CrazyPretzel

Well.... after all of the hype, this one could really only be a disappointment, eh? To begin with, with the exception of ginger and sandalwood, I'm not familiar with the notes in here. Wet, I can smell coconut mixed with light musk and - surprisingly - something fruity, but the coconut disappears once it dries. When the scent dries on me it's very light and has hardly any throw. Initially it's still a little fruity with a soft flower (rice-flower?) that I can smell if I inhale very deeply. The drydown varies between a sweet light musk with a little tartness and on the other hand a slightly foosty woodsy smell. Ah well. I've been collecting decants and now I suppose I can begin swapping them!

In the imp: sweet amber, ginger, a little verbena. Wet on me: lemon sherbet, supersweet amber. Ginger kicks in and cuts the sweetness after a few seconds. Like lemon-ginger herbal tea with lots of sugar. After a few minutes: Awesome green grass and sage notes come in to play soon. Still sweet lemon-ginger and amber; a little foody. Like a slightly grassy/herbal Shanghai or Phantasm. Drydown: amber, lemon, and sweet grass. Both refreshing and a little candy-like. Reminds me of Ricola cough drops…. I like it though!

In the imp: honeysuckle and a slight burnt smell. Wet on me: smells like candy – light and sugary and a little bit tart. After a few minutes: same; very light; florals going a little sour/bitter. Drydown: fresh, powdery, and sweet, but it seems the floral blend in this may not suit me. It’s very sweet and if I inhale deeply it smells sour/bitter. Have similar issues with Ophelia and Helena; maybe white rose or stargazer lily or calla lily that does this on me? Far drydown: latex with a dusting of sugar on top. Definitely not for me!

Iris, black amber, sage, Kashmir wood, vanilla musk, mandarin and violet. In the decant: tart and clean...hard to pin down. Wet on me: Juicy-herby (mandarin and sage?) and something very smooth that almost reminds me of sunblock. Sorry, but it does. I can smell vanilla musk quite clearly too after having spent the past half hour sniffing Morocco on my other wrist. After a few minutes: Still mostly mandarin and vanilla musk on a background of amber. It's a dark, brooding, strange scent, and fits the picture well. Drydown: I'm really not sure if I can do this one justice or not. I can't think of anything that it smells like other than a mix of all different sorts of beauty products - aftershave, powder, hairspray, etc. There is definitely a woodsy-musk base to it which is a little masculine, and some dark powdery flowers which are a little feminine, and on the whole it smells rather *expensive*, but beyond that...who knows. This one leaves me totally confused! I might have to edit this review later. ETA: Well into the drydown and something has happened: either the scent has morphed pleasingly or it's just finally clicked with my brain, but I kept sniffing and it kept right on being weird and then suddenly, BAM! It actually smells like perfume now. (Kinda.) I'm getting sort of dark violet musk that's brightened with mandarin and sweetened with vanilla, and there are smooth woods underlying it all. Rather medieval.

In the imp: vanilla musk, like Possets' Madame X or an Oriental Antique Lace. Wet on me: smells like root beer or cream soda. Cool! After a few minutes: Still predominantly sweet vanilla but I can smell sandalwod too, as well as some very soft, very sweet spices that I can't identify. They blend beautifully together. Very creamy and warm and rich without being overpowering. Just a touch of carnation. Drydown: Vanilla, sandalwood, carnation, musk. Warm, sensual and beautiful. I can see why this is Top 10 material for a lot of people.

Pure lavender and cocoa goodness. In the beginning both the lavender and cocoa are quite strong and it's a very herbal-smelling chocolate, but as Wulric dries it softens and becomes the ultimate comfort scent: sweet lavender with chocolate like a cup of milky hot cocoa. I have a decant now; a bottle will be a must.

In the imp: a really ripe aroma of dirty diapers. EEK! Wet on me: Gardenia warring with the smell of catshit. Man, I hope this dries fast. After a few minutes: Gardenia and some juicy roses. Still a faint fecal/cat pee odor... Drydown: You know what? I know there are some nice things going on in here (mainly floral things) but I just cannot get my head round that poo 'n' wee note. Rejected!

In the decant: almond and orange and a bit of spice. Wet on me: Almond biscotti and juicy orange. After a few minutes: The myrrh starts to come out and make the scent heavier and a little narcotic; it's less foody now. Still sweet and almondy. Drydown: Vanilla and almond darkened by myrrh and spices. The citrus has faded considerably and this dries down to a much darker, more seductive scent than it seems on first application. Mysterious and sexy and yummy.

In the imp: sweet frankincense combined with cedar of doom. Wet on me: Very sweet - the incense is winning over the cedar at this stage. After a few minutes: The cedar in this blend is really warm and golden. I kind of like it. In fact, it might be sandalwood that I'm smelling... There's still a strong and very pretty aroma of frankincense. Drydown: The cedar has been sufficiently masked by sandalwood and frankincense that it's wearable for me. Mild, sweet, resinous and comforting. Not a great cold stone church; rather the scent of a brightly-lit cathedral at midnight mass on Easter Sunday.

In the imp: hm! Quite a spicy rose; I'd almost swear there was cinnamon in this. Wet on me: It reminds me of Harlot, though it's not as hot - almost straight-up cinnamon and rose. It soon begins to mellow into sandalwood, warm and dry. Makes me think of an antique shop. After a few minutes: Rose with a more mellow spice - now it's more Lucy's Kiss than Harlot. The patchouli is deep and warm but the rose smells a little soapy and I'm not sure if this will dry nicely or not. Drydown: Spicy wood chips dominate; rose is in the background. Ehm, it's not bad, but unfortunately it is really reminiscent of potpourri on me. I don't know if I'd enjoy wearing it or not. I think I know a better home for it.

In the bottle: earth and wet rocks. Wet on me: Still super cool and moist; I can smell the faintest touch of lavender. It smells so strongly of wet earth with cold seaspray. After a few minutes: Wet autumn leaves -- it's becoming less earthy and more herbaceous, though it's still deep and dank and tinged with decay. Though as time passes it freshens up and becomes more grassy; just a little bit sweet. I'm still eagerly waiting on the smoke... Drydown: A cool, wet, earthy, stone-like scent with just a hint of sweet grasses and icy seabreeze. I still can't detect any smoke but it's so beautiful as it is that I'm not disappointed. Really amazing.

In the imp: Crisp, sparkling, a little tart. Wet on me: Sweet like vanilla and bubbly like soda. Fun! Very light though. After a few minutes: Fizzy, crystalline, a little bit lemony - I'm sorry these descriptions are so vague, but it's *really* hard to describe what I'm smelling. It's warmer than I expected, I can say that much. It doesn't smell like vanilla to me anymore. Drydown:*sigh* I give up. The closest I can get to describing this is to say that it smells like the lightest lemon sherbet imaginable. With some creamy white flowers. My nose is flummoxed by The Unicorn, but I will wear this again...

I'm not a huge fan of lotus, but I enjoy the rose-and-lotus blend Kurukulla. And Ophelia has lovely white rose in it. So. In the imp: chilly, damp flowers. How creepy - must have been a cold pond that she flung herself into. Wet on me: Lotus, but somehow made green and bitter, maybe by the ivy. Or - no, shoot, could it be the white rose doing that? I got a bitter/sour note from Helena too... After a few minutes: Freakin' strong rose and lotus now. The sourness is still there but it's getting basically shouted down by these two floral notes. Drydown: Rank, bitter flowers. Eek.

In the imp: carnations! Wet on me: guh. The most beautiful, elegant English garden scent. Just the *prettiest* thing I've smelled in a while. Surprisingly green too, like fresh cut roses and carnations with the stems still on. After a few minutes: a tiny little tea rose peeks out from the masses of carnations. Still a very green floral, not too sweet. Drydown: Fresh carnations and just a tiny bit of rose. Not getting a whole lot of tea. This is a simple scent, but very lovely. I'm going to put it on my bottle list because it's the sort of thing I'll want to wear a lot of in spring and summer.

In the imp: Strong sweet herbs, like cut grass. Wet on me: Still the herbs and the neroli comes out. This is a very warm, golden scent. Clean, too - reminds me of freshly-washed hair and freshly-laundered sheets dried in the sun. After a few minutes: Interesting - sort of sparkly and earthy at the same time. The herbal scent reminds me of Allison Gross, but the amber and neroli make it much more golden and pixie-like. Drydown: The amber turns a little bit soapy on me, unfortunately. Predominantly herbal-neroli; patchouli is not dominant but anchors the scent and keeps it from being too sharp. Quite pretty; I'm glad I got to try this.

In the imp: pine and musk. Wet on me: pine is still dominant; there's something sharp and sinus-clearing in here that reminds me of eucalyptus. Maybe it's the juniper. Actually it seems rather sweet. After a few minutes: Christmas trees and a sweet, musky scent. Drydown: A slightly strange union of clean, sweet juniper and pine on the one hand and animal musk on the other. I prefer Black Forest and Slobbering Pine to this one, but really I love all of the pine blends. Thanatopsis strikes me as more masculine than the others. One of these days I'll have to wear all three of them to compare them properly.

In the imp: chocolate, orange, and spice. YUM!!! Wet on me: OK, a deeper, rootier, almost coffee-like smell now. I can now see how this might just about be botanical rather than pure foody The citrus scent becomes a little bit stronger but it's still a deep, dark, decadent scent on the whole. After a few minutes: boozy chocolate cherries and a shot of espresso. This makes me grin. I can still smell that deep wet root-like scent that I got from Strangler Fig too. Drydown: Ooh, I *know* that scent!! Vervain, or valerian...something I used to buy to make magical incense with. It's much less sweet and foody now. Instead it's pungent, sharp and smooth all at once. Smells like witches' incense. Super-duper foody/incensey botanical. This is so special. I just love it! If you like this, try: Blood Kiss, Strangler Fig

In the imp: A very sweet, powdery floral that makes me think of powdered sugar. Wet on me: Lotus, is that you? Maybe not. I can smell lilac and, oddly enough, paper. After a few minutes: Tiny white flowers, strongly scented. Lily of the valley. Very sweet. There's little bit of a synthetic note to this that I don't like -- reminds me of violets, which sometimes smell like paint to me. Drydown: Lotus and violets. On the whole maybe not for me...

A generous frimp from andrabell In the imp: golden herbs, neroli, a little dusty orange. Wet on me: tart orange sweets. I can smell neroli and something peppery. After a few minutes: As it begins to dry it becomes more resinous and less candy-like. I can definitely smell the amber now, and the neroli is much more floral than citrus. This is really very herbal and smells a bit like a Chinese apothecary. I think I said the same thing about Ahathoor. Drydown: Other reviewers have called this bittersweet, and it is that. For a scent with amber and frankincense it's surprisingly solemn to me - not any less golden, but definitely a fire-in-the-midst-of-darkness sort of scent. Which is appropriate for a solstice oil, I suppose. It's intriguing but I don't know how often I'd wear it -- my instinct is to hang on to it because it's an LE but I may pass it along to someone if I see it on their wishlist

In the imp: clean, light, elegant floral. Wet on me: jasmine and daffodil, very pretty. There's a little bit of plum too. After a few minutes: still jasmine, daffodil and plum. There's a slight soapiness that might be the orchid. This is very warm and pretty though; it reminds me of Poisson d'Avril but I like it better. Drydown: On the drydown this becomes predominantly fruity and smells a little peachy to me. The flowers are dewy and springy and more of a backdrop than a dominant theme. Very pretty and feminine.

OK, my review needs some editing in light of the drydown. At first it still smells like citrus and heliotrope, but then when it dries it becomes dusty lemon peel, not very strong, and something sort of nutty. My brain thinks it's sunflower seeds but that's probably just because of reading 'sunflower' in the description. I was thinking of swapping this one until about 20 minutes into the drydown, when it warmed up and became the loveliest carnation-heliotrope-vanilla-amber-musk. With bells on. Seriously, it's gorgeous. I'm going over to swaps/sales now to see if I can scrounge up any more.

A strong, juicy scent of blackerries at first, with a pretty green floral (heather, I assume) that comes out later. Sadly this fades very quickly on me, within an hour or so. Might be one to try in my scent locket, when I eventually acquire one.

I don't get any berries from this at all! On me it smells of ambergris (which I adore!) and, yes, velvety spices -- it's got a little bit of an Oriental feel to it. The iris is very slightly bitter and lends the whole thing a regal feel. I could easily imagine a haughty Medici wearing this. When wet, there's something in here that reminds me of Succor, which smells of olives to me -- maybe there's olive leaf in here? I'm just speculating wildly so don't take my word for it. Smooth, elegant and haughty. Very nice.

This is the scent of soft, gentle white soap. I sometimes think I can get the barest breath of honeysuckle in here as well. Very gentle and pretty; puts me in mind of warm sunlit mornings. I can't speak for the voodoo properties, unfortunately, as I'm just at home with my boyfriend right now and we're always pretty close anyway

In the imp: cool, sweet lavender, which is so soothing now when I have a headache. Wet on me: lavender and amber, but where amber is usually very warm this is super-cool. Definitely a nighttime scent. After a few minutes: This really does smell like nighttime air in a beautiful garden. Soothing, not too sweet, a little bit herbal. The lavender is regrettably suggesting lavender soap to my brain, but it's not turning soapy as such. And then - WOW! Something sweet comes out beneath the lavender. Is that honeysuckle? Drydown: Awww, I wish this were stronger. Right now it seems to be back to the cool, sweet lavender that I smelled in the imp. Rather what I imagined Yvaine would smell like, actually. Amber makes it sweeter and deeper. I like this, but it's not as strong as I'd hoped. I'll need to try wearing more of it or putting it in a scent locket.