Tal Shachar

At first, this did smell yummy, but with the sharper neroli and the tang of the blood orange to keep things interesting. Very dominant, scenting the whole box of imps and remaining on me for almost 24 hrs. After awhile, though, I did get that "new Barbie doll" smell that someone else mentioned (I'd never have been able to pin down what it was on my own). I had to look up who/what Akuma is, and Google was only telling me about Street Fighter, and finally I found out it was a Japanese being of temptation like the Buddhist Mara. I think. It is definitely a rich, materialist smell, and it wrangles the mighty raspberry well.

In the imp, terrifying. It did smell chemical and burnt and acrid and the other adjectives people used, but it was a sort of shifting smell, with different nuances each time I sniffed. I still didn't like the nuances and thought I would hate this. On my skin, however, the chemical smell went away and it became my beloved motorcycle jacket. It became WAY less intense; with my nose pressed up against my elbow I could smell leather, and waayyyy under that some wood or spice that I can't identify. I guess my skin just swallowed it, since the smell was very powerful in the imp. The mysterious now-this-now-that is gone too, unfortunately.

First thought, on smelling it in the imp: I want to eat this. After some deliberation I determined that yes, I was smelling lemon like the others, but there's more fruit than that in there, at first. To me it smelled like cherries, the maraschino cherries in a pitcher of sangria. But also lemon and orange and the incense note lingering in the background. After awhile that settled down and it's now a more myrrhy smell, like those import stores that sell bellydancing supplies and brass statues of Buddha. The lemon is still there, the cherries are gone, and I no longer am tempted to empty the imp into my mouth. There's a bright, slightly bitter note, like the pith under the lemon zest. Something for particular moods, I think; I like but I'm not in love.

In the imp, this was floral with a very medicinal note, and I had a sinking feeling because I'd been hoping to love it. But on my skin it was a wonderful slinky blend of dark florals. The resinous woodiness didn't come out until the drydown, when the florals retreated into the background. Until the drydown, I thought it was a nice blend but didn't see the connection with Hades, but the way that the flowers fade and leave only smoke and dry wood is perfect. The slinky turns melancholy. Now I'm waiting patiently for my bottle...

I got Hades and Hymn to Proserpine in the same imp package from ebay, so I put this on my other wrist after trying her husband. In the imp, it was VERY fruity with almost a rubbery, new-baby-doll kind of smell, and I was sure I would hate it. On my skin, though, it cleared to just the notes of pomegranate, honey, and amber. The pomegranate went away almost entirely after it dried, leaving a dry resinous scent that was nevertheless warmer and sweeter than the dry Hades on my other wrist. It's a warm, sexy scent and I'll be keeping the imp, but I don't know if it's quite me.