valentina

On me, Anathema is a dead ringer for the Yves St. Laurent fragrance "Opium." Only it's better. I wore Opium a long time ago, but it did tend to be a bit on the overwhelming side, and just a little too chemical. My body tends to amp the black opium in Anathema, but the honeysuckle in the blend, and perhaps even the vetivert (usually a monster on my body) mellow it out. So it's a real opium kick, but not a headachey or eye-crossing kick.

To me, this smell is sex on a stick. Of course it would provoke naughty and excessive and wonderfully heathen behavior, thank the Goddess. I want a bottle ASAP.

Bengal is one of those scents that I would have been afraid to sample a year ago, as a BPAL neophyte. But now, I just blaze away, just the way Bengal smells in the imp -- its predominant notes are very blazing, warm spices. And on my skin, Bengal blazes away for 5 or 10 minutes! I'd guess it's the pepper and cinnamon bark, but it does make me flush a bit. I waited it out and it went away with no ill effects. For about the first hour or so, Bengal is largely a very spicy blend, with all the components happily melding together with no one spice taking dominance. After that, the body musk and honey take front stage with the spices lurking in the wings. It's really a beautiful, natural, yet exotic scent. It may be going on my "buy a bottle" list, because I'm willing to handle a little skin flushing in order to smell so wonderful!

In the imp, Centzon Totochtin smells very chocolate-rum. And I'm really surprised how light-colored the oil is -- I was really expecting something very dark, but it's a pale amber color. When I first applied it, it was all Mexican chocolate and coffee. Very rich and intoxicating, a bit like a cup of coffee with Ibarra chocolate and a bit of kaluha stirred in. But after a half-hour or so, my skin ate the chocolate-coffee smell. Is this any surprise, that my body eats chocolate and drinks coffee? No -- that's what I do all the time, so why wouldn't that happen with a fragrance?

What is left is a scent that totally trips my brain over into associations with the smells of a Mexican grocery store that I go to when I buy Ibarra chocolate. I swear I can smell chili powder and Mexican vanilla and stewing meat. I think I'm smelling the booze-wine-blood scent of Centzon Totochtin, but I'm simply at the Mexican market, and I probably start smelling things that probably aren't even in the blend.

I really wish the initial elements of this smell would linger longer, but I also suspect that it might be more of an autumn-winter smell for me, and it's July as I write this, so I'm holding on to my imp and trying it again.

In the imp, Grandmother of Ghosts smelled very greenish and floral, but pungent. Once it hit my skin, it was the strangest thing -- it smelled like how I'd imagine a granny's floral-scented vinegar douche to smell. Weird! I think the laurel, mandarin and pepper take on a really pungent quality that smells vinegary, but the florals of the blend compete for attention. After a little while (maybe an hour), that wears off and a totally different smell arrives, and it is really quite nice. I'd say it's woodsy and musky with a peppery quality. It's incense-like and very subtle. Because my wonked-out body chemistry produces the initial vinegar-floral reaction, I probably wouldn't wear this often, but the final dry-down is really very pretty.

Well, on my body, this Succubus is spending all of her time in Florida. She's been all around all the citrus groves to gather the best juice and blossoms. She plies men with mimosas and then sneaks back in when they're sleeping. She is probably the the reason that Don Johnson always looked so sleepy-eyed in "Miami Vice" -- she was stopping by his houseboat every night. She is the anti-Anita Bryant.

Anyway, I get carried away; Succubus is obviously very citrusy on me, initially a little sharp, but then softening and mellowing into a sweet mimosa, with maybe a bit of a powdery undertone from the bergamot. Clove, frequently my enemy, simply doesn't show up in this blend when I wear it. While it's not a daily scent, I think it would be great fun to scent some of my body cream with this, because it's a fresh and glowing blend. (And now I have a huge craving for mimosas! )

I decided to try Black Annis because I really do like the smell of anise, and since minilux (a civet lover) and I share some scent preferences, I decided that maybe, in fact, civet might not bother me. I've learned to really enjoy dark musk, so why not some civet, huh?

Well... I dunno. I sniffed the Black Annis in the imp and shut it promptly. Those animal smells just remind me too much of being a kid, walking around in the wooded areas by a stream, and smelling wild animal pee. But I did get the anise scent, and that was nice. It was just the civet. Then I opened it again later, only this time I got some on my fingers. Oh no! The civet went into full bloom very rapidly. Arrrgggh. I have an anise hyssop plant in my garden, and I love the way it smells. What I was smelling on my fingers was like I'd picked some anise hyssop that my cat had peed on, then rolled around on top of it and crushed it into the mulch. Not pretty, not one little bit.

But not to be totally negative... that's on my body chemistry. My DH always wants to try animalistic smells that I hate, so he put some on right away. On him, the civet blooms briefly, but then the beast is tamed and the anise smell remains, with a dark undertow of civet. It's really very nice on him. He kind of likes it and I don't even mind it. So truly, it's all in the body chemistry!

A stirring yet gentle perfume. The scent of love and devotion mingled with an undercurrent of heart-rending sorrow. A bouquet of white roses, labdanum, and wild orchid.

Magdalene, in the imp, is a very strong rose, but with a darker, spicier smell underneath. When I initially applied it, I got a strong hit of rose and wondered how long I'd be able to wear it, since rose is just a monster, and a none-too-kind monster, in combination with my body chemistry. However, I was happy to discover that the rose in this blend (white roses, I believe) is a drier, cooler rose that doesn't amp up as intensely. In addition, the labdanum gives the blend a nice dark, spicy background. I can't really pick up a lot of the orchid aroma in this blend, for I believe the rose has shoved it out of the way. Over time, scent doesn't morph a bit and it has great lasting power.

While I'm still not a great fan of rose and floral scents, I do have a large stash of dried rose petals that I've been wanting to turn into potporri. I'm keeping this imp to use for that purpose, because to me, it's a beautiful, spicy, Victorian rose smell that would be absolutely perfect.

I think for anyone who loves to wear rose fragrances but doesn't want it to be terribly sweet, this would be an ideal scent.

Golden Priapus, in the bottle, is like smelling honeyed vanilla while standing outdoors in a green forest. On my skin, it starts out as a vanilla/amber with really, really yummy green pungent kick. It's just gorgeous for about a half-hour, and then... oh no! Play-Dough! For the life of me, I can't understand this, but something in Golden P turns on me the same way that Snake Oil turned on me. I thought it might have had something to do with the small amount that I tested, so I tried a larger swipe to see if it would change things. Sadly, no... while it's beautiful for a short while, I start to smell like a Play-Dough factory.

However, on my DH, Golden Priapus remains a very nice fragrance, with a rather masculine base of an evergreen forest and a wonderful vanilla-amber frosting. It's really yummy, but not at all overwhelming. He bought a bottle of it! I think this scent, for men, is the equivalent of O on women -- it's a "classic" and is almost certain to please.

In the imp, the color of Lust is rather like red-hot passion, and it's a pungent, earthy-musky smell. When I first put it on, it reminded me of the love child of Urd and Smut. It's patchouli and musk, but there's an almost red wine smell in there. After a few minutes, it becomes very spicy-peppery, and I'm assuming that is the musk and myrrh really kicking in. I think the ylang ylang shows up the longer I wear Lust, because it assumes a soft, undertone. It reminds me a bit of Dragon's Blood, but without the sweetness. The patchouli really fades to the background, and over time, this scent retains its hot peppery, spicy kick with a soft floral underbelly.

Medea, in the imp, smells very floral and sweet. On the skin, it went into a muddle that's a floral/fruity incense amalgam. My body chemistry sometimes tends to muddy certain complex blends, and this no exception. If I had to pick out the primary notes, I'd guess it was the combination of the orchid and currant, with a background of myrrh. It's not a bad combination on my skin, although it's not as crisp and well-defined as I prefer. Medea also fades out rather quickly on my skin, so ultimately, it's just not a scent that I can wear with great success. For those of you who love florals and can wear complex blends, do give this a try.

In the imp, Arachne smelled very similar to Yggdrasil -- a woodsy, herbal scent, but definitely a northern hardwood forest. Once it was on my skin, I got the whiff of that hardwood forest again, along with herbs. I kept thinking of Yggdrasil, so I put a swipe of it on my other arm so I could compare the two. Upon drydown, Arachne isn't as bright, verdant and herbal/floral as Yggdrasil. What I am reminded of is a field on the edge of a hardwood forest in the fall, with dried grass, drying wood from fallen trees, crisp fallen leaves, and crushed herbs and flowers that have the distinctively dried-but-still-fragrant quality. If Yggdrasil is that forest in the full bloom of summer, Arachne is the same forest and an adjoining field during a warm day in October.

I think if you're a person who loves the smell of the outdoors in autumn, Arachne would be a perfect scent. I take a whiff of it and I see a sunny October afternoon!

I'm not much for florals, but I've been surprised by the floral blends that I've been able to enjoy since I've started on the BPAL path, so I bravely went forward with Eternal. In the imp, I smell gardenia. On my skin, I smell even more gardenia. I always complain that rose is a gorilla on my body chemistry, but gardenia is King Kong. It takes over. It's not really that bad, but it's just not my style -- hothouse flowers just heat up a bit too much on me, and after a while, turn powdery, which is exactly what Eternal did on me. For lovers of sweet, floral, tropical, heady fragrances, Eternal is for you.

Vixen! I finally received an imp of Vixen as a frimp from a generous forum member. Because I love Ravenous, and I love ginger, I was very, very eager to try this one.

In the imp, it's a dark patchouli with a citrusy, sharp undertone. On my skin, it starts out in a very similar manner to Ravenous -- patchouli with a honeyed orange smell. Then, after a few minutes, the sharpness of ginger begins to emerge. And for whatever reason, this combination smells very animalistic and feral for a while -- almost musky. (This doesn't bother me.) But after that calms down, I'm left with a very rich, deep patchouli with gingered honey undertone. It's a dark, sexy, rather smouldering scent that I find very warming and intense.

Since the Norns spent their time around the foot of Yggdrasil and Urd is one of my favorite BPAL scents, I was very excited to try this blend!

In the imp, Yggdrasil has a woodsy, green smell, but more in the sense of an ancient northern hardwood forest with herbs and flowers growing on the forest floor. Once on my skin, the green woodsy quality really amps up for the first hour or so. It's not bad, but it's rather intense and has a pungent herbal/floral quality. It reminds me of a forest in the spring after a hard rain. But after the first hour, the deep green, woodsy intensity burns off and I'm left with a soft, flowering herb smell. It's really quite subtle and lovely and makes me feel very druidic, as a scent called Yggdrasil should. On me, it's a very clean, yet feminine scent.

I received an imp of Oneiroi as a frimp in a swap with a lovely and generous forum member. I opened it up, took a sniff and pronounced it to be pure, holy jasmine. When I put it on my skin, it certainly smelled largely of jasmine, but not as overwhelmingly strong as many other jasmine blends. There was a fresh, herbal scent that probably came from the lavender, bergamot and mugwort. However, after about an hour, the jasmine pinned the herbs and sandalwood to the mat and began lumbering about like Andre the Giant or some other thuggish wrassler. It's just my body chemistry, and I wish jasmine didn't behave so badly on my skin, because lavender, bergamot and mugwort are all lovely herbal smells and I love sandalwood. While I have the jasmine problem, I could imagine that this scent would comfort one into dreamland, and also promote deep and clear breathing during sleep. I have a friend who is a jasmine-aholic, and tends be be an insomniac, so this frimp is being gifted to her, and I'm certain she will love it dearly.

Blood Amber, in the imp, was a really knockout whiff of Dragon's Blood, with that amber-resin undertone. But mainly Dragon's Blood, a scent that when it hits my skin, smells like fresh blood. It's very feral; I think of wolves eating their kill when I smell it. After a while, the scent took on a peppery top note, with that scent of blood hovering just underneath and some resin lurking around the edges. And it's a very strong scent that holds its place very well. To my nose, and mixed with my body chemistry, it's wild and animalistic. I know a lot of people find this scent very warm and comforting, but it just doesn't work that way on my body -- not that it's bad, but I rather smell like a she-wolf who just came in from the hunt!

I recieved Blood Pearl as a frimp from a forum member, and I sniffed it in the imp and immediately tried it out, not knowing what was in it. It smelled sweet and dark and very appealing in the imp. But once on my skin, that King Kong called orris took over the entire blend. Then the coconut moved in, and coconut gets weirdly bitter on my skin. In the end, the dry-down was OK, but it was a pungent powdery scent, and not really my style. I think that for anyone who can wear orris and coconut beautifully, this is really a scent to consider.

Ah, the cat! I was very excited to try Bastet. In the imp, I smelled almost pure, sharp almond, with some sweetness underneath. Once on my skin, it was more sharp almond, and I was concerned, because while I love almonds, the aroma is one that my body chemistry amps mightily.

But not to fear, the other components begin to emerge upon drydown. Short-term (15-30 minutes), I get a lot of sweetness, cardamom and saffron along with the almond, producing a smell akin to a really yummy middle eastern pastry. Long-term, the pale musk and amber arise and take their places, producing a gorgeously spicy, complex scent. It is sweet with an edge that is almost pungently spicy. It is no surprise to me that this is such a beloved scent, because it truly is a beautiful juxtaposition that is great fun to wear. I can imagine it smells just a bit different on everyone, for it is independent, just like the cat!

I think Jezebel is really yummy in the imp -- sweet honey and flowers. Once it hit my skin, it started out as honey, and then the rose came out. My old nemesis rose! But in Jezebel, it's not an especially bad rose, because it smells like a rose with its petals tipped with honey. It isn't a blaster of a headache rose, and it wears off after about an hour. Then the rest of the blend comes forth, leaving a honey-rose-orange blossom scent, with the final lingering notes of sandalwood. After several hours, what I had was honeyed, spicy sandalwood, and that's not a bad thing at all. I for anyone who wants a bit of everything -- sweetness, florals, mild citrus and oriental spice, Jezebel would be an ideal scent.

In the imp, Djinn is sharp, intense and smoky. Once on my skin, I smell fire and smoke, and then the scent really explodes. For whatever reason, smell of Djinn seems red to me, but there's also black smoke billowing off of the red fire. It seems to have a cinnamon smell, but also something that is rather like cumin or chili pepper.

There's a novella by A.S. Byatt called "The Djinn in the Nightingales Eye" and the djinn in that story is a huge, outlandish, overbearing, very masculine and sexual creature who is both base and sophisticated, and not one of those sweet little genies that permeates our popular culture. The scent of Djinn is certainly evocative of the creature in Byatt's novella, and I really appreciate its complexity and its fire. On my body and to my nose, it's a very masculine scent, although I do not doubt that on the right woman, it could be just devastatingly sexy.

Bagfish, you have some very similar preferences to mine, and I love Khajurho, and I'm not a florals type. Except...I can't wear Khajuraho in the summer, becase I'm in the hot, humid, windy midwest USA! Florals are better on me in the winter and don't overwhelm me as much.

I utterly avoided florals at first, but I got a frimp of Blood Lotus when I was a noob and I loved it -- lotus and dragon's blood alone aren't good on me, but together they produce a lotus incense smell, and I think Khajuraho has a floral incense quality. Kali is another blend with florals to consider -- it's really complex, and again, the florals don't overwhelm. I've layered Kali with O for some amazing results. Which is also something to consider -- if you find a scent that's a good base "mixer," as I find O, you can layer and dilute some of the floral whammy. And I rather like Wanda. It's leather and rose, and while those two notes are normally overwhelmingly dominant on me in other blends, when they fight against each other in Wanda, it somehow works. I especially enjoy Wanda if I layer it with Urd to get the incense element going on.

Don't you love it when you get a surprise and figure out that you can wear some florals? My range has certainly expanded in the last year, since I starting trying a lot of BPAL. Happy testing!

I really do love those hippie head shop incense smells, and while Urd is very much my number one nominee, but Blood Lotus is number two. Track down an imp of that if you're able. It smells like a sweet lotus incense, where Urd is the patchouli/nag champa incense. I also think if you can get a decant of Khajuarajo, it's pretty incense-hippie smelling, only in a softer floral way.

I received Jack as a frimp in a swap, and I was rather jazzed to try it. I smelled it in the imp and whoa, I loved the whiff -- a very nutty, buttery, spicy pumpkin. I put it on my skin and it's a beautiful warm, foody, autumnal scent. For about an hour after I first applied it, I was ready to run off and order a bottle of Jack right away. But it is good that I got busy and spaced it off, because after an hour, it turned pure clove on my skin. And clove in its very un-sweet purity. I think my skin amps clove mightily -- this happened to me with Al-Shairan, also. And thus, it takes over all of the wonderfully warm and buttery elements of Jack. Dang. For anyone who doesn't have this problem and loves a truly comforting autumn scent, I think Jack would be a dream.

In the imp, Dublin smelled sweet and green to me, very green, very foresty. I was expecting it to be a less milky version of Dana O'Shee, judging from my reaction to the the way it sniffed.

Once I tested it, I thought it smelled a lot like Dorian -- very spicy with a green undertone. Since Dorian has a "fougere" element, which is normally defined as smelling of lavender and moss, this makes sense. Within a half-hour, the foresty-green smell in Dublin took over, but not overwhelmingly. I could smell a tiny whiff of rose, but the rose in Dublin must be a milder rose than in some of the other blends, or it truly is teensy little hint, because it doesn't push its way to the front, the way rose normally responds on my skin. But Dublin then keeps getting spicer and richer, and it is a wonderful scent.

I've very surprised at how much I love Dublin, because I normally don't do especially well with green scents. But I find it rich, spicy and refreshing, and worthy of purchasing a bottle!

Dorian was a love-at-first-sniff scent. All too often, the scents that make me swoon in the imp sadly change on my body. But I was so frenzied by the smell of Dorian that I put in on promptly. And it's great. On my body, it's sugar and vanilla with a high note of lemon, but there's something darker and spicier underneath it. Musk tends to turn dark and spicy-smelling on me, so I'd guess that's what gives off that quality in the blend. It doesn't morph at all, but retains a certain complexity that I love. I also found this scent was very feminine on me -- I can see how it could heat up into something else altogether on a man's body, but for me it's the perfect olfactory embodiment of Dorian Gray -- a true juxtaposition of scents that works beautifully together.