jencallisto

In the imp: Patchouli!!!! Fresh on the skin: Sharp, medicinal patchouli, with a little sweet undertone. 5 minutes later: Owwwwwwwww, it burns. The inside of my elbow, admittedly, which is way more sensitive than my wrist. But, ow. I think this much involve some amount of menthol? It's not listed in the notes, but I think both that the medicinal smell and the burning sensation. How exceedingly peculiar. 10 minutes later: Yup, menthol. And something sort of bitter than reminds me of bandaids. Ugh. That's probably the patchouli, doing that thing where it smells like armpit on my skin. 15 minutes later: The sillage has some nice hints to it, probably the fruit, but the patchouli stomps all over it, and that medicinal tinge is still hanging around. 20 minutes later: Okay, this is rounding a little as the fruits come out a little more. It's still too menthol-patchouli for my tastes, but it's not horrible. But that could just be in contrast to Pulcinella & Teresina going all PICKLES! on my other arm. 1 hour later: Sweet musky patchouli. Not my favorite thing, but truly not terrible. 4 hours later: PATCHOULI!!!!!!!! PATCHOULI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7 hours later: Patchouli. I realize that not everyone associates patchouli with armpit, but thanks to my years-long use of Lush deodorant, most of which includes patchouli as a main ingredient, I kind of do. Oops. It's not really that bad. But it's not great, either. Verdict: Beh. Not for me. I see from other reviews that the patchouli might calm down a bit upon aging, so perhaps I'll try it again in a few months. I did like the fruity hints, so. One word: Patchouli.

In the imp: Sweet, dark, delicate floral. Fresh on the skin: Very sweet, very dark (incense, dry and just a touch smoky), very much a delicate floral. There's almost an aquatic note to it, like rain hissing against the glowing end of the incense stick. 5 minutes later: This just gets more and more incensey, but it's incense with a sweet floral waft within the smoke. I'm not at all sure how often I'd wear it but it's quite pretty, sweet but not too cloying. 10 minutes later: Okay, maybe a little cloying. 15 minutes later: Huh, powdering down to something softer, sweet and a little spicy. 30 minutes later: Yup, soft, sweet, spicy, a little smoky, a little cloying. 1 hour later: Yup yup, soft, slightly cloying incense. 4 hours later: Sweet, incensey laundry. Verdict: Okay. Don't love or hate. Will try again. One phrase: Sweet, dark, soft incense.

In the imp: Bright, sweet lemon-coconut, with an underlying complexity, maybe the florals. Fresh on the skin: Oh, oh, creamy vanilla-lemon-coconut, bright and almost clean, quite pretty! It reminds me of Lush bath bombs, that one with the lemongrass. Mmmmm. 10 minutes later: Seriously, a Lush bath bomb -- sweet, powdery, not-quite-soap, not-quite-perfume. I have a feeling black musk agrees with me (my skin loves Lilith, and it liked Pumpkin II '08, too). 20 minutes later: Say, maybe this is the coconut I've been waiting for. The one that's sweet and bright and slinky, but not at all like suntan lotion. I'm not sure what's making this so sexy, but oh, it is. 1 hour later: The longer I wear this, the more I'm subtly disturbed by it. When I think about it, really concentrate, I still think I like it, all that dark lemon coconut. But when I just catch it casually, it kind of makes me stomach turn. Weird. Maybe it's a sense memory from how terrible Shoggoth was on me. But even though this has a similar citrus-coconut base (but lemon instead of lime), I like it much more. 1.5 hours later: Ah, we're powdering down to vanilla, and fading fast. Wow, quick burn. 2 hours later: Faint-to-gone. 5 hours later: Tiny tiny tiny amount of laundry. Verdict: I like this, but I don't love it. It fades fast. I'll have to try it again to really confirm my opinion. One phrase: lemongrass Lush bath bomb.

In the bottle: Sweet -- fruity and a bit alcoholic, almost. Fresh on the skin: Musk and fruit -- it smells like cantaloupe! Wow! 5 minutes later: Dark and complex, with the florals coming out a little more, but sticky with soft round resin and fruits. Damn, this is gorgeous! 10 minutes later: I'm getting a little powder, the kind that reminds me of the light, floral, chalky bath cubes my mother used to have. This is not a bad thing. 30 minutes later: Oh, hey. It's that slightly icky woodsy smell from Earth Rat, but luckily it's quite faint. It just adds a little soapiness to the scent that I could do without, but it's not toooo bad. I already can tell that this is going to powder down to laundry, though. 40 minutes later: The sillage is all lychee-plum with a hint of floral. Nice! 4.5 hours later: Sweet, fruity laundry, fuzzy and rather nice. 11 hours later: Just the smallest hint of sweet laundry. Verdict: I like this! More than I expected to, even, given that I found Earth Rat nice enough, but underwhelming. Definitely keeping my impulse-bought bottle. One phrase: dark fruit.

In the bottle: Thick, creamy vanilla, with an underlying clear, bright apple-floral. Fresh on the skin: Bright, thin, sweet golden apple, light and complex. 5 minutes later: Mmm, the floral is blooming, creamy and delicate around the edges, and I think I can detect a hint of the guava in it. This is so pretty. 10 minutes later: There's a lovely gauze of vanilla cream developing over the whole thing 20 minutes later: Hmm. A little too much vanilla cream, maybe; I think my skin likes to amp vanilla. Still pretty, though! 40 minutes later: Oh, so pretty. It's stabilized at mostly-vanilla with light touches of floral and fruit, all translucent pink and yellow. 1.5 hours later: Almost all vanilla, maybe a tiny bit spicy from the carnation. 2 hours later: Warm, light vanilla. Mmmm. 6.5 hours later: Huh. Vanilla laundry. 10 hours later: Tiniest breath of laundry. Verdict: So, so pretty. I like the first blush of it the best, but the vanilla it fades to is quite lovely in and of itself as well. It makes me want to pick up some decanting supplies so I can parcel out the extra bottle I bought and give it away in small, delightful doses. One word: vanilla.

In the imp: Bright, crisp, clean floral, very spring-y. Fresh on the skin: Well, how pretty are _you_. Way prettier than I expected, for some reason. Light, bright, a little powdery, a little sweet. Not very me, but nice! 5 minutes later: Soooooooo pretttyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. 40 minutes later: This might drive me crazy if I had it on for hours and hours and hours, but for now, pretty nice. Verdict: I like this quite a bit, though I don't know how I'll feel about long term wear. I'll try it again, though, definitely. One word: Pretty!

In the imp: Candyish floral. Fresh on the skin: This just makes me think "ick." It's sweet and sort of rotting -- I have a theory that I'm not too fond of violets. It's _almost_ nice, but instead kind of sickly. 30 minutes later: Yeah. Ick. I have no idea why, and I can totally see why others might like this, but I think violet just isn't for me. Verdict: Nooooooooooooooooo. One word: Violet!

In the imp: Honey-sweet, fuzzy, a little boozy, and something else I can't quite place. Fresh on the skin: Pungent, some honey, but mostly just no. I wish I knew what I'm disliking about this, but whatever it is, I'm _really_ disliking it. 30 minutes later: Oh, more honey, that helps. This stage is decent. Verdict: Not so much, though perhaps I'll try it again sometime. One phrase: Pungent honey.

The black fruit and vanilla oaken notes of fine Medoc and De Grâve, but not a hint of the elusive Amontillado. In the imp: Wow, not kidding about the boozy. Fruity dark wine. Fresh on the skin: Mmmmmm, fruity dark wine, gaining a little spice. 5 minutes later: Wow, that's some throw. The oak keeps it from going too sweet and/or dark. 10 minutes later: Delightful sillage, all dark fruity wine that's somehow also bright. Not very complex, and I'm not sure I'd want to smell like this very often, exactly, but really quite nice! 15 minutes later: The wine note is just sour enough to be both interesting and a tiny bit off-putting, at least for me. But just barely! 30 minutes later: Mmm, there's the vanilla. That helps balance it out a bit. 1 hour later: I do quite like this, in a sort of mild way. Verdict: Rather nice, though complicated enough that I'm not sure how I feel about it as a whole. I'll have to try it again. One word: Wine.

In the imp: Spicy-sweet, musky orange. Fresh on the skin: Rather sharp, soapy musk, sour-bitter citrus top note, a bit of round, warm, spicy amber. 10 minutes later: Spicy amber-musk with a little citrus. 20 minutes later: More and more amber, the clean kind, corrupted by something. I suspect I'm not a big ambergris fan. 1 hour later: Still pretty much the same. Verdict: I didn't really like this much, for some reason, though I'll probably try it again at some point. One word: Amber.

In the imp: Cinnamon-sweet, perhaps a little cocoa. Fresh on the skin: Ooooh, cinnamon, toasty and bright! Rounded by a bit of fruit. Nice! 15 minutes later: Warm, toasty brown cinnamon, sweet and just the tiniest bit fruity. 20 minutes later: Damn, this is strong, and has rather long throw. I'm starting to detect that cranky musk, I think. 30 minutes later: I mostly like this, but it might be just a tad too overpowering for me. 1 hour later: Holding steady. Verdict: Incredibly strong and interesting. I like it, but I'm not sure how wearable it is. One word: Cinnamon.

Fresh on the skin: Kind of... chocolatey, in that fake-chocolate way. Must be that red velvet cake. Blackberry on the sillage. Rather nice, actually. 5 minutes later: Blackberries and vanilla cream and a tiny bit of cocoa. Chocolate and cake are both notes I'm generally suspicious of, but this turns out the be pretty darn good, somehow. 30 minutes later: Blackberry-chocolate-vanilla cake, fairly delicate. Nice! 1 hour later: Fading, but nice. 2 hours later: Very very faded. Verdict: I like this a surprising amount, but perhaps not enough to track down a bottle. One phrase: blackberry chocolate cake.

In the imp: Creamy-sweet. Fresh on the skin: Creamy-sweet with a round, luscious base. And is that... ozone? Maybe it's the amber. 30 minutes later: This smells mostly of sweet warm soap, probably from the amber. 1 hour later: Uck. Yeah, sort of a soap-deodorant thing. Not good on me. 2 hours alter: Wow, this gets worse and worse. Verdict: Started out okay, progressed to more and more Not Okay. One word: Deodorant.

In the imp: Mostly rose, a little sweet, a little sharp Fresh on the skin: What a lovely, sweet, light rose. The honey, vanilla, plum, and tonka are mellowing this out beautifully. 15 minutes later: What an incredibly gorgeous rose -- light and sweet and almost floaty. 2.5 hours later; Such a pretty rose! 4 hours later: Fading and going a little sour, but overall still nice. Verdict: I like this a _lot_. One word: Rose.

In the imp: Sharp, bitter cologne. Fresh on the skin: Exactly, the same, only a bit stronger and a bit sweeter. 5 minutes later: Wow, this is _bubbly_! Still very cologney, but not really in a bad way. Almost delicate, really. 10 minutes later: This smells very much of a magazine with several perfume samples in it that haven't yet been open. Again, not necessarily a bad thing. And the long-rage sillage seems to have a hint of vanilla. 15 minutes later: Does sort of make my eyes threaten to water, occasionally. But the vanilla aspect is definitely increasing, such that the scent at my wrist has turned both richer and sweeter, yet still quite light and delicate. Wow. This is actually really pretty! 30 minutes later: This has become a really gorgeous delicate vanilla perfume with an overlay of aquatic that threatens to turn to scotch tape on me the way ozone sometimes does, but doesn't quite. I'm surprised at how much I like this. 1 hour later: Yup, warm vanilla-ozone cologne. 3.5 hours later: Still going, still pretty. 5 hours later: Fading out a bit, but still distinctly there. Verdict: Fascinating and kind of awesome. Maybe I'll try to snag a bottle. (In fact, I went to the Dark Delicacies trunk show and did snag a bottle. Yay!) One word: Cologne.

In the imp: Oooh, cherry. Dark cherry. Fresh on the skin: Soapy dark cherry. 5 minutes later: Gaaaaaaah soap. Dark cherry-almond soap, sure, but. 10 minutes later: Also, it's making the inside of my elbow itch. That skin is generally more sensitive than my wrists, but still, not everything has this effect. 3 hours later: Soap. Verdict: Beh. Soap. So sad. One word: soap.

In the imp: Mmm, caramel and butter. Fresh on the skin: Ooh, really nice coconut. Rich and delicious. 5 minutes later: This just might be the perfect coconut. 15 minutes later: Hrm. Maybe going a little plasticky. 1 hour later: Plasticky coconut. 3.5 hours later: Basically light sunscreen. Not bad, but not great. Verdict: Enh. Might try it again sometime. One phrase: plasticky coconut.

In the imp: Fresh, sweet, a little floral, a little fruity. Fresh on the skin: *blink* This is reminding me of a... rest stop? Clean floral in a kind of sweet way. Except almost like _cleanser_. This is so weird. 30 minutes: Searing floral cleanser. Ick! 1 hour later: Or maybe summer camp? Something. I don't know. Icky-strong floral cleanser. 1.5 hours later: Ew. Ew ew ew. This is kind of making me sick to my stomach. 3 hours later: Tried to wash it off. Have succeeded i making it smell mostly like institutional soap. Verdict: Ew! One word: Ew!

In the imp: Mostly like a foodie scratch and sniff sticker. Fresh on the skin: Sweet, some cocoa, some fruit? Definitely some booze. Still kind of like a scratch and sniff sticker. 15 minutes later: A little plasticky, a little spicy? Chocolate and wine. But fake. 25 minues later: Very fake. I think chocolates and well as cakes tend to be a bit problematic on me. 1 hour later: Fuzzy, sweet, a little cocoa, a little wine. 3 hours later: Fuzzy-dark-sweet, almost faded out. Verdict: Not terrible, but not great. Off it goes. One word: Fuzzy.

In the imp: Light, a little green, a little floral Fresh on the skin: Green, slightly perfurmey floral. Pretty! Very light. 10 minutes later: Extremely youthful. Sweet and grassy and floral and a tiny bit aquatic. 1 hour later: Pretty, light, not especially me-like. 3.5 hours later: Still pretty and light, still not very me. I think it's the aquatic that's putting me off a bit, perhaps. Verdict: Nice enough, but not really me. One word: Light.

A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber! In the imp: Fake! Cocoa! Fresh on the skin: Fuzzy, plasticky cocoa. 10 minutes later: Fuzzy cocoa and warm, bright amber. Nice, actually. 15 minutes later: God, this is gorgeous. Warm, dry amber, with a tiny bit of cocoa. 2 hours later: I think this might be the ultimate chocolate-inclusive scent. The amber and cocoa blend beautifully, mitigating the potential flaws of each. Lovely! 3 hours later: Ah, we're powdering down a bit in a way that threatens to be almost cloying, but doesn't quite cross the line. Verdict: Color me surprised. This just might merit a bottle. Very cool! One phrase: amber cocoa.

In the imp: A rich aquatic, a bit sharp. Fresh on the skin: Softer, but still very distinctly aquatic. I'm not getting much besides that -- sweet and salty, a sort of delicate melancholy. 10 minutes later: Light... and almost foody, in a kind of herbal, salty, a tiny bit sweet, delicate way. God, this is pretty. 1 hour later: Shockingly, I really like this! This makes me really happy, as I adore the concept and name. Pretty and lightly sweet, and the ozone just gives it delicacy. 2 hours later: Fading, but still pretty. 4 hours later: Delicate, barely-there sweetness. So, so pretty! 5 hours later: Gone. Verdict: I'm getting a bottle of this. It's all stuff I had no idea would work for me (aquatics are not usually my thing at all), but for some reason it really, really does. Somehow, it goes all aquatic on me, but it's the aquatic that's converted me to aquatics! It doesn't last too long, but it's gorgeous while it does last, so. Mine now! One phrase: Sweet, delicate rain.

(2006 version) In the imp: Mmm. Sweet, round, spicy -- very amber. Fresh on the skin: Amber, spicy, a little floral, a little soapy. 10 minutes later: Spicy-sweet amber-floral, a bit sharp. 20 minutes later: Yup, just about, with the sharpness gradually fading. I like this well enough, but it's not particularly unique. 2 hours later: Amber, amber, amber. 4 hours later: Light, spicy amber. Very nice! 8 hours later: Amber, amber, amber! A little spicy, a little soapy. Verdict: Nice enough, but it doesn't quite distinguish itself from other amber-dominated scents, at least on my skin. One word: Amber.

(2006 version) In the imp: Mmm, spicy-sweet-bitter woods. Fresh on the skin: Sharp, woodsy, a little sweet, a little soapy, very much not me. 5 minutes later: Possibly a nice room scent? A rather bittersweet spice, round and complex. Not bad, if not really me. 15 minutes later: Spicy woods, nice enough. 2 hours later: Sort of a soft, dark honey-sweet spicy resin. 4.5 hours later: Light honey resin. 8 hours later: Barely-detectable honey resin. Verdict: Nice enough, if not really me. I do love the name of it, though. Shakespeare! <3 One phrase: honey resin.

In the imp: Bright, sweet mint, a little scotch-tape-y. Fresh on the skin: Bright, sweet mint! Maybe a little ozone-bitter, a little artificial. 15 minutes later: Is it me that's bitter, or Yule? 20 minutes later: Ow! Hey! That burns! Very cold! It feels... kind of good? But it burns! I'm so conflicted. 30 minutes later: Still kinda burning, but a little sharp, a little artificial, sweet and minty, yet bitter. 1 hour later: Ozone-y mint. Not my thing. 3 hours later: Yup, ozone-y mint, light and sweet. 5 hours later: The ozone is overtaking the mint. Alas. Saving grace, at least it's fairly light by now. 6 hours later: The scotch-tape scent is kind of back. Neh. 7 hours later: Hello, sweet, sweet ozone. The inside of my elbow is going to smell like this forever, isn't it. 8 hours later: Oh, fading a little. Verdict: I like mint, but for whatever reason this just doesn't work on me. Perhaps my skin likes to amp ozone too much. One word: Ozone-mint.