Lyanna

...... I have the distinct feeling that the 2011 version is different than the 2009 version. I almost didn't recognize it when I sniffed the bottle and had to check the label twice. There is a strong ash-like scent underneath the rose, sugar and vanilla. Maybe the lab gave the 2011 version a stronger "snow" scent? I don't know ... I'm sad though, cause I was ecstatic to finally be able to get a bottle. I need to retest, cause I tested this after a long long day in the office, on a very cold arm and in a cranky mood. Also, it came straight out of the package with no possibility of warming up first. Possibly it smells completely different come tomorrow, so I'll come back and edit when I've thoroughly tested it. It could also be a question of aging.

Ooooh, I love this scent! Wet on it's a huge whammie of grapefruit and orangeblossom in tha face! Wakes you up instantly. Upon drydown, some warmer scents creep up and ground the scent firmly. I love how it's zingy and bright and pinky orange, and warm and golden and fuzzy at the same time. I don't think it has a huge amount of staying power but eh, slathering it is then. For me this is definately a keeper. Yes, it turns a little bit soapy, but I'm weird and I actually kind of like that. So yup, I'm on the lookout for a bottle

I just received the 2011 version in my mailbox and it is the first incarnation of this scent I've had the pleasure testing. I can already tell that this will be one of my favourite fall perfumes in the time to come. It's a very dry scent, and I understand the references to leather. It's not as bitter as leather though - but it definately has that ring. I smell mostly dry wood and leaves, mixed with a sweet and warm patchouli and some cloves and spices lingering in the background. No apple or fir for me. It's that perfect blend of warm dry wind in the autumn air when the days are starting to get chilly but the sun still has the capacity to warm you up. Very, very lovely. A definate keeper, and I'm glad I ordered this unsniffed. I also have the idea that this will age really beautifully - the blend will become more rounded I think and the sweet patchouli a little softer and warmer still.

I just got this in the mail and it was the one scent I was dying to try. I'm going to edit this over time, since I've just thrown it on. In the bottle: whoa cherry? Hmmm ... I thought this was supposed to be apple? I think it is probably the cinnamon that goes a little cherry like and reminds me of those hot cherry/cinnamon fireballs. I get not much apple nor any butterscotch or orange. Wet: ahhh, there is the apple! My nose still insists there is cherry in there too. Inhaling deeply the cinnamon actually stings the back of my throat - it's the nice and dusty kind that I really love. I'm now also getting a zingy edge which is probably the citrus in there and some of the allspice and cloves. No butterscotch to be found. Dry: oh booh this turns into sweet 'n sour candy for me, with no apple or juicyness or cider anywhere to be found. And here I thought this might be my holy grail apple scent. Alas, not so. I think this will be one I will not wear often, so it goes on the swap pile. I'm having my hopes set on the glittering/black/green apples that are still coming my way. I has a sad now

This is a pretty spicy scent! My collegue came to my desk and wondered why she was smelling clove and peppernuts/pepernoten (a typical Dutch Sinterklaas/Santa Claus kind of treat which are just hitting the stores around here at this time). It's a very apt description of this scent. Clove, spices and the dry leaves are definately in the foreground, making this a dry scent. I can feel the woodsmoke in the back of my throat when I sniff deeply, it's a little peppery. The scent is not bitter though, there is a sweetness that lingers around which most likely is the plum. I've been wearing this for three hours and it is now a very nice well blended scent which still has a considerable throw - since my collegue could smell it from five feet away. I think this one will age beautifully. Definately a keeper and I'm glad I ordered a bottle unsniffed.

I just received this, and I am already pretty sure that this will be one of the scents I will grab very often. I am completely in love with the cool, crisp, juicy quality of this beautiful blend. In the bottle it is sweet, bright, fresh and very, very well blended. I suck at picking out notes, but the pikake and honeysuckle are obvious, but luckily they are not so heady that they are headache inducing. On skin it first turns a little louder and sweeter and then dries down to a beautiful sweet acquatic floral with a considerable throw. I had just put it on when my SO walked into the room and his very first comment was: boy, do you smell good! Win! And crushed that I did not order a backup bottle.

I absolutely adore this scent. I neither have Snow White nor Rose Red, so can't compare, but it smells a lot like MMU's Rose Cuddle to me - which is one of my favorite scents and sadly no longer available. Pink Snowballs is the perfect combination of vanilla and sugary roses to me and I absolutely love myself when I wear this - it makes me feel womanly, happy and upbeat. The perfect smell for when a day starts out wrong and you need a pick me up. It has considerable staying power too, though in the end the sugary vanilla dissipates and a soft sweet rose remains. I hope for a return come Yules, and if not, I am forced to find a bottle elsewhere

This was a frimp from the lab, and because of the name I left it alone for a long time since I expected a cold chilly graveyard kind of smell Boy was I wrong. I get vanilla and something sharper that almost smells like tobacco, but is most likely the cedar. It morphs on my and turns into a combination of vanilla and a chocolatey note underneath which has me sniffing my wrist constantly. It's an aged frimp, almost two years old, and it really shows - the blend is so well rounded and lovely. It lasts quite a while on me too - but after several hours the deepness of the smell fades a little and it becomes warm, vanilla and comforting. This is definately a keeper and great for colder weather.

I so much wanted to like this, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. In the imp: whoa, predominantly leather, mixed with patchouli and sandalwood. Quite bitter. Wet: Here come the musk and vanilla, but they are still dominated by the leather and sandalwood. It's a very masculine smell on me at that moment, but not bad. Dry: my skin unfortunately eats all the sweetness and leaves me with a very strong leather smell. So much so that it made me nauseous, and this actually was the first BPAL smell ever that I had to wash off. meh So sad, cause I think the concept is awesome.

I've found it. My rose signature scent. Absolutely lovely - nothing artificial, old lady or soapy about it - just one beautiful lovely fresh bouquet of roses scent and it has a staying power to last you all day. This just dropped on the doormat today and I'm glad it's the first imp I tried out in the package, I've been smelling my wrist all day. I need a bottle. Hell, I need backups!

I think my skin eats roses. Or better, it first amps them, then eats them. Meh. Bottle: whoaaa roses roses roses. Wait, is that cinnamon? Wet: Rose rose rose rose with a very vague dusting of something sweet and spicy which must be the cinnamon. I like, but I would have liked the cinnamon to rear it's head more. Dry: Rose rose rose ..... fading rose. Very slight rose. Soapy rose. What? Wait, where did it go? Close, but no cigar. Would have loved it if the cinnamon was more prevalent and if the staying power would have been a lot longer. I am keeping on to the imp though, because I DO quite like it, even though it's not my holy grail rose scent.

I absolutely need a bottle of this - it's a gorgeous smell. From the get-go there is ferns, herbs, absinthe, flowers and a sprinkling of sugar on me, and the smell only deepens and blends the longer I wear it. The stingyness of the herbs and ferns recedes a little, leaving me with a wonderful fresh, sweet and clean smell that I just love wafting around me all day. Which it actually does! Good throw, longlasting, lovely!

Yes, I like this one. It's not up there in my all day favorites, but it's nice enough to wear. The tangy undercurrent again reminds me a little of celery, but not as badly as in Szepassony, and it fades quickly. What I extremely like is that it has staying power — I can still smell it! It now has faded down to an incredibly fresh scent that reminds me of fresh laundry, nice.

From the description on here, I had expected to love this as most of the descriptions talk about fresh, acquatic, rain on flowers etc. I don't think the scent agrees with my skin — from the get-go it smelled like a celery stick on me unfortunately. A little salty and stingy with a slight sweet undertone. By now it has dried down to something mildly sweet and unoffensive with a touch of ozone, but the first two hours it smelled really off. It must be a reaction with my skin. Too bad! On the swap list this goes.

This is ok. In the bottle it's "whoa what the hell" — a very tart, tangy, sour smell where I can barely detect any strawberries. In any case it isn't the artificial strawberry smell you have on strawberry candies. Wet: pretty quickly the extreme tartness wears off and in it's place comes the tangy fresh sweetness of picked strawberries with stems and all. Not bad at all! Dry: pretty much the same. It doesn't have a huge throw and I won't be surprised if it doesn't last all that long. I like it, but it's not something I would reach out for and wear very often. For now definately a keeper.

I really wanted to like this but sadly .... no. It starts out very very sharp — I don't recognize any lavender but that is probably it. There's an off undertone under it, as it dried down it actually vaguely smelled like a dried up sewer. Eww. When it dries down it gets better, but still the off smell is there and in the end the scent dries down to an old ladies' powdery sweet perfume with the off smell underneath. It must be my skin chemestry, cause others have completely different experiences with this. Swap pile, alas.

I do like this scent, especially in the beginning. It reminds me of those Sula sweets you can buy here in the Netherlands: tangerine with swirls of cream. When dried down it's simply a sweet creamy unobtrusive clean smell which is completely blended, I can't really discern any notes standing out. It's also barely there — I can smell it on me, but only by hovering my nose above my wrist. I would have liked to see a little more power.

Not one of my favorites, sadly. It starts very fresh, but with a weird, WEIRD undertone, so much so that I was like "eeew? what? fish?" There's something in there that doesn't agree with my skin obviously. Definately off. That stage did not last too long fortunately, maybe a couple of minutes. It then dries down and the weird smell dissipates. What is left is a soapy sweet irish ... soap. I think. I don't like it, but I don't don't like it either. Hm. I think this one goes on the swap pile.

The start is absolutely yummy - peppery and creamy, but it dries up a little too sweet for my taste. I may have to try this again though.

On first sniff: oooh yum, cinnamon and honey, very sweet and warm and spicy. Absolutely lovely. The smell reminds me of those fireballs we used to eat as kids: red balls of spicy sweetness that were so hot you could barely keep them in your mouth. It's a real shame that the cinnamon note almost entirely disappears as this dries. I apparently amp honey like crazy cause it takes over completely. I like the scent, but I would have loved it if the cinnamon stayed. Also, after a day's wear, it's completely gone. Doesn't last more than four hours I'm afraid.

In the imp: whooa, roses! Very very heady, with a twang of apple somewhere far underneath. Wet on skin: appleblossom comes out to play. Very lovely this, mouthwateringly so. Faintly I also start smelling the honey somewhere underneath. Dry: apple slowly fades into the background, meh. Bye! Roses and honey are left. Still good though. Several hours later: Predominantly honey with a faint whiff of rose. This one is definately a keeper, might even make it to a bottle. Me likes!

This is the very first BPAL I've ever worn. It arrived today in a package together with a couple of other imps that I swapped for some other products, and right out of the bottle it smelled so nice that it was the first scent I tried on. Out of the bottle: Pretty heady, but fresh. Has an acquatic aftertaste of sorts. Wet on skin: whoa, flowers! All of a sudden it turns a lot sweeter, still slightly acquatic aftertaste. Where is this going? Initial drydown: the freshness is back. In comes a little herbal, soapy undertone that I really, really like. It balances the flowery notes out very nicely. I need to keep sniffing hahaha. Can't say anything yet about the rest of the day, will add as soon as I can.

Aaaaaahhhh *runs around in circles* Ok, newbie here and overwhelmed. Trying to get my first dozen imps together, and wondering if I haven't chosen a lot of scents that look alike, are too "difficult" for a newbie, or maybe if I'm missing out on something wonderful. So far, this is my list: Paris Pontarlier Rome Ephemera Harlot The Temptation Dragon's Eye Kali Eve The Lady of Shalott Bastet Bengal What do you think? Fine to start off with? I made this list without checking the recommendations here, simply by giving in search words in the search engine and seeing what it came up with.