KikuPeach

In the Imp: Juniper maybe? And something sweetish, but tree-y. I get a birchy feeling, but I don't really know. It's interesting - not woody, but tree-y. Wet: Junipowder? No, but still something Needly green and lovely. Is that some sandalwood in the background? Behind the fresh boughs of pine and birch and . . . Mmmm! Dry: still those gorgeous green branches. And a slight muskiness- is this the buckskin? It doesn't seem like most leathers I've smelled, but warm and skin-like, but more. And that dry sweetness- if that's the BPAL hay note, I need to buy Bram Stoker immediately. This scent is beautifully blended, with a light-medium throw and a nice long wear time, though the juniper berries faded in and out, along with an herbal smell- almost like lavender, if it wasn't purple. Played hide-and-seek a bit, whatever it was. The entire is making me regret not knowing more synonyms for 'wonderful' and 'amazing'.

On me, this starts off as a brassy pumpkin-and-chocolate party. The pomegranate? AWOL, but I don't mind. As it wears on, though, everything seems to fade away from the chocolate and cream, until it smells like a syrup-heavy Hazelnut latté. Good smell, but no pumkin on me. Then again, I'm having trouble catching it in number One, as well, so maybe my skin just eats up pumpkins like a big hungry troll. Nom nom nom.

In the imp, this is too much for me - I almost couldn't stand it. Tenatively, I tried it on anyway, and after a moment of diabetic shock, it smoothed out ointo a maple-y, sugary, sweet foodie deliciousness, with a creamy sort of undertone. While I love it on it's own, it sweetens up and slightly ramps down the OMGPUMPKIN of the pumpkins I ordered. May have to buy two bottles of this stuff. 5/5

hunger is like Darkness' little cousin on me (probably that narcissus) - with that sheer sweetness that is nonetheless completely untrustworthy. (I have daffodil issues) This doesn't smell like lust to me. More like deception - a dame in black with a veiled hat, crossing her long legs while the light through the Venetian blinds throws stark bars across the room. This smells . . . noir. This and darkness are like a woman and her grandmother, seperated by century (late nineteenth and mid-twentieth, respectively, but so similar in just what maneaters they are. The sadder but wiser girl.

(This is a review without my notes handy, so indulge me.) Antony smells clean and sexy the way a guy in a well-worn flannel shirt over jeans with two day's growth of stubble does. He smells of outdoors, but not 'woodsy' per se - in a word, gorgeous. The leather and ambergris really ground this, and the basil really greens and cleans it up, keeping it from being muskmuskMUSK with no respite. As great as this smelled on me, and as much as I will purchase more in the future (probably in imps, though, as it's not my 'signature' at all), I gave this one to my brother, who also smells great. Masculine without being harsh, very classical, very Shakespeare. Recommended.

I ordered a bottle of Boomslang, and am loving it. When I first tried, it gor sucked up by my pre-menstrual skin like water by a tribe of Bedouins. Now, it floats very nicely around, perhaps not quite as chocolatey as I had hoped by the description, but floating over my beloved Snake Oil. Next on the list? Definately Candy Butcher, and further down is Centzon Totochtin, an imp of which my beloved Big Sister/Fairy Godmother Ahania sent to me, and makes me feel absolutely deadly. Boomslang is my 'Everyday Temptress' scent, Alice or Y'hanthlei for when I'm playing innocent. :P/ Thanks for all the recommendations - my wishlist has ballooned outward at the speed of sound (that may have been the popping sound I heard), curse every one of you enablers! Thanks again. Chocolately yours, Kikupeach

Oooh! In the imp, it is a DAFFODIL OMG smell, which is okay, I guess, but there's flowers I prefer, and frankly, I'm not much of a floral girl anyway. So it was with trepidation that I continued. Wet on my skin, it seemed actually very spring-y. The daffodils had calmed down a bit, a little bit of spicy that reminded me of paperwhites came out, and I wasn't much fond. I liked the spicy, but this was far to bright for something called "Darkness". Dry? Oh, sweet fancy Magi in sequinned-green turbans! Now the daffodils are those ghostly white ones, stock still in an overgrown 'Secret Garden'-style walled bit of ground, only slightly lit by the smallest amount od moonlight coming through the enormous tree, supporting a swing too rickety and full of sad memories to bear weight. Actually, I have a short story idea, coming out of this perfume. Evocative. Nostalgic. Untrustworthy. Gothic. Romantic. Darkness. 5/5 - one of the few florals that make me cheer. Somberly. Very somberly.

Imp: Warm/sweet Wet: Whoa. Sweet like vanilla sugar, but very powdery. (Vanilla powdered sugar?) Maybe too powdery? I'm losing the sweet underneath . . . Dry: There's the sweetness. So much sweetness that I'm having trouble picking out the honey or amber. Even the vanilla is just a whisper of a hint. This is sheer and sweet, but so light I'm not catching any of the lauded sexy. I'll try again later in my cycle, but for now this is too light and too simple. Here's hoping it's just me, since Honey is my favoritest note ev-ah!

Oh, wow. Ahania sent me an imp of this and sweet Moses on the Mountain, this is amazing. It smells like sweetness with just a little sandalwood under it. I am so distraught that this not only isn'[t available, but is apparently super-rare.

Huh. For how dark-colored this is in the bottle and on my skin, it's a really light smell. The cocoa note is gorgeous, but I have to ram my nose into my wrist to smell it, and the Snake Oil (which I adore) is nowhere. I'm hoping this is a 'wacky hormones eating my perfume' thing, as I can tell that I will love this if it sticks around and stops being such a dreadful little tease. If not, I'll just stick Snake Oil over Centzon totochtin. Le sigh

Ick. Frimp with my Boomslang/Alice order, and it's so far the only scent that I can't find a redeeming feature in, not to mention the first I actually had to wash off of my skin. The roses are nowhere, and I can't tell whether I despise labdanum (what is labdanum, anyway?) or the wild orchid note. I like the smell of orchids, but that's AWOL as well, with only this harsh, icky smell. A swapper. Most definately. Bummer.

Try the 'Picnic in Arkham' scent Y'ha-Nthlei - it's aquatic but sexy, very . . . sinuous? The ambergris adds a fleshliness to an otherwise turquoise-green, shimmer-scaled oil. It makes me feel like a mermaid every time I wear it.

Whoa-oa-oa-oa! *pant* The bunnies, how they toy with me . . . Yesterday afternoon: Centzon Totochtin in it’s imp is unfathomable – it smells dark and bitter but I couldn’t pick out a note. It somehow smelled . . . gritty. I continued, with trepidation. Yesterday Afternoon a few moments later: Wet, it smells salty. I smell like salty peanuts. Like chocolate and wine, being buried in a huge deluge of dangerously salty peanuts. Weird. Yesterday afternoon, a few minutes after a few moments: oh good Lord in heaven. Deep, dark wine, bitter cocoa, dark like espresso. Boozy, sweet and bitter, and darkdarkdark. This is how the Rolling Stones song ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ should smell. I love it. Thanks for the imp, Ahania!

I can afford *one* bottle next paycheck. I want it to be chocolatey. Having done some research, the short list is come to these three: The Candy Butcher Bliss Boomslang I like deep, dark chocolate. This is something for my not shy days. Something with a big throw would be excellent for my hungry skin. Suggestions? Experiences? What made you smell like you were 70% gourmet cocoa?

This is lovely, though I didn't/don't really get individual notes from it. It's a musky, mixy myrrhlike mess, and I adore it. I feel like reading Lawrence and jumping on people. I can't really say more, except that the ylang-ylang is, if anything playing wallflower to the concept, which is great for me, because it can go nutso on my skin. Now I don't want to work. I want to go and live up to my perfume's name.

I'd wear something that does not fade , like Snake Oil, which lasts forever. Last thing you want to do is break an imp mid-application!

Hmm. Aziraphale. Smells like straight-up wood and paper on me, in the imp, in the air. That said, 'wood and paper' is a fantastic scent, not industrial at all, but mellowed, old, tea-splattered, bound in rich, heavy tomes and lovingly nestled on satiny oak shelves. I especially loved the note of 'dust', which I have no idea how that works. Bravo on an evocative, gorgeous scent! (though one with very little throw. Aziraphale stays close to the skin, letting his cup of cocoa congeal as he reads. Very gentlemanly.) 4.5 out of 5! Ooh! New thing! When one layers Aziraphale under something lighter, it acquires a lovely gravitas. Alice goes from sophisticatedly innocent (?) young lady to more of a coy bluestocking. Single notes work well on top, too - just Aziraphale and rosewater kept me going through a book club meeting and a marathon Anime-watching session.

Alice, Alice, Alice. How can I have neglected, so to wear you nearly nonstop since finding you in the mailbox, and not to extol your virtues to any and all! Oh, my dear Alice, I am sorry. Imp: Sweet lemon fandango with a side of roses! Wet: Angel food cake, sparkling with a lemony sugar-glaze, cream-topped, nestled on a table piled high with roses. The lemon gets you first, and then all the sweetness comes to back it up. The creaminess (the Milk note, I suppose) is rich and a bit powdery, like when you inhale a bunch of condensed milk (Like, because maybe you were in a student film, and maybe you had to snort cocaine in the film, and the fact that your sinuses felt like the sate of Wisconsin for the next day was really a sufferance for arts sake, and actually, wasnt that bad because it was a nice note to smell all day, especially at the gas station, when it smelled like a Petrol float, if such a thing were possible.) Dry: Hmm. Alice grows up. The bergamot (Lemon fades into its big cousin! Bravo!) and carnation dont take over, but add a tiny bit of bite to what is otherwise a sweet, creamy jaunt in the garden. Like having a very Victorian tea in the rose garden, while the children frolic nearby, as your guest slightly lowers her voice and raises an eyebrow as that rather shocking (but oh so delicious) bit of news flies out of her lips and across the table. A sharp, naughty (but good-natured) bergamot note with spicy carnation, nearly smothered by milk and honey. Lovely. I'll need several bottles of this, the way I'm going. Edited: Expanded metaphor. Sorry. Edited January of 2015: I still love this scent. Alice is still the greatest thing ever, though apparently my hormones are amping the spicy carnation scent right now. Which is not a problem, though I'm hoping for some more creaminess again.

In my excitement to get it open, I broke my frimp. As a floralphobe, I didn't expect to like it, but as a Carroll aficionado, I needed to try it. Imp: Huh. Doesn't smell floral. Dunno just what it smells, but I like it. Wet: I can't pick out any note, but I accept that This love is one that may well consume my life. And I'm okay with that. Dry: I thought it faded quickly, but date-dude could still smell it. And When I wrist-huff real hard, I can get a whiff. Very nice. Still so blended as to evade picking apart (at least by my novice-nose.) I want a 5mL bottle! And I will try not to break it.

Frimp with the bottle of Aziraphale! Imp: Spicy graham cracker, with a cup of mandarin orange-heavy fruit cocktail in light syrup beside it. Something else: Paint-y? Clay-ey? I have my doubts about this one. Wet: Much the same, but all that paintiness is out and in comes a light dusting of cocoa. All fruit and grahams. Dry: Cinnamon Teddy grahams! This smells dry and slightly spicy, with little wafts of fruit wandering by now and again. Fades gracefully into a graham-y smell (what is the smell of 'graham' whatever that note is, it's here. I spent most of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix sniffing my wrist, while having nasty thoughts about Sirius, Snape, and the Weasley twins. Mmmm. Double your lanky, British, redhead fun. </pervy> I don't know if the scent is helping, but it certainly isn't hurting the libido. A very sexy smell, but where La Petite Mort is wet, sexy skin, this one is dry, sexy skin. Like reclining in a large pavilion in the North African desert, bookended* by English wizards . . . *Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

For some reason, I wasn't very excited for this one. I've put off trying it for a week. Dunno. Terpsichore is my favorite muse (in spite of Xanadu), but . . . meh. In the imp: WHOA sharp floral. Like a flower with a knife is going to kick my white ass and tell me not to come back, if it knows what's good for it. Had second thoughts about putting this on. Wet: WHOA sharp floral, with . . . coconut? Huh> What? Drydown - florals calm down to a nice blend - turns out the coconut was the vanilla and iris getting along together. Verdict: Well, I'll keep the imp around for a while I suppose. I like the iris note - may need to check on other iris blends. It's soft, and happy in a melancholy kind of way. Like a gentle smile with sad eyes. Very 'Nineteenth Century Lady Writer'. Sweet, certainly. It doesn't make me feel dancerly, though. Or even just like dancing - I feel more like pouring out tea while gently admonishing my four (entirely fictional) Victorian children on their 'Moral Responsibilities to the Empire', or writing a gentle poetic epic about "God, and Fairies, and such stuff and nonsense". I'll keep this one for funerals and three-volume novels.

I have been so excited about this one - Waiting breatlessly, you might say. In the Imp: Fruity, slight musk, it smells . . . golden I'm reminded of Mimosas (The champagne/orange juice kind), only with peach nectar, being served by a tanned young man. Wet: Fruit and flower and honey, I want to eat my wrist. tyere's a kind of powderiness about the edges. Dry: The apple and peach kind of meld into this sweetness, and the myrrh and honey ground it, keeping this from being too flighty. I feel like a radiant glowing thing, all pink and gold. Playful, sexy, loving, and gorgeous beautiful. Big bottle definately required.

Imp:Floral. Too blended for any individual notes to form. Wet: Nice floral, still can’t really tell. Not too light or frilly. Is that the mandarin peeking out? Ah! Sandalwood! Rosewood! I didn’t catch ‘em til I read em again. Nose too tickly to tell more. I like myrrh. Dry – out comes the Sandalwood and mandarin, but carried on a palanquin of everything else. I can’t pick out any of the floral notes listed, which is wonderful. Strike that – here comes the tea rose. I love rose. But, uh oh, the rose is taking over. Hm. I still love rose, but I liked those wood and mandarin bits better. When I read the description for the scent, I had expected on something very soft and sweet. I’m glad I took the chance. Viola is cunning and sophisticated, (though she enjoys herself), and androgynous ‘til the third act, when she lets down her hair and all the girly comes out. /unsure. Loved it wet, and like the rose. I’ll definitely use the imp (this may be my LAN party perfume, and for dates I’m trying to lull into a false sense of security), and we’ll see about the bottle. Then again, I do love roses . . . ((Eek. this has faded already. I can barely make it out. Apparently my skin just 'ate' it. I may use up my imp, but something else is going to have to satisfy my wood jones.))

Mmmm. I would never have ordered this, but it came nestled with the imps, taunting me. "No!" I cried "I can't wear aquatics - they're boring and all smell like Lysol!" "But ssssssweety, you ssso love the sssctentss of sssspray disssinfectantssss!" (Not sure why Y'ha-Nthlei hisses, but hiss it does.) So I tried it. In the imp, it smelled of Lysol. Which, truth to be told, is a pleasant smell, though I don't want to wear it. It was too fresh, too . . . clean. In a perjorative sense. Wet, I could smell a greeness, with a citrus/mint tang backing it up. Like if there were some strange, Deep Ones-approved party punch called Sargasso Mojitos. Must be the bergamont and eucalyptus. The eucalyptus, incidentally, isn't that strong, mentol-y note I expected. It's clean but subtle - not disinfectant-y. Then, on the drydown, out comes . . . it smells earthy, no not earthy, silty. Still cool, but kind of rich. Is this the 'foamy ambergris'? It's sexy and sets off the citrus and leafiness perfectly. This smells like the aquatic mammal equivalent of The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover - Sexy, related to food (well, whale food), and dangerous. I feel like a sexy mermaid, a killer nymph, a naiad femme fatale. Fresh but not too clean. Big bottle listed! (Unfortunately, this scent dissipates quickly. I only have the slightest residue of ambergris and bergamot, the eucalyptus and water having fled. I like it enough, though, that it's still on the big bottle list.)

Just got my first ever batch of imps from the Lab. Suffice it to say, I am smitten. On first imp-sniffing, this seemed knock-you-over sweet, mostly vanilla. Wet on skin, it was like amped-up vanilla cake, with just a tiny hint of somehing else, almost a dusting of lemon peel? The drydown brought out the voluptuous, sexy spices. Not regular cinnamon/nutmeg, either - I have no idea what they are, but these spices smell precious, transported in small, locked boxes alongside a caravan of courtesans from the farthest East. Definately a keeper! (First review, nose still very much in training.)