joopjoop

This is great - smells amazing and so so piratey! I feel like I should curl up with an adventure book or a fantasy novel while wearing Plunder - it's cinnamon spices, tea (a tea I like) and just a hint of wood. ummm, I love it. Unfortunately while my wrist is fine, the skin at the inside of my elbow is fiery red and itchy - probably the cinnamon although this is the first time I've had that reaction. Bummer. I will try again and apply more sparingly and failing that I will use it as a room scent. Because as I said, I looooooooooove it!

In the imp and wet this is a pure, rather high pitched Lily of the Valley scent - almost a single note. I dries down to a pleasant fruity floral, but on me it is rather nondescript. I wish the hibiscus came out more strongly on my skin, but at least on this try, I'm not getting that note distinctly. I will test the imp a few more times - I'm trying this after scrubbing off another scent so that could be an issues with the old sniffer - but I have a feeling that while this is fine, it is not anything I need to find a big bottle of right now.

Lovely! someone on the forums recommended Death Cap to me based on my love for coconut and I am so glad they did, because it is not one I would try on my own - as the description is somewhat off-putting! Damp dirt and coconut husks - I'm going to hunt down more benzoin, because it seems to be what I want vanilla to be on me - warm softness without the cloying headache inducing awfulness that characterize a lot of vanilla scents for me . As others have said, this is a snuggly comforting earthy oil. I feel like this would be a wonderful winter scent. I'm really pleased - this is the first 'dirt' BPAL I've tried that has really clicked with me. I like wearing it and I have a feeling its is going to smell super-great on the man as well!

I'm going to be testing this again for its ritual and mystical properties, but this review is based purely on the scent. Starts off as a lovely deep almond that lasts longer than some of the other almonds I've tried. Unfortunately, after about an hour it settles into a slightly plasticky vanilla scent that I don't care for. It is not actively terrible, but not something I'm super into either. I might layer it with Queen of Sheba or Eclipse (my two favorite almond BPALs so far) and see whether they combine well with Horn of Plenty. I could surely use the luck and financial good fortune so I'll be giving this one another whirl soon.

Oh MY! (fans self) Simply stated: for me Osun is sex in a bottle! (or imp, as it were in this case). So sooo good. I find that honey is often iffy and overly sweet on me, but here it combines with the rose and some herby goodness and it is just...well... Hot. As. Hell. This is not a subtle scent, or an office scent, but rather something to wear when you are pulling out the good lingerie to wear under your date clothes because you have certain hopes, shall we say, about how things might go. On the dry-down the honey goes a bit powdery on me, but it is a very pleasing (and sexy - did I mention sexy?!) powdery-rose smell - as weird as that may sound. Rose is definitely the main attraction here along with the honey, so those who don't like rose may want to give this a pass.

Very elegant, very stately, very very violet. If I were a violet lover, this scent would delight me. As I discover that I am not a violet lover, I feel that this is good violet as violets go but that's about it... Queen Gertrude is very evocative to me of both the Victorian era and the 1980s. Or rather the way that "Victorian"aesthetics were interpreted in the 1980s. This scent is very Laura Ashley at the height of her glory, very your mom's collection Victoria magazine stacked around the house, very Crabtree and Evelyn in the local mall. Shortly after putting it on, I remembered my grandmother taking me to some decorating froufrau store that specialized in teacups and elaborately trimmed throw pillows and I loved it so much. THAT is what Queen Gertrude reminds me of. As such, I find it pleasant from a sense memory perspective, but I'm not actually crazy about the way it smells. I think I'm just not much of violet person. I appreciated the experience however and it is always nice to remember my Gramma.

Hmm, initially this smells very much like Shanghai - a strong lemon tea. But on the dry-down something goes off on me - maybe the combination of the musk and aloe? I usually like white musk but this is bordering on unpleasant - like sour skin. A little later the tea completely takes over on me as tea tends to do. I can see why this is so popular but it just doesn't work on me. I'll stick with Shanghai if I'm in the mood for a tea scent.

Starts off as a beautiful green springy smell with tulips as the dominate note. I barely get the peony which is too bad because I love peony. It quickly turns to a soapy floral on me and then does a slow fade into a very clean and pure soap scent. I quite like it, but it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I feel like this is one you could wear while working out (it wouldn't get overpowering or weird-smelling when you sweat). It reminds me of a long walk around the lake in the summer. It has that warm clean skin feel - in fact it smells like sunny childhood - like a clean and snuggly five-year-old who has been playing outside for a while and is ready for a snack and a cuddle. The imp is a keeper, but I don't think I need a big bottle of this one!

Something about the combination of the orange and fig smells very Christmas-y to me. I can't quite put my finger on it - like mulled punch at a holiday party. I find it very comforting, but it as a perfume, it is not really something I would reach for. But I think I will keep the imp around as a holiday mood scent - maybe something for the oil burner.

The Rose is everything as promised. A very pure rose scent with stem and leaves included. Wet and on the dry down the greenness is very strong but doesn't overwhelm the rose - which smells very fresh and true to life. Later, when dry, this settles into a soft true red rose scent - very light but still present. Perfect for rose lovers.

Wow, this smells REALLY REALLY GOOD!! It starts off very bright and zingy - I can smell the neroli, honeydew and guava over a base of something very clean and fresh - the musks and the freesia I'm guessing. Later it develops this airy, slightly salty quality that is hard to describe but really grounds things and keeps it from getting too sweet. Lasts a while too (unlike some of the other citrusy/fruity blends I like). This smells like a summer road trip and camping in the desert. Well, my big bottle list is getting way too long, but I think 51 might have just moved right to the top.

Guys... I don't know.... I think maybe this is TOO rosy for me. Ahhhh.....what is happening?! How can this be?! I do like it, but once applied it starts off with a very sweet sugared quality and then, well, it just stays that way. And stays and stays. A lot of staying power, which is nice, but one of the roses - I'm not sure which one (maybe the Tea Rose?) is just completely dominating all the others. I was hoping for a little more rose variety and a bit of a green dimension to balance it all out. I guess I'm more of a citrus and rose or herbal rose person then straight-up rose-rose-rose person. Although this imp is brand new - it might need time to mellow. I think I will age it a bit and see how things develop.

Bright Sicilian oranges and sweet tangerines with a clink of lavender candy and a drop of anise. Yum. At first it is a big ol' blast of orange and then while wet on the skin it is orang butter-cream frosting. It smells delicious. Later a touch of the orange remains but it becomes an anise cookie scent. Also delicious. I'm not normally a huge fan of smelling like baked goods, but I'm digging this a lot. It is very comforting and cozy. Honestly, I was hoping for a more straight up orange-anise scent (tinged with lavender), but on me the 'candy' note takes this to a sweeter place - but not too sweet, which is a relief (for example, I'd love to wear more vanilla scents, but they tend to go sickly sweet to a headache-inducing degree on me). I will enjoy my decant but a little relieved that I don't feel need to search for a whole bottle (my BPAL obsession is getting a bit out of hand!).

Wet: The juniper is overpowering when wet, combined with a little cypress in the background. It is almost too much - at first I smell like eau d'industrial campground bathroom cleaner. But Rome dries down into a lovely, herby-astringent rose. It's quite nice and relaxing - smells like an expensive spa treatment. I think this could be a good sleep scent if applied about 45 minutes before bed. Dry: The rose is quite understated and refined in the background - it's there - but the cypress and chamomile take center stage. As a rose lover I'm thinking of layering Rome with a more straightforward rose scent and seeing where that takes things. All in all I quite like this. I'm not sure if I need a big bottle but I just might!

An initial blast of tart citrus (which I find delightful). And then, after about 15 minutes, it smells like play-doh - this is the first scent on me that has had that effect and it really is remarkable how much I smell like play-doh right now. If I really huff my wrists I get a tiny bit of black tea, but mostly it is play-doh. And so there was great sadness in the land - as I had such high hopes for this one. Oh well, they can't all be winners!

When I sniffed the imp all I could smell was stale booze and cheap cologne and I was wondering what I was thinking when I included this one in my last order. But once I worked up the courage to dab it on, the booze is gone immediately, quickly followed by the cologne and then WOW it is soooo beautiful! Gentlest gardenia, combined with ylang ylang and the other floral notes are backed by a sort of 'fizziness' - I think that must be the ambergris (maybe combined with the whiskey?) - and just a hint of wood. It's really gorgeous! As others have noted, it is complex and smells expensive - like a high-end French perfume. On me this is very feminine, bordering on sweet - not unisex at all - I guess this is one where skin chemistry leads to a lot of variation. I really like it! I can see myself wearing it often.

I received this one as a frimp, and I was excited to try it although it didn't really sound like my thing. I LOVE rose, but I tend to like fresher, lighter florals and amber is a tricky note on me at the best of times. Wet, this smells equal parts rose and musk, and I can't smell the amber at all. After about 10 minutes on my skin the amber comes out and the musk gets stronger and the result is ... not good. I'm on record as favoring 'old-fashioned' scents, but this one smells old-fashioned in a bad way; like a musty funky bathroom that has had a rose air freshener working overtime for too long. After an hour, I had to wash this off - not for me. As always, though, I appreciate the opportunity to try new things - you never know!

The first 15 minutes on Manhattan is the most perfect intoxicating grapefruit I have ever encountered. That alone makes it a keeper as far as I'm concerned. After it settles it morphs quite a bit - it is so well-blended that I am having trouble picking out the notes (I'm not very good at that yet anyway). It smells expensive yet modern - like a upscale youth oriented designer perfume - very appropriate. It smells like someone with a more glamorous and interesting life than me. It smells like trying to make it in the big city when you are in your mid-20s and spring is tipping into summer and you have that electric feeling that at any moment things could start happening and you are ready. And then after 2 hours.... it's gone. Poof. Too bad. This is stunning. I'll be keeping my imp and I'm seriously considering a big bottle on just the strength of the grapefruit top note.

A frimp from the lab! Wet, this is very green and fresh smelling - like a garden in the morning. I like it a lot! As it dries down the plum pushes its way to the front with the rose close behind. Unfortunately, plum tends to go a bit syrupy on me, but this one is just a hair on the side of being pleasantly sweet rather than overpoweringly so. Eventually a couple of hours later, the sandalwood warms things up and the rose goes a bit powdery - I like this stage more - it smells old-fashioned but I like old-fashioned scents quite a bit. Very glad to try this one, but while I don't hate it, I probably won't keep it as part of my growing rose collection.

Truth in advertising - rose and leather. I smell the leather much more strongly in the bottle, but the two notes are well balanced on my skin. I'm digging the leather note, and I love BPAL's rose notes, but somehow this one is just not quite working for me right now. I'm enjoying it but there are other roses I like so much more, and I'm tempted to just go and put one of my favorites on instead. I'm excited to try more oils with leather notes, though. Expanding my horizons with each new imp!

A frimp from the lab! This is a weird one. Others have mentioned incense in here somewhere, and I think that has to be the case because about 15 minutes after application it starts amping up in the weird sweet strong yucky way that myrrh and some other resins do on me and I have to hold myself back from just washing it off. But then it calms down and I find it quite intriguing. I never get the floral, but it settles into s a sort of spicy warm dirty smell that is pretty nice, if not really my style. I'm intrigued, but not sold. But I really appreciate the chance to try it.

On me Harot is quite subtle and I'm not sure how I feel about that - I think I was hoping for something a little more bold. That being said, it is lovely. In the imp it is pure cinnamon. Once on the cinnamon calms down a bit and the rose emerges, but it is a soft, almost fruity rose that melds with the cinnamon in a very quiet way. The rose is very subdued, - perhaps a little too subdued for my taste (keep in mind - I like strong citrus scents and I LOVE rose). It was also a rather faint scent on me, even after I slathered some more on after about 15 minutes. However. That being said, the joopman liked it immediately - he walked in the room and said, mmm, you smell good, is that peaches? Which is funny because the combination of cinnamon and slightly fruity rose does smell a bit like a fruit cobbler! So I the imp is a keeper and I will wear Harlot when I want something nice but not too intrusive. It is funny, given the connotations of the name, but I think Harlot would be a good work scent.

My imp of Venice only has a few drops left, and I am for sure going to have to get a big bottle in my next order. In the imp it smells strongly of jasmine, but once on the lemon and red currant come to play with the jasmine, lily and violet (and perhaps wisteria? I'm not familiar with it). The dry-down is a tart bright floral with just the barest hint of the rose and red sandalwood - I love it - it really is evocative of southern Italy. Once dry Venice is a remarkably complex and sophisticated floral blend that smells slightly old-fashioned, but not in an old-lady way, more like something that a noble woman during the Renaissance would wear on a special occasion. I particularly enjoy wearing Venice in the evening a few hours before bed. It makes me feel elegant and very feminine, but not in a froufrou way. I imagine lavishly costumed and masked figures moving through Venice at dusk on their way to celebrate Carnival.

I've been having good luck with my latest order of imps, but this is the second in a row that is a bust. This is all champagne and mint on me, with remarkable throw and staying power and little to no morphing. Went on champagne and mint and stayed that way for hours and hours. While I like both champagne and mint notes, they combine in Shattered to smell exactly like toothpaste on me. It is a weird experience to smell strongly of toothpaste and not one I'm all that excited to repeat. Very disappointing. I was really looking forward to this one - particularly the combination of champagne and grapefruit. But no grapefruit to be found. I'm going to set it aside and try again, but I think that this one is probably going on the swaps pile.

Huh. Well that was a bit of a let down. I'm wondering if something is off with my body chemistry lately because I get no rose from this imp at all. On me this smells remarkably like the base for Tom Kha Gai soup (without the lemongrass) - coconut with something slightly savory and herby beneath it. I wore it for three hours hoping the rose would emerge but no luck - all coconut soup. I'm going to rest the imp for a few months and try again because I love coconut and I love rose and I would love to see how they work together.