DiesMali

In the bottle: Sugared vanilla, reminiscent of Dorian. Wet on my skin: Almost cloyingly sweet vanilla as it goes on, but settles down right away. Now I'm getting the Amber. Dry: This is as beautiful as I thought it might be. The vanilla, amber, jasmine, and musks are most obvious on me, with a resinous and almost tangy undercurrent. It's very sweet and perfume-like, but not headache inducing or overpowering. Just a truly elegant, almost sexy, womanly scent. Pink-white in colour, crystalline in effect.

In the imp: Sweet, spicy musk. Wet on my skin: Warm, sweet, musky and slightly spicy carnation. Dry: This is a rather lovely thing, isn't it? It's a sweetly spiced carnation, with a musky base and hints of dust. Very warm and cozy, and exotic. Reddish brown in colour. It's fairly light on me, definitely more a skin scent than one to wear for others to notice.

In the imp: Warm woodsy vanilla. Wet on my skin: Gorgeous warm vanilla, woods, and amber. Dry: This is like a perfect blend of Tombstone and Old Scratch, just without the sassafras. Vanilla, rosewood, amber, and pine perfectly blended into a gorgeous, golden-green scent. I love both scents this reminds me of, and this one is just gorgeous as well. Mmmm.

In the imp: Soft, floral juniper. Wet on my skin: Predominantly juniper and orchid, with sweet red musk. Dry: So very pretty on me. Just a bit of bergamot has joined the juniper, orchid, and red musk. Also faint wafts of rosewood. It's an elegantly floral/herbal scent, green and maybe-pink in colour. That rosewood and orchid start to take over somewhat as this wears, and it's so very lovely. Almost seductive.

In the imp: Light citrus with a hint of something earthy and almost damp. Wet on my skin: Oh crap, grapefruit. That's grapefruit, isn't it? I missed that in the listed notes. Dry: Well then! This is the first grapefruit scent that has worked on me, I do believe. This is a light and juicy citrus, with hints of wood, leather, and just a bit of orchid. There's something a little musky and damp, which I believe must be the musk and kush. I'm so shocked that the grapefruit works that I'll definitely keep the imp just to have that. I actually rather like it as a springtime scent, especially with that lemon orchid leather combination.

In the imp: Sweet, somewhat tangy floral. Wet on my skin: Shampoo-like, powdery Violet. I was afraid of that. Dry: This remains as that powdery, Herbal Essences sort of violet and not much else for about half an hour. Just as I was about to give up on it, however, the rest of the notes suddenly came out. Juniper is the strongest, then myrrh and cypress, then something I don't recognize. Cajeput? Once that Violet fades a bit like this, this becomes a lovely, haunting sort of scent. I love the faint incense lent by the myrrh.

In the bottle: Juicy peach and coconut. Wet on my skin: While wet, something in this is very nutty, and with the peach and currant almost goes into PBJ sandwich territory. Very odd. Dry: Thankfully, the PBJ sandwich doesn't last. This is a lovely musky peach and coconut, with the musky feel likely coming from the amber and vetiver. There's definitely vanilla in it, and I can pick out some light florals and a touch of incense, but it's all very well blended and hard to pick out individual notes beyond the peach, coconut, and vanilla. Not a bad thing, because it's quite pretty. Soft, feminine, and a little mysterious.

In the imp: Sharp evergreen and ginger. Wet on my skin: Green, sharp cypress and ginger, with some rose too. I'm already liking this. Dry: I knew this would be good on me, as all of the notes in this tend to do great things with my skin chemistry. I wasn't wrong! This is absolutely gorgeous on me as it dries and some of the sharpness of the cypress/ginger combination fades. It's a spicy, evergreen-tinged fig-rose with wisps of tonka. I don't get much patchouli as a prominent note, but I can tell it's in there by the way the whole thing goes so very mellow and warm on my skin (patchouli loves me and I love it). Oh goodness, this is probably my favourite rose blend so far. Warm, foresty green and red in colour. Bottle. Must have.

Elf Cleric with Vial of Holy Water: Absolutely gorgeous. One of my WoW mains is a Blood Elf Priest/Paladin (rolled her as both), and I hoped this would work. IT DOES. It's very herbal and incensed and sweet, with a touch of melancholy from the Holy Water. Evil Rogue: WINNER. I knew as soon as I put Rogue on for the first time that I HAD to layer it with Evil, and oh gosh. Evil Rogue is sexy as hell, and once again confirms that evil is gooooood.

In the imp: Sweetly herbal. Wet on my skin: Sweet hemp, rosin, and just a bit of leather. Dry: The rosin in this smells like my expensive dark bow rosin (instrument, not hunting bow). I LOVE that. I also love the sweet hemp, and the leather. I love this. This is one of my favourite RPGs so far, and I have a feeling Evil (Dwarf) Rogue is going to be a BIG THING.

In the imp: Sweetly musky, faintly earthy. Wet on my skin: Very much an earthy vetiver, with hints of something burnt and faint pine. Dry: This dries to a sweetly earthy scent, loamy pine needle soil and sweet cooking spices. Very brown and a little green, and dark. Ashy, maybe. It's also got this musty note to it, probably from the troll musk, but which translates to my nose as forest mushrooms. It's a very, very unusual scent. Definitely not something for everyday use, but rather as a mood scent. Probably for cosplay/Ren Fest/LARP/etc. EDIT: After being on for about 2 hours, this morphs...into body odor. Musty, mildewy body odor. Not good. Eurgh.

In the imp: Oh dear, it's *that* honey. Wet on my skin: Honey that starts out sharp, with hints of a powdery floral and I think fig. Dry: Sharp honey, ylang ylang, and a bit of powdery fig. I'm not getting much, if any, clove or patchouli. The Lab's honey notes only work on me about half the time, so I'm not expecting this one to work either. I was hoping the other notes might temper the honey's sharpness. After it's been on for a little while, maybe half an hour, something happens and I swear it smells like dandelion flowers now. If I can get through the first 20-30 minutes of sharp honey, this is actually quite wearable. A spring/summery sort of scent.

In the imp: Incense! Wet on my skin: Incense and pencil shavings. This is the first blend I've tried that has given me pencil shavings. Dry: Thankfully, the sharpness of the cedar calms down and the pencil shavings fade to a softer, almost sweet wood note. This is mostly woods on me, cedar and I think mahogany, with frankincense and other incensey resins. That being said, this isn't a heavy incense blend. No, this is light and almost ethereal, very evocative of holy church incense and polished, expensive woods. Golden in colour, dusty light streaming through ancient stained glass windows.

In the imp: Gardenia, my old friend! Wet on my skin: Cool, wet, aquatic gardenia and something I can't quite identify. Dry: This doesn't change a whole lot as it dries, which is a good thing! It's primarily that cool, softly-sweet aquatic gardenia, with hints of other flowers beneath the surface. Reminds me of flowers and petals floating in a stream. It's a very blue scent, blue and almost icy. It's something to wear for when I want to feel soft and feminine, maybe a little melancholy.

In the imp: Dry rose and musk. Wet on my skin: That same dry rose, but it's dry because of the powdery amber and musk. Dry: Much the same as when wet, at first, but then the rose fades a little and it becomes an amber/musk balance with a bit of lovely, dark rose beneath. This, to me, is a subtle and dark rose blend for someone who likes rose but doesn't want it to be the only note in a scent. Very pretty.

In the imp: Pure, rich cocoa. Wet on my skin: Rich milk chocolate. Dry: Rich milk chocolate! It's expensive chocolate, though, not cheap Hershey's bars. This is like a real German or Swiss milk chocolate, warm and thick and gooey. I am craving chocolate so hard right now, tyvm BPAL. Sigh.

In the imp: Very faint, something slightly tangy-aquatic. Wet on my skin: This is crystalline blue and ...water. Dry: Same as wet. I'm not sure of what is in this, but it's very evocative of slightly herbal, mineralized water. Seaweed, maybe? And salt? It's almost sweet, though, not like briny seawater. Light and pleasant, and I think I'm going to try layering it with Cleric just to see what it does.

In the bottle: Spicy, almost too-sharp woods and a bit of cinnamon. Wet on my skin: A rich, thick, spicy mixture of all the listed notes. Dry: Really, I can pick out all the notes, and they're all beautiful in this. It's warm and dusty, and the cinnamon isn't too strong, just enough to give it an extra kick. As it dries, the frankincense, tonka, and patchouli become dominant, in that order. The rest add to the body and spice of the overall scent. I'm already quite fond of this, as someone who likes woods and incense/resin. It's dusty-brown in colour, very evocative of that which inspired it.

In the imp: Dark, heavy flowers. Wet on my skin: Same as in the imp: Dry: I like the individual notes in this as parts of less heavy-floral blends, but unfortunately, this is too floral for my tastes. It's very strong and rose-heavy, with the wisteria and lilac giving it something of an old-fashioned, moody quality. It would probably make excellent soap, though, so I will pass it on to a friend who enjoys making soap out of BPAL fragrances.

In the imp: Smells a bit like mint tea. Wet on my skin: Musky lavender and citrus, but not cleaning wipe citrus. Dry: This remains musky lavender-citrus on me, with just the barest hint of cooling mint that gives the whole thing something of a tea-like quality. It's a rather masculine scent, definitely into cologne territory, but quite lovely and unusual just the same. I'm a fan of BPAL's musky colognes, and this joins the pile. This was a surprise standout from my latest box, a free imp I probably wouldn't have ordered myself but am glad they threw it in.

In the imp: Sweet pipe tobacco and a bit of leather. Wet on my skin: Same as in the imp. Dry: This is that tobacco that goes so gorgeously sweet and almost fruity on me, and which I love in several other blends. There's just a bit of leather here, along with something thick and ...yep, greasepaint. There's a whisper of instrument rosin, a scent I know so well from coming up on 20 years as a violist. It adds just that touch of resinous warmth to the tobacco and leather. This is quite nice on me in a similar manner to other leather/tobacco blends, and I'll surely be using up this imp! Maybe another imp later, though I do tend to prefer Hellfire for my tobacco/leather fix.

In the imp: Peach juice and honey, maybe some flowers. Wet on my skin: Juicy peach, musky honey, and a bit of apple. Dry: This is mostly musky honey and fruits on me, with the musk reining the honey in so it doesn't go sharp or sour like it sometimes does on me. This is surprisingly pretty, especially with the frankincense and myrrh giving it a slightly warm, incensed feel so it's mature and sophisticated rather than girly and sweet. I never do get much rose, just the barest hint, and the orange blossom is just as faint. It's a soft peachy-mauve scent, feminine without being too youthful. Not quite my style of scent, but I'll keep it for occasions when I'm in the mood for juicy summer fruits.

In the imp: I forgot what notes were in it, but this smells like Bon Vivant's champagne. Wet on my skin: Yep, champagne. *checks notes* YEP. I think the wine and champagne grapes combine to make this...champagne. Dry: I'm going to need to age this, I think, because this is almost single-note champagne with a hint of tonka. I really hope the other notes in this come out, but it could just be my skin chemistry since it has really, really amped that one note in a couple other champagne blends. It's not bad in this one, but I'd like to smell the other lovely notes as well. Edit: After several hours of wear, the strong champagne begins to fade and allows the other notes to come out, in particular the tonka, musk, and wine rather than champagne. It's actually quite nice at this stage, so hopefully that happens faster once the vial has aged somewhat.

In the imp: Sweet, fresh-pressed (not commercially bottled) apple juice. Wet on my skin: Definitely golden apple juice, with hints of dragon's blood and flowers. Dry: This is primarily apple and dragon's blood on me, with everything else in the background and deepened a bit by the musk. It's quite a pretty blend, and thanks to the darker notes, doesn't go quite as sweet as some apple blends tend to do. Dragon's blood resin likes me and tends to go a bit spicy, and YES it does that in this blend. It's now a spicy apple, almost like holiday candied apples but not quite venturing into foody territory. If I inhale deeply, it sometimes threatens to go soap, but thankfully it seems to be behaving itself. All in all, it's a rather pleasant, soft red and gold autumn scent. I probably won't need a bottle of it, but I'll definitely be keeping the imp.

In the imp: Sweet tobacco, smells a bit like Hellfire does in the bottle. Wet on my skin: Sweet, almost like caramel. Tobacco, sweet rum, and tonka and just a bit of leather. Dry: This is pretty when it's wet, but OH MY GOODNESS gorgeous when it's dry and after being on for half an hour or more!!! It's gone from sweet, mellow tonka/tobacco to this utterly gorgeous, spicy, slightly boozy mix of those plus just a hint of warm leather. I could swear there's cinnamon or baked ginger or something in this, even though neither of those are listed notes. It's a rich, glittery, sugar-sparkly reddish brown in my mind. The Lab sent two free imps of this with my last order, and I'd already ordered a tester imp with the next order, so now I'll have THREE. I'd hoped I would like this since I'll have three imps, but this...is beyond my expectations. Whoah. Definitely in my top 10, maybe even top 5 now.