caffinatedangel

In imp - Cherry Cordials, Black chocolate forest cake? black cherry chocolate forest cake? I forget the name, but that thing. Wet on skin - ... sunblock? Dryer- Yes, sunblock is the scent of the day. I can pick out the chocolate, but it sort of vanished. When it was bitter dark chocolate in the imp, it's not, if anything, creamy plastic chocolate? And the cherry is TART. Which is adding some kind of smell that just says sunblock to my mind. o_o. More sniffing, thinking, and forcing sunblock out of my mind makes me realize this is a cherry + orange smell. It's almost pleasant, but.. just too sharp or fake. Ugh. Could it be that I amp orange blossom? Black Cherry? Something is going very wrong here. ;_; When i force sunblock away, I'm left with overly sweet, plastic cherry and tart orange. Which is dumb, because orange blossom does not = citrus and I know this. But yet, thar it is. My imp was fresh from the lab. Maybe I should let it mellow and try again another day. Of course, it had throw, staying power- but that's the rule when something smells bad, right? Just stays and stays and amps around crazily. I'll try this again in a week or two maybe.

Ordered this as an imp from the lab, because of the patchouli note. You see, I'm madly in love with Patchouli. I'm planning on marrying patchouli and running into the countryside together and starting a commune. With just me, and patchouli. This is not a patchouli scent. I am sad. It is, however, a fruity scent. I'm having an affair with fruit, you see. Ever since I tried Crawdad I went "OH MY, I like fruit scents. Who knew?" and have tried to hide this from patchouli. But, see, when I wear things like Depraved it's oh so very awkward- but oh so delicious. This is not depraved. This is fruit, with patchouli out back working on the yard, and unbeknownst to him a raunchy affair is taking place. Depraved was a threeway with patchouli and fruit. I got this imp, hoping for another three way. Yet, I'm satisfied. Also in Crawdad was green tea, and I wondered... what is it adding to the scent? Naturally, you can't tell at all in crawdad. It's just bizarre. Too much too great who cares mentality. But with Dum, I can tell. Mango is a fresh bright juicy... green. And then the green tea sort of adds this little zest to it. Patchouli is there, but he's just mowing the lawn so all you get is this natural green waft. Then Fig. Fig is a scent I've come across again and again lately, yet have no idea what it is or what it's doing. Stalker. In any case, this is a refreshing scent. It's, in some ways, comparable to Squirting Cucumbers for me. It feels just as bright and splash-worthy. Light, but full bodied (oh THAT'S fig.) It does have a slight... clean feel to it. I want my clothes to smell like this. But don't be mistaken, it is fruit. And the fruit ripens as you wear it. Getting juicier and sweeter as it sits. It does border on candy-sweet, but yet is too juicy for me to feel ok saying that. Maybe more like mango gushers. Do they make those? Maybe I'll layer this with Goblin and see what happens. It's nice, but I wanted my love affair

Wet in imp - Chamomile Tea, warm and fresh. Wet on skin - Spilt chamomile tea. lol Dry - I got it because I've had lots of success with other Tonka blends on my skin. I'm just a huge fan. Honey is also beautiful, no weird amping or sourness or anything for me. Chamomile is chamomile, what can I say. And I've not a clue what hyssop is. But, I think it's this sort of tarter green note. Very fresh, herbal, and lovely. It does kind of get a shampoo-smell, but it's like herbal essence in the 90s, or something. A clean scent, but not "soapy". It's very warm, sweet in a dusted flower kind of way. The combination of all these notes is really unique. Tonka's light spice and sweetness kind of blends with the honey, and sort of puts a perk in Chamomile's step. Hyssop, maybe (cause Ive not much of a clue here) is adding the more herbal soapyish note (In an amazingly good way o_O.). Combined it fits the description. It feels very strong, diligent, almost... pure in a way. Mm. The dryer it gets, the more beautiful it gets. Yes, this is a winner for me. A nice soft note. The throw is lovely, but borders on overpowering. A little goes a long way, as this scent blooms slowly. But the notes that throw are warm and soft, so you kind of radiate warmth. Lasting power. Honey and Tonka always last until well past morning of the next day for me, so this is truly a dedicated oil ^^ It's not a scent I'll rave about. Nothing you know, amazing, unique, or wonky about it. It's not quirky, it's simple, spelled out, but yet one of those staples I feel I may come back to on bad days, just when I need to know something will do what it should.

This reminded me of the patchouli in Depraved. Which was actually the first time I ran across patchouli, and knew I was running across it. And did a little dance and then commenced trading and buying imp packs of nothing but... dundundun PATCHOULI. Goblin did not disappoint my craving. This is the best patchouli ever. And, to top it off, I am madly in love with coconut. Even better, my mother despises everything about coconut. So Goblin, being the mischief makers they are, suits this scent even better. She also hates patchouli. I walk in, she goes "o_O WHAT ON EARTH did you roll in!" Ah. That's the reaction I love. But really, I find patchouli to be one of those amazing scents that draw me back to nature and make me feel all twiggy and earthy and encourages me to go pick those green beans I've been neglecting. Obviously, if you're like my mother and really dislike patchouli, feeling earthy and a little dirty... then I'd avoid Gobin. It's definitely not for everyone I suspect. But if you've been searching for incredible patchouli scents, here you go. It doesn't morph or do anything crazy, it's very basic in that sense. It's an incredible twiggy, slightly rolled-in-fresh-soil sort of patchouli. With that lovely unique coconut scent sneaking in sometimes, and then benzoin, as I understand it, is a sort of vanilla esq scent. It's sweetening it up a bit and adding a little bit of smoothness. Really amazing. Nice throw (without being overwhelming) and lasts a long time, as the same scent too. No "in part three I like the scent but part 2 and 6 it just does something wonky." No complication for this little Goblin. Going on my bottle wishlist. :3

It's pure chocolate mint, wet and in the imp. But as I wear it, the chocolate mint kind of combines with the other sort of woodier notes, and it ends up smelling like mint chocolate cookies. Crumbled all over my wrist. I don't know how else to describe it. Wood tends to behave on me, I guess. I've never got "pencil shavings" from any BPAL scent fortunately. This may actually become a new GC favorite of mine. It's not really a mint scent (Mad Hatter, for example, pretty much stays in your face the whole time) it's more of a chocolate mint cookie scent . I find it to border on "foody" for me, or well, desserty P: but I tend to enjoy those, so it's possible I WANT it to be foody. lol But it's very wearable, unisex (hm this would be drool worthy on a guy in my opinion... *tackles nearest one to see*), and refreshing without being a Lick It with "HI I'M MINT!!" Oh as a disclaimer, I have no idea what pistachio's smell like. o_O Or oakmoss, for that matter. I imagine they're just these notes I don't get in here that are mellowing the scent, well them and vanilla. Kind of delicious. *nibbles her arm* Oh yeah, nice throw (I was gardening and kept getting wafts of chocolate. Now that's nice.) and so far nice endurance. I have a feeling it'll be one of those scents that after wearing it all day, it leaves one of those nice spicy residues behind. Or maybe that's just me o_O

In the imp this was... molasses. Sugary, creamy, almost batter-like foody glee. With a bite of something almost metallic- I'm guessing the currant? Wet on skin - HI THERE PATCHOULI AND MOSS. It went from foody in the imp to WHAM green. Give it a moment... and ah. There's the bright grin of the currant, and the vanilla cream slowly takes it place once again. Drying- Tart, sweet, earthy. This is a bizarre scent. I must have a thing for bizarre scents. Because lawn gnome is now on par with Crawdad. Which was, until now, untouchable in amazing glee by any other bpal. The bite of currant gives it spunk, it's dirty in a green way - which I just adore. Then it has this sweet, buttery, delicious vanilla and molasses undercurrent. which glues the oddness together. This is so bizarre. You have to at least hunt down an imp to test. No sniffies either, you'll miss out on the fun. And omg. I may have to order a few more bottles of this. I just got one, to try it out. Thinking hey, I loved Depraved (patchouli and apricot. yum) so why wouldn't I like a little fruity dirty lawn gnome too? More bottles. Many more. Edit- It has endurance. Hurrah! This is a very solid scent on me. In the later drydown, it gets a little creamsicle-esq on me. But in currant flavor and not orange. I love it.

In the bottle - Pie filling. Or maybe just a pie in general. Must be fig plus fruit, it's got an almost battery feel, without being foody. Wet on skin - Erm. This is really faint, wet. But it has a slight crisp vibe that Candy Phoenix has. But not in your face, the other poster said it well. It's got this underlying "fiz". I'm going to say it's the raspberry note, somehow. Drydown - it sort of had no scent to me, at first. Like I was sniffing air. o_O It slowly, very slowly, unfurled on me. I think "summer musk" has a few unique elements. It glows. It warms the berries. I can always smell this faint hint of fruit, but then randomly, out of no where, I get these POPS of something juicy, then its gone. Very weird. The overall vibe is a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Like resting in the shade on a sweltering day in August, fingers stained by berry picking. With popping an occasional one in your mouth P: I am pleased that the blueberry scent, when it pops out of the honey, musk, and fig, is the same blueberry that was in crawdad. I fell in love with that berry, and so when I spotted berry moon I was all over it. But it just... isn't on the forefront. And being called Berry Moon, I thought it would be YAY berry. It's warm, mellow, sun-warmed... a touch of fruit. It's more a fig and musk scent, with little random fruit pops. I have to say I'm a little disappointed now. As it dried... it just lost all fruit and gained more fig/musk. It's lovely, it's just not berry. Sigh. I'm not going to trade it ALL off right now though. Maybe aging will do something, who knows right? *hopes*

My sister joyfully bought this for me for christmas last year, happily found it tucked away in my stocking . I just haven't gotten around to reviewing until now. It's pink, that's for sure. It's candy, sweet, and really gorgeous. It's not "womanly", and a lot of bpalers I've noted really prefer more full and adult scents (snake oil, for example...). But this isn't really girly either. When someone says girly I tend to think of fake plastic smelling lip gloss or something. This isn't fake, at all. It's just very very very cheerful and bright. Fruity, sweet, and delicious. It IS a lot like sticky pillowcase. However, sticky pillowcase has that almost caramel-toffee vibe of sweetness underneath everything, but candy pheonix doesn't, at all. This isn't a sweet scent that even hints at turning into maple syrup. It's just too bright to bother with those darker notes. I actually prefer sticky pillowcase, however. Because it has that lint (lol I don't know) base note that sort of holds it together more. Candy Phoenix is just a bright, wafty scent with not a whole lot of bottom notes. - That's not to say it vanishes. It's a strong scent on me, with a lot of throw, and a lot of staying power. But I still love it. It's a summer scent. You wont feel weighed down by it, if anything you may just float away with it. It's really beautiful.

Wet in the imp it's got a sharp note that scares me. Neroli? I dont know what that note is, so Im going to blame it. Then on skin there's still a sharpness, but I think it's from the teak. It quickly tones down, though. Patchouli is faint (in contrast to Lust, for example, which screams it deliciously) Dryer on skin it sweetens up, but is a dark scent. With a wetness to it. Im sadly unfamiliar with neroli and bergamont. I have no idea. But this, as a general air, comes across as a dark sweetness. Sexy, but sad. You know how sometimes, you cry, and get angry because you're crying? Or maybe you're crying because you're angry. Either way, you're now pissed with tears because you miss someone so, so much that you're about to explode. Of course Im reading into the description and the name... but it has that feeling to it. Angry, sweet, passionate, all covered with a dark sadness. soft patchouli, sweet vanilla, and a tempered, beautiful rose. As it dries more, rose becomes the central note for me. It's an almost... spiced rose. But I'm starting to wonder if rose just goes spicey on me, even in Katrina van Tassel it ended up a spicey rose cream. But whatever it is, I really love it. It's an intimate scent with very little throw for me. But beautiful. Something to toss on before climbing into the black silk sheets with an SO P:

So, I think I hate myrrh. Something about it reeks of mildewy basement to me. I dunno. I could be crazy. So When I sniffed Lust from the vial, all I got was wet basement. Not lusty at all. Very skeptical. On skin, patchouli pops out. Thank heavens. I love patchouli, I'm a patchouli nut. A crunchy hippy, love for my patchouli. This isn't the patchouli in depraved though- that one is very twiggy. This one is the /perfect/ patchouli. People say myrrh has a sweetness (the scent confuses me, to be honest) so I think myrrh could possibly be adding a touch of sweet to this patchouli. But really? The winner is this red musk. It's adding something that just is winning me over. A full bodied, almost incensey vibe. But not dusty or powdery kind of incense, but actually that perfection of incense. This is Yellow Springs, Ohio. The hippy town of the area. Makes me think of buying herbal supplies and candles and puzzles and books. Street fairs. Oh, and dreads. Cause I sat for hours in my sisters house one evening helping her backcomb her hair into dreads, with some amazingly perfect scent going on. I think it was a mix of something cooking, incense, then this fruity mist stuff we sprayed on her dreads to help them knot. Now if you're aghast at hippies, or dislike patchouli.. then this probably isn't for you. This is, to me, almost an iconic scent for crunchy. Now, I frighteningly wait and sit to see if ylang ylang is something that will pull a jasmine on me and turn into OMG FLORAL all over the place. I've no idea what it smells like, should smell like, or will do on my skin. o_o So far? Sweet patchouli, full bodied red musk, and a touch of something sweet. Not something I'd sniff and say "oh let's do it". Yet it's relaxing. Maybe the boy will find it arousing?

Wet on skin this was a lot like... Eden meets Grand Guignol. And then some faint memory of Miskatonic U. o_O. That must be the wood note. But there's this sort of caramel goo feeling that reminds me of both Eden and Guignol in this note. Its like the happy version of Grand Guignol, and the Eden version with an apple and not a fig. lol I love all these scents I'm tossing out, so that bodes well for Hesperides. It's a crisp, delicious apple. Made a little dark and mysterious by this "twilight mist". The green of the leaves are really making it smell like a real apple, no fakeness for me. And the oak just... i dunno. Where are you? It must just be this general background note easy to ignore, but like a frame for the apple. I think it was caramel/toffeeish early on, but then quickly changed. It just doesn't have much throw, and the apple isn't very strong on me. I was hoping for that POP of fruit like I got from Depraved or Crawdad, but this was more just a mellow blended scent with faint apple. It's only been a few hours, and the scent is dwindling down. Kind of sad, it's really quite beautiful. If only it had more throw, and more staying power. It's actually more of a rain scent. Wet, dewy, non-metallic, I don't know. I feel like its a soft rain in an apple orchard.

I mean if the notes don't tell you enough, this is a honeyed rose. It's soft, feminine, yet somehow... boisterous to me. I imagine this dabbed on ample cleavage before a quilting bee I found it pleasing. Rose is one of the only florals I really enjoy. My skin doesn't amp, eat, or otherwise destroy rose. It just sits perfectly, softly, delicately. But with throw, and lasting power. Im not normally girly, but this is certainly an innocent, girly, almost naive scent. It was actually a little... darker than I thought it would be. Really full bodied and lovely. Sadly I decanted mine out for a circle so am left with just a hair. Maybe I'll go hunt down some more somewhere.

oh.em.gee. So I splash this on, and it instantly sells like Lick it Again. Which I had been wearing yesterday. So I go "oh no! it must have activated the oils from yesterday, even if I bathed and time passed ;_;" so I sit here wearing it, and then realize that... no. No, it just has a peppermint very similar to lick it again. But this has... more. This is lick it again with extras. So I get to seriously sniffing. And ... this is my grandma Vena's house. She has this old late 1800s house, well kept, in a little "german" village in ohio. Every room was decked out with antiques. Upstairs she had this spare bedroom that was turned into a childrens room- all antiques. bed, desk, toys, armoir. It was insane. And it all had this... smell. This bright, fresh, sunlit sort of quirky dream of a scent. This is that smell, I swear. It's pepperminty, nostalgic yet not cause you were never there, but very real grounded dreams. Like, sometimes when you have dreams they feel very distant and surreal. Like they exist in another world. But this is a real dream. Where it feels fictional but no, here's the hard evidence that it did happen. A sort of surreal reaching through time and space to tap on the nose something you thought you never could know. Interestingly, it also reminds me of my boyfriend. The musk just adds to this for me. It's a blooming, almost juicy peppermint at first (Unno, "citron" maybe). With this musky dusty undercurrent, like getting into an old room and stirring everything up. But the longer it sits, the more the minty vibe mellows out and the musk blooms more. For me, it turns almost... creamy spicey leathery. But I've noticed my skin does that to lots of scents. (I love it, no complaints). It's truly unisex to me. But I feel like it would work amazingly on really well-kept/well-dressed guys, who are a little off in a quirky, cute way. I love it. Bottle for the bf coming up.

I just had a sniffie with enough for one non-slathered testing to try this out. But, from what i got.... I got red suckers. Those cheap clear ones. It's very bright (in contrast to the Hollywood Babylon I tried earlier, which is red suckers left in the sun, and so very very dark lol) . And it's something I could see a little girl wearing. Or even girls that are just more into the cutesy side of things. My little sister is into "cute lolita" and may just adore this scent for it. As it wears, the tart brightness does wear down. It gets more beautiful, and more balanced. But like a lot of light scents, the staying power is lacking a little. It's a re-applier for sure. I never really got "berry" from it, just... red sucker. lol I think on those especially hot summer days this is a scent I'd want to splash on just to put a girlish perk in my step.

I haven't tried a whole lot of the CD myself, but I'd suggest The Illustrated Woman : Skin musk, smoky vanilla, pine pitch, patchouli, Indian resins, golden honey, and tobacco. It's similar to Dee in ways, but sweeter and more feminine. And the pine just makes it feel fresh (on me at least ) and isn't pinesol or anything. But between Agrat and Ashlultum (neither of which I've tried yet ) I'd go with Ashlultum, because of the Tonka. Which is what Dee has in it, and is, in my little humble opinion, what makes dee incredible . That vanilla sweet spiceyness on the dry down. Mm.

I had kind of hoped this would pop with fruit. My first bottle buy ever happened to be a bottle of crawdad, and the fruit notes in that were juicy and delicious. Since then, I've been diving into any bpal blends with fruit (also that apricot note in depraved is solid juicy yum). But, this isn't juicy at all. This is candy. Thick, melting candy in summer heat. You know those suckers that end up in the sun too long and you can bite into them because the outer layer is squishy? That. It's a very very deep crimson scent. Beautiful in a dark way. "Dragged into debauch" is perfect. It's like a mature, beautifully sexy woman idly gnawing on a sucker for too long. I personally notice all the notes, equally balanced for the most part. None are missing, and none are sore thumbs. It's just such a dark scent. Sort of slothlike, thick. Melting candy. No. Sexy melting candy. Very little throw on me, I have to huff my arm. but it has staying powder. It's an intimate scent. One I may keep just to pull out and slather on myself before a night with the boytoy. we'll see how that goes before I decide to trade this or not P:

When I first read the notes for Illustrated Woman I swooned and had to try it. Patchouli? Skin musk? Honey? Count me in. But pine is definitely at the forefront in this scent. However, either the labs pine note works well on me, or is just amazing in this blend. I've not had much experience with it, so I can't say. It's a very earthy scent. That's most certainly the patchouli and pine working wonderfully together. Where patchouli is earthy and dirty and twiggy, pine adds this sort of freshness and lightness that really makes the scent full, blooming, and beautiful. It's... almost sweet. and a little wet. Wet as in, juicy. It reminds me of Honeydew melons. o_O. Yet the resigns add this dustiness over the rest (don't read that as "omg it goes to powder" its a good dust.) So it really is like a sexual woman smoking. It's so interesting to me. The skin musk is faint, there, and just really makes the scent feel natural. I've always adored the "skin musk" oils from BPAL. Like Bengal, Velvet Nudie... but this one takes the cake because it's just so natural, hippy-esq without being headshop, and really fitting. Like others had said, this is a scent for a woman not afraid to be tough, yet still embraces her femininity. It's sexual power, in a natural sort of way. The throw is perfect. Not in your face, but not faint on me either. It also appears to last a while as well. ETA: Hm. Hours apon hours later, this gets... floral. And it loses a lot of the glam and pop I loved before. Enough that it makes me consider trading a scent that earlier I was thinking "bottle time!". Hm.

I can't decide what I think of this scent. It's a lot like other "foody" blends to me. Miskatonic U., Gluttony, Drink Me - they all do the same toffee thing on me and start to all smell the same. But, this is the first time Ive had a scent like that and kept sniffing because I smelled something else. I think the problem with the past scents is that I dont know the individual notes well enough to unwrap it, so they just all smell the same. So, Im wondering more. Fig and pomegranate give this oil a sweetness, a tartness, a uniqueness that the others similar to it really lack. It makes it unique. Sort of adds more than just that toffee-like maple syrupy genericness Im getting familar with. But, that aside this oil has staying power. The throw isn't incredible, but it's a nice "glowing" scent. it just sort of swoops around you, comforts you, warms you... so cozy for cold nights. Do I keep it or trade it along its way? Hm.

This is the first "Lick It" I've tried, got it in a swap and was thrilled to get my hands on it. Fresh out of the imp this sucker has a minty punch. Like popping an Altoids in. But for me, its a refreshing awesome stage of this scent. Its bright and cheery and peps you up. Crisp, cold mint. But with a sugar shock factor in it too. Then as it mellows, there's certainly a sugary vanilla that mellows out the mint. It's like those wedding mints, the ones you pop in your mouth and they melt. Everytime I sniff this, my mouth waters. The vanilla isn't... hardcore vanilla. It's the cheap vanilla flavoring we think of whenever someone says vanilla. Which, honestly, I love . Sugar-packed vanilla. Hours hours hours later - this is a soft, creamy mint. Locally we have this chocolate place called Ester Price, they make these holiday mint chocolates that are amazing. White chocolate, mint, holiday colors. They've got bite, but once you bite back they just melt away in a soft sugary deliciousness. This is that. So much. I love this. I'll be on the prowl for these. It has nice throw, not too much but just right that I dont have to huff my wrist. And long endurance. "light" notes dont tend to last long, Ive noticed. but the mint never vanishes, it just relaxes.

This starts out as a wet forest, then turns into a green crayon. (Really, I think I had scented crayons as a kid, green must have been forest?) I never got a hint of this melon, or the fruit others mention. It was very very green on me. It's dry, green, and rather male. But it only lasted a few hours, and never really developed into anything. The initial "HI, I'm GIN and JUNIPER come to play!" was around a little, then faded, and I think my skin actually ate it.

Some reason I wanted apple cider, too. I should remind myself that unless it says "warm apple cider" it's probably not going to smell like it. Their pretty accurate with the descriptions It also smells exactly like the Apple scented candles from Yankee Candle that my sister loves. But I'm not sure how I feel smelling like a candle. It's nice, and most certainly autumny, but almost cliche in a way. It's not bad- just not as interesting as I hoped. Maybe it'd be decent as a room spray? But I never do those so I'll just swap this off, albeit a year later .

I feel like the mimosa note is what the lab is currently discontinuing. As I got this as a frimp from a fellow forumite, and just tried it today... and love it. It reminds me of Madrid and Masabakes in ways. Dragon's blood is sweetened up a bit with pomegranate, tartened with mimosa. The musk, smoke, and myrrh add to that depth and darkness. Then patchouli adds a little bite of earthiness for me. It's so far my favorite out of the Ars Draconis group.

Agreed. Phobos was perfection in the lemon-realm. Embalming Fluid was a bit too much like lemon pledge. It has a clean feel, which is too clean. I want to like it, as the background is rather soft. I love the lab's musks. But as I wear it, the lemon just keeps going. My mother even asked me if I had been dusting today ;_;. I think I'll go snuggle my imp of Phobos for a while. I actually think the fact that the lemon is slightly subdued by the other notes, kind of makes it worse. It just helps remind me of lemon plus dust. It's not horrible. You don't often walk into a home freshly pledged and gag. I just would rather not smell like it myself. It had great throw on me, too. Perhaps I just amped something? And lasted for about half the day.

I thought I'd give it a try. I like the warmth of ambers, but amber + floral = most certainly cloying powdery ew. And this one did just that. It wasn't overwhelming. It just wasn't pleasant to sniff. The throw on me was low, it lasted all day though. It wasn't entirely unpleasant. It has that dark sweetness, but then the floral's I dislike when wrist-sniffed make me sneeze and do the cliche' floral thing I don't care for. It ends up with an overall vibe of just being dark and powdery. Which is almost smokey... but not really that enjoyable for me.

After reading the other reviews, I feel like my imp is wrong somehow . For me, I could hardly smell anything at all. I was huffing and wafting my wrist and it was just a no go. There was something dark, close to the skin, maybe musty. It was a bit dry. Had really little to no throw. I think sandalwood just doesn't do anything on me. Or turns to paper? Maybe I already smell like wood so it had nothing to do. It was amazingly boring, and just added some mustyness to me, which made me smell like a man. Hm. Will certainly trade this off.