Sycorax

A sweet, light, aquatic rose. I am really liking this! It is surprisingly refreshing for a floral. Pity that it has very little throw.

The leather is certainly prominent! I'm not sure how I feel about this oil. I could see wearing this to psyche myself up for a night at the pubs, but I'm not sure anyone else would want to smell it on me. The strong, dusty smell of florals and leather is more empowering than appealing. Okay, but not a keeper.

The second I put White Rabbit on my skin, it smelled like sour milk. After a half hour, it was sour milk and pepper. And yeast. Yeast. At that point I washed it off before I started smelling like an abandoned bakery. Honestly, I really wanted to love White Rabbit. I love tea scents, and the idea of smelling like clean sheets is so unique and charming! Unfortunately was not meant to be. Either there was something seriously wrong with this batch, or there is something seriously wrong with the way that the lab's milk note interacts with my skin.

Herbal with a hint of citrus. This isn't a sugary fruity blend, though. Mantis is actually very restrained. I smell grapefruit, wildflowers, and clipped grass. There's a semi-bitter note in the background which gives the oil a little kick. ... honestly, I wish I had more to say! Usually I try to be more descriptive in my reviews. Mantis was slightly perplexing. It didn't smell unpleasant, but it wasn't the kind of quirky that appeals to me.

I suggest any Wanderlust oils that look appealing to you. Most of them really are evocative of the settings that they relate to. I find that they're some of the best oils for inspiring moods. Neo-Tokyo, for example, is all ultra-modern ozone and metal with a hin of sweet cherry blossom. Dublin is lush, dew-covered Celtic forests. Tintagel is metal and mulled wine and idealized mediaeval fantasy. Pick a place you'd like to write about, or at least a mood you want to project, and away you go.

Neo-Tokyo is a well-kept, beloved cherry blossom grove, bordered by great glittering office towers. Styish people with stylish jobs congregate there on their lunch breaks, and their life is better than yours. ... yeah, okay, so this review sounds like something one of the reviewers on Iron Chef would come up with. I get a free pass. It's Neo-Tokyo! Neo-Tokyo smells like what we'd all like the great modern metropolis to be. There's no pollution. There's no dirt or grime. Just sparkling chrome and crisp fresh air with a hint of well-preserved nature. It's brash and energetic and I, for one, think that it's gorgeous.

Ripe. Sultry. Decadent. Earthy. That's how I'd describe Gomorrah. It easily evokes an image of it's namesake. And that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's part of the point. There's something almost smokey beneath all that sun-ripened fruit and eastern spice. Ordinarily, an oil like Gomorrah would be far too rich for my blood. That said, it gets major points for smelling ripe and full-bodied without being cloying. Of all of the "earthy" perfumes I've tried from BPAL, I think that this is easily the best. Sadly "earthy" isn't really my style. I think I'll keep the imp, though. Gomorrah is lovely.

Harlot? Oh, I don't think so! This is far too genteel a blend for a harlot. I believe that it would be better suited to a nice Edwardian courtesan; an outwardly refined lady, who brings out her wild side behind closed doors and heavy curtains. That said, I really like this. Rose and cinnamon are both notes that tend to come out with guns blazing, so I was happy that neither note got the upper hand in Harlot. I suspect it has something to do with the types of roses Beth used. Harlot is light and refreshing, without being sweet. I'll have to ponder getting a bottle. It's nice to feel feminine attractive (not sexy, but attractive) without having to use a heavy musk or honey based blend.

I can see why people say that Bengal smells like gingerbread or chai. The honey slinks into the background, but it's definitely there, and cinnamon and clove are present and accounted for without being overpowering. Oddly, though, I mostly get ginger from this oil. It's a spicey, sweet ginger - almost like ginger candy. Skin chemistry is a funny thing, hunh? It takes quite a while for the ginger to recede, so that I can really appreciate the blend. I quite like Bengal, but I'm not so enthused about the wait time. I'll be keeping my imp but I doubt that Bengal will make my big bottle list, unless it does some serious growing on me.

Oh, wow! Virgin banana daquiri. This is fruity but fresh - a nice contrast to the extremely sweet fruit notes in oils like Yerevan and March Hare. After a few minutes, a vaguely aquatic note comes through to back up the fruit. This is not, I think, a perfume for everyday wear. At least not here in the north! It would get a little distracting, smelling like vacation all the time. That said, I thik this would make a very good room scent for the summer. Manila is one of those iconic smells that is very good at evoking a mood.

I swear, that when I first smelled this in the vial it was almost exactly like fig and dragon's blood mixed with... nail polish remover? Nail polish remover! I was stunned. BPAL goes bad on my skin sometimes, but I've never disliked any of Beth's scents right from the get-go. After I put Dragon's Heart on it became sweeter and more full-bodied. Yet that strange note never truly left. I think perhaps it might be that the musk is too agressive for me? I don't have a lot of experience with musks. Edit: ... after a few hours, the nailpolish remover smell turns to... furniture polish. Um. I think I'll wash this off now.

Imagine yourself in a meadow. The clouds above are grey and gravid with rain. The wind has picked up, and the fresh, crisp air anticipates moisture. In any other day, your surroundings would be verdant and peaceful. This is a day for the Phantom Queen. The Morrigan anticipates nature's fury. Phantom Queen is a light, crisp floral, but somehow it manages to be more than that. There's a sweetness to it, yet that sweetness is tempered by something sharp and ethereal. Somehow Beth has managed to condense freshness into liquid form. It's incredible. Just when I think I've tried all the BPAL imps I need to, I run into another mind-bogglingly evocative scent. I can't get my hands on a big bottle of this soon enough!

Apricot and plum! A few dusty florals keep this oil from becoming cloying, but they are mere bystanders comared to the fruit notes. If I had to use one word to describe Yerevan, it would be juicy. The apricot and plum are wet and vibrant, with an impressive degree of throw. Unfprtunately, all good things have to end. After a half hour I begin to get the "plastic" note that other people have written about in this thread. I think it might be one of the florals going wrong. Ah, well. Off to the swap pile.

Lucy's Kiss is lovely. Rose is the dominant note, but it's a sweet, light, airy rose. A lot of people tend to describe rose-dominated oils as "old ladyish", but Lucy's Kiss smells young and fresh. There's something about it that's almost virginal. The spice isn't agressive at all. I liked Lucy's Kiss so much that I was contemplating buying a big bottle... Until it turned to soap on me, after a half hour of wear. Damn. This is the first time that a BPAL rose hasn't worked out for me.

A lovely frimp from lovelyza! Crossroads isn't the kind of oil that I'd normally give a go. I've been leery of dirt and mosses since I had a bad experience with Jazz Funeral. Surprisingly, however, the scent comes off as quite light in the vial. I had expected something overbearing. It seems like a very well-balanced blend, with no one note holding dominion over the rest. Upon application, Crossroads turns into once of the nicest earthy scents that I've had the pleasure of trying. Ordinarily jasmine doesn't do much for me, but I think it works well with the dirt and moss. It takes five to ten minutes for the floral to come out. Once it does it lightens Crossroads up and keeps it from being too incensey. Crossroads didn't blow me away, but I'll be keeping my imp around. I can see this one possibly growing on me.