SarahScent44

For me, Australian Copperheard is Snake Oil but sweeter in the imp - the only specific note I can pick up is a hit of neroli.

Once I put it on, the initial hit is sugary and fruit (neroli plus a berry-ish-ness that i'm pegging on the acai), but the Snake Oil smokiness is definitely there.

When it dries, it's very Snake Oil-esque, on me, but the amber and the fruit give it a warmer, sweeter quality that makes it much more wearable for me than SO is. Very nice!

In the imp, Maiden starts off very dissonant, almost metallic (which I think is my initial reaction to carnation, an unfamiliar note for me); after sniffing a little longer, the carnation becomes more clear, and is softened by a hint of the tea.

When I put it on, the spicy, peppery carnation swells, and the rose comes out - it's very interesting.

Dry, it settles down to a smoother scent - an almost perfect blend of rose and carnation - spicy floral. It's beautiful and sophisticated. I love it!

In the imp, Hanging Gardens is a profusion of flowers and fruit - very rich and complex.

Once I put it on, it's very sweet and light, but still deep - I smell the plumeria and gardenia, along with the plum and pears.

Dry, it's beautiful, rich, and sweet - more of the woods are coming out through the beautiful flower-fruit blend. Incidentally, this scent has the best throw of any BPAL I've tried yet. Gorgeous - definitely a keeper!

In imp, this is spicy and warm, but not overpowering - there's a real lightness to it that I don't often find with spicy scents.

Once I put it on, my newbie nose fails me - I smell something lemony/citrus-y over a light cinnamon-ish scent - and is there musk in the background? Whatever's there, it's very soft, despite the spiciness.

Once it's dry, I can't identify any individual scents; it's warm and really beautiful.

As to the woo-woo: This isn't the fighting, bravado sort of courage -it's the sort of courage where you're confident of your stance and are quietly strong. I wore it to work on a day where I felt like I was going to be chewed out - it did make me feel better, and not only did I not get scolded, my boss actually complimented me on the scent! Excellent.

I almost didn't try Wulric, and what a sad girl I would have been.

Wulric was one of the first imps I received (a decant from my original enabler), and I remember opening it, smelling the cocoa, and thinking, "No, thanks," and putting it back - and then changing my mind at the last minute, thinking, "Oh, well, I might as well learn what I don't like."

Boy, was I in for a treat.

In the imp, it's ALL cocoa - which did initially make me wary. And wet, immediately on my skin, it's still all cocoa (and it's definitely cocoa, as opposed to chocolate - it's dry, not creamy).

But once it's dry, it's so much more than cocoa- the vanilla and musk provide this nice warmth, there's a sweet, light herbal undertone from the lavendar and sage - it's so beautiful. A wrist-sniffer for sure!

Verdict: My absolute favorite so far!!! I will definitely have to hoard up some bottles before the Carnival leaves town.

In the imp, I smell grapefruit (not lemon!) with just a hint of sharpness (I think it's the lemon verbena). Ohhhh, I'm in the best kind of trouble. I am the biggest citrus fiend there is.

Wet, it's still that gorgeous grapefruit, with a little of the clear warmth of the white musk - SO wonderful!!

When it's dry, the citrus settles way down, and blends beautifully with the musk; it ends up very soft (and, surprisingly, the citrus note lasts all day - I love that!) and beautiful. This is one of my favorites!

When I was first enabled, I was talking to my BPAL mentor and saying that I was looking forward to trying more and more scents, because, while there were a lot of great scents that I'd tried, I hadn't found that one that made me sit up and say, "Oh Lord, I want to smell like that for the rest of my life!!" She said that Morocco was that scent for her, and I can totally see why.

In the imp, it's definitely warm and spicy; I get a little of the carnation spiciness, along with musk-y sandalwood.

When I put it on, the only way to describe how it smells is "spicy-sweet" - as much as I try to rack my brain for more information, or specific notes even, I can't explain it.

When it dries, this luscious creaminess comes out, along with the sweet spiciness. It's REALLY nice - definitely a keeper.

In the imp, this is very green and light - I get all blackberries and tea.

When I put it one, the musk comes out a little bit with the sweetness of the berries.

When it's dry, the tea comes back to the forefront, with the musk and berries - it's beautiful, really nice and light. I love it!

In the imp, Lampades is very sharp, almost medicinal to me.

When I put it on, the cranberry comes out - it's wonderful. Some family friends owned a cranberry bog in western Washington, and we helped with harvest every year. Lampades on smells just like the fresh cranberries piled up in their totes in the warehouse - tart, but also clean. It's really great. There's also a smoky musk slinking around in the background that adds a nice warmth.

Once dry, I still only get that beautiful cranberry with the musk in the background - I don't get any of the other notes. But that's just fine; I really like it just the way it is!

This review is for an imp of Snake Oil straight from the Lab.

In the imp, it's smoky-sweet, dark, and STRONG with an oil-y undertone - this is the only BPAL scent that I've been so conscious of the fact that it's an *oil*. It's not unpleasant, just strange.

On, it's very strong, and smoky - very unusual. It's dark physically as well as scent-wise - the spot on the top of my hand where I applied the oil is brown.

When dry, it's smoky but sharp, almost medicinal. If this were any other scent, I'd give it an "eh" and get rid of it, but I tried both fresh and aged Snake Oil at a friend's when I was first being enabled, and although I 1) had a really inexperienced nose, and 2) only got the briefest chances to try (wasn't taking notes, wasn't comparing various stages, etc), I remember the aged SO being much nicer - much smoothier, creamier, and softer. I can't wait.

In imp, this is sweet, and vanilla-fruity.

On, Black Phoenix is smokier, but still has that vanilla-fruity smell.

Once it's dry, it's really strange, almost sharp - there's a sweetness deep down, but there's a sharpness on top that's really strange. I'm on the fence with this one, which is a shame - I was looking forward to kissing mirrors!!

In the imp, I get a rich, earthy smell from Scherezade - I'm getting the same note I got from Bastet - is it the saffron? It's very sharp and clear over top of that richness.

On, there's almost a smokiness to it; it's very unusual. This is very well-blended - at this point, I don't get any individual notes.

Thirty minutes later, it's very dark and strong - very sharply spicy. I'm unsure about this one - it's not me, but it might be fun.

I knew that, barring any chemistry mishaps, Carnal and I would be good friends - I'm a total citrus fiend!!

First thing I get in the imp: orange! Not an overly-sweet candy orange, but an actual orange, the whole orange, peel and all.

Wet, it's still orange, but sweeter - must be the fig coming out. The fig is definitely a background note, though - wet, it's still orange-o-rama.

Once it dries, the sweetness of the fig comes out, and it's so beautiful with the orange. This is a new favorite!

When I first opened up the imp, I got something bright and clear on top of a warm spicyness.

Once on, that bright, clear note (I'm leaning toward saffron?) is still very strong, and more spices come out.

When it dries, it totally calms down - it becomes much sweeter with an undertone of spice. Definitely a keeper!!

I was really excited to try O, because it is one of those legendary BPAL scents.

In the imp, it was warm amber with an unexpected sharpness - so far, so good. When I first put it on, I got sweet honey with just a little vanilla - very nice.

And then it dried. Powder. I can tell that there's something great way deep down, but it's buried under a thick layer of baby powder (which, you know, is not necessarily an unpleasant scent, but not sexy by any means). I even tested it twice, just to be sure... no dice. Boo-urns.

Dorian was one of the first BPAL scents I'd ever heard of, so of course I needed to try it as soon as possible.

In the imp, it's sweet, light vanilla and tea - it smells innocent, not corrupting!!

It's so gorgeous on my skin - still sugary and light, with just a touch of musk on top of the tea scent - delicious!

When it's dry - mmmm, a lot more musk and vanilla. Now I see what everyone's on about with Dorian. It's sexy as hell.... and truly tempting!

The description of this one won me over, and as soon I opened the imp and got beautiful grapefruit softened by tea - it was instant love!

On the arm, it's still all beautiful grapefruit up front, but very, very soft, thanks to the tea and apple blossom - no ginger at all in this phase.

Of course, the citrus is too good to last, but as it dries, there's still a little bit of sweet citrus, and I finally do get a bit of ginger spicyness. It's a non-laster - it only gave me about four hours or so - but it was ALL good.

Verdict: One of my new favorites!

I stole a test of Katharina from my best friend's imp box - this one was already on my wish list not only because Taming of the Shrew is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but also because of the notes (I love fruit!).

It is incredibly light in the imp, and once I put it on, I actually couldn't tell that there was anything on my skin! But as it developed, it was a good solid apricot - it alternated between "eating a delicious, just-ripe apricot on a summer's day" and "hey, guys, I swiped some peach schnapps from my parents' liquor cabinet" - a real booze-y scent. But as it dried, that booziness went away, and it was just a lovely apricot over a very soft musk.

Definitely staying on the wishlist - I'll get it eventually!

Queen of Sheba was one of the scents that I put on my Wish List based on the description: almonds, spices, honey? YAY.

BUT NO.

My best friend got this, so I tried it last time I was at her house, and, in the imp, it was AWFUL. Sour and grating.

Ever the optimist, I put it on - only to find it got worse, not better. Kerry tried it, too, and it was equally terrible on both of us, even as it dried. It smelled like rotten flowers - that sort of sick-sweet smell - which doesn't make any sense, since there aren't any flowers here.

It's enough to make me wonder if something didn't go wrong with the imp somehow - I really want to try the yummy honey-spicy-almond Queen of Sheba that I was reading about in this review thread!

Hurray frimps!

Sniffing from the imp got me a WHOA - it's really boozy-sweet.

When I put it on, it was still sharply boozy - a little bit more fruity on, but it's pretty light. GG is not especially strong or deep at this point.

It gets stronger as it dries - so boozy it almost makes me drunk just smelling it! But there's something almost spicy (??) about it that's really interesting. I'm still on the fence with this one - I could see it working really well, but it's not one of my favorites.

One of the many frimps I got in my last order!

In the imp, it's sharp and floral - I definitely get the lilac, which is my "favorite flower," but I'm used to getting it all on its own. It's interesting here.

When I put it on initially, it warms up and the sharpness fades - it's a soft floral with just a little smoky bite underneath.

Once it dries, the smoke really comes out, but it's balanced really well by the florals. It's not love at first sight, but I like it!

I got Wanda as a frimp, and I was really excited to try it, since I've heard lots about the Lab's leather note, but hadn't gotten to try it yet.

In the imp, Wanda's sharp, not immediately pleasant - the wine very present, along with a dusty scent - is that the leather? the crushed roses? (Curse my newbie nose!)

Once I put it on, the wine is right up front, with a leather-y undercurrent - I'm not used to the leather scent, so I'm not sure what I think of it.

When it dries, it's warm, wine-y leather - definitely sexual. I'm still getting used to the leather note - I'm hanging on to this to try again once my nose is a little more experienced, because I can tell why peopple would like it!

This was a frimp - I would probably have never ordered it myself.

In the imp, it's a very *organic* smell - fruity and green.

Once I put it on, that "green-ness" gets stronger and sweeter (I have a very inexperienced nose - forgive the vagueness!), and the fruit aroma gets noticeably berry-ier; it's a cool, clear scent.

Thirty minutes later, once dry, it's still that beautiful deep green fruity scent, although a little bit more earthy. I really like it - it's a keeper!

I got this as a frimp, and I'm so glad I did!

In the imp, it's sharp, light, and citrusy - I can definitely smell the grapefruit. That's great, because I'm a citrus FIEND.

On, it's still all grapefruit-y citrus - which I LOVE. It's softened by the nectarine, and I get a little sage, but I don't get any floral or patchouli at all.

Once it's dry, the citrus has of course faded - there's just a touch of it over the sage with a little bit of rose coming out. Very soft and nice.

I love the initial phase so much that this is definitely a keeper!

It's more a case of creating "bouquets", a combination of scent notes that smell like a certain thing without actually coming from it. Like, there isn't really a cake essential oil. AFAIK, there are no synthetics in BPAL.

That cracked me up.

 

But yeah, this question comes up every so often and the answer is always the same--bouquets made from other essential oils that, combined, smell like lily of the valley or cake or musk/ civet/ ambergris (because our Beth wouldn't contribute to or encourage animal cruelty, 'cause she's cool like that).

Thanks! That makes sense.