pekeana

Kunstkammer is the ultimate fruity BPAL! *writhes in fruity ecstacy* On me, I smell blood orange. And the barest hint of pepper. Strangely, you'd think that the two would equal a warm, almost spicy orange, but it's really not warm at all. It's bitingly icy to me -- no warmth at all. It's deep, dark, enticing, fruity, sexy -- there's a bit of resin in there that should warm it up, but it's still so damn cold and icy. Ice, ice baby... oh, wait, here it's just barely starting to warm up and deepen even more. GUUUUUUUUH. Hands down, this is the best orange scent yet.

Freak Show is... it's a chaotic cacophony, but it's warm and soft and subtly inviting, begging you to come in and stay a while. And then it pounces. Lurid dreams, nightmares, passions and normalcy all come through in this. I smell mostly chocolate, fig, lemon, and honey on me -- almost like a tincture or herbal tea that's been overwhelmed by honey. Mmmmmmmm, I like it, but it will take a special mood to get me to wear it often, methinks. ETA: It reminds me of Intrigue, without the wood notes.

Midway does the following on me: Sugar, sugar, sugar, vanilla, sugar, vanilla, sugar, sugar, sugar, caramel, sugar, vanilla, cotton candy, sugar, sugar, sugar, cream, sugar, pastry, sugar, vanilla, caramel, sugar, sugar, sugar... Good thing I love this in all its sugary stages.

Guh. Just... guh. Tum is the only Station of the Sun that manages to work for me. It's honeyed grapes, clove, kind of a resinous blend that might be frankincense and amber, and something light and herbal floral that I can't quite identify -- maybe lavender? Whatever all is in it, this scent absolutely sings on my skin. I'm a child of the early evening, and this is my scent. I literally cannot stop sniffing my arm. Tum is truly one of the most comfortable, warm, wonderful scents I've ever smelled. So calming and centering, yet so isolating and... it's like a blanket of the twilight sky around me.

The Hanging Gardens smelled very fruity and floral in the bottle, then I put it on me. Generic floral for a couple of hours, then it mellowed out and the pomegranate came out to play a bit. It's nice -- a bit powdery, a bit sour, a bit fruity and fizzy.

Peitho hits my skin and screams "JASMINE, JASMINE, JASMINE, lily, JASMINE JASMINE!" After about an hour and some, I finally get a hint of vanilla, but ultimately, the jasmine scares me off.

Tears is aquatic, slightly floral, salty, and has a slight undertone of wood. It's nice, even if the wood gets more prominent the longer I have it on. It's very gentle and caring, but ultimately, the woody undertone is just a bit too much for me.

Silk Road is spicy and woody -- more woody than spicy on me because my chemistry is apparently really strange. It's nice, it's pleasant, but it's not something I'm going to race out and grab a bottle of.

Orange blossoms, cinnamon (oooh, firey cinnamon), and an aquatic note. Red Devil is warm, sexy, well-balanced, and just plain yummy.

The Magician started off for me all anise and herbs, and as it dried down, it picked up a sweet berry and aquatic tone -- all in all, I really like it.

Judgement was very resinous, almost powdery, quite herbal and incensy to me -- it started off light and poofy, then darkened into a vibe almost like "death and despair, mere mortals!!!!" Nice, but kind of creepy.

Snake Charmer is all about the happy. Happy, happy, happy. It's ambery and warm, slightly sweet and mainly just warm and ambery. There's a hint of patchouli beneath it all, and it's Snake Oil without the vanilla top note. I LOVE THIS LIKE WHOA OMG. (Edited to switch my Snake Charmer and House of Mirror reviews.)

I splashed a bit of this on this morning after being up for 36 hours straight. Temple of Dreams is all astringent lavender, crushed herbs, and there's something vaguely spicy to it, too... maybe cardamom or anise? But the spice is extremely faint in the background. That being said, it works.

Mmmkay, this one's just not for me. It's the sandalwood. Velvet is nice and pretty and everything -- all chocolately vanilla with a hint of mint and wood -- then it hits my skin. And foul chocolate powder with a woody undertone is the end result.

Ulalume smells like dry, rotting leaves in the middle of the forest in the fall on my skin. The end.

Shanghai is definitely a sister to Embalming Fluid and Tarot: Justice. They're all three different aspects of the clean green tea happy notes. Where Embalming Fluid is the youngest, garish sister, and Justice is the older, wiser sister, Shanghai is the quiet middle sister that likes to sneak off to the attic to read. She's sweeter than the other two, and much more subtle and close to the skin, but she's the one that cries when she drops her ice cream cone on the hot concrete, and she's the one that says "wear me!" So, yeah. MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Holy hell, this is GORGEOUS!! Strawberry Moon is very sweet in the bottle, but the moment it hits my skin, I get a thick, juicy, sour strawberry smell. After a while, the tea makes itself known, and I do smell a bit of floral about it. MMMMM, FRUITY! LOVE!

Honey Moon is divine. I'd given up on finding a honey scent that would work on me, then BOOM. On me, I can smell all of the flowers that are listed in the description, and here's the thyme note from Lady Macbeth... And HONEY. Pure, sweet, clover honey. *dies a happy death* I can smell the green of clover in this, too. MMMMMM. I LOVE.

Oberon was very nice. Citrus, musk -- And then the dreaded patchouli reared its ugly head and overwhelmed everything else with a deep earthy note that smelled out of place. It makes me sad, alas -- why can't I like patchouli for the sake of liking patchouli?

This is miles away from anything I've liked before -- sweet! In the vial, Nyarlathotep is very biting and sharp, fresh -- I can smell the ozone and the lemony-ginger that I smelled in Shub-Niggurath, too. I also smell something darker and heavier in the background. On me, I smell... CINNAMON! Cinnamon, ozone, a touch of lemony ginger, and something that smells almost like burnt grass. It's smokey and incensey, but with the deep tang of ozone. Think of crossing Scarecrow, Lightning, Three Witches, and Shub-Niggurath, and you have Nyarlathotep -- at least for me. I love it like whoa.

Whoa, I'm beginning to learn that I don't really like jasmine. In the vial, this is all sharp jasmine and creamy almond to me. On my skin,, it just doesn't smell very good. It has a very dry, acrid note from the sandalwood, and then the jasmine goes positively schitzophrenic and makes a huge noise (and stink) about not being the center of attention. So... poor Salome needs to go to swaps like right now. Dance, my pretty, dance -- away from me.

Love, love, love, love, LOVE 13. In the bottle, I smelled chocolate -- but white chocolate. I can smell the difference because I prefer the scent of white chocolate, so it's very pleasant. I can also smell a touch of floral and a touch of citrus. But it's mostly white chocolate. On my skin, it's like "HELLO, SMELL ME, I SMELL FABULOUS, DAHLING!!!!!" Soft chocolate, sharp but sweet citrus, a tiny hint of floral, and something red. I wonder if there are berries in this because I smell berries. Hmm. It's slightly powdery, very sweet, and incredibly delightful. Every foodie scent fan should have a bottle of this. I'll definitely be buying more when it comes back. It's just that good.

Guhhhh... Mad Hatter is sex. On me, it all blends to smell like mint on top of leather. Kind of funny considering there's no leather, but whatever -- it's pennyroyal and leather to me, and it's just sexy. And in the vial, it smells a lot like Villainess's Novocaine Smooch to me.

I didn't order Queen of Clubs because the "earth notes" scared me. Um, yeah, my stupid. I tried it on at pkwench's, and whoa. Queen of Clubs is all bright and almost alcoholic wine in the bottle, with just a hint of something beneath it that might be moldy dirt. Mmm, dirty wine. Once on my skin, it's strong, fresh, loamy soil -- it's not the dirt of Zombi, it's more... it's like going outside right after it rains, when the mud smells the strongest. There's an aquatic note to the dirt that makes it sing on me. After a while, the earthy stuff backs off and I smell hints of fruit and VANILLA! It brings on kind of a dirty, kinky bakery kind of a smell. After a while, the dirt fades completely and I'm left with a soft, gentle fruity vanilla, and then it goes away completely. Mmm, love it.

I tried this on at pkwench's the other night, and I'm sad to say that I'm glad I went with my gut and didn't order it. Ides of March starts off blindingly citrus and floral, and gets more and more screamingly, blindingly sharp as the minutes go by. If I liked greenery, this would be a perfect scent. Alas, we just don't mesh, and it's no wonder the Ides of March is an inauspicious time.