Briar

Scent: Dee Bottle: Alcohol. Oh, and something faintly woodsy underneath, like a sandalwood. I can almost smell frankincense, too. But that alcohol scent overwhelms it. Wet: The alcohol tones down a little, and the frankincense comes out much stronger. There's something sweet under that, but heck if I know what. Lunch-time: Sandalwood, sandalwood, sandalwood. ^.^ Yellow sandalwood, at that. But nothing else. This one dies fast too. Dinner-time: Looks like I didn't get to this. Or it died before I could.

Scent: Kathmandu Bottle: I smell incense, almost like Nag Champa - kind of earthy sweet smoke. Patchouli. Oakmoss. If Florence was a Turkish rug shop, Kathmandu is a vacation to Tibet. It's incredibly lovely in the bottle. Wet on Skin: It gets sweeter, a dusty (as opposed to powdery) floral. A very faint citrusy note hovers under it, keeping the floral from being unbearably sweet. So far, I could just sit here and huff my own wrists all day. Lunch Time: Now it smells like a yellow sandalwood box that's been used to store Nag Champa incense for 30 years. It's a very bohemian hippie scent, but in a good way - refined sort of. I still want to nibble my own wrists. Dinner Time: Okay, by now it's fairly well gone. So far, all of these seem to have about a six to eight hour time frame, except Misk U. Perhaps I should shorten my evaluation times accordingly... But the final verdict for Kathmandu is OMFGYUM, so I'm happy. ^.^ (I completely didn't get any wintergreen/mint notes from this one. Weird!)

Scent: Florence Out of the Bottle: Some sort of fruit, like pear; incense, Nag Champa maybe; a deep floral. It reminds me of a Turkish rug shop. Wet on Skin: The floral note is sharper, almost like a rose next to a sprig of eucalyptus. The incense note fell deeper into the scent, and I can't find the fruity note now. Lunch Time: The scent has faded down to a powdery musk again. Either there's more oakmoss, I'm drawn to powdery musks, or my body chemistry turns all scents to musk. We'll see as time goes on. However, I have so far really liked this scent a lot. Dinner Time: By dinner time, the scent had completely faded away. It stayed powdery until I couldn't smell it anymore, though.

Scent: Danse Macabre Out of the Bottle: something piney - maybe fir, and the barest hint of floral under it Wet: much stronger on the fir, maybe a eucalyptus now too - the floral is lost under the sharper scents After a While: Okay, here it is lunch time. I noticed earlier that the piney notes burnt off and left behind this powdery, musky, very soft scent. A bit like the sweet end of violet. Unfortunately, I washed my hands and accidentally got the water on my wrist and nearly washed all the scent away. I'll have to put it higher up on my forearm next time. I can still smell it a little though.

I adore this scent! I call it my "sexy laundry" scent. Something in the series of notes and my skin chemistry turns this into a cotton blossoms and detergent (in a good way!) sort of thing. It's like folding three loads of big fluffy towels in black stockings and garters. It's got a heck of a throw on me, though - fills my car when I dab my wrist half an hour before getting in the vehicle... I'm only sad that I just bought one bottle!

When I first tried this on myself, the very first thought I had upon putting my nose to my wrist was "I must get this on my man!" Since I post my BPAL reviews on my LJ, he read my comments about needing to smell it on him and tried it. It's absolutely what many here have said about a "refined, sophisticated, masculine" scent. A woman could get away with it, certainly, but I prefer it on him to me. He almost never wears scents, so getting this one on him was a major accomplishment, and it's definitely sexy. De Sade is sex in a bottle, but Saint-Germain is seduction in a bottle. ^.^ In the Bottle: This smells like cologne to me. It's very sharp and crisp, with a musky undertone. Something about it clings to the back of my tongue when I smell it... Wet on My Skin: Definitely a "masculine" crisp scent. Very sharp - I can only come up with green and musk. After a While: Still quite a "traditional masculine cologne" sort of scent, but in a very good way. It reminds me, though I'm completely unsure exactly how, of what I liked about Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men. I really want to smell this one on Morti, if I could ever get him to wear something that smells nice for the purposes of enticing me to ravish him. >.> (I like it when my man smells yummy, dammit!) This scent is one of the rare "image" scents for me - it evokes fairly strong and clear mental images, instead of faint and hazy impressions. However, getting into details would be too strange for me... Before It Dies: This has a musky, almost leathery scent on its tail end. It's very sexy, but I think too "heavy" for me. I can pull off a lot of masculine scents, but not this one. Mind you, I love the way this smells though, and even if I can't get Morti to wear it, I'll keep it. In Addendum: Now, that I've gotten Morti to wear it, though I haven't been able to evaluate it quite the same way I do on myself, I have to say that the amber in this one "lurks" in a very unusual way. The carnation and the lavender do this lovely dance on an amber floor when he wears this. The moss pops out near the end of the scent on him (and me too).

Whenever I try a new BPAL imp (I have a small pile as gifts), I put it on before ever reading any reviews or even the ingredients. So if my review is repetitive, I guess just blame it on getting the same impressions as others. In the Imp Bottle: Sickly sweet, like spoiled candy and crayon wax. There's a touch of wood, and something sort of mossy/mildewy. It's a weird scent... Wet on My Skin: Thankfully, more wood in it now. But the crayon smell is there too. Underneath it is some sort of loamy moss sort of scent. After 30 Minutes: I smell like a day-care center. Or a pedophiliac. Or just a box of old Crayola. I like new crayon smell, I don't like dusty old crayon smell. After 2 Hours: Yup. I reek of old, dirty crayon. This one gets firmly classed in the EW! category of scents. The moment I can start pawning it off to others, I think I will. Yup, dried apricots remind me of crayons, and the patchouli adds the dirt. Before patchouli ages, it smells like wood and moss to me, but when it sours, boy does it ever sour. Dirt, and not in the fresh, loamy earth way.

I have my little imp out, and I tend to keep my reviews to myself on my LiveJournal because I still feel like a "new" nose, but I had to come read other reviews on Black Annis after my experience with it, and now I'm compelled to share. Out of the bottle, this smelled like the not-sharp side of Star Anise (which I like) and pipe tobacco. Apparently, I'm only one of a few people who get a very strong cigar/tobacco note from the scent. I know civet - I have a love-hate relationship with civet. However, I didn't know any of what was in this scent when I put it on. All I smelled was anise and pipe tobacco. So I put it on. Within seconds, who's got that cigar on my wrist? Who stole my licorice candy away? What's going on? I'm confused! Mommy! After about a half hour, all I could smell was cigar shop. I couldn't take it anymore. It was starting to give me a faint headache. So I washed it off with a little cold water and a washcloth. All I managed to do was tame it a little. I still smell it. Now that I've read what's in it (I don't read beforehand, and I never remember when I've read it more than an hour before I try it), I can very clearly identify the civet in it. I can't find the moss or the vetiver. Just civet. Like I said, there's a little love-hate there with civet; I can't stand it - I can't stand it - I can't stand it - ooo, that whiff is nice - I can't stand it - hmm, sexy... - no, wait, I can't stand it. After washing it off ten minutes ago, still all I can smell is civet (which reminds me strongly of cigars and pipe tobacco) and I keep going love-hate on it. And I can't get it off...