Avery

Mine too, Kitten I get to scratch that--my boy has come around quite nicely on some of the foodier scents--he LOVES Beaver Moon (go figure, he adores cheesecake too) really likes Miskatonic University (though he refers to it as "the oatmeal cookie one"). Beyond that, he actually has complimented me a few times on Vixen. I think he still hates the rest. Still, two qualify for big responses, yay!

After all the talk of *fresh* berries, I just had to try this. Sadly, I got strawberry shortcake dolls. I was reading in other descriptions about the SS doll phenomenon and didn't think it sounded too bad (I do like how those smell), but... on MY skin... eew. Plastic fruity doll smell not for me. Where is the strawberry and cream I crave? *sigh* Swaps.

I'd have to agree with Splendid Molerat's interpretation (though I'll be nowhere near as poetic! ). There is definitely something a little creepy going on here... a murky sweet decay sort of scent. This is the first BPAL "Earth" smell I have tried, and while I did really enjoy it, I was (surprisingly, since I'm not at all squeamish) sort of unsettled the whole time I wore it. Simply... uneasy. To my nose it does smell like vanilla gingerbread grave. Sweet yet menacing. ETA: I have changed my mind on this perfume and now actually really enjoy it--for the right mood and place. I realized this when I was moving out of my house and cleaning and getting really dirty... I put on Penny and it was PERFECT. It was delightful to smell like dirt while being dirty. Any time working with dirt I think there's some joy to be had by this. FUN! fun and creepy, yay! ETA2: I really enjoy Penny now. Not sure if this is an aging thing (her, not me) but I LOVE to wear this scent when it is raining, it makes me feel just... part of the weather, in sync. Of course, outdoorsy activities are great for this too--gardening, hiking, etc. It's just a very grounding, earthy scent. Yum.

In the vial... agreed, juicy fruity rose. On my skin, screeching rose soap. Yuck! Even if it didn't scream soap, light florals (even as nice as this one smells wet) aren't really me, so all together this simply not my perfume.

I Shub. In the vial to me this smells like herbs and fresh cut ginger. Wet is has a sharp gingery bite, and quickly warms up to smell like fresh ginger cookies. I *totally* relate to the "Evil Gingersnaps" description because there is a sharpness under the surface, but built upon a layer of sweetness. This is absolutely delicious, and not at all how I would anticipate the black goat of the mythos to smell. If she does, she is a perverse diety indeed. Regardless, I must find a bottle. It is my quest.

I was almost incredibly hasty and came really close to getting rid of this bottle before I gave it a real chance. I thought it was just too sweet, and not for me. Thankfully I tried it again, as it's now among my favorites and I am so glad I have a bottle (though it will last me FOREVER since just a couple of drops is enough to fully scent-ify me). Maybe I just put too much on the first time? Miskatonic University embodies the reason that I am growing to passionately love BPAL, and why a click-n-ship is enough to keep me from sleeping soundly at night. The coffee is definitely there: warm, rich, full-bodied. It's creamy and sweet, and does indeed harken back to a carmel frappuccino. After a few minutes the sweet coffee mellows, and a different scent steps into the foreground. That second smell is the oakwood halls and dusty tomes. Really, now, dusty books! I can close my eyes and feel myself in the incredibly *quiet* halls of a magnificent and stately library. There must be a coffee stand by the front doors, as the smell permeates the air, but more than anything is the smell of sweet woods and wonderfully dusty books. This is absolutely delightful. Wow. Really. So cool!! This is one of the longer lasting BPAL's on me so far, a couple of drops lasting upwards of 8 hours. The final drydown smell is, to me, chocolate covered caramel popcorn. Yum! I am SO glad I hung on to this.

You're all lucky... my boy doesn't like perfume. Every BPAL I've worn around him has been "eh", or "it's kind of nice", but he always insists that he much prefers my natural scent. "Nothing smells better than you do". While most definitely complimentary it does diminish my enjoyment of being able to wear BPAL around him. Ah well, they're more for me I guess!!

As an avid Alice in Wonderland freak, I was really hoping that the lucious sounding Red Queen would work on my skin. She does! I'm also finding that I can wear all the yummy cherry scents that I have tried so far - Yay! I get really strong imagery from this one--those red opaque heart shaped cherry flavored lollipops. Definitely heart shaped. How funny! I definitely can understand where people are getting the Luden's cherry cough drops, as that is what happens first on my skin, too (but I like it). Then it changes to the aforementioned lollipop. But it's not all sweet innocent candy... as time goes by the Red Queen develops a bit headier and more sophisticated overall scent... she is girlish underneath, but also means business (this must be the wood). This is the first catalog scent I've tried that I'm seriously considering a 5ml of.

Spooky smells just like slightly stale (dry, crumbling) Thin Mint cookies on me. No coconut at all, sadly. Thankfully the mint stays yummy, but over a bit of time the mint chocolate develops a slightly acrid (?) tone that most closely resembles the smell of concrete Hmm. I'm going to try this one again, but if it doesn't get better it's off to swaps. ETA: I gave this one time, and now have converted. I especially like Spooky when layered with Elegba--it give it more of a coconutty edge (I coconut) and makes the chocolate less stale. Yay! Thin mint city. This is a fun fragrance I will definitely enjoy using. ADDED August 13: I liked Spooky enough to swap for a bottle awhile ago, but never realized how *good* it was until I put on "enough" of it, just today. YUM!! Funny how scents will do that to you, wearing too much or too little can completely change the experience. In the past, while wearng "too little" spooky I would get a Thin Mint cookie smell that would sometimes go a little stale, and just a hint of coconut. Today, I put on what I'll call a lot more, and WOAH! Throw like no tomorrow of rummy coconut mint deliciousness without a stale chocolate note in sight. I am sad I only brought my imp with me to South America, but am happy to know I've got a bottle tucked away at home!!

YUM! Okay, now this one I hadn't expected to like, based on the reviews... I got to try it at the same time as Strawberry Moon, but I actually like this one more! To my nose and peculiar skin chemistry this does indeed smell like "gothic strawberry" (as a previous reviewer mentioned)... it's sweet, and while it doesn't smell *quite* like fresh cut strawberries, it doesn't have the plastic-y smell that I (sadly) got from Strawberry Moon. And while strawberries connote a "purity", it must be the poppy coming out and giving this it's dark bite. I love it! Wet it is stronger, and hints at more depth and dark florals than straight berry. Carnation is lending a bit of spice here, but it's definitely an undercurrent and not a major player. This softens dramatically over time, but retains sweet mystery, even when it's almost completely gone (after a couple of hours). Maenad is a definite winner in my book. I am for sure hanging on to this imp, and depending on how my sampling frenzy goes may go in for a bottle.

I wish this one smelled like Kentucky bourbon and a sprig of mint. It definitely smells boozy in the imp, but the second it touches my skin it screams cheap men's cologne. Ack! What happened?! I had to wash it off right away. I'm sad.

Just my $.02, but on me White Rabbit was incredibly lilac-y. Almost pure lilac. Granted, I have an odd chemistry (lilac isn't even listed as a component) but you might give it a shot!

Hmm. I'm starting to think that these wildly popular scents just aren't for me, as every one I've tried has been no good. I must say, though, that this is a very interesting blend, and definitely a work of art. On me, it just doesn't work though. The thing that I must give it is that it TRULY does smell like the midway. In the vial it promises to be everything that everyone was raving about, from funnel cakes to salt water taffy to cotton candy and carmel apples. However, on my skin it goes directly to cotton candy and . . . this is the amazing part, DUST. It's the dust of the midway, the dirt that everybody is kicking up walking around, and that which permeates the sweetness in the air, with the sound of the carousel and roustabouts yelling in the distance. I am extremely impressed by this. The transferrence of that experience to a bottle... well, that is incredible, and I love it just for that. But, as a perfume, it's just kind of blah on me. it smells more like dusty sugar than fresh cotton candy, and that makes me sad. I am glad I trusted my initial instinct and didn't buy a whole bottle, though I am torn about whether or not I will hang on to this imp. It truly is wonderful, just for what it is. Just not when I'm wearing it. I sure hope that FreakShow, Snake Charmer, and Kunstkammer turn out better on me! *waiting patiently* *sigh*

I already posted this in the layering thread, but since I saw the Jack + ?? mentions up above, I have to throw in: Jack + Hexennacht smells simply divine! I always have to make sure I don't put on too much of either scent, but MMM goodness when it's in correct proportion.

I like Jack. We wre able to meet courtesey of Blood OnMy Hands and the frimps she included in my purchase from her. Thanks again! I get STRONG buttered popcorn when I open the imp. So much so that my BF asked "Why does the bathroom smell like buttered popcorn?". It doesn't stay that way on my skin, thankfully. It does a warm mulled spicy morphing and indeed turns into what I would consider a somewhat foody fall scent. Not as much pumpkin or autumn air as I was hoping for, but good nonetheless! The peach comes out on my skin, but it just adds to the cornucopia feeling that Jack has. It's pretty sweet on its own, but I do enjoy it. It is very strong on my, and I actually much prefer mixing a teeny drop with Hexennacht--the Hex adds the herb-y foresty autumn to it that I was craving. I won't be buying a bottle, but think I'll definitely be holding on to my imp!

I'm coming to find out that, against my wishes, mint doesn't really like me. At least not the mint in ultraviolet or envy. Envy smelled wonderful in the imp. It is so fresh and minty (I wasn't getting any of the lime or lavendar) that I'd be hard pressed to think of a better scent for hot summer days. Another thing I'm coming to find out, especially after reading so many reviews on scents that I've tried, is that for the most part my skin likes to 'skip to the end' of what seems like an otherwise fairly lengthy process for y'all. If it's going to turn powder, BAM, it's powder. If it's going to turn soapy it does almost instantly. Sadly, that's what happened here. After about 30 seconds the mint vanishes and I'm left smelling soapy. Granted, it's fresh, decent smelling handsoap, but nothing that I'd think about intentionally trying to smell like. *le sigh*

I had high hopes for this one. Blackberries are abundant in WA, and I love their tangy sweet smell. Sage is a winner too, so how can this go wrong? The way my skin morphs most scents straight to powder is how. This one is a bit powdery sweet, with tea and sage in the background. The berry wasn't as strong as I would have liked, either. It was more the mixed berry than the blackberry, too, which I was disappointed by. I also now know what people mean when they refer to the plastic-y smell, as this smelled 'doll like', and not in a good way. A couple of hours into the wearing the blackberry poked out its head and said HI for a few minutes, but unfortunately this wasn't worth the wearing for me. After realizing that I wanted more berry (not red) smell, I layered it over some Body Shop blueberry body butter, and that turned it more into the peek-out berry that I enjoyed. However, I don't think that I liked it enough to hassle with it. Off to swaps!

Welllll. 13 is a lucky number for me, I have it in a meaningful tattoo, and it holds all kinds of other wonderful significance. I also love orange and white chocolate, so had some seriously high hopes for this one! As a still inexperienced reviewer, I can't quite pick out all the notes that this has going on, but it's a LOT. At first I thought I really liked it. Then, it started to invade my senses with a clash of sweet flowery bitter citrus. I can definitely pick up the white chocolate, and think that I would have liked this scent more if there were MORE chocolate. But there was also the tinge of bitter tea and oranges, and it didn't mesh well on my skin. I do like that it's a confusing scent, but it made my stomach queasy. I washed it off, forgot about it, and smelled my hand some hours later and was *intensely* pleased by the sweet and fresh smell left lingering there. Hmm! Maybe I should try this again? So I reapplied before bed, and just gagged myself to sleep amidst the bittersweet war waging on my wrists. So sad, just not for me. swaps again.

whoa. Okay, so I had read the description and the reviews prior to getting my imp of Black Annis, but... really, this is amazing. This smells *like a hag*. I don't know how Beth did it, but... she captured hag perfectly! Amazing. Now while this is not something I want to smell like, it is a SERIOUS feat of craftsmanship. This was my first run in with both vetiver AND civet, so I knew I'd be given a run for my money, but I wish I knew if it was both or either of these notes that lent that... hag smell. I had expected more herbal anise. I wanted a LOT more anise. But what I got was hag. It freaked me out, like I had seriously just contemplated eating a child. hee. Anyway, she's moving on to hopefully meet somebody whose chemistry is more agreeable to eating children than mine. ETA: This one had a reverse-tolerance effect on me. After than initial application apparently I just got more an more sensitive to it, to the point where I picked up the imp and frimped it off to a fair swapper (who will hopefully enjoy it more than I did) and the scent lingered on my hands. Ug! I didn't even open it! Get thee gone, cannibal hag. x2: I found out that the culprit (as far as I can tell) is vetiver, which I'll be studiously avoiding in the future if I can help it. I'd like it if this worked on me, but it just amps and amps until it's screaming dirty things. I WISH I got licorice. *sigh*

Thanks to Blood onmy Hands for her most generous inclusion of this in my newbie imp pack! This was not what I was expecting, based on the other reviews and scent description. Maybe I thought it would be a bit more cinnamon. I have a newbie nose, so pardon my inability to decipher the individual notes, but it's definitely floral. While it doesn't smell BAD to me, florals are not my thing. It reminds me of a rose incense that would be burned at a middle-eastern travel store. It also reminds me a LOT of hetairae, for those of you who missed the LE but still want sniff-tisfaction. It is *definitely* a warm, RED, scent. Just not for me. Swaps!

Sadly, this one didn't work for me. It was all almonds, and as nice as the scent of almonds *sounds* to me, it simply doesn't work. Pure almond, in the vial, wet on skin, and dry. It also did turn a bit powdery on my skin (as most scents are wont to do), so another detractor for me. Not only was this pure almont, but it was faiiiiint, as if to smell it I would have to put my nose directly on my skin and inhale deeply. Lightly sweet, this just doesn't do anything for me. I wore it in direct contrast to the single note vanilla that is my staple, and marveled at the richness of the vanilla. It's already been swapped. Oh well! Glad to see this does work for so many other people. I guess I'm just looking for the really unusual scents here, and this one isn't it (for me).

My boy was wondering what it was that I smelled like, and when I told him it was called Cerberus, he said "The three headed dog?! That's nice." Regardless, this scent is *wonderful*, and my first BPAL love. It is through Cerebrus that I know there are others in that vast collection that will woo me. This didn't smell how I thought it would... I was waiting for more figs and nuts and chocolate, maybe a little smoke thrown in and the freshness of juniper lingering in the background (maybe like he just came in from . . . the cold? That doesn't make sense, considering the 'role' of the dog in question, but that was more what I was expecting). Wet, I get a lot of citrus, but can smell something bittersweet calling up from under the fresh citrus-y burst.... Once I put it on, there's a hearty explosion of green juniper that dominates this perfume from start to finish. But I didn't think I liked juniper!! Oh, yes I do (and it doesn't smell anything like pledge on me, yay!). This scent is hard to capture in words, but it starts out a little more biting and cirtusy (maybe like how Cerberus would be when you first meet him) but then mellows and the sweet undertones come out and make me swoon. I've reapplied this one many times and my nose is practically glued to my arm. I'm not sure what is so absolutely divine about this one, but I LOOOOOVE it. I sleep more soundly with my nose buried in this. Cerberus is warm, comforting and sweet (but not foody or sugary or floral [thank oz] at ALL) at the same time that it encapsulates such a bigger mood... winter, rough and tumble roving, protectiveness. I don't get chocolate out of this, unless it were some dark chocolate shavings, and I get only a smidge of fig and walnut, which round out the screaming juniper soooo gorgeously. Thankfully I have tracked down a 5ml of this baby. A little goes a long way with me and BPAL oils, I'm coming to find out. The dry down is very mellow, just a sleepier version of the initial application, and I am simply ecstatic that it doesn't turn an insipid old-lady powdery smell, which is typically my fragrance curse. Anyway, yay for the three-headed doggie love!

My second review on the second BPAL scent that I tried (courtesey of Blood onmy Hands )... I am usually not this orderly! At any rate, Centzon Totochtin smelled . . . interesting . . . on me. Though I'm new at 'note detection', I was definitely picking up on the cocoa and the wine out of the vial, and wet on my skin, but a few minutes after I put it on, it simply smelled... strange. Not really what I go for. I tried to narrow it down, but as the time went by and the scent wore on I started smelling more and more like a GUMDROP. weird! That's my closest scent association to the end result on my skin. And it wasn't just any gumdrop, it was one of the PURPLE sugar coated spiced gumdrops. Maybe it was the blood mixing with the cocoa that made this peculiar and interesting scent? Not sure, will have to try more imps with a 'blood' component, but... not what I'm going for when I put on perfume. For fairness sake, I did try this one twice, but unless it miraculously grows on me, it's in my swap pile. :closedeyes:

This is my FIRST review! Funny that I'd be writing after Blood onmy Hands, as she is the one who sold me this imp! While I'd rather that it weren't the case, this is the imp that took my BPAL virginity. I placed a couple of orders with the lab (how is it that these descriptions can be so captivating as to cause me to part with my hard-won $ before smelling *anything*?!) and then bought a few imps from BomH in the meantime. I knew they would be coming, and thought I was especially excited to try Coyote or Bastet. It was a hot summery day, and when I opened Ultraviolet I knew this was the one I had to put on! So yummy! In the vial I smelled a violet and mint refreshment... what could be more perfect for hot weather? So I put it on both wrists and even my cleavage in my enthusiasm. Then I sniffed and sniffed. Well... I sort of liked it at first, but there was this BITE at the end that I couldn't quite pin down. It was rapidly turning on my wrists, though when I smelled my cleavage it was still fairly violet minty goodness. But, sadly, it was just a matter of time. This *rapidly* turned from sweet anticipation to nauseous revulsion. I became consumed with an overpowering soapy sweetness, and couldn't seem to escape it. It was all I could think of, and was making me queasy. How I wished that it would have stayed mellow and cool, but it got more and more viciously intense until I *had* to wash it off. So, this will be a swapper. Funny enough, this was the only BPAL so far I have had such a powerful negative reaction to. I wish we'd gotten along better, I really wanted to like Ultraviolet.