Pickled Imp

[edenssixthday]

By God, what floats in this ghastly jar?
Cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and pine sap.

Pickled Imp - I don't tend to like cinnamon blends, but this one rocks really, really hard. Every single note stands out in this blend and each is perfectly complimentary of all the others. The vanilla sweetens up the spicy cinnamon and clove but the pine sap gives it depth without making it too dark or sticky. It's been three hours since I left Will Call where I had applied this scent, and it's just as strong as it was when I first applied it. I really love it. I'm anxiously looking forward to the CD scents arriving on my doorstep and I'm very excited to wear it again.

[celticgeekess]

In the vial: Surprising lime, with vanilla. Reminiscent of Mr. Nancy, which is odd since Pickled Imp has no lime. Must be the pine. Very yummy!

 

Wet on the skin: Vanilla and cinammon, with the clove coming out later.

 

Dry on the skin: Cloves, warmed with cinammon. The vanilla comes back at the end, making it all soft and creamy.

 

I ADORE cinammon blends, and the clove in this really rounds it out nicely.

Edited June 5, 2008 by celticgeekess

[hackess]

I can tell this will be my favorite of all the CD blends. It smells so damn similar to the Chaos Theory I adore that I thought I'd never be able to reproduce that it's like Beth made Pickled Imp just for me.

 

In the bottle: Slightly astringent vanilla. If I make myself believe it's pine sap tweaking the smooth vanilla, I smell trees.

 

Wet: Vanilla and spicy hot clove. I'm already in love.

 

Dry: I smell like cookies. Baked goods. Every tasty morsel I can imagine. The cinnamon really warms my nose as I repeatedly sniff my arm and desperately try to avoid making sugar-and-spice cookies.

Edited June 8, 2008 by hackess

[motdakasha]

In the bottle:

Rating: 5

Notes: cinnamon, clove, pine sap

Comment: Very food smell with pine sap lingering underneath it all.

 

Wet on skin:

Rating: 5

Notes: Cinnamon, clove

Comment: Like a dark delicious pine sol cookie.

 

Dry on skin: 2 Hrs.

Rating: 5

Notes: Cream, Gingerbread poppet

Scent Intensity: 2

Comment: Need to be in close proximity to smell Pickled Imp. Cinnamon seems to fade on me fairly quickly. For some reason, it turned out like a creamy/caramely gingerbread poppet on me, the cream I smell is probably the vanilla finally showing its face. I would buy another bottle of this, but it's very similar to Gingerbread Poppet so I can live without a backup (I think!?)

 

Misc:

Duration: 2+ Hrs.

Keyword(s): cookie

Color: Copper

Smells like: Gingerbread poppet.

Edited July 2, 2008 by Akasha Tsang

[scarletgenesis]

Beth and the lab staff have managed a near perfect blending of clove and cinnamon with Pickled Imp. Neither of these two notes stand out over the other; rather, they work wonderfully well together. Those are definitely the two promenant notes here....

 

 

but after a while......hey! Hi there vanilla! You do interesting things to the clove note...things I rather like.

 

and further on into the future....hmmmm...is that pipe tobacco? Lovely rich pipe tobacco (checks notes)....Ok so no pipe tobacco here, but that's what I'm getting. It must just be the rich scent that the clove and vanilla create together, mixed with the _tiniest hint of sap (glad it's not overpowering, but it adds some complexity to what is a gloriously simple blend)

 

This reminds me a bit of Three Witches, but less baked-goodsy.

 

So glad I just got a bottle of this right off the bat, because it is absolutely wonderful.

Edited June 10, 2008 by scarletgenesis

[alicia_stardust]

This is a very rich and warm vanilla but it keeps from turning too foody or cookie-like by the dryness of the spices. The clove and cinnamon sort of insert themselves into the vanilla which keeps them from being too strong or too faint. The pine sap is really fascinating. It adds a nice little earthy, dark bite to it yet remains a nuanced effect in comparison to the clove, cinnamon, and vanilla. I'd say this is definitely going to be a hit. Long wearlength and strong throw.

[schackjj]

Me: Who's in there?

 

Clove: Meee!

 

Cinnamon: Me too!

 

Me: Aren't there any more of you?

 

Clove: Nope. (innocently)

 

Cinnamon: But you're standing on Pi-mmph!! (gets sharp elbow to the ribs)

 

Me: What about Vanilla? She's supposed to be in there too. She's definitely listed.

 

Clove: Haven't seen her. (holding Vanilla under the surface in a headlock)

 

Me: It's eerie how the other notes are missing.

 

Clove: (smiling widely) Isn't it?

[Josh]

Sadly this didn't work at all. Pickled Imp is a simple mix of cinnamon, clove and vanilla, but something is off with the vanilla here.. it has a somewhat 'plastic suntan lotion' tinge to it. That's the only way I can describe it. I love spicy/cinnamon scents (Shub, Plunder, etc), but I'm actually going to dissent and say I really don't enjoy Pickled Imp too much, but the concept and art = great.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Josh

[ForeverLastcXs]

Om nom nom nom nom!!!! *happily gnaws away at wrist* Pickled Imp is spicy, foody heaven on me! Clove, vanilla, and cinnamon are three of my very favorite notes, and they all work together beautifully to envelop me in a scented cloud of bliss. I don't really get any hints of the pine sap, which is fine by me, but I may be overlooking it because I'm so in love with the other notes here. I have to be careful when I'm sniffing this one - I pressed my nose up against my wrist to take a deep huff and now there's a smidge of Pickled Imp on my nose that's burning a wee bit. Ah well...it hurts so good!

Edited June 19, 2008 by ForeverLastcXs

[indybear]

I really, really wanted this to work. I love cinnamon and I adore clove. Unfortunately, it just didn't work on me. I got a weird chemical scent that overrode all the notes.

 

Concept & art: 5

Plays nice with my chemistry: 1

 

Curse you, chemistry!

[Brianne]

Ooh CINNAMON! Yay CLOVE!! Yum VANILLA! And.... and... oh pine sap?

 

Cinnamon and clove are two of my faves (Three Witches is one of my fave BPAL scents). Paired with vanilla? Yes please. But then I saw pine sap in the description and my heart sank because I know that pine and I do not usually get along. Pine has a way of ruining things for me.

 

THis goes on just as delicious as I thought it would - beautifully spicey and yet foody cinnamon and clove and vanilla - smells like some sort of spiced cake or something. Where's that pine? I know you are just waiting to ruin my day!

 

I just sat and waited for the other shoe to drop on this. This smells too delicious to work on me. Pine is luring me into a false sense of security by waiting until the last minute to go berserk on me.

 

But you know what? It never shows up. Pine doesn't ruin this for me. The end result is a new fave for me - it's Three Witches with vanilla frosting - how awesome is THAT?

*hugs imp of Pickled Imp* I MUST buy a bottle. Or two. Or three. *wants to swim in it*

[GingerGunlock]

In the bottle, this smells almost as though I'd opened up a bottle of vanilla extract.

 

Wet, it's very spicey, with clove as the heavy hitter, and cinnamon there as well (a dry sort of cinnamon, like the sticks or the spice, not like Red Hots or Big Red or any of that nonsense). Typically, I amp pine in at least one of the stages of a scent, but this doesn't happen with the Pickled Imp.

 

What does happen is what I've been waiting for since I got into BPAL: after a good healthy slather, as soon as it dries, I start getting tabacco-y wafts that I can really only attribute to the vanilla, if I really had to pick it. That's right. Pickled Imp is the perfect smokey slightly sweet clove cigarette scent that I've been looking for. I love it and I could very happily wear it for the rest of my life. It has sort of a close, intense throw. Not enough to be overpowering, but if somebody is within your personal space or a couple steps away, they'll be smelling it.

 

 

I love this so very much, and will procure as many bottles as I can before the Carnival pulls up its tent stakes and moves along.

 

(Can you imagine how freakish it would be, forty years from now, if my grandkids opened a disused closet and came upon row after row of bottles, each containing the twisted, preserved cadaver of a pickled imp? I mean, at first glance, in the dark, with the label, what else would be in this tiny bottle? Clearly, Grandma spent time in her youth trapping imps and shoving them into little bottles to pickle them, for some dark purpose unbeknowst to them or their puzzled mother or father, whose spouse turns to them and says "See, I told you your mother was friggin' weird.")

[milo]

In the bottle, gorgeous spice, cinnamon, clove, and a touch of vanilla and oddly (maybe it's just the name) a touch of vinegar. On, it turns foody within a few minutes. Sometimes I like a little foody, but this is just a little too much for me. I don't totally dislike, it, but glad I didn't get a bottle.

[suileach]

Huh. When I opened this decant the first few times for sniffing, all I got was a big wallop of pine.

 

Today, I get a big wallop of clove.

 

Once it touches my skin, the vanilla comes out, sweet and warm. The sharp pine sap remains for a minute, but it's soon shoved out of place by cinnamon and clove. I smell like I've been rolling around with wanton abandon in my spice drawer.

 

There is nothing subtle about this scent - if you want spicy, here it is!

[SurrealReality]

In the Bottle/imp: Beautiful! Every note seams to play an equal part

 

Wet on Skin: Mostly cinnamon with a bit of clove and sweet vanilla

 

Dry: OMG! This is amazing! By far my favorite carnaval scent released so far! It's definitely foody, like a bakery in the forrest Cinnamon and vanilla with just enough clove and pine to ground the scent (which makes me very happy 'cause clove and pine often don't work for me). Many many hours later into the drydown, the pine comes out....a lot, and the other notes fade. But by then the scent is so faint that it really doesn't matter.

 

This scent has good throw and unbelievable wear length on me (it lasted 7+ hours)

 

My rating in the bottle/imp: 5 out of 5

My rating on my skin: 5 out of 5

 

I will definitely be buying several bottles of this before the carnaval leaves town

Edited November 19, 2008 by SurrealReality

[savage_rose]

Okay. While I love BPAL's Egg Nog, it's not really MY Egg Nog, if you know what I mean. I've always preferred Fyrinnae's (now discontinued) Egg Nog. I know, shocking, this belongs in the Confessional Booth. EXCEPT, that Pickled Imp, the one I was looking the most forward to, I have found it! It's a delicious, sweet, CREAMY Egg Nog with just a hint of bite (pine sap?) and topped with clove and cinnamon . Instead of the boozy, alcoholic delight of the Egg Nog, there is the heady hotness of the spiced virgin 'nog, Pickled Imp. OH, HOW I LOVE THIS, in a way that makes me feel like I'm on high school falling in love for the first time. It makes me want to write all in exclamation points! It does!! And in italics!!! And if I had a notebook, I'd be doodling "Savage Rose loves Pickled Imp" and sending notes saying "Pickled Imp, do you like me? Yes No Maybe" and biting my nails that this crush was requited.

 

This scent would be gorgeous as a room scent, as anything...I will have to get more bottles of this before the Carnival leaves town, because Pickled Imp has not let me down.

[evanescence]

Me: Who's in there?

 

Clove: Meee!

 

Cinnamon: Me too!

 

Me: Aren't there any more of you?

 

Clove: Nope. (innocently)

 

Cinnamon: But you're standing on Pi-mmph!! (gets sharp elbow to the ribs)

 

Me: What about Vanilla? She's supposed to be in there too. She's definitely listed.

 

Clove: Haven't seen her. (holding Vanilla under the surface in a headlock)

 

Me: It's eerie how the other notes are missing.

 

Clove: (smiling widely) Isn't it?

 

 

not much you can add to this. Other than I like it more than I thought I would and it makes me think of spice/gingerbread cookies.

[puck_nc]

Origin: decant from eviltemptressdq's circle

 

Initial Thoughts: I'm not sure why this particular combination of notes grabbed me, but it did.

 

In the Bottle: Hello, clove! Hello, cinnamon! I think I can detect vanilla behind you, won't you let it out?

 

Wet: Again, it's largely clove and cinnamon. I get more of the vanilla as a sweet presence, gentling the spices into a softer blend rather than SPICE!!!! I can't find the pine sap, but something is keeping this from teetering over the edge into pure foody-bakery.

 

Drydown: It is morphing very little on me. Warm spicy cinnamon and clove, smoothed by the vanilla but not overly foody. This is a true spice scent. My husband is quite taken with it, and he hates anything that smells remotely foody on me.

 

Verdict: Definitely keeping the decant and I see a probable bottle in the future.

[iiinterstate]

in the vial this smells just like Shub, which is a good first impression.

 

On my skin there's a lot less spice, and no pine to be found anywhere. It keeps bordering on the edge of smelling...cardboardy. Its definitely cinnamon STICKS instead of just straight cinnamon (on me). I'm really not sure about this one though. Not exactly what I expected after reading the reviews. I'll wait a few days any try it again.

[theal8r]

This is just... strange... in the imp. I think I like it, then I catch this smell of... dirty socks??? I think that's the cinnimon. Why does cinnimon smell like dirty socks?

 

Wet: OH. It's christmas! Cinnimon and clove and ooooo.... wow. I think I detect a little pine rounding out the spicey notes. I'm not sure *I* want to smell like this... but I definitely like this smell. *huffs wrists*

 

Dry down: *gasp* warm spice cookies!

 

Man, I don't want to wear this, but I would DIE for a room spray of this! I'm keeping it, for my linens!

[LunaLovegood]

Me: Who's in there?

 

Clove: Meee!

 

Cinnamon: Me too!

 

Me: Aren't there any more of you?

 

Clove: Nope. (innocently)

 

Cinnamon: But you're standing on Pi-mmph!! (gets sharp elbow to the ribs)

 

Me: What about Vanilla? She's supposed to be in there too. She's definitely listed.

 

Clove: Haven't seen her. (holding Vanilla under the surface in a headlock)

 

Me: It's eerie how the other notes are missing.

 

Clove: (smiling widely) Isn't it?

 

 

not much you can add to this. Other than I like it more than I thought I would and it makes me think of spice/gingerbread cookies.

Ditto and Ditto

My two cents:

Pickled Imp: bottle, oh yum, sweet spicy. On my skin its sweet and spicy Its almost the spicy scent I've been looking for. Not the pantry smell you get from some spicy scents. This is really nice, but on my skin it goes, hello... goodbye. I will give it one more try and see what happens. Not ready to give up on it yet.

[mooncityminx]

In the vial: Buttery spices and pine, the pine is more woodsy and rich than your regular pine smell, however.

 

Wet: It's like oatmeal cookies with rasins and a side of chai tea. I've never encountered a bpal to remind me so much of chai before.

 

Dry: The pine completely disapeared the second this hit my skin, which is fine with me. It was nice, but this is better. When I heard of this I honestly wasn't expecting anything nearly this yummy. I have other ginger/spice bpals but this is in a league of its own. As it dries it does become less foody, but very cinnamon. I can see exactly why everyone has been raving about Pickled Imp. I will easily need at least one bottle of this, possibly more.

 

ETA: Hours later the clove drydown still smells wonderful! I know now that I need to stock up.

Edited June 28, 2008 by Tempest

[Stephanie]

Wonderful, rich, delicious cinnamon!

 

Diabolical cinnamon and cloves.

 

This seems like a such simple fragrance. But there's a richness behind the spiciness that I love! I do detect some pine, but it only serves to add depth. It's like the balsamic, resinous slightly sticky scent that you get after crushing fresh pine needles. Like cinnamon buns and oatmeal cookies baked at midnight in the middle of an ancient forest.

 

If you love Chimera, Shub-niggurath or any other type of spicy, vanillic perfume, you have to try this!!

[phantasmmysteria]

Hmmm... we might have a hung jury on our hands in the case of Mysteria v. Pickled Imp.

 

The Imp, in the imp: A lovely pine sap, just like that found in The Illustrated Woman. I can smell the spices as well.

 

Wet: The pine does disappear fairly quickly, and the cinnamon comes to the forefront. I like this phase -- it smells more like I'd hoped Gingerbread Poppet did (which was lovely, but it had some sort of odd udercurrent on my skin). Everything melds togeher in an interesting way, and the clove isn't making me feel sneezy!

 

Dry: Unfortunately, upon drydown this gets pretty generic. The vanilla has amped up (no suprise there) and I'm left with a scent that smells disturbingly like a cinnamon candle.

 

Verdict: I am going to try this scent in a locket, because the wet stage is pretty cool. However, taking everything into consideration I won't be hoarding this scent myself -- there are others which smell much better with my own skin chemistry, which is a relief as they aren't LE.

 

If you're afraid of the pine note, however, I would encourage you to give this a shot as it might suprise you!

[diamondstars]

This is absolutely gorgeous! Haven't tried it on skin yet so hope it won't burn like Inferno did..

 

To me Pickled Imp is like a combination of Glowing Vulva and Gingerbread Poppet.

 

 

Update - Aug 3rd '08: Pickled Imp didn't burn like I thought it would and turned out to be my absolute favourite BPAL of all time! I went on to order another two back-up bottles and want more!

Edited August 3, 2008 by saracakes