lilwhiterabbit

I love peaches, I love amber, I love vanilla, I love tea scents, so I should love Unveiled, right? Not so much. It smells fantastic in the bottle and I was really excited about the decant I got, but when I put it on the red bush tea dominates and it is super spicy and super strong, and drowns out the other notes completely. It's so spicy, in fact, that it eventually gives me a headache and I have to wash it off. Very sad.

Mmm... caramel and amber and cream. I don't get any of the apple blossom out of this for some reason, and only a hint of teak, but it's really yummy. It is, admittedly, kind of foodie, but it's also kind of sexy, which is a really interesting combination of scents. It might be the perfect thing to wear when you're feeling a little naughty or looking for trouble.

This smells so good in the imp. The wood and leather are subtle and subdued--just a hint, really, while the florals, honey and berries are the top notes. My initial impression was this was a very clean, no-nonsense kind of scent. Very elegant. On me, though, I lose everything but the wood. The boyfriend is a carpenter and he has declared that, on me, Nanny smells like a cross between cedar and pine and, while he likes the smell of wood, he doesn't think it really works as a perfume. Poor Nanny. I think she's going to have to be passed on.

I have really liked everything that's come out of the District I've tried so far.... Except Countess Willie. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't smell bad, but it's very bitter in the imp and smells like dark chocolate and musk on me, which is a little too dark for my taste. I was hoping for some of that 'candied fruit' action, but I can't smell any fruit at all. It's just a little too subtle, a little too dark, and a little too close to the skin to really impress me. I think I'll be passing this one on.

I am so madly in love with this scent, I can't even begin to describe how much I like it. I need a big bottle of this NOW! Lemon is something I don't normally consider for myself, so I got a frimp of this and tried it on for the sake of science. I was terrified I'd smell like furniture polish, but instead I smell like delicious fluffy lemon tarts. The lemon is just sweet enough without being overpowering, almost like lemon candy, while the honey grounds it and the cardamom adds a hint of spice. It also has a great throw on me and lasts for several hours. I am so, so happy I tried it!

Miss Flora is another one of those scents that doesn't morph on me at all. In the bottle and on my skin I get apple with a hint of peach, amber, and a fair amount of orchid. The apple is prominent, but it smells more like a crisp, fresh cut apple than apple blossoms. Overall I like it! Definitely a keeper.

White tea and ginger with a hint of citrus, it smells exactly the same on my skin as in the imp. It's very light, pretty and refreshing--the perfect thing to wear on a hot, sticky summer day. It's not distinctive enough to blow me away, but the imp I have will be getting a bit of use.

This is another non-morpher for me; it smells exactly same in the imp as on my skin. Arkham is a really complex scent. I'm having a lot of trouble picking out individual notes. I smell something vaguely 'woody', something 'grassy' and a small riot of wildflowers. It smells exactly like a New England wood on a spring day. I really like it! It's refreshing and pleasant with a hint of subtle darkness. Not exactly how I expect Arkham to smell (I always imagined that would smell more like a city... this is definitely countryside), but pretty nonetheless. Definitely a keeper.

I get almost no morphing from the imp onto my skin. This smells like fresh violets still planted in a flower bed. There is an earthy smell that comes on strong right after application, but eventually calms down and lets the violet take the stage. I'm not sure I like when it's wet, because the 'dirt' smell is a little overwhelming, but once it dries down its quite nice. I'm not sure if it's really a 'me' scent, but I like violets so I may keep it around to use for other things.

I purchased an imp of this for my boyfriend, as someone suggested it would be a good unisex scent. In the imp it's fresh and green with a hint of floral in the background. It reminds me of walking on the banks of a river in summer (the Thames, I suppose). On him though, it smells like he bathed in roses--definitely not a unisex scent for him! How funny is it that my boyfriend amps roses?! Since it obviously wasn't working on him, I tried it and it smells exactly like it does in the imp. It's very refreshing; I don't get the sense of the 'twisted, blackened and emboldened with wickedness' at all. I like it, but it's very light and fades quickly. Pretty, but not for me.

Okay, thanks to this scent and Alecto, I now know to avoid BPAL's vetiver note. I generally like many of the notes in Horn of Plenty, but the vetiver just overwhelms everything else and I get a papery, slightly sour smell. Definitely not working for me. Into the swap pile it goes.

I'm afraid I don't have much to say about this one. It doesn't morph on my skin, so it smells like a nice, light, breezy floral. It's very faint, though, and fades quickly. It's pleasant, but nothing really stands out and, for me at least, the blend is mostly forgettable. A shame, because I love gardenia. If the gardenia had been a bit stronger, I might have been more impressed.

I couldn't pick out a single note in the vial, but on me this smells like paper that's been left out of the rain, molded and then dried in the sun. In other words, not pleasant and vaguely like garbage. Blech. I've never tried anything with vetiver in it, so maybe that's the cause and I've found another note I can't wear? None of the other notes gave me pause.

Weirdly enough, I can't smell Chuparosa in the vial--like, not at all. When it's on me, though it smells like fresh cut roses. Exactly like the kind you'd buy at a florist, fresh green stems and sap, sharp rose scent. It's literally the most realistic rose I have ever smelled. I get cinnamon eventually, but it's very faint in the background, and the ghost of honeysuckle. The rose is the real star of the show, though. It smells beautiful. This one was a total surprise. Big bottle, definitely. *swoon*

I really like how this smells in the imp; sort of a smooth, icy violet. I rather like violets in blends, so I decided to try Violet Ray, despite the fact that I sometimes amp mint (it's hit or miss really). For the first several minutes after application, I thought I'd gotten lucky, because on me it smelled exactly like it did in the bottle. Unfortunately, my crazy body chemistry kicked in and, in the end it was overwhelmingly mint with a tiny hint of violet. So, sadly, not the right blend for me. I didn't want to waste it, however, so I layered it with Brusque Violet, which definitely amped up the violet enough to be noticed, though it still wasn't as pleasant as I'd hoped it would be.

I don't always amp rose, but will about 50% of the time, so I was a little wary about this one. In the imp the rose smell is really strong, so I was worried that it wouldn't work on me. Fortunately, I was surprised by Mata Hari. Not only did it work, but it worked well--I can smell everything from the coffee to the fig and the roses are subtle and lovely with a hint of the jasmine in the background. If it works on you, this is a really complex blend, like walking into an old fashioned upscale nightclub with several scents swirling around you.

This smells so, so delicious in the vial. Hazelnuts and buttercream and honey--almost like butterscotch with a bit of bite. On me though the rum just overpowers everything else and I smell like rum and honey. This isn't unpleasant, but really wasn't what I was hoping for. I really wanted the more foodie smell of the oil in the vial. I'm going to hold onto my imp in the hopes that maybe my body chemistry was off that day. Even if I can't wear it, I'll try to find some way to use it, because it just smells too good in the vial to let go of. **ETA** Nope, wasn't a fluke. The rum is just overwhelming in this one for me. After trying it again, the only thing I could think is that is smells like Red Hots (the candy). Not terrible, but not really for me. I'll be swapping this one.

In the bottle its very almond with a hint of musk. On me this is a delicious blend of almond, musk and warm spices. I can't smell the lotus at all, but I love almond blends, and this one is especially yummy. I don't really get a hint of the cherry smell other people are talking about, but I've heard that some people think BPAL's almond notes smell like cherries, so maybe that's where they're getting it? To me, almond smells like almond, though the almond in this blend is slightly less sweet than some others. Overall I really like this scent and would consider a big bottle if it didn't fade so quickly on me. I'm going to try another application and really slather it on to see if it will last longer/smell stronger.

In the bottle this is roses, roses, roses. I can't smell anything else. On me I get a hint of pear, but can't seem to discern any other notes. I smell sweetly of pears and roses; it's pleasant, but not particularly spectacular. I'll be keeping my imp, but I don't think this is a big bottle scent. It's nice but it doesn't really impress me.

In the imp I can smell the lily and musk and not much else. On me it doesn't change much, but there's definitely a fruity smell, just not peaches. I think someone else said this smelled like apples to them? It certainly smells like apples to me, but overall the whole thing is very soft and faint. It tends to stick around a little longer than some of the other 'soft' scents I've tried, but it's so subtle I barely know it's there.

This is my favorite of all the scents I've tried so far. It smells overwhelmingly peach to me in the bottle, with maybe a hint of honey, but on me I can smell the magnolia blending in and it's just gorgeous. It's definitely honeyed peaches with a flourish of magnolia petals--beautiful! My boyfriend also can't stop smelling me when I have this on, so that's an added benefit.

I will start by saying this is one of my top ten scents. Hell, it may even be one of my top three. In the bottle, Slippery Poppy Tincture smells sort of overwhelmingly floral to me, to the point of being almost too sharp. On me, though it's just beautiful; a sweet honey scent with just enough poppy and honey to balance it. It is, admittedly, very, very sweet, but I particularly like sweet scents, so this is a good thing for me. This is just a happy, happy scent. Very few scents have an actual emotional effect on me, but this one will brighten me right up the instant I put it on.

This is a pretty floral blend that's much stronger in the imp than it is on my skin. I'm hard pressed to pick out any notes, other than lavender, but it smells quite nice. There's a spiciness on me which comes and goes as well. I think that's probably the musk. Overall, it's nice, but not something I absolutely adore. It's very soft on me and fades less than an hour after application.

Another one that doesn't last very long on me, unfortunately. There are no surprises here, it's amber and dragon's blood resin and pretty well-balanced with both. It smells exactly same in the imp as it does on me, though on my boyfriend it's super spicy and slightly fruity--vaguely like red hots, for some reason.

I get a sharp, lemony scent in the bottle with slight aquatic underneath. On me, though, this is all ozone with only a weak aquatic note in the background. It's definitely a fresh and clean scent, but I'm thinking that BPAL's ozone notes are something else I should avoid. In every blend I've tried them in, the ozone ends up smelling really artificial. It's a little too antiseptic on me to really like it, and my boyfriend says it gives him a headache, so to the swap pile it goes.