zankoku_zen

Ah... this smells like Irish Spring soap and cow patties. As it dries, the cow patties smell more like leather, but the leather combined with some other element, still makes me think of farms, cows, and rolling green hills. It's got that fresh breeze through farms odor, where you occasionally get a whiff of cow poo.

Ah Pruno. You do smell like bad alcohol. Kinda like college made jungle juice. If you made it in a TOILET. There's a distinctive toilet cleanser/urinal cake superclean fume that is attached to the fruity alcohol. Not the type of scent I'd wear, but damn... this does smell like jailhouse hooch!

2005 Wow.... this really does smell like Christmas! It's got that spicy berry/holly/spiced wine thing going on. And yes, smells like Christmas. I'm not sure I want to smell like Xmas all the time... but when it's not December, it's got a nice nostalgic Xmas vibe to it.

Okay... Black musk can be either a) powdery or smell like B.O. on my skin. In this case, it smells powdery and combined with the butter, it smells like a buttery powder musk with a dash of spices. At least the cream is gone. Since cream rarely ever smells creamy on me. After a few hours, I remember thinking it smelled like a nice musky blend, warm, but that was about it. Nothing too descript and it smelled just that... kinda musky with no throw. Dodged a bullet here, I see.

GAAAAH. Rose. *sniff* Still on the drydown, rose with a hint of apple... and ylang ylang. But yeah, still pretty much a rose. Seeing that there are other rose blends, more easily accessible I am going to say PASS.

I agree with the dual layer bit, especially when you first wear it. I get this sharp musk/top rose floral and I can definitely smell the patchouli as the base. After about an hour, I can smell the oakmoss which has mixed with the rose, so it's this sexy sensual sort of scent on top of the patchouli. I like it better at this stage, but I get the same effect from the oakmoss in Ebisu, and with the bonus of peach instead of rose. So, yeah. Pass.

Guh! This is so good in my mind. I love the spice/cinnamon intersection which seems to dominate the blend, on top of the ginger and maybe a hint of cocoa. The other 13 I love, which is the purple one, smells like chai tea. This one smells like a spice store. Part of the spice mix makes me think of Red Rose, which is fairly masculine to me, but it's got the same heavy fragrant spice/cinnamon vibe to it. I'm totally keeping my decant.

Dry dry dry! This one is a very dry cedar blend, kinda sharp... and very much like pencil shavings on me. Bleh.

The Full Red Moon of August was named thus by some Native American tribes because as the moon rises, it dons a reddish veil, visible through the hot, sweltering summer evening haze. Our blend for this Moon mixes traditional lunar oils with the warmth of amber and heliotrope, the russet haze of dragon's blood resin and crushed orange peel, and a swirl of summertime herbs: chamomile, rue, elder flower and marigold. Ah, the fabled Red Moon 2004! I have to say that I get the dragon's blood + heliotrope + cherry intersection. It's a nice, warm, spicy scent. ... And invariably, this ends up smelling like plastic. Spicy, delicious cherry plastic. But yeah... it's Barbie doll smell. BLAH.

Oh Lugh! You are indeed... very much a kissing cousin to Mabon. I get a strong 'berry' note and while I want to say blackberry, sometimes there's definite cherry hints. I have the same apple/spice vibe that I get from Mabon, but this one is a bit grassier... perhaps there is more hay to it. At the very base however I smell some of the honey wine mix that others have. Lugh, I do love you... mainly because I love Mabon. Perhaps you won't smell like potpourri to my husband (but that still hasn't stopped me from wearing Mabon) but you're harder to find than something ridiculously hard to find.

Gah, leather and salty blood and whiskey gone sour. It smells like a gentleman sociopath. *runs away*

This is definitely one angry lady! I get loads of saffron from this and the black musk with a touch of rose. It smells like a woman scorned. And we all know, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. This is the blend I'd wear if I were out to get revenge on my SO. The kind where I'd wreck his car, his place, melt CDs in a microwave and in general blow sh!t up. (Since I am fortunately, very much in love and love my husband to bits, this blend isn't ... ah, well, the most appropriate).

I just tried recently Host of Air. Very grassy and spring-like. Love it!

Hm... I ended up liking this more than I thought I would. So, I got this sweet, dusty, flowers with a sprinkling of caramel. I found it a very warm, skin close scent. I find it very wearable, considering some of the notes in this blend have given me problems before...

So this time, the dragon's blood resin smells like sweet lilies with a hint of spice.... and a touch of dusty leather. The leather like smell fades as it dries, and the lilies amp up and go soapy on me. Erm. Not a hit.

A generous soul frimped me 1/2 decant of this. Thanks babe!!! Oh Host of Air, I think I love you. You're Spring. Fresh flowers, spring, clean breeze. If at times you're a little too much like Bounce or other clothes softeners, I forgive you, because most of the time you smell like grass and fresh flowers. Now to find me some more. ETA: So aged, I def. get more of the bluebell and clover. My husband says it smells like lilies, which I don't agree with (but then again, his nose hasn't been trained as well. (Also lilies tend to go to soap on me, and this one remains fresh and breezy).

Okay, so I get this sweet iris + coconut powder from this blend. Yes, I do get perhaps a whiff of pine, but the 'snowy/chilly' component must be similar to the kind found in Snow White ---- meaning, not so much snow and pine cones, but more like coconut and pina colada on me. Surprisingly femme. On my husband it turned into this ultra-sweet flowery blend. Ah, this King is a little to girlie for us.

Oh, Sea of Tranquility, you smell like sweet, incensey flowers, slightly rosey. It goes a bit powdery on the drydown, but I am amazed at how well behaved the lotus is on this one. Not candy like at all. Nice!

Definitely smells rose and a hint of lavender, and something else that makes me think spicy. It does have the same Water of Notre Dame vibe of herbal flowers as a base, but instead of being watery, it's kinda spicy. It also kinda gives me a headache. As for purpose, this sort of makes me think of Mantle of Venus. Whereas MoV is a little more readily available, I think I'll end up sticking with that.

Used liberally in love magick to ensure tranquility, calm quarrels, and rekindle faltering flames of attraction, sensuality and romance. Used also to put an end to infidelity, and in this aspect, it can be used not only on your mate, but on your self to keep your own eyes from wandering and hands from straying. Definitely get anise, licorice and fennel in this one. Whoever mentioned the Throat Coat tea nails it head on. It smells just like that. I like the tea for the medicinal purposes... but I don't fancy smelling like it. Purpose aside, if I don't feel it smells good enough to wear, I'm not going to.

Ah, Nahemoth. On wet, I get plum and something that smells like celery (could it be you, lilac?). As it dries, I get more of the musk coming out, and it's slightly powdery. It kinda reminds me to Agrat Bat Mahlat, from the Grindhouse gals... but without the caramel. Erm. Yeah. Musky plum. Not a plum fan, but I'm glad I got to try this! ETA: Prototype review comparison To me the prototype is less plummy and more amber/resin powdery. There's definitely some cedar in this as it kinda smells like pencil shavings on me. Yeah, definitely not attractive IMO.

Oh lord. This is cat pee jasmine and rose, with a hint of gin. If it had civet, this would be like my anti-blend. It's still pretty bad.

This one was an oddly fruity masculine blend. I definitely got a sweet earthy fig, with notes of dark earth, tobacco, a hint of leather. It was spicier than I remember Queen of Clubs, and oddly masculine. But yeah, a fruity musky blend. My husband didn't care for it, and called it 'odd'.

This one was a nice, resinous plum. Take the sweet plum from Bordello and give it a sexy musky base and smoky resin overlay and you have Queen of Spades. Sounds great, smells great... but I have to admit I'm not a giant plum fan. So it's a pass for me because while lovely, I'm not in love with it.

At the beginning, it was chili, tobacco and gin. Lots of gin. As it has dried, it's more of a tobacco and rum kind of blend. I actually kinda like the tobacco in this one...