darkblade

Bottle: (Imp) Definitely getting the amber and spices

 

Wet: Odd. It's gone quite creamy. It then goes to creamy amber.. I'm getting a smidge of floral intermingling.

 

Dry: A bit of the cream still, and spices with a bit of amber.. whoever is wearing this is probably in velvet or brocade. Heavier fabrics.

 

Verdict: I like it. I'm not sure that I need an entire bottle.. maybe an extra imp to combine into a shortie.

Bottle: (Imp) Woah. *choke* Smokey. How do you put that in a bottle? o_O

 

Wet: Still pretty choking. Why do I insist on trying dang near everything anyway?

 

Dry: Tamer smokey and.. mm, spices.

 

Verdict: It's nice, but I have issue with the whole choking stage. Swap pile!

Bottle: Almost no smell.. and then a bit acrid when I sniffed too hard. bwha?

 

Wet: It.. smells very vaugly of leather.

 

Dry: Hm. I'm getting a bit more of the leather, and it's kinda sweet.

 

Verdict: I'm going to hang onto this imp for a bit.. not sure about it.

Bottle: Faint floral bits and.. maybe that's sage?

 

Wet: Agh. Damn lavender. Hm. Is indeed unsubstantial.

 

Gh. This is giving me too much of a headache. Scrubby time.

Bottle: Smokey myrrh

 

Wet: Smokey myrrh. Apparently I have walked into the middle of the act! Ooo, ok, there's the bit of cinnamon.

 

Dry: There's the sweet cinnamon, and the smoke is fading.

 

Later dry: Woah, the myrrh DOES come back! Softer though, new..

 

Verdict: Keeping! And sending some to a friend to share. I picked this up as a partial off of someone, I may have to get an entire bottle.

Wet: I'm getting.. vaugly winter floral. Thats about it. No snow

 

Dry: Faint hint of cool, and berries...

 

Verdict: Not so much. I strongly prefer Snow Moon

Bottle: What the hell? Ghick. I think that's the dragon's blood. I almost don't want to even put it on, but things are often so different from bottle to skin, so here it goes...

 

Wet: Sweat, wine, and dragon's blood. .. ick.

 

Dry: The dragon's blood is overwhelming everything else. Bwar.

 

Verdict: Looks like I'm 0-4 tonight. Pass and swap pile.

Hooray! This starts out with ROOOOOOOSE! ROSE ROSE ROSE! But then it tames down a little bit to smell just like the Rose Tea I like so much.

Bottle: (Well, Imp. ) I think I'm getting a bit of the sage and sweet pea. Not sure what else.

 

Wet: o_O Weird. That's the first time I've felt an oil go chill on my arm without smelling it too. Definitely sweet pea.. I am coming to realize that I have no idea what tonka smells like. Or even what it is, beyond some sort of bean? This one smells rather perfumey. I'm thinking it would be a good one to wear in the summer, as long as I'm careful not to overapply. It seems easy to do with this one.

 

Dry: Weird. I'm not really getting any sage here. The chill sweet has calmed down a little bit. It's starting to go green. After waiting a while longer, it is very much a woman's perfume.. unfortunately, the sort that tends to give me headaches.

 

Verdict: Pass and swap.

Bottle: (Imp) Odd. I get.. almost nothing. Very faint sandalwood.

 

Wet: Vanilla. Sweet. .. I don't think this is something that will work for me as a meditation oil.. much less a perfume.

 

Dry: Sweet, with a bit of vanilla.

 

Verdict: Nope.

Bottle: perfumey floral

 

Wet: Softer floral, but.. uhoh, it seems to be going powdery on me

 

Dry: Soft floral and blackberries. It also seems to be fading pretty fast.. and has a slightly nauseating scent as it does.

 

Verdict: I don't particularly care for this one. I'd picked this up to send to a friend, but I don't think she'd care for it either. Swap pile.

Jacob's Ladder 2006 Yuletide

 

Bottle: Qua? No idea. It.. not a room scent. Ok. Definitely.

 

Wet: .. I have no idea. It's faint. This is what I get for trying scents with a cold.. but I can actually breathe through the right side today, and I got new smellies!

 

Dry: Seems nice, and fairly subtle. Again, sick though. Need to review this when I don't have a cold too. A tiny bit creamy, but not enough to bother me.. not solidly creamy either. I think I smell the amber, but I don't know the other notes enough to pick them out.

 

Verdict: Glad I bought it, and am definitely going to add the other 06 imp I have to what's in the bottle. Probably won't need to get more than another imp or two of it though.

Samhain 2006 (LE: Halloween 2006)

 

Bottle: Definitely some evergreen in there, it's almost a bit astringent.

 

Wet: Wow. Apple cider. Lots!

 

Drydown: Sweet, quite sweet, definitely apple-apple cider. It's shifting on me. Sometimes I get the apple cider, sometimes spices, and sometimes.. is that patchouli?

 

Dry: The cider sweetness is more subtle, with the spices better shining through.

 

Verdict: Keeping it, but I think the half bottle I have will do me fine. Would be willing to take another imp or so.

Snow Moon 2005 (A Little Lunacy)

 

Bottle: That smells.. kinda sharp. Hrm.

 

Wet: Wha? Yes on the icy frost.. and evergreen, yep, fir!

 

Dry: It's definitely still chilly and cold, but there's soft flowers in the snow.. yaysopretty! A nighttime walk with gloves, boots, and a hooded cloak, snow that you have to march a bit more to keep going in because it comes up to midcalf, and coming out of the trees to a bit of a clearing with little winter flowers that are peeking out of the snow.

 

Verdict: Definitely keeping, it smells lovely, and there's a bit of variance in liking it for personal reasons.

Harvest Moon 2006 (A Little Lunacy)

 

Bottle: Wow, I kinda suck at this in the bottle one still. A lot.

 

Wet: .. Still puzzled. Lots of things that are all mingled together. A bit of wheat and sugarcane.. a touch of sage, i think, and a little bit of not quite flowery.. no, it's a very very mild fruit. Maybe it's the plum? Ah, and probably the chrysanthemum. It's a little dusty, but not much.

 

Dry: Apple. *thirty seconds later* Wha? Now it's different. It kept doing that wet, too. I'm starting to think this oil might just run AROUND the world and hit all that before it settles.

 

40 minutes later: Rice, flowers, I'm not sure what else..

 

Verdict: Not sure. It isn't quite how I take my autumn. Then again, I'm also hitting that time of the month. I should probably try again next week.

Dragon Moon 2006 A Little Lunacy

 

Bottle: Hrm. Almost smells.. astringent.

 

Wet: Oh no! Please dont go soapy...

 

Dry: Whew! I'm getting a bit of sandalwood, and I think tea and bamboo.. the dragon's blood is subtle, which is good because the Ars Draconis Dragon's Blood oil did NOT work on me.

 

Bit later: Same, now with added cherry blossoms! It's very much not the overwhelming note though, which makes me very happy.

 

Verdict: Keeping it. Glad I bought it! I've worn it a few times since I originally noted this, and I love it. I'm tempted to try and find a second bottle.

Bottle: Wet and rainy

 

Wet: Aie.. ok.. sort of Irish Springy.. *eyes it worriedly*

 

Drydown: Irish Spring, with a slightly smokeyhazey quality to it.

 

Dry: It stays Irish Spring for a bit, but eventually comes down to more of a wet forest smell. Hooray!

 

Verdict: Keeping, but not buying more. Have to wait at least half an hour to get to the good part. I do like the good part though!

Bottle: Peachy! A lot. Almost a candy peach smell.

Wet: Still quite a lot of peach. It probably doesn't help that I'm hungry at the moment. After a minute, there's a hint of something else to it.

Drydown: Still quite peachy. A little tamer though, and seems quite playful.. though contrary to lab description, innocently so.

Dry: It's calmed down a bit, and now I can smell a bit of other things in with it, subtly.

Verdict: Keeping the imp, don't need a bottle. It'll be nice for when I want something innocent and playful without going floral.

Sidenote: I tried this shortly after trying Fae.. it almost seems more what I would pick for little fairies playing outside, but that's just me.

Wet: Clean.. mostly.

 

Erg. Clean is turning into soapy.

 

Drydown: Still soapyish.

 

Much later: .. still vaugly soapyish.

 

Verdict: Swap pile. I get nothing but soap here.

Crap! I just spilt this all over my fingers opening the imp. I am quickly seeing the draw of bottles, particularly with arthritis...

 

Wet: Pretty flowers.

 

FS. And I just forgot and rubbed my nose a few minutes later. LOTS of pretty flowers. Starting to catch bits of sandalwood, which is yay.

 

Drydown: Mainly catching the sandalwood and gardenia, I think. However, I'm not very good at identifying the other scents beyond lavender usually not working for me. Seems to be here though. \o/

 

Probably going to have to review this again sometime when I haven't accidently gotten it on my nose. Bwar.

 

Several hours later: Faintly floral, with a touch of sandalwood. I'm curious how well this would blend with Hymn..

Hymn (Sin & Salvation)

 

Bottle: Definite lily of the valley in there. Pretty!

 

Wet: Uhoh. I dunno what it is, but that does not smell so pretty.

 

Drydown: Hm. Ok, this thing has a bit of throw. And it's not throwing ighy. It's starting to smell prettier if I do not stick my nose right up on my wrist.

 

Later Drydown: Ok. The not pretty is gone. \o/ I'm not getting incense, but is a demure floral.

 

Verdict: Probably not one I'll wear a ton of, but it's nice to have one on hand. It's definitely one that I'll need to put on a little while before going out though. I wonder how this would layer with Veil?

Aureus (Bewitching Brews)

 

Wet: Incense and wood.. nice!

 

Drydown: Cedar, sandlewood, amber, patchouli? I think I named the scent bits right? I suppose you could call it light, sort of.. reminds me of a place I would feel comfortable going to service. An old, small chapel with sunlight beaming through clear windows onto smooth wooden benches.

 

Verdict: Definitely keeping this one.. and likely using it when I'm in a particular state of mind, and/or for meditation.

Mad Sweeney (Neil Gaiman)

 

Wet: Man, I kinda suck at figuring out wet smells..

 

Dry, after a bit: Holy crap that's sweet. Sugar cookie sweet. Way too sweet on me.

 

Verdict: Swap pile. Though I'm trying to figure out how the heck I went from whiskey and oak to sugar cookies.. my skin's weird.

This one.. I didn't think you could capture smoke and rusty nails, but it assuredly does it. I tried to wait this one out for a good drydown smell, but finally had to go wash it off because it was giving me a headache.

Mr. Nancy (Neil Gaiman)

 

Wet: bwha? I dunno.

 

Drydown: Coffee? Hella sweet coffee. Oooh. Rum. Gotchya.

 

Verdict: Swap pile. This is not working on me, and I didn't much care for it. It may bear mentioning, however, that I don't really drink, nor do I smoke. >_> I'm silly and jumped on a decant circle for all of these because I'm a Gaiman fangirl.