Gwydion

Smells a little chalky. The apricot is strongest. Not great, but not aweful if you want to smell like a fruit. The vanilla gets stronger after a while. I am not sure why smelling like an apricot dessert is supposed to be brewitching and seductive, but I suppose it takes all kinds. Fades quickly.

There is something very peculiar here. Civet perhaps? It is reminding me vaguely of animal scent markings. I'm guessing something fruity, possibly grape under some sort of musk and likely woods. The effect is sly and wild. It does smell rather like one imagines satyrs to smell only without the goat, though there is a definite animal feel to it. I do think it's interesting and I may even like it, despite something not quite right. I would definitely like it better if as it degrades the fruit didn't strengthen, but we can't have everything.

They aren't kidding about the citrus/orange. I keep imagining Rachel in Dead Witch Walking using this as Vampire repellent. smells faintly chemical, like floor cleaner. It doesn't have the richness I associate with a quality jasmine based floral. No thanks.

First impression? Wow, that's aggressive. It's like getting hit on by Oscar Wilde in his deliberately dandified pink suit. It is flowery in a masculine way. Luckily it calms down into something less hit you with a lavender brick. Seriously, the lavender is way stronger than in things like Compte de Valmonte. I think I actually like it though, once the lavender and carnation back off enough to let moss and amber get a share of the fun. I'd probably like it better with a hint of leather and am already thinking I'll try it with a touch of De Sade next time, but once the elements balance, it is oddly alluring. I have always liked the smell of carnation. It and hyacinth are the two flowers who's scents I most enjoy in nature. It is now doing a Victorian men's cologne thing, only much lighter than something like Villian or Perversion. I suspect it's a keeper.

This is surprisingly feminine for a scent meant to embody the quintessential man's man of Dracula. Quincey Morris is the British Isles view of a man of the American west. A cowboy: Butch and Laconic, the man of action rather than words. This is rather the opposite of butch. One imagines the wearer lying limp on the fainting sofa from the ingestion of too much opium. This is a delicate cologne, smelling of pear and vanilla in the bottle, and faintly chemical on the skin. As it mellowed out, I began to imagine the leather, wood, and tobacco as perhaps the smell of the smoking room to which our dissolute young man has repaired to indulge his vice after a fine pear liqueur soaked dessert at the end of dinner. I know honey is not on the list, but I swear it smells like honey as it ages. Intriguing, most definitely and appealing to me, but I am baffled as to why they chose this scent for Quincey Morris, when there are enough dissolute young men written by and about Victorians. I am amused by the incongruity. As it begins to age, it becomes cleaner in scent, less dissolute and, well, purer smelling. One supposes Quincey Morris died a virgin, and I am guessing that it was this aspect they were trying to catch: the innocence and loneliness of his unrequited love. Certainly, I am intrigued by this scent, though I am not sure about it entirely, if that makes sense. It is strange and elusive, shifting constantly on the skin between the two young men. I know honey is not on the list, but I swear it smells like honey as it ages. This is also when the musk comes out to play. So it's like vanilla, honey dipped cat in heat. In retrospect, I am thinking the honey scent is a phantom created by the way the vanilla and musk interact. high end honey smells vaguely like musk to me.

A delicate little floral. The flowers being a little unusual, it smells like early spring and not quite a standard floral. More subtle than violets, but reminiscent of them. A old fashioned. I can imagine Anne of Green Gables smelling like this after a day in the garden. nothing wrong with it, but it's making me think of soap and underwear drawers with potpourri in them.

Femmer than Titus and Robin Goodfellow, which is odd for something named for a conqueror. It is in the same scent family in those to, though much girlier. It's pleasant enough, but fades fast and well, a bit too femme for me. Meh.

This struck me as green, spicey, a touch oppressive when first applied. The patchouli isn't kidding. It spells like someone invading my space. Someone I don't like. I do like the wood spice and the african woods. I think. It's just the patchouli and musk is a bad combo for me when put together with the other stuff. I think.

Very Green, very floral. It's okay, if you like that sort of thing, but completely unremarkable, perfumey, and quick fading.

This is a clean foresty scent, very pleasant with gentle floral accents. I would like it very much on someone else as it's a pleasing blend, but it doesn't smell like me. Pass, but not the perfume's fault.

Another freebie. The contents are pretty much as advertised. A weak rose scent with a hint of other things. Bland, girlie, not very interesting. I am not sure how this is supposed to be wanton and deadly, instead of old fashioned girl potpourri in the underwear, but my taste is likely not theirs. Meh.

It smells like a burning electrical system on a car with a leather interior when it first goes on. this ages to leather and burned insulation with cheap sugar candy. Eeew.

Another freebie. Initially floral, the sandlewood starts to come out on contact with skin. Smells a bit like high end shampoo. not my thing, but not actually bad or anything. Meh.

Smells like wine cooler in the bottle. Very heady when first applied, but not entirely fortunate in it's blend of scents. Smells a lot like a drunken whore trying to cover the smell of a long night of sex and drinking under inadequate cover of rose attar. Whoa!

This smells like really high end soap. In a good way. It's oddly floral, but not overpoweringly so. It's also definitely sea smelling. It is reminding me of a beach house on the Jersey shore near Brigantine where I stayed with my Mother once. It was full of dried flowers, fancy soaps and toiletries, and the breeze blew fresh off the sea filling the whole house. It smells like something miladycarol would wear. I do like it, but it is soooo a woman's fragrance. Like Melepomene, it would smell Amazing on someone else.

This has something I don't like in it, which is sad, since it overwhelms the cedar which I actually do like. Luckily this one fades fast on me skin.

They are not kidding about the cherry. Think black cherry soda with a musky undercurrent. It makes me crave the ice cream sodas of my childhood, but I'm not really sure this is a good thing. It does improve with wear and an hour and a half in the licorice scent is dominant. I'm still not sure licorice cookie is the right scent for me, but there are worse things.

In the bottle: smells of rot and chemicals. On the skin: Disturbing. The water and wind elements are initially strongest. It smells like a storm coming, Ozony water rich witch wind. Then the earth scent comes up, giving one a muddy compost undercurrent. There is something headier then, almost incensy, vaguely like rotting flowers. I'm guessing this is paradise, but if so, no thanks. If it was just the sent of coming storm, I'd probably like it, but compost and toxic waste dump added in? Too much.

In the bottle: the tea is strongest, along with what I suspect is the verbena. (Process of elimination.) it is reminding me a little of Herbert West and Kumiho. It's got an Embalming Fluid vibe. I would not call it a gentleman's scent; it is too androgynous for that. It smells clean and asexual. It smells like high tea at an iron table in a very early spring garden, very green and full of growing things, but not specifically floral. I am not sure why this is meant to embody a London lawyer, though. Perhaps i am missing something. I would have picked this for Seward instead.

Smells a little like chalk. It has some fruity nuance to it, , though I doubt I'll ever really like it as it's not my sort of thing. I'm not sure where the deviousness comes in here though. It's as mysterious as a cheese sandwich.

Smells like cake in the bottle. Smells a little like baby powder and cake when first applied. Fades to something soft and vaguely floral. Pleasant enough, I suppose.

They aren't kidding about the fruit and flower accents here. Again, likely pleasant on someone significantly younger and more femme than me, though not as pleasant as the Melpomene.

Another freebie. Peculiar, heady. On first application, the lavender is the strongest note, soon buoyed by the sandlewood. It smells surprisingly fresh and does indeed capture something of night in late spring or early summer when the chill creeps in to sweep away the lingering heat of day. The instability of the scent holds a certain fascination. It changes on the skin, vacillating between emphases so it becomes hard to pin down the longer it is worn. Soft and subtle, it fades fairly quickly.

Vaguely floral, but not unpleasantly so. Mild scent and quite pleasant, but more femme than I'd hoped from something with such a fierce name. It does smell faintly of outdoors and musk, but tame English garden outdoors, and very mild musk. Nice enough, but not something I'd buy.

Oddly astringent in the bottle, but don't let that put you off. One the skin, it immediately shifts to spice over leather, musk, and wood. It is pleasant, and yes, vaguely sinister. It does smell like spices used to cover ash and age, something old and precious kept in a carved wood box.