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In the bottle: a delicate incense. Wet: much, much stronger incense, to the exclusion of pretty much everything else in the blend. Drydown: It settles down and the other notes start to come out. It feels a little like a cousin of Crowley to me. At first I didn't think this one would be a keeper, as incense and I are not best friends, but it became absolutely lovely when the notes came into their own. I think it's a candidate to stash for a while, because it's likely to age wonderfully well

This one was a surprise for me, and not in a good way The previous versions were lovely, but this one smells like I got in my mother's baking cabinet and spilled peppermint extract on myself. It's just pure peppermint on me. Probably just my picky skin chemistry again. *#(*(&^%!

In the imp: Uber-masculine. Yeesh. I didn't have high hopes for this one. In fact, I cringed a bit applying it. Wet: Pretty much the same, and it stayed that way til it dried. And then. . . Oh. My. God. This is WONDERFUL. Must have mooore. Note to self: Never assume! Really should know better by now

I've read a lot of this thread but not the entire 6 pages so maybe my answer is in here somewhere & I just can't find it. I placed my first order directly through paypal 10-17, but I never got any sort of confirmation from the lab. Do they confirm? Or is your CnS your first indication that they got your order via the paypal comments?

For me, the Queen was nice and berry in the bottle, kinda strangely soapy when freshly wet on the skin, then WHAM! she went straight to florals, my nemesis. It was the evil stepsisters, Rose and Gardenia, but I rolled the dice on Crypt Queen because all the other notes sounded so fabulous. It did soften after a couple of hours but still not really a winner so I likely won't be keeping it (the cute li'l coffin is miiine, though). Kiss of death: DH came home and asked 'have you been testing?" as opposed to 'mmm, you smell good.' Nope, CQ's definitely not a keeper.

I pick up a lot of lemon in The Phantom Calliope when it's fresh, not so much as it ages. And of course Phobos is a standout Wasn't there some in Mme Moriarty too? but it seems to me that it completely disappeared as the blend aged

Well, isn't this interesting! Iwas gobsmacked when I read the list of what's in this blend because I DETEST rose, gardenia, and did someone mention jasmine? that would be my number 3. Yeesh! Yet I love this and I've been huffing the back of my hand all day On me, this is softly foody (not that I'm a huge foody blend fan) and it's fabulous. I can detect the musk and cream accord. And it laaasts - I put on a dollop at 10 a.m. or so and I can still get a whiff of it 11 hours later!

Wow, just goes to show how different this one is on different people! My label is spelled Ah'Duno, by the way. I did just a small test, and this had very pronounced cinnamon in the drydown, although there was NONE that I could detect to begin with. Quite pretty, but I think more of a guy scent - just my opinion, of course.

I've sampled the whole Snake Pit and this was the one that impressed me the most, by a wide margin. And I've always been kinda 'eh' over Snake Oil. Boomslang has a twist to it that makes it really special, maybe what Macha mentioned, cocoa absolute oil? I expect to tack a bottle (or two) on every order until CD comes down

This is just. . .amazing! At first, it's kickyouinthehead mint but in 20 minutes or so, it starts to soften and deepen and the other notes start to appear. It's just a fabulous blend. I can see where it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea because it's so different, but it's it's a keeper for me.

I had high hopes for this blend, but they didn't pan out. There's something in it that comes out as sickly-sweet. I wish I could describe it better than that. If I inhale too deeply, I get headachey. This one is off to the swaps or I'm imping it out. It's a lovely combo, though, & I'm sure lots of people would be happy to give it a good home.

I don't get any coconut OR vanilla - what a disappointment What I do get is a weird dustiness. And I'm amping what must be the vetiver. For me, this is a masculine scent, but I don't think I'm even going to keep my bottle around long enough for my husband to test it.

I need some help solving a problem I've got two of the older bottles of 13, one is cobalt & one is amber. I already checked for pics, there is one of the amber, but not titled to say which it is. Both have white labels but the cobalt has the more papery-feeling one. Cobalt smells much more of cocoa, very smooth; amber is noticeably sharper, so I'm pretty sure they're different blends. Unless someone did something they shouldn't have with the contents? Help me out, please?

I can't vouch for long-term freezing, but my last order was delivered to my mailbox during a cold snap (it was -30, -35 degrees Fahrenheit, something like that that day) and the package sat in there all afternoon. Some of the bottles were frozen solid, a couple were slushy, a couple still liquid, depended on the formulation, I suppose. Anyway, when they were all thawed out, they were completely fine.

I didn't expect to like this scent based on the notes, but I really do. The florals don't overwhelm, thank god, so the pear gets a chance. Also, I applied around 8 a.m. and there's still a hint of it left more than 12 hours later (well, just the barest hint, but still). I'm still sniffing my wrist. I usually run screaming into the night at the mention of anything floral, but this one might be a keeper ADDED 4/30/08: I scored a bottle of the original Glitter and Oh. My. God. Wet: Heliotrope. Drydown: The pear goes to lemon on me - I loove lemon, so this is all good, matter of fact I was huffing my physical therapist thinking it was him The lotus goes to this divine muskiness. And I don't get any white wine or bubblegum - yay! The original is completely different, and I've got the resurrected version on the other wrist so I know. Picture Res. as the drab best friend of the cheerleader, following along behind, carrying Original's books while she flirts with the hot football captain.

Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, and exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct. I have MCCLXXXII (1282). The floral scent nearly knocked me over, it was so strong in the bottle. I'm not especially good at picking out florals but I gave it a shot. This stuff has lasting power! Or so I suspect anyway. I'm not fond of florals anyway so after 30 minutes or so, I scrubbed it all off. I did, however, send an imp of it to a friend with a much more informed nose than mine. She assures me that the floral is definitely jasmine. And that this is a dead ringer for Serge Lutens A La Nuit. Not impressed. Off to the swaps!

Could I ask everyone's opinion of the best/easiest to use tracking system? Say, if you had it to do over again? I haven't chosen one yet, but I'm at the point where I need to, as I'm already forgetting which oils I've tried and I end up testing them again. So I can definitely see the value of a tool like this & I'd love some input from people who have used them.

Repeat after me: Ethics matter. I've never ordered from this etailer, but will I in the future based on what I've read? No. Ethics are a very big factor in my decisions. And by the way, releasing a scent on Friday the 13th is a marketing concept & can be defended as intellectual property if it hasn't been done before. So yeah, BPAL could file suit if they were so inclined, for that and more, if they were to really get their knickers in a knot over all this. I'm sure Beth has been so advised. The question that occurs to me is: Why doesn't Michelle just think up her own new ideas instead of recycling Beth's? Wouldn't that be a lot more fun for her? [OK, two questions] Thanks, f_s, very articulate blog, really impressive

My bottle arrived today & I wanted to love it, I really did, but this one doesn't do it for me In the bottle, it smelled wonderful, like liquid caramel apples At first, on the skin, too, it was promising. But in the drydown, it fell apart. Now, about 90 minutes in, I smell like one of those Sugar Daddy suckers - remember those? I didn't get the coconut or rum, but my BC really amped the caramel and left everything else in the dust. I'm sure someone else will give it the it deserves. . .

My bottle just arrived today, so of course I had to give it a test drive immediately In the bottle: Apples, a mix of spices, all jumbled together, interesting. Wet on the skin: Apples, you can almost hear 'em crunch and there's a hint of some kind of spice in there, not cinnamon exactly, but something, maybe several somethings. Drydown: Whatever those spices are, they've not only taken over the apples, they've beaten them into submission and stomped them flat. Sigh. Nothing left but spices. And never was there even a breath of cranberry. Too bad. I'm not that crazy about spice blends. So, up for swap or sale it goes

I got an imp of this & liked it enough to buy a bottle. I thought she told me it was from last fall, but it turns out there wasn't one so I'm not sure which one it is Anyway, I liked my bottle but didn't love it so put it away to age for a while. Now I've gotten a second imp and WHOA, this one is great It was all cocoa wet. Now, in the drydown, I'm noticing some of the notes others have mentioned, although sadly, not even a hint of the orange, and that's one of my faves I also didn't notice a lot of throw on this one. Anyone know when the new one goes up, perchance? I def. want to give it a try!

I ordered 2 bottles of CT3, but I've only tested this one: MCCLXII (1262) In the bottle: Hard to describe, never sniffed an oil quite like this. Maybe this is that ozone, or aquatic scent I see posted so much? Wet: Clean, herbal, almost like grass? A coworker said the herbal was a bit like sage but not quite. It reminded her of a sweatlodge (she's an Alaska native). Something else in there too, but I can't put my finger on it, too elusive. . . Drydown: A wood note of some kind coming out, no idea what kind. The only ones I can ID are cedar & pine, it's not those. Still herbal, but softer now. It has a strong throw, I feel like I'm enveloped in a cloud of this about an hour after I applied it & I didn't use that much. Hour or so later, it's fading fast. At a late lunch w/DH, he liked the scent when I stuck my wrist right under his nose, but he didn't notice it til then - almost completely gone, obviously. But it lasted between 2 & 3 hours. This one's not a keeper for me. Will probably imp it out so more than one person can try it