omly

This is a warm dark scent. I remember being initially surpised that it could be both, but apparently the Dark Maiden is a mistress of contradictions at times. On my skin it goes soapy within moments, but it is an excellent room scent for meditation.

At any time of year I am a sucker for verbana. i guess that was why I was so anxious to try this blend. It is a beautiful white floral, but I get no trace of the verbana I was looking for. I could see this as something my mom (who has very good floral taste) would really enjoy though. I can't see myself wearing it other than on warm summer evenings.

Wet this seemed like attack of the patchouli. I am not a fan, so I thought that this might be the end for me. Within minutes the patchouli faded to the back and fig came out more prominently. There is a slight sweetness to it, but not at all saccrine (from the currant?). This scent stays very close to my skin.

In the bottle this is bubblegummy, but not in the way that lotus usually is. Rather it is like that powdery, slightly touch to chew pink bubble gum that was popular to give out on Halloween when I was little. On it is slightly less fruity and a little spicier. This may not be one of my top ten, but it was still nice.

I have been wearing this scent more and more often. There is a brief burst of mint when it hits my skin, then the cucumber rounds and softens it out. I find that I actually miss the stage where you get both together the most. A drop of peppermint single note makes for a perfect scent (elegent but different) that lasts all day.

I love both mint and coconut, so I was keen to try this. It definatley had both, but as a cacaphony of scents that left me feeling overwhelmed at the mixture. I could detect mint and coconut first, then almond/cherry, and then some sort of citrus. The funny thing is that I like all of these notes, but together they get loud and noisy on my skin apparently (hey turn it down over there!). I am a little disappointed, but it was really nice in the bottle so the amping is probably me. Maybe a scent locket would help...

I didn't want to order this one myself, but got the chance to smell it at a meet-up recently. From the descripotions I had her before I thought it would be heavy on the salt and butter but not so much with the actual popcorn scent. Let me tell you: I was wrong. there is a definate underlying scent of popcorn under the salty butter top smells. Interesting, but the boy finds the smell of movie theater popcorn nauseating so I will not be ordering this one.

Brimstone didn't smell like a campfire at first (it is very gritty, ashy), but after dry down it smells like I do after I have been sitting around a campfire for a couple of days (slightly different from just smellling like a campfire; does this difference matter?). At first I didn't like it until the boy pointed that out. Since then it has grown on me, but still needs to be used in moderation.

Wet: This is overwhelming at first, and I found myself wrinkling my nose in dismay. There is a strong incensy note (pale pepper?) that is strongest now. After 10 minutes: There is definately some white musk here, but surprisingly it does not immediately turn me off. The peony adds a softness, but without being really floral. If anything this strikes me as (unsurprisingly) very gender neutral. I could see it being great on either a man or a woman. The woods, laurel and pepper really make this intriging, and I find that I really like this although I thought I wouldn't. Edit: What I was really amazed by was the throw on this. It is a soft scent, but I could smell it for hours even without holding my wrist to my nose.

The orange blossom does not add "orange", rather a slightly sweet scent with a bitter under note. As mentioned by a few others Hunger did remind me of Snake Oil a good deal. Both have a creamy vanilla quality which after a few minutes is cut with an inscency note. From the scent description though I am not sure what that is from, perhaps just my body chemistry though a few others say that they smell something similar.

This strongly reminds me of Helping Hand. They have the same mint (and yes not all mints are created equal. I am a bit of a mint snob). Other than that Juke Joint is boozier but has a similar feel to it. It doesn't go to baby powder on me, but there is definately a powdery element after dry down. This kind of reminds me of those pastel mints you often see at bridal showers, etc. The slightly powdery ones that melt in your mouth.

I let the boy smell this and he *loved* it. In fact *he* asked *me* about trying to wear it. Ah I love my little earth sign. That boy is a Taurus through and through. So we sat side by side during dry down smelling the differences on our skin. In the bottle: It smells like dirt, more speciically potting soil. This is dirt with great potential, but no life yet During dry down: On him - loomy dark earth On me - a little sweeter and has a lighter slightly dry vegetative smell like earth that has been turned over that is full of roots Dry Interestingly on both of us, this really blended with our own natural scent. We each picked out a slight spiciness in the background on the other person, but not on our selves. Later when we were going to bed, I momentarily thought that he was wearing some sort of cologne/aftershave. He just smelled particularly masculine if that makes any sense. I have to say that I really like this. It is such a grounding scent for me, which is great for focusing during finals. It is absolutely fabulous on the boy though, and he actually enjoys wearing it. I will have to get my hands on some more.

I didn't get any cherry at all, but that doesn't surprise me too much. My skin tends to absorb any cherry or almond scents until they are non-existant. Instead this was a heavy aquatic floral. It some ways I thought from the reviews that it would remind me of Ophelia[*b], and it does to the extent that they are both aquatic florals. Ace of Cups[*b], however, strikes me as having more depth and being less meloncholy. Where Ophelia[*b] smells like shady, cool water along the banks of still pond, Ace of Cups[*b] smells warmer like a pleasure garden in the summer with a small ornamental pond filled with blooms. It definately has more sweetness (jasmine?) as well.

This could definately be worn by a man, but the label "masculine" is somewhat misleading. It could definately be worn by a woman. Normally I am not a a huge fan of musks. They tend to amplify on my skin and take over. The amount in Whitechapel is much more moderate to me though. The lilac adds that something that I can never name, but that always appeals to me. The lime and citron keep this from getting cloying. After drydown I get a slight, but pleasent, powderyness underneath the scent. I was extremely surprised and pleased by this blend. I wouldn't have ordered it because of the musk, but I could see myself possibly buying a bottle of this.

I usually find patchouli and frankincense completely overwhelming, though I am not overly fond of either. So I wasn't thinking that I would like this blend, but I thought "hey give it a shot" since I was looking for something a little darker than I usually wear. OMG FIGS! I love it though. The grounded sweetness of the fig: the spicy edge to the scent (clove, cardamon, etc): it is not overly sweet, just well rounded out. I would never have thought to order this, but now I can definately see myself getting a bottle.