paperdoll

Initial Sniff: Ozone and fresh mountain air. This truly is the smell of the air right before a storm - after the thunder has started, but before the rain makes its appearance. Wearing: This stays true to the scent in the vial for the first 30 minutes or so, then it starts to get sweeter. It remains beautiful, fresh, and stormy - it just loses a bit of its crispness. Unfortunately it fades away very quickly. Final Impressions: I like this a lot, and I'm a bit sad that I didn't order a big bottle. It isn't my usual sort of scent, but it is very nice indeed!

Initial Sniff: Very sharp lavender with bergamot and lemon peel. It smells a bit like a household cleaner. I am apprehensive. Wearing: When wet, it smells just like the scent in the bottle. As it dries, however, the leather and tonka come out and dominate. Pretty soon this scent is all leather, tonka, and amber with some interesting herbal notes on the edges. A faint memory of citrus remains for a while as well. Final Impressions: This is very masculine and dead sexy. I need to slather this all over my man!! I like it on myself, as well. A keeper either way!

Initial Sniff: Spicy amber, musk and sweet dry grasses in the vial. Wearing: The musk really comes out on this one - I was expecting my skin to amp up the amber or sweet grassy notes like it usually does, but this is really musky. It was about 90 degrees (F) out today, and after walking to get my mail, I kept smelling animal... and realized it was me! I smelled like musk and fur... Final Impressions: I definitely did not like the post-sweat smell... I thought I was going to love this one, but I think it is just a tad too much for me.

Initial Sniff: I really can't identify any of the notes in this by sniffing the vial. I swear I smell orange, but that can't be right! Wearing: Fresh on my skin, when I sniff right up on my skin, I smell warm spicy amber and red musk. The scent that wafts up from my arm, however, is very much like Lush's Karma - spicy orange and patchouli. I must be crazy! After 30 minutes or so my archnemesis rose make her appearance and starts to make this lovely blend go bad. This eventually turns to rose poweder on my skin. Final Impressions: If Beth ever makes this without the rose, I'll be all over it! Until that day, however, Spellbound will have no place in my home.

Initial Sniff: Mmmmm... warm amber and dark murky musk. This fragrance is deep and viscous. Wearing: The amber and musk are very well-balanced, and remain so throughout the day. The blend does sweeten slightly as the day wears on. This one lasts ALL DAY. Final Impressions: I think this is what my last intake of breath would smell like if I was being trapped in amber. That really isn't as unpleasant a thought as it sounds!

Initial Sniff: Floral and dark. Not dark in a sinister way, just in an inky sky way. Wearing: This stays very true to the bottle scent on my skin. Just beautiful! Final Impressions: Like someone else said, this is like walking in fragrant summer garden in the dark of night, your way lit only by the moon. Absolutely gorgeous.

Initial Sniff: A dark rose in a deep pool of thick, dark liquid. Wearing: Rose. Final Impressions: I should just stop reviewing rose scents, because they all end up smelling the same on me within 5 minutes of application.

Initial Sniff: Oooh! Pink happy! Pink fluffy! Pink Creamy! (yes, I know this makes no sense, but it is what is going through my mind!) Delicate florals, wild strawberries, and a slosh of cream. Wearing: This stays absolutely true to the bottle scent on my skin for the first hour or so. Then the lunar oils amp up a bit, but it remains a very pink scent. It does fade quicker than I would like. Final Impressions: This is sitting in a field with a good friend on a warm spring night, during that period where the sun has not yet sunk, and the moon is large and round in the twilit sky. Between you on the fluffy blanket is a bowl mounded with soft whipped cream sprinkled with sugar and a basket of the sweetest wild strawberries you can imagine. This is all about warm-hearted laughter and nature's beauty.

Initial Sniff: Burnt acrid smoke over a field of those Tarot blend herbs. It is very reminiscent of Djinn. Wearing: My experience with this oil is almost identical to Hypothermya's. This started out very very burnt - almost crispy. Then the dragon's blood makes an appearance and adds a slightly sweet and spicy kick to the ashes. The herbs are there throughout. Hours later, this really does become more of a green floral - a rebirth of sorts. Final Impressions: What a fascinating scent! It isn't my favorite of the Tarot series, but it is a definite keeper!

Initial Sniff: Sweet sticky mangoes awash in a golden red sea of amber and musk. Wearing: This starts off so juicy! It is the sticky sweetness left on your hands after eating a perfectly ripe mango. The red musk and amber just make this glow. As it dries, some of the juiciness disappears and is replaced by a peppery spiciness, which dances around the edges of the warm melt of amber and musk. This doesn't last all day, but it was good for several hours. Final Impressions: I love it! And I HATE mangoes! Go figure...

Initial Sniff: Similar to Samhain, but without the "autumn-ness." Wearing: Oh dear lord. Take the lovely fir note from Skadi, the blazing bonfires and honey sweetness from Samhain, and something else entirely unique (the skin scent?) and you have this amazing summer bonfire celebratory scent. It is green and smoky, sweet and spicy. And it lasts ALL DAY. Final Impressions: Fan-freakin-tastic. Definitely a favorite.

Initial Sniff: A beautiful green floral. Wearing: Mmm... this is spring in a bottle. This stays fairly true to the bottle scent on my skin for the first hour or so, then it starts to get sweeter and warmer - more pink, less green. Final Impressions: This is so beautiful. It just captures the season perfectly!

Initial Sniff: Woah! Sharp, strong, astringent lavender. Wearing: Unpleasantly sharp. Final Impressions: Well, I slept like a rock, so I'll keep my imp, but it isn't terribly pleasant. I prefer Temple of Dreams.

A gentlemen's lavender-citron cologne unhinged by the feral pungence of black musk and a paroxysm of pennyroyal. Initial Sniff: Mint with a hint of lavender. Wearing: Oh my, what a surprise! The mint dominates, but it quickly turns sugary - this smells very much like Villainess Scintillating smooch. Final Impressions: This was a freebie from the lab, and one that I would not have chosen for myself. I'm so glad they sent it along - it is wonderful!

I also had a chance to sniff this at the Atlanta meet, and I was more careful with the cap than Fyre, so I never actually tested this on my skin. To sum up this scent in 4 words: Ass! Dear God, why?!?! This is seriously funky, in a seriously bad way.

Initial Sniff: Rosemary and rose. Pungent and strange. Wearing: ROSE! Final Impressions: Alas, alack, alack, alas, oh me oh my it's rose.

Initial Sniff: DIRT. Dark and rife with decomposing matter. Wearing: I dabbed this on my arm and shivers literally ran up my spine. This reeks of graveside ritual. This is not garden soil, this is the scent of the soil inside a circle created with sacrificial blood. The powerful charge of this scent is FREAKING ME OUT. But I continue to wear it and it does dry down more mossy and less freaky, but my spine still feels funny. Final Impressions: I like the mossy drydown, but the power of this oil scares me way too much. I do not do ritual work, so this will probably go to a better home.

Initial Sniff: Honey, myrrh, and fig... but there is something very dark and shadowy behind this one. Wearing: This is rich, spicy, and dark. It is difficult to pick out any of the individual notes, but every so often a breath of honey drenched fig wafts up from my skin. This lasts all day long. Final Impressions: Even though this has two notes that I'm not overly fond of (ylang ylang and honey), I LOVE this blend. I must have more before the fall!

Initial Sniff: Mist, pine, and sweet herbs. So pretty! Wearing: This starts out beautifully - a beautiful misty green forest at dawn. Then comes the rose. After about 30 minutes, it is pure rose on me. Final Impressions: Ahh, rose. we were never meant to be together.

Initial Sniff: Jasmine and myrrh... very smooth! Wearing: This starts out as a lovely jasmine scent warmed by myrrh, but then the rose appears... and takes over. The drydown is pure rose on me. Final Impressions: My archnemesis rose strikes again!

Initial Sniff: Dragon's blood and some kind of floral - jasmine? Narcissus? I'm not sure. Wearing: The sweet spiciness of dragon's blood is tempered by the unidentified floral and some sort of berry? I'm not sure. A very solid, long-lasting scent. Final Impressions: I wore this on a day that ended up being one of my most challenging days ever at work. I tend to be an emotional person, but I was able to deal with several emotional situations with a calm and collected manner. I find Wolf's Heart to be very grounding and stabilizing. Bonus - it smells really good, too!

Initial Sniff: Watery, salty dragon's blood. Wearing: This remains fairly true to the bottle scent. After a few hours, the dragon's blood has sweetened considerably, and the salt has faded. Final Impressions: It truly evokes dragon's tears, but I don't really like it.

Initial Sniff: Soft, muted florals and frozen berries. Wearing: The florals are soft, like new-fallen snow. The frozen berries are similar to those in Skadi. Overall, this stays failrly true to the bottle scent on my skin, except the lovely aquatic lunar oils make a bit of an appearance at drydown. Final Impressions: This is what I imagined Snow White would smell like, but it didn't. Simply gorgeous.

Initial Sniff: Wine and smoke. This is very different than the other lunacy blends! Wearing: Oh, my - this is lovely! At first the wine really dominates, but it quickly settles down into a lovely fruitiness that is layered over dark smoke, musk, and those lovely lunar oils. The visual on this one is a raucous midnight party in the deepest part of the forest under the full moon surrounded by bonfires. Final Impressions: I LOVE THIS! It is too bad I only have an imp. *goes off to stalk the swap thread and ebay*

Initial Sniff: Green and fresh - a touch of citrus and a touch of sweetness. Wearing: When wet, the rosemary and citrus really dominate. As it dries, they fade back into the green background. All the notes are beautifully blended, and none stand out. There is a nice spice to the drydown as well. Final Impressions: This is sun-dappled green springtime - warm and breezy. It manages to be green and fresh without smelling like detergent. This is absolutely gorgeous.