jenleigh

I got an imp of this specifically to try on my DH. On him, this is *really* sexy. Very amber/fir, with the cedar and leather coming out. He's declared that he "really likes this a lot", which isn't something he says about cologne often. (Last time he said it was with Jolly Roger, and he hasn't said that with any other BPAL I've tried on him.) So, bottle for the boy! Yay!

Straight from the twisted alleys of Dis, by way of the City of Angels: opium smoke, lemon flower, heliotrope, tuberose, black musk, vanilla, coconut, apricot flower. I'm not sure why, but this reminds me of Et Lux Fuit at first. Must be the heliotrope and lemon, which are in both. And this is very, very lemony on me at first - I was afraid for a minute I was going to get the dreaded Lemon Pledge effect from this one. It does settle down quickly, though, and the opium comes out, which I've figured out that I love. It's now a pretty and creamy fruit blend, and there's just a hint of incensiness in the background. It's kind of like ELF's darker twin in a way, and I like this.

When I read the descriptions of all the CD blends, Melisande was the one that jumped screaming out at me from the descriptions. Jasmine? Violet? YES. And so it's really no surprise that my instincts were right with this one, and it's really my favorite CD that I've tried thus far. The jasmine and the violet are gorgeous together, and the musk just plays in the background, grounding it from getting cloying or sweet. I definitely need a bottle or three before this goes away.

In the imp: Woodsy/herbal. Very light. On my skin: This goes through a brief "VapoRub" phase before settling down to a very green fragrance. There's got to be eucalyptus here, and I think also the juniper. This one is nice on me, but it's not one to write home about. I'm starting to think most of the really herby scents just don't work super, super well on me. :/

It took me a few sniffs to figure out what Catherine smelled like, and when I did, I grinned. This is very similar to Lush's Amandopondo bubble bath on me. The roses and the citrus from the orange blossom blend together really nicely. I don't get much rosemary from this, which is good because that tends to go a little mediciney. The imp's definitely a keeper.

Hurricane is definitely very evocative of its name. Someone else described this as "wet woods right after a storm", and I think that's right on. Very crisp, but also very woodsy. I'm getting less of the rain and more of the vetiver the longer this is on. This has a *ton* of throw, too - I get more from this than almost anything else I've tried. I don't know yet that I'll keep this imp - I think it's also one of those that will smell better on the Mr. than on me. I want to try it on him before deciding.

This was all red-hots candy in the imp and on my skin. Unfortunately, my skin started burning right after I put it on, and it's starting to get blotchy now. It lived up to its name, I think! This was a frimp from the Lab and is now going off to a friend who wants to try it, so there's a happy ending to it all.

This is beautiful. Jasmine tempered a lot by the cucumber, and the musk comes in and makes it darker, just a bit. I'm also getting hints of pear and what I think must be the lotus - just a little sweetness in there. My only regret is that I didn't order two bottles of this, because one is just not enough.

In the imp, I get this pretty, spicy, warm scent; the opium and incense are out. This has two stages on me. The first is "OMG MUMS." Very strong mum scent, almost enough to make me sneeze! Once I get through that, there's that spicy warmth again, with the opium and incense playing with the mums. I won't be seeking out a bottle, but I'm keeping the imp for the final drydown stage, which is really pretty.

Agony and ecstasy: black leather and damp red rose. I lurve Beth's roses, so had to try this one too! I get a very sexy rose from this - it must be the leather sexing up the rose note here. I know this is a weird description, but it's kind of like dressing up for a date with a very special someone - where you've bought a new leather purse, new shoes, and dabbed on some rose perfume. The leather stays in the background mostly but I get hints now and then. But yeah, this is my new "date night with my Mr" scent.

Jasmine and lavender are two of my favorite notes. So is it any wonder that I adore Bat-Woman and am going through the partial bottle I have like there's no tomorrow? This blend just screams soft femininity. It's almost got a crystalline touch to it - I think that must be the night air that's described here. Not snowy so much as it is the scent of a cool, crisp night in early spring. I'm going to need a second bottle at some point.

I'm getting more of the heather from this than I am the blackberry, and I had to check to see to see if there was rose in this, because I get a lot of the rose here, too. The blackberry does creep in from time to time, toning down and rounding out the florals. This really does remind me of having been in Scotland briefly as a teenager, and the happy memories of travelling through. The imp is most definitely a keeper, and it's on my potential bottle list now.

Somnus is strong, first off - very strong rosemary/lavender. It means business, as someone else upthread said. That said? It definitely works. I was out like a light within 20 minutes of putting this on. That's amazing for me, as I usually turn and toss for a long time before drifting off. This is definitely going to be a big bottle for me, because anything that works that well as an insomnia cure is a keeper!

This is really refreshing in the bottle - the lime and the mint come out a lot at first, and it really does smell a bit like a mojito in-bottle. On my skin, though, well...the seaspray in this comes out and it kind of drowns out that nice mint-lime scent, becoming just a bit too masculine-smelling for my skin to handle well. I'm also going to try this on my husband, and if he likes it, the bottle will be his. If not, alas, this is off to swaps.

Chaos Theory III: MXV. 1015, if my Roman numerals are right. I took a HUGE gamble only buying one bottle of this. The gamble paid off. This CT3 is an almost exact replica of Dorian, right down to its soft drydown where it's all vanilla tea. I had to double-take to make sure it wasn't actually labeled Dorian rather than a Chaos Theory! I seriously couldn't be more thrilled with it - most foody scents don't work on me, because my skin amps sugary and vanilla-y notes, but this one WORKS.

Oh, I'm so disappointed! This was a frimp from the Lab, and I read the notes in this going "hmm." "yes. yes. yes!" And then I saw clove. ; ; This is gorgeous in the imp, all jasmine and sandalwood, and lots of other notes I like a lot. I wish I could wear it, because I think I'd love it, but it's off to the swap pile because I'm allergic to clove.

Beth, honey? How did you manage to bottle summer so perfectly? The best description I can think of for this is "summer in a bottle". It's all sunlight and flowers and warm air. I'm getting lots of the heliotrope, daisy, and ylang-ylang, with some warmth coming through from the vanilla and amber. And I love it. I absolutely LOVE it. This has immediately jumped to my favorites list.

I haven't smelled any of the other Harvest Moons, but this one is just lovely. In the imp, I got a bit of the apple and pomegranate, with just a bit of the grain behind it. On my skin, though, this turns into a warm mug of apple cider. There's something that warms this and makes it "sunny", so to speak - I'm not sure what that is. I want to put on a big warm sweater and go apple picking wearing this.

I want to lick the hand I'm wearing this on. Oh, Dorian. You're a beautiful one. On me, this is all vanilla tea with the bergamot just creeping around the edges. I keep burying my nose in the scent, and I'm having trouble resisting drinking my imp. I definitely see what the hype was about with this one now. I love this. (And I suspect it will layer gorgeously with Breathe:Comfort lotion from Bath and Body Works.)

Maiden is what I wanted Alice to be on me. It's all soft florals, with the tea to tone them down. I haven't yet met a BPAL rose I didn't like, and Maiden's another one of those gorgeous roses. This one's definitely a keeper.

I'm going to treasure my imp of Silentium Amoris forever. It smells exactly like the white roses I had as my wedding bouquet did! It's very feminine, just a bit wistful. All I get is roses, which suits me perfectly. This is way up there on my all-time favorites list now, and if it ever comes back (please? pretty please?), I'm hoarding it like crazy.

Yeeps! I'm lightly panicking, can someone please advise? Was clove excluded from CTIII or not? I know that cinnamon, pennyroyal, and cassia were, but I don't know about the cloves. I'm allergic to clove oil (Lush's Skinny Dip shower gel broke me out all over, which is how I discovered it), and while I know there is a disclaimer about the allergies, I'm wondering about emailing with a "uhh, I'm an idiot and ordered a CTIII knowing full well I'm allergic to cloves"? I know I can swap it if it doesn't turn out to be for me, but I'm still in "omg omg panic!!" mode. Thanks in advance...

I've got two bottles of Mi-Go, and I haven't noticed this at all between the two. It's the same lovely fruity-flowery scent it's always been in both. Was the eBay bottle sent during that huge heat wave, or from a really hot place? If so, it's possible it was damaged or left exposed to heat too long during shipping.

I should've known with Snow Moon that pine scents are weird on me. That was one that I thought was a lovely one in the imp, but morphs on my skin, and I'm getting the same kind of reaction with this one. It's a morpher, definitely. I can't figure out what I'm getting from this. One second I smell it and it's mint, the next sniff it's a Pine-Sol kind of scent, and the next, it's a green herbal lovely thing. I'm hoping that with extended wear, this one will decide where it wants to be. It's lovely wet and in the imp, though.

Zorya surprised me. My skin normally amps up jasmine a good bit (which I totally don't mind, I love it) and in Zorya, I'm getting more of the spice and the musk than I am the jasmine. This was a pleasant surprise, though, and I'm really pleased with this blend - it smells like this should be a really super-expensive blend from one of the big Paris perfume company. Love it!