stardreamer

Well, phoo. I like the name and the association, and I wanted to like the scent. I think this would probably have been a very nice blend without the rose. With it... floral soap. *sigh* Another one for the swap pile.

Not much to be said about this one. Once again, rose + musk = floral soap on me, with an overtone of green this time. Also, my skin is eating it; the first application barely hung around for a couple of hours. I went back and reapplied it a bit more heavily, just to check, and once again it's fading fast. No need even to make R. sniff this one, it's a swapper.

What a surprise I got with this one! It was a Lab freebie, and one I probably woulen't have ordered even though I generally like vanilla scents. The name's a little off-putting, and I was dubious about the blend in general; rosewood and juniper and pine? I'll smell like a woodlot! In the bottle and fresh on, it smells musky/sharp, and I was even more dubious. But after about 15 minutes on me, this is ALL about the vanilla! The other elements recede into the background, hanging around just enough to darken and dry the vanilla scent somewhat. It's warm and sweet without being overwhelming. It doesn't feel particularly "masculine" to me at all, though I can see it as a gender-neutral fragrance. R.'s reaction was neutral. I think this is going to be something to wear when Snake Oil would be too strong, but I still want that vanilla top note. Definitely a keeper! EDIT, several weeks later: This has become the oil I reach for more often than any other. I absolutely ADORE the combination of the woody darkness lurking under the warm vanilla top note; it makes me feel strong and confident, but still womanly. Sort of my "power scent" -- and it *is* powerful, it only takes a tiny bit to last all day long. There will certainly be a big bottle of this in my next order.

Got this one from SoapyRN in a swap for Cordelia. In the bottle and fresh on, this is PEPPER. White pepper, I think, although there's some black in there as well. After a half hour or so, some sweet starts peeking out; after another hour, I'm finally getting some of those Middle Eastern spices, and the pepper is only strong when I sniff my wrist. It's a relatively light fragrance, without the staying power of the heavier scents; 12 hours and it's effectively gone. R. found it "inoffensive but not at all attractive" when fresh; oddly, as it aged he said it became more of a "sneezer". I never caught any honey or almond at all. I'm disappointed, because I really wanted to like this one. But the strong peppery opening and the lack of the spicy richness I was looking for are discouraging. It might be worth keeping and using up the imp, but certainly not getting more. EDIT, several months later. On further use, the peppery opening becomes significanly less noticeable, and it turns into more of a "milk and honey" scent; I can see why some people found a resemblance to Dana O'Shee. I still don't get much in the way of almond, but that's a good thing -- almond tends to become overwhelming on me. It doesn't have much throw, but that's also useful when I don't want to be Perfume Woman! This scent has upgraded itself to "definite keeper".

This was a Lab freebie in my last order, and not one I would ever have ordered for myself. "Roses", of course, is a warning sign for me -- and it seems that roses + musk = floral soap. After about 9 hours, the rose has faded faster than the amber and musk, and it's less soapy-smelling, but it's still not one I have any interest in keeping. R. didn't like it any better than I did. This is a really strong one, too; I only put on a tiny bit, and I suspect I'm still going to have to wash it off before bed, or he'll have a headache in the morning.

Not much to say about this one. It's floral -- sort of a soapy floral; I don't get any sandalwood or musk at all, and wouldn't describe it as dark. R. labeled it "floral soap" too. Not unpleasant, just not a scent that appeals to me. To the swap pile it goes!

I like apricot, but I'm always leery of anything with patchouli in it, so this was a "should I or shouldn't I?" scent. The lab solved my dilemma by tossing it in as a freebie in my last order. On application, I could smell the apricot very strongly, but also the patchouli underneath. Unfortunately, the latter outlasts the former; after several hours, the apricot is definitely an undernote. R. described it as "a sneezer" when fresh, and "really nasty" later on. Given that I've already got 2 apricot scents (March Hare and Siren) that I like really well, plus the apricot single-note, I think I can afford to pass on this one. Oh, and Pkwench, your description made me giggle!

Honestly, there's not a lot to say. It's aquatic; nothing jumps out at me; it's not significantly different from Storm IMO. R. thinks it smells "soapy" -- I'm beginning to think that's his reaction to any kind of aquatic note. I think I like Tempest better anyhow, so another one for the swap pile.

Another Lab freebie, and again, this is one I wouldn't have ordered for myself. In the bottle, my primary impression was "sharp". Applied lightly, which is a good thing, because whatever the "sharp" is seems to be that mothball-y thing again. I sure wish I knew what note causes that! It's not as overwhelmingly mothball-y as Queen was, but it's still there, and that's not something I want to smell like. Away to the swap pile for this one.

This was a Lab freebie. Not something I'd have ordered for myself, and fresh out of the bottle I didn't like it much. Orange blossom smells bitter and harsh to me, although fortunately it seems to fade quickly once it's on my skin. Patchouli is more problematic, especially when it's a primary ingredient. Once on, I could smell the patchouli and something sharp, which is probably the carnation. R. finds it flinchworthy. Drydown doesn't change it much. It's more pleasant than I expected once the orange blossom is gone; I think the carnation is balancing the patchouli. Although I could probably get used to this, I think I'll be better off looking for something with carnation in it that doesn't have musky notes. I may decide to compare-and-contrast this with Danse Macabre before I make a final decision about it, though.

I had some trouble with the 5ml bottle, and wound up getting WAY too much on me. I've been outrageously APRICOT all day long; the whole house smells as if we've been making apricot jam or something! I'd suspected that this was going to be a good scent for me, since I like both March Hare and Siren, and I was right. It's sweet and fruity, and wasn't offensive to R. except by being too strong -- he insisted that we open the windows, since the weather has been nice today. I like the way it smells on me, and look forward to layering it with some of my other single-notes. But I'm not going to try any more of the big bottles until I get some plastic toothpicks or something to dip the oils with!

The spirit of temptation, the essence of lost innocence. Apple blossom, rose, ylang ylang and golden honey. This was a freebie in my last order. It's not something I'd have ordered for myself, as I avoid scents with rose as a component. But hey, I'll be fair and give it a shot. Well, it's not as obsessively, in-your-face ROSE as Old London was, but it's still rose, and I don't like rose. I'd classify this as Old Lady Rose; it's the sort of thing I can imagine someone of my grandmother's generation wearing and loving. I will say that it's pretty nice, for something that's mostly rose -- very light and sweet. The reaction that kicks in is, "Nah, rose," rather than, "Rose, ew!" No need even to make R. take a sniff, it's off to the swap pile. Someone who likes rose will want it. *giggle* R. just walked past as I was typing this, and he very definitely had the "Ew!" reaction.

A invigorating, tempestuous citrus and floral blend. I grabbed an imp of this at the last possible minute, because it looked interesting and it was going away. On me, it seems to be mostly aquatic -- hot water with lemon-scented soap! The florals are very much in the background, and the citrus is only tart for a few minutes, then it smells like doing the dishes. It's pleasant enough, just not particularly special. R. says it's more soapy than anything else. I may try this one a second time before making a final determination, but right now I suspect it's going to be a swap.

First sniff: Watermelon?? Well, some kind of melon, anyhow. This is a nice, light fragrance, fruity enough not to kick in my floral-aversion response. It continues to smell a bit melon-y most of the way thru drydown; the flowery notes emerge more strongly later, but never overwhelmingly. "Musk rose" must be different from regular rose; a quick Google seems to confirm this, and there's no annoyingly ROSE scent in this mix. R. thought it smelled like strawberries when fresh, and didn't like the emergence of the florals later on. I'm somewhat ambivalent about this; I think it might be a good summer fragrance, and am inclined to keep it for a second test in warmer weather.

It's a thick, heavy scent all right, and does seem to fit the concept of Gluttony. But mostly what I smell is "nutty and toasted". No chocolate or vanilla at all, and the sugary notes seem kind of carbonized, like caramelized sugar that's been left on the burner too long. And I could swear that there's a little of the same thing that smelled like mothballs in Queen down underneath it all -- could that be the hops, I wonder? I'll bet coffee lovers tend to like this scent. Hasn't changed at all on drydown. R.'s reaction to it fresh was "Weird", and to it a couple of hours later was "Burnt". Oddly enough, I don't completely dislike it, but I sure as hell don't want to wear it! In fact, I'm going to scrub it off with alcohol and put something else on before hitting the parties tonight. Looks like another one for the swap pile. ETA: It's Gluttony, all right! It was weird and wrong and I didn't really like it, but I was still oddly reluctant to scrub it off -- almost like the smell of it was addictive or something. Putting on Bordello felt like escaping. I would seriously NOT recommend this scent to anyone who has food issues of any kind.

First impression: floral, not really my kind of thing. After a few hours the lemon and musk come out a bit more; I never found the tea at all. R. classes it as "instant headache", to the point of having to walk around the area where I'd been standing when I asked for his opinion. Overall, not memorable for me either; away to the swap pile with this one. Which is kind of too bad, because a different Cordelia -- Countess Vorkosigan, from Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayar books -- is one of my favorite literary characters. ETA: Wow, that was fast! This one didn't survive to make the swap list, it's already gone. Thanks, SoapyRN!

First thing noticed: this is a viscous oil, much thicker than most of the other blends. I also noticed that it left a faint yellowy-green stain on my wrists, from which I surmise that care should be taken to avoid contact between light-colored clothing and this oil. Immediate scent impression: vanilla and incense, but not the heavy patchouli/sandalwood sort of incense; it's something lighter, possibly with jasmine. More of a "60s head shop" kind of aroma than "metaphysical store". And it's strong, ye ghods! Of course, I probably got more oil on me than normal due to the viscosity, but I'll have to remember to apply this one very sparingly in future. I can see why this is a very popular scent! It's sweet but complex; the vanilla keeps it light and the incense makes it sophisticated. I kept getting whiffs of it all afternoon as I was out running around with friends. They liked it too, as did the owner of one of the shops (who makes scented soaps by hand, so I consider that an expert opinion). As time wore on, the vanilla seemed to fade faster than the incense, leaving it slightly unbalanced and not quite as satisfying as earlier. Yeah, there's definitely some jasmine in there. OTOH, it's now 14 hours after application and I'm still catching whiffs that smell like the fresh oil; it's only when I actually sniff at my wrists that I get the heavier dose of incense. Hmmm, maybe some got onto the collar of my T-shirt and that's what I'm whiffing... I like this a lot, but I don't think it's going to be an everyday scent for me. R. didn't like it at all when fresh (possibly because I'd put on too much), but found it more tolerable hours later -- though he did ask me to wash it off before I go to bed so he won't have a headache in the morning. I don't want to smell this strong all the time, but a light dab of it for an evening out would be very nice indeed. It would also probably be very good to layer over a vanilla body-scrub or lotion, to keep the scent going longer.

Not much to be said beyond the description. This is the cinnamon I was looking for (and didn't get) with Wrath. The other notes only modify it, they don't really have a presence of their own. R.'s reaction: "Well, it's cinnamon." Very warm and pleasant; this is definitely one I'll be ordering in a larger bottle and wearing regularly. I'll probably also experiment with layering it; Bliss, Vice, and Swank are obvious potential pairings, and I'm curious to see how it will go with March Hare -- will the clove elements reinforce each other?

Well, I have no idea what a pomegranate smells like; what I get from this is sort of orangey, but not a heavy sweet orange like Carnal. In fact, you could almost call it tangerine -- it's lighter and "yellower" than the average orange scent. Not very long-lasting; I've already reapplied it once, and it's still fading faster than most of BPAL's scents do on me. R. is neutral, which is about the best reaction I'm going to get. I think this will be a nice light summer fragrance; I may try layering it with something else if I want to wear it during cooler weather. Mixed with cinnamon, it might be a "cloved orange pomander" scent which would be good for the holiday season.

The description doesn't say much, but looking at the color, I'd be willing to bet that the "blood" is dragon's blood resin. In the bottle it smells a bit cinnamony. Fresh on, I can still catch some cinnamon, but it's EVIL cinnamon -- there's something dark and unpleasant underneath. I'm not thrilled, and R. puts it squarely into the "Ew, yuck!" category. It gets a bit less obnoxious (to me, at least) after a couple of hours; I could probably get used to it, but with so many other scents to try, I don't see any good reason to keep this one. I did try to layer it with Bliss, but that didn't work so well -- and now it's overwhelmed the chocolate and the original scent is back full-force! (Vice might have been a better choice.) Given my experiences with this and Wrath, I'm beginning to think that dragon's blood is something I should avoid.

In the bottle, I can smell the berries all right, but also something sort of sharp. Once on -- berries and citrus! Very tart, very sharp, but still with the sweet undertone of berry. I am much with the liking of this! It's like Bordello's snarky, wise-assed younger sister. Hours later, it hasn't changed much -- a bit less citrusy, perhaps. R. didn't register objections to it in the car, so I'm going to assume it's safe to keep. I notice that the description also notes "New Formulation", and to be honest, this doesn't smell much like the description; I don't pick up any winey or herbal note at all. Is there any chance that I've gotten the older formulation? It's important information, because if this is the older model, then that's what I need to look for in swaps, while if it's the current one I can confidently order a larger bottle. I just placed this order back at the end of October, if that helps.

This goes on in a flaming burst of cherry and almond... or perhaps I should say, CHERRY! and ALMOND! Seems much more sweet than dark to me, and unfortunately I'm not that fond of almonds. I think I should also have gone lighter on the application, as R. was able to smell it, fresh, from halfway across the house. The drydown analysis was hindered by having to be in and out a lot today -- I think most of it must have ended up on my coat-sleeves. But frankly, I wasn't impressed; while not an awful scent, it just didn't grab me. Since there seem to be a lot of people who really adore it, I think this is a candidate for the swap pile.

When I get a new order and open it, I always notice what I think of as the "parfumerie smell", which is all the scents from the shop mixing together. Since BPAL uses a lot of musk, sandalwood, and patchouli in their scents, and those are very strong fragrances, that's what I get a blast of. And sniffing the outside of the imps, it does seem as though they all smell similar, for pretty much the same reason. What I do is to isolate my imps for a day or two before trying them. I bought some "dessert cup" size reusable cups, and I drop 1 imp into each; empty pill bottles would probably work just as well, or anything else that seals fairly tightly. Then when I open the container later, I can smell *just* that particular imp, since it will have outgassed a bit into the container. For long-term imp storage, I use 2" seed-bead vials, available from your local craft store. Again, this isolates them and keeps my bathroom from starting to smell like the BPAL lab!

A lot of the berry-scented oils are very sweet, but you do get that fruity note as well. Jester smelled to me like fruit punch soda or Hawaiian Punch! Bordello was similar but darker, Bewitched darker yet; among those, I'd say Jester is likeliest to be what you want. Carnal is also very sweet, like an orange lollipop. Bon Vivant was all candied strawberry to me. Sudha Segara and Dana O'Shee are sweet but not nearly as candylike -- honey as opposed to sugar.

Strawberry it definitely is! As seems to be usual with the berry notes, I smell BERRY so overwhelmingly that not much else comes thru. But this is significantly lighter than either Bordello or Bewitched, and would probably be a better option for those who find berry to be overly-sweet. It's also fading relatively fast on me; 6 hours, and it's just a trace. R. finds it inoffensive, so it's worth keeping, but probably not worth getting more once it runs out.