madeleine

Berries with a green undertone that I quite like at first, but when it's completely dry Bewitched turns into chapstick on my skin. If it were a chapstick, I'd probably like it a lot - my favorite chapsticks have been blackberry flavors. As a perfume, it's not complex enough - I think my skin just doesn't like berries. Or maybe it likes them too much, so everything else gets thrown out.

I really liked the idea of this, but on me...not so much. It reminds me a bit of the way my skin reacted to Madgdalene - turning everything into cigarette smoke. There is kind of a cigarette smokey undertone, but mostly it's a lot of musk and spices and (I think) the caramel accord. On a guy, I think this would be really sexy. On me, I feel a desperate need to wash it off.

Bathsheba starts out very carnation/green/fresh/florist's on me. It took about fifteen minutes for the plum and musk notes to show up, and I really liked it once they did. But it faded quickly, and I'd like a scent with more staying power, so I think I'll pass on Bathsheba for the time being. Really, it's quite pretty. I like the way it makes you think it's going one way and then heads in a completely different direction.

I didn't get any sense of an herbal background at all - this was complete berries. A very lush, ripe scent. It's gorgeous, but it's rather too sweet on my skin. The berry is too...unrelenting. I need a break, every now and then. The idea of bulging black fruit is exactly the right impression. It would probably taste really good before it killed you.

The only scent i got out of Antony was the frankincense and ambergris. Which was nice, don't get me wrong, but I would have liked to smell something of the green and growing things. It came off rather less masculine than I think was intended as a result. So if I ever just want an ambery perfume, Antony's where I'm going but...

The first impression I received was definitely herbal - almost a spicy, soapy clean. Once on, it mellowed eventually into a powdery, sweeter scent. However, the herbs were still quite strong, almost like the core of the scent. It reminds me of chili powder mixed with rose petals. That's not how it smells, but that is the sensation it conveyed to me. Overall, I liked it but it's probably not a scent for me. 3/5

I was nervous about trying this because I thought it might stain my skin (I have very fair skin and this is VERY red) but it didn't. I actually really like it. Not "rage"y at all, but rather a lot of berries. The currant, mandarin and rose come through very strongly for me. The amber comes through slightly, but mostly it's the berries. I like the sweet and heady scent, though I don't know if I'll be ordering a bigger bottle or not.

To me, this smells just like cucumbers. I suppose that's the vetiver? It actually made me gag a bit, upon first sniff. Anyway, I like it a bit better once the lavender comes through, but all in all this is Not My Scent.

Sweet and spicy. It reminds me a bit of Hetairae, though they don't seem to have any common notes. Except I like Bastet a whole lot more. I think the saffron really does it for me. This is actually very unexpectedly mild. I worried it would be much stronger, but I'm happy to know I was wrong.

Weirdly, when I wear this it smells exactly like a Platonic ideal of perfume. I think "perfume" and Sea of Glass is exactly the archetypal (or, if you prefer, generic) scent. Not sure yet if it's something I want to buy a full bottle of, because although I very much enjoy wearing it, it doesn't last very long on me. Although it smells lovely.

First sniff - cigarette smoke. I'm not even kidding, that's exactly what it smelled like to me. And not in a muted way either, it almost turning me off the perfume. I was terrified of what it would turn into on my skin. On me - first, just the cigarettes. Then it started to mellow and sweeten, so it ended up smelling sort of like coconuts or sunscreen. There was still a hint of the cigarettes but I kind of liked it. (Theoretically, at least.) I guess the florals were coming through. Definitely getting more of the florals now, at first that was really worrying me because it seemed like it would be turning into the eyewatering, sharp rose scent that I can't stand. Now even that's mellowing out and I'm getting the coconut again, but only in the background. I'm wavering. I wanted to love this, because Mary Magdalene is my patron saint and her story has been terribly important at various parts of my life, but I really don't think this is working. Sigh. I guess I'll have to put down the money and try a whole bottle of The Penitent Magdalene. Maybe that will work better. Or maybe this will work out better for me next time I try it.

I really didn't care for Tweedledum. The only thing I could smell was mango and not in a good way. It was almost cloying. Not something I'll be trying out again.

I sort of like this, though it's not the sort of perfume I would feel comfortable wearing. The mint and anise come through very clearly for me, more so than any of the other notes. It feels, though, when I wear it, more or less like my skin is burning. It isn't actually burning but I think that's the mint. It's so intensely cool, at least to me, that it feels like having an ice cube on my wrist or something. More accurately, it makes it easy for me to imagine the ice cube on my wrist. There's no actual pain but it's easy for me to imagine it when I wear Absinthe.

I got this as a freebie with some other imps on Ebay. It's only labeled "Devil's Night" so I don't know whether or not it's the 2005 of 2006 version. But I really like it. (Theoretically, at least. It's too foody a scent with my skin.) On me, it smells like nothing so much as sex and sugar cookies, not a combination I'd thought to smell, but there you are. It's sort of like a smokier, sexier Shalimar and without the acid undertone I always feel Shalimar has...If I ever start wearing "food" scents, this will be the first one. It lasted forever, too. At least, on me it did.

I really liked the way this smelled in the imp - just like honey, but with a strong, spicy edge to it. And then I put it on and I was stil okay, mostly. There was a green hint that came out and I liked it too. But after it had really dried and adjustesd it smelled like baklava with the same soapy/green tone. Or pineapple upsidedown cake. I think it's the fig, clove and honey combo? Anyway. Both those things smell wonderful but I don't particularly want them in my perfume if you know what I mean. When I've tried some of the others I may come back to this one, but I'm not sure.