squalorholla

I thought this was going to be impossible to wear, because the first thing I smelled was a huge, loud jasmine and some other funky, indolic floral, maybe narcissus? It seemed like it was going to be way too strong. Anyway, I needn't have worried -- my skin loves BPAL's moss notes, so Bayou turned into a wonderful soft, comfy (but still a little funky and mildewy) dark floral. Love it -- it makes me feel like the world's most glamorous frog.

I don't do fruity usually, but when I was reading the descriptions of the new General Catalog scents to my only-politely-interested hubby, his ears perked up at the description of Shango. "I bet that'd be awesome in the car," he said, and I agreed. But when I got my order I had to try Shango on anyway, just to see what happened. Right out of the imp the one-two punch of banana and coconut can smell a trifle acetone-ish, but the sharpness quickly disperses. Dry, Shango is a delicious, loud, sparkly, happy fruit scent that makes me want to use exclamation marks! The chili cuts the sweetness quite a bit -- this is a very adult fruit, in more ways than one I think. Wearing this, I feel like I should be dancing in the street wearing feathers and sequins and very little else. I adore it. It isn't me at all. But it does, indeed, go wonderfully in the car, which has been renamed Shango, the Subaru of Warriors!

I didn't even bother trying this one out for the longest time; I got it as a free imp and it succeeded in perfuming the whole shipment with the odor of, as my husband put it, "OLD LADIES!" Nothing against old ladies, of course, but I always think of violet as being an elderly scent, and indeed the violets came barrelling out of the imp like some demented geriatric genie. Initially the vetiver imbues it with an almost rotting quality -- this is like a perfume that one of the women from "Grey Gardens" would wear. Finally I got bored and tried it on, and it turned into something quite interesting. The violets come and go, as violets do, and the vetiver gets stronger. It brings an almost citrus note to the party, but not a fresh citrus -- it's a deep, oily, twiggy citrus that I feel more in the palate than the nose. The whole scent is deeply weird and very dark, but it's not corrupted dark -- there's a cleanness to it. On me, it hung around forever and was very strong. Saturnalia is strange, and it's totally not me, but I imagine it would be just gorgeous on the right person.

When I pried the cap off the imp I thought, gloomily, that I'd be the one person on the planet who doesn't like Morocco. Musk does atrocious things on me, and this was SWEET SWEET SWEET MUSK MUSK MUSK for quite awhile. An hour after application, though, Morocco has calmed down into something very nice. The carnation adds a necessary floral bite to the mix, and the different spices keep wafting by my nose and making me smile. Overall it reminds me of fancy, unsmoked pipe tobacco, which is one of my favorite smells. I don't think this is quite me, but it's great.

Wow. I'm loving this, though I have no idea why since it's really kind of gross. The initial impression is pure dirt with a hint of mildew and a green, twiggy element; then the roses slowly, slowly take over. There's a little bit of a powdery thing happening with the drydown, but even though I usually despise powdery scents Zombi is so delightfully weird that I can forgive it. It also seems to fascinate my cats. This is certainly the wrong time of year to be wearing this stuff. I'm putting it away until November.

In the bottle this was gorgeous: clean and sharp, a little edgier than your standard sporty fragrance, with a bright citrusy top note that reminded me of yuzu. On me, alas, it instantaneously deliquesced into pure fabric softener with a hint of lemon Pledge. Curses on my body chemistry. Undeterred, I dumped some on a cotton ball and threw it in the dryer with a load of towels, and now they smell amazing. I think I might buy a big bottle for that purpose alone.

This came in my first-ever imp order. It's an intriguing scent. When I think about it I can isolate the ginger and honey, but the overall effect is elusive and evocative. This is going to sound kind of weird, but it has a waxy quality to it -- it reminds me of the art supplies I used as a kid, maybe expensive colored pencils? I don't know, but me likee, very much. It's soft and sensual but also clean. I don't think I want to walk around smelling like a box of Prangs, but I'm using it as a room scent and loving it. (So is my husband; he keeps sniffing the air rapturously and going "Mmmmmmm.")