calivianya

I received this as a frimp from the Lab. In the vial, I smell something strongly chemical. I was almost afraid to put it on, but I did anyway. That same chemical, horrid smell whacked me in the face when I applied this. After about five minutes, however, the chemical smell has vanished to be replaced by a soft leather. I get no black musk or vetiver - I'm amping the leather to high heaven and there is no room for any other notes on my skin. The black musk dares to peek out on the drydown, about fifteen minutes in, and I think I can detect the vetiver, but it is almost too faint to tell. I have a feeling I could get more black musk and vetiver with aging, and this might be an interesting blend to re-try then. Until then, it is a strong leather blend with a teeny tiny hint of musk in the background.

It hasn't even been out of the mailbox four hours and already this is a rich sweet resin blend, perfectly balanced and dark. I don't know why I didn't just go ahead and order two bottles, at least, instead of one. It is fabulous.

Zephyr is extremely faint on my skin, even immediately after applying. I agree that this is a very light and airy scent. I don't get the vanilla, but a light, floral, almost herbaceous scent. It smells very fresh and clean, but is a little too short lived for my liking.

I received this as a frimp from the Lab! In the vial, it is extremely sweet. It's a little calmer on my skin, though - mainly coconut and hazelnut. As it dries down, it almost smells like coconut soap. Maybe the iris is the culprit? Whatever it is, this becomes a little unappetizing on my skin. I may have to give it another test at a different time of the month, but my initial impression is not pleasant.

Lascivious, flirtatious, and vampy as hell. A true heartbreaker’s perfume. The innocence of orange blossom tainted by the beguiling scents of ginger and patchouli. I received this as a frimp from the Lab! We'll see how it goes. Ginger makes me hesitant because ginger can sometimes turn a blend into ginger SN on my skin. In the vial, I smell the orange blossom, ginger, and patchouli. However, when it hits my skin, it does immediately become a ginger SN. After about ten minutes, the orange blossom braves the ginger to peek out and I begin to smell the patchouli. As it further dries down, it does begin to smell creamy instead of just harsh. This is a keeper and a pleasant surprise.

What jumps out in my mind is The Deep Ones from the Picnic in Arkham collection. Aquatics go soapy on me, but if you can wear them, give it a try. Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral.

Anne Bonny is a very dry resin blend on my skin. The Lab's sandalwood notes always smell dry to me. The patchouli just makes it deeper, and the frankincense adds a slight bright note. This is very good.

I consider the midnight show of the last Harry Potter movie to be a special occasion, and I am wearing Severin. Severin just sounds so much like Severus, and Snape is my favorite character.

I recommend Nefertiti for a herbal green! The olibanum, myrrh, and sandalwood ground it slightly, but on me it smells mostly like the North African herbs. I imagine them freshly plucked, with the sap still flowing. This blend almost smells wet to me it comes across so green.

This blend is intensely masculine on my skin. I like all of the notes involved - but I have to have some kind of sweetener to wear the blend. This has no sweetener - it's all woods and tobacco and cologne. It is interesting, and would smell absolutely delicious on a man, but I think it's too much for me to wear.

I agree that this is a citrusy aquatic and slightly masculine. It doesn't really morph at all, and has medium lasting power.

I get the almond, vanilla, and cinnamon most strongly from this blend. Some blends with almond are too sickly-sweet for me to wear, and unfortunately Eclipse is one of them. It is actually a dead ringer for the smell of some cinnamon almond nougat I ate once. Way too sweet for my tastes.

Wet on my skin, Death Adder is all coconut with a hint of Snake Oil. I thought for a second something was wrong; where is the vetiver? That usually is extremely strong on my skin. After about five minutes, the vetiver appears, and it continues to amp until this blend is 80% vetiver, 15% coconut and 5% Snake Oil. I am going to let it age some before wearing it again to see if the vetiver backs off a bit.

I just have to say whoa! This oil is dark. Really dark. Chocolate brown in color - I'm not going to be able to wear this on visible skin as I am a very fair-skinned person, and this is even darker than my freckles! I smell sweet, rich chocolate immediately. After a minute or so, the chocolate calms down a bit and the Snake Oil shows through. This smells like a perfect cocoa and Snake Oil mix. It honestly smells how I would expect those Mayan chocolates to smell. I've never had one or smelled one, but that's what this blend makes me think of. It's foody, but not too foody. I can see how people who love foody smells and people who don't could all enjoy this.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got my order with The Bow and Crown of Conquest in it today. I expected a standard GC label, but this burnt map label is awesome! I love good surprises.

This is definitely the best apple scent I've smelled from BPAL yet! Snow, Glass, Apples smells like green apples with mint and the Lab's snow note. The snow note usually goes soapy on me, as it did in Winter-time, but it behaves itself for the most part and never actually crosses the line into soap. This is just a crisp, cold apple blend and I love it.

Wow, this is interesting! The red musk immediately smacks me in the face, in its own sexy way, as red musk tends to do. Then, I smell popcorn and pastries. Red musk often smells like root beer on my skin anyway, so I can't pick out the root beer specifically. I find this blend to be a fascinating experience, but I don't think it's me. I am very glad I got to try it!

I have been curious about Blood Kiss for a while so I finally added an imp to an order. Smelling this in the vial is heaven. It's cherry wine goodness with a touch of vetiver. It absolutely screams RED! at me, the way Lilith does. It smells so sexy. Wet on my skin, I get more of the same, but the delicious dark cherry wine is almost immediately overtaken by vetiver and this goes into single note vetiver land and stays there. I like vetiver alright, it's not my favorite, so this is not an immediate winner. However, I can smell the great potential in this blend. That opening is so sexy that I think I am going to go ahead and buy a bottle to age, because when it gets there I can tell this blend will be to die for. Updated, slightly less than 1 year later - I never did buy that bottle to age because I was concerned about the vetiver, but I'm going to try my trusty little imp again and see how it does. After 11 months of aging, the vetiver... still goes a little too strong for my tastes. Since imps age faster than bottles, I think Blood Kiss is not a blend I'll be willing to wait around for. Sad.

Golletes does smell exactly like Captain Crunch on my skin! It is very foody and delicious, and makes me hungry. The pink sugar part smells vaguely like strawberries. If you like foody smells, you definitely have to try this one.

I received this as a frimp from the Lab. Aquatics mostly smell like dryer sheets on my skin, and this one is no exception.

I received Lamia as a frimp from a wonderful forumite. Wet on my skin, I get smacked in the face with sweet peach and coconut. If I sniff close to the skin, I can smell something earthy rounding it out - the vetiver. Initially, it is way too sweet for me. It begins to get a plastic note after the first few minutes. I'm not sure what's causing the plastic, maybe the coconut? On the full drydown, what I get most from this blend is peach-scented suntan lotion. It's interesting, but I can't see myself reaching for it too often.

I just received a frimp of this with my Ebay win. Hopefully I like it - I have another on the way with my Lab order. This oil is dark! I'm a little surprised - I'd think anything with notes like vanilla, amber, and honey would be a light-colored oil, but this is not the case. It is a burnt red/rust color. I can definitely see why this scent is so popular now. O is very sexy on my skin. I do indeed get all three notes - vanilla, amber, and honey, and they all meld to make a very deliciously sweet scent. It becomes a skin-scent on me, making me smell more like I smell like delicious sex than my perfume smells like delicious sex. I do like it. Edit: On the far drydown, O becomes straight honey/beeswax, and is indistinguishable from The Lights of Men's Lives on my skin. If you like that, give O a try.

I agree that Red Rose is a "masculine" sort of rose. I usually don't like scents without some kind of strong sweetener - honey, sugar, vanilla, etc. - but this is delicious. I also don't much like rose, so this is a rule-breaker in more than one way. It is mostly clove and rose on me, with a hint of fir. While it's drying down, it smells extremely Christmas-y to me, so much that I almost thought I wouldn't be able to wear this any other time because it would be too weird. However, it leaves that stage pretty quickly and just stays a spicy rose. This is definitely more of a cold weather scent than a warm weather one, so I predict it will see much more use in the fall. I like it.

An allegory of Victorian melancholy and madness: tea-stained bourbon vanilla, with white cognac, coconut bark, Oman frankincense, and woodmoss over opium tar-stained silk. Tattered Lace starts out all tea on my skin, with the vanilla quickly appearing. Wet, those are the two most prominent notes I get, but as it dries down the other notes start to come out. I can definitely pick out the frankincense and what must be the smoky opium tar, but the other notes are blended very well. This is surprisingly light on my skin - I have to slather to really be able to smell that. I hope that aging improves both Tattered Lace's staying power and throw. We'll see.

I'm so glad I received this as a frimp from the TP; I never would have tried it otherwise. Alice reminds me of a slightly spicy citrus tea with milk and honey added. Or should I say sweet milk with a little bit of citrusy tea added? This is very good. The rose begins to come out more on the drydown as the milk note recedes to the back, leaving the scent with a sweet, spicy, citrus rose. I like this very much. I didn't know what to expect from the milk note and I don't usually like rose, but Alice is quite delicious.