medvssa

Ancient, golden, gleaming wood, polished by ages of loving hands, doesn't smell like this. But it should.

Black Forest + Schwarzer Mond... I LOVE this one very dark, yet soft, enveloping and velvety-smooth. As good as it gets :D

A soft and warm musk like that of Ivanushka, sweet pale amber, something spiced, that actually reminds me of carnations... it must be some spices with the rose, but I wouldn't have been able to tell it is rose, it is so soft and pale. In fact I would describe it as something between Ivanushka and Brisingamen.

The general impression is pale, delicate, femenine, lightly sweet and languid. To me it has a dusty, peachy, muted color, like that of silks discolored by the sun, but the scent itself is not too powdery. Old fashioned, but not musty. I really like it, I am going to get a bottle of this one.

Well, I was surprised too although on drydown the description doesn't seem so wildly off anymore.

Soft, green and a bit sweet, damp when wet. Linen, and, perhaps cucumber, or lettuce? Wet it is like a cross between Frenum and Berenice (I love both).

When it dries out it becomes more floral, in fact something in it smells like Abbaye de Flavigny violet drops so I do get a quite dry, a bit powdery violet too.

The general effect does smell kind of like old haberdashery shops. The combination of damp and dry is perhaps what is intended to evoke mold. And definitely old fabric.

It is very faint on me though, and has virtually no throw but I really like it, maybe I must slather. I will wear it a few more times to see if it does really agree with my skin enough to buy a bottle, I am not sure yet.

At first I do smell the cypress (I love it), and water and ozone. No olibanum unfortunately. In fact I couldn't have said it better:

I got a little bit of the cypress at first, but, mostly this was not-quite-water and ozone. I didn't get olibanum, unless that was the note that was causing it to last and last and last...

 

I like the smell of real rain, why didn't I like this?

But I do quite like it. In fact, to me it smells quite similar to Selkie... go figure!

I didn't think I would like it, I expected to be sharp and gritty and grey, but on dry down it is very fresh and quite green, a bit like freshly cut grass...

Another bottle to consider.

This scent is soft, creamy and sweet, just a little bit powdery.

The soil is very soft, not at all smoky or gritty earth, but a sweeter note, like that found in Death Cap. And the blood note, is fortunately not Dragon's Blood which I don't like, but a slightly metallic and salty note. Soil and blood are not the protagonists of this blend, at all, but they do a great job darkening the otherwise bright and sweet floral, heliotrope.

I really like this blend, I thought it would be flatter but it is quite deep & dimensional. Very interesting, I will consider purchasing a bottle.

I ordered one decant of each of the Literary Vampires, and I am glad I did because if I had waited to read the reviews, with all the mentions to vanilla, I wouldn't have tried this one as I can only take vanilla in the smallest of doses.

Well, I do not get vanilla, although the blend is certainly sweet, but I do not find the sweetness to be foody at all, but instead floral (in the way of lilies or lotus) and a bit resiny (from the amber I guess). In fact, to me the most remarkable aspect of this scent is the paleness of the resin. It certainly is white, the scent itself is immaculately white. Not a blindingly bright white, but pale rays of light through the darkness.

The jasmine/ylang-ylang are very soft, not sharp at all.

It doesn't feel cold or even cool to me though. Not warm either, due to this white hue, but, well lets say lukewarm at skin temperature, and for me the subdued musk stays behind as in a backdrop.

I wouldn't describe it as crystalline (but perhaps opalescent, since it has an almost creamy feel to it) on me there is no sparkle to it. I think if the birch would be more noticeable, perhaps I could call it crystalline. The birch is there though, and although it is difficult for me to tell it apart from the other notes, I have to take a deep breath and concentrate, I still suspect that the very subtle "mintiness" of it balances the blend out, and actually makes me really like this blend... this is so not the kind of scent I normally like! I like dark and warm scents, but this one is fascinating in its own way.

It is what I hoped "Brides of Dracula" to be. Pale, at the same time heady and transparent, and hypnotising.

And I wanted to add: this one is powerful. Funny how big a difference chemistry can make, because several people remarked that it dissapears on them. Well, I often have scents being swallowed up by my dry skin, but this one is quite potent, with a decent throw (which is almost always very reduced for me), and a very long wearlenght.

Berenice-A cerebral scent, dry, and white. This is a perfume of thought, not heart, and of unforeseen pain and sudden obsession, touched with uncertain twilight and ambiguous horror. Stargazer lily, white musk, clear aloe, blonde amber and winding-cloth linen.

This is what I was going to suggest, I think Berenice is perfect.

I would also second Pollution.

I like many of the notes here but... it turned to rusted metal and syrup on my skin. Veeery weird.

Wow. This is Crowley pour femme.

I love Crowley and I would wear it, but in my mind, now it is reserved for my BF. This one has the same feel to it, a dark, deep, strong, assertive perfume, but it is a bit more feminine. It is still not an archetypically feminine perfume at all, but to me, it is perfect.

Most strong, on me, are the leather and woods, both aged and polished by use (a bit of musk too, perhaps?), but they are quite sweetened by the honey and amber, and well, whatever else is there that gives a hint but is not really distinct to me. It has a dark, shadowy radiance to it, I love it.

It is a tad smoky, but not so much I could qualify it as tobbaco-ish, fortunately.

This one is a bottle for me!

This one is very faint on my skin, while wet. Like a soft, damp, citrusy cologne I do not care much for.

However, Severin is hiding something if you are patient, he will show you his true colours. It warms up and the leather comes out. It becomes quite sultry, and refined. I quite like it, and I might even use it now and then. But I much prefer it on my BF, and it now lives in his imp box.

Wet, it is wood and bark and dry herbs. A little dirty, dark, quite masculine.

But dry, when it is completely dry a few hours afterwards... it is just glorious. It changes so much on my skin, it almost seems a different perfume. It becomes golden and radiant, soft, deep with a low throw, velvety and a little sweet, a little spicy, almost like resin but not quite. I does smell ancient, in a way. I don't know what it is, but it makes me think of amber and clove, although... not quite. As you see I cannot really describe it, other than that I absolutely love it.

Bliss in a bottle, the moment I opened the vial I knew it would go right up into my favorites list. And then I tried it on, and as it dried I only liked it more. And more. And MORE.

Really Amazing Stuff.

faded musty floral. it's interesting -- old, floral, slightly decayed, reminds me of my grandma's vanity.

Ditto. I couldn't smell wine, only stale, old fashioned perfume. The rose and the jasmine were gritty and pungent, and they normally work for me. Myrrh, sandalwood and patchouli I like a lot, but I didn't even get a whiff of them.

Even though I didn't smell the wine, I think it is the culprit this does not work on me at all. Wine spoils any blend for me, although it rarely smells of wine at all. Weird.

(from Dark Delicacies)

This is a perfectly fine and beautiful blend, just, especially in the wet phase... not my thing. It is too sweet, too purple, too bright. Kind of haughty.

While it is still wet, the blend is bright and flashy, the notes kind of clash like complementary colours: each of them is a saturated, rich colour: red, orange, purple, yellow. And this is in fact a very good interpretation on the subject.

The vanilla has a sweetness that is too foody for me, and the gardenia is such a lady bloom that I cannot cope with her.

I love the rest of the notes, and luckly those two notes become more subdued on the drydown, when I can actually discern the rose and the amber and red musk. By then the vision of the Palace has kind of faded, but I am not going to complain, since I like it a lot more like this. Much warmer and quite a bit humbler.

Still, it is not my style of perfume and I doubt I'll use it much.

(from Dark Delicacies)

I love the darkest green note of cypress, and in this case, togheter with the wood and the patchouli, it saves the blend for me. The orchid, which generally I don't like, is obviously there, but it is not overdone, although it is very present, it just adds a moist, heady sweetness, a perfumey quality. You have to dress up to wear this.

The blend is damp & earthy but not gritty, more of a mature patchouli than a vetiver to my nose. Very dark, but somehow peaceful. It is not disquieting like for example I found Typhon to be.

It is opressive, the flower is heady in a way that draws the air out of your lungs, and the rest of the notes are dark. Actually the flower is quite dark, too. But well, I am not a claustrophobic person ;P so I quite like it, but I don't think I am gonna reach for it very often.

(Dark Delicacies version)

Clean but not soapy, light but not bright, neither dry nor damp, although fresh, very pale green but not at all sharp (but have in mind I kind of like sharp green notes) The tea in this one makes me think of green instead of black tea, and has a very slight sourness like that of citrus. A very balanced blend.

This is my favorite scent from all those clean and light I have tried so far; polite and understated, excellent.

This a rose like the one in Rose Red, with the green parts well included into the blend, but so pale and melancholic! The sadness I think is induced by the lily, and perhaps the (veeery subtle) golden, solemn myrrh.

The wood and earth are in the background. I am grateful for that since, even though I love earth notes, they tend to overwhelm me if they are dominant. Luckly this earth is not that upturned. And the wood doesn't get to cut on the dampness of this fresh roses. Beatiful!

In the bottle it is very sharp, but on, wet, it is somehow contained by the lavender. Which is quite green, therefore a bit sharp, too; doesn't feel at all flowery. The lime seems to give it a bit of a fresh throw, but it is not too evident or sour, or juicy, or sunny.

It is a bit dry, although not powdery at all. I like this leather note better than Quincey Morris' (which sadly I just didn't like, although the pear might be to blame) but less than the darker leathers of Loviatar or Crowley, which just... make me drool ^^

It is kind of velvety, so I associate it to suede.

The scent is very nice, especially as it dries down; it stays close, in a second-skin way, but I don't think I would reach for it myself. I will keep the bottle since my boyfriend likes it. I really have to put my nose to it to smell it, and it sadly fades pretty fast.

Perfectly suits the understated, earnest, and brilliant character of Dupin.

Fragile, pale lily, sweetened by the warm vanilla musk (which luckly is not overly sweet), and surrounded by a chorus of delicate flowers: it is certainly a fair young lady of transparent fingers and soft, clear voice. Slightly melancholic: this is not the girl when she was still full of glee.

It reminds me of the honeyed lilies of Al-Araaf, but it is softer, somehow "milkier", and dreamier. So adorable, it is a pity this is a LE, because I bet so much people would love it.

This is the most beautiful mix of humid forest (wet wood and moss, clear air) and roses. The earth note is grounding but very understated. It is powerful, has quite a good throw; comforting, although not in an indoor way I must say; bold but somehow contained, introspective, and refined. It has immediately become one of my top favorites.

Incredibly soft. Skin-like, innocent, really innocent, in the way only non-rational creatures can be. This is like curling up among your kin into the warmth of the burrow.

Furry, mammal

This perfume is duplicitous, misleading. Its an impersonator: it seems a fresh and clean ozoney perfume, almost citrusy - but quite isn't. There is something slighlty suspicious about it. Which I doubt I would have been able to point out if the perfume wasn't called Pollution.

Like certain shades of green, it seems to turn to a sickly hue when you inspect it for too long.

It is like making everyone in the office think you are one of them, while you smile to yourself.

And it is very faint and subtle, with next to no throw on my skin. I had to slather and it still stayed faint... unfortunately my skin swallows it up.

Certainly an interesting, sublter than I expected, take on the subject.

In the imp it is sweet fresh grass.

On, too. Ohhh, lovely! This is so amazing! grass, more grass! a touch of sweet, greenery, sea spray, fresh wind, a and a little bit of flowers. It is the perfume for a fairy. Amazing, outstanding. If only I could find a bottle...

The sickly sweet smell coming out of the vial got me scared... the pear I guess. Fruit tends to go very wonky on me. But when I put it on, well this one doesn't, the first sniff is true pear! and fresh greenery, with nothing bitter about it, though, it is a very spring-like, very pale, freshly grown greenery. Sweet pea is note I like a lot, but it tends to overpower... not here, it just lends its loveliness, like a faint whiff you get in the breeze.

Moist, most of all dewy, but also airy, dreamy, a little sweet. It's heavenly!