W

[journal]

WANDA
ars amatoria 

"And yet a restless, always unsatisfied craving for the nudity of paganism," she interrupted, "but that love, which is the highest joy, which is divine simplicity itself, is not for you moderns, you children of reflection. It works only evil in you. As soon as you wish to be natural, you become common. To you nature seems something hostile; you have made devils out of the smiling gods of Greece, and out of me a demon. You can only exorcise and curse me, or slay yourselves in bacchantic madness before my altar. And if ever one of you has had the courage to kiss my red mouth, he makes a barefoot pilgrimage to Rome in penitential robes and expects flowers to grow from his withered staff, while under my feet roses, violets, and myrtles spring up every hour, but their fragrance does not agree with you. Stay among your northern fogs and Christian incense; let us pagans remain under the debris, beneath the lava; do not disinter us. Pompeii was not built for you, nor our villas, our baths, our temples. You do not require gods. We are chilled in your world."

Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a 21st century Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes. While Loviatar is the Goddess of Pain, Wanda govens Control. She is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch’s fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.  

The wine is definitely at the foreground here, but I get little whiffs of florals way back there. No she gets a bottle and I will be back when I don't have faint jasmine on my skin from sorting therough the imps. 

Second try and it's absolutely gorgeous. There is a sharp wood thing in the very beginning, a little like vetiver but not really, then the wine kicks in and it's deep and dark and red. It doesn't stay long, and after just a few minutes it gives way for rose and leather. The other florals don't make much of themselves, they just deepen the rose a little. And the rose isn't porky so yay. I think i'll wear it for a second day even if i'm in test mode.

I'll also put it on my bottle wishlist. It is that good. 
 

WAR
good omens 

She finished the drink, hefted the sword over one shoulder, and looked around at the puzzled factions, who now encircled her completely. 'Sorry to run out on you, chaps,' she said. 'Would love to stay and get to know you better.'

The men in the room suddenly realized they didn't want to know her better. She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, but not up close.

And she held her sword, and she smiled like a knife.

Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks. 

oh man it's good. I was a little weary since I read the descriptions and so many were negative but this one is just good on me. I don't get much red musk or any of the other notes listed because it actually smells like apple on me. Granny smith apple. It could be because of the baby wipes I used to get the one I was already wearing off so I will be back but hey. Even if it doesn't change it's great. Oh yeah it changed. I forgot I wore suntan lotion so I had to wash that off to get a real impression.

And yeah, second time around I can smell the dryness and the pepper they talked about, but with a promise of something sweeter. It's still good, maybe even better, it's just not apple any more. It's dry and sinister, almost a little smoky, with a hint of sweetness waaay back there. It's still wet so it's gonna be interesting.

It got better and better and the red musk comes to the forefront after drydown. I need even more testing to tell the whole story because I had to shower before the story was told.

Third time and here is the dry pepper again, but I think it's sweeter now and that the red musk is coming forward sooner than the last time, almost right away. Maybe it's because it had a little time to settle down. It's gorgeous.

It smooths away the sharpness and when it does, it's red musk all the way, with a very faint green apple in the back there.

One of the most gorgeous ones. Definitely in the top ten.
 

WESTERN DIAMONDBACK
carnaval diabolique
snake pit 

Snake Oil with leather, tonka bean, red sandalwood, and sage. 

Snake oil coming through, loud and clear, - and very pleasantly I might add. Now I love me some snake oil so I may be biased in this. He he.

The snake oil is much more prominent in this than it was in SAW SCALED VIPER. In fact it's so prominent I can't smell any of the other ingredients but that could be because it's still early days and it's still wet on me. 

On drydown the leather comes out a little more, and something herbal that has to be sage. If I work at it I can detect sandalwood way in the back there too.

 

WHITE CHOCOLATE, MARSHMALLOW, AND COCONUT
oh man yes please 

first testing was good the first couple of minutes and then it went bad. I had a lot of stuff on my arms though so I will test later, after having a shower with the villainess decadence smooch. They should go well together. If this one doesn't go bad that is. Which would suck hard since I already have a bottle coming...

it comes back again and then it's not so bad. I get chocolate more from this than from other chocolate blends. Milk chocolate. Very sweet. 

2X WHITE ROSE
White rose buds, with vanilla tea, benzoin, orris, coconut meat, and frankincense.  

It's sweet and a little light and a little on the candy side.  
 

WOOD PHOENIX
limited edition
anniversary 2008 

Flexibility, cooperation, expansiveness, and altruism: Chinese musk and five woods with newly budding bamboo shoots, hyssop, chamomile, pink clove, magnolia, walnut, and fig.  

At first it was sharp and floral but that was straight from the mailbox. After sitting in the little glass box over night it was much more mellow though, which is a good thing since I ordered a bottle before the decants got here.

I can still sense the magnolia in the wet stage but I have hope it will mellow considerably over time. And after drydown it's just wood. A deep brown wood that is actually pretty gorgeous.