LadyCrow

In the imp: Lily with an underlay of honey and something very sharp as a top note. Wet: Honeyed lily with sharp, bold spices. Drydown: GONE! I can only smell this if my nose is directly touching the spot where I applied it; after the initial very nice stage, it goes classical-perfumey, then grandma-powdery. Verdict: Sadly, off to swaps.

Many, many thanks to indicolite for enabling me on this one! In the bottle: Plum, peach, and something floral. Wet: Predominantly fruit, but the sandalwood comes up right away. Drydown: As it dries, the scent goes through a mostly fruity phase, then a tea/lotus phase, and finally, very coolly, mint. But during each of those distinct phases, the sandalwood/musk combo is always there, adding warmth. Moderate to low throw, very much a skin scent, but a little more robust than I might have expected given the listed notes. One of the first blends I've really enjoyed where mint was prominent. Verdict: (twirls a flower)

In the imp: Whoa, alcohol! Wet: I am drunk, and somebody's sugaring up a pomegranate. Drydown: Deliciously strong throw. After the initial stage of OMG BOOZE, it goes more fruity-sugary, but always with that tartness -- both from the pomegranate itself and the alcohol. What bugs me is the relatively short wearlength, because the drydown is so nice.

Interestingly, I seem to amp the lotus and lime the very most, making Muse just as fruity -- almost candy-fruity -- on skin as it is in the imp. The jasmine is discernible, but the tuberose really seems to get smothered. Excellent throw; this is a cheerful Muse, which could readily be classified as a "happy scent." The lime keeps it all from being too sweet, as the lotus gave it the potential to do.

(Dark Delicacies resurrection of Lenore) In the decant: Bright, sharp, clear. Wet: Weirdly floral, like a fresh gardenia or almost honeysuckle. After a moment or two this is clearly one of the brightest patchoulis I have yet smelled from the Lab. Drydown: I don't get much of the plum. The vetiver and smokiness rise up after a few minutes. Nearly Instant Verdict: Gorram it, this is gorgeous. It's difficult to explain why, because it's into that realm of sharpness I would almost call medicinal, yet I really, crucially need about 18 million bottles.

My experience was more peculiar yet than Northernskygal's. In the decant: Rich wet grape, very much like the note in Blood Phoenix. First wet: Grapey grape grape. Not getting so much plum yet. After a few moments: The amber and champaca are mixing really weirdly on my skin. In fact, I would almost have pegged the combo as a foody note, specifically nutty. There you have it, mostly ladies and a few very hip gentlemen. On me, me and my apparently bizarre chemistry, Prospero turns to a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. Remind me never to wear this around hungry small children, for fear of triggering a feeding frenzy.

In the decant: Sweet, bright orange. Wet: Orange Tic-Tacs! But in a good way. Fizzy alcohol undertone. Drydown: This has a really low throw and a wearlength of practically nil on me, which is sad because it was kind of a fun smell. It had that fizzy, fake apple-orange thing going on, with just enough of a booze note to give it a kick, and when it was dry I smelled just the faintest, faintest hint of tomato leaf in back of all that. So it was light and weirdly pretty, not at all the mess I was dreading. But then it sank into my skin and vanished! I expect real jailhouse toilet hooch has a pretty low shelf life, too, but damn. Verdict: Alas. This one actually had bottle potential, if it hadn't fled my skin like That Certain Socialite flees responsibility.

In the decant: Red patchouli, and something sweet and tart. Intellectually I know this must be the fig/vetiver combo, but my nose screams POMEGRANATE! Wet: Still with the nagging feeling of a pomegranate, now made really fresh by the earthy woods notes. I mean, it's a lovely nagging feeling! I just don't know where I'm getting this completely unlisted note. Drydown: The fig backs off a little and the amber comes forward, but not in a powdery way. The throw is only moderate, but the patchouli and other notes stay sweet and moist. Yum! There's also something reminding me subtly of coconut in back of this. Verdict: This is the first retail-Salon I've tested that immediately says, "Yes, buy a bottle of me, please." Not only that, but just watch... Lucifer's unearthly persuasive powers will be sending me to the farmers' market for, you guessed it, a pomegranate.

In the decant: A rush of hazelnut backed by vanilla. If you layered this with the cocoa from Boomslang, you'd get Nutella. Wet: Very foody on initial application; the honey really jumps in. Drydown: Low throw, very much a skin scent. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of tasty food/wood/incense, it all goes to powdery amber with a faint background of myrrh. You have to be really close to me (and therefore, quite lucky!) to smell the other notes. Verdict: Dammit! The one and only BPAL with a Polish name has to go to powder, like my grandmother might wear... my Polish grandmother... oh, wait. Doesn't she have better things to do from Beyond than go messin' with my BPALs for a joke?

In the decant: Ambergris, and sweet, sweet benzoin and sandalwood. Wet: That is one damn fine sandalwood right there, heavily surrounded by resins. Drydown: As the blend dries, the teakwood and incense become more prominent, lending it a considerably dryer feeling. I was never a regular churchgoer as a kid, but the frankincense and myrrh are almost tangible and very seasonal. Warm, sweet, gently glowing. I'm a bit bummed that the throw is so low, but hmm. The boyf is an ex-Catholic... ooh, I have a cunning plan! Verdict: I'm with the others: age and re-test before deciding on a bottle. But this is very, very tasty.

In the bottle: Who knew phoenix blood smelled like grape? Wet: A strong whiff of dark, winey grape. I mean STRONG. This has the throw of a major-league baseball pitcher. Drydown: Once the initial blast of burgundy grape recedes a bit, I get the poppy, which adds smoke to the sweetness, and close to my skin, the red musk, which I love so well in blends like Glasya and which helps make the overall effect a bit dryer. I can just about barely find the myrrh in back, making the DRAGONZ BLUD a bit tangier. Like Keslynn, I don't really get almond. Considerably more grapey/winey than I'd expected, but it's a really happy wine, if that makes sense. I think I'd be a bit more on the fence about this if it weren't for that faint buzz of poppy underlying things; the Lab poppy/opium is always tasty on me, and really adds something for me here. (Kids! You know not to mix opiates and alcohol in any context except perfume notes, right? Okay, good.) Verdict: Uplifting and a bit intoxicating -- I mean, the phoenix on the label art is trying really hard to look fierce and angry, but this is just too happy for that!

In the decant: Almost nutty, followed quickly by a candy sweetness. Wet: The honey musk predominates, and then the vanilla follows, in a sneaky, sneaky way that is somehow reminiscent of Snake Oil. Drydown: Low throw, but yummy. Vanilla takes over the most, then is followed by blackberry; the tea is quite pale and is, to my nose, more of a hint than a strong presence. Strangely, this becomes more straight-up foody on me than I had expected -- where the opposite was true of Fairy Wine, possibly because of the latter's dandelion. Verdict: This is going to require another test, I think, because the sweetness almost becomes overly candied. However, I have not yet worn this around The Boy, and I have a glimmer of suspicion that the effect on him might be rather positive.

In the decant: Medium-brown resiny incense. Wet: WHOA, smoky incense. I really get the "embers" here, and something nutty -- I mean nut-like, not insane. The "nutty" is me buying all these Salon decants. Drydown: The throw is pretty low on this after the initial stage, but what's close to my skin is quite interesting. What I think really distinguishes the incense used here is the grassy tone -- like a tall, dry grass, a different continent's version of the grass in Coyote. The dryness of the incense helps keep the grape and honey from becoming overly sweet. Pretty quickly, I get amber or its kissin' cousin too, which also counterbalances the sweetness but here gets that powdery tendency it sometimes does elsewhere. Verdict: I have to meditate (har!) on this before I decide whether it merits a bottle purchase, but it's definitely enjoyable and evocative. I like the dustiness that suggests the philosopher's study.

In the decant: Sweet, light, fruity, candylike. Wet: A big blast of honey, grape, and currant. Drydown: Like all of the new Gaimans I've tested so far, this lies on top of my skin for a surprisingly long time, making the honey really prominent. Yet it's not quite, to me, like any of the other honey blends -- it has this lightness and bubbliness that really evoke the scent picture. I know this sounds rather vague, but Fairy Wine has the Salon-like quality of having notes so well blended that they're hard to distinguish; each is an excellent complement for the next. While it's still in the slick-on-skin stage, it seems to calm down and morph from white to red wine, but that candylike layer is still there in the throw. Verdict: Yummy. It really, really smells like its name, although I agree with Ravenclaw79 that it's not a boozy wine -- more Centzon Totochtin's level of booziness than, say, that of Fortunato.

In the decant: Weirdly medicinal, almost like Laudanum amped up. Wet: Almost overpowering resins, with a bit of the smokiness coming in. Drydown: The resin recedes a bit and the smoky note comes forward -- the khus, maybe? -- which makes the overall effect considerably drier. The oakmoss is beautifully dark and heavy close to my skin, while that odd sort of root-beer tang persists in the throw for at least the first half-hour of wear. Then it all becomes more of a skin scent, which is fine, because the earthiness of the whole blend is so heavy. (Being a dippy water sign, I can see wearing this to feel more grounded.) Verdict: Overall quite nice; the throw is only moderate at its strongest, but this is in some ways like a drier (and more resiny) Twisted Oak Tree -- very autumnal.

In the imp: Sharp, bright green. Wet: I had to look up davana to find out it was a flower (BPAL fandom increases your vocabulary, trufax), and I'm guessing that's what causes that piercingly bright green note. If peridot had a smell, I think davana would be it -- slightly citrusy. Drydown: The floral recedes a bit, or maybe just puddles into the musk that oozes everywhere. Since the oil is yellow (in fact, disturbingly like it might be a 1/32 oz. urine sample), I was surprised to discover that, like many of the thick oils -- Schwarzer Mond comes immediately to mind -- Pollution sits on top of my skin for a pretty long time rather than just sinking in. I have a hard time pulling out the amber as a note by itself. This is quite well blended, and really evokes the passage quoted from the book. Yet the top note, at least, in Pollution smells oddly clean. What I like is that it doesn't go to that soapy, Irish Spring "clean" that I get from so many blends with ozone notes in them. And just as paradoxically, while the musk and amber combine into a decadent richness behind the davana, this is an oil I'd wear to help wake myself up. Verdict: Fantastic scent picture. This one's a keeper.

The essence of the most debauched hunger encapsulated into a perfume. Desire beyond love, anguish beyond sanity. Nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy and myrrh. In the imp: Sharp, dark, sweet. Wet: The poppy is strong in this one, with the sassafras giving a sweet richness that lies just behind the smoky opium. Drydown: The narcotic poppy dominates at first; then the darkness is very specifically green and herbal, with rich red nutmeg just in the background. It morphs a bit as I wear it, with the nutmeg getting stronger. The medicinal quality is always there in it, but just like its namesake, that poppy -- which stands out most in the strong throw -- keeps me coming back. I'm not quite sure what the myrrh is doing, but I think it adds smokiness. Verdict: Sigh. I can't stay away from Beth's poppy/opium note! I will wear this when I want to smell sweet, strange, and slightly delirious. (Actually, that's a good description of me. Hmm.)

In the imp of Imp: Rich and fruity. Wet: Deep fruit at first, almost like winey notes I like in other blends. Drydown: Moderate throw. The peach top note blooms very strongly for the first few minutes -- as a prior reviewer said, not so much an innocent peach as a rich, sexy one -- and then the amber dryness starts to fight it, turning it more toward the artificial peach I've ended up with from Lab pumpkin blends. I do get the sharp earthiness of the patchouli as well; it's hard to pull out the musk as doing anything but playing its supporting role to the peach note. Verdict: Pretty enough on me, but ultimately destined for swaps; other fruity scents jump up and dance a lot for me, and I don't think this peach and I are destined to be BFF.

In the imp: Sharply, brightly resinous and spicy. Almost smells more like a TAL than a perfume qua perfume. Wet: Man, they weren't kidding about the pepper part. The throw is only moderate, but the pepper is really sharp, as is the ginger. Drydown: O HAI DRAGONZ BLUD! There is a brief stage where the DB, opoponax, and honeysuckle combine to remind me of one of the sweeter Ars Draconis blends, but then this gives way to a much more thoroughly blended, appropriately firey combo of sweet and spicy. Although I agree with one of the previous reviewers that this would be a scent I'd wear for me, not for the benefit of others, I can still see it coming off quite sexy. You know, honeysuckle and spice and everything RAWR. Verdict: Dammit. I only just got around to testing this now? And I only have a little dab in a sniffie? Off to rectify this situation, stat.

In the imp: Crisp, juicy apple you could just about bite into. Wet: Weird -- I'm getting a boozy note here, and it's not apple cider, because that Granny Smith top note is still very distinct. Drydown: The hemlock gives it a sharp, earthy smell, and then the oleander gradually rises to the top of the moderate throw, giving everything a dominant floral tang. I wished the hemlock phase had stayed around longer, and I have to sniff fairly hard to pull out the opium close to my skin; I found this particularly odd since usually opium amps on me. Verdict: Overall, I quite like this. I've not tested The Hesperides yet, so can't compare that, but what I get overall from this is an outdoor (and yes, sinister) apple, with that "orchard" feel others have mentioned. I'd definitely seek out more than just the sniffie I tested, although other 5mls loom higher on my wishlist.

In the imp: Resiny. O HAI! IZ MAH DRAGONZ BLUD? That herbal Voodoo scent too. Wet: I get the civet right away, and then the rose (which inevitably goes acrid on me). Drydown: The lemon-powder stage comes next, and I get the wet jasmine, but the civet keeps fighting it. About an hour into this apparent chaos, everything settles down into a powdery feel -- medium to low throw -- that, when sniffed closely, is softly musky. This is quite the morpher. I don't know why I felt compelled to test this right before going back to work, but perhaps a passing administrator will be suddenly moved to give me a raise.

In the decant: Cherry pie filling -- cherry, but sweet. Wet: I've reviewed something like 200 BPALs, but this is the first that's actually made me want to weep with nostalgia. Y'see, when LadyCrow was just a fuzzy little hatchling, her mother used to bake vanilla angel food cake with strawberry frosting for her birthdays. This is like that in a liquid. Drydown: The strawberry note -- which gets the Kaylee Frye Seal of Approval but isn't quite perfect; I can see where others get the Crunchberries/Strawberry Shortcake thing -- keeps fighting the vanilla accord for dominance. This is one of those oils that sinks right into my fair, and frankly rather dry, skin; I didn't notice an immense wearlength the first time I tested it. Throw is average for me, but that's almost academic, because I can't seem to get my nose off my wrist for very long! Verdict: I know what I'm wearing on my next birthday. (And, presuming supplies last, subsequent ones.)

In the imp: Pretty much straight patchouli. Wet: Dark, gritty patchouli, reminding me of Malediction, made even darker and grittier by the vetiver. Drydown: But wait, what's this? A blast of brightness and citrus -- aha, the blood orange/ylang ylang combo! I smell like a very Gothy orange. You know, maybe a sort of dark, burnt one. Five hours after initial application, the orange and ylang ylang are still going strong in the throw, leaving the patchouli and vetiver much closer to my skin, but very much present -- it's a tart, Gothy orange. Unlike Goblin, the other recent "patchouli and something else" addition to the GC, the patchouli is much more in the background, allowing the other notes to come out and play. However, the combo wouldn't be the same without the dry, dark earthiness of that and the vetiver. I think there's a lot of good synergy going on here, much more than I would have predicted from the listed notes. For some reason, this ends up as a "warm" scent on this rather chilly day -- which is totally fine with me.

In the imp: Mostly green tea. Wet: BAMBOO! and tea, and an increasingly strong citrus. Drydown: A reviewer on the first page said it brought on "feelings of serenity." I have to agree, especially if you mean Serenity, the Firefly-class transport ship: Inara would absolutely wear this for moments when something lovely and spring-gardeny was called for, and Kaylee (assuming she couldn't get Strawberry Moon!) would love the bright, fresh sweetness that comes out more and more as this starts to dry. Although I still don't know what the hell oude is, or how to pick it out as a note, I must say: this is the ONLY scent I've tried so far with ozone as a prominent note that didn't wind up smelling like men's deodorant on me at some point. (Compare Thunder Moon, for example.) It does smell very clean to me, but I think that's just through association -- citrus has been in soaps forever, for example. Verdict: I still prefer Dragon Moon when it comes to Lunacies, but this seems like... well, Dragon Moon minus the DRAGONZ BLUD. It's strongly bamboo, but with an amazing throw that I don't usually associate with that note, or with tea. Very, very nice.

Colorless Phoenix, eh? In the bottle: Sweet ozone and lime. Wet: Strongly ozone. The note doesn't always agree with my skin (as in this year's Thunder Moon), and for a significant chunk of its wet-on-skin time, it smelled very much like aftershave. It was a bit salty, but not enough to make me think of sea air. Drydown: However, after a while, the redeeming notes come out: tangy woods, a high whiff of gunpowder (note to self: try Agnes Nutter and compare), and what I would swear is some DRAGONZ BLUD hidden in the middle like a piratey treasure. Overall, a very clean, and, as others have said, unisex scent with a surprisingly strong throw. I'm still not in love with it, which is probably good for my wallet, but I can definitely appreciate the craft that went into putting it together.