MonkeysInk

THIS. We went sailing around the BVI a few years ago and the air smelled totally amazing. I'm going to have to get an imp of Mary Read ASAP. Thanks for the enabling!

In the imp, this smelled grossly of dryer sheets and I wasn't sure what to think about it. On me, it's not overly complex and I really, really like it. I'm a scuba diver, so I'm always looking for the perfect happy ocean scent to remind me of great days of diving and this is it: warm water, pretty fish, fresh fruit afterwards while you bask in the sun and give reverent thanks for the beauty of the ocean.

In the imp, I thought "total blech", as Honey is an absolute note of death for me - it dominates every other scent to smell like dirty baby powder. As I rinsed it off, I got a strong whiff of antique roses with a softer floral (which I take it is the orange blossom) backed by a sweet woody note. Totally delicious for a second, and then back to dirty baby powder. Sad, really, because that one moment made me see what this could be and I really liked it.

I purchased a decant of this, hoping to like it....not sure why, as beeswax is a note of death for me. The red ginger and pepper literally burned my nose when I sniffed the imp. That was as far as I could get -it was really overwhelming. Off to the sales for this little imp.

imp: nothing but rose. I grabbed this out of my imp box in the morning just based on the name, not having read the description and was blown back a bit by the intensity of the rose. wet: not so sure about this one...I'm not a rose kind of girl and it was just so...well, rosy! Almost like a happy, smiley rose, wet and plump and velvety. dry: okay, now this is the kind of rose that I can get on board with - several hours after putting it on, it's dried down into a dark, dusty rose. It almost smells like I pressed this in a book and found it much later. It's got a nice light wafting smell, nothing overwhelming. summary: not totally in love with the fragrance of roses, but totally in love with the unfolding of the scent as I wore it - this is like a story in an imp.

I got an sample of Coral Snake from a generous forumite, and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. It smells like juicy red apples (some sliced, some still whole) next to a beautiful display of freshly cut flowers, and someone walked by wearing some Snake Oil. As I wear it, the apples dampen down and the florals come forward a little, but always with Snake Oil lingering and wafting nearby. The imp I received is aged, and I've ordered a new bottle, so I'm curious to see how they are different. If the apples have receded in my aged sample, then I can't imagine how juicy they're going to smell in a fresh bottle - they're still pretty forward in my imp, which the previous owner estimated to be two years old. I love, love, love this fragrance. It's fresh enough to smell like summer, and the vanilla keeps it grounded and rich enough that I can see wearing this during the fall, too.

Oh, what a genius idea - I love this line of products, too. The smell is amazing and I'd love to see what people can come up with as a BPAL dupe, as it would be a lovely fragrance to wear in the summer. The JF website says it's peppermint and eucalyptus. I think it's soft, wet eucalyptus, not that dry stuff that you see at the craft store that smells a bit waxy.

It's amazing to me how this scent is actually tickly on your nose - it's a fun sensation when you open the container. This scent is definitely just as described: fizzy ginger ale, rum and sweet-tart orange. I also get a distinctly caramel smell that I think is from the rum. This is definitely a drink that I would order on a tropical vacation!

This smells like nothing but melon and lychee on me - it's a pleasant scent that reminds me of shampoo (in a good way...like something nice that a salon would use). I was hoping to smell more of the peony and bamboo, but I just don't get either of those. I would describe this as juicy and delicious and fresh. It's just not me - there's something about melon that I can only handle in small doses - so it's off to the sale forum for this one.

430: This bottle is very full, up into the neck. Opening the bottle, I get straight buttercream. Like OMG-liquid-cupcake-icing-in-a-bottle. As it dries down, I still get some sweet, but I also get dark coconut. Not toasty, sweetened coconut, but coconut with a little bit of dirt and shell, maybe? EDIT: Okay, so it's not dirt and shell, it's plastic - it's vanilla-buttercream-coconut-plastic. The plastic goes away after a bit and just smells like I've smeared frosting on my arm. It's pretty delicious, really.

The Vampire Tarot blends are based on short stories by Neil Gaiman, so they're under his section. If you look at the menu on the main page, there's a section of all of the co-branded lines, with a link for Neil. Once you click on that, it brings up another page with a menu of the different Gaiman lines, and "15 Painted Cards From a Vampire Tarot" is the first thing on that list. --M Thanks so much! I feel pretty silly now....

Apologies in advance if I'm just McStupid - but how would I have found Vampire Tarot on the Lab's website if a forum post hadn't pointed me to the right place? Am I overlooking a link to them?

I get dark round fruit and amber and a hint of incense. This is like a lush relative of Morocco - I get that same dry wafting spice fragrance. The pomegranate/plum that others are smelling comes through for me, too and I'm not a huge fan of what my skin does to it.

I got this one as a sniffie and there were just a few drops, enough for me to wear it one time. All I'm getting is honey and tea leaf, like a little bite of bitter behind the honey. I always like the idea of honey scents, but they never seem to smell very good on my skin. This was extremely light - I had to press my nose against my arm to get any of the scent. I'm glad I got to smell this one and will not be purchasing a larger one.

In the imp, this smells rather generically floral. On the skin, it continues to smell like a warm floral with a little bit of electric fire in the background, but the fire is faint, and mostly I get floral. And hay...now there's some hay. Then magnolia...and the fire moves further forward. Hot and dry. Not sure if I'll order a full size, as I'm not keen on smelling like electrical fire, but I love the florals in this one and am going to seek out some other scents with the same floral notes.

This smelled very minty when I opened my imp - quite eye-opening! It smelled minty and metallic on my hand, then dried down to a dusty violet-amber blend (dare I saw it? almost like an old lady perfume...). I'm glad I got an imp, as it was interesting to smell something go through such a dramatic evolution, but this is not one that I would order in full size.

This smelled like a puff of sugar when I opened the imp, then it was lemongrass-lemongrass-lemongrass as I applied it. It's dried into something delicious and lemony and sweet, with a bit of bite. Edited to add: I had this on for several hours and my husband commented that it smelled "tropical". I'm not sure that I get traditional tropical (coconut, pineapple, etc.), but I definitely get a green tropical after wearing it for a while, like a big green palm frond waving a waft of a lemony drink. Bottom line: totally delicious.

Tin Foil Hat smelled fabulous when I opened the imp, very green and icy cold, and I couldn't wait to put some on. It's dried down into something very sexy and masculine. I'm glad I only used a drop, as this scent isn't kidding around: it's right in your face. As it dries more, I smell something woody...cedar, maybe, very far away? I wish that this came in a full size...it would be lovely to use in the laundry this winter.

I think this smells very delicious, very sweetly orange with a bit of bite. I smell the pepper strongly in the imp and it backs off to become more fruity on my skin. My imp came from eBay, so not sure of the age. I kept sniffing my hand, trying to figure out what Tweedledee reminded me of and it hit me: BlissSpa's Blood Orange + White Pepper. This is one of my favorite scents and I'm delighted to have found something so similar in a perfume oil. It also reminds me of the Body Shop satsuma scent. This is one I'll definitely be getting in a big bottle, as I can see wearing it all summer long. Edited to Add: I bought a half-bottle from the forum sales and it came with a sticker indicating it was from 2006, so it was interesting to smell it against my imp. I smell something almost rubbery in the aged oil that's in the bottle and when I first put it on my skin, then it dries down into something much darker than my imp does. I'd say that the imp smells yellow-orange and the bottle smells orange-brown. It's obviously the same fragrance, but they're very different from one another.

This scent reminds me very much of diving in the Blue Hole. The lovely light marine scent occasionally throws a bit of something darker, in much the same way that sharks suddenly materialize from the darkness below before disappearing back into the deep. Something in it reminds me of the cologne my dad wore when I was a little girl, yet I would consider this to be a unisex scent. On me, this has very limited throw, and I like it that way - I think it adds to the mysteriousness.