Imptress

I love, love, LOVE this! Snake Oil is so sexy, and frankincense is one of my very favorite scents so I had to get this. I've worn it several times and every single time I do, one of my coworkers comments on how nice it is. I wore it again yesterday and she said she had to find out more about it, so I brought my bottle in to work today so she could dab some on. About an hour later she came by my desk and said "I have to have some of this!!" Another one enabled! I'm actually ordering myself a second bottle and am getting one for her, too. She also fell in love with the BPAL site and I believe she'll be spending hours there in the very near future, like we all have, lusting over all of the Precious. Long live the King!

I get no lemon, either, so I'm surprised to see that mentioned so often in the reviews. However, my imp is nicely aged and I honestly can't remember what I thought when I first sniffed it. Anyway, I rooted through one of my imp cases yesterday and came up with this. The imp was practically full, too, so I may not have ever actually worn this before-- probably just swiped it on my wrist. At any rate, this reminds me a lot of Snake Oil-- for me, it's got that rich, rounded, almost-vanilla-but-not-quite thing going on with some hint of spice. I definitely felt sexy wearing it, and a coworker commented every time she came into my cubicle yesterday about how good I smelled which is ALWAYS a confidence booster! I'll be pulling this imp out again, soon, and will put this on my big-bottle list. So far, I love all of the "voo doo" oils I've tried!

Yowsa! Patchouli? Dunno... no one else had said they smell it, but it sure smells like it to me and since I love it, that's just fine! Definitely cinnamon, and I had the 30 minute red patches to prove it (hurts so good ). There's something else underneath... maybe jasmine, honeysuckle as someone else noted, or ylang ylang. I really can't tell, but it's verrrry nice to my nose. Right after I put this on my daughter told me I smelled good, and hubby did too a short time later. I ran some errands this morning and it seemed like everyone was super-nice and friendly. One of those errands was getting a headlight on my car fixed, and the guy at the shop did this in less than 10 minutes (there were a BUNCH of other cars there... wonder how I got to the head of the line???) and when he came to get me he told me that he didn't charge me any labor for it... I just paid for the part. Now, that could have been because of the short amount of time it took, but I'd like to think it was because I smelled sooooo sexayyy! This is very, very good stuff! I can always use a blend that will draw people to me, and this seemed to make them very friendly as well.

*sigh* I wanted to like this... really, really I did. I like florals. I like herbals. I even occasionally get whiffs (I think!) of osmanthus, something I L-O-V-E. The aquatic edge to this, however, is what is killing it for me. I don't know why I don't like aquatic notes-- I just don't for some reason. To my nose, the aquatic notes amp up the sweetness of this almost too much for me to bear. I may keep this around to try later, but I'll probably have to find a new home for it. It's lovely, but it's definitely not "me".

I'm throwing in my two cents by recommending Santa Muerte (lovers’ roses, solemn chrysanthemum, dark vetiver and dazzling cactus flowers). I was a bit worried about the vetiver when I tried this but I really couldn't detect it.

This was lovely-- I got lots of rich flowers with just enough fruit to keep the flowers in control. I didn't get any incense at all. As nice as this was, it reminded me so much of Venice that I don't see myself getting a bottle of this when I already have one of Venice. Next time I try this I'll put Morgause on one hand and Venice on the other so I can compare them side by side. Beautiful, though... I really love the flower and fruit interplay!

Hrrmmm... I love me some incense and resins, but this one was just... eh for me. When I first applied it I couldn't think of anything but pencil shavings. You know, the "sawdust" from the pencil sharpener in elementary school. That cedary, sandalwoody sharpness faded back, though, when I began amping the frankincense. I really, really like frankincense so that's what made this wearable for me. I never did get any whiffs of the high john or galangal (not that I know what galangal smells like). When I got home from work, hubby buried his nose in the back of my neck and then promptly recoiled with a "What is THAT?" He sniffed again a couple of times and wouldn't tell me for a while what it reminded him of. Finally, though, I got it out of him: he said it reminded him of the way a peep show smells ! He said it smelled to him like sweat and.. something else. Anyhow, even though I liked it okay this isn't one I'll be wearing again given Mr. Imp's reaction!

In the imp, I got mostly floral and herbs. When I applied it to my skin, I got a whiff of orange. There's also something sweet here, almost like vanilla. The combination of orange and "vanilla" reminded me of baby aspirin (not bad, I used to love baby aspirin as a kid!). There's definitely some floral note here but I couldn't place it... I was thinking maybe ylang ylang? No matter... this was lovely on, and the hubby loved it on me (a-hem! ). This is definitely big-bottle material for me!

In the bottle, I also got mostly sandalwood. When my husband sniffed this in the bottle he didn't like it at all, stating that it burned his nose. When I wore this yesterday it went on almost totally sandalwood (which I like!), then after a few minutes I got whiffs of the sweeter honey and vanilla. Those are both notes that I tend to amp (and honey can be REALLY nasty on me). Fortunately, the sandalwood seemed to keep the sweeter notes at bay. Further along in the drydown, I also detected some fruitiness in this, but nothing that got out of hand. As previous reviewers have noted, this is a nice balance of sweet, "spice", woodiness and fruitiness. It *did* remind me of nag champa... really, really good, rich nag champa! I like this, but I'm not sure if I like it enough to hold onto the bottle (hubby didn't comment on it while I was wearing it, so I don't know what he thought). I'll wear it again and if I don't fall totally in love with it, I think I'll pass it on to someone who feels more passionately about it than I do.

In the bottle, this smelled to me of light rose. My husband said he smelled some patchouli (I never got patchouli, not even on wear... I think the resins are probably something like light myrrh & amber). On, this was pure rose but a soft, real rose... not sickly sweet fake rose smell that amps out of all control. This stayed soft and real-smelling, with just an occasional waft of the resins. This seemed to fade quickly but when I stepped in the shower this morning a cloud of rose and resin scented steam surrounded me. I really love this and hubby thought I smelled great while wearing it. I have just one bottle but I'm not going to feel bad about that... as much as I love this, Beth has plenty of other scents that I love and even more that I still have to discover! All in all, this is a great rose fragrance, and I would definitely recommend it to people who are afraid of rose... this definitely stayed soft and didn't amp at all. Beautiful!

I put off trying this for a while because when I first received it, it smelled like pickles in the imp. I usually wait until a weekend to try anything that I think may not work, and the pickle note had me putting this off for a while. I sniffed the imp this morning and while it still has an odd, sharp note it's now more like nail polish remover than pickles. I went ahead and dabbed some on the back of my hand and that sharp note smoothed out right away, leaving a rich, heavy floral. I like all of the notes in this and I've been wanting to try it for a looong time (this was one of the first scents I put on my wish list), but this just didn't knock my socks off. I guess my expectations were too high? I'll definitely use the imp, though I don't see me getting a big bottle of this any time soon.

I loved this all the way around, although it morphed significantly on me. In the imp and wet on skin this was a heady, very green floral. It reminded me of something I love but I couldn't put my finger on it. I kept applying and sniffing as I went, trying to place it... and in the process ended up slathering myself but good. Clove popped up for a just few minutes and added sweet spiciness. As it dried down further the greenness disappeared on me and it became orange blossom with just a touch of mimosa sweetness. I *love* this orange blossom... it reminds me of the orange flower water my ex-MIL used to send me from France. I *did* get asked what I was wearing that day at work, and it was funny to say "Succubus"... the lady asking apparently didn't know this word and I had to repeat it more than once. I didn't offer a definition, however, because even though the one who asked is cool, there was someone nearby who might have taken offense. Maybe I'll pass my imp on to the "cool" coworker with a print-out of the Lab's description! Anywho, I liked this better wet and I'm going to keep looking to see if Beth has something that stays truer to the scent of this when wet. It is altogether lovely, however, so there's probably a big bottle of this for me in the future!

On wet, ALMONDS! Which I like, thank goodness, but that quickly faded back, never to be heard from again. Jasmine made the next appearance, and I like that as well. For me, it stayed pretty much a nice jasmine fragrance with the oakmoss and sandalwood adding depth and a nice dryness. Every now and then the musk would drift in-- a lovely, low-key sweetness. I liked this and will try it again I think but hubby didn't care for it... said it smelled too "old ladyish" and heavy... and that was after I'd been wearing it all day and hadn't refreshed it at all. Ah well, what does he know??

After hearing about this scent since it was first released in 2003, I finally ordered a bottle of the 2005 version. I tried it earlier this week and at first wasn't really sure about it... it's so different from what I usually wear and love (I tend to love the heavier, floral, incensey scents). It was light and so "barely there" when I first applied that I ended up slathering it. I was enjoying it and trying to place it as it seemed *sooo* familiar to me. A coworker followed me back to my desk that day to compliment me on it, so I'm now in the process of obtaining an imp for her. I didn't really get the coconut in this, or vanilla, though I can see where people think of those notes. It was soft and creamy, very slightly floral and a little sweet. I finally placed it-- it reminds me very much of Lush's Alkmaar soap. I wasn't sure until I pulled out my one remaining piece of it (mental note: time to reorder!) and sniffed it, then sniffed some Snow White in the bottle and on my hand. Snow White is sweeter and a bit more floral, but the creamy "whiteness" I love about Alkmaar is exactly what I enjoy in Snow White, too. I only have one bottle, so I can only hope that Beth will decide to release it again this coming winter so I can stock up .

I was raised Catholic so I was looking forward to my bottle of this to see how close it came to my memories of church incense. It definitely has the frankincense and myrrh that are so recognizable to those of us who've been close to that "Swingin' Censer of Doom" at Mass ( great one Diana-- I can't wait to share that one with my sister!). It lacks, however, something I can only describe as a dry, biting smokey quality of the real thing (almost choking, actually) and boy, am I glad it does. Instead, it has a deep, golden sweetness that develops on drydown. I'm not sure what it is (maybe copal? Amber?), but it makes this *so* wearable. I was afraid to try this when I first got it because I didn't necessarily want to go to work smelling like church which is why I waited until a weekend to try it. At any rate, I love this and I can't wait to let my mom sniff it. She's always loved church incense and I want to see what she thinks of this lovely version. Then again, she may want her own bottle and all I have is the one... maybe she'd be willing to spring for decanting supplies if she likes it enough!