calivianya

Gennivre is almost astringent lemon cleaner in the imp, so I was hesitant about putting it on my skin. I'm glad I did, though. The tea blooms almost immediately upon application, and the mint adds a cold feeling to this scent. The lemongrass, unfortunately, is fairly strong, but I find that it doesn't make this scent an automatic no. Imagine, a lemongrass blend that's wearable! I start to smell the orange blossom after a few minutes, and orange blossom really is not a favorite note. It brings this blend back into the somewhat astringent category for me, which is a shame.

This is very resiny and especially heavy on the frankincense. Frankincense is usually a wonderful note on my skin, but something about this blend is going vaguely cleaning fluid-ish on my skin. I'm wondering if one of the deep purple fruits might be pomegranate, because that usually goes wonky on my skin. Oh well, I'm very glad I got to try it.

I'm not sure what exactly is going wrong with this scent on my skin, but I am very displeased. I keep waiting for Tombeur to morph into something lovely and seductive, but what I've gotten from the minute I put it on until now is the faintest hint of Snake Oil under a weird chemical baby powder smell. I really can't pinpoint the source. I am not familiar with blood musk, so that may be the problem, but I think it's more likely that a combination of the almonds, lavender, vetiver, and blood musk contributed to this disaster. I did just get it in the mail today, so I'm hoping that this is a fluke and Tombeur will be much more agreeable on my skin after resting some. I will update after a re-testing.

Ooooh, this is good. It's a lovely red wine blend with rose - it initially reminds me a bit of Lilith, though a Lilith without the aggressive black musk and more fruit. I'd say this is Lilith's tamer sister. This is a good thing, because Lilith is one of my absolute favorites, but it can be a little too aggressive sometimes. I don't usually get a fruity note from BPAL's wine blends, and I don't think it's the wine making this one fruity, more like the plum and cherry. It also smells drier than Lilith, which comes from the incense making itself known on the drydown. I agree with the reviewer who said that this gets smoky as it dries down, and it does. It becomes more dissimilar from Lilith and more complicated. I get no blood whatsoever from this blend. It's just a lovely, dark, complicated wine scent. Very BURGUNDY. Very sexy. Okay, I did a deathmatch with Lilith, and I've decided this is too grapey and not as awesome as Lilith. Not a keeper.

For the Huldra, I'd suggest Vixen from Ars Amatoria - "Lascivious, flirtatious, and vampy as hell. A true heartbreaker's perfume. The innocence of orange blossom tainted by the beguiling scents of ginger and patchouli." Patchouli is such an earthy smell that it makes this blend very outdoorsy to me, and the ginger adds a spice to the sweetness of the orange blossom. For something more foresty than earthy but still sexy, I'd recommend Bohun Upas from Rappaccini's Garden - "A deceptively tranquil scent: heady fruits, dry bark, and deep green leaves, enveloped by a dark and sinister murk." The fruits are definitely present, but the "dark and sinister murk" makes this scent a lot more than just a fruity scent. If you can get ahold of some Banshee Beat, which was sold through Urban Outfitters but is now sold out, that might be a good fit, too - "A tousled, sexy mix of patchouli, vanilla, and hemp." This can be a little bit hard to find as it's a favorite of a lot of people, but you still see it pop up in sales and swaps. Coyote from Excolo immediately comes to mind for the Forest Troll - "The warmth of doeskin, dry plains grasses and soft, dusty woods warmed by amber and a downy, gentle coat of deep musk." I get more grass than woods from this, but it just smells wild to me. And I'm out of ideas.

Wet, Tree of Life is all about the clary sage and mandarin. The matcha comes out fairly quickly, as does the tonka which lends a slight vanilla smell to the blend. The woods come out much later, and round it off. This dries down to a very evocative blend. It does smell a lot like a tree, but it encompasses the entire tree from the wood of the trunk to the green leaves to the sweet fruit growing off the branches. I like this blend a lot more than I thought I wood. I'm glad I received my decant in a bottle, so I can search out decants to fill mine up. It's lovely. I would also like to add that this is nothing like Atlas on my skin. If Atlas didn't work for you like it didn't work for me, don't be afraid of the comparisons. This blend can still work on you, and work beautifully.

I smell the lime, clove, and wood right away when this is applied to my skin. I was half expecting this to smell somewhat dark like Black Death, but this is a surprisingly light scent. I start smelling the leather a few minutes later. On the drydown, this blend is a gorgous vanilla tea lime leather scent. This is pretty subtle and unassuming. It might even be a great scent to wear to work at a place that doesn't allow perfume. It has almost no throw on my skin, but it's definitely worth raising my wrist to sniff. I kind of expected a scent like El Nuevo Puritano to be more in your face and aggressive, but this is more like your average Puritan going about his daily routine than a Puritan on the pulpit stirring up the masses on me. That being said, I like it - but I have blends I like better in all the categories I put this one in, so I'm iffy about buying a bottle.

I sometimes love patchouli, and sometimes don't. I think this may be more of a case of a don't than a do. This scent is very strongly patchouli in the opening, with nothing else immediately present to temper it. It starts to smell warmer a few minutes in, which is likely the cinnamon and tobacco. On the drydown, the cinnamon and tobacco disappear on my skin, leaving just the patchouli. I never do get any of the cacao or bourbon vanilla, both of which I was looking forward to. This blend is overall just a little too dirty for me, with none of the sweeteners I need to really make patchouli work.

I wasn't sure if I'd like this blend because cinnamon usually makes a blend unwearable with its fierceness and saffron was the funky note in Celeste, I'm sure... but this is totally gorgeous. The cinnamon does not take over the blend; it is very subtle and mixes with the resins to just make this a somewhat spicy blend. I agree with the previous reviewer who said that this smells golden. It is mostly resins to my nose, and the cinnamon just makes it a little warm and the mandarin makes it a little "wet" smelling. It's not detectable to my nose except as a sort of coolness against the warmth of the cinnamon and resins. Either way, this is a very lovely blend and I might just get a bottle of it before it comes down.

Lyonesse is an extremely soft scent. Ethereal really is the perfect word for this. I can smell mostly white musk, amber, and lily strongest right away. The vanilla and ambergris come out after about 10 minutes, and stay in the forefront from then on. It stays fairly light, but I found it lighter upon first application and liked that initial impression a little more than the drydown. Ambergris definitely makes its presence known and I am not a huge fan of it. Edit: I just noticed that my nose is also completely stopped up when it had not been earlier... I'm definitely swapping my imp now that I know something in it clogs me up.

I'm surprised no one's talked about Western Diamondback here. It is very sage on me, with that intoxicating Snake Oil scent underneath. It's just gorgeous if you like your sage with a lot of sexy.

The Velvets starts out surprisingly high-pitched on me considering the woods, incense, and musk. I pick up the florals right away. The florals tame down after about five minutes, and allow the woods, incense, and musk to peek through. Oddly, as it dries down further, it just starts smelling like a plasticky wood. The violet leaf may be the culprit as that doesn't always play nice on my skin.

In the imp, this reminds me strongly of Nothing Gold Can Stay. It has the same sort of freshly cut, juicy plant feel. It stays very similar to Nothing Gold Can Stay immediately on my skin, but starts to go in a slightly more floral direction as the lilac comes out. This is gorgeous! It is not the kind of scent I typically wear, but I might just have to make an exception because this is so lovely.

Fetish.Goth is a very dark blend on my skin, probably the darkest blend I own. It is mostly leather with spicy resins, though I can still detect the skin musk. I can't identify the latex note; either it is very mild or it's just backing up the scent. It is also one of the strongest blends I own. I put a drop on my arm from the top of the cap, and I have a huge cloud of it wafting around me. This is a blend that I need to be very careful with, lest I overpower myself and anyone who comes within 10 feet. I LOVE this blend. It is an instant favorite, and I'm so glad I swallowed down my screaming conscience and dropped the money I did for it. It is just that good. I see myself getting a lot of wear out of it on special occasions with the boyfriend as it just screams sexy to me.

Well, we certainly are an interesting group of people. I love how the longest scent lists per character are for Bellatrix Lestrange, Luna Lovegood, and Severus Snape. Shows what we care about. *makes a note to try out all the Snape recommendations ASAP*

I received Elegba as a frimp with an order. In the imp Elegba smells like Perversion. Wet on my skin, the sugared rum and coconut are fighting for dominance with the tobacco lurking in the background. As it dries, I get more and more coconut - the coconut clearly wins the battle, with the rum still present but weaker. Overall, this is a little too sweet on the coconut for me. I like sweet smells, but sweet coconut is not a smell I love. Of the two, I prefer Perversion, as that one is slightly more grounded.

The pearl of the Italian Renaissance. Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices. Wet, Florence is all iris. The berries come out after a few minutes, and I start to get some of the amber, which is mostly keeping to itself in the background. I get the spices on the drydown, though the iris, amber, and berries are still going strong. Florence is pretty, but a little too floral for my tastes.

Magus is a solid dry resin blend on my skin. The dryness is very pronounced, likely due to the sandalwood. It is reminiscent of An Altar to Cold, Rigid, Dreadful Death on my skin, though I like Altar better. It is nice, but I am not blown away.

Wet on my skin, the orange blossom honey is the main note. After 10 minutes, I can still only smell the orange blossom honey. Honey/beeswax tend to amp on my skin like no one's business and bury the other notes. At this point I'm not sure I'll smell the others at all. On the far drydown, the scent does change slightly - it smells now like plasticy orange blossom honey. It's not an improvement.

Io is a lot stronger than I expected. Right after I put it on my arm, though I am testing five scents Io is the only one I can smell. I just smell the berries when wet. The red musk comes out a bit as it dries, and it stays a berries and red musk combo. Even through the far drydown this scent does not morph any more. Very pretty, and berry lovers should at least pick up a decant.

I get a fresh lime with a slight hint of plum when this is wet. It's getting a slightly sour edge to it as it dries, possibly from the castoreum accord as that never does well on my skin. This dries down fully to a rich lime/plum smell, very perfumey and slightly sour. It's not for me.

I got a decant of this instead of a bottle because I was afraid of the verbena. Wet on my skin, the verbena is all I get. As it dries down, I get a hint of the sandalwood and beeswax. The verbena is still drowning everything else out. On the far drydown, I still get mainly verbena. I'm a little sad that this didn't work out for me; all of the other notes were perfect.

Wet, Atlas is a creamy coffee with a hint of woods in the background. As it dries, the mallow comes out, making it sweeter and fluffier. It does smell slightly dusty on my skin, but it is not overpoweringly dusty. On the far drydown, the mallow has left this almost sickeningly sweet. I like sweet scents, but the extreme sweetness of mallow is a little too much for me.

My first thought is that this scent is very usual. I get the cocoa and red musk, which I'm used to smelling in sweeter perfumes, and instead I get them paired with green-smelling herbs and a faint pinch of mandarin. It's like the scent is sweet, but not sweet enough. It can't decide which it wants to be, and it is a little off-putting. The different notes do not harmonize well at all, at least not with my skin chemistry.

I received this as a frimp from the Lab. Jazz Funeral is all booze immediately upon touching my skin. I've never been good at differentiating kinds, as I really only drink tequila and vodka, so I'll just leave it at sweet booze. As it dries down, I can smell the dirt as well. Jazz Funeral is giving me the impression of a freshly dug grave that someone poured booze on in remembrance of the departed spirit. I start to get sweet florals on the drydown as well - definitely magnolia. This scent is very evocative of its inspiration. Dirt and floral scents aren't really my thing, but this would be gorgeous on someone who loves them.