Hand of Glory: Beeswax, dry leather, black pepper, saltpeter, nutmeg, Mysore sandalwood, and oak bark.
In the Imp: A very light incensey type blend? I couldn't pick out any specific notes.
On me: A very dirty vanilla, as if vanilla were in a mud fight and just got down and dirty with it. It is very dry, and there's a resin in this that I can't place, but that might be the sandalwood. It's not the usual sandalwood note, however. Now that I look at the notes, I am also detecting the dry leather.
This is a very strange scent, not an every day scent, but it is very different from anything else that I've smelled - in a good way. Methinks a bottle is a yes please.
The Contract of Theophilus of Adana: Parchment, Siamese benzoin, infernal incense, red musk, brimstone, and daemonorops.
In the imp: a clean scent? I can't really pinpoint anything.
On me: I'm usually a sucker for incense, but this just didn't go incensey on me like I was hoping.
I smell like old crumbling parchment that has been locked up in a dusty library with some very stale incense traces. It's not awful, but not something I enjoy smelling like either. I usually love red musk, where is it hiding?
The Illustrated Woman: Skin musk, smoky vanilla, pine pitch, patchouli, Indian resins, golden honey, and tobacco.
In the imp: Honey pine? Not sure about this one...I tend to turn pine into Pine-Sol!
On me: Oh this works!!!! The skin musk and honey pop on my skin and blend so beautifully!! The vanilla is right under them, with some resins to keep it company and give the honey a bit of spicey kick. The pine fades away, although I do occasionally get a whiff of a teeny bit of pine, no Pine-Sol though - thankfully.
This is an absolutely lovely blend and I most definitely need a bottle.
Ashlultum: Babylonian musk, vanilla tea, tonka, tobacco, coconut, hyssop, and lilac.
In the imp: light and pretty
On me: Not my usualy type of scent but it's gooooood! The musk, vanilla, and coconut are absolutely gorgeous together!! Toss in some herbiness from the hyssop and a little floral softness and I was smelling myself all day. There also seemed to be some honey in this, to my nose anyway. I like!
The Blockhead: Rusted metal, leather, and a pop of pink bubblegum.
In the imp: Bubblegum!!!
On me: This ended up smelling a lot like Jailbait on me. A whole lot of bubblegum and a bit of a metallic quality that makes it smell like the soda: Materva. It had a very light throw and my skin swallowed it up, so for this kind of scent I'll stick with Jailbait.
L 'Heure Verte: Spilled absinthe, scorched sugar cubes, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water.
In the imp: Not sure about this one, it smells a bit like licorice.
On me: I still get some licorice, but it gets rounded some out by the opium and lilac. An interesting scent, but not memorable or extraordinary.
Knucklebones: Black musk, bay rum, lime fougere, orange blossom water, gin, and tobacco.
In the imp: light and fresh? Huh? Good for hangovers, I think.
On me: Oh this is lovely!! Bay rum works so well with my skin chemistry!! Citrus usually ends up sour on me, but not this one. I get a lovely bay rum/lime mix and a bit of musk in there too. This is not at all what I expected this scent to be, but I am loving it!! It's also got a pretty good throw and awesome staying power. I've had it on all day and have not needed to reapply.
The Blood Garden: Blood accord, bitter clove, English ivy, Tempranillo grape, red currant, oak, leather, blackberry leaf, and ginger lily.
In the imp: Dark, dry, sort of incense?
On me: It blooms!! Blood accord seems to be the base. The tempranillo grape and red currant sweeten up the dryness of the oak and leather, which I cannot detect once it's on my skin. Oh, and blackberry too! This is so dark and yummy. A must have.
The Torture Queen: White amber, vanilla musk, white tea, ambergris, gardenia, and chrome.
In the imp: With such a name I was expecting a dark scent, but this is light and bright. It is a beautiful blend of tea, gardenia, and ambergris.
On me: A very fresh scent. I get a hint of ambery vanilla? The Gardenia and white tea are prominent and do smell lovely together. Unfortunately my skin seemed to love it, so it swallowed up the scent very quickly. Throw was light. I'm on the fence on this - I wish it had more staying power.
The Grindhouse: Florentine iris, red musk, mimosa, magnolia, Damascus rose, clove, and vanilla bean.
In the imp: OMG it is love at first sniff. A lot of musky mimosa, and some yummy magnolia to blend in beautifully. All of this is softened up by the vanilla.
On me: Wet, I smelled like a sexy dirty brothel - love! And then it goes limp. It has a very light throw, and loses the muskiness that I loved in the imp so much. I get very faint vanilla and gardenia, maybe a bit of musk, but I can hardly tell. This was very disappointing.
Stormclouds Over the Midway: Thunder-charged ozone, plum-colored incense smoke, opium tar, and wormwood.
In the imp: dark, broody, incensey.
On me: Midnight on the Midway's more sinister cousin. The incense is sweet with the plum, but it gets all dirtied up by the opium tar and wormwood. This is a dark burgundy feeling scent. It has a pretty strong through and very good staying power.
It's what I wanted Blood Phoenix to be, and has a similar feel to Midnight Kiss. This is definitely a must have!!
Marianne: Red musk, bergamot, black currant, mimosa, orchid, patchouli, and lotus root.
In the imp: Fruity sweet musk! A dark scent, just like I like them.
On me: (I picked it this morning without checking out the notes - after sniffing and HAVING to look them up I she was made for me). These notes blend so beautifully on me. Lotus root is the base, giving the blend a delicious lotus sweetness that is absolutely heavenly. The orchid, black currant, and bergamot blend into a delicious sweet fruity gorgeousness and the musk brings everything together to make it drop dead lusty. Wow.
Gwyneth: Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, and Spanish sage.
In the imp: A delicious blend of sweet orchid, tonka, and a bit of musk.
On me: Oh dear. Rose! A sweet rose (not as sweet as Hope) and not much else. A few hours later a bit of orchid and musk started peeking out, and maybe a bit of sage but barely. Unfortunately this is way too rosey for me. I will stick with Hope for a sweet rose.
Marcilla: Blue lilac, lily of the valley, golden musk, beeswax, white ginger, bergamot, green tea, and nectarine.
In the imp: Beeswax! A beautiful glowing scent, a lot of delicious bergamot and nectarine, but so well blended that I couldn't pick the notes apart.
On me: Bergamot is definitely in the forefront for me, and the musk just makes it more spectacular. It is beautifully blended, so I can't pick out the other notes, I can only say that this is a gorgeous sunny yellow scent. Bottle is a must.
Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht: Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.
In the imp: Amber and caramel. I am such an amber whore.
On me: The amber and caramel blend beautifully with the honey, and I get a hint of cream. The teak adds a bit of kick to the blend.......no hint of apple anywhere (thankfully, as it's not a favorite).
This is definitely a "Mia" scent. Need!
Inez: Golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood.
In the imp: Vanilla amer-y goodness, with a touch of carnation.
On me: On the carnation!!! The carnation is the most prominent note, deepened a bit by the amber and the musk. There's a touch of cedar and sandalwood adding to the spiciness of the carnation, helping it stay promiment. This is absolutely gorgeous.
Another MUST have.
Dionysia:Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany
In the imp: Plum and pomegranate yumminess.
On me: Heaven!!!! It's a beautiful plum scent, and the frankincense comes forth to make her a sweet plum incense blend. Wow. This is SO very me. It is beautiful, sweet, incensey, a tad bit earthy, and absolutely amazing.
I NEED a bottle.
Daiyu: Moroccan jasmine, chrysanthemum, tea leaf, white musk, and acai berry.
In the imp: Berries!! Berries with a bit of floral.
On me: Wet I got a whole lot of acai and not much else. On the drydown it gets musky and blends beautifully with the acai berry. I also get plum, but it's not listed as a note. I get a bit of teak leaf, but ont much jasmine or chrysanthemum.
I am really liking this, but as I have to be picky to not end up buying the entire grindhouse I am still not sure if a bottle of this will be purchased.
Swadhisthana: Sacral:
The Glory of Vishnu, The House of Varuna, One’s Own Abode
The Six-Petaled Lotus.
The unconscious, the sweetness of life, desire, pleasure, sexuality, procreation, emotion.
Swadhisthana is the manifestation of passion, the reconciliation, balance and union of the masculine and feminine within ourselves.
In Swadhisthana, we learn to give and receive pleasure. It is the stimulation of the life force, the basis for life itself, and our force on the physical plane.
In this chakra, our samskaras are cloistered, and in this chakra they find expression.
Because of the highly sexual identification of this chakra, many find its temptations and trials very difficult to overcome.
**This is the first Chakra that I've tried, and WOW! I need to try more of them.
In the bottle: A deliciously dark incense blend, very sensual and unique. The reviews say floral and/or citrus? But I got none of either one. I did get a bit of an iodine type of smell too.
On me: Whoa. Well, it works, it is very sexual! On me this was a very sensual incensey blend with a sharp something that my nose couldn't identify (the iodine-ish type smell, but not in a bad way).
At one point (once the chakra started working...), it turned into waffles with a super strong throw, and then went back to being incensey without any waffle traces.
I'll have to reserve this one for special occasions.
Resurrection of the Flesh: Frankincense, hyssop, heliochrysum, ylang ylang, copal, angelica, and rose geranium. Featured in the Salon: detail of the fresco.
In the imp: WoW! The resins and ylang ylang blend so beautifully together. A quick test tells me this will be a favorite.
On me: a delicious incensey blend fused with the beauty of ylang ylang. For maybe half an hour. And then it fades to almost nothing. My skin ate it, and in eating it the fragrance that is left isn't even classifiable. It's something, but so faint that it isn't much. I am very disappointed by this.
Two Monsters: Oakmoss, vetiver, black musk, champaca flower, leather, patchouli, ginger, Japanese pittosporum, ambergris and white pepper.
In the Imp: Upon first sniff I didn't think it would work. I got a lot of leather, which has a 50/50 chance of going wrong on my skin, and vetiver, whichusually goes wrong on me if it's GC but not with CD blends.
Wet: The wrong kind of leather and some rotted spinach smelling vetiver underneath. I didn't even wait for the drydown and tossed it into the swaps pile.
And then, 10 minutes later, this scent morphed into one of the most amazing scents I have ever tried. Talk about a morpher!!! It reminds me of Temple Viper, another favorite.
The leather blends beautifully with the resins and champaca to create an slightly leathery sweet incense scent that is absolutely amazing!! Must hoard. It has a very good throw and I get the feeling has a pretty long staying power too. Oh yes, I need a bottle.
Bilquis: Honey, myrrh, lily of the valley, rose otto, fig leaf, almond, ambrette, red apple, and warm musk.
In the imp: Sweet delicious honey and almond. Heaven!!!
On me: The almondy sweetness vanishes, and the rose otto comes to the forefront. At first it was a very perfumey blend, but now it is almost entirely rose. This would be wonderful for a rose fan, as it is a very complex and slightly sweet rose blend.... but I am not a fan so I'll have to pass on this one.
Spider: White ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, and lime.
In the imp: sweet masculine goodness. Indistinct notes, but it smells wonderful.
On me: First, I "blind" tested, as I grabbed the imp without looking at the notes. This has vetiver and it doesn't smell like rotted spinach!! Yay!!
On me: A very beautiful masculine sexy scent, and it smells wonderful on me. The ginger and bergamot work beautifully together, and I believe I'm getting some King mandarin too. No lime in sight, but that's good because citrus usually goes weird on me.
This one is a major shock - it's got vetiver AND lime and it still smells freaking awesome on me!!! I think me needs a bottle of this. There is something femininely sexy to me about wearing awesome smelling masculine scents.
Mr. Nancy: Sugar cookies with bay rum, tobacco, and lime.
In the imp: Sweet cookie yumminess!!!
On me: Where did the cookie go? I smell like bread dough with a whole ton of cinnamon in it. No cinnamon in the notes, could it be the bay rum? Only bay rum usually doesn't smell like cinnamon to me though. Very strange. This will be a pass.
Lady Una:Honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, and fae spices.
In the imp: Deliciously honey musky blackberry. Yummy!! What are fae spices?
On me: I am getting a lot of honey musk and peach, even though peach isn't listed in the notes. Everything else ran and hid - I'm thinking I smell the fae spices but I can't pinpoint that. It's very faint, not a lot of throw or staying power.
It smells good, but it's not my kind of scent. I was hoping for a honey-berry-vanilla scent, and this was definitely not that.
