angharad

Soooo yummy. Chocolate-covered cherries -- more specifically, DARK chocolate-covered cherries. There's also a hint of a floral -- the orange blossoms -- to soften the bitingly sweetness. It's very strong at first, but it tones down after I've been wearing it for a while. And wow, can I wear it for a while. I applied before leaving the house this morning (around 7 a.m.), and it's after 3 p.m. now, and I can still smell it. It's so very pretty, and I thank dpoulsen21 for sending it to me.

Starts out with an antiseptic quality, very herbal...then softens into a sweeter, not-quite-fruity blend after drydown. There's also the tiniest hint of spice. So far it's pretty strong and seems to be lasting for quite a while. I'll be keeping this around for a while to test it a bit more, but so far I like it.

I should have known better.

 

Ginger and teas all do bad things on my skin, but I so desperately wanted to try this anyway. Mango! Pomegrenate! Pineapple! I'd have so much love for Mi-Go if I could actually SMELL these notes! Alas...I get nothing but tea upon initial application, and within 5 minutes the ginger takes over. Tea and ginger keep fighting with each other to be the dominant note for the next hour that I wore this scent. I finally had to wash it off and stick my bottle of Chimera up to my nose to tell it everything was okay.

WAY TOO HEAVY!

 

Very woodsy at first, but then the florals overpower everthing else, and just becomes too much. I had to wash it off, but unfortunately I think I got some on my shirt because the smell just won't go away.

Phantom Queen smells like I'm standing in a meadow. Tall, soft grasses swaying in a summer breeze. Strong throw, lasts for a few hours. It's nice. That's all, though. It's just not my style. I am glad I tried it, though.

Carnivale Revisited: Berry! And carnation! And amber! How could I not love this?

 

Unfortunately, I can.

 

I can kinda smell the berries, but mainly this is pure baby powder. The instant it hits my skin -- baby powder. Half an hour later -- baby powder. Two hours later -- baby powder. No spice, no musk, nothing except baby powder. This one absolutely breaks my heart.

So beautiful, elegant, classy. I want to wear this to a formal event, like the Inaugural Ball or something. Very fruity and sweet, but deeper than most of my other favorite fruity scents. There's definitely the wine, too, but it isn't overpoweringly boozy. It has a strong throw and lasted for HOURS. I put it on last night before bed and could still smell it this morning when I woke up. I really like this, I just don't know how often I'll wear it. It's not an every-day scent for me.

MmmmmmcupcakesandcheesecakesandsugarygoodnessOHMY!

 

Thank God this isn't really as edible as it smells. I'd gain way too much weight -- heck, I think I've put on 5 pounds just smelling it. But it smells so good. Yes, I smell cupcakes. Yes, I smell cheesecake. Yes, this is a very sweet, sugary, baked foodsy scent. And I absolutely love it and must get more. My only complaint is that it only lasts a few hours on me, but it has a VERY strong throw.

Vechernyaya

Smut

Snake Charmer -- although it seems to get sweeter and less hippie-ish the longer I wear it.

 

^^ These three, though, are the most hippie-ish BPAL scents I've tried and can think of off the top of my head.

So very very pretty in the imp, so full of disaster on my skin.

In the imp Lampades is all dark sweetness with thankfully no ginger in sight. Even on me, ginger never shows up, which is a miracle. It's sweet cranberry with musk giving it a bit of darkness. But within 5 minutes of application, it turns into a crayon. This doesn't smell like a candle on me -- it's pure crayon. I'll probably try it again next week, but right now it's just not working for me.

Spicy & sweet, just the way I like it! I can pick out the cinnamon most definitely -- it does feel like it has some resins to soften the edge of the spice, too, and underneath it all is something sweet that warms it all up. It doesn't last for very long, though. After about an hour on my skin the spice is all but gone, and soon I can't smell anything at all. It also has a pretty light throw on me.

I can't really define any note in this blend. It doesn't really smell floral to me. It's a bit sweet, but mainly...regal. Maybe it's just the name getting into my head, but whenever I sniff the Empress, all I can think of is how very regal it smells. It lasts for several hours with average throw.

I've never had a martini. After wearing Twenty-One, I don't want to. The drink could never live up to the fabulousness that is this scent. It's sweet and dry with just a hint of an edge. Lasts for a couple of hours on me with average throw.

Whoops, the FAQ page on the Lab's site does say international orders only through Paypal...so ignore that spiel of mine on using CCNow to order a bunch of imps on international orders. That's what I get for sticking my nose in where I don't belong!

Nightshade, you can still easily buy through CCNow. In the cart just change the quantity to whatever number you need -- for example, if you're ordering 24 imps, then change the quantity to 4. Four packs of 6 imps = 24. Even if you're not ordering a multiple of 6, then you can do this:

Say you're ordering 53 imps.

Quantity of 6-packs: 8 (=48)

Quantity of single imps: 5 (+ the 48 above = 53)

 

Of course, since CCNow charges the Lab more than Paypal does, you might want to just use the CCNow cart to figure up how much money to send the Lab, then send it through Paypal. But that's just an option.

 

Hope I was helpful and not confusing!

Sadly I don't get any spice from this. It's all sweet and fruity florals, which is actually just fabulous. I also don't get any musk, either, except at the very first when the oil is still wet on my skin. At that stage Hell's Belle is a bit more smoky and dark. After drydown, though, it's just the mandarin and florals (not familiar with oleander or magnolia enough to specifically identify them). It's lovely and sassy and I think I want a bottle of it.

Eh. Dragon's blood seems to be hit-or-miss with me. I've learned that I love amber, though, so while the dragon's blood is a definite miss this time, the amber almost makes up for it.

 

Initial application: Dragon's blood. Cloyingly cherry-sweet. A bit dry, but I can't really smell the amber.

 

Dry-down: The amber starts to come out. Yay!

 

Hour later: The dragon's blood has faded back, letting the amber take over the scent. It still reminds me of cherries, but they're much drier and have a hint of gold around the edges.

 

Overall: It's okay but not one of my favorites.

Hmm, now that I'm rereading the notes in this, I'm wondering how Sybaris wound up on my wishlist...but I'm glad it did! I really can't pick out any individual note. It's vaguely floral but with some foody-sweetness that I guess is the clove. A few hours after application, it's softened and turned a bit more floral, but it's still so pretty because something else has come out to keep it dry and sweet (the Mediterranean incense?). I really like Sybaris and am very glad I got this imp. Still debating on whether to order a bottle of it, though.

I am in love. This is my perfect apple-autumn scent. Yes, it does smell a bit like apple cider, and I'm fine with that! I love the apples and the wine and the spices and the hint of fall flowers and fall leaves that all make an appearance on my skin. It reminds me a bit of Tintagel, which I love, but it barely lasts on me. Harvest Moon lasts much longer. I'm so very glad I finally got a bottle of this, and I hope to be able to find more.

A lovely bouquet of lilies with just a hint of honey. So far I haven't had much luck with honey -- honeysuckle is fine, but honey itself just doesn't show up much on my skin. The lilies are beautiful, however, and even just the hint of honey that I can pick out is enough to make this imp a keeper. I just don't know if I'll get a bottle since I've found several other floral scents I like as much, if not better.

Such beautiful, beautiful flowers. I get roses and lilies from this very feminine scent. There's also a hint of something much sweeter lurking underneath, what I'm guessing is the mandarin. I can't pick out the rest of the notes, but what I smell I love. This is not an every-day scent for me, but I very well may get a bottle nonetheless.

I can't pick out a single specific note in this. It's just flowery and, as much as I hate saying it about any BPAL blend, generic. Of course, I'm very picky with my florals, but when the Lab threw this in as a frimp I hoped that I would smell the calla lily, tea rose, and autumn leaves since I think I like those notes. Unfortunately they just never showed up. I guess not being able to pick out individual notes means that Ephemera is very well-blended, but it's just not my style at all.

This one worried me. I could smell lemon from the imp, but I tried it on anyway, hoping my love for carnation, iris, and honeysuckle would outweigh it, but...no such luck. Euterpe immediately turns into an overpowering lemon dishsoap on me. I couldn't wear it for very long because the lemon was just too strong, and I ended up washing it off after half an hour. So far, no luck with lemon blends on my skin. Not a keeper.

Oooh, I'm in love. A friend had gotten this as a frimp a while back; she let me sniff it because I love just about anything related to Ireland, but I wasn't too impressed with Dublin at the time. The Labbies just sent me Dublin with my last order, and I'm so very happy they did.

 

In the imp I'm still not too impressed -- it seems more floral than I usually like, but onto the skin it goes. Wow. Dublin turns into walking through the Irish forests on a beautiful misty morning. Reading the above reviews, I'm glad I'm not the only one who smells something spicy. The spice is what wins me over. It's so subtle, yet it gives the misty forest and sweet white rose the extra depth needed to make this scent work for me. Dublin is very light, and it has average lasting power. This goes on my bottle wishlist for my girly days.

As much as I love cinnamon, I just don't like cassia, at least not in this. It's too bitter. I don't know if it's the cassia itself or how it's blended with the other notes, but it does not appeal to my nose.

Anyway, I mainly get the cassia with a hint of dry baking cocoa powder peeking out every now and then. The longer I wear it, the more something whiter (don't know why but Beth's scents always bring colors to mind and I can't separate the colors from the scents themselves when I describe them) comes out, but I can't tell if it's the coconut or the angel food cake or both. The cassia remains the top note, however, so I just can't make myself love this.

I will be keeping it around, at least for a while, to see if it gets better with age.