sarada

Damn, I won the Latin award two years in a row in high school and I didn't know what this word meant until I noticed other people posting about it! Maybe I should give back my awards... The strongest note both in the imp and on my skin at first is champaca. Which, unlike the champa incense that I love, almost smells kind of tropical and fruity in a way, though it smolders with a honey-warm intensity. As this dries, the honey and olive blossom must be combining in a glorious way because it now reminds me of the Kiss my Face lotions and soaps that contain honey and olive oil. Body-heated, it hints at smoky sweetness and just the faintest kiss of spice. I don't smell jasmine, though I suspect it helps to add to the overall mesmerizing swirl. It's the scent of that moment when gentle kissing suddenly turn probing and a flush of excitement spreads across your cheeks. It's also rather like the a 'greatest hits' companion to the Lupercalia blends -- a cousin to Khajuraho maybe, a year-round poetic incensy passion blend that does not linger too long in any corner, whether floral or sweet or woody, it nibbles just a little on each earlobe.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Dirt is one of my my greatest loves, scentwise. Dirt, mineral scents, earthy loamy rot. Mmm hmm. I went for an imp of this to test first since rose geranium can be a bit much, but this really is mostly a lovely smooth almost clay-like dirt to me -- the dirt in the background of Penny Dreadful, the dirt buried beneath roses in Zombi. The Spanish moss (which is really a rather floral, swampy, damp sort of scent) and rose geranium do come out a bit as I wear it, and they do a dizzying dance of humid moss and dead flowers, but it does not become as sharply, pungently rose as Zombi. I'm at a loss for how to describe this poetically since it is so self-explanatory: it is, simply, layers of loamy earth and moss, a sprinkling of flower petals rotting after a rain storm, the promise of the garden rather than the sorrow of the grave. And it's almost certainly getting a place in my box o' bottles one of these days!

I was hoping this would be something along the lines of Hungry Ghost Moon & c., with the sharp green wood of Faiza, and I am not disappointed. It's just as I imagined! Green sandalwood if I'm not mistaken smells much more fresh than any other sandalwood -- almost bamboo-like in its tart, sharp wetness. The familiar sour-sweet scent of rice wine that I love in HGM and Tamamo is present in here though the green sandalwood keeps it from getting too strong. Tonka adds a hint of sweetness and moss adds a damp earthy softness. Poured over the other notes, the tea is faint, more like green tea than black. Fans of HGM, Tamamo, Foxfires on New Year's Eve, Holiday Moon, and similar Asian-themed scented with tea, rice wine, and bamboo or other wood notes, would definitely be advised to pick this one up. I don't think about penises at all when I smell this! I think about a bamboo tea house in the rain, similar to what the other reviewers described. More fresh than woody, and a lovely gentle mixture of naturally sweet and sour notes.

I was completely blown away when I first read the note list for this one: it's a stroke of genius to translate these vivid visual elements into scent so perfectly. The vampire, drawing you to him with a musky, leathery warmth, hypnotizing with the dusky, dusty aroma of ancient spices and antique resins -- coated in an eerie, ghostly sheen of glowing, throbbing green. Nothing suggests that eerie pulsating combination of pale green and shimmering white quite like the combination of sage, citrus, melon and white musk. I couldn't imagine how they'd work together so well but they do! The green layer hovers around the deeper, darker spices and resiny leather, inviting you to breathe deeper and inhale every layer. The palest hints of citrus sparkle with ghostly pallor, muted somewhat by the round, unripe melon and the crisp tingle of sage. Sleepwalking into the glow, you're enrobed in the warmth of faint clove, spices, and nuzzle against musk-warmed leather. Just gorgeous. I go mainly for masculine scents for myself and this stuff just takes to my skin like you wouldn't believe. I'm going to have to practice saying the full name of this so I can remember to tell people what I'm wearing, because I think I'm going to be wearing it a lot.

I'm so relieved to be able to write a glowing review for this one! I was terrified of that clotted cream. Cream is one of my absolute worst notes, and anything that contains it tends to just smell like a pan full of burning butter, so I assumed I'd just test this and want to swap it. This is one of the very few scents that could be classified as foody that I like. Think Beaver Moon '05, but awash in sparkling grapefruit and pear with a sprinkling of spice. A slice of snowy white cake with citrus rind curled on top and some fresh sliced fruit on the side. I can't specifically smell the ginger or lily but they must be adding the extra bits of non-foody sweetness that I catch in this, and along with the pink pepper, a dash of spice. The pink pepper creeps forward, not as strong as it is in something like Trick #2 or Hermia, but a beautiful glowing sweet peppery spice that lingers as it dries down. At first I did get a slight impression of a movie theatre lobby, where every type of candy is on offer, including cotton candy, and the slightest distant whiff of popcorn, but that turns much more into this powdered sugar, white spice cake and light fruit scent. Beaver Moon '05 and Eat Me are the only other two scents that achieve that balance of being cakey without being buttery or cloyingly, densely sweet, in my experience, and I'd put this alongside them for wearability for me. Not sure how long it lasts because I've only had it on for a half hour, but so far it's great. I don't think this would work in a locket for me because the heavier sweet layers in the beginning might linger there -- I like how the more fruity/spicy notes come forward on my skin. As it dries I think I get more of the pepper and ginger and less of the fruit. I think it will dry down more to a spice-cake scent and again I'll throw in a comparison to the first Beaver Moon. Very happy with my cannibal!

If I smelled this without looking at it, I think it would instantly make me think of the moon. That distant, liquid mottled white-grey, with ghostly blue shadows, that the moon evokes. As I think more about it, it does smell very much like Lotus Moon, but is a bit more..cold and distant. While Lotus Moon had some hint of pine resin to warm on my skin, this fades away quickly and I can't quite grasp it. That was very much a summer scent though, and this fits nicely with the cold shadows of winter. Not entirely my bag, but I can dig it!

I had a feeling this would smell like Fire Pig without dragon's blood and the fact that it smells just like Fire Pig without dragon's blood in it, to me, might have more to do with my preconceptions than anything. But I like it a lot more than Fire Pig, which was kind of thrown off balance by the DB to me. This is much more of a pure, fruity-green, fun kind of scent that fades instantly on my skin but might stick around in a locket. Actually it is much more of a spring/summer scent so I might have a hard time 'reading' it right now in the depths of winter. I feel like a little trail of glowing fruits and flowers are following me around through the cold December night. Like Fire Pig, it does combine qualities of some of the past lunacies in a pleasing way:Holiday Moon (bamboo), Budding Moon (plum blossom), hints perhaps of the other Asian moon scents we were treated to in 2006. I also love the crisp bite of yuzu and persimmon in this, adding a touch of tartness. Anyway it was perfect to wear while playing Animal Crossing! And it is one of those very rare things: a multicolored scent, synaesthetically, that I can wear when I'm wearing clothing that is every hue of the rainbow! Fruity scents are great for that!

The first Capricorn is one of my all-time favorites, and while this is completely different it will certainly take a place of honor in my collection, as an earth-scent lover. Here is a green spin on Capricorn: almost pure White Pine Bark at times, with gritty layers of earthy tobacco underneath. But more than anything, it is indeed that bright, green Christmas Tree pine, glinting and sparkling with earthen crystals. Fresh and grounding at the same time. It Troll was taken out of his cave, brushed off, given a nice bath in a river of clean, clear cold mountain water, put in a nice suit, shaved and splashed with something nice and fresh, I think we'd have Capricorn. But he'd dirty up that nice suit again in a few minutes, as he played in the pine needles and had a nice pipe of tobacco or -- something! It seems an obvious choice for me to want a second bottle, but I'm trying to control myself in that regard lately! Oh and it's different from Stranger in Camp -- this definitely has more of the Christmassy white pine bark as opposed to the deep dark resin of the summer woods.

I'm just doing a very simple review for the moment I think because I loved Honey Moon and this gives me a similar happiness when I wear it. Note: I don't like sweet or foody scents. But something about this honey -- it's so gold, sparkling, natural and fresh. This is a slightly thicker, sweeter honey though than Honey Moon was, without that herbal sparkle underneath. In the bottle there's a slight nutty creaminess that puts me off. That would be the almond. I hate almond. And in a locket, I find it gives me a slight headache because of this. But when I test it on my skin, it's just a glowing, throbbing, natural sweetness and a drowsy glowing warmth, like bees asleep in the sunlight, the swirling sun-warmed smells of an orchard all around them. I do not specifically smell jasmine, which is probably a good thing, but just like in Honey Moon I think it must add a floral lightness to this. The earthy fruits and spicy florals only peek out slightly as this wears on my skin. It works much better on me than in a locket, for my tastes. Though it doesn't surpass Honey Moon it comes close, as a honey scent brimming with fruit and flowers, and it's a bit odd to be wearing in winter as it feels much more like a spring or summer blend and I can't wait to try it then!

I love this scent so much. And so does my Sagittarius! He's very picky so I was relieved when he liked sniffing this on me, and he didn't immediately open a box of Claritin. Dandelion, sage and chamomile are three of my favorite "I wish these were in more blends" scents. They are so amazing wherever they occur -- so fresh, green, crisp and herbal. They don't last very long on my skin but I just want to keep pouring it on so I can always be rubbing my face in that downy golden-white dandelion fluff; the soft leathery sage leaves; and the delicate buds of chamomile. Beneath this incredible trio of the most beautifully sunny, herbal fresh green scents is the sweetness of fig and the warmth of clove, united by balm of gilead -- which I can't specifically pinpoint but I know I like it. Without those other elements it might be too fleeting and too green, but the other notes weave in strands of darker, golden aromas and hold them together. Sweet, warm, but also green, herbal and clean. I love Sagittarius. This is second only to Scorpio in the Zodiac blends so far, in my book, but I know we still have a few to go.

I was dying to try this because it sounded a little bit in the description like something that would surprise me a la Snow Moon and come out smelling incredibly chilly and frosty and snowlike despite all those floral notes. Night-blooming flowers can be a big ol' headache and I am not a big fan of florals, but I love thyme, honeysuckle and mint and I can't resist the words "blue musk". At first sniff it did make me think of the slushy crush of Snow Moon plus herbs. In the bottle, the frosty, slightly minty spikes of scent are stronger. On wearing it, it is a musky dusty herbal with a hint of dried flowers and a slight breath of cold. It's not really like anything else though, it is very much its own fragrance. I love herbal scents and I don't feel like I get nearly enough of them in my collection! Blue musk is hard to put your finger on. There's something simultaneously dusty and aquatic about it. Visually I think of a blue plastic globe when I smell something with blue musk in it, but that's just me being weird. Otherwise I'd describe it alternately as antique, musky/dusty, dried flowers, frost, and -- well gosh, then it just has these wonderful little sweet floral moments where honeysuckle blossoms and herbs are warming in the sun, so it's a very complex scent, a strong morpher, and absolutely wonderful. I think it suits December well too, since it's not a sunny summer floral, or the light and frivolous flowers of spring. It is a serious floral, aged and cold. These flowers are dried and ready for storage to keep their beauty -- pale and brittle as it is -- alive all winter.

I haven't tried any of the other brands you mentioned but this year's Yule LE Snow Storm is the perfect winter forest to me! Ice, snow, pine and woods, absolutely. (in contrast, Jolasveinar was very sweet and pastry-like to me, with some snow on top, not woodsy at all and not very floral, to this nose.) If you need a hit of berries, Yew Trees and Jersey Devil also have a strong woodsy scent with a hint of berries. The discontinued scent Skadi might also fit the bill. The new LE November also has a good amount of woods and snow. But I think Snow Storm right now is absolute perfection!

I didn't give the Perilous Parlor a second thought at first -- pear and vanilla? Big whoops! I don't like vanilla, and while I like fruity scents I am not usually wild about pear. Or am I? Oh dear, after I first smelled this I couldn't get it out of my head that I really wanted to smell it again. It's not a fresh and fruity or light and sweet as I had expected. This is a deep, smoky vanilla and a dark pear. It smells more like I'd expect a pear-scented tobacco to smell, than anything, really. I put this one on at night because nothing helps me get to sleep better than something that is sweet and smoky. This is incredibly comforting to me. I agree with the comparisons to candle wax as well -- I'm seeing a recently extinguished pear candle in my mind, the scorched scent of the burnt wick and the hot wax. I can even see the paint thinner comparisons as well, especially at first! There is something strong at first that burns off quickly, but don't let that scare you. The drydown reveals all of the warm and sweet layers. It is not what I'd call a foody scent, and since I don't like foody scents that is a good thing. Sweet, smoky and fruity, with a strange layer of tobacco, candlewax and woodstain. A surprise hit for me!

This is another one that I tried first at ECWC and was surprised by -- I had expected something a bit more strong and earthy, but it is a pale, crumbling clay tinged with a powdery wine that starts out sour and becomes more sweet. Oddly, this is one blend that increases in strength as I wear it. It takes awhile to form a distinct impression but once it gets its thing grooving it is gorgeous. The mortar scent makes me think of the earthy notes in Penny Dreadful -- a sweet, slightly fruity dust and clay, like a pale purple and red stone powder. The slightly sour wine gradually becomes more sweet as it warms on my skin. I definitely see the comparison to Crypt Queen made above. The description's inclusion of the words "vinegar" and "blood" made me a little wary to order it right off the bat, but really it's just a beautiful berry-grape wine that reveals itself in here, and not a pungent sour one. The clay might have a note of dusty orris in it, I agree, but the scent definitely sweetens on me. One for the dusty earth-lovers. If I had to form an impression of this without any kind of description or notes, I would think about a wine cellar or a graveyard.

Looking at the note listing for this blend, I was not initially interested in all. Sure, I like sandalwood and French lavender, but these sort of Victorian light florals tend to be too light and, dare I say, powdery on me. I was really surprised when I sniffed it at ECWC and was blown away by how sweet and strong it was. I would swear there was a smoky vanilla and something like honey or honeysuckle in there as well. It definitely recalls some of the sweet creamy florals that the lab does so well that even ~I~ like them, like Hope and Faith, and Antique Lace (without the plasticky note that comes out in the latter sometimes). This is a sweet, pure, honeyed floral over a pale wooden base with a slosh of exquisite smoky vanilla splashed on top. I don't like vanilla but I like whatever sweetness is in this. I can't stop pouring this on me! Someone just said they thought it smelled spicy when I dabbed some on, and maybe that's the slight herbal bite of lavender. Oh this also recalls Emathides somewhat to me, though with a touch more of the lighter rosy floral notes. This one isn't terribly atrocious after all! And it is not dusty, musty and atticky, if anyone is afraid of those sort of notes. I can see where it could have baby powder tendencies on some people but so far it seems to just be a lovely creamy floral on me, and this is coming from someone who does not like creamy florals -- but I love it!

November, aside from being my birth month, is definitely a favorite time of the year for me despite my freezing cold fingers as I type this right now. November, as a fragrance, is a little colder than I expected, but absolutely perfect. It reminds me slightly of Talvikuu actually, but less white-blue in tone since the snowy scent is layers over some of the dry leaves we've seen before in October and Death of Autumn. There's just the slightest hint of those dry leaves though peeking through the minty frost layer as it dries -- as if that dark and gritty leaf scent from The Death of Autumn is being buried in a snowdrift. After it has dried for awhile, it is mainly snow in the woods -- dry, dark trees and crystalline snow, crunching the leaves underfoot. Very, very natural smelling and though we don't generally get any snow in November here, it still sets the mood for the season ahead. I'll be wearing this one throughout the winter.

Three Witches was re-released for the BPAL anniversary in November 2005 but since it was an LE it was only available in 5 ML. A 10 ml Three Witches would almost certainly have to have been an original, not a re-release. Otherwise, 10 MLs were discontinued in 2006. They were still available when the price change went into effect in July 2006 and were discontinued shortly thereafter.

I don't much care for Snake Oil, but I LOVE the Snake Pit scents. Snake Oil on its own is (gods forgive me for saying this) pure Playdoh on me and when I wear it, EVERYONE asks me all day long why I smell like Playdoh. It's very sad and makes me cry. I only have an imp of SO right now, aged two years, and I'm liking it more with age but I much prefer my one-year aged Temple Viper. My first love was Green Tree Viper because it was so minty -- even though everyone knows I'm not a foody scent person it smelled like Thin Mints and I found it really delightful for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Temple Viper was my true love though, it's the perfection of what I always thought Snake Oil should be. So rich and deep and smooth, just enough incense to satisfy my incense tooth (?) and generally sultry and fantastic. King Cobra is very similar but hasn't really stood out on its own yet to me. I also have Death Adder which I would hesitate to recommend to anyone that doesn't love vetiver as much as I do. But it's a perfect vetiver combo for me! I also really like Banded Sea Snake, which really smells nothing like Snake Oil but really took me by surprise with its uniqueness. And Saw-Scaled Viper is a must for anyone who likes both spicy scents and Snake Oil. I don't like a lot of spicy scents but I like that one a lot. The ones I haven't mentioned, I wasn't fond of, so I don't think they'd appeal to someone looking for something a notch beyond Snake Oil. I tend to think that the "incensy" Snake Pits really accentuate what's great about SO while taking out the "Playdoh" component.

That's my lifelong dilemma as well. It sounds exactly like me -- even down to the chamomile tea having bad associations. My sleep problems started when I was just around 8 years old and mom would give it to me and all it did was make me have to get up and go to the bathroom, and I still felt freaked out. I've basically had to arrange my life in such a way that I can stay up until 3-4 a.m. most nights and I can show up at work whenever I want to, because if I have the pressure of "you have to get up at X time" I can't sleep a wink. I've only been able to, for the most part, overcome this problem in the past couple of years but that might just because I've had so little going on in my life that I haven't had anything to worry about. Although half the time I'd be up for no reason at all, just writing Christmas cards in my head or replaying incidents from 7th grade. I know this is the TAL thread, but I don't have a recommendation in that regard since sleep and lavender perfume oils and remedies make my brain MORE active. I am the only person I know who has this problem, but the worst insomnia I've ever had was when I was using one of the sleep/dream blends. Lavender seems to act as a stimulant for me, while sweet and spicy scents make me calm down slightly, but not enough to sleep. However, there are several homeopathic remedies that are surefire cures for me. When I take them, my thoughts stop racing and I feel like: "Hey, there's no reason to worry about anything right now, why don't I just go to sleep." It doesn't make me feel tired, it doesn't make me feel any different physically, I just don't feel the need to obsess as much. One of the things that happens to me at night is my heartrate goes up and my breathing speeds up, partially out of the fear that I won't be able to get to sleep. When I take Anmien Pien (a Chinese herbal remedy, just google it to find suppliers) I find that I am able to have my breathing become slow and regular, which allows me to slip into a sleepy state more easily. Otherwise there's a product available in many health food stores and even some drug stores, called Calms Forte, which has a similar effect -- as well as some Bachs Flower Remedies that purport to have similar effects. In fact, when I was having really bad anxiety last month (a rare occurrence and one that I do not need to take any medication for) those all worked together to help me a lot. I sympathize completely. Despite having done yoga and meditation since a young age, it does nothing for me in terms of getting to sleep. If I try to visualize something, it just winds up turning into me thinking about something incredibly morbid or worrying about things like healthcare and social security. Yeah. Once I started taking Anmien Pien, I was able to snap out of this cycle for the most part. It's like I "forgot" how to have insomnia, and now all I need is a book in my hand and I go right to sleep at the same time every night (still around 3 a.m. but like I said, my schedule allows for this). I don't go to bed until I'm so tired I can't keep my eyes open and after one page of an old Victorian novel, I'm out. I only took it occasionally for a couple of months, two years ago, and that was enough to shift me into a less insomniac mindset. I am one of these people who won't take pharmaceutical drugs unless it's ibuprofen for a headache, or an antibiotic for a bad infection. The side effects and risks of dependency are just too great, in my mind. But there seem to be more products on the market now that promise not to cause dependency, though the side effects still make me nervous (i.e. sleep-eating, and the like). If nothing else works, something like that might be enough to help your brain adjust to a regular sleep cycle. Good luck! I wish that I had better luck with the sleep blends so I could suggest one, but I seem to need to actually ingest something for it to have an effect. Maybe it's a placebo effect in my case but that seems to be the only thing that works for me.

Oh thank goodness someone else understands the non-foody chocolate vibe I get from vetiver! I have been trying to explain that one for years! My favorite cedar blend is Lear btw, if you do like cedar...Alecto as well, though neither of those matches the deep dark stained glossy mahogany you described, they are a bit more of a greenish wood.

Definitely the Forbidding Foyer! Especially after it dries. It might be a little strong in the bottle. The Red Queen also is very strong in the middle (almost turpentine-like to me) but mellows into something entirely different. Those two recommendations are excellent! If you like something that has a dark, polished wood sense to it but with a bit of sweetness, that is how I perceive vetiver. Scents that are woody with vetiver in them might give you that impression as well.

Um... I'm not sure what his name is, but he works at the Whole Foods in my neighborhood.

Some of us hippies bathe! We love soap! And cleanliness! And natural earth scents applied to clean skin! Who is out there giving us a bad name by not bathing?...I'll kick their hippie asses!

My pleasure! Oakmoss is my pick for the favorite moss for its green earthiness. When I see oakmoss on trees I stop to smell it. I also rub pine sap on my arm though. My friend tarotbydiana makes these amazing bath tarts with oakmoss in them so I can literally bathe in it when the mood strikes me!

Spanish Moss is very strong, pungent, damp and even a little floral smelling in my experience (I've tried the BPAL single note). The GC scent that is strongest in Spanish Moss is Wolfsbane as far as I remember. It's even a little bit rosey in tone. Oakmoss is much more dry of a moss and the BPAL note smells exactly like fresh-from-the-tree oakmoss. A little dusty and rather earthy.