nineveh

Sometimes red musk takes over on me or smells kind of weird and tangy, but it's working well in Loviatar. I really like the Lab's leather note. The black amber and myrrh are making this incredibly deep and a little spicy. This is a very dark, powerful, and sexy blend. Not for everyday wear, but I'll definitely keep my imp around. edit: My boyfriend decided to play a trick on me by putting this on without my knowledge and then seeing if I would notice. He had a good laugh when he saw my sniffing around, trying to determine where that good smell was coming from. I didn't recognize it as Loviatar on him. It seemed lighter and sweeter on his skin, and more of the leather came out. The red musk also smelled better on him, less thick and musty like on me. Loviatar initially made me think "sexy woman," but after smelling it on my boyfriend, I would say that it is also entirely male-appropriate.

If actual embalming fluid smelled this good, I would consider a career as a mortician. This is a fresh, bright green tea with lemon. The white musk isn't turning to laundry detergent on me, thankfully. I found it similar to Dorian, but without the vanilla and less creamy. It's also similar to the Apothecary, but less herbal. It doesn't go fake-smelling or cloying on me, but remains a refreshing, uplifting scent. My imp will get a lot of use during the summer.

This is a fresh, slightly sweet, fruity/floral blend. I can pick out the pear and floral elements, but I can't identify those. After a while, the fruits become deeper and somewhat heavier. This is a beautiful blend, but it's not really suited to my tastes. I can't see myself using the imp much, so I'll pass it along to someone else. But if you're the fruit and floral type of person, definitely try this.

This is the first lavender blend I've tried, and I don't know if it works on me. I think that it took over this blend. I don't get any sandalwood or tobacco, just thick and dusty lavender with a weird musty note that smelled more like an old coat than incense. What a strange experience. I don't much care for lavender's scent, but if you do, this would be one to try.

In the imp, I smell lavender and jasmine. When it's on my skin, the jasmine takes over as usual, but at least it smells like real jasmine instead of turning burnt like it generally does on me. This is a calming blend, even without the lavender showing up.

In the imp, this smells spicy and incensy, which is what I had hoped for. When it's on my skin, however, it acquires an odd, oily, medicinal smell, sort of like olive oil. This is only temporary, thankfully. Once it starts to dry, it goes right back to being spicy incense. Maybe there's frankincense in here, and clove. Whatever it is, it's dark and sweet and wonderful.

I really like this one. The sandalwood is recognizable, but thankfully doesn't turn overly dry or powdery like it sometimes does on me. There's a good balance between the rose, sandalwood, and patchouli here. This is an exotic, spicy, floral incense blend. It's a little bit sharp, but not offensively so. It also has good throw. Usually I can't smell oils unless I sniff right where I put them, but this one actually wafts on me. Definitely a keeper.

I love all the notes in this one, but I can only really smell the musk and amber with a bit of the neroli, so this is like an orange Haunted. Where's the frankincense? Come out, frankincense, you are my favorite! Ah, there it is, barely. It's still not as strong as I'd like, however. I'm thinking about getting some frankincense oil to layer under the blends that I like whose frankincense hides from me. This is slightly more complex than Haunted, and I like it better. Haunted was on my big bottle list, but it just got replaced by Titus, even with the lazy frankincense.

When I discovered BPAL in April, I didn't want to even look at any of the LE's that were available. I thought that ordering a bottle untried was too risky and I didn't want to chance upon finding the best scent ever only to never be able to get more. But then Queen of Clubs came, and the list of notes was just too good to pass up. So it became my first LE, and what a way to start. I ordered this before I knew my chemistry as well as I do now. Several of the notes have given me problems in other blends. Sometimes myrrh and vanilla smell burnt, somestimes rose goes sour, and sometimes berries smell dusty on me. They all work perfectly in Queen of Clubs. When I first apply, all that I can smell is the Lab's earth note, like what's in Nosferatu and Nocnitsa. It doesn't smell like real dirt to me like Graveyard Dirt does. It's more like an artistic impression of earth and moss that I prefer to an actual dirt scent. When it starts to dry, a dark red fruit scent comes out which is neither tart nor sweet, just juicy. I can't tell if it's the pomegranate, currant, or both. After a bit more time, the amber becomes noticeable. It doesn't go powdery or overwhelm the other notes; it just provides a dark thickness, along with the myrrh. Finally, the rose appears, and it's the perfect floral element for this blend: dark, rich, and elegant. As for the vanilla, I can't pick it out individually, but I'm pretty sure that I can detect it as an overall "flavoring" here, if that makes sense. Overall, this is a deep, calm, warm, beautiful scent. I'm so glad that I was tempted into ordering this. Now I'll go hoard my bottle and punch myself for not ordering the King too. edit: It's about four hours later and now the scent is mostly gone. I only have a residual scent of amber and berry.

This was very similar to Lightning on me, but this one is giving me a slight headache, unfortunately. I think that it's somewhat heavier than Lightning, and maybe a bit sweeter. It's definitely a fresh ozone scent, but it's really intense. Too much so for me, I fear.

I don't know what happened with this one. The clove smells dusty and stale on me. I get a strange, medicinal smell out of this. My boyfriend thinks that it smells like candy, but to me it smells musty and thick like unwashed dog or vitamins. I don't know if it's my skin or my nose that's messing this one up.

Initially, I was scared to try the foresty scents because I was worried about their smelling sharp like a tree air freshener or something. But I've found since then that forest scents are usually subdued with a bit of sweetness on me. Nocnitsa is wonderful. The forest is there, but it's not overwhelming, and it mixes so well with the moss and earth scents. This is like the darker, cold weather version of Nosferatu (which I thought was light and fresh). I will probably get a bottle of this sometime.

At first, I can smell the iris and berries, which smell like strawberries to me. Then they fade. I never get the amber or spices, which is what most appealed to me in the description. This is a nice enough scent, but unfortunately on me, berry scents tend to go dusty. This is sort of like a lighter Bordello.

In the imp this smells sweet, exotic, and slightly incensy. I guess that I can only do lotus sometimes. I like it in Kali and Bastet, but it's too sweet in this blend. I love myrrh and amber, but the amber is hiding here and the myrrh is mixing with the sandalwood in a way that makes this smell burnt, the same thing that happened to me with Velvet. After a while, the sweetness calms down, but it leaves me with a weird detergent smell. This one is not for me.

So this is pine, but on me, it's a soft, warm pine, not a sharp evergreen scent. I love the black musk in this one. It makes it so deep and soft. I guess the musk and ambergris are keeping the cypress and juniper (usually sharp scents on me) in check. This is like Haunted, but in the woods: darker, a bit scarier, and more complex.

I wasn't around for this scent's release, but it sounded interesting enough that I got ahold of an imp. Wow, it is dirt! It smells like potting soil when it's fresh on my skin. My boyfriend says that it's "fucking brilliant." Then after it fades a bit, it becomes sweeter and spicier, and smells more like dry dirt. Unfortunately, this seems to be a fast fader on me, so my imp will get passed on to someone else. I'm glad I got to try it though. It's a wonderful realization of a concept.

In the imp, this smells very good, like dark, spiced cherries. Once it touches me, however, it becomes chewable vitamins. I think it's something about the clove, which I usually like, in combination with the dragon's blood or cherry. Dragon's blood only works sometimes on me, and I haven't tried anything else with cherry. It does seem like a blood-like scent, though. Too bad it didn't work on me.

This starts out as soft pine with a sweet, fruity background. It smells like bubblegum to me. I thought there was lotus, but now I see that it's white rose. I confuse rose with lotus sometimes. Although the sweetness fades somewhat, I'm not getting misty forests out of this. It smells sticky when I wear it, but cool and fresh in the imp.

This is a very clean, green smell to me. I think I can detect some of the mintiness that was in The Star. There's also a creamy quality here, sort of like lotus, but not as thick. It is vaguely soapy to me, so maybe there's lily. This is watery and slightly sweet. Now the mint has disappeared, but I'm also getting a bit of dryer sheets, so maybe there's white musk here. Yeah, I think so. It smells similar to Zephyr in that aspect. Now some herbal spiciness is coming out. This is like a combination of Zephyr and Silk Road. I'm glad I was able to try an imp of this, but it'll go off to swaps so that I can sample more tarot blends.

Oh hey, look who hasn't learned her lesson about jasmine. Let's see what happens with this one. Well, it's not turning to pure jasmine, although I can smell its thick burnt note on me. This is very powdery. I think it smells just like Elizabeth Arden's Blue Grass powder. It's definitely not working on me. I don't smell any of the roses, myrrh, neroli, etc., just jasmine and powder. I wish I could wear this; I love the other notes.

No earth, no mosses, no incense, no herbs here, just heavy, burnt jasmine on my skin. Jasmine does not work on me. In the imp, it's like a misty version of Zombi or a floral version of Nosferatu. If that sounds appealing and you can wear jasmine, then this may be for you.

Before I even try this on, I can tell that one of the musks is red musk. I can smell it in the imp and I can identify it by its dark reddish purple color. This is a dark, intense scent. I don't find it to be unpleasant, but I'm not sure I like it, either. I usually like musks and myrrh, but here, it smells like something pungent with burning wood. Sometimes I get a decay scent creeping up from underneath. That might be vetiver, but it doesn't smell like the vetiver that I've experienced in other blends. Overall, I found this to be very dark, raw, animalistic, and smoky. It fades after a while to a less intense, sweeter scent while still remaining dark.

I like amber, and this had five kinds. I thought that I would like this blend, and I do. I'm not sure what the floral aspects smell like individually, but together they add a fresh, cool aspect to the amber to keep it from becoming as thick as usual (which is what amber does on me, but in a good way). This is a bit too innocent and happy-smelling to be my ultimate amber blend (I prefer ones along the lines of Haunted). It's amber in the same way as The Lion, but with light florals instead of grasses. No bottle, but I still like it enough to keep the imp.

Well, this is not working on me. The "breath of imperial florals" must contain jasmine, which becomes very heavy, cloying, and burnt-smelling on my skin. I can smell the wood and violet, but the jasmine smell is overwhelming them and everything else. It smells a lot better in the imp than on me: a spicy, sweet wood blend with violet.

This was an eye-stingingly intense scent on me. To my nose, it smelled like mint and some sort of evergreen tree. I thought it was like a sweeter version of Undertow with a scent like fresh cookies and sour apple candy. I didn't smell any coconut when it was on my skin, but the coconut in Black Pearl disappeared on me too, so maybe that's what happened here. I'm glad I got to try this, but it's too candyish for me, so off to swap for more tarot imps!