helarctos

Painfully sweet and utterly gorgeous. This is the only BPAL ylang-ylang scent to date that has not turned to maple syrup on me (hmm, maybe the maple syrup culprit is myrrh after all...) The powdery-rose that some have mentioned does emerge after a while, but if anything it just adds to the sweetness.

I get the roses, but instead of a wood or incense smell, on me the roses are tempered by something that smells like dust or dirt. Not the fresh earth of Zombi, but an austere and barren earth.

Do you know who the manufacturer is? I have some Nadina's Cremes Night Queen and can dig it up and have a sniff if you like.

Flame of Desire is a heavy pall of incense, cinnamon, and patchouli. I concur with the impression of earthiness, with the caveat that it doesn't actually smell *like* earth.

Dark and fiery, with a waft of smoke (woodsmoke? charcoal smoke?). After a bit of wear, something that smells almost like deep cocoa emerges. Not your Swiss Miss cocoa -- the dark expensive kind that's hoardworthy.

To me, Coyote is a low-key dust smell, almost like patchouli but subtler. Husband's quirky nose had a bit different assessment. It was amusing enough that I took notes on it. Husband: "It smells like a bad mint candy that won't taste like mint." Me: "I don't think there's any mint in it." *checks listed notes* "There's no mint in it." Husband: "Well, I don't know. It's obviously not a positive smell to me." He sniffed again: "I can't make any association."

Another overly-citrusy aquatic for me. I smelled like nothing but grapefruit.

Hymn was very difficult for my nose to comprehend. I could swear there was jasmine in this, but the Lab's description has no such thing ("perfect rose absolute and Palestinian Lily of the Valley with olibanum, labdanum, frankincense and myrrh") I didn't catch the frankincense or myrrh at all, and I'm not sure I would know how to recognize olibanum or labdanum. What I did get from Hymn was a sweet sharp high floral, almost overpowering.

Eos is a wonderful "second skin"-type smell. It lingers all day long thanks to the lasting power of honeysuckle. Truly warm as the fingers of dawn, and just as welcome.

My imp of Madrid was a fresh gift imp straight from the Lab! Madrid smells like grape candy with cinnamon added. An uncommon palate. It gets spicier as it dries.

I expected such a panoply of glorious scents from Vinland. When I finally got my paws on an imp, I could hardly wait. Sadly, all I got was ... a baffling whiff of citrus. I don't think there are even any citrus notes listed in this blend. I'm perplexed.

Black Cat is a strong acrid herbal smell in the imp. On my skin, it changes to a strange floral smell, still with a pronounced herbal odor. Something new and musty comes out of it -- is there perhaps civet in this blend?

I first thought Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo smelled like strawberries and cotton candy. Then I had my husband take a whiff. He pronounced it "exactly like Hawaiian Punch!" And now I can't think of it any other way. It really is a joyous scent, Hawaiian Punch aside!

Yum to the nth power. It smells like Fruit Stripe gum (my husband adds: "or even a good, full-flavored plain old bubble gum"). But it becomes more fruity and less gummy as it ages. In its most glorious form, it transmutes into a high sweet tropical-fruit smell. It's like papaya and peaches. This goes on the big bottle must-have list.

Oddly, I didn't get any cherry from Queen of Hearts -- perhaps because I had a fairly old partial imp, acquired through swaps; maybe the cherry aged out of it? What was left was a strong, commanding floral -- too strong for me (again, maybe aging had something to do with this). Those who don't like the cherry aspect of QoH but like it otherwise might want to try aging it and see what happens.

Absolutely to-die-for in the imp -- but on my skin, Scherezade turns to incense and baby powder. I'll be passing this on to someone whose skin can bring out its true beauty.

A light and sweet floral -- unobjectionable, perhaps a bit too quiet for my tastes; but shouldn't the Sleeping Beauty be nothing other than quiet? What makes this blend delectable is the pear. Unfortunately that note didn't last long on me.

On me, Laudanum smelled of root beer and, surprisingly, hickory smoke. After a while, the hickory smoke evened out to just plain smoke, and the root beer sweetened and lightened to root-beer-barrel candy.

I love BPAL aquatics but the citrus notes they seem to contain are hit and miss with me, as my skin amps up citrus to a fare-thee-well. Storm was nearly intolerable on me for this reason. It was a whole lotta lemon and not much else.

Somnus smelled not unlike a standard lavender soap on me. That was pretty much it: lavender, and a soapy smell. I can't vouch for its soporific qualities either, but I don't hold Somnus to blame for that -- I have a case of insomnia that only prescription medication can touch. I sent what was left of my imp to an LJer who was having anxiety-induced sleeping problems. If I get an update from her on how it worked, I'll edit this post to add it.

On me, Wings of Azrael morphs from an unremarkable floral to a field of soothing herbs. It truly evokes the feeling of being wrapped in the angel's comforting wings, to sleep, perchance to dream.

I accidentally layered House of Night with Vicomte de Valmont and it smelled ultra masculine.

To me, Lucky #20 smells strongly of honeysuckle, and nothing but. I'm not sure about its effects yet. After decanting an imp I owed to a swapper, I applied to myself the remains from my dropper, and immediately dropped a whole baggie full of empty imps on the floor. No harm done, but it seems even Twilight Alchemy Lab can't counter my inner klutz.

Redolent of everything precious. Tea, sugar, spices, rare woods. For such a rich scent, it's surprisingly light and sweet. I must have a big bottle of this one! ETA: Made an eau de parfum out of 5 ml of Silk Road and some perfumer's alcohol from Snowdrift Farms, and a citrusy note emerged that I hadn't gotten with the perfume oil alone.