Evilynn

In the imp: A burst of sharp lavender. Wet on the skin:: Lavend...heeey tobacco! Lots and lots and lots of tobacco. In fact, after 15 minutes this smells like an ashtray on me. Drydown: After an hour or so a bit of the lavender starts peering out from under the mounds of tobacco ashes. It's an odd scent and rather sharp. The only vanilla I've seen was in the scent description, it's invisble on my skin.

In the vial: Almonds. Wet on the skin: I...don't know. It should be honey and almonds, but my nose says...banana? Nose, you're broken. Drydown: The banana separates into almond and honey and there's the rose. Rose amps on me, but almond apparently amps more. The result, however ain't pretty. Off to swaps this go.

In the bottle: Herbal Chamomille and slightly smoky vanilla. On the skin: Wet on the skin. Herbal vanilla. This is more chamomille than vanilla on me, and it's sort of dry and herbal rather than sweet like Against Idleness and Mischief. Dry: Alas, it's mostly vanished. It's definitely close to the skin, and the smokiness is gone and I'm left with faint chamomille against faint vanilla. I'm hanging on to my decant, but I don't know if I'll be getting a bottle of this. It's similar to Against Idleness and Mischief (tonka and vanilla smelling sort of similar-ish), and I think I like my vanillar-y chamomille tea a bit more robust and with a shot of honey. If you thought AIaM was too sweet on you (or don't like the honey), I'd recommend giving Sachs a try.

In the vial: Honey, chamomile and something green On the skin: It starts out pretty true to the smell in the imp, and as it dries the green sharpness (hyssop?) fades to leave behind a soft scent of honeyed chamomile tea. I think I can smell a bit of the tonka as well, but it's mostly honey and chamomile on me. A simple, soft and golden scent. I really like this, although I have to admit I got an imp simply so I'd know if the chamomile would act up on me (I'm eyeing a bottle of Sachs ). I'm definitely keeping my imp.

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar. In the bottle: Oreos? No, really, it does smell like a sort of powdery chocolate cookie to me. On the skin: Wet: Oreos with coffee. Dry: After about 15 minutes it's mostly coffee with a bit of brown sugar on me, maybe with a hint of cocoa. This is a lovely scent for dark and cold winter mornings. I was a bit afraid of the coffee after fighting it out with a bottle of Miskatonic University, but this is entirely wearable for me, so either it's a nicer coffee or it's the dust in Misk U that goes all acrid on me. Damned. Now I want Oreos. Edit: I've now lived in El Dia de los Reyes the last couple of days, and the dry down is brilliant! It's a sweet cocoa cinnamon on me, and it's snuggly and absolutely fab.

In the bottle: Apple with something fizzy and effervescent (this would be the beer, I guess) On the skin: Wet: Apples and beer. It's a sort of odd smell. Not unpleasant by any means, but not what I thought it would smell like. After about 5 minutes the milk shows up and mixes with the beer. I'm not crazy about this stage of the dry down On dry down: Foody apple, until about 30 minutes in when it's mostly apple with a wee bit of spice to it. This I like much more than the first stage, it smell like apple pie.

In the bottle: Mint and...dill?? Uh oh. That's usually my broken nose's way of saying Here Be Violet! and violet on my skin tends to smell like things rotting in a river or vomit. On: Sort of softly minty and there is definitely violet in there, but it's behaving a bit better than normal, maybe violet leaf rather than violet? It's almost a little cucumber-y 15 minutes in it's mostly a sort of aquatic mint on me. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep my bottle, but this might actually be a violet that I can wear (and I *like* the smell of violets, it just hates my skin). It's not at all powdery on me, and I'm testing Snow White at the same time and can't really see that many similarities between them, but I amp almonds and violet, so that might explain it.

This is very foody on me, and I originally wasn't sure whether or not I'd keep the imp. I find that it's really nice in cold weather though, because on me it smells like slightly spiced bread, a warm sort of orange-y scent (the colour, not the fruit). I can't say I notice any caramel and only the slightest hint of vanilla. I seem to amp patchouli. I don't think I'll get a bottle, but I am using up my imp.

Yup, I read it and promptly emailed the lab with a full list of the scents I'd ordered. The problem was that I couldn't fit everything into the PP textbox, even if I removed everything but scent names, and I'm not sure how ok it is to shorten scent names (like in my post above) without losing readability. I suppose emailing the order might be the easiest solution after all, but I cringe at the idea of a poor labbie having to try to match up an email with an order, so I can't help but wonder if there is a way to simplify it for them. Basically, I'm trying to be the least annoying customer I can be.

I have a similar question. I emailed the lab, after sending in an order with just the product IDs (which is apparently hard for them to decipher), with a more readable order, and was told to just write down the scent names, not product IDs or categories. The problem in my case is that even if I remove that it still wouldn't fit into PayPal's 300 character note window. I've emailed again to ask if an order looking like this is readable (10 bottles and 2 imp packs): TheGirl LambsWool Creepy ElDiaDeLosR NowWinterNightsEnl SnowFla SnowWhi SolInv MotherShubSpicedLaitDC Boomslang 1.HowDothTheLi'Croc 2.AgainstIdle&Misch. 3.No93eng 4.PaisDeLaCanela 5.AizenMyoo 6.Tezcatlip 1.BelleEpoq 2.Lyonesse 3.AnneBonny 4.PennyDreadf 5.Tweedledum 6.Tweedlede Does anyone else have any tips on how to fit everything in to the bloody diminutive PayPal notes window? I suppose I could, y'know, make smaller orders (this is a large order for me, but probably not an unusually large BPAL order in general), or not order imp packs anymore, but that seems like a rather shoddy solution for everyone involved. Is the only solution to try to make the PayPal subject line distinctive and send in the order in a, separate, readable email?

When I first received my imp I thought I would swap it away, because it was all sharp and a bit scary (I think tobacco is the culprit, maybe in combo with the pepper), but about 8 months in my swap box has tamed it, and it's turned into this glorious sweet, round, bright and slightly spice-y scent that I really like! I think tangerine and mandarin are the only citrus scents I really like that work on me.

The first time I tried Inez I got "pencil shavings", but it turned out this was because I tested Love's Philosophy at the same time, and LP was all "Bitch, go sit in the corner!" and Inez did as she was bid. So imagine my surprise when I tried her on her own and she turned out to smell like Morocco's bigger sister! In the bottle: Myrrh and vanilla musk On: Pretty much a dead ringer for Morocco, but stronger and longer lasting. The Lab's vanilla musk always smell a little cold to my nose (like vanilla ice cream, I get the same vanilla from Voyeurs Among the Cherry Blossoms and Black Opal), but the Egyptian amber and the myrrh warms it up a bit. I don't have any Morocco to do a side by side (wrist by wrist?) comparison with, and I think Morocco might be slightly warmer, but that's made up by the fact that I don't have to slather Inez like I do Morocco.

Shanghai, Gennivre, A Blade of Grass, Schoolhouse, 51, Szepasszony, Roadhouse, Rapunzel, Garden Path with Chickens, Fairy Wine and Lady Una all go into high rotation for me during the summer months. The first 9 because they're green (ok, Szepasszony is more white ) and fresh and excellent for daywear, and the last two are good scents for warm evenings.

In the imp: Mostly green, with some white floral notes hiding in there somewhere On the skin: A wet green scent, mostly lettuce, then it goes a bit cucumber-y on me, cool and almost aquatic. Several hours later it's almost faded completely, but I can still smell cool, slightly sweet aquaticky green. The bois du rose never comes out for me, and for that I am happy. Verdict: I was frimped with this by the lab, and I doubt I would've ordered it on my own, because I amp anything vaguely rose-like like mad and it always goes sour or sharp or soapy on me (with the exception of the tea rose in London), but the lettuce beats the crap out of any rose in this blend, so I'm keeping my frimp.

In the bottle: Very buttery, sweet vanilla (this worried me some, because Cockaigne started out all buttery on me and then went awful on dry down) On the skin: Buttery, warm and vaguely spicy vanilla. This vanilla is all warm and golden where Voyeurs Among the Cherry Blossom's vanilla is cold. After about 30 minutes it's all earthy, ginger-spicy vanilla on me and I love it. Verdict: If this ages well I'm probably going to hunt down extra bottles.

In the bottle: Cherry blossoms and cologne On the skin: It starts out cherry blossoms and cologne, quickly morphs to cherry blossom soap and cologne, and is surprisingly unisex. The first 30 minutes are the soapiest and then the vanilla musk comes forward. The vanilla reminds me of Antique Lace and Black Opal and is a rather clean and cold smelling vanilla (I suspect this might go plasticky on some). 3 hours later it's still going strong, with cherry blossoms over vanilla musk. I don't get much in the way of moss at all (the vanilla jumped on it and choked it), but I suspect aging it might bring the moss forward a bit more. Verdict: It's a lovely spring scent and I'm keeping my bottle.

In the imp: Apples and peach On the skin: It starts out as bright sweet fruit. Predominately apple, which surprised me since I thought this would end up peach SN on me (I amp fruit, and peach and apricot in particular). Gradually the honey starts shining through and it morphs into this beautiful golden scent which is mostly honeyed apples, but the sandalwood and the thyme keeps it from getting sugary sweet. Verdict: This is the great surprise of Salon II to me. I expected to love the Japanese themed scents and had a "maybe" note stuck to Cupid Complaining to Venus, but this is so gorgeous I might need a bottle of it. (I just have to figure out how it ages first )

In the imp: Very fruity, so much peach it almost smells like melon to me On the skin: At first it's almost all peach, with an oddly aquatic undertone (green river aquatic, not salty sea aquatic). I can't see anything in the notes that should go aquatic, so I guess either my skin chemistry or nose is just being weird. On the dry down there's something in here that goes sort of rotten, and I'm pretty sure it's the bois du rose. :| Verdict: I don't need a bottle of this, and I think I'll be swapping my imp

In the imp: Chestnuts On me: First 15 minutes this is chestnuts. Then it's chestnuts, and stays chestnut for an hour. There is a little bit of citrus under the chestnuts, but mostly, it is chestnuts. It's foody, but not sweet. After an hour or so the musk starts peeking out under the mountains of chestnuts. The drydown is actually very nice, and I think I might hold onto my imp, even if it's not a scent I would wear everyday. I suspect it might be a bigger hit with people who don't amp nuts.

In the imp: Calla lilly and cherry blossom, underscored by rice wine On the skin: It starts out mostly cherry blossom and faint mint on me. The rice wine and the tea stays in the background. After an hour or so I mostly get a mild anise scent from it.

In the vial this smells a little bit aquatic, which I didn't anticipate at all. On the skin it smells like very expensive soap for about 45 minutes, then it warms up to a soft, sweet and, oddly enough, warm scent that stays rather close to the skin. Mostly honey-ed tea. Verdict: The dry down is quite lovely, although it doesn't quite match up to Gennivre to me.

Gennivre is my favourite blend, and I'm sad to say I haven't found anything quite like it in the GC. I like Shanghai, but it lacks that honey/sugared sweetness, the Embalming Fluid smelled almost exactly like Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea to me, and there was something in The Dormouse that didn't work with my chemistry. You might want to try Dorian and Sudha Segara for tea + sweetness, and 51 for green-ness though. There is one blend in the Salon that contains ti leaf, which might possibly be similar, but I haven't tried any of the salons yet.

How could I not buy a scent called Schrödinger's Cat? I've now used up my entire imp, so it might be time to review it. In the imp: Mostly citrus, underscored by a light peppermint On me: It starts out almost single note pink grapefruit, and I actually like that more than I thought I would! Once the scent settles down I get tangerine/pink grapefruit with an edge of sugar (but the lime seems lost). I get zero oakmoss, no lavender (which is odd, because my skin usually won't swallow lavender whole) and not chocolate peppermint, having no clue what zdravetz is I don't dare make a statement on it, but it's tangerine/sweet pink grapefruit on me all the way. The staying power is pretty good for something that's predominantly citrus and I can usually smell a faint sweet grapefruit even at the end of the day. I'm usually not big on citrus scents, but I'm actually debating whether or not I don't want more of this.

I also get almost all grass and no leaves, but that is fine with me, because I've been looking for a freshly mowed lawn scent for ages. It even has decent staying power, as I could get a whiff of cut grass from my wrists even at the end of the day in the office, without any reapplications. I'm so glad I bought a bottle of this.

In the bottle: This is a green scent, underscored by honey. On: Tea leaf, mint and honey. Dry down: almost musk-y honey, tea and a bit of sugar. I never really get much lemongrass or orange blossom from this, although I just started a second bottle (this has become my everyday scent and I'll be very sad to see it go!) and it is a bit sharper in the early stages on my skin, so that might very well be the lemongrass that didn't survive the 1+ year aging my older bottle had. I like Dorian too, but Gennivre works even better on my skin, and it is one of my favourite BPALs ever.