Ravenclaw79

In the imp: Cough medicine??? It smells like Robitussin. Weird. Wet: Apricot? Sure, I'll go along with that. Still has an odd cough syrup edge, though. Drying: It still smells like Robitussin, which isn't really what I'd hoped for.

In the imp: Dragon's blood... I'm learning to identify notes bit by bit, and this one says "sorta grape, sorta cherry, but not really sweet, not really either," which means dragon's blood. Wet: Flowers? Lily of the valley, definitely. Despite the description, it's still surprising that something this color would smell so... not this color. Drying: Ooh! I swear I actually smell some lilac in there! It's not as dominant as I would like, but darnit, it's THERE! Definitely a step in the right direction, that's for sure. I agree with everyone above me that despite the bloody look of this stuff, there's no blood to be had... I get a nice, simple floral instead. But that's fine by me.

In the imp: Lemon Drops? It's sorta like a lemon candy, but there's something really... white, about it, almost like clean linen drying on a line. Wet: Really fresh, bright, with a hint of sweet lemon. It really does give me the impression of laundry line-drying on a really, really sunny day. Drying: Gosh, this is just so bright! It's like a ray of bright-white sunshine, in an imp. I'm straining to smell the lilac, 'cause that's what I'm always looking for... maybe a touch of it, or maybe wishful thinking. It's already starting to fade a bit, too, which is a shame. I may give this one another shot some other time, with a good slathering.

In the imp: Earthy (and I'm not just saying that because of the strange color)... sort of like dirt and Lava soap. Wet: Dust, dust and Lava soap (y'know, the strong pumice-y industrial soap mechanics get their hands clean with). I think there might be something flowery going on underneath... that might be the Lava soap smell. Drying: It's like an old bouquet, left lying on a table for a long time to get all withered and dusty. I get a hint of warmth now, which I'm guessing is the tonka (my brain's saying "vanilla, but not quite")... there's almost something Antique Lace-y about it, in a way.

Ooh, this one's nice! Evocative, I'd say, more than anything, in a good way. What I get out of it is predominately a sort of grassy smell... it's a little like a freshly mowed lawn, but also sort of like weeds and like dead grass, shriveled and brown. What it really reminds me of is my backyard, playing out in the yard when I was little. I can pick up a little seaweed, which is nice, 'cause I still haven't found an aquatic blend I like but I do like that sort of smell. And there's a teeny bit of sweetness in there, too. But mainly, it's a blend of whatever's growing untended in my backyard. I might need a bottle.

Funny how everyone gets such different things out of this one. I tried it today, and my reaction was "lemon? No, wait... BERGAMOT!" The entire time, even after the drydown, it was a cup of tea, Earl Grey, with maybe the tiniest hint of lemon, like a wedge perched on the edge of the teacup. I kept sniffing myself... tasty.

Today, right out of the bottle, I got sweet sugar (almost like syrup) and cheap men's cologne, yuck. I'm hoping maybe it's just 'cause it's a really fresh bottle and that part will calm down... must retest after a bit of aging.

I'm always looking for the perfect lilac scent. This one isn't it, either. It's still not bad. It started off herbal, then calmed down into something floral in a very, well, nighttime way -- this is a scent I can imagine would make a good sleep scent, something to spray on the pillow before bed, that sort of thing. It also reminds me a little of a Charmkin. Lots of florals do that, though.

Red musk, red musk... why must you be so un-musky, so fruity instead? Out of the imp, that's what I got... fruity, fruity musk, sort of Midnight Kiss-ish. For a moment, a powdery musk tried to surface, but it got the beatdown from that red, red musk. But it actually got interesting after a while. After an hour or so, it turned into this warm cloud of red muskyness that isn't bad, really. And this actually got my first compliment from a stranger while wearing BPAL. I stopped at Dunkin' Donuts on my way to work, and the guy behind the counter said "Incense! Do you smell that? Have you been burning incense?" I said no... but I am wearing perfume, and I held out my hand for him to sniff. "Nag Champa!" he said, all excited. I just looked at him, like wha? "Nag Champa! It smells like the Nag Champa incense I burn! Is there Nag Champa in that?" Um, I don't think so... but thanks? Still, it made me smile, 'cause I actually got a reaction out of someone (and a cute someone, too). At the end of the day (and amazingly, it's still floating with me, this big cloud of Smuttyness), I like Smut, but the thing is, it's the sort of smell that would be really awesome if I was going out clubbing, going out to dance and try to pick up a guy. Unfortunately, I never, ever do that. So I don't really think I have a reason for wearing this, any appropriate occasion for it.

I've decided, on one whiff of this bottle, that yeah, vetiver, that's definitely the note that makes me go "blech!" But I ordered the bottle, darnit, so I put some on anyway. And y'know, that horrid stench is actually becoming tamer in this blend. I can smell some of the tobacco and some of the redder stuff, musk and a hint of currant. I'm not really thrilled with it, but it's the best vetiver blend I've sniffed.

This started as a sweet teacake in the bottle, but it turned fruity, in a juicy-citrus sort of way. It smelled like a fruit that I wouldn't actually eat in real life, but at the same time, I kinda wanted to gnaw my hand off. And now, it's settling into something more floral, but sweetly floral, really quite nice.

Well, this is one scent that matches its name to its color -- green, totally green. Y'know what this one is on me? A florist's shop. It's that exact smell. It's nice, but I don't think it's something I'll keep.

For a moment, this smelled sharp and soapy and like I-don't-know-what, one of those "huh?" smells. And then, it settled, and I got it. Heather. Fields of heather, a Scottish meadow. Oddly enough, this one's giving me a ton of scent associations -- a friend's lakeside camp, and the dorms at college, and one of my friends in particular (and she is Scottish and proud of it, so for all I know, she might wear a heather-based perfume). It's just a touch laundry-ish, too, which I like. I'm actually having a bit of a debate right now in my head -- this, or Antique Lace? Which laundry do I like better? This one's lovely, though, and with all of the positive associations I have with it, I'm leaning toward getting a bottle.

I got excited about this one -- four teas, that has to be very tea-y, right? Nope. I can smell the tea, which is a positive, for sure, but I smell lemon and peony over it, enough that it's hiding the tea. It smells like tea with a lot of lemon in it, sitting next to a bouquet of peonies. Still not enough tea for me.

Am I the only one who gets red berries out of this one? It starts almond/incense in the vial, then incense/red berries (a juicy smell and sort of like holly berries), and then the incense fades off so it's predominantly red berries. It's nice, though. I might need a bottle.

I love when I put something on and start smelling obsessively, "what IS that???", and then I make my way to the thread, read the notes and go "OOOHHHhhhh....." In this case, after sniffing and making funny thinky faces, I came here and went, "OOHHHhhh, Chardonnay!" That's what I'm mostly getting out of this one. Chardonnay, and smoke, like I'm getting drunk at a fancy party with a dirty pirate, or something. Interesting, but not me.

Wet, it's typically flowery to me, mostly unremarkable. Drying, though, it starts to get interesting. It's a much drier smell now, with a hint of leather. I'm straining to sniff out tea, tobacco or lilac, 'cause I like all three but haven't caught any of those yet. .... OK, a bit later (far into a marathon sniff, actually -- so many smells, so little unscented arm space!). I get a bit of cigar smoke, now. But still no tea, and no lilac, unless it evaporated into that initial burst of "generic flower smell" I got when it was wet. This might need a second try, 'cause there's something going on that's a little Severin-y, and I love that one.

Initially, this started off a bit lemony, for some reason, like a darker Polyhymnia, almost. Drying, I got ginger, switching back and forth between sharp, pungent fresh ginger and the mellower smell of it baked into gingerbread. (I actually have some Gingerbread Poppet on, too, so I keep switching back and forth comparing the smells.) I don't know what's underneath it, those mysterious resins and herbs, but they're fascinating ... cinnamon? Captain Crunch? Seriously, I'm getting all sorts of weird stuff, like my brain just can't make it compute. (And I really am getting Captain Crunch, from time to time. Or maybe it's Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Maybe.) ... And oh gosh, here's the problem with oils that don't give all of their notes in the description: is that patchoulli? Please, don't be patchoulli. Go away, whatever that is, please, go away. Oh, hey, here's a first ... the spot on my arm where I put this seems to have turned red. At the same time that I now smell a metric crapload of cinnamon. It's like there's a Red Hot on my arm. OK, maybe this one doesn't like me. Too bad -- I was just starting to like it.

Ooh, vanilla? That was actually, literally, my reaction -- "Ooh, vanilla?" Sweet, vanilla-y ... and linen, ooh, I smell the linen! I'm ridiculously excited right now. I almost never seem to get the ideal awesome smell out of anything -- when others smell salt, I smell flowers; when others smell wood, I smell lemons. But this, holy moly, this smells SO AWESOME! I might need a bottle of this. Not want. NEED! It smells like vanilla, and linen, and fabric softener, and win and awesome!

At first, this smelled sorta like an Irish coffee. Then, it went to a cafe mocha, chocolate and coffee ... but before it could settle there and smell awesome, it went straight on into fake chocolate, an artificial chocolate scent, like if you bought a chocolate-scented air freshener. I'm still waiting with fading hope, but I think it's gonna stay fake chocolate. Bummer.

I was looking forward to this one for ages, and now that I've got an imp, sadly, it's not like I'd hoped. I'm still searching for the perfect ocean smell, all salt spray and seaweed. In this one, I get clean and soapy, like an "ocean breeze" shower gel. I guess I must be getting more of the flowery notes than some people. Drat.

Holy crap, this is good! It's not as strongly gingery as I thought it might be -- it's a nice, sweet, spicy balance, definitely like a gingerbread cookie with sugar or icing on top. Every once in a while, the spices catch my nose just right and it smells a little like Indian food, too, which is cool 'cause I love Indian food. Also, when I opened the imp, my mom caught the tiniest whiff and wanted to try it, too. And now she swears she could probably use up a whole bottle if I got her one. I think we have a winner.

Oh, this is delicious! (This is the Resurrected version.) In the imp, it smelled like cotton candy and taffy, very sweet-sugary. On the skin, it shifted to a funnel cake smell, then on into suntan oil, Hawaiian Tropic-y, a bit of coconut, along with a whiff of salt on the air. Beautiful! It's the closest thing I've yet smelled to the actual smell of the beach. Sadly, as the hours went by, it shifted back to being very sugary and cake-y. It's still really nice, though. I might just have to pick up a bottle.

In the imp, it was all cucumber and grass and light, clean scents. On the skin, I caught a flash of lime, but then all of the notes sort of melded into something I can only call "green and clean" -- not soapy, just fresh, clean, a little cucumbery. Unfortunately, it faded pretty fast -- I couldn't even smell it after a couple of hours.

In the imp: ..... Uhhh... a little soap, and a little bit of flowers, and a tiny splash of vomit? This one's really got my nose stumped. Wet: Soapy flowers. I can't really distinguish any of them, and I can't even say it smells like a bouquet, 'cause it doesn't, not to me. The closest I can come is one of those air-freshening sprays, one called "spring flowers" or "fresh meadow" or something. No particular flower is standing out for me. Drying: It's flowery, and it's very, very faint, a very light scent. Not for me.