Greensleeves

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Peppery lavender and green herbs Wet: Strong powdery lavender, with something green and herbal and fresh, a faint hint of something like fresh clover flowers, or the perfume White Shoulders. After a few minutes on skin: I definitely smell White Shoulders, which is a scent I used to like but which doesn't really make me happy now. The lavender is not really noticeable anymore, but I'm getting what smells like peaches... and honeysuckle. LOTS of honeysuckle. Why, oh why, did it have to be honeysuckle? After first hour: This smell just like Twilight did on me, a big all night honeysuckle dance party on my wrist. After two and a half hours: More honeysuckle. After 5 hours: Still honeysuckle. Final Verdict: Not to my tastes as a recreational perfume, and didn't help me sleep as much as straight single-note lavender does.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Fruity green sweetness. Wet: Soapy, aquatic floral, some sort of lily perhaps, 'ocean breeze' type air freshener or bubble bath. I feel a faint sense of nausea when I smell it. After a few minutes on skin: Soapy ocean breeze with faint spice. Wafts of commercialness, even though I'm reasonably sure I don't smell musk or amber in this. There must be some other note that smells bad and commercial on me in here. I know, it smells a bit like Chanel no5. Strange. I had gotten this hoping that I would smell the Irish Spring thing that some people were getting off this, but there seems to be no hope of that. After first hour: Spicy, oceany, something that smells like agave, pleasant and almost mellow enough that I might enjoy it on someone else, or at least tolerate it. After two and a half hours: Ocean scented air freshener, salt and some sort of floral fruitiness, which I'm reasonably sure is agave. The smell is very blue and sandy. After 5 hours: Pretty much the same as above. Final Verdict: This smells like a pretty 'ocean' scented candle. It's not bad, but not to my personal tastes.

In the bottle: Rich russet oil. Piney, minty, orangey freshness. Wet: Rich pine and herbal mint, smokey citrus incense, so unbelievably good I just want to roll in it. This is a very dark scent, yet so fresh, the subtlety just carries me away and reminds me of everything I love about Bpal when it's the right combination of notes that work on my skin. After a few minutes on skin: Something like what I thought was the leathery note in Bow and Crown of Conquest, or perhaps sage, but I know none of that is in the blend, still, that's the smell I'm getting. Maybe it's the combination of cumin and clove, or, actually, the musk, which is remarkably well-behaved in this blend. It's not doing the gross, heavy commercial thing musk sometimes does on me, nor is it getting powdery. It is starting to amplify a bit and drown out the freshness somewhat, which makes me rather sad. After first hour: Pine and herbs and citrus starting to faintly assert themselves through the musk again, but they're barely able to make themselves known over the heavy, leathery layers of musk, and are scarcely worth mentioning at all. There is the tiniest, most microscopic tinge of sweetness. I am so sad, where did all the goodness go? After two and a half hours: Musk and spices, and smoke with the barest hint of citrus. After 5 hours: More of the same. Final Verdict: I wish the complexity of aromas I smelled at the beginning had lasted, because that would have been enough to propel this scent into my top ten. As it is, it doesn't really place either way.

In the bottle: Light orangey yellow oil. Ferny, citrusy lavender. Wet: Woo, powdery floral explosion, with tangy undertones. Citrus gone, there is none actually in the blend, but this is similar enough to Villain at first. After a few minutes on skin: Now very woody, but not woodsy, and the amber note is starting clear up from its powdery incarnation into something more clear and resinous. The lavender, of course, has completely died. After first hour: The tonka doesn't smell so bad in this blend as it did in Wilde, but I'm getting a definitely hint of ammonia that is quite unpleasant. This is powdery/resinous and darkly spicy, I think the patchouli helps a lot in this case to tone down the tonka into something friendlier. After two and a half hours: This is a resinous, powdery, spicy scent, pleasant enough to wear. I'm a little disappointed by how similar many scents containing amber begin to smell on me. I'm getting strong impressions of O from this, but that's surely the fault of my body chemistry and not the blend itself. After 5 hours: Resinous amber, powder, spicy patchouli. Final Verdict: Pleasant enough, but not remarkable.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Peachy, fruity greenness. Wet: Citrusy green with what smells like heady lilac, even though there is none in the blend, fresh peppery florals coming through. After a few minutes on skin: Strong, overpowering, almost stomach turning florals with a hint of citrus and faint tantalizing hints of greenness. No lavender in sight. Starting to get a hint of something bitter amidst the greens... After first hour: This is making my eyes irritated slightly. I think something in this is not agreeing with me, and the bitter note is increasing. Hubby likes this one, which I would so far rank as probably my least favourite after Wilde. Talk about divergent tastes. After two and a half hours: Bitter herbs and overly sweet, syrupy citrus, accompanied by cloying florals. Now hubby says he's getting a headache from it, and I'm feeling a bit of one myself. I'm also starting to be able to *taste* this scent because it is so overpowering. I feel like I've drank some, and I know I haven't. Ugh. After 5 hours: The bitter note is still there along with the syrupy citrus and the faint powderiness of musk. Final Verdict: After 5 hours this has finally gotten to a throw level and a scent level that is tolerable. It's vaguely pleasant, and has saved itself from a place in my bottom ten, but it is nowhere near my top ten.

In the bottle: Pale, cool, almost green-yellow oil. Woohoo, oranges and fresh, mouthwatering green herbs. Wet: Heavy, almost overpowering fake citrus aroma like that from hard candies, gumdrops, or artificial citrus jello. Very off-putting. After a few minutes on skin: A yellow-orange smelling scent. Citrus aroma dying down a bit to more manageable levels, starting to smell some nice, clean herbs coming through. A few faint florals too, just enough to season the blend without taking over and making it overbearing. Some lavender and something else, like a hint of jasmine tea, which I've always enjoyed drinking, even though I was unsure about in a perfume. Has that sort of citrus-herbal freshness I enjoyed in Villain. After first hour: I really enjoy this, so of course this would be fading fast. Citrus and really pleasant herbs, rich, rounded and pungent, not at all foody, but clean and cool and tangy and refreshing. A little bit like Envy now, with just a hint more sweetness. After two and a half hours: Tangy fresh, slightly sweet herbal with faint hints of floral, I think I smell a bit of basil and oregano, but not enough to make me feel like a spaghetti sauce. The citrus really brings it all together, and with the floral and herbs gives a pretty scent without being overwhelmingly, cloyingly feminine. I think this could smell pleasant on a man as well. After 5 hours: Faint fresh, tangy citrus herbal. Final Verdict: I like this quite a bit, so of course it doesn't last very long, but that just means I'll have to bring the imp along and reapply. One for the top ten, definitely.

In the bottle: Very pale, nearly colourless yellow oil. Lavender and other florals, faint commercial note, I think there is musk in this blend. Yes, there is. Wet: Wow, lavender, floral talcum powder explosion. The lavender is very prominent, which is nice. Getting a spicy hint of rose and something else. After a few minutes on skin: Musky floral talcum powder, and of course the lavender has died. This smells sort of heavy and stiffling, I only have it on one wrist and I'm getting kind of choked up, the smell so strong I can almost taste it. After first hour: Too much musk overtaking the blend, with a few lingering flowers, and an incense note gaining more prominence. This blend has sandalwood, I recall, and it's starting to become noticeable now. After two and a half hours: Powdery musk and sandalwood, faint floral doused in powder. I find the scent rather pleasant, but it's much too floral and feminine for my tastes. After 5 hours: Faint hint of ammonia. Ick. Otherwise pretty much the same as above. Final Verdict: Not exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. One to sell or swap.

In the bottle: Pale, vaguely greenish yellow oil. Pine and something fresh, mouthwatering and green, almost like green apples. Wet: Fresh, bright, herbal, tangy, citrusy, eucalyptusy pine. Still something faint that smells like green apples. After a few minutes on skin: Soft, almost fruity pine with that scent that still conveys the impression of green apples very prominently. I almost like this, but there's something a little cloying in the background, something that I can almost *taste* when I sniff. This is a very bad sign for me when it comes to scents and perfumes. After first hour: Starting to get wafts of commercialness. This blend doesn't list notes, but it does describe itself as sticky, so maybe the stickyness is some sort of resin, possibly amber, which I tend to dislike and which tends to register as bad commercial perfume to my nose. After two and a half hours: The icky cheapo cologne resin was thankfully brief. The scent is dying down to a soft, fruity, herbal, gentle pine. I think I'm getting faint hints of fresh moss, and I wish there was more of that and less of the fruity note, whatever it is. After 5 hours: A fruity sweet and vaguely piney herbal. Final Verdict: I think this blend would have been much, much better without whatever that note is of fruity sweetness that I keep catching. It's feminine and almost foody, and much warmer than I tend to like my green, herbal scents and I think for me it ruins a blend that would have otherwise had lots of potential.

In the bottle: Pretty pale green oil. Aroma of fresh pine/fir trees and a hint of something sweet like bayberry. Very Christmasy. Wet: Eucalyptus but not as obnoxious, though definitely something sinus clearing. Fresh, true pine and coniferous sweetness. Something peppery fresh and green, and deliciously herbal, vaguely like a note of something I smelled in Envy. Hints of bayberry again. After a few minutes on skin: Still mild eucalyptus, underscored by pine/fir and something tangy and almost citrusy. Very refreshing and clean, like walking through a lot filled with fresh Christmas trees for sale. Notes of cedar starting to creep in. Very, very nice... After first hour: Pretty much the same cuddly, comforting pine, cedar and bayberry scent but a lot fainter.The smell of this really makes me happy. After two and a half hours: Very faint soft pine. After 5 hours: Same as above. Final Verdict: I like this a lot, almost enough to want a big bottle.

In the bottle: A very pale oil. Heady dusty florals, what might be jasmine and lavender, but it's hard to pick out the notes. Something tangy. The aroma is highly commercial smelling and doesn't strike me as particularly promising, but I'm going to go ahead. Wet: Mmm, some sort of ferny green citrus lavender, a pleasant combination of green and floral with a hint of pepper. The green must be thyme. Promising after all. After a few minutes on skin: The smell is turning tasty, but like yummy food tasty. I feel like I've been seasoning chicken breasts with citrus and thyme. Pleasant enough, but mouthwatering in quite the wrong way. Of the ones I've tested so far in this latest batch this is the only one to get a positive reaction from hubby. I never thought I would say this, but I believe I've found a masculine type blend that's actually too masculine even for me. After first hour: Ugh, there is something I definitely don't like in this blend, a nauseatingly eyewatering note I tend to associate with strong commercial perfumes that I generally smell on other people when they're wearing excessive amounts of them. Normally I get the sense of commercialness with musk or amber, but there's none in here. I'm suspecting it might be the tonka. I'm hoping it's not the moss. I want to like moss. Hubby still thinks this stuff is wonderful. I told him if I tested it on him and didn't find the note as repellant he was welcome to the imp, but if not it was going far, far, far away from here. After two and a half hours: More commercial men's cologne reeking (tonka?) although with a faint undertone of something green that I wish were much, much, much more prominent. I think I'm starting to get a headache. After 5 hours: I know I really hate this, so I'm not going to wait another two and a half hours. Final Verdict: This smells heavy and commercial and unpleasant to me, it doesn't do things I like with my body chemistry, nor my husband's. I want this out of my house. If someone got onto an elevator with me wearing this I would be extremely tempted to get off and take the stairs. Wilde = me repellant. This is the first Bpal I have truly hated.

In the bottle: Strong, honey coloured oil. Lavender, fruit and spice. Wet: Lavender and herbal, citrus, sage. Very faint, evokes deprivation because I seem to be deprived of the scent of perfume. A faint smokey, incensey edge - must be the sandalwood and frankincense trying to make themselves known. Considering the addition of those two ingredients this seems to be a remarkably light scent, very close to the skin, perhaps one of the few 'incensey' smelling blends I've encountered that I think would actually be suitable for day wear. After a few minutes on skin: A very pleasant, but still faint frankincense, sage and sandalwood bouquet. I think I can detect faint lavender underneath it all, but I'm not sure if that's just because I want it to be there so bad and it always seems to leave. Very light and surprisingly clean for the combination of notes that it has. It's not typical 'fresh and clean' such as a green aquatic, but it's definitely not heavy and musty as incenses sometimes get. It's remarkably refined and delicate. After first hour: Definite sage. I'm beginning to think I amp sage because this now smells remarkably similar to the way Bow and Crown of Conquest smelled on me, minus the vanilla. Frankincense coming in to mix with the sage changes the aroma so it doesn't smell so much like Bow and Crown of Conquest. The scent is still remarkably light considering the notes it contains. After two and a half hours: Sage and frankincense, and soft hints of amber, even though there is no amber in the blend. Very close to the skin. No florals left, which is quite disappointing. After 5 hours: More of the same. Final Verdict: A pleasant scent which I enjoyed testing out, but it didn't reach out and grab me and say "I'm yours!"

In the bottle: Intense, golden yellow oil. Lavender, some other sort of tangy floral and something that I would swear smells like watermelon despite the fact that this is not one of the notes listed in the blend. Wet: Fresh lavender and other fresh floral (must be the violet), still something melony. Very pleasantly strong lavender. I wonder if this will be one of the blends where lavender stays more prominent. After a few minutes on skin: An heady purple-blue scent, with quite a strong throw without any apparent musky, incensey, woodsy notes. Intense peppery fresh floral with lavender and violet blended quite well and still in the forefront. I can see some people with perfume sensitivities potentially getting ill from the strength of this scent if it is being worn around them. Starting to get a faint tang of 'commercialness' in this blend, which makes me think there's musk after all - checked, yes there is, and the aroma of watermelon is getting stronger, and more unpleasantly artificial smelling. I can't stop smelling my wrist, alternating between mindsets of "Mmmmm..." and "Ugh..." After first hour: Powdery artificial watermelon and not much else. After two and a half hours: Powdery violet with faint artificial watermelon. After 5 hours: Same as above. Final Verdict: Not awful, definitely interesting, with a really great start, but the notes that last on me are not the ones I love best. Smelling of this would not be an extra boost of happiness to my day, and that's ultimately what I look for in a scent.

In the bottle: Pale, but not extremely pale yellow oil. Tangy, commercial perfume notes - this is usually how my nose identifies amber or musk since it doesn't work well with my body chemistry. I'm getting an aroma of something fruity like peach, nectarine or passionfruit, regardless of whether it is in the ingredients of the blend or not. Spicy undertone, could be a faint whiff of lavender - much fainter than I'd hoped. Overall the commercial smell is making me reluctant to want to put this on my skin, but not so reluctant that I'm going to skip it. Wet: Stronger lavender mixed with powdery, incensy spice. After a few minutes on skin: Citrusy lavender incense, faint clean herbal notes coming through. This is better than in the bottle, the heavy, perfumey, overblown chemically commercial notes I was getting from the bottle seem to be gone. This blend now reminds me a little of Gaueko, as I'm getting a faint smokiness from the combination of notes, but it's more fruity and not quite as headshoppy, though I think this is strong enough that if worn on more than one place (it currently adorns just one wrist) it might irritate someone who has chemical/perfume sensitivities. After first hour: As the scent gets more mild I'm reminded a bit of Villain as well, it has that same sort of pleasant soft lavender and citrus tang. I think Villain does it better, but at the same time, this scent seems to have a bit more throw on me. Now I'm getting more floral notes and smokey sandalwood and patchouli a lot more clearly. I cheated and found out what was in this so I would stop saying incense and smoke as I'm trying to learn to better identify notes. After two and a half hours: Strong patchouli, musk, and sandalwood, faint citrus, very little floral left, but still quite a strong scent, considering that my skin tends to eat most things I've put on so far. Sadly, the scents that remain the strongest are the ones I like the least in this blend. After 5 hours: Faint sandalwood and patchouli, and not much else. Final Verdict: The smell is quite pleasant on my skin, but it isn't the scent memory that I would like people to associate with me, nor is it the kind of thing I would catch a whiff of on myself and suddenly feel happy to be alive. It isn't 'me.'

This scent was a real disappointment to me. I was testing it at a friend's place so I couldn't get a lot of notes from it, but my overwhelming experience was that of a pleasant enough, but largely-commercial smelling lemony floral perfume. I kept getting notes of amber even though I don't think there's any in the blend, and amber *hates* my body chemistry, it always just smells like commercial perfume instead of the multi-faceted and subtle blends that I think of when I think of Bpal.

This scent was not on my list of things to try, but my friend wanted to test some out on me while we were testing out scents so I figured it would be a chance to broaden my horizons. Because I don't actually own this imp I wasn't able to create as thorough a review as I might have, but this is one I'm content not to own, though I'm glad I had an opportunity to try it. Wet: baby powder on a clean, freshly washed crotch Dry: hints of powdery lilac and amber, baby powder, more crotchy goodness I honestly see why this is called O, but it doesn't make me O.

This review won't be quite as good as my other reviews because I only got to try it tonight at a friend's house. I was really excited to try this because it had lavender listed as a note and it's a goal of mine to try everything the Lab has ever made that lists lavender as a note, but this didn't turn out so well on me. I'm quite glad I had the opportunity to try some of my friend's imp because the conclusion I reached is that I would not want to own this, so my friend saved me having to purchase a decant and being disappointed. In the bottle: tangy floral citrus lavender similar to Villain Wet: Huge amount of floral amping, lavender no longer identifiable, has a huge and puffy floral throw on my skin similar to Twilight, which I also didn't like. Dry: Several minutes of strong ammonia dwindling to dusty, musty florals. A very dry, very unsatisfying pale grey/white/beige sort of scent.

Any idea of what GC scents resemble Green Tree Viper? I'm thinking of trying it, but I'm afraid of falling in love without having a replacement for when the Carnival goes away. Greensleeves

I was really, really excited when I read the description for Gaueko since I am also a lavender fiend, but I am extremely fond of the smell of unlit tobacco. I could sit there and sniff an unlit cigarette for hours. Sadly when I tried out Gaueko I didn't get either lavender or tobacco notes, just incense, which was pleasant enough, but not what I was hoping for. If there ever is a blend where that tobacco note does stand out for me, softened perhaps by some interesting greeny fresh or spicy florals, I am going to be all over it!

Thank you all for your lovely recommendations and your words of welcome. I'm going to keep a lookout for them when I do my Bpal shopping. A few have found their way onto my wishlist, and I'm actually in the process of ordering a nice bunch of them from a kind soul on LJ. And soon there will be reviews, reviews bursting with lovely green goodness... Greensleeves

I love lavender. Seriously. I love it so much that I did a search on the main Bpal site for all the blends containing lavender, and that became the basis for my wishlist. (I also added some unrelated things I've discovered since then, but that's not on topic.) I also used this thread to determine any hidden lavenders I may have missed from the catalogue - I notice the Somnium and Panacea blends don't list notes so I got recommendations for some of those from here. But I was wondering, are there any more? Or are there any other scents that may not list specific notes but that you think would appeal to a lavender lover, or that smell like they have lavender in them to you? Greensleeves

I'm surprised the Lab hasn't come up with a blend for the Fourth yet. Maybe someone should suggest it to them?

Beaver Moon - that's perfect if only for the title.

I'm probably going to be wearing Envy or Villain because those are the most refreshing scents I own out of my tiny six imp collection, being a rank (but fortunately no longer rank-smelling) newbie. I have so many imps on their way but none are going to arrive until after the big day, and I can't really think of anything appropriate in anything I ordered anyway. Slobbering Pine, perhaps, would be the closest. I know I would most likely not like anything with maple syrup in it as I prefer to eat my foods instead of wear them. Although maybe a maple smell with a smoky tobacco note to take it out of the realm of food. Yeah, maybe maple syrup, woodsmoke, pine... and you could call it Coureur Des Bois after the old fur traders? Greensleeves

Well, I've been trying to hunt down a scent that's appropriately chilly on me for my ice fairy costume since May . . . I haven't tried it yet, but in terms of description Szepasszony sounds pretty good. It sounds all wintry and icy. It's on my list of things to try. Greensleeves

In the bottle: Strong lavender and honeysuckle Wet, on me: Faint lavender and strong powdery honeysuckle Dry, on me: Honeysuckle, honeysuckle, HONEYSUCKLE!!!!!! (psssst... lavender *gets clobbered by HONEYSUCKLE!!!! RARR!!!*) Dry, half an hour later: HI MY NAME IS HONEYSUCKLE, HOW MAY I HONEYSUCKLE YOU TODAY?! Too overpoweringly honeysuckle-y for my tastes, but relatively pleasant.