Aldercy

Citrusy bubblegum, I think. Lemon and orange and effervescent pink gum. I think I'm right in line with everyone else with those impressions. Slightly baby powder tinged after awhile with a faint doctor's office overtone. I think the latter impression may be related to the fact that Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo reminds me of the bubblegum-flavored grit they use to polish your teeth at the dentist. Though the notes aren't really the same, this oil seems like the bastard half-sister of Bon Vivant. Same sort of feel. Some people have identified strawberry in this scent, so maybe that's what's bringing it to mind. I like it better than Bon Vivant and it has a certain childlike charm to it, but it's not really a happiness potion for me.

... His scent is soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods. Sweet, sweet leather. Almostly flowery, sugar-coated leather. The rosewood is there as well, polished and creamy and gleaming. The incense is a very resiny Catholic type-- an authoritarian, antique grey-gold sort of incense. Reminds me of major holy days and funerals. The leather is too strong for me... too gooey-romance-novel-masculine. The idea behind this is solid, but the final product does not bring to mind the personality or work of Dr. Dee, who I've been interested in for some time. The incense does, given his weird heavenly pursuits, and the parchment certainly would if I could discern that note. I wish I got the chilly, musky, gender-neutral library type notes some others are lucky enough to find. Alas, I smell icky aftershave.

Baku is probably one of the most complex oils I've ever experienced. It's almost shocking. First explosive scent is anise. It's a very rich, multi-faceted black liquorice smell which I find pretty delicious. It's twisted, a little woody... like the roots of a wise old tree or something. There's a dull, dreamy herbal quality to it and a slight bite of dusty paper/parchment. This oil has a strong personality in this initial phase-- it's a bit strange and dark, but it's a comforting darkness. It's on your side, you know? Good for scaring away monsters. Baku reveals its lighter side after about 15 minutes. It turns to a cool, vibrant blue sort of scent which hit my nose with the cold, clear force of menthol. It's somewhat minty, slightly citrusy, but mostly dominated by eucalyptus. These sensations mixed together and softened into a lovely calm scent with undertones of the original woodsy liquorice phase. No lavender at any point for me. There must be anise and eucalyptus (and probably lavender, though it seems totally fickle), but I would love to know the actual full set of notes in this. I didn't have any nightmares, but I've only used it one night so far. Amazingly strange and enjoyable blend though.

This is pretty harsh, at least at first. I think strong booze notes don't quite know what to do on my skin. I had a similar problem with Juke Joint-- these scents are really medicinal, powdery, and weird for awhile. Juke Joint, however, did mellow and become very pleasant after a time, so I have hopes for Perversion, which is also very slowly changing. It becomes softer and woodsier and loses 90% of that nasty clinical sharpness after about a half hour. I sense the potential in this. The leather note is fairly pronounced, but it's a cracked, worn-in armchair sort of leather, saturated with years of exotically fragrant smoke. Not exactly a sleek, black, sexy leather. More masculine than feminine, but not glaringly so. ... why are we all assuming there's coconut in here? o_O Did I miss something? There's a little sweetness, but it seems more like a dark vanilla to me. Decent oil, but I'm not sure it's for me. More of a novelty. We'll see.

Morocco is a hot, silky-smooth sort of scent. I get the desert wind for certain-- it's a steady, soft, sun-baked sort of breeze in the background. I'm getting a little bit of peach and vanilla, which is surprising, and some sort of powdery faint floral. But it's mostly very low-key, unassuming spices. This is a calm, inoffensive oil in pretty much all ways. Nice blend, and it's not overly similar to my other spice scents. Very, very faint. Not much throw.

O smells, to me, precisely like a mixture of The Lion and Snake Oil. I suppose it's just the amber and vanilla fusion. But, seriously, if you like both of those oils, you've got to like O. I hate hate hate vanilla when it comes in the form of candles/lotion/air fresheners/mainstream perfume. I roll my eyes when people get all excited about vanilla this and vanilla that. Get over it already: vanilla is freaking boring. But not in this scent. It works really to its best potential here (as in Snake Oil). Overall, the scent is indeed very sexy and decadent and full-bodied. It's pretty strong on me and lasts longer than most. I'm pretty in love with it, and it's a serious candidate for a 5ml.

Frimp. At first this instantly reminded me of some sort of typical, mainstream men's cologne (it actually smells like a specific guy I know), but it fairly quickly changes on my skin. Calico Jack is strongly oceanic-- it's bathwater warm and brings to mind the translucent turquoise of equatorial saltwater. It's a little gritty and tangy. With a sort of vegetable coolness in the background. Maybe that plant note is the kelp, but I'm not sure what kelp smells like, and it strikes me as a little... melon-ish? The musk/wood notes that initially made this so drenched in masculinity are still there, though more faintly. I don't get much spice from this, at least not any spice I'm familiar with. I'm surprised by how much I like this, though there's still a general impression of maleness about it that might keep me from wearing it too often. I like it, but can picture myself walking into a gathering and someone asking whether I've just used aftershave. lol.

Another lucky frimp I was planning on ordering. Hymn to Proserpine is as delicious as I hoped for. My love affair with amber is definitely growing as I try more blends. This scent is very rich and voluptuous and temperate. Green and gold. It's a proud, distant sort of green scent-- very natural, but in no way humble. Sensual/sexy but a little intimidating. There's a little bite of something dry and powdery/peppery. Sometimes from far away (just catching a bit of it on myself without actually sniffing my wrist) it's a little spicy in a way that reminds me of Bengal. This has some stamina. I applied it early in the evening and was still catching whiffs of it when I woke up the next morning. Just very faint, but there are very few oils that seem to have that power.

Lucky frimp. This was one I had on my wish list. Baneberry reminded me of The Jersey Devil pretty immediately, but without the masculinity, slight weirdness, or pine. It has the same overall mood and some of the same notes. There's the bite of rich cranberry, I think. It's extremely green, but in a pretty generic way that I'm not totally enchanted with. It's true to its description, but doesn't exceed expectations. Becomes a little soapy.

This was a frimp, and I put it on before I looked up the description, so I formed my opinion totally unguided... Seriously, there's no rose in here? When I put it on, it instantly reminded me of a rose lotion I smelled once years ago in some shop on vacation. And when my great aunt smelled said lotion as well, she exclaimed "Oh, that smells like a corpse!" thus drawing alarmed looks from everyone in the vicinity. What she meant, I HOPE, is that there's always a lot of fake rosy perfuminess in funeral homes and that's what it reminded her of. It also reminds me strongly of a rosary I have-- the beads are made from very tightly compressed rose petals. I'm actually sniffing my wrist and then sniffing the rosary at this moment and they're fairly similar. Despite the corpse reference above and my usual dislike for rose, this isn't too bad. At the worst, it threatens to turn old-lady-ish on me, but it's not actually horrendous. It's sort of damp and milky, with a certain sweet/sour tinge of cheap metal. Costume jewelry and waxy makeup. The cloudy water leftover in a vase that used to have flowers in it. Soapy laziness.

Frumious Bandersnatch is a little candle/craft store-ish and slightly plastic-y, as people have mentioned, but overall I like it. It reminds me of unfinished, blonde wood and dried flowers-- both things you can find in a craft store, but neither bad. I've never really found carnation appealing at all, but this is a bold, unusual floral smell. Definitely SPICY. There's some wild, liberally-incorporated pepper in here somewhere. Sadly, I don't exactly get the plum, which was the main note I was looking foward to when I looked this up, but I'm not devastated. There's a candy-like note that might be the plum in disguise-- it reminds me of a very specific sort of candy I used to get as a kid... a lollipop you licked and then dipped in this sour grape powder concoction... So... it's strange and could be better, but I'll wear it sometimes.

Tweedledee is one of my favorite scents and also one of the strangest. It's maybe fruity, but definitely not "light." When I reviewed it, I don't think I was even able to think of anything to compare it to and had to resort to talking in terms of abstract impressions and colors. It's gorgeously insane. Since you said you like darker bizarre oils, I might also suggest Devil's Claw (blackest black weirdness), The Antikythera Mechanism (very odd-- "chocolate bug-spray" is what I think of), Miskatonic University, or The Jersey Devil. I didn't actually like any of these very much, but they would probably have potential on someone else. None of them are remotely conventional.

Frimp! This is an arthritic, cranky, weird sort of scent. There's something about it that reminds me of rotten wood. Like almost everyone has said, Devil's Claw is dark as all hell. It doesn't remind me much of anything alive, green, or plantlike... it's pitch black and angry. Kind of chemical-smelling, like some sort of heady, congealed, rather toxic furniture polish. But it's not too strong unless I smell my wrist. I don't hate it, but it's definitely not pleasant either. Is this what vetiver smells like? If so, I might be a little cautious with that from now on.

Clove cigarettes. Not cigarette smoke exactly, just clove cigarettes in the box. That's definitely my first impression, and it's not a bad one. On closer examination and given a few minutes, this does have a boiling, hearty, thick cider scent. I don't think I sense any orange peel, but that's okay as it wasn't the main thing I was hoping for. I don't know that I've ever roasted apples, but I imagine this is pretty close to what fire-touched apples would smell like. This oil has an incredibly rich, rustic scent. The kind of thing you want to smell on those days when it gets dark way too early and you just kind of want to eat heavily and hibernate. There's cobwebs and sawdust and creaky floorboards in the dark outer corners of this perfume, but at its height it definitely glows and flickers in a very powerful, orange sort of way. Absolutely autumn, absolutely authentic. Really good blend.

I had a really hard time deciding which fall-themed LE I wanted, but I'm very happy with A Blade of Grass so far. It's actually my first 5ml purchase ever. It's really exactly as advertised, at least on me. A lot of people have said that this is very wet, fresh-cut, ultra-green grass (thus making it too much of a summer scent) but I without a doubt get the wispy, yellowed, tired grass of early fall. It's a cool, almost windswept sort of scent. I don't get the fallen leaves note until a little later, but it's certainly there. It's a little musty, like maybe the leaves have been soaked by a good rain and then dried out again... the sweetness of decay is slightly noticeable, but not in an unpleasant way. Overall, I think this is an incredibly enjoyable scent (natural and stimulating), but it's not a traditionally "pretty" perfume. I would never call it sexy or feminine, but it is very beautiful. This is not a cliche, fake "Autumn!" smell at all. It's almost freakishly true to the smell of the October outdoors. It's yardwork followed by falling back into a pile of leaves with a good book. I really don't know how BPAL does it.

I found this unpleasant in the imp-- a little foul really. But within a minute of application, it changes. It smells edible, invigorating, and fairly herbal. I love acai juice, and this does smell just a bit how that tastes. Slippery Poppy Tincture isn't exactly what I was hoping for (in fact, I can't remember what I was actually expecting), but it's a sweet, girlish scent with nothing really offensive about it. I like it enough to hold on to it, but it's not for everyday wear.

The strongest note that presents itself to me is cinnamon, which I assume creeps in through the mulled wine note. Unless I go out of my way to smell my skin, cinnamon is mostly all I get. Combined with the many sorts of greenery included in this, this turns out to be a decidedly Christmas-y scent, as others have mentioned. There's a little bit more going on up close however, though it's difficult to identify. I think of guttering candlelight, whiffs of strange, sweet food from a deep, old kitchen, maybe a faint hint of fur. It's very warm (too warm for July). I don't get much of the dragon's blood, which is surprising since it usually is fairly strong on me, but that's okay. I'm fond of Tintagel, and I think it does somewhat evoke the image of its namesake place, but I think I'll be putting it away until at least late fall.

My very first thought is that Cheshire Cat is the more feminine, introverted version of Tweedledee-- which is strange because they have no overlapping notes whatsoever. But as I'm really fond of Tweedledee, I'm certainly not complaining. I think it's more the mood of the scent than the actual raw ingredients that make it feel similar. I love the citrus in this: not so strong as orange can sometimes be, but bright and healthy nonetheless. There's something about this that reminds me vaguely of being at a carnival or fair... a hot summer night surrounded by neon and far-away laughter. It reminds me a little of Sour Patch Kids and just-squeezed lemonade. However, the very, very light floral notes, particularly the lavender (or maybe chamomile), calm it all down to just a fading, bubbly memory of these things. There's a hint of weirdness or insanity about Cheshire Cat, which is appropriate, but not in a disturbing or dark way at all. Very good overall, and I think I could be in the mood for this at almost any time.

Swank is pretty much precisely as advertised. It's light, sophisticated and faintly... pink. This reminds me of high fashion and the first flirty feelings of being drunk-- it's not outright boozy smelling, just reminiscent of a pleasant bar environment. It has only a subtle suggestion of alcohol and your imagination fills in the rest. I don't come in contact with pomegranates enough to remember whether this smells like them, but it's a decidedly attractive fruit note, and strikes me as quite natural. There's also a hint of apple, which I think provides the "crispness." This is definitely a social scent, one made for helping you feel confident and sexily serene. I'm so glad I ordered Swank; it's an excellent oil.

Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss. I'm a little wary of patchouli, and I'm afraid Greed doesn't really work on me overall. I can kind of sense what it's supposed to be like, and it's a clever blend, but it seems kind of... dirty... on me. Not garden-y earthiness, which I like, but like a faint "unwashed" dirtiness. There's nothing fresh, green, or floral about this when applied to my skin. It's a decidedly brown scent, but flat and stale, with no richness. It's a little like entering a closet or attic full of slightly damp clothes or slowly rotting old things-- someplace stagnant and quiet. It's a heavy, cold smell. Maybe even with a hint of that unnatural sour way your hands smell after handling a lot of coins... which is eerily appropriate for this oil. I like this conceptually, but I absolutely don't want to smell like it. Greed is not for me.

BPAL seems to be talented at sending me frimps that I would never ever think I'd like to order on my own. This was one-- anything with more than one or maybe two floral notes usually frightens me away-- but it turned out a success. It's not something I'm in raptures over, but it's quite nice. It's a slightly damp, almost... dirty? floral. Jasmine, as most people have pointed out, is the strongest thing going on here, but the musk and clove make it... murky. I can see why this would be associated with sex and seduction. It's a scent that exudes a sort of quiet, composed power.

This may sound insane, but when I first put this oil on, my thought was... chocolate bug-spray. That was really the combination that first occurred to me. It was more weird than actually bad, so I left it on and waited. It took awhile, but eventually quieted and became more woody and sort of creamy. There's a kind of pale smokiness to it and it eventually heads toward a vanilla-dominated perfuminess on me. It's not bad after it gets through the initial awkwardness, but I think I have to try it a couple more times before I really know how I feel about it. By the way, The Antikythera Mechanism has a gorgeous color. It's the darkest oil I've personally seen, but it's this lovely, luminous rust color when held up to a light.

Ladon is certainly a keeper. Fruity and temperate-- not too strong. It didn't surprise me much, and essentially follows its description exactly... if I were more daring, I realize I could have probably created a very, very similar effect by wearing Blood Amber and The Hesperides together (both of which I really like), but Ladon does have a little bit something extra. I'm not sure if it's the hyacinth. I love love love hyacinths and actually searched for oils with it... and Ladon was the only one. So I'm hoping that note will come through a little bit stronger with time, but even if it doesn't, this perfume is quite good. It's a happy, youthful smell. (Also, I would like to add that this particular order of imps arrived at lightspeed. Really, I think I had the package a week after placing my order, which is significantly faster than usual. I'm accustomed to and don't mind the wait for BPAL scents, but I was pleasantly surprised this time! Thanks!)

This is mainly strong and darkly fruity on me. It doesn't develop, change, or last very long, but it's nice and golden for the time that it's around. It's not my favorite scent of all time, but I like it.

I really don't get the mint that strongly in this, though it seems to be the top note for most people. It's there, but barely. It's powdery, with some alcoholic tones. It reminds me of something a bit... clinical. Very much like when a nurse swabs your arm with one of those alcohol wipes before drawing blood. On top of that, I do sense the sugar. Like real, raw sugar-- not a sweet baked goods scent, but just unadulterated white sugar. If you've ever actually smelled it pure like that, it's not actually the greatest smell. Anyway, this combines into a strange, kind of interesting scent. It's not horribly offensive, but it's not gorgeous either. I wish I was getting some of the notes people have mentioned! EDIT: A few hours later... I am occasionally shocked by how much difference time makes to some of these scents. When I wrote this review, I'd had it on for awhile, to the point where I didn't think it could morph any more. But it did. For one thing, Juke Joint has some staying power. It loses almost all of that clinical bite I complained of earlier and becomes much more organic. I am now struck by its woodiness. Yep, golden liquor with some oakey goodness. Faintly dusty, like being in a very old, deep, earthy brewery cellar. No mint whatsoever, but this oil has improved at least five or ten times over. Juke Joint may have rocketed into the ranks of my most common scents.