AmyAngel

In the imp, I can pick out some vanilla, but there's something familiar about this. It's making me think of camping – sunscreen? Bugspray? Something that's a pleasant memory. On my skin it becomes almost fruity, with Snake Oil's musk and vanilla behind it, and a touch of something herbal. It's still familiar, but something I just can't place. As it's drying, it's becoming very sweet, which I think maybe is what copal does on my skin? It may be whatever was in Xiuhtecuhtli and possibly Midnight on the Midway that went so tooth-achingly sweet. There's an incensyness to it over some vanilla. I'm finding it very hard to describe, but I like it much more than plain Snake Oil. After a while, it's continuing to get sweeter and sweeter, and I'm wondering if it'll end up TOO sweet for me. I'm thinking this is one that will age very well, as red musk seems to best be wearable to me after many months of aging. I'll keep the imp and see how it does before I consider a bottle – this may be too sweet for me.

In the imp, this is beautifully cool and green smelling. Like a greenish-blue pool of water. On, while wet, I can tell that there are florals there, and some moss grounding everything, and it's still a cool watery but not aquatic sort of scent. As it's drying it's warming up a bit, I think that's moss and ginger? It has good throw and is sweetish, but not too sweet. I'd really love a scent just like this but with a hint of melon sweetening it up a bit more. This is pretty, but not quite as sweet as I'd like it to me. I might try layering it, though. It does make me think of Blue Moon 07 – I need to test them side by side. I think I like this better, as Blue Moon wasn't as sweet or cool-smelling as I'd have liked. This started with some serious throw, but it's dying down and lingering near my wrist more now. It's sweeter as it's dried, and I like it even better now. I was a big fan of Tranquil Breezes long ago, and while this doesn't really smell like that, it makes me think of it a bit. It's still greenish-blue scented. After another 20 minutes or so, I definitely like this better than Blue Moon. I'll keep an eye out for a partial bottle, or at least another imp. After about 3 hours, this has almost completely faded, so I'll have to try wearing it for real to see if it lasts well enough to justify buying more of it. After wearing this all day one day, I'm thinking one imp might be enough. It threatened to head into soap-land most of the morning, which really left me feeling kind of unsettled. It's nice, but not something I think I'll wear all that often, unfortunately. I might try layering it with something sweeter, maybe that'll help.

I really want this one to be beautiful, because of the name and description! In the imp, it's an interesting sweet “mingled” sort of smell – very much like a room (or market) of many different things. On, while wet, I'm getting some incense, some candy sweetness, some green grass... As it's drying, I'm getting sugary grass, with maybe a hint of incense. It's almost, but not quite, too sweet. Midnight on the Midway was pure cavity-inducing sugar on me, but I think the grass in this is holding it back from going that way. I think the lavender is helping too. BPAL lavender seems to go sour on me, but in this it joins the grass and helps temper the sugar. This smells really familiar, for some reason, but I can't figure out why. The throw is really good, too. I like it, but I'm not sure if I need a whole bottle of it. I'll keep the imp and see if I end up wearing it much. After about 3 hours or so, this is closer to the skin, but smells just a bit reminiscent of Midway, as the sweetness is smoother and is the main note remaining. Pretty!

In the imp, and wet on my skin, this smells a bit like bananas. It then dries to a sort of pink floral scent. It's soft and nice and pretty, but also a bit soapy. After it's completely dried it's a warm soft floral. There's a scent in there reminiscent of Gibbous Moon - the moonflower? I think I'm going to try wearing this all day some day, to see how it does places other than my wrists, and if it goes too soapy. This isn't the sort of thing I wear often, but might be a nice summer or spring floral. As long as it doesn't get too soapy! My sister tried it on too, and she immediately exclaimed "soap!" and said that it stayed soap on her. I thought it was a pretty pink floral soap, but yeah, it was soap. I like it on me, but it's threatening to veer into soap territory, which I cannot handle. I'll keep the imp for now, but definitely not a bottle at this point!

This started out as ocean air with wood, then turned strangely soapy. There's a lot of salt air and ocean mist going on there. After it dried down, though, I got soapy leather. By the ocean. My sister's response: "You smell like a clean saddle on the beach." I happened to see my grandpa while testing it, and he just gave it a squinched-up face. Although this obviously didn't work quite right on me, at the same time I still couldn't stop sniffing it! After several hours, I have to put my nose right on my wrist to smell anything, but there's a sweetness now that's making it much nicer. I think this is the creamy spiciness mentioned above. It's much better! Unfortunately it takes a while to get to this point, and there's also no throw whatsoever. I'll keep this for a few weeks and test again probably, but I think this may end up headed for swaps.

A frimp from the lab! I didn't order this one when I placed my big order for this update, because red musk and cocoa are usually awful on me. The will-call reviews made it sound wonderful though, so I was hoping to snag a decant at some point. Then my pending order arrived with this in it as a frimp! I was SO excited. When I first put this on it's a bit strange. Wood, grapes, sparklyness, a touch of the strange vaseline scent red musk becomes on me... just strange. For the first few minutes it gets a bit nicer over time, including a few minutes where the cocoa is there. It's not the cold-air-cocoa scent I usually get, and it's not particularly chocolatey or foody, and is actually nice. Once it's dry, though, it's a great slightly-grape wine scent. Sweet, but not cloyingly so. The wood scent is mostly gone, and now there is a touch of earthiness grounding it. Not like dirt, but just some depth there. The musk fades back, but I think it's adding to the depth of the scent, as is the now undetectable cocoa. This is actually working on me, and it's very good! Both my sister and grandpa liked it on me. I've now ordered a bottle!

Probably nothing, when she's sleuthing - wouldn't want the bad guys to smell her when she's sneaking around somewhere she really shouldn't be! I think maybe Embalming Fluid or Shanghai, 51, Titania or Maiden? Pele? Something clean and fresh, and maybe something more sophisticated yet still young and playful for going to one of Ned's college parties. I get the feeling she would definitely coordinate her perfume to the location and occasion. She'd probably like rose, I think. For some reason I'm really thinking most of Maiden.

I had put Selkie on that morning, but it was long gone by midnight when I got the book. And, as I'm camping and only brought a few imps with me, I ended not wearing anything for the reading. I finished it 30 minutes ago. Ironically, I think I was also wearing Selkie when I went to see the last movie a week or so ago! I always forget to plan ahead for these things.

I would include Bordello, it's the ONE that's worked best for enabling for me. Of the ones you listed, only Embalming Fluid really works well on me, and I think it's because of the creamy/vanilla aspects of some of the others. My personal choice would to try to include a variety of types of scents - something with Dragon's Blood, something ambery, something incensey, something floral, something fruity, something aquatic, something spicy... Of course with only 6 you have to leave things out! I think if I had to make a list I'd use: Snake Oil (because you have to) Shanghai (tea! Embalming Fluid would work here, too) Dragon's Milk or Alice (depending on the person) Bordello Bastet or maybe O or Haunted 51, or something aquatic (I've not found the perfect one yet) If you could do 7 I'd include Tanin'Iver or something else spicy, or maybe something blatantly incensey if I thought the person would be into that. And there's still not really a pure floral in there, hmm. If Neo-Tokyo was still available I'd include that, as it is just beautiful. If Antonino was impable I'd include him. It's so hard to choose!

Ra: (from a swap) In the imp, it's sharply floral mixed with citrus and some sweetness. On, the citrusy sweetness is dominant, but with something sharp behind it. Very good throw when it's wet. After 10 minutes or so it's now smelling green to me, with some powderiness behind it. It makes me think of super-sour powdery candy, though it's not really THAT sweet. This is a fascinating scent. I can't decide if I like it or not! There's a sweetness, yet a bitterness to it – I can understand comparisons to broken plant stems. It's warm, but not in the usual cinnamon fire way. It's candy-like, but not; almost powdery, but not. I think I'll keep this and test it again until I decide whether I like it!

... This scent is for the Luperci, the Chosen of Faunus, the Brothers of the Wolf: raw, down and dirty patchouli, Gurjam balsam, and essence of Sampson Root sweetened with the heightened sexuality of beeswax, virile juniper, oakmoss, ambrette seed over honey and East African musk. Luperci: '07, I think, from a swap. In the imp it smells like, pefumey musk, which always reminds me of my grandmother. She had a mirrored tray of perfumes on her dresser, and this reminds me of them. On, it starts the same, but a bit of wood quickly emerges. I'm having a hard time picking out individual notes, but I like it! Each sniff is slightly different. Now there's a hint of the honey sweetening it slightly. This is very well blended, I like it a lot. It makes me think of the outdoors, yet it is sophisticated at the same time. Somehow it keeps making me think of paper. It's sweeter and warmer than the smell of paper, but there's a sort of dryness to it to my nose. It's probably just the patchouli, or maybe the beeswax, who knows. Whatever it is, I like it. I'll definitely be keeping the imp, and if this comes back next year I'll be buying a bottle. I talked myself out of it this year, unfortunately. It seems to get more musky as time goes on, still sweet, but sexier!

Bloodlust: (from a swap) In the imp, the oil is dark red! It smells like dragon's blood and cedar. On, a bit of spicyness joins in. I hope this one is good because I have very high hopes for it, although red musk is iffy on my skin (smells like vaseline!). I think the Indonesian patchouli is what was giving me the cedar scent. As it's drying, it's a little sweeter than I expected, but staying nice. It's got a little bit of sinus-clearing quality to it! I don't know if that is the cinnamon or what. If I concentrate I think I can detect all the elements. The red musk that isn't quite right on me in Mme. Moriarty is definitely there, but I think the other scents are holding it down, keeping it from smelling so petroleum-like. I like this one, but I think I need to test it at the same time as Tanin'Iver to see which works better on my skin. They seem to be somewhat similar to me. After about 15 minutes, I'm getting spicy dragon's blood over something that is just slightly rubbery smelling. Must be the red musk. I hope that scent goes away. This is a very warm scent. After half an hour, on some sniffs I get this lovely warm sweet scent, but on most of them it's spicy rubber. Oh well. I guess Tanin'Iver will be my spicy dragon's blood scent. I need to try this on my sister, she may be able to wear it better than me. If all the elements of this one had behaved on my skin, this would have probably been a bottle purchase, but it was not to be.

I'm not a huge patchouli lover, though I do LIKE it a lot (I wore a patchouli/sandalwood/cedar blend quite often pre-BPAL). Masquerade was almost straight-up patchouli on my skin (with just a hint of spice), and lasted a good 24 hours too. I've been able to smell patchouli in Sri Lanka, Hellion and Urd (with grape!) as well. Anne Bonny just smelled like fresh-cut lumber on me, but I'm aging the imp to see if it helps it any. Malice was very yucky on my skin, and I personally got no patchouli from it until several hours of yuck had passed (though I did get "dirt" early on), but everyone's chemistry is different! I've just been into BPAL since January, and Snake Oil still hasn't grown on me yet. I get no patchouli at all from it (or Madame Moriarty) but I think maybe aging will help the Snake Oil - I hate it less now than when I first tried it but it's still not quite good. I think the red musk in Mme. Moriarty is making it not work right on my skin. Oddly, one of my sisters seems to smell patchouli in almost every BPAL I try, including ones where it's not a listed note, like Antonino! It's inevitably the first thing she says when I ask her to sniff most of them.

... Ogun's ofrenda is heavy and dark cigar tobacco, gin and juniper, melon, chili pepper and a touch of honey. I was wary of the tobacco in the description of this one! In the imp, it's sort of slighly sourly sweet. On, I can smell what I think is tobacco, but it's kind of nice and deep. As it's dried, it's sweet, but not sugary and there's a sort of fizzy-drink smell happening. I'm not sure it's really cola but something sweeter – an orange float without really smelling of orange, if that makes sense. Maybe it's the honey and juniper together creating that scent. It seems like it wants to be powdery, but the fizziness of it is keeping it from going all the way there. It's kind of light and fresh on me. I think this is one that most people will smell and say “baby powder!” It's not REALLY baby powder, but it has a fresh powderiness to it that will make people think of that. I don't normally like powdery scents very much, but the fizzy freshness I'm getting is interesting. I will probably keep the imp and test it again. This might be a nice scent for summer. (Of course it's in the 80's here today, so it feels like summer now!) After a few hours, it's a bit more powdery, but still with the fizzy smell in there too. This is definitely not a bottle purchase, but I'll try the imp a few more times.

This one was sharply perfumey in the imp, and at first on my skin. It quickly dried a bit and began to have a bit of nice warm dry spicy sweetness, but then just as quickly went to powder. It's a very nice lightly spicy, slightly rosy perfumed powder, but powder nonetheless. This is pretty, and getting nicer (and a bit less powdery) as time goes on, but it's not me.

Smells smoky in the imp. On my skin, it smells like barbecue smoke – just like the smell when pork barbecue is in the smoker. I don't like to eat barbecue, and I sure don't want to smell like it. I'm tempted to keep this as one of my “you'll never believe what this smells like!” scents, but will probably end up swapping it. I definitely see the “devil's claw” connotation to it, though! Well done, but not something I want to wear!

I had high hopes for this one, but sadly my skin turned it into something very sharply like cat pee.

In the imp, this smelled to me like floral air freshener sprayed over a freshly peed-in litterbox! On, it is much better. It became a lovely floral for a while, and I thought it might be a keeper, but then it started to sharpen again on my skin. It's still floral, but now it burns my nose and really does smell like cat pee. The floral is being overwhelmed by the sharp ammonia smell. Bien Loin d'Ici had a similar sharpness on my skin. I haven't quite figured out what is causing it though! Washing this off!

Is there anything similar to Antonino? Or that someone who loves Antonino should definitely try? It is one of my favorites, and a co-worker of mine loves it as well. She won't buy without sniffing first, so I'd like to get some ideas of others to share with her, as well as ideas of what to look for when Antonino is gone. (Though I'll definitely stock up before he goes, anyway!)

I've just tried this for a half-hour or so, so I'll try this again when I can take more time with it. In the bottle there's a definite aquatic woodsiness, not salty at all like Jolly Roger, and it does make me think of a damp, dark, boggy foresty area. That could just be because I read the description, though. On, it's become quite sweet, but not TOO sweet. It's aquatic, but not headache-inducing as they sometimes can be, and manages to be fresh-yet-slightly-murky at the same time. I'm not good at identifying notes, but I think I smell the moss and bog water, but it's sweetish earthy slightly woodsy bog water, not sour or brackish at all. The throw is sweeter and slightly floral (but not unpleasantly so, as I'm not usually a huge floral fan). I only put a tiny bit on so there's not much throw, but so far I like this a lot. Very pretty! I'm glad I took a chance on this one!

I was SO looking forward to Tiresias - I love Red Lantern, and really like the sound of Luperci, and all the notes sounded great, so I was thrilled to get a frimp of it from the Carousel decant circle I participated in, and tried it on first! It went on as caramel, similar to Red Lantern but somehow not quite as sweet. As it dried down a hint of something deeper began to emerge. Then... something... vegetable-like? As the caramel started to fade, it got spicier and started reminding me of food - not a dessert, but something savory. Something I'd smelled in my mom's kitchen repeatedly. But what? I kept sniffing, trying to figure it out. Then it hit me. Celery salt. When this dried completely on my skin it smelled EXACTLY like celery salt, and nothing but celery salt, and it STAYED celery salt. Which I like on potato salad (which is one of the few things I can cook), but not on my skin. This is LASTING, though. For hours my wrist smelled very strongly of celery salt, as if I'd stuck my nose in the little jar of it. It took two serious scrubbings and a cover-up with lavender scented lotion to tame it before bed. I'm sad that my skin decided to take something that started so great, and turn it into potato salad seasoning. I hope I can figure out what note that was! This one went right in the "to be swapped" baggie.

On occasions that I've experienced vertigo (thankfully pretty rare), it was either the harbinger or accompaniment to a bad headache, or the prelude to coming down with a cold or something. I strongly suspect that dehydration has had something to do with it for me, too, especially in cases of headache. Lack of sleep can cause it for me also. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to discuss this with your doctor, or at very least write down what happened so if it happens again you can compare and see if there are any similarities.

I was just thinking of scents I like, and I remember that when I have henna done at the renaissance faire each fall I just can't help but sniff at it the whole time it's on. I'm not good at describing scents, but it's kind of a not-heavy herbal, plus a tiny hint of lemon from the lemon-sugar water they dab on it after. I know there are tons of different henna recipes, so that would affect the scent, but does anyone know what I'm talking about or have any suggestions? Thanks!

Thanks so much! I'm checking out all these ideas and adding to my wish list...

Masquerade: I've got that song from Phantom of the Opera in my head too. This one was kind of sharpish and very strong in the imp. On, I put just a tiny dab because it was strong in the imp, but now I can barely smell anything up close, but I'm getting wafts of something spicy, maybe incensey. What I can smell up close is almost minty-cold feeling in my nose. I'm off to check the note list – this reminds me a little of a non-BPAL blend of patchouli, cedar, and sandalwood that I like, but it's not quite the same. OK, so I was right on the patchouli! Other patchouli blends have smelled minty-fresh to me at first, so that's probably what this is. I'm not sure what ambergris smells like, but maybe that's what's keeping it from being pure patchouli, and I'm guessing the slight spiciness is the carnation. I have a slight cold, and I think I need to try this again when my nose is totally clear, and probably put a tiny bit more on. Not TOO much though, because this has some throw to it! I can't smell much when I try to, then I get a whiff of patchouli all of a sudden! I'm not sure what orange blossom smells like, but I'm pretty sure I'm not smelling it. This seems to be mostly patchouli and not much else, just a hint here and there of something else. I do like it, just don't know if I'd wear it much. After about 3 hours or so, this is still about the same strength it was before, only fading slightly, and is mostly patchouli but with a just a hint of sweetness - not like it's blended in, though, just like it's there coincidentally finding its way into your nose when you sniff the patchouli. I like it, but my patchouli-hating friends will not want to be around me when I'm wearing this! I'll keep the imp, but probably won't buy a bottle unless this really impresses me on another wearing or two. I'm wondering if this might not be really good for layering under a floral or something that's too sweet and light? ETA: Whatever kind of patchouli is in this, my skin REALLY likes. After over 20 hours there is still a scent of patchouli on my wrist that I can smell when I'm brushing back my hair. This after several hand washings, a scrubbing in an attempt to remove it, and a shower! This gets a definite "A" for staying power!