oakmoss

I'm going to stock up on faery scents for spring -- Dana O'Shee, Titania, Fae, a few others that smell like the scent that wafts through the open door between the worlds....

Of all the Yule and wintry blends I have, I've been hoarding a precious imp of Skadi, doling it out drop by drop, as it feels the most like this season to me, at some deep heart place. Well, I can stop hoarding (pretty much) because Snow Moon has that same essence -- gentle cold green forest, not overly sharp or metallic... quiet, dreamy, mysterious. It reminds me of Loreena McKennitt's Yule albums, specifically a song called "Snow": In wood and water, earth and air, A silence everywhere...

Trying this for the first time without reading about the notes, I interpreted this blend as warm and richly spicy, rather like a deep red cinnamon-potpourri softened by amber and vanilla. Just delicious, though not foody. The floral notes came out much later, very softly and well-blended, no one flower speaking up more strongly than the others. My overall feeling about this scent and its name is that this is like walking through that haunted palace in its emptiness, breathing in the scents that have been muted by time and loss -- celebration, light and warmth, comfort, all the spiciness of rich life left hanging faintly on the air in empty darkened rooms. A thoughtful and beautiful perfume, and one that I am definitely buying more of.

In honor of John Lennon today, on the 25th anniversary of that sad, sad day when he left us, I started out with Strawberry Moon (sing it with me: "Strawberry Moon forever...."), then sniffed a little Neo-Tokyo for Yoko, and now as the strawberries fade, I'm layering them with a touch of Peace (give it a chance, that's all I'm saying). What other blends can you think of, Lennon-esque, Yoko-ish, or just plain Beatle-y?

Dragon's Milk is a great suggestion, and I also recommend Penitence, which has soothed me back to sleep on many a disturbed night. You might also suggest homepathic remedies for your friend's child -- there are specific ones for night terrors for children and unspecified fear. I've found Coffea Cruda to be a great remedy at night -- its purpose is to combat sleeplessness with overactive thoughts, and it works well when you wake from bad dreams. Kids can take homeopathic sugar pellets easily, as they are so tiny.

One of the differences for me between a scent worn just for pleasure and a scent used ceremonially or magically is that I tend to use more to really get the full effect if it's used intentionally in that way. With Enochian, a smallish application gave that big effect, a big WHOOSH of slightly woody rose, like roses inside a sandalwood box. I can feel power in this blend, but it's quiet, like a low chorus of angel voices? Dark angels.... not fluffy bright angels or anything sentimental. The scent morphed into more of a floral blend, not just roses, but something a bit sharper, like gardenia or tuberose along with the rose. Within about three hours, it was suddenly gone -- it didn't seem to fade, just *poof* -- all gone.

I'm not getting any of the cherry or almond that others have mentioned, and I really, REALLY don't like either cherry or almond, so I'm always on the lookout for them. To me, Kether is a warm, spicy scent, with the sharpness of some kind of wood or perhaps vetiver. In the bottle it felt more gender-neutral, but on my skin it seems more masculine in essence -- kingly, not queenly. It's very nice, and I keep sniffing my wrist and enjoying it, but in the same way I might smell someone else's perfume to be reminded of them, not as something that suits me personally. I can see this being a good ritual oil for a man -- both grounding and enlightening at the same time.

In the bottle, this was very masculine, but once on my skin, it lost some sharpness and became much more neutral. My first impression was that it reminded me of Mistletoe, a blend that smells to me exactly like walking through a Christmas tree lot -- or at least, the Christmas tree lots of my childhood, which were just heavenly. Trees don't seem to smell like they used to. Anyway, Dee isn't the tree lot, it's the forest where the trees come from, and deep in that forest there is an alchemist's secret retreat, with dried herbs and woodsmoke and incense in aromatic piles, used in rites of invocation and inspiration. This is a magical scent, and one I will be wearing often through the winter, I'm sure.

I usually can't wear scents that are described as watery, so I'm always searching for blends that have a watery essence that is expressed in different ways than the usual aquatics. Temperance evokes the classic image of the angel or maiden goddess with one foot on the flowery shore and one foot in the fresh flow of water. There is a coolness and a sweetness, softly floral but not powdery or dry at all, very moist. The balance that Temperance should convey is present, and I feel a calmness coming over me as I breathe it in, my breathing slowing, my heart opening. This is a beautiful oil!

I've determined the best way for me to really get to know a scent is to read the description when I order it (or when it arrives as a frimp) and then ignore the description and try the scent on some other time when I've forgotten what's in it. The influence of the written words "coconut" "musk" "orris" would have been too strong and my nose would have been searching for them like a bloodhound, rather than just letting the blend have its own way with me. I tried Blood Pearl last night on my way to bed, and the first impression was soft, soft, soft.... flannel nightgown soft, featherbed soft, candlelight soft, cat-fur soft, Jane Austen soft... the color mauve, not violet or purple, but misty mauve. This is a restful blend, but sensual. It doesn't scream PERFUME at you, but rather, becomes part of your skin, as if this is the way you always smell, have always smelled. Quietly beautiful.

Yes, House of Night, and also Nosferatu (it smells like longing to me...) and Wings of Azrael.

Just skimming through this thread, it doesn't look like anyone has recommended Lampades yet. I tried it last night before bed on a whim, without checking to see what the notes are, and was delighted by its spiced fruitiness -- not quite berry, not quite apple -- with what seemed to me like undernotes of smoke and maybe even tobacco. It's not foody, even though the top note IS fruit (cranberry, as it happens). It's just a wonderful rich blend that speaks of the crisp days of autumn.

13 is definitely the way to go. It morphs into something that isn't so foody (at least, it did on me), but the chocolate and orange are still dominant. Post in the Wanted part of the Swaps threads and see if someone wants to imp you some.

Though last night/today is actually the time of the Harvest Moon, I'm wearing Hunter Moon as an homage to the advance of autumn. This scent feels just right for this kind of day -- the sky is a rich blue, with the slanting golden light that speaks of fall, and there is a chill to the wind that shakes the laden apple trees. Two red foxes chase each other through my clearing in the woods, startled by my unexpected voice at the open window. The perfume echoes the richness of their fur, the lightness of their step, the freshness of the sun-warmed herbs and trees, and the winey scent of apples trampled underfoot by deer. This is a blend to anoint yourself with before taking a walk in the harvest fields, or any time you want to wrap yourself in the essence of a country day in autumn.

This scent is quite mysterious... At first sniff and application, I thought I had it pegged as a soft, simple powdery floral, with some vanilla notes. But as it warmed and ripened on my skin over an hour or two, it was as if faint sharper notes sparkled here and there -- ahhh, there's the fire in the opal! Turning my wrist from side to side and letting the scent waft up, it's whispery soft, then stronger, then soft again, just like the fire in an opal appearing and disappearing. This could easily be a scent worn every day without offending anyone, and yet, perhaps layered with some other more spicy or more floral scent, could really pack a punch. It's elegant and elusive and I think I love it.

Morgause, definitely. Rich royal velvety purple.....

Try Chuparosa, a voodoo blend. The notes aren't listed in the description, but this one was very lilac-y to me, much more than Whitechapel, which has a sharper edge in my experience.

I had the same reaction others here have mentioned... I know this scent... Not any single flower, but the whole scent... Maybe we have all smelled it in our time in the Otherworld -- it rather feels that way to me. Something intimately familiar but not to be understood in the light of this reality. It's a very green sort of floral, almost aquatic, but more like heavy mist than actual water. Springlike, but not... fresh, but not.... sweet, but not.... How's that for THE most unhelpful review ever? Just try it. See where it takes you.

WOW, the first sniff literally knocked my head back -- big sugar rush just from opening the imp! This is the mother of all foody scents, for sure, and makes Midway and the others seem a bit wimpy by comparison. It reminds me of Harry Potter, for some reason ... this is probably what the sweets shop in Hogsmeade smells like. Whether I'd actually wear it or not is a different question, but I will definitely keep the imp as a novelty and a conversation starter -- "Here, smell this.... want to go get some dessert?"

A lovely gift imp from the Lab, thank you! In the vial it's very strongly herbal lavender and perhaps other herbs -- thyme? purple sage? You know how when you are in a garden or nursery and you run some fresh lavender through your fingers and then sniff your fingertips? It's that kind of sharp fresh lavender, not dried wispy lavender. Then on drydown it loses all sharpness and morphs into a soft bed of lavender upon which lie the sweetest violets. My eyes close as I breathe it in, and I feel all tension leave me in a deep sigh... I could see this easily becoming my bedtime scent of choice. Please release it, dear Lab friends!

I live in the woods in northern California, and deer walk by my windows regularly, so I definitely wanted to try a moon blend that paid homage to them and to the time of year when the magnificent young bucks in their velvety antlers make an appearance (usually stripping my apple tree of its fruit, but oh well...). Buck Moon is as soft and velvety, misty, with a definite woodsy scent touched with the faintest breath of some tiny forest flower. This isn't like burying your face in pine needles or cedar, like some of the other foresty scents I love -- this is more like the description says, the scent of the forest coming on the wind. The deer stop, lift their heads, smelling the green breeze.... This is a beautiful perfume, good for any season, I would think, and for both men and women.

Wow, this blend took me spinning wildly back to my childhood or early teenage years, and I'm not quite sure why. One of those sense-memory things where sensations that are so familiar aren't quite graspable, rather like the notes in this blend. Violet certainly seems part of it, and something aquatic and something like baby oil.... A summer day, back when it was okay to get tan, slathering on the baby oil, then lying by the pool in the sun.... after a swim, hair still wet, dabbing violet perfume on water-cooled skin... that's what this blend is like for me. Lovely and evocative...

In the bottle and on application, the first impression is mostly roses, which I had high hopes for, as roses usually work on me and some of my favorite scents are rose-based (such as Two Five & Seven). The under-notes are sweet, as you'd expect from ambergris and vanilla. Unfortunately, there is something else in this blend that reacted badly with my chemistry, resulting in that rotten-floral scent I often get with blends that have lily. This will be a swapped bottle, alas.

I have certain "eye-opener" blends that I use on dull days when I can't focus on work that MUST be done. Any imp that makes you go "Whoa! " upon sniffing it will do... for example, Nephalim, Chuparosa, Thanatopsis, or Moxie. Anything that makes you go "Ahhhhhhh" isn't strong enough.

I agree -- Gingerbread Poppet was so buttery and foody that I was slightly sickened by it as a perfume, though if it had been something actually edible, I'm sure I would have snarfed it right up. Shub was much richer and more complex, darker, not buttery at all. It wasn't for me either, but I could really appreciate its beauty (before I traded my bottle with someone who would actually wear it ).