Mermaid-on-Land

My first impression is lemon and a bit of rosemary over a bright clear frankincense. I love frankincense and it's very sparkly here. At first I wasn't too thrilled with this, the lemon was the main note with a bit of rosemary and it reminded me of a kitchen soap I had once. Once the lemon settled I enjoyed it a bit more, but I thought it was a bit plain on me until something bloomed more (not sure which note). Anyway, it suddenly gave me a very vivid scent memory of the plants they landscape with in Frontier Land in Disneyland. Bristle cone pine- ish or something, very deserty. I can see how it's arcane and magical but in a bright, cheery way. Not dark magic, more cheerful, sunlit magic. Might be something to wear around the house! I wasn't initially too excited about this one, as it was pretty but not jumping out at me, but the hit of nostalgia was really nice!

A candle that was just blown out is a very apt description, as mentioned in a ton of previous reviews! It somehow has a cavernously hollow feeling though, like you're in a dark room that echoes and you know it's cavernous, vs being tiny and claustrophobic. The smell somehow has a hollowness to it, I'm not sure how to explain better. The narcissus (I think) is reminding me of something I just can't place. It's sweet, smoky without being resiny or cigarette like. Color is translucent gauzy smoky black with a grey-brown undertone, with gilded edges. It's hard to explain. I think it's in the oriental floral category? With a dark barely floral feel and resinous myrrh and opium. On a side note, my mom loved the smell of this on me, but then when she went to test it herself she had to immediately scrub it off lol said it smelled awful on her so apparently it doesn't work for everyone. This one is strong and long lasting. Myrrh works pretty well for me, it's quickly becoming a favorite base note of mine! I love scents that are resinous, sweet, and sort of heavy, and this falls right into that category.

On application I get a light red wine mostly. It's not a sweet wine like in Obsidian Widow. This is a clear dusty burgundy scent, with accents of dark grey and desaturated green. The description says dry and that's very true. Somehow it smells to me like a combo of the Pinot noir from Obsidian Widow mixed with the "thin lubricating oils" from the Robotic Scarab. That sounds weird just because it doesn't share any notes that I know of but that's what it smells like to me. I like it so far. About 45 min in, the wine sweetens a little. The wine really does seem to give the effect of bringing the earth and dried herbs to life. The application point practically disappears on my skin about 1.5 hrs in, but the scent continues to drift around me. Weird. It's a clean dirt smell, if that makes any sense. This one confused me somehow? It didn’t smell like I expected it to or something. Not sure, gonna have to try it again. On a second try, it seems more settled. Dark red wine that's very dry rather than sweet, and a light dirt note, all with a very herbal theme. I liked it. It's not a top ten favorite but I think I'll keep it for days that I feel like something very different than my usual!

Well I mainly got this one because I'm familiar with Czernobog as the villain from Fantasia's 'Night on Bald Mountain' sequence. I thought it sounded cool and got some interesting reviews, plus I haven't really tried many musk-based scents yet so it was on my to-try list. I really liked it right away, it was sweet and resinous, pretty and smoky. It reminded me quite a bit of Dracul in feel actually. I like both and I'm not sure if I could pick a favorite. They both amp smoky-sweet and mysterious on me. Dracul is a bit stronger but I applied Czernobog hesitantly (i.e., a reasonable amount and not my usual slathering) because the reviews said it was strong and leaned masculine. Next time I'll apply more like I typically do to get a better idea of its wear length and throw.

Well it's definitely wine and chocolate with an underlying hint of blood, exactly as advertised. Sweet wine and chocolate, but it somehow reminds me, just a tiny bit, of Nosferatu? Whereas that was a dry wine this is sweeter. I dk maybe the 'blood' note is in both and that's what's making me think of it. Whoever said its a touch unsettling was right, I think that's the power of suggestion for me, lol. I'm pretty suggestible by the descriptions ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but that's kind of half the fun for me anyway. On a second wearing, I'm thinking the 'blood' note is actually dragon's blood resin, I think I can detect that in the mix. The throw was really good, I could smell it drifting around as I moved even when I wasn't paying attention, and it lasted pretty well. I liked it. It's richly chocolatey but not in a very sweet, foody way, more like cocoa powder or very dark chocolate. Also, I just love the wine notes so I'm a bit biased! It almost somewhat reminds me of those chocolate red wines you can get at the grocery store? Chico-Vino? Like a chocolate red wine but In a good way! I really liked it.

On first application this is very bitingly herbal and green, leaning towards vegetal. I can distinctly smell the lettuce, parsley, carrot, etc. As it tones down over the course of about a half hour, it develops a sunscreen-ish note, like an herbal cream. I can imagine this being what a hedge-witch's healing liniment or something would smell like. After around 30 min the floral scent of the morning glory comes out. It reminds me quite a bit of jasmine. Overall it's a cool witchy blend, herbal and floral at the same time. The floral is warm and a bit spicy, and the herbal is cool and almost minty. There's an undercurrent of darkness to it, too. It's definitely a *witch's* garden, not a cute little cottage garden, which I like about it. It only lasts about 5 hours on me before i can’t smell it on my wrists anymore but it had a nice throw, especially for a green, non-resiny scent on me. I really enjoyed this one. It was more floral than i expected but also totally unique out of all that I’ve tried so far! The colors are varying shades of green, from pale celery to dark pine, with a bit of off white for the flowers.

Yummmmmmm. Resiny and sweet. There's a rich balsamic quality to this too. Not quite vanillic but sweet, as I tend to amp the sweet side of scents. The orchid reminds me of the narcissus from Darkness in the "dark saturated" variety of floral it presents. Both florals have a hollow quality as though the scent is cavernous. The orchid mainly flares up around the 30 minute mark, then fades back to a smoky, burning, resinous, incensey scent. Eventually the smokiness fades to the background a bit and it's more charred incense than BURNING incense. I really REALLY liked this one! It had a lovely throw, i smelled it as i moved around all day. It's still going strong at about eight hours. Yay. Smoky burning resins.

Ok so when I apply it, it's super herbal and sharply medicinal. A couple minutes in, the berry note comes out and... nope. Ick. It goes straight to a mix of cherry and grape cough syrup. Ack, not for me. I generally like dark berryish scents. I've never gotten this reaction with cherry or any other berry note. Hmm, I dk, my skin REALLY does not get along with this one. The throw was average and it didn't last super long, The description doesn't mention berries so I'm not too sure where that impression came from, but I hate cough syrup so I just couldn't enjoy this one despite the cool name and description :/

Ok so after the patchouli-scented disaster of yesterday, I want something a little more fresh and clean smelling, so I'm gonna try an oceany aquatic. Oooh this smells amazing when I first put it on. Like a breeze coming directly from the sea. It's incredibly true to the concept. It's a sea wind. It's both oceany and wind-like. The marine accord is not just watery but salt water specifically, which i love. The seaweed is a minor note, enough to make an appearance but not overwhelming. Not sure what bladderwrack smells like exactly but it's also a type of seaweed so I imagine it's in there too. It does lean ever so slightly masculine (oh well, I think that's just because I associate ozonic/aquatic scents with cologne) and a touch soapy, which I don't mind and which doesn't dominate. This is incredibly fresh and clean, like an ocean after a storm, or just before. There's a misty windy quality. I just really like this one. It smells a little bit like Hurricane (which I love), or at least in the same spirit as Hurricane, if anyone is looking for a replacement for that one, despite the lack of similar notes. The imagery is of standing in the wind on a cloudy gray beach and looking out to sea, with piles of seaweed and bladderwrack lying around on the sand. To me it's not a beach where you swim. It's a cold grey beach in a northern area in the winter. You would go there wearing a sweater to enjoy the moody weather, not for tanning and swimming. Anyway, throw is amazing for an aquatic, i could detect it all day. And it lasted for a long time, which was nice because watery scents tend to be light and short-lasting on me!

Sniffing the imp, this smells cool, with a very desert-like vibe, I definitely get the impression of the Sonoran desert, or perhaps New Mexico. On application, at first it didn't really stand out to me. It was pear-like, but very very faint. Barely there pear lol. But the longer I wore it, the more the distinct qualities of this scent came out. In about an hour, it was quite a bit stronger and the notes were all there. Odd since its usually the opposite on me, it starts strong and loses throw over wear time. I really liked the coriander, which added a lovely savory bite! I got a tiny bit of the poppy when I knew to look for it. Hyssop has been quite faint on scents in the past so I didn't notice that really. And I'm not familiar with epazote but I think that might have given the scent it's particular southwestern, Sonora desert vibe. The scent picture is a vibrant fuchsia and orange sunset over a desert, saguaro cactuses and mesas in the distance. I liked it and will wear it once or twice again to see if I think it's "me". I live in a desert and am generally not a huge fan (120 degree weather ) but I really quite liked this scent!

Out of the bottle it's a beautiful, dewy, fresh floral. The crocus and snowdrop is sweet and it's very refreshing. It reminded me of the fresh clean paperwhite note in Destroying Angel. The dewy waxy floral vibe is reminding of Easter somewhere that gets a beautiful fresh vibrant spring season (certainly not where I live) Like all the wanderlust blends so far, it's very evocative of concept. The colors are off white and pale soft yellow. Unfortunately it only lasted a short time and dried down to an odd stale dusty note. Where did that come from??? Think I'll try it again and see if it does the same thing, because I liked it before. It was pretty light with low throw though, and didn't last too long. This is the first scent that struck me that it would be good in a scent locket. Oh god, I'm getting in too deep here... talking scent lockets and stuff...

Ok so I was a little nervous about this one (patchouli seems to be very love it or hate it) so I intended to take is easy on application. I applied about half of my usual amount. Well that was far far FAR too much because this was the strongest bpal I've ever tried. OMFG. Like I actually quite liked the scent, which was a deep apricot. Unlike Grand Guignol, it wasn't candied or syrupy. It was a fresh ripe apricot fruit. The patchouli added an earthy darkness to the scent. My wrist smelled like a dark twist on apricot, which I really enjoyed. And it seemed sorta strong but not too bad. However, every once in a while i'd catch a strong bit of the patchouli with made me nervous that it was too noticeable. Turns out, the peach part of the scent stayed close to me, which was all I could smell. The far throw, what everyone else smelled, was all aggressive patchouli. When I walked past a coworker she was omg are you wearing patchouli perfume? It's sooo strong! And I was like damn it I freaking KNEW IT. So of course I ran to the bathroom and scrubbed it off Super embarrassing. For the rest of the night it was a subtle, tame apricot from the little that transferred from my neck to my hair. So while I actually did like this one, I'm gonna apply like maybe one single drop to one wrist and that's about it at this rate I won't use up the imp til 2075. Imagery is an apricot half buried in dark brown dirt. As much as I like unsubtle perfumes with nice sillage, there is apparently one that crosses the line of *too much* and I found it haha

I feel like this is a boring review but I don't have too much to add. It's apricot brandy. The apricot is sweet and maybe verging on syrupy. The brandy doesn't amp too much on my skin, I don't notice much (or any) of an alcohol smell. It ended up being quite simple on me. It's fruity but on the darker side of fruity, with the syrup and tinge of brandy. I liked it but didn't LOVE it. I like the idea of using the apricot brandy to infer the idea of visiting the Grand Guignol theater tho! That's a cool way to tie it in. Sadly didn't last too long on me, and very little throw.

Oooh this smells GOOD. It's creamy sweet (very sweet but not sugary) and reminds me a little of Sacred Whore of Babylon. There's an underlying smoky bite at first, but that fades a little later on. It has a slight bit of resiny sweetness to it, and an almost humid heaviness to it (the description does say 'steamy'). The throw is great. And it's strong, I was just around the house so I put on less than i usually wear just to test it and could still catch the scent moving around. I think the mandarin is blended enough that it doesn't smell ORANGE, just a hint in the background, sort of like a dessert with a bit of orange, rather than a fresh cut fruit (not that it's foody). It's very smooth and blends together well overall, without one thing in particular standing out jarringly. I like this, it's confident and warm. The people who said its a southern belle perfume are right, it's probably just the florals putting me in the mindset but this is humid and languid while also being very feminine. I'm surprised there are no gardenias here, they smell a little like what I get with gardenia. Color association is opaque cream and translucent orange.

Yay Excited to try this. I love violets! But I'm also trying this with a bit of trepidation, because eucalyptus has amped out of control on two scents already on me (and they were burning, fiery scents, wtf??). On opening the vial, I smell SNOW! It's a crisp, clear, biting wind on a snowy day! It even has that cold-burning effect of smelling it but not in an unpleasant way. Eucalyptus isn't doing the gross thing it did in Djinn thankfully. I really like the way it combines with mint here! There's just enough to kick up the 'cold' effect of the mint. This smells like frosted purple flower petals on cold metal as promised and that's so awesome! I'm loving this. The violet is the same violet note i liked in Saturnalia, but a little lighter here just because of what it's combined with. The throw is sadly not much and it doesn't last long I want to just pour it on to get more effect lol. The color to me is electric neon purple and frosted stainless steel grey. Cold and electric. So unique! Sharp, brittle, and frozen.

This is very, very floral. It reminds me of some notes in The Night-Raven (without the fruit and musk) and Ouija (without the rosewood), especially Ouija. I mostly wanted to try this one because I was looking at different recommendations threads for ideas of what to try, and saw this thread: http://www.bpal.org/topic/29756-the-absolute-darkest-scents-dark-ghostly-haunting-scary/?hl=darkest which said it was kind of dark and spooky but I didn't really get that feeling (I tend to like the dark ghosty haunting scents). It was perhaps a bit too purely floral for my taste :/ Gardenia for once didn't take over entirely on me. That was really the only note I was able to pick out, I'm slowly getting better at detecting florals by trying different bpals but honestly I never could differentiate floral scents before this, and they often still blend together in my mind until I try something that basically has the floral by itself standing out. Didn't notice sandalwood at all which surprised me. This was soft but not entirely without throw. Someone in a previous review said it smells like what accidentally getting soap in your mouth tastes like, and that's a good comparison for the underlying sharp soapy/dusty note. Color association is very very pale lilac-y purple. I liked it but am not desperate to get a big bottle. Was kinda meh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think I'm just not a pure floral person. It smelled nice but wasn't *me*

This is perfect for my mood today. I've been marathon watching the TV show Reign and wanted something regal and badass, reminiscent of the show's feeling. And I've found it. Wicked is haughty and proud. I love jasmine, I know it's an unpopular floral but it doesn't do weird things on me and it has a beautiful dark scent. Mixed with roses it's lovely. The myrrh gives it depth. The throw was strong and it lasted a long time. For some reason the image this brings to mind is a mantel in a dark throne room draped in jasmine and white roses. In some ways this is similar to Obsidian Widow minus the pinot noir note which comes out pretty strongly on me. It shares the jasmine, rose, and myrrh so there are a lot of common notes. I really liked this, though, it had a totally different attitude to it than Obsidian Widow so I don't think they're too similar. Obsidian Widow is an assassin in a pretty disguise. Wicked is a queen ready to go to war to protect her crown. (that sounds really melodramatic haha...) But anyway I really did like this one! Very true to concept

When first on my wrists I get a clean cinnamon scent (which is not a listed note but that's what I got lol). That disappears within like 2 minutes, and for about 15 minutes it had no scent at all. That really confused me, I practically had my nose glued to my wrist and couldn't smell anything. Then I kinda got distracted and when I came back to it a couple minutes later, it had reappeared as a warm ambergris with a slight leather note. This is the first I've smelled ambergris where I could make it out by itself and I really liked it, so that was cool! It was warm and ambery but somehow had a salty ocean feel at the same time. The musk lingers in the background pretty smoothly with the leather, and the tobacco and incense don't come out for me too much. It began fairly strong but lost throw a couple hours in. Overall this was unexpected for me. I expected a fiery burning cinnamony scent for some reason (I think I confused this for the description of Inferno *checks* Thats the second time I've done that, wtf me?) but anyway, this was a more gentle scent than what I expected. It was smooth and kind of mellow, and like some previous reviewers it sorta reminded me of a guy drinking expensive brandy in a leather chair by the fireside in a library. I liked it but not quite crazy for it just yet, I'm gonna wear it a couple more times and see how I feel.

Sharp, biting sassafras! Herbal and sweet. I love this note! This scent is fizzy and very much 'root beer'. The butter and vanilla notes make it creamy, like a root beer float, but it's still zingy and energized without going sugary sweet. I can see where "stimulating" comes in, it's a bright energetic scent. I get a touch of oak moss, similar to Black Annis, but only a little. I'm not sure on the onycha, I don't seem to overly notice it aside from perhaps a resinous depth to the sweetness of the drydown. Soon the biting herbal quality fades a bit and I'm left with sweet, root beer-y sassafras. The throw isn't terribly strong, but it lasts fairly well as a skin scent. The color feeling is translucent ambery brown with off-white (like a root beer float lol) and it has a summery feeling to it overall. Overall I enjoyed it, but I prefer Laudanum as my sassafras scent. It's darker and more mysterious, and to my nose a bit more complex. Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener is like Laudanum's bright preppy sister lol

Ok so I loved this. What can I say, I love anise as a note This does contain a note that has a men's cologne feel, I'm not sure what it was but it reminded me of an aftershave or something. I think it was the oak moss. I didn't mind so much though, because the anise was just so nice, and the cologney smell was right near the application points. The throw was pretty much dark anise. I liked the earthiness of the cave lichen in the background. The strength of the throw was fantastic, I could easily detect it all day, and it lasted at full strength for a long time. It was like all that I loved about Absinthe (strong anise scent, unique) with none of the drawbacks (no throw and fades super fast on me)! The anise in this is not quite as aggressive as in Absinthe, it's more like it's from a slightly older spice jar, almost powdery/dusty feeling. Something about 10 minutes in gives it a warming quality to the scent, I think maybe the civet? The idea of the civet made me nervous (it tends to not be popular) but I didn't have any problems with it here, it goes almost warmly minty for a second, then back to the earthy anise. Anyway, I loved this scent, I think it's up there in my favorites! The color feeling is dark blue-purple black. Oh, and this lasts insanely long on me. I woke up surrounded by anise scent the next morning

I've never smelled anything containing dragon's blood before, so I was really excited to try this! On first application it smells sweetly floral with a tiny hint of cherry. The floral part smells like honeysuckle or star jasmine (yay, I love the smell of star jasmine!) or maybe even gardenia? The salty aquatic notes are quite subtle on me and I think it's mostly a dragon's blood fragrance with an aquatic twist. It somehow smells exactly like swimming in a pool near a flowering plant on a hot day wearing sunscreen. That's the vibe I get. I really like this and I think it'll be beautiful for summer. It's light but strong, with good throw and lasts well. I'm definitely gonna need to try some more dragon's blood scents! Oh and my mom loves this one, she asked to borrow it and it's now her favorite out of the few she's tried.

Bastet is all cherry-vanilla sweetness right on application. Then musk takes over for like 15 minutes and I really understand what people mean when they say it smells like a pet sitting in the sun. The musk soon mellows when the amber makes an appearance to sweeten it a bit. It has pretty good throw. I'm reminded of Blood Kiss plus musk, mostly. May test further. Hmm, I don't know if I'm like, a crazy musk fan. I think I'm kinda indifferent to it. Trying again, this is sooo much better this time. Not sure if it was the time of month I tried it or what, but I'm getting all the complexity now! The saffron, almond, cardamom, and especially the amber. It's cherry-sweet and yet dry and warm with the musk. I really like the cardamom and saffron, they're unusual notes that I haven't tried before. This is beautiful and I'm surprised my first impression was so blah. It has a good bit distinguishing it from Blood Kiss. The color feeling is golden and sun-drenched, a black cat lying in a sunspot.

... Her scent is striking and bold with a delicate yet dark undertone: five roses with soft jasmine, warmed by vanilla, fig, tonka bean and mahogany, spiced with a drop of coffee bean. I first notice the fig and a bit of coffee right on application. After about 5 minutes a spice comes out that I assumed was some type of cinnamon until I looked at the description. Now I'm not sure what it is, maybe the tonka or coffee? This is a very heavy and rich scent. The jasmine in this reminds me quite a bit of Obsidian Widow (I love jasmine, even though it's a pretty hated note lol), it has that same definitive "dark oriental floral" feel. The rose is a dark, almost wine-like note forming a soft undercurrent. Didn't realize it was roses until I read the description then it's like, duh, but it blended really well with the jasmine and I couldn't quite pick it out until I knew to look. The vanilla and what I'm assuming is tonka gives it a warm sweetness, along with the fig, which blends in well. Something is also reminding me of Darkness but I'm not sure what; maybe just the overall heavy, almost-smoky quality of the scent? The throw is fairly good, and so is the staying power. Overall I think it's like a sister scent to Obsidian Widow. They are both a spin on jasmine and rose, with Mata Hari being more coffee/chocolate-spiced and Obsidian Widow being more sweet winey/incensey/woodsy. I may have to death match them to pick a fave if it ever came to a bottle choice lol Color association is a dark, cool-toned burnt sepia, probably because of the coffee.

This oil is a viscous ambery-yellow when first applied but soon fades into the skin. When I sniff it, It smells like... someone... bottled the Psychic Eye book shop?? Of course I've always loved how that place smelled, I've been in a couple of times. I think it's all the incense and stuff that is sold there mingling together. But I'm having a hard time picking out notes here cuz my brains like "there are no notes, it's the psychic store" lol. I find myself not having much to say about this perfume because it's so well-blended I can't find the notes individually. It's piney, but not in a fresh tree branch way, like in a tree-resin kind of way. It's actually very resinous and incensey. There are lots of notes I've never smelled before (benzoin, Indian musk, massoia bark, ambrette seed, galbanum) and I can't definitively pick out the ones I can usually recognize like bergamot. I get a hint of the myrrh and the fir, and perhaps a bit of the musk rounding out the background. I quite like this, it's perfectly resinous and incensey. The throw is great, and wear length is pretty good. This is definitely on the list of awesome resin/incense blends!

This was bitterly citrusy when first applied, with a very slight tinge of soapiness that quickly disappeared. I quite like that version of bitter fruitiness, rather than the overly sweet artificial smell I (for whatever reason) expect from a fruit-themed perfume. (Maybe I'm subconciously associating them with the scent of gummy bears or something? Or cough syrup? This doesn't smell like either, thankfully) The bitter citrus rind quality reminds me of the top notes of Aizen-Myoo, but stuck around longer on me than they did in that one, which is great! Beginning to dry, it smells just like sweet tarts at one point but that impression doesn't last long. I mostly get the tartness of both the raspberry and blood orange. It smells good, juicy and tart. The color association is of clear reds and oranges. Sadly the throw is very low on me despite slathering. I like it ok but it's not quite 'me'. I like it better than I expected to though! I think I need to give fruit scents more of a chance. I'll enjoy using the imp!