stardreamer

In the imp and fresh on: Oh-oh, is this going to go burnt-sugar on me? Drydown: That's much better. Whatever it was that was evoking burnt sugar goes away after just a few minutes, and the chocolate note comes up. Long-term: Oh, very nice! Spicy dark chocolate, but the spices stay in the background; there's a bit of sweetness that might be the agave wine. It's a subtler chocolate than Bliss or Candy Butcher. I'm not catching any corn scent, and I don't know what octli is. This is a lot like Tezcatlipoca without the floral notes, which is a plus for me. Bottom line: This is fabulous, a definite keeper. It's not going to be just a summer scent, either, and I may very well decant an imp to replace Tezcatlipoca in my traveling set when that one is used up.

This opens with a nice sweet-spicy combination of notes; unfortunately, within a couple of hours all that remain are the incense-y resins. I've tried it 3 times and had the same reaction each time, so off to the swap pile it goes. It's a shame, because I really like the way it starts out on me.

"Love-in-idleness" is, as Shakespeare notes, an old country name for the wild pansy. The scent is a light floral with an equally light greenish undernote, inoffensive and probably very close to the original. Unfortunately, its staying power on my skin is about an hour -- I touched it up, and it did the same disappearing act again. This one's headed for the swap pile.

In the imp and fresh on: Apple cider. Drydown: Milk and spices! This is definitely in the same family with Dana O'Shee and Sudha Segara, though not exactly the same as either of them. The apples fade into the background, and the only trace of ale is a faint nuttiness. Overall, it's a warm, creamy, comforting scent that's rather like being wrapped in a snuggly fleece blanket. Bottom line: This is fabulous. I don't mind losing the apple note because I have several nice apple scents already, and I love having a milk scent that works this well on me. I might be moved to experiment with layering Verdandi over this, to see if that would bring the apple back up. Definite keeper!

In the imp and fresh on: Spices! Nothing that jumps out, just a pleasant mix. I think I can catch just a bit of the leather and woods underneath, but the mulling spices are definitely predominant. Drydown: Maintains the pleasant spiciness for quite a long while. Late in the game, the juniper and dragon's blood come up a bit more, turning the feel somewhat more autumnal. Bottom line: I sometimes have trouble with dragon's blood, but this isn't one of the times. Staying power seems about average -- still present after 10 hours, but the throw is mostly gone. This is a very nice blend, and a definite keeper.

This is fruity (as expected), but subtle and delicate; the berries and pomegranate are more subdued than I thought they would be, and the throw is restrained. The apple blossom starts out a bit on the obtrusive side but fades back quickly; beyond that, there's not much change on drydown. It's not going to be a top favorite, but will be nice for transitional weather, especially on days when I don't want to risk being Stinky Perfume Woman.

This was a freebie imp, which I've been putting off trying for a long time because I was sure it would be nothing but ROSE. And I was absolutely right; it's maybe not quite as obnoxiously ROSE as London, but it doesn't lack much. Have I mentioned how much I hate rose? Wore it for an hour, washed it off, swap pile ahoy.

In the imp and fresh on: Yes, aquatic, and I can also understand the "dark aquatic" part, though I wouldn't call it hellish. This is a deep, cold, still pool on a moonless night -- significantly darker than most of my aquatic scents. Drydown: After an hour or so, the aquatic note mostly fades out and a strong spicy scent comes to the fore. Quite a bit of cinnamon, some ginger, something woody, with a musky underpinning that might be ambergris. This is completely different from the initial scent! When I got home from my errand-running I touched it up, and it did the same thing again -- starts off aquatic, then fades to spicy/woody. Not that I'm complaining; I like both sides of this morph, but it's one of the strangest ones I've ever experienced. I never got any grapefruit at all -- not surprising, because my skin eats BPAL citrus notes for breakfast; it probably got buried under the opening aquatic mix. No estimate of staying power because of the touch-up. Bottom line: definite keeper!

In the imp and fresh on: Ooh, this is nice! Masculine but not heavily so -- it'll work for me very well. Drydown: It sweetens a little as my skin does the normal vanilla amp-up. Oddly, the throw fades in about half an hour, although it's still very present on my skin. I touched it up after a couple of hours to see if the throw would improve, but it did the same thing. At various points I was more aware of the woods, then the vanilla would come back again; the tobacco remains firmly in the background. Bottom line: I'd be happier if the throw weren't so short-lived, but overall this is still a very nice blend, and there are times when I don't want a lot of throw. No estimate of staying power because of the touch-up. Definite keeper. Note: Ladies, if your guy likes scents at all, try this on him. I wish my guy did!

In the imp and fresh on, this is sweet and spicy with a touch of floral. Sadly, after about half an hour the ylang ylang has completely overpowered everything else, and it's entirely floral from there on. And it sounded so promising! I might give it one more try, but I think this one's headed for the swap pile.

First impression: Very clean, a little soapy. Drydown: Very soapy, and not showing any evidence of changing. Long-term: Eventually the soapiness backs down a bit; I get a little of the poppy (sharp and green, like carnation), and then all that's left is the patchouli. I've had this problem before with a floral + musk combination -- that particular pairing always seems to go soapy on me. Bottom line: swap pile.

In the bottle and fresh on: Oh yes, ripe juicy pears and vanilla! It's a very rich, creamy scent. This did something very strange -- when I wore it out in the heat, it edged toward the burnt-sugar note but never quite got there; it was more like caramelized pears and vanilla at that point. Back in the A/C, the caramel note faded away again. I cheated and touched it up when I got home, so as to get back to the first stage. My skin tends to amp vanilla, so after a while the pear is less prominent. The vanilla turns into almost a marshmallow creme by then; it reminds me of Antique Lace, but without the pineapple-tart overlay. No estimate of staying power because of the touch-up. Bottom line: I like this a lot. It's not as light as a lot of the fruity scents, but still very nice for summer wear, and the emergence of that caramel note under strong heat is really interesting -- most scents don't morph that strongly on me. This one will get a lot of use.

First impression: Oh-oh, this is going to go burnt-sugar, isn't it? Drydown: Well, not quite; it skirts around the thin edge of that note without ever quite sliding over. I think this must be the caramel, and it's pretty much overpowering everything else. Long-term: After an hour or so the patchouli and red sandalwood come up, and the combination isn't a happy one; I smell like a slightly-overdone caramel candy in a NewAge store. I can catch just a hint of tobacco if I sniff closely. The cinnamon and black currant never put in an appearance at all, and I don't know what muguet is. After 7 hours, all I can smell is the incense-y, NewAgey resins. Bottom line: It doesn't quite make me want to wash it off, but it's definitely not a success. Swap pile for this one.

As I expected from the description, this is entirely floral. It's a gentle, inoffensive floral; the lilies and carnation are dominant, making it sweet and slightly spicy with just a bit of green underscent. In fact, it's a nice enough floral that it really deserves a home with someone who's more likely to wear it than I am. To the swap pile it goes.

This one is all fruit, from beginning to end -- no flowers, no cream -- and that suits me just fine. Staying power is surprisingly good for such a relatively light scent; after close to 10 hours, I can still catch a faint whiff on my wrists. This is moving straight into the regular warm-weather rotation.

I like this better than I thought I was going to. The fruits are dominant, and the rose never makes an appearance at all. I don't get much in the way of aquatics either, so it ends up being a soft, sweet fruity/floral all the way from fresh-on to the end. Staying power seems about average, pretty well gone after 8 hours and a couple of errands out in the heat. Bottom line: not going to be a favorite, but it'll be nice as a light summery scent. As heavy on the amber as my collection tends to be, this is a Good Thing.

In the imp and fresh on: Eewww, boozy cough syrup! It's got the same sharp, burning alcohol scent as bakery vanilla extract, over something sickly-sweet. After half an hour or so, the alcohol note fades and the fruitiness comes out a bit; I think I can identify at least fig and apple. I'm betting that the cough-syrup note is the tamarind, although I suppose it might be the spikenard -- I have no idea what that smells like. After two hours, the throw is virtually gone; after six, so is most of the scent -- but I can still pick up that unpleasant cough-syrup smell. Bottom line: Definitely a swap.

For something that's entirely made up of floral notes, this is really surprising. In the imp and fresh on, it's as much fruity as floral; the initial fruitiness does fade in about half an hour, but it remains a light sweet summery mix that doesn't change much after that. I'm especially surprised, but grateful, that the rose never makes a serious appearance. No estimate of staying power, because I was out running around in the heat for a couple of hours and touched it up afterwards. Bottom line: this is going to be a very nice scent for warmer weather, especially when I want something that I'll notice but which will be relatively inconspicuous to other people. (I should note that I've had this imp sitting in the "to be tested" box for well over a year. I know some of the scents come out different when aged; I don't know if this is one of them, but be aware that I'm reviewing an aged version.)

True, perfect golden light, refined into an incomparably glorious scent. In the imp and fresh on, this is very woody. On drydown, I can smell cedar, but not as strongly as in yesterday's Aelopile; and I think there's amber underneath. Long-term, the amber definitely comes out more, and I think there's just a bit of vanilla as well; the overall progression is woody to sharp to sweetish. Staying power is good; after 9 hours, it's still quite present on my wrists, and I didn't use much. "Golden" isn't a bad description, but it's darker than I would have expected -- late-summer, late-afternoon sunlight shading down into dusk. After looking at the other descriptions, I see I'm right in the mainstream with amber and cedar! If there was patchouli or incense, I didn't pick it up at all. This is definitely in the same scent family with Aelopile and Golden Priapus, and possibly Fascinum and Dee as well. If I didn't really like the amber/wood combination, it would be superfluous in my collection; but I do, so this is worth keeping and using up.

Her scent is the warm, dry parchment of scrolls, lavender for critical thought and analysis, the solidity of heavy woods, ornery patchouli and glib benzoin, and superstar-splashed orange and amber. In the imp and fresh on, this is quite unpleasant -- the top note is a dirty-green smell that made me think of aging cucumbers. After 20 minutes or so, whatever is doing that (I suspect the orange/lavender combination) fades and the amber and woods come up. Then it's quite nice, but it doesn't seem to have a lot of staying power; after 5 hours it was nearly gone, which is very unusual for woody scents and patchouli on me. Between the nasty opening, the short scent life, and the fact that the pleasant part isn't very different from several things I already have, this is definitely a swap.

Cedar is front and center here, all the way from fresh-on to last dregs. I did catch a hint of citrus early on, but it didn't last -- citrus notes disappear quickly on my skin. As the amber warms up and sweetens, this becomes an amazing scent; I kept catching whiffs and thinking, "Wow, this is really nice!" The other notes stay firmly in the background, leaving the overall impression as cedar-sharp modified by amber-sweet; I don't end up smelling like a closet, which is sometimes an issue with cedar. I think this is going to vie with Mary Read for being my top default-choice scent. Staying power is good -- still quite noticeable after 8 hours, including errand-running in the heat. Bottom line: keeper and favorite.

In the imp and fresh on, this is a nice mix of sweet and sharp. Sadly, on drydown it turns into pure sandalwood and stays there, and sandalwood is something I prefer as a background scent, not a primary. Staying power is good; it's lasted all day in the heat. But overall, this one's a swap.

In the imp and fresh on, this is spicy/floral. Unfortunately, on drydown the florals come firmly to the fore and stay there. At least it's mostly the orange blossom, and the rose remains inoffensive. Staying power is pretty good; after 12 hours I could still catch faint whiffs. It's not an unpleasant scent, just too floral for my taste. Bottom line: swap.

On me, this is nothing but a light floral; none of the non-floral notes come out with any emphasis whatsoever. At least it didn't scream ROSE at me. But while inoffensive, it's not at all me. Swap pile ahoy.

In the imp and fresh on: This is not at all what I'd have expected from that description! It's very sweet, candy-sweet, sort of like sniffing a mix of hard candy drops in various flavors, mostly lemon. No mossy overtones at all, and nothing I recognize specifically as mint. It reminds me a little of Cairo, with that "LEMON DROP!" opening. Drydown/wearing: It doesn't change much either. Late in the game the ambergris comes up a bit more, is about all. Staying power is average to good; after 12 hours I can still catch whiffs, though most of the throw is gone. Bottom line: Not going to be a top favorite, but certainly pleasant enough to keep and use up.