rayvn1

Yer a right bastard, Mad Sweeney.

Being a Sweeney that married into the Smith clan you were a favorite character in American Gods. And since I take my Irish heritage verrry seriously I love my whiskey like there's no tomorrow.

You, however!

In the bottle: Irish Whiskey

Wet on me: Bourbon Whiskey - nasty, icky bourbon at that. Mixed with clove. Maybe cardamom too. Where'd the Irish whiskey go? Traitor.

And you never, ever changed. Why, skin chemistry gods?!?!?! Whyyyyyyy!!

This one is another reason I would like to get a scent locket. Whatever it did on my skin it just wasn't pleasant though I'll keep trying it because the clean, pure malted barley smell I get out of the imp is so unbelievably perfect!

(From the book's point of view, it kind of makes sense that Mad Sweeney would have adapted to more of an American bourbon whiskey flavor than a pure Irish one just like Ibis and Jacquel adapted to the States from their Egyptian counterparts. But I just don't like bourbon.) Curses!

I know this sounds like potato/potatoe, but I've always had a weird smell and taste aversion to Bourbon when I can down the Irish Whiskey all night and be happy. Boy do I wish I'd gotten the results of 90% of the other reviews on this one!

I've been so excited for this one! The notes are so utterly perfect! As a library fanatic some of my favorite moments of the day are spent in the dusty old music library stacks here at good old Northwestern U. And as a transplanted Seattle-ite my coffee addiction is growing to legendary proportions. Can't forget the love of Lovecraft either.

Miskatonic University:

I proclaim my love for thee!

Strong irish creamy goodness when wet. While dry it is spicy, dusty perfection. Accidentally splooshed a little over Doc Constantine and the spicy, leathery, manliness was what every Historical Romance library scene aspires to be.

Oh my! Leather and musk. Lots and lots of leather and musk along with a drydown that includes cedar smoke. It's so sexy it should be illegal! I don't get any of the pine, but this is so fantastic! Very understated with the throw. A little Miskatonic University ended up splashed on top of one of my wrists along with the Doc and it conjured some smokin' hot "lost in the library stacks" mental images

Keeper

Mmm-HMMM! Spider is a hit. While Mr. Nancy's rum and tobacco notes had me dancing with joy , Spider is younger and sexier in a way that makes me want to do something else that requires a partner if y'know what I'm sayin'

I get vetiver as well as bergamot and ginger. It's so sharply ticklish in my nose I can't help but sigh in appreciation.

Simply put, Mr. Nancy makes me want to dance. Dum de dum dee dum <shuffle shuffle shuffle> He is so perfectly in character from the book! Beth is amazing. I can't help but laugh and be happy with Mr. Nancy around. Lots of lime and tobacco in the bottle and on wet. Drying down I get the spicy rum and an even darker tobacco scent. Lord! This man turns my head He may be loud and embarrassing but he knows how to show a girl a good time!

Alas! Bilquis and I are not getting along I also had tons of almond come through while wet, but it was almost immediately overtaken by ...Irish Spring? or something like that. This is the first BPAL scent I've ever had that went soapy and powdery on me. At first it smelled like Eden if Eden were more of a sexpot. Before it went soapy I thought Yes! this IS the smell of a woman who would uh, "use up" men just as she does in the book! Hm what's this? I'm getting a little lily of the valley floral at this point. I'm going to keep her on and see if it morphs later. If Mama-ji can go from blah old woman to delightfully nose-bending pickling spice, maybe Bilquis will turn out to be a keeper too <fingers crossed>

I had expected not to be very into this one - so maybe I set myself up to not care for it <kicking self> As others have said there's all spice on me with a hint of rose on the drydown. This seems a very Fall scent on my skin so though I won't wear it often it will be good to put me in that mood when I want to feel like orange and brown colors. It is a bit comforting, but a little too old lady-ish on me. Darn! I've loved the other American Gods scents like Mr. Ibis and Mr. Jacquel so maybe I'll give this one another try later.

Edit from 3 hours later: Oh...my.... I smell just like pickling spice This is what I picture pickled imp smells like since I haven't tried that one yet. I will definitely wear this when I'm PMS'y and craving anything pickled! This is awesome

This one is as intriguing as his partner Mr. Jacquel. Ibis is very dry and papery but sweeet in a masculine-y kind of way. I get alot of the papyrus and aloe listed in the notes. I don't get any of the vanilla but that's fine with me So clean and gentlemanly. It may be faint but it's lasting a long time. It does capture his calm character and I'm so happy to have another Gaiman fragrance from one of my all time favorite books.

I Squee'd with joy when this showed up on my doorstep today I *knew* I hadn't worn a BPAL today for a reason! Oh my loooooord. In the bottle I smell glacial pine and a hint of green apples. On my body it was a light, crisp and sour green apple thrown into a snowbank. It really did a number on my brain - I could feel and picture the tendrils of the perfume entering my gray matter through my nose just like in those old cartoons. After a few hours it had died down to the vampire part of things - sexy and mysterious with just a hint of the apple It's a creepy perfume though. Definitely fits the chapbook. Made me feel uneasy even as I was nuzzling my arm against my nose.

I'm definitely getting the patchouli and the embalming spices. It smells like a faint, extremely dry, desert tomb. It's as if I pressed my nose to the desiccated linens covering a mummy. A back of the tongue sweet taste to it that's disturbing in a mummy kind of way too. I didn't know what to think at first but I ....like it....yes. Like it. Because I do think this sums up Mr. Jacquel to a T and he was one of my favorite American Gods characters. Hard not to love those death deities when you're a stereotypical Scorpio and Anubis has been a favorite god since I was a kid.

I was also really looking forward to this one - I"m a sucker for rain and grass notes! Wet on me it was a gorgeous thick scent like liquid tropical light. After about an hour it was gone, though. I couldn't really get much except the amber thanks to my darn chemistry. Argh!

Like others that have reviewed Succubus I'm not getting anything from this scent. There's a generic flowery smell that is extrememly weak which fades to nothing within twenty minutes. Hopefully this will end up in the hands of someone who loves it as much as I WISH I could have from such lovely descriptor notes.

I was really looking forward to this one - unfortunately it smelled very medicinal on application and then just vanished! Grrrr I love forest scents and this one sounded perfect, but no hint of tree in it for me at all I'll put this one away and try it again another day, otherwise it's off to the swaps pile!

Quincy Morris was a tricky one for me - for hours it was sweet and cloying pear. Finally it settled down to some serious saddle leather, much more my style! It was still a light and interesting scent when all is said and done, but it took a while to get to that stage.

Hmm, this one amps a lot of jasmine on me, but not overwhelmingly so. It's light and gently fragant. So light that I would have to reapply several times during the day if I want to wear this out and about. Throw is below average, but it is so sweet in scent and its character itself is sweet, gentle and happy. This rates as a nice one as I explore the more feminine scents.

Woah Nelly! This is strong stuff. I put only a little on and it was overpowering though in a good way. No cat pee here, just strong, thick, sweet honey with some blackberry cream on drydown. Whoever described this as smelling just like a honey cake was right on the money with my skin's reaction. I'm glad I have a bottle of this! It's delightful

Some sharper smells later on in dry stage that may be the fairy spices poking their head in.

I was so curious about High John when I received him in a group of imps. What I've been getting from wet all through dry is light, sweet, powerful lily-of-the-valley. Very pretty! Makes me feel like a southern belle ready to face the world. Makes me smile to smell it. Very nice floral! Just the right throw as opposed to New Orleans - it doesn't bash you over the head with scent, just rides lightly over your skin in a soft cloud. This is a keeper!

Oh. god. Smoky, dark tobacco is really amping on my skin and I love it! There's a lot of vanilla-ish fragrance, but not the sickly sweet vanilla I dislike in commercial perfumes. This smells like having a very good time cuddled up to a bad, bad man It's strong and I think it will last for some time which is great because I've been looking for a more dominant Severin type scent and although this is missing the tea, it is still dark, creamy and sexy. This immediately went into my box-o-favorites along with Severin and Calico Jack (what can I say? I have a weakness for tall, dark and naughty)

I've fallen into that group that adores Severin! The throw is so minimal that he's going to be an around the house perfume or something I wear to school where all my fellow voice majors get offended by strong scents.

This really smells exactly like a perfect cup of Earl gray with a little milk and sugar. If I could bottle the feeling of being curled up with a good book on a rainy day with a mug full of perfectly brewed tea at my elbow, this would be it! Thank god Beth and the lab made this guy - I may be buying a bottle since I anticipate making this one of my primary scents.

This was one I was feeling pretty meh about before trying it. In the bottle and wet it was a sock to the nose of jasmine, but dry it was a sock to the nose of honeysuckle. This is one of the strongest BPAL scents I've run across - crazy throw and staying power. I did start getting a bit of a headache, but I'm not going to blame that on New Orleans until I've worn it a few more times. The sheer overwhelming FLOWERS of this one make it something I won't wear very often, but I enjoyed mixing a bit with Santa Eularia's uber-herbiness and letting them grudge match.

This smells on me exactly as the description says - warm fruit and milk. Yummmmm! I had bought this from Ebay as an extra along with Hay Moon. Figured I should try some feminine scents along with all the Troll and Calico Jack I'd been ordering. This wasn't quite what I had expected since it IS feminine, but very much Woman with a capital "W". This isn't fragile flower-woman but serious earth-mother. That's all I can come up with to explain how rich and warm this is. Definitely a keeper!

Hooboy do I love this scent! It's like Nocnitsa with balls. I thought I would get a Hobbit-troll feel from this, but it really makes me nostalgic for a trip to Norway I took a few years ago. They were pretty obsessed with trolls in their folk culture and after smelling this I could picture a big hulking monster stomping out of the forested hills and yelling RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

So basically I love it

I do tend to go for the masculine scents and this one is not for the faint hearted or those who love subtle scents. It doesn't dig its fingers into your nose like Black Annis though there is a little bit of that "good stench" feel. If you love the dark, piney scents seriously consider giving this guy a try.

Mmmm very sweet and thick smelling in the imp.

Wet I could immediately smell the cocoa. This is my first foodie scent so I'm curious how it will turn out!

Dry I get what reminds me of the syrup that's combined with fizzy water to make Cherry Coke. Thick and syrupy - but thank god not like cough syrup! I'm crossing my fingers that it won't go anywhere near cough syrup...

I think this one is a keeper. Sonnett's right and it makes me think of what a little Anime girl would wear too, which is fun since I'm always in the mood to watch Anime!

Now if they could make a Cowboy Bebop blend for Faye and Spike....

This is an odd one. When first applied there was a strong smell of limes or some kind of citrus (not like the sweet dose of lemon in Namaste so I'm guessing lime). Just two minutes later the citrus is gone to be replaced by....sage and oregano! Huh. I don't get any of the jasmine others have mentioned. It smells just like I'm cooking a Mediterranean dinner and garnished myself

I actually did want more of a flower scent so in the end I dabbed just a bit of New Orleans on over it. Mwahahaha BPAL grudge match - crazy strong jasmine/honeysuckle vs. crazy strong sage/oregano! And the winner is.... mmmmm these two actually work better together with my chemistry than separate. The strong notes balance each other.

My Verdict: Hey, some days I DO want to smell like a Mediterranean kitchen

I picked up this bottle during my quest to find something aquatic and close to Calico Jack (my love affair gone wrong). It is a delightful fresh slap in the face with salty, tangy sea air. The ozone is very present for a few hours on me and then it settles into a lovely water smell. There was even a moment where the holy grail of scents for this Washingtonian turned up - the smell immediately after the rain when all is right with the world. That phase didn't last long but boy was it good! I woke up this morning and Phoenix was still there when I snuffled my wrist. Huzzah BPAL!