Dusk

Based on old notes, as the imp has gone missing. Very sharp geranium and yew in the imp, with cool earth. The floral blooms on my skin. A bit sweet and rose-like, much softer than in the imp, with very subtle dirt. By 30 minutes there's some Spanish moss too, and it's more earthy, with a bit of sharpness from the yew. On one test, this is when the floral totally took over and it was dry and very perfumey, on the second, it was actually fairly lush with damp dirt not being more prominent. Leans too perfumey for my taste, but it's certainly nice.

In the vial, somewhat waxy white floral and apple (blossom apparently), a little soapy. Wet, the floral blooms a bit more, almost gets a bit spicy aspect along the lines of carnation. But mostly a pale, waxy flower with crisp apple, like Granny Smiths. Dry, there's a slight suggestion of coconut, and it turns a bit soapy-dusty floral, with the sandalwood emerging. Fades quickly. Not my thing as a perfume but it would probably be a nice shampoo scent. I wish I could write a bit more in-depth, but I'm not great at florals.

I found this to be very different after a bit of aging. Fresh(-er, got from a forum purchase): Very, very sweet. Neroli, juicy red apple, vanilla, and a very plump, damp red rose. Dries down retaining the vanilla and red rose, but revealing a polished teak base and a bit of patchouli. Some sweet musk as well. Overall, sexy but quite sweet, a bit too much for me. Aged at least 5-6 months: Not nearly as sweet. A dark red rose, but not a dewy one, or particularly dry. A bit of vanilla, some neroli, bergamot, dry woods. There's a bit of apple but it's crisp, not juicy sweet. Dries down to dark dry rose, subtle vanilla, dark woods, dark musk, a bit of nuttiness and creaminess. I find the aged more wearable, personally, but I do miss some of the lushness from the damp rose and apple. Either way, an attractive, feminine scent that seems appropriate for date nights or other evening events.

Reviewing based on notes I took a few years ago, as this imp has gone missing... Wanda starts out very strong grape juice, with just a slight tannic quality suggesting it's meant to be wine. There's also a soft floral, with roses and violets, and a very light musk and an almost citrusy note somewhere. Early drydown, it's between grape juice and cheap box wine. A bit candy-like. Then grape sweetarts, but with a bit of a pretty floral edge. Late drydown, it gets a bit more alcohol-like with more leather, though it's still very sweet. It makes me think of a tart, juicy bouquet of flowers. The second test, it's a bit more sophisticated, and ends more leathery with a touch of wine-stained silk and a slightly wilted bouquet. Very feminine. Not my style and I'm not a big fan of the grapey wine note. This doesn't smell like a good, full-bodied red wine, it smells like an overly sweet Franzia red which I had the misfortune of tasting as a college student. And it's a whole lot of grape candy at times. But I would be curious to see if this smoothed out with aging, and I'll update if I ever find my runaway imp.

Perversion starts off very sweet, with a heavy dose of tonka and a sparkling, fizzy champagne quality, along with sweet rum. The sparkling champagne is a higher-pitched note that stops it from becoming a big mass of syrupy sweetness, and it contrasts with the warmth of the tonka and tobacco. It dries down with a very mildly smoky quality that also cuts the sweetness, and is mostly sweet, very boozy tonka and tobacco with a little undercurrent of wet leather. When I first got the imp a few years ago, it was way too sweet for me and I was totally scared off. After a few years of aging, it's a bit tamer, a bit smokier, and the leather has emerged to balance out the sweet tonka. It's still sweet and decadent, but not sickeningly sweet. I like it a lot now as a bold, sexy evening scent. The sweetness made it seem feminine to me when it was fresh, but the added smokiness and leather from aging has made it a bit more unisex.

Burial smells like a dark earthy pine forest. My mom said it smelled kind of like I'd been wrestling with Christmas trees.

Great picks! Baking cookies and cleaning house makes me think White Rabbit. It smells like tea, sugar cookies, and clean linen to me.

How about Orphan Black characters? Especially Felix. From the looks of it, Manhattan might suit Felix - (Sexuality, power, confidence. A meeting of modern, sleek elegance and rich, passionate history: sheer amber, black leather, white mint, lemon peel, white tea, grapefruit, kush, teakwood and orchid.) Also could probably pull off something like Iago. Or Perversion. Sarah would be something darker, maybe spicy and bold. Sin, Snake Oil? Cosima - maybe Banshee Beat, or one of the more patchouli-heavy blends. Possibly Masquerade for a lighter patch. Alison - Dirty is the first thing that comes to mind. I think it fits the image she wants to project. Helena - I think she would like smelling like food. Maybe Eat Me, The Gorobble, Dragon's Milk. Rachel - Something crisp and professional, but very expensive-smelling. I have no idea.

Electric blue sounds like a scent I would stay far, far away from. I'm guessing it would have a lot of ozone in it. Maybe Lurid, or Luminous Phasmatis? Never tried them but they sound fitting to me. As for scents that have strongly evoked colors for me... Sin and Satyr are orange-red. Mr. Jacquel and Morocco are sandy beige. Black Tower is green with flashes of red. Burial is dark green. Event Horizon is dark indigo. Azathoth is almost black. Pele and Obatala are white.

Using scents for not just strictly drag but also performative gender in general is the best thing, A+.

I also have problems with amber and myrrh, and Black Rider was too powdery to work on me. While Rogue smelled like leather and pine in the vial it went amber-y on my skin, super sweet and powdery and no leather at all.

This was only a very small test because I got frimped a sniffie. In the vial, it's not much of anything. Kind of vaguely green with cardamom. On my skin, it starts out damp rock rose then gets drier and spicer. It's spicy, perfumey dry rose for the first 20 minutes or so, but gets increasingly green. I think I smell juniper, and some kind of woody green resin (I read olibanum is frankincense, but it doesn't smell as sweet/golden as frankincense usually does). There is something a bit sour about it. This dries to a very dusty resin, almost powdery, with cardamom, a bit of green, and the tiniest hint of sweetness. Also a lot of opoponax later on but my skin always amps that.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm a little cautious of the iris in Sheol, but I do love copal, so since it's GC I might give it a try. Atlas sounds amazing! And the Gorobble, if I can find any. Especially since that's my cat's nickname, and I'm pretty sure marshmallow scents would be her thing if she was human. Cthulhu in Love sounds weirdly appealing. Sissy the Ascendant has a lot of winning notes! Definitely going to look for that. Tattie Bogle could go either way - I think with gunpowder and herbs it could turn into acrid powder on my skin. Penitence, Relics of Herself, and Midnight Mass will be on my radar, but I'll wait until I can get myrrh to behave in a blend where it's a smaller factor, first. Priala, same issue. Which is sad because I do like myrrh as a note but after an hour or two my skin is all myrrh all the time. Devil's Night looks good from the description, then I scrolled through reviews and saw "jolly ranchers," and since some unnamed musk does exactly that on my skin, I'm going to give it a pass. Hmm, I'm going to have to try smoke + Tombeur. Fantastic idea. eta: Tobacco? Yes please! Yes yes yes. Incipient Madness, will try. I'll look into the others too. Thanks!

Digging this topic up because I just realized most of my top favorite scents are dark with both sweetness and smokiness. I don't like things that are pure smoke (Brimstone and Azathoth both failed on me) but when they're in combination with something sweet, jackpot. Examples of my favorites that have the dark, smoky sweet quality on me: Antikythera Mechanism, Xiuhtecuhtli, Goblin, Old Demons of the First Class, Perversion, Great Vampire Bat. Maybe even No. 93 Engine, it's not exactly smoky but it's toasty. Non-BPAL: Alkemia's Caveau des Innocents (sweet pear + spices + dark resins, though I'd like it smokier), Sixteen92's Salem (sweet earthy incense), Deep Midnight's Study in Brown (copal, sugar + smoke) and Halfling's Party (caramelized apple tart + smoke). I can't do dragon's blood and tend to dislike herbal and green notes (exception: Black Tower - again, sweet + smoky - not my fave but still okay). I like myrrh but it seems to always amp up and smother everything else, so I usually avoid it. It doesn't have to be super sweet - resins and musks tend to be sweet enough on my skin. I have Hellfire, Black Rider, and Tlazolteotl headed my way, and I'm thinking those might fit the bill. Does anyone have more recs for dark, smoky sweet scents? because what I really need to be doing right now is finding more smellies to covet

I wish White Peacock was more woody on me, but it's all sugary vanilla up front with a little sandalwood and patch to finish. :/