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cpolkbecause I got an amazing amount of perfume in the mail.
Schwarzer Mond. The keeper of secrets: opoponax, Tunisian black amber, night musk, antique patchouli, zdravetz, terebinth, myrrh, and Pimenta racemosa.
colour: deep ruby-brown. it looks like maple syrup.
imp: wtf? I smell mint? MINT? have i gone insane? I also smell wood, of some kind, and something that makes me think specifically of Orientique ( I think only the Canadians will grok that.)
wait a second. That's patchouli, isn't it? That's the first time I've smelled what I recognize as patchouli, in the bottle. must not rush this. must not slather. must sniff.
I get a hint of something like a sweet resin. I don't think it's amber, but sweet resin. so... mint. wood. patchouli. resin.
onward.
Wet: oh what's that? some kind of dried herb, something from the spice cabinet that reminds me of clove (please, no) something peppery. where did the patchouli go? I smelled it in the bottle, why not now? no, all i'm getting is that clove-like smell. not the flashback to the dentist's office trauma that was uranus for me, but still...
patchouli? come back!
maybe that's myrrh I smell, and not clove. it's not making the sides of my tongue curl the way clove does. but get this - when I move my wrist away, I get that orientique smell - not just the patchouli but the incense and more specifically the PAPER shipments came packed in...
I know it's starting to dry aleady but the very highest note is something clean and cobweb clearing to smell. with the feel of mint, but not mint. somebody tell me what that is, I'm baffled.
and intrigued.
(partway into waiting for 20 minutes after smelling the "wet" stage) that high note is like something from my grandpa's medicine cabinet. but I don't know what. something really old-fashioned from that early to middle 20th century vibe, but with a twist. My grandfather used hair dress, but marketed specifically to black men. and shaving soap, and carter's liver pills, and mysterious bottles of things. whatever this note is, it's making me think about pulling everything out of the medicine cabinet, and putting it all back. but I don't remember what in there smelled like this.
20 minutes: back to that something peppery. (Patchouli? where did you go? Resins? hello?) and the sweet mysterious I remember this smell.
but take my wrist away to type and I get wood. a tiny sliver of wood. almost piney, something with turpinol, something that I want to call anise but I know its' not anise. and it's not fennel. but that sort of a licorice sort of vibe. like some kind of an herbal tincture. Medicine. I smell medicine.
I think that this imp is going to have to age before I try it again. it's so evocative, and just... so bizarre.
Dr. John Seward: Penetrating and gifted, vulnerable, with just a hint of opium-blurred delirium: poppy smoke, champaca flower, tonka, sandalwood, ginger, white pepper.
bottle:
ohhhh.
yesterday I was asking for something that was "nutty." i am getting this buttery candied almond smell. I like it. it's not what i expected of dr. john. I LIKE it.
wet:
now add plastic doll heads.
dammit! I'm getting my period soon, aren't i? but not to worry, not to worry. there's something else going on here that I'm really loving. Hello, tonka. just step on the barbies... there you go. oh, ginger! I catch a whiff of it.
dry:
plastic doll heads gone.
and how weird that I smell apples. I didn't get this confused with harvest moon, did I? but apples. and a floral, too, and sandalwood? some kind of wood. cedar?
This one is confusing me. oh well, I got a bottle.
The High Priest Not to Be Described: Monastic incense, blood musk, black leather, cypress, pimento, white pepper, and Roman chamomile.
imp:
cinnamon?
oh, no.
but what else is that? the floral scent that makes me think of lotus, but only the thinnest dribble of it? maybe dragon's blood?
wet:
I don't think I like this. it's insensey and I get a pepper senstation from it but it's just the wrong sort of mix, I can tell right away. soap, I need soap.
The Music of Erich Zahn: A ghoulish and tortured scent, suffused with the blackness of space illimitable: ajowan, vetiver, black musk, opoponax, mimosa, and tamarind.
imp:
oh, THERE we go. that's beautiful. fresh and clear undercut with the earthy beauty of vetiver. a thin note of greenery, a touch of spice, something reminding me of salt-lick skin.
wet:
funny I should mention salt. because this is vetiver and the sea, and it's making my toes curl. and skin scent, oh my yes. I'm swooning. it's gorgeous. it totally hits my weird taste in perfume buttons. a few minutes later it's all that and a sweetness I can't describe. I just want to lick myself. I want to brace me against the wall and shag myself silly, if that were possible. I could bathe in it. I want a vat. this has been the BIG WINNER of my bpal haul so far. and my personal taste in perfume is so alien and so un-girl.
This is a catalogue scent. I weep for joy.
dry:
I can't tell you about what it smells like 20 minutes later. I can't stop sniffing myself. zowie. I love this a lot and so much.
kindly moon - Utterly ethereal, an exquisite expression of love: moonflower, lotus root, white gardenia, beeswax, peach blossom, blue musk, stargazer lily, golden osmanthus, ti, sandalwood, hyacinth, ylang ylang, and a touch of vanilla bean.
bottle: fruit and flowers. oh my but it is girly. I smell the peach blossom quite a bit here, but it's not the only thing i smell.
wet: on my skin the peach instantly amps. I hope I'm not having the bellini problem again. I can smell something resinous beneath it, and I'm enjoying that quite a bit. I already like this better than Peony Moon for me, though it is quite feminine and so I would probably only wear it when I wanted something different than my usual dirty hippie vibe.
dry: a floral blend. I can smell the lilies, and they haven't gone to soap the way they usually do. the peach blossom has moved back, obligingly. it's quite, quite pretty.
Al-Azif A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay.
...and they say, "Follow me! I have Candy!"
imp:
again with that butterynut smell. and mmm. this is gooood.
wet:
something spicy and herbal. a savory spice for cooking, though. the faintest whiff of something like cocoa. and whoops, that medicine cabinet smell from schwarzer mond. but this time it's a more asian apocethary. sandalwood? leather? I'm still learning how to tell the notes apart. this is a male scent. maybe not even a male scent that I'd wear anyway. it's growing sexier by the minute, though. no, definitely leather. not dyed leather, though. no hang on maybe I will wear this on myself. it smells really good. it's not kicking my butt like The Music of Erich Zahn, but it's still really nice.
dry:
god this is good.
I smell the vetiver, now. it's not a strong vetiver, but it's vetiver, and so I love it automatically. but it's vetiver and burnt sugar, and that I never would have tried as a combination. that's really cool. the medicine cabinet smell only lasted for a minute or two before it disappeared. mm.
Long after:
the medicine cabinet smell is back, but very faintly, along with this sweet burnt sugar and incense thing. this is nice.
Schwarzer Mond. The keeper of secrets: opoponax, Tunisian black amber, night musk, antique patchouli, zdravetz, terebinth, myrrh, and Pimenta racemosa.
colour: deep ruby-brown. it looks like maple syrup.
imp: wtf? I smell mint? MINT? have i gone insane? I also smell wood, of some kind, and something that makes me think specifically of Orientique ( I think only the Canadians will grok that.)
wait a second. That's patchouli, isn't it? That's the first time I've smelled what I recognize as patchouli, in the bottle. must not rush this. must not slather. must sniff.
I get a hint of something like a sweet resin. I don't think it's amber, but sweet resin. so... mint. wood. patchouli. resin.
onward.
Wet: oh what's that? some kind of dried herb, something from the spice cabinet that reminds me of clove (please, no) something peppery. where did the patchouli go? I smelled it in the bottle, why not now? no, all i'm getting is that clove-like smell. not the flashback to the dentist's office trauma that was uranus for me, but still...
patchouli? come back!
maybe that's myrrh I smell, and not clove. it's not making the sides of my tongue curl the way clove does. but get this - when I move my wrist away, I get that orientique smell - not just the patchouli but the incense and more specifically the PAPER shipments came packed in...
I know it's starting to dry aleady but the very highest note is something clean and cobweb clearing to smell. with the feel of mint, but not mint. somebody tell me what that is, I'm baffled.
and intrigued.
(partway into waiting for 20 minutes after smelling the "wet" stage) that high note is like something from my grandpa's medicine cabinet. but I don't know what. something really old-fashioned from that early to middle 20th century vibe, but with a twist. My grandfather used hair dress, but marketed specifically to black men. and shaving soap, and carter's liver pills, and mysterious bottles of things. whatever this note is, it's making me think about pulling everything out of the medicine cabinet, and putting it all back. but I don't remember what in there smelled like this.
20 minutes: back to that something peppery. (Patchouli? where did you go? Resins? hello?) and the sweet mysterious I remember this smell.
but take my wrist away to type and I get wood. a tiny sliver of wood. almost piney, something with turpinol, something that I want to call anise but I know its' not anise. and it's not fennel. but that sort of a licorice sort of vibe. like some kind of an herbal tincture. Medicine. I smell medicine.
I think that this imp is going to have to age before I try it again. it's so evocative, and just... so bizarre.
Dr. John Seward: Penetrating and gifted, vulnerable, with just a hint of opium-blurred delirium: poppy smoke, champaca flower, tonka, sandalwood, ginger, white pepper.
bottle:
ohhhh.
yesterday I was asking for something that was "nutty." i am getting this buttery candied almond smell. I like it. it's not what i expected of dr. john. I LIKE it.
wet:
now add plastic doll heads.
dammit! I'm getting my period soon, aren't i? but not to worry, not to worry. there's something else going on here that I'm really loving. Hello, tonka. just step on the barbies... there you go. oh, ginger! I catch a whiff of it.
dry:
plastic doll heads gone.
and how weird that I smell apples. I didn't get this confused with harvest moon, did I? but apples. and a floral, too, and sandalwood? some kind of wood. cedar?
This one is confusing me. oh well, I got a bottle.
The High Priest Not to Be Described: Monastic incense, blood musk, black leather, cypress, pimento, white pepper, and Roman chamomile.
imp:
cinnamon?
oh, no.
but what else is that? the floral scent that makes me think of lotus, but only the thinnest dribble of it? maybe dragon's blood?
wet:
I don't think I like this. it's insensey and I get a pepper senstation from it but it's just the wrong sort of mix, I can tell right away. soap, I need soap.
The Music of Erich Zahn: A ghoulish and tortured scent, suffused with the blackness of space illimitable: ajowan, vetiver, black musk, opoponax, mimosa, and tamarind.
imp:
oh, THERE we go. that's beautiful. fresh and clear undercut with the earthy beauty of vetiver. a thin note of greenery, a touch of spice, something reminding me of salt-lick skin.
wet:
funny I should mention salt. because this is vetiver and the sea, and it's making my toes curl. and skin scent, oh my yes. I'm swooning. it's gorgeous. it totally hits my weird taste in perfume buttons. a few minutes later it's all that and a sweetness I can't describe. I just want to lick myself. I want to brace me against the wall and shag myself silly, if that were possible. I could bathe in it. I want a vat. this has been the BIG WINNER of my bpal haul so far. and my personal taste in perfume is so alien and so un-girl.
This is a catalogue scent. I weep for joy.
dry:
I can't tell you about what it smells like 20 minutes later. I can't stop sniffing myself. zowie. I love this a lot and so much.
kindly moon - Utterly ethereal, an exquisite expression of love: moonflower, lotus root, white gardenia, beeswax, peach blossom, blue musk, stargazer lily, golden osmanthus, ti, sandalwood, hyacinth, ylang ylang, and a touch of vanilla bean.
bottle: fruit and flowers. oh my but it is girly. I smell the peach blossom quite a bit here, but it's not the only thing i smell.
wet: on my skin the peach instantly amps. I hope I'm not having the bellini problem again. I can smell something resinous beneath it, and I'm enjoying that quite a bit. I already like this better than Peony Moon for me, though it is quite feminine and so I would probably only wear it when I wanted something different than my usual dirty hippie vibe.
dry: a floral blend. I can smell the lilies, and they haven't gone to soap the way they usually do. the peach blossom has moved back, obligingly. it's quite, quite pretty.
Al-Azif A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay.
...and they say, "Follow me! I have Candy!"
imp:
again with that butterynut smell. and mmm. this is gooood.
wet:
something spicy and herbal. a savory spice for cooking, though. the faintest whiff of something like cocoa. and whoops, that medicine cabinet smell from schwarzer mond. but this time it's a more asian apocethary. sandalwood? leather? I'm still learning how to tell the notes apart. this is a male scent. maybe not even a male scent that I'd wear anyway. it's growing sexier by the minute, though. no, definitely leather. not dyed leather, though. no hang on maybe I will wear this on myself. it smells really good. it's not kicking my butt like The Music of Erich Zahn, but it's still really nice.
dry:
god this is good.
I smell the vetiver, now. it's not a strong vetiver, but it's vetiver, and so I love it automatically. but it's vetiver and burnt sugar, and that I never would have tried as a combination. that's really cool. the medicine cabinet smell only lasted for a minute or two before it disappeared. mm.
Long after:
the medicine cabinet smell is back, but very faintly, along with this sweet burnt sugar and incense thing. this is nice.
