everanything

Bottle: effervescent orange Wet: no change Dry: orange spray Like a lemon slice in a ginger ale. I get no creamy pumpkin or spice. Just a bubbly drink with a chemical alcohol edge.

Ambergris and moss sounded appealing, and do give it a nice, earthy base. However, it seems like any 'red' scents, be it musk or amber, turn into a cologne scent to me. There's no vanilla sweetness or clove spice to this. Just that astringest, cologne scent. It's hard to pick out any other impression.

One tiny drop, and I couldn't get it off of me fast enough. In the bottle, it reminded me of Smut; and I wanted that smarmy, swoonworthy musk. This had intense throw, and smelled bitter and a bit...rank, honestly. Red musk doesn't seem to work on me.

Light and lovely. The two leaf notes combine to something like peaseblossom or sweatpea, which is sweet and uplifting. The honey musk is deep without cloying, likely due to the vanilla keeping it balanced. Whatever fae spices might be, they seem to amp and throw beautifully, because with my hands near the keyboards, there's a high, warm note that keeps drifting about.

Add me to the Pink Moon camp. My bottle got used up long ago, and VPSC is a close comparison. Thankfully, I get no 'butter' or 'cream' notes, both of which turn stale/rancid/ick on me. Instead, the initial punch is that of pink fondant; it's a rather dry sweetness, but still fragrant. On my skin and dry, it's fresh, moist strawberry cake. I cannot compare it to Beaver Moon because that blend didn't like me; it's a bit of the cake feel from Eat Me, but more fake. It's hyper-sweet, and definitely has the synesthetic equivalent of pink. I am also wishing it had more staying power, but the hour or two I get from a quick swipe is still enjoyable.

I never smelled the perfume oil, but knew with the note descriptions that I had to have this. Sugared black roses? So strange, must try! Even smelling the capped bottle, it wafted just the itty bittiest hint of sweet, dried roses. It's almost like a rose sugar, the way that people can make candied violets and the like. The open bottle is a big pow of leather and musk, but it's a sinous, skin-close musk. I applied to wet, thick, curly, shoulder-length hair. 5 pumps was definitely overdoing it, since the scent lingered in my tiny bathroom for the rest of the night. I didn't know how much would come out! Today, each time I muss my hair or toss it, I get this light drift of musk/leather/sugared flowers, and the leather and musk are most prominent. This is unnnnfff in a bottle.

I did end up sticking this on the BF. Initially it was a fuzzy musk, which was nice, but just blew up into a super-heavy, dirty patchouli. He smelled liked a head shop, and not in a good way.

Imp: a rather dry sweetness, like powdered honey over powdered sugar. Wet: Lemon! It's not quite the lemon pledge that my skin does to a lot of things. Perhaps lemon icing? It is surpisingly citrus-y. Dry: Wax. A clean wax, almost like church candles. It's a bright paraffin smell, with no colour scent (yes really) or aroma added. It's nice in a way, but not what I wanted.

Bottle: spices, aquatics, clean asphalt. Wet: warm spices, the saffron and musk all the way. Dry: the ozone goes soapy on me at this state. It's not totally disagreeable, like a spiced soap, but it's not great. The rain note seems to get really cloying, as someone else stated. This has a lot of waft on me, and I wish it didn't, for once. I expected to both love and hate this, because red musk and saffron both work on my skin, but water/aquatic notes and ozone notes never do. I've got Infernal Lover for my red musk needs. I'm still waiting for an ozone to love me, but it may never be.

Bottle: wet, sticky, rich earth. There's a weird ooomph to this: it activates my synesthesia and reminds me, not unpleasantly, of falling face-first into a lawn, and having grit in my teeth after. The soil is so rich, it's almost taste-able. That may seem weird, but I really like it. Wet: Same. No green notes or clay whatsoever. Dry: it does tamper down a bit, staying really skin-close, but I don't have to huff to pick it up again. The soil is a bit more dry, and that grit note has softened, but it's still lovely. It's oddly comforting. I want to try this as a base for a lot of my Moons.

Cold bottle (being in CO, snowstorm, package was likely outside for a while): Intensely green. I'm not good with plant scents, but the BF declared "Aloe!" upon his first sniff. I must agree. Perhaps almost the sweet clear/milky fluid from plants, but fresh-snapped aloe comes closest. Waiting to skin test with room temp oil. Update: Tested from my decant circle imp, about a month after arrival. I am smelling through a stuffy nose, so this might require one more try. However, it was still quite green and aloe/sap like in the imp. Upon application, it went sharp green, and a bit cologne-esque. Masculine, as others have said. I'm not sure I've dabbled in most aquatics, but there is something I can't put a name to, and 'wet' seems the closest. It's interesting, but not what I was seeking. It does fade after an hour or so.

The aquatic and green notes seemed scary, but I had to try this...because Cthulhu. Decant: Chocolate with a dark base. Not dark chocolate, but something inky anchoring the chocolate from seeming overly sweet or dry. Wet: Chocolate with maybe a bit of salt, and the inky scent seems to deepen. Dry: It's got a kick of the salt now, like I rubbed my wrist onto the rim of a salt mill. No kelp, thankfully, most green smells do not agree with me. 10 mins: No more salt. This is a chocolate incense, wafting through a room. It's a bit inky and sticky, which might be the plants, but it's not plant-like. I have to douse this liberally and repeatedly. My skin eats up all the chocolate within an hour. That said, it's an enjoyable, simple scent on me.

Bottle: Syrupy sweet, light coffee, maybe spices. This smells immensely sweet for the notes listed. I have to blame the hazelnut. Wet: Spiced coffee spilled over leather, the syrup note has faded but the spices saturate the leather. Dry: There's a bit of the syrup again, the coffee gets a little sweeter, like the hazelnut has punched back through. 20-30 mins: Cologne?! Oh no no no noooo. I think tobacco does this on me, sadly. 40 mins: Ah, there we go, it's settled back to a heavy leather with spices over a slightly sweetened dark coffee. Hour+: I cannot stop huffing my wrists. This is such a rich, complex leather, it's delectable. The best of scents create images for me, and this smells like a rich, hole-in-the-wall coffee shop cup of coffee spilled over a well-worn leather jacket. A tiny bit of the spices, sugar, and coffee have sunk into the threads, but the leather remains the dominant note. I'll be reaching for this a lot, as a thankful stand-in for my imp of De Sade. It's so close to a pure leather without becoming chemical or 'new'.

Honestly, it sounds really interesting, and certainly worth a try. Thanks!

So, I keep trying to find a scent that will remind me of Las Vegas. Note-wise, I imagine it to be scorched ozone over fresh water, with the heat of night time summer air and sweet desert blooms, covering a base of skin musk and booze. It's the torches blazing around many of the strip casinos, the fireworks displays and fire effects at shows, the fountain spray (minus any chlorine scent), and drunken people snogging near blooming cacti. Halloween Las Vegas isn't any of the right notes. I'm hoping to find some Phoenix in Summer, because it sounds right. Are there any possible GCs, including combinations, or other LEs that will get me this dreamy scent?

I keep Lyonesse in my ammo box just for the wintertime. It has such a warm, 'golden' scent to me, it's rather comforting and uplifting. Tweedledum smells to me like a sweet fruit green tea, it's rather springlike and shiny.

This may easily be the oldest BPAL I own, so I only use it on occasions when I need it's sweet, innocent comfort. This luckily never turned into plastic on me, but the scent has remained uncomplicated over the years: it's a cuppa strawberry and vanilla tea, sipped while incense burns in the kitchen nearby. I find the comparison to strawberry oatmeal really works, because it's a rather dry smell, but not boring. It's gentle, and even tho I have to huff my wrist after the first hour or so, it's so lovely.

Egg Nog, since no one at the family parties drinks it besides me, and I needed SOME kind of fix. Today, probably Pumpkin IV, because it's swarthy and strong and will maybe help keep shoppers off my back. For most of December, I'll probably alternate between those 2, unless I get some older Yule LEs.

This requires a more in depth bottle/wet/dry analysis, but after I'd guess an hour or so, this blend began wafting something familiar. It struck me that it smells like my favorite artist's henna blend. It's comforting and familiar. My best guess would be to blame the carrot seed, since I've experienced nearly all the other notes in other blends.

Ah, this is the one and only pumpkin for me. Wet: LOUD inky musk, crushed into a fresh pumpkin, with the scent of smoke hot and high. Dry: the pumpkin gains more spice with the clove. Having just drank spiced cider last night, the clove seems sweet but mellow. 4 hours: It wafts a bit, just spiced pumpkin with deep smoky notes. I wish more of the tobacco would come out, but the myrrh and clove are beautiful together. I see this getting a lot of use for the fall.

Oh, my, this surprised me out of my bottle box today! Wet: Fresh out of the bottle and given a big slather, this smells like someone tipped a tin of dark cocoa powder, and it's hanging in the air. An immediate whoosh of dry chocolate, not unpleasant, but strong. When DH came to pick me up for work, even he noticed! "I'm wearing a cocoa topnote, I think." "Oh! Yeah, you smell like chocolate!" Teehee. Drydown: Someone's spilled the cinnamon and sugar now, too! It makes the chocolate a bit sweeter, rather than just like dark bitter cocoa. It's a half-mashed, truffle-esque smell. Dry: Hnn. The coffee here seems a bit sour or stale, it's really weird and dry. It maybe smells like an eraser, just a bit. Bah! didn't like me much, so maybe coffee notes don't play nice on my skin. Overall: It stays really close to the skin once dry, and that dry note doesn't have much appeal. I'll stick to a few others for my chocolate needs.

Any hope for similar scents to Midway? Besides Midway Res, and others are saying Velvet Unicorn, but that seems hard to track down. On me, Midway becomes a vanilla sugar, sweetbread dough bakery, bright candyfloss sort of scent. There is a touch of plastic, but bizarrely, I enjoy it, sort of like any scented doll, or the old My Little Ponies. Yes, really. There has never been caramel or salt in this, for me, so I'd hope to avoid those notes.

Pink Phoenix! It's not candy or bubblegum, but undeniable pink and sweet and a bit sexy. Pink Moon has phlox, which is just beautiful and PINK and sexy-sweet, but is not a floral. I am no help with those. However, Lyonesse is lovely; it comes across on me as a golden, rich floral, without getting heady or annoying. It's only a bit sweet. Also seconding Midnight on the Midway.

Wet on skin: first impression was soapy. Very soapy. Dry on skin: candlewax?! I keep sniffing and that's all I can think of is candlewax. Maybe a little leather underneath, since it is reminding me of the first phase of De Sade. And if I concentrate, I can honestly smell brown paper just a bit, wayyyy underneath. 10 minutes: Hey, maybe there's some berry? But I think that's also the wax...like a berry candle. I'm not getting any fig or cream, which is sad. 20 minutes: Why hello thar. It's softened down quite a lot. So much so it's nearly vanished. Still waxy, little fruity, barely leather. I may do a second test and slather more, but this seems to not like my skin much. That soap thing is really awful, and I think it might be the fault of the cream. 1 hour plus: faint wafts of spoiled cream and soap. The drydown is terrible, and then it just vanishes.

Hay absolute, tall grasses, dry honey, mallow, cardamom, amber, and wheat. Bottle: An intensely soapy, cologne-esque smell. I can almost taste the soapiness. Blech. Wet: Hmm. Hard to pin down. Perhaps a very dry lemon soap, like one you washed with and the fragrance is just so barely on your skin. From about arm's length, it's got a nasty, tacky throw. I can still 'taste' it. Dry: Still lemon soap. A bit sweeter, and it seems to be the amber, mayyyybe the honey. Oh I wish it were the honey. It reminds me of a lemon soap from Lush. 15 mins: Still soapy and lemony. Normally by now the honey or any of the incense would come out, but no sign. The soap is just too much. 5 days later: No, really. Same wrist, and I don't think I'm imagining this. I must've re-awakened the oil lingering on my wrist. Now it's the same nasty tacky soap/cologne smell. Time to scrub with more alcohol. Yeesh.