aphrodite

Have I seriously never reviewed this scent? It's my all time favorite, hands down. I have 5 or 6 bottles and still snatch them up whenever I see someone is selling one. It smells like dark, natural vanilla spilling over dead and dying leaves while a cold white musk wafts through the air. As it dries down it becomes more white musk and the amber and cocoa show their heads a bit, but they maintain a hint of vanilla until almost the last gasp. If I wear it and just apply once and let it fade, by the end it's almost entirely shivering white musk. But I have bottles all around my house and in my desk at work, so that rarely happens. I tend to slather it on for two days straight and then switch after a shower. Idk what I’ll do when I eventually run out; I have several BPALs that I absolutely adore, but not one comes close to smelling similar to this, so it’s a void that won’t be easily filled. At least this year’s Dead Leaves and Desolation candle smells like Sonnet to me; I’ll be stockpiling so my house can smell like it all the time. <3 It’s funny that many people mention Lady Amalthea as a similar scent. I don’t see the similarities really at all, and I wear Lady Amalthea in such different moods and scenarios than Sonnet, but Lady A is possibly my second all-time favorite after Sonnet, so there is probably something there. If you haven’t tried Sonnet and you ever get a chance, do it! And then if it doesn’t work for you, PM me.

This was so close to being swoonworthy for me, but I think the French vanilla instead of a darker vanilla made all the difference in my decision to re-home it. I also didn't detect the lemon verbena at all, which could've helped. It reminded me of several Solstice Scents perfumes I've tried - I want to say Nightgown in particular, though I may be remembering that wrong. The vanilla is prominent at first, and then the blooms start to peek out. That all sounds divine to me, but again, it was the wrong vanilla to work with these particular florals for my tastes. It was a bit too pink and poppy (as in pop star, not poppy flowers) for me. I do think it could've grown on me if I'd aged it a bit, played with putting it on different pulse points in different amounts, layered it with something darker, etc. but I felt for such a limited blend it made more sense to pass it on to someone that would love it as is. But, dear Lab, if you ever want to remake this blend with a deeper vanilla and kick up the verbena a notch, I'll buy ten.

I really like this. It reminds me of a fig that's been squished atop some fresh rose petals and then just drowned in some warm, heady laurel honey. I had entirely given up on rose notes working for me in any form, but lately I've found it can work when it's with notes that I both love and amp - such as fig and honey - because it just wafts out in soft waves to lend some interesting character. I also think this scent perfectly matches its name and description. It's innocent on the surface but intensely alluring and sensual. I'm so excited to have a bottle. <3 The general catalog scents it most resembles for me are Laurel Honey and Queen - It's actually a bit like if you slathered on Queen and then dotted on some Strangler Fig. It also makes me want to run away to Tar Valon, but I first dived into the Apiary scents while immersed in WoT, so that may just be me.

This. Exactly this. Sonnet is my all time favorite perfume evarrrr so I wondered if it was just my brain convincing me until I just saw your post. I always describe Sonnet as a bottle of vanilla spilling onto dead leaves with white musk wafting through. The musk becomes prominent after a few hours. At any rate, this candle smells just like it and is freaking incredible and I plan to buy a million more. ETA: To reiterate the amazingness of this scent... I got my best friend fairly interested in BPAL but truly hooked on BPTP, namely the candles. She envies me because I bought so many DL&D candles last year and stopped burning them entirely around January, so now I have two left for this fall. (I started this fall with three.) Anyway the other night I left one burning all night, and the next day I told her. Her response? ":fiery eyes: Well, I can see you're fine, so I'll just go straight to saying I'm so disappointed in you for wasting the precious."

This is really, really lovely. In the imp I could hardly smell a thing, but I was in a hurry and everything else I'd sniffed today smelled like soap, so I just went with it. Wet it remained so faint on my skin, I was thinking it lived up to its name too well. But then the violets started to come out, and everything else sort of blended together so that violet was the only thing I could distinguish clearly yet reading the list of notes I could see how it was all there. Sadly, I seem to be wildly allergic to something in here. I'm hesitant to part with an imp of a discontinued scent that I don't hate, so I'll probably keep it and may wear it again. I may even try it as a room scent, though my reaction has been sneezy rather than rashy, so that might not be any better.

Ohhh my gosh. I bought a bottle of this last year and had a nightmarish first wear. I slathered it on before work - at the time I worked at a dog daycare that was not air conditioned and had an outdoor area directly off of the main dog area. It was a particularly hot summer. By the end of the day I had the worst headache and the perfume was a cloying, pulsing monster that was just sweetening my brain to death. But lately I've been re-reading Last Unicorn scent descriptions and trying to choose one of the three samplers to order. I just couldn't understand how that nightmare of a smell I experienced could possibly have come from something with Lady A's description. So last night I put some on my inner elbows (I already had the remnants of something on my wrists) about an hour before bed. WOW am I ever glad I dug this Lady out of the swap pile! It is misty, cool, purple mint. It is just gorgeous. Light and soft but gently wafting. It is so perfectly evocative of the character and it's just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I think it should actually be great in the summer when I won't be outside as much as I was that first day, as it's so cool and soft. It will also be magical on very snowy days. I can't wait to make up for lost time with this beaut!

wow, this is a mega morpher. when first applied it's what i'd hoped it would be - a sort of brain tonic smell, all citrus and rosemary. then it sort of fades out for a bit - it doesn't have much throw at the beginning, but at this point it really quiets down - and i just get this faint hint of sweet florals when i inhale deeply right up against my wrist. but then it deepens a bit and comes back to life as a very soft, quiet honeyed vanilla on top of ever-so-slightly-powdery amber. at this stage it reminds me of some commercial perfumes that i enjoy enough to be okay with in this quiet amount. now it's died down to the subtlest hint of fragrance and has turned into vanilla laser tag. ... all in all it's an interesting, very pretty ride. i'm not sorry that i didn't get a chance to buy a bottle, but i'm sure eventually my imp will get used up.

I get ginger from this at first. Effervescent ginger ale. Then it morphed into a thankfully brief citronella phase, during which I was ironically bit on the face by a mosquito that wanted out of my car. Then back to ginger. A lot of ginger smells dirty on me, but this one only toed that line, and now a sort of vanilla-honey sweetness has tempered the dirtiness away. I like. I don't yet know whether it's bottle worthy, but I like.

The lab sent me decants of this and Seance with my bottle of July 2012's 13. Yay themed imps! :-P I put some on before bed because, well, poppies. I couldn't put it on my pulse points as I was already wearing two other BPALs, so i put it on the backs of my wrists and tops of my ears. Thus I'm sure it won't smell quite the same next time. But it was enjoyable. I feel like it's something I would put on after work and wear to bed often enough to keep the imp, but not something I would put on to start my day or anything, so I likely won't get a bottle. I don't know how to describe the scent - a sort of languid, bursting floral. Now that I look at the notes it makes sense, although it's not as chocolatey as I think of acai and I usually amp honey but didn't really notice it in this. Mostly it was like big, wet, juicy poppies.

This is the first bottle I've ever purchased from the lab without having tried a decant first. I just knew. (Well, I knew there was a very good chance I would love it, and I knew it was limited and I didn't want to wait for a decant and then have to scurry to order it, so. ) First sniff: So freaking delicious. Dark, complex chocolate. Definitely some hints of dragon's blood, honey, and vanilla, but mostly chocolate. Wet: Same. Fairly close to skin, so I added some more. Drying down: Same, but with the other notes I already mentioned making themselves a bit more known. There's some amber peeking out too. Very close to skin - I applied more. And then some more. And then scampered off to the grocery store (by foot) before I could cannibalize myself for all the deliciousness of this scent. Dry: Unabashedly walking through the Whole Foods parking lot with my wrist against my nose. I'm in love. It's deep chocolate and amber, but the chocolate is like a dark chocolate that's been infused with vanilla, honey, dragon's blood, and a hint of saffron. Maybe one or two of the other ingredients listed, but my nose can't quite distinguish them. Overall: It's foodier than I could wear daily, so I probably won't buy a backup, but delicious enough that I will definitely be keeping my bottle. I woke this morning and it was still there (still very close to the skin, but with great lasting power) and was a warm, glowing amber cocoa. The way I wish Gelt smelled on me. I normally try to wear a different BPAL every day since I have so many that I haven't tried or haven't made up my mind about, but it was already there anyway so I applied some more. The patchouli thankfully doesn't amp on me (it tends to even in small amounts, but thankfully I amp chocolates, honeys, DB and vanillas), the amber doesn't turn powdery, nothing goes wrong. Again, it won't become my signature or favorite, but I will thoroughly enjoy using this bottle on the right occasions for hopefully a long time.

At first this was chocolate, and underneath it all I can still smell some chocolatey tonka-y goodness trying to come out. But mostly I'm getting the smell of the aftershave or cologne my grandpa wore when I was younger. It's not necessarily a bad smell, but it's masculine and evocative and not for me. I wish I could place which note smells like this, as it's not the first time this has happened, but I can't remember which other scents contained this note. Sigh. Off to the swaps.

I couldn't place what fruit this smelled like before I read here that it's blackberry. I was thinking a really juicy green apple, but I can see how blackberry dripping with a very golden honey would have the same type of smell. This is sort of how I'd hoped Glittering Apple of the Stars would smell - it's a bright, sparkling fruit, but with something vaguely dark and sexy about it. I love it and can't wait to try mixing it with other things - I think it would be gorgeous with Elf.

In the bottle this was all dragon's blood resin, so I was hopeful. I received a decant of this in a bulk purchase from eBay, so when I applied it I wasn't actually aware of the properties it was said to contain. But I have been super up and bouncy today, which is in direct contrast to my state lately and even in contrast to how I woke up. This turned into a floral on me - there's a flower that I amp unpleasantly, I have yet to nail down which one, but that's what this turned into - but when I went to review it and saw how well the properties match my mood today, I decided I'll be keeping my decant. Maybe I'll hide it under something honey-scented next time, as I amp honey but in a gorgeous way and it might be a proper complement to this.

slather, slather, slather! i know bpal says don't drink the perfumez, but then they shouldn't have made it smell exactly like the creamsicle drinks from Gloria Jean's Coffee. the throw isn't major on this one, but it's so freaking delicious i don't even care. i will gladly walk around alternating between holding my wrist to my nose and holding it to other people's noses going, "smell me! i smell like a fraggle creamsicle!" at times there are hints of a sort of gummy candy note, but the really good gummy candies that only come from asia. and it's just a subtle, wafting addition to the overall creamsicle, it never really morphs into gummy. gobo: it's what's for breakfast!

I got a decant of this in a lot I won on ebay recently. It smells like chocolate on me, straight up. A delicious chocolate, but I have some other chocolate scents already so I may end up re-selling this one.

ughhhh i'm so obsessed i could puke. seriously, this is one of the rarest scents, the kind that makes me want to throw away 3/4 of my "keep" collection because smells like this make them seem unworthy. in the bottle it's not all chocolate, but that's definitely the predominant note. i did roll it around a bit before smelling to make sure the chocolate didn't sink, as i've heard it sometimes does. wet it's still pretty chocolaty, but getting more complex. as it dries it smells exactly like Angel Innocent by Thierry Mugler, which is at least in my top two all time favorite perfumes that come in the traditional alcohol-included, spray bottle form. (I don't want to call it normal, because I don't think it is.) Note Angel Innocent is pretty different from Angel, which you're likely to be more familiar with, but if you know and like AI, it's worth trying this to see if it works the same for you. After several hours of this beautiful scent with a decent throw (I only had it on my wrists, next time I'll put it on my neck as well, but there was still some throw), it started to fade into a warm chocolate scent. If you've ever used BedHead Chocolate Head conditioning oil treatment, it became a lot like that, but so soft and close to the skin. I have a pretty massive pile of imps, probably 200 or so, but fewer than ten full sized bottles (and three or four of those are all the same scent. ) but I definitely need a full sized bottle of this. EDIT: When I wear it behind my ears I can smell the tobacco a lot. It's still a great smell but very different that close to the nose. It's gone through the same chocolate - angel innocent phases but with tobacco staying strong - I'm thinking this is one I'll wear on my wrists and inner elbows instead of ears. It's a very fresh, unlit, delicious tobacco, I just preferred the way it smelled before.

Meh. First it's a sort of weird blueberry on me that isn't entirely unpleasant but isn't really something I want to smell like. It eventually morphs into all lilac, maybe with some white tea, and it's just floral and powdery. At no point did it give me a headache or make me want to shower, but it's not my style at all.

These are a few of my favorite things! Every note in here is one I'm obsessed with. I really like the scent, but I do sort of agree with Orata that it's not unique enough to warrant a bottle. However, since it is LE I may buy a full bottle anyway and see if it grows more complex with age. Right now it's all vanilla honey, warm and sweet in a heady rather than sugary way, but with little glimpses of other notes peeping out throughout the day.

This is really delicious. I'm still working through my Yule imps but couldn't resist trying this as soon as my package came from TrailerTrashPrincess. the pear and vanilla are both strong, but they sort of take turns, gliding from one back into the other with a few minutes of overlap in between. it's true pear and true vanilla, so while it is sweet and foody, it's not cloying or overbearing at all. this scent would probably layer really nicely with all sorts of different things from florals to strong honeys. the only problem is it didn't last very long on me. but, i put it on at the end of the day when i felt a bit grimy and had been wearing other bpal earlier, so i'm going to try it on another day when i'm freshly showered and see if it lasts better. even if i do have to reapply, i could see buying a bottle of this.

I really like this one. I think I'll try it again in a heavier and see what comes out, but so far on me it's all pine and verbena. It may or may not be the most enjoyable of the Yules I've tried so far, but certainly the most wearable. Edit: I liked this so much that today when I tried on Woods in Winter and let it sit for two hours, I added a bit of Yule right before walking out the door. They smell lovely together - I feel like I smell like winter and ginger ale - but I think I'm allergic to something in Yule. I was sneezing a bit yesterday, and now again today. I take daily allergy medicine so it usually takes something constantly in my face to trigger this much sneezing, and I have had my nose to wrist a lot. I like the scent enough that I'm going to try to build a tolerance to it (and try to sniff myself less while wearing it), but it may beocme too inconvenient to wear.

at first whiff i was in love with this. delicate, minty, herbal, crisp, and distinct without being in your face. then the ozone and amber began to take over, and i'm not sure if ozone doesn't work for me or if it's the way the two combined, but after about thirty minutes it began to smell exactly like a specific car air freshener an old babysitter had. i couldn't say what scent the air freshener was, but it was the tree shaped generic type, and as the day wore on this became more and more precisely that. it's possible if i'd never smelled the air freshener, i may have liked this, but the correlation made me pretty much tear my clothes off to jump in the shower and be rid of this the second i got home.

ugh. whatever night flowers are in here do not work for me, at least in this combo. there's something i almost want to like, but mostly it's like an offputtingly sweet floral with crushed chalk and soapiness.

This is actually very honey-like on me, with just enough of a light woodland floral to keep it from getting overly sweet. I can wear it all day, unlike many sweet scents, because it's such a natural sort of sweet. It's divine when mixed with something sharper, like Elf or Belladonna. It inspired me to order a bunch of honey imps, because if they all have such a distinct honey sweetness and I can find one balanced with a darker scent, it would be sheer perfection. this was an unrequested imp and I am so glad I got it.

I don't know if I would've ever thought to order this scent, but it came as a free imp. I'm surprised by how it smells — just chocolatey — and even more surprised by how much I like it. It's something I can wear often yet I think it stands out on my skin. It's not sweet like sugar, it's sweet like deep vanilla bean. If you've ever used Bed Head's Chocolate Head hair treatment, it reminds me exactly of the way your hair smells after that.