kwsix

Re: Poison

 

However, Dark Delicacies is very similar to Poison to my nose.

I definitely agree! Spellbound does smell like Poison on me, not in the bottle. And Venom does smell like Poison, but on my skin I actually think Dark Delicacies is closer.

Sorry for being crude, but holy crap! On my skin, Mama-Ji smells just like Blood does on my husband. I love the way Blood smells on me, but I really love the way it smells on my husband. Now I've found something that smells that way on me!

It's really hard to describe the way Mama-Ji smells on me, but I'll give it a shot. It's deep, rich, spiced woods over warm florals. The florals smell like carnation and rose to me, more accurately described as how dragon's blood smells on some people (not on me). It's a very subdued yet heady floral scent that doesn't scream FLOWERS. The spices really add depth to the blend. They aren't exactly foody spices, but they still make me drool. There definitely is an incense quality to the blend, but it's a dark woodsy incense instead of a perfumey sneezey one, if that makes any sense at all. This is a complex, beautiful scent that, despite the florals, would be lovely on either sex.

If you like this, give Blood a try. Conversely, if you like Blood, don't let Mama-Ji go untested.

I'm having a bit of confusion about PayPal. It used to be that I'd pay straight from my bank account and it would go through immediately. But now I'm getting separate notifications of when I ask to send payment and when it's processed, and the transaction is being called an e-check instead of a bank transfer. Does this mean I'm going to get bumped to the back of the pack for shipments? And why is it taking so long to clear my payment nowadays?

My eChecks seem to clear right away now that I have a credit card on file as a backup payment source. Before they were taking 5 days or so to clear. I don't know if those two things are directly related, but if not it's one heck of a coincidence.

This is a lush, complex floral that is like the lovechild of Thierry Mugler's Angel and Dior's Poison on me. I'm not even going to try to describe the individual notes. It's a sexy, femme fatale scent that doesn't scream for attention. This is the scent of a dangerously beautiful woman who is worth every minute of the trouble she'll bring you.

In the imp: Grapefruit and the ocean?

From application to drydown, it's salty grapefruit soda with a musky undertone. It's an interesting scent. Although it's much brighter and fizzier than I expected, it's definitely not a typical summery grapefruit scent. It's Fresca on the dark side. R'lyeh, I dub thee Enraged Grapefruit Musk. It isn't my type of scent, but lovers of murky aquatics should definitely try it.

In the imp, I smell a strangely appealing combination of cedar, birch beer, and smoke. Interesting . . . I like birch beer

On my skin, Kathmandu is almost completely wintergreen by way of birch beer. It isn't bad, but it isn't something that I'm particularly interested in smelling like. It does make me long for the diet birch beer that I can't find in Virginia. As it dries, it gets more creamy and the sandalwood peeks out a bit. I think this would be a good home scent (think sachet), but I really can't imagine using it as a personal scent. It is interesting, though, so it's worth a sniff if only for the experience. It opened my nasal passages all the way, so it would probably be good for times of sinus congestion.

In the imp: Wine and herbs

Wet on my skin, Delphi smells like a craft store, right in between the candle and dried wreath areas. Thank goodness the wine isn't going sour like it did in Athens. As the scent dries, my nose hallucinates a rose scent out of the wine and bay combination. It's actually quite pleasant, which is odd because rose scents don't usually work on me. Maybe hallucinated rose scents work better than regular rose scents.

I actually like Delphi much more than I expected. My skin usually amps honey, which is ok because I like it, but it's staying in the background here. On me, Delphi ends up smelling just like a wreath of dried roses and sweet herbs. I know it's wine, and if I sniff deeply I can tell that it's wine, but my nose keeps telling me otherwise. I'm not sure how often I would wear this scent, but I do like it, and I would like to keep an imp on hand for further evaluation.

In the imp: Chilly blossoms and incense

Wet on my skin, the florals get sharper and the incense fades away. Theres's something dusty and a little earthy in the background.

As it dries, it becomes more herbal but it's still predominantly sharp cold flowers. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I detect a slight chemical scent - kind of like perm solution. It isn't horrible on me, and this review is probably making it sound worse than it is. I actually liked it in the wet stage, when I could smell the incense and earth. But it becomes too overpoweringly floral for my liking. Lovers of chilly, waxy, white floral blends should try this one.

In the imp: Indistinct floral, soft and pretty

Wet on my skin: Waxy florals, green grass, and maybe a little citrus

Drydown: Same as above, plus aquatic notes

Overall this is a nice floral-based blend, but nothing about it stands out to me. It smells clean and a little soapy, and could be to my nose a detergent, air freshener, or deodorant fragrance. To me, Danube is pretty but not exceptional.

In the imp, Pontarlier is lilac, lavender, and ferns. I seriously doubt if I would have figured that out without reading the description first. At best I probably would have come up with lavender, flowers, and some green things.

While the oil is wet on my skin, I mainly get lavender. I think my skin loves lavender, so that's no surprise. As it dries, it becomes lilac with greenery. I don't detect rose at all, and couldn't specifically pick out ferns or absinthe. It just smells like sweet fresh lilac and herbal plants.

Overall, Pontarlier is the truest lilac scent I've ever encountered, which is funny to me because there are so many other notes in the blend. It truly smells like the fresh-cut lilacs that my Mom used to put all over the house when I was a child, so I appreciate it for sentimental reasons if nothing else. I don't think I would wear this often if at all, but I would like to keep an imp around and perhaps try it as a room scent.

In the imp: Thick dark honey with red wine

On my skin: Reminiscent of Hetairae with a heavy dose of red wine. Although it's a very sweet blend, the red wine is oddly sour, and I'm not sure that I like it.

Drydown: The sourness fades somewhat, and the florals become more prominent. To my nose, it's the same powdery and spicy floral scent that I love in Hetairae, but the wine is still walking all over it.

Overall: Athens is fairly true to the decsription. I don't dislike it, although I'm turned off by the sourness of the wine note. The spicy honeyed florals thing is lovely, but I think Hetairae does it much better.

In the imp, Kyoto is all cherry blossom to me. On my skin, it is cherry blossoms and licorice with a wisp of sandalwood in the background. It's a beautiful soft floral with an unexpected kick, and I like it very much. The cherry blossom fades a little on the drydown, and I'm left with licorice with the barest hint of delicate flowers. It's unique, feminine, and fresh. This one is a winner, and I will definitely seek out more.

Like ariosa, I never expected to like Prague. But guess what? I do. In the imp it's just an indistinct floral, and well, I don't think of myself as a floral person so I wasn't too excited. But on my skin, Prague blooms into the most beautiful fresh floral scent. As others have mentioned, there's a definite hint of fresh grass. I don't know what crocus or snowdrop smell like, but I think they must be dominating the scent, as I'm not detecting much lily. Whatever I'm smelling, it's a gorgeous combination of sweet, unassuming florals. This isn't a floral-scented blend. It's the essence of a lovely flower garden in the springtime, complete with green grass and fresh air.

In the imp: Lime!

Wet on my skin: Lime that almost smells . . . like Pine-Sol? Must be the gin.

Drydown: The Pine-Sol goes away for the most part and I'm left with fizzy Sweet Tarts. Actually, not Sweet Tarts - Spree! I smell like a green Spree.

Overall: I didn't like the wet stage at all. The drydown was a definite improvement. Oddly, I'm not really sure how I feel about this one, but I want to go buy some Spree.

In the imp: Wet tropical flowers

On my skin: I'm disappointed because there's no hint of smoke or fire. I get wet tropical flowers and ozone, all the way through the drydown.

Overall: It's a pretty scent, but it really isn't my style. I do really like the ozone note, but the headiness of the flowers is too much for me. It might work if I had gotten a hint of the smoke or fire, but without something to ground the florals it's too bright and sharp for my taste. It does really smell like tropical flowers on an exotic island, so anyone who likes that sort of thing should give it a try.

In the imp: Soapy aquatics

Wet on my skin: Still soapy aquatics, with florals peeking through. I'm not getting any fruit at all.

Drydown: More of the same. Still no fruit.

Overall: Eh, it isn't an unpleasant scent by any means, but it smells very much like a type of "commercial" perfume that I'm not fond of. I can't pinpoint a specific perfume, but it reminds me of the smell of perfume counters and sample strips in magazines. It's just too bright and sharp for me. If I had gotten any fruit smells, I might have felt differently.

Shanghai Tunnel isn't dark at all on me. It's woodsy but fresh, more like an actual forest that's damp and green instead of dark resinous trees. It's salty and aquatic on me, but it's definitely the most wearable aquatic I've ever encountered. It's light and airy on my skin, not reminiscent of aftershave in the least like most aquatics are. There's an ozone note here similar to the note in Neo-Tokyo that I love so much. And I do detect some very light, fresh florals in the background. Overall it's fresh, "earthy" without smelling like dirt, green, and uplifting. I really like this blend, but not enough to actively seek out more at the prices it will command. If it were a GC or even a less rare LE, I would definitely want more.

In the imp, I smell a creamy citrus with some light florals. There's definite potential here.

Wet on my skin, it smells exactly like it did in the imp. It's light and airy, and definitely feminine. But sadly, as it starts to dry, it goes all powdery and soapy. It isn't bad, but it's too vague for my liking. My skin ate it all up, and there's nothing left but an indistinct smell that could be soap, deodorant, or a generic lightly scented skin cream. Not unpleasant, but nothing to get excited about either. Maybe it would work better for me in a scent locket.

In the imp: Jasmine and a hint of lemon. It's very fresh and feminine.

Wet on my skin: Jasmine that actually smells good on me, which is a rare find. It's behaving much like the jasmine in Euphrosyne. But I'm getting odd wafts of cheap beer, and no, I haven't been drinking. I sniff my wrist to be sure, and yes, it's the Venice. That's a first for me - cheap beer from a fragrance.

Drydown: Poof - gone! As soon as the scent starts to dry, it starts to disappear. In just a few minutes I can barely detect a trace of it with my wrist right up against my nose. Even the cheap beer scent is gone, which saddens me. I wanted to see how that worked out.

Overall, Venice isn't terrible, but it doesn't exactly work well on me either. The jasmine stays nice and non-evil, but it all fades away before I can really grasp what it's doing on my skin. I imagine this scent works really well on some people, goes horribly wrong on others, and leaves some, like me, confused and unfulfilled.

Silk Road is amazing, and smells extremely complex but not busy on me. It stays true from start to finish, with practically no morph. The dominant note seems to be cinnamon. Not a red-hots type of cinnamon, but more like a true spice cabinet fragrance. I can't identify the other notes with any certainty, so I'm going to save myself the embarrassment of trying. I'll just say that I absolutely love this blend. It's warm, exotic, unobtrusive, and oh so much like a collection of wonderful natural smells instead of an artfully created perfume. This is definitely on my most-wanted bottle list.

Madrid isn't anything like I expected, really. I don't get red wine from this at all. In the imp and wet on my skin, I get sweet grape candy, sort of like grape Jolly Ranchers. As it dries, the clove comes out and the "OMG GRAPE" settles down into something less candy-like. It becomes a little less sweet, and settles into an appealing and slightly powdery spiced grape fragrance. Oddly enough, it also reminds me of grape soda now. I think the clove is making it seem fizzy. I am seriously tempted to lick my arm, but I manage to restrain myself. I would certainly wear this again, even though I'm not putting it on my bottle list just yet. For the record, I tried Old Madrid on my skin, but plain ol' Madrid smells identical in the imp.

In the imp - incense and woods; very soft and pretty

Wet on my skin - total morph! Wow, the florals have taken over. I get sharp rose, and yes, I do understand the dill pickle comments now. It reminds me of a Glade floral bouquet air freshener. You know, the ones that don't really smell bad, but they certainly do nothing to eliminate bathroom odors, so you're left with the smell of stinky poo and flowers.

As it dries, it gets a little soapy, but otherwise it stays the same as the wet stage. There's no frankincense to be found anywhere.

Kostnice doesn't work on me at all. I can imagine that it's beautiful on someone with the right kind of skin chemistry, but that someone is not me.

I am totally stunned at how lovely Florence is on me!

In the imp, it wasn't anything special - brightly floral with a base of amber. I almost passed it by without putting it on my skin, then I reminded myself that I must try everything on my skin, because I never know how it will turn out. I'm so glad I did.

On my skin, Florence turns into the most gorgeous creamy sweet and spicy scent. The flowers stay soft and golden, and the amber just glows in the background.

As it dries, it becomes more spicy and the berries start to peek out just a little. It's still a very creamy blend on me, almost like there's tonka hiding in there somewhere. This isn't a candy sweet scent, despite the berries. It's more of a hint of fragrant, deep purple fruits that brightens up the amber and florals.

Overall, Florence is a winner on me. It's feminine in a grown-up and sensual way. The spiced floral aspect reminds me of Hetairae without the honey. I am seriously contemplating a 5ml, and at least want to get another imp.I've ordered it already.

She wears Chanel No. 5

Neo-Tokyo has always reminded me of Chanel No. 5. It isn't a dead ringer, but they have a very similar feel, especially when Neo-Tokyo dries and softens. Of course, now that Neo-Tokyo has been discontinued, that doesn't help you much.

eta: Oooh, I just noticed that Rouge compared Ozymandias to Chanel No. 5 upthread.

In the imp: I didn't like it at all. It was too rosey, and just too overwhelmingly floral in general. But I had to try it on my skin no matter what. It has leather and cinammon, and then there's my whole Adam Ant issue. Yes, I have an Adam Ant issue. And I am not ashamed.

On my skin: It went from bad to worse. I expected the night-blooming jasmine to go wrong on me, because it usually does. The cinammon and leather were nowhere to be found. Maybe they don't get along with night-blooming jasmine any better than I do.

Drydown: I don't know, because I couldn't make it to the drydown. My head was starting to hurt from the sharpness of the florals. This is definitely not a scent for me. But if you like rose and can tolerate night-blooming jasmine, you should give it a try. Do it for Adam Ant's sake.