annaham

I get sugared rose and a bit of fresh greenery, which fades to a light citrus. This is very unique and wintery scent!

My fave aquatic ever is Sturgeon Moon, from 2008. Bayou is probably the best GC equivalent of it--there's a bit of sharp greenery, but it's mostly watery without being too soapy.

1.5 oz gin ½ oz dry sherry ½ oz lemon juice 1 tsp pumpkin butter 2 dashes of Averna amaro Pour the gin, sherry, lemon juice, pumpkin butter, and liqueur to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake that mofo and strain it into a rocks glass filled with ice and a strong, spicy ginger ale. Stir gently, and garnish with a cinnamon stick or human finger bone. This one is SO WEIRD and I'm glad I ordered a bottle. In the bottle, it smells like very high-quality fizzy water with a tiny bit of squash--not much sweetness, and it's almost mildly astringent. After the dry-down, it smells like a light gin and tonic with a little pumpkin--but not sweet. This is a very subtle scent and really unique.

I couldn't really smell the smoke in this one upon sniffing, but it came out A LOT after I applied it. Smoke and woods--very nice.

In decant: Camphor and dirt, along with a chilly mint note that might be the "icicle" component. On skin: DIRT, DIRT, DIRT! Drydown: More dirt. Ten minutes later, bleach. My skin DOES NOT like this one bit, unfortunately. Alas, not what I was expecting, even if the idea is really interesting!

I like the sandalwood and green, slippery mandarin notes here a lot, but in my decant there's a dirt note that's so strong that it's not very pleasing to my nose. I may try combining it with another citrus scent to see if the dirt calms down a little.

I really wish this one lasted more than 10 minutes on me, because it is AWESOME. It's a really nice, soft minty citrus with the smallest hint of orange blossom when I sniff it, then the snow note amps up once it's on my skin. Five minutes: snow, with a cool overlay of tangerine and mint. Ten minutes: GONE. ETA: Ok, I tested this again today, and the wear time is a LOT better this time around, for some reason? I got three hours of wear time this time around, and the drydown was a nice soft currant and slightly citrusy blend. Don't think I'll go for a whole bottle, but I am so glad that I gave this one another test!

This one is a lot sweeter than I was expecting; on first sniff, I get slightly green tree branches and snow. It dries down to snow and fur on me, after the initial push of green, foresty snow that lasts about 10 minutes. Pleasantly surprised by this one!

I loooooove the original Sin (no pun intended, I swear!). It is definitely in my top 5 of GC scents. When I wear it, I don't get as much cinnamon as I do amber and patchouli and cedar-ish loveliness. So this one was quite a surprise, since the cinnamon goes WOOHOO on my skin within about a minute. It's JUST pumpkin and cinnamon on me. That's it. Not that this is a problem, however; the only thing I don't care for is the slightly itchy (????) feeling I get on any application spots when I first put it on--the feeling reminds me of hives that I get when I get particularly bad allergic reactions (yuck). I suppose that's the cinnamon as well. I will probably let this one age for a bit to see if the cinnamon-itchiness will calm down a little. (If not, my partial bottle is probably going in the swap pile.)

The sherry note REALLY amps on me, and it sort of smells like dust and booze...after the initial opium blast calms down in 5 minutes. I may end up getting a partial bottle--love this!

This one is...interesting. At first, it goes SUPER sandalwood on me, then dries down to citrus (think tangerines) plus something a bit woodsy after about 20 minutes. Probably not bottle-worthy, but I can see myself wearing it on cold days.

I've tried Yew Trees but it faded within about ten minutes; I'll have to get imps of these with my next order! Thanks for the recs.

I am down to my last ml or so of Yule 2010...can anyone suggest similar scents from the GC or from this year's Yule update? I'm really looking for the strong pine/fir notes that seem to be not all there in this year's version...these woodsy/green notes are similar to those found in Silent Forest bath oil as well.

This one is super-floral on me, with a bit of saltiness, immediately after application. It dries down after about 15-20 minutes, however, into a nice salt-air fragrance that's VERY reminiscent of Bayou. I was really worried about the floral (leaf, in actuality) note the first time I tried it, as I ordered a bottle unsniffed (had to have it since I'm from the Bay Area!). However, I am over the moon with this one after the dry-down; it exceeded my expectations. Fantastic; a must-have for people who love aquatic scents.

This is one floral-y scent that actually ended up working for me, and was a surprise hit of the 'Weens this year! It sort of dries to a very nice hydrangea/cocoa leaf/tobacco blend for me. The throw isn't as long as I'd like (about 4-5 hours at most), but it's still lovely. I'm glad I got a partial of this one.

LOVE THIS. It smells shockingly similar to Hellhound on My Trail, a blend that I love dearly.

In bottle: VERY green, a bit overpowering at first. I can definitely smell the heather and the anise. On skin: Smells a lot like Dog Days of Summer, which is sort of odd. I am happy to report that it dries to a nice, sage-y scent with a hint of anise! I am pleased.

Judith and Holofernes

Egle might work--it has Hyacinth, but it seems to be a very sharp note, and the jasmine and salt water notes balance it out nicely.

I was really quite skeptical about this one; loved it in the imp (mmm, vanilla cupcakes!), but was not sure that it would work. It did, and now I am a bit disappointed that I didn't order a bottle! After about ten minutes on my skin, it begins to smell almost EXACTLY like Huesos de Santo does on me--minus the anise seed note. I can see why people are so crazy about this one!

Maybe Moana, Sturgeon Moon or Black Swan? They're pretty rare (and Black Swan is retail-only), but they're my favorite aquatic scents and I wear them regularly. As for GC, Bayou is fantastic.

All my skin gets when this one goes on is BOOZE, BOOZE, BOOZE, with a slight hint of lime. I certainly don't wear this one every day, but it's nice for either a very cold or somewhat warm day.

Loved this one in the imp. However, my skin didn't react so well, as it turned from OH YAY JASMINE to COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE. I wanted to like this one, but it just did not work on my skin!