Quillifer

Oh wow.

 

Wet, this is pleasant enough to me but nothing amazing - generic BPAL fairly masculine, resinous.

 

However.... after about half an house - wow. Just gorgeous. Rich, deep, kind of sweet/tangy - like the best marmalade. Yes - it smells like bitter orange tastes to me, perhaps mixed with a hint of pipe tobacco.

Clearly I have a confused nose but right now it's a very happy one!

 

Pain was one of the first imps I was given by my dear friend who introduced me to BPAL. I remember thinking then, "Well it's quite a powerful smell but I really can't imagine wanting to wear it as perfume". Over the next few months I kind of liked it but never really wore it much, and several times nearly gave it away, chucking it in with a swap.

 

I am now so, so glad that I kept it! The last few weeks I've been ill with a heavy cold which is as serious as a bug can get and still but just a cold. Pain has been a real saviour to me: I find it bracing, comforting, truly medicinal, and really indispensable. I put it on my wrists then sit at the keyboard, and after a few moments the scent reaches me and it's like a magic pill kicking in. I find it lasts well for me.

 

Sadly this is the only blend I know so far where lavender works for me.

Hmm. It's becoming clear to me that I don't like the Lab's narcissus note. A pity, since I love the smell of fresh daffodils, but I bet next time I get a chance to inhale that deeply I'll be able to smell the kinship between them.

Anyway the bottom line is Signior Dildo on me smells mainly of a note I don't like, combined with hints of ones I prefer in other blends (eg Brusque Violet, or Lyonesse).

 

This seems to be a blend that is interestingly different on/to various people. Well worth trying if you fancy it because of this variation.

I love the gingerbread note, but I find Snake Oil alone too - erm, too snake oily! - for me, and I enjoy blends which have just a little in (eg My Mommy in a Boat). This has too much of it for me: a little too sweet, - if I say too sexy that makes me sound a right old maid, but I know I can't carry this off, it would feel like a kind of pantomime sexiness on me.

 

I do actually like the smell of this, I just know I couldn't wear it.

Oh god this round may turn out to be expensive! I love this too

 

A lovely dark gloop in the imp, smells like treacle.

 

Wet, like treacle and some close friends - a bit lemony, but more the oil of the rind than the brightness of the flesh;

As it starts to dry, something very slightly floral - but that's not really the right word, it's more like a sweet thing you could eat that includes a floral ingredient.

 

It doesn't seem very aquatic to me but I'm rubbish at naming scents (I only write reviews for jollies, I suspect they're not a lot of help!)

 

Hmm. Think I may like the dry-down a little less, but this oil is really different, and that makes it appealing to me.

Oh I love this. Not sure how much I'd wear it but I do love it. Yes, once I get to feel connected to it as well, I think I'd wear it.

 

In the imp and wet: herbal and slightly green - I thought of thyme and mint, but not the archetypal versions, and I think that's my uneducated guess at heather and peat. If you think of the kind of compost you shouldn't buy (ie peat bog) and Scotch, then you get peat!

 

After a couple of minutes the red musk comes out to play but as the lab says, it twines around. I can detect white musk which I don't like but it's not strong. It works to give a hint of snow.

 

Yes I think I'll want a bottle of this.

 

If you wanted an example of the Lab's skill at embodying a poem in a scent, this would be a good one. Wordy mare that I am, I want it for that alone, but I also love red musk and this is an unusual and subtle take on it.

 

If money grew on trees, I'd get 2 bottles of this.

 

ETA it gets better and better as it dries down. I get hints of things like cream and leather. I guess that's the passion-warmed skin

Very disappointing - but it's my own fault because I was expecting completely the wrong things. (I love gardening in the winter but the notes I associate with that are quite different - I was just so strongly swayed by the title).

 

In the imp - not a lot.

 

Wet: lilies and something that together smell like bubble bath

 

Dry-down: a more complex and rounded fragrance. Warmer - I think the poppies - and more grounded. I get no snow.

 

I'm going to have to look elsewhere for the scent I wanted - but one that actually has the notes in that I want would be a good start, stupid Q!

 

ETA in fairness to myself, I adore the smell of primrose, and keep hunting for a blend with it in, but this one seemed dominated by lily to me, which is something I associate more with summer.

Absinthe to start with and then ..... buttered toast! WTF? Nice. Weird but nice; not sure I'd want a bottle though.

Hmm, I seem to be perceiving this quite differently from some others. I don't get any snow at all. Mine is all warm brown fur, - an edgy fur rather than fluffy teddy-bear kind. There's something very slightly like dark chocolate to it, something a little salty, and it feels like borrowing the body of another species to wear it.

 

ETA this smells a little like Sylvia to me only without the unwelcome soapiness, and much less of the feral metallic tang.

 

I like this as a smell, but I'm not sure whether it will settle as being me. Have to see how it goes.

I loved everything in this apart from a burnt rubber note which kept cycling through, and which I couldn't forget even when I wasn't detecting it

Jasmine and baby powder on me. Makes me think of stuffy changing rooms I do get what it's aiming at though - a really sultry broad-band sexuality. It's just not me.

Ooooh yes! I was sent this as a gift in a swap and I LOVE it This is very, very me.

I get patchouli - a smooth, glossy type. Possibly also sandalwood? Oh I'm in love, can't take nose off wrist!

It feels a rather private scent - no great throw, stays close, more to wear for yourself or as a signature that becomes part of you.

Still only wet on me - will add more to this if it changes much.

 

ETA - something just a little sweeter is creeping out, a creamy orangey scent which I catch a little away from my hand rather than right up close. My only reservation is I'm not sure how long this one's going to last...

I utterly love this I get fresh greeny smelling pumpkin, very vegetable, as if you were chopping it, and then also a slight hint of creaminess. I wouldn't call it waxy or smokey but it is a little richer than just straight cold pumpkin flesh. Delightful

In the bottle this smells very very like Incantation.

 

On, it becomes at first a much stronger, earthier vetiver - but then settles back into an area just in between these two. On first wearing at least I don't notice the other notes at all but I have a feeling I will detect these more as I get to know it - will update this if so.

 

However I'd say you need to love vetiver for this, and not be hoping that the other notes might be prominent.

 

ETA I agree that the throw is phenomenal - the most I've ever noticed.

This is fascinating.

 

In the vile I find it really off-putting - smells like cheap shampoo to me.

 

On the skin it transforms immediately into - well. It's a warm, fuzzy cloud around my wrist. It has that odd property of seeming to really be in the air around rather than on the skin - ie originate there. Different bits of the air smell different.

 

At first it smelled just like a wild, dangerous animal's fur. Very odd indeed - and very nice - to smell that on myself! Then it morphed into something much gentler, including brown musk, and a sort of balsam. I don't really spot individual notes well in this though.

 

It's so different that I'll take a little while to get used to it, but I do like it a lot and suspect I will love it

 

PS I'm not sure about it. Hmmm. I do like it, will have to try it a bit more. It is interesting but there are so many BPALs that I love, I wonder whether I perhaps ought to part with the ones I'm not totally in love with just so that I can enjoy my favourites better...

I LOVE this and wish I'd got more than 1 bottle. Oddly though when I first tried it on, I wasn't keen. On me it's foodie, but not sweet - think of chocolate in the sense of mole, of Mexico. Richness and complexity but not at cloying - with a slight hint of dust. There's a suggestion of burnt rubber at times but fortunately this note cycles out quickly as the oil morphs.

 

Don't think I'd want to wear it in hot weather, so at least part of the year I won't crave it - but otherwise I will have to eke it out until I can get more, and hope that the next version appeals to me as much.

Sadly I'm starting to realise that I don't really like amber. Had to wash this off today; I have found it more wearable sometime previously so I guess this is something my chemistry varies for.

I love the chocolate and cherry in this, and I'm happy to keep my imp, but for me the organge blossom just clashes with the other notes. Its floweriness is a different register from the gourmand and the two just don't meld for me.

In the imp this smells minty and nice.

 

Wet, it smells so strongly of urine and moth-balls that I've no idea what it would have got to be like dry - I stuck it for about 5 minutes max.

 

Not sure what made me dislike it so much - I'm guessing it's the juniper/mint/champaca combo. I love vetiver so it's not the khus.

To IambicDearie - you strike me as a mixture of things I think of as mild, old-fashioned - and totally different, strong passionate fiery stuff. A morpher might be good for you. Not sure though.

 

I wonder if you'd like Bonfire Night? It's smokey, atmospheric, quirky, and seems very English to me.

Beer from the Marsh Woman's Brewery - beer again but subtle this time; herby, countryside, odd. Do try it - I find it hard to describe.

 

Dee, maybe. But I found it too mellow and you might too.

To a Woman is strong, feminine but really odd stuff again; not floral at all. Female rather than feminine maybe.Read a review for a better account!

 

Have you tried the RPG scents?

 

Voodoo. myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond and clove. - Characterful, morphing, quirky again.

 

Black Annis - you need to be ok with civet for this. As well as that it smells - well it makes me think of blue hazey hillsides.

I was frimped with this by the Lab. I have found with other scents that anything with roses in just smells of them and nothing else in a very generic way, and I already have my favourite BPAL roses in The Rose and Spellbound. Also I often dislike berry scents.

HOWEVER this is utterly awesome
I cannot stop sniffing my wrists - I'm going to start bumping into things for having my hand in front of my face So pleased to have found a new favourite in the GC.

OK, so -
In the imp, and wet, and dry, on me it smells of rich buttery pastry and blackcurrant sauce. I get no trace of rose, for good or ill.

I can imagine really loving this in the autumn and winter, but so long as the weather isn't sweltering (and since I'm in England that's 51.5 weeks of the year fortunately since I don't like it) - I would love this. A bottle ASAP

This blend is packed full of notes I love, so I'm a little surprised not to like it more. I'm trying it in May and I think I might like it more in winter so I'll keep the imp for later.

In the imp it smells intoxicatingly promising - a gorgeous, tight-packed scent that I can't wait to smell opening up on my wrist.

Wet, and as it dries. this opening up just doesn't seem to happen. The scent smells concentrated, sweet and smokey, but curled in on itself. Maybe this is cunningly intended by its creator. Personally I blame tonka - the only note I'm not keen on here and which has a "smoothing out" effect that has overlain several other oils I find to be lacking in energy and edge.

This has been on and off my order list for months, and I finally sprang for an imp about 2 weeks before it was DC'd. Given that, I guess it's just as well I'm not keen on it

 

In the imp this is sharp green. On, it warms a little, but just stays very meh - no big strong power, just rather nothingy. I guess if you like delicate scents it could work much better. (I got Black Tower in the same package and I feel the same way about it).

 

So - pity, but at least I don't have to now madly hunt down a bottle

 

PS out of interest I get absolutely no dragon's blood in this. It's a note I love and would have helped (I might try layering with it). But if you were avoiding the oil because of that note, might be worth trying it.

The notes in the list for this appealed to me immediately and I plumped for a bottle unsniffed. Before it reach me, a friend received a decant of it, which I tried. It seemed OK but really not amazing and I waited...

 

In the bottle this is a bit odd. a sort of plasticy version of strawberry; perhaps this actually comes from the clover.

 

Wet, it's just heaven. Warm grass, strawberry juice, the sweetness of rose and the herbalness of clover perfectly counter-pointed.

 

Dry-down - it mellows right out but it essentially more of the same. I found it short-lived at first but I've got more familiar with it now and can smell it for longer.

 

Total heaven

I adore this, although it's not something I would wear often. I wore it this evening, determined to go out (indoor) climbing but dog-tired before I even left the house. It made me grin like a mad thing.

 

This is the opposite of pretty, of little girl, or even dressed-up, man-pleasing womanliness. But it's also very warm, rich, deep, - com-forting in the sense of promoting strength, but not in a zooming around energetic way, more in a sitting back in a chair, smoking a cigar, head back, feet up on a table.

 

Notes - vetiver most of all, my glorious best friend. Less green and grassy here than sometimes. Clove; laurel much later; I don't know what hiba wood smells like. A sweetness - I'm guessing opoponax.

 

I think you need a homburg hat to wear this Must get one...