Lady_Ell

Hmmm. I'm using a prototype imp from back in the day to write this review, but in any case I'm not getting any of the "sexy dark club" things y'alls are getting. It starts off like smoke and cherries: promising.

And then it goes all DAINTY FLOWERS and DISH SOAP. Luckily it's faint, almost non-existant.

Oh well. You can't like everything, and I guess it's good that this isn't for me, because it isn't available anymore.

This starts off lovely - buttery rum and spice. That lasted about 5 minutes and then... ugh. I smell like that blue fluoride mouthrinse stuff that I used to have to have after lunch during "dental hygiene week" in elementary school.

A combination of fluoride rinse, cheap potpourri, and old lady perfume.

Sassafras hates me.

OK - so I'm being an enabler and got my friend a bottle of Sin for her birthday. She really likes it but would also like something that's similar, that's heavy heavy heavy on patchouli and doesn't have cinnamon. I also got her Aureus, which she also likes but she really wants more patchouli.

I'm thinking: Anne Bonny, maybe? I don't know many of the Tarot/Voodoo blends - would any of those work?

Thanks!

I am wearing Kweku Anansi today and am still deciding how I feel about it. Do I love it? Hate it? Something about it smells like Bactine and Band-Aids on me, but not necessarily in a bad way. It's like Belladonna, but more nutmeg-y and herby. I don't think I'll buy a big bottle, because I already have a bottle of Belladonna which doesn't smell like a first aid cabinet when it hits my arm. But at the same time, it's so unusual and interesting and somehow very comforting.

Ooooh, I know... this reminds me of Poison (Dior?) but less sweet. I think that's why I find it comforting - it has good memories for me. Unfortunately, I don't think it works on me. It smells good for the first hour, but after that it gets a weird dusty topnote that makes me a little woozy, kind of like Laudanum but not as bad. The nutmeg sticks in the back of my throat, and I think that's what is giving me the Bactine smell.

OK, so I tried this on as an experiment. I wanted to see how gross it would smell on me because it contains the dreaded sassafras , which makes me smell like bandages, and poppy, which has made me smell like a chemistry experiment in the past.

That said, Dissipation actually smelled really good on me, to my utter surprise. I couldn't figure out the note I was smelling until I read these reviews and people mentioned cucumber. It's like a sweet, green cucumber with some sugar and herbs and lemony soap on top. Which sounds weird, but it's actually pretty good. Very fresh, juicy, clean-smelling. Very late-spring when irises are out, and you're in the garden and surrounded by new green things.

After about 10 minutes, the soapy thing went away and I got a dry cucumber-vanilla smell. Which was very surprising, and surprisingly very nice.

This smells EXACTLY like fresh cut grass when you first put it on. Very green.

After a while it becomes a bit lemony with a bare hint of pine. But mostly it's that fresh green grass juice smell. It's lovely!

After an hour, though, it's pretty much gone. I have a hint of powdery something or other on my arms still, that smells like grass and bubble gum and powder and somehow reminds me of the smell of a baby's head. It's very comforting, but nothing like how it is in the first 20 minutes or so.

If this lasted longer on me, I'd buy a big bottle for sure!

I wish this stayed how it smelled when wet: coffee beans and raindrops on roses (no whiskers on kittens though).

When it dried I smelled like Palmolive dishsoap and rotten, festering flowers.

Flowers hate me.

Warm milk, fresh ginger slivers, a touch of honey, and something a teeeeeeensiest bit floral or stemmy/sappy, like ginger flowers or ginger stems.

A light scent but one with throw. It seems to fade but it will surprise you a few hours later with a little poke in the nose reminding you that it's still there.

I bought a 5mL unsniffed, and I am glad I did. It's light, understated yet present, appropriate for any situation, and lovely.

Samhain 2004: It's so balanced, and perfect in every way. I'm not getting a lot of the fruity apple or pumpkin smell that others are, but I am getting dry, dead, fallen oak/maple leaves that crunch when you walk through them, and pumpkin pie like spices. It smells just like Samhain 2003, but maybe a bit sweeter. I have to say I am adoring the bitterness and dryness in here, though.

OK, so this is now my new favorite. I say that all the time, I know, but for real this time! ... none of you will ever take me seriously again...

Loup Garou - no vetiver but the cedar and pine are there. I love this one.

Aureus - it's very woody. I love this one, too.

Fruity: Carnal, Hamadryad, Bon Vivant

Clean: Jabberwocky, Undertow, Loup Garou (if she likes pine)

Starts off a juicy citrus, really orangey-grapefruit, really bright.

It must be the orris, because when it dried I just smelled like honeysuckle. No more citrus, just honeysuckle and maybe a hint of mock orange or neroli. Nice, but not really me.

Wow, this one is STRONG! You really only need a teensy bit to get quite a throw.

I smell maple sugar, maple syrup boiled down, brown sugar fresh out of the package, caramelized sugar, and burnt sugar syrup. It's a very warm, brown smell. My chemistry doesn't seem to change it much, either... bottle=skin in this case.

It is completely and totally wonderful.

ETA: OH MY GOD THIS MIGHT BE MY FAVORITEST THING EVER EVER EVER - perfect in every way

So I'm trying out Nine Mysteries today and I smell so astringent that I fear I'm intimidating everyone around me. It's MINT and LAVENDAR and something bitter bitter bitter (I don't know what ingredient it is, but it's happened to me with Cathode, UltraViolet, and that other minty one that just came out). I feel cold and evil in this one, which I'm not particularly down with, at least not today. It's a dry, soapy mint and lavendar, with that mysterious something that goes papery and medicinal on me - like something you'd disinfect a cut with (Bactine or iodine or Solarcaine).

I wonder what it is. Undertow smells great on me, and that's minty - it smells cool and fresh and bright. But this one is just so cold and calculating. And reminds me of wheatgrass mixed with toothpaste and a sachet. I gotta figure out what ingredient it is that does this and avoid it like the plague.

Well, poop.

I ordered a 5 mL bottle of this, unsniffed, because I was absolutely positive that this would be my most favorite scent of all time. I then got my order which had a freebie imp of Blood Amber thrown in. So of course I tried it on right away and was like... "hmmm... cherries... spice... well, whatever, I need to try on King of Spades now" and since I was so enamored of some of my other big bottles, I forgot about it.

I tried it again today, hoping hoping hoping it would be less cherry smelling and more ambery (I loooooooove amber and woody smells) but it wasn't. It was like Shollin described, "fruit punch with too much sugar" with just a barest hint of amber that never really took hold, and with a slightly spicy edge, like cinnamon or allspice or something, and a barely there waxy-flowery edge, but there enough to make me recognize flowers (and unfortunately, I'm not good with flowers).

I'm very sad; I really love Dragon's Milk and Bloodlust so I assumed that Dragon's Blood would be something I can wear. I love amber but it just didn't show up.

Oh well. Someone is bound to love it (and it seems that many of you already do) so I guess I'll swap it.

Single note black pepper starts off black peppery, goes high nose and a little unpleasant for a minute or two, then goes AWESOME and deep and spicy and oily for about 10 minutes, and then faaaaades away. However, I put it on just before doing a major cooking operation and I think that all the chopping and steam and handwashing and stuff made it fade quicker than normal.

This is the only rose scent that hasn't screamed ROSE ROSE! DO YOU HEAR ME? I'M A ROSE! - but the rose has been present and accounted for, just not obnoxious.

The musk is really stand-out on me, and combined together it makes a heady and sophistocated blend that sticks in the back of my throat. This stuff has some STAYING power, too. I put what to me is a tiny bit on (cause it was from the imp vial, not a big bottle) and that was 12 hours ago and it's still going strong strong strong. I was starting to get a bit woozy from it so I put a teeny dab of Snake Oil on over it, thinking it would be an interesting layering thing, and I almost knocked myself out. I smell good, but very very potent.

I like Spellbound a LOT, but it's going to be a special occasion thing. It's just too strong and sophistocated for everyday.

Yeeeeeeow!

King of Spades is SO AWESOME!

It goes on fruity, a little candylike sour edge, like mango pulp. The tart bite dies down after about 5 minutes and a glorious dark, unsweet, unfoody coconut comes out. There's a tiny bitter edge underneath that I cannot figure out - maybe tobacco? Maybe a leaf of some sort? Maybe not, I can't tell. Anyway, the bitter edge keeps it from being too much like Spooky or something else that's sweet and sugary.

It's really really wonderful.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what's in here. But it's green and brown and herbal and grassy and woody and a bit astringent. Something in here smells a lot like an herbal medicine my mom used to give me and my sister for strep throat and colds, and something else smells like another sharp yet dusty herb that pierces your nose when you walk into a health food store into the herb/tea section - goldenseal or marshmallow root or eyebright something like that.

I think I'd like this a lot more if it didn't have sickroom memories for me.

This is such a strange scent - it's like apple-blackberry-spiced cider, but with a slight woody edge on it keeping it from being a foody/fruit scent. I like it, but it fades really quickly on me, which is strange considering that other people say it's very strong on them.

It's a great fall scent, for sure!

I'm going to keep it and slather it on.

ETA: this is hormone-sensitive on me. The other day I put it on and nearly knocked myself out by the overpowering dragon's blood floral/cherry tones. This is a very wet smell to me - wet and kind of fizzy-sticky, like apple-grape cider that's starting to turn and get that fizz going on. It also didn't fade at all, and kept bopping me in the face for the next 12 hours, even though I only had a tiny smudge of it on the back of my hand.

I like it better when it's more fade-y.

Excerpted from journal review...

I got my Haunted in the mail today and it smells OK on its own but layered with Aureus it's much better. I think I don't care for musk, or at least not as a topnote. On it's own Haunted is a bit too musky/powdery. But I really like how it softens Aureus up, and makes it less woody and more sexy, by sending the musk off to the background and letting the wood notes of Aureus stay in charge. Combining the two is very "me" - in charge and austere up front and on first acquaintance, but with a playful, loving bit upon getting to know me better.

ETA: Two parts Aureus to one part Haunted is now my signature scent. I have more bottles/imps than I can count and don't even want anything to do with them anymore. This combination is so perfect on me that it's rendering everything else obsolete.

Wet: starts out smelling just like Children's Tylenol - kind of orangey peachy and artificial

Drying: sweetens up a bit, and the artificial orange/candy thing goes away

Dry: Alls I get is VANILLA, with maybe a hint of orange blossom. No patchouli, well, maybe the barest hint to keep it from being just straight vanilla. I think it's the orange blossom. Hunger did the exact same thing. I like this a lot, but it smells almost exactly like Snake Oil on me. Weird.

Since I already have Snake Oil, I don't think I'll get a big bottle of this. But it certainly is nice.

I don't wear Black Forest as skin scent, but I loooooooove it in the bath. Just plain hot water, no soap bubbles or anything. It's the most calming thing.

Or you can go the "overboard" route - what is one that works OK on you, that's one that makes you feel matter-of-fact and no-nonsense, and slather it on. Make yourself seem cold and disinterested, and wear a cold/disinterested scent.

I find Bluebeard works well for this for me.

ETA: duh, I forgot to add that you should overpower yourself in unsexy perfume so that he won't want to be around you - thinking that you wear too much perfume and that he'll never be able to kiss you without suffocating.

Mr. L loves Aureus on me. And Old Shanghai. And Dragon's Milk as long as I don't put too much on. But he likes Aureus best.

I've gotten random compliments on Snake Oil.

I've gotten sexy girly compliments on O, Chaos Theory XXI, and Aureus.

Really depends on your chemistry, though.