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I've yet to completely fall in love with any of the MTP scents, but it's not for want of trying! I LIKE most of the ones I've tried, but not as much as I want to. Anyway. I quite like White Rabbit. It's not really what I consider a ME scent, but I find it quite evocative, so that makes it a bottle-worthy contender. It's a zingy sort of scent: I smell tea and honey and ginger and milk all at once when wet. Dry it's largely the peppery honey and ginger with a soapy undertone (I'm guessing the linen is the culprit). Wish that I got some vanilla out of the deal, but it seems that I downplay rather than amp vanilla. It's prim and proper, yet a little zany and twisted. Appropriate for the character and story.

I took a long time to try this, as when I received the imp and sniffed it I was immediately put off. The vague scent of blood mixed with wine was enough to make me question whether I wanted to skin test. But I'm in the mood today to get back to testing the ridiculous pile of imps I haven't tried, so here goes. Wet: Yeah, it's hard to say why, but this immediately smells WRONG on me. I'm guessing it's the combo of the blood and wine, though cocoa can also be a tricky one for me. Dry: This dried very quickly and settled down a bit, going through a phase where it smells a bit like Cocoa Pebbles. Great Sword of War did that to me too, much to my dismay. Bit Later: It's only been maybe fifteen minutes and this is fading fast, but as it fades it's actually almost pleasant. The rum is in the forefront, blending nicely with the cocoa and the blood and wine have thankfully gone away. I'm guessing this scent will completely disappear within a half hour at the rate it's going. Verdict: Not so great for me all up. Pass.

Simple and simply wonderful. I love the contrast of the sugary sweet vanilla against the grassy hemp and woody patch. Throw like WHOA. I can only imagine the greatness once some aging has occurred, and glad I sprung for two bottles (unheard of!) unsniffed. Delightful.

I probably didn't need this scent, but I realized that in all my BPAL, I don't have a simple rose scent. So here it is! I sniffed Rose Red and found the greenery not to my taste, but Peacock Queen is a haughty, deep red rose in full bloom. It reminds me greatly of a tea rose perfume I wore incessantly as a teenager, which is fun and nostalgic. It's quite strong on me, but I amp rose greatly, so YMMV.

I was blown away sniffing Lyonesse in the bottle for the first time--it is a beautiful scent. I have decent luck with lily, though it tends to be a pretty strong player on my skin, and Lyonesse is no different. To me, this scent conjures up the image of a big, luscious, white stargazer lily: creamy, cold, white, haughty, and strong. The vanilla and amber warm it up a bit, I cannot detect the elemi or sandalwood. This doesn't seem to have a ton of throw (despite my slathering), but it does last longer than most of my BPALs, and dries down to a muskier vanilla with a hint of soapiness from the vestiges of the lily. I wouldn't be devastated without it, but I do like my bottle and enjoy wearing it once in a while.

Mrrrrowww! I really love this one. Even though it's not the inspiration for this blend, I feel it still somewhat evokes the hero of one of my favorite collections of books: The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's a desolate, gaunt blend. For once the wine plays nice on my skin, lending a bit of warmth to an otherwise barren and cold scent. I also amp leather, so I get a ton of that, a hint of ivy, galbanum and a lot of ozone. Verra nice.

Been thinking about this one for a while and finally picked it up. Wet: A warm cinnamon spice, but there's a promise of deep amber to come. Dry: Here comes the amber! I'm generally a slatherer, but when it comes to amber, a tiny dab is more than enough. Amber amps like WHOA on my skin. This amber is a lovely, spicy warmth. Very leonine. Later: Amber still going strong, but there's a bit of a powdery edge at play now, giving it a more sugary, vanillic scent. A lot of BPAL amber goes quite powdery on me, and I was worried this might mean The Lion might poof into full on baby powder after a bit, but it keeps that warm, spicy heart with the powder just hovering around the edges. Yay! Summary: I'm so glad for this blend! It's really perfect--simple, pure, warm and glowing. A definite keeper, and will probably get used both on its own and as a layering note.

This one definitely feels like a high-end classic perfume for me. It evokes a wistful femininity. Initially the amber and bergamot step out, and I'm very much reminded of Okayaki from last year's Shungas. But there's a softness to this blend from the other florals and myrrh that Okayaki doesn't have. As it dries further, all the notes really mesh and it is a bit powdery and definitely sweet. That's my general experience with BPAL ambers though, and I've grown to like it. Personally, I wish I got a bit more mint or angelica, or something that would ground it a bit more and take it out of the realm of ethereal, but it's very pretty regardless.

Holy high preciousss! I've been looking for a new lavender love, ideally blended with rose and sugar or vanilla. Something akin to TAL Nocturne, but without the sleep-inducing intent. Odd Portents are apparently really good portents for me. Starts out mostly lavender, but not too sharp, with this sugary undercurrent. Later in drydown more of the dark fruit elements are making an appearance, and the scent is getting more complex. The throw seems pretty good, but this is one I feel I will likely be compelled to make a spray out of so I can have it wafting all around me.

This is another disappointment for me. Being an October baby, I sought this out as something meaningful to me. I love the concept, love the imagery. Sadly, on my skin, this does not evoke anything for me. I usually amp musk (esp. red) quite a bit, and am surprised to find no trace here. No blood, no dirt, no feral anything. What I get is a faint, herbally floral soap. Smells very rich and finely milled, but it's still soap. It's clean. Does not compute. Now that a new incarnation has been announced for 2010, I'll be most curious to check it out at Will Call. Fingers crossed that maybe the new version will be the throbbing feral hunt I'm in the market for....

Having tested this one a couple of times at Seattle WC, I knew this was the first Weenie on my list. Testing out of the bottle there it turned on my skin into a complex beauty--cocoa, thyme, anise, and juicy pom all interwoven into a beautiful gourmand. Just my thing. Fast forward to receiving my very own bottle of this from the lovely Hillary. I try it on eagerly and.... all pom, all the time. Que? I thought maybe it just needs a rest, it's suffering from mail trauma. So I wait a couple of days and try it again. Same deal. Rats. Then I started reading a bit more, and found a forumite's post about the thick cocoa at the bottom and how it perhaps needed a shake up. So I shook my little bottle rather vigorously. Let me tell you, that stuff is THICK, and it does not want to move. But I soon saw little gobbets floating around and decided to give it another go. Much closer to my original test, thankfully. At last the pom is tempered and the other notes have a chance to mingle and sparkle. I really love this scent, it's one of the most interesting and complex I feel I have in my BPAL collection. I'll just have to remember to give that baby a good shake before applying.

I'm so grateful to have found a bottle of this recently, and even happier that my gamble on buying it un-sniffed has payed off! Khrysee for me is the kind of nostalgic scent that I love discovering in BPAL. It captures a refined sensuality of a time past. It's simple and sweet. I do wish BPAL amber wouldn't go quite so powdery on me, but it works here, as opposed to Jezebel, where it's straight up baby powder on me. I detect a whisper of orange blossom, but it's really this is all about that vanilla scented amber. Khrysee evokes for me a lady in a silk dressing gown sitting at her vanity, hair perfectly coiffed, perhaps a simple ribbon choker at her neck, dusting herself with a fluffy powder puff coated in sweet-scented powder. Very, very feminine and utterly poised and well-mannered. Love it.

Like the above poster, I had high hopes for this one, and it smelled SO interesting in the imp. I'm not sure what caused the olfactory train wreck on my skin--maybe it's opoponax, but it's been fine for me in other blends, so I'm not certain. Anyway, what I got was a mixture of heady magnolia and currant floating over an extremely sour/sharp/lavender-spiked cacophony underneath. Not for me.

I had a feeling Tombeur would be the VILF for me, and I was right, though I question whether it's unique enough on me to warrant a bottle purchase. I really only pick up the vanilla, patchouli, musk and amber (that smells more like ambergris than resiny amber to my nose). It definitely smells akin to both Snake Charmer and Panther Moon on my skin--the latter in particular--though I'd say it has a more masculine feel than either. I do quite like it, so further testing will be in order. If you missed out on PM, I would definitely give this one a try, and if you happen to have Snake Oil Bath Oil, layer it on over that.

Mmmmmmm..... Smut 2010 is aging so nicely! When I first got a decant, I was a bit non-plussed-- it was super fruity/grapey and didn't seem very mature or complex at the time. I waffled, then I decided to spring for a bottle before the Lupers came down and I'm really glad I did. Now, several months later, I feel it really is living up to its "swarthy, smutty" description. I get no booze that I can detect, which is fine, as that note can do very poorly on me. Now it's just mature, a little raunchy, a little disheveled. It's particularly fun to layer with other scents: Death Adder and Womb Furie are layered with Smut. And now that I'm sold, I have a backup on the way.

I'm still on the fence with this one, but I'm glad to have an imp at least. I get a weird chemical smell wet--reminds me of the smell of a nail salon. It's really sharp. But the vanilla musk quickly gets going once dry and the throw is really pretty. Close up, still sharp and chemical. Weird. I'll have to give this one some more testing for sure. I want more ambery vanilla musk goodness!

Books, incense, magic indeed! I LOVE Dee. I love the concept, I love the scent, I love that it reminds me of one of my favorite (living) people though I can't exactly explain why. It's not really a great scent on me, but I will always have at least an imp in my possession. Wet: This is my favorite stage. I get a lot of leather, which is kind of sharp, but the sweet tonka comes out singing and it's this beautiful dance of masculine and feminine. Dry: All the notes blend together in a lovely way. The leather and rosewood stay on the sharp side, but the tonka and incense are still there to keep them in check. Really, if I knew a man who wore this I would probably be glued to him. The scent is so perfect for it's namesake. It's distinguished, mysterious, wise. The scent of a smart, visionary man, dreaming away in his library with an ancient tome open in his lap.

It took me months to finally get to testing my imp of Berenice, bought back when I went on a quest for collecting a bunch of the Poe offerings. Wish I hadn't waited so long! It's not the kind of scent I usually go in for, but it is truly beautiful and classic. And the best part for me is that the white musk doesn't go either soapy or mannish on my skin which is its tendency in most BPAL I've tried with that note. It stays sweet and even and clean and lasts for a long time, though it seems not to have much throw. I will treasure my imp and may even search out a bottle....

Morocco is teh gorgeous! I waffled back and forth on this one, but I'm glad I decided to go for it. I get the cozy, comfortable, sweater-like thing rather than an exotic bazaar, and that's fine by me-- I was due for something more subdued. Once I put it on, I realized what it most reminded me of: Kenzo Amour. I haven't smelled that perfume in years, but I remember a sort of rice pudding, soft musky scent, and that's precisely what I'm getting from Morocco. And I already got complimented on it, so that's a big win. It has clearly pretty decent throw, and seems to last for a few hours at pretty decent strength. I can still smell it on my wrist now, 9 hours later, but that's about it. Will be slathering this one a lot in the fall.

Found: one violet scent that has some serious violet POWER! This scent on me is everything I was expecting it to be, which makes me quite happy. I expected dark, sinister violet and that's exactly what this is. Simple. The vetiver is surprisingly mellow here-- just swirling in the background deepening the violet and keeping it going. This scent is so DARK it's almost black. It's giving me the picture of one of Anne Rice's Mayfair witches sauntering through the Garden District of my beloved New Orleans at twilight. It's very evocative for me. Funny though, this is what I would have expected from Le Serpent Qui Danse in terms of suiting the name. Saturnalia doesn't seem to quite fit. There's no celebration here, no licentiousness. More like secrets and mystery, things kept hidden from the light. Very nice.

I recently decided to try adding some violet scents to my collection after receiving some samples of a french violet perfume that I quite like, but disappears in about 30 seconds. I kid you not. Through the swaps I picked a nice little BPAL violet imp selection and this is the first one I was prepared to give a proper test. In the imp: Hello GARDENIA! Is there violet in here? And on wet, what is that bizarre smell? Something swampy and green, vegetal. DNW! I can handle the big gardenia punch, but this is unsettling. After a few minutes that swampy smell is still evident but only close up, and the vanilla is coming out to play, yay! As far as I can tell, this violet is shy. A bit later: Gardenia is settling down and this is getting prettier and prettier, though now it is basically a powdery vanilla musk on me. I can live with that. Hours later: Wow, I'm really surprised at the staying power of this, it's really still quite potent and I only dabbed a teensy bit on the crook of my inner arm. Really, this is sort of what I expected Dorian to smell like on me, but it turns quite masculine. I bet the two combined would be quite nice-- tone down the uber-femme quality I'm getting from this, and Dorian lasts on me FOREVER too. Final analysis: I quite like this and would consider a bottle, but that first stage is pretty off-putting. And the search will continue for my one true violet scent.

I had the strangest experience with BSS. Sniffing the vial, it seemed like SO, only tempered, smoother, with a slight aquatic feel. This boded well. Wet on skin it maintained that same initial scent impression for a few brief minutes, then dried to down to a quite masculine, musky scent. Maybe the oakmoss is the culprit? And for the rest of the day and night (did I mention this stuff has amazing lasting power on me) that's how it stayed, and I swear it smelled exactly like Dorian does on me, though that seems more than peculiar given the lack of notes in common. I often like things that lean toward the masculine, but I do draw the line at actually smelling like a man, which is how I feel about Dorian--sexy slightly unwashed man. One last note about the strength of this: I put a teeny tiny bit on my scalp, and I swear I could still smell it even after a shower or two. That's by far the strongest BPAL I've encountered.

I'll throw my vote in for Sin-- it was unremarkable to me fresh, but I have an aged imp of it and wow has it gotten good! Sexy spicy Patchouli. I need a bottle to age...

FRM you have confused me! Just got this in the mail today and couldn't wait to try it on-- almost all the notes sound like WIN for me. Wet: What's this? Floral perfume? OK, there's carnation in the blend, but I'm getting white orchids and gardenia type florals. Not what I'm expecting, and I'm not really a floral girl with the exception of rose. No vanilla, no clove, no woods to speak of. Dry: OK, I think that's sandalwood taking over. Sandalwood sometimes goes high-pitched and soapy on me, and that's happening a bit. Why? Maybe my chemistry is just off right now, or maybe this bottle needs to rest. A few minutes later, sweet clove shows up, so that's nice. About twenty to thirty minutes in this is now faint clove and woods on my skin. Very soft yet spicy. Well, this right now is a disappointing scent. I'm hoping with some rest and a little aging, I'll have better luck with it.

Got this as a frimp from a forumite--- and after reading reviews I was very intrigued to try my first civet blend. Immediately on: baby powder and mustiness? OK. Well, at least there's no cat stink! Shortly thereafter vetiverrrrrrrrrrrrr shows up (mind you I frequently like vetiver) and kicks me in the back of the throat much like the previous reviewer. And it stays like that FOREVER. I should have scrubbed it off, but I was 1) lazy, and 2) wanted to see if it garnered any reaction from the SO. No such luck on that last count, and I can't say it makes me feel particularly sexy at all. Oh well! I'm curious now though, to see what other civet blends might be workable for me. ETA: I forgot to mention that in the beginning I got a lot of cedar as well, which makes for a serious one-two punch combined with the vetiver, and is probably why the vetiver felt so incredibly aggressive in this scent.