Miss Lynx

Hmm, this is nice, but not at all what I was expecting. It went on much sweeter than I thought it would. I'd been worried, since it seemed to be so popular with the BPAL boys, that it might be another one like Sri Lanka that would smell overwhelmingly like men's cologne, but it's actually much sweeter on me than I thought it would be. But it's not at all a flowery type of sweetness -- more of a herbal or slightly spicy/incensey sweetness. It also does the odd thing that a few scents do on me -- smell markedly different on my wrists than it does in the crooks of my arms. It's much less sweet on the arms than the wrists, and in that version, I can definitely see why it's popular with the guys. It's more musky/earthy there, and more something I could associate with Coyote. But not to the point where it seems inappropriate on me. The musk/earth element is definitely there on the wrists too, but there's more of a sweet, grassy/ferny type of scent in the forefront. Hmmm, maybe the wrist version is a she-Coyote in disguise. You'd expect a scent named after a trickster to be tricksy, after all, and I seem to recall that Coyote does occasionally do a bit of gender-bending in the legends... Overall, quite nice. It has an appealing complexity, and a warm, sunny/summery feel. I don't know if it will become a top favourite just yet, but I think it's definitely a keeper. Grade: B, maybe B+

This one is really startlingly lovely. Startling because I got it in my first actual lab order, which I made back in June, and only just received, and I've found a number of the things I thought I'd like back then I don't like so much now. For that matter, I wasn't even sure I'd like it then -- it has almond in it, and I normally really intensely dislike the smell and taste of almondy things (actual almonds are fine, but almond extract and Amaretto and that sort of thing are right out). I had ordered it mainly because my partner wanted it. It does have some notes in it that I like, but overall I had my doubts. But I still tried it because -- well, I'll try anything once. At first sniff, in the vial and when freshly applied, it was frighteningly sweet. Did I mention I'd also found out since ordering it that lotus usually turns horribly cloyingly sweet on me? But then... within a few minutes, all the notes started blending together beautifully, and even though still a bit sweeter than I'd normally go for, it started smelling really, really nice. The strange thing was, I could actually smell the almond and lotus in it, and normally either one of those could have been a deal-breaker. But somehow the other notes tempered them and made them not only bearable but actually nice. It evolved into a complex, beautiful, evocative blend, that really did bring images of desert mysteries and cat magic to my mind. It's still fairly light, pretty, sensual, and very feminine -- very much the side of Bastet that made the Greeks associate Her with Aphrodite -- but there's power in it, and subtle hints of a darker side. I guess I am starting to learn that just knowing the dominant notes in something doesn't really tell me whether I'll like it or not. Sometimes things that are full of notes I like just don't work on me at all, like Sri Lanka, and other times things that contain notes that would usually be like kryptonite to me turn out to be gorgeous. Grade: B+

This was lovely in the vial, and divinely gorgeous when it first went on. A beautifully wild, foresty scent with a strong undertone of animalistic musk. It's like Loup Garou and Fenris Wolf mated and had puppies. So I thought at first "At last! I have found the perfect foresty scent!" Unfortunately, this thought was followed not long after by "Wait! Wait! Where are you going? Come back!" Yes, it faded really, really fast. The trees went first, leaving only the musk, and then even that died down a fair bit. It's now been about an hour, and I smell virtually nothing on my wrists, and just a soft musk with the very, very faintest piney note in the crooks of my arms. And that, only if I press my nose right into the skin. *sigh* If I can figure out a way to make the foresty goodness last, this will probably become a top favourite. Maybe I should try some of the tips people have posted for that, putting it in my hair or on my clothes or in a lotion or something. Because otherwise, the disappearing act reduced it from being the perfect wild forest scent to just a maddening tease. Grade: A for initial scent, D for longevity. I guess that balances out to a B or so.

This is a lot more flowery and "perfumey" than I'd expected. Maybe it's just my skin amping up the florals again, but to me it smells predominantly floral, and very sweet. The spicy and incensey notes don't really come out until after it settles in for a while -- a while as in at least half an hour. At that point, it's quite nice, but very soft and subtle. And it doesn't really seem to have a lot of staying power once it gets there. *sigh* If that lovely stage it gets to when the perfumey overkill dries down would only come a little sooner, and last a little longer, I'd really like this. But as it is, it's a bit of a tease. The pleasant phase of the scent shows up late and leaves early, like a party guest who wants to make the point that they have more important things to do than spend time at your little soiree. Probably going to swap it, though I may try it another time or two to be sure. Grade: C+/B-

Oh dear -- I am usually no great respecter of the gender assignments of scents, and some scents typically regarded as masculine or at least gender-neutral are fine on me, I don't think this is one of them. It really, really, really smells like men's cologne. And while I've tried a few men's colognes that settled into my skin chemistry and ended up smelling not masculine, but just kind of unconventionally feminine on me, this again doesn't appear to be one. At first there was a really sharp pungency to it -- maybe the cedar? -- but that faded after a little while, and now it's predominantly a woody scent, but not the kind of woody that I like. It actually reminds me of the "Woody Sandalwood" perfume oil they used to have at the Body Shop when I worked there about 15 years ago, which didn't smell at all like sandalwood to me, but more like -- well, men's cologne, and not even a terribly good men's cologne. I initially thought that maybe it'd eventually settle into my skin, but it didn't, and less than an hour later, it started to fade away entirely, without ever really hitting a point of smelling good on me. It's strange -- I really thought I'd like this one, and I do like most of the ingredients listed, but for some reason it's just not working out. Oh well, into the swap pile it goes, unless one of my male friends decides they like it. Grade: D

Mmm, I like this. On me, it's strongly rose (I think I've mentioned elsewhere that my skin tends to amp florals), but a rose that I can actually wear, because it's tempered with earthy notes that keep it from turning into floral overkill. It's interesting -- I think I can smell various things in it that aren't in the description. As some people have mentioned, there's a tea-like edge to it; one of the things it brings to mind to me is a limited-edition tea that Twinings once released that had dried rose petals in it. I really liked that tea, and almost cried when mine ran out, so it's nice to be reminded of it. And there do seem to be faint notes of fruit, and spice, and something decidedly green. It's kind of a cross between that rose tea, the scent of an Indian store selling incense, and the smell of fresh roses out in a garden mixed with scent of grass, leaves and earth. Quite nice, and close enough to a "normal" perfume that I could probably wear it to business meetings, as long as I put it on lightly -- it does seem a bit strong (at least for the first hour or so -- it dies down considerably after that). I still don't quite see how it relates to shapeshifting tiger-demons, but hey, maybe they like roses. Edit (a couple of weeks later): Having tried it a few more times, my enthusiasm for it is waning a bit. It's still not a bad scent, but it suffers a bit from my skin's tendency to amp florals, which makes it more rosey than I would really prefer. I think I would like it better if it had about half the amount of rose in comparison to the other notes. Oh well, maybe I need to try something earthier with just a little rose -- Burial or Zombi or something. Grade: B (was B+)

Looking at the past reviews for this, everyone seems to have gotten something different -- I guess because there are so many different notes in this that a different one stands out to each person. I really like the complexity of scents like this -- they always seem full of mystery. On me, Desire is predominantly floral, but it's got enough other stuff going on that the flowers are never overpowering. I think my skin tends to amp up sweet florals, so they need to be balanced with other, less sweet notes in order not to be cloying. This blend accomplishes that nicely. It's very hard to pull out the individual notes, for me -- I can't even really say what kind of floral it is that I'm getting as dominant. It's really well-blended. The overall effect is complex, mysterious... and sexy, but in an elegant way. It's a scent I could picture on some torch singer diva, or film noir mystery woman. I don't really see it as being a top favourite for me, but I definitely like it, and can think of occasions when it would be a great choice to wear. Grade: B

I am totally in love with this scent. There have only been a few BPAL scents so far that were really love at first sniff for me, but this was one of them. The ingredients are beautifully balanced -- the patchouli does what I like patchouli to do in a blend, which is give it a rich earthiness without jumping out in front of everything and yelling "Hi! I'm patchouli!" The ginger gives it some kick, without being too aggressively spicy. The orange blossom is sweet, almost intoxicatingly so, but the spiciness of the ginger and the earthiness of the patchouli temper it so that it's not overpowering. It's just really rich, warm, and beautiful -- the overall image I get is sharing some Grand Marnier with someone special while really nice incense is burning in the background. There's also a definite foxiness to it, as someone else mentioned -- and I don't mean just in the colloquial sense of sexiness. The colour-sense I get from it is fox-red, and it feels magical and mischievous. I'm reminded of a bit from an Eartha Kitt song: "I use my eyes to invite you, my lips to excite you, And you never known just when I'll use my teeth to bite you..." It's the scent of a sexy, witchy, tricksy fox-woman, and I am so definitely getting a big bottle of this one. My only complaints are that it doesn't last as long as I'd like, and, like my beloved Chimera, it can burn a little when applied to sensitive skin, like on the insides of my arms (the ginger, I presume). Sensitive skin and a liking for spicy scents don't mix well. But really, that's a small price to pay for how gorgeous this smells. Grade: A

This is another that I really thought I would like, and was really wrong. It's weird -- I seem to have gotten an entirely different impression of it from most of the other posters here, or from the lab description. I smell nothing dark, woody, smoky, incensey, or at all complex in this. It's just kind of weak, flat, dull and vaguely lemonish. And I know it's not just a fluke or a bad imp, because I've tried two separate imps of this, and the most recent one was fresh from the lab. It just doesn't smell to me like a scent you would wear on purpose -- more like the incidental scent of a skin care product that happened to use a few essential oils in it for therapeutic purposes. Or maybe some eco-friendly dish soap that has lemon oil in it as a grease solvent. It's not unpleasant as such -- it doesn't have enough character to be unpleasant. It's just really, really blah. On the whole, I'm reminded of the unflattering nickname my uncle gave to a dessert my grandmother was fond of making, which he found really dull: Lemon Nothing. Grade: D+/C-

At first sniff, this is somewhat reminiscent of The Raven - I think orris root has a somewhat violet-like scent, so I guess that's why. It's simultaneously sweet and dark, and with a slight sense of coldness to it. But while that sweet, sharp floral edge is definitely the dominant note for me, it's not a purely floral scent - there are definite layers of darkness and depth under it, which come out more as the initial sweetness of the orris begins to fade, though they never really come to the forefront. Oddly, it dries down differently in the two places I usually apply scent: on my wrists and on my inner arm, at the crook of my elbow. On my wrists, the high sweetness of the orris fades out entirely after a couple of hours, leaving a soft resinous scent that I quite like -- maybe something like what the people who found the musk or patchouli dominating smelled. But on my inner arms, the orris is still ferociously strong even many hours later. And the overall scent is also about ten times stronger there. Maybe because I've spent most of the day working on my computer, so my arms have been bent more often than not and thus it hasn't been exposed to the air as much? Don't know. Anyway, my overall verdict is that's not right for me. Way too sweet, or at least the wrong kind of sweet. I'm OK with the sort warm spicy sweetness of scents like Bewitched and Chimera and Tintagel, but this is a kind of high, cold, dry sweetness that I don't really like. However, my partner seems to like it (unsurprisingly -- her other favourite thus far is The Raven), so she gets this one rather than it going into the swap pile.

When I put Chimera on my wrists, I have no reaction, but in the crook of my arm (i.e. inside elbow), it can often go all red and burny -- I guess just because the skin is so thin and sensitive there. So far that's the only one that's done that to me, but then, I haven't tried Inferno yet. It's not an allergic-type reaction, though -- no hives, itching or anything like that. Just irritation. People often tend to assume that any reaction to something indicates that they're allergic to it, but in fact an allergy is a fairly specific type of reaction produced by a release of histamine in the body, and in the case of skin-contact allergic reactions, itchiness and hives are the usual symptoms. The sort of redness and burn that can be caused by cinnamon, pepper, ginger, and other hot-and-spicy scents is because they're actually mildly caustic, and sensitive skin can easily be irritated by them even if you have no allergies whatsoever. Especially if you've done anything to make the skin more sensitive, like exfoliating, shaving or taking a hot shower.

Oh wow, this is really nice! A little more musky and less cinnamon-y than I had expected, but still lovely. Though on looking at the lab description, there doesn't seem to be any musk in it - maybe it's just the other notes interacting that smells like musk to me? The earthy-firey nature of it is reminiscent of Serpent's Kiss, but it's a lot more complex and better-balanced - it really has that richness and depth that the best BPAL scents do, like Bewitched and Tintagel. The patchouli is nicely blended in with everything else so it doesn't dominate the way it sometimes can, and once it's on, the different notes seem to shift back and forth in prominence, but in a subtle way, not as though they're clashing or fighting it out for dominance. The cinnamon is just strong enough to give it edge, but without turning it into a capital-S Spicy Scent (not that that's necessarily a bad thing; I do quite like Chimera, but the balance here is nice). And it doesn't seem to change much over time other than that subtle shifting in and out and different layers of scent - it's as nice several hours later as when freshly applied, just a bit faded. The overall feeling is warm, spicy, earthy... and seriously sexy. It's the first BPAL scent that's really seemed to go straight to my hormones. And like Serpent's Kiss, it seems quite gender-neutral. I think I would happily pounce someone of either gender who was wearing this. Mmmmm, I can definitely see this becoming a favourite. Overall grade: A.

Very interesting -- it's a bright flaming red in colour that puts me in mind of that Chinese sweet'n'sour sauce that's so red it practically glows. The main things I could smell when I opened the vial were cinnamon and cloves, with just a trace of something earthier underneath. I was a little wary putting it on because I was afraid the cinnamon would irritate my skin the way Chimera did (though Chimera smells so great it's worth the burn), but no such reaction. On me, I could smell the other notes more, but for a while it seemed almost -- I guess discordant is the word I'm looking for. The individual notes were all interesting, but they weren't blending together; they all seemed to be working against each other instead, as though fighting for dominance. Eventually it began to settle a bit, but it still smelled a bit... wrong to me. It seemed like there was a high end and a low end to it, but no midrange. Sharp high spices and earthy, dark vetiver, but nothing in the middle balancing them out or giving the scent fullness. I guess the dragon's blood was supposed to do that, but on me it wasn't very noticeable. Still, it wasn't a bad scent -- a bit strident and lacking in depth, but there was a nice spicy-earthiness to it. I definitely didn't get any of of the floral notes a couple of other people mentioned -- not a trace. Once it had well and truly settled into my skin, though, it was quite nice. Vetiver was the main scent that really seemed to linger, but not the sort bitter harsh vetiver you find in some scents -- it was more the kind that made me like vetiver in the past, a sort of warm, spicy, woody scent. Maybe it was just that all the notes finally blended together in harmony. Anyway, I ended up really liking the end result. Overall, I don't think I see this becoming a top favourite, because it takes a bit too long to get to the phase of the scent that I like best, but it's certainly not bad. Very gender-neutral too -- it was nice on me, but would probably work equally well on a guy.

This is really, really lovely, and only gets better as it dries down. It's definitely wolfy - while I didn't perceive Loup Garou as wolfy at all, just as perhaps a (were-)wolf's natural environment, this is the real animal. Musky, warm, animalistic, rrowr! But I don't find it masculine at all. Gender-neutral maybe -- I could see it working well on a guy too, but on me it's all she-wolf. It's very reminiscent of Haunted, which was my favourite BPAL scent for a brief while (basically, my favourite out of the first small batch I got, but soon superceded by other things). This is better than Haunted, though. It's got that lovely warm glowy amber-musk that blends so well with skin, but with more depth and complexity, and a woodsy, wild edge to it. It took a while on me to settle in and for all the notes to start harmonizing well -- initially my reaction was "Hmmm, not bad, the musk's a little overpowering though." But within a few minutes it had shifted to "Hey, I really like this! I think it'll get a B..." By the time I listed it in the "Scents I've Tried" area of my wishlist, it was up to B+ as the woodsy, incensey notes began to come out, and now I'm thinking A. Only problem is it seems to be fading, and it's only been an hour or two. Some of the scents I like best seem to get swallowed up by my skin. Oh well. Just need to apply more of it next time. And put it on my big-bottle list. ETA (about 3.5 months later): This has indeed become an enduring favourite, and lasts longer if I use a bit more than I originally did, and don't just concentrate it on my wrists, where scent fades fastest. It's also become my favourite "power" scent -- it's warm and beautiful, but also wild and strong, and wearing it I feel like I could conquer the world. I think it's becoming a Top Ten scent for me. Grade: A

I first tried this one at the Meet'n'Sniff, and had the most unexpected experience of it disappearing on me completely within about two minutes. I'd read about people's skins seeming to just drink up a particular scent before, but never had it happen to me. And it was too bad, because I liked what I smelled for those first few moments. At the suggestion of the person who wanted to swap it, I tried it again, putting on more this time in hopes that it would last longer, and it did, long enough that I decided that yes, it needed to come home with me. I did find, that time, that as it dried down it smelled like cookies, which was odd given that it doesn't have any foody ingredients in it apart from the cinnamon, but I'd also smelled so many different things that day that my nose might have been confused. So today was my first time trying to out in a more serious way, and remembering its disappearing tendency, I put it on fairly heavily, as I need to with The Lion, which it's actually fairly similar to. At first sniff it was cinnamon overkill -- a lot like those candy cinnamon hearts. But that began to subside as it settled in a bit, and soon a lovely, glorious, resinous depth began to come out... Copal! Oh, copal, how I love thee. As I've mentioned elsewhere, that's one of my all time favourite scents, and it melds beautifully with the cinnamon. No cookies this time, just warm spicy incensey goodness. Unfortunately, while that was a lovely development, it wasn't all that was happening. My usual tendency with perfume oils is to dab them in the crook of each arm, and then rub each spot with the wrist of the opposite arm. This usually works pretty well -- both the crook of the arm and the wrist are pulse points, and the scent lasts longer that way than if I just put it on my wrists, because it doesn't get washed off when I wash my hands. And within a few minutes, that inner-arm spot where the scent had been applied was burning. Everywhere the oil had touched was red, and while if I kept my arms straight it wasn't too bad, if I bent them enough for the skin to touch itself, it felt like I was on fire. Yay cinnamon oil. :/ If I hadn't liked the scent so much I'd have washed it off, but as it was it sort of like "It burns! But it smells so good! But it burns! But I don't want to stop smelling like this! But...!" Self-preservation warring with nosegasm. However, I am pleased to say the redness and burning has mostly subsided now, about 20 minutes later. I can even bend my arms again. And the scent is still lovely... Warm, firey, spicy, resinous, rich and deep. It is a bit like The Lion, but I think I actually like it better. The amber in The Lion was a bit too light and powdery, and I wanted it to have more depth and substance to it - this one has that. It's what I wanted The Lion to be. I'm not really getting any honeysuckle from it -- that note scared me off initially in the description, as I was worried it would be too sweet, but the floral note is barely there. I smell mainly just the cinnamon and the resins. So, Chimera is very definitely a keeper for me, and quite possibly a big-bottle prospect. But by all that's holy, I am going to be more careful about applying it to areas of delicate/sensitive skin in the future!

Very interesting - they really did capture the scent of absinthe in this one. The dominant notes I smell in it are mint and licorice (anise, I guess), with a faint bitter undertone that would probably be the wormwood. When first applied, there's also a sweet boozy element to it that makes it smell like I really did just spill a glass of absinthe on myself. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I really want to smell like that... Also, it feels really cold and a bit irritating on my skin. Probably the peppermint oil. On drydown, it settles down a bit and smells more like something you'd put on yourself on purpose rather than by accident. Still predominantly minty anise, but as part of an overall fresh herbal scent. It's not bad by any means, but I don't think it's really me either. This one will probably get swapped.

I was a bit hesitant to try this because of the eucalyptus - I don't really want to smell like a cough drop, and I have trouble relating eucalyptus to werewolves anyway (were-koalas, maybe....). But I tried some at the Meet'n'Sniff, and I was surprised at how quickly the eucalyptus faded away and just left a fresh, green, foresty scent. The person who had it ended up giving me the partial imp she had because she said no one else seemed to like it. I tried it again today, and it definitely goes through some interesting shifts over time, from uber-eucalyptus at the start through more of a pine scent, and then mellowing down into a light, spicy-woodsy scent. It definitely didn't smell masculine on me at all, but then I probably have a funny idea of "masculine" and "feminine" scents since I don't like most women's perfumes at all. It actually got fairly sweet toward the end. So I quite liked it, but it doesn't really seem to have a lot of staying power. I put it on fairly generously about 3-4 hours ago and it's already mostly gone. But the bit of scent that's left on me is nice. I can't really connect it to werewolves, though - I think it would need some musk or something else animalistic to bring that out for me. But it could be a werewolf's natural environment, I suppose.

Very, very dark and earthy, but with just a hint of spice from the juniper. When I first put it on, the patchouli seemed to dominate and I didn't like it so much - I like patchouli as part of a well-balance blend, but not when it takes over and becomes the only thing you smell. But as it dried down, the patchouli started behaving itself, playing well with others the way I like it to, instead of being the playground bully. The oakmoss began to shine through, with that warm, resinous, earthy/sexy scent that I so love about oakmoss, the juniper asserted itself a bit - though I'd have liked more of that - and there was a sort of dusty dryness from the myrrh overlaid over everything. Interesting stuff. My wife compared it to decaying autumn leaves mixed with amber and spice (oakmoss can sometimes smell a bit like very dark amber). After a couple hours of settling in, the scent that stayed for the long haul was predominantly oakmoss with a touch of juniper. Quite nice, though given that it took a while to get there I don't know if it's really going to become a top favourite. But I would definitely wear it when I want to feel earthy and grounded. Overall, I think that I like my earthy scents to have just a little more lift to them than this - something a bit lighter in the mix to leaven them a bit. The juniper tries to do that in this blend, but doesn't quite get there. Still, it's a nice one, and would be great for any sort of earth elemental workings.

Oh, I like this so much! I had included it in my first lab order, which I hope to receive in another week or two, but in the meantime had gotten a bit nervous about it because so many of the reviews emphasized the berry-sweetness and I don't usually like fruity scents much. So when I had the opportunity to sniff it at the recent Meet'n'Sniff in Toronto, I was eager to so that I could get a sense of what I was in for. One whiff and I think my eyes went very, very wide. It smelled better than almost anything I'd tried that day, and possibly anything in my BPAL history (such as it is). The berries were there, but balanced by all kinds of rich earthy woodsy goodness. So I did a swap for it despite the fact that I had another imp coming shortly, because it had become abundantly clear that (1) I need it now, and (2) there was no such thing as having too much of it. I will happily use up both imps of this and then some. I've actually held off a bit on trying to review it just because I'm not sure I can quite do justice to it. The richness and complexity of it are a bit like Tintagel, which I also really like, but there's a sort of darkness and wildness to it... The sweetness of the blackberries is there and fairly strong, but there's enough depth from the earthier notes that it's very well-balanced. And there's something about it that I found almost intoxicating -- I kept sniffing my arm over and over, not because the scent was changing that much (it actually stayed pretty constant for several hours), but just because I couldn't get enough of it. I am so definitely getting a big bottle of this. I think I would like a vat, actually. ETA: I just felt like posting a follow-up to note that, three months later, and having reviewed over 100 scents, this is still my favourite BPAL scent of all time. I have many other scents I like now, which seem suitable for specific types of moods or occasions, but Bewitched is my me scent. It's my personality in a bottle. It's not overly sweet on me, and definitely not foody, but dark and woodsy and wild and magical and just sweet enough. It's the one scent I always have an imp of in my purse, no matter what.

I tried this one at the Toronto Meet'n'Sniff, because it had been on my wishlist for a while and I was thinking of doing a swap for it, but it really didn't work on me at all. I didn't really get the spiciness that other people have mentioned, or much a foresty scent either. It was more like a commercial perfume or house scent, maybe a potpourri or something. And not one I'd like - there was something simultaneously dry and cloying about it, which I found really unpleasant. I gave it some time to settle, but it didn't get any better, and I ended up scrubbing it off in the washroom. Oh well - one forest scent that's definitely not for me.

I got this one as an extra in a forum purchase - it's not one I would have sought out, because it's strongly floral, and I tend to only like florals if they're well-balanced by earthier notes. Still, I tried it anyway. It's actually very pretty - the vanilla in it makes a nice base for the flowers - and it would be a great pick for someone who's more fond of sweet florals than I am, but it's really not me, at all. It's something I would like to smell in a flower garden I passed while walking down the street, but not carry along with me.

Original review - Aug 9/05 I feel very conflicted about this one. It's one of those scents where there are elements to it that I really love, but there's also this one wrong note that throws the whole thing off for me. It's a got a wonderfully rich, earthy base to it, and the copal (one of my favourite scents -- copal is my favourite resin for incense, by far) gives it a warm, aromatic, resinous overtone... But then there's the heliotrope. I know it's magically appropriate for this blend, since it's a solar oil that's used in a lot of success and money-drawing oils and what not, but to me it's a high, dry, tickly, makes-the-back-of-the-nose-itch sort of scent - like the chypre note that's used in a lot of commercial pefumes - and even though it's nicely blended in with the rest, it kind of kills it for me. I kept sniffing and sniffing at it, wanting to like it, but the heliotrope just wouldn't go away. It would probably make a lovely scent for someone who didn't hate heliotrope. It's beautifully blended, and smells closer to a conventional perfume than many of BPAL's scents, but not in a bad way. I just can't handle the heliotrope. Grade: C New review - Jan 16/07 I wrote the above review long, long ago, after getting it as a frimp in one of my first-ever swap packages. And at the time, as you can see, I didn't like it too much, and blamed the heliotrope. Since then, I've tried over 300 more scents, and have a much sharper nose, I think. And I've tried a number of scents with heliotrope in them that were not bad on me at all. So, when a new frimp of this showed up in my most recent Lab order, I figured I'd give it another try. And whoa! I like it so much better this time around! It's earthy, incensey, slightly spicy goodness. I don't know if my tastes have changed, or if it's just that the original imp I got of it (an old, tarted one) hadn't aged well, but this is a whole other story. Gorgeous. I'm not sure it's quite about to become a top favourite, but it's right up there... This imp is definitely a keeper, and I think it would also be perversely appropriate to wear during business negotiations with clients. New grade: B+/A=. Hell, maybe even a full-on A.

At first the violet seemed to dominate everything - at least, I think it was violet, something powerful and extremely sweet - and this scent came across as a brutally sweet floral. But after just a few minutes, that seemed to settle down a bit so that I could smell the darker notes in it. Once it balanced out it was not bad at all, and an intriguingly complex scent with a lot of contrasts in it. My wife, sniffing it on me, said that it smelled "Like 10:00 at night - deeper than twilight, but not yet midnight. And kind of blue-violet." People with synaesthesia give the most interesting scent descriptions... There definitely did seem to be a sort of darkness and coldness to it, and the sweetness of the florals was well-balanced by the sandalwood and musk once it settled. I'm not entirely convinced it's me, but I'll definitely wear it a few more times before deciding one way or another. And in the meantime, my wife seems to have decided she likes wearing it, so maybe it's a keeper either way.

The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious. This one was a bit overwhelming at first - very cinnamon-y! But as it settled into my skin, the fierce spiciness died down a bit and the amber came out more, and I began to quite like it. When my wife sniffed it - after initially jumping back from the cinnamon overload - she said that it smelled like the colours of my lion tattoo (mostly red and gold), which seemed very appropriate (no, I'm not a Leo - it's part of a set of four elemental tattoos). It seems pretty gender-neutral - our other partner said it smelled like something he could wear too. Not too spicy after the initial spice-onslaught fades down, and not too sweet - just kind of warm and gently firey, like banked coals, or the feeling of basking in the sun. Like Haunted, it seems to blend very nicely with my own skin-scent, and I can see myself getting to like this one a lot. I've already had it on three times since receiving it a few days ago. The only down side is that it doesn't seem to have much staying power. The first time I tried it, after only about three hours it had faded down so much that I have to press my nose right against my wrist to smell it at all. But what there was of it was very nice. The second and third times I put on more, and it lasted a bit longer, but still not as long as I'd have liked - those two were the same day, because I had to reapply it halfway through. Bottom line: I really like this, and it's definitely a keeper, but I think I'll end up using it up quickly because it fades out so fast. Might need a big bottle just because the imp's not going to last me long.

The bayberry comes out most strongly on me, with a slight smokiness making it smell a lot like bayberry candles burning. But it's a fairly complex scent and there are definitely other undertones to it. I can definitely get spiced wine from it, but not so much the leather. It's a bit sweet, but only slightly - mostly it's spicey, with woodsy undertones. I think it does a pretty good job of capturing the ambiance it's going for. It makes me think of candles, wine, incense and a wild fairy-tale forest outside, and manages to be both homey/comforting and a bit magical and exotic at the same time. And I got a compliment on it - from someone else who makes perfume oils, a friend of mine. She was originally a bit dismissive of the whole cult of BPAL, but curious enough to sniff what I was wearing, and when she did her eyes get wide and she said breathily "That... is really... nice!" I think she has now begun to understand the appeal. Definitely a keeper. Might even be tempted into a big bottle, but not sure yet.