Janie

The notes from the lab are very clear and I get all of them from Hellfire. Tobacco is the predominant note in the vial and on my skin, the musk addsinterest and the leather slides it towards the darker side. The incense makes it very wearable. It's very interesting and to my nose is a more wearable pipe tobacco/leather blend than Hearth, which I find overpowering. I wish it had more sillage and lasted longer, but while it is around it is a lovely masculine scent.

Honey and sweet vanilla. It works well on me and smells lovely. I don't pick up any floral notes and the amber is muted. Stays fairly stable the whole way through. I do faintly get the "sex" note, whatever it may be. There is a similar note in Vivienne Westwood's "Boudoir". Lasts well, reasonable sillage. I don't think I'd wear this one to work though!

The cedar, frankincense and sandalwood are predominant for me, both in the vial and on my skin. I enjoyed it for the hour it lasted, but it faded quite quickly after that. Quite a majestic blend, aloof and refined.

A freebie from the Lab, I wore this to bed last night so missed a bit of the dry down period. Nonetheless ... It was like being wrapped up in a blanket of warm golden sunshine and sleeping on a bed of lilies. I woke up this morning thinking "What is that DIVINE smell!" and furiously ratted through the imps until my memory was jogged ... "Ah! Tiger Lily! I think I love you!"

Holy mother of god. This stuff is wonderful from start to finish. I think I am in love with myrrh. And Velvet. Good. It's all good. Need I say more? I thought not.

In the bottle this is sweet as sugar, with a loud strawberry note. On my skin, it starts quite loud and PINK, but dries down to a very nice sweet floral with more than a hint of sophistication. It is much nicer on than in the bottle, thank goodness.

What an interesting oil this is. In the vial it's dry and desiccated, with major sandalwood. For the first at least half hour on my skin it vanishes. Poof. Gone. Then as it dries, it comes back. Or the orris does, with sandalwood in the background. Which is nice, because I really like orris. So far it's been on for 2 hours and it is stronger now than when it went on.

None of the woody notes came out to play with me, sadly. Lots of florals, but not big ass florals ... more shy and retiring florals. It lasted well on me. I could faintly smell it 8 hours later, which for a floral is pretty good for my skin.

Add another "just like the description" comment. How on earth do you make an oil that smells of dirt? Just how does one do that? An interesting scent, one that is quite light, and yet quite earthy at the same time. I wish it lasted longer, but if wishes were horses ...

I don't get loads of orange blossom, but I love what I *do* get: the down-dirty, dark vanilla. I do enjoy this oil. I see the similarity to Snake Oil but enjoy it for its own sake. Long-lasting, good sillage, positive comments. What more could you ask for?

An interesting one where jasmine does not get the upper hand (YAY!). Although it doesn't fade quickly, it doesn't have buckets of sillage. A close-to-you scent. Love the musk/almond/sandalwood accord. Although I won't order a big bottle, I will enjoy the imp.

I was so looking forward to the wine and the tobacco. But on me, Kali is all honey and light floral. Not too long-lasting, quite pleasant, but sadly I don't get quite a few notes that I really was looking forward to.

In the vial, cherry cough syrup. On the skin it starts as almond/cherry, then blooms into a gorgeous, dark, sinfully lascivious scent. All dark, swirly and gloriously noir sillage. Don't be put off by the opening notes, give this a spin on your skin.

This smells like Guerlain's Mitsouko on me in the drydown. No problem there, I love Mitsouko. This is a gorgeous, decadent, lush scent. I could roll around in it. Beautiful.

I don't get tea. I DO get bergamot, which is one of the ingredients of Earl Grey tea, but I don't get the tea leaf part of tea. It's green, it's light, it's pretty and it lasts remarkably well for a light, green scent. A lovely daytime scent, would be delightful in summer. I got a good 5 hours without having to reapply which I think is quite good for a scent of this lightness.

A very tricky kitty, indeed. Used most often as a key to bringing back the joy one needs to have in life in order for living to feel worthwhile. Brings back a sense of delight in simple pleasures, and creates a surge of childlike curiosity and a youthful sense of fun. This blend can also be used to reverse troublesome lesser crossings, create a playful air of catlike sexuality, and, because cats will be cats, it can also be used to throw minor, irritating or bothersome hexes, causing small amounts of chaos and disruption to your foes. I don't know why I love wearing Black Cat to bed, but I do. It's not the rose, because honestly I'm not a huge rose fan. It's darker than just rose. I just love it. It wears well and it smells great in the morning.

Sweet. Very sweet. the ylang-ylang makes its presence felt early on so it becomes sweet AND briefly floral, but mostly sweet. Then it develops into a a lovely skin scent that lasts and lasts. A golden, honeyed scent that lingers around you like a cloud of sweetness. I applied it at 8.00am and I can still smell it at 8pm. Admittedly I have to sniff my wrist, but it's still there.

Am I the only person who gets heliotrope? A really nice, sweet, honeyed, almondine, vanilla heliotrope scent. Good staying power, quite feminine without being overpoweringly sweet. Very little floral. Very easy to wear and charming.

I attended a workshop on Boys Education yesterday and one of the suggestions (along with getting rid of fluorescent lights) was to incorporate aromatherapy into the classroom environment. An interesting thought that begs the question: Which BPAL would you use to assist in engaging students in learning? Some oils must be better at this that others. In particular I am looking for suggestions for oils that can stimulate the brain in a positive way to be receptive to learning, not stimulate the boys into a frenzy of activity!

I decided to trial Lady Macbeth on one arm and Bewitched on the other. Just two random selections from the stash of imps on my table. At first from the vial I thought I was going to go into some sort of Carmen Miranda-induced tutti frutti overdose. Then on my skin, from Bewitched ... NOTHING. Zero. Zip. Nada. Had to plaster my nose to my wrist to smell anything at all. Then, slowly, ever so slowly and softly ... powder. That's IT? Powder? Lady Macbeth is giving all it has in the name of fruit and Bewitched is giving me ... powder. But lo and behold - Bewitched gets STRONGER as it stays on. (How does that happen?) Now, 5 hours into the drydown, Bewitched smells subtly of fruits, powder, musk and green tea. Very pretty.

I decided to trial Lady Macbeth on one arm and Bewitched on the other. Just two random selections from the stash of imps on my table. At first I thought I was going to go into some sort of Carmen Miranda-induced tutti frutti overdose. In the vial: Fruit. Red fruit. Juicy fruit. Sweet fruit. Initially on my skin it was sweet and fruity (there's a surprise). Slowly it developed more complexity and the darker undertones came through. And then *bang* 5 hours later ... it disappeared. A faint lingering aroma. I remember thinking as it was drying down "hey, this isn't so bad! It's good and strong and has great sillage." And I was unfavourably comparing it to Bewitched "darn tht Bewitched ... where now your sweet scent, where now your aroma ... !" I'm not a real fruit fan, but this was quite pleasant. If you liked fruit, you'd love it I dare say.

Fruit scents generally do not do well with me. THIS, on the other hand ... this is very nice. It has a note in it that relieves it from unrelenting fruitiness. It's clever and witty and has a sharp aspect to it that lifts it above the tutti-frutti morass of so many gourmandy scents. Long-lasting, too. Good sillage. Bravo, Swank.

A quiet, pleasant scent that stays close to the skin. In the vial it is a light floral and stays true to that through the drydown. It does have a clean and fresh note to it. A lovely summer scent. Very nice.

From the vial I get a sort of almond/creamy/heliotrope accord. On my skin it's all creamy white almond, but I don't get the cherry that others mention. The drydown gives me more of the same, but lighter. It lasts about 3 hours tops. Off to swaps with Dana.

In the bottle, a woody, soft scent with minimal spice. On the skin, a light scent, again quite woody and with the barest tinge of floral hints. As it dries, it becomes a green, almost chypre-like scent. I get the moss and more wood, but it's a green scent - very clear and fresh, almost perfume-like. On me, this is the most perfume-y BPAL I have tried (perhaps because I am such a green-chypre slut and this pushes my buttons, in a good way) Lovely scent, will consider big bottle purchase.