sqwook

Frimp from the lab - thank you!

 

Wet: a great patchouli blend

 

Dry: Woods (cedar?) and spice, warming. The patchouli is not overboard here, it's blended well with dry woods scents. For me, a golden scent. Really good. This is a definite keeper.

Wet: wow! Delicious w/lemon. (Not very descriptive, I know, sorry...)

 

Dry: Now that this is on, it strikes me as men's cologne-y, and I can't pinpoint exactly what's making me think that. There's something in here that's really bright/sour/metallic that is disagreeing with me. BUT I generally love all the listed notes, so I don't know what that could possibly be.

 

Comparisons to other scents: To me, this has a similar liveliness as Embalming Fluid, and EF works much better for me.

 

(As an aside: This is the first scent I've put on where I felt really unsettled by it. I swapped it because of that feeling, even though all the notes are ones that I generally love. I wonder if it triggered some old memory in me? Very odd.)

Wet: cherry / rose?

 

Dry: the cherry-rose-floral lasts a long time. Do not like. Drat, I think my skin chemistry does not get along with the Lab's Dragon's Blood scent.

Wet: watery/aftershave

 

Dry: Lots of what I might call watery/aquatic scents here. I don't sense the plundered spices. Not a bad scent, esp on a guy, but definitely not me.

Wet: deciduous forest

 

Dry: Cedar, sandalwood, turning to bright orange patchouli. Really really wonderful.

 

I think it's great, but my S.O. is not a patchouli fan... so I'll still do patchouli but not where it's this strong of a component.

Wet: Cinnamon spice

 

Dry: Starts cinnamon, ends sweet mixed spice (clove, nutmeg, tea, etc.). Others are right- it's somehow not foody and it really smells like the description.

 

When I first tested this, at the time I prefered the rich honey of Bengal for a cinnamon scent. So Plunder got swapped. But that was summer, and now that it's fall, I wish I had it back to try it again. I think I'd love it in this season.

Wet: a nag champa blend

Dry: This smells primarily like a nag champa blend to me. I should try to figure out what the lab's saffron smells like so I can try to pick it out of these blends.

Good, but I'm not really a nag champa girl.

Wet: *laughing* My notes here say "very weird." In this imp pack, Hesperides was by far the most unique.

 

Dry: Simple sweet mellow apple. I don't detect anything I'd identify as 'sturdy oak bark'.

 

Nice but not really me.

Wet: dry woods

 

Dry: Smokey woods mingled with an underlying soft incense.

 

Comparisons to other scents: Belladonna is the only other Rappaccini's Garden scent I've tried, and the soft herbal incense is very similar, but where Wolfsbane combines it with smokey woods, Belladonna is a green fresh-cut-plant topnote.

Wet: Green with a slight bite

Dry: The greenness drops away quickly, to a soft incense. Very interesting.

 

Comparisons to other scents: The underlying soft incense is very similar to that in Wolfsbane, but Wolfsbane is smokey woods instead of green.

This is one of my top loves. So it cracks me up to read that the one word I wrote for the review when Salome is wet is "gack!". Ah, how things change.

 

Dry: As this dries, the floral jasmine fades away bit by bit. The Egyptian musk, sandalwood, and oakmoss mingle for a very lovely, complex scent. An air of exoticness, faraway lands, mystery. Fantastic.

 

(I must admit, accidently dumping most of my imp down my blouse and onto the floor launched this scent from 'like it' to 'oh my gosh, love, don't waste another precious drop.' But hey, I'll take it. And my blouse, even drenched, still smelled pretty darn awesome, though it went into the laundry right away.)

Wet: Sweet green herbs.

 

Dry: Dries to be nice, cool, clean, but the herb twinge goes away,leaving it kind of nondescript. Clean, a pure-white spa might smell like this. Not me.

 

A scent locket might have saved this for me maybe, because I like the greenness when it's wet.

 

Comparisons to other scents: Clean like Embalming Fluid (but no lemon) or Phantasm (but no floral).

 

ADDED Oct. 26:

 

Wet: Sweet green herbs. Lovely fresh & green!

 

Dry: Green, sweet herbs. Dries to be nice, cool, clean, but the herb twinge goes away, leaving it kind of nondescript. I wish the tang of the green herbs had lasted!!!

 

Comparison to other scents: This is "clean" like Embalming Fluid or Phantasm, but with no lemon or floral.

Wet: Orange. LOVE.

 

Dry: Sweet ... orange, I guess, but there's so much more than that going on, and it's not overly hai-i-am-orange. Really nice. It might be slightly too sweet for me, but I'm willing to try it dozens more times to try to figure that out.

 

Actually, I got into BPAL because I was in love with Angel perfume by Thierry Mugler, yet it made my SO's sinuses act up. I was looking for an alternative (being an allegy for your S.O. is NOT GOOD) and discovered BPAL through friends. Now I'm thoroughly addicted. Many compare Xiu to Angel. It's definitely similar. I'm glad I have it -- and glad it got me into BPAL.

Wet: Green.

 

Dry: A sweet amber with a tinge of light apple, nice. I'm surprised that this is "black" amber because it feels like a very light, less deep/resiny amber to me.

 

Comparisons to other scents: The wet phase is a similar feel to the drydown of Yggdrasil but sweeter, light apple..

 

Update: I nearly swapped this, but I find myself reaching for it now - great for fall.

Wet: Honeyed egyptian musk.

 

Dry: Starts almond/cherry, but that thankfully fades. Smooth and warm, Much softer/quieter than I'd thought it would be - I don't sense anything fierce here. As I love egyptian musk & amber, I hanging onto it - worth retrying.

Wet: Fruity-rose

 

Dry: Beautiful. A true living rose with ripe fruits. For someone who doesn't like either overly-fruity or overly-rose, I'm amazed to say I love this. It smells happy, smiling, without guile.

Wet: Vanilla-orange.

 

Dry: To me, the milk-and-honey blend into an almost vanilla-type sweetness, combined with a nice rose. This is surprisingly good for a non-rose-or-vanilla person. I don't see myself reaching for it.

 

Comparisons to other scents: If I were looking for something with a feel of sweet-and-innocent, the brightness of Persephone or the assured calmness of Lyonesse seem more like me. (In feel - these scents are nothing alike.)

Sweet, pretty. A tinge of wweet apple. I can pick out each of the listed notes if I try. Interesting! Not something I'm likely to reach for (I go for things that are a bit deeper) but it's a great blend.

Dry: Vanilla, calm, soft. Not much oomph. (Please note that vanilla and I are not really friends; most people love the lab's vanillas, but I amp vanilla in a major way.)

 

Comparisons to other scents: To me, this seems very similar to Bastet somehow (which cracks me up - cat & mouse!) Compared to Lyonesse, it's slightly dirtier and less peppery.

 

*On retry just before handing over to a friend, the drydown has a sandalwood kick; not bad, actually. Who knows. Hm, might need to get an imp of this back...

So, on me, vanilla tends to take over, and it did here. Many many people love the lab's many fabulous vanillas. I wish I could join you - darn this body chemistry.

 

Dry: Deep, rich, with a hint of peach. Later in the drydown, it's very very sweet, almost too syrupy; I think it's the vanilla that's taking over. Vanilla stomps out any amber & sandalwood that might be there.

 

Comparisons to other scents: Similar to Imp, but Tamora is more super-sugary on me. Similar in feel to Bastet, Lyonesse, Mouse's..., but deeper and richer.

Wet: sparkling/peach

 

Dry: Peach spice, a slight pepperiness (is that the patchouli? I can't quite tell, it's faint), with a hint of musk deepness. The peach is overpowering the spice/musk. Good suggestion from Myrrha to gently shake the vial before using- I should remember to do that! Very nice.

 

Comparisons to other scents: Similar to Tamora in early stages but less super-sugary, which I prefer.

Wet: Sweet peach

 

Dry: The peach fades with time to merge w/musk/amber. Sunny, happy, sweet (but not cloyingly so).

 

Undecided on this; hoped for more amber/musk and less peach. But it is beautiful.

 

Comparisons to other scents: The peach lasts longer in the early drydown than with Imp & Tamora, it's much brighter/sweeter than those initially. The later drydown, though, is much more balanced and complex than those. (When tried together - I should wear them each alone to see how it goes. But you know, that takes days of elapsed time, to get to the full dry down, and I'm not sure I can be so methodical & scientific about it for multiple days in row...) For feeling, Mag Mell & Persephone have a similar happy brightness (though they are very different scents.)

Love, love, love.

 

Wet: Clear, green, sweet.

 

Dry: Really indescribable and - great. Energizing. This smells to me like a sunny day in a forest, green grasses underfoot, dappled sunshine filtering through overhead leaves, beams of sunshine lighting the nature trail. These are not dry deep somber woods, they are living green woods.

 

Note: I have an imp from a swap that I fell in love with, and a new bottle I purchased from the lab. The imp is sweeter and lighter, and has less bite. The bottle has an almost-evergreen note that can just quite be picked out and identified, whereas the imp is one indescribable blend of golden-green goodness. Maybe it mellows as it ages? The bottle's still great, though.

My first bottle. LOVE.

 

Wet: minty

Dry: Amber, calm, complex, beautiful. I love this.

 

The mint largely fades away, so if it's the mint that's giving you pause, I encourage you to try it anyway. Fantastic.

On drydown: Floral powdery amber. On me, the flowers are winning the battle over the ambers. I wanted to love this, but alas, too floral forme. It must be the myrtle/apple blossom, because carnation is one of the florals that's usually a winner.