hypothermya

I'm a rum addict. Honest. So of course I had to get my hands on this... Just the thought of being able to make myself or my boyfriend smell like yummy buttered rum... oooo.... In the Bottle Oh my god, the clove could knock me out! And I swear that there's cinnamon in there, even though the description doesn't say anything about it. It reminds me of cinnamon altoids more than the hot buttered rum that I make for myself... Of course that could be because I'm pretty liberal with the orange and lemon in my hot buttered rums... My sister got a whiff of this and immediately remarked that it smelled like Christmas. That's probably because buttered rum is a traditional Christmas drink for my family, and we always make pomanders (oranges covered with cloves) during Christmas time. The rum smell isn't too far behind the spices, same with the bay... The sassafras is hiding, though. Wearing It Wet, the rum scent picks up right away. It's sweet, almost like butterscotch candy. The sassafras is there also, and that clove/cinnamon smell. Very spicey. The spice picks up as the scent dries, and by the time it's finished drying I can only pick out a cinnamon/clove/bay combo. No rum, no sassafras. Although it does smell sweeter on me than on my boyfriend. The boyfriend, by the way, suggests that maybe my body is just in withdrawal and the reason why I can't smell the rum is because my skin tried to suck it up to make up for prior lack. Um...not that there's any truth in that statement. On my boyfriend, it gets a more bitter scent, as though there were some sort of dark chocolate lying around. Don't know where the chocolate part comes from, but... Oh well. As a scent, it doesn't seem to last too long. I've been wearing it for about 4 hours, and it's almost entirely faded. So, I guess that I was hoping for more rum, and less spice. On my boyfriend, I think that both of us prefer Old Morroco and O. On me, well... It might be nice for a more Christmas time smell, but I'm not so fond of cinnamon scents. One of my friends ordered this for a birthday present, and I suspect that she'll adore it (she's quite fond of cinnamon)... But for me, I'm thinking probably not. On the otherhand, it is a rather yummy scent, and I think I may keep it around for a room or linen scent for holiday times.

When I first discovered The Lab, I spent hours pouring over the descriptions and this was one of the first scents that caught my eye. But, since I had a limited number of imps that I could order, I decided to get Zombi instead of Embalming Fluid (this was a last minute choice, and I think that the name and the lemon were the culprits in changing my mind). But then I discovered this forum, and after reading all of the reviews, I decided that I really did want to smell this one after all. I love aloe, green tea, and I've got a particularly good chemistry for white musk. So, I arranged to get this in a swap. Thanks to ophelia for that. In the Bottle Wow. Smells like lemon skins when you stick them down the garbage disposal to keep the sink smelling clean. I'm not a fan of lemon cleaning products (I've got lavender/tea tree oil dish soap, and use simple green for every thing that I can), and this almost reminds me of that smell. The green tea makes it smell bitter (just like the really good green tea that my father brought back from China that I couldn't stand alone!). And there's a sort of heby/medicinal smell to it. Not sure I'm going to like this one at all. Wearing It When it first hits my skin, it turns really sweet like lemon sorbet or homemade lemonade when you've gotten to the last of the pitcher where all of the sugar has fallen down to. Then it gets a nice clean, wet smell (probably the aloe), and the sweetness dies down a bit (probably the green tea or musk making its presence known). Oh, yum! The lemon is still stronger than I'd like, but the rest of it smells delicious. I can only imagine how this would smell with lime in it! After about 15 minutes or so, the lemon and all the rest of it have submitted to the white musk, and there's this really great clean musky scent (it's my skin chemistry, I'm sure) with a background of pure clean aloe, lemon, and tea. The tea is probably the least noticeable of all of the notes, both wet and dry. The end result is that it reminds me a lot of my aikido dojo, walking into the bright open room and smelling a healthy sort of sweat but mixed in with the crisp breeze and freshly cleaned mats. Kind of a Zen feeling to it. I really like it. Wow. I can see why everyone wants this to be one of the soaps that blackrayne and black phoenix come out with. I would love to be able to wake up to this scent every morning. As it is, I think this definitely goes onto the list of favorites, the list of 5ml bottles, and the list of wearing on a daily basis.

Like Tygher, I'm really into having lime in my scents. So I went ahead and gave this one a whirl, hoping that the lime would make me partial to floral scents (which I'm typically not a fan of). In the Bottle Really strong jasmine, but who cares? The lime is right on top of the rest of the notes, adding a nice strong citrus zest. There's something softer than the jasmine, and I suspect that it's the lotus. Having never really identified a lotus smell before, I'm impressed. The lotus identified smell reminds me of gardenias once it's mixed with the rose and jasmine. So, lime and gardenias. There's a hint of powderish smell in there also, but in a very nice feminine way (you'll never catch me saying that about any other perfume with powder in it, by the way!). It reminds me more of powdered sugar than of baby powder. Yum. Wearing It When this first goes on, it's a bit sharp, like the lime's leapt for my throat. Not bad, all things considered, just not expected. The jasmine is once again making its presence known. As it mellows out, that sweet, soft lotus/tuberrose scent starts to mellow out the scent. Huh. I can see why Beth decided that this one would do a good job representing a Muse; she hits hard at first, but while you're recovering she comes on so sweet and gentle that you'll forget what a whammy she started out with! As it dries out, the scent becomes much softer, almost light like early morning sunlight. The lime is what gets your attention though, cutting a clear path for the florals to follow. When I made my scent guinea pig, er, I mean boyfriend, smell my wrists, he was unable to really identify the scent at all. He described it as being like a department store smell, but not...there was something in it that kept it from being a true department store perfume. (I'm guessing it was the lime and lotus.) He thought it smelled nice, but wasn't really interested in me wearing it more. This is a good scent, a great embodiment of the concept of a Muse. While this is an inspiring scent, I don't think that it'll be an everyday sort of scent for me... It's just a bit too heavy on the florals. But unlike the other floral scents I've tried, this one really perks up with the addition of the lime. If only Venom had been as strong on the lime as this one was.

Have you tried a forced refresh? On PCs, you hold down shift and click the refresh button (from what I hear). On Macs, I haven't the slightest. If you know how, you could clear your browser's cache, or, more simply, close all of your browser windows and re-open you browser. If these don't work, then I haven't the slightest as to what's going on...

Eeee!!!!! Just read the site update and I'm practically swooning with excitement (and I'm not the swooning type!). Thank you, thank you, thank you *so* much for working on Prospero, Ariel, and Miranda; not to mention The Lady of Shallot, and Morguase, and Isolde, and Freya!!!! More scents to buy! Yay! I just can't express how much this really excites me, especially since bouncing up and down with excitement makes typing just that much more difficult THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

These are wonderful!!! And I didn't even suspect that Kali would be coming out so soon! I *must* get one!!! And you have no idea how great your scents are; even though I'm fairly sure I'm going to be allergic to it, I'm going to have to get ahold of Szepasszony, just based on how perfect all of your water scents have been so far! And June Gloom, too. And the rest, well... They look wonderful. Simply wonderful. Aizen-Myoo, Alecto, Danse Macabre, Djinn, The Hesperides, Titiania, Wanda are all on my new wishlist too! I'm sure my wallet doesn't even suspect the sort of whammy it's going to be getting come June (cause I have to spoil myself during my birth month, obviously!)

Oh, give Endymion a try! It's got this gorgeous floral scent to it, with strong notes of pear (which mix so well!)... And I suspect that once Beth comes out with Titiania (which has fruit/floral notes in it) that you'll love that also! Also, give Dragon's Heart a whirl. It's got some fig notes in it that aren't recognizably foody, but give it a nice sweet edible smell to top off those heavy resiny scents.

A fan of limes, and absolutely in love with Bewitched (another berry scent by Beth), I decided that Venom was a must. Fortunately, paperdoll was kind enough to swap this with me. In the Bottle Okay, the strongest note that I can identify is the jasmine, followed by the berries, and then there's the lime. There are two other notes that are stronger than the berries or lime, but I don't recognize them. This has the smell of a perfume from a department store, upscale and classy, but with rich berries speaking of a low class hedonism and the lime giving it a bit of a spike. Wearing It As soon as I put this on, the jasmine and two unrecognizable notes perked, drowning out the berries. The lime just vanished, which was a bit of a bummer. As the fragrance softened down, I started to realize that the lime was just not going to make an appearance. And I was right; after nearly two and a half hours there's still no hint of lime. There wasn't enough berries to keep this from regaining it's department store conforming smell, unfortunately. The one thing that did keep my interest though was that after about a half an hour or so, the scent picked up a bit of spiceyness. It was as if that soft floral ingenue had suddenly whipped out her sting. My sister loves the way it smells on me, and thinks I'm crazy for not liking it more. But this one is getting the same reaction as Viola did; a nice floral, but a floral nonetheless. I'm really a bit miffed that my skin chemistry didn't bring out the berries and lime more, but such is life. I did enjoy smelling it though, and was really pleasantly surprised by that bit of bite that it showed towards the end. She really is the classy assasin of perfumes. edited to say: between this scent and Muse, I think I'm beginning to like the way these slightly quirky florals smell on me. I wore this tonight, and even though it's still too heavy on the jasmine for every day use, I think I'll keep the imp and wear it when I want to feel sophisticated and deadly. It's definitely growing on me though...

This was another oil recommended to me in liu of Tempest (which wasn't quite right smelling for the scent I was envisioning). The previous scent that I'd tried as a replacement (Tears) I'd had quite an allergic reaction to; this one smells similar, in terms of the aquatic notes, but murkier, more dark and dangerous, and has the rotting wood smell that the other reviewers noticed. So I'm only testing a small amount until I can be certain that I'm not going to have respitory hell again. In the Bottle Sharp and salty. The same ocean scent that Tears had, but with the undertone of rotting wood. Too salty straight from the imp ear -- it makes me not want to try it on... Oh, and there's the vetivert! It's hiding underneath the salty watery scents, but I caught it before it could really conceal itself! Imagine a leather jacket that's been tossed about in the waves for a really long time, and finally dredge to the shore. You can't really smell its origins anymore, only the faintest notes of that oily, leather underneath the pure ocean smell. Wearing It I'm bracing myself for an allergic reaction here, tissues and everything at the ready. Just like the Tears, the salty smell picks up right away, but then dies down as it dries. Oh, I'm a dolt! I just stuck my nose straight into it! Oh, but as it dries, it really does have that right before or right after the storm smell! I was in the car last night and able to witness a rare summer rain, and it has a smell just like that, but with something salty and murky underneath. Rotting wood. That's the best thing I can say to describe it. And...there goes my nose. And eyes. And throat. Just as I thought. Allergies. Well, this one definitely didn't work out. In addition to not being the best scent in the world, it's an allergy stimulus. Gah. Hate allergies. Unfortunately, this is another one that I'm going to have to part with. Hopefully, Lightening will work out. A pity. Beth has a knack for capturing the feeling of a scent... But I think that this is one of those scents that sounds more romantic than it really is. Oh well.

Love the movie, love the genre, love the concept. And, looking for a new scent for my boyfriend. So this, along with several other "masculine" scents, were on my list. In the Bottle Wow. The cedar and sassafras are strong, almost offensive to my nose. On the second whiff, the vanilla makes it sweeter and more rootbeer like. The boyfriend says that it smells like dirt, almost dusty. I have to agree. Wearing It The dust scent comes out even more. As it dries down, the dirt and cedar picks up a lot more. He says it smells like a dusty old wooden cabin. Yes, I agree, but perhaps a dusty old wooden cabin with an empty bottle of sassafras rootbeer sitting on the table. The scent isn't as strong and overpowering on him, which is a plus. But I'm still not sure that smelling like a dusty old cabin is quite what I envisioned for him in terms of a cologne/perfume. Eh. He likes it. Says that it reminds him of hiking. We'll see. It definitely captures the feeling that Beth was going for (she's so good at that!), but not what I was looking for. Definitely not as yummy on him as Old Morocco or O. It's funny that all of his scents are sweeter than mine! I think I'll wait to see how the scent mellows out in another half an hour or so and update on that if it's any different. edit: After about a half an hour, the scent changed drastically. My boyfriend described it as "Carnie Candy"; I have to agree with him. His skin chemistry really picks up vanilla (part of the reason why O works so well on him), and so the scent turned into the smell of cotton candy, taffy, and (yes, even this) carmel popcorn, mingling with the smell of dust. Exactly like a circus concession area. While it was really nice to be swept back to my memories of circuses, I think that the both of us aren't into him smelling like this on an ongoing basis. Oh well. It was a fun experiment.

Scherezade: to me, it smells like incense, old books, and that lovely saffron smell Dragon's Heart: the resin and musk seem incensey, before they give way to the fig Tears: had the smell of burning sage (kind of an incency note) in a room with a wooden floor that has opened it's windows right after a good strong rain... Voodoo: way more to this scent than just incence, but at times it would smell like incence burning around a campfire in the middle of a pine forest. Having only read the description off the site, I'd still have to agree with everyone else: The Catepillar is the best bet for an incence scent. Hope that helps.

My boyfriend wears O and Old Morocco -- but only wears the O because of the reaction he gets from me. But honestly, even though old Morocco is gender neutral, it has this great spicey scent to it. Also, I'd recommend giving Dragon's Heart a try, because it's got two different musks and has this great spicey scent. The resin makes it a strong scent that would work well for a guy. Hope that helps. I've been trying a few other guy scents on my boyfriend and so far his fav. other than Old Morocco has been Azazel.

After hearing all of this positive stuff about Villain, I decided that I had to get ahold of an imp for my boyfriend. Plus, who can go wrong with a scent that has lime? I mean, really! (I'm a fiend for anything with lime in it). When this arrived in the mail, it had leaked aout half of the contents out and I could smell it the instant I opened it up. In the Bottle First thing I smell is that pungent lavender smell... I'm beginning to think that this one will give me headaches if I'm around it too long. The more of Beth's scents that I try that have lavender (Twilight, Azazel, this...), the more I'm convinced. But beneath the lavender is a yummy citrus scent, nice and strong. Smells great. Showed this to the boyfriend and two friends of mine at the same time. Matt, one of the friends, took one sniff and said, "Oh, this is good! Can I eat it?" He even made movements to hide it away behind the couch he was sitting on. When it got to my boyfriend, he gave it a sniff and made minimal comments about it smelling good. Goes to show a difference in taste, I suppose. Wearing It When my boyfriend puts this on, it's a very strong lavender smell with a sweetness to it (the lilac perhaps?). The citrus dies out real fast, and the only thing that's left is a musky lavender sweet smell. It lasted about half a day before it was gone, so that's another mark for a man's scent with staying power. Nice, but not very impressive on him. I'd love to see how this smells on someone else though (although he might just get jealous if I tried). I think that this is another one that'll be going out for trade (or maybe I'll just send it off to Vaniclion if no one else wants a half full imp). Either way, not for me.

I got this because the imp ear of Lear didn't work out for my boyfriend, and we figured we'd go for a scent that had some similar elements to see if that worked any better. No cedar in this one, but the description caught his interest (mid-video game, no less), so I swapped for this little imp and we gave it a try. In the Bottle This smells like lemon and lavender. Reminds me of weaving lavender wands, and having the scent of them all over my hands, then going to my old herb garden and burying my head in the lemon verbena. A bit pungent though. Such a strong lavender scent that it might give me a headache if I sniff at it any longer, and certainly drowns out the other elements. Wearing It When my boyfriend put this on, he smelled delightful. This gorgeous combination of bay leaf and lemon and citron and lavender and sage... It was all very well rounded. I wasn't there when he put it on, so I can't speak for how it smelled when it was wet, but the dry scent of it was delicious. I'm trying to get him to keep it. He, however, might not like it for entirely different reasons. He likes the way it smells, especially in comparison to how he reacted with Lear, and enjoys the lemon, sage, lavender, citron blend. However, he was noticing that all day long he had this unresistable urge to get spaghetti; namely because his mother always used to use bay leaf in her recipe for the sauce. So he's a bit hesitant to wear a cologne that will always make him hungry. Especially as he's trying to cut back on snacking. When I put a little on myself, it smells strongly of lemon and sage while wet. As it dries off it gets bitter and the bay picks up a lot. No, I really mean a lot. It's actually unpleasant, because it, in turn, reminds me of my mother's recipe for split pea soup; and the only other scent that comes through over the bay leaf is the lemon (which doesn't quite go with the split pea soup memory at all!). All in all, it's a great scent on my boyfriend, but if the food references continue, I may have to put this up for swaps too. I really do love the way the lavender and lemon combine on him, with just the touch of sage and bay. It smells perfect, and I'm hoping that he can get over the pasta urges. As for me, this is definitely not a scent that I'd wear. Even without the strong bay smell, it's a bit too masculine for me.

I've always loved the scent of cedar, and this is what attracted me to Lear. I remember that when I was little, my father would keep his sweaters in a big cedar chest, and I'd try to sneak off with the sweaters so that I could smell the cedar while I fell asleep. In a very non-Elecktra complex sort of way, I was hoping that this would be the perfect cologne for my boyfriend, who also likes the smell of cedar. So Vaniclion graciously swapped me for an imp of Lear, and we gave it a shot. In the Bottle This smells very strongly of sage, and the other scents don't come out so strongly. It reminds me of sniffing into an open bottle of dried sage while standing next to my box of spices. The sage is strong, but mingling with other herbal scents. The cedar is just an undertone in this, smelling vaguely woodsy, as if I had kept my herbs in a wooden box rather than a big shiny metal one. Wearing It On my boyfriend, this did not work at all. Once he put it on, it erupted into a strong, pungent, bitter sage scent and refused to show signs of anything else. Even when dry, he smelled exactly like the mountain sage that grows wild in some of the local hiking spots. As he put it, "I smell like I just ran through a bush of sage." No cedar, no bay. Dissapointing. While I was sniffing the imp ear, though, I accidently got some one me, and it's a whole different scent on my skin. It starts out with a strong cedar smell, and I am immediately reminded of that old chest of drawers that my father kept his sweaters in. Once it dries, the sage and bay pick up a little, making this a rounded and full scent. Masculine, yes. Regal, yes. Not enough cedar now to remind me of my childhood, but a really lovely scent. Unfortunately it's the exact sort of scent I'd love on my boyfriend, but not on me. Pity it doesn't work for him This is a great masculine scent, or even a great room scent, but I think that I'll probably be swapping it out. For the times when I need to be reminded of that chest of drawers, I think it will be better to just pick up a single note of cedar (or even buy a bag of cedar chips)... And I'm still a bit pouty that it didn't work with my boyfriend's skin chemistry.

I have to say that I really didn't understand how anyone could be careless enough to let the sinew on the imp ears suck up the oil from the vial until I got this imp in the mail. It's almost as if the sinew itself is mimicking the personality of the scent, being wild and tangled up; hard to unravel. Or maybe I'm just carrying this metaphor too far. In anycase, I got this because I love anything with lime in it, and I've had a love affair with voodoo for quite a while now. It seemed like the perfect scent to get, although I had no clue what I'd be in for. In the Bottle This has a spicey scent to it, as if the clove, vanilla and almond all came lunging out for my nose. But there's something a bit darker to it (must be the vetiver), and earthy. And there -- there's the lime, just a splash of it. But it's funny...no matter how long I sniff at this imp ear, it refuses to let one part of it be more dominant than the other parts. This miasma of smell that keeps shifting. I like it though. Can't wait to put some on. Wearing It That earthy scent picks up right away. Like fresh churned soil with a bit of medicinal herbs mixed in. Must be the myrhh and patchouli. And there's a bit of bitter stickyness - Ah..the pine, okay... I'm slowly beginning to be able to pick out individual elements in this. It's getting a bit more leathery now, except -- no, back to the medicinal earth scent... As it's drying it's becoming even more difficult to pin this one down! This is fun, like chasing someone through a hedge maze! Just wearing this feels like a dark, challenging game. But even so, it smells wonderfully thick and complex. I feel a bit dissapointed that the almond/vanilla scent got drowned out so quickly -- I rather liked the way it was mixing with those two in the bottle.... But the clove and the lime are still there. Every now and then I get a spike of those two, mixed in with the leathery scent. This is yummy. (okay, while I was typing, those two scents made themselves more apparent. it seems that this is one of Beth's morphing mystery creations, the type which change all the while you wear them.) As difficult as it is to describe, I really think I like this one. It's heady and full and not at all standard. I enjoy the way the scents change around just as you think you've got it figured out. I really like how when I'm wearing this I find myself thinking of a bunch of different chapters from Dundies' Mother Wit From the Laughing Barrell (a collection of folklore from the Southern States which focuses heavily on Voodoo lore). God I hope I don't end up being allergic to this one -- I think I might cry at the thought of not being able to wear this again. This is definitely going onto my favorites list, and I'm definitely going to have to get a bigger bottle of this. edited to say: sadly, the second time I wore this, it turned to a mostly baby powder scent in about a half an hour (although the first half hour was delicious smelling!). The only remaining strong scents were the pine, clove, and leather. Which would have been fine without the baby powder. I don't know what I did to my skin chemistry to deserve this, but I feel like screaming at it for ruining yet another good smelling oil!

For my first order of imps, I'd gotten a vial of Tempest, and was a bit dissapointed that it didn't have that crisp "right before the rain" scent that I was hoping for. On the advice of lorajc, I decided to give Tears a try. In the Bottle This definitely has a marine smell to it, but the individual elements are impossible to pin down! I smell a bit of salt, and a bit of pungent herbs, but mostly just a watery feel to it. It smells almost like someone has stepped into an empty room with wooden floors that is filled with the scent of fresh rain, and just lit up a bound up package of cleansing herbs. The saltly notes remind me of the sea. Wearing It The saltiness picks up when the scent is first applied to my skin, and it's almost a turn off, because it reminds me of salt flats and of marshes... There's this gorgeous clean water smell underneath the salt as the scent is drying on my skin, and I love that. I keep trying to ignore the salt just in order to savor the clean water smell. As it dries, the smells blend a bit more... I've been smelling my wrists for a full minute now, unable to figure out what this reminds me of. I want to say it smells like hay that's just been rained on, but that doesn't seem right. It's the herbal smell that's really throwing me off. It isn't hay, and it isn't any herb I recognize straight away... But it smells lovely. Almost like cedar if it were less wood like and more grassy. And the aquatic notes make this wonderful! It makes my nose tingle, in a good (non-allergenic) way. This isn't an uplifting scent, but I don't think it's a depressing scent either. It's the sort of scent that captures the clarity of spirit that you feel right after a good long bout of crying; that sort of feeling that the universe stretches forever, and you're not feeling good or bad, but sort of enlightened. I'm not sure if this is a scent that I'll wear regularly, but I'm definitely keeping it around. It makes me feel nostalgic for a place I've never been, and I could almost cry with longing just smelling it. Definitely something that I'll be hanging on to. edit: okay, I lied -- this makes my nose tingle is a very allergenic sort of way. At first I wasn't having any issues, but after about 10-15 mins, I've started sneezing and coughing; my throat is itching (both inside and out -- and i didn't even apply any on my neck!), and my nose is running, and as much as I adore the way this scent makes me feel, there's no way I'm going to be able to keep it around. Sad, really.

Snow White; 2003 I have to say that this is not a scent that I would normally order, but due to a complete and utter obsession with all things that Beth makes, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to check out this limited edition. Plus, I was hoping for something a bit less lemony and a bit more wintery than Yuki-Onna. And was I ever pleasantly surprised. In the Bottle At the very first sniff, I smell something nutty, as if almond or hazelnut. Probably almond, because it's a very light nut smell. The second note I was able to distinguish was a bright pineapple smell, fruity and sweet, while still cool. More like pineapple slices fresh out of the back of the fridge. My boyfriend smelled it and said that it was like a minty vanilla, (and Mom's boyfriend also described it as a sweet vanilla) so there's probably vanilla and mint notes in there that I can't quite identify. But overall, this does a remarkable job of smelling *just* like freshly fallen snow. Makes me think of skiing into a bank of powder, and being covered in light delicious flakes of snow. If there are florals in here, I can't tell, which is just as well, since the one thing turning me off to the description of this scent was the florals. Wearing It When I put it on, the first thing I notice is: "Oh, there's the vanilla!" Still fresh, still cool, like the smell of opening your freezer and having the cold hit the air. As it dries down, the fruit begins to pick up again, but still underneath the fresh cool air scent. The only issue with this scent is that it's so subtle, so soft. And that's actually not so much an issue as a characteristic. It makes me want to put more on, just so I can notice it without bringing my wrist to my nose. It's as though the perfume has faded without giving me the benefit of an hour or so to bathe in the smell. This is a great scent, and I'm glad I decided to give it a chance. I'm going to try wearing this again (maybe when I'm not overwhelmed with six or seven new scents that I've gotten via swapping), and then I'll probably decide whether to keep this as a regular scent. But something tells me that there isn't much chance of me not keeping it -- this one is a real delight.

I'm not a huge fan of sweet smelling perfumes, and while I enjoy smelling them, I definitely don't wear them. *but* I am a fan of oatmeal scents, and almond scents, and since everyone was raving over this one I had to give it a try. In the Bottle Marzipan. Definitely the sweet almond candy smell, not like baking bread or honey drizzled almond or anything else (although it shares some similarities) -- this is pure marzipan, just like the kind that you get at Christmas. It had me remembering those fruit shaped candies that always melted into your mouth with just the hint of grittiness in the texture. Not much in the way of milk, and nothing that even reminded me of oats. Wearing It This went on sweet and inviting, a beautiful scent that warmed up and rounded out as it dried. Once dry, I could smell hints of milk and oats, but the sweetness was the real show stealer here. Nothing could even compare to the sweet honey almond smell that was surrounding me. I felt like I was a walking piece of candy, and felt almost self concious around other people... (This is probably more due to a story about a bad incident with the Body Shop's Warmed Sugar and Vanilla scent, where a guy sat down next to the girl and suddenly wanted Rice Krispies, promptly wandering away to the snack table. I was secretly afraid that someone might do the same to me, except think of something more gourmet and delectable.) This is another one of those quick BPAL scents, where after about 2-3 hours, it's faded away. Once it starts to fade, it turns into a more bland (almond and oatmeal bland) scent with a hint of sweetness. Although I really love the way this one smells, I probably won't make it a regular scent for me. Just too sweet and too foody. I'm going to *have* to show this to a friend of mine who goes by the handle "Dana O'Shee" on LJ though... I think she'll simply fall in love.

Not really remembering what Dragon's Blood Resin smells like, I decided to give this a go for the sake of the musks and the fruits. In the Bottle Ha! This even looks like it could come from a dragon -- the oil is this thick orange-red, and looks just like the color that hot coals in a fire look. Strong, almost spicy. I smell the resin most definitely, almost a woody smell, although it seems to blend in with the musk. No hint of fruit though... Wearing It It's funny, it's almost a sweet spice, and is a really *loud* scent (my boyfriend could smell it all the way across the room while he was half asleep, and asked me what I was wearing). I know that the darker musks sometimes remind me of wood, but the resin is almost making this more woodsy, as though I could smell a freshly polished piece of mahogony... some hard, blackened wood that gleams and flickers bits of light back at you. And there's just a hint of what seems floral, although there aren't any floral scents in here... And a smokey feel to it, once again it reminds me of hot coals... After about an hour of wear, the fruit smells come out as a thick sweetness, something that smells really substantial and sensual all at once. The sweetness mixes with the musk really well. There's something about the strength of this one, and the hard toned wood feel that doesn't quite sit right with me. My mother loves this one (she immediately snagged some from me when I opened the imp in front of her yesterday), and it makes me laugh because she owns all of these floral perfumes, yet seems to only rave about the spicy scents like this one and Scherezade. And this one does remind me of Scherezade, only stronger, more forceful, and sweeter. I'm not sure that this will be an everyday scent for me, let alone an every now and then scent, but I'm glad I got to try it. edited because when the boyfriend woke up and gave me a hug, he wouldn't let me go because he was too busy smelling me. gave me strict orders not to get rid of this imp. however, i'm still not sure I'm really that into it... it seems to make me feel tense or on edge because of how overpowering it can be. I'll give it another try though. edited again to say that I should keep in the habit of giving Beth's scents a second chance when they don't seem to work. The more I wear this, the more I adore it. This is definitely one of my favorite scents now.

I've been avoiding reviewing this because I wasn't really able to pin down my reaction to it. Initially I really wanted to order this with my first scent of imps (my email address is twilightxylia @ ..., and I've always had an affinity with the concept of twilight, not to mention the actual thing)... But since there were other scents that I wanted more, I didn't order it. But fortunately for me, Beth was an absolute sweetheart and included it as a freebie. I was so happy on discovering this I could have cried. In the Bottle When I first opened this up, I was immediate hit in the face with a really harsh chemical scent, which is odd since this isn't chemically at all. For the first several times I tried to smell it, it was the same thing, and so repulsive that I couldn't bring myself to wear it. Later on, I tried smelling it beyond that first blast, and was able to identify first the lavender (more of the aromatherapy lavender smell than the sweet perfumey imitations....since I used to have a lavender bush and used to make lavender wands from it, I'm used to a smell that neither of these scents really replicates), and only then was I able to catch a whiff of the jasmine. It is, as everyone else here says, a *very* yellow scent. When I first sniffed it, I didn't remember the ingredients, and the only thing I could think of besides chemical was yellow. Wearing It When I finally got myself to dab some of this on my skin, I wanted to scream as it was drying. I could smell the lavender and jasmine, but it still had this horrible chemical cleaner scent (the kind where they add cheap perfume to cover up the chemicals). As it dried down, the chemical scent started to die down, but I could still smell it a little. The honeysuckle gives this a sweet undertone, and I like it in there. As far as the lasting power of this scent, it lasts for a *long* time. Very strong scent. And then I figured out why I was having such a bad reaction to this -- aromatherapy lavender tends to give me a horrid headache (so a bad association with the lavender), and I think that I'm actually allergic to the jasmine too. I'm not sure why I have such a bad reaction to the lavender aromatherapy stuff, but I'm definitely not allergic to real lavender. So it's kinda a pity that this scent doesn't work for me, but I'm still overjoyed that Beth included this imp in my order, and even more happy that I got a chance to smell it. I've found that for the most part even BPAL scents that don't work for me still make me happy because I get the chance to experience them.

Just an idea, and mostly likely a 90% chance of being totally off the mark, but what if the imp was O? O has a reputation for being less sweet than snake oil, but still being similar. Just an idea.

The very first time I had the chance to find the BPAL site, this was one of the first scents I picked out. It just sounded too perfect. I could just imagine the smell of the heavy rich soil, and the dried roses. Of course, when I got my order at first, I was too overwhelmed with scents and excitement, and the first one I tried was Persephone, which had a not so pleasant effect on me -- it turned into a roses and babypowder scent, which was nice, but not what I wanted. So Zombi fell to the bottom of the pile, in fear that it would also lose the other notes and become a heavy rose/baby powder scent. In the Bottle Oh, that's roses alright! Not the drippingly sweet roses of Persephone, but still heavily sweet. And there's some murkiness to it, but the rose is so strong and such a turn off for me at this point that I don't want to smell it further. Wearing It When I apply it, it takes a small amount of time to settle down and dry, but immediately my skin does what I naturally expect it to -- it suddenly discovers the rose oils and amplifies them beyond belief. It's this beautiful rose smell, but *nothing* (not even a hint) that resembles earthy smells. Just roses. To my relief, there isn't much of a baby powder smell, not compared with how Persephone reacted, at least. Just a small bit. I was tempted to let it sit for a while to see how it developed, but I'd already done so with Persephone and I wasn't in the mood to spend another day with an overpowering rose scent around me. If it behaved at all like Persephone, it wouldn't have faded very quickly either -- all the more reason to wash it off after a half an hour. When I washed it off, it was still strong and flowery with just a hint of powder. I'm discovering more and more that I'm not a fan of roses, despite the fact that my skin chemistry picks them up and runs with them. If I did like roses, I'd be in luck, because I would have found an oil that lasts all day and all night, but alas... I used to be fond of roses, but the more floral scents I smell (Persephone, Viola, Zombi, etc.), the more I find that I'm not a fan of traditional rose scents. Pity, because I was really banking on this one. Fortunately, Beth has *so* many other winners that it's hard to be too dissapointed.

Current votes are for: Bewitched, Scherezade, Old Morrocco, O, Katharina and votes for a single note cedar, and a single note pear soap. Just my 2 cents, although i'm sure it'll be more than just two cents I'll be throwing at you for those luscious soaps.

I've only tried a couple of BPAL scents, and none of them (yet) have been part of the Voodoo or Celestial categories, but I find that Scherezade really makes me feel warm and comfortable.