achromance

In the vial: Dark and thick wood scent with a sweet cocoa layer. On my wrist: Smooth and quite subtle. This is a very warm, creamy and rich scent, and Intrigue is just the right name for it. The woods, the cocoa and the black palm compliment each other very well. It's a definite keeper.

Clove and I are mortal enemies, but the other notes tempted me to try Dracul. Maybe it won't be so overpowering this time. Fingers crossed? In the vial: So far so good. I'm picking up a hefty fir with some musk and spices. On my wrist: How weird; this is turning soapy on me. My skin only tends to secrete the lackluster powdery scent with florals, saffron and amber, so I'm not sure what's going on here. The balsam of peru and orange blossom, perhaps? It doesn't help that the clove is giving me a mean kick in the esophagus. Oh Dracul, I really wanted to like you! Maybe this is a sign to start snubbing clove completely.

In the vial: It's very smoky ad heavy. I'm not quite sure what creates the scent, the black amber and cedarwood perhaps? While I like it, I do wish that it morphs into something less smoking camp-firey. On my wrist: It's still very smoky, I wonder how? I really want the tangerine to come through, now it's just dry and serious, but no. All I get is smoke. Mysterious are the ways of my skin.

If my rusty French skills serve me right, Bien Loin d'Ici translates to Long Gone from Here. In the vial: For some reason, this is more incence and perfume than anything to me. I think it's the benzoin and red musk mingling that creates the olfactory illusion. I'm slightly afraid of the honey, as it tends to amp up on me. On my wrist: Bien Loin d'Ici turns sweeter against my skin, with a hint of honey lingering in the background. I'm really missing the spices, as they never seem to show up. It's a pretty mixture, but nothing special on my skin. To me, it's a very traditional perfume, reminiscent of scented soaps.

In the vial: A sweet, fresh, summery scent. Quite juicy too. On my wrist: Oh this is gorgeous! It's one of those rare scents that actually affect my mood, this one making me a tad happier and more content. While it does get a slight perfumy undertone as it dries, Aeval doesn't become powdery or soapy like many other blends tend to on my skin. Although it turns faint quite quickly, Aeval is a wonderful feminine scent, one which I'll definitely be using a lot.

Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, Roman chamomile, delphinium, and lavender. In the vial: Chamomile and lavender with a cool air. On my wrist: The red currant is coming through, mixing with the chamomile and now much fainter lavender. This is a very pretty, girly scent. Next, the delphinium emerges, replacing even the final shreds of lavender. The final scent it a subtle, happy and floral scent, with a touch of naive sweetness of the red currant.

In the vial: Ginger and bergamot. On my wrist: It's turning into citrus detergent at first and I'm a little worried about what's to come, but soon it morphs into a clean ginger scent. I guess I will just have to give up and accept that ginger is not for me. It amps up like crazy on me and eats almost everything else, leaving only faint shadows of the other notes behind. That being said, Spider is not a bad scent, and it is unusually tender considering it contains ginger. I am however being left missing the mandarin, vetiver and nutmeg which were what first intrigued me about this scent. Spider fades really quickly, becoming only a lingering scent of bergamont and faint ginger.

In the vial: Fresh green tea with a touch of lemon. On my wrist: The lab's tea notes, rooibos aside, never quite smell of dry tea leaves or the drink, but rather of crisp, fresh leaves. That's what I'm getting here as well, it's very poignant. Unfortunately Shanghai turns into detergent on me after a while.

In the vial: Mm! This smells like a spa. I'm picking up chloric water filled with herbal oils, as if prepared for some luxurious aromatherapy. On my wrist: There's still that spa scent, although not quite as profound. The water has evaporated, leaving a mixture of enticing herbs behind. I just don't get a dark feel from this at all. It's definitely not bright either, but it's more dim mood lighting than dark, if that makes any sense. I think I'm picking up pine, and maybe aloe vera, although that might just be the spa image confusing me there. The oil is very powerful, and seems to get more juice as it dries further. Then after some time, the scent seems to vanish in thin air. This is a very short-lived oil I'm afraid.

In the vial: I'm actually getting flashbacks to some fancy dessert I've eaten, some juicy cake with dark chocolate and cherry. I know that has nothing in common with the lab description, I really don't understand where the association comes from. Now I have to mention that I didn't really care for that dessert (it was one of those "love it or hate it" type foods), so I'm quite apprehensive about Seraglio. On my wrist: Well there's the rose. The dessert scent is no more. I suppose there are some spices to go along with the rose, but they are being overpowered. It's just rose, rose, rose. Nothing else comes through. In fact, it seems like the rose is just getting stronger as the oil dries. If you like rose, you'll like this, but I'm afraid I'm not a fan.

In the vial: I can pick up the licorice root and the iris. There's something very earthy about this scent, it's lovely. The musk is coming through, but the rest of the notes are not pronounced at the moment. On my wrist: Licorice shrouded by a musky veil, the iris and violet entwined around it. The scent is very gender-neutral, but with both feminine and masculine accents. As it dries, the tonka comes through. I really like the lab's tonka bean: it's subtle enough to add that slight vanilla touch without being too overpowering. Overall this is a gorgeous earthy scent with some edge to it.

In the vial: Pumpkin, leather and dark autumn soil. I have to say that the lab's leather note is exquisite, it smells exactly like leather. On my wrist: Mmm! Leather and pine pitch, and the pumpkin also comes through slowly. This is really curious, nothing like I've smelled before. It dries down to leather spiced by pumpkin. I was unable to detect the seaweed at any point. It is a rather masculine scent, but it is a keeper.

In the vial: The notes sound very me. I love lavender and vetiver. The oil itself brings about a gust of tea rose and vetiver on the first sinff. The second time around I can pick up the amber as well. On my wrist: Amber and vetiver. After a while the amber takes the lead, and the oil becomes body lotion -like in scent. As it dries, I'm afraid the scent partially turns to laundry detergent. Amber rarely seems to agree with me. I'm afraid this is just not working on my skin.

In the vial: A very curious, bittersweet scent. Warm amber and rooibos, with a kick from the ginseng and lush greens. Although many of the green tea or black tea scents from the lab have been quite harsh and bitter and not tea-like at all to me, the rooibos seems to actually deliver in this department. It's a tad sweeter than the other teas ought to be, but it really works. On my wrist: The amber is going powdery on me, which is a shame and I hope it can pull itself together. At first there was a gust of freshly cut grass, but it settled for a subtler variety of greenery. I'm hoping the ginseng will lift its head soon to spice things up. As it dries, Nothing Gold Can Stay becomes a subtle, slightly powdery amber scent with flair from the ginseng and rooibos. It is a very lively scent, undulating in degrees of each ingredient. At times it's like sugared rooibos, at others the freshly cut grass I picked up earlier returns.

MXCII In the vial: The oil is a unique chartreuse colour; I've never seen anything quite like it. As for the scent, I just can't pinpoint anything. It's not floral, fruity, gourmand, smoky, green... It's somewhat aquatic and there's some oxygen. There's perhaps a hint of musk lingering about in the background. On my wrist: There's a fruit, but I can't quite pinpoint it. Possibly mango. Thre's also a floral note, but I'm terrible at florals so I won't even try to guess what it is. The aquatic effect is back too. This is a really pretty scent.