Jheya

In the imp: Deep, smoky woods. On skin: Incense and woodsmoke. This definitely strikes me as a more masculine scent, deep, rich and smoky. As this dries I can smell the rosewood coming through. The incense note is pushed intoi the background, and I can mainly smell rosewood and smoke. It dries to a gorgeous warm blend of rosewood and woodsmoke. Not really a scent I'd wear, but it might be lovely on a guy... I think I may persuade mine to try it on at some point. If it doesn't work on him/he doesn't like it, then I may try it in an oil burner as it reminds me of summer and bonfires. It also makes me think of home as my mum has a large rosewood chest, and this puts me in mind of it, so I think this might make a lovely rich, cosy room scent.

In the imp: Cool, gentle citrus over a deeper musky herbal base. On skin: Cool, and almost minty. It's also musty, herbal and slightly soapy on me. As this dries, the minty note vanishes, though an edge coolness remains. What's left is musty and cloying, like being somewhere where the damp is causing things to rot. I'm not liking this one at all. About an hour after applying it's faint, powdery, cool and herbal. It's a strange scent, and one I'm not terribly keen on, so I don't think I'll be keeping my imp of this.

In the imp: Spicy floral with a hint of fruitiness underneath. On skin: In my quest to try all the Mad Tea Party scents, I neglected to look up the notes before buying an imp of this, and so I've only just noticed the carnation. Do I really want to risk sneezing all night? But my nose doesn't tickle when sniffing the imp so maybe it'll be okay... When applied I mainly get spicy florals. There's sweetness to this, but it's slightly tart, suggesting that perhaps the plum isn't quite fully ripened. After it dries, it isn't doesn't really smell like fruit nor flowers, but instead it's almost incense like. There's still an edge of fruitiness to it, but it's more like a scented product/incense trying to smell like fruit than the actual fruit itself. I'm not terribly keen on this one, and I don't think I'll be keeping it.

In the imp: ...are you sure this isn't just a small vial of the real thing? Holy crap Whiskey. One to smell carefully as it really goes through the nose and hits you in the back of the throat with the harsh alcoholic note. On skin: I've had the decant a while, and now seems a good a time as any to finally dare try this one on. The strong, harsh alcholic note it present for the first few seconds before quickly fading. In fact, a minute or so after applying, the acrid sting is completely gone, leaving something much softer and smoother in it's wake. Now that it now longer needs to be cautiously inhaled, the oak is a lot more apparent. There's a rich, slightly smokey feel to the scent. Warm, woody, and slightly smokey, spicey and sweet. There's still an alcoholic edge to this, but it's subtle, and nowhere near the smack-you-in-the-face-alcohol I get when sniffing the decant. I think the smokey note is more like tobacco than woodsmoke. On drydown this seems to settle as tobacco/smoke/wood, and doesn't really smell alcoholic at all. Admittedly, it's been a while since I last smelt whiskey, but this is completely lacking the harsh note I associate with hard liquors. This is a lot more wearable than I would have guessed from sniffing the decant, and I'm amazed at the difference wearing it on skin makes. However, although it's more wearable than I would have initially guessed, the smokiness is still not something I wish to smell of. An interesting scent, but not for me.

In the imp: Honey and lily and something odd - slightly bitter and almost dusty. There's a definite similarity to Tiger Lily, but this is softer, and not as brash. On skin: The dusty note is less apparent when applied, leaving the lily and honey to dominate. Unfortunately the honey is already doing it's usual thing of turning sour on my skin. I'll have to wait and see if it improves on drydown. It doesn't really change all that much between wet and drydown, and sadly the honey continues to be off/sour on me, which rather spoils the blend. It's not as flowery as I thought it'd be, and if it wasn't for the sourness it'd be a pleasantly sweet, creamy floral. However, the sourness dominates this blend on me, and so this is not going to be a keeper.

In the imp: Pear and rose. On skin: The pear gives this a fruity sweetness, but other than that it's predominantly floral. There's a hint of something sharp and almost citrusy, contrasting with the soft sweet floral underneath. Though I quite like the soft, sweet undertone, the brash sharp topnote is actually a little headache inducing. On drydown, if I ignore the topnote, then this is a soft, pretty floral with a hint of sweet fruitiness. Not really me, but pretty. However, the sharp note is still persistantly making itself known, and if I breathe in deeply it gives me a bit of a headache. I think this one is off to the swap pile.

In the imp: Sweet, slightly powdery violet with an edge of frankincense. On skin: The violet is a lot more subdued when first applied, which is a little disappointing as I rather like the note. Instead the frankincense comes through more strongly, making this smell a lot more incensey than it did in the imp. The soft powdery violet combined with the frankincense gives this scent a muted, almost mournful air. I can detect a slight earthiness, but it's subtle and in the background. I'm a little disappointed as it seemed promising to begin with, but it's dried down to be powdery incense combined with a melancholy cool violet. Pretty enough, but not one that wows me, and I can't really see myself wearing this. I have other predominantly violet blends which I love, so I think this one may end up in my swap pile as the others work better to sate my violet cravings.

In the vial: Sweetness from the orange blossom with something deeper in the background. On skin: Fresh on the main note I can pick out is still the orange blossom. There's something behind it, giving the scent depth, but I'm not familiar enough with the listed notes to be able to pick out exactly what it is. This isn't as sharp on my skin as it is in the vial. It's a softer and fuller scent that's actually quite intoxicating as I can't seem to stop smelling my hand. 'Ethereal' is the word that keeps popping up in my head when trying to think of a way to describe this, lightness and depth blended into a unified piece, and it does seem to fit with the painting it's inspired by. It's a gorgeous scent. It's not one that I can see myself wearing all that often, so I don't think I'll need any more, but I think I will be keeping my decant of it.

In the imp: Sharp herbal with a faint breath of sweetness from the orange blossom. On skin: The herbal note isn't as sharp on skin, but still the dominant note. The orange blossom wafts gently over the top, sweetening the blend. As it dries, the rose begins to come through more strongly, resulting in a strange herbal floral as the rose and rosemary mingle. The orange blossom lends a little sweetness to the whole, but takes a backseat to the other two notes. There's something almost disturbing about this scent, and I find it far from comforting. There is a sweetness to it, but it seems twisted and wrong somehow, rather than the cheery nature I'd normally associate with sweet scents. It's interesting, but I really can't see myself wearing this.

In the imp: Florals and frankincense. On skin: Wet on my wrist it's not as floral as it smelt in the imp, but primarily incense based. As it begins to dry the floral notes begin to come through more, softening and rounding out the edges of the scent. On drydown this strikes me as quite a sombre scent, and the incense dominates the blend. There's a faint, soft sweetness to this that's interesting, but overall though I think it's a fitting scent for the concept, it's not a scent for me.

In the imp: Strawberry with an ever so slightly alcoholic base. On skin: This is a surprisingly warm scent on me. Fresh on, the strawberry it quite faint, adding character to the scent rather than dominating it. It's sweet, but not as sweet as I thought it would be. It's more of a natural fruity sweetness than in a sugary way. Unfortunately as it dries it starts smelling...odd. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but something is definitely not quite right. I'm used to strawberry going slightly artificial on me, but this time it smells as if it's gone slightly rotten, with a bit of a soapy edge thrown in for good measure. Thankfully the slightly rotten note fades during drydown. Ah, and I know why my head connects soap to this scent, as it puts me in mind of Lush's Rock Star soap. There's still an odd edge to the scent that I'm not so sure about, though. Potentially a keeper, but I think this needs a retest in a couple of weeks to be sure. If I keep getting a strange 'off' note from this, I think it may have to go to swaps after all.

In the bottle: Dark and deep, incense and (oh help) clove. On skin: Happily, so far this has managed not to amp to evil clove death on me. There's incense, with a touch of tobacco wafting through. As it dries, spicy carnation begins to come through and my nose begins to tickle. Luckily, it's not so strong as to result in a day long sneezing fit. And why, hello clove. It's making its presense known, but thankfully it hasn't amped up to a level where it drowns out everything else under a blanket of clove doom. Though it's deep and dark, this blend is surprisingly light on me. Alternatively it may be more that I think this is the case, because after the carnation made me sneeze a few times my nose made it harder for me to smell things, heh. It smells pretty in the bottle, but not so much on my skin. Even though it works a lot better than I thought it would when looking at the listed notes, sneezing plus a definite presence of clove? I think that this one may not be a keeper.

In the bottle: Ahh Midway, how I do love thee. Sugared sweetness with a warm, rich tone underneath. On skin: Sweet and warm and mmm. There's a slightly dusty note if I press my nose up close, but not in an unpleasant way. The reason I notice it so much is probably because I can't seem to resist having my wrist pressed right up to my nose whenever I wear this. Atop the warm base a candy sweetness dances lightly, not in a cloying syrupy way but with pure sugared glee, the kind that melts delicately in your mouth and over your tongue. The dustiness is the dry kind you get from old books, and for a while there's a little too much of it for my tastes. But in time it fades back, and I'm left with a gorgeous warm sweetness that I keep getting wafts of hours later. This is one of my favourite scents, and I love it dearly, as is evident from the full bottle and two partials I've managed to track down so far. I'm glad I've managed to collect a reasonable amount of this, as it's one I wouldn't want to be without.

In the imp: Spicy and warm but with an edge to it I don't really like. On skin: Happily, the note I don't like in the imp mellows and then fades when on skin. This is definitely a good thing as it really offput me, and I can't help but make a face and recap the vial when sniffing it. The dragon's blood comes through as it dries. My nose is not the most well trained so I'm finding it difficult to pick out the individual notes. It's a warm, assertive blend, and a lot more wearable than I would have guessed from sniffing the imp. It's not really me though, so first I'm going to see if Boo might like it (she's an Aries, I'm not), but if she doesn't then I think this one'll go to my swaps pile.

In the imp: This smells like...a heat haze. It's a scent that takes over my nose and makes me think 'warmth', and puts me in mind of baking; not in the foody sense of baked goods but more the concept and heat of the process. On skin: Still warmth. A touch of coconut with a slightly burnt tone. I have two imps of this, and strangely one is cooler and lighter and the other is warmer and heavier, huh. I guess it's either that one is slightly more aged, or it's down to batch variance. Smelling this in the imp I was sceptical about the "cool, refreshing water" part as I couldn't smell any hint of that. However though the coconutty warmth does very much dominate the scent, there's an edge of coolness flitting around the edges that I was unable to detect in the imp. It dries down to one spot being cool, a little creamy and gently coconutty, whereas the other spot is still warm, slightly burnt coconut. Oddness. I prefer the cooler imp, but it dries down to be quite faint and it doesn't really jump out at me as a keeper. I think they may both end up in my swaps pile.

In the imp: Eep, rose with a sour edge of overripe fruit. On skin: Thankfully it smells better to my nose when applied than it does in the imp. Still rosey, but it's softer and the edge of rotting fruit to become a much more pleasant fruity touch. The rose is too dominant for my tastes, and as it dries, the sour edge begins to creep back in. Drydown is still rose and sour fruits. I don't think I shall be keeping the Countess.

In the imp: Aquatics and grapefruit. On skin: Aquatics tend not to do too well on my skin, and in this it's fighting for dominance with the tartness of the grapefruit. I get the barest hint of mint flirting around the edges of this scent. As it dries it becomes tart aquatic grapefruit, with a cool edge given by the mint without the blend quite smelling of mint itself. It's...odd. I'm not too keen on this. When dry, it's a heady fragrance that I don't really like. It strikes me as a very white scent. Layering a little Perfumed Lotus over the top sweetens it a touch. I like this more with an additional touch of lotus, but ultimately I still don't think that this one will be a keeper.

In the bottle: Sweet floral. On skin: I initially didn't pay too much attention to this blend as I thought it would be too floral for me, plus honey has a tendancy to go wrong on my skin, and strawberry tends to smell artificial. Oh and a certain type of carnation appears to make me sneeze violently for the entire day. But then I read some of the reviews, where one person likened it to the smell of candy floss, which did catch my attention, and so now a decant is mine. I'm not too good with differentiating florals, but you can tell that they're there. It's sweet, but in a subtle way rather than in a candy-ish sense. I'm not really getting a cotton candy feeling from this, but it does remind me a little of Fyrinnae's Cotton Candy perfume, which doesn't really smell like the actual thing either. Pink Moon is more floral than Fyrinnae's Cotton Candy, but now that it's dried the flowers are soft, and in the background. The strawberry comes to the front, and I think this is what's giving the blend a slightly artificial tone. The honey appears to be behaving and not turning the whole blend sour on my skin, and the carnation appears to be the type that doesn't make me sneeze, score! Even with the slightly artificial tone of the strawberry, this is a lovely blend. From the notes it shouldn't work on me, but it does pretty well on my skin. Definitely a floral, but there's a gentle sweetness and warmth to it. It seems like a scent for spring, or early summer. I'm going to be keeping my decant, but I'll have to see how often I actually wear it before I think about tracking down more.

In the bottle: Fruity, but in a slightly tart way. There's sweetness to it, but with a sharp edge. On skin: It stays close to the scent in the bottle for the first couple of minutes, but then it begins to morph. It loses the tartness and sweetens. In fact, it sweetens a lot, and my hand happily smells of cherry/fruity lollipops, but it a good way. It doesn't do the fake fruit thing that Jailbait and Pink Phoenix did on me, but instead it's just a gorgeous candy sweetness. The scent stays at this stage for a while before morphing again. And as much as I enjoyed the fruit candy stage, this is even better. It reminds me of Faith, which which is a beautiful sweet, creamy violet on my skin, only Bloody Mary replaces the violet with cherry. Soft, creamy cherry sweetness...this smells so very good, no longer like lollipops. I'm a little disappointed that it seems quite faint and sticks close to my skin, though. However, that may have to do with testing it on my hand, where scents tend not to last that long due to handwashing, etc. I'll have to experiment and see. Definitely keeping my bottle, and I'm considering looking for some more.

Ooh wow, that was unexpected! Wet on skin I was immediately reminded of Vice, which I adore. I'm guessing it's the orange blossom dominating the wet stage as that's the only thing listed as a common note. The two are very, very similar at this stage, softly sweet with a fruitiness to it. So similar that after applying it I wondered if I'd accidentally gotten a mislabelled imp. However on drydown Vixen changes, and though an edge of similarity remains the two are no longer dead ringers for each other. There's still a bit of that gorgeous sweetness, but something spicier is now coming through. Dry it's mainly spicy with just a hint of a sweet kick, and something deep and earthy underneath. Quite different from how it started out. I think I'm going to be keeping my imp of Vixen, but I'm not sure it'll become a bottle purchase.

I think Black Pheonix and I are not going to be friends. In the imp: almond/marzipan. Wet on skin: I get overpowering marzipan almond...and nothing else. Thank goodness I only used a tiny dab to test or else I might have been quite overwhelmed by it. But then it dries, and changes completely. Not a single whiff of almond remains. Instead it morphs into something I don't quite know how to describe, let alone identify. Medicinal, herby, and bitter is the best I can come up with. I'm not keen on the almond extreme, and the drydown isn't for me, either. Interesting to have tried BPAL's signature scent, but it simply doesn't work on my skin. I think it's off to the swap box for my imp.

Wet, I primarily get lavender with a hint of sweetness to it. Not unpleasant, but more something I'd like to breathe in whilst taking a nice, relaxing bath than a scent I'd choose to wear as a perfume. As it dries, the blackberry comes through, giving it a lovely fruity edge. It's a very pretty scent that I do enjoy, however it still retains too much of a bathtime quality to be something that I'd really wear. If the Lab decided to release it in the form of a fizzyBOOM though, then I can definitely see myself unwinding in a hot tub after a long day, surrounded by this scent.

This is one I really wanted to work on me, as I found the concept particularly appealing with the "soft, but sociopathic" line. Alas, it doesn't. I was hoping for a primarily sweet and creamy scent with just a hint of floral, but instead on my skin it's a sharp, almost soapy floral with just the barest hint of sweetness underneath. The floral notes soften on drydown, but the sugared cream is still reluctant to appear. An okay scent, but not really for me.

In the imp: Ohh, yummy. Sweet with an edge of booziness. It's really not what I expected Smut to smell like. I mainly get sweetness with only a hint of musk in the vial. Mmm. Wet: Ahh...now I seem to get more musk. And the yummy sweetness has all but gone away, darn! Drydown: Definitely nowhere near the sweetness I got in the vial. Which I'm a little sad at, because I do so love sweet scents. There's something I can't quite put my finger on that's smelling a little 'off'. It has an edge to it that really doesn't work too well on me. Hours later: It's faded to leave a faint, slightly powdery musky scent lingering on my skin. Which is actually quite pleasant as the 'off' note seems to have vanished, and there's a slight sweetness to it once more. Strangely, sniffing the imp again gives me guite a strong boozy note with only an edge of sweetness to it...which is quite different from when I first sniffed it. Overall, not really a scent for me. But then again, that's probably just as well as I added the imp to my decant circle order at my sister's request, and I don't think she would've taken too kindly to it if I'd fallen in love and hence made off with her decant.

In the imp: Rich and kind of buttery... Hm, I have difficulties trying to pick out exactly what this smells like. Wet: Buttery popcorn, perhaps? Interesting, but I'm not too sure about this scent. Drydown: Oh, yum. I really like the drydown of this on me. It look me a while trying to figure out why it smelt so familiar, but this smells like really creamy rice pudding on me. Enough so that the first time I wore this, I had to go get some to eat, as I kept on catching wafts of the scent and it made me hungry, heh. Later: The scent stays consistent with it's initial drydown, but just as it begins to fade, it morphs a little and goes a bit more caramelly on me. It's a light note thought, quite subtle and reminds me somewhat of creme caramel. It seems to switch between that and the original rice pudding-goodness a bit before it finally fades and vanishes. Even though I initially wasn't too certain how often I'd want to smell like rice pudding, I have worn this a few times. It's just a really yummy, warm, foody scent. Mmm...