Jishin

I am utterly baffled at my skin chemistry. This does smell like evergreens ... but evergreens that are hidden underneath pineapple and coconut! What the heck? I smell like ninja evergreens are trying to sneak into Hawaii. Bizzare!

Juke Joint confuses me. It does start a little minty, but turns quickly into something sweet, crisp, and herbal. Herbal? *boggles* I have no idea what my skin chemistry is doing to this. I don't really get a boozy scent out of it, maybe a little undertone but that's it. That said, I like it, and my husband likes it. "It smells clean," he says. That means he likes it. *wry grin* So I'll be keeping my imp, but remaining puzzled about what my skin is actually picking up.

I'm surprised no one else has suggested Embalming Fluid. On me, that's immediate summer sunshine, hammock, and lemonade all rolled into one.

Sheer musk, cedar smoke, fir needle, black amber and leather. I have problems with BPAL pine turning into cherry Nerds on me, so I was a bit worried about the good Doctor. The worries turned out to be unfounded. BPAL *fir* is not BPAL *pine*. So if you have chemistry issues with pine (though I swear I'm the only one I know who turns pine into candy), the Doc may still work for you. It's a wonderful bishie sort of scent -- manly, but softer than, say, Greed. I like more masculine scents, and I like things with a sharp edge to them. Doc fills the bill, and I'm glad I have a half-bottle all to myself. Doc Constantine is definitely a 'power' scent for me. Bahaha. (: (Edited to add scent description.)

I just recently tried Dragon Moon and thought that on me, it strongly resembled Neo-Tokyo plus a sort of apple-y scent. Might want to try Neo-Tokyo?

I love Tiresias the Androgyne, but the tobacco/caramel note on me is overpowering. All the stuff underneath is lovely but gets crushed. Can someone recommend to me something like Tiresias without the tobacco and caramel? Many thanks!

There's rose in this? Something about my skin turns it into a sharp, almost orange-like scent. Vaguely like orange Tang. Very confused.

Wow, so it's not just us on the Hamadryad, then? My friends and I ordered an imp, and it does smell like Vaporub. I was very surprised since the description and reviews were nothing like that. Wonder if it was a whole bad batch? So we should contact the lab and ask? OK. Thanks to the folks who suggested that. I'm glad I found this thread!

I initially thought of this as Jean-Luc Picard in a bottle, but no ... it's more like ... hot lifeguard in a bottle? hot tennis instructor in a bottle? I can't for the life of me remember which, but there's a a vague memory attached to a scent very much like this, that was all sun and light and exercise and pro-sport stuff. There is a quick flash of lemon and then it settles down very fast into this rich, sun-drenched scent. Unfortunately, it has virtually no throw at all on me, which I find sad, as I really rather like it.

A friend of mine sent me this as a swap. And all I can say is ... Wow. Just ... wow. This is totally my kind of scent. Sharp and pointed and ... clear? Pure? Something like that. In the bottle: whoa, is this Manhattan? No, not quite, but close. Lots of tea and lemon. Already anticipating liking it. (: On applying: Very lemon, but I don't get the Pledge note. It's a sweet, natural lemon and strong tea on me. Drying: I can't tell if I can smell the aloe or not, but the lemon and tea and this sweet undercurrent-thing (I'm guessing that's the musk) are all playing around together beautifully. I love this. Light, balanced, energetic, and wonderful.

Sadly, this was all plumeria on me. No linens at all. Disappointing in its simplicity, but perhaps would be better on someone else.

There are evergreens in this. Evergreens that actually stay green on me and don't disappear or get all gunky. And the rose is just right and not attacking me with ROSE. The dirt is just barely there -- just enough to ground it and give it depth. I'm not sure I'm in love, but I'm *very* happy with it so far.

I think Scarecrow is perfect for August through September. <3 And occasionally when I just want to be reminded of August.

Ultraviolet comes out metallic on me. The Black Tower has some of that too.

... The scent of black smoke, of crackling flames, and smoldering ashes. This does not smell like smoke. Not like real wildfire smoke. Nope. It does smell like a souped-up version of Scarecrow without the sweetness. It does have some sort of char to it, but it's not the right kind of char, and it's better in Scarecrow. I'll be swapping Djinn and keeping Scarecrow.

This is all jasmine on me. Sigh. Oh well. The description was really cool, but I didn't realize the florals would be that heavy.

Black Ice -- not asphalt and frozen water. Black velvet dress and diamonds! This comes off extremely sophisticated and chic to me. Definitely not an everyday scent, but wow. Gorgeous. Masculine? Not to my nose .... Someone else in here said something about it being a little bit like Poison -- it does conjure up a vague Poison-like something in it. I wish I knew what it was. Manhattan does the same thing for me but it's not the same part of Poison. Weirdly, it doesn't smell as good up-close on me as it does in sort of the "throw zone". The wrist-sniffies are not nearly as good as just the general air around me. It's still drying on me, but I had to come post that. Wow, I love that little word play in the name. Hoping I'll love all of Black Ice. Edited to add: with full dry, it is still lovely, still quite icy and airy and somewhat Poison-like, and the wrist-sniffing improves. I love this, and I'm glad I listened to my gut instinct about getting it. It's way too elegant for every day, but it's just shot to the top of my list for very special occasions. It's also quite long-lasting on me ... I put it on this morning around 9am, and it's now after 11:30pm, and I can still get little whiffs of it. Mmm.

I've been round and round about this scent and I just can't figure out what I think. It's rich and beautiful and smells fantastic -- dark and glittery, like folks say. It doesn't quite smell like old money to me, but I can see where it would on some peoples' skin. My eventual association with it turned out to be ... "Well, Pawnbroker Fang would wear this ... no, he would wear something LIKE this, but cheaper .... " (And you want to read that book if you haven't already, trust me.) Then I realized that obviously, the scent was dead-on. But it is very masculine. Maybe even too masculine for me, and that's saying something, because I tend to prefer more-masculine scents. I think I will try wearing it a little more lightly the next time I use it, and see how it goes.

I want to try this a second time, because the first time I tried it, it turned completely into cherry Nerds candy on me. /: Noooo ... I'm hoping that was just a side-effect of being part of a large order and already having another scent or two on me. I'll be editing once I try it again. Edited to add: Nope, it still turns out very sweet on the second try. *sigh* I am so disappointed. I am having a hard time finding a pine scent that works on me -- my skin seems to eat pine and ramp whatever sweet things are in with it.

This is the first dragon's blood scent I've tried, so I don't know if that's what I'm primarily smelling, but I think so. I don't seem to get any pepper or fire. /: Just a sweet-sharp and somewhat powdery scent, with a tiny steely note in iti. It seems kind of old-fashioned on me. I like it OK, but I'm not sure it's me.

Now, see, to me this is a totally different cherry than the one in Kyoto. This is luscious, deep, and dark -- Kyoto's cherries are much more candy-like. Red Queen is Cherries Jubilee, followed up by some lovely dark woody scents. I love Red Queen. The cherries are very dominant on me, followed up by an undercurrent of the woods. I don't get currants at all, but I don't really think currants have a strong scent, so ... It does finally dry down a little plasticky. Reminds me vaguely of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls I had when I was young. But at that point, it's so faint that I have to basically stick my wrists up my nose to smell it, so that's not really a serious issue for me. It doesn't last very long on me, which is too bad. I like it. I think I'll probably finish my imp, but it's unlikely that I'll go for a bottle.

On me, this turns into cherry Tootsie Pops! No sandalwood, no star anise (I'm disappointed -- I love star anise), just bright candy-style cherries. I swapped it off to a friend on whom it works much better.

I and two of my friends tried Ultraviolet this week. (I guess you could say we had a meet-n-sniff, though they were both borrowing my bottles, basically.) Ultraviolet was the hands-down winner amongst the imps we had. We all loved it. It was different on all three of us. The violets come out fast and stay strong on me, on one of my friends it's more mint and then shifts to violets, and on my third friend, it's more eucalyptus with more of an undercurrent of violet. I love it but would really like it to stay sharper on me -- the violets get pretty heavy. I'm beginning to think I need a scent locket.

There's something in this that just doesn't agree with me, and I don't know what it is. /: I like everything that's listed as being in it, but it doesn't really smell like spices and almonds on me. It's exotic and spicy, but it has this weird acrid dryness to it, and no real almond smell at all. I'm probably going to try it one more time to be sure that it isn't hormones messing with it, but I think it's not for me. Unfortunate. I really liked what it "should" smell like.

This scent is PERFECT when it's wet. Sharp and edgy and cold from the mint and eucalyptus, with subtle undercurrents of violet. The edginess goes away when it dries, and ends up being pretty much just violets. I can't decide what I think of it. I think I want to try it again before I decide. I'm also not sure it's ideal for fall ... it strikes me as something good to wear in the summertime.