Ravenclaw79

Herbal menthol ... I've been so stuffed up lately 'cause of the cold and dry air, so I swabbed some onto my neck before I went to bed last night, hoping that it would waft upward. And it did, though the menthol made my neck cold -- but my sinuses cleared nicely. The only thing that bummed me out was that it didn't last -- when I woke up, I was stuffed up again. Still, I may end up picking up a bottle of this at some point.

Wet: Mandarin with a grounding of white and creamy and soft.

 

Dried: Floral but not overpoweringly so ... creamy and powdery and well-blended, with hints of tea and mandarin if you sniff really hard. Nice.

If there's any fruit in this, it's a bit of pear ... I'm not getting any apple, and I'm really not getting much of anything fruity at all. I'm getting dark and spicy, like smoke and holiday potpourri. It's not bad, but it's not cidery at all, either, at least not on me.

In the imp: Minty herbal

 

Wet: Spackle?!? That's the weirdest first impression of a BPAL I've ever had -- it started out smelling just like joint compound, like somebody was putting up sheetrock. Bizarre.

 

Drying: Okay, now it's starting to smell a little more, well, normal. Still very herbal, with a bit of mint. I think whatever herbal note is in this might have been what my nose initially read as spackle. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it was lavender, 'cause I'm starting to notice that anything with lavender in it initially goes all bonkers in my nose, like "omg, this is horrible, wretched, how could you ever possibly like such foul -- oh, wait, never mind, hang on a sec."

 

Later: Food? It's settled into something nice, very pleasant and soothing, but there's a puzzling note, not bad, just puzzling ... and it smells like, I dunno, part of beer? Like hops, maybe? Hm.

 

I'll have to try this on someone else to see about the sleep-inducing qualities ... I tend to test before bed, so I'm drowsy now, but that could just be 'cause it's getting late.

In the imp: Macintosh apples, a whole bushel of them, being peeled so you can really smell the peels and the juice.

 

Wet: Hm. This apple peel is rotting, or something. It actually smells like I set the bushel down in a muddy backyard for a while, then brought them inside -- apple, but also dirt, like a garden, like mud.

 

Drying: The dirt has been mostly washed off of these apples now, though I can still smell the stems and leaves, a hint of bitterness. Not bad, but not delicious -- it smells mostly like the pile of apple skins left over after you've made a pie.

First sniff: Muted Old Spice?

 

Drying down: Something sweeter and a little soapy, with some masculine spices remaining.

 

Later: Where'd it go? There's a faint woody-soapy thing going on, but it's almost gone entirely, and it hasn't even been that long.

First sniff: Sharp, in a very slap-to-the-face way. Whoa there.

 

Drying: Men's cologne? No, come on, I really want to like this one! It's Yvaine! Heck, if I could be a character in a book, I'd pick her!

 

Settled: Aw, crap. I hate when I fall in love with the idea of a scent, but then I smell it and it's not at all like I'd hoped. This really bums me out, 'cause I wanted to love this one -- not to mention that it's the scent of a beautiful, celestial woman, and yet it smells like a middle-aged man.

 

*waits a while, out of sheer force of will to make this one smell good on me*

 

Y'know, this actually is calming down after a while. It's going sort of powdery, in a nice way, like a soft lavender scent. I'm willing to give this one a second chance.

 

EDIT: I'm starting to think that there's a note that just needs to get to know me for a bit, or else it goes away quickly, and it might be the lavender. I tried this one again, and when I first put it on, it was downright wretched, cheap and man-ish and bitter and horrid ... and then, a moment later, it was fine. In fact, it was really nice, and it has been for the rest of the day -- "crystalline" is a good word to describe it, pale blue, clear like glass, a bit soft ... it's hard to describe, really, but it's very nice. If I just hold my nose for the first ten seconds or so, it's totally worth it. Lovely.

Wet: Apples, lovely apples.

 

Drying: Oh my gosh, pie! Apple pie! Just like my mom's! There's no crust, but it's pie filling, sweet and delicious-smelling. Please, oh please let it stay smelling like this!

 

Settling: Hm, a little soapy now, just a touch. Oh please, don't let this be the Snake Oil muscling its way into the front so nobody else can be noticed.

 

*waits a while*

 

Hm. This may not work out after all. I love the appley smell, but it's fighting with Snake Oil, and I think the Snake Oil is going to win. What a dreadful disappointment. Why can't Snake Oil learn to play nice?

First whiff: "Golden" is what jumps to mind. It's like honey without the sugaryness, if that makes any sense at all.

 

Settling in: A field of strawberries in the summer sun. Then, some dew-kissed grass. My, this is a morpher, isn't it?

 

*waits*

 

Grass and hay, like grass where part of it has died?

 

*waits more*

 

Sugar-coated grass and pale flowers?

 

*waits again*

 

Oh noes, it's fading away... what I can still smell is nice, though, a hint of sugar, a bit of dead grass. I'm gonna have to try this one again with a good slather. After all, I really want to love a Stardust blend, and I'm running out of options to try.

I know I've totally smelled these in the wrong order, but to me, this is Snow, Glass, Apples without the snow part -- it's appley, but not sharp and cold, more like a bushel of green apples sitting out in the garage.

Resurrected:

 

Y'know, for some reason, this smells just like Snake Oil to me. I can't smell a difference at all.

Fudgy. Fudgy, and then patchouli-y, a lot. The Snake Oil part becomes so prominent that it pretty much buries the cocoa.

Faint. Faint, and sort of like the undertone of soap, an almost sterile smell, but floral, violet-y. Too bad it's so darn faint.

Wet and drying: Irish Spring soap

 

Dried: Sort of like rain, and sort of like shower gel ... like showering under a waterfall, maybe?

 

I tried this in the desperate hope that maybe THIS one would smell like beach (it doesn't), 'cause at this point I'll try anything water-y just to see. Yet again, it's not what I'm looking for ... but for what it is, it's not bad. As someone who's smelled about a bajillion aquatics at this point, it's one of the nicest ones I've found, even if it's not for me.

Wet, this smells like a cereal I can't quite place, maybe one they don't even make any more ... it's fruity, berry-y, but also grain-y, like a bowl of cereal.

 

Drying, it turns into strawberry candy, very sweet and sugary.

 

After a bit, it settles into strawberry syrup or strawberry Quik, with a creamy undertone that makes me think of milk or ice cream.

In the bottle and wet: Cherry? Something red and sweet and a little teeny bit sharp ... pomegranate sounds about right.

 

Drying: Pear-cherry? More of a pear smell, but still with a redness about it, a blush.

 

Settled: Somewhere between a bright, sparkling red candy and a Luden's cherry cough drop. Will have to retest this one.

Gingerbread that keeps threatening to go soapy (I know it's just the ginger itself, though). If you loved Gingerbread Poppet and wish you could buy some this year, pick this up instead, 'cause you'll probably like it just as much.

This is a rather astringent mint, no sweetness at all. I was hoping that either it would be a bit sweeter and more Xmas-y, or else it would be the sort of pungent mint that clears your sinuses ('cause I could always keep it around for when I have a head cold). But this is neither. It's not bad, per se, but it's not something I'll wear again, not my taste.

Dirty smells like dishsoap. Clean, but not exactly the kind of clean I want to smell like all day.

 

I'll stick with Wensleydale for my clean-laundry-smelling needs.

This is the first aquatic that hasn't just smelled like men's shower gel on me.

 

It's still not the aquatic I'm looking for, 'cause what I really want is the smell of the beach, light and salty and summery. This one's the opposite, murky and dank, but it's still pretty nice.

A pale, subtle, misty floral with a hint of bright greens. Nice.

 

ADDED Jan. 17:

 

In the imp: Fresh, green flower stems with a hint of the flowers themselves. Very strong and assertive.

 

Wet: Flowery? Misty. A little soapy in the way that the aquatics I've tried all seem to go, like a shower gel.

 

Drying: Soap. Drat. Why do the ones I want to love the most end up soapy?

Vanilla-y, but in a perfume-y way -- it's the most noticeable note for me, but it's not dominant, just subtle and sweet and golden-warm.

 

To me, this smells like Antique Lace should have, 'cause it reminds me of that, but without the toilet-paper-ness (Antique Lace to me always smells like a fresh roll of toilet paper).

There's a certain scent so light,

on this afternoon -

No impression does it make

on my nostrils two -

 

Heavenly Hurt, it gives me -

I can find no notes,

No internal difference

I can write about -

 

Gentle flowers - Many -

I am in Despair -

A well-blended bunch of blossoms

Wafting on the Air -

 

When it comes, I strain to sniff it -

Subtle - breath inheld -

There it goes, 'tis like a Hundred

Other scents I've Smelled -

Do you like the smell of pine?

 

Are you a girl?

 

Buy this, then.

 

It's piney, but it's not manly like most pine smells are -- it's pine, feminized. It's really lovely. I'm not such a huge fan of pine that I need a big bottle of this, but I'm glad I have the imp.

 

EDIT: I came back to add to this a year later, 'cause age has really benefited this scent. It's not piney anymore -- a tad cologne-y when you first put it on, but then a wonderful musky, close-to-the-skin scent, really nice, sort of like a less powdery Ivanushka.

Initially, this was men's cologne, one that's really familiar but I can't place the name (it's not like I smell much men's cologne -- my boyfriend now doesn't wear smellies).

 

And then, it was CEDAR. Not cedar... CEDAR. Screaming CEDAR. I like cedar, but it was just too much. I smelled like a closet. And I couldn't get it off, either -- I scrubbed it five times before it would even think of fading.