ravenscanary

Source: Lab Imp from swap In the Imp: ...fruity cough syrup. Uh oh. Wet: Okay, not cough syrup. Powdery, sugary fruit. Amber = powder on me, always. Dry: Pomegranate and plum through powder. Not an unpleasant scent, but it smells like fruit doused in baby powder to me. Notes: Not a long-wearing scent, either. A few hours, medium-to-light throw.

Carnation, posies, and white amber with a hint of inky treacle, sandy cider, and wooly wine. Source: Lab Imp, via swap In the imp: Spicy, faintly alcoholic. Light-colored oil. I almost get a potpourri feel on the first whiff. Wet: Hard cider, brightly acid red wine, and a caramel-like sweet undertone. I don't get the floral or amber really at all until... Dry: Much better balanced after 20 minutes or so. The alcohol has tamed a bit, but is still quite strong. The flowers have become very spicy. This is great blend: boozy, sweet, spicy over a carnation-heavy floral. Notes: Moderate wear and throw. Two light applications got me through a full day.

Source: Traded imp. Very clear oil, colorless. In the imp: Citrusy! Must be the Earl Grey bergamot. Wet: Orange/lemon citrus and leather. Very faint scent. I'm not getting any tea. Dry: A bit of tea comes out, but frankly I'm almost wondering if that's because I *had* some Earl Grey to drink a bit ago and I'm half-imagining it. This is a very, very, very soft scent, and won't stick to me for anything, even after reapplication. The leather note is nice, but I can barely get it. Overall, this is a real disappointment to me - tea and leather are some of my favorite notes, but even slathering this stuff gets me no real effect beyond a moderately pleasant, barely discernible citrus, alas.

Source: Decant In the Decant: Caramel and berries. Sweet, but with a bright/warm note that I think is the balsam, though I'm not sure. Wet: Caramel, primarily. Very sweet. I don't smell any rose, but I do get a smokey, boozy cognac background under the sweet - like some kind of alcoholic dessert. I can definitely smell the pink pepper as well. The berries aren't as pronounced now. Dry: The sweetness has balanced with the liquor and pepper notes. However, I still don't get any rose or much berry out of this. It's all candy and booze. Pleasant and not too sweet, in spite of the fact that it is all about the candy. Further Notes: About 5-6 hours of wear time from one heavy application. Now I want to try the Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel scent, since it was mostly pepper and caramel I got out of this one.

Source: Lab Imp, about 4 months old. In the imp: HONEY. Yay! I love honey I don't smell the amber or vanilla, really. Wet: HONEY. Syrupy, thick honey. After a few minutes I get a distinctively powdery note, which I think is the amber, based on experiences with other scents. Dry: After about an hour, the powdery scent has moved into a very rich HONEY-vanilla, with only traces of the amber. Further Notes: This is a seriously long wearing scent. Almost 36 hours after application, I have lingering traces of it, even after washing up, doing dishes, and generally running around a lot the past day and a half.

Not only does this deliver exactly what it says on the tin - rich, boozy black cherry brandy exactly - it also wears like crazy. I had to wash with strong, citrusy soap 3 times for the scent to even die down. (Not disappear, I can still smell it. DIE DOWN.) It's a pleasant scent, but make sure you want to be smelling it for a while!

Wow, I am loving the heck out of this scent, which I did not expect to at all. I only got it as part of the set of Halloweenie decants for completeness' sake, but I'm pretty sure I need a bottle of this at least. In the decant, it smells like clove with a faint undertone of musk, but the clove is entirely predominant. Wet, the smoky brimstone flavor comes out, with an undertone of sweetness - copper feathers? Drying, this is musky, spicy and sweet. I'd love it on a man, but it's not overly masculine. I think it's more clove cigarettes over warm-bodied, sweet musk. Definitely bottle worthy as I huff my arm!

In the Decant: Strongly alcoholic. Smells like hazelnut liqueur with an edge. No fruit. Wet: Nuts, sharp and strong, with a faint undertone of berry. Luckily, this starts to mellow very quickly, and 15 minutes later I'm getting a nice blend of hazelnut and floral (apple blossom, I guess) with an undernote of fruits, though it's still fairly sharp. Drydown: A few hours later, this is even nicer and more balanced, though it doesn't wow me. I was hoping for floral/fruity with an undertone of nuts, but it's more the other way 'round, and doesn't quite work for me. I also get a chocolate/coffee edge to this, making it almost like a very light 13 to my nose.

This is a big no, and the first BPAL I really had to resist washing off to see how it morphed. In the Imp: Astringent alcohol and burning. I smell no violets. On my skin: If I try very hard, I can smell violets. A few violets that were tossed in a bitter herbal chemical fire! Drydown: About 2 hours later, this has mellowed to a faint but severe, black, bitter herbal smell with a touch of violet. Not remotely worth the wait.

In the bottle, I get a warm, sweet floral, with some woody/amber notes underneath. As soon as it touched my skin, it was ALL leather, maybe with a touch of polished wood - like burying my nose in a leather jacket that's been hanging on a hanger in a nice cedar closet. Very manly, very rich. I tend to do gender neutral scents, but this isn't neutral, it's very masculine, almost smoky. However, less than an hour later it had dried down to a much better balance, though I don't really smell berry. I'm still getting the leather and wood, but it's been sweetened with the honey and I can definitely get the flowers again, lightly. It's been 3 hours now, and I really like this scent after some drying time!