trollgirl

Not much to add here that everyone else hasn't already said, except that to me Zombi smells very aquatic. These are not a big, blooming, dewy roses, but grey, faint drowned roses. The scent feels cold, blue-grey and damp. Much more mossy in dry down, however. This lasts an extremely long time on me and smells absolutely divine the entire time.

In imp: Bright citrus, a little bitter. Bergamot, lemon or grapefruit. It also feels very resiny, and almost oily. It's very golden and also very masculine. Wet: Citrus explosion! And this smells very much like Lemon Pledge, the oils from zests of lemon being rubbed into wood. Dry: As this dries the citrus calms down and the woodiness comes through. About fifteen minutes in it's nice and balanced. At this point it smells like any number of mens' aftershaves that I've smelled over the years. Very masculine and sexy. And then, like a teeter-totter, it gets unbalanced on my skin again, with the cedar jumping out screaming "Pencil shavings!" And not just regular pencil shavings either. I get a whiff of waxy crayons. This is like a pile of shavings from a writing implement that's a pencil and crayon hybrid. Not really me. Sigh. Off to swap box.

In the imp: Ooh, fruity. Whiff of delicious red wine with the myrrh and patchouli keeping it from getting too juicy. I think I might like this one. It smells dark and glossy and rich. Wet: Oh, so yummy, wine and myrrh and...oh wait, what's that? Is that you again, jasmine? Jasmine is like all over my skin. I'm watching TV and not even moving and and Jasmine is jumping up and wafting at me going "Hi! Hi hihi!" I sniff the wrist and I can smell the wine and roses and myrrh lurking in the background and they are so absolutely gorgeous and elegant. Jasmine is being kind of obnoxious, but strangely enough, I don't really dislike her as much as I usually do. She's... kinda growing on me. Dry: And now it smells absolutely stunning. Jasmine has settled down and is playing nicely, and the rose is quite gentle. The wine is to die for. It smells like an amazing incense, just enough sweetness balanced with bitterness. After a couple hours it's pretty much all just sandalwood, but wow, what a really fun journey getting there. Much adoration.

This was a frimp (yay!) and it was a lovely surprise I was going to order an imp with my next order. Go lab! In imp: Dragon's blood sweetness, with a little drop of myrrh in the background. Wet: Dragon's blood, which makes my brain go "nom nom nom nom nom". Now there something hot and spicy coming out. I was going to say cinnamon but a split second later it's like TADA!--and it's obviously clove. Dry: Wow, clove made a dramatic entrance and really does not want to be ignored. The trickle of clove in the description is a huge gushing river of clove on me. Myrrh and dragon's blood have been pushed to the back and are being meek back-up singers. After several hours clove seems to give up and fades off a bit leaving a really huffable dragon's blood scent. I thought I didn't like dragon's blood but it's starting to seriously grow on me. We got off on the wrong foot with blends that didn't work and I started blaming dragon's blood, but I think I may owe it an apology. I'm going to hang on to this for a while in the hopes that the clove will mellow out with time.

In imp: Very dark and sweet, like fruit with honey. Doesn't seem that interesting in the imp. Wet: Incense and resin over sweet fruit. The incense note reminds me of myrrh--bitter and dark, but amazing. It might just be the dark amber. Dry: The bitter edge has gone and it's now a lovely dark velvety scent. The fruits in this are ripe and honeyed and so comforting, like a warm fruit compote. The resin gives it depth. This is dark and womanly and gorgeous. Drydown is typical amber, sweet and powdery. Overall: Love this. Reminds me of Mme. Moriarty, but with less of the sexxeh. The fruit notes are probably quite similar. Would be a great autumn scent. I think this is going in my top ten.

I find Gennivre L'Artiste du Diable very sugar-caney. It's very much green tea and sugarcane on me and reminds me of freshly squeezed sugarcane juice (which I haven't had in years *sniffle*). It's green and fresh, yet sweet. Yummy.

In the imp: This actually smells like bruised violets! And it's medicinal. I can totally imagine this being some sort of liniment. I'm a little disappointed that the oil isn't actually a bright violet colour though I'm not sure why I was expecting this. On me: This is very earthy to me. While wet the violets smell just a little soapy, but the moss and patchouli stop them from getting too floral. It smells like dried violets trampled into the dirt. And then a hot breeze picks up the violet-dirt mixture and is tossing it about in a huge dusty cloud of violet. I also smell something that really reminds me of turmeric--a powdery, slightly acrid scent. I get absolutely no red currant or anything remotely fresh or fruity. Alas. Overall: Interesting. I was definitely hoping for a lot more floral sweetness and a lot less dust and dirt. It strikes me as being rather unisex as well. I love the light mossy scent it leaves after a few hours. I tried this on my boyfriend and it smelled really amazing on him. Mossy and woody, and just a little salty. Like good, clean sweat. Very sexy.

In imp: Syrupy sweet. Honey, vanilla and something... else. It must be the dragon's blood. I really wish I had a single note or the resin to compare this with. However, in the imp, this smells very yummy. It smells like it would be... chewy. "Ooh, that's chewy, I want to chew on this smell." Not swallow or eat, just chew. On me: My skin loves honey and vanilla and honey and vanilla both smell really good on me. Yum. And then there's that other smell, something that reminds me of huffing a bouquet of lilies and getting a faceful (and noseful) of pollen. Powdery and sweet. Yes, I smell like vanilla-scented powder. It's woody and dry, yet sickeningly sweet at the same time. It's also becoming sort of plasticky. I dread to say it but I smell like baby powder. And with the plasticky scent coming out, I smell like baby powder dusted on disposable baby diapers (clean ones, thank goodness). Sigh. It smelled so good in the imp, but all powder and plastic on me. It eventually got unbearable and I had to wash it off, and I still smell faintly of plastic baby. Taniableu, in her review right above me, mentioned the smell of My Little Ponies and she is dead on. I don't think dragon's blood and I like each other.

In vial: Sweet and green. Smells like a spiked rose tea. Very interesting. Wet: Sugar, absinthe and rosewater. Delicate, but with a sinister edge to it. Smells like a Victorian slumber party gone horribly wrong (or horribly right, depending on your point of view). Has a very green, herbal and almost minty quality that I can feel in my nostrils and at the back of the throat. Mmm... I like it. 10 minutes later: Sniffing this is making my head spin. The minty coolness I felt at the back of my throat has turned on me. I feel like I've down one too many tequila shots. Am I getting drunk off the absinthe and opium fumes? I feel like I've had a night of hard drinking and partying. Judging from the description, this was the intent, and L'Heure Verte is a roaring success. I like it but I have to wash it off right now. Good grief, my head is killing me. Overall: A beautiful scent, but potent and deadly. To me anyway. Something in this really doesn't agree with me. This is the first fragrance I've had to sleep off.

In vial: Clean-smelling. Very perfume-y. I get the muskiness and the tea, and the chrome has a sharpness that pierces through the entire scent and lifts it up. On me: Musk and chrome. I wonder if the chrome is made out of a blend of citrusy things. It smells very much like a classy men's cologne. I don't get any florals, sadly, and I do love gardenia. And hmm, this smells really familiar... It's CK One! Yup, Torture Queen smells exactly like CK One on me. I thought this to be sweeter and warmer than it is. But it is a very clean, cold and sharp scent, and very unisex.

In vial: Patchouli and sweet cherry. But mostly patchouli. It's dark and sweet. It's not unpleasant but I'm not completely sold yet. My mind is trying desperately to avoid coming to the "this is cherry cough drops" conclusion. Wet: On my skin the patchouli recedes and I get a whiff of something that can only be described as juicy. It's not cherry, and the cherry scent I detected in the vial is M.I.A.. This strikes me as being very citrus-y. It's not as sharp as lemon, and not as sweet as mandarin. It's very bright. Now, looking at the scent notes I believe I am smelling verbena, and the verbena mixed with the cassis is making my nose think juicy citrus. Dry: A while later, the verbena calms down and I'm getting more black fruit. It's sparkling and refreshing, but grounded with the patchouli. I smell amazing. And, this is probably my skin, my nose or a peculiar mix of both but this is almost exactly how Lush's Karma smelled on me. Lovely bright juice with an earthy patchouli base. But it's a lot more subtle than I remember Karma being, and there's a hint of sweet cardamom. I can't stop sniffing myself. Overall: I want to bathe in this stuff. I'm amazed at how it smells so dark and syrupy in the vial and turned to bright light happy summer scent on my skin. Oodles of love. Going to throw money at the lab to stockpile Phantom Calliope before it disappears into the mist forever. Two months later: I put this on today and I have no idea what's happened. Either my skin chemistry is all wonky today or aging has done something to the blend because after about fifteen minutes of lemony fruity heaven, I get play-doh and something that smells almost like the pencil shavings smell that I get from anything with cedar in it. Whyyyyyyyy? I have a bottle on the way too. *heartbroken*

In the imp: Ooh, gardenia! Beautiful, beautiful gardenia. There is also some bitterness here, is that the ginger? It seems to pull the floral down, making it heavier. Wet: This is a deep and complex floral. It's not light at all, there's so much weight to it. It's so hard to describe. Beyond the gardenia, I can't tell what I'm smelling at all. It smells a little aquatic, but earthy at the same time, like a still, shallow pond, dark, just a little muddy, with flowers around it. Haunting. Dry: I'm not sure what I'm smelling here but it comes across as a woody, earthy scent to me. Is it musk? Is it ginger? I don't know, but it's very nice. No throw, however, and I have to put my nose to my wrist to smell it. The flowers are almost gone. It's like someone dried all the blossoms and put them in a lovely carved wooden box. Overall: I expected this to be a really light creamy floral, with its description of white blossoms and aquatic notes, but it turned out completely different. One me, there's nothing about this scent that's "clear" or "bright". It's very warm, very dark, and very... quiet. A grave, beautiful scent. I love it. Bottle in my next order, for sure.

In imp: Showergel, or laundry detergent. Very clean and fresh, but very uninteresting in a household product sort of way. On me: Yes, definitely the scent of Tide Cold Water. Evokes images of laundry day. It's inoffensive and light, but not my thing.

In imp: Lovely honey scent, but it's balanced, so not overly sweet. Like mead. Very yummy. Wet: Honeyed fruit, with a hint of some floral which probably is the dandelion. It's so light and breezy. I don't think it has a very good throw. I feel like I could apply a lot of this and not be sick of it. I can't stop sniffing myself when I wear this. Dry: Floral is coming through. The honey has faded into the background somewhat and it's now very well-blended on my skin. Several hours later it's faded leaving a warm, golden honey skin scent. Overall: So. Much. LOVE. Top ten, for sure. Even my perfume-hating boyfriend says it's "nice". I consider this a resounding success.

In the imp: Fruit juice. Cool and refreshing fruit juice. I can detect some florals but they are very light, and the overall impression is one of a sweet, iced fruity drink. Wet: Woah. All fruit, mostly peaches. It smells like candy and artificial fruit flavors. And I think some fruit is going really sour on me, because I am starting to smell like a sour patch kid. Dry: Ugh, it smells like I have sour lollies hidden in my bra. My brain says it isn't really an unpleasant scent, but it's making me nauseous for some reason. I think it's the plastic, artificial fruit candy smells that are doing it. It also reminds me of something one of my teachers, almost twenty years ago, used to wear. She would slather it on and it would overpower all other smells. Overall: Titania, you smelled lovely and refreshing in your imp, but alas, you are not for me. I shall use you as a room scent or give you away to someone who will appreciate your fruity, flowery goodness.

In the imp: Citrus and floral. I detect roses and jasmine, and I can't decide if I like jasmine. Smells a little aquatic as well, and that aspect of the blend reminds me of cheap bathroom fragrances that are used in copious amounts to cover up the rank smell of public toilets. Maybe this is intentional. People say Venice smells like an open sewer. Not in my experience but maybe I was there on a good day. Wet: Lemons and beautiful roses wafting around me. Reminds me of my day in Venice walking past a garden wall and noticing the soft scent of roses hanging in the air. Then suddenly, the roses are gone and it's all lemon. Lemon! Lemon sorbet, lemon bathroom cleaner, lemon rind, lemon, lemon, lemon. Dry: Lemon has calmed down. It's still there but it's not intrusive. It adds a golden, sparkling quality to the soft and sweet florals that blend so prettily together. It's very womanly, and very lovely, if a little soapy. Overall: This is a pink and gold scent to me. I think of the lush colours of a Renaissance painting: a beautiful woman, reclining by her window watching the setting sun light the canals of Venice, turning them to ribbons of gold. She is draped in pale rose silk and has cut flowers at her feet. I will probably keep and use my imp, but I don't like it enough to get a bottle.

I was a little afraid of trying this. I ordered three imps with vetiver in them and the first two didn't really work on me. I decided that vetiver tends to make me smell unwashed, and was really close to writing Voodoo off as well. Glad I didn't. In the vial: Ahhh! Vetiver! Vetiver and pine. And a sweet nuttiness. It's woodsy and earthy, and... vetiver! Oh noes. Wet: Pine and lime and vanilla. It's very green and woodsy, almost minty, but the vanilla balances out the sharp greeness and makes it smooth and warm. Dry: The sharpness of the pine has left. The scent that wafts around me reminds me of vanilla cola, or some other kind of soda. Vanilla with an intruiging background of myrrh and patchouli. Makes me think of wood nymphs and dryads. Gorgeous. Oddly enough, the vanilla comes out more on my wrist. On the inside of my elbow it's all myrrh and patchouli. Overall: Reminds me of my other favourite Belladonna. Green and herbaceous, but sweet. I was afraid of the vetiver because I've not liked the other blends with vetiver that I've tried. But I think that vanilla just loves me and it's making the vetiver behave. A big bottle of Voodoo lovin' will be mine! Muahahaha!

In vial: Predominantly orchid to me. I can't really detect the other notes. It's very well-blended. I like it. It's not a perfume that jumps up and down and screams "Notice meeeee!" like some of the other blends I've tried. Wet: Orchid and some musk. It reminds me of something you might buy in a department store, but not in a bad way. It's so elegant and timeless. Classic. I could see myself smelling like this wearing a white sundress in Paris in spring. Dry: Orchids, with a hint of bergamot, and lovely light musk. It's a grown-up floral. There's a clean-ness and lightness to this smell. It feels like a "white" scent to me, if that makes sense. The orchid makes it seem very creamy, but not sweet. Lovely. A winner. Orchid fades over the course of the day, leaving a gentle juniper and musk fragrance. Overall: This makes me feel very feminine, more so even than the fruity florals I tend to gravitate towards, which tend to make me feel girly, and not womanly. At the same time, It smells wonderful on the boy as well, but it's not feminine on him. This scent just seems to enhance you, whoever you are. The the smell of you, but BETTER.

In vial: Sweet, bubbly citrus. Juicy. Wet: Sweet fruitiness. Orange and lily. Fresh and lovely. Girly. Dry: Smells like something from Lush, or like a Lush store. The citrus has calmed down and is replaced by vanilla and lilies. It's very, very delicious. Very lovely. Three hours later: And now it's drying down exactly like Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle on me. I mean, exactly. I caught a whiff of myself when I turned my head and I thought "Waaaaaitaminute. I didn't put on Coco Mademoiselle today!" Uncanny similarity. It's an almost too sweet vanilla and lilies type scent now. Overall: It's bright and fresh in the beginning and sweet and creamy and rich once it dries. I love it in the first few hours but then it becomes Chanel and while I love Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, it's dry-down is what lasts longest on me and the phase I love the smell of least. Sadly, I really really wanted a bottle of this when I first put it on and then as the day wore on I was thinking "Don't I already have a 100ml of this on my dresser?"

Mmm, coconuts. I love coconuts. In vial: Overwhelmingly toasted coconut. Like coconut macaroons. Very sweet and syrupy. At least it's delicious coconut, and not cheap suntan oil coconut. Wet: This is just so sickly sweet, like I drenched myself in honey and dusted myself in toasted coconut. Tar and feathering of a different kind. It just feels "sticky" to me, like sticky figs, or sticky buns or sticky treacle and all manner of sticky, sugar-filled cavity-causing foods. It's cloying. Dry: The sweetness seems to have calmed down, and though I still smell a hint of coconut, it's not overwhelming or unpleasant. It's smooth and soft. Comforting. Perhaps it the warm milk that I'm detecting. It's better now, makes me just smell sweet and yummy. Overall: Too sweet. While I like sweet, and I like coconut, I don't like how coconut is so strong on me. Everytime I wear something coconut-y, my skin just screams coconut and nothing else. People smell me coming 100 yards away and coconut is something you either love or you hate, so half of the people screw up their nose at me and go "Er, you smell funny". While I do enjoy how it dries down, this would probably be a bad perfume for me.

So, geeking out for a second here. I play World of Warcraft (a lot) and my most-played character is a troll hunter (hence the username). The trolls in WoW have tribalistic, voodoo-ey culture and are a wild and war-like bunch. So since I identify so much with my trolls, my first BPAL order had to include imps of Troll, Voodoo and Bloodlust (a troll shaman ability). I really wanted to like Troll so I could say "Yay, I smell like my troll!" In vial: Sniffing the imp I smell something earthy, like damp soil. It's a pleasant smell. I also detect nuttiness, like burnt almonds. Holding the imp further away I get the clove scent wafting towards me. It's very spicy, and it definitely smells burnt. Wet: I've put this scent on me three times over the course of three days, trying to figure it out. I really wanted to like it. The first time, all I smelled was bitter, bitter cloves, cumin and stale sweat and body odor. Ew. So rank. Second time, I put less on, and cumin overpowers everything. It's like I've smeared curry on myself. Bitter spices and body odor again, but no cloves this time. Maybe the Troll doesn't like me. The third time it went on it smelled more like it smelled in the imp. Earthiness, that lovely nuttiness, some cumin, some cloves, and the bitterness is still there, but it isn't an unpleasant sort of bitterness. It just gives it depth, like the bitterness of chocolate. Dry: I'm glad I gave this one a chance the third time I put it on instead of trying to wash it off. After a while, the cumin and cloves seem to calm down. I get more woodsy-ness and pine. And musk! It is definitely earthy and brown. It's a sort of close to the skin scent when it's like this. When its wet it seems to throw cloves and cumin and bitterness all around but once that's gone and I sniff myself I smell really good. I find it a very womanly, earth-mother sort of scent. Emerald green trees and dark brown earth. I went to sleep with it and I woke up and I could still smell a hint of muskiness. Nice. Overall: Troll is very interesting. I really like it after it calms down and just becomes a musky skin scent. I'm not sure what changed the third time I put it on. It just smelled... good. Maybe it was because I put it on at night after a long day and my skin chemistry was different? Maybe the Troll prefers the darkness? Who knows? It's a mystery. I'm still deciding if I want a bottle.

I wanted this to be like Lush’s Karma. I got an imp of this because I heard they were similar. I’ve loved Karma from the first time I smelled it, and I’ve always resisted buying it for some reason. In vial: Incense, patchouli and a hint of orange. The orange isn’t as upfront as I hoped it would be. It’s hiding behind all the other scents, which I can’t really identify save for the patchouli. Wet: I smell the orange a little more now. It does remind me a little bit of Karma, but where Karma was bright, cheery and sunny, this is dark and a little scary. I smell the orange through a thick cloud of sweet, woodsy incense. This smells like Karma is a happy innocent girl going to a ball and she’s dancing with a mysterious masked stranger who’s leading her across the dancefloor and down a dark corridor. You see flashes of her happy orange dress every so often but they are so fleeting. It's quite pretty here, and I do like it. Dry: Okay, so the mysterious stranger took Karma down a dark corridor and murdered her. The orange is gone and all I get is the patchouli and a dark and sweet incense-y thing. A little woodsy, and fading fast. And as it was drying off I caught a whiff of...burnt rubber. Err... Overall: A little too dark for me, I think. Definitely mysterious. It smells like a shop where they sell magick paraphernalia and goth clothes and burn waaaaay too much incense.

So, I really like roses. Red roses, especially. And Blood Roses is one of my favourite Tori Amos songs, so I was really hoping to like this one. In vial: Very strong rose perfume. I think I can smell it even with the imp cap on. This is probably what I was smelling when I opened my mail package. It's that strong. Wet: Rose. Okay, I get that it's a rose perfume. Can I please smell something else now? My nose tickles. It's very powdery. Dry: Rose. But dark, thick and sweet. Like the roses have wilted and their smell is getting concentrated. Like they've been trampled into the dirt. Not a fresh, light rose, this one. Very powdery when I have my nose close to my skin. (ETA: Also I finally remember what this smells like to me. When I was a kid we used to get this concentrated rose-flavoured sugar syrup that you could make drinks with and Blood Rose smells exactly like that. Thick and goopy and sweet.) Overall: Strong strong perfume. I've tried other blends with Dragon's Blood now and I think this component of the blend is what's making me squirm a little. It's sweet and sticky and I find it too overwhelming.

Belladonna has the dubious honor of being the first BPAL scent I've put on my skin. It is a pretty, pretty pale green in the imp. Irresistable. In vial: Uh, okay...very medicinal. This is supposed to be a perfume? So much menthol, eucalyptus. Very herby. Like a medicinal oil or rub. Smells like it should clear my sinuses. Checked the forum, hey, other people get Vaporub from this. It's not just me then. Good. Wet: Menthol. Medicine. Overpowering. I don't want to sniff myself. Begging the smell to go away. Dry: The menthol vaporub smell is going away. Woo! And there something warm and sweet beneath. It's almost cloying floral, but pretty. Ghostly. Reminds me of frangipani. Mellows out to something that's like sandalwood or incense. Joss sticks from Chinese temples. Disappears very quickly after. Overall: Interesting. Definitely grew on me. Menthol phase is off-putting, but I find the ghostly floral very intruiging. I had the boy sniff my wrist and he said it was "sweet". So he definitely only got the sweet floral, and not the vaporub. Smells like funerals, and temples and ghost stories. Very weird, but I like. Edited to add: I put this on yesterday but I can't stop thinking about this scent today. Maybe its because it's my first but I just wish I had my imp with me so I could smell it again. I didn't expect this one to draw me in so much. I reread the Lab's description of Belladonna and I have to say it mirrors my experience of the scent perfectly. That strange, bitter herb scent at first, and then slowly the beautiful, haunting spirit surfaces. Unforgettable. Definitely going to get a bottle in my next order.