AmyAngel

I tend to like foody scents and spicy scents but not chocolate. I'm sure most or all of these have been mentioned already, but... Cockaigne was very spicy cake on me. I also love Midway (both original and resurrected - it smells like funnel cakes and cotton candy on me and is great in a locket), Pumpkin Queen and Pumpkin V (from 07), Beaver Moon '07, and I like Egg Nog though it doesn't last long on my skin. I'm liking Cheshire Moon and Diary of a Teenage Cannibal, too, as they were a sort-of fruity cake thing on my skin. If you like fruity, Earth Rat is a great melon scent on me! It looks like I need to try more GC foodies, as most of my list are LE!

Haunted reminded me strongly of my grandmother. Anything with a strong warm amber note tends to make me think of her, but Haunted smelled so much like what she wore that even both my sisters mentioned it when I let them sniff!

I'm thinking Earth Rat and Green Phoenix layered may be even closer to Tranquil Breezes than just Green Phoenix, since I got a lot of melon from Earth Rat - I'll try that sometime soon. I was cleaning out a drawer in my vanity last night and found a half bottle of Tranquil Breezes something... a splash of some kind, so now I actually have something to compare to!

Thanks for the link! I especially love the pics of the marked-up arms! I ask because I go to Dragon*Con every year, and while I love it, there is NO WAY I would take a fifteen-year-old there late Saturday night...though it's great during the day! I actually took our church music director's 13 year old daughter to Dragon*Con last year, and she went with us to several of the nighttime concerts! I'd have been much more comfortable taking her to Will-Call, I think! uhhhhh..what exactly goes on at this so-called Dragon*Con??? I am imagining something like the nighttime activities of the plushy conventione attendees in that one CSI episode: SexyKitty and the civet oil! Not so much that (there aren't that many Furries at D*C, though I do have a friend who goes to those kinds of cons and who said the CSI episode was fairly accurate), though I'm sure there's PLENTY of similar stuff going on in rooms and such. The concerts are punk/goth/etc. and there are plenty of gothy, punky, costumed, drinking (though I've rarely seen anyone drunk enough to be a problem), some scantily clad, people around. The aforementioned preacher's daughter had never been around that many "alternative" people or that many people different from herself OR actually seen people casually walking around with a beer in their hand, and found it "weird" but also seemed to be fascinated. (I think the anti-drug and alcohol programming in schools had her confused that people could actually drink without automatically being horrifically drunk addicts.) The first night she went with us to her first punk concert (which included lots of F-bombs, which she'd rarely heard anyone say without getting in serious trouble), and saw a guy dressed as Jesus (she texted her mom - "MOM! I found Jesus!"), more goths than she'd ever seen before, people drinking, people in all sorts of sci-fi/fantasy costumes, and two chicks making out right in front of her. I was afraid she might be scarred, but also thought the open-mindedness and exposure to more of the world than she's used to might be a good thing. She wants to go back with us next year! Daytime at the Con is panels with celebrities from authors and artists to actors (and more), getting autographs, shopping the dealer's room, gaming if you're into that, exploring the art show, etc. I call the Con my "creativity recharger" because there are so many creative people all together in one place, and most of them are wonderful sweet people. The website is www.dragoncon.org.

Thanks for the link! I especially love the pics of the marked-up arms! I ask because I go to Dragon*Con every year, and while I love it, there is NO WAY I would take a fifteen-year-old there late Saturday night...though it's great during the day! I actually took our church music director's 13 year old daughter to Dragon*Con last year, and she went with us to several of the nighttime concerts! I'd have been much more comfortable taking her to Will-Call, I think!

Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo was much like fruit punch on me, especially when wet!

I can't remember what I wore Christmas Eve, it was a busy, busy day and I had to work half of it. For Christmas Day, I wore Gingerbread Poppet, although I probably should have slathered more as it apparently wasn't super-noticeable. For New Years I wore Green Phoenix, because I'd only tested it (and liked it!) and wanted to try it for the whole day.

On me, caramel seems to turn into a nasty lingering salty scent most of the time, but I loved Red Lantern at first. I think it's starting to go salty now that I've had the bottle a while, though. I need to test it again. So I'm probably not the best person to help, but I'll put my two cents in anyway! Maybe the ones that go salty on me will be beautiful caramels on you! On me, Kill-Devil was sweet and a little alcoholic, before it went salty. It seemed quite different than the smokiness I've gotten from Red Lantern. It wasn't that bad despite the salt on me. Creepy, to me, was just like Red Lantern but with apple. It actually didn't go salty so maybe the caramel in it and RL is different than the one in some other blends? I didn't get salt from Gluttony, either, though it was more pancake syrup than caramel, on me. I also get no nastiness from Midway (the old version, haven't tested the new yet) which is one of my favorites, even though caramel apples are listed. Tiresias immediately went to sharp, strong, lasting celery salt on my skin. It wasn't that much like Red Lantern to me, if I remember correctly. Others that went caramel-salt on me: La Befana, which had a nice sweetness and morphed a lot on me. It almost worked and was quite pretty at times. Incubus, which was similar to Red Lantern but not the same. There was something almost "drinkable" (but not in a boozy way) about the scent, if that makes any sense. It was interesting enough that I'm keeping the imp despite the saltiness. The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil - this one was not as good as I'd hoped, but also not as salty as I'd feared. Bad Luck Woman Blues - celery salt. Bien Loin d'Ici - caramel is listed, but didn't show up on my skin. It did go bad on me, though.

Aries 07, for me, was ALL pepper!

OOOH... Could you share what you picked for each? I'm an Organization XIII fan - especially Axel & Demyx. I keep thinking they must have such fascinating backstories!

If you don't mind some cherry in with it, Phantom Calliope goes there. The cherry fades a lot on me, after a while.

The drydown on Plunder after an hour or two smells exactly like Devil's Night on me!

Plunder to me is very spicy, with just a hint of tea making it not as dry as it could have been. It reminds me just a bit of the spices in Tanin'Iver, though they don't really smell the same. They must have the same cassia note. It's a very warm scent. I slathered this on yesterday, and it started out a spicy tea scent, sweet but not cloying, wafting around. The drydown of this after an hour or two is EXACTLY the same as Devil's Night on me! Sweetness, some spice, and not dry smelling. It lasted almost 9 hours, though I doubt anyone else was smelling it by the end of that time. I need to test them side by side, but to my memory it was exactly the same. I like both Devil's Night and Plunder, though I think I like Devil's Night just a tiny bit better. Unfortunately they both have a note that leaves me feeling unsettled for some reason. I'll keep my imps of both, but probably won't track down a bottle.

Red musk, ambergris, coconut palm, red sandalwood, balsam, date, warm leather, tobacco, ebony, lingum vitae wood, pandanus grass, an' a touch o' lime. I had high hopes for this one, even though a lot of the notes are a bit iffy on me. This started out very much as warm salty ocean air, with a hint of wood and just the barest hint of leather. I got no red musk (good, since it's usually odd on my skin) and very, very little lime. It was like a pirate ship, but empty - all the pirates are away in town and the ship is bobbing gently in the waves just off the island shore. Soon though, as it dries, it becomes apparent that one of the pirates HAS stayed back on the ship, to do his laundry. It's in the dryer now (apparently these are quite modern pirates, to have a dryer on board!), and the scent of warm clean laundry is floating strongly in the salt air, above the wood scent of the ship. He's not using any girly flowery dryer sheets or anything, it's just clean clothes tumbling in the dryer. Up close, it's mostly salt air and ship, but way nicer than the other salty wood scents I've tried. The throw, however, is all warm clean laundry fresh from the dryer. I'm going to keep the bottle and hope the laundry ages out some. I don't necessarily MIND smelling like clean fresh laundry, but it wasn't what I was expecting here.

I actually tested this a few nights ago and didn't write it out until now. It started out like most pumpkin scents, as buttery pumpkin. Once it started to dry it began exactly like Pumpkin Queen. After a bit longer, it was still VERY similar, but a touch sweeter, a bit less spicy, and slightly more fruity. I need to test it again, but I might actually like this one better than Pumpkin Queen. They might diverge and become more different later in the drydown, as the fruitiness seemed to be increasing. Unfortunately I was visiting my best friend and she severely burned a bag of microwave popcorn and smoked up the whole house. That's all I could smell for the next few hours, though I was huffing my wrist to try to avoid it! I'll need to try this again, sans burnt popcorn, to decide if I need to get a bottle or if it is too similar to Pumpkin Queen, which I already have a bottle of. I'm hoping this will be a less-spicy, fruitier, better for warm weather version of Pumpkin Queen, so I can have one for summer and one for winter, because that seemed to be the way it was headed. ETA: I've worn this a few times now, and while it is similar to Pumpkin Queen it's a little sweeter and doesn't have the hot spiciness that PQ has. I find myself reaching for it pretty often, actually, as it seems a bit easier to wear than Pumpkin Queen, for some reason. I missed out on ordering a bottle, but got a partial from the forum which I hope to eventually fill. It's another of my favorites!

In the imp this starts out the same as Pumpkin V, and Pumpkin Queen, and Jack. Buttery pumpkin! Wet, it stays much the same for a while, but then the other scents start to come out. There's still some almost-fruity pumpkin smell, and a touch of sweetness that might be cactus flower. Under that though is a dry sort of grassy scent which has to be the sweetgrass, and a hint of light spiciness which must be the sage. I was wary of sage, because while I love the scent of it (my grandmother grew some and dried it to use in cooking, and I would often pick a leaf and walk around smelling it), I don't seem to like it much in perfume. I once had a room scent with it that I couldn't stand, either. I think the sage may be adding to the dryness or grassyness, but isn't standing out as sage. This is a warm sort of scent, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I think my decant may be enough, but I'll be keeping it.

I was hoping this would be a lovely Autumn scent on me, but no. It is vetiver, and STAYS vetiver. Vetiver always smells like BBQ smoke to me. There's something under that vaguel reminisecent of Devil's Night, but not as sweet or boozy. Unfortunately it is just barely there under the BBQ smell. This could have been wonderful if the vetiver had faded, but no such luck.

On, I get sweetness first – orchid, maybe? It's almost berry-like but I can tell it's floral. Then the white musk shows up, and there's something that's making me think of moss, but it might be the juniper berries. I'm not getting any patchouli, unless it's what is grounding this just a bit. It's not the “smells like lumber” patchouli. As it's drying, it's warming up, and maybe starting to go soapy? It's also starting to fade. It's definitely a clean scent. After about 10 minutes I'm getting a sort of strange soapiness – definitely the orchid. It's not entirely unpleasant, but not something I'd want to wear, either. It's staying a slightly soapy light floral sweetness over the course of an hour or so. Nice, but not great.

In the imp, this is AMBER. Perfumey amber, and maybe a hint of spice. My grandmother must have worn a very amber-heavy perfume, because I seem to really associate the scent with her. I put just a tiny bit on my skin, as the strength in the imp was kind of scary, but it's not nearly so strong on me. It's warm, and a touch spicy, though I can't really pick out what specific spice it is. It's very dry smelling. After a few minutes, it seems to be staying a warm golden amber with just the tiniest hint of spice – very warm, very dry, a bit perfumey to me. I'm liking this far more than I expected to. It's not showing any signs of turning to powder, yet, either, and it's still not very strong on my skin. Nice! After wearing this for an hour or so, I've decided that amber, at least this kind, is a little too sharp for me. This is pretty, but I'll never wear it, so it's off to swaps.

In the imp, this is a sweet fresh floral. I'm gonna guess that's lily! On, it starts out the same, and then starts to morph a bit. There's a bit of soapiness going on. I can't even tell what to write about this one. It's nice, pretty, but I don't know if I'll wear it ever. The more it dries, it becomes a touch spicy almost, and there seems to be something almost metallic in the scent. I keep thinking there might be dragons blood, but I can't tell for sure. There's a strange thickness to it, though it's melded into my skin and is barely detectable.. It's definitely a strange one, and I think it will require another test to see what I really think about it. Well, after half an hour, I have to really huff my wrist to get any scent at all, so I think I'll swap this out. I have too many imps to keep ones that don't last on me!

In the bottle, this smells VERY alcoholic and fizzy. Like a fruity fizzy cocktail or something. On my skin, the alcohol scent quickly dies down some, and the scent fades very quickly. I'm getting a clean, fizzy slightly fruity sweetness. I don't know if it's chemistry, or because it was in the hot mailbox all day or what, but it's fading FAST. What's there is a great fun summery light scent, but I really have to sniff hard to get any of it. I'm definitely going to have to test this again, as it's almost gone after less than 5 minutes. A few minutes later I can smell it a bit more, and it's nice! Fresh, I think I'm smelling oranges, with an almost-candy fizziness that somehow isn't too sweet.

In the imp, it's light and sweet, a tiny bit citrus, and barely there. Maybe my nose isn't working right tonight!I'm getting hardly any scent on my skin at all, but what is there is smooth and kind of creamy, and reminds me a little of Antonino but less sharpness. I'm getting a kind of coconut scent, somehow. There's a sort of oiliness or heaviness that makes me wonder if the hedgehog musk is actually RED, which rarely if ever works on me. There's some citrus freshness there, though, and it isn't nearly as unpleasant as red musk scents usually are, so maybe not. I'm going to have to test again, because I can barely smell this today!

In the imp, this is very tea scented, with just a bit of ginger spice. On, it starts out the same! After a minute though, there's a hint of lemony citrus, and the ginger is going slightly cheeto-like. I'm not so sure about this one at this point, even though I love tea scents. It's not nearly as sweet a tea as some are, and does have a hint of sharpness to it. After a few more minutes, it's a definite gingery tea – it's very nice. It's the warmest, spiciest tea scent I've tried, and I'll probably keep the imp. I think I prefer Shanghai's sweet tea with a hint of lemon though. After about half an hour more, I'm thinking I really DO love this one. I think Shanghai will still be the first tea-scent bottle I buy, but this will be on my keep list!

In the imp, it smells a bit like cough syrup, though I can pick out the honey also. On my skin, I can smell the honey, but it's not as sweet as honey often is. There's also something there that is reading as “powder-scent deodorant” to my nose. There's some nice herbalness above the honey, but the deodorant scent really is strongly there with every sniff. Unless this changes dramatically, it's going for swaps because I think it is just reacting badly with my chemistry.

In the imp, it's very perfumey, which I'm starting to recognize as amber and/or sandalwood maybe. On my skin, there's a perfumey sharpness, with sweetness and a touch of wood. As it's drying the honey is becoming more obvious as honey, and I think the amber may be going just a touch powdery. It's a warm sort of scent but not TOO warm, and I think the perfumeyness is the sandalwood now. It's changing a lot as it dries, and is becoming a nice skin scent. It's either fading fast though, or my nose is getting too used to it. After a few more minutes, there's now a hint of sweet fruitiness in with the honey sweetness. It's sweet and pretty and sexy. After a few more minutes, it's sweet and warm and sexy, with a hint of wood, and I'm getting the scent of toasted coconut somehow in there way in the background. I'm really liking this, but it is very light on my skin. The longer I wear it the more I like it, but I'd have to slather to get much from it. It has a bit of a traditional perfume scent, but its richer and nicer than many perfumes. I like this one, but probably won't track down a bottle. If it comes back next year, though...