Chaos Theory VI: Recursive Self-Similarity v5

[MCS4096]

#186: I'm going to guess heavy amber with equally heavy lotus and a hint of leather. In the bottle it's super bubble gummy with just a whiff of dirty dry leather. Kinda like bubble gum on a leather car seat baking in the sun? On my skin I don't get the leather unfortunately, and I think that's because the lovely amber begins to amp and it becomes a super sweet, deep amber. Nice

 

#197: I get practically no amber from this one. It smells a LOT like Kumiho to me, both in the bottle and on my skin. I get crisp tea, white ginger flowers.. It's incredibly faint, though pretty, and within minutes it's gone. I'm going to have to do a proper full body slather application to see if I can pick up more nuances. I wish it had more amber and was stronger!

[amanderinorange]

#141

 

At first this is a very light scent, almost to the point where I couldn't really smell it in the bottle.

 

On skin: This is still fairly light, but I can actually smell it now. A light amber with a resinous/incense scent on top, though I'm not really sure what. Frankincense? Myrrh? Either way, it's lovely and dry but not powdery. In fact, it's a perfect amber/incense blend for summer. Light enough that it won't give me a headache while still being rich enough to smell.

 

I'm very happy with my amber blend and glad I took a risk.

[Gwydion]

15:

In bottle: It’s sort of shampooish. I’m guessing maybe balsam. It also gives the impression of paper and cool tile. It is faintly powdery. It may contain musk, but if so, likely white musk in small amounts. There is something vaguely orange blossomy. It’s soft and cool and clean smelling. Wet: Amber and the thing I think is orange blossom, but may be some other citrus on top. It’s very gentle and delicate and mildly sweet. Dry: mostly gum and balsam, I think, with that touch of orange.

[meredevachon]

I told myself when I first started exploring all the lovely smelly-goods from BPAL that I would limit myself to the GC oils. That way, if I fell completely in love with something, it wouldn't be something that was going to be impossible to find again.

 

And I did well for almost 3 years. My most recent order? Only LEs. And not just any LEs, but 2 Chaos Theory blends. I'd say so much for trying to be smart, but I got some really yummy frangrances, so I'm not going to complain. (or not until I run out ) And with amber and vanilla as two of the base note options, I couldn't resist.

 

#223

 

In the bottle: a sweet amber, soft and round.

 

Wet: The amber's there, but almost overshadowed by...sweetpea? Yeah, I think it's sweetpea.

 

Dry down: It doesn't take long for this to meld into a really nice blend. I keep sniffing myself.

 

Dry: Lasts a long time, which surprised me a little, mostly because of the sweetpea, amber usually lasts a long time on me. Mostly amber and sweetpea still, but there's a softer, deeper note I can't quite place, but really like what it adds to the overall effect.

 

Overall: The very first BPAL I picked out was Mouse's Long and Sad Tail, and it's still my favorite. The one thing I could never smell in it, though, was sweetpea. And now I've got that. Hmm...sounds like time to try layering, see how things turn out.

 

~*~*~

 

#47

 

So...I couldn't stop with just one. We all know BPAL's addictive, right?

 

In the bottle: Perfumey. Some kind of floral-citrusy, got caught by an atomiser while walking through a department store, where's my amber? kind of scent.

 

Wet: Less perfumey, which is good. Jasmine and some kind of citrus. Still no sign of the amber.

 

Drydown: Gets softer and rounder, so even though I can't pull out amber as amber, it's there and doing its job. Wish I could figure out what the citrus is.

 

Dry: After awhile, jasmine's still the top note, but it kind of wafts in and out, like a night breeze carrying the scent of jasmine through a window. The citrus is still a mystery, not sweet, nor sour, nor bitter, but definitely citrus.

 

Overall: I keep sniffing my arm. From my own description, this doesn't sound like something I'd love, but I do. It's bright, almost sparkly at times, and it smells yellow. Like a sunny night breeze, as oxymoronic as that is.

Edited July 7, 2010 by meredevachon

[malibusunny]

98.

 

Apparently, I am TERRIBLE at picking out scents. I mean, there is amber. I figured that much out from the name. LOL. I mostly know what it is not: it is not anything I normally wear. There is something floral, but I don't know what sort of floral it is, because I don't do florals, except that I know it's not rose. There is something a little sharp to my nose, but not citrusy exactly. As it sits on my skin, it turns soapy, like, ivory soap soapy. ozymandias did the same thing on me.

 

It makes me sneeze even from a distance. I'm not in love with it by any definition, but it was fun to try.

 

 

 

[Venneh]

#221: Wow, whatever's in here, it's really strong. Amber and... what smells like cleaning solution, maybe pine? I've smelled something like this before, but I can't put my finger on it. But now that I'm smelling it more, it smells like lemon-lime soda, only gone wrong. Very, very light application. ...No, wait, I know what this is. This is the champagne note from the Champagne and... blends, and it always goes to fizzy ammonia on me like this! Well, now I know what's causing that, and off it goes.

 

#200: Amber, and... something I can't place. On my skin, amber and maybe frankincense? Not sure again, can't quite place it. Fades quick, can't really place this, sorry for the fail review.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Venneh

[samarablackcat]

#23 (where's the Roman Numerals?)

 

Love the Chaos Star...another fantastic alicia_stardust original, woohoo!

 

Amber 23 reminds me of Calico Jack and Mary Read...not as "biting", with the wind whipping at your face, but more of a sultry, summer evening on the beach, waiting for sunset, with the smell of the ocean (specifically the Gulf before the oil spill) and the sun on your skin. Very gender neutral and warm.

 

Amber as a supporting player, with sea air, kelp or seaweed, perhaps a little salt water splashed on warm skin. Right up my alley as an aquatic fan!

[caseys]

CT Amber #128 - In the bottle this is Myrrh! with a tiny bit of amber lurking in the background. Wet on my skin, I get myrrh, amber, and some emerging patchouli. It is smoky and delicious for a while, and then it goes through a worrisome BO stage for about 30 minutes (which is how patchouli usually behaves on my skin). The final drydown is amazing though! I think there might be some sandalwood in here too, because I can detect a hint of sweet woodiness after an hour or so. Thankfully, the BO phase is relatively short-lived.

 

Overall, this isn't incredibly amber-heavy. It's mostly myrrh and patchouli with just a little warmth added by the amber and sandalwood. I'm going to hang on to this for a while, because I'll bet it's going to age really, really well!

[sarielswish]

111.

 

Got to try a friend's bottle. In the bottle, it's Skittles. Dead on berry Skittles. Very sugary and fruity, no amber to be found on the initial sniff. On me, it starts off Juicy Fruit gum and dries down to some horrid Victoria's Secret lotion reject - Amber Vanilla Berry with a good strong dose of melon on the back end that took me forever to figure out. It took me all day to figure out that it was the same note I didn't like in Yemaya. On her - started off berry Skittles, turned to melted vanilla ice cream with a hint of amber.

 

 

[edenssixthday]

#154 - this is drop-dead gorgeous. It's a lovely base of amber with a healthy dose of tiare. It's so tropical and gorgeous. I don't have words for how amazing this scent is. If there's anything else in it besides amber and tiare, I have no idea what it might be. Who cares? This is to die for.

[Pepperminx]

#209

 

Lovely amber, slightly powdery, with a hint of leather. Possibly some florals in the background, of a fruity kind (plum blossom or some such.)

 

A keeper!

 

ETA - I don't think it's a fruity floral, there in the background, anymore. It comes off as slightly tropical, like a vanilla orchid or some such white floral. Very nice balance between foody vanilla, and some baked goods, and floral vanilla.

Edited June 28, 2010 by Grynet

[steelfaerie]

Okie-doke, here we go. This is my first experience with Chaos, but amber is my favorite, so I had to swallow my trepidation and buy two bottles.

 

#33.

 

From the git-go I can tell that this is not going to work. In the bottle it smells like straight bubblegum, which is just a no-go. There is some kind of fresh woody smell underlying that. Interestingly, this is the fullest bottle I've ever seen - it's full, basically, to the lip of the bottle.

 

On skin: Yup, bubblegum. Bubblegum and (because my skin chemistry is terrible) urinal cakes. Where is the amber? I feel like this could definitely work for someone else, but it just won't work for me. As it's drying, a cool scent is also coming out in there that I can't pinpoint.

 

No. No, no, no.

 

#55.

 

Okay, this has potential. In the bottle it is warmer than #33, deeper and rounded.

 

On skin: Oh my gosh, this is really beautiful. Wet, it reminds me of Pink by Victoria's Secret, only... you know, good. As it dries... holy crap, this is very hard to pick notes out of. The amber is definitely there. I feel like the amber is making the rest of the notes glow, somehow. There are florals in there - maybe very light, white florals. There is also a very faint underlying incensey smell. This is gooooooood. Oh, here comes the incense -not overpowering, but stronger, meshing with the other scents and blending it into this mysterious-smelling deliciousness. This one is gorgeous.

[angelicruin]

#116 - All I am getting out of this one is men's cologne. And it's actually giving me a slight headache smelling it.

[white_jenna63]

207.

 

Spiced....melon?

 

At first, it's a sharp, spiced green, no hint of amber. Not a "pie spice" type spice, something sharper, like pepper, but not pepper (at least, not that I'm familiar with). And then it morphs into a definite melon note, maybe honeydew? The amber finally comes out as it starts to dry down, and it's a very "perfumy" amber, as opposed to golden incense. The heavy perfume note eventually dies down.

 

Very interesting, this one.

[spiresinthesnow]

#194 - Drool.. I got a "foody" amber. Smells like strong salty sweet butter and amber, real creamy and rich, reminds me of butterscotch and amaretto at first sniff, but mostly butter and sweet amber. Strong and long lasting. I love it!

Edited July 1, 2010 by glasspillars

[rinster]

I love my Chaos Amber 191! It has a light fruitiness--possibly plum or currants? The amber grounds it from being overly sweet, which is good because I'm not fond of strongly fruity scents. I can't tell if anything else is going on here, but it's a very well balanced, beautful scent. I'd never tried a Chaos before as the reviews seem to be hit or miss, but I'm so glad I took the chance!

 

 

Update - On drydown, this reminds me of an ambery, subdued version of Vice. Orange, chocolate, and amber? This seems to go against the rules of man and nature, but cripes it's GOOD!

Edited July 2, 2010 by rinster

[marared]

#32: This has changed rapidly in 10 hours. When I first sniffed the bottle this morning, it was a cologney citrus blast that turned into a non-boozy kind of margarita. Now it smells like citrus *peel*, to the point that I'm pretty sure that the citrus in question is lime. But no matter what the opening stages, it consistently dries down to soapy amber.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

#103

oddly, the bottle was barely full to the label, instead of VERY FULL like Chaos blends generally have been for me.

 

smells like... coconut bubblegum. with a hint of that Palmers Cocoa Butter smell.

[cyanidenoir]

#112

I, too, am not good with notes. All I really know is if I likey or if I loathey. And so far, I'm not liking this one

 

On my skin, it's tobacco and soap with very little amber. After a while, it turns into tobacco-y soapy amber. Nope, not fer me.

[surlygurl]

#40 This just came in the mail today. It'll no doubt age into something else, and when it does I'll edit this post.

 

3 words: Ambery Rootbeer Cake.

 

I like it. Nice throw, too.

 

eta: Now that it's settled, the cake is mostly gone. It's ambery rootbeer and it smells amazing!!

Edited July 10, 2010 by surlygurl

[skyelyric]

#143

 

This is a total morpher on me, and I'm having a really hard time picking out the amber. Bizarre and fun and pleasant but not something I can really see myself wearing. In the bottle and wet it's very foody, reminds me of Teatime in Roswell without the cucumber note, but there's an almost back-of-the-throat-after-you've-whiffed hint of citrus. Briefly I was strongly reminded of Aelopile, but once this settled it was more of a...lemony bakery smell? I thought citrus was supposed to burn off first rather than be the last man standing, but the end result seems to be lightly tangy with a sweet toastiness underneath. Very much a foody blend on me.

 

#34

 

I totally can't pin this one down...at times it's smoke and vetiver, and then it reminds me a lot of Scorpio with the kind of dirty rootbeer vibe. Might have to age this one and see if it turns into something amazing.

 

 

[Thursdae]

#356

Amber and chocolate.

[forspecial_plate]

I got number 354! I wish I loved it! : (

 

It has rose. Well, we know it has amber too, so amber and rose. Other than that I believe there might be sandalwood, the dry papery kind, and possibly vanilla. I might actually be able to wear this......I mean, I don't wear a lot of rose scents, but this is very pretty so I'm going to try to learn to love it.

 

It totally reminds me of The Harp of Cnoc I'Chosgair, minus the tiare, with the rose from Peacock Queen. I don't know if it has sandalwood, vanilla, or both, but it's a dead ringer for the Harp, plus rose.

[cyberpuff]

I got Amber CT #390 here.

 

In the bottle: Green floral and amber. Kind of reminds me of Isle of Demons. I think there's some lily at play here.

 

Drydown on skin: Here comes the amber. There's a light musk here too.

 

A little later: All I smell right now is amber, but not the powdery kind- just straight amber. Good amber. What powdery amber aspires to be.

 

An hour later: This is amber well balanced with whatever the other notes really are. The final thing going here is nothing like Isle of Demons- all the green is gone- and is more like an amber version of Smut.

 

Verdict: This will be getting a lot of attention from me, I predict!

[Little Bird]

154. This smells a lot like a stronger floral version of The Harp of Cnoc Ichosgair. Creamy, tropical, gardenia-monoi-tiare goodness and warm, dry, dusty amber.