kaberett

In the bottle: very similar to Glasgow! Ther's a little of the berry scent, presumably from the redcurrant, and a lot of crushed herbs. Also the round green of jasmine tea. Wet: sweet red berries and crushed herbs. Dry: Tart and fruity and floral all at once. I think I like this, though I'm not sure why - I'd've thought it was too similar to Lady MacBeth for my skin (LM just turned into cough syrup) - but I do. It is complex and elusive and smells of summer evenings as the heat is beginning to fade, and so is the light. And in summary: I thought this was going to be way too floral for me (it's a gift), but I'm actually kind of delighted by it!

In the imp: citrus! With dark and round scents underneath. Wet: ashes and leather. Dry: intially, spicy citrused leather with a rather sexy snarl. The patchouli is really giving it some oomph, but it's not dominating -- it's being held in check by the amber and leather accord, and the tonka starts to come through on me after about ten minutes. This ends up very warm, and very rich, and very mus[k|t]y on me, in all the best ways - it's not quite faded cologne and old books, but it's somewhere in that delicious vicinity. Pondering a bottle!

In the imp: cinnamon and amber. (SO MUCH CINNAMON. Maybe this is because I spent a lot of today going through an incoming shipment that was FULL OF CINNAMON, idk.) Wet: CINNAMON DUST. Cassia dust. Nutmeg. Spiced cookies. Drydown: I actually smell like I spilled a spice rack on my arm. But give it fifteen minutes and suddenly the amber (and some musk?) start coming through: suddenly smells much more complex, and very clean along with it. This could grow on me. Dry: Spreads out into a beautiful sweet spicy golden delight once it's had a chance to get used to the skin and warm up. APPROVAL. Luxuriant, feline, and very VERY sexy.

In the imp: blood and honey, and a little smoke or musk. None of the aquatic that others are mentioning, oddly. Wet: ... very warm and ambery, with a hint of musty decay. Dry: mmm, yes, flaky metallic blood. Amber. Sunbeams on stone. Pleasantly tangy and musky, and I see what others mean about a stiff-bristled wooden brush being used for the cleaning. Keeper! eta ... and apparently chocolate pastries, when it's dry, a friend pointed out. I don't understand, but TASTY.

In the bottle: incense, smoke, oil. Acid - slightly orangey - no, wait, that's the sage. Burnished metal, forsooth. Wow, this is DELICIOUS. Wet: initially, the sage gives it quite a sharp edge. I assume it's the sage? Dry: metal comes out quite rapidly. Is there vanilla or tonka or something in this? Because there's quite a strong vanilla-y base note that comes out to support things after about ten minutes, with the oil and incense on top, and just a whisper of sage and a few sharp edges of metal. It's very, very golden - amber, presumably? Even better on the skin than in the bottle (though I'm a little sad that the initial smell of well-oiled machinery disappears so fast on me!) - but, yes, mmm. Everything running smoothly and quietly and wonderfully.

In the imp: definite green - the jasmine leaf? - and generally a lovely crisp white-and-vanilla scent. Wet: Oooh, very green and musky. And the bergamot is being delightfully fizzy! And the vanilla! Nom. Dry: Ooh, turns into a very warm musky vanilla on me (not hugely suprised on that one...), but it is still laced with green - again, the jasmine leaf? - and very, very tasty. Not sure I'm particularly getting the tea; but oh, this is lovely. Kind of like Whitechapel without the smirk, and rather more of a flourish: definitely elegant but simultaneously more inviting and mysterious.

LILLIES. LILLIES FOREVER. LILLIES EVERYWHERE. I was really hoping to like this. Ah well. :-(

Oh good gods, this is beautiful. I need a full bottle (instead of just my somewhat-used second-hand half-decant) and I want it NOW. ;_; In the imp: Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL spicy musty rum-and-leather. Yes. Yes yes yes. Wet: Spice, pepper, and deep rich warmth, with just a hint of dust. The woods and bay start making themselves known pretty rapidly. This is a gloriously golden scent. Dry: I can't keep my nose away from my wrists. There's something incredibly rich and smoky in here – the opium residue? Having now read a description of massoia bark ("sweet peach and coconut", says the Internet), I can definitely pick it out, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Oh my goodness, this is everything I wanted and then some. I can almost hear the leather creaking. Wow. Wow. Yes. This. This forever, please.

This just smells like cough syrup on me, all the way down. Once dry there's just about some thyme, if I concentrate, but mostly...? Yeah. Cough syrup. :-( "Robust" and "sweet" is about right - pity I don't like the result! [Aww, crap - this is apparently the kind of perfume that turns kinda on me after two hours: the berries and thyme start to hold their own, and the sickly syrup scent fades some, and the alcohol rounds out so it smells less like it's just a carrier for sugar!]

In the bottle: woodsy, and slightly spicy. Wet: wood! wood wood wood aaaaaaaaaaaaand here comes the bay. Drydown: ... mothballs. Mothballs in ALL THE BEST WAYS. Deliciously scented-with-leaves mothballs. This is tasty and calming and reassuring and warm and I like it. The bay and the sage are definitely there, rounding out the (strong) cedar, and - yes. Mmm. For days, I think, when I need to be reminded what it is like to walk through forests, or to curl up in the quiet and dark of a wardrobe, or.

In the bottle: Herbal Essences. And heather. The heather is there once I give it a chance to be less shampoo-y. Wet: Heather. I see what is meant by “rosy”! Dry: My skin seems to be really amping the rose? I guess I can sort of tell the blackberry's edging through? - Ah, after about 20 minutes the blackberry is definitely there, and it's starting to smell beautifully like being on a moor. Yes. It is like being outside and it is lovely and I love it: it smells not like blackberry cultivars, but like proper wild blackberries, with that hint of a bite to them and the complex taste and the small firm segments and lots of pips - I can almost feel them in my mouth. Yes. This has really cheered me up. Hurrah.

Heh. In the imp: MINT. Wet: very green! And I see what is meant by “bawdy” - that is a good description for this. The alcohol is definitely there underpinning everything. Drydown: bourbon & sugar start coming through & blending very rapidly. It's a pepper- rather than garden-mint, but I'm surprisingly okay with smelling like toothpaste. 10 minutes in I'm getting mostly mint, with a slight underpinning of sugar and booze... this is turning into mouthwash, maybe? – and after 20 minutes, it is gloriously blended and deep and musty and boozey and sleazy. OH yes. Keeper! -- hmm, a little bit later on still it goes somewhat powdery, in ways that smell like... a delicious dusty bar, actually. Yes. Good. (This was a freebie from the mazaru, who must've seen it on my wishlist and decided to stick it in with the order - gratitude forever!)

In the imp: Very wet, thick green - like damp mown grass and ferns, with a hint of acridity. Wet: aggressively piney, with acridity underneath. Smells kind of like air freshener. (I seem to be mildly allergic to something in this stage.) Dry: damp, mown grass; ferns; and freshly-turned earth. There's something very sharp - ozone? Pine? I see what you all mean when you say "primordial"! After giving it an hour or so, it's blended a little more, into something that... still smells like very dark green, slightly swampy air-freshener; I think this isn't one for me. (And thankfully it hasn't got a terribly aggressive throw on me - while typing, I'm getting rather more of the Hellcat I applied to the other side of the wrist several hours before putting this on!) Even later: huh, the throw was suddenly MUCH GREATER when I went out in the cold briefly - interesting! Several hours on, it's blended into quite a dark green-earthy-acrid scent; it's not unpleasant but I can't see myself going through the drydown, or particularly choosing this when I have others available. Swaps pile. :-)

(This was a second-hand imp, i.e. presumably aged!) In the imp: holy shit, sugar! The honey is definitely there, along with the bite of the almond & hazelnut. Wet: Very warm, almost spicy. Pleasantly boozy. Dry: Yes, it's sweet - but it isn't cloying. The nuts and booze give it some bite; delicious velvety boozy marzipan (in fact it's striking me most like marzipan-coloured velvet!). It's got enough throw for me to get occasional pleasing whiffs of it, but not enough that I feel overpowered. Definitely a keeper, and I'll need to get more of it!

Yes. Yessssss. In the bottle: beautifully rich and multi-layered: dark green, olive, and a sharp, sweet high note that must be the raspberry. Wet: This smells rather like I've put an olive oil-raspberry vinegar salad dressing on my wrist. In ALL THE BEST WAYS. Dry: Mellows pretty much instantly - the cedar and the vetiver are beautiful anchors. Sweet, beautiful, dark green, complex - yes, yes, yes. This goes on the "can I have a bottle" list. And there is an acrid tinge to it that I can read as a slow-burning, violent anger, just barely kept in check - it is beautiful. And it's got throw - it's identifiable all the way up from my wrist, and wafts in ways I am delighting in. Yes, yes, this. (I will report on how long it lasts when I have a sense, rather than just inhaling it rapturously. )

In the bottle: Citrus! Cologne and citrus. Wet: Lime & citron being VERY enthusiastic over the top of the lilac. No, seriously: citronella candle, or lemongrass, or something. -- MOSQUITO REPELLANT. IT SMELLS LIKE MY CITRUS-TEA TREE MOSQUITO REPELLANT. Dry: ooh, after about ten minutes it's settled into a really rather nice musk-lilac with sharp citrus highlights. It's trying to go a little powdery on me, but I like this. Very sharp and elegant and self-interested, oh yes. Yes, this can stay. ETA: about an hour in, it smells entertainingly like really classy mosquito repellant. I am endlessly amused. Even further on, it's got over that, and is now understated and elegant and self-interested. Very, very keen on this one!

In the imp: HOLY SHIT FLOWERS the moment I removed it from its plastic bag. Open the cap, and it smells like... floral soap. Wet: ... sour grapey-floral soap. Rose stems, and really aggressive pollen. And powder. Lots of powder. Dry: Possibly beginning to get some tannins through, but unfortunately the impression I got when wet is sticking with me on this one. Ah, wait: it's had about five minutes, now, and it's beginning to blend a little better... in ways that are bringing out the grape other people have mentioned. And 10 minutes in it's beginning to turn into wine. As it gets to age a little more it starts to make a bit more sense as a scent... it really is starting to blend better. Well, I'd better give it a little longer, then... ah, yes: very sweet rose with powdery undertones. I do see what people mean about it being quite sexual, in its way. [Edited again: several hours on, it has actually settled into quite a pleasant deep rose-and-wine scent, the powder having faded - but it still doesn't suit me, and I don't fancy going through all of the drydown every time to get to the nice-enough.] Doesn't have a terribly aggressive throw on me, but does seem to be lasting reasonably well! This isn't really me, alas. Think I'm going to try to find it a home where it will be loved, poor thing.

Urgh, deep irritation: I appear to have mild allergic reactions to both A Wonderful Light and single-note black amber. I am trying to work out if this is an incense-y thing (I hope not...) and whether actually taking my inhalers properly will enable me to wear them anyway - because I really like them... a note in passing, which I shall come back to in a little while, hopefully!

(My imp's been very thoroughly aged: I got it from a friend in early 2012 -- baby's first BPAL! -- and I'm just now getting around to writing it up...) In the bottle: very rich & creamy honey-vanilla, with highlights of a floral (the linden blossom?) and an edge of orange zest. Wet on skin: beeswax and orange zest - there's a very definite bite to the edge of the scent. As it dries: amber and vanilla start to come through. Dry/after a while: the beeswax turns into honey, and I end up with a lovely deep honey-vanilla-amber with just a hint of orange in the corners. It's very definitely warm and golden. This is a very, very warm scent on me; it's got pretty significant throw (not quite noticeable when walking into a room, but definitely noticeable to me when my wrist is nowhere near my nose), and it lasts for ages (24 hours later there's still just a little sweet vanilla lingering on). Unfortunately I seem to be mildly allergic to something in it - probably the linden blossom? I'm about to acquire a pile more amber-based scents so I suppose I'll find out... and in any case I like this enough to keep it around for special occasions, at least for the time being! :-)