achildoftime

I've been looking for a nice fruity clove. This is wonderful. It starts out very distinctly orange and clove with a smidge of incense and cinnamon. After a while it switches to peach and clove, but everything else has virtually left. Fruits almost always make themselves known on me, so I'm impressed there's any complexity. And there is absolutely some nice complexity going on here. Even if it ends up being mostly peach and clove, I can still tell that there's a backbone that my nose just can't solidly identify. I'm a fan.

My chemistry just makes this a vanilla coated vanilla with vanilla wood and vanilla tobacco and vanilla smoke. Did I mention the vanilla? I'm not sure I did. I smell like I was doused with a very expensive vanilla extract. Someone might be super excited about this prospect, but that someone is not me.

I'm actually pretty darn impressed with this. I usually turn myrrh to soap, but I'm not getting any of that from Dance of Death. It's mostly a pretty gritty patch and some really inky black musk. I think it stays pretty consistent on me with a light vein of powder pulsing in and out for the first hour. It's not my normal thing, but I like it anyway.

I try to at least give every scent a try just in case there is a pleasant surprise. This was not one of those for me. Almonds are rarely my thing and myrrh and I have a contentious relationship. And this pretty lived up to my expectations. It was like sweet almond oil soap, so that's kind of a bummer.

It's a beautiful scent that has zero staying power for me. It's lots of fresh violets and a touch of lilac, but it disappears in 30 minutes if I'm lucky. It has no holding power, which is sad because it's quite dreamy as the name suggests. While it is there, it's very lush and would be a keeper if it didn't pull a vanishing act.

I wasn't really expecting vetiver from a blind smell of this. It's pretty potent stuff. Wearing it, it does kind of smell like the woody stem of a rose, but the vetiver never really knows when enough is enough and kind of takes over, which is a shame. It was pretty interesting for a little while with the more green tones, but some things just don't play nice with me. Never got any salt or blood.

I'd really like to wear resins. They should, in theory, be rich and lovely. But myrrh smells like soap and nothing is going going to change that. My skin just thinks that myrrh is meant to smell like the most generic, utilitarian soap there is. So Penitence is church soap. Oh well, can't win them all.

It's very sweet. It's almost like sugar cookies dipped in milk. I really can't get any more descriptive than that. It never really changed or grew. It's just sugary sugar cookies and milk.

I was a little curious to try this even though none of the notes are things that I frequent at all. When I was frimped this, it was a nice chance to see that there's a reason I don't frequent these notes. It's incredibly sweet on me! Holy cow it's like someone spilled a high-end dessert table on me. I get a ton of the almond and buttercream, but I can tell there are other things behind it.

I'm not crazy about smelling like sweets, but I'm sure this would be perfect for someone who does.

I get a lot of jasmine from this one. For me, it's jasmine and clove mostly, with a support of rose. It's pretty and kind of interesting because of the clove, until the myrrh happens that is. Yes, myrrh likes to go soapy on me and as soon as this dries, it's pretty much all I get. It's a jasmine rose-y soap, but it's still very clearly the guest soap that fancy people put out for their fancy guests. It's kind of a bummer, but not everything can work I guess.

Dorian is a very sweet lemon tea. It reminds me more of an iced tea than a hot tea. It's starts as a very sugared lemon. Not like lemonade, but as if you dipped a lemon slice in sugar. The tea only gets around to the front after it dries completely. It's like the perfect summer scent. It really does feel like there's a good book and a hammock waiting for me in the shade somewhere where I can just enjoy resting with a tall glass of tea. Absolutely wonderful.

I get a very soft, worn leather out of this. It's very close to the skin, which is kind of a bummer because it really is nice. The woods and incense become much more apparent at the half-hour mark. It reminds me of sitting in an oversized leather chair and burning some incense. It's very cozy, but I wish it was a little stronger and that I'd get some of the parchment. My imp is quite old, so I wonder if the parchment just gets overwhelmed over time. I'll have to try a fresher one and see.

It really is just like fresh-squeezed lime juice covering lime candy in a lime orchard. I mean, it's LIME. And I'm glad because it's exactly what I was hoping for. The summer is coming and this is going to be added to everything!

It's a wonderful mossy scent. It's like a warm field. I think the warmth is coming from those lovely resins. I get frankincense mostly with the oakmoss. This feels like an atmospheric scent that also works well as a perfume. I don't get any hazelnut, and I'm fine with that. I was hoping more for the green notes anyway, and I certainly got them. It's a lighter scent once dry. It's still mossy, but not so resinous. It's good for a subtle scent.

It's a very rich and full-bodied perfume. I actually get all the notes in the beginning. The civet is as startling as I thought it would be. It's simply quite sultry when blended together. When it dries, the red musk is a little stronger than before. It's a little more smoky and a touch sweeter when dry. The civet burns off pretty quickly and leaves the smoky red musk. I'm a fan, for sure.

Mmm leather. It's mostly a worn leather and a touch of smoke. The dragon's blood provides a solid backbone for the scent, but it really is a leather scent. The smoke doesn't come in till about a half-hour in. It's perfectly fine, but despite being a nice worn leather note there isn't anything particularly special about it. It's simple, but if I have a dragon's blood itch there are other blends I'd reach for, and if I had a leather itch there are different blends I'd reach for, too.

I think that this is one of my favorite dragon's blood mixes. I've never been a big fan of sandalwood. It's nice, but not something I actively seek out. I may start checking out more blends, because it's really working for me. It's warm and inviting, with the trademark dragon's blood. It's strengths are definitely the woods, and they do take front-and-center. It does eventually wear close, but it doesn't make me like it any less.

It's a really nice aquatic scent. I like aquatics but so many of them are similar to my nose that one or two different kinds will usually fill my needs. This is actually pretty different and it's quite refreshing. It gets a little floral sweetness from the dragon's blood, but it's mostly a salty sea-like note. It has the hallmark of a standard aquatic but the dragon's blood does give it a different personality. It's sweet and gentle and has a bit of an edge.

I get more musk than dragon's blood. I can't pick out any musk in particular. It just smells generally musky with some dragon's blood off to the corner to start. It smells pretty rich when freshly applied, but it mutes itself in about ten minutes. It becomes a low skin scent very quickly and is mostly vaguely musky and only a touch of sweetness. It's a shame that it doesn't last longer because it start off nicely and with promise, but fizzles. Oh, well.

I've tried a number of scents with Dragon's Blood in it, but testing what I assume to be the standard note used caught me a little off guard. I was expecting a much warmer and syrupy note, but I am mostly getting florals. It's kind of an old-fashioned scent to my nose that starts a little soapy, but ends up being a pleasant light scent. There is a bit of an almost cherry twang around the edges, but it doesn't make it smell medicinal. Nice enough to use up my imp.

Dragon's Milk is probably the sweetest of the dragon mixes I've tried. It's like a creamy dragon's blood candy. It tries to push towards medicinal, but never quite makes it and stays in the candy realm rather than cough drops. I typically do okay with dragon's blood, but this doesn't work for me very well. It's not bad, but the sweetness is overwhelming on me.

I was really expecting this to be more dry. It's surprisingly lush based on the description. It smells to me like a white floral in a potted planter. I mostly get lily, but my nose has been known to be wrong before. I do get some earth, which is why it kind of reminds me of a potted lily. The earth in houseplants always feels more noticeable. When it dries, it is a bit more papery and subtle. It is pleasant if you like soft, dry scents, but I think it's a little too subtle for me.

Very sweet beeswax to start, but then it gets a little smoky. I'm not a typical rose lover. I like them well enough, but they aren't my favorite and often start to smell the same. I was hoping since this was a purple rose that it would be a bit different, and luckily I was right. It's sitting politely behind a curtain of incense and sweet beeswax. In fact the beeswax is bordering on straight honey on me, but I think the tobacco leaves are keeping it from going there completely. This one is so beautiful. I'm really glad I took a chance with the rose.

Wisteria and lilac are having the most passive-aggressive fight I've ever smelled. They both keep going "Pardon me, I believe I was here first. No, I'm fairly certain is was me..." etc. It's polite, but they keep vying for top billing while the tea and pepper quietly slip in front of them both. I know that kind of makes it sound like a restless scent, but it works pretty well overall. There just happens to be a chance you'll alternately smell wisteria and lilac. Like I said, the tea and pepper do come out to add some stability. They work very well together even though it might not be the intuitive choice. I'm quite fond of it.

Absolutely wonderful spring scent. It's kind of what I was hoping Amsterdam would be. I really love tulips and they have this strange dry sweetness, if that makes any sense, and I feel like I get it in spades here. It does have a suggestion of lavender the plant, but it more strongly has me associating with lavender the color. There is a little honey sweetness, but not too much. In fact the second most noticeable scent after tulips is the freesia. Everything else kind of coddles them and lifts them up. This scent is a real winner.