Lavada

I don't remember why I wanted to try this blend, but I'm glad I did. Very glad. Dark cherry sharpened by the verbena is what I get when it's wet. This lasts maybe five minutes before the citrus-sharpness backs off and everything darkens just a little more. You know, I did read 'cassia' when I glanced at the note list... so I wasn't surprised when the spice started to warm everything up. Well. Now I've realised my mistake, but I still definitely smell the spice. Some hours later, the patchouli starts to make itself heard (smelled?); and I swear to you, it's the patchouli that I love in the Tramp shower gel. Awesome much? It drifts in and out so that the cherry/spice never gets boring or monotonous. Reasonable throw and wearlength. I must have a small hoard of this before it trots away.

When I opened he imp for the first time, I was convinced this was going to be a big of a disaster as Incubus had been. All dark caramel... but Tiresias is much less feral than Incubus. This is crazy strong, folks. Crazy. Strong. Caramel and black currant! Maybe cinnamon, but I could be registering the woodier notes, because it isn't so much spicy as it is savory and it's in the background anyways. One dip of the decant wand shared between both sides of my neck... the first hour was spent being dead certain that I was 'fuming up the train and trying not to be smothered by the scent. The tart-ish edge of the currant wears off and the whole thing subdues just a little. It's much smoother and darker and smokier and I loves it! The caramel is still the dominant note, but tiny little hints of the others come and go throughout the day while combining to add a wonderful depth to the whole experience. Major throw (7 hours later and my friend randomly whispers in a lecture theatre "Dude. You smell nice."), insane wearlength. The Conundrum: I know I love this enough to want more than an imp... but I need so little of it at a time that I don't think I need a bottle. Hmm. ps; grammatical errors entirely intentional, by the way. the spelling isn't, if there are any.

Alice, on me, was far sweeter and rosier than Potion. It was also fainter.

I think I've said this somewhere else before, but Mr. Nancy can be perfectly summed up in two words: Naughty Cookies. To begin with, it's all very bright rum and lime with the faintest of sugars. That lasts about half an hour or so before the cookies start to dominate and take a creamy buttery turn - either the rum or the lime (by now I can't distinguish the two but I'm betting both with the rum in front) stop it from becoming too cloying and too innocent () and it's all darkened just a little bit by the tobacco. Lasts for ages and ages, fairly good throw, and fits the character perfectly. But do I want a bottle, I wonder...

Tiresias, the Androgyne from the CD line. Dark and sexy.

Wensleydale pics?

I think this is sort of beautiful. Wet, it's very soil - I find it sort of soothing. It's cool and damp, but not really dark. I'm not sure what's lurking underneath, but it's sort of woody but in a peppery way. It might be cypress, but it's probably the patchouli. As it dries, a non-sweet floral adds a velvety touch to the whole experience. The throw is below average, the staying power around average... and I can't seem to sniff at it too closely, or I shiver just a little.

The Phantom Calliope?

Oooh. Layering. Thanks for the suggestions, folks! I'll see what I can do. Also? It is never too early for pho.

Bump. Is there a BPAL that predominantly features star anise and cinnamon? I've got the strangest desire to smell like pho noodles, but without the cooking beef smell . Hmm. Some patchouli thrown in wouldn't go amiss either.

Oh dear. *giggles* No. No no no no no. *giggles a little more* Impossible. I must be mad. *stomps down on The Fangirl Within to no avail* This can't be what I'm smelling... it just can't. *makes small squee noise* Ahem. It is quite possibly the naughtiest smelling BPAL I've tried to date. In the decant and on for the first minute, it's all very soapy woods and I thought that was that... but then came the second minute, and the third, and... The wood is still light, but thankfully no soap; in fact, it's a little peppery to me (all the better to tickle your fancy, my dear!). Said woods are the base of a delightful aged paper smell and the musk is only detectable in the throw. It must be the musk, because it's coming across as clean skin. Clean but excited, if you know what I mean. The throw is quite good, but it's a light scent and that definitely adds to the 'naughty' quality - barely perceptible and sometimes you have to pause to wonder if you're not imagining it. I don't know about wearlength yet, but an hour in and it's still going strong! Conclusion? This is a... dalliance... in the corner of a quaint little bookstore. Now, to try this with the teeniest bit of Crowley at the same time... *gives in to The Fangirl*

The world must be coming to an end because my experience with this can be written as a very simple formula. Clean + Comforting = Shadwell. Just because I said it was simple didn't mean that it made sense or was even possible. That matters not, because I love it! In the decant, it looks like a very Shadwell colour - I imagine his mack must be this shade... when it's clean. It's a little offputting as I sniff at it, sort of like rubbery tobacco and stale water. So glad I tried it, because on my skin... ...that quite more or less sums it up perfectly. There's, first and foremost... can tobacco be green? Maybe that's just it melding harmoniously with that watery tea. See, I neither get sweet or tea from this scent, but there's something astringent to this wateriness. Keeping in mind that I get no sweetness, I can definitely detect the condensed milk (it's what drove me to try this otherwise horrid sounding concoction) - it smells a little powdery and creamy (oh my god, powdered milk?! ), but not at all syrupy and rich. To my delight, the condensed milk ever so slowly creeps into a more prominant role as time goes on. This all somehow equals clean to me. It surprised me once again by lingering forever with a throw that I can't ignore. Quite like Shadwell in this respect, really; when you look at him, you can't help but wonder why Azrael hasn't whisked him away yet (while at the same time sympathising with said Horseperson and understanding completely just why). Bottle-worthy for sure. It's something I could wear at any time of the day at any time of the year (but maybe that's because this Southern Pansy is about as sociable as Mr. Shadwell here... ).

I'd use the word cloying to describe what Hermia did to me, but that would be an understatement. I've no idea what was going on, but it felt/smelled like I fell into a vat of really thick mix-and-match flower scented oil. When I say oil... I mean motor oil. No pepper to ease the suffocation, to pierce holes in this smothering scent... it doesn't even ease off four hours after I applied it. The strangest thing to me, however, was that there was no DOOM POWDER from the amber. I was all ready to duke it out with that pesky resin, but no... nothing. I wonder if the panic-inducing thick quality was an example of how amber should behave.

Tristran, I think, is the first ever 'meh' I've felt about a BPAL. Not love. Not hate. Not WTF. Not even a wishy-washy 'maybe'. It's all very sandalwood/coriander/mint/lemon with a slightly earthier background during its wet phases, and that was alright. Nothing mind-blowing, but nothing was wrong with it and I made my pleasantly scented way through the day. Then, just as I walked out the door... it all melds into... body wash? Not soap, just some sort of bright green hypothetical body wash called 'Showers in the Rainforest', easily found in the supermarket. Only now, in its very last stages (average weartime, light but persistent throw) does it smell somewhat soapy. Not like soap exactly... but a person who's just washed themselves with the soap version of 'Showers in the Rainforest'. I think that's the woods. The lighter woods seem to turn this way on me, and they amp up something fierce. Tristran, dear boy, I'm totally not feeling you. It's all well and good that you like to keep yourself free from BO, but you don't strike in me the slightest impression of someone on an adventure. Not even a reluctant one. Roll around in some mud. It'll do you good.

This scent needs more love. It mostly stays true from decant to dry - sticky-juicy pomegranate candy. The tart almost-sourness is replaced by something... not so much creamy... but it reminds me of oatmeal. I'm guessing that's the barley? Average throw, long weartime. I really like this for all its simplicity, and I regret not buying a bottle from the Lab when I had the chance.

Belle Epoque and Lurid?

SIGH. I wish I didn't have to say this, but I can relate to these two scentiments (was a genuine typo, but doesn't it fit so well?) perfectly. Although it was a relatively fast morph, Famine still tricked me at the very beginning and early wet phases. From the imp, my reaction was "Why, hello there Bvlgari Black. " Clean tea but with a sexy smokiness definitely wafting around. Wet, it was Dorian without the indulgent calories; dry, sleek, and still very clean even if the throw was very smoky. Clean smoke? Who'dathunkit? It fits Sable's visage perfectly... ...and later on, it captures his very nature oh so disturbingly well. From afar, it's still that clean musky smoky tea but then I come closer... and instantly recoil. Yeah. Vomit. I stare at my arm in horrified awe and chuckle bitterly. Oh yeah, this is how Famine works these days. I have no idea what happened, but am awfully disappointed. Bloody He- Hea-... Manchester. The throw is picking up this disturbing characteristic even as I type. And what a throw!

Hmm. Apart from playing with kitties through cage bars and baskets in pet shops... I've no idea what badcat!smell entails. However, if it smells like Lady Una... I approve! It's warm and sweet with a Dorian-like feel (I suspect the combination of tea/sweet/vanilla/musk is reshuffled in different ratios and slightly different notes) but it's definitely very fey. I don't imagine a person when I sniff this. I imagine an animal of some sort - sleek but docile, with beautifully soft golden-brown fur. While wet and early drydown, there's a fresh and slightly spicy edge that'll eventually move on. The throw is average, but it still feels like a second-skin as it eventually settles into a sweet musk. I'm beginning to think that I could live if I came home to discover that the sibling has yet again pilfered my bottle of Dorian. I might not even ask for it to be returned (but I do love him so - Dorian, that is. ).

My word should probably be disregarded since I'm not too fond of small blob-like children (and therefore don't make a point of holding them, let alone sniffing them), but I'll give it a shot anyway because this scent has been one of my recent 'ooh!' discoveries. Mr. Ibis. It's clean but so comforting. Subtle (I'm talking skin scent, here). Radiant (almost angelic). Androgynous. If babies smelled like this, I wouldn't mind holding one for a minute or two.

Bloodlust is predominantly dirty (yeah, something probably failed regarding my skin chem); dark, dirty, DUSTY. Just my $0.02

For a scent encapsulating one of the most well-known ageless creatures, this sure fades fast on me. Oh, but damn is it beautiful! Muted wines floating over... the colour green grey. The silhouette of an elegant man (at least a man-shaped being) taking a stroll in the graveyard at the earliest dusk; this is what Nosferatu brings to my mind. Sadly, it only lasts 15 minutes before slinking off into the shadows.

I'm not sure if this belongs here, but the drydown of Death Cap reminds me of the... the 'clean', softly sweet, and not-quite soapy scent residue of most Villainess soaps. I find it oddly nice. I wonder what a little layering could do.

Fizzy artificial orange juice up close, but the throw... ...toilet cleaner? Very bleachy. Un/fortunately, it has a short wearlength and the throw isn't really that far-reaching.

Thank you to 13magpies for the impie! From start to finish, this was smoky incense. It's nice, sure, but a little disappointing; I must have subconsciously bigging it up to be this wonderfully complex and darkly mercurial blend. It's surprisingly short-lived and very clingy to the skin as well. How I envy those that can see (smell?) what the Caterpillar does...

War is Lurrrrrrrve. Sniffing the bottle (beautiful label art, by the way! and omg does it look like blood in the bottle or WHAT?) and the immediate wet stages on my skin/hair, this smells like the sexy and evil lovechild of Bloodlust and Gingerbread Poppet. Said lovechild is a slinky and sultry lass, and she's definitely Daddy Bloodlust's Little Girl Grown Up. Dark and fiery. There's something sweet as well, but it disappears quickly. Best part? This stage lasts for aaaaaaages! To quote Ralph Wiggum: "My hair smells like burrrning!" No specific object or substance burning, no smoke... just... burning, if the word could be associated with a smell. I love it. As it continues to dry, it gets darker and dirtier and yet it is saved by the ever present spices from becoming the flat and dusty mess Bloodlust was on my skin. The throw is above average, and so is the wearlength. It fits Carmine's character to a T, and if it were a quote (random, anonymous) it would be "Today is a good day (for someone else) to die." Did I mention my for it yet?