Koumori

A crisp, cool floral that speaks of spring in cold places. There is a definite "woody" undertone - probably the maple - that keeps it from pushing into the sweet floral territory that I dislike, but it isn't a scent of forests; rather one of rocky fields and wild places. It is on the sweet side for me, but it is so evocative that I don't mind the sweetness at all.

Sugar Skull is a new addition to my all-time top 5 list. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but this is a fabulous blend of foody sweetness: maple, caramel, rum-type. It's like wearing cookies. Has good staying power on me, too, which is always a plus. Wish I'd gotten more than one bottle, but this certainly gives me high hopes for Sugar Cookie!

I was enchanted with Dia de los Muertos in the bottle, where it came off as a darker cousin of Samhain in its complexity. Unfortunately, when I actually put it on, it disagreed with me; from its initial whirlwind of foody, rich "street scents," it diminished after an hour or so into a musty, smoky scent that I don't care for. I'll be putting my bottle up for swap.

I got Moon Rose as a freebie. I can only echo what others have said: it's a clear, bright, ethereal tea-rose type scent, and if that's what you like, look no further! Cool rose scents really aren't "me," though - if I'm going to wear rose, it needs to have a spicy/resinous underlayer (my rose of choice is Othello), or else it comes across entirely too girly-girl for me. Like many scents that don't really grab me, though, it has plenty of staying power on me. It would make a great rose room scent, I think, or else it's going into swap.

The initial coffee note does largely dissipate upon drydown, becoming an underlying presence beneath a fairly strong floral. Unfortunately, I don't like coffee or strong florals, so this one is decidedly not for me. Too much jasmine coming through for my taste. Of the "exotic" scents, I prefer the spicier ones like Old Morocco and Scheherazade.

I agree with whoever thought this smelled like horehound. Luckily, I like horehound, but there was an additional sharpness to this scent that I really didn't like much. Very green and very strong - I tried this because I was in a very tense and worked-up mood, and far from lifting the spirit, I think it only heightened the tension. I experienced no other particular effects in my life - as usual, as a true-blue skeptic I can only evaluate BPAL scents on their own merits. On its own merits, then, Has no Hanna didn't work for me.

A dry, crisp scent, a robust and well-rounded citrus. The sweetness I get in the vial mellows and sharpens quickly. Excellent balance of citrus and spiciness; Megaera doesn't let her guard down. A winner.

I think I was expecting something with a little more edge to it, based on the description. This is a neat, zingy green floral in the vial. Once on, it quickly mellows and fades into a light green floral, losing the sharpness I get from it wet. Very little staying power on me, as well; a quick fade. Not a keeper for me.

Well, hmm. The Lab keeps throwing in freebies for me from the Dragon's Blood group. I think they're trying to convince me that I really do like Dragon's Blood after all! Unfortunately, no, I still don't, but I do love amber, so this is certainly the most successful of the Dragon's Blood lot. It's that warm, resiny amber scent that I love, tempered with the DB, which gives it a bit of a fruity edge on me. Mellows quickly into a very soft and subtle scent.

If only I liked lily... unfortunately, I don't. Lily is the most prominent note to my nose in the vial and for the first 45 minutes or so of wear. After that, it settles down as the resinous notes come more to the fore and the lily finally lets some other notes come through. Every time I think it's finally gone away, though, that lily perks right back up again. Sadly, lilies give me a headache.

Great stuff, this. Deeply fruity, but ripe and sexy. Commanding. This mellows and ages into something dark and complex. I still wouldn't call it masculine, exactly, but it's got that richness and creaminess that appeal to me in many of BPAL's less-girly scents. It does dry down pretty faint on me, though, alas.

Beautiful scent - so far I haven't had a single miss in my last order. I love this one. I was struck when I initially put it on with the bitter undercurrent some other posters have mentioned, but it was very short-lived. I'm not sure if I ever did catch the fruitiness some have. Over the course of an hour or so this matured into a warm, golden, gentle, rather creamy fragrance. Very soothing and even a bit elegant. To the Big Bottle List it goes.

All of the BPALs I've tried that were straight rose florals have proven to be not to my taste. The key with me is the blend of florals with other elements such as resins and spices which I like better - and Spellbound does this really, really well. I barely even realized it was a floral at first, as the amber dominated wet. Upon drydown, the musk and rose came to the fore. I definitely do not get the "hippie" vibe some others have; on me, this is a sophisticated, sensual fragrance that might end up replacing Othello as my rose of choice.

Hmm, this one seems to be getting a lot of different, strong reactions from people. On me, it smells like... grapefruit. Which is quite a surprise, given the list of ingredients! I don't think this one is for me; it'll go up with my next round of swaps.

I am very, very fond of this one. It's going on the big bottle list. On me, no one type of the scents involved here (floral/citrus/wood) really comes to dominate, which is great, since usually my skin selectively eats the scent of lemon. The herbal and woody notes surround the sandalwood. It isn't a strong scent on me at all; it dies down after the first hour or so, and I have to actually sniff my wrist to get more of it (which I'm doing a lot, and it must look very silly).

This one is just all kinds of neat! Like everyone else, I get mint straightaway, and underneath... hmmm, I can't quite tell if it's more floral or more citrus. It's possible that it's lotus as another poster suggested, but my nose isn't sophisticated enough to know for sure. It's a stimulating, clarifying, refreshing scent that I almost think seems most appropriate as a shower gel for a morning pick-me-up. I don't know that I'd wear it as a daytime perfume, and I wonder if people who use scents in some sort of ritual work might find it useful. Edit: Also one of the shortest-lived scents I've tried. The initial rush of mint faded within an hour or so, and the remaining floral was almost undetectable after another hour.

I like this scent VERY much. It's masculine and green, as others have said; it puts me in mind of the breeze on the first cooling days at the end of September, the change of seasons. I get a very "golden" feel from it, as of drying grass and bright sunlit afternoons.

This is a nice sweet spring/summertime scent, similar to but lighter than Imp, with round ripe fruity topnotes pulled together by the musk. Of the two, I think I slightly prefer this to Imp for its lighter quality. Unfortunately, this is yet another one from my latest batch of orders that has minimal staying power on me; it evaporated well before noon.

My "nose" isn't all that developed, so it's hard for me to guess what individual notes might go into this scent, but I think it is mostly resin-based; if it is Dragon's Blood, I'd be surprised, since that hasn't worked well on me in the past. It is a very "red" scent, very powerful and female and sexy with good staying power. Unfortunately, something in it doesn't quite seem to agree with me, as it tends to give me a headache with extended wear - very unusual, and the first time this has happened to me with a BPAL scent.

Goneril put me in mind of daffodils, a bright spicy spring floral. The cedar comes through upon drydown, making for a very intriguing blend. That said, I don't seem to be having much luck with the staying power of my latest batch of Imps, and Goneril is the worst offender of the bunch - it's gone within just a couple of hours.

I got a sample of this hoping that, as other posters have said, it might be reminiscent of Lush's Icon. It IS!!! IT IS IT IS IT IS!!! Except... better. It's the orange blossom combined with the musk/resin scents. Icon always turned intensely "smoky" on me, as though I'd gotten too close to the incense, and this doesn't; it retains its deep, mysterious character. Unfortunately, it doesn't have great staying power on me, a few hours at most, but I'd happily carry this around and reapply all day long.

I had to wear this one for a couple of days before I could even begin to figure out what I think of it. Wet, on me the smell of this is reminiscent of nothing so much as cream soda or Dr. Pepper. As the day goes on, it mellows and the scents blend into each other so that it's hard for me to distinguish individual notes. I definitely get a strong base of vanilla and patchouli, with just a tiny bit of the lime pulling everything together and preventing me from smelling like a hippie. (Nothing against hippies - I'm just not one! ) The cloves don't bother me as they often do in spice-heavy scents. Clove and pine peek out every now and then. As others have said, this is a very tough scent to pin down! While it's not on my top-ten list, it's certainly lovely and works well on me. Most of the scents I've requested samples of lately have faded on me pretty quickly, but this one has good staying power. Every so often that crazy blend does still give me a whiff of Dr. Pepper! Luckily, I love Dr. Pepper.

A truly lovely scent, very much evocative of misty mornings and damp leaves. The rose is a bare undercurrant, enough to cut the "green" of the alder but not enough to push it into actual floral territory. Beautiful, fresh scent. I loved this in the bottle, loved it on me... but alas, it evaporated on me before lunchtime.

When I put this on, I initially got a strong rush of lily of the valley, which I think is the lily and tea rose combination talking. It mellowed out eventually so that the amber and sandalwood scents came through more, which was more to my taste, but unfortunately by then (several hours into wearing) it was already on its way to wearing off. Viola is one of my favorite characters, so I'm sad this one wasn't really me. It's the rare floral that really grabs me; for a lily-based floral scent, I prefer Ophelia, and for a rose-based floral I prefer Othello.

This one intrigued me as soon as I opened the sample vial, where I got a very layered balsam and cedar. I tend to like masculine-leaning scents, and I like this one. It's subtle, and makes me think of dusty old buildings and decaying pine. I'll have to try it over Snake Oil as someone else suggested, as I bet that's an interesting combination. Unfortunately, it only lasted a few hours on me, but it's worth a re-application. A potential "big bottle."