Mermaid-on-Land

Based on a Romany incense blend reputed to induce sexual dreams: Somalian rose, Moroccan rose and Bulgar rose with a sultry dribble of cinnamon. Oooooh this smells good on application! I never really gave much thought to roses before discovering BPAL. I never really thought they were for me. But I've liked every scent I've tried so far that had roses in it so I think I've been converted. This is fresh and dewy roses on first application. Then over a couple minutes the cinnamon blooms and mingles with the rose scent. They combine into something more complex than just 'cinnamon and rose' that I really like. This is sweetly spicy and freshly rosy. Color feel is deep purple and red. The throw is pretty good in the beginning but lessens quite a bit on dry down. It faded really fast on me sadly. Oh well, I like this one enough to try slathering it the next time I wear it and see how that works to get it to stay!

This smells good right out of the vial. I get mostly the lavender and black current, and a twist of ozone. The musk, I think, is rounding out the scent in the background, and I really don't get much of the resins, I think they are sweetening things a bit in the background. After a few minutes I get the impression of clean laundry with lavender sachets that someone mentioned in another review but it doesn't stay like that too long on me. Eventually the scent separates into a distinct throw and skin scent. I like the black current that I get in the sillage, it's tart and pretty. Every time I try to sniff my wrist to get more of it I end up with all lavender powder though haha. I like both of them but I like the currant part from the throw more. The lavender is herbal, planty, sweet, and powdery, more so than freshly floral. I think the lavender is what gives it the "hazy" aspect from the description. I like this one, it's somehow fresh, tart, and soft and the same time. The sillage is pretty great, I was able to smell it just moving around for hours and it stayed quite strong. The colors to me are deep amethyst purple accented with hazy white.

Ok, so right on application I smell mostly frankincense. That stays dominant for about 5 minutes til the other scents start to emerge. I definitely get the gleaming metal undertone and a very clean, light leather. This is the first leather scent I've tried and I like it. It's not 'walking past a leather store in the mall' strong, just a nice clean component adding to the scent. I get a shiny golden-bronze color feel. There's a somewhat masculine vibe to this, it smells a bit like aftershave or something for a couple minutes but that goes away. There are no sweet notes for me to amp, but I don't mind that. I can smell quite a bit of the anise in the background; it's a softer, less bitey anise than in Absinthe. The throw is good, I can smell it while moving around. I really like this, it's interesting. Unique. When I walked downstairs after putting it on my mom asked (from across the room) "what perfume are you wearing? It smells good, very clean." I think that's a good description. Shiny, squeaky-clean, burnished brass and leather. I feel like a badass steampunk girl building mechanical creatures in a workshop or something . The throw diminishes over the course of wear, beginning to drop about 3-4 hours in.

Ok, I need a bubbly, happy, light-hearted scent today, so I'm gonna try out Delirium. It's a clear thin oil. On application, I immediately get the rose and lemon. I always manage to forget how distinct of a floral rose is, and this is quite strongly in the "fresh rose" category for me. It's very planty and dewy and cool. The lemon is tart and bitter, balancing pretty evenly with the rose. Apple is an underlying sweetness, much more Fuji than Granny Smith, and I don't get it as strongly as the other scents. I think it's a pretty perfect evocation of the concept and description, it's 'merrily mad, bubbly and contrary'. The throw is surprisingly good for such light scents. Like, I can smell the sillage from my wrist just while texting. The color association is pinky red and yellow (obvious color association is obvious). After a couple hours most of the bite of the lemon fades and I'm left with a sweet rose with a very slight tang. Actually it doesn't fade entirely, it drifts in and out. I'm shocked the lemon sticks around, citrus usually vanishes on me immediately! The staying power pretty good, I can still smell this about 12 hours later. I really liked this one, it's fun and light and energetic.

I'm not quite sure what I expected from a dead leaf scent, considering I live somewhere that doesn't really get a *real* fall with changing leaves and all. Maybe something earthy, brittle, dry, a little dusty? The dead leaf note ended up smelling vegetal, peppery, and a bit musky. That surprised me a little. One review said bell pepper and I kind of agree lol. It took about an hour or so for the bourbon vanilla and myrrh to make an appearance. Once they did, the scent sweetened considerably. I really like the bourbon vanilla, it's a darker, less sweet version of regular vanilla. And the myrrh is resiny and sweet. This has average throw and staying power. Every autumn I kinda wish I lived somewhere with a ton of trees to see the leaves turn, and I think if I did this scent would have more fall associations for me than it does. I like this but I'm not crazy about it, so I think I'm good with a decant. The far drydown is mostly sweet myrrh and reminds me a bit of the drydown of laudanum.

Ok, so I basically tried this one because of the name and the fact that it seems to be considered a classic. I'm not a huge fan of 'light' scents. They fade fast on me and have no throw with my chemistry. Plus my personality doesn't really run towards subtle anyway lol. This is lemon very strongly at first but that fades within like 2 or 3 minutes. Now I mostly smell the aloe with a bit of green tea and possibly the musk. This is airy and refreshing, but I can already feel it fading. It's nice but not quite 'me' I think. The color vibe from this is a pale yellow-green for me. Well... actually I maybe, kinda take it back. About an hour in, it develops a surprisingly good throw! Not as much as a heavier perfume but pretty good for a light scent with my chemistry. I might change my mind. I mostly smell the aloe, tea and musk at this point (citrus *never* stays on me). I think I'll wait for a super hot day and retest. I wrote this off too fast, it's growing on me. Again, not quite 'me', but I occasionally like to change it up and wear something totally not my usual style and this imp would work for that. It has a cool, detached vibe, like someone no-nonsense with a platinum bob wearing a crisp white blouse to a business meeting.

Ok so for this one I don't get any currant that I notice. I can't quite pick out the patchouli and moss per say but I definitley smell something in addition to flowers. I really get the dill note mentioned in a bunch of other reviews. I was so confused what the dill was until I read some reviews that mention it. I knew it smelled like something but couldn't quite figure out what. Violets are apparently a bit powdery on me. I don't really mind scents that are 'powdery' though. The color I get from this is pale purple with a blue undertone, with green/brown at the edges. I don't quite get the dark vibe other ppl are, but it's definitely an earthy, heavy floral vs a fresh, light floral. The throw is fantastic. After wearing for a couple hours, it's kind of all combining and blending and I get the sense of a "bruised" violet. Oh and at about 10 hours it's still going STRONG. This lasts a while. The scent keeps reminding me very strongly of... something... but I can't put my finger on what...? Oddly evocative and I'll update when I figure out what it is lol.

This is the most viscous and pigmented oil I've tried so far. I'm a little nervous to have worn a white shirt today This is very red right on application that sinks in yellow-orange and eventually absorbs/dries clear. I get quite a bit of the snow coming up right away along with something earthy and metallic. Soon the snow becomes a powdery mint (kind of reminds me of those See's candies at Christmas). It sweetens once the woods (or maybe another note, I'm not sure?) come in and actually ends up quite a bit sweeter than it started. The throw is very strong yay! It's actually quite sweet by now. At one point the throw for a couple minutes smelled exactly like my mom's holiday pizzelles. Sweet and slightly anise-y. Not what I expected given the decayed wood description but I quite like this. It's very wearable and the clay scent is subtle, giving it a slight deep earthiness. At the dry down like 8 hours in, the snow note comes back along with a bit of musky sweetness. This has *really* strong throw and lasted AGES on me. I really like this one! It has the strongest throw of any I've tried so far.

I really get the cake right on application. This is definitely a foodie fragrance. It's a dense, sweet, crumbly texture in my mind. After like 10 minutes the currants come out and balance it very nicely. It has a sweet but spicy, almost incense-like quality too. I kinda want to say I even smell saffron? The spice note actually started a bit medicinal in a similar way to Laudanum so I think it might have nutmeg too. The spices give it an old fashioned vibe, the way I would imagine sweets from another era, where it wasn't just pure sugar flavor. The throw is good, average to strong. Eat Me smells different close to the wrist versus far away. The sillage is sweeter, while close to the wrist is spicier. The color vibe is ivory with dark berry and purple accents. It all dries down to a vanilla sweet cake that lasts for AGES on me. It's still on my wrist a bit the next day. I liked this one, I am really enjoying all the Alice in Wonderland scents so far!

I first get nothing but flowers. Heady, rich, sweet flowers. They actually remind me of the star jasmine growing on my back wall. I love love love the scent of those flowers when I step outside! Eventually I get the bay rum/bourbon notes beginning to come out and add depth and, not quite spice, but tanginess, to the sweet floral notes. I think I can barely pick out the moss and dirt, grounding it a bit. Eventually all that's left is the bay rum. This loses throw pretty fast once the flowers disappear, and by the end of the day it's really faded. I love that initial floral smell and the mixing with the rum, bourbon, moss, and dirt. I might try slathering it on next time to see if that gets it to stay a little longer. Even if it doesn't I really like the scent and I'll definitely use my imp!

For something with a name like Sacred Whore of Babylon, I'd have expected something less innocent than how this turned out on me. It eventually ended up mostly powdered sugar! Right out of the bottle it was sweetly floral. No specifics are listed in the description and I suck at telling floral notes apart so far, but the consensus in the reviews seems to be gardenia. Now that the gardenia flowers have faded a bit I smell exactly like powdered sugar lol. Not that I'm complaining, I somehow smell almost exactly like walking past the bakeries on Main Street in Disneyland and I'm loving that vibe! That's more the throw, closer to the wrist it's a little more floral still. I'll enjoy using up the imp I think. The throw is still great 6 hours later. At some point it loses the powdered sugar in favor of a honeyed floral (not sure what kind, again I'm not really familiar with flowers. If I had to guess I'd say maybe honeysuckle? It's sweet and honey smelling). Editing to add that I love this and come back to it quite a bit. Gardenias smell like a floral powdered sugar on me and mixed with the other notes, the scent is lovely. This is a heavy, sweet scent, somewhat indolent and very much in keeping with the concept, I think. It's also oddly comforting in a way? Anyway, it's a fave of mine and one I wear often.

Haha I'm a total dork. I ordered this one thinking of Nosferatu with the wine notes (I totally got my vampires mixed up Oops lol). So I was kind of intimidated to try this one. A lot of reviews mentioned it was very masculine and I wasn't sure it would work on me. But the notes sounded interesting and I still wanted to try it. Right away when applied, this smells like burning smoky incense and spice with quite a bit of the orange blossom. No pine on me at all. I get no pine notes which is surprising since so many reviews say that's the dominant note. This has fantastic throw. I really like the cumin, it adds depth to the scent. Eventually the burning note begins to go away (no, stay! Come back!) This doesn't seem WAY overly masculine on me, at least I don't think. The floral orange blossom adds sweetness and I think it's very wearable on me. It starts getting more freshness from the mint later on. No musk that I've noticed and still no pine. I wonder if tobacco is the burning note I liked. I somehow expected that to smell like cigarettes and was prepared to dislike it, as I hate the smell of cigarettes. But I liked the burning note in this. Now towards the end it's more oranges than orange blossom. I like it actually, it's quite strong on me and I feel mysterious wearing it

I got this in the Oriental Floral imp pack. Cranberry is the most prominent note. It's sweet but not sugary, and also a bit tart. This is strong when first applied, but the throw faded quite a bit in the immediate dry down. I was starting to think it was just all absorbed really fast but then I started to catch a sniff of the scent when I moved around. I don't get much of the spices and no ginger that I noticed, but I maybe get the lilies? I'm not good at picking out individual florals yet. It's mostly gone at 5 hours. I'm kinda conflicted. Sometimes I like it. Other times it smells like a fruity air freshener. I need to test again. The color is a desaturated smoky cranberry. On further test, I decide I like it much better, I get more of the sense of ‘torchbearer of hecate’ (which would be awesome to smell like!) I think I’ve made up my mind, I like this. Overall it's a smoky-sweet-tart cranberry. Definitely gonna use my imp up!

At first all I smell is vetiver. Not really strong vetiver because the throw's not that strong, but pretty much just vetiver right now. I think this is the first time vetiver has struck me as smelling truly planty or grassy, and not just as an underlying note. Soon the China rain comes out and I love that. This smells exactly like a rainstorm. It's a rainy day out so i decided to wear this to emphasize the weather, it worked I feel like I brought a little of the grey, cloudy, rainy weather inside with me. The throw is actually better with drying. It is definitely "high pitched and clear" as the description says. It sweetens slightly over an hour or two to a very lightly powdery version of the same. The color vibe to me is grey pearlescent cloudy skies. On further dry down (3+ hours) vetiver makes a reappearance. I really like this one. It smells so much like a rainstorm I can practically feel the chill wind and rain drops. Too bad it's discontinued I think I'd like to eventually get a bottle if it was still available.

This is astringent strong tea right on application. I really love how strong the tea is! I was expecting it would be mostly florals with a light hint of tea, but no, it's very assertive in this. I mostly get green tea just because of the sharpness. It smells like wet tea leaves. The peony isn't overly floral, it actually blends quite well with the astringency of the tea. A strong hint of sharp soap comes in and out but I like soapy scents so I don't really mind, plus it goes away in like 5 minutes (that might be the bergamot everyone else noticed, it sometimes smells like soap on me). The herbs bring out the sharpness as well. I like this one, it's light but still has a bite to it. The color impression I get is pink and crystal clear, like looking at a pink flower through a glass block (weirdly specific). Unfortunately it seems to fade fairly fast on me *pouts*. Something in the dry down reminds me of the light white musk at the end of Embalming Fluid, but as far as light scents go I think I like this one better. Sadly though, like most light scents, the throw isn't very strong on me. Oh well, I'll definitely use the imp and I think it'll be good for really hot days this summer.

OMG this smells amazing! I immediately get all the notes. Milk, honey, carnation and bergamot. The carnation switches between being more creamy and more planty. It's very fresh but also I'm getting the cinnamon spiciness as well. Carnation is the strongest note for me, with milk and honey to sweeten. Rose and bergamot are more in the background. The bergamot gives it a tea-like vibe without being overly TEA. The rose is soft and almost more rose-water like.The color vibe is creamy off-white and very pale pink.I wasn't expecting this to be a favorite because it seems very light from the description and I tend to like heavier, darker scents. And it is light and fresh. But I spent the whole drive to work just sniffing my wrist and going 'omg this smells soooo good!' This is sweet and clean, almost but not quite soapy. The throw is surprisingly good and so is the staying power. I really just love this one. Instant fave and I might even have to hunt down some more carnation blends. Innocent and whimsical yet mischievous as other reviewers stated. My favorite of the Alice in Wonderland blends so far

I got The Contrast as a free tester with a forum purchase. Uh oh, fingers crossed I don't fall in love here and end up getting pulled into the luper blends. I'm already in over my head here just with GC lol. Ok so this is a very thick oil. On first application, it's smoky sharp, thin and dusty, with an underlying sweetness. I like this so far, darn it. Eventually the sweetness morphs into a strongly bubblegum scent. Then it kind of shifts back and forth between the two in a tug of war. The vanilla is mostly for me adding sweetness without being really apparent. It's also the first time I've tried a scent with benzoin so I'm not too familiar with that note. After a couple hours, the bubblegum has faded and it's mostly resinous sweet. Not as fond of the bubblegum as that initial sweet smoky dustiness but I still overall like this. I kinda see why it's 'contrast' lol, they're two pretty different ends of the spectrum. I quite like it but I'm not obsessed with it, won't need to frantically hunt down a bottle. I enjoyed my tester tho. It was pretty strong close to the wrist but I didn't notice much throw from far away. It lasted at least 6 hours. As a side note, I think it might be a chemistry thing for me because no other reviews mention bubblegum.

Yum! Foody pumpkin and cinnamon pie spice! The peach rounds it out and sweetens it, but I wouldn't notice it was there if I didn't read the notes, it's a subtle addition. This is delicious, I'm craving pumpkin pie and fall weather. The throw is good. I think the spices stick around a bit longer than the pumpkin and peach. Something about the spices remind me of a craft store when they put out the fall/Halloween displays, which is nostalgic to me. The throw fades kinda fast but stays as a skin scent for a long time. The color to me is glowing orange and yellow. Sometimes I have days when I'm just in a "fall mood" and this would be perfect for when summer is endless and autumn needs to be here like yesterday. It really captures the feeling of autumn for me. Bring on the sweaters and scarves!

Got this in a forum purchase Out of the vial, whaaaat cigarette smoke?! Right out of the imp this is super acrid and strong. On me it seriously smells exactly like someone is smoking a cigarette nearby. Somehow this seems hot and cold at the same time. In about ten minutes it morphs into burning plastic and eucalyptus. Where the hell is eucalyptus coming from? If I sniff my wrist it's all eucalyptus. The throw is again somewhat cigarette smelling. I think something in this went VERY wrong on me. I didn't get any of the spices mentioned in other reviews. The smoke wasn't the sweet smoky note from like, Dracul or Lampades, it was distinctly cigarette-like. (I hate the smell of cigarettes) There was no sweetness to this on me. Gaaaah, not for me! I might give this another chance later on to see if this was a fluke or maybe I put too much on but I think its my skin chemistry not getting along with one or more of the notes. Just wish I knew which one...

Got this from a sale on the forum This is very sweet right out of the vial. I smell mostly dirt, pretty strongly, but *sweet* dirt. It's pretty strong. In a couple minutes I start getting the papery white notes, they're crisp and clean for being a dirt-based perfume. I really like this one, I think. An hour or so in, I start getting an acidic note that gives it a perfumey tinge and the sweetness cuts a bit. I was a little intimidated at first because of the strong dirt smell right on application (I've never tried one in this scent family) but it's actually very wearable when it's on. Throw is still pretty good at this point. Eventually it dries down to a sweet, slightly powdery scent. I really like this one, it had good throw on me and lasted quite a while before it lost its sillage. I kept catching a bit of the scent moving around at work. That phase lasted probably about 4-5 hours. Color vibe is deep brown and grayish white.

Got this as part of the oriental floral imp pack. This smells really good, a sharp greenness right out of the bottle that calms down a bit after application and drying. It becomes a lily dominant scent with an underlying bite. The throw is good at first, especially for a light floral. it faded a bit when dried but still has surprisingly good throw. This is a clean soapy floral with an undercurrent of something a bit mildly spicier. Actually on further thought I can't decide if it's "spicy" or “sharp". The color feeling from this is medium green and warm cream. This one's not as strong as some of the others I've tried so far and I tend to prefer stronger scents, but I really like this one and will keep the imp for days I feel like a lighter, fresher perfume.

In the bottle, the first sniff impression is almost minty. I'm not too familiar with most of the notes in this. Applying and wet stages, I think I get the indigo musk and something darkly floral. A bit of something somewhat spicy, or maybe sharp is the word I'm looking for? The plum isn't overly sweet. I can barely detect it. Most notes in this blend together to me, it's hard to pick them out. The throw is great, I can detect it just standing still. LUV. For colors (maybe due to the night blooming flowers) I get a blue/purple/black vibe from this. It smells very true to concept for me. Plum appears subtly later on, which sweetens it a bit. Then the plum and the floral aspect take turns as to which is the most dominant note. A coworker told me I smelled good too! Oh and I've been wearing it for a solid 15 hours and my mom suddenly said, oooh what perfume are you wearing, you smell really good! So The Night-Raven stays really well on me too! One of my favorites so far.

Got this one as part of the oriental floral imp pack. This starts off sharply citrusy and bitter, which I really liked. I wish this stage would've stuck around longer. However, citrus, I have found out, fades REALLY fast on me. This stage faded in about 5 min to sweet and somewhat pastry-like. It somehow reminded me of a light and crumbly pastry, like a scone. I didn't really notice the tea, but maybe some of the floral aspect of cherry blossom in the pastry stage. Little throw on me once the citrus fades, it lasted pretty well at 3 hours but totally disappeared by 6 or 7. This one changed quite a bit from wet to dry. I like it enough to keep the imp but probably not for a bottle. If citrus had more staying power on me I think it would've smelled very different on the dry-down based on other reviews. It seems like a light, cheerful scent to me.

Got this as a frimp from the lab with an imp pack order! Totally different from the other ones I've tried so far. I have previously smelled frankincense resin and loved the smell, i remember thinking it almost had a lemony quality to it. I can't quite separate the myrrh from what i remember of frankincense here as it blends pretty well to my unpracticed nose lol but it smells great when I sniff my wrist. Sadly, the first time i tried it I could only smell it up close It had very little throw on me. This is sweet and incensey. It's definitely a very clean incensey smell, like other reviews mention, not a smoky quality at all; and it has a very bright feeling to me, not any darkness to it. It develops a tiny bit of a dusty note a couple hours in which I don't mind. I don't really catch the scent much moving around. This gets maybe just a little sweeter as it dries, and loses the dustiness eventually. It smells really good, and perhaps even picks up a bit more throw far into the dry down. Hmm, after I wrote the initial notes for this, I wore it a second time and had a random person ask if it was vanilla perfume. Maybe it has more throw on me than I realized? Also, I don't pick it up as vanilla at all but it definitely has a sweetness to it. I really like resinous and incensy scents in general and this is really pretty, i'll definitely use the imp!

Oooh this smells good! I immediately really get that honey wine note. Strangely it's not just honey, it's different and more watery than honey in a bear bottle. This smells sweet but not cloying or heavy; it's actually a very fresh variety of sweet. Omg reading through the description again it hit me what this smell reminds me of! It smells (to me) just like a cup of tea sweetened by honey. I really like this one. I think the lighter freshness is from the lilac? I can't quite pick out the myrrh in this one, and only the slightest hint of sweet resins. I do get the smell of tea leaves though, which I love. The tea comes out a bit further in. It starts out pretty strongly honey and then morphs to mostly tea, then they kinda combine. On second thought, it's not so much tea as damp tea leaves. The whole scent has a damp humid quality actually, it really vividly makes me think of taking a sip of hot tea with honey and the steam creating humidity. The throw is really good, i can smell it without really trying. It eventually fades to a watery sweet floral about 5 hours or so in, and I can somewhat pick it up at around 12 hours if I sniff my wrist. The color association to me is clear dark amber, like tea in a cup. Another favorite!