boomtownrat

For the first two or three weeks I had Smoky Moon, I always had to wash it off within 15 minutes of applying it due to migraine warning signs (slight nausea and a prickly-head sensation). Yesterday evening, I dabbed on just a little bit over some five-month-old Snake Oil that I'd put on earlier in the day, just to see how we got on. For the first time I dared to put some on my throat and I noticed that the scent is a little softer and more like a skin scent there. Something in Smoky Moon still gives me a slight queasy, head-prickly feeling if I smell it too closely, but there was an improvement. It's mellowing, but it needs more time. This is well blended -- smoky and woody with a bitter tang. Half the notes are new to me, so I googled the unfamiliar notes and noticed that guiac wood and orris root were both compared to violets -- an insta-migraine death note for me in two scents I've already tried. I suspect one of those is what bothers me in Smoky Moon. My colour impression is that it's deep brown, nearly black, with a yellow spiky overlay. It's now the next morning and a resinous wood scent has clung to me as the last remnant of Smoky Moon more than 14 hours later... almost a skin scent. If it was more like this at the beginning, I could wear it more often. My hope is that Smoky Moon will continue to mellow out as it ages and allow me to wear it eventually. Usually I love wood and resin notes. Edited 11/2012: Months after my original post, Smoky Moon has mellowed considerably. I don't wear it often, but of all things, I like it layered under Bordello. It seems I mostly want to pair it with sweet scents to darken them. Edited 4/2014: I never wear this, as I find it overpowering. That mellowing that I mentioned in my previous edit was apparently a fluke, because it's never been that way since then. Now I'm trying to sell or swap it.

This was a lab frimp. In the vial it's mostly the smell of damp earth that has been churned up, so that you can still smell the grass under the primary scent of soil. Wet on my skin it smells a lot like a combination of vetiver and just a bit of cedar, but later in the dry-down stage and when it's completely dry there's also a sweetness that reminds me of neroli. About an hour after I've put it on, that sweetness is all that's left on my inner wrists, but on the backs of my wrists I do get a hint of cedar. Mandrake is perfect for springtime, especially an overcast day like today. Its earthy, woody feel appeals to my Taurean nature, but because it doesn't last long I think I'd have to give it a 3.5 out of 5.

When I was about 17-18 I wore a tea rose fragrance, but in my late 20s I started getting migraines and ever since I noticed that certain floral perfumes are one of my triggers, I've been avoiding them. Then I tried a couple of scents that contained vanilla or wood notes with just one floral note and I had no problem, so when the Lab gave me a frimp of Séance with an order last month, the concept of it was too intriguing for me not to try. Séance reminds me of a darker and more sophisticated version of that tea rose scent I wore in high school. The rose blooms on my skin and dominates the fragrance, but without ever feeling too heavy. In fact, it will be a perfect scent for spring and summer. This is intoxicating even though there's nothing boozy about it. The nostalgic feel to Séance is perfect for wearing on an overcast day while listening to loads of old goth and coldwave (admittedly something I do frequently anyway). It's mystical but not especially dark, if that makes sense. I put it on one day after Incantation had worn off and the combination painted a vivid scent picture of roses blooming amid the charred ruins of an ancient cathedral, although I think intentionally layering them at full strength would be asking for head pain. The rose in Séance remains the strongest of the notes. Hazel is a gorgeous base for the even more stunning rose. I enjoyed Séance so much that I dug up the frimp of Blood Rose that I'd been too scared to try after it almost gave me a migraine two months ago. Now that I've tried both of them again, Séance feels like the little sister to Blood Rose. You'd think it would be the other way around; maybe it's just how they work with my chemistry.

In high school I sometimes wore a tea rose fragrance (I think it was just called Tea Rose), but that was before migraines became a problem for me. I've been afraid of trying the Lab's rose scents due to my fairly recent experiences with several florals triggering migraines. A couple of months ago, the Lab frimped me some Black Rose and I tentatively dabbed a bit onto one wrist one night before taking my bath, knowing that I'd be washing it off if it was too much for me to take. Fresh from the lab and when I was premenstrual, Black Rose was too much and I felt a telltale twinge on one side of my head, so I washed it off within minutes. I stuck it in my imp box to give it some time. The Lab frimped me some Seance on a more recent purchase, which I tentatively dabbed on and ended up loving. I decided to revisit Black Rose. Today, about two months later, this is the perfume version of heavy black eyeliner, rat's nest hair, and old Clan of Xymox and Bauhaus records! Rose is the predominant note in the imp and when it's wet on my skin, but within ten minutes the musk and amber turn it mysterious and nostalgic. After about 45 minutes it's all blended into a slightly powdery dark rose scent. There's most likely some black musk, but I'm not experienced enough at this to say for sure... I see others have said the same. I love the black musk in Playful Wooden Mallets too, so I think I've discovered a new favourite note. I love Black Rose and had to stop myself putting on more. After all, I'm not wearing eyeliner and I'm in my pajamas (to say nothing of the migraine threat). This isn't something I'll wear daily, but it'll be one of my main scents for goth nights and possibly Renaissance Festival. It might be too heavy for summer and I think I'll refrain from wearing it during hormonal times. Letting the imp age a couple of months must have been all it needed, and it seems if I wear it sparingly and don't huff my wrists it plays well enough with my migraine brain. Now I feel sad that I was too scared to try a decant of any Yule rose scents. Maybe I'll find some floating around eBay or the sale forum.

I've always lived in a kudzu-heavy place (my hometown has kudzu growing near a parking deck on the edge of uptown), so when I saw that BPAL was releasing an oil with kudzu in it I had to try at least a decant. Entangled is just about perfect for me. There's a sort of vetiver smell when it's wet on my skin, but I like vetiver. Anyway, that soon dries into a creamy, zingy, herbal scent unlike anything I've worn or smelled. It has a good throw and lasts for at least four hours. This oil makes me feel energized, more attractive, just generally... better. Only a few scents have ever done that for me, all but one of them BPAL, so I'm going to buy at least one bottle. Entangled is love! 5/5

This has demonstrated for me why it's a bad idea to base an opinion of a scent on one testing straight out of the mailbox. I was so excited to get this particular decant that I didn't let it settle down before testing. It was a disappointing result that first time, but I knew enough to give the oil a chance to rest. When I tried it again several days later, not even the fact that I was hormonal could diminish the brilliance of Playful Wooden Mallets on my skin. My husband, who admits to having a weak sense of smell, commented unprompted that he loved the scent I was wearing. Now I've worn this a couple more times and it's always warm and sexy. The cinnamon is not like red hots, as others have said, but just a warm, smooth spice that's blended so well with the black musk that my inexperienced nose can't really tell where one note ends and the other begins. There really is a woody quality to it as the name suggests, but it's kind of... a spiced wood? Playful Wooden Mallets has a good enough throw that my husband with a bad sense of smell could detect it in the car, so I try not to slather because I don't want to choke anybody with my perfume. It lasts at least five hours by my count. I'm definitely buying at least one bottle! Note: This layers well with Snake Oil.

Coconut is a scent that I like from time to time, and I decided to buy a decant because so many people with a lot of BPAL experience were excited about this one. I've now tried this twice and it hasn't worked on me yet. The first test was admittedly during "Shark Week" and I had only received the decant that day, but on that occasion I had to wash it off because I was starting to feel nauseous. At least I don't have to wash it off today, but when I asked my husband what he smelled on my wrist, he said that it smells "like a candle shop" and I have to agree. Something about the combination of coconut with a salty smell (I'm guessing ambergris?) and sugar makes it smell like a load of unlit scented candles. I like candles, but I don't want to smell that way myself. Unless a scent gives me a migraine, I like to give it three tests. This will get one more try on a different body part, maybe on my neck if I can tolerate it, before I decide whether to keep the decant or give it a new home.

This morphs a lot on me, so that sometimes the musk is predominant and other times the clove takes centre stage. I'm not familiar with the smell of orris root or opium poppy, so maybe that explains why I can't quite describe this other than to say it has a faint smell of a clean man. Having said that, it's really more of a unisex scent. Throw is low on me but it smells good. I'll keep the decant, but I have waffled on buying a bottle. With only a few days left to decide, I'm leaning toward not buying it simply because I don't have a powerful urge to purchase and I'm trying to be good.

I didn't really think I liked patchouli all that much until BPAL. Previously I had associated it with Deadheads and the local head shop, like most people probably do. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just not my thing. Then, at Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law gave me a Yankee Candle plug-in fragrance that she said was called Patchouli - she loved it, but she likes to swap them out regularly and since I liked the way it smelled, she gave it to me. I ended up loving that stuff so much that I searched high and low for a BPAL that would smell close to it, because I want to smell like that myself. Based on what I could find of the notes in that YC fragrance, I thought #occupywallstreet would be pretty close. I only received it today and I was so keen to smell it that I couldn't wait for it to settle down. So far I do think it's close enough, and regardless, I love #occupywallstreet on its own merits. Earthy-sexy scents appeal to my Taurean nature and I like that I was able to support the cause in some way (chronic pain issues and other practical considerations make it unfeasible for me to join the protests physically). My bottle does have the absolute congealed at the bottom, but I can still smell the cocoa in it anyway, in the bottle and on my skin. Patchouli is certainly strong in this, but it's such a good quality that its potency doesn't bother me. The vanilla smoothes out the slight medicinal scent. I can't smell much tobacco, but maybe the oil needs to settle more. Putting #occupywallstreet on the front or back of my wrists is really nice, but putting it in my, uh, cleavage is even better. When I put it there, it almost seems to bring out more of the vanilla. My husband likes this on me, but I think Snake Oil is still his favourite (mine too, for that matter, but I do love this). Even a soak in the bathtub with a (lightly) scented bath oil didn't wash off #occupywallstreet, and I can still smell it eight hours after I applied it. This should age gorgeously. I'm already thinking of buying at least one back-up bottle, maybe two.

This was a lab frimp. It smells like detergent in the imp and when I put it on, the smell reminds me of bubble bath. Obviously that means it's a clean scent, and I find it pleasant enough. I don't get linen from Dirty at all, but on the two occasions I've tested this, it just happened to be close to bedtime so I can report that it's a pretty scent to wear at bedtime. It would probably make a great linen spray. My colour impression is clear blue-violet. Even though it's pleasant and hasn't give me a headache on either testing, I'm probably not going to wear it except as a nice-smelling thing to put on before I go to sleep. Scents on the warm to spicy end of the spectrum are much more my thing. 3/5

I bought this off eBay based on an inaccurate description - the seller probably copied and pasted the wrong thing by accident. By the time I noticed that, I had already paid, but I decided not to bother contacting the seller because it was going to be my first BPAL and I was interested in trying various things. Also, Egyptian imagery appeals to me. In the bottle and wet on my skin, this smells like an aquatic men's cologne that I don't know by name. Some of the individual notes are familiar, but I can't identify them. It does sort of smell the way I remember gold tastes, because when I used to wear a gold ring, I tasted it while licking my hand after eating sticky food. By the time the oil dries, it smells like I'm on a beach wearing men's cologne. It slightly resembles a brand of liquid soap that I used to like, maybe Softsoap - which is not to say that it smells "soapy," just that it reminds me of that particular brand. There is a clean, summery feel to this scent. As for throw, after I put it on my wrist I could barely smell it while I was typing. After about four hours the smell is fading. The Festival of Anuket doesn't offend my nostrils or give me a headache, but it isn't really for me. Even though it does remind me of men's cologne, I'd consider it unisex. It's a sporty, clean scent that would probably work best in warm weather. 3/5

Queen Gertrude was a frimp in my most recent order from the Lab. Reading the description made me cringe because florals are the most likely fragrance to trigger migraines in me. Just sniffing it in the imp when I first got it a couple of weeks ago was enough to give me stabby head pains and a queasy feeling - warnings that I should have heeded, but I wasn't sure if this or one of the other frimps I sniffed was the culprit. Still, I decided to try this the other night, just a little dab on the wrist, because I felt guilty about not trying something that essentially was a gift from the Lab. This knocked me down with a purple and green flowery fist. Indeed, it was this frimp that gave me the head pains and nausea, not one of the others. After a few minutes I knew I had to wash it off, but I couldn't get rid of it all. At least I managed to soften the smell just enough. Having said that, it's very true to life, and I think this would be good for those who like purple florals and can handle them. It's just that this clearly isn't one that I'll be able to tolerate.

When I opened the fresh lab frimp to smell it last night, a drop of it got on my index finger. Not wanting to waste it, I foolishly dabbed it on my throat at the pulse point. A wrist would have been much better, but I was caught unprepared. I'm not fully recovered from a cold and my sense of smell isn't completely back, so I'm not sure why I bothered trying to see what anything smelled like... I was just excited to get my order, I guess. Well, what little I could smell of it was really unpleasantly powdery and reminded me of one of my ex-sisters-in-law, who wore some kind of powdery floral fragrance back in the '80s. Amber isn't usually powdery on me at all, but with five of them, I guess the chances of that reaction are that much greater. What's worse, I could feel myself getting a headache. That could have been from one of the three other frimps I got from the Lab, so I'm not going to pin the blame solely on Brisingamen. I thought I might enjoy this because I like amber a lot, but then I really can't take florals ever since I started getting migraines. Before I decide what to do with this imp, I'm going to let it wait for a bit until I know I have my sense of smell back completely. ETA on 1/15/2012: Brisingamen wasn't the frimp that gave me the headache. Yesterday I wore it with no problems, but I'm still not sure I love the smell. Because I'm still learning to pick out notes, I'm not sure what it is about Brisingamen that I don't like. Amber has always been good on me and I love Morocco with its carnation note, so I'm inclined to say I don't like the apple blossom or myrtle. After trying Brisingamen twice, I might be giving it to a friend or starting a swaps pile.

Vetiver, so sharp and earthy, is the dominant note from the imp, wet on my skin, during the drying phase, and for most of the 5-6 hours this scent lasts on me. Neroli and sandalwood have been among my favourites for years. All the notes play well with my chemistry and even my personality. The blend is gorgeous and it doesn't trigger a migraine for me, but I don't really want to smell green and spiky at this time of year. I'll probably wear this more in spring, but it's going to take me a while to use the imp so I won't be buying a bottle just yet. Given the name of this scent, it's kind of funny that my husband liked it on me more than almost any of the other BPAL oils I've tried so far. Well, we are both Taurus sun signs.

In the imp, I swear there is some kind of Eastern spice in this. Maybe that's just the way my nose is interpreting the currant. Wet on my skin, the cake and currant are almost equally as noticeable as the vanilla. As it dries it's a bit similar to Snake Oil, like a sweeter and slightly lighter version with less throw. Vanilla often goes a bit dark and spicy with my chemistry (which suits me fine) and Eat Me is no different. The cake and currant set Eat Me apart from Snake Oil enough that I can see myself buying bottles of both. Edited 7/19/2018: I got a decant of some old Eat Me (year unknown, but probably a few years older than what I reviewed above) as an extra goodie in a forum purchase from wanderingredhead. I wore it yesterday and I'm wearing it again now. It's one of the first scents I wore in heavy rotation during my first year or so of BPAL obsession. I haven't worn it in a while, but I do own a bottle from about 2012. This reminder of it is making me think about getting a second bottle. I'm picturing a two-layer white cake with a thin layer of currant jam in between and a light layer of vanilla frosting on top. I think age has rounded it out, making it slightly less fruity, with the cake and vanilla coming forward. I don't know why I compared it to Snake Oil in my original review or thought there was any spice, except that I had only been into BPAL for a few days shy of two months at the time. It's not like SO, but it might be the same vanilla note.

This is glorious! I got a frimp of Snake Oil with my Oak Moon order and have ended up wearing it more often than any of my other BPALs so far. There's no question I'm going to order a bottle. Snake Oil is like BPAL has simultaneously managed to bottle all these feelings and more: going out dancing in my best outfit, hair, and makeup; sexytimes; snuggling on the couch with my DH; and enjoying a cup of spiced hot tea and a good book. If I could only pick one BPAL to wear all the time, it would be this. Vanilla often seems to go a little dark and spicy on me anyway, and of course that's more pronounced thanks to the spices. It's my first BPAL vanilla - hopefully the first of many - and it's not foody, but it's rich. After I put on Snake Oil in the morning, I don't really need to reapply it during the day, but I can't resist putting on a little more in the afternoon. When I wake up the next day, it still lingers. Snake Oil plays nicely with my fragrance sensitivities, but I have to be careful not to overdo it in case somebody around me is more sensitive to it than I am. I just want to bathe in it, even though I've never been the sort of person who wears a lot of fragrance. ETA, more than a year later: I depleted that first frimp. That's the first and only imp I have ever finished, and I'm a dabber with at least four dozen imps and more than 20 bottles now, so that should tell you something about how often I wear it. About 13 months ago I bought a bottle and somewhere in that time period the lab sent me another Snake Oil frimp. If I just use the imp I can let the bottle age some more, but honestly I love Snake Oil fresh and with more than a year of age. I can only imagine how much I will swoon for a truly aged bottle of this brilliant fragrance.

In the bottle it's a bit like a woodsy men's cologne, in a good way. When it's wet on my skin the smell is green and russet, a bit sharp, and unisex. As it dries it's like a living tree, green and slightly earthy with a faint sweetness like sap. It softens over several hours, but I never get much if any of the creamy or vanilla smell that others have described. I like this and find that it suits my Taurus nature. Still being new to BPAL, I think this might be one of the most complex fragrances I've tried so far. What I find strange is that I carried it in my wallet yesterday in case I needed to touch up during the day and the smell it left behind makes me think of curry. ETA: Now that this is almost two years old, it's time for an update. It's a stunning scent that's unlike anything else I own. The wood has mellowed now and there's a faint sweetness, but it's extremely well blended. At his point it doesn't have massive throw. Oak was one of the first notes that I learned is a great match for my chemistry, and that's even truer now.

I don't know if this is a lab imp or a decant because I got it in a pack of Wanderlust imps from an eBay seller. My family and I made many trips to the North Carolina mountains when I was growing up and there were always plenty of rhododendron bushes lining the twisty roads. Even though it's called Danube, it's more like French Broad for me. Florals and aquatic notes aren't usually my thing anymore because they're the most likely to trigger head pain or a full-blown migraine, but I can do them sometimes. I've tested Danube once before and I decided to wear it again today because my mom just passed away and I wanted a scent that reminded me of happy times with her. When I first put on Danube, I get mostly rhododendron and bellflower with very little watery scent. After about half an hour the water is becoming slightly more pronounced. It smells pretty true to the imp when it's still wet and in the beginning of the drying stage. I can't say how strong the throw is because my DH is the only one I can ask at the moment and he has bad sinus congestion. My migraine brain is most likely to object to floral and aquatic notes, so I can't put on much. It could turn very perfumey if I put on too much, but it's pretty in small doses.

This was a frimp I got from the Lab. In the imp it smells like I've stuck my face up close to a berry bush and inhaled. Wet on my skin it's more like berry-scented bubble bath. As it dries, Baneberry starts to smell purple and juicy. I'm not getting much of an herbal scent from it, but there's a hint of greenery. After a couple of hours the scent morphs into something vaguely like a berry-herbal soap. After four hours it's still going, although it's beginning to fade. For some reason it reminds me strongly of my middle brother's first wife. Baneberry is a subtle scent on me and it doesn't trigger any head pain. My DH has a poor sense of smell, so his opinion of the throw might not be the same as many other people's, but he didn't seem to notice it until I was standing right next to him asking what he thought of it. It feels like I'm wearing a pretty outfit that was tailored for someone with a different body shape, in a colour that doesn't flatter my skin tone. Baneberry isn't "me" at all, but it would be pleasant on someone else. In fact, I can think of a friend who might like it. The friend I have in mind is an Aquarius and so is my ex-SIL whom it reminds me of - make of that what you will.

This is the 2011 version. When I opened the bottle for the first time, it smelled exactly like pumpkin spice syrup that would go into a foofy coffee drink. Nutmeg screams out for attention when I put on this oil. The first time I wore this, it smelled like nutmeg with maple and a hint of cinnamon... until it died out into a sort of dusty spice scent in less than three hours. Today I'm trying it again and getting a little more of a pumpkin smell in place of the maple, which is good, as I'm not particularly a fan of maple. It's dying out into the dusty spice scent after a little less than two hours. I get no coffee and only a little pumpkin out of this. The smell isn't bad, it's just not what I wanted it to be. It would probably be better in a scent locket or an oil burner, but I'm going to keep trying as it ages and hope that the pumpkin or the coffee will awaken. ETA 23 November 2011: So far this is the only BPAL I can slather without getting a headache or migraine. The more of it I put on, the more the pumpkin scent emerges, but I never get a coffee smell from it. Yesterday my DH said he could smell pumpkin latte when I got in the car, but he said it smelled more pumpkin than coffee. It smells delicious, but I'm going to go through a bottle pretty fast at this rate. Since I got it, I've probably worn it three times. 4/5 ETA 29 January 2012: This has already aged beautifully into a creamier blend and I can finally smell the coffee, both in the bottle and wet on my skin! Now I would give it a 4.5/5.

I received this as a frimp with the order I just received, and I ended up liking it more than what I actually bought. Morocco is not quite what I was expecting. It's soft, creamy, lightly sweet spices from the moment I smell it in the imp until it's dying down on my skin a while later. There might be a hint of musk way at the back there, hiding under all the sweet spices. Picking out individual notes in something this well blended is beyond my capabilities this early in my BPAL obsession, but I have to agree with Klolly that it's very similar to cream soda... maybe a slightly spicy one. It's strange that I don't smell more sandalwood or musk, as I tend to amp those scents (and I love them). Maybe this imp is really fresh or hasn't settled from the shipment yet -- I did just get it yesterday. All day I've been huffing myself, trying to suck in as much of this delicious fragrance as possible. It's a warm, irresistible scent that isn't very strong on me. That's probably a good thing due to my fragrance sensitivity; the wrong kind always triggers a migraine and too much of a safe scent will also trigger one. Morocco reminds me of a sweeter, softer Baghdad. It could probably be a little stronger and it doesn't last as long as I'd hoped, but I can't seem to get enough of it. If I keep loving Morocco on subsequent tries, then I'll be getting a bottle for sure. ETA: I've already worn this three or four times since I got it, so I'll probably be buying a 5ml before the imp runs out. It has to wait in line behind Snake Oil now that I've tried that scent.

In the imp and wet on my skin, this reminds me of flowers in an amber-hued vase, but I can't identify the exact kinds of flowers. White, purple, red, and gold are my colour impressions. As it dries, it's more of an amber-hued velvet blanket and a clove-studded orange is somewhere nearby. The colours are deep gold and burgundy. This stays close and wraps around me like a blanket. Four hours after application it's mostly spiced amber, but it's still a subtle, comforting lilt of fragrance. I don't know if I'll buy a 5ml, as I'm just getting started with BPAL.

The first time I wore this I got a musky, resin-ish smell that seemed a bit horsey, which was appropriate for my Halloween costume (My Little Pony's Princess Luna). Today it has a sour, sweet quality that comes on strong. I can't pick out any notes other than incense. As it begins to calm down into something more powdery-soft, it's easier to tolerate. I'm a migraineur and this absolutely could trigger an attack if I'm not careful how much I wear. Applying a bit on my neck after lunch, when it had faded from this morning's wrist application, was a bad idea. After trying to wash it off, it's much better. I thought it would work if applied in a different place, but I should have left well enough alone. I don't think I'll wear this often but I'll keep the imp anyway.

This was a freebie, but since the novel is one of my favourites, I was happy to try it. I used only a tiny bit to test it and found that it was a soft, slightly lemony floral. It's not nearly as sweet as I was expecting and I don't get any citrus from it. Since I'm not sure what heliotrope smells like, I can only guess that was the dominant note because it wasn't honeysuckle (unfortunately for me, because that's one of my favourite scents) or anything I could immediately recognize. Lolita is not the sort of thing I would normally wear, but it would be good for early spring or possibly summer when I want something light.

This smelled like liquored-up raisin bran in the imp and when I first put it on my skin, which is probably because I used to think unlit cigarettes smelled like raisin bran. Soon it bloomed into tobacco dipped in cognac. Gradually the honey emerged. After about four or five hours it started to smell mostly of tobacco and honey. After about six hours it was almost gone, so I dabbed on a bit more to make it last through the rest of my work day; big mistake. The smell was intensified, especially the boozy-woozy part, and I noticed a syrupy fruit smell (quince, I guess, but I've never smelled that). I began to get the familiar migraine-ish lightheaded sensation with occasional twinges in my head. Now, another six or seven hours later, it smells only of honey and tobacco and I'm no longer feeling like I might be getting a migraine. Although I liked it when I put it on this morning, I hope that syrupy fruit smell won't be there when I wear it again because that's what made my head feel light and start hurting. Hopefully that was just because I had on too much of it.