phoefromelsewhere

Decided to try this today as the buttery note in the bottle of Pumpkin Queen is still scaring me away. In the bottle: Woods, cider, a vague spice and cranberries. Absolutely lovely. Wet: I smell like a candle. Drydown and Later: Progressively worsening candle smell. It's a very lovely candle smell, all autumny and cidery and nice but I don't want to smell like a candle. I'm not big on room fragrances so this one will be passed on to someone who loves it.

Yes! A CN scent that works! Glad I got 2 bottles of this. I scribbled down some notes while testing this, I was too distracted sniffing for any more than that. In the bottle: Definitely a gypsy tent, dark, mysterious, evocative. Wet: Strongly feminine (no delicate florals or whispiness here). Spicy, smoky, powerful. Drydown: Rich, lovely, a dull warmth like a shot of brandy (not in the alcoholness, but in the spreading warmth through your body, this is that sensation perfumified). Finally: Absolutely gorgeous. I can't pick out any notes (except maybe dragon's blood?) but it's all rich velvets, silk veils, gloomy crystal balls and jangly gold jewelry. Yumtastic.

Hrmph. The first thing I ever ordered 2 bottles of (not at the same time tho) and boy was that a mistake. This starts off gorgeously sweet and foodie. There's no sense of SUGAR that Sugar Skull gives me but the similarity is in the sweetness. After that, there is no similarity. As it dries I get caramel apple and the taffy and some butteryness that doesn't smell anything like funnel cake to me. This smells more like a bakery than any carnival and while I don't want to smell like a bakery, it might work as a room scent. And then it happens: it goes pure plastic scented food. Ugh a million times over. I don't know what it is but all of a sudden I am smelling plastic scented food. Buttery sweet plastic. to Midway. And I bought 2 bottles. Bum.

Hrm, I don't get any vanilla or spice. There is a few seconds in the drydown when it smells like the perfume equivalent of a window frame (glass, wood) but then it starts screaming sweetness. This is definitely closer to Sea of Glass for me and thus, completely unwearable.

Ever since a meds change (hormonal stuff) things I used to love now smell awful on me (including one of my absolute favorites, Blood). Which is why I'm glad the lab threw this in as a freebie, I'd given up on anything with blood in the title. This is a gorgeous blend of spicy dragon's blood and warm amber. It's not overpowering or even all that noticeable, just nice warm and spicy. Will keep an imp on hand for when I need a blood kick.

There really isn't much to review on my skin. In the bottle: amber Wet: amber Drydown: amber Finally: amber overkill In summation, amber. I like a little amber but this is just ridiculous on my skin, I get nothing else at all.

I've had this in my bpal box for awhile, everytime I open it up, I get a whiff of dirt. Finally decided to try it. In the bottle: Dark dirt. Sort of like digging a big hole and standing in it and the top of it is over your head. Kind of creepy. Wet/Drydown/Finally: This went through dark dirt to potting soil dirt to just plain ol garden variety dirt (which I love). Very soft, no where near as overpowering as I thought it would be. Cool and comforting, an absolute gem.

Oof, evil gingersnaps it is. So far this just smells like Gingerbread Poppet's bigger meaner brother. Whoa, an odd blend of gingerbread and fresh pure ginger. And...citrus? Hrm, at the moment it's not smelling like anything other than a cacophony of scents. Hopefully it will smooth out a bit. I'm getting odd curry smells for some reason. There's currently gingerbread, gingery curry and lemon pledge in this. Which is nice and nauseating. Darn skin. Sometime later: Ick, there's a not very nice food smell in the background. Ick ick ick. I think it's safe to say my skin has mangled this one completely.

In the bottle: minty tea Wet: minty tea. Vaguely Frost Moon, but hopefully without the evilness FM had on me. Drydown: This is just...odd. Mint (and lots of it ), cucumber (a bit too much for my liking) and white pepper (which I love). Hrm, you would think 2 out of 3 would be good but this cucumber is REALLY strong on me. This mellows out to a lovely creamy mint, a hint of spiciness and the evil huge take-over-the-world cucumber and then disappears almost completely, leaving the mint cuke in it's wake. Bumification, I really wanted to love this.

Wow. This smells so good in the bottle I don't want to try it on in case my skin mangles it. Spicy and fresh, it's familiar but I couldn't tell you why. Hrm, going a bit perfumey but still the same lovely spicy freshness. The pepper and cardamom are in the forefront, with whispy airy trees in the background. There's quite a lot of depth to it as well even tho at first sniff it's VERY airy. Oof, this is going very high on me, no sense of depth anymore. I hope it calms down a bit, where's the creaminess others have mentioned? Ah, there it is. Well, kind of. This smells like chai. And freezing, ice covered trees. Very lovely!

I don't know how to describe this. In the bottle it was quite dryer-sheety with a vague otherworldly smell. I dislike the dryer sheet part but otherworldly had me written all over it so I put some on. Air and darkness is bang on. This is walking around in the dark outside passing no scent pockets such as the sun warmed roses cooling down or the pungent night blooming scents. Nada. Just a vague clean smell. During the drydown this is completely soapy on me. Which isn't unpleasant, it's just...soap. This is odd. It's flipping back and forth between vast darkness and space and Ivory soap. Which if you were the philosophical type would be stg akin to everyday existence, really. Perfume wise...hrm, gonna have to try this one out a few more times as I can't seem to make up my mind (and neither can it!)

In the bottle: Kool aid. I get berries and wine. Which, even tho my skin normally hates both, is turning into a lovely scent (what is it with the lab freebies totally being unexpected loves?). It's very warm and alive, which is a bit of a shock as I expected Lady Macbeth to be cool and barren. Not so. Alive to the tips of her toes, she is. It fades into a gorgeous red/purple haze. Another for the 5ml pile!

My brain has been sidetracked by this. I can't remember what is in it at all, only that it is unspeakably beautiful. Soft, feminine but not girly. I'm in love. 5ml for me!

Hrm. I love lilies and a touch of honey would just set them off to perfection. But I can't make my mind up on this one. It does smell JUST like lilies with a bit of honey in, which while nice on the bottle, is clashing horribly. Not with my chemisty, but believe it or not, with my self image! I am not the type of girl to wear this. Blood, Sacred Whore of Babylon, Samhain...that's more me. This smells beautiful in the bottle and likewise on my skin but I'm have an existentialist debate on this one. I'll keep it just in case but I don't foresee wearing it often.

Honey, roses and orange blossom? Doomed from the start. I expected it to go sickenly sweet so I applied this over a sink (in the quick dodge to get it off before it nauseated me, as all three normally do). I put it on and...within 2 seconds, it's turned to baby powder. I wait and wait to see if anything else develops but it doesn't. Baby powder, plain and simple. Oh well. I tried.