innocent

I want Eisheth to love me so much, but I'm not sure she does. I was initially put off by the cocoa absolute, but after reading reviews that it wasn't that prominent I decided to give Eisheth a try. Honey and peach are two of my favorite notes, and I'm really beginning to like patchouli, so I was hoping this one would work. The reviews are right - the cocoa is barely present out of the imp and disappears within moments on my skin. Everything is playing nicely except... what's that strange salty / plastic note? Ambergris? Is that you? After a few minutes the plastic impression fades, but a sort of smooth saltiness remains. I think part of my brain was expecting this to be like O, but with peaches added. Of course the only shared note is honey, so I'm not sure WHY I was thinking that... the reality is very different. Eisheth Zenunim is a skin scent, sweet but not cloying, but a salty tang that serves to give it a sophisticated edge. I'm not making a decision yet about a bottle purchase. I need to try Eisheth a few more times without my preconcieved notions of how she SHOULD smell. I get the feeling she's going to grow on me.

First off... <3 to the lovely Tania from whom I got this decant! She must have used magic to get her package to me because it managed to travel from Canada to Texas super-quick AND arrive on a day when I sorely needed a pick me up! So, Daiyu was one of THOSE scents. You know the one. It's the decant you have no real interest in but buy because it's part of the set, or to get your forum order up to the seller's imp minimum. I got Daiyu because it was part of a fabulous CD imp lot that included things I just HAD to try because there was so much buzz about them (Pickled Imp!) and things that I had a lot of personal interest in (Eisheth Zenunim). Poor Daiyu was an also-ran. Apparently my head is full of rocks. I tried Daiyu last night after some disappointing lap dances from Grindhouse ladies I was more interested in. I don't like berries, and jasmine usually turns to soap on my skin. And Daiyu is wonderful. The acai is tart without being sour. The jasmine is behaving. The tea is not too astringent. I can't pick out the chrysanthemum, but I'm not sure what is smells like. And the drydown? My beloved white musk. It's not perfect on my skin. There are still hints of soap during the drydown and Daiyu seems to disappear quite quickly. But in my hair? Lord help me, I want to sex up myself. I must buy Daiyu. Funds permitting, she will go onto my August Lunacy order.

Me: Hi Parthenope. Parthenope: I AM AQUATIC! Me: *reads notes* No you're not. Parthenope: DRYER SHEETS! Me: Honeysuckle! Musk! Benzoin! Parthenope: SOOOOOAP!! Me: *cries, chucks decant into swap pile* I'll try her again in about a week, when the hormones should be more settled - but I don't have much hope. Aquatics hit my skin and turn into bad dryer sheets quite consistently.

Soooo... I'm indifferent to chocolate scents and Snake Oil is only okay on my skin (I only get dry, almost dirty spices once it's on my skin). So why did I try Boomslang? Honestly, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And really, Boomslang is quite yummy. It's sweeter on me than regular Snake Oil (yay!) and the spices don't seem as dirty-smelling. I'm not getting the deep, rich cocoa that many reviewers are - to me the chocolate in Boomslang smells almost like Hersey's syrup. This is not really ideal, but it also fades fairly qickly on me. The drydown is all yummy soft vanilla - but it seems to have a sort of artificial undertone (the dreaded plastic smell!). Fortunately the undertone is very faint indeed. I haven't decided yet if I'll get a bigger bottle of Boomslang. The DH likes it, which is a plus, but it's certainly not my Holy Grail scent. I'll try it a few more times, see how finances stand, and then decide.

Floral with an unpleasant herbal-astrigent smell underneath. I got this as a frimp and don't have any need for it at this point in my life - and I'm glad as this makes my nose itch! *goes to wash it off*

I like violets and I like Queen Gertrude. I've tried a lot of violet BPALs and this one strikes me as having a "greener" tinge than most - as if the violets were freshly cut and you can smell the stems mingling with the flowers. It dries down a touch powdery (NOT baby powdery!) which is nice since the violets are initially a bit in your face. I won't be getting a big bottle of this anytime soon (the Great Violet Search has left me with a LOT of different violet imps) but it's one of my favorites of the BPAL violets and might warrent a bottle if I ever get through my stack of imps!

I got a decant of King Cobra for two reasons 1) I felt like I had to try more of the snake pit than Boomslang and 2) I had to add some imps to go along with the Boomslang to meet the lovely seller's imp minimum. So I stuck the King and Habu onto my order. I didn't expect to like King Cobra. Usually any scent with reviews that mention "dry," "acrid," or "powder" is a disaster on my skin. But apparently the King <3's me, and I'm starting to get a crush on him as well. King Cobra does a very strange thing on my skin. Half the time it will be a smoky, somewhat dry but still sweet incense smell - like a whiff of incense caught in a temple. And sometimes the SO vanilla and the resins will mix... and I get this lovely sweet scent, almost like amber. Both stages are fantastic. I was expecting Boomslang to be the only snake I got a bottle of, but I actually like the King better! Maybe Death Adder (with the Death Vetiver) will surprise me too! I hope so, the rest of the notes are so glorious...

I'm amazed at all the different scents people have gotten out of this one! A word of warning: I brought a second-hand decant off a lovely forumnite, so I'm not sure how aged my Coral Snake is. I'm definitely in the spiced apples / cider camp. I'm surprised how many people didn't smell the SO in this one, because to me it was really apparent. To me this smells most like mulled cider, spices courtesy of the SO and added sweetness from the orange and lemon. It's really lovely and none of the notes go strange on me. At first I thought this would be a bottle purchase, but after a second testing I decided that the added citrus just made the apple too sweet. To be fair, I like normal cider better than mulled cider to begin with. In summary: Wonderful, but not quite me.

First on the King is all wet sweet cherry, very yummy with an almost chocolate undertone (I'm not sure where -that's- from, the rosewood? the musk?). Unfortunately the cherry goes away very quickly. Fortunately what's left is a nice rosy-musky blend with a hint of wood. I never got any lavender, I'm beginning to think my skin devours it. It seems to be fading pretty quickly, which is too bad since I like it. I'll be holding onto this imp.

The top notes are all spicy fruits, very nice. Unfortunately there's some sort of base note here that is screaming, "DO NOT WANT." An earlier reviewer compared it to civet and while I've never tried any of the civet blends that is something about the base note that reminds me of litter box (which is what many people say happens when Civet Goes Wrong). The strange base note fades in and out however - sometimes its not there at all. Even without it, Eris isn't to my taste. I think I'll go wash it off - in case the Bad Note decides to reassert itself. (I'm at work, so waiting out the Bad is a disservice to my coworkers.)

I got this one as a frimp from the lab (yay!) and didn't have high hopes for it - I haven't had much luck with woody or herbal scents. But Odin was much softer than I expected, more musky than woody, with an underlying hint of spices. It ended up going a touch powdery on me, but not in an unpleasant way. I don't think I'll wear this one much, but the various layers are compelling enough that I'll probably hold onto the imp.

I got Libertine while in search of the perfect violet scent, but on my skin the primrose is more prominent. That's fine by me! In earlier days I used to wear a plain rose oil as perfume and I still really enjoy the scent of roses. In Libertine the roses are strengthened by the violet and tempered by the other notes. The rosewood and bergamot aren't very prominent on me, but I get all the other notes. To my nose the chamomile adds an almost vanilla sweetness - but is not quite as strong as vanilla can be. The sandalwood and musk add an enjoyable spicy / dusty feel to this. In the end I really like Libertine and if I use up my imp I'll consider getting a 5ml (I don't use florals too often so I'm not sure I'll ever finish the imp). I wouldn't reccomend this one to people who dislike rose - despite the lovely base notes the rose is still quite prominent.

Peitho is that rarest of BPAL blends... one that works the way it's supposed to on my skin and that I still don't like. Usually my dislike of a BPAL can be attributed to my skin turing it to powder or soap...etc. Peitho stays true on my skin. The vanilla and musk are yummy, grounding the heady florals. The florals (even the jasmine) behave themselves. The result is really quite nice. And yet I don't particularly like Peitho. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's because the florals aren't ones I like in perfume form (I <3 fresh jasmine). The scent is supposed to be heady and seductive and it is... but I prefer my seductive scents to come sweetened with honey rather than lightened with flowers. If the notes sound good to you, give it a go! I gave my imp to a friend and she loves it.

Mint Julep and... Baby powder. After it begins to dry down it turns entirely to baby powder. I'm not too broken-hearted, since I wasn't certain I wanted to spell like bourbon in the first place, but Juke Joint was way more interesting until my skin turned it to powder-ville. For those of you who (like me) turn random things to powder... this is at least the clean, pleasant version of baby powder and not the slighty-used version.

This is overwhemlingly citrus on my skin. Wet, there's something odd under the lemon, almost minty (the "herbs?") it's not quite unpleasant but not pleasant either. This softens a bit on the drydown, gets a touch creamy, and the strange off note fades... but doesn't entirely vanish. I like citrus scents, but this one is not for me - thus keeping up my streak of bad luck with the Wanderlust category!

On and wet this is very salty - almost burns the inside of my nose. Dry it turned into dryer sheets. I haven't had great luck with aquatics thus far, so far Sturgeon Moon is the only one that's worked, and that's largely because of the cucumber. Still, the saline wet phase is really cool - even if I dont' want my perfume to smell that way.

On my sister (who loves citrus scents) Cheshire Cat smelled like the most delectable mixture of grapefruit, vanilla, and a sprinkle of sugar. I was surprised to reread the notes and see that vanilla wasn't listed. It was -so good- on my sister, I could not stop smelling her. This is a case of skin-envy. On me Cheshire Cat is a nice-enough citrus smell with undertones that might be floral, might be vanilla-y, or might be nicely-scented plastic. It's okay, but nothing to write home about. I was so disappointed - if it had smelled as good on me as it did on her I would have bought a bottle or three. The worst part? She just "doesn't like perfume that much". She's NEVER TRIED the imps I got her for her birthday. I might make her some lotion or body wash with this though, since she likes scented bath products.

In the interest of full disclosure... I love amber. Before BPAL I wore amber single note - sometimes I still do. Amber loves me. I love the Maltese Cross. On my skin its blood orange and warm amber with no more than a hint of watery floral. The ambergris behaves itself... I love this one. Bottle!

I don't really get the pom in this one - on me it's a spicy dark resin backed by wonderful musk and tobacco. The moonflower sweetens it a touch. It's a lovely mature scent - reminds me of incense without smelling like a head shop (not that I dislike the way head shops smell). I'm glad I got a bottle of this - especially since it's the first oak moss scent I've tried that seemed more feminine than masculine. Not for everyday - this is a perfume to wear when you want to feel sexy and a touch immoral. ETA: I wore this to bed last night (see the "touch immoral" comment above ) and though I didn't put any in my hair, some got there anyway and I was greeted by the most wonderful cloud of scent as I got up this morning. It almost made going to work fun!

Oh my goodness... I bought my decant off a lovely forumnite, and I'm so glad I did. Ashlultum is a wonderful sweet musky scent on my skin. The lilac and coconut blend together into something light and sweet - but not too tropical or too floral. The vanilla is light and creamy, the musk wonderful. My only criticism is that I can't smell the tobacco, which is one of my favorite notes. Ashlultum is a serious win, I'll almost certainly be getting a bottle.

Wet this was a lovely light smell, slightly too masculine for my tastes. But it's dried down into a lovely combo of white musk and vanilla... almost edible. I don't get any citrus from this... or any tea... A nice, unisex scent.

This is a nice, spicy, woody musk. It's well blended and no one note is standing out on my skin. It's got quite a bit of throw on me - I think I put too much on! (Normally I get very little throw from BPAL.) A nice scent, but a bit too masculine for me to wear often.

CXXXIX (139) A very light oil with a faint scent. It has a lovely clean, green top note. I think it may be aloe, its not strong enough to be cucumber. There's something sweeter and muskier underneath - I want to say vanilla, but again its quite faint. The overall impression is of something clean, watery (but not actually aquatic) and very pale green in color. I like it a lot, but I hope it gets stronger with age. Right now its the faintest BPAL I've ever sniffed, and I really slathered it on. I also put it in my hair, since that sometimes makes notes easier to ID than my skin - but I can't smell it there at all. It's really fun having something unique and I think I might get one more bottle of CT:IV before its over - I don't have too many death notes (vetiver is about the only thing, and even that will work in some blends) so playing the BPAL lotto again is verrry tempting! ETA: After letting this one sit for a few days it's stronger, though the scent hasn't changed. I put it on and there was actually some throw! (I seldom get any throw - even with heavier mixtures). The dry down is just wonderful, sweet and vanilla with maybe the slightest touch of musk. I'm in love.

I was a bit worried about this one (aquatics don't always work out on me) but Sturgeon Moon is lovely! I'm really getting the sweet green of cucumber and agave beneath a light layer of aquatic - like plants growing just beneath the surface of the water. The musk adds a sexy, murky note (musks love me and I them). The musky undertone makes this the first aquatic / clean scent that I think I'll wear frequently - it adds an adult quality to the scent.

Catherine: A Cautionary Tale of Skin Chemistry Friend: Oh! What’s that nice smell? Me: Is it… me?! *sticks wrist under Friend’s nose* Friend: Yes! What BPAL is that? Me: Catherine. Friend: No it’s not. Catherine smells like bug spray. Me: Hmm… let me check. *fumbles for imp, checks label* Nope, it’s Catherine. Friend: Huh. Maybe there was something wrong with my imp. Me: Try mine. Friend: *applies daub to wrists, rubs together* Me: *leans forward it inhale lovely light floral…* Ack! It DOES smell like bug spray. Friend: Told you so. Me: *sniffs own wrist, still yummy* Your skin is evil. On me Catherine was a lovely light floral, mainly rose tempered by what I guess was orange blossom and given a professional edge by the rosemary. On my friend? Herbal bug spray.