Elspethdixon

Wet/in imp – Crisp, ripe fruit in the imp, but then a stale note appears on skin (like Skuld but nowhere near as bad) Five-ten minutes in – The stale note is gone and crisp, juicy lotus/fig reigns. Clean and fresh rather than rich/cloying/lush. Smells more like a Luper than a Yule; a really nice Luper. Several inches of throw (more than Jacob's Ladder, which I'm testing on my other arm). 30 minutes in – the crisp juiciness is starting to fade, but it’s still a light, sweet, not-quite tropical scent. I can’t distinguish either the coconut or the fig; I think they’re blending in smoothly with the lotus, making it creamier and less floral. 1 Hour in - creamier now; the coconut has come forward a little as the crisp/juicy fruit note from the lotus fades. So far, my favorite of the two I'm testing. Throw is about half what it was initially, but still there. 2 hours in – becomes creamier (more fig & coconut, less lotus), then by two hours has begun to fade.

Wet/in imp – Perfumey amber Five-ten minutes in – light/sweet perfume-y amber, (reports that this is a really nice amber are not exaggerated) 1 Hour in – this morphs very little; still a perfume-y amber, rich and sweet. Not strong, but a couple inches of throw. 2 hours in – no change (and it's faded entirely by four/four-and-a-half hours in)

Wet/in imp - sharp/thin, herbal, tangy-sour (almost like pickles?) Freshly applied - sharp kitchen herbs and something cool and minty. There's definitely a strong mint note in this - my skin even feels cool where I applied it. Five minutes in - sharp and at the same time slightly musty. Something in it tingles in my nose. Like Grandfather Frost's slightly-musty but pine-scented robes after he comes in from the cold outside, maybe? I don't know that I want to wear it, or if I even like it, but it's definitely interesting Twenty-thirty minutes in - it's gotten softer (I can detect the amber and fuzzy snow note now) and a little sweeter/less sour, but the tangy herbal note is still there, as is the nose-chilling bit. Like a crisp, cold outdoors day with a hint of just-about-to-snow in the air. It doesn't morph much past this point, though I get several hours worth of wear out of it. I have no idea what caused the pickle-like effect early on - maybe the bois de rose going sour bad!rose on me or some combination of the tree moss and snow notes?

Wet/in imp - perfumey vanilla. I don't get much tobacco. Freshly applied - cool, creamy vanilla with a hint of alcohol - the cognac almost makes this smell like a commercial perfume because of the alcohol note, but I like it. Something abut this is cool and pale, but a different cool than the dry coolness of Winter: My Secret. It makes me think of porcelain and smooth, pale plastic, possibly via the power of suggestion due to the name. A good two/three inches of throw. Twenty-thirty minutes in - musky vanilla (with a hint of tobacco?) and cool, aromatic/rich cognac. This has a sophisticated air to it despite its sweetness, maybe because the cognac adds that hint of fancy-perfume-alcohol to it. This is one of those big dolls with sausage curls and a fancy Victorian dress that sits in a white-painted child-sized chair and stares at you with dead china/glass eyes. Its eyes are pale blue-green, and there are ghostly white dust-clothes over the larger pieces of bedroom furniture, including the mirror of the small, white painted vanity. The dry-rotted fabric tears when you try to pull it back to see the age-spotted silver mirror behind it. The glass perfume bottle on the vanity are empty except for some dried residue and the ghost of the sweet, girlish vanilla scents they used to hold. No one's been in this slightly-musty wing of the house in years, and when you ask about it, everyone pretends they don't know what you're talking about. I don't think I need a bottle because I have half-a-dozen vanilla scents already, but if I didn't, I'd consider it.

2016 version Wet/in the imp – sweet rum, maybe a hint of nutmeg, but primarily the same sweetened rum note I love in Kill-Devil Freshly applied – once on skin, the vanilla comes out and it becomes warmer and less boozey Five-ten minutes in – after a few minutes, the rum note re-emerges, but it’s a foody/desert-sauce rum rather than a boozey one. This is reading as less custardy eggnog to me and more as the rum sauce that goes on bananas foster. Something about it reminds me of burnt sugar. This is reassuring me that the plasticky note in SN French Vanilla was a one-off, though, because Egg Nog isn’t plasticky at all. 30-40 minutes in – now it's custardy, like vanilla custard with burned sugar (I’m going to have to try this in my hair to see if the Kill-Devil-like rum note lasts longer there) Two hours in– by two hours, Egg Nog has faded almost entirely to a warm, sugary-vanilla skin scent. It was nice while it lasted, though, possibly one of my top three from this year's Yules.

Wet/in the imp – slightly sweet resin, with labdanum as the strongest note Freshly applied - still sweet resin, but once it touches my skin, the myrrh starts to emerge Five-ten minutes in – very little vanilla (I get a hint of cool, dry vanilla right by my wrist, but the rest of my forearm is all resin), mostly incense, not quite as sweet as it was at first. But something about it is indeed cold and wintery. This is a cool incense somehow, rather than a warm, smokey one. The sweetness of the Eggnog I'm testing on my other wrist could be causing me to read this as cooler/less sweet though. It gets sweeter and softer and less cool/dry as it dries down/wears. 30-40 minutes in – soft, hazy incense. Maybe a hint of cool/dry vanilla? I have to say, this is not living up to my gritty/rich/warm vanilla-myrrh dreams. I was hoping it would be like Funary Papyrus after the weird green note has burned off. Two hours in– And now that I’m well into the drydown… it has in fact morphed into a pleasant/warm vanilliac incense. Just as it’s starting to fade Why couldn’t it have smelled like this all along? Turns out my impression that it was fading was wrong: Winter: My Secret lasts as a pleasant incense-y skin scent for about 4-5 more hours, because of course it does. So now I’m like “Is two hours of “meh” worth three-four hours worth of smelling good?” If forty minutes of "weird green note" kept me from buying Funerary Papyrus (A choice I only slightly regret), then I suspect those initial two hours of generic cool incense will keep me from getting Winter: My Secret.

It looks like you like both sweet/vanilla-y foodies and florals (or at least roses). De Vos's Unicorn is a good sugared/creamy floral that I definitely recommend (I think it might be my fave of the unicorns). Others you might want to try: Allegory of Chastity - another of the recently discontinued Unicorns. This one's a rose/vanilla cream/jasmine combo. A lot of people find it very similar to De Vos (which is apricot, rose, lavender, white musk, and marshmallow), but on me it was a strongly floral sweet rose that was completely different from De Vos's ethereal fruity-floral-pastel-marshmallow scent. It's the only jasmine that's never gone bad on me. Eat Me - (GC) vanilla cake and black current. If you like Cake Smash, it may be worth a try. Bastet - (GC) amber, "Egyptian musk," saffron, cardamon, myrrh, almond, and lotus. Hellcat is basically pure almond extract on me - Bastet is a slightly more complex scent while still having a predominant almond note. Eden - (GC) Fig, almond, coconut, and sandalwood. Another almond-heavy scent that's nearly as sweet as Hellcat. Poor Monkey - Currently-available Yule LE. If Kurukulla is more lotus than rose on you, you may like this one - it's a creamy fig/vanilla/lotus/ylang ylang combo with a strong lotus note, like crisp, juicy fruit. The Bear Prince - another current Yule. I've never tried this one, but it's apparently a soft rose with a sweet snow note and fuzzy musk and a lot of people really love it.

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.