Calligrafiti

Sweet in the imp, sweet wet on my skin, sweet on drydown. The violet stands out, with the other notes seeming to enhance it rather than blending with it. I'm not a huge fan of sweet scents, so this imp goes into the "no thanks" pile.

imp: Wow! The scent is very powerful, citrus and cloves. Glorious! wet: The citrus fades immediately, and some florals come out and merge with the cloves. drydown: The cloves fade pretty quickly, leaving some slightly soapy floral scents. Too bad. If this smelled on my skin like it does in the bottle, I'd bathe in it.

imp: very citrusy and oceanic wet: the citrus/ocean dies down a bit and a lovely dark spice comes to the fore dry: mostly spice, but lifted by an underlying citrus I like this one very much. Of the 8 I've tried so far, this is one of my favorites. R'lyeh really works well with my body chemistry--if I find myself attracting shuggoths tonight I'll know why.

Imp: Dark floral with a bit of a kick (maybe the ylang ylang?) Wet: The rose comes out pretty strongly. I like rose, though, so that works for me. Dry: Rose scented soap. Not bad, per se, but I could get the same effect by washing with rose soap from the co-op up the road from me. So, not a keeper.

Imp: Mmmm, a bright floral--I guess that's the combination of star anise and cherry blossom. Wet: Hmmmm. The sandalwood is coming out a bit now. Dry: Ewwww. Does soap go bad? If so, it probably smells like this when it does. Definitely not for me.

Imp: sharp, bright citrus. This reminds me of a perfume called Nonchalance that my mom use to have. I was always stealing it. Wet: still citrus, but darker, richer notes are coming out. Dry: the citrus is pretty much gone, leaving leather, amber, and something slightly sweet. A good work fragrance. I'll definitely keep the imp, and I might consider buying a bottle when it's gone.

In the bottle it's a warm, rich, slightly sweet amber. Wet the amber really comes to the fore. On dry down there's a floral element that comes out. Unfortunately, the amber fades quickly, leaving a pleasant sweet floral behind. It's inoffensive, but not something I'll be getting again.

This is lovely, from the cedar and sandalwood in the bottle, to the herbal greenery on my wrist. But it's not really what I think of as "me". Still, I'll keep it for days when I feel the need to smell like someone else. My first keeper—yay!

A lovely green, almost herbal floral in the bottle. The heather comes out a bit more when it's wet on my skin. Unfortunately it's drying down to a bit of a floral soap. I do like smelling clean, but this isn't quite what I was looking for. Oh well. I still have eight imps to go in this order—there's probably a keeper in there somewhere.

This smelled wonderful in the imp—all warm spices and cool green notes. Upon application an underlying sweet floral came out. While the spice stayed around for a while the greenness faded almost immediately. Sadly, the spices faded on dry down, leaving a sweetness that turned to baby powder. The scent didn't have much staying power, but given that the parts I liked were the first to fade, I was ok with that. If I could find a scent that smelled similar on me to the way this smelled in the bottle, I'd wear it for ever. Oh well.

I've just begun exploring perfumes, and this was one of two bottles (and six imps) that I ordered as a starter. I loved the description (actually, I love the way the BPAL description copy is written in general). When I first put it on it seemed very intense, but that may just be because I don't usually wear perfume. It reminded me of something my mom wore for special evenings. An hour or so later and it has mellowed to a pleasant incense and musk scent. I'm still figuring out what scents I enjoy wearing; I don't see myself wearing this much. It's not bad or unpleasant, but it doesn't really do much for me.