Ahania

I think Les Fleurs du Mal would be perfect for Bellatrix. It smells extremely cruel and beautiful.

Uruk was hearbreaking on me... all nasty jasmine! Salomé, too. Uh, the same thing happened to me with Salome and Uruk! It was terrible. The other notes sounded good, and I expected almondy goodness, but got nothing but jasmine. That is amazingly unfair, as I like jasmine and don't smell it in there at all!

Have you tried Twilight? I think it's beautiful without being flashy.

I tend to avoid green scents (they make me sneeze), but Deep in Earth is a wonderful dirt scent for layering.

I put Uruk into a rollerball with jojoba oil, and it stays almondy for hours.

Wet: this smells like Twizzlers. I really don't like Twizzlers. Dry: Great. Now it smells like Twizzlers dipped in cough syrup. Drydown: finally, some chocolate starts to come out. The cherry note stays utterly horrible, however. I can't smell any similarity to Bloody Mary. And yet, I'll be getting a bottle anyway, in the hope that the cherry note will get better with age.

I had a horrible experience with gardenias once, so I expected to run to wash this off, but it's actually quite nice. It's floral, but not overly so, and not obviously gardenia (which usually pops me upside the head). Definitely a papery scent, too. I don't think the honey in here is particularly sweet, or there's not much of it at all. If it weren't for the label, I'd say this is a lovely scent for a young girl.

In the imp, this is mainly apricot with a little huh? On me, as it dries, the apricot fades away, and this goes to the wood and sake, which apparently on me, smell like getting a haircut just after someone got a perm. Only alcoholic.

I should probably start with the disclaimer that I wouldn't have gotten this if I weren't in a decant circle for a complete Shunga set. I have yet to find a tea scent that works on me, and lime isn't so good either. Wet, this is seriously citrus, with the lime dominating the mandarin and yuzu (sniffle! I love yuzu). As it dries, the tea and tuberose notes come out to play, and they don't play nicely. Drydown smells like a bizarre, unpleasant soap. Off to swap.

This starts out as a very pretty but unexceptional light floral-waxy scent. It doesn't take long to morph into a lovely skin scent, though. The musk is beautiful and light, the vanilla flower gives it a lovely airiness, while the copal gives it a rich base. The bottle decision awaits further testing, though, to see how much I have to slather to be able to smell it without burying my nose in my wrist.

This is gorgeous! The plum blossom smells fruity, not floral, but it's great on me, unlike most BPAL plum. As it dries, the sandalwood and nutmeg show up to made it more grounded and richer. This scent is sexy, but it's a lighthearted, cheerful sort of sexy. Definitely bottle-worthy!

In the bottle: sweet, light currants, very fruity and flirty. On me: Oh my. This is raw, visceral sex. I was worried about the musk in this because I don't like smoke scents, but I don't get any smoke, just musk, ambergris, and sandalwood. As it dries the fruit goes away, the flirtiness is over, and it's time to go at it. This is very reminiscent of Sed Non Satiata, which I loooooove. Multiple bottle order here!

This is kind of harsh and medicinal on me. I don't smell any cinnamon, which is usually the note of death on me, so I guess I can be tickled about that. It doesn't really change with the drydown, either, just stays vaguely unpleasant as it fades.

I can't decide if this is lovely or freaky or both. I think it's the same vanilla used in Love's Philosophy, because it keeps going back and forth between gorgeous and wintergreen. For some freaky reason, I'm getting a hint of orange here, too. Overall, though, everything is so perfectly balanced that I don't have any notes standing out to me. I'm going to have to see how it does in my locket- as long as the wintergreen stays away, this will be a bottle purchase.

I don't really get the orange blossom or the sandalwood, just blackberry and the amber mint. Having just had the misfortune to get to the store when they were out of my normal theraflu, I would up with the "Berry enhanced with menthol and green tea" flavor. Guess what this smells like? It didn't work for me in a cup, and it doesn't work on my wrist.

Wet: Soap, soap, soap! Dry: Soap+Moss=Irish Spring! This is one not just to swap, but to wash off as fast as possible.

Resin, resin, resin! Mostly myrrh, with some frankincense spicing it up and some amber for more warmth. Despite my own tendency to amp rose, it stays very calm and soft in the background- so faint that I don't think I'd be able to identify it as rose rather than just "floral" if I didn't already know. This is very elegant. I think it's really lovely, but I'd feel like a little kid playing dress up if I were to wear it out.

If I were a teenage girl walking down a dark alley in a slasher movie, Melainis would be the psycho who hunts me down and shoves knives made of black musk, teak, and tobacco up my nose, laughing hysterically. This one hurt just to smell in the vial, it's headed to swaps without a skin test.

Another Ode that is spot-on! This is a lively, cheerful scent- laughter loving, indeed. I don't get any of the lemon peel or the blood orange (both of which are awful on me, so hooray!). Just pure, lush peach wine and soft flowers. This reminds me of summer evenings in college when we'd sit outside in the late twilight, drinking fruit wine (ok, Boone's) and smelling the flower-scented air. Lovely!

This is an amazingly light, mossy scent, with a slight touch of fruitiness (I have no idea where that's coming from). None of those intense notes ever really makes an appearance, and everything stays nicely balanced. I could see this being a particularly nice department store cologne.

For not having any cinnamon in it, this smells very much like it! I guess the mix of the pepper plus the sweetness from the caramel is giving it that sort of scent? In any case, it goes from wet to drydown without getting much more complex than that- cinnamon, pepper, and sweet. It doesn't scream caramel like I'd expected, just sweetness. A nice pick for someone who wants to smell like chai, but it's not for me.

I just tested Symmakhia, and it's one of the happiest scents I've come across in a long time. I'm going to be getting several bottles.

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this is a very sophisticated pear. As it dries, the pear continues to be a strong player, but the other notes come out as well. This scent is exquisite, beautifully balanced, and very, very happy. "Ally in Love"- perfectly captured.

This is a soft, warm floral scent- definitely purple! The amber grounds it and adds complexity. Unfortunately, something (iris?) is making the perfume go soapy and my nose go itchy.

Fresh, this smells exactly like Jean Nate after bath splash! After about an hour, the crisp floralness goes away and this shifts into a warm honeyed rose. When I was little and afraid of monsters, my mom used to spray Jean Nate in my room at bedtime- she called it Monster Spray, and said it would keep them away. I hadn't even thought about that in years, but this brings it right back.