laslibres

I really didn't think I would like this, since a lot of rose blends tend to go crazy on me. But I do like this one in particular. It's a very deep, rich rose, like a Lincoln rose, which we used to grow when I was little and I really like that particular kind. It's definitely dark, dark red. In the bottle, the leather is only a faint undertone, but on me the leather comes out more strongly. Whip goes through a phase on me of being more leather than rose, or rather, of the leather amping out further and the rose sticking closer to my skin, but then they kinda switch places. The rose is also very dewy and fresh, which is lovely, and that ends up being the dominant note in the end, with very little leather. I really liked the leather note while it was there, and I wish it had stuck around, but I still really like Whip because I really hadn't encountered a rose I liked before, or that smelled true at all! (Maiden a little bit, but Whip is even truer.) It's fabulous. Definitely keeping this imp, and any more that may happen to wander my way.

This goes through so many morphs! From the bottle, I get honey and...banana candy? Yup. Sort of bubblegum-y, but...banana flavored. So weird. Then on me, it ditches the banana in favor of a very sexy, exotic resinous scent. My favorite phase of this blend! It almost smells like cloves or cinnamon or almonds at times, although those aren't listed as notes. Kinda smells like baklava, too. But _sexy_ baklava, with the honey and the musks. Sadly, this phase doesn't stick around forever, and it sort of fades off into a vague floral, with hints of resins and honey, and the candied banana is back but very faint. Hmm, strange. I'll have to try it in a scent locket to see if it'll stay in the sexy baklava phase for longer, because I really loved that but it faded so fast!

Florals...that are sexy? Sexy florals. Huh. It's rare that a blend goes that way on me, but that's what Flower Moon 09 is. Mostly because of that gorgeous honey note that the Lab does so well...this is a similar honey to Cupid Complaining to Venus, which I also adore. I feel like CCtV is more of a summery scent, with the fruit, and this is the spring version thereof, with flowers instead of fruit. I'm really terrible at picking out individual floral notes most of the time, so I can't really tell you _what_ flowers I'm smelling, but they smell very warm and golden...well, but not just "golden," they smell like a whole bunch of brightly-colored flowers! Warm, bright, joyous, and then dipped in honey to make it extra special. New favorite Moon scent!

Ooh, that’s very nice. It's a great deal like Garden Path With Chickens, but a little more...hmm. Well, less flowery, and more aquatic. Garden Path With Chickens just had a bit of dewy aquatic, but with this I sense a whole pond, with aquatic plants and mosses and the whole bit. Also a bit of fruit? Ah yes, maybe that’s what cloudberry smells like, or maybe that's the wine…it could smell a little bit like wine, but it’s just an under-note, and I don’t know if "wine-dappled" is literal or not (maybe it’s just wine _colored_ heather. You never know with ol' Yeatsie). Yeah, a lot like Garden Path, except less flowery, maybe more masculine as well…bit more cologne-y? It’s not _man,_ but it’s not girly either. I really like those green, fresh sorts of blends (Fairy Market, Dyan Moon, Long Night Moon), I tend to collect them actually, and this is probably the only one of those that I would recommend to a man. It's just got that unisex sort of quality, and I personally like that (I'm a chick, but I enjoy scent-crossdressing). Additional thought: Would Yeats himself, perhaps, smell like this? *swoon* Oh my.

You know, I don't know how they did it, but this...pretty much smells just like Ireland. It does! It goes through various phases...at first, it's very woodsy and mossy, and a little bit of tobacco (?), sort of like the inside of an old inn or pub. After a bit of wear, there's an ozone-y note that's probably those River Corrib waters, and something green...blackberry leaf? It's like walking along a country lane, and you can still smell the woodsiness, but now you're outside too. The frankincense occasionally kicks in with little whiffs, and that's like you're walking down the country lane and passing a church, which of course are ubiquitous in Ireland (I don't know why there's a service in church on the same day as the pub being open, but I smell both in this scent...just go with it). Ah, clove...maybe that's what made me think of tobacco, but yeah, after a while it does assert itself as definitely cloves. Man, this is so evocative! Ireland in a bottle. Every phase it goes through reminds me of someplace I've been on my many trips there, and maybe that's just the power of suggestion with the name and the poem and all, but I really do think it's a well-chosen bunch of notes.

Yeow! *cough* Straight out the bottle, something jumps up and bites me on the nose...very sharp herbal that might be vetiver or something. I dunno, this was a frimp, and I really just think that vetiver in large doses isn't really my friend. I don't get any blood orange out of this at all, which is too bad because that's a note I lurve...but the vetiver combined with the patchouli (which is also usually not bad on me!) makes this smell like a very sharp, bitter herb that you just pulled out of the ground, with dirt still clinging to you. And maybe that's your thing, in which case, this would probably be great! A little too sharp for me, though. It does settle down a bit, and after a few minutes of wear it doesn't try to knock you out so much...just settles into sort of dirty, masculine herbs. And again, if you dig that, then this is the scent for you. But on me it's just sort of off.

Aha, I see that there's a layer of cocoa at the bottom of this bottle, like there was with Dark Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel...so I did shake it to get the cocoa unsettled, but still...I don't get a ton ton ton of cocoa from this. I do get some, and a vanilla-y smell that might be the rice milk or might just be the original Snake Oil shining through, but mostly - and this is straight from the Lab, no aging - it smells like Snake Oil. Tiny hints of chocolate and vanilla, but mostly Snake Oil. Although the gourmand qualities of the scent do mitigate Snake Oil's powderiness, and that's good, because sometimes people mistake Snake Oil for baby powder on me and that makes me has a sad. This doesn't smell powdery, it actually smells a bit deeper and richer than the original SO. Man, I cannot WAIT to see how this ages, because I bet it's real good...and it really makes me want the entire Snake Pit now, just to see what other variations there are. (so far have only smelled this and Saw-Scaled Viper, but have really liked what I've smelled!)

Oh, dear. Initially this smells like...baby powder. Well, that's a little disappointing...when I put it on, more of a fruity floral comes out, more cherry blossoms, but I still get a sense of definite powder underneath. I can't think of what note that might be except the sandalwood...which is normally okay on me, but maybe "white sandalwood" is just my skin's baby-powdery nemesis. It could also be this particular brand of lilac, but I normally like the smell of lilacs! Something is giving this scent an undercurrent of powdery vanilla, and not in a good way. And it sounded so promising, too! And I do love cherry blossoms, and the hint of those I get from this is very tantalizing, but it's all shot through with this baby-powderish note...blech. I probably need to try some Hanami to get the cherry blossom fix I crave.

Aww, this is so light on me! I just wish it stuck around, because it's such a fun, joyful scent in the bottle and in the drydown. At first, it smells a little bit like tobacco, strangely, and lemons and limes. On me, the tobacco goes away and it's a very tart but very light lemon, skimming over a woodsy, almost spicy sort of base. Wow, I definitely do get the impression of "margaritas at a Mexican restaurant" out of this, right down to the wooden table that you'd be sitting at! And a little bit of flowery something in the background, probably the jasmine. It is rather light and fugitive, though...as all joyful moments are, I guess. (Look at me getting all symbolic.) It might be a scent locket for this one...keep it smelling good for longer? We'll see.

I immediately get lemongrass out of this, which is nice...I don't think I'd ever worn an oil with lemongrass as a very prominent note like this before, but it's pleasant. Then the blood orange comes in and brightens everything up. Very sunny, but fresh! I also get a sense of aquatics, but that might be one of the other notes coming into play that I just don't recognize. No patchouli on me, just fresh fruit and gardenia. It almost smells like one of those trendy perfumes that the Gap or someone like that would make...very clean-smelling, fresh, and feminine. I happen to like those perfumes, but don't like wearing them because of the alcohol base, so I really like this one. It also smells very summery, which kinda made me blink and go, "huh...this was a Yule scent?" But that also makes sense in its way. I can imagine that in the dead of winter it would be comforting and cheering to wear a scent like this, in anticipation of the warm weather to come.

You know, I didn't like this one at first, because it started out as creamy, caramelly coffee on me, and then it dried down into...dust. Ew. But yeah, the imp straight from the lab, that's what it did. Fast forward a couple years, to now...I still had the imp around, and I thought I'd give it another go. Imagine my surprise when now I like it! I don't think my chemistry changed too much, or my tastes, I think it really did just have to age the dust out of it. It's still creamy, caramelly coffee, a hint of vanilla cookies too, smells just like the kind of fancy frou-frou coffee drink you'd get in a coffee shop. There's still a tiny bit of dusty book smell in the background, but as the scent wears on throughout the day, that goes away. Boy, am I glad I didn't get rid of this one!

Oh, I love this one. Then again, there are certain days when I just feel the need to smell like candy, just as a little pick-me-up, and this definitely does the trick. It's mostly brown sugar and caramel, and it goes through brief phases of smelling boozy, sort of like rum, and also smelling like root beer (sometimes the Lab's sugars do that on me, it's weird), but it doesn't stay that way. Mostly settles down to sugar, caramel, and a little bit of fruit, maybe apple or apricot. Smells like a fruit cobbler. Very lickable! Will also be a good autumn-type scent when that season rolls around again.

Wow, everyone wears Sudha Segara to yoga! I thought that was just me! It was totally the first place I wore my imp as soon as I smelled it. Other than that, though, I can't abide ANYTHING foody or resinous or sweet when I'm getting all sweaty. Just can't. Don't know why. Or floral, either! If I'm going to be exercising or doing anything very physical (scenic strike at the theatre! argh), it has to be something fresh and clean, maybe green, maybe citrusy, if I even wear scent at all. To that end, I like Tempest, Szepassony (a bit floral, but it's more like floral soap and that I can stand), Night Gaunt, Aizen-Myoo, Gennivre, maybe Dorian, Ostara (mostly bergamot on me), Long Night Moon, Garden Path With Chickens, Fairy Market, Dyan Moon, Stormhold, or Host of the Air.

A lot of berry scents turn way too sticky-sweet on me, too...or they just get overwhelmed by other notes, like Lampades is purely resins. But I find that if a scent says anything about wine notes (Athens, or Fairy Wine especially, Haloa, Horreur Sympathique), it turns into a nice, earthy and non-syrupy berry on me. My skin is weird, but there ya go.

A-ha. After reading these reviews here, I figured out why this smelled like a peppercorn grinder to me. Because I didn't SHAKE it. Now, pre-shaking it was not unpleasant, it just wasn't terribly chocolatey; the dark chocolate and a faint hint of caramel sweetness were just base notes to that spunky pepper note skipping along the top. But once I shook it a bit and dislodged some of the cocoa from the bottom, I reapplied and smelled a lot more chocolate on my skin. The chocolate blended together a lot better with the pepper, and it made more of a "spicy chocolate" scent, rather than a "maybesomecocoaandPEPPERPEPPERPEPPER!" So the secret to this scent is...shake it like a Polaroid picture! (Gently.)

Cocoa? Why do I smell cocoa? In the imp, this is pure cocoa with some kind of red berry aftertaste...er, after-smell, I guess. Red currant or something. And on me...yes, it is still cocoa, and dirt. Not unpleasant dirt, just a dry, earthy smell in with the chocolate, and a little bit of nutmeg or something spicy. Still a hint of red berries, but mostly just cocoa and no flowers whatsoever to be found. I really like it. It's unique and gourmand-ish, it's just...unexpected, given the lab's description and its place in the Rappacini's Garden section. I was expecting fruity florals, but cocoa? No flowers? Ah well, I'll just go with it.

Whoooo boy, that lavender sure does smack you in the face when you open the bottle, I agree. Fortunately I really like lavender, and this really smells like the actual flowers, with a sort of fuzzy and green feel like a real flower. It gets much lighter on my skin, and as it settles the bergamot starts to come in, very green and citrusy. It's like drinking earl gray in a field of lavender - lovely. Very soothing, too. Edit: Oh nooo! It's gone within the hour unless I put on prodigious amounts. I think it'll get tried in the scent locket or directly on my clothes next.

Oh, man. I really don't know how Beth got this to smell specifically like hot _cocoa,_ not milk chocolate, not chocolate anything else, this smells like HOT COCOA, and I'm loving it. And a little bit of coffee, like Bliss and Misk U got together and had many adorable lovechildren. It's got a bit of a powdery, dry feel, but it's also got a _warm_ feel to it, if that makes any sense. A kick of cinnamon, too. Coffee, cinnamon, and chocolate are my favoritest things ever, so I love this. Also, if any Arcana fans out there were sad that Caffeinated Death ran out so quickly, this is a pretty good substitute. Bit less sweet than Caffeinated Death, but damn close!

Oh, Faustus, I love you. Yes, it is rather masculine, with the woodsy-smelling frankincense notes, but I find that a lot of "masculine" blends smell good on me, so I dig it. In the imp, it's very much with the frankincense, but with a kind of sweet underlay from either the cinnamon or the violet, I'm not sure. On me it remains very incensey, and it also smells a bit woodsy...like an unfinished wooden chest, or something. It strikes me as exotic-smelling, and I do kind of get a rush of ego from it, which is appropriate, considering. It's pretty sexy, and it makes me feel confident, so I tend to wear it whenever I have an important presentation or if I have to seem really strong. Maybe that's also because it's kind of a masculine scent that it makes me feel that way...I dunno. Overall I'd say it's dark, frankincensey, woodsy, and a little sweet. Ten out of ten!

I must admit, this one scared me at first. When I first got the bottle, I opened it in eager anticipation, but, egh. It smelled like old, wet garbage, with perhaps a little bit of vomit mixed in. And it was kinda depressing to me for a few days, because I'd really wanted to love it. After those few days I got the courage to try it, and WHOA. Yeah, it smelled pretty nasty in the bottle, but that went away _rapidly_ once it was on my skin. I've never had a blend go from "eew" to "yum" so fast! This is GINGERBREAD. And I don't know that it's all that evil on me, either...it's a very sexy, resinous gingerbread, with a little bit of cinnamon. I can still detect a little bit of the Snake Oil base underneath, but overall, it's rather mellow for being a viper. It's a domesticated viper that curls up in your lap and purrs (do snakes purr, anyway? This one does). I have the feeling that it's the ginger that was making this kind of ew in the bottle...ginger fresh from the lab tends to read as kind of lemony and tangy to me, but as it ages it gets spicier and more gingery. And I've had this one for a couple months, and it's done that, all right. So I would advise that if you're smelling the "ew" and getting scared away, do not despair! The viper only wants to LOVE you!

Eve was okay on me at first - honey and rose in the bottle, and more rosey on me, but it didn't do the powdery, dried rose thing that most BPAL roses do to me. There was a hint of creamy vanilla too, and I had such high hopes...but it just HAD to go bad on me, didn't it? *shakes fist at the sky* It's doing this weird chemical-y thing to me that some florals do (a lot of Attar Bazaar ones, for instance). Chemicals, bug spray, bathroom cleaner...I don't know WHAT it is, but it is EVIL and I want it off me! *sigh* Shame, because the notes sounded nice other than the rose.

I loooove Red Lantern. It smells like something I would eat, although I know the oil itself wouldn't taste very good. In the bottle, it's a lot like Misk U, but where Misk U developed a thick layer of library dust over it as soon as I got it on my skin, Red Lantern does no such thing. It's purely caramel vanilla cookies, with coconut too - I tried Attar Bazaar's Sudanese Coconut too, and between that and this it's quickly becoming one of my favorite notes, it's a great toasted coconut smell here. And thankfully, I detect no tobacco anywhere (I knew if there was too much tobacco it could be a deal-breaker for me, although I tried the scent anyway). Perfect foody scent. Love!

I _love_ 13. I was prepared to be disappointed by it, because I liked the sound of the old "chocolate orange" variety, but I came too late to BPAL, so I got the reformulated one in October. But it is BEAUTIFUL! It's very complex, but it's mostly creamy floral, cocoa, and vanilla on me. There are hints of geranium and orange as well, and some green leaves and tea also. It feels very classy and feminine, but not too "dressed up," it could be a casual scent as well as a going-out-to-the-opera scent. What I love is that it's a little different on me every time, because there are so many nuances and my skin chemistry plays up different ones each time, but it's always good. It seems springy to me now, because of the flowers, but I wore it religiously through winter and it warmed me up with the cocoa, so it's good all the time.

In the bottle I get some honey and white flowers, but on me...yep, we got another vanisher. My nose has to touch my wrist in order to smell it, and I like things with a little more throw. It's very woodsy and incensey, but it's not heavy like some of those blends are. I get a really nice light pine, and something that smells like olive leaf but probably isn't. I have to reeeeally slather it on in order to get the honey to stay with me in the drydown, also a very light airy honey, just adding a touch of sweetness. Also strikes me as being a bit masculine, but I like it on me anyway...I just wish it was stronger! *slathers a lot*

I was prepared to be disappointed, going by all of these reviews that talked about cinnamon...and it's not what I expected, from the description, but I'm not _disappointed_ either. It's good anyway. It smells very sweet and spicy, like ginger snaps or cinnamon cookies, with a wee bit of musk in there (appropriate, as the groundhog is a wee little creature). Only as it dries do I get the _tiniest_ suggestion of cocoa or cherries. Mostly just cardamom, though. But that's a note I'd never really tried before, and I do like it, so I'll have to seek it out (Mama-Ji!).