AlarmAgent

In Bottle - I see where the gold is coming from, here in the imp. Hard to describe, specifically, but it smells alright, and pretty warm. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Oh. Oh no. This is not at all what I was expected. It smells like dust, or peanut butter, or dusty peanut butter. It's quite possible that anise or black licorice is also coming in here at some level, but not enough to make it ...passable for me. Dry, on Skin - It doesn't change at all, it is just dusty, musty, fusty the entire time on me. I'm thinking it's vetiver, because Blood Kiss does the same thing to me. Well, I'm not alone, a lot of people aren't such fans of that note! I'm glad to know what to avoid, because I couldn't possibly work with anything like this on my skin, which unfortunately, seems to amp this damned vetiver.

This for the 2008 version. In Bottle - Pure butterscotch, maybe a little boozy. I like it, but it's something I'd imagine drinking rather than wearing. Of course, the oil in the bottle is always a lot stronger than on the skin, so I figure it'll calm down once it's applied! Wet on Skin, First Applied - And I am right! It smells like caramel and butterscotch together, but they're similar enough scents though that it is hard to really differentiate. It smells very good, very warm, and very smooth. Like butterscotch syrup, but it isn't too heavy or cloying on. Dry, on Skin - After a little while, it is a lot more like sugar cookie dough. I don't smell a whole lot of spice, or really, any at all. Maybe the tiniest hint of cinnamon, or nutmeg, but it isn't a spicy heat at all. It is mostly butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla. The flour just represents some body to the fragrance, sort of a roundness and fullness, if that makes any sense. Well pretty much exactly like sugar cookie dough, haha. The throw was subtle, definitely not anything overpowering or offensive. It faded completely after about four hours, which is as long an amount of time as I can reasonably want to smell just like sugar cookie dough.

In Bottle - Hm, seems like a syrupy floral to me, somehow. I'm not very familiar with the different sorts of floral scents out there, but I suppose I could be smelling the poppy. For some reason I'm associating it with lilacs or lotuses, but like I said, I'm not at all familiar with floral fragrance. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Alright, this is awful on me. Why am I smelling savory peanut sauce? Nothing in here sounds like it would translate into peanut sauce, so this must be just some weirdo scent reaction. Thanks, chemistry. Yech. I'm not allergic to peanuts as far as I know, but I hate the smell and I always feel ill after eating more than say, a spoonful of a peanut-based product. So this is really making me gag. Dry, on Skin - It mellows out eventually, but I can't get over that initial half-hour or so of pure, unadulterated peanut saucery. It might as well have been that I just applied peanut oil as a body moisturizer, used peanut butter as a shampoo, and applied some peanut sauce to my pulse points. It was peanuts, peanuts, peanuts. Now it is more red wine, musk, vanilla, and a plate of peanuts. I'd really love to figure out what note went peanutty on me, so I know to avoid it from now on. I'm thinking poppy, because it is the only one I don't have any prior experience with. This has to be a case of skin chemistry, because really--peanuts? Makes no sense. Edit- Huh, a few other reviewers noted a peanut smell as well! I still wonder what exactly is causing it, notewise, but I'm glad I'm not alone!

In Bottle - Hm, very citrus, and I smell just a touch of tea. Herbs in there somewhere... Wet on Skin, First Applied - Lemon, or lemongrass. Reminds me of a powdered lemon hard candy. Dry, on Skin - The tea is cropping up a tiny bit more, and the herbish smell has also been propped up a bit, but it is still mostly a sweet, powdered lemon scent. I can enjoy the imp, but I wouldn't buy a bottle, just because I'm never really in the mood to smell like this, haha. No cocoa, no woods, no tonka for me. Not a whole lot of depth, but a cute and gentle scent. I'd definitely like it on a child or a young teenager, at least the way it is coming out on me. Light and sweet, clean, and without any overt sexiness. Reminds me a lot of this lotion, Booth's 4-and-1 Lemon Sugar. If you're familiar with that lotion, and you really love the smell, I'd say you'd really enjoy layering it with The Great Sword of War.

In Bottle - This smells exactly like my favorite candy when I was a kid. It was this extremely sour/sweet powder that came in little test tube style vials, and the whole brand had a 'mad scientist' theme. I loved the 'red flavored' ones, and they smelled exactly like Hollywood Babylon does in the imp. I already like it, because not only does it remind me of happy childhood candy-eating times, but it also just smells good, and fruity fragrances are completely underrepresented in my fragrance collection, because they usually don't work on me. I don't think I have a bubbly enough personality to pull off anything crisp and fruity. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Which is why I'm so glad that Hollywood Babylon darkens up once it hits skin. Cherry tobacco? Hm, maybe. Cherry incense? That seems about right. I'm not too familiar with red musk, but something back there is adding a lot of depth and intrigue to my sour powder candy. I'm digging it. Dry, on Skin - Not much has changed since the initial wet application, except the cherry may have faded just a bit over time. It's lovely, and very different- at least for me. It will be nice to have a fruitier option for days where I may actually feel a touch cheery and bubbled up, haha.

All the glory, warmth and majesty of the sun – darkened. A delicious blend of bitter almond, vanilla, frankincense and heliotrope, with a drop of cinnamon. In Bottle - Very nice, almonds without that usual heavy cherry backdrop. I think the heliotrope is tampering that down, perhaps? Also, a hint of spicy-sweet cinnamon is present. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Where is it? This is an incredibly light scent. The almond is totally gone, and it just smells like a very soft cinnamon with a bit of the frankincense sweetness. Pleasant, but I can already tell this isn't going to last at all, or have much of a throw. Dry, on Skin - I'm so blue. Eclipse is almost completely scentless less than an hour in. It's a very pleasant, non-offensive scent, but it's so light. My wrists are left vaguely sweet after about forty minutes. Like I just washed up with a very high quality cinnamon guest soap. I'll enjoy the imp, but I wouldn't buy a full bottle. It's a shame too, because I love the scent in the bottle, and I know I'd love it if it was just stronger/longer lasting. Now, for someone who prefers a lighter and a softer scent, I'd recommend Eclipse for something warm and slightly sweet. It's a very comfortable fragrance, and definitely wearable for any situation. I just like my fragrance to be a bit louder. If this were stronger, I'd be all over it. Bright, but warm. Just too light for me!

In Bottle - Hm, mostly just chocolate. It's a sort of flat, hard-candy interpretation of the flavor so far. Really huffing, I pick up a touch of cinnamon. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Oh, alright. Here is cinnamon, right here, and I'm loving it. It's a very soft cinnamon, hardly any spice. It's that barest bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top of a mound of whipped cream, itself dolloped on a delicious hot chocolate. More pleasantly sweet and spicy cinnamon sugar than nostril-flaring cinnamon bark. This is gorgeous. Dry, on Skin - Same as it was at the very beginning on my skin. I can't get over this, it's so evocative of a cup of Mexican-inspired hot chocolate, specifically, the exact cup I had as a kid and have been dreaming of over every inferior Swiss Miss ever since. Every single component that would go into it, I can smell clearly in the blend. Cinnamon, whipped cream, cocoa, milk, brown sugar... I hope this comes back for Yule this year, because I'd love to get a full bottle, if for nothing more than the novelty of being able to smell exactly like the most indulgent beverage I ever had the pleasure of drinking!

In Bottle - Cocoa, cocoa, cocoa. This is deep cocoa, with absolutely no milk powder or sugar. This is dutch-processed, throat burning cocoa. As dark a cocoa can get. Speaking of dark, this oil is about the same color as any old cocoa powder. I have to rub it in pretty well, or else I end up with some unsightly and hard to explain wrist-and-neck stains. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Cocoa, powder, and mint? Amber (if there is any in here, that is) almost always falls to powder on me, but as it so happens, I'm one of the few that like powder, or at it's very worst, I can stand it. Still, not exactly the sexy, slinky scent I pictured. That's the one thing about powder, it pretty much sucks all possible sexy out of a fragrance, and renders it only "pretty", or "pleasant". So far, not a hot date, but a comfortable evening at home, all twinsetted up and drinking cocoa. Dry, on Skin - Hm, powder is dying down, but at it's sexiest, you've just taken off the cardigan. That slight hint of mint is completely gone. Pretty, but hardly sexy. With my Boomslang purchase, I also got some regular Snake Oil. I think the Snake Oil was fairly well aged, because it is as thick as maple syrup and smells gorgeous. Meanwhile, the Boomslang is more regular oil-consistency and smells, "feh". Don't get me wrong, it doesn't smell bad in any sense of the word, it's just very much a pleasant, unobtrusive scent. Me, I generally like my fragrance to stomp it's feet and command respect. So, I think I'll be letting my Boomslang age for awhile, because the comparatively older Snake Oil is great and quite slinky. As it stands, I smell hardly any SO in the Boomslang, and from what I'm reading, it comes out more with age. I'll revisit this review in a few months/years, however long it takes for this good girl in the twinset to start driving a Mustang and putting out on the first date.

In Bottle - This is milk chocolate. Hello, milk chocolate. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Milk chocolate, no muss, no fuss. Just a soft chocolate, thankfully without that yogurt tang I've come to expect from chocolate scents that are advertised as 'milk'. They are often a very Hershey inspired scent, and I hate Hershey's milk chocolate. This isn't like that at all to me. Bliss is soft and sweet, but not cloying, and absolutely no sour twinge at all. Dry, on Skin - Yep, milk chocolate alright. A faint scent that lingers for a good amount of time, but never much ventures outside of the wrist-wave and occasional personal waft. Not for me to wear all by itself, but I plan to add it to scents that I believe could benefit from a little chocolate sweetness. If you're looking to smell like milk chocolate, I'd say look no further. If you want something a little more complicated than the scent equivalent of some mid-range milk chocolate bar...maybe look further! My imp will serve it's purpose well, but I doubt I'd get a whole bottle. Unless I find it's addition absolutely perfects another scent.

In Bottle - Oddly, I can barely smell a thing in the imp. A very, very faint spice and musk scent, but mostly, I smell zilch. Wet on Skin, First Applied - The mystery continues, it is getting progressively stronger the longer it's on my skin. This smells like something very familiar to me; something very warm and exotic, but comfortable. I definitely can't place it. There is musk, I can tell that much, and definitely some spices, including cinnamon. I get little glimpses of carnation, and vanilla is hanging out near the wall, being shy. It's gorgeous. Dry, on Skin - I cannot get over this scent. I thought I hated musk! I never would've guessed how much I enjoy carnation. Morocco is opening my eyes to a whole new olfactory world. I've been avoiding musk scents since I was a kid, when a few bad turns with some popular Coty musk derivative (I cannot recall what it was) from the drugstore made my some of my classmates stink like BO for about a year. This is an incredibly well-blended scent, if I had no idea what the notes were supposed to be and I was asked to describe it, I'd have nothing to say except "gorgeous". Spices, non-BO musk, a powder-soft vanilla lurker, and breezes of carnation. This is just beautiful, I'd wear it all throughout the year, any time of the day or night.

This is a review for the 2007 edition. In Bottle - Intensely apple cider, and not much else. A hint of leaves and/or pine, something woodsy acts as a background. Mostly apple cider, though. Wet On Skin, First Applied - Still more apple cider than anything else, but the forest is starting to thicken up and smokiness is beginning to waft. No pumpkins to be seen, and the rest of the listed notes are probably just adding to the depth. Dry, on Skin - Someone is casually sipping apple cider in the middle of a smoldering forest. This is absolutely Autumn, but it's not exactly something I'd wear 'out on the town'. I like it a lot for bumming around or running a few errands (particularly during the Fall), and I imagine it would be beautiful in an oil burner or a candle, something that scents the home. A lovely fragrance, unmistakably the season it represents.

In Bottle - This is very much a spicy ginger, and the actual color of the oil is beautiful. A very peachy-amber sort of shade that definitely matches the fragrance. Wet on Skin, First Applied - Suddenly, butter joins the fray. A buttery, but still spicy ginger, with some cinnamon and various cooking spice scents. Still lovely! Dry, on Skin - We've arrived at dark and foreboding gingersnaps, and I couldn't be more pleased! It strikes just the perfect balance between foody (in a more 'gourmand' way, not just piles of vaguely sugared butter, like some other foody fragrances end up being on me) and a spicier resin background. On me, I doubt anyone's going to mistake this for the smell of baking. Maybe the scent that lingers a few hours after baking, if the cookies are left to cool in the open air, but even then there is something that lingers in the background that keeps it from being a plate of gingerbread men. I love it! I'd recommend it to anybody who enjoys bakery/sweet fragrances, but doesn't necessarily want everyone nearby to start expecting cookies to soon follow when they enter the room. The spices and the darker, resinous background keeps it smelling like a delicious perfume, and not just something delicious to eat.

In Bottle - Smells very much like strawberry incense, with a hint of pine and/or pepper, something sort of spicy and earthy. Lovely so far... Wet on Skin, First Applied - Suddenly and quite inexplicably becomes lemon and pine on me, nothing but lemon and pine. Would probably be a very refreshing scent for a household cleaner, but as for wearing? Maybe not as much, unless I'm looking to give the impression that I just finished cleaning up. Maybe it would make me seem a bit more industrious, can't be all bad... Dry, On Skin - After about ten minutes this started mellowing out on the more astringent notes and becomes the lovely strawberry incense it was always meant to be! I don't get any strong florals, but I'm starting to think perhaps what I interpreted as pine is actually carnation. Truth be told, I've never even smelled a fragrance that included carnation in any capacity, so I have no clue how it should smell. For shame! In the end, it's a lovely and unique fragrance, 'twisted strawberry' very much the fitting description. I'll wear it on warm, rainy days. It's the sort of refreshing yet grounded scent that I always imagination-smell along with such weather. So far, it's stayed at the same rate of loveliness and note-intermingling for a good two hours. It stays close to the vest, I definitely enter the room before Maenad does, and that's just fine for me, especially with a fragrance that if too strong could easily be taken as syrupy and a bit muggy, if that makes any sense. Goes back to weather, I suppose. A warm spring day, the air feels heavy and is near raining. As for the person walking through this scene, I suppose I picture the teenage child of a new-age shop owner. She wears a light strawberry perfume, but it blends with the heavier scent of her mother's incense that sticks to her clothes. Light and simple, but with a deep background. Simple, but it's what I see. A lovely image, all together, and a lovely fragrance. My first BPAL experience, and a wonderful impression!