themerrybaker

At first I found it similar to (but better than) Black Opal. I went to the description to see if there was a description of “geological notes” and much to my surprise – this is a floral. It is an extremely well blended warm scent and could be a wear-every-day thing. A happy surprise indeed. Since writing this review, I've hoarded enough imps to graduate them to a shortie bottle. Midnight is wonderful.

The cosmos must think I’m anemic or something, because it keeps sending me imps of Blood. Initially grape juice. On dry down it becomes more complex (resin notes) but still remains fairly sweet. A good and interesting scent for Dragon’s Blood lovers, but a little too sweet for me.

A lot of people think lotus smells like bubblegum: Black Lotus, Blood Lotus, Kathmandu, Paris come to mind. The Lab (as opposed to Forum)search engine works pretty well for this -as well as for cocoa, violet, mint. A number of other people describe a scent as "sweet tart" or "red hots", this would involve using an advanced Forum search in reviews. Other notes I find "candy-ish" are cherry blossom (Kyoto), strawberry (Hollywood Babylon). Hope this helps.

You can tell a perfume is going to hate you when it flies out of the imp and smacks you in the eye. Briefly, there was the dreaded Play-Doh smell. It passes, but a very sweet light fruity scent stays around. On drydown, some smoky sandalwood comes out. I am surprised to find that I actually like the drydown phase a lot. Kyoto doesn’t really hate me, it just has a funny way of saying “Hi”.

I think this must be meant as an intentional scent, but I have no idea how to use it. As a perfume, it did not really evoke an image of a sunset for me unless as a parody of Sunshine Superman: the Evening Sun is Setting like a Big Purple Grape. Not destined to be a favorite.

A nice amber with an short-lived citrus-thing going on. As it dries, it becomes a warm, deep, complex, perfume. At the end of the day, it becomes sweeter and a little powdery with a bit of citrus coming out again (probably the amber). Sometimes you want to smell like a perfume as opposed to a chocolate cake, and this is a great scent for those days.

This one-smart-alecto. Has wood undertone, not too sweet, the vetiver plays nice, and the cedar does not noticeably exude piney karma. This is not a fresh, leafy green – more of a sunny leathery leaf type of scent. After reading the Lab description, started to hallucinate martini-olive. Martini-olive with wood toothpick? Another imp I'm glad I sniffed in my desire to review my way out of the "Stinker" category. It's much nicer than you'd think.

Soft floral with wood undertone on me. The wood becomes more pronounced as it dries - this must be the sage. Surprisingly, I get a lot of thyme, a little lavender, and no lemon. I like this one a lot.

At first, Generic BPAL Floral (see lilac comment above) dries down to sweet Jolly-Rancher type candy with a floral undertone. A nice scent, but not me.

I have been enjoying this one on a cold, rainy, spring day. The tartness of the pomegranate is going well with the budding leaves and yellow daffodils. It's sort of like the remains of winter, with fruit to come. I'm not as fond of this one as I am of PP4 & PP5, but this is a wearable scent and refreshing in cool weather. ADDED June 25: I'm late to reviewing this, but PP3 is also a fine summertime scent. The dry woods, tart pomegranate, and watery pumpkin aromate along in sticky weather and give the overall effect of a spice caravan.

A little Pez-candy deal going on at first. But out comes the nice pollen and spice with the musk refrains from spraying the baseboards and inflicting other mayhem. This will probably be a replacement for Danube when that bottle is gone. Good warm weather scent.

Yum. Would have guessed incense, but nope. This delicious mellow smell is leather! A definitely none-of-that-generic-aftershave wonderful leather. Not every note shows up on everybody but I definitely got the (low) pleasure and skipped that heightening pain. Maybe it’s conjuring the scent of happy leashes, but I’m wanting to emulate the bacon-treat commercial: “wag, wag, gimmee what’s in that vial…..” “No, Silly, it’s not bacon it’s: the Marquise de Sade and that's not a newspaper he's coming to spank you with..." I really lurve this one.

Another happy discovery. From the notes, you’d think you’d want to chug some grape Kool-Aide and pop yourself into the oven. But the scent is actually nothing like that. It’s hard to describe, but a no-nonsense regal scent might come close, medium throw. Bess gives you an audience of decent duration. I think I’ll pop an Earl into the dungeon instead.

Yum. This is woody and aromatic. I thought I didn't much care for patchouli, but was wrong again. (Thought I liked jasmine, so a little cosmic humour) The vetiver behaves itself, the pine, almond, and lemon all play nice and blend. This reminds me a little of Pumpkin 4 & 5 that I wear often. Maybe it's the myrrh that reminds me of sandalwood? No glittering sweaty bodies thank whatever. Definitely Not for the swap pile. In fact, I like Voodoo so much that I pick up an imp when I can get one and stash them in a 2ml bottle. The only thing holding me back from ordering a 5ml is clutter.

Seriously strawberry and wow this is sweet. This is one I’d give to a young girl, but it’s not my type.

At first, the generic-BPAL-vaguely-lilac floral. Then a dry, leather undertone. The drydown is similar to Phantom Queen at one point but eventually ends up mostly soft leather – maybe Caterpillar-hide? This is a nice blend that could be worn every day. However, for me it is similar to other BPAL blends and I might purchase it as a gift for a Lewis Carroll/Mad Tea Party fan.

At first, a little bit of wood, no grass, no doe-skin, and unexpectedly sweet. As it dries, the sweetness goes away and the leather/doe peaks out a bit more. This blend continues to warm and improve with wear. A great scent, but a serious morpher.

This is a great winter blend and is very similar to Snow Moon – a bottle of frosty conifer snowy experiences. If I weren’t hoarding the Moon, this would definitely be a big bottle purchase. And probably WILL be a big bottle purchase when I run out of Moon.

Cinnamon at first and a little soapy. When dry, yes – it is warm. I really like Beth’s amber scents. This one is a good amber fix, but not as complex as some of the more recent LE’s. It has reasonable throw and good staying power. This would be a great scent for an amber&cat fiend (like me) but I've been spoiled by some of the LE's.

Burnt wood smell indeed – at first this is a little like having a bonfire corsage on my wrist. Lemon rind present-and-accounted-for when wet. After it’s been worn for a while it becomes a very subtle, light cosmetic-type fragrance that blends really well with skin. Did not last all day, maybe one reapplication needed.

This one gives me a rush of daffodil pollen. Great for rainy spring days.

Got this in a swap via the adoptive mother of my unwanted poppet. Numb is an aquatic scent on me. It has good throw and is well blended - violets are not overpowering- maybe there is a bit of sandalwood helping to keep things from flying away. I also like the lotionesque drydown, it makes me feel that the oil has blended with my skin. This is one I could wear every day. I don’t understand the negative fuss about this one, but Stardust got the same pan and the two scents are marginally similar.

I like the scent after the minty dry-down; it reminds me of sugary candied violets. My only beef is that there is little throw and the scent is not long lasting. It may be a function of the violet (you can't detect violet for a while after you've smelled it) but I think you would almost have to slather this one.

I was put off by the reviews because Queen Mab was Seriously. Not. For. Me. However, I tried this Queen and found it orchidy (no generic “floral”) and oily/lotiony in a way that blended into my skin. In comparing it to Queen Mab on the other wrist, the Phantom Queen was fresher and lighter and less sweet and had no smutty/dirty undertone. I like this one a lot, despite my prejudices against the comparison scent.

This is another scent that considers patience a virtue. ( Bottle full of little spiders patiently spinning away) In the bottle, it is very, very, unpleasant. When wet, it is mostly herbal and not so nice. But when it dries down it becomes soft, dry (dusty), and incensy/spicy rather than floral. I think this is similar to a “dry white” recent LE. Not a lot of throw, and needs a lunchtime reapplication. For me, definitely a keeper.