sissa125

Imp: Rancid, the same nose curling note that turned me off from Delphi. This perhaps confirms that wine notes are not for me. There is a sweet grape note that distinguishes this from Delphi.

Wet: I'm trying to be brave. I put a dot of Tum on my arm. It is still rancid grape.

Dry: The wine note is weaker but still barely tolerable. The grape is stronger, interesting, but I don't think it would be something I'd choose even without the wine note.

 

Off to swap. Away with thee, post-haste!

Imp: Fresh cut grasses and leaves

Wet: Herbal, medicinal flowers, unguents.

Dry: The cleanest scent I have tried so far. It's waking up after a long illness and seeing the sun streaming through your window. It is optimism and rebirth. A keeper!

 

This is one of my favorites so far. It is perfect for early spring; clear and light and wet and leafy. There is a citrusy feel to it, through there are no citrusy notes listed. The ginger may be giving it a fresh bite. The fig gently rounds it of with some sweetness, and is in perfect balance here. I did not like the gummy fig in Intrigue, but here it is perfect.

Imp: lemon, in a bitter alcoholic solvent.

Wet: Anise! and lemon rind.

Dry: very faint fennel and anise. Interesting, but not unforgettable.

 

I had high hopes for this one - I hoped it would be like sticking my nose into a jar of fennel and inhaling. Turned out to be not quite what I was looking for. Fans of absinthe seem to adore it but, not being a devotee of the green fairy myself, I decided to pass it to someone who would appreciate its merits.

 

In summary, an interesting herbal scent that I could grow to enjoy, but it deserved a better home.

Imp: The Wintergreen Cinnamon everyone mentions

Wet: Wintergreen, but other woody smells. I'm not smelling actual wood, rather wood extracts. Wintergreen is still the strongest. The woods arent dry. What does lichen smell like? Where are the flowers?

Dry: Dry woods, unidentifiable. Faint floral, also unidentifiable.

 

At first, the very unromantic scent of breath freshener. On repeated use, I can smell past the wintergreen and cinnamon. Some cedar, something soft and dry, powdery and ghostly. Less wood nymph and more the memory of wood.

 

I'll use up the imp, but I doubt I will get another. It was too weak and unsatisfying.

Imp: Very complex and eclectic, preserved flowers, slightly musty

Wet: Meh, moldy flowers

Dry: Old soap

 

It smells to me like someone is traveling down the Silk Route, picking up something organic at every pit stop and stuffing it into a burlap sack. Strange fruits, vegetables and flowers picking up each others' scents, as well as some eau de travel. Very interesting, and growing on me, but not quite my thing.

Imp: Old and young woods, sap-laden; ceremonial spices

Wet: Dry woods, less sour, clove and cedar. Amping up as it dries...love!

Drying: Less cedar and clove, a bit more sandlewood.

 

This is like climbing up to an wooden shrine in the lower Himalayas. Gray snow-capped mountains tower above, and the sunlight is either super-bright in the thin air or hiding behind clouds. Very respectful and subtle - might just be my ideal "dry woods" scent.

I could wear this *and* use it as a car fragrance.

Imp: It's like biting into a thick slab of creamy syrupy indian sweets. Divine! Yup...there's the gummy Karachi Halva, sugar-syrupy cham-cham, lots of rose flavoring, and khoya. Hoy! is that Kewra essence?

 

Wet: The sugar-syrup dies down. The kewra still lingers, politely offering me a plate of sweetness.

 

Dry: Still smells rich, but not as sweet

 

Note: I wrote the above without rereading the official description, and I'm surprised by how far off I am. I never would have guessed honey, because the honey wine in delphi and tum smell rancid to me without even touching my skin. I guess it's the wine I dislike, not the honey. Clove and cinnamon make sense even if I couldnt pick them out. I'm not sure about the "peppers"...if I knew what kind of peppers to sniff for, I may have a clue. Anyone have any ideas?

Black Opal is my tough-cookie fragrance. Deep, brooding rocks forming a stone wall between me and anyone crazy enough to mess with me.

 

The only problem is, it can be too strong. I think I scared myself last time I wore it.

When I first tried Titania, it seemed very fragrant and melon-like. On my second attempt with the same imp, I got melon flavored candy.

Anyhoo, if you are partial to melony scents, I'd vouch for titania, even if it wasn't quite my thing.

 

tarShan

I've been putting off this review for too long. The problem is that even after wearing Queen Mab twice, and several days apart, I a no closer to knowing how I feel about it.

 

The first time I wore it, I wrote this:

" It is "dry" in the not-sweet sense, there is jasmine clearly, or something else very sharp. no rose or sandlewood that i can recognize it is almost as if something were BLOCKING my odor receptors to keep from smelling this. i apply it to my other hand now. its better on this hand. go figure. a bit more sweetness, much more complexity. a subconscious rustle of silks. no sandlewood tho.

warriorlike, yes. trickster, I'd say so i get the fierceness more than the shadowyness

there is sandlewood on my first arm now. and on the other. This evolves into a very traditional floral perfume."

 

Wearing it a second time did not clarify things at all. I guess third time's the charm. Here goes...

 

In the imp: Something soft and dusky, shielding something sharp and vibrant

Wet: Nothing. Goes into hiding.

Dry: Scent begins to emerge. When I was seven, I owned a Perfume-Pretty Barbie that came with her own brand of perfume. No, this doesn't smell like it. But It has some notes in the same family. I would say more if I could smell more. Alas, this scent (or lack thereof) is just frustrating me.

Burial: sharp rich dirt. sharp pine. turpentine floral. Then turpentine fades leaving warm floral ointment. Less serious than black opal, but that's not saying much. Where black opal was no-nonsense, this is gentler, more experienced and less resistant.

It smells like the first bit of T S Eliot's The Wasteland:
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

Someone called it a strong crone-type scent. I would agree with that.

This is an unusual smell, and I like the smoky patchouli and menthol base note; unfortunately the pine is irritating my nose and making me cranky.

Wont keep it.

Fruits, certainly. A very fragrant melon. I was hoping for something more like Welch's white grape and peach juice, something that would make my mouth water, but this is much too floral.

Eventually the floral note fades, but it is still not an edible fruitiness. It doesnt jibe with any of my personalities, sadly.

Very girly. teenaged. informal. I might wear it on an occasion at which I dont care how others perceive me. I'm disappointed because it doesnt evoke A Midsummer Night's Dream for me at all.

 

Hmmm, now it seems almost candy-ish. Later, even more hard-candy-like.

I actually prefer to sniff the residual burial on my other arm, even though it irritated my nose.

 

*shakes head sadly*

 

It's either too sweet and floral, or seems like artificial flavoring. The ripe, cool juicyness evoked by the description is sadly missing.

A milky syrupy scent with a hint of spice. The sweetness is cloying to the extreme. I'm picking up some sandlewood, I think, and I think the floralness is rose or carnation, although I don't know what the latter is supposed to smell like.

 

This is sweet rose-flavored frosting with cinnamon and sandlewood.

 

I tend not to mind foody and spicy smells, but this is too pungent for me. It's like ODing on indian sweets - not healthy.

 

I wanted to like this one. Alas.

I expected this to be gentle and delicate, mysterious and cryptic, like an oracle whispering prophecies. Alas, I got the olfactory equivalent of The Blue Screen Of Death (no one hears your screams).

 

A fatal exception has occured. This is actually painful to smell. It is harsh and metallic, like rust and acid with lots of sugar. I am suspecting the honey wine is responsible, but it could be the bay. I get hints that there is a sweet complexity underneath, but when I bring my nose closer to catch it, the ghastly metal monster chases me away.

 

An electronic oracle screaming about an apocalypse. Hie thee hence!

Mmmm. Crisp, mildly citrusy, aquatic with an edge of tart floral, which would be the gardenia, methinks. The white musk is a soft cushion underneath the sharp high-notes. I think this is my happy fragrance. I also think I am enamoured with gardenia and white ginger now. More of it!

 

First impression: there is hope and joy bursting out of the seams of this scent - wasn't it supposed to be melancholy? I'm not complaining. This is clear springs burbling past grassy banks with wildflowers. The sun is saturating the air with brilliance. My joy. My joy.

 

Then: becomes rounder and deeper, a late afternoon rather than midmorning sun. There is no scent of barley, but it feels like long fields of barley and of rye.

 

There is maturity here, but no despondency. The Lady has given up her comfort and security for a terrifyingly uncertain fate, and she has no regrets.

 

Madly enough, this perfume reminds me of Sting...

"You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in fields of gold ..."

That voodoo that you do, oh Voodoo!

Apart from the delicious alliteration, this is a vialful of magical goodness.

 

 

First sniff from the imp: effervescent and spicy, like an exotic cola. Heaps of almonds. Dancing lime.

 

Wet: Yes, the bubbly spiciness is still here: cola, almond, lime. The incense aisle of an indian grocery store...lots of familiar smells mixed in with some notes that are utterly unfamiliar. This perfume is hip, and it knows it!

 

Drydown: The bubbly cola-ness is gone, alas. There is a delicious blend of incenses remaning...patchouli, vanilla and what I am guessing is myrrh. Divine.

 

Sooo many of my favorite notes....I got it for the vanilla and patchouli combination, but then it showed up slathered in thick lime-candy syrup, smoking a clove ciggie. I wish I knew what vetiver and myrrh smell like on their own so I could appreciate them here.

 

Voodoo is now one of my signature scents. It is unique, intensely magical and comforting. The only thing keeping me from ordering a bottle is the notion that (impossible as it sounds) BPAL might have outdone itself and made something even better. I've ordered an imp of Queen. If that is isn't everything that Voodoo is and more, I'll cave in and get a bottle of this

 

Edited to identify notes and add comments.

In the bottle: Sharp and mineral. I get a layer of kerosene, not entirely unpleasant, overlaying everything else.

 

Upon skin: A whiff of baby oil, like johnson's. Seems innocent, but is stony, serious and merciless. Sweetens to a smoky woodiness.

 

This is something I should wear before marching into a council of war. Or maybe while presenting research at a conference

 

I will buy it again, but I cant decide between imp or bottle.