inkaddict

:love!: I've never tried TKO, but now I'll have to, asap. It's wonderful, cool lavender sweetened by vanilla and melon, not herbal or sharp. I can't smell the flowers at all. I've been spraying it nightly on my pillow and it seems to actually help a bit with my insomnia, as a plus I can still smell it in the morning & it makes getting up a touch less traumatic (I'm *grumpy* in the mornings. Think ogre-like mutterring and grumbling). It's a strong, long-lasting AT, and it has joined Templum Victoriae as my favourite go-to-sleep spray.

I've been wanting to try this since discovering I love the lab's dirt, and it did not disappoint. I don't really get the flowers, to my nose this all earth, sticks and leaves with the slightest trace of greenery, like falling asleep in the woods, and just a bit of orange marmalade to brighten things up. It's lovely, even if it's not as strong as some of the other sprays. I was hoping for a bit more orange (goblin of yuletide present is my HG room spray. Scratch that, it's my HG scent) but this works well as it is, a great outdoorsy scent, very soothing and versatile, I can see myself scenting the whole house with this without worries of offending anybody's sensibilities as sometimes can happen with too sweet or flowery scents. Verdict:

I can't believe I forgot to review this one, considering that it's in my top ten o_0 I got an imp of this as an aftertought, mostly because I was curious to sniff the lab's dirt note, and I had no idea what to expect. In the bottle: sweet, wet soil, really perfect, like gardening after the rain: there's something green and that spicy smell i get from wet earth. Wet: It blooms on the skin and becomes more herbal, but the wet earth grounds and sweetens it. It makes me want to go to Egypt just to check if it really smells like this after the flood. I don't pick up the different notes unless I really look for them, to me it's just glorious, rich, spicy earth. Dry: It's...well, a bit drier, but it really doesn't morph much. I did't think such a strong scent would work well for the summer but it gives its best on the hottest days. I remember wearing this last August and feeling all sexy and exotic and just...it took me to a better place than Turin in the high of summer. Plus, this is the scent that completely enabled my mother I remeber visiting at the hospital where she was assisting my grandmother, we were talking quietly when suddently she started sniffing the air and wondering what smelled so good. I left her my imp and she said it made her feel like being outside again (she loves to garden) after spending days of being locked outside looking after my grandma. It's still her favourite, followed by Morgause and Scherezade

After sniffing Samhain (extra-strong evergreen with a side of patchouli ) I was too scared to try a big bottle of this, but I love autumny scents so I couldn't resist and snatched a decant from the forum. Boy, am I glad I gave it a try! This is nothing like Samhain to my nose: freshly sprayed it's all lovely wet leaves, then it warms as the sugar and cinnamon come out, plus I can't smell the evil patchouli at all At times it's almost too sugary for my taste, but it's always balanced by the leaves and evergreens in the background. Wafts of sugar aside this is mostly a fresh scent, very outdoorsy and a bit spicy. I rarely associate a color to a scent but this is greenish blu to me, close to the feeling I get from tea scents. I *think* I can smell hints of apples in there but I'm wearing Lamb's Wool so it's difficult to tell (it may be May, but it's been raining for three days straight and it's freezing, perfect weather to try out fall scents!). It's a strong, comforting, long lasting smell and I'll hoard my decant hoping to see it again next autumn.

Oooh, roses! Lush, velvety roses without a trace of greenery in sight. Once sprayed, beneath the roses I smell...soil? It's not anywhere in the ingrediests list or the reviews, but I could swear it's there o_0 Maybe my nose is broken It's wonderful all the same, I love earthy scents -this is very close to what I hoped Zombi would be. It's not as strong or long lasting as other sprays I've tried, but soft and lovely, perfect for spring.

Ooh, this is wonderful I didn't expect it to be, with 2 ambers (powder problems), sandalwood (headache problems) and vanilla, but somehow it works. It's sweet and slightly powdery, and while I can't pick up the sandalwood (yay!) you can tell that it helps ground what could otherwise be a too bright, super sweet scent. Instead it's almost smoky on me. The sweet pea is wonderful, the vanilla is not candy-like the way it is in Dorian, which turns to pure vanilla extract on my skin. I don't find it foody at all. It's a simple, warm scent with *very* good throw.

:love!: I can't believe the first time I tried this I was all "Mm, nice, but kinda faint" and just forgot about it for months. I dug it out from under my pile of imps when I went to see Alice in Wonderland and haven't stopped wearing it since. In the bottle it's sweet and spicy, almost (but not really) almondy. On the skin the almond disappears, I can smell bergamot, milk and honey warmed by carnation. As it dries the rose comes out more and pushes away the bergamot, but it's never shrill or overwhelming. I'm so glad the bergamot is a prominent note because while I love orangey scents the ones I've tried from the lab were either candy-sweet or not orangey enough for my taste, and I love being able to actually smell the milk in this -it cools everything and completely changes the feel of the honey, making Alice a perfect scent for spring. I'd happily drink something that smells like this next time I have a cold...honeyed milk, orange peel and some drops of rosewater maybe? With just a touch of spice...mmmm.

Meliai was completely different from what I expected, sadly. I'm a big fan of the lab honey, so as soon as I red the description I knew I had to try it -only, instead of sweetness and resisns I got...greenery and aftershave The honey gets a bit stronger in the drydown, and the aftershave disappears, but the throw is now so faint I have to keep my nose attached to my wrist to catch it. I'll let it sit a bit to see if it changes, but for now Meliai is kinda made of Fail on me *pouts*

While this is not love at first sniff it's not bad at all: light and sugary, with that fresh feeling I always get from tea blends. My skin usually turns cream (especially when paired with other foody notes like cake and bread) into a strange, burnt smell with a side of liquorice, so I was expecting it, but the tea and general cleanness keep the liquorice in the background, the butter is there, and the sugar balances it all quite well. I wouldn't say there's bread in here without looking at the notes, but looking for it I can almost pick it up behind the other notes. It's a simple, comforting smell, surprisingly suited to spring and summer -I think I was expecting a warmer smell- and though I don't like it enough to put on the bottle list it's quite a success for a foody scent, considering my weird chemistry.

Mmm, honey & flowers I'm deeply, madly in love with this oil. I use it as a moisturizer and it leaves me cocooned in honey for hours, scenting everything I wear. It's a soft, sweet honey scent -not cloying like Tomoe Gozen or Athens- with hints of orange blossoms. Almost creamy. It makes me feel mellow and sexy, and I'm ridiculously sad that it's a LE. Why, oh why did I only buy one bottle? My sensitive, dry skin loves it as a moisturizer, it sinks in quickly and leaves me soft and pampered.

Used as a moisturizer this is way too storng & perfumey for me. I amp sandalwood (but thankfully this is not the headache-inducing kind) so much that it's almost all I can smell, with a faint background of rose. Used in the shower it's much more friendly, the sandalwood backs down a bit and I can smell the blackberry. It's a warm, comforing scent. While the scent doesn't make me crazy my dry, sensitive skin seems to love the oil in itself.

This is *love* in a bottle. Spicy, sexy love I have a soft spot for the lab's honey note so I ordered this even if I've never tried O (I was afraid of the amber since it turns to powder & old things on me, but now I'll have to order an imp asap) and the one time I tried Snake Oil it was fresh and turned to vanillay play-doh on me. Womb Furie is wonderful honey with a spicy background, warm but not cloying, with just an hint of powder that makes it soft and cuddly. It doesn't morph much and lasts a good while with a great throw. I like my perfumes sweet but not cavity inducing and I was afraid that between vanilla and honey W.F. would be too much, luckily I can't smell the vanilla at all. I'm so glad I've ordered a bottle, but I'll have to try and layer O and SO sometimes, in the hopes of recreating Womb Furie and never having to worry I'm going to run out.

This is all booze and tracle to my nose, with just a hint of spicy carnations. I was hoping for cider and carnation with traces of treacle. unfortunately on my skin the treacle clubbers everything else to death after doing the usual amazing morphing trick of turning into burnt sugar with a side of burnt rubber. It would be a no-no all on its own, but coupled with the booze that reappears after a while it made me really queasy. Off to the swap pile it goes

I had such high hopes for this, every single note seemed a winner. Unfortunately I'm learning that pepper does not love my skin. Well, black pepper does, white or pink pepper? Not so much. Every blend I've tried with those two ended up making me feel kind of high-strung and unconfortable. This is way too sharp, all kumquat and pepper, with maybe a faint trace of tea and no orange blossom at all Much too sharp and bubbly to be me *off to swap*

Well, this was a total gamble for me, and I mostly decided to give it (and Diable en Boite) a try because I wanted to get more familiar with red musk after discovering it *isn't* bound to turn into sickly sweet head-shop-ish fail on my skin. I love ylang-yalang, nutmeg, honey and petitgrain, and even though caramel is a note of doom for me I thought I could deal with just a tiny bit of it. Then the first reviews came in, and it was all CARAMEL! Super caramel on steroids! When I received the imps I had convinced myself my half bottle would go into the swap pile at superspeed. But after the first sniff...this was true caramel. Yummy deep caramel, not the burnt sugar with a side of rubber I got from, let's say, Red Lantern. And after the caramel came the red musk, yalang-yalang, patchouli and nutmeg, and....a really, really sexy scent. Spicy sweet and musky and slightly floral, with a dribble of honey, without much change from wet to dry aside from a slight amping of the musk. A Harem full of stunning (and scantly clad) beauties eating caramelized fruits and honey-covered pastries? A brothel with heavy red velvet drapes and too much perfume in the air? A bit of both. After sitting for about about a week it became even better, with the red musk gaining strenght (but never that cola-sweet hippy feeling I got from other blends) and the caramel toning down a bit. Now the first sniff is not pure caramel but a heady mix of caramel and musk, with the caramel more noticeable in the trhow and mostly red musk if I sniff directly from my wrist. As the reviewer above said: sexy, sticky and gorgeous, and today my half bottle has been joined by a back up

In the bottle: Oh god this is all booze! Sweet coconutty booze Wet: The booze recedes, the caramel and butterscotch take front place. It's not a bad caramel as caramel goes (not the burnt plastcky sugar eww my skin usually turns caramel into) and I suspect it's the butterscotch that's keeping it in check. Beneath all that a gorgeous apple starts to appear. For now this is way too foodie and rich for me, and methinks I'd like it better without the coconut rhum blast. Dry: The apple blooms and gets stronger instead of disappearing like it does in most other blends. It's a very warm apple, getting a bit crisper and less creamy with time. Lambs wool was just a tad foody, a perfect balance for me, while this is on the wrong side of foody, but not by much. Surprisingly sexy. Incredible throw and wearlenght. Verdict: The first time I tried it I thought it would end up in the swap pile, and I'm still not sure I want to go through the first super-sweet boozy foody stage to get to the gorgeous apple drydown, but I believe I'll see how it ages before deciding. It's already much better after sitting for a few days, and if only the coconut rum disappeared I'd be much happier with this.

In Bottle: sweet and almost bubblegummish, not what I was expecting at all. Wet: Yay, no more bubblegum! Sweet smokiness, burnt (but not unpleasant) sugar, a touch of booze. After about five minutes: Here's the bonfire, with a pleasant vetiver. The booze is a nice touch, and not the kind that makes you smell like a drunk. Almost foody. It reminds me of a sweeter St John's Eve, with sugar in the place of roses. Dry: musky and spicy smoke, a faint whiff of sugar in the background. Lovely. I was a bit afraid of the tugghish musk, but it doesn't overtake the blend. Verdict: This is a great smoky scent, well balanced and evocative, but I still prefer St John't eve as my bonefire scent of choice, mostly because to my nose flowers > sugar.

In the Bottle: Oh boy, this is HARSH. But there's apple in there, so I'll give it a chance. Wet: This is polish remover! Urgh! I bet the apple blossom is the culprit. Soapy and sharp and Ew. After a cuple of minutes it backs down a bit, the apple and a faint berry sweetness come out. This is the only stage of Pomona that i don't mind, but all too soon the pomegranate and berries get amped. The nuts don't help much either. Dry: This is strong, with a lot of throw. Unfortunately it's also a soapy, bitter apple battling with the sweet berries and pomegranate. Discordant and unpleasant. Verdict: off to the swap pile.

I wouldn't have ordered this if it hadn't been for the WillCall reviews, but I'm so glad I did. In the bottle: A cool, gentle sweet scent. A lot of people described it as luminous and I have to agree. Faint flowers in the background Wet: It's such a unique scent. Usually sweet scents feel warm to me but this is pale and cold. Could it be the birch and musk that make it so? The flowers are stronger on my skin, but nothing is amped and they stay in the background. Very well blended. Dry: This lasts a good while on me, without morphing much. It's a sad, soft scent behind the sweetness. Beautiful. Pale flowers reflecting a fait moonlight, glowing defiantly in the black night but getting fainter and fainter untill they fade away in the darkness. It makes me think of a plant we call "Bella di Notte" (Night Beauty, but also a sort of wordplay for prostitute) with its sweet little white flowers. Verdict: After some meditation this is bottle worthy, mostly because of the unique spin the girl puts on sweetness. Gorgeous and refined.

As soon as I saw the Weenies updated I knew this would have to be my one unsniffed bottle, because I have an unhealty love for apples, and this looked like a sure winner. In the bottle: Warm apple with sugar and spices in the background. Yummy but nothing to write home about. Wet: Oh god this is delicious! The milk comes out and this is the perfect apple pie! Def. foody, but not too sweet. The apple remains the dominant note -stewed apple, like the ones my grandma used to make, stuffed with butter, cinnamon and cocoa. How does Beth do it?- and the spices are gorgeous without being overpowering or falling into the "generic spices" pit. This is much more "solid" scent than the other apple ones I have (Fearful Pleasure, Coral Snake, Poisoned Apple, Verdandi), it's...toothsome. I can't detect the ale, and the milk note seem to work o me. I was a bit worried because "cream" usually turns into burnt rubber on my skin but here there's no sourness or anything off, it just enhances the feel of apple pie that I get from Lambs Wool. Dry: the apple backs down, but it's still there hidden in the spicy sweetness. Nutmeg, ginger and sugar are wonderful toghether. Sweet enough not to turn into dusty autumn pot-pourry. Verdict: This is fabulous For the first time in months I'm seriously tempted by a back-up bottle...I want to wear it, use it in the oil burner, make a spray and use it on my pillow...it's being warm and cozy in front of a fire, pie baking in the kitchen, while outside the leaves turn red and fall and the rain drums against the windows. Also, this layers wonderfully with Moonalisa's Apple Brown Betty soap, why oh why do I only have half a slice of that left? The combo is apple pie heaven!

In imp: This scent rings a bell. It reminds me of hot, honey sweetened cups of chamomile and long battles against insomnia. Wet: This is gorgeous, and so calming. I can def. smell the pollen over the honey, and I think now I know why I like it so much: this is the chamomile my mother would give me before bedtime whe I was little, made with the whole dried flowers and not the sad bag-made thing I now drink. I think it's the pollen/hyssop that give it the whole flower feeling. Dry: Luckily this doesn't morph much. The honey tones down a bit, the tonka strenghtens and the pollen is still gorgeous. A perfect cup of herbal tea with just the right amount of honey. Verdict: Big Bottle as soon as possible. This is incredibly soothing and I have a feeling it'll help with my insomnia if only for the good memories it brings back. Cuddly

Urgh, the bubblegum berry strikes again. Wet:On me this is all blackberry jam with a bit of strawberry juice, all the time. No Gardenia, maybe a hint of melon, no mandarin. A fake, plasticky super-sweet berry salad? This reminds me of a less sticky sweet Tomoe Gozen, it's fresher, but the bubblegum feel is similar. Dry: The berries toned down a bit, and the base it's not bad but all in all it's just not for me. Verdict: Bubblegum. Not already chewed and covered in honey like Tomoe Gozen, but still bubblegummy enough for me to back away slowly and put the imp in the swap pile.

In the imp: pink and girly indeed! But the spicy bits keep in from being too sweet. Wet: *does snoopy dinner dance* the sugar note stays true, and I agree that it's grainy sugar. Wonderful. After trying Hope and Faith and having them both turn into a heavy creamy mess on me sugared flowers make me weary, but this is wonderful, and really well balanced between sweet and spicy. I don't get any bubblegum thankfully, but that's a scent I usually associate with super sweet berries anyway. Dry: There's something off in this, perhaps the pink pepper? Um. I should love it, and instead I just like it. Those daisies certainly are high-strung, maybe a little to much so for me. I don't know why but this puts me on edge. Verdict: I'll keep the imp, but I don't like how it makes me feel. High.strung in a bottle.

I love, love violet and I couldn't resist an imp of this even if I'm scared of the mint. Wet: Ugh. It's a wonderful, bright violet scent, but right beside it there's MINT. Not overpowering, but enough that I get my usual I-feel-sick reaction. Thankfully it disappears after a few seconds, and I'm left with strong violet. Not a live violet, more...the idea of a violet, all sweet purple petals. i don't get much greenery from this. Dry: YAY, the violet didn't disappear! I still catch wafts of it, which makes me ridiculously happy since the other violet scents I've tried (with the exception of the Raven) always ended up with the violet overpowered by the other notes in the dry stage. In here opoponax and orris just add to the violet. It's difficult to explain, it's not like smelling the actual flower but Brusque Violet is very close to my idea of what a violet *should* smell like. Verdict: After the first few seconds of mint hell this is the closest bpal I've found to the perfect violet. Will have to try another couple of scents before making a final decision but this has big bottle potential.

The ones I've had better enabling luck with are Morgause, Midnight Mass, Dee and Mama Ji, so if I had to just pick an imp pack it would be something like Morgause (non perfumey heady floral) or Alice (light and sweet, for the floral-weary) Cathedral (resiny yum, sub for Midnight Mass) SO/Dorian (very "lab" vanilla scents that everyone but me seems to love) The Apothecary (light and crisp) Sherazade (the spicy one) or Dee (spicy woods for those who don't mind their oils a bit more on the unisex side) Bordello (the sweet berries one) or Eat Me (for the foody lovers) For someone whose likes and dislikes are close to mine smellwise I'd skip the SO/Dorian entirely and toss in one of the lab more unusual scents like Nosferatu (boozy dirt), Against Idleness and Mischief (a cup of herbal tea. So calming), or Death Cap (a gorgeous mix of dirt and coconut).