DiesMali

In the imp: Smells a bit like mint tea. Wet on my skin: Musky lavender and citrus, but not cleaning wipe citrus. Dry: This remains musky lavender-citrus on me, with just the barest hint of cooling mint that gives the whole thing something of a tea-like quality. It's a rather masculine scent, definitely into cologne territory, but quite lovely and unusual just the same. I'm a fan of BPAL's musky colognes, and this joins the pile. This was a surprise standout from my latest box, a free imp I probably wouldn't have ordered myself but am glad they threw it in.

In the imp: Sweet pipe tobacco and a bit of leather. Wet on my skin: Same as in the imp. Dry: This is that tobacco that goes so gorgeously sweet and almost fruity on me, and which I love in several other blends. There's just a bit of leather here, along with something thick and ...yep, greasepaint. There's a whisper of instrument rosin, a scent I know so well from coming up on 20 years as a violist. It adds just that touch of resinous warmth to the tobacco and leather. This is quite nice on me in a similar manner to other leather/tobacco blends, and I'll surely be using up this imp! Maybe another imp later, though I do tend to prefer Hellfire for my tobacco/leather fix.

In the imp: Peach juice and honey, maybe some flowers. Wet on my skin: Juicy peach, musky honey, and a bit of apple. Dry: This is mostly musky honey and fruits on me, with the musk reining the honey in so it doesn't go sharp or sour like it sometimes does on me. This is surprisingly pretty, especially with the frankincense and myrrh giving it a slightly warm, incensed feel so it's mature and sophisticated rather than girly and sweet. I never do get much rose, just the barest hint, and the orange blossom is just as faint. It's a soft peachy-mauve scent, feminine without being too youthful. Not quite my style of scent, but I'll keep it for occasions when I'm in the mood for juicy summer fruits.

In the imp: I forgot what notes were in it, but this smells like Bon Vivant's champagne. Wet on my skin: Yep, champagne. *checks notes* YEP. I think the wine and champagne grapes combine to make this...champagne. Dry: I'm going to need to age this, I think, because this is almost single-note champagne with a hint of tonka. I really hope the other notes in this come out, but it could just be my skin chemistry since it has really, really amped that one note in a couple other champagne blends. It's not bad in this one, but I'd like to smell the other lovely notes as well. Edit: After several hours of wear, the strong champagne begins to fade and allows the other notes to come out, in particular the tonka, musk, and wine rather than champagne. It's actually quite nice at this stage, so hopefully that happens faster once the vial has aged somewhat.

In the imp: Sweet, fresh-pressed (not commercially bottled) apple juice. Wet on my skin: Definitely golden apple juice, with hints of dragon's blood and flowers. Dry: This is primarily apple and dragon's blood on me, with everything else in the background and deepened a bit by the musk. It's quite a pretty blend, and thanks to the darker notes, doesn't go quite as sweet as some apple blends tend to do. Dragon's blood resin likes me and tends to go a bit spicy, and YES it does that in this blend. It's now a spicy apple, almost like holiday candied apples but not quite venturing into foody territory. If I inhale deeply, it sometimes threatens to go soap, but thankfully it seems to be behaving itself. All in all, it's a rather pleasant, soft red and gold autumn scent. I probably won't need a bottle of it, but I'll definitely be keeping the imp.

In the imp: Sweet tobacco, smells a bit like Hellfire does in the bottle. Wet on my skin: Sweet, almost like caramel. Tobacco, sweet rum, and tonka and just a bit of leather. Dry: This is pretty when it's wet, but OH MY GOODNESS gorgeous when it's dry and after being on for half an hour or more!!! It's gone from sweet, mellow tonka/tobacco to this utterly gorgeous, spicy, slightly boozy mix of those plus just a hint of warm leather. I could swear there's cinnamon or baked ginger or something in this, even though neither of those are listed notes. It's a rich, glittery, sugar-sparkly reddish brown in my mind. The Lab sent two free imps of this with my last order, and I'd already ordered a tester imp with the next order, so now I'll have THREE. I'd hoped I would like this since I'll have three imps, but this...is beyond my expectations. Whoah. Definitely in my top 10, maybe even top 5 now.

The essence of ambition, covetousness and manipulation: sweet Bordeaux wine, blood red currant, thyme and wild berries. In the imp: Sweet juice. Wet on my skin: Sweet, slightly winey berries. Dry: Uh-oh, the berries are turning fake. Sigh. As in a couple other blends, the berries overpower everything and turn this from what started out as a lovely sweet wine and fruit scent into fruity fake berry shampoo or bubble bath. I am hoping this blend will ripen a bit with age, so I'll stick it in the box for a few months and see what happens. After all, having played Lady M in a stage production, it's a scent that should have been better on me than it is at the moment.

In the imp: Sharp, strong evergreen. Wet on my skin: Very strong fir, almost too strong, like standing in the green needles of a freshly-hewn tree full of sap. Dry: After this wears a bit, it becomes a gorgeous sappy, resinous, musky fir scent. It's more green and sappy than a couple of my other evergreen blends, less earthy and a bit more spicy/sharp. THEN! Then after a few hours, this already gorgeous thing does something magical. This thick, strong musk comes out and tempers the sharp fir needles into this ...deliciously musky-dusty-pine-resin unlike any in my growing collection. I'm a fan.

In the bottle: ...Nothing. I can't smell anything. Wet on my skin: ...Still can't smell- oh, there's something. Faint incense? Dry: This scent takes a good 6-8 minutes to really appear on my skin as the oil dries and warms. It's a light but somehow foreboding blend, mostly that lovely vanilla sandalwood with just hints of the balsam and frankincense. It's not really spicy, just incensed and warm and rather unusual in that inhaling deeply brings a chill to the back of my nose (likely from the balsam). This is quite a nice scent, despite the almost ominous background that I'm sure is probably just the power of suggestion. I may need a second bottle of this, along with They Shall Eat the Residue of that Which is Escaped.

In the imp: Spices! Wet on my skin: Warm, deliciously spicy booze. Dry: Yesssss. Gorgeous. This has the clove note I fell in love with in Arachne of Lydia. It's a rum-soaked, spicy clove with just a hint of sassafras and herbs, and I love how it warms up on my skin. I'm not surprised that I like this, given the notes in it, and glad I have another (paid) imp coming in addition to this free one I'm reviewing from.

In the bottle: Thick, rich tobacco smoke. Wet on my skin: A pretty even blend of tobacco and vetiver, with something else almost anise-like in quality. I think that's the cardamom and black pepper spicing it up. Dry: Thick, smoky, hazy, and black. It's mostly pepper, tobacco, and vetiver on me, with just a hint of sweetness to keep it from going into ashtray territory. Very unusual and not a scent for when one wants to smell pretty, but nor is it unpleasant. It's a mysterious and sinister blend, perhaps befitting a villain. A medieval villain in particular, wearing black leather and black plate armor and riding a black horse.

In the imp: Slightly smoky incense. Wet on my skin: This is a warm, somewhat cologne-like incense. Copal! Dry: I haven't worn a copal-heavy blend yet, but I'm glad I have had a chance to try this! It's rather masculine and cologne-like on my skin, incensed and almost aquatic. I'm not sure what the golden notes in this are, but I like them!

In the imp: Rich sandalwood. Wet on my skin: Rich sandalwood and a hint of frankincense. Dry: I am a fan of woody incense blends, and this is one of the nicest I've tried so far! Patchouli and frankincense love my skin, and they're taking this sandalwood from what could have been pencil shavings to a beautifully spicy, slightly earthy wood. This is an almost sexy scent, deep and strong. I like it!

In the imp: Frankincense and sage. Wet on my skin: Gorgeous frankincense and ambergris, sage, and no basil yet. Dry: This is a beautiful cologne, and I don't care if it's masculine. I'll wear it anyway! Primarily frankincense and sage on me, layered over the ambergris and basil. There's just a hint of the leather, giving it an almost cool feel. It's actually a rather sweet scent on me, and I wouldn't feel at all out of place wearing this even with a fancy dress on. If this keeps working so well on my skin, I can see it joining my other "I don't care if you're supposed to be for men" blends as a bottle instead of an imp.

In the imp: Rich, deep pine. Wet on my skin: Rich, deep, gorgeous pine with an earthy base. Dry: Same as the above, but now the amber is streaming sunlight in through the dark pines, mottling the earthen forest floor with golden light. This is just gorgeous, primarily the pine with all the other notes supporting it and rounding it so that it doesn't go Pine-Sol. It really does smell like a forest, and I love that since I live in a place with tons of old-growth evergreen forest.

In the imp: GINGER. Wet on my skin: This smells exactly my memory of an organic ginger and green tea shampoo I used a few years ago. Dry: Does not change at all as it dries. It's all sharp, slightly citrusy ginger with strong tea. It's not unpleasant, but I think it might smell a bit too much like that shampoo for me to associate it with perfume. I don't know, I'll have to wear it another time or two and see how I feel about it.

In the imp: Sweet, silken incense. Wet on my skin: LOTS of sweet incense and sweet flowers. For a moment, it smells like there is jasmine in this blend, but then I realise it's rose and something else I'm not familiar with. I'm not totally sold on Cleric at this stage - might be too sweet and flowery. Dry: That's much better! Frankincense and myrrh with bouquets of flowers, white rose at the forefront of the flowers. It's a scent that somehow manages to mix bright and solemn to form a gorgeous, heavenly sort of rose incense. It really does invoke the idea of a Cleric, and does its job well.

In the imp: Faint greenery and a touch of rose. Wet on my skin: ...This is really, really pretty. It isn't very strong, but the woody rose is sooo pretty. Dry: This is a woodsy, slightly tangy green scent with a hint of rose. It's absolutely gorgeous, very herbal-outdoorsy yet still somehow soft and feminine. This is a rose for people who are afraid of rose notes blowing up on their skin. I agree with above posters that this might have lime rind in it, but that would explain why it's SO nice on me. The only trouble with it is how faint it is after only an hour, but if it strengthens with age, I can definitely see this being a bottle purchase.

In the imp: Sharp and bitter, eye-watering. Wet on my skin: Yep, that's horseradish! My sinuses are clearing up as I sniff this while wet. It's mostly horseradish and something very tangy and green. Dry: This still packs quite a kick on me when dry, sending a chill of the horseradish through my sinuses when I put my nose close to my wrist and inhale. The citrus notes actually seem to be behaving on me, which is a welcome relief! Below the horseradish, the primary notes on my skin are smoky incense, clove, myrrh, and orange blossom. It's a very sharp scent wet and now dry, something that might be good to wear during martial arts training or somewhere else you need a clear head and keen senses. That said, it's not unpleasant, and I'll definitely have to try it at least a few more times because it's a very complicated blend and I want to know how my skin does with it at various times of the month.

In the imp: All fig. Wet on my skin: Dried figs and hazelnuts, with a hint of the cooking spices. Dry: This is predominantly fig on me, but I love fig and it smells great on my skin. Next is the hazelnut, with just that hint of cooking spices. It's a very foody scent on me, and is actually quite reminiscent of the whole wheat Fig Newtons. I love those, and now I want to go buy a package of them. This scent makes me hungry. It may be a bottle purchase at some point, too.

In the imp: Very leather and a little bit of sweet, dark beer. Wet on my skin: This is very much a leather scent, with the other notes in the background at this point. Dry: This does not change a whole lot as it dries, which is fine by me! It's well-worn musky brown leather, with a little more dark beer than it had wet, and hints of tonka and wood. The beer smells like a good, thick Irish porter, almost coffee-like and slightly sweet. I'm a fan of leather scents, and this one is not like any I have already, and I very much like it as a rugged, outdoorsy sort of scent. I can see this layering well with the RPG series, actually, now that I think about it.

In the imp: Sweet, sweet frankincense and fruit juice. Wet on my skin: It's all frankincense and fruit juice. Almost overpowering. Dry: This is a sweet, powerful incense with lots of sweet fruit and something I can't identify. It's something almost pollen-like. I actually really like this scent! It reminds me a little of a couple other scents I adore which have frankincense and/or dark fruits, but it's unique enough that I don't feel like I am wearing something I already have. Very purple.

In the imp: Something sharp and medicinal. Wet on my skin: Absolutely vile. I'm not sure what it is, but oh god it's awful. Dry: Still awful. It smells like a port-a-potty on me. OFF TO THE SINK.

In the imp: Fruit juice. Wet on my skin: Already gorgeous. It's mostly sweet pea and pear right now. Mmmm. Dry: This fades quickly, but it's just lovely while it lasts. It's mostly sweet pea and icy pear on my skin, with just a hint of rose and juicy peach. It's a cool purple scent, and one of the nicer surprises from this last order. It doesn't last long enough to order more, but I'll surely enjoy this imp!

In the imp: Wet, loamy soil. Wet on my skin: Wet soil with an oddly metallic tang. Dry: That metallic note remained for a time, and I realised that it was actually the dried rose petals and leaves interacting with the other notes in this. This is a scent of damp soil and dead plants, and has an almost fungus-like or mildewy quality to it. Very strange, and I think I'll have to wear it at least once or twice more to decide whether not I like it.