lizardling

This was a frimp that got decapitated and leaked over a couple of other imps in my latest Lab order. So I had plenty of opportunity to smell it as I searched for the culprit. To my nose, it's soapy to high heaven, even when it's not on my skin. And when it is, the jasmine takes over the scent to the degree that even though I only had a tiny bit on my fingertips from picking up the imp to examine, I went running for the sink. Jasmine, get thee behind me and begone. It even squashed any trace of violets, another note that I normally amp as well.

Mine are decants from Lycanthrope's CTIII circle... CTIII: DCVI (606) ---- In the bottle: Sweet florals. I like this one. On me: There's this lovely sugary floral in the drydown. A little fizzy, too. The fizziness fades in about 10 minutes, unfortunately. I wish to god I knew what this floral is, since it's a lovely pale yellow in my mind's eye. It's got a very light musk holding it down, I think. Almost no throw on this one. After about 15 minutes, it's gone creamy and almondy underneath the floral. ETA: WAIT! This is orange blossom! There was an orange tree outside the post office at my university campus, and I always loved stopping by to sniff it when it bloomed. Oh my oh my. So good. I love this. CTIII: DCII (602) ---- In bottle: Nag champa, floral. Reminds me of Masquerade after it's dried down -- that waxy smoothness. On me: Patchouli's coming out in the drydown, and it's getting stronger. After about 15 minutes, it's gone almost all patchouli and is giving me a sinus ache. Bleh. Off to the swaps with this one.

I got my latest order from the Lab, and after sniffing the double imp pack order plus several of the frimps (Thank you, Labbies!), Severin was the first one I tried on. Given how well Villain worked on me (harshly elegant aftershave), I figured I'd give it a whirl as the descriptions seemed in the same ballpark to me. In the bottle, I smelled the bergamot and leather, pretty much. Waiting for it to dry down on the back of my hand, I went to heat up some pizza for dinner as I was about to starve. Then I sat down with hot perfect pizza, and sniffed myself. Oh. My. God. I'm going cross-eyed just sniffing myself. Cross-eyed. And the pizza is cooling here. Severin is just *too* gorgeous to sniff at for more than a few seconds, what with the bergamot and teas combining and the leather grounding it all. The result is this lovely, lovely, silky smooth scent with a debauched undertone. Babies, this is going on the BIG bottle list. All within the first five minutes of having it on, too. I didn't even know I had a holy grail until I HAD it. And now I am just going to sprawl limply here, sniffing my hand every ten seconds.

Review: In the bottle: MOLASSES. I've smelled molasses, and this is what it is. Weeeeird. But fair point, I don't know anyone who actually smokes a pipe, so I'm not too surprised that this is the scent association. (And of the smokers I know, they're all Marlboros or Camels. Ish.) I was pretty dubious about it -- I was actually wondering if I'd have to find something to trade it for, but I said what the hell, and dabbed a small bit on my elbow. Wet: More molasses, sharp and wet... Ech. Drydown: My nose is starting to be able to pick out the wood notes grounding the lot. Top note is something faintly fruity. Red-brown. Cherry? Dried cherries, the kind that're really amazingly sweet. In the middle... I guess that's the pipe smoke and leather. Hey. If I get my nose really close, I can smell definite tobacco. 15 minutes: It's become a really nice and complex scent, without the wackiness of the wet/drydown. Definite leather scent (sans saddle soap sharpness). Smoky leather with, again, a bit of fruitiness. And very, very warm in feel. The throw's decent on this one. So yeah, it's a pretty complex scent. Unfortunately, for all that I gravitate toward not-so-girly scents, this one is a little too masculine for me. Too bad the Boy is off the other side of the country right now, or I'd make him try it.

Review: The mint is the first thing I smell in the bottle, but it's not toothachingly sweet like a peppermint cane or a scrunch of fresh mint leaves. Maybe it's not mint mint, but it's a cousin. It's grounded by something else. I keep getting my breath taken away when I sniff it. Like... uh. There's something under the mint, something green. Almost fruity, but not because it's so clean and cold. On me: Wet: Same as above, but that mysterious green is strengthening, becoming a bit sweeter as it dries. Still cold. Mint is fading. My sinuses are freezing even though the thermostat says it's 70+ in here. Throw's not too bad, few inches for a small swipe from the imp. Seems to have pretty good resistance to fading. Dry: Aha. The green's more of a floral now that it's dry. More of a very pale white floral. The mintlike part is now pretty far into the background. Absolutely none of the resins, ambers, spiciness, or woodiness that I gravitate toward usually. Pretty far out of my usual scent profile, but not a bad scent. And my sinuses are still frozen. Conclusion: This is one heck of a nuclear winter in a bottle. I might try it in the summertime, if that, but I'm not totally attached to it as something that I'd wear. Great experiment, though!

Other people have pointed out The Lion, but for me that's more of a gold with a dab of red. I'd add Wolf's Heart to the list, not just because of the dragon's blood in it -- it has that faint metallic tang to it.

In bottle: smoke and incense, something sharper. Wet: Perfumey incensey. Frankincense? Whatever that note is that makes it... hmm. maybe the reason it's perfumey is I can taste it on the back of my tongue when I sniff. Drydown: Trace of amber. Still perfumey -- not sure what that note is. *scratches head* 5 minutes: Huh. going a bit sweeter, more musky. Still smoky. 15 minutes: OH my god. Sweet smoky incense. *contemplates licking arm* Still a bit perfumey if you think about it, but not enough for me to be turned off it. Several hours later: Sweet smoky incense (not too strong, fading) with just a touch of something salty and bitter in the background. This -- this is exactly why I tend to gravitate toward clove smokers when I'm out and about. I would *gnaw* on my arm if I could, folks. Score: 6 out of 5!

In bottle: Not a showy scent -- I practically had to put my nose into the imp to get a read on it. The dragon's blood makes for a very red blend, so if you're going to try this, make sure that you don't get any of it on your clothes before it's dry. Stains are not good (fortunately, this is not from my bitter experience). Anyway, the dragon's blood is extremely notable here, but there's something spicy, too. Unfortunately, I can't tell what it is underneath. On me: The last few times I've burned dragon's blood for incense or worn Wolf's Heart before bed, I've wound up with some really funky dreams. Even though traditionally, dreams don't show up in any of the content I've found on dragon's blood. Anyway, when it's wet, it's a strange, almost uncomfortable scent. The cats fled precipitately, but not as badly as when I tried Versailles. 1.5 hours later: It's very faint, but still kicking. I have to lay my nose on my skin to smell anything. And it's all gone several hours later. Overall: Keep this, but try not to wear it to bed, I'm thinking. It's definitely given me the feel of something fierce behind my eyes, just waiting, when I wore it to work -- the poster who said the scent helps her to focus on the properties was dead on. Might pick up a bottle if one happens to fall in my path. Score: 4.0

Frimp from the lab with my first order -- whee! On me: Turns into some really nice French perfume -- complex and floral that sweetens down very nicely without tripping over the edge into cloying baby powder, which was what annoyed me about so many commercial perfumes. "Gah! The flowers, they are killing me!" I suspect this is because the amber and citrus do their part to ground and balance out the roses, jasmine, and orris. Anyway, this one is really nice, but as I might have mentioned, strongly floral perfumes aren't my thing. I feel like I need to be wearing a suit and heels to work with this. And given that I go to work in jeans and flipflops... yes. Score: 4.0 for being really nice perfume that isn't my thing.

In bottle: Sharp, bright smell. I think there's a citrus component and spices -- I want to say clove. Incense-y effect. On skin: The citrus is fading, which lets the layered scents below come up to tease me. More floral now, although I can't identify the flower. 5 minutes: Softer, still. 15 minutes: This is a sweet and warm smell that hovers just next to my skin. I fancy I smell a bit of sandalwood in with the florals, which is bizarre as I usually hate sandalwood with a burning passion. This is most likely because it's just a tiny bit as opposed to great golloping gobs which will instantly fry my sinuses. 30 minutes: Dude. My skin ATE it! And this is the second heaping swab on my wrists. I can't smell it anymore -- the nose, it does nothing. Overall: This is a wondrous scent, but the fact that my skin eats it -- so not good. I'm going to hang onto this anyway, just so I can sniff the imp. Score: 3.5 for skin chemistry, but wondrous smell in the imp.

In the bottle: Clove! Clove and ginger! And honey, like when you've opened a new container of honey from the farmer's market and it tickles the inside of your nose. Not teeth-achingly sweet, but lovely. A trace of musk as a parting shot. 5 minutes: There's the pepper and the... cinnamon? The other aspects to the scent have mostly disappeared, leaving this a a somewhat harsh and spicy scent. It's got a certain amount of throw, but it's less throw than more. 15 minutes: Ay yi yi yi. My skin eats the clove and the honey! Several hours later: Ah, the honey's back, but only in a very muted fashion, and right next to my skin -- it's mostly cinnamon and smoke. Much less bright than it was in the bottle. So yes, I'm not going to be licking my wrists anytime soon. But I discovered that running just a drop or two through my hair gets me much the same result as if I'd left it in the bottle, so there's a workaround to having my skin eat the honey. Yay! Score: 3.0 for the way that it works with my skin. Le sigh.

In bottle: Spicy, warm amber. Mm. I think I've definitely decided that amber's one of my favorite notes. I called the spicy part cinnamon when I was talking to my friend about it. Like those red hot candies, really. Cinnamon isn't my favorite, but there wasn't enough of it next to the amber to make me back away from it. On skin: OMGLOVE. This is pretty much the same on my skin as in the bottle, only with less of a sharper component to the scent. It's more spicy at the start, but softens to a sweeter and warmer amber after a while. The throw is probably around arm's length -- you'd have to get inside my personal space to smell it. It stuck around on my wrists pretty much all day, and I kept raising my head to catch a whiff of some delicious smell until I realized that it was me. Overall: I wear this to work when I feel like I need an extra shot of courage, definitely. Work's pretty stressful right now, and having this makes me feel better about facing the day (in addition to good coffee!). The scent is... yes, very honey-gold colored in my mind's eye. Score: 4.0 out of 5.

In the bottle: Milky and sweet and just spicy enough to make it interesting, although I couldn't really pick out all the notes listed. I could smell the tea mixed with milk as the solid background with the ginger and ginger spicing it up. The vanilla sweetened things quite nicely, too. The This was one of the first imps that made me go 'Wow!' right away when I ripped into the box from the Lab. On the skin: Strong vanilla scent with some ginger, throw (how far away you can smell it) is pretty close to the body. 5 minutes: The ginger gets stronger, still pretty sweet, but tea is starting to solidify the scent. 30 minutes: Not so sweet now, warmer with the ginger and pepper warming up the tea. I can't stop sniffing my wrists. Can't smell it far from my body, either, which is perfect for work. No need to be attacking people at 20 paces. Later: This turns into strong black tea with a touch of vanilla and spice. I love the way that the scent changes over the hours with my body chemistry. This was the first bottle I dropped money on with my next order to the Labbies. Enablers, all of you! Score: Ooh, 4.0 out of 5. (1.0 docked by the Russian judge for people not asking to lick my neck )

Wet: Whoa, lemon with just a trace of ginger. Drydown: Mm, changing to more gingery. What the hell? Plastic! Burned plastic! Going a bit soapy. 5 minutes: Astringent lemon soap. Dr Bronner, is that you? 10 minutes: Crap. Soap, soap, soap. 20 minutes: Ginger soap. I'm going to write this one off and blame it on the lemon. Because White Rabbit doesn't turn to soap, thank the hundred little gods. Throw is rather penetrating, too. Must go wash before my sinuses stage The Revolution. Score: 0 out of 5.

In the bottle: Woo. Violets and neroli with mint. It's like licking something candied (hard and rough sugared outside) only to encounter the softer and tangy inside, stab of mint through to give it interest. On the skin: Splished a bit on my fingers when opening and closing the bottle second time around. Violets and mint with eucalyptus. 5 minutes: The scent is sweetening, mint disappears and eucalyptus is way mild. More neroli shows up. Overall: First test gets a 3.5 out of 5.0 -- after about an hour, my sinuses started aching, so I had to wash it off first time around. I'll try again a different day to see if it's just me sniffing three or four vials in a row before dabbing some on my wrist. I can still smell it after two vigorous scrubbings, though. ETA: Tried it again with a dab on my wrists, and after it dried down, the violet pretty much knocked me over like a huge lavender-colored pillow filled with solid orthopedic foam smacking me in the face. Ow. No go on this one, folks. Apparently, my skin finds the violet and amps it to 11. Pity; I loved the description on the website. Mental note to self -- run away from violet notes very fast. Score: 1 out of 5. (can you tell I'm bitter about the violet? )