roenim

I first got an imp of Thunder Moon thinking it would be something I'd like. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me, but I knew it was something my sister would love. So I ordered it and I was right...sort of. It starts out clean smelling and aquatic smelling, my sister loved it. But after an hour or two, it turned into something that reminded my sister of our dad. And she does not want to smell like him. Kind of an overwhelmingly masculine cologne or something. After sleeping on it, literally, it morphed into a softer mellower mix of the first two stages and she was head over heels for it again. I guess it's a good thing Thunder Moon has incredible staying power.

This scent smelled lovely, very wearable. I think it's the most accessible BPAL I've smelled. It's got mainstream appeal. My sister commented that it smelled a bit like something you would find in Bath and Body Works. Clean smelling, a bit lemony without too much of the sharpness. Nice.

The Star was such a disappointment to me I wanted to cry. I've always wanted to try this from reading all the good reviews and I finally bought a bottle just before they discontinued the line. Sadly, this did not work for me at all. All I could smell was cooked coconut milk. Not sweet at all. It smelled like food. Not foody in a baked good way, but literally like someone just cooked dinner using coconut milk. And overwhelmingly so. I don't like foody smells, so it's a no for me. This stayed pretty much the same the whole time I had it on. I could smell a little bit of the lime come through and I wish it was more prominent. No sweetness, just an herbal coconut milk smell. On the upside, it has really good staying power. It lasted on me for hours and has pretty good sillage. Perhaps a little bit to much as my sister was telling me to keep my arm away from her general vicinity. Maybe I need to let it sit for a while, I may try this again later on.

I had always wanted to try this, but didn't have high hopes for it because of the amber. Wet on skin: Very woodsy and earthy. Sweet, too. I thought this is going to be like The Hesperides on me, Woods with very little apple. Dry: OMG! This is it! I finally found my apple scent. The apple is tart, maybe green. I can smell the herbs as something green and...herby. Other than that, I can't tell. Maybe it's the black amber, but something is preventing this from being a craft store apple scent like almost every apple note I've tried from BPAL. Curse my skin chemistry! Anyway, the amber gives this a complex sweetness and warmth. Also, it didn't turn powdery or foul smelling on me at all! Black amber might just be my kind of amber. Verdict: Bottle-worthy! Finally, an apple scent I can wear. It's fresh and sexy at the same time. Dark and a little bit woodsy, but sweet and fresh. I like the contradictions. It makes for a beautiful and complex scent yet very easy to wear.

Another vetiver review! I'm slowly coming to realize that I kinda love vetiver. Wet on skin: A jumble of notes. I can't really describe anymore than that. A bit medicinal perhaps. Dry: I smell the vetiver! But it's not as overpowering as it was on Saturnalia. Still green and mossy and earthy, but less wild. There's something spicy in there. Chrysanthemum, maybe? I don't really smell the rose. It's mostly vetiver and chrysanthemum. The herby medicinal smell is still there. Sort of like a poultice you'd put somewhere. I kinda like it! Maybe that's the insect repellant a lot of people have been smelling, but it doesn't smell like it to me. It feels like I've smelled this somewhere before. From my grandma perhaps? That's not a bad thing, mind you. After a couple of hours, I smell something watery. Not in the way I usually think of watery scents, more like if water had a scent this would be it. Wet and a little bit sweet. It's probably the cactus flowers. Verdict: I might get a bottle of this, but it's not urgent. I love the green herbal-ness of this especially when the cactus flowers came out in the end.

Got this as a frimp from the lab. Whoo! Wet on skin: A little bit smoky and woodsy. It smelled confusing if that makes sense. I couldn't really identify anything. Even the vetiver didn't quite smell like vetiver. Dry: Vetiver! With a smidge of violet. This smelled really green and mossy. I feel like I'm in a forest or is that jungle? It takes me back to when I used to go to the provinces in the Philippines every summer. Smells green and earthy and wild. I can smell the violet, but barely. I don't really love violet anyway. Smells a bit masculine. The sillage was average to above average on me, but it lasted forever! I don't know if I'd want to wear this, but I definitely want to smell it! I may use this as a room scent. I love this scent probably because of the memories it brings up. Otherwise, the vetiver kinda dominates the whole thing.

I got a freebie of Shub from a sale and I am very grateful since it has been on my wishlist for a while. However, I don't actually like it that much. Upon application, it smelled of ginger cookies, but with something else. Smoky. like being in a nightclub. It kinda ruined the wonderful gingersnap smell. When it dried down, the first thing I thought of when I smelled it was: synthetic. But again, not quite. I can smell whiffs of the gingersnaps in there still but mixed in with that odd smoky/synthetic-y smell. Weird. After a couple more hours, the synthetic and smoky smell went away and there's something reminiscent of Snake Oil in there along with the ginger. Not a good thing. Snake Oil smells terrible on me. Final verdict: Not for me.

Like others have said, this smells very much like a traditional cologne. But in the best way. Masculine and fresh, never sharp. On me, after it dries down, there's the barest hint of sweet fruityness in there. I like it, it 'softens' the overall scent. The sillage is also great, I could smell it even when my arms weren't around my face. I think I might buy a bottle of this even though it's pretty masculine. It's just too lovely to pass up. I might even finally convert my male friend since he's been looking for a new cologne.

I loved this when I first put it on. It was a bit watery, but also sweet and floral. It does remind me a bit of fabric softener when I've sniffed it too much. After it dried down, it smelled pretty much the same except there's a note in there that comes out more. I think it might be the carnation. Overall, I like it, but not enough to get a bottle of it.

I don't know how any of the notes smell like, so this review is going to be vague. Upon application, it was citrusy. Actually, grapefruit-y. As it dried down, it was this wonderful fresh scent. I think I'm going to wear this for summer! There's a very vague floral note in there, but I could just be imagining things. It still smelled fruity fresh and there's just something in there that is setting it apart from all the fruity fresh scents I've smelled. I love it! Everything is well balanced, each note preventing the others from getting out of hand. I might just buy a bottle of this.

Snake Oil was a lot more understated than I was expecting. I liked it. Except when it dried, it turned powdery on me. Boo. At first, it smelled a little bit spicy, a little bit almond-y and a little bit vanilla-y. Everything was so nicely balanced that I was happily surprised. After about an hour later, it's still spicy, but mostly just smelled like powder. It was also still vaguely sweet with an emphasis on vaguely. Oh Snake Oil, we just weren't meant to be.

Very floral, but there's something there preventing it from becoming cloying. It's a very 'yellow' scent, if that makes any sense. It turned soapy on me. Great smelling soap, but soap nonetheless. I...kinda like it? I don't know. It makes me smell like I just got right out of the shower. I like that it makes me smell freshly bathed, but it kinda gets tiresome after a while. I think I might just get this in impfuls. As for having good luck, I didn't experience any. Who knows, maybe it's actually balancing out my notoriously bad luck to give me...neutral luck? Either way, I don't like it enough to warrant a whole bottle of it.

Alecto...I've never had an oil go bad so fast. When I first applied it, it smelled fruity and dark. After it dried, first whiff I got was bad BO. It smelled bad. It was such a weird kind of bad too, must be the cedarwood. Pity, I like the smell of cedar. Underneath, there was still that herby, fruity smell but mostly it was smelly BO. Off to the swaps for Alecto.

Whitechapel ended up not being what I expected. Not a bad thing, but I was just surprised at what it ended up smelling like on me. Pleasantly surprised, mind you. Wet, it was fresh and citrusy but not lemony. I think that must have been the lime. Lovely. Not too feminine, not too masculine either. Nicely gender neutral. This part is what I expected it to smell like. But... Dry, It smelled floral, but not cloying. Sweet and warm. It must be the lilac and white musk. I can still smell a bit of the lime in there, but it's very faint and it just tempers the lilac. Preventing it from being to flowery. On me, this has moderate throw. It's a calm scent. This smells exactly like how my grandmother smells. Just lovely and comforting. I want to go over to her house and give her a big hug and just smell her. Not at all what I expected Whitechapel to end up smelling like and definitely not "masking a corrupted, hideous, soulless core". I love the smell, but it's not me. I'll probably get just imps of it instead of a bottle for when I miss my grandma and she's too far away to hug.

When I first put this on my skin, it smelled subtly sweet. Maybe citrusy. After it dried down, it started smelling more watery and a little bit floral. Weird thing is, it started smelling a little bit like a men's cologne. I still liked it though. After a while, it became more floral but not in a cloying way. Still crisp and watery, but flowers too. I agree with some posters saying it smelled like rain. I love it. I'm undecided as to whether or not get a bottle, but I will definitely make my guy friend give this a try.

I'm really bad at identifying notes so bear with me. When I first opened the imp, it smelled unassuming. Fresh and light, but I couldn't really tell how. When I put it on my skin, it smelled absolutely wonderful. Fresh, crisp and juicy. It smelled like juicy pears, but not in an artificial way. It reminds me of when I would first bite into an asian pear: light, crunchy and refreshing. After a while, the pear is still there, but it's tempered with something else. Maybe the bamboo? or white tea? that people have mentioned. It makes it even better! A light subtle scent. I'm definitely getting a bottle of this! ETA: Although it smelled wonderful, it doesn't last very long. On me it lasted about an hour.

I was really excited about The Hesperides since I heard that it was an apple-y scent. My decision to get it was bolstered by the reviews I read. But when I opened the imp, all I could smell was the oak bark. It was overwhelming, and I could hardly stand to smell it nor could I smell anything else. I put it on my skin anyway. After a couple of minutes, I could smell the apples underneath but the oak bark still dominated the scent. I waited for about an hour and it didn't change much from the beginning. I wish the apple scent had come out more. On me, I could smell a tantalizing hint of fresh, crunchy, green apples underneath all that oak bark but unfortunately, the oak dominated the scent and I was overwhelmed. ETA: I tried this scent again after many months and now it smells of caramels when wet. At drydown, the oakbark tempered the caramel's sweetness and I still only smell a hint of tart, green apples. Still no apple-y scent for me, but I don't hate it as much. I'm actually growing to like it, I think the oak bark and the caramel make a good fall scent without ever smelling like a craftstore.