Four Reviews -- ZOMG Smells
Dec. 19th, 2010 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scent_junkiesI don't think I've reviewed any ZOMG Smells here yet. They're a fun little company--I think there's just the two of them--with a habit of coming up with silly, non-pretentious names for their blends. Their copy is pretty much the polar opposite of BPAL's and is a lot of fun to read. Their prices are right too--$12 for 5ml of the general catalog scents.
Anyway, I have quite the backlog of general catalog scents built up, so these are all things you can get at any time from them.
Just what it says on the tin. This is a slightly powdery amber combined with a nice resiny incense all covered with a candy coating; it kind of smells like the way those sugar candy buttons would smell if they'd been kept in a box with incense. I'm not getting the cake, but that's just as well; some of the cakey scents smell weird to me. It's not particularly complicated, nor does it change much once it goes on, but I like it a whole lot! Some of the really sweet scents seem a little too young for me, but this one doesn't make me feel like I'm wearing perfume aimed at the teen set.
My skin loves it some amber and so this one sticks around for the long haul and it's got a pretty decent throw to it.
This is really interesting because I expected my skin to amp up the amber from the get go the way it usually does. But no, I seem to be a winter, if the blast of mint I'm getting is any indication. Since I'm also a mint fan, this is working out well for me. It actually smells like mint tea with just a little bit of spiciness underneath from the carnation and the basil.
It fades fairly fast--both tea and mint are notorious for that--but then the amber kicks in a little. It's not a heavy incensey amber or anything like that, just a little hint of amber under the fading tea and mint. I like this blend but the fact that it vanishes so fast is disappointing, if expected.
Y'all, I have NO idea why I ordered this, given that the first note listed is rose, which almost always goes soapy on me. Thing is, this rose doesn't do that. I get the incense and the vanilla and the grape and yes, I can smell some rose too, but it's just a nice hint of rose under all the other notes. This is perfectly named, it's an imperial, almost demanding scent that I can easily imagine Theodora wearing. In fact, I think from now on, every time I reread the Sarantine Mosaic, I'll be thinking of this as the perfume Alixana wears, the one she allows only one other woman in Sarentium to wear.
I am utterly in love with it and even moreso because of the rose. I like rose as a scent and it's always bugged me that I can't wear oil blends with rose in them. Now, I'm wondering if it's just BPAL's rose because I kind of gave up on rose after about five or six tries, all of them BPAL.
The first thing that grabs me, right out of the bottle, is sandalwood followed quickly by the patchouli. This is a seriously woody scent at first and then the dirt note comes in behind it. It's an oddly unsettling scent, more "dirty hippie" than I'd expected, because usually the patchouli used these days is aged and not the cheap stuff. I think this was deliberate, after all they do mention churned earth. The amber comes out after a little while and the "dirty" note fades, but this is still a seriously dry, woody scent that just doesn't have enough warmth for me.
And yes, "caparisoned" is a great word.
Anyway, I have quite the backlog of general catalog scents built up, so these are all things you can get at any time from them.
Candied Head -- A scent specifically formulated for the days when choosing between smelling like a sweetshop and smelling like a headshop is simply impossible. Holly has this problem a lot. Sugared, cakey, amber-licious and incensey.
Just what it says on the tin. This is a slightly powdery amber combined with a nice resiny incense all covered with a candy coating; it kind of smells like the way those sugar candy buttons would smell if they'd been kept in a box with incense. I'm not getting the cake, but that's just as well; some of the cakey scents smell weird to me. It's not particularly complicated, nor does it change much once it goes on, but I like it a whole lot! Some of the really sweet scents seem a little too young for me, but this one doesn't make me feel like I'm wearing perfume aimed at the teen set.
My skin loves it some amber and so this one sticks around for the long haul and it's got a pretty decent throw to it.
Four Seasons In Mighty Contention on Trivial Matters -- There's at least one note for each of the four seasons in this blend: the idea was to develop something that would allow each wearer's skin chemistry to determine in what order the seasons changed. No two people seem to have the same seasons: Holly ends up in late summer and Ariel's a winter.
A fresh unisex blend of basil, carnation, mint, green tea, amber, and more.
This is really interesting because I expected my skin to amp up the amber from the get go the way it usually does. But no, I seem to be a winter, if the blast of mint I'm getting is any indication. Since I'm also a mint fan, this is working out well for me. It actually smells like mint tea with just a little bit of spiciness underneath from the carnation and the basil.
It fades fairly fast--both tea and mint are notorious for that--but then the amber kicks in a little. It's not a heavy incensey amber or anything like that, just a little hint of amber under the fading tea and mint. I like this blend but the fact that it vanishes so fast is disappointing, if expected.
Red Empress -- Deep red rose, musky thick-skinned grape, Imperial incense and a touch of smooth vanilla. This is a rich, earthy fragrance with the weight of power and experience behind it, suitable for wear when holding court, sitting on thrones, or having a cup of tea in a particularly imperious fashion.
Y'all, I have NO idea why I ordered this, given that the first note listed is rose, which almost always goes soapy on me. Thing is, this rose doesn't do that. I get the incense and the vanilla and the grape and yes, I can smell some rose too, but it's just a nice hint of rose under all the other notes. This is perfectly named, it's an imperial, almost demanding scent that I can easily imagine Theodora wearing. In fact, I think from now on, every time I reread the Sarantine Mosaic, I'll be thinking of this as the perfume Alixana wears, the one she allows only one other woman in Sarentium to wear.
I am utterly in love with it and even moreso because of the rose. I like rose as a scent and it's always bugged me that I can't wear oil blends with rose in them. Now, I'm wondering if it's just BPAL's rose because I kind of gave up on rose after about five or six tries, all of them BPAL.
Barbaric Splendour -- Rich and proud and glinting with everything precious your neighbors had until you rode up and took it away from them. A heady blend of plunder notes and the pleasure of inflicting your will on the populace! Golden amber, sandalwood, patchouli and earth churned by the hooves of your richly-caparisoned steed. Isn't 'caparisoned' a great word?
The first thing that grabs me, right out of the bottle, is sandalwood followed quickly by the patchouli. This is a seriously woody scent at first and then the dirt note comes in behind it. It's an oddly unsettling scent, more "dirty hippie" than I'd expected, because usually the patchouli used these days is aged and not the cheap stuff. I think this was deliberate, after all they do mention churned earth. The amber comes out after a little while and the "dirty" note fades, but this is still a seriously dry, woody scent that just doesn't have enough warmth for me.
And yes, "caparisoned" is a great word.
