Diva Urd

In the vial: Something indefinable, it is so soft my nose can't get a hold of it. On me: Hm. That is the first time that ever happened to me. I got a whiff of peach or apricot (neither of which seems to be in this blend), and only if I sniff directly on my wrist, and absolutely nothing else. After less than half an hour, it is completely gone, I can't detect any of it on me anymore. Off to the swap/sell pile so you get to someone with more agreeable chemistry, granny!

I originally ordered this for my husband. In the vial: Like the bathroom cleaner we use at the motel. Uh-oh... On my husband, it stayed bathroom cleaner all the way, with the dragon's blood occasionally spiking up in a rather unpleasant manner. On me, it separated into the advertised scents of dragon's blood and leather with smoke in the background... sadly, I don't think I like this combo as much as I thought I would. Will keep the imp around, but probably no reorder for me.

Once I read lily and lilac in one brand, I just knew I absolutely had to have it. In the vial: Lily and lilac. On me, I also smell lily and lilac fused into one angelic floral. Beautiful. I'm not sure what galbanum smells like, and the dragon's blood kind of hid away from me, but the flowers... so pretty, and with so much incredible staying power! They stay true on me until they fade, which can take 12 hours and more! I love this blend. It has recently been dethroned from its exalted place of "Diva's absolute number 1" by 'Anne Bonny', but I'm definitely gonna get a bigger bottle of this (especially since my imp is almost empty).

In the vial: Mainly frankincense, with rosewood a distant second. I can't detect flowers so far. On me, it's mainly a mixture of frankincense and rosewood, with the wood keeping the incence notes from simply floating away and grounding the fragrance. I think I catch some whiffs of the flowers once in a while, but in general, they seem to hide from me. After wearing this for a while, on my wrists, the mixture turned to...BASTET?! Okay, that is a surprise - I don't think those two share any notes at all, but on my wrists, it's a dead ringer, and I haven't used the kitty goddess in a week! On my neck, it still smells like Kostnice, even though the florals peek out a little more often now and the frankincense has gotten a little softer. I like this - it made it on the big bottle list, even though there is probably a bunch I'll have to buy before it.

In the vial, I smell mainly plum, with a mix of florals I can't distinguish from each other in the background. On me, this is an extremely bright scent, light, playful and still with enough throw to where others can smell it on you. Very pretty, very interesting... ... and so not me it isn't even funny. I'll keep the imp (sniffing on it is like breathing in innocence to me), but I don't think I'll need more.

This might just smell like an actual vampire. The wine notes play in the front and remind me strongly of blood with their almost coppery sweetness, the earth is old and dry, not the vibrant note of freshly upturned earth, making it seem ancient and slightly decayed, and the herbs give it something that is not from this world. That said, the combination of scents, while very interesting and not like anything I've smelled before, is not exactly pleasant to my nose; I'm gonna have to let it go to someone who still has room in his or her coffin

In the vial: Pine! On me, at first it smelled like... Irish Spring and "Lust"?! I think I need to take my skin chemistry out back and shoot it... *facepalm* It took a long time to get away from this rather unwanted combination; right now (having worn it for about 4 1/2 hours), the amber finally gets out and works its magic. Not bad now, but I wish the initial phase didn't last quite as long. Will use up the imp, though.

In the vial: PEAR! On me: At first, a gorgeous, juicy pear. This might be the first overtly fruity scent I really like at first. ... and within five minutes (no kidding, no exaggeration), the pear morphs into dusty soap, taking out the very faint florals and the musk along with it. Dang it, pear, I loved you! Another one for the swap/sell pile.

A very interesting blend, not like anything I've smelled before and yet entrancing. I think I can smell the poppy (I'd figure that's the slightly spicy note) and the opium, the flowers all blend into one and waft in the background. The name of this fits perfectly - I made the mistake of wearing it to work and completely forgot half my chores (which I realized just in time to remedy my mistakes). Note to self: Do not wear "Languor" when you have to focus But yeah, I love this. Don't know whether I fell for a psychosomatic reaction based on the name, but this makes me feel all relaxed and lazy - the perfect weekend scent! I see a bigger bottle of this in my future.

I can see where the sensuality others sense comes from - it does invoke images of a hot and sweaty romp between the sheets. Unfortunately, I had a clash with my old enemy ylang ylang - it tends to get cloyingly sweet on me and condemned all other notes to playing a distant second fiddle. "Lust" seemed to come on waaaay to strong for me, and reminds me more of the stickyness after the act than actual sexual desire.

In the bottle: Flowers! Not sweet, innocent flowers... as mentioned in the lab's description, this smells regal, refined. On me: Oh, it is so gorgeous! I'm not getting a lot of woody notes, but the flowers and the amber really go all out! ... for half an hour. After that, it vanishes without a trace, not even powder is left. WHY?!?

*scratches head* My skin doesn't like me. In the bottle: Very hard to describe, I haven't smelled anything like this before (even though I am familiar with three of the mentioned notes). Not really pleasant, but... you never know until you try it on! On me: Nope, just like in the bottle, if not leaning even more towards unpleasant. I am unfamiliar with orris, but my skin usually likes the other three notes, and this was just... weird. As said, I haven't smelled anything like it before - it is vaguely motor-oily, but not quite. Anyway, I'll try and find a better home for it, since I can't wear it.

This was a freebie from the lab. Hm. I got some boozy notes in the bottle, but... ... on me, the alcoholic note faded quickly, I never got any leather and the woods were not very prominent either. What I mainly got was the sea spray part - this is mainly aquatic on me, with a slight whiff of the rum note (sans the alcohol after only minutes - don't ask me how it still smelled like rum, it just did), and something almost... floral? My skin is weird. Anyway, it ain't bad, but also not a bull's eye for me. So I'll use up my imp and probably leave it at that.

This was definitely dark, but sadly not really all that sleek on me. In the bottle: Violets. On me: Uh, what is that lurking under the violets? There is something sweet and yet bitter (probably the neroli), and... uh, motor oil? *beats skin chemistry with a baseball bat* Yeah. long story short, this smelled like a violet patch where someone dumped the waste products from their last oil change. I'm not quite sure what to blame, but this one is going in my swap/sell pile. Too bad, it sounded so interesting...

On me, this is, for lack of a better word, fresh. It's so well-rounded a blend I cannot tell any of the ingredients apart (not even the rose notes or the lilac, which I usually find rather quickly). Nonetheless, it never turns to powder or soap on me, and it stays with me forever, especially for a scent like this. The woods must anchor it, even though I can't really separate them from the florals in this, as stated above. It is a bright scent, but not overly flowery or girly, definitely something I'll wear in the future. *puts on the bigger bottle list*

This sounded like an absolute no-brainer - I read the description and, having just recently discovered the joys of patchouli/sandalwood combinations, I had to order it. Sadly, things didn't turn out that well. In the imp, it was all rose, and something astringent... On me, the rose screamed like mad, and I have to second everyone who said that there was something citrussy in there (I think it's lemon, that's what it smells like on me). Neither sandalwood nor patchouli made an appearance on me - it was lemony rose to the nth degree until it faded... A friend of mine tried it on, and on her, it smells much more balanced, so I guess my skin funked it up majorly in this case... pity, I was all ready to worship this.

In the bottle, it did smell slightly vanilla-ish, and I caught the lily as well. On me, it turned into powder - not cheap, run off the mill baby powder, but scented body powder. I could not distinguish any of the ingredients anymore once I wore it - they all blended together completely to form the scent of Belle Epoque. I will use up the imp (sometimes I feel like dabbing it on), but I'm usually not a huge fan of body powders because of the - you guessed it - powder smell that seems to be ever-present, no matter how strongly scented the powder is. It also doesn't stick around on my skin for too long.

Oookay, this is my first review... let's see how well I can do this! In the bottle, I mainly got the patchouli, with a slight whiff of frankincense. On me, initially, the patchouli yelled "HELLO! IT'S ME, YOUR BESTEST FRIEND!" (which I don't mind in the slightest, since I love patchouli right back ), but after only a few minutes, it mellowed and let the other ingredients of the blend have their say. Patchouli, sandalwood and frankincense turned out to be very equal in strength on my skin, with the patchouli emitting a very sensual note, the sandalwood intelligence (for some reason, I always tend to associate it with ancient libraries full of scrolls) and the frankincense softens both of these notes up just enough to turn this from a unisex and kind of predatory type of scent into something (to me) more feminine with a sensual kick and the warning that whoever wears it means business! I am completely, utterly in love with this scent, this is probably gonna be my first 10 ml. I want to bathe in it!