Rock Goddess

In the bottle, I mostly get amber and spices from Snake Charmer. Wet on my skin, the vanilla shows up to play. Vanilla always works for me, and I do get something vaguely cinammony, along with other spices. Amber is a hit and miss note for me though, and here it starts out pretty strong. It's a bit to incensey on me at first. However, after a half hour, it really starts to settle down. The amber and spices back off, allowing the plum to emerge and blend with the vanilla. I only got a faint whiff of the coconut, which is sad because my favorite note is coconut. But still, Snake Charmer eventually blends in an exotic, subtle, sexy blend. This is what I wanted Red Lantern to be like (sadly, that one never did work). Snake Charmer isn't something I'd wear all the time, but definately one I'll pull out for special occasions and encounters. It's not what I imagined, but it's still a really beautiful blend.

I am truly amazed by Midway. I don't know how Beth does it, but wow, this one is just as described. This bottle is from the Carnivale Revisted, and I'm grateful it was, since it gave me the chance to finally try this. In the bottle it smells soft and sweet...sugar and vanilla. I love sweet, foody scents, so this is promising. Wet on my skin, it's still vanilla and sugar. After a few minutes, a sharp scent develops, salty and tangy at first, so I guess that's the saltwater taffy showing up. And a short while later, I get a whiff of something like burnt plastic, but that only lasts for a minute or two. But from then on, I spent all day a work getting whiffs of Cotton Candy and Funnel Cake. It's so sweet and comforting. Like cozying up to a boyfriend while stopped at the top of the Ferris Wheel, with the lights of the midway twinkling below and all the smells of the food stands wafting up to you on a cool autumn night. It's just so perfect, my favorite LE so far!

Bon Vivant is really pretty. It's a nice, light scent...sparkly, creamy strawberries, exactly as the description says. I didn't put too much on, just one swipe on my wrist, but it's hanging around nicely. Probably not a scent I'd wear all the time, but it'll be a great one for spring days when I'm feeling in a girly, pink kind of mood.

Port-Au-Prince was all buttered rum and almond at first, both in the imp and wet on my skin. As it's dried down, it's become a sugary, sweet clove scent. With a hint of sassafrass lurking in the background. It's really nice - for some reason, it's strongly reminding me of my mom's Molasses Cookies. Which is kind of making me hungry. I'm not sure it's an everday scent for me, but I'll hang on to the imp.

I'm really loving Morocco. It's just a perfect blend of sweetness and spice, with just a hint of floral. There's something creamy and sweet here - I'm lousy at picking out notes, but it's really nice. A bit musk and spice, but they're subtle and sexy. Morocco is definately hanging close to my skin, but it's just so beautiful, I can't stop sniffing my arm. My mom loves it too, so I can definately see needing a big bottle of this in the near future!!

Obatala is breaking my heart. Coconut is my one true, failsafe note - it's always perfect for me. In the imp, I got mostly shea butter, with vague hints of the coconut and milk. But wet on my skin, all I could smell was the shea butter. After 30 minutes, I started picking up traces of the coconut again....very faint, but soothing, warm traces. But an hour later, and it's pretty much totally gone. Obatala isn't a bad scent by any means. It's definately very clean and pure smelling...I'm thinking it could be a good just out of the shower, bedtime scent for me. I just love coconut notes, and this isn't quite strong enough for me. I'm going to give it a few more tries before I give up on it though.

I was pretty sure from the beginning that Shango wasn't going to work for me, since I have an intense loathing of all things banana. But I had to give it a whirl, because it also has my magic note of coconut in it. In the imp, I'm getting cough syrup and something very sharp...I'm guessing the chili pepper. Wet on my skin, at first I was getting apple, lovely, juicy apple. But it quickly started turning into screaming banana. Dry, it's still banana. The smell isn't making me gag like real bananas tend to do, but it's not a scent I'm fond of wearing. I'm not picking up on the coconut, or the pomegranate. After 30 minutes or so, it's sugary banana, with a hint of apple. And something vaguely powdery. All in all, I think this one would good on someone else, but with my aversion to banana, it's just not me.

I absolutley love coconut, it's one of the few notes that always works for me. I haven't gotten to try Eden yet (it's on my to-do list), but my BPAL coconut love is Elegba. It's very warm and sweet, on me it's a perfect balance of toasted coconut and a comforting rum/butterscotch scent. With just a hint of spicy, dry tobacco to ground it. Sweet, but not overly foody. The coconut lasts much longer than the coconut in Black Pearl (which I also adore) did. Red Lantern is also a good choice, if you can manage to get some. Though on me it was more caramel and spice at first, and the coconut kicked in later.

In the imp: A large bouquet of wet roses. On me: Just as I feared. At first it's a very strong, fresh rose scent. At least for about 5 seconds, then it immediately goes soapy. All the rose scents I've tried have done this, and I'm just going to have to give up on them. My skin started itching, and my eyes were watering. I had to wash this one off. I think I'm just flat out allergic to Rose notes.

In the imp, this is all grape juice. But the second it hit my skin, it was Whoa! Clove! All I get for quite a while is sweet, strong cloves. But eventually it tones down and becomes a warm, sweet, citrus-y clove witha background of red wine. I reallylike this one, though I'm not sure how often I'd wear it. Definately puts me in mind of Spain, and is quite a romantic blend.

This one's quite lovely. I get juicy peach and sweet vanilla, grounded with golden amber and dry sandlewood. This is really good. It's making me itch a bit though, on the wrist where I tried it. It's pretty....bright and golden. It'll be a good springtime scent. I'm not sure about a bottle just yet, but I'm definately going to use the imp.

I love March Hare, and it loves me back. This one has almost no morph...it's juicy, spiced apricots and peaches all the way. I adore fruity and spicy scents, so this is right up my alley. It's really gorgeous....not too foody, but sweet and sensual. Once I have the money, I'll probably be getting a 5ml.

Dear lord, I need a big bottle of this NOW! This is absolutley gorgeous on me. Sweet, sugared vanilla tea with a just a bit of lemon and musk. Every scent with lemon I've tried before went lemon pledge on me, and most vanilla ones have been cloying. But this...this is perfectly balanced. It's delicious, and everything it's cracked up to be. Very comforting, but subtley sexy at the same time. Possibly a new favorite! My soul craves more.

Another strange reaction...I only picked up a faint hint of the cinnamon in Chimera. It wasn't fiery for me at all, and I LOVE spicy scents, and they usually love me back. The top note was creamy and sweet. Nonetheless, I really liked this one, and I'm going to keep trying it to see if I can pick up the cinnamon.

In the bottle this was all bittersweet chocolate. On my skin, it goes burnt bittersweet chocolate. After it's dried, it's toned down a bit, but now it's burnt chocolate with coffee. The hint of a coffee smell is nice, but I haven't had much luck with chocolate scents. I have a friend who I think will love this one though, so I'll let her try it. ~ RG

On first application, I got a sharp, wet floral and tobacco, quite strong. But on dry down, it quickly went floral soap on me. I didn't get rum at any point, and my skin usually works wonders with rum scents. I think the Caribbean blossoms just overpowered everything on me. Florals in general tend to go soapy on me though, so I'm sure this one would be lovely on someone else.

I definately got the almonds and the honey, but only a bit of spice. Which is strange, because my skin usually loves spices and amps them up. But my chemistry has been off all day, so I'll have to give this one another try sometime soon. I really like it on first impression though...it's sweet, but not sickeningly so. A nice, light scent. I'll hang on to the imp for awhile.

This one was a strong, spicy citrus on me. I didn't pick up on the chocolate note. It toned down a bit on dry down, and I think it would be really nice on a guy. It's a bit too masculine for me though.

I chose Grog because I'm madly in love with Elegba, which I'm out of until my next shipment comes in. The first impression from the imp is Whoa! Booze! All I'm getting is rum, very strong rum. Wet on my skin, Grog is very medicinal...it smells exactly like this horrible cough syrup my doctor used to prescribe when I was sick. So it's not bringing up pleasant sensations at this stage. However, on dry down, it becomes all Butterscotch and rum. With a hint of coconut in the background. Which I'm REALLY liking. This is a really nice substitue for Elegba, though I think I like it better than Grog still...Elegba's top note on me is the coconut, and the tobacco in Elegba gives in a nice earthiness that Grog doesn't have. Grog is really sweet and yummy, but not something I'd wear every day...I'll keep the imp for special, piratey occasions.

I was looking forward to this one, since I tend to go for foodier scents.... In the imp, it's all butter. Like movie theater popcorn drowned in butter. This really isn't doing it for me. On, the butter fades away pretty quickly, and I'm left with....spices??? And baby powder. This is really weird, everyone else gets sugary, syrupy sweetness, and I get very dry spices? It's almost like Bengal, but without any of the honey. Unlike Bengal, this is making my eyes and nose itch. I ended up washing this one off, it really upset my allergies. Maybe something is just off with my chemistry today, for me to get such a strange reaction. I'll give it one more try, but most likely this one is going to swaps.

I'm really starting to get dejected when it comes to roses. I love the smell of real roses, but the scent doesn't agree with my freaky chemistry. That being said, 2,5,&7 was better than the rest I've tried. In the bottle and wet on my skin, it was overwhelming roses. I could pick out the several different scents of the different varieties. It was actually kind of pretty then. Then it started to dry down, and it started going soapy. Luckily, it didn't go all itchy, watery-eyes soapy like several others have on me, and it retained some of the pretty, real rose scent. The soapiness started to wear off, and I thought I was in the clear.... But then something bitter and incredibly sharp kicked in. I'm pretty sure in was the green grass note....I'm allergic to grass, so it makes sense that that note is screwing this up for me. The roses are still in the background, but the bitterness is overpowering them. This one really morphs a lot on me. After about 1 1/2 hours, the acrid grass note disappeared, and 2,5,&7 became soft, lovely roses, and was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I could stand to sit through the soapy and bitter stages on a regular basis. This scent would be beautiful on someone without my wonky skin chemistry. I'll hang onto the imp and try it one more time, because I really want it work.

The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious. I really like The Lion. Wet, I smell almost nothing from it. It's not until it's had 15-30 minutes that the cinnamon and amber really make their presence know. It's spicy, regal, and powerful. It's also very comforting...I wore it on a cold, cloudy day and it was immediately warm and cozy. And once it kicks in, it lasts quite awhile on me. I haven't decided yet if I'll need a bottle of it in the future, but I'm definately using my imp.

I love Bengal! (Thanks to LyndaM for the gift imp.) In the bottle, this one is mostly cinnamon and clove to me, and I love them both. Wet, it was a sweet blend of the spices, really lovely. Once it dried down, it when through a Cinnamon Red Hots faze, which didn't bother me at all, it was very spicy. Eventually it became the sweet blend of spices (cinammon still predominant), but blended with the skin musk. Bengal is absolutely beautiful with my chemistry, the balance of spiciness and sweetness is just right. It's definately on my bottle list. ~ RG

I Elegba!! Wet, it was all boozy butterscotch, which was a bit off-putting at first. But once it dried down the super-sweetness wore off a bit and the Coconut really came through. Lovely, warm toasted coconut. I'm so thankful that coconut almost always works for me! I never really picked up on the tobacco note (though there is something vaguely spicy, so that might be it), just sweet delicious rum and coconut...and still a bit of butterscotch. Someone mentioned this being a scent for Captain Jack Sparrow and that's exactly what Elegba reminds me of. A warm Caribbean beach, complete with a tropical drink and a sexy pirate. This is definately at the top of my bottle list now. ~ RG

I really wanted to like Shanghai. I've tried it 3 times, hoping to get a different result. And everytime, the dominant scent I get is....Lemon Pledge. The lemon is more of a house-cleaner lemon when it meets my freaky chemistry. After while, the green tea and honeysuckle start to come out and the lemon tones down, but by that time, it's almost faded completely. Pity, because I imagine Shanghai would be really lovely, if my skin didn't amp up the lemon.