Gwydion

In bottle: Sweetly aquatic, and a touch more floral than expected. The balsam goes beautifully with the water, sweetgrass, and lady’s slipper. I like the way the algae counterpoints the sweeter notes. I now with there were more blends with reeds in them. This matches the concept well, very ladylike and aquatic. Wet: Even lovelier on the skin, with my natural musk, combining with the balsam and aquatics to make it subtly more sexy. This is the loveliest use of balsam I’ve seen in a while and the way it blends with the other elements is so delicate and liquid. It’s not my usual thing, and would be much prettier on the right woman, but even on me it creates a scent poem about reedy banks and long hair. Dry: Balsam, algae, sweetgrass, and florals in the order of strongest to weakest surviving notes. Quite pretty.

In bottle: This is not good. There is something I can’t identify that I’m reacting badly to. It’s also got a lot of lemon and frankincense, both of which are not good with my skin chemistry. I do like much of the herbal undercoat, but I know I will amp all the strongest notes. It does make sense as a Leo themed scent.

I’m guessing maybe tonka, maybe palm, maybe stone. Certainly some wood. It’s vaguely spicey in a pleasant way. It gives a sunny feel. There is a hint of ozone and sea. It’s pretty, faintly masculine, and definitely creates a house on the coast feel. I like it, though it hasn’t much throw.

In bottle: When I was little there were these cinnamon red licorice gummy coins we could get at the penny candy store run by two nice little old ladies in my neighborhood. This smells like those, with a rough herbal undertone. Wet: More spicy incense, roots and earthy herbs, relatively less cinnamon red gummy licorice coins, though that is still there. Dry: Mostly cinnamon with a hint of spicy incense.

Ordered: Lily, spice, and sweetarts. It does smell like the colours sound, but there is a touch of over ripeness to the tone. Wet: The sweetness is less cheap candy on the skin. I do love the spiciness of this floral, but the intense feminine purple is a touch weird with my skin chemistry. The over ripe undertone is still not fortunate, but less jarring here. Fascinating on the right woman, but not so much on me. Dry: shockingly lovely once it settles. It really does smell like the concept lily. I love it on the dry down in a way I could not wet.

In bottle: Ashy and herbal, with a hint of herbal sharpness. Wet: more interesting on the skin. The ash softens, and the herbs pop and separate. It has a scooch of non-foody sweetness. It’s quite gentle and meditative. I like it, but not nearly enough to purchase. Dry: mostly soft and sweet herbals with a touch of something a little more edgy.

In bottle: Delicate and softly floral, though a touch shampoo. I like the soft aquatics, but the flowers do not particularly impress. Wet: less shampoo on the skin, the florals become a touch more interesting and distinctive, the mist and dew fade into the background. Not bad, but not me. Dry; fades fast, sharper, but in an interesting way. Still slightly misty flowers. In bottle: Delicate and softly floral, though a touch shampoo. I like the soft aquatics, but the flowers do not particularly impress. Wet: less shampoo on the skin, the florals become a touch more interesting and distinctive, the mist and dew fade into the background. Not bad, but not me. Dry; fades fast, sharper, but in an interesting way. Still slightly misty flowers.

Rogue and fighter are particularly tasty leather scents.

We should probably add rpg to zmulls' list of likely lines to try.

In bottle: Delicious iron accord and gentle aged oak. Lovely. Wet: The more complex elements of the core scent come out as it warms. It is just slightly spicy. It is still slightly iron accord dominant with the oak expanding in richness underneath. The scent has claws, and it’s exactly what I want it to be. Dry: If anything more interesting and lovely. The oak is doing something gorgeous with that slightly spicy element I am suspecting is part of the iron accord. As the iron accord breaks down to it’s components with wear it just keeps getting more interesting and rich. There is almost a hint of dirt to it, which I also like. Lovely and dark.

In bottle: I don’t know two of the elements, so my review will be below average. Apologies. The Patchouli is extremely strong, and not of the type I like as it turns out. The scent is a little chalky as a whole, and I think at least one element is making the patchouli more herbal than it might normally be. The cacao is next strongest, followed by tobacco. The other elements are very subtle. I think this will be better aged than fresh. Wet: Mostly dirty, earthy patchouli with some tobacco, and hint of the other things. Eau du hippy really. The thing that smells like roots comes out as it warms. Dry: It’s better as it wears, the patchouli finally allowing the other elements to show through to the benefit of everyone. If this had oak and much less patchouli, I’d probably love it. As it is, I can’t really endorse it, even with the more interesting dry down.

In bottle: Really unusual. Extremely complex, and difficult to parse at first sniff. I’d say oak, olibanum, bay, vanilla, and lime are most noticeable, but all elements are present, and nothing is particularly dominant. The elements play together beautifully in the bottle, particularly the smokey tea and the leather. The clove/bay combination was nothing I’d have imagined, but form an interesting effect. There is something pleasantly old fashioned about this, like my Uncle John’s childhood room, long abandoned in my Grandparent’s house and preserved as a sort of shrine to my grand father’s aspirations. Wet: The leather, lime, tea, and bay strengthen on the skin, changing the balance without losing complexity. It is the masculine side of androgynous without losing delicacy or that pleasing old fashioned feel. As it warms, the clove comes out to play. This is a poem with each minute of change a new line. Oak and leather and lime taking new partners in the dance as various things come to the fore. This is lovely and strange, and impossible to explain. One minute it’s tea and lime, the next olibanum and smoke. I’m am completely charmed, but unable to say exactly why. Dry: Mmmmm… Old oak chest, with the ghost of all the other elemen6ts. A wonderful, complex, and irreplaceable addition to my collection.

In bottle: Bergamot dominent. The tonka, petitgrain, and amber give a gentle, but pleasant support. It’s rather sweeter than I expected, but nice enough. Wet: both sweeter and sharper on the skin. It’s still bergamot dominent, and you really would need to like bergamot to like this. The petitgrain moves to a strong second, with tonka the softest note. I really do like the way the three smoother notes display the bright jewel of the bergamot. The whole thing is delicate, feminine, and utterly lovely. Dry: The tonka and Amber come into their own as the others fade, warm and friendly and sweet. This was not what I expected, but it is very pleasant indeed.

In bottle: Grapefruit dominant. Bright and friendly and a little sharp. Wet: Still grapefruit dominant, but sweeter and a little gummy, with a touch of berry and spice. Dry: Fast fades to soft herbs.

In bottle: Soapy florals mostly. There seems to be a conflict between the sandalwood and the flowers. The musk is clear and reasonably strong, and plays well with the ambergris. I’m not skin testing as my skin does terrible things with violet and ylang ylang.

In bottle: Fruity bubble gum. Really, I think it’s my nose breaking down the strawberry accord with the poppy, orange blossom and hibiscus, and coming up with fake fruity accords that were not intended. I can barely pick out the carnation in the chaos my nose is making of this, but it is there. Wet: It makes slightly more sense on my skin, with the strawberry accord components reassembling into a strawberry flavoring scent instead of true strawberry. This allows the orange blossoms to smell more like orange blossom, the hibiscus to create a subtle background, and the poppy to add a little sex appeal. The poppy strengthens as it warms, slowly coming to dominate. This is fore the best, as it imposes some order, and hides the seams on the strawberry accord better. Likely this won’t be a problem for normal people and likely most people won’t break down the accord to start with, but if you have trouble with some strawberry accords, likely this will not be one of the exceptions. Dry: Ah, there is the carnation, right there with the strawberry gum.

In bottle: Bubble gum, herbs, red berries, and paint thinner. There is no way I’m putting this on my skin.

In bottle: Mostly balanced. The patchouli is slightly stronger than the sandalwood, and the frankincense a touch weaker, but really, it smells exactly as you’d expect given the listed components. Wet: The patchouli is early, the sandalwood suggests a ship, the frankincense gives it claws, and a touch of paint thinner. Not my thing, really, but suits the concept just fine. Dry: powdery sandalwood mostly. It’s actually quite pretty on the dry down.

A friend of mine has fallen in love with shadows of What may Be, and i can't quite bear to part with it. is there a GC with that vaguely aquatic dirt note and no florals? Listed notes are A deserted, dismal grave: upturned earth, overgrown grass, and dead weeds.

In bottle: Heavenly. The vanilla, tea, moss, and cognac are absolutely stunning together, sweet and wicked. The opium is softer, but perfect with the dominant blend. The coconut and frankincense are understated, but present. While frankincense often overwhelms, here it plays well with others. Wet: Less smoothly blended on my skin, but still quite lovely. The tea is more distinct and dominant. The moss provides good support. The vanilla is now dancing with the frankincense, and the cognac has dropped to the softness of the coconut. I do think it’s better in the bottle, but I like this too. Dry: Not quite as good on the dry down. It’s mostly vanilla and frankincense at this point. I have hopes that this will be interesting as it ages, and it really is still worth it, but the dry down is disappointing compared to fresh and in bottle.

In bottle: I will not skin test it due to my bad reaction to eucalyptus. It is gorgeous in the imp, and well suited to concept. It does give an impression of sea the richness of the bergamot and ambergris implying worship and the exotic nature of the city beneath the sea. The eucalyptus gives it claws and blends beautifully with the others. This really is rich and strange, dangerous and mysterious. My inability to wear it in no way undermines my sincere admiration for the skill with which it is blended and its unique beauty.

In bottle: It is indeed creamy. It’s cream and skin musk dominant with amber a close second. The incense and star jasmine are very soft and well blended with the other scents. This is foodier than I expected with a powdery subtle sexiness to it. I was expecting this to be more floral, but it really isn’t, the jasmine gently blending into amber and sandalwood. Wet: Creamy musks are still dominant. It is still vaguely foody and subtly sexy iin a very feminine sort of way. My skin coarsens it rather, but that is to be expected. It is still lovely, but ill suited to my personality, but it would be lovely on most women, I think. It has lots of throw. Dry: It doesn’t change that much, the cream softens leaving the musks and amber dominant, but faded, it is pretty close to fresh only softer.

In bottle: I do not know what a frostberry is, but this is very berry sure enough. It’s something like raspberry, but there is something frosty, sugary, and toxic about the blend. It’s suits the concept. It does also just suggest pastry somehow without having a pastry note. Wet: It no longer suggests pastry. The sweetened toxic frosty berry nature is balanced the same, but smoother somehow, with the berry more complex and the edges blurred. I am not sure I like it on me. It's’ a little too sharp, too almost ozone. I can easily imagine more copacetic skin chemistries for the blend’s charms, so YMMV by quite a bit. Dry: Pretty much the same only softer and smoother.

There is something ozone chemical that may be linen or possibly hairspray. I'm picking up dirt. There is a soft sweet effect, but nothing I can quiet identify, with something familiar that's a little like fungus on a rotting log. There may be vetiver or orris, it's been so long I've forgotten which is which. There may be leather and/or moss, as I thought I smelled both at various points, the moss more strongly than the leather. It's also got a pale wood thing going on, more prominent with time.

In bottle: I’m not skin testing, as I know from the bottle, I will react badly. It’s sort of bone dust and dealy mushrooms. With something sweet and hard to classify let alone identify.