donkehpoo

Wet: Deep, dark tobacco and oudh. It's pretty overwhelming. A little bit of a floral note coming through as well, which must be the black magnolia.

Dry: The tobacco is much, much lighter than the wet stage, as well as the oudh. The black magnolia has more or less taken over as the dominant scent. I would almost describe this as smelling... poisonous?

Oudh can go pretty terrible on my skin, but it seems to be playing well here. This is a dark floral blend with a touch of tobacco and oudh. 

Wet: Sweet, minty lemon, with some type of.. almost herbal, note, that I'm assuming to be the white moss.

Dry: The white moss has disappeared, and I'm left with strong mint and lemon. Like a candy cane with both the normal mint, and some lemon as well.  Fairly light on the skin.

WHEW, that initial blast of mint went right up my nose!

This starts out pretty mint heavy; I'd say strong mint, and sugar cookies.

My hair definitely retains some of that mint once it dries in the hair, but it basically flip flops as far as the strength goes. More of a sugar cookie scent, with a touch of mint in the background.

Wet: Cinnamon and some kind of baked good. Almost like cinnamon and honey? Definitely foodie. (It's not a red hots cinnamon, more like.. a cinnamon roll.)

Dry: Still has that cinnamon-baked-goods scent. It stayed remarkably similar to the wet stage, which doesn't happen too often! The cinnamon isn't overpowering, at all. 

It's a nice scent, and I'll hold on to my imp, but I won't need a big bottle.

Wet: I'm a fan of opoponax, and this smells like a cold, slushy opoponax with some blue musk.  (It's also a note that can totally amp on my skin, and/or turn to bubblegum, so keep that in mind.)

Dry: Getting more of the tree notes now (I think the fir is sticking out the most), but the opoponax is still the strongest note on my skin. (The blue musk and that snow slush are still there, too.) I do wish the champaca would have made an appearance, though; it's usually a note that plays well on me.

It's actually quite pretty, but I know this isn't something I'd wear more than once or twice a year. I'll hold on to my decant, but I won't need to upgrade.

Wet: My nose wrinkled up a bit upon smelling this. It kind of smells like cherry coke plus cedar? Strange.

Dry: Still cherry coke and cedar, just lighter than the wet stage. I think the bitter almond may not be playing well with my skin chemistry.

Very, very odd.

(2018 version.)

I was intrigued by the gigantic note list!

Wet: Surprisingly simple; almond and lemon verbena. Very zesty!

Dry: Nooooo, where did the lemon go!? The almond hasn't left, but is much lighter than the wet stage. I'm getting some carnation and spices now as well, but I am REALLY missing that lemon verbena.

Wet: Sugary lemon candy! Reminds me of some lemon hard candies my grandma used to keep in her house all the time.

Dry: Same as the wet stage, only with less throw. There's maybe more of an icing vibe present as well, but no matter how you want to interpret it... it's lots of sugar and lemons.

Love love love love love love love this.

(2018 version.)

Wet: Gingerbread, chocolate, and just a hint of a sweet candy-mint smell. It really does remind me of a gingerbread house!

Dry: While the chocolate and gingerbread were the strongest notes in the wet stage, the candy notes have taken over the dry stage. (The mint seemed to get lost, though; I don't smell it at all now.)

I would say.. this is a candy and frosting scent, with just a hint of gingerbread and chocolate in the background. 

(2018 version.)

Wet: Warm, smokey beeswax. It smells a little bit plastic-y as well...

Dry: Bye, plastic! Every note I can smell now. I would say, in order of strongest to least: beeswax, smoke, olive oil. 

If you're a fan of beeswax, this is a must try. Don't let the olive oil note throw you off! This is a really lovely, comforting type of scent. 

Wet: ... Potpourri. This smells just like a potpourri my grandma used to have. I wouldn't say it's foodie at all. Huh.

Dry: Honestly, still potpourri. I can't really get over that smell memory. I still wouldn't describe this as a foodie scent, though it may have foodie spices. Foodie potpourri, maybe? Still, not for me.

Wet: Lots and LOTS of lavender(more on the herbal side), with mint and ozone.

Dry: Lavender(on the non-herbal side now), with a small hint of vanilla, mint, ozone. The throw is much, much weaker than the wet stage, BUT I do prefer the actual scent over the wet stage. I could see this as being more of a sleep scent. It's kind of like wrapping yourself in a lavender blanket after coming out of the snow.

Really, really pretty. This one might be a big bottle upgrade.

Wet: I'm getting a sweet almond-floral scent(... which is probably the almond blossom), and some slightly minty snow slush. 

Dry: The mint has actually intensified a little bit, which is surprising, since my skin likes to eat minty notes. This is more of a minty-snow dominant scent now, with the almond blossom lingering in the background.

While I think I'll hang on to my decant, this isn't bottle worthy for me.

Wet: Blast of grapefruit from Cheshire Cat! Once the initial grapefruit shock wears off, this smells like Cheshire Cat + snow slush. 

Dry: The grapefruit note has faded quite a bit. This is a very soft Cheshire Cat scent now, with what I would describe as a "fresh snow" type of note. The frostbitten part definitely isn't dominant, this is still... 80% Cheshire Cat? Somewhere around there.

Cheshire Cat is one of my all time favorite scents, and while I do enjoy this interpretation, I haven't decided if it's bottle-worthy yet. That being said, if you enjoyed the original, you'll probably enjoy this as well! 

Wet: Creamy, sugary lavender, and cookies. It's not reading as gingerbread at all to me; more like a sugar cookie or something. I'm also getting a small whiff of lemon.

Dry: I'm seriously confused as to how much I like this.   It's like a sugar cookie with a light, but fragrant, lemon-lavender sugar glaze. (This is not OVERLY sweet, mind you; don't be afraid of the sugar!)

Not going to lie, I grabbed a decant of this because I though it sounded interesting, and not because I thought it was something I'd really like. Oh, how wrong I was! This is one of my favorite 2018 Yule blends.

Wet: Gingerbread and champaca! Cacao, where you at? This is actually much nicer than I originally assumed; it's like you have fresh baked gingerbread, but you're also surrounded by very fragrant champaca. It's an interesting combination. So far, so good.

Dry: The champaca has gone a bit soapy.. so this is like a soapy-floral gingerbread now. Also, the cacao never made an appearance... though I wasn't really missing it.  

The wet stage was a total win, the drydown.. not so much.

(2018 version.)

Wet: Snake Oil with some snow slush.  Please, please work.

Dry: Snow White with a hint of Snake Oil. 😐

Not what I was expecting, or hoping for; SO is such a strong scent, I'm seriously surprised that the "frostbitten" part of the blend has taken over.

I'll keep my decant around to see how it ages, but it's not really my thing so far.

Wet: Even though it's been years since I've tried Snow White(it didn't work well on me; it ended up smelling like a mixture of pine and plastic upon drydown), this is Snow White + Blood Kiss. (Snow White being the dominant scent.)

Dry: Still more Snow White than Blood Kiss. The throw on this (much like the wet stage, even though I didn't mention it) is actually pretty good.  Also, unlike just Snow White itself, no plastic is found.

I like this, but it's not bottle worthy (for me).

Wet: Tobacco! This smells like tobacco.. and cobwebs? Weird, I know; I'm not getting any ginger or gingerbread scent from this yet.

Dry: Clove? Clove and tobacco, basically. Not getting much of a gingerbread scent, just more of the spices that are IN the gingerbread. The tobacco is very dominant here, and I'm still getting that weird cobwebby vibe.

Not really my thing. 

(2018 version.)

I've been avoiding this scent since Yule 2007 due to my hatred of the actual drink. I figured it was time I at least try a decant.

Wet: Sugar and burnt plastic. Off to a great start!

Dry: Plastic, plastic, plastic. With a dash of nutmeg!

(To be fair, a lot of cream/milk scents don't work well on my skin, so YMMV.)

(2007 version.)

Wet: Rich, tart, almost candy-like sugar plums. There's just the barest floral trace, but it's not strong enough for me to figure out what the "winter flowers" are.

Dry: The winter flowers have completely gone away now, and I'm left with just the sugar plums. Not as sweet or tart as the wet stage, but it's still a rich sugar plum scent. 

Wet: Lavender, strawberries, and a little bit of soap. I will say the soap adds more of a "fresh" kind of scent rather than... soap suds.

Dry: Take a handful of strawberries. Wash them with lavender shampoo. After doing a crappy job of rinsing(aka leaving a liiiittle bit of shampoo on there), smell the strawberries. Bam. You've got Mariposita. 

(In short; slightly lavender-shampoo scented strawberries.)

While this isn't a perfume I reach for often, if the weather is warm and I know I'm going to be outside and/or around a ton of people (concerts, Disneyland, conventions, etc.), I will absolutely slather myself in this. Clean and sweet is perfect (for me) in those situations.

Wet: Sweet coconuts (not candy sweet at all) and incense. A bit of orange blossom as well, but more of a background note.

Dry: The orange blossom is bit more front-and-center, with the coconut retreating to the background. The incense is still there, making this more of an "orange blossom incense" scent rather than "coconut incense".

Very light, but pretty scent.

Oh man, I didn't realize I was -this- late on reviewing this.  (I think I bought this around 2008?)

Wet: Plum, red musk, and patchouli leaf. Definitely has a Snake Oil-like quality to it.

Dry: I can smell the same notes as the wet stage; the biggest difference is the scent is now a little bit sweeter(from the vanilla bean?), but also deeper and a little muskier.

Red musk tends to work amazingly well on my skin, so if that's one of your death notes... you may not like this.

Beautiful scent. 

Wet: Tangerine cream, and a small hit of saltiness from the ambergris.

Dry: Getting a slight creamsicle vibe, but it's so much more than that. Almost like.. an aquatic, slightly salty, creamsicle. Sounds strange, but it really works well on my skin.

One of my favorite scents, ever.