whitsunweddings

In the imp: Ooh, rose and lily with darker musky undertones. Wet: A pretty floral with an interesting coconut twist. Dry: Kind of old-ladyish, but still very pretty. Florals with coconut and murky musks.

Mania, Roman Goddess of the Dead, Matron of Madness, Governess of the Ancestral Spirits, Bestower of Divine Frenzy. Her scent swirls with a high-pitched tumult of laurel, stargazer lily, splintered woods, peony, mandarin and white musk, and is spiked with pale pepper. In the imp: Sort of a green, citrusy lily. Wet: Fresh, green and woodsy, with a slight hint of spice. Dry: A very fresh and unusual floral.

In the imp: A fizzy mix of pine, vanilla and rose. Wet: Pine with a whirl of sweet notes. Very pretty but rather manly at the same time. Dry: The pine and vanilla go really nicely together, but alas, a scent with a name that basically means 'shiny erection' ends up being too manly for me! Who'da thunk it?

In the imp: A sweet, slightly spiced, nutty wonderfulness. Wet: Hmm, chocolate and hazelnut. Not at all like Nutella, surprisingly. Dry: Kinda funky on me, actually. Still making me mightily peckish. 10 minutes later: Funkiness vanished, now just a lovely sweet hazelnut.

In the imp: Sweet grasses. Wet: Reminds me quite a bit of Summer Summoning Spectacular, in the combination of grasses and sweetness. Dry: A really lovely mix of grass and sweet florals. What a shame it was discontinued!

In the imp: Reminds me quite a bit of Schrodinger's Cat, actually. Mint, citrus and lavender. Wet: A herby, citrusy floral. Very pretty. Dry: A complex and somewhat ethereal floral with citrus and herb elements. Nice!

In the imp: I agree that this could be a pie filling! Sweet honeyed apples with a hint of rose. Wet: Oh dear, the rose has gone all harsh and soapy and has quite taken over! Dry: Yeah, quite a soapy rose and apple scent, with very little of the sweetness I got in the imp. Bum

In the imp: A rather cologney pine. Wet: Wow, a very true pine note. Dry: Yup. PINEY PINEY PINE. And that's it. It's such a nice pine note that I don't mind!

In the imp: Sweet vanilla and spices. Quite a bit like Snake Oil. Wet: Perhaps a slightly fruiter Snake Oil? Dry: Yeah, this is like Snake Oil's hyper little sister - fruiter and sweeter. I'd be perfectly happy with a bottle of either

In the imp: Lavender and dragon's blood with possibly some jasmine? Wet: Extremeloy soapy dragon's blood and rose. Dry: Yup. It's a nice soap, but a soapy one it is.

In the imp: Like a berrier (yes, that's a word) version of my beloved Athens. Wet: Super grapey wine with a hint of incense. Dry: I had high hopes for this, as this the description is very similar to Athens, but with my bff Bay. Alas, this ended up just being berries on me. Bum

In the imp: Wow. A very true soil, mixed with rose. Wet: The rose dominates once on my skin. Dry: Rose darkened by somewhat fuzzy and funky earthy swamp notes. Not really working for me I thought it would make a good room scent, as it was so lovely wet, but it was merely ok. Oh well!

In the imp: Coconut and orris with an incensey, woody edge. Wet: Yet another variation on Kathmandu/Sri Lanka/Yggdrasil. This one is coconutty. Dry: Quite a cologney coconut and orris thing.

In the imp: Butter! I guess that's the vanilla. So much more foody than I expected. Wet: Definitely getting some amber, and the florals are appearing. Overall still very sweet. Dry: On me the foody vanilla dominates - I was expecting a sweet floral blend but this is more like Eat Me or Sprinklecake. I liked this well enough, but the second time I tried this, I had an allergic reaction like I sometimes do with cinnamon. Weird

In the imp: A beautiful rose scent with a sharp peony edge. Wet: Yup. So lovely. Dry: I tried this last week and it went all gross and sour, but now it seems to be working. It's a really pretty rose with a sharp, almost cherry blossom edge. Bottle worthy.

In the imp: Bernadino dotted PATCHOULI. Wet: ... Blending with the violet leaf, incense and citrus. Dry: The violet leaf is nice, but overall this is a pretty soapy and old ladyish scent.

In the imp: Beautiful buttery cheesecake... and lavender. Does this dessert exist in real life and how quickly can it be on a plate in front of me? Wet: The lavender is amping on my skin, and very nicely too. Dry: I love lavender. I love cheesecake. I NEED A BOTTLE OF THIS. Half an hour later: Alas, the lavender faded quite quickly, so I tried layering it with Paris (that pumpkin pie/lavender combination that's supposed to make the menz go crazy, hey hey? But with cheesecake!), but it just got eaten up. I'd still wear it as a bedtime scent, so am scouting for a bottle asap!

In the imp: A clean musk with hints of citrus and coconut. Wet: A rather harsh citrusy musk. Dry: Yeah. Meh.

In the imp: Cherryish almond with a hint of incensey spice. Wet: The musk and spices are amping up. Dry: A very sweet, slightly spiced musk. Meh.

In the imp: Mostly rose, maybe a bit of carnation and bergamot? Wet: Weirdly like milk chocolate? And also roses? And spices? Curious indeed. Dry: A very faint spiced rose. Nice enough.

In the imp: Tomato leaf and cajeput dominant, though it's still quite sweet. Wet: The green notes againt honey-sweetened spices. I really like it! DryL This is basically just like Jerusalem Honey, but spicier. Beautiful, but probably too unusual to make getting a bottle worth it.

In the imp: A sweet, deep spice. Wet: An interesting mix of kitchen-y spices with honeyed white florals. Dry: Mostly a white floral honey with an interesting element of spice. Nice!

In the imp: It's like a herby, minty Kathmandu. Wet: Yup. Woody, herbally, vaguely astringent and oddly bubblegummy. Dry: A manly, soapy version of Kathmandu. Pass.

In the imp: Jasmine and honey. I usually don't care for the lab's jasmine note, but this smells promising. Wet: Yup, jasmine and honey. All good so far. Dry: Aaaaand mothballs. The honey is lovely though - someone who can wear jasmine could pull this off really well, but not me.

In the imp: Green! More herby than evergreen. Wet: Vic's Vapour Rub like whoa. Dry: A mix of eucalyptus and bay on me, which isn't bad at all. Possibly a replacement for the dear departed Nero? We'll see!