pekeana

In the vial: I smell musk and sage, but when I pull away from the imp, I smell lemon peel on top of musk. On me: I smell the sandalwood and rosewood beneath a lot of musk and sage. No lemon peel or floral to be found, aside from a hint of rose that doesn't actually leap up and scream "SMELL ME!" This is pleasant enough, but I feel the beginning of a headache coming on, so it'll have to be washed off soon.

I'm still in search of a BPAL floral that doesn't get yucky on me... *sigh* In the vial: I really, really like this. I can smell the clove and the violet, with a hint of the tonka bean. I don't smell any incensey notes at all. On me: It starts off overwhelmingly clove -- there's nothing but the clove. Now, after a while, the violet comes through and we have World War III on our hands. Violet usually stays warm, sweet and smoky on me -- but in this blend, it gets sweeter and sweeter and even more cloying as the eternal seconds go on. After three hours, the violet goes bye-bye completely and all I'm left with is clove and tonka bean. And for some reason, it still keeps getting sweeter to the point I'm gagging. So, being glutton for punishment and knowing it had worn off almost completely, I reapplied a tiny bit. Bad idea. The second time around, it's been even worse. This time, every so often, I get a whiff of something soapy, and then it changes into something that smells like it's been flash-burnt, all on top of the gag-sweet. The verdit: I want to love it, but I just can't stand it on me.

Dragon's Bone, for me, is very much dragon's blood in the vial. But once on me, there's only the faintest hint of dragon's blood dancing across the top of the sandalwood and orris. Soooooo nice and simple, but very complex in its own way.

In the vial: Dragon's Tears is dragon's blood, but with salt. It's bitter, sweet, floral, and salty all at once. On me: the dragon's blood intensifies and the salty comes behind it and makes it smell very bitter. I'll probably try it a couple more times before I decide if I really like it or not.

I have Chaos Theory XIII. In the bottle, it's sharp lemon and grapefruit -- so sharp that it cleared my sinuses right out. There's something green lurking beneath the surface, though, however faint. On me, the grapefruit and lemon stay strong for a while, then relax to let something green almost like grass and white almost like pikake or plumeria through. And beneath it all is a hint of sweet (vanilla bean?), and a hint of spice (probably myrrh). Anyway, it's delightful!

It's really strange -- I can handle cinnamon, clove, pennyroyal, peppermint, and saffron with no problems whatsoever. But something in the rose oils makes me itch and/or get the red welts that everyone else complains about with cinnamon and the like. I think I'm allergic to roses -- pity.

I had issues with Pride in the vial -- because of the immediate smack in the face that is rose. And when I put it on, all I could smell was rose. Then my head started to throb and my arm developed a red welt. I'm not sure if it was the rose or the narcissus that did that, but man -- it burned.

In the vial: frankincense and crisp rose. On me: rose and rosewood. I have a bad chemistry that sends roses into overdrive, so it doesn't surprise me that this is behaving badly -- and my wrist is itching, so I'm going to wash it off. *sigh* I guess I'm just not a good floral person.

Mmmm, I wanna nibble on my wrist right now. In the vial, I definitely smell the cherry and clove, but on the second, third, and on up to the fifteenth sniffs, I get the dragon's blood and the myrrh. It's very thick, heavy, primal scent -- very decadent and sensual, and I can feel the spice in the back of my throat as I sniff. On me, there's an instant, heady rush of pure cherry for about five minutes, then the clove overwhelms the cherry for about an hour. After the clove relaxes a little, I get the soft floral scent of the dragon's blood again, and the myrrh does a wonderful job of keeping it all grounded. I get a slight musk scent at the very bottom -- it might be a base note, or it might be the combination of my skin, the dragon's blood, and the myrrh. I can see where this would be a very heavy, dark scent for most people to wear, but on me, it's a very soft, light fruity-musky-spice scent. I'm not sure if it's the name that's making me want to nibble on myself or what, but dude. I love it! It's a very close to the skin, light fragrance for me, and I can definitely see myself dressing up in something sexy and going out to hit the bars and be a very vampy chica -- which is completely not me at all. Hee!

In the vial: peach, peach, peach -- with a hint of heliotrope and vanilla. On me: Amber, amber, amber. But on the drydown, the softer sweet vanilla and heliotrope come forward. The amber goes powdery, so it ends up being a very soft, sweet baby powder on me. But it's still delightful! This is O without the strong honey note -- perfect for those days when I don't want to smell like I just stepped out of a bakery.

I can distinguish patchouli, copal, and heliotrope in the vial... On me, it goes sickly sweet. Heavens only knows why, but the copal is strong and the rest of it is sweet, with almost a cinnamon-like spicy tang that's making me a little nauseated. This one was a quick wash off.

I got an imp of Blue Moon in a swap with clover, and boy, I'm glad I did! In the vial, Blue Moon is very much a sweet cucumber scent with a lot of greenery and earthiness falling to the background. It's a very complex and energizing sniff. Once on me and drying down, the cucumber takes a soft, sweet back seat to the herbs and greenery, and boy -- I can barely smell the juniper, but I'm sure that's what's keeping it grounded on me. The green is a very soft, pale, inviting green with soft, baby blue streaks running through it as the cucumber and juniper pop through once in a while. I wish I had been able to get a bottle of this, but I'll cherish the imp until it's gone.

O and Le Petit Mort are very similar on me and in the vials. The differences seem to be slight. At least to me.

As far as I know, it's the old-style imp with the ribbons & parchment tags as opposed to the sticky tags that we have now. As in "she went and tarted up for her date", meaning "she went and got pretty/dressed up for her date".

In the vial: I get lemon and something really musky or -- no, no, no -- civety. And then I put just a little bit on... On me: Instant dirty diaper. No lemon, no sweet, just... ugh. *siiiigh*

In the vial: so very, very floral. Definitely rose. On me: it goes very sweet and rosey, and then, boom. Here go my sinuses. Instant headache. To the swap pile it goes...

In the vial: Cypress, mint, and lavender. Very bright, cutting, and soapy all at once. On me: The cypress takes over, making the scent rather masculine. After a while, the lavender and the mint come back to play, and some of the florals decide to come for the ride. It's very pleasant, but on me, it vanishes within fifteen minutes, aside from the vaguest hint of mint and cypress on my skin. It's quite nice, but the Songstress will have to go to someone that can fully appreciate her charms.

In the vial: Orange, clove, patchouli, maybe? It's very light on top and dark and vicious beneath. On me: It's soft and pleasant, with the orange, wee spice, and greenery for about ten seconds, then starts smelling like a dirty diaper. Ugh. Can't stand it.

In the vial: it smells like a cross between O and Snake Oil to me. On me: Whosawhasawhoaaaaa... The myrrh kicks in immediately, and melds with something else to create a slightly spicy, but very warm and resiny base note upon which the ylang ylang dances very very faintly. I smell incredibly good. I would never have tried this if the Lab hadn't thrown it in. I'm so glad they did because I love it!

In the vial: green, green grass. This smells kind of like the "wild prairie grasses" that horticultural gardens here in the Midwest cultivate for the tourists. No berries, no floral. On me: A blast of grass and floral (possibly verbena?). Again, no berries in the slightest. It's not bad, but smelling like I rolled around in the middle of nowhere, USA, isn't my thing. Alas...

In the vial: Way too sweet, with just a hint of incense. Almost gag-inducing. On me: Lotus and nothing but. It's too sweet for my skin and it's making me nauseated. Time to wash it off and try another one. Alas, poor Black Lotus, you hate me.

In the vial: *droool* Oh, goddess, this is good. I can't distinguish any individual notes but the lavender and mint, but it's so well blended that it just takes my breath away. On me: The lavender kicks in immediately, chased by the orange and thyme. But then it all mellows out to thyme, verbena, and the barest hint of lavender. It's slightly masculine, but it's so delicious and pleasant that I just don't care. Utterly delightful. ETA: Urgh. This doesn't stay long on me at all. Maybe an hour, tops. But I love it so much I may have to get a big bottle with which to slather myself in the hopes that it might stay a wee bit longer.

In the vial: It took several sniffs, but then I could smell the fruit and everything else. For some reason, I had trouble sniffing it out. On me: It turns soapy and vanishes. It's not fair. I liked this one. Oh well.

I have a scentgasm every time I open the imp of Bliss, I tell you. I don't even like chocolate that much, but this is divine. And it stays absolutely true on my skin. I smell like I just took a bath in pure liquid chocolate.

In the vial: Oooooh, lovely. I get the peach and the heliotrope first, then a touch of the musk. On me: The musk comes out a little bit, but it's mostly fruity and floral -- sweet and airy, light and just... wow. I'm glad I took a leap of faith and ordered this.