ariosa

The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices. I had high expectations for this one, based on the reviews I've read... and in the first few moments of imp sniffing and first application, my heart sunk. It was such a raw, sharp ginger, and something else. Something really, really green. It was not me, and for a moment, I was so sad! But then, bliss of all bliss, within a few short moments, it began to bloom and mellow and this lovely lemon and spice began to intermingle with the ginger, and all was right with the world again. Incredible throw, and my nose has been glued permanently to my forearm. Love it. ETA March 16th, 2007: I finally wore this all day, just to see what it would be like, rather than just the short time testing I'd originally done. This scent lasts and lasts on me, but unfortunately, after about 6 hours, it starts to make me nauseated. It's TOO sweet (and I never, ever thought I'd say that!). It's like--- I have the fresh batch of ginger cookies, and they smell so good. I can't stop eating them, and soon, I've eaten so many, I've made myself sick and never want to eat another ginger cookie again. I'm not ready to give it up just yet, but I think I'll wait a while before trying it again. If I get this same reaction, off to swaps it goes. I want to feel comforted when I wear a scent, not sick.

Oooh. Love. Love. Love this one. The perfect sweet and calming scent to wear to bed. Pretty good throw, and everything combines so that no note in particular is standing out. I look forward to pairing this one with my Kama Sutra Honey Dust powder.

I felt a bit like Homer Simpson with this one.... Imagine if Homer were a BPAL'er, and he sniffed something totally and completely delicious on his wrist: *sniff* "OOOH!" *sniff* "OOOH!" *sniff* "OOOH!" repeat ad nauseum. This is lovely! It's soft and juicy (is this what dragon's blood smells like?!) and warm and spicy... a perfect autumn/winter scent! My only complaint is that it lacks a lot of throw, but if I slather a bit more it will carry further. I love this and I may possibly add it to my bottle list!

I love me some almonds, and marzipan is one of my favorite sweet treats to eat. However, Queen of Sheba is not those sweet, marzipan-y almonds to me. They're sharp and bitter and dry... more nut than sweet. When applied wet, it smells like nail polish varnish on my skin (!!!), but after reading the reviews, I decided to leave it alone and let it settle on my skin. The result is a lovely honey-sweetened almond with a hint of spice, but I still get a 'dry' sense. This isn't something I think I want a bigger bottle of, and I'm actually wondering if this one would benefit with some aging. It's a keeper, though... for now. ETA: You'd think I'd learn that by now, I really need to wait a while before writing a review. After about an hour, the Queen has sweetened some, and is now a nice, rich, if weak smell. I quite like it, but I'm not sure I want to wait so long for something that nice. ETA - March 27, 2007: Tried this again, and got the nail polish/varnish smell. This isn't really something I can abide, because it takes a long time to go away. I REALLY want to like this, but something in it doesn't like me very much. What I AM going to do is put it away for a few months to age it, and then try again. If it's still awful on me at that point, off to swaps it goes.

This is definitely more cherry and orange than chocolate for me. I'm not sure how I feel about this one, actually. I had such high expectations for it, and it's a bit disappointing as it's not quite cooperating with my body chemistry, alas! Still, maybe it I let it age, it'll ripen into something I really, really like. For now, I may try layering it with Bliss to see if it's more chocolate that I need. ETA, March 27, 2007: I tried this again, and got the nail polish/varnish fume thing happening again, as I did with Queen of Sheba. Not sure why! It dried to a faint chocolate and fruit smell, but all in all, I'm not impressed with how this works with my body chemistry. Very sad to say that I think Vice is bound for swaps!

Can I eat my arm? Gods, it smells good enough to eat. It's warm, melty milk chocolate (something I can't eat anymore due to food allergies!). It's kind of nutty and rich and man! Since I can't eat this kind of thing anymore, I'm happy to wear it on my skin! Potential big bottle here for this chocoholic. I'm looking forward to trying to layer it with Vice, since Vice is barely chocolate on me at all!

I'm.... not sure how I feel about this. I was uber-excited over it because of the gardenia, but this one isn't saying gardenia to me at all. It's mostly woodsy and whiskey -- not bad smells per se, but not for me, I don't think. I'll have to give it another try when my senses aren't so overwhelmed with other woodsy things! ETA, March 30, 2007: I tried this again, and the first, overwhelming scent was coriander. But I'm noticing that it's drying down into a smoky, woodsy gardenia, and I think I like this more than I did the first time. It takes a while for the scent to settle down, though, and that concerns me. It's not an 'I LOVE THIS as soon as it's on' scent. Of course, I'm trying it at the wrong time, as it's my TOTM, so that might be affecting things as well. Still, it will remain in my 'maybe' pile, and I'll try it one night when I need something fancier for evening. And then, a bit later... arrrrgh! The coriander comes back. If this is what lasts, it's off to swaps for this one. I don't wanna smell like coriander. Aaaaaand, later still, it now smells sweet! This one is a real morpher. It's going to take some more testing, I think.

Now this.... this is going to be a big bottle purchase, methinks! It's warm and sultry and my nose is glued to my wrist. My body seems to eat this fragrance a little, but I have no problem slathering! The green oil was a touch intimidating at first, but this is just really nice on me. Not too masculine, at all! ETA: My brother stole my imp for this! Grr. But the last time I saw my grandfather before he died, I was wearing Oblivion, and he complimented me on it, saying I smelled nice. For that reason alone, I'll be buying a bottle of this on my next order, and I'll think of him everytime I wear it. Helps that I love it, though

I LOVE THIS! I've always been in love with the scent of cedar since I was a little girl, and this is quite beautiful. It's mostly cedar on me, though the sage and they bay leaf round this out quite nicely. I don't know whether it will be a big bottle purchase for me just yet, but I do really love it. My nose has been firmly planted in the crook of my elbow since putting it on! ETA: I really do love this, but somewhere along the line, the cedar takes over and amps to the nth degree. It's a little too much. I'm going to give this one more go, but if it does the same next time, off to swaps it goes, sadly.

I knew London was a rose scent, and I'm just not a rose kind of girl. At all. Except! I like this scent! It's nice and light and crisp, and not obnoxious at all! I don't think I'll be ordering a big bottle of this one, but I'll gladly use the imp. I'm going to London this summer, so maybe I'll save it to take with me on my trip!

I'll second (or third or fourth) the baby powder for oils. I got a little exuberant opening my Snake Oil imp, and splattered the front of one of my favorite shirts. I left it to sit overnight with baby powder sprinkled all over it, washed it -- and no sign of a stain!

Beatrice didn't work for me at all in the imp that was passed on to me. I knew I liked spices and resins and stuff, but I honestly thought I was able to tolerate florals a lot more than I really can. It went all cheap, sharp, really really really floral soap on me. The kind I used to find at my grandmother's house, and loathed even as a child. I'll pass this on to someone whose body chemistry will surely love it better than mine!

I just couldn't handle Kali. I was looking forward to the chocolate, but I think there is too much going on here, and it reacts strangely with my body chemistry. I smell like stale alcohol and old tobacco and unwashed body. And something just too sweet. I wanted to like this one, but I just can't.

This is really quite a lovely scent on me -- I find myself sniffing it and sniffing it.... only to wish it was a scent I truly enjoyed wearing. I could see myself wearing something like this for special, rare occasions, but as an everyday 'I love this!' kind of scent.... It's rich and soft and quite feminine, but not the type of scent that I truly enjoy. It was included in the imps I received to pass on to another friend who was interested in this blend, and I'll happily do so. It is really lovely though!

I received Florence in a batch of free imps to try from a fellow BPAL'er, and tried it for the second time last night. Initially, right from the imp and to my skin, it had a 'oh man, NO, commercial perfume' kind of vibe, but that faded within a minute to this gorgeous, warm, spicy berry. I love it. I kept sniffing myself all night (I'm new to this whole BPAL thing, but it seems to me that if I want to keep sniffing myself, I've got a scent that works for me!). No note stood out more than others in the drydown. Each note would poke its head out individually, but they really all seemed to blend together so nicely. My only disappointment is that it didn't last super long on me (several hours is better than none, though!) -- but I will likely order a larger bottle of this! Love it! ETA: apparently this lasts longer on me than i can smell. my sister-in-law complimented me on it last night, and could totally smell it, when my nose could no longer pick it up at all.

No hint of the frankincense on me at all. It's a very heavy, heavy floral, with great throw --- and unfortunately? I'm also smelling dill pickle. This one is not for me.

By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla. I cannot stop smelling the crook of my arm. There's something that unsettles me during this initial application phase (and not in a bad way!) -- I can't put my finger on it. And yet I can't. Stop. Sniffing! It's something that wakes up my nose in the spices, and then the vanilla kicks in and it's all soft and warm and lovely. Definitely very sexy, and I can't wait to wear this out and see if it causes a fuss!

Hetairae. I wasn't sure how this one was going to work with me, but I'm in love. It's a lovely, soft scent, that turns a little incensey/powdery on me, but I'm totally okay with that. I have an imp of O ordered, after reading someone's review that it reminded them of the Kama Sutra honey dust powder... this also reminds me of that powder, but much, much more sultry Very nice! ETA: Y'know, I'm now trying this for the second time after doing a bit of slathering post-bath... it BURNED my skin (maybe didn't wait long enough after the bath!), and all I'm smelling this time is a combination of awesome, then dill pickle, and then LUSH. Lather, rinse, and then repeat. I love the way Lush smells when I walk in, but I don't know if I wanna smell like it all the time. I might try burning this in my diffuser for a room scent. We'll see. I like it, but I'm now not sure if it's for me. It's in the 'we'll see' pile, now.

I received Mata Hari today in an imp package sent by a fellow BPAL'er, and of all that was sent, I was looking forward to Mata Hari the most. Unfortunately... Mata Hari was not looking forward to me. I'm still a newbie at picking out scents, but I'm pretty sure it's the jasmine going all crazy on me, and amping to the nth degree. Which I find strange, considering of all my favorite commercial perfumes in the past, jasmine has figured in most of them. Just... not the dominant note, I guess, and in this case -- it was all jasmine, all the time. Sadly no hint of the coffee I was interested in, or any of the other notes! It's just too heavy. Too sweet. It gives me a headache, and after an hour, I had to wash it off because it was just taking over everything. I just couldn't take it anymore. Now that I've washed it off, though, I'm loving the little that I can't seem to get off with the soap. So maybe I'll have to give this one another go sometime before finding another home for it. Alas! ETA: with a bit more BPAL experience, I'm thinking it's not so much the jasmine amping here. It's the rose. Most of the BPAL fragrances I've tried with rose as a dominant note totally don't work for me at all.