labeth

After trying and really liking Verdandi, I decided to pick up imps of this and the Hesperides so that I could have an APPLE DEATHMATCH. In the bottle it's apples, duh. What I noticed right off putting it on is that it's a very different apple from Verdandi. Verdandi is a baked apple or a cider-- Poisoned Apple is a fresh, juicy Granny Smith apple straight from the orchard. It reminds me of when I used to go apple picking with my mother in the fall. I don't really notice the other notes so much because the apple smell is so real it's practically tangible. My one complaint with this is that it barely lasted through lunchtime, so it's definitely one you'd have to put a lot of on.

I'd love to try Kuzunoha sometime-- unfortunately, Shanghai smelled like Irish Spring soap on me, instead of tea.

In the bottle: pure chocolate. Wet: Baker's chocolate, dark and bitter, with a hint of cinnamon. Dry: Beautiful. The chocolate backs off a bit and becomes a bit sweeter without losing that gorgeous dark cocoa quality, and the cinnamon smell comes on strong. Target makes a kind of chocolate bar with hot pepper in it-- this reminds me very much of that. I wasn't expecting to like this one nearly as much, as I figured chocolate wouldn't make for good perfume. I was very wrong, though-- I really like this.

I ordered a decant of this one because I really love lemony smells-- they wake me up. However, unlike in most BPAL blends, the lemon in this didn't amp up much at all, and the resulting experience was less than pleasant. It smelled pretty good in the bottle, pretty much like lemon cookies, as said earlier. But once on, the fruity scents turned plasticky, and I ended up with a smell thtat reminded me of this Strawberry Shortcake Apricot doll that I had when I was a very small child. So then I had a headache and smelled like a doll from the early 80s, which wasn't what I was going for. I tried washing it off, but this stuff must have some staying power, because even the next day I could still smell it a bit. So, in conclusion, didn't work out on me, but that is primarily due to my apparent association with apricot=doll. Now, if this was the Doll Girl perfume, that might make more sense to me.

On my last order, I decided to get all sorts of scents with tea notes to them, so that's why I got this. I had tried several black tea blends and a couple green tea, but never white-- white tea is pretty floral and light, so it was hard to detect somewhat. In the imp, it was light and citrus. On my skin the first bright citrus scent reminded me somewhat of Yuki-Onna, only somehow both lighter and more acrid. This was the only real note for a few minutes, until a darker smell came up from behind. Then it was lemon pledge with an undercurrent of those Black & Mild cigars that they sell in grocery stores-- kind of a sweet floral smell with a darker tobacco edge underneath. It faded in potency really quickly, but lingered very lightly for at least six or seven hours. It's not bad, but it's kind of nondescript after a little while, so I don't think this would be a bottle buy for me.

I love Jack, and I love pomegranate, but I hate Swank, so I didn't know how this would work, but I bought a decant anyway. Luckily, it must be the booze notes in Swank that disagreed with me, because I also love this. It doesn't smell like much in the bottle-- just a light pumpkiny smell. But on, it's very much pumpkin and pomegranate, very easy to identify. I find the pumpkin scent in this to be much less overpoweringly buttery than Jack, which I think works much better with the tart pom. I think I need to slather this on a bit more than I did, because it seems to fade quickly. The scents blend together a bit more as it fades. I might try and find a bottle simply because you need to use a lot of it.

I think I have a confused relationship with this one. In the bottle, it's an ambiguous incensey musk scent. On me, it's pretty much the same, and it's a very nice smell, but it's extremely potent. It's too potent. The throw on this makes me feel like I must have cartoon stink-cloud lines around me. I like my perfume a bit more subtle. It's possible I could get by trying a little less on my wrists, but I don't think that I put that much on to begin with. Don't think I'll keep this one-- just too much smell! But if you're okay with being very, very obviously perfumed, it would probably be good on you.

This was a frimp with an order from someone on the forums. I'm having pretty good luck with the muses so far. This is the second one I've tried, and somehow, despite being pretty floral, I actually think I like it. In the bottle it smells like an indistinct floral-- usually, I would blame that on my being inexperienced with floral smells and thus not being able to identify them, but in this case I think it's more because they're well blended together. On my wrist, the honeysuckle comes on very strong for the first forty-five mintues or so, which sort of reminded me of Athens, and then it settles down to a very sweet smell that doesn't offend my anti-floral sensibilities at all. I think the white musk calms the flowers down enough to keep the scent from being overpoweringly floral. I think I'll keep it.

On me, Yuki-Onna has kind of a lemony jasmine tea scent to it (with a hint of bergamot,) but that's the closest that I've found.

Habu was a free gift-- I got half an imp with a bottle of Tokyo Stomp I bought from someone on the forum. I hadn't actually taken a look at much from Carnaval Diabolique, so it was nice to try something I had no preconcieved notions of. I seem to have had a very different experience from a lot of the people in this topic. In the bottle, it smelled like a wet incense sort of smell. Applied, it was still incense, with a definite sandalwood-ish scent (I've never tried anything with Snake Oil before, so it may come from that) with an undercurrent of something light and fruity. Something in the throw reminded me of sweet roasted nuts. Not getting much in the way of green smells, but I really like this. It's a keeper, and I'll see if I like it enough for a bottle if I miss it after I run out.

My initial reaction was: "I'm a strawberry pine tree!" It took me a while to figure out if that was bad or good. In the bottle, I pick up on a sweet pine kind of smell, but on my wrists it's much more complex. The pine is still there, but it has a clean smell underneath that really does smell a lot like snow. As a transplanted U.S. northerner now living in the south, it's nostalgic and comforting. The smell underneath reminds me personally of strawberries, as the above statement would indicate. It's very different from what I normally wear, so it took me a few minutes to get used to it, but I think that I kind of like it. I don't think I'd wear this often enough for a bottle, but I'll keep it, and look out for snowy scents in the future.

In the bottle, it smells like, well, I used to work at an ice cream shop, and it smells like when you'd open one of the containers full of maraschino cherries, which were my favorite thing to snack on during work. On my skin, there's an odd, sharp note at first over the cherries. I can't place what it is, but it's sort of sour. This may just be my skin chemistry, because even with scents I very much like (for instance, this happens with the lemon in Yuki-Onna,) I tend to get a strong off smell for a couple minutes before the perfume settles into something pleasant. Bloody Mary is no exception-- after a few minutes, it settles into a not-oversweet berry scent. I also tried layering with Eat Me, which was a really good idea-- together they make a very good cake with berries smell. My fiancee was decidedly not a fan, though-- he said the smell gave him an instant headache. Personally, I think I'd like to keep the decant, but I don't think I could go through a whole bottle.

I got a decant of this from a nice forum member because I'm just too chicken to buy without smelling first, but I think I may have to find a bottle. I can't really smell much in the bottle when it's shut-- the scent is just light enough to be pretty unobtrusive. Opened, yes, I can definitely smell the thin mint (I made sure and had a couple cookies beforehand for, er, reference purposes. Yes.) On me, though, I very clearly get a smooth vanilla mint scent. There seems to be some disparity in reviews as to whether it's a peppermint or spearmint, but I definitely get the kind of peppermint in a York pattie. The first time I put this on I applied rather sparingly, but it faded pretty quickly. So this morning, I put on a good amount and it smells heavenly. It also must have some throw to it, because someone came into my office and said something smelled good from across the room. Anyway, I wasn't sure how I would feel about mint as a perfume, but I think I've been won over. I still don't get the Kaiju=mint thing, but hey.

I'm not particularly good at picking out specific notes in the floral category, so what I write here will be somewhat vague. In the bottle, to me it's a generic, light, inoffensive floral smell. On me, I get a stronger version of that, a little bit of the vanilla, and some of the cinnamon, giving it a little more of a bite. It has quite a decent throw-- I put very little on and it's very in-your-face present even with being a bit stuffed up due to allergies at the moment. I'd recommend not putting a whole lot of this on at once. Any stronger than it is now and I would have washed it off already. I'll probably end up trading this away, but for a floral, it's not bad.

Another freebie with my last order. In the bottle, it had sort of a soapy smell to it-- well, I guess it wasn't soapy, but it smelled like something that would turn soapy on me (like Shanghai does.) On, however, it took on a watery, astringent undercurrent nearly covered by a light floral scent. As someone normally prone to avoiding florals at all costs, it's surprisingly inoffensive to me. I can pick out the rose, but I'm not familiar enough with the other scents to name them. I don't know that I'll keep it, because it's not really my type, but it's not bad.

This came as an extra with the last order I placed from the lab. In the bottle, it smelled like... well, that smell when you walk into a Hot Topic. But on the skin? Vicks Vap-o-rub, seriously. I don't know why, but that's exactly what it smelled like. I had to wash it off almost immediately.

I had to have this entirely because of the name. Not only do I have nickname associations with it, but it was also one of my favorite ghost stories as a child. The scent sounded good enough anyway, but it was pretty much the name that did me in. In the bottle it smells like citrus and jasmine, and that's pretty much what it smells like on. When you first put it on, the lemon is extremely strong for a few minutes, so it gives you that 'lemon candy/lemon pledge' kind of scent right off. If it stayed like that, I would have been disappointed, but on me the lemon tapers off a lot after about ten minutes. After that, it's nice and lightly floral, but to me smells mostly like Earl Grey tea with a bit of lemon and jasmine. Since half of what I drink is Earl Grey tea, I'm pretty pleased with this outcome.

In the bottle I get a very herbal scent. I can't pick up the apple very much, but it's sweet and pleasant. On my skin, the apple immediately comes to the forefront and the sweet herbal smell turns it into a spiced cider sort of smell, although with an undercurrent of something darker (must be the amber.) I like it a lot so far, this is a possible bottle. I'll want to try it one more time to see if I still like it.

In the bottle, I definitely get a light coffee smell, sweet and not too strong. On my wrist, it starts out almost caramel, but when the dusty smell kicks in, the smell mellows out more and the coffee comes out. I don't get any boozy notes at all, which is good, since generally that doesn't work well for me. The fiancee likes it as well-- it's his second favorite of the ones I've tried (the first being Jack-- we're both foody types.) I've already snagged a bottle off of someone in the For Sale forum area.

Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry. My experience with this wasn't much different than others': it started off sour and acrid and then, after a couple minutes, became a candy-sweet raspberry orange smell. It's pleasant enough, but a bit too sweet and childish for me.

Huh. I got this one as a freebie, and really didn't think that it would be something I'd much like, so it sat on the counter for a while before I put it on today. And, uh, damn. I'm surprised. I can't really put my finger on what it smells like in the bottle. It's a pleasant scent, but not one I can identify, and not something I would imagine myself smelling like. But as soon as I put it on, the sweet honey scent totally takes over. I can identify a little of the wine underneath, but my fiancee can't. It's stayed pretty much the same since, except that the wine smell faded a little and the floral smell has come through. Surprisingly, I still like it, as I'm not a fan of florals. I don't see myself getting a whole bottle of this, but I'm definitely going to keep the imp for when I want to give myself, er, bees.

I got this as an extra freebie with an imp of Yuki-Onna I had bought from someone on the forum. I will preface this by saying that I am generally way turned off by floral smells, but since I had read several reviews describing it as a very light floral, I thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately, floral is floral, I guess, and we still don't agree with each other. While it smelled nice in the bottle, as soon as it was on me, florals completely overpowered me. I washed it off quickly, because I felt like I was in a funeral home. Off to the swap pile, to make someone who actually likes florals very happy. I think this would be a nice scent for someone not as consistently repulsed by flowery smells.

It smelled pretty good out of the bottle, but I can't be more specific, as I couldn't pick up on any individual scents, really. Kind of an herbal smell. When I first put it on, it really came on kind of overpowering, smelling like a cross between a Christmas Tree and bathroom soap. I left it on for a while to try and give it a chance, but once I noticed that bathroom deodorizer scent, that's all I could smell, so a little while later I had to wash it off. It did something very similar to Swank, which I also had to wash off. This'll be an entry into the swap pile.

This was the last of the scents in my order that I tried, as I was skeptical as soon as I sniffed the bottle that it would work on me. Well, in a way it does, but not in a way I'd like. On me, this smells like fresh-from-the-shower fiancee, which was really off-putting while I was sitting in my office. It's not a smell I dislike, not at all, but I don't particularly want to smell like boy. So I guess I'd have to say this smells either like Irish Spring or Pert Plus or a mix of both. I'd give it to my fiancee, but he doesn't wear anything, and besides, he'd just smell like he normally does, so it's heading to the trade pile.

Salome was a freebie thrown in with my first batch of imps. In the bottle, it smelled kind of like a kind of incense I had in my younger days. On applying, initially this was what stuck out the most. After a little while, the almond smell came out a bit more, giving a nice marzipan-incense smell. It stayed like that for pretty much the rest of the day-- lasted really nicely. This is a really nice smell, but it reminds me more of my best friend than me, so I'm going to give it to her.