PersephonesChild

I vote for Envy-- mint, lime, and green herbs. Very green, and very clean smelling, so not over-powering or perfume-y. I'm a little florals person myself, and while this isn't floral, it is the one mint that I really like.

Sniffing this wet, I caught resin and incense and little else. Not very appealing to me. My boyfriend said it smelled like one of those stores run by old people where they sell Jesus and Mary candles-- considering he's a solid atheist, I took that as a bad sign. But I never pass an imp by without trying it on my skin. On my skin, it altered greatly-- the resin drew back, and I began to be able to smell the black currant. It's a strangely vast smell-- I would put my wrist to my nose and get a wall-o-scent. I liked the fruitiness of it, and white musk always appeals to me, but there's something a little off-putting-- I think that it's so big and strong. I hate lavender, but I honestly don't smell the lavender at all in this, although my boyfriend says he does. He also complained that it was too heavy. I think the name suits it well, but I don't think either suits me at all.

J'adore Belle Epoque, and I think it's a good match for the Decemberists-- it's definitely got the scent of very old-fashioned, lace pantalooned debaucher down. It's a grittier scent than you might imagine, because the sandalwood is very strong and it comes out delightfully smoky and distantly dirty, with a creamy vanilla and opium sweetness.

*sigh* I don't think this works on me. In the bottle, I am immediately hit with the perfectly formed impression of a red rose, although on closer sniffing, it becomes less defined, and starts to smell very apple-y, with a final hit of something chemical-- something a lot like hairspray. On my skin, there's about ten seconds of rose, and then it's all hairspray. I have, however, started putting this in my hair instead, and there it's quite nice (I think the hairspray/shampoo quality just fits there.) It also lasts for days and days-- I let me hair fall into my face and I get an amazing whiff of rose.

This was more astringent than I'd expected-- when I first smelled it, I was surprised by how clean it smelled. Then I remembered the geranium and ume blossom, and once my nose was expecting that smell, it all clicked into place. I get very little tea rose, just enough th lightly sweeten what is a very clean, light floral blend. I really like this-- and people who are fans of china rain will, as well, it has that same ethereal dampness to it.

In this imp, this was slightly more astringent than I'd expected-- the chamomile is really reading as tea to me. On my skin, the dandelion develops, and I know exactly what an earlier poster meant by saying it includes the pollen-tickle on your nose and everything! The herby undertones accent this wonderfully. I love this-- I think it's a slightly less-harsh version of The Apothecary.

Sagittarius 2007 reminds me so much of The Apothecary-- tea, herbs, and dandelion grassiness.

I wanted this because of the violets, which I've fallen in love with in Marie, and for the white musk. I was very nervous about the lavender, which is my deal-breaker scent. In opening this, the imp immediately splashed all over my fingers, so I didn't get much a chance to test it in the imp before smelling it on my skin. What stood out most on my skin was this sense of warmth-- something that smelled a little like hot air. I can faintly smell the violet, which makes me happy, and the white musk works for me too. But what was this heat? Checking the notes, I guess it's vetiver. Ah. Vetiver. At last, we meet. I have to say, I really kind of like it-- the muskiness of it is uncommon for me, but not overwhelming. The vetiver is intriguing. However, the lavender is still there, and it's keeping this from being one of those scents I bury my nose in my wrist for. I might try wearing this for a full day, which is usually the real test of any scent, but my guess right now is that it won't make it into my "favorites" rotation. I give it a 3.

I got this frimped from the lab-- wow, an LE frimp? Oh, labbies, I love you! On me, this has an odd, foody note--like a whiff of cake. It must be the tonka. Aside from that, the clearest other notes are grapefruit and and maybe a subtle breeze of floral from jasmine and honeysuckle, but they seem very distant. So it kind of smells like grapefruit cake. Not what I was expecting, but not bad... maybe a little too foody for me, it makes me kind of hungry.

Diwali has caused me to find new and amazing ways to bury my nose in my wrist. In the bottle, it smells very foodie-- I get a strong whiff of the cake smell that shows up in many other blends. I was rather disappointed, but I decided to try it on and see how it went. Wow, this thing can morph. First the foodiness expanded and grew creamier, then the rice blossom came out, and then a hint of the fruit mango quality. After that, incense smoke came breezing through-- a very light and non-churchy incense, if you know what I mean. Then the incense smoke settled down to that "after incense" smell you get of settled smoke, and an almost spicy, musky smell overtook the blend. Mind you, this all happened in the course of about five minutes. I feel like I've just been through a ritual in fast-forward. I just have to keep sniffing this to see where it'll go next

Every time I sniff this imp, I'm amazed at how dark and deep it smells. It draws me in-- the myrrh and black poppy and nutmeg make for something like deep longing. On my skin, the sassafrass first takes center stage, and I smell like slightly scary root beer, which I love. However, before too much longer, it has a tendency to go to powder. It's worse during my period, but it happens all the time. Too bad, since i absolutely adore this scent!

I think the rose in Silentium Amoris is the same rose as in Persephone-- they both don't work on me in the exact same way. Tea rose is very distinct from that, and it my favorite rose-- it's in Marie, and I think Zombie as well. Bulgar rose has a sharper scent to it to my nose, and thinner-- it's in both Baghdad and Seraglio, and gives them their similar scent.

As with all leather blends, in the vial, this smells kind of chemically-treated, which usually makes me nervous about putting it on my skin. However, today was just calling out for a little bit of Whip... so on it went. I'm really happy that the rose is being good. I love rose, but I've recently admitted that some of the roses don't work for me, namely the ones in Persephone (so sad!) and Bulgar rose. They smell sharp, acrid-- this rose is soft and lovely. The leather has a slightly sweaty-skin smell to it that I adore. This blend is warm, and not nearly as threatening as the name suggests. It suits me very well.

This is the same rose that's in Persephone, which I've finally admitted doesn't work for me. This...doesn't really work for me either. The smell reminds me of when I've made rose water in the past by boiling down rose petals. You'd think it'd smell nice, but it kind of smells like the roses are decomposing. I'll have to pass this one on.

I know you're not necessarily looking to be corrected, but I love the way Schlafende Baigneuse slides of the tongue, so for those of you with no French: "Shla-fend Ban Use", with a little bit of an "euh" sound after the fend-- the classic schwa.

Sniffing this from the imp, I was sort of overwhelmed by all the different sorts of scents which didn't seem to blend together into any single perfume. I'd been wanting to get a decant of this for a while, so I was a little disappointed. However, once I put it on, my disappointment was completely replaced by sheer pleasure. The apple peel note come forward, with a backing of something smoky-- sandalwood, but not my usual sandalwood, something slightly darker. There's also a certain creaminess to the blend as a whole that is just delightful. And although jasmine and myrtle have been problem notes for me in the past, here I don't even notice them. Mm, and have I mentioned how sexy it is? I am very pleased. ETA: Whew! Mad-morphing! it's been close to four hours since I put this on, and i now have a light, close-to-the-skin, delicate floral. Maybe this is what jasmine smells like when it's not attacking? I don't know, I'd have been more likely to call this a very gentle rose. Mmm! Wow, I love this scent!

At first sniff, and by description, I thought I'd like this blend, what with the peach blossom, sandalwood, and vanilla. However, I hadn't counted on the amber, which has thus far killed every blend it's been in for me, and also the fact that while I like the idea of heliotrope, I haven't liked a singled blend it's been in. So, suffice to say, after wearing it for an hour or two and forgetting it, I sniffed my wrists and thought "Eugh, dimetapp!" and had to go wash my wrists immediately.

Call me bizarre and my nose color-blind (scent-blind?) but thsi Baghdad I'm wearing smells salty to me.

Hm, spicy, yes, and somewhat musky, but overall, not for me. There's an odd medicinal scent to this-- amber sometimes can add to that for me, but I think it's mostly the Bulgar rose. I don't hate this, but I like Seraglio better, which I think is really similar.

It was the Salon blends that really sold me on bpal in theory, but since I've mostly just been impin' it so far, this is the first Salon blend I've actually gotten to smell. Let me first say that I'm pleased the jasmine hasn't grown into Jasminar, the Jasmine that ate Mississippi. It's staying put, which makes me very happy. The smell has a slightly astringent quality-- I think it may be a combination of the tea and wisteria. It's faintly sharp, in a way that I actually kind of like-- like a toned-down Shanghai (I couldn't handle the cleanliness of Shanghai-- think hospitals.) I like it best when I smell it while looking at the picture. The perfume has a yellow-red tone, and a certain stateliness to it, and a certain sort of longing. I'm glad I've gotten to try this.

I have nothing to base this on, having not tried it, but I'm convinced that Diwali will smell like rice-pudding when I get it.

This scent gave me the "Oh my god, I'm a bpal addict moment." After trying it, I thought "Damn! I wonder if I can still buy a bottle! Wait-- I already bought two bottles this month!" In the imp, this was incredibly sweet. I couldn't name it particularly as pumpkin. It was sweet and buttery, yes, but didn't smell like carving a pumpkin at all. I was a little concerned. However, on my skin it morphed magically as it dried. The sage emerged, the sweetgrass, the faint sweetness of cactus blooms-- quite the olfactory experience! I love sage, and I'm delighted with how artfully the sage sits right on the edge in this blend-- on the verge of being the center of attention, but never stealing the show. Truly this blend is everything I wanted Tenochtitlan to be. Also, I am now officially lobbying for more sage scents. Oh, yeah, and I really am a bpal addict.

This was such a difficult decision to get, and I've finally made the difficult decision to pass it on to someone else. I love Marie (tea rose and violet) and Belle Epoque (sandalwood and lilies, among others). But my deal-breaker scent is lavender. So I agonized, and decided to go for it. It really is old lady-ish, but then, people say that about Marie and Belle Epoque. I'd say this scent is less similar to those two lovelies and has more in common with Antique Lace. It's nice, but it doesn't excite me, and it makes me feel kind of dusty. So much for my first LE bottle...

A play of geological darkness and jagged brilliance. Soft and luminescent with flashes of black fire. This... smells... bad... To me, this smells like rubber. Like industrial-grade rubber, with some other petroleum product smeared over it. And a little bit of sunscreen. So maybe it smells like a wetsuit at the beach, I don't know... My boyfriend's nose also wrinkled. He said it smells like cheap, bad perfume.] So this will be a swap...

Hah, I've been wanting the same thing! Although I specifically want whatever they spray my hair with after I get my hair cut there... I always thought of it as sandalwood, but maybe it's more verbena (I know, they smell nothing the same, I'm just weird). Oh, and by the way, Shanghai did NOT do it for me, so I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for either. It's definitely sharp, but I though waaaay sharper than Aveda, and much more... antiseptic. I bet others will disagree with me, but just to let you know.