DevilsCandyCane

Ohhh, this is GOOD! This is SO GOOD! I'm gonna need a backup bottle before the Weenies come down! It is exactly what it says on the tin - there's the silky soft buttery melt in the mouth frosting, a heavy dollop of spice, and a real freshly baked cookie depth to it, all of which holds its own against the pumpkin, which is so exciting for me - my skin amps pumpkin so much that Pumpkin Patch blends generally end up smelling identical on me, but with this it stays gorgeously, deliciously balanced. The spice is a little like Shub Niggurath, but much gentler and sweeter - Shub tends to get on my nerves after a while, but this I can wear all day The frosting sweetness reminds me a liiiittle bit of beaver moon, but it's more true to life and less sickly sweet - the whole thing genuinely does just smell like an opened oven of fresh baked cookies - so.damn.good! I just don't have enough good things to say about this blend, seriously! It is absolutely my pumpkin-foodie-weenie holy grail, it's so festive and seasonal and comforting and delicious, and on my first day of wearing it I had my dentist going into total ecstasies about how good I smelled The throw is good, and it lasts all day on me - there's absolutely nothing I can fault, and yeah - gonna need MOAR of this!!

Of the previous incarnation, I've only had a sniffie, but I do still have half a decant of the prototype, which I love (much more taffy in that, not so much chocolate, but an absolutely gorgeous sweet shop scent, with huge throw!) The new version, I would say is more bitter chocolate, and less cream, than my little sniffie of the previous one - I actually find it very, very similar to El Dia de los Reyes, that same bittersweet, slightly spiced cocoa scent. The main difference is the introduction of a hint of floral, I agree it definitely smells like lilies, funeral parlour lilies. The first time I tried it, the chocolate rapidly vanished, leaving nothing but lilies, and it almost bordered on toilet cleaner, but with a couple more reapplications the whole body of the scent is remaining, and I quite like the overall balance - the lilies are definitely a bit funeral-spooky, and just lend it a hint of sophistication - it really is an equal balance of 'perfume' and 'foodie', and lilies are something I don't own in any other scent, so it's quite an interesting addition to my collection. In future, I'll probably apply this over a base layer of sweet almond oil, to offset its tendency to vanish into my skin!

Ohhh, I love this! I knew I would, and I do! It's finally the perfect opium scent - I have Opium Poppy, but that's so heady and perfumey and floral, whereas this is more what I would imagine an opium den to smell like; spiced and smoky and incensey, a little like the taste of really good hash. Plum is a new note for me - I never liked the sound of it, but love it in Snake Charmer, and it's vaguely similar in this, just a sort of soft, sexy sweetness. This is a little more 'perfume' smelling than I usually like, but that doesn't bother me - it's so incensey and opium-y and smoky that the main impression is dark and velvetty, rather than Mom Perfume. Nonetheless, it's probably not something I would wear to go out very often - I think it just smells too comforting for a Going Out situation, but I've been wearing it constantly at home since it arrived, it really feels like the sort of scent to wrap yourself up in a velvet cloak and listen to Bauhaus at 3am while writing sinister poetry... Love, love, love!

This is so surprisingly lovely! I bought it because the full moon it was released on (albeit not the moon it was intended for) was really special to me, and I liked the description, but I truly did not expect to like the scent, from the listed notes. When it arrived I was really really surprised - I own absolutely nothing like this, and it's so calming and peaceful and beautiful. To me it's very dry and herby - sage, tea leaves, in the opening stages there's a little bit of very dried out indica weed, but that fades, so smelling like an Amsterdam cafe isn't an issue! It's just so calm and meditative, and perfectly balanced when it comes to seasons - I could see this smelling like a summer evening, with the cooling grass scent, but equally the tea note is warm and cozy enough to be a winter scent. Very beautiful, and very elegant...and I also slept incredibly well the first time I wore it to bed, which is always a plus I can definitely see this being a favourite for bedtimes, stressful moments, and meditation - I cannot repeat enough how stunning, and how soothing this scent is - gorgeous!

This is not what I expected/hoped for at all, but OMG I adore it just the same! I wanted cotton candy, but I get almost none of that. Instead, to me it's all nutty buttery toffee popcorn, and it is gorgeous Not something I would ever wear to go out, because it's a bit weird to smell like a movie theatre food stand, but for at-home use I'm constantly drawn to it, it's just so comforting and happy and childlike - really brings back memories of going to the cinema as a little kid when it was so exciting, and I would get so wrapped up in the film that when I left the cinema I hardly remembered how to act as myself in my own Real Life (I was an odd child! ). I don't have that many good associations with childhood, so it's really cool to find a scent that to me just perfectly captures the good bits - me and my brothers, in the 80s, getting greasy buttery popcorn fingers and watching movies and going home to play Sonic on the Megadrive! On me, this stays true all the way down - caramelised, salty-buttery toffee popcorn ...very occasionally I get whiffs of cotton candy, but it's way in the background. I'm so glad I have a full bottle of this!

My version is in a cobalt bottle with really cute label art, so I'm assuming '05 or '06. Totally kicking myself for not trying this sooner, the description never, ever appealed - it just sounded sticky sweet and very simple - but this stuff is gorgeous! I'm having to apply over a layer of sweet almond oil, or my skin eats the scent completely, but with the almond oil it's great. Freshly applied, for a few seconds it is simplistically sweet, but then all this amazing spice comes out - it's definitely candy corn, but with a backdrop of cinnamon and clove and warm brown sugar, like something incredible being baked. As it continues to dry, the spice becomes almost tea-tinged, like an incredible chai tea, and the brown sugar gets richer and smokier The final stage stays fairly true to that, and it's the perfect autumn/Halloween scent - there's the comforting candy corn, the cosy chai tea and smoky brown sugar, and yet somehow it retains this edge of spooky autumnal Halloweeniness, maybe just from the smokiness and the spices. Overall, ZOMG!! I'm so glad that my new bottle is 100% full - this long travelled cobalt has definitely found its forever home, and if this scent comes back this year I will definitely want more - I can see it becoming a huge favourite

I think this may finally be my Holy Grail book scent! So far I'd tried Buggre Alle This, which seemed all paper and dust to me, not complex enough, and I *almost* love Quintessence of Dust, with the leather and ink and beeswax and smoke, but that bloody metallic note makes me feel a bit nauseous...so the hunt continued, and I finally managed to bag Burning Book! As others have mentioned, this is really complex for a single note - there's the ink, the paper, lovely soft worn leather, and just a faint overlay of smoke, yet somehow it still smells very clean and elegant and wearable. I can't help thinking of that "Where books are burned, they will one day burn people" quote, so I was surprised that Burning Book isn't sinister-smelling! My one complaint would be that it's not as long lasting as I'd like, so I think I'll keep my Quintessence as it packs a far bigger wallop, but for the time Burning Book lingers, it is gorgeous - the notes don't pass through in an arc, they're always all there, the leather, paper, ink, smoke, and that's really fabulously, compulsively huffable

This is the first bath oil I've not liked, and 'not liked' is the understatement of the century - it's literally made me feel like puking! Scent - TERRIFYING! Blow-your-frickin'-head-off Vick's VapoRub eucalyptus. Nonetheless, I tried it in the bath with the merest dribble, and it was so strong and stinky I could taste the coldness in the back of my throat, I ended up scooping most of the oil out of the bath before it was remotely tolerable, but even then it felt like bathing in Vicks. Afterwards, the entire upstairs of my house stank of Vicks, and I've been feeling pretty nauseous and strange for the past couple of hours. I do have multiple chemical sensitivities, but in general it's only things I ingest that make me ill - food, drink, cigarette smoke. I've mildly reacted to certain aromatherapy oils before, but I've never had issues with any BPAL product. This though, was just...wow. So much overpowering stink, I really should've gone with my first instincts and abandoned that bath at the first stink-wave! Suspect I will not get any sleep tonight, and will probably feel grotesque for most of tomorrow... Never, ever again! My brother quite liked the 'unusual' smell, but it's going in the bin regardless - given its ability to stink out an entire floor of the house, I really don't want that stuff used anywhere near me

I'm glad to say that I don't get Big Red Gum, I was fearing that! And it doesn't give me a rash either, so it's definite not the Angry Scary Cinnamon Note I've occasionally run into (I forget which scents...may have been Inferno?). To me, this smells just like Three Witches, with a squeeze of juicy orange - it's the same very dry cinnamon, possibly a touch of clove, just...yeah, basically Three Witches...lemme do a side by side... Mmmkay - Three Witches has something darker and murkier running underneath it, where this is lighter and brighter with the touch of orange, but they're very, very similar. The orange does fade down quite quickly though, and as it dries, there's almost the tiniest hint of...leather? It is very nice, but it doesn't last particularly long on my skin. I think if I didn't already have a bottle of Three Witches, this would be an amazing nostalgia score for me, but as it is, I doubt it'll get worn enough to justify keeping it...

This stuff is weird, in so many ways! The green colour of the oil is very strange, I've rarely seen an imp that colour! Initial testing, I'd completely forgotten what the notes were - my initial impression was a hint of absinthe, and a splosh of something weird and medicinal, and I kept finding that every time I sniffed it, I would get this wave of uneasiness/anxiety. It reminded me of something, during the wet stage, but it took a while to figure out exactly what. When I sniff it, wet, it somehow makes my lips feel a bit numb, it's just this empty, cold, faint-medicinal nothingness, and it reminds me exactly of the moment when intravenous cocaine hits you - the numb mouth, the numb everything, the ringing in the ears, that moment of surfing the thin line between a soaring rush and a fatal heart attack. Which is something I haven't done in around six years - even the thought of it makes me feel nervous, and this scent is just...too weird. Weird, unpleasant, nervous-making! Now it's dried down, I'm bemused by the list of notes - it sounds as though it should be strong, earthy, spiced, masculine, but all I get is a very, very light, very clean soapiness with a subtle trace of spice. And it still makes me feel nervous. Think I'm going to wash it off! All in all, fascinating, but...nope!

Ohhh, this is so good, from start to finish! In my last order I got an imp of Kill-Devil, and I absolutely adored it, but the single-note, sticky banana-y rum could get a little sickly. Mr Nancy has a good splosh of that same note, balanced out with spice and lime and far greater complexity, and I think it will make a fabulous summery scent - I'm very relieved to have a full bottle! Freshly applied, it's bright, sparkly, sugared lime, and reminds me a lot of my beloved Velvet Unicorn - always a good start As usual with lime, it fades down fairly quickly, and becomes thicker and foodier - I've never eaten sugar cookies to know what goes in them, but these cookies feel as though they have some kind of spice in them, though it could just be a trick of the tobacco. There's still a fresh waft of lime overlaying it at this stage, keeping it very clean and elegant, rather than devolving into all out foodie stickiness. Finally, the rum makes its presence known - I tend to associate bay rum with being less boozy-smelling and more elegantly masculine, whereas this is the sweet, banana-tinged boozy rum of Kill-Devil, but the tobacco keeps it grounded and deep and spicy-feeling - far more wearable than Kill-Devil. The lime does manage to cling on into the drydown, as just a background whisper of citrus. The throw and longevity on me have been pretty damn good, my previous application lasted all afternoon, and the final end of the drydown is really, really lovely - dark, spicy tobacco with a sprinkle of sugary sweetness. Overall, it's comforting but fun, a little foodie, a little boozy, yet still surprisingly sexy, perfectly gender neutral, and I think it will get a lot of wear!

This has serious wow-factor freshly applied! It's like the pinnacle of book scents, note after note rushing past, 100% true to life - dusty old paper, leather, ink, beeswax, all in this swirling torrent, and my instant thought was, 'Well, I guess I'll be selling my Buggre Alle This Bible, then!' because this surpassed it in every way, but the book-smelling paper and ink tend to fade down quite a bit. The next stage brings out a little of the metal and the saltiness of the tears, almost becoming aquatic against the leather, but I actually quite like this stage - the metal and the tears were the notes I feared, but they don't ruin it, and they don't last long on my skin. As it continues to dry, the leather takes centre stage, and it's a leather note I've rarely encountered before - it is very close to Edgar Miche, but in this it feels like the oldest, softest, crinkliest leather that's almost falling apart with age. The paper and ink are becoming detectable again, lurking in the background. There is a hint of beeswax and smoke, feeling just as old and soft with age as the leather. In terms of imagery, what I see is a well-loved library filled with tattered, ancient volumes, and a single candle smoking on the desk as though the room has only just been abandoned by its vampiric occupant - it feels like a room that's empty, but still has the lingering aura of someone's presence, a tell-tale candle still smoking. I really, really love this scent! The first time I tried it, fresh out the mail, I was unsure about the drydown - though it smelled great close to my nose, I was catching all these whiffs of Scotch whiskey, very close to the Whiskey, Candlesmoke & Musk linen spray that I hated so much. it was as though the leather note had crumbled into nearly rotten decay and I was not a fan of that. But testing it again now, everything's behaving itself, the leather's staying worn-but-clean, and I really love it. Just from this little progression, I get the feeling it will age very, very well, and I'm wondering if I need to grab a second bottle... tl;dr - absolutely perfect book scent! Buggre Alle This is almost purely paper and dust, tinged with mildew, whereas this has everything - the leather, the paper, the ink, the candlesmoke, and it's much more elegant and wearable I can't wait until my mum gets back from holiday - she's a lifelong librarian, and I get the feeling she might love this!

I absolutely love this, it's just what I was hoping for! Much as I adore Midway, about 9 times out of 10 it vanishes on my skin in three seconds flat, whereas 'Unicorn has seriously high octane throw and staying power ...so much so, I've just sold my bottle of Midway! Freshly applied, it's like those fizzy rainbow laces with the sour sugar on the outside, the combination of sharp and sweet and zingy makes my mouth water. It totally smells like a rainbow of candies, it's kind of pink, but there's a lot of everything going on, just a chaotic happy sugar-rush rainbow. As it settles down the candy floss starts to come out more, which is awesome, but there's always an underscore of lemon/lime sugariness. Midway was always quite a calm, soft candy floss scent, whereas this is like, bouncing off the walls hyperactivity sugar scent It stays fairly true at this level, never really changing from the bag of fizzy rainbow laces, with a side order of candy floss. And it is compulsively huffable! This scent actually made me quite emotional, when I first tried it, because it is the pure embodiment of a friend I lost just over a year ago - she loved rainbows, she loved candy, and caffeine in any form, and making crazy multicoloured cocktails that she would then toss a handful of Sour Patch Kids into, and this scent is like Essence of Gretchen... So it'll always be quite special to me, I think...

I really, really like this, it's a fabulous happy, silly, summery beach scent, and I will definitely need more than one imp - very probably a full bottle! The main impression on me is sweet boozy rum and bananas - happy drunken cocktail-slurping bananas! It's sweet but complex, and the banana is like real banana rather than artificial milkshake banana, which keeps it grounded. Such a compulsive sniffing scent, and the final faded drydown is just a soft, smoky sweetness. I bought lots of trial imps with this order, but this is the one that's really blown me away, I adore it, it makes me think of beaches and holidays, and I don't get enough of those! ...yup. I think I'll be needing a bottle as soon as I have any money!

Eeek, this is a massive hell no. I bought 2 imps hoping for an awesome summer scent, but...baby powder. Straight up baby powder. As it dries, it smells exactly like the really unpleasant shampoo the dog washer used to use before they switched to something nicer. Baby powder meets dog shampoo

This was a frimp, and I'm amazed by it! Red sandalwood usually hates my skin, but this is fine. It's such a wonderful summery scent, really fresh and happy, the peach is very light and cool, not a sticky plastic peach at all. There's a hint of my beloved rosewood that just adds a little sophistication - it always makes me think of vintage perfumes, since I inherited an ancient perfume casket from my gran, which smells strongly of rosewood - that note always feels elegant and vintage by association The vanilla is barely there, just a smooth sweetness. My only complaint would be that it's quite light, I wish it had more throw, but nonetheless it's incredibly fresh and beautiful, and I will need more than one imp!

I...am honestly wondering if I got a faulty bottle, since every other review...is, well - a review. Requiring the product to actually have a scent. My bottle smells like the distant, half-imagined ghost of Morocco-meets-marshmallow, and within 30 seconds of spraying it, it's vanished completely - spray it in the air, spray it on linen, it makes no difference - it has no scent. Even smelling it in the bottle, it smells of the best part of sod all, and there certainly isn't a single hint of any of the listed notes. Very very weird and disappointing

Wasn't sure initially, but after getting to the drydown I'm loving it - definite keeper! The first blast of coffee is very similar to Mornings in New Orleans, it's quite a sharp, almost herbal, slightly perfumey coffee note, which resembles no coffee I've ever smelled in my life (whereas the Misk Uni coffee note, that smells like coffee from the outset, I love that one!), and I initially thought, oh bugger, it's that one again - applied wet it was strong and dirty and scary. But it very quickly mellows, and the rose comes out to save the day - I agree with an above poster that it really smells like rose turkish delight, which I love, that was the note that made me want a bottle Its final drydown stage is exactly what I was hoping for, turkish delight, a hint of genuine rose, and a soft warm background of strong-but-milky coffee - it's very comforting and relaxed, definite sitting in a coffee shop on a Sunday morning, with a good book and a plate of something sugary type of scent

Ohhh, I love this so much - it's backup bottle worthy if I can even find one! It opens with a blast of ginger, but that quickly dies down, and it becomes the most gorgeous sugary, foodie clove scent ever. Makes me think of Gingerbread Poppet, if the ginger was switched for clove - all the sweet, comforting foodiness, but clovetastic. There's also a little hint of smokiness, which just makes it all the more complex and gorgeous - this is a sexy foodie, with a dark side. It also makes me think of Djarum Black clove cigarettes - the whole experience of them, from the sweet clove smoke, to the sugariness on your lips from the sugared paper This is the second bat I've tried, and they are both beyond phenomenal!

This is such a crazy morpher! Freshly applied, it was so sharp and bitter and strong I nearly washed it off, but I'm glad I persevered. The wet stage, to me smells like extremely bitter bergamot, but actually on second application I'm coming to appreciate it - it's very bright and summery. The final drydown is where it really gets good though - I bought it for the beeswax, blackened tea and musk, and though it takes a good 5-10 minutes to get there, it eventually softens and warms, and the beeswax comes out with soft musk, and the smokiness of the blackened tea. That stage is amazing ...and actually the process of it getting there is fun too, when the beeswax starts to appear but the bergamot-y thing is still fading out, making it a little brighter and sunnier. Definitely didn't expect a bat to be so summery, but this guy makes me think of summer sunsets, going from the bright sunshiney wet stage to the soft warm dusky drydown stage. Definite keeper!

This has been overlooked in my imp box for ages, given I don't do fruity, but right now, at this precise moment, while rather stoned, I'm in love with it! My initial thought was apple, until I read the notes - wet it smells like a bright green apple, just bitten into, sweet and tart and completely natural, and as it dries the rose comes out, freshest, dew-dripping-est rose ever, with just a hint of fruitiness in the background. Sexy in the most natural, summery way possible, but sadly it fades to almost nothing within literally 3 minutes of application on my skin ...I may have to try it in my locket. If it stays that good all day, I will be needing a bottle!

MCCCXLVIII - a surprise in a swap package, and I love it so much! Previously, I never would've been interested in the chaos theory bottles, I'm too much of a grouchy old control freak to buy blind, and I had a bizarre prejudice against people who 'lack the imagination' to choose their own purchases ...but I've had to totally change my mind with this bottle - sometimes surprises are awesome! This guy is very masculine - in the bottle it's quite a cold, peppery cologne-scent, and I was not sure at all, but when applied it gets so much softer and warmer. The pepper is still there, and there's the tiniest hint of leather, perhaps, it's very clean but somehow mussed and reassuring at the same time - to me it smells like the jacket of a boyfriend with very good taste It's a little like Sherlock Holmes, just in smelling so clean and uplifting, but it's more complex and...it smells like a darker colour, Sherlock smelled pale lilac, and this smells worn black denim. It's rather similar to Indigo Duskywing, but even nicer, to the point that I'll be selling my Duskywing bottle as I love this better! Definitely made it into my Top 5 masculine scents! ...and I will certainly be having a gamble, next time chaos theory comes around!

The ultimate Jekyll and Hyde scent! Freshly applied, it is the best damn thing I ever smelled in my life, juicy fresh key-lime goodness and rich dark chocolate, absolutely fabulous, but...within 2 minutes, it's turned into the scent of a dirty diaper, kind of...warm plastic and ass. So I tried it in my locket, and this was a big win - for a good 3 hours, I got all the fabulousness of keylime and chocolate, and the throw was amazing, so I kept getting lovely wafts of it - hands down the Ultimate Holy Grail of locket scents I've ever encountered. Until, out of nowhere....the PLASTIC-WRAPPED ANUS RETURNS! It isn't so violently foul in the locket, thank god, as the throw's died down by now, but it's certainly unpleasant. I don't care though, those 3 hours of amazingness are totally worth it! It's a scent I'll just have to wear with care - if I wear it out in summer, I'll have to make a decant and a fresh locket cloth to bring with me, so I can immediately bin and replace when it does the personality switch! ...and for all this, if I come across a backup bottle, I will certainly buy it - for those 3 hours of indescribable fabulousness, I can totally tolerate its wayward personality!

I really, really love this, though I've only tried it on skin so far, not in hair yet. I agree with LiberAmoris that it definitely smells like pink roses, similar to London, but with an additional thick, rich sweetness. Perfect balance of pretty and sexy, and there's a tiny hint of incense in the drydown, so I'm intrigued to see how this goes in hair, I find it fascinating that many of the glosses bring out more complex notes in hair than they do on skin...

Second disaster of the day, in the linen sprays department Freshly sprayed, medicinal and astringent, smells very similar to the Laudanum perfume, mixed with red wine. Once dry, mahogany tables. Not the merest sausage of clove or blood I'm not sure what Olibanum smells like, but from this I would hazard a guess at something between mahogany and sassafras...