Babylon

The grey and ghostly flower that fills the fields of Hades. Asphodel smells like tiny little white flowers, vaguely Lily of the Valley, and very delicate. This is a beautiful whisper-soft floral scent, but not for me. Just too light. It does have a decent throw; I could smell it wafting around me, but didn't last more than an hour on my skin.

On me, the Hamptons is purely Kool-Aidish or Pixy Stickish. I can even smell the sugar and almost feel the powder on my tongue. It doesn't change *at all*, but remains a strong Kool-Aid smell on my skin for hours. Can't really tell you what flavor Kool-Aid it would be, definitely a red one, but it's more a generic sugary fruit powder scent than any one fruit. And you know what? I like it!

Budding Moon is a juicy mix of plum and peony on me, with some musk for staying power, and a tiny grounding hint of lotus root. The plum really shines for the first hour or so, and then it fades a bit and lets the peony out more. The two work so well together, and it's something I never would have thought of, for sure. I LOVE it, it's delicious, and wish I had more than an imp! Will be wearing this when I see the first flowers and tree leaves start to bud and blossom.

On my skin, this is Somnus with herbs. It's primarily lavender with something like basil or rosemary. It doesn't make me drift off as well as Somnus does, and oddly I also didn't dream (or the more likely: didn't remember my dreams) on the nights I wore Temple of Dreams. Think I'll stick with Somnus, as I sleep like a rock with it, and also dream every night. You might want to try this if Somnus is too sharp at first for you. This lavender isn't as sharp, however the basil/rosemary/whatever herbal stuff it is was pretty strong.

Hurricane didn't work at all on me. I'm going to try something else with vetivert in it, and if I get the same reaction, vetivert's gonna go on my black list. Wet: Vetivert. Putting my nose to my wrist and sniffing actually makes me choke a little. This is really heavy! Dry: I have to hold my breath or breathe shallowly out my mouth when I move around. Man, this vetivert does NOT like me!! I smell like a tire burning on a pile of old wood. Unfortunately, I put this on at work, and couldn't get to the bathroom to scrub it off until 2 hours later. So I was choking and gagging routinely for a couple hours, and couldn't eat or drink because my belly was so upset. Finally got to the bathroom, and scrubbed and scrubbed, but I can still smell it on the neck of my shirt and it's still making me sick to my stomach. God, that vetivert! I hate you! Or rather, I hate how my skin is butchering this scent!! I actually had to call my boyfriend and ask him to come to my work and bring me a fresh shirt & bottle of Pink Phoenix to cover up any lingering Hurricane. Wow! First time I've ever had such a nasty reaction to a scent! Hopefully it will be the last!

Yay, this was on my wish list, and the Lab all-knowingly included it as a frimp with my last order. Yes my wish list is the size of Texas, and the chances of getting a frimp from it vs. not are pretty high, but that's irrelevant. Wet: Pears and champagne! This is delicious, fruity, and bright, and I can see myself wearing it in the spring and summer. Dry: Pears and champagne! Ok, ok, and a teeny hint of flowers in the background. This smells like a picnic setting. Thalia is a slatherer for me. I applied liberally, and it wasn't heavy, not much of a throw, and vanished in under 2 hours. This is another scent that I think would make a good body lotion. I do love the scent of this, as I'm all about Teh Froot in perfume scents, but don't know if I need a bottle. Mi-Go sates my urge for Shiny Happy Froot pretty well.

Well, that could be. When I got the popup window that asked what one I wanted to open, I got the error. But with the other program, it just opened the spreadsheet in multiple tabs, no popup, and that seemed to work fine.

Weird! I had that happen when I tried to open it with Works spreadsheet, but it worked fine when I opened it with Excel. No idea what's up.

This imp was generously given to me by a sweet Ebay seller! In the imp: A Halls cough drop. Wet on my skin: Mentholyptus cough drop for two or three minutes, then the pine comes out. The pine and eucalyptus together smells chilly and very green to my nose. After 10 minutes, I can smell a tiny hint of orange with the rest, if I sniff hard. Dry: This is pretty nice! The punch-you-in-the-face smell of pine and eucalyptus together has blended and toned down quite a bit. This also means that the orange gets to come out and play, and Jabberwocky now smells like orange with a bit of pine. I have a problem sometimes with pine turning sour on me. Not all, but some blends do it. Jabberwocky's pine note remains true on my skin, luckily! This would also make a great guy scent or room scent. Will try it on the boyfriend later and see how it works on him.

Well, I've never tried anything with civet in it before, so when I got an imp of this I was happy and anxious to see what it smelled like! Unfortunately on me it smells like poo. Satyr smelled like a goat's tush, with clumpy fur and poo. So, being devious and sadistic, I passed the imp on to my boyfriend to try. Now he learned from me to kinda swipe your wrist in your hair, since the scent stays longer there. He put Satyr on his wrists, neck, and then swiped the wand through his hair a few times. Of course it smelled like poo on him too. He got all disgruntled at me and scrubbed his wrists and neck till they were red, but came back still reeking of poo. The scent was super strong in his hair. For some reason, he didn't want to give in and take a shower that night, so he put some Blood Moon over it, hoping the potent oil would drown out the civet. Which just made his hair smell horribly of cinnamon poop. For hours. From 5 feet away. We also, being devious and sadistic, got to try this on an unsuspecting friend. It smelled like poo on him too, but at least he didn't put any in his hair. I don't think I ever want to try anything with civet in it again, unless it's 1. on someone else and 2. I hate that person. Gave the imp away, and am hoping she has had better luck with it.

Grapefruit for me too, for a little bit! This is something that R'yleh never did smell like to me at all. Wet: A grapefruit body wash, that clean zesty citrus smell, but not soapy. Dry: No more grapefruit, that only lasted a few minutes. Now it's SWEET flower petals floating on water. Very clean, fresh, and bright. An hour later, it's still almost overwhelmingly sweet flowers. This is a little too clean and sweet for me, though I do like it. I think I'm going to try layering it with something else in the future, to tone it down a bit. Wanted to add that after two or three hours, it... well... kinda smells like overly floral scented soap in someone's bathroom. I'm still going to give it another try, and see if it's different a second time around.

Wet: I'm getting a sharp perfumey smell right when I apply it, but it immediately starts toning itself down. After 5 minutes, it's an earthy patchouli with jasmine on top. Drying/Dry: I can feel moss crawling around in the scent, and it does indeed smell like a lush bed of it. This is really reminiscent of the caterpillar's home/surroundings, without smelling like mushrooms (yikes!) or trees at all. I can picture him sitting on a pile of soft moss and earth, with smoke wafting around. There's also a hint of jasmine to sweeten it a bit, but it didn't last more than 15 minutes on me. An hour later: Mosses, patchouli, and incense. The end: Patchouli Hmm, I never did smell the carnation or bergamot in this. I think patchouli, or vetiver?, was a little too heavy on my skin for those lightweights to contend. As it is, it smells a lot more gender neutral than I would have thought by reading the description. Going to see if my guy might try it on.

Wet: Fruity sweet patchouli with a floral hint, it's making me thirsty. Dry: Orangey patchouli, with the orange fading away after an hour. If patchouli works alright on you, then give it a try. It's pretty sexy blended with the sweetness of orange blossom.

Wet on me, it smells like a light jasmine incense with lime. I never would have thought of it, but this is definitely a nice combination. When it dries, the lime says goodbye, and after an hour only the jasmine remains. I like it, if only because it reminds me of my favorite jasmine incense.

A truly fae nectar! Dragon’s blood resin and honeyed vanilla. At first, it's cherry milk! Kind of like the strawberry milk you can buy, but of course cherry flavored instead. When it dries, it smells like CreamSavers candy, fruity and creamy soft. After a few hours, it's a very soft, warm vanilla. This baby is a gentle giant. With the other Ars Draconis blends I've tried, I could easily smell them wafting around me whenever I moved or turned my head. Dragon's Milk is the placated mommy of dragon's blood, though, and I can only smell her when I sniff my wrist. I did slather her on, but it didn't make it any stronger to myself or my boyfriend who was in the room with me.

Well, I was hoping for the watery part to come out and play more, but I think it was really just too afraid by Dragon's Blood, the bully. This scent is pure sticky-sweet cherry/floral on me. It stayed true on my skin for a couple hours, then faded away. Dragon's Tears is my least favorite of the Ars Draconis series so far, though I've only sampled this, Musk, and Milk. It was also my most anticipated.

Thanks Astburygrrl! This smells the same both wet and dry on me. Sweetened honeyed milk, with a touch of oatmeal. It lasted about 3 hours on me, longer than Alice and not as long as Sudha Segara, but an hour of that was spent at the dentist office under the drill, and Dana O'Shee really comforted me during that. This would also be a great scent to use if you make your own bath products.

I was all excited to get the chance to try famous Snow White this year, after hearing so much about her. Unfortunately, Snow White is creamy Scotch tape on me!! I'm *not* ready to give up on her yet, so she's going to sit in a cool, dark box for a few months and we'll try again.

This isn't floral on me in the slightest. At first, it's winter trees and snow. Then it quickly turns to a snowy berry scent, which I love. I had no idea that Snow Moon would smell so fruity, glad I ordered it! Lasts a good 6 hours on me, so every time I turn my head I get that chilly berry scent. Yummy!

Blood Moon is just cinnamon on me. If I put my nose on my wrist and sniff hard, I get the metallic tang once in awhile. No grains, no musk really. I've noticed with other blends too that my skin seems to amp cinnamon like there's no tomorrow. I like it, but probably won't wear it anymore after giving it a couple tries. It's too much cinnamon on me, and ended up burning my skin too. It did smell good on my boyfriend, but he's more of a foresty guy. So Blood Moon will be saved to give to a friend who might have better luck with it.

Wow, I love Hearth 05. This bottle is a definite keeper! Right away it smells buttery and nutty. As I'm sniffing, the pine literally comes in out of nowhere, and makes me instantly think Christmas. After 5 minutes, I can smell a BUNCH of things at once: buttery sugary nuts, a Christmas tree, and cedar burning and crackling in the fireplace, complete with smoke. Hours later, it's mostly a sweet nuttiness. It all blends perfectly, and makes me smile and think of home. I just wish the pine, cedar, and smoke lasted longer on me! I am in love. It's been hovering at around 10-20 degrees here when I'm out and about in the evening, and this scent makes me feel a little warmer and cozier.

The lab included this as a frimp with a 6 pack of studly smellies I ordered for my boyfriend. So nice of them, now I have something new to try too! When I first put this on, it's So Damn Delicious and ... intriguing. I can't stop sniffing my wrists. I smell sweet, sweet milk and carnations, and for some reason it's a beautiful thing. The sweetness must be the bergamot? The honey in Skuld is VERY prominent on me, to the point where I can only smell the other stuff if I think about it. In Alice, it's barely there at all. Maybe it's mixed in with the general sweetness of the milk, carnation, and bergamot. As it dries, rose stops by and chit-chats with the other notes for a bit. I beg to her to keep to herself this time, and not steal the show. My pleas are answered, for Alice has become creamy rose-carnation with a teeny hint of tea in the background. After a solid half-hour of carousing with the other notes of Alice, rose has had far too much to drink and becomes quite loud and obnoxious, to the point where no one can smell much else but her. Granted, she's creamy and soft, but she's still rose, and she's sent poor innocent carnation into hiding. Now this is the weird part. I baked some cookies earlier, and all of Alice washed off my wrists. Even though I didn't like how the rose took over, I'm dying to slather more on (yes, slather. This one has no throw on me at all). It's just so.... curious and intriguing! That weird beginning scent was like nothing I've ever smelled in a perfume before!

Boyfriend wanted an imp of this just because of the name, no matter how it smelled. We were expecting a very dark and smoky scent, and weren't sure how ozone would smell. Inwardly, I was afraid he'd put some on and morph into the metalhead dryer sheet of doom or something, but kept my fears to myself. Wet on the boyfriend's skin: A bright, sharp citrus smell. And oh... hey, ozone.. I do know that scent after all. Someone very cool sent me an imp of Storm and I can smell the similarity. Unfortunately, when he tried Storm it turned to soap on him. I tell him not to fear, that the frooty citrus smell will pass, and it will turn into something appropriately dark and manly for him. He says, "No big deal. I like it." and rabidly snuffles his wrist. What a sport. Dry, after bout 20 mins: The citrus is already long gone. Now it's incense and ozone. Dead on. The incense smells like myrrh. This is good on him, and completely different than the Thanatopsis he's used to. This smells very dry without being woodsy, powerful without being musky. Very nice! He compliments the Lab on their amazing accuracy with scent names. A short while later: I tear his arm from whatever less important task he's doing to snuffle at his wrist, and NO! It's all soapy now. The incense is still hanging in there, hoping for the best, but it stays soapy. He's going to try again another day and see if he gets the same results. The scent was gone entirely after a couple hours. It also had no throw on him, at any point. We had to put our noses to his skin to get any whiff of it. Which is fine at times, but a scent that shouts Powah!! like Nyarlathotep does (No, I'm not talking Zest! Before that kicked in) deserves to be worn in public to make people properly cower.

Hey, this is a manly version of Anne Bonny on my boyfriend. And wow, it's really sexy on him! In the imp: I smell woods and dry grasses. Wet on his skin: Anne Bonny. A pirate ship. Avast, this is pretty hawt, ye scurvy wolves. That sandalwood makes itself known right away! Dry after 15 minutes: Primarily sandalwood, with another woodsy scent. An hour or so later: The sandalwood has mellowed, letting the musk and amber come out to play. This smells raw and outdoorsy on him without going feral. It has a small throw. I can smell it a couple feet from him, but at that point it's really melded with the air and kind of smells like I burned incense in here a few hours ago, and the room still smells of it a bit. Verdict: He says this is a definite keeper and is already snuffling around for a 5ml. I think I'd feel comfortable wearing this as well, but I have Anne Bonny, and that's fine for me.

I've had insomnia-type problems for over a year, and nothing really seemed to help. I ordered a 5ml of Somnus untried and unsniffed just because the reviews all said that it works. And WOW, it does. I drift off to sleep quickly, and if I do wake up during the night, I fall right back asleep. And I DREAM again! I wake up every morning and can remember my dream from the night before. This hasn't happened in so long! I highly recommend this, it works perfectly and far exceeded my hopes. Now let's just hope my 5ml lasts until the next bottle I ordered arrives, or I'll be a cranky Babylon! Wet: A sharp, very green smell. Think of a freshly smashed dandelion or crushing herbs in your hand. It's relaxing, even if it's sharp. When I had a stuffy nose awhile back, it helped me breathe deeply, kind of like Vicks VapoRub. Dry - After about 10 minutes or so, the scent changes completely to a very comforting, soft floral scent. It reminded me of our lilac bush out back when I was a kid, and the fresh cut lilacs my mom would put in a vase on the kitchen table.