karykeion

Thanks for the frimp, Azurephoenix! I'm not going into this with very high hopes, because musk is really terrible and loud on me and there's three of them in here. However, I really love tea, and I really really love the late 1800s, so...I can't not. I'm sorry, skin, I'm going to put musk on you and you're just going to have to deal with it. In the imp: ...It's like soft, comfy pine-sol and tea. Huh. Interesting. On me, wet: Only using a little; I am treading so, so cautiously around the three musks. Huh. This is so much sexier than I expected. It's like...drinking lemon vanilla tea served by the most irresistably attractive 1890s butler they could find to give it to you. Oh jeez, I wish it would stay this way, but I can already hear the musk starting to yell. I'm not sure I'd wear this anyway, at least not in female clothing, but if I felt like putting a suit on for a formal event at a convention or something? Sure. This is the first thing I've ever sniffed and thought "A little too pretty for me, but if a guy wore this, I'd be all over that". On me, dry: Sexy man. A tiny bit pine sol but the musk seems to be...behaving?! All three of them?! What beautiful witchcraft is going on here? Maybe the secret to making musk behave is to put just a tiny, tiny bit on. I'm fully expecting to return to this in three hours and have it smell like body odor, but for now? Not sure it's bottle-worthy quite yet, but I'll definitely use up the imp. Edit: Two more "...really?!" tests later, one for a full night, and I will confirm it--Dorian and its three musks are fucking beautiful on me. I do not understand, but I'm off to re-test a bunch of the scents I wrote off because of musk. Maybe all I had to do was put less on!

PHOENIX REVIEW x2 COMBO!! Dusk style. Another thank you to azurephoenix for the decant! I will admit, I basically only got this because even with my general aversion to girly-side scents I loved Cordelia so, so much (before the musk kicked in and destroyed everything else, as musk likes to do on my skin) and I misremembered the notes in Cordelia and thought Phoenix at Dusk shared like half of them but without musk as a listed note. Upon closer inspection, no, just green tea and wisteria, but I'm okay with that since I like green tea even if I can never smell BPAL's tea notes. In the imp: HOLY CRAP I CAN SMELL THE TEA. THAT'S TOTALLY GREEN TEA. GET ON MY ARM. GET. ON. MY. ARM. On me, wet: Hm. It's floral, but sort of herbally, and yes, I do recognize something from Cordelia--I guess that's what wisteria smells like. It's very comfortable and soft and nice, and surprise! No unlisted musk waiting in the background to brutally assassinate every single other note. Also, there's just a tiny bit of sweetness that I think must be the white honey. It's a very clean smell, and I think it smells like soap but without actually being soapy. It's kind of the perfume equivalent of a plain white T-shirt to me. It's very pretty, but I'm not sure i omgneedabottle like I thought I did, even though it captures the idea of "dusk" perfectly. Welp, there's my bank account breathing a sigh of relief! On me, dry: Um...clean? It's basically very pretty, understated soap. I like it, but I don't really think it's a thing I'd wear. I'll wait and try these again when it's not Shark Week, and if I like them enough I'll track down an unloved bottle, but for now I think I'll pass on the Phoenixes. Ah well, more money for other bottles important stuff!

PHOENIX REVIEW x2 COMBO!! Midday style. Thank you so much, azurephoenix! In the imp: My first response was honestly the same as the response of a dear friend when I described the notes and concept to her. To quote her: "so, HWAAAAARGH perfume". Yeah. I smell ORANGE!, and wood? and geraniums? and...a lot of things, my nose isn't very well trained yet, but yes, it gives off the same "hwargh" vibe that Wrath did for me. Hopefully, though, this will work better! On me, wet: I cannot tell whether I like this or not. It is quite "hwargh" on me, but I don't like uber feminine perfumes most of the time, so that could be a plus. And it's very warm and nice, but I feel like there's something really sharp in here that reminds me of An Omen of Good Fortune, which I am trying very hard to make myself like and not really succeeding. On me, dry: Well the sharp note is gone, and now it's a nice glowing orange scent, but I'm really not a huge fan of citrus to begin with. I might use the imp up, but it's not really me. Oh well!

Review of the 2012 version. In the bottle: That sure is a lot of honey. >D It kind of smells less dark than Snake Oil, if that makes sense? The honeys are making it less incensey. On me, wet: Oh, there's the Snake Oil! Except I can actually stand to wear this straight on, because the honeys are taking off the really sharp fresh Snake Oil edge and joining up with the vanilla to make it sweeter. Between this and Blossoms in Springtime, I think I'm just going to buy every single scent that involves vanilla and honey from now on. ...Wait. Is the honey making the musk smell good? I ordered a 5ml of this unsniffed before I realized that even the musk in Snake Oil takes over after about two hours and makes me smell like nothing else, and I was really worried about how the musk in Womb Furie would play with all the honeys. But...I can smell the musk and the honey. And the rest of the blend. Oh my god. There's the vanilla! There are the spices that the musk won't let me smell in Snake Oil after an hour! I am so wary--I thought the musks in Lady of Shalott and Cordelia would play nice, but ultimately neither of them did. Oh please, Womb Furie, don't be musk after an hour, please by some miracle let honey be the note that can manhandle the musk into playing nicely with others. I love honey and that would be the best thing in the world if it were true. On me, dry: The musk is trying super hard, but I think the honey is actually keeping it back. I'm starting to suspect that wearing long sleeves makes the musk in these blends go on the attack, because my wrists kind of just smell like honey and musk now, but the throw around my neck is Snake Oil and gorgeous, and it smelled absolutely divine when I kind of informally tested it out of the bottle two days ago. It's drying down to something kind of metallic and weird, but neither Snake Oil nor honey have ever done this on their own and they didn't the first time I tested it, so I suspect the true culprit is not the blend itself, but Shark Week. God damn Shark Week, I have two decants in the mail!! Not now! ;o; This may not have been the best day for testing, but nothing has ever held the musk back quite so valiantly before. I have really high hopes for this and I have absolutely no regrets about buying a bottle. Edit: Someone in one of my classes apparently smelled baby powder. Welp, guess I know what baby powder smells like now! I have no hoots to give.

I review this very sadly, as I loved it so much but I had to throw out my imp prematurely. I crossed the streams this morning and accidentally put Arkham's wand cap into 93 Engine and vice versa, and now they both smell terrible. In the imp: Very pretty and golden, and...I don't know, shiny? It really does bring to mind some kind of golden metal. And beeswax. It's kind of like studying in a steampunk boiler room. On me, wet: I swear to god this smells like a library. I don't know how. The components do not say "library" in any way, shape, or form, but it just smells like pretty golden candles in an old library to me. Maybe it's the beeswax that makes me think of candlelight, combined with the association of machines with knowledge (of how they work)? I don't know, but I love it. On me, dry: Yep, engines and beeswax, and I get that grounded balsam of peru. Aside from one brief phase near the end where it smells like, of all things, fried chicken, I all kinds of adore this and it's totally going on my Need-A-Bottle list with Caliban and Arkham.

I have heard so many lovely things about this! In the imp: Oh lord, this is so pretty but so hard to describe. The only way I can put it is "the back of the Junkman's Daughter, except sexy". It's like sweet dark incense. Wow. On me, wet: Okay, I think I've determined that literally nothing smells good on me when I first put it on. I have to give BPAL's stuff a chance to yell at me before it settles down and begrudgingly agrees that fine, it'll make me smell good. Right when I put it on, Snake Oil gets EXTREMELY angry and smells really sharp and biting and way too much like an incense store, which is not really what I was hoping to smell like. After it calms down a little bit, though...ooh. Ooooooooh. This is why everyone likes this so much. Hello there, vanilla, you were hiding out there with the spices! And the dark sharp incense smell learns to play well with others! Oh my. I like. I like very much. On me, dry: Oh my god. I need this and every variant on it. The incense has completely stopped slapping the vanilla around, and is now just a really nice part of this blend that Best Friend informs me smells like "delicious vanilla candy". I was so afraid this would go wonky on me, because almost all the "dark" blends seem to be doing that, but nope! It's a little more kind of bohemian or incensey than what I'd normally go for, but it's very pretty, and now I am definitely eyeing Womb Furie.

WOW, I have no idea what I smell like! In the imp: CINNAMON. Oh...oh. I do not like cinnamon. Welp, here goes! On me, wet: Still LOTS of cinnamon, but now there's wood! And some spicy kind of green note, too, that I actually really like. Mostly I'm just smelling cinnamon, though. Eh. I mean, it's not bad, I'm just not a huge cinnamon fan. On me, dry: ...Gone. The cinnamon has mostly blended with that sharp green note, whatever it is, the wood is hanging around in the background, and I do not smell much of either. WAIT. OH. Right next to my skin, there is this faint, nice, golden-clovey smell. Oh goodness I like that, why can't the whole perfume smell like that? Hmm. Unsure. I like, kind of. I'll definitely finish the imp. I can't speak for any effects, I tested it on a day I have nothing to do. As a perfume, though, it's objectively nice but maybe just not me. Edit: Okay, wore it again, since it wears off on me so quickly. This time I can smell more stuff--I think I'm getting cinnamon, cloves, mint, and...something sweet, that smells kind of like bread? It's really interesting. It doesn't really smell like perfume to me, but I like perfumes that smell like spices, and I think my verdict is a solid "neat".

I all kinds of love this, and I am really not sure why. I don't like the smell or taste of lemon, I'm really not a floral person, and while this is an extremely pretty scent, it's also super girly, which is not my thing. By all accounts, I should hate this, but I don't. It's not my favorite scent but I really love it nonetheless, it's like the perfume equivalent of that one sweater you own that isn't really you but it's just SO comfortable that you keep it to wear around the house anyway. In the imp: WHOA BACK UP STOP THE TRAIN. It's That Weird Note from Bewitched, but less aggressive. Okay, so I guess That Note was dark musk, and this is Chinese musk? Cool. And lemon! And flowers! I can never smell the tea note, and as a tea lover this makes my soul cry. Eh. On me, wet: Not much lemon! I'm getting two really strong things in particular; one of them is this incomprehensible mix of flowers and one of them is the musk. There's just a little bit of wood, and there is this one note that I cannot for the life of me place but I want it, it's just all hanging out in the background being sweet and kind of creamy and just popping out to say hello if I ask it very nicely. Basically I feel like this smells like a summer afternoon, if that makes sense. It's really yellow to me. It's getting a little angry, but I think perfumes just do that on me at first in general. On me, dry: This is the phase that made a friend of mine describe me as smelling, and I quote, "like a Serta mattress in the middle of a field of posies". I guess Chinese musk doesn't get angry on me at all--it's teaming up with the cedar and making me smell less gratuitously girly! Also, that one pretty note decided to quit being shy and come join the rest of the class, but is still using its inside voice, and whatever it is, it's getting along excellently with everything else. God, what IS that? I have no idea what lilacs smell like, but everyone else is going "oooh, lilacs!". Is this lilac? It's amazing! It doesn't have a lot of staying power, and my imp is going fast. I am dangerously in love with it.

This was one of the two bottles I bought unsniffed when I ordered from the site for the first time, unlearned as I was in the ways of Buy The Imp First!!, the other being Lightning. I am so ashamed to say this because I drink tea like it's my job, but I cannot smell the green tea in this at all. Best Friend says I smell like green tea when I wear it, though, so I'll take her word for it! In the bottle: Berries! Sage! Woods! ...Something else. What IS that? Is that what dark musk is supposed to smell like? I can't tell musks apart at all. I don't smell any green tea, though, which saddens me. On me, wet: HMMMMMMM. I think this might be one of those oils like Cordelia that has to go through a stage where it gets kind of angry with me before mellowing out. There's something in here that's...is that the dark musk? I have no idea what that's supposed to smell like. Is it sage? It smells REALLY weird on me, and I only got a whiff of it in the bottle, like a...strong skin odor, but not BO, just skin? I literally cannot decide whether I can't stand it or find it really sexy. I definitely smell the sage now, and I like it with the berries. On me, dry: The really weird note has knocked all the other parts unconscious, stolen their wallets, and usurped their legal identities. Best Friend likes it, but I don't think it works on me at all, I just smell really strongly of that maybe-skin maybe-not note and like maybe some blackberries. I'm going to have to get a second opinion on this.

And I'm back to the Christmas frimp-testing! Come here, Arkham darling. In the imp: Haunted woods! There are flowers, which on my own I'm not so much a fan of but which are pretty tempered by the smell of a whole (indistinguishable to me, sorry) ton of trees, and there's something just plain creepy in the background here. I don't usually get mental images with smells, but this immediately brought to mind a picture of what the woods in The Color Out of Space must have looked like before the grey crumbliness set in. On me, wet: Pink-purple-blue fresh woodland flowers and beautiful but slightly unnerving forest. I don't really like straight-up florals, but I guess this means I'll love them if you throw in enough trees and the suggestion of a horrible monster or two, because this imp is going to go FAST. On me, dry: The trees and flowers kind of blend together into this...it's like haunted flower petals and moss, because whatever is making this smell disquieting just mixes with everything else and gets stronger. It's like the woods are thinner now and there are less trees, but the ones that are there are bigger and old and there are things living in the hollows, and the forest floor is this mess of roots and moss and flower petals. Oh my god, I love this, even with all the flowers. They just set off the creepy better. I see a bottle in my future.

It's not like I didn't love this at first, but it's growing on me more now. It's very nice, but it felt as if it didn't really fit me. Now, though? Hell yes, I smell like the sexiest, most comfortable spice cabinet. In the imp: Warm, slightly sweet (I guess that's the orange blossom), piney, and spicy. Yes please. On me, wet: OOH. Dark, spicy, I can smell the clove and cumin and I swear to god it smells like SEXY SPICE CABINET, which is great because "spice cabinet" is right up there with petrichor on the list of things I would love to smell like. I don't smell the mint, really, either on me or in the imp, but I do get the fir and I recognize balsam of Peru from 93 Engine. This is amazing. It doesn't feel like I'm wearing perfume, really; I feel like some unbelievable adventure took me through the forest and into the arms of a dashingly attractive but slightly sinister character, and then I made an amazing dinner and now this is what I smell like as a result. On me, dry: Yep. Perfect. I basically smell like spicy sweet wood and also darkness, and I want to go engage in a battle of wits with a secret agent and then kill a bunch of zombies or something. Oh! Best Friend says it smells "like Renfaire without the dust and sweat". I may get a bottle now!

Oh, this broke my heart--The Lady of Shalott is my favorite poem and I was really looking forward to trying this, and...well. In the imp: Gives me the same "Aww!" reaction I had when I opened Cordelia. I don't know how to explain this, but it's really cute. I can smell rain, and flowers, and GARDENIA!!, and some other combination of plants that I can't place because my nose isn't some kind of black belt in perfume yet and more than four notes make me go "omg what delicious witchcraft is even IN this bottle". On me, wet: Oh no, soap! I mean, it's very nice, green, flowery soap, but that's basically what it is, it's just soap and kind of bitter flowers. Uh. On me, dry: Yeah, still soap. I'm sadface, but oh well--I can try my luck with Ozymandias while I'm looking at favorite poems! I'm starting to come to the conclusion that there's a specific fresh water note that doesn't work on me, or maybe it's specifically water combined with florals, because Amsterdam with its fresh running water and tulips did exactly the same thing. It's not aquatics in general, since Lighting and especially Caliban are perfectly fine. I shall have to experiment further! Edit: WAIT. I tested it again and I think the Lady just arbitrarily decided to bestow her favor upon me this time, because the musk is working. I have learned my lesson about blends with musk, which is that (in the case of Bewitched and ultimately Cordelia) on my skin, musk will attack and subdue any other scent with extreme prejudice--and my chemistry hates it, so I just kind of smell like skin and gross. But the musk in Lady of Shalott is behaving! It's giving the gardenia and lily of the valley this really nice, gentle warm backdrop and depth and my skin isn't amping it! YES!! I want to add also that this blend breaks my heart because of the flowers involved. In floriography, gardenias symbolize secret love, and lilies of the valley symbolize sweetness, humility, and returning to happiness. I can't help but associate her "return to happiness" with the boat floating down to Camelot, and the gardenias referring to her love for Lancelot.

In the imp: My exact words upon opening this for the first time were "Shit, son." This is the angriest perfume I've ever smelled, and I have smelled Wrath. On me, wet: Warm, incensey...paste? There's just something in the background of this that doesn't agree with my nose. I'm smelling it as something reminiscent of medicine or paste or cinnamon candy. It's the same as in the imp, so it's not my skin. This just might not be my thing. (A little later) : I absolutely cannot decide how I feel about this. I can tell my skin doesn't mess with it, because it smells exactly the same as in the imp, but I'm still not sure whether I objectively like it. On me, dry: Oh wow, I decided. ME GUSTA. A bunch of spices and some sort of dark scent came out of nowhere and it went from pasty medicine to delicious and kind of hardcore in the space of about five minutes, and I love it now. I can deal with the initial medicinal Red Hots phase for this. I still feel like it would be better in a blend, though. Later: And we're back to the powdered red hots. Nooooooo. There's definitely something juicy and warm and biting and dark and lovely in here, but I have to be actively trying to smell it--I think it smells fine but my nose just doesn't like it, or I associate it with something else. I'd totally try this in a blend anyway.

Another frimp! This is perhaps my favorite out of all the ones I've tested so far. For one, I really enjoyed The Tempest, and for another, I love the ocean, but so few "ocean" scents actually smell like it. When I put it on the first time, I was overjoyed to find that I actually smelled like beach! In the imp: Oh wow. Plants, ocean air, and WOW, SUP THERE WINE. Iiiiiiinteresting. On me, wet: BEACH! The "sea air" part is absolutely gorgeous and dead-on, the plants are nice and lush and exactly how seaside plants smell, and the wine just hangs around enough to bring the sweetness. On me, dry: The marine notes don't stay as perfectly evocative of sea air as they are to begin with, but they do what they did in Lightning, where I can actually taste the salt in my mouth after the drydown, which is just as great. I think the sweetness of the wine mixes with the plants to give it a sort of sweet, subtle woody/green background. I have finally found a legit beach scent and I think I might need a bottle of it.

I am drowning in Christmas frimps and I love it. In the imp: WANT. Delicious sweet cherries and honey. Two of my favorite tastes, kind of sexy together, oh goodness yes come here. On me, wet: Oh sweet lord it got angry. I somehow forgot after one incident with roll-on perfume waaaaaaay back that cherries turn into wood on me for some reason! This was half an hour of really delicious honey and ANGRY CHEMICAL FOREST yelling into my nose. On me, dry: Subtle yummy honey and...trees? I like it as a smell, but I guess on me it wasn't what I was going for. I'm keeping the imp, though, because I swear I've tried it before and it kept the original smell and turned out really sexy. If it doesn't work out I honestly might be motivated to get a scent locket. I really hope cherries don't do this every time, I have an imp of Blood Kiss in the mail!

Hello, frimp! In the imp - Aww, this smells so cute! It's grass and flowers and water and...just, aww. Straight on me - it turns into soap. Flowery soap. I mean, it's nice, but...welp. After an hour - Well, there's the wet grass and flowers, but it's still grass-and-flowers soap. It's pretty, but it doesn't work for me and it isn't really my thing. Ah well.

First review! In the bottle, it definitely smells kind of citrusy to me, but maybe that's because I've never really noticed how a lightning storm smells before. It's not very lightningy wet on me, but as it dries, this really tangy note comes out and the ocean part gets really loud--when I sniff my wrist, my mouth reacts the same way it does when I taste salt. I suspect it might not work right on me, but I like it! I think I'm going to stick with Caliban when I want to smell like the beach, though.