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In the vial: very fruity, slight smell of decay Wet: red musk emerges quite quickly and distinctly, as does the vanilla; both of these are notes that I like, and as long as they stay dominant over the fruit, this could work. But it's hard to tell how they're going to balance out. The cherry really does have a slightly decaying undertone, which is I suppose thematically correct. Not sure if I like it or not, though. It's a complex scent, for sure. Drying: seems to have an unusually fast fade, which is odd for a red musk scent; perhaps it'll get a second wind. Anyway, it's not bad; although the fruit is not altogether to my taste, it doesn't go nasty like a lot of fruit does on me. Dry: not much second wind at all, oddly. What's left is pleasant enough but kind of powdery. It's possible there are time-of-the-month issues involved, however, so it probably deserves another try.

Skuld is rather like Hetairae without the patchouli, so the overall effect is sharper, less sweet despite the honey, and a bit less like a Lush store (though still kind of), and never developing the smokey quality of Hetairae. Somewhat conventional-perfumey in the later stages, but there are also wafts of musk that are nice. I don't love it, but I like it okay; though the ylang-ylang was oddly persistent on one wrist, and got on my nerves after a day.

Tried this as part of my Red Musk Quest, because it's so often an excellent note for me. In the vial: cherrry cough syrup, with a bit of cinnamon for some reason Wet: much the same, but with the red musk and anise starting to creep out; interacting very strangely with the cherries, however. It begins to smell disturbingly like Dr Pepper. Drydown: This does improve as the cherry moderates, but it never quite loses the Dr Pepper quality, and I don't think I can handle smelling like Dr Pepper on a regular basis. Too bad about this one.

Wet: very floral,with the rather too-much quality that narcissus had in the wet stage of Hunger as well. I need to give it time to know what's going to happen. Drying: Okay, now it's starting to develop a spicey quality with the floral, which makes it more interesting. Still, I'm losing interest in florals in general except for a few rose scents, so this isn't likely to be a favourite. Also, it's fading very quickly. Dry: Basically gone, in well under an hour, except for a faint lingering sourness. Not a success for me.

Wet: Oddly aquatic. Actually it smells very like the perfume I wore before I discovered BPAL (Davidoff Cool Water), with an additional slightly fruity overtone. In general, nothing at all like the lab description. Well, this happens sometimes. Drying: Still rather a lot like Davidoff Cool Water, except a little more cloying. Very perfumey. I don't think this one is going to work for me. Dry: Fades fairly quickly. To my perception, it stays kind of artificial-smelling and perfumey. My husband, however, rather likes it and thinks it smells spicey. Odd. Obviously as well as variability in skin chemistry, there's a lot of variability in scent perception.

Wet: Floral and orange. The narcissus is threatening to become one of those rather harsh take-over florals, the way jasmine and lotus are on me. But let's see where it goes. Drying: This one's a bit of a morpher. Initially the narcissus is strongly dominant, though less harsh than I'd feared. Then slowly some wafts of orange emerge, and then the vanilla, and after an hour or so it becomes a pleasant, rather foody orange-vanilla blend. It stays this way for maybe another hour and a half, and then the narcissus comes back, and slowly takes over as the dominant note again. No one can accuse this perfume of being monotonous. I like the orange-vanilla phase the best (it's the first time orange has not gone nasty on me), but all the changeableness is interesting. Not a great favourite, but certainly worth wearing again.

Wet: Mild musky floral with a slight nutty overtone. Drying: So far it's holding in better than I'd expected. Gets spicier as it dries, though still very much smoothed out by the musk (which seems to be one of the paler ones; I can't distinguish very well between the different pale musks). Dry: In fact, to my surprise it gets stronger rather than weaker. Pale musk and spice, warm and sweet. Nice, but for me it's nothing exceptional.

Wet: Oddly like mulled cider. Spicy sweet apple and a bit of lemon. No idea where the apple is coming from. Pleasant, anyway, though I seem to be having a different experience than everyone else on the forums. Drying: Still with the mulled cider, or maybe baked apple, though it's getting softer and muskier now. I can't smell any vanilla at all. Dry: I don't understand why, but it stays very apple-scented, with mulling spice. Fades fairly quickly. This is just quite unlike what others report. After some discussion with Loligo and someone else who had a similar experience recently, we're starting to think that there was one odd apple-scented batch, so I may need to try it again someday, from a different batch, to know what everyone else is talking about. Not that I dislike this, but I don't think it's what most people experience with Dorian.

Wet: Sort of pleasantly medicinal, or like a very nice suntan lotion Drying: Okay, it doesn't take long for the vaguely medicinal overtone (myrtle?) to disappear and the amber to take over, in a good way; a sort of soft golden crumbly sweetness. Very nice indeed. It does get a bit powdery after a couple of hours, but on the whole this is a very good, not too heavy, blend. I did not, however, notice any men being unable to resist my charms, in fact everyone at the big-press book launch I went to ignored me, so it seems my charms were still easily resisted. Ah well.

I have a mixed record with lunar oils, a good record with honey, and a bad record with jasmine, so this could just go any kind of way. Wet: But of course it goes JASMINE JASMINE JASMINE. As if there were no other notes in the world. Hint of jasmine indeed. I'm not sure I can even last to the drydown on this one. Drying: Moderating a bit -- I can smell traces of the lunar oils now, and maybe a tiny whiff of ginger, but basically it's still just jasmine. No honey whatsoever that I can detect. I think I'll just wash this one off before the jasmine gets to its sour stage. What a shame, I had hopes for this one. Good thing I didn't buy a bottle, though ...

Wet: Red musk and amber. I do like what red musk does on me, magnetic and sweet and sexy. Just a bit of leather emerging, but it's barely detectable at this point. Drying: The leather is coming out more now. I'm a bit neutral on the leather -- if it gets too strong I may not like this. It seems to be a new-car kind of leather, which doesn't seem very sensual to me; the leather in Whip is nicer. Still a pleasant waft of red musk, though. Nice, but I'm not sure the leather adds anything; it's sort of like Spellbound but with an unnecessary leather note instead of roses. Dry: Bit by bit, the leather seems to fade out again, leaving behind the original red musk and amber, which I am in favour of. There's still a bit of leather undertone but it's not as irritating. I like this one; I don't think I'd buy a bottle, but I'll probably wear it again.

Really, how can you not try a perfume called Sacred Whore of Babylon? In the vial: Floral, jasmine. Uh-oh. Wet: JASMINE. Maybe some lily of the valley. I think other notes may be gradually making themselves known, though. We'll see if they can prevail. Dry: Well, it's not as overwhelmingly single-minded as most jasmine blends are on my skin, but it's still pretty much just jasmine and lily of the valley. It's not bad, a reasonably smooth sweet floral, but it kind of reminds me of my grandma, which does not seem to match the description exactly. (I mean, I guess it could if my grandma were inclined to decadence, lechery and debauch, but she definitely was not). The late drydown, however, went somehow sour and irritating, and after several hours it was making me so crazy I had to scrub at my wrists with dish soap. So -- no go on this one, unfortunately, because I'd love to be able to tell people that I was wearing Sacred Whore of Babylon. I'm sure this would be a big hit at my church in particular.

The scent of sexual obsession, slavery to sensual pleasure, and the undercurrent of innocence defiled utterly. Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. The first time I tried this it seemed to vanish almost immediately, but I think that was a one-time quirk, and it's become a top ten favourite. Sweet and musky; sexy and comforting at the same time. I know it doesn't work like this for everyone, but for me it's a kind of all-occasion scent, just pale and sweet enough for everyday, but with the musky undertone that can also work for going out at night. Very, very nice.

I'm thinking dragon's blood. Looks like dragon's blood, smells in the vial like dragon's blood plus something a bit medicinal. Wet: The medicinal/herbal note is actually dominating over the dragon's blood, I think, which is perhaps just as well because dragon's blood gets so unbearably cloyingly sweet on me. Drying: Getting sweeter and more purely dragon's blood. It's not awful, it's just kind of overly floral and perfumey. Dry: over-sweet, floral, a little bit soapy. Not my kind of thing. Did not have any noticeable enticing properties; although one person did ask me to read at her reading series, she asks me whenever she sees me and then forgets, so this was nothing new.

Okay, so this is seriously not the perfume to wear to a Libraries and Lifelong Learning event way out in the suburbs, but it happened to come up in my testing list, so I went with it. Wet: Way sharp and astringent, with musk behind it. Hard to tell where this one might go on me. Drying: Um, okay, so far it's going towards plastic and kerosene, which is not a really desirable direction. Dry: It smells like burnt plastic and it leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. It's fun on so many levels! Luckily, though, it does fade quite fast. The very last shreds of drydown are actually quite pleasant -- the musk, I think -- but clearly civet and opium are not excellent notes for me. The next day there was a very nice, very faint spicey smell on my wrists, but that's really not much use.

Wet: Rather sharp and bitter; but it should settle down soon. Already threatening an edge of soapiness, though. Drying: Okay, this suffered in my estimation because, inspired by the Yule update, I had worn some of my Rose Red 2004 the day before. Most other florals are inevitably going to seem to me a bit lacking in comparison. This is okay, but no more than standard. Dry: Joins the rather lengthy list of nice but not-special florals; though there's a pleasant, incensey note that comes out after several hours and makes this a bit more interesting than some. It's very faint by that point, though.

Wet: Very rosey in the vial, then kind of sharp and biting on my sking, as rose scents always start. I'm already getting a bit of tobacco, which is not much to my taste, but perhap it won't last. Dry: Luckily, the tobacco does not persist. For a while, it's all rose, similar to several other roses; but then quite suddenly I start getting wafts of vanilla. In fact, in the later stages the waft seems to be entirely vanilla, while up close it's all roses, the two scents remaining almost independent of each other. Interesting, not bad at all. I'm kind of sorry I didn't try this one till after it was discontinued, though probably not sorry enough to seek out a bottle of it.

Wet on my skin, there's an initial harsh edge, but of the sort that usually fades fairly quickly. Some smokiness, a bit of vanilla. Drying: Smokey and spicey, with just a suggestion of plum. Dry: Continues to get deeper and more complex. I like this quite a bit, though not as much as I like Snake Oil, because there's less vanilla in this one and I'd like it to be that little bit sweeter. But it is very interesting, a dark rich intriguing blend. Also, it'll probably improve with age.

In the vial: Lovely fresh wet grass and spring flowers scent; one of the nicest smells in the vial yet. Wet: Quite a bit the same, but the grassiness is stronger. I really love this, but I fear that it is very likely to fade. Such a gorgeous wet springy scent, though. After a minute or two the ginger emerges, which is a bit of a surprise, but it blends nicely with the others. Drying: Ginger ramps up quite a bit as it dries, but the grassy scent is still there too; still liking this one though it made me sneeze at one particularly gingery moment. Dry: Overall a very fresh green gingery springtime scent which I really like a lot. I want to try a few of the other aquatics before deciding which one is my aquatic, but this one's quite fine. As I expected, it is not the longest-lasting, but it's not the fastest fade either.

This is one that took some time, for me; both in that I had to have it on for a while before it got to a scent I wanted, and because I had to wear it more than once to have a proper take on it; but I'm getting to be very fond of it. For maybe the first half hour or so it smells rather weird on me, a kind of green smell almost like rotting flower stems. But if I sit that phase out, it evolves into a strangely exact replica of the smell of a Lush store, overlaid with a very sweet honey note. This is a more pleasant phase, one I like well enough. But if I wait another hour or so, it turns into something I really really like, a thick sweet honey smell that is somehow also smoky and dark -- strange, complex and very appealing to me. ETA: For some reason I kind of misplaced this one for several months, and only tried it again recently, and really I like it better all the time (though it still does have that weird green beginning) -- spicy smoky honey, very sweet but not cloying, very compelling. Also, I've probably had more compliments on this scent, in the couple of days I've been wearing it, than on all the other blends I've worn put together. It's been a slow relationship to develop, but right now it's seeming like Hetairae may be my ideal personal scent. (Now it'll probably get discontinued cause no one else likes it ...)

Named in honor of the most notorious female pirate to ever set sail. Wicked, cruel, beautiful, intelligent, resourceful and dangerous: a true role model. A blend of Indonesian red patchouli, red sandalwood, and frankincense. In the bottle: burnt wood Wet: sharp green (which I often get from wet oils), with a burnt undertone. Something sweeter starts to emerge -- slightly fruity almost. My husband dislikes it. Drying: the patchouli and sandalwood are picking up strength now; I'm starting to smell like a headshop. Not that it's a bad smell, but it's not quite the image I'm looking for. Something very sharp and biting underneath, maybe the frankincense, but perhaps not strong enough to ground the sweetness of the sandalwood. Some nice spicy notes developing, though. Dry: Wow. It's almost completely disappeared in less than an hour. Weird. Getting some slight wafts of what has gradually turned into a very nice scent, almost like a deep floral, but there's really very little of it. Not quite sure it's worth keeping, since I'd clearly have to put on a tremendous quantity for it to be perceptible, and it's just nice, not really special. Still, maybe worth another try.

In the vial: warm, spicy, very appealing Wet: uh-oh, suddenly I smell like a big pile of grated ginger-root. Very sharp, very vegetabley/earthy. "It's not unpleasant," says my husband tactfully. "It's ... different." Dry: okay, this is just one of those scents that needs time to soften. Once it dries, it's much more like the smell from the vial -- warm spicy scent, kind of like a just-baked ginger cookie. Doesn't strike me as especially lascivious or vampy; actually rather domestic, what with the cookie-baking overtones. Nice, though. And has lots of lasting power -- many hours later I could still smell it, now more like gingerbread and whipped cream. I don't adore it, but it's probably a keeper. ETA: Tried it some months later (and I bought the imp used, so it's probably a year or more old), and it's become almost pure vanilla. None of the identified notes are prominent at all -- even the ginger is subdued -- but there's a powerful rich vanilla scent that lasts well into the next day. How odd.

In the bottle: exactly like the perfume my grandmother used to wear. I think that's the lily-of-the-valley. Wet: The pear is very distinct, bright and summery, with a bit of powder behind it; pleasant sort of light-green fruitiness, but I'm not sure I'd want to wear it again if it stays like this -- I don't like fruit on the whole. Dry: This one isn't working well for me; less and less so as it dries. Oddly, though other people seem to have found it overly mild, I'm finding it too strong, and it's giving me a headache and prickling the back of my throat. The pear is still distinct at first but becomes quite chemical, and there's a kind of powdery old-lady-perfume smell mixed with it. Later on, the pear fades out entirely. Overall: This one is just not for me.

I *love* this one. In the bottle, and wet, it starts as a high sharp amber, with the other scents in the background, but as it dries the amber recedes and it becomes a deep, complex, sexy rose and musk blend. Not sweet at all, a very strong, kind of dark scent. And it has quite good lasting power. This is one I'd order more of.

As light and innocent as your first time should have been. The fresh scent of lotus hidden behind lightly scented flowers, amber, and citrus. In the bottle: bubblegum Wet: bubblegum, fruit, and something kind of earthy. Very mild -- Ken had to put his nose right up to my wrist to smell it, even after I'd just put it on. Dry: bubblegum fades, leaving fruitiness and a bit of earthiness. Very very mild. Not bad -- I like the earthy note -- but not especially what I want to wear. I'm not a fan of fruity scents. Plus I'd have to put on an awful lot of it to make it at all noticeable. It's the first BPAL blend I've tried that Ken's been unenthusiastic about.