Jarek

A combination of three musks, with splashes of dark myrrh, vetiver and mullein. My imp is aged 2+ years, from a men's imp pack I bought in 2022. At first I wasn't really a fan of it, though I didn't hate it. I'm not sure if it's simply grown on me, or if it's the aging, or both, but I like it a lot more now. In the imp it's smoky and a bit sweet, musky. Wet on my skin it's a bit earthy, sweet, it's fairly musky, there's a smoky scent in there, it's a musky smoky dark blend of smells that I find fairly appealing but used to not be that great for me. As it dries some of the musks recede but others remain, the earthy smell remains, it's a bit less sweet, the smoky scent retreats some too. This is almost four hours after application. I expect it will change more. I'm not sure I will reapply, though I do enjoy the initial scent burst. I do like it, maybe not enough to get a bottle, but certainly going to wear out the imp. Like I said I did not like it much at first, so I haven't worn it as often, but I do like it after some aging and I'm interested to see where more aging takes it. Edit: Really enjoying it six hours or so after application. I'm not sure if I'm correctly assessing this but I think the musks have gone a bit powdery, still musky but powdery now, I find it really pleasing. Smoky is almost entirely gone, a bit of sweet and earthy. And a lovely red-ish powdery musk.

I got an imp of this with my 2022 men's imp pack order. In the imp it's pretty smoky. Wet on my skin it's still pretty smoky but I can smell the musk, and especially the leather up close. As it dries the musk and smoky scents start to fade, and I get more leather and some vetiver without the smoke. But some black musk is still present. I don't dislike it, but I don't think it's really for me, unfortunately because I do tend to like more masculine scents, and leather in a perfume can be good to my nose. I won't get a bottle and I won't finish wearing the imp.

Dragon's blood essence, heavy red musk, Indonesian patchouli and swarthy vetiver with a drop of cinnamon. In the imp and wet on my skin it smells pretty dragon's blood forward to me. I can put my nose close up to myw rist and smell the rest of it, especially the red musk and patchouli, but further away it's mostly dragon's blood. Which I don't mind but I'm not the biggest fan of, personally. Drying down more of the other notes come through, it's musky and spicy and a bit of woody/earthy from the vetiver & patchouli. I like it more at this stage, but not enough to get a bottle I don't think. I am interested in how this smells with an aquatic though so I might try layering on some Cthulhu to see if I like that more. Edit: I really like it layered with Cthulhu. :3 I think I will wear out the rest of the imp while layering it.

Orchid, white musk, and bergamot wafting over juniper berries, with a gentle touch of soft, earthy patchouli. This is a four+ year old imp from my Fougère pack. In the imp and wet on my skin, most of what I can smell is the orchid. Maybe also the juniper, I'm not sure. Almost no musk and definitely no patchouli. Previous attempts with this one have left me feeling it was "too floral" but turns out I like plenty of florals, so I really think this is the orchid. Drydown some of the other notes are coming through, like bergamot and juniper. Still not getting patchouli or musk really. I like it better with the bergamot and juniper. I like most of the notes in this perfume, but I guess orchid just isn't really for me. Will not be seeking a bottle, and I will give away this imp as I've used it a few times at least. Not many. Edit: Is this what folks call "amping?" Maybe my skin amps orchid. Huh!

I got an imp of this in 2020 as part of my Fougère imp pack. I see it's still part of the pack, but I imagine it will be replaced when it runs out. I will be on the lookout for someone de-stashing or decanting this perfume because I really enjoy it. In the imp and on my skin is a very nice blending of all the notes. With my wrist close to my nose I can pick out the black tea & tobacco leaf a bit more easily but from further back it blends into the musk, lilac, and frankincense. As it dries down I find the lilac fades, and maybe some of the tea & tobacco leaf, although they're still fairly noticeable when I put my wrist up to my nose. The musk and the frankincense linger further, but it's still very well balanced. The tobacco leaf & black tea are bitter smelling but I don't get ashtray or burned tobacco or anything, just the bitter scent of tobacco leaf, it's not even a treated tobacco. Maybe dried, not particularly green or anything, but quite enjoyable with all the rest around it. I can see how this could be a masculine scent but I'm not so certain of my gender in perfumes anyways.

In the imp and wet, the minty smell of the pennyroyal is quite strong. I normally like things labelled "gentleman's cologne" but this one starts out too minty for me. I'm not thr biggest fan of mint, both thr taste and the smell can be pretty overwhelming for me. As it dries however, the minty pennyroyal fades more and balances out with the rest, the lavender-citron and the black musk make more of an appearance, and it becomes something I enjoy a lot more. I'm wearing out the imp, gradually (I got it as a frimp in 2020), but I'm not getting a bottle. I have encountered other BPAL with mint notes and enjoyed those, so it's definitely a proportional thing. And it's entirely personal, like, I find it hard to get past the mint to smell anything else, and others might experience more of the blend right away.

Fighter & Ranger: the only two RPG scents I currently have, both frimps, Ranger is four+ years old and Fighter is two+ years. I love Ranger on its own and want a bottle, but Fighter does seem lacking a bit and mostly leather or leather and steel. I like Fighter but ndot enough to get a bottle Except... layering. Layering these scents is pretty amazing. I will have to obtain background+class+alignment imps to go the full way as intended, but this multiclassed character is a pretty great blend to my nose. I can't detect much buckskin in Ranger, so the leather in Fighter really takes that element and heightens it for me. The trees and woods and everything else in Ranger really add what I feel Fighter is lacking. I'm not so sure I would bottle this particular combo, but I do like it more than plain Fighter, and for me it's definitely worth checking out other RPG scents in order to see how they layer too!

Frimp aged two and a bit years. In the imp and wet, leather and steel. Maybe a bit of musk, though if so it's not a musk I'm familiar with yet. Dry on my skin there's a hint of "blood", and this is the coppery scent of actual blood, not dragon's blood. It's very leather forward and stays that way. Which I don't dislike, I quite enjoy it for its own sake, but I'm not sure I enjoy smelling like this all the time. I've worn it on some days because it is pleasant but it's not something I want a bottle of. I am curious now about layering it with my only other RPG scent though, so today I'm going to do that and report back in the thread for combos. :3

A master storyteller who possessed unfailing courage and compassion, a sharp, quick wit, and a true understanding of human nature. Saffron and Middle Eastern spices swirled through sensual red musk. I received a frimp of this two years ago in 2022 with an order I made. At first I wasn't as into it. I'm still not very sure if spices are my thing. But I love saffron, and it does take on a bit of an incense quality, and having tried Snake Oil I can definitely smell the similarity in spices there as well. The musky smell is also nice. This scent has really grown on me. It makes me think I should give my Snake Oil imp another chance or few too, as that one might grow on me more. In the imp and wet the spices seem more forward to me, once dry I get more of the musk coming through. It smells noticeably like musk but a different variation than I've smelled musk in before, which has mostly been white or black musk, or just 'musk', all from BPAL. I haven't worn this one for long yet today but as I recall both the spices and the musk scents linger, but more of the musk continues to come through. I think I can pick out saffron but it's blended really well. I think I will add this to the list of bottles to get one day. :3

I got an imp of this with my Men's Imp Pack back in 2022. I liked it a fair amount when I first tried it, and it grew on me more too, to the point I would like a bottle of this one too. :3 In the imp and wet I get a lot of tobacco and what I'm presuming is the black amber, but also maybe the oppoponax? I don't really get leather yet. Lovely blend though Dry I can detect a bit of leather coming through but it is well blended with everything else. I can tell this is meant as a masculine scent, it smells dark too. It's got some throw to it, though I find most BPAL scents not super-prominent unless I accidentally put too much on (for me this is a feature). But it goes a little further than some others.

I got this with my Men's Imp Pack in 2022. I did like it to start but it's grown on me even more, especially now that I can pick out some of the notes in it. It's harder for me to say what it smells like in the imp and while wet. Maybe incense and wood? Dry on my wrist there's still some incense and wood, but I can pick out the leather and the parchment. Both are pretty subtle in this blend, on me anyways. I'm less familiar with tonka, though I think I'm starting to get it, as it's been in a number of scents that I own Imps of. I don't often ascribe gender to perfume but this one definitely smells like something meant to be masculine. Which is interesting because based on the notes you'd think this could be more unisex. But hey opinions are going to vary on that too. :3 Anyways I really like it, and onto the list of things to get as bottles it goes!

"A fastidiously clean scent, with a dash of pipe and cigarette tobacco. Faintly beneath, you catch the fragrance of a smear of greasepaint, a stray horsehair, and a whisper of Moroccan leather and rosin." I got this as an Imp in my 2020 purchase of the Fougère Imp pack. I wasn't sure how much I liked it at first, and didn't wear it very much. But it steadily grew on me, and now I would like to get a bottle of it eventually. I don't perceive the tobaccos as smoked, I wouldn't like them if I did. To me they are fairly fresh, processed for the cigarette or pipe but u lit and uncharred. They really form the backbone of the scent in the Imp, wet, and when it first dries. I also smell the greasepaint, and on drydown I think I smell horse/horsehair. Some whiff of horses, maybe. After wearing for quite a few hours all of those are dialled back some and the leather and rosin come through more. To the point that I think they've always been there, but now they're just more apparent as the rest has evaporated some. Nicely balanced. There is something "fastidiously clean" about this scent but it doesn't smell like a cleaning chemical or anything soapy. Despite the tobaccos there's a distinct lack of earthiness, dirt, smoke, etc. There's something a bit almost astringent about it. But I really really like it. Because of how this one grew on me, I am willing to try other scents that maybe didn't appeal right away another time or two before really making a decision on them.

I received this as a frimp in 2022 with my BPAL order (an Imps Ears pack). I wasn't too sure what to think at first but I find it really lovely and would like to get a bottle. In the Imp and wet I can really smell honey, like long before I started developing any kind of sense for notes and before I looked up common classical ingredients of Kyphi, I was sure I smelled honey. There's a lot more to it but that's quite notable, it's not super sweet though. Just. Golden. Warm. I can smell myrrh too, because I'm familiar with myrrh from making my own incense blends. This is apparent wet but becomes more apparent when dry. The honey fades a bit but is still there. I do get a wine smell but it's like. Honeyed wine. And I only picked that out after looking up classical ingredients of Kephi, so it may or may not be in there. I'm not sure what else, there's definitely more to it, after reading some of the other reviews I think maybe there's some rose, there's something either floral or plant-like in there, it's not just resinous myrrh and honey, but I am not knowledgeable enough to tell you what else is in this. It's honeyed incense with some additional elements and it is so very lovely to my nose. After six or seven hours it's faded to be mostly an incense kind of maybe slight rose/wine but mostly it's the myrrh now, but even that's faded a fair amount. Kind of spiced? Still lovely.

Received this one as a frimp back in 2020 with my first ever BPAL order (an imp pack). I haven't ever been a fan of it, really. Which is a shame because I would normally love all these notes. Wet or dry, the peach doesn't quite smell like peach to me, just sweet and fruity but not peach. Maybe a little bit of peach candy after it's been on my wrist for 30min? Which wouldn't normally be a bad thing. And I normally really like musks, ambers, and especially patchouli. But for some reason this combo just ends up smelling like dirty smoke on me. Not even in a way I enjoy. It just doesn't work with the sweet candy smell at all for me. Wet or dry. I used to sometimes wear even my lesser liked Imps as I figured I should after spending money on them, but that was years before discovering the forum and swapping culture, anyways it seems very silly now. I only put this on to review it, I might actually wash it off now that I have. It's not absolutely terrible, it's just not for me, and that's okay. I'll save my partially-worn Imps like this one for, like, a free giveaway or something. It's good to see that others can enjoy what I do not. :3

I got an Imp of Whitechapel in my Fougère Imp pack back in 2020, and it too is one of my favourites from the pack. I'm a bit more familiar with musk scents now than I was when I first got this, and the white musk plus citron & lime definitely stand out in the Imp and wet on my skin, with a hint of floral notes. As it dries and is worn on my skin the lilac really becomes more noticeable though the white musk still hangs around and the citrus scents evaporate a bit but are also still present. All the notes work really well together and I agree with the folks who say the citrus doesn't smell like cleaning product, it's just a fresh smelling citrus. Love it. Adding to the list of things to get a bottle of one day.

I got this as an Imp in my Fougère Imp pack back in 2020, and it's one of my favourites. I am used to smelling it without paying much attention to the different notes, but I am going to try and describe them here. In the Imp and wet on skin, the sage and lemon peel and lavender are more apparent. I'm not usually a huge fan of lavender but as a fougére and in this blend it is very nice. Once it's dried down it smells more wood-y, though less than what I'm used to sandalwood smelling like, but still very much wood, and also the vetiver and probably labdanum. The lemon peel is nearly gone, the sage is still apparent, the lavender is still present but more muted by the wood and vetiver but has more throw than the wood and vetiver, oddly. (I have researched fougère, so now I know part of the wood scent comes from that!) Like I said I really like this one and it's definitely on my list of bottles to one day obtain. I'm not as enamored with it as I am, say, Vicomte de Valmont, so I wasn't entirely sure, but I have gone back to this one repeatedly and I suspect it will be my next empty Imp after Vicomte and Cthulhu.

That's a fabulous idea, I really like that you recycle the caps and imp caps and imp vials. I'm going to look more into solutions for that locally. We do also have Sephora so that's a possibility. Edit: they also take toothpaste tubes and floss dispensers? That's awesome!

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters. I received an Imp of this in my Men's Imp pack two years ago, and I really fell hard for it. I like it so much I bought my very first bottle from BPAL and it was this scent. I already suspected I'd like aquatics because I don't mind or even sometimes enjoy aquatic scents in various scented products. This just smells so much better than they do. It stays fairly consistent in the Imp, wet, dry, evaporated. A bit tangier maybe when wet. It's very aquatic and having experienced a few other aquatics from BPAL now I can say that yeah it's "dark". And there's salty green underneath the aquatic tang, also dark, waterlogged. I thoroughly enjoy this scent and may get the beard oil as well.

I plan on getting some wand caps for my so-far only bottle and for future bottles, and I'm not too sure what I'll do with the old lids. I already keep my imps in many different smaller opaque containers and I plan to do the same with the bottles, eventually grouping them by note families as my collection grows. I love how they all smell individually but having so many smells in one heap would bother me. So I might keep the lids in little zip locks in their own container, or else I'll simply get rid of them.

In the imp and wet on my skin it's very wood-y and a kind of darker burned sort of smell, which I'm thinking is maybe the "black" part of the black vanilla but maybe is the tobacco? But it doesn't smell like burned tobacco at all! It's a lovely compliment to the woods. I'm less familiar with teak but it's plainly not just oak that I'm smelling. As it dries a bit of that vanilla comes through but not very much. It stays pretty burned-woody/maybe a bit spiced for a very long time, in fact I can usually still smell traces of this one by the next morning even if I only last applied at noon the previous day. I quite like it, though not enough to get a bottle I think, but definitely wearing out the Imp.

RANGER Untamed wilderness: buckskin accord with Terebinth pine, Russian birch, black ironwood, elder bark, hay, armoise, juniper, patchouli, galangal root, Spanish moss, and cabreuva. I've had this frimp since 2020 and the only reason I haven't worn it out yet is that I have so many Imps, because I really really like it. In the Imp and wet on my skin it's very very woodsy with some patchouli, I can't quite make out individual tree types or the buckskin, but it is very woodsy and maybe a little green and the patchouli blends quite well, like it doesn't smell at all like regular/plain patchouli (I do like patchouli though). As it dries down & evaporates some of the woods filter out a bit, like maybe the pine goes, it gets slightly less green, still has the blended patchouli, a bit of the buckskin comes through I think but not very much. Really lovely scent. Now that I'm way more into collecting scents I'm putting this one down for a bottle.

I picked this one to try and I'm not the biggest fan of it. In the imp, wet, dry, a few hours later, it stayed pretty consistent. I was hoping what I didn't like would just be an initial scent thing. I don't know if it's the florals or the woods, though I suspect the florals, but I get this slight "stinky" sweet smell from them, though not as stinky as the (presumably) florals in the Bayou I tried the other day. That one changed as it evaporated into a scent I really liked, this one did not change at all. It's kind of powdery too, like a heavily floral scented baby powder. Not really enjoying it. I tried wiping it off and putting on my Cthulhu which is a lovely mostly aquatic scent that I adore, but I didn't get all the Arkham off plus I think some stayed on my hoodie sleeves, and the combination wasn't terrible, in fact I kind of liked it. I do like the aquatic & floral combo of Bayou after it dries down for an hour or so, this is a different set of florals with some woods, but it goes quite nicely with Cthulhu. I might try it with R'Lyeh (another aquatic) too. Don't think I'll get a bottle though. Edit: so I tried it nearly a month later now, and at first it was like an entirely different perfume. Then it kicked in and I could smell what I disliked before, but I find it much more appealing this time, plus the "stinky" floral/woods combo is much less... stinky. I only just put it on so we'll wait and see how it changes, but in the imp I get mayybe something light and airy and not much of anything beyond that. Application on skin the florals and some of the wood comes through. This does evoke a feeling of walking through a forest, a densely flowered one. I like it. I think I may try layering some R'Lyeh like I thought about last time, since the floral & aquatic of Bayou has become something I really enjoy upon trying it again. Edit: R'Lyeh is a lovely layering scent with this one.

This was a frimp and I was initially skeptical because of the rose, and I only sometimes like perfumes with spices so far. In the bottle and wet on my skin, and after drydown too, it all held pretty much together, maybe losing a bit of the rose but staying musky and spiced. But yes all three are present and they're well balanced, and they go very well together. I actually really like this one. I might even get a bottle of it. :3

In the bottle and wet on me, and for roughly an hour after application, there was this kind of sweet stinky scent going on that was admittedly off-putting. Though not bad enough for me to wash it off. I'm not sure if it was the florals or the evergreens or what. About an hour afterwards and for the rest of the time the "stinky" went away and what's left behind is a lovely aquatic with some florals and maybe a bit of trees. Really, really liked it at this stage. Not so sure it's worth waiting an hour to get to it though. Sad because I picked this out to try and I really like aquatics. Edit: So I have tried this again, after it's settled some more and I've had some time to maybe adjust. And the "stinky" floral isn't nearly so bothersome to me anymore. It still smells much the same but I find it more appealing. I think I could really like this. :3 Going to let it rest some more and see what I continue to think of it.

This one in the bottle and wet on me starts out kind of fruity and sweet with something smoky, and I'm not entirely sure what I think about it. But it's not bad, I'm just not sure I like the sweet-fruity scent mixed with the smoky one. Dry on skin it's still got that but some of the wood/cedar is coming through, and I think I recognise the saffron from another perfume with it. I'm liking it more at this point. The cedar and saffron and smoky combo is like... herbal/spiced/woody sort of. A few hours later and the fruity tangerine is quite faded, there's a lot more cedar, the smoky scent is kind of reduced too, saffron still there. It's very nice at this point. I think I like this one, not sure about a bottle yet but I'll be wearing it again and might decide to get one. Very much enjoying a lot of these Picnic at Arkham scents. Edit: the smoky scent could be the vetiver but maybe could be part of the "black" amber? On first drydown, the tangerine fades but not massively, but it becomes part of the overall blend instead of standing out way ahead and I quite like what the perfume has turned into. Even when it's mostly gone there's still something a bit sweet about it, and it's nice, offset by the cedar and amber. I think I might get a bottle of this one.