Mishinka

There's a coffee house near me that also sells cigars, so after I spend an hour or two writing there I come home smelling of good coffee, cream/milk, sugar, baked goodies, tobacco, and probably a few varieties of tea, and I want that scent. Without having to go a few days without showering or wear clothes in need of a wash, I mean. Is there anything like that around?

In the imp: Now that is a very interesting scent. At first I get something very similar to Bastet, sweet amber with a kind of dry, warm background from the saffron, though there's just a very distinct note of rye bread. Wet: ...it's rye bread. Slightly sweet, dusty rye bread, but rye bread. Dry: It doesn't change much and it dies off quickly. I'm disappointed.

In the imp: Lovely! Pear and cedar jump right out and pop me in the nose first thing. I'd been worried about the jasmine and cedar, but they're very mellow. It's almost all pear with a little bit of heaviness from the cedar and pepper to ground it. Wet: Ah, there's the jasmine. Pretty strong, soapy jasmine, too. This pretty much almost is soap, except I can still smell some pear and pepper. I only had a little dab on at first, but I do smell the cedar more clearly when I put a little more on. Dry: The jasmine mellows as it dries; it's not quite so soapy as it was. The pear makes a pretty strong comeback, and there's another mild flower in there that must be the champaca. Phew, this one's a hanger-on, too. A few hours later and I still get pretty strong whiffs of flowery pear--almost candy sweet, but not in a bad way--when I move my arm. I wasn't planning to buy any bottles since money's short and imps last me a good long time, but this one I'm kind of tempted.

Season of Ghosts In the bottle: Wow. Orange. Really strong orange. But funny orange. I suppose it must be blood orange, because they have this almost bitter tartness to them, and it smells rather like that. Or maybe it's the lemongrass. It's not quite cleaning fluid, it's a little fruitier and a little more pleasant than that, but the longer I hold it under my nose, the more it heads in that direction. I don't dislike it, but... Wet: It's still orange, but it's more of a natural, fresh-peeled orange. I think I maybe smell a little of the geranium in the background, but the orange mostly drowns it out. I'm not getting ginger or frankincense at all. Later: This ends up fancy soap on me, geranium with a little bit of orange behind it. It's not an unpleasant scent, but my mother got a fancy soap set for Christmas that smells exactly like this. It's fancy soap. It's a really stubborn scent on me, too. I spent the next six hours after I put this on helping a friend who's moving pack the truck. I kept getting pretty strong whiffs of orangey, slightly dusty geranium right up until the last half hour or so. I don't dislike this scent, but I think I'm trading it for something else. Edit: Though now that I've spilled nearly the entire goddamn bottle, I have to say it does quite nicely as a room scent. For some reason I'm smelling a sort of smoky vanilla undertone.

I first sniffed this with a really bad cold and thought that in the imp Velvet Tiger smelled exactly like Constant Comment or one of those other spiced-orange black teas. Now that it's bronchitis and my nose works a little better I can still see where I got that idea. I smell orange and cinnamon very strongly, but the tea note I thought I smelled earlier is actually this dirty mix of vetiver and licorice. Vetiver is no friend of mine, so I'm a little reluctant to try it on. Whoof, it's strong, though. I spritzed a little oil onto my lip when I closed the imp and the finger I wiped it off with is throwing scent like crazy. It's still not as harsh and smelly as vetiver usually is on me. I can definitely smell the teak, and a little cinnamon. There's something else a little earthy, almost musty, that I think is the play of wood and licorice. I want to say it smells a bit old-fashioned, but the era it's putting me in mind of is only about the late 1960s/1970s. Actually, it smells like the kind of basement rumpus room that would have velvet paintings of tigers on the walls. I'd expected it to be the vetiver that killed this one for me, but I can barely smell it. It's the woody licorice that amps all out of control as it dries. There's still a little spicy orange I can smell after it's set for a little while, but the spiced orange is buried under a pile of Good'n'Plenty and Red Hots candies in a wood chest. Not for me, thanks.

OMG love! This is my very favorite scent I've tried since the Halloweenies last year. In the decant I get a zap of spicy pepper that smells almost like cinnamon straight off. There's a slight woodiness in the imp that I think must be from the balsam, ad I can smell a little booze when I'm looking for it. I have no idea where the The rose is really strong when it's wet, but it's a rose I like, like the one in Day of the Skulls. It stays spicy, and I start to smell the berries as it dries down. The alcohol really just jumped out at me, too, but it stays mostly spicy rose at the end.

Hmmm. No list. It's very outdoorsy in the imp, all pine and earth. It's actually rather soapy when I put it on. I'd expected something very masculine, but it's not. There's something in here I associate with masculine scents, though, maybe a wee bit of leather. I think I still smell pine, and maybe grass or clover? It's very green, but not in the herbal way most of the other "green" scents I've smelled are. It's like, the dark grass green the lawn outside my window is right now. It gets sweeter as it dries down and I'm almost sure there are some spring flowers in here.

Very nice! It's very herbal in the bottle, but it's a summer night smell when I put it on. I get a lot of incensey smell that must be the ambergris, and a touch of citrus from the bergamot, but otherwise this is a very deep, dark floral. I don't smell the honey or currant, and only the slightest bit of patchouli (that's good, though. I don't care for patchouli) or oakmoss to give it a bit of earthiness. The honey comes out a little after a while, and I'm even starting to pick up a little bit of spiciness from someplace after it's been dry for a while. Right now it's kind of soapy, but I just washed my hands, so I might be smelling actual soap. This one's pretty!

This is a very fizzy, sweet scent. I thought at first it smelled like cotton candy in the imp, but I think it's actually root beer I'm smelling. On my hand the oak leaf grounds it a little; there's a slightly earthy edge to it, though I still smell a lot of sassafras and some vanilla. It's a strangely cool scent once it dries--it bites my nose a little like winter air. After a while and a couple of hand washes it's still hanging on as a slight, buttery sweetness. I'm not sure how often I'll wear it, but it's interesting.

In the imp it's very earthy, almost chocolatey. There's a lot going on there when it's wet! It's fun enough that my initial impulse is "let's put some more on!", though I think this is probably one of those where a little goes a long way. That's some really hot, strong cinnamon, almost too much. That chocolate/earth note is still there, and I can't figure out what that is, unless it's from the fig. It's very sweet and fruity; I definitely smell pomegranate and maybe a bit of grape. I don't know what spikenard smells like, but there's some kind of floral hanging around in the background. I like this a lot so far! It stays hot, fruity cinnamon for a long time, though it dies down to a mellow, sugary apple that seems like it ought to belong to a Yankee Candle something-or-other after a while. I generally don't like fruity/foody scents, but this one is neat! I would totally eat this fruit.

I don't know what wormwood smells like. I'm guessing probably woody and bitter. In the imp I definitely smell the anise straight away. Wet, I don't know what this "barest hint of lemon" is about, because phew, lemon liek whoa. Lemon and anise. There's a bit of herbiness behind it at first, but it goes straight to Lemon Pledge as it dries. Though now I can smell some kind of floral in the room, though I'm not sure if that's the Absinthe or the Hello, I'm A Great Whopping Pile of Imps on the Shelf Over Here next to me. It's really stubborn lemon and anise, too, because washing my hands a moment ago didn't have much of an impact on the scent.

Oh my, this is sweet! Not in a bad way, but that's definitely the theme here. When I put it on, it almost seems to be a single note of honey, though there's something a bit green and maybe a little smoky behind it. I smell something kind of fruity in there, too, maybe the wine. In the imp it's a bit darker and rougher. The honey jumped straight out at me at first, but I think I smell the myrrh more strongly before I put it on. The resins jump out in a "what does that smell like? I can't quite figure it out" way. It's still really sweet even after it dries. It lingers as a soft, sweet mead incense. I'd been leaning at first toward "oh, this is awfully sweet. Drink it, sure, if it tasted like it smells, but I don't know if I actually would wear it", but I like this quite a lot once it's dried.

In the imp I just get rose in a department store perfum kind of way, which sort of surprises me. The spices all sort of burst out when I put it on, but the rose overwhelms them pretty quickly and just sits on their heads like a six hundred-pound gorilla even after it's started to dry. The rose does die down after it's been dry for a while, but still all I get from it is powdery rose. I love like ninety-five percent of the notes in the list, but it just comes out plain rose on me. Sad face. So sad face it bears spelling out and an emoticon.

Pretty! I got this as a frimp from the lab. In the imp, it's pretty much just honey and a hint of the minerally candy-orange that comes with chewable aspirin and kids' vitamins. Not in a bad way, though. There's a big blast of orange when I put it on. The honey balances it out after a while, and I finally smell just a little rose once it starts to dry. I can't find any sandalwood, though, unless it's the slightly dry note I smell when I put my hand right up to my face. I like this. It's very simple but without being dull. It's a nice late spring/early summer scent, I think. Whoof, has quite a throw, too. So now I'm just about to meet someone for lunch, and I have a big old splotch of Jezebel on one hand and a big old splotch of Al-Azif--supa-sweet incense that also throws like anything--on the other. Go me!

I would never in a million years have pegged this for a Lovecraft scent. It's just so cheerfully bright and sweet. In the imp it reminds me a lot of Bastet, that super-sweetness that's just enough to make me wonder if I really want to try it. I think it must be saffron and incense they have in common. It isn't so warm or fruity as She is, though, or as complex. It's pleasant, but this is just an spirit who wants to be a god, or to be more powerful than it really is. When I put it on, I get a big burst of caramel. There's incense here, but it's sweet incense, frankincense or maybe sweet myrrh and a little beeswax. After a while I start to smell some faint, distant florals. It isn't anything used a lot, but it's some kind of white flower. The sweetness mellows as it dries and the scent gets spicier. I smell a little wood and maybe some cinnamon. It definitely picks up a smoky note, but it's an incense smoke instead of something burnt. Actually, it smells a lot like the incense that was in the air when I went to St. Mary's Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky right after an evening service. I like it, but I don't know if I would wear it often. It's a bit foody for my tastes.

Hmm. This came as a free imp with my last order. It's growing on me. It is indeed a very sharp scent in the imp, lavender and minty, musky florals. It smells like a lovely men's cologne. When I first put it on I smell lavender and patchouli, and now I definitely get geraniums instead of just flowers. There might be just a hint of lime in there, too. I'm also picking up something a little piney, though I'm not sure where that note comes from. But there's definitely pine there, and it gets more pronounced as it dries. The scent turns woody and floral after an hour or so, and is a much more feminine scent than I'd expected. Don't know if I want a bottle, but I'll certainly wear it again.

I was wanting for so long to try this. My reaction to it wasn't an immediate "OMG yes, so worth the wait!", but I'm not at all disappointed. It's an interesting scent. This is one of the greenest scents I've tried yet, but it's green in a different way. In the imp, I get a big blast of honeydew and a very green citrus. After a second I can smell the musk. It's very sweet, but not cloying. On, it gets more floral, and I do think I smell the wood notes someone else mentioned. It's still very fruity, but not quite so sweet. The musk comes out as it dries, and the scent gets much drier than it had been. Fresh, it was very wet and green on me, but that goes away after a while. After an hour or two, all I have is sweet, floral musk clinging to my skin. I get much more of a desert feel from this than an alien one. It's like the desert toward the end of the rains--there's this profusion of flowers and green that go away quickly, leaving just a whiff of their smell in the middle of the dry scrub. I like it more the more I smell it.

I'd avoided reading the reviews before I wrote my thoughts down on these so that I could be sure I was writing my own impressions instead of other people's, but I had to go look for this one. I have no idea what I smell in this bottle. It's woody and weird, and not in a good way. People over there are saying they smell wood and cardmom, which I guess I can pick up on a second sniff. There's those, and there's a sourness that might be the balsams, and some hay. There's also something I can't even describe. It's...salty, maybe? I don't even really want to try it. But if there's one thing I'm really good at, it's charging ahead despite my better judgment, so... On: Oh, ew. This is the first scent I've tried that I consider actively gross. All I smell is the weird note from the imp, but stronger. It is can be wash tiems naow.

Mmmm. I certainly don't smell any blood, but this reminds me of what I like in Bess. I smell the grape and currant right away in the bottle, and an herbal background I want to call the bitter clove and/or the ivy. I pick up some leather after a moment, and there's a gentle floral in the background. I want more of this right now. On, also mmmm. The grape turns almost to wine, and the floral--which I guess would be the lily--gets a lot stronger. I definitely do smell the leather and the oak now, but it's a much more feminine scent than I was expecting. The description made me think of an old library in some English manse with ivy growing up the walls, and I was expecting the cologne of the sort of gentleman who lived there, some professor type with a tweed jacket that had leather patches on the elbows. But the floral is actually quite strong and not girly, but feminine. This is a lady's library. She's wearing strong perfume, but she's doing it amid the leather and oak of that old English library. I'd been about to say that the berry scent goes away as it dries, but I still smell it from a distance. I'm wearing it on the same hand as Clémence, who still wants very much to be my friend, so I might be getting a bit of a distortion there. But when I put my nose directly to my wrist after Blood Garden dries, I get almost all floral and maybe a little ginger. But holding it away a bit, I smell that grapey, berry scent and specifically lily instead of just "some kinda flower." I just adore this. Srsly, I have my bank account open in the tab next to this one to make sure I can justify a bottle of this OMGrightnow.

Oh, is this a sharp, earthy scent in the bottle. I sort of overlooked the patchouli, which hates me, when I first read the description, but the other notes sounded so good. Overall they seem to balance it out, so that it smells a bit like tea and the loam around the roots of a big old tree that's just starting to rot out. Lot of clove, too. <i>Man</i> is this spicy when I put it on. Lot of clove, lot of pepper. I'm even getting a sort of fiery, hot cinnamon smell that might be the cardamom. The patchouli still isn't too bad. Not at all like when I tried it yesterday and forgot to write it up--that was "eww, rotten wood in the bottle and the patchouli won't go away." This is quite nice. This is gorgeous and spicy, actually. The patchouli is there, grounding everything, but it isn't overwhelming. This isn't a slathering scent; maybe that was the issue yesterday. It dries down to almost pure clove and cinnamon, with maybe a bit of patchouli earthiness. I know I was getting whiffs of patchouli for hours after everything else was gone yesterday. If it stays like this, though, this is definitely another one on the OMGlove! pile.

This is a lot more floral than I thought it would be in the bottle, but I'm not quite sure where it comes from. There is a bit of sweetness to it, but it's not necessarily citrus. After a little while I can smell the tarragon or the nutmeg a little. On a second sniff I can smell the redwood. But mostly this is just a deep, sweet incense. There's the redwood when I put it on. It's a piny scent, and fresh it drowns out almost everything else. There's a bit of sweet business behind it, so it isn't manly-man cologne pine or just "hooray, it's Christmas!" room freshener pine. I smelled the orange for just a moment, but it's blended into the incense/floral background, which is starting to develop a bit of an herbal bite. It does stay quite herbal and woody as it dries, but there's definitely a floral here I can't quite identify. There's also a definite strong spicy/musky note to it. This is a very busy scent. Very interesting. I don't normally notice this about the scents I've tried, but this scent is just sexy as all hell. I like it a lot.

Right what it says on the page: vanilla and cinnamon. Lots and lots of vanilla and cinnamon. I don't smell the clove in the bottle, but there's something a little woody and piny underneath it. It smells like someone's baking out in the woods. The pine takes over in a serious way when I put it on, though the cinnamon is still pretty strong. I don't dislike it, but it's a weird mix. Oh, wait. There the vanilla is after a minute, and I think I might be starting to smell the clove. I bought this scent because I wanted something straight simple and spicy, and well, there it is. It reminds me a lot of Plunder, which I love, but it lacks Plunder's complexity and warmth. This is also a little foody on me. It also dries to something strangely sweet-bitter on me; it's mostly clove (or a very harsh, hot cinnamon that isn't the same as the cinnamon buns earlier) and pine, but I can still smell a little vanilla. I don't dislike it at all, but I am sort of disappointed by it.

What an interesting, complex scent! There's a sharp, clean scent right out of the bottle that smells minty, but it might be the lavender. It's very herbal--after a moment I can smell the fennel and anise (and dittany of Crete is a type of marjoram, so that's probably in here too)--but the pomegranate juice is fruity enough to keep it from being too dry or cleaning fluid-ish. It reminds me oddly of dryer sheets, but in a good way. It doesn't smell like them, but it has that kind of cozy warm, clean scent. I like this so far. On, it's about the same, but stronger. Very herbal and clean with a bit of fruity sweetness to it. As it dries, I pick up a little frankincense, but the pomegranate and lavender stay very strong. It also gets very dry compared to what it was fresh. I must admit that I don't know what hemp smells like, but I do get a very subtle papery note after a while. This seems to be one where a little goes a long way, but I quite like it.

Wow, that is sweet in the bottle. Caramel and honey and apple-y flowers. There's a note in it I can't quite identify, I would say either the musk or the teak. It just doesn't fit in with the sweetness. Wet, the skin musk and honey come on strong. I might notice a bit of apple in the background of this one too. I'm not noticing the teak or the caramel, but this is an odd, musky-sweet smell. I really liked the skin musk in the Tamamo-no-mae, but this isn't quite the same note. That smelled just like skin warm from exertion or being in the sun, but this one is really strongly musky. The contrast just doesn't work for me. Especially now that it's dried super-musky with a funny sweet note to it that I think is apple. Yes, apple. Musky apples. Pass, thanks.

Hm. I like amber, I like lotus, and I like citrus, but this just doesn't work for me. In the bottle it's candy sweet, but there's something kind of off about it. I think I'm mostly getting really strong lotus and some kind of citrus. I'm not really sure what. When I first put it on I get a big rush of orange, with the lotus catching up to it a minute later, and there's a tang of amber to it. The combined effect is somewhere between headshop and chewable aspirin. It does mellow as it dries, but the lotus is still pretty overbearing. Not terrible, but not something I foresee using a whole lot. Do like the mellow warm skin note that remains after it's been dry for a while, but overall this is a big "meh."