JuliskaMarie

I did a double review of this with my husband, since most of the Ars Draconis scents seem very unisex. In the imp: Me: Warm, smoked berries over dragon's blood resin. Almost like a type of port or other sweet red wine. Him: Sweet, smoky, hint of bark. Wet on skin: Me: Minty & cold, but slightly smoky. Like a cold, recently-extinguished outdoor firepit in winter. Him: Chemicals. Specifically cleaning chemicals. Dry on skin: Me: Warm, smoky berry port, but with an icy edge somehow (like you're outside in the cold, but the drink is warm). Him: Gross cleaning chemicals, like carpet steam cleaning. After a few hours: Me: Faded. More resiny & musky now, but still a smoky, berry port. Him: Faded, but still chemicals. Verdict: Me: Not something I'd wear frequently, but still really nice! It's very warm & comforting - something I can see myself wearing on lazy-days, when it's cold & wet outside & I'm snuggled up indoors. Reading over the lab's notes, I think the fig is what's giving me the "sweet wine/port" scent & the black musk must be the smokiness I keep getting. Him: Absolutely would not wear this. (Me: This smells really gross on him! First scent we've tried on him that's actually gone bad!)

A truly fae nectar! Dragon’s blood resin and honeyed vanilla. I did a double review of this with my husband, since most of the Ars Draconis scents seem very unisex. In the imp: Me: Sweet - dragon's blood resin drenched in milk, vanilla & honey. Him: Sweet strawberries. Wet on skin: Me: Smoky vanilla-honey milk. Like someone spilled a pot of milk sweetened with honey & vanilla over firepit ashes & resin. Him: Like cherry flavoured boiled lollies. Dry on skin: Me: Warm, slightly-smoked & resiny honey-vanilla milk. Weird, but lovely. Him: Smells like a boiled lolly shop now, cherry is still dominant. After a few hours: Me: Unchanged & still quite strong! Yummy! (Him: It smells like some kind of liquer on her) Him: Slightly faded. but still a lolly shop. (Me: a slightly-stale smelling lolly shop, but yeah, definitely a lolly shop on him!) Verdict: Me: Yummy! I would definitely wear this! It's sweet & lovely - good for when I'm in a "foodie" mood, but don't want to wear anything too strong or overpowering. I find this scent very soothing, comforting & relaxing, like drinking a warm milk sweetened with honey & vanilla before bedtime (add some spices & it's my favourite pre-bed drink!). Him: Nice smell, but I do not want to smell like a lolly shop, so I don't think I would ever wear this.

I did a double review of this with my husband, since most of the Ars Draconis scents seem very unisex. In the imp: Me: Warm, musky resin. Not a human musk, more like what I imagine a dragon's musk would smell like. Him: Warm & smoky. Wet on skin: Me: Sweet resin. Definitely very dragon-ish, but also light. Him: Smells like a flowering wood - like a cherry oak or similar. Dry on skin: Me: Slightly smoky, sweet resin. Nice, but very neutral. Him: Christmas! I smell like a fresh pine tree! (Me: It really does smell like a pine tree on him!) After a few hours: Me: Unchanged. Still quite strong too. Him: The pine has faded, but this still smells like Christmas. Verdict: Me: Nice, but a bit boring. This would likely work really well for layering with other perfumes or deepening any of the other Ars Draconis scents. Him: Not bad, but strange. I can't see myself wearing this.

In the imp: Iris, sandalwood & dark musk with a tiny bit of neroli & even less violet. Something in it does make me think of a bird with sleek, black, glossy feathers. Definitely something a raven in a dark poem (or a fairytale) would smell like! Wet on skin: Woah, there's the violet! It's not a clean, fresh violet though. It's a dirty, musky crushed violet. The neroli is there too & the iris & sandalwood have merged into the background. The kind of perfume an ominous fictional raven would wear if he were turned into a man (masculine, but not excessively so). I imagine the raven's human-form as very pale, with dark hair & dressed solely in black & grey, in a Victorian-style suit. That's who would smell like this. Dry on skin: Violety-irisy-sandalwoody-musk! Mmmmm! More masculine than most of my usual favourites (I'm still getting the Raven-turned-man vibe), but not so masculine that I would feel strange wearing it. After a few hours: Soft, fuzzy, sandalwoody, musky violet! Lovely! It's a little darker & more masculine than the scents I usually wear on a daily basis (most of my favourites are ultra-girly smelling), but I still really love it! Verdict: I can definitely see this making it's way into my regular rotation! I tried it on my husband & it smelled pretty nice on him too (though not quite as lovely as it did on me & it's faded a lot faster on him than it has on me), so I'll probably have to upgrade to a bottle at some point, especially if both of us will be using it!

In the imp: The best description I can think of for this is cold. It smells cold. Cold metal for sure, but not just slightly-cool metal, we're talking metal that was left outside overnight in winter & is now FREEZING & covered in ice. The kind of metal that you know not to touch, because your finger (or tongue, if you're that silly) will just freeze to it & become stuck. I'm really impressed with how well they've captured this, because after a few seconds of sniffing it, I'm almost starting to believe that the contents of the imp are somehow drastically below room temperature. When trying to smell specific notes, I get the eucalyptus & mint strongest (& I think that's what's capturing the "cold" essence so well), with some neroli & a little violet in the background. Wet on skin: Still cold, though not quite as extreme as it was in the imp. My nose is currently trying to convince my brain that something cold is REALLY on my wrist & my brain is starting to believe it! "Electrifying, mechanized and chilly" indeed! Note-wise, the neroli has come forward quite a lot & is mixing with the mint & eucalyptus in a way that I'm not sure I like. I can't smell the violet. Dry on skin: The neroli has the lead here & everything else has just mixed into the background. It still feels cold, but not as amazingly icy & evocative as it did at first though. After a few hours: Gone. Completely. If I sniff really closely, I can almost smell a tiny bit of neroli, but, yeah, that's completely gone! Verdict: Not what I was expecting! I'm not a huge fan of the dry-on-my-skin scent - it's not bad, just... it's pretty much just neroli. It was such an exciting smell in the imp though, so I'll be saving this for when I get a scent locket!

In the imp: Lilac, a little wisteria & a hint of rose - but they're all darkened somehow. This isn't a light, happy floral scent, it's actually rather dark & creepy. Wet on skin: The lilac is the standout here. There's a little wisteria too, but neither of them are bright, daytime scents. It's like being under a lilac tree (which is near a wisteria vine) at night, after the dew has set in. Pretty & floral, but also a little spooky. There's a hint of rose, but not fresh rose - like you have some rose oil on your hands & it's mingling with the overall scent. Dry on skin: The flowers aren't fresh anymore, the smell is now more like a very old (antique, even) perfume. After a few hours: Very faded potpourri &/or old lady perfume. Disappointing. Verdict: I like it... but my skin doesn't. Maybe it'll work if I get a scent locket?

In the imp: Moonflower, moss, bone dust & a little stargazer lily. I'm not familiar with buttonweed or honey myrtle, but I'd guess that was them in the background. Very ethereal. I agree with the first poster that it evokes the images of an overgrown cemetery garden for me! Wet on skin: Weeds & flowers (moonflower is the only one I can pick out) with a hint of something haunted - ghosts, old bones & gravestones. Not quite an overgrown cemetery anymore, more like the overgrown garden of a haunted house that's next door to a cemetery. Dry on skin: It's gotten cold now, like it's late at night. The weedy-floral smell has faded slightly (but is still there), as though you've stepped out of the garden & closer to the cemetery. After a few hours: It's faded even more, but still there! It's a very ghostly, cold, weedy-floral scent. Still getting the cemetery & haunted garden at night feel from it. Verdict: Matches the poem perfectly! This is a very, very, VERY cool & mysterious scent! It's not an everyday perfume for me, but I love it & can definitely see myself wearing it!

In the imp: Musky, fruity florals! It's hard to pick the florals out individually, but I can juuuust spot the sweet pea & honeysuckle. The pear is quite easy to find though. Wet on skin: The lilies are the first to show up here, but the honeysuckle, sweet pea & what I assume must be the heliotrope aren't too far behind. The musk is working as a soft coating over everything, blurring the flowers all together. There's a hint of pear in the background, but only if you're looking for it. It's a very light & sweet scent. Dry on skin: Very soft & sweet flowers! Again, the sweet pea & honeysuckle are easiest for me to spot, but there's lillies & heliotrope in the background. The musk isn't really it's own note here, it's still just softening the flowers. Likewise, the pear doesn't seem to be standing alone either, it's very light & blended in with the flowers... like a few slices of pear floating in a vase of flowers, rather than a whole pear seperate from them. Very clean, fresh & lovely. After a few hours: The pear is a little more noticeable now, but it's still blended with the flowers. Very pretty & sweet. For such a light scent, it lasts pretty well! Verdict: I love this one & I suspect that I'll be buying a bottle of it when my imp runs out!

In the imp: Peony! Very strong, fresh peony! There's something behind it too, but it's hard to pick out - sort of herby teas, with a little bit of apple & something else green? Strange, but very pretty! Wet on skin: Peony & teas! Like being at a huge outdoor tea party with vases of peonies on the table! Earl Grey with lemon, Green Tea, a flavoured black tea (not sure what it's flavoured with, but it's not a plain black & there's no milk in it) & a herbal-tea mix. Where is this tea party & how do I get there??? Dry on skin: Wow, the peony faded quickly - the flowers are up the other end of a long table now! The teas are all mixing together to make a really interesting scent (not dissimilar to what my tea-shelf would smell like if I removed all the chocolate-flavoured teas). The lemon is slightly more present too, not too strong though, more like it's not just *in* the Earl Grey, but the squeezed-out lemon wedges have been left on the table nearby. There might be some dried apple in one of the teas, but there's no fresh apple here. It does definitely make me think of the Mad Hatter & March Hare's tea party from Alice in Wonderland! After a few hours: It's VERY faint now. Sort of a sweet, floraly tea scent. Pretty, but not really there. Verdict: I really like this one & I think I'll get a fair bit of use out of it! The only downside is that it doesn't last all that long. I wonder if it would last longer in a scent locket?

In the imp: Delicious, fresh, golden apple! There's also some apple-blossom & soft, musky-resin sweetness hidden behind it once you get past the first juicy hit of apple! Wet on skin: A heavenly-sweet golden delicious apple! Too perfect to be real! After a few seconds I start to get some soft & sweet resiny-musky florals coming through, but the apple is still the main note on me. SO lovely! I don't smell like Ladon at all... the garden that Ladon guards, sure, but no dragons here! Dry on skin: Ahhh, here's the dragon! He's been rolling around in flowers & crushing golden delicious apples all over himself! Despite the dragon's blood resin, this is a really soft & feminine scent on me! Not quite as stunning as it is first up, but still really pretty! I keep noticing occassional wafts of sweet floraly-apple without even sniffing for it (though when I sniff my wrist, the dragon's blood resin is still the main note), which is pretty impressive, as I didn't put much on & I only applied it to the one wrist for testing! After a few hours: A sweet, appley-floral (mainly apple & apple-blossom, I think?) over a soft, warm & lightly spiced resin. Verdict: This one is so pretty! It's warm & resin-y, while still being sweet, floral & feminine! I love it! I'll be upgrading to a bottle when my imp runs out, for sure!

In the imp: Midori & champagne, with some grape, mint & lime in the background. Wet on skin: Exactly as described by BPAL! All the notes are swirling around & taking turns at being the dominant notes - strange, but nice! A very herby-fruity, "light green" type of scent. Dry on skin: The lemon balm & green tea seem to be the main notes on me now, but everything else is still swirling around in the background. I was expecting the melon, lime & grape to amp more, so this is an entirely different scent to what I thought it would be. Weird, but still pretty! After a few hours: It's all mixed together now & it's really hard to pick out any individual notes. The lemon balm is the only one I can make out now & even that's quite hard to pick, as it's sweetened. Very unusual, but I like it! Verdict: A "sparkly, batty little scent" indeed! A bit of a weird one, but that's never stopped me from liking a scent before! Like with Delerium, I wouldn't wear it as a daily scent, or if I have something happening that requires me to be serious, but if I'm feeling silly, or need a pick me up, this would work wonderfully!

In the imp: Champagne-soaked strawberries, fizz (like champagne bubbles tickling my nose) & something I can't quite put my finger on... almost a gingery-citrus note? Wet on skin: Very fizzy/bubbly champagne, with a ton of champagne-soaked strawberries. The faint gingery-citrus note is still there, I think that might be what's creating the fizz/bubbles effect. Dry on skin: It's starting to sweeten up now - my husband described it as "lemonade & alcohol". The fizz is still there, but it's less of a "freshly poured champagne" fizz & now more of a "champagne that's been sitting out for a while" fizz. It's actually starting to remind me of a type of lolly called "Fruit Tingles". It now smells almost EXACTLY like the pink Fruit Tingles, with a little bit of champagne in the background. Feels really strange to be smelling like a lolly, but Fruit Tingles were always one of my favourites, so I find it quite a nice smell. Shortly after drying, the "Fruit Tingles & champagne" smell started to fade to a "plastic strawberries & champagne" smell. Like someone spilled champagne onto a Strawberry Shortcake doll. Not entirely unpleasant, but not at all what I was expecting/hoping for! After a few hours: An old Strawberry Shortcake doll dipped in champagne. Again, not necessarily a bad smell, but not something I want to smell like. It's strange, because the strawberry in Hollywood Babylon works SO nicely on me & this strawberry just... doesn't! Verdict: This actually started out (both on my skin & in the imp) as SO "grown up" & champagne-soaked that I was baffled as to how anyone could feel it was a "little girl" type scent. After it dried, though? Yeah, it smells like something a little girl might wear. A shame because I LOVED the first hit & in the imp! I guess this is a "wait until I own a scent-locket" scent.

In the imp: A very heady zesty-floral. Jasmine & lemon, with a sort of decayed honeysuckle in the background (like the honeysuckle bush, with a lot of dead/used up honeysuckle flowers on the ground around it) & a tiny hint of spice. Wet on skin: A split second of lemon & then suddenly HONEYSUCKLE! There's some lemon & jasmine behind it too - like you're standing in a garden with a lemon tree, honeysuckle & jasmine, but you're closest to the honeysuckle. Dry on skin: Not a huge change, it's more faded & evenly mixed now, none of the scents are prominent. There's a TINY hint of spice & decayed flowers now. After a few hours: VERY faded, still there if you're sniffing closely, but not otherwise noticeable. Like I've just washed with a honeysuckle & jasmine scented soap. Verdict: So pretty! Not an everyday scent, as it's rather intoxicating at first & eventually fades to a slightly soapy smell (not unpleasant though), but I can definitely see myself wearing this one - especially in Summer & late Spring!

Osmanthus and raw honey with lavender, chamomile, white peppermint, raspberry, honeysuckle, thyme, bergamot, and Dracula orchid. In the bottle: The main note I'm getting from this is a sparkly peppermint. If I sniff closely, I can *just* make out the lavender & honeysuckle - everything else sort of blends together to make some sort of fairy-magic type scent. I can't really describe it any other way! Wet on skin: LAVENDER! This is so far the only BPAL perfume with lavender where the lavender doesn't take over & kill the scent (weird, because I usually like the smell of lavender) & I think that's because the peppermint is so strong that it manages to be a formidable opponant for the lavender. If I sniff VERY closely, I can *just* make out the thyme, raspberry, honeysuckle & raw honey, but they're barely there. It's a very energetic lavender/mint scent at this point, with fairy magic in the background. Dry on skin: The lavender-mint battle has died down (though both notes are still there). It's now morphed into a magical, sparkly-sweet, herby floral! Pretty much exactly what I would expect a biting fairy to smell like! Absolutely lovely! Decent throw too - not overpowering, just enough to get pretty little whiffs of scent now & then without actively sniffing for it. After a few hours: It's faded so that I'm not randomly smelling it without trying, but still very much there if I sniff my wrist. I'm actually not sure what notes I'm picking out anymore! It's sort of a mysterious, dark, sweet (the honey?), minty floral now. There's a rather "dark magic" feel about it - not quite so much what a biting fairy would smell like, but more what I imagine the actual fairy bite-mark on your skin would smell like. Verdict: I love this one! It's a fabulous one to use when I need a hit of energy &/or happiness, due to how intense the lavender-mint hit is at first (I know lavender is usually a soothing scent, but on my skin it's not & in this it's REALLY not) & because of how long the throw lasts. On that same note, if I was going to be in a crowded place where you're forced to smell strangers, whether you want to or not (eg: busy office, public transport at peak time, retail job, etc), I'd probably put it on at LEAST an hour before leaving the house to give it time to die down first, because the initial hit can be quite strong. (Edited to add description)

In the imp:This smells exactly like a big, green, leafy violet patch after the rain! Gorgeous & fresh! Wet on skin: Uh-oh, someone's picked all the violets! Wet grass, wet violet leaves, something earthy & a few budding or dead violets. Kind of pretty, but a big let down after how it smelled in the imp! There's also some slightly-sweet smoky smell that I can't quite put my finger on. Getting less pretty by the moment. Dry on skin: Oh yay, the violets have come back! And they brought a little bit of mint with them! The violet leaves, earthiness & mystery smoke smell are still quite prominent though. Not as beautiful as it smelled in the imp, but still nice - & definitely FAR nicer than when wet on me! After a few hours: It's faded to slightly-smoky violet-ish scent. It's not straight violet, but that's the only note I can pick out - the others have all mixed together quietly in the background. Verdict: I was hoping that this one would be a super-bright & fresh violet scent &, while it's not that (on me, at least), it's still a really pretty perfume that I think I'll get a fair bit of use out of. If I ever get my hands on a scent locket though, I think I'd need to buy a bottle of this!

In the Imp: Like being on a pirate ship! Salty air, ocean, salty wood, musk, old leather & a hint of mixed spices. Wet on skin: Kelp! Salty, oceany kelp & some salty driftwood - surprisingly lovely. The spices, leather & musk are just barely there in the background, keeping it piratey, instead of just a generic ocean smell. Dry on skin: The scents have faded, but otherwise about the same as wet. It's not like being on a live pirate ship anymore, more like walking alone in a deserted cove & finding the remnants of an old pirate ship left on the shore to rot. After a few hours: VERY subtle & pretty now! Quite beachy, but with the feel of being a beach from a pirate story, not just a normal beach. Verdict: Perfectly piratey! I love this one! It's certainly not an everyday perfume, but I'll definitely get a few wears out of it in Summer (especially on beach trips)! I might even add some to my homemade sea-spray (for my hair)! I don't think an imp is going to be enough for me, not long-term anyway!

In the Imp: This definitely smells like a pirate. Not like you *are* a pirate who is experiencing the smells around you, more like you are sniffing a pirate, up close. A slightly drunk one, who hasn't bathed in a while & is trying to disguise that fact with patchouli. I'm getting the scent of a dirty, musky, gunpowder-coated leather vest, drenched in patchouli & spilled drinks. There is a hint of salt air & ocean mist in the background, but only if I'm really looking for it. Wet on skin: Patchouli. Lots of it. Mixed with sarsparilla & watered-down rum & spilled onto old leather clothing that has been worn a lot & rarely washed. The salty air is there but just barely. My husband came in at this point & commented that it smelled like "floral-type lollies" - I have NO idea what he's talking about, but I think he's referring to the patchouli-rum combination, as it is a little on the "sickly-sweet" side. Dry on skin: Musky patchouli. So much patchouli. I am not a patchouli lover, but at least it's not dying on me like patchouli has been known to do. I can only smell the other notes if I'm sniffing really closely & even then they're barely there. I'm now smelling more "hippie" than "pirate" & it's starting to make me feel a tad queasy. After a few hours minutes: I wanted to let this sit for a couple of hours in order to do a complete review, but within about 15 minutes of it drying, I was beginning to feel really queasy & after about 20 minutes, I had a headache from it, so I had to clean it off. Verdict: I'm not sure what I was hoping for this one to smell like when I ordered it, but that was most definitely NOT what I was hoping for! I'll be adding this one to my swap-pile.

In the bottle: Like a really strong peppermint candy cane! Wet on skin: WOAH I AM A CANDY CANE! Sweet, Menthol-y Peppermint. Very yummy, wakes you right up & clears a stuffy nose, haha! Dry on skin: Pretty much the same as wet, only a little more faded. The menthol is now slightly more prominant than the peppermint, but still very much candy cane deliciousness. After a few hours: Gone. Completely gone. There is a TINY hint of menthol if I sniff my wrist really closely, but otherwise nope. It had faded to almost nothing about an hour after I applied it. Verdict: This is the first Lick It I've tried, so I really don't have anything to compare it to, but I love it! It doesn't last long at all, so it's definitely not an all-day perfume (maybe if layered with something else?), but really good for a quick pick-me-up!

In the imp: The scents are very well blended & it's hard to separate the individual notes from each other. It's all one crazy appley-rosey-lemony smell. "Delirium" is a very apt name choice for this one! Wet on skin: The apple starts making its way forward (apple tends to amp on me), but the lemon is still there with it (like when you coat apple slices with lemon juice to prevent them from going brown... anyone else's grandparents do that to them, or just mine?), with a faint rose in the background which is growning fainter by the second. Unsurprising, as Rose almost never sticks around on my skin. Dry: It's blended again, but there's almost no rose left. It's a sort of unearthly appley-lemony scent, with a TINY hint of floral. After a few hours: It's faded a bit, but it's still there when I sniff my wrists. The notes have blended even further now & I can't pick any of them out. It's quite sweet & zesty. Verdict: I really like this one! It's not something I'd wear on a very regular basis, as I generally prefer florals or mostly-florals, but it's still a really fun perfume that I think I'll get a fair bit of use out of. Really good for those days when you need a bit of a pick-me-up or are feeling a bit silly!