Voleuse

2005 Version On first application, this is pure, melted sugar. My mother makes syrup sometimes, to go with pancakes, and it's just regular sugar and water, melted until it's viscuous. This is what it smells like to me. After a bit, it morphs to brown sugar with a hint of maple, and I think I get a hint of the booziness other reviews mention. There's a bit of sharp sweetness that might be fruit, but it doesn't come out strongly enough to identify. And then, weirdly, it starts to smell like stale candy on my skin. Have you ever kept candy in a box for a while, then smelled the box after the candy is gone? That's what it smelled like, except with a hint of booze and smoke. After a while, it reverts back to burnt brown sugar, and then it has amazing throw. I walked through a room, and my mother started wondering why she could smell candy. It's pretty and foody, but I'm not convinced it's for me.

This is quite sharp on first application, the bergamot coming out strongly. I didn't expect that at all, but I like it. After a few moments, the rose and carnation come into play, but no milk and honey yet. So far I like it, but it's a bit confusing. After a while, the scent becomes a creamy rose, with the barest hint of honey. The bergamot fades mostly away, but leaves a bit of a sour note. Overall, Alice is mild and girlish and sweet. This is a lovely scent, but I don't think it's for me.

Immediately, caramel and powdered sugar. Yum. After a minute, though, it turns completely to plastic, with a teensy bit of sugar, and then it disappears. And I really slathered it on, too! After a while, it improves...to cotton candy and plastic. Hours later, it's more cotton candy than plastic, but that's hours later. Sigh. It smells delicious in the vial, but for the most part, not so much on me.

Right out of the bottle, this was very buttery and pumpkin, with a weird sour note that made me recoil. After a few seconds, though, the sour note disappeared, and it became all warm pumpkin with a peach undertone. Oooh. I wouldn't have thought to meld those two fruits, but this works very prettily. After a while, the peach fades, and the overall scent warms. Very pumpkin pie, I think. And the clove becomes more dominant over time. I wouldn't label this a Halloween pumpkin, though--the peach makes it very fresh and sweet, and more something I would associate with a kitchen in autumn than anything else. Truth be told, if there were some woodsy notes in this, this would be exactly what I hoped Samhain 2004 would smell like. Alas, this is actually a little too sweet for me, though if there was more peach, I think I would like it better.

This seems to be a popular scent, so I was excited about giving it a try. On first sniff, it is lovely--a strong vanilla with spicy undertones. And not imitation vanilla, but the authentic, directly imported from the source vanilla. Heady and sweet. The way the scents mingle is interesting, because the vanilla becomes a solid base, but an afterthought to the spices. (I keep wanting to say I smell cardamom, but I'm not convinced that's it.) There's a hint of resin, as well, which is a neat addition. It mellows into a smoky, rich vanilla, but it also takes a faint medicinal and powdery tinge on my skin. On the plus side, it lasts a long while, but I don't know if I like it enough to, say, spring for an entire bottle.

This is a very clean scent to my nose. The lemon is there, as are the florals, but in a way that reminds me of laundry. It's nicely sweet and delicate. The scent faded into a mild, citrus musk, but quickly disappeared. It's pretty, but not substantive enough for me.

2004 Version This is gorgeous on first sniff. Fruity, chocolatey, with just a hint of smoky florals. I adore it immediately. The fruit fades, but the scent overall becomes smokier, while keeping the chocolate note. There's also a hint of tobacco, which I didn't catch before. I only swiped this once on my wrist, and it stayed quite strong for four hours or so, then faded. I am so, so glad I'm getting a bottle of the 2005 formulation, because I love this. I'd actually love a bottle of the 2004 version, but as it is, I'll be hanging on to this imp for myself.

Based on a venerable French pontifical incense blend: monastic frankincense and myrrh, Damascus rose, Russian gardenia, cassia, and lily of the valley wafting on a chill Autumn wind. A celebration of the glory and suffering of the saints and matryrs of the Church. 2004 Version Oh, this is pretty. The incense blooms right away, and underneath there's...corn bread? Why is there vague corn bread? Maybe it's an odd component thing. After a few minutes, the odd note fades away, and it's all incense and burning leaves after that. I don't get any of the floral notes at all, though, except for a faint tinge that keeps the scent from being overpowering incense. A little dusty, like brittle petals. After a while, I get a stronger hint of rose, and resin, but that's it. I'll be getting an imp of the 2005 soon, hopefully. I'm curious as to whether the incense and florals will be stronger in the revisiting.

Samhain 2004 is immediately patchouli on me, though lighter than I would have expected. On second sniff, the woods definitely come in, and a bit of clove. Very much reminiscent of autumn woods, with leaves and mud squelching underfoot. I don't get any pumpkin from this at all. Over time, a hint of apple sneaks in, but this stays primarily woodsy and patchouli on me. Hopefully, when I get Samhain 2005, it will have a little more fruit. ::crosses fingers::

The scent is exactly what the description claims. Butter and popcorn. Exactly. Like I've dipped myself in the oil at the bottom of a popcorn vat, except better. No, really. I can't stop marveling at it, because it's butter on top, but a hint of burnt corn underneath, and a bit of sweetness. Like kettle corn. How? How can this be? The butter fades a little eventually, and it gets a little sweeter, but not much. Still exactly like popcorn, though it doesn't last very long on my skin. This isn't a scent I'd wear, but I'm glad I tried it out. My mind continues to boggle.

I have no idea what muscadine is, but I'm assuming it's the source of the lovely grape scent that appears on first application. Yum. Almost immediately, however, the grape disappears, and the patchouli overtakes everything else. To me, it becomes a very dusty, sweet, leathery scent. Like the corner of a bookshop that hasn't been visited, but you can get stuck in for hours, just tracing the titles on the spines. It's also very earthy, though, and a little moist. Garden gone wild and library, both. Evocative, but it makes me eyes water a little. Huh. After a while, the patchouli fades, and the sweetness returns a little bit. This scent is still a little too heavy for me, though, and it lasts a long time.

Oooh. Interesting. This is very peppery on first application, astringent and quite mossy. Very atmospheric--like stepping into a humid evening. It smells, to me, less like a perfume and more like a place. It becomes less sharp over time, mellows into a cool, woodsy, green scent. It's fresh and pungent, but not something I would think to wear as a scent. I would buy a bottle, just to keep sniffing it from time to time. (I'm finding I have that kind of reaction to a lot of the SiA scents. Not for wearing, just...evoking.) It finally fades into a faint peppery scent, spicy and light, which smells odd on me, but not unpleasant.

This one's almost overpoweringly sweet when first applied. The honey blooms brightly, then the ylang ylang, with the musks as an undertone. I have no idea what labdanum is. The honey fades a little, eventually, which is good for me, because I'm not the biggest fan of honey. It's still a really heady scent, though, warm and sweet and insinuating. Like the sun wrapping itself around you. And after a while, a bit of floral begins to emerge. Interesting. Much too sweet for me, but it's a beautiful scent if you like honey.

I received CNS notifications for both orders, so there's no difference there, as far as I've experienced.

FWIW, I made two separate orders in August on the same day--one using Paypal and one using CCNow. The Paypal order arrived a week and a half before the CCNow order.

In the bottle, the fruit is predominant, but once I applied the oil to skin, it became incense and amber. Warm and thoughtful, if that makes any sense. The currant is slightly evident, but it's mostly earth tones. Sadly, this fades very quickly on me, and it stays faint incense and earth the entire time. I never get a hint of rose or vanilla. It's a pleasant, earthy scent, but not for me. I wish the fruit had stuck around longer, actually, because I love the way it smells in the bottle.

*blinks* Now this is a complex scent. At first sniff, I caught tobacco, then something green next, then the amber and vetiver and earth. And after a while, it gets sharper, and the leather kind of blossoms. This is actually almost too complex, as I kept trying to catch all the notes within the fragrance, and I couldn't. It's definitely a masculine sort of scent, but not one that I respond to as viscerally as I did to Iago. After a while, unfortunately, the scent turns a little astringent on me, though it's still nice and spicy. Not one for my personal use, but it's a great scent.

Very light and purple, on first application. The violet is evident immediately, as well as a hint of sweet and green in the background. I have no idea what the other florals might be, or the fruit. It is a gorgeous, smoky-but-not-smoky scent. Dusk is the perfect word for it. Over time, the scent gets sweeter, more floral. It becomes more like itself, if that makes any sense. It doesn't fade very much at all. I'm not sure if I wear violet well, but I love the smell of it. I really like this scent.

Light and musky, on first application. Also a little floral. It's not at all masculine to my nose, but more of a gender-neutral scent. The white musk is very clear, but the overall scent is faint, very airy. A really sensual sort of scent, I think, though I'd near to slather it on a bit more to really know for certain. Over time, the musk warms nicely into the floral scent. It's very summery, reminiscent of a really green field, dotted with flowers. I can see where this would be very attractive on a cute boy. A while later, the scent is refined to mostly sweetish musk. It's gorgeous.

This is a pretty color. The palest pumpkin orange. On first application, this is very ginger, with the slightest bit of sweetness. I want to compare it to gingerbread, but it's not that--it's spicier, more raw, and the herbs come out quickly. The sweetness fades over time, until it's purely herbs and raw ginger. Hmmmm. A nice scent, but not one I'd wear regularly.

Ooooh. I was interested in this one because of the apple, and on first application, it comes off as spicy apple cider. Mmmm. This disappeared quickly on me, sadly. The apple faded, but the scent became warmer, and the spice stayed. It's a lovely scent, the kind that makes you want to curl in front of a fireplace. Really pretty, and very much an autumn-verging-on-winter sort of scent. I'd love to have a bottle of this.

Yikes. Um. Potent is probably a good word for this. On first application, it comes out as very, very herbal. Almost unpleasantly so--not sharp, but damp and a little mossy. But all the reviews say wait twenty minutes or so, so wait I shall. Later, a bit of...carnation? Something floral begins to emerge. A little powdery, as well. Less repellent to my nose, but not exactly attractive either. A longer interval produces more powder, more floral and, yes, rose and almond. It ends up being quite nice, but not really something I would keep. The end result would be nice as a lotion, I think.

On first application, this comes out light, kind of citrus. A hint of florals, but nothing I can identify. Nothing very substantial at all, but I don't think I would expect less from something described as crystal and glass, right? It's pleasant and fresh. This definitely isn't one of the mix-up bottles of Snake Charmer. *g* The florals become sharper after a bit, and the citrus fades. Still pretty, mellow, and clear. The scent doesn't really fade, as it wasn't very strong to begin with, though I didn't slather it on. There's a warm note that I'm fairly certain is amber, as well. Over time, it becomes a little spicier, which I didn't expect. And musky--the teensiest bit masculine, but not overly so. I found it quite soothing, actually. This isn't something I'd wear as a perfume, specifically, but I wouldn't mind having it around.

Wow. This is definitely a rose scent but an incredibly rich one. Deep and sweet and fresh and a little bit thorny. Green and petal-soft. It's like stepping into a huge rose garden (like in Huntington, or Victoria), just after dawn, and breathing deeply. Gorgeous. Because I've already promised this imp away, I didn't slather it (I test by swiping my wrist a couple of times with the wand), so it faded quickly and quietly. The green and the sweet came out a little more, but it smelled no less like roses. And it stays that way! No turning to powder or soap on me. And after the initial fade, it didn't disappear for a while afterwards. I'm not a huuuuge rose fan, so I'll try a few more rose scents before I settle on a bottle. This is, I think, worth at least 5ml purchase.

Copal is, apparently, derived from sumach. Not that I know exactly what sumach smells like, but it at least sounds familiar, whereas I kind of stare blankly at "copal" and think it's a typo. The rest of it sounds lovely. Plumeria, orange, smoke, jungle blooms? Weirdly, on first application, I'm first reminded of Juicy Fruit gum. Not strongly, but there's a bit of that sort of sweetness there. It is also smoky, and kind of like sticky sap. That's probably the copal, I think. It's very strong on me, initially. Heady and rich, but not heavy. Complex. As it fades, though, I get more and more Juicy Fruit. Agh. Not that I dislike it, but I don't necessarily need to smell like chewing gum, y'know? It's an interesting scent, and the smokiness isn't at all crowding. It's actually very refreshing, in a way. And, gum-like. Even a little minty, which again, not bad, but not what I wanted.