Jilara

I missed getting my order in, because I naively had faith in the justice system keeping Paris under wraps just a little longer. However, ebay has obliged me with a bottle. And I'm glad. I must have weird skin chemistry and weirder associations. I don't get commercial perfume except sniffing it in the bottle, when the rose and tuberose put in their appearance. You think of a paradise of rich flowers. I put it on, and it's still quite floral when wet, then goes straight to summer wildflower meadow as it dries down. It doesn't smell like a party girl. It smells like Faerie, something wistful and fleeting, promises not kept. There's something herbal (armoise? I checked, and it's mugwort, "felon's herb" -appropriate, a faerie plant), with a bit of oakmoss. Something sweet, dry grassy, fleeting scents with little substance. I think of summer high meadows in the mountains that look flowery, but when you go to run through them, you find they are stony with a misting of wildflowers scattered over them. It's full of pretty, wild, waste places. Dry, it's even more interesting. No substance. It's all linden flowers and and a little lemon blossom, a strange emptiness, like eating a feast with little taste, that does not satisfy. I keep sniffing, wanting something...well, MORE. It's a fleeting fall scent on the wind, promising Indian Summer, but not quite delivering. But wow, on me, that last stage lasts and lasts... All that said, I really like this scent! It's light and summery. To me, it evokes those dying summer days, when you're back in school, and already nostalgic for those great summer days that are now just a memory.

In the bottle, I get a waft of fruity floral. Wet, it's very sweet and fruity above all. I don't smell a hint of lavender. The florals come back a little as it dries. Dry, I get incense and the fruity floral quality. I think I might smell a hinting of lavender, but a sweet lavender, like French dentate lavender, not the lavender that goes to stale sweat on me in Gemini, thank all gods. (I admit that the lavender component gave me just a hint of trepidation, when I ordered this.) I find there is something comforting about this scent, like a warm cloud of intriguing smells that folds you in and is ripe with promises.

Wet, Robin is mossy and foresty, but with a slight hint of something spicy. As he dries, I think of a wildflower meadow, rather than heathered hills, herbal and a bit sweet smelling. The BPAL sage note plays well with me, but this isn't like any of the other blends. It's...a playful sage, wafting in and out with the woodsy notes. This is a hardwood forest, rather than connifers. Dry, it's very sweet, but still with the wood/herbal. The musk has come up, finally, and added a nice background finish. Robin Goodfellow plays nicely with my chemistry, and seems to last a good while.

A warm and golden scent, like summer in a bottle. It reminds me vaguely of both Scarecrow and Sundew, but without Scarecrow's acrid dry grass smell or Sundew's sticky aqueous note. It doesn't smell scorched at all to me, despite what the description says. It's a happy scent, full of hot summer days but not a wilting heat. It's very uncomplicated, and doesn't seem to change much from wet to dry. A bit more amber-ish dry, but that's about it. Definitely a feel-good scent, evoking lazy summer afternoons.

I really like this one, but looking at the notes makes me wonder if I should really be putting this on my skin! That's one impressive list of plant poisons! I've also been putting off reviewing this because it's so hard to characterize. But I'll give it a try. Wet: bitter and slightly resinous. There is an acridness with a strange sweet undertone, poisoned syrup... Drying down, it gets sweeter, and almost herbal, still with a bitter edge. The frankincense and myrrh start coming up in background. Dry...it's really hard to classify this. It's very evocative of the ancient world. There is something almost nutty, and I can smell saffron, and frankincense and myrrh, with a slight sweetness of honey, but there is still an edge of bitter herbs under it. Just a little musty, too. Like old desert tombs, full of mummified flowers. Very complex. Very thematic. I like it but can't see it as something for regular wearing.

Wet: blasted heath, indeed. There is something herbal, but gritty and ozonic. In drydown, it amps the steel and ozone note, and becomes flinty. It's like a lightning strike that's still smoldering. The herbal note still lurks in the background. Dry: the steel and ozone have dropped out, and the leather has come out. It's herbal leather, now. Almost too subtle. Aside: I'm celebrating my returned sense of smell. I couldn't pick up leather or subtle notes for weeks. Now I get to enjoy Macbeth and the Witches!

I think this one is a boon to the fatigued nose. I've had sinus problems, lately, and have had trouble identifying anything more than the most dominant notes in scents . However, lightning was a flash of refreshing ozone that cut right through and woke me up! Wet and drydown, I get mostly ozone. It's kind of a pick-me-up refresher, in this form. There's a little salt quality under the surface. As it dries, the aquatic notes come out, but still with a healthy dose of ozone. Dry, it balances out nicely, and is just a lovely refreshing summer scent. A good one for when you're feeling sweaty, fatigued, and blah. (If it's more complex than this, my slightly stuffy nose won't let me smell it. But it's great, just the way it is in my current state.)

Wow, is this foodie! I understand the pina colada analogies, but on me, wet/drydown, it's . . . Strawberry-banana yogurt! Yes, it's VERY sweet, at this point. Dry, it gets creamier, and the honey note adds in, but the fruit quiets down a bit. I'm thinking of the yogurt fruit cups they serve at company functions, as part of the breakfast selections. The kind that have grapes and strawberries and melon and pineapple mixed in with fruit yogurt. Not what I was expecting (somehow, I was expecting something more, well, Biblical), but rather delicious if you like food type scents. I could see how this wouldn't work with some skin chemistry, but on me, it's fairly tasty.

Is there such a thing as woodsy aquatic cucumber? That's how it is in the wet/drydown stage. It's utterly lovely, but wow, is this gentle and different. It's like a misty ghost in the woodlands. Wet, it's very aquatic, vaguely floral but with a cucumber note. Drying down, it gets a slight woodsy note that blends nicely into the existing aquatics, and both provide a backing that keep the floral from being more than a hinting of flowers by moonlight. On me, the floral is mostly iris, giving it a dreamy feel. It's subtle and mysterious, but has tremendous lasting power on my skin. It's refined and close to my skin, but still quite strong after 6 hours or so. Note: Blue Moon and Cancer seem to be first cousins. I've got Blue Moon on my left hand, and Cancer on my right, and Cancer is very similar, but with a sharp salty note and a stronger floral note added. Blue Moon is dreamy, Cancer is focused. I can't decide which I like better. They're both gorgeous scents.

I love violet, but so many violet notes that are out there don't really work for me. However, I had hope for Faith, and it wasn't misplaced! Faith is pretty consistant, all through from wet to the next day! This scent lasts and lasts and lasts! And I adore it, as one of my alltime favorites, now! Sugared violets indeed. It is sooooo sweet! But still incredibly violet. What it reminds me most of is those square violet mints that are so heavenly. Very sweet, very violet, not numbing or soapy like some violets I've encountered---"clean" comes to mind--can you have that with sugar syrup? This scent is amazingly consistant, has a good throw (a co-worker asked "what is that gorgeous scent? I can smell it over here!" and lasts just about forever. I need to get a full bottle before the Carnaval heads out of town. Since I tend to like rose scents, I think I can suffer getting the set of Hope and Faith together.

Holy creamy crustaceans, Crabman, this is one heckuva unusual scent! And I love it! As a cusp Gemini/Cancer, I was hoping for this one, since Gemini and my skin chemistry had a serious falling out. In the bottle, all I get is a vague aquatic note. Wet: whoah, there be crabs here! Seriously, my first throught was "I just took the Dungeness crab out of the pot..." It smells like wet crab shells. Behind them is that aqueous note. As it starts to dry down, a very creamy note (mallow?) comes up, and the crab shell element fades out as the lettuce scent phases in. Dry, I'm definitely getting a creamy lettuce/pear scent, with a slight vague spiciness hinted at. Nutmeg or maybe green cardamom? No crab shells any more, but every now and then, I get a waft of something that almost makes me think of food, but I can't identify, something that somehow makes me think of Southeast Asian markets. There's also something a little sharp and herbal, that might be chamomile. I don't detect anything I could ID as sweet pea, and on me it's not floral at all. It's a mysical scent, dreamy yet focused, staying fairly close to my skin. It's got to be one of the more unusual scents, but I like it a lot. Too bad it's an LE, as I could wear this regularily. June 21 update: Is this shifting because we've crossed the cusp into Cancer? I'm getting that creamy-salty quality all the way through, and the sweat pea bloomed out about three or four hours in. What's more, it lasted for 12 hours. I liked it a lot initially, but now I like it even more!

In the imp, I get a woody clove scent. My housemate smokes clove cigarettes, and he sniffed and said "not so much like clove cigarettes as just the spice...food." Wet, it's very CLOVE to the exclusion of almost everything else. As it dries down, the musk mellows it out, and the woody backnote adds depth. It pretty much stays in this state for hours. It's nice, because I really like clove, but I could see how some might find the clove note overpowering, it that's not what they are into. But I really like it.

I'm a Gemini, though I'm a cusp Gemini (Gemini-Cancer solistic baby), so I wanted to have this one. Unfortunately, there are lavenders that work on me, and lavenders that do not. This is the same lavender that didn't work on me in Oneiroi, which goes skunky and nose-twisting funky when it meets my skin chemistry. I left it on all through the drydown, hoping against hope. It improved a little, in that the frankincense gave a nicer incense quality to the skunky scent. But I was forced to conclude that the lavender in Gemini and I were ill-fated from the first. Here's hoping that Cancer is a better match to my chemistry...

Wet, it's reminiscent of tropical flowers, with a musk background. Drying down, it develops and aggressive throw, and amps up the moonflower and orchid to an almost overwhelming level. At this point, it's a bit much for me. Not sure if this is a good scent on me. Now that I've had it on for two hours, it's brought out the honeysuckle and salvia and the amped notes have thrown themselves off, so it's just a lovely scent of night-blooming flowers, much more delicate.

Wow, this one is well on its way to becoming a favorite. I think that's because it reminds me of Innis, one of my favorite commercial perfumes, an Irish scent that is supposed to evoke the essence of islands. But it's just enough different that it captures me. Wet, it's almost all salt spray and kelp. Not slightly rotting kelp, which is what I get in Innis, but more a low-tide scent that's slightly sweet and doesn't overwhelm you. As it dries down, it goes golden, with a slight fruity note that must be the pear. A friend says it makes him think of a field of orange flowers in summer. The ocean qualities are still there, but now they've backed off and are the supporting cast to the florals, which are nicely rounded out with amber. I like Jolly Roger, which has a slight resemblence, but this is even better!

Wet, there is a heavy quality of sweaty steel and gunpowder. This scent is HUGELY metallic in its wet stages. I think the "scorched earth" is why I get "gunpowder." It makes me think of a gun recently fired. It's that smell of cordite and metal. As it dries down, the vetiver starts to predominate. It still smells like sweaty steel. The cordite backs down a little. Something makes me think of artimesia, not wormwood, but something more like southernwood. It's probably the sage note combining with something else. This is the scent of war. It's not friendly, and it's definitely evocative of the painting. I think this is going to be my perfume of choice for when I'm reenacting English Civil War.

Tamamo no Mae is intriguing, since I don't see fruit in the list of ingredients, but it's distinctly fruity on me. Someone mentioned a peach quality, and I'm getting it, too. Actually, it reminds me a little of a fruit note from Fire Pig. Wet, I get mostly fruitiness and ginger. But when it starts to dry, the skin musk comes out and starts to predominate. Dry, there is a slightly foody quality, like maybe there's a bit of manju waiting to be tasted. The dominant note is skin musk, but in back is that slightly spicy fruit and a hint of mochi. It makes me think of a fruit manju I get at the Japanese market, but sexier. Mmm, bite into that tasty peach... When you think of the fact that peaches are a sexual allusion, it's appropriate. Very nice Asian note blend, but definitely not what I would have expected from the list of elements in it. It's definitely one I'll wear a lot, though.

I had to finally try Mme. Moriarty to see what all the fuss was about. After all, red musk is one of the best notes on me, if nothing else... And wow, am I glad I did. But I need to note that there is absolutely *nothing* in this that reminds me of Snake Oil, in the slightest. But wow, this blows me away! And it lasts *forever.* It's nothing for this to last for 14 hours on me! And I got a drop on my nightgown, and I was smelling it FIVE DAYS later. I am NOT complaining! Wet, it's all plums and vanilla. Big juicy red plums, with a hint of spice, like decadent jam. And then it dries down, and becomes orgasmic. The fruit becomes intense, like being in a canning kitchen in high summer, but weaving through it all is this scrumptuous note of incense smoke. (Is that where the patchouli lives?) It's almost too intense to process. I don't know whether to eat it, inhale deeply, or just faint with pleasure. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the red musk comes out and joins the party. There is a perfect harmony between the musk and fruit that I can't even begin to describe. I think Mme. Moriarty's staying power comes with the red musk, as most blends with Beth's red musk last on me for almost impossibly long periods of time, and fix the other notes to my skin. But I can't believe how well all these notes blend. My version of the Summerland would have to smell like Mme. Moriarty!

Wow, for someone who doesn't normally do well with florals, I could drench myself in this! Wet, this is Cherry Blossom in a big way! It's such a contrast, because my other hand has "Foxfires...at Oji" and there might as well be no cherry or lilac in that one. Here, I'm getting both, but the cherry blossoms are dominant, which is appropriate, since this is a cherry tree scent. Drying down, it becomes intensely womanly, as the honey and sandalwood blend with the florals. The dry version is so feminine! But not feminine in a soft or weak way, but just...wow. If ever a scent was pure Essence of Geisha in a bottle, this is it! It's still intensely cherry blossoms as the dominant note, but there is a soft fruitiness from the pear, a mellowness from the lilac, and a sweetness from the lavender honey and sandalwood that just knocks your tabi off! This has got to be one of the best florals that I've ever tried! There is definitely a bottle of this in my future!

This one is hard to qualify. It shifts elusively, perhaps like its foxfires in the painting. Wet, it's very aquatic, with a hinting of something like wet foliage. On drydown, there is a waft of something oriental that comes up, but undefinable, like a vague hinting of scent on the breeze. There is also a vague note of maybe ozone? And something almost like humus--the bark notes? It shifts a lot, at this stage, and just when I think I've identified a note...almost...it's like it was never there. Quite appropriate. Dry, the aquatics drop out and there is something that reminds me of Bakeneko in the background, maybe evoking those freezing fireballs. A slight spiciness with a hint of musk. I don't want to call it "warm," but something definitely ...comfortable? I don't know why I find this scent so comforting. Now and then, there is a vague waft of bamboo, but again, it's phantom-like. I don't get the cherry at all. Maybe that's because this is a winter cherry, no blooms but bare branches. On me, there is no floral in this at all. I like this one a lot, a scent one could wear every day and feel comfortable. Which is wonderful, because "Foxfires on New Year's Eve" is one of my all-time favorite pieces of art, and I love that the print now has a scent based on it.

Hmmm, a Gentleman's Library in a bottle! In the bottle, it's leather, Leather, LEATHER! Wet, it's leather with a musk background. It's also very thick, and takes a minute to absorb into my skin. Very viscous oil. Drying down, it's still LEATHER, and there is a backnote that makes me think of neat's foot oil. The musk is fading a lot. Dry. I get mostly leather and blond tobacco. It's a room full of leather-bound books and leather furniture, with a humidor. Close your eyes and be transported to a manor house library. I'm not sure about wearing this as a skin scent. An atmospheric room scent, oh yeah. And I also picture rubbing on the leather bindings of a couple of my antique books. It definitely makes you feel like you're visiting the 19th century.

Hmm, I don't get tobacco or cinnamon at all. Wet, it's all coffee, straight up coffee. Mmm, nice, but I don't know if I want this as perfume. It's like a coffee shop on your skin. Then, drying down, I get a weird vegetable quality coming up in back of the coffee. I shoved my hand under my housemate's nose and asked what he thought it was. He sniffed. "Ah, bell pepper? Green bell pepper? What's it doing with coffee?" And he was right. This is just too weird. Fortunately, after about 45 minutes, the green bell pepper drops out. It goes to a scent that reminds me of coffee toffee candies my mother used to get, coffee with a slight creamy note. It's three hours later, and it seems to be sticking with that note, but wow, it's gone faint. I'm about to lose Pinched with Four Aces altogether. For contrast, I had put Miskatonic U on my other hand. It's still nice and strong, while Pinched is just completely wimping out on me. I think I prefer Miskatonic for the long run, and especially for wearing on my skin. Pinched might do better as a room scent... Much later: Okay, here's a morph for you. I put on Pinched before leaving for work. About 3:30 in the afternoon, I found myself sniffing my hand, because I was getting a new scent. Something with a note of cinnamon. And there you go, seven hours later, I'm smelling cinnamon and tobacco wrappers. So where were they before?

I never get bamboo. Wet, there's a slightly musky woody note, with a Snake Oil background. Then it dries down and turns straight to Snake Oil. That's all, folks.

This starts as a sweet and pretty floral, with lots of iris, and a muted creamy quality. Something wistful in it, wet and in the drydown, muted and pretty, but nothing notable. Then it starts amping up in much the same way Ostara does on me. This vicious rose suddenly jumps out and bitch-slaps you. But in a good way. And then the tart plum joins the party, and it's all tart fruit and roses, with just a hint of benzoin and tonka in the background to round it out a bit. The plum seems variable, fading in and out. Unfortunately, after about 3 hours, it goes slightly soapy on me. But when it's good, it's Very Good. I like Lady Luck's later vicious streak much better than her playing nice and sedate. She goes sharp and obstreperous and dominating, but then abandons you after a while. Yep, she's a moody Lady, all right.

In the decant, it's fruity, hinting of apples. Wet, I get fruit with a hint of lemony something. No flowers, no Snake Oil, just fruit. Can't ID the apple as apple, either. Not even definable fruit, at this stage, just a kind of mixed fruit basket. Drydown, it starts to go to fruit and flowers, and becomes very sweet. I think it's the plumeria note coming up. It's very tropical at this stage. Hard to believe the fruit is apple, with the orange/lemon blending in. Dry, it smells like a high-end commercial perfume. I could see this being sold at Macy's. It's very sophisticated, with none of the components being really identifiable. Knowing what's in it, I can say "Oh yeah, spicy fruity plumeria," but if I didn't know that, I probably wouldn't have a clue. Gardenia is usually a disaster note on me (alas and alack, Highwayman!), but here it just gives floral depth. I like it. It makes me feel rich and sophisticated.