starfish327

imps and decants absinthe akuma-3x baobhan sith bien loin d'ici black cat black death black heart block buster-2x blood pearl boo bordello calico jack centzon chimera czernobog crossroad-needs to be relabeled, using as a ritual oil dana o'shee deadly nightshade honey (tester) dee 2x dioble en bote doc constantine* dracul-2x Dragon's Heart dragon's hide egle ehecatl ekhidna-2x el dia des reyes-2007 event horizon fae-2x faunalia feast for the greatly revered ones grief-low hemlock honey (tester) herbert west high john hod-original, very low partial incubus intrigue jazz funeral-dated 2007 2x josie la bella donna della mia mente (tester/sniffie) lady macbeth lampades Laudanum Le Père Fouettard l'examen de minuit lilith victoria meliali milk chocolate, coconut, cardamom, rum, and ginger truffle needlework nephilim 2x obatala ochosi (need to check spelling) oleander honey (tester) paramatman pele perversion phantom queen sapphics sleipnir (spelling?) spooky res st. john's eve suck it sugar skull tavern of hell 2x the coiled serpent the ghost the great sword of war 2x the jersey devil the music of erich zahn 3x tiki princess proto v3 (tester/sniffie) torture king ulalume vampire tears-2x vice-3x villain yew trees yggdrasil yorick the amazing red labeled mystery decant *only willing to trade for something in the same scent family sniffies mr. croup ctvi: the amber series 154 sara pezzini anesthesia witchblade

florals and i normally don't mix, but i knew that grief stood out on my to try list though i couldn't remember why- it's the hyacinth. hyacinths are my favorite flowers. in the imp: soft white flowers, im assuming lily, over...something. i can't put my finger on it. not bad just familiar. wet: this really reminds me of the ghost, but i think i like it more. it reminds me a lot of cool water, which i wore all through high school. dry: first dry the hyacinth really sticks out and makes this an almost aquatic on my skin, without the sneezing and sinus pain a lot of aquatics give me. so this is definitely the fraternal twin of the ghost, but i think i like this one better for when i feel like a floral.

in the imp: pumpkin, pumpkin spice, then chocolate wet: wow this is a lot better than i thought that pumpkin and chocolate would be. and i'm glad i didn't read the notes first because i probably would run screaming. it smells like a really good pumpkin desert. the pumpkin hits first and then a large dose of the chocolate. dry: this is a really really REALLY good pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, the ones like my dad used to make when his garden exploded. the nut is much more prominent dry than wet.

in the imp: it's odd. i'm not sure what to think about it. it's...woody. woody musk topped with florals. wet: musky florals. i'm a touch disappointed. florals are the opposite of sexy to me. dry: it's morphing. it's jasmine or another whitish floral over something deep and red and throbbing. even though it's throbbing, i'm getting more cuddle than sexy. the red starts coming to the front which is going to save this imp. i don't think it inspires darkly sexual thoughts (sorry, but kink doesn't smell like red jolly ranchers). i do feel more playful though.

ivory soap and bay rum. this is a definite cousin to jolly roger...unfortunately jolly roger works much better with my skin chemistry. this wanted to be very masculine soap in the imp and wet (in fact there's a guy i work with that smells like this when he comes in for shift every night...), and slowly morphed into rum and woods. this may be one of the few blends that is too masculine for me to be able to pull off- my first instinct was to find something to layer with it to cut the masculinity a little. i think that i'll stick with jolly roger for something in this scent family.

pale white flowers underneath a full moon, early summer. very pale, very delicate. white gardenia, straight through. it reminds me a little of psychological horror, so i'm guessing there's some musk in there as well since i didn't get florals that i remember from psy horror. it's very pretty. it's very delicate, i'm not sure that it has that much of a throw on me at all though i could be wrong, florals are tricky for me. gardenia is one of the few florals that i can normally pull off easily (normally). there is a slight sourness under it on one wrist but not the other. weird. this was an escapee from the mass testing of 2009/2010 but i think this will stick around.

The essence of ambition, covetousness and manipulation: sweet Bordeaux wine, blood red currant, thyme and wild berries. this has been hanging out in my imp box for awhile now because i stopped wearing oils for awhile for my boyfriend's allergies' sake and i'm not comfortable wearing alcohol based (wine, rum, etc) to work. in the imp: dark red wine and blackberries/currants. wet: wine and something going soapy and sour. uh oh. dry: nope. still soapy and sour, just less so. the wine is trying to fight through, and periodically i do get whiffs of kool aid (the dreaded kool aid that i actually love so much in suck it). but it's mostly soapy sourness like i normally turn rose notes into. i'm almost guessing it's the thyme, though i still suspect that there's a rose or two in here. too bad. this one really should have worked on me.

2007 version between a sinus infection and my asthma i have had a small vacation from bpal so now that i can breathe again i can go back to reviewing in the imp: chocolate first, pretty much just straight up chocolate. closer to a chocolate syrup than a dry cocoa or even chocolate candy. it's a good chocolate syrup though, it's not hershey's. then the coffee kicks in wet: a really good dark mocha. dry: it's still a really good mocha though there may be a small dose of cinnamon or nutmeg in there but i'm not sure if i'm getting that only because i happened to glance at a review or not. it smells to alternate between coffee and chocolate being prominent, and there is a touch of playdough in there, but i remember there being the same impression off of espresso beans on occasion when i was still working with coffee every day.

samhain 2007 in the imp: apples, cinnamon, a little bit of wood, something that's both leathery and grainy at the same time wet: apple, cinnamon, wood, and oatmeal dry: sweet cinnamon and pumpkin spice, with a splash of apple. it's deepened by a hint of smoke. at first it reminds me of sweet cinnamon pumpkin but then the apple comes back to the front. this is very very nice. completely wrong in feel for the day, but it's very comforting at the same time. samhain 2010 in the bottle: apples over something murky. wet: wow, incense and dirt. there's nothing fruity about this at all. this is as about as dark and murky as my collection gets. this is totally not what i was expecting, but i like it- think dracul or similar, but not as incensy. dry: this is really morphing as it dries. it stays very dark on my skin but the apple note comes forward a LOT more, so the entire blend gets a lot sweeter. it's like eating apple pie in the dark, but not nearly as spicy. throw seems to be minimal because i slathered this on accident, and my normally scent sensitive boyfriend hasn't commented at all. it'll be interesting to see what happens when this blend calms down a little more (it came in the mail yesterday) and ages a bit.

once the creosote blast that i get initially dies down...it's really NOT bad. it actually reminds me of a lot less maply px717 or a less rosy st. john's eve. i'm going to try layering it at some point. i'd wear it straight (really really sparingly) except that it gives me a mental image of dried blood. interpreting everything as an image has its downsides.

very green, sweet, and almost aquatic. very light.

in the imp: pomegranate wet:...cat pee?! dry: a hint of powder and something sour, and pomegranate i'm going to give this one another chance before i decide its fate

in the imp: wow, this is the first imp in a long time that i actively disliked in the imp. there's been a couple that i've been sort of scared by, but this one i actually don't like. wet: medicinal. herbal. smells like something i'd apply for pain relief. alternately, it smells like old stale incense. dry: still very astringent, medicinal herbal. there's something that i'm interpreting as detergent as well, but i think that may be the lily. it does sort of remind me of dirt, but not so strong that i knew it off the bat- i recognized dirt in jazz funeral immediately, but this was only after reading other reviews. it becomes tolerable after awhile, but i don't see myself wanting to wear this one. i know what i smell like: i smell like an attic.

in the imp: the same bbq note from st john's eve (though this time i'm not afraid to skin test it, so it's not going to take me three weeks to work up the nerve) and cinnamon, with something faintly herbal underneath that. wet: why hi there vetiver, how you doin'? heavy smoke with sweet kitchen spices. i don't know why but it's surprising me since i was apparently expecting this to actually be st john's eve. i think because the smoke note was so similar. but this is all sweetness where that was incense and rose. dry: apparently i amp maple. because now this is all maple and a hint of smoke. i don't know what to think about this one. i like it, but it's giving me a lot of scent memories that make me think 'dirty'- as in a mess. it reminds me of sugaring season back home- burnt sugar, wood chips everywhere, smoke, sticky sappy ick on everything. however, at the same time, it's another really intense scent memory coming out of the lab so i'm torn. beth somehow does bring back the most intense scent memories from when i was younger than 15...

lab fresh, frimped with last order, dated this month in the imp: wine and roses wet: wine and roses dry: this is having a really long drying time on me- most blends are stable by the time i get the review window open to type. this one is still drying and still morphing. wine and roses and sweet tarts- this reminds me really of a mixed drink. it starts pulling rose and musk though. this is definitely ROSE. and not just rose but strong rose. i normally can't do rose, especially amping rose. but this is weird enough that i think i want to keep it around. this is actually really surprising, i thought that i would hate this when i opened the imp. i'm sad that i'm not getting the resin/incense vibe from this however. actually i know what this makes me think of,. this is what i was hoping smut and/or womb furie would smell like, just with rose. this is behaving better than those two however, which is surprising because those were two of my biggest bpal let downs yet.

there have been very few blends that i've tested that i've gone, oh this is really really REALLY masculine, so masculine i can't wear it. this unfortunately is one of them. it's also one of the strongest blends that i've tried. in the imp and wet, i just get a blast of cologne. it's very clean and while i have little to no experience with metallic notes, this does remind me a lot of copper. dry, this smells exactly like a guy i dated in college- this goes straight into axe territory and with all the same problems that i have with axe. it's very strong- i didn't even really apply it so much as sort of spray myself with the imp on accident and i'm in a very clean, soapy, male-ish haze. this actually reminds a lot of a guy i know who's really into steam punk. i just have no interest in smelling like him, personally. it's very fresh and clean and borders on aquatic for me. i could see this working very well on the right guy, but it's going back into a pack on the rehoming thread!

decant bought on the forums in a hunt to replace torture king: in the imp: masculine, sort of generically masculine. similar to tk but doesn't have the high citrus kick to it. wet: i can see where the comparisons are made- lots of leather and light masculine style musk. dry: this is the same family as tk, but not nearly as powerful. the amber lightens it up too much and i do get a slight apple vibe. i'm getting frankencense from this as well. this actually reminds me more of faunalia than tk- it has the same resiny, clean, almost cool masculine feel to it. i may try layering this with doc constantine just for kicks, but this doesn't bode well for this decant. it's a lot cleaner and preppier than what i generally wear for masculine style oils, and my skin seems to eat it.

i have a bag that i put all of my to be tested imps and testers into, and i pick one out every night to be tested the following day. currently the bag almost can't be closed, and i'm falling more and more behind on my testing pile (what can i say? i love circular swaps lol). doublehelix was nice enough to rehome a very full tester of hod (original). in the imp: carnation and rose. strange. i'm recognizing these two notes from the bottom notes of another blend i just tested recently but i can't place which one. wet: almost a carnation sn. very little rose-thankfully, normally i amp it to gag inducing levels. a hint of vanilla very much at the bottom of this. dry: ...and it's gone. or almost. it's very very faint. it's like the far out dry down of something. the carnation is doing odd things on my skin as well, though it may be my hormones- spicy notes sometimes go plastic on me when the sharks are circling. i'm really glad that i got a chance to test this since it's at least a minor bpalicorn, but it's going to be given a chance to be tested by a friend who wanted to sniff it and then it's going to be rehomed to someone who can actually wear and you know smell it.

imps and decants absinthe akuma-3x baobhan sith bien loin d'ici black cat black death black heart block buster-2x blood pearl boo bordello calico jack CD: Blue Pumpkin Floss v3 centzon chimera czernobog crossroad-needs to be relabeled, using as a ritual oil dana o'shee dee 2x dioble en bote doc constantine* dracul-2x Dragon's Heart dragon's hide egle ekhidna el dia des reyes-2007 event horizon fae-2x faunalia feast for the greatly revered ones grief-low herbert west high john hod-original, very low partial incubus intrigue jazz funeral-dated 2007 2x josie lady macbeth lampades Laudanum Le Père Fouettard lilith victoria milk chocolate, coconut, cardamom, rum, and ginger truffle needlework nephilim 2x obatala ochosi (need to check spelling) pele perversion phantom queen prurience (sniff) sapphics sleipnir (spelling?) spooky res st. john's eve suck it sugar skull tavern of hell 2x the coiled serpent the ghost the great sword of war 2x the jersey devil the music of erich zahn 3x tiki princess proto v3 torture king ulalume vampire tears-2x vice-3x villain yew trees yggdrasil yorick the amazing red labeled mystery decant *only willing to trade for something in the same scent family tea party- new, sale only NOT FOR TRADE (wedding favors) queen of hearts high strung daisies the dodo frumius bandersnitch all in a golden afternoon cheshire cat drink me alice sniffies testers smut 2010 tal-decants charisma bptp champaigne bath oil decant (willing to trade, i don't have a tub!) other etailers arcana pax mundi love potions new year's evil possets nevada heat bottles partials spring training empty womb furie fruit of paradise pomona copper phoenix milk chocolate, coconut...truffle adoration of the mi go wishlist: German Expressionist Horror A Bachelor's Dog The Grand Inquisitor's Heretic's Fork -any of the four lick its -any weenies -any of the pumpkin patches AEVAL Anne Bonny Aperotos Eros Archangel Winter BARON SAMEDI belladonna BELLE ÉPOQUE BLACK FOREST Block Buster Bonfire Night chimera clemence Crowley Death of Autumn dee Devil's Night Djinn fenris wolf GOLDEN WAVE GRANDMOTHER OF GHOSTS GYPSY hades Hellfire HIGHWAYMAN Himerus holly king interfector Jabberwocky Kali Loup Garou Love and Pain Mama Ji mata hari MONARCH oak king oberon On Darkness Pais de la Canela philologus POLYNESIAN POP Priala RANGOON RIPTIDE red lantern RED TIDE Rumpelstilzchen samhain, any year Samhainophobia SCREECHING PARROT Sin skadi snow moon Spider Strangler Fig THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM THE BLACK RIDER THE BLACK TOWER the catapillar the dodo the Goblin Ride The Great He Goat THE LIGHTS OF MEN'S LIVES the music of erich zahn THE OBSIDIAN WIDOW Tintagel Titus Andronicus tombeur torture king Van Van vilf White Light wraith YEMAYA

decant bought off of lj in the imp: smoky pine wet: smoky pine dry: smoky pine, a hint of amber, and incense. this is a more piny, slightly weaker st john's eve on my skin. this is very nice. in fact, this is much nicer than what i had thought it would be. i had purchased this one because i liked the name and it was on my wishlist, but i couldn't remember anything about it, and the reviews had me a tad concerned that it would be overpowering. but this is actually a lot lighter and a lot more feminine than i had feared it would be. this is definitely dark, but it's not brooding dark.

oh this is totally not me. in the imp and wet, it's all sugar- bubblegum, cotton candy, something bright pink and that would make my teeth ache. dry, it's cotton candy and flowers. it's...young. it's very very young. it reminds me of something that you would market to a five year old. it's still sickeningly sweet. i could see this on a kid on a complete sugar buzz who's running rampant and getting into everything. this is completely not my style- it's about a 180 from what i normally look for. i was hoping for something springy and slightly sweet, but this is...i'm not sure what it is but it's not all that pleasant.

imps and decants absinthe akuma-3x baobhan sith bien loin d'ici black cat black death black heart block buster boo bordello centzon chimera czernobog crossroad-needs to be relabeled, using as a ritual oil dana o'shee dee 2x dioble en bote doc constantine* dracul-2x Dragon's Heart dragon's hide egle el dia des reyes-2007 event horizon fae-2x faunalia feast for the greatly revered ones herbert west high john high strung dasies hod-original, very low partial incubus intrigue jazz funeral-dated 2007 josie lady mcbeth lampades Laudanum Le Père Fouettard lilith victoria mechanical phoenix milk chocolate, coconut, cardamom, rum, and ginger truffle needlework nephilim 2x obatala ochosi (need to check spelling) octopus and abalone diver pele perversion phantom queen prurience (sniff) sapphics sleipnir (spelling?) spooky res st. john's eve suck it sugar skull tavern of hell 2x the coil- partial the coiled serpent the ghost the great sword of war 2x the jersey devil the music of erich zahn 3x torture king ulalume vampire tears-2x vice villain yew trees the amazing red labeled mystery decant *only willing to trade for something in the same scent family tea party- new, sale only NOT FOR TRADE (wedding favors) queen of hearts high strung daisies the dodo frumius bandersnitch all in a golden afternoon cheshire cat drink me alice sniffies antique lace iganok jewelers jersey devil obatala ostara penis adoration snow angel under the harvest moon testers autumn moon of the mirror stand olisbos smut 2010 tal-decants charisma bptp champaigne bath oil decant (willing to trade, i don't have a tub!) other etailers arcana pax mundi love potions new year's evil possets nevada heat bottles partials spring training empty womb furie fruit of paradise pomona copper phoenix milk chocolate, coconut...truffle adoration of the mi go wishlist: German Expressionist Horror A Bachelor's Dog The Grand Inquisitor's Heretic's Fork -any of the four lick its -any weenies AEVAL Anne Bonny Aperotos Eros Archangel Winter BARON SAMEDI belladonna BELLE ÉPOQUE Bengal BLACK FOREST Block Buster Bonfire Night Brimstone Calico Jack chimera clemence Crowley Death of Autumn dee Devil's Night Djinn fenris wolf GRANDMOTHER OF GHOSTS hades Hellfire HIGHWAYMAN Himerus holly king Jabberwocky Kali Loup Garou Love and Pain Mama Ji mata hari oak king oberon On Darkness Pais de la Canela Priala Red Devil red lantern Rumpelstilzchen Samhainophobia Sin skadi smut snow moon Spider Strangler Fig THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM THE BLACK RIDER THE BLACK TOWER the catapillar the dodo the Goblin Ride The Great He Goat THE LIGHTS OF MEN'S LIVES the music of erich zahn THE OBSIDIAN WIDOW Tintagel Titus Andronicus torture king Van Van White Light wraith YEMAYA

frimped! a very well timed frimp as well. i have a job interview this afternoon and feel like my life have become very stagnant lately. on top of it, i have problems with anxiety (I'm extremely worried about this interview even though i know that i have no interest in the job, but i don't get enough offers to interview for more stable positions than the one i'm in now to pass down a chance to at least practice my interviewing skills). in the imp- wow. sharp melon with an undertone of something sweet and candy like. wet-sharp, herbal candies. it makes me think of something that you'd beg an adult for even as they tell you that you won't like it- and then hate it once you get it. dry- it morphs into apple pie. sweet, spicy, i want to eat my arm. and i have to admit, i'm a lot calmer now that i'm wearing this, it may be entirely a mind game but it does seem to be helping. this does seem to be the most effective of the conjure bags that i've tried so far.

cranberries! nomnomnom. heavy note of cranberry juice all the way through this one. the bottom notes morph though- there's something that goes from herbal to smoke on the dry down. i attempted to wear another blend today and i thought it was interacting with that, but the smoke is still there when applied on a different location. it almost smells like vetiver. eventually it fades though and i'm left with lovely sweet cranberries.

in the imp and wet: ...grass clippings? (looks at note list). okay so i guess i'm getting the fern? dry: grass clippings with lavendar and lilac and something...else. i almost think it's the sugar going strange on me- it smells like latex at first and then something that smells like plastic sugar, like a doll that's supposed to smell like sugar. off to the swap box/imp orphanage. this is just...wrong. i like the upper notes. if i could keep the lawn smell i'd actually like it, it reminds me of summer and is just strange enough to want to wear it. but that weird cast off note from strawberry shortcake is too much for me to take.