marared

The Phantom Calliope? A few months later I actually see this response. lol. That's one of the scents I have been considering, but the reviews mostly seem to point out the cherry, and I'm afraid of the patchouli - at least in terms of trying to match the scent. And it's not impable, so I'm waffling on whether to buy a bottle and hope I like it even if it's not at all like YSTW...

Exact opposite experience that I had with Danube: sniffed it in an imp that a friend brought me a couple of years ago and loved it, bought a bottle and was unimpressed - and after two years of trying it every few months, it just isn't my thing. Coldie, if you want my bottle, you're welcome to it; it's about a centimeter below label (and the label's a bit smudged).

When a friend of mine brought me her box of BPAL a couple of years ago so that I could sniff its contents (evil enabler that she is), Danube was one of my favorite scents. It was apparently somewhat aged, though, because when I bought a 5ml that arrived in the end of February, I was ... not nearly as impressed. I'm not sure just what turned me off - I was afraid that aquatic scents just didn't work with my skin chemistry. However, after letting it sit for almost four months, the bottle has improved to the wonderful cool flowery scent that I loved in the imp, and most importantly, it smells good on ME. This is the only aquatic that has shown any promise so far.

I've flown out of various airports - Baltimore, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, Portland - with imps in my carryon and have never had a problem. I keep them in a baggie to avoid leakage, but I can also whip them out and declare them if I have to.

Wet on my wrist: the first scent to hit my brain is cherry nougat - candy, but not really sweet candy - and then the vetiver and the vanilla take over within a couple of seconds. The cherry grows progressively fainter. Interestingly, this is finally a vetiver note that doesn't make my nose sting. It's a very complex smell, but maybe a little too much green/wood for my taste. Later edit: I tried it again and I like it a lot more the second time around - perhaps aging it for another month is what made the difference. I think I'd seriously consider buying a 5ml of this now, but I'd have to stick it in my closet for 2-3 months first.

My experience has been pretty consistent with almost everyone else's thus far - it's a lot woodsier in the imp and wet on the skin, but it's all lilies on the water when it dries. Unfortunately, it's pretty unimpressive on me. It smells nice, just not a me-smell. I keep buying variations on aquatic scents, and I've come to the conclusion that either they just don't really work on me, or I need to let them sit for a couple of years first, because the imps that I originally fell in love with were rather aged.

Wet, this smells green right away on me - like bounding through the bushes green. I'm assuming this is the teak plus the bergamot, but it's not any bergamot I've ever smelled before (at least not in my tea!) The green is quickly beaten into submission as it dries, though, by the vanilla and ... I think it's the rose, maybe the musk. Which is interesting, because my skin seems to amp rose, but here the vanilla is more dominant. There's no hint of apple whatsoever.

This is a bright and cheery smell that I like very much in the imp. Mandarins are a very spicy citrus by themselves, but the fig sweetens it up just a little - I think if I didn't know what was in it, I would have named it brown sugar. Unfortunately, the scent has zero throw - freshly applied, I can't smell it unless my wrist is right in my face, and it's gone within the hour.

I got this in a swap; I was interested in trying another vetiver scent to see if that was why Bluebeard smelled so terrible on me. Must have been something else, because while I can smell the vetiver straight out of the imp, its presence is not nearly so dominating on my skin. I can still smell it, but the cedar keeps it in line. I can smell greenery behind it all, and I'm not sure whether it's the olive or the raspberry - I'm leaning towards the olive. It's not a favorite, but at least it didn't turn vile on my skin.

Smells like a nice warm cup of good chai.

I am normally not a huge fan of patchouli, and I can still smell it in this, but it's very nicely moderated by the honey, I think, and the ylang ylang just makes me want to sashay up to someone and waggle my eyebrows. But man, this is STRONG on me, and it lasts forever. I think I did two or three swipes of the imp wand on my wrist, and it was still very noticeable six or eight hours later, and the next morning, it's still faintly detectable on my wrist. The imp itself is a keeper for the occasional swab, I think, but too strong for a full bottle. I can't imagine how powerful it must be after a year or two of sitting around!

I have had stellar luck with spicy vanilla - the jasmine vanilla from Bath & Body Works has put male noses in my cleavage with frightening regularity. The sugary variations are not so effective on me, but the vanilla always seems to make guys go "Aroo?" It sounds like Snake Oil is the closest to the Jasmine Vanilla, but I've not tried it yet. The other scent that gets attention - and I have not found a BPAL variation that I really like yet - is the Body Shop's Juba oil. It's basically citrus and spice (on me), and that's been known to cause a double take from time to time as well.

With reference to my prior post, it ended up reminding me of walking past a tobacco shop in the city. I think this would suit me better as an incense than on my skin.

All I get out of this is the almond. Can't deal with the almond. Am sending it on to someone else for enabling purposes...

I like violet. I like lavender. I like white musk. I like vetiver - in fact, the vetiver is why I wanted to try it. It's not so bad in the imp, either - stormy, grassy. But holy bovine this smells HORRIBLE on me. I couldn't scrub it off fast enough!

I got a whole batch of imps today, about half of which were out of Wanderlust, and this was by far my favorite out of the bunch. I wasn't too sure about the blackberry when I placed the order, and it's not nearly as sweet as I was anticipating, which is a good thing - it's a subdued sweet, like walking past a wild bush on the street, rather than the manufactured, unrealistic, new plastic doll sweet.

I ordered this with a couple of batches of imps and am eagerly awaiting its arrival - mostly because I've *been* to Santo Domingo and I'm curious to see if it reminds me of the place at all. See, when I think of the city, the aromas that come to mind are that of the salty sea wind, stones and iron baking in the summer heat, and the occasional waft of ripe mango on the breeze. Maybe a bit of green sweet sugarcane fields too, but that was outside the city....

I absolutely adore You Snap the Whip, which is described as cassis/black currant and bergamot, although I think the cocoa butter must contribute considerably to the scent. It's basically chocolate and a rich tart fruit, which I looove - I keep some crumbles in the butter tin so I can sniff it every so often even when I'm out of the butter itself. I've looked at some of the BPAL perfumes that include those ingredients, but I haven't come across any that seem to match it - does anyone have recommendations that are close?

I got this as a freebie quite a while ago. I love it in the vial, when it still smells fruity, but on me the rose dominates within minutes. It doesn't smell bad - I'm sure someone would sniff my wrists right now and go mmmm - but I really prefer to smell rose on the flower rather than in a perfume. I'll certainly finish off the imp, though.

I got this as a freebie with an order of Danube. It's a lemony-lavender assault in the imp, but on me, it smells like bitter lemon with a leafy/woodsy scent like a bush... might be the ginger. It's interesting!