naeelah

I'm not sure how old my imp is but I'm pretty sure it's not super fresh.

Wet, this is VERY strong on neroli. Very bitter and very floral, with an undertone of dried orange peel. Orange notes usually evaporate as a blend wears, but this one does the opposite, on me: as it dries, the blood orange and raspberry become stronger, balancing the neroli.

Dry, it's perfectly balanced. This is one of those scents that could easily end up smelling like a bath & bodyworks blend, just a boring fruit blend, but it's so much prettier than that. It is fruity and sweet, but the neroli gives it an elegant core that keeps it from smelling like fruit salad or candy. Really nice.

Woah, the King is sexier than I thought he'd be! This blend is a little too masculine for me, but it would smell fantastic on the right person. It's a little sweet but still regal.

It starts out very bright and clean. Not too herbal or medicinal -- the lavender is subtle, and doesn't come off like a fougere. Rosewood is a very smooth and almost sweet, moist wood on me, and here it's much the same. As it dries it becomes richer. A dark cherry note comes out. Unlike most cherry blends, the cherry stays in the background, just lightly coloring the scent. I never go through a cough syrup phase.

The rose also doesn't overwhelm the blend. It adds a smooth, rich core, but on me it didn't scream "floral!" I don't smell the red musk much when wet, but once totally dry, it adds verve. Although the cherry adds sweetness, this remains a fairly light and clean blend.

So, in short: a sexy, red but subtle men's cologne. Bright but rich musk and rosewood sweetened by cherry and rose, with a tiny spike of lavender for balance.

I'm not sure how old my imp is. This is a lot nicer and more wearable than I would have thought, as someone who isn't a fan of black musk.

Wet, it's a bright and crystalline scent with something almost like citrus. It has only a hint of mint (sharp, like peppermint) that becomes a little strong while drying, but evens out with the rest of the blend once dry. The caramel note is fairly strong and provides a warm, fuzzy counterbalance to the mint and white musk.

Little by little the black musk emerges as a base note. Often it totally takes a blend over, on me, and makes it smell like some kind of 70s men's cologne. Here, though, it anchors and deepens the caramel, providing a rich and slightly oily counter to the brightness of the white musk. It never becomes too strong. I think there must be a little skin musk, which provides a good middle ground. I never get much sense of the nicotania or sage.

So, in short, this is a unique blend with a split personality: spectral, crisp, citrusy mint countered with sweet fuzzy caramel and rich musk. Unisex.

Try it if you like: Tiresius, The Arrival at the Sabbath, Wulric, Melainis, Agrat-bat-Mahlaht

This is so well-blended that it's difficult to describe. The best way for me to approach it is to compare it to similar blends. On me, this smells very much like Mort de Cesar, but without the clove.

It's surprisingly subtle and sophisticated. The dominant quality is warm, dark incense. Not brimstone dark like al-Azif, but like velvet. The blood musk adds a slight sweetness, and seems that it may have a tiny drop of vetiver, but that could be a trick of the blend. The peppers are not overly assertive, they just add to the warm spicy backdrop. There's only a hint of leather in the background -- again, not enough to take over, but enough to provide balance to the richness of the other notes.

That description applies to everything in this blend: present, but not overwhelming. This is very well-balanced and nowhere near as oppressively dark or menacing as some similar blends.

So in short, I suppose I'd describe this as warm, rich, shadowy incense with a cool and slightly bloody undertone.

Try it if you like: The Blood Garden, the Tell-tale Heart, Tezcatlipoca, the Great Sword of War, Mort de Cesar.

As you'd expect, this is first and foremost an earth blend. The note "graveyard dirt" indicates that it's the same dry, slightly sour dirt note used in other graveyard blends. NOT the moist, black loamy dirt.

There's an obvious comparison to Zombi here. The earth notes are the same, and as a whole, they're similar blends. Zombi is loaded with rich, heavy red rose -- it's almost stronger than the dirt -- but Deep in Earth's rosy aroma is very light and sweet. It's more subtle. The moss note doesn't seem as sharp as oakmoss, but it is a similarly cool scent. It just adds a little air to the earth notes. I never get much sense of yew, in that I don't smell evergreen. It seems to provide a cool wood note that blends with the moss.

On the whole, this is a shady but rich, multi-faceted dirt scent lightened by geranium. It has a faint sweetness when dry, and it much more light and feminine than many dirt scents. Very pretty, if you're a fan of the graveyard dirt note.

Gardenia, jasmine, and maybe lily. Gardenia seems to be heaviest to my nose.

When I first put this on, I got a blast of pepper and hints of other spices. Trying it on a second time, the peppery quality is less strong, but I'm still sure there's pepper (maybe white pepper, maybe black pepper in small quantities). There is something vaguely green, as moonestonemama mentions. Could be lemongrass, but very soft. I am increasingly sure I smell ginger, and perhaps also cardamom.

But in short, it's a rich floral with some sharp spice. Reminds me of Marae. I like this a lot. Somehow this makes me think it's a wanderlust prototype.

This has tons of cherry in the imp, and on skin it starts out going through a somewhat disgusting cough syrup-like phase. I don't think all cherry scents smell like cough syrup, but here there is a distinct similarity. The cherry DOES have a definite purple edge. I can smell the lab's usual cherry note here, but it's twisted to smell like a black cherry - or at least, like black cherry Kool-Aid.

As it dries, the woods gradually gain dominance. It's a bit musty at first, like the corner of your garage where you store leftover varnish. (Other varnished wood scents from the lab don't smell like this to me, so I wonder if it's specifically the mahogany note.) Unfortunately it lingers in this musty-wood-that's-had-some-tussin-spilled-on-it stage for a while.

But if you tough it out, it becomes a nice, dry, smooth wood blend with just a dribble of black cherry. The black currants add a hint of jamminess, but they aren't nearly as prevalent here as in other blends. The currant is quite subtle. I don't often like cherry blends, but here it works well, perhaps because it stays in the background.

So, in short: like sniffing a sanded, unfinished mahogany plank, with a drop of black cherry fragrance.

Iris blends are often a little bit to flat and slick on me, but this is rich and lovely.

First off, I smell a lot of orchid and ylang ylang. Rich flowers with a hint of sweetness. As the oil dries, the aroma becomes a little drier as the other notes emerge. I can definitely smell the violet, which for once is not going soapy on me, along with frankincense and iris.

As I said, the lab's iris tends to feel very sleek to me, but this iris note smell much truer to the irises in my garden, which are have a round, sweet, almost grape-like aroma. The frankincense is dry and smoky and it does not overpower the florals. This doesn't feel like an incense blend, the frankincense simply acts a bit like a glue, or a glaze over the hue.

Once dry it doesn't shift a whole lot, on my skin. It's smooth, slightly sweet flowers laid over dry, cool flowers, with a puff of cool frankincense smoke blending it all together. Sophisticated but very wearable and lovely. My favorite of all the iris blends I've tried so far, because it's much truer to life, for me.

Try it if you like: Florence, Vasakasajja (something is linking them in my mind), Eros, Nocturne, Veil, I Died for Beauty, Lucretia

When I first put this on, I smell grass. It certainly smells very green. I couldn't begin to pick everything out, but as it dries I get the feeling of clover, soft lavender definitely emerges, and little by little sharp mint comes through.

For a while, the lavender and mint dominate, so it doesn't smell green so much as like Somnus or something. It isn't medicinal or anything, though, it's actually very pretty in its way. I can JUST pick out a drizzle of lime, in the background.

As it dries further, the mint calms down and a more pronounced herbal quality emerges. I would imagine there's sage, and I'm pretty sure there's a little basil. What else, I don't know.

In the end, it's soft green, rounded herbal and clover scents, blended with a little fuzzy lavender and just a hint of mint to cut through and keep it from being too restful.

On the whole, this is not as immediately herbal as I expected. This is less like the Witch's Garden and more like the Passionate Shepherd. Being called envy, I thought this might be a sharper scent, but it's actually very soft and springy. Surprisingly feminine. With the lavender especially, it's very much like a window box of herbs. To be honest, when I think of "envy" I think I expect something that smells like Serpent with Glittering EYes, which is a mega-green scent with tons of citrus and major green musk.

Anyone know anything really close to Ichabod Crane? Anubis has a similar quality, but it's just not quite there.

There's nothing *really* close on its own. You'll definitely have to layer. The wool note is the tricky part because that's a big part of what gives the blend a slightly eccentric, homey quality.

I haven't tried it myself, but it seems like a combo of La Mort Qui Danse and Hanerot Halalu might work well. (Or anyone who has Democrat, that might do better than HH.) That covers the lily, spice, and beeswax. I'm not sure what to suggest for the creamy tea other than a dab of White Rabbit, which in small doses might do the trick [i noticed you said it smelled bad on its own]. Or you could try Alice.

Some other ideas for stuff to experiment with: Queen Alice, Marcilla, Grandmother of Ghosts.

I've tried this several times now, and it has morphed slightly differently each time.

Initially, I got a lot of plasticky red currants and not much pink pepper, drying down to a sweet, golden skin scent with a good amount of blackberry.

ETA: I've tested a third bottle, and this is a LOT of blackberry -- more than the other two bottles -- over amber & honey. The currant behaves. So, I think this one is definitely a morpher, from batch to batch and from day to day.

Most recently, it behaves much better. It starts out very heavy on pink pepper, but as it dries the amber and honey become the most dominant notes. The definitely merge under my nose, and it's the best base note ever -- the amber is bright, clear, round, and well grounded and clings to the skin (it's not powdery but it's not as brittle as in Khrysee), and the honey is rich and fragrant. (The honey note is similar to ones in the Stardust blends.) The longer it wears, the more prominent the blackberry seems to my nose. The blackberry and currant are definitely present, but this does not feel like a fruit blend. Overall, the feeling is warm, golden, sweet, and sexy. The currants smell like currants now, rather than like the plastic and polyester of a Strawberry Shortcake doll.

The pink pepper remains pretty present throughout the life of the scent, but once it gets past the initial drying phase it blends well and plays nicely. It's the perfect bit of pop behind the smooth gold. The throw is decent, but this is the type of scent that merges into your skin more, as if it were your natural scent.

So, in short: rich, golden, smooth sweetness made fragrant by fresh, tart blackberry, a hint of currant and just a prickle of pink pepper.

Try it if you like: Lady Una, Svadhinaopatika, Eat Me, Khrysee, Hermia, and some other stuff that I'll when I remember

It's hard to judge based on description, but Anaconda has a pronounced brown sugar or molasses-like scent, that is totally unlike any of the other snakes in the pit. If your imp doesn't have that scent, it's not Anaconda.

I don't remember Anaconda being red. Colors can vary based on age and stuff, but generally that's, like, light brown vs. dark brown. The only snake that I remember as being red is Saw Scale Viper, and if your oil is also spicy, then that's what my vote would be.

Whether it was intentional or accidental, sorry, it looks like you did get ripped off.

I've been tempted to order a bottle from the snake pit, but can probably afford only one...

The ones that tempt me are:

Australian Copperhead - for the acai berry, I like tart scents.

Boomslang - aside from the HP reference, I just like chocolaty scents, when they aren't sickly sweet.

Cottonmouth - it just sounds nice, I like florals and besides, cottonmouth are gorgeous snakes.

King Cobra - I like frankinsence, usually at least... besides, King Cobra is kind of the queen of snakes.

 

Boomslang and King Cobra seem to seduce me more than the rest, but still, I'm not sure...

I'm afraid of something cloying sweet or that will give me a headache...

 

Any recs?

I won't be much help in narrowing down. Those are all great scents in unique ways.

Personally, I don't find the acai berry so tart in Copperhead. It's a bit flat and green when fresh and when the blend ages, the overall effect is more like sugared cream and fresher, juicier berries. The berry note isn't as strong as in, say, Miller V. CA.

Boomslang is a great choice for a chocolate blend that isn't sweet. But, most people find that the cocoa aspect of Boomslang fades away as it dries. It definitely doesn't disappear, but for me it blends into the snake oil and other notes so instead of smelling distinctly of chocolate, it smells like a darker, richer Snake Oil.

If you love florals and Snake Oil, Cottonmouth is very nice. I found the two aspects very well balanced.

King Cobra is very heavy. I don't know if you've sniffed resin tears directly, but King Cobra is very much like that aroma. Very thick and earthy. It isn't as much the lighter scent of the resin smoke. So some people love Cobra for that, other people (such as myself), not so much.

Try if it you really want powerful, true Frankincense. If you're hoping for a lighter blend that smells like Snake Oil mingling with burning incense, try Temple Viper. (There, the resins have a sharper, more sour edge.)

Has anyone tried Hand of Glory and Western Diamondback? I love the dry, slightly sweet, smokiness of Hand of Glory, and Western Diamondback sounds similar in feel..they both share the leather note. If I love Hand of Glory, will I like Western D?

It's hard to say. I love both of them but they're not incredibly alike. Not incredibly dissimilar either, but they're not close relatives. For me, Hand of Glory is dark, gritty, smoky, leathery wax. The leather note itself doesn't dominate the blend.

Western Diamondback is a little bit more like Velvet Bandito or Tombstone or something, but with Snake Oil. It isn't so dark and gritty. In HoG I get mostly wax and spice, and in WD I get mostly leather and Snake Oil. It's a cooler kind of leather. It's fabulous though, so if you want a rich leather blend, try it.

This is so complex it's difficult to pick apart. It's very much like Faiza, but, say, through the filter of Hellion. Where Faiza is very green, Giallo is dark and plummy. (The notes may recall Snake Charmer, but this is nowhere near as musky and sultry.)

Generally, this is definitely a scent in the classic perfume tradition. Rather than smelling purely like a floral or resin or whatever blend, it has a little of everything creating one seamless blend with a strong "perfume" quality.

The floral and botanical bouquet dominates on my skin. It's not as sweet as I'd expect, with the jasmine. On the whole they seem bright, white, clean, with a crisp green edge from the violet leaf. There's plenty of red musk and it too is sharp and intense, not one of the fruitier varieties.

There's a lot of plum and a squirt of bright citrus, but those fade away little by little. The vanilla and black amber anchor everything. They last very well on my skin so the scent gradually becomes creamier and sweeter as the top notes burn away. After several hours, it's primarily black amber, vanilla, and red musk with hints of flowers and plum. Sandwiched in the middle are the resins, which add a wee bit of smokiness but mostly seem to act like a glue, binding it all together.

I hate patchouli and I tend to amp it, so I had reservations about this, but so far, I don't smell the patchouli at all. Patchouli ALWAYS gets stronger with age, on my skin, so let's hope that doesn't happen. This has excellent throw and FANTASTIC staying power. I put it on 6 hours ago and although some of the top notes are gone, it's still going strong.

So, in short: a well-blended, sophisticated floral with a dusky, plummy, smoky vanilla core.

Very curious what this will be like in a few months, so I'll update my review as it ages.

Try this if you like: Hellion, the Emathides, Faiza (of course), Snake Charmer, Mme. Moriarty, Kubla Khan, Penumbra, Sacred Whore of Babylon

When I read the notes to this I thought, "Do I need a foody chocolate scent? I already don't wear the ones I have," but then I noticed that the first note listed is a big blob of radioactive waste. So, I was hoping that this would be a lot of waste colored by the fake blood foody stuff.

I got almost exactly what I hoped for. I love foody scents but don't like to wear pure food scents as perfume. I like something else added for balance (for example, the pine in Pickled Imp). B-Horror is very wearable for me and not at all heavy or nauseating. It's really fabulous.

In the bottle, it's loads of rich, buttery chocolate and a hint of peanut butter. Very rich and thick smelling, similar to the Chocolate Box scents.

On the skin, the radioactive waste note emerges immediately. I can't pick out what's in it, but it really reminded me of some common aroma -- and I realized, it smells like acetone. So, wet, it smells like chocolate and nail polish remover, but in a way that's kind of great.

Dry, the chocolate and peanut butter recede way, way to the background. The whole blend seems to sink into my skin, really, or maybe it just disappears to my nose. I catch it wafting but if I sniff it directly, I can't smell everything. Weird.

Grenadine is the strongest note when dry, and it's very true to the scent of the Rose's syrup. It's a little bit like the lab's red currant note, but it doesn't turn to plastic. I can also smell the corn syrup, which also smells miraculously like the real thing. It smells clear and sweet, with only the faintest suggestion of corn. And under it all lies the radioactive waste, which adds a dry, sharp, chemical, somewhat musty quality. It has a green edge and it definitely reminds me of green and grey musk. Under nose it isn't chocolate-peanut heavy, but when it wafts, those notes are definitely present. I think the ratio is perfect. They add to the blend without dominating it. Overall it feels more like a red fruit scent.

So for me, in short, it's: grenadine and sharp green chemical with splashes of corn syrup and chocolate and just a spoonful of peanut butter. Foody, but balanced by the acetone quality of the waste. Fabulous.

(I see what people are saying about coconut. The way the grenadine and corn syrup are interacting, it reminds me of Elegba.)

Try this if you like: Miskatonic valley Junior Baseball Association, the Chocolate Box scents, Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal, Elegba (oddly), Eat Me, Dragon's Milk

Velvet Unicorn is every bit as chock full of sugary magic as you'd hope it would be.

If you look for the individual notes, you can find them -- there's the distinct bubblegum quality of spun sugar, a hint of Skittles, a dribble of sweet cherry, creamy meringue -- but the overall effect is like strawberry marshmallow fluff.

Sniffing the oil directly and on my unicorn, Sir Rufus, the meringue smell is pronounced. It's very sweet and just a little bit plastic, so really it's perfect for the concept. On my skin, though, it dries to something that's a lot more subtle, tart and -- dare I say -- elegant than I expected. It still has an overall air of strawberry syrup, but there's something that's a little bit dry and tart for balance. It's sweet for sure, but it's way more wearable than I expected. It's fabulous.

So in short, it's strawberry meringue, or strawberry taffy, or strawberry marshmallow fluff. Where Strawberry Moon achieves fresh, true strawberries and cream, this is totally artificial and all the more wonderful for it.

Try this if you like: Beaver Moon (either one but especially '07), Pink Phoenix, Floating Brain, Bloody Mary, White Chocolate and Strawberry,

I've been on a coconut kick lately, so here are my personal thoughts on coconut blends:

Brown Jenkins: Fuzzy, brown-sugary coconut. Make me think of Tribbles.

Obatala: gentle, soft, milky, watery coconut

Black Pearl: Cool coconut and seashells

Intrigue: Cool wood, chocolaty fig and waxy coconut (contains palm, not coconut, but it smells like coconut to me)

Dia: coconut dryer sheets

Snake Charmer: noticeable coconut when wet, dries to something darker and smoky without much coconut. A little bit like Death Adder in the early stages.

Death Adder: rich, deep coconut snake oil...and vetiver. (here the vetiver is sharp and grassy with a hint of smoke)

Tiki Queen: mostly crisp tropical florals, practically no coconut

Velvet Tiki: What I wanted Tiki Queen to be. Lots of coconut and fruit balanced by tropical flowers. Ultimate tropical scent.

Bat of Good Death: Warm, sweet coconut and resins. Imagine adding coconut to Heavenly Love and Earthly Love or Minotaur (sans black musk)

I can't think of anything I've smelled that is exactly like ginger ale. But, as ivyandpeony mentioned, the Tiki bar scents are very soda-like. Te Po has a lot of ginger and it's probably the most like ginger ale of any BPAL I've smelled, but it has cherry too. (A lot of people think it smells like cherry coke, but to my nose it didn't have that cola quality. Just lots of vodka and ginger, with a twist of mint.)

Kumiho is a plain ginger scent but it's clean, lemony ginger. It doesn't have the bite or effervescence of ginger ale, but it's worthy trying.

My personal favorite for scents that remind me of Japan (as in, actual smells I encountered) is Aizen-Myoo. It really reminds me of yuzu-cha, which is a great winter drink. I was sick constantly when I got to Japan so I spent a lot of time in cafes using their wi-fi and drinking yuzu-cha for the vitamin C. It tastes great, smells fantastic, and the steam and hot liquid soothed my nose & throat. All around win.

The retail only blend Wezwanie/Hold might be worth investigating: Hazelnut, vanilla bean, red sandalwood, amber, myrrh, and honey. It has a LOT of hazelnut, but it calms down as it dries (on me), and if you're looking for something more skin-strength rather than perfume-strength, diluting it might make the hazelnut less in your face.

You could also try the original MVJBA, which smells like peanut brittle.

Many of you are comparing Antikhyra Mechanism to Glowing Vulva. On me, AM is a little too dark, but Hand of Glory is really close. It's not quite as complex and *glowing*, but they share a soft vanilla wood. Lovely! (Ok, so it's an LE - but it's still available).

Hmm, that's interesting. For me, it's the other way around, so I guess for once my skin is working with the majority. AM is very similar to GV but without the glowing amber. Fairy light and smooth. Hand of Glory is a totally different animal -- very deep, dark, gritty, and smoky. (I'm trying to think of a good DCLE point of comparison and I can't think of anything. It's a cousin to Hanerot Halalu but not an exact match...)

This is a very simple, innocent, peaches-and-cream type scent.

The vanilla musk here is almost definitely a white musk (not the same vanilla musk that's in Black Lace). Unfortunately, white musk often means soap for me. Many people try rose blends and think "soap." I am not one of those people, but this is honestly what Victoria smelled like on me. Rose soap.

If white musk and tea rose agree with your skin, though, this is a perfect light, youthful pink rose scent. Excellent for anyone who tends to regard rose as too mature. The lily is present but I never really guessed it was there. It blends well with the other notes.

Wet, this is mainly rose and lily with white musk. As it wears, some of the bright, soapy edge burns away and it becomes a little richer and creamier. The vanilla is light and not very sweet, very much like fresh cream.

And that's really it. Airy pink rose with a dollop of cream. Wear life and sillage are both good.

Compared to similar blends, this is very much less sweet and rich than the Gaoler's Daughter, and brighter than Katrina van Tassel.

By the way, how sweet is Prunella?

I mean, is it tart with a little bit of sweet, or sweet with a little bit of tart?)

I tried to test it again to answer your question, but it looks like I have Bensiabel, not Prunella. (But I plan to try Prunella again at will call tomorrow, so I'll let you know.) My general experience with plum is the same -- very ripe, juicy, and sweet, not very tart.

--

P.S. Bensiabel was a little dry and non-plummy for my tastes but I like the idea of it, so I layered it with a little Bordello and.... I'm in love. I have a new favorite layering combo now. Works way better for me than layering Bordello with De Sade.

Ooh and I forgot about the East for a summer scent. The herbs and flowers have a cool, breezy quality but the red currant adds slight sweetness and anchors the scent. I think it's really lovely and refreshing.