forspecial_plate

This is so clean and very very light! I know benzoin is a light resin. This scent just teases my nose with little wisps of clean and slightly soapiness (not in a bad screeching piercing way). It's lovely and light, and I could wear this to work because it's so subtle. Not much to say about the individual notes. I smelled the citrus at first but that faded pretty quickly. Now it's mainly light floral with a hint of warmth from the resin and tonka. I really like this.

*sigh* Lily strikes again! This started as a very interesting, perfumey almond scent (I like almond so this is a good thing). Just a few minutes later, it turns very soapy (or what I think of as soapy). Piercing and unappealing. I'm almost positive lily is the culprit because on my skin, some lily notes stomp down all the other notes and shout, "I'm gonna SOAP YOU UP!!!". This blend isn't quite that bad....I can smell the other notes trying to come forward....but it's not working. Oh, well.

Vanilla, saffron, and cream. Completely revising my review......I never was quite happy with my first review of this scent. Ultimately, I just don't get along well with Love's Philosophy. I think it smells good briefly, but when I wear it on my skin, it is too strong, and lasts and lasts for hours (and won't wash off). It's sweet, creamy vanilla, with a little bite from the saffron, which I think is disagreeing with my nose, because it keeps reminding me of something plastic or medicinal.....or both? It still reminds me a bit of Snow White, which also lasts forever on my skin. I can appreciate the love for Love's Philosophy, but it's just not a scent for me.

My guess is the honey note is actually the storax, or maybe storax and myrrh pretending to be honey. At first I thought I hated this, because I don't like honey scents very much, and this seemed to be mostly honey. Give it a few moments, and it shifts slightly into glowing resins. Reminds me a lot of Minotaur, actually, only not as dark as that scent. And if I didn't already have a whole bottle of Minotaur, I would probably want to wear this. Even though I don't love this, I think it's a really interesting scent, and worth holding onto the imp just to break it out every once in a while and see how those resins are aging. Or for enabling another incense lover like me (one who likes the sweeter resins a little more than I do).

Interesting.....for the first 5 minutes or so, this had that 'cola' smell that we talk about from time to time. I thought it was opoponax that did that, but maybe not. At any rate, this very quickly turned powdery for me, unfortunately. I wonder what makes it powdery. I'm guessing it's one of the spices or herbs, because Silk Road does the same thing and that has 'herbs' in the description. I liked the very beginning 'cola' scent, but when it turned powdery I knew this one wasn't going to work for me.

I can't even imagine that. My usual application goes like this......roll the bottle, tip it upside down, take the cap and apply from the little knob inside the cap, tip it one more time and apply again. And that's it. For some scents even that is too much (Snake Oil). My bottles that are getting low are only because I decanted out of them. My favorite scent, Djinn, is still nearly full, and I do wear it! And that bottle is from August of '06. Obviously, these days I go for a full bottle only if I'm reeeally excited about a scent. I worry all the time that these oils will fade before I can even put any kind of dent in them. And I have about a million imps and decants.

I've never tried the scent you mentioned, but it sounds nice! I do have a couple rec's..... Mr. Jacquel.....you can't buy an imp but might find someone selling a decant. "Golden amber, hyssop, North African patchouli, and embalming spices." A warm, golden and spicy amber scent.....but restrained, too. Very calm on my skin. I've been meaning to get more of this for a while. Baron Samedi......bpal's spin on traditional bay rum. A spicy almond scent, also warm, stronger than Mr. Jacquel. You can buy this one in an imp.

Oddly enough I can't smell the champaca either! Usually that's a note that comes out real strong on my skin. Anyway, I do like this scent. Wine and fruit blends can be touch and go for me, but when they're right, they can be oh-so-right. This is a good one. It does veer a little towards candy grape, but not terribly so. It is deep, somewhat dark, but I think the white musk is giving it a refined quality that saves it in the end. Almost like Montresor but cooler, and slightly more.....austere, maybe? The wine stands out above the other notes for me. I think the amber just supports the overall blend in a beautiful way, and doesn't stick out a lot.

At first I got a little rush of what I thought was rose, but someone else said that might be peony so maybe that's what I smelled. I really loved this scent for the first 10 minutes or so. Then, it starts to become soapy, which I was afraid of....I have a bit of history with some lily notes....but this isn't the sharp unbearable soap that some lily brings. I think what I'm smelling mostly is violet leaf and some of the lily, but the moss is valiantly holding its own. It's a wonderful and evocative scent, just not my kind of thing. Something is reminding me of Ostara a lot, I guess the violet leaf. I'm glad I got to try this! Edit: Credit where credit is due...I wanted to say what I DID like about the scent. In the opening stage it's crisp and aquatic, with as I said a rose-like floral element that's airy and ethereal, although there is some darkness here like others said. There's an overall mysterious quality, much like the painting depicts. I also love how so many people amped on different aspects of the scent, judging from the other reviews.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but Blood Moon came to mind for the 'bread scent, even though you said you can't do musks. Blood Moon's description: "... The feral scent of the heat of the chase, deep woods, undulating musks, brushed by forest herbs, crushed grains, and touched by blood-dimmed lunar oils." To me it's a dry and spicy scent with cinnamon and/or cassia, that stops just short of foody, but the 'crushed grains' give it just a touch of foodiness to my nose. Definitely not sweet or cakey, though. Might be worth tracking down a decant or sniffy. I totally second Monsterbait: Closet for the buttercream scent. Yummy stuff!

Very soapy rose for me. : ( I like rose but this one isn't working.

Silk Road reminds me of my long departed great-grandmother, a lot. Something very powdery in there that smells just like she did.

Interesting....I wouldn't have called this masculine, although I do see where the girls are getting that idea. It starts out with a big rush of very crisp tartness, and I swore I smelled lime. For the first 10 minutes or so, the resemblance to F5 is striking. It's a morpher though.....I knew that amber would come out, and it did. After a while I smelled the same amber that I smell in Thunder Moon, which is very sweet on my skin, but not powdery. Okay, maybe a little powdery but that could be the musk. I don't get a lot of musk from this, for me it's there but more of a supporting note. I couldn't really pick out davana here, even though I've tried davana essential oil on my skin (I realize it could be different as a perfume note). Overall this works and I do like it, but it's so much like F5 and Thunder Moon to me that I really wouldn't need more than a decant. Don't get me wrong.....Pollution stands on its own, but it does seem to be in the same category as those other two scents in my opinion.

Mostly woods and a touch of powder that comes across as slightly papery on my skin....but not as much as, say, Mr. Ibis. Still, I'm not crazy about paper/powdery, so at first I didn't like this all that much. Later on as it dries the sandalwood comes out stronger, which almost wins me over. It's a lovely sandalwood that keeps nuzzling my nose, still slightly powdery, but not bad. Still.....for this kind of thing, I think I prefer Chintimani-Dhupa with its exotic twist. I wanted more of the herbs.....mint and lemon peel would be great, but they run and hide on my skin. It's okay, plenty of other herbal/woodsy scents in the catalogue for me to love!

Out of the different lily notes that Beth uses, there are one or two (maybe more) that start out as SOAP and develop into SOAPSOAPSOAP on my skin. Guess what? Witch Queen has that note. It drowns out everything else in the scent and also 'ruins' my nose for any other scent, for a couple hours, even after I wash it off. I think after a long while the other notes might come out, but I just can't get past that soapy lily. It happened with Sepulcher and Kostnice too, if I remember correctly.

The Shivering Boy is lovely.......bright and frosty grapes with some winter greenery and resins. : ) It's in the current Yule LE's.

I really like this scent. It's fairly potent and long lasting, and I would call it masculine, but not completely out of the realm for women (from the reviews, sounds like at least some of the girls around here like it!). It smells zingy to me, with a touch of ozone, rather metallic (I have no idea how Beth does that), and I personally smell a touch of lime in here too. Overall the effect as others have said is cologne or after-shave, with an industrial flavor, which sounds totally weird, but......just read the description. If you think that sounds good, you would probably like it. Comparison time: this reminds me of Scarecrow's industrial counterpart. Metal Scarecrow. I'm not sure if they even share any notes but the feeling of it kept reminding me of Scarecrow, somehow. I almost want a whole bottle of this, even with my new, more strict decants-not-bottles rule. Edit: Forgot to add.......there really is a motor oil note in this. I can definitely smell it. And oddly it works!

Santa Muerte.....this is quite a nice scent, mostly floral for me, but I like it. Mostly what I smell is rose and chrysanthemum, which I recognize from Mum Moon. I'm not getting much else, can't really pick out the vetiver. I like this, it makes me feel classy. I will enjoy wearing this again!

This is quite lovely and if you like the old Hunter Moon, you might really like this. It starts out, in the 'wet' phase, as a bright and lively grape-ish scent, with a delicate frost and a touch of winter greenery. Later on it deepens, and becomes a frosty foresty grape scent with resins. Very nice! It's like the winter counterpart to the older Hunter Moon which I love. Definitely bottle-worthy, this one.

Lilith……this has the same myrrh note as Penitence and Omen, and lots of it. It’s too sweet for me and comes off powdery on my skin. I can’t even smell the other notes, even after giving it time to develop on my skin a little bit. Not for me! (later) Hmm, I looked up the other notes in this. I like black musk, red wine works sometimes, and I’ve been more open to rose lately. So after I read those, I decided not to wash Lilith off. And I keep sniffing my wrist where I tested it. I like it more now, and it might be growing on me. I think the rose is coming out, just a little bit. So, long story short, I might like this enough to keep the imp. (over an hour later….) Okay, the black musk finally overcame the myrrh. It’s still somewhat powdery, but I do actually like this. I guess I’ll keep the imp after all!

Bess…..at first, this smells just plain weird on my skin. I can’t even make sense of it. Later, it settles down into something light, herbal, and slightly fruity. It’s not bad, really. Just not doing a whole lot for me. Reminds me of Himerus a little. Nope….this one’s just not for me.

I ended up wearing Doc Buzzard for NYE, just a couple teeny dabs and some in my hair. For Christmas Eve, I wore Premature Burial, which for me is actually really light and clean, kind of refreshing (especially considering the name and concept behind it!). It reminds me a bit of Demeter's Wet Garden, only better and longer lasting.

I've been meaning to complain about this for a while but was never sure where to do it. Let me just get it out of my system so I can move on. I get so irritated when I see someone post: "Oh, just buy the bottle! Even if you don't like it, you can always swap it later!" Um, I disagree that it's totally easy to just swap stuff away. I have had lots of good swaps, and even successful sales, so don't get me wrong. Also....I do not bump my swaps/sales posts a whole lot, not even once a week. Usually I'll give it a bump just to keep it from being sent to the post cemetery. So it could possibly be said that I don't try hard enough. BUT....... I couldn't even swap away rares like Vanilla Bean SN, Corazon, Ice Queen, Snow Angel......things I wanted to swap for stuff on my wish-list, which IMO is a pretty long one and not too narrow. And I don't think I was being too picky about what I would swap for. A single note for a single note......well, that's what most everyone else does, isn't it? A whole bottle of Samhain sat on my swaps/sales pages for weeks, until I finally decided I would rather just keep it. In fact, I took pretty much everything off my posts and even retired my swaps post. Actually I'm not completely bitter. Part of it is indecision on my part. I hate to get rid of something unless I'm absolutely sure it's not going to work for me (Pruno, Selkie, ahem....). I'm glad I didn't get rid of Samhainophobia because it turns out I really do like it. Also....I don't regret my purchases. I have found a new hobby and I feel more enriched because of it. : )

Pruno! The scent (well, one of two scents) that commemorated Paris Hilton's brief stay in the pokey. LE but not hard to find!

Wow, thread merged at lightning speed! I'm going to an impromptu lunch-time meet 'n sniff at Moonarcana's tomorrow, so I imagine we'll be testing all sorts of things up and down the arms. I'm looking forward to trying Emathides again because I know she has that. As for tomorrow night......well, I may not wear any scent at all! Lately I've been going 'bare' more often, something going on with my nose, I'm not sure why.....but scents have been getting on my nerves a little. I may dab on just a little bit of Djinn, since it's usually my going-out-at-night scent. We shall see. Also the party I'm going to is with a leather crowd and they discourage the wearing of cologne/perfume.....not that I've ever been much of a conformist.......but I know I would stick out like a sore thumb, so we'll see. If anything it will be something dark and/or smokey.