CrazyPretzel

In the imp: A citrus scent like grapefruit, but even more tart and bitter (yummy!). I can detect astringent black tea if I sniff deeply.
Wet on me: Mmm, getting a bit sweeter and juicier.
Dry on me: Positively insanely citrussy! Really tart and uplifting. This makes me feel happy like a little kid who's just been given a present.

Cherry blossom is pretty much stomped on by the grapefruit-like citrus, but then it would pretty much have to be, wouldn't it?

This won't be to everyone's taste, clearly, but for a Florida girl like me who grew up big and strong on grapefruit it's a delight.

ETA: About 90 minutes later the citrus has chilled out considerably and now the cherry blossom's peeking through. At this stage it smells soft and friendly, like a very pretty citrus lotion. Would be great to go shopping in

In the imp, this smells much more subtle than I'd imagined. Can't get too much from it.

Wet on me: Amber for sure, very smooth. The rose is there as well, but it's still a surprisingly quiet blend -- with the mandarin in there I thought it would be punchier. Lily and carnation peek out.

Dry on me: Hmm. I want to say this is 'incensey' but to me that implies a certain dryness, and this scent is not dry. Floral, but definitely not overwhelmingly so; I can imagine avowed floral haters really enjoying this one. The amber is really the star of this blend for me -- it doesn't take over but lends smoothness to the whole scent.

 

Makes me think of a naked courtesan draped in silk on a velvet couch in a room with soft red lighting. This is a seductive scent, but not overwhelmingly sexy, probably because it has sandalwood rather than musk.

 

Very intriguing. I don't know if I need a bottle of this, but I will certainly use the imp, probably when I'm all dressed up...for a night in.

 

ETA: Tonka and benzoin come out after about 10-15 minutes and make this suddenly very sexy indeed. You've been warned.

Purchased from clover

 

In the imp: *swoon* Oh, bliss. The gentlest floral honey, plus oh-so-delicate tea. The honey in this is different from BPAL's regular honey note, but so very good.

Wet on me: The honey is getting a little stronger, but still delicate and sweet. There's just a whisper of fruitiness.

Dry on me: More perfume-y now; smelling less like something I would drink. Perhaps a little bit of sharpness to it that stops just short of being soapy. Still wonderful!

 

Sweet, delicate, silky; I know this is inspired by a Japanese print (painting?) but it puts me right back in China, wandering through the gardens of Suzhou and admiring the incredible water lilies on the West Lake in Hangzhou. Or were the gardens in Hangzhou and the lake in Suzhou? I always get them mixed up. Whatever, you get the idea.

 

This scent actually makes me cry. It's that beautiful and evokes so many happy memories for me.

 

This turned out to be a pleasant surprise!

 

In the imp: there's that rather sickly, bubblegum+sex lotus smell.

Wet on me: still lotusy. Not too nice at this stage.

 

Then, to my surprise, the ickiness quickly fades and this becomes a sweet, sexy rose. The lotus smells at first slightly green and ultimately like a light but spicy musk. I can easily imagine an Egyptian queen wearing this.

 

It reminds me a bit of Othello, but I like this better.

 

Wow, I'm so glad I tried this!

In the imp: rose, not subtle but soft. What I call a 'juicy' rose.

Wet on me: rose and plumeria (though it's making me think of lily of the valley.)

Dry on me: The pear comes out -- scrumptious! The combination of pear and plumeria is reminding me of Thalia, but where Thalia smelled too sophisticated to me the addition of rose to this blend makes it seem younger and more girlish. La Belle suits me better than Thalia did.

 

As time passes, this blend gets sharper; probably the magnolia. Magnolias have always smelled a little lemony to me.

 

I do like the initial drydown, but I'm not too happy about the magnolia taking over -- I liked this better when it was a soft rose-and-plumeria. Overall, not bad. I'll have to think about it.

In the imp: neroli!

Wet on me: still neroli! Oh god, this is lovely...there's the sweet silkiness of neroli made even softer by the orange blossom, and the clove is smelling like a touch of carnation.

Dry on me: Bergamot coming out now, and under it all the sweetness of mimosa, not cloying because the other notes are all tart. I LOVE this.

 

Citrus and spice, but most definitely floral.

 

Makes me think of LUSH's potion with orange blossom instead of roses. Unless this disappears within the next 20 minutes or pulls some really unexpected nasty morphing (and I don't think it will), it's going on my bottle list. I can see from the reviews that not everyone cares for it, but this is right up my alley.

 

ETA: Dammit. I spoke too soon. After 30 minutes, this smells very distinctly like...play-doh. Looks like my chemistry's warped it after all!

Another frimp from Wren08; thank you

 

In the imp: rose and musk, but subtle.

Wet on me: a little rose, but barely there. This takes a minute or two to really bloom.

Dry on me: Strange! This keeps shifting back and forth between pleasant and unpleasant. The unpleasant side of it is bitter, faintly pee-like and reminds me of the really 'off' note that I hated in Skuld. Then when I sniff it again a minute later, it's the loveliest soft, dark, spicy rose.

 

 

I'm going to hang onto this and experiment with it a bit more!

There are some people for whom lavender is a dealbreaker note. I'm not one of them. I like lavender. That being said, the BPAL lavender note and I do not always get along, particularly if the lavender is a main component of the blend.

 

In the imp, this smells like bitter lavender and something sickly sweet, kind of like Paris.

Wet on me, more of the same.

As it dries down, the lavender fades a little and the jasmine and honeysuckle can come out more -- it's nice at this stage, a warm honey-sweet floral. Unfortunately the lavender keeps poking back in and making it...weird. Sickly.

 

I do really like the jasmine and honeysuckle in this, but there are other blends with those flowers which behave better for me. I'll swap this one.

Eh. Very, very woody and musty on me, like cypress or cedar or something.

 

I just can't do notes like that. Not for me.

In the imp, this was rather sharper than I expected -- I guess that'll be the pine.

 

Wet on me: Ohh, lovely -- some sweet flowers starting to come out now.

Dry on me: It's, um, fading rapidly, or possibly making my nose numb, and I'm getting a sharp headache when I sniff this. That's a first; I've never had a headache from a BPAL scent before.

As the minutes pass, it just keeps fading more and more. Kind of a non-descript floral that vanishes before really becoming anything definite....

 

Well, that was disappointing! With that smorgasboard of notes I thought it was going to be something exciting and it turns out to be pretty bland on me. Swaps.

This was a frimp in a purchase from Wren08! Thanks

 

In the imp: Eep. I can see why the description says 'whiplike'. This is pretty sharp.

Wet on me: Hm, refreshing. Better than I expected, actually. It's tangy, and while I don't think there's citrus in the blend there's a citrusy feel to it. It's *not* like floor cleaner, thank goodness.

Dry on me: Surprisingly subtle, but still tangy and rather soothing.

 

I didn't think I'd like this one, but I do!

In the imp: strong orange liquer (liqeur?); I can definitely see the comparisons to Grand Marnier.

Wet on me: still that sweet, slightly boozey orange. Some vanilla coming through as well.

Drydown: Huh. This seems like it would be so *me*, and yet...something rings false. What's going on? Perhaps it is just a bit too strong. There is something in here that reminds me of red patchouli or red musk, something that takes it past good and into too much. I have this problem with Madame Moriarty as well...

 

Maybe it's the narcissus. Phooey.

OK, let's get this out of the way first: yes, it smells like olives. In the bottle, it smells really, truly, and unmistakably like friggin' green olives. I can't even begin to guess what essential oils went into this.

 

That being said, it works.

 

A couple of days after this little beauty arrived in the mail I had a proper panic attack while I was trying to go to sleep: really stressing over upcoming exams and beyond that the end of my course and the huge horrible question of what to do with my life. Not pleasant stuff for night time and I was sobbing uncontrollably for a good 15 minutes, getting worse and worse and not at all able to calm down. Finally I sent my boyfriend off to my stash box to fetch the bottle of Succor -- opened it, inhaled deeply, got it all over my fingertips and rubbed it into my temples and under my nose so I could smell it really strongly.

 

Within about two minutes I was calmed down, breathing normally, and really truly not just chilled out, but actually at my 'center'. It's difficult to explain that in detail here; suffice to say there are parts of my personality at my very core that people don't usually see. When I had this oil on, I was in touch with that part of myself. It's pretty powerful.

 

Oh yeah, and when it dries, it smells better Like resins, yes. But this is one you buy for therapeutic properties.

I did get a frimp of this from the Lab ages ago but it looks like I never put a review up.

 

To be honest, I have to say that I didn't try this one except for a few drops that splattered me when I opened the imp. Something in this smells ferociously bad and makes me nauseous, and I wasn't inclined to risk trying it and then not being able to scrub it off.

 

What I got was a really strong wine/plum/fruity note, probably the labdanum. Where it made contact with my skin it began to smell a little more resin-y, but I washed it off pretty quickly.

 

If I ever get frimped another one of these I'll be brave and give it a go -- Hymn works for me, and that also contains labdanum.

I've got Ra on my left inner elbow and I'm really enjoying him; now seems like the right time to try Ahathoor as well.

 

In the imp: I can smell that citrus peel people are talking about. A little bitter, but not unpleasant.

Wet on me: Um, tricky! Still strong citrus peel, but with a herby quality to it -- makes me think of a Chinese pharmacy, but much more pleasant. A touch of sweetness like honey is peeking out too.

Dry on me: Very much like the wet stage, but not as strong. Or perhaps my nose is just getting numb to the scent after two minutes of steady inhalation. The sweetness is getting stronger, and I think it might be orange blossom...nope, seems to be frankincense!

 

I'm really enjoying both Ra and Ahathoor. Guess I need to try the other solar oils now!

 

ETA: After about an hour this suddenly becomes very cedar-y, which is bad news for me. The frankincense makes it tolerable enough, but the cedar does strike it from the bottle list.

Purchased from Wren08.

 

In the imp: pretty faint; ahhh, no, is that sandalwood? Sandalwood gets musty on me...

Wet on me: Very possibly neroli, but it's gentle. This is a surprisingly soft scent, rather powdery. There's a slight candy-like sweetness to it that I think I recognise from Maenad -- orange blossom?

Dry on me: Mmmm so soft and sweet. This is really nice. No hint of the sandalwood that I thought I smelled -- perhaps I imagined it, or it's playing nicely for once. This does still remind me of a toned-down version of Maenad.

 

I'll keep this, and might consider buying a bottle depending how well it fares over the next few hours.

 

ETA: OMG, is that carnation? This just got even better! It smells like Hod now, the lovely discontinued Sephiroth what we can't get anymore. I'm enjoying this one so much.

Purchased from the forum's Wren08.

 

In the imp: Sticky sweet cherry lollipops. Not sure I like it.

Wet on me: Cherry settles down a little; now it smells more like licorice. Sort of cough-drop-like, but the musk is starting to come into play and save it from being just that.

Dry on me: cherry way in the background now; predominantly musk with a touch of licorice.

 

I'm not really sure I like this one, but the boy's a bigger licorice fan than I am. I'll try it on him when he gets home and if he doesn't like it I'll probably frimp it away.

 

ETA: You know what? The anise has settled down a little (after about 30-45 minutes) and this has become a really nice, sexy, slightly fruity musk. This reminds me of all the sexy blends I've tried like Hunger, Ravenous, Lust, etc. that were nice while wet but went totally apeshit horrible on me in the drydown -- except this one's actually working! I think I need to hang onto this after all.

Mmmm! Strong buttered rum from the Irish coffee. This smells more than anything like a stack of freshly-made pancakes with lots of melted butter and syrup. Sweet, buttery without being sickly, and very foody and delicious. The coffee lingers in the background.

 

As the oil dries down, the pancake smell remains, but the books start to come out -- a wonderful smell like a library. I've picked up the paperback I'm reading now, fanned the pages out under my nose and taken a deep breath to doublecheck. Yep, it's the smell of books!

 

The wood plays nicely in this blend -- seems it's not very strong, which is good since woods tend to screw things up for me.

 

This would make a fantastic winter scent, but I'm enjoying it very much now in August as well. Winner!

It seems completely impossible to pick out individual notes in this one -- I don't recognise most of them and the final result is so well-blended.

 

In a nutshell, I found this one to be just transcendantly beautiful. I'm gushing. I adored it though. Allison Gross goes on very herbal, but sweet at the same time, and deliciously musky. Now that I look back at the components, I think I could detect the ambergris in there; it was a little bit oceanic.

 

As it dries my skin makes it a bit sweeter and brings out a spiciness to it as well. I never get dragon's blood very strongly.

 

Just amazing. *sigh*

This? Is GOOD.

 

I recently got an imp of Saturnalia and was totally turned off vetiver; in the Blood Kiss imp I could smell the vetiver and it was worrying me a little, but it wasn't too strong and there were lots of other scrummy scents in there. Predominantly deep dark cherry.

 

On me, the slightly rotty note of vetiver fades, and this becomes really quite foody without being at all light and sugary (which is how I usually do my foodie scents.) It's still cherry, but a very deep, lush, black cherry, not like candy at all. There's something, probably the mingled vanilla and honey, which is making me think of buttery pastry desserts like cherry tarts (it's really not buttery though, just very rich) and then there are dark spices and just a touch of a green note that make the whole thing totally unique.

 

This will definitely be a bottle purchase. It's awesome.

I'll have them up tomorrow evening if no one gets to them first. My husband only managed to get through Good Omens today. I tried doing a quick shot of them just now, but the flash completely obscured the artwork and we don't have enough artificial light anywhere in the house to do without it.

 

edited to fix weird double-post issue

 

I'll cheerfully wait for your photographer to get home. Can't wait to see what neat sets he's come up with next.

On at first, the violet is pretty darn overpowering. I used to really like the smell of violet but then one day my boyfriend announced that my LUSH Ultraviolet shampoo smelled 'like paint' and ever since then I always smell paint whenever I smell violets. >.< Thanks, boyfriend.

 

After it dries, there's a whiff of gardenia in there as well, but not quite enough to overcome the violets -- and now after 20 minutes it's sweetening slightly; maybe the vanilla's finally coming out?

 

Whether I keep this or not will depend on how strong the vanilla gets.

The new King Cobra looks pretty sweet

 

Please can someone post pictures of the Stardust and/or Good Omens labels? I'm absolutely dying to know what they look like!

Wet, this smells exactly like a hot drink: lots of chunky chopped fresh ginger stewed with scoops of brown sugar. It's very strong and gives me a slight burning sensation at the back of my throat when I sniff it, as if I were drinking that ginger brew.

 

When it dries, Shub-Niggurath softens slightly: more spices come out and it smells more cake-like, while not being very sweet at all.

 

To me this smells like a pretty close cousin to Pumpkin Queen, which is great as it's a GC blend! I predict lovers of the Pumpkin Queen will really enjoy this one and it's going on my bottle list.

*This is my 100th review *

 

Lolita is definitely lemony and candy-sweet, but the orange blossom and heliotrope give it considerably more depth and an edge of wickedness. I don't like scents with an overly-strong lemon note because that overpowers the other notes in the blend, but this one is lemony and well-balanced at the same time. I really like it a lot.