coulrophobe

In the imp: Neroli! Yup, that's neroli. On: Neroli! But now there's something more aquatic, which was more along the lines of what I was expecting. As it dries down, the neroli goes a bit powdery (because that's just what it does on me), and it becomes a very soft, sweet floral blend. Very unlike what I was expecting, and quite nice. Unlike everyone else, I get no lotus whatsoever. But did I mention lots of neroli?

Preconceived notions: Admittedly, I'm not much of a rose fan. Love the real thing, but it's not a note that works on me 90% of the time. But in the name of science, I'm trying this and hoping it's part of the other 10%. In the bottle: It's not striking me as uber-rose just yet - I can smell it, but there's a white florally feel to it. Must be the ylang ylang. On: Again, it is rosey - but not the screaming-pink fake rose effect I get from most rose blends. It smells softer, chillier, more mature. This is a bouquet of white roses to my nose. I'm still not a rose girl by any stretch of the imagination, but this is definitely one of the better rose blends I've tried.

In the imp: Quite fruity - that's how the wine notes usually smell to me. I'm not picking anything else up, but this smells promising. On: Oh phooey, I should have known better. The rosiness amps itself up (attar of rose is a dry, powdery rose scent on me), and the jasmine kicks into high gear with the dusty, polleny funk I get from most jasmine blends. This one's a sneezer. I feel like I'm covered in pollen. Not for me obviously!

In the imp: Definitely dry wood, with a lemony tang... *looks at description* My bad, make that a bergamoty tang. On: Hakkotsu stays pretty true to how it smells wet for me, except that it softens a bit and the Lily of the Valley, which always smells pleasantly soapy to me, appears. The associations I'm having are oddly tropical - it's making me picture white sandy beaches and palm trees... I just realized this smells like suntan lotion! Not what I want to smell like all the time, but in the middle of winter when I'm cold and miserable? Yes, please!

If I'd read the reviews before trying Luna, I'd probably never have opened the imp - anything cherry/almond makes me recoil in horror. Luckily, I get no cherry or almond from Luna. On me, it's pure white floral. I'm pretty sure I smell jasmine, which is usually not a good note for me - but in Luna, it behaves. A very clean, light and feminine scent.

As everyone has already mentioned, Mystery is one odd little blend. At first I thought it smelled a bit lavendery, but mixed with something that made it more tolerable (lavender is harsh/sharp/disquieting to me). But upon reading the other reviews, I found myself agreeing with things I hadn't noticed. Anise, no -er, wait a minuted, there it is. And then I can smell a little whiff of lemon, I hadn't noticed that. And I definitely can smell plastic dolls and dog shampoo. The strange thing is that I'm not finding any of these bad - and lemon and anise aren't notes I even like! Unfortunately, it's not meant to be, as Mystery develops a kind of burnt tone on drydown. A little oily and charred - similar to the feeling I get with vetiver, but not quite that harsh.

Musks are my favorite; some people always say they smell like animal sex... but if animal sex smelled that good, I'd quit my job and breed ferrets in my living room. To me musk smells like clean skin. Black musk = clean men; red musk = clean women; white musk = clean babies. But that's just me. In addition to Antique Lace, I'd try Morocco. And if you can wear patchouli at all, Vechernyaya is a lovely musk and patchouli blend (I'm not much of a patchouli fan, but it's really amazing in Vech.). I had a similar experience with Haunted. I was expecting to love it - amber + musk should = good - but it turned oddly lemony on me. I smelled like a musky lemon bar rolled in baby powder. It was very peculiar.

In the imp: Whoa, that's vetiver, all right. And I can smell the bay a little. On: It's so strong, I only dabbed a little on my finger - and I'd assumed it would be awful on me, as vetiver is rarely my friend, but it's not bad at all. It's a very unusual smell - the dark, oily smell of vetiver grounds it, but the main note I'm smelling is the astringent-pepper smell of bay (nostalgic for me, as my parents have a bay tree in their front yard). The gardenia sweetens up the blend, but doesn't turn it overly flowery or cloying. Ultimately, I don't think it's a blend that suits my personality, but it's an interesting scent and I can stop sniffing.

In the imp: Sharp, a bit astringent, and a bit "heavy," like vintage perfume. On: Jasmine and earthy dried herbs. Also a bit of smoky wood... this is reminding me of the smoky phase of The Magician, but with jasmine. Maybe a dab of patchouli, too. It's interesting, but jasmine isn't a very good note with my chemistry - it has a tendency to turn cloying and allergy-inducing... it's one of the few florals that actually smells pollen-y to my nose. The smoke notes really intrigue me, though - probably not for me, but glad to have an imp of it.

I got Cheshire Cat back before it was discontinued, but put the imp aside because it had a weird kind of funk to it... I liked the smell on the surface, but their was something a little stanky lurking underneath. I revisited it today, and again find I have similar chemistry to Joseybird - it smells civety to me. Dark musks are usually good on me, but I'm catching the tiniest waft of something civet-like - which unfortunately equates to poo on my skin. It's not enough that it destroys the scent, but it does give it an odd tone to my nose. Otherwise? I like the grapefruit and currant, and though I'm not a fan of lavender, that part is almost gone within 5 minutes. It's a strange blend, and one I find wholly appropriate for the character of the Cheshire Cat.

In the imp: A sweet, fresh green smell... On: Initially quite lemony on me - but a sweet, candy-like lemon, rather than Pledge lemon. I can smell something green and almost aquatic as well, and a dusty sweet floral - the poppy, I presume. I don't get any sassafras, which is OK, it tends to go a bit funky on me. When it dries down, Dissipation smells similar to some of the Lunacy blends to me - that same fresh, cool herbal smell that lingers in the background of ones like Cold Moon, Frost Moon, Blue Moon and Buck Moon. I like it. This one's rather pretty once the lemon-fresh note calms down, I'm sad it's discontinued.

In the imp: a bit floral, but with something sharper, like the dreaded almond. On: it is initially almondy on me, but I know that if I sit tight for about 5 minutes, the sharpness will dissapate. Once it does, this blend smells ambery to me. After 10 minutes or so there's a bit of rose, but not too much - it's still mostly warm and powdery amber. I'm not very good at picking out heliotrope, so maybe that's the warm note I'm smelling - I know it's in a lot of the warm, golden-y scents. As it dries down, the rose gets a bit more obnoxious, but that's just my skin chemistry loving roses more than I do. I never smell any jasmine... which is OK.

In the imp: Hmm, a little herbally... and is that rose? On: Why yes, that's rose, taking over and bludgeoning all the other notes into submission. Phooey. My chemistry loves roses and amps the hell out of them - sadly, my nose and my chemistry don't agree when it comes to roses. Goona Goona just ain't for me. Though the name's fun to say. Sounds like one of the random noises I make while chasing the cat around.

I'll second Morocco and Silk Road, though they're already on the list, I see - and I do have to agree with Vechernyaya. Something with patchouli isn't an intuitive reaction to "clean" - but the musks definitely give it a clean-yet-spicy/earthy feel to me. Another possibility is Zephyr - not traditionally spicy, but as others have said, what an individual's chemistry can do with white musk can be spice-like. Zephyr's one of my favorite white musk blends - light and airy as the name suggests, but with a creamy musky base.

Another vote for Yuletide (though as a caveat, I haven't tried '05). I like Nuclear Winter/Skadi/Talvikuu/etc. as well, though I don't find them to be even remotely spicy, but rather icy cold and crisp. Maybe layer one of the more piney catalog scents like Golden Priapus with Three Witches?

Preconceived notions: How can I go wrong with amber and benzoin? This sounds like a predictably good scent. In the bottle: I can actually hardly smell it - just a faint baby powdery amber (which is fine, I like powdery scents). On: Ah, there it is! A lovely, ambery, non-foody vanilla-y (yay, benzoin!) blend. As it dries down, I'd swear there's a little light musk in there, too, because it lasts on my skin like only musk does. I think I'll need another bottle of this, because it's a great everyday scent. And I don't mean that in the monotonous boring everyday way - I mean I can see myself wanting to smell like this all the freaking time. A gorgeous, softly glowing skin scent, versatile enough for work, dates, or reading on the couch. Perfect!

Preconceived notions: Sweet foody scents rarely work on me. Chocolate goes stale, coconut goes plasticky, honey goes uber-sweet and cloying... blends like Midway, Spooky, and Misk. U have all been complete failures. On the other hand, Lunacy blends generally work for me, and even the sweeter ones like Milk Moon and Honey Moon have been OK. So I had to order me some Beaver. In the bottle: Oh my... frosting! If nothing else, I want this around for when I have a frosting craving. Though it's entirely possible I'll drink it in a fit of frosting-induced madness. On: It goes from frostingy goodness to being a bit iffy - threatening to go stale like Midway does on me - but it stops just shy of the staleness. It's not perfect for me, but much better than expected. It's the tiniest bit artificial with my chemistry - store bought frosting, versus homemade - but still pretty good. Lunacies, they never let me down. Does that make me a Lunatic? Mmmm, frosting covered lunatic.

Preconceived notions: I like mint. Bring it! In the bottle: Peppermint, tempered with a touch of sweet vanilla. On: Yep, pretty much the same... hey, where'd it go? Sadly, as much as I love mint, it never sticks around. Instead, I'm left with a soft vanilla-musk scent - which is still quite lovely, of course. I'll have to try wearing a bit in my hair to see if I can get the mint to stay for a bit!

I love the idea of a Blue Meanies scent! Though maybe Bluebeard would qualify (from what I remember of the fairy tale, he was rather mean!). I didn't pick out a scent with Lennon in mind - I wish I'd thought of that. If I had, I probably would have picked The Sun (as in, Here Comes...). Or Sol, for the same reasons. While Peace would have been a good one as well, lavender and I just don't play well together... I just can't give Peace a chance!

I'll add another vote for Loviatar - it's my kicking ass and taking names scent. It's powerful, and femininely seductive - I think it'd be good for sending that "why on earth would he want you when he can have all this?" message. Other good ones - Dracul, Blood Kiss, Sin... basically, I think of things that are dark, spicy and incensy as my "don't f*ck with me" scents. The Cracked Bell from the current line of Yule LEs has that feel to me as well.

Preconceived notions: Well... I didn't have any. Being raised a godless heathen, I have no clue what traditional church incense smells like. In the bottle: Much more woody than I expected - heavy wooden furniture (uh... pews! Yes. That's what they call those benchy things), worn with years of use, furniture polish. On: Now I can smell the resins, rather than just a generalized woody smell. First I get a blast of frankincense - the "soapy trees" smell is unmistakable. Then I can smell myrrh, which always smells a bit like syrup to me, thick and heavily sweet - it becomes the dominant note pretty quickly on my skin. This balances out to a nice myrrh blend - a little too sweet for me, but not to the point of being cloying.

Preconceived notions: I was looking forward to this one, until I heard the early reports of piney-ness - evergreens can be an iffy note for me, as they sometimes turn into household cleanser smells. In the bottle: Yes, piney - but in the cold, fresh pine way, not the cleaning product way. On: As everyone else and their dog has mentioned, it's quite similar to Skadi and Dublin. After it dries down, I can really smell the girlie perfume notes - there's a whiff of florals and something a bit fruity in there. To me, this one's not as "snowy" smelling as Talvikuu, Skadi, or Nuclear Winter - I'm thinking it's closer to Dublin, with its florally forest feel. Nice!

Preconceived notions: I was worried about this one smelling too piney on me - a lot of evergreen scents end up smelling like cleaning products to my nose. In the bottle: I don't think this'll be cleaning-product-esque. Whew! Smells chilly, and rather like Skadi. On: I agree with everyone else - this is in the same family as Skadi, Ice Queen and Nuclear Winter, and I'd say a cousin to Dublin and Snow Bunny, which are sweeter to my nose. They're all scents that smell very pleasant, but I prefer to wear them when it's really hot outside.

Preconceived notions: I was super-excited about this one - I love the name, and bubbly florals usually work on me unless they contain rose. In the bottle: It does smell like hairspray! Weird. On: Stardust starts out smelling like the perfumes I remember my mom wearing in the 70s - I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but there's a very retro feel to it. The florals in it aren't ones I've very adept at picking out, and they seem to be very well-blended with the other notes. Then it turns into alcoholic honey! It's not a bad thing (this is a milder honey-esque scent, rather than the lab's actual honey note, which tends to be too sweet for me). The florals take over again, but the weird honeyish stage was a nice surprise. It's exactly as I thought it would be - a fun, sparkly scent. My only complaint is that it doesn't seem to last too long on me - 20 minutes after putting it on, I can definitely still smell it, but it's much more subtle - gorgeous, but I wanted the 70s excess to be a bit more pronounced.

I enjoy the lab's minty scents, and this is no exception. At first, this smells like the lovechild of Ice Queen and Frost Moon to me; as it dries down, it tends to take after it's mother and go totally Ice Queeny, with that cool aquatic note that reminds me of a soap my great aunt always used to have in her bathroom (as that association is a bit ambiguous, I'll clarify - it's a good, nostalgic smell!). Nuclear Winter doesn't smell as cold and desolate as I expected; I find it to be more of a fresh, it's-almost-spring kind of smell. Cool, sweet and refreshing - I'm going to like wearing this next summer.