Alainn

I nearly blind-ordered a bottle of this because it sounded wonderful, but I didn't because I was afraid of the leather. I needn't have worried, because this is delicious, and I don't think one bottle will be enough. This starts out WHOAPINE and clove, with a spicy carnation and sweet vanilla background. As time goes on, the pine calms down and lets the carnation/clove combo to come forward and balance everything out, and even later, the musk warms up and turns this into a warm cloud around me, like I'm wearing the world's most snuggly sweater while walking through a snowy pine forest. In case you couldn't tell, I love it It's been bugging me since I first sniffed it in the vial, and I've finally figured out what this reminds me of--it's the sweeter, lighter cousin of Raven Moon, a blend I hoarded a bottle of in order to huff it periodically, until I swapped it away to someone who could actually wear it because it was a tad dry on my skin for me to pull off. It also reminds me to a lesser degree of Inez, with its slightly powdery vanilla/carnation/wood combo. If any of these are among your likes, you would probably enjoy Sylvia a great deal. She's one special vamp

I hate to be a downer, but this blend made me sad. Wet, it was all patchouli, creamy coconut, cardamom, and a nice smoky note from the copal, and the combo was amazing. But as happens sometimes with certain types of amber (such as the type found in Sin, which did the same thing), this turns into armpit on my skin. So then I was left with cardamom, creamy coconut, and armpit, which unfortunately an even worse combo than it sounds. I scrubbed it off and smothered it with Black Butterfly Moon, and even then kept getting whiffs of B.O for hours afterward. So, in the plus column, it has staying power, and respectable throw...

This is so surprisingly nice. Roses and I don't usually get along; they have a tendency to turn bitter, sour, or powdery on my skin, depending on what they're blended with. But plum is unfailingly wonderful on me, and has saved blends that otherwise would never have worked, and the rest of these are some of my favorites, so I rolled the dice...and I'm so glad I did. In the imp, it's rosy plum candy, extra sweet, with a tiny bite from the bergamot. It's pretty much the same fresh on skin, candy-sweet with bergamot dancing in and out for few minutes and keeping it from being completely saccharine. Drying down, the sandalwood amps up and does its best pencil-shavings impression, but luckily it quickly settles into a slightly powdery, incense-y background note. The rose and plum settle back, into a bed of delicious, resinous oudh (Can I take a moment to profess my undying love for oudh here? It's delicious, and absolutely indescribable. I can never get enough of it, it smells like pure magic to me.) It spends a long time this way, just a cloud of rose-tinged oudh with a subtle plum and incense backdrop floating around me and making me smile. So, so pretty. With the way this behaves on my skin, I don't really get the 'snooty' aspect of this blend, although I'm definitely not complaining. It actually reminds me more of some attars I've smelled on Indian and middle eastern friends of mine. It's completely lovely, and I'm keeping this imp and considering a bottle.

Red musk is amazing, and one of my favorite notes. Some ideas: GC (impable): Scherezade--red musk + spices Le Lethe--red musk, amber, tobacco, spice Snake Oil--this is very vanilla, red musk-y and patchouli on me, although there are so many components that it smells really different on everyone LE (harder, but not impossible to find): Mme Moriarty--plum, pomegranate, vanilla, patchouli, red musk (very popular around here) Witch Dance--smoke, incense, leaves, and red musk Smut--musk (heavy on the red, IMO), booze, and sugar Good Luck! ETA--There is a red musk thread around here somewhere, although the link in the "common recommendations" thread seems to be broken. But if you can find it, I'm sure there will be lots of ideas there.

I've tried Elegba, which was okay, but not very coconut to my nose, and Harigata II scares me with the anise note--me no likey. BUT, Paper Kite sounds fantastic, and right up my alley--I love pepper, and the combo sounds so intriguing. Onto the wishlist it goes. And I'm waiting..very impatiently...for my decant of So Below. I hope it's as awesome on me as reviews lead me to believe, because if it is, I will buy eleventy-billion bottles Thanks for the suggestions!

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I'm looking for BPALs with a toasted coconut note. Regular coconut is really meh on my skin and tends to either turn to plastic or die a quick death on my skin, but I recently tried an imp of Blood Pearl that I was gifted, and the toasty, husky coconut in that one is TO DIE FOR. That is, the occasional whiffs I get of it underneath the smother-y orris that kills all the things (I amp orris in a major way). So while that particular blend is not for me, I must have more toasted coconut! If I could find that note again--hopefully without booze, frankincense, or honey, my top three notes of doom and despair--I would be in heaven Halp?

Arana was everything I was hoping it would be, and more. I was heartbroken when The Antikythera Mechanism was way too dark and slightly sour on me--I think the tobacco + teak combo combined to create something weird and sharp, but even though it didn't work for me, I fell in love with the black vanilla note used, and I've been looking for it ever since. Arana is basically black vanilla single-note on me, which sounds like it would be boring...but is isn't. It's wonderful. It has just enough benzoin to keep it from smelling too cologne-y, which this vanilla sometimes does. Benzoin can amp to saccharine-like proportions for me and ruin things that I would otherwise like, so this is a surprise victory for me. I really get no discernible oak or agarwood, although I'm sure they're working in the background to deepen and ground the blend. Hopefully some age will bring out the woods a bit more, but if it doesn't I'm already perfectly happy with it as it is. It also makes a fantastic layering note. I'm debating buying a backup before this one vanishes.

The East--The scent of the winds beyond the wall: bluebonnet, passion flower, freesia, jasmine tea, mint, thyme, and redcurrant. I personally can't handle many fruits (turn to plastic) or florals (turn unbearably sharp and trigger headaches), so this is obviously biased due to my wacky skin chemistry, but it's my current favorite in this category. It's a really beautiful unique floral, without being high-pitched, and the mint and thyme ring a little green-ness to it. The redcurrant is just fruity enough to round everything out. I had the same problem with Titania..really pretty for the thirty seconds it lasted, and then it disappeared, as so many things do on my skin.

I...actually agree with this, surprisingly. This was the first of the decants that really caught my attention when I received my package from the awesome malibusunny's decant circle, and after I sniffed the rest, I went back and tried this first. It goes on almost alarmingly minty, but it's a really nice mint, and it tones down pretty quickly. As it fades, the ambergris strengthens, doing its (really hard to describe) ambergris thing and grounding everything, and adding an earthy, marine element. The rest of the notes add support and round the blend out, but are somewhat difficult to pick out individually; it's very well-blended, and it captures the essence of its namesake beautifully, in my opinion. It's light and clean, but still complex, and has a lot of depth. I wouldn't describe it as masculine--I find it to be very unisex, and really refreshing. I can see myself wearing this a lot during the 90+ degree days of Florida summer, and I've already ordered a bottle. My only complaint is its lasting power, which isn't great, but since I love the minty kick it opens with I don't mind re-applying, and hopefully some age will help in this area as well.

This is one of those oils that serves to remind me how important it is to skin-test everything that comes into my hands, because the smell in the vial can be very deceiving. In the imp: Yikes! I don't even know how to describe this one. I get each component individually--warm myrrh, rounded out by sweet sassafrass, with a kick of spice from the nutmeg, and a high, sharp note from the opium poppy. These notes seem so inharmonious, even though I like them each individually, so I'm a little scared to put this on my skin. Wet, on skin: This is not a pretty wet phase for me. The opium poppy is high and sharp and very "perfumey," for lack of a better word, although the other notes are trying valiantly to make themselves heard. Behind it, the sassafrass is syrupy-sweet, with a spicy edge. It smells like a big stinky vase of flowers floating in spicy homemade rootbeer. Dry: it takes about an hour of mouth-breathing to get there, but all of a sudden as I'm typing I start to get these whiffs of warm, sweet, spicy myrrh. The poppy finally said what it needed to say and receded into the background, and the myrrh warmed up to round out the sticky-sweet sassafrass. The nutmeg is still there, but instead of smelling like a spice cupboard, it just adds a slightly bitter edge that gives the blend complexity. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really, really like this once it's had a chance to figure out how to work together. The comparisons to YSL Opium are apt; my mother was, and is, a big Opium fan, and this, on me, is a lighter, sweeter, simpler version of that. For the positive association alone, I find this oddly comforting, and will definitely have to hold on to the imp, and possibly track down another for my mom to try.

Received in a swap with a forumite, vintage unknown. I'll be honest, this has been sitting in the "to be tested" pile for a long time because honey and coconut usually hate me, but I'm alphabetically testing all the random imps I have lying around, and it's next in line, whether I like it or not. In the imp: Creamy smooth almond, sweet, sticky fig, a hint of green from the fig leaf, and warm, dry woods. There's a lot going on here--I can't specifically pick up the coconut or the honey, which makes me happy, but the overall impression is really warm and sweet and comforting. Wet, on skin: Almond, tempered by coconut, I think--it isn't the sharp extract variety from Bastet or Hecate, but just a hint of nuttiness that warms things up. The fig is there, lending the whole thing a dark, sticky feeling without screaming fruity at all. The sandalwood is a little sharp--hopefully that calms down as it dries. Dry: This is gorgeous, and a wonderful surprise success for me. The whole thing comes together to form this warm, slightly sweet, creamy scent with the wood grounding it and keeping it from being too foody. It has decent throw, but isn't overwhelming; it feels like a blend that would be appropriate for a cozy sweater or a an airy sundress, and everything in between. It's so comforting, and manages to be sensual at the same time. Bottle? Yes. Bottle bottle bottle.

This smelled really delicious in the vial: slightly floral, woody, and warm. But...did I get a mis-marked vial? The notes listed don't mention cinnamon, but my skin welted very quickly when I put this on the back of my hand. I think I can smell it in there too, although I can't be sure, as it's very faint. As the only skin allergy I'm aware of having is to cinnamon-containing oils, this is more of a warning to others with allergies than a proper review--be cautious with this one.

A frimp with a recent lab order. With my history with fruit and booze notes, I'm not expecting much success with this one, but I try to test everything that comes my way, so on it goes. In the imp: Sweet, boozy apricot. Fresh and naughty all at once, and pretty much exactly what it says it is. Wet, on skin: Sweet apricot at first--my nose keeps telling me peach, which I suppose is in the same family. After a moment, the brandy starts to warm up, but never becomes very present on my skin. At this stage it's mostly fruit with a faint whiff of alcohol--which is good, because alcohol usually turns really sour on me really quickly. Dry: Apricot-scented plastic...pretty much what I always get with the lab's fruit notes. It smelled awesome for about five minutes, and then turned into a cheap scented candle. Luckily, my skin ate it within an hour, so no one else had to find out how horrible apricot smells on me I really like this...but it doesn't like me, it seems. No shock there, unfortunately. I think I'll dump this little guy into my oil burner--I'll bet it will make a fabulous rooms scent.

I actually love violet scents...but this one is all violet, all the the time. I was hoping for some of the minty and green notes that others are reporting, but all I get here is violet--perhaps I amp it? It's not something I've tested sufficiently as a note to know for sure, but I'm beginning to suspect that, like most strong florals, it simply takes over everything. Why do flowers hate me when I love them so? On me this is pretty one-dimensional, and it gets sweeter the longer it sits on my skin, which I'm not loving. Probably not for me, but the search for a violet scent that works for me will continue.

In the Imp: Amber-y floral, with a nice green sappy note behind it. This smells really good! I love amber, but most florals do weird things on my skin, so...here's hoping. Wet, on Skin: Pretty much the same; the floral takes over, but it's not a screeching floral so much as a soft, classic floral, to my nose. I can pick out the apple blossom clearly, and a hint of spice from the carnation if I really look for it. I don't specifically know what myrtle smells like, but I assume it's adding to the overall "flowery" feel of the blend. Dry: The ambers begin to warm up, and this reminds me of a very classic perfume, something that ladies of a certain age might enjoy. But, very quickly and not unexpectedly, the florals become VERY powdery, and the whole thing dies a sickly powdered death on my skin within an hour. Another attempt at, and failure of, a promising floral blend. Le sigh...

Sourced from a forum sale, so I'm unsure how old my imp is. In the imp: Ooh, juicy peach! With a floral edge, no woods to speak of. Wet, on skin: Wow, this one is STRONG. I'm getting a bit of a bug-spray vibe while this is wet, which feels like the rosewood and osmanthus attempting to gang up to smack down all the other notes. I still don't smell any sandalwood, which is strange given that most of the other reviews mention how woody this blend is. The peach is really juicy and fresh, and seems to be keeping the florals from piercing my brain. It puts me in mind of Persephone a bit at this point, with its fruity/rose essence, although the fruit here is sweet peach instead of bright orange. Dry: Ugh. Apparently my skin (or my nose?) can't tell the difference between rose and rosewood, because dry, all I'm getting from this is roses, and they aren't playing nice. It's turned sour and amped up to crush everything in its path. I was hoping the vanilla and sandalwood would temper everything else to make this wearable for me, but they never showed up, and the icky rose(wood) staged a coup and defeated all other notes. Very disappointing. I've been searching for a peach scent to love and pet and call my own, and sadly, this isn't it. Swap box!

Source: Imp from forum, vintage unknown. In the imp: Honey and booze--uh oh. I'm a little scared of this one, I won't lie. Wet on skin: Good lord the WINE. It's strong, and doing it's best to smother everything else. It's King Wine All-the-Time, and it's vaguely nauseating--it reminds me not so much of a freshly poured glass of cabernet as it does the sour reek that comes from your pores after a night of heavy drinking. Let's see if I can get through to drydown. *mouth-breathes* Dry: Better, but not much. The wine finally sat down and shut up, though he's not happy about it. A powdery floral comes out, lightening everything considerably, but the honey starts to amp to high heaven, as it always does for me, leaving an aspartame-y film in the back of my throat that takes me back to nausea-ville. I had to wash this one off after about an hour, as I just couldn't stand it any longer. It's not a bad scent in and of itself, and it's probably great on someone who can wear wear wine and honey notes, but it definitely isn't for me. Pass.

This was a frimp from a recent lab order. In the imp: Sweet berries with a slightly herby background. Wet, on skin: Sweet berry candy, with an incense-y kick. The herbal note is still there, but it's not very prominent in the wet stage. Dry: Yep, berry sweettarts. Berries rarely translate well on my skin, and this is no exception, unfortunately. It's really, overly sweet and artificial-smelling (I amp sweet notes like crazy though), still with a breath of incense behind it to make it a little more interesting. It actually smells almost exactly like the scent that wafts out at me when I open my perfume box: sweet + green + incense. Very much generic BPAL, to my nose. It probably smells great on someone, but it isn't me.

Oh, Alice, how I wanted to love you. Everyone else loves you, so why can't I? In the imp: Milky honey and faint floral sweetness. Wet, on skin: Milk, a little honey, and light rose. Smells like a freshly bathed baby in her Sunday dress, complete with hairbows and frilly pantaloons. Adorable. Dry: Is that the carnation? Yay, I love carnation...Wait, what? No--yes--it's the BABY POWDER OF DOOOOOOM. Still brings to mind a baby, but now it's a mischievous one who found the baby powder shaker, dumped it out, and rolled around in it. This kid is covered in baby powder, and so is her frilly dress. Mommy isn't going to be happy. It looks like we're going to miss Sunday school today, kids! I'll have to try this one again to be sure but, alas, it appears Alice is off to the swaps. Hopefully someone else will love her like I can't.

I received this in decant form from another forumite, so it is probably somewhat aged, although I have no way of knowing exactly how old it is. In the imp: Amber, cedar, sandalwood. Delicious sweet resins + wood. Yes, please! Wet on skin: Wow. HELLOOOOOO CEDAR, nice to meet you. Oh, you brought sandalwood with you? Cool. Let's party. But, umm, can you keep it down a little? We have neighbors. Dry: Thanks for coming, amber, you smell beautiful tonight. And you're so SWEET! I'm glad to see you and cedar and sandalwood are getting along so well. Did you bring some resin-y friends with you? Wow, they sure are quiet. And wasn't patchouli supposed to come out tonight? Oh, there he is, just sitting on the couch, watching everyone. Alright, I can deal with that. Later the same evening: Wow, that patchouli sure gets louder the longer he hangs out--he must have really gotten comfortable here, because he's kinda drowning everyone else out. I wish he and amber would stop yelling at each other across the room like that. There are other people at this party. Right? No? They left? I didn't realize this was such an intimate affair. The next morning: Wow, you guys really don't know when to quit, do you? You come over, you hold a screaming match that drives everyone else away, then you hook up in my bed and leave your scent all over my sheets. Yes, you're both sweet and wonderful and I love you unto death, but seriously guys, it's time to go. Off to shower...

I love everything that I've tried so far from Steamworks, and this is no exception. This was a lab-fresh imp, received only days ago. In the imp: Freshly polished furniture Wet on skin: Seriously, freshly polished furniture. Lemon pledge on a newly-carved cedarwood chest. The verbena is very strong, and I think I smell orange in there as well. I love citrus, so I don't really find it off-putting, although others may not appreciate the cleaning-supply smell while fresh. Dry: The amber shows up, the citrus stops shouting, and the cedar recedes into the background, leaving a warm, vaguely lemon-ish woody delicious scent wafting around me. As usual, amber turns sweet and loud on my skin, which I enjoy, and it saves this scent from leaning too masculine for me. I would call it unisex, as it would probably smell wonderful on a man--not my man, since amber = baby powder on him--but some man, somewhere, would probably really enjoy this. It feels like a perfect wear-to-work scent for me: clean, bright, inoffensive, and invigorating, and I have a feeling it will only improve with age, bringing out more amber and less citrus and wearing the woods down to well-loved heirloom furniture rather than their current eau de hamster-cage chips. Throw is moderate, lasting power average. Would I buy a bottle? Definitely yes, at some point.

First review! In an effort to get through all of the imps I have sitting around waiting to be tested, I'm embarking on an alphabetical testing venture. Since this one falls outside the alphabet (and smells awesome in the vial), it's up first. In the imp: Sweet, fruity floral--I can pick out freesia and melon, but it's very well-blended and has somewhat of a "perfume-y" aspect, so it's difficult to separate it into its component parts. Wet, on skin: Ooh, this is lovely. It has kind of a light, watery feel from the honeydew, and the freesia--one of the few floral notes I like--adds a bright sweetness that I'm really digging. There's something a little darker here too, underneath it all, that keeps bringing my nose back to my wrist. The smashed wood and night air, perhaps? It definitely suits the green, glowing impression I expect from the description, with something a little sinister underneath. Dry: The amber and musks finally show up once it's had a chance to warm up, but they're fresher than the musks that I usually like. They add depth to the blend without turning it into a dirty mess. The "something darker" (not sure what it is exactly) has stepped back, but is still very much present, grounding the scent and keeping the higher, juicier notes from floating away on me. The florals have backed down a little bit, and the whole scent just gives off a fresh, glowing vibe that I really enjoy. It is, as others have said, somewhat more commercial-smelling than other blends I've tried, but I don't really object to that. This would be a really nice scent for a hot day--the throw is medium for about three hours, then fades to a skin-close scent for several more. I don't know if I need a bottle, since I don't feel the urge to wear fruity florals very often, but if I do, I'll definitely be reaching for this imp.

Second Body, Remember--it was actually my first LE last year when I started with BPAL, and found that all things coconut turned hideously awful on me...but that one is Boozy, salty-sweet coconut goodness. I have issues with roses too, and I've yet to find anything rose-y that doesn't smell sour once it hits my skin. And I love roses...it's very sad.