RachelElizabeth

In the imp and wet on my skin, this was amber, heliotrope and musk with a background of fruity sweetness. As it dried, I started to get a little bit of the strawberry. It threatened to turn powdery for about 30 seconds, but, thankfully, never did. As the drydown wore on, I got hints of cherry, but never very much. The vanilla came through in the drydown, but it wasn't a cloying, overly foody vanilla - it was very smooth and sophisticated. The final drydown on me was musky vanilla. Overall, I liked this, but I don't think I'll spring for a bottle - I can get what it gives me from other things I like more, like Bordello and Les Bijoux. I can see people loving it, though - especially if they love musky blends. I have musky skin anyway, so I don't seek out blends with musk Edited because I forgot to remove my notes

This was a lagniappe from the lab, and after reading the reviews, I was fully expecting to hate it. To my very great surprise, I didn't - I quite liked it! It was very, very green on me. Mossy, clean, and a little floral and spicy. It stayed mostly true the whole time I was wearing it - it didn't change much through the drydown. Mostly, what I liked about this was that it was like nothing I've ever smelled. I don't know if it works - I haven't tested it on any menfolk - but it definitely put me in the mood It had good throw, but didn't last very long - after about six hours, it was almost totally gone.

Thanks! I had no idea that almond would burn - maybe there's hope for me and cinnamon after all!

Ok, so both Eclipse and Inferno have cinnamon and bitter almond (I'm not allergic to any nuts). I have slight burning on my neck from Eclipse, and major burns on my neck and cleavage from Inferno. Just out of curiosity, has anyone has problems with that combination (cinnamon and bitter almond) but not with cinnamon by itself? I want to try a few more cinnamons and I'm just wondering how careful I need to be about where I apply them. Thanks!

Oh my goodness, this was incredible. In the imp, it was apple with a little bit of spice, but it wasn't at all autumn-y. Wet on my skin in was APPLEPEACHAPPLEPEACHAPPLEPEACH. Luckily, this faded fast. The florals, frankincense and myrhh start to come out as it dries, then the honey. I got the orange blossom as the first floral, and the rose about 45 minutes later. In every stage, this was lovely. When it settled down, even though it never quite lost the fruitiness, it was what I was hoping Jezebel would be, with nary a hint of baby powder. This won't unseat my beloved Shattered or Jazz Funeral, but it will definitely merit a spot in rotation. I love it!

In the imp, I got honey, orange blossom and just a hint of sandalwood from Jezebel. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it on, I got baby powder. The baby powder does fade quickly - and once I got over my "ugh - baby powder!" response, I noticed that it wasn't the awful generic baby powder that I was used to - it had a fresh, floral-y component to it. In the early drydown, the honey and the sandalwood start to come out, but the powder doesn't fade completely - not yet. As it dries more and more, more orange blossom comes out. After a few hours, this smells like sweet cream with hints of orange blossom and sandalwood - it's delectable. This the smell of pure luxury. This had incredible staying powder - at least 12 hours. The throw was great at the beginning, not so much later on. I loved the later stages, but I'm not sure about the powder - it's enough to keep this out of my "must buy 5 mL" for now - I'll have to try it some more, and try some scents with similar notes to try to replicate it. I'll also try it in my hair - maybe the chemistry won't change it as much.

In the imp and wet on my skin, Nosferatu is all dirt and blood.... straight-up human blood - I don't know how Beth does it, but she's amazing. It's unsettling. As it dries, there's something else coming out... it must be the herbs... but I'm getting something floral. It's almost like vanilla-sugared flowers and red wine, with just a hint of a dirt undertone. It's delicious - the dirt keeps it from being too sweet or cloying. An hour and half/two hours later, the blood is back, but it's more subtle - it had a lot of throw last time, and I'm not getting as much now. It's also tempered by the flowers and the wine - I really like this stage! This is definitely bottle-worthy.

I couldn't pick out the notes in this at all, but I just wanted to add that I didn't like Leanan Sidhe at all. One of the reasons I love BPAL is that their oils don't smell like stereotypical, department store perfume, and that was all I got from this. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, it was herbal and fresh and clean and everything that you would expect from the description, but it just wasn't as unique as I've come to expect my BPAL oils to be. If you don't mind perfume-y scents, you may very well love this. It just wasn't for me.

I got this as a freebie in my last order (thank you!) and I couldn't wait to try it, since it was on my list anyway. As soon as I put it on (neck, cleavage and wrists), my neck and cleavage came out all red and started burning like crazy - I had to wash them off . No problem on my wrists though, so the scent wound up lighter than I would have liked. At first, it was all cinnamon - like slathering myself in melted Red Hots. I never really got the almond... when I got to the dry-down, I had vanilla and neroli, and just a hint of the cinnamon left, and it was delicious. I've been sniffing my wrists all afternoon! It's very faint, but it's still there - I'll have to do a heavier application next time to make up for only having one available pulse point. Overall, as awful as this was at first, I wound up positively loving it. It bumped Eclipse off of my must-order-5ml list.