Seismogenic

So, yesterday we had a drill for a fake 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault and then an awareness fair showing just what kind of damage comes from that sort of earthquake. Today, we have real Santa Ana winds in the forecast. Santa Barbara is already on fire. It's going to be 90 here today. Sounds like an appropriate day for a scent based on the embodiment of fear and panic! In the imp: Very sharply lemon. Not of the citrus cleaner variety, but definitely extremely lemon. Wet on skin: More of an herbal lemon now, which makes sense if it's lemongrass and lemon verbena rather than straight up lemon. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's sweetening up quite a bit. I'm guessing that might be the work of the grapefruit and the musk. It doesn't smell overtly musky, though; it's still very citrus, which means I doubt it will last long on me. At an hour in, it's lemon hard candy dusted in powdered sugar. I'm still assuming the musk is what's making it go sweet, though it still doesn't smell musky. Five hours later: Sweet and lightly musky, with a little bit of an herbal lemon edge left. End of the day: Gone. Overall: First of all, I'm amazed that any of the citrus element in this made it to the five hour mark on me! Second of all, lemon drops do not speak to me of fear. My skin didn't want to listen to the "chilling" in the description, and I got sweet instead, which kind of goes against the concept of fear and terror. I do not necessarily wish to smell terrifying, of course, but I was looking forward to the "chilling" aspect. I certainly don't dislike the scent, but it also doesn't really do anything for me.

The wonderful Persephone76 was kind enough to give me a testable sniffie of Boomslang at a MnS last weekend. For this summer's Carnaval Pecheur game on the forum, my character was the Boomslang, so I'm excited to get to try this one properly, even though a brief sniff at Will Call was already chocolate overload. But yes, here goes with my first evar CD review. In the imp: Rich strong dark chocolate, with the slightest suggestion of something spicy behind it. Wet on skin: Holy viscosity, Batman! This didn't want to come out of the imp! Now that it has, it's still a wonderful rich chocolate with some spice. I'm guessing that's the Snake Oil! Is this the part where I admit I've never tried regular Snake Oil? Also, there are brown spots on my wrists. Drydown: Freshly dry, the chocolate is still the main note, but the other elements are becoming more noticeable, even if I can't put a finger on what they actually are. I'm guessing the smoothish one is the rice milk, since it's not really vanilla-y. I can't yet tell if the edge to it is all the spices from Snake Oil, or if the teakwood is also involved. At an hour in, the chocolate has receded further; it's still an active melding note of the blend, but it's not the total foreground anymore. I'm getting more of what I assume is the rice milk, and I can tell there's something more woodlike (I assume that's the teak, though I'm not sure what that smells like on its own) among the spices. Five hours later: Even less chocolate now. I'm definitely getting more of the Snake Oil spices (I assume) now, and a creamy wood smell that I really couldn't tell you if it's just teak or if that's the rice milk and/or vanilla getting involved. While it was chocolate with an edge before, now it's an edge with a little chocolate. The scent is still quite strong and present, and it's a lot more complex now than it was earlier on. End of the day: More chocolate again! It becomes apparent that the other scents were amping earlier, rather than the chocolate fading away. Seems that chocolate has a longer wear time on me than the other stuff in this blend. Though the smell has faded some by now, it's still nowhere near being gone, and I didn't apply much. Overall: When I sniffed Boomslang at Will Call, I dismissed it because I thought wearing something that chocolatey would make me crave chocolate all day. I'm glad Persephone76 gave me enough of this oil to properly try! I'm impressed how well the chocolate blends, and how it can become something complex and not inherently candylike. I like Boomslang, and I think it'd be a comforting scent for colder weather. I also have to say that I'm surprised to see other reviews that say this disappears so quickly - I have a feeling I'm still going have hints of this on my wrists when I wake up in the morning.

The last frimp from my recent order! This is one that I'd been kind of curious about while skimming the Wanderlust page, but not enough relative to others for me to actually put it on my wishlist. But now it has made its way here anyway! In the imp: Salty seawater. Smells pretty much exactly like the beach! Wet on skin: Salt water and something greenly salty, which I assume is the seaweed. Again, exactly like the beach. Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same: salty seaweedy beachy water. At one hour in, it still hasn't morphed scentwise at all, though it is less strong. Five hours later: There's something very faintly salty left, but I have to press my nose onto my wrist to get it. End of the day: Completely gone. Overall: This smells exactly as I expected based on the description, and is incredibly evocative of the beach (though as others in this thread have said, this is one unusually clean beach). Staying power is not its strong suit, though. While I do like this, I still think I prefer Lightning in terms of aquatics, which adds electricity to the mix and which lasts a lot longer on me.

Another Lab frimp, which came to me in a state of cracked leakage. I got a big whiff of jasmine when I opened the box for that order, and there was enough of the oil still in the vial to assure me that white florals were in my reviewing future. In the imp: Vaguely perfumey white florals. I can't differentiate them yet. Wet on skin: Hello, jasmine! The whole thing is still homogeneously white floral, with jasmine being the one identifiable aspect so far. Drydown: Freshly dry, still plenty of jasmine. Some of the spicier stuff seems to be showing up a little underneath there, though I can't differentiate those notes yet either. At one hour in, it's pretty much a white floral, with jasmine as the most prominent note still. Five hours later: The florals have receded enough that I'm finally getting a little whiff of the spicier notes under there. It's faint, though. End of the day: Gone. Overall: Well, seems like half of the notes listed for this one never even showed up on me. Musk? Vanilla? Where? It was pretty much exclusively jasmine most of the time, and the brief appearance of what was presumably (though not entirely identifiably) clove and laurel was too little and too late to really be worthwhile. This wasn't objectionable to my nose, but neither is it something I'm anxious to wear again. No reason to be heartbroken about that broken imp.

I've gotta admit, I can't help thinking of the name of this one in a Wall-E voice. Anyhow, Eve was another Lab frimp, and it's certainly not something I would have thought to order for myself, but I am absolutely up for experimentation anyway. In the imp: Predominantly tart apple (think Granny Smith) sweetened by a little honey. There is a vague breath of floral behind it. Wet on skin: The apple smell becomes more floral - I guess that's why it's apple blossom and not just apple listed, since this doesn't smell like rose or like what I'm pretty sure ylang ylang smells like. Drydown: Freshly dry, the apple has faded further, and the non-rose florals have ramped up a bit. It smells like spring! By half an hour, there were signs of it turning into Not Another White Floral, but at the one hour mark, the apple comes back again - still a tart apple sweetened by subtle florals and maybe some honey. Five hours later: Much the same blending as at the one hour mark, only fainter. Crisp apple with a floral undertone. Definitely still springy. End of the day: There is some residual tartness on my wrists, though it's no longer readily identifiable as apple. Overall: I actually really like this. The tart apple that is the main note is nice and refreshing, and the florals made a good call in lingering in the background rather than taking over. It's a good balance. That said, I suspect Eve is too feminine for me to get away with, because of the light-spring-fruity-flowers thing, but that does not change the fact that this smells really good.

This was a Lab frimp with my most recent order, and I have to admit the description scares me a little - not so much because of the notes, but because of the figure by which they're inspired. Sensual and indolent I most definitely am not, but that's not reason enough to not try the oil anyway. In the imp: This is odd - I get an impression of sweet, bitter, and incensey all at once, though I couldn't begin to tell you the actual notes behind that impression. Wet on skin: There's the musk. I think that's what the impression of bitter was coming from, and now that it's on my skin, the sweet aspect that was in the imp has faded. It's bitter spice for now. Drydown: Freshly dry, I've gotta admit, it's pretty pungent, and definitely strong. I can get some of the spices behind the bitter sharpness of the musk, but they're not contributing much, and I'm not getting any of the sweet notes at all. At an hour in, I get more of the spices, but I think that's because they've gotten stronger, rather than from the musk retreating. That musk is still strong and sour-bitter. I'm still not getting anything sweet. Five hours later: The musk is still very much in charge, and still very present. It's also still rank and sour. It's an animalistic smell, and the animals in question are not the cleanest ones around. The spice has pretty much disappeared, and nothing sweet ever showed up. End of the day: Still some obvious bitter muskiness on my wrists. Overall: This was my first experience with red musk, and I'm not anxious to give it another go anytime soon. It completely took over in Bien Loin d'Ici, and none of the sweet notes even showed up. It was pretty much all sour bitter dirty-animalness, and I really didn't like it at all. This may be the first BPAL I've tried that has made me go, "Do not want!", but that is how I felt about this one. I wanted to wash it off earlier, but kept it on for the sake of thoroughness. It will be making its way to swaps, surely enough.

Kumari Kandam is really interesting in that it honest to goodness manages to be warm and cold at once (though, on me, the cold burns off sooner than the warm). It is bizarre, in the best possible way. And I really do get a lot of stone and clay out of it. I think I can actually pick the geological notes out better in Kumari Kandam than I can in Black Opal, since the vanilla aspect of Black Opal really confuses my nose. I'm also curious to try the Isle of Demons and Jezirat al Tennyn.

Aaaaaand now an imp of that's going in my next order. Hahah! (Where was the field site, might I ask?) EDIT: To be a leetle bit more on topic, Moai. Seriously. It smells almost alarmingly exactly like basalt, particularly later on, when more of the acrid fume aspect has faded away.

Awesome! Many thanks for the suggestions, Samarablackcat, Cam, and Paperrose! The only one of those suggestions I've already sniffed is Djinn (the description of it as frosh bookcases made me lawl), so I will go trawling for others. (And I can always keep my fingers crossed that Will Call will be adjusted by a day to fit on the holiday weekend...)

Soooo, here's an odd one. I am going as an anthropomorphic personification of a specific geologic feature for Halloween. (Yes, I am a colossal nerd. But at least there will be other colossal nerd friends of mine going as other geologic features!) I designed the character myself, and I've been pulling together the visual aspects of the costume just fine. I was thinking, though, that smelling like rocks and dirt could be a fantastic touch. A fault line, no matter how humanoid, sure isn't gonna smell like skin musk, after all! My question is, which BPAL (or combination thereof) do you all think would be best for pulling this off? I own imps of Black Opal and Kumari Kandam, and a decant of Moai. I've already ruled out Moai, because I'm not about to slather something I may not be able to get more of. As for Black Opal, I like the rocks note, but the vanilla is present enough to not be immediately rocky. (Also, my nose is kind of confused by the combination of rocks and vanilla. Still trying to figure it out!) Maybe layering this with something would minimize vanilla and bring out rocks? I like Kumari Kandam a lot, but the clay is part of the complexity of the blend, rather than an immediately obvious thing. Scent is not vital for making the costume work, so no worries if people draw blanks, but I figured I'd at least throw this out there. Thanks!

Oleander with black patchouli, ylang ylang, and neroli. Avenger of Murder? Well, I certainly don't have to do that, but I'm going to give this one a try anyway. Perhaps it will serve just as well as The Avenger Of The 8 AM Math Class! Dooooom.... This was a Lab frimp (they seem to like giving me stuff with neroli), and the last oil out of my recent order. In the imp: Dry, dark, and a bitter kind of spicy. I can't pick out individual notes yet. Wet on skin: The patchouli in there is more distinct, but not overwhelming by any means. It is, however, smoothing out that bitter edge. Nothing about this smells like flowers yet. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is already much stronger than wet. The patchouli is a major player, and the bitterness has largely gone away. There is something floral (couldn't tell you which flower) in there that makes this smell kind of like the bathroom cabinet where my mom keeps her makeup (and soap and some towels). After about an hour, it has settled at dark malevolent patchouli soap. Five hours later: The soapiness has left, and the other notes have blended pretty seamlessly into something that's pretty dark and threatening. It doesn't strike me as particularly floral, nor is it obviously a patchouli blend anymore. End of the day: A little bit of dark and dusty. Overall: I am not enamored of smelling like malevolent soap (even though I enjoy getting to use the phrase "malevolent soap"), but I think the darker brooding scent that comes after about two hours and lasts through five or six is good for when one is having one of those, "Don't mess with me!" kinds of days. Definitely dangerous. I just wish I didn't have to wade through a ton of soap to get to the end result of the scent. Guess it's a good thing that I don't have many of those dangerous mood kinds of days!

Another Lab frimp! I have never heard of stephanotis or cyclamen before, and I have no idea what heliotrope smells like, so this may be more amateurish of a review than my others, even, but this just shows how frimps can be learning experiences. Yay new smells! In the imp: Lots and lots of soft fresh flowers, maybe with a little moisture. I know I can't smell rose yet, but the others are indistinct. Wet on skin: This is pretty strong! Like, bouquet of flowers shoved in your face strong. I'm recognizing gardenia now, and there is something indistinct in there that's explaining to me why some people used the word "soapy" in their reviews. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is still getting smacked upside the head with a lush bouquet of fresh flowers. I am starting to notice a little bit of the rose now. I am also kind of wondering what the x-ray tech is going to think of this when he takes a look at the hand I closed in the car door. Oops. After an hour or so, the flowers have dried out; the same fragrance as before mixes with something dusty rather than something dewy. (And it turns out that, if the x-ray guy noticed anything, he didn't mention it. Eternal had faded a lot by then.) Five hours later: Faint and dusty with a slight edge of indistinct floweriness. Still can't tell you what the individual flowers involved are. End of the day: Gone. Overall: Gotta say, smelling like I have been bludgeoned by flowers is not my goal in life. That said, I love how this actually smells like real flowers, rather than something extracted from them. When the oil is wet, the flowers might as well still be alive and growing. I also think it's evocative of the funereal aspect of the scent that the flowers start out fresh and dewy, then dry out to something dusty, as if they have been laying out on a grave for a long time after the funeral is over. Very pretty, kind of sad, but not for me.

It's stupid early o'clock on a Friday morning, and I'm getting ready for my math class. I'm too tired to be terrified at this particular moment, but I'm sure that, once I'm less groggy, I will realize the full extent of my nerves about this. It's the first math class I've taken since 2003, and it's differential equations! Scary, no? I've certainly been nervous leading up to this, and it seems like the exact sort of situation that would require reassurance, comfort, and fortitude. Cue Wolf's Heart! I ordered this imp with the beginning of this quarter of school explicitly in mind. Here's hoping it works. In the imp: Something kind of spicy/herbal. I want to say there's rosemary in there, but I am really not certain. Maybe also something floral sweetening the herbs. I wanna know what makes the oil bright red, though! Wet on skin: Curiously, the smell of this seems to be registering in the back of my nasal passages rather than the front. It's still herby-spicy, but I still can't tell you which herbs and spices they are. Drydown: This seems to be getting stronger as it dries. Freshly dry, the spicy element is still most prominent, though there seems to be something sweet cushioning it. I can't quite tell what the sweetness is. It's pretty much the same at the one hour mark: herby and spicy over something sweet., and still quite strong overall. Five hours later: The scent is still very present, and still has the same layering of herby/spicy over sweet. At this point, the sweetness seems like it could be musk rather than something floral, but I honestly can't tell. End of the day: Still a little bit of herby spices. Overall: In some ways, Wolf's Heart reminds me of Coyote, in that it's something planty over something slightly sweet, and that both are very warm blends. Coyote is lighter grasses over lighter sweetness, and Wolf's Heart is thicker herbs and something that's a deeper sort of sweet; to me, this makes sense, considering the animal namesakes of the two blends. But where Coyote simulates the smell of a natural environment, I can't readily think of a place that might smell like Wolf's Heart. I also totally cannot distinguish familiar notes in there. Not that this makes a difference as to whether or not I like this blend, and I do like the smell quite well. As for the voodoo purpose, math class went fine and did not stress me out at all, and I went through the rest of the day feeling generally awesome. That was surely influenced at least in part by the ego stroking that comes with being in an article on CNN.com, but the math class was before I found out the article was in print that day, and I still felt pretty darn good afterward, so I'd like to think Wolf's Heart was involved. It'll definitely get its share of use on days that promise to involve too much stress and work.

The description says "geological." What further impetus did I need to get this one and try it? Since today is my first day of geophysics grad school, I figured that was an extremely appropriate occasion for testing Black Opal out. In the imp: A very cool vanilla - it actually feels like the air I'm inhaling has been chilled - with a faint mineral edge. Wet on skin: Dry/not-very-sweet vanilla over something that is indeed smooth and stony. Woah. Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same as wet. Something smooth and dusty and mineral (this is definitely sedimentary, whereas Moai was clearly igneous), with vanilla on top/nearby. There's something a little bit sharper showing up now, though I couldn't tell you what it actually is; it's not a very strong sharp thing. After an hour or so, the sharpness has smoothed out, and the vanilla has sweetened a little. The mineral note is maybe less prominent. Five hours later: The vanilla has faded enough that it balances with the rocks better now. It's something slightly creamy and vaguely sweet over something cool and dusty. End of the day: Faint smooth cool rocks. Overall: For most of the day, vanilla was more prominent than rocks, and I have to say that I really wish it'd been the other way around. I think my nose was kind of confused by Black Opal, since it was definitely picking up rocks, but not without a healthy helping of vanilla, which never occurs with rocks in the field. (Moai, on the other hand, was glaringly unapologetically geological. If Moai was OMG ROCKS!!, Black Opal is more like WTF ROCKS?!) At times, it was almost hard to differentiate the mineral scent as actually being rocks in particular, even though it was always something distinct from the vanilla. The geologist part of my brain also had a hard time letting my nose just plain smell this without trying to isolate the rock, but in those few moments when the nose triumphed over the brain, it decided that Black Opal is a very unusual (in a good way) and pretty scent. It is cool and soft and shaded like something in grayscale. I do like it, though I'm hoping wearing it a few more times will resolve some of the residual nose/brain confusion.

Another frimp from the Lab! I looked up the name of this one in hopes of learning more, but only got a gajillion pages about Street Fighter. The extent of what I could find about the actual legend was that Akuma carries a flaming sword, and you really don't wanna run into one. In the imp: Bitter citrus with a hint of berry and something that's maybe a bit powdery. I see where people are getting the sweet tarts impression. Wet on skin: The bitter aspect (neroli, I assume) really comes out. It's pretty much the main thing I smell right now. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still all neroli. After about an hour, it has shifted to a bitter and somewhat powdery raspberry. The blood orange has not reared its head. Five hours later: Raspberry sweet tarts. Ayup. Perhaps vaguely evil sweet tarts, but any neroli that's left is extremely faint. End of the day: Very very faint raspberry sweet tarts. I'm pretty impressed the raspberry has lasted so long, since the rest of the notes are long gone. Overall: The bitter fruity smell at the beginning was interesting, but on the whole, I am not entirely keen on smelling like sweet tarts, even demonic ones. I have a candy fiend friend, though, who I suspect will enjoy Akuma precisely for the demonic sweet tarts factor. Enablement ahoy! I am also coming to realize that citrus doesn't tend to stick around for long on my skin (disappeared in Akuma and Schrödinger's Cat, couldn't even smell the orange in Fearful Pleasure), and will keep this in mind regarding future orders.

I've never been to the Pine Barrens, but the description of this oil was intriguing enough to make me look up some photos, and those photos were gorgeous enough to make me want to smell this. I'd also never heard the story of the Jersey Devil before coming across BPAL, so even if the oil doesn't end up working (which would be sad), at least I got to learn about some interesting legends! In the imp: Pine sweetened by berries. Warm, sweet, and very nice. Wet on skin: Still pine and berry, but with some additional green that smells deciduous rather than evergreen. I couldn't tell you if that's blackberry leaf versus tomato leaf or both, though. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is wonderfully foresty. The pine and deciduous leaves balance each other, and there's something a little dry in there that's most likely the cedar, representing the forest groundcover. The cranberries sweeten the whole impression, but do not dominate it. After an hour, the scent has faded more than I'd like, but it's still the same wonderfully balanced summer outdoors smell. Five hours later: Sadly, this is almost entirely gone already! What's left is slightly sweetened cedar, but only barely so. End of the day: Gone. Overall: The Jersey Devil is a beautifully evocative summer outdoors scent. The notes are all perfectly balanced, and the overall presence of the scent is wonderfully atmospheric. I may not have been to the Pine Barrens, but I've been to places in Maryland and Virginia with evergreens and deciduous foliage and berries all out at once, and this scent really reminds me of that. I just wish that The Jersey Devil didn't fade away so quickly - even though the concept of it disappearing into the background fits with the legend of its namesake cryptid. I will definitely be getting good use of this imp (at least!) nevertheless, and I can hope it might last longer when the weather cools down a bit.

Fire is a big part of autumn in southern California, and while it scares the crap out of me when it's actually going on, I have to admit it's pretty fascinating nevertheless. I wanted to try Djinn because I was curious how the smell of fire (rather than just the smoke afterward) could be replicated and bottled. In the imp: Thickly smoky, of the acrid and more chemical type rather than of burning brush and wood. It's quite a bit like Moai, only without the rocks. Wet on skin: There is definitely vetiver in here. Thank goodness I realized I'm not actually allergic to it after all! But yes, thick and smoky vetiver. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still smoky vetiver, but it's registering to me as a scent more green than conflagrant. It's got quite a bit of throw, too. Not much changes over the first hour or two. Smoky vetiver, definitely heated, but still more green than fiery. Five hours later: Still not much change, other than a decrease in intensity. Still with the smoky vetiver, though the balance has tipped slightly in favor of smoke now. I guess, if I think about it, the smell of really blackened wood is under there. End of the day: Only the slightest wisp of smoke on my wrist. Overall: This really wasn't what I was expecting, thought it does make sense for the nature of the spirit it means to portray. I guess I had this mental image of burning brush and trees - a natural wildfire - even though a supernatural acrid almost tangible fire makes more sense for a djinn. This scent is hot and malevolent...and yet it's still more smoky green than active flame to me. Something about all that vetiver makes it a sort of dark blackish green. Maybe I'm also somewhat associating it with the sulphurous smoke smell in Moai, which is similar to the smoke in Djinn, only Moai's is a bit less aggressive/sweeter and has the added bonus of rocks. (I like the rocks, yes.) In looking at other reviews of this, though, the opinions seem to be very disparate and varied, so I guess it feels good to not be the only one to not get much actual fire out of this. That said, I won't give it up yet, since some people remarked that it improves with age, but I'm still intrigued by potentially finding that brushfire scent in another oil. I'm disappointed I didn't get some of the wood/tree notes that other people got from this one.

Mania, huh? Madness and frenzy? Sounds just about right for the beginning of the new school year! (Though, perhaps, more suited to finals, but I'm not going to wait that long to test this.) Another frimp from the lab, and I'm pretty intrigued by how "shattered" can be manifested in smell. In the imp: Predominantly wood, with a little bit of pepper. I'm not getting any of the flowers yet. Wet on skin: Still pretty dry and woody, maybe with a little bit of lily, and still some pepper. I'm not entirely sure what laurel smells like, so I couldn't tell you if it's there or not, but the other stuff definitely isn't yet. Drydown: Freshly dry, the peony shows up, which sweetens the woods and pepper, but does not overpower them. There is also the slightest edge of citrus, but it's fleeting. An hour later, the peony is definitely the predominant floral, though it is kept from becoming overpoweringly sweet by the woods and pepper and possibly the laurel. Kind of a psycho peony! Five hours later: The florals are gone, and what's left is spicy (mostly peppery) wood with a bit of musk. End of the day: Gone. Overall: This is really really nice. It is a high-pitched and peculiar mix of notes, but it is not overpowering and works really well. In the psycho peony stage, it reminds me of Tenochtitlan (though the actual notes are pretty different): something very warm and sweet mixed with something sharp and spicy. The woods, pepper, and laurel keep the flowers from being too floral or too feminine. For the latter reason, I'm also glad this faded to woods and spices rather than florals. This imp will definitely get more use.

This was a frimp in my second ever Lab order, and while I probably wouldn't have ever picked it out on my own due to the florals, now that I have it, I have to say I'm intrigued by the loam note, and the poetry basis. In the imp: Soft florals mixed with something herby/earthy. Wet on skin: The spicier/herbier notes - frankincense and hyssop, I assume - really take the fore here, though there's a tiny bit of violet if I think about it. I don't know what ylang-ylang smells like, so I couldn't tell you if it's there or not, but I'm pretty sure there's no loam yet. Drydown: Freshly dry, there's something floral that isn't violet that's coming out; I'll assume that's the ylang-ylang. This is still over that resiny/spicy backdrop. At an hour later, I'm getting something that I will assume is loam, since it is dusty and not particularly plantlike. The entire scent has already faded significantly, though the florals have faded further relative to the other notes. Five hours later: This almost smells salty now, with maybe a little resin left. I'm confused by this! There is not supposed to be saltwater of any sort in here! End of the day: Still salty. I'm still confused! Overall: I am honestly baffled by this shift to vaguely resiny salt at the end. I want to know what my skin chemistry thinks it's doing, since there is no salt involved in this blend! The resins and flowers were nicely balanced in the beginning, and the freshly dry scent or the in-imp scent both are suited to the poem, if you ask me. But due to the weird salt thing, I can't really wear this.

This is another one of those scents that really jumped out at me as seeming interesting when I first perused the BPAL catalogue. I only realized, after my first order showed up, that I'd actually forgotten to include it in the imp pack, so it made its way into the second order instead. In the imp: Mostly tea, with an spicy edge that's mostly ginger, but also part pepper. Wet on skin: Peppery tea with a little honey. There's something else I can't quite figure out, so I'll assume it's the linen, since I know how the other things in there smell on their own, and I'd never thought about how linen smells before. Drydown: Freshly dry, the honey is really starting to come out, but it is not completely taking over. The tea is still the main thing, and the spicy notes are still under there. After about an hour, it has settled to a very nice tea that's gently sweet and gently spicy at the same time. Five hours later: This has faded noticeably, but is not gone yet. The actual character of the scent - tea that is both sweet and spicy - has not changed much over the past few hours. End of the day: There is still a trace of pepper and ginger left. Overall: I was a little worried about White Rabbit when I saw it mentioned as a similar scent in reviews of Ichabod Crane, which really did not work on me when I tested it at Will Call. I'm very glad that, whatever the problem note was in Ichabod, it didn't show up in White Rabbit. This is a seamlessly blended sweetened spicy tea, and I like it very much. This imp will definitely get its fair share of use!

Got this as a frimp at Will Call (and it's a frimp that has things that touched on my Witchee's no-no notes list, which is why I'm holding on to it), and I'm going to tentatively say this is excellent timing, since there's eucalyptus in there and since my sinuses are being a tad wonky today. Let's see how this works. In the imp: Strongly mint and eucalyptus with a bitter undertone of violet. Yay, I can tell notes even if my nose is a bit stuffy! Wet on skin: This feels cool to my nasal passages when I sniff it. The mint is most prominent right now, though with a bit of the punch of the eucalyptus. There's still something bitter under there, though it's less violety now. Is that neroli? I've never smelled neroli before. Drydown: Freshly dry, we have minty minty mint mint with a leetle bit of eucalyptus and a lot of throw. Within an hour, though, it does a complete 180 and is all violety violety violet violet. Five hours later: Almost gone already, but what's left is still all violet. It is possible that being exposed to the horrid stink bomb that is the Salton Sea might have aided in the fading of Ultraviolet, but then again, it was pretty faint well before we got out of the car and into the nasty air. End of the day: Gone without a trace. Overall: This has all the ingredients for being the high-pitched electric-cool violet smell that the name and description suggests. The smell of it in the imp further emphasizes the possibility. The problem is that, on me, those ingredients occur in sequence rather than at the same time, and thus the overall effect is lost. Pity, since the effect in the imp is nice. If the order of prominence was reversed on me (that is, violet giving way to mint, I think I'd like this more than the way it is now (mint giving way to violet), since what might as well be single note violet is a bit feminine for my taste. Also, my sinuses remain painful, but I guess that's what the Panaceas are for!

In the imp: Gently warm and sweet. I couldn't begin to pick out notes in there, but this is definitely ripe produce of some sort in the sun. Wet on skin: Still sweet and planty, in a good way. When I reread the description of this, I can start to identify some specific things. Pear is definitely there, as are honey and squash. It's more of a cooler scent on the skin than in the bottle (which makes sense for harvest time); I'd bet that coolness comes from the cucumber and lettuce, even if I can't properly identify them yet. Drydown: Freshly dry is stronger and more complex than wet, though it is still predominantly fruit, with the green vegetables and squash almost coming out as spice in comparison. The pomegranate shows up here, and I'm getting quite a bit of bergamot, which is great by me. About an hour in, the vegetables come out further in comparison to the fruits. Less pear and honey, more carrot. Five hours later: The vegetables have taken over by this point. The squash and carrot are most prominent, with some of the fig and the ripe green of the lettuce. There's still some bergamot and pomegranate in there, but not overwhelmingly so. It's still warm and sweet and quite strong. End of the day: All veggies, no more fruit. While the throw has weakened, this is still quite strong on my wrists; it seems to suggest it would stick around for even longer, were I not about to take a shower. Overall: One of my friends told me I smelled good today! I have to agree with her. This is a wonderful warm, sweet, and ripe scent, entirely suited to represent the full bounty of the harvest pouring out of a little horn. I really like this (though I think I would've been even happier if the bergamot had stuck around longer), and I fully expect that it's going to become something highly sought-after on the forum.

My attention was called to this one shortly after I made my first order, and it's actually one of the reasons that I did not wait even longer for a second order. I was told it smelled, at least partially, like rocks and dirt, which made my little geological heart squee. The description of the remnants of a hot-climate civilization frozen and then sunken made my brain immediately jump to the theory of plate tectonics: this place started somewhere hot, some landmass blocked the circulation of heated water and made everything freeze, then further motion heated things up and caused enough ice to melt to raise the sea level and sink the place. "Yay plate tectonics!" I thought. So then I actually looked up Kumari Kandam, since I'd never heard of it. Aaand it turns out that there are more tectonics in that imp than I initially guessed! Kumari Kandam, AKA Lemuria, was a hypothetical long and skinny continent located between the east coast of Africa and the west coast of India, not quite connecting them, but not too far to swim. It supposedly accounted for why there were so many similar animals in continents that were so far apart. At some point, it supposedly sunk under the ocean (possibly with tsunamis!), which accounts for its no longer being there. However, when the actual theory of plate tectonics was introduced, along with the insinuation that Africa and India used to be attached to each other and drifted apart over the ages, the idea that there may have been a Kumari Kandam sunk out of favor and grew cold. This really is a plate tectonics scent. So here's hoping I like smelling like plate tectonics! In the imp: Whoa, this actually smells cold, as in, it makes the air I'm inhaling feel chilled compared to the rest of the room. It's a bit of a minty cold, on top of something spicier and warmer, though I couldn't tell you what those notes actually are. Wet on skin: The division of notes remains peculiar - icy on the top of the scent, warmer and sweeter below. I still can't pick out actual notes, but it absolutely smells like a warm thing coated in ice. I am impressed with how scent can have topography like this! Drydown: Newly dry, I get a little bit of something that could be the clay; it's just enough of a mineral note under warm, sweet, vaguely citrus-floral spice. The smell closer to my wrist is of the warm stuff, and the colder part has a bit more throw. At two hours in, the part that struck me as immediately super chilly has departed, but the closer-in smell of spicy floraly mineral is still there. Five hours later: Fainter, but still there. I'm getting a lot more of the clay now, and almost none of the floral anymore. Coolness is coming back into this, though it's water coolness rather than ice coolness. Damp incensy clay. Nice. End of the day: Whoa, when did this turn into Lightning? Seriously, at the end of the day, I am left with the same saltwater smell that happens at the end of the day with Lightning. I did not really get much of this particular smell earlier in the day at all. How odd! Overall: I like smelling like plate tectonics! This is a very unusual scent, in that it combines things that one would not expect to be able to combine (ie warm and cold at once), and it makes those combinations very successfully. Half the time, I could not put a finger on exactly what I was smelling, and that smell morphed pretty dramatically over the course of the day, but there was not a stage along the way that I disliked. A definite keeper.

This was my first ever without-reviews and unsniffed 5ml purchase. All along, I was thinking maybe I was too much of a n00b to attempt such a thing, but the description of this (and, actually, a bunch of the other Halloweenies, though I only bought this one) was enough to overrule my logic on these things. Also, before I even start the actual review, I must say that the label art on this is wonderful. I want to see the others! In the bottle: Duuude. Wow. The most wonderful spiced cider EVAR. Lots of apple with an edge of orange, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. "Good call," I am already telling myself. "GOOD call." Wet on skin: Much the same, though the fireplace smoke has reared its head. Thank you for showing up, fireplace smoke! The scene has shifted from the cider itself to the scene of drinking cider around the fire. This is still a very good thing. Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same as wet, and I am not complaining in the least. I am maaaaybe getting a little more spice than before, but it has not drowned out the apple at all. I'm also getting quite a bit of throw so far, which is another thing that's fine by me. At about two hours in, the scent is dryer than it was, more spice than apple (though the apple is still under there), more burnt firewood than active smoke. I still like it a whole lot. Five hours later: The scent has faded a fair amount, to the point where there isn't any throw (that I can tell), but I can still get a good whiff when my wrist is to my nose. At this point, it is predominantly faint burnt wood and woodsmoke with a trace of mulling spices, the actual cider long departed. To follow a narrative progression, the ghost stories are through for the night, but the fireplace has been left to burn itself out. End of the day: This has faded further, but is still readily detectable if I stick my wrist to my nose. Only now, in the past few hours, has the sassafras showed up, after the spices of the cider have faded to next to nothing. The final status of Fearful Pleasure is a hint of sassafras and a memory of spice behind some very convincing smoldering-but-not-burning blackened wood. Overall: Fearful Pleasure is finest quality mulled and spiced AWESOME. Seriously, I love how this smells in each stage of wear, and it has lasted pretty darn long. I am very glad I ordered this bottle. The only complaint I have is that wearing this, particularly in the early stages, makes me want actual drinkable apple cider, and it is still too early for stores to be carrying that! Tragic! But this is the fault of the stores, not of Fearful Pleasure.

Victorian whimsy and piratical romance: a reluctant seaman’s chypre sloshed with a mix of bay rum, patchouli, amber musk, dark woods, tea rose, and red currant. Here's another reason why I should stop looking at past LEs. February 29th is kind of a special day for me, and as soon as I saw there was a celebratory scent, I wanted to sniff it. (No, I don't share a birthday with Frederic! It's just that the anthropomorphic personification of 2-29 is a major character in a comic that I write and draw. This character has a serious attitude problem, and aims to misbehave until he gets his way and gets to be on the calendar every year.) The fact that this is a Pirates of Penzance scent in addition to just being a Leap Day thing makes it even better. Such a fun show. In the imp: To my nose, this is pretty traditionally cologney, though with an added dash of patchouli. Wet on skin: This sweetens up as soon as it hits my skin. I'm guessing this is the bay rum taking over, since it is also a little spicy. I might be getting a tiny bit of the rose in there, too. Whatever is going on, the patchouli has all but disappeared, and I don't mind that. It's kind of a humid sent in a way, like something near the water, but not the water itself. Drydown: The sweetness persists in the newly dry stage. The rose and currant are definitely there, though nicely blended with the rum and amber. Nothing is blanking anything else out. There's something grounding in there too, which I assume is the wood, since it doesn't smell like patchouli. At about an hour in, this has changed to be Y HALO THAR, ROSE. The spice of the rum is still there, and a bit of the sweetness of the currant, but these just temper the rose a little. It was at this stage that someone noticed my BPAL for the first time ever. One of the other guys in the seismology lab assumed it was one of the girls in the lab rather than me, since rose is not exactly a typical guy scent, but I was at the next computer over and had little doubt. Five hours later: The rose has been restrained again, still present, but as an underlying sweetness rather than a top note. I'm getting much more of the wood now than I was at any other stage, and I find it nice. The rum and the rose make it a gently sweet and spicy wood, not too dry or too waterlogged. End of the day: There's still a good bit of scent left, though at this point, it's all dry wood with a touch of musk. No more rum, spice, rose, or anything else. Overall: Based on the description of the notes, I had absolutely no idea how I would feel about this scent. I was particularly wary of rum, since I did not want to smell booze-saturated. To my delight, there was no soaking in alcohol, and the entire combination was wonderful and complex. The mostly-rose stage of the drydown was my least favorite, though only because it was the least complex stage, not because I dislike the smell of rose. I ended up enjoying this one very much, and will certainly make use of this decant, at least. Gotta say, though, Frederic is far too gentlemanly of a scent to suit my February 29th character! Hehheh. That character would probably object to rose, anyway.