Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys

[MamaMoth]

Educational toys for tots! Learn non-Euclidean calculus, catoptric theory, quantum physics, and the mysteries of Elder magic the fun way! An ancient baetylus floating within an array of bizarre trapezoidal figures, glimmering tubes, rusting spheres, and whirling gogs formed from peculiar metals, glowing tektites, strangely suspended lead mirrors, and eerie driftings of meteoric dust.

In the bottle and fresh on, this smells really interesting. Sharp spikes of metal and rust and glittering fragments of machinery. Fascinating and evocative.

As it dries, it gets more mundane. Citrus, some kind of astringent greenery, maybe a pale musk. That "dust" note is still in there too. Overall, too piercing and soapy and cologney for me. But interesting. I didn't really think it'd be for me, but the description made it a must-try. Edited March 28, 2010 by Shollin

[cecukemon]

Wet, it's strong dishwashing soap. Dry, I "get" the metal impression but at the same time there's one component that smells sickening to me, floral and decaying, and which I wish I could identify. Can't wait to wash it off.

[Seismogenic]

Looking at the description for this one, I realize that what I really want is the actual toys. Alas, the Miskatonic Valley is quite far from the greater Los Angeles area, so I'm going to have to content myself with just the oil.

 

In the imp: Shiny metal (yes, it smells shiny) with some dust and something almost citrus-tangy.

 

Wet on skin: Still largely shiny metal, but the citrus-tangy thing has become a bit stronger. There are dusty notes still back there as well, and I think I may also be getting something almost oily as well.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the metal has come down in pitch quite a bit. It's more balanced with the tangier note, which is, at this point, not quite so citrusy anymore. Unfortunately, it's starting to veer toward chemical. Still getting dusty stuff back there, but not much. At one hour in, there's still that definite sour chemical note. It overlies interesting metal and dust, but it's a bit more present than I'd like.

 

Five hours later: The chemical and citrus notes are gone now, and the metal has also largely faded. What's left are various shades of dusty and rocky. I can tell there are several things in the same family of notes here, as opposed to one homogeneous mix, but that makes sense, for a bunch of discrete toys.

 

End of the day: A little bit dusty and ozone-y.

 

Overall: This is me making a sad face. I wanted this one to work so badly, for the sheer awesomeness of the concept, but the fact is that it smells like dust and metal and cleaning fluid, rather than just dust and metal. By the five hour mark, everything is pretty great, but that's an awful long time to wait to get to the good part. Wah!

[fairnymph]

Gleaming chrome, fizzy/sparkling lemon and lime soda, with maybe some ginger ale too? Very effervescent, but with a pleasant extra tang from the metal.

 

Much more ginger; more zesty, brighter, stronger throw. Even more sparkly. It has a touch of that dishwashing soap edge that most fizzy scents do on my skin, but it's light and pleasant. I get more lime than lemon, and a slightly sweet lime, not bitter or sharp - maybe that pink lime from Croquet? This is delicious! I wish the metallic note were stronger, though.

 

Oh no. I think my skin is reacting to this - there's a burning/itching sensation. Oh please god no! It's so lovely and clean and light, sparkling and lightly citrusy and fresh gingery - gah, I will die if I can't wear this. And so far it's not going to soap - it's like huffing dishwashing powder (my favourite scent in the entire world, yes I'm strange) mixed with diluted ginger ale and a touch of lime cordial. And it's so fizzy still! No powder!

 

This is sweetening on me (?!), in fact, I'm specifically getting that syrupy white grape note that I find much too cloying personally. It's light, so I can handle it, but I'm not thrilled about its emergence.

 

The white grape note stays light, and this has surprisingly fantastic longevity. Not a lot of throw, but I don't mind slathering. A metallic lime & ginger soda that's super fizzy without going to soap! Mmm. More scents like this one, please! I shall be hoarding many bottles.

 

I'm so happy I seem to be responding to this so differently than the majority!

[captainecchi]

I swear I must be channeling MamaMoth's review, because my first thoughts on opening the imp were that this was an astringent floral, tinged with citrus.

 

Or in other words, lemon dish soap.

 

I really wish I could do this scent more justice, but it does nothing for me.

[edenssixthday]

Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys - In the vial, this is bright, citrusy, fizzy, and has a nice metallic tang to it. On my skin, it's much more metallic and loses the fizz and citrus. On my skin, there's something "off" about it... something about it reminds me not only of the smell of metal, but of the taste of metal. I don't know if that makes any sense or not. The smell of this makes my mouth pucker. To me, it's not entirely bad, but it's also not good at all.

[ami226]

This blend on me was a very astringent citrus. It really didn't work on me at all...

[rayvn1]

This starts out as a very strong sweet and clean scent. Ok, maybe a little soapy. Maybe a lot soapy It settles down into a sweet and a little citrus-y metallic. Very nice!

[stellamaris]

2012 here :

 

Oooh this is fun. Fresh, very bubbly. Citrusy and clean but not soapy. It had the feeling of a Tiki Bar scent like Polynesian Pop when I opened the bottle, but it's much more straightforward than that, almost musky. I can see wearing this too work, or anywhere else you just want to be bright and fuzzy.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Very bright and citrussy. I'm guessing grapefruit dominent, with a lot of metallics in support. It's got a strong carbonated element such as in the lab's champagne blends. It's well designed for the concept. Wet: Fizz dominant, with metallics second and citrus and some sort of resin third. On paper, this shouldn't work on me but it's making a fair bid to trying. Dry: Tight, bright, metallics with a touch of citrus. Against all odds, it's a keeper.

[mymymai]

ITI: This smells like lemon Pledge-polished wood and tarnished sterling silver. What a fascinating scent.

 

Wet: Lemon and perhaps orange pledge now, with silver and polished brass. Despite all the metallic overtones, I enjoy this scent.

 

Dry: Now I get warm wooden toys, some citrus, and warmed gold and bronze. It's a nice scent and something I'd reach for again.

[Gateau]

My 11 year old son wanted to try this, so I got him a decant as I always want to encourage good smellingness in the pre-adolescent boys. It's a nice clean citrus-metallic scent that really is perfect for him. It reminds me of a cross between Aelopile and Mr. Quibit, which both get lots of wear in our home. I think it's easily a good unisex scent.

[zankoku_zen]

2012 version.

 

I really enjoyed the 2009 version of this blend, and its pretty similar with all the gleaming chrome and high pitched citrus notes. This one veers a little too close into cleanser territory though.

 

Citrus, metal, gleaming.

[milo]

Bright, white musk, kind of icy and metallic with a citrus tinge. Normally I don't like white musk, (or what I think is white musk) but here it is refreshing and clean. Leans on the edge of soapy territory, but actually I'd like this scent in a soap or shower gel. I have other citrus, refreshing blends that I like more, but this is nice, and worth checking out if you like these kind of blends.

[claudia6913]

This is a VERY citrusy scent. It's got the feel of the disinfectant wipes I use, the lemon scented ones. And while cleaning I like to smell that in the bathroom or kitchen, I'm not so sure I'd like it on myself.

[Zii]

Wet: Sharp metallic lemon. Usually these types of scents have high pitched headache inducing floral, but this is a bubbly, sharp lemon. Someone said lemon disinfectant wipes and while that's the right feel it isn't quite so medicinal.

 

Drying: There is a bright white musk coming into play now that I really love. This is everything I was hoping for out of scents like embalming fluid without the headache.

 

Dry: I have found my new summer scent! I know the BPAL esty has some of this, so it's time to get a bottle!

[Cali]

Metallics. Metallics with something incredibly sweet... Caramel?

Just ever so slightly cologne-y and soapy; these two amping on my skin like crazy, plus it getting super zingy in the process, then it goes a little fizzy and sour.

Very tell-tale, very inspiring, definately nice, but not something I think I'd wear often.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Cali

[Aveya]

Source: Swap!

Preconception: Pretty sure this one was a frimpie, or a "heck why not". No opinions!

 

Imp: Whoa clean and soapy. Didn't expect that.

Skin: Yep. Lovely clean soap.

Drydown: Metallics are there. The electrostatic effect can be read as electrostatic, or when Im lazy "soap". Metallic soap. A touch of ... leather? Like soft well worn brown leather, almost skin-like musk.

 

Verdict: Clean, electro-static charged, metallic. Comes across unisex, but I feel like it would do beautifully on someone masculine.

[Lucchesa]

Someone has a very reasonably priced bottle of Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys on their sales page right now, so I am testing my imp to see if I need more. This is a very bright scent. Clean and bright. Citrus, sharp white musk, and ozone? I'm not getting any dust; a couple of hours in the citrus has faded but it's still clean and bright, verging on soapy. It's a higher-pitched scent than usually works on me; I love the concept but wouldn't wear this one.

[fairybites]

This review is for the 2012 version!

 

Clean metallic cologne and lots of citrus. Very soft and faint, close to the skin. A touch of dust. The citrus fades very fast, within an hour. So now it's mostly metallic cologne and dust. Cannot see myself wearing this often, but it's a comforting nostalgic scent? 

 

Not 100% a dupe, but this does remind me of Toy-Strewn Attic from the 2020 Weenies. Also might just be the toy theming.