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Alice and I were not meant to be pals. I suspected the rose would be too much, and I dreaded the honey-induced play-doh scent, and I thought the carnations would be too bitter on me just like they always are. And Alice did exactly what I thought she was going to do.

I like dragon's blood a lot, and I also like sandalwood and orris. I figured I would like this blend, and I do. It smells exactly like I expected it to -- sweet and dry. Actually, it reminds me more of traditional perfumes than most BPAL oils do. It's not going to bump Dragon's Musk from its position as my favorite Ars Draconis blend, but it's a good one nonetheless.

Foody and boozey blends are my friends, and Hellcat is yummy boozey goodness. It's creamy but not too much, there's a nice nutty bite to it, and the rum's good too! Sugar Skull smells a bit like burnt sugar to me (like creme brulee), and I don't get any of that burnt smell in Hellcat. This one is much more smooth.

Passion in a bottle. God, this is good. Honey usually smells gross on me -- like bready play-doh. Ugh. I was so looking forward to O and Dana O'Shee and Alice, and they just didn't work. Very disappointing. But the patchouli and cognac with those subtle flowers seem to be exactly the right combination with honey for me. It's smooth and sultry and languid. Reminds me of a cross between Smut and La Petite Mort, but it's not as boozey as Smut and not as sweet as La Petite Mort. It's just right. Aaaaah, Sed Non Satiata. I am slavishly devoted.

I tried Aureus and Cathedral on the same day. My impression was that Cathedral smelled like pencil shavings -- like new wood. Aureus smells like old wood. Wood that's been touched so much it's shiny. I have been in churches that were hundreds of years old and had this scent. My grandmother had ancient dining room furniture, and when I opened the drawers in the buffet, it smelled like this. Cathedral was just a little too sharp for me, but I find Aureus to be lighter and extraordinarily calming. I think that's because of the images it evokes in my head. I expect to look up and see little flecks of dust playing around in the light rays from the window. I will definitely be trying this as a room scent. ETA: A couple of hours later, I put my nose to my hand and could smell only the faintest whiff of Aureus. It's not much like wood now, just soft and almost glowing. Strangely, the patch of skin where I smeared the oil is now exceptionally soft. Weird. I don't think I've had that experience with a BPAL oil before. Makes a case for using it as a skin scent rather than a room scent after all.

I am getting two distinct scents from two different areas. The swipe on my arm smells really good (violets and vanilla), but so, so faint. And the swipe on the back of my hand smells strongly of gardenia, which is not a good thing for me. If I could somehow get the one that's on my arm to amp up about four times its current strength, I'd wear this often. That violet-vanilla combination is dreamy. Strangely, the gardenia-heavy swipe is going powdery after about 30 minutes. That's odd because I always thought violets were a powder culprit on me. But man, that violet-vanilla swipe is turning into being downright intoxicating. If only it were stronger!

First thought: Lilac-flavored bubblegum! I have no idea where I got the lilac from, or the bubblegum, for that matter. But that's what I thought when I put it on. And I loved it immediately! The jasmine comes out a bit later, but that plum is just awesome. Kitsune-Tsuki makes it into my "I can't possibly be in a bad mood when I'm wearing this" category. I will wear this a lot when I'm feeling girlie and playful and happy. (This reminds me an awful lot of Midwinter's Eve, except this one is more floral where that one is more fruity. Both are keepers, in my opinion.)

Wet: Yep, that's lemon. Lots and lots of lemon. There's something REALLY nice underneath, but it's squashed by all the lemons. It calms down considerably on drying, and I get a faint waft of incense. Not a lot, though. It stays bright and pretty bold. I might try this again when it gets warmer, but since I'm not a lemon fan this may still be too lemony for me.

Another reviewer said it smelled like pencil shavings or the inside of a pencil box -- that's what it smells like to me, too. Definitely cedar and resin. Unfortunately I'm not getting a whole lot of incense out of it. I will pass along the imp to a more appreciative home...

Musky and kind of spicy and green, but I don't get berries. The amber is nice, though. This is an interesting scent, but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. There's a bit more carnation than I was expecting, and it smells just a little bitter. It gets a little powdery after an hour or so. I think I actually like this, it's just so different from what I was expecting that I'm a little thrown off balance.

Drunken glee, indeed! It's like dusty oranges covered in booze. It's playful and silly at first, and then it turns into a strange mix of happy fruits and sad incense as it's drying. Dry, the bittersweet fruity smell backs off a little. But it's still tart incense. Have you ever smelled tart incense? I haven't. I didn't know it was possible. This is really like nothing else I've ever smelled, and I've even worked my way through about 200 BPAL scents. I can totally see this being a love or hate scent, and I would be too worried that others near me might hate it to wear it when I'm going to be around a lot of people (like at the office). Personally, I like it.

I gave myself a very liberal swipe of Montressor, and frankly I'm amazed that I can barely smell it. It definitely smells like wine and sweet berries -- actually it smells exactly like what I would imagine a wine barrel smells like. It's not the very dry wine of Wanda, it's sweeter, and I think it's much nicer than Wanda. I like this one a whole lot -- it's one of my three favorite Maelstrom scents. It has basically no throw, but my skin smells divine. Kinda makes me want someone to be close enough to discover how wonderful I smell.

Wet, this was spicy flowers. REALLY spicy flowers. I completely agree with the Lab's "bold and fiery" description. There is something in this blend that smelled nearly as sharp and pungent as civet to me. I could barely detect the honey, but it did smell a little like roses and a little like carnations. As it dried, it mellowed out a lot, and the sandalwood came out. The flowers retreated to stay far in the background. I was looking forward to the patchouli and tobacco, but it got so faint I could barely smell it after about an hour unless my nose was right next to my wrist. It's a well-crafted blend, but the wet stage is too hot-smelling for my nose, and the lovely dry stage doesn't seem to last very long on my skin. Much too intriguing to give up on, though -- I will try again later.

While wet, this was dark and slightly pungent -- I didn't look at the notes before trying it, and I thought there might be oakmoss in it giving it a vaguely dirt-like scent. When it dried, I smelled a lot of dragon's blood and liked it, so I looked at the notes to find out what else is in this. I don't really smell the cocoa, just a lot of dragon's blood and some musk. And a little bit of spiciness, which is fantastic. I have three favorites from the Maelstrom scents, and this is one of them. Sweet, musky, and spicy -- in my opinion, this is one of the Lab's best dragon's blood blends.

I saw 13 in several different swap and sale posts and continued to pass it by. The number gives me the flit-flats for some reason, and without even finding out what was in it I assumed it'd be something crazy and chaotic. Now that I've tried it, I can see that I have been a fool. 13 is one of those lovely scents that you can't quite peg because it doesn't smell foody and it doesn't smell floral, definitely not like incense and also not herbal. It's sweet and interesting and makes people say "What is that?" The chocolate is there making it smell luscious, the fruits make it slightly tart and sweet, and the tea and iris give it an almost delicate feminine quality. Truthfully, I would never have dreamed that this combination would work, and I'm amazed. Now if I can just find a bottle of it...

In the imp, Wanda smelled kind of like cherries and roses to me, so I was a bit skeptical. (I don't usually like rose.) But I smeared some on my hand and wrist and waited to see what happened. At first it was a bit strong -- not just in throw, but also in scent. Bold and obvious. A very dry wine-intensive scent. After about 30 minutes it settled down and wasn't shouting at me any more, and at this point the wine was very pleasant. I could smell the leather too, but truthfully that was only because I knew it was in there. If I hadn't seen the notes, I might not have been able to pick out leather. And I kept waiting for some hint of florals, but even after 3-4 hours they never arrived. I like Wanda, but evidently my skin thinks that it needs to hide everything in it except the wine. And I can't think of an occasion when I would really want to smell like red wine.

Something is wrong with my Nocturne imp. I think it's sick. I opened the imp and all I could smell was alcohol. Rubbing alcohol. In addition, the level is way below the label. It came straight from the Lab this way. I braved the alcohol whiffiness and put a tiny drop on my hand, and all I could smell was very faint lilac. ETA: After about 15 minutes the lilac really came out and is truly beautiful. Definitely worth getting another imp and trying again. ETA again: With my very next order after this review, the Lab sent me a frimp of Nocturne! This one is overflowingly full and smells wonderful! Lovely lilac.

Straight off, I thought this smelled like Silk Road with cinnamon. Sadly, it smells like the note or combination in Silk Road that I didn't like. The cinnamon came out nice and strong, but not strong enough to mask the Silk Road scent. I wish I knew what that was so I could stay away from it in the future. It might be a grain because it smells kind of bread-like.

Something very odd is going on with my chemistry and Laudanum. This is the second time I've tried it -- the first time I couldn't get past the strong sassafras scent when it's wet, and I thought I'd try again later. It did the same thing this time, very strong sassafras at first, but I persevered. After about an hour, maybe a bit more, the sassafras backed off, and myrrh and nutmeg came out. It's now a spicy, intoxicating scent. OK, here's the weird stuff: 1) The skin on my wrist where I put the oil feels cold (from the inside, not to the touch) and tingly. At first I wondered if some eucalyptus had sneaked into the bottle. 2) I have never had so much trouble removing my nose from my wrist. And I don't just wave my arm in front of my face, I lean down and take a deep, deep breath of it. It's not so much that I love the scent, it's that I can't stop sniffing it. Seriously. And my nose gets all tingly when I smell it. I have never had this reaction to a perfume oil before. I'm not sure what to think of it. I can't imagine wearing it when I'm going to be around other people. But I can totally see myself going through a 5mL bottle of this while spending evenings with Victorian mystery novels, nose glued to wrist the whole time.

I liked the way this smelled in the imp, so I gave myself a good going-over with it instead of just a test spot on a wrist. ("Good going-over" = put lotion in palm, pipette oil onto palm, rub hands together, rub all over insides of arms, run hands through hair.) Impressions when drying: Drat. Roses. But green. So I'm thinking more of rose stems -- with thorns -- than rose petals. Kinda watery. And then that vaguely sour milk scent that precedes soapy. And then the inevitable soapy. And then suddenly green and sharp. What is going on with this? I usually stay away from florals, so I am no good at picking out any notes in this. The only one I know is rose. And it's prominent enough here that I can't wear this. I really want to find a floral I can wear that isn't too soft and girlie for me, but sadly, this isn't it. By the way, the good going-over was not entirely remedied by a liberal application of Lust. I'm still a bit rosy, which surprised me. Only now I don't mind it so much.

Coincidentally, I tried this the same day I tried Nero -- one on each wrist. Wet, I much prefer the orange in this one to the rosemary in Nero, but unfortunately I can't get away from the accursed VapoRub associations from the eucalyptus. And I guess I have too many pine-scented cleaning products, because Jabberwocky makes me feel like I smell like my kitchen floor. A very clean kitchen floor, mind you. When drying, the pine/eucalpytus turned into a spectacular, bright, orange scent. The eucalyptus seems gone so it's no longer VapoRubby, and the pine kind of charges up the orange. Unfortunately I also have orange-scented cleaning products. So, this one isn't for me. And even though Mr Gree wanted to try it, I don't think I want him to. I'm afraid that if I smelled this on him I would suddenly want to rush off and scrub down the fridge.

I love the sharp ginger scent in the imp. When it was wet, I was thinking, "I smell like a cup of tea with lemon." That tart lemon scent quickly changed to ginger, and I realized that I was not smelling tea, I was smelling all the stuff I put in the tea. (Evidently when I smell milk and honey and something sharp, my brain assigns "lemon" to the sharp scent, even though here it's actually ginger.) I got a big blast of ginger. I love the taste of ginger, but I don't really want to smell like ginger. The ginger is only bold for about 15 minutes, and then it's all milky and spicy, as though someone in the next room has a big mug of chai and I'm catching wafts of it. It's the smooth creaminess underneath the ginger that I love. Honey often goes play-doh on my skin, but not in Sudha Segara. I smell delicious! This is the first time I liked the imp sniff, didn't like it wet and thought "uh-oh", and then loved it dry. It's soft and doesn't last a long time, but actually the ginger is so strong that I'm glad it doesn't have much throw. I think this ginger could knock people over. Since it stays close, the milk and honey stick with it. I'm beginning to think Beth is brilliant.

This was a frimp from the Lab and was a "No" on my spreadsheet. Still, everything is worth a try... In the imp, it's VERY strong. Lots of pine, and the rosemary is definitely there. On, it smells like VapoRub, in a not-unpleasant menthol way. I don't know what bay smells like, but I know rosemary, and I can smell that, too. 1) I don't like rosemary. If my food comes with rosemary on it, I pick it off. 2) I have strong associations with VapoRub and Vicks inhalers from way too many years at way too many raves. So, in a word: No. This is not for me. And I don't want my husband to smell like this either. However, I would have killed for this blend about 10 years ago when I went to raves all the time.

This was a frimp from the lab, and was actually a "No" on my spreadsheet. But I'm glad they sent it, because now I know what wisteria smells like! Wet, this is all roses. My grandmother used to use a rose lotion for years and years, and I used to sneak some of it when I was little. So, unfortunately I associate rose scents with little old ladies who want to play canasta all afternoon. Roses are pretty much a no-no for me. However, as its drying I can sure smell the lilac. There was a big lilac bush under my window when I was growing up, and I adore lilac scents, mainly for the nostalgia. But since there is definitely something here that isn't rose or lilac, it must be wisteria. It's a little bit sharp and green. Lilac never smelled that sharp to me, and rose certainly doesn't. When it's drying, the whole blend morphs from one note to another fairly continuously. It's pretty impressive. This is a strong floral, and in my opinion I am not nearly feminine enough to carry it off. However I would love to scent my bath towels with this blend.

Slight backstory: My husband is one of the people who proofread the Project Gutenberg version of Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of Arabian Nights. When I told him there was a BPAL blend called Scherezade, he wanted me to try it. After I tried it, he told me that he thinks it's the perfect scent for the storyteller. Well done, Beth! OK, now for my opinion: This is what purple smells like. I don't know how else to describe it. It's rich, luxurious, deep, regal, inviting, and a bit decadent. When I'm wearing it, I feel sexy, strong, and beautiful. I feel like I can get whatever I want, with barely a glance or a gesture. (In reality that's not quite the case, but the point is that's how I feel.) Out of about 100 imps I've tried, this was my first 10mL bottle order.