rhubarb3point14

Ah, this isn't going as well as I had hoped. Straight out of the imp, this was STRONG pine. Very pure, Christmas-y pine. I liked it, but it was awfully single-note. No sign of the tomato leaf. Over time, I got tantalizing whiffs of a really beautiful cranberry note. But every time I started to love it, I would be knocked down by a strong blast of cedar wood. Basically, I smell like a hamster cage.

Oh, my. Dorian is glorious. Everything in this goes right on me. It's all vanilla-tea-caramel goodness. When I first apply it, I can smell the crisp, airy lavender in the fougere. And as it deepens, I can even smell a little bit of the musk, which is something my skin usually quashes. I don't get much citrus out of this, although many people seem to. This is sexy and comforting and disconcerting all at the same time. Lovely.

Zephyr is very, very pretty. It starts out tart and sunshiny, all lemon and vanilla and fresh outdoor air. The vanilla grounds it and keeps it from being too astringent. Over time, on my skin, it morphs into a nice mixture of lemon, musk, and sandalwood. It becomes slightly sweeter but is never cloying. It's actually kind of amazing that I get such a nice waft of musk out of it, because usually my body minimizes musk. A lot of fragrances that are musky/sexy on other people are crisp on me. It might be that the China musk has special rhubarb3point14-combating powers. Overall, I think this is a gorgeous, well-executed scent. The only reason I wouldn't buy a bottle is that it's just not "me." This is a very feminine, girl-next-door fragrance, whereas I'm a little bit more tomboyish and nerdy.

This scent is very refreshing, but I don't think it's doing the same thing on me as it does on other people. It is green and frosty and wicked, especially at first. I experience it as herbal, not floral at all. But as time goes on, the most noticeable characteristic is a smell of expensive French-milled soap. It is almost identical to the way I experience Pontarlier, but without the rose and lilac. I realized that what this must be (since it is the only thing the two scents seem to share in common) is wormwood. It's a nice, clean, peppery-alkaline smell, but on me, it tends to overwhelm all the other components. I am not sure how I feel about this... or about Pontarlier, to be perfectly honest. Both imps are in the "maybe" pile for now.

Let me preface this review by saying that I own dairy goats, and I love to rest my face on their sun-warmed backs and smell their sweet goatly smell. Also, in my family we are positively religious about yogurt. So if ever there was a scent with my name written on it, it's probably this one. On my skin, Nonae Caprotina smells like Greek yogurt or sour cream mixed with fresh, sweet, delicious figs. I don't smell much goat in it, just the appealing tanginess of fermented dairy. The oil goes through a frighteningly sweet stage about half an hour after application, but then mellows to a warm, creamy, comforting scent that I can't stop sniffing. It makes me happy. This scent strikes me as both an extraordinary testament to Beth's art, and an extremely odd thing to do! But I'm certainly glad that she did it. STANDING OVATION. I need to acquire more of this.

I have no idea why, but I get strawberry out of this. A big burst of fresh strawberry that disappears after 30 seconds, to be replaced by vanilla and sandalwood, but then sneaks back in just a teeny bit when I'm not looking, hours later. The vanilla in this is gorgeous and creamy and light. I had a little bit of trouble for the first hour or so because my skin amps sandalwood so enthusiastically -- I joked to someone that I was in danger of smelling like a balsa-wood airplane. But it seems to mellow out a little bit as time goes on. It's still very prominent, but at least it's not so biting, and it blends better with the other components. I like this cheerful, pretty little scent, and will definitely hang on to the imp, although it'll never be one of the greats for me because of the crazy sandalwood issue.

Oh, dear. I love peonies, herbs, and tea, but... this fragrance did not go well for me. I could hardly smell it at all on my skin, and what little I could smell was nothing but powder and bitterness. Alas, The Dormouse hates me.

This was very green and aquatic when it was wet, and a little tart. Then, much to my surprise, when it dried on my skin, it was an absolute dead ringer for a floral-scented French soap my Nana used to use. It stayed that way over time, too: Nana's soap. Because of the way it has reacted with my skin, I can't smell any of the notes except for lilac and rose, and both of them are the "perfume" type, not the smell of the fresh flowers. This brings back wonderful memories, but I'm not sure if nostalgia is a good enough reason to go around smelling like a bar of soap, albeit a very high-quality one. ETA: After the fact, I figured out what happened to me here. Several days later I tried The Witch's Garden and was startled to find that it smelled very similar to Pontarlier on me. After pondering for a moment, I realized the one thing the two fragrances had in common was wormwood, the main component of absinthe. So apparently, I amp wormwood, and on me it smells soapy (although not unpleasantly so).

I can only tell you my first hour's worth of impressions of Jolly Roger, because unfortunately it gave me a headache and I had to wash it off. I think the culprit was the aquatic note. Out of the imp, it was a strong, strong aquatic, and I wasn't sure I was going to like it. But then my skin devoured a lot of it, leaving a mild salt water and lumber smell with a touch of something that I thought resembled allspice. I don't smell much leather in this, nor very much Bay Rum. It does have a bit of masculine sexiness to it. I wish it had worked better for me. Maybe there's only one piratey scent allocated per person, and I already used up my allowance on Calico Jack.

Plunder comes out of the imp smelling very sharp, almost violent. However, it quickly quiets down and mellows into a deep, rich, spicy mix as it dries. It does not morph any more after that, and I feel that it works almost independent of my body chemistry. It smells exactly the way you'd imagine. I can pick out every single component listed in the description. On me, the cassia and black peppercorn are the strongest. I experience it as dry and woody rather than sweet and kitcheny. I like it, but I don't find it especially compelling. There's no "whoa!" in it for me. A later-in-the-day realization: I've just figured out what this fragrance is for (as if a fragrance has to be "for" anything!). It is the one scent I've ever worn that does not in any way cross swords with the food that I am eating. It is suitable for lunch or tea and will not in any way interfere with your wholehearted enjoyment of a chicken salad sandwich.

Ooh, this is so nice! The initial note is a strong hit of minty feel-good wintergreen. I had a nostalgic moment of remembering myself as a child at at Christmas, sparking Wint-O-Green Lifesavers in a dark closet. Then there was a brief period when the scent almost disappeared altogether, and I wondered if I hadn't put on enough. And then the scent re-emerged as a gentle, fresh, woodsy scent that just felt wonderful. I was out doing my farm chores and found that Yggdrasil was very much at home there, as I tramped through the fields of frost-killed plants and smelled the hint of storm in the air. I like this very, very much. I do wish the wintergreen hung on a little longer, because it's very energizing for me. But overall, this is a beautiful fragrance and a definite keeper.

This smells like single-note pipe tobacco on me. Sometimes my skin is not very creative! It's a good-smelling scent, but it's a very manly fragrance to me. Might be less strange on a guy.

Out of the imp, this smelled like citrus-peel and aniseseed biscotti to me. I say biscotti, because even though it smelled like sweet cake, it gave an overwhelming impression of dryness and crumbliness. "Yum!" I thought. But after half an hour, the scent started to turn very, very bitter. The bitterness became the only thing I could smell, and I had to scrub it off. I never did get the spicy notes that most people seem to have gotten from it. That might have saved it -- I like spice!

Darkness is quite sharp when it is wet, and it comes on very strong as it is drying down. The throw on it is fairly epic -- it's easy for me to feel I have put on too much. But hours later, when it has had a chance to blend with my body chemistry? Oh, oh, oh. It's one of those fragrances that makes me huff my arm. I can't stop sniffing myself. I smell SO BEAUTIFUL. "Blown-out candle" is an apt descriptor. So is "Victorian opium den." It's romantic and mysterious and very sexy. Darkness in its dry phase reminds me very much of YSL Opium. It's not a twin, but it's definitely a sibling. And since that's one of my favorite fragrances of all time... well, let's just say I like Darkness very, very much.

My body chemistry has a unique ability to take even the most disreputable, overtly sexual fragrance and make it as cheerful and guileless as a Trixie Belden novel. And that, I regret to say, is what it does with Whitechapel. It discards the musk utterly, leaving nothing but a fresh-faced waft of citrus and lilac. I have to say the lilac note in this fragrance is stunning. It smells real -- and I am a connoisseur of lilac! But much like Amsterdam, this is a fragrance that I will use as a room/linen spray rather a body scent. My body does not do it justice. I think Whitechapel is gorgeous. I just wish it weren't so unsexy on me!

A lot of people seem to smell grapefruit in this, but that's not what I get, exactly. It’s a piney aquatic on me. I suspect what a lot of people are experiencing as grapefruit is the odd, assertive tartness of it. It also has airy alkalinity in it to balance the acid. Someone said ambergris, and I wouldn’t be surprised… after all, that goes nicely with the deep-sea-realm theme! Unfortunately, even though I usually like ambergris-y things, this one doesn't quite mesh with my personality.

This smelled amazing and sexy in the vial (which was a frimp -- thank you, BPAL!). I couldn't wait to try it! When I put it on, it started out very appealingly almond-like, or maraschino-cherry-like. I love foodie smells, so the initial scent was a thumbs-up. Unfortunately, my body chemistry quickly turned it powdery and soapy and overwhelmingly sweet. The end result made me sneezy and headachy. I swear there is Dragon's Blood in this, because there is that characteristic cherry note -- and my body made an almost identical powdery-candy mess of the otherwise lovely Dragon's Tears. Part of my problem may also be the rose note in it. I love rose, but historically it is a very hard note for me to wear. Pout, pout, pout. I really thought this was going to be great, but it's not for me.

Alice's Evidence is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. On me, it starts out very sharp and peppery-gingery, then calms down a bit and smells exactly like stewed spiced quinces. It also reads very Christmas-y to me, so I think I'm going to set aside my imp to wear during the holidays.

This smells of chocolate and vanilla in the vial, but not on my arm! As soon as it dries, practically all I get is sandalwood and myrrh, more of the former than the latter. Lots and lots and lots of sandalwood... which is a nice smell, but not my personal style.

Wet, Ekhidna is assertively black-peppery, licoricey, and clovey. It has a dry, dirty, and slightly green smell. I was sure it was going to be a keeper for me, because it was so mysterious and sharp-edged and intriguing. Dry, on me, it's nothing but clove and myrrh, and is sickeningly sweet. *sigh* This is not the right fragrance for me, although I bet there are people out there that this is totally incredible on.

I smell blueberries in the vial. Big-time blueberries. Like someone just opened a blueberry-flavored New York Seltzer (remember????) in the room. On my skin, it's still very blueberry, with a generous wash of very sweet musk and a tiny, almost imperceptible dab of strawberry. I don't get the brambles or the cherry at all. Or the brandy -- and I know brandy! Even though I think the fragrance smells really good, it's a little headachey, and I don't think I want to smell like this. Is it possible for a scent to be too young for me and too old for me at the same time?

Curiouser and curiouser. The first thing I notice out of the imp is chocolate. But it is not confectionery chocolate. It is dark, crumbly, earthy, and bitter. It's like raw cacao nibs. It is accompanied by fresh mintiness, also not at all sweet. Underlying this initial bitter-chocolate and mint impression is something odd that for a while I can't identify, until I remember there is supposed to be pistachio. It comes off a little cardboardy early on, but then it mellows and is just a subtle "thing." It's hard for me to distinguish in this scent, since to me, pistachios smell minty in the first place. Pretty quickly, the oakmoss and cedar become front-and-center, and that's what this fragrance is to me: swamp, earth, green, with undergroundy whiffs of crumbly bitter chocolate. My husband smells nothing but vanilla in this scent. I can't smell vanilla in it at all. Not even a little bit. I think this fragrance is spectacularly executed, and I especially love how unsweet it is. I am still on the fence as to whether I personally want to smell like this. Is it me? I will report back if and when I decide.

Many thanks to BPAL for the frimp! Right away, as soon as I put this on, it really reminded me of Chanel No. 22. That should be theoretically impossible considering that that distinctive Chanel smell is aldehyde, which is made in a lab and is something BPAL doesn’t do. I’m guessing it’s a combination of BPAL’s version of ambergris and the ylang-ylang (which is also in No. 22) that makes it smell so similar. Another thing that's interesting is that this doesn't evolve much on me. What I put on my wrist is what I keep getting as the hours roll on. It is powdery, white floral, subtle, and very refined. At the same time, though, there is something about that not-aldehyde-but-sure-smells-like-it top note that is really refreshing. This fragrance has very little throw but a decent amount of staying power. It's really quite lovely, even though it’s on the old-fashioned side. This is a definite keeper for me.

Wet, this scent has a gorgeous punch of grapefruit and lime. I actually said "Ooh!" out loud. It was LOVE... ...for about five minutes. And then things started to go rather badly. As the oil dried down and my body chemistry started working its dubious magic on it, first I stank like bubblegum and cotton candy for a few hours, and then the scent settled into an inoffensive sweet powdery floral. I asked my husband to smell it, and after a few deep whiffs, he said it reminded him of the face powder his late mother used to use. Neither of us found the end result unpleasant, per se, but because I don't want to smell like my hubby's dead mom, off this goes to the swap pile. It needs to find someone whose body chemistry won't clash with it.

I agree with everyone who said this scent is REALLY biting and sinus-clearing straight out of the imp. It does calm down after a while, and becomes more resinous than biting, but it still has a lot of throw. I generally love aquatic-ness, but I don't get as much of that here as I would like. Nor salt, for that matter. For me, this scent is mostly a wallop of cedar and cypress and parsley. I looked up selino and discovered that it is wild celery, and that makes sense to me, too -- it might account for some of the sinusy sharpness. I can smell a faint smokiness in the background, which I guess is the flame-singeing. That part is quite nice. There are some violets in there contributing sweet powderiness, but despite that, I find this to be a very masculine scent. I think it would be quite a bit nicer on a man than it is on me, so I'm swapping it. I kind of dig the parsley, though. I am pro-parsley.