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Mine is the 2008. Imp: Strong tobacco, I think, and golden resinous copal, and a lovely sweetness that reminds me of honey but must the agave nectar. I don't detect any florals at this stage. Mostly it's woody, resinous tobacco. Wet: Almost immediately a sweet candied rose takes the fore, blending beautifully with the dark dry wood and golden copal. The agave nectar is indeed very agave nectarish-- I have a bottle in my sweeteners cabinet that smells just like this! The tobacco dies, thank goodness, to a faint brown richness. The end result is a gorgeous, sweetly spiced incensey floral that doesn't run to soap or powder on me. Dry: This dries down to a beautiful transparent gold scent full of roses and honey, and it reminds me of nothing so much as a more exotic Katrina Van Tassel in its combo of sweet-honey and roses. But where Kat van T is very innocent and pretty and tempting, Mictecacihuatl is much more sophisticated and grown up. I really like this, and I didn't particularly expect to. Damn, them complex florals surprise me every time! I'm not sure it's bottle-worthy, more testing required before that decision, but I'll really enjoy my imp.

Lunar Eclipse for me tonight!

Woo, Steamworks! Imp: This oil is green! That's so cool. I smell a lot of sweet citrus notes, and a ton of metallic florals. There's definitely some ozone-y, cologne-y aquatics backing it and lots of very spicy musk. Wet: Very quickly thickens into a spiced-musk and tobacco scent, along with cool green aquatics and a few sweetly lingering florals. Unfortunately there's something in here with a citrus edge that smells like floor cleaner to me at first. But it fades fairly quickly, hurrah! Definitely strong and sharp on the top notes but that Indian musk is pure sex behind it all. This is tremendously 'steampunky' for sure! It's also really strong. Like, trying to give me a headache strong. Dry: Eventually this dies down to a heady, sexual musk with an overlay of oiled metallics, citrus-green balsam and light tobacco flower. It's downright intoxicating and I don't mean in a booze way. I would be hard-put to resist someone who smelled like this, but I'm not sure I could wear it. I like masculine scents but this may be too masculine even for me! It is, however, extremely unique and gorgeously sophisticated-sexy. Trying this one on my man for sure!

Somehow in, like, five or six years of BPAL it's taken me until now to try this! Imp: Hunh. Almost medicinal, plastic cherry-honey-vanilla cough-drop smell. I'm not a big fan of dragon's blood, and I don't love most vanillas or honeys, so I'm not sure what I was expecting here. It smells like little-girl perfume to me. Wet: Thick, floral vanilla with lots and lots of DB. It's a little spicier and lot less artificial now, and there's a fresh almost green honey underneath. Much more tolerable than in the vial although I still don't love it. The throw on this one is that weirdly slick sweet smell I sometimes get from DB and certain vanillas. Urgh. Dry: Eventually the honey comes up and takes over and it's much nicer, but there's still that artificial DB and vanilla backing it. I can see how if you didn't have issues with DB and vanilla this would be a great, gently-spiced, warm and sweet scent, but it's definitely not for me. Glad to have tried it anyway!

Spectral white musk and the heart-stopping chill of sheared mint, fanned by caramel-touched body heat, and the diabolical sensuality of black musk, nicotiana, and sage. I love everything in this one except the black musk-- oh, and caramel is iffy. So let's hope this works! Imp: Wow, that's... really... different that what I thought it would be! It's a soft caramel overlaid with white musk and the strong green touches of sage and mint. Totally unique, totally different from the usual note combos, and I really like it! It smells like sweet, sugared, clean sweat in a deep forest. Definitely sexual in a very unusual way. I'm getting a very soft floral that must be the nicotania, but no powdery stinky heavy black musk, thank heavens. If it stays like this I'm going to be in looooove. Wet: Sweet caramel, bright nicotania and sexy white musk! Mint is just underneath, backing it all without taking over. I can see why this is 'masculine,' it does have a very sophisticated and unusual cologne-ish vibe to it, but certainly not enough to make it unwearable for a woman. After a moment the sage comes up, rounding it out with herbal, earthy goodness. Oh damn. Oh damn. Is that a celery note I detect? Don't do this to me, Incubus. Dry: With my nose next to my wrist I can separate out that what I'm smelling is a gorgeous, complex caramel-musk and a many-layered mint. But from further away and at a casual sniff, all I get is celery. This one broke my heart!

I have a cold, so this is probably going to be all kinds of wonky on me, but I have to say, what is even the point of lying around all day if you can't test BPAL while you do it? So let's press on. Imp: Sweet musky lavender and lemon verbena with a hint of bitter-floral neroli. I'm sure there's bottom notes in there somewhere by my clogged sniffer can't pick them up! Wet: A sweet candy-herbal lemon verbena and orange peel (neroli), with touches of gentle florally lavender and that green piney rosemary I like so much, backed by churchy frankincense. This smells like a very nice, sweetened herbal tea in a roomful of incense. It's clean and soft and pleasant and floral/herbal/green/incense all at once! It reminds me of a more gender-neutral Santa Eularia des Riu. I didn't expect this to be so bright and cheerful. Dry: Sadly the frankincense does the thing where it goes salty on my skin and I end up with a still surprisingly nice salty incense with touches of warm citrus and herbs. While I don't think I'd wear this one as a skin smell this is basically exactly what I'm looking for in a room scent and I plan on putting a few drops in my oil diffuser tonight! Definite keeper.

I have zero idea what to expect from this. Let's roll! Imp: Sweet grape incense, herbs, and super-heady opium smoke. It's an interesting combination. There's musk in there too for sure, one of the darker ones-- black or red? It's kind of sweet and delicate and overpowering all at the same time. Wet: Dark heady smokey rose, which is running strongly to soap/powder on me, and opium smoke, and head-shoppy incense. And some grape kool-aid. It's a very odd combo on me, almost fizzy and sort of root-beer and tobacco-smoke like. LILIES! Lilies, that's what I'm smelling, that delicate girly note in there with all the rough players. Dry: Heavily sedated lilies , with a healthy touch of soapy herbal grapes and a touch of evergreen. I can see how if grape vine and rose worked on you this would be a gorgeous blend, and totally different from the more traditional Lab combos. If you're rose person, you've gotta try this! Wish it worked on me. Ah well.

I'm having a tremendously stressed out day, and am hoping Zephyr will be just what I need. Imp: A Dorian-ish combo of light white musk, sugary lemon and vanilla, but with the added girliness of sheer florals and a hint of dusty sandalwood. There's also kind of a green, herbal note in there from the lemon verbena, and a slightly bitter bergamot. Very nice-- smells laid-back and smooth and gorgeous without being generic or uninteresting. Wet: Super-Dorian sugared musk with lemon, but tempered by some cool aquatic notes: bergamot, herby verbena, China musk, sweetly dry sandalwood. This is just lovely, complex but calming, warm and cool at the same time. Unfortunately the bergamot is lending a slightly smoked note. Not enough to ruin it but it doesn't smell quite like it should. Or maybe-- look, I know I'm crazy, maybe it's the association with Hurricane because that's the only other scent with China musk listed-- but is there just the tiniest drop of vetiver in here? Or maybe it's a smokey tea? Dry: This turns into a light, citrus-laced, flowered musk with just a hint of something darker underneath. It's very nice but in the late drydown I would be hard pressed to distinguish it from Dorian. I may keep my imp and dump it in some shampoo or something, but there's really no serious reason to choose this over Dorian. If, however, Dorian was a little too masculine for your tastes, definitely try Zephyr.

Oooh, I've been wanting to try this one for a while. Imp: Hot damn yeah! Sweet sugary rum syrup, delicious coconut milk (definitely not the husky meaty coconut smell that Beth sometimes uses, which I also love, but this is sweet wet coconut) and the richest sweetest pipe tobacco ever. Gawd I want to drink it! Wet: Don't even look at this one if you don't like coconut! Rich creamy suntan-oil coconut with a slight waxy quality-- in fact, it smells like the vanilla from Tombstone is in here somewhere-- sugary tobacco and a blast of sweet boozy rum. I smell like a really good coconut cake! Dry: A slightly drier, coconut-tobacco-rum scent, in that order. It is just fabulous but it may be too foody for me to wear very often... But it would make a great room-scent, or lotion, or shampoo! I'll probably keep my imp.

Swapped for this because I am a hyoooooooooooge ginger/cinnamon/cassia fan. Heavens willing this will be everything I hoped and dreamed! Bottle: Mmm-hmm. Heavy, spicy, delicious deep ginger backed by cinnamon and the sweet spiced vanilla of Snake Oil. At this point it's very similar to Shub-Niggurath and Vixen. Smells good enough to eat without being too foody. Like sexy incense cookies! Wet: A drier, dustier cinnamon, probably the cassia, comes up quickly with ginger close behind. This bottle is definitely aged because I can smell that sexy slinky Snake Oil back there too. There's almost a chocolately note in the back, I think it's that deep vanilla + cinnamon + cassia making a sort of spiced hot-chocolate scent. This one is actually making my skin tingle a bit where I applied it, which is super-rare for me! Dry: Does what it says on the tin! This is Snake Oil with the spices of Shub or Vixen. There's something in here, however, that's lending it a note that reminds me of... soymilk? It's not a spoiler by any means, but I will have to deathmatch this, Vixen, and Shub and see which I like best, as there's really no call for all three.

A very nice swapper (you know who you are! ) frimped me this. So excited to try an RPG scent, even if leather almost never works on me. Imp: Wow. Whoa. Styrian Golding hops for sure, my dad brews with those! (He likes Belgian-style ales.) Beth, how do you do it? It's a beautiful smell that reminds me so much of home, green and bitter and astringent and herbal-earthy all at once, like unadulterated geranium but without the nausea geranium often gives me. There's a citrus-bright metallic under that, like polished brass, and another metallic under that, something gritty and dark. And stone! The real smell of wet stone, not must or mildew but wet stone like the halls Under the Mountain in The Hobbit. I am just in awe. Seriously, really, in awe. This is one of the most unique and evocative things I've ever smelled. I am keeping this imp, even if it turns to cat poo on my skin, just to pull it out and smell the wand every once in a while. Wet: This one was strong, so I applied with a light hand, and almost immediately I get a gorgeous laid-back spicy vetiver like dried grass, coupled with the lazy golden haze of the hops. The leather here is almost, almost, almost real leather on my skin, very evocative but still just a little wonky. The metallic notes have faded into the background but are still present; the stone and water is a breath of fresh darkness on the back end. The throw on this is a gently spiced cologne with strongly earthy elements and a lovely dark musk underneath. It's gorgeous, totally not what I expected and so much better than what I thought it would be! Dry: This dries down to a soft, musky, vetiver- and hops-tinged unisex scent full of warmed stone, cool water and just the barest hint of faint leather and iron filings. I seriously can't believe how good this is! It's a very unisex scent, bordering on masculine, but it's so soft and close and natural it doesn't feel odd to be wearing it. It's even downright sexy in some sort of understated way. I cannot wait to slather my boy in this, and to wear it myself. This very well may end up being a 5mL purchase. One of those totally unique scent experiences that only BPAL provides.

I have zero idea what to expect from this. Something like the background of dry wood and paper in Clemence? I hope so! I also really, really hope it's not leather. Bottle: A sweet, baby-powdery, high-pitched... something. Musk overlaid with florals, perhaps? It's a little smokey, a little spicy. There's something in it that smells like floor cleaner to me (only other scent I've gotten that from is Glasgow, so maybe there's heather?) I get no bookshop at all. I want to say there's just a hint of lavender in there too, catching at my throat, but it's very subtle. Not even a little bit what I was expecting! Wet: I.. what? Burning plastic? Burning plastic and incense overlaid with baby powder and dusty florals and definitely some lavender. I'm still not smelling anything even approaching old books. Somewhere way down there a really nice musk is trying to emerge, but it's being stomped on by the plastic and hand-wipe lavender. Now it almost smells like a super-sweet aquatic. I can sort of see the cologne-ish comparisons but only in a general way. No wood, no paper, just overly-sweet dusty floral-thick faint incense and a choking variety of plastics. From farther away I get the caramel comparison for sure but not in a good way. Ugh, I think this is giving me a headache. Dry: This calms down into a lavender-tinged incense full of sweet powdery musk, caramel and... just a hint of white pepper? Blonde wood? It's very soft, close, and more baby-powderish than most BPALs go. The dry-down isn't too bad, but it's not something I'd ever wear, and the wet stage sure as heck isn't worth it to get there. This one will be finding a new home for sure.

I don't usually love florals but when I do I REALLY love them. Let's see what side of the fence this one falls on! Imp: Cool, green-and-white florals, rather unremarkable but also very pretty. Night-blooming flowers for sure! Reminds me of sitting on my neighbor's porch and watching the bats flit around the open moon flowers he grew every year. It does however feel like it's sort of missing a base note, and needs something darker to deepen it. Maybe musk is lurking in there waiting to come out? Wet: Soapy white floral. There's a lovely, honey-green backing in there somewhere... perhaps the ivy? Otherwise it's all moonflower and oleander and other sweet white flowers. I wish the hemlock would come out more! Dry: A sweet, high-pitched white floral... but unfortunately it's giving me a headache and turns to soap on my skin. This one will find a new home.

Cream, clove, ginger, and honey. Assuming this is the cream and honey from, say, Katrina Van Tassel and not anything from the foodier side of the family, this should be a winner on me! I love ginger and clove in all their forms, and they love me. Also, the label art makes me . Bottle: Whoooa! Yeah, okay, I can see the buttered popcorn jelly bean comparison, but really mostly what I get out of this is a gingery, creamy-sweet baked good, like a tea bread, or maybe just strong ginger tea with milk and honey. Almost chai-like, but in a very sweet and desserty way-- chai from a coffee shop and not homemade for sure. Wet: Mmm, I do love that fresh green ginger smell. Sweet young ginger root, not the dry or mature stuff for sure. It's followed by a strong breath of smoky clove and then a cream-and-honey backing almost exactly like Katrina van Tassel without the rose! I can see how the combo of green ginger/milk/sweet honey might smell like spoiled milk to some but to me it just smells super-foody. I would like to nom my arm please. This is a bit foodier than I usually wear as a perfume but I know I like the scent. Now, would I wear it? ... Hmm, maybe the clove and ginger will become dominant when dry, that would push this over into territory. The throw on this one is quite strong on me! Dry: This becomes softer and closer when dry, but otherwise doesn't morph much. Sweet spicy clove, green biting ginger, and a soft honey-cream combo combine to make a very, very chai-like scent on my skin. This reminds me of a softer, foodier, less woody Clemence, and a less rosy Katrina van Tassel. I quite like it, but I'm not sure it's got enough depth or complexity that I would choose it over other scents. It could be quite nice for layering or as a calming bed-time perfume, however. It's staying with me for now, and it will have plenty of other chances to prove its worth. I will say, though, that this one is, on my skin at least, not scary at all! If you're a person who is looking for a chai scent or likes mildly spiced foody smells, track down a bottle at once.

Chocolate doesn't usually work on me and leather DEFINITELY doesn't, so let's give this a try! Cheers. Imp: Dry, sweet chocolate much like Bliss, with a huge following breath of unidentifiable incense and a rush of lovely, spicy florals. Oh my. If it stays like this on my skin it might actually be quite nice! Wet: Woody, patchouli-y chocolate, sheer white orchid-based florals with a touch of freesia, and underneath, the spicy rounded odd vanillic smell I get from the leather accord, although weirdly it sort of works here. Still doesn't read leather to my nose but it doesn't smell bad. The chocolatey, florally throw smells like a very nice soap scent to me-- not actually soapy but like a scent they'd use in a very expensive hotel soap. The whole thing is a little bit perfumey but in a good way. The patchouli here is the kind I like, probably black patchouli, deep and woody and dirty and herbal. Mmm, stanky hippy! Dry: Hunh. Well, I'm on the fence about this and really didn't expect to be! The dark chocolate and the deep patchouli and all those gorgeous florals are trying so hard to make this something I'd love and wear all the time, but that stupid round fakey leather is also there trying to sabotage them! I'm not sure it's bad enough to where I wouldn't wear it occasionally though..... I'll have to try it a few more time but this imp may be a keeper.

A generous forumite sent this to me in a swap. She must have been psychic! I've wanted to try this for ages. Imp: A piercingly sweet honey smell (that would be the spikenard) layered over green woody incense-notes. (Olive, hyssop, galangal.) No frankincense as yet. It's very strong but also very well-blended, gorgeous, and soothing. The sweet + woods + incense gives the whole thing a slightly nutty or grainy feel. Wet: Incredible sweet green honey and incense and I know now what that honey note in Anubis was-- spikenard! Tzadikim Nistarim is most definitely in the same family. It's almost milky in a plant way, like freshly snapped green stems, backed by beautiful frankincense. The overall effect is kind of like... bananas? Damn! Yes! Bananas! But... but... not quite bananas. Half bananas, half a perfect glowing scent combining the best of greenery and the best of incense. The throw is less bananas but up close, it's a pretty good imitation. I... just... don't even know! Dry: Sweet, incensey banana bread. I actually really like it but I'm not sure I can get past the banana bread association. If one ignores that, this is Anubis's wintertime brother, a softly spiced, incense-rich, heady honeyed blend full of floating green notes, with an added hint of blown-out candles and wax. It's tremendously lovely and, depending on the bananas, I may even spring for a bottle.

Someone gave me a partial imp of this absolutely ages ago and I never got around to reviewing it. But today is a sad, gloomy, first-properly-late-fall-or-early-winter day, so perhaps Sol will be a much-needed pick-me-up. I'm not sure which version I have, although if I had to guess I'd say probably the resurrected, since I received it around 2007. Imp: I don't get citrus from this at all! What I do get is a sweetly dry, resiny smell sort of like Midnight Mass but with the church taken out. It's very pleasant but it also has that thing that amber does where I can't smell it until it's on my skin-- it's like a pause or space in the scent. I know it'll be amber once it's on, but right now it just smells like slightly resinous air. Wet: Cedar! A big burst of dry lovely cedarwood and maybe some other woody incense-type notes, frankincense perhaps? Now I smell the citrus, but it's not juicy and bright at all, rather more like a dried bitter orange peel. (In a good way! ) Oh yes, definitely frankincense, it's going slightly salty now, but oddly it doesn't ruin the blend. The throw on this, though, is all soft sweet ambery resins. Dry: This turns into a lovely golden spiced blanket scent, soft and close but still noticeable. It's full of dry wood and thick incense and rich amber and it's very bright and sunlight-like while somehow not being either too masculine or too pretty. I really like it! It's certainly making me feel better today. Nonetheless, I've had this imp for a while and enjoyed it a lot, so it's probably time to pass it on to a new home and give someone else a chance to try such a relatively rare DC.

Mine is the '08. Things that rock: balsam, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, smoke, cypress. Things that don't rock: mandarin orange, myrrh. Things that might possibly given enough luck rock: dark musk, bitter clove. Let's do this. Bottle: Hunh. Smells kinda like that universal woods-and-black-musk blend that all foresty, heavy BPALs start out as. I get a spicy, heady middle note, maybe the bitter clove? Nutmeg is there too, dusty and nutty and sweet all at once. The rest is just a big blur of swift-moving smoke. Wet: Whoooooa nelly. Strong nutmeg at the fore, delicious! It brought backup, though, in the form of cypress and other heavy woods. I'm getting dry, splintery wood smell from this, not the rich forest I was hoping for, and something (rosewood? Perhaps the musk?) is running strongly to powder. The end result is weirdly evil nutmeg talcum powder. A Couple Episodes of Scrubs Later: Very faint, very pretty, very powdery orange and nutmeg with a backing of fresh green wood. Lovely but not something I'd ever wear due to all that powder! I'll keep this in the box for a few more weeks-- maybe it will settle more-- but unless something changes drastically this is going on to a new home.

Can't believe I've never reviewed this considering how long I've had it! Imp: Freesia and lily and plumeria and clean white florals combined with the barest prettiest lightest whitest musk! There's a hint of sheets-dried-in-the-sunshine too, although I have to say the linen note is a lot less strong than in, say, White Rabbit or some of the other "fabric" blends. Even though it's not really my normal sort of scent it's hard not to like Dirty. It's just so cheerful and friendly! Wet: On me at first it's tart sweet florals, almost like a berry smell without the 'red' or 'black' fruit scent, if that makes sense. Orchids on top for sure, in all their wonderful translucent glory. And maybe somewhere in the back just the tiniest touch of ozone? Maybe some white tea in the background. It's astringent and yet still pretty at the same time. It kinda smells like drying out by the pool in your bathing suit on a hot summery day-- pool water and sunshine, flowers and breezes and a little bit of soap from your towel. And that is absolutely a compliment. Dry: Dirty stays pretty true throughout on me, a lovely breezy cottony florally... goodness. This truly is a perfect scent for when you're having a bad day or you don't feel like wearing perfume or when you just want to smell carefree. Snuggly and warm and comforting while simultaneously being fresh. I it!

Bourbon blackberry buttercream over red velvet cake. I received a tiny tester of this in a swap some time ago, and never tried it! Foody scents rarely work on me unless they're tempered by a lot of spice (like in Eat Me and Thirteen Feb. 2009), but I'll give it a whirl. Imp: Cake-y! How does Beth do that? It's not just the scent of cake, but almost the feel as well-- spongy and crumbly and covered in perfect velvety frosting. The berries and just a tiny bite of beautiful gold bourbon are underneath it. I want sweets now! Wet: Cake and a hint of chocolate, along with sweet cream cheese and berry. Amazingly, this doesn't go playdough on me like many foody scents do, although I do wish I could smell a bit more of that delicious booze. You see, this is why I don't wear food-smells-- now I am insanely, ridiculously, ravenously hungry for cake. I am now, officially, a Cake Zombie. Dry: Totally the same. Blackberry cream cheese frosting and moist delicious cake. I'm so pleased this worked on me-- gives me hope for foody scents everywhere!-- but I'm not compelled to seek out more, thank goodness. One CAKE ATTACK! is enough.

Have no idea what to expect from this. Let's find out! Imp: A surprisingly green poppy and a surprisingly powdery honey. There's a sharp fruity smell that I assume is the acai. Wet: Whooo! Strong fruity tangy honey powder, then huge lush poppy blooms over it. Big throw on this baby too. There's a certain green smell that reminds me of spring mix greens, or fresh-mown grass, too, which is actually kind of nice. It's a little bitter, a little tangy, a little sweet. Dry: This has turned into a unified scent full of honey-sweetness and fresh green grass. I'm going to guess the acai berry is the tangy note, although it doesn't smell fruity at all, and the poppy is a sort of translucent floral on top of it all. I don't feel very strongly one way or another about this one-- it's just sort of inoffensive. It's also almost certainly off to a new home.

Received this ages ago, never tried it! Imp: Sweet Ceylon cinnamon, a smell I've learned to recognize thanks to my obsession with single-source spices, and licorice root and anise and something else, green and herbal and hard to place, maybe even wormwood? I think I'm recognizing a common note with Dian's Bud. Minty but not, y'know, actually super-minty. Much less sweet and much more complex than I was expecting. Wet: Mmm, Ceylon cinnamon smells just like Big Red gum-- dustier and fruitier and less woody than other cinnamons. I love it! Definitely some licorice in the background but no wormwood now. Just sugary, sugary cinnamon-licorice with a sweet anise throw. Yum! Dry: Sweet cinnamon and licorice, but not overwhelmingly candy-ish. This actually reminds me of Three Witches a bit in its foody-but-not-unwearable approach to a theme. This baby is staying with me for sure!

Profoundly passionate and singularly sinister: opoponax, black plum, night-blooming jasmine, benzoin, red musk, violet leaf, orange blossom, mimosa, mandarin, smoky vanilla, tobacco, patchouli, and black amber. Received an imp of this forever ago and never tried it! Shame on me. Imp: Hugely intense blast of florals! Jasmine, orange blossom, sweet mimosa, violet leaf I suppose, but all of it backed by a strong round sweetness created by vanilla, amber, musk. Plum and tobacco and patchouli lurk, purple-brown in the background. Deep, sophisticated and sexy. Wet: I... I... WOW. Root beer? But sexy root beer! Very strong, golden, wonderful benzoin and oppoponax, vanilla and tobacco, patchouli and deep dark amber and hints of plum. The florals are there somewhere, pushing it back into a feminine scent, but this is not what I expected at all. No resemblance to Mme. Moriarty or Snake Oil or anything in that family. In fact, to me, this smells closer to Laudanum! Which is fantastic. It's really hard to isolate anything, this is definitely one very well blended scent, complex and layered like a commercial perfume without actually smelling anything at all like one. Dry: I know what this smells like now! More than anything, the sweetly resinous, dark feel of this reminds me of Lunar Eclipse, softened by the jasmine and other florals. This has turned into a lovely melange of tobacco, vanilla, resin and floral. I may keep it for special occasions, or frimp it out to someone else as a lovely surprise!

The good: Red patchouli, tuberose, cognac. The bad: Geranium, myrrh. Surprise contenders, could swing either way: Honey, body musk. Let's see who wins! Imp: Thick honey, powdery sharp myrrh, unnamed florals and, thank God, skin musk rather than black musk. I don't think this is going to work on me but at least it won't smell downright disturbing like black musk often does in too large a quantity (Fire of Love, I'm looking at you!) Geranium oils sometimes make me feel a little nauseated and this is doing that a bit. Wet: Immediately a blast of peanutty (wtf?) myrrh quickly followed by the much more pleasant red patchouli that I love so much. The throw is translucent skin musk tinged with honey, but up close this is a florally patchouli with a hint of incense and boozy cognac. Not bad, but the throw is huge and it's still upsetting my tummy a little. Dry: Mostly musk and that wonderful red patchouli now, slightly sweetened with honey and backed by just the barest touch of boozy floral. This is absolutely the last, last, last thing I expected, but this smells kind of like Buck Moon on me! I am astonished and pleased, but I really prefer Buck Moon and since I have an imp of that I don't think the nauseating wet stage is worth it to get there. Still, if you're looking for a sexy, gorgeous skin musk and heated-bedroom scent, this is a good one for you.

This probably won't work on me, sadly, since most rose blends don't, and grapes tend to be baby aspirin on my skin. And I'm very unhappy about it because the notes sound incredible! Ah, well, let's test anyway. Imp: Sharp, zingy citrus, mint, herbal rosemary and candy-sweet grape. Not getting a whole lot of rose, actually-- just a sort of powdery background that registers as generic floral overlaid with the other notes. Wet: The grapes immediately go Sweet Tarts on me, the roses soap, but the mint, lemon peel, rosemary and orange flower combine to attempt an uprising of deliciousness. I'm not sure if the 'spirit' part is meant to be alcoholic but this does almost have a boozy note on it, like very sweet grape liqueur. Dry: Sweet, powdery, herbally soap, with a fresh splash of citrus. Lovely but sadly not working on me.