Penance

Preconceived notions: I've actually swapped away about 5 imps of this without ever really trying it because I remember disliking it for some reason the first time I sniffed it, but I'm trying to make a point of trying everything I get (unless it has almonds in it) just in case it's something that I end up liking unexpectedly. First sniff: Interesting...juniper definitely jumps out at me when I open the imp. It's very sharp and almost burns my nose, but there's dragon's blood and wine, too, and they soften the burn somewhat. I like juniper, but for some reason it's not setting well with me in this blend. Wet on skin: More dragon's blood than juniper now and the wood notes and leather (?) are starting to make an appearance, too. For some reason, I'm not wowed by this the way I wanted to be. In spite of the fact that practically everything in here is right up my alley, it's just falling short of my expectations somehow. Dry down: Tintagel has settled down into a sort of generic dragon's blood and slight leather scent that's just not doing it for me for some reason. I love leather and dragon's blood and I should love them together, but Tintagel just feels wrong somehow. I'm sure I'm just associating it with something unpleasant that I can't remember, but it's still disappointing. The bottom line: I should love this scent, but I just can't. I guess it's just not for me.

Preconceived notions: Unseelie will most likely be a love it or hate it scent for me, I think. The herbs and grasses are right up my alley, but florals aren't normally my thing. I'm curious to see if this will work, but I've got a feeling that it won't, which is fine, actually, since I can't get it anymore. First sniff: Unseelie reminds me vaguely of chewing blades of the long grass that surrounded the summer camp I went to when I was little. It's slightly bitter and astringent green tinged with parched yellow. I think I was expecting something softer and more mellow, but Unseelie is downright sharp. Wet on skin: It's toning down a little now, becoming more dusty and less astringent, but it's still sharper than I imagined it would be. I think I was expecting a soft summer day and got witch hazel or something very similar in feel and in scent. This is actually pretty weird, since it's so far off from what I'd imagined. Dry down: Unseelie is drier and very powdery now, but it's still too sharp for me, I think. Something about it just isn't setting well with me, but I can't put my finger on it except to say it makes me want to shy away from it. The bottom line: I'm glad I got to try this, but it just isn't me. That's a good thing, though, because I hate to end up loving something and never be able to get it again.

I second (or third or whatever) Ultraviolet. It's the chilliest BPAL scent I've tried yet. Cathode was like Ultraviolet but warmer on me, so I don't know if it would be chilly enough for you.

Pele is a good suggestion. I find White Rabbit, Snow White (if you can get it) and Dorian to be soft and comforting smelling, too.

Ooh, score! I love Has No Hanna. It's my official test-taking oil and the one I wear when I need to know that I'm going to do well at something.

Yep, got Crucible of Courage, Wolf's Heart, Has No Hanna and High John the Conqueror among other things. I have a feeling I'm going to be wearing about 10 different oils at this rate.

First sniff: This smells somewhat similar to Sugar Cookie (and I do mean somewhat) for me...very cinnamon sugar sweet. I definitely get cinnamon and a honeysuckle note that's very heavy on the honey sweetness, but there's also a light touch of myrrh in the background. I can tell now that this is going to be too sweet for me because smelling it on an empty stomach is making me queasy, the same way sweet foods do when I'm really hungry, but I'll try it anyway just in case it pulls a quick change on me. Wet on skin: Something in this is just wrong on my skin and, as much as I hate to say it, I'm 99.9% sure it's the honeysuckle. For some reason, on me it smells like plastic and it's making me nauseous. I don't normally have a problem with honeysuckle, but there's a first time for everything. Dry down: The cinnamon has really intensified, which is nice, but not enough to save Chimera for me. I can still smell the plastic note in the background and, combined with the sweetness of this blend, it's really turning my stomach. It's most likely my skin chemsitry that's to blame, which is a shame because I wanted to like this. The bottom line: Something in Chimera hates me and it's made itself known in the form of a pounding headache and an upset stomach, so this is going to have to find a new home.

Origin: Lagniappe from the Lab. Preconceived notions: The boy's not here to test this on right now, but I'm playing review catchup, so I'm going to have to review it for scent alone. First sniff: Mmm, this smells good, like cedar and incense. It's that vaguely rotting cedar note, not the crisp dry cedar note of Lear or Kathmandu. I can't place the resin note I'm smelling apart from saying it's some sort of resin and that it's not amber or dragon's blood. I can't shake the feeling that there's musk of some sort in here, maybe civet, too, though I can't really smell it, it's more of a feeling than anything. Wet on skin: Cedar, definitely cedar. I love, love, love cedar, though, so that's a good thing. I still smell a bit of incense, too, and maybe a tiny hint of musk...there's something warm and animalistic under the other notes that seems to be one of the darker musks or civet, although I could be wrong. It's also got a vaguely cat pee like smell to it in the far background that I always associate with civet. Dry down: The musk note is more prominent now, which isn't surprising since my skin amplifies musks (especially civet). The cedar note is still there, too, but it's taken a backseat to the musky side of this blend. This is very sexual smelling to me, but not in an overpowering way. The bottom line: I don't know if this works (I can easily imagine it working), but it smells pretty nice as long as I ignore the civet (if that is civet) in the background. This would probably smell pretty damn good on a guy.

Preconceived notions: I'm not sure whether this will work for me or not. I adore red sandalwood and I like opium and vanilla and mandarin are okay by me but the lily of the valley could ruin this whole thing for me since florals are generally not something I like wearing. First sniff: So far, so good. I get red sandalwood the most clearly in this, probably because I know exactly what to sniff for. I also get the sweet resin smell of opium, a hint of deep vanilla and a touch of orange. I like this a lot so far. Wet on skin: The sandalwood isn't the dominant note anymore which is a bit of a letdown, but Belle Epoque still smells lovely. It's much softer and more feminine now that it's on my skin, which isn't such a good thing for me, but I still think it smells nice. Dry down: Much softer around the edges now. The opium is dominating now, but the lily of the valley is putting in a strong appearance, too. I still get a bit of vanilla and a tiny bit of sandalwood, but Belle Epoque is mainly soft, slightly powdery, sweet opium over a background of lily of the valley. The bottom line: This isn't quite what I normally wear, but it's certainly quite pretty all the same, so I'll be hanging onto my imp.

Preconceived notions: I've been waiting quite a while to review this because I haven't had a chance or a reason to see if it really works, so rather than waiting any longer I'm going to review it based on scent alone and then update if and when I actually test it's effectiveness. First sniff: This is familiar, but I can't place it...it's floral smelling, maybe rose? There's something slightly herbal here, too. It's not a pronounced herbal note, it's more like a tiny touch of rosemary or something similar. Somehow this smells like a Voodoo Blend. Wet on skin: Herbal and powdery. This must have rose in it or else it has some extremely well hidden juniper because they're the only things I've come across that turn into baby powder on me. It's not unpleasant by any means, just somewhat unexpected. Dry down: Basically the same as when it was wet. It's not unpleasant to me the way most rose scents are and it's herbal enough to still smell decent to me so, all in all, it's not too bad for scent alone, although it's not really me. The bottom line: I can't say just yet whether Crucible of Courage works, but I can say it's a fairly pleasant floral/herbal blend that mellows nicely on the dry down.

I'm going to apply for a job (no interview requried, really, either they'll hire me or they won't) Saturday, so I'm looking for something that'll make me feel a little more confident. Which do you think: High John the Conqueror or Has No Hanna...or both? I think the situation really calls for a Voodoo Blend and not a regular perfume since I'm in need of something to up my confidence in myself.

March Hare is hands down my favorite apricot scent and I don't even like fruit. Depraved is good, too, if you like patchouli.

So can we get a pronunciation of Leanan Sidhe by chance? I stink at Gaelic pronunciation in spite of my heritage.

Dorian and Oisin are both gorgeous non-musky blends that have musk in them. I'd highly recommend them both!

Autumn is my favorite time of the year (and the season my birthday is in), so I'm a big fan of autumn scents and for me the best I've found have been Scarecrow, Death (I think this one's just me, but it reminds me of burning leaves in the autumn) and Ace of Pentacles. Samhain didn't really work terribly well for me, but I'm not giving up hope and Jack smelled...Christmasy for some reason.

I have to agree with Andra. Jack and Samhain couldn't be more different. I haven't found anything quite like Samhain just yet, but then I don't really love Samhain very much (in spite of the fact that I should since it's all things I adore), so maybe that's why...I haven't really tried, but I have tried almost 300 BPAL scents and none of them have come close to Samhain for me, so it's still a pretty valid point. At least in my opinion.

Oh, boy, now you've got me wanting some! Anyone wanna pick some up for me by chance?

Damn, if I knew I was going to get a super woodsy bottle, I'd buy some Morocco even though I hated the "Morocco smelling Morocco" that everyone else loves. But on topic, the two most recent bottles I've gotten of Anne Bonny have smelled different than my original bottle and imps. It's more like the slightly rotted cedar note that BBW Cedarwood EO smells like. It's not bad, just very interesting because it's not like the original and because I know it's the red mysore sandalwood that's the culprit here. I'm wondering if the Lab had a new supplier for the most recent batches or something. I like it anyway, I'm just curious.

::Raises her hand:: I would like to smell like graveyard dirt.

Origin: The Oblation Caravan circular swap. First sniff: Chocolate and rum are the first two things I smell, but if I breathe shallowly, I get fig and juniper as well. I don't normally care for chocolate (either eating it or smelling it) but this is nice enough. Very cozy smelling. Wet on skin: Much lighter than in the bottle. Once it's on me, the juniper takes over but there's also a bit of chocolate and fig in the background here. I wasn't expecting a huge rush of juniper, but I like juniper so it's okay. Dry down: This reminds me of something, but I can't remember what. Honestly, it smells like some sort of cleaning product on me, but that's likely the result of my skin chemistry since I get that from a handful of other BPAL scents. Underneath the cleaning product smell is walnut (which I despise), musk of some sort and a tiny, tiny hint of chocolate. The bottom line: Cerberus is not for me, but I'm glad I got to try it all the same!

Origin: I got an imp of this from The Vampire Lilith. First sniff: This reminds me of one of the Yule LE's, but I'm drawing a blank as to which one...Ice Queen, maybe? That seems the most likely, but I don't have a bottle of Ice Queen to compare Cold Moon to anymore. Anyway, I smell that sweet aquatic note that seems to be unique to BPAL and a hint of ferns. It's somewhat similar to Wolf Moon, but the two are definitely different to my nose. There's also some vague florals in the background, but they're not strong enough to bother me. Wet on skin: Now this reminds me vaguely of Skadi for some reason. It has that same pine (no idea where that's coming from) and faint berry scent that Skadi has, but it's mixed with florals of some kind. I love Skadi, so I'm happy Cold Moon is somewhat similar, but I don't know about the floral notes. Dry down: Cold Moon is much lighter and more serene smelling now. It's quite similar to Ice Queen on me now that it's dry, which isn't wonderful but isn't really bad either. Ice Queen really failed to impress me and Cold Moon is maybe a notch above Ice Queen for me. I would say Cold Moon would be what you would get if you took Ice Queen and combined it with a touch of Snow White...at least on me at any rate. It's somewhat creamy now that it's dry for some reason, but mainly it's a soft aquatic/vague floral/slightly sweet melony smelling wintery kind of scent. The bottom line: It looks like I made the right decision not ordering a bottle of this, but I'll be keeping my imp just because I might want it at some point down the road.

Another pronunciation question: Do you guys say HAZ No Hanna or HASS No Hanna? I've never been able to decide how it's supposed to be pronounced. I'm guesssing the first one, but since there's no real context to take it in I keep wondering. ETA: I mean HAZ as in "She has a big butt" and HASS as in "Hasselhoff" in case that wasn't clear.

Thanks! I had a feeling I was pronouncing it wrong.

Nocnitsa anyone? I can't find it anywhere. Sorry if it's already been covered here, but I didn't see it and I'm too tired for a more exhaustive search.

Anyone taken imps out of the country? I'm just wondering because I'm flying to the Bahamas in June and I don't want to get anything confiscated.