carbide

Immediately, I'm getting screaming, gritty patchouli. Single-note, doused-without-regard-for-human-life kind of patchouli. I'm good with vetiver and orange, though, so I apply it, optimistically. The vetiver never appears, which is a first. Orange turns up, but only to add a slightly rancid edge to the patchouli, kind of like it's masking an unwashed smell. I have no idea where ylang ylang was, but it hasn't really had a chance. Sadly, this is a miss, but it was interesting to see what patchouli must smell like to people who hate it. It's normally fine as a supporting role for me, but as astonishingly loud as here, it's not so good.

Wet, there's a whole load of bay rum, a hint of something I recognise as galangal, and something else I'm guessing is High John root. It's all kind of producey, not unpleasant but my nose is twitching - about the same response I'd have to parsnips. On drydown, it doesn't get any more promising. Bay rum is one of a few notes I just can't seem to wear in any combination - it ends up smelling like public toilet soap, really nasty, eyewateringly artifical floral - but I was so happy to see this concept come up that it almost made me tearful, so I had to hope otherwise. I will give it another shot in about a week, just in case I can blame my hormone levels, but it seems like even Robert Johnson isn't enough to defeat my skin chemistry. The bottle art is lovely too, just to salt the wound.

In the bottle, it's chocolate and orange, not overpoweringly either. First 15 minutes on my skin, it cycles from orange to...curry?! Cardamom-heavy, nothing that makes a whole lot of sense on rereading the notes. This then disappears. On drydown, it gets even weirder - it's pure Dorian, but with less throw and wear-length. I checked several times to see if anything I was wearing might have Dorian on it, but it was all clean. I tried it a second time another evening, and went to bed smelling of Dorian, too.

In the imp, it's smoky and a bit green. Not my territory and edging a bit too far towards masculine, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Magical Sweetening Skin Chemistry does to it. On my skin, we have a few wet minutes of the smoky, and then...it's gone. Totally, completely, can't-tell-where-I-applied-it gone. Nothing reemerges. I've retested, and it keeps doing this. I'm not devastated, but I am really amused by the vanishing act. Poof! Djinn-be-gone!

I'm getting a hint of the chocolate in the imp, but it's mostly cherry cherry cherry. Sticky, heady, gorgeous cherry. On my skin, the chocolate's done a runner, and it's a gorgeous rich cherry lightened and sweetened by the orange blossom. It stays pretty consistently like that, and with an application to skin and clothes, it lasts a good 12 hours. Throw is moderate, nothing aggressive. Orange blossom and cherry are two of my top five notes, and I think the chocolate (which ranges from yum to faecal depending on the blend) put me off trying Vice for so long. A mistake, since my imp is unlikely to last until my bottle arrives, at this rate. If you love the cherry in The Red Queen, and fancy varying your cherry choices towards something more playful, try Vice. Ditto that for loving Vice and wanting a smoother, richer cherry.

In the imp, I'm getting faint, complex vanilla. Wet on my skin, it's pure powder in seconds. Amber is usually reasonably well-behaved on me but carnation has always been a disaster, so I'm laying the blame there. The powder lasts about two or three minutes, and then there's absolutely nothing. I'm a wee bit heartbroken but after three tests weeks apart, I think that's conclusive.

In the imp, I'm getting strong cocoa, and I think I can pick out herbs and tonka, but not much else. Within minutes of hitting my skin, it's all cocoa, with some underlying note of rancid butter. I'm hit-or-miss with cocoa (I love it in Boomslang and the Tell-Tale Heart, can't bear it in Tezcatlipoca) but I was looking forward to trying this blend. The mysterious rancid butter smell overwhelms everything else, and reached a slight powderiness before I cracked about an hour into drydown and washed it off.

Witch-herbs, crushed golden flowers, and a man-made-dragon’s surly musk lightened by the scent of the blossoms and unearthly incense that clings to the Faerie Queen’s hair. Dragon’s blood musk, ambergris, sunflower, chrysanthemum, muguet, and rue, with gingered lily, moonflower, bluebell, peony, nightwort, and white rose. I think I'm deliberately forgetting what Allison Gross does on my skin, because this is my third time testing it. Wet in the imp, it's a rotting green, like soggy lettuce but more bitter. This last about ten minutes on my skin before turning to a slightly powdery, still green floral mix, with lily as the only single component I can pick out. It's kind of like hotel soap, and it's bringing on a sneezy headache. I'm not sure I've smelled dragon's blood musk, but nothing in the dragon's blood/musk venn diagram appears at all here. Sneezily, I'll be passing on the decant to someone who enjoys it more.

This is the first of the Novel Ideas I've tried, and it was a kind frimp with some decants. Way out of my usual scent preferences - aquatics don't work and I amp sweetness too much for fruity - so I was delighted to try it but wasn't expecting a success. In in the imp: Predominantly nectarine with something aquatic. Sweet, but not cloying. On skin: Cloying! Syrupy nectarine, thick and sticky. Stronger by the minute, too. I imagine the throw is significant but I'm afraid I had to wash it off before I got to see if other people picked up on it - I have a bias against sweetness that makes it easy to pick out. Fun to try, but I'll pass on the decant!

nanshe: is nan-SHE wrong? the search function does funny things with me so apologies if i'm missing a post. i am finally getting to enable my housemate and would hate to be mispronouncing during it.

in the imp: sweet, warm and floral, with lavender as the only note i can clearly pick out by itself. wet, on me: lavender! whoa. drydown: the lavender almost disappears, and the tea rose and violet come out. the sandalwood isn't obvious but there's an underlying warmth that i'm guessing is it - odd, because i seem to amp it in other blends. i didn't pick out the calla lily, to my delight. there is a dusty aspect but it's more like scented letters found in the attic than a dry, choking dustiness. there's a similarity to Antique Lace, but this is much less powdery on me. most notably, the wearlength on me is about 12+ hours, which beats my previous BPAL record twice over. the throw is moderate, and hugs have been followed with sniffing and compliments. love this.

oh dear. i had high hopes, but it starts off with a blast of almond (the one note i avoid because it turns my stomach), and dries down into clove (yay!) mixed with a zing of something i can only describe as lemon pee (less yay!). followed by burning, irritated skin. i don't think i'll be testing the baron again, let alone wearing him.

This is a swollen, pulsating, thudding scent, heavy with dread; a steady, unceasing, throbbing harbinger of retribution and doom: blood musk, cocoa, black pepper, allspice, dragon’s blood resin and vetiver. I picked up a decant of this for the name alone, and it's in danger of becoming my favourite. Luckily, I tracked down an affordable bottle and can now burn merrily through my imp, but wow, I wish this was GC or re-released. In the imp, I'm getting almost pure dragon's blood resin with some clove - I wonder if I'm missing the cocoa most other reviews mention. Wet into initial drydown, the allspice and something I'm guessing is musk join in too. I amp and love vetiver, and as expected, it comes out strongly after about half an hour. It reminds me a bit of Blood with vetiver instead of cherry. It's spicy and warm, a kind of scary, powerful gorgeous - 'formidable' seems like the right word, stunningly handsome and far too interesting to be pretty.

on my skin, the salty limey scent from the bottle turns into overpowering gardenia air freshener. i don't know what's up with my skin, but a light application had everyone i met spluttering and asking if i knew how i smelled. so, the throw and the wear length were excellent, but pending a little further experimentation, it doesn't look like the phoenix and i can be pals.

L'Occitane's Vetyver eau de toilette is my absolute favourite scent, one of those that smells phenomenal to me and also gets compliments all the time. Unfortunately, they discontinued it a few years ago and I flew through my hoarded bottles. (They brought it back as a men's fragrance but the blend is different, something very distinctly aftershavey kills the good stuff.) The basenotes.net reviews mention nutmeg, macis, cypress, bergamot and rosemary as well as vetiver - it's not overtly any of these, although the cypress was definitely present and good on me. I thought Sloth smelled somewhat similar but my ex-boyfriend (who loved Vetyver) said it was nowhere close. Vetiver and I get on well so I am trying all BPAL scents featuring it, but hints would be appreciated. Any suggestions? I'd be very grateful!