sarahmarie

I thought I reviewed this one already, but I guess not! Absinthe smells much more complex in the imp than on my skin. In the imp, I smell boozey lemon and anise, and other green-ish things I don't really recognize. It's almost medicinal to my nose, but in a light, not-unpleasant way. On my skin, the booze goes away and most everything else does too - except the anise. Absinthe is very anise-heavy on my skin. My skin does this with Baku too, so it's my chemistry...but oddly, I like it anyway. It's a sort of light, purple-feeling scent, and every now and then some of the other notes appear lightly, just a little. It's light, but it lingers. I'd like it better if it remained more complex on my skin, so I won't be buying any bottles of this one - but I think I'll use up the imp.

Perversion! It's the sexiest BPAL I've ever tried.

I will preface this by saying, as others have said, that I am not usually a floral girl and rose perfume sounds great in theory but never works on my skin. UNTIL ROSE RED! Yes! This is so nice I regret not getting a bottle (but I love babykitty for sending me an imp ).Oddly, it doesn't go sharp on my skin the way most floral oils do. It stays true and beautiful, and it has great staying power on me. It can't be said too often - this is amazing, in that it smells absolutely perfectly just like a fresh red rose. Even though everyone said it, it still surprised me how perfectly real it smells - though I don't know why I'm surprised, really. Beth knocks my socks off.

Oh my goodness! I wasn't crazy about Bliss in the imp - it was chocolatey, yes, but it didn't ring true for me somehow. It seemed too foody and sweet, and just not quite right. I tried a teeny bit on my skin and felt sort of the same way. But today, I tried it for a second time, putting on a more significant amount. It's so much different and better on my skin than I thought it would be when I smelled it in the imp! It's not overly sweet, it's very rich and deep. It makes me think of brownies, but somehow didn't strike me as being extremely foody anyway. I was out this afternoon, and the breeze would pick this up sometimes and I'd get a whiff of it...and it was such a warm, happy scent. I get the euphoria, I really do. So, I don't know if it was my chemistry before or what, but now I am a big fan of Bliss and would love a bottle. My big bottle list is getting dangerous...

Mistletoe is not complex on me, but it is beautiful. It's like a refreshing walk in a winter forest. It also reminds of a lot of when you first bring a Christmas tree into your house from the cold - it's that same strong evergreen scent, with a waft of cold air. It actually smells more like evergreen than my evergreen wreath does. I think I could even wear/smell it when I have a headache! On my skin, it fades and softens fairly quickly, but I still love it. I have it in my oil burner right now, and it's also a beautiful room scent, and it's nicer than on my skin because it stays true and lasts much longer. I only have an imp of this, but I am going to enjoy that imp!

Endymion is very soft, gently floral, and feminine. I don't know if it struck me as pink, but it fits all the other criteria and it really is beautiful.

Oh dear. My skin seems to turn this into a very strange scent that reminds me both of flowers and chemicals - definitely not a great thing! I can almost see how people are comparing it to a shampoo or cologne...but there's this weird, sharp chemical thing that just bites at the nose. It's too bad, everyone else seems to be having mostly great experiences with this, but on me it's just unpleasant. Oh well...skin chemistry strikes again.

I'm surprised I didn't review this one before, but I just looked through twice and didn't see a review by me anywhere! This was one of the first 6 imps I ordered from BPAL back in August. I liked it, but my spouse immediately took a liking to it and he wears it much more than I do. I really like it on him - it's a sweet, ruby red grapfruit, with just a touch of tartness, and smelling it makes me long for a halved grapefruit and a spoon. Mmmm... I also pick up a hint of herbiness and a touch of currant, but I can't distinguish those notes as well as the delicious-smelling grapefruit. It's very difficult to describe, actually. It may be a Disney association, but whenever I smell Chesire Cat I think it's deep pink and purple. It is a very happy, slightly odd scent that I really like.

I haven't decided about Jester, but I don't think I'm a big fan. It's very sweet and very loud, but it does have that hint of tartness that I love about so many of Beth's fruity oils. It does, however, ultimately make me think of a candle, in a sort of generic berry way, on my skin. I think it's probably because my skin has a tendency to take one or two notes and run with them, and all I'm getting from it is BERRY WHOA. I'll try it again though, just in case it comes out differently. It's a very happy, bright purple scent, and I wish it worked better for me.

I love how green it is in the imp! Eep! I can't decide if it looks friendly or evil - and that's perfect. Exactly as others have said, it's very sharp and biting in the imp, but it morphed *very* quickly on my skin into a softer, sweeter, powdery-in-a-nice way blend. Behind the powdery softness, there's still something woody or even nutty, and a hint of the sharpness from the initial wet stage. It's very different than I expected, and I think it's different in a good way. I'm not sure if it's me, exactly, but I think I'll at least give it another try. It's a very intriguing oil!

At first, this was all violet on me. It reminded me a lot of soap, but there was still something different about it, something seperating it from a normal soapy-floral scent. And then, the violet dropped down quite a bit, allowing a cinnamon-warmed frankicense to come out. The cinnamon is barely detectable on me, which is interesting since my skin often loves cinnamon and amps it up. Instead, it just warms the frankicense, so there's a hint of spice but not much else. The violet never really goes away, it just drops back enough so that I can smell the rest of the scent too. Interestingly, the violet seems to sort of float in the air as a seperate entity from the rest of the blend. I like this, but it's got some challenging notes for me, and I'm not sure I like it enough to keep it.

On me, Whip is almost all rose. I can detect a hint of leather, mostly within the rose, if that makes sense. It's not a seperate scent, it's just present in a slight change to the scent of rose. The rose is very strong and I agree that it's sort of dry, at least to my nose. I want to like Whip, but I really wanted more leather, more balance. It's my skin's fault though, I'm sure, as my chemistry tends to amplify and sharpen roses and most other florals.

Sadly, Hearth was a no-go for me. It's just so intense and sweet, far more than I expected. The cherry is like a thick, syrupy smell that leaps out of the bottle, mixing with the tobacco to create an even deeper realm of sweetness. I didn't get much smoke or leather at all, just a tremendously sweet and heavy cherry/tobacco scent that really throws a lot. It didn't change or lighten very much on my skin, and it wouldn't wash off! I bought it for my spouse, but he couldn't even sniff it - it was way too much for him, as he doesn't like sweet scents and is sickened by the scent of honey, which he swears that he smells very strongly in Hearth. I wish I could appreciate strong, sweet scents, because I wanted to love this. I may give it one more shot, but unless miracles occur, this one's going on ebay to fund a couple different BPAL bottles for Ryan. Oh well.

At first, I smelled buttery honey with a hint of cocoa and/or coffee. The butter disappears almost immediately when I put it on, which I am grateful for. On my wrist, it smelled a lot like honey at first, but now that's fading and I get more of the cocoa and a boozey smell, which gradually develops into wine somewhere in the background. It's still very sweet, but it isn't quite at the "too-sweet" point. Instead, it's warm and rich, and reminds me a lot of Blood Kiss. It's a bit too sweet and heavy for me to wear most days, but it's definitely a scent I like and will wear when I can. Plus, I love the description - four hundred divine rabbits! Yay!

Gasp! Could it be? A floral I like! And not only do I like it, but it seems to work reasonably well with my skin. (Okay, so this has happened before, but it's pretty rare.) Ophelia is very pretty, very feminine, and quite strong on my skin...but the flowers aren't choking me. It reminds me of spring. It smells a lot like lily-of-the-valley on me, which is great - I missed the lily-of-the-valley single note and I've regretted it every since. I can also pick up on the tea rose, and a green note. As it dries down, it is turning slightly sharp, but florals always do that for me and it's not enough to ruin it. If your skin is floral-friendly, definitely try this blend - it's really lovely, even if you don't usually like florals.

This oil smelled different on me than it seems to have smelled on everyone else. I could only smell the lavender for a minute - after that, florals came out and went strong. These florals, however, seemed to work for me! They did go a bit sharp, as they tend to do on my skin, but they were still very sweet and restful. This blend reminded me quite a bit of Rapture on my skin - I think it must be a set of the same florals. In the imp, there's a grapey quality to the oil - perhaps iris? At any rate, I really liked Somnus and I think I would like a bigger bottle. My next order is going to be big, I think...

Debcauchery is not my friend. It's very, very strong and musky, I can smell it even with the cap on the imp. It's very dark, and I can see that it could be very sexy for some people - but not me! Musk and I are not on the best of terms. It's just too headache-inducing, or I'd try wearing it anyway since I do think it's sort of intriguing...but I think in this case, it wouldn't be a good idea. Oh well, off to a person with a less delicate nose.

Like other VooDoo blends, Has No Hanna did not agree with me. I wanted to like it, because the idea of a lucky oil really appealed to me, and it had a sort of hopeful feeling about it when I first smelled it. It was sort of a white-smelling floral on me, with other things I couldn't identify underneath. But there's something about the VooDoo oils that doesn't work for me. There's something in them that's just really strong and pierces my skull. I think this oil could be very nice for someone who could handle strong scents - I'm just not one of those people.

I thought I would love The Star, based on all the coconut-lime goodness people talk about. I got the lime, and a smidgen of the coconut - but on me, there is also a weird note that I suspect is herbal, and that note bothers me. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's been in other blends that have given me headaches. So, not so much a fan. Other than that one mystery annoying note, The Star was very light on me and not as rich as I would have liked. However, I have found my creamy coconut-fruity oil in Snow White, so I am not too sad.

Aaah! My spouse put this one on and I fell in love. It does remind me of "normal" mens' fragrances, but, at least on Ryan, this oil is much more interesting than that. I think it's more complex, but it's also smoother in a way. There's definitely an edge to it, so I don't mean that it's a smooth scent, exactly. It's just that there's no synthetic sharpness, as with normal, alcohol-laden colognes...it's just delicious. I think it's very sexy and masculine, and quite warm and spicey. I want to order him a bottle of it.

This is beautiful in the imp. On my skin, it does what many oils with floral notes do to me - it becomes straight-up gardenia. All gardenia, all the time! I like gardenia, but I wanted the full effect. It is lighter than Sacred Whore was on my skin, and it was slightly more "watery". I didn't smell anything overtly aquatic about the oil, but the way the gardenia came out on my skin was lighter and wetter than other gardenia scents. However, it was still pretty one-noted on my skin, so I gave it to a gardenia-loving friend instead.

Snow White (2004) smells wonderful on me. I was nervous about it, but it turns out I had nothing to worry about - it's perfect for my skin! My bottle is on its' way, but I tried some of my sister's. On her, it smells more musky. On my mother, it smells mostly like tiny flowers (I say tiny because that's what the scent made me think of on her - very small, soft flowers). I was afraid it would be musky or floral on me, but it wasn't - on me, it is a perfect cool, creamy coconut with a side of apple. The apple usually strikes me as green - very tart and crisp. Sometimes though, I can smell a redder, sweeter apple. It's almost poetic - I love it! It stays very soft on me and I may need to wear a lot of it for it to actually have any throw, but I kind of like how it wears so gently and close. I didn't expect to like Snow White as much as I do, but it's beautiful! I can't wait for my own bottle to arrive.

Egg Nog smells precisely like egg nog! It's very creamy, and as others have said, not in a heavy way. It's just really smooth and sweet. I can smell a bit of nutmeg, and hint of booze...but mostly it's just a smooth sweetness. On my skin, the egginess comes out a bit more and I think it might smell odd on me. It's not my favorite, but I'm giving it time - I just haven't made up my mind about it. One way or another, this is the one I can bear to share imps of, I think. It might be good, and I might like it more than I think I do, but it's just not as great as the others on me.

This stuff smells amazingly, perfectly, like warm gingerbread. Not just the spices associated with gingerbread, but gingerbread itself - squishy and moist and mmm. It's full of spice and that keeps it from being too sweet. I wasn't sure if I would want to smell like gingerbread, but it also wears really well - I was really surprised. It makes me feel warm and comfortable. It's a very cozy scent. I tried it in my new oil burner, and it was really great in that as well.

Skadi really does smell like snow. That part of the scent fades quickly on my skin, but in the bottle it smells just like snow. It's amazing. I also smell pine and a very tart, red berry, and there's something else I can't put my finger on. Something vaguely spicey. It reminds me of potpurri, but it's a good thing (though I bet it sounds bad). At first, it's strongand so bright it sort of overwhelmed me - but it smells so good! And it doesn't take long for it to fade to a softer level. Skadi is perfect. It's festive and wintery, and it manages to be both warm *and* cold. It's bright and cheery, but there's also an air or something mysterious about it - something like a silent forest full of freshly fallen snow. Even though I can't smell the snowy note on my skin, I love how this oil wears for me. I am going to be quietly hoarding it, and hoping it returns next year so I can snatch up some more!