Shollin

First sniff: Dang. Air freshener. Fabric softener. Sigh. I wanted a scoundrel! Wearing: Apparently, Vicomte de Valmont smells more interesting on guys (and on just about everyone else)… on me it’s just laundry. It’s not at all unpleasant, but just sort of a nondescript “clean” scent.

First sniff: Cinnamon. And dust. In the dark. Wearing: The aura of Sin is instant patchouli – the cinnamon clings to my wrist and I can only smell it there. This isn’t quite as dark or growl-inducing as Obeah. I’ve been sniffing for amber and sandalwood, but they seem to be hiding, though now that it's completely dry there's a hint of woodiness far in the background. It's weird - I wouldn't think the gritty-dark "don't fuck with me" straightforward patchouliness of Obeah would appeal to me so much more than the lighter Sin, but it definitely does. So Sin will be visiting someone else.

I'm a couple days late, but check out the poem here. I'm assuming from this that it's "ooh-la-loom," 'cause if you pronounce the final E it doesn't scan (or rhyme with "tomb").

First sniff: Boozey. It’s more concentrated than wine – almost like grape liqueur – and almost stiflingly warm, the sort of heat you get at a crowded party with too many people in one room. Wearing: Grape Jolly Rancher when first applied. Mrf. After a bit of drying, something smells like rose around the edges of the grape candy, and there’s maybe a hint of musk. However, after all that, when it dries completely it’s much better – warm and red and musky, with the barest hint of rose. It took a while, but Lilith won me over.

First sniff: Wow. Liquid almonds. (And, simultaneously, maraschino cherry juice… dagnabit, stupid nose!) Smooth and rich and… yup, “buttered” works. It’s another scent I find myself immediately wanting to put on my guy just to see how it behaves on his skin. Wearing: Port-au-Prince is fantastically almondy, and almonds like me. Once the initial burst of almondosity calms down a bit, I can smell green spice underneath – a bit similar to the greenness of Azazel.

Thanks to Emu Nymph for the decant! First sniff: The colour of this oil is fantastic – it’s a sort of pinkish-orange coral, and I expect it to be very girly just based on that. Fortunately (because I generally don’t do girly), I’m wrong. In the vial, Queen of Spades is sweet, but aloof – she’s a benevolent ruler, but still intimidating. And just barely fruity enough to be classified as such; the deeper notes give this one a nice grounding. Wearing: There’s an initial burst of warm sweet fruitiness that deepens quickly to dark velvety plum, with a dusting of spice. I’m really enjoying this.

First sniff: Golden, juicy, fruity… though I don’t know that I would have recognised this as peach. One of my best friends in high school wore peach lotion as a signature scent, and it always screamed PEACH! at me – Tamora is far more subtle. The texture is smooth and soft, like velvet fuzz, and it’s very warm. I like. Wearing: Ah, this is really lovely. The warmth of vanilla wraps around the brightness of the fruit, and it’s absolutely delicious. Wonderful stuff.

First sniff: There’s an undertone of dust, or decay, or something seriously funky around the dying white flowers of Les Fleurs du Mal. It’s an unsettling scent. Wearing: Blast o’floral! Not me.

First sniff: I seem to be smelling honey in everything these days, and that stays true for Follow Me Boy. Honey and sweet flowers. It’s a deeper, warmer scent than that description makes it sound… there’s a hint of the warm-flushed-skin feel of O or La Petite Mort. If I were a boy I’d definitely be tempted to follow a lady (of the night or otherwise ) who smelled like this. Wearing: Hoooooooly cats. Wow. This is YUM. Sultry-sweet and warm and slinky and deserving of a two-syllable DAMN. The sort of scent I think I maybe shouldn't have put on just before leaving for work... I am so wearing this for my boy next time I see him.

First sniff: Kweku Anansi smells… old. And green, and dusty, and… yup, there’s the pepper. Weirdly, it reminds me of an old library, even though there’s nothing bookish about the scent. It smells old in an awe-inspiring way, like Newgrange or the Lascaux Cave. Wearing: I know Anansi is the spider, but… this scent is what Morla, the old island-turtle in The Neverending Story, might smell like. Ancient and green and demanding of respect. I like the scent quite a bit more on me than in the vial – it’s simultaneously firmer and more aquatic, and the pepper (which worried me) seems to be staying in the background; I can only smell it if I put nose to wrist.

First sniff: Almond. Orange. Coconut? I can’t wait to see the “ingredients” when Decadence comes out. Wearing: Very bright-sweet almond (or cherry) when wet on my skin. I’m wondering if what I’m smelling is dragon’s blood – the oil has the same reddish tint as the dragon blends, but much lighter. The orange creeps in around it after a moment, adding a lovely juicy tartness. It grew deeper and warmer as it dried, and the final version of this scent seems to be what Seraglio would smell like if you removed the rose and amped up the warmth and slinkiness… fanTASTIC stuff.

First sniff: Chilly, minty, green. I wasn’t expecting cold – this poor kitty has just come in out of a winter night and her fur is chilly as she twines around your ankles. In the vial, Black Cat smells oddly like Lush’s Freeze shower gel. Wearing: Wet on my skin it still smells like Freeze… and then a few minutes later, there’s a breath of rose. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled rose and mint together… it’s very interesting. Sadly, when it dries, it turns to powdery rose and just isn't me.

First sniff: What is that fruit? It’s so familiar. The ingredients are no help, but I know I’ve smelled this before. It’s light, and slightly sharp, and very green, with lots of seeds. Kiwi?! A mystery. Wearing: Sweet soft fruit, golden and creamy. I think papaya is the fruit I was trying to find earlier… it’s not quite mango, but close, and not sharp enough to be pineapple. I’m very glad I got this as a freebie – I’d never have ordered it because of the frankincense, but it's lovely.

First sniff: Incense smoke with a bare hint of sweetness. Obeah is dark and mysterious. Wearing: Dude. Patchouli. With maybe some incense, the good kind that doesn’t freak out on my skin within seconds, and the sweetness is more pronounced… but mostly it’s yowza dark musky patchouli. (Which I can actually get away with, so yay!) It is decidedly masculine, yup – but it’s good. Not nice, not pretty, but dark and smoky and good. Dragon’s Heart is my “bring it on” scent – I suspect Obeah might end up being my “don’t fuck with me” scent. I feel like I should be stalking about with my eyes narrowed when I smell like this.

First sniff: Thick and medicinal, and very slightly minty. The scent of Hemlock perfectly matches the bright green colour of the oil. Wearing: Cool and green and mediciney. Rainwater, mint and lime. Very different.

First sniff: A light, delicate, watery rose. The palest of pink. Wearing: Wet on my skin, Moon Rose is stronger than I thought – there’s an immediate aura of misty rose, with a touch of green. It’s very soft, shy and innocent. It isn’t something I’ll wear often, but I’ll definitely keep it around for when I’m feeling girly.

First sniff: Red sweetness over very dry wood, with an astringent bite to the high note. I’m not sure about this one. Wearing: The name Dragon’s Bone keeps conjuring images (warning! Magic geekery ahead!) of the dracolich Bladewing the Risen. Fortunately, it’s not nearly as creepy as that beastie. I’m having a hard time figuring out what it smells like though… as much as I adore dragon’s blood, this one doesn’t seem to be making much of an impression beyond “sweet and dusty-dry.”

First sniff: That’s coffee, all right. The darkest roast you can imagine – no sugar, no cream, very strong… the kind of coffee that would make a Marine drill sergeant flinch at its bitterness. And it’s sitting on the breakfast table beside a sparse bouquet of pale girly flowers. What a contrast. Wearing: I was all geared up to wait out several minutes of choking coffee scent, after reading other reviews of Mata Hari (and Beth’s warning), but the flowers explode on my skin and I can smell the coffee only very faintly if I sniff my wrist. Jasmine and rose, no question – but it’s a very warm scent, and jasmine usually smells cool to me. This is not your average floral. After a few minutes the coffee peers out again, adding a dark spice under the flowers. By the end of the night it had dried to an interesting vanilla-tinted rose, and I’m not entirely sure what I think of it. I’ll have to try it again.

First sniff: The predominant note is sweet almond (or maybe cherry… I sometimes can’t tell them apart), and… well, that’s pretty much all I can smell in the vial. Like Seraglio, Horn of Plenty reminds me of the taste of my mom’s almond iced tea. Wearing: Ooh. I like this. It smells like dessert. As it dries it goes smoky, with a hint of incense, but seems to be behaving itself. Something I'll definitely wear again.

Old Glasgow might be worth a look. The same sort of berry, but decidedly chilly where Bordello is sultry-warm.

First sniff: Oh, this is pretty. Big lush flowers in the rain, and I seem to smell cold stone underneath, though I think that’s more an association with pictures of Machu Picchu than anything I’m actually smelling. Wearing: There’s a fruity ripeness in among the flowers, and a splash of citrus. It’s fresh, sweet and very pleasant. In the vial it’s raining, but when it dries it’s the sun after the rain – the leaves are still dripping, but above them is warmth and light. I LOVE this and cannot stop sniffing myself.

First sniff: Very sweet floral in the vial – maybe jasmine, gardenia or honeysuckle. It’s in that category of bright sweet florals that I have a hard time distinguishing from one another. Wearing: I tried honeysuckle tea once, and Has No Hanna reminds me very much of the scent of that tea. It’s very sweet, very white and very pretty. After a couple of minutes there’s something cooler underneath, as if the honeysuckle were twined around a solid green stem. I swapped (Old) New Orleans away quite a while ago, but this scent reminds me of what that smelled like. It took a while to grow on me, but this one is a keeper.

Kali and Intrigue both dry to a lovely cocoa-intensive scent on me. Intrigue is cocoa and fig when it dries; Kali has a lot going on over the course of the scent, but on my skin, is mostly dark chocolate and red wine in the end.

First sniff: The sharpest of peppermint over pale fruit. Anything else is far in the background – the peppermint leaps straight up my nose and hammers on my brain. Wearing: This made me instantly hungry. Grapefruit, maybe, under the peppermint, and something darker in there too. Nine Mysteries definitely makes my nose tingle, and goes oddly dusty after a few minutes. I'll need to try it again before I decide.

First sniff: Smoky honey, a hint of powder, and something brightly floral underneath. Queen reminds me of the general scent of a Lush shop when you first walk in the door, a mingling of all sorts of scents. Wearing: Very powdery-floral when first applied. After a few minutes a citrusy note pops out, almost like a powdery lemon... and then it turns to pepper. Hmmmm. I’m not overly fond of it as a perfume, but I may try it elsewhere.