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This has roses in it, so it will be soap. But hey, I will try anything once (at least!) Imp: Oh.. ohhhhhh. I wish this would work on me. It's the sweetest, loveliest orange blossom honey with beautiful full blooming roses over a base of delicious sandalwood. If you can wear roses, you should definitely check this out. It smells almost like a rosey O. This would be outstanding, I just know it, if only I could do roses. Wet: Bright floral honey, sweet sandalwood, and.... no soap? Really? No roses at all really, just beautiful honeyed incense. Dry: This dries down to a lovely soft honey with touches of sandalwood, orange blossom and a faint faint soap. Damn! So close! I think I will try again at least once more before passing my Imp on, though... maybe the soap will calm down with a few weeks of age and I will be able to wear this. It's really exceptionally gorgeous, full, and womanly.

Frimp from the Lab. It will be soap, because it has rose in it, but I will try everything once! Imp: Chamomile tea! And muguet, and lily, and violet. It's really quite pretty, a soft floral, but with an herbal twist. Smells like a lovely springtime tea. Wet: Violet, violet, violet, Grandma's old perfume. Then the chamomile comes out and tones it down a bit. Then the tea rose, and guess what? It smells like soap. Further away from my wrist I get the muguet, which is actually a floral I really like, but here it's kind of ruined by all the SOAP. I'm shocked that the geranium isn't making me sick-- geranium and lemongrass oils both tend to make me nauseous. Dry: The best chamomile soap on the market, which would be great in the shower but not so much on my wrists. I'll pass, thanks!

Imp: Sweet dirt and woods, I think fir and birch and maybe a little cypress. There's definitely moss in here, too, and some florals. Smells a whole lot like Jazz Funeral, but not as sweet. It's kinda funky. Wet: Sugary, spicy dirt and soap for a second, then strooooooooong woods and evergreens. Like a less summery, less jubilant version of Jazz Funeral still. The soap makes me think there's a floral in this, but I don't smell flowers, just... soap. The evergreens go sweet on me after a few minutes. Dry: Much the same. Too-sweet wood, a little spiced-dirt, and soap. It's.... okay, I guess. Not terribly keen on it but it's not actively unpleasant.

There must at least be a few notes in common across the Shungas, because the two I've tried smell very similar out of the bottle... there's a perfumey, airy quality to them that's hard to describe. It's almost a space or a pause in the scent, where I'm *not* smelling something as opposed to smelling it. Almost as if they're sort of... thin... at first. Does anyone else get that? Anyway. <b>Bottle:</b> Plum candy, soft grainy rice and a hint of spice. It smells a lot like plum jam and horchata (a Latin American rice/milk/cinnamon drink) to me, and that's totally cool. It's sweet and kinda foody but still smells like perfume. <b>Wet:</b> Sweet sticky plums, rice, vanilla and sandalwood. It smells like a delectable dessert of some kind, maybe rice pudding with kirsch? The perfume quality gives it a little bite, makes it smell a bit alcoholic. It's got a lightness, sort of a sharpness to it, that I associate with all the Lab's "Asian" blends. It makes it all kinda high-pitched. Strong throw, too. <b>Dry:</b> This dries down to a sweet plum with touches of nutmeg and vanilla. It's very pretty but, as someone else said, kind of generic. I am going to put this bottle in my cellaring box because I think aging is going to make this much more complex, deeper, and more interesting. <b>Edit:</b> Just want to say that, after a week or two of cellaring, the plum on this one dies down a bit and the vanilla sandalwood, nutmeg and rice come out much more. It goes from an ALL FRUIT ALL THE TIME blend to a sweet, creamy, inviting scent with touches of ripe plum. Just gorgeous-- playful and sexy. Unfortunately, there's definitely a note in here that gives me a major headache. Swaps.

Bottle: Lavender! Gee, who'da thunk it? It's a really strong, really bitter, REALLY herbal lavender, too, biting and fresh and pleasant. No bergamot. Just, y'know, ALL LAVENDER ALL THE TIME. Wet: Lavender! The second it hits my skin it takes on a weird, smoky, almost mesquite quality, kinda like barbeque. Disturbing. After a second it dies down to mostly herbal lavender again, but there's still a hint of charcoal. Bizarre. After a moment the bergamot rears its head, calming and taming and making quite pretty. After a minute it really does start to smell like Earl Grey. Not terribly strong, though, and I think this one is going to do a vanishing act. Dry: Just a very faint bergamot with hints of lavender now. I thought I would really like smelling like Earl Grey but it turns out I'm just not that crazy about it.

Frimp from the Lab. Somehow I missed that this one even existed, so I'm glad I get to try it! Imp: NOM NOM hard cider, carnation and a sharp smell that really in all honesty does smell like black ink. Amazing! Very autumnal, pretty and fruity without being foody. Delicious! Wet: Powdery, powdery amber, cider, sweet molasses (!!!!) at first. Then an almost gritty sweet-smell, like a really crumbly cake soaked in hard apple cider next to a bouquet of carnations. That slightly inky note is still in there. This is very complex and very unusual. The throw is all cider and molasses. It's kinda weird, like nothing else I've ever smelled, but I like it a lot. Spring, however, is not the correct time to be wearing this-- this is absolutely a fall scent. Dry: Amber, carnation, cider, and sandy molasses cake, but fading fast. I think this would age very nicely. It reminds me a lot of Fairy Wine-- not in the scent, but in the unusual combination of notes. I like it very much but I'm not sure I'm so in love with it that I need a big bottle. We'll see. When fall rolls around, this may end going into heavy rotation.

Frimp from the Lab. Imp: Mmmmm, delicious! Dark fruits swirled with the vanilla buttercream frosting from Love's Philosophy. There's a hint of bakery, and a twist of spice. If this stays true on my skin it's going to be a 5mL for sure-- foody but not just sweet. Maybe some ginger? Wet: Sweet-smoky ginger and dark fruit with an incredibly rich vanilla. There's a little bit of a smokey quality to it as well, up close, but the throw is all sweet berries and vanilla. This is like Snake Charmer + Love's Philosophy on me, and I'm so totally okay with that. Foody is often a little bit artificial or plasticky on me, but this is just rich and delicious and completely amazing. Damn good throw, too. Dry: Incredibly strong, sexy, spicy, foody without being nauseating, and has a hilarious name to boot. I want to dump this on myself and roll around. Sweet mother of God. This may be one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me. A 5mL for sure. At LEAST. If foody is "meh" on you, but incense and resin and spice are great, try this STAT.

Bottle: I have never had trouble with honey. I have never had trouble with green tea. I have never had trouble with blackberry. I have never smelled the Cat Pee Note, Destroyer of Worlds. And yet, when I open this, it smells like ammonia, cat pee, and unwashed body funk. It's so stomach-churning to my nose I'm having difficulty making myself test it. Wet: I only put the tiniest bit on, as you can imagine. I can smell a pleasant vanilla trying to come through, but it is completely eaten up by the horrible, horrible rotting, cloying, sickly-sweetness. I am going to give this as long as I can to dry but this is, seriously, a total disaster on my skin. Oh God. It's STRONG, too. It would be. Yeah. I am not going to make it to the drydown, this is too strong and it's making me queasy. Dish soap ahoy! I can tell there is a really nice scent under all this somewhere, pretty and foody without being overwhelming, but for me it's a trainwreck. Lady Una on my skin? Smells like a rotting body dipped in honey-- strong putrid sweetness, chemicals and rot.

This was a frimp from the Lab with my latest order. I'm about to go for a nice walk in the cool air outside, so it seems appropriate. Imp: Holy crap, the oil is green! Like a light, blue-tinged green. That's ridiculously awesome. At first sniff this just smells like straight-up pine to me, but after a moment I get a bit of lime and juniper and cypress and maybe a little cedar. Hella fresh, hella pleasant. Wet: On me, at first, this is almost all sweet citrus and mint and maybe some musk or dark amber. It's really really nice, fresh and sweet and herbal but not overpowering or too bitter. There are slight overtones of sugar and smoke, which give it depth and complexity. It's airy and beautiful. I've had a massive headache all day and this just feels like a whoosh of wonderful cool air through my sinuses. The throw on this is strong and crisp, like walking through a wood in the snow with that diffuse, snow-filtered light all around. Dry: This one, unfortunately, fades very quickly to a light citrus-amber-musk with flashes of sharp green. The drydown reminds me a lot of Mantis or Sundew. If this lasted longer and kept the green, I would definitely consider a bottle, but as it is I'll just keep my imp.

I got this for my man for Valentine's Day, because he loves sea scents. Bottle: Sweet rum, bright line, sharp pepper (I think pepper is the main ingredient in the gunpowder note), bright sea air, and something sort of... floral? Wood, too, dry and splintery. It's very reminiscent of Jolly Roger, but spicier, and the tang of lime is very welcome. Wet: Lovely sweet-round men's cologne, much like Jolly Roger on me. I like the citrus aspect of the lime, and there's a sweet-spicy Snake Oil underneath. Very, very jangly-bright and masculine. Salty, too. There's more Snake Oil as it dries a little, leading to a green-sweet-round-spicy-woody smell, although that's not much of a description. Dry: Jolly Roger + lime + a very, very subtle base of Snake Oil = The Phoenix. An unusual combination, and far too masculine for me, but it smells incredibly good (and sexy!) on my boyfriend. Great throw, decent lasting power (must be the SO.) A winner! Buy this for your seafarin' man, you won't regret it!

The lovely angelfish323 sent me an empty bottle of this, and there was just enough left for a test. Bottle: I can smell nothing but sugar and sweet florals. There's a very sweet lavender, bright bluebell and a lovely fresh green note backed by something a bit aquatic. Extremely pretty if a little soapy. No incense yet. Wet: The brightest, prettiest floral and the most lovely sweet candy and baked goods, with a touch of spice and a fresh-cut grass scent. Bright and glittery and beautiful. If this doesn't go to soap on me it will be stunning. This is what I expected Dia de los Muertos to be like, but without the cocoa (and the soap.) There's a beautiful incense in here, somewhere, too. Just gorgeous, very spring-summery. Delicate and exotic and it really, really does smell like a market-- like cakes and flowers and green grass and sunshine and heaps of mysterious goods from foreign parts. It's a little soapy in the throw. I'm having difficulty deciding if I care. Dry: What a morpher! At first this is primarily yeasty bakery-buns and sugar, but after a while the incense and flowers begin to stand out more. I agree with whoever said this blend isn't unified-- but that's not a bad thing! It really is like "little silver bells" all ringing out. I'm going to hold off on purchasing more and see whether it's something I crave wearing again, but I have a feeling that once spring rolls around a 5mL of this is going to be slipping into my shopping cart. This is the most Fae thing I've ever smelled; truly unique. Absolutely an example of the magic of BPAL.

Frimp from the ever-so-awesome angelfish323. This will not work on me, because it has rose in it. Imp: Resin, resin, resin, and more resin. Benzoin and sandalwood and HOLY COW incense. Some moss and maybe a faint whiff of rose. Kind of sharp, kind of generic. Wet: Soapy incense. Thanks rose. There's some sweet spice in here too, probably the benzoin, and some really nice green moss in the background. It's kind of salty, too, thanks to the myrrh. More pleasant than in the imp, but still a bit meh. After a bit the rose comes out more and, glory of glories, actually smells kinda like rose. It isn't enough to pull me into this blend, though. Dry: This, for me, is a generic BPAL-- it would be outstanding for a commercial perfume house, but it smells just sort of like nondescript (if any BPAL can be nondescript) on me. It's a sweetly floral, woody incense with touches of warm gold. I think I might try it on the Boy, though, despite the floral I'm getting quite a masculine vibe from this. Otherwise, swaps.

... This oil contains the innocence of the Garden, coupled with the Truth and Erudition found in the fruit of the Tree of Evil: fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood. Thank you angelfish323! Imp: This smells divine in the Imp, all sweet milk, toasted almonds, fig and fuzzy, fruity coconut. There's a hint of sandalwood in the background, warm and inviting. I seriously just want to dump it all over myself, it's like being snuggled in a fuzzy blanket. There's a touch of something green here too, probably the fig leaf. It keeps it from being foody. Wet: Buuuhhh... soft, creamy almond and coconut and the milk and honey notes I simply adore from White Rabbit. In fact, this smells very similar to WR on me, only instead of clean and sharp it's toasted and warm and just beautiful. A touch of sandalwood and that wonderful almost floral fig. Oh, I love this. I have a recipe for honeyed figs and hazelnut ice-cream that I've never made, but this smells just like the picture of it! After a minute, the sandalwood and coconut come out more, giving just a touch of sun-tan lotion, but oh, I don't mind. Good throw, too. Dry: This is a creamy-sweet blend of fruit and milk and a little sandalwood, fuzzy and gorgeous. It's so much like White Rabbit on me that I'm going to have to do a side-by-side to figure out which one I want in a 5ml.... hell, I might just get 'em both. This is just beautiful.

I have an epic headcold, but am starting to regain my sense of smell, and I'm tired of waiting! Bottle: Holy crap. Cheap, buttery, boozy buttercream frosting, with a hint of lemon and mint (really saffron, but I can't tell yet). Rich and heady and oozing straight-up sugar. Wet: At first, a faint plastic note, but that dies off really fast and leaves a clear, translucent, rich and not overly-sweet vanilla. The foodiness, the booze, the creaminess are mostly gone. Just pure vanilla. I'm not getting a whole lot of saffron, but there is a kind of waxy note in here, making the whole thing smell a lot like vanilla candles. I agree with the comparison to Tombstone. Still not getting any saffron or cream... in fact this smells pretty much exactly like Tombstone on me. Time for a side-by-side. Dry: This is different from Tombstone-- sweeter, lighter, creamier, less herbal. That being said, it's pretty much a straight-up French vanilla on me. Not blowing my socks off, which is a pity, because I was REALLY hoping for a lot of saffron. It would be great for layering, but I think I'll just stick with Tombstone. I like the herbal, and it's GC. Swaps.

Also, I am under the impression that all of the oils are blended to-order, or at least not very far in advance, so that they don't sit there and "pre-age" before you get them, because that can change the scent. Remember, this is a very small operation in comparison to most commercial perfume houses-- things are going to go wrong, people are going to get sick... all of which translate into wait times. Personally I kinda love the wait times, because when you get it, it's like insta-birthday or Christmas!

Did I really never review Bed of Nails? I know I had a decant at one point.... on me, it was all biting citrus, sharply perfumey ozone, and the most incredibly screechy, teeth-achingly dead-on metallic smell. Amazing, yes. Something I'd want to put on myself in a million years, no.

This is the 2004 version. Today is the first warm, spring-like day we've had this year, and it seems like as good a time as any to test this! I have only one tiny drop in an Imp vial, so this is going to be insanely aged. Imp: Faint, faint florals and a hint of cocoa. A faint smoky tobacco and a smell of dry leaves accompanies it. Wet: I only managed to get the tiniest bit out of this, so I'm not sure how accurate the review will be, but I'm getting sweet candies, salty chocolate, tobacco and just a breath of flowers. It's pretty, a little foody, but very faint. Cereus and incense too, pretty but not overwhelming. There's almost a faint yeasty smell too, like hot buns straight out of the oven. Mmm. Dry: This turned into a sweet incensey floral with hints of chocolate and bread. Beautiful, but nothing I'm madly in love with-- which is good, considering I'd never be able to find it!

Imp: Thin honey, cloying ylang-ylang, a little bit of very strong patchouli, dry clove, and a little green fig. It's nice but something in it is a little bit off. I think it might be the honey, it kind of seems... rotting? It might be the patchouli, it's very dark and deep. Wet: Whoa! Clove! Then a little honey, then dry patchouli, then deep fig. It's sort of... dusty now, but the rotting overtones are gone. Spicy, sweet, yet somehow dry. The ylang-ylang comes up last, sweet and sensual. This turns warm and round and spicy and a little sexy. There's a faint salt note in here, which is weird, because I usually only get that from myrrh.\ Dry: Sweet and spicy and still a little salty. This is very pretty but that dust note is kinda ruining it for me. We'll try again and see how she fares, but I'm certainly not thinking bottle.

DIC Bottle: Almond. Huge wet blast of almond with something spicy-- I'm thinking sandalwood or maybe nag champa-- in there too. Almost a wintergreen tone in the very last huff, and a damp winter floral, maybe snowdrop or a lily. But oh so much almond, lovely and sweet. Smells a lot like Cherry Coke at this stage, which is fine by me! Wet: Almond dies away, and something milder takes its place. An unidentifiable spice with definite minty overtones, and some cinnamon, and a little dark amber. There's something floral in the very back, I'm thinking maybe a drop of violet instead of the lilies. Despite all the food and spice, the throw on this is actually very much a clean scent. A spicy one, but clean. OH. That would be why. Rose. I swear there's rose in this. Not enough to kill it, just enough to make it a little fresher (what with that soap note) than it would normally be. Dry: There's something in here that's pleasantly nose-tingling, like spicy dust and wintergreen and rose and amber and almond. Sort of a lovechild of Othello and Bastet and Black Phoenix, if that were possible-- very nice, very nice indeed.

I got this for my Boy 'cause he's a mechanic. On him, it's all incredibly sweet pipe tobacco and motor oil and I HATE it, but I don't have the heart to tell him so because it's his favorite thing ever. Let's see what it's like on me. Bottle: HONEY, cloyingly sweet, and pipe tobacco. Maybe some vetiver. Something dusty, too, and a faint tinge of motor oil. I was really hoping more for cologne. Wet: On me, it's not as sweet at first, instead it's like cinnamon-flavored pipe tobacco with a whiff of honey, which is much more pleasant. There's a strong tinge of motor oil and something that smells a bit like... umm.... cat poop? And baby powder. Yep, that's definitely what I'm getting. Damn vetiver. Yeah, not going to make it to the drydown. This is sour and rancid and even more unpleasant on me than it is on the Boy. I got him The Phoenix for his birthday, hopefully he'll end up wearing that one more... This may be a bottle that mysteriously gets "lost."

Bottle: No one is going to effin' believe me if I say this smells like celery to me, are they? Celery. Biting and sharply green and bitter. There could be some raisins in there too. I honestly have no idea what is in here that's doing that, but it's all I can smell. Oh well, time for a celery adventure! Wet: Oh! There's the rest of it. At first this is insta-powder on me, then settles down and goes back to... something celery-ish. What the hell? There's sweetness under it, honey and musk and cardamom and sandalwood, but mostly it's dark and toothy and green. Except for when it's powder. It must be the combination of the cypress, myrrh and frakincense... It smells a lot like some department store perfumes to my nose. Medicinal would be a good word. No throw at all. Dry: A nice, ambery, spicy powder. Thanks but no thanks. Overall impression?

I can't believe I've never reviewed this, I've had it forever! Imp: This is almost entirely fir, mint, orange blossom and smoky cumin and tobacco at first. No hint of the balsam or the black musk (thank God.) It's surprisingly creamy and sweet, but still outdoorsy. Wet: All mint and orange blossom at first, then tobacco and spicy cumin and fir. The black musk is a faintly powdery note in the background, but doesn't go dirty animal on me, thank God. Incredibly woodsy, but still complex. Dry: The same, a smoky-sweet bitter wood smell, but it's vanishing fast. If this lasted longer and the musk weren't so powdery, I'd invest in a bottle. As it is, I'll enjoy my Imp.

Bottle: This smells, to me, almost exactly freshly crushed grass-- green and pale blue, herbal and pleasant and cool. I can smell sap and a little beautiful blue lavender. Kind of milky, kind of sharp, kind of herbal-spicy. Gorgeous. Wet: At first this vaguely sweet, still a little milky, but now fruitier-- the green mandarin, neroli and more of that incredible lavender. It's a little bit soapy, a touch manly, but cool and sweet and fresh, too. This would be great to wear to my summer job in a greenhouse! Dry: The florals in this are trying quite hard to turn soapy, but are being held in place quite well by the lavender and "wet green stems". Overall, this is cool and lush and beautiful, like a spring morning just before dawn. It's not at all an aquatic, but does give the impression of dew-kissed greenery. Perfectly unisex. Very soothing and whimsical-- like the music of Orpheus himself. This, I think, is a gem largely undiscovered by herb-lovers.

Swapped a while back for a bottle of the '06 version. In the bottle: A beautiful, tangled melange of sweet, musky notes: mostly apple peel, a very tame jasmine, a little bit of brown, ripe fruit, kind of like dates, and a breath of thyme, all over a bed of transparent musk. This is fresh and feminine while still being sensual. Wet: First I get more of the myrrh and the jasmine, leading to a lightly spiced floral. Then the apple peel comes through, then sandalwood and thyme and whatever that date-like smell is. This is very soft, a second-skin scent for sure. Dry: This turns into a lovely, fruit-tinged, nutty, spicy jasmine on me, reminiscent of the very best soap without actually being soapy. This is beautiful, but it's also not terribly me-- I think I might end up swapping for something a bit more my style.

Imp: A tart berry scent, a little ginger, a touch of spice, a bit of floral, and an assault of black musk. Oh, damn. I was really hoping this wouldn't be black musk, we don't get along very well. I'd swear there's cedar in here too, but maybe that's just the combo of black musk and berry. Wet: HOLY CRAP MUSK, screaming wild black musk, like dirty animals. Then either cedar or vetiver, then a faint touch of cranberry. There's a distinct odor of cat pee. Farther from my wrist this is cranberries and ginger and nice, if a bit candle-store, but up close, damn that musk. I didn't make it to the drydown. I washed it off with dish soap and slathered coconut mango lotion on instead, which is much to be preferred. The overall effect? Scented candles + cat pee. If black musk doesn't smell like poop and death on you, I bet this one is great.