polydactyl

In the bottle: Sugary, candied pears. Wet: It's fruity and fermented. Three different notes fight for prominence: heady honey, ketone-rich pear, and watery sweet-pea. The combined effect is dizzying, like alcoholic cotton candy. The vanilla doesn't make an big appearance here, but the strawberry keeps popping up now and again through the melee until it's the only note remaining at the end. Strawberry wins the fight! A light, sweet, totally crazy scent.

In the bottle: Reminiscent of Snake Oil without the strong vanilla. Patchouli and cassia. Very dark red in mood. Wet: I love the way this scent is orchestrated. A warm and sensual base of spice and resin with a hint of tobacco providing the feel of smoke and ashes. Mandarin and plum appear later on, respectively providing golden sparks and mellow sweetness. I'm glad I tried this. Beth has done a great job evoking the theme of fiery rebirth. This scent absolutely smoulders.

In the beginning, sharp, heady, herbal lavender that is gradually sweetened by a light floral note. I think that it's the orchid and it reminds me of the scent of lilies with that honey and pollen smell. The combination of these two notes makes me think of butterflies in a garden - delicate-winged butterflies fluttering over budding purple flowers. Later, I can detect the zing of the rose (some rose notes smell like static to me) mixed up with the orchid. Very strongly floral at this stage. I hardly detect any frankincense except as a sense of there being something "golden" in the background. In a couple of hours it fades away to a light musk with a tiny, subtle spiciness. Very nice, a sad and beautiful scent.

This scent is very womanly and sensual, very good for wearing at night or somewhere swank and classy, very "perfumey". Bathsheba starts out sparkling sweet with hint of tartness underneath. It's not as fruity as I'd expect it to be, and I don't sense the carnation's clove until the oil has faded a bit. It might be the Arabian musk that is dominant in this scent, though it isn't "musky" at all, but as smooth as satin sheets (purple ones, of course). As sexy as an ideal plum, ripe and juicy sweet.

To start with, a huge blast of zesty grapefruit oil as striking as a (ahem) huge, toothy grin. As this fades away, I'm hit with a combination of sharp lavender and animal musk. Not the civet type of musk, but definitely strong. This is a pungent mix that doesn't clash but comes off as sweet and effervescent, like a citrus cola. As time passes, the oil reveals a tinge of jam made with red fruits, and I end up with a sweet, musky scent that lasts through the day.

I like roses, so the sheer extravagance of this oil's description really appealed. However, I've got a problem with a certain rose note that smells like static to me, so I was wary about that. I knew that this was going to be over-the-top roses, and I wasn't wrong. This scent was rich and heady and almost intoxicating. It actually smelled like red wine and candy! I detected a bit of the static rose note, but it would fade in and out of the melange, so that didn't bother me at all. The sheer power of rose covered up the grass notes for me. Very lush and decadent. It is also is a good reminder that not all roses smell alike!

The funny thing about this oil is that it doesn't seem to resemble its description. The most prominent note isn't foody, it's the linen note you'd find in Dirty. I guess the tablecloth takes precedent over the tea party. That's why I keep smelling milky peaches and apricots when I first apply. It even sort of smells like a watermelon when it's all ripe and grainy. It's pleasant, but unexpected. My bpal-trained senses detect a bit of honey at the start, too. There is also a tiny bit of lemon which makes me think is the ginger. The scent is not very spicy or creamy, but clean and fresh and watery. Like most linen scents, it's very strong and long-lasting. Only towards the end, does more creaminess come out and I finally get a splash of milk tea on my clean linens.

This is a very spicy, invigorating scent. I think I smell sandalwood, cinnamon and something like ginger or ginseng. It's very zesty, a bit dry, and sort of Eastern medicinal-smelling, but I don't really mind this. I don't smell any other scents like florals, they may be overwhelmed by the spices. The oil doesn't change much throughout time, it just fades away. This oil reminds me of a Asian herbal shop, or even more fantastic - a crowded spice bazaar in the desert.

This was my first 5mL! It's a gentle rose floating in sweet milk, with carnation and bergamot subtly accenting the sweetness with a hint of spice. It's like being patted by a big, pink powder puff while being dressed up in your best frock that you're wearing to tea at the vicarage. Wouldn't have thought that this little girl scent would suit me so well, but it practically sinks into my skin. Only thing is, Alice is so delicate that I can't wear it when it's too hot or else my skin makes it go a bit off. So Alice and I will be shivering together throughout the long winter .

I've tried Vice, Gluttony and a couple of L.E's, but this is the most authentically chocolatey oil of them all. Though I don't think it's an exact match to real milk chocolate, it's pretty close. It's creamy cocoa with a hint of vanilla and something toasted, like hazelnut. When I put this oil on, I smell like I've been rubbing a bar of Dairy Milk all over my skin. Very yummy. And a mystery to rival the Caramilk secret: how do they get this oil so colourless and clear?

I ordered this imp just before Antique Lace was discontinued. Now that it's coming back, I finally got up the nerve to put enough on to review it properly. The first thing I noticed about this oil was the gorgeous, clinging vanilla that makes up its most prominent note. It's smokier and less dessert-like than the vanilla you'd find in Snake Oil. Funnily enough, it reminds me of the scent of the dolls I had as a kid. It lasts a long time,too. The first time I put on a dab, the vanilla clung on to my shirt sleeves for a couple of days. Next, after the vanilla, comes this delicate, powdery floral. It makes me think of my mom's makeup drawer, the way the faint scents mingled together along with the dried flowers on her dressing table. It's very pretty. This oil really evokes the idea of nostalgia for me. This is going to be my first 10 mL. I'm so glad it's coming back.

Now, I don't like fruit and it don't like me. Most fruity scents make me think of gummi bears or jello. But I'm also a classics dork, so I was attracted by the description for The Hanging Gardens and was pleased when I received it as a frimp. As long as it didn't smell like generic fruit punch, it would be fine. The oil is a attractive light coral colour, very pretty. Opening the imp, I get a sweet mix of fruit and florals. The sweetness is also rather dry and woody as well, the way a garden really smells like, with all the scents from different plants combining and clashing. That's a really great beginning. When the oil is on me, the scent reminds me of the concentrated sweetness of dried fruit, the way it's slightly smoky. I get different fruit smells coming out as time goes on; something acetone like pears to start, then a peach-like scent, and lastly something with the hint of grapes at the very end. The roses aren't very apparent in this blend; I never detected them at any time. This is a great oil, light, sweet and complex. Although it's not my kind of scent, I quite like it.

Wet, it smells sharp and pine-resinous, with a underlying sweetness. The sharpness is obviously the juniper; it's very zippy and refreshing, slightly ozone-like (like gin!). The sweetness is probably due to the orchid. It's reminiscent of something in Psyche; a light, delicate scent, but in Oberon it's not as strong and therefore not very floral. As it dries, the juniper is taken over by a clean, clear musk, although the scent remains crisp and green-smelling. It's like a good aftershave, which is why I think that this oil seems more masculine than feminine. It would make a very good scent for a man who wants to be debonair and sophisticated.

This is my first lunacy, as well as the first time I've reviewed an oil so soon after I've received it (yesterday). I've been wearing this scent all day, and it's lasted pretty well into the afternoon. I feel like I'm being enveloped by a cloud of sweetness and light, light florals, and it's wonderful. The honey is less tangy and more gentle than the single note I have. The jasmine and gardenia is there but not very obtrusive, along with what I think is the thyme. It's something kind of herbal and makes the scent smell like a garden in the warm sunshine. I'm glad I'm wearing Honey Moon in an office building and not outside, because I'm a walking target for bees, and I can't blame them, because it smells so good!

In the imp, the light-coloured oil is quite thick, giving the impression of sticky, sugary syrup. I don't know what bourbon smells like, but the scent reminds me of gin if you removed the alcohol, leaving the herbs and spices that are used to flavour it. I thought the mint would be peppermint, but it's actually more herbal than minty (like verbena?). There might be something like anise or licorice in the background. It's lightly bracing, like a refreshing tonic, with a powdered sugar edge to it and although it seems light when you first put it on, it lasts a long time.

Wet: A rich, sweet, golden, intensely floral scent accompanied by a hint of citrus. The tangerine oil isn't very strong, just an accent to the floral, like gold thread in a tapestry. Dry: Jasmine is in the foreground, with all the other florals crowding behind it. It's hard to identify them separately because they're all harmoniously blended together. Sometimes I think I catch some lily of the valley, sometimes the rose, but it could just be my imagination. The tangerine disappeared quite early. This blend lasts quite a while on my skin, with a mostly jasmine scent slowly fading away with time.

Wet: A light, sweet, slightly tart scent with a gentle spicy undertone. I recognize this similar tartness in Arkham Revisited, reminds me of citrus but not quite. It's a bit like the taste of a piece of tangy hard candy just before it melts away in your mouth, when the original flavour has almost disappeared. Dry: The tartness is still here, with a tinge of ozone. It's not very strong, but it does last several hours on my skin. What I'm smelling is completely unfamiliar to me - it's not green herbal, or floral, or fruity - but it really gives me an impression of Nature. It's a truly outdoorsy scent.

Orgiastic mayhem in the extreme: sweet strawberry and orange blossom distorted by carnation, black poppy and hibiscus. Sweet, fruity, and slightly smoky - gothic strawberry, I'd call it. Not an artificial berry fragrance, it's subtler and more natural. The orange blossom, carnation, and other notes give it a dark complexity, but it's still a very youthful scent. This maenad is definitely a teenager in thick, black eyeliner.

This starts out bright - the herbs and resins really stand out. This is the first oil I've smelt where I can distinctly identify more than two components. Not surprising, since rosemary, lavender, and frankincense are such strong scents. But this isn't really an overpowering oil, more refreshing, I would say. It ends up lightly lemony after an hour on my skin.