zankoku_zen

I definitely get a clovey grape wine blend with hints of smoke, latex and something else. It smells like a club. A sex club. You know, one of those clubs. The kind where people have sex in the corners, on the bar, stretched out in the spotlight. And half of the time, they still have clothing on. If you can call it clothing. More like a plastic kind of wrapping really. Like human bake-and-shakes. ... Anyway...

Lucky #20 definitely has a strong herbal jasmine smell to it. Definitely jasmine, and then something dark and rooty underneath. As for effects, so far neither negative nor positive. I am currently editing a grant at the moment, so its hard to say! If it helps out in that avenue, I will edit this post and let you know.

DarkAlice sent me sniffies! Thanks love! 128: This one definitely has a slight metal vibe, same note as in Witchblade but dries to a straight up vanilla. Pretty tasty 181 - Sharp blast of sweet peppermint, but unfortunately the vanilla in this one ends up in playdough territory for me. Sad.

My guess is lavender, vanilla musk and sandalwood. It goes a bit powdery on me, and reminds me a little more to Lilith Victoria as opposed to straight up TKO. There's also something slightly dark and herbal in there that I am picking up, which just adds to the 'night' part of this blend. Gorgeous. ETA: So Nightmarchers is a very dark, herbally lavender blend. I get much more opium, black musk, and black amber and possibly a dark orchid note. I sort of wished it was a cross between the blend that I tested originally and this super dark lavender that I have. Boo.

Dry, sticky wood. It reminds me to pepper, and some other spice I can't name. But yes, very resinous...

Hmmm. I don't do leather blends... But this one has that faded leather note like in Quincy Morris, and it's a golden musky leather. Very soft, very touchable, very comforting.

I find this to be a very odd blend on me. It's a cinnamon powder (why hello amber) with hints of coconut, clove and dusty sandalwood. No ginger or tonka for me. Just a hot summery sort of blend. Dusty country roads, hot flowers and the smell of suntan lotion.

Again, there is a hot sand element here... and it reminds me almost to Kinnabari. On wet, there was almost a water effect to it, but it has since dried. I think there is some sandalwood, some eucalyptus, and yes, some spice. I don't think it's cinnamon but more like allspice.

Again, very tropical and very summery/beach appropriate. I get, esp. on wet, whiffs of coconut but on the drydown it is all but subsumed under a sweet, tropical, floral - which I do think is plumeria - as I've seen plumeria do this on me. There is, indeed a slight smoky warmness to this, which is definitely coming from amber, underneath the floral. Very pretty, very feminine. Sticks close to the skin. Low/moderate throw on me, but this is the type of scent that sticks around on my skin.

This one is a light floral. I think it has lily in it, and possibly camellia. It's sweet, soft and dreamy. Definitely more of a white floral. Perhaps a tad too sweet for me.

Fresh, fiery ginger. To me it has a slight effervescence - and its more like the ginger you find in ginger beer as opposed to ginger ale. It definitely mellows as it dries, and while I wouldn't wear this just by itself because it makes me think of ginger beer/ale goodness and sets off major cravings, it is definitely ginger.

This to me has coconut and lilac. Which make it two of my death notes. The coconut is soft and watery, which complements the lilac. There is something floral sweet here, and I wouldn't immediately guess honeysuckle. As it dries, it tends toward the creamy. In some ways, this makes me think of an early version of Shango because of the watery coconut/creaminess (reminiscent to shea, but without it actually smelling like shea). Pretty, soothing. It's very 'beach' in mind. ETA: I think the decant and the bottle smell different because I am really getting on wet the cinnamon and what smells like dragon's blood resin. It's spicy and then it starts turning watery as it dries, and I get other floral notes like either lilac or honeysuckle. I can still smell what I'm dubbing the DBR because it smells like DBR to me. The vibe is totally New Orleans.

Pomegranate SN is a sweet, tart, juicy fruit. I'd almost say musky on wet. And as it dries, it just becomes more of a red currant/tart fruit. I really like it on the drydown. Mmmm. Tasty.

Carnation SN on wet to me is very different as opposed to the drydown. On wet, it is spicy carnations along with the sappy green stem. As it dries, I get a slight powdery funk from it. About two hours later though, I get a tiny floral whiff of carnation, non spicy, and just very demure.

White Chocolate and Strawberries --- and wow, not fake. There's a tiny trace of plastic, but the white pepper keeps it from being too sweet and plastic, smelling. It's still a little on the sweet side - but it does smell like strawberries and cream.

Jasmine SN is ---- big, luscious nightblooming jasmine. Sultry and with a HUGE throw. It's the same jasmine note as in Noir. And uhhh... it sort of smells like cat pee on me. No surprise there.

Oh god, this is sexy. It's a very clean, metal blend. I amp up the cologne and it ends up very manly on me. But uhh... what a man! I am off to slather this on mr. zee_zee and if it smells anything like it does on me, I foresee a bottle in his future. ETA: The prototype of Mr. Qubit is slightly different - not so much metal and definitely more of a traditional cologne. On the extreme drydown I swear there is either some suede or leather in this. It's what I'd consider a very professional urban male to wear.

This is so odd - the wasabi, petitgrain and coconut end up smelling at least on wet, very much like lettuce, pickles and a dollop of citrusy white flowers. I kid you not, I do get a very watery aquatic feel from this on wet, but as it dries it becomes more floral and spicy. This so didn't work out with my skin chemistry.

LEMONGRASS! This is a huge hit of citron on wet, and then I get a ton of creamy lemongrass. In fact, it makes me think of thai food with creamy coconut and lemongrass and I really can't shake the coconut reference. Very tasty, very savory. Very hunger inducing.

This one just smells fake on me. It's got this mineral, powdery floral - the orris is often problematic, and here it is a white pitched wail that is just grating. Yes, crystalized violets, dusty vanilla and it ends up being a shrill, fake, dusty vaguely mineral blend. Made.of.lose

Okay, so on wet I definitely got buttery cake dough and a hint of bergamot. It dried to something much yummier... and stranger. The vanilla cake aspect calmed down, and I get whiffs of aquatic cucumber every now and then. I am very pleasantly surprised by this one. My only concern is that every once in a while I get a whiff of something 'plasticky', which could just be the type of vanilla we're talking about. Unfortunately, my skin eats this right up.

Okay, so I can definitely smell the sweet corn on wet (like the type of smell you get when you husk it) but on my skin this changes into an almost fruity pear sweetness. I kid you not - sort of like a greener and less vanilla Symmakhia. It dries to a more malty barley blend, with that overlay of slight fruity pear sweetness but definitely veering into the cooked corned smell now. Odd, but pleasant. Quite enjoyable actually. My only problem is the low throw and low wear length of this. One hour later and its almost gone.

Dark, bitter woods. I get pine, a manly cologne and something that is obnoxiously chemical. And yes, as it dries, I get a peek of the sunflower but its very faint. Remains highly astringent, dark creeping weeds and mutated trees. You know there is something not quite right in this place....

Rich polished woods, a whiff of smoke and a giant hit of manly cologne on wet. As it dries, its definitely more of a polished woods blend. Very manly, very sophisticated. Low throw on me, and my skin literally eats this up. Pass.

Odd. This starts out as superfresh peppermint, but then with the violet mixed in and starting to amp up during the drydown, combined with sage - this ends up smelling powdery and oddly smelling like b.o. Made.of.lose