bellumed

I've had this imp for almost a year and a half but held off testing it because French Love smells a bit off-putting to me. It's a weird, floral-powdery-perfumey, sharp scent. I felt a little too nervous to test it in public, let alone in any kind of romantic setting. Wet, on my skin, the sharpness eases, and it becomes a sort of spicy floral cough medicine. It improves on the dry down, losing some of the medicinal quality, but this is still very much not for me. French Love is a very feminine, flowery blend, but I don't find it be particularly sexual or tempting.

Musky... lemongrass? Hmm. Unisex, I'd say. Kind of herbal-soothing. S'alright.

By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla. I kept putting off reviewing Snake Oil, knowing that it only gets better and better. My imp, ordered from the Lab, is now about a year and a half old, and yeah, it transformed from decent but underwhelming to pretty goddamn fantastic. It's a lovely, smooth incense which does just what I want incense to do: expertly straddle the line of comforting and sexy. I absolutely need to pick up a bottle to age while I use up my imp. Only downside: BPAL almost never gives me headaches, but Snake Oil sometimes does; therefore I use it with caution.

I'm a bit "meh" on Swank. I don't love it, I don't hate it. It smells believably like a fruity cocktail, and I like it well enough to keep my imp.

Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein. Samhain '12 is very chilly and woodsy. Also very November, all crisp air and just the threat of snow. On skin, I can detect cloves and apples. Overall the effect reminds me of walking through the forest with my breath puffing out visibly in the cold.

Fragrant, perfumey fruit. Really nice! I’m not sure I’d go as far as fizzy, but there’s something wavery-tingly about this in the imp. On skin, it's a dry orange scent, very subtle and clean. I like it! Try this one if you like Kuang Shi or Akuma.

Embarrassingly, I still have a couple Weenies left from last year to test, so I thought I should get around to that before I bought some new ones. Punkie Night is not very complex on me: a relatively soft cran-apple scent, not too tart. Definitely likable but not a great favorite. I may hold onto my decant.

Without looking at the notes, I guessed smoke, florals, and chocolate, so I’m a little pleased with myself right now. Tezcatlipoca (I think "tess-kaht-lee-POK-a") smells like a cocoa-flavored cigar with flowers on the side. Hmm, I may want to pass along to my dad rather than keep myself. It reads a teeny bit more masculine, but with the cocoa, a woman could certainly wear this. On me: Oh hey, patchouli and slightly stinky leather. I feel a bit like a cigarette right now. Dries down to a quiet and dry patchouli-incense smell which manages to be surprisingly un-hippyish. Nowhere in the description does it mention tobacco, but I keep thinking faintly of a smoking lounge. It's just evocative of that scent, though, I don't smell like I just stumbled out of a bar. I kind of like it. And I did get a compliment on it when someone was close enough to smell it. But I don’t think it’s something I would wear out often; it's more of an at-home scent.

Mmm, I just love the way this one smells. Fruity patchouli, nom nom nom. Wet, this smell pretty hippy-ish, the patchouli taking over. Very patchouli and musk with just a touch of peach to keep things light. The peach comes back on the drydown though, and I LOVE this again. Imp is just an all-around great, very likable blend. I’m happy to have been able to try it!

Yum, Carnal is delicious smelling. Like fruit gummies. Only they’re actually the grown up, mature, sophisticated version of gummies with just a touch of that "earthy fig." I think this smells like a sunset. August-sliding-into-September, end of summer, just starting to get a touch cool. This is the perfume I would want to wear while watching fireworks at a carnival.

I don’t know about screeching and howling—what I’m getting is a nice strawberry musk, strong and just a little sharp. Not too sweet either. On my skin, the strawberry leaf and the white musk become more noticeable. I liked this better in the vial; I think I’m learning that white musk doesn't work too well on me…

Strong, fizzy ginger soda, right off the bat. Lubricant and smoke give it a little weirdness. It smells slightly off, chemically, which a lot people are interpreting as dish soap. I guess that’ll be the gear lubricant. I may be getting a tiny whiff of balsam in the background too. Erf, that dish soap smell is dominating on my skin, unfortunately, with a spicy scent hanging behind it. This one's not gonna work for me.

Glorious and lovely. It is very light, have to slather slather slather this one. Despite that though, the ginger has a noticeable sharp edge to it. Try this if you like Embalming Fluid, Baobhan Sith, or Sound of Insects. Like all of the above, it’s a great warm-weather scent.

Like a lot of others, the strength of the “cologne and wood” scent surprised me. I can absolutely see this on a man, though there’s also something feminine and spicy in that keeps it from being totally masculine. Araña is a huge morpher ,though. Dry is so much softer. Not quite snuggly but a comforting dad-ish smell. I’ve tested this for a least four days trying to figure out if I even like it, and I think my conclusion is that it’s nice, but it's not what I want to smell like.

Surprisingly true strawberry! It’s so hard to get that one right, usually it ends up smelling like that lipgloss you used in 7th grade. The florals and greenery provide a nice background. Amazingly, I think the orris butter is actually overwhelming the normally dominant rose, because I smell something floral but not rosey. I feel pretty neutral about this one, but god knows strawberry scents that work are rare, so I’ll be holding onto my decant.

I think the Lab’s marshmallow always smells a little sour to me—- I get it from Boo, as well. So there’s that and full, very present rose. On my skin, I can sense a tiny bit of the other notes- elusive strawberry and sweet vanilla cream. The rose is still steering though, as it usually does. I really want to like this, it’s sort of nice, but something about the rose just isn't working. I think I will stick to Maiden for my rosey needs and pass Love along to one of its many admirers.

Oh, it does smell happy! Happy lemons. Almost (not quite) harsh in the decant, but more sugary on my skin. Still, I’m pretty much exclusively getting lemons, the lavender is a pretty light touch. It reminds me of Gobo, which other people say reminds them of Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, so that makes sense. This rides the line between sharp and gentle lemon very nicely!

Uncle Brian is a really great one! My favorite Tremulous Song so far, I think. It's sweet and cool and candyish and lovely. Perfect, really.

Spring-y, fragrant green apple where, say, Pomona is nutty and red and autumnal. Pleasant, if not exactly thrilling.

Surprisingly dry incense right off the bat. Whirling, smoky incense. Like a forest fire rather than a jungle. Smelling this actually makes me thirsty. This smells almost like… crackers? I DON’T KNOW, OK? So, all right then. Smoky incense and crackers. The “jungle flower” scent comes out a little more on my skin, but for the most part the incense still dominates. It's all just too bone-dry for me, though it's certainly an interesting one.

Oh, man. This is easily my least favorite of my Tremulous Song decants. Even as I was briefly opening them all to sniff initially, my reaction to Redacted Dragon was, “oh, nope, that was a mistake!” It’s just… grossly sweet and disgustingly musty, the blast of vetiver not doing any favors. Of all things, I’m reminded a little of High-Strung Daisies—that would be the pink pepper adding its bubblegum sweetness, only it’s totally not working for me here. But I test all my perfumes no matter what, so here goes. It’s actually less horrible when dry on my skin than in the imp, but holy balls. It’s like super-gross Red Hots. And burnt plastic. And PEPPER, tickly pepper. Ew. I think no.

Lots of magnolia and sharp lemon peel in the vial, but on me the sandalwood does its same old mean thing. Pass.

Very nice and actually quite subtle. The cedar and hay have a “crunchy” vibe that, along with the salt, makes this foodie in a savory way. (Before looking at the thread, I thought I was being weird by calling it foodie but apparently almost everyone thinks that!) The seaweed and lemon verbena add a bit of sunny beach feeling, but not a lot. This one is odd, for sure, but I think I like it.

Embalming Fluid for Mothers Day because it's my mom's favorite!

I have never tried it, but based on concept alone, the BPAL that makes me think "mad scientist" is Herbert West.