Pyrebi

In the imp: There's a sweetness behind the citrus that is just lovely. It's gotta be the tea and musk. Wet: Sharp lemony smell. The citrus and aloe have really taken charge now, but it doesn't smell chemical. Thank goodness! Dry: A bit of sweetness has come back. It does have a vaguely lemonade quality to it. It's very nice. I don't think I'll wear this one very often, though--it has next to no throw on me! Seriously, I have to press me nose against my skin to be able to smell it at all! Too bad; it's right up my alley.

I have no idea what dragon's blood resin is supposed to smell like, so this may be a little off. In the imp: Smells like incense. Like the kind you find in headshops. A little flowery, a little spicy. Wet: Whoa. Still incensy, but now with a major kick of sandalwood. This is definitely a warm smell. Dry: It's turned to soap on me, but it's one of the best soaps I've had yet. Instead of smelling that that industrial yellow stuff I get from so many of the "lighter" blends, this one smells like lovely violet soap. It's not me, but it's still rather nice to sniff.

I just...cannot figure this one out. It's so bizarre! Not bad at all, just...wow. In the bottle: Do you know the scent of a really-well-made fruitcake? It's reminescent of that. Dried fruits which have been revived with rum, with a bit of spiciness. Oh! I've got it. It smells just like biting into a fig bar. It's the most unusual thing ever. Wet: Whoa. It's so dark. I'm just being punched by the sheer blackness of the scent. I didn't know anything could do that. Can't smell anything else right now. Just molten darkness. Dry: Here we go. It's still almost impossibly dark, but now I'm getting the ozone a bit. The incense is really spicing up. I want to call it acrid, but it's not--that's just the feeling I get. This might seem kind of silly, but the longer I sniff at this, the more frightened I get. Nyarlathotep smells like impending doom, and I'm getting a pit in my stomach. I think...I think this is what one must realize in the split second before one is struck by lightning. This oil is fascinating, but it's far too scary for me to wear regularly. Still, what an accomplishment. EDIT: *laughs* I just read the rest of the reviews for this scent. "Light" and "citrusy"? What the hell is wrong with my chemistry?

In the bottle: Geranium and lily all the way through. It's rather nice, it kind of reminds me of a hothouse. Wet: Powerfully floral, in a dried-flowers sort of way. There's not a lot of juiciness to this scent, and I think it's the cedar doing that--drying it out, toning it down. Dry: Grr. As I feared, this is nothing but liquid soap on me now. Granted, liquid soap with a hint of cedar, but that's not enough to save it. I guess my chemistry's tendency to convert of soft florals into soap has struck again. Too bad.

The Picture of Dorian Gray was one of my assignments for the past quarter, so I was keen to get my hands on an imp. It doesn't really remind me of the eponymous character--except for the very early chapters. Before Dorian was exposed to the darker side of the world, when he was still a boy who was sweet but a bit bratty...that's what this blend reminds me of. In the bottle: Dorian smells of sweetened tea with a hint of muskiness. Perhaps a bit of lemon or something with a little bite? Yet the mildness of the oil itself is overshadowed by what I know is about to happen. Wet: It's like insane cotton candy. All depth is gone and it's nothing but hot sugar smacking me in the face. And the throw is incredible--I might have dabbed it directly under my nose, I can smell it so strongly. Dry: It's still mostly sweet, but a bit of musk is back. There's no vanilla and no tea; it's just sugar and musk. Oddly, this blend makes me very sleepy. It's sweet and warm and makes me wanna curl up with a haze of it surrounding me. It's not my favorite, and not something I want to smell like around others, but is a lovely sort of put-on-before-going-to-sleep oil. Dorian, on me, is nearly-unadulterated sweetness with a hint of something worldly. It is Dorian in Basil's garden with Lord Henry, eyes wide and mind reeling, moments before his portrait is finished. (I should also note that Dorian smells nearly the same on my 17-year-old sister, and is her favorite scent.)

In the bottle: This smells like a warm, mealy red apple. Not a bad smell, but you know how when you were a little kid and had a piece of fruit you saved from lunch, and rolled it in your hands, and tossed it back and forth with a friend, and fiddled with the stem, and kept it on your desk, and then (finally) on the bus home you got hungry and decided to eat it? It smells like that: warmed from being in your hands for so long, and slightly bruised for being tossed about, and just mildly salty like your palms were sweating. How very interesting! Wet: Oh. Um. It smells just like caramel popcorn to me now! I think that's the pumpkin coming out to play. But when I asked my mother, she said I smelled just like a craft store. Refining that, she said like a country store, the kind where there's potpourri and they give you free apple cider. Dry: There's still a hint of apple, but it's mostly spices with an underlying sweetness that smacks of pumpkin. It's a dry spiciness, like you're sniffing at the powdered forms of spiced rubbed on your skin. Yum. It's good; I think I'll mostly reserve this blend for very cold days--it's perfectly warming!

In the bottle: Whoa. Must be the lavender--always smells like pine to me. My actual words upon sniffing? "That's...interesting." Wet: Oh, ugh, no no no...smells like chemicals and licorice. I'm not sure how that happened, but it's making me feel a bit nauseated. Dry-ish: Still cleaning solution and anise--getting dizzy and headachey. I need to get this off my skin right now. Overall: Amber doesn't like me normally, and neither does lavender. I guess when you mix the two with my wonky chemistry you get something horrible. This might smell really good on someone else, but not me. Ye gods, not me.

An imp from the darling schackjj! In the bottle: There's something so dark in this bottle. It refuses to be identified, but the most accurate I can get is a hot fire made of orange-wood that has been suddenly doused in cold water. I can't stop sniffing! Wet: Instant florals. All of that lovely darkness has been replaced by something that smells amazingly similar to roses. Still, though, they seem to be cool, wet flowers--I think that's the orange lending a bit of acidity to the sweetness. Dry: There's an overall coolness to this scent. Unlike most floral notes, these don't instantly go to soap on me. They lean that way, but something else yanks them back a bit. Feels like water and blossoms--for me, an almost cruel mixture: being lost in the jungle as night sets in and the rain starts pouring. Later: Gr, soap. My old nemesis.

Another imp from the lovely schackjj! In the bottle: Rose, but a sharp rose. Like an alcohol-based perfume. Really very pretty! Wet: Whoa, so sharp! I almost want to sneeze. And now it's like an antibacterial soap on me, ick. Dry: Nothing but hand-soap, and not even the scented kind. Just the nasty yellow stuff found in public bathrooms everywhere. So sad, after it smelled so good in the bottle. I hate that my skin turns so many things sudsy on me.

Just received this from the darling schackjj! In the bottle: Warm, almost a little ambery. Uh-oh. My skin hates amber. Wet: Dirt! Hot, dry dirt...but not like out in a yard. It's like...dry potting soil. Dry: Oh. Oh wow. There's a bit of creaminess there, and a lovely sweetness. It smells just like going to a plant nursery or garden section at 7pm in the summer: the plants' soil has dried because it's not quite time for the watering yet, and all of the perennials are in full bloom, scenting the air. And there, in the background, is the heavy expectation of moisture--some sprinkler has just started in a far-off section, amongst the infant maples. How perfect. I don't normally go for warm scents, but this one reminds me of one of the few things I love about summer. I'll have to wear it every time I want something warm this winter. Gorgeous.

I'm actually a little afraid to put this one on my skin--I got a sniffie of it and the first thing that I thought of when I opened the imp was CAT LITTER. Seriously, the imp smells exactly like the brand of litter my mother buys. It doesn't help any dreams of mine, since I can't shake the association. How unfortunate.

(Typed this up a few days ago and forgot to post it. *smacks forehead*) In the bottle: This is a very rich, warm scent. All I can smell is amber. A little heavy, so I'm kinda worried. Wet: The amber is still very predominant, but there's a hint of florals, kinda spicy, but then again amber tends to start off spicy on me. Then there's this weird green I get, like eucalyptus--it lends it a very tangy smell that I'm not sure I like. Dry: Wow, this seems to have set a new record for going soapy on me. My skin just doesn't like amber. Within twenty minutes it's just a sudsy whiff that's almost completely faded away. I do have to say that the florals certainly have come out to play near the end, but overall this had little staying power on me; not that I was hoping for it, what with all the soap. Dratted skin. I wanted to like this one. Then again, the warm scents aren't really for me, so perhaps it was fate.