Victory

I love, love, love this stuff. When I put my nose to my arm, it smells exactly like the ginger molasses cookies my mother sometimes makes, but farther away it's all gingerbread. I want to eat my arm. No, really. Is this foody? Yes, but it's also eminantly wearable. I've got to get another of these before the Yules go away.

Jailbait scares the tar out of me. Bubblegum? Cherry lollipops? Good heavens, yes. And it's strong. Man, is it strong. I put it on before bed so I wouldn't have to smell it long, but I wanted to test everything the lab gave me. Stragely enough, when I woke up hours later, I could smell the "womanly perfume," and it was lovely. But too little too late. Ye gods, I wish I knew someone I could foist this off onto.

Mitzvah is so unusual. When I first apply, I can't smell a darn thing. I was so very disappointed that I reapplied. Still nothing. I grumped around, and rebelliously glared at the bottle. But about four hours later, I happened to sniff my wrist, and there it was! Lovely sweetness. I guess on me this is something that just gets more powerful over time. Now I love it. So yummy.

A very strong floral tea with some lemony-sharpness. It's lovely, but I'm not a tea person, so I gave it to my mother, who's enamoured of it.

This is one of the florals I can wear. They're very fresh, clean, and light. Not exactly what I think of when I think of the Morrigan, but very lovely all the same. I like this very much,

Much to my delight, I don't get any black incense. Just the cleanest, purest smell imaginable. I wouldn't have ever ordered this on my own, so thanks labbies for throwing this in!

I love cinnamon sticks, and even cinnamon potpourri, but I just can't make myself love Three Witches. I don't get any clove at all, and only the barest pepper if I really look, but the cinnamon stands up and screams its fool head of on me. And it isn't even really cinnamon-y. It's more Big Red gum. What a disappointment.

I got this for my friend Tamara, and I think it's perfect for her. Bright, warm, and comforting. The peach is lovely and happily wasn't swallowed by the sandalwood. I just wish it lasted longer.

In the imp, the strongest note is the cocoa, and that's also true when I first put Velvet on. About fifteen minutes later, all I can smell is incense- very strong, church-y incense. The type that gives me a migraine if I'm around it too much. I had forgotten about the myrrh. Luckily, there's not much throw, so it isn't that bad. I had purchased this for omeone else, and I guess it's lucky that I;m not too fond of this, because I'm not tempted to keep it!

Wet, Honey Moon is a florally scent, but not a screaming jasmine, which makes me happy. Once it's dry, the honey comes out. It starts fairly strong but winds down to a skin scent. I love honey, so this scent is divine. I had been a little worried about lunar oils, but they must work on me. I'm so glad I stopped by Alternate Realities.

I'm not sure what it is about Jacob's Ladder, but it smells "church-y" to me. I wore it to the Christmas Eve service at church because I figured it might be a better choice than O, and it was perfect. I'm not sure this is something I'd wear often, because I don't necessarily want to smell like the inside of a church, but it does make me think of religion.

Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen. In the imp and on me, White Rabbit smells like "BLLLLAAAAAACCKKK TEEEEAAAAAAA!" Not BLACK TEA or black tea or even black tea. It screams its presence. Which, if you had a passion for the stuff, could be awesome. It was just too strong for me, though. The linen only showed up with a whisper about two hours after application. Sadly, I never got any honey or vanilla at all. Edited to add the official description.

In the bottle and on my skin, Hearth 2005 is a sharp scent. I think there's some weird pine permutation, but that's about all I can isolate. Maybe my roasted chestnuts were burned to a crisp, so I don't have smoke so much as char, I don't know. I also got an imp of Gluttony, which is all nutty goodness on me, and is close to what I had been looking for.

Silliness in the extreme. Vanilla bean, honeycomb, sugared pear, sweet pea and a dribble of strawberry. First, Pink Phoenix is all fake strawberry, and my mother thinks it smells like cheap teenybopper perfume. I really wasn't sure about it. But I like the lingering faded sweetness of Midwinter's Eve, so I had hope. After a bit, this also dries down into a faintly sweet scent, and I like it very much. How nice. ETA: The lab description. ETA2: A year later, I love this stuff. LOVE. It's pink, pink, pink, and so very comforting. Pink Phoenix has lost the fakeyness that it had as a new oil, and is just so sweet and soft now. It's funny to look back at this old review and see how much the oil/my perception have changed. Oh, PP.

Oh, the Herr disappointed me. I've tried it on every member of my family, and it hasn't worked on a one. On us, it's a painfully loud sharp scent that finally dries down to a whisper of a sharp scent. I think I can pick out some cypress (or at least a similar scent) and the very barest hint of tobacco. Oh well, not every scent will be a winner.

The first (and only thing I smell for a while) is the lilac. I love lilac, so this is great. Then the scent fades down into a mustier sort of scent, which I assume is the opium. I don't do well with florals, but this is nice for the two hours or so that it hangs around.

Man, I have a B.A. and a B.S. Does that make me Better At BS'ing??

For the first half hour or so, Hell's Belle is (to my nose) a very sharp scent. Not bitter per se but somehow... sharp. It' not a great description, but I can't think of anything else. The magnolia stands up and screams its presence. After forty-five minutes, the screaming sharpness dies down and the florals are much more subtle. Hell's Belle is all right, but I'm not sure if I'll use up my imp. I may give this to my mother, who loves magnolia. I have to admit, I'm discovering that I'm a very selective floral fan, so on other people this might be a huge hit. And I have to say, I've gotten more positive comments on this than anything else. Just personal tastes, I gues.

All I can smell is Kool Aid... for twenty minutes, and then Wanda's gone. Completely. She didn't even leave her phone number. I feel so used!

Florence is lovely. At first, I smell the plant-y sharpish scent of the iris, which I figure is bulb and stem as well. As time goes on, something comes out which must be the berries, but don't which I wouldn't necessarily classify as berry if I didn't know it was a note. And then the abmer. I love amber. It gives Florence a beautiful hazy quality. I'll enjoy my imp.

When I first put this on, the cranberry is very evident. For me, it wasn't tart like the juice so much as just a realization that it was cranberry. I get a little incensy/spiciness a little later on, but Lampades isn't particularly long lasting on me. After the first half hour, I have to really search for it (nose moving up and down my arm, glued to the skin). There are lingering traces, but not much. Someone once said they thought Lampades was holiday-ish. I don't get that on my skin, but I have to admit that Lampades isn't striking. It isn't that it's not nice, but I don't have any compulsion to put my nose down to my arm and smell, even when it's first on and I can smell it.

I had such high hopes for Snake Oil. The first time I tried it, I smelled exactly like a stick of incense for five hours, then the most gorgeous vanilla in the world came out. In all of the many subsequent tries, I've just gotten incense. Real, true, honest to goodness stick of cheap incense. Unfortunately, I really dislike incense. So this is a no go for me. I could see how, if the vanilla was out all of the time, this could be a spectacular blend.

At first, I didn't much care for Alice. I just didn't want to smell like a young girl. Not that Alice smells like a thirteen year old's perfume- just like a thirteen year old. And while I adore bergamot, it doesn't hang around on my skin. But I've found myself reaching for Alice more and more, so I got a 5 mL. The first thing that hits me is the clean, fresh bergamot. The citrus zing is lovely. Then the milk and honey come out, subdued and quiet. Finally the rose. Lovely, lovely.

I could cry. Of all of the scents in the world, I love almond best. So I was so very sure that this would be magic on me. Not so, coy knight. I keep trying this on in the hopes that something magical will happen and Queen of Sheba would work on me. The first time I tried it, I had four hours of the most poisonous-smelling green scent imaginable. The second time I tried, I got nothing. At all. The oil was shining on my wrist and no smell. Ever. The third time I tried, i got something hideous, but I don't know how to describe it. My imp hasn't smelled great on anyone I've tried it on, so maybe it's just wonky. But since I haven't gotten almond from any of the lab's oils, I think it's safe to say my skin just loves it as much as I do and swallows the oil the second it hits it.

Bathsheba is unspeakably beautiful. It's a perfume you smell, close your eyes and think that you couldn't tell someone how lovely it is even if you had all the time in the world. So gorgeous. I never get much carnation, and only a hint of plum when I first apply, but the Arabian musk is spectacular. The scent is never very strong, and is completely gone in about two and a half hours, but I find it so exquisite I ordered a 5 mL and will carry it with me.