Meg

In the bottle: Weedy plastic. Not really a good start. Wet: Herbs, I think it's a very subdued, plasticky sage, and hints of iris. Drydown: The iris seems to come out slowly and stronger as it dries, and the plastic fortunately goes to the back. Overall: I really don't think much of it. It's not unpleasant, but it's very monotonous, quiet and subtle, and has random surges of plastic scent coming up between the iris. Not me at all. Besides, it has no staying power.

In the bottle: Heady wines, hmm! And some vanilla, somewhere. Wet: Booze, with woody and vanilla notes. Berry scents emerge slowly, hmm, blackcurrant! Drydown: Blackcurrant, delicious and juicy and perfect! There's also a woody, rather dry note, reminiscent of a dry red wine. As it develops further there's a really deep wine/berry scent that comes through, with small whiffs of vanilla. Unfortunately, it doesn't have great staying power. Overall: Very fruity and dark, absolutely delicious! I've been looking for the perfect blackcurrant scent for a long time, and I think this is the one. Yum!

In the bottle: Warm amber, sweet honey, some spice and hints of rose. Wet: Uh... it disappears? There's amber and it smells sticky, but extremely discreet. Drydown: Honey comes out forcefully along with something very spicy. Carnation and rose come out, and then it starts morphing towards bitter jonquil, clove and patchouli. Overall: A very sweet honey-amber blend, with spices and some flowers. It's mostly rich and quite decadent, and sometimes veers to slightly sickly jonquil and clove. The patchouli is extremely quiet, which is a good thing. Actually there's a spice in there that reminds me of myrrh. It's a very pleasant scent, but pretty rich and heady.

In the bottle: Jasmine and... something sharp, I'm guessing it's the juniper berry. Wet: Jasmine that gets quickly overwhelmed by geranium. It's a very surprising combination that actually works. Drydown: And jasmine has taken over again. Jasmine jasmine jasmine. I can't really smell much else. Suddenly some acidic juniper berry pops up. There's a herby - weedy even - scent in the background. Overall: The jasmine turns to plastic powder and fades rather fast. Nothing to get excited about, really, I can hardly smell anything else than the jasmine. Certainly not one I'd like to try again.

In the bottle: bitter dry wood and berries, very dark and somehow stony. Wet: Berries, but rather bitter and sour ones, with the orange peel peeking out, and perhaps a hint of flowers. Delicious! Drydown: As it dries, the berries seem to ripen and darken, I think I get rosehip. There's something dark looming in the background, and I suspect it's patchouli. As it develops, there's a slightly stony, dusty quality to the scent. The berries start to smell rather spicy and a bit herby, too. Overall: A bitter, acid berry blend with a spooky coolness of catacombs. There's a smell of stone and dank wood in here from the patchouli, and the berries are reminiscent of cranberry, raspberry and blackberry all at once. It slightly reminds me of Lampades, but it's much darker. It certainly embodies this scene very well, and I'd consider a bottle...

In the bottle: White... Clean linen, lily and something rich. It smells very soft. Wet: hmm, musk, doesn't smell like much yet. Then aloe and lily come out gently. There's something slightly bitter in there, I think... Drydown: a very soft, dry scent. I can smell lily, linen and I think it's aloe. There's a warmth to it, probably from amber and musk. There's a slightly metallic tang to it, possibly from ozone. It becomes pretty discreet, but has quite a staying power and goes very sweet. Overall: It's white, it smells of clean flowery linen, yet it doesn't remind me of Dirty at all. This is Dirty's warm and dry little sister. There's a creamy quality to it, but no soap, which is a surprise (white musk and lily tend to go to soap on me). It's pleasant and homey, but it's nothing too special. To me it smells more like some kind of cosmetic lotion than anything else.

In the bottle: Very pleasant jonquil with amber in the background. Wet: the jonquil fades to the back and amber takes over, with a very dark vetiver coming through and making a really weird mix. Drydown: Amber and an aquatic scent, probably the glistening peach, which smells more like water than like peach. There's a dark, bitter undertone from the vetiver and jonquil that doesn't go with the rest at all. It ends up a very sweet yet bitter powdery mix that smells ladylike and haughty. Overall: It does represent the Marquise de Merteuil very well, it smells regal because of the amber and fruit, and very dark and sneaky because of the vetiver and jonquil. It's a yellowy-green scent. However, it really doesn't suit me. It smells oppressive and powerful, and it's just not my personality. Interesting, but not my thing.

In the bottle: Gardenia and rose... hmm, nice, green. Wet: Everything fades down and becomes slightly dusty. The gardenia and rose disappear and jasmine comes to the front. Drydown: Jasmine and vanilla, both a bit plasticky, with a very powdery texture. There's a very slight trace of gardenia somewhere, I think. It's extremely sweet and it smells very yellow. Overall: Although it does represent mirth very well, it's rather one-dimensional: just a really sweet vanilla floral. Great if you love sweet vanilla... unfortunately, I don't, and I'd have liked more of the fresh green rose and gardenia which really smelled lovely in the bottle. Oh well.

In the bottle: red musk and myrrh? oh dear, I'm so not a patchouli person. Wet: this softens dramatically, the red musk becomes much more discrete - phew! Drydown: It's mostly red musk and myrrh in here, and I think that I can smell a hint of saffron. There's also a very warm side to the musk, though I'm not good at picking out that note, it smells a bit gritty and quite rich. Overall: I like some of the musk of this scent, which is rich and sensual. I'm not nuts about the typical "red musk" scent, though, and unfortunately it amps and amps with time and becomes sickly sweet, making it much too strong in the end. Pity, it's really not me.

In the bottle: Cedar? Something very woodsy and slightly herby, on a backdrop of lilac. Wet: the lilac comes out stronger, and I can smell the white musk. The tea and wisteria also make an appearance. Drydown: This is mostly wisteria and lilac, very sweet, on a base of white musk. There's a strange woodsy afterscent that I can't place, could be the cedar and osmanthus. It smells... oriental? Overall: I had bought it for the lemon/lilac combo, but it's not very obvious. I find it both too sweet and too woodsy for me, and though it's pleasant, I can't picture myself wearing it. Still, a pleasant scent.

In the bottle: Grass! Citrusy grass. So sharp I nearly have a headache. Wet: Exactly as in the bottle, and becoming greener, less citrusy. Drydown: Slightly plasticky grass, very green, with a bit of a weedy side. There might be some bamboo in there, it vaguely reminds me of Holiday Moon. Overall: Very one-dimensional, green and fresh... it's very much a good representation of that grassy vale where Morgana locked the warriors in... but it's a bit too simple, and not my kind of scent. Very natural, though. And unfortunately it has absolutely no staying power - hardly 30 minutes.

In the bottle: Earth, grit, pine and... aquatic notes that hurt my nose. Oops. Wet: The earth is quite acidic and dusty. Drydown: Dusty earth and a vague flower scent, and some pine. There's an aquatic note, and it smells... murky blue. Very swampy. The flowers smell like lilies, but the overall effect is extremely dusty. Overall: Pure acid, very unpleasant. I really dislike this, it's very aggressive. I usually love earthy scents, but the mix with the aquatic notes or perhaps the evergreen really make it too sharp. Not for me.

In the bottle: a very pure scent, light rose, some tea, and carnation. Wet: mostly carnation, and quite a bit of tea. Where's the rose? Drydown: it dries down to mostly carnation and tea. The rose is there, but very light, smells like a white rosebud that's hardly come out yet, very fresh. The carnation has a rather nice spicy/vanilla scent. Overall: A very gentle, quiet perfume, but unfortunately it's not particularly interesting. It smells nice, but it's so discrete that I need to stick my nose on my wrist to smell it. Besides, there's no balance between rose and carnation, the rose is extremely faint and the carnation quite strong. And it has no staying power... oh well.

In the bottle: nuts and cinnamon - reminds me of cinnamon/hazelnut biscuits I bake for Christmas. Wet: a very warm cinnamon, the cooking type rather than Red Hots, thank goodness. Drydown: in the cinnamon there's a rich nutty scent, and I come back to my "in the bottle" impression, cinnamon and hazelnuts in a rich mix. The more it dries, the more the cinammon amps up (surprise), but without getting obnoxious. Overall: it's not bad, but I don't really "get" it. I know nothing about the Sephiroth meaning anyway, so I can only talk of it from a smell POV. There's a cinnamon biscuit quality to it, nuts, and an oily scent that could be amber possibly. It smells rich and... prosperous? Not really my thing, though.

In the bottle: pine and another kind of tree, certainly alder - smells very fresh. Wet: I can smell herbs and it feels fresh. There seems to be a hint of mint somewhere. Drydown: There are wet leaves there, and pine, but I don't get any rose, which is extremely unusual, as I tend to amp it a lot. I can smell moist branches and a slightly sweaty scent, perhaps some kind of musk. There is something sweet, sickly sweet, even, in it. It reminds me a bit of Talvikuu, and it's not a good thing, really. Overall: I don't know about this one. It starts out very fresh and piney, and smells rather realistic as a forest. But then the scent all but disappears, and I don't even get a glimpse of rose. It stays as a faint aftershavey sort of smell, a bit masculine. I'm a bit disappointed, because of all the raves I read and because I wanted to like a forest scent. Apparently, this is proving quite difficult. Ah well...

In the bottle: orange blossom over patchouli, and they seem to work nicely together. Wet: orange blossom and patchouli are fighting for dominance, and they don't seem to be getting along all that well, anymore... Drydown: for a while, it's quite nice, it smells like orange blossom scented wood. Then the mix goes rancid, the patchouli winning over everything and altering the orange blossom completely. And I find out that I don't really like the smell of patchouli. Specially not when it's made sweet by orange blossom, which makes the earthy patchouli very sickly. Overall: This really doesn't work on me, the orange blossom is really disgusting and the patchouli is obnoxious. It doesn't smell sensual, on the contrary, it has decaying feel to it. Like a decomposing hippie. Yuck.

In the bottle: a slightly lemony and very sweet powder. Smells like some kind of weird candy. Wet: It's rather faint on the skin, with hints of citrus, and an evergrowing scent of violets. There's quite an acidy touch, a bit like sherbet lemon. Drydown: Powdery lemon with a background note of violet. It smells... well, neither nasty nor pleasant. Actually it reminds me a bit of soap, it smells very clean. Overall: Well, it's rather refreshing, but mostly it's just lemony-violet soapy powder. I understand why many people were disappointed, it's not particularly fascinating or complex. Actually, I find it amusing in a bubbly sort of way. I'm sure it'll have its fans too, but I'm not really a candy or a violet person myself.

In the bottle: Extremely powerful eucalyptus/turpentine kind of smell. Wet: Very violent eucalyptus and/or camphor, very acidic and aggressive. Drydown: This smells like a very acidic berry, most certainly the juniper. There is a background of... grit or soil, somewhere, but the most dominant note is the acid of a really tart fruit. It's very unpleasant. There's some pine to it, somewhere. Overall: Very one-dimensional, and not all that earthy, in my book. As much as I adore scents like Graveyard Dirt and Zombi, as much I dislike this one, which is really too acidic and sharp for me.

In the bottle: Earth, moss, magnolia and... something orangey. Wet: Hmm, gritty earth, very nice. As it dries, a rather sweet floral comes out. Drydown: Sweet, slightly boozy earth. The earth note is pretty much like Graveyard Dirt, and I don't know booze well enough to tell what it might be, maybe rum. There's also something really sweet and flowery, most probably the magnolias. Overall: It's a very light and sweet scent, that morphs from very earthy to very sweet and light. It also has a slightly plasticky quality to me. I don't get much booze from it, just a general flowery sweetness. I would have loved it if it had stayed at the graveyard dirt stage. But once the earth goes - and it goes fast - I don't find it very interesting. Besides, it has very little throw and staying power. Oh well...

In the bottle: flowers and something very tangy, certainly ozone. Wet: white sheets and nondescript flowers Drydown: clean, breezy sheets with a faint floral fabric softener... it's the scent of airing rooms. I wish I could tell which kind of floral this is, but it doesn't seem to be one in my repertoire... some people have suggested plumeria, but I have no idea what it is. Actually, there seems to be a little bit of white rose in it, just a touch. And even some fruits... could it be peach that I catch subtle whiffs of? Overall: A lovely, lovely scent. People love it on me, they say it's radiant - I can just see it as pure white. I also think it's very comforting. I have no idea what's in this, it's too well blended to tell, and it doesn't matter: it just smells like clean white cotton drying in the sun, clean and warm. Absolutely lovely, and possibly a big bottle.

The lab sent me two frimps of this and boy were they right! In the bottle: Ambergris, vanilla and tobacco, with a whiff of mentol. It's a very rich scent. Wet: As with most musk scents, this disappears when it touches my skin, and then warms up and starts smelling strongly of tobacco leaves (of the vanilla and the mentholated varieties) and honey. Drydown: The longer it's on, the stronger the leather note becomes. It's hidden in the luscious vanilla/honey scent of the musk and ambergris. There's also a faint smell of incense, just a touch, to add a swirl of smoke. It smells dark, like a very warm room with leather chairs, that's been used for some kind of orgiastic ritual. It's creamy and luscious. Overall: This is dark and sexy, and certainly gave me faith in musk again - I'd been very wary of musks before because some turned to soap on me, this smells deliciously like dark gritty vanilla with incense and leather. Weirdly I also find it quite comforting, very much like a gentleman's club - yes, with the strip-tease, too. I think it's quite elegantly naughty. Oh, and staying power: after 12 hours, I still have traces of the delicious vanilla scent of black musk. Yum.

In the bottle: Rose, some kind of resin, and herbs... there's a very rich musky scent in here, too. Wet: The herby quality comes out more, too bad I don't know what's what. The rose is all but crushed by the herbs. And something seems to be warming up, probably the amergris and/or the tonka. Drydown: This is more spicy now, more spicy than anything else, really. I can smell hints of vanilla, rose in the background (white rose, I think), and some kind of musky smell... ... I can't put my finger on it. And it's getting very sweet, of course. Overall: I can't really describe this, it has a special feel to it. I can always smell the roses, but they are altered by something else, something rounded and soft, probably the tonka or the ambergris, and some kind of resins that must be the tolu balsam. General result is weird, but I can't explain why - it seems a bit crazy. I'm not a huge fan of it myself, because the altered rose seems weird to me, but it's very evocative.

In the bottle: dark herbs and... earth? yes, it's very gritty and quite astringent. It smells like the Mediterranean - Greece, Italy... there must be some herb in this common to those regions. Wet: Earth, still, and fruits... it's very discrete. Drydown: I can smell fresh figs and currants, I think, over a herby scent. It sweetens up and seems to dry a bit. All kinds of nice smells come up, something akin to liquorice... actually it smells quite syrupy and woody at the same time. Overall: There's a gritty, woody/herby note that's quite strong, mixed with a sweet fruity one which is a mix between fig and blackcurrant. It's nice, but it's very discrete on me - understated. A very earthy scent, close to nature. I'm slightly disappointed that it's not more powerful, specially in the fruits department. It's actually quite fresh and close to nature. Wouldn't buy a bottle, but I'll keep my imp.

In the bottle: Spicy and clean, masculine... there seems to be a hint of leather in there. Wet: Clearly leather and possibly woods and sweet smoke. Drydown: The same as in the bottle, really... leather, smoke, something sweetly spicy. Very masculine and somehow still extremely clean - actually it even smells like an antiseptic, perhaps the smell of alcohol or disinfectant (or Cologne, as some people said). It sometimes veers on the side of Play Doh or plastic at times, it's something I find happens often with smoke scents, on me. As it dries, it's mostly leather and this astringent scent, no more sweetness. Overall: This would be absolutely great for a man. I don't think I can pull it off, but it's certainly sexy, Cologney, leathery goodness. I see this scent as very bright, for some reason, like a leathery ray of light - it doesn't make any sense, but that's what it smells like. It somewhat reminds me of "Wanda" in a more masculine version. But it's not sexual, it's more the clean warrior kind of leather. Hmm...

In the bottle: jasmine, pineapple and kiwi, I think. Wet: jasmine and fruits, I think I can smell the mango and pomegranate a bit, and the ginger coming out. It smells quite exotic, mango and kiwi seem dominant. Drydown: Over the tropical fruits I can smell peony and then jasmine starts coming out, a bit strong for my taste. I'm starting to get the "Siren" effect, which is also jasmine/ginger - it smells slightly chalky, with a peony background. I can still smell the fruits, mango/kiwi I think, but they really get pushed to the background by the flowers. Overall: Not really my thing. I've now realised that I don't love peony and that jasmine is only fun when mixed with the right stuff. I was hoping that this would be mostly fruity, but it isn't on my skin, it's mostly peony/jasmine with a hint of fruits from time to time. It's a bit boring, really, though not unpleasant - people find it very nice on me, I'm just not all that thrilled. I'd have liked to see the tea, pepper and pomegranate, too.