Unseelie

SWEET~ First sniff from the vial is sweet, WOW. There are so MANY fruits in here, i'm not getting a predominent note from any one. It's complex in the sweet way, and not cheap or artificial; deep sweet, not light. I'm feeling lucky that there's no gardenia overt, either; not my favorite flower. As it dries an incensy spice warms the scent. I'm 'listening' to this one for rose, or floral, but I'm not hit my any recognizable single floral note either. It's morphing as wear continues; different aspects of deep, dark, sweet fruit. I'm timing this for duration! Hope it's a durable one. At half an hour I've had a brief breeze of gardenia and rose, as the sweet fruit top note steps back. The incensy warmth is still there- can't figure out what is offering that note though! Fir would be more piney? I haven't noticed anything that.. evergreeny.. though that would explain some of the power and depth of the scent. Nice!

Gritty, yes, languid in the opium dark sense, with a sharp green floral.. oh "black herbs"! Fig date and currant are sweet but not excessively so, and not particularly juicy - and thankfully not artificial. This is a dark one, herbal to the extreme; quite nifty and should go on anyone's "Fig" hit-lists. It starts out sharp, and softens on dry-down; this is one to wait through the first scent to get to the lasting quality of it! I'm going to want to roll in this as summer turns to fall..

Granddaughter of Helios, Hecate's chosen: Medea was one of the greatest sorceresses of the ancient world. She is the embodiment of ruthless power, indomitable will and furious vengeance. Night-blooming cereus, black orchid, black currant and myrtle leaf enshrouded in the incense of Hecate's cypress and myrrh, and the dark rage of magickal labdanum and intoxicating poppy. My Medea, a 2ml shorty that was split from a larger bottle in February, is initially nearly a dead ringer for Hunter Moon- at least in the early stages when some of the herbal sharpness resembles pepper. The cypress is sharp, and the other similarity that rises to mind when Medea is wet is Nemesis - a green, herbal, scent, but rather than bright, made full and dark by the fruit carrying it. After drydown this clings to the wrist; incense and round deep fruit, I'm nose to skin again. It's the recent reviews that made me pick this up to try, to see if it had changed much since I'd first received the bottle. It certainly hasn't lost any of its potency, and is wafting well.

Hamadryiad is ~soooo~ nice; i probably won't be able to get my brains in order to write a real review but it goes through a cinnamon (other) woody stage, and seems much like Chimera, early on, then goes warm and woody and subtle for quite a long time. The sandalwood seems to have staying power.

i really don't understand this scent, but i love it. i really don't like patchouli, but i think this blend is - i dunno, love like rocket science. the patchouli is tamed by the sweeter notes; orange creamsicle/vanilla velvet kept from going candystore by the patchouli spice.. and for once a patchouli that doesn't smell like dirt on me! i can't stop sniffing it, i'm not sure if there's a flower i can't place or something new about orange blossom, but it's a really astonishing blend. i'd reccomend this to someone who doesn't think they like patchouli but keeps wanting the deep, mystic spice experience. it's also just too well crafted to pass up; multi-note, mostly stable- it's layered rather than changing- and it's a wonderful non-main use of vanilla!

i wanted to like this one from the description and past experience with opium notes; unfortunately it just *didn't* want to play nice with my skin. i got the strange boozy-turning-to-plastic odor that i got from Bordello. if Bordello works for you, and probably O and Swank, this one will probably work out. ah well, one more 5ml for the swaps!

in the bottle: butter. butterscotch? my first thought was it's that butter flavoring you use when making frosting, but i got the more butterscotchy tang with a nice deep snort. i concur with a majority of BPAL.org reviews; a butterscotch based scent! on, wet: a threat of mint-like-lift, but it's GONE quickly. overall the wet scent is calm, and buttery. FLOWER! *gone* huh? what was that? there was just a moment of super sweet berry flower, i would have sworn, but it's.. buttery again {less butterscotch, more creamy sweet}. drying: THERE's that flower again! it's a sugared petal whatever it is, and the butterscotch is a delightful backing. mmm, it is nice, but i do find the hint of a lift like booze, which can go to plastic on me. it's not though, butter balances it down, creamy weight winning out. i like the super berry floral. now and then there's that crystal cucumber "lunar oil" smell, the one similar note that, ja, it's here, it's in Hunter, Wolf and Storm moons. i think that's what comes across as a "threat of mint", because it never really develops spear- or peppermint. good grief.. now that i think on it, this is intensely girly overall. sweet buttery floral, shimmery moon smell. not overpowering, and there are layers to it that make it interesting. a sleep scent, ja. if i'm too embarrassed to wear this kind of thing to work; there i am ebil ubervixenazi! muah haha! i like this with medium luv. over the long haul it's the lunar chilly scent that stays, the floral drops away, and the butterscotch base means i smell some of the boozy lift. not as frantically enthused with this as i am with Wolf and Storm, so i think i'll have some to spare if there's any takers.

to sum up: OMFGWTFHAHABBQ!!¡1 this is floral. this is powerful. Oppanax/Galbanum type strength, MIGHTY lillies, not their weak and sweet funerial cousins. there's a heated lift to it; not cinnamon, not dragon's blood, nor patchouli. i'm having a hell of a time picking out anything individual from this, but i'm captivated. bewarned - it smells like "perfume". the way Dragon's Eye had that "Hello! I am a perfume product!" scent to it, this is like.. that plus Venom {a terrifically strong blend reminiscent of Dior's Poison}. In the bottle: rose? nnuh.. rose geranium mebbe? but.. i hate those, and i don't hate this. Or.. HM, flower? I can't *tell* what it is.. but.. i'm compelled to swipe it on.. play Tom Waits "What's He Building?" when you wear this for the first time. Wet on skin: OH PERFUME! It's got that strong 'Perfume' smell i associate with Venom and other.. ooh, it's slightly more chemical than Venom, but going through a fabulous floral range. Candy-like-spice scent just wafted for a moment, then back to an 'expensive perfume' scent. WOW. it's wonderful. it will just kill me if it turns out that this has a huge Gardenia note that i'm suddenly inexplicably digging on. Half an hour: It's still a strong scent. This is going to be a 'good all day at the office' scent. It's gotten a faint touch of powderyness to it now, softening of the brittle edges, but it's still potent. hm, i tend to powderize amber, so that may be a component. ORCHID.. my GHAD i just caught a lovely whiff of a dark orchid. *squee* Oddly.. uh.. it's not really reminding me of Fire. o_O In.. ANY way. It smells.. really good, to me, but.. uh.. "Hey Beavis.. huh-huh, how come there's no fire?" Some heavy florals, i can't get the inspiration to wear in warm weather - i think this one will do just fine. Ja, i can see wearing this in stifling heat and finding it uplifting and unwavering. WARNING: i predict this will drive people with allergies B@TSH¡T, it's just so strong and wafty and floral. HOWEVER: if you take public transpo and have had the Stinky Crazy Man get on, and then suddently caught a whiff of a Woman Who Smells Lovely and drives away the darkness? She'd be wearing this. This is the Galadriel of scents, ja, and it would feel pretty cool to be that Woman Who Smells Lovely. PURPOSE: this would be a nice "bridge scent" to lure more traditional members of aquaintance or family to BPAL with! it's far from "hippy" or "headshop" and very strong, mature, and female.

sniffed in the bottle it's subdued, slightly fruity but not the bold screaming berry reek of Bewitched or the others i've collected for their "purple" fruits and spice. this one is a grower, rather than a shower. at first application the fruity quality seems to waft with a slightly peppery bent, i started thinking of hunter moon, but the pepper hint didn't last and it wasn't a very strong effect. i suspect now it was the first efforts of the incensy spices to come up. since it took a little time for the fruit to fade and let the other notes through. dry, i'm slightly surprised as i was really expecting this to be a strong scent, one of those mighty-wafting perfumes that announces itself boldly; but it's much more subtle and i'm having to sniff it out, and it's only about 20 minutes in! the incense is prominent now, the majority note, and it's a real chapel and altar incense- wonderful! i just wish it were *stronger*. it seems that this one is going to last long as an incensed floral with a faintly sweet pull to it, it's dark and subtle, keeping close to the body and warm. it's a nice one, but Blood Countess, as a much stronger force will remain higher on my favorites list.

in the bottle: so THAT'S ozone, ja, i recognize it, now the name will stick for -sure-. hm, ozone lift and spearmint, and that lunar-mystery-note. i'm sceptical about this, but slide it on.. @_@ applied: one becomes sexy-clean-man. *squees* THIS is a summer cross-dressing scent, ja ja ja, and something to try out on the nearest male at the first available opportunity. as it dried it lost the spearminty common note and has held an incredibly aquatic ozone/cucumber smell for the past half hour. i don't think it has quite the lift that Wolf Moon had, but when you get close to annointed skin- oh smexy clean-boy smell!

In the bottle it's minty-chocolatey, complex and a little strange. It's ringing a bell that takes a while to settle in but once i dab it on and the scent gets some lift i realize i smell like a chocolate martini. o_O Wow! i'm not getting much coconut, or sweet oil scent, after about 20 minutes the mint has faded back and i smell an incredibly rich, powdery cocoa wafting from me when i move. this is so amazing..

i'd gotten an imp of this in decant version as part of a lot in fall 2004, so it came a few months after the scent had been discontinued. i really.. can't recommend chasing any around at this late date. in my decant the jasmine has risen to eat the rose, giving it a very nasty bite and very little that distinguishes it from "rose smelling jasmine". judging from other reviews.. grape? are you kidding? hm.. well if you're planning to pick this up from someone ask them specific questions about what *theirs* in hand smells like, it's quite likely that by now different batches of the oil can have gone in wildly different directions. i'm not going to inflict the rest of my imp on anyone; it's just gone nasty and has that bitter nose-burning strength of a delightfully mature jasmine-uber-alles.

in the bottle: wet green, powdery medicinal and herbal, not much floral wafting from the bottle. on wet: so lightly green, flowery {that's a duh statement, i wish i could do better} it will smell nothing like this dry - reinforcing the ultimate lesson to "imp sniffers", that doesn't work, you have to put it on! drying: oh wow, slightly smokey rose and only if i deep sniff - there's the orchid. it resembles Queen Mab with that cloying drape of floral comfort; though Magda is, to my memory, much less overtly orchid, less creamyness and much more rosyness and clear floral. i want to say it's incensy, but it's not that; there's a deep softness to the rose, something that cuts the edge of the floral as it dries and sends it dark and softly furred, warm and very sexy. i don't want to say the rose is incensey/smokey, but there's the most delicate pull to the flavor of the flower in a non-flowery direction. i go for über-spice and heavy incense, so that might be giving me a perceptual blind-spot? a touch of smoke.. i could say it's flavored that way, just a bit.. and now for FUN! the "what does this remind me of?" sniff-off! Phantom Queen - back of right hand Magdalene - back of left hand I'm trying a sniff-off because these two remind me so strongly of one another, the creamy & orchid quality fills my nose and i need some way to pick out the difference. Magdalene shows up the roses, and they are dark creamy roses, Phantom Queen goes bright cheery green sweet apple again. Fascinating! they are *nothing* alike when sniffed side by side. Next test - Magdalene & Queen Mab... {finds backs of wrists currently unscented} wow~ both lovely.. i'm going to have to do this again on another day. right now they're So Close they're nearly indistinguishable and it could be locations of smell or other things. first impression is that Queen Mab is stronger, stronger wafting and creamyness and stronger orchid power. Magdalene has a touch more crispness to the rose, and the rose has just the slightest barest almost incense/smoke. Queen Mab- milky heavy-sweet, Magdalene- softly herbal-spice.. but really.. today they're too close to call. wow!

In the bottle: a sharp floral, magnolia jasmine rose - you can pick out all of them with a long slow sniff. Wet: it's still a very sharpish floral as it hits the skin; orchid rises, tugged aside by jasmine, and it smells like the magnoilia is going to be the strongest element soon. the jasmine and magnolia overall in combination gives it a slightly soapy taste on me- i don't do terribly well with jasmines. i'm not good at finding amber, it's also possible it doesn't come out on me {unless it's a major note and then it smells like something's burned up}, so though i'm wondering how it's flavoring this i can't say i'm finding it or that amber sends the overall scent any particular way. Drying: i keep sniffing, it's amazing to me that in this one you can pick up each flower, nothing seems to be lost. it's heavy, and lovely in that way- strong full floral scents that aren't wimpy at all, or generic. backing away for a lighter kind of sniff - it's a deep and complex floral, white and pale greens. if you sniff for jasmine you'll find it, sniff for rose and you'll find it, sniff for magnoilia, etc; this is probably a fabulously morphing scent per individual, two people could wear it and depending on what notes their skin pushes to the fore, *and* what they recognize or expect to smell would report totally different effects on one another and themselves. speaking of scents that play tricks... my right wrist smells different from my left. o_O it's sweeter on the left, orchid and rose. on the right it's tangier, more jasmine.

i've quoted Korki's review because i've noticed ~exactly~ the same set of effects from the bottle of Wolf's Moon i've opened. i've noticed no, not any, none, keine, nichtovo in mine: pine, dark musk, minty, menthol, mossy, vigorous green, dank or heavy notes. o_O elsewhere in the thread it's been described as a "crystalline floral", and i agree with that as well for the bottle/batch that i've gotten. and it's making me nuts; i'm LOVING it, absolutely loving it.. but i have no idea what i'm smelling in it. what are those flowers? the overall effect is 'cold' and clean and light, sweet with out being cloying both wet and on skin. some of the sweet seems to trade for a very gentle muskyness, remaining overtly floral- but the lasting power is amazing! i'm at the 6 hour mark for wrist application and still getting the occasional waft. how something so delicate can still have such strength.. really wonderful stuff. and... i.. {like to claim that i} don't like "floral" perfumes {hah! then why am i loving this to death?} ETA: a redab to strengthen and resniff it fresh.. citrusy sweet, barely-hint-o-musky.. i can't tell you how curious this has me as to contents!