Leopard403

Oh Tiki Queen, how have I not reviewed thee? I love love LOVE the scent of monoi oil so I was willing to try this out despite the presence of the evil ylang ylang, usually a deal-breaking note for me because it really gives me a headache. And I am glad I took the leap because blend is SO amazing. A bit fruity and a bit floral at the same time, and DEAD sexy, like heady tropical heat. Yum! And no pain in my brain!

*rubs nose vigorously*

 

I'm sorry, I can't even review this thoroughly: Sniffing from the imp literally made me gag. Eww.

Oh, man, this is boozy and delicious *without* the salty boiled peanuts smell I usually get from super-foody notes. Love!

Identical to the Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume I wore in college.

This grapefruit is bright and fresh and fun. Add apple blossom as a floral anchor and you have a great springtime scent.

 

Wait, what?... Oy. Ginger. I forgot about you. MAN ginger is bad on my skin, and this is no different. Shame.

On me, this is nearly indistinguishable from Rose Red (which is excellent, because that is in my top three must-have-at-all-times scents and The Rose is GC!).

I don't get the aging weed/beer scent that the green in Two, Five and Seven gives me, but this is just the *slightest* bit more green than Rose Red. Like, one extra stem, or something.

 

eta: So I've discovered the difference between Rose Red and The Rose: Rose Red lasts and lasts on my skin, while The Rose is gone after about 20 minutes. *sigh*

Oh!

*gag*

*cough*

 

Yeah, I get the melon note here, but on first sniff all this smelled like was vomit and I just can't move past that.

Oh, man! Sniffing straight out of the bottle, this is like standing in a strawberry patch on a warm day. I get no candy-ish note here; it's all fresh, authentic strawberries to my nose, with an anchoring note of a soft vanilla that makes this a warm scent that lingers, rather than the typical berry that burns off of my skin quickly.

 

And the label is adorable!

 

 

edit to add: The first time I did a full wear of this, I slopped it down the front of my shirt and had to change. Sad waste of oil... but when I got home 10 hours later, I couldn't figure out why my apartment smelled so nice. Yeah, it was my shirt. And today, almost 36 hours later, it still smells lovely in here. Much sweeter than it does in the bottle, but still quite nice.

Oh, man, why did I wait so long to try this? This goes on similar to Alice, but then the bright pepper comes out. The honey and the gardenia blend together seamlessly and really linger on my skin. This is feminine and sexy and fantastic!

To me, this is identical to Lush's Avobath. A bright, sparkly, fun springtime scent!

This is very smokey to my nose, which I blame on the musk and the spices, with a very creamy true vanilla bottom note. No real honey or blackberry to this sniffer, which is sad because I bet for those who smell those notes this is a really amazing blend!

This is lovely. Violet is sometimes harsh and sharp on my skin, but it is softened by the rose here. Methinks this could easily go the way of the old lady on some, but on me there is something bright and almost [pink] peppery about this floral.

Someone once described this to me as Alice's more sophisticated older sister... which I guess would be true, if she were a sour old maid. Sadly, Maiden is very bright but VERY sour on my skin, the top-note-tang of a fruit basket past its prime. I'll stick with sultry Alice, thanks!

My skin amps all resins on my skin, so all I get here is smokey (and sometimes bitter? weird!) frankincense. No lovely rose to speak of.

I love the pumpkin blends that the lab does at Halloween, but in years I've found nothing I like more than the true buttery pumpkin scent of Jack. It's my go-to scent for Fall.

So many of these notes are so stereotypically feminine, I don't understand how this ends up smelling like men's cologne on my skin. Must be a function of musk + metal. Luckily, it smells AMAZING on my boyfriend, and he's usually amenable when I want to dab a bit on the nape of his neck before sexytime. *swoon*

Oh, gin, how I love you for summertime! I loved the note in Velvet Pink Kitty and set out to find a bit of Blue Fire as a result.

This is bright white gin with very blue tarty blueberries and a hint of that tropical papaya. No lemongrass scent on my skin, which works for me!

I can see why people have raved about this, because it is *really* good. But it is also too similar to some other blends to really be a stand-out to me: It's like Floating Brain and Teenage Cannibal made a baby, and I go back and forth between who the child resembles most.

 

For the record, I do NOT get ANY Midway from this scent. Not even close.

 

The good news? It lasts forever, longer than the other blends it resembles and much longer than the other Tikis I've tried. For that reason this is a keeper for me.

 

eta one day later after a full wear: Okay, I'm not sure this is for me. After five minutes on my skin, it is indistinguishable from Teenage Cannibal except for some note right at the bottom that is really strong and *annoying* and is going to give me a headache any minute. I'm going to try it in my locket and see if it is any better. *sniff*

 

edited again after one more full wear: No. This is not for me. I am getting the dreaded Boiled Peanut Note of Doom. It must be the merangue (is that really how it's spelled?) because it is usually cream notes that do this to me. This is bad and it's going up for sale.

That juniper note is the first thing that gets ya, because this has a TANG! in the edge of your nostrils. But underneath that, it is so pink and pretty that it surprised me. It's similar to very fresh and bubbly strawberry soda, if you added a generous shot of gin. It doesn't last long, but it outlasted VTiki on my skin.

I agree that this smells like pina colada... if your pina colada is the kind that comes bursting with flower and fruit garnishes on the top of your glass: The floral is just as present as the fruit.

 

The bad news? Absolutely no lasting power. You'll need to slather this one!

• Chaos Theory IV: DXXXVII.

 

Seller described it as "tropical Skittles," fruity and candyish and spicy.

 

To me, it smells fruity-fresh in the bottle but like freshly cut grass when it dries on my skin. It is lovely for Springtime.

Red Rose is quite masculine on me, as I feared. Too heady and resinous to wear alone.

Coupled with White Rose, however, it is a lovely, sexy scent.

Mmmm. I get very little rose in White Rose. Instead I get a creamy, vanilla-y scent that is identifiable as a floral, but isn't In Your Face Rose.

Alone, it turns slightly soapy on the dry-down, but paired with Red Rose this seems to stay truer to itself. Lovely.

Hmm. I was expecting sweet, fruity goodness. What I got was a cold white floral. How did that happen?

Oh, man. I am shocked by how much I like this, since it is full of deal-breaker notes for me but I'd had waaaay too much wine before deciding which decants I wanted.

And thank goodness for wine!

"Divine and shining," indeed!

 

Dia is actually borderline-soapy on my skin, which is usually a very bad thing, but here it works. The scent is sort of airy; I can see how some people might think "dryer sheets" and man if I could find some that smell like this I'd buy them in bulk! I can't describe it much more than that, only to say that this is unlike any other amber or musk or tobacco scent I've ever used. I need a bottle!