alicia_stardust

The Ragged Wood is beautiful and so very unique! I especially love the first stage of it, when it is sort of foresty and heavy on the juniper. The juniper is dominant yet not strong and sharp. Instead it has sort of a cool, soothing quality to it. It smells like a pale teal color. After the juniper settles this turns into more of a soft floral blend, but the juniper doesn't disappear altogether. The benzoin adds a gummy resinous bite that is almost balsamic and the vanilla adds an almost powdery warmth. Between the terebinth, juniper, vanilla, and benzoin, I am left with an overall floral gestalt but I am unable to pick out individual floral scents. I do know all of them individually and normally I do not miss jasmine. But this time, the florals all lend themselves to each other as a well-blended accent to the other aspects of this. The florals together seem almost sweet, almost powdery, almost watery. There's an almost transient quality there. Simply stunning even if this doesn't initially look like your cup of tea. It's worth trying for the uniqueness of it alone, but anyone that loves juniper and/or florals should definitely check this out.

This is an amazing woodsy, earthy scent that is so fitting for the poem it was created after. I smell mostly cedar, both when wet and dry. It's a dry, red cedar that mingles well with the lighter sandalwood. I get a lovely earthen patchouli, like dirt, and it is contrasted by the rose otto. I only get the barest hints of clove and nutmeg, but they are there and add to the overall picture here. I find this to be highly evocative. If you are a fan of earth and/or woodsy blends you MUST try this. Strong throw.

Night's Pavilion is a light floral. The white musk dominates and gives it a cool sharpness, crisp, clean. When that couples with the osmanthus and lily I get a strong visual image of a garden path on a still, dark night, where only the light of the moon casts a slight glow on light colored flowers. The frankincense deepens this and has an almost herbal quality, but again it is in the background compared to the white musk and florals. This is beautiful and a must try to any floral lovers.

I can't believe there aren't more reviews of this! I smell the cypress first and foremost, and it consistently remains the most noticeable to me. The rose is cool and watery and light and it is deepened by just the faintest smear of dusky violet. The duskiness is complemented by the frankincense and ambrette. I do think I smell the Lebanese cedar in here, but I can't be sure. It seems to have a different characteristic smell than straight cedar but it seems to lend itself well to the cypress. I think my favorite part of this is the way the rose and violet mingle with the heavier, darker notes. This has a very strong throw and long wearlength.

I agree that this is a good Skadi substitute, but in its own right it can also stand alone as a lovely, girly expression of wintertime. I love that it has a minty/icy pine and snow aspect to it yet it remains sweet and light enough that it can be called girly. This is very beautiful!!

I'm not extremely familiar with dianthus, but I do love this blend. It has a characteristic blackberry bite to it that many people seem to either hate or love. I happen to love it, especially in this blend where it is really softened up by the honey and probably the dianthus. The french lavender is not strong or heady, but it's present enough to give this blend a cool, romantic, "purple" vibe to it. Of all the blackberry LE blends that I know of, this one is my favorite but Bitter Moon is not far behind.

I got a decant of this and by now enough time has passed that it has aged considerably. Some of the notes listed are not entirely distinguishable but they haven't disappeared entirely. What I do smell is a mish-mash of lovely roses, a touch of carnation, and resins. It's really quite lovely and it fits into a category with Parlement of Foules in terms of rose + resin.

Mi-Go is very light and sweet. It definitely smells "pink". To me, the jasmine is most prominent. It's soft and gentle and melds into the other fruits and notes. Behind the jasmine I can pick out the mango and kiwi and pink pepper. Beyond that, the rest becomes a unified gestalt. It's really quite fruity, with just enough floral and pink. Definitely soft and feminine.

I love this. It's raw and dark and wild. I smell mostly patchouli and balsam, but as the oil dries the beeswax and oakmoss become more prominent. The musk rounds this out and adds to the dark, wild vibe that I get from it. Definitely a work of art!

Doc Constantine has a similar vibe as Dee; Gennivre has a similarity with the tea in Dorian, Priala is a drier but similarly spicy scent as Chimera. If you like Midway you might want to check out Midnight on the Midway unless you don't like light incense blends. They are different in many ways, but Kataniya has an electric/mechanical vibe to it like Mechanical Phoenix. Other popular CD scents are Theodosius, Candy Butcher, Hope and Faith, Mme Moriarty (which might be worth snagging a decant if you're wary of red musk. It really is quite a fabulous blend.).... If you like Snake Oil, any of the Snake Pit is game. My personal favorites are Boomslang and Temple Viper, but many of them are lovely.

Earth Rat definitely falls into the same scent family as Fire Pig. Both have a bright, complex, Asian vibe to them. On me, Earth Rat is nearly all melon. It's candied melon, sweet and light, juicy. It's not a jolly rancher like Treat 1 was. Rather, it's more of a cool, frozen summer melon treat. Behind the melon, I smell a smorgasbord of other fruits and florals though it is so complex that it's difficult for me to really pick them out individually and talk about how they interact. It's just a smorgasbord of bright! It's lovely and uplifting.

The Whirler! She is the Muse of Dance and the Dramatic Chorus. She holds both a lyre and a plectrum. Terpsichore is the mother of the Sirens by Achelous, the River God. Bright, joyful and expressive, her scent is kinetically charged, graceful, and an inspiration to all dancers: vanilla and carnation with neroli, iris, stephanotis, sweet pea, apple blossom and palmarosa. This is bright and joyful, and buoyant floral with a warm spice to it. The vanilla adds a nice warmth as well. The other florals kind of rotate into a medley of fragrance. This is light and sweet, not cloying, and I find it to be almost powder-soft after it dries. The sweet pea becomes prominent toward the end. Overall, this is really pretty and fitting for the concept. I'm sad that it was discontinued.

Urd really surprised me. I only get hints of the muscadine, but it is there as an accent; it is neither too juicy or too sweet and grapey. What I do smell the most is the patchouli (yum) and a strong vein of woods. They are dry, powdery, and remind me of the spent remains of piles of incense sticks. This is evocative of the way that most occult and head shops smell, and I love it to death.

This is my favorite of the Somnium blends. It's dark and strong lavender and it seems to just knock me right into sleep, much the way TKO does. However, this one gives me dreams whenever I use it. The fragrance of this, once dry, is a soothing but strong lavender with a sweet jasmine and bright bergamot accent. The sandalwood is present but not strong. This is deep and soporific and one that I always keep on my nightstand.

I get lavender mostly, with a touch of rose floral and an almost tart, herbal quality. This really is quite pretty and it smells so different when it dries than it does in the bottle. I find this to be deeply calming and relaxing. I think it's the most comforting of the sleep blends.

This is bright mango; juicy, orange, tropical. The fig really adds a touch of earthy sweetness and richness to the mango. Something about the combination is buoyant. The patchouli is a strong base to the mango and fig, and I only get the barest hint of tea, which adds a nice soothing layer of calm. This is delightful!

This smells very, very foody but in a good way. The turkey in the note description had me a touch worried but it was needless. I get a strong medley of foods. It seems to have a cake-like base and I smell a lot of the cherry tart and pineapple at first. I get an accent of creamy custard and butter as well. Anyone that likes rich, dessert-like, foody blends will really like this. It's very decadent smelling.

This is beautiful. The rose is both lush and yet gentle, and the incense has a sharp, gummy bite that blends into the rose. I find this to be bold and strong in its essence. It has a strong throw and long wearlength. This blend is simple yet breathtakingly beautiful.

Oh, wow. I did not expect this because the vetiver is usually a deal breaker. However, this is so incredibly exotic and evocative. I am not familiar with most of these notes, but I know that I detect the orchids. They're sultry and dusky. I get a sense of tropical moisture and damp air, and layered, lush greenery. Beyond that, the other notes just seem to meld into a highly visually evocative blend. I simply MUST keep this. It's so hard to even classify this into a scent category. I think everyone should give this a try because it is simply a work of art.

I get mostly vetiver, sharp and biting. The rose is right there as well. It is the dominant floral but the mums aren't forgotten. I'd probably like this, but vetiver is my nemesis. =(

I smell a gentle leather and white musk, with a creamy vanilla note tucked up behind those. That is the most prominent part of this blend to me, but I can still detect the lavender and sage. Something about this is so gentle and noble and it smells SO GOOD on a guy.

I first notice the jasmine, lily, and ylang ylang. They give off a sweet, sensual, brightness. The sandalwood is gentle and I notice it just under the florals I mentioned. There's a touch of spice and grounding resin in this; just enough to ground out the heady florals a bit. I find this to be very pretty even if it's too floral for my tastes. I think it fits Pannychis perfectly. The blend has a strong throw and long wear length.

I wasn't sure what pennyroyal smelled like but in this blend it seems to be a pungent herbal. It dominates for a while but the lavender isn't far behind. There's almost a mint quality in there as well. This kind of has a sinister medicinal quality to it.

Wow, this one was a pleasant surprise. It smells very woodsy to me, like a mix of dry powdered woods and especially cedar. On top of that, I smell a dry, biting earth smell and a touch of something like bitter chocolate and herbs. The earth aspect is not patchouli or outright dirt, but it definitely brings the word earth to mind. I feel grounded and comforted when I wear this, but it also has a sinister edge to it.

This smells like a nice, moist patch of dirt; fresh, wet, earthen. It has a sort of calm to it, though, and I find that it's not as heavy or cloying as most earth/soil fragrances are. As it dries, I get a touch of sweetness which is a very nice addition to this blend.