mhickle

Normally, I steer clear of florals, but The Lady of Shalott has been a pleasant surprise. In the imp, I smell the ginger and sweetness, and on my skin it dries down to a green, watery, beautiful blend. The flowers don't scream out, and it ends up an unusual, feminine scent. I think I will wear this in the springtime. I do wish it lasted longer, though, and that it had more throw. If I ever get a perfume locket, I will have to experiment!

In the imp, I'm getting sweet citrus and something sharp behind it. At first dab, the sharpness takes over a bit, almost an acrid scent. But that fades, and as the oil dries, it unfortunately goes quite powdery on me. It's sandalwood (which I normally really like), mixed with baby powder. I wish it worked - I was excited about the honey and orange blossom. It's also making me feel sneezy! There is a constant tickle in my nose. Oh, Jezebel, I wanted us to get along!

I really thought I was going to love this one, but I'm surprised at the results. In the imp, I smell coconut and sweetness, and that's not a bad thing. On my skin, though, it goes more "perfumey" than I expected. Where I thought I would get a slightly foody, complex scent, I'm getting more floral than anything else. I'm definitely up for giving it another try, though!

Normally, I am decidedly not a floral person. But there is something about this that works. It's floral, yes, but there is an earthy quality to it that makes it sing. In the imp, it's very green to my nose, and at first application it remains green, almost tropical - grassy but no grass I've smelled around here. The flowers start to emerge as it dries down, with that earthy quality keeping it, well, "grounded," so to speak!

In the imp, this smells so familiar, but I just can't place it. It's sweet, but with a sharpness to it.

Wet, it's sticky sweet with smokiness in the background. As I drove to work, it kept making me think of eating bacon with maple syrup. Of course, I was also hungry!

As it dries down, it loses the stickiness and becomes more complex. I never really get mint out of it, or rather the mint is well-blended and no one note screams out from the rest of them. It's a smokey, musky, sweet scent, and I really like it! At first I wasn't sure, when it was still in the wet phase, but now I'm really into it!

ETA: Hours later, it has sweetened again! It is like pure pancake syrup now!

In the imp: Sweet, but very soft. And there's a sharpness there that I just can't place...

Wet: Still quite sweet. Fruit starts to come out to play, but mostly just that soft sweetness. As it dries down, the peach becomes more pronounced. This is incredibly light on me, but a very pretty scent. The lightness would prevent me from buying a bottle, as I can only smell it when I shove my nose into my wrist. It's a shame, too, because it would make a nice summer scent!

ETA: I wore it again today, and it might just be a tad too fruity for me.

I really can't decide about this one.

It's more floral than what I usually like. In the imp, it's very, very floral, and I hesitated to apply it.

On me - It kind of smells like jasmine to me, but maybe that's iris, since I'm not really sure what iris smells like. What I like about it is that the spice definitely cuts the floral, and creates a very sophisticated, feminine scent. It changed a lot throughout the day, and has a decent throw. My husband seemed to like it. But I just don't know...

In the imp: Green, green, green!

On me - this reminds me of the "Grass" perfume Gap had a few years back. I really liked that fragrance, so it's nice to smell something like it again. It's very fresh and, well, green!

This has a pretty strong throw, which kind of surprised me because it's such a fresh, clean scent. It blends nicely with the rosemary-mint hand lotion I've been using lately.

So, yeah, I like it. Not sure it's very wintery, so I might revisit in the springtime!

I bought this as part of an imp pack because I just *had* to (the name and all). I had to ignore the fact that there's rose, as rose does not typically work on me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the rose was not horrible on me - it's nice. Very different from what I normally wear or what I am normally drawn to. It's fairly powdery, but light enough that it seems to work. Still not a favorite, but doable.

I have to say, though, this doesn't scream"Viola" at me - my skin really amps the rose, and it's just too floral. Someone else mentioned that it's androgynous until the "third act," but unforunately I'm not getting that, though I was expecting it. It sounds like it would be, but on me it just lacks the strength and boldness I see in the character.

I am so sad.

I love the way this smells! But, moments after putting it on, my skin had turned BRIGHT RED in the places I'd applied it. Like crazy red - as if I had just painted my skin.

When I got in bed, my husband said "Mmmm, you smell good." And then I showed him my arms and he said "But you can't wear that!"

If your skin can handle it, this is a great blend. Sharp spice with a yummy sweetness going on. Man...

I do not get ANY lavender out of this. Weird! In the imp and on my skin, it's just this weird sweet smell that smells almost exactly like the home of a friend of my husband's parents. It's weird and fruity and just not working out for me.

I guess the closest scent I can point to is the bubblegum that others have talked about, which seems to be the lotus. This is odd, because I used to have a lotus flower perfume that was just great...

I wish I could place what's up with this scent on me!

At first sniff, this is pretty lemony, and that continues on my skin. It begins to soften to a woody, incensey kind of smell, but now, about an hour later, it seems a bit...musty. It's weird, and it's not with every sniff, but it's definitely there. I'm going to give it another try on another day, just in case, because I really want to like this!!!

In the imp, I suppose it's cocoa - really just says SWEET to me, but a distinctive kind of sweet that must just be the cocoa screaming out at me. It's thick and rich upon application - it smells as if it should be sticky and syrupy!

As it dries down, it becomes really...interesting. I like it. Definitely getting the flowery fruity scent of the orange blossom and cherries, with the unmistakable chocolate, like a high quality candy bar. Yum!

It starts out heavy, but dies down to a very subtle fragrance, as they all seem to on me...

In the imp and upon first application, this is very medicinal. As it dries, though, it smells like Christmas trees! It gets a little sweeter, but is basically lovely piney goodness on me. I really like it!

Unfortunately, this does not last at all on me. I put it on before leaving for work, and now, just shy of 2.5 hours later, it's pretty much gone. Wish I'd brought the imp with me to reapply!

In the imp, I was smelling mostly anise and a bit of lemon and sugar. Upon first application, it's all lemon, but shortly thereafter I walked into the kitchen and my husband said "You smell like licorice." It has a pretty long throw at that point, because he was at the sink and I was at the fridge grabbing lunch items (which is to say we weren't getting all kissy or anything). Once it dries, it's this really interesting bitter but cool (as in minty cool) smell that throws a bit of anise toward me every now and then. It's like nothing I've smelled before.

I looooove honey, so I was really excited to try this. And I have not been disappointed!! In the imp, it smells like spiced deliciousness, all honey-sweet with cinnamon. On my skin, it's very spicey at first, with the honey sneaking into the background. As we hit the drydown phase, the honey comes back to the forefront, and I'm left with a slightly spicey sweetness that is just lovely. I was at a rehearsal last night and must have looked like a crazy person, because I could not stop smelling my wrists.

I've noticed with most of the oils I've tried, though, that they just don't last very long on me.... Hmmm....

In the imp, I can't quite place it - definite sweetness, and not getting much tea. That continues on my skin - I get a bit of the linen, but more milky sweetness than anything else. I'm not getting ANY of the complexity of the scent, which is disappointing, because I so wanted to love this one!

Okay, I think I am in love. This was in my first-ever order, and while I have definitely liked others that I've tried so far, this is one that I am just really loving. In the imp it's piney and earthy and lovely, with more fruit than when it's on my skin, and on me it smells like Christmas. But not in a super typical way. I am a big fan of the tomato in it - previously one of my favorite fragrances was Demeter's Tomato, as it smelled like the plant and not the fruit, and it's the same thing here. What a lovely scent!!

In the bottle, this has a THICK cherry scent. Maybe the color of the oil pushes that as well, as it is quite dark, blood red. I don't get any anise or musk on first sniff, but whoa! does the anise come out on my skin. It's very heavily licorice on me at first, like way too much, but it becomes more subtle and the musk starts to come out as the oil dries down. Now it has become very subtle. It's a complex scent, and curiously enough I don't get much cherry at all once it's on! This was a frimp in my very first order, and I'm digging it!

Upon first sniff, Delirium really smells like apples to me, which made me happy. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it on, I knew it would not work for me. It's all rose, and I am not a fan of rosey or flowery scents. On me, this ends up a drugstore perfume, and gives me a headache. To the swaps with you, Delirium! I so wanted you to work, but we can't always win, can we?

Oh, and I forgot to add this, so an edit: It is lasting fooooorever on me. Figures!

Another edit: I gave the imp to a friend of mine because she said she likes roses in her perfume. On her, this smells wonderful - a perfect blend of apple and rose.

I'm not usually big on ultra sweet scents, but for some reason I'm kind of digging this one. In the imp, it was like whoaaaa berries - super sweet and punching me in the face with berriness.

On my wrist, it calmed down a little bit, but I'm still not smelling much other than berries. It sort of reminds me of the store my mom used to sell her crafts in (she made primitive art snowmen and things like that - Christmas decorations and things - really cool and not cheesy). The place always smelled like cranberry candles and other berry-smelling things, all mixed together. Maybe that's why, despite not usually liking scents like this, I'm okay with Lady Macbeth. It takes me to a happy place.

Just to start off, I am not familiar with tonka as a note, so hopefully as I try out more of the offerings at BPAL, I'll be able to start picking it out. For now, I'm just going to describe this scent the best way I can.

In the imp, it smells very clean, almost powdery to me. It goes on my skin the same way, though the powdery part of the scent disappears rather quickly.

As it dries on my skin, it becomes a bit more masculine, but very warm and a great choice for this lovely autumn day. I don't detect much lavender on me, and only a hint of patcholi. It's a very rich scent, and once again I'm trying to hide my many wrist-sniffs from my office mates. Hah!

I reallllllly like this one! Yay!

When I opened the imp, my nose was met with a very strong waft of sweetness. Like Kool-Aid sweetness.

As I put it on my skin, it didn't smell so much like Kool-Aid anymore - definitely like cherries - dark, dark sugared cherries. I really hoped it wouldn't stay so strongly sweet.

And it didn't! On me, this oil dries to a soft woody scent, like I've just opened an empty drawer in a very well-made old cabinet. The wood is at the forefront, and lurking behind is the sweet fruitiness, which I normally would not like. However, here the sweetness makes it so that I don't smell exactly like that old cabinet!

I rather like it, and really wasn't expecting to with that burst of sweetness at the start!!

Upon first sniff, I can't really place the scent, but am more apprehensive about trying it than the other two I've reviewed in the past two days (Arcana and Severin). It's a sweet smell, and I'm worried it will be too sweet for me.

Applied and wet, the sweetness stays, and I'm afraid it will be one of those headache scents for me. As it dries, it softens up, but is definitely a "perfumey" scent on me - I'm getting a lot of licorice from it, which is weird, because in scanning the other reviews, it looks like I'm a bit strange there. It reminds me of a perfume I had a sample of once...

As it dries, the scent softens and I start to pick up the coconut. I'm trying to sniff my wrists without drawing much attention to myself at work. Luckily, my office mates are all pretty much crazy anyhow.

Just sniffed again, and I'm getting the coconut but now the musky smell.

Overall, I don't like it when it's wet, but once it dries I'm really digging it. I might have to put it away for a while, though, because I'm not feeling it for autumn.

Upon first sniff, I get a ton of lemon. So much so that I am not quite sure what it's supposed to smell like, and make a mental note to check the description on the site.

Wet on my skin, it is incredibly lemony - almost in a lemon-scented cleaner kind of way, which makes me sad. As it dries, it starts to smell almost like incense, but still with that strong lemon smell. Finally, it ends up as a lavender/incense kind of smell on me, which I like. It is calming. I'm about to head off to bed and might put some more on before I brush my teeth, so it will be settling into that final scent as I am getting into bed.

I settled down on the sofa with my husband a little while ago and he said "what perfume are you wearing?" I told him and asked if he liked it. "Eh," he shrugged. "It's okay."

So, I'll try some other stuff!

So far, though, I've liked both oils I've tried. Hooray! Can't wait to get the dozen imps I'm waiting for!