DifferentDances

Imp: Cologne and incense. Wet: Very, very faint bread soaked with a touch of aquatic cologne. Drydown: Slightly sweet, incensey soap. Still faint. Dry: Odd. It's become pink eraser shavings, like the pink erasers on the tips of pencils or those solid pink erasers that leave more pink smudges than actual erasures. Bizarre. My rating: 1/5. Very faint to begin with, and then goes through one of the strangest BPAL morphs I've ever experienced.

Imp: Strong, clear department store floral spray. Wet: Ack. This is what some other blend with iris smells like, so I think I'm just smelling pure iris at this point. Drydown: Still pure iris, only softer. Not good, since I'm beginning to suspect that I'm not a fan of iris. Dry: Still just iris. My rating: 1/5. It's not a bad smelling scent, I just apparently hate the smell of irises. Who knew?

Imp: Grape candy. Wet: Sweetened medicinal smoke/incense. Drydown: High pitched grape candy with a few wisps of smoke. This is bringing up strong emotional memories but I have no idea what they are; something I've forgotten. Dry: Sweetened smoke. My rating: 3/5. If I were still living in college dorms where incense is prohibited, this is what I'd use to simulate the incense smokiness.

Imp: Salty leather water cologne. Wet: Deep fried seafood??? Dunked in aquatic cologne? Drydown: Aquatic with an underlying hint of something woody or musky. Or maybe just stale, soggy bread. Dry: Whoa, coppery metallic peak to that aquatic. My rating: 1/5. Not for me, but I think it'd be nice on the appropriate male. *sigh*

Bottle: Something very sour and high-pitched. Wet: Fruity creaminess, powerfully sweet with a translucent floral shooting through the cream. Drydown: A stale berry has taken over, as has I think the hibiscus because it's a floral that doesn't smell like peony or roses. Dry: A mishmash of berry and flowers solidified with a gentle crust of sugar. My rating: 4/5. I want to eat my hand. Yummy.

Bottle: Candy pine with a hint of berries. Wet: Earthy, swarthy sugar berries. Ooooh....might this be an amber that works on me? Drydown: After a bit, the awesome sugar berries fade, leaving behind warmed fir and something chilly, like that first moment inside a warm house with a bright fire and fresh-smelling wreaths after having stepped in from out of the darkest cold of winter. Dry: Chilly with an undercurrent of fir/pine. My rating: 4/5. This is a deliciously emotive blend, one best suited for occasions when I'm wandering by myself and feeling haughty and mysterious.

Wet: Uh oh, it's got that weird baby diaper feel that jasmine usually gives me. Odd, jasmine's not listed as a note. Heavy, heavy florals. Drydown: Waxy chunk of flowers indistinguishable from one another. Erm. Could one note kindly either step to the front or the back of this jumble? Dry: Waxy soap. My rating: 1/5. Apparently not all flowers smell alike. *ducks rocks thrown for blasphemy* Something in here is not something I like, because I think one note is amping up. Sadly, the majority of the notes in this blend are completely unfamiliar to me, so I haven't a clue what to avoid in the future. Ah well, more adventures for me!

Bottle: Caramel cough syrup. Wet: Thin reeds with a shot of berries and sweet fruits. A tiny layer of that bamboo note I like in Holiday Moon. Drydown: Something sour lurking at the edges --might be the apple. Or maybe the rice milk. Something vaguely alcoholic about this. Cane sugar makes an appearance. Bamboo's all gone. Berries fade, then make a sweet reappearance that quickly twists into fermented juice. Dry: Light scent of sugared fruits on a mulch-strewn sunny playground with just the slightest hint of fermentation. My rating: 2/5. It's a fun experience, but I'm not sure I'd ever wear it. I was kind of hoping I'd love it. *sigh*

Wet: Unsweetened poor quality green tea. Drydown: Same tea with a squirt of artificial lemon juice. Dry: Pledge shot through with baby diapers. My rating: 2/5. I think I've determined that jasmine might very well turn to soiled baby diapers on my skin. BAH.

Wet: Strong floral with just a slight edge of water. Drydown: Soap with a playful edge. Dry: Bar soap, a solid, wet, somewhat melting at the bottom bar of soap. My rating: 3/5. I can see where this might be a lovely scent, but it's just not for me. Alas.

Wet: Oooh...clean tea clearness. Drydown: Ick. What's that weird sour coffee edge? Dry: Confusing jumble of notes trying to top one another. Sweet-tea-grass-dirt --it's like a polite tea party that ended with a most unladylike tousle. It's pretty, but very faint. My rating: Hm.....3/5. I'm going to keep this and see if it gets any better, because it definitely shows some promise.

Imp: Incensey. Wet: Whoa, patchouli and cypress. Yikes. Hoping it fades a bit. Drydown: Something vaguely fruity coming out...like cola. O_o I smell like a stale soda. In an old wooden cup. Dry: Very muted wood with a tiny hint of that weird cola feel. It's like an old wooden cup left out in the sun, the soda mostly evaporated. My rating: 2/5. I don't like smelling like wood, but it's a nice wood.

Courtesy of a forum swap! Imp: Blast of myrrh, patchouli and resin. Strong. Wet: Incensy. Very, very incensy. Strong, and overwhelming, and not unlike being seated a wee bit too close to the ceremonial fire. Drydown: Well, I think a hint of something sweeter is coming out. Its soft roundness makes me think it might be the musk. Dry: Thirty minutes later, the intensity of this has gone down drastically, leaving the lingering traces of patchouli incense that's resting on a bit of scorched wood. It's not entirely pleasant, and I was hoping the night musk and opoponax would come out stronger. I also wonder if there's something in here that I'm allergic to, because my skin is kind of warm like a rugburn. My rating: 1/5. *sigh* I should really learn that what everyone else raves about rarely, rarely works on me. I think I've liked one out of the twenty or so scents that people routinely rave about.

I got this as a frimp from a swap, and I was excited because this is Capricorn's ruling planet, doncha know? Imp: Cedar and other woods. Wet: Straight up cedar. Drydown: Cedar. Dry: Cedar with a slight musky edge, but mostly cedar. My rating: 1/5. Why? Why cedar single note?

Bottle: Greenery with something nose-itchy. Wet: Nose-itchy scent comes into full glory. Maybe this is the moss? Drydown: Moss and perfume/powder. Ick. Dry: Gag-inducing moss powder. My rating: 1/5. Bah.

Bottle: Very green floral. Wet: Green green as the grass grows. Drydown: Florals are coming into play and muting the green ever so slightly. Something I associate with soap but not soap --maybe the lily or orris? Dry: Aw, crap. It's turned to complete bar soap. Very high end, creamy bar soap, but bar soap nonetheless. However, it's promising enough that I will try this again at some later point and see if body chemistry may yet save it. This was not a successful update for me.

Bottle: Men's warm cologne. Wet: For all of two seconds, it retains that warm sexiness, burnished ever so slightly. Then it goes directly to soiled baby diaper, and never returns. Not even going to bother rating this. I had to scrub it off because there was no change after 20 mins.

Bottle: Bitter, bitter cocoa and spice. Wet: I think I'm wearing old cookie dough left out too long. Drydown: Cookie mix perfume. A little hint of either peach or starfruit peeks in briefly at the 20 minute mark, but is quickly squished by generic perfume and cooking smells. Dry: Ahhh....playdoh, not cookie dough. My reluctant rating: 1/5. I wanted so badly for this to work, but it didn't; cocoa vanishes on me and I was counting on that, so that's not the problem --one of the myriad 'minor' notes warped badly on my skin. Fabulous. I guess I need to put both bottles in the to-sell pile. *sigh*

Bottle: Candy. Wet: Creamy candy with a tiny hint of pine. Drydown: Something in here just turned slightly sour-sweaty. It's taken over the creamy candy and the pine. Dry: Faint pine, faint candy, with a couple of berries, with a teeny bit of snow/chilliness. My rating: 3/5. It's just so faint.

Bottle: Lemon pledge/soap. Wet: Jasmine battling it out with the lemon verbena. Who will win this winner takes all smackdown? Drydown: It appears that lemon verbena is winning! But jasmine isn't giving up without a fight! Dry: Aaaand we have a winner! Lemon verbena! My rating: 2/5. Sadly, I'm not that fond of smelling like lemons.

Bottle: Green. Green. Like the juices of mown lawns. Wet: Green green green. With a slightly soapy lemon edge. Drydown: Whew! Sweet, sharp lemon! Dry: Subdued lemon verbena. That's all. ETA: Well, once it fades (which it does, rapidly), the tea note comes out stronger. Still, it's very, very faint and soapy. My rating: 2/5. It's not an unpleasant scent. I think I just amp lemon verbena. *sigh*

Bottle: Medicinal vapo-rub. Wet: Medicinal vapo-rub with the slightest hint of something sweet. Drydown: The medicinal jumble is starting to separate. There's some fir, sweet floral, but still the medicine smell lingers underneath it all. Dry: Very, very faint. Warm trees and vague, sweet flower. My rating: 3/5. It's not that I don't like this. It's just that I have other scents that smell SO much better.

Imp: Bleach??? Wet: Oh, there you are, lemony tea. Drydown: Turning a bit pledge-like, with a hint of plastic. Dry: Sharper lemon, less pledge. This is so very faint --the green tea is only a thin line haloing the clean sharp lemon. My rating: 2/5. Not bad, just...there are others I like more on my skin.

Imp: I come in peace, orchid. Wet: Powder. Drydown: Powder. Dry: Powder. My rating: 1/5. My skin dislikes.

A stirring yet gentle perfume. The scent of love and devotion mingled with an undercurrent of heart-rending sorrow. A bouquet of white roses, labdanum, and wild orchid. Imp: Not really smelling roses. Something almost cleanser-like. Wet: Still a high-pitched cleanser, and no roses. I guess whatever I'm smelling is either the labdanum or the orchid. Drydown: Still high pitched, thin cleanser. Dry: And it's gone. My rating: 1/5.