manusdei

in the bottle: omg ginger ale! wet: WHO IS DRINKING GINGER ALE??? i can smell it, it's all around me... and i want some. dry & a few hours later: GINGER ALE yup. smells just like Hansen's. i got this because i expected it would be a darker, smoldering ginger type scent... well it's not, at all! instead, it's fizzy, zesty, sweet ginger. underneath there's a hint of musk, and i suppose you could say it's a tad "smoky" - but in the same way as "smoky vanilla" or "smoky beeswax" is - more of a creamy smell, instead of burnt. seems pretty strong and lasting as well. love it.

couldn't figure out what this smelled like in the vial, just that it was very familiar... but yes, that's it. orange and clove and/or anise... i'm also getting something very tea-like. i've heard tea notes can give people a headache so that seems likely. it's surprisingly softer and more powdery than i'd imagine giving some of the other reviews, the clove isn't super strong and deep like it normally is to me. at first, the orange in this smells more like orange rind to me than the fruit... it gets fruitier as it dries down, more of a tangerine-y smell. warm, orange-clove tea ... ... or just like making pomanders! yay, childhood memories. luckily not something i'd wear as i only have a tester, but like all of the stocking stuffer imps seem to be this year, it's really nice, and well blended, and fun!

earlier this week i received a bottle of the new batch in the mail - it has the dark grey-blue label. in the bottle, it's a lot sharper than my old one. i remember my old bottle being sharper when i first got it, but i don't know that it smelled exactly the same as this. upon application, it's definitely a little more cognac-linen than tobacco-vanilla-incense - for some reason, it almost smells like Dorian to me, with that tobacco-vanilla smell hiding somewhere underneath it... upon drydown, it's a lot sweeter than my old black lace. very very similar, but more sweet - vanilla and cognac. so yeah. i really like this, but to my nose it's a little different. unfortunately for me, less of the dry, musky, smoky incense smell i love so much : (. however, it's different in a way that any slight batch difference might be, not in a way that it has been possibly changed... rolling the bottle well seems to help it along as well. i'm really grateful that dd & beth & the lab even made this available again, so i'm crossing my fingers that if i sit around on it for awhile, some of the cognac will burn off & it will deepen up with age.

A lethal poison bundled up in a dainty, innocent little package that was oft times found in ancient witches’ flying ointments and astral projection balms. A warm, soft, ruddy scent, earthy and mild. death cap, where have you been all my life?! oh man, i am so glad i plucked an imp of this sucker out of my friend's box one day. instant. love. in the short span of a few weeks, it has skyrocketed to one of my top favorite go-to's - i've recently fallen for graveyard dirt, as well, and they are both wonderful.. but this is hands down the perfect "dirt" scent i've always craved. god damn i love this scent! definitely the scent of earth - it's dry, it invokes the image of a light colored dirt - yeah, something a little like leather? ... with something light and sweet and creamy sprouting up from underneath. some kind of vanilla, i want to guess. it doesn't go quite as "coconut" to my nose as other's describe, but i do get the comparison. hmm, what is that? it's a very inspired take on the idea, and i adore it. the perfect interpretation of soft white mushrooms, cozily tucked away in rich, warm, brown soil.

oh, my god. *picks self up off floor* okay. yes, there has to be frankincense and/or some kind of myrrh (opoponax? is that you? ). the top is sweet and smooth and resinous - maybe there's amber in it, too? i get a touch of something a little powdery, could be amber or a light floral or something. and underneath it is smoldering, that is the only word to describe it. the patchouli/tobacco/musk comparisons are just dead on. there's something dark and smoky and wonderful in there. it's very similar to scents such as midnight mass and temple viper on me... but this is... darker, a little less cloying. it's sexier, that's for sure. all of the sephiroth/qliphoth scents blow me away at how evocative they are of their inspiration, and this is really no exception. i've been wanting to try zaraq for quite awhile, and now i'm almost sad i finally got the chance, because i am going to have to torture myself hunting it down. more pls! yep, amazing and totally my kind of scent. love it.

oh i would like this, wouldn't i? i'm not young enough to not remember type writers, but i can't for the life of me remember what ink ribbon smells like. i wasn't sure if i'd like this at all but i picked up a decant for the name alone. it goes on pretty strongly sharp and green - yikes! after a minute or two the oil/metal notes come out, still pretty strong but it gets a lot better. decidedly masculine and a bit cologne-y, it does remind me of a greener, weedy phoenix steamworks at this stage - oily, polished metal, sweet. i don't remember why i couldn't do steamworks and i ended up gifting my bottle - however, this is is really nice (if not a bit strange smelling!) i can't believe something masculine actually works on me for once, maybe it's because it is a little off. agreeing with whoever said there must have been some kind of sweets in with those groceries. after it dries down, the other notes are still there up top, but up close it's a kind of incense-y, dirt/clay & a light vanilla/cake smell? reminds me of the cake in eat me after it fades away, a very dry white cake. i don't know, but i like it! can't decide if i'll hunt down more but i am definitely going to be holding onto my decant and keeping it in mind.

yes. exactly like that. nom nom nom this is absolutely fantastic. sorry if this isn't extremely helpful but i feel like i am obligated to make a review, as i haven't been this excited over a scent in a long time. i really get the beeswax, the leather (reminds me of the leather in bow & crown a little), the nutmeg... and the oak bark?! for some reason the oak really stands out to me. all together it's sweet, and a little smoky - i wonder what it is exactly that's doing that. i don't know, but it's great. could just be on me, but it does come off a little masculine, tho i wouldn't throw it in that category specifically - i'll have to get agnusdei to try it, too, which won't be hard since she loves beeswax. it is very reminiscent of it's inspiration (which is actually another reason i wanted it! ooo. don't get me started on how much i love the wunderkammer artwork.) i'm not creeped out by it at all, though i do agree that there is something about it that makes it absolutely diabolical. maybe i just like smelling creepy - we have a little running joke that i always end up liking the ones that are supposed to be 'evil' or just a little bit deranged, lol. and so here i am i am so, SO glad i swapped for a bottle of this instead of waiting (sup hackess!) yep. going to be needing several more before it woefully goes away 4ever :'(

there is something smoky, or some kind of light musk. a little floral, and citrus/lemon - if it is lemon, it's probably one of the nicest lemons i've smelled, as it doesn't go all 'pledge/cleaner' and instead goes in the lemon sorbet direction . i definitely get a hint of some kind of powdery smell (yeah, clean cat!) but it isn't overwhelming to me. there is definitely something masculine to it but i don't know what, could be lavender since it's a touch herby, but i have no idea as lavender is either fine on me, or smells like i poured acetone into a cat box and rolled around in it (the latter of which definitely isn't the case here.) i didn't really know what to expect because of the reviews, my hopes weren't very high since i don't like 'soapy' smells.. but this is actually really nice! i hope i can acquire more of it at some point. have yet to run into one of these scents that i don't like.

i've wanted this for awhile, since it's my personality card, and i was lucky enough to nab a partial of it. this starts out crisp, green apples, almost like sour apple candy (yum.) but it quickly changes into something a little bit more sweet and floral - at first i thought it might be rose, since it's a little powdery, but as it goes on a bit it's definitely lotus. there's an extra sweetness to it, that could perhaps be honey as some others have mentioned. it's light, sweet, delicate, calm. whatever it is i'm smelling, it fits the card very well. despite how feminine this is, i think i'll wear it. something about it suits me, which isn't surprising.

i love how the lab always frimps me mad tea party scents, since i want to try (and own) all of them eventually. cassia! i love cassia. at first it is a tiny bit strong and almost medicinal, but admittedly i tend to like scents like that (and it does calm way down.) underneath it is juicy mango and lemon, sweet sugar cane, with just a touch of the red musk and woods. i'm glad i didn't get a reaction because i like this. it's unique and fun. and delicious.

i can barely smell this in the imp. it smells like vetiver though - but really tame, soft vetiver. i put it on and it turns to vetiver, something fruity, a little bit of the tea. i recognize those fruit gums, even blackened yummy smelling, when i manage to get a whiff of them. but then this sharpness kicks in and it smells like it was poured over alcohol and something reminiscent of acetone. egh. i think the lavender is what's not doing it for me, which is disappointing since that was the one note i was worried about. it does remind me a lot of Dark Delicacies (which i love) like i thought it would... just.. if i was wearing it while some lady with sharp perfume was doing my nails. i'll hold onto my decant anyway - maybe, hopefully, the lavender of death will go away in a few months, because there's this scent underneath all that is really good. but if not i guess i won't be too sad since i can get my delicious fruit gum fix elsewhere.

leather! and tonka. i love leather and tonka. huh, i don't smell the sage at first but it's there somewhere- it's not as strong as it usually is. wondering if something is up since everyone mentioned it a lot?? also this is really different from the other leathers i've tried - it's smoother, sweet and fresh smelling, like a leather jacket. it's dead-on to the real thing. i feel like i should be wearing cowboy boots! nice. i want to leave this little partial imp around for a few weeks~months and see what happens. especially since it'll be warmer weather. i like it a lot and i can definitely smell the snake oil in there, but i want it to be a little stronger.. so maybe in a few weeks it'll do "it's thing" and come out more. ooh. mmm.

http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj36/alchemistslocal/ i took these for the lovely who runs scent scribbles, but i might as well post it here too there isn't much there, but the pics are nice and big & there is old moon, judith & holofernes, bow and crown (the come and see scents have picture labels), etc. feel free to do whatever you want with them. might go stick some pics of postcards and other swag in there later.. but that's a different thread

lucifer (Patchouli, golden amber, deep woods, fig, and vetiver) definitely. :D also, i tested imp (white peach, amber, golden musk and patchouli) awhile ago, too, 'cause someone frimped me it. i remember thinking it smelled like dirty canned peach syrup. might be worth a try.

agnusdei edit: Oops, I didn't realize my boyfriend was signed in instead of me. Sorry! I'll make my post under my name now.

the last few months i have been the least motivated to do anything remotely creative than i have in years. utterly uninspired in every way. i've been slowly trying to break out of it - even buying new supplies to try and motivate myself - but i haven't been happy at all with the way anything is turning out let alone excited by it. artwork is an outlet for me and i have been so stressed out lately with nowhere to turn. it's a horrible feeling. i'm trying hand of hermes for the first time today. i'd love to test hymn to pan sometime as well, but i feel like i relate to hermes more and i love the symbolism and ideas that tie into him; so of course, i went for this immediately. besides, i don't think i need any added "rockstar debauch" ; ) applied it to my palms. smells like cinnamon with something else, a little herbal, must be the lavender everyone is talking about. it reminds me of an extremely toned-down version of the heirophant (intense herbal cinnamon, to me. ) this is wonderful because i love cinnamon and i am not the biggest fan of lavender by any means, but it works very well. i've never had a reaction problem, either. i'm hard to impress, and you know what? it works. i'm burning through sketches that i've wanted to do for who knows how long and they're coming together perfectly, almost effortlessly. i can concentrate. i scribbled a few things the other day, but it wasn't like this - almost like it was difficult and forced and the product wasn't up to par. it's hard to describe unless you've been there. i'm excited. i need to stop writing this and go paint, dammit! (or go eat, before i forget. : ( )

krampus is awesome the look on the poor kid's face is priceless...

it's a little strange to notice that this doesn't seem to work on a lot of people, since this was an instant love. i only have a tiny bit in a bottle and that sucks. i need more asap. i don't get grape and i don't smell like a hippie shop. this is all resins (frankincense!) and sugar cane and snake oil on me. it's really sweet but in a deep way. so sexy. so good.

root beer. yep. root beer, but a little more herbal. it stays like that for awhile and gets stronger. i like the smell of root beer, but it got pretty intense. maybe the myrrh in it is what's doing me in, as i've found that has a tendency to make me a little sick if mixed with the right (or wrong) things. then... a bit later, out of nowhere, it turns into.. motor oil?! straight up - greasy tools. i'm pretty sure i'm not going crazy, since i held out an arm to my girlfriend and she thought the same thing, whereas before she was also "mmm rootbeer!!" i might give it another shot sometime but i'm not so sure : (

ugh, vetiver! we meet again! i didn't expect to like it but i tried it anyway. at first it smelled kind of like dirt and figs. not so bad actually, and then it gets amazing. deep patchouli & amber & a hit of sweet fig, darkened by the wood and that "dirt" vetiver smell. i notice the cola thing that the fig(?) does up close, as well. oh. so good. according to my girlfriend i smell "dark and dirty and sexy as hell" i like this more every time i wear it. definitely going to be grabbing a bottle or ten. & i love how it reflects the artwork so well - it really evokes the same mood as the painting.

faustus so good mmm. i just got a new bottle and it made me remember when i first tried it. i remember putting it on and being very confused how everyone was saying it was so masculine, when all i was getting was this weird floral perfume smell (albeit a nice one.) i guess violets tend to go strong and powdery on me, but only when they're fresh. so it sat around for a couple months, and i decided to bust it out again and see if it was the same. omg. this is all frankincense and cinnamon, with a little touch of violet. it's sweet but moody. the cinnamon really makes it smell like dark, smoldering incense. it's really something amazing, i wear it all the time now.

i have a thing for chypre scents... and sometimes it's hard to find masculine scents i like. i was hoping it would be sort of a replacement for certain commercial colognes that i've wanted to buy, but that alcohol smell in everything puts me off completely. i got a 1/2 decant of this to try in the mail today and of course i immediately slathered it all over. it's exactly what i was hoping it would be! it's pretty masculine - horray! it's musky, there is definitely that tinge of something a little darker. right when i first put it on the davana got too floral but it mellowed out and turned a little citrus, a little sweet, it's good. i've only had it on for awhile, but i can still smell myself fairly well. i agree with whoever said it smells a lot like commercial/department store perfumes/colognes. that was the first thing that came to mind when i popped the cap, but that's actually what i was looking for. it has the same qualities only without the nasty alcohol smell.