JazzieCazzie

IN THE IMP: Spicy carnation and clove with a slight softness and a tiny bit of soap. WET: Definitely carnation-spicy! Almost single note carnation on first sniff but then it's offset by the powdery rose and the mellowing amber. Minimal clove at all. I am loving the whiffs I get when I'm typing. Not overpowering at all. INITIAL DRYDOWN: The clove, she is rising. FINAL DRYDOWN: In the end, too powdery for me (the rose). It's not soapy to my nose, it just loses the spice and goes too sweet. ... It goes into the Boobiepalooza Package of Awesome (a yooge package of awesome sniffies et al I'll be raffling off For The Boobies. Stay tuned).

IN THE IMP: Smells like perfection. Seriously. It reminds me of Scherezade, one of my Top 5 all-time scents. WET: OMGYESOMGYES. NO words but "perfect" come to mind. This was the scent I had the highest hopes for, with the concern that the oudh might be a dealbreaker. But wet this is the perfect resin/musk/amber with no byproducts. INITIAL DRYDOWN: So as it dries down I get a little less Scherezade and a little more sweetishness (which I think is the oudh). FINAL DRYDOWN: The sad mouse's tail. This is SOOOOO close to being Scherezade's twin sister with dragon's blood thrown in for good measure (and i love DB). I thought it would be a two-bottle buy. I really did. Then as it dried down more I thought, okay, maybe one bottle. But sadly, the more it dried down, the more it just went "sweetish" on me. There are a few scents that are SOOOOO perfect when wet but then just don't quite work when dry on me, that I KNOW KNOW KNOW would be AMAZEBALLS on me as a bath oil. This is one of them (the other, you ask? ENVY). I'd be ecstatic if this was released as a bath oil and would probably buy two bottles but as it is I'll just stick with my two decants and not purchase any more until I can figure out a way to turn it into bath oil! (For whatever reason, the notes that don't work on me as a long-lasting perfume stay true in bath oil form).

This had me at ylang ylang. Even with one or two notes of doom, I HAD to get two decants. I love what Beth does with ylang ylang and she doesn't do it enough (IMHO), plus j'adore benzoin. IN THE IMP: Floral but with a "kick." WET: I am DEFINITELY getting the YY here (yay!) along with the amber and red sandalwood (yay and yay!). I had dabbed this on VERY lightly to try it but dabbed a little more on after initial sniff. INITIAL DRYDOWN: This is super nice. Not too strong, so I think it would be a good scent for newbies who aren't sure if they'd like something yet and don't want to make a commitment. While I await the results of the "sweaty myrrh" test, I find the initial drydown to be an outstanding wet/dry blend of resins and floral. FINAL DRYDOWN: Stronger but nice. YY still predominant which makes me happy. This reminds me A LOT of Twilight, one of the first three blind bottles I bought of BPAL when I was FIRST turned on to the company and had a mazillion scents to choose from. I am not sure, honestly, whether the name (Disastrous Twilight) is a deliberate hint that the two scents are somehow linked or just a coincidence. Out of six decants I bought from this series, this is one of the two keepers for me.

IN THE IMP: Sharp and pungent and slightly metallic. Applied to wrist and in crook of arm. WET: More incense and amber and frankincense than anything else (this is a good thing for me). Definitely much nicer on during wet application than I would have expected in imp sniff. While this may not be a "clear" description, for me it smelled "sweeter" on my fingertip (where a little came off) whereas on wrist and in crook it was "rounder" and more full-bodied. INITIAL DRYDOWN: Lovely drydown! It goes totally amber/incense on me with no nasty side effects other than the very remote possibility of "sweaty myrrh" in the background (while I love frankincense, most of the time myrrh turns into sweaty socks with my body chemistry). FINAL DRYDOWN AND VERDICT: A nice, lovely amber incense on the "dry" spots of my body (wrist, for example). However, I like to wear my sniffies in my "sweaty spots" (e.g., crook of my arm, cleavage) and in the long run, the "sweaty myrrh" would preclude me from reaching for this so ... ... It goes into the Boobiepalooza Package of Awesome (a yooge package of awesome sniffies et al I'll be raffling off For The Boobies. Stay tuned).

Welcome to the wonderful world of BPAL! While the notes you list may seem particular and specific, you will find SOOOOOO many amazing BPAL blends that include them (we sound like scent twins LOL) ... I'd have to look over years and years worth of my own reviews but my advice to you would be to set aside an evening (or two), and go over the reviews here on the forum ... definitely start with the "General Catalogue" scents for more immediate gratification and more likelihood of finding them. Scherezade is a win win win in my book, maybe my favorite GC scent, period. One of my top three is absolutely Shub Niggurath, but be forewarned that the very most prominent note(s) in that is/are GINGER and that is one you don't list. If you don't think you'll like ginger, Shub may not be for you. It's amazing, though. The third I'd suggest that is not on your list but is a GC is Fenris Wolf which is very ambery and musky and sandalwoody and delicious. Good luck and have fun! Swaps and buying up big bags of GC imps are a good way to start ... even ones you don't like, you can include in future swaps for ones you DO like or want to try! You'll find BPALers to be very generous and helpful ... I'd definitely try to start with folks who are local to you though (countrywise) because otherwise the shipping (both price and manner of having to go to the PO and do paperwork) can put some people off (I, admittedly, will no longer swap or buy internationally for this reason ... my local PO is awful). But there are BPAListas all over the world and many are less crotchety than I am!

First? Eeeeeeeek. All righty then. To preface: My weird body chemistry has a tendency to not work that well with scents/blends that have a "nutty" component to them but in the case of Pecan Pie Bath Oil I was willing to take my chances because, you know, pecan pie, y'all! Plus, I have found that often times the BPTP bath oils will work on me where nothing else does. I had read one review (on Facebook, maybe? Or somewhere else here? I can't find it now) that may have been the Hair Gloss ... but anyway, it said that it smelled EXACTLY like Pecan Pie to them but with an additional note they couldn't put their finger on. In the bottle, to me, I have to admit that it smelled more like fruitcake than pecan pie, which leads me to think the elusive note might be a citrus rind of some sort? Orange or lemon? I think that often winds up in a lot of pecan pie recipes. It was nice (I would have eaten it in a heartbeat) but it didn't make me think "pecan pie" for some reason. In the tub, it definitely mellowed more into a sweeter, slightly less fruity scent. Very sweet and sugary and I probably put on 5 pounds just sniffing it :) Post-bath, I am luxuriously soft but the scent dissipated/evaporated on me almost immediately, which is unusual with my BPTP bath oils ... usually, I smell like my bath for a few hours ... BUT, that said, most of my bath oils are of the frankincense/resinous variety ... this may be my first strictly foody/dessert scent and I suspect that has a lot to do with it. So, overall, it's not what I was expecting, exactly, but it was still lovely!!!!! Next up: Marshmallow Cookie Pie Bath Oil ...

[No additional description given.] There was no way in the world I was NOT going to buy a bottle of this, especially since I had held out on the entire BPAL Luper list (until today, when I finally caved and ordered a bottle of Initiation Sentimentale in faint hope that the white tea note might not overpower everything else in it, but I digress) ... I'm a big fan of how the Lab and the Post works it chocolate/cocoa magic in its scents, and some of my very favorite products are cocoa/chocolate based (Gelt, Tezcatlipoca et al) but sometimes the "other" notes combined in the boxes of chocolate will scare me off. When I saw just OG Dark Chocolate and Cocoa Cream I HAD to go for it! Yeah, yeah, cream can sometimes go icky sweet on me but if it's playing with chocolate, how bad could it be? My faith paid off big time ... this is absolutely delicious and mesmerizingly so ... A tiny bit sweeter in the bottle, once it's in the hot water it's just rich and complex and even ever-so-slightly spicy/herbal, unique enough that every delicious whiff is a treat! There is SOMETHING I can't put my finger on that keeps it from just being a giant chocolate bunny in your face ... is it a spice? I'd almost have guessed this was Mexican chocolate if I hadn't seen the name of it (and while I don't want to call out another company, what it reminds me of a little bit is a lavender-and-chocolate combination someone makes which doesn't really smell like lavender at all but has a similarly mesmerizing chocolate-and-SOMETHING AWESOME smell). Anyway ... if you like or love chocolate but fear it will be a little too too too sweet, do NOT fear that here ... it's sweet and spicy and evocatively SHMEXY as well. I will have to be careful to not just go through this big bottle in a week. Luckily, with the Post's bath oils, a little goes a long way. This is AWESOME!!!

Then said Gangleri: What covenant was between them, or which was the stronger? And Hárr answered: The sons of Borr slew Ymir the giant; lo, where he fell there gushed forth so much blood out of his wounds that with it they drowned all the race of the Rime-Giants, save that one, whom giants call Bergelmir, escaped with his household; he went upon his ship, and his wife with him, and they were safe there. And from them are come the races of the Rime-Giants, as is said here: Untold ages | ere earth was shapen, Then was Bergelmir born; That first I recall, | how the famous wise giant On the deck of the ship was laid down. A torrent of red musk, Dracaena draco, red pepper, black patchouli, nagarmotha, and red ginger. First? Yikes!!! I was on vacation, out of the country with limited cel data available when the Song of Creation collection was released ... there were many scents that intrigued me when I came back stateside and was online, but very few decant circles with openings (and the one for which I did try to get a few of the other scents I wanted was completely unresponsive) ... SO the one scent that I felt I needed to blind-bottle buy in case this was gone by the time I tried everything was this one ... every note I'd heard of was something I loved. The only one I was unfamiliar with was nagarmotha, which I read was something earthy. I am SO glad I got this!!!!! In the imp: The first thing that hit me is something that was, oddly enough, metallic but I couldn't place it and very fiery. Applied to my wrist and in the crook of my arm. WET: Hot hot fiery red hot red fire pepper spicy hot hot hot. But when I say hot (six times) I don't mean it burned upon application because it didn't. It just smelled like a thousand fires -- not smoky, just hot and red and ... well, you see my reaction. Also, this has HUGE throw when wet ... I got a face-full before I'd even recapped the bottle. EARLY DRYDOWN: The odd metallic scent is/was, I THINK, the mysterious nagarmotha because as the "metallic" aspect of it evaporated it was replaced by a deep earthy wet note. NOT dirt, and not really green but rather that deep dark brown of wet earth ... even though you think of it as dirt it's really very clean, like the birth of new life to come from beneath the ground. (I'm also guessing the patchouli may be intermingled for that effect). That becomes, for me, the predominant scent for a little while, as the other hot fiery scents seem to join hands and circle the wet earth in a semicircle behind it ... they just blend beautifully into an absolutely gorgeous and complex mix. LATE DRYDOWN: The wet earth remains, a subtle and unusual fragrance. The resins and musks are very notable and play beautifully together. And finally the dragon's blood comes out at the end for me in a note that I once referred to, before I knew what it was, as "my comfort scent" or "my linen closet scent," referring to a hall closet in the apartment where I grew up where we kept all of our medical supplies, etc., and which had this devastatingly comforting and beautiful smell to me that I could not replicate but some dragon's blood blends DO. This is totally huffworthy and a complete and total keeper. I love it!

Bought a few imps worth in a decant circle because I'm a big fan of the old iterations of Gelt, BPAL cocoa, and dreidels. In the imp: The cocoa and amber of gelt, a slight whiff of the wood shavings and also, as a previous reviewer noted, something ineffably fruity. Applied to wrist and in crook of arm (scents tend to smell slightly different on the totally dry skin and the parts that perspire a little so I like to test drive in both). WET: Strong cocoa throw first ... sniffing my wrist I get the Gelt with wood shavings, and sniffing the crook of my arm I'm getting something a little more "golden" and round, for lack of a better way to describe it. DRYDOWN: This ends up a little more "un-cocoa" than Gelt did on me, with the wood shavings more predominant in the crook of my arm. The wood way outlasts the cocoa but I happen to love wood shavings so it works for me. A very definitely gender-neutral scent.

I'm with them (insert little upwards-pointing arrow here) in that this reminds me SO much of my beloved Scherezade, one of my Top 3 all-time GCs, and also that this is a truly quintessential BPAL scent, the kind that I've never seen another company come even close to being able to create. So with that ... Bought a few imps worth in a decant circle (enough to earn the bottle!) and after first sniff immediately bought a back-up bottle (and got in just in time ... thank you, Lab!!!!!) In the bottle: Incense, gorgeous gorgeous incense. I really don't get individual notes on bottle sniff, just this lovely blend. Applied to wrist and in crook of arm. WET: I'd say my only disappointment re: this is how very LITTLE throw it has ... it's super light. I actually applied a second toothpick's worth on both wrist and in crook. It is absolutely LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY. The Scherezade comps are dead on. The cinnamon does NOT burn, the dragon's blood does NOT go hot-house flower as it does in some blends (I used to think it was gardenia before I learned how to identify it on its own), and the amber is the beautiful ribbon that ties everything together. DRYDOWN: I can't really differentiate between early and late drydown because it just dries pretty quickly. I get very little of the cinnamon though I know it's there (no burn, just that tiny spice). The dragon's blood in this (I mentioned something similar in my review of Deluge of Blood) is what I used to refer to as "my comfort scent" ... for some reason, sometimes DB goes lush hot flower on me and other times it's almost incense/resin on me. Not sure why. In this case, it's very much the resinous note that makes me think of favorite scents of my childhood. Overall, this is a clean, lovely, comforting and subtle scent. It's very unique, not at all perfumey, but light enough in terms of throw to be a go-to scent I would feel comfortable wearing "out" with no fear of offending people who don't like smellies.

I'm going to start with a non-hair very initial review because I just got mine ... Number 52 (LII) so right after Numanoid! When I untaped the cap I got a whiff of fruity so was concerned (cherry and I are not friends), yet when I uncapped the bottle just to sniff I did not get fruity AT ALL ... couldn't put my finger on what it was, just a lovely light incense and no other discernable notes. So I just sprayed a bit on my shoulder to try to get a feel for it ... and I think it's going to drive me crazy because I can't figure out what it is!!! It is NOT super-duper floral, that much I know (you know, not jasmine or tuberose or whatever) ... yet it's somehow familiar. It's quite light ... the incense is not a deep strong nag champa type of incense (or if it is it is very much in the background) ... I'm getting a tiny bit of powder which leads me to think there may be some myrrh in here? And definitely something sweet but not candy-sweet ... not cakey baked goods sweet ... and I don't think it's vanilla. So, it could be fruity but it's not a stone fruit ... But it's VERY familiar. There is a comforting feeling to it ... it has a little outdoorsiness (I know I said it wasn't floral, so I wonder if it could be something like dandelion ... I think I may actually go down and stick my shoulder in my husband's face and see what he thinks ... Okay ... the first thing he thought was strawberry and that is a definitely possibility ... would explain my thinking fruity but also explain why I like it (the only fruits that EVER work for me are fig, pink grapefruit and sometimes strawberry). He thinks it's fruity and floral ... but he also said if you blindfolded him and asked him to smell a rose and a lilac he wouldn't be able to tell the difference, so there you go. But the good news is he kind of likes it ... he is NOT a big perfume fan but he knows what he doesn't like LOL.

Was able to get about 3/4 of an imp from a decantress who picked some up and added the decants to the circle I was already participating in, so I was happy to get to try this! IN THE IMP: Chocolate, yes, but also with the slush which to my nose is a combo of snow and aquatic, neither of which bodes well for me. Applied to wrist and crook of arm. WET: MUCH more slush than chocolate on me, because my stupid body amps snow/aquatic notes and they do NOT play nicely with me. Wet, it is very perfumey and I lose all the chocolate, which gives me sadz because BPAL chocolate is so awesome. DRYDOWN: Yup. All ozone and snow and cold and aquatic. Oh well. It was definitely worth trying! Now that I have reviewed and let it dry down in the name of science, I'm off to shower

I continue my quest to try to find the perfect green scent that smells like a Christmas wreath, and so bought one decant of this. IN THE IMP: Yup, there's first and spruce and pine. Applied lightly to one wrist and the crook of the arm. WET: Wait a minute ... fruit? Am I going crazy? (Thankfully, now that I've read the reviews here after making my own notes, I am relieved that NO, I am NOT going crazy). A very strong throw from the get-go that, to my nose, is more round and elusively fruity than it is forest-like and deep green. I guess it's a legit fir/spruce/pine combo along with whatever berries are growing in that forest. DRYDOWN: Fruity green ... both a little too fruity and a little too perfumey (which may actually be one and the same for my nose) for me but I think there will be plenty of people who really love this. Not sure fruit-green lovers will know to explore this one, though ... but hopefully they read reviews and will realize this could be a hidden gem for them! Not for me, though, sadly. To the bag of amazing imps/decants to find a new home soon with you!

I took my chance on this because of patchouli, frankincense, opoponax, myrrh and lavender. I didn't know enough about terebinth to have an opinion. And I just prayed I wouldn't amp the mandarin. But guess what I amped? IN THE IMP: Something I can't quite put my finger on (maybe the terebinth?) along with mandarin, which I can only describe as richly, roundly fruity but also slightly metallic and shiny. Applied VERY lightly to wrist and crook of arm. WET: MANDARIN MANDARIN MANDARIN!!! The super-orange overwhelms everything else thanks/no thanks to my stupid body chemistry. The wealth of other notes that convinced me to get/try this teased me fleetingly then ran away from the super-orange. DRYDOWN: Nope. It does quiet down to something slightly sweeter (am thinking the myrrh was at work here) but in the end, on me it was candied orange peel and nicely-scented orange dishwashing liquid. Into the swap/sale bag with these sweetie pies to find a new home that loves orange.

I could not resist buying two imps of this in a recent decant circle in hopes that my body would be more receptive to my once-favorite note fig (as it was in Nemesis and Nephilim, two HUGE favorites before menopause and brain injury issues affected my body chem and olfactory sensibilities respectively) ... the fact that ALL FOUR notes are ones that usually work on me (if I can keep myrrh from going sweaty socks in the crook of my arm). SO glad I did!!! In the imp: Actually VERY light and clean and lovely ... subtle fig combined with super-clean sandalwood. Applied to wrist and in crook of arm. WET: On my wrist, just cinnamon (hey, I LOVE cinnamon!). In crook of arm, the cinnamon mingles evenly with sandalwood and lightly fig. The notes interweave with each other so remarkably that not only can I pick them out if I consciously think about it but they combine into something COMPLETELY different and lovely. DRYDOWN: The myrrh creeps out but not in an icky way, the fig remains a light reminder and the sandalwood/cinnamon combination are heavenly. FINAL DRYDOWN: In the final affair, the fig definitely comes to the top, reminding me why I loved fig notes in my resiny blends! SUCH a keeper ... truthfully now wishing I had tested by Phoenixes before my Yules and I would have bought a bottle of this instead of one of the Yules I got, I think. Maybe I'll be able to swap for it

In the imp: This smelled just straight out "NO!" to me ... very much like the scents which I know are going to be complete skin chemistry failed from the get-go, like any of the blends that have either "wine" listed as a note or grape or plum, even though none of them are in there. I'm guessing it's the orange that others have referred to. And I don't even get the vanilla cream, which for me is the one "danger note" ... and in case you're wondering why I ordered this, the other notes listed are big favorites and coriander, which is rarely found in BPAL blends, is the predominant note in my favorite non-BPAL perfume so I was curious about this one and bought one imp. Still forged on, though ... applied a dab on my wrist and a dab in the crook of my arm. Wet: Absolutely NOTHING like how it smelled in the imp! Like others have said, crazily morphy! It has a rich, high-end fancy perfume smell and I am NOT saying that as an insult. It's very hard to differentiate the notes once it hits the skin ... it's got the slightly incensey dreaminess of the frankincense and sandalwood and, I guess, the coriander and musk and other notes. Not getting ANY orange or fruit. Drydown: Slightly sweet but in a comforting way, not a plastic way ... very subtle. Very CLEAN but not quite soapy. Very complex and yet simple, if that makes any sense ... I guess to try to explain that, it's complex in that I can't put a finger on the individual notes, but simple in that it combines for one truly lovely final product. Overall: I'm pretty much sapped in terms of being able to buy more bottles right now but this is definitely going on my wishlist. I think it's something that I could wear regularly and not be afraid of bothering people ... I bet a lot of people would think I smelled delicious.

I knew this one was going to be a longshot when I ordered a single imp from a decant circle, but figured it was worth a shot. The result is that I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would, knowing that buttercream and mint -- two things I adore in "real life" -- both had a tendency to go wonky on me as BPAL notes. In the imp: Some mint, but not in-your-face mint ... more of a hint of it. The creamy frosting was predominant in the imp, that mixture of sweet and salty but something in the sweetness that always has an ever-so-tiny "nuttiness" to me that doesn't work. Applied lightly to wrist and to crook of arm. Wet: Actually quite pleasant. Mint, which as I've said I absolutely adore in every form EXCEPT perfume where it goes badly aquatic/ozone on me, was probably the nicest mint I've worn. Light and sweet. I got ZERO chocolate. The buttercream, though, did what I have found ANYTHING with "cream" in the name does to me ... curdled right away. It just has a plastic-y smell on me that is not something I'd want to wear. It's not "OMG WASH THIS OFF" level, just ... oh well. Drydown: The mint has disappeared from my wrist but is still nestled in the crook of my arm. Oddly, my wrist doesn't smell as good as the crook because of that. IN both cases, as I suspected, the buttercream frosting pushed everything else out of the way and on me it smells "off." I know this is totally my chemistry and not anything wrong with the scent. I just need to learn my lesson that my chem does not like this note. In the crook, the mint ever-so-slightly overrides it but I'm willing to guess on later drydown it would also lose out to the frosting. Overall: I think this is probably a truly lovely scent, it just doesn't work for me and as a result is going into my "imp sales bag" which I'm putting together with all my goodies from my holiday-season perfume/body/bath product buying and will be moving along within the next few weeks.

Wow ... amazed that there have been so few responses to this one! In the bottle: The closest thing I've sniffed to my precious beloved Top 3 ever scents, Shuuuuuuuub! I've tried many of the gingerbread blends since then and they've never really worked for me because they were, on my body, a little too "cakey" and not "gingery" enough but I keep trying because I loves me my gingerbread scent. Of the "cotillion" choices, I thought this one could be "it" because I love a good patchouli mix and ADORE champaca flower ... my only concern was whether the orange would overpower everything else. Upon application: I just love this. It's the perfect blend of my precious not-too-cakey Shub, with that sharp resiny edge that I adore from the patchouli and then the champaca rounding things off into the best incense ever. I'm getting very little if any of the orange other than a tiny citrus peel "kick" at the very end of the sniff. Drydown is very true to the scent from sniff to wet to dry. I can't stop huffing myself. The orange rises a little more in the moister spots (crook of my arm rather than inside of wrist, for instance) but it's one of the very few blends where I really love the orange instead of being turned off by it ... kind of like the Christmas scent of grated peel in the baked goods or peel in the mulled glogg. This is just a fantastic scent. And it would make a FANTASTIC bath line (just sayin') ... I bought enough imps in my decant circle to have about 80% of a bottle but bought a full bottle from the Lab as well just to be safe. Don't want to run out of this precious! ETA the next morning: Just wanted to add that this has SUPER strong long-lasting throw, especially in the crook of my arm. And the final drydown on me ended up being much more orange than gingerbread. I still love this but am going to have to remember to amp down the amount I apply and where I apply it in certain circumstances. ETAA: My new plan: Buy up some unscented bubble bath and unscented lotion (Aveeno makes both) and make myself bottles of this in lotion and bath treats!

Just got my order that was a combination of decants from Phoenixes and Yules and figured I'd work my way VERY slowly through them and actually, you know, review them. I was VERY intrigued by the notes in Poetry, enough so that I ordered two imps. I knew, on paper, pretty much every note was something I liked or loved, but also knew that sometimes vetiver goes wonky on me, AND knew that there were different jasmines, some which I adored, but didn't know the terminology (thank you, SophieCedar ... now I know that jasmine sambac IS INDEED "The Nice Jasmine"!) When I uncapped it to sniff, I was pretty much transported back to when I got my very first BPAL order, which I'd narrowed my first reading of the scent list down to after literally HOURS ... among that trio was Twilight, and that has remained a scent which I think of as "very BPAL" ... and for some reason on first uncapped imp sniff this reminded me a lot of that one. While I might have hoped that notes such as frankincense, saffron and/or benzoin would have been a little more prevalent, on me this became the JASMINE show with a few other notes making subtle background chorus line appearances. But because this is The Nice Jasmine, that is not a bad thing! For the first 15 minutes or so, after applying it to my wrist and into the crook of my arm (I do that so I get a dry skin and moister skin double test), the jasmine was amping big time. Now that it's dried, I'd say it's still VERY predominantly jasmine on me, but the other notes tamp it down a little bit and give it a nice incensey vibe. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite teenage scents, Love's Musky Jasmin Flower (NOT Love's Soft Jasmin which was way too sweet and girly for me, and yes, they spelled it without the "e" for some reason). Images of getting ready for high school dances and parties where high hopes of finding true (one-month at least) love was usually dashed but damn I smelled good when I left the house. I have a read a few other reviews from people who have said the jasmine did not amp a lot on them, so this is definitely a "YMMV" scent based on body chemistry. I really love this scent on me. It's complex but also brings me back in time to simple (reasonably happy) times ... I have two full imps and considered briefly ordering a bottle, but the only reason I did not (other than the fact that there were three other scents I got, to be reviewed soon, that simply DEMANDED AND REQUIRED full bottle buys) is that I understand that jasmine is one of those really divisive scents where people either love it or hate it ... because of that, I am not sure how comfortable I'd feel wearing this out at a social event or with others (I'm of an older generation and usually when I'm with a group, it's a bunch of similarly post-menopausal women who are cranky and opinionated just like I am) ... That's just me. I've got enough bad qualities that I want my scent to be subtle when I'm playing with others just so I don't give them yet another reason to not want to be around me LOLOL. However, I do plan on applying this when I'm home working on my own because I love how it smells on me ... and if it happens to be part of an upcoming BPTP release in something like, say, bath oil, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. If you love -- or even like -- jasmine, try to get your hands on some of this ...

Siamese benzoin, white lilac, tuberose, aniseseed, and white carnation. When I saw the notes for this I practically tripped over my own hands to buy a bottle. IN THE BOTTLE: I literally said "oh my God" when I got my first sniff of this. I would say that in the bottle, the white lilac and tuberose were about 50-50 in terms of racing each other to astound and delight my olfactory nerves, with an ethereal, spicy scent providing the follow-up hit. Dabbed on one wrist and in the crook of that arm. WET: Once on my skin, the tuberose took over and the rest of the notes combined for a very complex and appealing supporting act. The white lilac provides a little variety to what I term the "lush hot-house floral" vibe (I tend to lump lilac, tuberose and gardenia in that group and, occasionally, jasmine). The carnation provides a tiny bit of spice. And what I THINK must be the benzoin (since I've seen it described as something not unlike vanilla) and the aniseseed really come through, for me, on the drydown. DRYDOWN: Somehow, this develops a slightly "candied" scent to it as it dries and the best way I can describe it is "tuberose-meets-Good-'n'-Plenty." It keeps morphing on each sniff from floral to sweet to licorice (so maybe I should call it "tuberose-meets-Good-'n'-Plenty-meets-Everlasting-Gobstoppers." OVERALL: I really, really, really like this A LOT. A little goes a long way and I need to remember in the future to apply in moderation since it has a TON of throw and I can see it being a scent that will have its big fans and its big un-fans. If you like tuberose, this is a no-brainer, I think. If you don't like the tuberose-gardenia-jasmine family of floral notes, you will probably not be a huge fan. On a scale of 1-5, a strong 4 and a keeper.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I think Baby's First Krampuslauf smells exactly like the perfect campfire!

I'm glad to know I'm not going totally crazy because, like VioletChaos, my first thought when I sniffed it was some sort of tobacco ... not smoke (though that might have been fitting, a la the concept of smoke-filled rooms in politics!) but a very rich and complicated and DEEP tobacco scent. Also some wood -- not forest wood, but mahogany or something you'd find in a polished rich library (or seraglio or something). The fig, to me, is not figgy-fig ... not the fig I remember from Nemesis, for example ... but, again, a deep, round and complex dark fruity scent. On drydown I get a rich, sharp, unique incense but not hippie-land ... it's sophisticated. It's sleek. It smells important and unique and subtly powerful. And I think it will age absolutely gorgeously. Sadly, it is not "me" but it was worth the price to get to sniff this and suss out all the complex notes and, of course, the money was well spent for these wonderful causes.

French lavender, white frankincense, Himalayan cedar, and jasmine sambac absolute. I was hesitant to be the first to review this (such a responsibility!) since I am laid VERY low by the flu and suspect my sniffer is not up to par. That said, I received my order yesterday (including this and Recollection bath oil and a jar of Lust Smooch) and when I am sick, a hot bath is truly the ONLY thing that makes me feel better (and even then only when I'm in the tub) ... I figured even if I couldn't smell it, the therapeutic properties of lavender would be good for me so I poured a little bit of this into the tub. And, amazingly, I ABSOLUTELY could smell it ... and it is divine! I've always been a little bit bummed that there are not more lavender products (any lavender products?) in the BPTP thermae line because the Lab's lavender scent is so fabulous, alone and in combinations with other scents (still hoping for a lavender/chocolate blend!). This is VERY lavender-heavy, at least to my flu-burnt-out nose. I actually got zero jasmine from it (and I like jasmine) ... I suspect the sandalwood and cedar contributed to the soft, round fullness of the overall scent. But basically I was able to float in a soft, hot bathtub with lovely lavender wafting into my sinuses ... and for about a half-hour I was painfree. Maybe when I'm healthy I will be able to pick out the other notes as well ... but if it stays like this, lavender with benefits, I'll be very happy. I realize I will probably never get my dream bath oil, Envy, but this is by far the next best thing!

...are distorted versions of their "real" perfumes: sticky sweet, cobwebby, and grotesque. Am I first? Really??? Well, I had not tried the "original" Miss Spink, though it had been on my "maybe" list ... wish I could compare the two so apologies in advance. Received a decant of this in a decantapalooza. IN THE IMP: It's surprisingly light and airy. Sweet florals but with a slightly "salty" note. I'm not getting tuberose or gardenia on imp sniff, more like a yellow daffodil. And there is a tiny bit of musty old lady smell, oddly. Dabbed on one wrist. WET: Ahhhhhh. Now THERE is the tuberose and gardenia I'd been hoping for. But definitely not the usual over-the-top in-your-face hot-house scent (and I like those OTT IYFs when it's a hot-house floral). I'd call it a mild, subdued floral on my skin. Very pleasant, not something that's going to make people near me turn around to see where the scent is coming from. DRYDOWN: It's just ... pleasant. It's definitely not something I feel the need to wash off (as I did, sadly, with The Other Miss Forcible, who was test-riding on my other wrist simultaneously). But it's probably not something I'd reach for the in imp box either. OVERALL: I like this but I don't LOVE it. It will go into the swap box because I KNOW there are going to be many people who WILL love it. On a scale of 1-5, a 3.

White lavender, oudh, and Siamese benzoin. Double-test-driving my two new purchases from the lovely Proserpine, one on each arm. IN THE BOTTLE: Lavender lavender lavender. A beautiful, light, slightly herbal/resiny lavender. It reminds me quite a lot of my precious Baku and I could TOTALLY see this fitting in just perfectly with the Somnium series. Dabbed on one wrist and in the crook of that arm. WET: On application, it is puuuuuure lavender on me and could almost be a single note at first. But the slightly medicinal and sweet benzoin note rises quickly to join it and makes it more complex. A very subtle and beautiful combination. DRYDOWN: This is where it gets even more interesting. The oudh definitely joins the party on drydown and the result is fascinating to me. It's really kind of spectacular. It becomes less of a "lavender blend with other touches" and more of a "resinous woody blend with some lavender and benzoin." It stays just the unisex side of men's cologne for me, enough that I feel great wearing it myself instead of smelling it on a guy. OVERALL: I <3 this. I think it is one of the most multi-dimensional blends I've smelled in a long time ... it has the lavender component for the lavender lovers, the kind of thing I can put on before I go to sleep to help me drift off into lavender loveliness. But it also has a strength to it that I think would totally appeal to those who classify lavender as either aromatherapy or girly-girl. I feel like I could wear this any time, anywhere, and people would come up to me and say "Ooooooh, WHAT are you wearing?" I will see if that happens on vacation this week. On a scale of 1-5, really, a 5.