Miss Lynx

I'll second Morocco (or third it, or whatever we're up to), and add Sudha Segara, though the latter did tend to disappear awfully fast on me. Not as fast as Silk Road, though - I couldn't even tell you what Silk Road smells like, because it was gone in under two minutes. Another you might want to try is Nephilim - it's a really odd and interesting combination of notes, and probably wouldn't work on everyone, but has a definite spicy component (cardamom, I think) and isn't too sweet.

Although this sounded good to me from the description, I was a little apprehensive when I smelled it in the imp. There was a woody note that there that smelled sort of dry and unpleasant to my nose, and reminded me of some of the woody BPAL scents I haven't liked (as opposed to those I have - woody notes are hit and miss on me). But once on, the notes seemed to blend much more nicely, and it smelled very much like natural apples, tart and not too sweet, with soft undertones of trees and earth. Quite nice, and not at all like most apple scents that smell obviously fake. It's also different from Verdandi, the other apple scent I like, because that one contains a fairly strong presence of other notes, like amber, while this one is all about the apples. However, no sooner had I decided I liked it then it started fading away. Yes, this is another now-you-smell-it-now-you-don't like Mantis and Silk Road and Thanatopsis. Inside of five minutes it was virtually gone. I reapplied it to my wrists, and this time added some to my neck and cleavage, where scent tends to last a little longer, and it still vanished from my wrists within minutes, though I can still slightly smell it by sniffing down the neck of my sweater. *sigh* Damn you, Hesperides. If you'd only stuck around, we could have been great friends... Oh well, Kettu likes it too, and it lasts for hours on her. Hmmmph. Grade: B-

The notes all sounded good to me apart from the ylang ylang (a pungent, screamingly high floral that hits me like the olifactory equivalent of nails on a blackboard), but unfortunately that's what totally dominates it on me, at least for the first while. It's not unlike Hetairae in that respect, and in fact if I hadn't just tried Hetairae yesterday I might have found this one more interesting. But like that one, it's an all-out ylang ylang attack for the first while, and then eventually settles down into a mostly honey-ish, reasonably pleasant scent. It's basically like an un-spicy Hetairae. And since the spice was about the only thing making Hetairae interesting once the ylang ylang had faded to manageable levels, that means Skuld is unfortunately kind of bland. It's basically light (no labdanum evident), sweet (a little too sweet), and not very interesting. Grade: B-

In contrast to Aglaea, which I just reviewed, this one I really was sure I'd like, but I ended up not being as impressed with it as I thought I'd be. I think it's that "blushing touch of ylang ylang" that's the major problem -- on me it turns into something more like a raging onslaught of ylang ylang. (For those not familiar with that note, it's a sort of high, sharp, ferociously sweet floral.) Thankfully, the nose-burning ylang ylang assault doesn't last too long -- as with Aglaea, the floral component dies down within a reasonable length of time, though not as quickly here as with that one. The balance of the scent is pretty nice - I mean, what's not to love about honey, fig, patchouli and clove? The fig is little waxy-smelling, as it tends to be, but not to an unpleasant extent. If they just could have left the ylang ylang out, or at least cut it down to about a quarter of its strength, I'd really, really like this scent. Or if my skin didn't have such a tendency to amp high sweet florals. Increasing the patchouli to give it some more depth wouldn't hurt either - as it stands, it's pretty light and sweet, and I don't really get any patchouli from it at all. All in all, this is a case of like rather than the love I expected. Grade: B

This wasn't quite what I expected - a lot of the reviews emphasized the booziness of it, but I didn't get that from it so much. A little bit, but not like someone had spilled their drink on me or anything. And I've realized that a lot of fruity scents go at least a little bit boozy on me, or at least have that slightly rich and intoxicating aspect to them that I've come to think of as just how fruit acts on my skin. Overall, what I got from this was fresh, tart and green. Sweet, but not overpoweringly so -- you definitely get the tartness of the pomegranate. Overall it's got quite a light and fresh feeling to it, and would be a great springtime scent, despite the more usual associations of pomegranate with fall due to the Perspehone myth. There's a green/woody undertone to it that I'm guessing is juniper, which I presume is there to evoke gin, and balances the pomegranate nicely. And I think there are a few other notes, but nothing I can identify with any degree of certainty. There are ways in which it reminds me of Lampades, and also in other ways of Carnal and Baneberry, despite the fact that those three don't smell that much alike. Overall, pretty nice, though not necessarily a candidate for my top favourites. And its staying power is pretty decent -- I put it on before going out for the evening, and could still smell it when I got home. I'll probably use up the imp, but don't know if I would get more, given that I have other scents that are somewhat similar to it. It does, however, make a fine room scent, as I discovered by accident due to a leaky imp. Grade: B

I was unsure about this one to start with, because while amber, musk and fruit are usually good bets for me, florals aren't, and I'm not familiar enough with myrtle to know if it's one of the really bad ones or the not so bad ones. The only scent I've had it in before was Brisingamen, and that turned into an overpoweringly sweet floral on me, but it had two other floral notes as well, so it wasn't just the myrtle. Anyway, on first contact it was indeed pretty sweet and girly, although not as headache-inducingly sweet as Brisingamen. So my first thought was not bad, but not really me -- the peach was nice, and the amber and musks counterbalanced the sweetness of the flowers and fruit a bit, but overall the floral component was still a bit much for me. It was a bit reminiscent of Yerevan at this stage, but Yerevan gets less floral as it dries down... and so, it turned out, does this. And I have to say now, that on drydown Aglaea is absolutely gorgeous. The myrtle doesn't vanish, but settles down into the mix nicely, and doesn't take all day doing it -- it faded down to a pleasant level inside of about ten minutes. And the overall scent balance now is warm, softly musky (very definitely a light, feminine musk, though), sensual without being overly sexual, and with just enough sweetness from the peach and myrtle to give it a nice multilayered depth with a bit of brightness. Really, really nice. There are elements of it that remind me a bit of Bastet and to a lesser extent Morocco, but more than anything I think this is Imp's elegant older sister. Unfortunately, its staying power isn't great -- it seems to be fading out already - but it's lovely enough to be worth reapplying. Grade: A ETA: After a few more wearings, I've bumped this up to an A on my list, because it just gets better each time. The amber(s) in this are just lovely -- warm and radiant, everything that I wanted Brisingamen to be that it wasn't. The musk adds sensuousness, and the peach wine note is just right -- not too fruity, not too boozy, just a gentle touch of each. There's also an almost luminous, golden quality to it, like concentrated sunlight. The overall feeling is like drinking an exotic liqueur while bathing in liquid amber, in the glow of sunlight filtering through golden stained-glass windows. It's one of the best mood-lifters in my collection. Definitely time for a big bottle.

Got to try this at the Meet'n'Sniff today. It was strongly reminiscent of Akuma -- very fruity, with not at lot else going in there that wasn't fruit. I like fruity scents fine, as long as they're good ones, which most BPAL fruit scents I've tried are. My skin seems to handle them quite well, unlike, say, florals. But I tend to prefer the ones that have a bit more of a mixture of non-fruit elements in there as well. This one didn't seem to have much else. I know it does have other notes, and it was a little more complex than Akuma, but overall the orange seemed to overshadow all the rest. I did like it, but not enough to want to buy the 5 mL that was being offered. I might have taken an imp, though. All in all, I think if I want to smell like oranges there are other scents I already have that will do that for me. Grade: B-

Tried this at the Toronto Meet'n'Sniff today. It had originally been high up on my wishlist, back when I didn't know how badly my skin amped rose. I'd taken it off my list once I realized it would probably be rose overkill on me. But having a chance to try it out, I figured I might as well. Initially, it was exactly what I'd expected -- the same kind of excessive rosiness I got from Rakshasa, Rose Cross and Thanatos, with just enough of a hint of other notes to make me wish the rose would settle down so that I could smell the rest of it. After a while, though -- maybe a half an hour to an hour -- it did settle down to the point where the notes seemed to be more in balance, and I could smell the amber and the musk. Then, it was quite nice. I suppose that must be what it smells like on people whose skins don't amp rose. But alas, not on me, or at least not without a long wait. Grade: C+ (ETA (July 1/07): Well, I just tried it again, at another meet'n'sniff, and what a difference! This time it was much more in balance, with the musk and amber strong enough that the rose didn't dominate at all. I really like it this way... And I think the difference may be that the imp I tried this time was a fairly old one, the label a bit yellowed and faded. I guess this is one of the scents where aging makes a big difference! So... aged Spellbound gets more like a B+/A- from me.

Tried this at the Toronto Meet'n'Sniff today. It wasn't bad - not as fearsomely rosy as I'd thought it might be. On me the orange blossom predominated, but with a sharp herbal undercurrent from the rosemary. The rose was more of a background presence, which is odd, since my skin usually amps up rose tremendously. And I usually like orange blossom - it's one of the few florals that's good on me. But in this case, the different notes never really seemed to mesh together. It smelled OK, but not great. The notes seemed to clash a bit, and it seemed like the scent was lacking depth. Maybe a bit of something resinous or earthy would have balanced it out more, I don't know. As it was it didn't seem like a good fit for me. Interestingly, though, of the three of us who tried it, one got mainly rose, one got mainly rosemary, and I got mainly orange blossom. So it seems to be different on everyone. Grade: C+

Finally got to try this at the Toronto Meet'n'Sniff today, after being curious for some while. The Shapeshifter brought hers, not because she wanted to swap it, but because there's another Friday the 13th coming up in January, where it might make a comeback, so she thought people should be able to try it. I really wasn't sure I'd like it, as I have had mixed success with foody scents, which seems to be most people's perception of this one. But I tend to like complicated and unusual scents, which this would also qualify as, so I was looking forward to trying it. At first sniff I wasn't sure what I thought of it -- it did seem overly foody at first. Kind of part chocolate, part I-don't-know-what. But as it settled into my skin, it started smelling really nice. There was a lot more going on in there than just chocolate, though I'm not sure I could name or even describe most of it. And it was a fairly gentle scent, that could be nice for everyday wear. A bit reminiscent of Freak Show, which I also really like, and a bit like Vice, though considerably more complex than that one. It did seem to fade fairly quickly, but I only had it on my wrist, and scents always fade fast there. All in all, I quite liked it, and I think if it does come back on January 13, I'll be snapping up a bottle for sure. Grade: B+

Got to try this at the Meet'n'Sniff today. And I have to say, first of all, this is about the most constant scent I have ever tried from BPAL. What it smelled like in the imp, when freshly applied, after drying down for a while, and now four hours later -- absolute identical. This scent just does not change or morph on me, at all. It's also got kick-ass staying power. Very few scents are still solidly present on me four hours after applying them. I don't get the sex-in-a-bottle vibe from it that a lot of people do, but it's still a very nice scent. It has a lot of the same honey/beeswax scent that Anubis does, but with less of the dark incense undertones that that one has. It's like a gentler, lighter Anubis, and I could see it being an excellent calming, de-stressing scent. There's some vanilla and/or amber in there, but I can't really tell them apart from each other; the whole scent seems to nicely merge together into a whole that reminds me of beeswax candles anointed with raw amber resin or something. Definitely a scent I don't mind carrying around with me for hours on end. I think there might be a bottle of this in my future... Grade: B+

Tried this at the Toronto Meet'n'Sniff today. And I can't remember the last time I tried such a freaky and fascinating scent! In the imp, it didn't smell entirely pleasant, and I remember at the previous M'n'S sniffing it in the imp and deciding I didn't want to try it, but since then I've kept seeing comments and reviews that made me want to try it, and I am so, so glad I did! One thing many of the reviews mentioned was not to judge it by how it smelled in the imp, because on the skin it was often completely different. So on it went. At first, while wet, it still smelled kind of nasty, but once it started to settle in, all kinds of things started happening. I was sniffing my wrist every two minutes, because it was different every time. One minute it would be spilled rum next to a bonfire, then it was burning cinnamon, then it was some kind of decadent chocolate liqueur, then something weirdly salty, then some kind of combination of the above like a pile of rum-soaked sweaty naked people in front of a roaring bonfire, though considerably more pleasant than that sounds. Eventually it settled down into something like a strangely spicy, smoky, dark chocolate incense. It's sort of dark and resinous and sticky and sexy, and the not-sweet chocolate plus spices makes me think a bit of Mexican molé sauce. That description doesn't entirely make sense even to me, and it certainly doesn't do full justice to how wonderful this scent is, but I think it's the best I can do right now. I took home two imps of this from the M'n'S -- that should hopefully hold me until I get a bottle, because this is love. Grade: A

Wow -- a lot of the scents people have listed here are ones I think of as very sweet and pretty! Kuang Shi smells like mangos soaked in Grand Marnier on me, and Phantom Queen and Medea are sweet florals. I guess it all depends on your skin chemistry. In a situation like that, I'd go with something that was simultaneously sexy and powerful. Gypsy Queen would be good. Or Fenris Wolf, which is a great all around power scent, but has enough amber and musk in it to have sex appeal as well, and Scherezade is a like a spicier version of it. I'd also second the recommendation of Blood.

So I guess I'm not the only one who saw this headline and immediately thought "Snake Charmer"! It's a LE but you can probably find it here and there on eBay, Livejournal or in the swap forums. You also might want to look into some of the scents with an amber-musk base as well -- there are a fair number of them, and amber can smell a bit similar to vanilla sometime. Haunted, Imp, Coyote, Fenris Wolf, Titus Andronicus, and Loviatar are a few examples. Some of those are classed as "traditionally masculine", but don't smell at all masculine on me...

We got this because Kettu wanted it, not because I did. Frankly, the combination of graveyard dirt (the note that killed Zombi for me, so to speak) and traditional perfume sounded like something from my worst olifactory nightmares. All it would need would be Amaretto and my personal hell would be complete. But after hearing her go on and on about how much she liked it, I decided on whim to give it a try. My first thought upon smelling it wet on my skin was that there were probably worse decisions I had made on whim, but I certainly couldn't think of them at the moment. It had exactly that sort of rotting-vegetation stench that Zombi did, combined with nasty overly sweet florals. Upon seeing my expression of distaste, Kettu came up and sniffed me, and pronounced it to smell like red musk and cinnamon. In what parallel universe? I thought. But she made me promise to leave it on at least until she got back from walking the dog, to see how it developed. While she was gone, I kept sniffing it every few minutes out of morbid curiosity, and surprisingly, it seemed to be getting better. The high sweet florals began to fade, and the graveyard dirt note seemed to be settling down to a somewhat less putrefying scent, something a bit more like a normal earthy note. And after a while I could have sworn I was starting to be able to smell... red musk. And maybe even a little touch of spice. Still not loving it, but no longer hating it. This might actually be OK. It's weird - when she originally said she could smell red musk and cinnamon in it, I thought she was crazy. All I smelled was rot and flowers. But I think maybe the difference in how different people perceive scent is maybe not just skin chemistry, but also nose chemistry or something like that. I guess my nose is just so sensitive to that graveyard dirt note that it overpowered everything else for me, and I couldn't smell the other notes until it had settled down. Anyway, the drydown is nice, if a bit generically musky, and as a soft musk, hangs in there for a good few hours, too. I suppose this is yet more evidence not to go by how things smell in the imp, or when you first apply them. Grade: fresh, F; drydown, B

I wasn't really sure if this one would work for me or not - it has such a wide assortment of notes that it would really depend on what came out stronger. The florals worried me, but the fruits and musks appealled, and the "sweet roots" were just kind of a mystery. On first application, it's kind of a wet fruity floral, in the same general ballpark as Xiutehcutli or Lampades. Initially my skin did seem to start amping up the florals, but the fruity notes held their own as well. And after a little while, the florals settled back down and the musks came out a bit more, and it became more of a gentle fruity musk with just a touch of floral, and an almost incensey undertone to it that might be the roots. Sweet, but not overly so. Very nice. It's a soft scent, that stays fairly close to the skin, at least on me, but quite pretty. Only downside is that it doesn't have much in the way of staying power - it doesn't disappear as fast as Mantis or Silk Road, but it's not exactly in there for the long haul either. I think it's a little too delicate to be really durable. But I find that if I put it on fairly generously, and in more places than just my wrists, it hangs in there long enough to be worthwhile. And the little whiffs I occasionally get of it seem to be a nice mood-lifter - there's something calming and peaceful about it, so I think this is going to go on my list of anti-stress scents. Grade: B/B+

With the leather and cedar, I was worried this was going to be too masculine even for someone like me who likes some scents that are normally thought of as masculine. In the three and a half months between putting in the order and receiving it (the original package got lost in the mail, but the Lab very kindly replaced it), I had learned a little more about what scents do and don't work on me, and I was no longer so sure that Geek was actually a good pick. But when I did try it -- last of all of my CN order -- I was pleasantly surprised. Very. It wasn't masculine at all on me, just a sweet foresty scent that was reminiscent of Black Forest or Nocnitsa, or even to some degree my beloved Hexennacht! I'm not sure what there is in here that makes it so sweet on me -- maybe the opoponax? I googled that ingredient and found that it's also known as "sweet myrrh", which would make sense. Something in there has an almost honey-like sweetness, anyway. Of the three, it's probably closest to Hexennacht, just in that it's a complex and multilayered scent like that one is, but it doesn't have the faint notes of fruit and flowers that that does; it's more strongly woodsy and just a little spicy. Defininitely a scent for when I want to feel like Nature Girl; it's a forest in a bottle. I don't really get "snarling and feral" from it, though, or at least not too much. There's a wildness to it, but it's just a touch. If anything, Hexennact is a little wilder than this is. So, definitely a keeper! In fact, I think it may have displaced Black Forest and Nocnitsa to some extent -- I had two imps of each of those, but have since consigned one of each to the swap pile, and I might even eventually part with the originals. That family of scents are all too similar to each other, and with a big bottle of Geek (and one of Hex, for that matter) I don't know that I need the others. I am way full up on foresty scents, so I might as well keep only the best of the lot, and that would be Hex and Geek. Grade: B+/A- ETA (Jan 14/06): On repeated wearings, my enthusiasm for this one has dimmed and I’m thinking of swapping it. There’s a note in it that keeps creeping up on me that smells very much like a men’s cologne -- and while usually I don’t care about the alleged gender of scents and like a lot of oils that are considered gender-neutral or even traditionally masculine, every now and then there are some that just say “men’s scent!” to me and that’s what this is starting to say. Strangely, it’s different on different parts of me -- on my wrists it’s sweet and almost pretty, but on my neck or cleavage it gets that boy-scent that I don’t like so much. So I’m thinking this one may go off to the swaps, and my other forest scents be restored to their former standing. Revised grade: B-

The sunken city of the Great God Cthulhu. A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves. I didn't really get grapefruit from this, evil or otherwise. There is a sort of tang to it that could be described as citrussy, but it doesn't smell like any particular kind of citrus to me, and it's not the dominant note, at least not on me. The main sense I get from it is aquatic, but not so much something that genuinely evokes the sea, as smells like some bath product or scented candle that's theoretically supposed to smell like the sea. There's something generically "perfumey" about it; it smells less like actual water than like a sort of perfume-industry consensus of what "aquatic" scents are supposed to smell like. There's also an edge of something vaguely unpleasant underneath it, that smells familiar but not really identifiable, and gets stronger as the scent wears. Not sure what it is, but I suppose it's thematically appropriate given the name of the scent to have something nasty and disturbing lurking underneath the (pseudo-)ocean. All in all, not for me. I did kind of like it when I first applied it, but it gets worse rather than better as most scents do, the longer it stays on my skin. Grade: C

I decided to try this one today because tonight I will be going to a memorial ritual for a friend who died recently. But I'm wary enough of new scents never to put something new one right as I'm walking out the door to an event, since I don't know what they'll do on my skin. Thus, my having put it on a few hours earlier, so that I can wash it off in favour of something else if I need to. First impressions: this is almost what I expected Rose Cross to smell like: rose with a hint of incense balancing it. But rose is one of the florals my skin really likes to amp, so Rose Cross was all rose and nothing but on me. And Thanatos, while other people have described it as having just a hint of rose, is very, very rosey on me. There is a bit of a dry incense softening it, but the rose is very definitely centre stage. I'm getting no moss, and nothing at all earthy. Wet, the rose was almost nose-burningly intense, but as it dries, it becomes a little more manageable. After settling in a bit (half an hour to an hour), the rose does die down, though, and the scent becomes more balanced. At this point, it's a bit like Burial (about the only rose scent that's worked on me so far), only with incense resins replacing the earthy/patchouli element there. Not bad, though not terribly exciting either. Unfortunately, it also doesn't last too long beyond that point. On the whole, I think I'll stick with Burial, both for a not-too-excessive rose scent and for a thematically appropriate scent for funerals. Grade: B-

Ooh, very nice! In the imp I smelled patchouli more than anything, but once on, inside of seconds, the orange blossom came out very strongly, with a bit of something else sweet that I think is the carnation with it -- those two seem to go together well; I think I have that same pairing in one or two other scents. So while most people have described it as mainly a patchouli scent, on me it seems to be mainly floral -- but a nice, grounded, earthy, spicy floral. Even freshly applied, it's got that rich, multilayered depth that a lot of the best BPAL scents do, and a slightly intoxicating edge to it. It's definitely very feminine, but not to the point of being overly girly or cloyingly sweet. I don't get the patchouli as a distinct note at all -- it's just an earthy, grounding presence in the background, which is exactly the way I like it. It's actually very close to Vixen, which is one of my favourites. After settling in for a while, though (around half an hour to an hour), the orange blossom seems to subside and it becomes less Vixen-ish. Something sweeter and sharper starts to dominate -- not sure if it's the carnation or the ambergris or a bit of both. It's not bad at this phase, but it's a little closer to the kind of sweet floral I really don't like, and loses some of its richness. Still no patchouli except as a slight background presence. And after around 2 hours, it's virtually gone from my wrists, except as a very faint trace. But it does actually seem to hang in longer, and with the orange blossom note that I like best, in more sheltered areas like my cleavage and the crooks of my arms. That seems to happen with a lot of scents - my wrists don't really hold scent well. All in all, I really like this, though the less orangey, almost-too-sweet stage keeps it from being a perfect scent for me. Don't know if I'd buy a bottle, though, because the phase of it that I like best is so close to Vixen that if I had a bottle of that (as I fully intend to), I don't know if I'd need both. Kind of like with Chimera and Bengal. But we'll see... Grade: B+

I'm reviving this long-lost thread because I had a similar situation to deal with today, and was going to actually start a new thread asking about it before the meeting, but didn't have time. So tonight, after trying various searches, I found this one (I'm paranoid about accidentally starting duplicate threads, having been "warned" once due to it.) The existing responses are pretty entertaining, but in this case, there was an added complication: how do you smell not-sexy and still make a good impression, just a non-sexual good impression? No garlic, civet, poor hygeine, or any of that! I was looking for a scent that said "Like me, respect me, and most of all hire me, just don't hit on me!" for a meeting with a prospective client who has a reputation for being a total sex maniac -- but also someone who needs a web site done, pays his bills regularly and has a lot of money to spend, and a lot of business connections. And yeah, just going scentless did occur to me, but I was also nervous as all hell, and I tend to use scent to bolster my own confidence and make me feel better about myself. So I thought, hmmm -- definitely no musk, no patchouli, nothing too girly and nothing that smells edible. Wow, that cuts the choices down by a lot! Kettu suggested Fenris Wolf, because it's one of the ones I think of as a "power" scent, and it's also regarded as traditionally masculine, so it might give off a "respect me, and don't try to mess with me" vibe. Thing is, it's also loaded with musk, and feels very sexy to me. So, not quite what I was after. What I ended up deciding was that this was a job for a poisonous herbal: something from Rappaccini's Garden. Those are scents that tend to convey "Look, but don't touch!" They tend to smell clean and fresh, but also a little bit bitter and astringent. I considered Belladonna, but it's got some floral in it, which I wasn't sure I wanted, so I went with Baneberry. Also minimal makeup, a long skirt, and a nice but not-too-tight sweater. I think it went OK -- in retrospect, I think no power in the 'verse could have stopped him from at least being flirtatious, but he wan't too pushy. And I'm now drawing up a contract for a site worth probably about $2500. Thank you, BPAL!

This is another I've been wanting for a long time, and finally got my paws on (in the same imp pack with Bengal and Masquerade, no less). And it's very nice. I am coming to realize that, while florals are mostly not good on me, carnation is relatively non-evil, for a floral. I seem to have found several scents with carnation in them that I don't really mind at all. It doesn't seem to be as sweet as other florals. But this isn't predominantly carnation -- it's a spicy musk, a bit like Scherezade, although I think it's a lighter sort of musk, and also has the sandalwood to mellow it, so the overall impression is of a lighter, softer scent, though still not overly sweet. The carnation adds some sweetness, but not too much. There's a gentle, almost powdery feel to this, but not in a bad way. Compared with Scherezade, it's more something I could see as an everyday scent, with not as much of an overtly sexual feel to it. It's more comforting, less exciting. It does have a slightly "perfumey" feel to it, for lack of a better word (and I know, that sounds awfully redundant when talking about perfume!). And I think I'm finally starting to figure out what it reminds me of -- The Body Shop's White Musk, only with a little more warmth and a touch of spice. But it's almost that sweet and gentle. Good for days when you just want to smell pretty and not necessarily Make A Statement, I guess. Grade: B+

I've been wanting this one since it first turned up in the catalog, and finally scored an imp. I'm not sure I like it as much as I thought I would, though. I was hoping for something like a more complex version of Chimera, but if anything it comes across as a bit less complex, despite having more ingredients. It's also way sweeter than I expected. I guess the honey note is a lot stronger than I thought it would be. I smell like a Cinnabon! Wasn't quite the effect I was after. The interesting thing is, it smells different on different parts of me. On my wrists, it's syrupy sweet, but in my cleavage, it's a lot richer and muskier, more what I wanted it to be. Maybe I could still love this scent if I'm just more careful about where I apply it... Grade: B/B+

Got this as a freebie from the Lab. It wasn't one I'd been looking for, but in the imp it smelled equal parts floral and herbal, and interesting enough for me to try it at least once before consigning it to the swaps. But on me -- yikes! The herbal note disappeared, and the florals went into full-on screaming attack mode, as it turned into exactly the kind of piercingly high, sweet, nose-burning floral that I truly hate. I was really glad I'd put it on before showering, as I was more than ready for it to come off again right away. Even so, I let it settle in for a bit to see if it would change, but no -- at least not within the hour or so I was willing to allow it. So off it came, and off to the swaps it goes. No mercy, indeed. Grade: D

Now this was a surprise. It was a freebie from the Lab, and in the imp smelled weird and overly sweet, enough that I was initially going to put it on my swap list without even trying it. But the weirdness was just intriguing enough for me to decide to give it at least one try before dismissing it. For the first few minutes, it didn't smell much different than the imp -- kind of cloying but with a sour note to it as well -- but then it began to settle into my skin, and really interesting things happened. The sourness (hibiscus, I'm thinking - there was definitely a Celestial Seasonings-ish feel to it) began to blend in and just toned down the sweetness instead of clashing with it. The floral and the fruity notes began to mingle together nicely and for a change the florals did not amp horribly on my skin. All in all, it blossomed into a really nice, only moderately sweet, perfectly balanced floral/fruity/herbal blend. My reaction went from "Hey, this isn't all that evil" to "Hmm, it's actually kind of nice" to "OK, this is coming off my swap list now!" Yep, it's a keeper. My only complaint is that it really doesn't evoke its namesake much. A maenad scent with no wine? And nothing much in the way of darkness... Still, name aside, this is a really pretty scent, that I think will be particularly good for spring and early summer. Grade: B