TessaGi

Finally dragged my tin of imps back out to give them another shot. Hopefully this won't be ruined by associating the scents with the nausea I had last time In the Imp: I get an oddly fruity scent, tempered with a greenish mossy scent and a hint of wood. Odd, but not unpleasant. On Wrist/Wet: More moss than that fruity scent, and the wood is getting stronger. The aquatic notes are starting to emerge as well, but very faintly. This smells like standing in a forest on a rainy day - very evocative. On Wrist/Drying: Ohh, hello lillies! Where did you come from? The green notes have warped from moss to florals, and there's still the woodsy scent in the background to keep it from being old lady perfume. This is also really faint on me, which is a good thing, I think. Later: .....ack, the nausea's back. brb, scrubbing my wrist and getting some coffee to sniff. Final Verdict: I'm really starting to think that my skin just doesn't like BPAL - either that, or Ulalume is the main culprit in my horrible reactions to BPAL.

I'm hoping this is the right place to ask this - has anyone else ever sniffed themselves sick on BPAL? I got my first imps yesterday, and Spellbound gave me a killer headache - after that, all the ones I sniffed didn't give me a headache, but started making me feel queasy and triggered my gag reflex. I had to get up and scrub my arm free of BPAL last night, and the B&BW lotion I put on after that just made the queasiness worse. Even now, I feel a bit nauseous, even if I'm just thinking about BPAL scents. Could I be reacting badly to some notes, or could the oils just be too strong for me? This is really disappointing, I don't want this to sour my experience with BPAL and I'd really hate it if every oil I got from now on made me sick. Other perfumes haven't made me sick - except for the really cloyingly sweet ones that tweenies adore - so this is one of the first bad reactions I've gotten from a scent.

In the Bottle: Cool, pale green, and crisp-smelling - like standing in the woods in the deep of winter. I get a lot of mint or pine in the imp, that's probably what's smelling so green. On Skin/Wet: I'm getting a lush green herb scent, more of that than I do the violet. The aquatic notes are hovering in the back, lightly sweet and keeping this from getting too sweet from the violet and amber. On Skin/Dry: Whoa, hello delicious As Darkling Thrush dries it becomes more lightly floral and perfumey, yet not overpoweringly so. I'm still smelling aquatics, and a bit of something camphor-ish in the back. All I can really say is YUM - so far this is my favourite of the imps that I received today. Very light, cool, and feminine, and the scent does an excellent job of evoking the poem - this is standing in the woods in the still of winter at twilight, shivering slightly, and listening to all of the little sounds of nature. Final Verdict: I love this. Love, love, love. I can't stop smelling myself. I think I'm going to be reduced to begging shamelessly for another decant/bottle of this.

In the Bottle: In the imp, Spellbound has got this weird heavy spiciness that reminds me of chemicals. Gradually that changes into heavy red rose blossoms and some sort of spice, which is probably the amber and musk. On Wrist/Wet: Heavy Victorian rose perfume with a kind of acrid stink from the musk. On Wrist/Drying: I rubbed my wrists together to spread out the scent and warm it a little - what a difference! This is still Victorian rose perfume, but it's mellowed and deepened. The musk isn't acrid any more, rather, it provides a nice backing note and balances the roses out wonderfully. The amber surfaces every so often and adds a bit of toned-down sweetness to counter the floral sweetness of the roses. Later: The musk has faded a bit - this is almost pure, heavy, sun-warmed red roses in a garden, just beginning to wither and dry in the heat. Final Verdict: I imagine this is what the evil stepmother in a Victorian fairy tale would wear. It's the scent of a confident, sexy, elegant woman (perhaps of questionable morals) who knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it. It's a keeper - I can't wait to wear this in my scent locket. EDIT: Even Later: Two hours later and Spellbound is giving me a killer headache. Even after scrubbing my wrists twice, I can still catch wafts of it. So good for staying power, but bad for my head. :/

Sleek, dark, and ominous. Violet and neroli mingled with iris, white sandalwood and dark musk. (this is my first review, so please be kind!) In the Bottle: First sniff - hippie shop! Cue panic over, 'Oh god, is this BPAL thing gonna work out for me after all?!' But on second sniff, the Raven morphs into a dark, lightly sweet violet floral that manages to be both strange and pleasant at the same time. On Wrist/Wet: Same as in bottle, only the floral's toned down a bit. That's all I get - a sweetly dark, mellow floral. I can't keep my nose away from my wrist. On Wrist/Drying: The violet kicks the iris out of the picture, only letting the neroli peep onstage every so often. No word from the sandalwood or musk. It smells like generic violet candy or perfume, with a twist. Also, this sticks really closely to my skin - I have to jam my nose right up to my wrist to smell it. Later: Powdery violet. Nothing else, just violetvioletviolet. Also, it's started to fade - it only lasted about an hour on me. Final Verdict: It's lovely, but probably not for me. My mum's probably going to love it, though; she's a fiend for violet and neroli. (edited to add Lab description)