Dolly Dimple

That's one I hadn't thought of, but I might have to give that a sniff...

Sorry for resurrecting an old topic with an ever-so-slightly off-topic question, but is anyone able to suggest a BPAL blend that's similar to A*men (the male version of Angel)? I've been trying to convert my bloke to BPAL but he refuses to be weaned off that particular scent...

Blimey. Follow Me Boy is the scent equivalent of going out in a low-cut top and fuck-me heels. You don't know if it's really you, they don't know if it's really you, but damn, it'll catch their attention. This is sweet - sugary vanilla, then baby powdery vanilla, like Snake Oil without the spices (NB I love powdery notes), with a throw that you could detect from the other end of a sweaty tube carriage. It reminds me of French Love - I adored that scent, but there was something in it that gave me a headache that this blend doesn't have. It's not my usual type at all (I'm more a resins and musk lass), but there's something about this that makes me swing my hips, lick my lips and hold my head high, and that makes me think this might just turn into a 5ml. Just don't tell my husband

Swap from the lovely Bagfish Imp: mmm, spicy! When I was little my mother rarely wore perfume, and when she did, it was usually the less expensives ones like Tweed or Yardley. But she kept a little box of perfume miniatures, like Chanel or Guerlain, in her top drawer, and she'd bring them out for special occasions. The rest of the time, I'd sneak into her room and have a sniff of the bottles to see what 'posh perfumes' smelled like. This reminds me of that box - it's definitely got that 'classic grown-up lady' smell. Wet: oh no! Soap! Coal tar soap! But there's a hint of something spicy and warm underneath that gives me hope that this stage may pass... Half an hour later: Oh. My. Word. This is gorgeous. It reminds me of the amberiness of The Lion, without the sweetness of the grasses in that blend - it's dry and deliciously warm and incensy. It's one of these scents that, rather than smelling like perfume, makes it seem like it's your skin's glowing and smelling good unaided. Love this. Two hours later: disappeared! And believe me, I covered myself in that stuff. If I put my wrist right up to my nose and sniff hard, I can just about detect it, but otherwise it's completely vanished. 'Nothing beside remains', indeed. Verdict: if it had lasted longer, this would be a big bottle straight away, because it's stunning on the drydown - but it vanished so quickly. Maybe I should get a huge bottle and slather once an hour? Hmmm...

OK, please smack me down if I'm posting in the wrong place or this has already been answered, but what's the position with international shipping for TAL? (I emailed them but I'm just being impatient... ) Are the international shipping rates the same as the rates for BPAL (ie $9 for 4 items to Europe etc)? Ta!

I should have realised that the coconut would be the killer for me in this one. I can just about make out some of the tobacco note, but otherwise this is all a rather plasticky coconut on me. I let my brother have a sniff and he said I smelled like a car air freshener. Damn my body chemistry!

The Hesperides! Starts out very appley, but once it dried down it turned into a sweet warm caramel scent. You know Lush's 'Honey I Washed The Kids' bar? Like that.

I've been very very lax at reviewing lately. But I'm trying on Red Phoenix for the first time this morning, and this is one perfume that I have to declare my love for. I was a little bit uncertain because of the tonka and mandarin, two notes that don't usually work on my skin. But I think they must be the notes balancing out the red musk and plum - this really reminds me of Scherezade, but whereas that's all red musk on me (which I *love*), this is much more complex. The longer I wear it, the more citrussy it gets - again, this would normally be for me, but the musk stops it smelling like Orange Cif (my usual mandarin experience). I want to slather this everywhere! Really, really hope that this might make a guest appearance at the next anniversary... Overall, I'd give this 4.5/5.

Now, this is weird. Aquatic notes are usually hideous on me - sour, sharp, like fresh sweat on the turn. So this was one I'd have avoided like the plague, if the Lab hadn't chucked it in as a freebie. Surely by now I should know to trust the Lab's unconscious instincts?! Wet: Melon? Pear? Something light and fruity, definitely. Pleasant, but not really my thing... 15 mins later: oooh, there's that celery note from Wings of Azrael! Could it be...? 45 mins later: OK, evidently my nose or skin is wonky, because this now has the same dark sexy note I love in Wings of Azrael, which I was sure was myrrh. No longer really sweet, no ginger, still mildly floral (the gardenia?), but definitely myrrh. And definitely gorgeous. The two scents don't appear to have any notes in common, but they smell so similar that I'll need to try one on each wrist and play them off against each other.

It says a lot about my preferences that my favourite 'springy' scent has Dragon's Blood in it. But I think Dragon's Eye is a beautiful fresh floral, and I can see myself wearing it a lot in the next few months. I also love Zombi for its clear sharp note that cuts through the dirt. ETA: oh yeah! Wings of Azrael's a fresh one for me! I may be alone in this, but I get a celery note in it! Perfect for picnics in the park (before the wasps arrive)!

Oh dear, this provoked a reaction the likes of which I've only had with Debauchery before. Wet on, this is pure orange cleaning fluid. Or, as my bf described it, urinal cake. I'm not a fan of citrus generally, but this is the most artificial (to my nose) of all the ones I've tried - not something I would ever usually say of Beth's blends. And sweet lord, this is STRONG! I only put on a tiny amount and it overwhelmed everything else I was trying. I woke up in the middle of night, about five hours after application, and it was still pungent - I gave it a good sniff, and ew! It had turned acrid - like I had sprayed Charles Worthington's Big Hair hairspray on that spot on my arm. Not for me, I'm afraid.

As tends to happen with any scents with citrus in them, my skin chemistry amps up the lemon in this until I can smell nowt else. I'll occasionally put my nose up to it and get little whiffs of something softer and sweeter which I assume is the vanilla, enough to give a hint of what might be hiding under there, and then it's back to the lemon again. But those little hints are enough to persuade me not to swap it immediately, but to give it a couple of weeks and try again at a different time of the month. After all, what can you do with a White Rabbit but keep chasing it?

I'll second Blood Amber, which, alas, is so skinlike on me that it fades to undetectable in under an hour. While it's there, it's beautiful, though. And Bathsheba was another warm, sexy, second skin scent - not a lot of throw for me, so it's definitely one you'd have to get up close to notice... but if it's skin scent you want, I guess up close goes without saying?

Heh, I was always the one who said I'd never get hitched and I'm the first of my group of friends to do it... I think I'll be wearing Spellbound, because I just love the stuff and it makes me feel gorgeous. And Venice for the honeymoon, because we're off to Venice!

I don't know if it's the sage in this, but this smelled very masculine on me. I got the berries when it was still wet, but after it dried, this was all aftershave on me. Which is strange, because I've never had sage issues before. Ah well.

Wet, this is all lavender and lemon to me - but a lovely fresh, juicy lemon, not 'bathroom product' lemon. It's very sharp at first, and when that sharpness initially fades on the drydown, it's rather an icky soapy smell. Fortunately it turns into what I can only describe as a 'pink' scent - the same soft, slightly floral smell I got from Morella. Very lovely, and a definite keeper. As for its knockout powers - I tried it last night after being in bed with a stinking cold and aching bones all day. I did doze off for about an hour, but alas, woke up again and only Night Nurse got me back to sleep! I don't think it's fair to judge its properties in those circumstances, though, so I'll be giving it another try when I'm not running a temperature...

Menacing, bewitching and darkly sexual. A blend of myrrh, amber and lilac. I finally ordered an imp of Bruja the week before it was announced that it would be disconutinued. Did I order a big bottle? No. Am I a total pillock? Yes. Bruja is the perfect scent for me. It's got that sexy amber smell I recognise from Haunted, but softer, warmer, and fluffier. It's the scent equivalent of a big cosy blanket. The DD 'bring back Bruja' campaign starts here...

Expected this to smell a bit like a spicier version of Dana O'Shee, but instead, as Electra noted, it's more like Origins' Ginger Essence. But I definitely prefer this! The milk and honey soften the sharpness of the ginger beautifully. My only is that it faded so quickly on me; ah well, I'll just have to slather it on and then get some more... ETA: I've had a grotty cold/chill since yesterday, and this is the perfect scent for warming you up and making you feel better in the face of the winter blues!

I really expected to love this - I adore cloves, vanilla and dragon's blood, so this should have been a winner for me. And when wet, it did have a beautiful sweet spicy smell, that reminded me of some of the sweeter Lush bath ballistics (when you stand next to the display in the shop and you're overwhelmed by all the fizzy goodness). But alas, as it always does for me, the wine came out to play, and just dominated the rest of the notes. My wrist smelled like hangover mouth, and all the sweetness turned rather sickly. Off to the swap pile...

I've actually bought an introductory six-pack of imps for my MIL2B for Christmas, along with a bottle of Hunger (which she said she liked when she smelled it on me). I picked these ones: O (because it was my very first big BPAL love and I want to pimp it on everyone) Wicked (because it's a warm, sexy, 'grown-up' smell) Snake Oil (no explanations needed) Black Rose (again, this seemed to be a more grown-up rose scent) Jezebel (a sweet floral blend, but with some depth) Old Shanghai (a citrussy scent to counterbalance all the richer ones). I didn't go for any of the more resiny, incensey ones, because when I first discovered BPAL it took me a while to adjust my nose to those ones and not immediately go 'ugh, hippy!', so I wouldn't want to scare her off immediately.

When I was little, I used to love My Little Pony. Each My Little Pony came with a puffy vinyl scratch-and-sniff sticker that smelled like a warm vanilla - a surprisingly comforting fragrance. I spent a lot of time, aged eight, with my nose stuck to the wardrobe door, sniffing those stickers. Old Morocco smells like those stickers to me. This is actually what I expected Snake Oil to smell like. It's sweet and warm and comforting and makes me feel like I'm a little kid getting a hug from my mum again. The ultimate comfort scent. And surprisingly reminiscent of small plastic horses.

I got this as a freebie with my first order back in May, and doused myself in it before realising that it would make me smell like a bloke all day. A fresh, lemony bloke, but a bloke nonetheless. This isn't a light lemony male scent, like L'Eau D'Issey, but a sharp, bites-yer-nose-off one - very crisp. (My brother's inherited it from me, and it smells great on him.)

Ah, now this is gorgeous. A real surprise, too, because when it first went on, it smelled very similar to Queen Mab, which was just too overwhelmingly FLOWERS!!! for me. But after half an hour, the vanilla started to creep out from underneath and warm the flowers a little. It's much sweeter and stronger than I would normally wear, but there's something delicious that keeps drawing my nose to wrist. If any scent can convince me that these heady florals can work for me, it's this one.

Astarte very kindly included this as an extra in a swap for me, and I will be forever grateful, because I'd never have dreamed of ordering something with civet in it, and I wasn't particularly taken with any of the other notes, but I absolutely love Morella! The first time I tried it, it faded away within the hour. Usually that's the cue for the imp to go straight in the swap pile, but there was something about this that drew me in. It was lemony when wet, but there was a very intriguing, very soft 'pink' note underneath it that stopped it smelling like cleaning products (as citrussy ones usually do on me). So I slathered it on, and went out to a smoky club. A couple of hours later, I couldn't smell it if I put my nose to my wrist, but I was aware of the same 'pink' smell in a haze around me when I moved. The sharp citrus smell faded, and the haze that was left was soft and warm - not powdery, but like 'me, only better'. (I wish I knew which note it was!) It's simply fantastic!

I'll echo Bon Vivant - it's very Jelly Babies. And many of the peach ones have been almost overwhelmingly sweet on me - I'm thinking particularly of Imp and Tamora.