DarthArwen

This started with a heavy, dry spice scent that made me check if it wasn't accidentally Pumpkin V from 2009 - which I generally find too heavy to wear. It mellowed down in maybe 20-30 minutes and became a very pleasantly foody spice scent. Not really what I had expected and not as distinct from things like Pumpkin Latte as I had hoped, but I'll be wearing it nonetheless.

Oh man, if only my favourite scents had a tenth of the strength/throw of Hell's Belle. I had an imp of it, mixed it with 4 parts jojoba oil. Literally just touched the roller ball to my throat on either side. Developed a headache from the overpowering scent (I think I just get floral (Magnolia or Oleander mix? Not sure) to the power of 100. Washed it off, but still smelled it quite strongly. Four days later the scent is still in the hoodie I was wearing then (the oil didn't touch the fabric) and it is now at a strength I would describe as 'Heavy throw, very present, but wearable'. I can't even imagine what the pure oil would have done, but it wouldn't have been fun. Basically this is a scent I like best when it is in its bottle standing on the other side of the room, and I just occasionally get a whiff of it on the air.

Nobody? *sadface*

I have Rituals Hammam foamy shower gel - it says it's eucalyptus and rosemary. I LOVE the scent, but it doesn't stick around long, and just mixing essential oils gets you something very different. Is there something of the lab that smells like it?

I love this, I suspect I'll be wearing it all winter! It starts as a really heavy, dry spice scent - cinnamon and clove. Rather overpowering especially from up close. Then as it dries it starts to waft off a delicious baking scent - the spices more mellow, the vanilla and hazelnut and pumpkin come out. I'm not getting the chocolate, but the scent that comes off (the heavy spice scent sticks close to the skin - if I press my nose against it then I'm still getting that) is amazingly like speculaas (Dutch spice cookies) baking. Yum.

Dark chocolate and pepper-smoked caramel. Oh dark chocolate, why can't our love be mutual? I was so looking forward to this scent, and it smells absolutely gorgeous in the bottle. On my skin it rapidly fades until after 5-10 minutes there's nothing left but dust and very faint trace of caramel. *cries* In contrast the milk chocolate scents, which I think are too candy-like to wear, come across loud and clear on me. I think I might work this into a massage oil or something. It does smell so very nice...

I had high hopes for De Sade but it was just incredibly acrid, chemically treated leather Brom Bones smells like my leather coat. Clean but real leathery, it's lovely. I wear it when I'm feeling anxious and need a boost. I only wish it had the tiniest hint of beeswax/honey so it would sweeten just slightly and evoke the scent of freshly cleaned tack..

This started off quite pleasant on me, but soon faded to a faint, watery mint. Kind of.. meh

I got Dragon's Claw as a frimp and I quite like sandalwood so was hopeful... tested it with a friend and it was ROSE! It was the weirdest thing, it was pure rose. On me it faded after about half an hour (I'd only used a tiny bit and glad of it because rose is not good on me). On her it eventually (after about 45 mins) turned into very nice sandalwood.

Tested this with a friend. Mutual response: "WTF, ROSE???" Half an hour later she was wondering what the nice woodish smell on her knee was. For her, worth suffering through the rose stage. For me it just faded as rose. Weird.

This is fruit, but a dark, sophisticated fruit. It's lovely and sweet on me, not sickly and not perfumey. I'm so pleased! I think this is going to be my new fave in the 'girly' category :-)

Replying to myself half a year later... have tried all three now Bliss is the best chocolate scent, in the sense that it's true milk chocolate. I like it, but it's a bit candy-ish and childish Candy Butcher wasn't chocolate on me at all, though it smelled gorgeous in the imp. Just morphed to faint-sweet on my skin. Bummer. Though a bit of a relief too since it's been discontinued since. Gluttony is not chocolate on me, but a gorgeous yummy foody smell. This is one of my favourites of all BPAL. Wonderfully comforting I-smell-nommable scent.

I'm a bit of a pyromane and was hoping for a nice campfire smell, but what I get is dirty pine-ish cleaning liquid. Euagh

I get this as warm dry soil. It's not unpleasant, but not something I want to smell of. Shame, I had hopes of this one! I think I might let it age for a bit (it's lab fresh now) and retest it later in the hope that it'll work better.

I was SO ready to love this. Love the concept, love the scent out of the imp. Yum. Like Gluttony with added coffee. Mmmm. Sadly on my skin the coffee immediately disappears, leaving me with... dust. Possibly some wood. Not Good. With regrets, but to the swapbox.