CynicalPink

Imp: Caramel, apple blossom, and amber Wet: Apple blossom, teak, honey Drydown: Sweet..kinda warm from the caramel. I can tell the apple blossom is in there somewhere. Overall: I'm pretty ambivalent on this one. Yeah it's got some notes that I normally love, but something about them all working together is just...I dunno. Underwhelming, I guess. No throw, no hook...just something caramel-ish and amber-y. Meh.

I'm not wild over Snake Oil, so this is going to have to win me over on its own merits Imp: Acai berry! Very sweet. Probably neroli, too Wet: Mmm! Cardamom and berry! It's only a few seconds before the warm Snake Oil vanilla comes out to play. Drydown: Mellow berry, some spice, smooth vanilla. Not a powdery note to be found. Overall: Man this is *nice.* Not sure if it's something I'll wear with any frequency, though. I'll keep the decant for bottle auditions, so no swap pile for this one! Kinda makes me want to give Snake Oil another chance... After the full day wear test: Okay yeah, I need a bottle of this. Just wore this for the day and it feels so...comfortable. Like a favorite pair of jeans. Now that I've put a normal (for me) amount on, everything good about this scent just gets better. So this is a definite bottle purchase, and might be enough to persuade me to buy one of those Snake Oil CTs. Snake Oil itself may not have done it for me, but it sure makes a great base.

Imp: Cyprus, mint, and lavender Wet: Still cyprus, mint, and lavender. Dry: Clean and woodsy, but not in a manly way. It's actually pretty nice! I'm really not getting anything fruity from the orange blossom or passion flower, but it's nice Overall: I'll hang on to it for now! It might be one of those scents I come back to every now and again when nothing else will do

Imp: Green Wet: Clean and green! Must be the clover. I love how fresh this is! Drydown: This is like laying in a big open field on a summer's day. I think my favorite part is that it's green without smelling like grass Overall: Love it. It's sweet and green and great. Since this is from last year's Luper's, I'll bet it's harder to get than Giants tickets but if nothing else, I'll have this decant and I'll put it on the ol' wishlist. Who knows? I might get lucky

Imp: Alcoholic Pineapple Wet: Very rum-ish. The alcohol note is very strong...like "would attract unwanted police attention" strong Dry: Well it's all mellowed out now. It's like a blended tropical drink, which I'm sure was the point. It's like a twist on a Malibu Bay Breeze. It's fun and all, but I'm not sure it's for me. There's someone out there that would make this a perfect summer scent.

Imp: lol wut Fruity Pebbles? Wet: Still fruity pebbles, but with special guest star - Neroli! Drydown: Smells like candy...It's fizzy and cutesy and fruity. I'm having trouble pinning down my feelings on this one...Lemon lollipop! That what this smells like! It smells like a lemon lollipop!

I've never met an incense I like Imp: Thick and syrupy. Not getting the overwhelming citrus from the imp Wet: Well yes that's incense alright. It's brightening up as it moves to dry. This must be where the citrus comes in Dry: And there's the lemon citronella candles everyone was talking about

Imp: Slightly musty flowers Wet: Still musty flowers. Drydown: Floral Meh

Imp: Sour berry Wet: Juicy berry! Dry: Win berry! Okay that made no sense but I wanted to run with the theme. It's dark and juicy and tart. It's not blackberry, it's not raspberry, it's not blueberry...It's baneberry! Overall: This is great! It's really wearable and smells super nice! Bottle tryouts, ahoy!

Imp: Pine scented, all right Wet: Okay not hamster bedding. That's a good start Dry: It's reminding me of Noctnitsca, but with more of a piney edge. Piney piney pine pine. It's smells like pine. Overall: It's nice, just not for me. It's a very deep-woods scent and I'm really picky about my wood notes. It's not bad, just not my style

Team up of the arm eating scents! Imp: Jasmine and a bit of rose Wet: ack! It's smokey! I guess that's Myrrh Dry: Myrrh and powdery-grandma rose. Oh dear Overall: Yeah no. Rose just took over this party and has no plans on backing down

A pounding heartbeat coalesced into scent: demonic passion and brutal sexuality manifested through myrrh, red patchouli, cognac, honey, and tuberose and geranium in a breathy, panting veil over the darkest body musk. Imp: Honey, big and loud Wet: It's herbal! Very clean. Scary close to Irish Spring soap Dry: Okay now it's more like the reviews above. It's darker, but the florals are amping and giving me a less smokey experience. It's also creamy and sweet from the honey. You'd never know there was patchouli in there. Overall: It's pretty nice, but I'm not really in love with it. Someone who digs on stuff like myrrh should give this a shot!

Imp: Pretty. Very dainty Wet: Very purple-y. Wisteria is so soft and pretty, and with the violet it's a very fluffy, dainty scent Dry: Classy. Still a soft, spring-y purple to me Overall: I like it. A delicate and dainty scent like this is nice on the right day. I'm hanging on to the imp for now to see if it gets any love

I love pomegranates. Amber tends to go powdery on me, but when it works, it's great. Imp: Fruit and amber Wet: Pomegranate tartness is appreciated, but this amber is going straight to Powdery-Cologne Town Dry: Powdery-Cologne Town - Population - Me. I'm afraid this isn't working out

Imp: Well it's not the smokey death I was expecting. Not that I can actually describe what I'm smelling...just that it's not smokey death Wet:...Fruit? And...resins, maybe? It's really sweet. It's...pretty? Drydown: Aaaand playdough. Not even Playdough of Doom. Just playdough. Maybe elder gods enjoy a wholesome, creativity sparking toy just as much as the rest of us. Overall: Art Therapy class for the Elder Gods.

I was that kid that brought their own copy of Poe to English class, so I'm already feeling charitable toward this scent before even opening it. Masque of the Red Death is one of my favorite short stories. Imp: Less cherry then Bordello, but the overall vibe is similar Wet: Plum and amber working well. Like a really deep red wine. Drydown: Somehow this was deeper and muskier before the white musk kicked in. I hope it doesn't push much further, or this is going to turn to Pez on my arm Overall: It's like an amazing vintage of red wine. It's dark, it's decadent....it's so not me. The problem is, I think it smells great! Someone big on Bordello or the other deep dark scents would have a field day with this. As for me, I'm hanging on to the imp to see what happens next.

Disclaimer: I bought this in a fit of fever madness. I have no idea why. Best I can guess is that I mistook it for Mme. Moriarity. They both start with M, I guess. Good thing I like florals! Bottle: I guess that's jasmine. My only other experience with it was drowned in Oneiroi's lavender. Wet: Oooo. Me likey. Very delicate scent, but a bit of a musk to it as well. Not so sweet and cutesy as I'd thought. Drydown: Oh cool the mimosa came out to play! This scent is fun! I absolutely *hate* using this word, but it feels very "flirty." Is pretty, feminine, but grounded at the same time by the musk and vanilla. I really like this! Overall: What a fun surprise! Something I thought I was only ever going to be interested in a decant of is totally bottle-worthy on me! The jasmine isn't going plastic, the mimosa brings a fun fruity edge and a I *love* what the vanilla and musk are doing together. No need to update the swap page for this one! The lady's a keeper.

Bottle: Oh that's good stuff right there. Sweetness and the kind of spices I use in ginger cookies. Chocolate inasmuch as the whole thing has a creamy tone Wet: Could this be it? My perfect "spices" scent which doesn't make me smell like a head shop on a hot day? I love allspice to death and it's definitely rising to the front. The rest of the herbs are both cooling and exciting. Not getting any chocolate but who cares! Why would I complain about getting something awesome because it isn't a different version of awesome!? Dry: This is it. I smell like a spice rack in the best way possible. I've never really though about the whole "aging" thing, but if that makes this a little deeper, that'd be cool. That said, I really like it just the way it is! Overall: A great casual scent for me. Certain scents I love seem either a bit too formal or too powerful for certain days. What's overwhelming or out of place about yummy spices. This one will probably get heavy use Revisit! - Well it's a little under a year later and I've been wearing 13 pretty frequently in these cold months. Aging has done the blend some good, but I still can't call it a chocolate scent when the herbs and spices are just so prevalent. The allspice is still the dominant note, but the greener herbs like thyme are starting to come in to their own. It's still spicy as hell and *delicious.*

Bottle: Honey, bergamont, and spicy carnation Wet: Milk and rose join in, but it's still got a major spicy edge from the carnation Dry: This stays a very cuddly kind of warm on my skin. The honey and carnation are perfect together to keep this from being too twee. The rose is just a background note and the bergamont keeps it bright. Overall: One of the all-time superstar members of my BPAL arsenal. If I can't think of which I want to wear, odds are I'll throw on Bess or Alice. It's sweet without being cutesy and the carnation is just a really cool note that has made me more charitable toward the flower

This was a frimp in my first ever BPAL order once upon a few months ago, and it single handedly got me to appreciate some muskier notes. Bottle: Strawberry and the two musks. I've been wearing this for ages and I'll still be damned if I can find that grapefruit note Wet: Red and white musk go totally schizo while the ultra sweet strawberry takes the lead Dry: This is sweet, very fruity, but with a definite muskiness. The red musk is more visible than the white, but they both bend to the sweet fruitiness of the strawberry leaf. Overall: This seems to really be a love-it-or-hate-it scent, which I can totally understand. It's trying to do a lot of different things at once. It's being deep and musky, light musky, fruity, sweet...It's Mania. Also, the scent had proven pretty divisive when I wear it just with people that I know. It's a big hit with a lot of them, even with those I'd expect to hate it (my mom). But others (like my aunt) think it smells dirty and "like incense" which typically stands for "something I don't like and think is weird." I'd recommend it to people wanting to give fruit or musk a chance, but again, I'm biased

Imp: Lavender and Jasmine hand in hand Wet: Exactly the same as in the imp. While the lavender is dominant, the jasmine is right there behind, giving it a kind of candy-softness Drydown and Sleep: I don't normally have trouble getting to sleep, but on nights when I'm very anxious (which has been increasingly common) this is a good trick for making me go to sleep. Once I'm there, I'm usually good for the rest of the night, but can't say I typically remember my dreams. The drydown is better blended between the two notes, and it's very sweet and creamy on me by the time I get to sleep. This stuff puts me in a REALLY deep sleep. I've never taken sleeping pills, but I understand why they have that "only use if you have a full 8 hours to devote to sleep" caveat. Oneiroi is like that for me. As for the dreams...well...my dreams have always been a bit odd. I rarely remember them, but when I do they're usually full of very normal situations that just run completely off the rails to either hilarity or nightmare territory. It's probably the deepness of the sleep that makes them much more vivid when I'm having them...for better or worse. A vivid dream is great when it's about playing with a pack of puppies in a sunlit meadow. A vivid dream strongly influenced by the three hours of reading horror novels during the day and peanut butter right before bed (it just messes with me, okay?)...the vividness is less appreciated. Use at your own risk. ETA: We've had more time together, and Oneiroi still sends me right to sleep. But now that I've been under stress (upcoming exams, poor health) I can tell my chemistry is changing and so is Onei's scent and affect on my sleep. Lately something a bit smokey has been overshadowing the sweet flower. It still smells great and puts me out like a light, but the dreams that come with it have been decidedly surreal. Not nightmares, but just plain weird. When I don't use it, I don't remember my dreams or whether or not they are weird, so I've got to pin the origin on Oneiroi. Guess I'm starting to really get a feel of this blend as a dream oil.

I love absolutely every note listed up there. I'm expecting big things... Bottle: Oh...Wow. I really hope this smells half as good on me as it does in the bottle. I can pick up little hints of *every* note from the bottle sniff. That's not too common for me! Wet: ....I don't want to live in a world where this scent will not be available to me every day for the rest of forever... The pear is juicy and ripe, the vanilla is smooth and subtle, the black lilly is warm, the red sandalwood gives it a little exotic edge, helioptrope for perkiness, white wine grapes for sweetness, and the white rose adds a touch of sophistication Drydown: I can barely string together a sentence at this point. My mind is just going "BACKUP BOTTLE! NAO! GET ANOTHER BOTTLE!" Overall: I have a weird relationship with sandalwood - I love it, but it hates me and eats every other note in the oil. Not here. Everything is working together for a romantic, ladylike impression. Very formal but oh I'm so glad I have a bottle. This Ode really needs more shilling on the forum

An opportunity to give resins a chance. I typecast myself in to florals Imp: Lemon-y fresh...not gonna lie, it's a bit like the cleaning solution I use Wet: Still in cleaning solution land, but there's something pepper-y to it now. I might be pleasantly surprised by drydown Drydown: The cleaning solution is gone and replaced by great smelling clean laundry. The florals are more aquatic than soapy, and I guess it's the resins that are giving it that clean edge Overall: I actually like it! It's a very Casual Friday Just Want to Smell Clean kinda scent. I don't know if I'll get much use from it, but I'll hang on to the imp and see how it goes

This will probably be awesome if the dreaded verbena can contain itself Imp: Nice fresh green tea Wet: Aw geez, here we go with the verbena... Drydown: It backed down! The verbena actually let some other notes through! It's a very light, crisp scent that I think has a drinkable counterpart from Lipton. Overall: It's very nice and light. A clean cool tea scent. While I do like it, I have a bottle of The Dormouse for my tea scented needs.

Imp:The lime is doing great things to the flowers! Wet: Oh wow lotus is acting weird with the lime. I really like Jasmine, but not getting any of it yet Drydown: Lotus eventually lost the plastic-y edge and now everyone is playing nice. It's hard to get any individual notes from a sniff, but the cirtrus edge of lime is still there Overall: It's sort of a floral "meh." A little too soapy to want to hang on to.