I drooled over the descriptions on the BPAL main site for a long time before finally ordering my first (of what will be too many) set of imps. I had checked out reviews as well, and knew I HAD to get this Snake Oil stuff everyone was so crazy about. Now, I know nothing about the finer points of perfumery, and I'm mainly just looking for something that can be my "signature scent" so please forgive me for not being able to break down my sniffage into specific notes!
In the imp, all I smell is...spices. Not quite incense, but nothing really jumps out at me. I don't smell vanilla at all.
On me, while wet I did get some vanilla, but mostly in a vague, vanilla-pipe tobacco kind of way. Smoky but sweet, definitely not screaming vanilla to me. Dry, the spiciness returned and stayed that way the rest of the time I wore it. I could get faint whiffs of the vanilla if I stuck my nose right on my skin, but not otherwise. It smelled interesting and exotic but not the GOTTA HAVE IT stuff that I was hoping for.
I will say it lasted a very long time, as in from the night before all through the next day (yeah, it was the weekend so I didn't immediately shower it off like I normally would ) I'm hoping to try it again in a few days, and/or maybe let it age as I see others have done. I'm not quite finished with Snake Oil just yet.
ETA: Ok, I've been wearing this off and on for a couple of weeks now and, well, I love it. It just gets better every time I wear it, and I love catching whiffs of it as I move around. Plus, my husband notices every time I've put some on and always compliments it! I'm sold! My next order will definitely contain a 5mL of Snake Oil!