juniperus

bottle: citrus, foremost, but the teak is discernible wet: citrus, tea, mint dry: the lovely orchid is balanced with the pale citrus, but that leather is beginning to take its place (and I fear - usually leather is very unpleasant on me, or amps to high heaven) later: damn leather - I can't pick up a darn thing but leather and teak, now.

bottle: lovely verbena wet: still mainly the verbena, with the ginger and grass hinted at well behind dry: greener, the lemon much calmed, and the aquatic barely a hint later: light, green, and slightly more aquatic... really quite subtle

bottle: sweet, honey cakes - dead-on wet: the same dry: hints of the wine, but still very foody later: yep - sweet, foody, with the barest hint of red wine behind.

Bottle: surprisingly sharp with the myrtle and leaf Wet: much the same, but the incensey benzoin is bringing up the rear Dry: growing somewhat darker even thought it remains sweet Later: got benzoin, got tonka, , and then it's really gotten muddy from there. clearly not pleased with my skin chem...

Bottle: very sweet and sugary Wet: more of the tea itself, bare hints of the musk Dry: more of the musks, and the tonka in the fougere Later: mellow and masculine without being omg!Masculine...the sweetness give it a neutral quality, but it's hardly girly. intriguing...

Bottle: light and herbal Wet: the sharp lavender and a hint of tonka comes up from behind Dry: the sweetness of the tonka is easing the sharp edge, and the jasmine is starting to gear up Later: oh hey, that razor-edged sharpness is back combined with jasmine amping like nutz (as it usually does on me, alas)

Bottle: a light, aquatic floral Wet: more floral, fairly sweet Dry: the sweetness of the floral has passed, but I'm starting to have my pat reaction to an aquatic - the headache Later: salt, yeah, and flowers, yeah, and headache. *sigh*

bottle: incensey, a little 'thick' feeling...like the thick feeling of stale air. wet: incense and musk, balanced and neither too sharp nor too sweet. (and less thick - no musty, either) dry: there is a little spiciness with the incense that makes this more exotic and less high mass. not quite foody, but I think the forbidden tomes journeyed in the hold of a spice-trade ship at some time. later: this is my kind of library, all old books and spice and musk and wooden shelves study enough to support somone's weight while they...*blush* no, can't share that. nope, not finishing that thought. nooooope.

bottle: dark and sharp. and dark. and sharp. whoah. wet: smoky. and dark and sharp. dry: damp leaves, check. bitter clove, check. khus is wild vetiver, so I fear - vetiver hates me. it's still just 'dark', none of the florals apparent to lift it at all. later: ok , I get the crysanthemum, now, and so far the vetiver hasn't turned to damp, stinky charcoal on me (as it usually does. no, I'm not even joking a little). it's really quite nice, now, with the lift of the mum and a hint of warmth from the amber.

bottle: quite sweet, but not sickly sweet. the herbs are present, but subtle. wet: the sweet of the dragon's blood resin and orange is clearer. the herbs haven't distinguished themselves any more, but aren't overshadowed by the orange, either. dry: mellowing, the herbs and florals are more present but not taking over. the red musk is adding itself to the general sweetness but I'm not getting a lot of the amber, yet. later: it smells...red. really - warm, sweet, like a sunset at the end of summer in a bottle.

bottle: a very sweet red wine. (reminds me somewhat of Puck) Whew! wet: ooooohgods, it's even sweeter. this might be a good time to mention that I have a history with neroli. dry: well, the sweet stopped amping and is somewhat less painful (a relief, it was really getting sharp, as in stabbing me in the head sharp). I can identify the myrrh and carnation and musk clearly, but the other notes are either waaay in the background or muddy enough to be indecipherable. later: no mellowing, growing muddier by the moment. just sweet wino-ness with a side of headache. drat.

bottle: mmmmmmmmmusky but light, delightfully so. wet: I get an overlay of the leaves, now, and they are definitely dry (as opposed to damp). dry: the woods are coming to the fore, not heavily evergreeny as I thought they might be, either. the warmth and not-quite-sweetness of the musk underlaying all is really grounding. later: it's both mellow and complex (how do they do that?!), and it's just lovely, really. comforting and sexy (again, how do they do these things?!)

bottle: like...everything, man. it's so complex, I can't pick much out on its own -- but all together is smells like the syrup to make old fashioned home-made root beer. wet: much the same, but slightly sweeter and floral (but the floral is just a hint dry: sharper, but not a green sharpness. it's deepening a fair pace. later: a gorgeous floral - gentle and not 'flowery' at all. hints of spice, and the musk and ambergris way in the background really lend themselves to the warm, subtle, salty musk of skin (er, post-tryst). love, love, love!

bottle:green and earthy floral; damp, like the smell of earth and grass and flowers after an early-morning downpour wet: sharper, greener. like I stuck my face in a planter; much less floral. dry: the florals are reappearing, but very subtle. less sharp greenness. it's the scent of outdoors and damp and flowers clinging to the skin of a woman who works out of doors in the fields at daybreak. later: something has grown rather sharp on me, here, and I suspect it's the tea rose (which oft doesn't like me) misbehaving in combination with ivy (I think, since I'm not getting any of the other florals from this at all, at this point, and I know I can wear the moss). Alas, it hates my skin.

bottle: fir, much wonderful, invigorating fir wet: the fir warms, like the difference between the smell of an evergreen bough outside, and then inside once it warms dry: the smoke is present, but not overpowering. later: the fir is still present, but it's changed to something oddly seductive - the 'skin' really comes out. This is wonderful!

bottle: smokey floral; gentle, which I didn't expect for some reason wet: the lavender is so subtle, and the sandalwood...almost translucent dry: oh, this is ethereal, wistful, soooo beautiful. and the cedar isn't amping - woo! later: in time this is just deeper and more wistful, so lovely. if all my losses smelled this nice I wouldn't complain as much...

bottle: veddy foody wet: cocoa, spice, and sandalwood primarily dry: much mess foody, shades of florals, and herbs, and spice, and a lushness behind it all later: hints of everything coming together..but understated. the floral and spice, the soft woodiness and foody edge...this is really interesting on me...complex, unexpected. and wow.

bottle: plum and patchouli, wonderful and dark and sweet wet: the same, deeper, tho. it's...wow. dry: the musk, and sandalwood both present, now. the floral merely adding to the sweetness of the plum, supporting it. later: wow, this is so dark without being sharp, or turning oily/burnt/dank like most of the darker notes Beth uses eventually go. it's beautiful in its darkness, which sounds so cloying if not outright overly dramatic and angsty, but really that's the sort of visceral reaction I am having. It feels (to me) a cousin to Phantom Queen, I have the same sensitory reactions to them both. Oh, this is gorgeousness!

bottle: er. I can't pick anything out, and actually can't really describe this. it is very dramatically different than anything else I usually go for (but you know - I just hadta get it. Cardinal water - froth. That's me, I guess.) wet: some sweet (the mallow?), some pear (barely ripe), a hint of floral dry: sweet, and still the notes aren't really trying to separate themselves out. it's pretty mellow, but much sweeter than I usually gravitate towards. patience, precious. later: besides the fact that I really want this to work, I suspect I probably need to have my envelope pushed a bit. this isn't bad on me. it's gentle and a little sweet and the notes blend together so not one is amped or lost. it's summer and hot and my collection of hot-suitable scents is pretty thin since I usually gravitate to resins and woods and musks and spice/incense. I suspect my not considering gentle and pretty as "me" has nothing to do with perfume... I hope all 4 (damn!) planets in Cancer will approve..

bottle: sweet rose, not sugared rose, but sweet. wet: the honey is more than just the unidentifiable sweet behind the rose, now, and I can barely discern the patchouli behind. and the woodruff - I get the image of it sprinkled on weissbier..I hate weissbier (not that this smells like beer, but I got that image, suddenly). dry: the brightness of the lemon hinted here and there, and I assume it's the poppy that's got that cloying-floral effect behind it all. later: Oh yes, o moon, thou art false. and thou art amping the white flowers like a sonofabitch. woe!

bottle: sandalwood and florals, gentle florals wet: myrrh coming behind, sharp behind the above dry: I can just catch the orchid and myrrh behind, but the paperwhites and jasmine are taking center stage. there is a dryness, as well, but little of the herbs. later: drat. the jasmine and paperwhites are amping to beat the band, and my sinuses are reacting to this in the usual fashion.

heady floral. ethereal jasmine that swirls and encompasses like walking into a thick fog of scent. there must be white musk here, because the combination ends up as a very lovely-smelling soap on me, and eventually this is where Lydia headed, sadly enough. But before then it reminded me of a moving-tendril-filled and ghostly version of Lush's Flying Fox (and the jasmine didn't even morph on me as it often does, so I was so hopeful!)

rich and buttery tart - a black currant tart, in fact, sweet with vanilla sugar sprinkled on top. it mellows to the smell of a house in which the tarts were baked - rich, and baked-good-y without smelling like I should gnaw my wrist off. eventually the buttery note turns on me, however, as it usually does - a current tart with a hint of fresh celery.

dampness. wet (almost musty) wood, earth, and the edges of evergreen. I can catch hints of clay, even (seriously: ground clay, not stoneware) and above all this smells wet. the aquatic in this is giving me a bit of a headache (always does). evocative, very much so.

A sweet, almost foody, floral - red musk, gardenia, and something else...I want to say lotus, but I may certainly be wrong about that. There is a richness that develops over time that has an almost resiny quality (that I associate with resiny blends, that is). I daresay I can imagine this to be the anti-floral-lover's floral favorite.