terrierhead

I got this as a frimp from the lab. Thanks labbies! In the imp, it smells creamy, spicy and fruity. I'd read reviews before trying Block Buster and had gotten the impression that it would smell like Bananas Foster. It does, a bit, in the imp. Wet, the banana disappears, and this turns to a lovely apple - plum - spice blend. It seems more like a room fragrance than something I'd normally wear, but it's a good scent. As this dries, my skin amps up the spice. It's warm, cozy and apple-y, perhaps with some plum. This reminds me a bit of Harvest Moon - I've only tried a tiny bit of HM once but will give it another go soon. It's quite a bit like a slightly more apple-rich Jack, minus the butter note. Overall, a good blend. I don't think I'll buy more of it, but I'll use the imp. I'm not sure it's made me any better than usual at handling change, etc., but it has kept me smelling nice during one of the busiest work days in recent memory.

I got this for my husband and am trying it myself, as well. In the bottle: Yum, rummy spice. I think there's some clove along with the bay. Wet (on him): A leather note comes out, but the fragrance otherwise stays the same. Very nice. Wet (on me): Holy mother of spice! This is nice - it smells like I've been drinking chai while cuddling with a spicy-smelling gent who was wearing a leather jacket. I really slathered this on, and am getting a metallic taste in my mouth. Oh oh. Dry (on him): Fades a bit, but otherwise stays the same. Sniffable for several hours. Glad I bought this. Dry (on me): metallic taste continues. I smell like spiced cider, and I like it a lot. I'll have to apply more sparingly and see if I can escape the curse of the taste of metal. ::throws devil horns for Taste of Metal::

Darn! This was the imp that I tried first when my order arrived today. It instantly goes to pennyroyal-scented play-doh on my skin. Oh, I am annoyed. After a few hours of wear, it turns to a nice stick of vanilla incense. It has no throw whatsoever in either its play-doh or incense iterations. I'll try this again in a week or two.

I should preface this by saying that I've only been able to test a droplet of Velvet; a kind and lovely forumite threw in an empty bottle as a freebie in a trade. Empty? Hah! There was a tiny smidge at the bottom which I coaxed out and applied to my wrist. Oh, the love. I knew I had to get that droplet out as soon as I sniffed the bottle. Warm, wonderful sandalwoody chocolate, with soft vanilla tying it together. It smells the same on - I got none of the troublesome pencil shavings note. It lasted for about five hours, which is pretty impressive for such a small application. I must buy more of this. ETA: Ok, I bought more of it from a fabulous forumite. Unfortunately, this (newer?) sample smells like chocolate Play-Doh with pencil shavings on me, although it's lovely in the imp. I'm willing to bet this is either an effect of skin chemistry variation or is a sign that my tiny bottle needs aging. Either way, it's annoying.

In the imp - woooh, that's strong. It's like a spice war in there. I thought I knew what patchouli smelled like, but maybe not. On skin - Apparently, to my nose cardamom + patchouli = cinnamon, because that's what I get. Drying down - Big Red Gum, in a big wad of mud. Nothing else. Dry - Wow, that's certainly ABC Big Red in mud cake. 24 hours later, after bathing and a full day of work - I can still smell the patchouli. I think this might be pleasant if I diluted it. I'll try a touch of it in some unscented lotion and go from there.

In the imp - sweet, fruity, hard to pin down. Wet - Juicy Fruit gum with a resinous undertone Dry - Still Juicy Fruit (sigh) 20 minutes later - develops complexity. This is sweet and nuanced. The resinous quality is coming out, and it's nice. 60 minutes later - oh, I like this quite a bit. Fresh, fruity, yet grounded.

I got to try Spooky because of the generosity of the wonderful judas_kiss. :bowdown: I probably shouldn't be trying anything at all today as I have a bit of a sinus cold going on - enough to give me a headache and throw my perceptions of scent off. However, I couldn't resist. Spooky is the first fragrance I've tried without knowing what's in it before putting it on. In the bottle, Spooky gave me the impression of faint coconut, mint, and some sort of floral. Wet, the coconut comes to the foreground, which is unfortunate for me because it seems like coconut and I do not get along. Then boom! Play-doh until dry-down is complete. Then, I get whiffs of chocolate cookie crumbs and plasticy smelling coconut. My husband disagrees with me on how this smells - he got a butteriness wet that I didn't perceive, and says that the butteriness fades with dry-down. I'll edit this review after I get over the stupid cold. ETA: Nope, it wasn't the head cold's fault. In addition, the scent is very faint, which led me to apply a whole lot of it for testing purposes, which in turn led to my first ever BPAL-induced metallic-tasting mouth experience. ETA: Twelve hours later, I smell just like baby powder. Yuck.

Thank you! I'm a tool, too, but less of one than before.

Purplegirl, I'm in the dark as well. Do we need to do something in particular to get the Click & Ship or does the lab do it automatically?

Oooh, I am in love with Darkness. I only put it on a few minutes ago, and I hope it stays just as warm, comforting and incensy as it is right now. I'd been putting off trying this imp because I thought it would be overly sweet and floral. Instead, it's a cozy, spicy wonder - sensual, but with a weird numbing sensation as well when I sniff it off my wrist. This smells deliciously like a just blown out candle; I think the darkness it's named for must be the immediate after-effect of blowing out a bunch of spicy candles. I must get a bottle of this! ETA: Oh oh, my wrist is starting to burn a little. If I'm allergic to this I will be deeply disappointed. Edited again to add: Ok, I'm not allergic. I'm trying Darkness again but getting very different results. It's a lot smokier than it was last week, and I'm getting a bit of a headache. Odd. Edited yet again: It's about half an hour since my last edit, and now I smell like a smokey pickle. Arrrgh

I was worried this was going to be nauseatingly buttery - butter's all that I get out of the imp - but was pleasantly surprised. The butteriness drops as Jack dries, and I'm left with a pleasant, mulled apple cider scent. It's not what I was expecting, but it's nice. I wish I got some pumpking out of it.

In the imp, this is scary stuff - strong and medicinal. Wet, it gives a refreshing woosh of rosemary, followed 30 seconds later by rose and orange blossom. This stuff is like instant alertness in a vial. On dry down, the rosemary fades a bit and the roses come to the forefront; it seems like the rosemary keeps the roses from being too sweet. I really like this! ETA: I put Catherine on this morning before work. The work day is now done, and I still get wafts of fresh, clean rose. The rosemary is in the background, making it seem like I'm smelling a rose on a cool day. I'm really impressed with this.

In the imp, this smelled like varnish with a hint of apples. The varnish smell continued when I put it on, for the first hour or so of wear. After that, the varnish dissipated, and the apples came out to play a little. I smelled like a nice wooden chair that's been polished with an apple-scented product, for instance, if there were an apple Pledge. Oops, it's not for me. Blame it on odd skin chemistry.

I got an imp of this from malanna and it is fantastic. In the imp, it smells like tulips and greenery, which stays the same when it's wet. As it dries down, I lose most of the floral scent and it turns to freshly mown grass. It really is like Spring or early Summer in a bottle. Unfortunately, my eyes have begun to water. I think I may be allergic to this. Arrrgh!

My impression: in the vial, it smells like pickle relish. On my skin, it smells like your grandma’s attic, if she opened a jar of pickle relish and flung it about with wild abandon. About an hour later, the pickle relish has faded out. Now, it smells like dried roses and warm, wooden furniture. I’m not willing to hang out for an hour smelling like pickle relish each time I’d want to wear this. Ah well. Off it goes! ETA: This was taken from an earlier review I did on another site. My former imp is now in the hands of a happy new owner.

O no! I must have the world's oddest skin chemistry, because I'm not getting delicate amber and honey or nuances of any kind. In the imp, it smells intensely sweet, and that isn't modified by drying down or by time. It's got tons of throw, but I just can't stand it. I kept it on for about an hour and got the mother of all headaches. It's just too, too sweet for me - and it makes my sinuses rebel. Everyone who's said O has staying power is correct. I've washed my arm four times and I just can't get this stuff off. I'm new enough to BPAL that I'm not sure which of the notes is affecting me thus. It's so sad, because it sounded so luscious, and it obviously has a great following among BPALers. This will be traded to someone who will appreciate it better.

Wow, was I ever looking forward to trying Elegba. My husband wanted to try it, too, because he was curious about different rum scents. He's a huge fan of traditional bay rum, and we wanted to see how different this was. Well, it's certainly different. He tried it last night, and both of us got a strong butter scent with lots of throw - he put on a tiny bit, and I could smell butter trailing him for at least five feet. Ten minutes later, the coconut came out more, but both of us disliked the strong butteriness enough that he went and washed it off. I tried Elegba this morning, with similar results, except now I have a headache to go along with a lingering buttery smell. I washed it off after about 15 minutes, and it's like I'm still being haunted by a big stick of butter. I really wanted to like this, too.

This is my fourth BPAL fragrance ever, and I'm utterly impressed with how different each oil has been. In the vial, this smells like the devil's hot chocolate - dark, boozy and sinister, but with little marshmallows on the top. Ten minutes after applying it, the oil lost the sweetness that made me think of marshmallows, and the red wine revved up a bit. The oil didn't morph much after that. I like this quite a bit, but think I may have to save this for weekend because of the booziness.

A scent that is both coquettish and sinister. Exotic and lush, brimming with grace and viciousness: almond with star jasmine, oakmoss, red sandalwood and Egyptian musk. I acquired an imp of Salome' from Kagami and started out not liking it much. In the imp, it seems like a rather strong, musk-based commercial perfume - think of the scents that were available in Walgreens in the mid-1980s. I was pleasantly surprised when I put Salome' on. The musk mellows, the jasmine fades a bit, and the almonds come out to play. The effect, after the first five minutes of wear, is luxurious and warm, perfect for winter weather. The throw is strong for about thirty minutes after application, then reduces to a six inch radius or so. I love, love, love this! It lasts long enough that I can still get waves of yummy sweet, warm almond off of my skin after a full work day. Delicious. I may need a large bottle of this.

Thank you! I thought I'd looked everywhere, but hadn't found that thread.

I wasn't sure where to ask this question, and have checked the FAQs for an answer without success. I've been considering a bottle of Moxie for a while. A forum regular told me that it's an aromatherapy and that it's used differently than the general fragrance blends. How are the Panacea blends used differently?

I know that's true - looking at the reviews, the Panacea blends need to be reapplied frequently. Thank you for the advice!

Wow, my virgin voyage on the review boards (beyond reading them, of course). Be gentle with me - it's my first time. I bought an imp of Ophelia from kagami; it's one of only three bpal fragrances I've tried as I'm an utter newbie. In the imp, it smells like roses and clean laundry. The latter note is probably my uneducated nose's way of interpreting the aquatic notes and ivy. On, I get a burst of mixed florals, with rose just, well blooming at me. It's like hanging out laundry on a beautiful late Spring day next to a bush of great, big white roses. I love it to pieces, although it's a little incongruous with the very November weather we're having. The scent stays true, isn't terribly strong on me but lasts several hours. I can still catch the occasional waves of scent from my wrists after applying it this morning before going to work; it's been about 12 hours. It seems to waft a few feet behind me for the first few hours of wear, and has the magical power of making men more polite than usual.