valentina

If you don't have any incensy scents, I guess that rules out Urd, but it's a "Purple Haze" kind of scent. How about Smut? Booze and musk, I associate that with rock show!

And my thoughts exactly! I don't know if O will have enough amber for you, but my god, it's warm, it's round, it's lickable!!!

Ah, this thread led me to a little layering adventure with what I had sitting around, because I too LOVE mojitos! On me, The Hamptons is very much lime and clear, cool, non-sweet booze with very little cranberry coming through. I took a bit of The Hamptons and layered it with Cathode (three mints and green, mossy scents) and I came out with a lime and mint martini smell -- it doesn't have the sugar smell of a mojito, but it's zippy as hell. Wearing it on a hot, humid summer day might be a kick!

Ah, the legendary O, I finally tried it. I even bought a bottle from a forum member, because I was so sure I'd like it. And my initial experiences lived up to the legend, but in a way I didn't anticipate. I sniffed it in the bottle and thought it smelled way sweet but also a little pungent. I put in on my skin and I thought it smelled like really sweet b.o. and I wasn't at all fond of it. It became a little sweeter-spicy after a bit, but still vaguely b.o.-ish. Like you'd had a really sweaty roll in the sack and used a bucket of honey. I was so bummed. I really didn't think it was my thing. I was ready to sell it bargain-basement on the forum ASAP. But... that's what my nose and brain said. My DH sniffed it and liked it a lot. He semi-begged me not to get rid of it. So I tried it again and it grew on me a bit. He still liked it a lot. I decided to wear in into work and let my cadre of workplace man-noses sniff it. They too liked it a lot... even the resident Urd addict was fond of it. I noticed they all wanted to keep sniffing and sniffing and sniffing it. They rather acted like bunch of man-dogs around a bitch in heat, if you ask me. One of my more impartial female sniffers took one whiff, got wide-eyed and insisted that O should become my signature scent. (I said: No! That's Urd!) So that sweet, honeyed, amber, vanilla scent has its effect. My, it has an effect. I'm getting used to it -- it's a sweet, lush skin fragrance, not traditionally perfumey, but very enveloping. It's like there's a cloud of sex around you, so wear with caution or with wild abandon, depending on the circumstances!

I got an imp of Maenad as a frimp in a swap with a lovely forum member, and when I first smelled it, my only thought was "ugh." It was kind of a musty strawberry, like a strawberry sachet in an old lady's musty drawers drawer. Eeesh -- not really the image I'm trying to convey via my scent, I thought. But I got some on my fingers when I opened the imp to sniff it, and after a few minutes I thought, "hmmm...." So I put some on my arm and let it heat up. The smell from the imp to initial application changes right away, and is strawberry fresh, without being cloyingly sweet. Then, after a few minutes, it turns into strawberry incense. This may be a great springtime scent for me, because I'll get the best of both worlds -- the spring-like quality of strawberries, but still with my beloved incense overtones. Not too sweet, not too floral, just right! I've had a lot of scents that have smelled great to me in the imp that go to hell on my skin, and this is the first one that I disliked in the imp that turns lovely on my skin. And I never, ever would have guessed that the components of this blend would work on me... so once again, the Lab can say to my snooty "I know what works on my body" attitude! valentina

On my body, The Hamptons smells like I rolled around in a Cosmopolitan, but that would never happen, because doing that would be a waste of a Cosmo that I would wish to drink. This is why The Hamptons is such a tour de force. I get to have my Cosmo and wear it too. The scent changes very little from initial application to drydown. I smell the cranberry, the Cointreau, the vodka, the lime. It's very bracing, mainly vodka-limey one me, with a tinge of sweetness. It has nice staying power on my body and a good amount of throw. This is going to be a great scent on hot summer days, since it's got an icy cool edge... love it. valentina

Night's Pavilion has provoked some gorgeously-written reviews from everyone who's come before me! Good lord, what else is there to say? Well, I always have something to say , and this is a scent that I tried courtesy of a friend who had who ordered it. It smelled lovely in the bottle, much less sweet and flowery than I expected. So I tried it on to be nice and to see how fast I'd want to wash it off. White musk and lilies usually aren't friends of mine. I love it. It's cool, elegant, sublime, inscrutable. Very inscrutable, because I can't tell you what I'm smelling -- but it's sharp and not especially sweet. I do get the aquatic effect, but it's a very cold, deep, dark blue lake high in the mountains, rather pristine and ominous at the same time. The attitude it evokes is very haughty, very "look but don't touch, because if you lay a finger on me, I'll bite your arm off." Imagine Katharine Hepburn, looking down her nose at some hapless male. I dashed off to the swap thread and nabbed a bottle. It's a beautiful creation, and the Lab has proven my strongly-held opinions to be incorrect, once again. I love it when that happens. valentina

I tried Perfumed Garden courtesy of a lovely friend who ordered the Lupercalia scents that I didn't order. This is the joy of enabling! I was rather hesitant to even put it on my skin, since I knew it had jasmine in it and that's usually a ticket to disaster. In the bottle it's lovely, gentle, very much a waft of garden air. And on my skin, it was such a pleasant surprise... no knockout jasmine blows to the nose, but rather a gentle, subtle, green smell. Not bad at all, not bad at all! On drydown, it morphed into a very clean, albeit soapy, scent. I smell like Irish Spring soap, actually. I have another friend who wears Dirty and she loved the smell of this on me. Not unpleasant, but, well... not my idea of big fun. But if I find a decanted imp, it might be a nice scent to have around, for certain days when I don't want to smell like my usual incensey, patchouli, boozy, winey, smut-slutty self. valentina

Abberlaine, I received a frimp of Ultraviolet (from a very generous forum member), because I wanted to try it, and it actually smells great on my DH, in a very fresh, clean way. It has violet, neroli, eucalyptus and mint in it and the violet and neroli serve to give a bit of sweetness under the predominant herbal scents. I find it fresh and clean smelling on a man without being femme, and without the heaviness of more traditionally masculine scents. And you know, I think Golden Priapus smells great, and it's amber, vanilla and woodsy scents, so it doesn't have the heavier scents and it smells kind of warm and woodsy. Your brother might love or hate the idea of wearing a scent with that name! valentina

I love the smell of Prague in the imp. It truly has that scent that I'd associate with crocus and snowdrop, the kind of sweet-but-delicate scent that would be emitted from those early spring flowers when the light is still thin and there's frost in the mornings. There's also the heavier sweetness of lily that hits you on the second whiff, and this is what dominates the scent once it hits my skin. Boy, does it ever dominated! It's kind of a nice, sweet, heavily floral scent, but it's too domineering for my body chemistry and the delicacy of the scent in the imp is lost on my skin. Bummer! It's so damn pretty, and I'm sure on someone with a different body type, it's gorgeous. valentina

In the imp, Ultraviolet isn't at all what I expected -- it's a lot sharper and more pungent than anticipated. On my skin, the violet is simply overpowered by the mint and eucalyptus. It's not bad, but it's a little too intensely herbal on my skin, and it doesn't calm down. I probably anticipated more violet than I should have. I put it on my DH and it smells great -- very clean, bracing, not-too-sweet, not-too-herbal, with a vague undertow of sweet violet. It's a very unisex scent, IMHO -- if a man wanted something that wasn't all musk, civet, tobacco and vetivert, this would be a nice, clean-smelling alternative. The imp is going to the DH to use, and this might be under consideration for his spring/summer 5 ml bottle order. valentina

When I need serious attitude (beyond my normal attitude), I put on a little Loviatar.

This scent makes me laugh, because it's so perfect in relation to the concept. In the imp, it smells sweet, sugary, bubble-gummy. Very fruity, vanilla, teeny-bopperish. Once on my body, it gets sweet and floral for a while, again, the smell of girly florals and bubble gum. And then the red musk shows up... ooh, the dark side appears! And the very musky darkness lurks and blends with the sweetness. Hollywood Babylon has a lot of throw and staying power on me, but then musk seems to do that on my body. What it really makes me think of is the fresh-faced small-town girl who shows up in LA looking to become the latest movie ingenue, but ends up as a porn goddess. It's a really great dichotomy of a scent, and somehow it works. valentina

Red Lantern, in the bottle, is a very sweet, sticky, gooey scent to my nose, but I also detect that blonde tobacco note. Once it hits my body, the lovely caramel/buttery sweetness stays for a bit, and then... wham. The amplifiers get cranked up on the amber and tobacco. After about an hour, it's faded out to almost pure amber, with a touch of coconut. Since amber and my body aren't the best of pairings, it overwhelms all the lovely nuances of this scent. However, my bottle of Red Lantern is going to make a newly-minted Red Lantern junkie very happy! valentina

... This is a blissful, euphoric blend based on an ancient Indian love potion: honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower. When I smelled Khujurajo in the imp, I was somewhat concerned that the florals were going to be a problem, because what I detected were heavy, sweet, exotic florals. But from intial application to drydown to several hours later, those who have already compared this blend to more floral Indian incense are spot on. Khujurajo smells a lot like floral Nag Champa on me. I think the vanilla, sandalwood and amber soften the floral kick, so I'm very able to wear it. It's a bit intense at first, but becomes just gorgeously soft and incensy on me after 15 minutes. Because I love Urd for its nag champa components, Khujuraho smells to me like a more delicate, sweet, floral Urd (without the wine) and I love it. I bow and say "namaste" to Beth, because it's gorgeously evocative of the entire inspiration behind the scent. valentina

When I got my order and opened the bottle of Luperci for my first sniff, my mind flashed on a werewolf. A rather handsome werewolf, but a werewolf nonetheless. It's a whiff of patchouli, green forest and a bit of musk, at least to my nose. On my skin, it really changes very little from drydown through the first 3 or 4 hours, and it's patchouli, forest greens and musk. Fairly masculine, but very understated and it's still something that I could wear without feeling aftershavey. After about 5 hours, the patchouli burned off and what's left is a sweeter, softer musk with a juniper undertone. I put some on my DH and it's relatively similar on him -- amazingly so, as we usually amp very different components of a scent. It works well on him and it's truly a gender-neutral scent. I'm glad I took a chance and ordered a second bottle, so now he can have his stash of Luperci and I can have mine! valentina

Smut is an olfactory orgasm. That's a double "o," thank you very, very much! There is no emoticon where the little face is laying back with a satiated smile on its face, smoking a cigarette. If there was such a thing, I'd insert it (tee hee) right here. OK, let's focus... In the bottle it's sweet and spicy... I didn't get much musk from the first sniff. The inital application and drydown is musky, but in a good way. Smut has popped my cherry for musk scents -- I refused to consider anything with musk in it before now. After a half hour, it's turned very musky-boozy, with a dark sweetness. Musk and brown sugary-bourbon. And appropriately, there's nothin' shy about teh Smut! It's got some throw, it's got some oomph, it's got lasting power. This creation does justice to the word, and perhaps even enhances its meaning in my mind. What else can I say? It's force of nature, I love it. valentina

If you like amber, have you tried Aglaea? It's three ambers, peach wine, bright musk and myrtle. I'm pretty sensitive to musk and it doesn't stink up the blend on me, so it might work on you, even if you're not a musk fan. And it's got the peach wine effervescence with the warmth of amber. It might make someone's nephew want to nibble your neck in the coat room... valentina

I think you've received some great suggestions, and I'd like to add Ravenous to the list. Red patchouli and orange blossom -- IMHO, the lab description is most accurate -- "utterly feral and thoroughly rousing." valentina

Lobster is a woman after my own heart... or, body chemistry! I say Urd, Urd and more Urd! I find that Blood Lotus can take on a bit of a resin quality on my body, but that's just me, and who knows about the rest o' the world... valentina

In the imp, Aglaea is very peachy, but also effervescent -- it's sweet, but fizzy-sweet. The initial application is likewise peachy, but also boozy-fizzy. It really loses a lot of the intense sweetness on initial drydown and gets much more of a boozy edge. What the hell does myrtle smell like? I don't know, but I get a little floral undertone from this. After five minutes or so, this scent also turns buttery on me. I smell like a butter-booze-peach melange. I would guess it's the amber that somehow became a buttery scent on me. Aglaea isn't that bad, it's just not normally my thing, as I'm more into the dark and moody scent mystique. But I think Aglaea might be wonderful in a bath salt or a brown sugar scrub (my new "let's whip something up that's not fattening" obsessions), so I'm keeping my imp for that sort of fun. valentina

LadyWilde, since I share your attitude towards required hoity-toity behavior and I can be a brat, I'd probably get a great dress, even greater shoes and put in an order for Smut from the Valentine's update, so I could go smelling like Smut. Teeheehee. But a little more seriously, I think Dana O'Shee is a lovely, but unobtrusive fragrance. I also agree with a couple of earlier suggestions -- I think Black Opal is elegant and more traditionally perfumey, but it has a little edge to it. (I have two imps of it, PM me if you're interested and I'd be happy to give one to you.) And while I haven't smelled The Hamptons, the fact that it smells like a Cosmopolitan might be too perfect! Good luck and have fun picking a scent... look at it this way, you have a great excuse to try even more even BPAL!! valentina

... this is the essence of Victorian-era spiritualism: rosewood, oak and teak notes with wispy blue lilac, tea rose, dried white rose and ethereal osmanthus. This is the tale of two body chemistries: my husband got Ouija as a frimp with an order that he placed. I like it when he orders, because I get to sample his frimps! Wheeeee... So we both tried Ouija, because we both liked how it smelled in the imp. It's kind of woody-spicy to my nose. On our bodies, it changed almost instantly -- his body turned it to spicy, smoky wood, very masculine, while my body amped the florals. Within a half hour, Ouija was a gorgeous scent on him -- woody, spicy, with a little depth that I'd guess was the florals lurking underneath. On me, it's all rose and lilac. Not that bad, very old-fashioned and indeed, Victorian. But in the sniff-off, Ouija won out on his body chemistry. It smells good enough from this first test that it may merit ordering a bottle for his use! valentina

Ah shore do wish ah could write an entire review in a Cajun accent, because I do so love Cajun accents, but I won't subject you to my feeble attempts. I'll just talk about Bayou in my normal midwestern patter... :closedeyes: In the imp, Bayou is very green, tropical foresty. Once on the body, the ozone notes really drift in, along with the green tropical scent and some really sweet flowers. I'm not a giant fan of ozone notes, forest notes or tropical flowers, but put together in this manner, it's not half-bad. After an hour or so, it really mellows into a nice, languid sort of scent, although it's something that I associate as a more masculine fragrance. I have a male friend who's a big fan of ozone fragrances, and I'm planning on doing a little enabling via my imp of Bayou! valentina

In the imp, I think Carnal is yummy -- sweet, but not too much so. On my body, it smells sweet but acceptable for a while -- it must take about 15 or 20 minutes for the fig to really take off and go into bloom. Normally, fig and I do not agree, because it becomes overwhelmingly sweet, but the mandarin in this blend keeps it under control. The smells stays soft, but sweet -- I associate mandarin with a milder, sweeter citrus smell, and it really does fit very well with the fig. It's not my cup of tea -- I'm not all about sweet fruity scents -- but it really wasn't bad at all on me. valentina