Gemini 2007

[hepkitten]

Mutable Air: the essence of thought.
Lavender, benzoin, orchid, and frankincense.

I'll have to agree with the "spiced lavender" thing that many are saying. What I can't figure out though, is the second really strong note that I get, particularly at first. I could swear that it's anise...?

Nice, but lavender is so dominant in this that I'm not sure I need this in addition to the rest of my collection.

[euterpe414]

At first Gemini begins with a strong lavender but almost immediately soften to become predominantly orchid. I don't know where the lavender goes, but after the initial blast it has all but vanished. The two scents (I can't really get the other notes that well in this blend- maybe my nose is broken, lol) are definitely somewhat of polar opposites in my mind, so it is interesting to smell them together like this (if only for a minute, haha) Anyhow, this becomes a gorgeous smooth orchid that has a bit of earthiness beneath it (the other notes, I'm guessing). Definitely different from the lab's other orchid blends. I really love this one and am glad that I have a bottle of it

[The_Merf]

In the bottle: Spiced lavender, as others have said, which I think is a combination of the lavender and the orchid.

 

Wet: Lavender and resin on my skin.

 

Drydown and wear: The resin is actually only really prominent in the wet stage, and upon drydown, this blend returns to the lavender/orchid combination that I smelled in the bottle. The orchid gets stronger as the perfume dries down, and I do like the later stages of this blend much more than I like the lavender-dominant early stages. Giving the bottle a couple of weeks to settle seems to have really brought out the ability of the orchid; when I first tried this the day I got it, it was almost straight lavender. The only problem with this bottle is one of strength; by the time it reaches the stage I like, it has gotten really soft. However, those looking for a slightly different spin on lavender would do well to give this one a try.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Very sharp lavender with something medicinal underneath it.

 

On me: Pretty much all lavender.

[PurringPulsar]

Gemini 07

 

In the bottle: lavender with a floral-incense undertone, reminiscent of Psyche meets Arcana.

Wet on skin: the orchid unfurls on my skin under the lavender, sweet and dewy.

Dry on skin: oh, this is gorgeous! The lavender is strong here but has a smoky-spicy feel to it reminiscent of my mum's 'Evening in Provence' incense. The orchid note is beautiful, rich and full, it's more of a lighter orchid scent than black orchid, reminds me of Magdalene and Shadow Witch Orchid. The frankincense adds a piercing incense scent and enhances the smoky scent of the lavender.

After a while: the lavender has gone down and now the orchid rules the scent. however, I preferred the orchid before-it's not as full and rich as it was. it's still pretty but there's an odd lemony-green aspect to the orchid which is almost perfumey, maybe even a little soapy. I still smell the frankincense which is lovely and smoky now, a little peppery and smouldering, but the orchid reminds me of the oddly ozone-ish orchid in Oberon which I wasn't crazy about. It seems that there's something almost like verbena to this as well, it's even doing that weird bitter-soapy thing that verbena sometimes does to me. after a few hours the floral fades into this odd green-herbal-mossy scent which smells a little dirty, and not in a good way. It reminds me of the 'sweaty orchid' scent I got from Medea, but much lighter.

Verdict: I'm not sure about this scent. This one was a little bit disappointing despite such a promising start, and a note list I thought could do no wrong. But this went odd on me. at first, I really liked the lavender-orchid intro with a smokiness because it reminded me of an incense stick scent I like, and the orchid was very rich and full. But then it turned weird, smelt less rich and sweet and started to smell wilted and sharp, even a little soapy, with an odd lemon verbena aspect. It was rather flat and smelt a bit off on my skin, and it even started to smell a little dirty-sweaty at the end, which I was not keen on at all. It's not an outright disaster-I'm keeping a decant-but I really hope that the other astrological scents work better on me, the last three have not been successes (and I'm really into astrology, so it's puzzling, and heartbreaking…)

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I'll keep a decant-I'd like to keep at least small amounts of the zodiac, just in case…

If you like this, try: Oneroi, Psyche, Magdalene, Shadow Witch Orchid, Oberon, Arcana

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Hello lavender, how's it going?

 

First on: I can't smell anything. A hint of lavender, a hint of orchid, but it's really hard to pick up anything at all.

 

Drydown: I can tell there's some sort of oil on my wrist, but I can't smell what it is at all. It's a very weird feeling.

 

Overall: Gemini completely disappeared on me when it overwhelmed me in the bottle. Typical Gemini, 2 different extremes.

[aine]

Big, big, big herbal lavender blast when first on - wow, that is powerful! Fortunately I adore lavender so this is perfect for this Gemini.

 

The lavender calms pretty quickly though and a resinous orchid makes its way to the forefront. The juxtaposition is gorgeous.

 

Gemini is a big scent, when dry this is primarily rich wafting orchid, a thick floral sweetness that catches my attention throughout the day.

 

Lovely.

[Miseraya]

I got this for my mother, but I like to review everything that comes my way. Let me preface this by saying however that I loathe lavender and frankincense. Unfortunately for me they happen to be my mother's favorite notes. (Go figure.)

 

In the bottle: Yep, that would be lavender. There is a softer, sweeter note in this though (orchid?), that takes some of the harsh edge off the lavender, so that's a good sign.

 

On the elbow: Hmm, definitely sweeter and less astringent than the usual lavender scents. Not bad. Maybe I can live with this on the mom.

 

Drydown: Definitely more orchid than lavender, I'm not sure what benzoin smells like, so I can't speak to that. But I can say it's primarily sweet on me, not overly resinous or herbal.

 

Overall: This is much less aggressive than I was expecting, but still not a me scent. But, thanks to the sweetness of the other notes softening the blend and the frankincense being muted as well, I may be able to stay in the same room with my mother and this smell. Hooray! Now with my luck she won't like it.

[slave1]

GEMINI 2007

 

In Bottle: Strong lavender

 

On Skin: I have come to accept about 90% of the time lavender doesn’t work on me, here is no different. The lavender is very strong and very pungent. The orchid is bright and slightly purple in feel. The frankincense offers a resinous and earthy side, while the benzoin gives a very light sweetness. The over all feel of the scent to me is a nighttime blend, just because I always associate lavender with helping me sleep. As the scent develops, it begins to work with my skin more and I don’t mind it. I would use it as a room or linen spray, but it’s still not something I’d wear. Light to moderate throw and fairly average wearlength.

[lilpinkchainsaw]

I received a decant of this just today! I had a bad experience earlier in the day with a frimp of Jailbait that I'd gotten, so when I opened up my Gemini decant and took a tiny sniff, I got punched in the nose with the benzoin and frankincense and was, understandably, a little reticent. I bit the bullet, though, and placed a little dot of it on the back of my wrist and -- wowza! The benzoin and frankincense really do calm down considerably. Even in the bottle, I didn't get barely even a hint of the lavender (which is good, because it's usually overwhelming on me) and even now, I'm still not.

 

Ten or fifteen minutes later and ooooh... delicious! Deep, earthy herbal scent and tender orchids. Definitely captures Gemini's duality - a very assertive herbal fragrance paired with a very delicate, aromatic layers of lavender and orchid. This is a very complex scent and I'm really glad that I didn't let the super-strong herbal punch-in-the-nose scare me off. Oooh, I loves it, I loves it!

Edited September 20, 2007 by Jainie

[kahmiel]

In the bottle this was lavender. Very lavender. And wet. It was lavender. Very lavender. It wasnt until it was fully dried that I started to notice some other scents in it. The frankinsense and benzoin came out, and the osmanthus added some ... whats the word? Lush/floralness? Anyway, that lasted for a bit on me and I liked that quite a bit but a little while (not sure how long) I sniffed my wrist again, and i noticed i smelled like PERFUME... *gasp*

 

I am a gemini, so I had to buy this blend... but its kinda perfumy in the end on me. I will probably try it one more time to make sure its just not a cycle thing. Because I WANT it to work...*sigh*

[ravenfeathers]

i actually got this bottle for my 9 year old daughters, not myself, which is fine since lavender and i are enemies of old. my problem with lavender is that i used it for many years as a headache remedy so now i associate the smell of it with pain.

 

i didn't try it on myself, but them. actually, i just gave them the bottle and then sniffed them every once in a while to see how they were cooking.

 

in the bottle lavender! only, capslocked: LAVENDER!

wet on skin it's a sweet, true lavender, like EO for medical use.

dry on skin the biting, almost menthol-like lavender is softened by the... orchid, maybe? it's a dark floral now with a lot of warmth. very pretty.

[gchris]

In Vial: strong green, earthy

 

Wet: Stronger I can smell the lavender but no orchid. I am not sure what the other notes smell like. This slightly burns on my skin.

 

Drydown: Not as strong. Kind of perfumey. Sweeter. No longer smells earthy or green. This has a very strong incensy scent..

[Epiphany]

In the bottle...this is SO strong. It assults my nose with a medicinal peppery lavender and I'm really not at all sure how I feel about it. (I normally LOVE lavender)

 

Wet on, it continues to be very aggressive--the lavender and resins melding together to create a scent that isn't exactly...lavender, but is very controlling.

 

As it dries, the medicinal quality tones down and eventually disappears. After a time, I'm left with a light lavender-floral-resin. There is something very human to this...like it is somehow just part of my normal skin chemsitry...but better. I can't explain it, but both my mother and my roomate have described it as smelling like "you, but better...".

 

After that first sniff I didn't want to like it...which saddened me. But after a few tests...I can't shake it. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I'm not impressed. Mutable air indeed. Overall...I love it 'cause it's so very Gemini. I've been wearing it when feeling like I don't want to be pinned down.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

wore this today as per a birthday decree on another forum. i'm a Leo and i've never gotten on well with most Gemini folk. and i can't stand 99.9% of Lavender scents.

 

when sniffed from the bottle, this may as well have been a bottle of Lavender essential oil because that's all i could smell. within minutes of the oil touching my skin it morphed into a bitter, sour, unwashed funk sort of smell.

[stellans]

Lavender-a-mundo! It’s obvious that lavender is going to be the major note in this blend because that’s pretty much all I smell...until it mellows a bit and the frankincense (and maybe a leeeetle bit of orchid) shows up. There is a certain depth to this that isn’t in some of the other blends claiming lavender as the top note, and I think it’s thanks to the frankincense. I like this very much, and I really need to wear it more often than just in May. However, I do think that age has made this a much better blend, as I remember an off-putting sharpness when I first tried this back in 2007 that has given way to a lovely, smooth blend that I enjoy wearing. It has great throw and good stay, so this blend receives a 4 of 5 stars from me.

[Gin]

Gemini 2007

 

Well, hello lavender, how are you? Dominant? Why, yes, you are! I think I can smell a bit of the frankincense, but really, this is soooo lavendery.

[zankoku_zen]

Oh Gemini. You are bitter herbal citrus lavender. You dry to some resinous base, which is obviously the frankincense... but overall you are a bitter lavender/resin blend.

 

SAD.

[redderz]

I had to get this because I'm a Gemini myself! Unfortunately, it has lavender in, which I'm not fond of, but I thought I'd give it a try!

 

In the bottle: Lavender! Argh! But... hm, it's not TOO bad. It's a different kind of lavender to normal. More creamy.

 

Wet: Lavender. *sigh* I'm hoping for more orchid! *waits*

 

Dry: I think the orchid is coming through a little now! This isn't really so bad. I'll keep it and try it again.

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Overwhelming lavender.

Wet: The lavender gets knocked down by the orchid in a body slam and...either the frankincense or the benzoin. Not sure what either of those smell like.

Drydown: Orchid.

Dry: Sugared orchid.

 

My rating: 3/5

[aleciarivas]

Hm, I really expected to like this, but even after several testings... I don't. I can't really pick out any particular notes, and my body chemistry gobbles down lavender so maybe that's why. It just smells like a generic perfume, and is very, very, very faint. Off it goes to the swaps.

[theseagrows]

ooh i like this. it seems to be a bit of a morpher though.

 

at first it's lavender, benzoin and orchid, me thinks. frankincense can go weird on me, but it's not here, so it must be subtle. it smells REALLY good for the first 15 minutes, but now a scent is coming through that has a kind of gross, burnt smell? wth? unless it's the frankincense and benzoin going wonky...it's definitely not one of the florals, both of which work on me.

 

i think i'll have to re-try this soon and see if i like it or not, because it seems to be a mixed bag.

[Magycmyste]

In the bottle: When I first open the bottle, I smell lavender, and something else, though I'm not sure what. Maybe the benzoin or frankincense - it makes it a little sharp and chemically.

 

Wet on skin: About the same.

 

Dried down: Mmmmm, much better. This is soft and calming - I'm still getting more lavender than anything else, but...the other notes are there, softening it. It's very pretty

 

Throw: A little, but not much.

 

Verdict: **** I may try to find another bottle of this for a backup, but this is a beautiful scent.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received an imp in a swap (was on my wishlist).

 

What happens when three of your very favoritest notes in the world (lavender, frankincense and benzoin) get together to hang out with your death note (orchid)? I don't know either but apparently I didn't want to find out for 7 years, Then when putting together my wishlist I figured it couldn't hurt to put it down if I could pick up an imp to try out without laying out real money and was near a shower just in case.

 

IN THE IMP: Lavender. Yay! With a little medicinal kick to it.

 

Dabbed in the crook of one arm.

 

WET: Still mainly lavender (still yay!). I also get a bit of the frankincense and benzoin and, for now, no orchid. Still yay!

 

DRYDOWN: The bad news? It just goes perfumey on me, which is definitely the orchid, drowning out the other three. The good news? The other three fought off the evil that is orchid on me enough that it wasn't horrible (there was one orchid scent which, I kid you not, I happened to test while at work and I had to leave work and go home to shower, that's how sick it made me). So instead it was just icky generic perfume but not horrible.

 

OVERALL: Not a keeper but not a washoff so that's actually a win compared to what might have been. On a scale of 1-5, a 3.