Eemia

Sometimes I just want to wear an uncomplicated fragrance and this fits the bill perfectly. On my skin it's just straight up lilies. This doesn't turn overly soapy or clean like a lot of lily notes do, although initially it does toe the line. Eventually it softens into a fresh and mellow lily that is really lovely.

This has been on my bottle wishlist for a long time, but I've never even tried an imp of it before. I just expected that I would like it. Eventually I'd like to have the entire Mad Tea Party set so I would have wanted it regardless of it smelling good (probably the only collection I'll ever want in its entirety). Lucky for me it really does smell great, very strong on the plum. In a way it reminds me of Hellion because of the musky/spicy tone. But this feels whimsical and sweet, and the name always appeals to me. There's a sort of a powdery-spicy-floral smell when it drys down. The juicy plum fades but what's left behind reminds me of purple musk. Not like I know what purple musk would be like but thats how I see it in my head. Seems almost like an aged hard candy, minus the sugar. It doesn't feel overwhelming when I wear it but it is very strong and wears forever. I wouldn't say this is even close to being a favorite but I do think it's a great plum scent and fun to wear from time to time.

I don't know why I was craving this one today since it's not a typical hot weather pick for me in any shape or form. But it's so delicious right now. Foody in a way I can actually wear (and I can't wear many of them). Even though I have to admit I only wear foody scents when I'm at home and not planning to go out. They're like my pajama/loungewear scents. Anyways, this has a slightly burnt sugar smell, or browned sugar maybe. It's more sugary on me than creamy, and heavy on the vanilla. I don't know if it's the power of suggestion after reading all the reviews for this...but it does remind me of creme brulee or some sort of custardy dessert. Not one I reach for often but delicious whenever I do.

I wasn't the teeniest bit interested in this when I saw the notes. It figures, because this ended up being the only Velvet I loved. I can't place my finger on it, but I could swear I know this scent. Or something is so familiar about it at least. I went into craving overdrive when I put this on...almost went through an entire imp in my first slather. And for the record, I'm a dabber. Full slathered imp=true love. Love the sensual, masculine quality. Makes me feel like I'm wearing my boyfriend's expensive cologne (only better). I love all the stages this goes through, but the best is after it dries down. That swarthy vanilla is just dreamy. Love the bottle art too--that's one slinky panther!

I don't like wearing this on its own as much as I like it paired with White Rose. But it has its own bold appeal. Oddly enough I could barely notice the rose and usually my skin adores rose. Mainly the strong spices stand out. This has a smoldering quality that I really appreciate. Heavy on the clove and lightly sweet. The amber is very faint and hasn't bothered me at all or turned cloying. The overall smokiness is beautiful and unexpected. When its dried down I find it more loveable than wet. The spices are more calm and worn in and the dry quality of the rose disappears. Almost smells like a lovely incense at this point. It's a very heavy scent on me though so I have to be careful how much I apply and when I wear it. Either have to stick to cold weather and/or nights only type of wear. I bet this one will be gorgeous when it ages too.

I guess I was expecting a very heavy scent because of the name similarity to Glowing Vulva (which was thick and over the top rich on my skin). But this is so light! And the honey isn't going crazy on me! I prefer this a hundred times over. It's dainty-sexy. Another reviewer (Lamia) mentioned this being organic sweet and I completely agree. The sweetness in this is so natural and subtle. The skin musk is probably the most dominant note but it never becomes really musky feeling. It's a little floral, a little crystalline. Everything is subtle. There is a quality in this that remind me of The Unicorn (another fave). This was such a surprise hit. I keep thinking it's worn off quickly but when I get close to my wrists I can smell it hours later still. It's just so soft I could barely tell. So this is one I'll have to slather. <3

Oh I know I should have tread with caution here since my chemistry messes with amber sometimes. But the blackberry called to me, and lately I've been loving mint too. I kept attempting to wear this and every time I did it smelled so sour on me. Not the tart and fruity type of sour, more like unwashed skin. I've had that same sour effect from certain resins. So I'm not sure exactly what is flaring up here. Maybe it is the amber after all. I can't smell any other notes or get any other impression from this. I'm so disappointed because the notes looked amazing.

Very intense smokiness at the get-go. Rich and masculine and kinda odd all at once. I kept looking at the notes wondering how the hell Black Narcissus smelled like that on me. It's damn intense and riled up. But addictive in a weird way. Then after about twenty minutes it's like I'm wearing a completely different fragrance. There's still the smokey scent in there but it's calmed down. And this other mingled scent emerges and oh...!!! I wanted to lick my own arm that's how much I love it. This is the kind of sweetness I really adore because it's not foody, sharp, or sugary sweet. This is like a flesh sweetness. I still can't believe these notes smell like this on me because I would never have identified them. This is so silky and sexy, it replaced my previous going out at night scents for the time being.

This is the softest, most mellow vanilla. It's mildly sweet and almost papery light. Very sheer. I can barely smell the plum blossom, only enough so that it has a slight floral scent. I love plum in all its variations so I knew this would be a good pick for me. The sandalwood and nutmeg kinda blend into one another but I notice them more after awhile. Gives it a little kick on my skin. This is a knockout (!) and one I'll wear all the time.

I picked this out for myself and then saw the reviews here. Insert semi-panic attack. I really can't do foody scents (once in a very rare while). They smell so bad on me. But this actually turned out to be a huge success with no foody qualities at all. It's like a sweet, earthy vanilla. Vanilla scents can turn into one notes on my skin but this has substance and dimension. When it's wet on skin it's sweet and warm without straying into sugary overkill. Then it really becomes intoxicating as it wears down. There's just that certain something in the background that keeps me grazing over my wrists all day. So this is my new favorite obsession for the time being.

A celebration of one of the first commercially produced perfumes of America's Old West. A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar. I'm addicted to old cowboy stories. I love the old westerns. I went to Tombstone, Arizona a few years ago and loved the eerie ghost town quality that doesn't quite disappear beneath the layer of kitschy tourism. There's still the same buildings pockmarked in bullet holes, the same dusty main street, the original town cemetery covered with crude hand-drawn markers. I'm really drawn to that aspect of Tombstone. I can't explain it. When I bought this perfume I was hoping it would feel authentic, or at least sort of atmospheric. It does have the memory association for me of growing up with a fascination for the old west. So it stands apart from my other perfumes in that regard. Even if it had turned out to be unwearable on my skin I would have bought it anyway. Luckily, it smells beautiful on me. It's smoky and drawn out, with a sweetness from the sassafras. I like the masculinity and the tough quality. A favorite of mine that I completely love.

More snowy than musky on me. Sigh of relief. Not that i don't love musk, but I was really hoping that this would be a cold scent with hints of forest and sharp pine. I was in the mood for a really cold fragrance that just felt wintery and stark. I think that's what I like best about the snow scents. Even when they're filled with heavier notes they still seem sort of sterile. It's actually more sweet than I expected, like there's a honey note in there. The florals really stand out on my skin but I can't figure out what they are. Something with a powdery drydown. The musk does seem prominent when it's been on my skin for a few hours (not a ferocious musk though). But the same powdery tone overall. My favorite Yule scent from 2008, along with Perchta.

I'm always looking for something similar to His Station and Four Aces (lilac and leather) and this just made me giddy when I got it. Has that same dry floral mixed with clean leather smell that I love in His Station. Lilac smells almost astringent to me as far as florals go. The plum is the best part of this with that juicy but not quite sweet scent. Even when it dries down I can still smell the plum. It's more of a musky version. The effect is still leathery and clean though, just a bit faded.

This should have worked on me with all those beautiful earthy notes but unfortunately it didn't. I was hoping for a masculine, earthy, planty type sensation. I love sandalwood, but something smelled off about this. It was overwhelmingly bitter, and the burnt quality was jarring. There was a dirty, odd little sourness in there. My chemistry must not work with this one. I rarely try a perfume that is so bad on my skin that I have to wash off because I just can't stand it but I was scrubbing this off after only ten minutes. Luckily I only tested this from an imp and didn't buy it. I gave the imp to one of my friends and he loved it and it smelled great on him so at least someone else can appreciate it.

Just a small bit of peach in the beginning. I can smell it so strongly in the bottle but it disappears on my skin in a few minutes. Overall though this is very soft and innocent, almost like it would be a body powder rather than a fragrance. Maybe because it stays so close to my skin. It seems clean too, without that clean/soapy scent that I usually associate "clean" with. Probably the least sweet vanilla I've ever smelled, which is so awesome. Really, really nice. Later I get more of the sandalwood, and it's got a depth and heaviness now that is such a surprise considering how it started out. It's like a completely different scent. More sophisticated than the girly/powdery feeling I got from this before. The sandalwood is just tipping me over it's so beautiful. Not overly woody or masculine. I would have been SO disappointed if this hadn't been completely wonderful. I had my heart set on it. I'm dancing with relief that it's just as pretty as I hoped.

Cold/wintery snow scents always work on me and they are some of my favorite fragrances. That airy, biting cold note just feels so clean. This wasn't a toss in the air because I knew I would like it. It's beautiful. A cold, stark musk. It has a light greenness from the pine. I used to hate pine so much but it's actually become one of my favorite notes. Weird how that happens. Anyways, the musk never gets overpowering and the floral note isn't cloying or heady, but it is a little powdery and a tiny bit sweet. It dries down into a pretty light musk. All the florals disappear but I can still notice that cold smell. I'll wear this a lot over the next couple cold months.

Mostly an extremely soft, cushy floral. That seems like such a bland way to sum up such a pretty fragrance! The lavender is the most dominant and it's beautiful. Very feminine. I always associate Snake Oil with smokiness, and I can smell that same tone in this. But the strong vanilla/sweetness in Snake Oil isn't showing up in here. I do smell some of the tea notes in Dorian, but they're very faint. I can't really pick apart too much in this because it's all so, so soft and powdery. It fades into a dry, musky/sweet scent. This feels very familiar, and it's probably because Snake Oil and Dorian were two of my first bpal loves. This has a much lighter, less dominant feeling than those two. It's more of a skin scent on me. I love it.

The rose here isn't as rampant as so many of my favorite rose scents. This one I kinda had to work for to find it in there. It blends into its surroundings pretty thoroughly. But it's still rose, and it's pretty and sweet. Like a dainty rose. Honey is my occasional death note, but it stays mild. Mostly I can smell the creamy/powdery notes that remind me of something antique. I thought the cream would morph into a musky scent as it dried but it really stayed true. Nothing remotely musky emerged. Another reviewer mentioned that it smelled similar to Alice, and I agree. Alice is one of my go-to scents for when I'm standing in front of my bpal box deliberating for what seems like an eternity and I still can't pick anything. I can see Katarina being one of my go-to rose perfumes.

I love grassy scents, so I knew this would be fantastic. It's a mild, softer version of the grass note in Garden Path with Chickens (which I find to be very, very pungent). Still the same recognizable green notes that just feel fresh and soothing. Like baby grass. We used to have this super thin, fine bladed grass at our old house when I was little. This reminds of it. But there's a sort of musky, smokey quality that appears as it dries down. I can't place it...it doesn't smell like any of the Autumn/leaf scents that I own, and I've been opening them and sniffing them all today to try and pinpoint something. Whatever it is, it's intoxicating and has me completely riveted to my wrists. Grass with musk?? Heaven. love

I love that this is earthy-spicy rather than foody-spicy. With the clove and cinnamon notes I was wondering which way it would go. And despite all the richness in this, it's still sort of light on my skin. Or breathable I suppose. It's doesn't feel like a heavy layer I can only wear at night or when the weather is cooler. The spice notes are really great. I never was a huge fan of any of those...I've even had reactions to cardamom before. But this isn't bothering me as long as I keep it on the backs of my hands. And it smells so fantastic in my scent locket.

Amazing. At first there is a slick sweetness that stops just shy of creamy. It's very thick but it stays close to my skin. I can smell the leather notes underneath. I love leather. And I love how it's topped by all that sweetness. The sandalwood is soft and appears stronger the longer it wears. But the wax stays the strongest. This never feels masculine, but it has that nice borderline masculinity that I go crazy for. It's very different from anything I've tried before. This keeps reminding me of those paraffin facials. Or at least it reminds me of the feeling of getting one. They put a layer of paper-thin cheesecloth over your face and then layer the wax over it. Your skin feels slightly suffocated and encased, but it's so decadent. There's a feeling of claustrophobia, and the fear of being swathed in coatings of wax. And when you reach up and touch your face, because it's impossible not to, the contours of your facial bones are mirrored in the wax. But it's all hard and sleek. It's freaky, but the anticipation of peeling it all off soon is exciting. Weird, but that's what keeps coming to mind. I can definitely see how this could be addicting to wear. I am loving it more and more as I keep trying it. I need a bottle.

From the notes I would have thought this was a sure thing. I do sometimes have a hit or miss relationship with amber, but with all the other *love* notes surrounding it in this I wasn't too worried. This just didn't work on me afterall though. None of the beautiful woody notes appeared, and the spiciness of the carnation wasn't visible at all either. Usually carnation amps on myskin like crazy, and I love the smell of it. But it never shows. This is all creamy, thick, sweetness. It's like an odd sticky powdery scent. It smells old. Like some sort of ancient lotion that has been saved for decades. My skin must be wonking this one up. I so was hoping for it to be sexy like others have mentioned! Instead I had to scrub it off my skin b/c I couldn't stand smelling it. I rarely have to do that. Usually it's more of a simple not liking a scent feeling. I seldom recoil from anything but this was just nauseating on my skin. At least I only had an imp of it so I don't have to give up an entire bottle.

This turned out to be a surprise on my skin. All musky sweet peach with just the barest undertone of dark cocoa and patchouli. I expected those darker notes to amp like crazy and drown out the peach. But instead the peach stays the strongest the entire time. It's a beautiful version of peach too. It doesn't have a syrupy feeling, and it isn't overly sweet. I was a little concerned that the cocoa would make this too foody for me to wear but it only seems to enhance the peach and turn it into something darker and more complex. It doesn't even smell like cocoa to me. The patchouli I can really identify---all earthy and musky. It's never becomes very forward, even when this dried. The peach just shines throughout the wear time. And it lasts for so damn long! I was still smelling this one several hours later. I only have an imp of this but I can't wait to get a bottle. It's too gorgeous!

I thought I'd be giving this one away for certain when I first tried it. Wet on my skin it was so juicy and herbal, but in an oddly sour way. Like dried baking herbs that had been soaked in water for a few days. It wasn't abhorrent or anything, but it was off-putting. After only about five minutes it's like an entirely different perfume altogether. All the initial juicy herbal quality fades completely, leaving a rather dry scent behind. Something floral but not in a flowery, traditional sense. More mysterious and wispy. Shady and soft. I can pick out a hint of the apple blossom, but only because I love that note and really was looking for it hard. It adds a touch of sweet femininity that just floors me. The wood notes are so subtle, but they charge the entire scent. It really gives this a force despite it's softness. The depth in this is amazing, and it keeps changing on my skin the longer I wear it. Each time I've worn this it smells a little different. It's like a little surprise. A mood changer. I pick my scents out depending on how I'm feeling, but each time I've picked this I've been in a different mind set. It's like it changes with me.

wooo.... Finally a honey that doesn't equal instant and all consuming death on my skin. I can do honey in small does once in awhile, but mostly I avoid it. But I had to have this, because the idea of letting a wasabi perfume pass me by was just unthinkable. I love wasabi. That quick, burning rush that floods your nose when you sniff fresh wasabi is oddly addictive. I immediately recognize that sensation when I sniff this from the bottle. It's green and new, with a sharpness that's nearly recoiling. Loooove. Once applied it's very light and mellow. The black tea is sophisticated and clean. The sweetness is transparent, not the thick, cloying sweetness I associate with honey. The wasabi is the stand out here. It's the same sharp green that I smelled straight from the bottle, but the spiciness is toned down. I love that this is a spicy fragrance that's fresh, green, and light. Most spicy fragrances seem dry and overwhelming, liked long-aged spices. They are just too heavy sometimes, nothing I would want to wear in hot weather. This is like a breath of fresh spicy air. Even when I slathered this copiously it still seems light with very little throw. It doesn't seem feminine to me, but it's pretty nonetheless. And it's unlike anything else I've tried. It's absolutely a stand out, and I adore it.