pekeana

Who all's smelled Yankee Candle Co.'s Snow Angels scent? *raises hand* Ice Queen = Snow Angels. But whereas Snow Angels got in the air and choked the whole family, Ice Queen is nice and light and coldly beautiful on my skin. Ice Queen is a scent that glitters and threatens to stab you through the heart with a shard of iced-over glass, much like in the fairy tale. Looove it.

I've been having trouble finding a plummy BPAL that doesn't get a funky candlewax scent on my skin. But this is the one -- it's thick, ripe, juicy plums with a touch of winter berry, sugar and spice, on top of a light breath of sweet & herby floral. I'm in love, and I'm glad I overcame the stigma of plums to order this.

In the vial, I'm not sure about this one -- it's very ozone and aquatic with a lot of floral and a splash of citrus. It's the floral that I'm worried about. However, I shouldn't have been worried -- the instant I put this on, sure it was all floral, but it was a tolerable kind of dry, citrus floral. And then it hit me that on my skin, Queen of Diamonds is an exact dupe for Elizabeth Arden's Sunflowers, which was my favorite perfume till I was about 16.

I swapped with BabyKitty for imps of her experimental blends that she described as "minty O" and "orangey O". They do smell like pennyroyal+O and orange-blossomy+O in the vials. But once they're on my skin, each one takes on a life of it's own -- neither is powdery like amber+honey is on me, and both have a medicinally metallic underlying scent. The mint one has a touch of floral down beneath the metallic scent, and the orange one has a touch of something woody/extra resinous. I like both of them very, very much!

Danube reminds me of why I usually don't like florals at all. In the vial, it's all aquatic grassy florals. On me, it's so bad that I can't stand it. I usually do aquatic notes well, so the problem isn't with that. One of the florals has morphed into a sour, sickeningly sharp scent that's making everyone in the house nauseated. The verdict is that this is definitely not for me -- but the in-vial scent is lovely.

Strangely, I don't get any of the listed notes from Dissipation. What I have here is a scent that's very similar to Blue Moon, and it's just as soft, sweet, light, and very cucumberish to my nose as Blue Moon. I rather like Dissipation, but it has too much in common with Blue Moon for me to discern differences between the two.

Oh my goodness, Nanshe is heavenly. In the vial, I get lavender and not much else. Once it touches my skin, it explodes into the most beautiful, bright, uplifting lemon peel and slightly herbal scent. Maybe a hint of floral? Lemon verbena gone awry? I'll try this out tonight as a sleeping formula, but I need a bottle of it now, because it's just so lovely. It's soothing and uplifting, even as it's bright and brassily clean.

Ah, Mystery, why must you be discontinued! In the vial, all I can smell is lemon and smoke with just a hint of floral and spice. It intrigued me, but also kind of repelled me and creeped me out while I was sniffing it. However, once it's on my skin, there's about 5 minutes of lemony plastic wrap -- but sometimes, that's how my skin reacts to incense smoke smell; it goes plastic. But it settles in and becomes this beautiful lemony-floral clean cologne scent with the most beautiful smoke wafting through it. The spice [whatever it was] has vanished by this point, but the rest of it just keeps blending and churning itself over and over again. First the lemon becomes dominant, then the floral, and then they both bottom out beneath the incensey woodsmoke before starting the process again. There's also a slight sweetness beneath it all that might be a touch of vanilla or tonka bean. I'm sad this has been discontinued because it's really a beautifully complex scent. ETA: The longer I wear this, the more I'm reminded of a friend who wears Magnetism. This smells like her, after she's had a chance to get rid of the Magnetism alcohol.

Sloth, to me, is a very heady, dark scent. It's vetiver at it's finest -- definitely the base note vetiver from some of the voodoo blends. Down beneath the heaviness of the vetiver is the myrrh, very soft and subtly spicy against my skin. It reminds me of the dry-down of Laudanum, and a little of the powderiness from Khepra, as well. I like it, but not enough to get a bigger bottle of it. It's just too intense, without a break.

Ooooh, I like this one. In the vial, Magus is all cedar and sandalwood, much like Cathedral. On me, the cedar and High John battle it out until they both kind of relax a bit and let a hint of frankincense poke through. Then the cedar bottoms out completely and I'm left with the most beautiful blend of High John and frankincense with a touch of the galangal at the bottom, balancing it all out with it's almost-olivelike scent. I'm left thinking of an ancient magician plying his trade in a grove of olive trees, imploring the gods to bless his endeavors. So lovely.

Cathedral, in the vial, is very much cedar and frankincense, with a touch of copal and a bite of amber. On me, for the first hour or so, it's all cedar, then relaxes into a soft, warm scent that really defies description. It isn't really resinous or woody, nor is it overwhelmingly any one note. It's just a soft, warmth that's vaguely comforting and soothing. It seems to be a lighter, more wearable version of (Old) Kathmandu.

You should definitely try (Old) Kathmandu. It was all cedar on me. Have you tried Magus yet? It's not strong cedar, but it's freaking lovely cedar.

I kept mine in my purse, bubblewrapped & plastic baggied them -- and the bottles in a seperate baggie done the same way -- and didn't have problems either at Kansas City or LAX. I explained before I put my stuff through that I had essential oils in the bags before they x-rayed them, and they said it wasn't a problem.

It's probably just my chemistry, but Xiuhtecuhtli isn't sweet -- it's deep, smoky, dark orange and plumeria. And I second The Hesperides -- it vascillates between being tart Granny Smith apples hanging on a tree branch and caramel apples (sans sugary-sweet) for me.

Yemaya and Titania have a similar almost-melony fruitiness about them.

In the vial, Succubus is all warm, bitter orange and clove with a twist of floral. On me, it's a very sharp and woody scent for about 20 minutes, then it fades into a soft, sweet orange and clove. Then about 30 minutes in, my skin sucks it up completely and I'm left with nothing. I like it, but the initial almost-sandalwood scent makes me weep in misery, so I don't think I'll be keeping this impie.

Ye gods! In the vial, The Dormouse is all peony and green tea -- it reminds me of a perfume I used to have, but I can't tell you what one, because I don't remember. On my skin, it's very very soft and gentle, close to the skin. I get tea and lemon with a brush of apple and floral. It's just absolutely divine, and if it wasn't so very light and apparently being sucked straight through my skin, I would buy a bottle. However, it's been on me for 15 minutes and is almost gone, so I will keep and treasure the imp and see if it might make the big bottle list later. ETA: Holy heck, after another little while, The Dormouse came back up and made me a very happy monkey. DEFINITELY a big bottle buy.

In the vial, all I can smell is bubblegum. I think there's lotus in here... On me, High John smacks of lemon and lotus, then settles down into a very astringent lemony soap kind of a scent, and it's very clean and lovely, with just a hint of something wood-spicy behind it. I like it, and I'll have to wear it to work tomorrow and try out its properties as a voodoo oil.

In the vial: floral, floral, floral. On me: all I get is violet and rose, and it burns. Time to wash it away.

I've been sitting here for hours trying to figure out what Intrigue reminds me of. I came up with three things -- fig newtons, these gummy candy + nuts things I used to eat, and suntan lotion. In the vial, Intrigue is very strongly wood and cocoa with just a smattering of fig to sweeten it up. On me, for the longest time, it's all wood. Then it's all fig. Then the woods and figs have a catfight and end up knocking each other to the ground and letting the cocoa shine for a while before all settling into a nice, sweet balance. My mother smelled it and said it smells very old-fashioned, like what you would imagine a benevolent queen to wear on a day when she didn't want to lop off your head with a rusty axe. *raises an eyebrow* All in all, I really like it -- it might even rank high enough for a big bottle.

In the vial, Khephra is a blend of resins [frankincense and amber?], lavender, and a touch of cinnamon. On me, it's nothing but baby powder, and the longer it sticks around, the stronger it gets.

In the vial, (Old) Dublin is... it's minty and piney and green. That's all I get out of it. On me, it sweetens and remains a bit minty, but a lot more of the evergreen comes up and just envelopes me in slightly-tangy, slightly-minty goodness. It's very herbal in the background, and -- Aw, heck, here comes the rose. And then it's rose. And nothing else. Argh.

I love this -- in the vial, Yerevan is all fruity and musky. On me, the apricot and plum beat each other over the head, trying to claim dominance, then they both fade almost into obscurity as the musk and light florals come up. Around the edges of the floral is a hint of sweet, luscious fruit, and just a touch of musky, murky spice. However, my skin eats this, so I'm going to have to reapply constantly. Gargh!

In the vial, Saint-Germain is very deep, complex, and astringent -- I definitely get the lavender, which I'm not fond of, and I get the mosses. On me, the carnation comes out to play, melded with the moss and lavender, and it's a very complex, heady masculine scent with a bubble-up of spicy femininity from the rising carnation. This blend definitely shows the metaphysical dual sides of the alchemist, and it's very well-balanced, as I would expect it to be. After a while, the carnation goes away again, but I can still smell it a little down beneath everything else. Not a keeper, but definitely an experience.

Okay, in the vial, I get all of the components and I start to worry about the rose... On me, Nyx turns into "rose growing in a field of jasmine", and there is no myrrh. It's a very heavy floral that makes me want to run away, screaming. And it itches a little from the rose. Sorry, but florals are just... not my thing, I guess.