ophidiae

IN THE BOTTLE: Sugared lime and peppermint. WET ON SKIN: Lime, lime, lime, quickly followed by sneeze, sneeze, sneeze. I had to wash it off almost immediately. It's odd. I love the smell of fresh-cut citrus, and cook with it a lot. I cannot, however, tolerate it in perfume oil. Go fig. :/

IN THE BOTTLE: Dense and smokey. WET ON SKIN: "Hi! My name is opium!" DRYDOWN: I don't have names for the different notes here, so I'm just going to go with my overall impressions, and those are smoke and resin. In a weird way, it reminds me of exhaust fumes, except that sounds unpleasant and it's really not. OVERALL: Heavy, smokey, dark. I like it, but I can see how some might find it overpowering. This also tickles my inner science geek to NO end, and is exactly what I would expect from a scent called Event Horizon.

The only scent I've tried with Dragon's Blood is Dragon's Milk, and that smelled like soap on me. Ladon was a frimp included with my last purchase, but I thought I would give it a go to see if my experience with Draon's Milk was a fluke. IN THE BOTTLE: Mostly apples. WET ON SKIN: Apple, with a hint of soap. DRYDOWN: Soap, with a hint of apple. DRY: Nothin' but soap. So, not a fluke after all. Ophidiae + Dragon's Blood = Soap.

IN THE BOTTLE: Vanilla, mostly. This could be iffy. I don't do well with food-based scents. WET ON SKIN: Vanilla and rum, with a hint of smoke. And ... it smells REALLY GOOD. DRYDOWN: Smoky leather, rum and tobacco. DRY: My late grandfather's pipe. *sniffle* OVERALL: We have a winner! I never did get the chardonnay to come out, but that's all right. I really really like this one. For a scent called Perversion, I find it very warm and comforting, but that's probably from the scent-memory called up by the smell of pipe tobacco. Just lovely, I may have to buy a full bottle.

IN THE BOTTLE: Sweet, almost like cherries. This does not bode well. Anything cherry tends to smell like cough syrup on me. WET ON SKIN: Cherry again, but quickly morphs to sweet almond oil. This I can live with. I like almond oil. DRY DOWN: Mmm, the amber and musk are starting to come out to play. DRY: I can smell the lotus now. Nice. OVERALL: Soft, warm, golden. Sweet but not cloying. I like, very much.

IN THE BOTTLE: I'm ... not sure, actually, but it's definitely intriguing. WET: Orange blossom at war with incense. It reminds me of autumn mornings as a child, when the air would be full of the smell of burning orange peels from the Tropicana plant down the road. DRY: Incense with the faintest whiff of amber. IN CONCLUSION: As others have mentioned, it is a very masculine scent and would be divine on a man. I like it.

I tried this on Sunday night and smelled florals like many other reviewers, sweet but not cloying. As it dried, it took on a rich scent, very earthy and comforting. It reminded me of a lighter, gentler version of Haunted, which I loved. Today I put it on, and it immediately went sharp. As it dried, it became spicy, almost like cinnamon, with an undercurrent of soap. Please note, this is the exact same decant I wore before; the only thing that has changed is me. I'm deep in PMS-mode now, and it appears the changes in my body chemistry have affected how this reacts with my skin. Guess I'll just have to make a note not to wear Phantom at this point in my cycle unless I want to smell like cinnamon soap. Otherwise? It's a lovely, lovely scent.