grifyn_whiffs

In the bottle: almost straight up pumpkin at first, and also for the initial wet phase. I've had BPAL's white chocolate notes do this "sweet, dusty plastic" thing on me in the past (13, I'm looking at you), so I'm hoping that it behaves. BUT, it seems like the fruitiness of the pomegranate is rounding out everything beautifully, with that cream note in the background! For the caramel, I'm getting just general browned sweetness rather than the overwhelming sticky caramel scent. I think it works (really well) in Gluttony and Tiresias, but it wouldn't work here. Wow. This is just awesome. The way the white chocolate is blending with the cream is... delicious! After that initial pumpkin burst, the pumpkin is still there, but not trying to overwhelm any of the other notes. It reminds me of playing in the yard at my grandmother's house on Thanksgiving when I was very young. The sun was starting to go down, and decadent dessert smells were wafting from the kitchen window.

The first whiff out of the bottle is bright citrus! On my skin, the citrus is buoyant and very happy-making. My synesthesia says, "Pink and yellow ovals! Sounds just like sunshine!" Just as the other notes are starting to emerge, however, it disappears. Now, while I don't put it past the labbies to make a Schrodinger's Cat scent that appears and disappears at random (how awesome would that be?), this one stays around for about 45 minutes to an hour and is then gone for good. The faintest whiff of sugared lime hung on 'til the end, but then there was nothing. It didn't even last on the ends of my hair! I haven't had that happen before. I will give it a try in my scent locket, but this one was kind of a heartbreaker for me. ETA 9.16.07 Okay, I have to come back and revisit my review. When I re-applied this a third time, it was FANTASTIC. It is a slather-er, but then, so am I. But on the third try, I got the chocolate mint! The lime and oakmoss linger on the drydown, and it's gorgeous. I love you, little cat that might or might not exist!

I'm always on the lookout for the perfect fruity florals, and will swap/buy blends that have a fair representation of each almost without thinking about it. In the imp, this is so sweet, too sweet. My first impression is: Rose candies. Little rose-shaped novelty candies, with maybe the tiniest bit of rose essential oil in them to make them fragrant as you eat them. Initially, it's a bit much. But, thankfully, the cloying sweetness fades and lets a bright, fresh whiff of blackcurrants emerge. Just beyond that, I can smell the flaky pastry and sugar of the tart note. As it dries, the perfect blending is obvious so that I cannot singularly pick out the rose, or the blackcurrant… it’s flawless. I’m not getting that soapy edge that a big rose note can sometimes have (though, I don’t run into it often with BPAL) and I'm not getting an overbearingly foody note from the blackcurrant tarts. Just a perfect, sweet floral, with a fruity depth. There’s not a lot of sillage on this one, and that’s making me sad -- I like sharing for a brief moment as I walk by! Also, it doesn’t stay put. I put it on 20 minutes ago, and now I get only the faintest whiff of it with my nose practically on my wrist. ::sighs:: Why does my skin eat so many scents? Stupid skin. It’s so lovely, and I really wanted it to stick around. This doesn’t really mean I won’t buy a 5ml, of course. Just that putting it in my hair and slathering away will not help my 5ml last long.

I'm on a serious honey kick lately, but the fiery patchouli really gives me pause. To start: Earthy honey. Not bad actually -- smells very warm and sweet. As it dries, it's getting quite a bit sweeter, the one-two punch of the sweet fig and clove, I'm guessing. They work nicely here. Drying more, it's sweet, but without the patchouli there, it would be intolerably sweet. The patchouli grounds it well. This is actually appealing very much to my current autumn mood, which started at midnight on August 1, by the way. This finishes very dry, slightly powdery. Damn -- I liked it until then! It's not worth a 5ml for me, but a nice lesson in how patchouli can "work" in a blend for a person who usually goes out of their way to avoid it.

In the imp, this is sweet caramel (a very round caramel note, not the "knock-you-down-and-rot-your-teeth caramel... not that there's anything wrong with that) and tobacco! I am instantly in love. Within just a few moments, it has already morphed. It morphed as I was sniffing it, which was a cool experience. Now the tabacco and red sandalwood have come out to play. Is it weird that I haven't gotten black currant out of this yet? Harumph. Why must the perfection of this be leaning so heavily in the "pencil shavings" area? The red sandalwood is threatening to take over, but as I sit here, I can smell the soft waft of caramel tickling my nose, and I'm in love all over again. Pencil shavings are dying down... good! Now I'm sniffing the softness of the muguet. Oh! This one is so lovely and surprising. Woodsy, resinous caramel. GUH. ::adds to 5ml WANT list::

I've never reviewed this one?! What's wrong with me? This one is an instant knee-buckler -- a bright, dewy floral. No powder, no jasmine-like cloying. Just gorgeous! Sadly, it's also gone after 20 minutes. I slather more. Twenty minutes later, I slather again. It's a vicious cycle with this one. I must have a bottle so I can try to put it in my hair and in a scent locket.

In the imp: Hmm. Starts of kind of sharper than I usually like. (Ah! Amber, we meet again. I recognize you by your tendency to go to powder on me, almost without fail.) Amber: You never know, it might be different this time. (Doubt it.) The sharpness has turned only slightly sweet. Powdery, very old lady kind of perfume. The berries are here, in the vaguest way possible... now it's sharp, powdery berries. Ugh. I don't see this one going anywhere but down. I'm gonna go wash it off.

This scent makes me sort of emotional -- because I think it's so very beautiful, but I'm always frustrated when I try to explain why. I even bought a 5ml of this, and I don't get a 5ml bottle of just anything (as much as I might want to). First of all, I love black opals. And that's what this scent smells like to me. I thought, when first sniffing it, "Oh, Black Opal..." and then I had the "of course!" moment. Black opals would smell exactly like this... or the idea of this. Now that's perfume artistry! I don't get the vanilla or coconut whiffs that some have had, which puzzles me... I get musky and sexy, creamy and spicy -- maybe some resins in there somewhere. I can't just say, "oh, this is this note", because nothing really stands up and shouts at me except maybe some white musk. It's a gorgeous blend, and I think it might actually be my favorite. I just keep coming back to it.

First, let me say that Thaleia is VERY pretty, very feminine. I could sense in the imp though, that this was going to be a "pale" scent on me, and proceeded to merrily slather. I really love the honey note in this. I was worried about the ylang ylang, since I amp that note to a sickening degree, but it's behaving and working with the other notes. The floral and fruity notes were very strong in the beginning, but faded away within the first few minutes, leaving the honey and the tonka bean. Those two, while still around, are subtle though. I think my skin mostly ate this one... very pretty, perhaps a little too girly for me. This isn't a big bottle buy for me, but it might be interesting to layer the rest of the imp with some heavier, more resiny blends that haven't worked for me to see what happens. I'm only an amateur alchemist though, so it could just as easily go hilariously wrong.

I'm currently having something of a love affair with black orchids right now. ANYTHING orchid. The note works great on me. BUT, this one suffers from the star jasmine, which is kind of front and center. This could be because I had a middle school love affair with jasmine (can you say jasmine soak?), and now it makes me kind of sick (as did middle school in general). It jumps out of every blend it's in and gives me a headache. Other than that, this one is floral and dark purplish, the way Purple Phoenix smelled to me, though they don't seem to share anything but a general floral quality. The jasmine paired with the amber is making this go to powdery with my skin, though the smoky rose makes a valiant effort of redeeming it in the final stages. Harumph.

In the imp: Hello, CLOVE! It jumps right out. Wet: Clove, with cinnamon closing in. This is very, very spicy, with the orange rounding it out. I'm waiting anxiously to see how the patchouli and "dark incense" is going to behave. Patchouli and I don't typically get along, but this is the fun of frimps/extras you wouldn't normally purchase. The cinnamon is giving my skin a little sizzle of sting. Glad I only put on a little! Cinnamon notes usually don't have that effect on me. I'm getting a hot spiced orange drink sort of smell, or Bakeneko without the tea. I don't really get the peach directly, but it's lending depth and sweetness to the orange. It looks like that might be the patchouli's job, too, since I can only whiff the patchouli and dark incense underneath if I try really hard. These notes are very subtle, thankfully. There's a slightly irritated patch of skin where the perfume went on; that must be some potent cinnamon... NOT for the sensitive-skinned. Drydown: This turns to sweet spicyness only. Nice, but a little TOO spicy for me, and not worth the potential skin irritation.

I smell dragon's blood and strawberries. Something bubbly and spicy, reminding me of a sinister Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo. It's a big, round, beautiful blend. I want to SOAK IN THIS. It makes me want to put on some scary boots and cause trouble.

In the imp, this one is heady and sweet -- sort of intoxicating, really. The spice keeps it from going over the edge into "like you've been mugged by a flower" floral. I wish I knew what the other notes were. I'll admit that I was drawn to this on in my imp box because of it's BRIGHT color. It just looks pretty and magical. Unfortunately, this one dries down to just spice. Whatever that floral and possibly fruity note was... gone like Keyser Soze. Dammit. I'm gonna use the rest of my imp just in slathering. I like the blend of warmth, fruit, floral and spice, and will be looking for it in something with a bit more sillage (on my skin, anyway!).

This is for the '06 version. In the imp: Smoky sweet. There's something very weird about this one: the minute I first sniffed it in the imp, I WANTED A BOTTLE. NOW. A compulsive sort of "let's go and look on eBay THIS MINUTE." So maybe it's liquid mind control, I don't know. I decided to wait it out. Wet: This is still very sweet. The smoky impression I'm getting has been very promising in other blends (they tend to morph deeply). Dry: It's nice, but I'm glad I decided to wait for this one. It goes through a period where it almost too sweet. I like sweet, but not with the spicy/smoky notes that come along with this one. After about half an hour, sadly, I'm left with something that smells VERY perfume-y, and the smoke turns to a sort of powdery/dusty smell on my skin. Ah, well. Not for me!

I saw satsuma oranges and tea, and I dove headlong into this one, thinking of my favorite Orange & Spice tea. Every time I sniffed it to put it on, however, it just didn't SMELL right somehow. I put some on one wrist this morning, and waited impatiently. It just didn't seem to smell like anything in the bottle, and once on my skin, it smelled like... a spicy green forest. I swear it did. Cue my "What the hell?" I sniffed it a bit more a few minutes later, but it was still a musty and manly-incense kind of green forest smell. I was putting some bottles on eBay anyway (updates updates updates!), so I added this to the gang. Right after I had listed it, as it if could sense that it was on the, er, shopping block, the most beautiful spicy orange tea smell was on my wrist. Bakeneko redeemed itself beautifully, and I ended a premature eBay listing (phew, no bids or watchers yet!) so I could patiently wait for the oil to morph instead of being so hasty. Gooood kitty! This one strikes me as a blend that will respond well to aging. I can't wait to sniff it again in the fall/winter (not that this will keep me away from it until then!).

In the bottle - fizzy lime and sweet cookie. I was excited the moment I sniffed it! When it hit my skin, something AMAZING happened. That bay rum and tobacco came out in full force, and now the lime and sugar cookie are underneath making it sweet and boosting the sexiness quotient like there's no tomorrow. This is a unisex blend to my nose, and I'm dying to "accidentally" get some on my husband. It, like Mr. Nancy, has some definite stamina. I put a small dab on wrist three hours ago, and it's still going strong and beautiful -- all bright and mysterious, soft and charming at once. I was annoyed at first that the fizzy lime seemed to go soft, but the scent made it up by going gorgeous on my skin. Somehow, I can tell that the sweetness on drydown would be TOO sweet if the lime didn't lend some tang to the blend. I will now have to acquire a back-up bottle. Or two.

I was really, really excited about this one. Ever since Peony Moon and Mi-Go Brain Canister, I've sought after everything with peony or any kind of plum/plum blossom note, especially when there's other fruity notes in there. It went on as straight, bright citrus. Nothing AWFUL or anything, but only citrus. No other notes, for me, ever showed up. And while it does have quite a bit of staying power (and medium throw), even now, after it has dried down, it is golden, juicy tangerine and orange and nothing else. Well... it's official. I amp citrus. I will say this, though: The citrus in previous blends went to Tang/astringent/Big Fake Orange on me. This one did not, so I'll give it credit for that. Off to the sale box, I'm afraid.

This is a beautiful, bright and yellow floral. There's just the right amount of sweetness to keep it from going to green-herbally (which I personally don't care for). WOW. It is airy and gorgeous, and it's nothing I would've picked up for myself EVER. What a perfect blend for summertime! Seems to have quite the staying power too. I could douse myself in this!

(I'm not sure if my imp is the original or the Resurrected version. My imp looks like it's been around, so I'm guessing the original!) I will admit that I'm trying Glasya because my imp is cracked and I figured I might as well. Now my cracked imp is in a little bag so I can at least sniff without fear of complete spillage. Let me say that this is not the fiery blend I was expecting, but on me is quite sweetly floral with a little spice and musk. The patchouli blooms on drydown, which gives it quite a bit of staying power. The other notes keep it reined in. I get a feeling of murky dark burgundy from this scent. Thankfully, I get none of the black musk or the civet. I like this one, but don't looooooooove it, which just means that I don't have to track it down in all its discontinued wonder!

This one starts out lemony right away. I can smell the opium smoke JUST underneath, very faint. As it dries, it is still mostly lemon. Kind of a bracing lemon at that, but not a cleanser-smelling lemon, thankfully. I'm really looking forward to some of the other notes, like heliotrope and coconut. Half an hour later: still lemon. What gives? Where is everything else? The smoke and black musk comes out right at the end of drydown given the scent is otherwise fading away entirely. ::sigh:: It's not a total loss... I DO have my lemony-scented moods, but I won't be using more than the decant I have.

I actually kind of like this. Going on, it's spicy, naughty pink bubblegum on me. (If you had done the blind sniff test on me, I would've guessed this was Jailbait, just as a thematic guess). It dries down into something a bit more subtle. While it's very pretty, especially on drydown, I have lots of candy/fruity florals already.

I really thought there would be a lot to love about this one, but the minute it hit my skin, it reminded me of an oil roll-on I bought a few years ago by AURIC BLENDS called "Aphrodesia" (which is described as "rose, jasmine and vanilla -- sweet with a spicy kick"...whatever!). This smells almost EXACTLY like it, and I practically drove myself crazy trying to figure it out. Like that roll-on, this scent is just sort of LOUD and overbearing. It gave me a terrible headache, so I wonder what that loud and proud note is beckoning my migraines? The drydown is less headache-inducing, and that's when the sunflower bouquet and/or the daisy notes assert themselves. It does smell like them, but it's not a scent that agrees with my chemistry, as those notes always go sort of stale and stinky on my skin. At any rate, this one is not for me I'm afraid.

I'm glad to see that some others have pointed out a "smells like" similarity between Snow Moon and Hunger Moon. I put the notes side by side to compare and was stunned that it had NO notes in common. How can that be? My nose thinks so! At any rate, this one IMMEDIATELY reminded me of Snow Moon. Only this one went WILD with the verbena for the first few minutes. Down, verbena! Down! I think the sandalwood and amber were combining to make me think of the "fir" note in Snow Moon. BRRR - this one's frosty cool. Once it started to dry, this one settled into an unbelievably beautiful blend -- a completely unexpected cold, dark and crisply sweet smell. Watch as I swoon! Watch as I wish I'd ordered more than one bottle!

I get the green apple and the mint right away. This is a very bright, pretty blend, and it does confuse my nose! It's fruity! It's aquatic! It's floral! I wouldn't know how to categorize this one, honestly. It would be a very good sunny summer day scent for the right skin chemisty. Unfortunately, mine is putting this in the "pale white florals" category, and mercilessly eating all of the notes. All that's left on my skin on drydown is a vaguely perfume-y afterscent with no discernible notes. Ah, well, off to the swaps.

The first thing I notice with this one is how fiery bright orange it is in the imp, so I'm not surprised there's dragon's blood in this one. I get a very bright and fruity/spicy scent right away that was very promising. It reminds me of the clove chewing gum my grandfather would buy me when I was very little. Unfortunately, my skin amps dragon's blood to eternity. Unlike Dragon's Milk, however, this one doesn't scream across the room that you're wearing it. The throw is comparably rather light, but it has some serious staying power. I wish some of the other notes would come out to play, but dragon's blood is holding steady. A pretty blend, very! But not really me. If the Ars Draconis blends have been kind to your chemistry, this one is for you!