fiddledragon

Scent in bottle: (in feline tones) Myrrh? Myrrrrrrrrrrh... It's a very bitter myrrh, though -- I hope the currant sweetens it up a bit on my skin. Scent on me: Wet -- Myrrh which for some reason strongly reminds me of gingerbread. I think it's a clove note I'm getting in there somewhere. Dry -- It's still solid myrrh. Conclusion: I'm not sure if I want something that's just myrrh...I very much like the note as a base to other things, but it's kind of bitter on it's own. I'll definitely keep this one around to layer, though. It was a frimp in a swap that I'm very glad I got to try.

Scent in bottle: This smells almost exactly like that foaming soap they have in the women's room in Sharples. [the dining hall at Swarthmore College] Scent on me: Wet -- This is whatever Sharples soap is trying to smell like. Unfortunately, it still reminds me of soap. Dry -- Yep. Sharples soap. Conclusion: Into the swaps pile you go! I might give it another try when my chemistry shifts, but given how it smells in the bottle, I think it's doomed to be Sharples soap. The Sharples women's room is the only place I've smelled that particular kind of institutional soap, so it's a sort of nostalgic scent. If I want something to remind me of Swarthmore, though, I'll get something with roses in it!

Scent in bottle: I'm smelling florals, musk, and tonka. I might be getting sage as well, but I don't have that good an idea what sage smells like; I don't usually cook with it. The end result is kind of generic-perfumy, but this seems like it could work on my skin. Scent on me: Wet -- Sage, musk, florals, tonka. I'm pretty sure I'm getting all the notes now. It's quite nice; this is like Oberon's gentler cousin. Dry -- The drydown is warm and round yet...ethereal is the only way I can describe it. It seems cliche'd, but this really is a very fae perfume. Conclusion: I like it. I feel like when I want something with this sort of feel, I'm more likely to go for the more foresty Oberon, but this is quite nice as well. I'll see how often I use it.

Scent in bottle: Definitely wine, musk, a touch of juniper, dragon's blood, leather, various sort of herbal tones...this is very complex. I think I'm going to like it so long as the juniper plays nicely. Scent on me: Wet -- The juniper mixed with all the sweet things is a very odd scent, but I like it so far. It's incredibly well-blended; I'm having trouble picking out the notes now. Dry -- It's melded very well with my skin scent; I mostly smell the musk, dragon's blood, and just a bit of juniper. Conclusion: I like it, but I think it might blend a little too well with my skin. This is one where I'll need a second opinion on how it smells on me.

This was a frimp...myrrh and dark musk will be lovely, but I fear the almond. Scent in bottle: Evil Almond with sharp pointy teeth! Scent on me: Wet -- The myrrh combined with the almond makes it smell almost burnt, but not in an actually bad way. I might be able to tolerate this almond. Dry -- The almond is still sweet, but it's not the hideous almond-cookie sweetness that it was in the bottle. Myrrh is the right sort of bitterness to layer this with, and the musk is in there making it nice and warm. Conclusion: It still does have a bit of a baked-goods connotation to me, but it's really interesting, sexy baked goods. This one's a keeper, at least for the imp.

Centzon Totochtin has this bizzare hot-rock smell on me. It wavered between smelling exactly like rock and exactly like fresh blood, and so kind of creeped me out, but you might get lucky and just get the stone-scent.

Lavender, with some sharp herbal notes in it. It's a nice relaxing blend, though not as good for me as Somnus or Oneiroi. I haven't noticed any change in my nightmares, but I don't get them that often anyway. It is a good scent to inhale after waking up from one, as it's very calming. Not my favorite of the Somnium oils (I've tried all but Temple of Dreams), but I'll keep it around.

Lavender, lemongrass, and what's almost a ginger note at the back. It's startlingly fresh and sharp for something intended as a sleep blend, and doesn't warm up at all on my skin. It reminds me of my boyfriend cooking, which is a lovely association, but not one that's going to send me to sleep. The couple tries I gave it didn't seem to do much to my sleep patterns except for being mildly distracting when falling asleep. Oh well...hopefully the person I swapped it to likes it better than I did.

This stuff is wonderful! It's a warm, enveloping, quilt-like mix of lavender and jasmine, and maybe some other flowers that I can't pick out. I'd never wear it as a perfume, but it's perfect for inducing sleep. And the wonderful thing about this sort of practical/ritual scent is that if I wear it to bed, my brain comes to associate it with sleep anyway, so it just keeps working better and better!

I haven't been paying so much attention to the scent itself for the Somnium blends, as they're more ritual/practical oils for me. But from what I can tell, Oneiroi does seem to be some combination of lavender, jasmine, sandalwood, and some herbal/green notes. It's a lot like Somnus, but a bit sharper and greener, without quite that enveloping warmth of Somnus. I normally tend to have strange, vivid dreams which I remember well, so it's hard to tell how much Oneiroi is influencing my dreams, either because it "works" or due to placebo effect. But I have definitely had a string of interesting dreams the nights I've worn it. They're also somewhat more...normal isn't the right word, but they're maybe more applicable to my daily life. They seem more like they're trying to help me work through problems than the little surrealist movie-show in my head that they usually are.

It stayed a blend of jasmine and lavender from bottle to dry skin, although it shifted from the lavender being dominant at first to the jasmine coming out at the end. It's like a much lighter, less warm-quilt-like version of Somnus. It's quite nice, but I'm not much of a floral girl, so this one's up for swaps. It should go to someone who'll actually wear it.

Scent in bottle: If you could make bitter orange flavored Smarties, this is what they would smell like. *is dubious* Scent on me: Wet -- It's mainly blood orange peel and neroli. No raspberry, no sweetness. I'm undecided as to whether I like this. Dry -- It's now melding a bit better, and I think I like it. The raspberry is maybe showing up in the very back. It's bitter close to my wrists, but emits this faint haze of citrus sugar. Conclusion: This one is from a swap, and is certainly better on me than what I swapped for it. I'll keep the imp to give it another chance, then if I don't find a use for it, it will get swapped again. Someday it will find a home.

Scent in bottle: TULIPS! I had forgotten what tulips smelled like, but that's definitely tulips. Also, that wonderful fresh-grass scent. *prrrrrrrrrrrr* Scent on me: Wet -- (dried too fast to tell -- this one's very light) Dry -- It's mostly grass and a lurking warning of that horrible marine note. Meh. Conclusion: This will make a phenomenal room scent, but the "water" note takes over the lovely tulips on me. While I dislike marine notes, they like me entirely too much.

Scent in bottle: A very clean cold sort of citrus-floral marine scent. I think I may not be too fond of BPAL's marine notes, but we'll see what it does on me. It's very well-named. Scent on me: Wet -- weird almost-rotten citrus. Bleagh. *waves wrists frantically trying to dry them* Dry -- Not as horrible as it was wet, but not good. Conclusion: Marine notes and me do not seem to entirely get along. And now I toss the bottle into the swaps pile and me into the shower...

Scent in bottle: Department-store perfume.Interesting department-store perfume, but I was expecting rosemary goodness. Scent on me: Wet -- It keeps morphing and is sharp and sweet and attacking my arm and make it go away... *waves arms frantically* Dry --Bitter citrus perfume. Conclusion: Not actually bad, but drastically not me, and the wet phase is just painful. This might work on someone significantly older.

Scent in bottle: Skin musk, myrrh, and patchouli, with some of the cognac and honey in the background. *is dubious* That sort of musk sometimes does unfortunate things on me... Scent on me: Wet -- I smell like some sort of honey-nut breakfast cereal, plus heavy musk. *boggles* Dry -- Honey, musk, and patchouli. Conclusion: Not terrible, but really not me, I think. I'll keep it around to see if my skin chemistry morphs, then send it back out again.

Description: "Orchid, white musk, and bergamot wafting over juniper berries, with a gentle touch of soft, earthy patchouli. " Scent in bottle: mmmm, musk, florals, and patchouli with a bit of juniper. It's very well named -- masculine but very very fae. Scent on me: Wet -- JUNIPER! Dry -- The juniper loosens its death grip on my wrist and lets the patchouli, florals, and musk back onto the scene. It's well-balanced and unusual. Conclusion: I'm glad I decided to swap for this one; I don't know if I'd have chosen it otherwise. It's an unusual combination that works very well on me. It's very foresty but not in the normal pine-moss way. This is another one that I want to apply to random males to see what it does; it's a masculine scent, but in a light, earth-sprite kind of way.

Scent in bottle: I'm mainly getting the sandalwood and red wine, with maybe a bit of the ozone/burnt smell. Scent on me: Wet -- leather and ambergris, with sandalwood fading Dry -- it leaves an odd sort of musky leathery sandalwood smell that blends well with my skin. Conclusion: I like this more than I thought I would...it is a very dark, cold scent, but one that works well on me. I don't need a bottle of it, but this will go in the "costume scent" pile.

Scent in bottle: I'm mainly getting sandalwood from the bottle, with some other things at the back that are too faint and well-blended to pick out. Scent on me: Wet -- Yum! But what is it? Some nice musk and amber, I think, and violet, and the sandalwood's still there. Dry -- It's so pretty! Amber, musk, sandalwood, some floral and woody notes, all so well-blended that I have a lot of trouble picking them out. This musk likes me -- I should try to figure out what other things have that in it. Conclusion: Shiny! Luckily, this is not at all in the category of "disturbingly well-named BPAL scents".

Scent in bottle: Yup -- rosemary, bay, pine, and lemon! Why is this the scent of sin and indulgence? It smells wonderful and clean to me. Scent on me: Wet -- Pine and bay and very sharp lemon. I hope this dies down, because it's kind of nose-biting now. Dry -- After flashing out with its sharp little teeth, the lemon goes away utterly, leaving a nice soft rosemary-bay-pine scent. Conclusion: Yum. This would be a wonderful scent for relaxing. It wavers between smelling like a kitchen cupboard and smelling like a forest. Either way, lovely. I don't need more than an imp of it, though.

Scent in bottle: Ginger, with kind of a rotten smell...I'm not sure where that's coming from. Scent on me: It stays that weird rotten-fruit smell the whole time...I think it might be the jasmine mixing badly with the ginger and apricot. Conclusion: Bleagh. Back to the swap table you go, little siren.

Description:"A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger." Scent in bottle: Mmmm...honey, spices, musk. Sexy. Scent on me (stayed same wet and dry): Cinnamon cinnamon cinnamon and ginger and what I think I recognize as saffron, and the musk is behaving itsself and yum! Conclusion: So very spicy and sexy. This is what I'd hoped Scheherezade would be. On the "bottles" list.

Scent in bottle: Mainly lavender and some jasmine. Quite nice. Scent on me: Wet -- Lavender, jasmine, and a very soft musk. Dry -- Jasmine is dominant now, with lavender at the back, and the musk adding a little bit of depth. Conclusion: This is more floral than I usually like, but it's a very nice floral with character. Especially given the goddess it's named after, I'll keep Sophia around.

Scent in bottle: There's something fruity...peach? apricot?, with spice/incense notes, without being overly sweet and food-like. Yum. This was ordered pretty much blindly in a swap, just for the shiny description. Scent on me: Wet -- Wow...this is insanely well-blended, such that I have a very hard time picking out notes. There's still that fruit-scent, and some sort of resin (amber?). It's a warm, happy, sunlit smell. Dry -- Frankincense, that's what it is! The resins come out more strongly, and the fruit fades back. I'm slightly sad that the fruit isn't stronger as it dries, but it's still a beautiful smell. Conclusion: Oh, the happy! If these are that well-named, I should try swapping for the other three in the Stations of the Sun collection. I'm very glad I decided to get this one.

Scent in bottle: Mostly that ozone-scent. Hopefully the incense will come out more on me. Scent on me: Wet -- Ozone with incense coming out a little. Dry -- Very, very dark and evil incense. Luckily, not very strong. Conclusion: Well-named, but I don't want to smell like it. Off it goes to swaps.