Juliamon

Received as part of a limited/discontinued imp pack from the Lab's etsy. In the imp: frozen soil, pine needles, and incense Wet: The notes go strictly in the order they're listed. I notice the snow note first, cold and kinda-piney kinda-minty, but mostly just cold. Too cold! Then it begins to melt and the soil is revealed, and it's definitely soil and not just dirt. Earthy but not dirty, y'know? And someone has lit incense in the soil, a beautiful resin blend that is warm and sweet and inviting me to come lie in the soil and rest. Dry: The resins take over entirely and I love them, but within two hours it's faded to barely a whisper. This was the very first BPAL I ever tried, loved right away (despite the short wear) and even after trying a few dozen others it's still up there in my top 3. I wish it wasn't discontinued, as it will make an incredible sleep scent in warm weather thanks to the effect opoponax has on me.

In the imp: sweet candy and ....something? Wood? Wet: Jolly Ranchers and musk. No wood, though. Mostly just musky watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Very artificial. You know when something's so sugar-sweet it cycles into bitter? I'm getting that. Dry: NOW I'm getting some of the wood. The candy is dying off and the wood and musk are taking over, and... I'm not sure I like that any better. Whatever musk is in this is one that doesn't agree with me now, it's leaning too close to BO. I wonder if that's the gardenia asserting itself, as I relate a lot of florals to smelling like that. Way later on the deeep drydown (about 4 hours) everything seems to have balanced out into a gentle candy and ever-so-slightly floral scent, though it's quite faint now. Shame it couldn't be this nice the whole time! I never thought I'd say this, but this is too young AND too weird for me.

In the imp: Is that cedar? There's cedar in here. I mean, I figured there would be, but I hoped the blend would be complex enough to keep it under control. Wet, first 30 seconds: OH GOD CEDAR AND MENTHOL THIS WAS A MISTAKE Wet, after that: No, wait, never mind, this is fine. False alarm. This is very foresty fresh, full of minty herbs and thrumming with life. It's so moist that if the mint weren't there this would be a very steamy jungle. It actually becomes a skin scent rather quickly, though I don't know if that's because the initial blast numbed my nose. The herbs aren't soapy and the mints aren't toothpastey, it's really quite well-blended and balanced. Dry: There's an ever so faint thread of something dirty or dark hiding under the greenery, but I REALLY have to huff to find it. Other than that, it's not really morphing at all. A harsh opening and short life means this is a no-go for me during the day, but I could see this being wonderful to help relax on a hot summer night when I can more appreciate the mint aspects. The opening blast had me thinking this was way too masculine for me, but the drydown is solidly neutral.

Echoing all the "evil gingersnap" reviews. This is the foodiest imp in my collection, even moreso that ones that are intended to smell like food. Wet it's a freshly-baked ginger cookie, liberally spiced but with plenty of sweetness to balance it. Vanilla is heavily to blame here, along with the resins probably, but on the long drydown my skin holds the telltale wafts of vanilla. Sadly it doesn't last more than a couple hours on me (other than the vanilla), but it's an unexpectedly cuddly scent.

In the imp: patchouli and florals. Wet: goodbye patchouli, hello carnation and orange blossom. Why, skin, why must you ruin this so quickly? ...wait, that's not entirely true, there's a hint of woodiness that has to be from the patch, or maybe it's combining with the ambergris. In either case it's not doing nearly enough to stop the florals, and they're stabbing me behind the eyes. Scrub time. I'm sure this is lovely if you don't have floral migraine triggers and love patchouli.

This scent and I have a tumultuous relationship. At times it is beautiful, dark and smoky; at times it is sour and armpit-sweaty. Sometimes there's too much vetiver for me, and sometimes it's the opoponax that's dominating. I love it and I hate it, sometimes I think I want to hunt down a bottle and sometimes I want to give away my imp. The one constant is the gorgeous drydown of vetiver, opoponax, and ajowan. It has decent lasting power too. Worth hunting down an imp if you want something dark and strange, even if you haven't had the best luck with vetiver in the past.

In the imp: Amber, amber, amber, and something floral. Wet: Amber with a trace of floral... which, within seconds, starts to turn into floral/herbal with a trace of amber. I think it's the carnation and myrtle responsible for most of it, neither are notes I have much familiarity with and it comes off as just soapy and unpleasant. Not bad enough to scrub, there's no throw to speak of and I trust my skin to eat it up quickly anyway as it so often does. Dry: After an hour it's a soft amber with a hint of spice (from the carnation I assume). It's very faint though, especially odd for an amber-heavy blend as amber can last for literal days on me. The frimp was a nice attempt from the Lab, but a swing and a miss.

Received a tester of this and had been putting off trying it in favor of other scents that were more easily obtainable, but I was looking for something to pair with the Dead Leaves and Burnt Marshmallow hair gloss I was using and this jumped out at me by virtue of being sugary and smoky. The patchouli leaf dominates in the vial, but is sweetened by the vanilla. Once on skin the benzoin and honey show up, almost overpowering everything else. I think I smell the silk note, something weirdly and uncomfortably reminiscent of the laundry area of a hotel, that waft of humid air smelling of fresh industrially-cleaned linens. Once my skin has had its way with the patch this becomes an almost nauseatingly-sweet honey and benzoin party. Even the vanilla, which I usually amp, couldn't stand up to it. But the laundry smell is gone too, so I guess it could be worse? I'm relieved I don't have to hunt down more of this, but still disappointed it didn't work out.

I've tried this a few times now and each time I keep hoping to come up with a better review, but... this is pretty much just a root beer barrel candy single note for me. It's not bad, it's not great, it is what it is. A novelty scent, not one I really want to smell like but nice to have around for an occasional sniff.

In the imp, and wet: sweet dripping peach juice, musk, and patchouli. My skin eats patch like it's candy and after 5 minutes I really have to huff my wrist hard to detect it, but by then the amber has begun to come out to take its place. It's still subtle, and this is pretty much all peaches and musk. It feels like late summer to me, as the peach crop dwindles and the remaining fruit is banged up and more suitable for cooking down into compote than eating fresh. Dry: well, 'dry.' It's only been 10 minutes and it's already fading. This may last the hour thanks to the amber, but I don't think there will be much left. I think I like this, but it may be another of those scents that I have to retest in the heat of summer rather than the chill (er... snow in this case) of early spring. It may have better lasting power on a warmer day with warmer skin. I hope it does, it's a very cheerful-without-being-childish scent that I could really use more of in my life. edit: it's been 2 hours and it actually held steady at the level it was at after 10 minutes. I am absolutely a fan. This could be a future bottle for me, as long as I don't get sick of it.

In the imp: MUSK. Might as well be a musk single note for all I know. I try desperately to remember why this was on my wishlist, as I don't have any notes handy and oh god it's on my fingers Wet: Oh, there's woods! Dark, warm, woody and musky, with a distant background of incense. Now I think I know why I wanted to try it, though it still seems a bit darker than I like. Very evocative of the name though, it's quite wolf-like and a bit angry. Dry: I got distracted by a game for an hour, and at some point in that hour the amber woke up and started working its magic. It acts as an enchanted collar on the wolf, taming its wildness and anger and making it sweet and cuddly. So much for raw, untamable power! This scent has morphed from good to gorgeous, and though I thought it had been fading it's holding steady. I keep catching whiffs of it for hours. This is overall fairly gender neutral, masculine-leaning while wet but almost feminine once the amber kicks in and sweetens it up. Use caution if you're prone to amping red musk, it's pretty aggressive here.

Coffee and junk food room service: a fluffy coffee scent, all pillowy vanilla, caramel, and roasted beans. This opens up like an overly-sweet coffee drink, the kind that's more a dessert that had some coffee spilled on it--I feel like I drank something very similar to this when I was in my teens and didn't really understand coffee. So much caramel and vanilla, so little coffee. And it's STRONG. Fortunately it starts to die down within 10 minutes, and settles into a somewhat classier sort of coffee, with marshmallow foam and a dusting of cinnamon and nutmeg. It's still sweet but not so tooth-rottingly. I put this on at night and it stuck with me until the next day, though one wrist ended up with more of the cinnamon and nutmeg than the other for some reason. I wish the coffee wasn't so elusive, it's still more of the foam than anything. I'm quickly getting the feeling that I'll need to turn to a SN if I want to smell coffee as it really doesn't like to stand out when it's with friends. It may not be super coffee-y, but this is still a very yummy scent.

In the bottle: dark fruit, wine, incense Wet: The fruit/wine (I want to say a plum wine because of the floral tinge, but I'm also not familiar with lotus and that certainly could be the source of the floral) remains prominent, but is joined by powdery resin with the incense in the background. The wine isn't boozy at all. I get more myrrh than amber. It has a very regal vibe to it. Dry: The wine begins to back off and let the resins and spices take charge. Dry, dusty, delicate but dangerous, like quicksand. Despite having decent throw wet, it becomes a skin scent rather quickly. Lovely scent, one I will probably reach for when I need a hit of confidence. Glad I grabbed this bottle from Etsy!

Count me among those who couldn't resist giving this a try straight out of the mailbox! I questioned myself before, during, and after purchasing it because I didn't get along with regular Snake Oil, so why did I think this would be any different? But it turns out my gut instinct (and FOMO) were right on the money because this is, already, absolutely amazing. In the bottle: Oh heck yes I made the right choice. I can smell that lovely Snake Oil blend, the way it smells before it turns to tire rubber and cigarettes on me, and the honey and the Dragon's Blood are right up in its business. I think the patch must be hiding in the Snake Oil. Wet: Ah, there's the patch. Woody patch, subtle enough that my mom mistook it for sandalwood when I forced her to sniff my wrist. The Snake Oil isn't turning on me at all, the honey is rounding off its sharp rough edges into a lacquered smoothness and the dragon's blood is giving it a lovely brightness. I can barely tear my nose away from my wrist. This is a rich garnet color to me. Dry: I only put on the barest minimum to avoid reeking of perfume during dinner, but at 30 minutes in my skin hasn't eaten it yet, for which I am thankful. The Snake Oil is fighting for dominance, but continues to be held in check by the dragon's blood. My skin finally found the vanilla in the SO base and it's blending beautifully with the honey to add a sweetness that makes it almost like Vanilla Coke. This is good, good, good. I can't speak to the throw with how little I applied, but I'm definitely gonna be tempted to slather this bad boy. I almost wish I'd grabbed a second bottle, but with how limited it is I'm glad for that bottle to have found its way to one more person who can share in this blessed mistake. Update: it's been a week and some change and the patchouli is starting to become more prominent in the bottle. Hasn't changed on my skin though, but I do tend to eat patch. It has a pretty average wear length, so I'm REALLY regretting not grabbing that second bottle because I just want to smell like this all the time. This is the first scent I've found myself actively craving when I'm not wearing it. Update 2: A couple months on, this is one of those blends where a little goes a loooong way. No need to slather, you'll smell this with just a dab! The patchouli continues to settle into the blend, lending it a gentle bite without being super in-your-face. Update 3: Nearly a year later, the DBR has really started to shine. It's loosened its grip on the Snake Oil and they've become fast friends, though I think the honey hasn't faired so well in the process. It's becoming a more aggressive blend, very dragon-y and a hint musky.

In the imp: Fruity! I received an imp of this in a welcoming swap and when I sniffed it I wondered why it wasn't on my list of things to try. I looked it up and saw it was because there's rose listed in the notes, and I automatically dismissed anything with rose. Still, I trusted my swap partner's judgment, so I put it aside to try on a day where I was feeling brave. Today is that day. Sniffing more carefully this time I can smell the peach blossom. Wet: Fruity aquatic, and then... there's the rose. Everything gets smothered by the rose. Sigh. On the upside, I only really smell the rose if my wrist is up to my nose; my skin seems sympathetic and is throwing the pom more than anything. Dry: A very generic perfume along the lines of plug-in air freshener. No thanks. Something like this without the rose would probably be a winner on me, but not this one specifically. Still glad to have tried it, especially since I can now add pomegranate to the short list of scents I enjoy that my skin doesn't immediately devour.

This is quite spice-rack on me at first, heavy on the cinnamon/cassia and clove. Wet it's incredibly sharp and dry, and reminds me very strongly of my nana who loved to bake, her hugs smelled like this. Once it has an hour or so to dry and settle the sandalwood comes out, along with maybe (just maybe) a hint of tea, but the tea generally doesn't make itself known. It's just on the edge of chai, if only the tea would come out! But I'm not too disappointed since tea is unpredictable on me. Medium throw at first, dies down after an hour but I think it's better that way, if it kept up the intensity any longer I'd start worrying I smelled like a spice rack fell on me rather than something I'm deliberately choosing to smell like. Very nice for occasional use.

This evokes the feeling of my mother's meditation group holding a session in her friend's garden shortly after they'd done a lot of work in it. Dirt, incense and spices, and someone's floral perfume. An interesting combination, but morphs on me between blasting the floral and throwing nothing at all. I can think of a great number of my mom's friends who would wear this well (though appropriately for the name, several have passed at this point), but not me. I definitely love the Lab's dirt note now though, and will be seeking out more blends with it.

Caveat: this imp may be really old, the label is starting to yellow and there's only a few applications' worth in it. It's a soft clover honey color rather than dark though. In the imp: I get the impression of dusty, sun-warmed fur. Wet: This is a very dry scent, the spices dominating over the amber at first. Cinnamon/cassia and cardamom mostly. I'd color this tan rather than golden. There's a hint of sweetness. Despite using more than I typically would to test a scent, there is basically no throw to speak of. Dry: 10 minutes after application the sweetness is developing into vanilla, and the spices are dying down to let the amber shine. At 30 minutes it's a gently-spiced vanilla amber. Still no throw, and worse, it's getting fainter. It's still there after an hour, but only barely, and the amber has retreated behind the spices again. I might order a fresh imp because I'm an amber junkie and am hoping my experience is just due to aging, but this test hasn't convinced me it's worth investing in a bottle. I'd have to commit to making it my daily scent and get through it in a year, and I don't love it enough for that. 2022 update: while I never did make good on that fresh imp promise, I did end up with another (more full) secondhand imp and four years of perfume experience have yielded a little bit more insight into things. I am still not getting nearly as much amber as I would like from it unfortunately, with spices being more dominant at first and then a sharp, clean musk a few hours into the drydown that I'm not very enamored with. I've also tried many, many more of BPAL's ambers in the interim and this one just unfortunately does come up short despite how desperately I want it to work. Can't say I didn't try though. Unless they reformulate The Lion with a more supercharged amber note, it's not the big cat for me.

2017 version. I really don't have a lot to say about this, as it's not particularly complex. I'm one of those folks who's particularly sensitive to the taste of red dye, so I've always hated red velvet. On my skin it's a creamy peppermint frosting with traces of cake, but quickly goes bitter the same way red dye tastes. I was almost glad it didn't have much staying power. I obtained an aromatherapy locket today and thought I'd give it a try in there since it's been a bad head day and thought the mint might help. It hasn't gotten bitter yet, so I guess it's just my skin being a jerk.

It could be just me, but Shub Niggurath on the drydown smells very much like Dear John but without the tobacco/vetivert that can make it a bit too smoky.

I managed somehow to end up with two imps of this from different sources, one fresh from the Lab and one of unknown age from a swap. I love doing comparisons of things so of course I had to test them against each other. In the imp: I received the unknown-aged one first, and when I gave it a sniff all I could detect was a vague sourness. It made me a bit reluctant to sniff the fresh one when it arrived, but it turned out to be rather different: the sourness was distinctly lemony, and I could smell the aloe as well. Wet: The unknown-aged oil is a well-blended mix of scents, none of them standing out more than the other, the sourness entirely absent. Very mild throw, but nice. (It also never changes from here on out, so it will be omitted from the rest of the review until relevant again.) The fresh one, on the other hand, comes out of the gate with a punch of LEMON, to the point of smelling like cleaning solution. I am tempted to scrub it, but I'm lazy so nah. Dry: Within 15 minutes that lemon cleaner smell has calmed down and let the other notes join the party. The overall scent I get is lemon Snapple iced tea, watered down a bit to be less syrupy sweet, with a background of white musk and aloe keeping it fresh and chilled. A perfect summer drink. Very nice, I can see why this is a popular scent. Stronger throw than the aged one. 3 Hours On: Uh.... it's gone entirely. Well, the fresh one at least. The aged one is still there, still the same, just ever so slightly lighter now. 4 Hours On: Why did the lemon come back?? The lemon came back with some of the musk. It's barely there, but it's there. I am frustrated. I hate the opening of fresh Embalming Fluid, and I hate that it flakes out after a couple hours, but that middle part is lovely. The aged oil is a skin scent the entire time, with basically no throw to speak of, but it lasts and lasts. I was hoping I could pass one of these along, but figuring out which one is proving a challenge. I'll have to run more tests once the weather warms up and becomes more suitable for this sort of scent.

I was over the moon to find a decant of this on ebay paired up with some other decants I wanted to try, and it did not disappoint! In the imp: intensely sweet apple-pie filling and cheesecake. So delicious it makes me want to drink it. Wet: More apple than cheesecake. A hint of spices, but only a hint. A bit more would have been nice. Dry: The cheesecake trades places with the apple. With my nose against my skin I can smell that "dusty wood" note someone else mentioned. I suspect that's the cinnamon keeping the rest of the scent from running away, but not doing a whole lot of anything on its own as it's not in the air around me at all. I guess the cinnamon did not age well, though the rest of it definitely did. Better throw than I would have expected, and my skin is being very kind about not eating it too fast. This is the first Beaver Moon I've had a chance to try, and I can't wait to try more!

In the imp: my mom sniffed this before I could, and proclaimed "I don't like this, it smells like perfume." It definitely has an element of department-store perfume, a trace of aquatic cologne. Not anything I'm opposed to, but not what I expected either. Lacking in herbs. Wet: This is bright green, sharp and clear like a flawless peridot. The mosses and tea dominate, but it has a grassy aura to it and is grounded by a sweet hint of fig that keeps it from going bitter. It's a very April/May scent, verdant but still a bit chilly. I expected an apothecary shop to be warm and a bit stuffy, but this one has installed a/c to make sure the herbs don't rot, and everything is kept immaculately clean. Dry: The owner of the shop has gone missing. The a/c broke down and some of the herbs are beginning to rot; I think that's the ginger, and maybe the tea turning weird on me (tea tends to be very hit-or-miss). Fresh ingredients haven't been stocked in awhile, not much scent remains. Moss coats the tables and counters, making an attempt to reclaim the shop for nature. My skin really doesn't seem interested in holding onto the scent for more than an hour (the Sweet Potato Musk I put on this morning is already overpowering it), but it's fairly pleasant and more suitable for spring than most of what I've tried in my collection. I'll hold onto the imp and see if I can't find a way to make it last longer.

In the imp: SWEET POTATO, so much so that I was reluctant to try it as I'm not generally a fan of sweet potatoes aside from the occasional fries. But I've tried enough BPAL now that I know what I smell in the imp isn't always what I smell on my skin, plus it WAS a gift (and a full-to-the-brim gift at that). Wet: The most decadent bowl of oatmeal. It's all oats and sugar and spice, warm and fresh and waiting to be devoured. In the background I can detect just a trace of that sweet potato, not enough to put me off. Perhaps aging has tamed it? The throw is intense, but dies down after a minute. Dry: The musk has kicked in, pulling it away from the foodie spectrum so that I feel less like I'd spilled my breakfast on myself. Delicately-spiced musk. It's mostly a skin scent, but I still catch occasional whiffs 6 hours later when my skin normally has obliterated a scent. Ridiculously cozy and comforting, perfect for wearing while curled up under a blanket. This is the last scent I would have expected to help me sleep, but it relaxes me like nothing I've tried before. I will treasure this decant and cross my fingers I can track down a full bottle! 2019 release edit: This one seems a bit more spice-heavy than my decant, but I'm not sure yet whether that's due to the decant having 4-5 years to mellow out. It's still delicious though, and I'm just glad to know it'll be easier to come by now!

I pried open my fresh (received from the Lab last week) imp just to give it a sniff, having planned to age it first since it's the Thing You Do With Snake Oil, and somehow ended up holding the wand between my fingers with oil dripping down one. Guess I'm gonna find out what it's like fresh on me! My initial reaction, straight from the vial, is: I recognize this smell. If you've been to Tucson for the gem & mineral shows in February, this is what half the international vendors' rooms smell like. It has a very particular vibe, exotic and enticing. Once spread out onto my skin I can only describe it as a very dry smell that almost (but not quite) makes me want to sneeze. On my fingertips where the oil was most concentrated there's just the slightest whiff of tire rubber, like a hardware store. On my forearms where I rubbed the excess, my skin is already eagerly amping the vanilla. It's mostly a smoky (not smoked) vanilla there, sort of like a chain smoker eating vanilla ice cream. It's a mood-conflicting smell as I hate cigarette smoke and love vanilla ice cream. Holding my fingers against the opposite arm I can get a more even mix of scents, which helps block out the smoke but not the rubber. Fresh Snake Oil is certainly not for me. However, I will age the rest of this imp and try again in the future. Hopefully that rubber note and the smoke mellow out, it could be a real winner for me if it does. 1-month Update: most of the cigarette smoke has aged out already, and the rubber is less prominent. I aaaalmost get that Play-Doh smell, but not quite. It's overall less intense, more rounded and comfortable. I'm really excited to see how it continues to age.