MolyH

I couldn't smell this imp at all, because as soon as I opened it, I could not stop sneezing. I'm not entirely sure what note is causing that--my best guess is the jasmine. Alas, this one will have to be gifted away to my MIL. It sounded so intriguing too!

Wow, the spices from the rum, the slight burnt note to the caramel, and the nuttiness of the pecans combine together to make a almost caramel coffee note. This is absolutely delicious! I'm normally very wary of foodie scents, because they tend to be too heavy and cloying for my tastes, but this is absolutely my favourite out of all three Black Friday samples. It's rich, and yet balanced and complex. The sugar isn't overwhelming at all, and it doesn't smell buttery at all. I kind of honestly want a big bottle of this.

Oh no. I can smell an absolutely beautiful sandalwood, buried and smothered by the stinkiest, heaviest patchouli and vetiver I've ever encountered. It's so heavy and dirty. 😧

??? Did Beth put the wrong perfume in my imp or something? I mean, granted, I have no idea what opium smells like, actually. Nor do I have a lot of experience with myrrh. But are they supposed to be so...sweet and fruity? This smells exactly like a super-aged bottle of Fruit Moon I have--juicy, fresh, bursting with sweetness. They're nigh indistinguishable. Am I crazy? Does opium normally smell fruity?

Oooh, this is the peach I wanted! A soft, sweet, juicy white peach at the height of ripeness. The sugar is quite subtle, the overwhelming impression of this scent is just soft and fuzzy and clear and backed by a touch of floral. It reminds me of these delicious white peach-flavoured jellies I'd buy with an actual peach blossom suspended in the centre. Oh god, this is so good.

Fresh and wet on the skin, this is dirt-y, dirty patchouli. For me, it's only as it dries that the fig slowly emerges, while the dirt fades to the background. For the majority of its lifespan, this is a deeply fascinating fig with a surprisingly light, high-pitched patchouli, if you know what I mean. It's a pity that for me, there's not much oakmoss at all, since that's the note I was looking forward to the most.

Strong, almost bitter, herbalness--all rosemary and lavender. I can't say I'm a big fan of either. I was really hoping for much more frankincense. A greenish purple haze is an excellent description of what Arcana smells like.

Very dark, earthy cinnamon. They're not foody at all to me. Not Red Hots candy like either. Just the raw spice, like you might sniff in a jar, backed with deep, rich sandalwood incense. It's honestly beautiful and quite alluring. Alas, my hubby has a cold and has his nose all stuffed up.

Truly, the softest of calfskin leather, gently creased, smooth as baby skin. Alas, it's such a light scent, that I have to press my nose right up to my wrist to get anything at all. This reminds me quite a lot of Paladin, which was another scent I love, love, loved, but was too faint to catch.

This scent just completely disappears for me. It smells like nothing at all except the faintest whisper of smoke. I have tried it on my skin, in a scent locket, in a scent diffuser, everything. I've used up the whole imp, and I still don't know what beeswax smells like. I don't think this is skin chemistry. It's gotta be smell chemistry or something. My nose just isn't processing this scent. It's like a blindspot, for the olfactory senses. This is bizarre.

This is exactly the type of honey I dread, the type that amps up and up and UP and completely covers up what else might have been in the scent, and turns headache-inducingly, teeth-rottingly sweet. I wish I could smell what other people get out of this, but I'm going to have to let this one go.

Wow, as someone who amps rose, the rose in this is really quite subtle. I wouldn't have known it was there if I hadn't read the notes. For me, this is just full of plum and black current--dark purple fruits which are tart, without being citrusy at all, glazed with sweet honey. It's really quite delicious! I'm glad I like it so much, as a libra myself.

I'm surprised to see narcissus mentioned so little in other people's reviews, because it's definitely the predominant note for me, far above both the orange blossom and vanilla. It's a dark, incensey narcissus, with a background suggestion of orange and just the tiniest hint of vanilla.

I'm surprised at all the comments about a "dry" rose, because this is a very fresh, wet, almost "juicy" rose to me, sweetened by amber. I don't get a lot of musk out of this--that might be where the dryness comes in. For me, this is just a gloriously sweet, dewy rose. If not for the fact that I already have way too many rose scents, it would be a keeper for sure.

GINGER. A thick ginger syrup floating over a bed of citrus--buddha's hand and mandarin and orange. Once in a while, I get a little of the floral elements. But for the most part, the ginger is strong and dominating. I like ginger, don't get me wrong. I actually quite adore this. But it's not even a listed note?

Peppery, dry patchouli and cedar smoke. Dusty, indeed! I'm not sure I get much frankincense, but I definitely get the scorched part out of this! Don't get me wrong, it's not unpleasant at all--this is an extremely fragrant scorched smoke. Very masculine leaning on me, though, I don't get any of the sweeter fruit notes, and that's speaking as someone who usually amps the hell out of vanilla.

I also keep catching something minty in this and it's driving me nuts. What is that?

Lesson learned: any kind of citrus+grape blend is going to remind me of the smell of vomit after drinking too much wine, a mix of over-fermented grapes and stomach acid. Sigh.

A beautiful, relaxing, oriental tea scent. Perhaps I'm biased because my favourite type of tea is white tea. This is so incredibly evocative of the pots of tea that I used to share with my dad in the afternoon while everyone else was taking a siesta. The orange blossom and rockrose are just a hint of floral. For such a subtle and light scent as white tea, it's definitely centre stage and strong and in the forefront. My only complaint is how sweet it is. Seems a bit blasphemous to be adding sugar or honey to white tea.

I love rose. Rose perfumes always work on me, and I've irresistibly ended up with a huge collection of rose scents. But this one? This one smells like rubbing alcohol. It's astringent and chemical and almost nose-burning, with only a hint of rose. Like someone had dripped a bit of rosewater into industrial cleaner. I have no idea what went wrong.

Oooh, this is delicious and light and, indeed, very clean. I can smell quite strong tea--and I was worried that it would get drowned out by the other notes, accompanied by a bouquet of lilies. I think with some ageing, this might become even more delicious. I really want to be overwhelmed by tea when I bought this.

I'm surprised at everyone describing this as watermelon hard candy, because this definitely evokes a full, chilled glass of watermelon juice to me--it's a wet, juicy, purely sugary scent. There's no peel or seed in this. It's a glass of watermelon juice pressed out of the reddest and sweetest bite in the very centre of a watermelon.

As it dries, a creamy vanilla note definitely comes to the fore, and it legitimately smells something like Watermelon Lace. And this is very, very high praise from me. I quite literally feel more joy at the scent of Antique Lace than seeing my baby for the first time.

Dark vetiver and cedar, it's a very low saturation, bitter green, almost like forest camo. Lovely as a room scent, but I'm not sure about it on my skin.

I agree that this is the grass skirt of an island party--it's coconutty, but also undeniably green and dry and rustling. Despite the description "sugared", this isn't that sweet. It's a very meaty, solid coconut, husk and all, covered in little brown hairs, half-covered with broad coconut leaf. This is the coconut scent I've been looking for.

Oh god. The way the slightly fruity, sour notes and the wine notes blend in this reminds me exactly of the smell of my throw up after a night of drinking entirely too much sake.

I'm afraid the lotus and pomegranate has disappeared for me on this. All I smell is smoky opium, golden amber, beautiful sandalwood and frankincense. It's still a very lovely, opulent, glowing oriental scent, though, which is appropriate to the theme.