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A Corral for my Reviews . . .

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13: June 2008

This is my first 13 and it reminds me of Willy Wonka's experimental gum that tasted of all the courses of a complete meal in sequence.   Instead of experiencing the top notes that then give way to base notes, I keep getting discrete bits of them all in random rotation. A breath of honeysuckle, a puff of apple, a medicinal little waft of nutmeg and slathers of gorgeous dark melted chocolate. There is also a smoky woodiness that is very lovely and very autumnal. I was surprised to not see more wood in this blend.   Thirteen fades on me at mid-day, but I wouldn't mind reapplying this gorgeous scent. And I have a feeling I'm going to need more of this come autumn.
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Fearful Pleasure

Damn. Within moments this leapt to the top of my apple favorites. Actually, it may end up near the top of all my favorites. It's a really beautiful apple cider. I get predominantly apple and cinnamon, but it's not candylike. A really lovely fall scent.
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Lysander

The first time I tried a bit of this it was changing so quickly it was hard to keep up. At first sniff, I got an intensely foody smell, that i couldn't specifically pinpoint. My brain just knew it was food. On, it was a bit like cologne, a brief, weird chemical smell that makes my nose feel all prickly and funny. Finally, it settled down to a nice floral violets or lilac I presume with a bit of lime. Overall it was very intriguing.   The next day, I confidently dolloped on quite a bit and went out to do errands. Unfortunately the entire time, I was enveloped in a cloud of weird chemical tangy-ness that I just didn't care for. No floral, no lime, no food. I think it's the benzoin that is doing this to me. This is the first real encounter I've had with it and I don't think it works for me. I'm sad, because I love resins and the description of this sounded so perfect for me.   If you get along with benzoin, I think you should try this. I think it has the potential to be truly fabulous on either gender.
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Juke Joint

Bourbon is my very favorite spirit, so I was excited about Juke Joint.   It's weird, I almost wonder if my imp is labeled incorrectly. I can't smell any bourbon or mint or sugar. To me, it just smells like a wood scent and then it quickly disappears.   Actually, Delirium1009's description of a gritty dirt scent is quite apt.   My skin eats this up and it's completely gone in 20 minutes. I am
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Skuld

Skuld is a frimp from the Lab. Thanks guys!!!   I would never have ordered this on my own,because I don't get along well with ylang-ylang and I did not have good luck with Urd (I know that shouldn't matter . . . but).   In the imp it is quite floral and honied. I've had recent success with O, so I decide to give it a shot. After a few moments of worrying ylang-ylang, things settle down to a sweet verging on cloying scent that reminds me of fermenting fruit or maybe mead. Once the ylang-ylang dissipates, I am left with a gorgeous honey with light resins.   After it passed the home test, I put a drop in my hair and wore it to work. One of the guys at work followed me around all day flirting with me. He said "there's something different about you today. . ." I don't know, maybe it was the Skuld. I did smell pretty good.
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Aelopile

Aelopile smells like expensive furniture polish used for generations on priceless antiques --> exotic woods and lemon oil. It positively glows.   Good throw and duration. Morphs into a sweet woody resinous lemon lime with a slightly smoky base. Incredibly lovely and I wish my house smelled of this.   There is something different than the normal woods, ambers and citrus notes that I'm familiar with. This is, to my knowledge, my first encounter with oud. If it is the oud making this so great I think I need more.   Normally I amp cedar so much that it's unwearable on me, but in this blend it is restrained and lovely.   I will buy a bottle of this and happily wear it, but I think it would be a stunning room scent and most people would perceive it more as a room scent than as a perfume.   My rating: 5/5
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Sea of Glass

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.   This smells overwhelmingly of soap.   Clean, Holy soap. I'm not a fan of aquatics or ozone or florals, so I would have been surprised if it had worked.
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Peitho

Peitho was one of the very first imps that I ordered because I liked the name and I didn't know that I can't wear florals. So, I tried it 4 months ago, deemed it too old-lady-ish and sadly put it away.   Recently I have come back to it because I'm having terrible luck with florals and I need something more spring/summery (hey, it's coming eventually). In my initial notes I had remarked that it didn't turn to sour dead plants on me unlike practically every other floral and I am tired of being told that I smell "like incense" every freakin' day no matter what I wear.   Well, I have to say that I do like this. I think this is about as light and floral as I am going to be able to go, and it is very pretty. Normally, I amp jasmine to a sickening degree but it is actually present and yet polite in this blend. The throw is mostly jasmine and lily and girly and pretty. Next to my skin is a lovely light vanilla musk.   I'm so happy I can smell like a girl when I want to. (that's me in the bow). I'm getting a 5ml.   UPDATE: Peitho is still one of the very few florals in my collection. I don't turn to it very often because I gravitate to resins and woods and foody scents. Nearly two years later I pulled it out on a whim and wore it today. I am in utter lust with this blend. It has sweetened and mellowed. The vanilla did that magical thing and the jasmine is a positive delight. This went from being a solid 3.5 to a five star blend. O Beth! How I love you!   I'm ordering another bottle for cellaring!   PS if you like this, you might like Eos
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Black Pearl

First try with much anticipation because the description sounds so perfect and divine: how odd, this is so . . . salty, that's clever, like the ocean, but wait. . . the saltiness reminds me of something else. . . OMG it is PLAY-DOH!!!! This smells exactly like play-doh on my skin. It even reminds me of a time when I was 5 or 6 and my best friend got the play-doh barbershop and we played that thing to death. This is too strange.   Second try: I can't give up on this!!! Sadly, it is still play-doh. I get no lovely coconut or hazelnut. Maybe the faint hint of the iris. It's just salty play-doh. I am sad.
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Ravenous

Is there really civet in this????   Anyway, I'm surprised at how much I like this. I ordered an imp, purely because I liked the name and then realized, uh oh, it has patchouli! I smelled it in the imp and thought "No Way" and put it aside for awhile.   Turns out, it actually worked quite well for me, I'm not getting any sweaty socks patchouli, just a warm creamy orange. There is something dark there though, it is reminiscent of chocolate for me, which some other people have mentioned. Actually, it is uncannily like dark chocolate & raspberry.   This oil is incredibly strong. I put on a normal amount and over 4 hours later I am still radiating great clouds of scent. The cashier at the grocery store said she liked it, but I feel way too 'smelly'. I also noted that it kind of burned or tingled. Hmmm. I will apply less next time.   I'm curious to see if my mother can detect the patchouli. She loathes it and can smell it a mile away. If not, then red patchouli may be possible for me.
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Madame Tracy

Pah. My stupid skin turns rose (especially pink and red roses) into nasty, sour rotten dead things.   Why are florals so difficult for me?   It was pretty in the imp - and there it will stay.   /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ THE REVIEW/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/THE OTHER (irrelevant) THOUGHTS\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/   sniff. my name is tracy (well, tracEy). I am stout and middle aged. Dominatrix is my dream job ------- If ever a scent description captured my imagination, it was this one, so why why why can't this work for me. stupid vile skin.
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Hellcat

Hellcat is wonderful!! Smelling it in the imp it seems like the perfect shot, sweet, delicious and ready to knock you on your butt.   I'm not sure such a food/alcohol smell is a good idea but, WTH I slather it on and wear it to work. By the time I get to work, I can smell a wonderful spicy warm, toasted caramel. It stays pretty much like that all day, after about 6 hours, I can still smell a little, but I'm loving it so much that I reapply a little. Mmmm.   I smell like the world's largest hazelnut candle, but I don't care, I'm in love and I can't believe that nobody says how great I smell. Oh well, if they don't like it, that's tough because I'm going to wearing a lot of this all winter long.
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Casanova

I must second dirtytrip's review. I love lavender and bergamot and they really do this scent justice. I wore this to bed last night and I find it very invigorating. I had no problem waking up this am and it was still evident on my skin (I had slathered though).   I don't care for anise or patchouli and thankfully, I can't detect them at all. I also can't specifically detect amber or tonka, but I can tell that something is rounding out this scent I think the tonka is smoothing things out and the leather seems to really last on my skin. My first experience with BPAL's leather note and I think I need more.   Normally I end up with smoky/resinous scents and can't get along with florals, but here the citrus and lavender give me a much brighter scent to work with. It's definitely not girly, but I think I'll be able to wear this and i think it will be lovely for autumn, winter and spring.
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Antique Lace

Yay to the lab for frimping this one!   Another one I would not have ordered on my own. Antique Lace is a very clean soft and sweet vanilla with just a hint of floral. I prefer it somewhat aged so that the vanilla smooths out a bit.
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Stimulating Sassafrass Strengthener

I'll add my voice to the throng of endorsements for Doc's SSS. It is a thing of wonderment, a divine gift of buttery rootbeery delicousness. I'm all agog.     I get no snaily bits from this.   Disclaimer: The Pharmacopoeia is not responsible for injuries sustained whilst walking around with your nose buried in your own cleavage.
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Velvet

This was the first imp I tried out of my last order, because it just smelled so terrific in the imp. I'm happy to say that it worked very well for me - of course food scents and woods and resins like me. I'm not sure exactly what myrrh smells like, but I could detect a spiciness with the cocoa and the sandalwood that I'm pretty sure was myrrh. It didn't really transform itself as so many other BPAL scents do, it stayed nicely balanced.   I had to reapply at mid-day and the throw was light to moderate. I could smell it, but nobody told me I smelled like any thing in particular today. (So far in my BPAL journey, I have been told I smell like: a bookstore, incense, cherry ice cream, a hippie, an old lady, vanilla, a candle and a "stench" )   You guys are not going to believe this, but I've never smelled Snake Oil because the description just never really tripped my trigger and I'm just not a huge vanilla fan. Today I kept thinking maybe Velvet is like a chocolatey version of Snake Oil??? Perhaps I will try it.   I'm currently working my way through several cocoa scents, I hope they're all this nice.
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Snake Oil

**pouts**   I put off ordering Snake Oil, because the description was just too vague, but since everyone loves it, I decided to give it a chance.   In the bottle SO smells of nice spicy vanilla. mmmm. As soon as it touches my skin, it turns to a gigantic pile of clean disposable diapers. Since diapers aren't really that sexy IMO I'm going to age it for a year, and it if doesn't shape up, SO will be up for adoption.   It actually reminded me quite a bit of Titus Andronicus, only a bit more feminine. Like pink diapers instead of blue. I have a mostly unfounded and untested suspicion that benzoin is the culprit in my diaper/play-doh/band-aid problems and that aging really smooths it out and 'cures' it. We'll see.   ETA: Fast Forward to June 19 2008 - OMG! Snake Oil from the Cellar has absolutely done wonderful delicious things during its banishment. Luckily, I am too lazy to swap or sell things. I wore it today and NOW I see what all the fuss is about. No diapers, it's just deliciously spiced sugary vanilla. I hope my other cellared oils turn out this good! I want to age it forever, but I'm afraid I'll use it all up so I can see I'll have to order some more. F
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Midnight Kiss

The lab sent me TWO frimps of this with my last order and it's a darned good thing. I've already ordered a bottle and I should've ordered more. Please, please don't run out of this before I can get more!!!!   BTW, this breaks my rule of not ordering imps of limited editions. I don't didn't want to get all addicted to something that I might not be able to get. See how the fates conspire against me. I also would not have ordered this because of the wine note and a bad experience with cocoa. In general, the lab is doing a better job of picking winners for me than I am. I think my next sample order will just say "you choose for me please".   Anyway, on to the review. This is everything I had hoped Boomslang would be and just wasn't (it was plastic chocolate band-aid). However, Midnight Kiss is yummy chocolate (more milk than dark) when wet. As it dries I get a lovely floral fruitiness (uh, fruit?) that is grounded by a smoky woody wine. I'm in love.   This has patchouli in it, and I'm going to have to quit saying I hate patchouli, because Beth is proving me oh so wrong.
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Desire

sexy as hell. So, naturally I ordered a bottle.   Trouble is, the bottle doesn't really smell much like what I had in the imp. There is something really too sharply sour and nasty that just kind of overtakes everything.   I am going to try this later and hope for different chemistry. I suspect it needs to be aged to get that sharpness out and mellow into the smooth, rounded scent that it should be.   ETA: 5 months later and I pulled it out of the cellar and tried it. Things are much, much better. It's no longer sharp, but it hasn't yet reached it's full potential. I could and will wear it now, so I can watch the progress a bit more closely.
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Titus Andronicus

According to the description, and in the imp, Titus smells like something I am sure to love. Mmmm. Spicy resins and lovely bergamot!!.   So, I put some on, and immediately a big pile of clean fresh diapers looms into view. Uh oh. I adore amber and I thought I could do it in any form, but not here!!   After a bit, I get a sour, spoiled scent that makes me a bit nauseous. I have to wash it off. WTH? I was really looking forward to this scent.   I'm going to try it again in a couple months and see what develops.
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Fruitcake

Fruitcake is lovely. Boozy, fruity, nutty creaminess. It's quite delicious from start to finish with average duration and throw.   It smells quite a bit like a softer, sweeter version of Hellcat on me. I'd buy a bottle if I ran out of Hellcat.
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I Died For Beauty

I got this as a frimp. Thanks!   Too bad I can't give a positive review. Wet: An overpowering floral that I think is the ylang-ylang. YY is not something I'm familiar with though.   Dry: Oddly this seems to come and go on me. After a short time, I think it is almost entirely gone, and then I get a few moments of very pleasant, soft, violets. So lovely. They fade away too quickly and then I'm left with really strong paint thinner or turpentine smell. This is strongly evocative to me of my grandmother's china painting studio. The only other thing that has (so far) reminded me of that was a single note of Red Mandarin - though only when wet.   I have trouble with florals in general. sigh.
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