devilot

Blood Kiss:

In the Vial: VETIVER! It's a very strongly obnoxious note. At least in the vial. Hehe.

Wet: So much vetiver, which, yes, adds an earthy dimension. But for some reason, almost comes across as cocoa. Something very sweet. Would that be additional influence from the wine?

Drydown: Dusty feeling. Definitely that vetiver is not giving up or letting go. But I think the musk might be adding an element of dustiness.

Verdict: The poppy reference terrified me (as did the vetiver), but so far, poppy hasn't reared it's loud head. Though, I really wish the vetiver would mellow out more. All in all, a blend I can live without.

Blood Amber:

In the Vial: Dragon's blood.

Wet: Super dragon's blood. Quickly shifting, thank goodness. Or is it good? Not sure...

Drydown: Dragons blood meets baby powder.

Verdict: I'm blaming the baby powder on the amber. I can't say I'm a big fan. Not great, but not bad, just not anything special. Not memorable.

Prosperity of a Country

In the Bottle: *blinks* Not sure just what I'm smelling! Seems sharp. Herbal, almost.

Wet: Peppery. I"ll blame the "ginger-infused" part of the notes. No clue what asuhi is, but frankincense hasn't been peppery to my nose before (nor leather) so it's surely got to be one of those two notes.

Drydown: The very sharp aspect starts to mellow out, which I'll attribute to the "cream" and the leather, but it does still seem "medicinal" to me.

Verdict: Bummer. Big time. I had had big big hopes for this blend. All in all, glad I only sprang for a partial bottle, and glad it's found a new home to go to.

The Black Tower

In the Vial: I smell the white sandalwood and something almost peppery? I think it could be resinous.

Wet: Same weird pepperiness. Now something sharp. Almost cologney.

Drydown: How bizarre, the leather is starting to come forward now. I love this part, love the leather.

Verdict: I like the drydown, but there are other leather blends that I like more from start to finish, so this imp shall find a new home.

Aeval

In the Vial: Something reminiscent of cologne.

Wet: Again, a note that comes across as "cologne" to me. Which shifts into something that smells like a pleasant, but v generic shampoo to me.

Drydown: A little dustiness from the sage but overall, still that cologne-like element.

Verdict: It's not bad, but it's not something I love, either. Strange, it smells nothing like I thought it would! For once, I wish the sweet pea were more noticeable. And I really haven't the foggiest as to which note is causing this blend to come across as cologne. Very perplexing.

All Souls 2007

In the Vial: Dusty moss. *blinks*

Wet: Ooh, delicious incense. Whoa, bad shift, bad! Now it smells like freaking MOTHBALLS! *retch*

Drydown: Sweetness coming forth. Yay! Cake note! Boo, incense has fought back. I don't mind some incense, but this to my nose and with my skin chemistry is NOT a good incense.

Verdict: No thank you. The cake note, for the nanosecond I could smell it, was amazing. But the mothball effect? Ugh. I really don't think I'll snag me a boy-thing anytime soon if I'm stinking like a walking mothball.

Freak Show

In the Vial: Figgy that somehow translates to my nose as patchouli, but a nice kind. Cocoa.

Wet: Cocoa. Slightly fruity. I think I detect the honey.

Drydown: Sort of creamy. Slightly earthy and somehow fruity, but not a bright fruitiness, a very mellow sort.

Verdict: Lovely blend, but it's not unique enough for me to keep this decant or hunt down a bottle. I'd love an empty 5ml, though, at least for the fun name/ label art and BPAL history aspect.

Zarita, the Doll Girl

In the Vial: Sharply perfumey.

Wet: Whaddya know? Sharply perfumey still. Super in-your-face, make-you-sneeze floral. Oooh, split second of carnation! The carnation and sugared cream is what made me wanna try this. I wish the strong non-carnation florals would back the eff down and let carnation and sugared cream come out to play. *pouts*

Drydown: Get a hint of something sweet-- might be the orange blossom. Still, super strong floral (and not in the good carnation way).

Verdict: What a real bummer. I was really hoping for a yummy carnation and sugared cream thing going on, but instead, it mainly stayed too-strong floral. Pass.

Yvaine

In the Vial: Lavender.

Wet: Shockingly, still lavender.

Drydown: Starts to sweeten just a tad. Not TKO sweet, mind you, much subtler. Feels somehow "blue," like cornflower blue.

Verdict: I'm not the biggest fan of lavender, but surprisingly, I enjoy this blend. Not enough for a 5ml, and honestly, probably not even enough to hang onto this imp. Hmm. Guess I'll keep it for now? Still, I'm glad I got to try it!

The White Rider

In the Vial: Super sharp! LEATHER! WOOD! SHARP LEATHER! SHARP WOOD! Yes, I had to do that all in caps. Because that's my instant impression upon removing the imp cap.

Wet: Again, a leather so sharp and pungent-- it would be realistic of leather, except that it's so potent and I've never smelled leather this potent. But otherwise? Incredibly realistic. And I wouldn't have believed it without smelling it myself, but Beth managed to make the leather in Black, Red, and White Rider all smell different from each other! Amazing. Also the sharpness from the sandalwood. In fact, probably the strongest, sandalwood note I've sniffed yet in any BPAL blend.

Drydown: Thankfully, the blend smoothes and mellows a bit. Whew. It was really intense, and that's coming from a total leather-lover, BTW. Like with Red Rider, White Rider is incredibly realistic and captures the scent of high end leather goods. But White Rider does it in a 'dry' and 'high,' manner. I'm not sure how to elaborate, but it's a different feel. While still conveying to my nose, high-end leather goods. Starting to get almost dusty.

Verdict: Upon fully drying, I find White Rider to be much more tolerable, but in the beginning? Compared to Red Rider? It's a bit too intense. I bet this would age amazingly well. Still, if the right swap offer came along, I might let go of it. Despite my insatiable love for leather smells, I don't care to personally smell like it. So it's not my choice in perfume (at least not when it's so predominantly leather). Still the sandalwood is workin' overtime to soften this blend at the very end. Quite lovely!

The Red Rider

In the Vial: Whoa. Sharp leather. Super sharp. I didn't think I could distinguish a different leather note than the classic De Sade mixed in to all the other leather blends I've smelled, but this one? It's different! Very. Different. Like high-end leather gloves or purse. I don't know how else to describe it.

Wet: Still sharply leather, but something very earthy. I want to say vetiver, but it's not-- so I'm thinking it's the red moss. But the balsam is surely adding to the overall 'sharp' feel of this blend.

Drydown: Very high-end purse. I mean, this is absolutely fascinating! Much smoother, but still, the same overall scent and feeling.

Verdict: This blend is amazing. I don't know how Beth bottles such evocative scents. Others describe other blends as evoking feelings or imagery, but for me? This oil is the sensual experience of walking into a very high-end leather goods store. Lovingly molesting caressing the super soft, supple leather handbag. Feeling the downiness of those gorgeous gloves. I love being able to experience this. This is not a blend I'd choose to wear as a perfume, so I might swap this away, but I am so grateful for being able to smell this. And that if I wind up even poorer (because of Beth's genius) I could always recreate the feeling of being in a great leather goods boutique by huffing this oil.

Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener

In the Vial: Dusty, super prescription strength root beer!

Wet: Um, root beer.

Drydown: Vanilla. ROOT BEER.

Verdict: Sassafras, alas, is all root beer on me. It's not bad, but it's also not what I want in a perfume. This imp should go to a new home!

Pumpkin IV 2009

In the Bottle: ZOMG rich! I guess this is the pumpkin note? It's super rich and thick, so thick, it's like I can taste it and feel it at the back of my throat. Except my nose doesn't think "pumpkin" but rather, hazelnut. Is my nose broken?

Wet: Yay! Some tobacco! Wait, no-- where are you going? Come back! Come back my precious precious tobacco. Nonononono. Now it's just Mister Clove beating every note back with a spiky club.

Drydown: Still much too much clove for me. It really drowns out every other note. I get a slight powder that I wanna say is the myrrh and 20 minutes later, when I can't really smell much anymore (stupid scent-swallowing skin), I get the slightest hint of the musk. But really, this blend just screams clove on me.

Verdict: I had desperately hoped that this could become my tobacco holy grail, alas, the tobacco doesn't even last for a full three seconds on my skin. Sigh. I'm also not that big a fan of clove and since all my skin seems to amp from this pumpkin is clove, away this bottle shall go! **Of course, a couple months later, now I'm wondering if this might have aged into something with less clove and more musk and tobacco, which I love.**

Purple Phoenix

In the Vial: Sharply green somehow, and perfumey.

Wet: Morphing from green to purple. Here's the "grapey" element other folks mentioned.

Drydown: Slightly dusty and grapey still.

Verdict: It's pleasant enough, but I think I have other blends that will suffice for my slightly green and really grapey wants (Sugar Moon sort of, etc.).

Pumpkin V

In the Vial: Super pumpkin.

Wet: Tons of pumpkin, nauseating buttery pumpkin and even worse hazelnut. Briefest split second of delicious coffee. Quickly shifts into something super spicy on my skin.

Drydown: Basically all cinnamon.

Verdict:  This would be the curse of my skin chemistry. Beth's coffee notes never seem to work well on me-- not in Misk. U, Bah!, or Pumpkin V it would seem. Passing it on to a better home. I do have to give it credit though, this badboy stays on my skin for quite a long time, an impressive feat for my strange skin chemistry.

Tamora

In the Vial: Just weird. Weird. A golden, slightly fruity, weirdness.

Wet: Ooh, now something I can recognize, just a hint of sandalwood. Wait no-- where are you going?! Come back sandalwood! Shift into powdery. Ugh.

Drydown: Powdery with a hint of the peach blossom.

Verdict: I love the notes, but it's not working on my skin. I'm not sure what's not happening. Sigh. Gonna hang onto an imp to see if things change.

Prague

I don't know any of the notes listed, but whatever they are, they're wonderful! Or at least, wonderful combined the way that Beth has. It's sweet and floral, as well. I'm not too sure what it reminds me of, but this is a really lovely blend. Sweet and light. Strong while wet, but dries down to something altogether very dainty.

Pain

In the Vial: Minty? Is that what pennyroyal smells like? Ick.

Wet: Still strongly minty. Quickly shifting into something even more medicinal. Retch.

Drydown: Lavender now. And strongly herbal.

Verdict: Really not for me at all.

Numb

In the Vial:  Whoa, something sharp. Sharply cologney.

Wet:  On, still a little cologney. Shifting into something powdery.

Verdict: It's actually not so bad dried down. The scent in the vial is pretty terrifying, but it's much nicer dried down. Still, all in all, I can do without it. Especially given how rare it is.

Desdemona

In the Vial: Floral!

Wet: Nose-burning floral. Uh oh, doesn't bode well.

Drydown: Sweetness of the sweet pea comes forth and I can just barely get the dustiness of the carnation, but really this is still a strong floral, I'm blaming the water lily.

Verdict: Wish this was more carnation with a touch of carnation, but alas, I don't think this will do it for me. This imp has found a new home.

Re: discussion of Liz vs AL:

I think it really really depends on skin chemistry (and maybe even batch differences). Because I absolutely love all kinds of vanillas and am an avid lover of leather-- but Liz really did NOT work for me at all. It was a cloying floral and tickled my nose (in a not-so-good way). So I strongly feel that Liz is "YMMV."

Sekhmet v5

In the Bottle: Golden. Reminiscent of Leo 2007 and Sunbird, actually. Resinous. Ambers?

Wet: Still golden and resinous, but now it's somehow sharpening and turning almost sour on me.

Drydown: Little dusty, and still sourish and sharp. Darn. Yes, much too 'dusty,' the kind I get from some resins/ ambers.

Verdict: I wanted desperately to love this, as I think the whole Egyptian theme is pretty nifty, plus, I feel so lucky I got to go to Cobwebs and buy this in person! But I just don't think I love it enough to keep around. And I prefer Sunbird over this blend.

New Orleans

Whoaaaaa jasmine. Just sniffing this sucker, I don't care to skin-test. Ick. I amp the lab's jasmine notes and I don't like it, either.

Verdict: I'm gonna pass this imp on w/out even testing it. *shudder*

In the Vial: Something sharply plant-like, think I'll blame the blue lilac.

Wet: This is incredibly well-blended, even wet, I'm having a hard time discerning individual notes-- perhaps some dustiness/ powderiness from the orris (might be the coconut), clean (probably the linen), and a hint of wood and tobacco.

Drydown: Think the "darker" notes are coming forth a bit more now. I'm tempted to say I detect some bay rum and the leather.

Verdict: What a complex and amazingly well-blended perfume! I think that of all the BPAL I've had the luck of sniffing and testing, this is the most well-blended-- it's nearly impossible for me to pick the notes out of this one! I'm so glad I swapped for this decant as I htoroughly enjoy this whole experience. I'll be keeping this decant, but I'm not quite ready to make the plunge for a bottle.

Noche Buena

In the Vial: Smells like fig to me. And something else sharp. Oh, it's a lot of the florals.

Wet: Still figgy to me. And now the florals bloom more. Strong plumeria. I'm not sure what tuberose smells like, but that's a strong floral, right? I wonder if that's what it is that I'm smelling.

Drydown: Thank goodness for the sage, I think that's the only note that's helping to mellow out the really strong florals. Minutes later, it's a very tropical floral, definitely the plumeria.

Verdict: I'm intrigued, I'm going to keep this decant for sure, but I'm so grateful for having been frimped this and now I know I don't need to seek out a bottle. I think it might be nice to layer this with some sort of a creamy vanilla of sorts.