juniperus

She's a muse. Check under Excolo. Yep. http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=4720

Absolutely - loved the smell in the bottle - on me it turns something foul...but in the bottle...tremendous!

Bottle: sharp greenness, like the stem, not the flower. Wet: a warming behind that, a golden note alongside the fresh green. Dry: resinous incense (my friend frank?) and floral, and something that reminds me oddly of earl grey tea (is there bergamot here?) Later: a red-gold, very warm, very bright. I've enjoyed this station of the sun, and ahathoor..might need to seriously consider a complete set...

Bottle: very light herbal floral and, yes, dew. Wet: a very light ozone-y after affect on the floral greenness. hauntingly lovely. Dry: very subtle indeed, a very light ozone-y herbal/floral, not one note overwhelming another, so I am having a difficult time picking them out. It reminds me of the chill dampness of twilight at Diana's Grove (in May, I think, or early June - before the Missouri heat of the summer really sets in)...as the wall of mist moves across the meadow, the unearthly sparkle of the lightning bugs behind it. It's a magical place. Later: oh my, faded very quickly, but so very nice until it did..darn my skin, anyway.

Bottle: boozy and sweet cherry-y. Wet: correction, almond-y. Dry: spicy and boozy and sweet - I'm really liking this, and normally boozy notes don't like me at all. Later: I wouldn't have believed it for a second, but I can actually wear this, and I rather like it. It's very mulling spices on me, but fun nonetheless.

Bottle: patchouli and fig. I so like fig. Wet: I can catch hints of the clove and ylang ylang, now, as well. Dry: I am catching the sweet of the honey, but not too much of it yet (the amping has not yet begun?) This is complex, almost indescribable...I keep sniffing my wrist with rapt attention. Later: the actually honey remains unamped, which is an amazing thing, let me tell you. This is sweeter than I usually like, but damn interesting. I think I'll keep it and try it again - it's a fascinating blend.

Bottle: holy mother of god, this is the same maraschino cherry I get at the beginning of Hecate. and this is not gentle, no sir. Wet: oh, hello anise. My grandmother makes these anise cookies, her German mother's recipe, only at xmastime. This really reminds me of those cookies. Dry: I can just make out the sandalwood behind the anise. this is very interesting, not unpleasant..but I really like licorice and I'm craving, now. And this anise really clears the sinuses. Wow. I'm not complaining, they needed it, but..wow. Later: I rather like ouzo, I just don't want to smell like it.

Bottle: honey and wine, wine and honey. some whine with that wine, honey? Wet: oh, that honey. hints of dark underneath that must be the myrrh even if I can't quite get that note out of it. Dry: yep, amping the honey like there's no tomorrow. ah tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow. Later: I'm sure this is exquisite on someone who does not abuse the notes like my skin does.

Bottle: yep, that's blackberry all right. Wet: still blackberry, with a hint of green behind it. Dry: very berry. I can just catch the heather behind it. amping the berry note again - whodathunkit? Later: more of the heather at the end, berry still present, but has stopped the ampage. this is lovely, but I'm not sure it's quite me.

Bottle: wood wood wood wood wood. and some more wood. Wet: saffron, I can identify the sandalwood clearly, and, uh, candy? Dry: back to the woods, but more multi-layered and even, interestingly enough, multi-textured. a bit of the spice and saffron at the tail end. Later: well, I love woody and I love spicy, so this is definitely going into the collection of wood nImps.

Bottle: dandelion! - when I was a kid I'd hold one under my chin and ask if I liked butter. Wet: dandelion and some green note I don't recognize. I'm feeling a little concerned about the hops - certain varieties really bring out my allergies and asthma. I can't drink Bell's (local microbrewery) beer without having an asthma attack - I think it must be the hops variety they use. (I can drink the stout. damn good thing - I like stout!) Dry: not getting much of the booziness, which is a good thing on me, and none of the tobacco, either, and that's another note I usually can't wear well, so I'm pleased. Later: no asthma attack yet - and it's still very spring..dandelion and weeds needing tending and the grass needs mowing! I like this, but Emma is after it - miniature hoarder in the making.

I just got a Roadhouse partial in an Ebay lot and Emma likes it - dandelions! It's all dandelion on her the way Asphodel seems to go all new, spring grass on her for some reason.

Bottle: oooh, spicy! the mulling spices are yummy, and I normally don't like food-y stuff! Wet: the spiced with an undercurrent of the patchouli, and a hint of the apple on top. Dry: the woods are coming up behind and the depth to this, now, is really wonderful. I'm not getting much of the apple or pumpkin (which is ok by me) and the top notes are the spices. Fall is my favorite season, complete with apple-picking, mulling and baking spices, and the scent of damp wood and pine - this is spot-on, tremendously emotion and memory invoking for me. Later: favorite season, favorite holiday, emotionally stirring, and so very lovely besides. not many blends are so image and time-and-place invoking for me...

Bottle: the vetiver and a floral I'm not quite recognizing - must be the cactus. Wet: hints of the rose, vetiver on top, and the sharpness of that unknown floral is receding some Dry: the vetiver is beginning to amp some, and I'm getting a heavily soapy floral note. Later: no later, this is getting soapier and the vetiver is turning on me - yuuuck.

Bottle: blood orange and heliotrope. Wet: still very orange, the darkness of the toasted vanilla without the upper edge (please let me not amp this, oh pleaaase), and amber. Dry: oh here comes the vanilla. down boy! catching the musk now, no rose interestingly enough, and barely a hint of the gardenia. Later: oh the amber! oh the musk! oh shit, it's all behind that damn amped vanilla! I could cry! This is still wearable - it's not amped to the point of making my head pound - but there is so much more it could be if my chemistry wasn't so wonky. I am tempted to try layering it with Aureus and see if I can tone down this vanilla..here's hopin'!! [edited to add: tried it with Enraged Orangutan Musk tonight for grins and giggles and it worked well!]

Bottle: sour?!? must be the attar, I don't think I know that note. how odd. Wet: mmmmyrrh. and a hint of ylang ylang. Dry: oh the myrrh and musk are just wonderful, lovely and dark and not powdery...dusty? Later: tremendous. fantastic. warm and dark and no more sweet-headachy edge at all. YAY!

Bottle: violet and iris, but darkened but a note I can't quite separate. Wet: ah, it was the musk. yes. what a lovely dark, purple floral! Dry: there is a sharp, sweet edge...is the neroli turning on me? sad. I'll have to wait and see. Later: headache. something here is killing me - I know it isn't my beloved violet or musk (and I don't get much of either from this at this point), iris doesn't usually do this - I suspect the neroli. GAH!!! I had so wanted this one to work!

White geranium, calla lily, cedarwood and black orchid. A gentle floral bouquet masks a sinister and black-hearted core. Bottle: all lily, mega lily. Wet: lily very strong, a hint of orchid behind. Dry: lily not amping, thankgods, the geranium is apparent, now, but not much of the cedar. a white floral, but not the white flowers headache affect I usually end up with - light and airy and a little sinister. Later: Doh, faded fast, but really wonderful...almost soapy, but didn't cross the line - fresh, non-sweet, floral with a sinister flair...looove it.

Neroli does that to me. One of mine is jasmine about 97% of the time. I amp it, too, so that makes the headache even more special.

Bottle: myrrh, but sweet. ruh? Wet: ah, that jasmine sweet, off that I didn't get the jasmine before, just the high sweetness. and myrrh behind. I hope the myrrh comes out to play and this isn't another example of how I disturbingly amp jasmine.. Dry: the myrrh is keeping this anchored - yes! Later: the jasmine still wants desperately to take off on me, even if the myrrh does keep it tethered. I'll hold on to this and try again to see if a different time of the month affects it. Cool and delicate and very feminine..and pretty, especially earlier when the myrrh was stronger. [edited to add: headache. why does jasmine hate me?]

Bottle: oh sharp, ouch! lavender with a touch of mint. Wet: lavender definitely in the lead. I like lavender. Dry: the lavender has faded and the green sorta-mint remains... Later: this reminds me of the smell of ragweed and other non-grass portions of my yard as I mow them..that sharp greeness. Do I actually amp pennyroyal? What a, er, pain!

Emma (9) has sniffed her way through part of my collection and all of my swaps to have picked the following for her little box: Queen Mab Langour (?!?) Thanatos (which, she informs me, smells like pickles) Baneberry Lurid (?!?) Hecate Amsterdam Thaleia Katharina Roadhouse Gaueko and a small vial of Les Nereides - Opoponax I can't see much in common, so you got me. She also likes to borrow my Asphodel and Black Forest but she is more about hording than sharing, so I'm afraid to let her smell my favorites unless I have an extra imp on hand to give her! She didn't like the chocolate selections I've had, nor did she like Dragon's Tears (and I thought she might). No rhyme, no reason.

Bottle: woody, with hints of green. redwood? - a big wood, a hard wood. Wet: mainly woody, yes. a combination of woods, the whole damn forest, leaves and all. Dry: some floral behind the green behind the woods, but still all big and woody. Later: softening some, but not growing feminine nor soft, per se - it's a green woodiness, but not harsh or sharp. expanding, majestic wood, how appropriate for Jupiter.

Bottle: white gumdrop, you know - spice drops..? I love those things..sorta cinnamon and clove.. Wet: warm, sharp, cinnamon-y, like a red hot candy..sweet without being OMG sweet. Dry: whimsy, in an electric way. spicy, and it's that spice that has the potential to wake up your mouth and wake you up or burn the hell out of that chapped lip you didn't know you had. Later: eccentricity in a scent - dead on.

Bottle: sharp, off-putting. almost medicinal. ouch. Wet: woodier, but very dark. bitter. earthy. Dry: masculine. bitter patchouli, and wood, and vetiver perhaps, and a very dark musk. Later: Saturn and I have had issues. But this is dead-on - amazing image invoking with this scent, brilliant.