Lucchesa

Megaera was in the first batch of BPAL imps I ever tried. I liked it a lot at the time, less so now that my tastes have matured. Retesting blind, I thought citrus, plum and maybe amber, which is better guessing than I usually do. It’s a flowery fruit blend, candy sweet on my skin. I like my plums deep and dark, with tobacco and resins; this seems more like one of those golden plums. The grapefruit ought to be a foil for the sweetness, but it doesn’t last long on me. It’s nice, just not really my thing.

I was hoping Black Swallowtail would be really licorice forward, but instead it's all tropical flowers on me, mainly freesia and orchid. The jasmine is well-behaved enough not to ruin this for me if the licorice had been more prominent, but it's not. I'm never able to differentiate any rose. The late drydown is beautiful, with a vanilla tinge and a floaty breath of tropical florals, but I just don't wear tropical florals or white florals or unadulterated florals of any kind, and since the licorice is practically MIA on me, that's what this is.

I was excited to try Allegory of Winter in a swap. Wet on my skin, it was orange and vetiver -- I reread the ingredients and decided the coal dust must be mainly composed of black, smoky vetiver. Fortunately, I like smoky vetiver, because I got a lot of it in this scent. As it dried down, the leather and red musk came out to play with the vetiver, but what do you know? The vetiver was bullying the red musk rather than the other way around. Funny, red musk has worked for me as often as not lately. I honestly did not get a lot of amber in this scent for the first two or three hours; it was really citrus, leather and vetiver on me, though I'm sure the amber was there as a warming base. It lasts a long time, manages to be both sexy and cozy, and the late drydown is really beautiful; the vetiver dies away and leaves a sunset of orange, leather, amber and red musk. I'm delighted I got to try this -- it's unusual and very satisfying. And it would be gorgeous on a guy if I had one who would wear scent. ETA the visual:

I was waiting for the white musk to ruin Elegy No. 1 for me. It never happened. It's more of a pale musk with none of the screechiness of the white variety on me. The bergamot-sandalwood combination is lovely, and the ambergris is more evident in drydown. There is a pale, ethereal quality to this scent, and in fact the wear length on me is not great, but it is a beautifully evocative blend.

OK, now I understand why I see La Lugubre Gondola in so many wishlists. This is gorgeous, and it has probably just kept getting better and better since the day it was created as that 7-year-old labdanum is now 12-year-old labdanum. Amber is the standout here, deep golden amber so rich it is almost spicy. This is backed by dark syrupy labdanum. I'm not sure I can really make out the oudh, which is a good thing because when oudh is pronounced on me, it's almost always stanky. No throw (which is normal for me) but when I sniff my wrist I am transported into a golden world of amber.

I have really been enjoying some of the outdoorsy scents lately, and Of Earth is a lovely addition. It starts out strong, sharp evergreen on me, pine and cedar, but within 45 minutes or so this has softened considerably and I'm getting wood as well as needles. As it continues to mellow, I can make out forest floor, the loam beneath the trees. It takes a couple of hours to soften to the point where the tobacco and ambergris make an appearance, and lily of the valley is a no-show except that there is a sweetness here, whether it's from the lily or the woods or the tobacco or ambergris I'm not sure. I love that this is at once earthy and mystical. I like this a lot.

Champaca often goes weird and wrong on my skin. I think there's champaca in this. I was running through the mental list of what flower is it that's ruining this for me -- is it violet, is it tuberose, it's not jasmine, is it... yep. I think it's champaca.

A symbol of Divine Power made manifest in man, of the order of the universe being executed upon earth. It signifies the apex of glory, triumph, and immortality, and the extension of dominion: a symbol of rulership blessed by celestial providence. Self-control that leads to self-realization: frankincense and styrax with bergamot and lemon peel. My first first review! I'm glad it's for something I like a lot. Wet, The Emperor's Crown is frankincense and realistic lemon. Fresh, bright, golden yellow like the crown and the globe and scepter in his hands. I always think of frankincense as a righteous scent, a cut-through-the-bullshit scent -- a little austere but with its own inner light. As the scent dries down, the bergamot becomes more apparent to my nose, so it's sunny citrus and frankincense and a hint of something vanillic which is probably the styrax. Wikipedia suggests that styrax may be the same as benzoin, and while I'm sure Beth has perfectly good reasons for the varied nomenclature, it does get confusing. The wear length is not outstanding, but that may well improve with age. If lemon and frankincense sounds lovely, well, it is.

I have a half decant of Siberian Musk I have been putting off skin testing because it kind of scared me. It had leaked a little in transit, and the plumber's tape was brown and oil stained and you could smell it through the tape, kind of dark and animalic like the olfactory version of a horror movie... Anyway, I finally decided to try it this morning because it's on the love list of someone I'm swapping with and I thought I'd test it then frimp it along. Sorry, dear. I'm not letting this go. Siberian Musk is yowza on me. Just grrr. Dark, sexy, smutty, NOT work friendly. Gotta go rut in the forest now. Grrraowhh.

My experience was very similar to tinyvulture's. I was expecting a big initial blast of evergreen, and I've really been grooving on the outdoorsy scents lately. This is not one of them on me. I get quite a bit of honeyed rose and almond - in fact, it reminds me a little of the Deliver Them scents Job & Romans. If you love En Eski and can't find it, those would be great options. The myrrh keeps this from being foody; instead it's got that Middle Eastern bazaar feel, a little incense, a little rosewater, some halvah. Just lovely, and it developed beautifully on my skin.

Wet, the Fairies is an appley spring green floral. Apple, clover, dandelion -- it reminds me a bit of an apple blossomy version of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. I don't get a traditional wine note from this at all. As it dries down on me, the apple note recedes, and it becomes a lovely mossy springtime meadow scent, true to its inspiration though not perhaps as dark...

I don't think I looked at the notes before I bought this imp. I was expecting it to be in the vein of the AG Zorya Utrennyaya, which I'm very fond of. Oops, no similarity whatsoever. This is a cool minty floral, rose forward at first, but the rose fades quickly on me, to be replaced with lots of violet and floral x which must be osmanthus and delphinium. I'm not getting a lot of sandalwood. Violet almost never works on me, nor mint, so this was unlikely to befriend my skin. Swaps!

Midnight was unlikely to work on me, but I try everything that passes through my hands just on principle. Sure enough, a bouquet of night blooming flowers is not my thing. I don't know most of these notes (Nottingham catchfly??) but this is a heady floral, less delicate than what I think of as white floral, a little tangier. Purple-green floral? Tobacco flower can be very sharp on me, and I think I can make out some of that effect here. Once it dries down it's actually very pretty; I just don't wear florals.

I tested 51 when I was first starting with BPAL and put it with my keepers, but retesting, this is not an imp I will wear again. It starts out high-pitched citrusy white floral and becomes increasingly soapy on me. White musk and green musk are both big question marks for me, and here they take over and railroad 51 into screechy soapy territory. Swaps.

I retested my tester of Imaginer this morning to decide whether or not to buy a bottle here on the forums. (My notes said only "want more!") Imaginer feels really right on my skin: a deep russet cloak to wrap around myself on a frigid day. It's dark honey and the rich amber I love so much and warm patchouli, a gorgeous warming blend for autumn and winter. I'm often anosmic to the Lab's pepper note, but the pepper and saffron seem to be contributing to the overall warmth and depth. No hippie patchouli here; this is sophisticated and work-appropriate. The throw is low, but it lasts really well on me. Want more is right! ETA 3/1/21 and I'm wearing the scent in the bottle I did acquire. The throw is massive! Particularly when wet. This bottle has less patch and more beeswax. Still gorgeous.

An Incubus Leaving Two Sleeping Women is very pretty, though a little more floral than I expected. It's mainly honey-vanilla-white floral with a little patchouli for structure. I'm getting more magnolia than ylang ylang which is good, as it's the better note on me. I'm not getting much musk. This has no throw on me (which is normal for my skin) and fades quickly.

I am not a morning person, so maybe this was never going to work. The Phoenix at Dawn smells like very expensive French-milled soap on me. High-pitched citrusy floral, no patchouli or sandalwood in evidence, but I would have guessed there was white musk in here. I agree that the white wine grape is like the champagne note here, and that is not usually a success on my skin. Glad I got to try it, but I'll be passing this one on.

Singularly at Ease, which is lovely rum-infused blueberry muffin in the vial, goes tragically wrong on my skin in the exact same way that Eat Me goes tragically wrong on my skin. It was frimped to me, and I'm glad I got to test it, because it might have surprised me. Sigh. If you love Eat Me or the cakes note in general, you should definitely try this.

Amaxophobia is incredibly evocative of the description -- motor oil, artificial pine scent, right down to the stale chocolate. It was an interesting scent experience but not something I would want to smell like frequently, and my skin ate it up fairly quickly. If you enjoy trying oddball scents, you should definitely give this a try.

Obviously my Pliny's Phoenix decant is well-aged. It's a beautiful, long-lasting, warm frankincense on me, practically a single-note frank with just the tiniest hint of cinnamon. Absolutely lovely, and something to warm up a wintry season.

I didn't get any Cinq when the lupers were live because tea rose is one of the rose notes that's pretty reliably bad on me, but I was intrigued enough by the all-over-the-place reviews to swap for a decant. And it's so pretty in the imp, and after about an hour the drydown is such a pretty sugary buttery rose, like Hope with crumbs, but wet my skin makes a mess of those tea roses. Oh well, I'm delighted I had the chance to try it.

Testing blind, I, like Sangria2, thought there was cedar in this blend, which I now see was the blend of balsam and patchouli. Evergreens and leather, just a faint hint of fruit and cardamom, and I'm not getting any recognizable (i.e. indolic) oudh, just a general warmth and depth. Definitely masculine, definitely sexy. and while I like this as much as I hoped I would, I'm not madly in love with it the way I am with, say, Wulric.

I got to try a decant of Eldritch Dark, and I love it. Certain rose notes can be problematic on me, and red musk has a propensity to go all SN Red Musk, but I had a good feeling about this one. Psychodynamic Discharge worked surprisingly well on me recently, so I guess I need to look for blends where red musk is reined in by black musk. This is primarily a black musk blend on me. Leather and honey, yes, especially when wet, and a little sweet rose on drydown, but an absolutely gorgeous black musk grounds this and slow-dances with the red musk and steals the freaking show. Good throw, though the wear length is only average on me. But while it's around, it's sexy as hell.

Transeo is much more floral on me than I expected. Orange blossom and wine are the two most identifiable notes for me, and they are both problematic on my skin. So instead of the spicy woods and citrus with a little bloody wine I was hoping for, it's more blossoms and red wine and everything else is muted. This is a skin chemistry fail on me.

I'm on a roll with goat's milk recently, so when I found a few decants I'd misplaced after a recent swap, this was my immediate choice. The goat's milk was strongest when wet, and it gave Depart pour le Sabbat good wear length and throw on me, even after it became more subdued in drydown. Chewy patchouli and honey take over with a warm, pleasant grounding of oudh, which was the note I was most worried about here, but there's nothing indolic about it. Another win for goat's milk; a gorgeous, earthy-sweet fall blend.