spaceprostitute

I'm going to say "It depends". Up until getting a new coworker that claims she's allergic to my BPAL when I wear it (and honestly, she's come up to me on some days when I wasn't wearing it at all so I'm thinking that it may be one of the women near me who wears commercial perfumes and she's mixing up what scent goes where), I would have said no. I have a former coworker who was allergic to most commercial perfumes and had absolutely no problems with my BPAL when I was wearing it and even started buying it for herself and had no problems. But really, it depends. (Sarada, I'm with you. I need to start wearing my BPAL more because I miss it so much. I laid off of it because of this coworker when we were in training, but now we're not in quite as tight quarters as we were and screw that I'm wearing it. I also use the "It's my shampoo" thing though. And sometimes it is thank you very much Body Perfumery for Ambra del Nepal scented shampoo!)

Either my skin really amps the rose or I just don't know what night-blooming jasmine smells like. But, as night-blooming flowers tend to go acrid and perfumey on my skin, I think that's alright in this blend because I'm actually liking it. I get rose. All rose. There's a hint of something behind it, but I can't tell what (I think it's the musk I'm getting). It's not a dry or perfumey rose, not overly heady, just more of a lush, womanly, lure you with my feminine wiles kind of rose. I get none of the mandarin, neroli, or bergamot in this blend. It's nice, but not my favorite blend, and not even my favorite rose blend. It just doesn't really capture the image of the description in my opinion, but I'll keep the imp, and I won't toss any imps that may come my way in the future as it is quite a nice rose blend.

It took me a long time to try this one due to a fear of cedar (I'm looking at you Namaste!) and vanilla. Vanilla is growing on me though, and just in time. This is mindblowing and this review can't do this oil justice. It's rugged, but not overly so that I can't wear this. In fact, I wear this all the time when I want that nice warm feeling or to be reminded of my favorite guy. In the bottle, it's a bit reminiscent of pencil shavings, but there's a warmth behind that begs you to try it on. Once you do, it's just the warm, rugged amalgamation of cedar tempered by a rich aged vanilla and with just a note of sassafras to add just the slightest hint of a rugged bite, but doesn't make you think "Mmm, rootbeer." This scent is Clint Eastwood in a bottle. It's wonderful on me and just envelopes me when I wear it, and it makes me want to nuzzle every nook and cranny when the favorite guy wears it, too. If I could buy it in a 10 gallon drum, I would, it's just that good. Definitely in my top 10 scents.

In the bottle, the lemon and spice is most prominent. I don't want to compare it to a cleaning product, but at the very least it isn't a smell I would wear as a perfume. On my skin, the floral amps up, the lemon and spice die down, and it all gives me a headache. The floral is almost oppressive, heady and humid, and I guess I've never been one for jasmine. This is no exception. However, it delivers what it promises and if you like oppressive, heady florals, this is it. I can appreciate it for what it's supposed to be and the image it's to evoke, but I just can't wear it.

Wow, I really wish I got all of the wonderful stuff everyone else did from this one. It's a medicinal balm, sort of akin to some of the badger balms out there. It's not very strong, but I'm assuming there is some sort of sandalwood in there and it's turning a touch acrid on my skin. This just isn't working for me. Faint spices, if any, just mostly light acrid wood. Luckily, for me, it fades quickly. It might work as a lotion and be a good, daytime office scent and then possibly layered with something a touch spicier or maybe sweeter, but as is I couldn't wear this as a perfume. I'll be sticking with Scherezade.

I'm not one for straight florals, but this one is one of the few that doesn't have me crinkling my nose. The way it blends together reminds me more of ylang ylang, but this is feminine and not overtly sexy like ylang ylang (particularly in La Petite Mort). It's a sweet rose and lilac scent, a bit powdery, but not too dry. It reminds me of expensive French-milled soap. Very Victorian and womanly, an older scent. That's really the best I can do description-wise. It's one of the few straight florals that I actually like, but I wouldn't rush for a bottle. I'll finish the imp and won't turn away any other imps of this that come my way.

Maybe it would be worth it to invest in some rollerball ummmm...thinger-jiggers can't think of the name. Ummm...like the ones about 2/3rds of the way down this page and transfer some oil into those for her to use the the spillage factor is reduced to practically zero and hopefully the only way she can get any in her eye if is she rolls the applicator directly on it. Maybe that'll get her back into BPAL until she feels comfortable with the imps and bottles again. Though those might be a little impractical for just a single imp, but for the bottles it would definitely work.

Am I the only one who thought there was a similarity between Danube and Blue Moon??? Huh, just me then, I guess.

Memo to Beth: Please, don't ever, ever discontinue this scent. I have been searching for patchouli perfection. Perfection, thy name is Coiled Serpent. I love patchouli, but I will admit that I don't like them all. Anne Bonny turned horribly rank on me. And I can't stand the patchouli of the Blue Skies bubble bar slice from LUSH. And so far, my quest for the perfect BPAL patchouli has been fun, but other than Depraved and maybe Imp, none of them have really done much for me, until now. The Coiled Serpent is the most perfect, warm, smooth, inviting patchouli scent with what seems to be a very, very slight sweet incensey undercurrent of frankincense (???). It's bold, but warm and comforting in the way Loviatar is (which I had previously described as that warm hug from someone in a well-worn leather aviator jacket or that perfect, soft pair of worn-in jeans). It takes on an almost chocolate-like quality and melds into my skin beautifully. Due to current logistics, I have yet to practice yoga while wearing this oil, but this is it...this is the one that makes me feel grounded and peaceful. I can't wait to use this in my yoga practice, but until then, I'll just have to be content with sniffing the comforting patchouli goodness.

Ok, I even hate suggesting this, for fear that it's misinterpretted as saying this oil smells like insect repellent, because it doesn't....but if, IF, the patchouli thing is true, then The Coiled Serpent is heavy on it. I must say though, that I lurve The Coiled Serpent. It is the smoothest, warmest patchouli, taking on an almost chocolatey quality. This is the most perfect patchouli scent ever. However, I can't confirm or deny the patchouli as an insect repellent thing. I can say though, that Burt's Bees makes an herbal insect repellent, and their repellent consists of mostly lemongrass oil with some citronella oil and rosemary oil in a grapeseed oil and vitamin e base. I also found this online at a website called thebestcontrol.com

Resurrecting this thread to ask...any new word on Ingenue? I see it's in the discontinued section on the forum, but on the search engine on the main page, it comes up under current scents. And I searched and searched for an official discontinued announcement from Beth, but I couldn't find anything. The only two things I could find were back in Feb. of 2004 when Beth said she f*cked up and accidently deleted it and that's why it didn't show up on the site, and then again in May when she said that she had to temporarily pull it along with Hemlock and Wolfsbane, but that they would be reintroduced on June 7th. The latter two were reintroduced, but not Ingenue. I keep forgetting about it, but then it keeps coming up in main page searches when I'm looking up scents with notes that I like. And Ingenue sounds lovely...melon, violet leaf, water lilies, clover, rose....I want it!!!! So any word on what happened to this one???

It's nice, but not something I would buy a 5mL bottle of. This is a very girly fragrance, as in a young girl. If you use LUSH, I can equate with the kind of young bubble gum scent of Rockstar and Creamy Candy. I have my Creamy Candy moments, but they're few and far between these days, and thus so will be with Bon Vivant. The champange does add a bit of a bubbly, boozy, NYE celebratory feel to it, and for just that reason I may wear this on NYE along with my Candy Fluff from LUSH, but ultimately the strawberry wins out and this becomes a very sweet strawberry gum scent. It nice if you like that sort of thing or are in the mood for it. I like it much more than Jailbait, but will be turning to Swank when I want a fruity/boozy scent.

Love it, but love Persephone more. This one is fairly strong and long lasting. It reminds me of the Demeter Cosmopolitan fragrance, but more tart. It stays true to the vial while on the skin, like a fresh pomegranate, a bit sweet, a bit tart, with the underlying astringent note of gin or vodka. That astringency mellows, but I still get that sort of tangy quality that you get from those air fresheners that they use in public restrooms. Overall, I love it, but it's so fruity that I don't know if I'm inclined to wear it a lot, as I usually like my fruit to be in blends either with woods or spices or florals. But it stays true to the pomegranate scent and is quite refreshing. Of the four I have tested out tonight (Pain, Siren, Desire, and now Swank), I like Swank the best.

I'm debating on whether I really like this one, or just like this one. I'm a bit confused because I could swear this had ylang ylang. It's the first thing I could smell in the vial and the only thing I could smell on my skin for the first 15 minutes. Then a bit of fruitiness peeked out, that apple orchard scent of The Hesperides and Desire reminded me very much of La Petit Mort, with just that hint of sweet fruitiness in the background. About a half hour into this oil, became confused again because I smelled baked goods. And I thought maybe something was off with my body chemistry because I had Siren on the other wrist and I got the same thing. Turns out they share a note...vanilla. And apparently my body or my nose interprets this note as butter cookies. Love to eat them, hate to smell like them. And thus, begins my disappointment with Desire. But wait... It morphs again, the rose and bergamot finally start to come out and mix with the butter cookies. It's actually kind of nice at this point because that trapped in the bakery display case actually fades a bit, but still, I can't help but wish that it was ylang ylang instead of vanilla and maybe the bergamot and/or patchouli could be a touch stronger because I don't get any patchouli. Nice, I would order an imp every now and again. This could possibly be worthy of a 5mL bottle, but I can't seem to make up my mind. I will say though, that this is one of the only oils that I have worn to work and gotten a compliment on, so if nothing else, another imp is in my future.

In the vial it's sharp, reminds me almost of orange blossom. On my skin, it's a bit biting, with an underlying sweetness to it. But then it dries down. And first I thought I was going crazy when it started to smell sort of coconutty, like a creamy, buttery cookie with a tiny bit of unsweetened coconut. It's not a bad smell, but I personally despise most scents that smell like baked goods. It makes me feel like I'm locked in a bakery display case. And that's how I started to feel wearing this one. I want to love this, but I can't. I like it enough that I wouldn't swap away an imp if I got it, but not enough to actually purchase this on my own. I don't get bewitching or dangerously seductive with this one. I get baking butter cookies on warm spring day with a vague light floral scent wafting in through the windows. Not for me. Think I would have liked this one better without the vanilla.