nikkoblue

I thought this might be a hit for me, so I got 3 bottles. It IS a hit for me. I liked the last Milk Moon but my son said I smelled 'Like soymilk, mama'......this one has that slight sweet milk underlying everything, but the notes that are strongest are figs and grapes. Somehow, the milk ties it together with the sweetness of the honey. The milk gets a little stronger after about 10 minutes, but the fruit notes really hold their own against it. I actually think this is more 'wearable' than the original. Again, though, it falls more into the realm of 'interesting' than pretty. I definitely like it and will be going through more than one bottle.

From this, I get dry cinnamon, grains and a hint of musk. Definitely reminiscent of Red Phoenix, but not quite as, I don't know....incensey or something. I'm OK with this on its own but not super crazy about it, my body doesn't allow any sweetness to shine through whatsoever, which is kind of a bummer for me. Experiment time.. *cough*ilayereditwithIpDfZenzeroanditsmellsfantasticnow*cough* so I think I'll be keeping it.

Immediately from the bottle i'm getting lots of redmusk with some spices and a touch of that sweeeeeet honey. However, the honey somehow 'goes' wtih the musk, which is great because usually i'm not a honey fan. On my skin, the caramel and benzoin come out; I never find benzoin to be really sweet and that weird 'skinness' that benzoin has is tempering the honey. This caramel is almost salty, so I'm getting a rich red musk with a caramel that's not sugary (almost like how Tez is sweet but not at all sweet). The spices are playing on top of the other notes and this is really sexy and beautiful and totally ME. Which I'm pretty surprised about. Love this one.

ginger cookies, ginger and ginger with some dust or wood. Lasts a heck of a long time and after about an hour just becomes dusty dried gingerbread. I don't get lemon with this (unfortunately. I make gingerbread muffins with lemon glaze and that's a really nice balance). It's nice, and pretty yummy for a long time, but it's kind of monotonous. I do like it but it's not in my top 20, I think one bottle will last me a long time and most likely won't be replaced when finished. I feel like it needs some sweetness.....maybe if i layer it with a sugar?

This is FANTASTIC. I'm getting lots of yuzu....and a richness that's maybe the kumquat? with a hint of sweetness, which must be the florals. I'm not getting any bitterness from this, but I am getting sour, yummy, juicy citrus. sour/sweet, sweet/sour, yay! This is definitely a pick me up, force you to be happy scent. a total keeper. edited to add: it turned again! Now it's a nice, slight floral with SALT and a mild kumquat edge. Beautiful!

Mr. Nancy smells exactly like Sugar Cookie 05 once the lime fades......

I'm jealous. Cakes? Cream? Citrus? All I get is orris. Orris, orris, orris. Bah! Stupid skin.....

I have a love/hate relationship with Silence. The first time I smelled it fresh, it was clear and clean and I could sense the mint in it with the moonflower. I now own a bottle that it slightly aged and the scent has changed a bit, not in a bad way, but it's richer and slightly more floral than the fresh imp.....so, my review is with an aged bottle: wet: Dust, I imagine from the sandalwood, and a slightly nose-tickly powder that I'm attributing to the iris. On arm: the dustiness subsides in a matter of minutes, and at this point the moonflower and iris come into play. It's a gray/blue scent, very pretty. When my hormones are going bonkers, this scent is actually too much for me (but pretty much everything is at that point except for foody scents)....but right now, it's just clean and pretty. After an hour: The plum blossom and peach blossom are really making their presence known now, but not in an overpowering way......I believe they are kept in check by the green tea and mint.....I'm left with the fruit blossoms for the duration. THis scent lasts for a looooong time on me.

sugar. roses. sugar and roses. I'm amping the sugar on this one, instead of the rose (weeha!). However, due to my deep love of Faith, I probably will not be wearing this one so much...... Very very pretty, and if you're not a huge fan of rose this still might just work for you.

bottle: Pepper and dragon's blood. On Me: Pepper, but not a painful pepper. THis initial blast subsides within a minute or two and I'm left with a mildly spiced dragon's blood. I get the honeysuckle, but it's mild, and I think might be being tamed by the ginger (which is not of the cassia or gingerbread variety) This is really nice! I bought 2 bottles just in case I liked it and I think I'll be hanging on to both of them....it'll be interesting to see if it changes over time.

Unfortunately, though this is a pretty scent, I am also getting Alien. Alien makes me sneeze, so not for me

I bought this unsniffed and glad I did.... At first I get a fruit, maybe orange blossom? but the incense-y notes quickly bloom underneath, it kind of smells like I though Zarita would smell. I'm getting an incensey dreamsicle. Yum! 1 hour: THis has got some THROW. It's morphing into.....a familiar scent. I wrote Butterfly in another thread because it has some vague similarity but it's not until now that I realized that the drydown on this is twin (though a more wearable twin for day) to Nuits De Noho. I love NDN but can't wear it all the time because it's too strong, Xiutecuchtli looks like a great replacement. Evening: Lasts forever; I could still smell it 7 hours later.

once again, skin chemistry is a truly bizarre thing. Bottle: grapefruit with a touch of sweet....i think the currant. At first the grapefruit is like a ruby red grapefruit that you're about to eat in the morning. It's a very bright grapefruit but it's not the sour, strong grapefruit in Night Gaunt; it's more like the Baobhan Sith grapefruit. The grapefruit continues to sweeten with the help of the currant, but instead of showing any lavender or herby feeling, the chamomile and musk? combine to make: vanilla. So I'm left with a realllllllly nice grapefruit vanilla scent. I don't know if I'll buy a bottle because there are no many other things I want, but it's on the list of potential future purchase.

Copperhead, chimera, dana o'shee, or queen mab. can't feel sad with any of those.

Sorry, one more.....I wore Xiutecuchtli for the first time today, and I find it very similar to Butterfly, with a slight touch of orange blossom instead of strawberry.

Gorgeous in the bottle. Lavender and cocoa, bare hint of vanilla. Wet: Nice. It's not sweet, which is good. It's a sophisticated chocolate purchase at some shnubby chocolatier flavored with dried lavender flowers flown in from an estate in the south of france (you, sir, would you like to try one?) Drying: the vanilla is showing up a bit. It's glimmering between the lavender and the food. Yum. This is exactly what I like in a scent. Dry: Today, it's not bad. The other day, I was all 'ruh rohh' because it turned rancid on my skin after an hour...I was also going through hormone trauma. I sense that it's right on the verge of thinking about doing it, but it's not actually turning today. This is a bottle that will need a couple of more tries and then it might have to be worn only on choice days. But on a good day, or a person whose hormones don't morph scents, this is gorgeous. I also might throw some on my husband while he's sleeping. Heck, if I can't wear it I might as well enjoy it on someone that i can sniff whever I want to.

buh-zuhh? in the bottle, the Lion comes roaring through the Savannah. Except he's meowing. With a peach in its mouth. That is my Tamora. On: It's the Lion. Seriously. Without the spices, and with the merest touch of peach. I get no heliotrope. vanilla and sandalwood *might* be in there.... After awhile, this mellowed down to a creamy vanilla amber scent. I'm kind of bummed that I get no heliotrope, and kind of relieved that I get minimal peach. I'll go through this bottle but don't know if I would restock (I purchased a 5 ml unsniffed). I like it, though. It might grow on me further.

I like HM Butterfly; too. I haven't found any BPAL that smells like it, but I have a hunch that if you layer Maenad or Bon Vivant with something vanilla-y (maybe Regan?) you'll have a similar scent. On me, the HM had a distinct strawberry vibe over the vanilla and sandalwood, so........ good luck, let us know how it turns out!

Bottle: smells great! Pretty....I'm not getting any vetiver at all, or at least it's so well blended I'm not getting any. Arm: hmm. this smells familiar. and I'm definitely getting the ginger here, with sweet, limey citrus. very mild undertone of vetiver in a beautiful way. Dry: still going strong. but ruh-rohh...... A nice scent. However, I have a problem: I have a Vetiver/Ginger Candle, which I love.....and I have B&BW white tea and ginger shower gel which I don't like....and on my skin, this scent vacillates between the two....so it's too close to something that I don't like and a candle, even though the scent itself is actually really nice. I don't think I'll be keeping this one......*sigh*

Haloa! Aloha! halloooooo, ah! Bottle: Cakey McCakerston! and little else On arm: Whoa nelly! Immediate blast of I'm Not Sureness......weird wine, some musty green (olive leaf?), NO CAKE, frankincense. That's the most immediate morph I've ever encoutered. I'm intrigued. Yes. 5 minutes: This is really cool. It smells like something I'm familiar with but can't place my finger on.....a little bit like Greek Orthodox churches after the yearly spring carnival....incense and wine with a touch of funnel cakes. And some sort of spicy raisin. Dry for while: that musty green note is still there, overlaid with light spice, raisin and frankincense with the merest hint of cake. This isn't an immediate love but it keeps drawing me back. A keeper for sure.

Mr. Ibis is a very strange (tho pretty) scent Bottle: what everyone said. wet, juicy, green. On arm: Poof! gone. I don't smell this at all....seriously. invisible perfume for sure! Dry: Oh, wait.....there it is. I'm getting Vanilla. and something green, with something kind of whispering around that's dry. papayrus maybe? It's light but it's there, it becomes part of my skin and is noticeable only to me. the surprising part: 9 hours later, STILL there.

frimp. Wet: juicy citrus roses. I am not a rose fan for the most part, but this has something musky in it so i'll give it a try. On arm: On my skin, this is only lightly floral with a lot of amber and musk; what's weird is that on my shirt that's on my skin, it's pure, dry rose. This is a scent that i will wear in the summer, because I only like it on my skin. The scent on fabric is distracting me from the pretty amber and musk.......but as far as rose goes, this isn't too bad. OTOH, maybe I won't wear it, since there are so many other fragrances that smell better on me *cough*lust*cough*

Great suggestions; being a veteran of various skin allergies, i just wanted to add that if you're prone to eczema or allergic reactions, after a shower or bath and before you go to sleep, try slathering those prone areas with Cetaphil lotion or a similar product and apply your fragrance about an hour later. Also, switch the areas that you apply daily, like on one day do wrists, neck, pulse points, second day do only chest and inside of elbows. That way you're giving your skin a break (keep applying the moisturizer)

I get cocoa, fig, tonka and vanilla out of the bottle. On, I get cocoa and heavy fig with some pomegranate and something almost cinnamon-like. The fig/cocoa combo holds for about an hour, then morphs to fig with bergmot and pomegranate. After about 2-3 hours, I get cocoa-fied wood (what is calamus? is that what I'm getting here?) with a hint of musk and spice. I like all stages, but this last one is best and in lasts. This is a great transitional season scent, like fall or end of winter, I think....it's got hte dark cocoa and spices and wood but the brightness of the fruit really buoys the scent! nice.....

Fruity bubble gum...absolutely! It's FRUIT STRIPE GUM in a bottle! wet: very fruity, almost a cat litter undertone, a bit off-putting. arm: fruit stripe gum. absolutely yummy. it's sweet but the heliotrope is adding that sunny edge...and i love me some heliotrope! I can sense it in this blend, and the white wine. pretty! a keeper! i'm going to have to buy more of this.....