Nimthiriel

Initial impression: Apples and woody notes, quite yummy! First on: Apples, orange zest and something warm and spicy. Dry: After about an hour, this is a pleasing and warm scent – it's very comforting, slightly foody and very woody. I really like it. Finally: I'll put this in my keepers box, but I might swap it if something amazing comes along...

This is merely a sniffie, but oh so yummy – sugared cherries!

Initial impression: Dark juniper and refreshening melon – a strange but fabulous combination! First on: Juniper, melon, chili and maybe a bit of boozy gin. Dry: After about 20 mins, it's a spicy scent sweetened by the melon – I like the contrasts! Finally: Loving this. I enjoy the tropical zest to it. Keeper, at least for now.

Initial impression: Mm, creamy vanilla with a fruity touch – love it! First on: It's pears and vanilla – it makes me very very happy. Finally: I only got this as a barely testable sniffie, but I loveloveLOVE it! Must have more.

Initial impression: Myrrh, honey and a soft floral. First on: Florals, a light touch of honey, a tiny bit of cognac. Dry: After about 20 mins, this is mostly florals on me, but with myrrh and patchouli underneath. About an hour later, it's much more warm and sexy – the florals have faded a bit, and the myrrh, honey, cognac and patchouli are getting down and dirty together. Finally: I really enjoyed it. A possible keeper.

Initial impression: This smells a lot like chai tea. First on: Tea and cassia, mainly. Dry: After about 10 mins, this is a gentle and warm scent of nutmeg, clove and tea. Not very spicy, just pleasantly warm. Another 20 mins later, the clove is coming through, making this an overall pleasant and lightly spicy scent. Finally: I'd hoped for more spices and complexity, but alas... Swapping.

Initial impression: A brilliantly chaotic blend – sweet cocoa, spice, and tart mandarin. First on: Chocolate mandarins, with a bit of tonka. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's mainly mandarin on me. Something lingers in the background, but I can't tell what. It remains a sort of warm and sweet citrus – strange, conflicted, chaotic, powerful. Finally: Interesting to try! Alas, the mandarin note was too overpowering on me – it drowned out all the rest. Swapping.

Initial impression: Sweet, glorious cocoa! First on: Heavy cocoa and patchouli, but with a sickly sweet floral in the background. o_O Dry: After about 10 mins, the sickly sweetness has faded, and this is all leather, patchouli and incense, with a cocoa touch. Later on, it's a faint cocoa warmer by patchouli. Finally: The florals didn't sit right with me, and it had no throw on me – otherwise, it was very yummy.

Initial impression: Yum – milk, honey and a touch of spice. First on: Milk with a touch of honey and a tiny hint of ginger. Dry: After about 10 mins, this is a spicy ginger scent softened by creamy milk. It's delicious and warming. Finally: I loved this! Keeping, at least for now.

Initial impression: Birch and dandelion and grass – how oddly summery. First on: Grassy (clover?) with dandelions. Dry: After about 15 mins, it's a really lovely dandelion scent – it's an optimistic and uplifting fragrance! An hour and a half later, it's a woody dandelion scent – not as uplifting as before, but lovely and very evocative. Finally: I really enjoyed it, but I'm passing it on.

Initial impression: All that was promised – incense, tobacco leaf, leather and old books. First on: Incense and tobacco leaf – yummy, wise and booktastic. Dry: After about 10 mins, this is a potent blend of tobacco leaf and leather. Mm, books. Hours laster, it's a dusty but manly scent thatr reminds me a lot of Dee. Finally: Lovely, but I'm not swayed enough to keep it, I think...

Initial impression: Creamy pumpkin and lush figs, coated in smoky frankincense. Gorgeous! First on: Pumpkin with florals. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's a tangy cranberry pumpkin, sweetened by figs and strawberry. I really like this! The dreaded florals are behaving so far. I only get a slight touch of jasmine. Another half an hour later, it's a lovely pumpkin-berry-floral that I enjoy endlessly. Finally: I love this, but I won't be keeping it (too many imps as it is). So glad I tried it, though!

Initial impression: A very crisp and almost salty scent with bitter fruit. First on: This goes citrus on me. o_O Dry: After about 15 mins, it's a sparkly pomegranate scent – lovely! It remains a fantastically pleasant pomegranate scent, with a ”bubbly” and champagne-like touch to it (not so much martini). Finally: I'm holding this as swap only. I really liked it.

Initial impression: Woah, juniper overload! First on: Juniper, juniper, juniper. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's a very dry patchouli scent, with a juniper background. It seems warmer and earthier later on – sandalwood, I think. Finally: I didn't like it as much as I hoped... Swapping.

Initial impression: I'm getting clove and ylang ylang, with a drop of honey. First on: Mm, honey – and fig! Yay! Dry: After about 10 mins, I'm certainly getting clove and fig, and something that might be very faint patchouli. 40 mins later, it's a very dry and dusty scent – the fig, honey and ylang ylang are gone. Finally: I really liked the first stage of the drydown, but the niceness faded and the throw wasn't too good. Swapping!

Initial impression: Wow, this is a really thick and foody vanilla pumpkin! First on: There is definately some honey and sage in there, and something vaguely like cherry. Dry: After about 10 mins, I get a very cherry feel to the vanilla pumpkin. There's a vague hint of sage, too. It remains a nice vanilla pumpkin with a cherry touch. Lovely! Finally: I liked it, but I will probably frimp it.

Initial impression: Ooh, wood and leather, with a hint of sweet honey. I'm loving this from first sniff! First on: This is naughty and gorgeous – wood, leather, warm florals (something along the lines of neroli), amber, honey... Kinky and girly. Dry: After about 20 mins, it's a gorgeous and tangy sort of scent – leather, wood and berries. Rawr! 40 mins later, it's still really strong, and the scent just gets more kinky and lush. Finally: Love at first sniff – a big keeper!

Initial impression: Woah, vetiver – raw, dirty vetiver! There's a sliver of snake oil in the background, and a touch of coconut. Finally: Based on the sniffie, I can probably live without this one. Had it been patchouli instead of vetiver, though...

Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, and Spanish sage. Initial impression: This is heavy on the lilies! Orchid and rose is also very strong in the bottle (this is just a sniffie). No tonka or precious coconut, sadly. Finally: Maybe I shouldn't try this one out, given that I didn't like it at first sniff... Too floral!

Initial impression: Wow, a fresh wind of pure neroli. First on: Wet, it's ambergis, neroli, cocoa and sweet honey – the florals make me a bit queasy because they overpower everything else right now. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's neroli and honey – creamy and gorgeous! It reminds me of something from my childhood, but I can't quite say what it might be... Neroli, honey and the fruityness of peach blend beautifully after another half hour. An hour later, it still has an excellent throw on me, and it remains oddly familiar. Finally: A keeper, if only for the unexplained nostalgia she conjures in me.

Initial impression: I get a lot of the black/red musk, but not much else. First on: Woah, heavy stuff. Black musk, blackcurrant, and dragon's blood. There might be a faint touch of fig there, too. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's heavy on the musk, but I don't get much else. It's a dry, dark musk. After an hour and a half, it's a resinous musk with a touch of blackcurrant. Despite the initial throw on me, it fades quickly later in the drydown. Finally: Aww, swapping this... Great to try, though!

Initial impression: A faint hint of violets, but lots of gorgeous patchouli and even more lush moss! First on: It's far more violet-y on my skin, and I get a bit of red currant too, but just a touch of it. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's a gentle violet scent, with raw patchouli and something... else. And then it fades to nothingness. Finally: Wow, this wasn't a fan of my skin chemistry. Poor imp, you held so much promise. Swapping...

Initial impression: Lots of musk – musk, musk, musk. First on: Musk and some very faint florals... Dry: It's quite yummy after about 20 mins. Neroli, musk and warm vanilla. I'm surprised at how much I like this, and how I get no dreaded citrus. The sandalwood comes through after about an hour, and warms the scent up nicely. Still no citrus! Finally: I liked this one, surprisingly. Still swapping it, though.

Initial impression: Wow, citrusy! First on: Peppery citrus. It smells like a sweet of some sort... Dry: After about 10 mins, it's like an orange sweet with a peppery touch to it. It gets creamier after a while, but it still smells like a sweet. Finally: Yummy, but not my thing. Swapping.

Initial impression: Is that curious scent the wasabi? Hmm. It's very medicinal, but go figure – it's a remedy! First on: It's like a medicinal soap on me in its wet stage, which isn't hugely appealing. Dry: After about 10 mins, it's a hot wasabi scent with a soapy air to it. Interesting, if peculiar! Later on, it's wasabi soap with the lightest touch of honey to it. Hmm, not quite what I hoped for! Finally: Alas, this one didn't quite work out. Swapping.