storme

In the imp: sweet airy floral. On me, wet: very sweet, very delicate floral. very fresh and green florals, at that. On me, dry: still a very light airy floral, with a sort of nectarish honey. Verdict: very pretty. perhaps a bit too wispy for me, though.

In the imp: nutty warm vanilla and sweet florals. On me, wet: warm vanilla and sweet florals - this is a heavy floral scent. On me, dry: still that warm vanilla, with strong heady muggy florals. Hmm. Verdict: this is enough like jasmine to make my nose itch. Pass.

In the imp: very dark-smoky rich earth - lots of vetiver and patchouli. On me, wet: lots of dark smoky vetiver and earthy patchouli, and a burgeoning lightness in the background. On me, dry: vetiver, and probably some other stuff behind it but mostly just vetiver. Verdict: Bleh, stupid vetiver. Ah well.

In the imp: mm, bright, yellow-green fresh florals. On me, wet: grassy green leaves and florals, very sharp and gardenish. On me, dry: grass green florals and spring freshness. A bit fabric-conditioner-ish. Verdict: Mm, yeah, I think this reminds me too much of my fabric conditioner. But it's otherwise nice.

In the imp: boozy rummy caramel. On me, wet: sort of a darker boozy smell, sweet and caramelised. On me, dry: the caramel and sweetness really overwhelm this - I can faintly detect the sandalwood and the carnation in the background, but it's deeply buried. Verdict: Far too sweet for my nose. The caramel just swamps everything else.

In the imp: faint, crisply sweet green apples. On me, wet: green apples, apple blossom, peach - lots of tart fruit, but slightly air-freshener-ish. On me, dry: still crisply fruity (mostly apples rather than peach now), but it still reminds me of a room scent I've smelled. Verdict: I think I can pass on this, but this is the nicest apple I've tried from BPAL. And the honey didn't kill the scent, either.

In the imp: white florals over spicy acrid resins. On me, wet: green and white florals over a bitter, spicy-dry incense. On me, dry: light, airy green and white florals - the incense appears to have vanished. It's mostly chamomile and gardenia now. Verdict: Hmm, it's rather nice, but I have plenty of clean-feeling florals already. I wasn't expecting the incense to vanish. I guess I'll pass.

In the imp: peaches and bitter green herbs. On me, wet: peaches and that bitter green herbalness and a lot of sharp lavender. On me, dry: dry, soft peaches and lavender and wood. Warm feeling to my nose, and slightly powdery. Verdict: This is quite nice, but I think ultimately too dry-feeling a scent for me.

Bought untested from lab in panic at discontinuation: In the bottle: Hmm. Tea - not a green tea, a darker tea - and orange blossom and woods and amber. On me, wet: light tea and musk and woods, but very faint. On me, dry: a dark tea-spilled-on-burnished-wood smell. And violets turning powdery beside it, sigh. Verdict: Alas, it was not to be. Violets are not my friend.

Bought untested from lab in panic at discontinuation: In the bottle: fresh-cut florists-shop flowers, green and bold. On me, wet: yellowy-green spring flowers, soaked with dew. There's honeysuckle and daisy and sweet pea and something a bit more peppery. On me, dry: a bouquet of freshly picked flowers in spring. Verdict: Gee, this is pretty. 10ml is far far more than I need, but it's nice nonetheless.

In the imp: cedar and dusty paper and a crisp, light musk. On me, wet: Wow, it vanished. There's a *hint* of a papery smell, but most of the scent went poof on contact with my skin. On me, dry: A very pale, slightly warmed-by-musk paper smell with a hint of cedar. Verdict: Hmm, a bit too ethereal for me, though I suspect it'll age well. Still keeping the bottle, of course.

In the imp: Oh god. It's Spanked, the boy version! On me, wet: leather and musk and warm creamy spiciness. Utterly devourable. On me, dry: Mmmm. It's mellowed a little, but it's still very much like Spanked - that warm, dark, spicy leathery yumminess. Verdict: I would have bought it for the name anyway, but this smells so good I go nonverbal from glee. And it's GC!

In the imp: gingerbread! sort of a butterscotch tang to it, also. On me, wet: mm butterscotch and spices. This is warm and delicious-smelling. On me, dry: stays sort of sweet and mildly foody and butterscotchy, and hangs around for *ages*. Verdict: Yum! I'm not big on really foody scents usually, but this is lovely, and the SO likes it, too. I guess I'll be holding onto my rollerball of this.

In the bottle: ooh, feisty and hot and slightly foody. I guess that foodiness is down to the amber and saffron. On me, wet: acrid-sweet-spicy. I'm slightly surprised that this isn't a redder oil - it feels like it should be cinnamon-coloured. On me, dry: Sweet, resinous foody-spicy scent. Quite nice, and much less acrid-hot than at first. I bet this will age beautifully. Verdict: I mainly wanted this oil for the bottle, since I'm a Leo. But it turns out to smell fairly nice, too. Yay!

In the imp: clear sweet plums! On me, wet: very sweet ripe plums. There's a slight citrusish tang, too. On me, dry: sweet sugary plums. There's a pale floral fluttering around in the background too. Verdict: I know people who would love this, but it's a little too sweet for me.

In the imp: oakmossy soap. Huh. On me, wet: very very soapy aquatic men's scent. On me, dry: soapy aquatic with a hint of spice and moss over the top. Verdict: Sigh, I was hoping this would be all moss and spice. Alas.

In the imp: oooh, fruity! strawberry and cherry and something a bit spicy. On me, wet: immediately softened and sweetened by the honey, with a very strong powdery undertone. On me, dry: ew ick plastic and powder, with a sweet sticky honeyed-fruit veneer. Verdict: Augh, augh, g'way.

In the imp: gosh, that's very pretty. Soft smoky florals and sandalwood. On me, wet: rose and sandalwood and a musky resin. I *like* this so far. On me, dry: Alas, it fades fast. All I can smell a while later is a tinge of a resinous rose. Verdict: Bah, this was lovely, but it just wouldn't stay around to play. Ah well, skin defeats will, again.

In the imp: faint patchouli and honey. hrm. On me, wet: wax and sweet honey and a soft oakmossy musk. On me, dry: mrf, this is really faint. I can just about pick out honey and musk and oakmoss, and it's nice. Verdict: Bah, curse my scent-devouring skin. I guess I will pass this along to someone with more co-operative chemistry.

In the imp: patchouli, cardamom, and sandalwood - very dry. On me, wet: yum yum almost pure cardamom, warm and creamy and spicy - delectable. On me, dry: single note cardamom with a tinge of hot cinnamon. Which is a pretty good thing, so. Verdict: I will definitely be keeping my imp - I think that just maybe this is a bit too peppery-dry for me to wear often, but yum nonetheless.

In the imp: sweet bubblegum lotus. On me, wet: sweet fruity-bubblegum lotus, slightly tinged with plastic. On me, dry: yeah, this is almost entirely lotus on me - I can get a tinge of resin, but it's not making this much less bubblegumish. Verdict: Nah, not one that's to my taste.

In the imp: powdery lily-rose with a faint-but-juicy citrus tinge. On me, wet: rose, rose and lily. Very upmarket-hotel-soap-ish. On me, dry: a very demure and restrained rose-and-lily scent, not actually too soapy but, well, nothing special. Bah, where are all those other notes? Verdict: This is very nice in a twinset-and-pearls way, but it's not really very me.

In the imp: sweet amber and musk and woods. On me, wet: ah, the frankincense, I can sense you powdering away in there, behind the sweet soft woods and musk. On me, dry: wow, frankincense with neroli and bergamot is not making my nose happy. Wurgh, citrus sherbet explosion in my nose. Verdict: Off, off, off! Not one for my skin.

In the imp: wow, that's wet-pale-fruity indeed. pear-and-peach-and-sweet-pea. On me, wet: wet slightly plastic-waxy fruits and florals. Slightly stomach-turning with that plastic feel, actually. Hrm. On me, dry: makes me think of vaseline or lipbalm or something. Very plastic-smelling sweet damp fruit. Verdict: Curses. But I have pear and peach scents I like, so it's not a disaster that this went weird on me.

In the imp: tea rose and almonds and pepper. On me, wet: herby almond-marzipan with dusty pepper. On me, dry: grassy herby greenery with dry dusty pepper and a wafting of sweet tea rose. Verdict: I'm being fairly picky these days, so I'll swap this - but it's not at all unpleasant. Just not quite me, either.