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rushthatspeaksMy Big Huge Wedding Entry is about half done; it's all written, but I have to do the upload pictures/link to pictures/caption pictures bit, which always takes forever. About another day or so, I think. In the meantime, have a perfume review.
It's a cult. A cult, I tell you.
Actually, it's the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (warning: website may devour your soul), who have taken over many of my friends by the simple expedient of having the best product descriptions ever. I have perfume called Nyarlathotep, of all things, and they warm the cockles of my classically-educated heart by having an entire line named after deities and spirits, including things like Pannychis and Peitho and Xiuhtecuhtli. They've got a line called after the points of the Sephirot. They quite simply rock. And they're all hand-blended and don't smell a damn thing like department-store perfume, and you can get a sample pack of six 1/32 oz. vials of any blend of your choice for sixteen bucks plus shipping. So![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
weirdquark and I ordered some, and are entering happily into the sample-swapping adjective-heavy treat-for-the-nose of it all. I've never particularly worn perfume, because it usually smells a) really girly and b) artificial and kind of cloying. This stuff... you can get girly if you want it, but I could see a lot of these working on a guy. Cloying, not as such. /product placement.
Which brings me to today's review.
This was a freebie, one of the ones we didn't pick. Contents of this box, for those of you who care, are: ordered-- Bliss, Nyarlathotep, Titania, Bordello, The White Rabbit, Eclipse; free-- The Red Queen, Hellcat. Neither of the freebies were on our wishlist, but it's good to broaden one's horizons.
I now know I frickin' hate cherry in perfume. That's broadening. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Product Description: The Red Queen: Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.
In the Vial: When Cherries Attack, news at eleven. Sweet-sick punch, like a blow to the sinuses. Almost cough syrup, but too assertive. Still, I have to say they got the name right-- the wood undertone is detectable, and it smells red. This is a chess piece. Am not sure I want to go around smelling like a chess piece. Neither Weirdquark nor myself have high hopes for this, so I decide to get it out of the way.
Wet: ... what the hell? I've been told that personal skin chemistry can change the scent of a perfume a good deal between vial and wearer, but this is *ridiculous*. All that attacking cherry, which had been noticeable not just throughout the room but right out in the hall, the main note, the punch of it-- is just gone. No detectable cherry at all, nor in fact anything fruity. The only thing remaining is the wood, or woods (I wouldn't know how to tell one from another). My wrist now smells like a rather dusty piece of damp timber, teetering on the verge of rotting, or maybe like an old-style wooden watering trough. Not actually an improvement on the cherry, but the thing that is rocking me back on my heels is how totally different this smell is from the vial.
Drydown: Now it's all gone. No scent at all. It vanished absolutely totally as it dried, no trace left. No one I wave it at can tell I put anything on.
Half an Hour Later: And like flipping a switch here it comes again. Bad penny much? Except this time there is cherry, with intent to maim; not as sweet as in the vial, so that it mingles with the wood in a sort of nauseating ashiness. It's getting sweeter and more powerful by the moment, with an undertone of deadly bitterness. I wash it off after I notice that I have developed a horrible pounding headache of the knife between the eyes sort and am well on my way into nausea.
Other's Reactions: Wife, regarding the vial: 'That's not just cherry, that's maraschino. Do you really want to smell like a maraschino cherry?' Cats: Run away! Run away! Everyone else, regarding various stages: *gag* *ick* *bleah* *cough* *gag*.
In Conclusion: Abso-frickin'-lutely never again. It was just as bad on Weirdquark as it was on me, in a totally different set of horrifying ways. Based on some other testing I will write up later, we basically figure neither of us should ever, EVER wear cherry, and that it is entirely possible that I should not wear fruit scents at all. If there's anyone out there whose skin chemistry treats fruit with kindness, you can totally have this, because I don't think we can even use this as bug repellent.
Fortunately, it was both free and by far the worst of the batch (by a gigantic margin). And I have to admit, it was an experience.
It's a cult. A cult, I tell you.
Actually, it's the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (warning: website may devour your soul), who have taken over many of my friends by the simple expedient of having the best product descriptions ever. I have perfume called Nyarlathotep, of all things, and they warm the cockles of my classically-educated heart by having an entire line named after deities and spirits, including things like Pannychis and Peitho and Xiuhtecuhtli. They've got a line called after the points of the Sephirot. They quite simply rock. And they're all hand-blended and don't smell a damn thing like department-store perfume, and you can get a sample pack of six 1/32 oz. vials of any blend of your choice for sixteen bucks plus shipping. So
weirdquark and I ordered some, and are entering happily into the sample-swapping adjective-heavy treat-for-the-nose of it all. I've never particularly worn perfume, because it usually smells a) really girly and b) artificial and kind of cloying. This stuff... you can get girly if you want it, but I could see a lot of these working on a guy. Cloying, not as such. /product placement.Which brings me to today's review.
This was a freebie, one of the ones we didn't pick. Contents of this box, for those of you who care, are: ordered-- Bliss, Nyarlathotep, Titania, Bordello, The White Rabbit, Eclipse; free-- The Red Queen, Hellcat. Neither of the freebies were on our wishlist, but it's good to broaden one's horizons.
I now know I frickin' hate cherry in perfume. That's broadening. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Product Description: The Red Queen: Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.
In the Vial: When Cherries Attack, news at eleven. Sweet-sick punch, like a blow to the sinuses. Almost cough syrup, but too assertive. Still, I have to say they got the name right-- the wood undertone is detectable, and it smells red. This is a chess piece. Am not sure I want to go around smelling like a chess piece. Neither Weirdquark nor myself have high hopes for this, so I decide to get it out of the way.
Wet: ... what the hell? I've been told that personal skin chemistry can change the scent of a perfume a good deal between vial and wearer, but this is *ridiculous*. All that attacking cherry, which had been noticeable not just throughout the room but right out in the hall, the main note, the punch of it-- is just gone. No detectable cherry at all, nor in fact anything fruity. The only thing remaining is the wood, or woods (I wouldn't know how to tell one from another). My wrist now smells like a rather dusty piece of damp timber, teetering on the verge of rotting, or maybe like an old-style wooden watering trough. Not actually an improvement on the cherry, but the thing that is rocking me back on my heels is how totally different this smell is from the vial.
Drydown: Now it's all gone. No scent at all. It vanished absolutely totally as it dried, no trace left. No one I wave it at can tell I put anything on.
Half an Hour Later: And like flipping a switch here it comes again. Bad penny much? Except this time there is cherry, with intent to maim; not as sweet as in the vial, so that it mingles with the wood in a sort of nauseating ashiness. It's getting sweeter and more powerful by the moment, with an undertone of deadly bitterness. I wash it off after I notice that I have developed a horrible pounding headache of the knife between the eyes sort and am well on my way into nausea.
Other's Reactions: Wife, regarding the vial: 'That's not just cherry, that's maraschino. Do you really want to smell like a maraschino cherry?' Cats: Run away! Run away! Everyone else, regarding various stages: *gag* *ick* *bleah* *cough* *gag*.
In Conclusion: Abso-frickin'-lutely never again. It was just as bad on Weirdquark as it was on me, in a totally different set of horrifying ways. Based on some other testing I will write up later, we basically figure neither of us should ever, EVER wear cherry, and that it is entirely possible that I should not wear fruit scents at all. If there's anyone out there whose skin chemistry treats fruit with kindness, you can totally have this, because I don't think we can even use this as bug repellent.
Fortunately, it was both free and by far the worst of the batch (by a gigantic margin). And I have to admit, it was an experience.
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 10:39 pm (UTC)I loathe cherries and your description is making me gag so much I'm having to drink a giant glass of water to counteract it.
As I'll be making one for
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 11:45 pm (UTC)I think I'll wait until you're done with your reviews so I might take advantage of your experiences. I'm such a leech.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 12:28 am (UTC)In other words, like the gigantic wooden play structures (that used to be?) next to the Cambridge Public Library. Those had a very distinctive rain-pounded scent. I always wondered if it could be bottled.
Though I have to say, a perfume entitled "When Cherries Attack" would probably sell very well.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 04:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 09:44 am (UTC)thanks
Date: 2005-08-19 10:33 am (UTC)