m13

Elegba is a wonderful, boozy, coconut on me.

Mega-medicinal on me, and evokes only treatments for cold congestion or sore muscles. One of the rare blends that I actively dislike.

I burned Horn of Plenty in my burner to draw some money, but the scent was so nice -- warm, cozy, woodsy, just barely spicy -- that I also burn it on the rare occasions that my bank balance doesn't need a boost. It's currently my favorite room scent. I thought Gluttony would make the house smell like we'd been baking -- but it produced a burnt chocolate smell that wasn't horrible but wasn't nice either. I'm going to try Jersey Devil around Thanksgiving, for the cranberry scent.

Wet and for about the first hour, on me this is a rich, spicy ginger (though not as much ginger as I'd like) with light whiffs of floral. Not dusty or dried floral, a nice light sharp floral -- presumably the mum. I'm liking it a lot. But shortly after the happy wrist-to-nose phase -- arrggghhh! no, no, no bad mum moon! -- it goes super sweet. But it's a morpher; the first time i tried it it turned into uber-sweet floral (I blamed the 'hypnotic Eastern flowers' for that little stunt) the second time it morphed into a pure honey note. I'm not keen on sweet. Had this not done two distinctly different things on dry down I'd put dear old Mum up for adoption right now. But I love the first hour and I'm curious what the next dry down -- will it be floral? honey? something else? So maybe I'll give it another try or two. Or I might put it into the holding tank and hope that during the aging process the ginger and other spicy stuff beat the hell out of the flowers.

And I crave and love incense and resin blends, but one drop of myrhh in an oil transforms into *instant* baby powder on my skin. Happened with Voodoo, happened with Snake Oil, happened with Penitence, etc. Now that I know this for sure, I religiously stay well away from myrhh (get thee behind me, devil's resin). This sucks a bit, because I love the way myrhh smells. Anything else I can wear, though I might not choose to wear some things like heavy florals or most ozones they do stay true on my skin and don't morph into something totally strange and unintended.

I get the almond, but nothing else -- and then after about a half hour I get the faintest whiff of something that smells like hot tar. Hmmmm.... not unpleasant, but not exactly what I was hoping for. Then again, I bought this only because of the reference to Robert Johnson in the artwork, not because of the notes. Nut sure if I'll be keeping this to layer under other scents or sending it off to a new home. I don't dislike it, it's just not sending me into squee fits like the rest of the carnaval scents I've sampled.

When I first put Theo on this morning he grinned and vanished. I spent a puzzled 15 minutes or so sniffing my arm -- I could see the oil on my skin, I can smell it in the bottle, but on my skin I couldn't smell a thing. Oh, well, I figured this one wasn't for me. Then, as I sit here cruising the forum, I'm suddenly surrounded with a cloud of wonderful fragrance -- a light warm waft of musk with vanilla and just a touch of tea ... wait, is that just a bit of bergamot I smell? No idea. Whatever it is, it's delicious. And would be equally fine on a woman or a man, I think. Theodosius isn't overpowering at all, but he's definitely present. But not always. Occasionally he disappears, leaving just a trace of vanilla behind, and then he returns in all his musky glory. Ah, a magician's scent that's playing tricks on me -- now I 'see' him, and now I don't. This one is perfect for days when you want to feel magical but don't want to make a major statement with your fragrance. Like the best magic, its adaptable to any situation and enhances your enjoyment of whatever is going on around you.

This is ohmigawd wonderful on my skin (2+ hours now). It's a sweet plummy musk with just enough lemon to keep it from getting too sweet and the coconut and ... i think maybe the vetiver... rounding it out beautifully. Perfection, truly, one of those scents I'd feel comfortable wearing anywhere -- to a client meeting, wandering on a weekend, or out at night, be it to a loud club or a quiet restaurant. Makes me think of someone who has traveled much and travelled well and has a suitcase of clothes that picked up scents from all of his or her ports of call, scents that have now aged and blended into one wonderful aroma that's both interesting/unusual but totally comfortable. Nothing screams "notice me" in this blend (odd given that a carny barker would be the center of attention!), but its far from a standard perfume. It's mysterious but mellow. Could work well on a man or a woman, I suspect. I'll be stocking up on this one.

Wow, this totally didn't work on me. On my skin it smells like a very smoky, peppered piece of ... ham. Really, I kid you not. Country ham to be specific, not the bland ham you get in a grocery store. County ham is spunky ham. I love patchouli, but I got the same odd little whiff of salty, smoky peppery something in Anne Bonny so I'm wondering if "red" patchouli and I don't get along. And geeze Malediction will just *not* go away. I scrubbed three times with soap, and then made a glass of lemonade specifically so I could rub the squeezed lemon half on my skin -- fresh lemon usually kills oils dead. But not this time. Now I smell like a soapy, lemony, smoky, spicy country ham. Sigh.

O, on me, is a SAM (smart ass masochist). It refuses to lay down and be sweet and sexy and compliant. Instead O insists on being blatant baby powder which is about as unsexy a scent as I think of. And to top it off it amps in a big way and lasts for a looonnnggg time. Bad, bad Imp -- have you never read The Story of O?

I'm bummed -- I was hoping for the luxe incensey headshop smell that some reviewers got, but on me Two Monsters is a well-done and upscale version of Drakkar Noir, a men's cologne. I'm cringing a bit as I write this because I don't want it to seem like a slam against the blend, which is lovely . It's just that on me Two Monsters is very definitely a guy's scent, nothing neutral about it. It's nice, it truly is, but 'tis way too butch for me (and I'm not a girly girl, I love dark incense blends and don't do florals or the sweeter foody stuff). I'm debating aging it to see if it morphs and becomes something a bit more murky and mysterious, but in the meantime if I see a post from someone in search of a bottle I'll probably pass it along to a loving new home.

Another floral antifan checking in. Cobra Lily (first arrived as a frimp from the lab) is one of the few florals I wear. It's a spicy, blood orange blend, with just a hit of floral. Of course that's on me, and obviously, YMMV. But I tend to amp florals and I'm not whacked over the head with the usual floral fiesta when wearing Cobra Lily. I also really like Lotus Moon, the resins offset the floral.

I'm guessing there's myrrh in Snake Oil because anything with even a touch of myrrh goes straight to baby powder within seconds of hitting my skin ... and that's exactly what Snake Oil did. It did do something that I've never had happen post-powder though, a half-hour later it transformed to burnt play dough. I'm going to age the imp for a few months to see what happens, but if there is myrrh in Snake Oil then this will likely never work on me. So, not the blend that's at fault, 'tis my myrrh-rejecting skin. I'm posting this just as a heads-up for others who have the same go-to-powder issues. I really wish I could have worn this, judging by almost all of the other reviews it must be absolutely wonderful on most people.

On me, this starts off overwhelmingly almond but that fades within seconds. Then a wonderfully odd green note manifests, as others have noted it smells like freshly crushed leaves. Shortly after that this morphs into a scent that's very reminiscent of Hungry Ghost Moon, green and fresh but with an underlying sugary sweetness. It's a perfect balance between the fresh/sugar notes and I'm thrilled that I may have found a worthy sub for my beloved HGM. Edited because hitting the correct keys on the keyboard is very difficult when your right wrist is fastened to your nose.

Coconut and shea butter, and on me this smells like my skin after a day at the beach. Since I haven't had a day at the beach in a long time, this makes me happy -- beach sans burning sun, sand and other annoyances (sans the breeze and sound of the waves though, sigh). It's super soothing, so Obatala will be reserved for bedtime (when I want to sleep) or for lazy days at home.