marared

Very definitely smells like the vanilla in Love's Philosophy. Wrong kind of sweet for me, alas.

This starts out fruity - it reminds me of Pomona for the first ten or fifteen minutes. Once it dries down, though, it turns into a lovely warm and fuzzy resin that's only slightly sweet; I don't think I could even tell you this had an element of vanilla. There is not a whole lot of throw, but it sticks around; I could smell it on my wrists for several hours even on a sweaty day at work. I don't smell a whole lot of coffee, especially not after drydown. The vetiver is not burnt or smoky or even particularly noticeable, it just helps nail the scent down and keeps it from being too sweet or icky. The myrrh pokes its head out occasionally, and this was the note I was worried about, but it doesn't go to powder on me. I think I would call this a cousin to Mad Meg, without the mandarin or the cinnamon. Edit to say that with a little time and full drydown, it smells like a soft dark woodsy vanilla.

Loud, heady, powdery opium that smells like floral soap on me. Cannot really smell the vetiver. Tried to wait for the drydown, but had to go scrub it off. NOPE.

A decant has been sitting in my box for the last three years, and I don't remember what I thought when it's fresh (I did buy it because I love vetiver and oakmoss), but boy do I like it now when it's aged. I can only baaaaaarely detect the pomegranate - there's a slightly fruity blast when it first comes out of the imp, but it vanishes quickly. It's milder than the SN Haitian vetiver, but it's still smoky, and I guess if vetiver smells like bacon to you, there's a hint of bacon, but I don't really get that on my skin. It's just lovely aged vetiver mellowed out with a hint of wood and barely any fruit. I'm pretty sure I need to track down a bottle now.

Tobacco honey. Wow. This was totally not what I was expecting. Fresh out of the bottle, it's nauseatingly gasoline-sweet. I suppose it should have occurred to me that honey comes from the flowers, not from the dried leaves, because what I think I was hoping for was that rich, smoky, cured tobacco + honey. I'm not even sure I can leave this on long enough for the drydown, let alone stash it for aging.

TRICKSY BATH OIL Patchouli, aquilaria aguillocha, and Manuka honey. This one is whoa-patchouli, tempered and sweetened a bit by the honey, but it's still distinctive and persistent. I used a little bit in the shower last night, saw how thick the oil was (doesn't spread well directly on skin - obviously that's not what it's meant for, but we were just testing!), and spent several minutes washing it off. I still could smell faint patchouli for hours afterwards. I like it, but I would be cautious using it around anyone who *doesn't* like patchouli!

This smells like Copper Phoenix with patchouli, and the orange gives it the same high-pitched gack that I didn't like in CP either. I'm going to pop it in the closet for a year or two to see if it mellows out with time.

DIONYSIA. Everyone loves it on me and raves about how good it smells, and when they ask what's in it, they say, "Patchouli? Huh. I HATED patchouli until I smelled this." Patchouli is also one of those things that gets much smoother and sweeter and less hippie-dirty as it ages, so if you find a blend you like but the patchouli is a little strong? Put it away for at least one year, try it again, and give it one more year before you decide for sure.

The only rose I can wear that doesn't turn into freakishly loud ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE is Moroccan rose, and even then I have to apply cautiously. I mostly get my rose fix from The Body Shop's Moroccan rose body butter.

Peach V has a lot in common with Peach Moon, I think - minus the jasmine and the wood. It's light and sweet without being excessively fruity right off the bat, and over time on the skin it gets deeper and richer with the honey. Neroli is sometimes slightly bitter - this is not, not at all. It's a wonderful summertime scent.

I smelled Coldie's in Atlanta, and it was totally peachy fruit punch on me.

I smelled Coldie's while in Atlanta, and all I got out of it was slightly fruity cedar, maybe a bit of vine. I think I'm just excessively sensitive to cedar though, because it's an amp note of mine.

I don't have any recommendations, but I loooove TokyoMilk Dark and look forward to the day when I can afford bottles of Everything & Nothing and Bittersweet. I think #62 is called Tainted Love, which I remember liking pretty well too. For alcohol-based perfume, it's really nice and long-lasting, and doesn't SMELL like alcohol like other brands do.

No one's ever said a peep to me about bottles, loose imps, or even a quart bag full of imps. Honestly, there's been more than one occasion when I forgot to take my baggie of travel-size liquids (shampoo, lotion, etc) and nobody said anything about it either. (but they DID open my *checked* luggage to examine a bottle of beer that was a gift...)

This is a pretty, soft, inoffensive patchouli that's been gentled by the amber and honey. If you want to try patchouli but you're afraid of the loud dirty boot-wearin' kind, this would be a good place to start. It does grow progressively a little dirtier with time and warmth, but it's not nearly as forceful as #occupywallstreet or Banshee Beat. I do get the hints of wood other people mention, but I really have to huff my arm and think about it before it becomes noticeable. I like it, it just doesn't have quite as much personality as other patchouli blends. Edit: this does strongly remind me of O, without being as *sweet* as O.

As most everyone else has said, the rose geranium is dominant right out of the imp - it's pretty sharp, and there's this high-pitched note that's almost like mint but isn't. I can smell the patchouli in the background, and if I really inhale the red musk is there too, which is unusual because that's a pretty loud note and very distinctive in BPAL blends. It definitely needs to be revisited in a few months, maybe a few years to let everything smooth out. ETA ten minutes later: oh, THERE'S the red musk. Just needed time to warm up...

This smells like high-end deodorant. Really! It's a very nice, fresh and salty aquatic that does NOT go weird on my skin - it's in the same family as Lightning - but it still reminds me of deodorant!

Pretty much what everyone else has said. If you don't already like vetiver, this isn't going to make you a fan. If you're on the fence, you need to give it some time to settle before you decide if you do or don't like it, because it's powerful, smoky and strong right out of the bottle. Not a huge amount of throw, but it's pretty intense. It mellows out pretty quickly though, into smoky/scorched green wood. It'll age nicely, too.

Got my second/last bottle of Mad Meg today. I wish I had discovered this sooner. Whole bunch of notes that I hate, working together to smell gorgeous on me.

Some scents don't always call to mind the season they're meant to evoke, but this one deeeeeefinitely does, and it's the "dry leaves" in particular that leaves that impression. Dry leaves, teak, patchouli. It smells like a solid wood hope chest that once held detritus of the earth - leaves and flowers and bits, and you can still smell them in the empty box. Sits very close to my skin and not much throw. Given ten or fifteen minutes, the wood and leaves slowly fade into the background and the ivy and hyssop become more noticeable. I don't get the vetiver impression other people mention, although I can understand why they'd think that, but vetiver is stronger and sharper to my nose.

I love this stuff - it's a fabulous rich honey. What I usually do is one spray into my hairbrush, which lasts for a few uses each time. My hair does a great seaweed impression if I ever apply oil directly, but done via hairbrush, by the time the oil builds up enough to make my hair heavy and floppy, it's time to wash it anyway. It's strong, but it doesn't have much throw - I can smell it in my own hair, but other people generally don't notice it unless they're right up in my space. Just how I like it. It's *great* for the days when I have to use tar shampoo, and it will get used again tomorrow after I'm done with a henna touchup.

2011 edition. I've been eyeballing this one for a while now, unsure because wine of any kind often dominates a blend on me, but these are just the grapes... and frankincense and especially myrrh have a track record of not playing nice with my skin, but not always. Happily, it works. On me, it's a slightly grapey frankincense and olive leaf - I do not smell the pomegranate or even the cakes, but perhaps it's the cakes that lend that hint of sweetness to the blend. It's a little strong for the first fifteen or twenty minutes, but it damps down after a while and hangs on for at least five or six hours before the scent evaporates. Not foody or winey at all - just smooth resin that will age like a champ. I will have to get a full bottle of this after all!

The honey smells much like the GC honeys, which unfortunately is not all that great on me. I was hoping for more of the orange and linden blossom, but it's really just a golden amber-honey without any real zing to it.

There's absolutely no reason this should work on me. Almond? Ew. Balsam? Usually overwhelms every scent on me, as does cinnamon. But oddly enough, it DOES work. And it's GOOD. Like second-tier favorite. Like I might actually get a bottle. Cinnamony orangey vetiver. My first impression involved an almost magnolia-like gooeyness, although that dissipates after a while. I like it.

Sweet dark golden musk. A bit of smoke. I only catch a *hint* of vanilla on the drydown, and it mostly develops into a sweet woody musk without the smoke.