themerrybaker

How could I have forgotten to review Spirits of the Dead? This is the only scent I have purchased two bottle of from the Lab! Spirits is my perfect tea scent (with Satan being a close second): I find Spririts to be only subtly sweet with true fresh herbal undertones. It doesn't have all that much throw, but it makes my skin smell as if I have been rolling in a foliage garden.

At least on me, the musky blends have the most throw. I think I compared Embalming Fluid (w/musk) to a few other citrus types w/out musk and found a lot more throw w/EF. The same thing just happened w/ florals: Zorya has musk and way too much throw for me. Some of the other florals without musk settle a bit closer to the skin. So, even if a scent isn't "dark" the addition of musk can send it airborne.

Fresh out of the imp, Bow & Crown smells a lot like generic men's aftershave, but gets better on the dry down. This was a happy surprise, considering my usual luck with cedar turning me into an animate hamster box. Bow and Crown ends up a sublte sage and leather scent. The vanilla is not obvious to me, but may be lending a bit of sweetness to the overall experience. I will really enjoy using this imp.

Zorya is a very "pretty" perfume oil that reminds be a bit of Danube. Between the musk and the pollen-sharp floral the throw becomes intrusive for me. For night-blooming flowers, I'd stay with Midnight.

Brimstone is bone-dry and bitter. I love how un-perfumey it smells. The imp is a definite keeper for those set-the-world-on-fire-flame-the-wussies days.

I love dirt scents (and Death Cap is one of my favorites) but I hate most rose scents (with the exception of Othello) so Zombi sounded pretty interesting indeed. The verdict: a not-to-awful rose scent - but this imp will be a victim of the next general clearing-out operation. A meh as opposed to a yuck.

Queen of Clubs is fruity-sweet without being cloying or candyish. I don't get a lot of dirt (schade!) or rose (yippee!) but the amber contributes to the overall sweetness. I'd also swear there was lotus in here - but there's a good reason I'm not a perfumer. A very feminine oil, and well worth having.

I tried the Crone several months ago and this oil seemed to smell predominantly of celery. Today, there is hay, immortelle, baking-spice-sweetness, and wood and perhaps a bit of celery eucalyptus. I don't really wear the Crone as perfume. Some days you just need the Crone and today she is being an amazing comfort. I'd guess there is betony/sweet cicely in here, but really can't pick any particular herb out. My interest in this temple oil is personal, so for me this is a never-never swap. For anyone who is looking predominantly for a perfume, this may not be for you. Edited to add: this is wonderfully comforting in an oil burner.

Lust started out cherry cedar (which could be a Lust pun) both intensely sweet and intensely bitter. Ok, I guess that is the spicy red musk and maybe the bitterness was the myrrh? The drydown is still woody and spicy. Lust is a like: a good reference for "red musk". I hadn't realized that something could smell so much like wood without there being any!! Will enjoy the imp, but I already have enough musky bottles.

If you will be modifying the guidelines, you could go into a little more explanation or give examples on how to search to see if a thread already exists. Also, there is some kind of instruction on sending a PM to a mod and asking her to check for an existing thread. It wasn't very clear to me if the person was supposed to wait for a reply from the mod, or go ahead and start the new thread. Third, a little more clarification on reporting a thread. For example, we are supposed to report our swap thread when it is time to close it because the information is no longer needed. In a similar vein: a very frequent newly started thread is "hi I'm totally new and need recommendations". After a point, the person often then decides to buy 6 imps. Should those types of threads be reported for closure, since they resulted in an action and may not be so useful after the person places an order? Fourth, since the search engine doesn't cope with 3-character input, maybe a link to the explanation of why the search engine doesn't work in this case and where to go to find the "Eos" review or whatever.

Ghagiel - the Hinderer should smell like a spoiled pet or child but in fact smells a lot like Danube. I think the folks who observed that the floral could be narcissus were right and that maybe there is a bit of opium poppy to add some bitternes. I like how Ghagiel smells and glad I got to try it.

I can't believe that Haunted is such a simple blend. The amber is obvious - it's the powdery note, but what must be the black musk is alternately patchouli-sweet, fleetingly citrus, and fleetingly cinnamon-spicy. Darned if this doesn't remind me of a less woody, less salty Swarzer Mond. A surprizing like, I bet this imp will be good for layering.

Sweet and musky in a way that reminds me of Lotus Moon and Bastet, but nary a lotus blossom in sight. Mania does not become cloying, or overly chemical the way some of the other "fruity" blends tend to go with me. Mania is a happy, flirty, girly, gently-screeching oil. I like it, but have enough bottles that serve the same purpose.

Thirteen is sandalwood, vanilla, nutmeg on me with the other nine contributing "but better". No complaints here.

I was worried about smelling like a Creamsicle with all the orange in Sol Invictus. Needlessly. This is so much better than I would have guessed. The first stage is earwax bitter, like the rind or pith of an orange. It would have been fine with me if Sol had stayed this way: a bit of an anti-perfume. On drying, slightly powdery amber/saffron/frankinsence develops and Sol Invictus changes into a very subtle sweet/salty skin scent. It could have a little more throw, other than that this is a LOVE as opposed to a like.

I'm not fond of wine or grape scents, but tried this because there are so many other components. At first it was Evil Jonestown Kool-Aide tm - a real olfactory horror. But then a smell reminiscent of Mum Moon began to evolve. I think it was the tobacco flower - which smelled like hay to me at first. After about an hour, Horreur grows up to be a perfume: fruity and bright, but amazingly good. Probably no big bottle for me, but I'm very very happy to see a grape/wine blend that I can almost wear. People who love the wine oils should be head over heels for this one.

I couldn't wait to sniff the Radiance and Desolation of Winter. RADOW smells a lot like violet pastilles, and a little like: vetiver conjuring up a wet wool coat, a stalk of celery, and a tube of lipstick. It brings to mind jingling the contents of one's coat pocket before going out into a cold but beautiful day. And almost exactly six hours later finding part of a forgotten decant of Snow White nestled among the pocket lint. (Maybe this is the Flake part?) (It took a very long time - and maybe some self-hypnosis- before the similarity developed - I think it's best to just appreciate Snow-Flake on her own merits).

I would have guessed Whippoorwill was musky cassia, but from the ingredients it looks like cardamom/juniper. I'm happy that the cedar behaves itself. Overall: a spicy, subtle blend. Not much throw - maybe Red Phoenix's demure sister?

Golacheb. Destroying the world with Sweet Tarts. One diabetic at a time. I'm not so sure about the absorbing the evil of the universe thing......

The Perimeter of Destruction appears to be planted with rosebushes. And paved with - wax. Maybe from the Bees of Bodily Harm? This does not make me Gha'g but it will probably not become a fave.

AZ starts out as all oily cedar but develops through a powdery stage (amber?) then briefly an oily dark citrus and finally back to oily benzoin-vanilla? powdery. These changes are really interesting to sniff. AZ is like a nostril journey, because it has very little throw, morphs radically, and the ravens take their oily wings and flit away with some sense of urgency.

At first Gamaliel seemed to be orange oil, but then dried to dill, wood, and maybe patchouli. It had never occured to me that uncontrolled lust would smell so sweet/sour.

I wouldn't put it past Samael to lie to me, but I get extreme white musk, amber, and lilies. And throw!! It's an apt analogy for the way rumors and untruths take on a life of their own.

I have used Temple Druidic in an oil burner. It was much sweeter than I expected - along with the wood plenty of berries and a little animal. I tried to clear my mind while using it and got an image of a fossilized shark's tooth (in my own mouth). How strange.

Celery Sticks. An island full of dragons hanging around munching celery sticks. JAT is not something I can wear.