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Well, it was lucky for me that this didn't work on Miss Lynx and Kettu, because I was able to snag their bottle at the Toronto meet'n'sniff. Opium has been a bad note for me before, but this worked quite well indeed. Spicy, smoky, fruity, and generally a nice dark rich scent. There's a hint of floral, but no more than that; mostly a sweet smokiness with a bit of dark red fruit. It isn't very strong on my skin, and the throw is limited; in a way this may be just as well, because if it were strong it could be overwhelming. About four hours in, it went into a phase I didn't like much -- a bit sour as the fruit and floral wore out. But the next morning I kept getting wafts of a very rich honey scent, which was an interesting morph. Definitely a keeper for me. I think it'll get even better as it ages.

Wet: Ooh, pretty. I'm getting a lot of amber right now, with a hint of the stargazer lily (which I normally don't like all that much, but it's quite restrained at the moment). Drying: Vanilla emerging now, and another drier note that I'm not too familiar with. It's a very interesting, light, elegant scent, quite sweet and resinous. Dry: This has got pretty good throw and lasting power. On me, the amber is the dominant note, with a bit of vanilla and lily; this verges at times on over-sweet, but there's a hint of the mossy note grounding it. I seem to have two basic categories of successful scents -- the incensey dark red musk ones, and the pretty golden amber ones. This is a very nice entry in the second category.

I got this one because I just really wanted to get a forum blend, and because Beth was so sweet setting it at the old price. These factors somehow overcame my knowledge that almost none of the notes in this actually succeed on my skin. Wet: Top note is a rather nice, very light waft of lime, though with something kind of chemical underneath it. Drying: Yeah, it's getting chemically and weird, as aquatics do on me. Dry: Continues kind of chemical and fake-smelling. Ah well. It was a calculated risk that I knew probably wouldn't work out. I'm sure someone else will be happy to have this.

Wet: Woah sweet! Honey and butter and spice and -- smells like apple, but I think that's the wine note. Not unlike Gluttony, but less nutty and more apple-spicy. Drying: As it dries, the apple-wine and spice become the strongest notes on my skin, with the buttery-honey notes more in the background. Dry: For me, once it dries, it's a kind of warm spicy apple tart scent, a bit different from the way it seems to come out on most people. It's nice, though.

This is a very thick oil; really noticeably different consistency. Wet: very deep, dark cocoa smell, not sweet at all. It's fainter than I'd anticipated, though. Drying: This isn't a chocolate scent in the sense of smelling like chocolates or even cocoa; it's clearly cocoa-based, but it doesn't smell particularly foody. It gets creamy and bit sweeter as it dries. It's very pleasant and comforting, one of the nice warm-blanket scents, but surprisingly light and tending to fade. Dry: The scent isn't at all what I expected, but I really like it, it's so comfy and warming. But the lightness and fast fade (at least on my skin) are disappointing.

Wow, this is fascinating. It starts off with a surprisingly sharp woodsy or herbal note, which I didn't expect. Could this be the patchouli leaf, perhaps? Anyway, it very soon mellows down into the red musk/incense/spice gestalt, just adding a woody note that makes it different from its close scent relatives. Probably more like Snake Charmer than anything else, but darker somehow. Very deep and rich and full. I'm not sure yet if it will displace Smut as my absolute favourite in this general scent category, but a few more wearings may tell. At any rate, it is a winner right out of the gate.

I get lots of ylang-ylang from Hetairae -- though it's got so many notes, and can be very different from one person to the next. And two of the other dominant notes are patchouli and honey, both of which are greatly disliked by some.

Chaos Theory III: CCXXVI (226) I got this in a swap with Nekomata. As you'll see if you check her review, we have insanely different takes on the same bottle. I guess that's all part of the Chaos Theory experience. For Nekomata, this one was all dark and musky and feral. For me -- pure jasmine. My nemesis jasmine!! I love dark musks, so it's a bit of a strange experience to swap for musk and get jasmine. But it seems that this does happen; other swap reviews have reflected this same radical difference from person to person. I'm afraid if I try to pass this on to someone who loves jasmine they'll get, I don't know, cherries or rum or something from it. ETA: After a couple of hours, the jasmine does start to burn off and I can finally smell the musk a bit. So it's not that it disappeared in transit or anything, just that the tiniest drop of jasmine, indetectable by most people, amps like a mad thing on my skin, destroying all in its path. Then very late in the drydown, it suddenly turns to honey! Which is nice -- but faint by that time, and not really worth all the jasmine it took to get there. Intriguing, though.

Got this as a frimp, and pretty much knew it wouldn't work, because jasmine is always a killer note for me; it just amps to the point of insanity. This one is monstro-jasmine and a bit of soap. Too bad. Nice for someone else, I'm sure.

Okay, for the latest bit of freaky skin chemistry ... on me, this smells like stewed tomatoes. Which is not an awful smell or anything, but it's not exactly what I think of when I think "carnal". This one suffered the broken-cap problem too (this happened to 3 imps in my current order, luckily none of the ones I really liked), so if I can't pry out the remaining bit of cap I'll have to discard it. If I can, it's heading for the swap pile.

Wet: Woah, this one is almost scary. Very dark and sharp and harsh. All the notes are good on me normally, but right now it's on the verge of burnt plastic. Many of these notes need a little time to develop properly, though, so I'm prepared to wait. Drying: Still pretty harsh, though a softer note is coming in from somewhere, probably the patchouli softening up. I don't know, it's freaking me out a bit though. Dry: It does soften quite a bit, though the harsh edge (I think it's the myrrh) lasts a long time. I like the drydown well enough. On me it's actually not very complex, though; it just goes from dark and harsh to soft and a bit powdery.

Came as a frimp in my last order. Wet: Okay, not good to start with -- weird plasticky fruit candy smell. But we'll see where it goes. Drying: Not getting much better. It's quite artificial-smelling on me, unfortunately. Dry: Once it gets to dry-down, it's actually not bad, some soft fruity notes and some (oddly) sun-baked grass, which merge kind of nicely. But on the whole I think this would be better used by someone else.

I got this and Twilight as frimps in the same order. I thought that was amusing. Wet: Cinnamon-spicey, a bit peppery. Drying: I'm getting honeyed amber and pepper and spice. Very nice, good throw. I don't seem to be getting the lavender that others have mentioned, but that's perfectly fine with me. It's a dark rich warm scent, I like it a lot. Dry: Wafty, spicey, sweet and rich. If I get very close to my wrist, there's a tiny chemically undertone, probably one the florals that doesn't do well on me; but it's ever so faint. Basically I love this one; this is one of the luckiest frimps I've had in a long time, and not one I would have thought to order myself, so yay!

This came as a frimp with my latest order. Wet: A surprise hit of mintiness and green grass, which was quite unexpected. Pretty and fresh. The rose starts coming through in a couple of minutes. Drying: That momentary anomalous mint disappears quickly, and it becomes a juicy rose scent, with increasing wafts of spiciness. Dry: Nice blend of rose and spice, very well-balanced. I have way too many rose scents already, but I'll keep the imp for sure.

Wet: Light, fresh, leafy and somewhat citrusy scent. Drying: It's extremely pretty, especially now the vanilla is emerging, but it's also very light, and fading very fast. I really like it -- even the grapefruit seems to be behaving, which is rare for me -- but it hardly lasts ten minutes. Different weather and different time of the month would probably improve the lasting ability a bit, but I don't think ever enough to make this viable for me. It's such a shame, because it's really a beautiful scent.

CTIII CXXVIII Wet: Minty minty mint! Just a pure and strong mint, at this point. Drying: Oh dear, this seems to be fading very fast on me; and I'm in a cool room, so it's not just the stinking weather. Still a nice little waft of mint, a bit herbal and a bit sweet, but it's going very quickly. Dry: Basically gone. If I put my nose right up against my wrist there's the occasional sweet smell. Dang. Hope I can find someone else this one works for. CTIII CXLV Wet: Very green and herbal, with maybe a tiny spicey overtone Drying: At first the green scent gets quite sharp and acrid, but then the spiciness (or could it be incense?) amps up a bit and starts to moderate it. Interesting. Later: This is quite curious -- this sharp green note that almost reminds me of some of the voodoo blends, alongside a lovely rich incensey note. They don't so much merge as sit next to each other. Later still: The incensey note comes to the fore, and maybe a hint of something peppery, with the green still below the surface. This is a very nice drydown. I can see becoming very fond of this one. (It's also going powdery and fading a bit quickly, but I think that's weather-related). Glad that one of the two was a keeper. And the other one's probably nice for someone who doesn't have oil-eating skin. ETA: tried CXLV again, and it seemed surprisingly different! Definite patchouli note -- none of the pepper I noticed the first time ... huh. It's a mysterious morphing scent. I'm still intrigued and largely pleased by it, though.

In the bottle: It's a caramel monster apparently -- VERY strong dark caramel smell. Wet: Wow, this is complex as soon as it hits my skin; sandalwood and saffron immediately appear to tone down the caramel. A bit of a caramel corn smell -- I'm reminded of Gluttony -- but more sophisticated. Syrupy, but not overly sweet at all. Drying: Alcohol note emerging now (I'm not getting rum exactly, but something alcoholic for sure), and hints of vanilla starting to appear, though sweet syrup cut by sandalwood and a bit of saffron remains the keynote. There's a slight harsh edge that I'm hoping the vanilla will soften. Dry: Pretty much sandalwood and vanilla now, with a touch of saffron; nearly all the other notes have receded. On me at least, it's more subtle and less playful than I'd expected, but soft and nice; though there is still a very slight harshness in the sandalwood.This may be the fresh-from-the-lab quality, though. I think this is worth trying again in a few days when it's settled a bit, because that can make a difference. So far, I don't think I love it, but I like it and will wear it again. I can see it possibly being one of the ones that creeps up my preference list, though.

Nostalgia encapsulated. A soft, wistful blend of dry flowers, aged linens, and the faint breath of long-faded perfumes. In the vial, this is sweet and creamy and lovely, as it is for the first few seconds on my skin -- then it vanishes. It is almost instantly undetectable. I was afraid this might happen. If I wait it out, though, I get increasingly distinct wafts of sugary creamy vanilla, and something a bit musky or musty. Very nice, very evocative of the name; also very delicate, sometimes barely noticeable even up close, but so pretty. And, though faint, it does last quite a while. The later dry-down reminds me of vanilla-scented nougat. Given the faintness, I'd probably tend to put this on fairly heavily, so I can see getting a bottle for that reason, though I'm trying to be very restrained in my bottle orders. (I should note, however, that my husband specifically said that he preferred Desdemona, which I was wearing the day before. He seems not to like vanilla in general, which is too bad because I like it a lot.)

The first time I got an imp of this it turned out to be from the anomalous lot that smelled like apple cider, so I've been wanting to try the, as it were, canonical version. Wet: Immediately a strong lemon cookie waft, followed by lavender. After another minute or two the tea starts to emerge. Light but complex, so far. Drying: Black tea with crispy lemon cookies dunked in it. Tasty. Also starting to get a little bit of the musk, and definite wafts of lavender. After some time, the vanilla starts to emerge, and after an hour or so it's more sweet and vanilla-scented, with tea and musk. Pale but distinct, subtly sexy. This is very nice indeed, but it may take me a few tries to decide what to do with it. I would love it on a guy, but my husband would never in a zillion years wear any kind of scent; I'm not completely sure I like it on myself. It'd be a kind of seductive room scent if I ever did room scents. On the other hand, I may decide in the end that it works on me after all (especially the later, sweeter stages). Glad I got to try the real thing, in any case.

Wet: Lemon pith and flower stems. This relates in no way to the described notes, but that's what I'm getting. Very sharp. Not entirely unpleasant, but weird. Drying: Very mild, lemony, a bit salty. If it weren't for the slight saltiness I'd think this was mislabelled, but I guess it just behaves oddly on my skin. If I really concentrate I can smell a tiny bit of leather. Dry: Soft, powdery, still a bit lemony. Can't account for this, but it's just how this one comes out on me. Even weirder, the later dry-down is a faint lilac smell.

Fresh, spring-time floral, with a little spiciness (chrysanthemum?). Reasonably good throw. Later on, though, it does develop that chlorine-y character that violets seem to have on my skin, so in the end this one didn't work out very well.

In the vial: Kind of ... dusty fruit? Not promising. Wet: Yes. It is fruit gum covered with dust. This is another of Beth's extraordinary mimetic feats which I don't necessarily want to wear as perfume, I think. I don't know which of the notes is coming across as fruit. Dry: Stays much the same, with maybe some additional sourness. This is just not a good one for me.

Right out of the vial it's quite strong and acrid, but quickly settles down into a soft, rounded, kind of juicy-smelling rose. Very nice -- I don't get salt or tears particularly, but I like the rose a lot. It could easily become one of my top three rose scents, except that it fades very quickly.

In the vial: Green leaves torn in your fingers, sharp and bitter Wet: At a slight distance, there's a strong cherry scent; up close it's that green leafy smell. The sharpness and bitterness are interesting, and refreshing in a way, but it's also making me slightly sick to my stomach for some reason. I think there may be a mismatch between me and this perfume. Drying: It's starting to resolve into the grapefruity scent of yuzu now, but it's quite a sour yuzu on my skin, more like bitter grapefruit pith. It's still unsettling me. I'm trying to wait it out, but I may have to wash it off. Further drying: Grapefruit pith and cherry powder. I give up. This one is just not going to work for me.

It sounds nice enough, but on me it's all artificial fruit, ultimately turning to soap. Distinctly not a success. I really cannot wear pear scents at all.