DarkMouse

It really has an outdoors in the woods with ivy sort of scent in the imp.. but it isn’t nearly as dark as I expected. My skin is amping a green, almost citrus, soapy scent which is actually really nice.. though completely unexpected from something with ‘burnt” in the description. I like it, and I'll wear it.. I just wish it was a little darker.

The Hessian of the Hollow started out really well on my skin - masculine, smoky, musty (like my beloved Kathmandu) but with a tinge of metal & blood- but sadly it ended up with something that I can only call "BPAL men's cologne smell" because I smell it a lot in the more masculine toned scents like Wilde & Dorian. Unfortunately, this one really isn't for me but I'm thinking it might work on my hubby.

In the Bottle: a little chocolatey, a little smokey, a bit of booze.. this could be good. On my Skin: Ooh.. cocoa and smoke. I really like ---- hey.. where are you going? No.. don't leave pretty chocolate smell... please... Oh hello, who are you? Thuggish Musk and your friend Booze, come to.. beat me over the head and steal my purse?? That's not very nice.. Great. Now I'm covered in weird baby soap smell.. Damn you Lab musk and your hatred of my body chemistry... damn you!! Verdict: sadly.. it has to go. The other odd thing about this scent is a back note that I can't help but think smells like the glycerine concoction of "bubble liquid" that you use to make soap bubbles.

I use the applicator inside the imp vials for all of my scents. When I get a new bottle I just decant about half an imp's worth and use that until its gone, then just refill. I like imps because I can carry them around, leave them on my desk.. etc without having to worry about ruining or contaminating my entire bottles. This and I'm a clutz.. so I always worry about spilling an entire 5ml while applying.

Sugar Skull was calling my name with all of the reviews of "maple syrup" and butter rum.. unfortunately it really doesn't seem to like me. I couldnt' put my finger on what it smelled like when my bottle arrived.. so I shoved it under my husbands nose. He said "eeewww.. it smells like Port Wine.. get it away!!!" -- my bottle is so boozy that it almost upsets my stomach. I don't get much sugar sweetness at all when its on my skin.. but for some reason I find myself wearing it even though I'm not fond of it. I'm glad I didn't buy two bottles, but I'm keeping my one - especially because the label is so gorgeous!!

I really love the smell of buttered popcorn and so does my little boy.. so I snagged an imp of Shill in a trade for us to try. Butter is NOT my friend. I learned it with Jack and should have known better with Shill.. it smells like rancid butter on my skin. :: shivers:: yuck.

In the imp: boozy, almost musty with a hint of mint On my skin: mens cologne and sawdust. I can't figure this one out at all.. my skin loves mint and boozey scents, but this just disappears into something unsettling. verdict: swaps - my skin hates it.

In the bottle: cinnamon, ginger and pepper -- this stuff is STRONG! Its actually almost too strong for me to put my nose into again. On my skin: Cinnamon & hot, hot pepper. I was hoping that this would smell like Chai on me and I'd want to bathe in it... think again. My wonderful chemistry decided to do a whammy on me since I opted to buy a bottle of Bengal un-sniffed. My skin amps up the pepper part of the blend enough to make my head feel like its caught in a vice that is slowly being tightened. The honey part of the blend is beautiful.. its almost like a spiced version of "O" - but it doesn't last enough on me.. it goes right to almost a powder scent (the musk.. lab musks go powdery and lab ambers go soapy on me) just as I'm getting the "Chai with honey" scent others raved about. Verdict: I'm thinking of layering it with O to bring out the sweetness and keep the pepper in check but I'm starting to learn that me and cinnamon scents don't actually get along. While I love them in my house, its a different story on my skin. Edited to add: both my husband and MIL said that this smells like spicy baby powder on me. WHAAAAAH!

Dragons Blood from the lab is too sweet for me.. even if its dried down with orris & sandalwood. This smells sort of like Cathedral only with a sticky sweet top note.. a Cathedral filled with wedding flowers maybe. Again.. not for me, since I'm not a floral girl.

2004 version I can't even tell you what I'm smelling straight off.. but I really don't like it. It has too much of a floral top note for me and there is something 'biting' in the background. I do smell something like candy or chocolates in the very back.. but I'm unsure if that's the Velvet I was wearing earlier today. This really gives me a headache.. its going to the swap pile. I'm glad though that I didn't make a mistake when not ordering this years version. Too bad it doesn't like me, because the name is so cool. (after reading other reviews.. I think the nasty scent I was smelling is jasmine - which hates me and gives me a headache)

I love it more in the bottle than on my skin.. the damn flowers are reeking havok again. I'd love to know where the apples & cinnamon scent I get in the imp goes when it gets on my skin because right now this smells like some disgusting perfume I bought when I was a teenager. I wish to Dog that this scent would stop beating me over the head with the weird 'synthetic apple' note.. its getting annoying. "Seven dry woods with mossy lichen and a gentle breeze of forest flowers"- why am I being tormented by apples?? Damn my crappy body chemistry.. damn it all.. .I'm hoping that in trying it again later it gets better. Worse to worse its a candidate for being turned into a perfume spray or a lotion... maybe my chemistry won't mess with it if it has been diluted.

In the Bottle: Its Earl Gray Tea! Yummy.. It smells just like I opened a teabag of Bigelow Earl Gray and was about to put it into my teacup. On my skin: Earl Gray tea - mainly the bergamot part of the tea.. and leather.. Not new car smell, but DeSade leather. This is sooooo good! (and sexy too!) OK -this is definitely a "Big Bottle" scent. Wow.. I haven't been this taken with a catalog scent since Scherezade and Absinthe (Come to think of it.. those are the only two catalog scents I currently have an obsession with) Verdict: if you love the smell of Earl Gray and leather.. this should be your next purchase/hunt. its AMAZING. YUM!!

In the bottle:cocoa bean, fruit.. and honey. on my skin: Sweet sticky honey, like O is famous for... and a fruit.. I think it is supposed to be figs or pomegranates ( though I don't have the lab description written down for this) I was hoping it was going to be chocolate on my skin, but its got a mind all its own. Right at the start this could be Blood Kiss - then it turns into something similar to 13.. and I smell cherries somewhere in the background for no reason. Verdict: Its ok.. but I like Blood Kiss better... (after about 2 hours this morphed and smelled like something rotted.. I had to wash it off)

This is an ozone/ aquatic scent almost akin to Jolly Roger - with a hint of soapiness in the background ( thats the lab's amber going sideways on me again- why Beths amber hates me so, I'll never understand.) There's a definite "perfumey" quality to this .. but its an extremely upscale perfume, so no disrespect to the lab there.. Its what a really good perfume should smell like. I do get the "crystal" sensation and the idea of something shiny (like .. duh.. mirrors) . I like this.. but I don't think it'll get much wear.

The King of Pain, the Famed Fakir. Frankincense and sweet clove, mandarin and bourbon, lemon peel and leather, grasses and smoke, lime and vetiver, ambergris and deep musk. whoah- leather, incense & spices.. its very sexy and masculine, though this one does work on a woman ( at least it works on me, but I've got weird chemistry) There is musk in this.. and unfortunately its looking like it could be the kind that makes Anne Bonny smell like dirty gym socks on me. I have to say that "The Famed Fakir" smells sorta sexy and dangerous - I just 'tortured' my husband into trying this on his arm.. cuz it isn't doing the trick on me. verdict: smelled way better on hubby than it did on me.. but he says he's not interested in an LE blend and will stick with his beloved DeSade.