DryFrogPills

I popped this one on last night - imp was from an Etsy lot of discontinued several years ago, so who knows how much it's aged! When I first tried it, I dotted it on. Last night, thinking it might be good for sleep, I swiped the wand along the length of each arm. Imp notes: A VERY soft, almost soapy floral. Faint notes of honeysuckle. Initial: I first thought of this as just blended breeze of soft florals. With more application and way more nose experience, the jasmine and lavender definitely start to stand out first on applying this. Not too shocking, since I find Jasmine is a bit strong on me. Dry down: This is probably better applied with a light hand. Done so, it was a delicate, ethereal floral, absent of any soapy or powdery notes. I specifically noted it wasn't at all an 'old lady' floral. With a heavier hand, I got /strong/ rise of the soft, more soapy/floral lavender off the skin, as well as the calla lily. Jasmine and moonflower seem to blend into a white haze with the amber behind it. The honeysuckle seems to fade, and I still don't know ratkirani well enough to pick it out specifically! With this application, it was /strong/ for two or three hours, and every time the fan blew past my bed I got a facefull of FLORAL! FLORAL! FLORAL! Overall, it's a dreamy, light nighttime floral, to my impression. It's pretty, but I don't think I'm likely to wear it again, it's not really my style. Into the swap box it goes!

In the bottle, this is a soft, oriental breath of sandalwood, champaca, and myrrh. It's a very soothing scent, to me. Worn: It blooms from slightly floral to more of a soft incense on the skin, but this isn't harsh, close-in incense, or even incense burned nearby. It's more like being somewhere where a sweet, heady but light incense is being burnt in the next room over and a warm breeze is carrying it over to your nose and wrapping it around you like a fire-warmed scarf. There's a very slight hint of smokiness to it that sometimes clarifies itself into the red pepper note, but mostly, the edge it adds just goes to create that faint feel like something is burning. To get the red pepper distinctly, I find I have to go in closer to the skin where it's applied, then it becomes clear. The vanilla sneaks out over time from under the rest as a supportive, almost fluffy underlying base. Overall, that initial feeling of a soft, warm, soothing incense-y oriental holds out for me. It has decent life span and a fairly gentle throw, so I think that worn in moderation, it'd be a perfectly fine workplace scent. That said, it might make me feel sexier than I'd want to be at work, I find this one can support both a snuggly or a sexy mood rather easily! Not always, but at least some of the time, this reminds me of a much softer, more stealthy Snake Oil.

*digs to double check first* I got this in 2016, either as a frimp, or part of a grab bag off of the lab's Etsy of discontinued imps. It came together with a pack of ordered imps, so sometimes wasn't clear what was frimp and what was grab bag! In the imp: Bright ozone notes, and a follow up of METAL, like the smell that clings to your hand after you've been holding a bunch of coins. On: Wet, airy, crisp notes. Reminds me of the breeze off of an ocean when you're not close, but a mile or two in land, so you're just catching that ozone-salt tinge. Hint of metal spiking through. Dry and onward: An ozone-tinged, faintly metallic breeze, like it's blowing through a field of metal. There's something reminiscent of a fresh line type scent to it, a touch soapy or detergenty in nature, but not strongly or unpleasantly so. Overall, I found it surprisingly wearable! It's not something I wear for often, but I actually do pull it out once in a great while when I want something very clean and light.

One of my first imps, and one of the most distinctive still. In the imp: Fresh air and a gentle breeze that carries a touch of freshly crushed mint leaves. Worn: It's still 'sharp' in the nicest way, fresh air and ozone, the mints coming hard into the foreground. At the initial stages, especially when the imp was fresh, it can smell a great deal like peppermint schnapps poured out of a new bottle, with that very distinctive edge. As my imp is several years old now, I tend to find that edginess tempered, and while the overall experience is the same, the initial application has more of the oakmoss and comes across a little softer. Long term: This is definitely a morpher, as many others have said. The mints fade out within an hour or so, other than as a soft memory, while the ambergris and oakmoss linger, grounding it in an earth richness, just a bit of cool air floating over it. My favorite stage is probably between the 30 and 45 minute mark on me, when the mints and woody/earth smells are best balanced, but it's pleasant in every stage.

While I can place a fair guess at the notes/contents from the reviews above, I'll be honest and say that the only one that I personally picked out sniffing it in the imp was a suggestion of sandalwood. I suspect that that there's amber, patchouli, maybe myrrh or frankincense or cedar? But this one was more experiential than being about specific scents. Imp: Probably some sandalwood, but overall, golden and light. I get the image of sunlight through the rafters of the Catholic church we attended when I was growing up, it was a very sunny, bright, airy church, and if I'd ever been able to climb up near the ceiling, this is what I think it would have smelled like. Worn: Too blended to pick out notes, but there's definitely woods here. Again, it may be associations with that specific church, but to me, it's very much golden wood, an oak or cedar, varnished to a natural color and used to hold up high ceilings, the light slanting through tall windows and illuminating dust motes in the air. I swear I can smell the airiness and the sunshine! This one doesn't really change over time, it smells like that beautiful image. I'm not really any sort of synesthete, but there's just no other way for me to describe this one... it smells exactly like the sunny, airy heights of a wood beamed church!

Basing this off an older imp I had of this, from 2015 or so? That said, I got a frimp of it in my last order, and it doesn't seem any different! In the imp: Herbal, heather, and a definite sense of thick, wet fog. Exactly how I'd imagine a wet Irish night to smell! Worn: It's very distinctively 'wet' and misty on, both to my nose, and my partners. I get less of the herbs, but the heather is definitely there and distinctive. It's very fascinating that even as the perfume oil dries, it still smells wet and misty! Long term: For me, this lasts two or three hours before fading. It's fairly consistent from when it's first put on, staying with an impression of green plants and heavy mist, all wild and full of moisture. If I had to name specific notes, I'd say dew, mist, and heather. It's not a strong scent, but a delicate one, without a strong sillage. Very easy to wear.

I really, really, really wanted this to work for me. I'd eyed it since my first order, but gone through several without trying it because the peach note put me off - I hate peach. But reading reviews convinced me that maybe it wasn't a major element and it would be worth trying, at least, since I so dearly wanted to have a nice, GC 'autumn in a bottle' to soothe my soul. In the Imp: Okay, this seems good. Pumpkin, nutmeg, and an odd sensation of bakedness... This reminds me of the pumpkin muffins I sometimes bake in the fall! Promising for sure. Worn: As it first dries down, I get wafts of that same baked pumpkin spiced muffin off of my wrist and arm as I move. Occasional hints of peach peek through, especially close to my skin, but they're not overwhelming and I'm hoping they'll fade out. So far, not perfect, but not bad! Longer: Oh, no. Every second that passes, the peach gets stronger and the pumpkin fades. Within a half hour, it's peach muffins, not pumpkin. In Jack's defense, it's a spiced peach, like a warm fruit tea, with nutmeg and clove that just barely edges it towards fall rather than spring. Overall, however, it's ripe, juicy peach. I'm pretty sure that someone who likes peach would think this smells good on me - it's not an offensive scent at all, it's just a scent that I, personally, dislike, and apparently amp to high heaven, and it's not at all what I hoped for or wanted. So that's Jack for me... A lovely spiced-peach-tea scent, on someone who hates peach. Oh well, when I have a chance, I'll pass the imp on to someone it does work on!

Trying this one was a trip. I wasn't sure, originally, despite the reviews and my like of the listed notes, because my first thought when I sniffed the imp was that this was a grim scent. It seemed dark, aggressive, foreboding, only let up on by a tiny hint of warm hazelnut. Still, I soldiered on... after a few days to work up my nerve to testing it. Worn: Thankfully, Danse Macabre definitely morphed as soon as it touched my skin. It warms up and calms, growing softer. On me, the frankincense comes to the fore in the beginning, although the black cypress and oude blend to make a scent of smoky woods, or maybe that's the 'toasting' on the still quite present hazelnut. It's actually a fairly comforting scent! Long term dry down: My skin continues to drink in and gentle this blend. Pretty quickly, it eats anything other than frankincense and the toasted hazelnut, leaving me smelling sort of like someone sneaking roasted nuts in church. Sadly, it doesn't last very well on me at all, but while it does, it's a very snuggly, comforting scent. This is something I'd put on a half hour before I expected to be snuggled up to someone cute.

In the imp: My first thought was 'This smells dark... almost callous! Like watching someone from afar and longing for them to acknowledge you.' The actual scents took another moment or two to register, with a generalized sensation of woods and muskiness. Harder to pick out specific notes though. Worn: On the skin, the darkness goes soft and deep, it's not callous or cruel anymore, although it's still shadowed. I don't know the notes in this one as well as I'd like to be able to name them, but I can pick out the musk, a spice that my spreadsheet called 'bright-sharp' in feeling, and some sort of very sweet wood or resin. Overall, though, I'd consider this more of a blended scent, with the notes giving an overall impression, rather than being distinct. Long dry down: This continues to mellow, and becomes a deep, shadowy, sweet woody incense. It's not something I'd wear daily, but contrary to how I felt sniffing it in the imp, with it on, I feel like I'm the person someone is longing for and I know I'm not interested! It's an interesting switch, and for me, something of a comforting feeling, as well, sometimes it's nice to feel beautiful and untouchable and distant. Definitely worth holding onto the imp for when I need to bring that emotion up, or when it's cold and I just want something deep and sweet. Definitely feels like a winter-wear scent to me, somehow, rather heavy and dark for summer or spring.

Of course I had to try this one... it's supposed to be super-sexy, and well, while I found the end of Story of O rather sad, I won't say the subject matter wasn't intriguing! Imped: What comes out to me when I sniff it is honey, vanilla, and big BAM of voluptous sexiness, like Jayne Mansfield turned into a perfume, blonde and faux innocent and taking your breath away. Worn: This one comes off my skin in clouds, all honey and vanilla and a faint hint of amber. It's more sweet than sexy worn, though... I guess it's still trying to obey the Hays Code on me! It's a very feminine, sensual fragrance, but it seems more of an innocent tease than the aftermath of sex that some seem to get. Long term: And I do mean LONG term - I could still smell traces of soft honey and faint vanilla on the back of my wrists over 24 hours after first application. This is not a scent that fades and disappears! Luckily, it's a very pleasant one, growing a hair less overwhelmingly sweet, but still staying more flirtatious than sexy. To me, this is very much an ingenue's scent, at least as it wears on me. Overall, while I don't think I need a bottle, I'm pretty happy to have it, and I'm curious to see how my swain feels about it, since it seems popular. When I get a chance!

Lab imp! In the imp: Leather and rosin! Straightforward. I can't pick out the hemp, but it's not really missed. Worn and fairly fresh: Like Fighter, this sits on me in layers. At a distance, I primarily get the warm, resiny glow of the rosin. The closer I get to my arm, the more the leather comes out, and this definitely feels like black leather, although it's a worn, broken in, loved leather, not the showy, stiff sort. Long term: The hemp never shows up particularly, or it's parceled into the rosin. The longer it's on, the more the leather fades and insinuates itself into the leather, like it's getting worked down into it, until it finally fades in a warm, golden glow, like you just missed someone's sleek form slipping by you in the dark. Very appropriate for a rogue, indeed.

This was one of the generous frimps in my most recent order, and it's an interesting one! I tend to be more one to play the other types, but hey, you never know... In the imp: Leather and steel! Specifically, it reminds me of the scent of my dad's motorcycle, the leather seat, the metal cooling off after being in the hot sun and the heat of the engine. Worn: My first impression is that this smells CLEAN, of all things. If it's a motorcycle, then it's a well-maintained, loved one, whose owner washes and buffs it every weekend! At first, the metal smells wet, somehow, as if the rider was caught in the rain. They're in a leather jacket, and it's a bit damp, a bit sweaty, but still pleasant, despite that slight 'dirty' contrast. Long term: This is a very layered scent on me, in the sense that you get different things based on how close you are to the skin. Out a ways, you get that clean, wet, warm metal. The closer in you lean to the application point, the more the leather and skin aromas rise up and mix into it, giving it a more wild swagger than the almost antiseptic cleanliness of the metal. It's a really fascinating blend. I'm not sure I'll be wearing this as perfume, but it strikes me as someone that'd be good for aromatherapy, of sorts, as a confidence booster or to grant some swagger. I'm curious to try this on my partner next I see them...

As I poke my way through my review spreadsheet and work on posting reviews, we get to Bard! I got this a few years ago, I no longer can recall if I picked it or it was a frimp. In said imp: All rum and honey, baby. On the skin: On me, this comes across as very 'perfume'y at first, specifically, like an amber or musk based oriental. Fairly quickly, the musk peeks out and distinguishes itself, while all that rum and honey are suddenly in hiding! Later: Honey suddenly wakes up and comes to warm and sweeten the musk, turning it into a charming blend of those two. The rum in this never seems to really come out on me. Overall, it's a pleasant blend, but nothing of a stand out for me. The honey does help make sure it's a long lasting one on me at least!

Another maybe-this'll-help-me-sleep try. I don't find this one a guaranteed sleep inducer at all, but I do find it to be relaxing and to at least make me less resentful that I can't get to sleep. Definitely not something I'd wear just for the scent though! In the imp: Lavender and something soap-y floral. Jasmine, maybe? A hint of anise/fennel. On the skin: Stayed pretty much the same, it's a soft, soap-y floral, based on lavender and something else. I find this a 'soft' lavender more than the astringent floral kind. Long term: While the first time I wore this I panicked and washed it off, afraid there was chamomile, I never reacted to it, nor have the many times I've worn it since... so either it's not in here, or I've been wrong about what I'm allergic to. That said, I find this one to be quite fixed, it doesn't really change at all through dry down, just gradually fades out over the course of a few hours.

I've been trying out any of the Somnium blends I'm fairly sure don't have chamomile in them since I'm horribly insomnia prone. (... And horribly chamomile allergic, but so far, nothing has set that off!) Baku's probably been my favorite so far. In the imp: Eucalyptus and something in the fennel/anise/black licorice family. Fresh on skin: The fennel/anise is forward first and stays there for about five minutes, then the lavender comes forward and a tiny touch of eucalyptus. It's a more herbal lavender, although I find that at this stage, one of those notes lends an underlying sweetness to Baku. An hour and more out: The longer I wear it, the more soft, but clearly herbal/astringent lavender comes to the front, with tiny breaths of eucalyptus and anise/fennel floating up now and then. It's not something I'd wear as a perfume, but I do find it soothing when trying to sleep, and especially after bad dreams.

This is interesting to me, as my imp reacted wildly differently on my body chemistry than it seems to have anyone else in the thread! In the imp: In line with what's said above, I get spices, a dry desert wind, and hints of round and rich spices and balms. On the skin, first few minutes: This is where I get a difference. On me, Silk Road rises off my wrist with EXACTLY the scent of the hot, muggy summer wind blowing past the hay field and through the wild honeysuckle when I lived in rural southern Illinois. There's definitely a tea scent (my heart says iced tea, but I think that's because of my associations of a rural summer), and some indistinct spices that make it richer. An hour (and more) out: Gradually, the honeysuckle fades and the rest of the spices and resins and so on come out to play, although I never really am able to pick specific notes out of it, even the cinnamon or clove I suspect are here. It's a rich, heady panoply of blended aromas and I'm quite fond of it. Overall, while I don't feel a need for a full bottle, I'm quite glad to have the imp, especially with the strong olfactory memories it gives me. Even if no one else seems to have gotten a fraction as much floral! (I actually tried it twice before posting this review, just to make sure the honeysuckle wasn't some quirk of my mind or senses the first time!)

From initial BPAL order a few years ago. In the imp: Pine and cedar, a definite coastal scent, a scrubby pine forest on a semi-cloudy day where it drifts down to a slightly tossed sea. Initial drydown: Wet on the skin, pine and cedar, resinous. As it dries down, the blackberry and tomato leaf unfurl, although I haven't caught cranberry yet. Still, it's utterly lovely. One hour out: The pitch softens til it's more a memory or the near presence of woods, especially with the dark green of the leaves and the light breath of fruit cranberry, like it's coming in an open window or door. It makes me feel like I'm in a woodland cabin in the very late afternoon or early evening, sun starting to go down, in warm flannel, safe and relaxed.

From my first BPAL order a few years back. In the imp: Primarily sassafras and balsam to the nose, not aggressive, but straightforward. If this scent was a man, he'd wear his guns openly, shake your hand firmly, and look you in the eye to let you know not to trust him at cards. Initial drydown: On my skin, the sassafras comes to a bold, sharp edge. Faint hints of balsam adds to the wildness, and the overall feel is of decidedly alcoholic rootbeer. DEFINITELY don't trust this man at cards, but he's not going to lie to you that you should. An hour out: As time goes on, the sassafras sinks down into the cedar, but keeps a lovely edge. I feel like the gentleman beat me at cards, then bought me a stiff drink. I'm both mildly irritated and intrigued. The longer it's on (and it lasts!) the more the cedar and vanilla show through and soften it, as if we've been drinking together and become good friends. This is definitely a comfort scent to me. Which... probably says something, since it reminds me of a scoundrel.

It's nice to see looking through the thread that others get gingerbread from this... I didn't on ME but my partner's kid put it on, announced 'I smell like gingerbread', we both looked at them like they were nuts and... THEY DID. The kid got to keep the imp. For me though... In the imp: Musty, earthy, dusty; the scent of age and neglect. 10 minute dry down: Smells to like dry dirt or dust on my skin, with a hint of something musky underneath, maybe a touch of chocolate? It's impossible to pick out anything specific, it's more about a mood, and that mood is 'midwestern antique-ing'. 1 hour: No real change. For me, this smells EXACTLY like the sort of antique stores you get in the downtowns or fringes of small towns in the midwest, where they're a maze of items in an old commercial building, and there's a fascinating blend of musk and dust and dirt and old paper in the air and always a treasure hiding somewhere. I don't know that I want to wear it as a perfume, but it's a fantastic way to evoke an olfactory memory. Good staying power, get faint wafts up to 10 hours later.

This imp was one of the things that motivated me to give in and make my first order. Luckily, I do quite like it! In the imp: Quite strong on the pine, I can pick out juniper and a mix of resinous, herbaceous, and woodsy notes. 10 minute dry down: VERY strong pine/juniper with hints of something perfumed underneath, probably the ambergris or musk. The juniper amps on me on dry down and keeps it from getting christmas-y with the pine. The musk, for me, shows in up in waft, but not directly on the wrist. 1 hour out: Softened, still foremost with pine and juniper, but growing more blended together with each other and the musk and ambergris. Soft, woodsy, like a deep old growth forest and lovely. This is still one of my favorites, although I've found that how much I like it can vary - at some points my body chemistry amps the juniper to the point where it's almost too bracing and biting, other times it stays that soft, deep forest that I just want to find a spot of dappled sunlight in and lie down to nap.

Alas, also never smelled the original. That said... In the imp: Yep, that's fresh, clean leather! 10 minutes out: Mmmm. Constant whaft of soft, fresh leather as it dries down. Reminds me of walking into a shop that sells leather coats and clothing, not the kinky kind, but the basic sort. 1 hour out (and onwards): Exactly the same, the warm, comforting scent of clean leather. It's absolutely lovely and while I might not want to wear it every day, it's just... perfect as what it is.

Fresh from the lab and judged on its own merits, as I'm not familiar with the originals, but I couldn't resist the description. In the bottle: I primarily get the bright effervescence of the bergamot and the mandarin, with a soft drift of florals or amber behind it that adds a roundness and depth. After 10 minutes on my skin: I get the citrus and a glow of warm saffron, but despite those notes, I don't find it at all gourmand or foodie in nature. It's also much less bracing than I'd expect from having citrus in the front, just an impression of freshness and tartness. 1 hour drydown: This is where it gets interesting. The citrus doesn't last on me, but the longer I wear it, the more an entwined serpent of rose and sandalwood comes to the fore, amping up until it rules over a soft hint of brightness and a distant ground of musk. It's a red rose, rich and mature, and with the sandalwood, it stays on me far, far longer than rose usually does. In the very end, after a few hours, in the dryer spots of application, only the sandalwood lingers. The whole journey of it is fascinating, and while I like it at the beginning, I /love/ it at that one to two hour mark, when it's all sandalwood and rose dancing over something else, tempting me to dive into the scent again.

Freshly arrived this week from the lab. I never smelled the original, so I can't offer a direct comparison. In the imp: This was hard to find the words to describe, but yes, it does feel /dark/, full of shadows. I catch a hint of cedarwood lurking and sometimes moving to the front. 5 to 10 minutes dry down: Again, it's hard to figure out how to explain my reaction. Mostly what I get is what I'm pretty sure is vetiver, on my skin, there's a few hints of patchouli, but I'm picking out any cedar or cinnamon. 1 hour: Still just vetiver and patchouli. Apparently, I really amp vetiver, because the longer I wore this, the more that note comes to the fore and it lingers almost aggressively. I really liked the idea of this, but it just doesn't seem to quite work how I want it to on me, I wanted a bit more a warm darkness, and this is more of a musty old ruin. We'll see if a bit of aging helps it out.

In the imp: A blend of deep, earthy scents, hard to pick out specific notes. An old growth forest. 5 to 10 minutes drydown: First wet and for some time, I get a strong impression of sandalwood - since there's not supposed to be any sandalwood in this, I think that's the way my nose is interpreting the blending of the pine and musk. There's hints of something warm rounding out the back, an amber or vanilla sort of note. 1 hour out: A soft, woodsy musk. Not any distinct notes, just the perfect blend like standing in the deep shadows near the pines of an old growth forest. Absolutely wonderful. This is one of my favorites, and the only thing keeping me from going for a full bottle yet is that I feel that it's a bit strong for my work environment.

In the bottle: Wet earth and roses, things hinted at rather than being said straight up, an overall impression of damp ground and green flora. 5 to 10 minute dry down: On me, it stays wet roses and stems over damp earth, like the roses that used to grow by our door just after the rain. These are fairly soft, sad roses, not sultry or little girl, but wistful and funeral. 1 hour out: The earth says wet, but the roses seem to dry out. It's very soft and outdoors, and while the other notes aren't explicit, they add to that sort of 'out in the damp' feel to the whole scent.