waternight

In the imp: Pretty vetiver-licious, but I'll give it a shot. Wet: Well, the vetiver is definitely strong, but the patchouli is equally as strong, so I'm doing alright with this one. It's swarthy, thick, murky, and strong. Dry: Unfortunately, the patchouli loses to the vetiver, and while the vetiver in this blend isn't quite as offensive as in some other blends, it's not a note I like that much.

In the imp: No surprise... smells like root beer. Wet: On, it's strongly root beer, with a touch of the spices. As it sits on my skin, a bit more of the spices come out. Dry: *POOF* And it's gone! Well, I'm not too sad, because while this isn't an offensive scent, it's not really my cup of tea either.

In the imp: Pretty much roses. All roses. No cinnamon. Wet: First on, this is a bouquet of full, rich, heady roses. Now, I love roses, and I love BPAL roses, but so far, this isn't grabbing me. Ahh... and now the cinnamon shows up. I was leery of this one because cinnamon can go WOAH STRONG on me but here... oh, here it's amazing. The combination of rose and cinnamon is DELICIOUS. All the sweetness of the roses, cut by the spice of the cinnamon. This is lethal sexuality. Dry: Aaaaaand the cinnamon goes *poof*. If the cinnamon had stayed, this might have been big-bottle worthy. But it doesn't, so it isn't.

In the imp: Very cidery with a hint of treacle. Wet: First on, wheee carnation! Delicious spicy floral, with hefty helpings of the cider and treacle. The wine adds a touch of boozy-ness. Dry: Yuuummmm. This is like huffing cider-wine. I loves it.

In the imp: Jaaasmine! Wet: This goes on all jasmine at first. After a bit, it blossoms into a richer, sweeter jasmine, not quite as dusty/dusky as most jasmines, so I'm guessing that's the myrhh. Interestingly enough, this doesn't go SN Myrhh on me, as blends with that note tend to do. I don't really get any rose. Dry: This settles down into a soft jasmine/myrhh blend. I never get any rose. Unfortunately, I'm getting a somewhat marshmallowy tinge. Off to swaps!

In the bottle: A sweet but herbal floral blend. Wet: I get a solid baseline of well-blended florals, with sharp herbal notes floating on top of them. I get the sea breeze, but it's not so much a salty note in its own right, more of a suggestion of a salty note. To be quite honest, I really can't pick out any one note. No fire/smoke scent, though. Dry: Unfortunately, this dries down to a pretty generic floral scent. It's nice, but I don't think I'll keep it.

Oh, F5, where have you been all my life??? In the bottle: Light and fresh, green tea, a bit of lemon, and a teensy bit of mint. Wet: First on, this is incredibly similar to Embalming Fluid, all delicious green tea. After a few seconds, the lemony notes show up and blend gorgeously with the tea. The mint really behaves itself, staying decidedly backstage, but peeping through once in a while. What really makes this, though, is the seaspray - it adds a deliciously sharp salty note, cutting through the smooth sweetness of the tea. Dry: The salty note fades a bit, but it's still there. This is a gorgeous, salty-lemony-green tea scent. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Oh holy CRAP the Yules are beautiful! I'm really really really hoping my Channukiyah has the candle label!

In the imp: CAKE Wet: Starts out ok. HEAVILY foody. It smells like very very sweet and sugary cakes, with juuuust a hint of baking spices. Dry: BURNT SUGAR LIKE WOAH. This is not a pleasant experience. Ow. Cockaigne and I do not get along.

In the imp: Heady floral note that I'm beginning to associate with "lilies", because I recognize it from Voodoo Lily. Only here, it's spicy. Wet: That heady floral note with a yummy, spicy orange note blossoming out of it. This is quite yummy. Sharp, spicy, sweet, heady. Dry: Pretty much the same as when wet, this one doesn't morph much on me.

In the imp: Smells like, well, cucumber. Fresh and watery and juicy, with a hint of a gentle, sweet floral. The floral is more of an afterthought, though. Wet: Wheeeee cucumber! Really, this isn't a complex scent. It's delightfully fresh and green, slightly grassy in a good way, and juicy as all get-out. It's a happy scent! Dry: Much the same, with a coy wink of a floral note, possibly lily-of-the-valley. Absolutely mouth-watering! I just might have to add it to my ever-growing Big Bottle List.

I haven't avoided Antique Lace exactly, I just haven't felt any real need to order it. The description doesn't really make it sound like it's up my alley, and even though it's a forum favorite, I've had not-so-great experiences with other popular blends, so that alone wasn't enough to make me order an imp. But the Lab frimped me Antique Lace with my Pirate Moon order, and I'm SO GLAD that they did. In the imp: Soft and utterly gorgeous! I'm actually getting a note very reminiscent of white musk in here. Very smooth. Wet: Soft, smooth, creamy vanilla, with some VERY light flowers floating around in the background. There's a bit of a sugary note, but it's not enough to put me off. Dry: Dry, this is still that yummy, slightly-sugary, vanilla. Only now, there's a slightly (white) musky quality to it. When it's really dry, something about it reminds me of Snow White - not in any note sense, but just the feel of the blend. This is really yummy and beautiful, but just a smidgen too sweet for me to wear on a regular basis. I won't buy a bottle, but I will definitely keep my imp around for those times when I need something sweet and feminine.

In the bottle: Buttery, creamy, cakey. What? Really? Maybe slightly lemony cake, but this is not the crisp citrus I was expecting. Wet: First on, still wierd and buttery, then a very sweet lemon note comes out (neroli, I'm guessing). I was hoping for grapefruit, but I'm not getting it at all. No tea. No ginger. Then it takes on a strange plasticky quality, and I feel like I'm smelling a My Little Pony. Dry: Yup. Like others, I'm getting a very sweet, frosting-like, lemon-candy scent, with that plastic note. Wierd. And disappointing.

In the bottle: Wheeee white florals! But beautifully blended and sophisticated. Wet: I can usually pick out gardenia, and it's definitely here, but this really is a masterfully blended oil. No one note really whacks me over the head, and the sandalwood is more of a grounding presence rather than a separate note. This blend makes me think of old sophistication, like old money families in the South, sitting on the porch of an old family plantation in the spring or summer. It's a very classy scent. Dry: Unfortunately, this scent doesn't stay lovely florals. Rather, it does, but it takes on a strange synthetic tinge, and dries down to something unremarkable. It's nice, but there are other BPAL floral blends that I like much better.

Eternal desire, unquenchable passion: red musk, cocoa absolute, Nepalese amber, red sandalwood, aged patchouli, nicotiana, and blood wine. In the bottle: Red-musky and... well, red. It smells red. Wet: At first, the red musk and the cocoa battle it out for dominance, and for a while, cocoa beats red musk into submission. This allows a bit of the other notes, especially the wine note, to show up and play for a bit. Red musk is not to be defeated, though, and reappears with a fiery vengeance, smiting all the other notes. Dry: Red musk hates me.

In the imp: Yup, greeeen. Wet: Strongly herbal first on, but a sweet, almost floral, herbal, not cooking-herbal. I don't get much mint, but the lime and the lavender are blending incredibly smoothly to produce an amazingly addicting scent. The lavender in Envy is a gentle, soft lavender, not sharp and biting as lavender can be. So green. So yummy. Dry: Dries down to a delicious freshly-cut-plants-and-herbs smell. I adore this! I'm so glad the Lab frimped me Envy!

In the bottle: A lot lighter than I was expecting. Light, salty aquatic, wood, hint of leather, just the baaaarest hint of lime. Really nice. Wet: RED MUSK. And nothing else. Dry: Still just red musk. I wanted SO MUCH for this to work on me, because it's our very own wedding gift from Beth! Alas, I just have to accept that I can't wear red musk, no matter how much I want to. I'll let it age and see if it gets along with my skin after several months.

In the bottle: Strange and chemical-y. Wet: First on, very much tea. After a few seconds, the tea softens (but doesn't leave), and I get the woods and the dry orris. Dry: Pretty similar to the wet phase, but much softer. I like this, but it doesn't grab me.

In the imp: Wine and roses. Yup. Wet: Wet, Lilith is all boozy roses. She is thick and heady and RED. Getting a bit of sweetness from the myrrh, but luckily, it and the black musk are behaving themselves. Dry: Dry, the black musk comes out a bit, adding a touch of powdery sweetness, making Lilith a powdery, winey rose. She's not offensive, but Beth makes tons of rose blends that I like a lot more.

In the imp: Fresh, sweet aquatic. Slightly melonish. Wet: Yup. This is true to the description - light white flowers over a gentle aquatic note. The flowers are light and fresh, not heady or cloying at all. The aquatic note is very reminiscent of Tempest. After a bit, I do get a creamy wood note, probably the oak. A lot of wood notes go creamy on me. Dry: Pretty much the same as wet, though the oak amps up a bit in the dry phase. This is a very pretty scent and I like it a lot, but for light aquatics I think I prefer Tempest.

A yellow-bright and smoky brown-black scent, horned, pronged and strange. In the imp: HOLY VETIVER BATMAN Wet: Vetiver. In ungodly amounts. Dry: Aaaand... vetiver. Just vetiver. This blend frightens me.

In the imp: Rich, heady, spicy florals Wet: Purple and gold? Yup. Amorphallus? Yup. Exotic? Yup. Voodoo Lily is sexy as all get-out. Like many blends in Rappaccini's Garden, this is very well-blended - no individual notes jumping out at me. But it is heavy and dark and erotic and spicy. Mmmm... Dry: Same as wet, but a bit, well, drier. Not as juicy-wet. Very heady-spicy. I don't think I need a bottle yet, but I will definitely use my imp. Then we'll see.

5 is definitely my favorite - the red ginger is amazing and sexy. 4 is a VERY close second, so fresh and wonderful.

In the imp: Floral and light. I smell violets. Wet: The violet base is a steady presence, but a second after the oil hits my skin, a gorgeous lemon note blooms on top of the violets and stays there. It's like looking at two separate layers - bottom=violets, top=lemons. There's a hint of powder, but it's not enough to worry me. This really is evocative of its inspiration - sleek, glossy, black, crafty. I do definitely get an avian feel from this. Dry: The lemon stays for quite a while before tapering off and leaving this a primarily violet scent. I'm absolutely keeping my imp.

In the bottle: CHOCOLATE Wet: CHOCOLATE... and some caramel! For a few seconds there's a whiff of pomegranate, then it's gone. I smell like a gooey caramel brownie. Dry: I never get any pumpkin from this, and it dries down to a slightly singed sugary caramel scent. It's not offensive, but I don't love it. I've learned to appreciate foody scents, but this one is just too much for me. Off to swaps. But hey! At least now I know that I can wear the Lab's cream note.