Sangria2

In the imp: A whole lot of lavender, with linen peeking around the edges. Wet: The vanilla takes center stage, dances with the lavender a bit, and welcomes some of that dark fruit. The fruit doesn't smell like plums to me, but some sort of juicy, dark blackish purple fruit. Blackberries come to mind. Dry: As it begins to dry, this one seems to morph with each breath. Jasmine happens next, takes over for a minute and then retreating. Now it's more of a fruity floral with a touch of spice. Not exactly cinnamon, but more of an incense spice. The vanilla comes and goes, sort of drifting in and out of the blend. It's really beautiful at this point. Nightmare is more of a wafting presence, less of a wrist sniffer. If I breathe really deeply, I get the linen at the end of the sniff. After a couple of hours I can smell smokey undertones, but the smoke smell is very close to the skin. I got about four hours of wear time out of this one, with a pretty good thow. I wish the lavender was more prevalent, but it's my only complaint. The honey and amber never showed up for me, for which I'm thankful. This one's another winner!

In the imp: Very sweet pomegranate, backed by an indistinguishable floral and slight spice. Reminds me of Persephone. Wet: The pomegranate is definitely at the fore of this scent, but as it hits the skin there is a slight bitterness that tempers the sweet somewhat. The star anise pops out for a brief visit at this stage. Dry: As it starts to dry the rose appears. It's a richer, darker rose than in Persephone, and there seems to be less of it as it's second fiddle to the pomegranate. The scent is pretty constant for a couple of hours, mostly fruit and rose with a touch of spice. After four hours it dries down to a slightly powdery incense that's still pleasant, but the throw has disappeared. I love this one! Definitely bottle worthy.

In the bottle: Amazing...red wine and frosting! Wet: The frosting is what I get the most of, sort of hovering over the entire scent. Each breath brings a new scent experience, cake, leaves, incense, wine, light spices and vanilla all mixed together as though in a dance. Not getting any smoke, cigarette or otherwise. Dry: The dry stage is pretty similar to the wet, only better blended. It doesn't so much morph as much as it turns, showing off different facets of the notes. It has tons of throw and I've had it on for seven hours now and it's still pretty strong. One of the girls where I work was walking past my office and had to stick her head in to say how great it smelled. This oil is unbelievably gorgeous. Words can't even express how incredible it is, sexy, comforting, delicious. I want to make something that smells like this just so I can eat it, it's that good. If H:LV were a person, my husband would be in trouble. LOVE IT.

Carrot peelings, hay, chaff, molasses, maple oats, red apples, stable wood, and musk. In the imp: Sweet...popcorn? Kettlecorn? Really? Wet: On the skin I get carrots and grain, backed by the musk. Dry: MUSK. I'm a bit disappointed, as everything interesting about this has settled down to sweet musk. For me it has been a pretty close to the skin scent, but getting into hour three here it has virtually no throw. In this instance I'm actually kind of glad about that. I wish I could have gotten maple apple oatmeal goodness like so many others though.

2007 Version When I first tried this back in 2007, I didn't like it. It was way too much citrus for my taste, so I set it aside and basically forgot about it. I'm grateful to say that it has changed quite a bit over time. In the imp: The smell in the vial sort of blasts out "pickle juice". There is a pleasant cologne smell underneath the pickle. Wet: On the skin however the pickle fades very fast, into a slightly sweet, almost honeyish amber. Dry: An hour in it is staying pretty true to the amber, and a wrist sniff reveals a slight bitter orange peel. Surprisingly enough, the bitterness keeps the orange in check for me and it's really quite nice. In fact, I almost wish this bitter orange part had more of a throw. I'm also surprised that I've had it on for over three hours now and it's still hanging in there pretty well. It has definitely improved with age, as long as the citrus bit wasn't what the wearer was after. I am glad I hung onto it.

After reading the reviews on The Witching Time of Night, I've come to the conclusion that aging must have amped the sweetness of the flowers. All I have gotten is syrupy sweet indistinguishable florals with bitter greenery underneath. Incredible throw and staying power, I'm getting close to hour three and it is even stronger now than before. I love moonflower and I'd forgotten I had this imp so I had high hopes, but alas, no good.

I have had my imp since 2008, I believe, and I can't remember really liking it when I first got it. Grapefruit and I are only friends when it comes to eating them. Wet: I get absolutely no citrus whatsoever. I can smell fruit - what I guessed at the time was blackberry - and rose against a woodsy background. It's very light at this point. Dry: The throw actually got a bit better after it had dried. It is a sweet rose, sort of creamy and a tad musky. I'm also getting spice from it, although to my nose it doesn't smell like sage. I can definitely identify this as a pink scent. Unfortunately after two hours it is all but gone unless I deliberately sniff my wrists, which is a shame because it's really quite lovely.