CrazyPretzel

Like funkmoppet, I'm in the volcanically-awesome Ahania's C13 sniffing circle (European half) and have been testing the ones I suspected I wouldn't like first (Shanghai Tunnel and Ah'Duno are safely out of the way). Unlike funkmoppet, I am a floral whore and hence the remaining testers - Lydia and Unheavenly City among them - make me pretty nervous. I feel like I'm bound to fall in love with one of them and then my heart will be broken. But enough melodrama and on to the sniffing! First up: Lydia. In the imp: jasmine, gardenia, touch of spice? Wet on me: a very light lemon scent that I've come to associate with the early stages of aquatic blends like Tempest. Those never do well on me, so maybe there's hope? It is pretty, though. Penetrating florals in that girly-sex kind of way of Follow Me Boy. After a few minutes: This isn't actually terribly gardeniesque on me so far - Ecstacy of St Theresa is my gardenia scent that smells just like a gardenia flower on me. This is a little heavier, very heady like strong honeysuckle. There's musk or civet in here too, I'm convinced, or at least something that smells a little musky on me (not in a very good way, to be honest). Drydown: Well, I guess I'm the weird one - on me this was more animalistic-white floral than aquatic-white floral! Maybe it's the time of the month Follow Me Boy seems like a comparable GC scent, if you're looking for something similar.

In the imp: Yes, like Wrath, but a little bit softer... Wet on me: Smells just like Necco wafers! And damn, are those some weird candies or what? After a few minutes: Wrath + honey. I'm still undecided as to whether or not my beloved White Rabbit had anything to do with this oddball little scent. It reminds me a little bit of cinnamon cookies but mixed with something really *not* edible, like acetone. Drydown: Slightly plasticky sweet cinnamon. Ah'Duno if this was a good idea!

From the lovely Ahania's int'l C13 sniffing circle - if you had Shanghai Tunnel, Crumpet Rebellion, Lydia, Voodoo Queen, Unheavenly City, Ah'Duno and Storyville all demanding your attention, which one would you reach for first? I know. My head exploded too. I picked at random and got Shanghai Tunnel to start with. In the imp: very reminiscent of Singing Moon! Cool earth and dampness. A sweetness like small flowers. Wet on me: The earth smell gets stronger - this is a very moist scent, aquatic but I like it more than other aquatics I've tried. After a few minutes: Now suddenly it's become less earthy and more woody - the scent of damp wood. I think I can detect cedar. Drydown: Water-logged pile of cedar wood on damp earth next to a stone cottage on a misty grey day. The wood note in here is really quite strong - a bit too strong for my tastes. Still, a lovely and evocative fragrance!

In the bottle: spicy, buttery cake that reminds me an awful lot of Pumpkin Queen! Also champa incense and a little bit of currant. Wet on me: Mmm, instant spice amplification. I can smell ginger and maybe cardamom (and those might be what's making me think Pumpkin Queen). After a few minutes: Rich, dry-smelling incense and sweet spice cakes, just like the description says. They mix wonderfully together. I'm not getting any currant or other fruitiness from this. The sweet nag champa scent grows stronger as time passes. Drydown: Sweet cake and nag champa with nose-tickling spice. Really delicious!

In the bottle and wet, it's predominantly cherry; when it dries, Libra turns into a deep, seductive, plummy fruit scent with rose, carnation, and a touch of honey. As it was drying I got a brief plasticky note that had me worried but it disappeared quickly leaving nothing but goodness. Boy, does this ever make me feel decadent - and glad to be a Libra.

In the imp: jasmine and carnation weighted down by incense and earthy notes. Wet on me: grassy vetiver and neroli over moss. Both green and sweet. After a few minutes: Strong jasmine and incense notes come out - very nag champa-like. There's some patchouli too but it's sweetened by the flowers and isn't too 'heavy' (i.e. 'dirty hippie' ). Ahhh... nose glued to wrist. Drydown: Heady and sexy. The jasmine and carnation are strong over incense and patchouli. Complex but playful. I like it a lot as it's both floral and mossy/earthy, two scent families which I love

In the imp: Red grapes and flowers. Wet on me: The flowers amp a little bit - this is a surprisingly feminine scent. The grape-like scent is fruity and syrupy; smells like cassis or some sort of flavoured syrup you'd put in coffee or drizzle over ice cream. Very sweet! After a few minutes: Honeyed florals - maybe honeysuckle. The fruitiness has toned down considerably. Once every few sniffs I pick it up as a wine-like scent - perhaps my nose is just getting slightly numb to it. Drydown: Mild red wine and sweet flowers, like lilac or honeysuckle. A beautiful scent, and one to add to my emergency stash of voodoo pick-me-ups (along with Has No Hanna and Water of Notre Dame) ETA: The more time goes by, the more floral this becomes - now it's making me think of a heavy white flower like gardenia.

Spices of the Orient mingle with crystalline musk, midnight flowers and cereus, jasmine, primrose and vesper iris. In the imp: soft jasmine and some sort of divinely beautiful sweet musk. Wet on me: The jasmine becomes a little sharper. The first thing I notice, though, is a blend of very gentle soft florals that I can't identify (so most of what's listed, then, since I don't know what most of them smell like!) and spices like the spices in Morocco. After a few minutes: Wow, it suddenly becomes kind of juicy! The jasmine's a tiny bit soapy but so far is most definitely not ruining this blend. It's reminding me even more of Morocco but with florals and white musk in place of the vanilla. Drydown: A slightly spicy, very airy floral that's evocative of a midnight sky. A floral cousin to Urania. Lovely!

In the imp: oh dear - it's that vile note from Skuld and Seduction, the one that totally turns my stomach. It's not too strong here so I'll see if it goes away. Wet on me: It does seem to be getting fainter, thankfully. I can smell a touch of soap but it's not bitter. Sweet honey. After a few minutes: Good, that sour smell has totally disappeared! Now it's pure white lilies and golden honey. The floral by itself might be a little soapy or headache-inducing but the honey balances it very nicely. Drydown: It just keeps getting better! Lilies are either a big hit or a big miss with me, and this one's definitely the former. Sweet, warm, and pervasive without being overwhelming. Bottle!

In the imp: lilac-gasm! Wet on me: powdery lilac and something a little sour. Needs time to settle. After a few minutes: Finally I can smell the dragon's blood along with the nectar-sweet lilac, still quite strong. There is still something a little bitter here. I hope it's not the lily-of-the-valley; I love the scent and would hate to think I couldn't wear it. .... Now I can smell something resinous: the galbanum? It is indeed a sharp scent. Drydown: The lilac has settled down and now it's mainly a resinous scent, backed by the sweetness of dragon's blood. Compared with how it smells wet it's really not that sweet at all, but rather sharp and pungent. Definitely an interesting combination of scents and quite a morpher.

In the imp: strong dragon's blood and resinous amber. Wet on me: super-sweet dragon's blood! After a few minutes: The amber begins to warm up and give this blend some depth so it's not as cloyingly sweet. At first it reminded me of the dragon's blood in Wrath which was ultimately rather grim on me, but now it's more mysterious and heady instead of being uncomfortably reminiscent of a bathroom air freshener. Drydown: Mmm. Sweet, heavy, intoxicating. Honey-like without the honey (if THAT makes any sense). Sensuous and slightly narcotic.

What a crazy morpher - in the imp, this really does smell quite a lot like Elmer's school glue to me. On my skin, it settles quickly into a soft floral, a bit on the grassy side, with just a touch of honey-like sweetness. There's a certain bitterness underneath it which seems appropriate to me; we wouldn't want an Ars Moriendi blend to be too soft and cuddly now, would we? On the whole I quite like this one and will be adding it to my ever-expanding bottle list.

In the bottle: pure, soft, sweet rose and lilac. Very pretty. Wet on me: It becomes a little sharper - I think it's the lemon peel I'm smelling. After a few minutes: Both tart and soft; a 'classic' perfume scent. I could imagine very expensive dusting powder smelling like this. Drydown: Hmmm, there is a slightly sour edge to this that I could do without. Maybe it will disappear after a while. This is definitely a very rosy perfume (quel surprise) that's old-fashioned without being remotely old-ladyish. In fact it smells quite coquettish. A good one to wear with a parasol! Not as sweet as I expected but I predict that this one will really grow on me.

Mainly a sweet scent with a little bit of baking-type spice. The notes are actually listed - not on the webpage devoted to the chakras, but they turn up if you use the Lab website's search engine. Thus a search for Swadhisthana reveals that it contains vanilla, nutmeg, orris root, gardenia, damiana, jasmine, patchouli, ylang, tangerine, bergamot, sandalwood, and oakmoss. The jasmine is pretty prominent but instead of being a piercing scent, as it sometimes can be, it's very rounded by the other components and smells utterly delicious.

In the imp: medicinal cherry. Wet on me: still syrupy cherry, like cough syrup. After a few minutes: The cherry has calmed down and smells mild and sweet, but now the flowers smell a little bitter! Drydown: I'm beginning to think that calla lily (or maybe stephanotis?) doesn't like me. (I refuse to consider the possibility that it could be the lily-of-the-valley!) What I've ended up with here is a light, tart white floral (the cherry's really not noticeable as such) with a distinct sour note underneath it. I've encountered this before - I really need to check my old reviews and see what's doing it!

In the decant: violets and something airy and fresh. Wet on me: Strong violets and a vanilla-like sweetness. After a few minutes: I see now from the description that what my nose was reading as 'violets' is in fact probably iris - to me it's a very similar thick sweet blue floral. There's a little bit of warm resin in here but it's surprisingly faint, surpassed by the iris and gardenia, a warmer floral than the iris. Also there's a slight sourness which fades after a few minutes. The gardenia begins to come out more strongly after the first five minutes and is really quite lovely - like sniffing a fresh gardenia flower; very true-to-life. Drydown: Almost pure gardenia with an extra boost of sweetness from the amber and frankincense, and soothing chamomile. I it. Wonderful sweet white floral without a trace of sourness.

In the imp: slightly sour rose. Wet on me: Shoot, it's that note from Skuld that made me feel so grossly ill when I smelled it in the imp. It's not red musk or amber or any rose that I've identified, and Skuld contains ylang-ylang, honey, and labdanum if I remember correctly, so it must be some secret ingredient. Great. If I ignore it I can smell rose, very red and full and powdery. After a few minutes: Powdery rose and that grim sour sick scent. Drydown: Same. I can't really review this properly as it contains something that I'm repelled by.

A frimp from the Lab (thanks guys! ) Red musk and red sandalwood are generally two don't-go-there-girlfriend notes for me, but we'll see how it goes. In the imp: yep, that's red musk all right, with a bit of amber. Reminds me of Mme Moriarty. Wet on me: Same as above. After a few minutes: The amber is getting somewhat stronger - that could be a good thing; the few red musk belends that have worked on me before have generally contained amber. And now I can smell what must be rosewood - like a strong, slightly spicy cedar. Drydown: You know, with red musk, red sandalwood, and something cedary this *really* should not be my cup of tea and yet...and yet. It's kind of sweet and pretty; a cedar box like ravenfeathers mentioned, filled with sticks of sandalwood incense. I suppose amber + red musk is a happy combination for me. I can't smell either of them too strongly individually, but the end result is dry and incensey and warm. This turned out to be quite a lucky frimp - even if it had been so-so I'd've hung onto it since I just finished an MA in Old Norse, but in the event it even smells nice!

In the bottle: an absolutely beautiful soft musk and sweet red wine. Wet on me: This smells like it may contain red musk, but if so it's gentle and silky and I've lucked out (usually I can't wear it!) I can smell green branches as well, which weren't apparent in the bottle. After a few minutes: Berries (not quite sharp enough for my nose to read it as wine) and fir needles against that exquisite musk. This stage is drop-dead gorgeous. It almost makes me cry. After about five minutes the wine seems to come out more strongly and I can detect a slight earthy note as well. Drydown: Mainly sweet musk and fir needles; the berry/wine note has settled down considerably and is very soft. It's similar to Black Forest at this stage, another one of my all-time favourite BPALs (I actually got a bottle of it to accompany Hunter Moon on its way here). I prefer the early stages to the final drydown, but this is still one damn fine fragrance.

In the imp: cool, soft, sweet, herbal mint. The sweetness is rosy, not foody. Wet on me: Now the rose is the dominant note (still gentle though) with the mint soft behind it. It becomes a little bit damp and grassy; less ethereal and more like a dewy garden just before the sun rises. After a few minutes: Still light mint sweetened by rose and osmanthus, which is almost honey-like. The violets and other notes are not strong at this point (or at least my nose can't discern them). Drydown: Ooh, it's warmed up now! Sweet osmanthus and warm, elegant sandalwood, with rose that smells quite delicate like tea-rose. The mint is just a suggestion now and thankfully doesn't seem to be turning herby and bitter on me the way it did in Tokyo Stomp.

In the imp: light almonds and cloves and a green rotting smell. Wet on me: The cloves get stronger right off the bat, and there's still that moist rotty smell. I can just about imagine that's fresh-cut grass, albeit very intense. I'm beginning to smell rum. After a few minutes: Still mainly wet grass and cloves. Not so boozy as I would have expected! Drydown: A weird mix of warm spicy cloves and wet green grass. Not bad, but probably not something I would wear, either.

In the imp: cherries and almonds and saffron. Wet on me: I don't usually have this experience with almonds, but this is simply *screaming* cherries! After a few minutes: The cherry (almond) note backs down and it starts to smell like a big, sweet, golden flower. Drydown: honeyed almonds, but the cardamom and myrrh keep it from being too sweet. In fact it almost has a bitter edge which is not unpleasant. All of the notes bask in golden amber, but it's less sweet than amber scents usually are. A gritty, dark gold scent.

In the decant: A fabulous lush, green, leafy scent with a generous helping of fruit. Wet on me: Green leafiness predominates along with something a little woodsy and bitter. I can smell a bit of blackberry but it's definitely not a fruity scent. I'm thinking of wet bamboo and dark threatening jungle. After a few minutes: Still with that slightly bitter note that gets on my nerves. I can smell more gingery spice now. It's like a more exotic and non-earthy version of Strangler Fig on me: very wet and green, but dark. On the whole it's good but there definitely is a note of something - or maybe a combination of a couple of somethings - which I do not like. Smells like dirty laundry. Drydown: Less green now and more slinky, spicy Oriental woods. Sadly my skin is grabbing onto something in here and turning it into bitter mildew, so despite its good points the blend as a whole is not working on me. Probably not one I need a bottle of. ETA: Oh dear, just when I thought my wallet was safe, this one is doing something cool as it dries... The funky mouldy note (black musk?) has calmed down and now I get this awesome bamboo-like note that I think might be green sandalwood. Certainly it's kind of like sandalwood but really green. The scent has backed off and is now more sophisticated than animalistic. To keep or to swap? Argh!

In the decant: great big sweet flowers like night-blooming jasmine, and nag champa. Wet on me: darn, the flowers go soapy. Hopefully this won't last. After a few minutes: Still potent and bordering on soapy, but not too bad and fine if I don't huff my wrist too deeply. I can definitely smell mysterious, sugar-sweet incense. Drydown: I am pleased to say that I get absolutely zero bubblegum from this. If anything it's a little bit more like cotton candy - a similar light, warm spun-sugar smell, but dark and sultry, not sticky and cloying like real cotton candy. Mainly it's champa-type incense. The soapiness from the flowers has chilled out and this may just be a winner.

This is a weird one. I first got it and tried it ages ago, and thought 'hm' and put it into my BPAL box. I've taken it out again today and it's still making me go 'hm'. Initially it's a crazy musky bawdy scent, very raunchy and boozy. On the drydown it's caramel and blackcurrant, but there's tobacco and opium there which make it definitely *not* foody. It's sweet and poisonous and intoxicating. At first I don't like it much because I just can*not* get my head round it at all and the throw is super-strong, but about 45 minutes into the drydown it calms down and becomes sexy-juicy-berry without being overwhelming. A strange little one, this!