iliadawry

Bottle: Everything the description says, foody and greasy and I am STARVING can I just tell you. Wet: Ack! It's doing that weird "oil gone off" thing that Spooky does! Nooo! Dry: Whew, it's gone back to being gooey vanilla sugar sticky wee-bit-appley happy yummy goodness. That was close! This is the foody scent I've been after for quite some time... definitely a keeper. /ili

I had nearly talked myself out of this one, after it made my list of final CN scents. I'm poor! But I couldn't resist getting a decant... and holy crap now I have to buy it dammit dammit DAMMIT. Ahem. That is to say! Bottle: Rich, woody cinnamon. Dry grass baking in the heat. Wet: Cedar informs the cinnamon. The grass was apparently growing close to a pine forest, and it carries the scent. This is a beautiful dead-grass end-of-summer carnival -- ducking from the heat into the cool tent, relieved and frightened at the exotic contents. Dry: Patchouli, cedar, something dark and a little sweet -- the end of the dead grass, maybe, or opoponax. Whatever that is. To google I go! edit: Great Teacher Google says opoponax is bitter and acrid, so likely it's the grass I'm smelling. /ili

Bottle: overpowering almond with a tiny, tiny bit of green herb. Wet: Almond and mint. Drying: The almond fades, but the mint stays strong, and pine and chocolate notes start to emerge. This is incredibly dynamic! There's some spice in the background, cinnamon and clove maybe. This is incredible, and a wonderful representation of my favorite deck's High Priestess. /ili

Bottle: Sharp green grass with rose notes. Wet: Roses, roses, roses, roses... GRASS! SUGAR! GRASS! This is definitely too sweet for me. Dry: Powdery and grassy before it's rosy -- unsurprisingly, since I'm a big ol' creepy earthy Capricorn, I prefer Zombi as a rose scent. The yummy wood and earth notes are necessary for me with a floral like rose to keep it grounded and keep me from being a little nauseous. /ili

Bottle: Bright, green tea, a little herbal. Wet: Peony comes out almost immediately -- obscuring the wonderful tea scents. Woe! I want to smell like I sleep in a teacup! Drying: This one is growing on me, as the peony fades and the tea and herbs surface. It's still sweet and a bit floral, rather like the tea I get at the Indian restaurant when I go -- this is not a bad thing. This one hovers on the border between staying and going, I think. /ili

Bottle: Enter DIRT and ROSES. DIRT and ROSES embrace. Fervently. Wet: Enter MOSS (dir's note: cast small person). MOSS wriggles between DIRT and ROSES, prying them apart slightly and making them overpower one another slightly less. Dry: It's warm and mellowed -- the notes are all still there, but they've mingled and smoothed out. This scent is FANTASTC. Such a keeper. /ili

Bottle: Heady and witchy; no individual notes stand out. Wet: Fir and smoke are apparent, but some note seems to be disagreeing with me -- makes me feel a bit ill. I don't know what it is, really, but I'll see if I can wait it out. Dry: Ill it is. Alas! Maybe Samhain will do me better. This one is gone gone gone. /ili

Bottle: almonds! Cyanide, maybe -- fitting. Wet: Smoky, bitter, sharp almonds on my skin. Again I think cyanide -- and again, I think, fitting. Dry: Smoky and hazy and sweet and very, very dark. It lasts, as well; I like that. Definitely a keeper. /ili

Bottle: Lavender and eucalyptus. Wet: Still, lavender and eucalyptus. It's astringent but calming. But -- horror of horrors! Anise! Scurry to the computer, check reviews when I should be sleeping, I must be imagining! Alas, not imagining. Dry: The anise overpowers the scent for me. Though I left it on all night, I woke up with itchy wrists and a splitting headache. This one is going to the Beloved, who enjoys all things licorice, in case he has nightmares. Sniffle. And I need baku to chase off my bad dreams, too. /ili

Bottle: Apples, apples, apples; all is perfect pink lady apples just ripe on the tongue, sweet and crisp and autumnal. Wet: Apples still predominate, but florals and what I'm guessing are mists come into play as well. This scent remains light, though, after a few seconds of almost cloying appley sweetness from the bottle. Dry: the florals linger, but are never richened by the oakwood -- sad, I like oakwood! I like this one but am not sure I'd wear it often. /ili

In the bottle: all tang, citrus and ozone. Wet: still, all citrus and ozone -- lime or grapefruit, though, not orange or lemon. Lovely and sharp, mind-bending. Dry: Incense twines with the ozone, the citrus bleeds away. It smells metallic and holy, in a chilling, alien manner. This is such a keeper -- I can't explain. I've been wrist-sniffing forever here. /ili

Bottle: all wood. Pine forests. A little Christmas tree. Wet: the orange hits almost immediately. The slicing whine of the eucalyptus never takes the forefront, but brightens the orange even further. Orange and pine begin to settle together after a few minutes. Drydown: fades a bit quickly on me, but is piney-wonderful when it does. The orange, too, is still fantastic, a background note of Florida summer days. This is a fantastic scent for me and definitely a keeper.

In the bottle, so lush as to be confusing to my nose. Wet: Bergamot! Neroli! I am a nice cup of Earl Grey. It's not long before the amber and sandalwood start, though they still have that astringent, citrusy note. The sheer richness of this blend on my skin is nearly heartbreaking, especially with the sharp notes still there as time goes on. Dry: the rich get richer... har. The richer notes seem to accept the citrus -- it's definitely still there, but it's settled in and is more of a Christmas-orange-among-the-gifts than the sharpness it was before. Sweet and beautiful, and works very well for me. (Edited to say what I meant, not what I was hearing at the time.)

A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints. Bottle: Sharp, sharp mint; a hint of moss. Wet: The mint is still sharp, bright and refreshing; it is the overpowering scent when I put this one on. Dry: There is still mint, and there is age, in all the best ways -- ancient books and proud long-standing trees. Not only is this a lovely scent, it is a good scent for me, which is hard to find. /ili

Bottle: Very lavendery. First on: floral, with a hint of tobacco. The tobacco I understand, but the extreme floralness, not so much. Drying: the floral continues. The sandalwood and nag champa seem absent -- sad! It fades as flowers fade, prettily, but doesn't leave a strong impression on me.