indybear

To me, this smells exactly like our summer cottage smelled when we opened it up after the winter - and that's not good. On me, this smells exactly like MILDEW. The Lab's leather scents usually work quite well on my skin, and I had really high hopes. This is really disappointing.

The same thing happened to me, and I am hugely disappointed. Almost all these notes should work well on me, and dragon's blood is one of my favorite notes. But when I put it on, the ginger amped out of control. I hung on and waited for it to dry and hopefully morph, but it never did. I ended up having to scrub it off. Sadly, I think red ginger may be on my avoid list.

In the imp: Acetone with a hint of apple Wet: I still get acetone and a little apple. It's really not working on my skin at all. Dry: It finally mellowed some and the acetone started going away. The hint of apple faded and a little berry came out. I'm not a huge fan of this particular berry, whatever it is that I'm smelling. This sounded wonderful on paper, but my nose says NO!

APPLE APPLE APPLE APPLE APPLE APPLE spice APPLE APPLE spice APPLE spice apple This is how it went for me. In the imp, wet and dry, I smelled apple (in case you hadn't guessed ) - not the baked apple that many others get, but a crisp fresh apple. This is what I thought Snow, Glass, Apples would smell like, and not at all what I thought Lambs-Wool would. I got almost no spice until it had been on my skin for over an hour, and then it was never strong. Not that I don't love this scent! In fact, I ordered a bottle. This could be a year-round scent for me.

In the imp: Patchouli and spices, not much fir or woods. Wet: Very spicy. The apple starts coming through and there's just a hint of fir. Dry-down: This gets more complex and lovely the longer it's on my skin. The patchouli is very soft, there's just a hint of apple but the spices are all blending together in a beautiful combination. This could be a bottle purchase for me. My only misgiving is that it doesn't seem to have a long life on my skin.

A macabre Valentine: wild black cherries, licorice root, and cinnamon. I'd say cough syrup, too - but I actually like cough syrup! I never did get licorice or cinnamon, just cherry cough syrup that shaded more toward plain cherry (but luscious and juicy cherry) the longer it was on my skin. What I'm sad about is that it is fading fast. It's disappearing after about 15 minutes. I may get a bottle just to see what happens as it ages.

The Magi is a scent that I thought would be perfect on me - I didn't see any notes of doom. Much to my disappointment, it went directly to dishwashing liquid on my skin. There's a nice, clean smell, but with what's in it, that wasn't what I was looking for. I need to figure out what the note-gone-wrong is and avoid it like the plague in the future.

Snow White 08 After reading other reviews, I was really looking forward to sniffing Snow White. Unfortunately, my nose didn't cooperate. In the imp, the scent was very faint. I applied a liberal amount, and after just a couple of minutes, there was nothing. There was no scent at all. Evidently, my nose is unimpressed with snow, wind and flowers. Too bad, because the reviews were so great and I really wanted this to be amazing on me.

This is one of those scents where I admire the skill that went into making it, but the scent itself does nothing for me. It is very evocative of the story behind it - the shattered pumpkin lying on the river bank. The water weeds are the predominant note to me. When it's been on my skin for a while, some of the pumpkin comes out, but not the buttery pumpkin, the squash. It's very intriguing in an intellectual way, but not for me.

In the imp: Pine and not much else Wet: Still very piny, but as it dries, the cedar starts to peek out. Dry: This becomes a much more complex scent as it dries. At first, it's all pine and cedar. As time passes, the incense comes out but I don't get any ozone, more just a chilliness. This is a great scent. It's definitely on the heavy side on my skin. I can see this being a go-to midwinter scent.

I like the city of Amsterdam, so I wanted to like its BPAL namesake. In the bottle, I got the water and floral notes. When I applied it to my skin, the water notes receded to background notes and delicate florals come to the fore. But, as Delirium1099 said, they're generic delicate florals, very clean and not cloying but not distinctive. It reminds me of an Issey Miyake perfume I have. This will be a nice summer scent, but I'd have to both slather and continually reapply, because it doesn't last on my skin.

In the bottle, this smells like a nice spicy pumpkin. Alas, when I put it on my skin, the pumpkin goes away and the spice goes away. I'm left with something that smells vaguely floral, makes my eyes a little itchy and feels sharp in my nose. I think Pumpkin II is my dream scent out of this batch of pumpkin Halloweenies.

This is another pumpkin scent in which I smell no pumpkin. Instead I get a gorgeous cherry tobacco. There's just a hint of honey, but no sage, vanilla, cedar or pine and definitely no pumpkin. This will make a great winter scent.

Who knew I amped lime? In the imp, I get a minty citrus with no pumpkin at all, which is unusual because my nose is good at picking out pumpkin notes. When it's first on my skin, it's LIME - nothing else, no mint, no pumpkin, just LIME. As time passes, it becomes non-capslock lime and turns into a very pretty lime-lemon citrusy scent. I have never smelled the pumpkin and the mint has disappeared. Unfortunately, this has no staying power at all and has almost completely faded in about an hour. If it stayed on my skin longer, I would get a bottle and save it for summer.

When I first applied this, I got the warm, buttery scent I associate with pumpkin scents - the scent that I love. As time went on, though, something sharp and almost citrus-y came out and made me fall out of love. Maybe as this ages, it will blend and mellow and I will love it. For now, I'm sticking with Pumpkin II.

This one stays a true pumpkin scent on me. It's mildly spicy and there's a nice buttery note in the background (and a hint of the popcorn that others have mentioned.) I never have smelled the leather, which a a small disappointment but doesn't ruin the smell for me. It seems to smell the same in the imp and on my skin, which is a good thing. I love this scent! It will make a nice winter scent for me, and I plan to get a bottle.

I adore this scent! First applied: Bay rum (but not a heavy bay rum), wonderful spices and a slight hint of herbs. Dry down: Less bay rum but there's now just a little tobacco peeking out. Later: It hasn't changed much since the initial dry down. I don't get any vanilla,and the spiciness is light and almost refreshing. The tobacco is still lurking in the background. I'm so glad i got two bottles of this - I may hunt down more! It's an ideal autumn scent for me.

When I am in Shanghai next week, I will wear Shanghai. While I am in Beijing, I will wear Red Lantern.

I want to bathe in this stuff, I want to scent my sheets with it, I want to buy vats of it! I don't even know what notes I'm smelling, I am so befuddled with love for this scent.

In the bottle: very clean, very light soapiness, no cotton Wet: very clean with a green scent underneath - a green like stems, not leaves Dry: a very slight creaminess is emerging, while the green is going away. I never have smelled the cotton, just clean skin. This will be a very nice summer scent. I think I'll get a bottle

I really, really wanted this to work. I love cinnamon and I adore clove. Unfortunately, it just didn't work on me. I got a weird chemical scent that overrode all the notes. Concept & art: 5 Plays nice with my chemistry: 1 Curse you, chemistry!

It starts off as beeswax with a background wood note - I assume that's the oak bark. As it dries, the beeswax still predominates but some smoky and leather notes are surfacing. I don't get any nutmeg, and just the barest hint of something that might be saltpeter. I love this scent. I'm associating this with Harry Potter in my mind, since the Hand of Glory was mentioned in the books. The throw is average, but it's lasting a long time. I think I'll get a bottle. Or two.

Like the other Ars Draconis scents I've tried, I put this one on and have to grit my teeth for the first five minutes. This comes on STRONG and not really pleasant on me at first - I have to stop myself from scrubbing it off. After that, it calms down into a lovely scent - Dragon's Blood with smoke and leather in the background. The longer I wear it, the softer it gets, not as in "scent going away" but as in "we're all playing together happily". Even now, the next morning, I'm still sniffing my wrist. I never did smell strong leather notes. I think the leather just mellowed out the other notes. All in all, once past the initial application, I love this scent and will be getting more!

CT III: MCCLII (1252) It figures that my new very favorite scent is something that can never be duplicated. I got this on eBay, where the seller described it as "a ONE OF A KIND bottle of perfume from BPAL from the 2006 Chaos Theory limited editions. This has a lemony/clean/light musk feel to it-- I'd compare it to Delousing Powder, Enraged Bunny Musk, Dorian, or Theodosius the Legerdemain." In the bottle, I get a very lemony scent, almost but not quite Lemon Pledge. On my skin, the Pledge note goes away but the lemon stays - it's not a sweet lemonade lemon, but a sharp fresh lemon. As it dries, the lemon note recedes and a very light musk comes forward. This had a light throw, but I keep smelling my wrist because the scent lingers beautifully there. I'm almost afraid to use more of this because I never want to run out. If the Lab ever recreates this, I will buy bottles and bottles. Last reviewed by roesmoker.

After reading the reviews, I really had hopes for this. Sadly, it hated me and I intensely disliked it right back. It's very strong on my skin and turned into this very wrong chemically powder. It may have mellowed after a while, but I couldn't wait to find out. I scrubbed this one off - the first time I've done that. I need to figure out what note in this my chemistry despises, because I really need to avoid it.