CrazyPretzel

For someone (like, say, me) who loves orange blossom/neroli, this is absolutely stellar. I was in love as soon as I uncapped my imp and lucky me, it stays lovely on my skin What I've got is at first sweet (almost candy-like) citrussy orange blossom with the rosemary adding just a little sharpness and the rose floating somewhere in the background. It eventually dries down to a soft, slightly powdery orange blossom scent that's more floral than citrus. I suppose, given the name, it's not really supposed to be so evocative of *nice* things, but it does make me think of the time I spent in Firenze. I would trust anyone who came at me smelling like this... and so I guess it does fulfill its purpose nicely! Love. Love love looooove. Can I has 5ml now please?

Damn internet ate my review! I'll try again... Spot-on strawberry: makes me think of rich, gooey strawberry shortcake topping more than fresh-cut strawberries. The champagne is light and cheerful, not sour or 'I-just-spilled-my-drink' intense. Sweet, light, and fruity. Fans of Bordello might like this one.

The sweetened almond amaretto goodness of this one reminds me of Asp Viper, but it's girlied up with just a light touch of rose and apple - they're stronger in the early stages than in the drydown. Sweet without being cloying, just a little bit foody: this is *very* nice indeed.

Makes me think of a Japanese apple gummy candy: intensely sticky-sweet and fruity. After a few minutes I can smell some kind of sharp spice to this as well.

At first, this smells like very strong fruit-flavoured black tea... and then it smells like a fruit punch Lip Smacker melted all over the backseat of a hot car. Dammit! I liked the description and hoped it would work on me. Oh well.

At first this was not nice on me at all - pine, but sharp and acrid. Made me think of cleaning products. Now that it's dried down it's calmer, a sun-warmed, sap-flowing forest scent. I'm still not sure it's for me though - I prefer my forest scents a bit cooler, like Black Forest.

Initially, the plum in this is cloyingly sweet and almost rank - reminds me of my bad trip with Skuld! After it dries on my skin, though, the carnation and musk blend together wonderfully. The plum is the only thing that queers the blend for me; as it is, I'll stick to other carnations.

Juicy, nose-tickling grapes, smelling like rich red fresh-pressed grape juice and not at all synthetic. Rich and delightful.

This won't be the most helpful review as I'm unfamiliar with most of the ingredients in Anubis, but I can tell you that on my wrist it all translates into a quiet, warm, golden-green scent with a very slight sticky fruitiness to it. It's resinous.

There's an ozone note in here that I think I recognise - from Lightning, maybe? It's much drier and not as tart as lightning though. This is not primarily an incense scent; it's dry, warm, and silky-smooth. Almost soapy, and just a touch of sweetness.

Wow, I'm surprised by how perfume-y this one is. Soft, dark, sensual, and mysterious; this will be my favourite elven-forest scent now that Hamadryad is due to be discontinued.

Of the winter roses, Peacock Queen and Rose Red, this is the one that I prefer. I think almost everyone else goes nuts for RR, but she was sooo sharp and chemical on me! Peacock Queen, on the other hand, is a deep, rich rose scent. Sniffing it make me think of luxurious dark red roses with velvety-soft petals. I think of it as 'classic' and 'elegant' - if I were less kindly disposed to it I might call it 'old-ladyish' and 'powdery', but I love it, so I won't There's a timelessness to pure rose perfume, and Peacock Queen captures it wonderfully.

Wet, Wicked is... powdery-sweet, thick, overpowering, womanly. Kind of scary like your friend's bleached-blonde 50-year-old mom coming on to you. As it dries, the myrrh comes out more strongly and it becomes slightly bitter. To be fair, this was a frimp; I didn't order it expecting to like it or anything!

This scent is almost pure geranium on me, but after it dries there's an undertone of solemn frankincense and a very gentle woodsy scent. Dry, dusty, somber, and a little rosy-sweet. A very beautiful church scent, and I think I'll try to get a bottle before it disappears.

In the imp: fizzy orange sweets and old-fashioned bright pink bubble gum. Wet: cloying ylang-ylang and gardenia with juicy orange. I do like the citrus but the combo is a little overpowering. After a few minutes: Still with that bubble-gummy edge that I just don't like. It's starting to drown out the orange too. Drydown: eek, nope, the citrus is gone and it's ylang-ylang in hellish proportions. Swaps!

Fresh on, Calliope is a blast of almond and sharp lavender. After it warms up, citrus comes to the fore, lemon predominating, but sweet and candy-like. It's kind of a tango between honeyed lemon and biting, herbal lavender. I think it smells a little like Santa Eularia des Riu, but sharper.

Another of the Yule goodies I got from snapeophile Well, I know snapeophile loves this one to death, and it's popular with almost everyone else too, so I kind of feel bad to have less-than-entirely-kind things to say about it! Admittedly, in the decant, it smells amazing. In fact it made the entire bubble mailer smell amazing, and it was only a partial decant, very well wrapped, and not a drop had leaked! This is a seriously strong scent. My first thought when I smelled it was of apples. It's a really crisp and juicy rose scent that, to me anyway, verges on being apple-y. Tart and a little snowy. I don't get any of the dirt or green notes that other people have mentioned. My skin, unfortunately, does not seem to bring out the best in RR. In fact it went quite pungent and almost chemical on me, and that combined with the throw gave me a headache! Too bad - I was kind of glad when it faded before too long. My mother absolutely loves it though, so it's found a happy home regardless.

The plant of peace in Norse tradition. If enemies met in the forest and came upon a sprig, they laid down their arms and observed a truce until the next sunrise. I'm reviewing this one thanks to snapeophile, who passed some Yule decants along to me when she found out I couldn't afford to get decants this year I'm really glad I got to try this one. It's such a perfect Christmas scent despite being far from the usual foody, spicy, piney interpretations. It's crisp, light, verging on evergreen but not quite that. It reminds me most of bayberry candles, though it's sharper and more interesting than that. Such a clean, green-and-white scent! It's not soapy, but I think it would make a fantastic soap scent The only drawback is that it fades within only an hour or so on my skin. Problem solved by putting it in my hair.

In the imp it's kind of refreshing and soothing and green, and reminds me of the witch hazel lotion my grandfather used to put on after shaving. On me: GUH. Frankincense sharpened by basil and sweetened by ambergris; reminds me of a slightly darker, muskier Arcana. Ambergris goes a little sour on me after a while - it doesn't love me as much as I love it - but I can't wait to put this one on the boy.

I'm a lucky girl and got a frimp of this in my Tanuki order OK, here's my quick 'n' easy Fruitcake synopsis: Fruitcake = The Hanging Gardens + Sugar Skull (with an extra helping of nuts) Which is to say that it's plenty of fruit (of the dark dried variety) and almond in the imp, then lots of other nutty scents come to the fore on my skin, and in an hour it's that dark brown sugar scent from Sugar Skull. Tasty and Christmassy

I just started reading Anansi Boys last night, so it seemed like a good time to dip into my Mr Nancy decant. On the one hand it's a sweet, juicy, refreshing scent (sweet sugary cookies and lovely lime, not bitter); on the other it's masculine and a little bit oaky-musty smelling, but very smooth - in that way it reminds me a little of The Forbidding Foyer. Seems like two very strange scent polarities to bring together, but the result is comforting and addictive.

I have a bottle from 2006, so this is aged a year already. Let me say at the outset that I get no grapes from this... In the bottle, it's a buttery cake scent, but not sickeningly buttery (I had a bad experience with Drink Me and have kind of gone off the butter). Once on my skin the butter scent fades and mellows and it begins to smell more incense-like, but this is very distinct from All Souls', which was warm and bright. This scent seems mysterious and a little bit sacred. I can make out the frankincense and then there's something else, a trifle sweet and herbaceous, that I thought might be fir needle before I read the description. Is that what olive leaf smells like, I wonder? Dry, a little sweet but sombre too, and not foody. It's a lovely scent for a winter's night and from reading the other reviews it seems that this has changed a lot with age. (Or my skin interacts with it in an unusual fashion!)

! She's a mOrPhEr... Fresh out of the imp: intense, slightly sour wine. D'oh! After a few minutes on my skin, the patchouli and champa come out and suddenly I smell like a mysterious gothic Wiccan. Turns out it was a good pick to wear for Yule festivities! Rich, purple, incensey, and a little sharp. And after an hour, I'm left with a completely different scent: damp stone, like Shanghai Tunnels or my beloved Singing Moon. Urd is utterly nifty.

I didn't really think this one would be something I'd like but my mom had it as a frimp so I gave it a whirl. Wet, it's predominantly almonds, sweet and spicy and amaretto-like. When it dries down though it turns into that characteristic cinnamon red-hots scent that I dislike, and gives me a rash. What can I say? Cinnamon and I don't get on that well. I prefer Asp Viper for a similar honeyed-almond vibe without the burns.

Wet: Strong sweet pea and ylang ylang - smells like Seduction with an added dry, powdery note (orris) and something quite sugary-sweet. After a few minutes: This isn't going too well. In contrast to most other reviewers, I don't get rose from this; instead it's an unholy alliance of orris, myrrh, sweet pea, and ylang ylang: all notes that sometimes go awry on me. It smells like someone took a bathroom air freshener and set it on fire. I think this one needs to be on someone else...