arsenicsauce

Wet: Rose soap. Dry: Rose soap. I love earthy scents and I was hoping for some of the herbs or dirt described, but I'm seriously not getting anything but the cheap handsoap that my grandma keeps in her bathroom.

Wet: Smells like the woodshop- woods and oil, I would guess that's the benzoin. As it dries, it goes through a stage where it smells like a bunch of soaps stacked together in a store, just a generic nose-tingling clean scent that I don't much care for. Fortunately that seems to last for only a few minutes. Now it's resolved into a sweet, dry wood with a little bit of sharpness to it, like you've been planing fresh planks. I'm surprised at how much I like this. I'd say it was a unisex scent.

In the imp, smells like essence of ew. But in a way that makes me a little nostalgic- it smells like turning over a rotting pine log. I have always had a weird love-hate relationship with vetiver ("Ugh that smells disgusting! *sniff* My nose! *sniiiiff*") so I think that's what's coming through. Wet: Wow, it smells like... a campsite. I can't even pick anything out, it just smells exactly like a campsite. Actually, that doesn't seem to be changing much on drydown either. Neat effect, but I don't think it's what I look for in a perfume.

I don't recognize enough of the notes to pick everything out, but this does remind me of miskatonic university. It has the same weird "dust" smell that tickles the back of my throat and makes me want to sneeze. When I first put it on I could swear I smelled patchouli, but it's not listed in the notes, so perhaps that's the ceremonial incense. For a few minutes it was a nice, slightly sweet incense smell with that troublesome dusty overtone, but then my nemesis musk creeps in and takes over, smelling like bad b.o. Too bad.

I thought I'd reviewed this when I got it last year, but apparently not. From what I remember, I didn't like it at all at the time- I was hoping for a earthy cocoa and got too much leather, no cocoa or patchouli at all. It was a sharp, almost cologne-y scent with florals doing all the things I hate most about florals. However, after aging a year I tried it again one more time before preparing to swap it off, and wow. It still goes on sharp floral-leather, but after fifteen minutes or so it dries down to a gorgeous incense-y cocoa that's earthy and dry and everything I'd been hoping for. The florals are there, but have retreated into the background and actually smell great, and the leather is barely there lending itself to the incense. This could be one of my favorite scents, a good non-overpoweringly foody or sweet chocolate. I don't know if it's the age or changes in my skin chemistry, but if it morphs into this after a year a bottle of Tezcatlipoca would be worth waiting for.

Sharp, acidic, smoky (like, wildfire smoky, not happy cooking grill smoky), verrry dark. This smells way too much like sloth on me for it to be a coincidence, but they don't admit to sharing any ingredients (I strongly suspect vetiver). It's unpleasant to my nose and kinda scary, but weirdly compelling. It does make me think of zombies, which is a point in its favor.

Wet: Lime all the way! Wait. That only lasted a second, and now it smells exactly like lemon head candy. Dry: continuing to smell like a lemon head for several hours. That's about all I get out of this one.

Weird. I'm not very familiar with shea butter, so maybe that's it, but to me this smells like some kind of fruit chew candy. Mambo, specifically. The coconut is nice, and I like it better than the coconut note in other bpal scents I've tried, but it kind of gets drowned out very quickly by that sweet note.

I got this one as a lab frimp. This is really a men's blend? I like it a lot, and it doesn't have that cologne smell most of them seem to. Wet: Fresh pine needles, crushed. Not pine wood or fake pine-sol, but a just-set-up-the-christmas-tree smell. Actually it pretty much stays that way dry too. I catch a whiff of vanilla now and then but it's not very distinct, it just sweetens it a little. Kind of one-note on me, but very refreshing!

Wet: cinnamon! Slightly sweet cinnamon. Reminds me of chewing those cinnamon bark sticks that have been mulling in the apple cider for days. Dry: Unfortunately, this fades pretty quickly on me. While it lasts, the cinnamon dominates but I can smell the clove note too, and maybe the ginger. Smells like a spice rack. I can't exactly smell the pepper, but if I sniff it too closely my nose and lips sting. By the time the cinnamon mellows out, the whole scent also starts to fade, but before it goes the honey starts to play up a little and does nice things with the clove note- makes me think of a good loaf of spiced cake-bread.. I'm not smelling the musk at all, which is good because it goes horribly sour on me. It's not a bad scent, but I don't think I'd wear it except in the dead of winter; it's very warm and, well, it smells like christmas.

Wet: wow, very sweet and foody. It smells like butterscotch and coffee. Drying: I don't know how something can smell dusty, but somehow it does. I can definitely smell the oak, but that food-y irish coffee is still going strong underneath so it doesn't go sharp like woods sometimes do on me. When it settles it has a weirdly... play-doh kind of overtone that throws me off. Floor polish maybe? Strange. Not sure I'd want to wear it, but interesting scent!

I really wish I liked this more. In the imp it's unexpectedly sweet but kind of light and fresh smelling instead of being heavy and cloying, which is promising. On skin, I got a quick whiff of teak and then something musky and sour started to creep in to the sweet smell, possibly the tobacco. I haven't really had any issues with tobacco in other bpal scents so I'm not sure why it makes this one go so wrong on me. After about ten minutes of this it settles down to something nice and complex, mostly vanilla and woods, but I am really not digging that first stage at all. I'll have to wait and see if this happens every time because I'm not sure if the drydown is worth it. It does have nice throw though.

Yeah, I agree with everyone who said it smelled cologne-y. It smells a lot like a very common men's cologne in the imp, but on skin it gets a little more floral. Not much. It's not very metallic smelling to me, and not really... interesting I guess, or different. I might wait a while and try it again, but I think this one is getting passed on to someone else who can hopefully bring out its zing.

I got this one purely out of curiosity, because the notes listed all smell incredibly different on me and I couldn't imagine them blended together. Wet: STRONG almond. Not as bad as Queen of Sheba, which practically climbs up off your skin and shoves whole almonds into your nostrils, but whew. Something is lightening it a little, maybe the jasmine or sandalwood- it's hard to say, just a little fresh nose-tingling kick. After a few minutes the almond mysteriously vanishes and I am left with incense and musk, and while the incense isn't bad, the bpal musk note always is vile on me. Eventually settles down to smelling like Grandma for the rest of the time, which is apparently what the musk and jasmine and that little residue of the almond together decide to do. No thanks.

I expected this to be sweeter than it was, but it's almost a sharp smoky scent. I think it must be the neroli, which I'm not too familiar with, but there's something kind of bitter or woody about it. Very strong citrus note, I don't get the raspberry at all until it's been dry for some time and even then it's very faint; it also gets less bitter as it dries, and a bit powdery-sweet. Interesting, but not something I'd wear. Faded very quickly, I couldn't smell it at all with my nose to my wrist after four hours. I think there may be a very similar bath soap out there, because that's what I keep thinking of when I smell it.

Wet, I get a huge kick of the exact same sharp green grassy note I liked so much in The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. I'm not really getting any of the hops or tobacco, which isn't surprising because my skin amps that note like crazy. As it dries I start to get a little bit of the tobacco, which helps calm it down a little bit, but not so much the beer everyone else is smelling. It gets a little more sweet and a little less sharp but that green scent is still powering it. I really enjoy this and it's something I'd wear often, may end up getting a bottle someday.

I don't have much to add, except this smells exactly like a boxed brownie mix, especially when wet. It's uncanny. A nice scent but it doesn't last very long at all, at least on me; in an hour it's all but gone. Not really as rich as I want it to be.

On wet at first this smelled strangely fruity, huh. Not even like rum, just... really sweet candied fruit. As it dries it becomes more bay rum and dry dirt, with the magnolia lurking underneath. Sometimes it gets a little sterile smelling, which may be one of the alcohols I'm not sure, but overall a interesting scent and the first one I've actually been able to smell the graveyard dirt note in. Would not call it "green" or "fresh" at all but it's not nearly as heavy as the description sounds.

Argh, I was hoping for something so different out of this. In the imp, soapy. On me, strong strong florals and a sharp edge of incense. Smells a lot like familiar department store perfumes, and my god does it have throw. I really don't get any of the earthy, mossy scent I was really looking for. I guess I should have taken a hint from the comparisons to Zombi, which went crazy floral on me too.

I haven't really tried a scent with any of these notes before, so I picked Elegba out of curiosity. In the imp: Oh, that smells delicious. Foody and very sweet. I guess that might be the sugared rum, but since I'm not sure what that smells like it seems like chewy caramel candy to me. On me: Wet, sugar and booze. Just a little spicy, not enough to make it feel sharp in any way. As it dries I get more coconut, and it's nice dried and sugared coconut, not fake sunscreen coconut. It doesn't really change much, except as it settles I can smell something a little musky underneath that might be tobacco. It's really much more foody than I expected, whoever said it was like rum cake was dead on.

In the imp, lime and something I kind of think of as traditionally "perfume-y" which is probably the mixed florals. A little something else that I think is musk makes it darker than it sounds. On me: This is drying down really nice. Citrus and musk stand out the most, but usually musk goes really unpleasantly sour on me and this isn't so far. As it dries I get less citrus and a little more coconut, it starts smelling like sunscreen when I sniff close to my skin but the citrus kind of keeps it down from further out. The musk lasts the longest, but since it's not smelling like sweaty socks this time I don't mind. Overall not something I would wear a lot, it's more musky than I expected, but it's nice to have something citrus-y and sharp that doesn't smell like a bathroom spray.

In the imp all I smell is chocolate, which is encouraging. On my skin, though, the cream goes kind of sour and takes over. I hope it's the cream, I'll be heartbroken if I can't wear bpal chocolate.

In the imp: PEACHES. I feel like this should be a bold scrolling marquee, it's so peaches. Wet: Ooh, I kind of like that. Now it smells like peach candy, kind of syrupy and not exactly artificial but not exactly 100% peach either, maybe some other juicy fruit. Also kind of has a kick to it; I've never had spiced peaches in syrup, but this is how I imagine they'd smell. I think that might be the musk. Dry: not changing much. Wait, getting a little less aggressively sweet and foody. Is that the amber? I think it's progressing from "peach candy" to "peach wine", but it never quite makes it all the way there. Overall, interesting! I think I'll keep this one, but probably not going to go for a 5ml. It's a very bright, summery scent.

Got this in a frimp. In the vial: Dammit, this is driving me crazy because it smells exactly like something I should recognize but don't. Maybe it's a place I've been. Not a nice one, either. Nursing home? Wet: sharper than I expected it to be, and there's something citrusy that I can't identify. Asked for a second opinion from my mom, since I'm at her place, and she says tangerine. Yeah, there's a lot of sandalwood. Dry: Sandalwood fades under the rose. I'm not sure what the patchouli is doing here, but it's definitely doing something since this isn't straight sandalwood and rose. It's a little mustier. The rose isn't getting soapy, but unfortunately I don't really like rose anyways so I'm not going to hold on to the imp. Still, I can see how someone else might enjoy this. edited to add: This took hours and hours to fade, but when it did it soured like old stale sweat and was generally very unpleasant.

In the imp: Do not want. D: Strong and fruity, but not in a pleasant way. Kind of a meaty overripe scent. I really like a lot of other patchouli blends, so I try it anyways. And... no. Resin (I guess that's the amber), rose oil and a little of that dank fruity smell that fortunately fades as it dries. Still, I hate rose, this one's getting swapped.