Nia

I was so sad that this didn't work on me at all. On me, the scent wasn't long-lasting at all, and it quickly became soapy. I didn't swap it because it was the only swappable imp I had at the time, so I mixed it with my hair conditioner to see if I avoided the soapyness that way. The scent stayed just like in the imp: a lavender blend with a bitter, instead of a floral, undertone. As far as Voodoo blends gone, I have felt Queen working reeeeeaaaaally well, and this one not working in me at all. A question of body chemistry, I guess.

There's more to it than just chocolate; it smells exactly like Lush's Chocolate Whipstick lipbalm, that is, like a mix of milk chocolate with the tiniest hint of orange. The scent fades very fast, but lingers on the skin for many hours. 9 for lasting power, 1 for throw.

In the imp: a very intense floral, with an alcoholic touch. This smells "very BPAL". On me: it is pleasant, it is floral, and there is nothing special about it. This smells old-ladyish and a bit like soap. After a lot of trying, it turns out that some lilies (but not all) go soapy on me, and there is some of that here. This should work well with fans of lillies. I will have to make do with roses and jasmine when I want a floral.

This one was, very sadly, a disappointment. It's clean, it's refreshing, it smells of sweet lemon. But it is way too mild. Why can't a fresh, ginger blend smell like it means it??

This one surprised me by reminding me quite a bit of the commercial perfume "Sunflowers". It is very fresh and very nice, but the problem is that it lasts minutes unless that, as yesterday, the imp spills and I slather half an imp on. With such a crazy amount on my hands, the smel never became overwhelming: that's how light and fresh it is.

This starts as a very strong lemon-minty scent. It becomes intense in contact with skin, and it lasts forever and ever and ever. The difference with lemon or any other citrus fruit is a certain spicyness to it. It is probably too intense to wear on its own, but the aormatherapeutic uses must be fantastic.

in the imp: uh-oh. So this is what went wrong with Kathmandu: cedar. A bitter, medicinal, concentrated scent, which reminds slightly of Vicks Vaporub. This is not as bad as Kathmandu, though. I hate Kathmandu with such a passion that the cedar note spoils everything else for me. This one is like sweet Kathmandu. It does smell masculine (cedar and sandalwood together, what would you expect?) and that would not be a problem if the different elements didn't clash in my nose.

In the imp is sweet like candy. This smell is too happy to be named after death. On me, it is still sweet. The sandalwood is not overpowering, and after a while, the gentle mix of sandalwood and candy gives way to rose. It's very balanced and not at all "scary" as I thought it would be. Pleasant, and beautifully long-lasting.

I so much wanted to like this one. Sadly, on me it smells like something very strongly bitter and medicinal. Like a very bitter version of Vaporub, only it's not really Vicks Vaporub, it's just.... nasty. I don't detect incense, either fresh (unburnt) or smoky, and I don't think that cedar is supposed to be this bitter. 've never been so sure that a scent was meant to be swapped.

in the imp: lemony. Wet: lemons amplified! Later: This is odd for a floral. The lab's description mentions no less than ten ingredients, out of which I know the smell of eight. But on me, there isn't a lot to pick up, just something like lemon-scented jasmine and a vague floral haze behind that. I would like it more if it was more intense or long-lasting on my skin. Since Eos is also jasminey and gentle, I think they'd be good, layered together.

In the imp: very sweet, the honey is very obvious, the wine is detectable, and there is a bitter undertone. Wet: almost like the imp, only less bitter. This smells a lot like the boxes of solid, sniffable perfume in the local Archeology museum. "Sniff this box for a try of Greek / Roman perfume". As time passes the bitterness comes back, leaves, and plays around. Eventually it settles into something like honyed wine, with not a hint of floral. It's not bad, but I have quite a few sweet-honeyish scents (O, Queen) and wine ones (Kali, Wanda), and this one doesn't appeal to me as much as those.

There is not much that I can add, except the fact that pure roses are a problem for me because they tend to smell like rose air freshener or insecticide. It's very unusual that a rose scent smells on me like real roses do. 2, 5, 7 is no exception. The good thing about this one, though, is that it is excellent for layering with boring non-bpal floral fragrances. The problem is not the rose, but the absurd concentration

I have something silly against Rapaccini's Garden blends. I don't know, the descriptions aren't appealing, or maybe I just don't like the idea of scents named after poisonous plants. This is the first Rappacini's blend that I remember liking very much. It is a very pleasant, sweet floral, with a creamy feel. I don't mean it actually smells of cream, it's just my mental image is not fresh or powdery, or sweet the way food it sweet, but just soft and velvety. And as Rchll says, this does smell purple.

in the imp, it smells of... Buttery roses. This is not a bad thing. On me, it is the most complex thing I have tried so far. The mental image is of a square of the best dark chocolate, left on a huge bouquet of roses strewn on the ground. I want to paint the walls in this. After a few seconds, I get the wine and the rose becomes more important than the other flowers. Best Chocolate Scent, Best Rose, Best God/dess-Inspired . Does not win Best Sweet or Best foody-floral combination by a narrow margin. I must add that when I try several imps in one day, if the first one is wonderful or a disaster it influences all the others and I have tried this on the same morning as Hymn (which I hated). So, if I had tried this uninfluenced by Hymn, I would have been even more enthusiastic. ETA: Now I have a bottle of aged Kali. It changes dramatically. For some mysterious reason it smelss of bananas. Bananas, chocolate, roses. In that order. The bananas fade into something indefinably fruity and very sweet: the interaction of lotus, wine and honey? Finally, when it is completely dry, It is more clearly a lotus-rose combination.

I so much wanted to like this one, but apparently, every time BPAL makes a blend that is supposed to smell "pure" or spiritual, my skin goes bleh. in the imp this smell overwhelmingly of cologne. Not floral as in natural flowers: perfumey, as if it had alcohol. On my skin, the cologne was still there, but there was also something soapy and something weird, foody, that made my stomach turn. Sniffff.

is there a blend that smells predominantly of mint, but not menthol? the search function takes us to blends that mix mint with a zillion other oils, and what I want is something a bit like mint tea. Something fresh and at the same time comforting. And if possible, not a LE.

This smells alcoholic and fruity, although the smell of alcohol goes quickly away. The fruiy note must be the merlot. This is great, the sort of smell that makes you sniff yourself all day long (but this is definitely not a scent for the daytime). The only easily detectable flower is the rose, but it is not overpowering. The idea of rose-infused sweet red wine comes to mind. It's brilliant, delicious, even though the leather and the S/M inspiration had predisposed me against it.

on imp: yummy yummy yay yay. This smells like really good really expensive candy. On me: more or less the same, less fresh, more floral/powdery. It's kind of scary, like the candy from the proverbial stranger. I'm sure this is going to become a cheer-up smell for me. I'm doing my reviews just as I smell so that I don't forget. I must come back to say if it's long-lasting or not.

The very odd thing is that to me this smells mostly like lemongrass, especially in the imp. It must be the lemon. But no, it's the spicyness of lemongrass. On me the lemon becomes lemon and the flowers are more noticeable. If the "warm/spice" feel is musk, it's official: I like BPAL musk. A "bottle" verdict would depend on long long it lasts on my skin, as it is so gentle that I fear it will vanish in minutes.

The first thing that comes out is a traditional masculine blend with carnations of top. The visual image is of a gentleman with a carnation on his lapel! Wet, on skin, the lavender starts to come out making the blend a bit incongruous. I associate lavender with dreamy softness and there is nothing dreamy or soft about this one. Also, lavender is supposed to be relaxing and this feels very "awake". As it dries, the different ingredients balance well, turning into the initial traditional masculine blend with a slight powdery note. If I was a man (or if I wanted a man to smell of bpal), this would be the everyday, day-time oil and Casanova would be the "special occasions" oil. This is manly, fresh, and so wearable.

In the imp it felt as if something very sinister was hiding behind the roses. On me it smells a bit different, but the general imnpression is the same: something bitter and spicy hiding behind _loads_ of roses.

On me, there is a mix of fruit icecream (the plum), and strong perfume (the musk is doing weird things to the carnation). That is not entirely a bad thing. Later ther is a warm spicyness when the musk stops having fun with the carnation and they lie sensually side by side. This is not really my thing, as I woudn't go for such a warm perfume without more fruit on it, and I prefer sweet perfumes with a honey or amber touch, but as an experiment with musk, is more succesful than any I've tried. ETA: an hour after applying, I realise that this is making me feel happy and sunny on a very gray (literally and metaphorically) day. There is something comforting here, and the fruit icecream is more like fruit compote.

On the imp this is very fresh, very floral, with a slight sour /acid undertone that must be the rose. On my skin, the floral freshness is still there but a peppery note turns up. It reminds me a little bit of carnations. According to wikipedia, stephanotis is "Madagascar jasmine" but this smells nothing like my pot of Madagascar jasmine, which is a bit like a sweet mix of jasmine and vanilla. There is no sweetness in Eternal. This is a nice, not too gentle, not too intense, floral. It's original but not so much that I'd want more than the trial imp.

I'm dancing in public for the first time in two years tonight. My hands are covered in spilled Baoban Sith but I'm going to apply Queen on the bit that is neither neck nor shoulder, as that way I will be able to smell it, and one of my biggest flaws is tensing my shoulders. I'm posting this here and now so that I remember to post tomorrow how it all went * Whoa! First of all, you wouldn't believe how such a sweet scent cleared up my head. The dancing went great, the friend who volunteered to take improvised-looking pictures complained that I always looked as if I was posing, and The Boyfriend said that I was good enough to eat. Heh! It's official: Queen is my sexy performing scent.

A gentle vision of purity, goodness and virtue: white tea, carnation and Damask Rose. I tried this almost at the same time as Desdemona to try to isolate the carnation and see why Desdemona didn't work on me. Yes, this does smell like concentrated carnations, pleasantly spiced and amplified. And the funny thing is that it reconciles me with the Desdemona on my other wrist. Tea normally disappears on me; what I get after the first WOW of carnations is quite sweet, as if the roses were sugared. It is one of the gentlest florals I have tried, not because it's weak, but because of the hint of sweetness. It expresses exactly what the lab description says. Suffice it to say that this is what I wear when I'm visiting the in-laws, when I want to pretend I'm a good girl.