modernsaints

Yeah, it's definitely a sharp, clean, herbal-type soap. I would LOVE it as a soap, but normally would not wear it as a perfume... however, I put this on fifteen minutes before going off to exercise, and discovered that I love the clean-ness of it drifting up as I work out. Definitely makes me feel like less of a sweaty pig, hehe (: So I have no idea (as of yet) how it works as a voodoo oil, but I'm keeping it anyway, since I like how it makes me feel. ETA: In the interest of properly checking this out, I wore it to work with the voodoo intention behind it, rather than any perfume intention. Boys did not like me more. Neither did girls. One old man told me I was 'the prettiest thing he'd ever seen'. Oh. Yay. Also, it brought about a terrible rush of bad luck. I want to test it again in a different setting but, quite frankly, I'm a little scared to. Son of ETA: Wore it again the other day, to work again, though I made a quick Starbucks run beforehand. It... works! Sort of! People seemed to smile at me quite a bit more, and a boy at work gave me a massage for no reason, and my manager was quite possibly hitting on me (in his friendly, hitting-on-everyone way; but it's usually not aimed at ME, so.) I don't know if it's the oil itself, or just that the oil made me pay attention to that sort of thing (I tend to be Miss Oblivious.) Not bad though.

Starts as a sharp, almost green neroli, but dries down quickly to a sweet bright raspberry and never goes back. Always keeps the neroli undertone though. It's candy and I liiiike it! Not a bottle buy, but enough to use the imp and feel happy every time. ETA: Actually, in retrospect, there are far better candy scents out there... this is very one-note, and it's not an especially amazing note. I liked it the first go-round, but I find myself NEVER reaching for it, and when I want bright/sweet I hit up Bloody Mary or Eat Me first, as those have a little bit more depth. If neroli likes you a lot though, it might give this a nice balance.

I love this one because I've had a few that started as one thing and immediately dried to another, and stopped there. This one starts out wet as a very heavy, buttery, almost burned cake. But on drydown it immediately turns into bright, sweet currants - delicious! - with a nice cake/vanilla undertone. After about half an hour, it turns into pure cupcake. Except what I keep saying is "it's not perfume trying to be cupcakes, it's cupcakes in perfume form". I cannot emphasize how much I LOVE this!! I SMELL LIKE A CUPCAKE. Man, when I know I'm going to have a bad day, I will reach for this nine times out of ten just because, um, cupcake. Makes all things better.

Couldn't pinpoint one specific note in this - there's a soft, almost metallic undertone that I think is the fruit, but other than that, I have no idea. Everything just blurs together into a lovely soft, floral-y... thing. It stays close to the skin, and the amber gives it that skin-scent undertone, but the strongest scent is really just a blend. Really like it.

Mmm. I can detect the metallics, just barely under the surface, but it's really just a lovely soft floral with enough bamboo to give it a slight green kick, and enough fruit to make it complex. I keep smelling myself when I wear it just to figure out all the nuances to it, which is nice - but it's also really friendly and I'd be comfortable wearing it in public. Wouldn't call it a bottle buy, but I do really enjoy it.

I... what? Baby powder? HUH? Unfortunately, I couldn't even tell you what it was BEFORE it was baby powder, since I've only tried a couple of these notes in other blends. Suffice it to say that it was "kinda nice, i guess" and then it went strange. Wah.

The amber necklace of Freyja, Norse Goddess of Love, Sex, Attraction and Fruitfulness. Her magnificent necklace was bought from four Dwarves [Alfrik, Berling, Dvalin and Grer] at the price of four nights of her passion. When Brisingamen graces your throat, no man can resist your charms. A glittering mantle of rich golden notes: five ambers, soft myrtle and apple blossom, myrtle, and carnation. A sort of nice vague sweet amber. At least I think so? Doesn't really smell like anything, per se, but it feels very off and very un-me. Like I'm not supposed to be wearing it. Ended up washing it off after twenty minutes, just because I knew I'd never warm to it. Fortunately, the amber did not go powdery on me at all, so that means it's honey what hates me. ... Unfortunately, I wish it was the amber. I like honey ):

Absolutely no hazelnut here, and only the faintest tint of musk. Mostly what I'm guessing is the iris comes out, with a lovely fresh coconut tinge to it. However, it smells almost artificial on me, and it's awkward to wear - it's very aggressively not-me and I wouldn't be happy wearing it. It's not BAD, mind you, just at odds with me. Off to the swaps. ):

In the imp and fresh on my skin, it smells... funny. But not "oh one of the notes is off" funny, more like "are those notes even IN here?" funny. Not good or bad, just exceedingly strange. And then I recognize it WHAM BABY POWDER. Oh. It's honey that does that on me, I guess. The more you know, etc.

In the imp it's... nice. Pretty enough. On me it goes GINGERRRRRRR It's all right, very spicy-sweet, but with a heavy dusty undertone. And I can't smell it without going :| at it because that undertone, wtf is up with that?

Got a sniffie of this from artofsuicide, managed to weasel enough out of it to try. In the imp: nice, but what IS it? I don't know. I like it. Wet/early drydown: Lovely clean sweetness, all linen and vanilla and tea. (I think.) Whatever it is, it's gorgeous and I want want want it. Instant bottle buy at this point. Late drydown: O HAY POWDER. It's a weird sort of sterile, artificial, powdery... thing. And I mourn for White Rabbit WOE.

In the imp it is honey. REAL HONEY, GUYS, OMG IT'S HONEYYYY I WANT ... And then I put it on my skin. And this is a three word review: GODDAMN YOU, VETIVER ETA: Hahaha I lied, vetiver never even had a chance. Upon testing of other blends I've discovered that honey likes to turn into powder on me. So this is Honey SN on me I guess.

Mmm wow what the hell is this stuff. I mean I KNOW the notes, but when I smell it, it's just this cool, watery melon-y sweetness, with something holding it together, but I couldn't name it for my life. My skin smells clean, but better than just regular clean, like extra clean. So nice. The madre was going through my imps, sniffing, and going "ooh" to all, and then she picked this one up and went "... WHAT IS THIS" and ran away with it shoved up to her face. And refused to give it back. And draped a towel over her head to keep the scent right up to her face. Beth, we love you. (:

In the imp: ooh, sweet cinnamon, spicy, delicious... On me: HOMF GLOMF NOM NOM NOM CINNAMON CANDIES. I wish there were an emoticon to express "I want to eat my wrists as if they were heaps of candy and I were a candy-eating-vacuum-cleaner whooshing around on the floor." This is bright and disturbingly sweet! It's also very, very similar to Chimera, except that where Chimera is mild and creamy, this is a lot... peppier. Just a word to the wise!

Damnit all I want is ONE cherry scent that works on me. Cherry. Not cherry-and-O-HAY-LOOK-IT'S-ANISE, or cherry?-what?-i-thought-this-was-musk. I mean, I LIKE smelling like anise. I enjoy being a licorice! Kyoto stays in the collection. But right now I am craving some cherries.

In the imp: Aww soft, apple-y floral. On me it goes pure hyacinth. And it's lovely and sweet and I don't mind smelling like it at all! Unfortunately, I'm really more of an apple and resin girl, so this will stay an imp for me. ETA: The more I wear this, the more I adore it. The hyacinth just softens and softens, and lets the dragon's blood put in an extra sweet kick, and it's fresh and beautiful.

O, I am making my :| face at you. :|!!! In the imp it was this lovely creamy thing with HONEY OMG. I hadn't smelled BPAL honey before and it IS honey. Dead-on and sweet and lush and eeee want! And then it hit my skin and amber went BOOM POWDER. And I had a faintly sweetly scented... old-lady powder. Oh. Joy. On the drydown, the powder worked itself off slowly, but never got beyond the :| phase. I got the faintest nudge of honey, but just enough to mock me. Curses! ETA: Not amber. Honey, actually. Honey is the culprit and I shake my fist at it! I have another company's vanilla-amber blend and it is nice and warm and lovely, and every time I smell it I get mad because I want a BPAL version. And O was SO CLOSE to being that.

When I was a wee little fourth-grader, my aunt introduced me to BBW & the supply of goodies within. I used my allowance to buy TWO WHOLE BARS OF SOAP. The first one I tried was plumeria. It made me happy and I sniffed it a lot and went "WHEEE SMELL THIS IT'S PRETTY". Thalia is that plumeria, except it grew up a ton and got some cute new friends and extended its own metaphor a bit too far. It was a bizarre, nearly sickly floral in the imp, but on me it just mellowed and became a perfect blend. My skin tends to amp single notes, but here everything just played. Plumeria with a cool fruitiness to it, and just a bit of sharp sparkle from the champagne. Fun and bright and completely springlike. Love it! ETA: ... unfortunately, after a couple uses, that first brightness disappeared and it just. kept. mellowing. down into this weird plasticky-smooth fake thing. :| Ah well.

In the imp, Elegba is going "LOL BUTTER" at me. Not even a good butter - just those weird buttered-popcorn jelly bellies. Wha? Wet, it's still butter. Oh. As it dries down, the coconut makes its way out, but it's more of a meaty coconut and not a sweet coconut milk... combined with the hint of butter (no rum) in the background, it's just altogether too weird for me. Again, the madre loves it though, so it's all hers.

BWUH WHA. What the hell are these spices and where can I get them so I can bathe in them. :[ In the imp, it was sort of a vague spicy perfume... nice but nothing special. Wet, though! It is a creamy spicy good magic thing! Not spicy in the 'hot' way, or in the 'cinnamon' way, but in the subtle best way. Everything just kept mellowing throughout the day and melted into my skin and made me feel wonderful. Amazing throw, too, and lasted very nicely - especially for someone whose skin sucks oil like crazy.

In the bottle: It's... patchouli. Yay. Wet: Oh hey what do you know it's patchouli again! There's something else going on but I don't know what it is, and it's kinda weird. Drydown: Yeah ten bucks says you can't guess what it still is. And I like patchouli in small doses, but it goes weird and powdery on me, in that way where I keep sniffing it because I can detect the heliotrope (and I like it!) but all I end up getting is a snootful of hippie. ): The mother doesn't like hippie either, so this one shall be off to the swaps!

Lolita is such a wonderful book - I can quote the first line off by heart, and it's inspired me on lots of my own stories - so I had super-high hopes for this one! Sadly, in the imp, it was LEMON VERBENA POW. I have faith! I tried it on anyway! The lemon did settle down - my skin seems to be very friendly, it doesn't amp anything I really loathe - but the floral just seemed kind of... off. Instead of the lemon going all sparkly, it went a bit sour. It got nicer, no question, but never quite nice enough to make me stop going :| at it all the time. My mum described it as "spicy floral" - not sure what she was smelling, haha. But she liked it, so if it's still not playing nice in a couple weeks, maybe I'll get her own little collection started.

First off - Beth is teh best evar. (: I was looking at this one after I ordered and going "aww APPLES aww jeez, why didn't I get that," and then I got it as a frimp! YAY FOR BETH. In the bottle it scared me a little - some soft apple, but lots and lots of nuttiness out of the bark. A very sharp, strong nut. Wet, it was the same, although the nut went a bit softer. And with time, the nut faded out entirely - it was gone in 15 minutes - and the whole thing was tangy, delightful apple. Not quite like any apple I've actually eaten - it didn't necessarily have the juice I expected - but it was a sweet, dry apple, and I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist, and aww. So good.

Imp: Ew sour. Rotten sour, can't pick out either of the notes, just... gross. BUT I had faith and tried it on my skin! And wet, it's... still sour. Drydown, though! I gave it fifteen minutes and it calmed down wonderfully, and now it's a gentle rose with a really nice kicky tang to it. Still... I don't want to say sour per se, just with a sort of bite to it. I think you'd have to be in a very specific mood to wear it - it didn't really click with me, but I was feeling very lethargic. Maybe on a peppier day!

Imp: Spicy, but not the kind I'd associate with cinnamon, with something soft & warm under it. Wet: Ooh now it's creamy creamy spicey goodness. Not at all the red-hots I've expected from reviews, but this seems far more interesting! Drydown: Generally the same all day, just kind of... mellows out. Mmm. I ran up to loads of people today going "SMELL MY ARM" and everyone went "wha?... ooooh." Definitely a keeper!