mspixieears

At the very beginning, wet on skin this reminds me of a cross between Regan and Snake Oil. Very floral notes peeking out of a lot of sweetness. The vanilla in this is delightful. I definitely get the amber and assume the floral note in this is the heliotrope. Sadly, I don’t get the black cherry but maybe it’ll develop as I continue to wear? This is very feminine and all the sweetness dissipates half an hour and it’s very powdery and musky up close on my skin but its sillage is still actually very sweet. How unusual! An hour or so later, I get the syrupy, sweet cherry and strawberry note – almost confection-like in its sweetness. I definitely like it – I ended up slathering it on a second time during the day and actually finishing up the imp entirely!

Beautiful blackberry musk when wet on skin – absolutely gorgeous and better on me than Philosophy’s Falling In Love, which was a blackberry musk fragrance that didn’t like my body chemistry although I adored it. There is absolutely nothing lurid about this fragrance whatsoever! The blackberry, or rather blackcurrant, strengthens as it dries on skin which is just delightful to me. The staying power is also phenomenal and it is much more lasting than many BPAL fragrances I’ve tried. This is still discernible on my skin the morning after – it was applied the night before! I might be wooed into getting a 5mL of this!

In the vial this smells like delicate white flowers – for some reason I get the impression that they are very small flowers. Something gorgeously sweet and powdery in this once applied to skin and still drying. I do wish I could pick out exactly what the floral is, as it’s something very familiar. I get a lovely baby powder note from this and it isn’t like the usual BPAL ambery powder note I’m used to. Beautiful to wear before bed I think!

It smells so fruity in the bottle but on it’s warm, ambery and woodsy. It’s actually really nice though not quite what I was expecting. A fresh green scent – in an evergreen way – I suspect this must be due to the pine resin. Great for the colder months! Wet, there is definitely something fruity in there! I've tried this again and decided I love it and will not be getting rid of it after all. The pine resin has tamed significantly, it was too strong before and now it's much more rounded in composition, and I do get the bubblegummy lotus that everyone talks about but it's more refined what with the opium and amber.

Oh my gosh, this is sublime! At first it is like chocolate orange – very gourmand but then settles into a more floral fragrance though not strictly floral. The red patchouli is just heavenly mixed in with the orange blossom. I get a faint hint of something rubbery as the patchouli begins to strengthen. I love the initial opening when wet – this is a stunner and wouldn’t say no to a 5mL of it. It also seems to get better the longer it is on my skin and has excellent throw

Something about this is very deathly and very orchidish. It reminds me of the scent of Christmas lilies when they are still fresh. I love it because I adore those strong orchid-type scents. I also like that this is fresh without being too ‘green’ or ‘herbal’ which usually doesn’t work so well on me. I don’t mind a bit of green, which this does have making the composition nice and ferny. It had excellent staying power and I could still smell it slightly the morning after applying it late last night.

I applied this immediately after a disasterous outing with Haunted which I had high hopes for. Othello is a fresher, airier musk and the roses equally so. Not at all cloying, and almost aquatic in nature. I can smell the spices not long after – perhaps things like patchouli and saffron, and similar such things. The rose is lovely but I’m not yet sure if this is worth keeping. I think it probably makes it through by a hair.

Beautiful, breezy floral! It’s very classic and perfumey but I love it. Very light and girlie. It’s clean like a lot of other reviewers have mentioned. Not long after, I get the fresh, lemony scent that others have mentioned.

At first this is a warm, slightly sweet amber but then it turns slightly – into something a bit unpleasant – not entirely sure what it is, probably the black musk? To be honest it now smells like a particular male emission and I definitely do not want to smell like that! It’s very earthy – a great shame as I loved this at the beginning but the fragrance morphed into something that doesn’t at all suit my body chemistry. Alas, this one’s not a keeper.

I definitely get the musks in this and the addition of honey makes it smell like confectionery when initially applied then a gentle spiciness comes through but I don’t think this is a favourite for me. I can smell the ylang ylang but it’s a tiny bit medicinal – or is that the labdanum? Five minutes later, something lovely begins to emerge! It’s a keeper after all.

Slightly fruity beginning but this is pretty much pure peony, all the way! Dries down to a creamy, powdery version – I’d like sharper and fruitier like at the beginning when it’s wet. I wish it didn’t fade so much as it’s really quite beautiful – it might cling onto dirtier skin better, I suspect – I had applied it immediately after showering. I did reapply several hours later to see how it fared on less clean skin but there was no real change to report.

Exquisitely melancholy. The background scent to an ancient exequies. Heavy, dark and floral: a blend of roses, with a touch of amber and musk. I thought this would be bad-whiffy and an overpowering type rose but it isn’t at all! It starts off as a fresh, watery or aquatic rose before getting into the deeper, more potpourri-type rose. I can smell something smoky mingled with this which makes it sexier, in my opinion! Not at all overwhelming like some badly done rose scents (not that BPAL makes any of those, at least not any that I’ve tried!). Overall, very nice. Glad to have an imp of it but wouldn’t get a bottle. Something about it is very gothic and dark – I get a certain richness as if it were dark red roses that makes up the scent in this. Something in it also faintly reminds of Indian rose incense – but only faintly so, and in a pleasant way.

When first applied, I get the lemongrass note but it smells like straight lemon to me – not unpleasant though as it mingles with the sandalwood. This reminds me a bit of Forbidden Fruit, and something else I’ve tried from BPAL that I can’t quite recall. I’m hoping the lemon note will die down. It also reminds me of what #20 Love Oil is like on me at the beginning (it changes into something completely, wonderfully different). Much later the jasmine and rose comes out and it is nice but more like a room fragrance – reminds me of Spellbound that way. At first I thought this wasn’t really my type of fragrance but I think it deserves another chance.

This smells exactly like Philosophy’s Message In A Bottle shower gel! At least, it does upon initial application, when wet. It dries down to a fresh, aquatic unisex scent that could be seen as quite masculine too but it is very refreshing and uplifting. I’m not sure what notes I can pick out from this except perhaps the lime and mandarin but even those only softly. Maybe the unisex notes I’m detecting are the ginger and vetiver? Five minutes later I get the warmth of the nutmeg. I’m not really sure this is a fragrance I’d wear myself though I’m glad to have tested it. It’s something I’d love on my man – Spider is very sexy and suave!

It’s not listed but there seems to be some very fruity notes – it reminds me of a more floral version of The Snow Maiden. I definitely get the spiciness of the ginger coming through and the general watery-floral feel of this fragrance but am captivated by the fruitiness. Definitely a chilly scent. Half an hour or so later I get the muguet/gardenia. It reminds me ever so faintly of Pele, and upon drydown this only increases.

This is warm, fiery, red and very sophisticated! I immediately get something like amber and detect the Chinese cassia straight after. It’s also a very gourmand fragrance despite the musk base. I love tonka and benzoin and I think that’s why I’m loving this so much. It suits my body chemistry a treat. The only note I can’t really discern is the tobacco though perhaps I fancy I can smell the wild plum. A fantastic blend for autumn evenings and I found it to be a great follow-up to Fire Pig. Oh my, a bit later I get the tobacco gently emerging, and beginning to mingle with the cassia – though can only smell it when not madly sniffing my wrists! Even later, I went out to a bar and it was smoky with hand-rolled cigarettes – it was then that I got the tobacco note in Red Phoenix! This fragrance was so tantalising and lasted several hours on me – I think I may have to work on getting a 5mL of this.

I instantly get violet from this, very strongly. Something very minty in this though of course it’s not actually mint – just reminds me of that. It actually smells very masculine, this particular mint-like note. It definitely is very wintry and a great follow-up to The Snow Maiden, which I was wearing earlier in the day. The mint note seems to have developed and now it seems like genuine mint after all! I even get a hint of true lemon. This is a bit too strong for me I think.

This is delightful! I don’t really associate this so much with winter but seeing as it has daffodils (which smell divine!), it could also be associated with the beginning of spring? Mind you, daffodils are put into the ground in late winter… Anyway, I can’t really get the ylang ylang in this but instantly do get the spring berries which are tart yet juicy. That fades after drydown, and the daffodils and osmanthus linger around more. There is the gentlest hint of spice in this – it must be with the berries? Expected this to be a chilly fragrance but it’s actually quite warm and I think it would suit a lot of people. I absolutely adore it.

Oh my gosh! Why did it take me so damn long to sample this?! It’s simply divine! I instantly get the tonka, benzoin and amber and adore these notes together. This smells like a ‘herbier’ version of O. Sadly, it fades in a couple of hours which is a great shame as it has such promise. I was lucky enough to have the chance to compare imps of different ages and would say that this is beautiful as it ages – you definitely have to wait in order for the tonka and benzoin to become more prominent. The younger sample seems spicier to my nose.

Instantly, can smell the orange blossom in this, but it’s actually very reminiscent of orange rind. I can also detect something else desperately attempting to poke through (which makes me hope the orange softens) – could that be the opoponax? I think so as it is very amberish, or resiny. I’ve retested and it isn’t at all to my liking.

A very subtle floral fragrance – it’s a very fresh ‘blue’ type of floral. I get a lot of violet from this and not much else. It’s a very Western European-type bouquet. I like that it is subtle in a similar way to Pele, but is more uplifting. It does have a slight medicinal feel to the scent, becoming evident upon drydown. Now that it’s dried down and settled, it’s turned into a beautiful powdery violet fragrance.

I can instantly get the honey, myrrh, fig leaf, almond, and warm musk from this. A spicy fragrance with hints of an innocent sweetness as well as a spiciness that suggests something oriental. This reminds me of Alice with more kick. Before drydown I thought I must have a bottle of this but it’s a lot like other BPAL fragrances I’ve sampled. If ambrette is anything like amber then I’m picking up a lot of this. Sadly, a lot of the fruitiness is lost at the beginning and I’m left with an amber-dominant fragrance. I don’t mind this but I’d prefer something more distinctive, especially as there are many things like it.

... This perfume embodies her gentler, benign aspect as the capricious Goddess of Dance: muguet and Hawaiian white ginger enveloped by warm, damp tropical blooms. Oh my gosh, totally not what I was expecting judging from the description! This is Philosophy’s Amazing Grace! I thought this would be fantastic to test on a really hot, humid day and it truly is, its lasting power is unusually long and it works a treat with my body chemistry! I ordered a 5mL of this practically instantly – that is how much this scent has captivated me. I can definitely smell the Hawaiian white ginger and muguet. A wonderfully relaxing scent and highly recommended for those who are fans of the aforementioned Philosophy (which I adore!).

Initially, smells like evening primrose oil, and possibly neroli. It reminds me of the fresh pollen on flowers in a garden on a warm day, possibly in the morning. It’s a very relaxing fragrance, very subtle and unfortunately dies down too much upon drydown. A gentle, feminine, floral fragrance. Perhaps a little too subtle and floral for me (and nothing is often ever too floral for me!). It does become a lovely powdery floral after an hour and I think I warmed more to it. Might actually take this out of my swap pile for a retest.

This really does smell of clean, freshly washed laundry! I swear I smell a hint of peach (which I’m totally digging in my BPAL scents). I wore it over Wylde Ivy’s Black Tea Jasmine which I love as a clean smell and they go so well together – they really ‘continue’ the fresh, clean scent. This melds very well with my body chemistry as it begins to drydown but it’s a tad too fresh – may need to test it without anything underneath to do it proper justice.