voodoobaby

Smells like October with extra vetiver. It seems to have this unexpected airy quality to it -- like smoky autumn air. That is really unique, it but doesn't come out until much later. I really like it, but it smells so similar to October that I think I'll sit this one out.

Rather than make this coherent, I'm going to write what came to mind while I was testing this. -"OMG COFFEE." -"OMG COFFEE THAT I CAN WEAR." -"Mmm, cinnamon coffee." -"Yumyumyumyum." This is what a guy friend said: "What is that smell coming off of you? It smells like oatmeal or pumpkin or something. I want to devour you, or bake you into a pie." Basically, this is the perfect coffee scent for me because it's not actually creamy. Creamy and I don't get along AT ALL, but this is super amazing, and it never turns funky. It is surprisingly deep, dark and well-rounded for a pumpkin scent. I can smell the brown sugar quite clearly (oatmeal), and it's AMAZING. I am in love with this, and like my friend, I would totally devour anything that smelled like it.

This doesn't smell very good at all to me, sadly. It's sharp and powdery and dark all at once, and that just doesn't do it for me. It was so confusing that I washed it off. Sad times.

Wet, this is heavier on the rose than anything, with sandalwood as a close second. The rose scent is very similar to Nemesis -- it's that dried, almost potpourri-esque smell. I like it, but it's so similar that's hard for me to make a distinction at this point. A little later the sandalwood tames the rose a bit, and it is lovely indeed. It's deep and just a little feminine. It isn't until much later that I'm left with little more than a soft amber scent that sticks close to the skin. This is quite nice. Very pretty.

In the bottle, maraschino cherries with an extra helping of almondy goodness. Mmm, amaretto. I can smell the coconut if I turn my head and squint. I wouldn't say the cherry is overwhelming -- as I said, I mainly get amaretto. As it dries, the saffron comes out alongside what I think must be vanilla, and everything else disappears. What I'm left with smells exactly like Love's Philosophy. This is a tasty scent and I definitely like it, but I already have Love's Philosophy and so I don't feel like I need this. Ghoulish will go to another lucky sniffer.

Ash manna and ambrosial honey. Whatever wood smells are in here -- balsam, pine, ash, whatever -- are very similar to the wood notes in Samhain, but this is less autumn and more spring. It's also brightly aquatic/citrusy and a bit floral, but the wood notes balance that and keep it from being too overpowering. The honey isn't typical because I can actually wear it. It's thankfully deeper and a bit darker than normal. This isn't what I was expecting. I don't know what I thought ash manna would smell like, but this wasn't it. Still, it's quite nice.

I was really hoping this would work out, but sadly I mostly just get pepper, clove, and another bitter note. It's hard to describe the quality of this one -- it's a "shallow" smell. It doesn't seem to have a lot of depth. It's very, very dry and doesn't seem to have any kind of sweetness at all to it. It's very dark, though, and quite unique. Maybe someone who doesn't amplify black pepper like I do would have better luck with this one.

Rotting linen, white sandalwood, hyssop, and dust. In the imp and fresh on the skin, this is kind of a clean-yet-musty/musky scent. It's masculine and light. As it sits, it seems like there's a bit of darkness trying to come through, but it's being trampled out by dryer sheets and soap. This is once-clean laundry that has sat out for a few months and collected a bit of dust. An interesting concept, but I'm not one for the "clean linen" smell.

Oh man, this is great. I get lots of hot chocolate and a bit of brown sugar. I don't really smell the cinnamon or coffee, but it's so, so tasty nonetheless. I want to eat my arm. As to be expected, it does turn a little wonky later on because that's what most creamy scents do on me. However, I would love to get more of this to use as a room scent or some other alternative to perfume. Absolutely delicious, and definitely one of the best chocolate scents I've tried.

In the imp, this smells exactly like strawberry shortcake, with an extra helping of whipped cream. Yum! Wet: Om nom nom... Dry: ...nom nom nom... (Strawberry gets a little sharper, like someone has eaten the shortcake and cream and left the fruity goodness.) Later: ...nom nom nom! (Creamy note turns a little funky/rubbery like they usually do, but it's not that noticeable. Doesn't change much at all.) Conclusion: Obviously I really want to eat this, but I have yet to make up my mind as to whether I want to smell like it. It would probably be really good for dates, because guys often compliment me when I wear sweet, candy-like scents. Did I mention it smells super tasty? Mmm.

Judging by the notes, I wasn't entirely convinced that I would like this. However, Sophia is my beloved patroness, and I was excited to see that Beth had made a scent dedicated to this underrated goddess. I had to try it. Wet, the scent reminded me of cola with lemon. I think it's the musk. Not unpleasant, but a little odd. Once that phase ended, I got a lot of, well, sort of generic florals. At that point I started to get a bit disappointed and was ready to put it in my swap pile. However, just a little later I sniffed my wrist again, and...wow, so beautiful! The spice came out and the florals became much gentler, and...yes, yes, yes. This is Sophia -- feminine, comforting, queenly, and endlessly deep and wise, accompanied by a white-winged embrace. It's a sweet second skin scent, soft and gentle and glowing. While without the sentimentality I wouldn't consider this a "me" scent, I will definitely keep this. It's too pretty to let go.

The dirt dominates while wet, but the longer it stays on the more it fades. The perfume part of it I recognize as being vaguely floral, maybe a bit fruity, and quite spicy. I think there's clove here, but I'm not certain. Though I'm not big on florals, I really dig this. It's not too heavily floral or girly -- it's the scent of a strong and mature woman. The dirt offers a really interesting, unexpected kick that blends rather nicely with the other, more traditional notes. Penny Dreadful is lovely and would be great for any woman, barring aversion to earth notes, who wants to come across as feminine and unique. I'm quite impressed with it.

Sandalwood dominates at first. I love sandalwood, but the increased presence of rose and incense later on is appreciated. These are three of my favorite scents, and they blend rather nicely, although it might be a little soapier than I was expecting. It's clean, yet dark, and just a little pungent Something about this gives me a strong positive emotional reaction, and I'm not sure why. It makes me feel very comforted, calm and happy, which is strange given that it's a death-related scent. This is a keeper.

I had such high hopes for this, but unfortunately all I'm getting is overpowering jasmine. Actually, it smells different from most jasmines I've smelled. It's kind of tangy smelling, actually. I'm pretty sure my grandmother used to wear a perfume that had this note featured prominently -- Vanilla Fields, maybe? As it sits, I can detect a bit of moonflower behind the wall of jasmine. I love moonflowers, so it's sad to see it overpowered so. After about an hour, no other notes are detectable. It doesn't smell bad, but I'd much rather smell it on a flower than on my arm, and I was hoping for more complexity. How sad!

This is a sharp, almost scary resin. I'm pretty sure I smell cedar and frankincense. I don't really get the impression of stone, but I do know that this is a really nice incense/wood blend. It's masculine, but it doesn't drip testosterone or sleaze. This is a very sophisticated, intelligent, sexy man with a mind for the esoteric, and he's sitting calmly by the fireside staring at the flames. Well, I have the perfume now, so where can I find the guy? But seriously, this is a really nice, cozy, smoky blend, and I will definitely be keeping it.

This really doesn't smell like any kind of mead I've tried, or even honey, for that matter. It's more like just generic sweetness with a kick of lemon. It's kind of creamy as well. I don't get anything boozy or particularly herbal -- I guess that means it's well-blended, but not at all like I was expecting. An hour or two later it smells like a candle. This definitely isn't me. I expect someone will love it, though.

As expected, this smells a lot like a sweeter, waxier White Rabbit. At first the pepper, tea and cream dominate as they do for me with White Rabbit, but as it sits the muguet takes over a bit more. This is deceptively feminine with the floral note. I like both, but I'm thinking White Rabbit suits me more. The jury is out as to whether this is worth keeping when I have such a similar GC in my box already. Ichabod is really lovely and pleasant, though.

At first this is all honey and vanilla on me. It's very light and subtle -- a good second skin scent. Later I get some cinnamon, but it's very gentle -- more like snickerdoodles than Red Hots. The other notes don't seem like they're going to show up to the party. It's soft and comforting and sweet and pretty. I'll probably keep it for those reasons alone, even though I typically don't go for those kinds of scents.

CANDY! This is like eating candy on a sunny, salty beach. Not at all what I was expecting, but really nice and pretty and bright nonetheless. I'll probably keep it as a warm weather scent.

Oh...oh dear, this is nice. At first I get a strange combination of booze and what seems to be chocolate and leather? It's rather subtle and totally delicious. The longer it sits, the more evil it smells. After about half an hour I get mostly tobacco backed with some boozy sweetness. This is smoky and sweet and YUM. Totally what I was hoping for. It really does smell like sin, in the best way. Mmm.

Sweet, foody goodness! I definitely smell honey, wine and another boozy scent -- the wine is especially prominent. There is a hint of bread as well that is really interesting. I get no hint of anything that smells roasted, which is probably a good thing. This is SO NICE. It's kind of a swirling scent, if that makes any sense. There is a slight hint of something going a little wonky, but so far it hasn't crossed that line of weirdness. I really hope it doesn't because I like it a lot as it is right now. Fans of boozy and foody scents need to try this. It's really well-blended and yummy, and it would probably make a great room scent.

Call me crazy, but all I smell is Snake Oil. Whatever musk/amber combination was in Snake Oil is definitely present here. I might actually like this better because it's not quite as sugary sweet. I've always found Snake Oil to smell somewhat cloying and powdery on me. This still has that weird powdery scent (the above mentioned musk/amber combo) but it isn't as cloying. To me this is kind of "eh," so it's getting passed on to someone who would love it.

Dry leaves and white sandalwood, rock moss, cypress, and dry, lifeless roses. Wet on the skin, the dry leaf note definitely dominates. It's so evocative of falling leaves, it's crazy. At this point it's not sweet at all and is very earthy and somewhat cold-smelling. The more it dries the more the bittersweet sandalwood emerges. There is only a hint of moss, and the roses serve just to soften and sweeten the edges. This is rather well-blended, as I can't really tell mots of the notes apart other than the leaves and sandalwood. This scent is very dry, woody and dark. If I could describe it in a single phrase, I would use "sacred death." To me it is reminiscent of death, in a good way, because it smells like an almost-bare earth. Very pretty and unique.

It goes on as a strong, bright aquatic and dries down to a creamy, subdued aquatic. That's pretty much it; it's rather simple. So far the milk note hasn't turned sour like it often does on me, which is a plus. Reminds me of the milk note in Shadwell and Bread-and-Butterfly. Actually, I am reminded of Shadwell an awful lot in general, due to the combination of milk and aquatics. This is a very pretty, fresh scent and would be nice to wear on a rainy spring day.

Upon application, all I smell is rose. It's a fairly sharp rose that's just a little soft around the edges. As it dries the resins take over. I can mainly smell amber, and something else -- maybe myrrh. Something in this smells a little acrid on my skin (yeah, probably the amber), so I'm not sure I'll want to keep it. My skin doesn't often do well with amber, sadly, so probably on the right person the drydown would be amazing.