voodoobaby

In the bottle, I get a lot of tea and linden, plus a little bit of wood, and some kind of herbal scent. But, alas, Spirits of the Dead is a tea scent, and with all tea scents, the note severely takes over, and all I can smell is the tea leaf. I should have known. It's smells good, but considering I have a few regular catalog scents that are very similar to it, this is getting swapped off.

I got this as a complement to my favorite, strawberry/champagne scented lip gloss. Bon Vivant is wonderful. It's heavier on the strawberry than the champagne, and for some reason I seem to get a slight gingery scent out of it as well. The scent stays pretty much the same all the way through, except the strawberry gets a little more pronounced as it wears. The scent is fun and fresh and bubbly--effervescent is definitely the best description. I'm keeping the imp.

Though I've gotten out of the habit of reviewing, The City in the Sea is to me an exceptional scent, so I felt like doing a half-arsed review. This is everything I had in mind for my perfect aquatic scent. This is what I wanted Cthulhu to be. This is, oddly, far more of a dark, murky, black ocean scent than the scent of The Great One Himself. I think it's the presence of the woods and violet that separates this from the other. If you're looking for an aquatic scent that isn't overly clean smelling, definitely go for this one. It's a keeper.

In the bottle: Lots of myrrh. In a way it reminds me of Iago, in that it tingles with evil, which I think must be the musk. Wearing: My skin, as usual, amps the wine way up. There's a lot of rose, too. Most of the myrrh has faded away. Later: Still wine and a little bit of powder. Overall: I like it. It's very unusual. Will keep the imp.

A hazy, soft, veiled scent: mist floating through twilit skies, curling gently towards the heavens. I can't quite put my finger on what Empyreal Mist is all about. It's floral and herbal, for sure, and yes, it is misty...but wow, it's much stronger than I imagined. Lovely, but definitely not my cup of tea, and kind of gives me a headache. To the swaps!

Lady MacBeth is sweet, sweet, sweet. I get mostly wine, which is the same note in Lilith, only without the darker elements to temper it a bit. It smells mainly of Kool-Aid powder. It's pretty much pleasant, but strikes me as a bit two-dimensional and doesn't catch my interest. Plus, it's a little too sweet for my tastes. Will swap it out.

At first, I get much soapiness and a slight fruitiness. Once it goes on the skin, it's more floral than anything, but is at the same time quite earthy and warm. Later, it turns more and more perfumey, but not necessarily in a bad way. There's some kind of fresh, light floral, which I'm thinking might be heliotrope? It's nice, but a bit floral for my tastes.

At first sniff, the first word that came to mind was "pleasant". This is definitely a pleasant blend--it actually made me smile. I get a lot of mint, and possibly something else kind of sharp, like eucalyptus or pine or something. There also might be something fruity? It's very difficult to put my finger on, but it's really very lovely.

My first impression was spicy soap. A little bit on the skin and it was all a strong floral, maybe sweet pea. Later, though...wow. I can definitely say that there's dragon's blood in this, despite the fact that this doesn't have the red color in the imp that most dragon's blood oils have. The DBR in this scent is exceptionally candylike, so it ends up very sweet at the end of its run.

Wet, this is somehow soft and sweet and animalistic at the same time. I was, at first sniff, afraid that there might be civet in here, but it turned out that there wasn't, thankfully. After a brief baby powder phase, I get almost a single note rose scent. Definitely rose, and much of it. And...that's it.

In the bottle, this is a sharp, scorched floral, and actually is very light--barely there, even. Oh, but the evil that lurks behind that friendly facade comes out once it's applied. I've decided that I'm one of the many civet haters, if that is indeed what makes this and Czernobog smell so awful. It eventually reached a point where it smells like a dirty diaper and I had to wash it off because I kept gagging. I'll give it one thing, though, the throw is almost non-existent, which works in its favor.

BPAL's Death, to me, smells like a much mustier and less sharp Brimstone. As it dries I get more of a woody, metallic smell, but it pretty much smells the same as it does wet. It's not horrible since it lacks that vapo rub smell that Brimstone had, but I don't think I would want to smell like this.

Honestly, the only thing I could identify in the Chariot is a definite booziness. Wine, maybe, but it smells purely of alcohol and maybe something else that makes it smell completely weird. It gets progressively more astringent as it sits on the skin. Not exactly a pleasant smell.

I can most definitely tell you that there is red musk here. It explodes on my skin like it does in every other blend. There's also an odd metallic smell that I recognize from Aunt Caroline's Money Bag (which, as my sister pointed out, appropriately smells like loose change). The longer it sits, the lighter it gets, until it's nothing more than a very light musk scent.

At first, oddly, this smells strongly of citrus, with some almond and what seems to be China rain. However, as it dries it starts going all air freshener on me. Not my cup o' tea.

In the bottle, I actually smell more vetiver than anything. Wet, though...OK, call me crazy, but this smells like a bonfire! Just like it, I swear. Despite the fact that this is supposed to be an earthy oil, this is the perfect bonfire scent that I've been looking for. I smell a lot of the wood, and on the drydown the oakmoss comes out quite a bit. The honeysuckle is there to keep it from being totally bitter, but it's the darkest honeysuckle scent I've ever smelled. I'm trying this out in the Tarot circle, and I have to say, this is a Holy Grail for me and I'm so sorry I can't keep it. This is going on the top of my wishlist, for sure.

Wet, this is all cherry. Nothing more to be said there. Dry, I get a lot of aquatics and florals and a little bit of wood. In fact, it smells very similar to Ulalume, only not quite as sweet. Not bad.

Depraved is a very odd scent, in that it's sickly sweet and juicy, yet at the same time bone dry and bitter. It's also very strong and doesn't change much between the smell in the imp and the final dry down. Thus, I decided I wouldn't even give it a structured review. I think I like it, but I can't be sure.

In the bottle: Kind of a sharp floral. I can't identify any notes off the bat. Wearing: Hmm. Lemon scented soap? Maybe it'll get better once it sits a while. Later: Well, the honeysuckle comes out a bit more to sweeten it, but the lemon verbena scent is gone and it's still mostly soap. I'm sure it'll make someone with the right skin chemistry very happy.

In the bottle: Chooocolate. I was expecting that weird cocoa note from Velvet and Tezcatlipoca, but this is nice, sweet chocolate through and through. It's not just chocolate, though, it has a little cherry. Yum. Wearing: It's a chocolate covered cherry! I used to eat those things when I was younger, I remember the smell vividly...and to be honest, now I'd rather smell one that eat one. It's dark chocolate with the cherry in the middle and the creamy, sickly sweet stuff surrounding it. Later: It's mostly cherry now, though it's different from most of the cherry scents I've smelled. It's richer and deeper than the others, and smells more like a real cherry. The chocolate provides a subtle grounding for everything and blends in perfectly. Overall: This is a much better combination than I thought it would be. I didn't think it would work, but it really did. Very nice.

In the bottle: Floral and buttery. An odd combination that, while it smells good, doesn't seem to blend together. Wearing: Floral. Where is the ivy and the fruits and the... Later: Well, there's the wine and a little bit of woodsmoke. Reminds me of Hunter Moon, only with flowers and a little bit of fruitiness. It's very, very hard to describe. Something in it is sharp and astringent, but not in a boozy way. I really don't know how to describe it, aside from smoky flowers doused in wine. Overall: I don't know what to think about this one. It's good, but then it's weird with the astringent quality. I'm on my period right now, so I'll try it again when I'm off it and see how it cooperates.

In the bottle: Much vetivert, with something tangy underneath. An unlikely combination, but strangely intriguing. Wearing: Still tangy vetivert. It's not a citrusy scent, it's a...I don't think I can describe it. This is something you'd have to experience. Later: Wow. This is indeed the dark side of air, as promised. It smells like damp air, but with something ominous lurking underneath. If it were a color, it would be the brownish/orange/yellow color the sky gets in Oklahoma when there's a tornado warning out. Awesome. Overall: Oddly, I like it. Keeping the imp.

In the bottle: Snickerdoodles! Very sweet and cinnamon-y. The cinnamon is sharp, but works well with the sweetness. The myrrh is the only thing keeping it from smelling totally like a dessert. Wearing: Mmm. I never thought I would like something so foody, but this is incredibly yummy. It's not just foody, it's sexy-foody, with the spiciness still tempering the sweetness. If I were a guy, I would be all over a girl wearing this. Definitely one of those "skin scents". Later: Doesn't seem to change much. Still delicious. I smile whenever I catch a whiff of myself. Overall: I think this is going on my top 10. Not my top 5, but the top 10, nonetheless. Also, while it lasts about an average amount, it stays really strong throughout the whole time, which is what I've been looking for in a scent. Wonderful!

In the bottle: Holy crap! It's green Gummi Savers! Wearing: Green Gummi Savers! Later: Green Gummi Savers! Overall: Um, yeah. The gumminess reminds me of Bordello, but while that one was a bag of assorted gummy bears, this is how I so eloquently described it above. I could even smell that weird, artificial, gelatinous scent the candies give off. Delicious. I have a feeling the boy will like this one.

In the vial and when it first goes on, it's a deep, herbal floral. Once it sits on the skin, it's a soapy floral with a sweet edge. Definitely not my cup o' tea.