Atalanta Pendragonne

Oh woe. Woe! In the bottle this is lovely, thickly sweet, caramel and peanut and popcorn, flat-out edible. On my skin? Nothing. It vanishes. I know it's my skin being finicky, and it makes me sad.

I'm not quite getting the grape that most reviewers are describing, but there's a definite winey undertone. I can get a faint whiff of carnation, but sadly it goes to cherry cough syrup the way most dragon's blood blends do on me.

And to think I almost didn't get this! On me, Chanukkiyah as a beautiful honey-amber with rich, almost winey fruit undertones. I loved it so much I had to get a second bottle. The hit of the 2007 Yules, for me at least!

Very, very sweet-foody. That's just the sort of thing I like, so Pumpkin III is a winner in my book. The pumpkin note I'm getting from it is more fresh raw pumpkin than pumpkin pie, and the caramel seems to be going to a not unpleasant burnt-sugar smell.

To me this smells almost exactly like the smoke from burning autumn leaves, with just a hint of a soapy undertone. It makes me homesick for somewhere with a proper autumn. Texas certainly doesn't have one!

Wet, there's an odd note to this... sort of scorched plasticy? It fades rapidly as it dries, leaving a very true marshmallow smell with impressive staying power. It's a shame I don't adore marshmallows... gonna try to swap it to someone who does!

Scent-wise, Nine Muses is all astringent lemon to me. Not unpleasant, but nothing to call out to me. But action-wise... I've been struggling with writer's block for a year and a half. I dabbed a little of this on today and wrote a (admittedly rather short) smutfic in less than 12 hours. :D I never want to be without this one in my box of tricks.

I can certainly smell the resemblance to Hungry Ghost Moon here, and I'm glad; I ordered it hoping it would be similar. It's brighter, though, almost effervescent, and as it dries I'm getting that apricot note too. It's defintely lifted my spirits on a dreary, dismal day!

This is nearly straight cardamom on me, the other notes just making it richer and more rounded. The cardamom of my dreams! Layered with Hope, it smells like gulab jamun. Oh, heaven.

Very smoky/woody on me. I'm definitely smelling the patchouli everyone else is noticing; a good thing for me, since I like patchouli. There's a sort of acrid note too, I want to say... red sandalwood? Because that always goes kind of acrid and scorched on me.

When I was a kid maybe once a year, in the fall, my mom would take me to a pick-your-own apples orchard. The first sniff of Punkie Night on my wrist was like a just-picked, just-bitten-into apple. Soon, it got a bit rounder (the cranberry?), and then the warm-and-spicy came into play. This is Autumn. The kind of autumns I grew up with in Connecticut, with the leaves turning and the weather getting chilly, not the Texas autumns I live with now (still in the 90s now!). It's beautiful and I love it.

I had to change my avatar, just for that. Am now once again fantasizing about JtHM scents.

It really does look a lot like Squee! That was my thought exactly. The pose, the huge eyes! *Squee love*

I'm glad I was swayed by the early reviews into ordering this one! The woodsy/spicy combo works really well on me, and there's a richness to it that's somehow comforting. My cat Hecate seemed to find it intriuging as well, sniffing my wrist intently.

Not much brandy here for me... What I'm getting is apricot, fresh, ripe and juicy the way they hardly ever really are. Hours later, I still want to bite my wrist.