phaedrine

This is nice! I was a tad worried that the musk in it would be an overly animalistic musk, which my skin hates. No worries needed! Warm and soft, at first it is all amber and musk with a touch of woodsy smell. As it dries, the dusty/dry/downy really comes out, and it's really sweet in a dried wood way. I just want to wrap myself in a big blanket of this stuff and hide, it's very comforting. A keeper for sure!

Iambe is very sweet and candy-like in the bottle, which is something that I tend to notice when patchouli has been mixed with florals. It doesn't change terribly much on me, that sweet candy smell warmed by the amber. I get no tea at all. Thankfully, my skin doesn't grab the rose in this and amplify it, as it does with other blends. It's there, in the background, with the gardenia, just sweetening that patchouli. I like this one, and am glad I swapped for the imp, but I don't know that I like it well enough to buy a bottle of it. I'll have to wear it a few more times to see.

I was glad to try this, because I do adore the waterhouse painting, even though I'm not much of a floral person. In the vial, it's all wet, white florals. Very soft and feminine and pretty. It doesn't change terribly on me once it drys, I get mainly the gardeina softened by musk. The aquatic fades first, and the other notes never seem to really come out at all. It doesn't last long on me at all, maybe two hours, but it's so sweet and calming that I can see myself reaching for it when I just need some quiet time.

Smells lovely in the bottle, herby and greeny golden. It mellows a bit upon wear, but retains that greeny-golden smell. I like it, it's light, but not too light, and very refined. I think this will be wonderful in warmer weather, another "light but not girly" blend that I think I'll reach for often when it feels too hot and oppressive to reach for the warm and spicy blends!

Well...it smells exactly like it's described. Like dirt and dead foliage. And worms. Can't forget those earthworms. It's a blend that fascinates me, because it smells like dirt...but I don't see myself ever wearing it. Into the swap pile it goes!

The honey single note is clean, sweet honey straight out of the jar. It feels a lot like a light version of O. I love my imp, but now I'm sad I wasn't able to afford a 5ml of this before it was discontinued.

Wet, it smells kind of like soapy myrrh. No dark sex here yet. As it dries, it loses the soapy note (the lilac?) somewhat and the amber comes through. Fully dry, it's nice, but not impressive, and reminds me a bit of some perfume I've worn in the past, though something that wasn't memorable enough for me to pull out a name. Into the swap pile it went, and I hope someone was made happier by it than I was.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this one yet! This one was EXACTLY what I was hoping for! Soft, sweet, and exactly my kind of florals. Very rich and yellow and sweet. It lasts well, too, staying true to the orignal dry down scent for many hours, and at the six hour test, I was still smelling like honeysuckle. It goes on the bottle list for sure!

I got this one in a swap, because I love clove, and don't mind red wine, either. I think it's meant for someone that likes red wine a LOT more than I do, at least to wear! I didn't get any mimosa at all, and for me, it stayed the exact same dry as it was wet. It smelled as if red wine and clove were waging a full-scale war on my skin! It was exactly divided, they fought and fought, and it was finally too strong for me to do anything other than wash it off. Back in to the swap pile with ye!

This is dead on New Mexico in the spring. Some of the first things to bloom are always honeysuckle and spanish broom, and this smells like a heady mix of the two. I don't get decay or hothouse blooms or humidity...but probably because I am stuck on a dry, cool spring morning, the sun warm on my face and the smell of spring drifting on the breeze. It's so perfect. I can't wait for spring. Heck, I don't need spring. New Orleans is 100% spring in a bottle!

Adding my "cherry cough syrup" review.... I remember sniffing this from Caitfish, but not trying it on, so it went on my wishlist. In the vial, it smells like wet, sweet dark cherries. As soon as I put it on, it morphs into cherry candy, like cherry life savers. A few minutes later...every icky, nasty, medicinal cherry thing you could imagine. Cherry cough syrup, cherry nyquil, cherry cough drops....it's all there. The scent kept getting stuck in the back of my throat, so I ended up scrubbing it off pretty quickly. Definitely not for me!

Oh yum! Sniffing the vial, I get the same lovely freshness I get when I sniff Kitsune-Tsuki, which must be the plum, as they both share that note. Thankfully, my skin doesn't eat this the way it does poor Kitsune. It's fresh, somewhat floraly, and somewhat fruity, though neither to excess. The opium is underneath it all, grounding it, making it dark, and adding spice when I get close to my wrist. It's wafting around me now, the perfect blend of sweet/fruity/spicy. Going on the bottle list for sure!!!

More echoing of the other reviews here... Villian is clean, fresh and masculine. I think it'd be wonderful on a guy, not in a "mrowr, come here!" way, but in a "hey, you smell good" way. It's a sweet musk, with the astringent bits of lavender and lime, and does smell VERY Victorian. It made me want to wear a suit and carry a walking stick! I think this will be a great scent in the warmer weather, for those days when I don't want to go all-out spicy, but don't want to smell all girly, either.

Othello is not something that I ever would have bought on my own, as I try to stay far, far away from any rose scents. My skin tends to grab them and not let go, so I often don't get anything else. I got this imp as a freebie in a swap, and sniffed it, expecting to just stopper it and toss it into the swap pile, but wet in the bottle, I could smell more than just roses going on. The spicy was there, and also something richer, so I went ahead and tried it. I do notice the roses. As it dried, I got a soft, spicy rose scent wafting around me. It was unlike any rose blend I've tried before, as the roses weren't dominating, and unlike any perfume with a rose note that I'd tried before bpal. Now, several hours, a clean bedroom and dishes done later, I can still smell it. It's very subtle, and the musk has really come out, now backed with only a bit of the spicy floral from before. The lab never ceases to amaze me. I never thought I'd say this about a rose blend, but I think I need a bottle of this stuff. It's wonderful.

Mmmm.... Anne Bonney is great. It's sweet and woodsy and intense and makes me feel like a pirate. It's fairly strong for the first three or four hours, and mainly frakinsence sweetened by the pachouli. After about hour five, it morphed completely, turning into a subtle, sweet sandalwood. Really lovely still, but entirely different than it started out as. I like this one, but I'm still not sure if I like it enough to buy a bottle. I'll have to use up my imp to see, I think.

I received this as a freebie in my Yule order, and was happy to try it, as it was on my wishlist anyway! It's bright red, which usually means some sort of Dragon's Blood, which is always a plus in my book. If there is Dragon's Blood in this blend, it's subtle. Once it dries on my skin, it smells exactly like my favorite tea, Lady Londonderry. It's a sweet, jasmine-y tea scented blend. I haven't tried it as a voodoo oil yet (I plan to this week), but I would have no problems wearing it as a perfume oil!

Mmm, Lovecraftian scents! I'm a sucker for anything Lovecraftian. Nyarlathotep in the bottle is sweet, warm and incensey. Not the same as Schezerade or Cathedral at all, but still smells like something I'd burn in my apartment. On, it stays very incensey and warm golden-brown. The ozone creeps in, keeping it very fresh and clean. I can see where some would get fabric softener, but really, this is the fabric softener of the Elder Gods! A keeper...I don't know if I like it enough to buy a bottle, but I do like it enough to buy another imp when this one runs out.

I got this on a whim in a swap, and I think I'm glad I did. Oddly enough, it reminds me of Sloth. Vetivert is strong in them both! Where Sloth is a golden, indolent vetivert, Hurricane is a bright white, crisp vetivert. For some reason, I didn't expect to like it, but I do. It's got good staying power, too, lasting on the back of my hand through an evening and a full 8hrs of sleep on top of that.

Oh *drool* I think I've found a new member of my top ten. Perhaps my top five... I loved the description, but was a bit put off when I sniffed it in the bottle. Smells like a pina colada, and I was very worried it would turn in to coppertone suntan oil on me. Never fear! After a few minutes, and for many, many hours afterwards, there is no coconut in sight. Perversion to me smells like putting on your favorite, perfectly worn-in leather jacket, that's been sitting in the backseat of your car in the sun, on a chilly day where you'll apreciate the sun-warmed leather even more. It feels like I've wrapped myself in lovely sweet leather goodness, and I absolutely adore it.

New Orleans smells exactly like spring to me, because it smells like a mix of Honeysuckle and Spanish Broom, which is very spring in New Mexico. I plan on wearing it a lot this spring and summer. Other springy blends that come to mind....Eos, Chiroptera, Belle Epoque, Saint Germain, Lady of Shallot....and I'm sure many more. Now for warmer weather to come so I can use my own suggestions!

Haunted is my favorite bpal musk blend.

Even though I'm not huge on florals, I couldn't resist getting this one, because I love those batsies. It's a beautiful floral, though! It's not overly strong or overpowering in the slightest. It's delicate, crisp, and sweet. I don't get any lemon, but I'm ok with that. I don't get much honeysuckle, either, unless it blends in so well with the other soft florals that I can't pick it out. It's very mild and perfect for wearing to work when I have to interact with people that can't tolerate strong perfumes. I still thought I smelled wonderful, but it didn't bother them at all. This will be so nice to slather on in the spring and summer.

Mmmmm! In the vial, and wet, it smells very commonly incensey, which isn't a bad thing at all. On my skin, it smells exactly like I've rubbed Nag Champa incense all over myself. This is a good thing! Champa is one of my all-time favorite incenses, so much so that I've started buying big boxes of the stuff, as I go through the small ones too quickly. It's not purely Champa, there's a sweet, floraly note that's got to be the saffron underlying it, which just adds to the beauty. After some time, it becomes mostly musk, with a tang of the champa leftover. I think that I need a bottle of this stuff.

Heh, the thought that ran through my head on first sniff was "ew, stinky!" Odd, as I adore both amber and dragon's blood. I tried it on anyway...and I think the musk is just TOO dark for me...or maybe it's the other notes that is killing this blend for me. The florals do soften it after a few minutes, but still, not my thing. Letting it dry even further, I get smelly dark musk, and the dragon's blood has gone straight to cherry cough syurp. Why, oh why? In to the swap pile with ye...

Oh, the love.... Sophia is very, very similar to one of my favorite blends, Gaueko. In the bottle, Sophia doesn't smell as in-your-face lavender as some of the other lavender blends do, mainly it's a sweet floral. On the skin, once it starts to dry, the lavender really makes itself known. While Gaueko is lavender softened by sandalwood, Sophia is lavender softened by the musk and spice. I'm going to have to do a side-by-side comparison to see what any more definite differences are. Overall, Sophia is a lovely, soft, strong lavender scent, and I've already gone and bought a 5ml from a forumite. Love love love!