Sealgair

I got this as a free sniffie from eviltemptressdq - maybe a drop left in it, just enough to give it a try.

in imp: spicy grass, clean air, rain on dust

on wet: about the same; ozone, but fruity ozone, not metallic ozone.

5 minutes: quite fruity, really, almost strawberry.

15 minutes: on me this turns into strawberry farm: smell of strawberrys in the main, with hay and dust in the background. weird. I'm glad this UBER rare scent isn't me though.

30 minutes: more hay now, but still strawberry. *shrug* Cool, now I know. Thunderbird isn't for me. *sigh of relief*

I'm always afraid that the scent that is "THE ONE" to replace my TBS Wood Musk will be something like this - UBER rare and if you can find it, prohibitively expensive. I really should just avoid the LEs altogether. But what if the ONE SCENT is a LE - if I don't try 'em I won't ever find it! *laughs at self*

Whoop, I've been putting reviews of imps on my LJ, but not here. Slaggard! Well, here's a start:

in bottle: spicy greenness

wet: irish spring soap? bleh.

10 minutes: yup, irish spring soap. If this doesn't turn into something better & darker it's going straight to the swap pile.

30 minutes: it's changing, getting darker, but now I can't get the idea of irish spring soap out of my head. WHAT are the notes supposed to be in this?

blackest of ritual incenses, ozone.

Um... what? Okay, Irish Spring=ozone, I get that. but black incense? Where is it? *pout* I'm going to wash.

In the bottle:

Oohh. The incense notes are right there, very lovely. There's also a metallic something but I don't recognise it as an individual note. Okay, and my brain is for some reason translating the combination of scents into 'cola'.

on wet:

woody incense, vanilla now, and the metallic 'cola' scent. Maybe the tiinyest hint of floral? I may have to try this again later, since my brain seems to be stuck on cola, but for now...

10 minutes in:

I think amber is the note that seems kinda vanilla-y to me. You know the smell when you step into a new-age shop? The scent of incense that just lingers? I'm getting that plus... still something a little metallic, but not cola any longer.

20 minutes:

woody incense floralish with a bite! The 'floral' might be lavender, which would put a bite in there... but I don't really think that. I like this. I sniff my wrist and go MMMmmm and my eye lids droop. Even with the metallic 'bite' this is a langourous scent.

1 hour:

the incense is sandalwood/amber/nag champa... or at least that's the best way I have to describe it. This oil doesn't seem to morph much like many of the others do; it's very "faded incense" with that metallic bite that also seems vaguely floral. I like it a lot!

Also, the seller sent me a freebie goodie: Yogos! (Yogurt covered fruit jellies) Nifty keen! Thanks!

In the bottle:

Red wine with greens... and juuust a hint of musk/sandalwood

On wet:

OooOOo! Green wood, musk, a little bit of wine... nummy so far!

10 minutes or so...

amber & ivy combining into a leathery scent... with a background of a greeny sandalwood and wine.

1 hr-ish:

Ivy + ambergris = leather, add in a little something else sweetly musky/boozey.

2 hrs or so:

it's softening into moss-like greenness. Reminds me of Fort Worth, TX for some reason that has to do with vague memories of my grandfather and old books. I think I'll keep this one!

2 days later, wearing again:

mmmnnn! A sharp greenness wafting around a deep woody/leathery base, and yet not treelike. Think ivy and moss growing over a boiled-leather armor-covered skeleton. Sweet and musky and smoky. Less wine now, more ambergris/sandalwood/ivy. I think I need a bottle!

13 or so years ago (yes, I know!) The Body Shop made a scent called "Wood Musk". It is probably my favourite scent of all time. I'm running very low on the bottle I got in '93 (my 2nd year of college) and hold out hope that BPAL has a scent to match it. To me TBS Wood Musk smells like autumn itself: burning leaves, damp leaf mold & wood smoke.

Any recommendations?

Notes:

I can't stand TBS White Musk.

Rat King turned powdery on me.

I have imps of Black Tower, Ulalume, Black Annis, & Nocnitsa (as well as Lightning & Debauchery) on order from the lab.

I haven't tried BPAL's civet, but another brand of Civet oil smells nummy on me, so don't be afraid to recommend scents with it!

I don't care for flowery scents, and especially can't stand jasmine.

Do I need to add any more qualifiers? OH! - I'm willing to hear recommendations for LE scents, but would prefer GC so I don't have the problem I'm having now!

My first review! Won Rat King on Ebay from seller dweebus-e.

In the bottle:

musky flower wood? maybe some spice? some chemical/perfumy scent, but of a kind that I like - the chemical/perfume scent of Aspen For Men for example.

on wet:

piney flower musk. It's like the musk itself is a floral musk, then there's a wood scent layered under it.

Drydown:

5-10 minutes later - pencil shavings and dead roses. I like it!

Dammit! 30 minutes into it, Rat King is turning into Gramma's scented powder!

1 hour in - Okay, the woods in Rat King are definitely Aspen or Birch, not Pine. I think that's why it reminds me of Aspen For Men. It's morphed back into that scent, with dusty powder thrown in. It's a clean male scent, making me think of a fun-loving outdoorsy 19yo boy/man. Not any one in particualr, mind you, just the general image. It won't be a daily wear for me, that's for sure, but I dunno if I want to swap it either.

Summary:

On me this scent is Aspen For Men with a floral dusty powder layer. There's very little musk in this on my skin, unless it's a floral musk. That's dissapointing, but I like the scent anyway.

On a scale of 1-5 I'd give it a 2.5: not often worn, but not ick enough to swap.