DiesMali

In the imp: Dirt. Wet on my skin: Dirty Costco orange cleaning wipes. Dry: Dirty Costco orange cleaning wipes. Thaaaaat's pretty par for the course for me, with anything involving orange. Not even the magic of patchouli could save this one on my skin.

In the imp: Bubble gum? Wet on my skin: BRIGHT, effervescent, pink-green-orange LIIIIME grapefruit FLOWERS fruit SPARKLES LIIIIIME rose. It's like a Lisa Frank painting exploded in my brain. (synaesthesia is great sometimes) Dry: Either my skin chemistry is unusual right now, or BPAL knew something I didn't, because this is the second scent tonight that shouldn't have worked on me but does. It's the first grapefruit scent I've tried that hasn't made me smell like dirty cleaning wipes, and I thiiiink that's due to the lime and nectarine offsetting the bitterness of the grapefruit. Or maybe it's the patchouli, which is one of the best notes on my skin and tends to turn things from just-okay to pure awesome on me. This smells like drinking a fruity summery drink while sitting on a porch near the edge of a forest, with a faint whiff of blooming roses carried on the breeze. There's the musk, sage, and patchouli closer to the skin, but the (fairly light) throw is sweet fruits and roses. Thankfully, it settles down quite a bit from the wet stage, because I'm not sure my brain could handle more than a few minutes of the colour-scent combinations there.

Luminescent, glowing, and otherworldly: green mandarin, neroli, honeydew, white amber, guava, freesia, white and green musks hovering over desert scrub, smashed wood, and the dry, biting scent of night air over the Groom Lake salt flats. In the imp: Sweet floral. Wet on my skin: I'll admit, I was bracing for the possibility of orange cleaning wipes, as often happens on me with orange/grapefruit scents. However, that...didn't happen? Dry: Huh. Colour me shocked! Maybe I can wear mandarin? I've been avoiding ordering things with it since it's too closely related to orange, but this is the second mandarin scent that's worked on me. This is a light, white/green floral with bits of juicy melon and just a hint of sweet mandarin. Freesia and honeydew melon take center stage, and I'm quite enjoying that combination. It's a nice, feminine, summery scent overall. A bit more feminine/white than I usually wear, but I can see myself reaching for this when I want a citrusy floral but need a break from my usual citrusy-floral-mood scents (Shoggoth and Whitechapel). Don't need more than the imp, but it'll be nice to have while it lasts.

In the bottle: Strong, sweet, floral lemon. Wet on my skin: In this stage, it's very reminiscent of Shoggoth on me. Lots of lemon and flowers, almost effervescent. Dry: The predominant notes in this are lemon and the flowers at first, and it maintains that resemblance to Shoggoth for about 15 minutes. After it's dried and starts warming on my skin, the lemon subsides a little bit, and the opium and coconut come out to play. The black musk is almost absent, giving the other notes a slightly "darker" feel instead of being a prominent note in and of itself. Once it's been on for a while longer, the lemon fades even more, and it becomes a creamy vanilla-coconut with wisps of smoky flowers. All in all, it's quite pretty.

In the bottle: Sharp citrusy tea. Wet on my skin: Sharp, clean citrusy tea. Dry: Other reviews say this is similar to Dorian, and it is, but it's actually far more reminiscent of Jareth due to that white musk and white fougere. Indeed, the notes in it are rather similar, but instead of lilac, this one has jasmine leaf. Don't worry, though - the jasmine leaf isn't strong like jasmine flower, and it effectively blends the Earl Grey tea with jasmine tea. It's a strong, shiny citrus tea, and it is both very clean and somehow mysterious at the same time. This is a unisex scent, bordering on masculine, and if you're a fan of Jareth, you're probably going to like this. This is not as overtly bad-boy sexy as Jareth, however, and in that it's more like the refined gentleman of Dorian. With a bite.

In the bottle: Uh oh, I don't think I can wear this out in public. Wet on my skin: ...On the other hand, I DO live in Colorado. And this smells like the uh, candies, I occasionally use to help treat my medical issues. Smoky hemp vanilla indeed. Dry: Something about the combination of ingredients in this makes it smell slightly like cocoa butter on my skin. Hemp-infused cocoa butter. When I sniff deeper, I can definitely pick out that smoky vanilla, sweet cannabis, and patchouli, but I swear it combines to smell a bit like the (completely legal in my state) chocolates I've eaten on occasion. It's a good scent on me, somehow fuzzy and comforting. The throw from it is almost all vanilla, now that it's warming on me, but there's definitely a tint of sweet cannabis in that vanilla. The earthy hempy patchouli sticks closer to the skin, but is quite strong up to a few inches away. Edit: After it's been on for a while, the cannabis fades quite a bit, and now it's mostly that warm, dry, smoky vanilla and patchouli. Mmmm.

In the bottle: Vague, spicy cologne. Wet on my skin: Heyyyy, looks like I join Teamama in the peppery root beer crowd! This really does start out a bit like that. Dry: As this dries, UNF. Oh. My. I knew I was going to love this because all but the petitgrain are notes I'm familiar with and which smell great on me. Not disappointed in the slightest. Boozy vanilla, sweet tobacco, and frankincense are most of the throw, while the other notes hug a bit closer to the skin. The clove is very present, with hints of leather and champaca, and then the patchouli grounding it. Google says petitgrain is a bitter citrus, but I'm not smelling any citrus in this. As expected, the patchouli and tobacco make this do magical things on my skin. I may need a second bottle of this. Edit: After a few hours, the sweetness of this fades quite a bit, and now it's an earthy and almost foreboding blend of patchouli-leather-smoke. I found the looming spectre!

In the bottle: Mostly rose and sandalwood. Wet on my skin: Soft, wet roses with vanilla and other flowers. Dry: I've been hoping to get my hands on this, as it finishes off the Last Unicorn collection (imps/bottles), and it's full of notes I adore. It does not disappoint! I happen to love softer rose scents, and this is a soft, coconut-creamy rose with vanilla, frankincense, sandalwood, and ethereal florals floating around the edges. The coconut isn't so much a note in and of itself, but rather gives everything that white, creamy feel. This scent is beautiful and feminine, and somehow a little sad. It's pale pink in colour, and oh so pretty. I'm so glad I was able to find a bottle of this!

Note: I expected this to smell awful on me and was not disappointed. In the imp: Sour and sweet at the same time. Wet on my skin: Oh gods is that grapefruit? Dry: Ffffffffffffff- yes, it's grapefruit. So far, all of the Arkham aquatics have either made me smell like a muddy hole or cleaning solution, and this one makes me smell like dirty mop water. I'll just...go mop the floor with my face now, or something. Maybe it'll scrape this off my skin.

In the imp: Sweet, honeyed floral. Wet on my skin: FLOWERS. With a touch of honey...no, honeysuckle. Dry: A sweet, pleasant floral blend. Pansy, honeysuckle, lilac, and maybe a bit of sweet pea. And something green underneath. It's quite lovely, though a bit too sweetly-floral for me to wear. Perhaps a room scent, yes. Yeeeesss.

In the imp: Resinous and smoky, saffron and musk and patchouli. Wet on my skin: Similar to in the imp at first, smoky saffron with sweet patchouli and musk. Dry: Pretty much anything with patchouli in it does magical things on my skin, and this one definitely does exactly that. This is an exceedingly sexy, slightly-masculine scent that actually seems to be doing quite well with inspiring me in this slightly sexy scene I'm writing for a story. Oh gosh, this is NICE. The vanilla and bergamot are there to lift this from an earthy, smoky cologne into something almost golden and...well, sexy. Oh god that smoky-saffron-vanilla-patchouli is GORGEOUS. The red musk is helping, but those three notes just make this whole blend. The feel of it is actually rather resinous and a little spicy, which is probably why it's coming across as a bit cologne-like. I happen to be a lady who loves cologne, though, so... Might need a bottle. Definitely might need a bottle.

In the imp: Heady red and purple flowers. Wet on my skin: FLOWERS. Lots of them. Bouquets everywhere! Also a teeny bit of lemon, but mostly FLOWERS. Dry: This is a RED and PURPLE flower scent. Roses, jasmine, wisteria, and water lily take the reins, backed up by the red musk and red plum. There's just a hint of lemon taking the flowers from overly-cloying to just slightly tart, but this is still very much a summery, almost greenhouse-like floral on me. Not bad, but I'm not sure how often I'll wear it since this colour of floral isn't quite my thing unless I'm in a very particular mood.

In the imp: Shiny tea-citrus! Wet on my skin: It's not quite soapy, but more like...cleaning solution. One of those organic ones with lemon and stuff, but still vaguely cleaning solution. Dry: While this isn't a bad scent at all, I'm not sure I want it on my skin. It's very clean and crisp, almost sterile-smelling. It would make an excellent linen closet scent, and I thiiiink that's maybe where I will put it.

In the bottle: Sage and sweet lotus and myrrh, with something earthy. Wet on my skin: This is surprisingly sweet, for as many herbal notes are in it. I get a lot of sage and lotus root, with myrrh and what I think is palmarosa if it's a gingery grass like a previous commenter said. It's already got quite a bit of throw, all sweet tea with myrrh and lotus. Dry: What a gorgeous herbal blend! It's ethereal and floaty, reminding me a bit of Fairy Thorn but with tea and lotus instead of wildflowers. It's almost gingery closer to my skin, then the throw around me is as it was when wet: Sweet tea, myrrh, and lotus in that order. The rest is blended so well that I can't quite pick each note out, but lends this really comforting, soothing herbal feel to the whole thing. What a gorgeous and cool scent to balance the Terra Caloris! It's not blue, but rather deep blue-green.

In the bottle: Dry cinnamon bark, herbs, and pepper. Wet on my skin: Gorgeous already, oh my. All the notes are here, but blending well enough that I take them all as one. Dry: This is a dry, sweetish, and hotly spicy blend on my skin. It's mostly frankincense, cinnamon, and amber on me, with the musk backing them up and the pepper, thyme, and cardamom giving it that almost-foody herbal note. The sweet red musk and frankincense float in a cloud around me, while the other notes are closer to the skin. The cinnamon is NOT predominant in this, but instead adds a sweet-spicy kick to everything else. This is actually my favourite red musk blend so far. So glad I got a bottle! In my mind, it's the dusty red of the surface of Mars.

In the imp: Mmm, greenery. Wet on my skin: Lots of wildflowers and trees...and VIOLETS. Dry: Unfortunately, violet does its thing on me, as usual, and what should have been a gorgeous wildflower-forest scent turns into fakey-sweet girls' bubble bath. I can tell that the other notes in this are so pretty, but powdery, soapy, purple violet rudely elbows its way to the front and stubbornly refuses to budge.

In the imp: STRONG honeyed wine. Wet on my skin: Thick, strong, cloyingly sweet honey and wine. It's warm honey. Dry: I love BPAL's wine note, but this is the honey that doesn't really work on me. Syrupy-sweet, almost to the point of being cloying and sharp. It's tolerable after about an hour, when the myrrh comes in and the honey takes a backseat to it and the wine. Unfortunately, my skin just doesn't like this particular honey, and I have wine/incense blends that work much better on me.

In the bottle: Faint, yet somehow sharp. Little bit of sandalwood or something in the sharp-wood category. Wet on my skin: Very faint, pretty much the same as in the bottle. There's a bit of a greyish-musky amber note here as it starts to dry. Dry: I'm not sure what to make of this! It's quite pleasant, but the scent morphs from sniff to sniff, and it's hard to tell exactly what's in it! There's definitely balsam and benzoin, grey amber, and tonka, in that order. But there's also some sharp wood, and maybe something vaguely citrusy, but not quite citrus. Lemongrass, maybe? Whatever it is, it's a light, summery, and cheerful sort of scent. Bottle #2 is also a winner!

In the bottle: MMmm...marshmallows??? Wet on my skin: It's warm and a little spicy, and I could swear I smell graham crackers. Dry: This smells like toasted S'Mores made with cinnamon graham crackers, at least at first. As it wears, it gets less marshmallow-y and more cinnamon spice, and now it actually smells more like mulled cider than S'Mores. I LOVE THIS. LOVE. Chaos Theory bottle #1 is a winner!

In the imp: Sweet rum. Wet on my skin: Sweet rum and sweet tobacco. Dry: This remains mostly sweet-spicy rum and tobacco, with only hints of anything floral. Thick and brown, almost a chewy feel to it. Tobacco is always a good note on my skin, and it works very nicely paired with the sweet rum.

In the imp: Sweet rose and sweet dragon's blood. Wet on my skin: Mmmm. Sweet, pretty rose and dragon's blood. No wine yet. Dry: This is a delightfully pretty, sweet, borderline sexy scent! The rose and dragon's blood are evenly balanced and neither goes too heady or overpowering. There's just a hint of sweet red wine, just enough to bring a more sophisticated and mature feel to this blend. Beautiful and red red red.

In the imp: Sour herbs and booze, almost unpleasant. Wet on my skin: Thick, heavy, earthy wine. Dry: This is a heavy, rich, earthy/herbal wine scent. The wine is the strongest note, with the rest not too far behind. It is calling to mind the image of an ancient, slightly damp wine cellar where a couple of the bottles have broken and spilled out onto the floor. It's faded, dusty red in colour.

In the imp: Airy florals. Wet on my skin: Thick, wet flowers and a bit of ginger. Dry: I'm pretty sure there's gardenia and hibiscus in this, wet and sweet. The ginger saves it from becoming overly flowery, giving it a vaguely sharp edge. It fades unfortunately quickly on me, within half an hour, leaving faint white gardenia close to my skin.

In the imp: Strong wool, almost a lanolin sort of smell. Wet on my skin: Wool, gunmetal and oil, and just a hint of lime. Dry: This is a strong scent on me, bordering on unpleasant, but just unusual and interesting enough that I keep sniffing it anyway. I don't know HOW they managed to get the scent of a fog-dampened tweed suit in here, but they did. That's the strongest note, followed by the oiled gunmetal and just that slight hint of lime. Lime peel, in particular. It's a very masculine scent, and though it's a bit too much for me on its own, I think I'll try layering it with Sherlock Holmes and see what that does to it. Layered: Now THIS is nice. Better than either of the two on their own!

In the imp: Booooooze. Sweet. Wet on my skin: Sweet, sugary buttered rum. Almost butterscotch. Dry: The sugar in this starts to fade a little as it wears, but not much. It's sweet almost-butterscotch rum, similar to that in Elegba. I swear I detect a bit of coconut in this, too. It's actually a fairly simple scent, but not bad for those who like sweet and/or boozy blends.