steffanina

Hymn- In Bottle: Very "perfumey," a strong floral. Wet: Sweet strong floral perfume. Dry: Strong, strong, strong. Not quite eye-watering, but, wow, does this have lasting power. Bitter florals that nearly cut your eyeballs, they're so sharp. It's not for me but I don't dislike it. It's just that it's cruel and perfumey. Overall: Not for me but I kind of like how vicious it is.

Pannychis- In Bottle: Jasmine and I are not usually friends; it gives a dirty plastic diaper effect on me, but it's not terribly overwhelming in this, and this smells like a nice floral. I think the lily dominates, and I love lily. Wet: Very little of the jasmine! Mostly lily. Gentle, very sweet floral. Dry: A pleasant lily scent with a nice layering of other florals. Sweet, pretty. Overall: A nice floral!

Nephilim- In Bottle: I must be in a weary mood. I'm sniffing this, smelling resin, and just giving up here. Shame on me, not even putting this on my skin. But I can tell it's going to fall into the "not for me" category. Maybe I'll try it another time, but right now I'm just in too much of a space where all I want are my beloved foody scents and if this isn't going to approach that I can't go there right now.

Dark Delicacies- In Bottle: Resinous scent. Wet: Sweetness, like a candy floral, and the resin is an undertone. Very different from the bottle sniff! Dry: The resin comes back more; overall there's resin and candy florals; since I'm not that big on resins that note doesn't quite thrill me. Overall: A nice resinous scent but not for me.

I Married a Vampire From Planet X- In Bottle: Dark floral, with a touch of musk. Wet: A bit of red musk, masculine-smelling cologne-type notes near it. Dry: Masculine scent. If I didn't know there was leather in this I wouldn't have known what to call it, but I can sense it. A masculine scent with strong leather tones. It's not that eye-watering men's cologne smell; it's actually rather nice, but it is very masculine and not one I'd wear, I don't think. Overall: Not so much for me.

Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal- In Bottle: Pink bubblegum! Wet: Pink bubblegum, and a hint of pepper and grapefruit. Dry: Sweetness mixed with citrus. It's a significant candy effect--I think someone here said "lemon cupcake" and that's a great place to begin with it, but that tiny little hint of pepper makes it subtler. And I think the ginger does too. It's really yummy! Overall: Yummy and subtlely candylike!

Miskatonic Valley Junior Baseball Association, Spring Training 2008- In Bottle: Soft caramel and salt, a hint of the toasty popcorn. Wet: Mmm, very much as it was in the bottle. Soft yummy caramel and a saltiness that sets it off, and the popcorn scent gets stronger. Yummy. Dry: A fader on me, sadly, because it's just delicious. Well, then, I shall just use more of it! Caramel and popcorn and, yes, peanuts emerge at the end. If you liked Shill but wanted something a little more sweet to set it off, you'll love this. Overall: A yummy foody scent, and exactly what it was meant to evoke.

Jabberwocky- In Bottle: Pine. Quite pretty pine! Wet: Ooh, here comes the tea tree oil! Doesn't go right up my nose, though, it tames down quickly. Dry: Not bad at all! There's a sweetness to this upon the dry-down, perhaps a bit citrusy, or more pomegranatey. I like the contrast between the wet eye-opener of it and the sweet fruity dry-down, with an evergreen cast over the whole thing. Overall: Nice! If you like pine scents, do try!

Marae- In Bottle: A very rich, bright white tropical floral. Wet: Wet intense floral. Is that gardenia? --Yes, it's listed, so it must be! I'm happy I can identify gardenia, I'm so forgetful when it comes to florals. Dry: Tropical florals usually treat me well, of all florals. Nice and juicy. Florals are not my preferred scent--go into my sinuses, make me headachey. I would like this one if I had to pick a floral, though. Overall: Bright tropical floral, quite pretty.

Te Po- In Bottle: Almond, and a little booze, and a bit of Dr. Pepper! Not so much as is in Love's Philosophy, but it's there. Wet: Almond and lime, and a little cherry and lots of booze. Very sweet and fruity. Dry: Spicy, and lime dominates, and the almond and cherry stick around and the booze is the second most dominant note after the lime. It's a yummy boozy scent. Overall: Nicely spicy and boozy.

Screeching Parrot- In Bottle: Huge hit of grapefruit, alcohol, and something plastic-like. Wet: A grapefruit that seems to tingle coldly off my teeth. Dry: There is a spicy finish to this that I think is the brandy, and must be the ginger as well though it's not the ginger I'm used to in scent--usually the ginger is foody and palatable like...cookies...or...Halloween. It's different here. I think I could really get to like the dry-down. Overall: A very interesting dry-down that I like, and could come to really like.

Rangoon Riptide- In Bottle: Mmm, pineapple and brown sugar! Wet: Pineapple and caramelly brown sugar. Dry: Goodness, my skin really eats up the fruit in this. It recedes quickly, and I've got a sugary rich place on my wrist that I can't stop sniffing. I'm going to have to try this in quantity, because it's quite delicious. I don't get any booze off it, though. Overall: Rich, delicious and candy-like.

Golden Wave- In Bottle: Fruity orange-guava with a hint of booze. I can really smell the guava. Wet: The booze is a little more prominent--so is the passion fruit, and there's something flowery in it as well. If that floral note dominates I will not love this so well as I would like to. Dry: The flowery note lingers but does not dominate. This is a yummy scent, with these different fruits; I don't think I will crave it but I'm glad I have it to sniff. Overall: Yummy, even with that bit of floral.

Blue Fire- In Bottle: Ooh, blueberry, and SUCH a thick gin scent. Wet: Fruity, flowery gin. Dry: Mmm, I do like this. The blueberry seems so unique, and the gin sets it off with all the subtlety of a large metal axe (gotta love the brutality of that gin!). It doesn't remind me of any other scent because the blueberry is so different from the other scents that get mixed with Beth's gin scent. Overall: Yummy! Deliciously boozy!

Worm Moon- In Bottle: Dirt, and a tiny tiny ozone/aquatic note. Wet: Hmm, very clean dirt! Like, I just sat down in my laundry-fresh jeans into some nice dry dirt. A bit of flowers rising up, too. Dry: Dirt, earth, whatever you want to call it--that stays true in here all the way through, though it competes with dry hot flowers. It's a nifty scent; if I didn't have my beloved The Premature Burial to keep me supplied with the most delicious earth scent ever, I'd want to come back to this one. As it is I'll keep my little decant for the moment but not seek a full bottle. --Did I mention I get the impression of ironing for this one? Ironing and hanging up clothes. Not the laundry detergent smell, but the smell of hot linen. Overall: Very nice dirt scent!!

Tavern In Hell- In Bottle: Ooh, a very nasty urine-scented floral just leapt out of this and waved its way around my nose. On second sniff it's still there. Wet: Now it's just sharp florals. Not noxious but not particularly pretty. There is no booze. I know boozy scents and there is no booze. Dry: Oddly this one tames down pretty quickly! There is a sweet floral under all that nastiness. That's gardenia, isn't it? I probably wouldn't have named it if I hadn't known, but, yes, I'm sure that's gardenia. It is not really pretty, more soapy, but clean-smelling and not at all bad. If I knew someone who liked florals a lot I'd tell them to give this a go, because once one's past the wet stage it gets prettier. But I am not one for florals, so it's not for me. Overall: Fragrant on dry-down but not in the way I prefer.

Fae- In Bottle: Deliciously sweet! Like sweet peach tea. There is a greenness to this, not a grassy greenness but a freshness, I would say. Wet: More peach, and that rich note underneath which must be the musk. It's quite delicious! Dry: Very sweet; nearly cloying, but delicious in gentle quantities. It stays quite true all the way through on me, no morph at all from bottle to skin to dry-down. Overall: Sweet, delicious!

Arkham- In Bottle: This smells "perfumey"; not sweet or brightly floral but floral, reminiscent of a garden without any dominant note. I smell a bit of soft earthiness without actuall smelling dirt. Wet: Softly floral, light and breezy, not a strong note at all. The merest ozone-y hint. Dry: Gently floral, without anything eye-watering, without anything sharp. If one liked soft florals this should be a big hit with them--I'm not one for florals myself, but it is pleasant! It gives the sense of outdoors and gardens without any one floral I can identify. Overall: A pleasant garden scent.

Maiden- In Bottle: --Oh. OH. I don't care too much for rose, but, wow, combined with that tea...Smell that tea! It's delicious! Wet: Heh, tea and rose yet not "tea rose," that cracks me up for some reason. It's almost citrusy with it. Dry: Somewhere between citrus and tea, and the floral is just a hint. While I don't think this is one I'll ever crave it is a very nice scent. Overall: Very nice and a keeper!

Love's Philosophy- In Bottle: HOLY CRIPES BETH MADE A DR. PEPPER SCENT. Wet: Creamy wintergreen minty softness! More Life Savers wintergreen than Dr. Pepper once it's on. Dry: For a while we're back to Dr. Pepper! With a hint of suntan lotion. And then the dry-down is very creamy and less minty. Very interesting! I could come to like this one, but I'm not sure yet. Overall: I want to try this some more. The dry-down is great.

Ode on Melancholy- In Bottle: A sweet floral, not as heavy as lily, not as pretty as freesia. Wet: A light scent, almost minty, that I would have forgotten was lavender if I hadn't read the description. A little soapy. Dry: Soapy, a fast fader. Not really my thing. Overall: Not for me, though that's not it's fault.

Cobra Lily- In Bottle: Big fat florals. Wet: Very sweet florals, very much like what I know of lilies. Dry: Pretty floral scent! Not one I crave as I'm not as into florals, but it doesn't go sour and stays light and lily-like. Not as yummy for me as Black Lily, though. Overall: A very nice floral!

Fruitcake- Hey! This showed up as a frimp with my Yule order, whee! In Bottle: Mmm, almond and cherries and a little bit of citrus! So very like fruitcake you could swear there's a big block of it in front of you, whether you like that or not. Wet: How does she do it? This is almond and CANDIED cherry, not just cherry. Amazing. It's very sweet-smelling. Dry: Very sweet, almost cloying but, heck, so is fruitcake. It's so genuine! A nifty scent, one I'll likely use more in scent lockets but I'm so glad I got to try it! Overall: More a scent locket/sniffer scent for me but nifty.

Monastic incense, blood musk, black leather, cypress, pimento, white pepper, and Roman chamomile. The High Priest Not to Be Described- In Bottle: Wine and sweet grape and resin and pepper. Wet: Pepper and honey. Very spicy and kinda yummy! Dry: A little cloying, with the resinous scent, but not too much so! It lingers and stays spicy and resinous. Overall: A rich scent, nice!

Snow White 2007- (I wanted so much to like previous incarnations of this one but they all turn into burnt caramel plastic on me--not necessarily bad, but cloying after a while.) In Bottle: Yummy almond milk with a tiny ozone note. (Smells a lot like previous incarnations.) Wet: Aw, here comes the burnt caramel plastic. Darn. Well, I'll give it a chance to the dry-down. Dry: Sigh, does the same thing. Almond milk but overwhelmed by burnt caramel plastic. Wish I could like this one! Overall: A scent I wish worked for me.