Honey

Instant love. Imp: Strong, acrid, medicinal. Like tea tree oil, vetiver and the deepest patchouli. Wet: Still medicinal but with a more grassy note. Herbal and strong. Dry: Light vetiver (that smells like sweet basil or dill) with dried sweet grass or hay. Coumarin is very strong in this one! Therefore, there might also be tonka bean and vanilla grass in there. This scent is just lovely! Herbal, sweet and sexy. You really feel more confident and secure when having Van Van in your nose. I just love it. I might need a bottle of this.

Hee, my second greenish imp.. Imp: Wow! I smell sweet pea with only the slightest hint of sage. Very green and bright and light and sweet and fresh! Wet: Reminds me very much of soap. Fresh and light, still mostly sweet pea and only a dash or herbs. Dry: If I concentrate really hard, then I can smell something like tonka in the background. This has almost a grassy feel to it.. yes, like sweet grass and soap. It's delightful as a spring scent when you need something behaved and innocent. ETA: Skin needed to warm up a bit for the tonka to show up. It smells really.. like Herbal Essence now or a nice body lotion. That may sound generic but subconsciously it gives you the feeling of being clean and cared for!

Oh, what a pretty bottle! Great label art, yay! Bottle: Blood orange, guava and pear strike me at first. I could swear I also smell some banana, but I guess this whole tropics-in-a-bottle feeling played tricks on my mind. I am glad the violet is behaving, otherwise I would already be sick on the couch.. Wet: Caramel and candied fruits. Smells like sweet fried bakery goods with something.. tangy and sharp. Fruity and sweet. Dry: Tangy blood orange and caramel. Very bitter, sharp, sweet and.. something is off in this blend. Must be the caramel. Doesn't really work on me in combination with orange and violet.

Yay! Secret stash imp! Imp: Very sweet and plummy. Could swear I detected some nutty rice pudding but maybe I hallucinated because I remembered rice pudding as an ingredient and not cream. Slightest hint of florals. Wet: Wow, this smells like actual plums! Not sweet and cheap like IKEA candles but actually.. yes, plummy with a hint of fruity greenness, a sharp tangy note. Dry: This is a plum single note on me. No flowers, no cream. Quite nice and not too overwhelming but also a bit boring.

I really wish citrus worked better on me.. Imp: OK, wow, complex citrus scent. Smells like tangy grapefruit, just the fluffy white inside of the peel. The slightest hint of green tea (more herbal than black tea to my nose). Allover green and tart and fruity. Wet: Green citrus. So I googled the components: yuzu is something of a complex lemony orange while mikan is an Asian satsuma (sweet mandarin). Smells very fresh and sour to me and not too sweet (what the notes could suggest). Even the oil is green in the imp! Have I ever seen a green oil? I think not. Dry: I can detect the slightly bitter texture of the black tea that is layered with a citrus overkill! I am glad it's no "toilet cleaner" lemon but something that's really hard to pin down. Very green and fresh and even sour. I am missing a creamy sweetness that would make this even better for me.. or wearable on a daily basis.

The rose in rosemary.. Imp: Strong, herbal and soapy. It doesn't really smell like the fragrant rosemary to me that I use in the kitchen. Maybe the rose is just overpowering. See, what I deemed to be soapy was merely the rose.. I guess I cannot smell one without the other (like some people, for some reason, mix up almond and cherry). Wet: Tart, dark, even mossy. Very deep green. A bit acrid.. like burned rosemary. Ah, after a few seconds, a great rosemary note appears, overpowering the rose now (which is good). Dry: Smells.. sharp, herbal and green with a slight dash of bitter orange and a hint of soapy rose. Smells a bit.. waxy, dusty and sour to me.. somewhat unpleasant.

Kumiho - where did you go? Imp: Yep, that's crisp white tea and ginger. Extremely light! Barely noticeable. And with a hint of citrus. Wet: Smells the same but stays weak in character. Dry: Poof! Gone. Not even the ginger lasts on my skin. I could empty the imp over my head, I guess I'd still break my nose sniffing for the scent to linger and bloom.

I love those "no notes listed" scents as they really train your nose.. Imp: OK, I will just toss in all my thoughts.. I smell something soapy and aquatic. A very masculine cologne scent. I guess I am smelling dragon's blood, anise, cinnamon, curcuma/turmeric, lavender and something herbal like rosemary and thyme. So, this is fresh, aquatic, slightly tart and herbal. Wet: Something floral.. not quite calla lily, not quite rose. I am not good with flowers.. but it's almost as sweet as a rose and not as fresh/green as calla lily. Very soapy. Could be jasmine (but that's only because I peaked above). Dry: Could be sage in there instead of rosemary of thyme. And maybe something mossy. Vetiver? If so, then only very slightly. Smells like a herbal soap to me. My skin amps cinnamon and/or anise after a while. It's pretty but nothing special I guess.

Has really nobody mentioned Ava Maria Gratia Plena yet?? A pale, delicate, truly angelic blend. A scent created to emulate Adonis' halo of beauty: fragile, distant, and radiant. Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris. I love it so much!

I also used it as a soothing oil to put on before going to bed. Man, I really like this! Imp: Before reading the Lab's description I smelled vetiver, mint and tobacco leaf. Knowing the ingredients, though, and then paying attention: I can smell cedar (what I mistook for vetiver) and sweet spices. Wet: Smokey, wooden, fresh. Definitely has a menthol-camphor vibe. Cedar is somewhat dark, smokey and salty (like bacon). Icy fresh scent, a bit medicinal. Dry: Definitely menthol and/or camphor in this one. Wooden and spicy. The sandalwood shows up after a while, and the blend becomes very sweet, fresh and aromatic. I think this is not something I would wear as a perfume but as a relaxing scent when I want to meditate or sleep. Nice.

Geesh, how could I have forgotten to add a review here?! Have to do this from memory.. To me, Gluttony smells like toffee cake that turns into burned sugar/caramel on my skin. It reminds me a bit of stale burned coffee or even pee. Heavy on the sweetness, and the burned sugar is very prominent. I cannot wear this as much as I cannot wear Sugar Skull and Boo! (only found that out, though, after having purchased a bottle, grr) I have to try Eat Me to check if that cake scent works better with my skin. I can wear Cockaigne and totally get away with it: maybe the wine in it evens out the butter and sugar components.

This review has also taken me quite a while now.. I bought this for the mandarin in it, and I was not disappointed!! Bottle: Juicy fresh mandarin orange! Omg, this is so good! I know straight orange oleoresins used in the food industry, and Kuang Shi smells like something that could be put into a beverage of sweets. Very close to reality, so very foody in that sense! Wet: Bittersweet mandarin and orange. Maybe some green fresh mango. Cannot detect any sandalwood or musk, maybe those will come through once the scent has dried down and warmed up. Dry: Maybe I can detect some musk now. But it's mainly fresh and fruity. Slightly tart but not chemical or plastic note at all! LOVE this! Smells like Christmas time to me when there are mandarins everywhere! Yum!

Pickle water? Imp: VERY aquatic. Like.. salty pickle water with a dash of cedar. Wet: Soft florals appear. Hyacinth or lotus I would guess (as they are tart water flowers). Dry: So, this could by a hyacinth, vetiver and cedar scent. There are other notes that my nose cannot single out however. Maybe something sweet like a berry note? Juniper perhaps? It's a very tart, murky, watery scent that has some sweet and fresh qualities. Very unisex. I am not a fan of aquatic scents but like this somehow.

Plum pudding, holly, and brandy-soaked raisin with frumenty, mince pie, and a hint of suet. Holy fruitiness! Imp: Sweet purple bubblegum with a wooden/nutty note in the background. Wet: Smells like grapes, raisins and other fruity purple things mixed with rice or rice pudding. Has a very sweet and soapy character. Slightly nutty. Dry: Rice pudding with fruit. Don't get any boozy notes. Not spicy either. Just sweet, fruity, nutty, foody, soft and soapy.

Sadly, I cannot apply this because of the violet in it (and I only found out after 2 scents or so that I react badly to it). It smells very much like violets to me. Very strong scent even without my having opened the imp yet! I also get some sour pickle / gherkin note. Odd. Cinnamon and frankincense are detectable. But no scent for me.

The dry stage of Queen of Sheba smelled very much like jasmine rice on me.

One of my first frimps.. Imp: Salty, wooden and smokey. Vetiver, oakmoss and oak/teak is what I smell I guess. Wet: Oak and vetiver. Dry: Polished oak and vetiver. That's all. Turns somewhat soapy and sweet (and nutty?) after a while.Maybe good for layering or if you need something solid. Reminds me of Brimstone that turned from acrid to real pretty on me after a while. Vetiver really morphs into toasted almonds and dill on my skin, that's cute.

Also one of my first oils.. and one that really scarred me a little (literally). So damn hot, it actually burned my skin! People - watch out with that one! Bottle: Yummy! A huge waft of marzpian-y almonds, a good dash of cinnamon and the bitter sweetness of oranges (neroli) hitting my nose. Wet: Marzipan and cinnamon. Very much like.. well, marzipan. Dry: Marzipan and cinnamon (like the one in Mentos or Big Red chewing gum). Very, very sweet and warm. Have to use it sparsely though since my skin actually reacted badly to it. I am not allergic to any of the ingredients (I was tested on almonds and cinnamon a while ago), but the warming effect of the cinnamon in this one is responsible for the redness of my skin I think. I am sensitive, and I have had a similar reaction to a cinnamon massage oil before (that I even bought because I wanted to heat up my skin and improve circulation). So, hmm.. while I like cinnamon, this combination is too sweet and a bit boring with only 3 noticeable ingredients.

After 4 years in my possession, maybe I should write a little review.. Bottle: Sweet and spiced apple cider. Apple juice even. Reminds me a little of the fruity and nutty flavor you have in baked apples (is that only something we eat in Germany?). No clove, allspice or pumpkin detectable. Wet: Slightly creamy, fruity and sweet red apple. Spices are there but I cannot make out single notes. Dry: Ah, the patchouli appears! Maybe also the medicinal note of fir. Still very much apple cider with all those spices and resin in the background. This is nice I think - but I just don't think apples work with me at all!

Yummy yum! Imp: Vanilla, soft spices and sugar! Smells like a delicious oriental cake! Wet: Vanilla, sugar and champaca. Omg, how good is this?? Dry: Finally, a sugar note that does not smell like burned caramel or pee on my skin! Vanilla and spices make it really special so it doesn't smell like a generic vanilla perfume. The champaca adds that little oriental flavor. Man, I so wish I had a big bottle of this!

Wow, salty goodness! Imp: It smells like salty wood! Very powerful, just teak and oak. Reminds me a little of tea tree oil. No other notes detectable. Wet: Sharp, acrid wood. Still like tea tree oil on me. Very medicinal. And like wood polish. Dry: Wow, did my oil go bad?? I cannot detect ANYTHING besides wood polish! Not even the slightest waft of a floral note. Ahh, it takes a while for the teeniest tiny bit of a rose note to get through. Hmm, still.. odd scent.

This is one hell of a nice men's cologne.. Imp: Aftershave balm. I can smell the frankincense, spices, maybe something like lavender and rosemary. So.. herbal spicy goodness but with a soft creaminess. I guess that could count as "glossy". Wet: Yes, smells very mainly and tarty fresh and aquatic. I can detect the frankincense and the anise. How wonderfully it blends! Only slightly sweet and oh-so-good! Dry: Frankincense, anise, cinnamon, maybe myrrh. Only a faint leather note. Very manly and really fragrant. I will get a bottle for the bf.

Maybe this is supposed to be a more masculine scent but I really like it anyhow. Bottle: Sweet and.. fruity? Smells like warm resins, too. Wet: Mainly myrrh. Also has this slightly greenish, herbal appeal and makes you think you can detect a bit of honey (but maybe there is?). Dry: Myrrh and storax. Very sweet and soapy. I also detect some green florals.. like lily or lotus perhaps. Though lotus would be more befitting to the scent name. I get the masculine vibe but this appeals to me, especially since I plan on testing layering options. Layering: Put Anubis over a layer of Boo! 2010. This is.. interesting. The sweetness is amped, and I would describe this scent as "Sweet cake offerings at the altar of Anubis" (although I am sure Egyptians never actually did this). Ack, OK, laying not so good. Smells like pee now.

Mandarin. Oh, I so want to love this.. Imp: Very sweet. Mandarin (a bit too artificial and plastic) and magnolia (on the soapy side). Wet: Too sweet, too chemical. Alas, not a juicy mandarin. Dry: A slight bitterness from the mandarin. Still, very soapy. Soapy is not bad, but.. the whole scent.. it smells like plastic on me and I just.. no.

I once had this great cucumber & peppermint shower gel that was so refreshing. Please, PLEASE be close to that scent!! Imp: Uargh! Pickle and glue! Wet: Grassy cucumber, pickle juice and more glue! Dry: Grass and wet cucumber. Very faint and light and fresh. No more pickle juice or glue. It's OK.