dejena

I must say, my poor battered bottle of Peacock Queen from 2005 is still with me, after many many moves. Get it, you won't regret it! To this day, it's still my favorite rose

Straight out of the imp, I instantly smelled something very sharp and metallic. After a few moments, I realized it smelled like blood. Like a pail full of day old blood. But I was determined to give this imp a try. Worse comes to worse, I could always swap it! When I put a wee bit on my wrists and neck, there was a strong smokey metallic smell. Which meant the patchouli was coming out. I like patchouli in very small bits, but in Bloodlust, it was overpowering along with the red musk and dragon blood. Honestly, I’m going to blame my skin chemistry for this. There are particular things my skin likes, and particular things that it doesn’t like. My nose always tells me a scent is sweeter than it really is. That, and any musk other than white musk is a bit too strong for me. As for the dragon’s blood, well… it’s really my first time experimenting with it. However, I did like the cinnamon in this. It was nice, smelling the cinnamon be the backdrop to all the scents. So after two hours of wearing it, I did wash it off. If these scents are up your alley, I highly recommend it to you. It has good wafting power, and after washing it off once, I can still smell it.

Well, this one is a tricky one. I almost hesitated to review this, but considering I love it, I simply had to review. Even my friends pick out totally different things when I wear it. In the Bottle: There’s a sharp cinnamon smell, with red musk and a smidge of patchouli. My mother smelled it once from the bottle, and said it smelled like smoke. My best friend smelled it from the bottle, and she said she could only smell the cassia. Wet: For the first few minutes, it’s overpowering. Cinnamon, with cloying musk. It almost borders on a little too sweet for me, but I’m sensitive to sweet scents. Perhaps it’s the plum I was smelling. Dry Down: The sweet portion of the scent calms down and starts to become replaced with a trace hint of tonka. It’s still strong on the cinnamon, and the patchouli is doing a rather good job at complimenting it. But don’t be fooled, there isn’t a lot of patchouli in this. Or on me. Dry: Now this is where it becomes hard to review. When I first tried it out, all I could smell was cinnamon. Then after a few weeks, I would smell cinnamon with tonka. Essentially, it’s never always the same when I wear it. Nowadays, it comes off with red musk, benzoin and tobacco in the lead, followed very closely by cinnamon and tonka. The wafting power is actually pretty good, but also very interesting. If someone is following me, all they smell is a spiced vanilla. There have been occasions where I have worn Red Phoenix, and woken up with it still on. By then, it’s just red musk. But I must say, this is my favorite Bpal, and a wonderful opposite of Nuclear Winter, which is another favorite LE of mine. I do hope Beth releases this again on the fourth anniversary, because it’ll definitely be a double bottle purchase.

For some reason, I thought of Incantation. Possibly because I love it to death!

I'm not too sure how any of these smell, but you may want to check out the Zoyra scents from Excolo. There should be three scents: Utrennyaya Vechernyaya Zoyra But yes, I love Whitechapel - it's one of those lovely quirky scents that I do enjoy. When I wear it, I always think of calculating and shrewd people. Or professional assasins.

When I opened this imp, I was nearly afraid to put this on. The lime and citron was the only thing I could smell right out of the imp, and I must admit, it was pretty strong. Yet, I gathered up enough courage to dab some on my wrists and neck. During the wet stage, I could smell the lime as the forefront, and right behind it was a quiet mix of lilac and white musk. White musk always works well on me, and I have generally pretty good luck with light florals, so I was interested on how it would dry down. Luckily, when it dried, it became this gorgeous scent. You could mostly smell the lilacs and white musk, with a bit of citron/lime in the background, just lurking around. After reading the description, all I could think about was a victorian gentleman inviting me over to his place for a relaxing dinner. During dinner, being utterly distracted by his seductive manners, I never quite catch that little offbeat glimmer in his eyes. Sure enough, the wine was poisoned - he wouldn't dare ruin his precious wool carpet and teak tables by a careless murder afterall. With that image in mind, this is something I would wear in a more subdue and calculated environment. Say, working, dealing with gossip mongers, or every day. Definately getting a bottle! ETA: So I wore it again last night, on freshly cleaned skin... and it smelled exactly like the diaper wipes that I use to clean up my grandmother's messes. Although I do love the smell of those diaper wipes, it was disconcerting... I think I'll have to wait a bit for my skin chem to even out or something.

Ah, Manhattanites. That being said, you have to most likely calculate your approach. Personally, I suggest that you go with a scent that makes you feel confident and womanly. I'm really just reinterating what everyone else said... and as a casual bpal sniffer, I can only suggest the following: Incantation: I agree with Olympia - this scent is perfect for a very strong individual. Personally, I didn't like it until I hit the dry down, where I then completely fell in love with it. Also, I'm going to a hideously formal ball this April, and I plan on wearing this one. Whitechapel: If you find Incantation simply too strong, and wanted something a bit more... subtle, then I would recommend this one. Santo Domingo: This one I didn't see in any of the responses, and if you can pull it off, it would be lovely. A few of my snobby guyfriends absolutely adore this scent. My only issue with it is the throw... On me, the throw is fairly small. Bastet: Faylie is right, this is a classy scent. It has that comforting warm scent that may ward off the frigid Manhattanites. If you like lighter, more fruitier scents, I suggest checking out Katharina, and Euterpe (one of the muses).

Well, here it is, my first review. Once I opened the bottle, I immediately swooned. I definitely smelled a smokiness, tempered with something bright and sweet. But when I put it onto my wrist, the scent morphed. The sweetness turned into a sharp lemon, with just a wee touch of what I thought to be at the time, incense. But the drydown! Oh the drydown! At first, I was sniffing Incantation directly from my skin, so I thought it was lemon, incense, and a cleaning chemical. I did manage to pull my nose away from my skin, and just go on with my daily business. Then I smelled a glorious waft of it. As olympia301 said earlier: "Like a fine wine, let it mingle with the air." That statement is completely true. I can smell the wood, vetiver, and a smidge of lemon. It has good staying power, and a lovely throw. I'm definately adding this to my wishlist! Although this happens to be a bit masculine, any aggressive or ultra sophisticated young girl could easily pull this off.