Penance

Origin: 5mL from mistressfizz. Preconceived notions: I thought about trying Habu when I first came back after my BPAL hiatus but was put off by the bamboo. I can tolerate bamboo in some scents (Neo-Tokyo, for example), but it's not one of my favorite notes. I find it to bright and sharp. The rest of the notes sound great, though, and when I found a mostly full bottle at a good price, I had to give it a shot. First sniff: WTF? Apples? Seriously, I get what smells like pink lady apples straight out of the bottle. There's a hint of Snake Oil here, too, but it's mainly a sweet, juicy apple scent. I see from reading reviews that I'm not the only one smelling apple in here. I guess the general consensus is that the phantom apple is bamboo, but I've never misread bamboo as apple before. First time for everything, I guess. Wet on skin: Still apples. It's sweet, juicy and softly fruity. I find it hard to believe that this is bamboo I'm smelling, but I guess it must be. Dry down: The Snake Oil has started to come out now and I get a very soft layer of dark wood, but it's sweet, fruity dark wood, like a teak cutting board that's been used to slice up a very juicy apple. The bottom line: This is nothing at all like what I'd imagined based on the notes. I was dreading Snake Oil + bright, sharp bamboo and hoping for Snake Oil + dark, rich wood and didn't get either one. The actual smell of Habu is completely out of left field, but I like it.

Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I really want to love this one, but the rose and the other florals have me worried. I'm not a floral fan (at all), so I'm hoping that the other notes overpower the floral evil. Fingers crossed! First sniff: Okay, well...that's not what I expected. I expected either a resinous scent or a floral scent right out of the bottle. I didn't expect a peppery scent, but that's what I'm getting. I'm guessing it's the Peru balsam that's the offender here, but I'm not positive about that. Behind the pepper, I get lovely church incense thanks to the frankincense and myrrh. I don't smell any florals, but they could be hiding behind the peppery scent. Wet on skin: More of the same. I was hoping the pepperiness might let up once I put this on, but no such luck. Dry down: This one's no morpher. Oddly enough, the florals don't come screeching to the front like they so often do on my skin. Cleric ends up as it starts. Peppery wood and a background of church incense-style resins. I could love this if the Peru balsam or whatever it is I'm smelling in the pepperiness wasn't here. At least I've got Paladin to satisfy my appetite for a churchy, resinous RPG scent. The bottom line: This went all wrong for me, and not in the way I expected it to. I would say it's a skin chemistry thing, but it smells the same on me as it does in the bottle. There's just evidently something in here that I don't like.

Does anyone know if the RPG scents have more than one label per scent? Just wondering because I was looking at the artwork on the site and some of my bottles don't match up to it. For example, both my bottles of Rogue have a woman on them and my bottle of Ranger has a man, when the site shows a man and a woman respectively. I didn't get multiples of anything except for Rogue right off the bat and both those labels are the same, so I'm not sure if it's just a matter of the website artwork differing from the bottles or if there are male and female variants of some or all of the scents' labels. ETA: Answered my own question! I just got my backup bottles of Paladin in and I've got 2 males and 1 female now, so the class ones evidently do come in both male and female version. ETA again: Answered my other question, too. The race scents do seem to come in male/female versions. I have a male Halfling bottle rather than the female one shown on the site. My Dwarf bottle has the male label shown on the site. I've got Elf and Half-Elf coming, so I'm looking forward to seeing which ones I get on those.

Dark Alice read my mind. Neutral was next on my list of layering additions. More layering combination reviews: Paladin + Neutral: I love Paladin on its own but I find Neutral a little bit on the sharp and powdery side. I'm curious to see how they play together. The verdict: Not bad, but not a combination I see myself repeating. Neutral just doesn't really add much of anything to the mix, but it does tone down the vanilla. I like Paladin better on its own. --- Fighter + Neutral.: Same as Paladin. I love Fighter on its own and in combination with Ranger. I don't think it needs any skin musk added, but it's worth a shot. The verdict: Again, Neutral doesn't seem to add much of anything. Especially since Fighter already has musk in it. I don't think I'll be repeating this one. --- Ranger + Neutral: The verdict: Oddly enough, Neutral actually does add something here. The musk tones down the intensity of the pine in Ranger. It's a subtle change but I like it enough that I would repeat it. I think I may like Ranger better with Neutral than on its own. --- Fighter + Ranger + Neutral: The verdict: This one's a winner, too, although the difference between this and just Fighter + Ranger isn't very noticeable. I get soft leather, deep woods and clean skin. I may or may not actually wear them like this.

I'm not the layering type, but since these are meant to be layered, I figured I may as well try it. My first experiment: Fighter + Ranger. Yes, I know, that would be a dual-class character and I don't have an affiliation at all. But I'm not a gamer, so I don't care. Verdict: This smells awesome. I was hoping for some noticeable leather in Ranger, but didn't get more than a light touch of it, so adding Fighter to the mix fixes that problem. I end up with a soft leather and woods scent that blends seamlessly. I tend to like the combination with a little more Fighter than Ranger, so it's not an equal mix. Maybe 60/40 instead of 50/50. My second experiment: Fighter + Ranger + Good. I didn't really think I was going to love it because (for me) the sweet, delicate honey in Good just doesn't seem like it would work with the intense woodsiness of Ranger. Verdict: I'm not liking this, although I can see it working for someone else. It just clashes to my nose. Something about the femininity of Good combined with the gender neutral/masculineness of Ranger and Fighter just doesn't mesh for me. It's like wearing honey-vanilla-floral perfume in the woods while wearing a broken in leather jacket. If that's your thing, then you'll like this combination. But it's not for me. I'll try more combinations soon. This is fun, although I'm not sure I'd layer these routinely just because I'm lazy.

I don't see any reviews of this, but it could be that someone else has already reviewed it under a different name. Standard issue amber bottle. This came to me with a label (obviously made by a previous owner) that said "Snake in the Grass." Deep amber oil, fairly thin in spite of its age. Origin: 5mL from The_Witching_Hour. Preconceived notions: This was described to me as the lovechild of Snake Oil and Ranger v5, heavy on the Snake Oil and subtle on the other notes (and only on the drydown). I love Snake Oil and I love Ranger v5 (except for its tendency to turn peppery on me late in the drydown), so I'm really looking forward to trying this. First sniff: Unlike my other experimental blend (which I'd be hard pressed to find the Snake Oil in), this smells like pure Snake Oil. Very nicely aged Snake Oil at that, since it's from 2004 at the latest. Wet on skin: I'm starting to get a touch of woodsiness in addition to the Snake Oil now, but only if I apply the oil more heavily than I usually do for an initial test. If I just dab a little on, it smells like regular aged Snake Oil. Dry down: This is definitely a subtly woody version of Snake Oil. I can't quite identify what sort of wood I'm smelling here. It could be oak (only the wood, no leaves; I don't get anything green from this blend in spite of its previous name). It's not pine, cedar or redwood and it's too light to be mahogany or teak. It's a medium to light wood, not a dark hardwood and it's very faint. I think that if you didn't know there was something other than Snake Oil in here, you might miss the other notes because they're blended so seamlessly. I'm not sure if this is a case of different areas of my body having different skin chemistry, a matter of the amount of oil applied or an issue of body temperature (arms vs. wrists), but I swiped my wrist against the opposite arm to get some of the extra oil off before I smeared it all over my keyboard while I wrote the review and the scent on that arm is a creamy vanilla-wood scent, heavy on the vanilla. It doesn't even smell like Snake Oil, but it's beautiful. I'm evidently going to have to experiment with the amount of oil I'm wearing and where I'm applying it. The bottom line: I really like this, although I'm wishing the wood was just a little bit stronger. The difference between this and regular aged Snake Oil is subtle, but it's there. It would fit nicely in with the Snake Pit series. And on that note, I took the old label off and put my own on. Snake in the Grass is now Black Ratsnake. Why? Because I liked the idea of continuing the Lab's example of naming the Snake Pit blends and when I think of snakes that live in the woods, I think of black ratsnakes, which I saw all the time when I was growing up and have a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for. Plus, I don't think Snake in the Grass is all that accurate since there's nothing green about this blend.

Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: This is one of the iffier blends I ordered from the RPG collection. Leather and musk should both be good (at least right now since leather is hitting rather than missing most of the time these days), but blood and steel could go very wrong. First sniff: This reminds me a little bit of Rogue, oddly enough. I think it must be the leather that's fairly similar because that's the only note they share. I don't smell any blood or anything metallic here. It's just musky leather. Wet on skin: Okay, my skin chemistry just flipped out, evidently, because this smells exactly like nori (the dried seaweed they wrap sushi in). I don't particularly want to smell like sushi. This is not good. Dry down: Phew, the inexplicable seaweed of doom has disappeared and I'm really enjoying Fighter now. It's dried into a nice musky brown leather scent. It doesn't remind me of Rogue in the slightest now. Instead it's more like Dead Man's Hand (what I remember it smelling like, anyway; keep in mind that it's been years since I've smelled it, so I'm relying on my memory here) or the leather in Paladin v3, but not as sharp and pungent. I haven't tried Brom Bones, so I can't comment on that. The blood and steel never do put in an appearance which is just fine by me. The bottom line: Thankfully, the weird nori scent of the wet stage doesn't last long or I'd probably never wear Fighter. But luckily it disappears quickly and I really like the drydown. I think I may actually like this a little more than I like Paladin v3, which is awesome news since I'm having such a hard time tracking down a backup bottle.

Origin: 5mL from tartchef Preconceived notions: This sounds perfect for me. I love wood, spices and resins. First sniff: Sweet, resinous and woody. There could be some tobacco here, too. It's in the same general scent family as Anne Bonny, but sweeter. Wet on skin: Sweeter still. Not in a foody way, though. It's sweet but resinous. I'm thinking there must be some frankincense or something similar here. Dry down: This has to be one of the most bizarre and unexpected scent morphs I've come across. I put a dab of A'Arab on to test right before I started reorganizing my BPAL cabinet. I kept smelling something sweet and unusual but oddly familiar and couldn't figure out what I was smelling. I sniffed around and it turns out it was A'Arab and it smelled exactly like a perfume I wore in high school called Angel Water. No idea what was in it and I'm not turning up any results on the interweb for the specific brand I wore. It was a weird, mostly opaque white perfume that came in a round bottle with a silver triangle label. It was supposed to be made from holy water of some sort and it had a scent that's practically impossible for me to describe. It was sweet, ethereal, slightly resinous. It smelled white in some weird, synesthetic way and it really did make me think of what an angel might smell like. So needless to say, I would never in a million years have expected A'Arab to smell similar on me. The concepts are polar opposites, but that's the wonders of body chemistry for you, apparently. The bottom line: Totally different than I would have imagined based on reviews and the scent in the bottle, but I'm positive that my skin chemistry is doing something crazy with A'Arab. Luckily, the out of left field scent I get from it is one I like, so it all works out. It's kind of nice to have a BPAL version of a nostalgic scent.

Origin: Partial 5mL bought on LJ. Preconceived notions: I honestly don't know why I decided to buy this. Well, I do and I don't. Lemon isn't a good note for me (neither is citrus in general), although I like cake scents, so P013 should send me running in the opposite direction, but I had one of those moments of inexplicable lust for a scent that shouldn't work. Generally, those weird impulsive cravings result in my finding scents that shouldn't work but do. So hopefully P013 will end up being another dark horse. First sniff: This smells like it could easily be part of the original Monster Bait series. I get lemon chiffon cake (which, if you've never smelled it, has a light, sweet lemon scent rather than a bright, tart bite to it) and buttercream frosting. Oddly enough, I'm really liking it. Wet on skin: A bit like lemon poundcake now, but more or less the same as in the bottle. Dry down: I have to admit, this smells really good. It's sweet and foody, but overwhelming "OMGWTFBBQ, look at me, I smell like a bakery!" It's soft lemon chiffon cake and buttercream frosting. I still think this would be right at home in the original MB series, although it's lighter and with less throw than either Closet or Underbed. The bottom line: Another "against the odds" winner. This is why I trust my impulses when it comes to scents like this. P013 would be a perfect spring or summer scent if you're into wearing "seasonal" perfumes. Me? I'll be wearing this year-round.

Origin: 5mL bought on LJ. Preconceived notions: I had to have this as soon as I saw the previous review. Heavy woods? Cognac? Dark chocolate? Cigar smoke? Yes, please! This sounds like an instant favorite. So excited I managed to snag a bottle. First sniff: Vetiver?! I suppose it could also be whatever type of myrrh is in Priala that smells like vetiver to me. In the bottle, this is dark and smoky/ashy. There are some deep, dark woods lurking in the background, too. I would guess mahogany or possibly even redwood, although redwood wouldn't make much sense in a blend like this. It's a bit like the original (non-LE) version of Capricorn. I happen to love Capricorn, so that's not a bad thing. Wet on skin: The vetiver (or myrrh or whatever it is) scales back quite a bit when it hits my skin and I get dark woods (I'm going to say that it's mahogany, it's not pulpy enough to be redwood) with a touch of what smells like tobacco. Dry down: Yum. Ennui evidently needs to settle on my skin to get the full effect. Once it dries, I'm left with a gorgeous scent that I absolutely love. Mahogany, tobacco, spice (clove, maybe cinnamon) and a touch of something similar to Dark Chocolate, Whiskey and Cognac Truffle wafting around in the background. The bottom line: I love this! It combines my favorite parts of several other scents into one awesome package. ETA: The vetiver (or myrrh) has come back in full force now that it's had a few hours to sit and it's chased out everything but the mahogany. I like vetiver, but it's not a note I want to wear every day and Ennui is so much nicer without it. I still really like this, just not as much as I did without the in-your-face vetiver.

Origin: 2-year-old 5mL from Wolfie79 Preconceived notions: The Snake Pit blends are generally winners for me, but I've been putting off trying this one because I was worried it would be aquatic because of the name, and the sea moss, which I don't think I've ever tried in anything. I'm not a fan of aquatic scents, so that's a big concern for me. But curiosity eventually got the better of me, especially since I love the idea of a mossy version of Snake Oil. First sniff: Mmm, nice! I can really smell the Snake Oil in this one (unlike some of the other Snake Pit blends), but it's covering a base of soft, dry moss. The oakmoss is definitely putting in an appearance. I'm not entirely sure what sea moss smells like, but I gather it's a type of algae, so it should have a seaweed-type smell, which I'm not getting from this (yet, anyway). Wet on skin: Mossy Snake Oil. It's sweet, but dry and green from the oakmoss. There's a little bit of something that smells a tiny bit like seaweed here, but mainly it's a dry, mossy vanilla-musk-spice scent. Dry down: This has to be one of the most unusual Snake Pit blends I've tried. The spiced vanilla musk of Snake Oil is still putting in a strong appearance, but there's an almost equally strong layer of various shades of green. Crumbly, dry grey-green from the oakmoss, a brighter, springier green from the olive leaf (just a touch, it's very subtle) and an even subtler hint of what could be damp seaweed. I wouldn't call this an aquatic scent, personally. Instead, it's like Snake Oil had a baby with Mole and raised it on a wooded cliff overlooking an ocean tidepool. It sounds strange, but it works. The bottom line: I really like this. It's unusual, no doubt about it. I have a feeling that this is one of the Snake Pit blends that works best when it's got some age to it (although I haven't tried it fresh, so that's just a guess) so that the richness of the vanilla, musk and spices in the Snake Oil can smooth over and pull together the other notes.

Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: Evil was one of the scents that jumped out at me as something I absolutely had to order. Most everything in it is something I love (opium tar, tobacco, black plum), something I like (kush, ambergris, ambrette seed) or something that should be okay (costus root). The only iffy note is the green tea. I love the smell of real green tea, but I find the Lab's not to be too harsh and lemony. I'm guessing that the tea won't put in too much of an appearance, though, with all these other heavy notes to weigh it down. First sniff: Not good. This smells nothing like what I'd imagined. Instead of a delicious, dark scent, I get super strong, powdery, sharp old lady perfume. The only other scent I've had this sort of a reaction to is Romanti.Goth, which also has opium tar and plum together but doesn't share any other notes. There's no reason why plum and opium tar together should combine to create this sort of a scent, so I don't think they're the culprit. I've got no idea what the deal is with Evil. Wet on skin: Still the same. Super sharp, powdery and perfumey. I was hoping for something dark and smokey and resinous and...evil. This isn't it. Dry down: More of the same. I'm thinking that the green tea is part of what's giving me fits here. Evil's sharpness does remind me of the way that the Lab's other strong green tea scents smell, although it's much more complicated than most. Maybe my nose is broken, but I think that this must just be a case of personal scent preference (with a lot of the blame going to the intense green tea note) since the previous reviewer obviously loves Evil. The bottom line: Not for me, sadly, but it's moving on to a new home with someone who loves it, so everything works out in the end. I'll stick to Silas Ruthyn for my evil opium tar scent cravings.

Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I was excited to try Captain Cully based on the Will Call reviews. When it went live on the site, I immediately ordered a bottle even though the porter worries me. I'm not much of a fan of the smell of beer, although I gather that dark beers like porter have a different smell to them, so I'm open-minded. First sniff: It has to be the porter I'm smelling. Like I said before, I've never smelled it (the real thing or as a note in perfume), but somehow it's immediately recognizable. It's a sweet, dark brown scent. Not really boozy or alcoholic, instead it's got a sort of malted scent to it. I also get a tiny bit of wood and leather, but it's mainly porter. Wet on skin: The leather shows up more at this point. That tends to happen when I wear leather scents with other strong notes. It doesn't show up in the bottle, spikes when it hits my skin and then dies back down, so I'm expecting it to fade again. At this point, it's a worn, brown leather scent with sweet, malty porter (I think the tonka may be blending with it and amping the sweetness a bit). Dry down: I actually love this. A lot. The leather has died back down again and I'm left with a smooth, sweet, malty, musky brown scent. It's got hints of wood and leather, but everything blends together so well that it's hard to pick out individual notes. The bottom line: I'm glad I took a chance on this in spite of the porter. Evidently, I actually like the smell of dark beer. Captain Cully is bordering on making its way into my favorites box and it may end up in there at some point.

Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I almost didn't order this one because of the "shining armor." Metallics aren't my thing at all, but everything else sounded so good that I couldn't pass it up. I'm hoping to get leather, incense, vanilla and musk without much (or, even better, any) armor. First sniff: Mmm, I like this. In the bottle, it's an incense and musk scent with some soft sweetness. The frankincense base really reminds me of Penitence, but there's more to Paladin. Wet on skin: Basically the same as in the bottle, but slightly sweeter. Frankincense tends to sweeten up just a little bit when it hits my skin, so that might be the case here. Dry down: I'm happy to say there's no metal to be found here (for me, anyway). I absolutely love this. I'm a big fan of church incense scents, and Paladin definitely falls into that category. I don't really get any leather. Just sweet frankincense and a touch of vanilla and musk. The bottom line: I never would have expected this to be my favorite of the RPG scents I ordered, but it is. Paladin is downright beautiful and if I didn't already have several church incense blends in my favorites box, it would have gone in immediately. Edit: Grammar fail.

Origin: 5mL bought on LJ. Preconceived notions: This was a complete and utter impulse buy. I love the whole idea of the CD line and I'm up for trying most any of the prototypes. I'm hoping Alley of Games v6 will work for me. I love the smell of grass and I like cotton candy. The idea of water balloons and beer is kind of iffy, though. First sniff: Sweet grass. It does smell a bit like sweetgrass, but also like regular grass with something sweet laid over top (cotton candy, most likely). It's a little bit like Plastic Pink Flamingo, but with grass instead of dandelion and more cotton candy than marshmallow. They're in the same vein although they're definitely not dupes of one another. Wet on skin: Grass (definitely plain old green grass now) and cotton candy, no doubt about it. It really does smell like being at a carnival, with the scent of fresh cotton candy and trampled grass around you. I also get a hint of what could be beer. Dry down: There has to be beer in this. The longer Alley of Games sits on my skin, the more it comes out. Once it's dried down completely, I get faint green grass, soft cotton candy and beer. Normally, I'm not a fan of the smell of beer, but it works here. It's very slightly sour and a tiny bit pungent, just like the real thing. Somehow this makes me think of Roadhouse (with grass instead of dandelions) meets Midway (minus the caramel apple). It sounds like a weird mixture, but somehow it's not. It's very evocative. This is definitely not a carnival that's just for the kiddies. The bottom line: This is a strange, evocative scent. It would fit in perfectly with the rest of the Carnival Diabolique line. I'm not sure how often I'm going to wear this since it's not my usual style, but I do like it and it's going to be staying in my collection.

Origin: Tested from Scrappy. Preconceived notions: I really like Dorian (it's earned a spot in my favorites box and will probably live there indefinitely), so I'm excited to try the prototype versions. Based on reviews, I'm expecting Dorian + lavender and coconut. First sniff: The previous reviewers are spot-on. This is Dorian plus lavender and coconut. It has less coconut than v3, but there's still a tropical creaminess to it. The lavender is relatively soft and not too herbal. Wet on skin: This is more like TKO than it is the released version of Dorian. I get the vanilla tea from Dorian, but the overall impression of v2 is more of a Victorian gentleman's cologne. Sort of a foppish scent, with the sweetness of the vanilla and tea and the classic smell of the lavender. Dry down: Dorian v3 a little more gentlemanly and a little less foppish than v2 to my nose, thanks to the lavender, but it's still very much a gender neutral sort of scent. I can easily imagine Dorian Gray wearing this. The bottom line: Of the three versions of Dorian (the released version, v2 and v3), my favorite is still the released version. Of the two prototype versions, I have to say that I prefer v3. This version has a little too much lavender for my tastes, although I do like this. I think that if v2 had a stronger Dorian base to it, I'd like it more. It's nice as it is, but it's not something I'll need to track down a bottle of.

Origin: 5mL from Reedsong. Preconceived notions: I love dirt scents. I keep telling myself that I've got enough of them and that there's only so much variation you can achieve when it comes to dirt blends, but more of them keep finding their way into my collection. I'm telling myself that Taphophobia is going to be different because it's got both dirt and clay (according to reviews) and maybe even some resins and booze (which I also love). Plus I love the name. Who wouldn't want a perfume based on a phobia of being buried alive? First sniff: Maybe it's just my imagination, but I do believe this really is unique. Just like Badger, it's not "just another dirt blend." While Badger has a nice rooty vibe to it, Taphophobia v2 seems to have some soft red clay and, yes, black amber and possibly some other resins. It's ever-so-slightly sweet and resinous, but the main player here is the dirt. Heavier and darker than Badger's earth note, but not as loamy as Graveyard Dirt. Wet on skin: This is fantastic. Well, if you love scents that smell like dirt, anyway. There's no real change from in the bottle at this point. I personally think that Taphophobia, like Badger, is a very wearable dirt blend. As much as I love Graveyard Dirt, it's not the sort of thing I would wear every day. I love the scent of thick, loamy dirt, but not everyone else does and, while I wear perfume for me, I don't want to wear something so overpoweringly dirty that it puts other people off. So I save Graveyard Dirt for occasions where I'm not going to be around strangers or people who I know are bothered by something so intensely earthy smelling. Dry down: I can see where some people are getting booze from this, but I don't think it's actually booze. I'm leaning toward it being a combination of resins. On the drydown, Taphophobia v2 is soft but dark dirt, a touch of red clay, black amber and possibly some other resins and a touch of some sort of deep musk (black, maybe). It's a dark blend, but, in spite of the name, I don't think it's oppressively dark. The bottom line: I really like this and I'm glad I gave in and added Taphophobia v2 to my collection. It's not "just another dirt scent." Like Badger, it's got its own unique character. Definitely not the sort of scent that you're going to enjoy if you don't like smelling like dirt, but well worth tracking down if you're a fan of that sort of thing, like I am.

Origin: Tester from Scrappy. Preconceived notions: I'm not a fan of the released version of Morocco. I'm not a fan of carnation and it tends to ruin blends for me, otherwise I think that Morocco and I could be friends. I hadn't read the reviews of v2 before trying this, so I went into it expecting something roughly similar, sort of a spicy, musky floral blend. First sniff: My first impression on sniffing this in the imp is that it smells like TKO but with amber added, which is totally unexpected (I notice, reading reviews now, that other people have noticed the same similarity, so I guess it's not just me). I get lavender, amber and vanilla in more or less equal proportions. Wet on skin: This is really pretty. If you took TKO and added smooth, sweet amber (it reminds me of the amber in Mouse's Long and Sad Tale once it's had a long time to age and mellow), it would smell very much like Morocco v2. Dry down: If TKO is the quintessential little girl's fantasy scent (all pale purple, marshmallow-vanilla sugar), then Morocco v2 is that little girl all grown up. The amber tempers the intense fluffiness of the lavender and vanilla and the marshmallow vibe that's so prominent in TKO is missing, but it's still a very comfortable, inviting sort of scent. The kind of perfume that you want to wrap around yourself like a cozy blanket. The bottom line: I wasn't expecting anything even remotely like this based on the released version of Morocco, but I love this. I'm a fan of TKO and of resins, so a scent that combines the fluffy loveliness of TKO with sweet, rich amber makes me happy.

Origin: Tester from Scrappy. Preconceived notions: I'm not sure if this is a scent I would have sought out on my own, but I'm really glad I get to try it. The reviews sound interesting, although I'm not sure if Half Elf v5 sounds like it's something that I'd really like or not. I'm waffling here. Beeswax and honey can miss the mark on me, sometimes by a wide margin. But vanilla and wood are almost always good. First sniff: This reminds me of another scent, but I can't quite place it. Maybe it's a combination of a couple scents. I think possibly it's reminding me of The Light of Men's Lives mixed with something I can't put my finger on. There definitely seems to be beeswax here (it has that creamy, sweet waxiness to it that I associate with the Lab's beeswax note), but there's also something with an odd tanginess here I'm thinking it's some sort of honey. I haven't tried Glowing Vulva, but this is more or less what I imagine it smelling like. Wet on skin: Even more tangy than in the imp. I also start to get some of the wood that other reviewers have noted. It's faint, but it's there. I can't identify what sort of wood it is, but it smells like some sort of blonde wood. Something with a gentle, almost feminine scent, rather than the intense woodiness of something like cedar or mahogany. Dry down: Definitely beeswax (creamy, almost silky smelling), tangy honey and light, pale woods. There could be some sort of white florals here but I can't pin it down any more than that (since I'm not a floral fan and I tend to be at a loss to identify anything other than rose, lilac and honeysuckle). The bottom line: Half Elf v5 is delicate and feminine but not your standard florals and vanilla sort of "girly" scent. It's pretty, but not really my style. I am glad I got to try it, though and I can see why other people like this one. I think part of the issue here is that I love the smell of real beeswax, but (for some reason) the Lab's beeswax note never seems to work for me. Something about it just doesn't sit right with me and it borders on turning my stomach. I'm also not a huge fan of the tanginess of the honey in this. If I'm going to wear a honey scent, it needs to be a soft, sweet honey rather than the almost citrusy type that's in blends like this. ADDED May 19: Origin: Tester from Scrappy. Preconceived notions: I actually didn't read the reviews before trying Half-Elf v5, so I didn't really have any preconceived notions about it. I would expect something at least somewhat ethereal and delicate (the Elf part), but other than that, I've got no idea. Sometimes blind adventures are fun. First sniff: Hmm...tangy but sweet at the same time. Weirdly enough, it makes me think of a gourmet take on an orange cremesicle. That's probably not even remotely helpful, but that's what I get from it at this point. Wet on skin: Okay, this is definitely honey. The first time I tried it on my skin, it was very similar to the scent in the decant, but now that it's had time to recover from its trip through the mail system, it's settled down. Now it's a slightly tangy honey scent with a hint of musk and maybe a very light touch of some sort of blonde wood. It reminds me a bit of the honey blends from the Rappacini's Apiary line. It's not your standard, simple honey scent. It's still fairly simple, but it's not just a sweet glob of scent. It could be some sort of wildflower honey, maybe mixed with honey from some sort of citrus tree. Dry down: Soft, slightly musky honey. Still a bit tangy and with maybe a touch of very light florals. It's delicate and ethereal, just like I'd imagined. The bottom line: Half-Elf v5 is a pretty scent, no doubt. It's not my usual sort of thing, but I like it. I think it would probably layer fairly nicely with some of the released RPG scents.

Origin: Lagniappe in a swap. Preconceived notions: Leather is hit or miss with me. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I could take it or leave it and sometimes it outright turns my stomach. But as soon as I read the reviews, I had to try this. I love the idea of a smoky leather and wood scent. First sniff: Intense leather. It's a bit like what I remember Dead Man's Hand smelling like (although the last time I smelled DMH was years ago, so I could be remembering wrong), but with an added layer of woodsmoke. If you took heavily-scented brown leather and left it next to a fire where it could absorb some of the wood smoke, it would smell like this. Wet on skin: Even more like Dead Man's Hand (again, what I remember it smelling like, anyway). The smokiness disappears and I'm left with a strong, oiled brown leather scent. More "Old West" than "holy knight," but that's fine by me. Dry down: Now the wood's coming out. I think I smell oak here in addition to the leather. There's a slight woodsmoke scent here again, almost like smoked hickory. It doesn't smell like burning. It smells like leather that's been near a crackling fire. There's a very faint sweetness here, too. It's noticeable, but it blends so seamlessly with the leather that it's hard to pin down. I agree that it could be a sweet resin, which would be appropriate. The bottom line: This isn't quite what comes to mind when I think of what a paladin would smell like (I envision more metal armor, church incense and clean musk...basically the sort of notes in the released version), but that's not a bad thing. I really love the proto version. Paladin v3 is definitely on the masculine side and the leather is intense, so if that's not your thing, you might want to thank your lucky stars you don't need to try to track this one down.

Origin: #36 5mL from evanescence. Preconceived notions: This was described to me as vanilla and light honeydew melon (or green melon of some sort). While I hate eating honeydew (and most other types of melon except for watermelon), I'm learning that I really love the smell of it in BPAL blends. I've never had fantastic luck with Chaos blends. There have been ones I've liked (both received from the Lab and bought with a general idea of the notes), but none have ever been OMG-amazing on me. I'm almost hoping I don't love this because I'm a slatherer and a hoarder and it's rough knowing I've only got one bottle of something I love. But the description of this sounds so pretty that I couldn't pass up trying it and risking falling in love. First sniff: Sweet, sugary melon (like melon syrup or very ripe fresh melon) and vanilla. I think it is honeydew, but the vanilla's sweetening it up to where it seems like it could be a mix of honeydew and another type of melon, something light pink, but not quite watermelon. I really like this so far. Wet on skin: Melon balls rolled in vanilla sugar. I get a little bit more fresh fruit than syrup now and it's lovely. This one seems to fall into the same rule-breaking category for me as 51 does. It's feminine and pretty and not my normal style, but I love it. Dry down: Fresh, sweet, juicy honeydew sprinkled liberally with vanilla sugar. This is actually pretty close to what I imagined Fée would smell like (in spite of all the florals) and somewhat like I remember it smelling like when it was fresh (my decants of Fee have turned into super strong watermelon Jolly Ranchers as they've aged, weirdly enough), but without the light florals. The bottom line: I've officially fallen in love with a Chaos blend for the first time. #36 smells whimsical, which I'm really enjoying. I don't have enough fun, light-hearted scents in my collection since my normal tastes run more toward the dark side, so I'm glad to have this to balance things out a little.

I'm thinking that tomorrow is a CD023 day. It's fun, sweet and pastel smelling, so it's perfect for Easter.

Origin: Frimpage! Preconceived notions: Leather is hit or miss on me, but it's been hitting the mark lately. Balsam is also hit or miss, but it usually works with leather. I don't think I've ever tried anything with red moss, so I'm not sure what to expect there, but I do love moss scents in general. I absolutely love The Black Rider and I like The White Rider, so hopefully this one's a winner, too. First sniff: When I first smelled this, it smelled like an (extemely strongly scented and extremely realistic) leather shop and not much else. Now, that's great if you like that sort of thing, but I don't. It's just too much leather for me. I let it set for probably about a month before trying it again and evidently it just needed to settle, because it smells amazing now. I get old, worn-in leather (I'm not sure what red leather would smell like, but I would say this smells more like brown leather than black) and something that smells like a dry, woody red musk even though it's not listed in the notes. Wet on skin: So good! No real change in the notes, but everything is sort of warming up and blooming on my skin. I get delicious worn-in leather and woody red musk (which I'm guessing is probably a quirk of the red leather...or maybe red leather is regular leather plus red musk?). Dry down: Still the same, although the notes are less distinct now. The Red Rider dries down into a sexy, almost rugged (but still unisex) leather and musk blend. I don't get any moss (unless the moss is what I'm smelling as red musk) and definitely no balsam. This is like the leathery cousin of Tarot: Judgement, which makes me very happy. The bottom line: I absolutely love this and I'm going to be needing a bottle (or bottles) immediately. At first, I thought it was going to be one of those eerily realistic scents that I keep around and wear now and then as a sort of novelty, but I was completely wrong. This is gorgeous.

Origin: Testable sniffy from a generous forumite. Preconceived notions: I actually tried Elf v4 before reading the reviews, so I didn't really go into it expecting anything in particular, other than my own mental image of what an elf would smell like. And what would an elf smell like, you ask? Ethereal and delicate. Vanilla, soft musk (probably skin musk), maybe some gentle blonde woods and/or light florals, possibly even some amber. And while that's not my usual style, it sounded awesome in my head. First sniff: Similar to Antique Lace, but with stronger vanilla. Yes, I know, it seems like every vanilla proto there is gets compared to Antique Lace, but this really is in the same vein. Wet on skin: No change at all. A soft, smooth vanilla. It's not foody, particularly, but it is sweet. There seems to be some sort of super gentle skin musk here, too. This is basically what I imagined Celeste to be based on the initial reviews of the prototype (only vanilla instead of cotton candy). This is so pretty; definitely ethereal and elfin. Dry down: Elf v4 is no morpher, that's for sure. Very linear. Once it dries, I get a little wafting cloud of soft, airy vanilla (I don't know enough about vanilla to differentiate between types, so I'll leave that to the other reviewers) and skin musk. Simple and pretty. I think I would have been a little worried about the fact that most other reviewers are mentioning florals if I'd read the reviews before testing this, but it wouldn't have needed to, because I don't get any florals at all from this. That doesn't mean that they're not there. They could be, but they must be extremely well-blended and light if they're in here. The bottom line: Elf v4 is a thing of beauty. I can see why this was the standout of the trunk show protos. This is one of those scents that manage to lure me away from my love of dark woods, resins, dirt and patchouli for a little tryst with something more feminine and delicate.

Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I passed over this scent for the longest time, even after reading reviews, mainly because of the mention of florals. I hate florals (with very few exceptions), even when they're blended with other notes, and they have the real potential to ruin a scent for me. But Amaterasu v3 gets so many rave reviews that I ended up caving. I figure if it doesn't work for me, I can get rid of it pretty easily. Plus amber and resins/incense are almost always winners and I like leather a lot of the time. First sniff: Sweet, sweet golden amber. Everything else is hiding behind the amber, but I'm thinking there's some vanilla and some resins of some sort here. Maybe a touch of some sort of golden wood, possibly even a very light touch of cedar. Wet on skin: This goes even sweeter on my skin and then suddenly gets very faint. I have to stick my nose up close to get a good sniff of it. Inez does the same thing, only nowhere near as much as Amaterasu. I think my skin eats amber to a certain degree, because I get a bit of fading with most amber-heavy scents. Dry down: As Amaterasu v3 dries, the scent strengthens a bit again, but it's not a strong scent by any means (on me, anyway). I get sweet amber (so sweet and rich that it smells almost like vanilla, but not foody), a light touch of what seems to be some sort of ultra-soft, supple golden leather and some light musk (skin musk, probably, but maybe even honey musk). There could be some very faint, gentle florals here, but if they're here, they're so well-blended that they don't stand out to my nose (which is what usually happens with florals, no matter how subtle they are). The bottom line: This is really pretty and beautifully feminine. It's a golden, almost glowing scent; soft, sweet and warm. It borders on being too sweet for me at some stages, but it settles into something really lovely as it dries.