Zorra

I checked the label of the imp to make sure I am indeed trying The Isles of Demons and yes, that is what the label says. Yet I do not smell anything remotely tropical floral. It's more like not only the volcanic gas but also warm volcanic rocks - well maybe that's the hot black musk? It smells warm and black. If there is greenery it's certainly not tropical but then I wouldnot expect tropical vegetation in Newfoundland. Maybe my imp is old, I think I got it a maybe four years ago. Or maybe it's my skin. Whichever it is, I really like what I smell. ETA: OK 10 minutes later I find that when I am not sniffing my wrists but have them, well, at arm length I suppose or a little less while I am doing things with my hands, I do smell florals. They are not strong but they are kind of sweet which maybe would make them seem tropical. I don't think tropical when I smell them, but that may be because I am influenced by the location of the islands.

I love vetiver, but there seems to be a hint of tobacco here and I simply can't bear tobacco.

Am I the only one who gets a cinnamon note in this one? It's probably part of the fur note. The first time I was wearing this I made a note that it's a sweet rose, but the sweetness is cinnamon, I realize now. I get a little mint, for the snow note I guess. But since I realized I smell cinnamon in this it's stronger than the rose!

It's aged now of course so it probably smells different from when it was fresh. But when I put this on there's a blast of jasmine. It wasn't until I looked at the notes again that I realized jasmine is not a not. Well, apparently one of the other notes has jasmine as a component, and I now have full proof that I amp jasmine. I went back to sniff the bottle again and there's no jasmine when I sniff it. But on my skin, hardly anything else. I'll see if it morphs during the day.

I once camped in the wild in a field of some unknown herb on a height in the north of Spain. I think this smells like that herb on me, though it's many years ago. It reminds me of it, for sure, which makes me feel very happy when I smell it. Obviously a very good scent for a Cancer person. Oddly, I don't get violets or star jasmine or even a clear lemon balm, which are all scents that are usually very obvious on me. Maybe it's age, or maybe it's just that I need to smell the herb which I can only imagine to be mugwort - I need to smell other scents with mugwort to be certain.

This was one of my decants in 2012 and I remember it was very sweet to my nose then. Too sweet for me. Today Facebook showed me I wore the scent on this day in 2012 so I decided to try it again. And the candy sweetness is much less now.. There is the darkness of the plum and still some sweetness of the black currant, the musk and neroli dance together and the jungle orchid winds through it all. I love grapefruit and I do not really get it here. It might be ageing, but it might be just that it blends so well I can't pick it out. I am glad I still have the decant. I should add that after an hour it got a bit too much for me. I think 'it' is the black currant note. I seem to have a low tolerance for currant notes, the same low tolerance I have for most synthetic notes.

I tried Death on a Pale Horse this morning and I had sort of the same reaction: "I am smelling something that shouldn't be there! A hazelnut note?" I did not think of cardboard, but I'd say that might cover it just as well. I did not have the comfort to recognize reactions I have to notes that are listed. In fact I did not smell any of the listed notes, just that odd nuttiness. I left it on for only 20 minutes or so and then washed it off. It was not at all what I expected from the description and what I got I did not like at all. April 2023: I tried this again not realizing I had already written a review. Today I would desbribe what I smell as maybe helycrisum? It's still a scent that I cannot explain from any of the notes, nor do I smell any of the notes. Maybe I have a mislabeled imp? Maybe this one is just very weird? Again I washed it off after 20 minutes. I might like what it smells like on another day. But not today.

Sniffing the bottle I smell a dark chocolate or cacao note, once on my skin the chocolate/cacao disappears and it turns into a herbal lemon note. I should add that I seem to be amping this herbal lemon note, because it seems to dominate a few other scents I have. On someone else the chocolate might still be there, which would make it more interesting.

It started out wearable, but after a couple of hours I had to wash it off because I could not stand any more tobacco. I am learning to wear scents with tobacco, but we're still not friends.

When this was new, the jasmine was quite strong. Nine months later it has become the softest jasmine I have smelled in a perfume. It smells like a magical summer night. I think it's the benzoin and orris that make the jasmine softer, while the honeysuckle and red mandarin make it a bit sweeter without really becoming sweet. Plum gives it the darkness that makes me think of night when I smell this. But in fact everything is so well blended that I don't really pick out notes, I just smell that it's very, very lovely.

I am wearing this today because it has a nutmeg note which I recently discovered is in several scents I love, and because in a facebook post someone asked for wood scents and Gnome came up more than once. It must be a different gnome. I smell like gear lubricant, a luxury, effervescent type of gear lubricant with hints of ginger and peppercorn, but I can't make wood of this. It is nice, but I don't think I'll wear it often.

From the bottle and wet on the skin Melisande seems to be just jasmine. But after a while the jasmine has used up her initial enthusiasm and gives space to the mimosa and they get along very well! The violet makes the blend darker, the vanilla gives some sweetness to it and the musk adds some mystery. I have had this bottle for a year now and time definitely has added depth to it. It has become a scent I want to wear again the next day.

To me this smells more like vanilla and ginger than vanilla orchid and ginger. It is a warm softly glowing scent that helps me make it through chilly gray wet days.

In the decant I smell a blueberry note and a cream note. On my skin the blueberries leave within half an hour, leaving me with the cream note. I do not like a cream note. Unfortunately, cardamom never showed up.

Judging by the name I was expecting a scent with a strong woody note. I was not expecting to get such a candy sweet rose from it, right from the start! This is not the flower rose, it's rose candy! I know a lot of you love the candy sweet scents, but this is not for me.