reverendsquid

I'm glad it got sorted out for you..

Another English person here...just to reiterate what everyone else has said, really, it does take a long time for orders to get here! I've been ordering regularly for a couple of years and I generally assume I'm not going to hear anything from the Lab for at least a month..and then it will take at least 10 days to reach my house once the click 'n' ship has arrived. It does take a bit of getting used to, but I've always found them to be very reliable, to the point where I often forget I've ordered!. I'm sure your order will be fine. It's never happened with the Lab, but I've had two Dark Delicacies orders held up because they've gone through a Customs check. That'll add at least an extra week to your waiting time, so again, that could be a possible cause. And Click 'n' ships are extremely variable. I'm sure you'll get your order soon.

In the imp: Ohjesushchristwhatthehellisthisgetitawayfromme horrible sharp chemicals. Fresh on: I dabbed a tiny bit of this on and it immediately bloomed into proper leather. Hurray! So I slathered it on as I usually do. This is mainly well worn leather and steel. I feel like I'm wearing leather armour with steel plates in it. Again, this is amazingly evocative. I occasionally get tiny hints of what may be musk and blood, but very little. I'm totally impressed by it. My husband, however, as soon as he came close to me, said 'oh GOD, what IS that? It smells like swimming pools gone wrong!' It's the only scent I've ever worn that's actually made him cough and back away. As it dries: This doesn't morph at all. I was hoping the leather might tone down a bit, but no. It's also stayed very strong, and although at first I was kind of loving it, I may have to go and wash it off soon. It's great, but pretty overwhelming after a while. Also, my husband has taken to avoiding me... Conclusion: This is very very cleverly done, but I can't see me ever wearing this except as a curiosity or for fancy dress. I will, however, keep the imp and see how it ages...and a little does go an exceedingly long way with this one, at least on me!

Ooh, first one of the RPG scents I've tried! I played D & D for about 10 years with a group of friends and I'm still kinda sad we don't do it anymore. Anyway... In the imp: This is almost identical to Gothic Horror. Dusty incense and rose. I like it, but I have to confess to being a little disappointed. Fresh on: This goes on exactly like Gothic Horror, but when it hits my skin the rose is immediately overtaken by a dry, bitter, incensy ashiness. This is like incense smoke and old parchment. It's very evocative, but not too nice. Luckily, it too calms down very quickly. I'm left with a slight hint of rose, some very light citrus (no idea where that's from!) and lots of resinous incense with a slight hint of smoke and ashes. As it dries: Once it got to the 'smooth resinous incense' stage, this stopped morphing, and I'm very glad it did. This is really really lovely. It's quite a faint scent on me, and I can't comment on it's wearlength because I had a shower , but I don't think it's a quick fader. Nice. Conclusion: I've really enjoyed wearing this. It's very evocative of a cleric, with the incense and also hints of parchment, but nice enough to be worn for itself. I found it similar to Gothic Horror, but it's deeper, less floral and a little more masculine than that. I'd say it also has some similarities to Midnight Mass and All Souls, so if you like those, Cleric may be worth a try.

In the bottle. Lovely lovely vetiver, sharp anise and something unidentifiable underneath it. It is sweetish and sort of musky/organic. Civet maybe? I've no idea. Fresh on - The vetiver comes out strongly, and the anise sharpens it up. The organic smell is still there and stronger, no moss that I can pick out. This is very dark, earthy and grimy. It isn't a bad smell, but I can't say I'd want to wear this again. There is something quite unnerving about it, although maybe that's just the association with the name. As it dries - after about 25 minutes, the vetiver and anise calm right down, and the sweeter smell comes out. This smells a little like musky leather now, with a herbal/medicinal tone to it. It's fading very quickly, although I didn't put a lot on as I thought it might be overpowering. It's a pity as it's actually quite nice now. This is very interesting. I kinda like it, but er...I kinda don't as well. The jury is well and truly out on this one....

In the bottle - sweet, chemical sugar. This is almost exactly like the jelly sweets my daughter likes. Fresh on - Pretty much the same, but it gets a particular fruitiness about it, like sherbert, or juicy fruit gum. It's very pink and sugary. As it dries - The intense sweetness dies down and it gets a sort of fuzzy/not-exactly-musky feel to it. This is like wearing a sugar pink mohair jumper and eating sherbert out of a bag. This is a very comforting and friendly scent, and it does have something nostalgic about it. It isn't over strong, but it lasts quite a while. If I'm honest, I can't say it made me really happy, but it is comforting and calming.

In the imp - very tart green apple..the smell you get after biting into a Granny Smith. Fresh on - still green apple, but it's been joined by a lot of dark, wet, greenery. I'm guessing it's the hemlock, as there is a similar element (although much quieter) in Faunalia, but I'm not good enough at sorting out individual notes to be sure. This is very wet and juicy, but not sweet at all. It's cold and a little sinister. Suits the title down to the ground. As it dries - I'm quite surprised! The apple sweetens, the greenery recedes to the background, and a surprisingly pleasant floral comes out. This becomes very 'expensive high end perfume' on me, in a good way. All the other elements are still there, but blended really nicely. I like this, but it's a bit too cold and standoffish for my tastes, and on me it fades to nothing after about 2 hours. It's very nice, but I think I'll stick to The Hesperides for my apple fix. However, if you find Hesperides too sweet, then this would be a really good one to try.

I would also like to mention Kumari Kandam (Wanderlust) - 'Thick incense, clay, stone, and hothouse blooms with a spike of frost, a hint of decay and heavy, dolorous, aquatic notes'. It isn't exactly snow, it's more of a frost, as you might expect. Not minty, but kind of freezing mineral, if that makes any sense ..as well as the salty aquatic and tropical floral. It's quite unusual, but lovely, in my opinion.

I actually got Dove's Heart as a frimp a few months ago, tried it on and wasn't that impressed. I found it almost identical to Waters of Notre Dame, cool blue lilies and a little soapy. I liked it enough to keep it around, but haven't worn it since then. Today, I've been thinking about my father, who died a few years ago. As I was a bit sad and tearful, I decided to try the oil again, to see if it would make me feel better. So I go to my box of imps. I have quite a few, more than 40, in a box, all upright, so their labels can't be seen. I usually have a HUGE problem finding a specific oil and was expecting a good few minutes of rummaging around, getting stuff out, putting it back, etc.. First one out of the box. This never happens. Anyway, I put it on and initially get the same strong lily smell and soapiness. But this time there's something golden and effervescent about it too. As it dries the soapiness first gets more pronounced, but then disappears altogether, and leaves a smell I can't really describe. It is floral, and sort of a very pale, watery golden yellow, with something deeper and a little musky underneath. It does sort of smell like an old fashioned perfume of some kind, with a slightly dusty edge to it. But it is comforting. As I'm typing this, I don't feel totally back to normal, but I'm much, much better. Someone in a previous post said this is like getting a hug from an older person, whose greater experience gives them greater perspective. I'd second that. I feel like I've been told not to worry, and I'm not. It's also a bit spooky, but I won't be throwing this away.

Wow. I ordered this more out of curiosity than anything else, and I didn't actually expect to like it, but I do. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.... In the imp - very sweet, with an odd sort of plasticene or play doh smell underneath it, which is vaguely clay like. No incense, no snow, no aquatics. Not that keen. But then.... Fresh on - first of all the sweetness increases until it smells almost sticky and the plasticene disappears. At this point it's a slightly unnerving floral because while I like sweet tropical flowers, this is oversweet and very very strong. Then, all of a sudden, over the top of the flowers, I've got the aquatic note I get from Calico Jack..very salty sea spray and wood. It's really really odd, sticky flowers and salt, but amazingly, it works. It reminds me of a bunch of rotting flowers and fruit floating in the ocean, maybe from a shipwreck, and I like it. Then.... SNOW.. Again, it comes out very fast and is suddenly there very strongly, over everything else. And it's proper cold. I'm getting the same cold-in-the-back-of-the-throat feeling that you get with anything menthol, but there's no menthol anywhere. Right now, as it's drying, it fits the description exactly. I feel like one of those 50's black and white movies where scientists doing something bizarre in the arctic find a hidden entrance to Another World. The smell coming out of the mysterious hole in the ground would be just like this. I love this, and may well be needing a bottle.

In the imp - Vetiver and musk. Surprisingly sweet. Fresh on - Still vetiver and musk. The vetiver hasn't gone mad on me as it sometimes does, the musk seems to be holding it in check very well. I didn't really expect to like this, but I do. It doesn't even feel very masculine to me. As it dries - The leather is coming out now, but only if I sniff my wrist. I've never worn a lot of leather clothes, so it's hard for me to say, but this smells like new leather to me. I can see that wet leather might have a more intense smell, but my days of dating men with leather jackets are long behind me, and I don't really remember the smell that well. Whatever it is, it's nice though, and mixes well with the musk and vetiver. I only bought this out of curiosity, but I'm glad I did. This is mainly woody and slightly herbal musk on me, and very nice it is too. My only complaint is that it isn't very strong, and fades in couple of hours.

The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal. In the bottle - Hm. I thought this would be very spicy and heavy, but it isn't. It's light, sweet and smells foody. Fresh on - Yep, cinnamon gum, or something similar. This is a beautifully warm scent, and still very sweet. I like it, although it isn't at all what I expected. I guess with the name Chimera, I expected something a bit more, well, sinister. As it dries - this is getting better and better. The cinnamon has calmed down a little bit now, and the myrrh and honeysuckle are coming out (I have no idea what copal smells like). This is still warm and sweet, but I don't feel like a giant stick of gum any more. This is definitely a keeper! Once it dried, I really liked the smell and it lasted for hours. It also has really good throw, and I got complimented while wearing it.

In the imp - sweet, creamy, sugary coffee. The coffee isn't strong, this is rather like a very expensive coffee ice cream, or something similar. I was hoping for a bit more oakwood, but hopefully that will come out later. Fresh on - The coffee smells gorgeous for about 2 seconds. Then I get dusty old books. Lots of them. Oh, actually, they;re very dusty. Actually, make that dusty and mouldy. No, hang on, they've started growing mushrooms. And now the mushrooms have started to rot. I kept this on for about 10 minutes, hoping that the mushrooms would go away, but it was making me feel sick, so off it went. Mostly. This stuff is strong. I covered it with Jack, which is the strongest BPAL I have, and I'm still getting faint hints of mushroom under the pumpkin.... I'm so sad, I've been wanting to try this for such a long time, and it was total gorgeousness in the imp! Still, I'm not defeated yet. I'll try it again (very cautiously) in a week or so, as scents often change quite drastically on me throughout the month. And if it's still mushrooms then I'll try it as a room scent.

In the imp -condensed milk and rain! This is a very sweet scent. Fresh on - initially the same, but after a couple of minutes, the coconut starts to come out, and also tropical flowers, oddly enough. This is almost edible, but the rain and flowers are saving it. Really refreshing. After drying - pretty much the same. It's quite close to my skin, I think. I can smell it without sniffing at my wrists, but I doubt if anyone near me could. Later on - this lasts well. After about 3 hours, the flowers and rain wear off, and I'm getting a soft condensed milk and coconut. I love this! It's a very soft and comforting scent, without being too cloying. It definitely feels soft, white and pure - like sitting by a clear stream on a hot day wearing a white silk dress and wrapped in a very soft, white blanket to keep away any chill. And not falling in the water or getting covered in insects as I undoubtedly would if I was actually doing that. *sigh*