Little Bird

Of all the dragon's blood blends, this is my least favorite. The dragon's blood smells sickeningly sweet, like rotting wildflowers. The musk smells very bitter and perfumey, like cheap hair spray. This is the sort of scent that gives me a migraine. Extremely harsh and perfumey on me.

Euphrosyne was not at all what I was expecting from this. It was... not good on me, not good at all. At first this smells like very sharp citrus (lemon bathroom cleanser?) and perhaps perfumey white musk. I'm not getting any florals. And for the first time in my life, I actually wish that the florals would come out. This is truly foul. After about 10 minutes I am getting a slightly spicy floral scent and a very oily/plasticy vanilla coming on strong. Something about this blend is just very off with my skin chemistry. I never smell the tea rose or jasmine, and they're usually pretty strong on me (especially the jasmine). I'm getting mostly bathroom cleanser and plastic out of Euphrosyne ----------------- ETA. I wonder if my skin chemistry was just having a really off day when I first reviewed this. Euphrosyne has become one of my full bottle purchase BPAL scents. In any case, I take back all of my earlier bad comments about this one. This is a wonderfully creamy and pleasant scent. Very strong and has a lot of throw, so a little dab goes a long way on me. At first it is sort of perfumey, but it settles down considerably after about five minutes. I think that the floral that I smell here is mostly gardenia. It smells very sweet and, again, creamy. And I adore the drydown of this one as well. The vanilla becomes strongest on me over an hour's time, and it is a deliciously sugared vanilla. It almost reminds me of what melted white chocolate and powdered sugar smells like. 8 hours later and I still smell like delicious, rich vanilla. This is more sweet and foodie on me than it is floral, and I am very fond of it. Definitely a playful, girlie fragrance.

Lush parlor rooms draped in thick velvets and gilded in gold, unearthly whispering in the distance, fleeting flashes of wraithlike figures rushing just outside your vision, the chill of a phantom presence brushing by your cheek, the inscrutable knowledge that disembodied eyes are peering at you from darkened corners… this is the essence of Victorian-era spiritualism: rosewood, oak and teak notes with wispy blue lilac, tea rose, dried white rose and ethereal osmanthus. Ouija is a very unique scent. It reminds me of being in my grandmother's attic. Old furniture and cloth, all covered with a thin layer of dust. The rose comes out after about 15 minutes, but those also smell dried and dusty. A bit powdery. Ouija is a lovely mixture of old wood, dried roses, dust, and powder. I'm not sure if I'll wear this a lot, but it intrigues me enough that I'll keep the imp around.

When first applied: Jasmine. 15 minutes later: Jasmine. 1 hour later: Jasmine. 1 1/2 hours later: Washed the jasmine off. Yup. This is nothing but extremely strong and smoky jasmine on me. I swear, that flower loves me. I just can't meet it halfway. It gives me such bad headaches.

I've recently tried this one on again, and my impression is entirely different... it's not green or white floral on me now. This is a VERY clean and pleasant smell. It makes me think of wispy white linens floating in a cool breeze. And that's what it smells like, sheets that have been washed in a floral laundry soap and hung out to dry. It reminds me a bit of Dirty, but lighter and more chilly. I actually might need a full bottle of this one.

I wanted to try Ephemera for the 'autumn leaves' part of the description. Unfortunately, this does not smell leafy to me at all. Autumn or otherwise. Perfumey white florals attack my senses with this one. At first the tea rose comes out and it is a nice sweet rose, but the perfumey florals are backing it up and giving me a headache. After about 15 minutes this fades considerably. I'm left with a light powdery violet scent. It's pretty much disappeared before I've even been wearing it for a full hour. It is a very fleeting scent. Probably a good thing on me, because it was starting to give me a headache before it faded away.

Ylang ylang smells very golden, warm, and herbal on me. I can definitely see where it might be part of this blend. But, on my skin, Seduction smells like it has a lot of jasmine in it. I'm not sure if I'm insane or if my skin is just once again amping up the jasmine or what. This didn't do much to seduce me or the boy. Actually, it made me very grouchy because the smoky florals started giving me a headache. Then I started snapping at the boy and... well, it had the opposite of seduction going on, lol. The boy's opinion on this one was to tell me that, "You don't smell like you." Yeah. I am not a girl who does well with florals.

Unlike everyone else, I do not know this scent, lol. Flowers tend to escape me in their appeal... most of them just smell like flowers to me. On my skin, most floral blends take on the same generic perfumey quality that makes me feel like my throat is swelling shut. This smells like my least favorite type of floral, a white floral. In the drydown it seems to be trying to go powdery *and* soapy on me. Baby powder scented soap. This is what my personal hell would smell like, now that I think of it.

Pain is one of my least favorite BPAL blends. I don't really like minty smells, and the pennyroyal is mint at its most vicious. Very sharp and astringent. It stays strong for hours before a hint of lavender comes out and softens out. It's a very cool and icy blend to me. I don't really like mint or lavender, so I think that I'll be swapping my imp.

Oh. My. God. I'm completely shocked by how much I love this. :D It smells like the most unique and beautiful blend of juicy green apples, vanilla, and creamed coconut. I want to eat my wrist. The staying power for this isn't much on me, only lasting strongly for about an hour. I only have half an imp and an empty bottle of this (swaps and purchases from lovely forumites). I think I'll start putting in prayers that it is re-released. I need at least a dozen bottles to slather on. Looove...

Much thanks to verbosa for sending me a sample bottle of Jolly Roger I love this just as much as I thought that I would. It reminds me so much of being on a cruise ship and feeling the cool breeze and salty water as you speed through the ocean. I have a deep fondness for cruise ships (ships in general) and the water. Jolly Roger evokes wonderful memories for me. The leather seems to be an always present note in this for me, lingering in the background and holding everything up. At first it is very aquatic and I can practically taste the salt water on my lips when I smell it. Then after about two hours it gets sweeter (bay rum and woods?). It's a wonderful creamy sweetness, like pina coladas and icy mixed drinks. The staying power and throw with Jolly Roger is amazing. It's a very strong fragrance. I don't get any florals out of it and I don't think that it's perfumey at all. This is a wonderful salty aquatic with a firm presence of leather. I can't wait to try it on my boy.

Les Fleurs Du Mal was mostly lilac on me. Unfortunate, because I don't actually like lilac. Some people got more rose than lilac out of it, but you still might want to try it.

I was surprised that I actually like Goneril. I hate lilies and they often come on very strong on me. When first applied, this is mostly cedar. A lovely herbal and dry woods smell. Then some floral starts to come out, but I'm actually enjoying it. It is the same floral that I loved in Phantom Queen. I've come to the conclusion that I absolutely love black orchid. It doesn't go perfumey on me at all. It smells very rich and dark, makes me think of rich dark purples. The combination of the floral and cedar is interesting. I don't love this enough to get a full bottle as I don't often reach for cedar blends, but I will definitely be keeping and enjoying my imp.

I love lilac, wisteria and rose, but don't smell any of them here. Les Fleurs is a sharp, musky, nondescript white floral smell with a powdery drydown. Very bland and generic.

A vital, bold scent, throbbing with sensuality. Essence of dragon’s blood resin, thickened with myrrh and cherry, with a trickle of clove. I love blood. Real blood. As in, fresh from a cut (perhaps I am odd). I find it beautiful and fascinating and for those reasons I feel like I should love all of these BPAL blood blends. I just hate dragon's blood. This fragrance smells so odd to me. Like thick cough syrup with something rotting in it. The cherry is medicinal, the dragon's blood decaying, and the clove bitter. It seems thick and awful. It makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.

The rose is the main note that comes out on me in Black Rose. I think that the musk and amber might be present, but they seem to go powdery. After a few minutes, that's what Black Rose smells like on me. The perfumey rose dusting powder that my grandmother used to use. I always thought that it smelled very elegant and mysterious. This is a very strong blend and it stayed the same rose powder scent for about 8 hours. If I were a floral/rose person, I would get a full bottle of this. It is a darker more earthy rose. But, as it is, Whip remains my favorite rose blend and the only one that I have a full bottle of.

I really thought that I would hate Katharina, since it has two of my least favorite notes in it (white musk and orange blossom ::shudders:: ). Thankfully for me though, the orange blossom never comes out on my skin and the white musk is very subdued under the apricot. The apricot is very sweet on me, sort of like syrupy canned apricots. The white musk doesn't go bitter and just lends a sort of creamy scent behind the apricot. It only lasts about an hour on me total and I don't really like fruity blends, but this isn't bad if you do like sweet fruity smells. Grand Guignol was a better and longer lasting apricot on me.

At first this is all orange blossom and neroli on me. Ripe citrus and a burnt orange smell. I was hoping that this would be a clove and orange scent (mmm, spiced orange) but I'm not getting any clove out of this. An hour later this has faded quickly. I even forgot that I was wearing it for a while, it is so light. Now if I smell my wrist I can see that the clove has come out and the citrus has faded away. I have a bar of clove soap. In the drydown, that's what Succubus smells like on me. Definitely soapy, but very light and barely noticeable on my skin.

So many floral blends seem to smell the same to me. If they have jasmine, it almost always overpowers everything else. So I get that same floral smell and feel from it, even if the other notes are extremely different. That said, at first I get strong smoky jasmine and an undercurrent of musky white floral. It's not as overpowering as I expected it to be, but it's still very not me and kind of makes me feel lightheaded. After about an hour the fruity plum seems to be coming out and I like that note quite a lot, but the jasmine is choking it and keeping it very far in the background In conclusion, this is too much of a musky jasmine for me to want a full bottle and I will probably be swapping my imp.

I've gotten good variations and bad variations of Hunger over the years. My good imps smell like creamy vanilla and natural, soft orange blossom. The bad imps smell like heavy, sharp, perfumey floral narcissus and waxy, funky orange blossom that reminds me of burning, melting plastic. I'll never order a full size of this one, because I never know which version I'll get.

I'm not well versed when it comes to floral blends (not that I'm really well versed about anything, I am just especially strugglin' when it comes to florals, lol). The only two flowers that I can usually identify are jasmine and rose. I know what those smell like, really! I definitely get jasmine and rose out of this. They seem to be going soapy on me. It's not my sort of perfume, and the jasmine is overpowering as it always is on me. Black Dahlia is another floral soap blend on me.

While Mistletoe was like walking through a snow laden pine forest on a moonlit night, Skadi is like coming in from the forest into a warm cozy house to sit in front of the fire. At first I smell an almost smoky pine. Like sitting in front of a fresh cut Christmas tree and a wood burning fireplace. The pine is very light and I can perfectly envision the green needles and golden sap. Then a bit of spice and cinnamon comes through and warms everything up. Like spiced cider and gingerbread cookies . I love the mental picture that this conjures up. Pine and cinnamon are usually so heavy and overwhelming on me, but they're light and perfectly blended here. I hope that I can find a full bottle of this when I use up my imp.

I'm so torn about this. Part of me wants to wear it, part of me thinks it's better off as a room scent, and part of me thinks that it would be better on my boyfriend. Regardless, I *love* Mistletoe. It starts off smelling a bit too bitter for me, like pine but with a cold bite of minty menthol underneath it. But then a few minutes later that sharp menthol smell fades away and this smells like snow covered pine trees have been stuffed into a bottle . It wouldn't be so amazing if this were just a sappy pine scent, but I can actually smell the snow in there as well. Glorious. And I think that I'll wear this, use it as a room scent, *and* use it on the boy.

Of the several funereal oils that I've tried, I haven't really liked any of them. Haunted wasn't a winner with my skin chemistry either . First on this is perfumey musk and something that smells like dry soil. Dirt and musk. I can already feel a headache coming on. I think that I can smell some amber in the background, but it seems to be going powdery. I love amber. It usually works well on me. The amber in Haunted goes into baby powder mode. Musky baby powder = migraine headache.

I can definitely see what people mean when they say that Namaste is a good meditating blend. It does have a very calming/relaxing feel to it. I thought that I would end up hating Namaste when I first tried it on. It smelled like sharp lemon drops, bitter rose, and smoky jasmine. Too much floral and biting citrus for me. The jasmine and rose actually calmed down after a few minutes and drifted off into the background though. The patchouli came out to play and the lemon seemed to sweeten. After about an hour and a half, the fragrance completely shifted. The jasmine and rose completely vanished and the patchouli & lemon are barely lingering in the background. Out comes a dry and slightly spicy blend of powdery sandalwood and woody cedar. Namaste only lasts about 3 hours on my skin. I don't love it enough to ever get a full bottle... but it is very pretty and I admire the complexity.