EmpressPixie

Wet, I get intense ginger. Just gintense. It's like the sharpest gingerbread I've made. Which means it is also a bit sweet and a bit bready.

Dry, it is like breathing in sweet cinnamon, ginger wood. There is a heaviness to it that is not as common for me, I almost feel like I can chew the scent. Which is nice, because I want to eat my arm up right now.

In the bottle it smelled almost medicine-y to me, but on and dry it smells like ever so slightly dusty, raw leather. Not old, comfortable, worn leather but raw, rough leather. I'm amping this leather like crazy (something new for me) so I'm not really getting anything other than bam!leather!

And that's delicious.

I'm wondering if I'm going insane -- here is what I'm getting from this:

Bubblegum. In the bottle and then on my skin, bubblegum. As it dries down, I'm getting some woodsy soap in the background. And some lovely clove. The bubblegum fades pretty quickly into a woodsy, incense-y soap. Which is more what I expected (minus the soap, sigh, something isn't working) but the bubblegum threw me off terribly at first.

In the imp and on my skin, this smells dead on like a lemon-honey cough drop. Maybe a tad sweeter than that, but pretty dead on. So if you combined a lemon candy with a lemon-honey cough drop, I think you'd get to it. The upside is that there is little morph on my skin. It smells truly delightful layered with Countess Willie. (Well, "layered" in that I put the areas I'd swabbed them on side by side and sniffed.)

At first sniff this smells like really good spicy, gumdrops. Fruity and sweet and spicy and I seriously just want to eat it up. Like.. the best spicy gumdrops out there. I'm seriously bouncing in my chair with how mouthwateringly delicious this smells.

As it dries, I'm getting more spice that fruit. There is a bit of a sharp scent I don't love in there, but the overall scent is omg!amazing, gnaw off finger good. (I happened to swab it on my finger -- this is a first for me.)

Every time I sniff it, I start bouncing in my chair again with out amazingly good it is. I'm certain a bottle is in my future here. I mean, when a scent makes you literally bounce...

At first sniff, it smells a bit like high quality peanut butter and chocolate.

Once on, it changes to a high quality hot cocoa with a bit of coffee and definitely a strong cocoa butter. And some sugary sprinkles on top.

Dry it smells like a chocolate smelling doll I had as a kid -- which isn't a bad thing. I used to hold that doll up to my nose and huff. Definitely a bit of cinnamon had crept in. Other than that, mostly cocoa. Definitely a keeper, but I don't think an upgrader. And imp should do it.

In bottle: Dark, smoky resins and patchoulli.

Wet: It smells like something dark and sludgy, slowly moving in the night. A little sweet, quite a bit of patchouli, a bit like raisins, musky, a little sharp, and just... dark.

Drydown: This is simply gorgeous. It's perfect for a dark night. I take everything I said about it being sludgy and slow back. Everything. It's dark, resinous, sexy, smoky, vanilla-y, light patchouli, a bit of chili. There's something incredibly bright and swift about it in its darkness. It's everything I could want in a dark, beautiful perfume. Lovely, just lovely.

In the bottle this smells lightly like a barn. A bit of leather, something almost sweet from the hay, an almost sour note, and a dusty, light sandalwood that I had to really look for to find. It smells just lovely -- almost like a barn on a warm day.

Wet, the, um, negative elements of a barn are coming out a bit -- the sour note is amping and it smells, frankly, like my cat's litter box.

Tragically, my skin is taking whatever it can out of this and warping it horribly into "fresh step litter box while scooping the clumps". I think it is a combination of something going sweetly powdery and the rest of the scent. If I put my nose up to it and smell deeply, I can smell that gorgeous, gorgeous (it really is beautiful) sandalwood under there, so I can only assume it is the leather that my skin is objecting to -- and whatever my skin doesn't like is what is giving it some throw. So I'm getting gently wafting cat box instead of lovely sandalwood.

EDITED TO ADD: Okay, about an hour later, it has faded to soft, old leather, horse flank on a warm but not hot day, and the cat dirt smell is no longer gently wafting towards me. I don't think that's going to be enough to keep it, though.

I had really high hopes for this. I think it's going to be my first ever immediate trading bottle.

I bought this on eBay at the beginning of my BPAL spree. Before I knew that roses and amber go powdery and the roses that don't powder give me a massive headache. But I just can't let it go! Let me explain:

On drydown, it goes powdery. Light powder over rose, woodsiness, patchouli, and something dark and slightly sweet and oozing. If I can get past (ie, ignore) the powder, it's gorgeous. Just gorgeous. And after an hour (or two) the powder fades and what is left is so lovely. The long lasting drydown is actually -- on those days I want to smell dirty, manly, fabulous -- so amazing that I think it is totally worth the first hour or so of powder.

In the bottle: This is definitely sweet pumpkin buttered popcorn. Very sweet and smooth, a touch of something "off" and sharp that I'm coming to realize is black musk. The off-sharp in the bottle doesn't usually transfer to off/sharp on my skin entirely.

Wet: Cloves and buttery pumpkin. I'm really only getting buttery pumpkin pie so far. Way off in the distance, there might be an interesting and faint scent of something else.

Drydown: Still very buttery and pumpkin, but the cloves, tobacco, and myrrh are taking a stronger role. Black musk usually shows up last to the party with me and lasts the longest, so I'll have to wait a bit more. At the end of the drydown, it's all myrrh and musk with a pumpkin backdrop.

I have to premise this review by saying I have evergreen allergies. Too much evergreen gives me a headache. That said, I had to try this because it sounded lovely and I do like evergreen, I just occasionally don't get along with it.

In bottle: Very heavy evergreen. Is there anything else even in here?

Wet: A greener, sappy evergreen. It's really lovely. Reminds me of Christmas. No headache yet.

Dry: The longer it dries, the greener it gets -- more like freshly cut green things than evergreen, but clearly some of both. It's also getting florally sweet as it dries, but just a touch. The heather is coming out nicely and the sage is making a brief appearance.

Not an every day for me, but definitely a keep-the-imp.

In bottle: It's a little bit yummy and a little bit incredibly sharp and bitter. I'm torn between "can't wait to try it on!" and "oh god, do I really want to put it on me?"

Wet: Good throw. The yummy scents -- clove and something sweet -- are coming out. But that bitter scent -- copper feathers and brimstone, I'd say -- are nicely holding up in the background. It's kind of like the pumpkin pie from hell. It just arrived via HellExpress and still has a bit of smoldering brimstone to it. The musk is a bit of a bad note right now. I'm hoping it smooths out in the dry down.

Dry: The yummy sweet clove scent is fading swiftly, left with the almost burned metallic scent. It's still drying (this is the longest it has ever taken for an oil to dry on me). I think it is something I'm very happy I have an imp of, but an imp will do. Final dry notes: at moments it has a sweet, spicy scent, then without warning it will morph to a sharp, brimstone scent. I think this is wonderful. Not for everyday use, but certainly has its days. The brimstone, metallic scent also settled into something smoother than the original scent, so it isn't quite as sharp.

In the bottle: Wait, did I really order cherry flavored cough syrup? This does not bode well.

Wet: Okay, less like cough syrup, more like cherry kool aid. Not awful, but not something I necessarily want to smell like. Where is that boozy note?

Dry: Cherry chapstick. You know that horrible waxy taste that chapstick has if you just eat it? Yeah, that. Heavily present. With a very sharp note -- like some sort of industrial cleaner. Fortunately, my body appears to be eating this scent. It hasn't been on for long at all, and it is disappearing rapidly. The cherry has faded almost completely.

So this obviously didn't work on me. I shall be sending my imp on to a more deserving, body chemistry appropriate person asap.

In the bottle is almost smells too sweet -- all rich caramelized sugar with a hint of something floral behind it.

Wet, it smells entirely like creme brulee -- richly burned sugar, ahoy!

The rich sugary smell dissipates very quickly on me letting the fruity, musky, and floral notes come out. At first I thought it was settling into grape soda -- a combination of fruits and rose on me, apparently. Then a rosy musky scent. I keep sniffing my wrists and just can't tell where it is settling, even after 30 minutes. One sniff is totally grape soda and the next is warm and musky. While I'm a big fan of foodie smells, I'm not sure how I feel about this grape soda tendency.

Just got this and my fiance thinks it is just heavenly.

Wet - there is a hint of pear and cucumber, as well as something wet and green (jasmine and something else)

Dry - smells like fresh cut flower stems and jasmine

In bottle - the cucumber and pear were stronger and the green/jasmine smells were much lighter.

I'm not in love with it, but it works with me.

In the imp, I thought this was a little bit floral and sweet with an earthy undertone.

On me, dry however it's all powdery, sweet vanilla.

It's a pretty big change -- big enough to make me wonder if my nose was getting confused when I wrote down my first impressions (I was going through quite a few imps that my sister sent me). Lovely when dry, though.

Samhain 2009:

In the bottle: Initial impression was pumpkin pie, apple cider, and something a bit booze-y. Second impression is all apples and molasses. It's all a bit jumbled in the bottle to me, but I had no doubt it would clear up a bit on my skin.

On me: Doesn't really agree with me. Perhaps perfume oils get travel shock and it will settle down a bit? On me it has one strong overall scent of cinnamon and something strong and unpleasant. Maybe cat pee? I'm hoping to come back to it in a few days or weeks and have a happier reaction.

I heart Neil Gaiman and I think his blog posts and Tweets about BPAL are what got me into it to begin with, so I had to have this.

In the bottle, it smells like a sweet spice caravan traveling through the desert.

On me, it's like a spice shop on a warm afternoon.

(The short story is fabulous and they complement each other perfectly.)

This is my first review, so I'm not up to pro-standards yet, but:

in the bottle: It smells like vanilla cream soda, freshly baked sugar cookies, and a bit of creme brulee caramelized sugar crust. It made me hungry just smelling it. I immediately made my housemates smell it and they had the same reaction.

on the skin: At first it was sugary and sweet still, but once it dried down it was spicy (hint of patchouli perhaps) and a little sweet. Very yummy and definitely something I'll be wearing often.