sterlingspider

in bottle: very fast morphing, dusty leather then almond, suddenly a mossy greenness comes out, very promising wet: sweet for just a second and then sharply earthy, very warm but with a hint of soapiness to the background, just a slight bite in the sinuses as it's drying: I think the musk and amber is taking over as I'm starting to get a bit of babypowder soap Dry: yep, babypowder getting stronger by the minute, off to the bathroom to wash it fof before it makes me sick Bleah, that one really had a lot of promise at first. I just can't get past that musk+amber=babypowder effect. *sighs* 2 out of 5, another one for the swap pile

This is a fabulous thread, the reccys are all greatly appreciated. I love the incense/resin family, but my chemistry is so picky that it's hard to find scents that don't have one spoiler note or another. I pretty much can't do any florals or musks (I just amp them to headache-ville), BPAL amber turns to baby powder bomb about 3/4 of the time, and dragons blood turns to cherry cough syrup. Personally I could bathe in Pit and the Pendulum, especially wet when it's really woody, before it sweetens up all the way. For me that's just about the epitome of an incense blend and I'm hoarding it like a madwoman. What I'm direly wishing for is something with that same set of base notes, but as dark and smoky as the Cathedral or Midnight Mass are sweet. I look at those three as a sort of "Ecclesiastical incense continuum" and really hope there will be more along those lines, but like I said in the darker direction. If you really want to smell like a head shop, slather on some All Souls and then wash it off with unscented soap. The floral component in it was too strong and was making me sneeze, but there was this really distinct "rack of fresh incense" side to it which stayed even after a fairly vigerous washing. The minute my arm dried I smelled exactly like my local one stop hippy/goth/punk superstore Utopia, I almost kept the imp based on that alone.

bottle: heavy pine and juniper with an almost cherryish undertone wet: very sharp juniper with a warm tone to it, VERY christmas almost smells like pear though. Drydown: very odd, more of the fruity pear scent now and the juniper has faded to an odd soapy sort of smell I can smell the amber trying to come forward more clearly but it's being drowned out thus far slightly later: very short throw, a nice non powdery amber/vanilla scent from a little bit away but up close smells like sharp vanilla floor cleaner several hours later: Golden Priapus mellowed into a very nice vanilla/amber with a bit of woody complexity, enough to go beyond run of the mill but nothing that really rocks my world. I give it a 3.5 or 4 out of 5. I wouldn't mind wearing it, but I don't see myself digging through the imp box to find it. This would make a pretty nice room scent though and might work very nicely on a guy who can wear sweet scents.

Wet: Mellow at first with a sharp spicy note growing stronger by the second, lavender and amber predominate, Drydown: very soapy, but not unpleasantly, getting a bit powdery though Dry: smells like baby Into the swap pile with you.

Wow, reading the rest of the reviews I'm wondering if I didn't get a grossly mislabled imp. Wet: first reaction was "Honeysuckle?!?! UGH!" (I hate honeysuckle by the way) On drydown: oriental floral soap with an undercurrent of powder. Incredibly sweet and cloying. I can smell the amber trying to come through, but I have to wash it off as it's giving me a headache. 3 hand washes later: this is why I don't wear anything even vaguely floral.

wet in the vial: glorious dark cocoa chocolate with a hint of sweet black cherry (real cherry scent too, doesn’t smell oversweet or fake at all) and orange blossom. Pretty much exactly as advertised. Drydown: unfortunately I've lost a lot of the chocolate, the cherry seems to be dominating with a faint kick from the orange blossom. 3 hrs later: the chocolate has come back but is a soft sweetened cocoa scent. There is the barest hint of cherry and I dont detect much of the orange blossom at all Very interesting but ultimately not me. I think I've simply lost my taste for chocolate based scents but if it's your thing I highly recommend this.

Wet: Sharp and campherous with an undercurrent of pachouli and evergreen, tingles like camphor on the skin Drydown: getting softer, more cedery but with a very long throw. I can smell this one all the way into my chest. Totally wrong as a perfume on me but maybe good for a room scent, very homey and pleasant.

in bottle: lavender sex wet: primarily amber with a hint of the tonka and a background hint of pachouli, something sweet and woody coming out as it dries drydown: Old baby powder at the bottom of a dusty cedar chest On me this turned out to be a total clinker, but I want to try it on My Boy before I swap it away forever as he tends to smell DIVINE in lavender based scents.

Samhain 05 drydown: kind of plasticy sweet, the spices take over completely and there's no hint of fir or pachouli at all. Unfortunately this plasticy smell became very cloying and I had to wash it off. The faint hint of it that was left after my shower was nice though, perhaps I would have done better if I could have cut this with some carrier oil, but ultimately I swapped it.

Bottle: really interesting, almost nutty fade between cinnamon and the cedar Wet: predominantly cinnamon with a cedar overtone and a bit of a pachouli bite, very fresh and woodsy Initially when dry: cinnamon backgrounded, cedar much more strong, faint nutty scent Dryer: almost all cedar Hours later: almost like pachouli and amber, not quite powdery but warm and spiced Later: cinnamon coming back This is definitely a summer scent for me. Over the summer I would go out to lunch and sit in the sun reading during my break, and then once I had gotten warm almost to the point of sweating I would put this on. I love how it cycles and how magically every new phase of the scent is actually pleasant to me. I have to be in the right mood to wear Umbra, but when I am it's a solid 4/5

wet: absolutely incredible "dark cinnamon" smell drydown, extremely powdery dry playdohsville within a half hour I think it's something to do with the amber because Loviatar did exactly the same thing on me. This was a really big dissapointment because it smelled so incredible wet. In bottle 5/5 On 1/5

wet: dirt with a sweet warm undertone and a hint of pachouli. drydown: peppery sweet damp black soil with a warm, almost nutty hint. After half an hour, barely perceptable but still pretty true to the "fresh turned black earth" smell. This is about as close to advertised as it gets. I dressed up as Samara from The Ring last Halloween and slathered myself in Graveyard Dirt all night (since it fades so quickly) and it REALLY freaked people out. This is not a regular wearing scent by any means, but it's fun to have when I want it and I just can't see myself giving up that imp anytime soon.

wet: exactly as described, very sweet true apricot scent with a dark smouldering background drydown: getting a peppery/papery edge, the apricot is still very true, though it reminds me more of dried apricots then fresh. It's got that sort of amped sweetness and earthy peppery bite of dried fruit. The pachouli also has this really strong dry dirt/earth edge to it, reminds me a lot of Graveyard Dirt (which I really love) and for as much as it smells like dirt it still manages to smell clean. Like damp topsoil. I was a little dubious of this at first, it just didn't call to me and so it sat in my imp box for a couple of months, then all of a sudden lately I keep having this urge to wear it and every time I do I'm totally happy to be surrounded in this scent. This stays very true to the drydown on me the whole time and both the sweet apricot and the peppery/dirty pachouli scent endure. It's making it hard for me to try new scents as I'm always more interested in wearing that then trying anything new. Even The Boy likes it and said immediately that he thought it was a very me scent, so I think I'll be picikng up a bottle with my next order.

drydown: Surprisingly spicy and resinous with a sweet cherry overtone, extremely potent Dryer: strong rich amber with a sweet undertone. I really was not expecting to do so well with the dragon's blood, but ultimately this was not for me. I just know I'm not going to wear it, and so it will circulate onwards.

Bottle: buttery cake and myrrh Wet: burning cake and soap. Seriously for about 5 minutes it smelled like someone left a cake in the oven for too long. Makes my skin tingle. Drydown: kind of a floral incense with a faint buttercreme hint in the background, the floral is fairly soapy and is taking this scent over by the second. The throw is entirely buttercake tinged floral, but if I sniff really close to my skin I get a faint whisper of incense afterwards. Slightly later: smells like "rack o incense" with a heavy floral componant and makes me sneeze. This alas goes into the "get it offa me!" pile. Even after washing it off as much as I could I smell exactly like a head shop (at least that part I don't find unpleasant) which leads me to believe that if I could have sat through the floral there would have been a really nice incense scent holding on for the long haul, but alas the floral as usual did me in.

in bottle: lemon curd?!? and lavender, pleasant but I can't really see myself wearing it wet: heavy lavender slowly surrendering to the iris, still a very citrussy bite to it, wow this smells like super sweet lemon clorox wipes dry: shockingly clean and soft, VERY light. The tea is coming out a bit now, the lemony verbena still prevails though. I would love this smell in a shampoo, if the lily continues to play nice I may get a whole bottle. I could see this working for anyone. I would say it's gender neutral, but that's not exactly right. I think this actually manages to feel both feminine and masculine depending on how you focus on it. The hint of floral with the tea feels very feminine, so when I focus on that I feel like I'm wearing an understated, very ladylike perfume, but the citrus gives it a very clean bite, and when I focus on that I could see this working quite well as a man's scent, with no femininity to it at all. I am quite impressed by this one. It's so light and sophisticated this may well become my fancy dress perfume. Just goes to show sometimes you really have to try things on.

bottle: burnt nutty dutch cocoa cookies wet: very dry cocoa predominating though a gritty woodsy note is slowly insinuating itself into the cocoa scent. There's something oddly animalistic to this but not unpleasant... oddly enough it makes me think of lying in the sun with my childhood dog, sort of dusty and comforting, but still kind of like dog. I know that sounds kinda freaky but I'm finding it oddly pleasant. Dry: Uh oh, playdoh time. At least it smells like expensive exotic playdoh *shrugs*

in bottle: nummy vetiver and patchouli warmed by clove and something almost caramelish wet: mainly vetiver but still with something really warm and round behind it. This is sharp and sinus grabbing without being harsh though it is a bit soapy drying: a very sweet dry floral coming to the fore, definitely spicy but with a bit of a dusty undertone, reminds me of very fragrant flowers dried in old books, like how rifling the pages of a book FILLED with dried flowers would smell, but still kinda soapy, unfortunately I'm not getting any of the vetiver or patchouli later: very sugery spiced floral but luckily not cloying still later: Newp, soaped out completely. *sighs* Another one off to the trade pile

bottle: very hard to pin, Very sweet cedary sandalwoody scent wet: very woody but with a really sweet, juicy, almost bubblegum undertone, not cloying though, I'm guessing that's the frankincense (reads other posts) or maybe the galangal drying: a bit more cedar coming out, the scent is definitely drying out and softening. A bit later: somehow this has morphed into something that doesn't smell quite like wood anymore, but yet somehow still does (I know that makes NO sense) it's all sandalwood sweetness and ozone. About 2 hours after application: It's gotten very sweet again and there's a LOT of ozone to it now, almost no wood, all just sharp and very fruity. I smell like a jar of jellybeans, and not in the good way. As usual it seems it started out great but lost me in the long haul. I just amp everything up to cloyingly sweet it seems. Though my pet hedgehog seems to like it. Magus gets a 4 out of 5 while wet, but unfortunately drops to a 2 on drydown. Ahh well, the search continues.

in bottle: musk, aquatic/ozone, something soft and vanilla like, maybe tonka, perhaps some amber. Smells REALLY pretty, but knowing my chemistry it'll make me want to gag within 10 minutes wet: wow do I know my chemistry or what. Overwhelming vanilla powder. Way too 9 year old girl perfume for me. I amped this perfume so hard I actually had to open the window, wash my entire forearm, and change my shirt... and it's still making me sneeze. If you don't play well with musk or amber I'd stay well away from Black Opal. In the bottle 4/5, but on me, a -2

in bottle: GREEN! Very green and herbal, like crushed parsley wet: fresh mown hay, still very clean and green smelling drydown: a clean floral coming out and the immediate green note is dampened considerably, just a hint of something resinous Later: whoops, not even and hour there and it went to ozoney flowery baby powder and it just keeps getting stronger. Even after cleaning it off with an alcohol wipe I smell like an overly perfumed old woman I swear I hate my chemistry sometimes. The first 15 minutes of this scent got a 4/5, but unfortunately from then on it's about a 2

I don't know if I'm more in shock or in love. I got All Saints 2006 through a decant circle (oddly enough from the poster directly before me in thiis thread) on a whim. I normally stay FAR away from anything floral and this one had not one but FOUR flowers listed, but it was also listed as an incensey blend so I figured worst comes to worst I can trade it right? Wrong. If this stays smelling half this good I'm ordering a big ole 5ml (or two) of it while I still can. in bottle: nice resiny notes but may be too floral for me when applied (or so I thought) wet: Sweet sandalwood, a strong spicy foody element, perhaps cinnamon? drying: still quite spicy and resiny. Something green and yet peppery floral underneath, like fresh carnations. Also tingles very slightly as if there is cinnamon in it. a bit further in: This could turn soapy still, I'm starting to get what I think is the Lilly of the Valley coming through, but I'm praying the resins keep it grounded. If they can this definately gets a top billing in my book I love this smell on me, but oddly enough I want to put it on my boyfriends hair. This is the kind of smell that makes me I want to bury my face in someone's neck. I keep shoving my nose in my arm (I applied it just below the crook of my elbow), but it does still tingle/sting just a mite so I will be avoiding this on sensitive areas and immediately after showers. This gets a full 5/5 for me (which says a LOT considering P&tP is the only other BPAL scent I've rated that high). This could totally be a cocktail party perfume for me, it's just so sexy yet clean. Of course I'm batting 2 for 2 with falling in love with LE' s Four Hours later: A bit more powdery then I would have liked but still pleasant, almost like a soft oriental spice style perfume, but still still with a solid enough incense base that I'm not turned off by the powdery-ness.

Grargh! Lilac eating my soul! If you're super sensitive to florals (like me) this is NOT the scent for you. Extremely clear unmistakeable lilac made somehow "fresher" by the lily. The little bit I got on my hands just opening the imp smells pretty much exactly like I crushed a fresh stalk of lilac blossoms in my hand. As it dries down a little bit it's fading back to a semi-tolerable level, but now it smells like I washed my hands with an expensive lilac soap. I'm tempted to give it to my housemate (who lurves Lily of the Valley) but I hate to say I'm kind of afraid she'll wear it near me. This went on my "don't even bother" list months ago, but when I recieved it as a frimp I figured I'd be a fool to let it go unsniffed. If nothing else it's good to know my instincts are so spot on when it comes to florals. Unfortunately being me I now have to wash my hands as I can feel the headache already starting.

I seriously could bathe in this stuff. I got an imp in a decent circle on a whim, I've since bought about 2.5 bottles and 4 imps, and would still happily buy more, though it's not quite a dire all out search anymore. I'm incredibly sensitive to perfumes, so of course the first BPAL scent I find that I react this strongly to just HAD to be an LE, and one which people seem to like hoarding at that. Unfortunately unlike florals and musks which my chemistry amps to the point of nausea for me this has NO throw and practically dissapears within a half hour. I have taken to wearing this in a perfume ball to get a bit more throw out of it then when it's on my skin, and there's many a night that I go to sleep practically snorting my necklace. I am one of those people that can be chased out of a room but the wrong perfume, yet I have literally gotten it on my nose from getting to close to the wand in my imp and not minded. When wet there's a lovely sort of sandalwood bite with a hint of something warm and sweet in the background (amber? myrrh?). This is when for me it is at its most perfect. Within 10 minutes the sandalwood fades almost completely leaving a diffuse sweetness, like freshly washed skin still warm from a bath. Amber soon becomes the dominant note but not as powdery as BPAL amber normally gets on me. The woody scent eventually comes out a bit more but it's much softer and barely perceptable, just enough to give body to the ambery sweetness and keep it from turning to powder. Pit and the Pendulum is a 4.95 out of 5 for me. I think the only thing that could make this better is if I could keep it at that wet woody stage, before it gets so sweet. What I really want to know is where all of it went! I fall in love with something LE and no one's selling it! There are very few reviews on here considering the amount of P&tP hoarding that must be going on.

In bottle:cinnamon and almonds wet on skin: Cinnamon, toasted almond and sandalwood drydown: almond very quickly became almost inperceptable, cinnamon still strong, sandalwood stronger, maybe a very faint touch of pachouli? This smells FABULOUS but burns a touch. It definately makes me think on the amourous side of things, so at least for me this one is true to its name. I usually try on new scents right before showering so I'm not stuck with somthing that makes me sick, but I'm definately trying this one out again to see how it does in the long term. Lets see what The Boy thinks... he's stuffed up, but doesn't hate it and thinks it smells "subtle, but in a good way". The cinnamon is almost gone already but it's still pretty nice, as long as it doesn't play-doh out on me I think this one will be declared a keeper. Provisional score: 4to5/5 as long as it doesn't do the play-doh thang