Anneliese

The fun thing about BPAL is trying to figure out what your skin chemistry is ruining (well, at least for me). Santo Domingo out of the imp was like straight boozy rum. Sure, I could smell a hint of tobacco in there, but like the best bar drinks, complete, boozy goodness. Instead of putting this on myself, I grabbed my husband's wrist and dabbed some on. At first, it was this wonderful vacation -- like you're standing downwind from a bar in the tropics. However, I was sorry to smell the baby powder coming along, and my husband couldn't get it off quickly enough. I think it's the rum that's acting up for both of us. I don't believe it's the tobacco, because Ogun smelled wonderful on me, but Perversion quickly went powdery as well.

Evokes sheer, unadulterated carnal lust. An undeniably warm and sensual scent. Black narcissus, orange blossoms, and vanilla. I got this as a frimp, and I thought I'd love the smell based on the way the cap smelled. Oh, boy. As soon as I opened it, it smelled as if something was rotting inside. Despite that, I forged ahead, and the next ten minutes were spent hoping that the foul smell on my wrist would go away. I believe that the narcissus was the culprit, because I've never really had a problem with orange blossom, and I tend to amp vanilla. After those ten minutes, though, a sweet floral began to peek out. I can see where most people get the creamsicle feeling from, but all I really got was a strong vanilla with the slightest undertones of orange. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't worth it -- why endure a scent like that when the payoff is just vanilla?

In the bottle, it's mostly burnt sugar -- not the bad kind, though, but white sugar that's been under a torch or a broiler. It reminded me of the crust of a flan. When I put it on, it's almost as if the sugar recrystallized and became this really sweet combo of sugar and musk. In the span of two hours, it went from that to something slightly fruity, and finally to a fruity floral with the slightest hint of both teak and musk. It's a lot brighter than I thought it'd be, too. It usually lasts around three or four hours on my skin and with minimal throw, but I'll keep it around because of how awesome it morphs on me.

Upon first sniff, I was very confused -- ginger? disinfectant? Then, when I put some on, it was all pine-fresh floor cleaner. I was ready to wash it off, but I decided to give it a couple of hours. It's a good thing that I did, because it actually changed from something unbearably pungent to a soft woody incense, with an almost vanilla-like sweetness to it.. I still get a hint of ginger, but not enough to make my heart sing. Too bad I had to shove my wrist halfway up my nose to be able to smell any of it. While the end result is pretty nice, I don't think I'll be rushing to try this one again. It's quite masculine, especially during the drydown, so maybe my husband will fare better with it.

A piercing, radiant perfume: dragon's blood resin, lily of the valley, lilac and galbanum. Okay, now it's confirmed: lilac and I don't get along fragrance-wise. I love the smell of them (I wore a crown of lilacs to my senior prom, even), but on me, it takes over any scent, turning it into some combination of laundry soap and air freshener. Just to make this a real review, in the imp, I smelled lilac laundry soap, and on my skin it's lilac air freshener. It's really overpowering and heady as well.

In the imp, it smells like lilac soap gone wrong -- I usually have a hard time picking out the lab's leather scent, but this may indeed be the thing that's clouding it up. When I put it on, I get this clean feeling... it actually smells pretty close to this French soap a family member sent to me a few years back, although to my knowledge it shares nothing in common with this fragrance (save some mystery herbs). If I want to smell like lilac soap, I'll just head to the bathroom. It's a good thing I already have someone to give this to!

Same here -- I'm not sure it's the guava, though, but the orange that's making me think that. Something in a tin that's lightly sugared but not all that sweet... this is going to bug me now. It's so mellow and orange, yet surprisingly not a foody scent on me. It's candied orange and violet after it dries down, but it's hard to be able to give much more past that since my skin eats it up really quickly. but I'm going to hold onto my imp nonetheless, since it's one of non-woody scents that's really got its hooks into me. To be honest, I should probably pick up a bottle from the lab while I still can, since my daughter would really like this.

Imp, wet, and dry, it's all the same: honey. It's not cheap honey, though -- more like the wonderful honey that I buy at the farmers' market, with an almost floral aroma to it. The first time I wore it, it dried down to this wonderful light musky scent (what most must be calling the sex), but every other time it's just been honey, honey, honey. I like the fact that I'm not amping vanilla like usual, but I think that this is just a bit too much for me.

I got a bottle of the 2008 version on a whim from a forum purchase (thanks, obsidienne!). When I first put this on, all I smelled was sticky soda syrup spiked with rum. It was intoxicating, but in a bad headache-y way which was only made worse by its powerful throw. Oddly enough, the drydown differed from my left and right wrists -- where my right wrist dried down to a vanilla-tinged amber within ten minutes, it took more than an hour for the cola to fade away from my left. That said, the final result was completely worth it, and I'm still huffing my wrists six hours later.

Of all the imps in my first order, I wanted this one to work the most (especially since the majority of them were for my husband -- I'm on a mission!)... however, as of right now, it's just not working out as well as I'd hoped. Out of the bottle, it's absolutely lovely, with the leather and tobacco holding down the tonka, but apparently I amp the hell out of rum and tonka, for it's all I can smell on me. Within a half-hour, I go from boozy vanilla headache to strong, powdery rum. It takes between two to three hours for the scent to transform into this wonderful pipe tobacco scent, and while it lasts a long while, I don't know if I can make it through that powdered rum phase to get to that. I'd say I'd let it age, but it seems that my kid's gone and hidden it from me. I worry more about her becoming a BPAL addict than myself, to be honest.

Thanks! I never expected to be able to replicate the scent, but I wanted to try to find something similar as a jumping off point. I've got some bids up on eBay right now on the perfume, but I'm going to try those suggestions of yours to see how I like them. Thanks for your help!

First time poster, first time sniffer awaiting her first set of imps and forum purchase here, so pardon me while I stop lurking for a moment. Anyway, I adore DKNY's Delicious Night, but I can't find my bottle for the life of me. Since most perfumes tend to be all alcohol on me, I'm hoping to find a way to approximate the scent using all BPAL scents. Its description, however, is really intimidating to me, especially since I'm new to the whole scent hoopla: Delicious Night is a floriental “inspired by the sexy buzz of New York City at night”, and it has the notes to match: frozen pomelo, crushed ginger, chilled blackberry martini accord, purple freesia, night-blooming orchids, satin jasmine petals, purple iris, molten amber, incense, myrrh extract, patchouli and velvet vetiver. [description found at nstperfume.com -- thanks, Google!] I know there are a lot of vetiver scents alone, so are there any scents that one would recommend? I'm not averse to trying to blend anything, and if need be I can try to hunt down any retired LEs through the sale forums, so anything would help! Thanks in advance!