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I got this imp mostly because everyone keeps raving about Smokestack's heavy vetiver, and I am a certifiable vetiver lover This is also my first Steamworks scent. I'm catching up with these, I don't know why I've ignored them before. In the imp - dark amber oil - always promising - and deep vetiver with a metallic touch. On wet - vetiver, coming out to play! Smokey, dark, but with a certain warmth. This is, I think, what Lost's smoke monster smells like. No lie. Drydown - this lightens unbelievably quickly and fades fast. Why D: The metallic note comes in full-force. I was hoping for consistent vetiver. Gorgeous wet phase though.

I've been meaning to try this one for the longest time, and finally found someone who had an imp. Exciting In the imp - understated and intense. Deepened ivy and sandalwood. On wet - sandalwood, ambergris, ivy, and a hint of ozone. Drydown - sandalwood, ivy, and slight wine, grasses. This stays fairly close to the skin and fades quickly. Shame, because it's quite a wonderful scent

My last Steamworks oil for today - this was generously frimped from the lab, another instance where I kept going back and forth on trying an oil and the lab helping me out by sending me a frimp of it In the imp - orange oil, pure teak. On wet - an incredible scent! I didn't think it would be that overwhelming. Wood, oak and tobacco - so far, so standard - but what's impossible to describe is how intense and deep this scent is. Good heavens, how beautiful! Thankyouthankyouthankyou for the frimp, lab, without you I wouldn't have tried it! Drydown - Deeper, deeper the wood notes go. Oh geez, this is sheer brilliance. A hint of black vanilla but not too much. God yes. Absolutely lovely!

Nearing my goal of trying every oil in the Arkham line (Only Nyarlathotep and R'lyeh left to go). This has been getting consistently brilliant reviews but I was at least a little concerned because a lot of the oils everyone seemed to love have failed utterly on me. Here goes nothing. In the imp - pure coffee and butterscotch. Tasty! Wet on skin - Much of the same. More butterscotch than coffee. Drydown - Much of the same but getting stronger. Oh - hang on. This is actually getting really nice! The intense butterscotch is all but gone, which is nice, because I wasn't a fan. Dry wood, a dusting of coffee. A hint of dry paper. Holy hell! This is brilliant! I was so worried and it's magnificient! Which makes me happy in particular because I am a huge Lovecraft fan and I felt like a bad fan because so far, only Herbert West has done anything for me. I wanted to enjoy more of the Picnic in Arkham oils, and now I found another to love

Frimp from the lab. The lab frimps epic amounts of Rappaccini oils to me, I wonder if they're trying to send me a message? Anyway. Not sure about this one. Not a floral person. Let's see. In the imp - a light, bareley detectable floral. On wet - a sweet, shady floral. Drydown - the floral blossoms and intensifies. This is very refined, a mature, aloof, classic floral. I think I'm not the person to ask for in-depth floral reviews because I don't much like florals and am rather useless at telling them apart. Basically, it's sweet, dusky, and 'does what it says on the tin', but it's not really for me.

My very first of the Riders! I'm thinking of trying all of them but this one called to me more than the other two; I love leather, tobacco and amber, so this sounds like a good oil from the get-go. In the imp - leather and sweet tobacco. Promising! On wet - leather. Mmm, delightful! Drydown - this remains quite close to the skin but no less delicious. Leather remains the prominent note but the amber and tobacco underline it nicely. Haven't yet decided whether or not it's bottleworthy - I will try it a few times and see. But I'm definitely considering it.

I bought this for a fellow Stardust fan and best friend who's only just getting enabled into BPAL by me. Tristran is her favourite character and I just had to get her this oil - but I also can't help but want to try it myself. In the bottle - exceedingly well blended and difficult to tell individual notes apart. Woodsy and herbal. On wet - bright, innocent and foresty. Not the pine-scented, overwhelming wood-scented sort of forest, but the real scent of a pale, light forest in England - trees, wildflowers, leaves, distant wildberries. There's only a slight herbal touch to it, via the coriander and mint, but even on my skin, which amps mint big time, it blends well into the background. The tonka and patchouli grounds it very nicely. Outstanding This remains very close to the skin but smells natural, beautifully androgynous and wonderful. Such a marvelous blend. I'm almost a bit sad to have to give it away now, but I know my friend is going to love it.

I'm not a big fan of food scents but this one sounds delicious! In the imp - Mmm, prunes and a tad bit of ginger. Tasty, tasty. On wet - Plum pudding! Purest, loveliest plum pudding! Not overly sweet, either. Drydown - is there cinnamon in this? Anyway, the ginger, which has a habit of going monster-gingerbread on me in other oils, remains subdued and polite in the background. I think I can also detected the slightest hint of mint, but that might be my nose fooling me. While this hasn't converted me into the realm of foodies, this is a wonderful and tasty scent.

Frimp from the lab. I like patchouli but have never given much consideration to orange blossom. I hate orange itself as a scent, but hope orange blossom will be different. In the imp - nope, quite a bit of orange - but freshly squeezed, sun-ripened, light orange, not at all artificial or sour. On wet - freshly squeezed OJ. I feel like I'm standing in an orange orchard. Sunny and fresh. Drydown - the orange calms down a little and the patchouli tames it. A light, friendly smell, perfect for a summer day. A pleasant surprise.

Frimp from the lab. I don't expect to love this because I'm not really a floral person, but I want to try it because I make it a point to try every oil I get, just for the sake of experience. In the imp - sweet, calm florals. Very pleasant. On wet - at least one of the flowers is slightly sharp, possibly the lilac. I barely smell any rose, which is disappointing because it's one of the few flowers I don't necessarily mind as much. Drydown - ah, there's the rose! A light, sweet floral, delicate and refined. Not my kind of scent but gorgeous for floral lovers.

Lost is eating my brain: when I read or hear "Namaste" I think of the Dharma Foundation, none of whose members I was fond of. Anyway, this was a frimp from the lab. Reading the ingredients, I don't expect to be doing well with this. Lemongrass and jasmine rarely work and rose can go either way. Patchoulo, cedarwood and sandalwood, however, I am very fond of. So let's see. In the imp - jasmine and sandalwood with a hint of lemongrass. On wet - The moment it hits, my skin starts amping the lemongrass. You don't want to know just how much my skin amps anything remotely related to citrus. The cedarwood and patchouli add a herbal touch, it reminds me of lemon cough drops. Drydown - nope, that's all I'm going to get out of this, Vicks lemondrops. It's not necessarily a bad smell because much like Loup Garou's VapoRub-ish scent, it reminds me of childhood medicine and getting soothing relief from small ailments. I'll keep it, but not as a personal fragrance.

The Miskatonic labels are much brighter and more colourful than I thought they'd be - but I love that about them! I can't wait to get my bottle of Gilman House Hotel - it looks gorgeous! Seeing the label art of Two Loves makes me even more upset that I can't wear florals or citrus. It's beautiful. Maybe I can find an empty bottle of it sometime, just to look at.

Oh dear. Oh dear, why did I do this? Why did I buy a decant? I'm a bit worried to tell the truth, but I wanted to desperately know just how bad it is. It's sitting there on my desk, the last of today's imps to test, mocking me. But I will not have spent this money in vain and part of me wants to know. So, off with the cap (but carefully, that's one BPAL I don't want to spill). In the bottle: Well, that's not . . . too bad actually? I was expecting the scent from hell but actually all this smells like to me is very lovely vetiver - maybe a slight hint of oil or grease but not unpleasantly so. It reminds me of Hessian of the Hollow, one of my favourites. Here goes nothing. Wet on skin: Yep, still a stronger version of Hessian. I don't mind this at all. At least - not so far. Drydown: I can't believe I'm saying this but I bloody love Gore-Shock. I'm not getting any of the rotting garbage smell or anything, just metal and blood as in Hessian but much stronger, plus musk and salt. Mmm. Lovelovelove. I may well hunt for a bottle. Forumites like me, who like seriously darker scents: Do not be scared away! If your skin chemistry plays along this one is marvelous! Try a decant or a half-decant if you can try one, you owe it to yourself. (Naturally, if you hate dark scents, smoke, blood, metal, etc., you will despise this, which is perfectly understandable.) I find it ironic that some of the most disliked scents wind up perfect on me and some of the fan-favourites like Snake Oil and the Snake Pit don't work on me at all. My skin chemistry is bizarre.

A frimp from a forumite! The description sounds very promising. In the bottle: Light rose, myrrh and a hint of musk. On wet: very light. Resins and musk are noticeable, rose is very distant. Ylang ylang lightens it all up a little. Drydown: Huh. Mostly rose and ylang ylang, slightly depened by the resins and the musk. Very nice, but fleeting - which suits the name, I suppose. Very nice, but not a keeper.

I love the name and the description of this - even it doesn't look like it's much for me. It just sounds fun. I got it as a frimp. In the imp: Actually lighter than I expected, and very friendly. Sweet. Wet on skin: Clean grape, it was much sweeter in the bottle. Drydown: Light, floral, springy, girly, but not cloyingly so - there's still an herbal backdrop and the grape remains clean. I expected a lot more sugar from this but it's actually not overwhelming. Surprisingly pretty for something with the words Hairy Toad in the title

A bottle I bought blindly just because all the notes sounded really interesting In the bottle: musk, bourbon and salt. On wet: very well blended, hard to pick out singular notes. Herbal and musky, very deep and slightly bitter, but not as sour as I was worried it would be after reading the other reviews. Dry: an elegantly simple, herbal musk with the sweetness of the tobacco and the depth of the bourbon. A slightly dark but ever elegant English gentleman. Good god, I love this blend. It's instantly become one of my favourites. I can't begin to say how much I adore it. Backup bottle, here I come!

In the bottle: A golden oil. Light coconut and vetiver. On wet: Strangely sweet vetiver, smoky resins. Dry: Oh no, I love you, vetiver, where have you gone? There's still a little of it, but basically this is just darkly sweet and a little dry. Maybe not a favourite but a nice smell. Thankfully the coconut has gone. As far as Snake Pit scents go, King Cobra remains my favourite, but this is also quite nice.

My very first snake pit oil, via a circle! I'm nervous. Snake Oil did precious little for me but I am hoping I'll find a snake pit scent that will change my mind. I'm not sure why, but I bought a half-bottle because I had a good feeling about it. In the bottle: Orange-gold oil. Surprisingly light smell. Frankincense and resins. On wet: Still very light. Slightly dusty, in the good way. Barely any throw. Dry: A light, glowing incense. Now there's a Snake Oil I can appreciate! Among all my usual dark and brooding scents, this one is downright friendly, I don't quite understand complaints of this being too dark, but maybe my skin chemistry is a bit funny This is free of the two things that I disliked about the original Snake Oil, the sweetness of the vanilla and the exotic intensity of the incense. It's plain, a little smoky, pale, dry and wonderful. ETA: Sad to find that this fades on me, fast. Three to four hours, tops, and it's barely noticeable unless you press your nose to the skin. Woe! Still, I like it enough to use up.

In the imp: a translucent oil. I've never smelled pennyroyal before and like devilot I'm getting a medicinal and minty smell. Wet: More of the same. It's not even a particularly nice mint, more like the mouthwash they give you at the dentist. Dry: Yeuch. Not quite as reminiscent of a dentist's office but still rather unsettling. Not for me.

A frimp from a decant circle! In the imp: a pale yellow oil; cinnamon and apple. Smells like spiced apple pie. On wet: Whoa there cinnamon! Well, cinnamon amps like crazy on me so it's to be expected. Right now it just smells like cinnamon air freshener. Dry: More air freshener. Cinnamon, cinnamon and nothing but cinnamon. Woe. I can't say much about its magical potency yet, so I'll keep it around since Has No Hanna really did its job for me, but nothing right now.

In the imp: clear, pale oil; a green, herbal scent with a touch of soil. On wet: More of the same, though the soil isn't as strong. Dry: Wood! Lots of wood. More like wood shavings. I don't know, not bad but not a keeper, neither as an herbal nor as a wood scent. Might put it in the oil burner.

I am excited. I am so very excited! While on a Mark Strong high I discovered Stardust via the movie some weeks ago and knew right away I'd have to recheck the Stardust line to see if there was an oil for Septimus. Alas, not directly, but there was The Stormhold, and the description sounded brilliant. So I did something I only do very rarely, which is order a bottle blindly. And now, after long waiting, here it is. In the bottle: very complex. Ozone, light vetiver and something sweet. On wet: ozone extraordinaire. I love ozone but so rarely is it so smooth. Very cool and wet, but deeper than the wet ozone of Lightning. It's icy just breathing it in. I am loving this. Dry: Only the barest touch of vetiver. An outstanding blend. Not as dark as I expected it (the vetiver really is only very mild), and even though I'm deprived of my Septimus-specific scent, this represents the Stormhold brothers so wonderfully - cold, slightly dark, sophisticated and interesting. I will slather myself in this for work today! Definitely a new favourite, I don't regret this purchase at all.

A sparkly, batty little scent: green tea, melon, mint, lime rind, and champagne grape with lemon balm, mullein, and toadflax. Frimp from the lab! In the imp: Fresh honeydew melon! It smells so good I could eat it! Goes on cool and fresh. The tea steps in a little to deepen the melon. As it dries, I can smell a hint of the mint note. I normally can't stand foody scents but this is so refreshing and authentic! Reminds me of munching honeydew melon on a hot summer day. Beautiful! Not something I'd necessarily wear, but I'm keeping the imp just for the smell.

Frimp from the lab! Inside the imp, lots of cinnamon, clove and allspice. On my skin, the cinnamon is quite strong, and as it dries becomes even stronger. I want the tea leaf! I want the sandalwood! I want the tobacco! Alas. Nothing. My stupid amping skin. However, the nice thing about it is that this isn't air freshener, artificial cinnamon - this is the real deal. So if you like earthy, authentic cinnamon with some depth to it, you'll love this.

I've heard both good and bad things about this blend and was actually quite curious to try it, but never really sure - and voila, I just received it as a frimp from the lab! In the imp, intense vetiver and salt. I'm one of the few freaks who actually quite likes vetiver sometimes so I am quite curious! On wet, it's the most intense and bold vetiver I've ever smelled. I can also smell the blood. This is a dark, take-no-prisoners, foreboding scent. As it dries, a bit of green comes in as well - like dark vines in a garden at midnight. A terrific vetiver smell, I really like it, but if you're not a fan of vetiver you'll definitely want to give this one a pass.