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Bottle Strong and sweet in unision. Tempting candy berry sweetness, rich color, deep underriding mystery. I have not caught the patchouli yet, but I will admit I am nervous about it since it usually does not work well with me (well better put, I do not work well with it since I care not for it). Wet The color traveling through all the delicate skin lines on my wrist is weird. Nice to see how a little goes a long way and disperses so quickly! I smell musk and myrrh. My skin loves pushing red musk to the top. Uh oh, I smell patchoulimonster sneaking up. Dry BLECH! Curse you patchoulie. Stamp! Stamp! I was *so* excited about this and now I cannot sit through it to find the interesting bits.

Bottle Conifer land. Wet Rolling around in conifer lab, I can practically feel the sap sticking to me. Then just as I am about to wash it off the fig and ginger taunt me to come play! Dry The interesting notes mellowed down and I cannot get past the coniferious scent. however, this smells very good on my husband (I will say it does have a touch more fig on me than him). Conifer smells are a bit too manly on me! What an interesting mix.

This is my first time smelling Dragon's blood~exciting!! Well, it is my first time for melati too! Bottle The first impression is a very sultry musk. This might be too musky for me, but only one way to find out! Wet Ack! Gotta break out the coffee beans again! Sometimes these strong bottle impressions leave my nose numb for the next step! I put a double application on....the musk is SO subtle on me. This is a lot more delicate than I expected. After a few minutes I was able to distinguish that the musk is a touch more acrid than usually. It is interesting, but not different enough from other scents that I feel compelled to rave. My husband says it smells fantastic and like inscense. Dry This grew on me, enough to warrent a second chance. My senses are all wonky right now and I can barely smell/taste my own tea so I figure something is not up to speed. This smells like a softer namaste to me. Not very rage-ish as at all.

Bottle Strong almond extract. Wet Initially still pushing the almond extract scent. The myrrh is creaping up with the musk tailing behind. It is smokey, sultry, and seductive. It smells like what I love my husband to smell like. So I ran downstairs and put it on his wrist. Mmmm. Dry Almond just hanging on refining the musk and myrrh. What a sexy blend. It is a bit weak on my husband but I think I only barely swiped him. I hope that is it, because this scent is great, but too masculine on me.

Bottle Soft floral base that I belive to be the orchid with a creamy vanilla note. There is a tweak at the end of my breath in that I can only guess is the stephanotis. I love these three note mixes because they help teach me notes for distinguishing them in more complex blends. Wet The vanilla is a very subtle base, but I pick it out first from familarity. Next the orchid. There is a scent of florals that make me think of baby powder (and baby diapers and baby tolietries). Very clean mix. Dry The vanilla is dominating now, but the orchid is fighting with it on my skin. I keep catching flits of the stephanotis, but I do not get as much as I want. This particular vanilla is being amplified by my skin into a giant room candle. Gorgeous scent, but it is not for my tastes for personal wear. However, my husband the vanilla slut is in lust with this scent. He grabbed my wrist and licked it causing me to pout that I would not be able to review the scent properly.

Bottle The scent is airy and lacey. Rising up, I pick up the elegant peony immediately. This is what my dream garden would smell like in the evening breeze: herbs and peonies. Wet The peony is the strongest note, but that could be perhaps since it works very well with my skin and I am heavily biased towards it. There is a delicate astringency from the herbs and it works very well with the peony. The lightness of the herbs and peony is equivalent to when I stand outside by my herbs during a rain shower and the air is filled with a dizzying, heavenly aroma. The tea is gentle upon my skin, barely noticible unless I take a deep breath. Dry As the oil mellows, the herbal tea scent dominates over the peony. I wish the peony would come back, but this remains a gorgeous scent. The impression I have is bridal. If my favorite perfume did not exsist, I would have worn something like this.

Bottle The scent reminded me of one of those spicey orange clove pommanders....excpet that the fleshy orange part would be a giant ball of fig, then a bit of rind, all stabbed with spicy bits. Wet The fig mixes well with the spicy mandarin, and there is a gentle illusion to one of those country candle craft stores (except that it smells good). The scent also gives me the imagry of a Christmas store with lots of white twinkly lights overhead. The fig is complimented by the mandarin (and bright is a good description of it) and I am not sure where I am getting the spice from but it grows. Dry Spicy and beautiful but shortlived.

Bottle The first whiff I took revealed a robust scent filled with cocoa butter. Riding with the refined chocolate, was a delicate, sweet airy note. I put the bottle down to attend to other matters and my desk area was filled with a lushness: the thick chocolate wine dancing with the honeyed flowers. My second sniff of the bottle was dominated by the airy floral scent...a floral I had never smelt before, full of intrigue. Wet The foreign floral scent comes out strongest on my skin mixed with balsam and the scent of the red wine. The first word coming to mind is bouquet as the notes of this scent mixed with the wine remind me of trying to distinguish the notes in an exquistine glass of wine. As it dries, the lotus note begins to gently dominate, complementing my skin chemistry (I amp lotus well) and harmonizing well with the other scents. The flowers sweeten, the wine adds maturity, and the lotus seduces. Dry This scent is womanly in the truest form: the airy feminine notes of fragility, the motherly florals of a loving and familiar embrace, and the thick notes of the temptress. Incredible...I just read the entire descritption in the BPAL website (I usually just go right for the last line to read the notes) and I really do think that Beth nailed this scent down to this name perfectly.

I'm afraid of patchouli, but here goes! Bottle Very strong with a slightly bitter curious scent. I smell the patchouli hinding in their, poised to take over. Wet Wow. Tickly. I smell the cedarwood and lemongrass very well. This is rather fun, even though the smells are not really me. I am enjoying the exploration, but I do hope the lemongrass dies down so I can try the other scents. Dry As this dries, a spicier note is coming out. The lemon is receeding (thankfully, I was tiring of smelling like polish) and a woody scent is coming out. This is a very interesting wood scent. The lemon grass and cedar was strong enough to overwash the patchouli on me (and even the sandalwood). I can tell it just is not for me (even if I wait it out). If I do, I will return to this post. I still think it is a very intriquing blend with appeal.

Bottle Sweet and delicate plants. There is a concerning note that smells "sweaty." Odd. Wet Oh my. This smells to natural. I smell lovely flowers and trees and then some animal scent like I have been doing heavy labor. The whole mix is so light that it is playing with me...almost like it is lovely and I stink. Dry I did not make it this far....It was not a bad smell, perse, because I like that country type of odor. However, it really smelt like I had been hanging out with ruminants all day and needed a shower. It is a very nature type scent and it smells very earthy (snicker) on me.

The pinnacle of power, poisoned by sin and indulgence - this is our homage to Classical Roman debauch. Rosemary, bay, pine and a touch of lemon. Loving basil and rosemary I just had to get this one. For the first minute I smelt lovely rosemary, albeit astringent but that is the rosemary I love. Then, it smelted like someone ground peppercorns in my nose. Every time I sniffed it, I really wanted to sneeze. I had to rub my nose! I really should try this on the man, esp since I got it for him, but I kinda am afraid to smell it again.

In the Imp Perfumey. It smells like those random department store perfume vials your mother, grandmother, aunt, etc. always wore. Bad start. On the Skin It is much more refined and it smells as if it is unfurling upon my wrist. I think the musk note is giving me the wrong impression from the bottle, as it is starting to share the stage with other soft scents. Overall, even with the musk, this is a very delicate, quiet combination. Either it is or my body is willing it to be, but it is taking on a female quality to it. Dry The musk remained the strongest note throughout my experience. It resonnated from a soft bed of indistinguisible florals to create a very femmine scent. I am not a musk person, and yet I cannot find a reason to part with this one. I love it, and that is saying a lot since I am really not a musk person. Everytime I think this one will go to the swaps, I smell that unique blend and how lovely it is. It is very well balanced and if you do love musk then this will be a slice of heaven for you.

Bottle Smells like very tart apple juice. Wet The scent is exactly the same as when you visit an orchard and enter that cool room where they have the crates of picked apples glistening with tiny water droplets. It is fresh and makes me think of fall harvest just because that is when I get apples from orchard. Very quickly it mellowed into a hardy pure apple cider, cool, with the tiniest breath of spice. Dry The cider apple scent remains the base of the scent with a creamy overnote. It smells as if I went walking outside in the fall with the scent of apple trees breezing over me. It is a very lovely autumnal scent and probably the best apple scent I have experienced to date. None of that overly fruity apple nor that overly spiced department store fake apple candle scent.

Bottle A very sweet almond first radiates outwards and a second sniff reveals the sandalwood and a new scent to me. I would guess it is the fig. Wet The almond scent is still very strong. I am really dying to know what that extra scent is..it is not quite fruity, not quite sandalwood. It must be the fig. The entire mix smells very decadant and complex on my wrist. As it dries, it gets spicier. Dry I keep thinking the Land of Milk and Honey and of a biblical paradise. I really think this one was named really well because it smells like what I would think Eden would smell like. This scent is very opulent. If I breathe in really strongly I smell a more subtle underscent that is quite lovely as well. The woodsy scents of the fig and sandalwood mix well and layer over the delicate and sweet combination of almond and honey. No coconut yet... I am going to be after a bottle of this!

It did manage to find its way to me, and I really do adore it! Bottle: The Lilac scent is the first that flows out of the bottle. It is very well defined, and reminds me of my white lilac that refuses to bloom (perhaps because I have not coddled it lately). It is just as savory as if I plunged my face into the flowers it used to bloom. Wet: The lilac persists and I think of how my mother would love this scent as she trained me to identify her favorite flower. When I press my wrists together, I can smell crushed rose petals slightly. Dry: The lilac smell settled down, the rose amped, and the wisteria melted between them. I am really loving this. Overall: A lovely choice if you are seeking an elegant floral.

This one has to go! I tried it on with hubby Saturday night. It was good on him, but not as good as other scents that he has worn. Then I put it on me and all I could smell was roses. We both thought it was nice on each of us but not the "best scent" so it was to go to the swaps. Today, I decided to give it another go since I have made progress on my headcold. I still have it, but now I cannot smell rose at all but a scent that should not be there. I cannot figure it out. It smells very awesome for a man, very strong but so not me. I am sitting here in class thinking everyone can smell me and it makes me squirm. It is just too strong of a scent for me. I keep thinking I am sitting next to my father just after he has shaved and put cologne on.

Caitfish described this as Patchouliambe. My sentiments are the exact same. I guess me and Patchouli, I mean Iambe, are not meant to be. I have scrubbed my arm 3 times now and it still persists. Perhaps I have to peel my skin off literaly to be rid of it. The odd part is that I can recognize it to be a good smell for those who like Patchouli notes. It has some pretty bits to it, I just cannot get over the Patchouli.

Okay, my first review! I probably will revisit it as I am coming off a cold right now and my opinion might change Bottle: I agree, the very strong astringent smell of lavender coming out of the bottle was really discouraging. I am a huge lavender person, but this seemed too much for me. Wet: The lavender remained very powerful and medicinal and made it increasingly easy to breathe (good for a stuffed nose!). I almost washed it off, but it started to mellow and kept me sniffing. Dry: This really dried into a very luscious mix on me. I recieved compliments on it from others. I suppose that must be the way lotus smells on my skin because the lavender was (and no one pointed out lavender either) only a secondary type of scent by now...just breezing in and out depending on when you sniffed it. It made for a cleaner more feminine scent complementing the robust scent of the lotus on me. As a garnish, a hint of spice would creep out to give it a sexy edge on me. My husband really approved and I think that this was very different on me but very lovely. Heehee only 3 scents in the description: lavender, spices, and lotus...so it was easy to "pick" out the notes. If that foreign, but delicious, scent was lotus, I will have to try more since it works well with me. For now, I am going to hold on to this imp. edit: I forgot to mention that it lasted from 7:40 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Between that time I participated in a 4-5 mile dogwalk in the sun (I was wearing jeans so I was boiling) and it survived! I think it has good lasting potential on me.