modernsaints

I opened the bottle for this (regular label, no critters on it) and smelled it and went "OH DEAR". Because apparently one of those five vanillas was the same hyper-buttery one from Tokyo Stomp, which, er, did not agree with me. Wet, & for the first twenty minutes of drydown, this is sickly-buttery-sweet, to the point where I felt nauseous. After that... well, the first test led to a sort of very sugared, yet sort of dusty floral. I thought it was the gardenia; my mother called it 'dusty rose', but either way, it was debatable. I kind of, maybe, possibly liked it. Maybe. The second test, today, was just too sickly, and not even in a sweet way, if that makes sense - heavy and cloying and altogether too much. I also never got a single hint of grapefruit off this, and can't see myself ever wearing it. We really need a 'woe' emoticon

hsdfkjsdf SO GOOD. In the imp and wet, this is BUBBLEGUM. Lots and lots of it; sort of reminds me of Joy Mojo, but not QUITE that bad. (Joy Mojo was the bubblegum from hell on me, though.) However, this dries down into a lovely, sweetly sugared guava. I work with a Colombian girl who likes to bring me little blocks of guava paste (which by the way are DELICIOUS and highly recommended) and this smells kind of like that, but with a bit of a fluffier, cotton-candy sugar tint. I am going to love the hell out of this decant and seriously consider a bottle. (Especially because I want to slather this, like, all over my entire body.)

This starts off bright, cinnamon/clove spice on me, with a slight back of sweetness. Over time, the spice gets spicier, the back gets more... meh. I think I must come to terms with the fact that amber just, well, bores me. But I can see how this would be glorious spicy goodness on... someone else. Sigh!

Oh man~ I'd been on a streak of mediocre BPAL for awhile, guessing notes poorly/getting odd frimps, and this has restored my faith! Whoever said "mandarin soda" was very close - I think it's more like those Izze sparkling fruit juices. Sweet and bubbly but entirely natural; verging on sugared, but not quite there. It smells mostly of mandarin on me but the fig gives it a certain tang that I adore. Perfectly blended, and I can see myself slathering this like CRAZY during the summer.

... This perfume is a blend of the sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey. Oh man. ELEVEN notes, honey is the LAST, and this is still pure honey-powder on me. Just a warning to those who have the same aversion as me; you may think it will be safe! The honey in this is STRONG, though. Woe.

Easter is something that's especially meaningful to me, & I had to pass on tracking down Ostara due to honey issues, so I had high hopes when I got this decant of Eos (kisses for rabid hauteur!) It's a nice, sweet, gentle floral - the jasmine is most prominent, but the buttercup lends it this pale yellow sort of... color? Texture? Something. It smells like jasmine, but feels like buttercup to me. The honeysuckle is nice, just a background note. Sadly, I much prefer the lime-tinged jasmine in Muse and the dragon's-blood-honeysuckle in Ladon, and really can't bring myself to be terribly excited about this. The concept is lovely, and the notes individually are lovely, but the blend just doesn't bring any of them to a higher level, and so I can't really justify holding onto it.

One of my first tries with amber notes (all the others I'd attempted had been overpowered by honey.) I remember smelling this, and getting 'dust' and 'skin musk' quite clearly, and feeling the sense of a coyote-scent distinctly. However, I also remember not even remotely wanting ME to smell like it. This is more art than perfume to me; a perfect image in scent, but not a perfume, on any level. Of course, I like to smell like a girly-girl

Frimp from the lab, and I am surprised (and grateful) for it! I am genuinely confused on this scent; I like the fresh, aquatic base of it, and am delighted that ambergris works on me as I did not expect it to at all. And yet something of it smells like a saltine cracker to me. I have a vague sensation that I'll never reach for this. Ever. And yet I'd feel terrible sending it off without giving it a chance, because it IS nice, and fresh, and deliciously cool. On the other hand, my brother said he liked it, and this is a kid that runs screaming at the scent of incense, soap, shampoo... you name it. He is Anti-Perfume. I am so unsure! And yet I recommend it anyway, it's a wonderful experience, even if you don't end up keeping it.

Somehow, the rose calmed down nicely in this one; I was impressed and hopeful with it, and thought it was delicious and lovely and fruit-floral for about... twenty minutes? Then, either the plumeria or the pear went extremely plasticky and terrible. (Whatever it is, it's also in Thalia.) I kept getting whiffs of pomegranate, and being excited, and then OH NO WAIT. Plastic. Aww.

In the imp this is beautiful, vanilla and a hint of delicious sassafras, and I cannot wait to try it on! I am Excited About This Blend! (And better yet, it's a frimp. mmmmmfrimp.) Then it goes on, and dries down immediately to cedar. I smell exactly of the interior of a closet. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfect closet scent, but I don't feel comfortable wearing it, and it's not at all what I expected.

For those not in the know, Arabian musk is heavier than white musk. I learned this when I realized 'everything but white musk is terrible and powdery on me', and I was hoping Bathsheba would keep the nice spicy carnation/plum duo, but sadly, they were no match. So I guess if you like musk this will be a winner; it's dry and faintly sweet and very spicy-delicious in the imp, and I'd imagine it'd do the same on others.

For some reason I got this, and then realized a few days after that that rose went horrible powdery on me. The cinnamon never even had a chance here; rose lovers will ADORE THIS TO PIECES, but sadly, I am not one! In the imp though it was pretty nice. Just a hint of spice, enough to make you want more, and to huff it.

This was altogether too heavy for me; the dragon's blood was lovely and sweet, but the pepper and clove really just weighed it down and made it feel all too... old? Weighty? Whatever it was, it was a nice thing to smell, but not a perfume I wanted at all. I have a distinct memory of opening it, and sniffing it, and saying out loud, "Wait, pepper? In perfume? ... What?" ETA: And somehow, on the madre, this becomes perfect sweetly-spiced dragon's blood. The pepper and clove kinda lurk in the background, but they play really, REALLY nice on her.

In the imp, this was heavy, CLOYINGLY foody - and I like foody. Excessive chocolate and cream, altogether like a very thick, rich cake that makes you want heaps, and then you take one bite and go "oh dear god I'm done now." I can see how some would like that, but just not for me. On me, it mellowed, except it went past 'calm' into 'weird burning plastic'. A shame - I wanted it to just soften a teeny bit, but I guess it's not happening, huh.

In the imp it was a very sweet, high apricot - delicious, with a touch of what I'm assuming was the booze to it. On me, though, one of those went even higher (like, shattering-crystal high) and became sharp and metallic. Not fun, just lots of screeching (I guess this is the post-brandy hangover?) Ah well, perhaps it's for the best; tiny underage me should not be reeking of booze (:

Wow I have no idea what it is about this blend. My notes simply read: "something... not me." In retrospect, looking at the notes, I think that means "I like fruit, I like aquatics, I like peach, I don't like rose." I remember it being really vaguely nice, but something in it just felt horribly off, and not-me. I think it was the rose, sadly. There are some good notes in here though, and if rose likes you I bet this would be lovely and fresh and sweet.

This does have a distinctly nearly-artificial sugar note to it... but somehow it kind of adds to the charm? It's all sweetness and redness and delicious fruit goodness. I wouldn't say it has the scent of a MLP/Strawberry Shortcake doll, but it's got that sort of aura to it? Anyway I love it against my better judgement and I will be wearing this like NO OTHER. One of my first two bottles unsniffed, and I feel happy~

In the bottle this is LOVELY - a sweet, buttery Thin Mint, no question about it. The butter is a bit heavy but I huff anyway. On me it starts out the same, but sweetens up nearly immediately; it's all sugar and cookie and DELICIOUS. And then it dries into this odd, SHARP, very metallic mint. If I really try I can detect the vanilla lurking under there... I didn't love the wet scent enough to hoard this & age it, so I might as well swap it off. Aww. I'd been running around all month going "GODZILLA PERFUME LOLOL." What a shame!

Mmm. In the imp, this was a generically nice scent; I put it on and now it is ~*~heaven~*~ The florals are all lovely high notes - the jasmine hits just right, and the tuberose gives it a wonderful base. Everything is white and sparkly and the lime kicks in just enough to be DELICIOUS. Not really getting any lotus out of it, but that's ok, I'm sure it's doing its thing somewhere in there and adding extra loveliness. I want to walk around in a big floofy cloud of this!

Mmmm. In the imp this is a really sweet, lovely, warm coffee - not a bit of dust or wood to it. On me, it gains that caramel note, and just mellows more and more as I wear it, turning me into a big sweet latte! I'm not entirely sure whether I want to SMELL like a latte, but I can't stop huffing my wrist when I wear it, so I'll definitely need to do some more testing. But I will enjoy that testing, oh yes I will! ETA: Aaaaand on further testing...I smell like popcorn half the time. Huh? I'm so incredibly torn on this one.

I could just detect the apple and sweetness at the edge of this... SO CLOSE, but unfortunately, the patchouli went weird as hell on me. Way too dark and earthy for my skin chemistry. It is a shame, I really wanted a nice autumn scent!

Frimp from the lab. Beth > all. However, something in this felt... off to me. Either the amber or the myrrh, I think? The lotus wasn't bubblegum-y, just vaguely sweet, and the other notes balanced it, but it never got past generically nice. I think something about it just didn't click. Shame, as I REALLY liked the lotus in Shattered and wanted more lotus ):

I really wanted to enjoy this, as I'm big into the poetry (especially epic! I like epic!) but unfortunately it quickly devolved into herbs. Lots and lots of herbs. I LIKE herbs, but I don't feel like I should smell like them, so unfortunately this one is making its way on to a new owner.

For the first couple times I wore it, it was this lovely sweet almost currant-y top note - I'm guessing that's the wine - floating on top of the rose. Almost no dragon's blood. Third time, though, it was sort of... sour and strange, and I had to scrub it off. Shame. I'm starting to think that rose isn't the biggest fan of me.

Smells EXACTLY like bubble gum with a powdery sugar-y coating on it. Throws me way back to childhood... but it's way too sickly-sweet to smell regularly, even as a voodoo blend What a shame!