lishal

Lily and rose are really well blended in this scent and they work very well with the vanilla. Usually, rose will amp up on me and make it near impossible to smell anything else but in Victoria, it's a gentle floral backing to a very delicate, very girly lily scent with a just a touch of vanilla to round it all out. Victoria is a pretty light scent though and the lily and vanilla sort of disappeared on me and rose started coming up during the scent's last few hours.

Sweet hard candy with a twist of something sharp. In the imp, it is mostly hard candy but on me, something almost acidic comes up that gives this scent its sharpness. I imagine a handful of pink rock candy held together by ribbons of melted cotton candy. This scent is so sweet it makes my teeth ache but it is very good at making me think of the carnival.

Clean, green, with a bit of soap. It has a sharpness to it that makes me think green but it is mostly soap to me. This isn't a bad thing, I love how it smells. The scent in the bottle is a bit more heavy than it is on me, where it turns into a light slightly floral soapy scent. The throw on this is moderate and it lasts quite a long time. I'm not sure if this is a scent that I would wear very often, but it's definitely lovely.

Victoria is a very soft, feminine floral with a touch of vanilla. And it's a totally wearable scent. It's quite pretty, I've got a bottle of it and want another because it's so very nice.

I use a cheap brand of q-tip with plastic sticks that I cut in half. I'll usually dip the cut plastic end of the q-tip in the oil where it gets about a drop trapped in the opening in the center of the tube and use that to dab on my skin. If I'm wearing a scent locket, I pull the cotton off the plastic stick and dip the stick into the oil and use that to drop some into the cotton. I then stick that cotton ball into my scent locket. Two uses for the price of one.

This is warm sugar and strawberry in the bottle, topped with a cherry. It makes me think of hard strawberry candy when I put it on too, there's an initial surge of strawberry right at the forefront. It's perfect because I've been searching for a good strawberry BPAL scent and it looks like the Velvet Unicorn is the winner so far. On dry down, the strawberry fades rather quickly on me, leaving me with a sugar cherry scent then eventually just very sweet pink sugar.

In the bottle it smells like a tart tangerine with a very tiny bit of something kind of sharp, probably the jasmine. On me, it is a huge hit of tangerine and it's pretty much all I smell at first. When it starts drying down, the jasmine comes up a little more to warm up the scent and deepen it a bit. It's a little bit like drinking jasmine tea that's been spiced with a squeeze of citrus. This is so pretty and I love it!

In Imp: Creamy, sugary coffee. That's all I can smell, it smells delicious. If this were real coffee, I would drink it. Yumminess! On Wet: Big hit of creamy irish coffee with a faint hint of books and a little dash of wood. But the coffee is really quick to burn off and there's something else coming up, lots of dust and cream. That is a bit interesting, it's like old, dusty cream on me. Dry: I smell like cream of mushroom soup. It's seriously like a creamy mushroom soup. I'm not sure I like the smell, I don't mind it but it's definitely not coffee any more. I want that smell back though, so I'm going to try wearing this in a scent locket.

In Imp: Big whiff of almond backed with a creamy base. This has very little throw and it took me about five sniffs to get the scent to register in my brain, but boy, when it does it immediately tickles my temporal lobe. On Skin: I have to slather this in order to actually smell anything, it's very light and hard to detect. I get almond upon application with a little hint of cream. Dry: Creamy almond oatmeal with a teensy dash of vanilla. This is a very comforting scent. It's warm, just the right amount of sweet, and personal, not at all overbearing and I don't have to worry about suffocating anyone with this scent because I can barely smell it! I love this and wish it had better throw and lasting power since it fades within a couple of hours. But, I love how delicate and cozy this smells so I won't mind slathering and reapplying often.

In Imp: Smells a little similar to Fae but with less florals, is not creamy, and is a bit more tart. It smells divine already. On Skin: Apricot explosion! Actually, it sort of smells like an under ripe peach at first but turns into apricot right after the initial hit. There's a sort of flowery background to this that I'm presuming is coming from the orange blossom. Dry: Predominantly apricot with a little zing in the background. On dry down, I got a hint of plastic but the plastic isn't strong and the apricot scent kind of soaks it up and masks it. I can only assume that plastic smell is what the orange blossom morphed into, which is strange since orange blossom has never turned to plastic on me before. However, it isn't strong enough in this scent to cause a distraction for me and Katharina remains beautiful five hours later when it starts to fade into a light fruity scent.

I'll definitely be putting in for a bottle of Bon Vivant in my next order and maybe an imp of Maenad too. Thanks!

What offerings in the GC are there for strawberry scents? I've tried Mania, but I smelled no strawberry, just a lot of red musk and something herbal. Is Bon Vivant a better choice if I'm looking for a strong and fruity strawberry scent?

I just want to give props to Les Bijoux. I got this as a frimp in my last lab order (how did they know I'd love it so much?) and I wasn't sure if I would like it because of the frankincense, but it smelled like tart peaches with a hint of orange. It's very pretty if you're looking for an unsweet but still fruity peach scent. Fae is still my favorite for peach, but I haven't tried most of the recommendations in this thread so who knows?

In Imp: Fruity and tart peach, a touch of orange and a deep and dark undertone that must be the frankincense. On Skin: Sparkly! That's the first word that came to mind when I put this on. It's a tart but elegant and sparkly peach that hides something a little dark in the background. The orange gives it a little zip but I seem to be missing out on the apple scent. Something about this scent just screams extravagant which makes it really true to its name. Dry: I got very little morphing with this one, it stays peachy with orange and lasts around five hours on me, which is really good for a scent that I like. I don't appear to be getting any apple in this, which is a bit of a shame because I can only imagine how much more pretty this could be. Not complaining though, this is already lovely. Les Bijoux is glorious and beautiful, I love it.

In Imp: Whoa! Powerful scent. The instant I opened the imp for Jack this rich, creamy pumpkin and spice scent greeted me. I don't get any peach or clove from this but this smells really nice and instantly reminds me of autumn. On Skin: Rich spicy pumpkin, very sweet. It's almost a little too sweet and rich for me but I can totally see myself wearing this maybe once or twice during the year around October because it would be very fitting for that time. I'm smelling a lot of nutmeg, cinnamon and baked pumpkin. Delicious! Dry: Unfortunately, the pumpkin scent starts to fade on dry down and clove comes up. I've discovered that clove smells like plastic and sometimes burning rubber on me and this one is no exception. It kind of turned into a nutmeg and cinnamon plastic in this phase. Also, this scent is a real champion when it comes to lasting power. I've washed my wrists like five times and I can still smell it.

In Imp: Herbal lavender with a touch of sweet and crispy lotus. On Skin: Upon application, I got a really nice whiff of the lavender and lotus getting together for a party. Then they crashed the party. I am usually okay with lotus scents, and I love lavender scents but when these two get together, they don't play nice on me. I'm getting that sickly sweet medicinal smell some people have talked about and unfortunately, this scent conjures up images of the dentist's office. Dry: I got a headache from this scent and the dentist's office imagery is funny but it's not the kind of image I was hoping for. Paris broke my heart since it smelled so nice in the imp. Oh well.

I'm really amazed by what perfumers can do with bouquets too. They come up with really impressive and convincing scents. It's especially cool when a bouquet manages to replace an oil that's generally not suggested for use, so even though it's restricted, it can still be appreciated. Sassafras is one example, and it blows my mind just what might go into a bouquet to imitate that sort of scent. I know I could never do it and I appreciate the talent and time it takes.

In Imp: Grapefruit, yuzu and kumquat are up front with a touch of florals backing them. Very citrusy, crisp and clean in the bottle. This is not at all what I expected from the name, but I should learn by now that I can't judge a scent by its title. On Skin: The grapefruit and yuzu are way up front taking over the whole scene. It's still very crisp, makes me feel clean and I adore the strong citrus scent this gives off. The florals are still there but they are very subdued. Dry Down: Florals are coming up now and the citrus is mellowing out a little but still remains up front. Kumquat seems to have vanished on me but perhaps it's just so blended in with the grapefruit that I can't detect it. This scent is really pleasant definitely a keeper.

In Imp: Heavily floral with hints of oakmoss that make this scent smell really green and a little bit woody in the imp. I get a faint whiff of peaches now and then. On Skin: After the initial rush of florals the peach comes out and dominates turning into this soft and creamy peach scent backed by faint traces of florals. My God, this smells divine. It's like a ripe and warm peach. Dry Down: Fae lasts around five hours on me. After a while the peach fades a bit but still remains the dominant scent. This is a really comforting smell. Also, it makes me feel pretty. I definitely have to get a big bottle of this one.

In Imp: Soft, wispy vanilla with dusty linens, I can't detect the flowers but what I can detect of the vanilla and linen is really nice. I'm already loving the vanilla in this and it does conjure up good images of dusty and antique things. On Skin: Linen and vanilla, the vanilla is upfront and despite smelling delicious, it's not one of those scents that makes me want to eat my arm. The vanilla never turns too sweet, it stays dusty and powdery and pretty. This is really elegant. Dry Down: Linen falls back a bit more, letting the vanilla really dominate the scene. Antique Lace has great staying power on me. Five hours later and I can still smell it without bringing my wrist up.

In Imp: Mint with lavender. Really green and crisp and fresh. Like a garden after a rain shower. This is really lovely and I adore both of those scents. On Skin: The mint and lavender have both disappeared and all I'm getting is the scent of fresh cut grass. I seriously smell like a lawn that's just been mowed and watered. This isn't what I was expecting, but I don't dislike it. On the contrary, I really enjoy it because it's the dead of winter up here and I miss seeing lawns and grass. The scent is still crisp and clean but there's definitely no mint or lavender anywhere. Dry: Envy faded on me really quick. Within an hour it was gone. But, on the dry down, I did smell the lavender surface for a fleeting moment before all traces of this scent disappeared. I really like this, despite being surprised by the sudden change. It makes me associate this scent with that old saying, "The grass is greener on the other side", which does correlate with envy in a way, so the name is appropriate in my experience.

In Imp: Sweet and creamy, like sugar and milk with a hint of butter added to it. This is already making me hungry. On Skin: Still sweet, just like a cake that's made with brown sugar and a little streak of honey. There's milk on the side with a faint wisp of wine in the background. The throw on this scent is really good and it makes me smell like I just baked something yummy. Dry: Brown sugar is what I'm getting mostly when in the dry phase, the honey and milk is fading and the wine that was barely there is no where to be seen. It still smells delicious and sweet though and the scent stays on me for a good, long time.

In Imp: Moist wood and herbs. There's also a rotting undertone to this too. I wish I can detect the almonds but they appear to be hiding. On Skin: Something has gone terribly wrong with my skin and this scent. I wish I could smell the almonds or the spice because that sounds really awesome. But, all I'm getting is a very heavy plastic scent from this. I don't get any wood or herbs anymore, it's just straight up plastic. Dry Down: I soldiered on with this and waited around three hours and the plastic scent started to fade a little. There's something sweet and almond underneath but the synthetic smell is still really predominant. I don't think I can wait any longer so I'm going to wash it off. Off to the swap pile with you, Baron Samedi. It's too bad because I was really hoping this one would work out.

I got mostly apples and rose with a little bite of lemon to round the whole scent off. I like this one, simple, sweet and fruity. I love how the apple and the rose mix together. It makes me think of ripe, red apples in a basket with some fresh picked roses. After about an hour, the lemon disappears and the rose starts to overpower the apple. I still love it though, and absolutely adore this scent. I can sit here and let it waft around all day. Unfortunately, it doesn't have very good lasting power on me and fades after two hours so maybe next time, I'll apply more liberally.

This was the first BPAL scent I tried. I chose it because it had the strongest throw of the imps I have and it had a great name. In the bottle, I could detect the opium and smoke right away. It definitely conjures up images of a really smokey opium den. I actually liked the smoke scent so I dabbed a little on my wrists and after a few minutes the smoke and opium started to clear and something else came up. Thankfully, I didn't get a pee or poopy smell but the civet does not like my chemistry because I started to realize I smelled like stale bandaids. It's not a horrifying scent on me but it's definitely not what I have in mind when I think sinful. Which leads me to wonder what would happen if I aged it and a part of me is afraid that if I do, I might get the bodily fluid scents instead. I'll probably just be swapping it. This just isn't for me.