Muppetk

Odd... In the imp: very plain cookie dough Wet on me: plain cookie dough with a sharp green herb. Drying: Sharpness is morphing into something lemon-y & perfume-y & slightly green. Dry: Sharp green perfuminess. Not sure how I feel about this one. Dry later: There's something very clean about this. Sort of like a mild and unobnoxious dryer sheet. On a random note: I have this on one wrist and Noir on the other, & sniffing them together is decidedly odd. Not bad at all. But very odd. They're pretty polar opposite scents

In the bottle: oh heaven, sandalwood-incensy & powder & something sweet & complex & just a little bit sharp. (Yes, I know this has nothing to do with the notes listed. That's what I smell.) On me, wet: Huh. The comparison I saw between this & Saturn (in one of the scent comparison threads) is dead on. This is like Saturn's kid brother. It doesn't have the sheer strength of saturn & is slightly less rich/full as a scent, but otherwise is quite similar. Dry: I still think this smells like sandalwood/incense (the myrrh?), only less woody if that makes any sense. Still some powderyness. Still very nice. Very little morphing here. I'd be broken-hearted that this is discontinued if not for my nice little stash of Saturn. Overall: really really nice. The only scent in the listing that's completely unfamiliar to me is opponax, so I'm going to have to try other blends with that next. Now where is my imp of Hades hiding...? EDIT: Out of curiousity, I did a comparison test of Noir to Saturn tonight, about 4 years after the first one. Oh God. What a change. A number of scents have changed on me in the last 2 years since going off the birth control pill, but none as dramatically as these two. I *get* Noir now, in all its nuance. I think what I was interpreting as sandalwood is the opponax (furry & sl bitter) plus the clove (more furry & spicy & sweet). Noir is still lovely, though not as much as then, and given it's notes, it's got to be my chemistry rather than aging badly. (I said "Oh god" before because Saturn no longer has more than the slightest smidge of resemblance, and where this has stayed lovely, Saturn turned bitter and burnt with an undertone of chlorine (augh!) with only a faint undertone of Noir-ness. Now that's sad! I'm going to try it again in two weeks at a different time in my cycle, since hormones so CLEARLY play a role in my perfume skin chemistry.)

In the bottle: Oh yum! Slightly dry cinnamon (cardamom + pepper I guess) with green & faint floral Wet on me: Where the heck did my spiciness go?? My skin usually eats fruit, not spice!! Alright, I need to go check the calendar. What time of the month is it?? (nope, that's not it. And besides, I forgot, strength was gorgeous on me earlier, just milder than I expected.) Dry: okay, some of the spice has come back (yay!) but the other scents have turned somewhat aftershave-y. Oh... juniper. I think that's the juniper. Hmm. Or the oakmoss. It's a similar note to what didn't work on me in Oberon, only not as strong. Both this and Oberon have juniper & oakmoss. Maybe it's the combination? Sigh. I was so expecting to like this one. Edit: This would probably be really nice on a guy.

In the bottle: interesting...green and floral and a touch of spice, but kind of a dry grass or sweetgrass spice, a subtle one. Wet on me: pure floral. All the nifty other scents from the bottle have been eaten by my skin. Does nothing for me. Dry: The scent doesn't morph at all, and has mostly disappeared after 30min. Phoo.

Now this surprised me... Wet & early dry: fresh, green rose, or maybe rose mixed with something like daffodil. Very spring like. Very pretty. After about a half hour, something lightly sweet/spicey comes out. Like the smell of dried grass, but greener. The above review is from the bottle I bought, fresh from the lab. Originally, I had an imp (that I swapped out once I ordered the bottle) that I guess was aged because it was like the above scent only... stronger, darker, richer, and with a hint of baby powder at the end. Like Strength had grown up. Fresh is lovely, but I think that this is one that should be aged to reach it's full potential. OTOH it's a wonderful spring/summer scent while fresh. (I still think I'm going to age it. Or layer it with something deep like snake oil.)

Well phoo. In the bottle this is a very pretty, light floral blend. On me: the light, sweet pretty floral notes are still there, but lighter, but there's also a bitter/slightly soapy note. Must remember to be suspicious of the notes in this in the future. To the swapmobile, Robin!

Wet on me: perfumey the way Rapture was on me with a hint of patchouli. Not promising. Drying: Patchouli flavored 7-up?! After a few minutes: a patchouli-ish lemon now?? I'm quite sure lemon isn't in the listed notes! And it's a sweet lemon, very reminiscent of June Gloom. Later: the rose comes out to play a bit, but it's still mostly patchouli/lemon/7-up. My skin is officially weird. (Oh! Lemongrass is a note in this! I no longer feel like I'm losing my mind!) Not for me. This goes to the swap pile.

Ooooh... Wet: nice spring green floral blend, tulips, and maybe something else familiar (maybe the rhodendendron, my folks had those when I was a kid) stand out in it. Drying: similar, but there's an odd burnt scent that reminds me of the nair I used when I was 14. Oh this is not promising. Dry: ok, the Nair is gone, that much is good. It wound up being, light, pretty similar to Amsterdam. But way too light for me. Either my skin eats it or maybe I just don't do light blends.

Wet: lightly buttery & lightly floral. I was sooooo hoping it'd be something like dragon's milk. Dry: well, at least it's less buttery. And it does all blend well. But man do I not like the butteryness in anything I've sniffed yet.. SO dissappointed.

Wet: mmm. Must be the wild flower blend, 'cause my first thought was "yum! Does this have mango in it?" Drying: I still think it had mango, because the sweetness is disappearing fast and my skin does that to fruits. But aside from that, very pretty, and the notes are blended so well it's really tough to pick anything out. Dry 30min: Faded a lot. Alot. My skin ate this for breakfast It actually smells a bit like wild flowers now and all that yummy mango-like-scent is gone. Ah well. It was so pretty in the initial stage. Stupid perfume-eating skin.

Wet: Rich, rich rose, a hint of sweetness at the base. Verrry nice. Drying: Oh dear. I think I figured out what didn't agree with me in Kostnice. It's going through a rose-scented Fantastik (cleaner spray) phase, same as Kostnice did. Apparently I need to be careful with any scents combining rose & frankincense. Dry: Hmm. The fantastik phase is gone, thank goodness. But the scent is confusing me now. One moment it's a pale rose, nice but nothing special. The next it's a moderately rich one. The next sniff it's got the richness of frankcense supporting it becoming pretty nifty. But it keeps changing?! Maybe my nose is confused today by all the new sniffies in my home. This is going to be one I'll have to spend the day sniffing to decide on. Edit: Throughout the day it continued to get stronger and softer. Odd. But what's really neat, is that it makes a fabulous meditation blend. I didn't try it that way on purpose, but I happened to meditate shortly after applying this. My meditation was much quieter and deeper than usual. Verrry nice. I applied it for the next couple of days to keep stress levels down & my mind quiet during exams. I'm fairly happy with it. Will be keeping this one for sure.

Sniffed from the imp: Oh wow. I would like to thank whoever ordered this bottle and caused me to recieve a gift imp of it. Oooooh, spice goodness of all kinds with a hint of sweet maybe apple or pear underneath. Wet on me: less spicy. Drying: The hint of sweet is going rose-like, so I'm thinking it's either rose (very traditional) or a hint of dragon's blood (which often goes rose-y on me) or... oh no... oh don't let it be anise, please please please don't let it be anise. But the other spices are still a nifty medley, but much more sedate. Too bad. I loved the nifty spiciness. 5 minutes later: It's not anise at least. But where did all my spices go??? Now it's a light floral with a pinch of something green-incensy, like vertiver, and a very very bare pinch of cooking spice (cassia?) left. *sniffle* 10 min later: Nearly gone! It's basically a hint of soap now, very clean. My skin is just eating this stuff up!!! Nononono! It's so GORGEOUS in the imp! Not fair! Just because I love to eat silk road foods (chinese, japanese, indian, thai, afghan, etc etc) doeasn't mean that my skin should too!! Will have to try this on later over unscented moisturizer. Because this should NOT have dissappeared so quickly!! So bummed! It's started out as a new favorite!

In the imp: Oh wow. Sugar cookie, but a little more sweet and a little less spice. Wet on me: Same but with some dragon's blood in the background. (Oh and I suddenly have SUCH high hopes for the upcoming Milk Moon if it's anything like this!) Drying: The dragon's blood is becoming a bit stronger, but doesn't quite seem to blend with the rest of the delicious. Dry: oh it blends!!! Oh it all blends nicely! I still have a hunch I'll like Milk Moon better, but this is verrrry nice. Unlike the other blends, the dragon's blood is just a highliting rose/resin drop in the background of this. I see a bottle of this in my future! I LIKE IT!!!!

Oh I like this. Too bad my boy says he's not into perfumes, this would be amazing on a guy. This is sandalwood and powdery, but a rich sweet powdery which implies resins, on me, definitely masculine, but still sexy even on me. It makes me think of curling up in a boyfriend's sweater that has the scent of him. This should be *fun* to wear when out with not-so-straight girls!!! Oh I want more! One imp won't be enough! Edit1: 7 hours later and this still has a rich, round, resiny smell on me. Happy! Edit2: I have MORE! bwahahahah! (Ahem, sorry. Fell in love with this and then just got a hold of a bottle. Very happy.) Edit3: I just read the posts above mine. This has the infamous civet? 'Cause I'm not sure I tried anythign with civet before and apparently my skin doesn't react badly with it. I can now be unfearful of trying civet blends! Huzzah! Edit 4: Just tested my brand new bottle from the lab. Nice, but not the amazing richness of my imp. I think this one needs aging to be super amazing.

Almost a single note jasmine on me. Or maybe that's honeysuckle? It's a simple, sweet floral anyway, with a pinch of some wood underlying. No peaches for me but my skin always eats fruit, so I'm not surprised. Okay enough as a scent. More importantly, I feel slightly less overwhelmed about my upcoming exams. Still want to cry, but I don't feel quite so much like an avalanche of books has fallen on my head. Going to put on some more and go to sleep. Maybe it'll fix things in the night. Dove's Heart did that for me once.

Wet in the imp: dry woods Wet on me: dry wood fades to the background, light florals become the foreground, kind of perfume-y though. Drying: similar, but a resiny, powdery base is starting to develop, probably the incense notes. Something floral and overly-perfume still lives on top though. Dry: powdery, resin, a hint of floral and dry wood. Nice but... not on me.

Wet: light florals and light curry spices. Beatifully blended. I had trouble imagining curry that wasn't overwhelming. Drying: oh man. Anise. Strong anise. Dammit, I hate anise. It's completely overtaken the other notes. Dry: Lightly spiced anise. The pinch of spices in the background is not enough to bring back how wonderful this was while wet.

I admit, I'm not expecting to like this one, but so often I dislike thinks I expected to love, and really like things I didn't expect to. So here goes. In the imp: really sweet bubblegum. Wet on me: Robitussin! With a pinch of cherry. But really disturbingly similar to the cough syrup. With a pinch of bubblegum (after a few seconds.) Drying: The cough syrup smell is mostly gone, replaced largely by cherry bubblegum. Not as bad as I was expecting, but still not that good. Dry: Huh, my fruit curse worked in my favor! My skin ate 90% of the cherry, leaving a much less sweet, slightly lotus, slightly spiced scent. Neat! Not sure if I'll wear this again ('cause the first phase of ICK lasted a good 15 min), and it might still be a little sweet for me, but it's an interesting scent experience! Huh. Just goes to show that you really do have to try on everything Beth makes!!

Wet: the perfume department at any big store. Drying: a pinch of soap joining in the perfumey-ness. Where are my herbs and green? Dry: still perfume section of a department store with a pinch of soap. Bummer! This one doesn't like me. To the swap pile, Robin!

Wet: Well blended! Hard to pick out notes. But a bit of peach shines through and a very little touch of patchouli. Drying: And that's pretty much how it stays. But I'm not bowled over by this. I think it's my fruit curse. No big rich peaches for me. Just a slightly sweet herbal blend. Which is nice, but not huge. (Oh god, it smells like herbaly 7-up on me! Weird!) Dry, later: Huh. This smells alot like my beloved Corazon on me now, only less complex. Will have to do a side by side comparison sniff later.

in the imp: an odd cocoa biscuit. Rather like the Stella D'Oro ones that come in vanilla and chocolate. Dry: fades slightly. Sweet. Primarily cocoa and vanilla notes here. Not much myrrh or sandalwood standing out, but maybe they're just that well blended. Interesting, but not me. Now I'm suddenly nervous about 13, which had chocolate notes too, and I also thought sounded amazing. Overall, it reminds me a bit of snake oil, having that same slightly dark, smooth note to it, and not much in the way of bright top notes. Hmm... that makes me think this would be a dynamite layering scent.

First sniff: like a watered down version of Mars. Dragon's Blood and a hint of spice. A few minutes later, it's reversed: Spice with a hint of dragon's blood. (no really.) On dry: The dragon's blood and spice have evened up with each other. This is rather similar to Mars -- this seems almost like a weaker version of Mars (and that makes sense), but then again, it might be my body chemistry. Must try again in a few days.

First wet sniff: lilac & grapefruit Drying: a lovely lilac-like floral (I guess that's the apple blossom, but it's a hair away from lilac for me) with a pinch of ginger and a pinch of grapefruit. Very pretty. Later: the scent is fairly stable. The grapefruit and ginger are even fainter than before, but it all blends together nicely. Sensitivity alert here: my skin feels warm where I tried on the oil. As I'm someone who's usually not at all bothered by even cinnamon scents, (and I'm not bothered by this, just feel the warmth), I'd think that anyone with sensitive skin ought to be careful with this one.

Wet: minty cinnamon! Drying: minty cinnamon with a pinch of lotus? I think I'm catching the bubbleegum scent in there... I love cinnamon scents of all kinds. Haven't met one I didn't like yet. And this one even likes me in spite of the time of the month (which is the time where most bpal scents hate me). Sigh. Want this. Must give it back to the circular swap. Anyone wanna gimme theirs?

In the imp: sweet pine, (spruce?) Wet on me: same scent, but rounder. Very rich. Interesting. I don't usually think of pine as a round full scent. A very little bit of sharpness. Good throw on this one. Damn. This is not a wussy subtle scent. Dry on me: same as wet. Very stable scent. Nice. Surprisingly rich for something that smells like an evergreen.