kaberett

Rose. Just... rose. Gently dewy, lightly polleny rose. And it's not turning to powder on me. And it's lovely. Ros all the way down.

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. DXLVIII/548 Source: frimp from a forumite! In the imp: white musk? florals? Some cedar and olive, I think. Amber? Wet: Vanilla and something sharply, sweetly light green - mown grass? Drydown: something metallic comes out pretty rapidly - metallic, and musky, and not dissimilar to Phoenix Steamworks. It's rich and golden and tangy, with the green note turning into slightly acrid smoke, and then turning gradually into sweet woodsmoke. This is absolutely delicious, and I am delighted to have it in my life!

CD = Carnaval Diabolique DC can also be "delivery confirmation"

Because then they don't show up when you search! So it means that if you're searching the forum, you don't land up getting every post where someone is listing the scent you're after as "already sold", or "I'm willing to swap for this", in addition to the people who are actually able to sell you the thing you're after. (Amp: yes! Death note: seems to generally mean "smells horrible", with "notes of death ;_;" used in opposition to "notes of love <3", but v happy to be corrected!) OH, and "TOS" == Top Of Shoulder

I have a 10ml bottle from a friend (!!) so clearly it's quite aged! It's resinous and smoky and sweet in the bottle, in a way that's unfortunately reminiscent of really rich, complex... cough syrup. On wet, it stays cough syrup... ... but over drydown, it morphs into something resinous and heated and creamy and sweet. I can't pull out vanilla as a note, but it's rich and firey and creamy, and an absolutely perfect scent for the name. I really like it, and look forward to returning to it come winter. :-)

The smoke of Sacred Incense of Apollo twined through laurel branches, bay, and honey wine. Oh wow, I really wanted to love this. I wanted to love it so badly. Honey wine! Laurel! Bay! ... pot pourri. It smells of pot pourri on me. It starts out in the imp smelling of honey with heaps of character, or of boozy raspberries (bizarrely enough); on wet, it starts at as smoky, boozy raspberries and then turns into honey wine. And then it turns into pot pourri. Like, "I can smell the dried rose petals" pot pourri. This is really disconcerting, because actual rose notes normally go vile on me. So, er, there's a thing? One to retry, I think, and see if it pulls the same trick!

One of the things that really confused me was "BNNU" - seems to mean "bought new, never used"! Also, if a name is given as e.g. "Katharina v7", that means it's the seventh version of the prototype of that scent, rather than the scent as released in the catalogue. So if we make up a guide (... I, uh, have a bunch of spare time this summer? If it would be useful I'd be happy to sling together a draft?) those are things I'd like in it.

... motorway service-station toilets. Aggressive cleaning fluid, and really unpleasant foamy liquid soap. All the way through. With very, very occasional whiffs of incense. I am disappointed - I was really hoping to like this one - but off to swaps it is :-)

Oh. Oh wow. This is amazing. I cannot even with how amazing this is. In the imp: definitely sweet, definitely boozy, and definitely apricot! Wet: ... it initially smells herby on me, which I'm not completely sure how to explain, but oh my WORD it smells like apricots preserved in alcohol this is amazing. Dry: Sweet sharp boozy apricot. Perfect. They're sweet and tart and I can almost feel the fuzzy skin on them, and the brandy is smooth and golden and beautiful. Oh. Oh yes. Oh yes. Bottle time!

In the imp: Sandalwood, smoke, cinnamon and olive are all definitely there... ooh, vanilla and honey and jasmine too – v interesting how many notes show up from the get-go! Wet: ... oh wow, this is a really delicious honey-sweet floral smoky vanilla. Dry: Th- this is so tasty. Smoky honeyed vanilla and florals, and it's all underlain by the sandalwood tying it together beautifully. The cinnamon isn't being Aggressive As Fuck. It's just... beautiful. Warm and sweet and yes, well-blended, and... amazing. Wow. Full marks. I've got to say, I was dreading the cinnamon taking over and smelling like a spice cupboard on me - it normally does - but at least one of the aged imps I've got just didn't do that at all, and I am SO DELIGHTED.

In the imp: damp, sharp green, like fresh-mown lawn. Wet: ... peaches? And freshly-cut grass. Dry: I'm still predominantly getting freshly-cut grass, with a side order of HOLY SHIT INDUSTRIAL LAUNDRY, and just a whiff of sweet sunwarmed stone fruit lurking around the edges; it morphs into a more linen-y scent within minutes. Unfortunately it seems to give me hayfever, so much as I'm endeared by it this is one for the swaps pile for me :-(

In the imp: Spice, smoke, wood - rather piney. Wet: Pine sap - freshly-sawn logs, warm in the sundlight, and awdust. Rich and woody and spiced, with a hint of citrus blending with the sharpness of the pine. Dry: Sawdust and sap and sweet-scented fire and musk. And trees. I like warm wood! Hurrah. I'm not sure quite when I think it's appropriate to wear this one, but I'm looking forward to finding out :-)

In the imp: more in the direction of sweet cassia than Al-Shairin, which I tested shortly beforehand, but unsurprisingly similar given the number of notes they share! Wet: spice cupboard. Musk starts to peek out but is SMOTHERED BY THE SPICE CUPBOARD. Nearly overpoweringly-sweet cinnamon bark. Dry: ... yeah, to my great disappointment I'm not getting either pepper or ginger out of this; it's just ALL THE SWEET VIETNAMESE CINNAMON ALL OF THE TIME. Which is nice enough, don't get me wrong! It's just that I prefer it in pho to on my wrists.

In the imp: crushed herbs and, yes, the cold tang of iron. Wet: delightful similarities to Glasgow, with the crushed herbs and the berries/flowers - and again, yes, the iron. Dry: The patchouli isn't amping to the point of drowning out everything else! Iron edges and moss and wood and stone slabs and herbs and yesss. Basically. Given time, the patchouli does start to come out a little more - but the herbs and iron and heathery florals hold their own, and I decree myself Happy With This One.

Imp: Bitter sage; sweet basil and grasses. Warm sun and leather. Wet: sage and basil and a whisper of incense, all underlain by ambergris. Dry: leather and amber and sage and sweet smoke. This is absolutely gorgeous. I really love that it is both sweet and bitter, and that it's got such depth to it. Yum.