Elspethdixon

Wet/in imp – sweet/rich opoponax with hints of pine, almost fruity Freshly applied – pine air freshener with hints of bathroom cleaner/urinal cake Five-ten minutes – slightly fruity tobacco with hints of urinal cake. Why? I had such high hopes for this. One-two hours in - The urinal-cake-like aspect went away after about a half hour, and now everything has dried down to a fruity leather with hints of tobacco. I don't know what on earth in the listed notes is causing the fruity aspect, but this is sadly not the Christmas tree scent of my dreams. It is a rather nice masculine cologne-like scent, for a man who doesn't mind smelling like a candied fruit/leather/humidor//hint of Christmas tree mashup. This has staying power as well as decent throw - I could still catch whiffs of leather from my wrists eight hours after applying it. (There must be spruce tar in some of BPAL's leather notes, because leather's not a listed note here but the late drydown is basically SN black leather on me).

Wet/In the imp - Red musk and tobacco. The oil is thick and dark, and actually stains my skin slightly - either my imp is well -aged, or this is just a really thick/dark oil. Freshly Applied - Now it's red musk, tobacco, and a musty sort of incense. As soon as it hits my skin, the mandarin starts to come out, and for several minutes adds a note of bathroom cleaner to the blend. Then it dies down/resolves into a sharp, almost metallic tang, which is actually kind of cool. It really does smell reminiscent of a sword now, or maybe of sweat and blood. Not my thing, but definitely evocative and interesting. An hour in - the metallic note faded relatively quickly, and now this is all musty incense and red musk, like a really stuffy/poorly ventilated new age shop. I'm not sure what the classical herbs of conflict are, but I don't think I like them.

In the imp, this was all grainy frankincense and cold eucalyptus, but once it hit my skin, the frankincense disappeared and the lily came out, joined a few minutes later by just a hint of soft leather. It's very fresh and clean smelling , and more floral than I'd expected, more like a Luper than a Weenie. It's a very smoothly blended scent (despite the lily's attempt to dominate it on first application), and after the first twenty minutes or so, it's melded into a soft, close-to-the-skin blend of lily and soft wood/leather/tonka. After an hour and a half or so, it fades into a soft, gentle skin scent that I can no longer pick out any individual notes in. I actually like it best at this stage (when I finally start to get the fuzzy Unicorn-and-Ram-like aspect Kris was talking about upthread), but I suspect it will fade entirely after not much longer.

Wet/in-the-imp - A light, smoky vetiver reminiscent of Beanman and Beanwoman plus something cool and fresh and damp. I like it. Freshly applied - Sadly, a soapy note starts to emerge as soon as it hits my skin. On someone else, this would be gorgeously atmospheric - even on me it conjures up images of an empty beach full of wet stones and drift wood, on damp, heavily overcast day. But, like, if you took that scent and turned it into a soap. An hour in - The wisps of vetiver smoke keep bravely wafting up through the soapiness, but overall, the laundry detergent/soap aspect is winning. This is probably one of the least-awful results I've had with an aquatic scent thus far, but even with a usually surefire-winner note like vetiver in it, it can't completely escape my skin's aquatics = soap curse.

Wet/in-the-imp: Like a masculine cologne. Well-blended enough that I can't pick out any individual notes. Freshly applied - Fresh, almost fougere-like, with a hint of aquatic soap. I usually like masculine-type scents, but this is one of the rare occasions when I find myself concluding that yes, this would indeed be better on a guy. It gets sweeter after the first few minutes, but also more soapy. Twenty-thirty minutes in - Sadly, after about a half-hour (and a very brief phase of smelling almost melon-like) or so it's become pure soapy laundry detergent. And it remains soap and washing powder for the next several hours until it fades. I had hope for the first fifteen minutes or so, but my skin's hatred for aquatics struck again and buried the hope under a mountain of soap suds.

Hunter is a subdued/very light clove on me. It starts out smelling like sage and leather and warm, dry grass, but then after a couple hours morphs into amber combined with something that's sort of like spiced chai tea. Like the lovechild of Bow and Crown of Conquest and The Lion, except not quite as sweet as either. My favorite clove scent atm is The Avenue (dark chocolate, clove, smoked amber, bourbon vanilla tar, and black pepper), which smells sort of dirty-sexy and sort of like Christmas at the same time. The clove note is pretty strong in it, the chocolate note is the dark/not-too-sweet kind, and somehow the combination of ingredients makes it smell almost like it has leather in it. Plunder is also a strong, spicy clove, but the black tea note in it is a little stronger than I'd like. I have extremely high hopes for Gingerbread, Clove, and Vetiver from the new Yules update.

French Vanilla SN! it's not as complex as Vanilla Bean Noel, but it's the same kind of custardy, almost creme-brulee-like vanilla scent.

I had high hopes for this single note, because vanilla is one of my favorite notes. Unlike some of the other testers, I don't really get any anise from this - it goes on a very custardy, rich vanilla that reminds me slightly of B&BW's Vanilla Bean Noel (I've seen comparisons to Love's Philosophy, but that's a more airy, slightly-tangy vanilla on me). Like the Bath & Body Works lotion, the custard-vanilla scent is almost creme brulee-like, and I feel like I should adore it, but there's a slightly plasticky/oily edge to it that's keeping it from being the perfect vanilla of my dreams. Vanilla rarely goes plastic or play-doh-like on me, so this was an unexpected disappointment. It's not bad, but it doesn't live up to my (admittedly extremely high) hopes. I'm going to try it in an oil burner before sending it to the swaps pile, though, just in case it redeems itself by turning out to be the perfect vanilla room scent.

If you like Smokestack, you may want to look for Dark Chocolate, Blackened Tobacco, and Vetiver from this year's Lupers. It smells similar to Smokestack to my nose (only with more tobacco and slightly less smoky) and I love it. A Grievous Swarm, another LE, is another delicious, smoky vetiver scent. Agnes Nutter, which is GC but unimpable and described as "bonfire smoke and rusty nails" is another great smoky scent, but it doesn't have Smokestack's sweet quality. I've never worn either, but a lot of people describe Jareth, from the Labyrinth line (another that's GC but unimpable) as being very similar to Dorian. And if Al-Azif smells really banana-y on you, you might want to check out The Twelfth from this year's Lupers (still up on the site), which is basically straight-up banana pudding.

Marshmallow Cookie Pie bath oil + Smokestack. Like smores over a tobacco&maple syrup-scented campfire.

Delicious warm/sweet beeswax and golden, buttery pumpkin. The beeswax and pumpkin remind me of a stronger, sweeter version of Bunraku Theater.

I'm not sure which version my decant is, but like bellumed, I get sweet, soothing, gentle spiced milk. Also, I put it on fresh out of a hot shower, and got no skin irritation from it despite the spice note. In the decant, the tangy goat's milk note is the strongest, like opening a container of plain yogurt. Once on my skin, the spice comes forward more, and I get a gentle, creamy-milky warm sweet spice scent. One of my go-to winter hot drinks is hot milk with clove-cardamon sugar syrup in it, and Mother Shub's Spiced Lait de Chevre smells just like that spiced milk drink. Sadly, it's pretty short lived. By an hour in, it had already started to fade, and now, about an hour and a half after application, it's nearly gone. Still, it's cozy and soothing enough that I'll definitely keep the decant for a bedtime scent.

For rose, have you tried Adrastea or Kurukulla? Adrastea is more of a rose + middle eastern baked goods scent, but the sweet/fruity lotus note makes Kurukulla kind of jammy on me. (And of course there's LUSH's Rose Jam).

Oakmoss can also causes a skin reaction in some people, but I don't think there's any in HImerus..

Wet/in imp - perfume-y beeswax Freshly applied - yup, sweet, perfume-y beeswax. It smells almost like a LUSH product, like one of their bath melts. Thirty minutes later, it's still a LUSH bath melt. For the first five minutes or so it kept threatening to become cloying, but never quite did. Gambols of Ghosts is soft/sweet perfume-y beeswax with hints of something floral, very gentle and inoffensive. (Which means it's not FBW for me, because I like my honey and beeswax more raw/sticky/slightly animalistic)

Wet/in imp - smoky vetiver combined with something warm and slighty foodie Freshly applied - nutty grain with a hint of citrus from the pettigrain. The vetiver has vanished (that, or it's what's making the grain smell warm/roasted) Fifteen-twenty minutes in - The citrus note from the petigrain has burned off, and now it's all slightly-nutty roasted grain. Like a warm, wooden grain silo might smell. It's actually not very sweet despite the honey and vanilla - more of a savory scent. It reminds me slightly of the Chicken-Legged Hut, actually. I might have to test the against each other just to make sure I'm not imagining it. Once it's dried, Himalia doesn't really morph on me - at the two hour mark, it was still the same dry, warm, nutty roasted grain smell.

Wet/in imp - anise. Just straight-up anise/black licorice As it starts to dry - anise softens and now it's anise-smoke-a soft/slightly-sweet/slightly 'fuzzy' third thing that I assume must be the teak (the oak and tobacco dominate Antikythera Mechanism on me to much to pick out the teak note in it). The anise gives it an oddly fresh/clean quality despite the smokiness. Fifteen minutes in: my left wrist is a soft/faint cozy skin scent. My right wrist is anise and polished wood. Two hours in - both forearms/wrists have become a soft/faint cozy skin scent, though my right wrist still has traces of anise. By three/four hours, only the faintest hint of skin-scent is left, and only if I put my nose right against my wrist. Not very long-lived, but cozy and pleasant. I'm going to have to investigate licorice further as a note.

Wet/in the imp - light, floral honey, stronger on the floral than the honey Freshly applied - as it starts to dry on my skin, a resin-y note appears that must be the cistus. Fifteen minutes in - beeswax, light/slightly-grainy resin and hint of flowers/hay, somehow both warm and clean-smelling. It has a good four inches of throw, but isn't strong/cloying or overwhelming. It reminds me a little of a beeswax-based lotion, like a Burt's Bees product. Three hours in - Door hasn't morphed much - it's still cistus resin, hay-like slightly-herbal chamomile, and beeswax/honey. The scent has gotten fainter/lighter, but I can still detect it with my nose several inches away from my wrist. Something about the beeswax-lotion aspect makes Door smell very clean to me, like applying lotion to freshly showered skin.

The Deep Ones starts out a sharp aquatic, with something almost rotting/faintly-urine-like lurking underneath. Five to ten minutes into the drydown the rotting seaweed note vanishes as the expected clean "sea beeze/spring breeze/etc." dryer sheets note all aquatics become on me appears. Forty minutes in, my left wrist is soapy dryer sheets. My right is clean laundry/dryer sheets with a hint of dry incense. After about three hours, the dry incense came forward a lot more, giving me a mix of sharp aquatic and dry incense-y-ness that lasted at least four hours before starting to fade. I like this second stage of the drydown a lot more than I expected to. Yes! A Lovecraft-themed aquatic I can wear.

Smokestack from the GC is also pretty smoky.

You've probably already tried Tombstone, but just in case you haven't... (Outlaw reminded me a lot of Tombstone with extra rootbeer)

In the imp/wet - Leather and sage - a fresh, soft outdoorsy leather rather than harsh/chemical-y or leather-goods-store leather. Five-ten minutes in - Once Hunter has dried on my skin, the leather actually fades into the overall scent rather than dominating (in fact, it reminds me a lot of the leather in Bow and Crown of Conquest, another sage and leather scent where the leather's wll-behaved on me.) The scent is very well blended; the leather, amber, and sage sort of merge into a warm, cosy smell that reminds me of dry grasses and warm sunlight. Like a cat lying in the sun on a hot, dry day. But not a panther or a lion - a soft, furry domestic cat. This really is like a less-sweet/no-vanilla/more-outdoors-y version of Bow and Crown of Conquest (which is one of my favorite GC scents). Unfortunately, it's relatively low-throw I suspect will be short lived. Two hours in - As anticipated, Hunter has faded down to a close/faint skin scent that I have to put my nose directly to my wrist to smell. It's also morphed and now smells not like sage and leather and warm, dry grass, but like amber combined with something that's sort of like spiced chai tea. (ETA: when I came here to post this review and rechecked the notes, I realized I'd forgotten that this has clove in it - hence the spicy smell). At this point, it's reminding me less of Bow and Crown and more of The Lion. The very late drydown (like, 6-7 hours in) is just a hint of amber skin scent. I may have to test this against Bow and Crown of Conquest and The Lion to see if the resemblance is really as strong as I think it is. If not, I may need a bottle of this.

King Pursued was more oak and amber than pine on me, but YMMV.

This is a light, gauze-y sort of scent that's reminiscent of De Vos on me - maybe it's the combination of rose, fruit, vanilla, and white musk. The strawberry is detectable when wet, but as it dries the white musk becomes the dominant note on my skin (in my hair, the fruity/floral aspect dominated and lasted longer). Unlike previous strawberry scents I've tried, it doesn't turn into "vintage 1980s Strawberry Shortcake doll" on me, and the white musk never went high-pitched or turned into dryer sheets. Throw is light, and so is the staying power - it was completely gone from my skin within two hours, and from my hair within three. Since I already have a couple light fruity/floral scents, I don't think I'll need a bottle of Libra, but I'll keep the imp to wear in my hair when I wear De Vos.

Delicious, sweet, almost fruity-smelling lavender. It's very soft and gentle, rather than sharp/herbal/astringent, and reminds me strongly of LUSH's Twilight (lavender/tonka) bath bombs. I can't pick out the hops, which I've never smelled in perfume before, or even the white musk, though it might be what makes the lavender softer and more gentle than usual. I put about four sprays worth in my hair last night, usually enough for my wife to smell the HG from the other end of the apartment, and instead the scent just clung in a soothing lavender cloud around my head. I actually like this better than TKO, which goes weird and slightly plasticky on me, and even better than aged Paris, my former favorite BPAL lavender. If you like lavender, this is a must have.