diabolique

count me among those who had a nostalgic reaction to this scent. it reminds me of the honeysuckle bush two houses down from my childhood friend's house. we would zoom past on our bikes after swimming in her pool, and we'd turn back around just to suck the honey out of the flowers. the buttercup does make it somewhat soapy. for those of you who are into the color association thing, this is the deep golden color of the sun an hour before it sets, when shadows grow longer and flowers seem brighter. i definitely want to keep this around at least until the summer. the nostalgia i associate with this one is quite lovely.

that is exactly what it smells like to me. it turns to maple syrup on my skin, which isn't as surprising as when midwinter's eve did that, but it still isn't anything i could wear every day. unfortunately, i'm just not much on foody scents. when i opened up the bottle, i could smell very light fruit and sugar. i could totally overdose on this if i wanted to. i'm sure someone out there could appreciate this much more than i could, so i'm going to swap it.

i ordered a 5mL of this unsniffed because all of the notes were right. i kept sniffing the bottle, but i only got a faint green smell that didn't do much for me. i took a chance and put it on my skin, though, and it immediately bloomed into a fruity, sexy smell. there isn't much to say about this one because it's so simple. this is very unoffensive, but it isn't as light as i was expecting it to be going off the reviews. this is the kind of perfume that would be nice on a casual date with someone you don't know very well.

i've noticed the people who live in the west tend to like this more than those in the east. i seriously love this. when i opened up the bottle and sniffed, my eyes went wide and i said, "yummy!" i could smell creamy coffee and that sweet tart candy scent beth's wine note has. on my skin, centzon totochtin goes on a little bit gritty. it's like the smell of coffee, blowing dust (which i am all too familiar with, living in the south plains), and wine. the rum is coming out and it doesn't smell too bad. it reminds me of a girly vetiver. now that the rum has taken over, i can't smell that gorgeous creamy coffee or the sweet tarty wine note, but i can tell they're there. the rum stage is the last one in this oil, and i think it's beyond gorgeous. i love you so much, beth!

almond and cinnamon, just like inferno. that's all i could smell at first. generally, my nose is very sensitive to the smell of cinnamon, and it always reigns supreme over other present notes in a blend. i was cautious and didn't test this on sensitive flesh; i swiped the wand across the part of my hand where my palm meets my wrist. this dried down very lovely. the bitter almond and cinnamon remained at the forefront (i really don't like that combination), but the vanilla and heliotrope came out to play, and they turned this into a playful golden scent. the frankincense definitely made this resinous. if bits of the sun were to come flying into the earth, i'm convinced this is what it would smell like.

i've never been much on earthy scents. this DOES smell like dirt, and i much prefer this deeper earth scent compared to the light scent of zombi, but burial and zombi are miraculous when layered. i couldn't really distinguish between the individual notes. they all melded together to make one gritty, worm-infested scent. i love it for the connotations but i could never wear this.

i wish i had taken a picture from the time i tried this on. it has since left my humble abode and found a new home, but uh.. seriously. one morning, i decided that i was just in a cinnamony mood. i've never had any problem with cinnamon before, and i wanted it to waft a lot, so i put it on my cleavage. a lot of it. 10 minutes later, my boobs were on FIRE. i couldn't stop scratching it all day. when i got home, i took a good look at it, and my entire cleavage area was completely burned. it was wonderful, really. overall, this smells nice for most of the day. i just love the smell of cinnamon. unfortunately, i don't really like it when it's paired with almond, and neroli is one of my least favorite notes. ah well.

i thought i would love this. all of the notes were right. the only thing i was scared of was it turning into powder because of the combination of myrrh, amber, and musks, but it was a chance i was willing to take. ;P so, i put this on, and the leather just screams its masculine head off. it doesn't stop, either. the amber, musks, and myrrh huddle together in the corner, cowering at the leather. seriously, leather, go away. if i wanted a single note of leather, i would wear de sade. alas, it was not meant to be, you and i. i was going to give you to my boyfriend, but he told me if i ever made him smell like a dead cow, he'd break up with me.

this is a conflicted scent. kuang shi wants to be juicy because of the orange and mango, but the white sandalwood prevents it. the white musk, as usual, is gorgeous, but there's something about this blend that reminiscent of getting juice concentrate on your hands. it reminds me of summer, when i would eat too many limes and have the potent, strong taste of lime rind in my mouth. overall, i think this would be very pretty if it were on someone with the right chemistry. there's something in this blend that throws my skin off and makes it unwearable for me.

first sniff, i get an unpleasant whiff of something animalistic. it smells like civet, but i think it's a mixture of the jasmine and egyptian musk. the almond smell isn't that strong. it smells heavy and cloying. on my skin, though, it goes on amazingly light and i can smell very soft sandalwood mingling with something green. the green scent is in the background, though, and there's a dusty, antique smell about this. there's also something in here that smells really candyish. salome confuses the hell out of my nose! uh oh. i should've taken heed to the oakmoss. it's really prevalent now but somehow it retains a weightlessness within the blend. this is making my stomach churn. i hate you, oakmoss. i'm gonna have to wash this off. hopefully i can throw it in as a freebie to someone else and they can love it.

maybe queen of spades would be like blood countess? they seem similar, to me, but QOS is more candyish. i haven't tried blood countess, though. i mentioned this in the BPAL similarity thread: King of Spades = Yerevan

personally, i would much rather drink lemon juice with salt and clean with rubbing alcohol. you guys must have some really stubborn oil, 'cause i don't think i've ever had to resort to such drastic measures.

soap and hot water usually works for me unless it's one of those stubborn earthy blends, in which case i keep scrubbing with the soap until it's gone. it took me about three washings to get hearth off my wrists.

this is almost really girly on me. no, not FEMININE, i said GIRLY. there's a distinct difference. hopefully my boy will like it. it's turned into a very playful, childish lemon scent. not sure where the lemon is coming from, however, and this makes my nose tingle with its depth. i'm getting a little bit of a powdery smell coming from underneath the lemon, which may be a combination of the white musk and patchouli, but i don't know. this smells very oily (cut the sarcastic remarks short right about there, please ). i mean to say that it's almost reminiscent of gasoline.

sharp and tangy in the vial. i can't recognize any notes, but i'm pretty neutral to it. on my skin, this just blossoms so wonderfully. i'd never expect a floral to smell so. damn. good. i'm afraid i'm going to use up my imp, and i've only had this one since monday. hell's belle is a creamy floral, that does have a tinge of coconut, strangely enough. it smells very exotic, almost in the same vein as lampades. the base of this is dark, sexy, and deep, and it lightens up almost in layers to a sweet, fruity floral. i'm so in love. someone hold me back.. i'm about to drink this.

the combination of notes in this reminds me of soaping yourself up in a shower. i love carnation, but, obviously, the aquatic "water lily" note ruins this for me.

lotus pisses me off. this scent might be nice if it weren't for that one damn component. it's.. um, watery, over-ripe fruit. someone tossed a few pineapples and pears into a flower-infested, dirty lake. man, this one gives me bad vibes. it doesn't smell bad. it's just.. the lotus makes things really weird.

this immediately caught my eye on the yule update and i ordered two bottles of it, one for me and one for my boy. i already had my hopes up about ice queen and was kicking myself in the ass for not ordering snow white, so i was desperately hoping this was going to work on me. in the vial, very surprising smell. i get a strong, warm buttery smell. a deep cherry scent inhabits the surface of hearth. on my skin, it's so strong and warm that it makes my nose tingle violently (how does one tingle violently, anyway?). i tried to keep it away from my nose while it dried down, and when i put my sniffer back up to get a whiff.. it smelled like -DUNDUNDUN- used tupperware! that's not to say beth has made something that actually smells like tupperware; rather, my skin hates tobacco (but my lungs love it ). this was disappointing. i put this on my grandpa because he thought it smelled good in the vial, and it did the same thing to him. that wasn't the last stage on his skin, though, it then turned into a buttery pancake. with my blueberry syrup experience with midwinter's eve and my grandpa turning into a 5'10" pancake, i would hate for both of us to be in public with hungry people.

i thought i would really like ice queen, but it turns out, i.. i don't. -hangs head in shame- people have been mentioning in the BPAL chat what this smells like, and it made me very suspicious of whether or not i'd like it. i heard "piney," "aquatic," "green," "minty," and yes, it's all of those. four things that don't work on my skin at all. i knew my suspicions had been correct when i got my bottle yesterday morning. i grabbed it out of the box first and sniffed deeply; it was an artfully blended aquatic with fresh mint, pine, and fruit. unfortunately, regardless of the art that went behind this blend, i can't wear it.

this smells nothing like bordello to me. bordello is thick, juicy, and creamy, but this smells like candy sweet tarts. it retains its candy-like sweetness on my skin, but something deep and buttery comes up behind it and makes the blend smell like blueberry syrup. not bad, i guess, but i really don't want to smell like syrup.

does this have ambergris in it? i can't really pinpoint any of the individual notes, but i think there's civet and cinnamon or nutmeg. if there is civet, though, it's very light, as it's usually pretty amplified on my skin. i'll give this one to my boy and tell him if it doesn't work, to stay away from the civet smells. it doesn't smell bad on me at all right now, but i'm sure as it dries, it'll get worse. that's how civet always makes his mark.

i first mistook the ginger for lime, and i love lime, so it was no big deal. i get the same "oats" note i get in dana o'shee, plus the ginger. it reminds me so much of this white tahitian ginger spray i used to have until it dries down to a milky, exotic citrus smell.

... the perfect aquatic. i've been saying for a while that i want the perfect aquatic perfume. one that evokes images of swimming in a dark blue ocean with a thunder rolling overahead. then i realized that aquatics and my skin don't get along. dragon's tears is a tangy, salty floral. the dragon's blood has a little bit of fruitiness to it, but the floral is coming out pretty strongly. this scent reminds me of swimming in a fancy schmancy hotel pool in galveston when the sun was setting. man. i so love this. a lot. no lies. i don't know how often i'll wear it, though, as i can't see myself wanting to smell like salt water, but i'm keeping the imp around just to get the same emotional reaction.

the first sniff of this was dragon's blood at its fruitiest and tamest. it wasn't metallic or blood-like at all. i was surprised by how nice this is. i didn't expect to like it because amber has never worked for me. amber has officially slain the dragon, because the DB doesn't sing out like it normally does. the two scents are in perfect balance, and i loooooove it.

this reminds me of the layering escapade i did with titania and lust. fruity, patchouli goodness. i seriously love this. evanesce offered this to me in a swap, and i intended on giving it to my boyfriend, but he expressed total disinterested in patchouli. i'm keeping it now because I LUH IT. for the juicy pricot, if nothing else. it was love at first sniff, and now i'm hellbent on trying the other apricot blends. march hare, here i come.