This is a moist, white, freshly-made cupcake with a thick layer of cream-cheese frosting, adorned with a juicy dollop of strawberry pulp. And, as if that wasn't delicious enough, every now and then there is a redolant little whiff of spices...like nutmeg and cinnamon. Did I order a bottle? Are bears Catholic? YUM.
Limited Edition -- Yule 2009
Rather nutty and warm -- I don't get any berries from this at all. It reminds me kind of like dry cereal...whereas Gunpowder was more warm, moist oatmeal. It was fun to try, at least.
Limited Edition -- Anniversary Scents
I get lots of spicy carnation. In fact, it alternates between spicy and creamy, to the point where I'd be pretty convinced that there is honey in this blend -- and a nice, sweet honey at that. For some reason, I wasn't liking this very much at all when I was testing it...there was a weird edge to it that I found off-putting. Now that it has had time to settle, it smells much nicer. Alas that I should discover this after it has been taken back to the graveyard of discontinued scents! I guess I will just hold onto my decant, then, and see how it ages...
Limited Edition -- Anniversary Blends
Man, this one is *not* for me. The peppermint and coconut meld together to create a really nauseating scent, like Dimetapp cough syrup. There's a faint hint of dry chalky cocoa behind it, but mostly it's just that weird, gross syrupy scent. Eeek.
Limited Edition -- Anniversary Blends
I really wanted to like this one, because I don't run into pear a whole lot as a component, and when it works it's really divine. However, this one didn't click with me. The pear and moonflower were almost sickeningly sweet and cloying, and eventually succumbed to the fate of all the phoenixes on me, turning into generic cologne and fading away.
I do give it major props for giving an aura of sweet, gleaming silver -- so themewise, it captured the aura of silver quite well.
I can see right away why this one is popular. It's dark and resinous, redolent with patchouli and spices and musk. I personally get a hell of a lot more 'incense' than 'vanilla' with this one, though I can also sense the vanilla; it wafts up every now and then in teasing little strokes, like a beckoning finger.
I'm probably going to really really really really really hate myself for not getting a bottle, because I have a feeling it's going to age REALLY well. Honestly cannot decide if I want to trade it or keep it. Swaps only, probably, if I get rid of it.
September 2009 Lunacy
This one is sort of a roller coaster for me. At first, it smells a little off -- almost like there's some mustyness in among the leaves, but not quite. Then it actually gets sort of sweet. At its peak, it does evoke a misty autumn day with piles of falling leaves all around; not really rainy or wet, but definitely not dry or smoky, either. It's really like nothing I've smelled before, and I can't put my finger on anything else to describe it...but all things considered, I rather like it.
Limited Edition -- Anniversary Scents
I actually do get straight up lettuce leaf from this! It's so weird. It does do well in evoking lead, as it has a dull gray, soft, almost smokey sort of aura to it. Unfortunately, like almost all the phoenixes, it quickly turns to generic cologne and then fades away.
Category -- Rappaccini's Garden
Oh God, this is gorgeous. Beautiful, sweet lily, smooth and velvety. It has a cool darkness without being damp, more an essence of the shaded light that surrounds the flower, rather than the earth it springs from.
If only it projected. It hugs my skin and really does not throw much, and this is disappointing.
(And, unfortunately, the only day that it really seems to amp -- is the day right before my period. I can't really justify wanting a bottle of something with such a...limited window of usefulness. )
Category: Ars Amatoria
This is a beautiful blend that manages to be sweet without been cloying, and a bit on the resinous side. It's a dark-brown sort of scent, melancholy and brooding, and subtly creeps up on you to gently fill your senses with its sweet air of loss. It has decent staying power and throw. Very, very lovely.
Category: Excolo
In the imp: Cinnamon, patchouli, and orange...very, very warm and spicy.
Wet: It starts out spicy, peppery, a scent with bite; the patchouli attacks your nose with the spiky texture of its scent. Then it seems to dissolve and turn smokey, like a newly-lit stick of incense. There's definitely a strong note of both patchouli and orange, mixed with the darker notes of the other incense. It smells exactly like a little clothing shop that I used to go to...it's a gorgeous scent, and very 'incensey' without becoming obnoxious.
Dry: Unfortunately, it grows faint pretty quickly. The airy quality of it takes on a more woody sort of tone, and reaches a strange juxtaposition in that it's earthy and 'grounded', while the faintness of it makes it ethereal.
Verdict: I really like it, I just wish that it stuck around longer...Come back, dammit, I like youuuuu!!
What I liked: Orange FTW!!!!! Also the cinnamon. I was afraid of the patchouli, but it behaved itself quite nicely.
What I didn't like: Its throw diminished pretty quickly, and its staying power is pretty minimal.
This is interesting to compare with Al Azif; where Azif is sweeter and more candylike to me, Shairan is very much a stereotypical incense scent to me. I'm thinking if I can find a happy medium, that has decent throw and lasts throughout the day, that I'd be really happy.
Limited Edition -- Yule 2009
When I first tried this, I got a spiced plum smell mixed with something like oats...like a warm fruit/oat bread. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great, either. And now, I'm getting boozy spiced prune wine. And wish I could drink it.
I don't recall it having much throw or staying power, though, so it's probably for the best that I didn't get more than this decant.
Category: Wanderlust
This delicious, albeit powdery, vanilla. I just wish that it was stronger and more durable, because while it's around it smells so very nice.
Limited Edition -- Yule 2009 -- Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire
Unfortunately the decant I had of this had leaked, so I didn't have much to test. What I can sniff smells like chocolate at first, then gets a sweet berry note to it. It seems to be a scent that stays fairly close to the skin, but appears to last for a decent long while.
Category: Mad Tea Party
This smells like sweet, sticky, golden fruit preserves, seasoned with lots of ginger and perhaps a bit of cinnamon as well. Quite lovely! I think it lasted quite a while, as well.
Limited Edition -- Halloween 2009
Pretty much just black cherry candy, here. And that's while it lasts, which isn't terribly long...then it just dissipates to nothing.
Category: Excolo
In the imp: Whoa, that grapefruit is aggressive! I could smell it as soon as I took the stopper out of the imp.
Wet: Very citrusy/fruity, though it quickly had a mellowness to it, which I am assuming was brought on by the tea.
Dry: This is a very fresh, clean, crisp scent; I detected the grapefruit throughout, and also fancied that I smelled the tea...like I was near a fresh, cold glass full of green tea on ice on a summer's day. It's really lovely! Unfortunately, I think my skin eated it, pretty much...it lasted the majority of the day, but now I have to get my nose to my wrist and huff forlornly to get any residual nummy smell. Strangely enough, now that it's been quite a while, I smell a sweet cherry scent, mostly.
Verdict: I like it, really I do. I wish that it came in some form of spray, though, or a lotion...it would be a really great scent to slather on in the summertime, when you're showing lots of skin.
What I liked: Citrus! Whee!!
What I didn't like: The fact that my skin seemed to slurp it up; it didn't throw very much. But hey, maybe in summertime, with short sleeves? I might have better luck.
Category: Diabolus
In the imp: Strongly sweet and fruity.
Wet: Hellooooo Raspberry! It was incredibly strong and sweet, and, oddly enough made me think of 'generic candle smell'...that scent that most candles seem to have to me. I guess I've hung around a lot of berry-scented candles.
Dry: This was the part that has changed the most. I wore this every day for over a week, just because I *wanted* to try to like this scent, or at least give it a fair shake. Initially, it dried as pure raspberry -- sickly sweet and very 'childish', in that I felt like I was about 15 years too old to be wearing this scent. As the days passed, however, I noticed that there was more of a mingling of orange with the raspberry...that was actually a *lot* more pleasing to me. And today, I've noticed that the scent has grown sweeter still, like faint cherries, but unlike the raspberry, it isn't annoying.
Verdict: This scent just isn't for me. It's certainly not bad, and I would advise anyone who is initially put-off by it to give it a chance over time, particularly if you otherwise enjoy cherry-like scents. But there are other scents that I like a lot better.
I'll quit beating this dead horse (or imp) and put it away; perhaps I will think of someone else who would give it the love it deserves.
What I liked: The orange (when it briefly showed itself).
What I didn't like: The raspberry. Just too sickly-sweet for me.
Also, my skin just seems to eat up fruity scents. Waaah! So sad.
Limited Edition -- Anniversary Scents
I get sweet, slightly lemony florals from this...and then it poofs away and dissipates. Even hard huffing at my skin doesn't seem to reveal much! Which is puzzling, because a couple of people commented on it smelling nice...so I'm wondering what they hell they were smelling! I suppose I'll hang onto my decant for a while, but it seemed pointless to buy a bottle of something I can't even smell.
Category: Rappacini's Garden
As with a lot of the Garden scents, I get a lot of 'green' from this -- bark, roots, even a little bit of dirt. There is a bit of sweetness there, as well, as if the deadly tree has bait to lure victims in to sleep forever at its base. It has a nice amount of throw and lasted most of the day.
Category: Rappacini's Garden
The apple in this is rather medicinal-smelling...almost like eucalyptus, as someone else noted earlier. However, I don't find it unpleasant at all, due to the way that the ashy notes blend in with it. Honestly, to me it's like a mixture of the appletini smell of Mock Turtle's Lessons and the wondrous charcoal of Brimstone. I like both of those scents, and really like this one. It is a scent that soaks into your skin and gives little wafts here and there, and seems to last for a goodly time. One of my favorites, now.
Limited Editions: Yule 2009 -- Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire
For me, this doesn't register as either 'chocolate' or 'tobacco' right away...it actually smelled like vanilla. A real sultry vanilla, the dark black of vanilla extract without the alcoholic edge to it. But that's just my nose being silly. Close up, I can definitely get the cacao, which is unlike any chocolate scent I've smelled heretofore...and the tobacco melds so nicely with it, that to me it becomes a dark, creamy, sensuous scent. And it lasts. All day long, and then some. I was actually on the fence about it for the longest time, but I realized that every time I put my coat on I was smelling the redolant aroma of the Troupe and *smiling* because of it...and so I came to my senses and ordered some. This is probably the most awesome of the 2009 Yule scents, and I'm *so* glad that I ordered a bottle!
Limited Edition -- 2009 Anniversary Scents
At first, this starts out as a bright, light citrus, made sweet by rose. Alas, in the end, it morphs into generic cologne. Not much throw, but it lasts a long time...I just don't fancy smelling like generic cologne. Into the trade box with you!
