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A nice rose. Surprisingly, in this blend it is the rose rather than the jasmine that gets amped way up, so I don't get much of any other note, but it's fine. If this had been one of my first BPALs, I would probably have loved it. As it is, I'm mildly pleased with it, but not attached. I have lots of florals, and could easily trade this one away.

Okay, what is with my nose and peanut butter? Suddenly I'm getting peanut butter overtones everywhere. Anyway, aside from that it's quite strong lavender; not getting much amber or carnation, though the amber is present enough to put a bit of a soft edge on the lavender. Later it turns more amber-and-moss (with a lingering mysterious hint of peanut butter, though this may be my own neurosis). It's very interesting and appealling, but it does seem quite masculine, and someone else might like it better.

In the vial: Oddly, it smells like amber. Wet on my skin: Ooh, very woodsy, which may not be my thing, but let's see how it goes. There's some sweetness mixed with the pine-wood and dirt smells, which is interesting. Drying: There's all kinds of strange complexities here, both in the scent and in my reaction to it. Sometimes it smells precisely like headshop incense, but other times it seems to smell very much like my grandfather, which I can only assume to be a combination of whatever cologne he might have used, and the wood-shavings smell of his carpentry shop. I liked my grandfather, so it's not a bad association, but I'm not sure it's how I want to smell. But there's also a rather sweet thick musky scent halo which is rather compelling. Dry: Dies away rather suddenly at about the hour mark, leaving a faintly herbal scent behind. I'm going to have to try this one again before I know what I think.

I have more florals than I need already, but I do well with both roses and resins, and besides it's Chaucerian, so I couldn't resist. Also, turns out I like the label very much. In the bottle: oddly like mandarin; bright and bit sharp Wet: Wow, interesting. I'm getting a lot more resin than rose, at least at the moment, and it seems to be a fairly complex mix of resins. Drying: The rose emerges very strongly, well-blended with the resins. It's a sharper rose than I'd anticipated (still with that odd hint of mandarin, not that I'm complaining about it). Dry: Pretty consistent with the earlier phases: the rose is powerful and sort of high-pitched, if that makes sense, with a background of resin notes. It does seem that the rose is manifesting very differently on me than it does on most people, but that does happen. This also has a great deal of staying power and remains strong over a good long time; I can still smell it on my wrist a day later, after several washes. I have to do something about my excess of florals, but this is one of the ones worth keeping. Not my favourite rose -- it's a little too sharp -- but a good one. I should probably trade away some of my other florals, though, because I only wear them now and then, and there's no way I'll use as many as I have around now.

Well, of course I had to try the famous Smut as soon as I got it. In the bottle: Boozy, thick, sweet. Wet: OMG PEANUT BUTTER! I've got cursed peanut butter skin or something! However, my husband says he doesn't smell peanut butter; he says it's "nice" and smells "a bit fruity." Okay, let's just wait out the drydown and see. Drying: It's sort of a fascinating exercise in the subjectivity of scent. I'm still a bit troubled by the peanut butter but otherwise finding it nicely dark and spicy, but now my best friend says it smells "like candy". However, she likes it quite well, and she doesn't like commercial perfume, and also doesn't always like BPAL (I can't wear Snake Oil if we're going out together cause it freaks her out). Dry: Okay, at least to my perception of it, it's now a soft spicy musky scent that reminds me a lot of Scherezade (yeah, I get Scherezade more than the Snake Oil/Snake Charmer similarities that others have noted -- but they're all in the same family). I have no idea how it smells to other people, as I couldn't go around asking everyone I met how my perfume smelled. But overall I do like it. The second time I wore it, it seemed a bit sweeter somehow, and I could see the candy comparison more, though I'd say more like a sweet syrup over musk. It's probably not a top ten (and not very long-lasting), but I'm glad I ordered it.

Wet: Very spicy; predominantly pepper and cinnamon, though there's a mix of spices going on, and just a bit of musk underneath. Drying: Pepper and honey. Interesting. The pepper may be slightly too strong to make this a favourite, but in the right mood it could be just the thing. Dry: Continues to be pepper and honey, with hints of other spices; gets a little bit powdery, and fades a bit quickly, but not too bad. It's very nice, not a top ten but still a nice warm scent to have around.

In the vial: Pancakes and syrup. Yummy. Wet: There's just a brief moment of that burnt-wood smell that foody scents often take on me, but fortunately it doesn't last long. After a few minutes a very alcoholic note emerges, and a bit of apple, with spices and burnt sugar underneath. Interesting. Drying: The boozy note is surprisingly persistent, though more sugar emerges. Fruity-sweet, rather lighter than I'd anticipated. Dry: Sugary, with a hint of burnt wood; not much throw. My husband says it smells like fudge, and he doesn't really like it all that much. I'm not sure buying a 5 ml was a great idea. I tested it beforehand but only a tiny amount, which I guess evolved differently. I like it, but I don't love it. This one may get swapped away; still, I'm glad I tried it.

Okay, so I worked up the courage to try one of the Lovecraft scents, having heard good things about it from various people. This is one that's very consistent from wet to dry -- a deep musky powerful ginger smell, with a hint of something mossy. Weird and fascinating. I like it lots, and I'm glad I got my hands on an imp, considering it's a hard scent to get. It's quite persistent; I put it on in the morning, and went swimming in the afternoon, and I could still smell it a bit through the chlorine into the evening.

Wet: Apricot and jasmine. It's nice at the moment, but I already suspect where this one is going. Drying: Actually, it's just possible that this is less monstro-jasmine than most. Not much apricot left, sadly, but there's at least some vanilla and ginger reining the jasmine in. Dry: My gosh! It's a jasmine scent I can actually wear! Basically, my skin amps vanilla as much as it does jasmine, so I've got the two notes complementing each other instead of just one monstrous jasmine note. Now, in all honestly, floral and vanilla is not my favourite, but still, it's exciting to find that jasmine doesn't absolutely have to be the kiss of death. This is actually quite pleasant.

Wet: Piney and herbal with an interesting undertone of nutmeg. Pleasant, but maybe just a bit too much like Vicks Vapo-Rub. We'll see. Dry: Goes through a medicinal phase, but settles down to be a fairly sweet, herbal/nutmeg blend. Rather faint, though apparently it's very strong on other people. Nice; not sure it's my style, but I'll hang onto the imp for now.

In the vial: Okay, this is weird, but I get a suggestion of tomato juice Wet: Luckily, the tomato juice is transient. Now it smells like a kind of fizzy grapefruit drink (definitely grapefruit, not pomegranate -- what can I say, fruit scents and I are just odd together). I have no idea if this actually resembles a martini in any way, having had very little to do with martinis in my life. It's kind of nice, quite crisp and clear and bright, but may not stay nice on my skin. Drying: Settling down into a fairly clean citrusy scent, as the fizziness dissipates. It may be starting to do that sour thing that fruit often does on me, but I'm not sure yet. If that doesn't happen, this might be a nice scent for summer. Dry: Damn. It's that yucky sour thing again. Fruit so rarely stays true on me. It's really kind of frustrating.

Perfectly nice, but for me this is really just another of the many perfectly okay rosey blends, a little bit like a nice scented soap; nothing wrong with it, but not something I would ever specifically want to put on. Still, there's nothing wrong with having nice unremarkable rose blends around.

In the vial: Rather suspicious grape candy smell Wet: Actually, the grape candy quickly becomes a more tolerable greenish scent (which is usually how the early stage of patchouli goes on me), but it seems to be fading very fast. Dry: Disappeared quickly, but nearly an hour later I started getting little wafts of a nice fresh honey and patchouli scent. I don't know, I don't exactly dislike this one, but the long period of nothing and the relative weakness of the second wind make me unsure, especially when I've got a honey and patchouli scent which is perfect for me in Hetairae.

Wet: Roses and fruit. The orange scent is nice and fresh and juicy, but there's always a risk in fruit, for me. Still, the roses are hopeful, and all the other notes are good ones for me (though I'm not smellling much amber or vanilla or red musk at this point). Drying: Working out pretty well so far; nice fruit-and-rose waft, and the orange is staying fresh; though I'm disappointed by the absence of vanilla and musk. Further drying: A bit of cinnamon for some reason, along with the rose and orange. I'm certainly not going to complain about that. I have a lot of rose scents, probably more than I need, but while this is not the best (nothing can beat Rose Red), it's definitely one of the better ones. And the orange doesn't go all nasty! Oddly, though this is not a Yule blend, it strikes me as kind of Christmassy.

In the bottle: Lovely bright golden amber scent, with a strong overtone of something like orange for some reason. Wet: Much the same as in the bottle -- light, bright, pretty, warm. Just a little bit floral. So far I'm liking this one a lot. Drying: Looks like the only drawback to this one might be a fast fade. It's still lovely, soft and comfortable, but getting rather faint. (It actually lingers a long time, but only close to my skin, not with much throw). Overall, a very, very nice soft golden scent.

This was the first time I'd tried a 5 ml without testing an imp first, which may have been a mad thing to do since it's a catalogue scent. In the bottle: Hmm. I'm getting the peanut butter and honey smell that some others have reported. Pleasant in a way, but not quite what I was looking for. Wet: There's still a fair bit of peanut butter and honey, and something sharp and kind of sweaty. I want so badly for this one to work, but it's an oddball one on me so far. Still, scents can improve a lot with a bit of time, so I'll wait it out. Drying: Okay, it is improving -- less sweat, anyway -- but the hint of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is lingering. Other than that, it's quite musky and dark, which is an odd contrast to the Reese's. Starting to smell the cognac, but again it seems odd with the other notes. It just doesn't cohere on me, somehow; it's like it's all in pieces which don't come together properly. Seems to fade somewhat quickly, though that may be just that I didn't put much on. I'm afraid this one may just not be right for me, but I'm not ready to give up on it yet -- I'll age it for a while and see what happens.

Wet: Gah! It smells like chlorine, of all things. Damp humid chlorine, like the shower room of a public swimming pool. There may be a tiny hint of cinnamon behind the gross chlorine smell, but it's pretty faint. If this is what violet does on my skin, I'm really going to have to avoid it strenuously. Drying: This is not getting any better. It's still swimming pool shower room. I think I may have to wash this off, because it's making me kind of sick. Dry: Scrubbing with dish soap was only partially effective, so I'm getting ongoing wafts of chlorine. That just makes my day. Oh well, we all have the occasional total disaster. At least I didn't actually wear it around strangers, or ayone I wanted to impress, unlike my last disaster with Debauchery.

Well, this may be an exception to nothing with "blood" in the name working for me. The clove and myrrh are quite strong, and they do cut the over-sweetness of the dragon's blood quite a bit (though my husband still thought it smelled a bit old-ladyish). It's fairly powerful on me; I only put a small amount on to test, but it was very noticeable. There is still a bit of that quality of over-sweetness, which strengthens as it dries, but there's still enough clove and myrrh to make me think that there's a lot to like about this one. Very likely a keeper after all.

Ah yes, immediately there's the red musk, which seems to work so well for me; although there's also the dragon's blood going cloyingly sweet on me as it does. Overall the musk appears to be winning, however; also gradually getting some patchouli and maybe a bit of rose. I like this one quite a bit, but fortunately I don't love it madly, since it's been discontinued. Would not turn down a chance to swap for more if the opportunity came up, though.

I only had a tiny amount of this to test, so my review may be influenced by that; it's less than I'd normally put on, even for testing purposes. Anyway, in the vial it's very butterscotchy, but on my skin it retreats into a very mild pretty scent, kind of light and floral -- more floral than Cold Moon, and for me maybe a bit too sweet. I'm not getting anything particularly creamy, to my regret. But it may be just as well that it's not too successful on me, as I don't have to worry about how to obtain any more.

Lovely rich floral smell in the vial. On first skin contact, there's an unexpected nutty scent, and some greenness. The rose slowly comes back, though, and it turns into a nice variant on rose-and-incense, deep and rich, with moderately good staying power. A keeper, definitely.

This starts off as a sweet candied caramel-corn sort of scent, which isn't necessarily me exactly, but is still very tasty-smelling and nice. Like some other foody blends, though, it turns after a little while into a smell which is predominantly burnt wood. It's still not unpleasant, exactly, but I have no desire to smell like burnt wood. There's some lingering sweetness which makes me wonder if I should try this one again, but I've already tried it a couple of times and gotten the same result every time, so it's seeming like one of those that's just a near-miss.

Wet: Fruity floral, with a faintly disgusting plastic undertone (that'd be the opium, which always seems to go plastic on me). Drying: Right now there are remnants of Snake Charmer on my jacket, and I keep getting little whiffs of that and thinking, Oh, this is nice, and then realizing it's not the perfume I'm actually wearing. The one I'm actually wearing is plum, spice, and plastic. If I could get only the first two notes without the third, it'd be okay. Dry: Sometimes the plastic turns to soap. Sometimes it stays plastic. Sometimes it goes away for a minute, and then I like what's left, all plummy and spicy and juicy; but it never stays away for long. Such a shame. I don't think anything with "blood" in the name ever works for me.

Wet: nice sweet marzipan smell in the vial; on my skin, the immediate notes are almond and something quite sharp -- smells more chemical than alcoholic, a bit like turpentine. Hard to tell where this one is going to go. Dry: the almond disappears rapidly and completely. Smells very, very piney to me, or I guess like juniper actually. The almond has disappeared, and it doesn't remind me of rum either, not that I am an expert on the smell of rum ... anyway it seems I am having a different experience from nearly everyone on the forums who's tried this. Does indeed seem very masculine, and I'm not especially fond of it. Ends up after a few hours smelling like some kind of air freshener. Not a keeper.

Wet: kind of sweet, kind of sharp; oddly, makes me think of dried grasses. Nice. As other reviews have noted, there's also a bit of a lemony scent for some reason. Dry: a lot of sweet amber, with a little thread of a quite sharp musk. Seems to waft a fair bit. I quite like it, though it's a bit powdery. There's something kind of luxuriant about it that I like. I definitely wouldn't pass up a chance to get more of this one, as the imp I have came to me already half empty.