nineveh

Some of my favorite light non-florals: Antony Nosferatu Severin Silk Road Sri Lanka (lighter than it sounds) Van Van Yggdrasil

In the bottle, I can smell lime, clove, vetiver, and maybe frankincense. It smells deep with a bright, sharp edge. On my skin, the leather, smoke, and musk emerge, but still with the sweet citrus top notes. As it dries, it gets spicier and the citrus becomes less apparent. I'm glad for that, since the citrus notes in the description didn't appeal to me. And now they've completely faded, leaving me with smoky, spicy frankincense and sweet leather (and musk and all the other deep notes). This smells so good. Don't be scared of the vetiver! It's very subtle and well-blended here (on me, at least). I'll definitely wear this a lot once it gets cooler around here. edit: The second time I tried this, the sharp citrus notes stuck around and gave me a headache, so I don't know if I'm going to keep this afterall.

In the bottle, this smells very dark, thick, and somewhat bitter. On my skin, it stays dark and thick, but becomes very smoky with the sweetness of rose and orange in the background. As I smell it more, I can definitely say that it's hard to categorize. It's incense, smoke, darkness, fruit, florals, musk, and spice all blended very well together. It's not choking or overwhelming, and I feel very compelled to keep sniffing it. If I had to describe this in one word, it would be "dangerous." And that is a good thing.

Vetiver, dusty pepper, nutmeg, thyme and grass over a deep, mossy wooden core. At first, the vetiver is most apparent with its dark, woody smokiness. It fades when it dries to leave a light pepper scent over a mossy, grassy background. Although it's a bit spicy, it doesn't feel heavy to me. I'll have to test it, but it may even work in hot weather. I hope that this is released; I would definitely like some lighter earthy scents.

This is a lot fresher than what I was expecting, but I still really like it. It's very herbal, grassy, and sweet on top, with the depth of leather and and resin underneath. As it dries, it darkens; the bottom notes become more prominent and a subtle spice emerges. I don't think that this is too masculine for women. It feels confident and mysterious. Actually, onme this smells like a somewhat lighter, possibly daytime version of King of Clubs.

This starts out as almost aquatic on me, but then soon becomes very earthy, spicy, and dark. The almond scent is the first thing to fade, which is fine by me. The most prominent note here is the leather, with what I think is the oakmoss coming in second. I think that I can smell the fig and tobacco too. It's very hard for me to pick out any notes other than the leather because this is blended so well. This has a damp, thick, smoldering quality to it that's almost unpleasant, but I can't stop sniffing it. I'm glad I got to try an imp of it, but I think that the Queen suits me more. I'll definitely keep the imp, but now after experiencing it, I'm not pining for a 5mL. edit 7/26: I tried my imp again, and it was even better. That made me pine, so I acquired a 5mL. I'm going to wear this a lot in cold weather. edit again 1/19: This has become my favorite scent ever. You'll have to pry my 20mL from my dead hands!

Where is it? This is very faint on me, and I even reapplied after not being able to smell anything the first time. I can barely detect floral and green notes. I can also very faintly smell the clove, which is sour on me. I want to say more about this, but I can't smell it! I guess my skin just eats this one.

Huh, my impressions of this don't match with the description at all. On me, Djinn is sweet, herbal, and cheerful. There's a hint of warm smoke here, but not nearly as much as I expected. Brimstone is a lot darker and smokier on me. I tried putting some more on, and now I'm picking up a eucalpytus note, which is giving me a headache. This seems to be fading fast, too.

This was a gift imp in my latest order. When I read the description for this, I thought that it would be better in concept than as a perfume. But it's actually good! There must be vetiver in this. I'm getting that weird lawn fertilizer smell when it's wet. Once it dries, however, it really sweetens up and loses that chemical edge. Now it's spicy and smoky and woody. This is so comforting and warm. Thank you, lab!

At first, this is a straight bubblegum scent. Then the cherry comes out, which seems to not work on me whatsoever. It smells very sour and cough syrupy on my skin. Something smells burnt here too; is that jasmine? Now something like cinnamon red hots is coming out, which is nice. The cherry is making me feel ill, however. I should probably avoid the cherry scents.

Hm. This one starts off very sweet. Maybe it's lotus. Then a green herbal scent emerges. As it dries, I get a dry wood, probably sandalwood. The sweetness dies down, and now it's becoming dustier. This is such a strange scent. I have a hard time describing it as other than a dry, herbal, slightly sweet scent. It's fading already.

I liked the violets in Faustus, so I thought that I would try Sybaris. At first, this is nothing but violets, and they're very sharp and "perfumy." As it dries, the clove shows up, but it's weird and stale. Clove does that on me sometimes. I never get any tonka or incense, unfortunately. I think that the violets are giving me a headache. This just isn't working on me. Too bad; it smells very nice in the imp.

Insatiable lust, unending vigor! A truly carnal, energetic men’s blend: vanilla and amber with juniper, rosewood and white pine. Snake Oil didn't work on me because of a hidden honey element, it seems, and honey absolutely hates me. I loved Snake Oil's vanilla spiciness otherwise, so when I read that Golden Priapus was a masculine Snake Oil, I knew that I had to try it. On me, it's Snake Oil in the forest. The spices aren't as strong or as dark, but the amber and vanilla combine to make the same kind of scent, I think. I love the woods in this too. At first, it was nothing but pine/juniper, but I expected that to fade, and it did. The woods weren't too sharp, just sweet and warm. Together, all the notes make such a wonderful combination. I think that this would work equally well for men and women. I'm definitely getting a bottle of this in my next order, and will probably wear it a lot during the winter.

Mother of Demons, Vengeful Fury, Darkest Seductress, Queen of the Djinn, Goddess of the Gate. Red wine, myrrh, black musk, and attar of rose. I like all the notes in this, but for some reason, they aren't working together on me. I've noticed that sometimes myrrh in combination with other things can create a weird smell on me. Here, it's not blending right with the red wine, so I get a sort of wet dog and sour grapes thing when it's wet. As it dries, it gets better, but there's still something off. I wish that myrrh worked on me all the time, because I love it, but sometimes my skin doesn't, I guess. Lilith would definitely be dark, sexy, and sinister on the right person.

I had been waffling about ordering an imp of this because the coconut in Black Pearl vanished on me completely, but a very kind lady included an imp in my swap package. At first, this is nothing but coconut on me. Roasted coconut, maybe. As it dries, the tobacco and rum show up, along with vanilla. Where's that coming from? The coconut lasts in this one, and remains the dominant note on my skin. On me, this is a lot like Perversion minus the leather and plus coconut. I haven't tried Grog, so I can't compare them. I already have a bottle of Perversion on the way, so I don't think I'll need one of Elegba. If you like smoky rum and coconut, try this!

The light musks worried me, and I have no idea what poppy smells like, but I love patchouli, so here we go. This is so pretty! The musks are cool and fresh and soft. Something here is making it lightly sweet; I guess that would be the poppy. I can't really pick out the patchouli individually, but I think that I can sense it in there, adding depth. I think that this scent would be appropriate for both day and evening. It's sophisticated without being dark or heavy. Nothing here smells sharp to me, just fresh and invigorating.

First, I can tell that the musk is a light/white/Arabian musk, because it's reminding me of dryer sheets. It's probably the same musk that's in Morocco. That's all that I can smell at first. Then as it starts to dry, the rose, saffron (I think), and sandalwood appear, along with something faintly citrus. The musk stops smelling like dryer sheets. On me, the rose smells deep and full, not dry or sharp. The sandalwood isn't overly dry or powdery. This blend is very balanced and subtle. On me, no one note overwhelms. It's warm, a bit spicy, rosy, woody, and sweet. It deepens as it dries. I could see myself wearing this one a lot.

Why did I not try this sooner? This is very nice. At first, I smell moderately sweet (but not overwhelmingly so) vanilla and apple. This feels very dense. Maybe that's the black musk. This fades down to a musky patchouli vanilla rose scent. It's warm, smooth, and confident. This is going on my big bottle list.

This was mostly rose and dry, slightly spicy sandalwood on me. The rose is somewhat sharp and sour at first, but as it fades, it sweetens. I never did get the patchouli, which is a shame. For a rose, sandalwood, and patchouli blend, I'll stick with Rakshasa.

This is definitely a heady floral. It could be jasmine or gardenia. That's all I'm getting out of it, actually. They're not turning cloying on me, thankfully. Their scent is deep and creamy, just how I would imagine a moon scent to smell.

This is a very cool, calm, watery floral. It reminds me of deep green shaded water. It almost works on me. There's just this tangy grass smell underneath that makes the scent sort of pungent and sour. Otherwise, it was just as I had imagined from the description. I wish that this one worked completely on me.

Nutmeg and rootbeer? Weird. After it fades a bit, I get a sweet wood smell. The spicy sharpness of the nutmeg has calmed down, and the rootbeer note has toned down too. This is a sweet medicinal scent that is oddly appealing. It seems to ultimately fade into sweet nutmeg. I have other spicy scents that I like better, but I'm glad I tried this one.

This starts as lemon and lavender. Very medicinal. I'm not getting any frankincense, which makes me sad. As it dries, it starts to smell very sweet, like hard lemon candy. This is too intensely lemon for me, and I don't think that lavender likes my skin.

In the imp: Vetiver? It smells pretty pungent. On, this becomes a smoke and burning wood scent, very dark and atmospheric. I figured it would be, since the Tower is burning on the card. After a while, the sharp burning aspect of this fades, and now I smell smoky wood. I guess this is after the fire has burned out. This is very gloomy. I wouldn't wear this as a perfume, but I'm glad I got to try it out.

This is a very herbal, fresh, grassy scent. It smells like a lawn-scented soap on me. Are there lilies here? That would explain the soapiness. This scent makes me think of twilight. It's light and cool. I don't think I'd want to wear it as a perfume, but it would make an amazing room scent.