zankoku_zen

Oh man, this started out as a light, bright citrusy/tea like scent and then dried down to a floral. After an hour, it's bypassed floral and shot straight to pepper and ginger. Oddly enough, it makes me think of Pepper the character. She might look like a girl, but she's definitely not girly. At all.

Oh man, this started out as powdery sandalwood and has dried to a slightly musky (the dragon's blood resin) spicy kind of blend. It's not as aggressive as War, and it has a 'drier' and 'sandier' aspect to it. Interesting, but not my kind of blend. I'm gonna swap it away to someone that will love it more.

Oh man, at the beginning it definitely was the duel of wasabi vs. honey. I think the honey won. Because now I have a sweet (but not too sweet) honey/tea scent thing going on. Verry interesting.

I definitely get the shiny metallic notes, the leather and the cherry tobacco. For me this started almost as smoky metal leather, all melded together but as it has dried I can tell more of the notes apart. This is a very masculine scent to me, but somehow I don't think it's the hubby's cup of tea. Off to the swap piles!

This one was a strong, fruity floral. At the beginning it was much more of a rose geranium blend which I wasn't entirely too fond of. But after a half hour to hour, it's more of a creamy, berry kind of blend. I am getting more of the honeycomb/red currant combination and I am freaking loving it. Very tasty.

I also got the very creamy sandalwood --- almost from the start. I'm not a huge fan of sandalwood but this one is nice, strong and creamy. There is a touch of sweetness and something almost floral. Verrry interesting. ETA: So I got a bottle of this the other day. And on wet, I get a hit of vetiver and cedar. And yes, something that does smell like redwood. As it dries, it definitely goes more toward cedar... and then *sniff sniff*, I get slight citrus hit from it. Hmmm. This may need more ageing, as the citrus hit sort of reminded me to Capricorn 2004. Oh, the possibilities!

Oh man, the incense on this one really comes out on me. It is however, hot and bouncy with the touch of florals. Not my style (I don't like predominantly incensey blends) but out of all of the incensey type blends, this has to be one of my faves.

This one was light, refreshing, tea-like and green scent. Unfortunately, something here veers straight into soap-land once it dries. It's got the asian vibe to it --- but it's not quite so in your face. Very light. I wish it didn't dry into soap though.

I got a little sniffie from a friend. This is a sweet, yellow floral on me. Bright, cheery and a bit juicy. There is a touch of ozone, but not too much. Very pretty. I hope it gets released!

Sage is a trouble note for me. And indeed here it's a bit overwhelming. The dandelion smells sharp and bitter to me. It started out herby and fresh, and now its kinda smouldering. Ever burned sage? That's kinda what this reminds me to. Sad. Since this is my astrological blend, I really wanted to like it!

Ah, this one is a simple joy. Creamy vanilla and spicy ginger. It's soft and smooth, a little innocent and just pretty all around. I was worried the vanilla would smell like plastic. Not in this case. I think I may need more.

God, this is so sexy it hurts. I definitely smell the damp sweat musk (slightly salty tinge to it), the merlot.... and really, it just smells like someone has had sex for hours. It's down and dirty.... and very sexual. In fact, it might be a little too in my face for it. I'm not sure I want my bedroom to smell like someone's been making whoopee all night long (regardless of whether that is true or not). More importantly, I'd be paranoid of someone walking in and going "OMG, your house smells like sex!" Because knowing my luck, it would be my in-laws. On the other hand, if you want a sexy room, hands down go with Dungeon.

Oh man, this at the beginning was cocoa-mint love with a hint of rummy coconut. Then, I got cocoa mint plastic. And then it shot into coconut suntan lotion. And it's still there. WAAH. If this blend could have stayed on wet, I'd be in heaven. Unfortunately, coconut just doesn't agree with me. At all. Despite my best efforts.

I had high hopes for this one. However, it was REALLY soapy upon application. It was like a soap haze. Now that its calmed down, it smells like really nice hotel soap. I like hotel soap. I don't know if I want to smell like it. Boo on my skin chemistry.

Unfortunately, I'm not so keen on this one. Definitely hot house florals, very sultry and warm. But to me, the jasmine in this blend is too sharp and smells... well, like cat pee. And I can't get the jasmine/cat pee connotation out of my head. Boo on my head.

This is a sweet floral - it's got a translucent, fey feeling to it and a slight fruityness to it. However, on me the sweetness is very amped up. Medium throw, decant wearlength. It's a pretty scent, just not my type.

This blends reminds me to Ultraviolet. The violet begins pretty strongly, and definitely with a chilly aspect. After a while, it burns off and I get a sweet minty-like floral. Unfortunately, this blend fades pretty fast on my skin and has almost no throw. Damn skin chemistry. I'll pass this along to someone who will love it more.

This is a very pretty garden. The florals aren't overwhelming, it has enough greenness to keep it from being cloying. This says spring, flowers and sunshine. A bright, happy scent.

I do get the powdery/woody connotations of this but it still makes me think cocoa. It's like a musky Wulric minus the lavender in my head. Soft, musky and somewhat earthy.

Personally, to me, this is almost like Rose Red were a fragrance for linens. Cool, crisp roses and green grass. My husband thinks the roses smell a little fake, but nonetheless, still pleasant. It was a nice, light scent. Pretty without being overwhelming. I sprayed it in the morning in the bedroom, the curtains and the linens. It stuck around for close to six hours. After the first hour we didn't smell it immediately, but when we climbed into bed, we still smelled whiffs of it. Very pretty.

This might be a premature review but I'll edit with staying power. So this morning, I sprayed Down the Rabbit Hole on our bed linens, curtains in the bedroom, our couch and throw pillows. Just a few spritzes. It wasn't overpowering but there was a noticeable difference. It smelled like flowers and earthy, and if I inhaled a little too deeply, then yes, I could smell the orange marmalade that brought on a little bit of sweetness. My husband, who was in the bathroom, came out and sniffed and said "It smells like outside!" Nothing short of a miracle when the downstairs neighbours are Indian and make curry every day, I swear! I'm very excited to come home and see how its held up for the rest of the day. But even if it's very faint, I will think it a vast improvement over the usual waft of smell that greets us. (Unfortunately, this might bode poorly for my wallet if I end up falling in love with all 4 scents, and Puddin' tells me there are more on the way. EEEE! )

This is a very clove and amber scent on me. Very rich, velvety and almost savoury but it has a sweetness to it. And yes, I can see people saying this is full of evil intentions. This is not the type of scent I'm attracted to, but it would be dead sexy on the right guy. Not my guy, since he doesn't really do the spice thing. But it's an extremely sensual blend, very stirring to the senses. Mmmm.

Oh man, I remember sniffing this from jewelbug's bottle and thinking it was too musky for me. Well, I tried a sniffie with enough oil to test and I was right. This one is a creamy smoky musk, much in the vein of Death of Autumn, but less masculine and aggressive than DoA. Not my kind of scent at all.

This was a very soapy rose on me. None of the other florals came through on me. Sad.

This for me was a weird mix of ozone and resiny like blend. Very warm, and it was a different take on Jacob's Ladder on me. It made me think of going to church during Christmas. It had this outside overlay to it - like pine --- but rather it was the incense of pine sap.