alianthe

In the bottle: Caramel, maple, then after many sniffs boozy pumpkin joins the party. It's lovely enough just like this I might put it in a locket for craving busters.

 

Wet: Quickly morphing spices and something high and sharp, bright, a bit boozy, shading to spiced pumpkins and vodka. After a while it begins to darken. As time goes by, it becomes a deep, dark, slightly gritty pumpkin with maybe just a hint of sweetness.

 

Drydown: Harshly spicy, dark undertones, pumpkin with fake caramel on top. Overwhelmingly strong. Kinda slightly headachy.

 

Conclusions: This is a locket scent!

In the bottle: High and bright, kind of greenishly herbal

 

Wet: Morphing between herbally, sweet, lightly spicy, but drying down soft and warm.

 

Drydown: Soft and close to the skin, warm musk with a little tang, almost ambery with just a bit of tangy brightness and a tiny hint of warm spice. Amazingly, while I normally amp florals, the lily is barely even in attendance.

 

Conclusions: Complex, but soft, lays close to the skin. Appropriate for work or going out and about. Keeper!

Bottle: Warm, round, golden, sort of like caramel musk and amber.

 

Wet: Warmer, rounder, more amber. A little powdery.

 

Dry: Wooden, like an old cross-beam or a much-handled whittled figurine, not woody like a forest. I can just smell the vanilla over it. It softens and smooths and warms over time.

 

Conclusions: This keeps changing for hours. I will need to revisit it.

Bottle: Fruity, juicy, very red, very very forward. A little something ambery or incensy underneath.

 

Wet: Juicy and red, but nearly disappeared, with an odd herbal undertone.

 

Dry: Very very light, barely there, juicy incense.

 

Conclusions: A little jangly, not very smoothly blended together. Not for me.

Bottle: Juniper, fir, sharp forest woods.

 

Wet: Bright, sharp astringent woods, but warming.

 

Dry: Summer conifer forest... with just a hint of sweetness. Well-rounded and fresh, but still super foresty.

 

Conclusions: Hardly any different from Jabberwocky or Nocnitsa, to my nose. Only this one has a bit more of a bottom to it, so I might actually wear it as a perfume.

 

Bottle: Bright, light, an electric cologne. Very high hopes for this one!

 

Wet: Warmer, more yellow, softer. So lovely. Later, engines and flowers. o.O Luckily, the flowers disappear again.

 

Dry: Warm, golden, soft. Gentle. Neither sexy nor invigorating. Then, it seems to disappear.

 

Conclusions: Definitely a keeper.

High, sharp, clear woods. Like a damp, cold, conifer forest, all fir and birch. Reminds me quite a lot of Jab.berwocky. I don't get the darkness at all, just a bright and somewhat mind-clearing fresh, woodsy scent. I could see using this along with a peppermint to sooth headaches.

I'm sad; this used to be light and lovely and delightfully soft on me. I had some body chemistry changes, and now it's primarily soapy.

In the bottle: high and light, bright woods and pale spices

 

On me (wet): spicy woods, warm and dry and comforting, winter appropriate

 

On me (dry): hot and spicy, still warm, a little cedary. Still comforting and winter appropriate. Hits all the same happy notes as Mort de Cesar, but differently.

 

 

A new set of reviews, for now that my body chemistry has changed due to giving up sugar.

 

In the bottle: Spicy, fruity, sex on a marble floor. 

 

On me (dry): my beloved says it smells like roses and motor oil. I get more roses, but so intensely that it's almost headachy. Very slightly rotten, or otherwise corrupted, with a hint of baby powder. Unfortunately, I amp sweet florals (like rose) into rampaging slavering flower monsters, and the "sexy woman" note tends to turn baby powder on me. Sadly, I'm getting itchy nose and hurty head here. It's a shame, because the rose is really quite lovely, under the other influences.

Oh, my goodness! This is incredible!

 

Warm, spicy-woodsy, delightfully assured. It hangs close to the skin, but feels like potency. With a delightfully fruity impression in the background. But mostly warm, woodsy, and confident in an oh-so-sexy way.

 

This goes in my new favorites! 

 

 

This review is mostly going up because of the raucus laughter that ensued at a recent Meet & Sniff when four people around the table all tried it on and started talking about what they smelled.

 

It's a pirate themed scent, so of course, there was lots of pirate imagery. On one arm, this scent was all sea air and stormy ozone and freshness. On a different arm, it went through various incarnations of "Jack Sparrow pouring a martini (NOT rum!) on the ship's deck." On a different arm, after drydown it was like the ship sank and all she got was oceany rum. 

 

On MY arm? Well, it was a Jolly Roger alright. A big, burly, quite clean-shaven, and very jolly Rodger wearing purple tights with bells on, doing a playful and somewhat effeminate dance with a whip, exuding a pleasantly airy cologne, and singing a jolly show tune whose double meanings suggest strongly that he'd love to roger his shipmates! THAT kind of Jolly Roger. 

A very nice blend of yes, eggnog and latte. That's about it, really. Those I smelled it on, it didn't morph much on. It's just yum yum delicious! 

 

SO glad we brought toys to donate, and not just because it's good to donate toys to toy drives and bring love to kiddies, or because we found this fantastic Craftsman "my first tool box" and a hotrod transformer to give away to some lucky kid. 

Copied here what I wrote in the ECWC thread, until I get around to doing a Real Review.

 

Happy Christmas Ho cleavage, for the win!

 

Actually, it was kind of a little piney (white pine specifically, which happens to be the only species my gentleman will have in the house in December, so it was particularly "smells like Christmas" to him), and mulled fruit wine (somebody said pear?), and Christmas spicy, and surprisingly only a little sweet considering how much my skin amps sweetness, and just so lovely. It was a total surprise, because in the bottle it was nice, kind of fruit-y spicy, but nothing exciting or terribly special.

 

I now am told I must slather myself with Ho Ho Ho tomorrow for the Finding And Cutting And Decorating of the Yule Tree. 

 

ETA: Beth, you're wonderful. Thank you so very much. You realize you're getting me laid repeatedly from this, right?

In the bottle: Lemony and woodsy, but deep. Powerful undercurrents. I'm really hopeful about this blend.

 

From wet to dry, the character changes, but the degree of pleasantness doesn't. The impression I've gotten, from multiple trials, ends up being: curried baby powder and lemony sweat.

 

That... just didn't work out. I wanted it to, too. I tried it several times. Oh, well, somebody's bound to want to get it in a trade... 

In the imp: deep, dark, boozy berries. Warm and intoxicating, heady and thick, but not as sweet as you'd expect:

 

On my skin, wet: The notes reverse themselves. Instead of thick oozing berry liquor sashaying across the stage, star anise comes to the fore and shines, backed by the musk. Spicy, anisey, warm, and seductive.

 

On my skin, dry: Subtly warm and complex. Quite reminds me of dragon's blood resin. Stays close to the skin; about 1/2 hr after putting it on, I'm hardly able to smell it with my nose to my wrist, but it's still clearly there.

 

Conclusion: Delicious! A keeper!

In the imp: Sharp, woody, but somewhat creamy, with something... lemony? in there. Seasoning spices are in there, but it's like glimpsing the edge of somebody's clothes around a corner - you know they're there, but they're not actually in the room with you. Very liquid, of medium viscosity for oil. Yes, my *nose* is informing me on viscosity now - it actually smells quite a bit more viscous than the oil actually is. Slightly creamy.

 

On my skin, after drydown, initial impressions: Spicy! Woody! Definitely some muskiness in the background.

 

Several hours drydown time: Spiced vanilla, with a soft glowing wood support. Exotic but comforting, warm and quiet and gently glowing, as if cast in evening sun. 

 

Conclusions: Definitely going on my list to get a bottle!

In the imp: high and light and pretty, with a quite floral overtone.

 

On my skin: FLORAL! AHHH, here comes the ravening flower monster!!!

 

Conclusions: I was hoping that wouldn't happen. Occasionally, the florals can be overcome... this time, nope, my skin did its normal thing and took that nectar and AMPED it. Loudly. Le sigh.

In the imp: Juicy and fruity! The strongest note is melons, with a hint of sharp white topnote, and a blend of darker warmth (dragon's blood?) with more juicy juicy fruit underneath.

 

On my skin: At first touch, the pine swims up to the surface, pulling the narcissus behind it, and floats around on top of all that fruit juice. Then, they build a canopy of the dragon's blood. After a while, they fall back under the lychee and bamboo, and the other fruits eventually equalize. The end result is round and yellow and fruity like a cross between a treefruit and a bouncyball. On me at final drydown, there's an unpleasantly sour backnote, like fruit juice gone bad (but not sharp like it's been fermenting).

 

Conclusions: Juicy! Not what I would've thought of as earthy, and definitely not (to my western city sensibilities) very ratty. But definitely grounded and playful and forward-moving and abundant and... well, it smells kind of lucky. So it's definitely a good new year scent for our active and pioneering little friends. Fairly high throw, though it appears to disappear close to my skin fairly quickly and linger in a cloud around me instead. Quite unusual! Personally, it would work best on me as a locket scent, and I wouldn't reach for it every day, so I'm glad I got a decant and passed on the bottle. However, if you love Titania, you should really try some Earth Rat.

In the imp: Sharp and high, almost piney, with a bitterness that is bright (shiny!) in character. Underneath is just a hint of a thread of a smidgen of sweetness. Sharply and gratingly unpleasant, but strangely attractive.

 

On my skin: Starts out burstingly sweet and sharp and almost woody. Definitely getting the fruityness, but it doesn't quite smell like actual fruit. After a while it gets woodier and less sweet, and finally settles down to a soft, orangy (color, not fruit) musky woody warmth.

 

Conclusions: Definitely a keeper! The idea of mixing vetiver with sweetie fruits and musk was a very good one - it's not so bitter it bites you, not so sweet it amps up and becomes tooth-rotting on me, and has a delightful depth and well-blended dichotomy of character.

You probably already know this, but I thought I'd mention it, in case.

While the currently in-use search engine says that it will default to searching multiple words in the database as AND ("vanilla brains" returns any record that has both "vanilla" AND "brains"), a search I did yesterday (the 25th) showed that the results still come up as OR ("dragon amber" returns any record that has either "dragon" OR "amber" (or "ambergris") in the name OR description).

 

Thanks for leaving it capable of searching all scents, not just the available ones, by the way!

 

Also, I am really looking forward to being able to specify whether I want to search AND or OR (and possibly NOT). I recall you mentioned it, and I just want to say "yes, please, thankyou!" Is there a way for us to communicate that desire with the search engine now, or is it in development?

 

PS - I realize you're doing this part time, so I'm not trying to be pushy, just put my say out there for when you get a chance to get to it.

 

Thanks for all the work you do!

In the imp: Sweet and sharp and orangy. The pine comes to the front, melding with the almond and sarsaparilla behind it. Thankfully, the two iffy notes in this blend - tobacco and patchouli - aren't coming forward.

On my skin: The sharpness of pine receeds in time, leaving a woody/spicy, but round rather than sharp, warmth. The tobacco smoke is NOT touching off my cravings (thank goodness!), nor am I being assaulted by patchouli - they appear to be playing nicely for a change! The almond and sarsaparilla lend a sweetness and roundness to the scent, without moving it to the realm of foodiness. Perhaps it's the lingering woody/smokiness. All in all, a delightfully warm and vital scent.

Conclusions: Practically no throw (on me, that's no surprise), with medium lasting power - I could barely smell it on my wrist 6 hours later, but it was definitely there. Glad I got the decant. Debating on getting a full bottle, as purse strings are tight lately.

In the bottle: Spicy! Winter spices, mostly nutmeg. It's not in the description, but nutmeg is what I'm getting here, with a blend of balsam and cypress, and a darker backnote. Very winter-spicy-woodsy.

 

On my skin: The amber musk comes up and wraps around the spicy-woodsyness, blending them in together. The result is dark and spicy and sinuously inviting, with an uncompromising sharp-bitter edge. There is enough similarity in the bottle to Samhain '07, which touched off a migraine, but it didn't happen with Mort de Cesar. This is almost as I would expect the demons of The Hallows to smell, but reassuring instead of frightening. That's probably the woods coming through. Not sure why, but today I want to bathe in it.

 

Conclusions: Delicious! A warming and bracing winter scent, perfect for days like today. Very glad I bought the bottle after reading the reviews.

 

ETA: name of scent that made headache

In the imp: Sweet, sharp, with glittering bright notes over a dark depth. Incency, but also bright and spicy.

 

On my skin: Patchouli! Overwhelmingly patchouli, wiping out every other note. Medium to high throw, which is hard to produce on my skin. And very very PATCHOULI!

 

Conclusions: Oh so dissapointed Who knew I'd amp patchouli?