Azrhiaz

In the vial, and wet, I was *so* excited about this one. It smelled like I thought Sin would smell on me (when, in fact, Sin turned promptly into cinnamon pencil shavings). This was cinnamony and rich, definite woods and soft grasses, and I was just adoring it, and trying to figure out how to afford another big bottle.

Then five minutes or so in, *ouch*. Horrid burning red welt on my wrist. First time it's happened to me with a BPAL oil, although I've read about other folk having the problem. I had to go wash it off, stat.

*sigh* It smelled so nice, too.

Well, it's definitely honey. If Jezebel made me think of the Kama Sutra honey dust (a "dry" honey) and Alice was a wet, fresh honey, this is somewhere in between.

It's warm, and also quite a bit stronger than Alice (which I like, as I have to put on a good bit of Alice for effect), but I'm not sure yet which one I like better. The amber keeps shifting on me-- one minute I like it, and the next I'm not crazy about it.

Jury's still out for me on this one; I'll try it a few more times. At present, I'd say I prefer Alice for a honey scent.

*PAROXYSM OF LUST*

Okay, this is just...*loses train of thought*...I mean, GAH. Look, ma, I'm much with the coherent!

This is first "masculine" scent of the Lab's that's really struck me as just that. Heck, I ordered a 10 ml of Mad Hatter for *me* to wear. This, however, is most assuredly masculine. Too much for me to wear personally-- what I need is a giant bottle of this *and* a man to slather it on. By the bucketload.

This is Sean Bean in a black leather jacket, shoving you up against a grungy, white-tiled wall with a single bare bulb swinging overhead, casting shadows as he rips your shirt. NNNGGGHH.

It occurs to me I need to get laid.

*runs off to dunk head in icewater*

Did I mention it smells really good?

I really *wanted* to like this, as Nyx is the villain in my in-progress novel, but...alas, no. I've discovered that I really dislike jasmine, especially in this prominent role. It goes immediately soapy on me, and on this makes me think of nothing so much as cheap soap, period. Meh. No offense to the jasmine lovers-- certainly I'm a rose lover, and lots of folks hate the rose scents, I've noticed.

On a better note, I wound up layering some Djinn over it (where I couldn't wash the Nyx off) and that was a lovely combination. The Djinn cut the jasmine and the result was an incensey floral.

At any rate, jasmine lovers should be in heaven.

Smoky and wonderful. I'm definitely getting myrrh-- this smells completely like midnight mass incense to me, and on me. Fabulous. Not something I'd be in the mood for every day, but I'll definitely keep the Imp.

I know it's a bit early, as my 10 ml. isn't here yet and I'm sure it'll take me a while to get through it, but I was wondering if anyone felt one of the other oils was close. I'm looking specifically at The Empress tarot oil and wondering...

Someone else said this was "quiet", and that's very true. It's lovely, just a whisper of spices indeed, and makes me rather drowsy, in fact. It's lying in a shaded pavillion with pretty boys fanning you and the scent of spices in the air.

The only thing keeping me from *loving* it-- it's like, not love-- is that it's really too subtle for me. I like more oompfh in my scents, and it's faded really quickly from my skin. I can barely smell any trace of it now, and we're two hours out.

Edited to add: it's continued to grow on me, which is really frustrating, because I've reapplied it twice and it just will. not. stick. WAH. I want it to last, because it really is nice. Oh, well. I'm still looking for an "eastern spice" BPAL that will work on me. I have high hopes for Scheherazade...

On me, it's entirely apples and wood, and I like it...yet I don't. It's the strangest thing. I think I'd really like it on someone else. It just isn't me, and for some reason I keep thinking "apple-scented furniture polish", which isn't fair and makes no sense, really, because it doesn't smell the least bit like furniture polish. But it still makes me think of it, all the same. I suppose it's the oak wood, which is different from any wood note I can remember smelling (and I love wood notes, btw).

Also, I think I'd like it as a room scent. A very nice one, for autumn.

I didn't get any berries at all, but it was a delicate floral. The most interesting thing about it was the touch of sweet grass, which I got quite clearly. Also, it does seem to perfectly sum up The Unicorn, but more in the classical sense than the Carrollian sense. It's innocence in a bottle, and I swear it smelled ever so faintly (pleasantly!) of horse.

It's lovely, if not for me. Too innocent. Ahem.

Another one I was sure I would like...that I don't.

I adore all the notes, except jasmine-- I'm not usually nuts about jasmine, and it is one of those "soapy" smells to me. So, of course, this, on me, smells like nothing but jasmine. I can't get the roses, the musk, or anything else.

Off to swaps...

It's not too carnation-laden for me, I don't think-- it's definitely far in the background. It's very much a honey scent and is very, very similar to Jezebel to my nose; I like how the honey in this one seems even stronger, and yet I miss the sandalwood in Jezebel. I do want to find a good honey scent, but I don't think this one is quite it, yet.

Edited to add: I do believe I've changed my mind as I've continued to wear the Imp. It's not a dry honey-- Jezebel brings to mind Kama Sutra's honey dust, actually-- rather, this is a very wet, soft honey, and it's grown on me exponentially. I'll get a big bottle of this.

I received this as an extra Imp, which is cool, because I'd never have thought to order it. It sounds too "girlie" for me by far, and it certainly is feminine, but it's got enough strength to it that I'm liking it more and more by the minute.

Wet, I get the orchid most strongly. It's a very purple orchid, and it almost smells more like violets to me. After a bit the vanilla comes out, and as others have noted, it isn't a very "foody" vanilla. It just warms up the orchid and gives it some depth. Every now and then I catch something almost peppery about the vanilla, like the tiny black vanilla seeds.

It's gorgeous, and a lot sexier than I would have guessed. I believe a 5 ml of this is in order.

Edited to add: wow, this puppy has some staying power. I went to bed and when I woke up the next morning, my daughter (who'd crawled into bed with me) was sniffing me. "Mommy, you smell so good!" And I could still smell it in the shower, too.

YACK. I smell exactly like lemon pledge. I've never been able to wear lemon anything (citron is fine, orange is fine, grapefruit is heaven, lime is...eh, but lemon? So wrong on me.). This is no exception. I'd sort of hoped the verbena would be okay. I have a verbena soap that I really like, but as perfume it still just doesn't work for me.

Not going to miss this one, newp.

It was a very, very good BPAL day for me. This discovery rounded out my new top three, along with Silentium Amoris and the Mad Hatter.

I adore grapefruit-- it reminds me of my beloved, much-missed grandfather, who had it for breakfast every morning (along with oatmeal). This is mainly grapefruit on me, and stays very true, although I get whiffs of ginger and the white tea, as well-- but that's just bizarrely perfect, as he also loved to eat candied ginger and drink tea.

Smelling this? Nearly made me cry.

*heart* Baobhan Sith.

Now, see, this is the amazing thing about BPAL-- these surprises. There have been several oils I just *knew* I'd love that, then, I didn't, but this, omg-- I had no idea I'd like it, let alone adore it beyond reason. I got the Imp for my best guy friend to try-- he's a very "Mad Hatter" sort of personality, and while I adore Carroll, the Cheshire Cat is my favorite character, not the Mad Hatter (still haven't gotten my Imp of Cheshire Cat, btw).

On my friend, the mint instantly went oddly sour, but then I tried it on. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. There are no words. This is in my top two BPALs, and I *pray* it won't go anywhere. It worries me that it doesn't appear to be one of the more popular Mad Tea Party blends. If it joins Silentium Amoris on the ashheap, I will weep like a really weeping thing.

It starts out with the mint and the pennyroyal, crisp and green, but underneath it, almost instantly, comes this chocolate note-- there isn't one listed, but it turns just Girl Scout Thin Mints on me, absolutely delicious. Then the musk comes out, and it's the best BPAL musk I've smelled yet by far (note to self: the black musk agrees with you). I smell warm and sexy and incredibly delicious. Never did I expect that from the Mad Hatter.

Thank you, Beth. This is amazing.

Edited to add: I wore this last night to take my munchkins trick or treating. I also wore the lotion I'd added it to. Well, I didn't know beforehand that pennyroyal is a natural insect repellent, but I do now. My ex got completely mosquito-munched, and I didn't get one bite. YAY MAD HATTER. As if I needed a reason to love you more-- mosquitoes, after all, are Florida's state bird.

It smells very "perfumey" to me, too, more like a mainstream perfume than any of the other BPAL's I've smelled so far. Which isn't a bad thing, it just is. It's extremely well blended, and no notes stand out to me.

The patchouli isn't overwhelming in this mix, so that's nice, and something about it *is* delightfully sharp and...malicious. I like it, but I'm not sure it's love, especially not with so many other wonderful scents to explore.

This scent, along with Laudanum, are the two that most made me go "oh, wow, that is exactly what that would smell like". It's bone dry indeed, so much so that it seemed to dry out the back of my nose and throat, and it's a very "red" smell. The drying remains of fiery beasts.

That said, on, it's just too much for me. I applied the tiniest, tiniest drop, and it was overwhelming. Also, I don't know that I'd want to smell like a dragon's ossuary. But it would make a very nice, intriguing room scent.

*atchoo*

*atchoo*

*atchoo*

Okay, so I don't think Jezebel is going to work for me. It smells nice, warm honey and orange blossoms and...

*ATCHOO*

*head explodes*

Edited to add: Okay, it's settling down a bit now, and it really *is* very gorgeous-- I love the honey-- but I don't know about the mad-sneezing at the beginning. I suspect it was the orange blossom. Will have to hang on to the Imp and try it again to see if the sneezies repeat, because the honey really is luscious.

I put this on before going to bed last night, wanting very much to experience the bliss-out others have mentioned. I love all the notes in it, and in the vial it smelled divine, gingery goodness all around.

On me, it was also lovely-- for about five minutes! It wins the record for shortest-lived BPAL on me so far, taking the spot away from The Caterpillar. It just completely vanished, sucked up by my skin. Which, waaah, because it smelled wonderful, but I think I'd have to take a bath in it to really get the effect.

In the vial, I definitely get ylang-ylang with just a touch of myrrh.

Wet: oh, this is nice. My own skin-scent is very baby-powdery, and I've always liked that smell-- it strikes me as warm and intensely comforting. This is very powdery on me, like my skin only more so. It doesn't strike me as necessarily sexy, though; more like snuggling up with my favorite pillow and blissing out.

Drydown: snuggly and golden. I want a big bottle of this.

Way too much patchouli in this one for me. I like a tiny bit of patchouli in a spicy mix, but this was overwhelming, and very strong on me. Not my idea of sexy, and it isn't inspiring lust. Oh, well.

In the vial: cinnamon and incense.

Wet: the sandalwood is there, very dry as previously noted, and more incense. The cinnamon is still hanging in there, too. I can't smell the patchouli, but that's fine with me.

Drydown:...pencil shavings?

Yes, definitely. On me it smells like pencil shavings. Cinnamony pencil shavings, but still. Crap. That's the second 5 ml. I made a leap of faith for that didn't work for me. And sandalwood is my all-time favorite smell, too. Poop.

Oh, well. Off to swap and make someone else very happy.

On me, this was mostly jasmine and patchouli, and something vaguely soapy. I read the description after I tried the Imp, and saw...the dreaded carnation. Must be the soapy note, as Old Morocco struck me as horrifically soapy, at least before it turned to Raid on my skin. I will say that this was much, much less carnation, and in the mix it was okay. In fact, I realized that I smelled like Native Sun, a very cool "hippie" shop we have locally, full of Burt's Bee's soap and incense and batik.

It was just starting to grow on me when poof, it vanished. Completely. Was gone in under two hours. Eh, well. Nice enough, but not for me.

In the vial: apple blossom and orchid.

Wet: the orchid note predominates. It *does* smell strong and no-nonsense, yet it isn't overly aggressive, for all that. Very female, but not at all weak or girly, which is as it should be.

Drydown: it's so well blended that I can't pick out the other notes, although I assume it may be the moss giving it a certain warm depth.

Verdict: I do like it, although it isn't wanting to stick to my skin. It faded out in about three hours, which, in my still-limited BPAL experience, was definitely on the short side, considering that some others have stuck for twelve. Also, I'm feeling a little headachey and nauseous, but I honestly think I'm on the verge of getting sick, and that it isn't Phantom Queen's fault. I'll have to try it again when I feel better to decide. For now, it's in the "nice, but not enough to buy a big bottle" category.

In the vial: vanilla, patchouli-- kiss of dirt-- and apples.

Wet: the patchouli comes forward, and so does the vanilla. I caught the whiff of apples in the vial, but they vanished from my skin.

15 min: whoa, going very sweet, heavy vanilla. The musk is being very assertive, too. A friend who tried it at the same time found it far more floral, but the musk went ballistic on me.

Drydown: Mostly vanilla.

Verdict: eh. It's nice, but so far Kali is holding the "go out and be naughty" spot. The best thing I can say about this is that the patchouli didn't overwhelm me, as it sometimes does. But I was disappointed not to smell the rose, and that the apple note vanished on my skin. Up for swap.