magikfanfic

In the bottle: This kinda smells like fragant grass. Like tea or some kind of air freshener. It has a sweet, green, soft smell to it. It keeps getting away from my nose so that I have to put my head closer and closer to the mouth of the bottle. But there's also a strange, fruity undernote to it. This is another one where I'm not familiar with many of the notes. I just hope the more grass/wood notes in it don't kill me. Wet: Really reminds me of a berry herbal tea. It has a fruity sweetness along with a tea grass like scent as well. Not at all what I expected it to be. In fact, it's better than I had been hoping, but I'm still not sure that it's me. Especially since more of the wood notes are rising to the top of the scent. Wood does not like me. Dry down: Slightly berry with...something of a dusky, moss note in it as well. I don't really like moss so I was hoping that it would be drowned out by all the floral notes in this. Now it's still sweet berry herbal tea with more woody herbals in it. I'm still not sure about this one. I like the smell, but I don't know if I really like it enough to keep a whole bottle of it. Even if I had an imp, I'm not positive that I would ever use it. This has a lot of wood in it behind the berry sweetness. Berries aren't my favorite fruit scents, anyway, so it won't be that big of a loss if I opt to get rid of this one. I still wish I had worked a little better on me, though, because it sounded pretty awesome in the reviews. Dry: Um...berry herbal tea with way too many wood background notes. This is nicely blended and sweet and well done, but the wood notes are making my head pound a little and that's never a good thing. It has the vague impression of smelling like potpourri now. Oh well. I had hoped to like it, but this is another short love affair. Stupid skin.

In the bottle: This has a very white scent to it that reminds me--oddly enough--of my Mi-Go. It's not so much the smell as it is the sweetness of the smell though I suspect that the two blends probably do have a note in common somewhere in there. I can't tell which scent is which yet but there is something green in the background of it that could prove to be bad for my head. Wet: Still sweet only something in this makes the back of my throat flare up in a slight burn. Nothing bad. Yet. This gets a lot greener once it hits my skin but retains the whiteness as well. I can pick out the rose gardenia in the background. The front note is familiar, but I'm not sure as to what it is. Oh, Bulgarian rose. We don't always get along. It tends to have a kinda dusky smell to it that doesn't like my allergies. Dry down: Rose gardenia and Bulgarian rose. It's an oddly white/green smell that makes my head do a little dance that tells me this might not be a blend with a long life span in my hands. The freesia is barely there in the background. This is a nice, sweet floral blend that does not become overly cloying. But it's very white and sometimes I have problems with white. Gardenia. Less rose and more straight gardenia smell. White and waxy with a little bit of that dusky Bulgarian rose I mentioned before. And a definite burning in the back of my throat that does not bode well. And now it's a somewhat rose/orchid smell. I like orchid, but I've had problems with it in BPAL blends. Dry: Mostly orchid with some rose and gardenia in it. Everytime I sniff the blend on my skin, it sends a shooting spike of pain through my head so I'm thinking that this is going to be swapped or sold at some point in the near future. Oh well. I had hopes for it.

In the bottle: This blend has notes of doom for me: anise, lavender and patchouli. But the lab sent it as a freebie so I'll try it out before I pass it on to the boy, whom I'm convinced will adore it and smell great with it on. Strong anise, lavender and bergamot in the vial for me. *whines* Lavender hates my skin with a burning passion in most blends. I'm afraid this might be another one that is doomed. Wet: Umm...I don't know what the smalle is. Ugh. But it doesn't like me. I think it's the lavender and the bergamot having a scent war. It also smells very green and kinda...oh, hi patchouli. Please go away. Dry down: It's just...very masculine and overpowering. I was hoping it would be kinda heavy on the tonka and the leather with peeks of the lemon. That would have been pretty. But this is strong and dominating and very much bergamot and I don't know maybe the anise. I'm not really sure which scents have blended together to form this not very nice blend. Oh no, here comes the lavender in full force now. Lavender usually turns to rot on my skin. This is very much not me at all. It smells like smoke and something green. It's just entirely too masculine for my tastes. At least the lavender isn't in the rotting stage, but this blend isn't going to work. Dry: Mostly lavender and bergamot with...I guess the patchouli. Way too strong and head-shop for me but the boy might like it. I'll hand it over to him.

In the bottle: Got an imp of this in a swap. I'm always curious about aquatic blends even though they seldom work for me. Eldritch told me that one of the aquatics (either this os Dunwich) smells like Thunderbird. I didn't order with but have managed to get my paws on imps through swaps. Okay, it must be this one. It smells like a slightly more ozoney version of Thunderbird. It still has that same sweet scent underneath but the ozone is a lot more pronounced. Wet: Thunderbird plus ozone and unfortunately the ozone is stronger than the sweet Thunderbird quality of this. This reminds me of those candles that are supposed to smell like spring rain and the like. It's a nice scent, really, just a little heavy on the ozone for me. Dry down: And then this morphs on my skin and doesn't smell much like Thunderbird at all. Instead it smells like the grass after the storm, just a little ozone and lots of wet. It's so cool how Beth can make something smell wet but she manages. It is a lot more of a traditional rain scent than a lot of the ozone/aquatics I've gotten from the lab thus far. I like it, but at the same time I find it to be just a tad too masculine for me to wear. And now the ozone is just a background note for a truely water smell. Not fabric softener the way most aquatics go but just lightly scented water with a touch of green. This would make a lovely room scent, but I doubt I'll wear it as a perfume at all. Dry: And now it does have a more salty scent to it. The ozone is just about gone, and it's water and waves and crashing. The foam on the rocks and the scent of the wind as it hits you while you stand on a cliff and look out to sea. This reminds me of Ireland. Of standing on a cliff in Ireland and watching the sea and letting the wind blow through my hair and scent me. This is skies with a touch of gray and water with a touch of blue and green rising up everywhere around you. I probably won't wear this at all, but I'll have to keep it to take out and smell and wear on days when I need to center myself. It's a very calming blend.

In the bottle: To me, this smells like milk being heated on a stove. Like when you're making hot cocoa or chai and the milk is almost boiling. It's not a very nice smell to my nose so I'm doubting that Milk Moon and I are going to love each other. At all. There's also a slight sourness to the back of it. I suppose it could be a mint and cream scent, but I don't know. Wet: Ugh. Still that sour, warm milk scent. My skin and milk have some problems. I don't know why I ordered this. There's a hint of the mint but the warm milk scent overpowers it. Dry down: This is just...either it's my nose or my skin or just the way I react t this scent because it kinda makes me sick. I don't get the nice mint and cream smell. I get a wave of warm almost spoiled milk. There's the faintest hint of mint, but it doesn't make the milk smell any better on me. This blend is going to have to go. I have some bad associations with warm milk. Perhaps that's what the problem really is. Dry: This stays true to the bottle, though. Warm, almost sour milk. Washing off. I figured it wouldn't work on me, but I had to try. Guess I'll have two lunacies up for swap/sale.

In the bottle: This is a bright blend that isn't overwhelmingly floral, either. It has hints of sweet floral with something green and grass-like. I'm not really good at picking any of the notes in this blend out so this review probably won't be the best. I can detect a little bit of the violet out of the rest of it, though. Wet: Still a very green floral smell. This reminds me of The Unicorn in that it has a sweet, light, green quality to it. If anything, this is the slightly older sister of the The Unicorn. Dry down: And now that sweet green notes turns into a slightly sour green note. It's like musty flowers or the smell of an aunt's perfume covered by dust and powder. It's still a nice smell, but it seems a little too old for me. Almost less than fresh if that makes any sense. It's an odd floral combination in that none of the notes can be pulled away from any of the others. And now it's gone really light again. Light and musty. This has that odd sour note in the background. I'm not sure what it is, but I've smelled it before. I think it might be the iris reacting to my skin because other blends with iris haven't worked. This is something of a generic floral on me, and I'm sure it has to do with the fact that my skin does not love all floral notes. It's a very powdery, sour note so it actually might be a problem with my skin and both the violet and the iris. Dry: Musky slightly powdery almost generic floral on my skin. I was afraid this would happen. Thankfully, I have a numer of lovey floral blends that I get along with so I won't mourn this too much.

In the bottle: Sweet and tart at the same time, this reminds me of a spice in the kitchen somewhere. I'm not sure which one, and I'm not going to run around sniffing all of them right now so I hope that it hits me later. Wet: Lemon pledge. I like lemon pledge, I do, but I'm not sure I like smelling like it. Lemon pledge with a faint aquatic note in the background that must be the mist and rain. This smells very fresh and very bright. Bright yellow and greens. Dry down: And now it starts to get a little sweeter while still keeping that odd lemon pledge note to it. Hmmm...it's kinda like lemon pledge and medicine now. Hard to really describe. The throw is very familiar but yet another scent that alludes me. Thankfully the medicine note dies out and leaves me with the lemon pledge scent some more. Checking the forum assures me that it is not my crazy nose. Good. I was worried. Unfortunately, this is giving me a headache in a big way so this is not going to work. Dry: Lemon pledge and a headache. I'm glad I got to try it but this one will have to find another home else my head is like to burst. It does have an intriguing spicy note to the lemon that leaves me wondering what it is but the pain soon makes me just want to wash it off.

In the bottle: Reminds me of Bayou in that it has a definite soap/moss/wood smell to it in the vial that makes me worried about how allergic I'll be when it hits my skin. Wet: Moss and cardamom with a vague soap smell in the background.This is very olive green. It reminds me of the moss hanging off the trees in New Orleans, green and gray at the same time. Dead but alive. There's also a metal kind of flash to it that might be the bamboo. Dry down: Moss soap with juniper in the background. This is very woody and mossy on me. Nothing I'll really be able to wear, though. I'll toss it at the boy. I'm sure he'll like it. He likes msot anything with cedar, which I like the smell of but don't really want to smell like it. There's also that pretty strong cardamom note that bothers me just a tad. Dry: Moss soap with wood and cardamom background notes. Not fond of this one at all. It's just a little too organic for me, but the concept is nice. And now it's turn all cedar on me, which is also not too pleasant. Oh well. I am glad that I managed to get ahold of an imp to try, though

In the bottle: Clove, orange and ginger. This is fierce and strong and reminds me of several different cleaners we have in our house. Yet, at the same time, I cannot stop myself from sniffing it. It's just that good. Wet: Ginger and clove with just the suggestion or orange underneath. This is a get up and open your eyes, do something! blend. Dry down: Less ginger and more the sense of those oranges that have cloves stuck in them. Or orange gingersnap cookies, which actually sound pretty good now that I think about it. Orange gingersnap cookies. I wonder if there's such a recipe out there anywhere. This seems to be less complex than most of the other blends, but I think it has something to do with this blend being more for aromatherapy purposes than as a perfume. It also has a slight tartness that could be taken as grapefruit, but to me it seems more like the tartness of clove and ginger mixed with a not quite ripe orange. Dry: Orange gingersnaps. This doesn't change much over the course of its wear, but it does smell pretty good. And if is a wake up call. I'm not sure that I could wear this, but I might pick a bottle up eventually for a room scent. It has that kind of quality to it.

In the bottle: This one sounds like it could be evil for my skin, but let's check it out. Strong. The dragon's blood and the cinnamon hit me straight off, especially the cinnamon. I have a feeling that this one is going to have a very short lifespan on my skin because I'll have to wash it off. Wet: Cinnamon and clove with pepper. Actually the pepper wants to be the main scent, which is kinda creepy to me. This is so not the kind of scent I'll be able to wear. Dry down: Pepper with a cinnamon/clove background. It's making my eyes water a little just to have it on. It is an interesting smell, though. Mostly that pepper on me with everything else staying very quiet in the background though the dragon's blood is providing a little throw. Pepper. Dry: Smells like I poured pepper on myself. Not gonna work. Washing off.

In the bottle: Salty wood. *snicker* No, really. I get a very strong salted wood smell from this. It's interesting even though I doubt that I'll be wearing this. This strikes me as a test it and hand it over to the boy. Wet: Salty wood with a kick of Bay Rum in the background that's I don't know. Hmmm....salty wood fabric softener now. We all know that aquatics are not my thing and this is fairly aquatic. It's also pretty salty. And woody. I kinda swapped for this one blind in a need to get Imp and Tisiphone out of my house. Dry down: Hmm...wood and alcohol. Boozy notes go straight to that: booze. So I end up smelling like I'm coming off a three day bender. The salt and water notes in this one, though, really do amke me smell like a drunken sailor straight off the boat and completely toasted. Hmmm...leather and rum now with a salt/water background. This fades pretty quickly. The throw is still water/salt but on my skin it's down to a very slight leather/rum smell. It's too masculine a scent for me to want to wear, but I love trying things out. Dry: Leather and rum with a salt water throw. Tossing this the boy's way and wasking off.

In the bottle: It smells like fresh laundry. Like summer breezes blowing through the yard. The wind in your car while driving down a highway with the windows down. Wet: This is clean with a little bit of a sweet tea smell to it, which could just be me going crazy. But it's such a nice smell. This is like smelling tea with sugar dissolving in it, steaming hot the way it's suppsoed to be. Dry down: This is clean and wonderful and just relaxing. I love it. It has a vaguely citrus smell to it as well. It does have this lovely fruity/citrus sweetness that is to die for. Seriously, I love this blend. It's just clean and fresh and it reminds me of the semester I spent in England drinking hot tea and sitting in the dining room for hours with friends. I swear that it smells like fresh brewed tea with lemon and sugar to me. I must be insane. Dry: This doesn't change much at all on me. It retains that clean, sweet almost tea like scent that is relaxing and clean and refreshing. I love it. I don't understand why clean linen smells like tea with sugar and lemon, but it does. And I love it for that. I love it so much. This just went to the top of my 5ml list despite the fact that I have way, way, way too many bottles.

In the bottle: This has an interesting floral and yet a creamy/fruit scent to it in the bottle. Everything seems to be so well blended that I can't pull any of the notes out of it. The lily notes worry me because lily and I do not always get along but so many of the other things sounded lovely enough to tempt me into procuring a bottle from the lovely bigeyedgirl. Wet: Lilies. Lily and ylang ylang. Oh my. Not what I had hoped a all so far. And the lilies are doing that, "We're gonna smell funky on your skin" thing again. This is sad. Dry down: I don't know what it is that does it, but this goes almost instantly sour on my skin. It does the weird sour lily smell rather than doing something pretty with the white plum and jasmine like I had hoped. Now it's gone into a powdery, sour scent on me. I just don't think these lilies and I can get along. If I pick a lily blend, we have a 50/50 chance of working. Looks like this one is an unfortunate no-go. I had such high hopes, too. Dry: Hmmmm...it's a little sweeter now, which does smell like the white plum, but that sour lily smell never does go away. It gets a little more powdery, but it's still sadly sour. Oh well. I hope I can find a good home for this one because it does not like me.

In the bottle: I can pick out the violets, the rose and the merlot but not the leather yet. Unless it's the predominant scent, leather seems to need to hit my skin in order to come out from behind other notes. I expected this to be heavier and...more laden down with musk. Instead it has an oddly sweet smell to it that I really find myself liking. Wet: Wine. It smells like red wine with a touch of musk on me. There's some of the violet coming out now, which gives it an odd powdery note to the whole blend that I really had not expected at all. Oh, and there's a touch of leather as the background note in this. Dry down: Leather and wine made a little less strong but the sweet, slightly powdery scent of the violets. And roses. Not overpowering roses but a very subtle, background of roses for the other notes to play on. It's mostly the leather and the wine scent, though, with the other notes providing a nicely mixed background for them. This is a lot nicer than I had thought it would be. I can rarely do heavy musk and wine blends, but this one manages to not kill my allergies or make me smell like I'm a drunken sailor. Dry: Roses and leather with a touch of wine and some violets in the background that give it an oddly comforting and sophisticated powdery scent. This is slightly complex but also beautiful and lush without being overpowering in the slightest. This is my sexy, evening out, buy a nice gown and crash a debutant ball rose blend.

In the bottle: I don't know what it is about fruits and light musks that make me just want to drink them, but Mi-Go smells like something I should tip back and guzzle by the gallons. It's sweet and fruity but also a little bit tea-like and just delish. If I focus, I can pull out the pineapple and the pomegranate notes just a little as well as some of the peony. Wet: Pomegranate and kiwi. This actually really picks up in warmer weather. I had tried it on when it was cooler and the blend was very, very faint. But this is lovely. Sweet fruits and the same glistening musk that makes Kitsune-Tsuki and Queen of Diamonds so thrilling. But I can also smell the light floral of the peony and maybe a touch of the pink pepper to give it the slightest of kicks. This is like a tropical drink. Dry down: This has a definite tea/peony feel that reminds me of The Dormouse. In fact, this is basically the love child of Dormouse and Kitsune-Tsuki. It's light and sweet with a breath of fruits and some sparkling musk in it as well. Even the jasmine is mostly behaving. Jasmine can be a problem as it does tend to dominate most of the parties that it's invited to. Mmmm...tropical fruits, which lend this a less sweet note than what's in Kitsune. It has a more...tropical feel to it. Mostly the mango now with a little bit of the pomengranate mixing with the musks, but this is a fun, summer blend because it's not at all cloying but still sweet and flirty. Mmm...mango musk. Dry: This smells exotic and lovely with a hint of sweetness behind it. The jasmine is behaving very well only wafting gently in the background rather than trying to take over. It's sweet, but not to the point of inducing scent diabetes. It's got a very lovely mango/pineapple musk smell on me with the peony and the jasmine in the background with some pink pepper as a kick. And the fruits fade gently away into the background and it becomes more of a floral musk. It still has a very clean smell, though, and I'm so glad that I have a good amount of this scent to wear.

In the bottle: Leather and smoke are right. Whew. Kinda strong in there for me. I don't get a lot of the dragon's blood scent yet but that usually doesn't hit me until I put it on anyway. Wet: Hmmm...this is mostly smoke and dragon's blood on me. I've never been too fond of dragon's blood but leather and I are pretty good friends. Dry down: Leather and smoke with very little dragon's blood. Mostly smoke with a bit of a kick to it. I'm not very fond of this blend. I had heard good things about it, but it's just not me. I can't do the smoke, and I don't really care for the dragon's blood blends in and of themselves. Dry: Slightly spicy leather and smoke. A little too masculine for me, but I think it'll be lovely on the boy who already has a 5ml of it.

In the bottle: I did have an imp of this that I wanted to try, but it got beheaded and I couldn't open it anymore so I just threw it away. Yay for second tries. Smells like a holy rose scent. I usually can't do frankincense or myrrh but the inclusion of the rose makes me thing it might work. It has a very well-blended smell to it in that only the rose really seems to make itself known while the other notes blend in for the background. Wet: Rose. Rose and...something slightly...well spicy is the only word that really comes to mind. It's a very incense kind of smell. Fairly strong, almost soapy incense kind of smell actually, which isn't actually that good on me. Dry down: Ummm...incense soap. No roses. No lilies, which is something of a good thing as they do not work on me in the slightest but neither does this incense soap smell that I'm getting. Well, there's a peek of the rose. So now it's a floral/incense soap. I had high hopes for this one. It smelled so good on the boy when he tried it. The problem was that it was just a little too floral on him, which is why we thought it would be lovely on me but no dice. Dry: Incense soap with a little bit of floral in the background. I had hoped for a lovely sacred rose scent. Oh well. Maybe I'll try Rose Cross.

In the bottle: Another freebie imp tossed my way by a very lovely person that I swapped with. Boozy and full of currant scent at the same time. It has something of a medicinal smell to it that isn't pleasant, but I'm not sure which note might be making it smell that way. Wet: Very plum and currant with the medicinal background note to it still. I also drenched the label in the oil as this imp was full to the top. I'm not sure what amaretto smells like and I have a poor sense of the smell of burgandy wine, but this does have a very booze note to it as well as something else that's making my stomach turn a little. Dry down: A slightly fruit scented...I don't know. Very booze and yet medicinal at the same time. It's not...it's not a scent that I'll wear because it's actually making me a little bit ill, but I could see where it would be a lovely scent on other people. The booze notes lie beneath the surface and seem to taint the relatively sweet fruit notes. Dry: The only note with a booze background I can wear is Eggnog. Most of them just make me a little sick to my stomach and Bordello is no exception to that rule of my skin chemistry. Oh well. It could have been lovely.

In the bottle: I've been wanting to try this one, and it just got sent to me as a freebie in a swap. Yay! Berries. A bright berry scent with lots of green in it. I can't pull out the individual berries yet or distringuish the sage from the green tea, but it smells fab in the imp. It smells like some kind of tea I'd like to drink. Wet: On me it instantly turns to a sage smell and starts to burn my skin a little bit, which is very, very sad. But the sage is...not fading so much as letting some of the other scents through. This could be good. I hope. Dry down: Mmmmmmm....berries. Lucious, big, ripe berries. Mmmmmm....berries. With a little bit of a bitter tea/sage note in the back. It's a ripe purple color with a green background. Mmmmm....berries. This makes me want to buy strawberries, blueberries and vanilla yogurt to make a smoothie with. This is so very faint on me, though, and that slightly persistent burning isn't pleasant although I am considering the fact that this scent would be killer for some shampoo or conditioner. I might have to order a 5ml and then get some unscented products from Goth Rosary. Dry: Hmmm...maybe I spoke too soon. The burning is still here as well as the slight scent of berries. The green notes want to take over, though. Mostly the green tea more than anything else. Yeah, it's turning into a green musky scent. Oh well. The berry stage was soooo pretty. I might have to make smoothies just to console myself. ETA: Spoke too soon. This turns into a very faint, very nice berry musk.

In the bottle: That's interesting. It's a very interesting blend of tobacco, chardonnay and tonka. The chardonnay really comes out, which is surprising because it gives the whole thing a very light and bubbly scent. Wet: Kinda yummy oddly enough because this did not seem like the kind of thing I'd like at all. Mostly seems to be the leather and chardonnay scents with just a touch of the tonka in the background. Ooooh...hold on. It's the Return of the Tonka. Yummy. Dry down: Hmmm...now it's gone to more of a tobacco scent, which I find oddly pleasant. It's like a mix of tobacco and tonka that reminds me of going into a cigar store and smelling the cigars. I actually like the smell of cigars. It's such a heavy, comforting smell. There's still just a breath of the chardonnay in the background to provide a lighter note. And, oddly, the leather is just about completely gone. Dry: Tonka, tobacco and leather. This is a much more masculine scent than the others that I usually wear, but I find it oddly comforting. Hmmm...the leather's coming out a little more now than I had wanted. I think I'll keep this imp around just to sniff every now and then, though, because it's so comforting.

1. Fruits--Kitsune Tsuki or Titania 2. Rose--Persephone or The Empress 3. Tea--The Dormouse or Severin 4. Water--Thunderbird 5. Tart--Baobhan Sith or Whitechapel 6. Sacred--Ave Maria Gratia Plena This is harder than I thought and, of course, skewed by my own personal perferences.

In the bottle: Let me start out by saying that patchouli, carnation and orange blossom are all scents that normally do not work on me. That should make this fun. This smells like a cookie of doom. It's kinda sweet with some orange and then doom! Patchouli cookie of doom! Wet: Ummm...ew. Patchouli and orange blossom should really not be mixed. Especially on my skin. This is a floral kind of patchouli but it also has this odd...I don't know...medicinal reek to it. Dry down: Now it's down to just plain patchouli with the florals providing a nice medicinal background note to it. The longer I wear this, the more it kinda makes me want to hurl. I'm not very good with patchouli scents and orange blossom is just nasty on me. Dry: Patchouli with a a floral orange blossom note. Too bad for me that orange blossom turns into nasty medicine when it hits my skin.

In the bottle: Clove, patchouli and myrrh. A knock you off your feet and into next week scent for me. Srong. Very strong. Wet: Patchouli, myrrh and instant headache. Wow. That was fast. And here comes the clove. No sign of the ylang ylang, though. Dry down: Clove and patchouli. Patchouli and clove. With some ylang ylang. And a headache. This is so not my kind of scent. But it is a little better now than it was in the bottle, which is something. Dry: I can't leave this on too much longer. I'd say that the clove and the patchouli are the stronger scents. The ylang ylang provides a nice backing contrast.

In the bottle: This sounds like it could be pretty good. Or maybe not. This has an odd floral smell in that...it's...I don't know. There's a note in there that's kinda sickly. Like flowers on a grave cast in moonlight. They're pretty, but there's also something kinda sinister about it. Wet: Yes, that's what it is. An herbal floral smell, which is why it seemed a little off to me at first. This does keep the same scent it had in the bottle once it touches skin. My skin doesn't always like herbal, though, so we'll have to see. Dry down: There's a lovely cold sweetness to this tempered by the slight herbal tones. This is actually a very pretty blend even though it's a lot different than what I had originally thought it would smell like. It's light and floral and a little breezy. This is the smell of passing flowers in a graveyard that is not spooky. My only problem is that the herbal is starting to go a little sour on my skin. It's the bad thing between herbals and I. They don't stay nice for long on me. Dry: The herbals have gone sour and the sour smell completely takes over leaving those lovely, sweet florals way behind on my skin. I really could have loved this one.

In the bottle: More spices. It...I'm very sad to say that this kinda smells like vomit in the vial. At least to my nose. I think it's the combination of the musk, the spice and the sickly sweet flowers. Wet: It calms down nicely on, though. To a floral mandarin scent, which is actually interesting and somewhat pretty. The spice gives it a nice kick without being too overpowering though the mandarin is fading a little too quick for my tastes and leaving me with spicey floral. Dry down: This scent is a lot lighter than I would have expected. It has a gentleness to it that belies the components. I also think this is the first mandarin blend I've tried where I can smell the mandarin. It fact now it's gone to mostly spicey mandarin, which is somewhat odd as magnolia usually loves my skin and uses it as a springboard. Dry: Spicey mandarin with just a very faint floral tone. The musk provides a background and while this is nice it's nothing I'll wear.