component and something I am sure is honey. It smells exactly like the underlying sweetness in Samael. However, the overlying scent turned on me almost from the moment it hit my skin. At some point, my husband commented, "Smells like honeyed shoepolish!" He was right, it actually did smell like shoepolish and honey. While I like the honey note, I do not like the shoepolish smell, and I can always get my honey fix from Samael. Therefore, Anubis goes into the swap pile.

As I opened the imp, the lavender ran rough-shod over me. I tried it on, and I get lots of extremely strong lavender, with a bit of violet shining through. I'm sad to report that for some reason, my scent memory associated Bluebeard with old ladies sitting in the bench with me during an enforced church session, and that it makes me sneeze violently. When the husband recoiled from my arm, I knew that Bluebeard and I wouldn't become friends anytime soon. Off to the swap pile with you, ye scurvy dog!

In the vial, I get lots and lots of musk. On me and the husband, at first, the musks mark their territory - it was all thick, wonderful, slightly feral musk. Then, this weird pine-like note comes into play, and takes over. On me, it's still not too bad, but on my husband, the pine scent drowned out the musks and turned him into an air freshener. I would have liked this more without the piney note, so I don't think I will order more, but the musks are still wonderful and I will use up the imp

In the imp, I smell a wood base with saffron and something sweet (though not super-sweet as lotus sometimes goes on me). On me, the woods smell like they might share some notes with Sri Lanka, but where Sri Lanka is all dry, woody goodness, this has the spices as top notes. At first, Kathmandu smelled almost a bit of anise to me (which might be due to the combination of saffron with the woody notes), then the saffron won out the fight and warmed up the woods, with the lotus providing just a hint of sweetness. I do quite like this, but since it doesn't last nearly as long as my beloved Sri Lanka, I think I'll stick with that, instead.

In the vial: Lots of amber, with something apple-y mingling in On me, at first, it turns rather sharp - might that be the myrtle? I'm not sure, as I haven't tried a blend with that particular note before this. Sadly, with the sharpness, the whole fragrance goes, after about an hour, I have baby powder, after another half hour, nothing is left. I do like amber in all the blends I have tried, but apparently, I can't wear anything with that much amber in it. Too bad.

In the imp, I mainly smell mandarin, with an undercurrent that is mostly floral. On me, I get a little more of the musk, but the mandarin dominates. It is a nice enough scent, but I'm not as impressed as I'd hoped I would be. Might be my regular citrus problem - mandarin works best of all citrus fruits, but there might be a tad too much of it in this for me. It just turns a bit too sweet for my liking. I'm gonna keep it around, because sometimes I feel like something uplifting (which this definitely is for me), but I don't think it's gonna become a favorite anytime soon.

In the imp, I smell a lovely floral bouquet. On me, the florals are joined by an almost-hazelnutty note (tonka?), which is also quite nice, but something keeps me from fully enjoying it. If I had to put it in words, I'd have to say that the smell feels... empty, as though there was a large gap that needed to be filled. It does quite fit the concept, but I wished there was a little less topnote and a bit more "body" to it. I might try to layer it with Scherezade (which did have enough "body", but not enough intricacies to keep it interesting for my personal taste). As of now, I don't think I want more.

In the imp, this mainly smells of incense and different floral notes that I have the feeling I should be able to recognize, but can't identify. On me, I also get the florals and the incense, maybe a tiny bit of moss every once in a while, but no earth. I think someone further up called this "Hobbit head shop smell", and I think this is quite accurate. Crossroads has a lot of "oomph" on me, I'm gonna have to apply it sparingly. The floral notes are interesting - they seem like blooms on the edge of decay in a hot, humid wind, but not really ready to die just yet. The incense give the florals an almost ethereal quality. It's a quite interesting scent. I'm gonna have to test it some more before I decide on whether I want more of it, but I do like it so far.

In the vial: Herbal, green. Can't tell any specific notes. On me, at first, the herbs dominated, a slightly-bitter green scent that reminded me of woodruff (which might be in there, for all I know), with the musk underneath. After a short while, it dries into something almost-powdery, which reminds me of a note in Dana O'Shee (probably the amaranth -> "grain" note in Dana?), with the woodruffy smell still there. It is interesting and morphs quite a bit. I never thought it to be very masculine, though, and the sweetish-almost-powdery drydown doesn't exactly scream "man", either. ETA: 8 hours later, the musk is finally coming back and it is still going strong. Current verdict: I like it, but I don't love it.

In the vial: Very herbal, with a fresh undertone to it On me, it smells almost the same, but the leather peeks out every once in a while. This is a quite interesting scent - yes, it is masculine. Something about it reminds me of Cool Water, but with herbs instead of that perfume-shoppy generic vibe. Sadly, my husband's skin ate it all up almost immediately after application, and on me, it doesn't really last any amount of time, either. I do like the scent quite a bit, so I will keep the imp, but since it's always gone so quickly, I don't think I'm gonna order more.

In the vial: MUSK! On me, I believe I do get all the notes. The musk, the spices, the saffron - they were definitely there. And yet, I had somehow hoped for something... more. That's the only way I can say it. I smelled my wrist and went, "Meh". I asked my husband to smell it, and he went, "Meh". "Meh" is good enough for keeping the imp for when the appropriate mood strikes me, but I don't think I need more of it.

I am not quite sure what galangal and high john essence smell like, but they must be what hit me first when I sniffed on the imp. It's very hard for me to describe just what they smelled like - there was a freshness to the notes I'm talking about, something very slightly sweet and maybe a bit of a wood I don't recall smelling before, all on top of a gorgeous sandalwood note. On me, it smells quite nice - and not really all that masculine. It really has a "magical" feel to it, at least for me. Sadly, my husband, who tried it after me, amped something in it in a really weird way (I must assume again that it's the galangal and high john essence) and the notes started to scream on him, overbearing the woody base. Too bad - then again, my husband's skin tends to do a lot of weird things to BPAL oils, and I'm still on a crusade to find more wearable scents for him. I will definitely use up the imp and see then if I want more.

In the vial, I mainly get vetiver, with a slight undercurrent of leather and a tiny bit of rose. On me, the vetiver at first goes rather astringent, but after a short while, the other notes peek through. It's not bad, but not really a favorite. On my husband, the astringency (is that a word?) of the vetiver sticks around for longer, but when it finally softens, it actually smells rather nice on him. He gets more of the leathery goodness than I do, even though I could have done without the pinch of cinnamon. All in all not bad, I'll let him use the imp and then he can decide if he wants more. I personally like other scents better on him.

In the imp: WHOA, sweet floral!!! On me, it sadly stays the same. No sandalwood, no patchouli. The sweet floral is completely overbearing, and it smells quite generic - like the air freshener we have in our bathroom at home... I really don't like it, so I'll put it in my swap pile.