AlectoNox

Fire of Love - this smelled strange in the bottle but I dabbed some on anyway. Within three minutes I was running for the sink to wash it off. What did it smell like, you wonder? The English language does not have words sufficient enough to describe this scent. Now, I do have an insane body chemistry due to my diet, failing internal organs, and climate. I have been known to take a perfectly good rose or wine scent and turn it into noxious fumes, and mint nigh makes me faint for some reason. I don't even know what note exactly it was in this because I couldn't pick out any individual scents, it was just like being whacked upside the head with a mallet made of wrongness. On the upside, if I were a supervillianess and you needed to put a stop to my reign of terror, all you would need to do is buy a ton of Fire of Love from your friendly neighborhood super-lab, dig a moat around my fortress and pour it in. I would emerge 10 minutes later waving a white flag and weeping like a little girl. I do hope I figure out what note it is in this that upsets my stomach so, so that I can avoid it in the future. Damn my body chemistry! Hated enemy You are neither fire nor love But my undoing

At first sniff - frosty! That cold wet scent of slush and pine and mountains, everything perfectly agreeable to my nose. Drying down - is that mint? Yes. I'm smelling some mintyness here, like ice breaker gum. I'm not too fond of mint scents ever since Jabberwocky tried to kill me. Oh, curse you, mint! Alas, Frost Moon, we could have been such good friends, but then you went all minty. Not for me, better luck next time.

I wore Perversion today, one of my favorites. I slathered it on too. (and thanks to xochitl for the imp of it!) I was a pirate wench, with the nifty pirate boots and striped stockings and all that fun stuff. My friends kids kept hugging me and asking what smelled good. 'Oh, that's just Perversion on wicked Aunty Jo, kids.'

In the bottle - This smells very 'white' and almost clean, if not for the buttery undertone giving it a hint of darkness and a smidgeon of bite. Wet - Yum! It's scent has deepened out on my skin and lost some of the airyness, like the heavier undertone is starting to ground it more. This must be the oleander at work. But the creaminess is really starting to kick in. I can smell something astringent hovering over the surface of my skin...this is interesting. Dry - The neroli is dominant now. It smells like a powdery floral scent, very clean and fresh. The buttery bite is all but gone, leaving behind a soft white scent…very nice, but I wish the creamy undertone had stuck around longer. 5 hours later it's a lovely light floral scent, not too overpowering but very solid. For anyone else who lives in a hot climate, this perfume is a great summertime scent - I just came in from 107 degree heat and the scent didn't go wonky or knock me out at all. This scent was wonderful in all of it's stages, even in the drydown. Neroli must work well with my skin chemistry because most of the other perfume oils on my top ten list contain neroli. I will definitely be buying a bigger bottle of this, if I have any money left over from collecting the lunacy oils.

I've had good luck with Rosalind, Chypre, The Raven and especially Cathode being clean and light smelling. Since it's currently 110+ where I live, I've been avoiding anything too strong or heavy. And I second Boots recommendation to swap anything that doesn't work out for you...that way you can really preview a wide variety of perfumes before you decide to buy. =)

Jolly Roger likes to smell of leather on my skin, I've noticed. But Tempest, Storm and Ulalume are on their way; I really hope they're what I'm looking for. Thanks for the advice, everyone! =)

I spent about 6 years living by the ocean, and a good deal of time sitting on the bluffs letting the wind and spray wash over me. And then I moved back to the middle of a desert, and now I feel strangely homesick. My question is: does anyone know which scent captures the ocean smell the best? That kind of salty, tangy smell of dirt and water? I have tried: Circe - this was good, but it smelled too 'clean' to be the ocean, if that makes sense. kind of sweet, more like ponds and waterlillies. Lightning - also good, and the closest I've come so far. It just didn't smell wet enough for me, though. Tears - while this is very yummy, it isn't quite as salty as I'd hoped. Very clean and gentle. I just placed an order for June Gloom, and got imps of Hurricane and Storm but it will be a while before they get here. Are there any others I'm missing? I've read the descriptions, but it would be nice to get human input. Thanks for your help!