Alarine

In the fresh bottle (almost 3 full years ago) this was all perfumey-fresh tea and light watery herbs plus fig, which usually turns sour and soapy on me, but I mildly liked the slightly soapy fresh tea, so, held onto it for spring... but didn't really wear it, just kept testing it now and then. Tried it today and the herbs and mosses are finally letting this linger and really sing as a nearly-summer-scent. Even finally getting a little of the ginger, which is a plus, and the fig is finally behaving. Glad I didn't give up on it!

In imp: Very sweet and creamy bananas and something a little plastic. Definitely a cream pie, though, and some grease, but like fried food, not metallic... Just dabbed on/first 10 minutes: Yep, banana cream pie. Pretty and sweet and yet there's a plastic note to the otherwise tasty pastry scent. Still that obvious undertone of hot grease/something unsettling. The grease & pie crust/cream together are making me think of banana funnel cakes, for some reason. After an hour: Still like a banana cream pie, but less so, somehow, and it's getting less plasticlike. Also, less creamy and a bit more of the blood/hot grease impression... and at this point I finally realized the banana had been pretty realistic to start with, but now it's closer to candy. Banana runts spilled on a dirty desk in a half-lit corner of a room where you really don't want to look too closely at the desk. After 3-4 hours: Nearly gone, just a very sweet smear on each wrist with a little metal trace. I like the bizarreness of this, and the description fits perfectly and it makes me smile. I don't expect to let go of the imp, but this one's not a new love like I'm sure one of the others will be.

In the bottle: Golden, warm, earthy sage and spicy incense. Just dabbed on: Same. Definitely cologney at first, but in a good way, not too ragingly-sexy-man to be wearable for me. After several hours: Same. Comfy and comforting and golden. A metallic musk, somehow. It's surprisingly good as a sleep scent and just damn relaxing and quietly confident in a fascinating way. I laughed at someone's description of feeling like a sexy mad scientist while wearing this, 'cause I get that impression too, but at the same time, it's so golden and warm that it's like getting a very long hug from a very dear friend who smells like the more golden, earthy, incensey side of this. I love this one so much, and I never expected to love it so, but it's hard to be eloquent about it.

In the bottle I notice mostly the toffee and pralines and hops and no suggestion of coffee, but on my skin it's a pretty straight cinnamon latte, every single time. It's barely sweet at all - I keep picturing stirring a tiny slosh of cream into black coffee with a cinnamon stick. I thought my skin was just ignoring chocolate notes again, but in my clocket it's close to a regular latte with a lot more cinnamon and a little dirt, like there's a dusty cinnamon broom nearby... I like it, it's just puzzling. The suggestion of coffee makes it nice for days when I'm trying just about anything to stay awake.

In the imp, fresh: Lily, lilac, light resins. Very pretty and girly. Just dabbed on: All lily and lilac still. Grounded slightly - a little wood, and some spice - from the dragon's blood? not strong enough to tell for sure - but the lilac's definitely strongest. After several minutes: Same. Girly! Sharp, but pleasant. 'Radiant' is definitely a good word. After several hours: Still a surprisingly strong lilac-focused scent. Superlilac, light lily and a little resin for a bit of spice. Don't imagine I'll be in a mood for this too often, and it's not going to become my favorite Ars Draconis scent, but it's quite pretty.

From the bottle: honey, spices but blended enough that I can't tell which... just dabbed on my skin: honey... peppers... oranges? something slightly citrusy? spices! slightly flowery? I finally gave up and looked at the notes after 10 minutes, because I would've sworn there's some oranges or tangerine in this. huh. after 20-30 minutes: honey and citrusy tea with spices... still not noticing any musk. definitely picturing walking through an open-to-the-air spice market. I think the citrusy impression is from a note that makes me think of biting into bell pepper sticks or something of the sort. after 3 hours: It's blends like this that make me desperately hope I'll continue to never have reactions to spices or other common irritants. the light musk gets noticeable as time goes by, but it stays close to my skin and just wonderful citrusy/peppery tea with a little honey - very golden and warm and comforting and I feel more confident and relaxed, wearing this. I think it's lasted at least 7 hours every time I've worn it, too, which just adds to my love for it.

I bought an imp in my first order, and then sniffed it from the imp a few times and didn't try it on my skin... liked the smell in the imp and I figured I've never had cinnamon blends turn odd or hurt my skin, so I ended up ordering a 5ml without checking that it'd be fine. In the bottle: cinnamon with a hint of sweetness, but it's surprisingly faint in the bottle for such a strong cinnamon scent. Just dabbed on my skin: mostly cinnamon bark with a little smoke - already it's not sweet and not quite as much like inhaling-over-a-bowl-of-freshly-grated-cinnamon as I'd expected After about 20 minutes: this is dry cinnamon bark (weaker cinnamon than when I'd first dabbed some on) with something very sour and more smokiness... and this stage lasts until it vanishes on my skin, a total of maybe 3 hours after applying it. I've tried it at all times of the month and the same thing happens every time on me, sadly. I'm so glad Priala's wonderful on me all the time, so I can stock up on that, still, 'cause Chimera doesn't like my skin... However, a few days ago I got a belated birthday gift of a clocket, and I tried Chimera in that yesterday morning, and it was wonderful all day - the very strong cinnamon and hint of sweetness stuck around, finally. Another reason to love my clocket.

Snake Oil, Antique Lace, Shub, Red Lantern, Midnight on the Midway, Phantom Calliope, Green Tree Viper, Melisande the Puppet Mistress, and Uruk have all gotten unsolicited compliments repeatedly for me. I've tried Azathoth three times now from an imp and each time, my mom's grabbed my wrist and inhaled deeply and insisted that I couldn't walk away until she was done trying to figure out why I smelled so good, for several minutes at a time - she hasn't had that reaction to anything else. The last two times, she insisted I couldn't be serious when I told her that was the same scent she'd done that with before. I've gotten similar reactions from friends & coworkers, though thankfully not as much of the insisting I can't walk away yet. Planning to get a bottle of that one soon.

Very very strong and fizzy blueberry/lemongrass/gin.... the blueberry lasts about two hours, and then it's fizzy lemony gin that may have once sat next to an open pint of blueberries. Don't recall ever detecting any papaya. I think I like it, but I'll definitely need to try it another time or two to be sure. It's making me want something to drink... and to look at strong blueberry scents to go with this and maybe get the blueberry scent to last longer. I'm really glad I didn't decide to try something else today, 'cause this is really surprisingly strong, even after 5 hours or so. I may let my other bottle age for a while or go; not sure yet.

In the imp: Amber and mint (?!) and vetiver, with a little cedar and spice... very dark, which fits the description, after all. Just on: Same, including the weird impression of mint, but with a little more cedar and spice.... About 30 min later: the darkness from the vetiver & amber is calming down a little and it's getting spicy and maybe a tad citrusy again? Wonder what was making my brain think "Huh, mint." at first... After several hours: Mmmm, spicy and earthy and dark deliciousness. Very dark, but I kept getting hints of tangerine, too. This was a little spicier after drying, the second time I tried it (tonight, since I just found one as a freebie in the order that arrived today). Definitely want to pick up a bottle of this strangely comforting (from the tangerine/amber/cedar) scent that's not at all soothing. I just love it.

Had to make my first review post for a favorite. Imp: Very spicy and dry at first; mostly spices and incense and patchouli and a little citrus, for the first test. The second time, I noticed the bitter almond and spices first, then the rest. On my skin at first: Spices/incense/patchouli/mmmm. After a bit, the jasmine and lilies showed up, and everything else was still strong, and there was a hint of something aquatic, too. After about six hours: It stayed really nice; got a little faded and powdery - almost dusty, really - from the jasmine and perhaps the lilies. It stayed pretty balanced; I could still smell most of the listed notes, surprisingly, and nothing really took over. Both times I've tried it, I could smell it for 10+ hours, it didn't morph much, it was surprisingly calming, and it did make me think of (the much nicer-smelling side of) walking around in a very old city. Definitely planning to get a bottle of this lovely one.