ND¢

In the bottle: very much a fir tree smell. There's something darker about it, almost harsh but not unpleasant.

 

On me: The fir smell takes on something spicy and also a sweetness, like berries. I'm not getting the moss or dirt or air or whatever they're talking about. I really expected this one to be darker. It's more of a spicy-herb green than anything, and it does smell very nice when I stop thinking about what I thought it'd smell like. This one gets compared to Yggdrasil a bit, as I recall. It's more tree-y, less mediciney, but the berry-ness keeps it from being a straight forest scent. Good staying power. I like this one, but it's not my style. I really wish it had been.

Got this one for free with my first order. Now, I generally would not think much of the idea of a flower/sandalwood perfume. I don't like floral scents, but on it went....

 

In the bottle: The sandalwood (like the patchouli of Depraved) is not as horribly overdone as cheap perfume and incense. It makes me think 'so this is what sandalwood should really smell like.' It does have some floral note, not at all sharp, so that must be iris? It's not at all overwhelming. I might concede a vaguely herbal 'tone' to the sandalwood. It smells sort of sexy in a feminine but not girlish way.

 

On me: I actually liked this a lot, but it's not my style. A really round, golden overtone of frankincense that seems lightened by a subtle flower (nothing sharp or sweet. I don't recall iris having a smell, but whatever.) The sandalwood stays subtle and nice, and the faint herb smell persists.

In the bottle: Vitabath, or some overly herbal shower preparation my mom had when I was a kid. Just enough sharpness to give me a negative impression because it's more like the sharpness of herbal soap (and because what I was expecting was rain.)

 

On me: My fellow said it smelled sort of like ozone, but I didn't get that. Or rain, or breeze. It's not a bad smell, you know? But it's not RAIN. It's a little floral (but very light, not flowery.) Like a classy floral dryer sheet. I'm not a floral kind of girl, but this would be the one to go for if I was, because it's not childish or heavy. Oh well, guess I'll go on searching for that smell of petrichor....

In the bottle: I'm thinking 'what is this, Lemon Pledge.' Then I breathe out and realize it's bergamot. Five minutes later I'm still standing there sniffing; it's pretty interesting. I don't smell any leather.

On me: A bit lemony and the bergamot is lessened but now I can smell (sort of) what they're talking about with the leather. To me it smells like a flat bottom note that keeps the lemon/bergamot from being out of control. I can't stop sniffing it. Light, but compelling. No sharpness. Then I started to think I was smelling the leather. Seemed to fade to a ghost of a pleasing old man quickly. Less staying power than anything else I've tried, and that's disappointing. I ordered a bottle right away.

You know, I don't really like the smell of patchouli, associated as it is with cheap incense and pseudo-hippies and all those great connotations. I couldn't remember why I ordered this as I opened it.

 

In the bottle: But it's not a heavy, awful patchouli. It's green-smelling almost, and what they're calling apricot does come through, lightening and sweetening it (but not enough to make it sharp like whatever the sweet note was in Jack.) I had my fellow sniff it and he said, 'Dandelion.' It was complicated. My favorite so far.

 

On me: Can definitely smell the apricot, or peach, whatever's lightening this. It combines well with the patchouli, making a unique smell out of what may be the most played-out one in the world. It dries down to, of all things, vague patchouli and freshly cut cedar, then back to plain (still light) patchouli with a cedar hint. Great, fresh, simple and sexy.

In the bottle: Some super-berry smell. Very one-dimensional.

 

On me: The berry loosened up somewhat to include a note I couldn't identify. I guess that's supposed to be champagne? It's not sour like champagne, but it's round, adds some dimension... like the barrel a white wine was stored in. MUCH more subtle. This would be a perfect perfume for an outgoing party girl, out with her friends at the center of an evening's partygoings-- which I am not. When I let it sit for a while, the champagne does come out a bit. Toned itself down surprisingly well.

In the bottle: Hard to identify. Something herbally medicinal, a little pipe tobacco maybe? Something sweet.

 

On me: The second I put it on I thought 'wintermint gum tobacco air-freshener!' Something I can't put my finger on that smells very familiar. People compare Nocnitsa with this, I think I've observed. This definitely is more like herbal medicine and less like spicy berry-fir. Icy Hot! That's what it is. My mom used to put it on my dad when I was a little kid.

 

As it sits, the Icy Hot fades, and it starts to seem more clean, herbal. Not light, friendly herbal, definitely a darker herbal. But eventually it did grow to be more of a perfumey scent ('sharpness,' I guess, is what I associate with it being 'like perfume') and it didn't suit my skin. I'm not sure if my body chemistry just can't carry it off, didn't react well with it or what. I think a gentler, less piercing forest smell would be right up my alley.

In the bottle: Winter berries and faint greenery.

 

On me: The berry is dominant, but seems like a wild winter berry smell than anything... a nice if subtle distinction. Was hoping for more sage and musk, but sage would be so subtle as to be overwhelmed. The musk is there as an undercurrent that makes me think about old-timey holiday parties, drinking and eating elaborate courses and dancing, but fades out. And then this is a berry perfume. Green tea? Not on me. I'll be looking to swap this one.

In the bottle: A little like cleaning solution (the bleach kind rather than the Pine-Sol kind), but not unpleasant, with a vague herby scent I eventually identified as plains grass.

 

On me: no cleaning solution smell. Brought out a sweet and more overtly herbal overtone, less like grass and more aromatic. A bright, warm smell that manages to be crisp and not muddled without overpowering my easily-overpowered nose. As it dried I started thinking about the sort of flowers that grow in dry places and sharp fresh-chopped wood, though I'm not getting anything scorched or barren about it. I'd compare it to Yggdrasil, not in the actual scent at all but in the way that the potent herbal tone asserts itself and sets the tone as an aggressive perfume.

 

But then later I noticed that on the wrist that just got a second-hand taste, it's woody, soapy, comforting. Maybe if I used less I wouldn't get so blown away by smells. I tried that, just a dot; but it went through pretty much the same process on a smaller scale. I can see how people would describe it as masculine, but I think that's more of a stereotypical classification than a useful one in this case. I actually found it a good deal more floral than I was expecting. If it'd stayed at all like the smell in the bottle, I think it'd have been more desolate and barren, etc.

In the bottle: Something rich, like butter. A sharp sweet note every so often, maybe peach? Something more like potpourri than clove and nutmeg.

 

I got some on me, so I took a break and sat there smelling. Potpourri again, Glade Plug-ins if you smell the jelly up close? I guess I can try once more and leave it longer to see if I like smelling like 'Autumn Fresh' air freshener, but I think not.

 

After I washed it off and waited a while, I could still smell a bit of it. Better, more evocative of an autumn holiday. I'm going to keep it for room scent. NICE room scent for this fall, when we're having to move and unpack all our boxes right in time for Halloween.