Quillifer

Oh wow. Wet, this is pleasant enough to me but nothing amazing - generic BPAL fairly masculine, resinous. However.... after about half an house - wow. Just gorgeous. Rich, deep, kind of sweet/tangy - like the best marmalade. Yes - it smells like bitter orange tastes to me, perhaps mixed with a hint of pipe tobacco. Clearly I have a confused nose but right now it's a very happy one!

Pain was one of the first imps I was given by my dear friend who introduced me to BPAL. I remember thinking then, "Well it's quite a powerful smell but I really can't imagine wanting to wear it as perfume". Over the next few months I kind of liked it but never really wore it much, and several times nearly gave it away, chucking it in with a swap. I am now so, so glad that I kept it! The last few weeks I've been ill with a heavy cold which is as serious as a bug can get and still but just a cold. Pain has been a real saviour to me: I find it bracing, comforting, truly medicinal, and really indispensable. I put it on my wrists then sit at the keyboard, and after a few moments the scent reaches me and it's like a magic pill kicking in. I find it lasts well for me. Sadly this is the only blend I know so far where lavender works for me.

Hmm. It's becoming clear to me that I don't like the Lab's narcissus note. A pity, since I love the smell of fresh daffodils, but I bet next time I get a chance to inhale that deeply I'll be able to smell the kinship between them. Anyway the bottom line is Signior Dildo on me smells mainly of a note I don't like, combined with hints of ones I prefer in other blends (eg Brusque Violet, or Lyonesse). This seems to be a blend that is interestingly different on/to various people. Well worth trying if you fancy it because of this variation.

I love the gingerbread note, but I find Snake Oil alone too - erm, too snake oily! - for me, and I enjoy blends which have just a little in (eg My Mommy in a Boat). This has too much of it for me: a little too sweet, - if I say too sexy that makes me sound a right old maid, but I know I can't carry this off, it would feel like a kind of pantomime sexiness on me. I do actually like the smell of this, I just know I couldn't wear it.

Oh god this round may turn out to be expensive! I love this too A lovely dark gloop in the imp, smells like treacle. Wet, like treacle and some close friends - a bit lemony, but more the oil of the rind than the brightness of the flesh; As it starts to dry, something very slightly floral - but that's not really the right word, it's more like a sweet thing you could eat that includes a floral ingredient. It doesn't seem very aquatic to me but I'm rubbish at naming scents (I only write reviews for jollies, I suspect they're not a lot of help!) Hmm. Think I may like the dry-down a little less, but this oil is really different, and that makes it appealing to me.

Oh I love this. Not sure how much I'd wear it but I do love it. Yes, once I get to feel connected to it as well, I think I'd wear it. In the imp and wet: herbal and slightly green - I thought of thyme and mint, but not the archetypal versions, and I think that's my uneducated guess at heather and peat. If you think of the kind of compost you shouldn't buy (ie peat bog) and Scotch, then you get peat! After a couple of minutes the red musk comes out to play but as the lab says, it twines around. I can detect white musk which I don't like but it's not strong. It works to give a hint of snow. Yes I think I'll want a bottle of this. If you wanted an example of the Lab's skill at embodying a poem in a scent, this would be a good one. Wordy mare that I am, I want it for that alone, but I also love red musk and this is an unusual and subtle take on it. If money grew on trees, I'd get 2 bottles of this. ETA it gets better and better as it dries down. I get hints of things like cream and leather. I guess that's the passion-warmed skin

Very disappointing - but it's my own fault because I was expecting completely the wrong things. (I love gardening in the winter but the notes I associate with that are quite different - I was just so strongly swayed by the title). In the imp - not a lot. Wet: lilies and something that together smell like bubble bath Dry-down: a more complex and rounded fragrance. Warmer - I think the poppies - and more grounded. I get no snow. I'm going to have to look elsewhere for the scent I wanted - but one that actually has the notes in that I want would be a good start, stupid Q! ETA in fairness to myself, I adore the smell of primrose, and keep hunting for a blend with it in, but this one seemed dominated by lily to me, which is something I associate more with summer.

Absinthe to start with and then ..... buttered toast! WTF? Nice. Weird but nice; not sure I'd want a bottle though.

Hmm, I seem to be perceiving this quite differently from some others. I don't get any snow at all. Mine is all warm brown fur, - an edgy fur rather than fluffy teddy-bear kind. There's something very slightly like dark chocolate to it, something a little salty, and it feels like borrowing the body of another species to wear it. ETA this smells a little like Sylvia to me only without the unwelcome soapiness, and much less of the feral metallic tang. I like this as a smell, but I'm not sure whether it will settle as being me. Have to see how it goes.

I loved everything in this apart from a burnt rubber note which kept cycling through, and which I couldn't forget even when I wasn't detecting it

Jasmine and baby powder on me. Makes me think of stuffy changing rooms I do get what it's aiming at though - a really sultry broad-band sexuality. It's just not me.

Ooooh yes! I was sent this as a gift in a swap and I LOVE it This is very, very me. I get patchouli - a smooth, glossy type. Possibly also sandalwood? Oh I'm in love, can't take nose off wrist! It feels a rather private scent - no great throw, stays close, more to wear for yourself or as a signature that becomes part of you. Still only wet on me - will add more to this if it changes much. ETA - something just a little sweeter is creeping out, a creamy orangey scent which I catch a little away from my hand rather than right up close. My only reservation is I'm not sure how long this one's going to last...

I utterly love this I get fresh greeny smelling pumpkin, very vegetable, as if you were chopping it, and then also a slight hint of creaminess. I wouldn't call it waxy or smokey but it is a little richer than just straight cold pumpkin flesh. Delightful

In the bottle this smells very very like Incantation. On, it becomes at first a much stronger, earthier vetiver - but then settles back into an area just in between these two. On first wearing at least I don't notice the other notes at all but I have a feeling I will detect these more as I get to know it - will update this if so. However I'd say you need to love vetiver for this, and not be hoping that the other notes might be prominent. ETA I agree that the throw is phenomenal - the most I've ever noticed.

This is fascinating. In the vile I find it really off-putting - smells like cheap shampoo to me. On the skin it transforms immediately into - well. It's a warm, fuzzy cloud around my wrist. It has that odd property of seeming to really be in the air around rather than on the skin - ie originate there. Different bits of the air smell different. At first it smelled just like a wild, dangerous animal's fur. Very odd indeed - and very nice - to smell that on myself! Then it morphed into something much gentler, including brown musk, and a sort of balsam. I don't really spot individual notes well in this though. It's so different that I'll take a little while to get used to it, but I do like it a lot and suspect I will love it PS I'm not sure about it. Hmmm. I do like it, will have to try it a bit more. It is interesting but there are so many BPALs that I love, I wonder whether I perhaps ought to part with the ones I'm not totally in love with just so that I can enjoy my favourites better...