pekeana

Scentgasm, yay! In the vial, Grog is all butterscotch -- no rum, just liquid butterscotch. On me, it's a lighter, less intense version of Sugar Skull -- still goopy butterscotch and rum, but it's all nice and sugary. Holy Jack Sparrow, Batman, 'tis grog, arrrrrh!

*siiiiigh* Persephone is horrifically monsterously atrocious on me -- it has such promise and delightful sweet rosiness in the bottle, but... On me, it's all rose and it's overpowering. And then around the edges creeps the pomegranate and is then drowned out again by the rose. I love the smell of roses, but they hate me. ETA: Almost two weeks later, I tried it again. And instead of being horrible, it was incredibly good. I'm not sure what transpired between the two time periods, but I'm keeping this one for when I want a good floral.

On first sniff, I can't distinguish any of the notes in Titania... on second sniff, I can tell there's peach and pear, maybe a touch of grape, and I get a lot of floral. But on me, it all blends together to make a very soft, sweet melon scent, reminiscent of the bright, shiny melon of Yemaya -- I really like this, because it's almost Yemaya without the aquatic notes that can cause me some issues sometimes. All in all, a soft, sparkling fruity scent that's a huge winner in my book.

*stumbles headfirst into love* Sea of Glass, in the vial, is aquatic and citrus with a hint of ozone. On me, it's all aquatic and floral, like if you mixed aquatic notes with Tempest and set it afloat on a sea of beauty. It's so soft and perfect and wearable, and it's just like floating on your back in a lake, smiling up at the sun and listening to the water lapping against your head. It's so sweet and soothing, and I love it to bits.

Mmmm, I love pkwench for surprising me with an imp of Hunter Moon, and now I'm kicking myself for not having ordered it. In the vial, all I smell is the wine. On me, it's all deep and dark wine and spice with a hint of smoke and leaves. It's similar to the dry-downs of Kali and Dia De Los Muertos on me, but with a heavier kick of wine. I really like this, but I smell like I've been out boozing, so I can't wear it to work or out in public.

Hmmm... The Coiled Serpent is a very deep, earthy blend in the vial. I get hints of patchouli, frankincense, and vetiver but it's blended well and I kind of like it. None of the usual patchouli = gag connotations, so I put a little on. On me, it's predomentantly vetiver and frankincense with just a touch of patchouli. It's very warm and deep, earthy and I definitely feel like getting up and moving around a lot. This is definitely a blend to wear when you do yoga or walk or whatever -- it just makes you want to get up and move. As times passes, the patchouli come out a bit more, but it still hasn't reached the point that it makes me go "buwah? ugh." though, so I'm pleased. I'll keep this around for when my joints are giving me really bad problems because I think it will make me want to get up and move anyway.

Oh... ohhhhh... love. Ted, you rock. In the bottle, June Gloom is all lemon verbena and white floral, like a lemon-scented laundry detergent. On me, the verbena's mellowed out into a very soft, sweet, clean lemon. The white florals are still strong, and there's an uplifting of sharp, tangy green grass with a touch of aquatic glisten on the blades. Soooo yummy, and reminds me of one of my favorite Yankee tarts -- Summer Fresh, I think it's called? Anyway, just utterly and completely divine.

Well... I know these scents are part of the Black Broom collection -- Helping Hand and Yemaya's labels have beautiful scrollwork symbols on them -- one is in the middle and is triangularly shaped and on either side of that scrollwork are two scroll-like circles -- very quite lovely. I assume that they have some kind of connection to symbols used by Black Broom.

I think Perversion, because it tends to be a little milder and softer than the others, and it doesn't waft as much.

If I were to order an "essential" pack for someone, it would contain: a vanilla scent [snake Oil, etc.] a rose scent [probably Pride or Spellbound] a fruit + floral scent [maybe Persephone] a floral [most likely Sacred Whore of Babylon] a dragon's blood scent [most likely Dragon's Heart or Dragon's Bone] a resin/wood/musk scent or combination thereof [Old Morocco, Penitence, etc.]

Yup -- my Yules aplenty and Diamond Duo orders have been harvested, and now I can hear the little voice of my credit card screaming in dismay. It's quite amusing, really. [i take this as a sign that I should finish Christmas shopping now. Cha-ching!]

Ahhh... because a lot of people are allergic to, or have some kind of "ew, gross" reaction to the scent of saffron. When I put Old Morocco, Scherezade, and India Bouquet on, the first thing my mother zooms in on is the saffron, and she goes, "God, wash it off! Wash it off now! UGH!"

I would put my bet on there being something in the spice blend that you can't handle -- possibly saffron or something similar.

Yeah -- I've never been fond of lavender, and most of the other notes that are supposed to relieve headaches end up frustrating me more than anything else. I ordered an imp of Nero for one of my cousins for Christmas, but he's not going to get it because I dab it on my temples when I have a really bad tension headache now. [speaking of which, I'm going to have to do that today. Lovely.]

Nero, Nero, Nero -- I can't emphasize Nero enough on the rosemary front. [And it helps with migraines, too, yes.] It's a very underrated scent, but definitely one to give a try.

The Hesperides -- caramel appley goodness Yemaya -- watermelon at the beach Bliss -- chocolate, chocolate, more chocolate Velvet -- creamy hot chocolate Scherezade & (Old) Morocco remind me of cooking spice Dragon's Milk -- an extra-sweet vanilla + dragon's blood [kind of a sweet, sweet floral on me, but rather foody] ETA: Dana O'Shee and Sudha Segara

A crisp ozone-tinged breeze. The scent of the first gentle rain before the storm. Tempest is what Yanke Candle's Stormwatch scent wishes it was -- ozone with big florals and an undercurrent of citrus. However, as much as I love Stormwatch and Tempest, after a while, they both smell like laundry detergent to me, so off to swap Tempest goes.

Mmmkay, in the vial, Whitechapel is all lime and lilac -- I definitely get a "Hello, I'm lime Froot Loops" vibe from this one. On me, the lilac is intense and powdery, but the lime and citron kick it into an intriguing place. But at times, for some reason, it reminds me of the SpitFire cleaner we use at work. Weird. I like it, but I won't be wearing it very often, I don't think.

In the vial, Kitsune-Tsuki is slightly fruity, very floral, and musky. On me, it's all daffodil, and as much as I love daffodils, I'm sneezing my head off here. Not cool.

Wet, (Old) Kathmandu smells like bacon. Bacon, for the love of pity! *gags* After it dries down a while, it's all wood -- no spice, no incense, just heavy cedar and something else that makes it smell like it has a menthol edge to it. I can see where this would be great for someone who like woody scents, but it's just turning me off totally.

*slobbering all over myself* I'm really glad I swapped for this one in a 5ml. As much as I love (Old) Morocco, the carnation note just doesn't agree with my sinuses about half of the time. Scherezade is the musk and spice of (Old) Morocco, without the carnation or sandalwood. Thus, this is a thick, heady, spicy golden brown scent that just envelopes you in its warmth and makes you want to curl up with a good book and read until your brain explodes. So lovely, and I will be using it all up. [it would make an incredibly sexy massage bar, methinks.]

Guh, guh, omg, omg, loooooove. In the vial, Venom is kind of a sweet, non-descript floral with a hint of citrus. On me, it blooms into this utterly feral, sexual sweet berry and musk with a touch of lime and jasmine dancing around beneath it. Venom is powerful, enticing, and deliciously lip-biting sex in a bottle.

Kuang Shi is a very painful, hurtful, sharp and intense oil. I don't get much fruit at all, just musk and sandalwood with a touch of something sweeter beneath. After a while, it becomes a little floral on me, but it pretty much smells like sandalwood and musk. Strange, I say, but quite nice if your thing would be for an oil that scares the pants off of people. ETA: After about 6 hours, I finally got the fruit, over a base of smugly haughty and devious sandalwood. I kind of like the end result, but the journey to get there is painful.

In the vial, Horn of Plenty is almond, cherry, vanilla, and the dark herby touch of what I think might be vetiver in the base -- it's the same note from Saturnalia and Helping Hand, all the way at the bottom. On me, it's all warm, toasted almonds, cherry, and sweet vanilla, until about 6-7 hours later, when it's all dried down to a soft, sweet vanilla + herby vetiver[?] scent that's just very divine. Where Helping Hand is mint + vetiver[?], this is vanilla + vetiver[?], and while they dry down very similarly at the end, the journey is completely different and utterly delightful.

In the vial, Kumiho is a light but biting tea and gingery grapefruit scent. On me, it takes wind and becomes entirely grapefruit for about 5 hours, then relaxes into a very soft ginger and tea scent. It's similar to my bottle of Chaos Theory XIII, but my Chaos Theory has more legs to it and lasts a lot longer with less application. Kumiho is nice enough.