waternight

First off - I adore Whitechapel and want to have its babies. It's that good. In the imp: Faintly citrusy. Not very strong. Wet: Lime and citron! Very much a green/yellow citrus. Sharp and tart and amazing. Now some lilac is contributing to the blend. Ok, now the lilac is taking over and the citrus is fading, which makes me sad, but citrus always fades on me, so it was expected. Oh, gorgeous white musk. It's now a lilac/white musk blend, and it's totally beautiful. Dry: This settles down to be a truly stunning lilac/white musk blend. It's smooth and rich and light and feminine and everything that's right and true in the world. I adore Whitechapel.

In the imp: Warm tonka and benzoin - but NOT sweet - with a heavy wood influence. Hint of lime. Wet: Strange - getting a wood smell with a vaguely tonka/benzoin influence. Ah! I've got it! It's the blackberry leaf. But it smells like a true leaf, sort of fuzzy with prickly setae. Dry lime rind is there too. There's a completely unique note I can only guess is the lilac-musk. This smells NOTHING like what I expected, it's a lot more earthy and plant-y. I think I'm smelling some violet now. My, this is strange. Dry: Very herbal and interesting. Hard to pin down. Some more tonka shows up, smoothing and warming the blend. Lysander is definitely a unique experience.

In the bottle: Daisy and resins (frankincense and copal), carnation, fresh greens, light honey wine. Very fresh and summery. Wet: Light, sweet, fizzy honey mead! Gentle, breezy florals and plants. I definitely get the daisy, with a backup of honeysuckle and a tiny bit of carnation. This is breezy and wonderful! Very light, dry resins - no gooey resins here. Sweet copal mixes with the honey. This has the potention to be a sticky, cloying mess, based on the notes, but it stays light and sweet and gentle. Dry: Slightly fermented and fizzy. Light, summery florals drizzled with the lightest honey and herbs. LOVE.

In the bottle: Woody-musky with a healthy dose of incense. Wet: Chypre and dark woods and incense. Incense notes have a tendency to smell a little bit off on me, so I'm hoping the other notes will temper that. There's also a prominent, thick resinous note of the amber-musk. The blend is a bit salty, definitely a "piratey" blend, but piratey over a dandy's scent. The bay rum is present, but not so much in a boozy way, more in a syrupy way, though it's not really sweet. After a bit, the incense does indeed become tempered (thank god!) and the blend becomes much more balanced. A bit later, I get a salty, boozy note, and the amber-musk is a steady and consistent element. The woods are polished, glowing, deeply burnished. Dry: This dries to a smooth wood, musk, and patchouli blend. Like a proper gentleman who's trying to be naughty. The patchouli amps a bit, and OMG MUSK. Delicious musky musk. Glorious musk. Overall, Frederic is complex and interesting. I love the dry stage, so I think I can weather through the funky incense in the wet stage. Frederic isn't an everyday scent, but I'm glad I have him for when the mood strikes.

In the imp: Rich and complex! Cedar and lemongrass hit the nose first, with patchouli following close behind. Sandalwood lends a bit of dry creamy woodyness. Wet/Drydown: Cedar-patchouli-lemon. Sharp dry woods with tart lemon. A hint of jasmine, but more of a feel than a note. A tiny bit of rose too. Very unique and complex - interesting and addicting. The lemongrass amps up and becomes dominant, gently backed up by rose. The woods are in the background now, providing a solid, warm, earthy base. A bit more sandalwood creeps in, creaming up the lemon.

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters. In the imp: This smells like soap, but in the very best way possible. Wet: Gentle, deliciously soapy aquatic. It's so intoxicating - fresh and clean and sharp. Oh! It smells like men's body-wash, which happens to be a scent that I absolutely love. Dry: Sadly, this becomes vaguely "men's-colognish".

In the bottle: Milk chocolate with a bit of spice underneath. Wet: Smooth, rich, gooey melted chocolate, cinnamon floating and swirling on top. A bit of nutmeg appearts. Definitely smells Christmasy! After a bit, the spices amp. Dry: Goes plasticky on me. Plastic chocolate with spices.

In the bottle: Rice flower is dominant, and this is reminiscent of Tamamo-no-Mae. There's also some sweet mango, very smooth, in here. If I sniff really deeply, I get the spices, along with a bit of almond milk and the tiniest hint of coconut. Wet: First on, rice flower and almond milk! This is very milky and creamy, and really really reminds me of Tamamo-no-Mae in this stage. In fact, I may have to do a side-by-side test to compare the two... Anyway. After a moment or two, the fruits show up, mango and tamarind blending to add a lovely sweet fruity element. Then I start catching whiffs of the cardamom and raisin, which adds a very interesting, unique note to the blend. This is such a light-hearted, joyful scent. Truly uplifting. The woods add a bit of dryness, but they're not full-blown notes in their own right, although I do keep getting the suggestion of cedar. Dry: Becomes less fruity and more dry/woody, but it's still predominantly a creamy rice flower scent. Diwali is lovely.

I tried Green Phoenix in my search for the perfect "green" scent, but alas, this is not it. It's a nice, juicy, wet, green scent, but I can't pick any notes out of it, and it just smells kind of generic to me. ::sigh:: Oh well...

In the bottle: DIRT. "Wet soil" indeed. Oh good god, that's amazing. It smells like a baby garden, just beginning to sprout, that's just been watered. A dark floral thread throughout, a glowing, polished dryness from the woods. Wet: Subdued orchid and wood. The orchid is very muddy, clumps of soil still cling to it. This is a very humid scent, very langourous. The patchouli lends a slightly dusty quality to the blend, amd the teakwood is still glowing and polished - a very refined, sophisticated wood. This is amazingly evocative. Dry: The orchid amps and most of the dirt falls away. I'm going to experiment with layering dirty notes with this - Destroying Angel or Worm Moon (when it gets here) perhaps...

In the bottle: ARE YOU SURE I CAN'T DRINK THIS???? Because oh my god do I want to. It smells like the most amazingly delicious buttercream frosting, with a delicious spiciness in the background. Wet/Dry: I smell like a cheap vanilla candle. That someone poured cream soda on.

Lear is INCREDIBLY herbal on me. And now, I love herbal notes in my perfume, but Lear was unwearably herbal to me, so you might want to check that out.

In the imp: Very light - mostly lily, a bit of plum blossom. Wet: Still mainly lily and a bit a of plum blossom. The skin musk starts to show, soft and gentle. A tiny bit of sandalwood shows its influence, but it's not amping like crazy and taking over like it usually does on my skin. Dry: Dry, this is lovely gentle white florals mixed with skin musk. It's vaguely reminiscent of white musk, but it's addicting and I can't stop huffing my arm. I was expecting these girls to have more of a bite, even hidden, but they're all sweet femininity.

In the imp: The spices (cinnamon and cardamom) are foremost, with gentle tangerine and soft amber musk backing them up. Wet: Sweet cinnamon tangerines! Yummy! I want to eat it. Soft cardamom. The amber musk is delicious and gentle and adds just the teensiest amount of resin. There's a current of smooth tea underneath everything. This is very sexy, and much gentler than I was expecting. Dry: This scent is very much a skin scent, stays close to the skin and warm. It's very soft and gentle, which I was not expecting, considering the cinnamon. Dry, it's warm and vaguely citrusy, vaguely spicy.

In the imp: Strong red apple on top, with sugar case underneath. There's a faint bite from the chili. Wet: Apple, banana, and chili. Very fruity, with a spicy bite. A bit later, I catch whiffs of pineapple. This is yummy, like a spicy tropical fruit salad. Dry: All the yummy fruity notes blend together so that I can't pick any one out, and the sugar cane really amps up.

In the imp: rosewood and incense Wet: Rosewood and incense, very faint hint of leather and a bit of tonka. Now the woods are amping gently. This really is evocative of an old study or personal library, all gentle wood, leather, and parchment, where incense has just been extinguished. The leather is soft, warm, and brown, like a favorite saddle or a pair of breeches. This is soft and comforting and sexy. A gentle musk is present, and a dusty note creeps in. Sexy librarian indeed. Dry: The musk wanders a bit too closely to red musk, and the incense amps. I like this, but it's not for me.

In the imp: Golden-green and quite herbal. I see why this is getting a "medicinal tea" reaction from people. To me, though, the dominant herbal note that I smell in the imp is kush. It doesn't smell like people are toking up, but it definitely smells like kush. Wet: Golden resin, I'm thinking amber. The herbals stay up front and on top, and the kush smell is still there. A few minutes later, it starts to sweeten up and it doesn't stop. To me, this smells like a more herbal version of The Lion. Dry: Continues to sweeten, and the kush note fades. Almost identical to The Lion.

In the imp: Sweet amber, nicely spiced. Wet: Yup. A gently spiced amber, sweet and golden and resinous. Vaguely honey-like, but amber is like that on me. This resin is warm and melty and oozy and rich and thick. A few minutes later, a warm but gentle musk note starts lurking underneath the amber. Very yummy. I can't pick out any specific spices, but they're there. Dry: Pretty much the same as wet. This is not a morpher on me.

In the imp: Very dry and herbal, with a destinct vetiver note. Wet: The vetiver is there, held in check by a sweeter note. It's a plump, juicy fruit note. Currant? Cherry? Not sure, but it's an interesting and unique combination. A few minutes later, the juiciness fades and this is a dry, herbal, slightly spicy blend. Is that lemon I smell? Very dry, tart lemon. Dry: Dry lemon and vetiver. Strange.

In the imp: Sweet apricot. No booze. Wet: Holy apricots, batman! Still no booze, but there is a faint plasticky note present. Hmm. A bit later, this is very sugary plastic apricots. Dry: Slightly musty, plastic apricots.

In the imp: All almond. Wet: Almond is dominant, but the myrrh and dark musk are swiftly amping, as they do on my skin. This goes through stages of the almond being dominant, then the resins, then the almond again, and so on and so forth. There is a stage when the dark musk is crazy strong and powdery, but it doesn't last long. Dry: Vaguely reminiscent of Velvet, without the cocoa. The almond fades and I'm left with myrrh touched with dark musk. After a few hours, it's gone.

To be honest, I was very wary of this blend, as orange blossom usually ruins every blend for me and turns into horrible horrible stank. When I first put it on, it was a blend of orange blossom and rosemary, very herbal and dry, which I like. Amazingly, the orange blossom behaves itself. When this dries, the rose appears and blends with the other two notes. This ends up as a herbal, floral blend, with rose as the dominant floral. In a way, it almost reminds me of Zombi.

In the imp: Orchid. Dusky purple, slightly soapy. Wet: Still dusky purple, but fuller, more robust. A slightly dry, herbal note is present, but this is mostly sweet purple orchid. It's almost fruity, in a ripe berry sort of way, Dry: Orchid and berries.

In the imp: Wow, I smell all the notes: lavender citron on top, followed by minty pennyroyal, with black musk running throughout. Wet: Now the pennyroyal is on top, supported by the lavender. Powdery black musk is swiftly amping up, as usual, and making itself a key player. Dry: This dries to a pennyroyal/black musk blend. Usually black musk obliterates all other notes in a blend on me, but this one is playing evenly with the pennyroyal. However, it's still dominant and powedery and not my cup of tea, so this will be swapped.

In the imp: Gentle lavender, musk, vaguely citrusy Wet: White musk and gentle lavender, with a tartness from the citrus. But the citrus doesn't really show up in its own right, just lends that tartness. To be quite honest, I find this blend unsettling. Dry: Pretty much the same as the wet phase. Lavender/white musk with a strange citrus aura.