Iceblink

Straight up rose, and this actually is very evocative of London--one of my favorite scent memories is the smell of Queen Mary's rose gardens in Regents Park, which you can smell before you can even see in the summertime. Beautiful. Not much staying power, but that's par for the course with me and roses.

There's a really pretty, light rose in here somewhere but the moonflower keeps smacking it down. The result is, as others have said, rose soap. Gorgeous rose soap, but soap nonetheless. I'll use this with laundry and stick to Hope and Blood Rose for myself!

I give up on frankincense. I amp it ridiculously, and it doesn't smell good on me at all. Rose Cross is yummy, warm roses for about 5 minutes and then the frankincense tramples the roses into the ground and amps...and amps...and amps. It smells burnt and churchy. I'd love this if it would stay balanced between the two notes, but nooooo!

A very light, clean, delicate floral. VERY light. Almost no throw, and it fades quickly. But it's very pretty while it's there.

Mmm, smells like evening. Violet amps on me in every blend that contains it, so this is pretty much a violet festival, with a very faint hint of powdery iris and a teeny bit of sweetness (from the neroli?). It's very...conservative. Not loud, not overtly sensual, just a nice, polite fragrance. I think this might smell great on a certain type of man, too.

I was worried about this one since it sounded a lot like Bon Vivant, which was pure plastic strawberry on me--but fortunately, this is different. It's soft and sweet and not artificial at all, and the cream note gives it a candylike quality. Not much throw but it's very pretty. I don't detect any of the other notes, but that's ok as I'm wild about the strawberries!

This haunting, exotic scent is named in honor of the shapeshifting demons from Hindu mythology. Sandalwood with rose and patchouli. Simple and straightforward--almost pure sandalwood with just a hint of rose on me. This smells like the sandalwood incense I burn sometimes. It's a "dry" scent, and has decent staying power.

Agony and ecstasy: black leather and damp red rose. Leather and rose--an interesting combination. The rose note in this starts out beautifully, but the leather quickly stomps all over it. And a little leather goes a long way; on me it's SO strong that it almost smells like a new car, or a leather jacket. Too much leather! I don't mind a wee bit of it but this is much too overpowering.

I just sampled my imp of this again to compare it with Faith. Le Serpent is beautiful in its own right--the vanilla stands out, and the violet is that pretty, mossy BPAL violet that makes you think of standing in a shady patch in the woods with violets growing all around you. I like this one, although it doesn't last very long on me. I think The Raven and Faith are slightly ahead when it comes to the violet blends.

I used up a whole imp of this and waffled a long time on whether or not I wanted more. It's a sexy, musky strawberry on me--most of the time. Sometimes it gets that odd celery smell to it that happens with a few BPALs on me. I also get a little itchiness from this at times and I'm not sure what note is causing it. For now, I'm not getting more, but I may seek out another imp at least at some point.

I love this! Blackberry is one of my favorite notes, and the heather gives it a softer, less tart feeling that in something like Bewitched or The Oblation. This is very similar to the L'aromarine Mure Musc that I'm addicted to in summertime; I have a feeling Glasgow will get a lot of wear this year too!

A couple of oils with citrus bothered me: Cheshire Cat and Glitter. Both gave me instant itchy spots. (I wear Mania with no problems, and that has grapefruit, so maybe the grapefruit in Cheshire Cat is different somehow.) And Stardust...I don't know what's in that that's causing the reaction, but I get little red bumps whenever I apply it on my wrists. Which really annoys me because I LOVE Stardust!

Another snake that slithered off my arm within minutes. And it smells so good in the imp too. Once on my skin I got berries + Snake Oil, and after 10 minutes I got nothing. I think I'm going to age these snakes for a few weeks and try them all again.

Dana O'Shee and Snake Oil meet, hit it off beautifully, and immediately ditch my arm to go hang out somewhere more interesting. This is so delicious on first application, and then it goes poof (there's a very faint trace of almond left and that's it). Rats!

This starts out as very dry cinnamon, and after about an hour smells like spicy gingerbread. Waaaay in the background there's a little Snake Oily note that takes its time to emerge. I was nervous about this one since I don't usually like ginger, but it's very yummy in this blend.

Christ, this is a thick oil. The decant's almost 1/3 gone just after two applications! It's beautiful to look at. There's a cocoa explosion on first application, but that's fading rather quickly on me (which is odd, since cocoa usually lasts ages on my skin) to leave, as many have said--Snake Oil. Not that there's anything wrong with that (and I will note that SO tends to turn a bit on me after a couple of hours, and this so far has not). But I want that cocoa goodness to last longer! Maybe with a bit of age?

Caramel with a bit of coconut on me, and this stuff does NOT quit. It's still going strong hours later. The other notes are keeping it from smelling like Kraft caramels--it's a very mature caramel, if you will. I love it and want a bottle right now.

I don't know what it says about me that I love all the martini/gin blends, but I do. This is like The Hamptons minus the cranberries. Crisp and light and...boozy. (Strangely, I'm not a martini drinker IRL. I guess I just love the smell!)

Strongly almond with a hint of cinnamon. This isn't as faint as the almond in Dana O'Shee, but it doesn't have too much staying power on me. Interestingly, the cinnamon in this has never bothered my skin, unlike that in most other blends with cinnamon. Strange but true!

This was a frimp in the order I got yesterday and I'm so glad it was tossed into the package, because I love this. It's sort of a Velvet with figs on me (and without that slightly sour note that fresh Velvet has). The fruit and cocoa are prominent and the woods are hovering in the background perfectly. It's beautiful, and a good way to wear cocoa without smelling like a candy bar.

First off, this bottle has the cutest label ever. This is a confused little groundhog. He smells like Monster Bait: Closet in the bottle, and like a slightly sweeter Bengal or a drier Gluttony when first applied (with the same yeeeeooow! that stings! redness). But after a few minutes the stinging calms down and the scent starts to morphs into soft, sweet cherries and vanilla with the spice moving far into the background. It's quite subtle for such a foody oil. I'll have to be careful where I apply this one, but the end result is worth a little irritation. Delicious!

Riiiiicola! Lemon herbal candy. Lemons and my skin do not get along, so I will not be able to test the love properties of this. It would smell nice as a room scent though.

Way too piney/herbal for me (and boy is this one strong). It would make a great cleaning-product scent though.

Very sweet fruit tea that slowly morphs into blackberry jam. There's almost a peachy hint at times to my nose--where'd that come from? I'm going to get this out again when summer's here; it's a little too intensely fruity for wintertime.

Tea rose, but not like the tea rose in Marie--this is stronger and sweeter. It smells a bit sharp at first but softens quickly. We'll see how long it lasts--BPAL rose blends tend to fade on me after a couple of hours, but hey, reapplying is easy enough! Switched --Shollin