Imptress

Sniffing in the imp, I get cinnamon... cinnamon and fruit. I wasn't going to wear this today because I didn't want to have to deal with the cinnamon burn, but when I closed the imp a few drops popped out onto my skin, so I figured I was destined to wear it. Besides, I need some flexibility as I'm going through a file review with my supervisor this week, which is grueling. Amazingly enough, when I dabbed this on I got only a very slight warmth in a few places-- not the usual burning red welts! Very good sign. On initially, I still got a lot cinnamon with fruit (peach? hmmm... more like apricot, maybe) underneath... reminds me very much of March Hare, so I was bit nervous. I love that scent but spice and fruit together remind me of candles and, as I've said before, I don't want to be known at work as "that girl who smells like candles". Further along the drydown, however, something floral/herbal developed deep down... very faint, but still there. Ultimately, this is mostly cinnamon/fruit with an undertone of floral/herbs. It wasn't as strong as March Hare and I didn't get the "candle vibe" from it that I've gotten from other fruit/spice scents. I really like this, and hubby said I smelled good when I got home from work and he got a chance to sniff me. As for the effects of the oil, I did find it easier to stay on-task today. I'm definitely going to try this again and there may be a big bottle in my future as I find the voodoo oils very helpful.

This is another one I had to wear twice before I was ready to review it.

 

I really do like this-- the rosewood keeps the two other roses from amping up too much, and every now and then at the beginning of drydown I'd get a whiff of the lilac... so sad and old-fashioned at the same time (dunno why I associate lilac with sad-- just one of those things I guess!). I never picked up on the osmanthus either time I wore it and was disappointed, as it's one of my favorite scents. This settled down to warm, soft rosewood on my skin. Not a lot of staying power, but a really nice combination of florals and wood. I'm going to save enough of my imp for warmer weather to see if it will develop differently (and maybe I'll get to smell that elusive osmanthus!).

This went on as a strong combination of lavender and rose, both of which I like. On drydown those two notes faded and I got more of the creamy, rich orchid tempered by the white musk (which makes things seem cool to my nose). Every now and then I'd get a whiff of the frankincense, which kept things nice and grounded. This is a lovely floral but it faded way too fast for my taste-- after 4 hours it was completely gone. I'm going to try it again on a workday (I'm sure no perfume would have much lasting power while I'm preparing a holiday meal!) to see if it has more staying power, but this really doesn't seem like "me".

This was a frimp from the Lab (thank you!) and, upon sniffing all of the imps in my order, the frimp I was most excited to try. In the imp it was a lovely combination of fruit, floral and fresh.

 

It's lovely on the skin, too, but so well-blended that I had to wear it twice before I felt ready to review it. At first I get a burst of fruit but that quickly dies down and I get the aquatic note (which scared me a bit-- I don't like most aquatics) and rose. The rose is well-hidden, though, to my nose... I could barely pick it out of the green and aquatic notes. This is lovely and clean (but, as previously stated, NOT soapy) and green without being "grassy" or "herby". I think I'll wait to try it again, though, when the weather is warmer and this may have a bit more staying power. I think this may make a perfect summer scent!

This is one of my very favorites but I've put off reviewing it because I love it so much I don't even know where to begin!

 

The muscadine gives it a deep winey fruit note and the cereus (a night-blooming cactus flower) lends some sharp sweetness... the patchouli and nag champa give it depth and earthiness, though, and keep this from veering too deeply into fruity-floral territory. When I wear this I feel sophisticated and sexy and mysterious and I can't stop sniffing myself... almost as if I fear with the next breath the lovely fragrance won't be there. So glad I just got a big bottle!

Lovely floral! There's just a touch of something green in it to keep the sweetness of the flowers from spiraling into "cloying" territory. There's definitely a gardenia note in this because for a good part of the drydown I kept getting wafts that smelled exactly like the drydown of Monyette Paris. Very, very nice and got a "You smell good!" from both my husband and daughter... yay!

I really like both patchouli and apricot and found this to be an interesting combination. The patchouli is definitely dark and deep; the apricot rounds it out with just a *little* fruity sweetness. I like this but think it may be a little too "rough" for me, though I'd love to smell it on a guy. Too bad, as I don't think I'll be able to talk hubby into it... he snuffled the back of my neck and said that I smelled like an old lady, then said he liked Wanton a lot better! Ah well... maybe if I try layering this with something sweeter he'll like it more.

When I sniffed this in the imp I was thinking along the same lines as Quinkel... that this was a lot like Spellbound and, while Spellbound is one of my very favorites, I wasn't sure I needed another "different rose" perfume.

 

When I swiped it on my first thought was "Aack! This is strong!" but it didn't take long to calm down. This is so well-blended that no one note stood out to me for very long. After I'd been wearing it for about an hour I crawled into bed with DH for some snuggle time and our conversation went something like this:

 

Him: Mmm... you smell so good... what is that?

Me: One of my new BPALs... Wanton.

Him: *Snuffle* It smells like... like.... *snuffle*... *moan*

Me: Hee hee... that's what it's supposed to smell like!

 

Needless to say, I'll be needing a bigger bottle!

MMmmmm... soft and tropical, but not in a funky, cloying way that some "tropical" scents can be, it's nice and clean and just sweet enough (IMO). This one *is* very light, definitely a skin scent without a lot of throw. Hubby really likes it and has come sniffing around my neck a couple of times since I swiped it on. I fear it won't last long, however, since it's so light. Oh well-- that's a good excuse for a 10 ml if I ever heard one! I can't wait to try this in summer, when I think the heat and humidity here will bring this out better.

I love orange scents. I *LOVE* patchouli scents. And, I love scents with orange and patchouli together (Lush's Karma is one of the few non-BPAL scents I still wear regularly), so I was looking forward to trying this. I guess I should have picked up on the fact that this is orange BLOSSOM and not orange. I like orange blossom fine, but it's definitely different from orange to my nose... I think it's what makes this sweeter and powdery, though red patchouli is definitely more sweet than other patchouli (IMO). I've had this on for a while now (over an hour) and it still burns, plus now the main impression I get from it is baby aspirin. That's not a bad thing (I loved baby aspirin back in the day! ) but I'm not sure that's what I want to smell like. Plus the long-term burning thing isn't fun. I may give this another go on another day (and avoid the neck area when I do) but this is probably headed for the swap pile. It's nice, but not what I'm looking for.

Frimp from the lab in my most recent order... thankies!

 

When I saw the orangey-red color in the vial I had to try it right away. As soon as I started swiping it on I knew for sure there is cinnamon on this because it started that burning, and I got red marks everywhere I put it on my neck. Fortunately, that didn't last long because this is really, really nice, especially for the holidays!

 

I'm not familiar with Dragon's Blood resin but based on this I'm definitely going to try more scents with that in it. This is rich and spicy and fruity without being fake-fruity, if you know what I mean. At first the cinnamon/spice was very strong but that has receded into the background and I'm left with the combo of fruit and greeness, which I love (in that way it reminds me a bit of Wolf Moon). Every now and then I get a whiff of the leather, but it's not LEATHER... to my nose it just keeps this from being too fruity or too green. It gives it some depth. I think it's a great holiday scent because to me it just smells like Christmas! Maybe if I'd tried it at a different time of year I wouldn't have made that association, but there it is. I really like this, though I don't know if I'll be getting a big bottle. I need to save enough in my imp to try it in warmer weather to see if it works then... if so, this is definitely big bottle material!

No question that this is fruity when it goes on... I definitely got the previously mentioned "Juicy Fruit Gum" vibe. That initial sugary sweetness faded quickly though and the main thing I got after that is lotus. Pungent, almost cloying with a waxy quality that reminds me somehow of lipstick. I've gotten this from lotus before and I'm beginning to wonder if lotus and I just aren't destined to get along. Hubby, however, really liked this on me and commented several times today on how good I smelled (which he doesn't do unless he REALLY likes what I'm wearing). It faded rather quickly on me (for BPAL anyway) but just a few moments ago I was changing clothes and a wisp of amber floated up from my cleavage, which was nice but very very faint. This isn't bad but I'm not sure about a big bottle, unless hubby insists !

Lovely... fruity and woody, a bit resinous. This is the first blend I've tried that has fig and I love it. I don't get much of the cocoa in this. Thing about it is, I have to agree with Andrabell's earlier review: this smells like a Yankee Candle shop to me. In fact, when hubby first sniffed me after I put this on, he said "You smell like a candle... just like the Yankee Candle factory." I also agree with Penance in that this brings March Hare to mind-- I think it's the combination of rich, sweet fruit with some "spice" to temper it.

I still love it... I'm just not sure I'll keep wearing it as a perfume. I don't want to be "that girl at work that smells like candles"!

In the bottle, I could easily detect all of the notes. On first applying to my skin, I got a strong rush of vanilla. This smells very much like the vanilla in Snake Oil. It settled into my skin nicely-- I was afraid that the flowers would be too cloying but the vanilla seems to keep everything "soft" and under control. As I caught whiffs of this, I was reminded strongly of plastic baby doll I had as a child. Not unpleasant, but not exactly what I was expecting! I'll try this again another time, but unless it's really different the next time, I don't see a big bottle of this in my future. It's nice, just not me.

Oh, this is just lovely!! Very, very floral with a luscious fruit undercurrent to keep it interesting. It's not at all heavy or overpowering... just wonderfully complex and fresh. This one drives my husband wild, too, so I see a big bottle of this in our future!

 

ADDED Oct. 31:

 

I've already reviewed this some time ago, but I had to add a new comment. I save this fragrance for "special occasions" as it's so rich and complex (plus all I still have at this point is my imp-- I need a big bottle!). I recently was out of town for a business meeting and we had a dinner with the client and I wore this that night. Two of my colleagues immediately asked me what I was wearing as soon as they smelled me and insisted that they each wanted an imp of this the next time I order. One of them termed this a "man catching" scent! It really is something special!

Let me start by saying that while I haven't cared for rose scents in general before I found BPAL, I've really enjoyed Beth's rose scents... with the exception of this one.

 

To my nose, the earthy note of this made the rose way too "high" and cloying, exactly what I have NOT liked about other rose scents in the past. Hubby took a couple of whiffs and pronounced it "too heavy". I was afraid this would end up giving me a headache so, for the first time in trying a new BPAL frangrance, I took an alcohol wipe to it... and it didn't budge. I left it alone after that, figuring I'd give it time to see how it developed. Now all I can say is that my cleavage smells like dirt and rotten roses. Bleah.

Tried wearing this for the first time today and didn't much care for it. I started putting it on and had a hard time placing the top note I smelled. The closest I could come to describing it was "Pine-sol-ish"... the smell reminds me of how the dorm I lived in at college smelled after the floors were mopped. It's not really unpleasant (on the contrary, it makes me think "clean") but not something I wanted to smell like at work all day. I added some Old Shanghai to it in a effort to sweeten and lighten it up a bit, and that seems to have worked okay. I'm going to try to wear it by itself on a weekend and see how the scent by itself develops over time... maybe I'll end up liking it after all!

Ooooh... luscious and fruity. Sweet, but not cloying (thanks to the patchouli, I think). The musk and amber round everything out and this is just.... yum!!

 

Kinda fitting, I guess, that Imptress would fall in love with Imp!!

Yup, definitely fruity at first, then very clean and "soapy" the rest of the day. Very nice and definitely wearable-- well-rounded and lovely. I ordered an imp of this because of some stuff going on at work-- I felt like I needed a boost of confidence and hoped this would help. I first wore this on a day when I had to approach my boss about something difficult and I had been dreading the task. Maybe it was the oil, maybe not, but I felt strong and steadfast going in and I got exactly what I wanted with no argument or difficulty from her... incredible, because I had gotten flack from her previously about this same request. I intend to test this again, with the plus of enjoying how lovely it smells regardless of any effect it has .

 

*edit 01/05/06* I finally got myself a big bottle of this and wore some of that for the first time today... I was meeting some very important clients for lunch and wanted to make a good impression. Today I noticed an "almondy" note when wet, and on drydown a more "waxy", creamy sort of note. I hadn't noticed either of these notes before from the imp I had (and emptied!). The waxy note reminded me somewhat of lipstick-- not unpleasant, just the association I made! I still love this, and the clients definitely liked me (I don't think I've ever laughed so much at a client lunch!). I really think this oil works and I don't ever want to be without it!

Got this as a bonus imp in a recent order-- thanks Beth!! I had this on my to-try list, and I'm *SO* glad I got it now.

 

The prior comment about "no edges" in this fragrance is dead-on... it's very difficult to pin down. Initially, it does go on almost fruity, definitely sweet, and the musk is the note easiest to pick out. It quickly mellows, though, into an incredibly rich, well-rounded scent that I LOVE. I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist! Hubby very much enjoyed it, too, so I definitely see a big bottle of this in our future

A sweet, fruity vanilla... almost has a cotton candy note. I like it... it makes me smile when I smell it! It's not really me, though. Maybe I'll let my 10 year old daughter try it and see what she thinks!

I was so looking forward to trying this one but it just doesn't work on me. When wet it had a disturbing "nail polish" note to my nose. Now that it's been on for a while that note is gone, but the smell reminds me overwhelmingly of lipstick. Oh, well... can't like 'em all, I guess

I really like roses but rose perfumes usually give me a headache. This, however, does not... it's rich and rosy but not sweet or cloying. Very, very nice!

This reminds me of the incense used at Christmas midnight mass, but a bit sweeter. I like this very much but it is a bit masculine. Mr. Imp doesn't like it, but then he doesn't like church much, either. Still, I'll give it a try one day at work to see what the reactions are!

This is a gorgeous, spicy, complex floral... the juniper gives it a nice bite while the orchid is smooth and mellow, and the patchouli lends a touch of deep earthiness. I love this one completely! It smells like my all-time favorite perfume ever, "Summer Dew" by Body Shop which was discontinued years ago so I've been carefully eking out my last bottle of it. Every time I wear it, I get compliments on it, not to mention it drives Mr. Imp crazy with passion . I've been trying to find something similar for so long I was afraid I was wishful thinking, so I just had the Mr. sniff my hand and asked "what does this smell like?" His eyes lit up when he said "Summer Dew!" Yay!!! After some wear I think Oberon is better... cleaner, spicier, and it doesn't change as much on my skin: the fragrance stays lovely and true. I'll be splurging on a big bottle of this soon !