Unauthorized Cinnamon

King mandarin, tuberose, white sandalwood, white moss, yerba mate, tangerine, and styrax. I get strong mandarin and tuberose from this. It's very reminiscent of Night Gaunt, but the citrus definitely has that mandarin "edge," which reads to my nose like a hint of lime. It's greener and sharper than the citrus in Night Gaunt, and it lasts longer. Unlike so many ephemeral citrus blends, this does seem to hold on to that tang for an hour or more, with the tuberose coming forward and holding down the fort. Usually I amp wood like crazy, but I can't detect any sandalwood in this. I think I get a hint of the resinous styrax (benzoin), and the moss supports that green edge to the mandarin. This is very pretty, and could be a good option if you like citrus and want it to stick around a bit, as long as you like tuberose too. Sadly for me, something in it gives me a sore throat, so I think I'm going to have to give this one up, and live with re-applying my Night Gaunt and Phantasm.

Ooh, this reminds me strongly of People of the Labyrinth's Luctor et Emergo, without the cherry/marzipan note. I like it!

I don't usually seek out highly complex blends, but I bought this on impulse, and it's really lovely! After a thyme blast of Listerine proportions while wet, this settles down very nicely with cocoa and and a woody note, peeks of ginger and nutmeg, and a melange of subtle elements I can't identify, but which keep this from being very foody. It's worth noting that woods usually amp like hell on me, drowning everything out with pencil shavings/tongue depressor dominance. But whatever is creating a wood tone in this (the roots maybe?) is behaving itself. Oh, and the anise in Kabuki was ridiculously strong on me, but I'm not smelling any anise in this (that is a good thing IMO). I think this is a keeper!

I hope this is the right place to ask about aging. A few months ago I got an imp of Jezebel from a forumite, and it was wonderful. Very rich, with an assertive (but not overpowering) and long-lasting rose note, and a really nice, non-powdery honey base, with just hints of neroli. So I finally up and ordered a bottle, and it smells very powdery, not very rosey, and almost reminiscent of baby aspirin to me. Do you reckon this is a case of new versus aged? Please tell me if I squirrel my 5mL away for a year, it will smell as gorgeous as the imp!

October 2011 This is so, so gorgeous! In the imp and wet, it definitely gives me that shot of green bell pepper (which is not something I'm fond of!), but it passes after a couple seconds. Then there's fallen leaves, cool air (how? how does Beth do this?), a touch of sap, and maybe the softest suggestion of a far off pile of leaves burning. It's not really smoky at all - it's more of a feel in the background. Some have mentioned October going bad-aquatic-soapy on them, but it is fine on me, and I'm very susceptible to anything aquatic going Irish Spring on my skin. I also tend to amp wood scents ridiculously, but the dried leaves here behave themselves on me. This is really the embodiment of the perfect fall day. I adore it. I'm slathering it today to celebrate the breezy cool fall weather (finally!). Some might find this more a men's scent. It is absolutely not girly, but I don't think it's wrong for a girl either. I'd call it a wonderful unisex scent!

I was really looking forward to trying this, as I'm getting into dairy notes lately! But on me, there's no milk, and no ginger. How is this possible? Ginger comes through very strong when I wear Vixen or Shub. But Sudha just smells like weird soap on me. What the hell? Is it my skin or my nose, or both?

Wow, rose and vanilla both tend to be problematic on me, and the jasmine in Sacred Whore did not work well. Why did I order this again? Who cares - because it WORKS. Everything blends really nicely, the currant gives a nice fruity grounding, the flowers smell pretty, not overpowering, and the vanilla is so soft it is more of a blending aid than a note in itself. I think I will keep this one!

Bottled gloom; the essence of oblivion. Blackest opium and narcissus deepened by myrrh. It amazes me how different scents can smell on/for different people. I had to post because I find it completely hilarious (if a bit disappointing)that a fragrance called "Darkness" winds up smelling exactly like Johnson & Johnson baby lotion on me! I'm hoping it's the narcissus, because I've got some Event Horizon coming, and if opium is doing this, that imp will probably be a total loss.

In the imp and wet, this had an interesting blend of bitter almond, frankincense, and a touch of floral. Once dry, though, this was all cinnamon, all the time. No other notes at all. In this case, my name is very apt.

Tobacco honey. In the imp, I smell sweetness mixed with a bright, clean floral smell. It's not soapy in the way aquatics and florals can go on me, but it does remind me of some zingy shower gel or something. Not what you'd expect from the word tobacco - this must be the tobacco flower's scent. Wet, very honey sweet, then clean floral - they're chasing each other in a circle. Dry, I believe there's an actual cured tobacco note here. The honey is there, but the flower has gone, and there's another level of sweetness from the tobacco. Not acrid or smoky at all - this is the smell of a drying house for tobacco leaves, or the base of a nice pipe tobacco. I think if I had my husband smell this (he doesn't have a nose for subtle scent components), he would say I smelled like maple syrup. It's very sweet, definitely. This is making me very impatient for my Lab order with Pussy and Yellow Jessamine Honey - I think the honey note might do very nicely with a straight floral or with the saffron to cut it a bit, rather than layering sweet honey with sweet tobacco. Not that this isn't nice - I think it's a keeper imp!

In the imp, I think the myrrh was just overwhelming everything else. I'm guessing that's myrrh, at least - a slightly musty, bitter spice odor, akin to saffron almost. Wet, and while drying, the myrrh is still strong, but I can smell honey and a faint whiff of florals. It's interesting. The patchouli is kind of dancing with the myrrh in the foreground. Dry, I'm getting a lot of patchouli. There's some complexity in the background, but definitely dominant patchouli. I think this is winding up too one-note on me, but I can see how it could be amazing on different skin!

Got this imp from a forumite. In the imp: Minty! Wet: Minty and herbal. Pleasant but pretty straightforward. Drydown: The mint and herbs linger - a mint exactly like toothpaste isn't (to steal a phrase structure from Douglas Adams), and the lavender comes out. At least I think it must be that - the floral is quite gentle and I never would have identified it as lavender! In any case, the whole melange becomes complex and more like perfume than an herb garden. The lime seems to be peeking through in a friendly way - much milder than the Muse version that I couldn't take. This is a great summer perfume, and I might need a bottle before next June!

Wow! This could be a bottle scent for me. In the imp: Honey. Very sweet, which made me worry. Wet: Florals grounded beautifully in rich, not-too-sweet honey. Drying: Gorgeous and balanced. Sexy and rich. Ironically it's kicking the everloving ass of the Envy on my other wrist. It's not a shy fragrance! Later: I'm a bit worried that this is going all rose on me. Prominent rose isn't to my taste - perhaps that's because my skin amps it? But I've been huffing my wrist so much I might just be burning out some of my circuits and not picking up all the subtlety. Will try to restrain myself and see how this goes over the next few hours. I'm so hoping the honey and orange blossom stay in the fight, because I think this might be my answer to O or Snake Oil, which I'm avoiding because vanilla hates me. Update: yesterday the rose did take over for a while, but it calmed back down. And today I wore this to the gym (yeah I'm weird) and it stayed perfectly balanced!

Just soapy floral for me - in the bottle, wet, and dry. Weird, for something called Dragon's Blood it's not at all what I expected, and I don't get any saltiness for the "tears" either.

I'm so excited that my order came unexpectedly, I just have to start playing with my imps and reviewing! In the bottle: LIME. And to me, that's a good thing. Wet: A rather harsh lime, like it has the bitterness of the white pith mixed in. It's fighting with the white floral bouquet. Dry: The lime is calming down and playing nicely. I'm guessing it's the lotus I'm smelling as a slightly lighter, greener note in the florals. I think I might like the residual bitterness and sharpness of the lime interacting with the flowers, but I'm going to have to try this one a few times. ETA: nope, it ended up as old lady perfume mixed with green Skittles. Not for me.

The Whole Foods in Chapel Hill is selling out their remaining supply of BPAL. I get the sense that my bottle of La Vague is pretty old. But it's still lovely. In the bottle: fruity and floral. Light and summery and fun. Wet: Jasmine takes over and makes me swoon - in a good way. Dry: The notes are taking turns. I can identify the peach, supported by creamy flowers. The grape is barely detectable, which makes it nice (Urd is so not good on me, for example). Is it peachy? Is it floral? Depends on the moment I sniff. It seems to be fading pretty fast, but it's been fun!

Well, this was a learning experience for me. In the bottle, it smelled sweet, but with hints of something more. However, once on my skin it became indistinguishable from the Mouse's Long Sad Tale I had on the other hand: both smelled like cheap artificial caramel scent. Like something you'd get from a scratch & sniff sticker or something. Verdict: vanilla hates me. It apparently goes awful on my skin, and proceeds to drown out any other note with extreme prejudice.

This was a bonus imp, and boy am I glad they chose it for me! I'm already not great at picking out notes, but for me, Hellfire in particular is a very blended scent. All the notes meld completely, so Hellfire smells like . . . Hellfire. When reading others' descriptions, I can see that it must have tobacco, leather, and incense. But I wouldn't have said, "Aha! That bit is tobacco," on my own. I'll tell you one thing - it does smell hot. How did you do that, Beth? It's not really smoky, it just evokes thoughts of hot coals somehow. A brilliant example of delivering an experience, not just a fragrance! I definitely do get a powder overtone, which is usually not my favorite, but this is nothing like a baby-ish, feminine, Chanel No. 5 powder. It blends well with the other notes and lends a sweetness. I'm guessing from reading other reviews here that this is the musk. I'll have to watch out for that in other blends, because as I said, not usually something I like. But here it works.

I hated this The description sounded really great, but I think part of the problem is that sweet scents might sound good to me, but I actually don't like them in my perfume. In the bottle: SWEET! Coffee and Irish cream. Wet: Same. Overwhelming to my nose. Dry: The wood and dust really did come out, but on me they combined to smell like rotten wet cardboard. The sweet Irish coffee was still equal to it, but they fought instead of blending. I think this scent really delivers on its description, so if it sounds good to you, definitely try it. For me, it was a great lesson in where my tastes lie and that sometimes your skin chemistry just won't cooperate!

I went to BPAL to order Miskatonic after a friend said it smelled yummy and had great staying power. But I saw Night Gaunt and had to try it - went ahead and bought a bottle, and I'm so glad! In the bottle: Juicy citrus, but I get no grapefruit whatsoever! Kumquat and yuzu are gangbusters and definitely reminiscent of the oil in the peel, not just the juice. Wet: Still mega-citrus, but a hint of flowers. Dry: The white florals come through quickly as the citrus fades. I'm not great at identifying notes, but I think it's stuff like tuberose and gardenia. The citrus completely disappears on me, and I'm OK with it because the floral is so nice - not a typical girly perfumey floral. A little creamy and a little carnal. I love grapefruit and I am a little sad it didn't come out for me. I got none of that delightful bitterness. But I like all citrus, so this is still great.