Lady_Ell

Oops, I posted a review for Banshee here by accident. I will try Tempest tomorrow and then post it here. OK, I'm back. Out of the bottle comes a sharp, clean, slightly sweet citrusy scent, like grapefruit or pomelo. On application it becomes more citrus and less sharp, but as time goes by the grapefruit note comes out strongly again and dominates everything else. It's not a grapefruit juice smell, but a fresh grapefruit smell, like when you're peeling a grapefruit and that tiny mist sprays out of the peel. It really reminds me of the smell of grapefruit pith and the oil in the skin rather than the juice. It's a kind of bitter, clean, sharp citrus scent that somehow seems dry rather than wet. Although everyone else so far has said that it fades quickly on them, this one stayed strong on me and lasted a good 12 hours. I don't know if I'd order a whole bottle of this, because for me it it's a bit too sharp to be an everyday scent, but I'll keep my imp's ear for days when I need an extra shot of Vitamin C.

Only perfume I've been complimented on (and by a non-complimenting friend, too!). Vanilla and golden syrup with woodsmoke wafting on top. Long-lasting and unchanging from application until next day. This is great, but depending on mood can be a bit cloying on me. I've recently found that I like it better when it's tempered with Loup Garou, which evens out the sweetness of the vanilla and makes the woodsmoke aspect stronger.

YAY! February 4th order just arrived on E. Coast - said shipped 29th of Feb (CC Now) but actually I think was shipped on 10th of March - so to the other ladies in waiting, things are happening... To Elizabeth: thank you SO much for all the samples. I am right now out of the country but dear Sedge emailed me to let me know what I'd received. I can't wait to get home and try everything out. My project while I'm away: looking for an appropriate box to put everything in.

All I can say is that Veil scared the shit out of me when I smelled it in the bottle. It really made me uncomfortable, and it smelled kind of evil - like Old Testament style evil - which isnt' something I'd usually say or even think about. I think it affected the rest of my evening. I got in a progressively worse mood as I was driving to NY and there kept being these really weird and loud bumping/banging noises coming from INSIDE the car, behind the driver's seat, but I couldn't figure out what it was. The car itself was running fine, and had never done anything like that before. By the time I got to where I was going I was in a creeped-out rage. I didn't like that scent at all.

I love this one. Fresh, ripe, smashed apricots with champagne dumped on top. I'd been trying to find something like this when I was about 17, but my only option was the Body Shop oils and the apricot they had was just too candy-sweet, like those Japanese hard candies that come in individual little flowered packages. Katharina is less sweet but still respectably fruity. This is a young perfume, but I don't think it is a childish one. It is a good early spring scent - it is tiding me over for much-anticipated warmer weather and strawberry season, when all I've got so far are maybe some crocuses and mud. It might be too strong/fruity for deep summer, but it's great for spring.

Veil sounds like a good idea (via the name) but this is one strong, weird scent. It's very frightening, like walking through a moldy old mansion. I need to try it on, of course, to see how it is on drydown, but the smell coming out of the bottle really freaked me out and made me jumpy and unsettled for the rest of the night. Don't go by the name - instead I'd try to get a bunch of imps ears and try them out to see what makes you feel glamorous or beautiful or calm and radiant or however you want to feel on your wedding day. You've got time - go through the ones that you have so far and see what aspects of them you like, do some swaps, then order a slew of imps ears of things that you think will match with you. Have a bunch to choose from by the time your wedding day rolls around - you never know what scent might feel "right" when you're having such an important event.

Right out of the bottle this smells a bit too sweet but when I put it on I feel like I have a tasty marzipan filling in my body instead of organs, and that the almondy goodness is oozing out of my wrists and neck. Other reviewers so far have said that this fades quickly on them but it lasted on me for a good 12 hours. I'm planning on a full bottle in my next order. Post-big-bottle-update: Thank god I got a 5 mL of this. When I wrote my above review I'd only worn it once from a borrowed imp. It's been recently written by a very intelligent poster that some perfumes seem to radiate out of you, and make people say "you smell good" rather than "that perfume smells good." Dana O'Shee seems to do magical, wonderful things when it comes into contact with me. As it dries the cherry aspect diminishes and I get the most gorgeous, nutty, deep, almondy, sweet-yet-natural smell that in my mind gives off a light yellow and silvery glow. I always have liked almonds, but never gave much thought to wearing them. This is so wonderful.

This sure is chocolate, but it has a grainy note - like the most expensive cocoa you can get, mixed with sugar and cream, instead of a ready-made concoction like a Cadburys Dairy Milk or something like that. I put this on and BLAM! it hits you strong. Since I really don't like chocolate (yeah, I know, I'm in the minority here), this won't be on my list of things to buy but if I liked chocolate it would be really lovely. The other thing: this has some serious staying power. I put on just a touch on my wrists and it just didn't go away. It even overpowered my dinner, so I went to wash it off. I sat back down and still, all I could smell was this sweet chocolate flavor. It took two serious washings before it seemed to go away. But then 15 minutes later it was back, albeit a bit weaker. In final: if you like chocolate, I highly recommend this.

OK, so I finally got up the guts to try Puck out on my skin. The smell in the bottle smelled like grapes and cat pee to me, so I was naturally hesitant. HOLY CRAP. I have never smelled anything turn so disgusting once it hit my skin. I'm sort of giddy by how bad it smells on me: severe halitosis and rotting grapes and the greenish-brownish sewery smelling water that's left in a vase of dead flowers I'm kind of glad that I tried this on, because even though it overpowered everything else in the room and I had to go take a shower, it was like having a gross-out contest with a 4th grader or something. Fun yet nasty. And now I know that I must avoid civet at all costs.

This one lasted a loooooong time on me, unlike jj_j. In theory I like it, but the rose comes out very strong on me, and I end up with a strong soapy smell, kind of like rosewater mixed with Dial soap. Since strong floral smells make me feel a little woozy, I don't think I'll buy 5 mL of this one, but I think I'll stick with the Imp's ear for a while, and I might try again and see how I like this in the summer or fall. On me it smells kind of similar to Burial, but without the earthiness.

This is one of the few scents that smells the same on me as it does in the bottle, just toned down a little. When I wear this I smell like I am a freshly washed and still damp load of whites (hot water wash with bleach added, cold rinse) that I have taken out of the wash and hung up to dry outside on a sunny but cool and windy day. I can't pick out many of the individual notes in this, just the freshly washed sheets smell with the barest hint of lemon. This is the cleanest smell I've ever smelled. It's lovely. I don't think I want to wear it in winter since even just smelling it makes me feel cold, but in summer I might live in this one. ETA: unfortunately, this fades pretty fast on me. I also am a nice daughter and gave my bottle to my mom, who loves it and it lasts a lot longer on her. But as soon as I have enough $$, I'm going to get myself another big bottle and slather it on, because this is my favorite summer scent

Access is the way to go - hands down. It's a more user-friendly version of basic SQL programs, but allows you to do all the SQL stuff you want. If you already have info in Excel, or in another table/database format, you can import it into Access and it will create a table just like the one you had before. Also - as more and more people are using Access instead of other d-base programs such as FoxPro, Lotus, etc., you can probably get more help with it if you run into a problem (a query acts buggy, etc.). It might take a little time to figure it out in terms of setting stuff up, but with an Access for dummies book or a friend on the phone who knows the program, it should be OK. If you have all your info ready to go, even in a Word document, you can probably send it to someone and they'll take care of it for you, and send you back a nice, pretty Access database with forms for new customer info, specialized queries, etc. I've noticed that a lot of people are offering to help - and I'm no exception

Sierona, Undertow is a minty smelling oil. But it is also a little sweet, and on me it smells a little chocolatey for some reason. It is a very cold scent.

This scent is all piney goodness, exactly as the BPAL site describes, when wet. When it dries on my skin, however, I smell like a mix of cinnamon, cloves, and baby powder, but in a masculine way. For some reason, pine dissipates really quickly on me and I keep getting these dusty, powdery residue scents with all the pine fragrances. Edited March 5th: I dumped almost all of my Imp's Ear into a very hot bath (non-Lushified, plain water). I don't think I'll wear Black Forest as a scent, but it's great as an addition to bathwater. It is very calming and centering and perfect as a room scent or bathwater/aromatherapy scent. I think I'll get a bottle for this purpose, but maybe will wait until next fall, when I'll be more inclined to take very hot baths.

This is one of my absolute favorites. As a room scent: smells disturbingly like NyQuil (the green kind). Not recommended. As a skin scent: I smell like a Christmas wreath in the best way possible. When I smell it I feel like my cheeks are red from being outside shoveling snow on Christmas Eve. A good winter scent. Unfortunately, after a while the pine smell dissipates and you are left with only hints of spicy, dry wood. Which is also good, but I love the smell of pine, so I have to reapply often. I like to wear this before I go to bed. It's a very calming fragrance for me, which is funny because other reviewers have described this as "angry" and "bitter." I find it sweet and spicy and red and calming and cool and green, all at the same time. It's beautiful.

This starts off when wet as a ultra-serious, somber, incense-fest. But when it was dry, on my skin I just felt like I smelled like dusty old tapestries that really should be washed.

My husband wears DeSade, and the scent goes so well with him that I can't tell the difference anymore between him wearing it and not wearing it - it's like a custom scent for him. It smells like the inside of a well-worn leather jacket, without any of the tanning chemical smell. Plus there's something sweeter that somehow makes the base notes of the leather smell stronger, but not overpowering. And there's a hint of semen smell. Not in a gross way, though. This is a great scent for a guy who used to wear a lot of black in high school, and was maybe in a metal band, and certainly lived in his combat boots. Its for the guy that still makes you a little nervous to be around. On me, however, it does NOT smell good. It smells like chemicals and rot on top of a fake leather smell. But when he wears it I can't stop sniffing at his neck and I hug him a whole lot more than usual just so I can smell it on him! It's a very magnetic, sexy scent. ETA: Mr. L stopped wearing this during the summer months, thinking it was too overpowering, but the community response has not been good. Some of our friends have even resorted to asking him "when will you smell like YOU again?"

Grenadine on top of Red Lifesavers. Extremely sweet. Makes the back of my throat feel funny when I smell it.

I love how this smells when wet. Very piney, like dry pine needles and a bunch of dried herbs. It makes me think about what the kitchens of European medicine-women or witches from the 15-19th centuries would smell like. When this dries on my skin, however, it just smells like herby dust. Like those bottles of spices in the back of the cupboard that you never use and have been around so long they've lost their scent and just smell sneezy and dusty. I think I will keep wearing this, but will make sure to put it on my clothes instead of directly onto my skin so that the pine/green aspect stays strong.

I like this scent, although my mother and sister both said it smelled like an "old lady's attic." It is a very strong scent that brings to mind early spring gardening, when you're using a trowel to dig up dirt that has been untouched all winter - not a stale smell but not a "happy green summery grassy" dirt smell, either. A sad, yet hopeful earth smell. There are swirls of rose and patchouli and bay leaves and rosemary on top of the dirt smell, but not in any way that one is distinct from the other. They make up a complex, herbal, calming sensation. Kind of like a cyclical growing season - things die and turn to earth, and then new things can grow from it. It is a smell that is not innocent nor fresh - but more like one that you'd want to wear on a day that you want to feel older, confident but not brash, and like nothing can faze you because you've seen it all before and its just part of an ongoing cycle. It's been too heavy for me to wear lately, and with the more oils I've tried, I think I prefer other earthy scents like Ace of Pentacles and Black Forest.