myoubi

[copied and pasted from my notes]

NOTES: dayyy-um. Spicy, earthy, incense-y - lots of patchouli on my skin. This stuff has throw, I could smell the bottle from two feet away when it was closed and taped up. I smell clove -- maybe cardamom too? A little dusty as well. It's not what I was expecting, and surprisingly I'm not getting a lot of tobacco from it -- in other blends, tobacco amps on me like no tomorrow. From farther away I get a sort of berryish sweetness -- I can't reiterate enough, this stuff has throw, I put a very teensy dab on my wrists and they're a foot and a half from my nose and it's quite fragrant. It's definately not a tame blend. After about 10 minutes the clove dies down a bit, revealing something dark and dusty-sweet. Beautiful. It has some notes in common with Trick 2, that much I can discern, but my nose isn't sensitive enough to know what they are. I'm very glad I got to try this -- it's so different from everything I normally wear, but still very lovely.

COMPARISONS: The comparisons to Perversion were what sold me on the blend, but on me this is nothing like Perversion at all -- Perversion is much sweeter on my skin, and more tobacco-y. This is dry and dusty with a twining dark sweetness underneath. It's very compelling, and if I had to I'd compare it to Trick 2 and maybe even Schwarzer Mond (although Mond didn't love me, they have at least one ingredient in common, methinks). It's not like Smut on me at all, which is universally good. Something about it reminds me very vaguely of Mme Moriarty, although I didn't love her either -- it has that same dusty-but-sexy tone. If there's vanilla in here, andI think there may be a bit, it's deeply buried because my skin usually amps it like crazy.

CONCLUSIONS: this was a long review because this scent deserved it! I like it. I'm not head-over-heels for it, but it's in my top 10, and I'm keeping my bottle because there's nothing else like it in my collection. 4/5

verra sweet. Rather too sweet, actually. I smell all four notes, but mostly the pear -- with the white wine to make it alcoholic. I wish I could give a better review, but I washed it off after seven minutes because it was giving me a headache. If it helps, during that time it didn't really change much.

Peh. Must give up on the fruity blends, they just aren't for me.

Sweet Orchid, with a hint of something dusty-musky underneath -- but mostly orchid. Mmmph. Way too pretty-femenine for me.

Three out of three testers agree that Siren smells like slinky goodness. And when I was wearing Blood Pearl, two male friends felt the need to hug me even more than usual...

agh *choke* why?? Why is it that all the phenomenal scents that everyone else loves smell nasty on me?

On me, Hellion was a too-spicy, headshoppy mess that dried down to a pungent musky plum. I was really looking forward to Hellion because the other reviews were so lovely; sadly, this pulled a Mme Moriarty on me, enticing me with promises and then ending up smelling faintly of spicy kitchen dust.

Surprisingly, I like this fragrance -- surprising because it contains coconut, a note I usually find cloyingly sweet, and blood musk, which is usually too dark for me. This certainly isn't a perfume with universal appeal. It's a deep velvety-lush scent that has throw but doesn't scream its presence; on someone else it could be vampy and sexy, but on me I find it oddly comforting. Like having a big fuzzy pet monster that's scary to everyone else but nice to me.

I can smell all the component notes, they're distinct, but the combination takes the edge off of all of them -- the coconut isn't sweet and cloying but velvety, the blood musk doesn't have the nails-on-a-blackboard feel it usually does on my skin, but growls rather than stinks. The orris makes it more delicate. I'll keep the imp, although I doubt I'll need more.

I had a good feeling about this blend, and it paid off. My skin amps powder like nothing else (except vanilla), but this turns into a lovely silvery gently-sweet powder with an underlying carnation kick. I'm surprised that I like the carnation in this because usually carnation makes me cringe and reach for the soap...

This is lovely. Although there are blends I like more, I could wear this every day for the rest of my life and not complain too much a big bottle is necessaary.

I personally like MB: Closet, but for without fruity Underbed would be your best bet. Or Eat Me, which is not LE and still smells pretty durn foody.

Fleh! Damp greenery with a sickeningly sweet ripple. Not for me.

Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this one. On balance, I think I kind of like it. It's gotten cautiously favourable reviews from most of my sniff-testers so I think I'll keep the imp...

IN IMP: Mm, lovely! Very sweet, not at all what I was expecting.

WET ON SKIN: Okay, now I'm getting that kind of stale milk smell that other people have written about. Yet, somehow it's still attractive-smelling -- I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

DRY, 10 MINUTES LATER: **snffsnff** h'mm, this is actually nice. If anyone's ever tasted Japanese milk-flavoured candy, that's what this smells like. I won't reach for it often, but I'll definately go through my imp.

Body Shop strawberries. with a hint of something fizzy trying to fight its way through the suffocating plastic fruit.

fruity blends hate my skin, apparently. not for me.

I'm not sure what to think of this one. I get mostly ginger-vanilla with a hint of something cutting it [jasmine, I think]. I don't know how old this imp is, but the oil is certainly viscous, and my skin feels softer where the oil has touched it... I don't get any apricot at all, except when my nose is about two inches away from my skin -- any closer or farther, and there's no fruit at all. don't ask me why.

she has nice throw -- even my crippled nose can smell my wrists from about a foot and a half away, and I applied lightly. Sweet and enticing. I'll keep the imp for when I'm in the mood, but I don't need a bottle of this.

ETA: Forget 'bottle', I want to bathe in this. I don't know what I was thinking -- this dries down to the most gorgeous apricot-vanilla that blends very well with skin. Yumm.

IN IMP: Yep, restroom handsoap is right.

DRYING: Lily! I think the frankincense is trying to fight its way through though. Who will win?

DRY: Generalised floral with frankincense screaming to be let out. Meh. Not for me.

This is the 05 version.

Dammit, I was hoping for incense. I get sweet greenery, with a hint of something soft or musty underneath, and if I seriously huff my wrist I maybe get a hint of spicy incense. Mostly I get cactus, and while it's certainly not unpleasant, there are things I'd rather smell like. Surprisingly, I got almost none of the foodiness, and Dia didn't turn omgCOCOA on me like a lot of blends do; however, it doesn't morph much either, and so Ihave this light desert-y sweet cactus smell and I keep looking longingly at La Fee Verte.

Eventually I got bored, washed Dia off and put on something I like better. Someone will love this; just not me.

this one was kinda... meh.

I'm paraphrasing this review from my notes, since I swapped HGM off the very same day I received it. All I got was slightly musty-sweet vanilla, rice and grapefruit. It wasn't unpleasant, but at the same time it wasn't that nice either. I didn't object to it, it was even kinda good on the occasional whiff; but not something I would've chosen to smell like. It was very warm, and didn't morph much, and stayed on my skin all night and into the next day.

All in all: warm, sweetly musty and meh.

Mmmm.... this blend is my stompy colourful blend! if this were a song, it would be 'Volcano Girls' by Veruca Salt.

Wet, it's fruity and rather sweet and almost reminiscent of hard candies. It dries down to primarily poppy and sage at first, with a backdrop of blackberry and bubblegummy lotus... the tonka comes out to play very late in the game, a couple of hours later. It's not a 'happy' blend, in fact is herbal and not obviously exciteable at first sniff -- but it's definately colourful, and there's something really energetic about it, I think it's the blackberries, giving it punch. I'd love to find a 5mL.

Apparently, another one I've never reviewed. I really need to be more on top of these things.

Jacob's Ladder is my classy, daytime, going-out-to-lunch scent. It's golden and surprisingly sweet with amber at first, and that goes steady for the first few hours until it dries down to a powdery amber-ambrette-tonka. It disappears relatively quickly, unfortunately -- totally gone after six hours -- but while it's there I feel bright and beautiful and on top of the world. If I had to categorize this one by Look (as I do with most of my perfumes ) this one is a well-cut coat, sleek blow-dried hair and a sincere diamond smile. Wearing JL makes me feel like a million dollars, and it's great for a pick-me-up or to celebrate waking up happy.

/end gushing.

I can't believe I've never reviewed this blend!

I have three bottles of Stardust. While I've reason to think that's overkill -- I really don't slather, and this certainly isn't one to reach for every day -- I just wanted to be sure I never ran out. Besides, sometimes it's fun to wear dressy things out in the day. Wearing Stardust in the day time is kind of like wearing opera pearls to lunch

On me, stardust 05 smells firstly of hairspray, but not unpleasantly. As soon as that dissipates, I get a white floral overlaid with fizzy sparkly champagne -- a cold, clear white scent that's just a little bit dirty. To me it's very jaded and devil-may-care and makes me feel awfully glamorous. The drydown is muskmuskmusk, which is the only thing I dislike about it; after 8 hours, I'd like it if the remaining scent had at least a little mroe complexity. Still, given that most of the time I'd be wearing it would be for 4-6 hour parties in the evening, that's not really a problem!

Stardust is gorgeous, and hugely underrated. I'm really sad so few people seem to adore it...

oh dear I wanted so to like it! sadly, I get nothing but musty, stale earth when I put this on my arm, and only the faintest hint of floral when I wedge my nose against my wrist and huff. Whyyy?

Spicy melon candy that dries down to creamy sweet tea. It's beautiful. I'd write a better review, but I only tested a little of this from a friend's bottle; but suffice to say that if I could get my hands on some, I'd do so in a trice. Candyish without being sweet or syrupy, with a little kick; buoyant and happy and fizzy. Yum.

spicy red wine and roses. This is a beautiful and complex scent in the imp, but on my skin it just makes me smell like an expensive alcoholic. Not for me.

WET/ON SKIN: Cinnamon. blasts of cinnamon.

DRY:...and copal. and a touch of honeysuckle. this smells sweet and slightly food-like without being foody, if that makes sense. it's warm and alluring, but in a weird way a little dangerous. This is my I'm-feeling-badass scent

a keeper. and maybe, maybe a big bottle purchase. I'll definately refresh the imp.

ETA: I've refreshed this three times in the last 18 hours. And not because it was gone, just because I wanted to smell it more. This is definately going to be a bottle. I really didn't expect to like this, but mmmmm.

this is lovely it starts out a warm vanilla and dries down to vanilla-sandalwood with saffron; I don't get so much of the rum, though. It was nice to try it, and I'll keep my imp; but the drydown of Lick It Again smells basically the same only it's cool while Underpants is warm. Close enough that I don't care to go hunting all over hell's half-acre for a bottle of Undies.

RATING: Three and a half stars -- nice, solid, lovely, but not an OMGneedmore.

at first, quite bracingly minty. Once the ZOMGmint has burned off, it's yummy creamy sugar with just a little touch of nose-clearing menthol. I enjoy this, although I'm not sure I need the full 5mL I've got.

the drydown is really nice though... mmm ((inhales 'nilla-y goodness from wrist)) this will be perfect for Christmas party wear.

ETA: mmmm forget my earlier assessment, i'm totally going to wear through the whole bottle at the rate I'm going. Also, for MB: Underpants lovers -- the drydown to me smells close to how Underpants smells when it's wet (no saffron, but otherwise identical). if you don't care about the cachet of having a supercoveted scent, then this is a good alternative...

Weird. Everyone else seems to be getting flowers. I get.... leather.

WET/DRYING: leather. leather and oakmoss, softened by something but I couldn't tell you what -- it's not harsh, and it's ever-so-slightly dusky and smoky, and there's something that does make it femenine which I guess must be the floral peeking through. But the note that hits my nose is prettymuch pure leather.

DRY-ER: odd, it's souring a little bit now. This stuff has throw -- my schnozz is mediocre at best but I can smell it from a few feet away on my wrists.

this is fine, there's nothing wrong with it, but I won't use up my imp and there's no sense in my buying a bottle. off it goes.