oh_the_horror

I had to jump in and review this because there are so few here. This is such a nicely balanced perfume. So sexy in a way that isn't giving itself away. It starts as a dark brown incense, which is kept fresh with the plum and spicy with the pink pepper. I love pink pepper. It dries to a really interesting musk, it reminds me of an old church, the secrets contained in religious texts. The contrast of formal rituals and how you get so close to the workings of earthly life in those moments. Dang it's good. I get a dry dark brown beeswax thing, some really good resiny vetivery powder, but in the best way. Powder can become cloying and this is not. The throw is strong and gorgeous. More incensey in the air, up close almost sticky. It needed some time to settle down and age, I wasn't too interested when I first got it. This is going to be great this winter, wear under layers of black fabrics and long skirts. I may track down a bottle of this. I want to see this age over the years, I think it's going to be phenomenal as time goes on. Nice to have something special to reach for other than snake oil or Bakeneko.

Sadly I think there's vetiver in this and it's a little too much for me. It just smells kind of gross on me because of the vetiver. The cherry part was fun, but it only lasted for about 5 minutes. I'll have to try more cherry blends.

I don't know what to say except that this smells like cinnamon potpourri on me. Not a keeper.

This smells so fricken good at first. Rich creamy orange. Maybe even chocolately. But there's something weird about the patchouli that reminds me of cream soda or rootbeer which I don't like. Eventually the orange disappears mostly, except for a kind of sour smell and I'm left with this weird smell that reminds me of an old man who needs a shower and is trying to cover it up with too much expired aftershave.

It seems like the lab's lavender doesn't work too well on me. Someone once described it as 'gamey' and that fits. There's a hint of rootbeer in the background of this one. Something kind of tart, which is probably the verbena. I'm just not liking this one.

In the imp I smell mostly vetiver and it's intimidating. Ugh, and there it is. The creamy motor oil smell. There's some sweet incense in the background which is nice. But the vetiver just makes me think of a black oil slick. It's just not good. When I sniff my arm it's all vetiver, but if I forget about it, I keep wondering what that lovely sweet incense smell in the air is. Sad sad.

This is so pretty. I smell lots of warm spicy cinnamon, a little clean and sweet rose, and a bright yellow floral like honeysuckle. This is romantic, innocent and playful. I was just looking through the reviews and someone mentioned nutmeg. Maybe that's what I'm identifying as cinnamon. I'm pretty sure that nutmeg is one of the few notes that smells fantastic with my chemistry since Baghdad is one of my favorite blends. If this spiciness is nutmeg then it's settled. No wonder I like this so much.

Oh yum! This is fruity, creamy and coconutty. I'm worried about the orchid since I don't think it worked on me in another blend. And it seems like it not working here either.. There's a floral overriding everything else which is going kind of sharp and powdery. Ick. I want to pretend like this smells as good as it did when I first put it on. But every time I sniff it I wrinkle my nose up. It looks like orchid is another note I'll be avoiding.

This smells so clean and sweet. There's something slightly spicy underneath, which I think is the amber. Nothing is coming to mind to describe this except sweet sugary candy combined with something very feminine, spicy, soft and elegant. Maybe I smell some rose, maybe some pine. I really like this, although it's not so much my style. I think it will be fun to wear on a warm summer night.

In the bottle this smells syrupy and floral. It reminds me a lot of darkness, although it's less smokey and resiny. When I put it on, it becomes a very strong heady floral. There's something sour which is keeping me from liking this. This smells like a really wealthy and snobby older woman's perfume on me. It eventually settles down to a softer smokier smell, I'm guessing it's the opium. It's kind of powdery and musky. It's nice but still too floral.

Noooooo! This smelled so amazing in the bottle. It smelled very perfumey but just gorgeous. Soft, minty, sexy and feminine. But once I put it on, it turned sour and soapy. There must be ozone in this one. :D Now there's a floral amping on me in a bad way. It kind of smells like gardenia. I think there might also be some white musk in this which is nice. Man did this go downhill once it hit my skin. I never smelled any vetiver or asphalt and vetiver usually gets pretty potent and nasty on me. I have a single drop in a vial though, not a bottle or imp, so who knows if that has something to do with it. ?

This was a little too piney at first but kind of nice. Then something sour eventually came through, with a floral note I didn't like. There's also something a little fruity that seems past its prime. It smells really yummy in the bottle, but there must be several different things in here that disagree with my chemistry. :\

Whew. I don't think orchid likes me. Magdalene turned sharp and powdery on me as soon as it hit my skin. It's a little more mellow now and kind of fruity but there's still a bad floral in there. Just not for me.

I don't understand this one. It's very feminine on me and also my boyfriend. It smells kind of like generic sweet floral perfume. My boyfriend said it smelled like flowery and fruity bath and body works sprays that his sister used to wear. It smells like jasmine(although jasmine usually goes really sharp on me and this is more like jasmine before it hits my skin) and really sweet raspberry. Two smells I just don't like.

Lots of pine. Way too much for me. I hate to say it, but it smells like Pinesol on me. After a while, it mellows out a bit, and it's kind of a nice smell. I would just feel strange wearing it for some reason. I'll try it on my boyfriend and see what happens.