moon_lemming

In the imp, to my nose, Fallen is a sweet perfume scent. It's one of the more perfume-y BPAL oils I've tested, with a sweetness that keeps it from being generic. Wet, it has a familiar smell, something I classified as "chewy" in my notes that I think is a combination of sandalwood and violet. It's full of earthy florals. That sounds gross, especially the chewy part, but it's really catchy. Dry, though, it does what most sandalwood does on my skin and turns into a powdery incense that really doesn't work on me, although I can smell the violets underneath that, which makes me really wish it would work. It's an interesting scent, though, even if it's not entirely my thing.

An in-joke I actually get -- those are so rare. Hee. I nabbed a decant from the lovely <lj user=obvious> because I'm not sure if my chemistry agrees with musks yet. Of course, I know nothing about ANY of the notes in the monkey musk, as made evident by my notes: Enraged Orangutan Musk imp: violets? wet: fruity floral dry: peach? musk and a nip of citrus But I do know whether I like something or not, and I have to say, I like this quite a bit. I wish I had gotten a whole bottle, just because -- come ON, Enraged Orangutan Musk! -- but in honor of my pledge not to hoard, I will stick with an imp.

Dee was another mystery scent for me at first; when I first sniffed it, all I got was MASCULINE in huge flashing letters. After I read the description, the notes just fell into place. Wet on me, Dee is leather and woods with incense lurking in the background. Still very masculine. Dry, though, the incense comes out a little and the tonka appears with stompy boots on. It's still masculine, but the tonka balances it enough that it's not obtrusively so. It's pretty hot. If it smells this good on my husband, I'll have to acquire a 5ml.

Now THAT is some truth in advertising right there. In the imp, Juke Joint is bourbon and leafy mint. On me, it's a lovely mint (the herb, not the peppermint) rimmed in sugar and flush with alcohol. It's like a grown-up version of Lick It. It fades pretty quickly, but it's tasty as hell while it lasts.

In the imp, I thought this smelled fruity. I totally forgot about the roses, but now that I know they're there I can pick out a light rose scent. It still smells mostly fruity though, with a bite that I guess comes from the cinnamon. Wet, the fruit and roses turn powdery but the cinnamon snaps up deliciously. Dry is the same story albeit a little more powdery. It's interesting and I like the cinnamon, but the powder is a bit too much for me. I'm also curious as to why my chemistry doesn't pick up on these roses, as BPAL rose blends usually work well with my skin.

As light and innocent as your first time should have been. The fresh scent of lotus hidden behind lightly scented flowers, amber, and citrus. I'm not sure what went wrong with this one, because not a single one of the notes that make it up sound bad, but . . . uh, I really don't want to revisit Forbidden Fruit, so I'm gonna just copy and paste from my notes: Forbidden Fruit imp: ass with a sharp marker bite and an undertone of fruit wet: sharp ass dry: salty sharp ass note: floral of doom maybe? appropriately, this DOES smell like fruit when the imp is shut tight. You see? It was just a bad scene. Worse than Sybaris because it smelled SO GOOD when I sniffed the closed imp. I might try another imp just to see if this one was somehow "off." I will have to wait til this scent memory fades a little, though.

At first, I thought Anne Bonny a lot of notes in common with Jolly Roger, because I got the same hit of salt from it. Which makes sense. And I ghosted up some leather somehow, which sticks around even when it's wet on my skin; there's something intriguingly sharp and incense-y in there as well. I think it fits Anne Bonny perfectly. That's only in the imp and wet, though. Once it's dry my chemistry amps up the frankincense until I smell like one of the gifts of the Magi. Eww. No.

I really, really wanted to like Cordelia, because of the Shakespeare/Buffy double whammy, but noooo, it was not meant to be. Cordelia is a tolerable musk in the imp, although it has an edge of greenery to it that makes me nervous. But it's okay, just not knock-your-socks-off hot. Once it hits my chemistry, it's a whole other story. Luckily, this one faded fast, and it's now but a clean laundry ghost of what it was, but back when it was disturbing me, it was nothing but sawdust and overwhelming detergenty florals. I think the lilac and cedar combo is just not for me. I was looking forward to the lemon and green tea combo, thinking this would an edgier, warmer Holiday Moon, but I can't find them at all. Definitely not a scent I'll be revisiting unless my chemistry changes.

I suppose this is strange because it's not listed in the notes, but for me, Regan is just dripping with honey! In the imp, it's honey and a floral that reminds me of roses, delicious. On, it picks up lemon from somewhere, and the honey kicks up while the florals step back. It reminds me a lot of a stronger Alice, actually. Dry, it makes me want to devour my arm -- vanilla smeared together with honey. It's gorgeous. I'm not sure whether I'll get a bottle because I have so many honey/vanilla goodies already, but the imp is definitely staying here.

I have absolutely no idea why, but I get nothing but black licorice and wood from Gomorrah. Wet, it's all black licorice, and dry it's wood dipped in licorice. Even after reading the description, that's all I get. I can kind of pick out the currant, but it's not strong enough to overcome the wood. Weird.

Wow, I haven't reviewed anything in over a month because of moving busy-ness, and I've almost lost what little knack I had. Witness the sadness: at first I thought Carnal smelled like lemon bars. Wet on my skin, it moved from lemon bars to a cheap "lemon bar" candle. Once dry, I was thinking the scent in the background was tea, but that didn't seem exactly right. After reading the description, I realize it's definitely fig. There's a sheer layer of citrus on top, definitely more mandarin orange than lemon. It's a strange but pretty scent. It does remind me more of a candle than a perfume, though. An imp's worth is probably all I'll need of this one.

Based on the artwork and the name, I expected Budding Moon to be a green floral -- and it seems to have been for a lot of reviewers -- but it surprised me. On me, it's more of a blue floral than anything else. I realize that's not very helpful to most people, but I suck when it comes to picking out florals, unless we're talking jasmine, carnation, or rose, and I tend to sort them by color. This one is blue, a bright dark blue, with white edges. Lovely and a little perfumey on me -- and hey, it doesn't turn to detergent, so I'm not going to complain. It's very pretty, but I'm not sure how often I'll wear it. I'm going to keep it around through summer to see what happens.

Ahhh, Venus. Tale of stupidity: For some reason, I got the reviews for Luna and Venus mixed up, so I thought Venus was a jasminey blend. And I didn't buy it! And then I got the lobotomy reversed and found out Venus was a ROSE scent, and could have stolen a time machine, travelled back in time, and kicked myself in the ass. Except for the rift in the space-time continuum that would cause. Anyway, long story short, I was up for a decant and I've found a 5ml. So happy ending. Oh wait, the review, right? Venus is rose, alright, but definitely pink, not red. This is a girly rose scent. One of the things I love best about the Lab is the way one note can be the main part of a thousand different scents, and none of them will smell the same. On me, at first Venus is roses and green grass, very bright, sparkly, with a frisk of mint. For a few minutes, it turns into Play-Doh, but that fades relatively quickly, and it settles into an herbal rose scent. It's lovely, more green than pink, and I will be pulling this one out a lot when spring hits, I think.

Where the first 13 is white chocolate on me, with a nibble of mandarin, the newer 13 is strong, aggressive milk chocolate, with a heavy dose of oranges. I was thinking it smelled like one of those chocolate oranges you whack open, but my husband hit it on the head with his "orange Tootsie Roll" diagnosis. (I was relieved to see that other reviewers mentioned the similarity as well, because sometimes my nose seems really bizarre.) It is nice, because this is a chocolate that doesn't turn to pencil shavings on my skin -- it's like I imagine Bliss smells like on most people, with the addition of the orange scent. I like it a lot; I don't love it enough to buy a full bottle, but I'm keeping the imp for when I crave chocolatey goodness, and I'm interested in seeing how it ages.

Okay, first, the label for The Peacock Queen is utterly fabulous. How could I not love a scent with artwork like that? Second, this scent blows me away. It's freaking GORGEOUS. On me, the Queen is a really deep deep rose with a srong hint of sugary creamy tea. Does that sound weird? It might. But damn, I am in love with it. It stays pretty well on me, too; not as long as I'd like -- my skin devours perfume -- but a good eight hours. I am so glad I picked this one up.

Oh my god. You know the Whoosh shower jelly that LUSH sells? This is that, in perfume form, at least to my nose. On me, it's grapefruit and oranges and BRIGHT, a bright yellow-orange scent. A little while into wearing it, there's something grounding it, a little green, but it blends with the citrus perfectly. Exactly as advertised: energy in a tiny 5ml bottle. Only downside: not a lot of staying power. It's completely gone a few hours after application. But it's a good kick-start. Yum.

Man, Mi-Go is delicious before it dries: juicy fruitiness. But when it dries, it morphs into a monstrous floral that wants to eat my brains. JASMIIIIIIINE!

This was one of the blends I added to my wish list right after I discovered BPAL, because it sounded so damn good. Unfortunately, since then I've discovered that clove and I are not very good friends. So I was wary to begin with. But I figured I'd give it a try, because you never know, right? Well, Blood Kiss, on me, is incense and cherries, and while I'm a fan of incense, I don't like it ON me. And the cherries on top of the incense, just . . . no. I think I'd like to smell this one on someone else, but it's not something I'd wear.

As I've noted before, I'm crap at picking out floral notes, so I think of florals in terms of color. That said, to me, Evening Star is a beatiful white and soft lavender floral blend. If that top floral is moonflower, then it's safe to say I'm a moonflower fan. This blend is sweet and subtle; it has staying power -- I can still smell it eight hours later -- while being light enough that I can wear it to work when I'm in the mood to smell girlie. Another great floral blend. For a girl who doesn't like florals, I sure am enjoying a lot of the Lab's floral blends.

Incantation is the same dry on me as it is wet: woods and greenery, not total darkness but more of a dark dark green -- I think the lemon brightens it up just enough that it's not too heavy. It's definitely masculine on me. I like it enough to keep the imp, but I don't wear woodsy blends enough to get a whole bottle.

At first, I really loved Grand Guignol; it's a dark syrupy apricot when it's wet. But after it dries it acquires this horrible tone to it that I can't describe -- maybe apricots that should have been trashed a while ago? Rellyjean previously described a "really sharp fresh grass clippings" scent, and that's pretty close . . . we must have similar chemistry, at least when it comes to apricots.

Eve, to me, is nothing but fruitiness wet, and it smells really busy and generic. After it dries, though, it's a pretty roses-and-honey scent lightly touched by apple blossom. It's very pretty; I'm keeping the imp, but I have so many rose scents right now that I'll have to see how often I reach for it before buying a bottle.

Well, something in here doesn't like me. At first I thought it was the cocoa, because Velvet almost had the same pencil shaving tone as Bliss on me, but that calmed down. I think it's the combo of sandalwood and myrrh that's not agreeing with my chemistry -- it's sweet in a woody way that just doesn't work on me. Ah well, I'll always have 13 for all my chocolatey needs.

HA! I couldn't figure out why I wasn't enjoying Mata Hari, as I've discovered I love the Lab's rose notes. Then I noticed "jasmine" in the description. Freaking jasmine. Sniff. The description of this scent, minus the jasmine, is that of my dream scent. But my skin amps jasmine so much that this is basically one tiny rose under a giant bushel of angry jasmine.

This is a sharp sharp floral, both in the imp and on my skin. I want to say it's jasmine, but I haven't looked at the description yet . . . Oof, yes, I thought I smelled your nastiness, jasmine OF DOOM. Eeeurgh. And I can smell a little of the lemon and sandalwood; if it weren't for the jasmine, I would probably love this scent. But no, off to the swaps with you.