Emera

IN THE IMP: Strongly herbal-woody – a very cool, sort of “hollow” lavender, with the resinous balsam making it a very neutral scent. ON THE SKIN: First few minutes are as in the imp; the soft, dry florals come out more afterwards. Not sure exactly what narcissus smells like, so I don’t know that I could pick it out, but it definitely becomes less herbal. LATER: Powdery violet and a touch of resinous balsam. It makes me feel kind of fragile, as if I should be wearing a corset and vintage lace, but also old-ladyish. Will probably pass this on.. It’s certainly very elegant and understated, though! I wish the lavender hung around for longer, as I'm really looking for a lavender scent.

IN THE IMP: Very, very charming and light –a light cologne with lavender’s clean, gentle astringency, and the soft sweetness of vanilla bean and white musk (o white musk, please don’t amp on my skin!) underneath. He’s a gentleman, but kind of a girly gentleman. HAWT. He probably wears pearl-grey gloves. And crosses his legs like a laydee when sitting. ON THE SKIN: So classy! It makes me feel like I should be wearing a champagne-colored cocktail dress and flirting at a posh reception or something. The vanilla is evident, which makes it perfect for the girlier types (i.e. me), but the main scent is the same clean, crisp, refreshing fougere as in the imp. – Nnnooooo, white musk, go away! . This is admittedly a better-behaved white musk than usual (normally it plunges straight into the depths of old-whipped-cream depravity), but still. So much complexity… lost… *weeps* The fougere is hanging on a tiny bit to keep it from being overwhelmingly creamy, but it’s losing out. CONCLUSION: Theodosius died and was embalmed in white musk, the end.

I have been twice smitten in one night - first by Perilous Parlor, then by 13, thanks to a friend wielding a formidably large foodie collection. Oh foodies, why are you so delicious?! (uh... duh.) First on, it's signature BPAL chocolate and crisp, gently spicy lavender. Yum. Only a little bit later, it's rich, creamy vanilla and gentle sandalwood, along with a little bright, citrusy lavender. Final wear, I'm not sure how to describe it as, um, orgasmic. It's the same creamy, perfectly foody vanilla as in Perilous Parlor, like a warm, smooth custard sauce, with a whole slew of bright and blended fruits thrown in. Excellent throw, and I pretty much want to smell like this for the rest of my life. I might also add that I applied it right next to a little patch of Jezebel, which gives me a perfect, pure honey note, so together they're... wow.

I am so, so, SO unspeakably glad that I finally ordered a decant of this, rather on an impulse, because I just tried a friend's decant of it (mine hasn't arrived yet) and was smitten. This is a syrupy, golden, poached pear half-submerged in vanilla cream sauce and waiting for you in a crystal dish in front of a roaring autumn fireplace. Just - wow. Really, that much. Rich, comforting, absolutely delicious. First on me, it's heavy on the pear, but the vanilla wafts out more and more with wear; I think this is the foodiest and most delicious vanilla I've ever encountered. (N.B. until I met purple-label 13… sigh.) I can't wait to wear this on summer nights, and on autumn evenings! Love love love love.

Sniffed only, no skin test: sweet, piercing, candy-grapy orchid with a slight cool, hollow note to it. A bit soapy, quite strong. No vanilla, strangely, but if I had tried it on skin it would probably have come out!

Lemon, aloe, a little green tea: a clean, clear, fresh scent. Extremely similar to Shanghai, but a bit crisper and prettier, in my opinion.

IN THE IMP: Fresh, grassy. ON MY SKIN: Sharply green, and almost a little bitter-spicy – like biting into a juicy blade of grass. Unfortunately, the bitterness is just too much for this to really work for me. LATER: Weirdly, it morphs into an exact replica of a “fresh sorbet” body spray that I’ve had for years, although it took me quite a lot of sniffing to figure out what it was that it reminded me of so clearly. Really a beautiful scent, crisp and fresh and very delicately floral, but, well, I already have the body spray! The radical morph was fascinating, though. A good early-spring or summer scent, “shy” but invigorating.

IN THE IMP: Honey, followed quickly by smooth, rich vanilla and a dark, fruity tang. ON MY SKIN: This is VERY yummy, and almost (but not overly) foody. To go with a foody comparison, it’s like a moist, dense, golden honeycake with berries and spice – a far more elegant and less overwhelming version of Eat Me. The blackberry leaf is really just delicious, unlike any other berry scent I’ve smelled. Ripe but tart, and completely realistic. There’s a dry, sweet edge of spices as it goes on. LATER: Remains a delicious balance of nearly all of the notes (although I never got the tea leaf) – clear, fresh blackberry leaf and yummy honey/spice/vanilla. This is compulsively wearable, especially in winter weather. I can’t get enough of it; this might become my first bottle buy, since decants are so hard to come by!

IN THE IMP: Overly sweet something, like a slightly rotten flower, with a little edge of eucalyptus and mint. It’s pretty unpleasant, but hard to compare it to anything concrete. ON MY SKIN: Murky, rottenish orange cream – the neroli in this must have gone wrong on me. LATER: Washed it off.

IN THE IMP: Sharp, clean, minty – rather like mouthwash, or some kind of disinfectant solution. ON MY SKIN: Sweet, dry, and very delicately pine-resinous, like dried pine needles and frost. There’s almost no mint in here for me, except for maybe the little edge of clean frostiness. The mosses and ambergris are definitely having it out instead, which leads to a beautifully fresh, foresty smell. It manages to be both smoky-warm (the ambergris) and chilly at once. LATER: Stays true throughout. Not a strong throw, which is nice, as resinous scents usually overwhelm me. This is a better winter-woods scent for me than any of the blends that I actually WANTED to be winter woods! (Nocnitsa, Wolf Moon 2006, Ulalume…) Not sure if I like it quite enough to get an imp of my own (this was borrowed from a friend), but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. My number-one adjective for this on me would be “delicate;” to be very elaborate about it, it makes me imagine a very still, ice- and snow-brushed pine forest under a pale sky.

IN THE IMP: A fruity-floral bath gel or shampoo. ON MY SKIN: Same as above, for the first five minutes – it’s cute, sweet, and, well, clean, but not terribly interesting. Afterwards, it starts building more complexity. The fresh mandarin and honeydew are most noticeable, with a little rough edge (musks, wood?) and a tangy bitterness (neroli?) that keeps it from being boring or foody. I can definitely picture a clear desert sky with odd lights on the horizon when I sniff this. LATER: This really is a “glowy” scent; it’s clear, airy, refreshing, and “colorful.” It’s deceptively simple, not strong in throw at all, but playful, a little bit quirky and unusual. This test was from a friend’s imp, but I might have to buy one of my own!

IN THE IMP: Strong pines, slightly sour. ON MY SKIN: For the first minute or so, damp, dark forest soil and strong pines – some more resinous, some almost minty. Then, as always on me, the pines take over and turn into a super-sweet, almost fruity Christmas-y smell. Sigh. Not for me. LATER: About 4 hours later, it’s mostly gone, just a sweet, smoky, piny trace – I quite like the smokiness, but not enough to wear it for the intervening four hours. This was a pretty pleasant surprise in that it didn’t share the wood note in Ulalume and Yggdrasil that goes horribly wrong on me, but still not my thing. The search for the ultimate forest blend goes on!

IN THE IMP: Floral whoosh! It’s a gentle but bright white/yellow sort of floral, which is appropriate. ON SKIN: Jasmine, jasmine, jasmine – I’ve never actually smelled jasmine before, but I’m guessing that this is it, and luckily for me, I really like it. I’m disappointed that I’m not getting any honeysuckle, but it’s not stopping me from constantly huffing my wrist and wanting to reapply. Mmm. I think I’ll have to start keeping an eye out for jasmine blends. This reminds me in a way of one of my other favorites, Moon Rose, in that it’s a light, sweet, pure floral that I just want to slather all over myself. It's the dawn to Moon Rose's evening. Soft and radiant. LATER: Unfortunately, it fades very quickly – most of it is gone in under an hour, but it stays true and light throughout. Definitely a keeper.

IN THE IMP: Rotten, mucky peach. (Blends often smell kind of funky in the imp to me.) ON MY SKIN: Peach and fresh spiky something (probably the bergamot); very fresh and sweet and clean. This burns my skin a little bit, but nothing to worry about. The peach is most evident, with a general sort of background of greenery. I can’t pick out individual notes very well, other than the peach. LATER: This is bright, clean, and sweet, but not overly so – it’s very refreshing and crisp, and a little bit girly. LOVE.

IN THE IMP: Warm, earthy, almost sweet. Dark-red-brown-black. ON MY SKIN: Super slow-drying, musky. It’s sweet and resinous – like woodsmoke on a dark day. It actually turns into something very like Wolf Moon 2006 for me; it’s not quite as sweet, but they share the amber. Low and spicy, with a little woody rough edge. LATER: Soft, sweet amber. This was very warm and wintry, rather comforting, but too masculine and resinous for me.

IN THE IMP: Syrupy, golden vanilla. Hmm. I think I’ve been spoiled by the vanilla in Black Opal, which has a clean muskiness to it that I’m addicted to. ON SKIN: Wow, this is super slow-drying. This is so pretty, yet not quite my thing. It just smells rather generically pretty, like a lotion you might get from Bath & Bodyworks. All the notes listed are evident – it smells like an old, scented linen closet: warm, clean, and sweet. I really like the floral mix, but with the vanilla, it’s just too sweet. I can’t stop sniffing it, but it’s overwhelming at the same time. If I ever got my own imp of this, I’d be tempted to dab it on stationery or similar, rather than myself. Pretty strong throw, too. LATER: Artificially sweet in an unremarkable way. Bleh.

IN THE IMP: Honeydew with a dark, sweet hint of tobacco. ON MY SKIN: A fudge shop!!! With a ripe melon sitting on the counter. I’m serious – it’s incredibly buttery, warm, and sweet, with the crisp, clean smell of the melon toning down the richness a little bit. (When I tried this a second time, I didn’t get the fudge-shop stage, only melon and tobacco, which was still an unexpectedly pleasant combination.) LATER: As always for me, the juniper takes over in fake piney-scent kind of way in about half an hour, though there’s still a strong background of warm, smoky tobacco. Unfortunately, it’s just too strong for me, though I do love the intermediate stage.

IN THE IMP: As janelle_hell said, it smells like DIRT. Clean, fresh, loosely crumbled dirt. A gardener’s dream scent – just what I wanted. ON MY SKIN: There’s still the distinct, definite “dirt!” smell about it, but other odd things keep coming in and out. After about 15 minutes, the odd things settle into an intense, unpleasant sour smell, with a kind of rubbery tang. Uh? LATER: Sour and musty. Sigh.

IN THE IMP: Heavy cake with butterscotch icing. ON MY SKIN: Still butterscotch, then buttered popcorn, then yellow cake, then a weird, sour-sweet berry smell like cough syrup or bubblegum. To be really uncomplimentary about it, it smells as if someone vomited cake on me. (but it was good cake…!) This is all within the first 5 minutes, and it’s kind of intense. After this… interesting interlude, it starts settling down into a really rich yellow cake with fresh, dark berries baked into it. Wow. LATER: I rolled around in yellow cake batter and cooked berries. Yum. Strong throw, but it died down within three or four hours. This is a lot heavier than I expected, but undeniably delicious. This isn’t really something I can wear as a scent, but I’m tempted to keep it just as a pick-me-up when I’m down or craving sweets. What a fun blend!

A dusty, pale-gold scent – like pale, antique wood with gilded edges. This was largely sandalwood with a little bright mandarin to it, with a sweet mustiness underneath that I imagine is the opium. I was disappointed by the lack of vanilla, as I’m quite a vanilla fan, but as usual for me, the sandalwood won out over everything else. In about two hours it was pure sandalwood. Overall, dry, light, and sharply sweet, but not my sort of scent.

Argh. This must share a wood note with Ulalume, because it did nearly the same thing on me - it was entirely an unpleasant, artificial mint, like an airplane bathroom disinfectant. Another of those scents for which I really wish I had more to say...! I got a hint of herbal scent underneath, but I couldn't stand the mint and had to scrub it off my wrist after about 10 minutes.

Exactly as it is described. Starts out as a dark, almost austere herbal/woody scent, with a rough edge of musk. The berries kicked in about half an hour in for me, making it sweeter and wilder. By the end, it was largely berries (as usual, juniper came out a bit too strongly for me, unfortunately) with a little greenery underneath. It lasted quite long – at least 6 hours, I’d like to say. It’s much darker and richer than what I usually wear, so I probably won’t keep it, but it’s lovely nonetheless. Dark, heady, and mysterious.

In the imp: Can't make anything of it here. Sort of a dark-brown murk, with little whiffs blowing out of it at random - like honey, which was nice. On my skin: A creamy, light floral, a bit like white ginger - golden, warm, and sweet. Later: Still largely creamy floral (a bit too sweet at times), but occasionally it separates itself out into perfect, crystalline notes of honey and sweet dried grass, like a late-summer landscape. It's very golden and wistful, not at all grey, as I thought it would be from the description. Lovely. Edit: Massive edit as my second try was much more successful than the first.

In the imp: Sweet burning leaves, with something clear and fresh underneath like wet, crushed herbs. An autumn bonfire? On my skin: All resinous woods - pungent and dark. Within perhaps an hour, it went completely cedarwood, and stayed that way for at least 6 hours. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of how cold and masculine cedarwood is on me; I was hoping for more of an elemental mix with this one. I imagine I just amp cedar like crazy. Rawr. I think I'll keep it for a little while to try a few more times, but it's probably a no. I just don't like cedar enough to have it hanging around on me all day.

I've been having the worst luck with my last BPAL batch - this went to citrus-scented sink cleaner on my skin. I imagine the grapefruit held true, but something else gave it the funky chemical tinge, because the other grapefruit blend I tried (Cheshire Cat) worked pretty well...