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Hmm, scored an Imp of this over on the alchemylab LJ. I'm unsure how I feel about violets, and not many people seem to be all that keen on this, but... here goes. In the vial: You know, when I was first reading the reviews I had no idea what people meant by "powdery". I get it now. This is all powdery, slightly sweet violets. It smells very soapy/clean and, yeah, pretty cold. So far not an "I love it!", but not an "Eeeew, get it away!" either. Wet: Stays true from Imp to wrists. Powdery, clean, soapy violets. Pleasant but odd. Actually, make that extremely soapy. If I put my nose right up to my wrist, it's got a very traditionalist, perfume-y smell to it I'm not entirely sure I'm keen on, but if I sniff from a few inches away, it's a barely-there, violet-and-citrus scent. Not great, but very tolerable and even pretty nice. Dry: Not an instant love-at-first-sniff, but pleasant and wearable, and would go great with the florals of my Dove deodorant (I <3 that scent, whatever they put in there.) I think I will keep this one around and use it before martial arts classes, so I can smell clean and fresh even while sweaty. I don't normally do that-- don't like to impose my scent on other people when we're grappling, since we're always so close to each other-- but Numb is quite inoffensive and doesn't scream "perfume!" More like, "clean laundry"!

It's not a TAL or a voodoo blend, but Dorian makes me feel loved. [edit] Oh, and, by the way..... I hope you feel much, much better soon, and find some light in your life, lovely!

I got this from the lovely Voleuse. I saw the description and just had to hunt down an Imp for the boy-- he's Irish and I looooove me some white musk and herbs. But I had to test it, didn't I? Shh! In the vial: Holy... it's Dorian without the vanilla, sugar or tea! Oh my. This is... just wow. If I hunt there are some fresh green notes waaay in the back, but mostly it's that clean, sweet, incredibly sexy musk. If it stays like this I may have a hard time handing it over. Wet: Very light, very sweet, very.... yum. A little more herbal and a teensy hint of floral, but mostly just that godly musk. My nose is buried in the crook of my elbow and it's damn well going to stay there. Airy and clean and a little sweet, but still a teensy bit masculine.... and absolutely perfect. Gods, if it smells on him like it does on me, I'm not going to be able to keep my hands off him. It doesn't strike me as at all perfumey; just exudes an aura of serenity and wilderness. If I hadn't just swiped a wand across my wrists, and I thought I could get away with it, I'd swear up and down this was my natural smell. Dry: Like the sound of running water in a wood, or the note of a chime dropping into silence. Simple, deep, perfect for the concept... almost musical, in a way. This is beyond gorgeous: the woodsy, boyish counterpart to Dorian. I doubt the musk will go quite as sweet on the man this is intended for, but even if it doesn't... this is a masterpiece. Oisin for him, Dorian for me, and I'm in white musk heaven. [edit] I had to edit this one when I saw undergroundwoman's review. She's absolutely right. It's an Imp-full of HOT IRISH MAN, and if my HOT IRISH MAN is very, very lucky, he might even be able to pry it out of my cold dead hands.

Embalming Fluid is my "chill out" scent if I'm stressed; Jolly Roger is what I use if I need to recover my sense of humour; and Block Buster helps me deal with obstacles, in addition to just smelling lovely.

Got this in a swap with the lovely Meredith P. In the vial: Whoa, this is potent stuff, I can tell just by looking at it. I've never come across an oil quite this shade of dark brown before. It smells like incredibly spicy woodsmoke-- very familiar, but with an underlying harshness. Is there myrrh in here? Wet: Cedary and smoky and take-your-head-off strong. I only applied a teeny drop, and I can taste it. It smells.... industrial, almost, and not entirely pleasant, but certainly powerful. A fairly simple smell, but acrid and quite bleak. Dry: This doesn't morph on me at all, but the throw does creep down until it's a close, skin-scent, but still very pungent. I wouldn't wear it if I wanted to smell good, but I would wear it if I were going downtown at night. This just screams power and control. Not a wear-everyday, but I'll keep the Imp for when I really need it. For some reason this feels almost medicinal to me, and I couldn't work out why, until I realized that it smells very similar to the Tiger Balm I use on all my MA-related injuries.

Have yet to be pounced by The Boy (don't see him often enough... ), but I will say that O makes me want to jump myself. Seriously. If I weren't me, I'd be all over me. (Erm, not to sound arrogant. )

Got this in a swap with the fabulous blood*rose*flowers. In the vial: Holy cherries, Batman! Cherries, and bright, jangly cherries at that, but there's an underlying depth that makes this smell like real cherries rather than cough-syrup. Odd as it sounds, this smells like the texture of real cherries to me-- sort of firm. There's something underneath it, too, something dark.... vetiver, maybe? It doesn't smell like one of the "woods", so hmm. I'm not sure where the currant is. In there with the cherries, I assume. It's a thumbs-up so far. Wet: Wow! It turned into wood and velvet and fruity sweetness. Dry: .... This is so complex and regal and hard to describe. It's dry and sweet and smoky and smells like sleek, polished wood and royalty, and as weird as it sounds, chess. This makes me feel witty and sharp, and positively craving a challenging strategy game. The throw isn't great and it seems to be fading a bit already, but I love this. 15 min. mark: Noooo! Red Queen, where are you going? I know I only put on a teensy dab but come baaack! I'll try slathering with the Imp, and if it stays around longer, it'll go on the 5mL list.

I was lucky enough to be able to snag an Imp of Torture King not long after CN closed.... a fresh decant of something with lots of notes I love, yay. My only concern was the vetiver, since sometimes it tends to eat everything else in a blend. But then again, sometimes it doesn't. *crosses fingers* In the vial: Nice bright yellow colour... oh. Um. Well. The first sniff is very bizarre: one hundred percent icky baby powder. Wha? The combination of the frankincense and the grasses, I think. Like Snake Oil without the sweetness. Well, here's hoping. Wet: Oh, that's better. A strong burst of citrus and then spicy-sweet goodness. I can definitely smell the clove. This seems to be blending in with my natural smell really well, and it keeps changing. Now I can smell campfire smoke. I'm not sure I'm picking up any "deep musk" or ambergris, although that could just be because I'm not familiar with either of them. It does smell quite outdoorsy. Only the faintest, teeniest hint of leather, though, dammit. Ten minutes later: What? Argh! No! Come back! I'm having to shove my nose right up against my wrist to get anything. Fifteen minutes later: The Torture King has run off to play with his whips somewhere else, leaving behind only a touch of mandarin and smoky clove. Dry: *wails* Why doesn't this last on me? Whhhhyy? Oh well. It's pretty damn sexy, but a little masculine even for me (and Jolly Roger is my everyday blend.) I'm starting to learn that I favour the simpler ones, too. The verdict: I'm shamelessly enabling The Boy for his birthday, and I'm thinking this may be an extension of that. Next time he's around, I'll slather him in it, and if it sticks around on him longer than it does on me, I'm not responsible for what happens. If he likes it as much as I do, then it's his-- if not, swaps! [edit] Okay, now I'm really confused. Several hours later, TK has come back out of hiding and he's lovely, like a very masculine version of Voodoo. Nonetheless, I think I'll be enjoying this one vicariously: I just can't resist the thought of dousing said male in it.

This was a frimp from a swap with from the fabulous BrittanyGrace. This has been on my wishlist for some time, as I simply adore every note in here. First thoughts: Eep. I've been developing a trend with BPAL; the oils I really love-- the ones that hit me over the head and scream, "You need more of me!"-- tend to be shades of yellow or clear in colour. This is quite a dark orange, bordering on red. Oh well, we'll see. In the vial: Oh. Um. Yikes. Something just leapt out of the bottle and punched me in the nose, and I don't like it. It's kind of a dry, woody, but unpleasantly sweet smell... lightly spicy, but twig-spicy, not cooking-spicy, and it just doesn't feel right. The ginger, maybe? But I love white ginger in Lady of Shallot. Ah well. Onward and upward. Wet: I went light on this one, just a single wand swipe on my left wrist and rubbing my arms together. If I don't like it, I want to be able to get it off... but wait! It smells completely different on, like apricots and jasmine and just a hint of ginger. I'm not getting vanilla at all, though, which is a pity. I should love this, and I sort of do, but there's still something way down at the base of it that feels... wrong... to me. Almost kind of threatening, really. I suppose it's appropriate, considering the name. Dry: I don't understand. This is a beautiful blend, spicy and a little foody and a little woodsy, my nose and I both know it, and I like it, I honestly do, but I can't shake the feeling something is seriously malicious about it. Every time I put my face near my wrist, it's... just... not... good. "Spiked with malice" indeed. Something about this combination of notes makes me think of wicked things grubbing for roots in the forest. It makes me uncomfortable and slightly creeped out in the same way certain Eastern myths bother me. The bottom line: Gorgeous, but definitely not for me. I feel like I'm being watched, which is completely bizarre and untrue. Oh well. Back to Dorian, and Siren will go the way of the other blend that disturbed me (Zombi): swaps. [edit] Now I'm halfway convinced that I had the prototype version-- my Imp was pretty OMG!GINGER!11 on me, with only the very faintest trace of apricot or jasmine, and no vanilla at all (and I usually amp that note, too.) I may try this again with a fresh Imp; I did want to love it.

Embalming Fluid is a light, spring green sort of smell on me, very clean and pleasant and totally inoffensive.

So I was reading the descriptions of Dublin (which I just bought a 5mL of, unsniffed... *crosses fingers* I'm a bad girl, but I couldn't resist), and I couldn't help thinking it sounded very... Middle-Earth. That in combination with a thread of comments over at the BPAL LJ comm got me thinking... do any catalogue blends remind you of Tolkien? And if so, could you recommend them to me? I'm a mad Tolkien fangirl, and have been for ages... For me, for instance, Brimstone was very Mordor, and Yerevan made me think of Yavanna ("the Giver of Fruits"). White Rabbit struck me as a Hobbit scent, and so on... (I know most of you are probably most familiar with LOTR, which is great, but if anyone wants to give me recommendations based on the rest of canon, be it the Silmarillion-- wouldn't the Valar be awesome?-- or even HoME, that'd be fantastic.)

Aha! I wonder why that didn't come up on search... or maybe it did and I just missed it. I'm good like that sometimes. Anyway, thanks!

That is genius, awesome, and incredibly cute.

In the vial, this is a smoky orangeish colour, and seems to have some kind of sediment on the bottom. Interesting. Oh, and it smells like... grape baby aspirin. Yikes. On, it's... grape baby aspirin, booze, and just a hint of smoke. Yep. That's it. When it dries, it's (barely) grape baby aspirin, and then something unpleasantly powdery... the mimosa? Then it's gone. Swapped this faster than an eel in a snakepit. Just doesn't work with my chemistry.

I had to lay out of a martial arts class tonight for stupid girly reasons, and I have an almost pathological hatred of missing classes... so this was my consolation prize. I ordered this based solely on a couple notes that I really love: lime, vanilla, almond and clove in particular... since then I've learned I really like myrrh (or at least I do in Blood), and patchouli and pine are good stuff too. Unfortunately I've also learned that vetiver eats me alive, or so Highwayman would seem to say. Nonetheless I have high hopes for this one. In the vial: The first thing I love about it is the color: it's orange! How cool is that? Sort of a rosey-brown burnt-orange, not bright orange, but still. That's neat. Or maybe I'm just easily entertained. Yes, that seems more likely. But... Uh-oh. I opened the Imp and: mostly vetiver, with some serious patchouli backing. I think I can pick out the pine, and there's an incensey undertone that must be the myrrh. There's some sweet foodstuffs lurking under there, but I can only find them if I really concentrate. Wet: Vetiver and pine at first, then quickly morphing into something like sugary incense. The backing spice-resin notes remind me a lot of Snake Oil.... oooh, it's turning into smoky, vanilla-cream with just a hint of lime and clove. This is great. Very autumnal. *revels* It's so elaborate, I can't stop sniffing. Judging throw is hard since I seem to have gotten the scent "stuck" in my nose, but I think it's pretty good. It smells a lot like the only Voodoo shop in town. Very esoteric. Dry: The notes have balanced out, and are taking turns making graceful little pirouettes at the front of the stage before bowing and going back to the chorus line. If anything, it's even more fall-ish now, like bonfires and trees and baking and... my goodness. I think I'm mildly besotted. This is Snake Oil's older, more complex, sister... where SO is a priestess, Voodoo is a witch. Respectable lasting time; this one will go all day but be just-barely there by the end. This is such a complicated blend; I'm going to have to spend some more quality time with it before I decide whether it goes on the 5mL list or not. The Imp will doubtless become a favourite, however, especially for fall.

Oh no. Nonononono. When will I learn that blends with long, complex lists of ingredients do not work on me? I had such high hopes, too.... Generic, spicy men's aftershave, and nothing else.... I'm not too keen on that scent, either. I actually ended up washing it off and replacing it with Embalming Fluid (*sigh*), because I was about to go to a family dinner and I didn't want to sit next to my grandmother smelling as though a guy with bad taste in the cologne department had just rubbed himself all over me. I'll see if my father wants this one, and if not... off to swaps it goes. Well, thus continues my quest for the perfect librarian perfume. Back to the drawing board. [edit] Because I am crazy, I swapped for this again, curious as to how my more sophistcated nose would deal with it this time around. Here goes nothing. In the Imp: Lavender. Mmmmm, lavender. Maybe some tingly bergamot, a tiny hint of lemon, and spice, too.... but mostly sharp, almost minty lavender. I like it so far. I just hope the other notes come out to play. Wet: Whoa, this is way more subtle than I remembered. I'm getting a very soft, gentle lavender, but it's almost not there. Hrrrm, I don't think I put enough on. *slathers* This is still really soft... it must be my skin chemistry at the moment, coming off of my monthlies, it seems like everything's fairly faint at the moment... but what I can smell of this, I really like! It's got a very masculine, men's-bar-of-soap sort of smell about it, but an expensive posh kind, not annoying cheap dime-store cologne. It's still mostly lavender, but with hints of anise, bergamot and a sweet tonka. I'm sure the amber is in there, grounding things, but I can't smell it specifically. No leather, alas, but this is quite pretty without it. I do wish this had more lemon and patchouli, though. As quiet as this is, it's still got quite a bit of throw, too. Dry: I don't know what I was on last time I tried this, but I must have been crazy. The smell wafting up from my wrists is warm, sweet, complex, clean, manly and very, very sexy. Up close, it's all tonka and warm amber. In the middle distance, the top and bottom notes mingle: sweet lavender, bergamot, maybe a slight hint of anise... this is so well-blended it's very hard to pick out individual notes. It's the sort of blend Giles would wear. Which is awesome, 'cause I loves me some Giles. Verdict: I'm going to try to collect Imps of all the masculine BPALS before I make a decision, but so far, this is brilliant! I will probably hang on to the Imp and slather both the Boy and myself in it. The only downside is my mum doesn't like this one.... at all. So I won't be able to wear it around her... but that's all right. Casanova isn't for every mood and every occasion, anyway, but I'll look forward to using it when the time seems right.

I'd heard the stories about Dorian, but nothing could have prepared me for this. *cue the Monkee's "I'm a Believer"* This scent is everything I want in a man, in a bottle. Wit (lemon), generousity (vanilla), sex appeal (musk), intelligence (tea) and grace (that honey note I keep thinking is back there somewhere.) I have fallen, and I have fallen hard. It starts off all lemon-drops and mellows down to mostly sweet, mouth-watering vanilla with an anchoring background of musk and tea and just a smidge of lemony goodness. This is white cake and tea with milk, in a breezy room, on a cool fall day, and all the windows open; this is a guy you can trust and still find sexy; this is laughing in the morning sunshine; this is, weird as it sounds, love in an incredibly delicious oil form. And I bet it layers beautifully. Sinfully sweet and surprisingly complex and wonderfully comforting and still so very hot. This hits every perfume button I've got. I need more of this. Need, I say! I'm ordering a 5mL tomorrow. [edit] Wow, seven hours (and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class involving a whole lot of sweat) later, and it's still there. It went through a brief, extremely pleasant musky-green-citrus phase, and is now back to mostly vanilla... although it's even more rounded with the other notes than before. One of those not-overwhelming but some serious staying-power ones. Could this get any better? I think not.

The lovely Lab included this as a freebie in my last order, because they rule. The first thing thought that struck me upon opening the little vial was: "Weirdly thick, incensey... baby powder? Oh noes!" I didn't like this in the Imp at all, but O has some of the same powdery feel (I swear Snake Oil has amber in it too), and I adore that, so I decided to give this a shot. Swiping it on was... interesting. It's really viscous and sticky and thick, and strongly coloured. Definitely a bold one. Wet, it was mostly baby powder. Blech. But the vanilla came out as it dried, and it turned into a spicy-green smell strongly fronted by the heavy, not-very-sweet vanilla. This stuff takes forever to dry; I'd go to rub my wrists together and they'd stick to each other! Good throw, though. I had my wrists down near the keyboard and was leaning back in my chair, so my nose was several feet away, and I could still smell it quite strongly. Not quite as subliminally omnipresent as O, though (I know, I know, I just can't help comparing the two), and doesn't make me feel as sexy either. An hour later: Starting to fade already? What? Hour and a half mark: ...I'll be damned if there isn't something just a teensy bit fruity in there now. I have to stick my snout right into my arm to pick it up, but... what is that? *eyes her Imp suspiciously* Are you insane, or am I? Two hours: Wait, wait... you crazy girl, Snake Oil, you're not as gone as I thought! Same baby-powder-vanilla-green-spice smell, but it seems to have experienced a revival. Three hours: Hey, still there! Unfortunately I'm about to have to take a shower, but I have to admit, she did better than I expected. Still no match for my lovely O, and I'll probably turn to Dorian when I'm in a tamer-vanilla mood, but the Imp is definitely a keeper. Good, but doesn't smack me over the head screaming, "I am the best!" like some others do. [edit] I didn't take that shower after all... just hit the six hour mark and she's still going strong. This one keeps growing on me... still not a big-bottle, but I'm starting to really dig it. [edit the second] Six months later, and I am on the Snake Oil bandwagon. The spices have smoothed, the vanilla has come out to play, and this stuff is SEX-AY. Not my #1, but definite 5mL material.... unusual and delicious.

Oh my. Or, rather, ohhhh my. The generous Lab frimped me with this in my last order... I'd wanted to try it, but I wasn't sure it was going to be for me. Sounded a little heavy, and so on... So yesterday I uncapped my Imp and took a giant inhale, with my mouth and nose open (you can smell better that way). And I actually... really, I'm not entirely sure what the noise I made was, something between a moan and a whimper. Wow. This stuff really is sex-in-a-bottle, and it smells great too. The three notes balance perfectly on me: a slightly dusty, powdery amber, the sweet honey, and the grounding vanilla. There's some spiciness in there too; not sure what that is. Incredible staying power: I put a test swipe on and then went and worked outside, and it was still going strong after five hours of serious sweat. Incredible throw, too; every time the breeze brushed by, I'd get a fabulous wave of O. It's... it's reminiscent of skin and sex smells, kind of, only better, oh so much better. This stuff is unbelievable. I haven't tried Snake Oil yet, but one of the two is going to be my sexy big-bottle purchase!

In the vial this is strong roses and stale coffee. Bleeeech. But far be it from me not to test something from the Lab at least once, so.... On my skin and wet, this was bitter rose. I think it's the coffee that gives it that sharp edge, but it doesn't smell like coffee-and-roses, just... bitter rose. As it dries it calms down a bit, and turns into roses and jasmine, which I like. There's a faint hint of coffee in the background, too, grounding and very subtle: I can't even tell it's there unless I close my eyes and really search for it. And that's it. A sweet, wistful, feminine floral with just a dab of coffee, until it's gone. I'm sure the vanilla, tonka bean and mahogany were in there somewhere, but my nose isn't well-trained enough to detect them. This kind of scent isn't usually my cup of tea, but I like this... not a 5mL, but a definite keeper. I'll wear it went I want to feel formal and womanly.

In the vial, Wanda smells sweet and boozy to me. On the skin, it's more floral and very, very heavy... I think I might be getting a hint of leather but it mostly smells like candied rose petals. There's something round and plasticky underneath, too-- maybe the violets-- but overall it's pretty eh. I wanted a stronger, more seductive smell out of this. Oh well. It's nice, I'll use the Imp, but it's not going to become my signature scent like I'd hoped.

I got this off of eBay long after it had been discontinued as a present for my mum, who loves bats. And then... well... I had to sample it, didn't I? (Shhh!) In the bottle: ooooh, very intriguing. Mostly what I could smell was lemon balm, I think, very citrusy, but there was some definite floral and a dry sort of smoky herb smell (the thyme and sage, I think). On me, it was all citrus, all the time, until the drydown, when it turned into a surprisingly sweet mostly-floral. Then it vanished. Or so I thought. Then, about an hour later, I was doing my chemistry homework and started sniffing. Something smelled absolutely divine-- light and breezy and fresh and just gorgeous. It was me! That happened all day... I'd think it was gone, and then get this gorgeous waft of perfectly balanced grey-green herbs, bright, sweet florals and clean lemon balm. Lovely.... and my mummy thought so too!

This was a swap with the lovely BrittanyGrace... In the bottle, this smelled like cleaning fluid to me. Yummy cleaning fluid, but cleaning fluid nonetheless. Fortunately, once it goes on, it's delicious. There's a very pleasant, crisp note-- the linen, I think-- and lots of creamy tea. Nose-tickling spice and a teensy bit of citrus, I think... I'm having a lot of trouble picking out individual notes tonight, but I really like it.

I was completely prepared to hate this one-- it was a frimp from the generous Lab-- since my previous experiences with dragon's blood have been less than ideal. But Blood surprised me quite nicely... In the vial this is all cherries and tickly incense to me, very heavy and slow-moving. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but this ain't it. Once applied, the cherries died down to a pleasant, background sort of sweetness, and the spicy incense smell-- must be the myrrh and the clove-- come to the front. I know the dragon's blood is there, but it's so well-blended I can't pick it out properly. This fits the description and the title perfectly. There's even a teensy hint of the metallic sort of feel you get with real blood. I put this on last night and fell asleep with my wrist by my face, just breathing in the fantastic, languid smell... it's still there this morning, albeit in much reduced form. Gorgeous, delicious, brilliant!

In the bottle, this is strong, slinky lime... not a problem, since I adore limes. Once applied, however, the florals come out to play. This, weirdly, goes almost sugary on me: like lime cake rather than lime peels, and just a teensy bit soapy. It's lovely nonetheless. The musk is a background player almost the entire time, providing some stability and sex appeal. Unfortunately this doesn't last on me. The citrus and florals are yummy for about fifteen minutes, and then they fade completely, leaving just a hint of sweet musk... nice, but no throw. I'll enjoy the Imp but it's nothing that merits a big bottle purchase.