Incendiare

When I smell the fresh Snake Oil in my imp, all I can smell is strong spices and a touch of incense. As soon as I apply it to my skin, it smells exactly like the head shops in my area. At this point, I don't get a single hint of vanilla. After about half-an-hour, I started to notice a slight sweetness in the background, but it's almost more sugary than vanilla. Even though this is über fresh stuff and slightly on the medicinal side like many describe, it is oddly growing on me. Fresh, I definitely wouldn't classify it as a vanilla scent, but I'll be patient, allow my imp to age, and see what happens.

In the imp, I smell a more generic sweetness thanks to the vanilla, but as I apply Regan to my skin, I am immediately welcomed by the orchid and stephanotis. The orchid is definitely the strongest note, but as Regan starts to dry on my skin, the vanilla slowly creeps up and sweetens things up once again. As time goes on, the florals slightly fade away and I am left with mostly a cold vanilla. While Regan isn't in your face, it seems to have relatively good staying power. It really is beautiful!

2010 version: In the bottle, I smell fruity cough syrup. Was not expecting that! Freshly applied to the skin, the medicinal note slightly fades and the fruit comes out more. As Sugar Skull dries, the sweetness protrudes, morphing into a white sugar, but eventually on the final dry-down, I get brown sugar. The staying power is amazing! This one is definitely a keeper. You just need to be patient with the dry-down.