Lady Ravenglass

Um... maybeeee. I'll see you in the pub!

Bring it up with you and we can sniff it together... I've tried Snake Oil and it is quite thick and stain-y, though I didn't get enouigh vanilla to tell. Blood Amber is very red though.

Ooooooooh. Grown-up, dark, expensive. I reminds me of pressed powder of a rather upmarket kind, possibly in an elegant 40's compact case. It makes me think of aunts and large houes full of expensive items. This is truely lovely. Smokey (myrrh) with a sweet undertone, a little like Masabakes (a favourite of mine) and cloves, another love. There's a hint of church incense too and along with the expensive make-up associations this makes me think of everything that was adult and elegant about the relatives of my childhood. This is the kind of scent that says 'adult' without being too old for me. I wish it weren't discontinued, as I think this would be a 5ml purchase for sure.

Zombi. This smells like the interior of an Anita Blake novel. I don't know what makes this smell like turned earth, but it's doing its job. The roses are heavy and funereal and dark and rather nice. It's faded on me to a darker version of Old London that I think I could get used to, but the sour, earthy edge keeps catching me by surprise and disturbing me somewhat. It smells like opened earth in a rose garden, where broken petals are scattered wetly on the ground. There's something powdery in there too, like the baby powder scent of Unseelie, et al. Now there's disturbing images. Tiny Victorian gravestones, with tea rose bushes planted round the stone that marks too few years. I think I like it, but I'm not sure. If the earth note fades a bit more, I'll be keeping it for at least another wear. Like Old London and Lucy's Kiss it has a wistful Victorian air to it, which will certainly be the roses coming out strongly. I'll pop this in some wax later on; I share the predictions of previous posters that this will scent a room beautifully. If only I had the right kind of parlour Oh, and I see amaltheagray has got the same image I did! Glad to know I'm not going off my rocker.

Ooooh... ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoooo...!! Mmm. Oh this is honeyed and sweet and smokey and fruity and yum. Too sweet and almondy in the bottle, but dry on my skin, mmmm. Just goes to show you don't trust first impressions where these little imps are concerned. This was in the swap box, now its a keeper for a cold day.

Oooh... When I first dabbled it on, I got the smell of almonds as usual, which is I think my nose and Dragon's Blood. It stayed like that, thick and sweet and almondy for a while, but I just noticed wafts of something like Old Athens' honey. I don't get the cherry, but the cloves are there, dark and sweet and this is, on me, a wearable Old Athens, since I usually have to put that in an oil burner. Mmmm. Keeper.

Wet, it was a lot like the dry cocoa of Vice, of which I wasn't overly enamoured. For the first hour I kept my nose away from my wrists (and stuffed it into my cleavage, where Blood is nestling). Now it's dried in and settled down, the woody notes are coming out - it sort of has a hint of furniture polish on a dark, shiny table - or perhaps I'm just mad. The sweet, dark cherry scent is lounging on top of it lazily. On first sniff I detested this, but now I think it'll be a keeper. I'll certainly keep the imp in any case. ETA: Hmm. Wearing this now I smell like a table. I'm not sure that a nice eventual scent is really worth an hour smelling like a Georgian pembroke, to be perfectly frank.

I don't know why I like this, but I do. It's sweet and slightly spicey, and round. I get curvy images from it. There is something floral there, like violets - orris? Normally florals and me just muddle along - I keep thinking I'd like to be different and not wear flowery scents, but BPAL's florals are too nice to pass up. It's like a wearable version of Old Venice on me, adult without being too grown-up; calm and collected and professional. I will certainly finish the imp.

Yes! That's it - a dry, woody scent much like dog. Someone mentioned that it was dry cocoa - from the tin and it is dry. I don't get the sweetness at all here, just the 'pencil shavings' smell of cut, dusty wood. It sweetens a little as it dries, though I think not enough for this foody girl. It's dry is all I can say. I have the urge to sip my glass of water. Hmph. All my reviews seem to end on the same note: I wanted to love it, but I didn't. Guess I don't know my own mind like I thought. OTOH, this isn't chocolate as I would have it. If Bliss is as dry as this I'll give it a reluctant miss I think, but if not then I'd like the chance to smell like chocolate biscuits, as Anita puts it. It does add a chocolatey note to Bordello when layered, quite yummily, but not enough to keep this out of the swap tin.

Argh... Almonds. One day I'll learn. Sweet almonds like Amaretto though, and they go quite quickly. Ooh! Drying down to something sweet and cinnamon-food-y. This smells like cinnamon alcohol, if that makes sense. Something heady and christmasy, like pomander balls. Yup, cloves in there and I think I get the edge of orange mentioned before. I'm not too wild about cinnamon or almonds on my skin, but this blend is soft and spicy. I'll try it again when the weather gets colder. The cloves are tickling my nose in a worrying manner, but it does smell like Christmas! ETA: Second try and this is Grand Marnier, Cointreau and Amaratto! EATA: Oooh - third go and this dries down to cloves - smells like the black clove ciggies I used to smoke when I had a friend in NY to bring them over *ahem* <----non-smoker.

I'm sneezing an awful lot at the moment. I'm going to assume (and hope) it's the dusty house, but I've a nasty feeling some of the imps are a bit too strong for me :/ Possibly the rose is doing it, but that said, I wore Lucy's Kiss all day yesterday without a sniffle. I think I'm going to have to look into getting carrier oils.

Tintagel First sniff: sweetish, but with a nasty aftertaste like curry powder? Something unpleasant and chemical anyway. It could be the leather, or perhaps the bayberry. It's almost a green scent, but like the inside of a tree rather than a leaf. On the skin, I'm getting almonds, very faintly. And that's it. It's just sitting on my arm waiting for a written invitation. *sigh* Looks like another for the swap pile, which is a real pity as I was, once again, convinced that this scent would be a keeper. I love mead, but I'm not even getting a hint from this. I think I can smell the Dragon's Blood, but even when warmed up, there's not much wafting anywhere. I'll give this another go, as I'm hoping my nose has just gotten fed up and is lazing back there with Hollywood Babylon (Ack! Almonds!!). ETA: I think I smell cinnamon... maybe. I'm having to snort my arm, though.

Ack! Bottled Bloke! When this arrived, I passed this straight onto my partner without a sniff and let him decide on it. He said it was too floral for him and gave it back to be swapped. I've only now tested it out of curiosity, and gah! It smells like Bloke for Men at Clinique or something!! My useless Virgo ex wore Lynx constantly, and that clean, cool masculine smell is very similar to Wilde. I don't get any florals at all (well, not what I'd call florals on first sniff) but instead a blend that is simply pure, generic male. It's stuck to my fingers from opening and closing the vial and it's disturbing me There's something else there, which is stronger and slightly deeper than Lynx, like a hint of Old Spice. Ack, now I smell like my old IT teacher. He was a dude, but still. It dries down to a masculine, almost mainstream scent, clean, with an undercurrent of lavender and spice. It is light Old Spice, by the end on me. But this is going in the swaps box. I have absolutely no wish to smell like that deadbeat ex. FAO Anita_Blake, if you wander across this thread, this is that floppy-haired b*****d, bottled. Now there's an idea *makes stuffing motions*

Old Venice isn't too long-lasting on me, and is fading fast. It's lemony and violets, and I'm not wild about either of them so I hadn't tried it on 'til now. The florals are defeinitely there. It's not 'old lady' florals as such, but I think this is either a little to grown-up for me or designed for someone a little tidier/smarter. It's womanly, but suggests elegant suits and slim personal organisers. This is for the career woman I think. It's lovely, but just not me. I can't wear gold or heels like that. Swap pile I guess, though I might see if my mother likes it (though she's hated all the oils I've let her sniff and insists on sticking to named brands...). Now to find a scent that screams 'scruffy goff in charity shop'.

I got Jack I - I think, since it had an old tag attached. My partner thinks it's 'interesting' and noted the nutmeg when the parcel was opened remotely (I was online 3 miles away and eager for impses!!) Oh! Bitter, burnt melting plastic If there were pumpkins in there, they must have been introduced to my own, hardly unique, style of cooking. I dabbed my wrists in the hope that maybe I was being silly, but it stuck. I had to soap it off and get the rest off with witch hazel. I've never had this reaction to an imp before. I really wanted to like Jack - it seemed perfect to have around at the onset of Autumn, but this smells burnt and nasty to me. There's something I can't place, but it's reminiscient of burnt parsnips or sweet potatos where the plastic baking tray has melted in the oven. I can get the spices, but they're way under the burnt note. *sob* And it came in a darling spherical vial too! Corked!! That said, I'm totally up for sniffing Jack II. *assumes dopey labrador expression* I'm a glutton for something, and that something I suspect to be BPAL

At first Kali is very sweet, but it dries to a very 'perfume-y' scent, floral and sweet, with that hint of wine and berries that Bordello carries, and the honey certainly comes through - an hour or two after applying the first dabs, there's honey wafting round me. It smells 'grown-up' on me, though not middle-aged (what I get from Blood Lotus) which is nice, as lately I've been having a few inner grumbles about feeling constantly like a scruffy student in the office; just sometimes I'd like to look like I didn't grab my clothes from the ironing pile by way of a charity shop (except that I *love* charity shops!). This compliments today's garnets and Victoriana outfit very well, and I actually feel 23 for once. It's a very 'red' scent. I do like this a lot and though I'll have to try it some more, I think this might be a bigger bottle scent.

Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes, Wanda is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch's fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle. In the vial, it smelt lovely - sweet and darker than normal. On the skin it stayed sweet and floral and edible. Drydown, on the other hand... I smell like the Miss Selfrige 'Heart' solid perfume! This is very odd... It's a nice smell, just not one I was expecting. I'll certainly try it again, but I don't think this is a big bottle scent for me. Apologies to Anita Blake, as this was a gift from her precious stash of Wanda!

Something gingery and warmly spiced... In the vial it smelt terrible, and I put it back immediately, but I gave it a go wearing it today and I think I rather like it. There is something fruity under there, but the myrrh is coming out and covering it up with something smoky. Direct on the skin it's smelling baby powdery and like chlorine I smell like a swimmer in a warm kitchen. The scent that floats up from my pulse points is pleasant though, and I'll certainly finish the imp off. The press sec was in again today and left with her usual *sniff*' and "Mmm - what's the lovely smell?". I'm glad I swapped for this one, but am wishing I'd put more on!

Coconut vanilla. *sigh* I love ginger, but I didn't get any of that. On my skin it smelled like I'd smeared myself in coconut body butter or something cheap from the Body Shop et al. I tried it in a burner in case it was just me being odd, but it made the room smell like coconut candles. It gets one more go to try and pick out the notes and hold onto them, then into the swap pile it goes. I really wanted to be able to wear something called Siren! It sounds a lot more seductive, both from the name and in the reviews than it turned out on me.

Light and pale roses, not insipid rose, more foggy and covered in mist, like an autumn evening in an old city. There's a wistful undertone that obscures all the skyscrapers and neon signs and floats you down cobbled sidestreets and past iron railings to the Thames. Sadly, it doesn't last long on me, and requires topping up a lot. It's also a bit too autumn-y for this indian summer of ours. I shall wait for the new term to start and the leaves to fall.

In the vial: Juicy Fruit chewing gum, and that same horror my mouth gets when faced with something so sweet. On: Hmm... Dark, musky...and about 20yrs too old for me Perhaps it's the lotus. This smells like an aunt. One who married someone rich, dresses impecably in designer clothing, is always made-up to perfection and has a very large house. With a tennis court. This smells expensive and like the perfume counter of House of Fraser. Or possibly even Harrods. This is a leather-interiored Jaguar. I keep catching a drift of scent and wondering where the sherry and large dogs are. Dry-down: Oh bother, this has turned into the really tacky Femme Fatale EDT spray I bought for a pound at the cheapo cosmetics store. I wanted to like this better, but I suspect it heads back to the swaps pile.

Mmmm... Unable to resist trying yet more imps on I dabbed myself liberally with O last night... Him: *sniff* What's that sweet smell? Me: Perfume. Him: Why are you wearing perfume in bed?! Me: It's O. Him: Smells like honey. Mmm, honey on toast... Me: It's the essence of pure sexual desire, sensua- Him: I'm really hungry now. *wanders* Gah! Oh well It does smell gorgeous though, and to think I nearly swapped it. Helena

Floral? Baby powder!?? Seductive, musky and dark, yes. I'm getting a dark patchouli scent - straight on it smelt like a hippy shop - bells and incense and brass-inlaid wood. It's certainly Unseelie - I used to LARP with a group called the Tuatha De Daanon in the UK, and this smells like those weekends: incense sticks in every patch of ground, guitars, night skies and a hint of dubious legality and amorality. Perhaps my imps swapped labels on the long flight over... I can barely place a single note from everyone else's replies, especially not the 'innocent' bit! Helena