isyche

Had to have this, as another lover of things Arthurian.

Wet: Violet with a bit of incense, but very violet. Definitely a purple scent. There might be some jasmine in there too. Not getting any of the fruits yet.

Drying: Oh, i think there's some kind of fruit there now. It's not very sweet, but it makes the floral richer and more purple. The hint of jasmine is gone now, which is good. It's getting darker and floating out around me a bit, like a purple cloak or something.

I like it - it's regal and elegant and mysterious, if not quite as sinister as what I would associate with Morgause.

I swapped with tempete for her imp of Swank, so it's appropriate that I review it after her...

Anyway, it smells totally different on me. I get barely any fruit at all.

In vial: smells like a vodka and tonic, crisp, and with that bubbly/boozy overtone.

On: the same, with maybe a very faint fruity smell.

My skin must just soak up pomegranate, as I couldn't really smell it in Persephone either. Anyway, it's interesting.

I wish Mata Hari smelled like coffee on me, but my skin also amplifies jasmine and that's all I can smell once I put it on. I wanted coffee/rose/fig/tonka, not plain jasmine. Sigh.

I've got two of them, so I'm going to swap one and keep one for further testing.

Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo does smell like cotton candy, or one of those jello salads with marshmallow made by Midwestern church ladies of my grandma's generation. Actually, now that I've thought of that image, that's totally going to be my association with this.

I usually hate candyish fruity scents with a passion, and yet I like this - it's happy and comforting and not too strong-smelling, just there. Will definitely hang on to the imp.

This is what I wanted Harvest Moon to smell like. It's very blackberryish in the bottle, and then when I put it on, it takes on this nighttime foresty-leafy-smoky scent with a faint overlay of apple blossom, like people dancing around a fire wearing crowns of flowers and vines. It does make me think of the nighttime to Harvest Moon's day – they've just had a big afternoon feast and this is the party afterwards.

Love. It. I wish I'd had it for my Mabon birthday. Thanks, minilux!

Burial was a gift from the lab, but it was far too heavy and bitter for me - no rose or lighter scents at all, just dark dark resin/pine/juniper. I didn't expect it to work on me, as the earthier scents aren't my thing, so I swapped it to Penance who loves it.

Laudanum on me: Nutmeg, but darkened by myrrh, smoky and slightly medicinal, as those above me have said.

This is so interesting...one of those BPAL scents that you really wouldn't find elsewhere. I do get that sinister Victorian-era opium den, gaslights and London fog feeling from it. I don't know if I'll wear it a lot, but I'm definitely going to save this for the atmosphere it creates... it might also be interesting to mix this with Hellfire.

Marie starts out as a cool soft floral, a lavender-colored smell; if I try, I can detect the tea rose backing up the violet in this phase. Then it dries down to heavier violet, darker, less innocent, somehow capricious.

I really like it – I think violet is good on me.

On me Dragon's Bone is hot, dry, red, dusty, and deserty – I can't really pick out any of the notes. I picture a bed of red lava rocks baking in an unforgiving sun.

I have it on at the same time as Dragon's Tears, and they go together interestingly well...it's like there's a salty hot spring welling up somewhere nearby in this desert.

My arm smells like a scorched waste inhabited by dragons.

This is like Tears, but with dragon's blood added. Red, watery, and salty instead of green, watery, and salty. It somehow smells warm instead of cold, like a salty mineral hot spring maybe. Interesting, I like it.

Kabuki was a gift from the lab. It's an interesting scent, but I'm not a licorice/anise fan (although the anise smell in this is nicer than most licorice)...in fact, licorice and cherry are my two least favorite candy flavors, so the combination doesn't really work for me. I shall swap it to someone who can appreciate it.

Harvest Moon smells yummy, buttery and foody in the bottle, but once I put it on, it's like my skin soaks it up and all that's left is a faint floral scent.

(I tried it twice today, but maybe my chemistry or my nose is off today. I shall try it again later. )

Soap and rice! Yes. I knew this smelled familiar on me, but I couldn't figure out what it reminded me of.

It's floral in the vial, but once it touches my skin it becomes... cooked rice! (Jasmine rice?) How weird.

I've heard R'lyeh pronounced ruh-LIE-uh (I don't know if that's how everyone pronounces it though). Lovecraftian names are fun to say, but tricky.

Wow, this baby's strong. The swap envelope and my whole room smelled like it when I opened it – a spicy buttery sweet apricot that does remind me of a teatime pastry. It's making me hungry.

On me, the clove comes out more, which is nice and cuts the sweetness a bit. However, it's still too heavy and sweet for me to wear. I'll use the rest up in my burner.

I agree with asa805, the milky note in Sudha Segara is similar to Alice but not to Dana O'Shee. The note in Dana smells more like cream to me, whereas Alice and Sudha Segara smell like milk, if that makes sense.....those two both somehow remind me of the smell of dried milk at the bottom of a glass. (Not in a bad way, but they do.) The almond in Dana O'Shee might be what makes it different, I don't know.

And I'd say it's ginger root (I don't know what ginger flower smells like though).

first: Minty orange and almond extract. Oh, I like this.

then: Here comes lavender and lemon verbena, then bergamot, then thyme later on.

Calliope smells regal in a way, gold and purple, but also comforting, like an herbal tea, and mind-clearing. There are so many different notes in it that seem to take turns. It's really interesting, which is appropriate for the muse of inspiration and epic poetry.

First impression: Cutting, salty, cold cypress.

Then: Fades to faintly minty, green geranium, a bit warmer and more floral, but with the cold gray cypress remaining as an undertone. Cool and sad.

I was expecting Melpomene to be too harsh to wear, and it's not, which I like. I also love how the scent echoes the process of creative response to a tragedy (at least on my skin): the initial scent is like the shock of a sharply tragic event, and the softer drydown is like the cathartic channeling of it through art.

I want to collect all the Muse scents for inspiration when I'm doing my own creative work, so I'm glad I like this one.

Hamadryad is mainly a light dry cinnamon on me, possibly grounded by the mossy lichen.

It's pretty and does make me think of an autumn forest on a sunny day, but I'm not much of a cinnamon girl - I like it in food, but not to wear. Therefore, I shall swap it to someone who will love it more.

I got a freebie of this after I had already ordered another imp of it, too.

In bottle: Sharp ginger like in Kumiho.

On me: Warm milky ginger. A little like eggnog with spices on top, a little like chai. The milk does remind me of Alice a bit.

It's cozy and comforting in a different/exotic way. I think this would be really nice in a bath.

Wow, this is exactly the smell of heat and humidity in a bottle. Heavy, green, warm, swampy, with the sweetness of tropical flowers - like a jungle, or a greenhouse.

This completely evokes the bayou to me, but hot, humid, jungle-y is my least favorite kind of weather and I don't think I really want to smell like it – so it's off to swap.

Tzadikim Nistarim is a light golden, creamy, fruity smell. It does make me think of mango, pineapple, or some other tropical fruit. It's not what I thought this would smell like, for sure (I was expecting a more resiny, ecclesiastical smell) but it's a happy, uplifting/cheering scent.

In the vial: Candyish strawberry. I thought so.

On my skin: Surprisingly, not so candylike. This has the same sparkly evanescent quality that Shattered had, which must be the champagne. The strawberry is very faint and I get mostly champagne, like a champagne cocktail with a bit of strawberry syrup added..a fizzy pale pink smell. Very festive.

Later, however, the strawberry gets stronger and we're back to the candy smell. I like the beginning champagne-y phase of this, but I just can't take the fruit candy thing.

Very soft, dreamy, misty floral - I can barely tell that it's rose at all. Ethereal and translucent describe it exactly; I picture a moonlit garden of white roses and other flowers. This is lovely.

It's not very strong on me - I have to put my nose to my wrist to smell it - but it seems to have good lasting power for such a delicate scent.

Just tried this, and it must have vetiver in it, because all I can smell is vetiver, as in Saturnalia. Which does not like me. The Vetiver Monster is after me, must wash off!