lohengrin

In the imp: It's light and fresh and not overpowering, but it does smell like a department store perfume. On skin, wet: Same as in the imp. It's not headachey, at least, but still... I'm not a fan so far. On skin, dry: There's a slightly spicy or smoky background here now, but it's also going a bit wonky. I can't but my finger on what kind of wonky yet, but it's a very weird combination. After an hour: It's gone kind of powdery on top of the smoky background, and it just... does not work for me. At all. Perfumey but tolerable at the start, and just odd at the end.

In the bottle: Pretty much just apricot. Maybe a little hint of vanilla, but no cardamom at all. This does not bode well. On skin, wet: Same as first sniff, and now without even the hint of vanilla. The apricot isn't juicy or sweet, either, but rather powdery. On skin, dry: Now it's getting more powdery, and still no trace of vanilla or cardamom. After an hour: Not a morpher, this one. From start to finish, it's all powdery apricot. Reminds me very strongly of Aglaea--which I like! But I already have Aglaea. ^^;

In the bottle: I have no idea what to make of this. I smell none of the listed notes, at all. It's sharp and perfumey. On skin, wet: No change from the bottle scent. On skin, dry: It's settled down a little, but not much. Still very sharp, and smells nothing like any of the listed notes. After an hour: Alas, this one never does smell at all of coconut or honey. And saffron worked very well on me in Love's Philosophy, so I'm reluctant to say what I'm smelling here is saffron, either. I have no idea what happened with this scent, but I am not pleased. I'll let it age another couple months just in case that mellows whatever went wrong, but dang.

In the bottle: Mostly I get that distinctive scent of BPAL's cream note. A little coconut in the background, and not much else. On skin, wet: Pretty much the same as in the bottle. On skin, dry: Still not really morphing at all. I knew BPAL's cream note tended to dominate on me, but most of the scents I've tried with it have ended up balanced better than this, at least. After an hour: Never really any change. No marshmallow, no macademia. Boo. It's nice enough, mind, but there's nothing to make it stand out. I'll give it another couple months of aging, to see if that lures out any of the other notes, but at this point I'm disappointed.

In the imp: Green and fresh and herbal. On skin, wet: Much the same as the first sniff, but with just a hint of lavender. Hopefully it won't take over. On skin, dry: The lavender has vanished and it's once again just green and fresh and light. After an hour: Still pretty much the same. Never got any mint or lime--this is a grassy and herbal green scent pretty much from start to finish. Nice enough, but not what I was hoping for.

In the imp: Tea, with an almost anise-like feeling to it. On skin, wet: Same as in the imp. On skin, dry: No change. Despite it being supposedly "weak" tea, that's all I can smell. x.x After an hour: Exactly the same. Not a morpher, at all. I was really hoping for more of the cream or sugar notes.

In the imp: Red musk and a tiny bit of cocoa, maybe. Or tonka? Something foody, anyway. On skin, wet: Red musk and baked goods. On skin, dry: Now it's mainly red musk and sharp, smoky tobacco. There's still a hint of baked-goods-sweetness, but not as much as before. After an hour: This reminds me a lot of Perversion, actually. The tobacco takes over a bit too much, sadly. I'll let the imp age to see if that mellows out the tobacco and lets the sweetness come back out, but sometimes it goes the other way and becomes more incensey.

In the imp: I apparently got the "old" version of Gnome, direct from the lab in my February 25, 2014 order. It's definitely a light coloured oil, and smells of ginger ale and... err. Dish soap? Yeah, ginger ale and dish soap. On skin, wet: Ginger ale and dish soap. On skin, dry: ... Ginger ale and dish soap. It's unpleasantly sharp in the same way the champagne note tends to be on me. After an hour: This really never morphs at all. No smoke, no peppercorn or nutmeg. Just soapy ginger ale.

In the imp: Almond with just a hint of florals. If only it would smell like this on me, but I know it won't. On skin, wet: Hello, rose. I see you are still determined to take over 99% of scents you're in. Also, clove. Rose and clove. There's a faint hint of almond left, but I do not expect it to survive the drydown. On skin, dry: Sure enough, this is now straight-up rose and clove. After an hour: Even the clove has faded into the background, leaving the rose to run rampant. Curses!

In the imp: Musky honey, with maybe a hint of resin/labdanum. On skin, wet: The musks and maybe-resin vanish and this is all honey and slightly-funky ylang ylang. On skin, dry: The ylang ylang has settled down into a faintly soapy floral undertone to the honey, which is very much dominant. After an hour: Still a very slightly soapy edge to this, but mostly it's a mellow/warm floral honey. I'm going to let it age to see if that brings out the musks and labdanum enough to survive on my skin, but if not this is definitely not a keeper.

In the imp: Sweet apple and something a little wonky, I can't quite put my finger on it. On skin, wet: On my skin it goes almost all sweet floral/apple blossom, with just a hint of apple. On skin, dry: Same as wet, but now it's going a bit soapy, which is not surprising with the apple blossom taking over. Sigh. After an hour: Slightly soapy apple blossom with a background of apples. Nothing at all like The Hesperides on me, alas. But I learned that in the hierarchy of Notes I Amp Like Crazy, apple blossom is higher than apple.

In the imp: Soap and honey, and somehow a little musty. On skin, wet: Pretty much the same. On skin, dry: Soap and O, basically. Which is pretty much what I expected from my past experiences with dragon's blood. ^^; After an hour: Still soap and O. But... Several hours later: The soap went away! Now it's kind of slightly spicy O. I am shocked! That said... is it worth the hours of SOAP? Probably not. I will let it age for a few months, though, and see if that mitigates the soap stage.

In the bottle: Mint, with only very slight hints of mandarin or tea. On skin, wet: Pretty much all mint, all the time. On skin, dry: Mint and tea. I can't really smell any mandarin at all. After an hour: The tea gets stronger and the mint weaker, but the mandarin never does really make an appearance. I like this scent a lot, but with it being so heavy on the tea and so light on the citrus, it turns out I'm going to have to deathmatch it against F5.

In the bottle: Not sure how to describe this scent, actually. I want to say it's almost... boozy, somehow? Kind of like what I get with Sugar Skull, only not so strong. On skin, wet: Candied lemon! Weird! This is not what I expected at all either from the description OR what it smelled like in the bottle. On skin, dry: Still pretty lemony, but there's an undertone now that I suspect is honey. It's still a bit faint, but it's there. After an hour: Yes, definitely honey now. The lemon is almost entirely gone at this point, leaving basically a pure honey note. Which is pretty much exactly what I hoped for! I may still try this up again Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, just to see how they compare head-to-head, but so far I'm quite glad I sprang for a bottle unsniffed.

In the decant: Nectarine and something else I can't quite identify, but it's wet and fresh and kind of green. It doesn't quite smell like my usual experience with oakmoss, but it could be a mix of that and the green musk. On skin, wet: Pretty much the same as in the decant. On skin, dry: Something a little bit powdery is lurking in the background now--from the lack of amber in the notes I have to assume it's the sandalwood--but on the whole it's still very much a fruity/green/wet kind of scent. After an hour: The powdery note does get a littlw stronger, but not enough to really detract from the main scent. I've never smelled anything quite like this! Definitely going to give it another test, it's been a very pleasant surprise.

In the decant: Mint and lavender. Slightly sweeter and softer than my beloved Pain, but very similar overall. On skin, wet: The mint is dominant over the lavender, but it's still very much a blend of those two notes with no hints of bergamot or mandrake. On skin, dry: There's just the very faintest sense of something green and herbal, which I assume is the mandrake, joining the mint and lavender now. Still no bergamot, but the mandrake does set this one a little more apart from Pain. After an hour: All three notes (the bergamot still being entirely absent) are fairly well-balanced now, though the mint and lavender still edge out the mandrake by a little. I quite like it! But I'm not sure it's different enough from Pain to warrant getting a bottle. Deathmatch time.

Golden honey, nicotiana, blue chamomile, and cistus. In the bottle: This actually smells rather herbal to me, rather than floral or sweet. It's actually a bit sharp, with a perfumey edge. On skin, wet: It's less sharp on my skin, a little warmer, but still more herbal than anything else. On skin, dry: Still more or less the same. Not a big morpher so far. After an hour: The florals have finally made an appearance but, alas, the honey has not; the florals are dominant with that herbal note lingering in the background. It's nice enough, but not for me at all--I really wanted the honey.

In the decant: Pretty much all clary sage. Weird! Clove and leather/suede are such strong notes, but I don't smell them at all. On skin, wet: Still the same as in the decant. On skin, dry: Okay, here's the clove! Still no leather, but the clove and clary sage are an interesting mix. After an hour: For some reason this has gone soapy on me. Never did get any leather or amber to warm it up, either. Very disappointed, I love Neverwhere and this was the scent I had the highest hopes for from that line.

In the imp: White florals, to the point that it's slightly soapy even in the imp. Zero cherry. On skin, wet: Same. Soapy white florals. Not headachey, at least. On skin, dry: Still the same. Where the heck is that cherry? After an hour: Never even a hint of cherry, this was all soapy florals from start to finish. Boo. I didn't have a lot of hope for this one, knowing how often florals go soapy on me, but to never get any cherry at all was a bit disappointing.

In the imp: Mostly neroli, with just a little bit of sandalwood. Perfumey but not offensively so. On skin, wet: The neroli is even stronger, while the sandalwood all but disappears. There's a hint of what must be ylang ylang, but not enough to really identify it. On skin, dry: Unfortunately the distinctness of the neroli is gone and now all I smell is a pretty generic dark floral perfume. That faint might-be-ylang-ylang note never did come to anything, either. After an hour: Same as the initial drydown. It's not unpleasant or giving me a headache, but it's not interesting to me at all. This was a frimp and I never would have tried it on my own, so I'm not terribly disappointed or anything. Or surprised. But I figured it was worth a try.

In the decant: Gingerbread with just a touch of citrus. On skin, wet: Pretty much the same as in the decant. On skin, dry: Still the same. Gingerbread is by far the strongest note, and the citrus just lightens it up a tiny bit. I amp gingerbread like crazy, and Villain itself is all citrus and musk on me, so this is more or less what I expected. After an hour: The citrus has mostly been beaten back. There's maybe a tiny hint of the citrus musk note left, but none of the freshness of the lime. I expected this result, honestly, because of how much I amp gingerbread, but I still kind of hoped that the citrus would cut it a *little* more. Disappointing.

In the decant: Fig with a little bit of warm amber. Just a hint of tartness, but mostly it's warm & sticky sweet. On skin, wet: The fig is still very much in charge here, everything else has just kind of melded into an indistinct background note. Not getting any more tartness, though. On skin, dry: And the fig has mostly faded back into that background note, which now just smells kind of perfumey. Damn. I really liked it until this point. After an hour: Alas, it stays true to the initial drydown. It's not a harsh kind of perfumey scent--it's still sweet and a bit warm from the fig and amber--but it's not even a little bit foody. Just not for me.

In the decant: Mint, with a weird under-note I can't explain. It's oddly sharp, nothing I'd associate with cream (which usually works for me) or marzipan. On skin, wet: The sharp note is gone, which is good, but it's pretty much 90% mint and only 10% cream, if that. No trace of marzipan at all. On skin, dry: No real change. Mint is strongest, the cream is very faint, and no marzipan. Curses! After an hour: Aside from the weirdness I smelled in the vial, this one is not even slightly a morpher on me. It's nice, don't get me wrong, but I really wanted the marzipan and it is entirely absent from start to finish. :/

In the decant: Sweetened cream, with little hints here and there of cookies and a tart note that must be the pomegranate. On skin, wet: The pomegranate dominates now, but unfortunately it smells a little bit artificial--not full-on Strawberry Shortcake Dolls, but not quite right. The cream note is there underneath, but not very strong. On skin, dry: The cream part of the "pomegranate cream" note has come back to the top, but that slightly-artificial fruit note is still present. After an hour: It's very faint now and mostly just the cream remains. It's nice, but not enough to make up for the offness of the fruit during the drydown stages.

In the decant: Mostly just licorice. It's not very strong, either. On skin, wet: Licorice and a little bit of a sweet bakery note that has to be the gaufrette. On skin, dry: Dusty black licorice. The gaufrette has vanished again. It almost makes me want to sneeze, but it may be psychological. After an hour: Same as the initial drydown. I never did get any leather, which is a disappointment, but it's a very interesting scent. The coal dust had the most potential to go incredibly wrong, but I actually kind of like it. I'll have to think about this.