Little Bird

When I first put Ajna on and the smell hit me, I recoiled in horror. It is rather astringent and has that cool eucalyptus-menthol bite to it. I also might smell some anise here. It was awful and medicinal. Then, after a few minutes, this started to get more pleasant as the menthol smell faded away. I think that I can smell powdery sandalwood in the drydown, and still that hint of anise. Something about Ajna is very airy and relaxing. Smell-wise, Ajna is one of my favorites, after Manipura and Sahasrara... personally, it was the one that I felt a real connection with.

On me, Vishuddha is all sweet lemon citrus and powdery spices. It is more like lemon head candies than a fresh lemon smell. After a half hour or so, still sweet lemon candies and a slight powdery scent, but it loses a lot of its spiciness. Overall, Vishuddha is very pleasant. This one isn’t as long lasting and doesn’t have as much throw as most of the other blends. I don’t notice it much after the first hour on my skin.

Most of the Chakra blends have such amazing scents. Sahasrara smells rather anise-like in the background, but it is not overwhelming or off-putting at all. At first I think that I smell some lavender in this one, and there’s a very powdered sugar sweetness to the whole blend that I find very pleasant. After an hour or so this began to remind me a bit of sweet cola and incense. And it somehow still manages to smell very purple. Sahasrara’s scent is captivating and pretty. It’s very purple and sweet, but still incensey. Incense-candy. It stays strong for hours... 8 hours later there is still a rather strong, sweet incense scent wafting from where I applied it. Definitely full bottle worthy and my favorite of the Chakras

The Vortex has a very odd and distracting smell on me. It smells of lemons and, uh, fish. Perhaps fish that have been dead for a few hours, that strangely pungent odor that they get. I’ve tried it out a few times now, and had to wash it off before reaching a half hour mark every time, though the lemon does get stronger over wear. I just can’t think about anything but rotting fish when I have this on, and it makes me feel nauseous and anxious. Strange. Sometimes I hate my skin chemistry.

I was very hesitant to try this one out. Sniffing it in the bottle, it was pure jasmine. Just way too much floral for me. On me... ugh. Jasmine. In all of its smoky, yellow, headache-inducing glory. I was hoping that the juniper berry might be able to cut the jasmine here, but no. My skin is amping this up into jasmine single note, as usual. 15 minutes later. I find myself wishing that this did not have so much throw. This might be the strongest jasmine ever. Rose geranium? Nope. Juniper berry? You wish. “And the will therein lieth, which dieth not.” The jasmine dieth not... even well after a half hour, a headache, and repeated hand washings.

Initially, Montresor was the Maelstrom blend that I was most excited to try out, blinded by the delicious sounding “black fruit and vanilla” part of the description. In the bottle... smells like grape flavored bubblegum. On me, smells like sweet, thick grape juice and oak trees. Something about this strikes me as very regal, like a row of tall oaks along a well kept path, leading up to a great castle. This is probably supposed to smell like wine of some sort, but I’ve never drank alcohol, so I can’t draw the comparison at all. This doesn’t smell boozy on me at all though. After 15 minutes or so, there is something complex and spicy about this. The overall effect is something very natural to me though... not so much a boozy manmade blend as it is something you might find out in the forest. The enchanted forest of your wildest dreams. A half hour later, this is very unique and has easily been holding my attention as it shifts on my skin. It’s not overpowering at all, but it does have a good deal of staying power and throw on me. I actually believe that I can smell a bit of burnt vanilla along with the oak and sweet grape fragrance in the drydown now. It reminds me a bit of LUSH’s Cherie Ripe massage bar. After a couple of hours, I’m getting mostly a powdery grape scent. Overall, Montresor is better and more complex then I ever imagined that it would be. This is one of those scents that I’ll wear several times and notice something new about it with each wear.

If my boy were to wear Usher and I were to wear Berenice, we would be the most perfectly scented couple ever. I don’t much care for this one on me (not sweet enough to be one of my personal fragrances, lol) but I’m definitely keeping the bottle around because I think that it smells like heaven on the boy. Oh, and the boy likes it too, so I’m not really abusing him. It smells of a sophisticated men’s cologne, shot through with a clean orange citrus scent. My mother sniffed it and said that it smelled “foresty”... and I suppose that I can see that as well. After about an hour, Usher loses a lot of its citrus punch and takes on a soft, minty-cool quality. I like it even more when it hits the minty stage. Overall, this is a wonderful clean-citrus and light-mint scent that I love on anyone but me.

In the bottle this smells rather like Centzon Totochtin, nothing but insanely rich cocoa. I’ve been very put-off Centzon ever since I accidentally spilled an entire bottle on my pants... so the smell made me feel a bit nauseated. On my skin, the thick cocoa smell falls into the background and it smells like an explosion of spices. It reminds me a bit of Tezcatlipoca, with the cocoa lingering in the background and holding everything together and the vetiver offering something darker and colder to the blend. I never smell any of the dragon’s blood. 15 minutes later, this is nothing but musk and it smells rather perfumey on me. I was worried that the smell of the perfumey musk might give me a headache, but The Tell-Tale Heart pretty much vanished on my skin before I even reached the half hour mark. For a scent that I thought would be really strong and overpowering, I’m surprised by its poor staying power on me. I like the first ten minutes or so on my skin, but its similar enough to Tezcatlipoca on me that I’d never really choose to wear this one.

Oh, this is yummy, but it reminds me of something that I cannot quite place, and it’s driving me crazy. This smells like some pleasant memory from my childhood that I can almost reach, that I almost recapture the feeling of, but I cannot quite make it. *sigh* And then it hit me just now - Persimmons. Wild persimmons... the way that they smell and taste when they’re sweet. I’ve only seen or eaten them once before in my life. My family and I used to live in Missouri in a little back country town. When my father and I drove to pick my mother up from work one day, we parked for a while next to what happened to be a wild persimmon tree. He assured me that they were okay to eat and they were pretty tasty little fruits. I haven’t seen one since then, but I remember how happy I was, just talking to my dad and sitting on the hood of his truck... Fortunato is all fruity persimmons in the bottle and on my wrists (the “bitter berry”). A quick burst of zesty orange citrus comes out for a few minutes, but fades away pretty quickly. I also get something woody and a bit earthy, though I never smell really strong patchouli, it’s more of a light grounding note in the background. This smells very much like being outside and laying under a persimmon tree I really love this one.

In the bottle this smells like a cool, subtle floral. It strikes me as somewhat aquatic, but I can’t imagine why. On me, very Old Spice-esque men’s cologne. It’s incredibly spicy and incredibly masculine. After a few minutes, the spice calms down a bit and I am getting that aquatic smell in the background again. A half hour later. Spice. Spicy florals, spicy spice, and spicy incense. It’s not foodie spice or even clove and cinnamon spicy... it’s like a sexy men’s cologne sort of spice. After an hour, more of that freshly aquatic scent came into play. It’s like taking a deep breath by the ocean on a chilly day. There’s still the same sexy spice here as well though. The warm spice against the coolness is really nice. I could never really pick out any of the listed notes individually... at times I thought that I smelled hints of carnation or incense. This is really well blended and something that I might wear myself, but would absolutely adore on the boy.

In the bottle this reminds me more of Al Azif’s smoky qualities than Midnight Mass’s smooth, sweeter incense. It’s also a bit sharper than Al Azif. I am awful at describing incense blends. On me, The Pit & The Pendulum takes on a slightly burnt quality, but not in a bad way. It’s the smoky haze that you get from burning incense. After about 15 minutes, I can smell a dusty cedar-ish wooden note behind the incense. This is like an old wooden church with incense burning inside. Nice, but too woody for my tastes. It’s strong on me for about an hour, but fades quickly after that, leaving behind a faint trace of smokiness. This is more smoky and powdery than I would have liked. I really love Midnight Mass, and I like Al Azif... this one is my least favorite out of the three. ETA: With some aging, this does take on more of Midnight Mass's smooth, slightly chilly sweetness in the bottle. However, on me and the boy, it kinda smells like violet baby powder with just a hint of cedar. On the boy, it is especially powdery. He also thought it smelled very soapy to him throughout the day.

In the bottle, this smells like a little 5 ml full of black potting soil. I cringed. On my skin, this is really fascinating and lovely. The Premature Burial actually became one of my favorites out of the Maelstrom (no match for Berenice, but still gorgeous in its own right). First on it is perfumey dirt, grasses, and dusky black orchid. I kept seeing a hazy dark purple whenever I closed my eyes and sniffed my wrists. It was very strong too, lots of throw with this one. I think that what I liked most about The Premature Burial is that it is so sweet on me. Black orchid is one of the few florals that I really love, and it is showcased very well in this scent. The dirt smell didn’t bother me as much as it has in all of the other blends that I’ve tried. It was more perfumey and sweet here, and was wonderful mixed with the black orchid. After a few hours, the dirt smell faded completely and I was left with nothing but sweet florals. I tried this one on my mother as well, because she also loves orchids, and she fell in love with the scent right away. I may have to buy another bottle for her

Berenice was the Maelstrom blend that I was least enthused about... lily usually goes soapy on me, amber usually goes to baby powder, and white musk tends to smell like cheap hair spray. So this is full of notes that my skin chemistry tends to butcher. Still, when I first opened my package, I sniffed each of the Maelstrom blends from the bottles; and Berenice and Usher were the ones that smelled the best to me initially. On my skin, this smells pale, clean, and sweet. The white musk is dominating, and actually not turning on me. Yay! Over a few minutes the lily picks up and offers a sweet floral note behind the white musk. It actually smells like real lilies and not dish soap. That might be a first for me. Gods, this is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Have you ever smelled something so good and so perfect that you couldn’t really talk about it or describe it? That’s kind of how I feel about Berenice. This is very feminine... but not in a childish or overly sweet way. This smells like the scent of a beautiful young woman who is still innocent, but haunted by some tragedy or affliction. Great staying power and throw as well. I am not a poet or even a very good writer, so I’ll just say that Berenice is excellent and that you should all definitely buy a bottle, even if lilies and whatnot usually do not smell so good on you. And I really really love this one. Berenice is hands-down my favorite of the Maelstrom.

In the imp, this is definitely interesting. On first sniff, my brain screeches, “Rose! Sulphur!” but then on a second sniff, it came off as a very strong rose with a slightly sour, but not altogether unpleasant, edge. On my skin, still that creepy sulphur-esque note is lingering in the background. The rose itself here is pretty pleasant. Not a powdery, sweet rose (which I actually prefer)... but a strong, blood red, spicy rose. It smells like something that is trembling with malice and cruelty. This strikes me as a sort of poisonous rose with razor sharp thorns. This is the sort of rose that really hates you and would laugh if you were dying some horrible death. Something about this is just creepy and actually smells hateful. The Imp of the Perverse isn’t one that I’ll probably ever wear again. The sulphur smell calms down considerably after a half hour or so and I’m left with a strong, spicy rose scent with a lot of throw... but something about it is still just ‘off’ and doesn’t feel right to me. Glad that I could try this one... and, in a way, glad that I don’t want another imp or a full bottle.

I got my first new-style imp label the other day on a frimp of Faustus I love the phoenix art so much, it makes me want to start collecting imps. And I can't wait to see the rest of the Maelstrom bottles... c'mon perverse parcel.

I don’t like musk, amber, or orange scents… so I was really hesitant to try this one. It was the thought of a rainforest-ish scent that drew me in. Plus, well, it just has a cool name. In the bottle… smells kinda like Smut, Jacob’s Ladder, and a mixture of a citrussy men’s aftershave lotion. There’s a spiciness in the bottle that I’m hoping carries over when I try it on. On my skin, spicy-perfumey-musk. 15 minutes later. This is light and a mix of things that don't really work well on my skin. Perfumey musk, powdery amber, and some sharp floral notes. In the drydown, this is more of a hot, heady, lightly spiced, musk. It clings close on my skin, but every once in a while I will catch a bit of it. This isn't a favorite for me. The light but ever-present musks, hot florals, and powdery amber just aren't anything that I would normally wear.

In the bottle, this smells like the most wonderful, clean lavender scent. On me, this is a really captivating fragrance. It is sort of soapy, in the way that it reminds me of laundry soap at first, but it isn’t badly soapy or off-putting. This also has a very chilly sweetness to it that I'm loving. It dries down to a very sweet, pleasant lavender, but definitely more complex than just plain lavender. After about an hour, the soapiness has faded away entirely and there is more of an herbal chamomile and cool floral scent behind the sweet lavender. I might love the Sleepy Moon. Overall, Sleepy Moon is light, sweet, cool, and clean on me. It’s unlike any other fragrance that I’ve tried, and I wasn’t expecting to like this one, but I do. It doesn’t make me feel sleepy, but this would be a great casual fragrance… one that I would wear just to make myself happy. I could also see this being a very calming scent, maybe a good one to wear when I have presentations or am feeling anxious about something. ETA Sleepy Moon has become my favorite lunar blend, and one of my favorite LEs of all time. I've really come to appreciate the cool, airy, sweet lavender. It's so calming and helps to clear my mind, while also smelling wonderfully unique and sweet. It's like a cool breeze on a summer night, only better.

That does sound like it would be amazing, thanks for sharing the recipe . And I have all of those scents upstairs... *runs off to do some mixing*

Ah, I love odd little sayings like that. And I'd never heard that one before... ahem, anyhow... Sadly, I haven't yet found another scent that really smells like Fée. Fruit Moon was melony on me in the drydown, but with a lot of other fruits thrown in. Mi-Go Brain Canister also had melon in it and is up for sale on the swap forums and ebay pretty frequently... but it doesn't match up to Fée's melon at all. I get more floral/kiwi/tea/spice than I do melon from Mi-Go. I wish that there was a regular catalogue scent that smelled more like Fée

You might want to look at... Kurukulla (rose and lotus) London (tea rose) Delirium (rose, lemon, and apple) Zombi (rose, moss, and soil) Rose Cross (rose and frankincense) Spellbound (rose, amber, and red musk) Lucy's Kiss (rose and spice) Harlot (rose and cinnamon) Persephone (rose and pomegranate) Blood Rose (rose, wine, and dragon's blood) Moon Rose (rose and moonflower) Versailles (rose, citrus, amber, jasmine, and orris) I'd especially recommend Kurukulla and Versailles

Just wanted to add, for anyone who is shying away from Alice because of the honey, it is still definitely worth trying. Honey pretty much never works on me, it goes strangely metallic or perfumey and just 'off' on me... and I love the Alice. I get more of a slightly honeyed sweetness than I do a full-on honey scent from it. Try it try it try it...

Maiden is my carnation staple . It smells like pure carnation singlenote on me, though the description also lists it as having tea and rose along with the carnation. Alice is heavenly, but I only get spicy carnation from it for the first few minutes after application, then it turns into a lovely sweet cakes, milk, and honey scent on me.

You might also want to try The Body Perfumery's "Mad for Marshmallows" scent. It's a dupe off of Philosophy's marshmallow fragrance, but it's something that is similar and would work well with Marshmallow Cocoa. It's a very buttery, slightly chocolatey, marshmallow. It's one of my favorites. I love Jaqua's products, but there aren't really any BPAL scents that I think dead-on match any of the ones that you're looking for. Bliss is a great chocolate, and Beaver Moon would layer well with Buttercream Frosting. I'd also second the recommendation for Gluttony (though it turned sickeningly sweet on me). Also, for some reason, I thought of Snowblind when I thought of the way Buttercream frosting smells. Snowblind has a buttery vanilla that is a bit similar, I think, with the addition of a light mint. For Peach Parfait, Aglaea smells very similar to me. If you'd like, you can PM me and I'll be happy to send you imps of Mad for Marshmallows, Bliss, Beaver Moon, and Aglaea to try out

I didn't think that I would really need another rose fragrance, but the mention of resins in Parlement of Foules had me sold instantly. I'm glad that I purchased two bottles of this one, it's a very unique and wearable rose. Wet on my skin, this was very sharp/perfumey and I was ready to wash it off. Then it completely morphed after a couple of minutes into a soft, slightly sweet rose with the spice of frankincense in the background. It reminds me a bit of the sweetness that I got from the rose in The Peacock Queen, only softer and with the resinous bite. I love Kittyflop's description of this as a "pale rose" because that is the phrase that kept coming up in my mind as I sniffed this one. After an hour this smells like golden syrupy sweet myrrh with a hint of fresh cut rose. It fades quickly after the one hour mark. Parlement of Foules is romantic and soft on me, very good for a Valentine's Day sort of rose. It would be fitting to wear on a romantic dinner date. I wish that this lasted longer, but it's one that I don't mind reapplying.

In the bottle... this manages to smell spicy, sweet, and aquatic. A strangely delicious combination. I was intrigued at first sniff, though I put off trying this blend originally. It didn't sound that exciting out of all of the Lupercalia blends, but I am really happy with Night's Pavilion. It is a definite winner for me, and I'm so glad that I purchased two bottles. Wearing this is like being in the house on a hot summer's night and feeling overheated and restless... then you walk outside and a cool breeze refreshes you as you look up at a starry sky and feel rejuvenated. Something about the floral mixed with frankincense and creamy musk is just perfect. It is as refreshing and enchanting as a cool breeze on a stifling summer night. I wouldn't really smell this and think that it is floral, though it's what I expected after reading the notes. Night's Pavilion smells very exotic and musky (musk usually gives me a headache, but I'm loving this), with the frankincense and sweet floral dancing around in the background, and an almost black peppery spiciness to it. Love it. ETA: I have the 2006 and 2011 versions of this. The 2006 bottles I own haven't changed much at all with age, and the 2011 smells *nothing* like the original. The 2011 version smells like pink, creamy roses and lemonade on me (wth?) and lasts about a half hour before it disappears.