batsy

In the vial: Buttered toast and toffee, with a hint of crust. Tart or toast crust, I'm not sure. On the skin: Okay, there's a whiff of pineapple, and I'm getting a bit of 'roast turkey', which is confusing my brain. On the dry down, it's all buttered toffee and pie crust. Certainly a foodie blend. Weird, to say the least, but quite inventive.

In the vial: Fruity! Bright, bubbling fruity not 'fruit punch'. Very much nectarine and lime. On the skin: Still fruit-filled but on the dry down the rose came out to play. Fully dry I got the musk and a bit of bergamot; I don't really smell any patchouli in this. It's a funny, bright scent that makes you feel cheerful.

In the vial: verbena and grass, with a dollop of amber. On the skin: Full on verbena. On the dry down, it turned to grass (my poor sinuses) before going flat out sage and grass. Off to the swap pile.

In the vial: lemon grass with a tiny dot of rose. On the skin: Wet, it's overwhelming lemon, much like a strong dish detergent. Then, as it dried, it became froot loops. While I like froot loops, I don't want to smell like them. Oh well, off to the swap pile.

In the vial: honey roasted almonds. SUPER STRONG. On the skin: Yeah, spicy, strong almonds. A little tiny bit of this throws a heck of a lot. On the dry down, it's just ALMOND all over my wrist. No thanks.

In the vial: resin and candle wax. On the skin: warm beeswax. There's a tiny bit of perfume in there, a sweet resin of some sort, that reminds me a bit of a man's cologne. Total dry down, it's still mainly the fresh, warm beeswax. Beautiful, simple. Really like this one!

In the vial: super woodsy. And probably a healthy dollop of tonka. A bit musty. On the skin: Yup. Tonka and incense. (I don't know why my brain just said 'peanut butter??' but I think that's just me.) This certainly invokes mental imagery of a dusty, small private library full of papers and old books. As I sort of put quite a bit much on my knuckle, it took forever to dry down, but as it started to, the leather popped out, warm and soft. Almost fully dried down, it took on more of the incense smoke. Really, it's a morpher and quite beautiful. I'm sure it would smell wonderful on a guy.

In the vial: Mint and rosemary. I can see why they'd have worn this; very fresh. On the skin: The mint is strong on my skin, with a whiff of the lemon and roses. Maybe the sour note is the grape? Not sure. Might just be the rosemary. The more I sniff my wrist, the more it feels like I'm sucking on a breath mint. While I'm certain this was very popular in Elizabethan times to keep everyone smelling fresh, it's not going to work for me. Certainly a "clean" scent.

In the vial: Red wine and amber. Promising! On the skin: Okay, the cider and the wine totally overpower the carnation (yay!) and this is quite "boozy", even on the dry down. Totally dried the spicy carnation pops but amazingly I can tolerate it. The amber and wine balance out and I'm sure the spice is also from the cider. Yum! Wouldn't slather it on, but certainly going to keep the imp.

In the vial: tasty coconut roses. On the skin: Okay, as soon as it hit my skin, it was orris. But, as it began to dry down, it became velvety rose, quite deep, with just a tiny tinge of coconut. I honestly would never have tried this had I not been frimped with an imp from the Lab. Finally, another rose blend that works on me! It's quite a "tropical" rose.

In the vial: Dirt, oakmoss, with a tiny hint of rose. On the skin: decidedly a "brown" scent, the dirt isn't totally overpowering. I think I mostly get both mosses and dirt; I wish the rose had come forth more after dry down. Does evoke graveyards and New Orleans in my mind. This is a morpher for sure. Think I'll keep the imp.

In the vial: strong jasmine with lotus. It practically screamed at me. On the skin: Okay the lime is present, the sharp citrus spike that's trying to play with the lotus, but the jasmine is killing me. I just can't wear jasmine. I would describe this as a clean scent, perfect for the summer. Just really strong.

In the vial: soapy, salty dish cleaner. On the skin: There's a strong ozone note, mixed with the aforementioned soap and salt. It didn't change as it dried down. Off to the swap pile.

It's taken me all these years to try BPAL's signature scent. I will now quickly rectify that! In the vial: leather and sugary almonds. On the skin: There's the cherry everyone's mentioned. Still getting a LOT of leather, soft warm leather. I don't know; as it's dried down, it does become 'baby power'-y, which sucks, and also takes on a 'generic hand lotion' quality on me. Lame. I think I'll still keep this and try it again another day.

In the vial: Dirt and roses. Dark. On the skin: Leather. Okay? As it dried down, the rose pushed through, a dark leathery rose. Maybe that's the combo of the amber and musk tricking me? It really is prettier then I'm able to describe it. Rose blends are hit or miss with me, but I think the amber/musk combo is helping this one work for me. Might need a bottle.

In the vial: AHHH PAPER WHITES. NO! I didn't even try to put this on. Paper whites are a no-go with my sinuses, so I'm not even going to torture myself. Immediately tossed this in the swap pile.

In the vial: sweet, fresh-cut lilies. On the skin: The same, basically. Which does me no good, as lilies trigger my allergies. If you love lilies, this is basically the single note for 'lily'. Enjoy.

In the vial: Smokey honey and red wine. With a sharp kick of bay. Not bad. On the skin: Yeah, the bay is really amp'd. The wine note is much like the wine note in Lilith, which I love. On the dry down the smoke returns and mostly all I get is incense, wine, and smoke. If only it had stayed that way. Eventually it turned into the scent of 'generic hand lotion'. Oh well, I'll keep the imp around since it's discontinued.

In the vial: Spicy, with a hint of lotus and (what I'm assuming is) chiuri bark. On the skin: Whoa, cedar. Like sticking my head in a cedar chest. Very brown, very spicy and warm. On the dry down my skin amp'd the lotus. The more I sniffed, the more the back of my throat burned. I don't think this is going to work out for me.

In the vial: cloying vanilla and lily. Neither are my favorites. On the skin: Decidedly over-sweet lily. I think the sweetness comes from the vanilla. This turned very aquatic on me after dry down - I don't really do well with aquatics - and continued into a green aquatic. I wish it hadn't turned so simple on my skin; it's very feminine and would likely smell fantastic on someone else.

In the vial: Old tobacco and leather. On the skin: I get a semi-sweet note from the date palm, turns very sugary. With a faint whiff of tobacco. I guess this would certainly be representative of Havana (never been there) but after the dry down it's just basic sugar and tobacco on my skin. Not really worth wearing.

In the vial: white wine, jasmine, and rose. Very sweet and kind of sparkling. On the skin: Dirt. Okay that's the patchouli, with a faint sweetness. Like being in a pasture. I think the attar of rose is deepening the patchouli to invoke that in my brain. Really, all I can think is 'barnyard'. Which is probably not what Beth was going for with this. Off to the swaps pile.

In the vial: Orange spice. Reminds me of a spicy orange tea. On the skin: super mandarin on me, which I like. It's spicy warm, with the saffron popping as it dries down. I get a whiff of tobacco, a lot more red musk and mandarin, and a hint of tonka. Really, this is a nice blend though it's quite pungent. I would caution a little goes a long way with this. In the end, it's kind of a toss up on whether I'd want to wear this alone or layer it with another blend. It's quite strong to my nose and while I like it, I'm not sure I'd wear it often.

In the vial: strong resin, amber, musk. Reminded me of a gentler Minotaur. On the skin: The belladonna and copal were the strongest when wet, but it's dried down to a mellow musk-y clove scent on me. The amber isn't super strong after five hours, which is okay. I do get a hint of pimento when I directly sniff my wrist but there's just not a lot of throw with this one, at least on me. I really like it, as it doesn't give me a headache like Minotaur can. It's a warm scent, and it feels comforting to wear. And the name is Three Cocks, how can you go wrong?

In the vial: Aquatic peach. Very juicy. On the skin: First applied, I got rose mixed with a fresh peach. As it dried down, it became this weird, "generic perfume" mix. Full dry down, it became very deep rose and myrtle. I'm glad it lost its aquatic notes on my skin, as those usually don't do well for me. This is a very feminine "pretty" blend, sophisticated. I'm glad someone frimped me this, as I would have never tried it otherwise.