marared

This is delicate, a young lady's scent. I'm more of a Grindhouse kind of girl. I chose this one because I've had good luck with all the individual notes in this scent in the past. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it air freshener, the combination is sweet but fairly bland. It's pretty much just apricot juice on my wrist, and I was hoping for more of a kick, a little mystery, from the orange blossom.

Again, a mistake in my mailbox, so just a very tiny swab to see what it's like. In the imp, I can barely pick out any scent at all, just a vaguely fresh and flowery trail. The same ends up being true on my skin, but noticeably stronger - it's all tea and gardenia on me, and I'd say the comparison to Embalming Fluid is pretty accurate, minus the flower. It's actually kind of nice. Not a bottle purchase for me, though, as the gardenia gets progressively stronger and it's just a liiiittle too heady for me.

While I can tell there's patchouli and tobacco in this, the pine is the dominant note in the imp. I only gave this a very teeny dab, as this landed in my mailbox by mistake - I probably wouldn't have tried it at all, because I don't really like pine, but I thought that perhaps the vanilla would come out more on the skin, and in fact it does. It steps on the pine and pushes it into the background, and it turns into more of a resiny smoke smell. I definitely like this better as it dries, but it's still not something I'd purchase for myself in the end.

Morocco, Bengal, and Silk Road seem to be the Big Three when it comes to warm, spicy Middle Eastern blends. Now, Morocco is immediately identifiable, but I had to dredge up Bengal because I thought Silk Road was very reminiscent of it. After smelling the two together, Silk Road is drier, dustier, like dry tea herbs and spices in a pot whereas Bengal is tea already brewed and steaming. I bet layering these would be awesome...

I listed this as an alternate, something I always do just in case something wasn't available in the first six scents I'd listed, and the lab kindly included it as a freebie. Yay! Right out of the imp, there's a big lemony whack that's almost like an all-purpose kitchen cleanser, but it morphs almost right away, and I can smell the orange blossom trying to push its way to the forefront. Lavender and the other herbs have no chance against these two battling it out for dominance. Hm. It's starting to trigger a headache. Time to go wash it off.

I got this because I really like warm and spicy citrus scents. There's a bitter tang to it when I sniff it in the imp, but that disappears on my skin, and I smell lots of spicy orange blossom, which is very nice. I think I'm going to let this sit for another month or two, though, and see if age improves it, because it's not very strong. Later edit: aging is a *definite* improvement. It's still not really strong, but after six months it turns into so much awesome. The black narcissus lost the bitterness that it had when it was fresh, but it still gives a darker edge to the blossoms and the vanilla and makes it so very sexy. I will be buying a bottle of it, but I'll have to stick it in the closet for a few months and try desperately to resist using it until it's ready...

I'm not sure what it is about this scent, but just like Carnal (which doesn't have any notes in common with this) my skin sucks it up on contact. I can smell it fine in the imp, but there's almost *nothing* on my wrist, despite two swabs in the same spot. I can pick out a little bit of lemon and a little bit of balsam. After a few minutes it tries to escape the black hole of my pores, and that might be the beeswax, but I can't smell anything unless I put my nose right up against my wrist. Which is too bad, because this is an *interesting* scent...

Frimp! ...way too woodsy for my tastes. The oakmoss seems to be the dominant note on my skin, because all I can smell is a plank of wood. Sorta like whiskey, in that regard. It's not unpleasant, just not at all my thing. (edit because woodsy is not earthy!)

I realize this is almost four years old, but I LOL'd. This was a frimp. It's definitely straight-up leather... I was afraid it would be more violently leather than this, but it's actually kind of mellow. Alas, I think this also is a little too masculine for my tastes, although I'd love to swipe it on a guy and sniff it again. ...I need a guy to swipe it on in the first place! *ahem*

Oh HELLO there! What a delightful fruity floral mix! I think this was what I was hoping for from La Bella Donna Mia Mente, except the rose spoiled all the fun. This is a very Southern smell to me - the fragrant gardens, the burstingly ripe peaches. I like that this doesn't come across as plasticky and artificial, which happens a lot with these types of notes. I think I'll put this on my list of bottles that I might buy when there's nothing else that takes priority.

This is a very ... insubstantial scent. It's not very strong, and the vanilla comes out and takes over the sandalwood after five minutes. It's sort of like a daydream scent, going la la la with your head in the clouds, but it doesn't take much to snap you out of it.

Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco. Arg, for this imp has a sticky top that's nearly impossible to get open! I really like this one, but it's not a scent I think I would wear - however, I would love to slather a guy in this and cuddle up and sniff it on *him*. It's very well blended, and it takes a while for the vanilla to come out, but it's there, held down by the teak. It's just too masculine for me, alas.

This was a freebie with my decants. I smell no mint or flowers, just amber and wood and leather. It makes me think of a high-rise office where the furniture is solid wood and high-quality leather, which adds very subtly to the smell of a room. I think it adequately represents its description, but not something I'd wear.

Got this as a lab frimp. ...I almost can't tell the difference between this and Lightning; they're both a fresh ozoney scent with a faint hint of citrus. I think Tempest is a little darker, but if you blindfolded me, I don't think I could tell which was which.

So I finally got around to checking out the fabled Snake Oil! ...er, it's nice, but not nearly what I was expecting. Just your basic warm vanilla, very mild. Bit of a smoky background to it. The spice makes itself more and more apparent as it dries. It seems like something nice and neutral to wear when you want to wear *something* but you don't want to parade around like a can-can girl. It seems like aging is the way to go, though, so I'm going to drop it in the imp box and let it sit for a couple months and see how I like it then.

Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany. Dionysia has officially replaced Glasgow as my favorite BPAL scent. I knew I loved it from first whiff. I don't really consider it "earthy" (except in an ooh-la-la sexual earthy) - it's a wonderful dark and spicy fruit. It's a pretty equal mix of plumagranate and spice right out of the imp, and the fruit gradually fades into the background after a couple of hours, leaving behind a rich incensey smell. Me gusta. I discovered that a little goes a LONG way, though - I just swiped it on my wrists, elbows, and neck before work, and it was still discernible 9 hours later.

In the bottle - sort of a sweet syrup with a hint of lemon in the background. Wet on skin - root beer. It quickly starts smelling less of root beer and more like cream soda. The lemon has disappeared, and I haven't caught any rosemary, nutmeg, or clove yet, but it seems to get a little spicier as it dries. Right now it's nice, very mild, but not a whole lot of personality to it yet. I'll have to give it an hour and see if it morphs into anything more interesting. I suspect this might age well, too. ETA: I put it on again a day later and let it dry for an hour. I was hoping for a lot more spice, but it's still just a very mild cream. Might be the monthly chemistry, I'll try it again in a week. (I really want to like this!) Second edit: I tried it again when it wasn't quite so fresh and when I hadn't just started my period, and it definitely picked up some personality. I think the key to this is not to expect an insta-arm-devouring-yum, but rather let it follow you around and catch warm sunny whiffs. It seems to be activated by body heat, because I noticed it the most while I was sweating at work.

Another Danube fan here. It's the only aquatic that I've tried that I really like - everything else seems to turn sour on me. If Lightning qualifies as an aquatic, I like that one a lot too, but it's more of a fresh scent than a water scent.

I'm in the process of categorizing my collection before it gets out of hand, and I realized that I never really tested this one, which was a lab frimp. ...rose. gah. See, I'm not opposed to rose in principle, and I can wear scents that have rose as long as it's a background note with other more powerful scents sitting on top of it and holding it down. This one, unfortunately, is a more prominent rose - I can actually still smell some of the greenery that other people mention, but it's still WOAHWOAHROSE on me. Must go scrub now. Sorry...

The Phantom Calliope? A few months later I actually see this response. lol. That's one of the scents I have been considering, but the reviews mostly seem to point out the cherry, and I'm afraid of the patchouli - at least in terms of trying to match the scent. And it's not impable, so I'm waffling on whether to buy a bottle and hope I like it even if it's not at all like YSTW...

Exact opposite experience that I had with Danube: sniffed it in an imp that a friend brought me a couple of years ago and loved it, bought a bottle and was unimpressed - and after two years of trying it every few months, it just isn't my thing. Coldie, if you want my bottle, you're welcome to it; it's about a centimeter below label (and the label's a bit smudged).

When a friend of mine brought me her box of BPAL a couple of years ago so that I could sniff its contents (evil enabler that she is), Danube was one of my favorite scents. It was apparently somewhat aged, though, because when I bought a 5ml that arrived in the end of February, I was ... not nearly as impressed. I'm not sure just what turned me off - I was afraid that aquatic scents just didn't work with my skin chemistry. However, after letting it sit for almost four months, the bottle has improved to the wonderful cool flowery scent that I loved in the imp, and most importantly, it smells good on ME. This is the only aquatic that has shown any promise so far.

I've flown out of various airports - Baltimore, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, Portland - with imps in my carryon and have never had a problem. I keep them in a baggie to avoid leakage, but I can also whip them out and declare them if I have to.

Wet on my wrist: the first scent to hit my brain is cherry nougat - candy, but not really sweet candy - and then the vetiver and the vanilla take over within a couple of seconds. The cherry grows progressively fainter. Interestingly, this is finally a vetiver note that doesn't make my nose sting. It's a very complex smell, but maybe a little too much green/wood for my taste. Later edit: I tried it again and I like it a lot more the second time around - perhaps aging it for another month is what made the difference. I think I'd seriously consider buying a 5ml of this now, but I'd have to stick it in my closet for 2-3 months first.

My experience has been pretty consistent with almost everyone else's thus far - it's a lot woodsier in the imp and wet on the skin, but it's all lilies on the water when it dries. Unfortunately, it's pretty unimpressive on me. It smells nice, just not a me-smell. I keep buying variations on aquatic scents, and I've come to the conclusion that either they just don't really work on me, or I need to let them sit for a couple of years first, because the imps that I originally fell in love with were rather aged.