calivianya

Overgrown oleander, marshy water hemlock, the sugared nectar of carnivorous blooms, putrefying wet greenery, oozing sap, crushed rosary peas, withered climbing roses, and nightshade berries. The Ghastly Garden is, well... ghastly. I thought that since some green things worked on me, that this might too, so I snapped it up in a swap a while back. Something about it is just awful on my skin. It's got some greenery, yes... but it quickly enters sneezy floral territory and I just can't abide it. It is an utter failure on my skin.

Wet: Fresh, crisp, green, and sweet! This is really pretty, but a little faint. Drying: I smell the floral elements and the grass most clearly here, but the candy sweetness is still definitely present. Dry: More candy, but with a plasticky note to it. I wonder if one of the flowers involved is violet, because violet usually does this exact same plastic thing on my skin. That's a shame. I was really liking this for a while.

I agree with all of the above - this is a sweet, dusty vanilla. I don't get much florals from my tester, but florals are somewhat hit and miss on me anyway. I'm really glad I got to try this, but fortunately I don't need any more. I can barely smell it on my skin at all - it's doing a pretty amazing disappearing act. Sayonara, Elf v4! I'm glad I got to meet you.

I intended to buy a bottle of this while it was up but I hesitated for some reason... we'll see if I should have stuck with that initial instinct! Wet: Definitely getting a lot of tobacco and honey here. I can smell a hint of leather, but it's lurking in the background. Drying: Okay, the leather's come out to play and it's eating most of the other notes. It's actually kind of hard to smell right now. It backed off a lot! Dry: Oh, the myrrh finally came out and spiced it up. This is pretty sexy, but something about the combinations is cloyingly sweet. I think it's the tobacco, which I generally don't have a problem with. Odd. Anyway, I'm glad I got to test it, but it's not for me.

I was very excited for this; it just sounded so different and interesting! First sniff: It smells... well... natural. That's the first word to come to mind. In the bottle, it smells wet and green, like standing next to a dark river among the reeds at night. Maybe part of this scent is in an olfactory blind spot of mine or something, because even in the bottle it isn't strong. Usually, smelling stuff right out of the bottle just about bowls me over. Wet: It is hard to pick out notes from this one. It's very melded and smooth. I can pick out the cucumber and the night blooming jasmine (which is bitter but not cat pee this time around), and the ambergris is floating around it like a cloud. This scent does not have a lot of throw to it, but I do smell it better than I did in the bottle. The night blooming jasmine is amping just a little, which concerns me. Dry: The night blooming jasmine receded to the background, and this scent has become absolutely lovely. It's really not my usual thing, but I like it tremendously. Overall, I'd use words like ephemeral and wispy to describe this scent. The greenness of it reminds me a little of the crisp green wetness in Nefertiti's wet stage. It is a beautiful, interesting perfume.

I told myself I wasn't going to buy any musk SNs when they came out because white musk is dryer sheets, red musk is (sometimes) gross BO, and black musk is sometimes powdery. I couldn't imagine any musk would be good on its own. Then, I saw that BPAL wasn't selling red, white, or black as a SN - but Siberian, so I decided to give this a try. I'm so glad I did. It is VERY sexy. I agree that it's obviously the main component of Snake Oil. I think there might be some mint, pennyroyal, or something else sharp and cold in there - it is dark and dirty but has that kind of sharp edge to it, especially when wet. It goes a little powdery, but the good kind of powdery. It doesn't turn into dryer sheets and it isn't bad body odor. It is wonderful.

Oh hey, it's doing the dryer sheet thing that all aquatics do on my skin! I am thoroughly unsurprised that this isn't working for me.

If you can find some of The Lurid Library, it's pretty good. It can be a little bit masculine, though. I have a more incensey bottle and a more cologne bottle.

There is definitely patchouli in here, and maybe some of the grassy vetiver. Beyond that, I can't tell what's in this. It's too sharp for my liking, so I will be passing it on.

I had absolutely no hopes for this one, as both rum and aquatics don't tend to work. However, this isn't half bad. The rum sweetens up the woods and the salty air isn't too obtrusive, leaving it a sweet wood with a hint of something tropical. I have enough woody scents to rule out buying this one, unfortunately.

There is definitely a batch variation with Crossroads. I was just testing imps to put them up for sale, and I noticed I had two of Crossroads that were both frimps from the Lab - and one is goldenrod yellow while the other is light orange. I think the yellow one is missing the incense.

I think there are some batch variations with this one. I've received two as frimps from the Lab recently and one is a clear goldenrod while the other is more orange. The orange one is fuller-bodied and richer in the imp while the yellow one seems more green and wet. I think the yellow one is missing some of the incense - it goes on light and springy and stays that way. The orange one is still springy, but there is a faint breath of incense underneath. Neither are really my thing, but they are fairly different scents. Interesting.

I feel duly bound to record and review everything that comes my way - which is why I didn't just throw this into the sales pile without sniffing it first. Dragon's blood is my arch-nemesis - it is a really sickly cherry floral smell to me. This is sickly floral, amped up by the poppy and ylang-ylang. Dragon's blood on steroids. I quite unfortunately got a drop of this on my finger while opening the imp, and I need to go wash my hands now.

It is very bitter in the imp, but is stomach churning on my skin. Ugh, this is nasty. I'm going to wash it off now, kthnx.

Astringent, soapy, and just all-around gross. I get absolutely nothing in that description...

I would really LOVE to love this one, but I have a feeling the dirt is going to be a dealbreaker. We'll see. Whoa, when I first apply this it is all dirt, all the time. Did someone forget the other notes? I really don't get much else but dirt. Later, I start to get a very wispy grape smell. Not wine, but grapes. These notes are usually very different on my skin but apparently not in this blend. It ends up being a sort of sweet dirt scent, not unlike the Down the Rabbit Hole atmosphere spray in mood. I just was expecting something dark, dirty, and sexy - this is definitely NOT it.

I was expecting something a bit more sinister, I guess, because this is pretty. It almost feels more like crushed stems and flowers because it's just so green and juicy. Something in it sours on my skin, though, so it's definitely not for me.

Whoa, syrupy sweet in the vial! I'm not much for fruit scents, and PLUM!!!! is definitely jumping out at me before I even put it on. It smells a little like fake fruit cough syrup once I do put it on - this is not my thing, for sure.

Whoa, the imp is scary dark! About the color of liquid sin, I guess. The oil is dark enough that I would have to wear it under my clothes - it is very noticeable where it's on my skin. I was expecting this to be all fiery death on me because sometimes cinnamon goes too harsh, but... I'm liking this. The amber and cinnamon together are slightly sweet, and the patchouli is holding down the fort and grounding it with a sexy darkness. Whoa. Why the heck did I wait so long to test this imp? I think I may be buying a bottle of this later. Edit: Hold up... I thought it had been done morphing, but I guess not. It ends up being sort of plasticky dirt on the far drydown. I don't know how that happened; this had so much potential...

Wine and chocolate! I'm not usually a fan of chocolate in perfumes, but this is a curious combination. On my skin, I'm definitely getting the coffee ice cream feel people mention. Maybe it's something to do with the chocolate and rum? Where's my wine? This stays way foody, and not in a sexy wine food way. The wine eventually comes out a bit, but not enough to make this terribly interesting. I'll stick with Lilith for my wine fix, I think.

Whoa, sweet pea! It's all sweet pea all the time in the vial. My first impression is that it smells like something I could buy at Bath and Body Works. And... it just doesn't get any more interesting than that. Not my kind of thing.

I wouldn't know there was blackcurrant in this if I hadn't read the description; this scent is CLOVE with a teensy hint of something purple in the background. It is nice, but I think it's a little too sharp for me.

Whoa, this is good. I'm agreeing with both the pink and raspberry comments. It is definitely a pink sort of dark chocolate scent. There is something sharp lurking underneath the sweetness that keeps it from going in total foody direction. I think it may be the burgundy pitch, I found this description off of a website: "strong forest-like fragrance, balsamic, fresh, slight fruity undertone." I am so glad the dragon's blood is behaving itself. Every other blend with that in it that I've tried has turned to nasty rotting fruit. I really couldn't be more surprised with how this one turned out. I bought it on impulse, realize that dragon's blood and chocolate were in it and it would probably be horrible, but... somehow it works. Fantastic.

Holy crap, Love and Pain. I just got it in the mail yesterday and it is totally amazing even though the lavender still does its magical disappearing act that lavender usually does on me. Love and Pain is just so good that I bought a perfume fixative as soon as I realized how soon it wears off on me just so I can wear it...

Wet: Whoa, lavender. That's all I smell initially. It's crisp, fresh lavender plucked straight off the plant. I think I need to make some lavender tea now, because I just got a powerful craving. Drying: I'm starting to get the other notes. I get an almost TKO vibe from the lavender and vanilla, but the other notes are holding it in check. This is good, because I found TKO sickeningly sweet. There's something else herbal in here besides the lavender - maybe the golden copaifera, whatever that is - and I'm getting more of the idea of black musk than I'm getting black musk itself. There is something dark about this blend. I haven't noticed the tobacco. Dry: This is the only one of my impulse Salons that I've decided immediately is a keeper. It is a dark, solemn lavender, and the lavender hangs on more than 10 minutes. I am very pleased! Edit: Okay, it hangs on more than 10 minutes... but less than 40. It's gone. There's just that dusty after-thought of lavender left. I am very disappointed because this was beautiful. I have GOT to find a way to make lavender stick around.