Sugarvenom

I bought this not for the scents as such, but because a friend many years ago said it was the perfect scent to capture a slightly adjacent God, a jackal God, Wepwawet. And I could certainly imagine the notes being appropriate for him. In the imp, this smelled of sharp woodsy greens. I bottled it in a rollerball (I was certain I would use it for ritual purposes, unsniffed) and put it alongside the likes of Blood Moon '08. On skin that instantly disappears, and out comes amber. Slightly powdery, as amber always is for me, but not too much so. There's a herbal element coming through which I think is the grasses mentioned, and the softest leather and musk. The amber is a little heavy on me for the imagery they're going for, but that's ok because I'm looking for a slightly more "jackal padding past an Egyptian temple" image, so the incense note works for me. I like this. I'm not sure it screams Wepwawet to me, that I'll have to think about. But as a perfume, I love it. It's an amber that I can wear. Sweet, without being too sweet, and all that lovely amber scent without too much dust. There's not a huge amount of throw to it though, and I'm not convinced by its staying power. I think that this might very much be a personal blend. We shall see.

I wasn't expecting to like this. It was a frimp from the lab, and I'd never have ordered it myself, being as how I don't usually like rose. It goes all dusty and powdery on me usually, I'm not a fan. It's also a very femme scent, and I'm just... not that. In the bottle I get rose, but overwhelmingly something sharp and unpleasant. I think it might be the woods but I'm not sure. But I am a brave tester, so on it goes. On the skin it quickly morphs into a rose scent. And aha, this must be the rose that rose fans like. No powder here. Just pure rose, the scent itself. It's blended in very well with a hint of something else, some delicate backdrop that keeps it from being simple. It might be the lilac? Whatever it is, it works wonderfully well. I don't see myself as a rose person. I didn't feel like I liked this scent. But the longer it was on me, to type this review and to let my partner know my thoughts on it, the more it grew on me. It's actually really nice. It's such a well balanced, complex rose, with very little of the sneeze inducing quality I associate with that scent. It's a little femme for me, but the longer it's on me the more I realise I like that, it creeps in and makes me feel femme. It makes me want a sundress. Probably not the image they were going for, but there we are.

The lab threw this imp in with my recent order and oh great heavens thank you thank you thank you. I can't stop sniffing my wrists I just, mmmmmm. I can barely remember what this smells like in the imp because frankly, smelling it on skin blows my brain slightly. It's honey, honey with the other notes blended and sensuously vying for dominance. I think I smell the cognac and the musk, and what I imagine is probably the tuberose and/or gardenia balancing it out. And oh what a honey scent. It's not just warm, it's thick and hot, pouring over me, with a seductive heat. Earlier today I was testing Defututa which came over very honey on me. But where Defututa was a delightful, warm, tasty honey, this is honey done hot and wanton. Ohhhh it's so good it's dangerous.

Oh. Oh. So I ordered this in part because I wanted a jasmine perfume (I like the smell of jasmine oil, and want to find a jasmine perfume that I like and works on me), but also partly because I have what I think is an imp of olive blossom single note that while very slightly powder is very very lovely. I wanted to experiment with that in blends. Defututa was where I went with it. I was expecting, to be honest, jasmine. And in the imp I think I can smell it, along with I think sandalwood. Possibly cinnamon and olive blossom as well. On, wow. This isn't jasmine on me. It's all olive blossom and honey. And it's a beautiful combination. Not floral, not sickly, not foody, but somehow just delicious and I want to sniff it again and again and again. I think the other scents are in there as well, the vanilla and the jasmine, the champaca flower. I'm not sure about the cinnamon but the rest form this perfectly blended backdrop to the olive blossom and honey serenade. It has decent throw too. When I'm testing, they only go on my wrists. The easier to wash off, and to test throw. But I could smell Defututa while I was typing at my keyboard very easily and clearly. Which was a delight, if a distraction. Mmmmm. I think I might need a bottle of this. I'm trying to be strict about my bottle demands but this is really gorgeous. The hunt for an actual jasmine blend continues

Mmmm, this I want to like. I have a love/hate relationship with amber. I love the scent itself, but it's awfully powdery to my nose, whether it's the resin or, it would seem, an oil. On, this perfume is lots of delicious (albeit powdery) amber, smooth and warm. There's soft cozy floral notes too, as well as something sharper, green, and a little bit spicy, that I think is the carnation. It's a lovely combination, but it fades fast on me. It's basically gone within an hour or two. Booo. Sad face.

I was so nervous when I smelled this in the bottle. I've discarded scents based on bottle smell before (thankfully I know better now). In the imp it's cherry almond. Strong, strong cherry almond, and nothing else. Bleck. I do not like cherry. Or almond. Then the instant it hits the skin that disappears, and starts to evolve. It becomes this beautiful thing that honestly reminds me of Snake Oil a little bit. It's the warm, gentle spices that do it I think. But where Snake Oil's powerful underlying scent is like vanilla, and those spices are almost edible, here they're lifted gently by what I think is lotus, and possibly amber. I think I can smell a hint of the almond too, or at least a hint of a nutty note that's pleasant and not foody at all. Where Snake Oil makes me torn between eating and ravishing myself, Bastet is a long stretched out purr in the sun. I feel warm and beautiful, maybe a bit sexy. I love love love it. I want a bottle. But then, I also want a bottle of Snake Oil, and they're quite similar to me. Hmm! I guess it's a competition to see which imp empties the fastest!

Hmmm. At first I was making comparisons to what the houses of an older generation might smell like, if they smelt fresh instead of stale. Lovely, but not me. And then I finally recognised it. Parmaviolets. Powdery, sweet, candied violet. It does settle down after a little while to something less exactly like the sweets. Something a little deeper, something a little more rounded and a little less toothache inducing. It's still powdery and very violet, and I don't think it's very me, but it is very nice. I think I'd like it if I were more of a florals person. But I'm very fussy about my florals. Ooooo, and I just caught a whiff of the neroli. Just a hint, and from a distance instead of when I was breathing in at my wrist. It's there, floating past the violet, peeking out. Now that I recognise it I think it's blending into the main scent very well.

Oh I had such high hopes for this. So many notes that I like, or think that I like. I generally like lotus scents, I like another oil with black orchid, and I love oppoponax and benzoin in resin form. Smells lovely in the imp! I think it's the black orchid I can smell, it's familiar, a dark rich floral. And then I put it on me and ah yes, this is also familiar. I'm getting resin, under a thick layer of the blue smell you get in portable/airline toilets. Mmm, delightful. Aha. When I smell my wrists at more of a distance, the portaloo smell isn't as bad. Instead the notes tame down into more like what I was hoping for. A bed of sweet, delicious resin, with deep purple and slightly powdery florals over the top. Even the florals seem sweet. It's actually quite lovely. At an acceptable distance, that is. This is one I will be careful about sticking my nose directly in.

Oh I love it I love it. Bordello look out, you may have a new competitor for my top blend. So, I have problems with very foodie scents, they smell delicious in the bottle but then when I wear them I feel nauseous. I worried this would be the case for Eat Me when I opened the bottle. Cake. Perfectly nailed, delicious vanilla sponge cake. I wanted to drink it so badly (do not). Onto the skin it goes. Caaaake. Mmmm cake. But wait! After about, 15-30mins perhaps, we're getting somewhere! I wouldn't say it becomes fruity as such, so much as the currants appear, laced through the cake, blended beautifully. They're both sweet and tart, and distract from the raw vanilla cake foodiness just enough to make this less than nauseating. If you're into the idea of deeply foody blends but find them a bit sickly when they go all out, I think this is a good shout. I find the fruit keep it just shy of overpowering. Obviously your mileage may vary.

I got a frimp of this in my recent order, and it sounded interesting so I gave it a whirl. I got a lot of what I think is pine in the imp, which was off-putting but onwards. On, it starts off very resinous, with a hint of that same pine smell. Not something I'm very fond of. But as it grows on the skin it sweetens, and I think I can pick out musk as well. This is one of those perfumes that falls under "I like it, but I don't think it's me". I oh so like it. A deep resinous undertone, a slightly musky sweetness dominating, and a hint of sharpness, probably the fir, stopping it from being too cloying. It's lovely. It's just not me.

I'm really enjoying this blend. I've been applying it to the 7 western chakras + palms, usually in conjunction with Anthelion, and I'm finding it... I think more subtle than some others seem to be reporting, but in a good way. It's like a medication that you don't notice working until you suddenly catch yourself and go "Oh, hey, X symptom is gone/less!" It doesn't whammy me with calm, it doesn't clobber me with purification. It works in the background, quietly sweeping away the dirt, and then I look around and huh, when did it suddenly get so clean in here. I do wonder if using it with Anthelion is influencing how I'm getting it, but I firmly believe in using WL in conjunction with something unless there's a strong need for it alone (for me, anyway). Out with the old, in with the new, is my style for that kind of magic. Fill the empty space you've created with what you do want to feel. I haven't yet had an incident where I've needed to use WL alone, but I'll report back if/when that happens. Scent wise, I'm finding it less strong than BPAL blends generally, although that might be because I don't get much out of the rollerball I put it in (quality control issues gooo). It also fades relatively fast, though again that might be a quantity issue, but I'm not complaining as it means I can wear perfumes on my wrists without WL on my palms interfering too much. I find it to be a cooling floral (although not to the extent of something like White Moon '06). I'm not usually a floral person but I find this rounded and well blended enough that it's actually quite pleasant. Refreshing and calming, something I'd enjoy sniffing on a warm day. Soothing and like a nice breeze, without being sharp like some summer "cooling" blends can be.