TrailerTrashPrincess

this oil doesn't morph much on me, from vial to skin to hours later... the white rind of a watermelon or an unripe canteloupe, cheap gin and a freshly opened carton of cigarettes. i think my brain is translating the chilipepper as white paperboard and plasticwrap. i keep trying to smell the Juniper....but either i'm misinterpreting it as something else or i'm just not getting it at all. off to swaps.

sniffed from the bottle*: almond/cherry/tylenol/Jergen's lotion (they all smell the same to me = bad) and freshly cut grass. i haaaate almonds, but i figure i'll try it... on skin, wet: cherry/almond and freshly cut grass with a little bit of hay mixed in. on skin, dry: Jergen's lotion with a little something else. i like whatever the something is, it reminds me of Sudha or the Unicorn -- but not enough to try this again. this bottle may have to go live with someone else. * i will say i bought this bottle from someone else, and as it has a reducer cap, i'm guessing that means it is already aged some -- so it may be a little different than fresher versions. or maybe not. i'm just adding extra info.

bottle CLX the person i bought it from said she smelled caramel popcorn, and someone else told her they smelled pumpkin popcorn. for me: sniffed from the bottle, i get slightly burned caramel corn and pumpkin pie on skin, once dry... it becomes the wierdest, yet truly yummy, combination of Dorian and Cracker Jacks. Previously reviewed by herdivineshadow. XCCCVII : this one is simple. banana popsicles, complete with wooden stick CCXCIV : smells rather like the original Herbal Essence shampoo from the 70's at first, with a berry-green, potpourri-ish, something lavendery or minty in the background. dries down to plastic-strawberry-shortcake-doll-head. which is a scent that isn't as bad as it sounds, to a Strawberry Shortcake freak like me LVIII : sniffed from the bottle i get mostly white musk, but it dries down to a perfect milk-and-honey type scent. not sweet or foody, really, but yummy all the same. CLXX CCLXXIV XDVIII DVIII MCCCIII : sniffed from the bottle, smells like mexican chocolate with honey and... almondy/cherry?and some spice with a kick. something reminds me of CB I Hate Perfume's "crushed fig leaves" but something else makes me think raspberry leaves. this makes the inside of my nose tingle and is all the notes from BPAL that i tend to not like (sans citrus) all in one. MCCCXXIX : sniffed from the bottle, lemon-grapefruit or maybe bergamot-y ylang ylang. on skin, i get violets, white tea and white musk. i found a testable sniffy of DCCLXXIII and it is very ginger-y. sortof a mix of Shub and Origins' ginger scent. much to ginger-y-spicy and bitter for me, but very interesting! smells like ginger beer!

ever use Suave's Strawberry shampoo? not the strawberries and cream, just the plain bright almost neon pink strawberry? it was my favourite before i started colouring my hair, and this reminds me SO much of that scent. part Generic Red Flavour, part Strawberry, and part.... mystery syrup you find at IHOP or small bed-and-breakfast type places. yes, there's an eensy bit of a spicy, dried-something, potpourri type smell.... but i don't think that's a bad thing the end result is a yummy, happy, fruity scent that's altogether too happy and cheerful for me to wear on a daily basis, with a (burnt) plastic-verging-on-ammonia note that lingers past everything else -- cuz the syrupy sweet doesn't last more than an hour on me.

Sunmaid Golden Raisins soaked in dark, rich, fresh honey (not Sue-Bee "Clover" honey from the grocer's)... yummy and like liquid sunshine. there's a little bit of something that's almost incense-y in there, and the end effect is basically what i think summer ought to smell like. [=

with apologies to Stevie... "A pale and violent rider" just about describes this perfectly. Vetiver, white floral (jasmine, gardenia) with a very dry leather and the BPAL rose that turns into perm solution on me ".....Alas, he was the highwayman The one who comes and goes..." and so, yes, this will go live with someone else.

impsniff: patchouli diluted with sandalwood oil, with a bit of cedar. and possibly a bit of dark (non-babypowder-type) amber, or something else resin-y. skinsniff, wet: very faint patchouli and a bit of sandalwood. skinsniff, dry: well, that's the kicker. either my skin is overmoisturized or this oil is the thickest i've tried yet (thicker, even, than the Mandrake!) because after an hour i can still see the oil sitting on top of my skin where i dabbed drizzled slathered it on. still-apparently-wet notwithstanding, the scent hasn't changed much except to add in just the eensiest bit of something cedarish. i like this, but in sortof an odd way. i may not buy a bottle, but i will be keeping and using this imp.

in case there's any question: valentina rocks. but as for Magdalene... impsniff: dirt and orchids (YUM!) skinsniff, wet: orchids and roses skinsniff, dry: the evil BPAL rose and something violet/honey-ish... and soap.

sniffed from the bottle: iris and berries (not raspberries or strawberries... more like blueberries or elderberries) skinsniff, wet: iris, berry and a teensy bit of spice skinsniff, dry: amber and spice with berry and a little bit of what might be the ghost of an iris. Amber and i don't much get along. ever since high school when N. chose her over me... we've just... been at odds. i know i should've gotten over that by now, i mean i know it was her *sweetness* that drew him... and everyone else. i can't help that i'm wierd, and enjoy smelling a little bit... off kilter. Amber and amber, both... always messing up what could've been so beautiful!

my friend Gonzo makes truly delish frozen mango drink. but, then, my friend Gonzo really likes his rum.... and his rum drinks... so maybe that's what i like. i dunno. i'm thinking mango is much like BPAL apricot in that it just turns wrong on me. i do get hints of patchouli and green tea... the fig that i *think* is what makes some blends so rich and earthy is... either not showing up or being overshadowed by the MaNgO impsniff: mango and green tea skinsniff, wet: mango skinsniff, dry: mango

i think the Apothecary lives between Dorian and Golden Priapus... the Premature Burial usedta hang out with them, too, but... y'know. he moved. and i think they get along. maybe have a poker night once a week? i don't even begin to know how to describe this, other than to compare it to things it reminds me of. and to say I LOVE THIS BLEND. i don't get any tea (fresh leaves, dried leaves, cuppa) or any specific herbals -- and i can't tell if there's ginger or fig. the only thing that really comes to mind is sweet grass, but not the dried kind from a smudge wand.... but like... the smell of grass. but sugared.

impsniff: cedar, mystery wood, mint i'm frightened, but this was sent to me for a reason, so i try it... skinsniff, wet: so faint! the mint isn't mint anymore... it has become cypress? some sort of tree or woody-stemmed critter that i'm not familiar with. the cedar is gone, too. this makes my sinuses tingle like cold air or menthol does... but this is neither. there's also a "green" note... like the foliage is lush, wherever this tree grows. oh! *lightbulb* duh. i get it now! Kathmandu was supposedly set atop a mountain, somewhere in the middle of the woods where it couldn't be seen unless you knew exactly where to look, wasn't it? but once inside, the sun was warmer, the air was clearer and riches abounded. (unless i've gotten my legends disputed facts foreign places all mixed up) sniffing this reminds me of the way i'd feel up in the mountains, where the air is thin and the wind is cold and trees are very green...surrounded by beauty but on the verge of a panic attack. i guess i'm not supposed to find the entrance to Kathmandu, or else i can't see the forest for the trees?

impsniff: spearmint apple skinsniff, wet: spearmint apple-lime skinsniff, dry: spearmint-apple-lime-Skyy vodka-flowers. a splort and a squish of all sorts of craziness. if it didn't have the mint and the vodka, i'd love it.

ever been inside a house that's about halfway finished being built? the roof, and outer walls are finished, the frameworks done, the subfloor is down, but none of the interior walls are up yet, so you can see all the corners, no matter where you stand? the smell of different woods and a few chemicals? this is that. woody and resiny and fresh, but a little wierd and kinda wrong, in a way that's hard to describe. reminds me a bit of cedar, without the gag, and also a bit of juniper, without the mintyness. the oil itself doesn't seem that thick, but once i put it on my skin... it just sits there. almost an hour later, there's still a little shiny spot on the top of my hand where i put the oil to test it. i like it, but i think that's partly because it smells Chypre-y.

Teggy's right on the money there... Orange Spice Tea it is. impsniff: freshly peeled oranges, but none of the white bitters or oils/zest from the peel skinsniff, wet: same freshly peeled oranges from the imp, but with a nice strong cup of tea skinsniff, dry and several hours later: some spices have shown up -- chai or pumpkin pie type spices, rich and comforting.... but still... orange spiced tea. i have a lipgloss in Celestial Seasonings... what is it, Mandarin Spice? this is very much like that. i think i like it, though... it isn't all that exotic or strange, but kindof friendly.

impsniff: red candy -- not quite cherry, just that red flavour skinsniff, wet: generic Berry skinsniff, dry: medicine-y, very berrylicious, and sometimes almost bubblegummy. sweet, but not sweet enough. reminds me of the smell of the plastic doll from when i was little... she is no longer scented, sadly, the years have taken their toll... Raspberry Tart, one of Strawberry Shortcake's gang.

impsniff: leather -- but not the good kind. the hard, barely flexible (like for saddlebags and some purses and boots) kind, that always seems cheap to me and dust, and something sortof stale skinsniff, wet: myrrh. medicine. amber. skinsniff, dry: myrrh, medicine, powder-dust and dirty saddlebags. probably yummy on the right person, but not for me.

this reminds me of how my best friend's house smelled... 1.patchouli 2.lots of incense smoke (i don't get the nag champa, but i'm an incense snob) 3.Money House used to try and cover up the other smoke (that'd be the grape or purple i think other people are getting, too) 4.and an eensy bit of cute-boy-musk. i burn so much incense that... to an extent...this is how all my clothes smell anyway... i like it, don't get me wrong but...it seems really strange to me to be able to put this smell on my skin from a bottle.... this is supposed to be the smell you *earn* from burning THAT MUCH incense. heh.

how have i not reviewed this? this is one of the GC fragrances i reach for when i'm home and comfy... there are the scents i wear to go to work, and the scents i wear when i get home and shed the work-skin, the scents i wear to go out and the scents i wear to sleep.... this is a home scent. sniffed from the bottle: almost medicine-y and yet herbal skinsniff, wet: almost violets with a decaying eucalyptus sort of scent skinsniff, dry: yup. them there's orchids. palest purple/white, vaguely fruity... exotic and sortof disturbing.

impsniff: sandalwood incense smoke and ashes. skinsniff, wet: bonfire and sandalwood observation: while trying to sniff this oil and form an opinion about the scent, and only the scent, not any usage of it... my back started hurting, in a way and place that it doesn't ever hurt....and my TEETH started hurting which... is not a new or a rare thing, its pretty much a constant thing actually... but this is a new and different pain, that goes all the way down to the bone. and it feels like the pain in my cheekbone and the pain behind my right lung are trying to crawl towards each other, which is making my stomach twist into knots, trying to get in on the action. skinsniff, dry: pencil shavings and molasses. as good as this smells and as intrigued as i am by its potential use in my yoga... if an oil can cause this sort of pain, i don't think i'm strong enough for that.

we had an orchard when i was in high school... everything blossomed at a slightly different time... so one week the air would be filled with one fragrance, the next it'd be another, and so on for about six weeks. it was heavenly. and this my fellow addicts, is the distilled, concentrated scent of apple blossom yum... for one week every year this is what my house smelled like... best part about this? no pollen. for anyone not familiar with the scent of apple blossoms... a mix of honeysuckle and applejuice with a bit of magnolia.

have you ever been to one of those places where the incense sticks sit out in either jars or wooden containers or empty 7-day-candle-things? ever just leaned over the display and breathed? that's what this smells like to me, both in the imp and on my skin, it doesn't change much. maybe the strawberry was freshly opened and put on display today, cuz there's a distinct RED smell that always makes me think of strawberry incense. there's also the generic nag champa smell -- by generic, i mean not the name brand, and it doesn't smell quite right. if the label isn't blue and white, and doesn't have the Satya Sai Baba name all over it, then i don't think its "real"... and this isn't real Nag Champa. i can see how it could smell that way... but to me, the final drydown smell's more like Dior's Poison than anything else. very plummy and berry-y with some sandalwood

as with many much-beloved BPAL scents that don't sound like my cuppa, i feel i ought to at least try them... and that's how i wound up with an imp of Shattered. i do not know if it is from the first run or the second, although i doubt it much matters.. impsniff: i know there's more here than mint, but that's all my brain will register. skinsniff, wet: the oil from grapefruit rind and peppermint oil skinsniff, dry: peppermint and grapefruit oils and the waxy smell of Max Factor Pan-Cake makeup...or maybe its the Ultima II foundation smell mixed with the smell of Revlon lipstick. generic overscented cosmetic smells. a footnote: i don't like mint, grapefruit or most aquatic notes... and i don't think i like BPAL lotus. so don't judge this scent by my review if you like mint and grapefruit.

i got this from a forumite as a gift along with some other imps i'd bought... this one is in a spray bottle, but there's no alcohol in it that i can smell, so i don't know if it is diluted with a carrier or is just the oil in a spray form... not trying to say anything bad about her (she's wonderful!) just that this was a gift, and as such... don't know if i'm sniffing a dilute or not. sniffed from the bottle: sandalwood skinsniff, wet: sweet sandalwood skinsniff, dry: we had an orchard when i was in high school, and had peach trees among others (Georgia Peaches!)... so i know the smell of peach blossoms well, and they're in this! i don't get the powder amber usually dumps on me, but i do still get some sweet sandalwood (i guess the vanilla is what makes it seem sweet cuz i don't smell any vanilla) i would never have ordered this, and if it were a regular imp, i'd probably swap it. but as i'm a junkie for things i can spray, i'll use this. and i *do* like it.... its an early spring in Georgia sort of scent...so i think i'll really enjoy it in the cold, cruel months to come. who knows? i may wind up needing a full bottle.

impsniff: why does this smell like implements fresh out of an autoclave? swiped on skin: my skin tingles and itches where i put the oil, the way my lips do when i use duWop's lip venom. skinsniff, wet: i get the narcissus skinsniff, dry: if there is such a thing as a florist who doesn't sell roses, mums or carnations, i imagine this is how their shop would smell. lovely, fresh, green, and alive. i love this!