ChupaChup

 

JK ! Zephyr and White Rabbit smell (to me) just as you describe your imps. Zephyr is too masculine for me and White Rabbit is perfect.

Nadirah was so kind to gift me with an imp of Endymion in a swap . This is something I never would have thought to try as I usually can't do fruity scents. But as soon as I opened the imp I knew I had to try it on, this one is mesmerizing. Yes, the pear is there but somehow the rosewood (one of my favorite woody notes) tones it down so it doesn't smell fruity at all. And the rosewood also manages to keep this from smelling like any old floral blend on me as well, not to mention the crystal clear white musk. It's just perfect, floaty, dreamy, creamy white with a tiny bit of green. I'm hoping to get a bottle of this in my next order.

I was lucky enough to get a bottle of Red Moon in a swap with Nadirah . It was iffy right out of the bottle, a little too fruity for my fruit-hating skin and I wasn't sure what kind of fruit it was. Eventually, the cherry-berry aroma morphed into dragon's blood and there was a little bit of smoky spiciness behind it, at this point it was quite pleasant. It reminded me a lot of King of Spades. But when Red Moon dried down completely, the base was quite unpleasant. I think I just don't get on with the "traditional lunar oils" as this is the third Lunacy blend I've tried (Harvest Moon and Cold Moon being the other two) and they all do this to me at the end. Now I'm second-guessing my Chaste Moon order . I need to let my girlfriend try this and if she doesn't like it I'll be swapping it.

I swapped for Belladonna based on the reviews. I was hoping to find something akin to the first imp of Hemlock I got, before it was changed to be so Vicks Vapo-rub-y. Well, Belladonna ain't it. Ew. It's so bitter, I get none of the floral sweetness others mention, that would have been a tremendous help. I get a strong note of vetiver from this, not me at all .

I was very anxious to try Dorian based on the reviews and AlectoNox was kind enough to decant an imp of this for me . After all of the excitement, I ended up a tad disappointed. Fresh on my skin, Dorian smells very masculine, I get the musk and fougere (kind of herbal, citron and lavender) and it stays that way for a good hour. Then I get the sugary black tea scent but the black tea is a little too sharp. This lasts for another hour when finally the vanilla comes out to play. At this point I really like it but it's so faint I have to smush my nose right on my wrist to smell it. I'll be swapping this one.

I haven't had any testing done to find out if I have the same type of sensitivity that you do, Cats, but I have suffered with allergies and found them to be almost completely relieved once I started avoiding any synthetics, especially fragrances, in my personal care products. I was allergic to some of Beth's perfumes at first, especially those with any kind of mint (probably because they are high in terpines?), but I was still in the process of weening myself off of sythetics in my shampoos and shower gel. Now that those are gone, I've found I don't have any problems with BPAL, even mint (yay, I can wear The Star!). I also have to avoid gluten, milk (casein) and soy proteins, apparently I don't digest them well and end up with antigen overload. Like you, I don't want to develop sensitivities to any of my beloved BPAL so I switch them up quite a bit. Good thing there are so many blends I love.

I got a decant of Ice Queen from The Vampire Lilith in a swap . I didn't initially order it because I had a feeling it wasn't me but I was curious to try it. It was quite lovely at first, very cool and minty. But fairly quickly, the aquatics and fruits came out to play, notes that don't usually agree with me, and it became rather unpleasant. The mintiness went away and I never got any pine/spruce notes that others have mentioned. I only put the tiniest dab on the back of my hand, oof was it powerful, I had to wash it off. Except for the initial minty phase, this does remind me a lot of Cold Moon, another blend that didn't work on me. I'll be swapping this little imp.

I finally got an imp of Honey single note in a swap, it's been on my wishlist for ages. Wow, it's nowhere near as sweet as I was expecting, much more of that waxy beeswax kind of smell, definitely a base note and very sexy. I got hold of some real cocoa absolute that I have been saving to try layered with this. Gnuuuugh, I smell like Toblerone

I got an imp of Skuld in a swap with phaedrine . Right out of the imp, I got hit with a lovely waft of honey, I love honey. Then for the first 15 minutes, the honey kept trading places with grape (yeah, phaedrine, I got it too!). It's a purple grape ala Welch's. At this point, it reminded me a lot of Athens and Cairo, since both of those have honey with a wine note. The drydown is quite different though, much more musky, and even though I know the floral note is ylang ylang, the combination of musks and labdanum really disguise it, it smells almost spicy. This is a very yummy blend . I'm not sure I would get a bottle of it as it isn't quite as strong as other honey blends I love but I will surely enjoy this imp and may change my mind by the time I'm done with it.

I got Hell's Belle in a swap and I'm not even sure why I had it on my wishlist. I'm not much into heavy florals but I guess I was intrigued by the promise of smoke and spice. The way things turned out, I should have liked it but I didn't . Hell's Belle is very floral at first and quite pretty. But quickly, the smoke and spice come out and they don't blend well on me with the florals. I end up with a smell very similar to Laudanum, that medicinal band-aid smell, but wheras I enjoy it in Laudanum, it's a little too sweet and sickly for me in Hell's Belle. I know poppy and myrrh aren't listed in the notes for this blend, but that's what I think I'm detecting here.

I got Imp in a swap with Jasminepearls . I'm not much into fruity scents, but after trying Jack and Fae, I knew Beth's peach was really nice so I gave this a try. This is the same peach, not the artificial, cloying type you find in most perfumes, but a luscious, fuzzy, sun-ripened peach. Imp seems to have a base similar to Snake Oil, Vixen and Hunger so if you enjoy any of those, you might want to give this a try. It's not a favorite for me, but nice.

I got tempete's imp of Othello and it didn't work for me either. I was hoping for more rose from this but I got mostly resinous musk. I think it might smell pretty nice on my boy but he'd die rather than put a rose scent on his skin. Moving along!

I ordered Titus Andronicus a while ago for my boy. It's just been sitting on the counter, for some reason he doesn't want to wear it, so I decided to try it myself. OMG, it's a gorgeous scent, I might have to put it on him when he's asleep . It reminds me of a cross between Haunted and Masquerade, it's got the ambergris kind of scent to it (maybe that's the dark musk and black amber) that those both have, it's got the citrus that they both have, a little stronger than in Haunted and not as strong as the orange blossom in Masquerade. It's definitely orange-y, though. Then something is making it quite spicy. Gender neutral for sure, I love it!

I'm probably sounding like a broken record here but yup, Three Witches, March Hare and Blood are the cloviest BPAL blends I have tried. Too much for me but anyone looking for a strong hit of clove won't be disappointed! And they are all remarkably different from each other.

Yup, Grog smells just like Butter Rum Lifesavers, I love it. It does get rather boozy the longer it's on, not a problem for me! This is also a wonderful layering scent, when I want a little bit of buttery roundness. I love some of Beth's simpler blends, they are really comforting and versatile .

I've been working my way through the BPAL clove scents ever since I fell in love with Voodoo but I'm starting to realize that for me, a little clove goes a long way. So far, Three Witches, March Hare and now Blood haven't worked for me, I think my skin tends to amp clove out of control. I got no cherry or myrrh from this blend, just a lot of clove and dragon's blood. It's up for swap right now.

Reading the description of Coyote, I thought it might smell very much like The Lion. But it's totally different, very gingery and musky. It's absolutely delightful in the vial, once it hits my skin, it's still wonderful but very masculine. I'm sure others will disagree, we all have our opinions on which oils are masculine. For instance, I wear several that others find too masculine for themselves, such as Wilde, Dracul and Hellfire. Anyway, as this dries down, the doeskin comes out. It's leather, but a much softer, almost furry smell than say Loviatar or De Sade, it's not sharp at all. My honey appropriated this one and it smells divine on him . It's another one, like Dracul, where he asked for a 5ml right away. That always makes me so happy .

The Lion is a very warm, golden scent. The grasses in it smell a lot like those in Scarecrow, but that had an odd chemical smell to it. I could almost detect that chemical smell coming out of The Lion, but the amber reigns it in. I can't say I got much cinnamon from this but I could believe there is a tiny touch of it there. Unfortunately, my skin eats amber and usually anything else in a blend with it, so The Lion vanished very quickly. I would love this scent if it had more throw and staying power on me.

I've been working my way through BPAL's clove scents ever since I fell in love with Voodoo. It took me a while to order March Hare because most fruits don't work well on me and I was afraid of the apricot. Turns out apricot isn't much of a problem in this blend, it's the clove! Go figure. I get a strong hit of apricot at first, then the clove takes over and I end up smelling like an Easter ham. You know, the kind with a fruit sauce and a couple hundred clove buds stuck in it? I never got much of the buttery crust others have mentioned, I would have loved that .

I love White Rabbit ! I think this has been the most excited I have ever been about a new release and it's the first non-LE oil I've gone out and ordered in 5ml right away, without getting an imp first. But boy, is it hard to figure out. I've worn it for three days now, hoping I could write a decent review but it keeps changing on me. Sometimes when I wear it the clean cotton smell is strongest, with all the other notes hiding in the background. Sometimes the black tea note is the first to appear and then I get a milk and honey drydown. Today when I wore it, I got a little of the linen note and a soft, musky scent. I'm not getting as much of a spicy sense from this as I was expecting, in all it's incarnations, the ginger and pepper are hard to detect, but I think the ginger/linen combination may be what some people are picking up on as lemon. Trying to sniff out all the notes in this blend is like trying to catch my own personal little white bunny when she wants to play tag ! I'm so glad this is in the permanent collection so I can get more of it when this bottle runs out.

I had high hopes for Cold Moon based on the description. I thought it might be similar to Snow White, which is probably my favorite BPAL. But then the reviews started to come in, I heard "fruity," "aquatic" and someone even mentioned "lotus." Uhoh. When I finally got my bottle, I tried to keep an open mind, I put it on and some of the initial notes were quite pleasing. But as it dried down, it started to smell pretty darn funky on me . It actually smelled very much like the drydown I got with Harvest Moon. These are the only two Lunacy Editions I have tried and it could be that I just don't get on with "traditional lunar oils." Oh well, I'm probably still going to order Pink Moon and Chaste Moon, the names alone are worth a gamble .

I just wore Chimera today after not having tried it for quite a while. I reminds me a lot of the drydown of Sugar Cookie. Sugar Cookie is a lot stronger and nutmeggy at first, though.

Does anyone else think Skadi is like Golden Priapus...but more green and with berries?  Or am I just a nutter?

 

Or both? 

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Yah, both I think the pine is very similar and they both have a soft drydown.

 

Whip and Rose Red are very close .

I just wore Tarot: The Star to class tonight and boy, does that have a lot of throw! It stayed strong all night too. I love that lime and coconut .

Blood Rose had the most incredible throw and staying power on me, stronger than any other BPAL oil. Unfortunately, I hated it and it was one of those oils that you can smell for days, even after showering . Other oils that have a lot of throw on me (but not nearly as much as Blood Rose) are Jack, Sugar Cookie, Snow White, Athens, Jezebel, Hellfire and Vixen. For some reason, Samhain doesn't have much throw on me, I wish it did, but I love it anyway. It does last quite a long time, though.