Raqassah

Wow! This oil smells good! Caramel - but not sickly sweet! My package arrived today which was really fortuitous. I'd been very distressed by some relationship stuff. A really bad situation. Let's just say I was blown away by their effectiveness. I cleaned the house and burned the oils in the burner and did some rituals. It looks like everything is resolving itself.

Wet: Fresh citrusy green floral. Soft lemon verbena smell. OMG this is fantastic on my skin. Dry down: On dry down the tea comes out. Just a hint of jasmine – not sickly sweet, not soapy. No powder. Soft and sophisticated. Lots of layers. Final impression: Fresh citrus floral – neroli and jasmine. Husband :" Yum – that smells nice." Not sickly sweet or cloying. I thought that this would be good and it is. Must have bottle.

Wet: Strong floral (pansy ?) note. Very sweet and a bit one dimensional. Husband said “Soapy”. Dry down: Sweet, innocuous – a bit soapy. Final impressions: A good scent for a lazy late spring Sunday afternoon. Frimp.

Wet: Musk and violets (must be the orris). Husband initially said “Too strong” then on a second test “mmm spicy”. Dry down: Initially, light floral /violet musk. Didn’t get any coconut notes. Coconut notes developed with aging. Final impressions: Quite nice.

Wet: Vanilla with a dark incensey undertone. Dry down: Husband said: “Mmm... sexy… dinner not day.” Vanilla, poweder, patcholi or myrrh. Becomes sexier with age. Final impression: Age some more and then wear again. Naughty.

Wet: Mmmm…sexy jasmine with almond. Like heady, dark slightly illicit kisses. Tinged with madness. Dry down: Still notes of jasmine, mixed with darkness. Wood/musk/resin notes start to come to the fore. Final Impression: Wear with caution. Could cause someone to lose their head.

Wet: Toasted hazelnuts and almonds. Honey. Spices.Dry down: Toasted nuts and perfume.Final impressions: Try again. The toasty notes dominate when wet. Still uncertain if this works on my skin.Wet: Toasted hazelnuts and almonds. Honey. Spices.Dry down: Toasted nuts and perfume.Final impressions: Try again. The toasty notes dominate when wet. Still uncertain if this works on my skin.

Wet:Corrupted violets sprinkled with salt. Hints of woodsy/resin notes. Dry down: Myrrh and sandlewood overlaid with sweet flag note. Final impression: Sophisticated and formal with a hint of a dark brooding quality. Mmmmm....

Wet: Jasmine, white musk. Rose heart notes. The rose doesn’t amp on my skin. An underlying incense note. Dry down: Nice. Moderate throw. Jasmine and rose are not cloying - well balanced. Very fresh floral. Clean smelling. Not sickening. Not soapy. Final impressions: Mmm….Great with a little black dress.

Wet: Jasmine with a hard edge. Husband said, okay but with an undertone of something weird – like sweaty frog armpits – and as a lapsed biologist he knows that frogs don’t have sweat or have armpits. Smells like a dryer sheet to me. Dry down: Cloying. Jasmine!!!!! Frog armpits and baby powder. Final impressions: Didn’t work well on my skin. Jasmine with a bitter note and lots of baby powder. Would make a lovely laundry scent. Scent locket? This is lovely on my friend! Sigh!

Wet: Sophisticated. Very warm and dry smelling. Tropical flowers. Ozone. Stone. Resins. Dry down: Incense. Keeps morphing. Never smells the same twice. Final impression: Sophisticated. Try again.

Wet: Mmm… wine, honey and raisins. Roses. Musk? Notes of cinnamon and iris, cedar, juniper berry, frankincense, myrrh? Husband didn’t like “too edgy” Dry down: Very strong. My skin amped the florals. Better on dry down. Final impression: Quite strong musk with spices and wine! With aging became complex and sexy. A keeper.

Wet:Johnson’s Baby powder, musk, rose and sandalwood. No bergamot or mandarin. Dry down: Roses! Spices! Baby powder with sandal wood. Final impressions: Roses! Initially, didn’t quite work with my skin. So near and yet so far! I really wanted this to work as I used to dance with a troupe called the Veils of Baghdad. I retried this after a few weeks... With aging this one got much better! Yay - works much better now. Still a heavy floral.

Wet: Mmmm soft gentle neroli and a hint of orange. Dry down:Very sweet without being over powering, sexy. Suitable to wear to work. Final impression: Yum! Very very nice.

Wet/Initial impression: Honey, milk and chai spices. Dry down: Soft sweet musk!Not sickly like musk often goes. Very second skin – with an undernote of ginger and flowers. Final thoughts: Very pleasant. Mellow but sexy. Not overt. Would make a good seduction scent – to be discovered in the hollow of the neck. Morphs to powder eventually.

Initial impression/ Wet: Sweetpea with amber and vanilla Dry down: Sweet and generic floral.Not overpowering. Final thoughts: Nice but not me??? Try again to determine. Frimp

Wet/Initial impression: Fresh mandarin paired with fig. Dry down: Sweet fruity softness. Juicy. Final thoughts: Soft and sexy. Warm skin. Nice to wear to bed – not overpowering.

Initial impression/Wet: Rich heady florals. Honeyscucle/gardenia – something white? Dry down: Light fresh florals with a touch of sexy naughtyness. Final thoughts: Very nice.

... Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus. Initial impressions/Wet: Amber and almond. Very sweet – nose tingly. Very strong! Too much! Then a strong floral starts to emerge. Drying: Floral starts to come out. Sharper – less sweet. Very perfumey – white flowers. Gives me a headache. After several hours this mellows out to a pretty but strong floral. Final thoughts: Smells like a very nice high end perfume. My skin amped the florals big time! This is one that I need to think about. Pretty, but doesn’t work that well on me. Sigh!

Initial impression/ Wet: Grapefruit, white tea, apple blossom and ginger. Very refreshing. Dry down: Sharp bright grapefruit and tea. Final thoughts:Very fresh and lively.Soft citrus with ginger. Delightful! Mmmm.... Get a bottle.

Initial impression: Spicy musk layered with carnation and sandalwood. Wet: A warm golden brown smell. As it dries the carnation peeks out. Woodsy carnation – some musk - with a sweet base note. Almost a treacle smell. Spice disappears.Not a huge amount of throw. Dry down. As before. Later on a faint plastic/synthetic note develops then dissapears. Final thoughts: Nice but not really me.

Initial impression/ Wet: Marine. Seaweedy. Blue. Like sea minerals shampoo. Clean. Unisex. Dry down: Doesn’t go foul on my skin like most ozone scents. Expensive high end mineral soap. Final thoughts: Very clean. Pleasant but a bit too soapy on me. It would make a nice bath product scent. Maybe bath salts. Great if you want to be scented but not smell like perfume. Frimp.

Wet: Roses with a hint of bitter orange and clove. Drydown: Rose soap with light musk. Not very exciting on my skin today. A bit raw or unfinished. Dry: Okay- a bit ordinary – very very rose. Don’t get the complexity of the base notes or top notes. Try again when matured.

Wet: Sharp candy/artificial fruit and roses Drying: Floribunda roses Dry down: Rose soap. Doesn’t work very well with my skin today. I'll try this one again as it was not offensively heavy - just rather sweet and soapy on me. I was hoping for tangy tart pomegranates with less rose.

In the bottle: Strong artificial fruit and incense. Wet: Strong artificial fruit and incense. drying/10 minutes: Like one of the indie perfume oils I used to wear in high school. Very dark and sweet. Very hippy. Nostalgic. dry/40 minutes: Too sweet on my skin. Musk and incense. My husband REALLY disliked this - “unpleasant, sweaty”. Not the desired effect! Sigh - I really wanted this one to work.