theshapeshifter

The winiest one on me is Nosferatu - as long as earth notes don't put you off, I think you'll really enjoy that. I also get a rich wine note from Samhain (I just have an imp, I presume it's the 2004 edition), although it doesn't seem to officially be in the description.

Highwayman has a foreboding quality that makes me think of Fangorn Forest.

In the imp: STRONG, and something that reminds me of Highwayman (upon looking up reviews, I determine this must be gardenia). I love Highwayman, so it seems promising. Initial application: Oh dear. Here's where I discover that gardenia is the mystery ingredient that almost made me dislike Highwayman. And it's much, much stronger here. Gardenia obviously hates my skin with a flaming passion - it's like a mix of banana scratch-and-sniff stickers, dank vegetation and something caustic. After ten minutes of hoping it would settle into the scent that so many people rave about, I had to give it up and wash it off. I haven't had too many BPALs that abjectly hated me, but alas, the Sacred Whore was one. Woe.

In the bottle: I must be getting lots of the pepper, because it's very... spiky. Initial application through drydown: It's INTENSELY blood orange, with the pepper making it more sharp/tangy than sweet. It smells concentrated, rather like sticking your nose into a packet of Tang powder and sniffing... if, of course, they ever invented blood-orange Tang. I'm honestly not sure what to expect of benzoin and olibanum, but there seems to be something vaguely vanilla-like lurking way at the bottom. So far (it's been on about 45 minutes), I adore it. If there are any further interesting developments as I wear it longer, I shall update this review.

In the imp: I don't know whether I'm more tempted to lick it, or have sex with it! Initial application: For a brief moment, I was afraid it was all going to go horribly wrong, because I got a strong whiff of what I can only describe as 'rotting baby powder'. Thankfully, though, that literally only lasted about 15 seconds. Then it blossomed into this heady clove/vetiver/incense combination. Drydown: It's been on for two hours now, and I simply can NOT stop sniffing myself. It's got great throw, for one thing. And it's wonderfully complex... I keep getting different elements of it each time. The cherry, vanilla, and honey are dancing around each other, and then there's the clove (a THROB of clove is exactly the right description! It's almost pornographic!) and vetiver and musk just dragging the sweetness into total debauchery. I'm not getting a huge amount of the wine, but there is just a hint of tartness. The poppy I'm not sure of, since I haven't smelled many prominent 'poppy' scents. It has the most amazing effect. I'm in jeans and a plain t-shirt and glasses, hair all mushed down from the rain, and just from this scent alone I feel like a total vamp. If combined with an actual sexy outfit, this scent might have to carry a warning label!

Wow, this is amazingly complex, as others have noted. In the bottle: Earth, incense, and currant, with an undertone of something very 'womanly'. This is the Queen, alright. Initial application: It goes on very rich and sweet, and for the first five minutes or so actually reminds me of a more subtle, less chocolately Gluttony. Drydown: After about 15 minutes, the currant and pomegranate really start to come into their own. There's the rich, almost boozy fruity depth that I love in Bordello, but made unbelievably deep and intriguing by the hints of incense and earth. The vanilla's still there, and combined with just the subtlest bit of rose (I'm glad, because strong rose scents are not my friends), it rounds it out, making it very clear that this is the Queen, not the King. I absolutely love this. It's everything I hoped for when I read the list of notes, and then some.

CT2 CDXXXI (is that 431, I think?) Wow, this one really illustrates the difference between in the bottle and on skin! In the bottle: Creamy, slightly minty... like a mintier Chaste Moon. Nice, but not knocking my socks off. In fact, it took me a while to get round to trying it on. On skin: It just explodes into juiciness! I'm getting citrus - grapefruit and lime, I think - mint, night-blooming jasmine, and a bit of ginger. And there's a tart sweetness to it all, as though all those scents were combined into a sour candy. It's really fresh and tart and lovely, a great scent for a hot day. Now that it's been on a few minutes, there's a bit of greenness coming in too. Edited to add that it's also got just the SLIGHTEST whiff of melon, like a melon liqueur.

Wow, why have I never tried Snake Oil before? I sniffed the imp last night and just about fell over. Long story, but there's a guy from long in my past... one of those ones where you don't necessarily regret that they got away, but you treasure the memory. And he wore this wonderful scent, that's still emblazoned on my mind as "sex, distilled". (I never knew what it actually was). Well. I sniffed the imp and my first thought was that this was THAT scent, plus the most incredible vanilla. On skin, the sexy-boy scent is much more in the background, just a whisper under this mysterious, sultry vanilla-plus-spice smell. Not foody spice, and not QUITE incensey spice, but somewhere in between. This is the PERFECT sexy vanilla I've been looking for my whole adult life! Now I totally understand its popularity. Must. Buy. Bottle.

Honey Moon was probably, for me, the most eagerly-anticipated of the moons I'd ordered thus far, and so far it is NOT letting me down. It went on a little faint, but is warming up and picking up strength nicely after application. I had worried that the jasmine might overpower the honey (as I find with Lush's 'Flying Fox')... not that I don't like jasmine, but I was REALLY excited for a strong honey scent. But the jasmine wanders quietly in the middle distance, just giving a nice floral underlay to the lovely warm honey. The thyme and the ginger are present, but just enough to add a bit of freshness and sharpness, which keep the honey from being cloying. This is exactly, EXACTLY what I'd hoped for. I love it!

Yes, exactly! Well, at least by my calculations.

Congrats! I'm about 6 weeks along as well, and personally, I'm not using any perfume oils in the first trimester, just to be on the safe side. Besides, my sense of smell is far stronger than usual now, so at the moment most things smell too strong to me. But in a few more weeks, I'll have loads to try, since I still have four pending orders out there!

Looks like I'll be locking away the BPAL for the next few months too. Such a sacrifice, especially when I have FIVE orders on their way to me, but the little one is worth it. I don't want to take any chances, especially since I've had a miscarriage before. For those who resumed using their lovely smellies after the first trimester, any particular recommendations?

Maewitch - I think Paypal does send along your address, but I always include mine in the 'comments' section anyhow, just to be sure. I type out my order, then the calculations of the order total (bottles, imps, shipping, and total), and then my address.

In the imp: Honey and herbs. Initial application: HONEY, and lots of it! It took a while for any other notes to come out. Drydown: I briefly got an almost apple-y whiff from it, then something richer and deeper but still sweet - although I had to refresh my memory on the scent description before I realized this must be the fig. In the early drydown stages, I also got occasional wafts of floral. After it settles in, the clove comes in and combines with the fig to give a lovely spicy-fruityness to it, but the honey is the dominant note all the way through. I don't really get any patchouli out of this, except perhaps to deepen the blend This is really wonderful on me, better than I expected, actually! I've had it on for five hours now and it's got great staying power.

Okay, admittedly this is more of a general Paypal question than a BPAL-specific one, but since everyone here is savvy to this stuff, I thought it might be the best place to ask. If you have a 'personal' account, what kinds of payments can you accept? Just someone else's Paypal balance? (I've been asked a few times about selling things I'd offered for swaps, but I wasn't sure how to deal with the money) Also, at the moment I'm only set up with Paypal via my credit card, not my bank balance, and would prefer to keep it that way if I can, since my bank account is a joint one and my credit card is all mine... but sooner or later I'm going to run out of the credit card limit they give you. Someone told me that even if you're paying for something with a Paypal balance, it STILL keeps lowering your credit card limit. Is this true? (and does that limit ever reset?) I'm kind of hoping the Lab has a new credit card setup for internationals before my limit runs out, but I know they have bigger fish to fry at the moment!

Yep, it says 'Love Me' and I do! I get a rush of cinnamon at first, then it evolves into a warm, heady mix of dragon's blood, cinnamon, clove, and a hint of vanilla-y sweetness - like Dragon's Milk with a SERIOUS spice kick added. And, as others have mentioned, there's enough jasmine to keep it from being totally over-the-top foody. Even though it was a disgustingly hot day yesterday, the sort of day when I'd normally reach for a cool/fresh kind of scent, it felt great having this on - made me feel like I was getting a sexy/healthy kind of 'glow', instead of just sweating.

Warm, cozy gingerbread spiced with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon. Well, this was my first real strikeout with a limited edition, but then again, it was a triumph of impulse and curiosity over good sense. I'd heard all the squeeing and love over this scent, so when an imp came up for sale, I snagged it... disregarding the fact that although I love foody scents as a whole, I don't actually LIKE gingerbread very much. So, I have to say that although this is a DAZZLINGLY ACCURATE representation of fresh, warm, just-baked gingerbread, it just wasn't for me. Within about ten minutes, it was giving me a headache. (For the record, hubby LOVED it on me.) But for anyone who enjoys gingerbread, I can certainly see why this is such a hit!

Dead Man's Hand is just gorgeous. It's a very raw, outdoorsy leather, and STRONG. Dragon's Hide is sweet, smoky, warm-off-the-skin leather.

Initial application: It goes on buttery, almost like the buttery note in Gluttony. There are other notes underneath, but I can't quite pick them out. Drydown: Okay, there's something in here that doesn't like me. It's almost faded entirely away after an hour, for one thing. What's left is a nice hint of spicy wood (the cassia and incensey notes), but overpowered by a smell of.... bug spray. Damn you, skin chemistry. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. Off to the swaps.

This really is the "visions of sugarplums" from the poem! Wet: It's intensely sugary sweet liquid fruit. In fact, the thing that comes to mind is mixing up a batch of Jello. Drydown: The 'hot liquid Jello' stage backs off a bit, but it keeps its essential character - this is fruit candy, not actual fruits themselves. I like it a lot!

I was in love with this from the moment I sniffed the imp! It's the perfect velvety, custardy sweet vanilla I've been looking for. I get a little rum in the background, not so much of the spices - mainly just sugary vanilla custard with that tiny 'kick'. My only regret is that it wasn't super-long-lasting, but it was great while it stuck around!!

Skadi is just GORGEOUS. Despite the fact that it's a Yule scent, it was a wonderful thing to wear on a disgustingly hot, sticky summer day. Initial application: I get a rush of something sort of halfway between evergreen and menthol - it feels like a little winter breeze just snuck in. So refreshing! Drydown: Within a couple of minutes, it turns into sweet berries laid on a bed of evergreen boughs. Fresh, and sweet, and cool. It stayed more or less the same through the drydown, although sometimes I was getting more berry, sometimes more evergreen, and the hint of mint would waft in every now and then. There's a hint of ozone as well, making it all very fresh, and not at all Christmas-candle-like. A definite winner!

I'm pretty much going to repeat wickedgoddess' review, because I got exactly the same scent off it: hot, syrupy, just-starting-to-caramelize sugar, pure and simple, with a bit of a 'dark' tone to it. This is EXACTLY what I'd hoped for, and more. I am utterly, hopelessly in love, and suddenly understand why people get into bidding wars on Ebay. I want to marinate myself in it - but at the same time I want to hoard my precious imp!

Rage changed very little on me, from wet through the drydown. I could've SWORN there was a touch of vetiver in it... it gives me that 'murky' greenery scent, underneath the dragon's blood and fruity florals. I otherwise had trouble picking out notes, since it's very well blended, but it gave me more of a strong, sexy, don't-mess-with-me feeling than 'rage', per se. I like it a lot!

In the imp: It's rich and slightly sweet, but not in a foody way. Wet: Sweet almond with a hint of spice and some vanilla and/or honey. Rather similar to Eclipse, which is a good thing in my books! Drydown: The initial notes stay through the drydown, but are complemented by a slightly smoky tone... it's reminiscent of a sweet pipe tobacco, but it's faint enough to be pleasant (usually anything tobacco-ish will turn me right off). There's also just a touch of something that might be vetiver.. not enough to be prominent in its own right, but enough to give the blend a depth. It's a very golden and abundant-feeling scent, as the name would suggest. I can't attest yet to its voodoo efficacy, but I love the scent, and it definitely conveys a feeling of well-being.