fisharescary

A burst of sweet, strange flowers, luminous Moon-tree sap, and ornamental grasses. A light, mostly floral scent, with some green-ness to it, the grasses I presume. I'm not good enough to pick out which florals, or what the Moonflower sap is. While it has a surprisingly strong throw, and staying power so far, it is at the same time mild and subtle in nature so it doesn't become annoying, if that makes sense. There's something in it that smells like Body by Victoria, a kind of coolness maybe. Perhaps that's the sap? I agree with other reviewers, this is closer to a more mainstream perfume. Still nice though. Pleasant, and quite feminine, but not too sweet and girly. Edited to add description.

I think it might be partly that I amp cinnamon, but for me it came out like crazy from Pumpkin V 09. (despite not being listed, I believe.) Other people in reviews got some cinnamon out of it too. Not sure how strong a note you're looking for. Also, while it wasn't listed and I didn't smell any, my husband smelled cinnamon in P IV 07. it is a very 'warm' blend so that might be why it fooled his nose, maybe worth a try?

In bottle: Lilac and some kind of light green/white/jasmine tea dominate (I tested 'blind' w/o re-reading the description, so that's what I got.) Also a thin thread of pepperyness. Wet on skin: same, but a weak little cherry note on the end, and the pepperyness moves more towards 'spice.' Still very, very subtle though, hard to catch. Drying/first 20 mins or so: the aquatic/green/tree nature develops a little more. *maybe* I detect the bamboo, but it's more of a generic green smell to me. Past 20 mins: Greenness is getting drier in nature, but still developing, pushing out the lilac. I might get a thin thread of light woods in there. Very light, vague spice is present. The cherry is only there as sort of a thin veil of candied-ness over the whole thing-still not very sweet and cloying, very light. Throw is average. It's not quite as fresh/green/light woodsy as I was hoping, but still quite pretty, and I love the art/concept. Keeping the imp, think I'd at least like a partial bottle.

In the bottle: not getting much On skin: Like a big open bowl of potpourri in a linen closet. It's only got an average throw, but something in there is really making me feel nauseous. I am not a fan of potpourri-ish scents. Oddly enough I can escape the nausea by pressing my nose right up against my wrist, where it is far clearer, sharper without being dry and cutting, more of a rugged woodsy spice man-smell. Not a fan, I will pass this on.

Enthusiastically thirding the Hamptons, which was like ginger ale or seven-up to me. Tentatively seconding Fae, which wasn't as fizzy, but I bet on the right skin type that comes out more. It was still somewhat sparkling on me.

The scent of a Cosmopolitan cocktail. In the imp: soda, definitely some kind of soda, maybe ginger ale or maybe 7-up. Wet on skin: it shifts over a bit more towards 'something you'd clean with' but in a nice way. I'd really enjoy cleaning with whatever this was. I give in and read the description at this point, and while I still stand by my earlier statements, a fruity cocktail does make sense, but on me less boozy and less fruity than it could be. No major morphing past this point. Average throw while still a 'light' scent if that makes sense. Average staying power. Edited to add description.

In the imp: I want to say Cedar, and that's it. But it is more complex than a single-note, I can tell that much; it's just that I don't know what's what. Pretty much a strong, pure, woodsy/piney smell though. Wet on skin: the woods/pine have died back just a bit, and have been joined by a large bouquet of very sober florals. No dirt I can detect, although it might be part of the complexity of the trees. Rats, I was looking forward to fresh-turned earth. Still good though. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes in, the trees have died back a lot and the funeral flowers have all but taken over. Still no dirt. I don't really enjoy it in its final form, (it never changed after that, other than the eventual fading away) so it'll have to find a new home. Average-to-strong throw. Lasts at least a few hours at a reasonable strength.

In the bottle: Grape, very grapey-with maybe an afterthought of booze. I guess that might be the dark wine and champagne grapes and probably the plum blossom, which tends to go boozy in a grape/wine or at least generally fruity way on me. Wet on skin- Oh dear god I cannot think what it is, it is sharp and horrible and stinky and do not want and afraid it's going to give me a headache or allergies. I can't even tell what cause I don't want to smell it long enough and it's like an attack on my nose. I would have ended there, but for whatever reason (laziness?) I didn't wash it off. About a half-hour later, it's so pretty! A lovely less-intensely fruity fruit booze with florals and a sweetness (ok, boozy for me means there is a sweetness there, I should clarify, it's not alcohol like sharp and astringent, because I drink thick sweet fruity booze) and there might be a non-annoying musk in there, and I think I remember this one note from a pumpkin with benzoin, so maybe that's shown up. I know that's kind of a long rambling series of 'maybe's but how about 'oh, it's so very softly pretty." Unfortunately, I still don't think I can keep it. I hate that first phase so very much. Average throw. Will come back and edit if the durability is anything un-average.

A tropical pumpkin. Either I don't know what myrrh smells like (I was thinking spice/incense) or it's not there for me. It's a brilliant, tasty, lovely-smelling combination, anyway, but the throw is kind of weak. It fades really quickly, like almost gone after a half an hour, with no real morph other than the fading. I like it, but I'll probably re-home it since I'd have to constantly re-apply, and I just don't really connect with the idea of the tropics much, anyway.

in the imp: it's a floral peach in a light boozy syrup on skin, wet: the fruit lightens up a little, and it becomes more sugary dry on skin: Take some fresh-baked puff pastry, still warm from the oven, and spread a thin layer or two of spiced peach butter in the middle. Dust liberally with powdered sugar. Drizzle heavily with wild honey, straight from the comb. Lean over and inhale. This is the smell of my wrist right now. So warm and yummy. I don't know where it comes from, but I really do get a hint of beeswax from this. Over the next four hours or so it fades gradually to a less-complex, although still pleasant, light powdered sugar/vanilla/honey. Another two hours and it's a just-there homemade playdough, in as pleasant a way as playdough can be, with a hint of almond and vanilla. This is a very tasty, foody smell for me. I really enjoy huffing it as overcompensation for not being able to eat it, but it's not quite unique enough for me to chase down any more than the imp I've got right now. Average throw.

Cake Smash, though that's hard to get ahold of, is such a delicious vanilla cake on me...

Mmm. Not quite purely foody, this is a perfumey version of a creamy spiced rice pudding, with boozy grape set next to it (which I'm guessing is Plum Blossom, from other times I've gotten boozy fruit where it didn't belong). Nice, and unique. Average-to-slightly-weak throw and duration. Not much morphing once it hits skin, and hard for me to pin down in the bottle. Other than the fruit, this was actually kind of what I thought it would smell like, although lovelier.

In the bottle-soft florals, maybe a hint of musk-couldn't say anything more specific. Wet on skin, I identify the floral as Jasmine. Since looking up the actual notes reveals no Jasmine, I'm guessing that it's actually osthmanthus. After a few minutes, I detect a small but defined note of ginger at the end. It's generally pretty soft. 20 minutes later, it's amped up to borderline too-strong (for me, at my normal dosage- I can just cut back to 3 drops, eh?) and I get the honey now. It's lightly powdery; that might be the vanilla. A couple of hours later, it's still going pretty strong, and hasn't morphed much. It's a feminine smell, fairly sexy, especially rising up in the body heat from cleavage. I'll use it once in a while, and try to get ahold of a little partial 5mL at least so I can enjoy that label art! But honestly if you took out the concept/emotional appeal, the scent itself would be a 'meh' for me. Maybe with a bit of aging?

In the bottle, very green and spicy. Makes me think of bunches of marigolds and chrysanthemums, but ones that still have like 3 feet of stem with lots of leafyness on them. Wet on me, this was a sweet smoke wafting through bright flowers. Lovely, and quite strong. After about fifteen minutes, the whole thing dies down a lot and a stroke of green comes through. I'm not familiar enough with the notes to know what was what, this is just literally what I smelled. After about an hour: green has died down too. This is closer to a warm, gently-spiced vanilla now, I think, but one that still has floral and green to it. Not so much throw, still, but not wimpy either. 2 1/2 hours: Just a light, sweet trace is left, only really detectable from about 6 inches away. Pleasant, but not very distinctive or exciting. Liked that first smell best. Not sure if I'm gonna chase down more or not. Two decants in a bottle might be enough.

I ordered this cause I'm obsessively collecting the Secret Amusements, but I honestly thought I'd hate it. Lots of metallic phallus? Nowai. But then I open the bottle and it's like, 'hm. I don't know what this is, but I don't hate it.' So I put one drop on one wrist, that's all. Within seconds I'm huffing it! This isn't very helpful, but my first impressions as it was drying were that it actually did smell like the name, and image, but in a good way, like really good penis with music, not iron. I know, that's wierd. Maybe it's a warm skin scent that makes me think that- as i was trying to figure it out, I was like 'is this skin musk'? Y'see, I was trying it blind and had not looked up the scent notes in ages. So, no preconceived notions on this one. There's something in it that smells like 'man' to me, just like in Manners Among Men and Women; so comparing the two I would guess it's the sandalwood/sake here and the light woods/sake in Manners. Men smelling like booze and wood? Crazy talk. maybe that's why I thought it smelled like a lovely idealized penis? Because I smelled something that makes me think of men? Soooo anyhoo, I got to huff it for an hour or two that it held steady, with a very nice throw. It's probably quite strong given that only one drop was almost as much as I can take (my 'standard' dosage is 5 drops, distributed various places) but unfortunately it lacks stamina. After the first couple of hours it died about halfway down to a vanilla-y slightly powderyness (that's tonka, right?) and now, about 5 hours later, it's all but gone- I press my nose to my wrist and really sniff and I get something like a dry green tea and maybe moss. So maybe moss + black tea + green sandalwood = green tea for my nose? I'm not very good at picking out notes. I would normally be embarassed at some of my descriptions here...but given the name of the perfume we're reviewing, I don't think anyone in here is going to be offended.

Actually, I was going to ask a similar question- A friend of mine was sent to a perfume seminar by her employer, as they sold a lot of it. There she was taught to always pat your wrists together, don't rub at them, after applying the perfume to them, because rubbing would unnecesarily destroy the scent. That's how I've been applying my BPAL, but on the other hand it occurred to me the other day that there might be a difference between BPAL perfume oil and mainstream Eau du something or other. Does anyone have anything to add on the subject?

In the bottle: What is this?!? It's fruity, desserty, herbal and just defies description. It took me several testings to get to the point where I could review it. Wet on skin: Smelling the pumpkin, but smelling citrus a little stronger. I"m not good enough yet to figure out which citrus(es) exactly are coming through. I distinctly smell herb, and I think it's mostly or all parsley, but there could be a little mint in there. So delicious, it's dessert-y but not. I really don't have a word for this kind of smell-it's nothing I've ever smelled before. Moderate-to-strong throw. This tends to last an average time on me, fading slowly and steadily. It's not a morpher, as far as my inexperienced nose can detect. Just in case you were wondering where the 'dry on skin' '15 minute mark' '1 hour mark' etc were. It's wierd but it works and one of those two things also describes me, so good enough, I say! I could seriously wear this just about every day. It's appropriate, not overbearing, not too formal but not too little-girly, and distinct from all the stuff you find on the shelves- this is what I'd wear when I want to meet new people and have them say "Boy, I don't know what it is, I just like her! What a personality! So quirky and fun!"

Manners Among Men and Women In the Red Light District. I'm really hoping that my husband will like it too, or we're going to have some problems!

I got this as a frimp, so I had no clue what to expect. I was thinking leather and blood, so imagine my surprise when the bottle, and wet on my skin, gave me soft, soapy florals! Like a kids' bubble bath at Grandma's house-I was just like 'what?' Also borderline too dry and sharp for me. But then after a few minutes a juicy thread came through, making it more 'palatable.' I was like 'jasmine and lemon??' I think I honestly got the Jasmine because it was one of the scents I used to use more often a few years ago (at the same time as rose) and it was just a scent memory from that time trying to jog itself. It kept morphing pretty quickly into something wetter, juicier, and much more age-appropriate smelling, so I got curious and looked up the description. I don't think I'm getting much leather (now 15 mins in). It is very rosey, almost a single note for me. Fortunately although there is a tad of the soapy/powderiness left, it's sufficiently wet enough that I think I can wear this. Will update later if it does anything crazy. Throw is not great, but not weaksauce either.

In the bottle: it's some kind of avant-garde pumpkin dessert, not your typical pies mind you, something more like 'crustless pumpkin-orange bake with a topping of candied ginger." A little unusual, and quite good. It stays that way on my skin for all of two minutes before it starts morphing. I couldn't follow it too well, but about 15 minutes in I was getting spiced cider (ok, wierd, but yummy) and a half-hour or so in it's turned to....slightly boozy, really juicy grape bubblegum! Really wierd, and not what I really want to smell like most days. At first I just got it from a reasonable distance, and could still smell the original smell up close on my wrist, but now it's completely gone over. Average-to-strong throw. Will update later with staying power and any additional morphs. I'll be keeping this, but only for occational uses in home fragrance. I guess it's a plus that it's less traditionally seasonal-I could see myself still enjoying this (in its original form) in other times of the year. Edit: about 4 1/2 hours in, it died down but hasn't vanished. There's been a slight shift sweeter-boozier, but still basically the same scent.

In the bottle- I'm still new at picking out scents, but I'd say it smells just like the description, and absolutely yummy to boot. I had a fear that once it was on me I'd have to go have some dessert, it made me so hungry for seasonal treats. Sweet but not cloying at all. On skin: Within minutes, I'm getting cinnamon in the mix, and it's taking over. I know cinnamon's not listed, but I sniff my wrist and there it is, not even a warm swirl but more like a dry, sharp RED HOTS omg. After about an hour and a half the cinnamon died down a little and let me smell the rest of it, but it some of the yumminess had gone to bitterness, bitter coffee, dark bitter chocolate, bitter nuts. I may have gotten a whiff of apple at some point, making it a much more agreeable 'hot cider' but that happened while I was outside so for all I know I actually WAS smelling the neighbor's hot cider, or windfall apples in the sun. This had average throw, but slightly below-average staying power on me. On the plus side, now that it's been several hours, I'm mostly getting a very nice chocolate with a hint of hazelnut, coffee, pumpkin and vanilla. Quite sweet, but I mean I'm plastering my nose against my wrist and it's still pretty faint. The cinnamon is gone though.... I've only got an imp, so I'll definitely be able to use it in various oil heaters round the house, over the coming Christoween season, it'll be nice and cozy and delish there. Very appropriate to my seasonal associations for the next few months.

Non compos mentis, indeed! A contrary, conflicted scent, bubbling with merry madness. Contains apple, rose, and lemon. In the bottle: I smelled the rose and the lemon, roughly equal and surprisingly nice. I really thought these would clash more, from the description. I couldn't remember at first what the third note was supposed to be, and it was fainter- I was thinking lavender until I went and looked it up, and then I was like 'ok, I kinda get that.' Wet on skin-> ~15 mins : still pretty well balanced between the three, but a little more rose and a little less apple. I'm not getting the green-apple that a lot of people get with this one. It's like a bouquet of a dozen red roses, with a big strip of fresh lemon peel wrapped in a bow around the stems to hold them together, but you hold it down so your little toddler friend can sniff it, and she gets too excited and spills her watered-down apple juice all over it, so you shake it off into the sink, but hours later you still can smell the apple juice when you put your nose into the roses. Seriously, that's the mental image that I get. A couple of hours later in real life, however, the apple and lemon have faded so it's mostly a rose on me, which has gone slightly but not horribly powdery. There's a thin wisp of lemon to it, and just barely any apple. Still a fairly bright scent though, refreshing, young, and more like "a nice thing to smell" rather than "traditional perfume" which is quite up my alley. Despite having a decent throw and lasting a decent amount of time, Delirium is still gentle enough on my somewhat sensitive nose that I can actually use more than the very exact amount of BPAL I usually use. Also, bonus points for reminding me of Sandman, of course. Also less clashing than I imagined with a name like that-rather than full-on confusion, screaming sirens waking you from deep sleep, it's more like snapping back to the present after having a pleasant daydream in the middle of a group project in high school and having to ask 'Wait, what'd we just decide?' Edited with scent description cause I didn't realize this was going to be the head of a new page.

Both in the bottle and on my skin, this scent is exactly as described for me; milk, honey and grains. At the same time, I smell almond-vanilla, and I think it's because those two scents are similar-smelling to the milkhoneygrains combo, but maybe all five notes are in there, I couldn't sort it out. Any rate, I find it very nice, because it can appeal to someone who likes foody scents, but also someone who might like a mild floral sweetness. Of course, I say mild to describe the nature of the floral scents, but the throw and staying power of the oil overall is very strong on me- but it's not cloying or harsh. Intense, but not offensive?Hard to describe what I mean, but just overall a very clean and straightforward scent with surprising stamina.

In the bottle: I got an even balance of pink pepper and 'red fruit.' Since I've never actually smelled currents, I guess that's what it's from, or a combo of that and blackberries. Anyrate, cool! I like it. On the skin, wet->15 minutes in: Same notes, but it's like there's a third one that's also part of the other two, and it's bubblegum, of all things! I swear I did not read the other reviews before trying this, so how odd. (see the review above me) Maybe after a certain amount of time it has a tendency to do that? Two hours later: the initial notes are all very faded, and have also developed a faded powdery floral, maybe rose. That's not so bad, but I'm disappointed at the lack of staying power- I'll try using a bit more and see what changes.