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I originally tested this at ECWC months ago. I really liked it then, and wanted to have a closer look sniff.

 

Now that I have an imp, I can try it for real! It's a really pretty floral with my beloved violet. The patchouli deepens the blend, but I don't get any of the citrus. I was really hoping for more of the citrus!!

 

However, what I am getting is very sneezy. Now, it could be something else, but it started almost as soon as I put this on my wrists. There have been several blends that have been making me sneezy lately -- must investigate and find the common note!

I was really hoping for a mostly-honey scent with Athens. In the imp, it's floral with this weird sour sweetness. Once it's on, it gets a little powdery, waaaaaay floral, and makes me sneeze. I don't get any of the honey I wanted to try it for. So, this will be going in the swap pile!

This here is a damn sexy scent.

 

In the imp, it's dark and woody, with a little spicy sweetness. The scent of something wild and sexual. I absolutely love it. The sandalwood and patcholi give it an earthy base, and the cinnamon is sweet and hot without burning my skin, as it does in All Night Long (which broke my heart).

 

Methinks I need a bottle of this!!

This isn't what I expected!

 

In the imp, it sort of smells....like spit. Yes, weird, I know. Luckily, this doesn't last.

 

But I'm definitely not getting the sweet floral others have talked about here. This is almost masculine, a deep green floral. It's wild and otherworldy, almost like this is what it smells like after Puck has pulled it from the ground - woods and green and feral-mischevious Puck's scent rubbed on the leaves and petals of the bloom as he grips it in his hand.

 

Yes, I like this very much!

Berry and lotus, heavy on the berry, in the imp. The two even out on my skin, and the mint starts to come out with a gentle cooling. The mint does a lot to soften up the fruity berry party going on, and the mix ends up slightly apple. It's a refreshing, optimistic scent - something you'd put on when you want to have a really good day!

A couple of people have compared this to Faith, and yes, it does share that lovely violet. I do think Violet Ray is different, however. It's not as sugary sweet as Faith, and there is a whisper of cooling mint.

 

In the imp, I thought I smelled something a little rusty, a little cool metallic - maybe the musk and mint playing together? That fades when it hits the skin, and it is most definitely violet, clearly, at the forefront. The mint, as I said before, is more of a whisper, cooling the blend and giving it a little something special.

 

ETA: I'm not sure, but it *might* be making me sneeze.

I wanted to try this for the apple mixed with the aquatic. In the imp, I do get what I think is apple-sweetness, but once it's on, it's all aquatic. It drops the sweetness and just gets watery. Which is not a bad thing. In fact, it's lovely. But Mock Turtle goes into hiding too soon on me, and I have to do some nose-pressed-to-skin sniffing to get a whiff of it.

 

I'm glad I got to try it, though! It's very nice!

YUM!

 

In the imp, it's sweet and, as many have said, very much rootbeer.

 

On my skin, it stays root beer, but a smokey, high-end, rich rootbeer.

 

As it dries, the vanilla and butter hit, but the smokiness sticks around. It's pretty awesome.

 

There's not much throw on me, and I must look like a crazy person when I keep taking deep sniffs of my wrist, but too bad, coworkers!!!!

Yeah, so I know it's not on the list of notes, but I swear some ginger hopped into the bottle when nobody was looking. And I'm glad it did!

 

In the bottle, it smells like someone pulled some ginger out of the ocean, shaking off the sea salt. It's blue and deep but sharply ginger. Maybe it's just my nose!

 

On my skin, still ginger. It's mellow, though, tinged with honey, and still very much of the ocean. I'm not getting much mint beyond a slight cooling feel to it. The ginger doesn't last long -- the sharp edge is lost and it's just a sweet, gorgeous aquatic.

 

I absolutely love it, though - this will be one of my go-to scents, no question.

I couldn't quite place what was going on when I sniffed the imp, but on my skin I get a lot of vanilla, with a little bit of a citrus shadow. This is super soft on me, like having to press your nose to my skin soft. Which could be nice at certain times.

Doesn't last very long on me, but is a nice, sweet, unassuming scent.

In the imp, this is pretty sharp. Definitely getting the ginger. On my skin, it deepens a little bit, with some sweetness coming out. The ginger loses its bite, becoming softer. Surprisingly, the rose isn't being its usual dealbreaker self in this one. It hangs out in the background, lending a little floral, but is held down by the patcholi and spice.

 

The only bad thing? On me, there's nearly zero throw, and it lasts a very, very short time.

In the imp, this is all mint. Slightly sweet, freshly crushed leaves of mint. As soon as it hits my skin, and for the 10 minutes following, it has a powerful cooling effect. As in the insides of my elbows and my wrists actually feel cold! But then the sensation is gone, taking the mint with it.

 

Left behind is a slightly masculine, very watery scent. I don't really get the grapefruit in here, which I would have liked, but this is a nice one nonetheless.

I could smell it as soon as I opened the box. Something was shouting pretty loudly in there: "ROSE!"

 

Ugh, I thought. But I sniffed all the frimps anyway, and as soon as I got to Pride, I knew where all the flowery shouting was coming from. Even just a sniff stayed with me for hours, stuck to my fingertips like glue. This went as far away from my other stuff as possible, ready to be swapped at the earliest chance.

 

Oh, rose, you crazy note. Soapy and, on me, amped up like all get out.

 

I just don't. do. rose.

Oh, how I wish I had bought more than one bottle of this. As soon as the package came, I tore off the bubble wrap and dabbed it on my wrists. Then I made my husband smell it. "Smell this! I love it!" I exclaimed, and he got that look in his eyes that he gets when I'm being a little too crazy about the BPAL.

 

It's pure, delicious, thick honey on me. I hardly get any of the other notes, and that is totally fine with me. I suppose I am getting the notes without realizing it, though, because it's a complex honey. Not just a bottle of clover here, no. It's rich and dark. I would bathe in this if I could.

Dry and dusty, this reminds me a little of Coyote. The amber really comes out on my skin, as does a good bit of spiciness. The grasses ground everything, giving it a bit of a green scent, but not too green, if that makes any sense. I don't get much honey out of this, but I do get a bit of lemon. The lemon fades pretty fast, leaving behind the strong amber and dry grass. When I'm not actively sniffing, I keep getting peppery whiffs, which is interesting!

In the imp this is sugary sweet tastiness. It's like fruity candy, but there's something that keeps it sophisticated. It doesn't go all FRUIT PERFUME!!!1111 on me, which is great, cause I wouldn't be able to handle that. It's all dark fruit and juicy darkness. A good pick-me-up for a long day at work!

 

ETA: Hours later, it gets even deeper, with sweetness at the center. Just kind of richer. Very hard to describe.

In the imp, Kumiho smells kind of cookieish, but then gets lemony as soon as it hits my skin. After it dries, it smells exactly like the description! White tea and ginger all the way. It's a great summer scent, but is suuuuuuper light and doesn't have much throw.

 

It doesn't last very long, too, so as much as I like the smell, I probably won't get a bottle or anything.

Mmmm I knew I would love this and should have just ordered a bottle! Sigh.

 

It's earthy and deep and woody and lovely. I don't get the heavy patcholi that some other people are getting, and I like patcholi anyhow, so it's cool. It does have a nice, dirty, outside after the rain kind of feel to it. It's comforting and grounding for days when I feel like I have a floaty head. There's a little bit of floral to it, but not too much, which is good, because rose doesn't usually work very well on me. So, yay for The Clod and the Pebble!!

There's a bit of smokiness to Luperci in the imp. Of course, the florals are there, and the moss and the musk. I couldn't quite decide how I felt about it. It comes out a bit more floral than I'd like on me, and at the end of the day my husband said I was wearing too much perfume, though I had put on only as much as I usually do! Luperci lasted FOREVER on me, and while I wasn't aware of the crazy throw, I will take his word for it. He said he thought the floral smell was the woman in the car repair shop, but it turned out to be me. I don't think I'll wear this again!

 

ETA: 2008 version!

I tried Somnus for a couple of weeks straight after I bought it, and feel like I should go back and try it again. It certainly relaxes me with its flowery lavender and maybe lemon. I find if I focus on the smell, on breathing deeply during those first few minutes in bed, I'm able to leave the day behind. I don't, however, find it as strong a sleep aid as some of my friends here do. I was disappointed there - after hearing such raves over it, I was hoping it would work for me! I do appreciate its help with relaxation, though, of course!

As soon as I smelled it at ECWC in February, I knew I had to buy a bottle. I can't believe I haven't formally reviewed Smut until now. This is one of those oils I put on when I want to feel sexy and playful. If we're going out to dinner or for drinks, this is the first thing I reach for. It's warm and sweet and definitely musky on me. There's almost a deep, dark cherry scent going on here. Smut has decent throw, and lasts a good long time. It smells really good once my body gets warm, too, like if we're in a crowded bar or dancing. YUM.

I was really surprised by the sugary sweetness going on here upon first sniff. This goes to a sweet vanilla on me, with a few whiffs of plastic now and then. And every few sniffs I get a teeny bit of powderiness. I'm not really sure about it. I'll have to give it another try, but it just doesn't feel like "me."

With the hot weather we've been having, I finally reached for Dirty after a nice cool shower. It ended up being a great winding-down down scent, for a quiet evening on a hot day. It's all clean laundry, dried in the sunshine. Not necessarily what I would reach for normally, but the crisp and cool mood is wonderful for summer.

I am so in love with this. I was certain I had reviewed it, but in looking at my dorky BPAL spreadsheet, I saw a big blank space in the "review" column! So here I am!

 

This is comfort food in a bottle. It's a blanket, a mug of cocoa, a snuggly couch, a fireplace. Sweet coffee and chocolate grounded with cinnamon, in fact like my favorite cocoa. I haven't worn it lately, as it just seems wrong in this heat, but that doesn't stop me from opening the bottle every couple of days just to take a deep sniff and dream of days I'm not sweating my ass off just standing in a room, days of crisp air, days calling out for an oil just like this one.

 

I feel warm and safe and cozy when I wear this, and wish the bottle would never run out!!

In the imp, War is mostly sweet, trying her best to hide that sharpness that you can just feel below the surface. As soon as I put it on, wham! There it is - peppery and dark and something sinister, but never without the sweetness from the beginning. The musk comes in waves, with the sweetness of ginger following, but always keeping that pepper and spice. This doesn't have a lot of throw on me and I think it will be gone by midday, but I do really love it. I think I'll try it in a locket to see if it lasts longer on me.