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puddingcatThe result of trying different ones before & after a shower.
Rappacini’s Garden - ASPHODEL
The grey and ghostly flower that fills the fields of Hades.
At least someone can spell "grey". Sweet & delicate rather than overpoweringly Bronnley soapy-floral, it's faint and fades quickly. I'd like to lie around in a field of this, if I had a good book or pleasant company. If Hades smells like this, it can't all be bad. Would suit someone consumptive and fragile; nice, but too flimsy for me.
Illyria - VIOLA
Gentle tea rose, lilac, Calla Lily, and Somalian Rose layered over golden Peruvian amber, Spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, and myrrh, with the lightest touch of Mandarin.
Threatens to go sour at first, through the amber & sandalwood, but this fades quickly & was definitely the mandarin. None of the flowers shout out particularly, so I'll take their word for what's in it. 30 mins later and it’s gone slightly hippyish but not to the expent of being something to cover up Dubious Personal Hygiene and smoke of questionable legality - it's a grown up hippy who's embraced respectability rather than hanging onto communes and shunning detergent. Fades into amber & sandalwood. I'd be quite happy to keep & wear this when I wanted to smell inoffensively pleasant, but equally I'd swap it for more Voodoo.
Excolo - BASTET
Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.
I can’t say I’ve ever found saffron to be fierce, but it’s certainly coming through with the almonds and cardamom. Best quality kulfi, or nutty nougaty loveliness. There’s something sharp in there as well, to stop it being sickly, but it’s not nose-wrinklingly sour. I can smell something warm too; I think it must be the musk, because there’s certainly something reminiscent of furry tummies in there. I'm not sure it should be called Bastet – it doen't have big enough claws – but it could possibly be a small fuzzy kitten. Or just ice cream.
Sin & Salvation - LUST
Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh.
Ok, I tried this without the cheat sheet open in front of me and got aniseed, liquorice and sarsaparilla, and (as far as I can remember) sweet shops have never made me uncontrollably horny, which makes the name rather confusing. With the description, I guess the patchouli comes through, but there’s definitely something in there that smells of ketones and makes my mouth water. Vague marker pen sweetness (but without the "is my brain melting?") concerns, dandelion & burdock. Apparently YY is "rubber & custard" while myrrh *smoke* is phenolic. While I can't smell custard (thank goodness), after a few hours it does settle into a rather musky rubber. This is possibly the first one that's made me think of sex rather than purely food (despite the liquorice) and I like it a lot :) Can't say I'm any more uncontrolled than normal, though.
Diabolus - NOCNITSA
Also known as Krisky, Plaksy and Gorska Makua, she is a nightmare spirit, the Night Hag of the Woods, who haunts Polish, Russian, Bulgarian and Slovak children during the darkest hours. The only protection against her torments is a circle drawn around a child’s cradle with a knife, or an axe or protective poppet hidden under the floorboards beneath where a child sleeps. Her scent is that of a lightless fir wood, nighttime air, wet forest mosses and upturned earth.
Hmm. Perhaps eating something withsoap coriander in at the same time as trying this was a bad idea. Yes, there’s something evergreen in there, but I’m not getting anything earthy or airy. Saying it smells like a very nice air freshener doesn’t do it justice, but there isn’t much else that’s coming to mind. It mellows away from pot pourri after a couple of hours, but still smells more like medicine (Benylin, possibly) than either food or sex (which, imo, are the two things that perfumes should bring to mind). Nice enough, but not for me.
Rappacini’s Garden - ASPHODEL
The grey and ghostly flower that fills the fields of Hades.
At least someone can spell "grey". Sweet & delicate rather than overpoweringly Bronnley soapy-floral, it's faint and fades quickly. I'd like to lie around in a field of this, if I had a good book or pleasant company. If Hades smells like this, it can't all be bad. Would suit someone consumptive and fragile; nice, but too flimsy for me.
Illyria - VIOLA
Gentle tea rose, lilac, Calla Lily, and Somalian Rose layered over golden Peruvian amber, Spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, and myrrh, with the lightest touch of Mandarin.
Threatens to go sour at first, through the amber & sandalwood, but this fades quickly & was definitely the mandarin. None of the flowers shout out particularly, so I'll take their word for what's in it. 30 mins later and it’s gone slightly hippyish but not to the expent of being something to cover up Dubious Personal Hygiene and smoke of questionable legality - it's a grown up hippy who's embraced respectability rather than hanging onto communes and shunning detergent. Fades into amber & sandalwood. I'd be quite happy to keep & wear this when I wanted to smell inoffensively pleasant, but equally I'd swap it for more Voodoo.
Excolo - BASTET
Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.
I can’t say I’ve ever found saffron to be fierce, but it’s certainly coming through with the almonds and cardamom. Best quality kulfi, or nutty nougaty loveliness. There’s something sharp in there as well, to stop it being sickly, but it’s not nose-wrinklingly sour. I can smell something warm too; I think it must be the musk, because there’s certainly something reminiscent of furry tummies in there. I'm not sure it should be called Bastet – it doen't have big enough claws – but it could possibly be a small fuzzy kitten. Or just ice cream.
Sin & Salvation - LUST
Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh.
Ok, I tried this without the cheat sheet open in front of me and got aniseed, liquorice and sarsaparilla, and (as far as I can remember) sweet shops have never made me uncontrollably horny, which makes the name rather confusing. With the description, I guess the patchouli comes through, but there’s definitely something in there that smells of ketones and makes my mouth water. Vague marker pen sweetness (but without the "is my brain melting?") concerns, dandelion & burdock. Apparently YY is "rubber & custard" while myrrh *smoke* is phenolic. While I can't smell custard (thank goodness), after a few hours it does settle into a rather musky rubber. This is possibly the first one that's made me think of sex rather than purely food (despite the liquorice) and I like it a lot :) Can't say I'm any more uncontrolled than normal, though.
Diabolus - NOCNITSA
Also known as Krisky, Plaksy and Gorska Makua, she is a nightmare spirit, the Night Hag of the Woods, who haunts Polish, Russian, Bulgarian and Slovak children during the darkest hours. The only protection against her torments is a circle drawn around a child’s cradle with a knife, or an axe or protective poppet hidden under the floorboards beneath where a child sleeps. Her scent is that of a lightless fir wood, nighttime air, wet forest mosses and upturned earth.
Hmm. Perhaps eating something with
