Pookstrell

I've been revisiting some of the imps that I obtained years ago, to see how they have aged. Geburah has mellowed beautifully. When I first got it, it was quite a sharp leather, but now it is a muted, soft and warmer. Like a softer, less angry De Sade. Very pretty! This is a very clean scent to my nose- probably one that I'd wear when getting out of a hot bath.

I am confused by Diwali! So many notes, although I have trouble picking them out! I can smell woods at one moment, then a whiff of almond milk, then fruit, but I can't identify which fruit. This is really interesting and well put together. I don't think it's me, but I will certainly keep trying it out. Since it smells like a 'top shelf' perfume to me, I may try it out on my Mum, who prefers designer scents!

It must be me, but I can't detect any of the familiar Sugar Skull fragrance in this soap! I sniffed and sniffed, but to no avail! Nice lather and scrubby bits, but no scent. Alas!

I got a sniffy of Snake Charmer from a very generous forumite. It is such a happy, warm scent. It has all elements of Snake Oil, Mme. Moriarty but is softer and more discrete. This is a real comfort scent, and totally up my street. I will be looking around for a bottle of this, but won't hold my breath! This is such a gentle, muted patchouli, and the notes are seamlessly blended together. Musk, a suggestion of incense and a whisp of patchouli- the sort of blend that BPAL does best!

Edit: Wait, this doesn't have patchouli in it?! Then what is that lovely smell?

A rare event for me- I ordered two bottles of this because it sparkled with promise!

 

In the bottle this is a clean sweet-tinged scent, and it reminds me of another BPAL that I can't place. Then...

Boom- it's a cross between Antique Lace and Dorian! It has the sweet linen topnotes of AL, and the sugary base of Dorian. Fleetlingly I can detect slightly darker notes, particularly if I slather... yum. This is lovely, lovely stuff.

OMG!

 

Flying Pizza very kindly sent me an imp of this when she spotted it on my wishlist

 

This is absolutely fabulous. As someone else has already suggested, it is a cross between Dragon's Milk and Snake Oil. Snake Oil is somewhat strong on me, and Dragon's Milk can be a little bit 'gooey' so they are both occasional scents on me.

 

But... this

 

Red musk is my absolute favourite note, and it gives this blend a warm sexy feel. The vanilla makes this deliciously sweet, and the patchouli stops it from becoming too girly. If there are fruits in this, they are milky and subtly blended and I am unable to identify them separately. I will wear this a lot!

 

I immediately ordered 5ml even though I CANNOT afford it. I will also be trawling swap boards for more. Ah, I wish that I had the money to buy multiples right now. (And I never buy multiples!)

Another vote for Pele here! It's soft, warm and unobtrusive. Lovely stuff.

First Impressions: I was thrilled to see the description for this blend, as woodsy vanilla scents are my favourite type of scent, second only to sweet leathery blends. And The Bow has all these components

In the vial this is everything I expected. I can smell leather, vanilla and a scent reminiscient of Golden Priapus without the juniper. In fact, it smells like Golden Priapus rubbed against a vanilla-guzzling De Sade. Holy crap

 

On my skin: I immediately pick up a sweetened leather note, which gives the blend a gentle edge. Whilst I can't specifically identify the sage or carnation notes, there is a lovely rugged spiciness to this. I should mention though, that when I took it to the pub and passed it round for sniffing, other people were able to pick up on the sage.

 

Warming up: I've worn this a few times now, and the first time it dried on my skin and the vanilla vanished. I was heartbroken. But, having worn it a few times now, I've found that the sweetness stays put. Incidentally, I find with blends that I have to wear them a few times for them to stabilise, although I don't know if this is a nose/skin/aging issue. Curious.

 

Drydown: On my skin this is vanillary leather underscored by a woodsy spice. Sometimes the vanilla comes out on top, sometimes the leatheriness. Either way, it's just stunning.

Final Verdict: After a few wearings, I can perhaps put this in my Top 3 blends of all time. This is no mean feat. It's right up there with Loviatar, Golden Priapus and Dana O'Shee for me. Further wearing will determine how high it climbs in the preference stakes. I have 5ml on order. I am absolutely bleeping thrilled!

I noticed that the reviews for this scent weren't particularly glowing, so I wanted to just share my love for Les Infortunes

 

In the vial I can detect the leather note from DeSade, with a drop of strong orange blossom. If I sniff really hard I can detect the rose, but this is really leather all the way.

 

On my skin it is rugged leather with a whiff of orange blossom. The orange blossom plays second fiddle to the leather though, and I can now detect a smoky aroma which must be the incense.

 

As it dries it becomes a warm, rugged smoky leather with just enough floral to remain intriguing. Alongside the smokiness, there is a very slight soapy/cleaness which may be the rose. This is probably a traditionally masculine scent, but I'm keeping it for me as I like to smell 'rugged'

 

Gorgeous

I could smell ginger, soft fruits and flowers. This could have been very pretty- except for the jasmine. Sure enough, alongside all the other wonderous was an 'off' note. The jasmine in this is mild- but still too much for me. I put some on and my boyf sniffed it. He said "yep, nice... oh. It has a slight whiff of, um, poo." My thoughts exactly. I think totally need to avoid jasmine in the future. This'll be the last jasmine blend I try. If you do like jasmine however, this might be a winner as all the other notes are wonderfully nice.

The ambers that were really lovely on me were Brisingamen, Blood Amber, and The Lion (though The Lion was very soft and subtle, not the strong amber I was expecting).

 

Oddly, Haunted turned into lemon pledge on me, and I don't think there's even any lemon notes listed.  But I wound up smelling like a musky lemon bar that had been rolled in baby powder.  My chemistry may be a bit odd, though - other amber-fans have loved it. 

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I had the same experience. The Lion was not the rich, stronge amber I was expecting. Instead it was a more citrus-like amber which I also find in Haunted. To me, Blood Amber has a really different type of amber in it; rich, warm and like a second-skin. The blood resin means that it takes a while to try down- but the amber is to die for. I'd love to know what type of amber was in it. Maybe black?

I'm intrigued by Ides- I'd like to know what grey amber smells like so I'm looking forward to the arrival of my bottle

It is my absolute favorite scent and nothing in the entire BPAL line compares to it.  I've tried every cinnamon scent.

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Torture! Fingers crossed that you'll get luck with this round of Chaos blends. I was too scared to try for that very reason!

I love Cinnamon scents and have been begging Beth for one on the Suggestions site.  The only thing that comes close, in my opinion, is my bottle of Chaos Theory that smells exactly like candied cinnamon with a touch of a floral/herbal undertone....very faint though.  It is seriously straight up cinnamon candy and I'd love to get another similar bottle. 

 

Let's start a petition.  I REALLY want this badly.  I only have a small amount left in my bottle.  Let's ask her to dupe it?  (he he ....just kidding....but I wish)

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Your chaos blend sounds absolutely lovely Lorajc, how does it compare to Chimera?

I got this as a frimp from the lab in my most recent order....

 

In the imp...

I can smell astringent orange and patchouli. The orange seems very potent, which is actually surprisingly nice as I'm not usually a fan of biting citrus- scents. This reminds me of something from Lush- perhaps the lovechild of their xmas L.E Orange n' Spice soap and Karma.

 

On the skin...

Wow! The moment it hits my skin it turns into a very well blended patchouli and orange-scent. The orange is on top at the moment. For some reason I can never detect carnation, but there is a certain spiciness to this blend which I'm guessing might be the carnation showing itself. At first it reminds me of Scherezade, but the resemblance is only superficial, as side by side Scherezade has a much sweeter drydown.

 

Drying-down...

As it dries down the patchouli deepens as the orange softens. The more this blend dries down, the more I like it.

 

I can detect the ambergris, but only because I have tried the singlenote- if I hadn't already experienced it, I don't think I'd be able to pick it out beneath the orange and patchouli which are the dominant notes on my skin.

 

Conclusion...

This is lovely- and very familiar. As well as the similarities to Lush and Scherezade I think the boyf and I used to use a similar smelling massage oil when we were first together. So it has, um, *ahem* happy associations

 

This blend is also strange in that the orange makes it seems quite summery, and yet the spiced orange aroma is also suggestive of yule. Christmas on the beach maybe?

At first I thought the lab's patchouli note and I did not get along... but I keep stumbling upon blends which have caused my to change my mind!

 

I forsee 5ml of this in my future!

Eclipse can be candylike on me at times.

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Me too It has often develops a lovely sweet finish on me

 

I've been looking for one too!  So far, the closest I've gotten is Hamadryad, which is pure cinnamon red hots.  I've tried Chimera, which was nice, but not much cinnamon (but on my sister, Chimera was the gorgeous sweet cinnamon most people seem to get). 

 

I've also heard that Love Me is a sweet cinnamon-vanilla, so it might be worth a shot. 

 

Good luck!

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I've tried Love Me, and it is indeed cinnamon sweet- but it has a heck of a lot of jasmine in it. Which just doesn't agree with my skin.

Ooh, good thread

I've been after a sweet cinnamon scent too. To this end, I have 5ml of Chimera on the way unsniffed and have been umming and ahhing about trying inferno for as long as I can remember. Hamadryad is a nice cinnamon scent- but not at all candyish.

I think haunted would be just lovely for a wedding, it's seems to me, very soft and floaty and very bridal 

Glad someone thinks it'd be appropriate as a bridal scent!

I think Haunted would make a lovely bridal scent as it'd nicely with a pale, gorgeous ethereal wedding dress i.e yours.

Thanks hun! Maybe I'll see how Dorian layers with Haunted.

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Actually, I reckon they'd go really well together. Of course, Antique Lace would make a gorgeous wedding scent too as it's so delicate and pretty.

I think haunted would be just lovely for a wedding, it's seems to me, very soft and floaty and very bridal 

Glad someone thinks it'd be appropriate as a bridal scent!

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I think Haunted would make a lovely bridal scent as it'd nicely with a pale, gorgeous ethereal wedding dress i.e yours.

The other big coffee scent that was just released is Misktanic University.

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Yup, Miskatonic sounds wonderful to me. I'm a coffee fan, but didn't get along with Mata Hari as all I could smell was jasmine. I'm hoping that Miskatonic and I will get along better

I can't comment on Morocco, but myself and PC had a similar experience with Golden priapus a while ago. We'd tried 4 or 5 imps between us and they were all similarly yummy. The 5ml was very different though, although still recognisable as GP. I'm considering swapping it away

Maybe you got a mislabled bottle?

Corazon gave off lovely wafts of scent in the vial. It smells very juicy and red, and I could detect musk and amber which I love. It seemed so promising initially.

 

There was something in the wet stage which vaguely reminded me of The Bodyshop's Dewberry, as Corazon was almost berry-like to my nose.

Alas, as soon as this hit my skin the richness began instantly to fade. As it dried the mango became more pronounced and the amber and musk vanished. Half an hour later I am left with a very, very mild sagey mango scent which is pretty nondescript. Such as shame, as it smells wonderful in the imp. I can imagine that this would be lovely and berry-like on someone with the right chemistry- but sadly not on me

Yep, an hour later and it has totally vanished. All I can smell is the Scherezade I put on earlier in the day. Nope, won't be getting a bottle of this one. I'm glad really, as I hate falling in love with discontinueds!

I liked the wee skull on sugar skull.

 

Sadly, no digital camera (and I swapped SS away, so it wouldn't be much of a point anyway).

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Aw yes, my bottle of Sugar Skull is sooo cute! I should be receiving Dead Man's hand any day soon- anyone know if that has a cute 'lil piccie too? I'm wondering if it might have a playing card symbol.

Scherezade definitely has patchouli in it. It's odd because every other BPAL blend with patchouli in it hasn't worked for me. But Scherezade is totally wonderful!

 

ETA: Vixen is also quite a potent patchouli scent, as others have suggested.

Spooky is very Island girl on me...my skin eats the chocolate and the mint and I am left with gorgeous coconut with faint liquor

Have you tried Swank? Pomangranite martinis

Juke Joint is so good...pure Mint Julep...having been a bartender, you could layer this with a cranberry like Lampades maybe for a fruited effect.

Grog is naughty pirate drink and so good...

Blood Countess is sort of like a wonderful punchy sangria...mmm...

gosh, there are alot of them when you think about it!

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Ooh, I've been wanting to try Juke Joint. Grog is very cocktail-like on me. Very, very boozy indeed!

Machu Picchu smells like mango peel to me. With some deep greenery mixed in. Tropical enough?

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I recommende Pele, but I think Scarlet is right. Machy Picchu is much more tart and it sounds like you might prefer it. Hope you find the Star! Unfortunately I got rid o my imp a while ago, otherwise I would have sent it your way.