obsidienne

NOM NOM NOM. This lady is a morpher! Huesos de Santo is a gorgeous vanilla-custard orange cake while wet. The orange note is very soft and creamy, it has absolutely no sharpness to it, the way that I often find citrus to be. As it dries down, the anise warms up and provides a necessary and lovely counterpart to the foodie sweetness. I love anise. Full drydown sees the florals come out, while the rich cake aspect fades considerably into the background. The floral aspect is my favourite part, bringing to mind a beautiful bouquet of creamy flowers, but it doesn't have the same throw as the early stages. I can't tell what the florals are, but there may be a hint of rose or carnation... hard to say. BTW, this is like a cakey/foodie version of Zarita, the Doll Girl. I'm wearing this in both a scent locket and on my skin today, and feel enveloped in the most beautiful aura of scent.

This, alongside Serpent's Kiss, changed my mind about dragon's blood. As long as the dragon's blood isn't strong, I can deal. This kind of smells like Tushnamatay + dragon's blood to me. I am sure I'm way off, but it's just the smell I get. Worst review ever, but what can I say? Sandalwood! Dragon's blood that doesn't make me ill! Awesome! I think dragon's blood works for me when it's not paired with other sweet things (like red wine and rose, as in Blood Rose = that day was the day perfume raped my nose).

I put this on my swaplist even before trying it, I [thought I] hated dragon's blood so much. I was wrong. This still smells like dragon's blood, but even moreso like a warm woodsy spice with lots of cinnamon. Not so much cinnamon that it burns, although it might like to. I had/have no idea of what vetivert smells like, but if this is it, I'm all over it, baby! Very sexy.

Thank you for the recommendations! I should have guessed that it would be an LE type of scent. I'm a Capricorn, so it's tempting to find that one... I had no idea that Method did Christmas smells regularly; I only just started using Method early this year (pretty much everything from the soaps to their cleaners). I'm so crazy about the French Lavender. & I love peppermint, so I'll be hoping to see a return of this Vanilla Peppermint that you mention! Really hoping.

This was a frimp from the Lab, and oh my goodness, am I ever glad! I never ever would have ordered this on my own, it's so beautiful that I'm just thrilled. It starts off kind of masculine and piney -- in a nice way, but not entirely my style -- but it's not objectionable either. As it dries, though, it morphs like crazy; when the cranberry and cedar come out, it's perfect. Sexy and wild and fun. I am not sure that I notice the blackberry and tomato leaves distinctly, so I can't vouch for how they are contributing. Overall, this morphed from something that I'd classify as masculine into a more feminine blend (at least to me). Unfortunately, the pine didn't stand the test of my skin, and is gone at full drydown. I also usually dislike cranberry scented things because they're usually way too sweet, but this is a great cranberry. While it lasts, anyway. The Jersey Devil has light throw and an extremely short lifespan on my skin, less than a 1/2 hour. By the end it's just a hint of cedar and even lighter hint of berry, and I really slathered on my wrist.

I tried Morgause on my wrists last night, and it was completely disappointing. Out of all of the listed notes, all that I got was night-blooming jasmine... except for about two startled seconds of faint purple fruits. Then, back to jasmine and then I went to bed. Faded completely by morning. Jasmine smells literally like flower-poop to me (indole, yay). Although it is my goal to somehow overcome that and start to like and smell jasmine from an appreciative point of view, I have not yet been able to do so. After all, one day someone will be crazy enough to make some K23 and I have to be ready for it. But as jasmine goes, this was one of the less objectionable smelling ones. Blergh.

Wet, I smell warm melty butter, sugar, and a hint of spices. I often find orange anything to be overpowering and go sour on me, but I am not sure I am even detecting it here... but my question is: where is the rum? It's like my nose is teh fail. This blend is weak on me, throw is very light. As it dries down, it smells a little bit doughy and spicy. Drydown sees those spices and the warm cookie develop further in the most delicious way, and a smidge of orange appears. Actually, I am relieved that the orange peel note is subtle, as that was the one note that made me hesitate to order this. Here, it's working out quite beautifully. Far drydown sees the entire blend come together into a warm, spicy, slightly buttery, hint of orange, faint hint of rum sort of thing (this is well blended!). The spices have a bit of delightful fizz to them. And there's never anything that says "OMG RUM!". Despite all the wibbling above, the conclusion is that Butter Rum Cookie smells fantastic! It's foodie, yummy, warm, lightly spicy, and full of holiday cheer. And if at first the butter puts you off, let it keep developing on your skin: it just gets better and better and more beautiful. My only complaint is that it's not nearly the powerhouse of scent that I was expecting from the ingredients. Expectations are funny that way. EDIT, Dec 30: I have to tell you this. Because. It ruined it for me. My sister thought I smelled like curry when this was on me. Now, that is all I smell when I wear this. Buttery curry. Maybe I can use this as a room scent? I am loathe to do so, but it doesn't work on me at all anymore. BOO.

Aquatic, woods, citrus, subtle florals and some other, richer, deeper scents that I can't identify. Gentlemanly! Makes me think of a golden and sunny living room with lots of bookshelves loaded with books, luxurious carpets over gleaming hardwood floors, overstuffed easy chairs and spots to rest your feet. As it dries out it becomes a bit less aquatic, richer. Hints of spice appear, and the citrus and woods amp a little bit, but I do not, repeat, do not get the pledge effect. Lots of depth, as every sniff brings out a little something new... is that vanilla? Oy! What a blend. Toad Hall is truly beautiful, and very sophisticated... But it's quite masculine to my nose, and therefore not for me to keep. I'm glad I got to sniff!

Snow Bunny starts of really strong and then suddenly keels over and disappears. Like that. Wet, it's a chilly, high-handed floral, the kind that tends to make me want to sneeze. Also, very sweet. Uh, really girlie. Maybe it's just my age talking, but this reminds me of a teenager's perfume. Only as it begins to dry down does the pine or whatever it is that is making that slightly green scent come out, but it's very very subtle. Too subtle. I want more pine! However, there's a fizzy ozone-type note in there which is really amazing because it does almost smell like snow in the sun... if snow smelled like flowers. However, something is needed to arbitrate between that note and the psycho-florals. Something darker. I just don't know what to say; I expected not to love Snow Bunny when I read the words "youthful girlie perfume", but every review that said "pine" made me itch to try this out (it was a last minute addition). All in all, I am not sure that I would have ordered this bottle had I tried a decant first. It's too ungh for me; even though I love florals, I tend to like the unsneezy kinds. I'll try this a couple more times... if not as a perfume, it could make a nice linen spray. Or I could try to give it to my sister, she loves the sneezy floral perfumes. 2/5 p.s It smells a lot better if I never, ever put my wrist to my nose and just get the waft. Food for thought.

Holy mother of pearl, Batman, this is one of Thee Most Delicious Smells Ever! While in the bottle and wet on skin, this is the creamiest vanilla peppermint candy cane. LUSCIOUS. As it dries down, however, the peppermint mostly fades and leaves a gorgeous vanilla-sugar with the occasional last gasp of peppermint. Far drydown is sugared vanilla. Peppermint can't survive me, I guess. While still beautiful, delicious, and exquisite, LILYMI is missing its peppermint counterpart. Reapply often for the minty effect. I'm going to try it in my scent locket to see if the peppermint will last (I'll edit this post if it makes a significant difference; if it does... well, I've been moaning about how the Canadian dollar has dropped so low lately, but I might break into my Paypal account just one more time (*gulp* ha!) just for a backup bottle of this blend. Because. I fricking. Love. Peppermint.). 3.5/5, points removed only for the peppermint's inability to keep on workin' it. Edit, as promised: The scent locket preserves the peppermint a little more, but not like crazy; the vanilla and sugar are really the heart of this perfume. Also, this oil doesn't last very long, even in the scent locket (although it's more lasting than on skin, of course). Still fricking love this perfume!

I never thought there would be a Lab rose blend I would absolutely dislike, but Lucy's Kiss managed to prove me wrong. I've been "trying" this blend repeatedly since last night, and it never comes off as anything but a rather unpleasant and soapy, slightly bitter, medicinal (how!?!) rose. Fairly strong, though it does fade after a while. Just ew. I'll give this one another try in a few weeks just to test my chemistry, but I'm pretty sure this is a swap. I tried mixing it with a little Rose Red just to see if I could round it out and make it seem less icky, but that didn't work out so well.

Helena is overall a soft and quite fascinating lily-rose blend on me, with a hint of amber (which is always a little sharp to my nose, but here it keeps this blend from going too sweet and provides some interest), and with a hint of jasmine. Normally I loathe jasmine and find it overpowering, but here it's working quite well, producing a depth to the lily-rose. The perfume just doesn't smell like I imagined, but in a good way. It reminds me of Ophelia a great deal, but sans the lotus note, which I am liking less and less. Helena has mild throw and fairly short staying power. I put it in a scent locket for that reason, and it doesn't smell as good as on my skin (I notice the amber and metal from the locket a lot more), so I keep applying it directly on my wrist despite the locket. 3.5/5

Aizen-Myoo is a wake-me-up blend that morphs on skin from a tart, candied citrus & tea scent to a softer, sweeter floral with faint sugar-citrus overtones. However, it fades uber-fast on my skin, becoming nothing more than a ghost after about an hour. Thus, a scent locket. In a scent locket, the smell doesn't morph and get to that gorgeous soft stage, but the wet (or scent locket) version is also pretty in a different way, and it's exciting for the way it smells so... bright. So I guess you can wear this scent two ways for different results. In the scent locket, good throw (of course, it's right below my face, so I don't know if others can smell it). On me, medium throw before it fades.

What an unusual, beautiful scent! Wet, this is all citrus and zing, with sugar, florals, and something more pungent (peppermint, lavender, how I adore thee) underneath. On the skin, this is a bright and sassy sugared citrus-floral, with some unusual interest added by the chocolate peppermint, which is so subtle as to be what helps make this blend so wonderful, but doesn't overpower it in any way (on me, anyway). On far drydown, the grapefruit seems to end up winning the ascendancy over the tangerine and lime -- I've never noticed lime to have a lot of staying power -- with the delicate chocolate peppermint maintaining itself. The blend doesn't last very long on me, but while it does, throw is medium-light. I see bright lime-yellow when I smell this oil; very uplifting! This is definitely a "wake me up" blend and I love it for its unusualness. It's not something I would wear often, but that said, I find it to be a beautiful, fun scent and would always want an imp on hand!

I've been trying to figure out how to review this intelligently, but I can't because I cannot make even a little bit of sense of what notes comprise this gorgeous blend. What I can say is that it is very soft, subtle, close to the skin. The overall impression is slightly sweet. It has no sharp spikes of smell, it's just a very calm, level blend that stays pretty much the same and does not change... i.e. "the perfected meditation blend". I really like to wear it before bed.

This is an '07 decant. This turned out to be a gentle and sweet fruit and floral scent on me. At first the sugar plums stole the show. Then the florals amped a bit... before it all faded into a sweet but relatively faint smell on my skin. And then it was gone. It stays very close to the skin, but is very beautiful, so really, the only problem with this scent is its lack of staying power. It seems that I am much in love with gently sweet, warm foodie-floral scents like this one, so I'm extremely grateful to the forumite who sent me this!

Pure cedar chips with a little bit of bay. As a perfume... so not my thing. As a room freshener, sure!

I thought I would love tea notes in perfume, but it turns out that I was so wrong (excepting White Rabbit... and I can't tell that there is tea in there). The Dormouse is very pungent and sharp to my nose, slightly sour green herbs and teas. I can't get a breath of peony or of respite from the sharpness. So sad.

Thanks to the Lab for this frimp! Deep in Earth smelled kind of nice/different at first imp-sniff, but it's not for me: it smells like sour flowers and sour green things and sour dirt on my skin. I am definitely not into the sour or the dirt smells! Somehow it reminds me of household cleaners that have had lots of fragrance added to mask the fact that they are still harsh, pet, person & environment-hurty chemicals. Ouch. It's just not me at all.

I can't believe I didn't try this until last night! I've had it for a couple months already. Oy! Alice is everything the description says... but better. It's just so beautiful, sweet and creamy, innocent but with a little spicy fun (carnation, I love you!). The honey and carnation are the real stars of this blend on my skin, whereas the other notes fall back and support them; the bergamot adds that bit of brightness it needs to keep from being too sweet. Oddly enough I couldn't detect the rose too much. I'm a honey-amper, so it's to be expected that honey would take precedence over everything else. 5ml all the way.

In the imp, this was clove, patchouli, cinnamon and orange. It reminds me of one of those orange-clove pomander things. Thus... this smells like Christmas! Wet, similar, although it sweetens and the yummy incense speaks up. Dry: Wow. Warm, sexy, spicy incense with hints of sweet peach and spice. The patchouli is there, too, lovely and gentle on me (sometimes it can be very medicinal smelling with my skin). Very sensual and warm and... still kind of Christmasy. I think I'll wear this quite often in December. Good throw, too.

I don't know why I keep ordering jasmine blends, because even though I want to love jasmine, I can only tolerate it -- somehow it always smells weirdly floral, dirty and stinky to me until it reaches far far drydown, when my skin eats everything anyway. But I refuse to give up! This one starts off as almond over jasmine wet, but quickly becomes JASMINE on me, with the oakmoss, sandalwood and musk relieving the blend a bit and adding more complexity and a slightly bitter woodiness to the smell. I wish almond would last longer, but it never does. That said, if I am patient, I can like Salome; when the jasmine relaxes at far drydown, so do I and this becomes a rather nice blend. But once the imp is done, I think I'll say goodbye.

In the imp: a bit sharp, woodsy, and sweet, with bright red notes -- this is not at all what I expected from the description! The red wine and cherries are there, but subtle. I can't really describe what this is like wet -- it changes a lot, and quickly, and makes no sense to my nose until it settles down. So if you initially don't like Blood Kiss, give it time, because it ends up at drydown... Gorgeous! Gently sweet, warm, woodsy, spicy vanilla (yes, all of those things!) with some honey and wine tarting it all up. My review seems simple compared to all of the notes that comprise Blood Kiss, but they all warred on my skin in the wet and early drydown stages and didn't distinguish themselves or seem to really like each other. But at drydown it's a keeper. It's a warm, snuggle your nose into your arm and sniff like crazy kind of blend. Beautiful, sensual, and each sniff is a little different to keep you coming back. Big bottle worthy. It just took patience to get there.

In the imp, this is a bright citrus and sweet floral. The lime really stands out, but in a nice way, not a "Where's the tequila?" way. It's a wake me up scent, for sure. Wet, the lime and lotus burn off very quickly; what remains at drydown is a strong jasmine with a hint of tuberose; I don't think I can smell the lotus at all, which is unusual for me. I don't really love jasmine, which just smells kind of dirty and stinky on and to me, so Muse is just a 3/5 on me. Honestly, I am not sure why I ordered this! That said... it's still a nice blend, even if it's not my thing. I'm such a pushover, there are not many blends I've smelled that I wouldn't keep even just for occasional wear or to change things up a bit. edit: Got a new frimp of this from the Lab and retried it since I have learned to love jasmine since my initial review. Same deal, starts off strong lime and tuberose, then moves into a very lovely tropical floral stage where it's all bright. It's sharp, though, until the lime and tuberose calm down more. I seem to amp jasmine so in the end I'm left with a light jasmine sweetened with lotus and kept from being cloying by the tuberose and lime. A pretty summertime tropical scent. I'll keep this imp.

O is a sexy, warm honey-vanilla on me. The amber seems to hold the other two down and keep them from being too simple. Overall, it's a totally lovely smell, yet it's not exactly spectacular to me. That said, I love honey and vanilla so it's not like I'm complaining!