maika

Peru balsam, vanilla bean, Rainier cherry, bitter almond, golden honey, rose water, lemon peel, sugar cane, and benzoin. In the decant: Lots of almond and vanilla. It smells like my favourite Dutch almond cookies with just a hint of cherry underneath. I also *almost* get a hint of sweet musk. Wet: Sweet and foody. The lemon gives it enough of a lift that I'm not as scared of that as I normally would be. Dry: The foody factor is gone! This is beautiful. It sits close to my skin, and every element of it melds together beautifully. I might just need some more of this.

2011 version: In the decant: roses. Exactly the same scent as the white roses my great-grandmother used to grow. Beautiful! Wet: Sweet rose with a hint of resin underneath. Dry: A think of beauty! The rose is blending with the resins, and it's glorious. It doesn't have a massive throw, but it's perfect to wear with someone you might want to move in closer I'm off to hunt for more.

In the imp: I can only smell the ylang ylang. That's okay though, I love ylang ylang, but I was looking forward to the jasmine. Wet: There's the jasmine. Weirdly though, underneath that, I can smell something that smells more than a little like Band-Aid adhesive. Kind of clean and a little powdery. Odd...very odd. Dry: I've worked it out. The Band-Aid smell is the ylang ylang and the amber. I'm going to put this back to age for a while, because I don't want to give up on this, because the jasmine and rose that I wanted this for are nowhere to be found. Further dry-down: (2+ hours on) The Band Aid aspect is gone, and it's pretty much pure jasmine...but it's throw is pretty much nonexistent. Again, I'll give it more aging, but at this point, it's probably not for me.

2011 version. In the imp: Hello lavender! On second sniff, more florals with a tiny hint of powder. Very pretty. Wet: Jasmine! But I love my jasmine, so it's all good. The musk is just discernable, but not in a drowned out by jasmine way. Still very pretty. Dry: More musk. This is a beautiful, classic floral blend. I wouldn't wear this every day, but it's definitely bottle worthy. I'll be interested to see how this ages, because I can only see this getting better and better.

This is odd. In the bottle, it's all warm creamy spicy gorgeousness. Wet, it smells like slightly spicy buttered popcorn?!?!? Drying down, the popcorn thing edges back, and I get a strong fresh ginger note. I'm putting this away to age for a bit, but at this point, it's not what I was hoping for.

Any of the Lick Its...the mint just cools everything off beautifully.

I so wanted to love this...but all I got was a REALLY sweet, almost candied rose. Not for me, I'm afraid.

Nooo...without any further description, this is absolutely not for me. The thing that makes me saddest is that I love both violets and vetiver, but this is just too much vetiver with really intense throw. Straight to sales.

2005 version - I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet, given that I've been madly hunting down as much as I can get my hands on... In the bottle, it really is pure hairspray. Nothing more, nothing less. Wet, the hairspray note is still evident, but the ylang ylang is the primary note. It doesn't take long for the musk and champagne to peek out. Dry, the hairspray is gone, and I'm left with a gorgeous crisp white floral, with the most amazing musk twined with it. The champagne note is fabulous too...it doesn't overpower, yet if I put my nose to my wrist, I almost expect to feel bubbles hitting me I love this so much, and the two bottles I currently have aren't going to be enough...I'm going to need to track down more of this, because it's even better as it ages.

In the imp, my immediate thought was lotus. Sweet, bubblegum lotus. But that disappeared/changed, and of course, that sweet fruity thing is pear. There's also a fresh green note floating around in ther too. Wet, pear, and a woody note. The pine is there, butthe other woods are blending with it. I can't seperate them out, but it's a blend of woods, which is a good thing, because I tend to amp single woods, and these are holding each other in check. Dry, the rose is wafting out now...and a gorgeous rose it is too. It's not overpowering anything (I tend to amp rose, too) so that's all good. I'm getting little waves of gardenia and plumeria, but what I mostly get is a really well-blended floral...and it's beautiful! Ultimately, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. I'm definitely going to be needing many, many bottles of this.

In the imp, pure floral...and an incredibly pretty one at that Wet, the florals, tea and thyme come together, and I have a cologne-y feel. I wouldn't have expected this, but it's lovely...just perfect for the hot summer day I'm in the middle of right now. There's no trace of redcurrant though. Dry, I'm left that's crisp, dry, and utterly elegant. It's got a low throw, but given that it's summer this is a good thing, if this behaves like other scents on me when I go outside and therefore get warmer this will probably amp up a notch, so I would hate for this to become overpowering. Am going to need a bottle of this!

In the imp, sweet and spicy. Hello ginger and honeycomb, with an undertone of leather and musk. Mmmm Wet, leather...very, very leathery. And the skin musk is peeping out too. This is good. Dry, this is good. Very, very good.There's musk, and musk, and the patchouli coming up the back. The leather is hanging out up the back, but not so much that it overpowers everything...and of course, the vanilla. The vanilla is just this gorgeous sweet note playing through the blend.

In the imp, herbal and green...but bruised greens, not fresh. Wet, green and, well, green. At this point, it's not working for me. Dry, haven't made it to that stage. It's clashing with me, and I had to scrub it off. Off to trade.

In the imp, patchouli, patchouli and oh, yeah...patchouli, with just the tiniest hint of musk up the back. From this, very mens cologne like. Am still willing to try it though. Wet, I can smell poppy, but in the kind of California Poppy hair stuff my Granddad used to wear. The patchouli is here too, along with a distinctly musky undertone. So far this is VERY masculine. Dry, this isn't for me. It's still smelling of aftershave on me. Off to swaps.

In the imp, spicy chocolate milk. But dark chocolate, not sickly sweet syrup. Wet, this is chocolate Snake Oil. Yum! Am looking forward to this getting more developed. The teakwood is freshening this up too, which is all good. Dry, this is beautiful. It's obviously a Snake Oil base, but the rice milk has faded, which removes the chocolate milk connotations. The teak and cocoa have just left me with something almost absurdly perfect. Am definitely going to be back for loads more of this!

In the imp, deep dark cocoa, a tiny hint of lavender and something slightly metallic right down the bottom somewhere. Wet, cocoa and vanilla. Very foody. Am looking forward to further developments, because at this point it won't work for me. And here comes some change already...the musk is here, and it's altogether lost any foodie overtones. This is deep, rich and amazing. It's already smelling masculine, but not so overtly that I won't want to wear it. Dry, this is so unbelievably sexy! It's still got a masculine feel to it, but that doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to how I feel about it. This is thick, and rich and beautiful. Will be absolutely back for more of this!

This was a lab frimp, so I'm interested to see how this works, because really, I tend to avoid fruity scents...but here goes... In the imp, I can only smell mango. No, cancel that thought, a little hint of green tea peeks out too. Wet, it's very sweet. Right now, it's all mango and fig. It's kinda gentle and innocent, and that's about all. Not at all complex at all. It is still lab fresh though, so I'm not giving up on it yet...I will at least put it away and try it again in a month or so. Dry, less sweet, but still fruity. I know I said I would give this up to swaps. Fruity, no matter how well done it is just doesn't do it for me.

In the imp, Sweet white floral...very heavy on the gardenia. Very pretty, but I'm scared this might wind up too floral? Here goes... Wet, nothing to be afraid of. Still sweet and floral but beautifully blended. Dry, gorgeous florals. Nothing too over the top, and one that can fit almost any occasion. I'm definitely keep this imp, and am contemplating more...if only as a backup scent for the "what on earth do I want to wear today?" moments.

In the imp, greenish herbal, with a waft of rose geranium. Wet, the yew, with a hint of an earth note. Utterly unisex at this point. Dry, this is interesting. The moss and yew are obvious, with a softly sweet undertone. This is gorgeous...I might be needing more of this.

In the bottle, boozy and sweet, with just a hint of musk. Wet, sugar sugar sugar, and again, just a little musk. This needs warming, I can tell. Dry, oh my yes! The musk has come to play! The sugar has mostly gone, and I'm left with deep sweet musk. Yay for having a whole bottle!

In the bottle, it's all earthy and herbal. The moss and the patchouli, methinks. Wet, it's kinda fresh green notes, with a sweetness creeping through. Here come the violets. Gorgeous!!! Nothing's overpowering anything, but they blend so well. Drying down, it's all about the violets and the patchouli. There's a difference between this violet and other violets I've tried. This is dirty violet - and I mean that in a good way, these are violets on the prowl...violet on me is normally sweet and innocent, but not these ones. They're kinda coy though for all of that, they come and go...but either way, it's all good. I'm so glad I have a bottle of this, and will definitely be coming back for more.

In the bottle, I get a clean herbal scent, with wisps of wood peeking through. Wet, oh my! I'm amping jasmine again! It's all good though, because I LOVE me some jasmine! It's not overpowering though, because while I'm not generally a citrus fan, there's enough here to lift the jasmine into something exquisite. Dry, this is gorgeous. Kinda crisp and very femme. It's definitely a summer time scent, and one I fully intend to take advantage of while it's so hot here.

This bottle is very well aged, given that it's a 10ml bottle... In the bottle, this is sweet and medicinal all at the same time. Actually, it smells like cherry cough syrup. Eeek. I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't smell like this on me. Wet, this is quite foody. The cherry is still evident, and there is a woody note, but instead of smelling like sandalwood, I'm getting an almond note that comes across all marzipan like...and it also has some serious throw. The star anise is also coming out, adding a spicy kick to the whole thing. This is interesting, but at this point, it's not totally me. If it were to mellow out a little it could be really lovely, as it is now though, I smell like spicy cherry marzipan. Dry, this is not for me. It smells too old for me...and while I want to like it, it's just too overpowering. Off to my swaps/sales pile.

In the imp, all I see is thick, viscous syrupy goodness. Like my Death Adder sniffie, this has aged for a year, and I'm almost scared to take the lid off for fear of what it might do to my bank balance. Anyway...back on track. In the imp, this is pure incense-y floral, with a little fruity lift - the passionflower? Probably. Wet, it's dried out a lot. My mind might be playing tricks on me, but this really smells cotton-y. Whatever it is it's not a bad thing. The fruitiness has settled down too, which is good, because I'm really not good at smelling fruity. I can't find the Snake Oil though, so what I have now is a fairly straight forward mixed floral. But that in itself isn't a bad thing, just not what I was expecting. Dry, Hasn't really morphed at all...just a straight out incensey floral. It's one I will consider for a bottle, but if it doesn't happen it won't be the end of the world.

In the imp,the Snake Oil factor is most obvious, but then, this sample has been aged for 12 months, so it's not entirely unsurprising. I really can't smell anything other than that. And in the imp it's thick and syrupy...gotta love what a little ageing can do. Wet, the snake oil is still there, but the coconut has made it's appearance. And you know what? I like this coconut...coconut on me normally turns instantly candylike on me, but this is gorgeous. Oooh, and what's that scorchy note coming out? Well...hello vetiver. This is beautiful so far. My fingers are crossed for no nasty morph. Dry, the coconut seems to be fading and the vetiver is there in all it's glory, more than ably balanced by all those gorgeous Snake Oil spices. This. ladies and gentlemen? Is love!!! Shall definitely be needing more of this one!!!