sissa125

Embalming Fluid - A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.

Black Pearl - Evocative of the sea's unplumbed mysteries. Gentle and lovely, but menacing and profound. Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk. * Shadow - A subtly menacing blend of lemon verbena, white sandalwood and cedar, dimmed by droplets of the darkest patchouli. * Ulalume - Starry white lilies lend an eerie brightness to the deep black wooded scents of cypress and oak, layered with a touch of crushed dried leaves and the faintest aquatic note.

Can't live without The Lady of Shalott Voodoo The Apothecary Kathmandu Also adore Black Opal Kitsune Tsuki Dragon's Milk Bengal

Imp: Candy-like, dried-fruity, spicy. Wet: herbal, spicy, less candy. Scratch that - really chalky candy with lots of artificial flavor. Dry:powdery ginger and apricot. very dusty. Growing on me. This was an interesting scent. The ginger was foody rather than tart. The vanilla was a bit weak. Siren didn't have the freshness that I now realize I look for in scents. I was nice enough to finish up the imp, but I passed it to a friend who likes ginger and apricot, and she seems to love it more than I did.

Le Serpent Qui Danse - Imp: sweet, slightly tart floral. I can clearly distinguish gardenia and another floral, presumably violet. Wet: A ripe, sweet floral. The dog-days of summer. Eventually the notes blend and seem quite interesting. Dry: gardenia sweetened with vanilla. very nice. I love vanilla and I like gardenias, and I always imagined their combination would be lovely. But for some reason this scent didnt grip me the way I expected it to. Firstly, the gardenia isn't quite like the fresh gardenia scent I love - it is a bit sickly and perfumy here. Or perhaps the violet is disturbing the balance - I'm not sure how violets smell. I guess I'm still waiting for a better vanilla+floral. The drydown here is what I hoped the scent would be, but the top notes take away the appeal of the scent as a whole.

Imp: A sad aquatic floral. Wet: Lilies, stillness, despondency. A sadder version of Shalott. Dry:a deep pond with white flowers growing in the shade. Eventually very dark and bitter, though still aquatic. Wow. I thought I liked lilies more than this. It's much too melancholy to wear often, especially since I already have the aquatic, muguet, water-blossom masterpiece that is The Lady of Shalott.

Imp: sweet resin, not cloying. Wet: delicate, faintly fruity-floral Dry: A textured, spicy vanilla. Sweet but not overwhelmingly so. It is something to wear to a gaming tournament, or a comicbook store. Feminine and nerdy.

Imp: resin, aquatic, tart Wet: A fresh scent, fragrant springs Dry: the resin comes through. I think would like it, but I am comparing it to the Dragon's milk on my other wrist and the milk is winning. I think I like my salty aquatics separated from my sweet resins.

Imp: gentle tart plums Wet: daffodils overlaid with tart fruitiness. It's my favorite fruity oil so far. Dry: The same, fading away slowly A delicate japanese print of a scent. It is a late spring scent, with blossom laden boughs raining petals in the evening breeze. What I called "tart fruitiness" is, in retrospect, a well-rounded jasmine with a hint of plums giving it complexity. It doesn't last all day, but I enjoy it while it lasts. Also, I think white musk works well on me. It was a joy in Shalott as well.

Imp: Rancid, the same nose curling note that turned me off from Delphi. This perhaps confirms that wine notes are not for me. There is a sweet grape note that distinguishes this from Delphi. Wet: I'm trying to be brave. I put a dot of Tum on my arm. It is still rancid grape. Dry: The wine note is weaker but still barely tolerable. The grape is stronger, interesting, but I don't think it would be something I'd choose even without the wine note. Off to swap. Away with thee, post-haste!

Imp: Fresh cut grasses and leaves Wet: Herbal, medicinal flowers, unguents. Dry: The cleanest scent I have tried so far. It's waking up after a long illness and seeing the sun streaming through your window. It is optimism and rebirth. A keeper! This is one of my favorites so far. It is perfect for early spring; clear and light and wet and leafy. There is a citrusy feel to it, through there are no citrusy notes listed. The ginger may be giving it a fresh bite. The fig gently rounds it of with some sweetness, and is in perfect balance here. I did not like the gummy fig in Intrigue, but here it is perfect.

Imp: lemon, in a bitter alcoholic solvent. Wet: Anise! and lemon rind. Dry: very faint fennel and anise. Interesting, but not unforgettable. I had high hopes for this one - I hoped it would be like sticking my nose into a jar of fennel and inhaling. Turned out to be not quite what I was looking for. Fans of absinthe seem to adore it but, not being a devotee of the green fairy myself, I decided to pass it to someone who would appreciate its merits. In summary, an interesting herbal scent that I could grow to enjoy, but it deserved a better home.

Imp: The Wintergreen Cinnamon everyone mentions Wet: Wintergreen, but other woody smells. I'm not smelling actual wood, rather wood extracts. Wintergreen is still the strongest. The woods arent dry. What does lichen smell like? Where are the flowers? Dry: Dry woods, unidentifiable. Faint floral, also unidentifiable. At first, the very unromantic scent of breath freshener. On repeated use, I can smell past the wintergreen and cinnamon. Some cedar, something soft and dry, powdery and ghostly. Less wood nymph and more the memory of wood. I'll use up the imp, but I doubt I will get another. It was too weak and unsatisfying.

Imp: Very complex and eclectic, preserved flowers, slightly musty Wet: Meh, moldy flowers Dry: Old soap It smells to me like someone is traveling down the Silk Route, picking up something organic at every pit stop and stuffing it into a burlap sack. Strange fruits, vegetables and flowers picking up each others' scents, as well as some eau de travel. Very interesting, and growing on me, but not quite my thing.

Imp: Old and young woods, sap-laden; ceremonial spices Wet: Dry woods, less sour, clove and cedar. Amping up as it dries...love! Drying: Less cedar and clove, a bit more sandlewood. This is like climbing up to an wooden shrine in the lower Himalayas. Gray snow-capped mountains tower above, and the sunlight is either super-bright in the thin air or hiding behind clouds. Very respectful and subtle - might just be my ideal "dry woods" scent. I could wear this *and* use it as a car fragrance.

Imp: It's like biting into a thick slab of creamy syrupy indian sweets. Divine! Yup...there's the gummy Karachi Halva, sugar-syrupy cham-cham, lots of rose flavoring, and khoya. Hoy! is that Kewra essence? Wet: The sugar-syrup dies down. The kewra still lingers, politely offering me a plate of sweetness. Dry: Still smells rich, but not as sweet Note: I wrote the above without rereading the official description, and I'm surprised by how far off I am. I never would have guessed honey, because the honey wine in delphi and tum smell rancid to me without even touching my skin. I guess it's the wine I dislike, not the honey. Clove and cinnamon make sense even if I couldnt pick them out. I'm not sure about the "peppers"...if I knew what kind of peppers to sniff for, I may have a clue. Anyone have any ideas?

Love Potions Le Serpent Qui Danse Illyria Ophelia

Bewitching Brews Black Opal Voodoo Hamadryad Diabolus Kitsune-Tsuki Love Potions The Lady of Shalott Ars Draconis Dragon's Milk Illyria The Apothecary Titania

Black Opal is my tough-cookie fragrance. Deep, brooding rocks forming a stone wall between me and anyone crazy enough to mess with me. The only problem is, it can be too strong. I think I scared myself last time I wore it.

When I first tried Titania, it seemed very fragrant and melon-like. On my second attempt with the same imp, I got melon flavored candy. Anyhoo, if you are partial to melony scents, I'd vouch for titania, even if it wasn't quite my thing. tarShan

I've been putting off this review for too long. The problem is that even after wearing Queen Mab twice, and several days apart, I a no closer to knowing how I feel about it. The first time I wore it, I wrote this: " It is "dry" in the not-sweet sense, there is jasmine clearly, or something else very sharp. no rose or sandlewood that i can recognize it is almost as if something were BLOCKING my odor receptors to keep from smelling this. i apply it to my other hand now. its better on this hand. go figure. a bit more sweetness, much more complexity. a subconscious rustle of silks. no sandlewood tho. warriorlike, yes. trickster, I'd say so i get the fierceness more than the shadowyness there is sandlewood on my first arm now. and on the other. This evolves into a very traditional floral perfume." Wearing it a second time did not clarify things at all. I guess third time's the charm. Here goes... In the imp: Something soft and dusky, shielding something sharp and vibrant Wet: Nothing. Goes into hiding. Dry: Scent begins to emerge. When I was seven, I owned a Perfume-Pretty Barbie that came with her own brand of perfume. No, this doesn't smell like it. But It has some notes in the same family. I would say more if I could smell more. Alas, this scent (or lack thereof) is just frustrating me.

The Dark Side of Earth: deep, brooding forest scents, including juniper and patchouli. The scent of upturned cemetery loam mingling with floral offerings to the dead. Burial: sharp rich dirt. sharp pine. turpentine floral. Then turpentine fades leaving warm floral ointment. Less serious than black opal, but that's not saying much. Where black opal was no-nonsense, this is gentler, more experienced and less resistant. It smells like the first bit of T S Eliot's The Wasteland: April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Someone called it a strong crone-type scent. I would agree with that. This is an unusual smell, and I like the smoky patchouli and menthol base note; unfortunately the pine is irritating my nose and making me cranky. Wont keep it.

Fruits, certainly. A very fragrant melon. I was hoping for something more like Welch's white grape and peach juice, something that would make my mouth water, but this is much too floral. Eventually the floral note fades, but it is still not an edible fruitiness. It doesnt jibe with any of my personalities, sadly. Very girly. teenaged. informal. I might wear it on an occasion at which I dont care how others perceive me. I'm disappointed because it doesnt evoke A Midsummer Night's Dream for me at all. Hmmm, now it seems almost candy-ish. Later, even more hard-candy-like. I actually prefer to sniff the residual burial on my other arm, even though it irritated my nose. *shakes head sadly* It's either too sweet and floral, or seems like artificial flavoring. The ripe, cool juicyness evoked by the description is sadly missing.

A milky syrupy scent with a hint of spice. The sweetness is cloying to the extreme. I'm picking up some sandlewood, I think, and I think the floralness is rose or carnation, although I don't know what the latter is supposed to smell like. This is sweet rose-flavored frosting with cinnamon and sandlewood. I tend not to mind foody and spicy smells, but this is too pungent for me. It's like ODing on indian sweets - not healthy. I wanted to like this one. Alas.

I expected this to be gentle and delicate, mysterious and cryptic, like an oracle whispering prophecies. Alas, I got the olfactory equivalent of The Blue Screen Of Death (no one hears your screams). A fatal exception has occured. This is actually painful to smell. It is harsh and metallic, like rust and acid with lots of sugar. I am suspecting the honey wine is responsible, but it could be the bay. I get hints that there is a sweet complexity underneath, but when I bring my nose closer to catch it, the ghastly metal monster chases me away. An electronic oracle screaming about an apocalypse. Hie thee hence!