Lamia

Notes from first wearing say "complex, soapy". The musk and poemgranite twine, patchouli is barely discernable. Vanilla gives it another layer. Divine, and I drenched myself in it for Easter.

In bottle, it's sharp, almost painful to smell. Wet on skin, the jasmine is screaming against sandalwood, both cupped in musk. It settles down very quickly to the oakmoss and ginger. I think this fades by lunchtime, but I could be immune Husband does NOT like this scent on me mwhahahaaaaa

In the bottle it's quite fruity. On skin, it smells like some sort of bath bubble oil mousturizing something. It smells very blue-green, like some sort of aquatic-themed clear-bottled product from Bed Bath & Beyond. Drydown pulls out a fruitier scent. Very light and fresh. Husband volunteered that it is "pretty". I'm rather fond of this one.

Lots of vanilla. Over an hour after applying it, there is a touch of patchouli, and because I have now read the ingredient list, the smallest bite of pine. Did I mention the vanilla? Husband does not like this one.

Cheap candy when wet, drydown turns generically fruity, without the plummy richness of Frumious Bandersnatch, rather a reediness that reminds me more of Absinthe. Further oxidation brings out the (presumable) sea moss, which smells musty. Trade bag, oh yeah.

OH MY GOD. It's like... the most amazing chocolate you've ever had. With French Vanilla overtones and a bourbon-musky low note. I want to devour myself whenever I wear this.

Wet, this smells yellow, or green to me, not purple. Drydown, there is a hint of semen, but that fades quickly LOL This is a light floral with a deep undertone. As time passes, it becomes lighter and sweeter, but not nauseating the way many other florals are. Quite agreeable and pleasant for a floral scent. Hours later, it swirls back into potency, with a fantastic scent (somewhat like a combo of frankincense and amber), but it's a slow evolve.

This is acky. Wet, it's bubblegum, pure and hideous. It quickly becomes sticky lollipops, just like the description says, and fortunately the bubblegum fades. Sort of. I was ready to wash this off, it was so icky, but drydown helped. Under the sugared sweetness was a cruel stabbing scent, something vicious. I suppose that was the "heady womanly perfume". It's still yucky. WHERE IS MY KALI??

In the bottle it smells like... do you remember in the 70's and 80's perfume companies used to send out sampler bottles? They'd arrive in the mail and they were always floral and underwhelming but DAMNIT they were free and so grown up! Nothing you'd wear but IT CAME IN THE MAIL! Yeah, that's what this smells like in the bottle, one of those. On skin, it smells like... celery? An unsolicited freebie perfume sample based on celery? Alas... Drydown, I guess it's a combo of leather and oakmoss. Boring. Trade bag.

Wet, a generic floral. On skin, a tropical citrus leaps out. This quickly blurs into a solemn, dusty and complex yet subdued floral. Final verdict = smells like bath beads. Interesting but not something I'd want more than an imp's worth of.

I ordered this as an imp for my mother, and stole a wear before delivering. This smells quite like Calvin Kline's Obsession. Very potent when first applied, and for about an hour afterwards. Then fades rapidly. That's ok, because PHEW potent!

Pleasant and cheerful. Entirely as expected, while a reasonably quick fade.

Wet, it is a painful citrus (verbena?). It quickly turns to cinnamon (cinnamon-lemon?). A constantly evolving scent, I can't pin this down, and now the cherry is peeking out. Interesting and mutable A fairly quick fade.

A standard forgettable floral.

This smelled like lemon bubblegum NO wait, the lemon is gone, it's cinnamon NO, that's not it, it's... *ambles off to read the forum, since there was no ingredient list posted on the BPAL site* ... yeah, I can agree with "creamsicle". But it's a hot creamsicle. This smells hot, yet sugary, and cinnamon-almost, and creamy. Drydown brings out frankincense, which I LOVE. Sort of clay-ey, with mild frankincense. It's a subtle intruiging scent, not something that I would choose to wear every day, but quite pleasant. I think the creamy scent is amber. I may have *finally* found another amber that works nicely. ADDED Feb. 12: When I first tried this, all I could think of was WARM CREAMSICLE WOW! It's one of the few ambers that work well on me, so I treasured that test. I was *finally* fortunate to get hold of a 5ml, and it's different (ah body chemistry!) This time, fresh on skin it was quite minty. It warmed up, but for a while it was still mentholated, while being warm at the same time. It has settled into a warm minty pastey scent, which is exactly nothing like my notes LOL I will test again during my cycle and see if that makes the difference.

In the bottle, sharp and good. On skin, snap of citrus. Drydown removes the orange. The peach softens the patchouli, and leaves the incense with the soft overlay of the self-negating peach and patchouli. Eventually leaves a soft incense of peach. Interesting pleasant scent. Fades quickly.

Wet, makes me think of the sitting room of a Lady Of A Certain Age who has one cigarette every day at 4pm, with a cocktail - quite floral with a light touch of a freshly-opened box of fags. The nicotine faded quickly and became even more floral. Hm, "Old Woman-y", I thought. The currants grew in strength, making me think of Frumious Bandersnatch, which I love, and I smelled juicier instead of flowery. Sitting on the sofa across the room from the husband, I got an uncoached and unsolicited "You smell pretty" at a time when the cycle was Old Woman Flowers instead of Ripe Fruits, so I call that a bonus. It pulses, evolving, and is extremely evasive. Fascinating!

HOLY MARY MOTHER OF KITTENS is this fabulous! I smell delicious. NO ONE should smell this delicious! Husband says I'm obsessed, because I kept snuffling myself *grin*

I smell like a damn dirty hippy LOL I love patchouli, really, it's divine. But this is some damn powerful dark patchouli, and there's nothing to buffer the apricot. It smells like someone's mom, in 1967, sprayed some fruit scented air freshener in a room after their Free Lovin' daughter left to go protest something at the local college. I'll keep this, but won't be ordering more, phew! It fades, leaving the apricot as a more dominant note over the patchouli, Interesting, but takes much too long to develop.

Citrusy in the bottle. On skin, when sniffed up close it's very grapefruit. When allowed to waft naturally, it smells like the rice paper that is wrapped around Chinese candy.

HOLY CRAP this is fabulous. In the bottle it was musky, opening the bottle became astringent. On my skin, it smelled instantly like dirt, then almost immediately became a light round scent. It smells like one of those really expensive handmade soaps that you find in a small boutique run by clever artists, something really self-indulgent that you'd never buy for yourself unless someone gave you a gift certificate. It's not my usual scent, think it's the florals that are scything (HA) through the patchouli, musk and sandalwood. Yummmmmm... Sadly, it's a quick fade. Applied at 8:45am, almost entirely gone by 11:45am.

This is delish. Reminds me quite a bit of The Music Of Erich Zahn ajowan, vetiver, black musk, opoponax, mimosa, tamarind. Alas, it also doesn't last very long. Only traces remain in the afternoon.

Interestingly, it reminds me a bit of Anne Bonny (patchouli, sandalwood, frankincense) (explain THAT one!), with the mandarin orange as a powerful ingredient. I adore Anne Bonny, and love this one as well.

Man is this NICE! I think it smells like candy for grownups, some sort of gelee. Husband says I smell like Pez. What does he know??

I put this on and instantly thought "This is like Queen Of Sheba ... WITH CHOCOLATE ZOMG!!!" And within only a few minutes, it started to smell like coconut and chocolate. I have no idea why. And since I am not fond of coconut, I have no desire to smell like a Mounds Bar. Within a half-hour, it faded almost entirely, leaving a faint floral.