Gwydion

I just tried burial yesterday: In Bottle: Turpentiney. I suspect it’s the pine+ juniper. A hint of decay underneath. Wet: Pine, juniper, loam. Very sharp and not entirely pleasant, but well suited to the concept. Dry: Patchouli. Fades very fast. I love both jazz Funeral and Penny dreadful for the strong earth note. Penny's mostly earth really. jazz funeral's more complex, but quite pleasant.

In bottle: Sweet flowers. I’m surprised there is no melon in this. Wet: The rose is stronger here, but not as strong as the other flower. It’s a light, feminine blend. Not my thing, but very nice. Dry: Faint powdery flowers. Fades very fast.

In Bottle: Turpentiney. I suspect it’s the pine+ juniper. A hint of decay underneath. Wet: Pine, juniper, loam. Very sharp and not entirely pleasant, but well suited to the concept. Dry: Patchouli. Fades very fast.

The Phoenix lasts at least a full 18 hours with copious sweating and excercise in the outdoors. O.o

In Bottle: Sugar candy sweet and tart with fruit and pepper. The apple edge is soft, but pleasant. Wet: Eeerily familiar thought I couldn’t place it at first, but it smells like a fruit drink we sold in a restaurant where I worked as a teen. It is much less unsettling on the skin, almost soothing. It’s a very rich fruit/floral blend, unusual and pleasing enough. It’s not a standard scent at all, but teasingly pert.

In bottle: I have concerns about this due to the citrus and black musk because of how it amps, but a forumite was kind enough to send some to assuage my curiosity. Sweet grapefruit on top, with the other fruit supporting it. The incense and spice give a vaguely unearthly, sensual air to it. Nice fit to the concept. Wet: the incense strengthens on my skin. This is surprisingly tasty, a cousin to Cheshire Moon. It is much lighter and fresher in tone than I expected from the scent description, but this is all to the good. Dry: Given time strange delicate note combinations play subtly and quietly with each other. Weirdly, the spices strengthen as it wears. It is glorious, but it hasn’t much throw.

In Bottle: The honey/vanilla lightens and sweetens it. There is a distinctly nursery scent to it. Wet: A softer, gentler snake oil. Not unpleasing, but a little two gentle for me, I thought at first, but it only got richer and more alluring. Dry: I went back and forth on this. It’s yummy and has a lot of through, but now and then the sexy turns randomly to nursery, which I found disconcerting.

In bottle: Wow. This is a very complex sea scent. The sea elements are strongest, but there is a sharp, tart edge to it, and something strangely sensual. Wet; the saltiness does interesting things with the pear and the flowers. It is very feminine with steal underneath. Imagine a wind swept beach with plants growing along the dunes and an ambergris smelling sea monster out my the rocks. It works, it really does. Dry: Light ocean smelling scent.

In bottle: Rich and sweet. The berry is very strong with the honey and flowers underneath. Reminds me rather of herbal tea. The berries really blend seamlessly with the flowers. Wet: The berry/flower herbal tea impression only grows stronger. It’s rather pleasant, really, though not very me. Dry: Pleasant floral.

Moist: Ry'leh Also, Billy could be Dirty. All that laundry scent.

In bottle: Exotic and sexy, the fruits add an overripe sexuality to the heady incense blend. Wet” More fruit than incense, though the frankincense is still present. The plum blossom is surprisingly prominent, lightening the effect, compared to in the bottle. On my skin, it goes a little chalky. Slowly it returns to the original concept, a rich fruity, sexy incense blend. On my it never quite captures that heady effect it had in the bottle, but this is no surprise given my skin chemistry. Dry: Mostly Patchouli.

A funeral. LARPing a sluagh.

Shouldn't Kaylee be Antikythera Mech or galvanic goggles? She's a mechanic.

I've taken to initial testing on the wrist, as it's easier to wash off and if the reaction is particularly bad, it is easier to treat. Given that just smelling massoia oil caused a quite serious allergic reaction, I always smell in bottle first if I am encountering a new ingredient, just in case. I'd hate to think what might have happened if I'd but the Ivanashanka on my neck or something first.

In bottle: Wow. Unsweetened chocolate with the other elements underneath. Wet: More sandalwood than in the bottle. More vanilla too, the more warmth it takes from the skin. The vanilla/myrrh gives a vaguely impersonal affect and the sandalwood/cocoa combo’s a little weird, but it’s pleasant in the aggregate. Dry: Mostly sandalwood and vanilla.

In bottle: Mostly lots of rose with juniper, which to me often smells a bit like turpentine. I have opted not to skin test on thwe grounds that there is no way this will smell good on me.

In bottle: attractive men’s cologne or androgynous women’s perfume, pleasantly ozone with a lighter edge, likely from the myrrh or some of the ingredients I’m not familiar with. This is really pleasant and vaguely unusual. I can pick up a mechanical touch. I’m liking this already. Wet: The steel is stronger than in the bottle and there is a rich incense/steampunk thing going on. I’m inclined to like the sexy, androgynous feel. Dry: The leather comes out and it gets an almost spicy edge to the incense/mechanical blend. This is really amazing, though a touch more femme than one would expect smelling it in the bottle.

I noticed last Winter some reaction to Dia de Les Muertos. I tried it recently again and it burned so bad. Heartbreaking as I love the thing. I have no idea what I'm reacting to. Any suggestions?

In bottle: The agave is surprisingly strong as is the cucumber and poppy. It is rich and sweet with benzoin, very green and somewhat wet. Wet: More aquatic and vaguely muddy. The various water plants come out more mingling with the poppy/agave/cucumber in a sweet blend. This is likely too floral for me, but quite nice. It is making me think of Lightning a little (the GC fragrance.) Dry: Disapointing. It dries out to something shapoolike and uninteresting.

In bottle: Lots of ocean breeze with other elements underneath. Wet: Ocean air, mostly, with the other elements under, as when it’s wet. The musk is soft enough for me to handle and in general, it really is a lot like a slightly more feminine Jolly Roger. The rum and sarsaparilla add an unexpected richness, I think. I was not expecting to like this due to some notes that don’t generally do well on me, but it wears okay. Dry: Soft sweet ocean breeze.

In bottle: They are not kidding about the soil. The oponax sharpens it. With the myrrh there is a definite sense of incense covering decay. This is sharp and wet and viciously earthy. Wet: fascinating in it’s invocation of winter slush and forest stillness. I’m really liking this more because of its abrasiveness than in spite of it. I love this, I really do, though it’s clearly not for everyone. It is bizarre to be testing this in summer when it smells so strongly of Winter. Plenty of throw, BTW. Dry: Sweeter on the dry down, but just as interesting.

In bottle: This is yummy in the bottle, rich, woody, resiny. The effect is of tobacco and incense, some Hermetic’s private laboratory or study. Studious and reverent, yet vaguely naughty. Wet: It is less elevated on my skin, though the tobacco and frankincense do lovely things with my natural scent. The redwood and sandalwood give a hint of dryness: old tomes infused with ancient incense. The pepper is understated, but present. Dry: Mostly sandalwood and frankincense, with the other elements soft in the background. Pleasant enough overall, but not as much throw as I’d have liked.

In bottle: Lots of honeysuckle with the other elements under it. Very sweet and light. Wet: Delicious. The honeysuckle is still strongest, but the warmth brings out the foodie elements and jasmine. The honey/almond effect goes really well with the flowers. I am not a floral person, but if I were, I’d likely be in love with this. As it is, I am suitably impressed. Dry: Very honey with the other elements fairly evenly distributed underneath.

Blood accord, bitter clove, English ivy, Tempranillo grape, red currant, oak, leather, blackberry leaf, and ginger lily. In bottle: Grape candy, ivy, something sharp. Wet: lots of grape, but the underlying complexity comes out with warming. Lots of berries, with blood accord and clove spicing it up. Slowly the other elements creep out. Dry: Much the same only softer.

In bottle: Grapes and sweet flowers with a hint of myrrh. Wet: Boozey and prefumey, heady with overripe grape and myrrh. Exotic, but overblown with my skin chemistry. Dry: The myrrh really comes out, softening and sweetening it. I could almost wear this.