Salsa Shark

Patchouli has this tendency to jump out at me first chance it gets, then sit there at centre stage looking very pleased with itself for however long the blend stays around, so when I sniffed the imp and got pure patchouli, I really wasn't expecting much. In fact, it nearly went straight in the swap box. But it didn't, and woo! I really like it! At first it is mostly patchouli, but there's the sweetness of myrrh and the sharpness of juniper lingering in the background. Then the oakmoss starts to come out and it's equal parts oakmoss and patchouli, with the myrrh and juniper wafting around making it all that little bit sweeter.

This had been one of the scents I'd been most looking forward to trying ever since I came across BPAL and it's completely broken my heart. In the imp? Pure, gorgeous Irish Coffee. Mouth-watering, heart-fluttering boozy coffee heaven in a vial. The second it hit my skin? Stale toffee popcorn. I'll probably give this a go as a room scent, because in the imp this is absolutely divine. Sadly, it just doesn't agree with my skin chemistry.

I absolutely adore the lab's pepper notes, so having read the reviews I couldn't wait for this to arrive - so I imagine my horror when I sniffed it in the bottle and got nothing but musty, burnt ginger. On my skin, though, it changed completely. It morphed so much in those first few minutes from sweet, peppery ginger to a warm, spicy honeysuckle, then finally settle into a sweet spicy dragon's blood. DB's one of those notes where it can either be completely wonderful or absolutely horrific, epending on the other notes in the blend, an I have to say this is the most successful DB blend I've tried yet. I was worried the floral notes would tip the balance but the ginger and pepper stop it from even threatening to soap out on me. Not the scent I was expecting at all, but I love it anyway.