Shollin

CCXVI. A swap from ayelienne; no previous reviews. First sniff: There’s something really sharp in here. The underscent smells like white grapes, and it’s quite nice, but there’s a sharpness that goes owie right up my nose. It makes me think of the SN Mimosa that hated me so very much when I tried it on. Wearing: Gah! Whatever the sharpness is, it’s very prominent, and the pretty fruity underneath part doesn’t save it. Dang.

First sniff: Hee hee! I was expecting Jolly Ranchers and that’s exactly what I’m getting. It’s super-fruity but crystallized and candy-sweet. Mostly watermelon and citrus. Wearing: My wrists are made of lollipops! And the tart citrus takes the edge off the sugary sweetness. To the point that – astonishingly – it actually becomes a little too tart for me as it dries. Which is just nuts considering the amount of sugar in the wet stages. Mighty Morphin’ Power Treat!

First sniff: Well, that’s interesting, it’s… hmmm. Boozey red. Loud. Bright. Crowded. Not the kind of place I’d want to hang out. Wearing: I can’t even focus properly on this; it’s just giving me images of a too-loud bar with too much neon and waaay too many people jammed into one room. Frenzied delirium, indeed.

Imbues you with additional spiritual, mental, and emotional strength. Tremendously stimulating and energizing. First sniff: Vaguely medicinal and more than a little sharp. It’s an almost menthol-y herbal. Wearing: Aha – I bet it’s eucalyptus. It’s actually quite nice on my skin, and I’m getting the shock-of-cold-water alertness that I usually get from cold/minty scents. It’s a little bit fruity underneath… ooh, this is what I hoped Jabberwocky would be on me. An initial burst of eucalyptus followed by smooth orange. So incredibly much better on me than in the vial.

First sniff: Yay purple! It’s definitely a regal and majestic purple, rather than a playful silly color. I get mostly wine and dark fruit from the vial. Wearing: Dark fruit and blanket-warmth. Very cozy.

First sniff: This scent makes me think of falling into the spiky center of a giant red poppy – a heady floral with a sharp edge to it. Wearing: Much cooler and greener on me. It’s still quite floral, but the mood has changed completely.

First sniff: Mmmmmm. White musk and soft lemon. Wearing: Very, very lemon, a bit blurred and soft-focus around the edges. It gets a bit dry-woody as it dries.

First sniff: A chocolate-orange truffle with a coconut aftertaste. Oh, hallelujah. Except now I’m really hungry. Wearing: Bright orange and mint over wonderfully deep chocolate. And the coconut intensifies as it dries. YUM.

First sniff: Yikes. Mr. Zahn seriously needs to tune his instrument. His Music is a sharp, loud cacophony of … something unpleasant. Vetiver is never nice to me, so I didn’t expect to like this one. Wearing: The topnote is really nice, a very interesting bright golden note I don’t think I’ve smelled before. Tamarind, maybe? But underneath is the swampy vetiver and thick black musk, and the lovely soprano melody isn’t enough to save it from the pounding bass dissonance below.

First sniff: Funeral flowers with an edge of bright sweetness. Wearing: Hello, violet! You always turn to powder on me, and you’re staying very true to your nature. Ah well.

CCXXX (A lovely wee sniffie from Deana. Thanks!) First sniff: Ooh, yum. This one smells like coconut and berries. Very desserty. Wearing: It’s the same pure white coconut as in Obatala, with a little splash of bright berry, and a blanket of soft vanilla as it dries. Just stunning. Previously reviewed by Scarlett.

First sniff: Erg. Dragon’s blood and Red Hots?! There’s so much other wonderful stuff listed in here, but the cassia is chewing on my nose and I can’t smell anything else. Wearing: Owie. Now it’s chewing on my wrist. I can catch a hint of something darker underneath the screaming cinnamon candy, but it’s spicy-sweet in a very aggressive way.

First sniff: Sharp, dark, sweet, hard-edged. I can’t make sense of it and I can’t handle it. It’s the too-loud sweetness of almond with the threatening sharpness of pine. Wearing: Just too much. Too sharp, too sweet, too much.

First sniff: Pale fruits and flowers and soft musk. The pear is at the forefront with its delightfully odd texture. Wearing: Oh, wow. Pear and orchid, immediately and very definitely – this isn’t a pale, reserved scent. It’s unabashedly gorgeous, incredibly deep and subtly sweet.

First sniff: Soft incense and bright citrus. It’s yellow-orange and very cheerful. Wearing: It’s a lovely mood-booster. It’s hard for me to get a proper sniff because I left it off my wrists, just did the chakra application, so I can’t really get my nose to any of the application points! But the aura is that lovely citrusy incense. Ooh, wait… I can smell it if I stick my nose inside my sweater. I don’t think I can do that at work, though. It’s very warm and golden and inviting. (I should note here that I’m speaking of the scent, not my cleavage!)

First sniff: Tall, graceful, somber flowers. The lily is at the forefront with its big fleshy petals. Wearing: Goes to powder pretty quickly, alas. It’s a deep, soft powder, not your average floofy talcum scent, but it’s still too powdery for my taste.

First sniff: Lavender incense? It’s definitely resinous, but there’s something softer draped across the top. Wearing: Soft incense and lavender. It’s very soothing; I’m glad I put it on just before bed.

First sniff: A little bit of incense, a little bit of berry, a little bit of sugar. It’s all very soft and faint. Wearing: It’s so soft I almost can’t tell I’m wearing anything. There’s a wisp of incense smoke and a waft of sweetness, but it’s quite reserved.

First sniff: I get almost nothing from the bottle but a wisp of linen shroud. All the deeper notes seem to be hiding. Wearing: Soft white flowers on my wrist, and the sadly short-lived waft from my neck was all blackcurrant. The darker side that drew me to this scent, the myrrh and the musk and the resin, is nowhere to be found.

First sniff: Appropriately, I find I cannot say which note is sweetest there. It’s a swirl of soft fruity musky florals. Wearing: Warm peach fuzz and gentle musk. Very soft and sensuous.

First sniff: Dark water, dark streets, dark dealings. It’s very cold and ominous, not the raucous pirate town I was expecting. Definitely the sort of place where you shouldn’t be out at night. There’s a salt-air tinge, too. Wearing: Ah, there’s the rum. Much more spicy than boozey, fortunately, with deep wood underneath.

First sniff: Hee! What is it with the creepy Cthulhoid scents and evil grapefruit? R’lyeh is the grapefruit of dark unholy deeds (tm amaltheagray), and now Night-Gaunt is killer psycho grapefruit with the crazy eyes. It’s super-sharp. It wants to eat me. Wearing: Can’t sleep… grapefruit will eat me… The sharpness reminds me of Aizen-Myoo, but there’s no cherry-blossom-tea splash to take the edge off – it’s just blade-edged citrus all the way.

First sniff: Wow, this one is really sweet, and somehow… dirty. Like berries and patchouli. Wearing: Completely different. My skin cuts the sweetness entirely, and it settles into a really nice citrus-but-deeper.

First sniff: Velvet cherries. Wearing: Velvet cherries and a hint of bitterness.

First sniff: Rich and red, plums and berries and wine. Wearing: It’s very very winey; I can’t smell much else.