jencallisto

In the imp: Holy bristly lavender, batman! This reminds me of the lavender tea I sometimes got in China, once it got all oversteeped and bitter, but with that extra methol kick. Surprisingly appealing, actually. Fresh on the skin: Wintergreen forest, sharp and intense. Still kind of bitter, but somehow it's actually making me really happy as I breathe it into my lungs. 5 minutes later: Good god, there's some serious throw going on, and the waft is all mentholated anise, head-clearing and comfortably delicate. I don't really like the taste of licorice anise except in Chinese five-spice, but this scent is lovely. 10 minutes later: Wow. My chest is all tight and I'm on just this side of light-headed, but it feels really good, like Baku is clearing out all the crap in my system, both physical and mental. The scent itself has also gone a little sweeter, balancing out the bitter. Mmmmm. 20 minutes later: This has softened down and warmed up a lot, and I feel a little like I just had a nice massage, all relaxed and loose, and will a clear, open mind. 30 minutes later: I just realized that I've been unconsciously sitting up straight and rolling my shoulders and working the kinks out of my back for the last ten minutes. The fact that I can hear all the little knots clink as I move is conclusive proof that I'm infinitely more relaxed than I was half an hour ago. Damn. I don't know if it's psychosomatic or what, but I think I'm in love with this stuff. 1 hour later: Soft, soft lavender with the perfect methol-anise overnote hovering above, sweet and light. 2 hours later: This has faded out to almost nothing, just a little fresh lavender left. Verdict: Despite the relatively short life of the actual scent, I really loved this, and I'm sure I'll be feeling the related physical and mental relaxation and cleansing for hours. The first frimp I've tried so far, and a very happy surprise.

In the imp: Fairly sharp spice-wood-sweet. Fresh on the skin: Warms up quickly and goes a bit musky, but still with a sort of spiky forest note. For some reason it's reminding me just the tiniest bit of whiskey, maybe it's the wood-tobacco undernote -- it's kind of an earthy wood, if that makes sense. Gradually sweetens up, too, so there's also this creamy vanilla center. I smell a little like a Christmas candle, but in a good way. Perhaps that's the smokiness of the tobacco. It's a bit heady, to the point where I'm a little afraid it's going to give me a headache, but I also quite like it. We'll see how it continues. 10 minutes later: Huh. This is really waking me up -- it feels like it's clearing all the cobwebs out of my brain. 100 minutes later: This really has amazing throw. I'm really liking the scent, too -- it still smells a bit like Christmas cake candle to me (though not actually foody, exactly), but in this soft, creamy way, yet still with that bracing mind-clearing _something_. 3-4 hours later: Oddly, this has started leaning in a laundryish direction. If I put my nose right next to my wrist, I get a shot of brisk complexity, but just an inch away it's just a warm haze of generic vanilla candle. 5 hours later: Well. At least it's a warm, smoky, delicious vanilla candle. It just seems... a bit separate from me? Like, there's me, and there's this thing that I can smell, but no real melding between them. The naturalness of this scent for me just isn't there, even though I do like it. It also seems to be fading a bit fast. 13 hours later: There's still a lovely hint of it on my wrist, but I sort of have to search for it. It smells really good when I find it, though. Verdict: I like it, and yet it doesn't quite feel like me, despite have all the right elements. I think I wish there was a bit more smoke and wood throughout as it develops on my skin. But I'll definitely give it another shot sometime.

In the imp: Shiny, glittery peach. bright but with sun-drenched sharp heat behind it. Fresh on the skin: This blooms astringent and green on the skin, like peach still, but unripe. The waft, though, is all golden and sweet, like the fuzzy skin of a peach ripening in the sun. After the drydown: Ah, the sharpness fades out, and I'm left with peach and gold with just a little edge to it that I can't identify. I'm kind of in love. 10 minutes later: God, this smells like love when you don't yet know if it's requited, but you have reason for hope. Also, it seems to like my hair more than Aizen-myoo did, which is nice. The fact that I'm getting such a distinct scent and can discern good throw even through my stupid allergies is really impressive. 50 minutes later: There's something almost nutty about this, giving it depth and deliciousness. Or maybe I'm just really hungry. 2 hours later: It's faded down to this juicy, creamy vanilla scent. It's still delicious, though I'm not sure how I feel about how the peach has faded to the edges. 3 hours later: Okay, I do definitely get occasional wafts of peach, still, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't really care because my wrist seriously smells like ambrosia, sweet and seductive, like a dish that will ruin you for any other. I think it must be the musk that's making this stick so naturally to my skin, and the amber that's giving it that glow. God, this is gorgeous. I think I'll just lie here and sniff my wrist instead of doing all the work I'm supposed to be doing. Mmm. 7 hours later: It's definitely fading, but there's a faint sweet veil of scent still on my wrist, and I press my nose to it desperately, wanting more. 8 hours later: I swear it's stronger than it was an hour ago. Or maybe I'm just so addicted that my sense memory is playing tricks on me. Either way, it's still amazing, warm and heady and sensual. 10 hours later: Still there, in ghost form. I really really really don't want it to go away, but I know it's going. The temptation to reapply it so that it invades my dreams to really strong. 11 hours later: If I put my nose in exactly the right place, I can still smell it, but for all intents and purposes, it's gone. Verdict: I am completely in love with this to the point of being almost disappointed that I have so many others to try before I get to just wear anything I want (I decided to do this systematically, but now I'm questioning the wisdom of that decision), because part of me just want to roll around in this and wear it all the time. Utterly divine. Like the first kiss with someone you've been lusting after forever, sitting in the park in the summer sunshine, and knowing you get to kiss them again, and again, and again.

My first bpal review! I probably shouldn't be as excited about this as I am. In the imp: Bright bright grapefruit and pomelo peel, with a sharp green bitterness behind the citrus. Fresh on the skin: Softens up a lot right away, brings out just the tiniest bit of sweet floral hovering above the citrus. Creamy and yellow and clean, never too sweet because that tart and bitter center sticks around. Delicious. About an hour later: Something's gone very laundry detergent-y with this; it's just a little too heady and fuzzy for me. It's too bad, because I was really happy with it right at the start, there. Maybe it's the persimmon. Three hours later: It's still there, soft and plush on my skin, even through the black beans and rice I had for dinner and the popcorn I had afterwards. I just wish it didn't smell so much like overly-scented laundry. It just goes sort of... old person, I guess, though I feel vaguely guilty for putting it that way. Eight hours later: Just a subtle sweet whisper if I press my nose to my wrist and inhale, dusty and warm, but real. Thirteen hours later: Entirely gone, just the ghost of it on my wrist, or maybe that's my imagination. Verdict: Not so happy with it right now -- if only it could stay that incredible first burst of citrus! Now just to decide if I want to give it another shot or send it to swaps.