hypothermya

For me, Old New Orleans has a really lemon/spicy undertone to it that I really enjoyed. I guess I just wasn't much for the jasmine honeysuckle part.

Strength Initial Impression Wow. Smells grassy, kinda like The Lion prototype (fitting, huh?), but without the cinnamon. And with something else more wet. The Lion was a really dry grassy scent, and this one smells like grass that's still alive and wet. Wearing It So...I'm getting this sweet, aquatic, grassy scent now. Weird. It reminds me a bit of Embalming Fluid...maybe there's green tea notes in here? And...something earthy. Like the lightest hint of patchouli -- red patchouli, maybe? -- but with florals (maybe jasmine or gardenia?). The aquatics are definitely there....there's something in here that's setting off my allergies, same as with Hurricane and Tears. Also, the grassy scent is a lot more subdued than in Rosalind and Old Amsterdam. In those scents it was really the obvious lawn-grass scent, and with this is smells more like wild grass. Weedy almost. I wonder if that's how dandelion smells....someone else mentioned that in their review. Overall, it's a very well blended scent. I get the impression of grasses and flowers, rich with dew, and the scent of rich earth underneath it. Subtly sweet, but only in a sweet grassy way. It's definitely a grounding sort of scent...not as comforting as The World, but still grounding. Pity I'm allergic to it. ETA: Just as I was about to go wash this off to save my eyes and nose, I realized that it had an incensey smell to it. Like maybe myrhh or frankincense. One of the two. Figured I should add that. It's so wonderfully complex that it's hard to tell what I'm smelling half of the time.

I got a decanted imp of this from Clover, and I have to agree with Tygher -- the label is lovely. Initial Impression Smells sweet. Almost like the strawberries and champagne of Bon Vivant (the scent's a bit fresh in my mind because I had strawberries and champagne for a wedding shower just last weekend), except it's more sweet and more rounded out. The scent is deeper, somehow. And of course, as you smell more, the plums become more recognizable. Smells like the sugar coated jelly-candies you can get at the store. Only...more juicy. Almost like grapes. Wearing It Oh, there are florals in here! The first thing I smell is florals, then this spicy/sugary fruit smell. Well, it's got this cinnamon-floral-fruit smell. Like if you took the florals and the cinnamon from Hamadryad (less cinnamon, of course) and added mulling spices to it instead of the mossy/foresty smell. It reminds me of Christmas wreaths from craft stores, but with mulling spices, and something sweet baking in the background. It's making my mouth water. Lasting Power The scent itself is very faint once it dries. I have to say, I really like this one. I'm amazed that it hasn't turned into some form of rotting fruit smell on my skin, seeing as how my skin doesn't play well with fruit scents... But it smells just delicious, and warm and wonderful. I'm very, very glad that I got to try this.

Perversion I've always wondered whether the inspiration for this comes from the club Perversion down in LA? ...I'll have to go to that club sometime when I'm in the area... Initial Impression Smells yummy. I can catch whiffs of the tobacco and the booze and the leather, with this sweet coconut base. Yum. Wearing It Well, once again, my skin chemistry thwarts me. The rum doesn't even show up (much like with Old Port-Au-Prince on my skin), and all that's left is tobacco, leather, and coconut. Although there's a general sweetness underneath which smells like vanilla. But for some reason I don't hate it. I usually hate vanilla. On the whole, it was a nice scent, but I wanted to have more booziness. As it was, it was a bit too masculine (the leather and the tobacco) and a bit too sweet (I'm guessing the tonka bean?). I did, however, adore the coconut smell...which gives me faith that when I get ahold of Black Pearl that I'll absolutely adore it.

The Red Queen Initial Impression Smells woody and fruity. Kinda like a less agressive, and more rich/ripe version of Dragon's Heart. Basically the same, but without the heavy musks and the blacker feeling. Wearing It Smells like cherry Twizzlers and Robutussin cough syrup. I can catch the slightest bit of a wood scent underneath it, but... Oh, and there's a slight plasticy scent. Damn. The dreaded red currant strikes again. Black currants never do this on my skin, but red currants always smell like the plastic from My Little Ponies. ...And my skin has never been too friendly with straight fruit smells either. Like cherries. So I'm guessing that this scent would smell delicious on someone else, but not me. Oh well...

I'd recommend Old New Orleans.

Well, I know you said no citrus, but let me suggest Jabberwocky. It's got pine, eucalyptus, and orange. And smells incredibly foresty. Great scent. Also, what about The Hesperides? It's got a lot of apples and ozone in it, but a ton of really woodsy undertones.

Why aren't you supposed to wear perfume? I don't think I know anyone with that rule at work. Well....I know that when my sister worked for See's Candies she wasn't allowed to wear perfume, body spray, or any other scented products. This was mainly because she was going to be handling the chocolates and apparently it's super easy for the chocolates to absorb some of the perfume... Which was weird to discover, but it kinda makes sense. On the other hand, I'd never work there. First of all, I couldn't stand to not wear perfume. Secondly, have you seen the uniforms they make their employees wear? I'd feel completely ugly.

Well, for leather scents, De Sade is delicious. Just delicious. And if plain leather doesn't suit you, it's so easy to layer with other scents... Another leather scent I adore is Wanda, which has this musky red wine scent with leather and florals. Very strong and heady. (and must be one of the few scents with wine and roses that actually works on me!) Clove....well, Penance just reviewed Perversion and mentioned it smelled like clove cigarettes. Which is promising. I've been dying to try out Perversion. Other clove scents? In Jack, I can barely smell the clove at all. Voodoo, it's noticeable, but not as noticeable as the vanilla and lime and almond. Three Witches is great, because it's primarily clove and cinnamon, and you can barely smell the white pepper. Oh, and March Hare and Old Port-Au-Prince -- these two are great. The clove in MH smells delicious and the clove in OPAP (what a weird looking acronym!) smells great. Like Christmas. Mmmm... Also, the clove in Seraglio is pretty nice, but overpowered by the rose, in my opinion. So yeah...I guess that the sweet clove scent is just really good smelling. From the scents that I've tried with it in there...

Initial Impression This one smells like straight anise. There's a marsh that I used to hike by a lot, and one of the things that I'd always do is snag a little sprig of anise and twirl it between my fingers just for the smell. It definitely smells more like the anise plant than it does like licorice (a fav. candy of mine). I guess that it's missing the sweet/syrupy smell. Wearing It Oh, wait, there is sweetness in here! This smells just like those dishes of anise seed and sugar candies that they have in Indian restaurants. (love those too.) There's the slightest hint of curry smell in the backround; for a minute I thought that it was just my imagination, but there really is some spice in there that smells like curry. Delightful scent. I can't wear it regularly because my boyfriend hates the smell of licorice and anise. Pity. Also, it might be a bit strong if I applied more than a dash; and I'm not a big fan of foody scents (since I don't like having my mouth watering all day). I didn't end up using this ritually... When I first ordered it, I thought it might be good for the first part (the tranquility, rekindling flames of attraction part) but ever since I got it, I haven't really felt the need to use it at all. Oh well.

First Impression Mint and orange and herbs. Smells agressive, almost masculine. There's a bit of sweetness in there, but not much. Wearing It This calms down quite a bit when it's applied, and begins to smell mostly dark with a bit of menthol and a lot of lavender. It reminds me of my lavender/tea tree oil dishsoap, but with a sweet, sweet orange/floral touch. Must be orange blossom instead of real orange...I recognize this smell from Katharina and Lolita. But unfortunately, this still is a bit too minty for my taste. The combo of the mint and lavender keep giving me flash backs to mouth washes and dish soap... Well, I got this as a freebie in an order of mine, and I was honestly intrigued. But when I gave this a good whiff, I remembered why it wasn't on my wishlist. First of all, I can't stand minty scents. Secondly, I'm not a fan of lavender. I suspect that for anyone who is a fan of lavender, though, that this would be a good scent.

Well, I've also noticed that in certain reviews (such as Black Phoenix, Eclipse, etc.) that almonds end up smelling like cherries to others. I'm pretty sure that with Kabuki, it's a case of the cherry smelling like almonds. But since Penance doesn't like anise, I suppose it makes little difference. However, with Dana O'Shee, I'm damn sure that there's almonds in there. I spent the whole two hours that it lasted smelling like marzipan candies. And you'll note that the description says that the milk, oats, honey, etc. is just the basis for the scent created for them. I'll bet a pound of flesh that one of the additions to that basis is almonds. But I'm glad that someone else besides me is making the almond/cherry connection. For the longest time, I was wondering whether I was just insane for thinking that the sweet almond note must smell something like cherries for all of those reviews to make the refference to cherries...

Just as a bit of argument, March Hare doesn't smell a thing like almonds. Smells lovely -- well, until I put it onto my skin, at which point it smells like candle wax. Damn skin chemistry. As for Three Jacks, yeah....I'd say it's got almonds in it. I went and grabbed my imp, and took a deep ol' whiff of it, and it's definitely got almonds. It's got that Voodoo scent to it, a bit. Shares the almonds and vetiver, probably.

Let's see. On the day of Halloween, I'll be a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding. So...I'm thinking of wearing Whitechapel, cause that'd be kinda fitting. But I'm also considering wearing Samhain, if it shows up in time. As for the day before, I'm pretty broke right now and not feeling terribly creative, so I'll be recycling my costume from last year: a skunk. I put on some black army fatigues, a black thermal shirt, and a black bandana. Then I went out (literally at 9pm on Halloween), and bought some felt in black and white. Made myself a skunk tail (that went from my butt to mid-thighs) with safety pins and pinned some matching white stripes down the back of my shirt. To top it off, I pinned some little black ears to my bandanna and a little white bit to the forehead of the bandanna. And since I never took the costume apart, I'll be wearing it again this year. ...but I don't know what perfume to wear with it. Is it odd to be a really yummy smelling skunk? ...I certainly don't want to find any stinky perfume -- that's going a bit too far with the entire costume. Any recommendations as to what I should wear with the skunk costume? I've got Katharina, Whitechapel, Scherezade, Embalming Fluid, Blue Moon, Chaos Theory XVII (smells like cucumber, cedar, and lemon/lime, and snow), and about a dozen other imps laying around... And I was thinking of wearing Wanda to the bacherlorette party on Friday night...

We demand pictures!!! Cause geishas rock.

My boyfriend and I both agree that hemlock reminds us of Christmas and holly and evergreens. Seraglio was another scent that reminded me strongly of Christmas, because of the clove/orange combo and the almonds. And Dana O'Shee reminded me of Christmas because it smelled like marzipan. Old Port au Prince also reminded me of Christmas because it smells like hot buttered rum.

First Impression A very white floral. With something...familiar... That's the problem with trying so many scents -- your nose starts to recognize the individual notes, and you forget the overall impression. Anyhow, this is mainly floral but sweetened somehow and a little tart. Wearing It The patchouli picks up a lot once it hits my skin, and it smells just like oleander bushes and bits of fresh dirt. Like a real garden floral, and not something you'd get at a floral shop. There's a bit of warmth and sweetness that ylang-ylang always adds to a scent, which always makes it somehow a little more appealing than it was to begin with. And then the neroli -- hardly noticeable -- seems to add a bit of class and sophistication. Seems to me that this is the sort of scent that a conservative lady with a streak of sexuality would wear...almost an intimidating, earthy sensuality that's hidden beneath that white, floral exterior. Very elegant and sexy. Once again, florals are not my thing... I was wondering if the patchouli might be stronger in this, but it isn't. It acts more as a base. It's a nice scent, but not for me.

Muse is a really good one. It's basically 1/2 lotus with 1/2 jasmine, with a spritz of lime. The lime is really strong at first, but then fades pretty quickly, leaving a pure floral lotus/jasmine blend.

I'd been wanting to play a game of cards, wearing this oil, before I wrote the review. Sadly, it seems that my friends who I can occasionally talk into playing poker with me aren't up for being beaten again (for some reason I have *really* good luck/strategy with poker, already), and I haven't been able to play a collectible card game since I got this stuff. Which is weird. Initial Impression Vetiver and cedarwood. It's got this woody, earthy smell, with a tinge of something sweet underneath. Wearing It Definitely vetiver. My skin really likes to bring that note out. What else is in here? Maybe, myrhh? It reminds me a bit of velvet and a bit of ...dana o'shee? Maybe there's almonds in here. I dunno, though. It's sweet, like vanilla or chocolate or almonds. Either way, though, it hasn't turned to baby powder on me, so that's a good sign. Overall, it's very woody and smoky. I think I'll have to get my boyfriend to wear this, since it smells very good and he needs more luck when he plays cards. On the other hand, I may keep it since I do like the way it smells.... Also -- I'm going to be taking a *very* difficult grammatical english test today, and I decided to wear this to the test, layered with Voodoo. (which is a very nice smelling combo.) Hopefully it will grant me some luck while taking this test, even though it isn't card related... I'll update later with results of the test, and whether this works out with some later card games.

As a rule, I really can't stand florals. So...here are my favorites: Katharina -- really just smells like apricot and musk and sweetness... Very bright, uplifting oil. Whitechapel -- has some floral in it, but mostly light musk and lime and citron Embalming Fluid -- lemony, smooth, cool, aloe goodness. Scherezade -- very red, sensual, musky, deserty sexiness. Voodoo -- hard to describe, but foody and woodsy all at the same time. The World -- smells very complex, but mainly like earth and trees and cinnamon. Bewitched -- the perfect amount of berry, musk, wood, and spice all mixed together. ...There are others, but they all tend towards the more floral side. Among them are: Phantasm, Venom, Kali, Wanda, and Yuki-Onna.

Yeah, unfortunately there are a lot of tea based scents out there, but none of them are quite dark enough to simulate Earl Grey (unless you count Aizen-Myoo...which as more fruit than it sounds like you're looking for). But give Severin a try. It might work.

Whitechapel does this for me. It feels, at times, like a very old fashioned perfume...but then the lime perks it up a lot.

Fruit notes fade faster than others. I've found that my longest lasting fav. oil is Scherezade, followed by Tarot: The World, Voodoo, and Samhain.

Beth -- on this subject, several of your scents don't have any description in them and I know that you're working on a tomato leaf single note. Being horribly allergic to tomatoes, is there any way to find out if a scent is likely to have that in it before I order it or try it?

I always find Katharina energizing and it makes me feel like I could take on anything. Venom is a close second, but not for working out -- more for dealing with people.