forspecial_plate

Neo-Tokyo, maybe? Also Zombi....freshly turned, moist dirt with a capital D, and flowers...the dirt calms down after a while. Not really a city scent, but kind of humid and floral, like Demeter's Wet Garden (in my opinion), with more dirt...I could be way off base here.

Wolf Moon is deep and murky at first....seems aquatic to me, somehow, with pine. There is a sweet/tart fruitiness that reminds me a little bit of Bayou. Then after a while, the juniper blooms in a big way (and in this case I don't hate the juniper...I actually like it!). It's a complex blend that I really like. I couldn't 'find' some of the notes listed....amber and black musk are nowhere to be found on my skin, unless they are quietly supporting the other notes. All in all a wonderful scent, although it's kind of quiet and brooding on me, and I wish it had just a little more throw. This is a keeper, I think.

Orpheus is fresh and green smelling, just like lots of others said. There's something in it that reminds me a lot of a commercial perfume, maybe the lavender or benzoin, or maybe just the combination of notes. After a while some of the sharp pointy notes become more rounded out, and it's sweeter but still has that green feel to it. It reminds me of the Apothecary although I didn't do a side-by-side test of the two. I like it enough to keep the Imp around, maybe not enough to buy a bottle.

Thanatos!...I just put some on this morning. "Dry white sandalwood and soft Siamese benzoin over a lugubrious blend of myrrh, Moroccan rose, mastic, tomb moss and a thin whiff of Greek incense". The rose is pretty strong on me, but there is a little bit of sharp green note (the tomb moss?), sandalwood, and the incense. I don't know what mastic is. It's one of the few rose scents that I can wear...maybe the only one?!

Without reading, I wouldn't have guessed this had pine *or* earth notes, at first. For me it's sharp, green and herbal, with some eucalyptus or other herb, something almost ammonia-like which fades within a few minutes. There is a sweetness that I can't identify, and also something citrus-like. Then, around the 30 minute mark, the pine comes out. Wow! NOW I smell pine. The sweet and citrus are still there, too. Now it smells like how I imagine Yule to smell. This smells good. It wasn't what I was expecting, but that's not unusual. I was expecting something more like Zombi, I think. But I like this. Not sure that I would wear it often, but it might be nice to keep around to wear every once in a while.

Mmmm, this is just as good as I was hoping it would be! Starts out with a candy orange scent, with the patchouli starting to emerge. To me it's very much like the patchouli in Snake Oil. Great herbal/orange combination that stays pretty balanced throughout the drying part. The notes stay kind of separate which isn't a bad thing. I'm curious as to how this will age. I think citrus ages faster than other notes but as we know, Snake Oil ages wonderfully, and this reminds me somewhat of Snake Oil so we'll see.

Chaos Theory III Strange Attractors CLXVI (166) DARK. Smokey, herbal, spices, sweet cinders, maybe leather? The devil smiley is appropriate. On first try, I'll be honest...this was repellant to me. It smelled strongly of burnt rubber, tar, or pitch. I could tell there was a little bit of sweetness in there, and some herbal quality like eucalyptus or hyssop. However…I had to wash it off, the burning smell was making me feel queasy. I decided to put it away for a while, so I put it in a dark cabinet for a month or two. When I tried it again, it was much smoother, and closer to blackwifey’s review (although I haven’t smelled Medicine Show, Geek, or Herr Drosselmeyer so I don’t know how it compares to those). I’m smelling strong herbal, slightly burnt or smokey, a little mint or eucalyptus, or some other herb, possibly a touch of leather. There is some sweetness that I can’t identify….resin? Vanilla? Maybe vanilla. As it dries, it sweetens even more. It’s amazing how a little time in a cabinet settled this down to something I can handle. Still…my original two CT’s from the lab work much better for me. Edit: I think I should mention that I swapped this away (I think.....unless it's still hiding in my closet, somewhere!), because I just couldn't handle it after all. Just too acrid, it kind of gave me a headache after a while.

In the vial this is straight up dirt, very potent. Then on my skin the florals bloom and the moist mosses come out, and I'm in love. I would love to wear this to some outdoor party or event in the spring time. Honestly the rose is threatening to take over but it's stopping just short of overpowering the other notes. I hope it stays just like this. Reminds me a lot of my favorite Demeter combination, Wet Garden and Dirt.

Smells like gin, maybe a little something fruity as well, or maybe that's just juniper. I don't know....not doing much for me, really....I don't drink any more, and I wouldn't want to wear this as a scent. It reminds me of a Demeter scent, I guess because of the alcohol, and the lightness of it. Just not my thing.

Bat-Woman is a lovely, soft, whispering floral that smells good on my skin. At first I can smell the night blooming flowers and tartness (I think from the verbena) that remind me a lot of Bayou. Bat-Woman has more of a dry, almost dusty, sighing feel to it. I don't smell any lavender. After a while the florals back off and I think what I'm smelling is the grey amber. It's a very pretty scent...not sure I would wear this in public because it is somewhat feminine to me. I don't know, maybe I could pull it off.

Himerus is most interesting because of what I can't smell in it. I think I mostly get lilac, sandalwood, and maybe a little orchid, but nothing else! No juniper whatsoever, and no red musk, at least not the red musk that I know from other scents in the catalogue. It smells softly sweet with just a little wood. I thought rosewood turned to strong powder on me but it's not doing that here, so maybe I was wrong. It's more fruity than spicy, and it's really strange that I can't smell the juniper, unless that's the fruitiness. I do like this, although it doesn't wow me, it's more of a curiosity. Might be a little too sweet and soft for me. It reminds me a lot of a couple of the Salon blends (Penitent Magdalen and Carceri D'Invenzione), so honestly I don't have much reason to wear this when I like those a little better.

The Penitent Magdalen starts out sweet, floral, nearly powdery, with some sandalwood. The powdery aspect fades pretty quickly. I'm getting the musk and honey just a little, and a little bit of amber. I'm really not familiar with any of these florals, though. It reminds me a bit of Carceri D'Invenzione, although they only share sandalwood as far as I can tell (maybe blonde musk and blonde tobacco smell alike?). Anyway...I do like this, even though it's a little sweet and floral for me, so I will probably hold onto it for a while and try it again later. It might get even better with some aging.

When I first put on Pride it had an odd, sharp herbal feel to it, but it quickly settled into a potent floral. I hadn't read the notes (I think I got it confused with Envy, so I wasn't expecting all that floral), and I kept thinking, 'what flower is this? heliotrope?'. I did think it smelled like rose but I must have been smelling the narcissus too, because it was more than just rose. Anyway, bottom line, this one isn't for me. Very womanly floral, to my nose. It's very strong with a lot of throw and might have lasted a long time if I didn't wash it off!

At first, this is like a commercial cologne, something more masculine I would say. I can smell the anise in there a little but the rest is pretty much blended together. I can pick out the amber and the lavender kind of drifts in and out of it. It seems to swirl around a lot for a while. Then after about an hour, the amber takes over almost completely! I like the smell of amber, more as a room scent than a cologne [Edit: WTF? This was obviously before I got to know amber a little better]. It smells good but I would like some of the other notes to come out more. Maybe a scent locket would be good for this. I'm going to let it age for a while and try again. Edit: almost a year later, I like this a lot more. It seems close to Wilde to me, but I didn't like Wilde and I do like Casanova. The tonka seems to anchor this or round it out a little. Other than that I find that this is expertly blended and none of the notes really stand out (especially leather, which takes over on my skin sometimes). I think sometimes lavender smells like basil to me, this seems to have a hint of basil. I likie! I'm glad I kept trying it. Edit Final verdict, this is just a little too salty for me. I don't know why it seems salty, but it does. I'll stick with Vicomte De Velmonte for now.

This just goes to show, I can read descriptions and notes until my eyes cross and still can't tell what's going to work and not work for me. Centzon Totochtin came as a freebie from the lab and it's quite an amazing scent. Starts with cocoa, which often doesn't work for me, because it can turn dusty. Then some sweet, dark, fruity wine comes forward, blending with the cocoa, just for a few minutes. And finally dragon's blood resin comes out, I'm almost sure of it. This note threatens to take over, which it does in other blends, but never quite steps over the line. I'm not sure I really got the rum, seems to be a supporting note for me. A couple hours later the cocoa seems to get a second wind. I can tell that dustiness is almost there but the other notes keep it spicy and rich, and almost sweet but not quite. What's amazing is that wine, cocoa, and dragon's blood resin (if that is truly in this) are three notes that usually turn me off. That's why I wouldn't have gone out of my way to try this. But they come together to make something deep, dark, sexy, almost smokey. The throw is just right...strong but not too strong. I honestly thought I was getting tired of the darker blends but I guess I wasn't! This isn't an every-day scent. I think it's for special occasions, or maybe just special moods.

Lycaon is definitely dark and herbal...nothing powdery whatsoever, which was my big fear. I think what I smell mostly is patchouli, wood, and olive leaf. I really don't know how to describe olive leaf but I recognize it from Haloa. I agree that this is a lot like Schwarzer Mond, except without the bay that turned on me in that blend. This isn't nearly as sweet as I was imagining it would be. I was expecting at least a little powder from the black musk, myrrh, and/or opoponax. I can smell these things but they seem to be extremely well balanced with the herbal notes. I'm not sure I can smell any ginger at all, but it's one of those notes that is touch and go with me. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes not. I'm on the fence. I wouldn't say I love it, but I definitely can wear it. I'm going to hold onto it and let it age for a few weeks, and try again. Could be this will grow on me in a big way. If nothing else, this would fill the void left when Schwarzer Mond ended up not working for me.

This is one of my favorites of the Salon scents that I've tried. It's wonderful, woodsy and peppery, sweet and resinous. Gingersnapp is right...something smells like musk in this, but not red musk to me, at least not like the red musk in Scherezade or Fenris Wolf.....I don't know, maybe a golden musk. I have both an older imp of this and a brand new one. I think with age it has lost some of the sharper spicy edges and gained some dusty sweetness, but not dusty in a bad way. It strikes me that this is what I wanted Cathedral to smell like (although I do like Cathedral).

I know I'm not the only one who plans in advance what scent I'm going to wear on a special occasion. Spill it! For Christmas celebrations, I wore Shub-Niggurath to my dad's, then later I wore Jolasveinar to my great-grandmother's. There were many people at my great-grandma's so I think the Jolasveinar was kind of drowned out by other perfumes there. Also after hugging 50 aunts, grandmas, cousins, etc....you sort of end up wearing everyone's perfume. For a long time I thought I would wear Penitence for Christmas but I decided I wanted to be less solemn and more festive. For New Year's Eve (small party at friend's house), I haven't decided yet but I'm thinking Shub again. No reason to hold back now since it's a GC scent again! Runners up would be Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, or Death of the Grave-Digger.

Ochosi starts out fresh, faintly herbal smelling. On my skin it quickly develops a woody smell that I like. Green, young wood, with a sweetness and some herbs. It has very little throw at first but then it starts to 'put out' more, kind of the same way Aureus behaves on my skin. This is sweeter though by far, and as time goes by it veers toward a cleaning product quality, with hints of something fruity like banana. These are just minor facets of the scent overall, basically it stays sweet, woody, herbal and fresh throughout. It's a nice scent and I can see the similarity to Obatala. I'm not sure that I would need whole bottles of both but might eventually want one or the other, and the woods might make Ochosi the winner. edit to add: I can almost swear that there is a touch of champaca flower in this. It's a note that my skin likes to shout out, and I recognize it from Dr. John Seward and Two Monsters. It's what was giving me that 'banana' feel earlier.

I do like patchouli....I love smelling like a smelly sweaty death bunny. I did a search for patchouli on the bpal site and hadn't realized there were so many results....44!! And I haven't even smelled most of them. You have inspired me to try more. However, I don't really get any patchouli from the Caterpillar, although it's there. It's mostly jasmine at first, then calms down and some of the other notes come out. No patchouli, though, that I can smell. So, if you don't like jasmine, I guess that doesn't really help. *shrugs*

Kali smells smooth, velvety and brown to me. I was a little surprised when I re-read the list of notes....this smells more simple to me, I'm really not picking up half of those notes but I'm not great at picking out florals anyway. I can smell mostly cocoa or chocolate, maybe some rose and lotus, and a little honey and a *smidge* of tobacco. The rest, I'm not sure I would recognize even if I did smell them. Not sure I'm getting any balsam at all...although looking it up, that could be a kind of wood or a kind of flower (another name for impatiens apparently). I keep thinking I smell coffee in it, but that might just be the chocolate. Anyway, without picking it apart, it's dark, smooth, quiet, and 'brown' smelling to me, and that's not in a bad way. Kind of reminds me of what I'm expecting Velvet to smell like. Kind of a sexy scent, and I think I might give this imp to my friend Kevin because he has a cat named Kali. I like it but not enough to seek out a whole bottle of it.

This is a smooth, quiet blend. Starts out kind of sharp and soapy, and I'm pretty sure that's the jasmine. But the sharpness dies down, and it becomes a little less soapy...still mostly floral, but the teak is there a little bit. The tea note might just be a subtle supporting note. Nice scent, not sure I would get much use out of it though.

Starts out candy-like orange that reminds me of some suntan lotion I remember from when I was little. As usual the citrus fades...although this one stays around a little longer than normal for me. The fig comes forward and yes, it does smell sensual. Still a little sweet for me to enjoy on a regular basis.

This is nice, smells chilly and kind of tart to me. Can't really pick out notes...I would say the 'snow' is the strongest note, then a little sweetness/tartness which I guess is the resins. I would say the soil is a very subtle supporting note. I like this. I don't think I need a whole lot of scents in this category, but it's nice to have a few imps around. edit to add: This vial had another faulty cap that somehow got past my ruthless scrutiny. The result is one of the best smelling imp-boxes around. I think this would make a wonderful, POTENT room scent and I might just use the rest of it for that. Edit: I have to edit this again to say that Death of the Grave Digger has become one of my favorite of the Salon blends. I like this just a little more than Cloister Graveyard, although they're both great. I like this enough to get a full bottle some day, even though I don't wear it a whole lot.

That makes sense. Thanks for the almost-instant answer!