calivianya

I don't remember when I received this bottle. Maybe it was two or three weeks ago, maybe a little further back... but two or three weeks has already changed this so much it's almost unrecognizable in a very good way. When I first got it, I got mostly sharp lavender with a little bit of sweetness on the dry down, but not much. Now, wet on my skin, this is an intense blast of well-balanced lavender and cheesecake. The dry down is pure rich, sweet cheesecake with slight flavors of honey and lavender. I'm not usually a fan of foodie scents, but holy crap! The lavender balances out the richness of the cheesecake/honey combo enough that I find it wearable. I am really pleased I have a bottle.

I love how different everyone's perceptions of scents are. I would love to find something else similar to Black Opal, but there is absolutely nothing similar about Black Opal and Tree of Life on my skin, and Black Lace is heavy and dark while Black Opal is light and cold. They're not even remotely close. I guess there's nothing for it. I'm glad I have a bottle of Black Opal and I'm just going to have to treasure it.

I had somewhat good hopes for this one. Wet: I'm definitely getting some lavender, but also some spice? And soap? Something in this is turning to spicy lavender soap... I think the lemon is contributing to the soap effect, and maybe the sandalwood/laudanum for the spice. Dry: This went even soapier. Now it's not even spicy lavender soap, it's soapy soap soap, almost like unscented soap or body wash. I'm scratching my head in confusion right now.

Wet: I'm definitely getting dry cypress and moss. I'm not sure what oude smells like, but I know I'm not getting any frankincense or hazelnut at this point. Dry: I'm finding this to be cloying. This was a re-test, as I was on the fence the first time, but I think this is a definite no. It's very interesting, it's just not something I'll wear.

I received this as a frimp from the lab, but I can't do dragon's blood at all so I'm just giving you my impressions from the imp. Yep, dragon's blood and sharp musk. The oil itself is a very red-orange. I got some of it on my thumb while opening the imp so I'm having a fairly unpleasant dragon's blood related experience at the moment...

Dragon's blood and cinnamon are both death notes on my skin, and vetiver is also a death note about 75% of the time, so I just smelled this in the imp. I can DEFINITELY smell dragon's blood and vetiver, which just turned my stomach a bit. This is not going on my skin.

I think #Occupy is a little too much patchouli for me. I just re-tested after rolling the bottle again just to be sure, but the vanilla and cocoa never come out on my skin, and even the tobacco is barely there. I've let this set for a few days before trying it, so it's not that it's fresh out of the mailbox... it's just too much patchouli for me from start to finish. Oh well, I'm sure plenty of other people will love it.

I've had that happen a couple of times before. I've never had an order delayed or anything. I don't really know what that's all about, but it's always turned out alright for me in the end.

Wet on my skin: The lettuce is the note that hits my nose first, which I find mildly amusing for some strange reason. The oakmoss and lilac are not far behind. Five minutes: Oooh, the white chocolate and coconut have come out and sweetened this tremendously. This is so unusual to my nose! Foody white chocolate, coconut, lettuce, moss, floral... but nothing is coming out on top. It's just an interesting mix of notes. Drydown: Ethereal is indeed the term for this. The orris and violet leaf are here at this point, and everything is blending together to form something high pitched, green, and elusive. What an evocative blend! I really like it, but I don't know if I'll ever use more than my decant. It's a great scent, but it's not something I'll wear often at all.

I have wanted to try this for a while; I'm glad it came back this year! 2011 version: Wet on my skin: Whoa, patchouli explosion! I can smell the fir clearly as well, and something is sweetening this up a bit - the apple, I'm guessing. It's too faint to make a positive ID. 5 minutes: I'm picking up the clove now as well. This is a very dark, heavy scent. Drydown: Yep, this stays heavy and near-overpowering. I don't smell an apple pie or pumpkins at the edge of a forest. I smell being in the middle of the forest, where maybe someone dropped a crumb of apple pie three days ago. I was really hoping for this to be more balanced, but it is almost chiefly patchouli and fir on me, with hints of spices. I think I'm going to keep my decant and try it again in a few months. I feel like this has the potential to be great, but it's just not happening yet.

Wet: Autumn Cider is, well, apple cider. This goes on like an extremely sweet cider - definitely sweeter-smelling than the ones I drink. Five minutes: The apple has already receded to the background, as apple tends to do on my skin, and the spices have taken over. It smells a little like potpourri right now. I'm hoping that changes. Drydown: This blend is incredibly cinnamon-heavy at this point, with hints of other spices. What it really smells like are the scented pine cones they sell in grocery stores at this time of year. I like the smell, but it would definitely be a better room smell than a perfume smell, IMO.

Wet on my skin: Pumpkin Princess is definitely aptly named! I am getting a huge burst of very sweet pumpkin with something high and sweet... the tiare? Five minutes: No change, actually. Drydown: I think I must amp pumpkin. I was hoping the pumpkin would back off a bit and I'd have a slight pumpkin scent with more focus on the vanilla fluff, amber, etc., but pumpkin is still the dominant note on my skin. I wish I was getting the honey/vanilla musk others are getting. This is definitely too pumpkin-y for me.

In the imp: Sweet, honeyed florals. I'm hoping I get less florals and more dark notes on my skin... Wet on skin: Floral explosion! I immediately smell the magnolia, ylang ylang, and nothing else. The patchouli shows itself within one minute of application. And whoosh! The florals are gone right away. I'm getting the patchouli, honey/beeswax, and vanilla right now. This almost smells a little plasticky, but is just shy of being full blown plastic. 5 minutes: Some weird trick is being played on my nose right now. This almost smells like some kind of dried-up brownie. I think the brown musk, patchouli, honey, and vanilla are combining to make a strangely dry/foody scent on my skin. I am fairly intrigued at this point. Drydown: This is like Banshee Beat plus wood and plastic. I'm really not sure where the plastic note is coming from - maybe the kurundu or magnolia doesn't agree with my skin chemistry? It's a shame - I was expecting that this might be awesome, and it's just sort of bland on my skin. If I were to go for something in this family, I would definitely pick Banshee Beat first.

I am very excited to finally try this one out! Wet on my skin, I am getting the fruits and lavender. The combination reminds me strongly of a chemical smelling fruit candy. I start to get some jasmine almost immediately. I was hoping this wouldn't happen, or if it did, that the jasmine would play nice... so far it isn't. Wow, this does not smell good on me right now. I think I'm going to have to echo Dark Alice on the kitty litter. It is a really uncanny imitation - the jasmine smells pee-ish, and the lavender is astringent like the litter itself. Weird. o.0 You know, I think I'm just going to stop here. I don't really keep scents unless I like all stages of the scent, so I can already tell that this is not going to be a keeper. I was hoping for something like Tattered Lace since that's a favorite, but this is just epic fail on my skin.

This one's a bit of a reach for me - violet and aquatics tend to kill a blend for me, but I'm still looking for a blend where they work well, and I think this may be it. In the imp: Sharp aquatic, with something herbal in the background. Wet on my skin: Still aquatic and herbal, but mellowing out a bit. Within a minute of putting this on my skin, it sweetens - likely due to the dried fruits and opoponax. There is something bitter in the background, grounding this and preventing it from being truly sweet, maybe a combination of the moss and sage? I'm not exactly sure. This is a little too overpowering and in my face at the moment. We'll see if it mellows. 5 minutes: I can definitely smell the violet now, and this fragrance has not yet turned to soap. I'm impressed thus far. At the moment, it is indeed very green smelling. The deeper, darker notes have receded to the background a bit and I'm left with the aquatic, green violet. Very interesting! Drydown: This has calmed down a lot from that initial stage. I'm still getting the perfumey violet and aquatics, but not really much else. It smells more complex than that, so the other notes are likely still in the background, but they are very faint. Surprisingly, I like this, even though the notes that I had hoped would take the forefront are missing. Huh. I'm not sure this is bottle worthy, but I am glad I got a decant. It's interesting.

There is something I really don't like in this scent. I loved the initial sniff from the vial - very buttery pumpkin, and hint of coffee, and some spices. However, the spices take over a bit when this hits my skin, and the cinnamon is downright unpleasant and in my face. This makes me really sad, I wanted to love this perfume.

Boo really is a toothache in a vial. The cotton is the main note on my skin, followed by the cream and the sugar. It smells clean and sweet. It's very uncomplicated. However, I like my perfumes to be a little more complex than this. I may or may not keep my decant.

Wow - this is straight cinnamon sugar. It's not cinnamon sugar you buy in the store, though - this cinnamon is so fiery that you would have had to make it yourself, grinding the cinnamon as you go and smelling the freshly ground cinnamon in the air. I am not a fan of cinnamon in perfumes, especially when the perfumes are so intensely foody. I just smell like I fell into a baking experiment, and I am not a fan of it.

I'm definitely going to echo the similarities to the Arabian Dance. It is extremely similar. However, the carnation in this one adds a floral note that I'm not sure I'm crazy about. I think I prefer The Arabian Dance, which I already have a bottle of, so I won't be keeping my decant.

I had very high hopes for this one. I expected it to be the winner of the apples, and maybe one of my very favorites of all the Weenies. Wet on my skin: Wow, this is off-putting and rather surprising. The apple is extremely strong, almost candied, with those darker notes in the background... on my skin, it doesn't blend in an appealing way. It almost reminds me of the sickly dark bubblegum smell of Black Lotus, except this isn't quite so vile. I put quite a bit on, and I'm about to be knocked out by it. This oil is strong on my skin. After about five minutes, the sweetness of the apple calms down - much to my delight. Now I can see where other reviewers are going with the "dry apple" smell - I can smell the apple, but I am also getting woods (cypress is a note I haven't learned to distinguish yet) and resins. I am quite liking this now. I'm glad I didn't wash it off immediately, like I was thinking about doing. After about ten minutes, the black musk starts to go feral on me in a bad way, as it can sometimes do. That resins/wood/apples smell has been joined by a sharp dark sweaty smell. This is unfortunate. I guess this is one of the black musk blends that just doesn't work for me.

Heirloom Malus, ylang ylang, white and blue musks, crystallized vanilla, tiare, frangipani, and bergamot. When this is wet on my skin, I get a very crisp apple, and not really much else. This is extremely faint on me. I slathered it on my wrist, and I'm not getting much out of it. After a minute or so, I can definitely pick out the ylang ylang, and the bergamot is present but faint. The vanilla makes an appearance as well. I'm not sure about the rest of the notes. After five minutes, I'm having to practically put my wrist into my nose to smell this. This does not bode well for the longevity of this perfume on my skin. After 10 minutes, it's all but gone. I'm getting a very faint hint of bergamot, ylang ylang, vanilla, and apple. My skin totally ate this by the fifteen minute mark. It's not the fastest disappearing BPAL on my skin (that honor goes to Nothing Gold Can Stay), but it's not worth keeping, although it is beautiful. I already have a couple of scent locket-only smells that I barely wear at all.

La Calavera Catrina was an impulse buy for me, and I'm glad I made that leap. I get mostly warm, bright, yellow flowers - the chrysanthemums and marigolds, I suppose. These are not old lady flowers; they have a lot of energy. I can also smell the leaves note very clearly. It is a very similar leaves note to the one in Sonnet d'Automne, but this is more bright and crisp while Sonnet is sweeter and more subdued. I think I'm picking up hints of rose on the drydown, but this scent never becomes super sweet on me. It's very different, and I like it.

This almost smells vaguely aquatic to me, too, at first. The white musk almost smells watery, like the sharp wet air around a lake in cold weather. Usually, this kind of smell turns to dryer sheets on me, but it is staying true. The leaves come out almost right away, and are bitter and dry. I don't think I've ever smelled such a good dry leaves scent before. It sweetens up a bit after about 15 minutes, but it is still primarily dead leaves and white musk with a hint of amber in the background. I can't really pick out the cocoa at all. This blend is good, and I'm really enjoying it.

I had really high hopes for this one, but I think they may have just been dashed. I wasn't sure if the blood was dragon's blood resin or not, so I decided to give it a try based on awesome Will-Call reviews. Unfortunately, I think this is dragon's blood. Almost immediately on my skin, this smells dusty and almost sickly sweet. The dragon's blood seems to be holding back a bit, which is promising. If it disappears, or the other notes start to amp more, I may be able to tolerate this one. After about 10 minutes, it's not getting any better. In fact, this is almost making me a little nauseated. I wish this had worked on me. I think it could have been totally amazing if only something else was used for blood instead of dragon's blood. It is my arch-nemesis.

In the Swaps section, there is a forum called Decant Circles and Group Orders. Most decant circles are posted right after an update, and it can be very hard to find spots in bottles that you want if you don't jump on them right away. Good luck finding what you want!