JenM

In the imp: lemon sherbert with a whiff of dusty flower that smells most like rose. On the wrist: Lemon that’s just this side of safe from lemonsqueezycleaner. Dry: fades very, very quickly into light flowers with just a hint of lemon (said hint being at the sinus level rather than the nose level). Sweeter than jasmine. I will readily admit to having never smelled neroli before, so that could be it. Very faint, though, even though I slathered it. After 15 minutes: the faintest of whiffs of something lovely, but I have to really inhale my wrists to get at it. Then fades to something dusty, like the dust motes after you’ve polished old furniture. In under an hour, has faded to generic floral dust/powder. With a faint lemon tint. Seems to give me aheadache. Will try it again at some point, probably.

Nyx Review: short version: ALL YOUR NYX ARE BELONG TO ME!!! long version In the imp: pure jasmine On the wrist: glorious. Jasmine (which I wear as an essential oil betimes) with the myrrh making it deeper without overwhelming. Dry: still exquisite. Jasmine haunted but not chased by other florals. Am too excited by it to make out the individual scents. It even has good throw! Only thing that lets it down it that it fades after a couple of hours. 8.5/10

In the bottle: Rose made almost orangey by frangipani. On the wrist: Strange. Like roses past bloom, with a twist of cloy. As it dries, gets a bit orange-y again. No, not orange. A cross between orange and freesia. After an hour: Oh. Oh, no. Not nice. Soured cloying smells. First one I’ve had to wash off. 3/10

In the imp: a “fuzzy” lavender scent (lavender with something behind it), and jasmine. On the wrist: Orange! How odd. That’s what the lavender was masking. (Ah, having read the description now, I’m supposed to get that.) Dry, the orange is still predominant, though flatter, and the lavender starts to come through. On the right wrist, I’m getting a sort of musky lavender which is not unpleasant. Half an hour: amber, or possibly rosemary. With a hint of lavender, and no throw. After an hour: Dove soap with a hint of purple. No staying power. Drat. 6/10

In the imp: strong floral; I think I smell rose and jasmine On the wrist: strong herbal scent, overcoming the floral. Bitter. Rose geranium? After half an hour: the florals aren’t quite suppressed, but there’s still that bitter edge up close. Still has that slightly tickly sense to the bitter that made me think geranium in the first place. Has mostly vanished from right wrist. After an hour: Left wrist: this is odd. There are two “tracks” of smells running simultaneously. They are not blending. There’s a floral that’s going slightly soapy and a darker, greener smell. I almost want to say rue or pennyroyal, but it’s darker and greener than any one herb. Right wrist: it has reappeared (!) faintly. It may be some sort of amber. Yes, amber, or some other sort of resin. If play-doh were a nice-smelling perfume it would smell like this. After another hour or two: Resin predominates, still with a hint of floral on left wrist. No rating coz it’s just too odd and schizophrenic, wrist to wrist and even on the same wrist.

Just a quick note: I sniffed the Versailles, which in the imp smelled to me of ORANGE!!!!!!!! and not much else, and then later accidentally layered it over Seraphim. THe resuly was pretty divine for a good while.

In the imp: faint rose On the wrist: Rose with a hint of something warm. Rising to be filled with what I can only assume is the moonflower, a fuller-bodied scent without being overblown. Not too dissimilar from a spicy tea rose, such as Chicago Peace. Goes through a cologne-y phase I can live without up close, but from wrists up to nose, pleasing wafts. Fades to a rather nice generic rose without the slight undertone a rose maroc would have. A keeper until I get my hands on some TFS, perhaps? 7/10

Fuller review to follow, but I found this out by accident: Blending Versailles over dried Serpahim smells absolutely divine with really good throw--right up to the point where it morphs into floral Toilet Duck...drove the male sittingn ext to me wild up till that point...the woman on my other side also approved, and she didn't get the morph... ADDED July 25: In the imp: lovely floral with a hit of frankincense On the wrist: Frankincense much stronger, turning into a scent that is actually a bit foody. That could be the wisteria, I suppose. Good throw. When dry: throw still good. Lots of different scents jostling about, none of which my nose is educated enough to identify. A little bit department-store-perfume alcohol, though that could be the frankincense doing something odd with my chemistry. After three hours: It’s morphed a bit. I still can’t differentiate the different flowers. But still strongly present. If I were nasty I would say air freshener rather than perfume. Can’t decide if I love it or leave it. Fades to smelling of old Dove soap in my great-grandmother’s house. It’s lasted nearly 4 hours though. 4/10 or 7/10 depending on whether I’m in love it or hate it mode.

Duly swapped. I found out the following: In the bottle: a dark, cypress-y scent, combined with a tang I can’t quite place. Almost sandalwood-y. On the wrist: woody, cedary, with just a touch of smoke. This is like climbing trees—lovely! Dry: Oh, this is distinctly lovely. There’s something behind the wood pushing it out, but I can’t quite identify it. Maybe a hint of earth. After an hour: still the same, but fading fast. Cypress with earth, and a hint of something soft, though I don’t get the roses that other reviewers have talked about. After three hours: the very faintest, most fading whiff of cedar left. I love this to bits, but it fades and I can’t see when I’d wear it. 7.5 therefore.

I really, really wanted to like this one. In the bottle: undifferentiated florals On the wrist: Department-store perfume. What a disappointment. The same sort of alcohol based smell. I think I’m allergic to it—my eyes itch. After an hour: Still department-store perfume. Floral, but it smells like perfume. Read reviews, washed and reapplied heavily to see if there was a difference. On the wrist: Oh, now I can smell the heather. And something which I think is orchid. Guess you really have to apply this with a trowel After an hour: Lovely, lovely heather. But faint. After 2 hours: Faded to the point where I have to inhale my wrists to get a whiff. On the plus side, it’s maintained the heather-y, orchid-y smell and not faded to the talc smell the others tended to. Perhaps on someone with less medicated chemistry this would last—the reviews alternate on whether it lasts for ever or fades quickly. A five of 10 coz whilst it’s almost unutterably lovely when slathered on I do mean slathered—I’d go through a 5 ml in no time. And applied subtly it just doesn’t work for me.

In the bottle: sharp evergreen that’s in your face! On the wrist: still evergreen, but with a woody, almost smoky overtone. Fading fast. After an hour: very faded, even with a reapplication. Gone from right wrist. Has turned…is feminine the right word? Soft. Not quite talc-y. I’d like to see if a man’s chemistry keeps it sharp. After 2 hours: How in hell’s name do I describe it? Still evergreen-y, but with maybe a hint of sugar? As if cookies were made out of Christmas, or your winter jammies were packed away with a warm pine bough. Nostalgia is not a scent, or I would claim it’s evergreen and nostalgia. But I’d only wear once a year, and MUST NOT BE A PACK RAT, so one to swap. I’ve read the other reviews, and I don’t get lemon or berries at all. Am I smelling wrong?

In the bottle: undifferentiated floral with the kick of cedarwood. On the wrist: CEDARWOOD! Cedarwood, cedarwood, cedarwood. Moths, fear me. No, wait, the flowers are starting to come through a tiny bit. Off to exercise class. That’ll set it, one way or another. Driving to class: Tantalising bouquets reach me every time I turn the wheel, but I can’t stop to sniff. When I arrive, I sniff my wrists. They have nothing to do with the tantalising, and are definitely sourer. That must be the cedarwood, probably reacting with the meds. Who else’s wrists were in my car? After 3 hours: Nobody lynched me in class, so it must be reasonably subtle. It’s…oo. It’s all a bit Laura Ashley and Oxford in late springtime, with just a hint of cedarwood closet keeping it from being too soppy. Or it might be the orchid. I wouldn’t recognise black orchid scent if it bit me. Sorry if this is formatted wrongly--never done this before.