marared

Apparently I completely neglected to review this! This was in the first imp pack I ever ordered, and I just bought a bottle because it turned out to be exactly the kind of warm spicy smell that I love, and the carnation gives it a lot of depth. I see why people think it's vanilla-ey, but it doesn't have quite the same sweet undertone that vanilla gives most of the scents I've tried. It doesn't have a whole lot of throw - it's the sort of thing I can slather and put in my hair, and not announce my presence from several feet away, but neither does my skin suck it up to the point that it's gone after a few minutes. It's already very mellow and smooth, I can't imagine that aging would change it dramatically.

This reminds me a bit of Dionysia, without quite so much of the sexual whack to it. It's a red scent instead of purple, and the dragon's blood resin is a different kind of spice, but it's the same type of glorious morph that starts out kinda fruity and dries into a lovely warm incense. I really like this and I think I will be keeping my eyes out for a bottle.

Dryer sheets indeed, and I *wish* I had dryer sheets that smelled like this. The reviews are pretty spot-on: light floral, pink, feminine, very slightly aquatic. I knew this would be girly but was hoping it wouldn't be TOO girly, which I'm afraid it might be in the end. I like it, it's just not exactly me.

Now this is an interesting light fruit-floral. It sort of reminds me a bit of Fae, but where Fae sparkles, this kinda ... sashays. It starts out more fruit than floral, but it morphs quite a bit as it dries to incense. I like it a lot - it's very well blended and is reminiscent of something you'd find in an actual perfumery. I'm not reeeally certain I'd want a bottle of this, but I'm definitely going to revisit it in a few weeks and see how the aging process affects it. ADDED Nov. 29: I got a well-aged bottle of this today (cobalt), and wow, this has some serious throw and lasting power. The throw isn't as bad after an hour, but I dabbed my wrists twelve hours ago and the scent is still very noticeable. The scent doesn't really change from the lab-fresh version I originally reviewed - sweet incense with a little floral and a lot of citrus - but it's gotten much louder and stronger with age.

Lab frimp! In the imp: there's a lot more than "faint hint" of leather! Whew! Freshly applied: the vetiver immediately starts fighting for dominance. Cannot yet smell the rose, the gardenia, or the cinnamon. A few minutes later, I can pick out the rose and the gardenia. The cinnamon starts out at the very tail end of the aroma, hiding underneath everything else and you'd never know it was there at first, but it slowly pushes it way forward as time goes by. Thankfully, the rose and gardenia don't dominate, because they're normally too heady for my liking, but here they soften the edge of the leather and the vetiver.

In the decant, Snow Moon smells vaguely piney and not much else, but immediately upon application to skin, it starts acquiring some complexity. Now, I'm not a big fan of evergreen type scents (it's one of those things that I enjoy smelling for real, but it always seems to lack something in a bottle), but it's got an interesting floral background that I thought would keep it from being too ... piney. My initial impression was that of walking through snowy woods. As it dries, the evergreen steps into the background and the flowers come out - it's a surprisingly warm aroma, but certainly more suitable for that time of year than midsummer. I think I'll hang on to it for Christmas parties.

This is delicate, a young lady's scent. I'm more of a Grindhouse kind of girl. I chose this one because I've had good luck with all the individual notes in this scent in the past. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it air freshener, the combination is sweet but fairly bland. It's pretty much just apricot juice on my wrist, and I was hoping for more of a kick, a little mystery, from the orange blossom.

Again, a mistake in my mailbox, so just a very tiny swab to see what it's like. In the imp, I can barely pick out any scent at all, just a vaguely fresh and flowery trail. The same ends up being true on my skin, but noticeably stronger - it's all tea and gardenia on me, and I'd say the comparison to Embalming Fluid is pretty accurate, minus the flower. It's actually kind of nice. Not a bottle purchase for me, though, as the gardenia gets progressively stronger and it's just a liiiittle too heady for me.

While I can tell there's patchouli and tobacco in this, the pine is the dominant note in the imp. I only gave this a very teeny dab, as this landed in my mailbox by mistake - I probably wouldn't have tried it at all, because I don't really like pine, but I thought that perhaps the vanilla would come out more on the skin, and in fact it does. It steps on the pine and pushes it into the background, and it turns into more of a resiny smoke smell. I definitely like this better as it dries, but it's still not something I'd purchase for myself in the end.

Morocco, Bengal, and Silk Road seem to be the Big Three when it comes to warm, spicy Middle Eastern blends. Now, Morocco is immediately identifiable, but I had to dredge up Bengal because I thought Silk Road was very reminiscent of it. After smelling the two together, Silk Road is drier, dustier, like dry tea herbs and spices in a pot whereas Bengal is tea already brewed and steaming. I bet layering these would be awesome...

I listed this as an alternate, something I always do just in case something wasn't available in the first six scents I'd listed, and the lab kindly included it as a freebie. Yay! Right out of the imp, there's a big lemony whack that's almost like an all-purpose kitchen cleanser, but it morphs almost right away, and I can smell the orange blossom trying to push its way to the forefront. Lavender and the other herbs have no chance against these two battling it out for dominance. Hm. It's starting to trigger a headache. Time to go wash it off.

I got this because I really like warm and spicy citrus scents. There's a bitter tang to it when I sniff it in the imp, but that disappears on my skin, and I smell lots of spicy orange blossom, which is very nice. I think I'm going to let this sit for another month or two, though, and see if age improves it, because it's not very strong. Later edit: aging is a *definite* improvement. It's still not really strong, but after six months it turns into so much awesome. The black narcissus lost the bitterness that it had when it was fresh, but it still gives a darker edge to the blossoms and the vanilla and makes it so very sexy. I will be buying a bottle of it, but I'll have to stick it in the closet for a few months and try desperately to resist using it until it's ready...

I'm not sure what it is about this scent, but just like Carnal (which doesn't have any notes in common with this) my skin sucks it up on contact. I can smell it fine in the imp, but there's almost *nothing* on my wrist, despite two swabs in the same spot. I can pick out a little bit of lemon and a little bit of balsam. After a few minutes it tries to escape the black hole of my pores, and that might be the beeswax, but I can't smell anything unless I put my nose right up against my wrist. Which is too bad, because this is an *interesting* scent...

Frimp! ...way too woodsy for my tastes. The oakmoss seems to be the dominant note on my skin, because all I can smell is a plank of wood. Sorta like whiskey, in that regard. It's not unpleasant, just not at all my thing. (edit because woodsy is not earthy!)

I realize this is almost four years old, but I LOL'd. This was a frimp. It's definitely straight-up leather... I was afraid it would be more violently leather than this, but it's actually kind of mellow. Alas, I think this also is a little too masculine for my tastes, although I'd love to swipe it on a guy and sniff it again. ...I need a guy to swipe it on in the first place! *ahem*

Oh HELLO there! What a delightful fruity floral mix! I think this was what I was hoping for from La Bella Donna Mia Mente, except the rose spoiled all the fun. This is a very Southern smell to me - the fragrant gardens, the burstingly ripe peaches. I like that this doesn't come across as plasticky and artificial, which happens a lot with these types of notes. I think I'll put this on my list of bottles that I might buy when there's nothing else that takes priority.

This is a very ... insubstantial scent. It's not very strong, and the vanilla comes out and takes over the sandalwood after five minutes. It's sort of like a daydream scent, going la la la with your head in the clouds, but it doesn't take much to snap you out of it.

Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco. Arg, for this imp has a sticky top that's nearly impossible to get open! I really like this one, but it's not a scent I think I would wear - however, I would love to slather a guy in this and cuddle up and sniff it on *him*. It's very well blended, and it takes a while for the vanilla to come out, but it's there, held down by the teak. It's just too masculine for me, alas.

This was a freebie with my decants. I smell no mint or flowers, just amber and wood and leather. It makes me think of a high-rise office where the furniture is solid wood and high-quality leather, which adds very subtly to the smell of a room. I think it adequately represents its description, but not something I'd wear.

Got this as a lab frimp. ...I almost can't tell the difference between this and Lightning; they're both a fresh ozoney scent with a faint hint of citrus. I think Tempest is a little darker, but if you blindfolded me, I don't think I could tell which was which.

So I finally got around to checking out the fabled Snake Oil! ...er, it's nice, but not nearly what I was expecting. Just your basic warm vanilla, very mild. Bit of a smoky background to it. The spice makes itself more and more apparent as it dries. It seems like something nice and neutral to wear when you want to wear *something* but you don't want to parade around like a can-can girl. It seems like aging is the way to go, though, so I'm going to drop it in the imp box and let it sit for a couple months and see how I like it then.

Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany. Dionysia has officially replaced Glasgow as my favorite BPAL scent. I knew I loved it from first whiff. I don't really consider it "earthy" (except in an ooh-la-la sexual earthy) - it's a wonderful dark and spicy fruit. It's a pretty equal mix of plumagranate and spice right out of the imp, and the fruit gradually fades into the background after a couple of hours, leaving behind a rich incensey smell. Me gusta. I discovered that a little goes a LONG way, though - I just swiped it on my wrists, elbows, and neck before work, and it was still discernible 9 hours later.

In the bottle - sort of a sweet syrup with a hint of lemon in the background. Wet on skin - root beer. It quickly starts smelling less of root beer and more like cream soda. The lemon has disappeared, and I haven't caught any rosemary, nutmeg, or clove yet, but it seems to get a little spicier as it dries. Right now it's nice, very mild, but not a whole lot of personality to it yet. I'll have to give it an hour and see if it morphs into anything more interesting. I suspect this might age well, too. ETA: I put it on again a day later and let it dry for an hour. I was hoping for a lot more spice, but it's still just a very mild cream. Might be the monthly chemistry, I'll try it again in a week. (I really want to like this!) Second edit: I tried it again when it wasn't quite so fresh and when I hadn't just started my period, and it definitely picked up some personality. I think the key to this is not to expect an insta-arm-devouring-yum, but rather let it follow you around and catch warm sunny whiffs. It seems to be activated by body heat, because I noticed it the most while I was sweating at work.

Another Danube fan here. It's the only aquatic that I've tried that I really like - everything else seems to turn sour on me. If Lightning qualifies as an aquatic, I like that one a lot too, but it's more of a fresh scent than a water scent.

I'm in the process of categorizing my collection before it gets out of hand, and I realized that I never really tested this one, which was a lab frimp. ...rose. gah. See, I'm not opposed to rose in principle, and I can wear scents that have rose as long as it's a background note with other more powerful scents sitting on top of it and holding it down. This one, unfortunately, is a more prominent rose - I can actually still smell some of the greenery that other people mention, but it's still WOAHWOAHROSE on me. Must go scrub now. Sorry...