Lucchesa

As the name might well imply, this one is very fugitive on me, disappearing except for a hint of a grin within 30 minutes or so. I'll keep the imp as it's a nice wake up in the morning scent - grapefruit always is for me - but I won't be buying a bottle.

I've been wearing Wrath all day, reapplied twice, and at 9 pm my husband and 13-year-old son were screaming at each other. Hmm. Hopefully it's a coincidence because I really like it. It's a gorgeous orangy red, and wet it has a clean, powerful feeling, like righteous anger. As it dries down I get the Red Hots that Lunasariel and others have mentioned, but I always loved Red Hots. It's spicy and complex on me and lasts fairly well, which is rare with my chemistry.

Being a Lizzie Siddal fan, I wanted to love this, but for me it was horrible. Mentholatum, which I didn't expect from the ingredients. I was going to give it half an hour on my skin to morph into something bearable, but I don't think I lasted ten minutes before scrubbing it off. Not for me.

For me this was the weird heavy spice cake somebody brought to your holiday party and no one ate. It just didn't work on my skin. Neither does Eat Me, so I suspect there is some common ingredient that doesn't agree with me present in both.

This smells yummy in the imp, but something disastrous happens when it hits my skin. It turns weird. I have learned this sometimes happens with cake or pastry notes. They just don’t like me. In an hour or so it's more pleasant, but sadly Eat Me is not for me.

Where is the evil? This is a lovely summery floral, something my mother would have worn, whereas from the name I was hoping for something my mother would have been slightly unnerved by. I love Baudelaire and was expecting a little more "mal" from Fleurs du Mal, something deeper and debauched.

I safeguard my Screaming Mandragora frimp because I know I'm unlikely ever to get another one. It's marvelous on me, managing to be earthy but not heavy. There's a balancing fruitiness and acidity, almost a cotton candy scent in the imp that becomes richer as it dries. I wear it when I want to be grounded but optimistic.

Alice was the first bpal scent I fell madly in love with, and it is still my go-to feel-good scent. I travel with it; I wear it all year long; it buoys me when I catch a whiff of it. Pulling out the stopper invariably raises my mood two or three notches. Just thinking about Alice raises my mood. Love it! It is sexy in a light, flirty, but not little-girl way, delicious in an Earl Grey tea with marzipan cookies way. When I was home for the holidays and put it on to go out to a family event, my mother, who has Alzheimer's disease, said, "You smell wonderful!" I also have the hair gloss, and also adore it.

I wanted to love Hunger -- I found it gorgeous and lush in the imp and wet. And it is very long lasting -- I could put it on at night and still smell the traces on my wrists doing downward dogs in yoga the next morning. It dries to something deep -- the black narcissus? - which, as the previous poster mentioned, just doesn't agree with me. I can tell it must be fantastic on many users; I'm just not one of them. ETA OK, I wrote that over a year ago, when I was just beginning to go beyond Alice. I retested it in fall and loved it. It's this devilish combination of virginally sweet, which I associate with orange blossom, and drop dead sexy. And given that my skin eats up so many blends, I appreciate its staying power. It's not 100% me, but it is damned fun to wear.