crow-toes

Another imp that I’m immediately in love with. A captivating blend of incense and roses. Reverent, mystical, and romantic - grounded enough from the resins and woods, delicate enough with the florals, and spicy enough to keep it feeling the right sort of androgynous for my tastes. These incenses and resins are decidedly my sort of scents. A bottle is already in my next order.

True to its name, Neutral does what it says on the tin. A nice clean musk, that's fairly light overall. I think it could add some nice depth in layering, but it's nothing exciting on its own. Considering I’m finding I lean toward scents that have their own solid dose of musk, I don't think this will be one I reach for often - and I don't think I'll be picking up more past this imp.

This imp took me on quite a journey - I don't think any other scents I've tried have had such significant changes during the drydown on my skin, except maybe Assassin. I see that I went back to my notebook several times across the day when I was wearing this one to add more notes. Wet: Oooh, finally something quite feminine and floral that still feels like it might fit me. It’s definitely on the sweet end of the spectrum, but it has enough warmth and sharpness to bring it together into something comfortable. Reminds me of a misty spring evening in a garden. Dry: Dries smelling mostly like baby powder - not much throw to it, so it's not overwhelming, but it is a lot less appealing. After a day of wear, I have very mixed impressions because of how promising it started - but I'm mostly settling on "meh".

I was gifted a whole bottle of this by a friend quite a few years ago, and now that I know more about perfumes I'm amazed at how perfectly she nailed it with this one! This is notes on a quite significantly aged bottle - my very first taste of BPAL! Pine foresty, honey, and a hint of floral and sweetness. Warm like sunlight on a forest floor. Nice and clean and elfy, but moody enough to not run too feminine for my tastes. This does make me wish I was better at identifying particular woods and flowers, because I love reading other people's impressions of the specific notes. But even so, I love this one.

Oh wow, this one goes incredibly sweet on me. It's all a big punch of vanilla and butter, and never seems to pick up any of the florals and musks on my skin. All I can envision is cupcakes, cupcakes, buttercream frosting, and more cupcakes. I'm sure it's lovely on the right person - but for me, it's just making my teeth hurt from all the sweetness.

I am getting none of the herby rosemary or mint notes from this one on my skin at all, and not even much of the rose - I honestly had to check that my notes actually matched the imp I thought it did. Apparently my skin amps that grape spirit to an absurd degree. I'm a bit bummed - a rosemary-heavy scent was really catching my interest, but I will need to seek that out in other blends. Sticky sweet - but in kind of a grapes/peach/strawberry in the heat of summer kind of way, not cotton candy. Dries down to a pretty low-throw scent that’s still pretty ambiguous sticky juicy fruit juice on my skin. Pleasant, but not at all a me scent.

I was nervous about the notes of cinnamon I was catching in the imp, that’s a scent I’m both not a big fan of and often find really overwhelming. Fortunately, that cinnamon scent isn't at all artificial, and it really mellowed out as things dried down. It's cozily blended with the fruit (peach? apple? it's not super identifiable to me) and sandalwood. Makes me think of cobblers baking on late summer evenings. I’m finding that I just don’t like these sort of fruity notes on me personally, but that I can definitely acknowledge it’s a lovely blend.

Oh this one is fascinating. I don't get a ton of the rum notes on my skin - which is what originally piqued my interest in this scent, and what I was picking up a lot of when wet. Instead I'm getting all of the nature notes - spicy in a pine resin sort of way, fairly fresh damp earth-y as well. This makes me pretty nostalgic for the Colorado mountains of my childhood, especially when foresty dirt trails are still holding some dampness from rain. Not an every day sort of scent, but absolutely interesting. Definitely going on the wishlist for a bottle someday.

This one really doesn't work with my skin chemistry: it's all in my face with fresh grass and mosquito spray. It's a bright scent, but goes very astringent on me.

I'm absolutely another sucker for historic-inspired scents, and this one is right in line with some historic clothing research I'm also elbow-deep into. What an intriguing way to make an outfit even more immersive. This gives me heady spiced and honeyed red wine. Fresh, sweet, and indulgent, with enough incense and tartness to keep it balanced. Nothing that I would personally call either masculine or feminine in its notes. Very different in character than most modern scents I've been trying, particularly with a very different sort of alcohol note - so incredibly immersive to such a different era. Fascinating. It's not an everyday scent for me, but I love the mood it'll set when the occasion calls for it.

Going on wet, this is extremely medicinal and threatens a headache for me. That spiced berry Home Good notes is very relatable - and it's the sort of scent that makes me hold my breath and rush past the front of the store. Once it dries down, I'm getting a nicely balanced blend of dark leather, equally dark berries, and some sort of oily resin. I don’t hate it, don’t love it, and don’t think it’s necessarily worth waiting through the drydown. I'll see if I keep reaching for the imp, but I don't think a bottle is in my future.

This one was a bit of a shot in the dark for me. I didn't have many fruity perfumes when I picked this one up, and only two full bottles, and going straight for the bottle was definitely a scary premise. Once I got it on, though, I was impressed - and even now, not being much of a food or fruits person, this is still one I'll reach for. Hugely juicy pomegranate, with a touch of resin and musk darkening it. Fruitier than I tend to reach for, but absolutely decadent. I can definitely see myself wearing this to brighten up the depths of winter, and it just yearns to be at a Yule party.

Picked this up this in a set of imps sampling different rose scents. In the vial, so very sweet and feminine, which I don't expect to like on me - girly is absolutely not my thing. Once it's on my skin and dried down, it's absolutely wildly different. I don’t get any of the sugary florals and honey from this blend. I'm picking up something like the harsh sensation of cinnamon, but with the scent of baby powder? Very strange, very not for my skin chemistry, and makes my sinuses angry. This one is a pass for me.