IoPan

In the imp: a lovely, balanced floral with neroli and/or orange blossom as the most prominent note. Wet: An earthy, assertive patchouli quickly comes to the fore with the floral note receding but still faintly detectable. Dry: A well-balanced interplay between patchouli, cedar, and sandalwood. The neroli-like floral note comes back and finds a perfect harmony with the woods. This is exactly how I like to smell: earthy/woody/resiny with just a hint of floral. This is a great unisex scent leaning toward the masculine, as the florals do not lead, but follow the wood notes. Plus, coiled serpents have a special significance for me, so this one is a keeper for sure!

This one also turned very soapy on my skin. Not an unpleasant scent at all--fresh and clean. But not what I'm looking for in a perfume. Love it in the vial, though! I'll probably use it for scenting a room.

After reading all the reviews touting the dark character and incensey notes in Medea, I was so excited to try it. Unfortunately, I didn't find the oil's performance on my skin to be as dark and complex as others have experienced. On me, it's all floral with a slight ozonic or green undertone. It's a beautifully balanced floral without any of the cloying or wispy characteristics I so often find in floral perfumes, so it's undoubtedly one of the best florals I've ever worn. But personally, I don't prefer to wear floral-forward scents. They're more feminine than I prefer. I like to smell masculine and earthy. I think I'll keep the imp for those rare moments when I want to smell softer and more feminine, but I doubt I'll end up going for a full-sized bottle of this one.

I don't get a single sniff of blood orange or ylang-ylang with this one--it's pure patchouli and vetiver, but I love patchouli and vetiver, so I'm not complaining. It's a very dark and masculine scent, exactly what I like to wear. But I'm trying to decide whether it has enough staying power on me to make it worth a full-sized bottle. Will have to test it a few more times to decide...

I just tried this one on from an imp. What a great illustration of how you have to try perfume on your own skin to know how it will work. And you have to give it time to settle in. I can't wear any sort of musk, not even a tiny bit of it, because it turns into a nightmarish stink on me. It just does not play well with my skin chemistry. So sad, because I like musky perfumes in the bottle. When I sniffed the Urd imp, I got a resin/incense note with a little bit of fruitiness from the muscadine. I tried it on and was horrified--did it have musk in it?? I'd just pored over BPAL listings picking out zillions of imps that were MUSK-FREE! But wet on my skin, Urd was smelling like a definite musk-mess. I almost removed it with rubbing alcohol, but then I sniffed it one last time... and it had transformed. Nice, sharp cedar and the grapey fruity note had transformed into roses. All the sharp muskiness was gone. Another few minutes, and it settled into the most delightful, mellow, aged-incense fragrance with a faint sweetness barely floating over it. It's like how there's that gentle plumeria note in nag champa that you can't smell all the time, only occasionally... but this is sweeter and punchier than the plumeria in nag champa. Yet still quite unobtrusive, just softly there sometimes. I immediately put a full-sized bottle of this one in my cart. It's a keeper for me.

I loved this one in the imp and on my skin... at first. But it faded away to nothing in less than an hour on me. Darn! While it lasted, it was a lovely smoky/tobacco/warm-spice scent. I didn't get much lavender, if any, but loved the smoke and tobacco notes so much. I just wish it'd had some staying power! My skin chemistry is notoriously uncooperative with many fragrance ingredients. One of the reasons why I love BPAL so much--they offer a wider variety of ingredients so I can actually find something that works on my recalcitrant hide. Unfortunately, Gaueko wasn't one of them. Into the trading bag it goes!