Diana

In the bottle: apple. Wet: Apple... similar to the apple note in Verdandi. The mint comes out really strongly now. It's minty apple. Almost like some weird apple martini drink. Drydown: The mint becomes slightly more prominent, and the iris note comes out, but stays pretty soft. Then all the notes totally disappear. I put on almost half an imp, and within about 2 hours, it was gone. This is nice if you like low-key, fresh scents. Me? If you can't smell me from 10 feet away, there's something wrong. Needless to say, I'll have to give this one a miss.

Hmm, I resent the one from 3-4 weeks ago, but I still haven't got a reply from one about 2-3 days ago. I usually get replies within 36 hours. I tried to do a Hungry Ghost Moon order and I don't think my Paypal went through. =(

this is probably a dumb question... Is Sara still handling the answers@blackphoenixalchemylab.com email? I sent about 2 emails over the last month or so and never got any response... =/

In the bottle: caramelly. slightly fruity. Wet: whoa! it does this weird buttery-rum-almost minty thing right as it touches my skin that smells very similar to Spooky! Then it turns pineapple-cherry-caramel. YUM. I think I might like this more than Eat Me. Drydown: the fun fruity notes die down, and the caramel/butter note turns kind of funky on me, and this might sound weird, but it is kind of bready-corn smelling. Then it fades in to a nondescript foodish scent, just tinged with a bit of buttery-caramel notes. No turkey, though. I LOVE the wet stage on this. I'm going to let my bottle age a bit to get some really nice mixing of the notes, and try it in a scent locket. It's so yummy when it's bright & fruity & happy. =)

Wet: Very wet, juicy fruit. Kumquat, which smells something like the bastard child of a mango and an orange. There's a hint of tang to it, like it's not the sweetest fruit, but you'd still want to eat it. Dry: Just a hint of the wet fruit note, it is softer and less juicy smelling now, however, it's sweeter. There's a little bit of the other notes peeking through, but not too much, since i would not be able to pick any of them out if I didn't look at a list. It's like a softer smelling version of the wet stage. It reminds me a bit of Lolita or Kuang Shi, or one of those orange creamsicle type scents. slave1's fruity pebbles comment isn't too far off. I like it, but I don't know if it's something I'd wear all that often. It's great if you like juicy fruit scents.

Not quite the same, but Hellfire is a warm pipe tobacco scent.

I am not sure why, but I ordered an imp of this. Aquatics aren't generally my bag, but here is it, on my skin, just waiting for a personal documentary and reasonings behind my theories on aquatics. In the imp: Whoo boy. Yes, this is an aquatic. Very typical of standard aquatic notes. Wet: This is almost ozone-ish in intensity. Very watery-sharp-soapy smelling, but that's not necessarily a bad quality. It's just stronger than I thought it would be. I'm not getting anything I can describe as "salty" or "saline" in here. It smells more like freshwater & drowned-out floral notes. Inital drydown: It smells kind of like fresh-laundry + air freshener. I can almost pick out floral notes; there's likely some sort of lily, and just maybe a carnation. I kind of want there to be some violet in there, so maybe I'll imagine that. The overwhelming notes are still the typical "aquatic" which smells not so much like water to me, ever. Heh. This has fairly good throw; probably light-to-medium. I can smell it when I'm not trying to, but it's not super strong. Further drydown: It's a clean and nice scent. It's got an air of aquatic + ozone, even still, and the floral notes are a bit less evident. The throw is a little less strong now. It's pretty, thought not what I'd consider a soft scent, but not very heavy either. I think I just suck at describing aquatic scents! Final thoughts: I think my problem with aquatics is that they just tend to smell like artificial air-freshener-in-a-can scents to me, even if I know well and good that there are real honest-to-Odin notes in there that I do like. I think I resonate better with notes that smell like something more tangible, like actual flowers or spices or cookies. This is actually really pretty, but it's not something that I can see myself wearing with any great enthusiasm or regularity. However, in wearing this today I think I gained a little more appreciation for this scent category, though it won't likely ever make it to the top of my list of scent-family loves. I am glad to have tried this imp! It has made me more likely to try aquatics in the future!

In the bottle: it smells like plum. almost like Bordello, but not as sugary, and definitely not boozy at all. Wet: Oddly enough, this reminds me of BBW Toasted Hazelnut. It smells very similar. Warm, sweet, almost honeyed fruits with just a touch of something powdery and soft underneath. This is amaaaaazing. Drydown: It almost smells like a white musk that comes through on the drydown. The fruity plum notes are just barely there, and there is just a hint of an ambery-resin dry note to round it out. Need. Big. Bottle. Now.

I love this! It starts out as a muted cherry, overlaid by soft pink flowers. It's not overly fruity, or overly flowery on me (quite the opposite of Titania). The one flower that I can really pick out is the rose, which smells somewhat like Blood Rose or Two, Five & Seven, but at about 1/3 the intensity. The rosewood isn't very strong, and just adds a deepness to the cherry note. I can't smell the lavender at all, oddly enough. As it dries, the musks come out an add a beautiful layer of sweetness, like clean skin & sugar. The throw was quite nice early on, but it didn't seem to last very long. I'll have to give this another try with a lot of layering and/or use it in an atomizer. I'm glad I got a 5mL of this right off the bat; I can see this one going into heavy rotation!

So the Entire Catalog circle is in action. I have about 20 or so imps that I'm donating to the cause. I'm going to use this blog to record my reviews on all of them, even if I've already done a review. I'm going to try to be anal about it.

Bottle: a bit of Underpants-ish vanilla + a bit of Monster:Underbed-ish berry. Wet: sweet berry-ish vanilla. Not cloying. Just creamy and sweet. Drydown: The vanilla is actually kind of perfumey, and it isn't as foody as I expected it to be, nor as strong. But this is oh so lovely and sweet and wonderful. This does not disappoint me at all—though it isn't as cakey as the Monsterbaits, it is still yummy.

A dark and bellicose scent that speaks of loss, lament, bitterness and breast-beating woe: thick black vetiver, sharp white musk and lemon peel, smoke and saffron, patchouli, thyme and black plum. I didn't buy this when the collection came out; I was a bit put-off by the vetiver's description of being thick & heavy. Needless to say, dumb move on my part! This is suprisingly soft & pretty! In the bottle: I can definitely detect vetiver. There is a barely-there indication of lighter notes, most likely the lemon. Wet: Vetiver... but earthy and rich. And not as oil-slick heavy as I would have guessed. The lemon & white musk lift it and bring the balance to a happy medium. Drydown: This becomes softer; the spices & musk combine with the vetiver in a wonderous way that keeps this from being terribly masculine (not that I'd mind!) and give it a nice soft, feminine wearability. This is truly a suprise love! It's really nice, and the saffron adds a really beautiful richness & depth to it. Edited to add description. =)

In the bottle: It's soil... freshly turned over piles of earth. Wet: The soil note is stronger than it was in the bottle. It is a really wet and rich scent of peaty soil. Something more woodsy comes out here a bit, adding a bit of a sharper note to the dirt. Initial dry: The soil note starts to receed, and this starts to turn into a sweet, rich, almost resin-like scent. It's still a cool note, but a bit on the heavy side. Final dry: This has faded quite a lot, to my surprise. Usually loamy-wood scents tend to stick around, but this got lighter and sweeter, until it was just a barely-there scent, as if you might be smelling someone working in the garden a few yards down. I really like this a lot! I wish it were a little longer-lasting, but I bet it will layer beautifully with other resin, earth, or wood scents.

Wet: bright, happy lemon. It's so juicy and yummy and amazing. Love love love citrus. =) Drydown: The lemon takes a while to fade, then it is replaced by a cool, clean scent—the aloe & tea and white musk form a nice scent. It's like freshly showered skin. This is so nice and refreshing. I think this is going to go into heavy rotation along with Dorian & Numb this summer.

In the bottle: very resinous, sort of sandalwoody Wet: Very strong! It smells pretty heavy, and more like black musk than red musk. But I love it. It's slightly animalistic, almost to the point where it might start smelling of civet. Dry: The musk note softens considerably, and the sandalwood comes out strong. As it hangs around, some of the rosewood and amber peek out. All the notes intermingle and provide a warm-reddish-brown fragrance that is just lovely. If you like resins or heavy musks, you will love this.

zombi versus persephone deathmatch! This starts out rich earthy notes + bright fruits. Over time the fruit notes dissipate and the earth notes just simmer down until they finally disappear. My words cannot do this justice. It's soooo pretty and wonderful. One of my favorites. =)

In the bottle: Musky, dark, deep scent. I wonder how I ever thought this was sweet. Wet/application: A massive eruption of the black & red musk. Swoony. Just a tiny hint of the dragon's blood. Initial dry: The musks are still going strong, now there's another level of sweet from the fruit notes + dragon's blood. This? awesome. Later...: The sweetness from the fruit has dissipated a bit, but not a lot. The musky sweetness is still there (musks last foreeeeever on me). If you are a fan of red/dark musks or sweet scents (which I am!), you will totally dig this.

I haven't yet tried Ochosi, but I think Yggdrasil has a similar scent to Buck Moon. It's not dead-on, but the incense + violets mix smells quite similar to Sybaris. I think if you layered it with a light floral that had roses in it, you might be able to get pretty close.

This is amazingly divine. I'm surprised I don't wear it more often! Wet: very sandalwood-y. It's powdery and has a bit of an amber note to it. Initial dry: some of the spice, namely the saffron starts to peek out. Still mostly sandalwood. Drydown: This gets better and better. The mandarin, musk & rose start to add to the depth of the warm sandalwood/amber combination, and just enough of the spices give it a little extra layer. If you like Sin, Scherezade, or Seraglio, give this a try!

This goes in Recommendations, not Suggestions... so it might get moved. One way to go about finding a similar oil is to do a search on the forums on J'adore Dior and see if that brings up anything similar. Doing a search, I found reviews that liken it to Kitsune-Tsuki (which contains Asian plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine and white musk) and Shattered (with white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms.) Another way is to do a search on the engine on the blackphoenixalchemylab site for one, two, or more of those notes and see what you get. I know Champaca flower is not used very often, and is usually reserved for Limited Edition oils, but jasmine, orchids, violet, plum, and rose are very common ingredients, and there are a lot to choose from! Once you've done that, you can order a few imps ears and see if any of them work for you. I should note that Beth doesn't know of a lot of commercial perfumes (why would she bother!), so most BPAL scents are realllllly unlike anything you'd find at a department store. Hope that helps!

You know, I really do need about 12 more bottles of this. Wet: OMFG. It's vanilla. It's saffron. It's rum. Fantastic. Drydown: The vanilla stays really creamy and nice, and some parts of the drydown smell kind of similar to Antique Lace. The saffron kind of fades more quickly than I'd like, but it's replaced by the sandalwood which mingles with the vanilla beautifully. This doesn't last as long as I'd thought it would, but I was pretty sparing with it. It's really beautiful. Like the lovechild of some weird amalgamation of all my favorite BPAL perfumes. SO brilliant!

Hmm. I think a toddler's skin might be a bit sensitive to a lot of the oils. A lot of these are 85-100% essential oils. As far as soft baby-ish scents, I think Dana O'Shee or any of the milky-type ones would be most appropriate. But I'd wait until he was a wee bit older to let him wear much.

I'd ask the swaper. Sometimes I get fragrance oils in swaps that are from Skindazzles, Darkswan, etc. There may have been a SN from BPAL, but at this point, I think there'd be reviews for it if it existed.

General Catalogue: Twenty-one: martini scent Swank: pomegranate martini The Hamptons: Cosmopolitans Grog: pirate rum Bon Vivant: strawberries & champagne Grand Guignol: apricot brandy Juke Joint: mint juleps Jazz Funeral: rum & bourbon notes Bordello: amaretto note Perversion: rum & chardonnay notes Wanda: merlot notes Lady Macbeth: wine notes Athens: wine notes Delphi: honey wine notes Madrid: more wine notes Port-au-Prince: rum notes Tintagel: mulled wine notes Elegba: rum notes Ogun: gin notes Thalia: white champagne Limited Edition: Egg Nog: rum notes Spooky: rum notes Sugar Skull 05: smelled like whiskey to me! Devil's Night: boozy notes Stardust: champagne notes Miskatonic University: irish coffee Fortunato: sherry notes Montresor: wine notes Imp of the Perverse: Cognac notes Formula 54: cognac notes I might have missed something, but that's a pretty thorough list!

'05 formulation Bottle: floral concoction Wet: very wet, fresh cut flowers. slightly zesty, like there is a bit of lemon balm in there. it's very green and lush and yellow. Bright, happy floral notes. I can't pick out anything in particular, though I think I can smell jasmine & honeysuckles. Dry: I can smell the jasmine a bit more, but it's still not overpowering everthing else (score!). It's still very floral and happy and wild and totally appropriate for today. It smells even better in the sunshine!