It's been a while since I've spent any time enjoying perfume. Over two years, in fact. Partially this is due to a huge life change - new career, new home in a new country. new life, essentially.

All good things.

But it has left little opportunity to do more than spritz on my old faithfuls before I fly out the door. Also, most of perfume has been sitting at my parent's house back in Australia. So when I finally got the chance to bring my box of perfumes to Canada with me, I felt all the old excitement coming back. It's a creative passion for me, and I'm not the type of have a signature scent. Why limit yourself when there are so many wonderful scents to explore?

My collection is an eclectic mix of higher-end and mainstream EDP/Ts, some treasured indies and a small-ish (but hopefully growing) stash of BPAL perfume oils. It's floral heavy, but with a few orientals, classics and warm amber/vanilla scents thrown in for good measure. Something for every mood and whim. I have a bag of imps that's like a lucky dip, since it's been so long since I looked up any of the descriptions or reviews.

I'm hopping a little blogging here will be a good way to keep track of what I try and of how the scents make me feel.

Since all the names of the imps are a bit lost on me, I picked a full bottle since that was sure to be a safe bet: Black Rose

Testing Notes: BPAL Black Rose (Rappaccini's Garden)

Exquisitely melancholy. The background scent to an ancient exequies. Heavy, dark and floral: a blend of roses, with a touch of amber and musk.

Black Rose smells exactly like I thought it would when I first tried it a few years back: deep, rich, musky with a hint of sweetness. It's a big, bold rose. Slightly old-fashioned (which I see as a compliment) but doesn't feel dusty or soap-like. It's juicy, ripe. Voluptuous. Like a rose that's almost past full bloom.

I don't really get the amber from the description, which is a shame. On my skin it's definitely heavier on the musk. But there's a hint of something darker, almost incense-y. It's definitely sexy in a red-lipstick and all-black outfit kind of way.

Wear notes: it's heavy, definitely not a summer scent. Dry down is more musk than rose, smells great right through.

Definitely worth my full bottle. I love this scent!

Edited to add: I saw quite a few people on the thread about this perfume mention incense, and when I wore this out of the house two separate people commented that they thought they could smell incense while standing close to me. So perhaps that's the 'darkness' I'm getting from it.