Gwydion

In bottle: Sweet rich spices over pine. Well balanced in the mix. The vanilla/pine combo is surprisingly interesting. Wet: The pine strengthens. It’s got a Christmas tea feel to it. The rihness of the vanilla and spices stands up well to the pine. Dry: Chai mostly. I really do like this.

In bottle: Sharp and sweet and herbal. Smells like an organic energy bar or herbal tea. The anise is not kidding. Wet: Very green. Lavender, fennel, and anise are strongest, but the effect is strongly herbal and the pomegranate is quite noticeable. It’s quite distinctive and richly womanly. I think this is what the empress in the major arcane would smell like. It morphs a lot with various elements rising to the top. Dry: Remains surprisingly heady and complex for a long time, though the pomegranate fades out quickly.

In bottle: Sweet, alluring, pleasant floral. Wet: fresh, green, springlike. Dry: Vaguely berryish.

In bottle: Very fruity, with amber turning it overtly sexy. Wet: The fruit is stronger and less artificial smelling, strong and rich and ripe. I suspect lots of berries. Not my thing, but would be cool on the right woman. Dry: Mostly sandalwood.

In Bottle: Sweet boosy tobacco and aftershave. Wet: surprisingly soft. There’s an interesting undercurrent I am guessing is the “bone.” Otherwise, much as in the bottle. I am surprised by how gentle this scent is. I was expecting something more lurid. It’s faintly fruity and musky under all that booze and tobacco. The whole effect is wildly androgynous. Dry: Sweet, dusty, rum cologne, emphasis on the rum. It really grew on me.

In bottle: Penetrating, chalky, herbal, this does smell” yellow-bright and smoky brown-black.” It is not entirely happy given it’s peculiar are of rotting garden. Quite penetrating. Wet: Surprisingly demonic in emotional resonance. It is vicious and penetrating as befits the concept, but not anything I’d want to wear. Middle: Oh God, it’s everywhere, rank and insidious, weirdly seductive and unpleasant all at once. Dry: Gah! Imagine a classic Romero zombie. In life, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt half unbuttoned to show off the chest hair with lots of gold chains. He had slathered himself with aftershave, then got zombiefied. Then he started to mold. Yeah. This is not a good scent on me.

In bottle: Cherry tobacco, tonka smelling almost vanilla, and faint flowers I assume are the hops. Wet: Very male smelling, pipe tobacco and a hint of beer with a sort of musky fug. The hops are still managing to parse as flowers/pollen as well as alcohol. Middle: Dries to a strange woody pollen smell with a strangely alluringly feminine muskiness, with almost an anise edge. WTF?!? Dry: cigar box. Don’t get me wrong, it’s strangely pleasing, but not what I’d expected.

In bottle: smells like sweet flavoured green tea. The current and tea are particularly strong. Wet: The ginger, vanilla, and squash blossoms strengthen. It’s a sweet fruity floral with a strong tea base, basically. Pleasant, but not really my sort of thing. This would be glorious on the right woman though. Dry: still a really yummy smelling fruity iced tea, cool and refreshing.

In bottle: Wow, vanilla, lavender, and lily of the valley mostly, sweet soft florals over sweet tea and faint immature snake oil. I think this will age wonderfully. Right now it is a gentle scent that makes me think of nurseries and Edwardian garden teas. Wet: Sharper and harsher as the immature snake oil mates with the Dorian, pushing aside, but not drowning the florals. I was worried about the fennel when I saw the description, but I’m not smelling any sausage, so that’s to the good. It gets richer and more complex as the skin warms it. This is more gentle and floral than I generally like, but has a surprising amount of oomph. It does live up to it’s concept. I am particular impressed by the cleverness of layering it over snake oil, notorious for deepening and changing as it ages, so that the scent will grow and change as the one it’s named after does. This is a sweet, delicate feminine scent, but who knows what it will be in a year. I am looking forward to finding out. Dry: Slightly floral snake oil with a touch of Dorian, pretty much as expected.

In bottle: I was not sanguine, as I don’t do well with gin/juniper. It is sweet with melon and honey and heavy with tobacco. Very boozey. Wet: Oddly appealing with the strong tobacco scent, which blends really well with the other elements. The effect is rather like a big masculine bear of a man drinking a fruity cocktail with an umbrella. It is a little startling, but not unappealing. I definitely like the edge the chili gives it. This is the first gin/juniper scent I’ve ever liked. Dry; The chili really comes out, mixing with the sweeter elements to make a chili scented cookie impression witrh a lingering warm tobacco edge. I’m really finding this appealing.

In bottle: I’m guessing there’s a lot of berry in this. Wet: Berries and wine with a spice undercoat. Some sort of incense and wood comes out next. It’s beautiful and complex, but the berry/wine note really doesn’t work on me, which is a real shame. Dry: Rich insense with spice. I can almost wear this. Heartbreaking.

In bottle: Startlingly sweet, like a flower drink I get at a certain falafal shop in my area. The amber and sunflower is certainly a striking combination. Wet: The moss and greenery kick in. This is stunning in it’s difference from most florals. The sunflowers don’t smell like most florals and the rich dark green undertow is mesmerizing in combination. Dry: Much less exciting, but still a pleasant floral with an interesting undertow.

In bottle: Rich sweet insense over pipe smoke. Peculiar and fascinating. Wet: The woods come out to play when warmed by skin. The think is enticing, yet vaguely alarming. It goes almost cocoanut shell for a spell. I am thinking that’s one of the woods, possibly the ebony, as I’m more familiar with mahogany and it doesn’t do this. It morphs a lot as various insence strains periodically rise above the would and pipe smoke to change the effect. This is too odd to be an unqualified success, but in aggregate, I love it for it’s fascinating convolutions. Dry: Okay, that’s a little weird in a borderline funk sort of way. It still has the nice woods, but something turned in the sense that milk turns. I can’t track down the note and it’s not that strong, but I’m less excited than I was.

In bottle: Opium and flowers with moss. Surprisingly rich, though vaguely medicinal. Wet: Weirdly minty. Dry: Ugh. This goes rank and powdery at the same time on my skin. It’s such a shame as it was interesting in the bottle, but my skin chemistry is clearly all wrong.

In bottle: So much citrus. O.o Wet: Even more citrus if that’s possible. This is rather like sticking your nose in a fresh cut lemon, then a grapefruit, then some more lemon. Dry: fades to verbena with a hint of musk.

In bottle: Mostly amberette, current, and what I’m suspecting is cabreuva. I don’t expect this to go well as khus is high end vetiver and orris is nearly as bad on me. Wet: Much as in the bottle, fruit and amberette with a touch of moss, khus, and orris. If you can tolerate orris/vetiver, but aren’t that keen on them, this is about as light as they get in a scent, I think. The blend is appealing, though not on me, light and fruity with a strong incense edge. Dry; fades to a sweet ambrette with faint fruit scent. I would love this on someone else, it’s delicious.

In bottle: Vaguely medicinal, lots of sandalwood and musk. It smells very Middle Eastern and perfumey. Wet: On me, the red musk is rather overpowering. The incense elements float above the musky perfume. I think this would be good on someone else, but this is way too intense for me. The incense gets stronger as it wears, particularly the frankincense. Dry: Musk and sandalwood with a hint of incense. Again, this would be very cool on the right woman, but simply disturbing on me.

In bottle: Surprisingly light. It really does smell like clover, dandelion, and wood. Wet: This really does have a personality of it’s own that makes it hard to describe. Smelling it, I think of grass stains and sitting outside on a day in late summer playing with dandelion heads. The wood is softer on my skin and the whole effect is more floral. Dry: smells like balsam mostly, but the sharpness of the birchwood and the lighter elements remain. It smells dry, like sun baked wood.

In bottle: boot polish and incense. Wet: Chilly breezes, forest, and incense. Some of this wood smells polished rather than wild. This is softer than I expected, but not in a bad way. I think it’s the incense mitigating the harsher notes. I am loving the ozone with wood and incense effect. Dry: There is something faintly rotten under the wood. I’m guessing it’s the opopponax. It defiantly suits the concept. This is icidious and appealing. The autumn woods aspect lingers pleasantly after the lighter aspects wear away without the whole thing getting overbearing.

In bottle: exactly as you’d imagine from the description. Cherry strongest. Wet: Chocolate strengthens. Cherry underneath, but still strong. Slightly chalky. Dry; The blend really smooths out with the three elements doing a rich blend. Not my thing, but nice enough. The orange flowers have surprising staying power.

In bottle: green and light and fresh with a hint of berry and florals. Wet: The florals are stronger, but much as in the bottle generally. It is a femmer version of embalming fluid in a lot of ways. Dry: Faded so fast I missed it.

In bottle: surprisingly attractive. The lavender and lotus do interesting things together, the spices make it smell exotically edible. Wet: mostly lavender, but the other elements give it solid support. Dry: Fades to a rich lavender.

In bottle: Rich and almost cloying, weirdly alcoholic. I think the combination of violet and autumn leaves is confusing to my nose. Given the notes, I have opted not to skin test.

Well, I did have a violent reaction to an LE with Massoia just from inhaling it, so there is always a possibility that you are allergic to something in there, but I'm randomly extra sensitive to certain things.

I just woke up after twelve hours sleep still smelling like De Sade. O.o