Lydialove

From reading the notes I absolutely knew, without a doubt, that I would love Highwayman - possibly on me and certainly on my husband.

I could not have been more wrong.

There's something about that exact combination of leather, vetiver and cinnamon that smelled very smokey.... not perfume vetiver smokey, which I love, but like stale cigarette smoke.

My husband and I are both ex-smokers so this smell is... not what we want in a perfume

Really, it's a relief to have at least one BPAL not be something I want more of.

Czernobog is certainly the most intimidating BPAL imp I've run into so far. So dark and forbidding and the reviews vary so wildly - I must know!

GRRRR! Musk! Apparently, if a little musk is good on me (and it is!) then a whole lot more is even better. There's also a dark slightly smokey greenness which I think may be the vetiver and a slight sweet bright note that I'm guessing is mullein. Civet is... great on me, it turns out. What a great surprise.

This is a predator stalking through the dark woods, low to the ground and dangerous. It's animal. It's earthy sweet and strong and it's not for every day. I'll wear it next time I'm feeling dangerous myself.

I woke up this morning in the foulest possible mood. I grumped at my husband, I grumped at my cats, I grumped my way around the house and into the shower. I was too grumpy to make breakfast or coffee. Rain was pouring down outside and the morning was dark and all I wanted was to go back to bed and pull the covers up over my head and sleep til april.

Grump.

On my way out the door (grumpily) I spotted all the imps I'm testing and just let my hand hover over them, not really noticing which was which but not making any attempt to not notice either... and I picked up Has No Hanna. I remembered it was a voodoo oil but nothing else and even though the other voodoo oils I've tried so far have not really worked on my skin... I slathered it.

Green without being too green. Sweet without amping up to cloying. Interestingly, even though I put on way more than a dab (and reading so many cautions about it's strength), the throw was in no way overwhelming on me. It seemed golden on me, and maybe lightly musky. Whatever flowers are in there have been behaving themselves nicely. After a three hours it has faded to the barest green sweetness on my wrists. It's a sunny scent and is like a friend who wants to cheer you up but isn't obnoxious about it. It's not so gorgeous it'll become something I want to wear every day but it is nice.

I don't know what to say about efficacy other than the sun is out and the blackness of my mood seems to have evaporated.

I like it.

This is so nice on me, it's stupid. The lavender fougere steps into the background immediately, letting the musk and lime out to play. If you'd asked me yesterday if I liked to smell like limes I would have probably responded in the negative. Hey, guess what? I like to smell like limes!

It might be a little masculine at first. I don't care. Eventually it settles into a faintly herbal, faintly tart, fully beautiful musk.

I still have to find out if this is nice on my husband. I'm not sure I want to share this imp with him, though.

In the imp this smells like stepping outside on a chill and rainy Pacific Northwest night to catch a whiff of smoke from a neighbor's fire. The rain is stirring up some loamy smells from the garden.

May I say that I am absolutely amazed to be smelling a perfume that can evoke that clear a mental picture to me? Well done!

On skin this is initially still quite smokey (yay! I like it!) as well as green, faintly aquatic and I can smell what I'm guessing is an ozone note. Earthiness is the first to fade.

Hmph. It seems to have lost some depth. It is now very green and aquatic and I'm not sure that suits me. I think I need to see how this smells on my husband.

Woo! Whatever these imperial flowers are, they are kicking my ass. At first I thought "GARDENIA" but more and more I'm getting "JASMINE". Every so often I get the faintest wee hint of wood. No musk, no vetivier, no amber. I wish I picked them up. I like those.

I'm beginning to think my skin eats vetivier and amps florals, which of course does not reflect how I see myself at all.

I love lavender, so I was happy to get a big old whiff of it straight from the imp as well as something very bright and fruity. As soon as I applied it to my skin, the lavender disappeared. Initially the spice played peek-a-boo without ever fully stepping to the foreground and then faded away entirely. The disappearance of the lavender and spice would have been disappointing if that fruity sweetness weren't so... captivating.

I can see how this becomes bubblegum for many folks, but so far lotus is a lovely fruity and creamy floral on me. It is pink, as I saw someone's review describe it. In Paris nearly every building is made of sandstone in every shade of cream. If you go to the Eiffel Tower at sun down(and why wouldn't you?) and look down upon the beautiful city, it glows in shades of sunset. Orange and pink light on a sea of cream. That's what I'll think of when I wear Paris.

I woke up this morning a little worried about money so I thought it would be a good day to test Horn of Plenty. I anointed a few chakras and then put some on my wrists so I could keep sniffing it.

In the imp and wet: Skittles? Really? Yup! Skittles!

Dry: Continues to be candy sweet on me. Not really my first choice.

After about an hour I sniffed my wrist and was surprised to find that smokey aroma others had talked about, yet bright cherry candy remained. Smoked Skittles. Utterly weird. I think I like it more with the smoke.

An hour after that it seems to settle down to almond and vanilla sweetness. The smoke is gone (boo) and the cherry is very faint. It's not me most days. I'll probably keep the imp for the voodoo properties, because it can't freakin' hurt.

Oh my.

I still can't identify which note does what. It makes my skin smell warm and spicy and sweet. The bright flashes of pomegranate and plum are so ripe they make my mouth water. It's rich and dark and glorious.

I love this.

This was a freebie from the lab (thank you lab!) and I adore it.

This is all warm, golden incense with the barest hint of the lavender and lemon. It lays very close to the skin, a scent that can be just for me and anyone I'm giving a hug to. It's spicy and sweet without being cloying.

It got weird on my husband. It was bright lemon candy until dry down at which point the lemon almost disappeared - leaving incense and candy. It's much sweeter on him than me, though still very nice.

I may have to get a bottle.

I bought a 5ml of Doc Constantine and Mme. Moriarity at the last Seattle Will Call. I wanted something for both me and my husband - the Madam was definitely doing it for me... but I knew whatever I got for my fellah was going to be a gamble. I won the gamble, big time.

In the bottle I can only pick out a pleasant citrusy sharpness that I'm supposing is the fir. My husband, however, sniffed the bottle and said, "Wow. Smells like a cowboy in a forest." This is how I found out that my husband is going to be much better at BPAL than I am, the wretched show-off. Luckily he's willing to sniff and try everything with me.

On me Doc turned to straight perfume. In this household, the Doctor won't be a unisex scent. On my husband, though... Oh my.

I don't pick up the leather, though obviously my husband does. I can pick up the sharp fir and smokey cedar distinctly. The musk becomes one with the scent of his skin, enhancing instead of masking it. It is gorgeous on him, absolutely delicious. It makes me want to sit in his lap with my nose up against his skin. It was the perfect first 5ml purchase.

I may have to get a backup bottle...

It's my first review! I'm realizing lately that while my nose is sensitive, it's not refined. I don't pick out notes terribly well as of yet. I'm hoping that's something that comes with practice.

Eternal was a lab gift. Thank's lab!

In the imp: A gardenia kick to the head. My husband can smell the other flowers in the background but I can't. I have a hard time seeing myself ever wear this as I don't really see myself as a florals person.

Wet: The gardenia that ate New Jersey.

Drying: Oh! Oh, wait. I think I can smell a bit of the rose and maybe some other flowers I don't really know yet. Maybe I could wear this on a warm summer's day. I can see wanting to feel pretty for a picnic. I wear a sundress and a dab of Eternal at my pulse points and behind my knees. Maybe I dab a bit on each foot. Oh look, what a nice pedicure!

Dry: It's very faint now and smells like I've just bathed with a rather nice floral soap. It's a flower I don't really know, and a very faint green smell and it's a little soapy.

Usually flowery perfumes make me feel head-achy and nauseous but at no time did I want to wash this off. It's pretty but probably not my something I'd wear more than once a year.