sarada

I got this a week ago but only just now got around to testing it...in the imp it smelled a lot like Centzon Totochtin and with the weather being all hot and humid I didn't think I could handle that kind of heavy chocolate. Heavy chocolate indeed, on first sniff, but I signed up for the patchouli and incense notes... AHhhh, there it is! I am eating a box of chocolate bon-bons in a hippie crash pad. Thick clouds of incense hang in the air and are infused into the elaborate tapestries hanging on the walls. I'm getting a strong whiff of the kind of incense that was in Urd, so I'm guessing that some of my beloved nag champa might be in here with patchouli. It dries down to a wonderful rich earthy incense smell with the memory of chocolate. A bunch of hippies got the munchies and decided to chow down on some candy bars, mmm mmm. This is much more wearable for me than some of the other chocolatey scents, because that cocoa scent becomes only a vague hint after the incense takes over. And I loooove the incense. Don't think I need a whole bottle but I'll love the imp!

I've tried the Juniper Berry that they have in the essential oil display at the healthfood store and Whole Foods (Aurocacia, I think?) and it's very similar to this, but the lab's is much more of a...realistic scent, I think. It doesn't have that extremely sharp, piercing quality that other companies' juniper berries sometimes do. It's sharp and evergreen, slightly woody, but it doesn't develop that kind of "nail polish remover" scent that I thought it might given those sharp and pungent qualities. I love the blends I've tried that have this as an ingredient and I love it on its own -- thanks to shelldoo for the little sniff she shared of it with me! If I had bottles of this and the moss single notes I could have a lot of fun layering them -- but I also love the blends the lab still sells that have all of these wonderful green scents as components.

Dark, dusty and musty, the smell of crumbling damp mossy wood. I can already tell that this is something that would drive my bf out of the house if I wore it around him, the sort of moldering scent that drives his allergies crazy. However, since I'm the kind of person who savors the scent of the woods after rain and loves moss and decay this is definitely the note that I recognized from many blends that suggest the deep dark woods. I think it definitely needs some other notes to play with it and keep it from getting too musty, but this is especially nice when I smell it at the same time as Spanish Moss -- sort of the light and dark of the mosses, one fragrant and stimulating (spanish) and the other (oak) is very still, gloomy and introspective.

Wow, this is not what I was expecting! In the vial this is very fragrant and almost rose-like. I do believe this might be the mystery ingredient in Wolfsbane, which came across as like a white rose drenched in greenery to me -- I definitely smell the rosey scent in this as well as the shadow of the scent that doesn't agree with me in Wolfsbane. This could also account for why a couple of other mossy scents strike me as rosey -- Burial always seemed to have a tinge of that scent to me as well. Well it's not rose, it's Spanish Moss! A surprisingly fragrant scent, and while it does recall moss growing in the shade it also makes me think of mildewing white rose petals. I recognize it from Zombi as well. Now that I know what it is, I know to expect that kind of moldy rose scent (which I kinda like) when I see this listed in blends.

This is the discontinued Carnivale, not the new LE but I assume that they will be somewhat similar. This hits me right out of the vial with that delicious slightly cherry scent of heliotrope (note: I don't like "real" cherry but I like the way that heliotrope imitates it without having the quality that makes me kinda of nauseous in "real" cherry). It is somewhat bubbly and sparkling, but smoothed out with a mellow golden amber coating. The bubbly berries seem to almost tingle as I smell them, and the heliotrope adds its characteristic dusting of golden powder. The amber and almost undetectable musk in the background help to keep this from being entirely fruity or cherry-powder, but it's still fairly light and doesn't have a real "bond" with my skin. I will definitely enjoy the imp because I love heliotrope but I don't think I'll have to go for a bottle, because I like my scents a bit stronger than this and my favorite blend for heliotrope is Greed. This is very much a festival, bubbly blend for summer and makes me think of crimson, orange and golden streamers and decorations hanging in a hazy summer evening. ETA: Dries down rather spicy! The spicy carnation and the powdery remains of heliotrope form a very nice drydown on this...definitely worth having an imp!

Congratulations to them and good luck to your third friend! I have many friends in a similar situation and sympathize in wanting to support them any way I can.

CCLIII (253) Got this bottle from Penance! She described it above as amber and rose and I'm going to go with that since I am not sure if I can pick out the notes myself. To my nose, it is a bright flaming RED scent...not quite like The Living Flame though, it's a bit deeper and just a bit juicier. I'd bet there's some kind of berry or fruit in this, but I definitely get some rose and I am sure that whatever is amping them up and making them tolerable to me is probably amber. Rose and amber is one way that I can enjoy roses, the other being roses and dark/dirt scents. This is like Spellbound or Black Rose without the musky element, and with a very fragrant dark red juicy berry instead. It's actually the third CT2 that I've tried that has a strong juicy/berry/red feeling to me though this is the most floral. It turns out to be one of the rare floral combos that I like though, since there's so much else going on to keep the rosiness from sailing up into my sinuses. I like this enough to keep most of it, though I'm not sure if I'd wear it a whole lot since I also have Black Rose and Spellbound, but maybe I'll use half and share the other half. Previously reviewed by Penance.

Whatever you order it should take about 6-8 weeks (21-45 business days, according to the site) from the time your order is placed to the time you receive it, but it appears that the only thing that would hold an order up longer than that is if an ingredient runs out and has to be replenished (as happens from time to time) as happened recently with at least one Springtime in Arkham scent. Last time I saw a post about how things work there I seem to remember reading that the oils themselves are mixed in batches. In other words, from what I've read here I don't get the impression that a batch would have to be mixed for each separate imp. I'm speaking solely from my recollection of past posts though so I would certainly defer to anyone who actually knows what they're talking about if they want to clarify it further!

XX (20) Mmmm, this DOES smell rather like my very own #121, which I adore, but without a strong pomegranate note. As described earlier in the thread, it has a feeling of fruits and wine. This is a good combo for me, generally. I actually don't even know what sangria smells like because I don't drink but if it smelled like this I'd consider it! Not quite as bursting with dark red and purple juice as my CT2 this is nonetheless a gorgeous blend of light berry-like fruits, maybe something tropical thrown in there as well, and sparkling wine. It dries down slightly weaker with a bit of floral though it reminds me of Jester as it dries. Yay, bring on more Chaos, I can't get enough! Previously reviewed by hologhost and darkling.

I got this for the patchouli, wondering how it would blend with white musk, which I find positively frosty and wonderful in Ice Queen though it becomes very "commercial perfume" on me in other blends. In the imp, this does have kind of a perfumey quality -- I wish there was a better adjective for it but that's the best description that I can think of. I press on ahead with testing it though. I actually have never had a good experience with anything that contains poppy but I still want to try out the musk and patchouli here. When I apply this it changes considerably. The musks even out and becomes cold and distant, very much the icy, spacey quality I was hoping for. And at the same time, the patchouli brings it back down to earth. It feels like....walking barefoot at night, looking up at the full moon and the bright night stars, maybe out on an expedition to watch falling stars...and feeling the earth between your toes and on the soles of your feet as you walk. That's exactly what this smells like. That stage lasts a little while, when the pungent perfumery of the poppy kicks in again...alas, and the beautiful starlit night is gone as I have walked right into someone's flowerbed. If you can do poppies, or like the floral/perfume quality more than I do than this would probably work much better for you. I cherish that middle stage but it lasts for a very short time on me so I probably will just enjoy this once or twice and move it along.

Ummm, mmmmm.....yes, love the earth soil smell, mmm. On first sniff this is very very me, that delicious moist mossy dirt earth smell, like Graveyard Dirt but sweeter, more like Zombi because of the other notes wafting through this blend. This is an incredible earth scent, like one of the clay masques that I like to use. The floral aspect is very interesting -- I was afraid of "soft perfumes" but this is a very pleasant fragrance. If the roses in Zombi were too much for you but you still like the idea of flowers and soil, this could be the answer. It's not moldering flowers on a grave though, it's more like dried flowers pressed neatly in a book and laid on the ground beside freshly tilled soil in a garden. This is a wholesome, life-affirming "earth and dead flowers" blend! I really like it. Almost like a less intoxicated version of Nosferatu, actually...it's the teetotalling little sister who doesn't know about the vampire lurking behind the shed. It dries down to almost a grape candy scent though, that's the only problem. That might just be because I have too many smells going on right now and I'm getting confused, but it has kind of a fruity, berry...yes, grape really, and a touch of spice. And sort of a cinnamony quality but very faint. The fruity spice is the last stage and I'm not as fond of that but I LOVE it in the imp. I can see getting a bottle of this eventually but I gotta chill on my ordering now for awhile.

I rescued this from a hot mailbox today and let it cool down inside for a little while before testing it. I've been very excited for this because wood scents are my absolute favorites. In the bottle: I'm getting a lot of the cedar smell that also struck me strongly in Azathoth -- I swapped out Azathoth because it was too cologney but I think the other ingredients in this will come to the forefront soon. Yep, that's wood all right! I should point out that cedar is actually sometimes problematic for me as it strikes me as "man's cologne" a lot. True, this is a masculine blend...but as the bottle comes down to air conditioned room temperature and I roll it around a little I fet a lot more of the darker sandalwood shades. Ahhh yes, there is it, glorious pale woods. Not quite like Yggdrasil...this is a bit darker than that, and more masculine, but it's gorgeous. I don't actually get a lot of the patchouli and myrrh in this but I think that the incensy resins give it an almost golden feeling. It stays consistently cedar and sandalwood on my arm, as woods tend to do ... they stay put and don't move around a lot. Kinda like trees. I'm going to have to spend some time with this one to see if any of the other notes come to the forefront later -- this is definitely a great one for my fellow earth girls to try out. If you missed Azathoth or wish that you could get more, this might help to fill that void, and happily it's not quite as "cologney" as that blend was on me. Still, my favorite wood blends are Anne Bonny and Capricorn and while this will join them as one of my favorites, they are secure in their positions at the top for the moment! Sri Lanka, welcome to the Top 15! Edited later: You know, I didn't wind up hanging on to this one after all. It was so similar to Whippoorwill and even Silk Road a little, the spicy quality of myrrh overpowered everything else in the end. I didn't wind up wearing it once since I first tested it so I passed it along...the darker woods and resins suit me better. Edited again even later: And I bought another bottle, a year later, after testing it again and now I wear it all the time!! Don't listen to me anymore. I love it, it's smoky sandalwood, end of story!

Opening the bottle: It's summer at the Jersey Shore and I'm going into one of my favorite candy stores. There are bins of chocolate and candy everywhere -- molded chocolate on lollipop sticks, an endless array of fresh chocolate goodies in every shape and size lining the walls, a rainbow of fruity treats and salt water taffy. There's a fresh warm breeze blowing in the door, and you don't even know where to begin as you start to cram a paper bag with fistfuls of treats. This scent really, really takes me back to being a kid in a candy store. Now, keep in mind, I hate foody scents. But not all of them. This is really, really fresh chocolate, there's nothing sticky or syrupy about it. I think about these wonderful cookies I got recently which have currant filling and white chocolate frosting. This is a lot like those, too. But more than anything else I think of that childhood rush of wonder when you go into a giant seaside candy store in the summer and just don't even know where to begin. A touch of fruitiness, a breath of purple flowers (I love purple flowers, so I'm sure that the iris is appealing to that), it's just a wonderful fresh appetizing smell. And I happened to get this on an incredibly lucky day for me, as well -- I keep getting good news today! I hope that this blend continues to bring me good luck, but I already know for sure that a black cat is going to cross my path today (she's sitting right next to me) so who knows? I'm not terribly superstitious anyway.

Eidolon was one of the first scents that caught my eye in the catalogue a long time ago. For some reason I must have misread the discontinued list last October because I didn't see it listed...and then it was gone! Alas! But now I got to try some, happily. I was interested in this before I knew anything about the lab's oils, because I knew that I like shampoo products that have verbena in them -- and I also knew that I love cedar and bergamot. All in all it sounded like what I imagined I'd be into. On first sniff, it smells a lot like Shadow. On application, a lot like Shadow! And on drydown, hmmm...quite a lot like Shadow. I like Shadow so this is a good thing. The main difference, I'd say, is stronger cedar in this, and a stronger herbal presence. I have discovered that I LOVE the lab's sage as well. The verbena is fairly strong but the cedar balances it nicely. Verbena, as I have discovered, is mainly something that I like in shampoo though, I'm not sure if it works on me as a perfume though I like a lot of blends that include it. I really like this scent but I can't imagine I would use it a whole lot, unless I was able to scent some hair or bath products with it -- very refreshing, a little woody, a little dark...a nice cool dip in a forest stream, mmm.

Woo, I'm closing in on reviewing all of the Celestials now! I am very interested in the Earth signs but whereas my beloved Capricorn is the absolutely epitome of all that is brown and wooden and earthy, Taurus is a calm day in a flowering meadow. Aaaaaaand...there's that rose note that gives me a headache! Ah, they don't always do that but there's one in particular that does. It's sort of a powdery high-pitched floral at first and mellows down a little. Normally, ylang ylang is a harsh chemical nail polish smell to me unless it's tempered with wood...and in this case I think thatthe sandalwood must be keeping it at bay because I don't smell ylang ylang at all. I'm reminded a little of Rose Cross actually, which also gives me a headache. The soft woods come out much more as this dries, and the heady rose takes a back seat. If you're just looking for a scent that is like Taurus, Rose Cross might do the job. I think this represents the sign well but it's a very feminine floral to me, so male Taurans might want to go for Capricorn instead.

If Black Forest came out too sweet for you then Nocnitsa would probably be out of the running -- I love it but I think that the pine can take a definite "candied" turn, and it actually came across as smelling like lime candy to me a little though ultimately it turns into a more foresty smell. But if BF was too sweet then Nocnitsa will almost definitely wind up being too sweet I think. Hamadryad just smelled like cinnamon to me. But I need to retest that some time. Actually Black Forest smells the most like a forest to me, so I'm struggling to think of something that doesn't have pine in it. Yggdrasil is more of a dry, airy woody smell. You might have some luck with some of the woody/resiny scents like Anne Bonny, actually, though it doesn't have a "green" aspect. Burial is wonderfully green but doesn't have the "woody" aspect. For something that smells like earth that's in the regular catalog, Zombi definitely smells like earth/moss but the rose can be overpowering. Dublin is gorgeous but I'm not sure exactly what to say it smells like. It smells like mist and air in a forest without having any real earthiness to it, to me. And Skadi smells like Dublin, with a touch of pine, covered in frost. The often-overlooked Omen might be another option actually. It smells a lot like Burial with the green/mossiness but it's slightly woodier. When I first sniffed it, it definitely screamed FOREST! to me. I am all about smelling like a forest too so I sympathize. I'd say from the regular catalog, Yggdrasil and Omen might be good bets, but if you just want to try some deep dark brown woods/resins take a sniff of Anne Bonny too. If you can get some Graveyard Dirt and layer that with one of the green/tree smelling scents that might work! If your chemistry doesn't seem to work with the pine scent in Black Forest I'd probably not recommend Nocnitsa though, or the other pine scents (Loup Garou, etc). The pine in those is very very strong.

I didn't think I'd like this so I didn't order it, but I'm determined to try all the moons, as I am coming to like more and more of them. Imagine my surprise -- I don't generally like honey scents, but I love this! This is, as others have remarked, more the smell of the actual pollen, than of sickly sweet sticky honey. Most honey blends turn awful on me and make me think of something viscous and sticky that I can't wash off. This fragrance, however, simply radiates and glows. It puts me in the mind of a sunlit garden, or of fields of clover buzzing with bees. The herbal and floral notes playing with the pollen help to make this a stimulating, invigorating, fresh scent with none of the negative associations that I have with honey. As for the florals, I have a notoriously bad relationship with jasmine and gardenia but they don't bother me in this. It's more like the scent of the real flowers when their scent lingers in the air at night, than the full-on floral blast. It is subtle and not cloying. I'm not sure if I can smell the ginger, but the thyme adds a wonderful herbal "zap" that keeps it from being too sweet. Best of all, when I put this on it seems to fill the air around me with a golden, sparkling radiance. I really feel refreshed and happy -- it's even a bit of a cooling blend, like ducking into the shade of trees crawling with honeysuckle on a warm day. This blend has made a honey lover out of a honey hater! Though I still don't think I could wear one of the darker, sticky-sweet honey blends, this is magnificent and I regret passing it up. Thank goodness for swaps!

XVIII (18) I swapped something for this one, since its previous recipient described it as vetiver and woody. In the bottle: Wow, that is some complicated, strong stuff in there! I do think that I detect vetiver -- my overall impress is something deep and dark brown swirling with boozy purple. I have a tendency to pick up on anything with that sort of rum/booze note -- I like wine scents, but the headier rumnmy ones don't agree with me. I can't figure out which way this is going to go! It's very strong, slightly sweet and there's definitely some sort of dark woodiness in the background. As it dries, that initial woozy blast dies down. I feel like I'm stumbling around on a pirate ship a little bit, gradually getting my bearings. Oddly enough there's a phase in here where it's kind of like root beer. I have seen a couple of people mention that in their reviews as a comparison and that's the closest that I can get too! A strange mixture of some of the darker woods in the background (Kathmandu?), a heady boozy swirl and then a slightly candied root beer aftertaste. I go back and forth with this but I think that there's something that's making me feel a little headachy/woozy so I am going to see if I can circulate this one and try some more. My own Chaos blends are so well suited for me, but I can't help but want to see what else is out there! ETA: After washing up and retesting this after gently rolling it in my palm a little I get more of a piney scent underneath that dark boozy feeling...not so much the sweet undercurrent now. These things definitely are chaotic! Previously reviewed by mobilejessie.

I didn't order a bottle of this because it sounded so floral, and the florals listed are all ones that don't work on me. Still, I like to try everything, and I've discovered a few florals that I like this summer! This is very, very floral and sweet, possibly the personification of a white floral drenched in rain. I think of tears, whether they are for joy or sadness, and storms on a summer afternoon...maybe the Queen and Alice are playing croquet in the garden when there is a sudden downpour, and she runs for cover into a white rose bush. That's kind of what it smells like. Unfortunately for me, gardenia and lotus are among the most headache-inducing of all florals and roses have a tendency to do the same if there's no earthy or fruity scent grounding them. I like roses in the garden...I like them a lot, and I like them in a tiny handful of scents where they are the only floral note, but there are too many roses tossing around in the rain here and my head is spinning! I'm so glad I got to try this, and now it's going to go to a new home!

When I think of the element Fire I think of Djinn first...which would be in the smoke, ashes type of fire category. But that's because I don't like cinnamon. Though the "spicy" kind of fire makes me think of Wrath actually, which was one of those that actually physically burns my skin. eep!

I had thought I'd definitely order a bottle of Cthulhu, given the name, and my love of Lovecraft and in particular my interest in octopus-like things. But the mention of seaweed had me thinking of oceanic smells that I'm not too fond of...so I passed on it since there were so many others I wanted to try. Well now I got to try an imp and I think an imp is just the right amount. It comes across very much like a masculine cologne...the sort of thing that just didn't work out for me in Ides of March or Azathoth in the long run. At first I think of a man's aftershave but with a decidedly aquatic/oceanic feel. Ahh, but that only lasts a little while before it becomes a much more interesting and actually almost floral blend on me. I get glimpses of the misty/icy smell that I sometimes get in aquatics and like. Overall it becomes sort of the dark, masculine version of Szepasszony but unlike that blend (one of my lesser-known favorites) this is not something I could wear often. Maybe on a dark, rainy day when I just want to slither outside to check the mail and then come back in and listen to "Disintegration" while watching the rain fall. (ETA: the perfect rainy day came along and it turned out that I still just don't think this is for me, though it's a very nice aquatic!)

I could smell this well before I opened it -- tingling, electric mint and a lightning blast of lemon (verbena?). But stronger, more piercing than any others I have encountered. The lemony flashes remind me a little bit of a note in Lustration, making this a sort of mentholated lemon -- there might be a dash of eucalyptus. It reminds me of a favorite bath salt concoction that I buy sometimes, I think it's Aurocacia's Energize -- it's a lemon/mint combo, whatever it is. I have been badly in need of focus lately as I've been rather scatterbrained at work and have too much to deal with. I am going to use this to help me to tackle the especially hard days and hone in on what I have to do without losing focus. Just sniffing this I feel as though I have laser beams shooting from my eyes burning holes in anything that I look at. Yes, I think this will work quite well. I may also use it in meditation to help my mind from wandering. Quite incredible and, yes, sinus-clearing as well! I cannot WAIT until I find a way to get a bottle of this...I can see using this regularly.

Adding another voice in here -- I placed a CCNow order today, the first CCNow order I've done in a year, because it's for a friend and I wanted to know for SURE which order this is, when it ships. I didn't get a lab confirmation but I wasn't sure if those typically come when you order through CCNow. I usually use Paypal. Do they usually come with CCNow orders too? Anyway, I didn't get one this time...

I first tried this about a year ago and it didn't strike me very much. It seemed rather pale and bland in my memory, I think I wrote in my notebook at the time that it was a generic kind of smell, one that I couldn't put my finger on. Funny how things change! Now that I've tried um...350 or so blends and carefully studied what I like, I can distinguish every single note in this and it is gorgeous. First it hits me like Nanshe, my favorite dream blend, with the strong lavender and the golden warmth of citrus. Then the rosemary peeps through like fresh cut herbs in the kitchen, sharp and slightly smoky, as if the leaves are being added to a hot, dry frying fan. Those are still "visible" in the scent when the frankincense takes over, and it is the perfect warm resin that carries the blend through, still shimmering with the memory of the herbal bouquet. This is really spectacular and I wish I had "understood" it better when I first tried it. I'm thinking that perhaps I had tried an old imp that had faded somewhat. Now I'm thinking this is big bottle material! I might even prefer this over Nanshe as far as the scent goes, because of that wonderful frankincense that loves my skin. Even with all of the new amazing blends that keep coming every month or so, scents like this one are classic and I will always come back to them for those basic, simple ingredients that will always inspire me.

Oh, wood! Earth and wood! Sweet, smoky forest overgrown with moss after the rain -- dark, crumbling wood crawling with rain-kissed greenery. This is vaguely similar to Ace of Pentacles, but more brown than green -- the almond is a mere faint sweetness blending in with velvety vetiver. It is masculine like the Greenman is masculine; or like the old Ent, Treebeard. Ahh, that's what this is...Treebeard's scent. It is every thick, rich dark scent of the forest, but with a leathery hide and a mossy beard. A single beam of honeyed golden light pierces the thick canopy of leaves and its warmth releases all of the hidden aromas of the deep, forgotten forest. The King and the Queen are perfect together. She is a ruby red fruit and rose garden on the outskirts of the castle grounds....he is the deep, wild forgotten spirit of the living forest. I am just weeping with joy for these fragrances.