tesao

languor was a freebie from beth and the lab. muito thank you!!! and that is interesting, because this isn't something that i would have ordered for myself. even pre-BPAL (BBPAL), i didn't like floral sents. but this was a FIRST: flowers that i don't dislike intensely on my skin!!! it has GOT to be because of the black opium. languor is my first experience with opium SANS myrhh. yum. another first!!! in the bottle: floral, the narcissus and the tuberose are most prominent, although they are reeeeeeeeeally smoky, and there is something else in there that just defies description. on my wrist: omg. omg. OMG. i loved this smell on me. the opium smoke is predominant on my skin....i feel like a cat in a warm ray of sunshine, sultry and sloe eyed, drowsing, stretching. i honestly don't know how beth DOES this perfect naming thing. languorous. it is how i feel. dry down: the flowers are still there, but more subdued. the scent, however, is ANYTHING BUT. i have no idea how, but this scent makes me horny. REALLY horny. it could be used as an aphrodisiac on me. how did beth know to send me this??????

shroud is PERFECTLY named. a shroud in a marble crypt. the shroud is new, but the marble crypt is old, and dry, and spare. weak sunlight shines through a barred window, motes of dust shining in the small ray of light that hits the marble and warms it slightly, bringing with it a scent of newly growing things. a small bouquet of dried green herbs has been left as an offering.... in the bottle: very dry, sandalwood is prominent, but there is just the faintest hint of something .... other. on the wrist, wet: still very dry, lots of sandalwood. warmer, and the hint of green is stronger. dry down: everything blends. perfectly. it is still reminiscent of mostly sandalwood, but it is cleansing and centers me. this is a lovely, well blended, light scent that i liked very much. i will probably get a bigger bottle of this.

another so amazingly appropriately named scent! twilight. sweet late summer twilight, with just a ghost of light still with you, in your floral bower. in the imp: JASMINE. wet, on my skin: lavender is much more prominant than the jasmine, which is still there. i OUGHT to like this, i love this smell on flowers. but it is so floral on me. BAD tes!! BAD chemistry!! just after the dry down, there were all sorts of fleeting notes of honeysuckle underneath the predominant lavender and jasmine. fleeting, as if the wind just blew through the honeysuckle vine out on the fence. dry down: meh. soapy. soapy floral, but still soapy. heavy sigh. another no go. maybe i should just accept that beth's lovely florals just do NOT work on me????

The pinnacle of wealth, luxury, self-indulgent pleasure, voluptuousness and sensuality. Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean. this has been a really interesting scent on me. wet, in the imp: violets, violets and more violets. wet, on my wrist: still violets. very sweet. hints of clove and something else, which reminds me of vanilla. probably the tonka bean, but i'm not sure. dry down: STILL violets. i am let down. i don't like this violet smell on me, although i have to say that it really DOES smell like violets. i think that i would have loved this when i was a young girl. i don't like it now. typing on the keyboard kept giving me strong whiffs of violets, even though i am wearing another, STRONG floral (twilight) on the other wrist. thought of washing it off, it was so in my face. several hours later: well. veeeeeeeeeeeeery interesting. now it is all creamy and spicy and no violet at all is perceptible. if it were like this from the beginning, i would probably buy a bigger size. but i honestly don't think that i could get past the hours and hours of violet. the changing nature of it is truly spectacular. but it is still going into the swap pile. i wanted to like it, i really did. meh.

love me LOVES ME! and i love it back! :00001746: i'm still such a newbie, i don't have a clue most of the time what it is that i am smelling. it is rich and warm and smoky and i want to eat myself! i get yummy cinnamon, something sugary but not cloyingly sweet and maybe vanilla. it is delicious. the dry down blends everything expertly. the notes all meld and smell like they were simply MEANT to be together. i can't wait until the mister smells THIS one!!

waaaaaaay toofruity and floral. there are other interesting notes, but i can't get past the banana and the flowers. i don't remember their names, but the fragrance DOES remind me of manila. not METRO manila, but the phillipines. a nice smell, but too sweet for my tastes. which is good! i have something else to swap!!!

in the bottle: lovely. green. warm but not. there is something sharp, bracing, less floral. wet, on my wrist: the same. rain forest reminiscent is the perfect way to describe it. (who writes the scent notes??? they hit this one dead on!) it is woods with a warm wind through the moist trees, carrying a hint of fruit. it is feminine, but not overwhelmingly so. it is quiet and soothing. there is so much going on in this scent. each time i go back to sniff it, there is something new, which makes it difficult to describe fully. it is that complex. again, the scent notes say it all: rain forest. this smells like a rain forest. i need a big bottle of this one.

in the bottle: FLORAL. jasmine was predominant, then the magnolia. i could not really perceive any of the other notes. wet: the same, only stronger, if that is possible. it gave me a headache. it smelled like extremely floral soap. i had to take it off. and it did not WANT to be washed off. sigh. i had such high hopes. i feel like the red queen: OFF with your head!!! (and off to the swap pile we go!)

first impression: honeysuckle. gooey, syrupy honey. wet: the cinnamom starts to come out, as does the myrrh. dry down: loved the cinnamon, which is still there, as is the honey. the cinnamon is dusty, smoky, and the sweetness of the honeysuckle has blended nicely with the cinnamon. unfortunately, the myrrh STILL doesn't like me and ultimately winds up smelling like play dough. um. that would be a no.

first impressions: forbidden fruit smells like juicy fruit gum. not how tes wants to be thought of. juicy, yes. edible, yes. but, no. no thank you. the lotus is very strong. almost overripe smelling. i couldn't get much else because of the lotus. never could pick out the amber, looooooong after the dry down. simply typing (which gives you an idea of how far away my wrists are from my nose) the lotus is overpowering every other scent. this one will be swapped.

the old rome was interesting....at first, the cedar was what came through the most. fitting, as i automatically think of pine/cedar when i think of rome. clean, brisk, bracing. several hours later, the rose came up. it surprised me (i had no idea what the components of the scent were....and the rose was actually nice. generally, rose doesn't agree with me.) it wasn't overwhelmingly FLORAL, if that makes any sense. it was more like older, damask roses, slightly dried and mixed in a potpourri.

darkness. this is aptly named....imagine yourself in a medieval castle, lit by hundreds of candles that have just been blown out by a gust of wet, cold, wind. doom, despair, that sharp smell of the wicks smoking. i WANTED to like this scent. but the myrrh doesn't appear to react well to my body chemistry. it steadfastly refused to blend with the other fragrance notes. although it lasts quite well on me, that myrrh is still standing out and saying SMELL MEEEEEEEEEE. if myrhh works for you, i would definitely try this. especially if you are in one of those gloomy moods. once again, beth has proven her skill at blending AND at naming scents!

from the bottle: dry sandalwood, patchouli. incensy. i was worried about the patchouli, because it has been overpowering on me before. on my wrist, wet: the sandalwood is still the most prevalent note, followed immediately by the smoky, spicy patchouli. hints of the amber starting to come through. dry down: oh, yum. the patchouli is toned down, blending with the other notes. it is strong, but not overpowering. my husband loved it. amazing lasting power: i put this on yesterday at around 5 pm and can still smell it. i could never actually discern the cinnamon as a separate scent, but it could account for what i termed "spiciness". plus, my nose is unhappy from all of the chartreuse pollen that is now EVERYWHERE here. definitely a keeper. yayayayay!!! :00001651:

my first thought when i put this on and held it to my nose was "yummy". but then, i think that a LOT of things are yummy tasting that other people find to be, ummm, shall we say, an "acquired" taste???? hmmmmmmmm? okay, let us stipulate that. it is floral, and slightly sweet. but not overwhelmingly so. at first i thought jasmine, but that isn't quite right. it smells the way i would imagine that my fur would smell if i were a cat and had been lying in the summer sun. warm and rich and heavy lidded. luxurious. langourous.

my first encounter ever with dragon's blood. on my wrist, still wet: there is a sharp herbal scent here that i am unfamiliar with, but it is definitely green and woodsy. i think there is also some sandalwood, which i like both in the bottle and on me. i vaguely remembering something special about all of the draconis scents, but can not (to save my soul -- which may be a moot point, regardless) remember exactly WHAT that was. whatever it is, i smell it and it is good. then there is a faint faint note of something that i can only describe as "dry". i guess that is the "bone". but i have NO idea what makes that smell. beth is a genius.