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Just in time for Panther Moon, rawgirl75 gifted me a sniffie of this; which is good because I need to see how well the star anise behaves on me in spite of all the other win notes In the imp - Yep, the anise is there, as is the agarwood, vetiver and mandarin . . . On wet - A surprisingly complex scent. It's weird, very far away, I smell Chinese takeaway, where did that come from? Mandarin, vanilla, vetiver, anise, definitely. Drydown - This is really amazing, and is making me wonder if I shouldn't pick up Panther Moon after all. I wouldn't have thought for a million years that this would work on me. I mean the musk and the vetiver, sure, maybe the vanilla - but usually citrus fruits (mandarin) and anise are pure death. But this, I can't even put a finger of what works about this, it just does. It's amazing. Purely and utterly amazing. You can detect basically every single note of this blend individually with one whiff, and it's practically overwhelming in its complexity, but in the good way - profoundly impressive. Wow!

Another gift from the outstanding rawgirl75. When she told me that khus is another word for vetiver, I started kicking myself for not trying this sooner, as I am vetiver fiend In the imp - really nice - dust, vetiver, velvet and pine needle. Distant myrrh. On wet - Oh, this is perfect. This is exactly what I imagined when I read the description, and when I think back on movies like Nosferatu and Caligari. Dusty, velvety, with myrrh and pine adding spice, and vetiver adding depth. Am loving this. Drydown - sweet mother of God, what a drydown. Myrrh, vetiver, musk, black pepper, and just a bit pine needle leftover. Delightful

I've been meaning to try this for so long - I love musk and amber, and I adore the scent of saffron though I've never had it in a perfume before, I think - and then rawgirl75 was wonderful enough to send me this as an impromptu gift In the imp - definitely nice, and definitely saffron, though I can't identify the other scents as easily . . . On wet - Cedar and saffron foremost, with musk and amber running up. Litsea cubeba (a mildly violet-ish scent, says Wikipedia) is in there too. Very masculine and attractive so far. More, please! Drydown - Phwoar. Now that's sexy At least I'd find it sexy if I smelled another guy wearing it . . . cedar, musk, amber, saffron. A reddish-gold, sensual scent. So glad I got to try this and now have a whole imp's worth for personal use

In the imp - bright, clean, gentlemanly and fresh! White tea and sandalwood. Tidy and pleasant. On wet - Verbana is strongest, lavender second. The tea and sandalwood remain in the background for now. Drydown - Lavender is strongest on the drydown. A gorgeous, neat, minimalist scent, just the thing for a well-scrubbed gentleman about town. Will definitely put this to use

A scent I'll be honest I had not heard of before rawgirl75 sent me an imp Sounds good, mind you . . . In the imp - boozy! And how! This is all bay rum, all the time. Unexpected but fun! On wet - red currant lightens the bay rum, patchouli, musk and woods darken it. I can detect the tea rose very faintly. I think this is going to have one of the most awesome drydowns known to man. Drydown - I was right! Thankfully the booze goes away a bit because it was just a bit too heavy, now it's just spice, woods and musk, lightened by the red currant and tea rose, with the zing of rum. This is a great summer scent, just the thing to wear while lazing about and catching a tan

A gift from the amazing rawgirl75 This is the first Shunga I've ever got to try, and I am very curious <3 In the imp - I get the musk, the tonka and the honey. On wet - Why hello there. This is very, very nice. I was worried about the currant but it just gives it a dry, not overly sweet fruity brightness. The honey and tonka smoothes out the musk and sandalwood. Am quite impressed so far Drydown - a wonderful summer scent. This is mostly honey and musk with a little sandalwood on me now. Sunny and sexy. Perfect for days to come

I was gifted this by the absolutely amazing rawgirl75 I'm quite curious about it because she talked about it before and it sounded so amazing. In the imp - Mmfh. Cocoa, vetiver, dragon's blood. Delightful On wet - Musk, dragon's blood and vetiver. Cocoa slightly in the distance, but I actually like it faint as it is, as I am not usually much of a foody person. As such, it gives it a nice cocoa undertone without hitting you over the head with it Allspice gives it a pleasant little kick. Drydown - Oh, this is amazing. Not to mention sexy. On the drydown I get almost entirely dragon's blood, musk and vetiver. It stays very close to the skin but it's so freaking beautiful! Am keeping this for special occasions, like when someone, who knows who, but preferably a handsome gentleman, will be sniffing my skin What a treasure! Thank you, rawgirl75

I'm always a bit worried about Mad Tea Party scents, none of have really worked on me so far (though March Hare was nice enough), but after much back and forth I thought, for god's sake, self, you like tea, you like pepper, you like honey, you like vanilla and you like the clean linen scent. This should work beautifully, just try it. So here's me, doing just that In the imp - a perfectly innocent and clear oil Ginger and honey. Mild. On wet - Mmmh, oh, gorgeous! Tea and honey, pepper, vanilla, and just the faintest scent of ginger. Oh please stay this beautiful! Drydown - Oh, this is wonderful. Honey and tea remain present, with just the barest touch of ginger and vanilla. Faint linen. This has all the chances of becoming a favourite. I have to try this a few more times but goodness gracious. Keeping the imp. Might invest in a bottle.

A frimp from a forumite <3 ! I've always liked the name of this blend. Ever since I first got into BPAL, in fact, except that the orange kept scaring me off - so I'm really glad I get to try this for free, especially since patchouli and vetiver are two of my favourite notes ever In the imp - Orange, and oh my darling vetiver. On wet - Surprisingly light, and the orange behaves beautifully. Vetiver, light orange and patchouli. Drydown - Oh my goodness, look at how the orange continues to play along! This is surprising and deilghtful. Ylang ylang and orange supply a cool freshness, and patchouli and vetiver add depth. I rather like this one and I'm keeping the imp, time will tell if I make a bottle purchase of it. But there's definitely a good chance.

Was frimped this <3 I love amber and musk, and rose could go either way . . . let's have a look. In the imp - deep, rich, red oil. Like crimson satin cushions on a bed at night. Am perfectly intrigued. Musk, faint rose. On wet - Perfectly sensual and overwhelmingly elegant. Amber and red musk are strong, and I detect a hint of the rose (my skin amps musk, hence the rose is behaving.) Drydown - the roses blossom more now, and the musk remains strong. As always on my skin, the amber has trouble keeping up but rounds out the other two notes beautifully. Perfectly seductive and gorgeous, a wonderful blend.

Thank god there's this thread, because I've been desperately looking for a recommendation based on a character I'm a huge fan of Lost's subplot (or rather, overreaching plot) of Jacob and the Man in Black. I've sort of found my two scents I associate with the Man in Black, namely Iago and Smokestack, but I really want to find the perfect Jacob scent. I'm looking for something evocative, more than anything of bright, warm sunlight, of the sea, but the beach rather than the ocean, so not too strong an aquatic, old fabric, maybe something musky, something with amber? I'm thinking of trying Coyote again because I remember it nailing the sunlight and musk parts, but it's not particularly ocean-y.

Well, I'm normally not a foody person, but lately my tastes have changed a bit and I always love the smell of chocolate, so I thought I'd try an imp of this In the imp - dry dark chocolate, very rich. On wet - Gets creamier, pure milk chocolate. Mmmh. Drydown - As others have said, it gets a slight bit plastic-y on drydown, but it's still a beautiful chocolate smell.

This sounds very promising, let's have a look In the imp - mmh, wonderfully intense. Musk, dragon's blood, patchouli and cinnamon. On wet - This really carries the intensity of bloodlust as a concept very well. Smoky vetiver, pounding dragon's blood, deep musk and spicy patchouli. Love it! Drydown - As it dries down, the vetiver disappears and it goes a tad too sweet, no doubt thanks to the untempered dragon's blood, patchouli and cinnamon. It's still very nice though, and I'm keeping the imp.

I have the weirdest reason for trying this - one of Zachariah's lines in Supernatural ("In Heaven, I have six wings and four faces, one of which is a lion."). Yeah, I'm probably insane. But I do love my amber, and have always wondered about this blend anyway, Kurt Fuller just gave me a good excuse In the imp - faint spices. On wet - oomph. Gorgeous amber. Royal. Golden. Warm. Glowing. Slightly spicy. Drydown - very close to the skin, but the amber blossoms more. It's really hard to smell - maybe there's something wrong my nose today because I find it really hard to detect after a half hour. I'll see where it goes from here, and I'll try it a few more times the next few days in case my nose just isn't playing along for whatever reason. I hope that's what it is, because on wet this is the most beautiful amber I've ever smelled and I want it to stick around. ETA: a very faint spiced note, mostly clove, remains after a while, but no amber - what a shame

I really don't know what to expect of this - I'm trying to try imps of the entire Arkham line just because I'm a Lovecraft fan, and I discovered BPAL through the Lovecraft fandom. I only have R'lyeh left to go after this. I love incense and ozone, but the previous reviews stating it smells slightly like lemon worry me - my skin amps the stuff. At last, I found a cheap imp, so I will see for myself In the imp - a lot lighter than I'd hoped. Light incense and a tinge of ozone. On wet - I can barely smell this. It stick so close to the skin. I can see what people mean about the lemon, but it's not too aggressive - yet. Drydown - Where is this incense you speak of? This is ozone upon ozone, plus light lemon. It's nice, but not at all what I expected.

This has been compared to one of my favourite LEs, Archangel Winter, by a number of people, and I've always been intrigued by the scent description. So, I finally decided to try it. In the imp - crystal-clear oil, and I can see what people mean about it being similar to Archangel Winter; it has that same clear, fresh-but-not-aquatic, airy-but-not-ozoney, clean and pleasant smell that almost seems to lack fragrance and smell all the better for it. On wet - This really is a dead ringer to Archangel! Uncanny. Well, at least I know that if I ever run out of Archangel, all won't be lost Drydown - Indeed, still Archangel. I am in love. I'm so glad I tried this, because now I'll always have a backup for when my Archangel runs dry! Sea of Glass has a mildly aquatic note that Archangel doesn't have and lacks Archangel's extreme icyness, but on the surface they are identical. I am beyond pleased.

I'm really excited because this is my very first Salon oil! I was frimped a decant by someone from the forum and have heard good things about this blend, and the opoponax, mahogany, white tea and vetiver all sound good already. I have no idea what karakarounde is. I googled it and am still as lost as I was before. Here we go. In the imp - faint tea, orange blossom and vetiver. On wet - mahogany, orange blossom and tea. Distant opoponax. Drydown - Beautifully blended! Mahogany and tea stay strong. Unfortunately, the orange blossom ruins it for me. It overpowers almost all the other scents. No vetiver. Very nice, but not for me.

I haven't experimented enough in the Excolo line, methinks. I was drawn to this because musk, myrrh and vetiver are three of my hands-down favourite notes. In the imp - wow, this stuff is dark. Really dark. I've never had a BPAL oil this dark. Deep myrrh, hint of vetiver. On wet - Musky! Obviously, there are after all three musks in it But I love it. I love musk. Vetiver adds a certain smokey depth. Drydown - surprisingly sweet. I think that might be the mullein. Which I, idiot that I am, misread as muslin when I first read the note description. I was expecting something like cotton But! The mullein still works, it sweetens it all a little, but the musk, myrrh and vetiver remain strongest. Gorgeous blend. This imp is a keeper.

In the imp - tonka, amber, patchouli and lavender. On wet - the fougere is strongest, but accented by patchouli and tonka. Drydown - Oh, I really like this. This dries down to a warm, comforting, lovely scent. The tonka, amber, rosewood and patchouli are wonderfully blended. I may get a bottle of this. This is absolutely outstanding

Was frimped this. As of late I've been trying to get more honey scents so that's fitting I like patchouli and fig too, but I'm not sure about the clove, which my skin tends to amp. In the imp - beautiful honey with a touch of patchouli and fig. On wet - Clove is behaving. Still that wonderful honey / patchouli / fig combo, but deeper. Nice. Drydown - Wow! This has an outstanding drydown. Patchouli, fig and clove make for a deep, spicy scent, and the honey sweetens and deepens it - this is gorgeous!

As though I don't have enough cologne blends already I just get drawn in by colognes, I suppose. That, and I love Oscar Wilde (but who doesn't?). In the imp - a very mild, light cologne. On wet - much the same. It's like a lighter version of Vicomte de Valmont, which I also liked, but which I felt was at times too strong so this is a good alternative. Drydown - this blossoms into a beautiful drydown. There's still that fresh cologne scent to it, but the tonka and patchouli warm things up, moss sweetens it and the bergamot and thyme add more green freshness. Very pretty!

Got a prototype (Prototype 2) of this thanks to the trunk show! I'm a bit nervous. The Dunwich Horror is hands down my favourite Lovecraft story ever, but will this actually work on me? In the bottle - a clean aquatic. Oh no. I was hoping for something woodier :/ Oh well, it hasn't touched my skin yet, so who knows. On wet - Still aquatic. Lots of lillies. Oh dear. Exactly the kind of thing that doesn't work on me. Please get better. Please get better. Please get better! Drydown - Lilies. Nothing but lilies and aquatics. Waugh. No woods. No marsh. No nothing. Just lilies and soap. All this waiting, all this clamouring, for absolutely nothing. Sigh. ETA: Upon retrying, much more pleasant Less florals. More swamp. Thank you

Frimp from a forumite I was back and forth on whether to try it when it was out, so here's my chance. In the imp - hazelnut and caramel - mmmh! Not the sticky, sweet caramel that overpowers everything, just a trace amount . . . I want to swallow this. On wet - More hazelnut, more caramel, honey. I love this. It's foody without being cloyingly sweet. Can't stop sniffing my wrist! Drydown - a hint of tart berries but mostly still hazelnut and honey, with a hint of hay. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Keeping the decant

In the imp - ink! Definitely, ink. And oil. On wet - Oh wow, that's intensley mechanical. Not bad, mind you, because that's exactly what I wanted! Ink, oil and metal. It reminds me of another BPAL oil that's on the tip of my tongue but I don't know what. Argh! Either way, so far, so good. Drydown - stays very close to the skin. Ink, metal, oil and clay. I wouldn't really call it a suitable perfume because the oil is very sharp, but as a scent impression this is very nice.

I'm nervous about this. I was drawn in by the steel and blood notes - I love those - and I wonder how the cling wrap works, but the caster wheels? Let's try In the imp - this is amazing, it really does smell exactly like the little shack for the shopping carts outside of my supermarket! On wet - how the heck does Beth do this. This is obscenely spot-on! I feel like I'm out shopping! Fresh ozone, something sweet but not too sweet, the plastic of the cling wrap, and I haven't got the blood yet but I'm sure it'll come. Drydown - The metal stays quite sharp and the blood comes through, mingling oddly with the sweetness and the plastic. Nice!