SarahScent44

Like many others, I have a spreadsheet that I keep my BPAL scents on, where I keep track of reviews, rating scents, etc. Mine has a column for every note that's been in a scent that I've tried so far (from acai berry to yuzu), and I put a little X in the columns that apply to a particular scent. (Yeah, I'm a spreadsheet nerd!) Point being, I actually Wikipedia-d the ingredients of a Cosmo so I could mark the right scents for The Hamptons, and to know what I'm sniffing for - according to Wikipedia, the traditional ingredients are lemon-flavored vodka, triple sec, lime juice, and cranberry juice.

 

In the imp, there's a definite booziness - it's sweet, and smells of the orange of the triple sec and the lime.

 

Wet, on my skin, the cranberry comes out a bit - still getting lots of the lime and orange - very sweet, like there's a sugared rim!

 

When it dries, it's bright, sweet cranberry-lime-orange goodness. I love this scent. Between Swank and this, I'm totally in love with the Lab's "cocktail" scents!

In the imp with this, I get jasmine with just a little sage.

 

On my skin, there's rosewood and musk, and the sandalwood comes out, with some lemon.

 

When it's dry, it's very sweetly blended, and it's hard to pick out individual notes; very traditional but not bad. This is nice, but I'm not sure it's a keeper.

In the imp, Alecto is minty and green - I definitely get the vetiver and the leaves.

 

Once it's on, the cedar comes out - there's almost a smokiness to it, which contrasts really nicely with sharpness of the vetiver in the background.

 

When it dries, it's VERY sharp and cool, almost medicinal - VERY unusual. I really like this scent, but I don't know if I like smelling LIKE it. I think I'll have to pass this along to someone who will appreciate it more.

In the bottle, this smells like moldering pages, but in a good way. It's definitely old books - like wandering through Powell's on a rainy day (which is my idea of heaven)! I get the incense and something else...

 

When I put it on, it's sharply incense at first, but something really warm and nice in the background.

 

Once it dries, the slight weirdness from the bottle is gone - it's light, clear, and warm. I really like this! Glad I have two bottles!

In the imp, I get the mandarin and the vanilla - very sweet and rich, almost Creamsicle-y.

 

Wet, on my skin, it's mandarin, sandalwood, and something sweet - it may be the vanilla, but I actually think it might be be the opium.

 

Once it's dry, it's sandalwood with a tinge of vanilla and the slightest hint of mandarin. Really nice.

In the imp, this has the warm resin-y-ness of the frankincense with a kick from the basil.

 

Once I put it on, the sage and basil come WAY out - very fresh.

 

When it's dry, it's mostly frankincense, but the herbs give it this awesome freshness that's really unique among the scents I've tried. My ultimate reaction is MMM. I definitely find it more neutral than masculine (which is good, because I love it and my boyfriend won't touch BPAL.)

In the imp, I get the lemon balm (clean and bright), rosemary, and sage.

 

Once I put it on, there's still lemon, but very subdued by the bark, the rosemary, and the sage - it's a grassy, green smell, dry rather than fresh, but I quite like it.

 

It's very much the same when dry - a very nice, very low-key, herbal lemon-y scent. I like it, but I'm not sure that I LOVE it - although I'll probably always keep it around because of the description (wanna-be writer, ahoy!).

In imp, Plunder is spicy - I get a lot of cinnamon, especially.

 

Wet, on my skin, it smells woodsy and wonderful - I can't pick up any individual notes, but it's a great blend.

 

Thirty minutes later, I get wonderful hints of spices over sandalwood. I'm sad I never got any tobacco, but Plunder is really, really nice.

In the imp, I get wine backed by chocolate - it's deep and fruity.

 

On my skin, the wine and chocolate share the stage with the musk and amber.

 

Dry, it's really warm - it's a nice blend of the fruity hit of the wine, the warmth of the chocolate, and the richness of the amber, sandalwood, and musk. It's really nice - I'm glad I have a bottle!

This was recommended to me by someone in my introductory post, when I mentioned how much I love citrus scents. They did not steer me wrong!

 

In the imp, it's all tart and citrus-y (like grapefruit zest).

 

Wet, on my skin, it's still a really nice, bright citrus.

 

Thirty minutes later, there's still a hint of citrus (especially in the throw - this is the longest-lasting and biggest-throwing citrus ever), I get tea, and a hint of floral that I can only assume is the cherry blossom. This is another one for my citrus arsenal - really great!

In the imp, this is creamy honey with just a breath of bergamot.... mmmm.

 

It's even creamier on my skin; I also get a lot of carnation (which I'm totally okay with!!).

 

Once it dries, it's rich and sweet - I get creaminess from the milk, orange fruit-y ness from the bergamot, touch of spice from the carnation, with just a hint of a full-bodied rose. Absolutely gorgeous!! Definitely a keeper.

In the imp, this is almond - yummmmm - with a little cinnamon.

 

On the skin, the almond and cinnamon balance out. (Side note: while sniffing from the imp, I got some oil on my upper lip - it definitely burned, but I had no problems on my arms.)

 

Once it's dry, all I get is CINNAMON!! Not terrible, just basically single-note cinnamon. I'm sad, because I really like the almond/cinnamon combination.

In the imp, this is light, almost sharp - there aren't any recognizable notes that I can pick up.

 

On, it expands and gets a touch warmer - I feel like there are some light florals here, maybe?

 

Once it dries, it's very strong - very much like what I associate "traditional" perfume with.

 

The wet stage was the nicest; but there wasn't anything that special for me in this one; I'll be passing it along to someone else.

As a BPAL newbie, I'm drawn to scents with few notes - I feel like they'll be easier for me to pick out and learn from. Combine that with the fact that I have good feelings about patchouli and orange, so I was excited for Ravenous. But it didn't work out - it was plastic-y and chemical. Boo-urns.

Edited to include scent description

This was one of the very first BPAL imps I had access to, and, as a love of fruity scents AND a giant Greek mythology nerd, I was super excited for this scent.

 

Alas, it was not to be. In the imp, I smell gorgeous apples, but when I put it on, the apples are utterly subsumed with a weird chemical note, one that I can almost taste. It fades, but so does the scent - it was completely gone within an hour or two. So sad.

In the imp, this is minty (that's the vetiver) but also warm - still being a newbie, and dealing with some unfamiliar notes, I don't know quite what to attribute this to.

 

When I put it on, it gets very strong, with a definite chemical tang to it. There's still a minty-ness to it, but there's also something slightly "off", almost smoky or rotten.

 

I let this dry (hope springing eternal), but no luck - I can't quantify what I don't like, but it's very bizarre. I'll definitely be passing this along.

In the imp, this is very light - clear, light, linen-y. If I were to pin down specific notes, it's mostly vanilla-ish papyrus.

 

Wet, on the skin, it warms up; the sandalwood and vanilla come to the forefront, with some of the "paper"y ness that I'm associating with the papyrus.

 

When it dries, it's all musk on me. It's very warm, sophisticated, and sexy, but not stand-offish; definitely a bottle-worthy scent.

In the imp, this has all the deep, warm, spiciness of the dragon's blood.

 

On, it's warm, but surprisingly light; the musks come out , and it gets very rich.

 

When it dries, mmmmm, it's nice - it settles down into a nice blend. This is also the first BPAL that has given me the "I feel sexy" vibe. Definitely a keeper!

In the imp, it's pure blood orange, with just a hint of neroli - I actually said MMMM out loud. (I truly love citrus/foody scents, so far - so good.)

 

On my skin, the raspberry is more present, but it's a very nice blend with the neroli and orange - sweet and fruity.

 

When it's dry, it's very rich - the raspberry is still the most present, but it's well-blended with the orange and neroli. This is definitely a keeper!

In the imp, I get strong, rich, full-bodied rose, like smelling a still-growing rose that's still on the bush.

 

Wet, the sugar is more present - it gives Hope a creaminess that Faith doesn't have, but it's definitely rose, rose, rose.

 

Dry, it's more of the same - a beautiful rich rose scent. Very nice!

 

I came to BPAL fairly late in the game, when the time of Single Notes was long gone, but this seems to be a single-note rose - really beautiful, but not the complexity I'm used to from the other scents I've tried. Time will tell whether or not I wear this one on its own, but I'm tempted to start experimenting with layering this with other scents.

I get violets in the imp, no surprise there, and a hint of sweetness - but there's also a darkness and earthiness to the scent. When I put it on, it's much lighter and sweeter on my skin. Dry, not much of a change - sweet violets - with more of that dark earthiness I smelled in the imp. There's nothing to dislike here, but I'm definitely not in love. Very light - good to wear on a day that you didn't want your scent to stand out. I'm tempted to try layering it with some other scents.

In the imp, I get musk, as well as the sweetness of the wine.

 

Once I put it on, there are leaves up front, with the musk and the wine blending nicely in the background - I expected something much more vicious, but this is very gentle. There's a creaminess to it.

 

Once it dries, there's an almost vanilla sweetness to this; the creaminess is still present. Truthfully, beyond the musk that I'm attributing to the "feral, animalistic notes", I'm not getting anything that I expected out of this now that it's dry- no smoke, no wine, no leaves. Beautiful, but very unusual.

In the imp, Eclipse = almond - yum!

 

Once I put it on, it's still almond, with the resins and spices in back - after a couple of minutes, I definitely get a sense of the floral-ness of the heliotrope and the vanilla.

 

Dry, it softens, but it's still primarily almond. I'm an almond-lover, so I really like this, but if almond's not your thing, you might reconsider.

In the imp, I get the sweet fruity-ness of the pomegranate, with a small bite from the booze.

 

Once I put it on, it's almost citrus-y (which, citrus fiend that I am, I LOVE) - I get the fruity smell of the pomegranate with the sharpness of the martini, but it's so well-blended my brain reads it as citrus. As it dries, there's very little change - still that fruity-sharp, clean, light scent. This is such a fresh scent! I love this!!

In the imp, this is warm and resin-y with the rose & orange blossom over top; I get a TEENY bit of peach way back, but it's very much in the background.

 

On my wrist, the myrrh and frankincense come up front - there's also a sweetness I'm identifying with the orange blossom, and a whisper of rose.

 

When it's dry, it's lovely! Soft, warm, well-blended - the musk finally came up, and its very nice. It blends well with the frankincense and myrrh, and I'm getting some honey as well, which adds to the warmth and sweetness. This is definitely a keeper for me - it's very sophisticated, and good scent to wear to work.