inkaddict

In the bottle: Resins, a pleasant touch of sweetness. Wet: Warm and almost spicy, the resins are wonderful. After 5 minutes: Sharp rose is beating down all the beautiful resins, but I can detect a hint of...amber and pomegranate? It gives me hope that this will dry down to something wearable if not fabulous. Dry: Pomegranate, amber and something flowery -my skin had once again defeated the evil rose by making it practically disappear. This is soothing with a touch of sweetness and strangely edible. Verdict: Keeper, especially as it's the first scent that has me wondering how it will age. Not instant love, but lovable in its own way.

A bottle from e-bay, unknown age. In the bottle: violets, with a hint of sweetness. Wet: Violets, but not as strong as in the bottle. There's something a bit sharp in there too, but it's probably just the rose doing the usual "I'm evil, green and full of thorns, back away slowly!" dance it does on my skin. When it doesn't simply disappear. Dry: Sweet, wonderful violets and nothing else. It's the first time the rose disappearing act has made me happy. I catch whiffs of violets everytime I move, like I've just rolled around in them. Very sexy. Verdict: I'm very, very glad I bought a bottle of this unsniffed -roses and violets are my fav flowers- because I want to bathe in this. I'll have a hard time keeping my slathering tendencies under control.

In the imp: fresh apple, sweet bright and juicy. Wet: the same gorgeous apple, made deeper by the herbs. It's very green and fresh, no trace of the heavy sweetness of The Hesperrides. While that was almost sickening this is bright and "alive" -I want to grab this apple an take a bite. Dry: Crushed, pungent herbs, a bit of apple peel, smoke and sweet opium. That's the way Snow White's Evil Stepmother's lab probably smelled like while she was working on the apple Verdict: Lush and green, a wonderful scent. It reminds me a bit of Witching Time of Night. I'm discovering that witch's herbs love my skin as much as I love them. Unfortunately it fades rather quickly but I'm tempted to get a big bottle anyway: Poisoned apple would be wonderful for spring, especially when I'm struck inside looking out of the window and pretending to study.

In the imp: flowers and rosemary. Something sweet, but I can't say what, exactly. Wet: Woa, boozy! The grape spirit is sweet, almost cloying, and at first I can't smell anything else. Then the mint comes out, and this gets even worse. After a few minutes the roses and lemon beat the grape and mint down a bit, and my stomach starts to calm down. Unfortunately they're still plotting in the background and planning their revolution. Dry: Mmm, roses and herbs! The first Bpal rose bland I can wear, and which actually smells like roses to my nose. There's still atrce of sweet booze and almost no mint. It's a fine scent if I keep my wrists well away from my face, but as soon as I catch more than a whiff my nose remembers the grape spirit explosion and my stomach starts to protest. Verdict: Er. I'll give it another try but if the grape spirit goes Kaboom! again I'll give it to my mother hoping that it will love her more.

In the imp: spicy floral with leather. Yum! Wet: this is strong, but oh so good! Gardenia, jasmin and leather are dominant, but there's something dark spicyng it up: vetiver? If so I'm really glad it doesn't hate my skin, I've been eyeing Saturnalia for a while but the vetiver scared me off. I love heady florals and this is right up my alley. Dry: it's atarting to mellow and sweeten a bit: faint whiffs of rose, the cinnamon comes out and the flowers back down a bit. It's still lovely -yummy, sexy, spicy leather- with good throw and staying power, which on my skin is almost a miracle. To my nose it's a warm, clean scent, with a strong personality. I keep getting the image of a dominatrix every time I catch a waft of Highwayman I don't know if I'll go for a big bottle, the imp will probably last me a long time, but this is definitely a keeper.

In the imp: soft, delicate floral, with something green in the background. Wet: mmm, rose! After the heartbreak of 2,5,7 and my skin eating up all the rose in Zombi I'm so happy I'm literally squeeing. It's still soft and lovely. Dry: I started squeeing too soon, this is turning into soap. Yup: cheap floral soap with heavy, smothering rose. there's still a faint trace of greenery in the background, but not enough to lighten this up. Sigh. *off to try another rose blend, I will not give up!*

Wet: sweet and somehow unpleasantly sharp and sour at the same time. On me it's almost like cola gone bad. That's the best description I can come up with. Ew. Dry: I was hoping for the earthy spicyness, but my nose refuses to pick anything from it aside from sour cola. And it's *strong*. For the first time in my short bpal experience I literally had to run and wash an oil off, but this was making me sick. I hope it's not the ginger that turns evil on me 'cause I love the smell of fresh ginger -it always reminds me of clean linens and sunny days.

My first bpal heartbreak In the imp: sharp, almost sweat-like. Uh-oh. Wet: not sweat, thank god, yet still unbearably sharp. Dry: SharpsharpunpleasantSHARP! No rose at all, just the occasional waft of something floral. My skin *eats* roses and makes them disappear -see Zombi- but this is simply made of failure on me. But it's rose, my great love, and I noticed with other blends (Vampire Tears, Midway) that my nose sometimes needs a few tries to reset and get in tune with a scent, so I still had hope. I gave it another couple of tries, but nothing changed. Off to swaps.

Resurrected. I got this as frimp from a forumite and I could never thank her enough Midway opened my eyes to a whole new family of scents. I've never been into foody/fruity/sugary scents, mostly because to my nose they always smelled "fake": chemical-like and cloyingly sweet. At first sniff Midway screamed coconut(!) to me, but the second time I tried it my nose somehow resetted and wafting from my wrist there was pure cotton candy. Real cotton candy: warm sugar with a slight burnt edge. When the funnel cakes and caramel appeared I suddently knew how Proust must have felt with his madelaine - I was in Carnac again, walking under the rain and surrounded by the smell of gauffres, spun sugar and still warm doughnuts (well, not really doughnuts, but I don't know the right name ^^). The resulting smell should have been sickening, but under the heavy rain it was comforting and inviting. Just like Midway. It's still not a very me blend but it's lovely for when I want to relax and take a trip down memory lane *cuddles her few drops*

Wet: Joy in a bottle. Sweet, fresh flowers, not perfumey at all. It's like walking around with your nose buried in a bouquet. Dry: Morgause deepens, and I start to get the "purple" feeling from it I red about in other reviews. I don't smell incense, nor does it smell fruity, but I suspect the purple fruits are what's making the flowers smell so juicy and "alive". It doesn't last as long as I hoped, but my skin drinks oil like crazy This was love at first sniff!

My very first review! *frets* Wet: soft and sweet, on the edge of too sweet. After a few seconds my nose starts to pick up notes and...yum! Leather, woods and something spicy. Dry: the sweetness backs down completely, and Dee gets more spicy. It's light, and keeps close to my skin, but I keep getting wafts of this smooth, sexy smell. It's so warm, makes me think of a potion lab filled with ingredients, old wooden tables, leather-bound books and cauldrons bubbling softly. It was the first BPAL I sniffed, and it turned me into a complete addict.

Thank you! Delirium sound really good (rose and lemon, yum) and I'm really glad about Poisoned Apple, it was the one I wanted to try the most Les Bijoux seems a bit too fruity for me -apple is one of the few fruit notes I like- but maybe the peach will work better than I think since I like all the other notes...my first big order is getting a bit *too* big

*waves* I'm still quite new to BPAL, and the only apple blend I've sniffed is The Hesperides: unfortunately to my nose it's extremely sweet, almost sickening. I was tempted by other appley scents but now I'm a bit scared: are Verdandi, Eve and Poisoned Apple that sweet? What about Coral Snake? Any suggestion is appreciated

Two of the two (!) packs I was waiting are being held by customs Other italians: does it *always* happen to you, or do the packs sometimes avoid their clutches? And the slightly scary letter I received from customs is just a formality to get their hands on my 6,33 euros, or should I be worried? Also, is there a way to help your packs slip by customs unnoticed? Like writing gift on the pack like the lab does...have you noticed what actually helps?