kaberett

Rose. Just... rose. Gently dewy, lightly polleny rose. And it's not turning to powder on me. And it's lovely. Ros all the way down.

Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, and exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct. DXLVIII/548 Source: frimp from a forumite! In the imp: white musk? florals? Some cedar and olive, I think. Amber? Wet: Vanilla and something sharply, sweetly light green - mown grass? Drydown: something metallic comes out pretty rapidly - metallic, and musky, and not dissimilar to Phoenix Steamworks. It's rich and golden and tangy, with the green note turning into slightly acrid smoke, and then turning gradually into sweet woodsmoke. This is absolutely delicious, and I am delighted to have it in my life!

CD = Carnaval Diabolique DC can also be "delivery confirmation"

Because then they don't show up when you search! So it means that if you're searching the forum, you don't land up getting every post where someone is listing the scent you're after as "already sold", or "I'm willing to swap for this", in addition to the people who are actually able to sell you the thing you're after. (Amp: yes! Death note: seems to generally mean "smells horrible", with "notes of death ;_;" used in opposition to "notes of love <3", but v happy to be corrected!) OH, and "TOS" == Top Of Shoulder

I have a 10ml bottle from a friend (!!) so clearly it's quite aged! It's resinous and smoky and sweet in the bottle, in a way that's unfortunately reminiscent of really rich, complex... cough syrup. On wet, it stays cough syrup... ... but over drydown, it morphs into something resinous and heated and creamy and sweet. I can't pull out vanilla as a note, but it's rich and firey and creamy, and an absolutely perfect scent for the name. I really like it, and look forward to returning to it come winter. :-)

The smoke of Sacred Incense of Apollo twined through laurel branches, bay, and honey wine. Oh wow, I really wanted to love this. I wanted to love it so badly. Honey wine! Laurel! Bay! ... pot pourri. It smells of pot pourri on me. It starts out in the imp smelling of honey with heaps of character, or of boozy raspberries (bizarrely enough); on wet, it starts at as smoky, boozy raspberries and then turns into honey wine. And then it turns into pot pourri. Like, "I can smell the dried rose petals" pot pourri. This is really disconcerting, because actual rose notes normally go vile on me. So, er, there's a thing? One to retry, I think, and see if it pulls the same trick!

One of the things that really confused me was "BNNU" - seems to mean "bought new, never used"! Also, if a name is given as e.g. "Katharina v7", that means it's the seventh version of the prototype of that scent, rather than the scent as released in the catalogue. So if we make up a guide (... I, uh, have a bunch of spare time this summer? If it would be useful I'd be happy to sling together a draft?) those are things I'd like in it.

... motorway service-station toilets. Aggressive cleaning fluid, and really unpleasant foamy liquid soap. All the way through. With very, very occasional whiffs of incense. I am disappointed - I was really hoping to like this one - but off to swaps it is :-)

Oh. Oh wow. This is amazing. I cannot even with how amazing this is. In the imp: definitely sweet, definitely boozy, and definitely apricot! Wet: ... it initially smells herby on me, which I'm not completely sure how to explain, but oh my WORD it smells like apricots preserved in alcohol this is amazing. Dry: Sweet sharp boozy apricot. Perfect. They're sweet and tart and I can almost feel the fuzzy skin on them, and the brandy is smooth and golden and beautiful. Oh. Oh yes. Oh yes. Bottle time!

In the imp: Sandalwood, smoke, cinnamon and olive are all definitely there... ooh, vanilla and honey and jasmine too – v interesting how many notes show up from the get-go! Wet: ... oh wow, this is a really delicious honey-sweet floral smoky vanilla. Dry: Th- this is so tasty. Smoky honeyed vanilla and florals, and it's all underlain by the sandalwood tying it together beautifully. The cinnamon isn't being Aggressive As Fuck. It's just... beautiful. Warm and sweet and yes, well-blended, and... amazing. Wow. Full marks. I've got to say, I was dreading the cinnamon taking over and smelling like a spice cupboard on me - it normally does - but at least one of the aged imps I've got just didn't do that at all, and I am SO DELIGHTED.

In the imp: damp, sharp green, like fresh-mown lawn. Wet: ... peaches? And freshly-cut grass. Dry: I'm still predominantly getting freshly-cut grass, with a side order of HOLY SHIT INDUSTRIAL LAUNDRY, and just a whiff of sweet sunwarmed stone fruit lurking around the edges; it morphs into a more linen-y scent within minutes. Unfortunately it seems to give me hayfever, so much as I'm endeared by it this is one for the swaps pile for me :-(

In the imp: Spice, smoke, wood - rather piney. Wet: Pine sap - freshly-sawn logs, warm in the sundlight, and awdust. Rich and woody and spiced, with a hint of citrus blending with the sharpness of the pine. Dry: Sawdust and sap and sweet-scented fire and musk. And trees. I like warm wood! Hurrah. I'm not sure quite when I think it's appropriate to wear this one, but I'm looking forward to finding out :-)

In the imp: more in the direction of sweet cassia than Al-Shairin, which I tested shortly beforehand, but unsurprisingly similar given the number of notes they share! Wet: spice cupboard. Musk starts to peek out but is SMOTHERED BY THE SPICE CUPBOARD. Nearly overpoweringly-sweet cinnamon bark. Dry: ... yeah, to my great disappointment I'm not getting either pepper or ginger out of this; it's just ALL THE SWEET VIETNAMESE CINNAMON ALL OF THE TIME. Which is nice enough, don't get me wrong! It's just that I prefer it in pho to on my wrists.

In the imp: crushed herbs and, yes, the cold tang of iron. Wet: delightful similarities to Glasgow, with the crushed herbs and the berries/flowers - and again, yes, the iron. Dry: The patchouli isn't amping to the point of drowning out everything else! Iron edges and moss and wood and stone slabs and herbs and yesss. Basically. Given time, the patchouli does start to come out a little more - but the herbs and iron and heathery florals hold their own, and I decree myself Happy With This One.

Imp: Bitter sage; sweet basil and grasses. Warm sun and leather. Wet: sage and basil and a whisper of incense, all underlain by ambergris. Dry: leather and amber and sage and sweet smoke. This is absolutely gorgeous. I really love that it is both sweet and bitter, and that it's got such depth to it. Yum.

Imp: suncream! Woodsy vanilla with just a hint of tobacco. Wet: Rich honeyed vanilla. Wow, this is sweet and dark and smoky and woody and beautiful. Dry: Warm, round, well=supported, sweet and dark. This is exactly what I need for days when I want warm scents. A hint of engine grease under buttery-gleaming metal. Gorgeous.

Dark myrrh, white sandalwood, amber, hyssop, frankincense, honey, cypress, red musk, cardamom and saffron. Imp: woods and sap and - a little bit of citrus? and honey. Wet: sweet amber and woods, and herbs (hyssop?). Dry: Oh wow, this is amazing - dark smoke and bitter herbs and the round warmth of amber and woods. Wow! This is incredibly anguished. Love it.

Imp: LAVENDER. And... raspberry?! Nice rich wood. Wet: LAVENDER. Seriously, I smell like one of those heat-sacks you stick in the microwave. With more flower plonked on top. Dry: As it warms up, the wood starts coming through. It turns into something sweet and crisp and fresh over the rounded lavender and the richness of the resin – I thought I wasn't going to like this, when I put it on, but oh dear – I do seem to! Apparently I'm willing to wear florals if they are understatedly sweet and not overly polleny; I'm thinking a half-dried bundle of flowers left on top of a woodpile in spring, as the days are just starting to get warm.

Imp: I - I don't understand. This is sweet and smoky and delicious. Burnt grasses, definitely, and I assume the sweetness must be the red wine (I so hope it doesn't go vile on me!); and there's the damp ozone, yes. I - don't experience this as desolate? Deserted, yes, but having done its work, and not lonely in its silence and its solitude. Wet: Is - is the wine being held in check? The burnt grass seems to be bringing out its tannins, not its sweetness. Woods and ash and echoes. Dry: A bonfire of many woods that has scorched the grass and burnt itself down to the earth; ashes blowing in the wind. Just a tiny bit of red wine, sticky and sweet and spilled across the stones, and the tang of metal in the breeze. This is amazing and I love it.

Imp: musk, citrus, and something sweet and redolent of vanilla. Wet: sweet vanilla, black tea, and citrus high notes. Dry: Oh my word, this rounds out beautifully during drydown - it stays sweet and vanilla but the musk and tea billow (and I do mean that) out from underneath it - it doesn't get heavy, but it has a certain amount of glorious sleaze lurking just beneath the surface. Sweet but definitely not innocent.

In the imp: astringent green herbs, woods, and incense. Wet: it immediately turns into something spicy, smokey, and still astringent. The rosewood starts making itself felt pretty much straight off, shoving some floral into the scent. Drydown: this goes through a REALLY DISTRESSING phase of smelling pretty much entirely like patchouli and pine on me. BUT THEN: Dry: ... it rounds into sweetness and regret and a little soap, before turning into a delicately spiced woody rose, with just a lingering hint of smoke. Absolutely lovely.

I - am actually salivating. This is so tasty, and so comforting. In the imp: Spice and vanilla! Sweet potato cookies, or Vanillekipferl. Wet: toasted nuts and brown sugar and pumpkin, very round and very orange and very soft and welcoming. Dry: Lovely sweet complex honey - how could I not fall in love with this?! It smells like pumpkin or sweet potato pulp when it's been boiled but not yet baked, and toasted nuts, and all the best things in a kitchen. Incredibly warm and welcoming, and absolutely delicious - rich and creamy and utterly, butterly amazing.

In the imp: Carnation and patchouli - smoky-sweet. Wet: dark, oaky, spicey smoke - patchouli jumps out straight away, as does I think the carnation. Dry: The florals start to come out quite rapidly, but they're not coy or shy about it – they're not menacing, precisely, but they know exactly what they're doing. The patchouli's trying quite hard to dominate on me; this is a very strong and assertive scent. This gets rapidly more complex through drydown – it goes from straight-up patchouli to actually being able to smell the orange blossom again, with a slightly bitter floral edge. The ambergris's also coming out to play, occupying the middle ground. Cautiously optimistic for how this will pan out on me. A couple of hours in, this is smelling like warm golden orange floral, with just a little roundness and spice from the darker notes. I'm a little unconvinced by it in the early stages but it's definitely in my "worth sticking with" pile!

Wow, this is amazing. In the imp: dark, smoky floral with bite - I really, REALLY hope the rose doesn't go vile on me, like every single other one has. To my surprise, I don't seem to be bothered by the tobacco! Wet: absolutely DELICIOUS light sweet rounded floral smoke. Dry: Sweet, gentle smoke - complex, rather than cloying. The rose isn't turning to powder on me and it's also not being overpowering, which I'm a little surprised about; the plum and florals are there, but they add edge and depth rather than dominating. I am really surprised by how much I like this (vis, A Lot); I've also really adored the other scents I've tried containing opium, so I suspect I've found a new favourite note! It smells pale purple and lovely, lovely, lovely. Bottle, maybe, perhaps, if the budget will allow it.

Another for #12... In the bottle: yes, frankincense, but also oddly fruit. And oddly sharp on the top notes! - oh god, it contains red wine, doesn't it. (Red wine does not play nicely with me.) Wet: simultaneously cloyingly sweet and rather bitter. Red berries? I'm - sneezing over it, which can't just be the smoke. Yep, nose starting to run. Really unfortunate florals? Dry: allergic reaction lessened but still not fantastic. Something burnt and acrid and cleaner-ish, not just frankincense. ... when LadyMedb says dry cheers, and Ondine says public toilet soap? YES, PRETTY MUCH. I am glad it's not just me who gets to smell like cleaning products, though I hope not everyone does! I bought this off the forum, from someone who has not posted a review, and it's clearly seen a lot of use - it's a little under half-full - so hopefully someone, somewhere, is capable of loving it. (The berries are coming through a bit more as I give it time, but life is too short to wear scents I'm allergic to. To the swap pile!)