alianthe

So, totally off the wall here, but have you tried Kumiho? It's white tea and ginger, and it's my favorite "fresh! happy!" smell. Embalming Fluid is also quite nice, but Kumiho is much more fresh-smelling on me. It still has a little sweetness on me, but it's not rock candy sweet like Rage. Yes, I'm probably the only person who got amber rock candy out of Rage. But if you amp sweetness and florals, be sure to google any note name that you don't know. Rage contains a note of a tropical flower, and on me it goes amber rock candy. Which is actually quite delicious, so I use it as a craving buster, like El Dia De Reyes... Pottersville, I've found that same thing with blends like Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo! It is supposed to be tooth-achingly sweet, and on me it simply doesn't change at all from the bottle to my skin. Which I agree, is much preferable to the blends where the sweet comes out unexpectedly, when they weren't supposed to be sweet. Like Taurus. That went completely Slavering Rampaging Plumeria Monster on me and I don't have any idea why. I didn't think there was anybody else out there who was as weird, skin-chemically, as me.. Also, The Lion is my new favorite power scent, next to War. Very amber and spices and warm and powerful, and not sweet at all. Kumiho, Embalming Fluid, and The Lion are all GCs, btw, so should be pretty easily available as imps, and cheap besides.

In the bottle: has the same harsh sharp overwhelmingly green front note as October. This is both frightening (not a nice scent) and reassuring (October is one of my very favorite scents). Also somewhat spicy... almost reminds me of Bakeneko. Is that a werewolf or a weretiger? On me (dry): musky, dusky, earthy, woodsy, swarthy, YUM. Conclusion: oh, yeah. Just yeah. So perfectly me. SO glad I bid on that auction. I want to eat myself.

In the bottle: yummy mocha goodness! With cinnamon. On me: Amazingly, this doesn't change much. Still yummilicious, and slightly sweeter. That may be the brown sugar, or it may be that I seem to sweeten every scent that hits me. Medium throw (people around me could smell it a little bit, which is tough to arrange on my skin), lasted in its own right a few hours, and clung against my skin a bit longer. Conclusions: okay, I'm not usually huge on wearing the foody scents and carrying them around with me, but this is the perfect locket scent for craving days. I just want to *bathe* in it, but I know I have too much BPAL soap right now, and I'm only using Egg Nog soap at the gym.

Our signature oil. A dark, languid scent. Promotes hedonistic tendencies and extreme self-love. You won’t stop kissing mirrors for a month. In the bottle: Sweet and sharp and bright and dark and inviting.... Got some on my fingers. Instant headache. Owwwwie! Took multiple vigorous scrubbing sessions to get it off.

In the bottle - exactly what it says: tea rose, twisted. On me - still tea rose, but the darker, more incensy notes start peeking out. Is that... sandalwood? patchouli? cedar? (Those notes aren't even similar, but I can't quite seem to distinguish). Whatever it is, it's somewhat sad, somewhat sleepy, somewhat decadent, absolutely lovely... but not something I'd wear often.

In the bottle: warm, a little floralish, just a bit sweet. Not getting the amber at all. This could go many ways on me. On me: it did in fact go many ways! First touch on my skin it was shouting baby powder. About half an hour after putting it on, it was heavy baby powder layered over the floral note from Katharina. About 20 minutes later, it was baby powder over patchouli, which was completely unexpected! I'm just not a baby powder fan (nor a patchouli fan), so the facts that the patchouli disappeared quickly and the baby powder took about four hours to quiet down added up to a sort of mixed blessing. It's going on 5.5 hours now and the scent is still very much there. It's kind of warm and soft, and the amber is just starting to warm up, but there's still that note of baby powder. I think maybe it's the honey - other honey-containing scents have seemed powdery or dusty to me before. This one, it's just overwhelming. Conclusions: This one is a long lasting one, and has a lot of potential if you either like or don't get the powder effect. I'm torn about whether to age it and see if the amber will morph it around, or give up and toss it in the swaps box. At the least, I think I'll hang on and see if it's a problem of being too fresh. eta: clarification of bad syntax

I must preface this review by pointing out that after having read about it, I had to try it, and I had great high hopes for this scent. In the bottle: Complex. Definitely some wintry forest & animal notes going on, but it's more sort of... disjointed imagery to me. Birch trees and melting dripping snow, and something under it. Could go good or bad, I just hope it resolves into one thing. On me: Warm, furry, alive. Shares some of the same notes with this year's Hunter Moon - the parts I liked best. Oddly comforting, though it isn't a human sort of thing. More animal and immediate. Like other reviewers, I interpret this as a warm furry creature that carries the scent of wet winter forests but is now indoors. As time goes on and tea is drunk by me, it fades out a little at a time, starting with the animal/fur heart of the scent. After four hours it's all melting snow on decomposing leaves. Birch trees on a bright and sunny dripping day. Conclusions: Oh, lovely. Wonderful wonderful imagery.

Wow! This one was amazing, and amazingly transformative. In the bottle: STRONG super-caramel coffee/chocolate baked goods. Not sure what it is, but I WANT to eat it up. On me: Old book store. Still some of the caramel coffee underneath, but lots of old old books and older woods. Sweet/sharp/bitter/dusty all at once. Conclusions: This is going in the box of beloveds. It's incredibly versatile. In a scent locket I can smell like caramel-coffee-chocolate cake. In a ring or a baggie I could get a shot of delectable sweeties smell instead of actually eating some baked goods. (Or it could make cravings worse, hard to tell.) On my wrist, it could be evocative of some incredibly good connections in library circles. In any case, it's totally worth keeping. Also, I swear the soap gives me a little extra zip. It's got a lot of coffee in it, and it's an excellent soap for the hurried shower on crap-I-overslept mornings!

Bottle: Chocolate, cherry, something alcoholic, and something deeper (sort of brownish) behind it. Dry: Somehow, as cherry-chocolate as this scent is ending out, it *doesn't* smell like dessert. It's deep, engaging, intriguing, almost magnetic. A sweet innocent veneer over a darker motive to compel. Pretty much exactly captured vampire seduction in a bottle. Conclusions: I normally hate any type of cocoa in perfume almost as much as I love chocolate to eat, but this one seems to work well. It must be the amber. Not an every day thing for me, but definitely a nice one.

A crisp ozone-tinged breeze. The scent of the first gentle rain before the storm. In the bottle: Inexplicably, amazingly, the smell of a storm brewing. Cold water in the air, brisk and high energy. A sense of imminence. On me - The storm has broken. This is not a flighty little fit, full of bluster and quickly blowing over. This is a long hard drenching rain, pounding pavement, roaring on the roof, so heavily you can't see a foot in front of you nor hear cars down on the road. Oh, there was some initial thundering of the shake-the-foundation sort to start out with, but now the storm has settled in and looks to keep it up all day. Or week. We're talking monsoon here. Conclusions: Wow, she's really done something amazing with this one. Really fabulous.

In the bottle: Hot spiced pumpkin, melty candles, something almost but not quite spicy that isn't the spiced pumpkin, high on the nose. Very Halloweenie. On me: TONS of throw, very intense scent (though to be fair, I did put a lot on). Spicy, warm. The change is hard to describe. Sadly, I got a bit of a headache, but that may have been because it's so strong. On retry, during the drydown I get a high, crisp, refreshing note which lasts for some time before going smokey like recently extinguished candles and then morphs back into peppermint. Ends out bright bright peppermint and winter spices over melted candles and pumpkin pie. Aaaand... there comes the headache. Conclusions: Darn! I really like this, but something in it is touching off a headache. ETA: second run.

In the bottle: Bright, sharp, almost astringent, gingery, with a cool, dusty little backnote that makes me think "brick." Not smelling the milk. Dry: Still dusty, but now sunbaked like hot dusty read earth beneath your feet and a light refreshing beverage in your hand. Quite a lot of throw, though I did put a lot on. Conclusions - Not something I would wear every day, but keeping the imp.

In the bottle: Hot, red, slightly spicy. Compellingly attractant. On me: Amazingly, it doesn't change much. If anything, hotter and redder, with the amber clearer and more recognizable. Conclusions: Not just keeping the imp, but buying a bottle... and maybe another to age. Oh, my! ETA: post skin chemistry change, the amber comes out hardly at all. A little too hard-edged and growly for me now.

In the bottle: sweet, warm, and full. Sugared almond, strong, over just a hint of flowers. Honey-gold, round, and warm. Dry on me: The almond fades back, the sugar-sweet mellows out, and forward come the sandalwood and hints of spice. Dark amber (color) and hot, a weaving, sinuous scent which makes no apologies for its sexuality. Conclusions: Mmmmmmmm, mmmmhmmmmm....

In the bottle - bright, conflicted, dizzy in a small and quiet way, like when you're drunk at a party but trying to stay inconspicuous. Pretty, heady but sunny. The brightness of tea and herbs almost makes me think of ginger. The character of the floral in it reminds me and makes me wonder if there isn't some peony in Dirty. Dry on me - just a whisper of scent, soft and light and pretty. Very feminine without going to "perfumy." After ~1hr, it's faded to a whisper of heady floral with practically no throw, like your little secret. Conclusions - Lovely, but not something I'd wear often.

In the bottle: Arkham starts out as very sharp and somewhat damp. Evergreens after rain. Something just slightly citrus seems to hover in the background, but that might be one of the evergreen backnotes. Very woodsy, very high on the nose, harshly refreshing. Dry - Powdery & quite perfumy. There might be a hint of pine in there, and maybe a hint of orange, but it's mostly a sort of dark floral now, all middle and no top note. Conclusions - Wait, where'd the forest go?! I was really hoping it would dry down differently, but apparently my skin really likes amping the florals and eating the greens. Sadness for me.

In the bottle: To my nose, there is an unpleasantly overwhelming top note that drowns out everything else. It reminds me of pulling apart summer weeds at my grandmother's house as a girl, sharp and almost painfully green. I suspect, though, as I smell it, that this note will calm down and the things behind it will come out. On me (dry): The unpleasant green note softened to near obscurity, leaving behind a full and complex chorus of autumn. Turning leaves, bonfire warmth over a crisp starry night, when footsteps become a crunching susurrus. Conclusions: Definitely going in the top ten.

The Plane of Joy, eternal reward for a lifetime of valor and glory. A place of eternal youth and beauty, strength and honor, music and revelry. The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain. So, I was describing a scent I'd found and liked but couldn't remember the name of to my forum mamma, and she said it sounded like Mag Mell. It wasn't, but after that I had to look it up on the search, and I just loved the description. So, here goes. In the bottle: Gold, very gold. But slightly... flecked with green? Alive and growing. Round, and warm, but also light and soft and resting high on the nose. Like a summer day somewhere rural and idyllic, but without the deepness of earth. Presumably when I put it on, I will supply the bottom note. Even without that, it is an extremely evocative scent. Had I not read the description, I would still think of a golden field on a warm day, and the peace of being close to the earth. But on its own, it's almost... incomplete. On me (wet): High, sharp. Yellow and pointily unhappy, but it's sort of like the irritation of a cat when you move her from where she was lying to somewhere softer and warmer and better for sleeping in. She's grumbly, but grudgingly appreciative. Brightening to green, but an ugly unhappy yellowy green, but slowly rounding out, flattening out, settling and warming. On me (dry): Still gold, but dusty now. It is even harder to pin down individual elements of the scent now, the emotions evolked are so concrete. Sunwarmed, understated, simply there. With a little tiny hint of something approaching milkiness. Yes, a dusty golden plain, warm from sun, timeless, but very unobtrusive. Conclusions: This will work well in a locket, or possibly on me, but I suspect it won't be one of my favorites. It supplies the sort of imagery I would love to have on a day I need comforting, but when I need comforting I don't like to have to work that hard for it. Probably one for the swap list. It has so much potential for those times when you really want a milk and honey sort of feeling without the scent of milk and honey. That's not really me, most of the time. 6/10

Wet - on my man - Extremely sharp, somewhat woody with a hint of citrus. He said he could smell just a dash of hospital cleaner, but I wasn't catching that. Dry - on my man - His interpretation of the cleaner smell disappeared quite quickly. Dry, it is still somewhat sharp and rather brusque, but also rounder, deeper, rather pleasant. Slightly golden. He felt confident and more awake and self-posessed wearing it. Conclusions - I am still planning to try it on myself (and expand my review), but either way I'm giving him the imp, because it's doing wonders for his confidence level.

Wet - on me - Sweet and desserty, barely spicy, bright and lovely, almost juicy. Rather like something you'd want to put whipped cream on. Dry - on me - Getting a bit more of the light-spicy ginger, but it blends well into the white tea, soft and bright and lovely. Wearing this, I feel so pretty. Gentle and happy and awake. If this is the scent of a demon seductress, she's my kind of seductress. Conclusions - definitely going into my top 10 list! I think I need to seek more tea scents. ETA - It's such a shame, but this wonderful lovely scent regularly dissapears on me in about 30-60min after drydown. Sadness! I've started keeping it in a locket to make it last longer, but it's so greatly improved by actually putting it on my skin that half the time I just slather it on every couple of hours. ETA again - I tried this again after I went off refined sugar and my body chemistry totally changed.... and it's one of the few that stayed pretty much exactly the same. Happily, it's still one of my favorites. Sadly, that also includes the length of time before my skin eats it.

In the bottle: High, sharp, and distant, slightly woody and somewhat chilly. On my man (dry): He swore all he could smell was baby powder. When I sniffed him, I got an overwhelming sensation of vanilla cigarillos. It didn't exactly smell just like that, but the scent reminded me of them. On me (dry): It blended together differently on me. It was a bit discordant on me, and while trying to figure out exactly why and what it was that was causing the trouble, I started getting queasy, a sensation that increased until I washed it off. Conclusion: It's a scent that sticks - it took two washings to get it off my man, and four to get it off me (probably because I put a lot on in the attempt to isolate particular notes). Didn't work too well for me or my love, so it's off to swap and hopefully find somebody it works better for.

In the bottle: warmly fruity, in a sort of round way, with a single column of brightness, a note that stands slightly apart. Not quite singing in blended harmony, but certainly not dissonant or truly disconnected. On me (dry): warm and pretty, fruit-sweet evolving to sweetly seductive. (Seems like the musk comes out over time, which I definitely like, as I'd prefer not to smell like food.) Conclusion: Keeping the imp, but won't make the top ten list.

In the bottle: sweetened tea, but unbrewed perhaps? Instead of a warm comforting cuppa, it is bright and pale, slightly sharp, almost frenetic (maybe it's the edge of ginger?). On me (dry): warm and pleasant, almost creamy. Bright for a while, evolving into a darker shade of warm. Blends down to a subtle, comfortable aura with practically no throw (just how I like it). Conclusion: Definitely going into the top ten wearables list.

In the bottle: light and lovely, fruity-floral candy. Super sweet, innocent, and full of smiles, like a little girl sitting on a tree branch with a lollypop in her mouth. On me (wet): It's not changing much, and that's a first for me. Admittedly, I haven't tried wearing many aromatherapy scents because of my odd skin chemistry. Amazingly, the sweetness stays put and doesn't get all crazy and cloyingly overwhelming. On me (dry): (after a couple of hours) Still sweet and cute and fruity, but now much more creamy. I'm also getting a different version on each wrist (I apply directly to my left and rub on to my right). On the left it's nearly faded away, but what remains is sort of fruity-vanilla candy. On the right it's like an English toffee with a hint of sweet fruit. Strawberry maybe? I'm not good at picking out individual notes if they're blending well. It's still very sweet and joyful. I keep getting this picture in my mind of a human (and therefore not pink-haired) version of Strawberry Shortcake. Conclusion: Definitely a keeper for a locket scent, and while it won't land in my top 10 wearables, it's definitely something I'd wear for a pick-me-up.

In the bottle: honey and warm, lush, fruit. Almost but not quite citrusy. On me (wet): sweet and very woodsy. I can definitely smell the oak, but then the frankinscense gets sharper, threatening to push everything else away. On me (dry): (gone in 30 min, I had to really slather to get a "dry" reading on it) sweet, warm, woody, and just a little sharp.