hypothermya

So.....I want to go ahead and recommend Embalming Fluid. While Embalming Fluid is very similar to Shanghai, it's different (and in my opinion better) in several ways. The first is that Shanghai has honeysuckle, which makes it sweeter and more floral than Embalming Fluid (since you mentioned that you wanted a non-gardeny scent, I figured this would be a good thing to point out). Anyhow, Embalming Fluid is more clean and fresh smelling, and tends to make me feel very relaxed. Phantasm is similar to both Shanghai and Embalming Fluid (and is another of my favorites), but is both floral (due to the jasmine) and unfortunately doesn't last very long. Severin is a *wonderful* tea scent. I can't really recommend it enough.

Malediction Initial Impression This is, as everyone else has said, very sharp and unappealing. It smells very potent and, well, just a bit evil. Wearing It When I first put this on, I applied sparingly -- which it turns out was a good idea, cause this stuff is strong! It is by far and away one of the longest lasting BPAL oils that I've tried, and when it's wet this stuff can be detected all the way across the room. As it dried, I unfortunately got the strangest whiff of something...salty...like PlayDoh. And then I looked at the ingredients again and saw the red patchouli -- the same red patchouli that had caused Anne Bonny and Ravenous to smell like PlayDoh as well. Which...is good that I've gotten it figured out, but not so good for this blend on my skin. At least now I know to avoid red patchouli and only stick with the traditional black stuff. On my boyfriend, though, this is a miracle incarnate. At first he didn't want to put any on at all, simply because of the scent out of the bottle. But once he put it on and let it dry down, the most amazingly earthy, cedary scent emerged. He compared it with fresh earthy and wood with bits of herbs mingled in -- and while he's normally very inarticulate about how a scent smells, he must have spent a good four minutes trying to describe this. He was shocked to find out that there were only two ingredients listed. Anyhow, part of the reason why this scent is so wonderful on him is that his skin has a tendency to eat up any wood scents. Initially they'll just be a weak after thought, and after a half hour they've disappeared entirely. But this scent is a strong woodsy scent, which lasts hour after hour. He's already gotten several compliments on this. I'd highly recommend this for anyone who likes woodsy scents but finds that regular wood oils don't work on their skin.

La Belle Au Bois Dormant Some History: An anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling mentions in an introductory paragraph that the oldest version of Sleeping Beauty features a maiden who is awakened not by a kiss, but by the birth of twin sons -- apparently Prince Charming had his way with the sleeping girl, no invitation needed. Thank the Gods that the Lab chose to feature this scent based off of the retelling of Charles Perrault, La Belle Au Bois Dormant. This version is much closer to the Disney telling of the tale, and features a chaste kiss to awaken. As typical of the French, this tale is very romantic, and, as typical of fairy tales retold or created at that time period, it is more complex than our modern fairy tales. Which makes it perfect for this blend, since it manages to capture that romanticism and complexity. Initial Impression How sweet and romantic! I can place the tuberose, that dreamy sweet floral -- so much like a rose but with a watery undertone to it -- and several other of the florals: the rose, the juicy plumeria, and the watery tones of the scent. But what strikes me the most is the pear that is used in this one. Unlike the single note D'Anjou Pear, this pear is not grainy and crisp; instead, it is the juicy, ripe pear that melts into your mouth. Overall, this immediately brings to mind sweet, lush scenery and dew glistening webs. Power of suggestion, perhaps, but this scent is both pale and twilit, bringing to mind the "once upon a time" of a fairy tale. Wearing It I admit, I did not order this scent for me. The reason? My skin does very bad things when rose is in a blend. And sure enough, this scent turns to pure rose on my skin in a matter of seconds. However, in the few seconds where it maintained its purity, the blend reminded me of both Titania and Endymion -- two other scents which use florals and pear. La Belle Au Bois Dormant is actually the more romantic and vivid of the three, with more sophistication and dreaming than the lush and fruity Titania and more lushness and color than the more classic and floral Endymion. While all three blends smell quite delicious, I truly think that this sleeping beauty manages to make herself more unique than "just another pear blend" and manages to convey and dazzling sense of romanticism, longing, and wistfullness. The fairygodmothers of the Lab have indeed gifted her with beauty, grace, and whatever other magic they use in these perfumes.

The Lion I'm a bad swap faery. I ordered this for my swap faery as a present, but I just couldn't resist stealing a swipe, so as to compare it to the prototype. I hope she doesn't mind.... Initial Impression Smells similar. I'm not 100 percent convinced yet, but I smell that cinnamon. And lots of amber. Actually, amber is the first thing to hit my senses: a warm, golden Egyptian amber, different from the black amber that is used in Haunted and some other blends... Then cinnamon and grasses. Lovely. Wearing It My hopes aren't too high, since my skin tends to eat up amber and never let me catch a whiff of it. So far, I'm mainly smelling cinnamon. And...due to the absence of the amber (yeah, my skin's living up to its reputation), the cinnamon is a bit heavy, just like in the prototype. I wonder if that was the fault of my skin chemistry there, too? There's still a bit of dry grassiness apparent in the blend, and it's making it smell like cinnamon and wide sweeping fields of grass. Reminds me of the golden rolling California hills (the joke is that the real gold in CA is on the hills). A little sweet now, and more reminiscent of "looking glass cake" than an actual lion. Much sweeter and less tawny than the original version (I'm guessing it would be more tawny if my skin would let the amber do its thing). I can't wait to see what my swap faery thinks of this gift. I hope her skin just adores it. And I know that her skin will let the amber smell golden and gorgeous, like the sun.

Cold Moon Initial Impression Watery, cool, gorgeous. Like Ice Queen meets Blue Moon, with obvious traces of orchid and the slightest hint of...bubble gum? Weird. That can't be right. Must be some lotus in here mingling with the fruit notes. And I only get that scent when I'm sniffing really closely to the bottle... Wearing It Wet, this smells like water, orchids, and ferns with the slightest bit of sweet fruit over the top. A slight muskiness emerges as it dries down...Definitely a very slight bit of musk in here -- my skin will always pull the musk out of a blend. So once this dries it does something quite lovely on my skin. It starts smelling like clear water, with bits of orchid and fern floating underneath a cool chill moonlit sky. I can smell the slightest (almost invisible) touch of citrus, musk, and juniper -- so faint they are a strain to detect. This is a lovely, delicate, quivering sort of perfume... It reminds me of the limpid eyes of a fawn or the velvety softness of a flower petal, so delicate that it bruises at the slightest touch. To just elucidate on the Ice Queen and Blue Moon similarities, this blend has the same orchid/juniper/water blend that Blue Moon does, but without the obvious cucumber (which, truth be told, is part of the reason I love Blue Moon) and without the heaviness of the juniper. Instead of the very purposeful, mystical feel of Blue Moon, this evokes more of the clarity and beauty. Ice Queen, while smelling like a dead ringer for an ice rink, was a very biting blend: the mint, bergamot, and water were so strong that they could make my eyes water. Ice Queen was aloof and cold, distant and condescending while Cold Moon captures the clear, icy qualities of that blend without the bite of ice and without the aloofness. This is a lovely blend, one that I'll be hanging on to and enjoying. I have several citrus blends that I enjoy wearing, but not enough watery blends and this will work wonderfully.

Could be him. It doesn't surprise me too much that it took an oil as strong as Scherezade to catch my boyfriend's attention (although it works just as well on others) -- my boyfriend has always had issues with his sinuses, and thus grew up without relying on his sense of smell. His natural reaction is to ignore scent. I've noticed that other people, for whatever reason, don't pay attention to scent either. Perhaps it's because of similar sinus/nasal history. Perhaps it's for other reasons. Or, it could be that the scent is noticed but has a negative reaction that is being quelled in order to not hurt someone's feelings. I know at least two guys (and perhaps one girl) who just *hate* perfumes, scented oils, scented shampoo residue, etc. If it smells, they hate it. I think this is probably because they have an over sensitive sense of smell and have gotten barraged so many times that they've given up on ever appreciating perfume at all. Anyhow, I hardly think it would be you.

Single Note: Lemon First Impression In the vial this smells like Lemon Heads -- you know, those super tart and sour candies that you can get in a corner market? Exactly like those. It's so sour smelling it almost makes my mouth water. Wearing It jj_j is completely correct in her assessment of this scent -- there is no way that this vibrant note would ever be confused with a cleaning agent. This is such a beautiful scent. Right away this scent looses any artificial resemblance to lemon candies and morphs into pure lemon juice. Smelling this reminds me immediately of making homemade lemonade. This smells just like that -- at first smelling like when you've just poured the sugar into the pitcher -- but as the scent dries it becomes more and more like pure fresh squeezed lemon juice. Although jj_j is also right about the lasting power of this oil, the short time that this fragrance sticks around is well worth it. A lovely scent, perfect for lovers of true citrus fragrances.

Eggnog Initial Impression Something in here reminds me of frosting. This is the sort of scent that might inspire instant diabetes. I guess it's the sugar and cream, rising to the top of this scent. There's also a bit of booziness, and that dash of nutmeg which smells more like a dollop of nutmeg. Yum. A bit sweet smelling, but yum all the same. Wearing It Well, thank gods, the sweetness makes a pleasing retreat when this hits my skin. I no longer smell like whipped frosting, but instead like cream and brandy with plenty of nutmeg mixed in. This is still a very sweet scent, but not so sweet that I'm about to fall over and twitch from sugar overdose. Actually, at this stage it's a very relaxing scent. The nutmeg isn't too strong -- just enough to add that pleasant holiday spice -- and the booze isn't so strong that I smell like a lush. Instead it's just sweet alcohol and spice. Very pleasant. Unfortunately I think there may be some vanilla in here that is just strong enough to upset my stomach (I don't do vanilla scents very well). So even though the close smell of this is really nice, the wafting scent of it sometimes upsets me. Oh well... Eggnog, being a favorite holiday drink of mine, has at the very least been a pleasure to try.

Athens First Impression Well, I've forever had a love affair with Athens (probably due to all of the Greek mythology I was spoon fed as a child), and I couldn't think of a more apt scent. On the other hand, I also couldn't think of one that clashed with my skin chemistry more. Out of the vial, it smells incredibly sweet, fruity (the wine, I assume), and floral. Wearing It When this hits my skin, the first thing to emerge is the myrhh. Actually, this isn't a bad thing, since the incense scent is saving me from the honey (which my body loves to amplify). It has the scent of reverent temples, but underneath that, I can still smell the honey, raucous wine, and the florals -- all of which argue for a much more Dionysian interpretation of religion. It still smells reverent, but in the sweetest and most gracious way. The honey is still trying to overpower everything (and since I despise honey...it makes me nauseous for some reason), I think this one is also a miss. But I was still pleasantly surprised by the myrhh and the joy of the overall scent.

Blood Kiss Lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk. Initial Impression Sweet. You can smell the earthy, gritty vetiver, but overall, it's just a very sweet scent. Wearing It Not being much of a fan of sweet scents, this is probably going to be a bit of a biased review. When it first goes on, the vetiver is very strong but almost immediately it fades and submits to a honey scent (and by honey, I mean fresh off the comb). There's the faintest scent of cherries and vanilla, followed by the spice and earth scent of vetiver. I'm assuming that some of the sweetness is also the wine, but I can't smell it too much. In anycase, the musk is also very prevalent (and actually ties this whole thing together). On the whole, it would be a great scent for someone who could stomach wearing honey or vanilla, and who didn't have skin that hated cherries. Unfortunately, that person isn't me. I really love the clove and vetiver, but as far as spicey scents go, Serpent's Kiss smelled better to me (the dragon's blood and vetiver and cinnamon made the perfect earthy, spicy cherry scent).

Let's just say that Scherezade works like a charm. Unfortunately, it seems that I have my own, er, kryptonite....by the name of Oisin, actually, and the boyfriend has discovered it and put it to, well, almost good use.

King of Diamonds Well, through a funny coincidence, I ended up with two bottles of this. Which actually isn't a bad thing. I probably won't use quite that much perfume, though, and since my boyfriend isn't fond of wearing it, I'm probably going to look for a home for the second bottle. On the other hand, I love this scent a ton and will be adoring every drop from the bottle I keep. Initial Impression Oh, yum! Grapefruit and...lime? Maybe it's just the earthy, green oakmoss I'm smelling, but something about this scent screams "green" and it makes me think of lime also. Lots of fine, earthy woods and a gorgeous musk. I can't wait to put this on. The citrus smells sweet enough to almost be candy, and the rest of it is green, masculine, and makes me think of lush forest groves. Wearing It An explosion of bitter, tart citrus and wood notes. It's sharp and green when it hits my skin, and then immediately calms into a nice pale musk laced with grapefruit (and I swear there's lime there too!), oakmoss (very light), and wood notes. And, this is why I love my skin so much, it turns out that on my skin it's a lot less masculine smelling than it was in the bottle. It's as though it is Whitechapel or Villain's match -- instead of the elegant, upperclass scent of lilacs or lavender, there's the earthy, almost swarthy, scent of wood and moss. It's the grounded, more strong and regal brother of those other hauty fragrances. And on my skin, the citrus becomes more sweet and smells more of the zest than the actual fruit. Mixed with the earthy scents, this is delightful. Just delightful.

Oisin First Impression Oh, lord, I think I may have found a scent that might replace my boyfriend! This is sheer sex in a bottle, and I really mean that. It smells heavily of white musk, but instead of the buttery, soft white musk that I can smell from the single note, it's got this bitter, masculine, cologne-like edge to it. And herbs! Dry grasses, warm fields, and everything to remind me of a man who has just come in from a hike -- not covered with heavy sweat, but instead with a sweet almost skin like glow and the scent of wild grasses and flowers on his skin. This is dead sexy. Wearing It Wow. Just, wow. It's still a little masculine on me, so it feels a bit naughty, as if I were cross dressing. But it still feels sexy, and makes me want to go seduce unwary women. On me, the musk comes out very strongly (hardly a surprise), and creates a warm soft glowing scent, overlaid by sweet grass and the slightest scent of hay. The florals are barely noticeable. Oddly enough, when my mother smelled this and was asked whether it smelled like a guy's perfume or a woman's, she hesitated and eventually answered, "A girls?" Apparently it's pretty gender neutral, and that makes me very happy, cause I plan to wear this a ton! On my boyfriend, however, it doesn't quite work out so well. (pity, too, cause otherwise he'd be able to get me into the bedroom whenever he wanted, just by applying some.) Apparently his skin eats musk scents (similarly to how my skin eats ambers) -- about fifteen minutes after applying it, the scent practically disappears, leaving only the slightest scent of herbs. Also, apparently he used to use a talcom powder that was scented like "herbs and wild grasses" or something like that, cause for the longest time he kept insisting that it smelled like talcom powder. My mother also commented that it smelled like it had a bit of expensive talcom powder to it, something that a man or lady might wear. Either way, it's very elegant smelling and I just adore it. It smells deliciously like sex and summer. Lasting Power Obviously on my boyfriend this doesn't last at all. But on me (keeping in mind that my skin adores musks), this settles down to a very light (very close-to-the-skin, non-wafting scent) musk with bits of wild grass, herbs, and florals at the edges of it. It stays this way for well over six hours, although I often reapply it more than that, just so I can get that initial blast-you-in-the-face, bathing-in-perfume effect. I just love this scent so much that I can't seem to get enough of it. I'm so glad that I have a 5ml of it.

From old reviews of mine: Scherezade "When I first smelled it, I couldn't help thinking that it reminded me of an occult bookstore, with the heavy incence smells and the strong, overpowering musk. When I handed it to my sister's boyfriend (who had no clue who Scherezade was, or what sort of ingredients were in the perfume), he told me that it smelled like 'old books.'" The Hermit "All of the other reviews said something about old books (and while I love the old books smell, I'm not sure I want to smell like I'd been stuffed into a library for several years myself); but this smells like herbs, almost like a sunlit garden."

Er, actually, I'm just really familiar with the search engine, am currently in training for an OC personality disorder, and adore helping people pick out perfumes... Plus, after doing some editing for the lab, I pretty much know most of the older perfumes by heart.