Bagfish

This was all orris and violet on me (neither of which suit me). No vanilla musk, mandarin, wood or sage On drydown, this was essence of babypowder, soap and old ladies toilette water.

I can't work out the notes in Two Monsters. I can smell leather, but the other notes just blur into a very masculine after-shave smell. This is possibly the vetiver. I didn't smell any champaca flower which is the reason I wanted to try this as I loved it in Khajuraho. I think the oil this most reminded me of was Geek, which I wasn't a fan of either. Oh well, it could have been so good, but Two Monsters and I is not to be.... Off to swaps

This starts off very evergreen, it really reminded me of Yew Trees in the wet stage. I tried this on, thought it was a bit piney and meh and too like Yew Trees. So about 40 minutes later I get this amazing waft of a creamy amber/musk sort of smell. Black Forest is so different on drydown to when it is wet, its almost a different scent. One that I thought would be for swap is now definitely staying in my for keeps imp drawer.

This is a deep dark brown furry scent. I can almost imagine it as a bearskin coat wrapping me up on a cold day, warm and furry but heavy and musky as well, so not quite comfortable. It is incredibly resinous on me, even more so than Saturn which it reminds me of a bit. I can smell the balsm of peru and the black musk with perhaps a hint of clove. The mint and the orange blossom are no-where to be smelled, but I do amp resins. It is quite masculine. I already have a couple of similar scents (Odin and Saturn) so I think I will pass on this one and send it out in swaps.

Sugar cookie when wet on my wrist smells like a cross between those caramelised biscuits that you get with your coffee in posh coffee shops and burnt brown sugar like on the top of creme brulee. It is quite a sharp burnt-sugar smell to begin with, but I don't get any of the alcohol that others have smelled. On the way to drydown it flirts for a few minutes with becoming plastic-y, but never actually goes there, and when dry is a yummy, sweet soft vanilla which doesn't actually remind me of cookies at all, its more like the drydown of Midway. DH approves, but then he likes me to smell like vanilla ice cream I do really like the drydown of sugar cookie and if it appears again I may get a bottle.

Two five and seven was a cacophany of oversweetness. I was expecting essence of rose, something a bit more like Rose Red, but instead I got a sickly-sweet floral candy scent, which didn't even really smell of roses. This one did not work on my skin.....off to swap.

On application The Dormouse has the same bright lemon-tea sparkliness that makes Shanghai such a good summer scent. Unfortunately the tea and lemon accord dries down into a floral soap within an hour which is a real shame - I assume this is the peony coming out. This is my first experience with peony in an oil and it doesn't suit me. Off to swaps you sleepy little rodent!

Yummy yummy. Definitely the best of my latest lab order, a beautiful clean and fresh smelling zingy grapefruit. There is a little of Shanghai's freshness in this oil, but it is more rounded with hints of lavendar and chamomile peeking out. Its not too sweet which means that I can wear it with abandon (can't do sweet fruity scents). On drydown after about 2 hours I start to get a skin musk scent which rounds off this oil nicely. No currant which is a good thing as far as I'm concernd! Yep, Cheshire Cat is a delight to wear either as a day or a going-to-sleep scent. Lovely

This would have been lovely on me apart from my skin makes frankincense smell like sour nastiness. I get all sorts of lovely woody, resinous smells from Carceri d'Invenzione to start with but soaring over the top is the sour Frankincense of doom How utterly gutting. Edited to add: I tried this again today and the sour frankincense of doom just didn't turn up. The scent was a beautiful fruity scent. It really reminded me of Khajuraho in style as it is full and fruity and woody, and I think this one may actually be bottleworthy. I will have to try it again though just to make sure it stays as good.

... Offerings of ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost’s perfume of white sandalwood, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, crystalline musk and aloe. This scent is tapered by the presence of seven herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit and the purging of earthly concerns from the soul. Hungry Ghost Moon started well on me with a refreshing splash of bitter citrus . As it dried down, it became woody with sandalwood and other woods definitely present. Unfortunately after about an hour HGM started to become sweet and candied and then just became sweeter and sweeter until I got a headache from the sweet cloyingness of the scent. I am gutted as this started out so nicely, I had really high hopes, but it turned into a perfume nightmare. It is also STRONG on me - I put it on at 8:30 am and at 3.30pm I had to wash it off and change my top which had got perfume on it from the swipe on my wrist. This one will be off to swaps ASAP. What a shame, especially as DH approved of it so much. Edited to add description

Wow, this is gorgeous. I've had Mandrake in my "to try" drawer for ages and took the opportunity today. I have never smelled real-life mandrake root, so have nothing to judge the scent by. On application Mandrake smells very like wood shavings as others have said, almost like my thujawood box. It is a lovely, woody, almost cedary smell. The oil smelled quite sharp to start with but after a while I started to get sweeter wafts from my wrists which suprised me. This oil morphed from a sharp cedar smell to a gorgeous sweet almost ammaretto-like resiny wood smell that I got wafts of as I typed at work. It is absolutely lovely. Strangely enough this reminded me a little of a perfume called Gloria which I used to wear a lot. I know that Mandrake root has all sorts of arcane uses but this to me seemed like a straightforward pretty scent to wear whenver I want to smell sweet and woody. I really rate this and wish I'd tried it on earlier!

On application and for a number of hours (four or five) Opium is a bittersweet, achingly dry, smokey, floral perfume. After a looong time (think 3pm after application at 8am) the dry perfume turns into a warm, sweet amber-resin almost vanillic smell which is lovely. Wet and for the first few hours it is not pretty on my skin, but the long term drydown is gorgeous. If it smelled like the drydown after 30 minutes or so I would order it by the barrelload, however, the very long wet/initial drydown stage is almost eye-wateringly dry and perfumed and unfortunately just doesn't suit me.

Dirty reminded me a little of La Belle au Bois Dormant. I think it has a similar pear-y sort of tang to it, although it could be plumeria. However, I am also really strongly reminded of a laundrette whilst wearing this. It does smell of hot clean sheets taken from the driers. I'm not sure I like it enough to keep it, it is a little strong and headachy on me, but I imagine it would be very pretty on another person who wears florals better than I do!

My first attempt with a marine scent. And it doesn't suit me at all. I swiped on a dab across my forearm and I am getting intense waves of washing powder/household cleaner wafting at me. I've had it on about half an hour and I think I'm going to have to wash it off as its far too intense. I really liked the idea of a rain storm by the beach but my goodness, this smells of unnaturally man-made chemicals rather than the natural scent of wet sand and pouring rain. I guess me and marine/ozone/aquatics just don't work

Spellbound was sweet and rosey on me, and had a slight "Smut"tishness to it (the red musk?). The drydown was to an oldfashioned smelling sweet and musky amber skinscent. This should have been a winner, but it wasn't. Its perfectly pleasant, but on me is slightly "generic" which is a shame. I think other people will love Spellbound, so the imp will go for swaps.

I think my sniffer is broke as my experience is SO different from everyone else's! When I recieved my last order from the lab, it smelled minty in a chalky, minty sort of way, a bit like Trebor Mints (for those of you in the UK that remember them). The smell reminded me a bit of my Grandparents bedroom as they always had a packet of mints on the go. Anyway, I come around to trying out my frimps and Penthus is one of them. I open it and discover it is the source of the minty smell in the box (I think it leaked a little). I try it on and it is lovely - a refreshing but subtle mint. Great, I think, but Penthus has a trick up his sleeve. After about 2 hours of mint I start to get a gorgeous amber wafting from my wrist. Yes, not only is Penthus refreshingly minty, it also has an amber drydown. What a wonderful scent. However looking at the other reviews I'm thinking I may have got a mislabelled imp as I get no rose, no salt, no flowers and no incense from Penthus. Hmmm, very strange.....

No leather, just the dreadful wrongness that is red musk on me. This smells sort of flat and mushy - no I don't know how to describe it properly, but something just hates me in Loviator.

Too, too sweet, this smells like a white chocolate orange. The roses peep out, and I can't smell the sandalwood at all. I love the name Jezebel and all that it conjures up, and I really wanted to love the scent, but its too sweet and girly for me. To me, Jezebel was a strong woman who came to a bad end. This Jezebel plays with dolls and simpers. Boo

Bengal starts off really dried-fruity, like mashed up raisins and dates. For the first hour or so it reminds me very strongly of Serge Luten's Arabie. However after this fruity start, Bengal goes flat (I can't think how else to describe it), it becomes one dimensional and doesn't zing on my skin or even meld with it. It just sits there being "meh" I've now had it on for about 8 hours and I am getting a sort of parma violet soapy powdery sort of smell which is rather odd and not very exciting. Bengal is certainly not offensive, but just really doesn't do much for me. Definitely one for the swaps.

In the imp and immediately wet on the skin this has a very similar scent to Delphi which makes my gorge rise ever so slightly for 30 seconds or so. This is very odd as there are few notes in common - possibly its the red wine in both that does this. Anyway, onwards... As Blood Kiss dries down it turns beautiful, very much belying its ugly start. There is a slight fruitiness with a little smoke and cloves very much in the background. There is a sort of headshop nag champa vibe going on which is a little similar to Urd. It is a sweet and honeyed scent on my wrist and I very much like it. This is very definitely a wearer and one I come to quite often. Not sure if its bottleworthy as I take so long to use my imps, but maybe a 5ml will come to me one day

Carnal smelled like orange sherbet on me, very sweet and fruity, but more like a sugary candy than a perfume. Its not unpleasant but not how I want to smell. Off to swaps with you.... Edited for v.poor spelling.....like not being able to spell the name of the oil properly

I hardly know how to describe Litha as I don't really know any of the notes well enough to pick them out. All I know is that Litha literally sings from my wrist - it is a bright yellow sun blue sky morning all golden and fresh and full of flowers. This is SUCH a happy grounded scent. Its not at all ethereal but is bubbling with the richness of life and summer. I really can't do a much better description than that, other than it is incredibly complex. Heavenlyrabbit posted earlier that Litha reminded her of Khajuraho in its complexity. Khajuraho is one of my favourite BPALS and whilst this smells nothing like it, it has a similar "feel" to it. Wow, what a complete masterpiece, this will definitely be a summer favourite.

On me this is a very complex scent - I can't pick out any single over-riding note as it seems really well blended. I get the sweetness of honey and a definite resin-y earthyness. The tobacco and patchouli come to the fore on drydown. But no matter how well it is blended, this oil doesn't "sing" on my skin - if I didn't have loads of other similar oils that smelled better on me, The Masque would be a keeper, but this one stays too earthy and close to my skin for me to want to keep it. On the right person, this would be a masterpiece, but its just not happy on me.

In the imp, strong lavender and jasmine. On the skin wet, still strong lavender and jasmine. On drydown, plain, white toilet soap; of the sort you find in public toilets It smells very clean, but very plain. I don't like the wet phase because of strength of the jasmine and I'm not keen on the soapy drydown. The one time I tried using this as a sleep aid, I got very panicky, anxious and insomniacal - it had quite the opposite effect than it is meant to Gutted, as I need all the help I can get to drop off!

Well, I don't know what happened here.....Perversion started out a little like the coconutty smokeyness of Red Lanern and ended up the sharp berry-ness of Yew Trees I can't actually see what the two oils have in common, so I don't know how this happened. What a transformation, and sadly as Yew Trees turns my stomach, Perversion did similar, so off to swaps it goes.