urbanruralferal

I have no problem with any of the individual notes in this blend, but all together on me they meld into

...a cloying, acrid incensey smoke.

How can something be cloying and acrid at the same time?

The smell of this is not technically unpleasant, but the sense that it is covering up something decidedly unwholesome, some awful secret behind thick velvet drapes, is.

Oh I just LOVE this! This may be the first LE that I find myself seeking out as money permits. I have two imps so far...

My description of this will have to be largely visual, as I am not wearing it and I don't remember all the notes...
This is an incredibly soothing, nostalgic scent. It is so light and windy, and yet so warm and comforting. The truth is, in this I smell a woman, a particular woman that I must have known in my mythical childhood. She lives on the cliffs by the sea in a small wooden house underneath windblown cypress trees. She has long wavy hair that hangs down her back and and a kind smile, and she always welcomes me into her home. I like to climb into the loft and lay on her bed looking out through the window at the sea as the wind blows in the cloud cover and evening. I play with the little colored glass that hangs in the window there and I feel so cozy, knowing I am safe against the storm and that any minute now I will go down and eat some of the yummy ginger cookies she has made for me.
It is all there in this for me. so complex, it's hard to believe it is a perfume!

Well, I got one of Galatea's aforementioned imps in a swap...

 

This smelled somewhat camphorous wet, the camphor with a bit of clove, I am guessing that is the sassafrass. I noticed the cold sensation on my wrist as well.

 

this became extremely medicinal as it dried, with a sweetness under it like a lacquered box that holds powder and gauze bandages. It actually reminded me the tiniest bit of my aging Medicine Show. Power of suggestion, or?

I remember thinking, it must be strange to dream under the influence of this scent. Not exactly pleasant, but interesting nonetheless. I did not think I would want to wear it again, but I find myself wanting to reapply now that it has gone.

Well, this went on wintergreen to the extreme! When my daughter tried it I had thought root beer, but I decided the smell was definitely wintergreen. It even cooled my wrist, which makes a lot of sense. As it dried, that high aromatic dissipated gradually and the sandalwood and cedar started swelling up, to take the place of the "wintergreen" and it was a very nice transition. Or shall I say it would have been a nice transition if sandalwood did not INSIST on doing what it does on my skin. It forever smells like a snuffed out candle and it is beginning to a bit tiresome. It does not destroy a blend, but dominates and so this did not work for me.

Mmmm, this one is very nice. Wearing feels like having a strong man right there looking over your shoulder, keeping you safe. Very much cedar, and I smelled something that was like oakmoss to my nose.

It is not what I would call a deep smell. It is fairly dry, and not so much heavy.

I wish my husband would wear this, but he won't wear anything. shrug.

I did think about how well it would keep moths out of my woolens! But I didn't know how to apply it in that context, so I have already sent it to a new home.

Scanned through this entire thread and see that no one has mentioned that

Blood Moon = Tezcatlipoca.

Not wet, when the Tezcat is all chocolate, but once they are dry, they are so close!

The Blood Moon is a bit spicier and sharper while Tezcat is a bit richer, but otherwise, yum.

 

Now, I will be exploring some of the blends recommended as subs for Devil's Night...

Well, this one was educational if uneventful on my skin.

The sandalwood did not turn to snuffed candles as it often does, but apparently iris is one of those florals that swallows everything up and sits there like a scent glutton on my wrist. (That's the educational part.)

For a little bit I could smell something creamy in this, but otherwise I can't smell anything but sweet whiteish floral.

It is further proof that I will miss out on a whole family of blends that others enjoy in so much complexity.

I haven't found too many florals that work for me, but this one does.

It's SO SUNNY!

It is sparkling sunny.

The image that came to me is of a girl on a dock just about to dive into a sparkling lake, she is looking back over her shoulder and laughing. She is really much more Hayley Mills than Natalie Portman or any of those other precociously sexual creatures.

I like this very much. I will need to wear it a few more times to see if it is a long-term keeper. I will definitely use the imp.

I got this as a frimp in a swap. I put it on not knowing any of the notes.

I washed it off in about 20 minutes. My whole family was alarmed at the powerful nature of the rose in this blend. I was smelling up the whole house with a sort of rose-y toilet cleaner odor. I only swiped the tiniest bit on and I could taste it, literally!

Now that I read the description and all these fab reviews I am almost tempted to try it again to make some sense of it, to be fair, but...

no.

It will go to the next, perhaps more appreciative, home, asap.

 

ETA:

It is too bad I work as a janitor. so many things fall under the "cleaning products" category, but I am sure I am just exposed to too many. This definitely smells similar to the rose scented bathroom cleaner we use.

 

**My daughter has tried it now, and I can smell the fig, at least I think it is the fig, similar to what I smelled in Cairo (the blend). Coffee, none. jasmine, not yet. Roses, sure, but they are very faint and balanced by dry spice. It is a somewhat nostalgic scent, i think.

I was intrigued by this one, and since I am trying every blend with vetiver, I had to give it a try. Normally I shy way away from rose, and jasmine is no friend to me either, but since this was a favorite poem of mine as a child, and because of the vetiver connection, (see above.)

 

I have to say that vetiver and rose are strange bedfellows. Not too pleasant, in my estimation. I always thought the highwayman was so hot, but if this is what he smells like, forget it. He comes off elegant, and, you know, dashing, and yet the danger is right there, not even under the surface. Not that I don't like some blade with my roses, but...

my first thought was, "unwashed." Maybe he has a string of Black eyed Landlord's Daughters along that long road of his...

 

After an hour, the leather is stronger than the vetiver and the flowers have wilted and their petals are souring, blown, blown...

So appropriate.

 

Unfortunately I got two imps of this coming to me (by mistake) and the second hasn't arrived before I will be attempting to swap off the first.

I got this today in a swap. I have been wanting to try it for some time.

 

It starts out very herbal on my skin, basil, vietnamese cilantro, mint, tarragon, with a certain dry *snap* behind it all.

It quickly turns to a herb-scented plastic, however, (the scented plastics seem to be a theme, damn), and my husband acts as if it epitomizes everything he doesn't like about perfume (he doesn't understand this hobby).

After an hour of wearing it, there is something a tiny bit sweet underneath the dry herbs and papery barks. Maybe one glistening black berry. A wild berry, not a choice edible by "jam" standards.

Yggdrasil is complex, even I can tell that.

I think on the right person this would be a really impressive scent.

I am not that person, however.

How can I say how much I love this? It is beating the heat for me with it's enduring pennyroyal ice, which lasts through the many hours, perfectly balanced, never overbearing pennyroyal. and there is a buttery-ness to it, as well, that makes it yummy, almost edible. But there is also a very masculine side to this, not an edge, more solid than edgy.

yes, lavender, my old friend,

yes, musk, to keep the whole thing tethered.

The only thing I can find a little off here is that there is occasionally a whiff of something that someone might call "plasticky," but it doesn't bother me one bit.

It doesn't distract me like some scents do, it doesn't want to seduce me, thank god.

I wouldn't like it if it were just cooling; I absolutely need a little bit of heaviness to my summer scent, and this fits me so perfectly. It is so well balanced and lasts so long and stays so nice throughout, that I want to make it part of my skin.

I wonder how it ages? I could see buying 10ml of this.

wow what a tawny scent! I really like it's dry spicy quality, spicy as in ginger and fenugreek, rather than cinnamon or clove. and the soothing tropical flowers that are not creamy but something like creamy. how to describe them? lush? sultry? waxy!

It's a happy warm feeling I get while wearing this, but after it dries, it turns into soap. That often develops with the humid florals...

and the spice turns almost bitter, so it isn't going to work for me, but I was happy to try it!

this starts off as a lovely floral, which has been hard for me to find! normally any jasmine is extremely dominant and aggresive and ultimately unpleasant, but that is not so here. The lush soft wafts of flowers relax and invigorate at the same time. I wanted to mix this into a lotion, or better yet, a massage oil.

as it dried, it lost some of the richness and depth and started smelling more like a floral perfume that had been sitting on a vanity for decades. a bit sharp, even. It has remained so as it fades away.

 

I am a little disappointed that I am unable to break out any of the complex and interesting notes involved in some of Beth's floral blends. Chemistry. beh.

This was a very strong almond when wet, but that almost immediately disappeared and a cinnamon-clove took it's place.

I really smell more clove than cinnamon. like the above poster (who happens to be related to me!) and I do like a spicy scent, but this one does not go deeper than that, and I already have other scents to fill that niche, so this is off to swaps.

herr drosselmeyer:

 

sweet pipe tobacco and buttcrack.

 

Too bad.

Okay, way out there on this, but I smelled some kind of menthe and fennel or anise in this. It was reminding me of some foreign liqueur that you would keep in the freezer and serve in little glasses that looked like ice, but not boozy at all. the menthe was very high aromatic, like altoids or something.

Then the roses started blooming, and soon they were all I could smell. Not to mention this faded completely away in about 45 minutes. Gone.

If it weren't for the roses, and the disappearing act, I think this would be an excellent scent to wear in the snow. But I'm all about wearing cool scents in winter and hot scents in the heat.

Well, I am happy to have tried this. I smell like a sweet pipe smoke now, and I can totally get the leather here, too.

It's reminding me of my mother, who drinks bourbon and smokes cigars. Actually, where this takes me is further back in my lineage, to some ornery boozey male. Oh, yeah, that would be my grandfather. Son of a bitch.

I would like this better, I think, had I not a splitting headache from not drinking enough coffee today. Unfortunately I used to get headaches from smoking tobacco, so everytime I sniff my wrist my brain throbs a bit sharper.

It's funny, I thought I would really love this, but it's just kind of na ja.

Aye, me lass, it's mighty pleased ta meet you, I am. Yer reputation precedes yee, aye, tis true. Ah but yer a swarthy lass ain't 'ee? Strong, oh, I see yer no lady! But yer a simple lass too ain't 'ee? Good solid stock 'ere, nothing fancy, not one to be puttin' on airs, no.

All take notice when you come on board. Yeer not for the faint o' heart, and those who 'ave met ye face tae face aren't likely tae ferget ye.

 

Argh, but what madness is this? Yer carryin' a church candle? Nae, me dream is troubled, the waves are tossin me about, the sandalwood is turnin this vessel towards the rocks. I canna handle the sandalwood candle, I'm a goin to seek my fortune on a spice island. 'ave ye a cousin or a bastard sister anywhere in this world?

If Love Me is cola and Kathmandu is root beer, then Voodoo is Dr. Pepper. That was my first thought when I put this scent on. A* and I went out and bought a Dr. Pepper just to see, but it wasn't quite it. As was mentioned before, Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper would have been much more like it.

 

As this dries down, the vanilla gets stronger and stronger, and it develops a plasticky smell.

Now, my youngest daughter bought herself a dolly that is vanilla scented and this smells just like that, and nothing else, for several hours.

 

For awhile, as it was fading, I was convinced it smelled like some goth junkies I used to hang out with at the Luxor. Waxy skin, lots of scent and makeup, in rooms that desperately needed airing out. It has a powdery smell, and it is so sweet, like a sweet scent used to cover up something dying. Oh dear. That isn't something I want to evoke.

 

I sent this away today to someone else. May she enjoy it more than I did!

Blood onmy hands suggested Pain, and I was going to suggest it as well. I tried it today for the first time and it was quite cooling! The pennyroyal gives it that penetrating minty quality.

Struggling to come up with a metaphor for this. I only wore it for about an hour.

 

I guess the closest I can get now, after the fact, is the image of a group of thirteen year olds in a brazilian floral parade, very bright, bright as in sunny, and taking themselves (and their brightness) quite seriously as only thirteen years old can do (that would be the lavender tether.)

 

It went on so splashy and citrus. whoa, a lot. The jasmine surfaced as it dried, and jasmine is consistently soapy on my skin, so that was there, too, but the lavender held it together and kept it from splashing itself off the page.

 

This will make a wonderful RAK for someone!

Pennyroyal, hello!

This is mostly pennyroyal on me, with a something a wee bit woody in the background. It is a light wood, like pine. the wood comes out in varying degrees as it dries down, but the pennyroyal rules the show. Pennyroyal is a bit musty, or something. Just a tiny bit *sweaty*.

I can taste it on the back of my throat. I think one might like to wear this when one is congested...

 

The image here is a great big dance studio, bright, with well worn, but clean, wooden floors. there aren't any dancers in it at present, and it is cold.

So maybe the Pain here is of a searing muscular variety. "Go for the BURN!"

 

I won't keep it. I much prefer the pennyroyal in Mad Hatter.

when this first hit my wrists, I smelled cardamom and fenugreek scuttling down the dry hot street talking animatedly! strange for a perfume. those turn a corner and up walks up a friendly citrus to greet me, orange and his honey friend they want to show me around the city! I agree and we go to a little cafe where we are served this lighter-than-air, not-too-sweet dessert made of orange and rose water, delightful. we consider whether or not to order a coffee, but decide against. After all this is a very non-urgent visit. On our way to the lodgings, a slight breeze picks up, and blows the scent of blooming almond through the streets. I turn around to ask my citrus guide where the trees are, but he and honey are lagging aways back, and the almond breeze pushes me lightly towards a dry fountain that sits in the middle of a deserted public square. I am left, alone.

dang and double dang.

There is a whole family of scents that I am completely unable to enjoy, and Veil is no distant cousin to that clan. My skin's insistence on simplifying anything white floral to shrill soapy blasts is the reason for the first dang.

The second dang is because when I faced with a floral scent such as this one, I can't write an interesting review.

Veil is just one big resounding NO.

I will continue to try the gardenias, the jasmines, the honeysuckles, the lilacs. They were good to me once, long ago.