Lavada

War is Lurrrrrrrve. Sniffing the bottle (beautiful label art, by the way! and omg does it look like blood in the bottle or WHAT?) and the immediate wet stages on my skin/hair, this smells like the sexy and evil lovechild of Bloodlust and Gingerbread Poppet. Said lovechild is a slinky and sultry lass, and she's definitely Daddy Bloodlust's Little Girl Grown Up. Dark and fiery. There's something sweet as well, but it disappears quickly. Best part? This stage lasts for aaaaaaages! To quote Ralph Wiggum: "My hair smells like burrrning!" No specific object or substance burning, no smoke... just... burning, if the word could be associated with a smell. I love it. As it continues to dry, it gets darker and dirtier and yet it is saved by the ever present spices from becoming the flat and dusty mess Bloodlust was on my skin. The throw is above average, and so is the wearlength. It fits Carmine's character to a T, and if it were a quote (random, anonymous) it would be "Today is a good day (for someone else) to die." Did I mention my for it yet?

From the imp is a fresh but spicy tea-rose (ish). The scent, if scents can have feelings, feels sticky. On wet, it is very much the same, but the sticky and the spicy become more pronounced. Very nice, but I'm not swooning with joy yet. I would, I really would, love to but... ...rose does it's thing, perverting itself and amping to unbearable degrees on my skin. Merciful indeed. Hmph. Yeah, well, I wasn't really into this whole 'love' business anyway...

This is a blend that makes me . In the imp, it's dead-on cheap pink bubblegum. I wouldn't have minded if it stayed that way forever but, as with most BPAL, things must change... ...on me, the bubblegum is joined by big red lollipops. This frolicks around dementedly in a cloud of smellweirdnice for a few minutes before the bubblegum subdues and the 'perfume' comes out to deepen the blend. I can't pick up any notes, but the distinct image of a little girl pilfering her mommy's special bottle with sticky fingers is what I get. As it dries, it's back to bubblegum with the merest suggestion of lollipops. Orange this time. I think someone else mentioned this earlier but, as well as being very very sweet, there's a powdery quality to it. Confectioner's sugar. Wearlength is below average; the throw recedes rapidly into my skin. This is a fun (and funny!) blend - I thank the Lab most graciously for gifting it in my latest order - but I don't think I'd wear it too often. Keeping the imp, though! *dementedly frolicks off*

This is heavenly. True, it's not much more than the best damn gingerbread in world, but does anyone really need anything more than that? It starts of strong, spicy, sweet and eventually the sweetness gives way to a subtle dry spice. I wish it would last longer - the above progression took little more than an hour - but I've no regrets with this impulse purchase!

Granddaughter of Helios, Hecate's chosen: Medea was one of the greatest sorceresses of the ancient world. She is the embodiment of ruthless power, indomitable will and furious vengeance. Night-blooming cereus, black orchid, black currant and myrtle leaf enshrouded in the incense of Hecate's cypress and myrrh, and the dark rage of magickal labdanum and intoxicating poppy. !!! This. Is. GORGEOUS. For most of the weartime, Medea is a green-fruit-floral and that's wonderful as it is... but, my sweet Greek gods, it doesn't morph into another episode of When Florals Get Nasty. Near the end, it dries into something a little darker, like the enchanted garden of an evil sorceress (hehe. duh!), and drier with the incense (without the smoke?) grounding everything perfectly. This was a frimp from the lab, and thank every one of those aforementioned gods, because I would have never ordered it for myself. I need a bottle. Or three. ps; Dear wonderful and glorious Lab. Please never discontinue this.

There was a truly blissful union in the shower today... While I was washing off Dorian with Jai Mahal, the clash of the two scents was really more of some sort of... collaboration of awesome. Even now I can still detect very faint traces. Hmm. Now to make it not-so-subtle...

By now, I know that rose and I will never be friends... but Alice was part of the generous frimpage in my last order, so I might as well give her a whirl (that, and she was leaking anyway). Wet: Light spicy powder. Rather bland, actually. Dry 1: Some sweetness, a little more depth... and then the rose comes out. It doesn't come out for a while though, fooling me into thinking that I've escaped its evil clutches. Oh rose. Now I'm hoping that the light-spice-sweet-powder will beat rose down. Dry 2: Of course it doesn't. Powdery soapy rose. On a ribbon, it dries down into... well, into light honey. O Lite, perhaps? (I haven't tried O, nor do I have it). Much more pleasant than when it plays on my skin. Overall, even if it didn't turn on me, I don't understand the overwhelming love Alice gets.

Two word review? Damn rose. Wet: Sharp but earthy with a sweet/sour base. This could be good. I wouldn't have minded if it stayed like this forever. Dry 1: Why, rose, why? Soap soap soap. Unlike Wicked and Lilith, I can still sniff out what had otherwise been a perfectly likeable blend. Still. It is rose and it is soap. Dry 2: Skin-close and somewhat flat fig. Oh my god, yes, the rose went away! I'm not sure why, but I can sort of smell honey as well. It's nice, but it doesn't strike me as a 'Nemesis' sort of scent... and I am NOT going to wait for three hours for this barely detectable stage. Sigh. Another tricksy imp that broke my heart after smelling so nummy unapplied...

*glares at the word 'amber'* Here's hoping. (Mmm. I do love me some Blue Skies!) Thank you! *scribbles on to order list*

I hope this doesn't sound too weird... Patchouli + Cinnamon. Yeah. This craving is the result of retrieving cinnamon bark for another one of my DIY Chai experiments fresh out of a Lush Tramp shower. It just... struck me. "*sniffsniff* Why is it that I am not the one smelling like this?"

Imp: Curry. Uh huh. You heard me. Wet: Celery. I didn't even come to this board before trying it on. Dry (#1): OMG EW DIRTY CARAMEL. SMELLS LIKE VOMIT. Dry (#2): DIRTY HOBO MAN WITH VOMIT. Verdict? Do. Not. Want. Why doesn't the incubus want me?

Question: Does anyone else have... urm... precipitate in their imps/bottles? I'm assuming (reads: dearly hoping) that it's just the chocolate in my imp. The scent itself makes me break out into giggling fits. Initially, I get lime cordial from the imp before the grapefruit and tangerine overpower it on my skin. Very playful, but it doesn't make me immediately think 'bah, too kiddy' (yeah, i'm lookin' at you, Titania) despite the fact that I can almost feel the sticky sugar. Eventually, the chocolate comes out (don't know about the mint part, though. then again, it might be having a dalliance with the lavender) but it's not at all creamy. Schro's Cat is, if anything, very akin to the sort of confectionary that is mainly comprised of a tart citrus goo encapsulated in a very thin milk chocolate shell. Crush it, and that's this scent. I hate gooey centred chocolates with a passion, but I adore this! I can has bottle nao plz? ps; fades quick (oh poor deaded kitty), but an okay throw during it's lifetime.

Bleargh. I liked the promising wine-iness from the imp and immediately on my skin. Bright, but very rich at the same time. ...then it turned into Wicked Lite. It might be due to the rose/myrrh combo, but I've discovered that rose does not like me in general... so now it's very soapy rose with grape juice. *sighs* Such promise. Throw was good (or bad, considering what I was smelling), and it was nigh on impossible to wash off without a good, long, painfully scrubby shower.

Grandmother of Ghosts. Except there's no rose. Crisp green floral.

This is in its own class of sexy. It's tart in the imp; sweet under the light musks. There's also a somewhat astringent feel to it, which I suspect is the tea. On the skin, the tartness (I'm torn between whether its lavender or lemon... but both have a similar feel to them for me anyway) and the musks amplify. Then it's the tea and vanilla. Just yum. And by when you read yum, you're going to have to purr it, despite the impossibility due to the phonetics of the word. It'll eventually settle into a warm musky vanilla tea that seems like a second skin. But, whoa, it throws! Nothing stifling, but noticeable. A comfortable haze of Dorian to snuggle into all day long. Oh yes, it has staying power too. This, my brothers and sisters in arms, is not sex in a bottle. Instead, Dorian is the scent of gentle innuendo. He'll take his time warming up to you, politely flirting with you, because he knows you'll be his, completely and helplessly, in the end. And you'll never see it coming.

Bottle: Urk. Buttery, nutty... and yet there's something sharp and zesty cutting through. Spilled over my table ( ): As above, just magnified and without the zest. Wet: PIE. Beautiful spicy, slightly buttery, pumpkin with just the right amount of tart sweetness. I want to smell like this FOREVER. Dry: The above lasts for about half an hour before losing the buttery PIE quality. *indignant* I like buttery pumpkins! I smelt like PIE. After that, it's a citrus vanilla that eventually turns into vanilla with pumpkin in the background. It gets cloying at times. Needs more ginger. Verdict: I am devastated over my spillage, but I think I'll be content with the half I have left. No need for replacements.

I'm not sure if any recs have been made since it was mentioned in the initial post, but are there any BPALs out there that have a similar feel to Chanel's 'coco mademoiselle'?

Melisande's jasmine sashays out of my life and field of smell (field of smell? ) very quickly, leaving me with a musky powder. Oh, the heartbreak... But yep, totally into the Flying Fox range... even if the temple balm somehow turns uber-metallic after a while. If I recall, there was/is a bathtub murdering ballistic that smells exactly like FF. If only I was a bath person...

Unapplied: Oh, I do declare! A wonderful disarray of musky florals. This is her essence, the wavering mirage. I would have no qualms whatsoever if this did not morph at all on my skin. On the label (I am hopeless, HOPELESS, at this imp-opening business) it smells much sweeter... the vanilla bean, I assume. I must have brushed the wand against my scarf somewhat, because it has that vanilla-y scent as well. Wet: Ahh. My beloved jasmine. This is morphing but, so far, for the better... and much darker. The musk keeps this from going "WHEE. CRAZY FLORALS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE DOING.". The jasmine falls from centre stage quickly, at least the jasmine I know, and this now leaves me ensared in curiosity; what is it now? Violets, perhaps? It is sweet, but not the sweet of my scarf. Very... alluring sweet. Dry: Musky. Powdery. Sweet. Floral. In that order. As time goes, 'powdery' will dominate 'musky'. I don't mind it, but I do miss the very first sniff. I miss my jasmine. It was all so fast - all of this within an hour and a half. Throw: I can smell it throughout the day, and that's all that matters to me . Verdict: A bottle perhaps, before the Carnival ends, even if it does not blow me away; something to wear everyday, no matter what the weather (it smells light enough for summer, yet complex enough for winter). If and when I offer my arm to my nearest and dearest, they assure that I have 'nice-but-not-jump-worthy-smell'. Which is good. I must wander deeper into the BPAL phenomenon, barrage my olfactory chemoreceptors with more more MORE...

From the reviews, Fox-Woman sounds AWESOME. Now to procure me some... *continues browsing through the Salon*

{Note: First review. May waffle incessantly.} Unapplied: Erm, on a similar note, this was also my first experience with a BPAL imp ever. I spent most of the morning screaming "What?! What is this?! What do I do?! I don't understand!" ala Bernard Black before daring to open the delicate precious. Unfortunately, there was some pop/splash/spill; the label is now stained and there was enough on my thumb to apply on my throat, chest, and behind the ears (which isn't that much, looking at the imp now, with its level more or less visibly unchanged). On the label, it smelt beautiful. A dark rose incense. I smell no jasmine (and will never) from this blend. Immediately after Application: Did I say 'not much'? I think I may have overapplied. Before this, I couldn't get my head around descriptions such as 'powdery' or 'soapy'; this is no longer the case. It's not so much a component of scent... but a feeling in my nose, the back of my throat, and the roof of my mouth. It's mostly myrrh now, which seems like it's on a completely different incense stick to the rose. They do, however, combine well. This is not a scent that evokes images of wickedness hidden behind beauty. This is a scent that evokes images of blatant wicked beauty, with both the rose and myrrh neither dominant or submissive to the other. ...onwards: Urk. This is not me. I am not old enough to pull this off. Not even in my blood-red corset and 'suicide by stiletto' heels. I will not be old enough for some decades more. On the train, I overheard the couple behind me talking about how they can smell something like 'a snooty old lady in the public toilets'. Cringe. I definitely did not feel wicked then. I could even smell their point before I got on the train. Throw: Impressive. 7 hours (and a painful scrubbing around the neck) later, and I am still uncomfortable. Verdict: I may try this again, making sure to apply sparingly. Or I may test it on my friends; I know a few who love these sophisticated florals. Oh, I can understand the potential for this blend's greatness, but it never played out on my skin. I may pass it on to my mother. She'd probably love it.

Thank you! Will do! (both looking at Phantasm/Salon scents and PMing you if the search is successful)

Has anyone experienced a perfect jasmine tea? Okay, I haven't. Not yet, I hope. I can imagine it, though; the subtle scent of jasmine sambac (I've never thought of it as a sweet floral, even when I found out that there is a little Sambac bush in one of the most forgotten corners of the front yard and subsequently made very good friends with it) against the warm but dry base of oolong/green tea. Minimal sweetness, perhaps only the idea of sweetness, and no astringency (I have a bad habit of putting too much tea/leaving it in for too long). The smell leaves me in Nirvana. (reads: Craaaaaaaaaaviiiiiiing... crrraaaaaaviiiiinnnng...) Are there any BPAL equivalents to what my mind is tormenting me with? Or any other non-sweet tea scents?