sylvanusurban

In bottle: Peppermint with slight “dusty” undertone On me, wet: Yup, that’s a candy cane all right. Sinus-clearing, creamy-sweet peppermint. On me, dry: The vaporous sharpness of the peppermint subsides, leaving creamy vanilla mint. It’s nice. Verdict: Keeper! Will make a nice festive scent at Christmas time.

In bottle: Sharp, unpleasant musk On me, wet: Still gross. Almondy. On me, drying: Getting a little nicer, losing the sharp edges. I don’t smell any peach, and I like peach. I smell the vanilla (with its unwelcome sour edge) and I smell wood. On me, dry: Powdery vanilla. Verdict: To the swaps with ye, foul slattern.

In bottle: Woody with an edge of vanilla On me, wet: Head shop smell – incensey, woody, warm. On me, drying: It has developed that now-familiar cloying sharp-sweetness. I don’t know what note or notes are to blame, but bleh. Verdict: Wasn’t digging it. Washed it off.

In bottle: Kind of smells like dish soap. On me, wet: Freshly laundered linen sheets. But they were laundered in an overly perfumed detergent. On me, drying: Same Verdict: It’s all right, I guess. I have no reason to keep it, though.

In bottle: Smells like a bitter, woody head shop. On me, wet: I feel like this smell is interesting but not actually nice. It’s intriguing in the same way that the scent of cedar is intriguing to me, but it has a nose-wrinkling bitterness. It seems like the lime and vanilla would add some welcome sweetness, but I don’t smell them at all – it’s all wood. On me, drying: I smell like the inside of a rustic cabin in the middle of the woods. I guess I can smell just a whisper of the vanilla now – weird. Verdict: You know, this is interesting and well-executed, but I don’t really like it. It’s too potent for me. I kind of like the whisper of scent left on my wrist after I’ve washed it off.

In bottle: Nice fresh honeydew melon On me, wet: Honeydew melon, but with a sharply sweet edge I don’t care for. Reminds me of the bubblegummy oversweetness of Aunt Caroline’s Joy Mojo. On me, drying: I want to like this, but it’s just too heavy on the candy-ness. Makes me appreciate the subdued nature of Bat-Woman all the more. Verdict: Probably not a keeper.

Bat-Woman, Albert Penot. Ratkirani, calla lily, moonflower, honeysuckle, night-blooming jasmine, French lavender, verbena, grey amber and nighttime air. In bottle: Perfumey floral. On me, wet: Oh, it gets nice quickly! A green, cool, lightly exotic floral. Not too sweet. I’m smelling the lavender and I’m liking it. The jasmine isn’t overpowering or headache-making. Also, the Bat-Woman in that Penot painting is hot. On me, drying: Beautiful, unobtrusive, intriguing scent. It really does smell like night air perfumed with blossoms. I could see myself wearing this. Verdict: This is beautiful. It’s a shame it’s a limited edition. Is a bottle in my future? Only time will tell.

In bottle: Perfumey cranberries. On me, wet: Bittersweet, musky cranberries. Actually kind of nice. Interesting in a way that makes me keep smelling my wrist. On me, drying: The cranberry scent gets sweeter and tarter. I like it! Verdict: Very nice. A keeper.

In bottle: Mostly white musk. On me, wet: Mmm, now I can smell the apricot and orange blossom. Quite pretty. On me, drying: A nice apricotty scent with light wispy musk. Verdict: A nice one. Ladylike apricotty goodness.

In bottle: Sweet, bubblegummy On me, wet: Bright, sweet bubblegum. Certainly an uplifting scent. On me, drying: Strawberry bubblegum. Very, very sweet. On me, dry: The overbearing candy-sweetness finally recedes, leaving a pleasant, soft vanilla-y sweetness. Verdict: Too sweet for me in the middle stage, but overall, this isn’t bad. I guess I would give it a B (the same grade I gave its bubblegummy sister, Jailbait).

In bottle: A weird, hard-to-describe floral. Not very promising. On me, wet: Weird, invasive floral. It’s giving me a headache. I was hoping the plum and berry scents would be prominent, but I can’t smell them. On me, drying: I am smelling the lilac now. Lilac smells great when it’s gusting off of a freshly blossoming lilac bush, but I can’t wholeheartedly endorse it when it’s in a bottle. Verdict: Not a keeper.

Another one from the Lovecraft series. Miskatonic University had all the arcane supernatural menace of a cartoon kitty daycare, so let’s see how this one performs. In bottle: Citrus and florals. On me, wet: Bottle got spilly when I opened it, so I’m wearing more of this than I might have chosen to. It smells… okay. I love citrus smells, but I’m not crazy about the way this scent blends citrus and flower smells. I feel like the citrus is being oppressed and strangled by perfumey flowers. On me, drying: The floral smell seems to have receded some. The remaining scent is an okay citrus blend with floral underpinnings. Smells kind of commercial to me, kind of intrusively perfumey. Verdict: Nah, not so much. Though I may try it again to see if it’s better when I’m not slathered in it. It sounds so nice in everybody else’s reviews! Why wasn’t it nice for me? BLOO HOO HOO

In bottle: Sweet vanilla and kind of dusty ginger – like a container of ground dried ginger that’s been sitting at the back of the cupboard for a long time. On me, wet: Cloying, syrupy. On me, drying: Still cloying and syrupy. DO NOT WANT Verdict: You know, I love the smell of vanilla, and yet it seems that more often than not, a vanilla perfume smells like badness on me. It’s a goddamned pity is what it is.

In bottle: Syrupy-sweet maraschino cherries. On me, wet: Still pretty maraschino cherryish. Cloying. On me, drying: Same, but the scent softens and dwindles. There’s a faint milkiness. On me, dry: Now it’s a pretty, soft milky honey scent, but it’s very faint – I have to press my nose up to my wrist to smell it. Verdict: I like the smell on drydown very much, but it’s very very faint. Maybe I’ll experiment with dabbing on greater amounts.

In bottle: Bitter and woody. On me, wet: Aftershave? On me, drying: Still aftershave, pretty much. Verdict: I thought this was going to be fruity! Instead I got a brash aftershavey smell that faded quickly (which I guess was for the best). Couldn’t smell the mango or orange at all. Not a keeper.

In bottle: Pineapple, coconut, unidentified floral On me, wet: Hrm. Coconut has definitely gotten stronger, as has pineapple, I think. My wrist smells like a fruity umbrella drink. On me, drying: I am sorry to report that this smells more like artificial fruit than real. It’s not the worst ever, but it kind of lacks nuance. I think I smell like loud, cloying concentrated fruit, like a pina colada made from flavoured syrups. Verdict: Not for me. Bummer! I was really expecting to like this. ETA: Good gravy, and it’s incredibly tenacious. After repeated scrubbings I still have de smell of de tropics on my wrist, mon.

In bottle: Balsam? Caramel and light, fragrant woods On me: Hmm, very nice. A creamy, sweetly spicy, lightly woody scent. I feel like a classy lady. On me, drying: Still pretty much as described above. It has such a lovely smooth creaminess to it. This is quite an intimate scent. Very lovely! On me, dry: Hmm, not quite as nice. Seems to be acquiring a bit of sharpness/sourness. Not overwhelmingly bad, but still a bit of a bummer. Later: Now it just smells kind of generic, alas. Verdict: Giant Vulva joins the ranks of Envy, Calliope and Aizen-Myoo as a scent that smells fantastic upon first application but then dwindles to something kinda disappointing. Definitely one to try, though, and I’m keeping my imp.

In bottle: Fresh Granny Smith apple with a slight, unwelcome undercurrent of perfumey sweetness. The description claims red, but I assert that this is without doubt a green apple. On me, wet: Loving that fresh green sour-apple sweetness. On me, drying: The other scents (opium, oleander, and hemlock, I guess, though I’m just taking the description’s word on it) begin to subtly weave their tendrils through the fresh apple smell. They add a complexity and maturity (a sinister complexity and maturity?) that is quite nice, actually. On me, dry: A lot of the tangy, wet freshness of the scent has subsided. Not sure I’d identify this smell as apple if I didn’t know the apple was there. I guess the opium/oleander/hemlock have gained supremacy. Not bad, but I miss my apple! Why does everything lose its magic on me when it dries?

In bottle: Sinus-clearing eucalyptus and sweetness. An odd blend. The violet sweetness and the mint make me think of a candy cane, but then there’s that eucalyptus blast alongside it. Like a candy cane lying on a stainless steel operating table. On me, wet: Pretty neat! Candy cane and greenness. I do get the “chilliness” mentioned in the description, but not so much the mechanization – to me, this is organic, almost herbal. A cleanly therapeutic, energizing, benevolent scent. On me, drying: The smell gets fainter and the boldness of the eucalyptus dies down. My wrist now smells sweetly minty, with a little bit of crisp green leaf scent. Verdict: Win! If I had to make a complaint, it would be that this doesn’t last long on me. But it dries down without losing the bulk of its pleasantness, which is looking more and more like a miracle. Later: May have spoken too soon. It’s going kind of baby-powdery now.

In bottle: Richly buttery pastry! On me, wet: Richly, cloyingly buttery pastry with a hint of nuttiness and a hint of bitterness. The tart crusts seem not to have any filling. On me, drying: The blackberry/rose is starting (very faintly) to arrive, but the bitterness is still bothering me. Verdict: I liked the concept, but this one wasn’t agreeing with me and I washed it off. I hope this doesn’t bode ill for all of the other “foody” blends I have coming in the mail.

A nocturnal bounty of fae dew-kissed petals and pale fruits: white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon. In bottle: Dewy, fresh, peachy, floral. On me, wet: Scent becomes warmer, less dewy. The peach amps up, and the floral scent is fuller too. Still pretty, but I miss the cool dewy freshness of the in-bottle scent. On me, dry: Melony peachy flowers. Seems to have reasonable staying power. Verdict: This is a nice one; I’ll keep the imp around.

In bottle: Alcoholic sweetness: similar to Irish cream, but with an inexplicable undercurrent of bubble gum. On me, wet: Sweetness recedes a bit and alcohol smell disappears, leaving a buttery nutty aroma. It reminds me of the Knave of Hearts pastry smell, actually. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing, though at least it’s more subdued, less cloyingly fake-foody than KOH. On me, drying: Creamy sugared hazelnut. This is not 100 percent the kind of sweetness I enjoy smelling, but it may be growing on me a bit. Something about this scent reminds me of babies – it could be the room scent in an upscale baby store. It also kind of smells like a scented plastic toy for little girls, albeit in a nice way. Very pastel-tinted. And this is a Lovecraft-inspired scent? Verdict: I think I’ll rename this one “Cthulhu Babies”. No dusty tomes, no oakwood halls here. No coffee, even. Very sweet – almost cloyingly sweet. I think it has grown on me enough, though, that I’ll keep it around for the nonce.

In bottle: Pleasantly astringent. Eucalyptus and bergamot? Mint? On me, wet: It continues to be pleasantly astringent. A refreshing, clean, brain-clearing smell. <looks up description of notes> Oh, lavender! Of course. How did I not recognize it? There is lavender in here, yep. And yes, I was right about the mint. On me, drying: Hmm, possibly getting a little soapy now, though it still smells predominantly of crushed green leaves. Later: Bleah, now it smells just like a dentist’s office! I cannot express the extent to which this scent accurately captures the smell of a dentist’s office – it’s uncanny. What LadyLuckless elsewhere described as a “sickly sterile” latex smell. Evocative but intolerable. What a tragedy!

Can I preface this by saying that Lolita is the best book I have ever read, and that I have read quite a few books? Very well, then. In bottle: Sharply perfumey orange. On me, wet: Lots of throw! Smells like powdery orange candy, or chewable Vitamin C tablets, with floral underpinnings. I kinda like it. This is sweet and energetic and youthful; I don’t get the “poisonous sexuality” so much, but then, the title character’s purported “poisonous sexuality” was just projected by the self-pitying pervert narrator and probably had no non-subjective existence anyway. On me, drying: Buoyant fruit-flavoured candy and flowers. Kind of pleasant, but also kind of headache-inducing. The jury is out on this one. On me, dry: Dries down to a honey-sweet floral. The fruity smells have gone away. Still kind of headache-inducing.

In bottle: Bright cherries! On me, wet: The cherry smell gains more body and strength. There’s an undertone of… woodiness? No, not woodiness. Maybe it’s the black tea. On me, drying: I can smell the yuzu – it has a wonderful, bright, citrusy zing, and the cherries now have a sweet creaminess that blends with the citrus beautifully. <looks up what “mikan” is> I guess maybe I’m smelling the mikan in that citrus note too, but I’ve never dealt firsthand with a mikan, so I can’t say for sure. On me, dry: I do keep thinking that I’m smelling a faint woody note. Maybe there is one in there after all. I also occasionally get a whiff of scented erasers – the colourful kind I used to be thrilled to get at the beginning of the school year. It’s not a bad smell, but I wish I could bring back the fresh citrus and cherries. This has finally dried down to a mellow, sweet fruit note (maybe guava, as someone else suggests) with a hint of scented eraser. Verdict: This was really, really nice when it was wet. After it dried it was no great shakes. If I could make it keep its wet scent, it would certainly be a contender for a bottle purchase.