jewelbug

Bottle: Slightly sweet pale musk. Hints of smooth tea, fruits and just the slightest touch of mint. I do get the aftershave/masculine vibe from this, but it manages to smell so clean that I really think its gender neutral. Wet: First on, this is strong mandarin and musk. As it dries, a smooth expensive tea with the barest wisp of currant comes out. This is very clean, sophisticated and posh. Dry: The mandarin fades quite a bit and this becomes a sophisticated clean tea smell. Its accented by a creamy lavender, and an all but undetectable hint of mint. There are just bits of currant and the mandarin sweetening the blend, but not smelling particularly fruity. For the long-haul, it settles into a slightly sweet tea with a sparkle of white musk. It lasts 4-5 hours, which is pretty good considering how quickly tea scents usually fade on me. Overall: This is gender neutral but is perhaps not something I could pull off. I can see how people compare this to dorian, but Usher is more subdued and more tea-like. Dorian is sweet lemony vanilla on me, which I prefer just a bit more than this, though I have yet to compare directly. Usher is absolutely beautiful, but maybe not something I need to add to my collection. I’ll have to revisit it and make a decision after some careful deliberation. It was super sexy on hubby, but only lasted about 2 hours.

Imp: The very first second of sniffing, this is a sweet floral, and then it’s all dark, moist earth. I love how Beth does that! Her earth scents intrigue me. Wet: A sweet, clean floral, and then soil—roots and all. I can practically feel the small bits of gravel, the loamy earth, and the stringy pale roots of nearby trees. And while it smells of dirt and wet darkness, it’s quixotically clean-smelling—like freshly broken tree branches. There is a sweetness to it like old magnolia/honeysuckle perfume (Disclaimer: I suck at identifying florals—this is to say like an aged perfume of a southern belle). Dry: This stays mostly true to the wet phase, but the later in the drydown the earthier notes fade to a midnote so that the sweet clean floral smell is more prominent. At this stage, it’s light and pretty, rather than dark and gorgeous. Still a wonderfully natural smell, like a walk in the woods when the blooms are fresh. Lasts 8+ hrs with good throw. Overall: I’m enamored with this one. Beth’s soil blends leave me in awe. I will have to compare this to some other earth blends I have, but I think there is a good chance that I’ll be getting a bottle of this.

I'll preface this with the fact that roses and I don't usually get along--they usually go soapy and powdery on me. Imp: Very strong rose with a strange dirty chocolatey/yeasty smell in the back. Not really chocolate….but….brown. Dirty and brown. This is not at all what I expected, and I can’t really pick out booze/cognac. Wet: Not much change from in the imp. Very odd. The “other” smell is kinda like overcooked vegetables, actually. And dirt. Dry: Mild rose, not soapy or powdery, a surprising thing for rose and my skin chem. The hint of oddness stays around, but becomes less disturbing, less pronounced with time. This one doesn’t have very good throw on me, but lasts faintly for 7-8 hrs. Overall: This isn’t what I was expecting at all. I don’t know what that odd dirty overcooked vegetable smell was—cognac? I’m glad I got to try this precious imp, but thankfully I’m not heartbroken that I can’t get more.

Imp: VERY chocolatey. In the imp I can smell little else. Wet: 1030: Chocolate and dragons blood—the DB on me is a thick cough-syrupy cherry, though not as unpleasant as that sounds. This is dark and syrupy and sweet, though not really foody—something balances that aspect of it. I can’t really smell the spices. Drying: The chocolate becomes much less prominent, and my skin amps the DB so that it overpowers the other notes. Its 3.5 parts DB and 0.5 part cocoa, with ever so slightly a hint of what I think is a musky vetiver. After 30 mins or so, the cocoa fades even more, and there is a strengthening of the musk and vetiver, which combine with the DB to give an insence-y feel to this blend. It goes a little powdery, as well. Overall: This is not at all what I was expecting--I thought it would be my favorite maelstrom, but I actually don't think i'll be getting a bottle of this. I was hoping for cocoa and spice, and I ended up getting mostly dragons blood and incense. Silly skin chem. At least I have a suitably freakish icon for this blend! Staying power(7-9 hrs) and throw are great, though.

Imp: Honeyed spicy floral. There are hints of resin and incense, but predominantly it’s a very sweet honey. Wet: A slightly powdery VERY strong honey. The honey seems to be slightly fermented to me—on its way to being mead. This is a very golden scent, and quite syrupy. Drying: As this dries, it remains sweet honey, but the spicy carnation seems to be coming out more, along with incenses. Unfortunately, the early dry down strikes me as old-world antiseptic—almost like formaldehyde. I don’t know what note is reacting to my skin like that, but that particular aspect makes me think of a doctor’s office. Later, that odd tinge calms and I get a honey tobacco incense blend, reminiscent of Gypsy Queen, though undeniably sweeter and less dry. Overall: I don’t like the disturbing tinge I get at the early dry of this (lasts about an hour). The later drydown is a now honeyed incense carnation tobacco, complex, sweet, dry and pretty. It reminds me of Gypsy Queen, and just as GQ was not for me, neither is the Masque.

Imp: Really sweet golden creamy incense. Kinda reminds me of the sweetness of myrrh. Wet: Wonderful woodsy, myrrh-laden incense. This isn’t smoky to me, like I feared, and its not a dry powdery incense like some others I’ve tried, more of a creamy damp thick incense. Very nice. Drying: The blend gets drier, a wee bit dustier, but its still not the dusty incense that I’m normally scared of. Its sweet and thick and powerful--heavy, almost syrupy. It is resinous, woodsy, golden, creamy and sweet. Like an old world cathedral, gilt, with sun shining through the stained glass—not one that sits idle, but one that is still active. This is very ritualistic, but to me it is good natured, rather than sinister. Overall: Perfect incense. Not too smoky, not too dry. Sweet like myrrh, and golden and inviting. Lasts well, and has moderate throw, and faded to a barely there skin scent by 7 hrs.

Bottle: Very dark green plant-y smell with underlying musks. Wet: This is very perfume-y, stronger on the musk and ambergris than in the bottle, with the plant-y smell much further underneath. Right now, I can’t help but think of a perfume my mom used to wear. While nostalgic, I don’t want to smell like my mom. Drying: Slightly sweet dusty musk. This is a hint powdery, like amber, and quite musky, though its not as overpoweringly so as I expected. Mostly, it’s a very dry smell. I don’t get much in the way of plant products and oranges during this stage. Dry: The plants come out more with further drying, and even hints of orange towards the end. The green is a strong bitter, chlorophillic green, though the overall effect of the blend is not bitter, just powerful. Primarily, though, this mellows into a slightly sweet musky/powdery perfume. Overall: I expected this to be a bit like smut, but its completely different to me. Its very gentle and pretty, and very dry, though not something I’d typically wear. I will give this time to age, but I don’t know that I will be keeping it. Lasts 6+ hours.

Imp: Very strong, sweet and heady jasmine. Jasmine and I do not get along, but I try everything once….. Wet: strong jasmine, but of the sweet sort, not yet of the cat-pee sort that jasmine so frequently goes on me. It’s a hint creamy. Dry: This is a pure jasmine on me. I don’t get the other notes, since my skin amps jasmine above all. This one doesn’t go cat-urine-y on my skin as many others do, but it still has an unpleasant tinge to my nose. The saving grace is that this jasmine is a touch creamy and spicy. I don’t like jasmines, but this is one of the better ones I’ve tried. Overall: My skin amps jasmine and does bad things with it, but this one is bearable, if a bit stifling. I don’t get the other notes, but I have jasmine-amping skin chem. As with all of Beth’s blends, I’m glad that I tried this. Its just not for me. Good staying power--lasts about 7 hrs.

Bottle: Deep Red/Purple fruity/berry wine. Its deep and sweet and boozy. Mmmmmmm….. Wet: On, this is dark and boozy. It almost has a hint of dusky chocolate to it, like a dark wine might. There is a very dark fruit to this, but its smooth, not a tannic wine, but round, creamy, chocolate-y and smooth. Drying: Some more perfumey notes come out for a bit, and there even seems to be a hint of caramel to this. A smooth deep woodsiness comes out under the fruity wine, but at this stage it is primarily a deep berry. Dry: This settles into sweet dark dusky wine, with vanilla chocolate and caramel undertones. I generally steer away from the strong berry blends, but this berry is one that I very much like—deep, woodsy, smooth, creamy and rounded wine. This lasts only 3-4 hours on me, though the first 2 hours have remarkable throw. Overall: I drink a fair share of wine, myself. But if my wine tasted like this smells, I’d drink even more. I’m contemplating getting another bottle. ETA: I thought this was gone, but I could actually get a faint fruity sweetness on my skin 9 hrs later. Very light, but undeniably still there as a faint skin scent. ETA2: Its June 18th 2007, so a bit over a year later, and when I put this on today, it amazed me how rounded and more oaken/vanillic this has become. I know I'm not typicaly a wine/berry scent fan, but I love this even MORE aged than I did when I first reviewed it. Its rich, sweet, and absolutely lovely. Mmmmm

I've been having a really rough couple of months--multiple eye surgeries (personal hell for anyone, but especially someone senstive about eye-touching), and big medical bills, and the stress of a new job and, well...you get the idea. The offshoot is that I get really easily stressed and depressed now (I'm normally such an upbeat person). That plus the scariness everytime i have to go into surgery again, and I'm really starting to need an extra boost. I was thinking that some of the voodoo blends would be perfect, but i just found out that I need another surgery this week, and I wouldn't be able to order them in time. Does anyone have catalog suggestions? Something to calm/give strength or courage/make me happier? (I have 100-some imps here, so its a good chance i'll have some of what's suggested) Thanks for the help!

Imp: This has a very similar feel to Freak Show to me, though they are quite different. I wonder if they share notes besides bergamot?? I also get some orange in the imp. Neroli, I guess. Wet: Sweet slightly creamy orange, with a biting perfumey floral underneath. Its sharp. From far away, I just keep thinking this is similar to freak show with some note. Drying: The orange fades suddenly, and there is a phase when the other florals hijack the blend—especially the rose and carnation. There is almost a distantly honeyed sweetness to this. Dry: Spicy floral (assume that’s the carnation). The rose in this is very understated, which is good, since it usually turns to soap on me. No musk is screaming out to me, and I don't really get anything smoky outta this. I still get that unidentifiable similarity to freak show... Overall: Lasted 3 hrs before bed, this strikes me as more of a skin scent than one with big throw. Mellows into slightly powdery floral, spicy from the carnation. No more orange, luckily not much rose (cuz that usually goes soapy on me). Its very pretty, very feminine. I can see how many people get incense from this, but to me it seems too light to be incense. Maybe the memory of incense, rather than the real deal. This is pretty, and I'm glad I tried it, but its really not a "me" scent.

Ah, i tried to answer this in the newb mixer, but I think it got lost in the recent flurry of activity. Here's my take:

Coconut turns to playdoh on me, with stronger coconut going more playdoh .....But I can use this to your advantage: In order of most coconut to least (your skin chem may vary): Elegba (Most) Perversion Red Lantern Black Pearl ( i could barely smell coconut in this, but it could be a weird skin chem thing)

Imp: Woodsy orange. And underneath--don't laugh. It's got a squash/tomato vine on the ground during the summer kinda smell. It smells like the gardening I did in my childhood. I have no idea which notes smell like that to me, but it does! Wet: Orange is predominant, supported by lavender with woods. What is surprising is that it's spicy smelling. Like pepper. This orange smells just a tad bit….overripe on me. Drying: Ooh, parchments! That's neat! Parchment and orange and lavender. Dry: This settles into woods, patchouli, and floral. The orange has left the building. Its going just a tiny bit baby powder on me, I think because I'm getting a LOT of patchouli out of this, too. This dries down (about 1.5 hrs later) into a very incensy blend, dominated by patchouli, with a hint of woods. The more delicate notes can't break through. Overall: Very cool, and I loved the orange and parchment bits. But my skin amped the patchouli above all else. It's not at all what I expected, but I'm glad I tried it. This was mostly faded by 4 hrs.

Imp: Very sweet floral, almost berry. On: Sweet, almost cloying floral. There really does seem to be a hint of berry to this, so much so that the blend reminds me of Florence. Unfortunately, this fades quite a bit in the first 20 mins, and doesn’t last much longer than 2-3 hrs. Overall: A very pretty sweet fruity floral, but not enough staying power on my skin. One for the swap pile, so some one else can love it.

Imp: Sweet, clean lilies. Wet: Sharp green lilies, stems and all. Sweet, clean, pretty, and actually a touch spicy (like the way carnations are spicy). As this dries it goes through a short soapy phase, but it doesn't last long. Dry: Clean spicy sweet floral. This is a total surprise. The first time I tried this, it went total soap, and now its got real character. It is just a little powdery, but it's quite lovely. By the 1 hr mark, this has faded to the same honey smell that I get with the late drydown of many other blends, and this faint honey lasts a few hours. Overall: This is pretty, but fades quickly into the honey that I can get from O (where I like it a bit better), so its gonna hit my swaps.

Imp: Red Juicy Pomegranate and slight rose. Very pretty. Wet: Very strong rose! Drying: Rose Soap. Overall: Poor pomegranate never had a chance. My skin amps rose too much. And then it turns it to soap.

Imp: Sweet, ominous jasmine (we don't get along) with a bit of medicinal spice. Wet: Lemon cleaner and cat urine. This is my skin chem at work with jasmine, and its never pretty... Middle school bathroom floor? Bourbon street the morning after? Just not good. Drying: Admittedly, this jasmine is not as bad as many of the jasmines I've had problems with. I CAN smell the honeysuckle trying to come through. And the spice. The lemon goes away when dry, so it doesn’t smell like cleaner anymore. The throw is amazing, Much to my chagrin, I find that many of the jasmine blends have wicked good throw… Overall: Yes, it's got some sweet honeysuckle, and is a better jasmine than some others I've tried. But, this is still predominantly jasmine. And even when jasmine is "good" on me, it usually reminds me enough of bad things that I opt out. Such is the case with New Orleans. I didn't leave this one on my skin for too long--about 30 min. Then I showered. It's just not for me.

Imp: Cedar at the forefront, violet lending bitterness, and a bit of black patchouli. There is the slightest touch of citrus in the imp. Wet: First on, its SPICE! The cardamom is most apparent when this hits my skin, supported and heated by the pepper. Underneath is a bitter violet and dark smoky wood. Drying: Cedar comes back to the front, but this is almost like a burnt cedar. Its matures to a bitter violets/vetiver, pepper and cedar mix. This is acrid to me. It's dark and sinister, but slightly sweet. I think hubby put it best when he said it smelled like "burning fairies". About an hour in there is a burnt rubber smell. No idea what's doing that, but clearly my skin chem is battling with one or more of the notes. After 2 more hours, the rubber loses, and this settles into a bitter violet/vetiver and cedar with accents of pepper and citrus. It’s a clean but earthy scent. At least it doesn’t smell like burnt rubber anymore. But this just isn't a scent for me. Overall: Kinda weak throw, lasts about 5 hrs. The final stage is nice--clean yet earthy. But the burning fairies to burning rubber transitions over the first 3 hrs just aren't for me.

Imp: In the imp it is all sweet wonderful tonka and coconut (though that's not a listed note). Maybe the barest hint of tobacco. Wet: Mmm, mostly gloriously sweet tonka/coconut with a bit of leather. Lovely. Drying: Uh, oh, I'm getting a playdoh/plasticyness out of this. That REALLY makes me think there is coconut in here, cuz this happened to me with red lantern and elegba, too. I'd hate to think there are more notes that go playdoh on me. All three share tobacco, too, so that could also be a culprit. I hope not! Underneath the plastic/play-doh, there is a spicy creamy smell. Also something smells like bay leaves, perhaps the Chardonnay-- it smells like a stale Chardonnay, though. I think. In the late dry-down it's an incense sweet tonka and a bit of leather. By this point there is no more plastic, but its very faint overall. Overall: Sigh…I hate when they go playdoh on me. I think this had great potential on someone with more agreeable skin chem. To the swaps with this one….

Imp: This is boozy grapey champagne. I can’t smell pear/plumeria in the imp. Wet: : This goes on very light. The champagne is much less now, and I smell a sharp plumeria (not sweet like I usually think it is) and pear. This is a crisp scent. Drying: The plumeria sweetens and gets less sharp and fumy. This is a sweet, white, fruity and crisp smell. Quite lovely, and good for spring/summer, I think. Dry: Thalia settles into a crisp/bubbly fruity sweet floral. The floral is more of an earthy note than I usually associate with plumeria--the result is a fruit/floral somewhere between the juiciness of Titania and the more earthy sweetness of Florence. Overall: Crisp/bubbly. As spring/summer approaches, I find myself loving these fruit/florals more and more! I love this. It's sweet and tart and juicy and sharp all at once. Very well balanced. Faded to barely there by 7 hrs. Throw is moderate.

Imp: This actually smells like clean grapefruit to me. Very tart citrus edge. Wet: A very aquatic citrus mix. Light and breezy. Drying: As it dries, its going it bit powder, as amber often does. Never fear, the powder dies down after its dry. Dry: A light citrusy aquatic. This smells very much like dept store perfume to me. Don't get me wrong, it's better than that, cuz it doesn't have the nasty alcohol. This is what those dept store perfumes WANT to be. Kinda sweet and clean. This has amazing throw, even though it’s a light scent. I keep getting whiffs of it from my keyboard arms. The scent stays true, and lasts about 5 hrs. Overall: A very clean, light and airy smell. Sophisticated, but not me. I generally prefer the earthier spicy/foody smells. I'm passing this decant onto a friend who has been desperately seeking it.

Imp: Perfumey floral with a sweet honey aftertaste. I must admit that I don't really like this in the imp. The florals are screaming, and have ever so slightly a tinge of what is usually bad floral on me (ahem….jasmine). Plus incense. Wet: This is really complex. On my skin, it's much milder on than in the imp (a very good thing). The florals are not assaulting me like I'd feared. I smell the sweetness of honey, and a somewhat sharp rose/jasmine. Under that, there is a smooth spicy incense smell. There is something almost medicinal, but it’s a sweet kinda medicinal, if that makes any sense. Drying: The sweet honey is tantamount. There is a bit of spicyish sandalwood and a kinda creamy floral smell. Rose is not taking over (often rose is a monster on me). The florals in this almost smell like jasmine (good jasmine, not typical jasmine, which usually takes on a urinal tinge with my skin chem). Something in this seems fruity, too, though I can't figure out what that would be. Dry: This is a syrupy sweet, almost fruity smell. I get hints of distant incense. It’s a lovely creamy, fruity (think bananaish), incensual blend, and just a tad spicy. Perfectly balanced. Over time/hours, the incense note becomes more prominent, but not so much as to overpower the sweeter notes. Great throw, as I keep getting wafts of it from my arms, and good staying power--about 6 hrs, which is moderate for me. Overall: Lovely complex blend. I need a bottle, and I just finished setting up a swap for one. When I tried this, I couldn’t' help but think about hellion. So I put the two on side by side. They share some similarities (to my nose, at least). Khajuraho is Hellions, gentler, sweeter, quietly sexy little sister. She less flagrantly spicy, but no less full of sexy mischief.

Imp: Slightly fruity sweet (the fruity is somewhere between melony and lotus quality), bright, clean, rather perfumey smell. I suspect that fuminess will mellow. Wet: 750: This goes on much lighter, and less fumy than the imp. It’s a hint woodsy, actually. Still with that same clean fruity quality. Drying: Clean slightly sweet floral musk. There is woodsiness to this, which I actually think is the resin/frankincense. It lends a bit of masculinity. The sweet/clean part of the scent really does remind me of a non-bubblegummy lotus. Under all of this, there is the perfumey/musky/floral. Its actually a really pleasing light scent, and has good throw. About 40 mins in, I swear I smell roots. Like an orris quality. Maybe that's part of the lily? Or the osmathus? I dunno, but it smells good. These roots get stronger and are at the forefront for the next three hrs or so. Under that, the sweet fruity clean smell has started to smell rather like a tea blend. Mmmm, could this be a tea smelling blend that has staying power on me? That WOULD be impressive! Overall: This is a clean tea scent balanced by a sweet light fruity smell and an earthy rootiness. The musk makes it effervescent. Its smells amazingly sophisticated. This has amazing staying power on me for a "clean" scent. Usually my skin eats those alive. This lasts well into 5-6 hrs.

Well, I'll preface this with the fact that i've never tried Jaqua products. But based on what scents you describe: Buttercream: Gluttony(Dark chocolate, vanilla, buttercream, and hops with pralines, hazelnut, toffee and caramel) . Maybe Hellcat, too, if you'd like some extra spice(A soft, sensual, luxuriant blend with a wicked bite: hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond. ). Dana O'Shee is a good almond frosting kinda smell (similar to lush's snowcake, if you've ever tried that).... Marshmallow Cocoa: The purest chocolate bpal is bliss ( the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate.) But there are some other gorgeous bpal chocolates. Velvet is cocoa and woods, and vice is cocoa with berries and orange. Velvet is my personal fave. Peach: Fae. She's gorgeous. Lab says: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss. Its defnitely not pure peach. Its sparkling peach. You might also like Jack (Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove), if you do spicey: its peach, pumpkin, spice, buttercream all in one.