Demeter

Source: Bottle Initial Impressions I admit it, I got it because of the description. I love puns. Bottle: The green tea and lime are the first to come out and various friends who sniff it go off on the fact that it smells like a fresh shower. Very popular when I went to SE Asia this winter! We dropped it everywhere! Wet: I personally love it, mostly because it smells like me after a good scrub in the shower. Whee! Drydown: The tea fades very quickly, but that’s fine with me, since I don’t really want to smell like tea all that much. I adore citrus scents, though, so the lime and mint are coming out in full force and it’s kind of nice to smell ‘cool’ in such hot, humid weather. (Japan is freezing right now, but it was a nice mugginess in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.) Dry: I don’t get the white musk at all; it’s lime, lime, lime, lime! Overall: YAY LIME. Lasts a decent amount of time, though the throw is a bit weak compared to other scents I’ve tried. I finished writing this BEFORE the accident. And by accident, I mean I dropped the bottle on my living room floor and in my haste to catch it and right the bottle up, more spilled and... I lost all of it. I have a few drops left and that's it. It got all over a coffee table, the carpet (lucky the carpet's dark and decorated!) and my room smelled like F5 for a looooong time.

The Whirler! She is the Muse of Dance and the Dramatic Chorus. She holds both a lyre and a plectrum. Terpsichore is the mother of the Sirens by Achelous, the River God. Bright, joyful and expressive, her scent is kinetically charged, graceful, and an inspiration to all dancers: vanilla and carnation with neroli, iris, stephanotis, sweet pea, apple blossom and palmarosa. Source: Imp Initial Impressions I was accused of buying this imp purely due to the name... and I admit it. Guilty as charged! C'mon, The Muses? EEE, I wanted to grab the whole section. May do that on an eventual order. And of course, it had vanilla, and I basically pick up any scents that have vanilla in it. Bottle: When I sniffed it, the definite first impression I got was a very strongly-scented soap, which was a bit disappointing. Flowers, flowers, flowers; strangely, this smells like a lot of floral-based commercial perfumes, though it's got a stronger kick to it. Wet: Sharp flowers and what smells a bit like a strong, overripe rose. Weirdly enough, it's kind of fresh-smelling so I sorta like it. It comes and goes, sometimes really strongly and then fading away. Drydown: The vanilla notes are coming out! It's gotten sweeter and there's no longer a strong soap smell. In fact, that's dissipating as I type. Dry: Sweet vanilla with a few scattered flowers in the background. It doesn't powder up, which is cool, since it seems like scents with neroli tend to smell like baby powder by the end. And while that's not a bad thing per se, sometimes you want a bit of variation. Overall: I'm afraid wonderful finish on the scent doesn't work overall for me. Too strong and soapy.

Source: Imp Initial Impressions I was so pleased by the Bliss scent, that I had to get Velvet to try it out. Bottle: Warmer than Bliss, and not as spicy. I can smell the vanilla beneath the slight muskiness Wet: Mmm, so delicious. I can’t smell anything but the cocoa vanilla and it’s wonderful. It makes me want a chocolate sundae! There’s something just a bit bitter about it; maybe that’s the other two elements? Drydown: Still smells the same; I can’t smell any sandalwood or myrrh. Maybe that’s just the way it is on my skin? Dry: Still smells the same! I’m really happy since this was what I was hoping for. Scents that change as they dry are generally a bit of a disappointment in regards to the final scent on my wrist after a couple hours of drying. But, yay, Velvet isn’t like that! Overall: I think I may like this better than Bliss… it really smells like chocolate vanilla with just the faintest hint of wood (sandalwood), but a bit more bitter than Bliss. It’s definitely a dark chocolate scent as opposed to Bliss, which is a bit odd since it has vanilla in it. But love it, love it, love it!

Source: Imp Initial Impressions First time to try a dragon scent! I’m a bit apprehensive, mostly because Bloodlust (with dragon’s blood essence) smelled so gosh darn bad on me. Bottle: It smells like sweet, slightly faded sandalwood; maybe the orris and blondewood is contributing to that? I want to say it also smells like a vegetable that I can’t quite put a name to. Wet: Holy frogs, something explodes on my skin. I smell nothing but one scent. It’s not sandalwood, but since I’m not sure what blondewood and orris smell like, I can’t differentiate between the scents. Maybe it’s the dragon’s blood resin, maybe it’s something else. I’ll probably need another dragon scent to compare. Drydown: Still the same scent, and giving me a bit of a headache. It reminds of… of a library! That’s it; it reminds me of the times I spent in my university’s book stacks, especially the older ones, and the dusty, quiet feel to them. Oh, man. This is a seriously nostalgic scent. I’m reminded of the long hours of research and the feeling of satisfaction after I turned in my senior thesis. Dry: Three hours later, the exact same smell is still there, but obviously weaker. Even with all the sweat, the scent stays, which is a bit of a pity since regardless of how nostalgic it made me feel, it still gives me a headache. Overall: I might get a bottle to give to a friend. She’s a serious old!library addict, and in a different way from me; I think she’ll adore this scent.

Source: Imp Initial Impressions All those roses and no one to smell them… Bottle: Sugary, sickly sweet, but no way I’m deterred! A bit strong and there’s a weird numbing scent going on. Wet: Oh, wow. Roses, roses, roses, lots of ‘em! It smells like a big bouquet of colorful roses and it smells rich and sweet with none of the same sickly sugar going on in the first sniff. It almost kind of (I know, I know, cheap) blooms on your wrist. I don’t get woman-rose; I get impetuous rose, curious rose, little-girl-lady rose. Drydown: It has a surprisingly strong throw! I could smell it wafting up to my nose with my wrists by my side, and it was nice in that I could smell it even as I was riding my bike to work. Would it have been too much rose if there wasn’t the green grass to cut it down? I wonder… Dry: Strong throw, but low staying power. Two hours later, I can barely smell it on my wrist. Faint rose scent, like a dying rose potpourri bag. Overall: I’m going to get a bottle, even with the low staying power. It’s a wonderful, gorgeous, young scent and it makes me feel softly girlish and luminescent, which is grown increasingly the way I feel in Japan. I’ve heard of the magic of aging, so I think I’ll try that out.

Source: 5ml bottle Initial Impressions It is hot, hot, HOT in Japan. Worse, it’s humid. Basically, summer arrives and you stay sticky and sweaty and insane until October. It makes air-conditioning a godsend and electric bills a terror. So I snagged a bottle. Bottle: Smells a bit similar to Snow Bunny and Snow Moon. Except, sharper than the former and less sweet than the latter. Which is good! Wet: Crisp and clean, very strong. It reminds me of bright red holly berries, but without the whole eat-it-and-you’ll-die thing going on. It seems icier than Snow Bunny but there’s less of a playful kick to it. It also makes me think of mint! Though, almost like a cleaning mint. Drydown: Sitting in the snow cold. Definitely colder than Snow Bunny and not quite as sugary. It’s a teeny bit weaker than Snow Bunny, methinks, but there’s something nicely subversive about it. The smell tends to come up rather simply before wrapping itself around you. Dry: Doesn’t last quite as long. And it powders up at the end. But I love the scent! Overall: Perfect for the summer, especially in the evenings when you know you’re headed out for dinner, but you suspect not much else is going to happen. =)

Source: Bottle Initial Impressions I thought there would be floral and soft, powdery scents, and the name made me go all glee. And then I saw the picture of the label and I had to get it, if only for that laughing woman in the baby-blue bikini. Bottle: Sharp. I want to say peppermint, but I don’t think it’s peppermint. It reminds me of it, of things like peppermint schnapps, but without the booze to it. There’s also something that reminds me of red berries and snow-laden woods. I’m not sure I really like it… Wet: There’s a vague medicinal smell, but don’t get me wrong. That’s not bad in this case. It’s kind of like dunking yourself into a vat of cool water when you’ve got a fever? The sharp scent of peppermint dies away almost immediately… or rather, it’s rounded down. It’s sweeter, fruitier. Drydown: The woods are really predominant; has anyone read Farmer Boy and that scene where Almanzo eats wintergreen berries and the ‘cold aromatic juice gushed out into this mouth’? It feels like that. Wonderful throw, because even though it might be a bit strong when I put my wrist to my nose, from a short distance of a foot to three, it smells wonderful. (tested this on a friend) Dry: After three hours, the scent is still going strong! So, so, so pretty now. Wintery and minty and fruity; it’s an oddly nice combination. This, I would think, would work really well in the summer. I wore it during a hot day and while it didn’t actually make me cool, it was kind of nice to sniff my wrist and think of Almanzo eating those cold, fresh berries off the branches… Overall: Love my bottle! I’ve noticed that a lot of the winter scents are similar, so I don’t think I’ll worry too much about Snow Bunny running out. I just got bottles of Snow Moon and Numb and they both smell very similar in the bottle. Will have to check that out.

Source: 5ml bottle Initial Impressions Well. It’s about Shanghai. It’s about opium dens. Okay, I admit it. I got this purely based on its description and how warm it sounds. Bottle: Rich and sweet; incredibly rich. The sweetness isn’t fruit sweet or pure vanilla-sweet; it’s a sweet that’s been soaked in some dark corner. It’s smoky and slow and languid. It makes me want to sit back in some bar and watch the people pass by. Buttery caramel and strong… cinnamon? No way. Wet: This is the stuff that makes me love BPAL so much! Some of their stuff is really hit or miss, but this, oh this and Snow White makes all the testing worth it because the scent makes me just fall over in lust and happiness. Drydown: Yum. Just… yum. I can’t get enough of this! Dry: It’s smoky and slow and musky. While certain scents like Monster Bait: Closet are almost too sweet, this is the perfect mixture of sweet, smoke, and other scents. There’s definitely an incense element to it, but darned if I know why I like when I’m normally not quite so fond of incense. Overall: It’s not necessarily a scent you want to drink with, but it’s certainly a great scent to wear to a bar where a friend suddenly leans over in a drunken stupor to sniff at you and then say, completely trashed, YOUSMELLFUCKINGGOOD. Before turning around and announcing that the band is ‘really tits’.

Source: Imp Initial Impressions I can’t resist cream scents, and with this having milk, coconut meat, and shea butter, I had to try it. Bottle: Sweet, so sweet and tasty! And it’s not the sickening sweet that was almost Pink Phoenix. It’s the warm sweet that makes you think of sitting by the fire. And making s’mores. I really like it. Wet: There’s a slight bitter start to the scent, but that fades really quickly on me and it morphs into this indescribable creamy sweetness. Drydown: SO GOOD. This is one of the best scents I’ve tried so far! I love the smell of the coconut and how it doesn’t overwhelm. It reminds just the slightest of coconut sunblock, but only a little bit and only the good stuff, like how this tall, lanky guy might have slathered it on himself and offered to give us all big bear hugs… without any clothing on. Oops. Dry: It stays the same; it actually stays the same as during the wet and drydown phases. Coconut, tempered by cream and butter. I don’t sense any aquatic notes, but maybe there are. Maybe we’re all in an aquatic world and this is the start. Maybe aqua is... sorry, I see the word aquatic and I go a bit crazy . I wore it on one of those long night outs and I just about swam in the fact that everyone was stinking of smoke and alcohol by the end and I still smelled like Obatala. Overall: I really adore this scent and I’ve already put it on the list of what I’m going to order a 5ml of the next time around.

Initial Impressions HUCKLEBERRY! Bottle: Oh, yum, yum, yum. The fruitiness of it makes me so hungry for fresh berries! Sweet, kind of like candy, but good candy that you want to suck on all day long. It’s, it’s, it’s… juicy. Wet: I don’t know what happened, but the fruits are being taken away. The neroli is really predominant now, but it’s rounded down by the presence of the huckleberry. It doesn’t smell exactly like it, but it’s berryish, so I’m not disappointed. Drydown: Fruity goodness… it’s so good, like a really rich berry pie. I don’t like eating them, but I like smelling them! Dry: ARGH. It fades so quickly. After an hour, there was only a breath of a scent left. I would have loved this on my skin for a longer period of time. Maybe it would work better in a scent locket of sorts? Overall: Like it, but with the way it fades on me, I’d have to slather a whole bunch on for it to be any good. But it smells so good! Decisions, decisions, decisions. I’ll probably try putting it on a satchet and see how it works in my clothes, or as a thing to hang by my bed while I sleep.

Source: Imp Initial Impressions Musk and patchouli… plus dragon’s blood. Sounds like a good combination. Bottle: I think I smell chocolate, which is odd, and the most predominant seems to be the musk. It’s a very heavy scent. But since all scents are heavy in the imp/bottle, I’m not too deterred. Wet: Oh, ick. It’s way too heavy; there’s something sharp and it’s not a good sharp. It actually made me stomach turn over at one point. Good thing this is a test day because I wouldn’t want to wear this outside. I think there’s some wood in there, it’s like sandalwood, but not exactly. It doesn’t make me feel sexy or feral just yet. Drydown: This doesn’t wear well on me at all. Dry: After a couple hours, the scent fades to a manageable incense scent. I think it’s the dragon’s blood because this is the first scent I’ve worn with dragon’s blood in it. I’ll try others to test that theory out, but overall, the first two hours aren’t great. But after that I think it’s a wonderful scent. Kinda swarthy and hooded-eye-looks. Hee. Overall: The imp is good for now!

Source: Imp Initial Impressions I tend to get anything that has fruits in it, and this was no exception! Bottle: Definitely fruity,, but less citrus than I expected. A bit of a melon scent? And flowers? Fresh, lush fruit flowers? Really pretty, and something I didn’t quite expect from a scent labeled Eris. Wet: Ooh, sweet, really sugary on my skin. Kinda of like I had juice from a fruit smorgasbord run down my hands. I love this and I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I do. Maybe it’s the floral cutting down the sweetness because I’d expect something this sugary to be a bit much. Drydown: There’s a bit of a war going on. The fruit and floral are fighting each other and one moment, I think it’s all flowers and the next, it’s all fruits. A bit odd. I like the scent of both, since they blend really well together and I’m still amazed that Eris smells this good considering the goddess it’s based off of. Is this what strife smells like? Dry: They’ve settled the war amicably. Predominant is the flowers, but the fruits are sitting quite respectably by it and grinning. Still smell the melon! Though I can’t see there being melon in here, but it’s the first fruit I think of. Is there something citrus going on too? Overall: Love it! Am not sure whether it’ll be worth getting a big bottle of, but it would make a wonderful, wonderful room scent or definitely a part of a sugar scrub due to the fruit scent. Mmm, sugar scrub. Will probably get a bottle eventually.

Source: Imp Initial Impressions Was attracted by the milk and honey label! Sounded like a comfort scent of sorts. Bottle: Very sweet. So sweet in fact, I was wondering sugar had been somehow left off the label. There’s a vague creaminess underlying it and I think I can smell the rose. I think. It could just be the description coming back to me since I keep coming back to the milk and honey. Wet: Sharp, but blunt sharp. Quite sweet and I’m curious as whether it’ll sour on my skin or not since it has milk in it. Am pleased to note that the sweet scent lingers and very, very slowly, the rose and carnation bleed through. Weird, since it feels like a milk-fed garden. Drydown: Oh, oh, yummy. So delicious; the flower notes fade into an accompaniment in the background and there’s this lush, creamy sweetness that makes me think of a baby, but without the powder this time. I was a bit apprehensive and worried that it would powder up like most sweet scents, but this one had no powder scent for me, which is nice. Dry: After a few hours, it’s faint on my wrists. I can still kind of smell the stuff from my neck area, but they’re like one inch beneath my nose, so I’m not too surprised. The throw is fairly weak and it doesn't last anywhere near long enough. Gorgeous stuff, though. Overall: Will probably get a 5ml since it would work something special as a babysitting scent.

Source: Imp (I bought a bottle of Snow White off someone, and they included this for free) Bottle: Okay, this is going to sound weird, but it smells like Chanel’s Chance perfume oil. It really does. Why do I think so? Well, I received a bottle of the stuff as a present, left it in my bag, and it promptly unscrewed itself and spilled all over the place. Luckily, it was in it’s own little pocket. Drat. My bag smelled and still smells like it, even a month later. So yes. Desire smells like Chanel’s Chance. Wet: Definitely less so now. There’s something smoky on my skin and I love it. Also… something vaguely familiar. Wood? No, not wood. I think it’s a food scent, but I can’t be sure. Darn… chili? Oh man, I can’t tell. Whatever it is, it makes me want to roll around naked in a spacious kitchen. Drydown: Okay, the first time I tried it, it was all powdery (which I adored) and vanilla like. The second time, less so. Erg. It might have something to do with the leftover Bliss scent, though I did scrub my wrists. Yeah. Definitely something not right. I mean, it still smells wonderful, but it’s different between my wrists. There’s something sweet on my right (smells closer to what I originally tried) and the left is just like… AH. That’s it! Incense! Dry: HOLY MOLY. There it is. It apparently takes about fifteen minutes for the spicy scents to die away and now the vanilla and powder and a bit of musk are in full play. The scent is what I fell in love with! Yay! Overall: I ordered a 5ml of this after the first time I tried it! I was a bit apprehensive after trying it a second time, but now with it fully dry on my wrists, it smells divine and it makes me hungry.

Source: Imp Bottle: Mmmmmmmm. Chocolate. *drool* I love chocolate, I love it, I love it, I love it, and this is really nice cocoa; it smells a bit more bitter than the cocoa from Godiva, but there’s an odd spicy note to it. Yum. Wet: Yikes. It was really strong with only a couple drops, but it still smelled wonderful. Still cocoa, though the sweetness of the milk part is coming through. Milk chocolate has a very specific smell to me and as it starts drying on my skin, it smells more and more like it. Drydown: OMG. This is so delicious I could cry! I’ve never smelled something that’s so reminiscent of chocolate on my skin before! I’ve tried so many chocolate-scented products and none of them have come close to this; it makes me all giddy when I smell it. I kept sniffing my wrist like maybe I was making really rich, fudgy brownies and I missed cleaning a spot. Dry: This stuff has staying power and throwing power. Five hours later, I can still smell it wafting up to my nose. And there’s now a kind of dark warmth to it. I LOVE IT. Overall: Am going to get a 5ml for sure. I’ve never had chocolate that actually smelled good on me yet!

Source: Imp Bottle: On me, the rose is particularly dominant. There’s a vague woodsy scent beneath the sharp floral notes. It’s not as strong as I thought it would be which worried me a bit since floral scents tend to die away fairly quickly. Wet: It’s still the rose, but it’s the jasmine… too? Maybe? Jasmine is very strong on me, which is why I normally avoid it, but the two of them are mixing together quite nicely! I kinda like it, even though I’ve gone off floral scents. Drydown: Haha, a lot of scents tend to go baby powdery on me, and this is no different. The rose and jasmine are mixing together for a wonderfully sweet and powder-like smell that makes me think of a bouquet I once got for my birthday. It’s the same short-lived feeling… but without the nostalgia. Dry: Mm, yeah, it’s fading. Two hours into it, I have to hold my nose above my wrist in order to smell it. It still smells beautiful and wonderful and kind of like an award on a good day, but it just goes *poof* after a couple hours of sitting still. Definitely not something to wear during the summer in Japan, where stepping outside guarantees a continuous buildup of sweat every single moment. Overall: I like it, but I think I’ll stick to an imp for now. Maybe. I’d have to slather the stuff on me to give it a decent throw. Perhaps it would be a good fall or spring scent, when the weather is actually bearable?

Source: Imp Bottle: The very first whiff of it was definitely floral. And then I got the orange but not orange. I think of orange, but it’s a bit spicier than what orange would smell like to me. It smells warm, kinda of like a hot shower with one of those body scrubs. I can’t smell the lotus, but that’s due to the fact that citrus is coming out really strongly! Wet: Oh, wow. This perfume has a long throw. I’m typing on my computer and I started to realize that the scent is just swirling and dancing around me… um, almost a bit too much. My eyes are kind of watering. ACK. Drydown: Better. After an hour, the scent drifts out and about; this is definitely a scent that would go a long way in scenting a room or a large area. I’m still not so sure about it being on me, even though at this point, the citrus smells absolutely lovely and I’m feeling like eating a big juicy orange right now. Dry: After a few hours, the scent is just so pleasant and fresh and sweet, but not too sweet. Overall: I’m feeling mixed about this. I LOVE the scent but it definitely takes a little while to die down, even with just a few drops. Granted, a bottle would last a very long time. I may get a 5ml purely to keep around to scent the corners of my (tiny) apartment. I think that would work quite well.

Whew, first review. I figured since Snow White was the scent that got me hooked on BPAL, I'd give it full honors. Still kinda working out my own way of reviewing, so this will have to do for now. Source: Snow White 2005 bottle Bottle: Very sweet; I was actually a bit worried about how sweet it seemed (but I've since sniffed other BPAL scents and Snow White is fairly mild compared to many of the others). I'd heard that scents turned out differently on different people and I was crossing my fingers since it smelled so yummy. There's something floral about it, though vanilla and sweets are the first thing to cross my mind. Wet: There was a bit of a mediciny smell, which was a bit odd. Still very sweet and a bit fainter, though there's now a bit of a sharp tinge to the scent. Drydown: After a few minutes, the sharp notes die down real quickly and the sweetness (vanilla! I keep thinking vanilla and... cake?) comes forth. It wafts up to my nose and I can smell it without sticking my noise into my wrist. And from this distance, it smells wonderful. Dry: OH SO GOOD. SO GOOD. I had Japanese class the first day I tried it and I let all my friends sniff me and it was unaminous; people adored it. For one thing, the sharpness and medicine smell that was there at first, disappeared completely. The only thing left was the deep, kinda of floral scent of vanilla and sweet... cream? After the first thirty minutes, all that's left is this divine smell that LASTS for literally hours. Even when I've gone dancing and sweated all night, I could still smell it on my wrist at seven in the morning. Not the greatest scent for a night out, though. But still... LOVE! Overall: I loved this scent so much, I went to Ebay and bought another bottle. =) This is one of those scents I hope they bring back every year. I've amassed a hoard of imps so I hope I'll be writing up more reviews...