fiddledragon

Mostly plum, which goes kind of weird and musty smelling on me. I think I need to admit that more than a hint of plum in a blend is going to pretty much ruin it for me. This seems like it could be beautiful and sensual on someone who can wear plum.

On me, this was all fig all the time...a fresh fig scent like in Strangler Fig, not like the dried figs in Gomorrah. I was hoping for some cocoa and woods to show up, but nope; just fig. Nice fig, but I'm not sure I'm quite *that* much of a fig lover, so this one may end up in swaps. I'll give it some time to see if it morphs any with my changeable skin.

This rose doesn't turn into sour doom like roses sometimes do, but it plus the moonflower turn incredibly soapy. That isn't necessarily bad; I smell like I just stepped out of the shower after washing with some kind of really expensive soap; but it's not something that I'll want to wear very often. Using it *in* bath products or as a bath oil, on the other hand...mmmmmm :-)

Fig! Figfigfigfigfig.... It's a green, fresh fig scent rather than the sundried figs of Gomorrah. There's also a rooty, earthy note mixed in with them that makes it an incredibly evocative growing rooted plant scent. Something in it doesn't play entirely nicely with my skin chemistry, so I may need to look at layering potentials for this one. This plus a sweet vanilla or honey would be really decadent.

This is very lovely...an evergreen wood, which I suspect is mainly cypress rather than cedar as many people have been getting, because it doesn't turn to pencils on me. But it could be some random cedar varient that doesn't go pencilly. There's some of that patchouli-dirt note...appropriately enough, it's quite similar to Loup Garou on my skin. It's also reminiscent of a much less sweet Death Cap. As it dries, there's a bit of an herbal note that sticks out over the woods. It's not the kind of scent I'll wear all the time, but for dirt/wood scents, this is excellent. Very appropriate for winter.

I'd recommend Fenris Wolf, Anne Bonny, and possibly Lear. If he doesn't mind smelling rosey, maybe Rakshasa. I haven't tried it, but if Luperci comes around again this February, it sounds like a good bet as well.

I'd gotten this for my boyfriend, since cinnamon usually stomps all over anything else in a blend on me with its huge feet of harsh spicy doom. But while it is in fact really sexy and cuddly on him, it works on me, too! Wet, it's a kind of foody sweet cinnamon with the myrrh and copal adding tons of depth and warmth. As it dries some of the syrupyness wears off, leaving a beautiful sweet incensy spice. It reminds me strongly of some wonderful comforting food I've had at some point, but it doesn't make me *smell like food*. I don't like the Hello, I Am a Cookie scents, so this is perfect! It reminds me strongly of Chuparosa, but so much better. Chuparosa on me was delicate sweet honeysuckle, which was then tied up and stamped upon by very strong cinnamon. This has the two playing nicely together, with myrrh and copal to add their resiny wonderfulness to the mix.

Mmmmmmm..... I was broke when this came out, plus somewhat leery of the pine, so I'm very glad I got to try a decant! This is one of the more beautifully melded BPAL scents I've tried...I can pick out each note, but lotus is the only one that jumps out at me at first sniff. The pine is a rich dark sticky pine resin, rather than the sharp bright kind that my skin doesn't like. The rose turns slightly sour, but that means it'll smell lovely on me in a week or two, and it isn't a strong rose note. The amber is there but not strong enough to go harsh like it sometimes does, and the opium adds a rich, sleepy-feeling depth to the whole without being overpowering. It does go through this severely odd "roast meat" stage for about 30 seconds after 10 minutes of drydown. But otherwise...yum! I'm glad this doesn't seem to have been super-popular; I can probably snag another decant in swaps pretty easily. :-)

This doesn't change much from wet to dry on my skin. It's faintly coconutty without being overly sweet or suntan-lotion-like, with a base of warm milk. I'm not familiar with what shea smells like, but the sent overall is warm and round and milky. It's not particularly strong, but clings to the skin like a nice fluffy blanket. I'm not really getting any of the "water" note, which makes me happy, as BPAL's aquatics tend to loathe my skin. The milk is similar to that of White Rabbit, and the overall feel is that of Sudha Segara, though the two scents arent' particularly similar note-wise. I don't know that this will be a favorite, but it'll definitely find a well-loved place in my imp box. Edit: And wearing it for real after my skin-dab test, I get a completely different reaction. A wave of sickly sweet caramel and weird coconut envelops me. Gah! I suffocate. I'll give it a few more goes to see if I get that original scent back; maybe it's a monthly skin chemistry thing.

Wet, the mint is very strong. Unfortunately mint hates me; I'm glad I only swapped for a sniffie, as I'd forgotten about the mint. It goes all weird and sickly. But as it dries, the mint goes away leaving an incredibly glorious honey-sugarcane scent. And somehow despite my skin's love of amping sweetness, it's not a cloying scent at all, but a wonderful clear sweet scent, like see-through glass sugar. The orange blossoms add a deeper, sexier note, and the lemongrass keeps it fresh -- I also don't end up smelling like Thai food, as I normally do with anything containing lemongrass. The drydown is amazing, but I'm not sure I want to sit through the few minutes of minty death, especially since it's limited and expensive minty death. Maybe I'll swap for a decant. I now really *have* to try that new Salon with the honey and sugarcane!

Wet, this alternates rapidly between almond and cinnamon. I suppose this must be bitter almond, because it's not going death-by-marzipan on me, but it still goes very sweet; it's more like a really nice almond pastry with some cinnamon in it. When it dries the almonds fade, leaving a faint saffron-jasmine-cinnamon scent that's almost undetectable. I'm going to let this one age for a few months -- Bastet was total almond-death fresh, but is now a glorious spicy saffron. I think Uruk may have a similar feel after a while.

In the imp: rubbing alcohol and mushrooms. Unpleasant and weird. On me: It *feels* cold at first, like there really is rubbing alcohol in this, but the evil antiseptic note goes away quickly, thankfully. From wet to drydown it stays a lovely earth/mushroom scent. Delicate sweet white raw button mushrooms. There's a hint of sweet and a hint of spicy -- maybe pepper? I would never have thought of making a perfume that smelled like mushrooms, but this is actually really lovely!

Wet, Sundew was a sweet yellow floral -- daffodil and maybe a hint of honeysuckle or dandelion. As it dried, a sweet tangerine scent came out and overpowered most of the florals, which remained as a dusty pollen scent behind the citrus. It's somehow a *warm* citrus scent which I unfortunately don't like very much. I'll try it out a few more times to see if it shifts.

This is a great sweet fir scent. My skin seems to be shifting away from the turn-evergreens-to-air-freshener habit, which makes me very glad. Nocnitsa is fir, but isn't a nighttime scent on my skin, but rather a warm Christmas-tree kind of fir. I catch a hint of rich earth, and it dries to something like frankincense. Be warned, however, that *everything* ends up smelling like frankincense on me eventually! Anyway, it's a great fall/winter scent, sure to please lovers of scents like Burial or Black Forest.

Wet, and for an hour or so after applying, this a very nice lemony floral -- lots of marigolds and other big yellow sunny flowers. It's more lemony than I'd hoped for, but after an hour or so the honey peeks out more. The mead doesn't go sour on me like it sometimes does in Delphi, and instead is a wonderful heady honey scent. The final drydown is a pollen-y honey that's not so much noonday midsummer but more a midsummer morning flower garden when the dew still hasn't burned off the greass. I was hopeing for something a little less fresh and more warm, but I'm glad I have an imp. :-)

I'm glad I got a 1/2 imp before buying a bottle, because this wasn't really what I was expecting. From wet to dry, it's a dusty orange-peel note similar to the one in Fortunato on me. None of the other notes really get a chance to come out. It's a very nice orange peel, but just not really waht I was hoping for. It doesn't say "unconquered sun" to me.

Hopefully Azathoth works, but if not, try Sloth or Saturnalia, particularly if you already have a good idea of what myrrh or violet smells like.

It doesn't necessarily correlate. Some people are allergic to various fixatives and non-perfume components in commercial perfumes, and thus have no problems with BPAL. Others are allergic to specific components, usually florals, or some people, especially with asthma, can be triggered just by strong scents in general. I'd say just wear small amounts of it and stop if you have a particularly allergy-prone coworker who's being made uncomfortable by it. And seriously, if you're triggering someone's allergies, it's not a happy thing. I've had entirely too many episodes of people smoking in front of buildings and claiming that their right to smoke supercedes my right to breathe. A good friend of mine who's allergic to practically any kind of environmental trigger starts sneezing if he sniffs most imps with any florals, but isn't bothered if I wear very small quanitites of them, even when I hug him. And purely resinous or most evergreen scents don't trigger him at all.

You've probably bought it by now, but I'd say Glitter as well, even though I don't think it's a scent I'd particularly like. You can find plenty of other rose and jasmine varients quite easily, probably even combining them to make something quite a lot like Feu Follet, but if you think you'll like Glitter, there's not much that's particularly similar in the general catalogue.

Elegba made me smell like some kind of mixed drink with a cute umbrella in it, but if you like that sort of thing, it's a very good one ;-) Eden, for no sensible reason, made me smell like Thai coconut milk soup. Which, I mean, yes, a delightful coconut, but that's foody in a way that perfume really shouldn't be! I am currently wearing Blood Pearl, and it's doing something that I think might be what people identify as "plastic-y", or at least a close cousin of it, but I really like that scent! It doesn't say "plastic" to my nose. It somehow has melded into a whole new delightful scent where I can identify the coconut if I try, but it doesn't "smell like coconut", if that makes any sense. I do really want to try Obatala now.

Tintagel is very similar to Mars on my skin, though I actually like Tintagel somewhat better :-)

I actually didn't find Jack unpleasantly buttery, but on me it was such a perfectly precise pumpkin bread scent that it just made me feel hungry and confused because the *entire dining room* smelled like pumpkin bread after one little dab, and yet there was no pumpkin bread! I tried Pumpkin Patch #4 and unfortunately pumpkin seems to go very oily on me when it's not knocked out by bread and spices -- not buttery, oily. Bleagh. I still might break down and get a decant of PQ, though...ginger!

Eos, Twilight, and Chuparosa are my favorite honeysuckle blends. Twilight sometimes goes soapy, and Chuparosa does have a strong cinnamon note, just as a warning.

This is wonderful! This is the first love voodoo blend to actually smell sexy or sensual to me :-) It's a beautiful honeysuckle with just a touch of rose that isn't going sharp or musty. After a while cinnamon peeks out and takes over, as it often does on my skin, but that's somehow ok for this cinnamon. It's dry and spicy and very sexy.

On me, Fire of Love is a nice musky-woody scent. The civet plays very nicely with my chemistry, as it usually does; it doesn't seem to be that strong of a note in this blend. It's a very nice perfume, but doesn't really shout "sexy" to me.