Iceblink

Dragon's Heart was very fruity and sweet on me. I guess the dragon's blood is sweet to begin with and then when the fig and currant are added...whoa! Overload. It was nice for a bit but it's one of those scents that's too cloying by the end of the day. Reminded me of cherry Coke on first application, though. Mmm.

Snake Oil Light. Snake Oil that doesn't turn all funny after a couple of hours. Snake Oil with a touch of sweetness and a bit of peppery spice. That is Dragon's Musk, and it's sexy and warm and perfect! And thick--this is an almost sticky oil that leaves a very red smear on your skin.

Arrgh. This starts out so nicely (as others have said, very Red Queen-esque), with the cherry and the wood and the yum. And then the star anise takes over and it's the prettiest cherry licorice...for about an hour. And then it's mostly an oddly musty, woody smell. Come back, anise!! It's awesome until it gets to the woody stage, though.

Currants!! So ripe that they're nearly rotting, but not quite. And herbs. And some dates in there. I like this. It's sort of reminding me of something like Tweedledum, but dirtier. I'm not getting much figginess here...the currants are amping like crazy, though, and this has gotten stronger after a couple of hours. Mmm.

This goes on as the strongest, sharpest neroli EVER. Holy neroli!! A few minutes later I'm getting bergamot, which is calming down the neroli a bit, and orange blossom, to sweeten things up. This is delicious! I'll be on watch for skin irritation with this one (the bergamot) but if I don't get any redness or itchiness by tomorrow, this is a keeper.

Wet fruit is right (is one of those fruits apple?)! But only at first...after about 10 minutes, this faded down to something much lighter and I can barely smell it. The mimosa with a hint of flowers is all I'm getting now. It's ok. Might make a nice scent for laundry.

Oh wow. This is absolutely filthy in a good way. Myrrh really kicks in on me, so that's mostly what I'm getting, with the red musk complementing it wonderfully. And the patchouli's not overwhelming, thankfully. This smells really down and dirty! It's also really dark, literally--don't wear this with light-colored clothing! It even stained my skin a bit, and I'm not *that* pale!

I love the description of this and wanted to love the oil, but...Sea of Glass is a scent of inimitable nausea and limitless headaches for me. Which annoyed me because what I did smell was very fresh, light, and pretty. But "clean" scents and anything remotely aquatic just are not my thing.

Yerevan embarrassed me because I've always been a bit of a geography buff yet I had no idea where it was. So I had to try it! This is a very sweet, fruity blend--there's almost a honey note in here that reminds me a bit of Osun or Athens, but it's predominantely fruit. I think it's pomegranate and plum I'm smelling, because there's nothing here that reminds me of the very apricoty BPAL blends like Katharina. Just ripe juicy fruits! No orchid, oddly enough, because orchid usually goes crazy on me. Maybe with a heavier application it'll come out. Very pretty and late summer-appropriate!

I wanted this to be all clove, all the time, and it was on first application, but the clove got trampled by an odd buttery note (the rum?) that I just didn't like on me. BPAL's rum note and I don't really get along (see also: Grog). But oh, that's a gorgeous clove while it lasts!

I've had some odd licorice cravings lately so this oil sounded like a good bet. And oooh yum...it's beautiful musky licorice indeed with a hint of cherry (almost more like cherry blossom) drifting in and out. I didn't like Absinthe but I do like anise, so this is a nice find! And the color is gorgeous!

This smells so good I wish I had lice. OK, not really. But it's SO good on me. I'm always wary of stuff that goes all cleaning-producty, but somehow the citrus/lemon in this doesn't do that. It's very sweet and dessert-like, kind of like candied orange slices. The powdery aspect is there, too (and it is a little reminiscent of putting flea powder on your cat--but that just reminds me of kitties and makes me happy). It's all quite refreshing and light and pretty. And now I really hope someone asks me "What's that perfume you're wearing?" just so I can tell them it's Delousing Powder! Edited to add that this is one of the longest-lasting citrusy BPALs I've tried yet. I didn't even reapply at midday like I usually do, and I can still smell it without even bringing my wrist to my nose.

Pure lemon drops at the start, which is fading into lemon drops dipped in opium. Nice, and a unique combination. Opium tends to amp on me so I'm not surprised it's really kicking in here. The lemon in this doesn't smell like a cleaning product at all, which is a definite plus!

Beautifully sweet incense! This reminds me a bit of my perfume love of shame, which is With Love by Hillary Duff (shut up). This is a bit sweeter, though, and with any luck it'll be a bit longer-lasting as well. I'd like some incense that smells just like this!

Now THAT is some strong jasmine. Hoooo boy! Nothing but jasmine and it's taking over my whole arm! If you like jasmine, you'll LOVE this. If you don't, stay out of New Orleans!

This starts out as an astringent citrus, but the musk and sandalwood kick in after a couple of minutes to cut and warm up that extreme tartness. Most fruit blends are sweet but this one isn't really, and all the notes work together nicely. I don't know why I never tried this before since I love mango and white musk, but I'm glad I did! Great for late summer.

I was a little bored last week and decided to read through the GC to see if there were any hidden gems I'd missed on my first big imp-sampling spree and this was one of the ones that popped out at me. And OMG why did I never notice it before? The vanilla/sandalwood combo is a favorite of mine (I love The Mouse's Long and Sad Tale), and it's beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeautiful here! There's the merest hint of lily of the valley, which is about as much of that as I can take, and I can detect the mandarin too, but it's not too citrusy. This is very "perfumey" but in a good way, and very elegant. Tres belle indeed!

The lavender in Yvaine is so sharp at first it could cut you. I love lavender, so this was fine with me. The magnolia then comes out and it's quite subtle but calms down the lavender too. Really really pretty and soft and "cool". This might make a great bedtime perfume.

Ah, the three stages of Victoria: 1. Tea rose! Lovely! 2. Here comes the vanilla musk--that's nice; it works great with the rose... 3. OMG lily stomping all over everything noooooooo... I love the smell of lilies but BPAL's lily notes tend to go to eleven on me and stay there. Argh. A couple of hours later Victoria is almost all lily although I'm still getting some hints of the vanilla. That pretty tea rose is nearly gone. This is a really delicate, feminine blend though--if all the notes in it work on you it'll be a winner.

The concept behind this one is just amazing. It's a strong blast of damp grass at first, like you're standing in a grassy meadow early in the morning, and then POOF, there's the market. Sweet incense and a hint of sugary florals, and it's *beautiful*. That calms down a bit and a drier grass note comes out, like morning's turning into a hot summer afternoon in the market. It's fascinating. The scent itself is pretty light, and I'm not sure how I feel about smelling like grass, but this is one of the most evocative BPALs I've tried lately and my hat's off to Beth.

I had an imp of this for a while and although I liked it ok on my skin (tart fruits! I love neroli!), after an hour or so there was a sharp, green note to it that took over everything and wasn't nearly as nice. I have discovered that it makes a fantastic room scent in hot weather, though...that neroli and the berry note really come out and it's quite strong, too.

Strong, sharp grapefruit that I had to wash off almost immediately because my skin got very irritated very quickly. I guess I can only wear grapefruit when it's not the dominanting note in a blend, alas...

I wore Gluttony to a smoky club show once and all I could smell was me! And I survived a show where I was wedged up against some teenaged boys with that weird onion smell that teenaged boys tend to have by having some Eat Me dabbed on my hands. However neither of those are overtly sexy so I think I'm going with Perversion for the next concert I see, unless I finally trust my bottle of Snake Oil to not get weird on me.

Dragon's blood, cinnamon, and something I can't quite sniff out. The overall effect is sort of candle-y and waxy on me. Not great.

In the imp and on first application=sweet grassy hay. Interesting! I was almost liking it until it turned into cheap men's deodorant on me and stayed that way for about an hour. It's faded a bit and I'm getting the grasses and sweetness again, but that middle stage is just not happening again. Nice idea for a blend though.