lohengrin

In the imp: Boozy. Bready too, but not so much honey-drizzled as toasted. On skin, wet: Same as in the imp, more or less. On skin, dry: Wine and sweetness--not distinctly honey, but that's probably what it is. No more bread or toastiness. After an hour: It stays pretty much sweet wine. The toasted bread note never came back, which is actually disappointing, it was very interesting!

In the imp: Amber, and something slightly soapy and headachey. On skin, wet: A weird mix of amber, spices, and soap. On skin, dry: SOAP. Huh. The colour suggests dragon's blood resin, which is the main non-floral soap culprit for me, but no one else seems to get dbr from this, so I don't know what's causing it. After an hour: The soap has faded somewhat (but not entirely) and the spices have come back out, but it's still a little headachey. I don't think this phase is quite nice enough to make up for that extremely unpleasant first hour or so.

In the imp: Rose. On skin, wet: Rose. On skin, dry: Rose. After an hour: Aaaand... rose. What can I say? I amp rose like crazy. Disappointing.

I avoided this scent for a long time, despite its popularity, because patchouli is not my friend. Not at all. But I got it as a frimp recently, so I decided to take the plunge. In the vial: Incensey and a little sour. No sweetness, but also not giving me a headache so far. On skin, wet: Less sour now, but even more incensey. Now it IS starting to give me a headache. On skin, dry: Incense with a faint hint of vanilla. After an hour: Still primarily incense, with just a touch of vanilla. I have a nasty headache, my eyes are burning, and I have the beginnings of a sore throat. Badness. So much badness. I was right the first time, patchouli is DEATH for me.

In the bottle: Ginger, peppercorn, and a slight dustiness from the cardamom. On skin, wet: Ginger, fennel/licorice and peppercorn. Fairly similar to other spicy scents I have, hopefully it will morph. On skin, dry: Indeed, this one is a morpher. The peppercorn and ginger have faded down some, and the fennel/licorice and rooibos are peeking out now. After an hour: This is almost entirely fennel/licorice and rooibos now, with a bit of sweetness. Never got any almond or coconut, but it's definitely a lovely scent. Will age it a couple more weeks and test it once more just to be sure, but this is almost certainly a keeper.

In the bottle: Kind of perfumey, with just a little bit of citrus tang. On skin, wet: Still perfumey, and a note that smells almost like vicks vapo rub. Weird. On skin, dry: The vapo-rub goes away and the perfumey smell gets more subtle. Now I smell some citrus and a touch of mint. After an hour: Subtle (and nonspecific) citrus, with the perfumey note as an undertone. It's not perfumey enough to give me a headache, but I'm still not sure about this one. Will let it age a few more weeks and give it one more try.

In the bottle: Lavender and something a bit sharp and green, probably the violet leaf. On skin, wet: Lavender, sharp greenness, and a hint of soap. On skin, dry: Lavender and soap, dang it all. After an hour: Now this is really surprising. Most of the soapiness goes away after a little while, though not all of it. The lavender, however, does go away entirely. Now it's slightly soapy, a little green, with a hint of tea. I'm not entirely sure yet that it works well enough to go through the soapy phase, but definitely worth a re-test.

In the bottle: Fruity floral, but heavier floral than I usually get from that sort of blend. On skin, wet: As usual, my skin starts to amp the rose right away, even if it's "rose musk," apparently. So basically, roses with a hint of fruit and, alas, soap. On skin, dry: Roses and soap. After an hour: Soap. A bit of rose still lingers, but mostly it's soap. Never got any vanilla or honey at all, and the fruits went away as soon as it dried, so this is definitely not a winner on me.

In the vial: Cherry. Not much of anything else. On skin, wet: The cherry goes cough syrupy. May be the licorice doing that, but it's hard to say for sure. On skin, dry: Cinnamon has become by far the dominant note, and the cough syrup note has calmed back down to proper cherry. After an hour: Cinnamon with an undernote of cherry.

In the vial: Mostly cooking spices. An undercurrent of almost sweetness, but it's too faint to really narrow down. On skin, wet: Straight up cooking spices. On skin, dry: Still just cooking spices. After an hour: Same as before. Never got any fig or sesame, which I was really hoping for.

In the vial: Minty. Some floral and musk, but mostly minty. On skin, wet: Still mainly minty, with a bit of musk. On skin, dry: Musk gets stronger, but the mint is still very much present. After an hour: Musk, with a mint background. Florals faded very fast, never did get any chocolate.

In the vial: Lilac with a touch of greenery. On skin, wet: Greenery with lilac in the background. A bit of soap, but not too much. On skin, dry: Pretty much straight up lilac. That hint of soap is still not too strong. After an hour: And now it's soap. Lilac seems to fall into the same category as cherry blossom for me--very nice for a while, but eventually turning to soap. Sadness, as it's one of my favourite flowers.

In the vial: Rose and something heavier, with almost a carnation-like spice to it. Maybe the olive blossom? On skin, wet: That heavier note becomes dominant, with the rose underneath. But already there's a hint of soap, and that worries me. On skin, dry: Soap with a background of that almost-carnation note and the rose. :/ After an hour: Only gets soapier as time goes by. Even the rose is gone, and I usually amp that like craaazy.

In the vial: Pretty much a rose single note. On skin, wet: Mainly rose, but the lily starts to come out and threaten to go soapy. On skin, dry: Soapy rose. Darn lily. :/ No trace of vanilla musk. After an hour: The soap settles down a little, but not enough because it's still all rose under the soap, with no trace of vanilla musk.

In the vial: Lemony sugar. Very sweet, but with just enough lemon tartness to not be cloying. On skin, wet: Tart lemons, very little sugar. On skin, dry: A tiny bit more sugar comes out, but mainly it's bright, tart lemon. After an hour: It actually reminds me a lot of Phobos. A little bit sweeter, but not enough that I really want a bottle.

In the vial: Peachy florals. Very yummy. On skin, wet: Dang. Soapy peaches. On skin, dry: Only faint whiffs of peach remain, now it's pretty much all SOAP, all the time. After an hour: Same as the initial drydown. This is definitely not a winner on me, despite my hopes.

In the vial: It smells perfumey, with just a hint of clove. (I know, "perfumey" is not helpful, but it has that smell I associate with department store perfume, where no note stands out and it's all just kind of overwhelming and headachey.) On skin, wet: A little more clove, but still kind of perfumey. No currant at all. On skin, dry: The perfumey scent has faded into the background, and this is mostly straight-up clove. After an hour: More or less the same as the initial drydown--clove with an undercurrent of department store perfume. Very disappointing.

This is a review of an aged bottle. In the bottle: Lime and citron with a very light musk. On skin, wet: Basically the same as in the bottle. On skin, dry: A bit of soapiness shows up--lilac apparently doesn't like me--but it's not such an aggressive soapiness that it can't be ignored. After an hour: True to the initial drydown. The soapiness never gets any worse, and mostly can only be smelled if I put my nose right to my skin. I actually quite like this, it's light and citrusy but not sweet or warm at all.

This is a review of an aged bottle (2006 version). In the bottle: Sweet, yes, but actually this smells very boozy to me. Not sugared fruits, but drunken fruits. On skin, wet: Booze. Sweet, like rum or a very sweet fruit wine, but definitely booze above all. On skin, dry: There's a bit of spice to it now, it actually smells a lot like mulled wine. After an hour: Definitely mulled wine--booze, sweetness, fruit and spice. This is way more of a Christmas scent on me than a Halloween scent. ^^;

This is a review of an aged bottle. In the bottle: Melons, and maybe a tiny bit of floral lurking in the background. On skin, wet: Melony goodness. Still that subtle hint of something else, but mostly this is melon. On skin, dry: The "maybe florals" in the background have gone slightly soapy, but not enough to detract from the melon. After an hour: About the same as the initial drydown, the soapiness stays very faint and the melons stay very true and sweet and awesome.

This is a review of an aged bottle. In the bottle: Red hots, and a very faint hint of something darker, maybe clove. On skin, wet: Pretty much the same as in the bottle. On skin, dry: The clove gets a little stronger, giving a nice dusky base to the red-hots cinnamon. After an hour: Pretty much the same as the initial drydown.

This is a review of an aged bottle (2005 version). In the bottle: Buttery rum cookies. On skin, wet: A little more buttery, less cookie dryness. Rum fades to the background. On skin, dry: A bit of spiciness comes out, but it's still mainly buttery. After an hour: The dry, almost powdery scent that makes me think of cookies does peek back out, and the spices get a touch stronger. It's a buttery, spicy, rum cookie. Almost like Spooky without the mint.

This is a review of an aged bottle. In the bottle: Roses! A touch on the sweet side, but also a bit of green underneath. On skin, wet: Same as in the bottle. On skin, dry: Less green, less sweet, the rose petals have taken over. This is exactly like sticking my nose into the blossom of a rose from the backyard. After an hour: Stays fairly true to the initial drydown. It doesn't go powdery or turn into old-lady-rose-perfume, it stays like a fresh rose.

This is a review of an aged bottle. In the bottle: Green! It's kind of a medium sort of green, not quite grassy and not as pale as cucumber, but rather somewhere between the two. On skin, wet: Same as in the bottle. On skin, dry: Still the same. No soapiness, and it hasn't gone poof like so many "green" scents do on me. After an hour: Still hanging in there! It's a little paler now, more towards the cucumber end of the spectrum, but still enough grassiness to make it different and wonderful.

This is a review of an aged bottle. In the bottle: Citrus & ginger, maybe a bit of cardamom. No pumpkin, oddly enough. On skin, wet: The warmth of the pumpkin comes out to back up the citrus and ginger. On skin, dry: Still predominantly citrus and ginger, with a warm pumpkiny background. After an hour: Cardamom peeks back out, which gives a slightly soapy edge to the scent, but it's still mainly pumpkin, citrus and ginger. A much sharper scent than most pumpkin blends have turned out on me.