Aredhel

Rating (on skin): 2/5 Summarised in a word or two: Fruity! In the imp/bottle: This is.... fruity, floral, musky, and, as others have said, kind of fleshy. On skin, wet: I can catch jasmine, pomegranate, pineapple, ginger, pepper, tea and musk. It's a very strangely fruity/sweetly foody scent. I'm running out of words for it! On skin, dry: This dries down into a sweet pineapple, tea and musk mixture. Conclusion: A bit too sweet for my liking, all told, but a very interesting and complex scent, that one. Plus, squishy brains!

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Ginger powder. In the imp: Cream, ginger and sweet honey. On skin, wet: Huh. Kind of powdery, but sweet, and with a definite "milk"-y quality. I get a bit of ginger, but nothing prominent. On skin, dry: Powdery cream, a hint of honey and ginger. Faint, a second-skin kind of scent. Conclusion: I go back and forth on this one. Sometimes it's creamy, gingery bliss; others, it's a faint ginger powder.

Rating (on skin): 1/5 Summarised in a word or two: Bitter. In the imp/bottle: Bitter apple, heavy rose and thick honey. On skin, wet: This hits my skin and everything but the ylang-ylang dies. Strong, thick, dry ylang-ylang. On skin, dry: No change. This reeks of sour, bitter ylang-ylang. I washed it off after about three hours, and it was still going strong. Conclusion: Definitely not me; this doesn't smell "old lady-ish" to me, but it's just not my thing.

Rating (on skin): 1/5 Summarised in a word or two: Musky flowers. In the imp/bottle: Something musky and floral; very "red" indeed. On skin, wet: This is starting to become too floral for me already. Rose, maybe? On skin, dry: I don't get anything *remotely* foody from this, so far -- just light musk and flowers. Conclusion: A warm, heavy floral. It strikes me as rose, more than anything. I'd hoped it would stay as "red" as it was in the bottle, but no such luck.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Pomegranate! In the imp/bottle: Uh, pomegranate? Very sweet, cool, juicy pomegranate. On skin, wet: This reminds me of a great pomegranate candy I used to get all the time in London; that tasted like this smells. On skin, dry: After an hour or so, this fades down pretty quickly, into a soft, faint sweetness. Conclusion: What can I say, this is a sweet, juicy pomegranate!

Rating (on skin): 0/5 Summarised in a word or two: Dirt. In the imp/bottle: Er, dirt! Dark, wet, cold, old dirt. On skin, wet: Yes indeed, this is dirt. This isn't soft or faint dirt, this is heavy, strong, "Might as well have been rolling in the garden" dirt. On skin, dry: Hmm. Chalky dirt. Every stage, this is different dirt! But dirt all the same. Conclusion: Sometimes I like dirt/earth notes, sometimes I don't. Like Zombi, this is a Don't. And this is *strong*: Every single time I open my imp box, or my bottle box (I decanted the bottle into imps and am keeping the empty bottle), I'm hit by Dirt! I am, though, amazed and very impressed -- this is real dirt. Beth might as well have ground wet dirt between two heavy stones and put the resulting liquid into bottles.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Faint. In the imp/bottle: ...Nothing. No, really: I get nothing from this! On skin, wet: Very faint white flowers and a touch of ginger. On skin, dry: A wisp of something bright and floral, and then nothing. Faded completely. Conclusion: I love the lightly-spiced white flowers I get from Pele, but it's such a fleeting scent. I can't imagine how often I'd have to apply, and how many 10mls I'd go through in a month. Lovely, but ethereal.

Rating (on skin): 1/5 Summarised in a word or two: Liquorice In the imp/bottle: Musky, dark, candy-like cherry. On skin, wet: Cherry... liquorice. That would be the anise. On skin, dry: Musky cherry liquorice. Weird, and not something I like. Conclusion: I'd hoped -- vainly, apparently -- that the anise wouldn't be very strong in this, as my skin tends to, thankfully, usually devour anise. Not this time.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Ozone. In the imp/bottle: Sharp, bright, cold ozone. On skin, wet: Is there anything else in this but ozone? If so, I can't catch it. It's a very sharp, powerful, strong ozone. On skin, dry: This ends up like a dryer sheet -- ozone seems to turn into that without fail on me. It isn't quite detergent, like Storm Moon, but a definite dryer sheet. Conclusion: Why do I keep getting scents with ozone? I adore it in the bottle, but I end up smelling like *I* just came out of the dryer!

Rating (on skin): 0/5 Summarised in a word or two: Dirty orchid. In the imp/bottle: Black orchid, a hint of apple blossom, and dark, warm red clover. On skin, wet: Irish moss and black orchid. It's floral, but earthy. Not a fan of moss, so I'm not sure about this. On skin, dry: A dry, ragged black orchid -- not the beautiful, crisp orchid it started out as. The Irish moss also turns into a kind of wet dirt. So, ragged, torn orchids in wet dirt. Conclusion: Definitely not a fan of this, as I'm not crazy about smelling of dirt-covered flowers.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Tea! In the imp/bottle: I had to check the label twice to make sure this wasn't another Phantasm; This is like thinner Phantasm, a bit heavier on the green tea. On skin, wet: Weak, sweet green tea, *barely* there. On skin, dry: This is gone in five minutes (less than, I think!). It's a very faint, light scent, and my skin seems to adore it enough to devour it! Conclusion: This would be great for soap, or lotion.

Rating (on skin): 2/5 Summarised in a word or two: Lemon. In the imp: This fairly reeks of lemon Pine-Sol! On skin, wet: Hey, I smell like a lemon drop! Bit of green tea, but mostly, lemon verbana. I wish I liked smelling like a lemon drop. On skin, dry: Here's a shock: lemon! Bright, crisp, fresh lemon, but lemon all the same. Conclusion: I like lemon, I really do -- just, not in a perfume. I drink lemonade by the gallon, I love lemon candy, I eat lemons like apples, but I don't want to smell like a lemon.

Rating (on skin): 1/5 Summarised in a word or two: Bitter pomegranate. In the imp: Terribly bitter pomegranate. On skin, wet: Not at all a pomegranate martini, just a sickly, decaying pomegranate. I get no booze from this at all. On skin, dry: That poor pomegranate now smells faintly salty. Poor thing. (heh) Conclusion: I never cared for pomegranate martinis anyway (or martinis themselves), so this is no big loss.

Rating (on skin): 1/5 Summarised in a word or two: Sugary apricot. In the imp/bottle: Apricot and cloying clove. On skin, wet: Is there a tea note in this? This has a distinct crispness to it, softened just a bit by the apricot. On skin, dry: After about an hour, this is a sweet, sugary apricot. It does strange things to my stomach. Conclusion: f this were a bit lighter on the apricot, I might fall in love! As is, not me.

Rating (on skin): 2/5 Summarised in a word or two: Chocolate! In the imp: Deep, dark chocolate, cherries and rum. Very odd. On skin, wet: Very boozey, this one, and foody as well. An alcoholic chocolate-covered cherry. On skin, dry: As chocolate notes are wont to do on my skin, this becomes very dry, dusty and almost chalky. The booze, for its part, is very... thick, and warm. It's not a good smell, booze fan that I am not. Conclusion: This is very interesting, and not really what I'd have expected Cerberus to smell like. Not bad, but not my thing.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Plastic! In the imp/bottle: Rich, sweet, silky, real vanilla. There's nothing fake or plastic about this. On skin, wet: Take away the spices/other notes in Snake Oil, and this is what you have. If I didn't need that wrist.... On skin, dry: Damnit! This turns into a sick, playdough-esque scent on me! I'm not happy with my skin right now. Conclusion: This started out gloriously (I'm such a vanilla fiend), but my skin turns it into something fake and waxy and unpleasant. Oddly enough, my skin doesn't do this to vanilla in BPAL blends.

Rating (on skin): 1/5 Summarised in a word or two: Perfumey! In the imp/bottle: In the imp, this reminds me of an Avon perfume the mother of one of my friends used to wear. Very perfumey, but not bad. On skin, wet: Vanilla? Something very like vanilla, and smooth. Floral as well, but not strongly. On skin, dry: Synthetic, vanilla-floral-herbal perfume. Plastic and cheap, with a baby-powder base. Feminine, but almost dramatically so. Conclusion: This started out well enough (Vanilla!), but it dried down into something odd, cheap, plastic and fake. Weird skin.

Rating (on skin): 2/5 Summarised in a word or two: Flowery water. In the imp/bottle: Flowery sea water! This is actually very nice. On skin, wet: This is most certainly a floral sea water: dark, heavy flowers in deep, warm water. On skin, dry: This doesn't change much from wet, surprisingly. Conclusion: This smells lovely, but it does strange things to my stomach; A few minutes after putting this on, I was nauseous. I washed it off, and it went away. I tried it again; same thing.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Amber. In the imp/bottle: This reeks of moldy socks! On skin, wet: The dominant notes are the berry and musk. Underneath, the amber; a very sweet, pretty amber. On skin, dry: This dries down into a very nice, musky amber. This is the amber that I get along with! Unfortunately, this is gone in less than an hour. My skin seems to love devouring nice ambers. Conclusion: I love this, but I tried it three times in all, and each time, it was gone by the 45-minute mark.

Rating (on skin): 2/5 Summarised in a word or two: Sour apples! In the imp/bottle: Leafy, tart green apples. On skin, wet: Spicy, bitter green apple. Loving this one so far. On skin, dry: This reminds me of candles, of autumn, and of the apple trees I once had in my back yard. But mostly candles. A spiced green apple candle, exceptionally tart and juicy. It does remind me of Jolly Rancher candies. Unfortunately, as it continues on, it becomes increasingly tart, and then sour. Conclusion: I loved it while wet, but not so much when it goes sour.

Rating (on skin): 0/5 Summarised in a word or two: Ick. In the imp/bottle: So far, ick. On skin, wet: This is a very unhappy scent. Acrid, sharp, biting, though I can't detect any specific notes. I just don't like it. On skin, dry: This reeks on me. It's sharp and foul, and just pissed off. Conclusion: No; absolutely not.

Rating (on skin): 0/5 Summarised in a word or two: Acrid! In the imp/bottle: This made me want to gag. On skin, wet: Oy. I don't know what it is -- labdanum, maybe? -- but this is awful to me. It smells like.... cat pee, dirt and dirty socks. On skin, dry: No change. After an hour, I had to wash it off, because it was starting to leave a sharp, acrid taste in my throat. Conclusion: This is most certainly not for me. I don't think I'd ever tried a scent with labdanum, so perhaps that note is not for me.

Rating (on skin): 3/5 Summarised in a word or two: Coconuty hazelnut. In the imp: Coconut, iris and white musk. Not bad. On skin, wet: Very floral, coconut-y musk with a distinctly plastic hazelnut element. On skin, dry: I love the coconut and white musk in this, but it's a little too floral, and I don't like the hazelnut in it. My skin distorts it oddly. Conclusion: I'm undecided about this. If it weren't for the iris and hazelnut, I'd be all over this. I'm wondering if it might be less floral and hazelnut-y in a scent locket...

Rating (on skin): 2/5 Summarised in a word or two: Incensey. In the imp/bottle: Hmm. This is...flowery incense? On skin, wet: There seems to be something citrusy here. Other than that, light spice, some sort of musk... again, I can't discern individual notes. On skin, dry: This now smells of incense, musk, smoky vanilla and citrus. Very pretty. Conclusion: It's a bit too heavy on the incense for summer, but this would may be a great winter scent!

Rating (on skin): 0/5 Summarised in a word or two: Rotting apricot. In the imp/bottle: This is... bad. This is sickly, rotting apricot. On skin, wet: Musky, earthy, rotting apricot. Apricot and I don't always get along, but geeze! On skin, dry: Apricot and vanilla. I have no clue what the problem is -- I adore ginger and vanilla, and apricot and I usually get along, but together, it's a horrible thing. The vanilla comes 'round after about an hour, but by then I'm wanting to wash this off. Conclusion: Definitely not for me. I'm not sure what my issue is with this, but it's not something I want to smell again.