torischroeder9

In the imp: Wine and something that comes across as softly and sweetly grassy. 

On my skin:  

Wet, it's red wine that's almost vinegar. As it dries, I detect a slight powdery note that's likely myrrh but might be amber or black musk. The red wine has also receded, and a note like lemongrass has emerged. As it warms and develops on my skin, I get more of a sweet lemony powder; it's not foody, more resinous. 

An hour in, and it's been fairly stable lemony black powder for the last half of it, so I'm ready to consider that this one isn't going to be a morpher on me. 

It's a fine scent, especially if lemon is your thing (it's not mine), but not spectacular enough on me to make me reach for it again. Glad I tried it, but this one's off to swaps. 

Imp purchased from a forumite, date stamped March 12, 2016. 

In the imp: Yummy spices -- clove, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, peppercorn. They're not overwhelming on my nose, so there must be some sweetness tempering them -- tea or tobacco or both -- but they're very much in the background right now. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's cinnamon, clove, pepper, and sweetness. I actually have a tea blend (of drinking tea, not perfume) that smells like this, so I can easily imagine the tea is there, but that I'm just not picking it out. It stays very consistent from the first drydown throughout its wear, a wonderful, beautiful spice. I only worry that if I applied it to my breastbone (my go-to spot for actually wearing perfume; I'm testing on my inner elbow), it might be too potent for actual wear in any kind of indoor environment. It's a very strong scent on me, with a lot of throw. 

In the imp: Red musk, skin musk, and tobacco. 

On my skin:

Wet, the red musk takes a back seat, and it's skin musk and tobacco. As it dries, the tobacco becomes the blend's strongest note. Given time to warm and develop, a bit of a... funk... emerges, like a touch of rotting vegetation. Hemlock accord, maybe?

An hour in and, true to its form, tobacco amps on me. There's a bit of musk, keeping the scent from going straight to my sinuses, but this is all tobacco's game right now. 

After another thirty minutes of all tobacco, I ended up washing this off. I'm not super fond of tobacco, and I'm a little sad that the red musk couldn't overcome it on me. 

In the imp: Something floral or lightly citrus at first, then a soft not-smokey incense. 

On my skin:

Wet, I get the same floral or citrus note. As it dries, I get a sugared incense smell. (It's similar in feeling, though not exactly in scent, to the "sugared clove" in Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe.) As it warms and develops, I get something that alternately smells a bit like soft, creamy floral and lightly resinous frankincense. 

The throw is low on me, but it could possibly be a very nice resinous scent for warmer weather. I don't believe I have anything that ticks the "summer incense scent" box. 

If this is a summoning from the Gods of Madness and Decay, you can count me in. 

In the imp: It smells faintly of dill pickles. (You heard me.)

On my skin:

Wet, it's dill pickles and amber. As it dries, I get amber and... stinky socks? At this point, I cannot pick out any individual notes besides amber. 

Eventually, sock stink dissipates, and I can make out currant under the amber. 

But by this point, the whole scent is starting to go. 

Imp purchased from a forumite, date stamped March 12, 2016. 

In the imp: Vanilla, apricot, ginger, and jasmine, unfolding in that order. 

On my skin: 

Wet, the ginger rises to the surface of the scent first. It's a light ginger, bright and softly spicy. Then the apricot comes and sweetens it up, and the combination is a lovely phase in the scent. The vanilla rounds out the scent, keeping everything soft. 

After a while, the jasmine does come out to play, but it does behave itself, playing second fiddle to the ginger and not overtaking the apricot and vanilla entirely. 

The ginger floral gives this a bit of a similar vibe to Vixen on me. But where Vixen's patchouli makes the scent very earthy, Siren is a much lighter, airier ginger floral blend. 

Imp purchased from a forumite, date stamped December 13, 2014. 

In the imp: Palmarosa with a grounding note that might be the sandalwood, patchouli, or both. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's initially all palmarosa. As it dries and develops, the sandalwood and the patchouli -- both identifiable -- come out a little more. 

Then, I go and do some chores around the house, lose a bit track of time, and only get to sniffing my arm an hour and a half later. Rose. All rose. 

Like so many BPAL blends that contain rose -- on me, it's a nice rose, but it's all rose. 

Imp purchased from a forumite, date stamped March 12, 2016. 

In the imp: Vanilla, honey, vetiver, and wine. The overall impression is darkly sweet. 

On my skin:

Wet, this is completely wine. As it dries, both the honey and the vetiver creep out. At this point, the throw is mostly honey wine while the skin scent holds most of the vetiver. Gradually, the vetiver strengthens until it's the dominant note. At this point, the scent is pretty much vetiver and wine on me. I get just the barest hint of honey, clove, and vanilla in the background -- when that's the side of the blend I wanted most. 

It actually makes my eyes water every time I put my nose to my skin and sniff. 

Imp from a forumite, date stamped March 12, 2016. 

In the imp: Peach wine over amber, with a trace of myrtle. 

On my skin:

Luscious, juicy peach -- not peach-scented anything, not canned peaches, but fresh, ripe peach flesh. As it dries, I get the barest hints of wine and myrtle. Once it settles and develops on my skin, the amber comes out a bit, giving a soft grounding and backing to the peach. 

Sadly, after that, it begins to fade rather dramatically. It was a light scent on me to begin with, but after about an hour, it becomes only barely detectable at skin level. 

But it's beautiful while it lasts.  

Tester decant. It is possible that the amount of oil I'm testing may lead to inaccuracy in my review. But maybe not.

In the decant: Musky, dusty old house, like a place that isn't opened up for normal daily living. Unused basement, abandoned attic, that sort of stillness and lifelessness.

On my skin:

Something slightly rosey and citrusy, along with musk and wood. The brightness stays through the initial drydown, giving the impression of clean, polished wood in a room that gets aired out regularly. There's a bit of musk, so it's an old room, but the feeling of an abandoned cellar is gone. 

In the imp: Metal, hops, and leather. 

On my skin:

Metal and some kind of gently sweet herb (not the bitterness of hops I'm used to). As it dries, it reminds me of the apple cider note in Dwarven Ale. There is a detectable undercurrent of leather.

Given some time to warm and develop on my skin, I can pick out that the sweet note I'm smelling now has the familiar tang I associate with BPAL metal notes. But at this point, it's kind of like metal and cider and perfume. 

This is... not what I expected from the scent description at all, but definitely in a good way. I don't know that I could quite get away with wearing this as a stand-alone scent... but I don't know that I couldn't , either. 

Imp from a forumite, date stamped March 3, 2012. 

In the imp: Dark greenery and salty, aquatic tears. 

On my skin:

Wet, the salty aquatic quality hits my nose first, followed by what I can clearly identify as vetiver. As it dries down, it becomes salty, aquatic vetiver. The more it stays on, the more it's like a bar of Irish Spring made a nest in a fresh grass stain. Not only is it singularly unlovely on my skin, but the overall combination is just a bit odd to my nose. 

An hour later, and this keeps alternating between soapy grass and grassy soap. Clearly not a match for my skin chemistry. 

Good throw, though. 

Imp purchased from a forumite, date stamped February 16, 2014.

In the imp: Myrrh, ylang ylang, and some sweetness that I can't directly account for from either note. 

On my skin:

Wet, the powdery sweetness of myrrh steps up first. As it dries, it's mostly myrrh, with the faintest tinge of floral ylang ylang across the top. It also very much evokes the concept of flushed skin for me, though there aren't notes I can pick out that are contributing to this. 

For folks for whom O goes powdery, I can see the resemblance with La Petit Mort's myrrh note. On me, however, the myrrh is deeper and more resinous than the amber. Also, where O's honey can be a bit cloying, this is just soft sweetness. 

It's a close skin scent on me, but it's not fading. (My experience with myrrh is that it's fairly long-lived on me.) Definitely trying this again for some all-day wear.

Imp from a forumite date stamped March 12, 2016.

In the imp: Cherry candy and dragon's blood. 

On my skin:

The cherry note tamps down a bit, and it's dragon's blood with a bit of myrrh and clove. As it dries, my skin reddens and tingles, which is probably the clove. I can smell the clove too, spicing up the cherry and dragon's blood. Once it has time to settle and develop on my skin, the myrrh comes out a bit more , cutting some of the cherry's sweetness. 

Ultimately, these notes don't quite mesh well on me. I think if it was just dragon's blood and clove, I could handle it. But the dragon's blood and cherry seem discordant with one another. And the myrrh just doesn't like anyone else in this blend. 

In the imp: Amber and musk first, a touch of rose a second after. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's the same as in the imp. As it dries, the rose comes out as a top note, but the amber and musk are still very prominent. Given some time to develop, the rose does become the main player, but it's still nicely grounded by the amber and musk, which keep it from going heady or soapy on me. 

Ultimately, if I'm going to wear rose, this is the type of rose scent I need. 

Imp purchased from a forumite, dated February 1, 2014.

In the imp: Patchouli in the foreground, sweet benzoin a bit behind. I can make out a touch of the black coconut. 

On my skin: 

Wet,  the benzoin and patchouli reverse ranks, and the bit of black coconut disappears. As it dries, it morphs again. Now the benzoin recedes, so the patchouli becomes dominant, with an underscore of black coconut. My skin chemistry is not doing this combination any favors. It smells like a combination of crayon wax and pencil shavings -- really, almost exactly like when I used to open up the box where I stored colored pencils and crayons as a middle grades child. Once it settles down, I can pick out both the patchouli and black coconut notes very distinctly -- but yes, in effect, they are colored pencils and crayons on my skin. 

In the decant: Snake Oil, leather, sandalwood, and tonka. 

On my skin:

Wet, I get Snake Oil and a considerable amount of sage, with an undercurrent that is either leather or sandalwood (or both). As it dries, the sage recedes a bit until I get Snake Oil plus dry, dusty leather (that's partly the sage's effect), smoothed and mellowed by the tonka. This is legit like Snake Oil hanging out in the Old West. Given some time to warm and develop on my skin, the sage makes a partial comeback, so it's clearly detectable over the leather. 

This is a very dry Snake Oil variant on me, so I'm not sure how much practical wear I'd get out of the scent. However, it is a perfect encapsulation of what a Western Diamondback version of Snake Oil should be. 

2018 version. 

Not gonna lie: I sniffed the outside of the vial, and it smells like a tiny piece of heaven.

In the vial: Honeyed cream -- without the Snake Oil. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's a beautiful creamy sugared honeycomb. My skin also apparently eats it, so I just slathered. My skin definitely feels the pinpricks that happen from slathering Snake Oil spices, but I actually don't smell it yet on my skin. As it dries, the lovely, soft honeycomb continues, but I can't seem to find the Snake Oil. Given some time to warm and develop on my skin, it is building a nice, light sugared honeycomb throw. 

This must smell amazing. Clearly, my skin knows it is good stuff and has eaten it all! 

Source: Decant from a fabulous forumite. 

In the decant: Woods, patchouli, and vetiver, with something lighter dancing across the top. 

On my skin:

Wet, the base is patchouli and woods, with bright apricot peel as the top note. As it settles, it's more woods than patchouli -- and more ebony and ho than cedar. The apricot peel is just barely adding some brightness and a touch of sweetness to the blend. The quality of the apricot peel -- or maybe its combination with the patchouli and woods -- means that I don't get the sticky, syrupy sweetness present in some other apricot blends. It's a much fresher fruity type of scent. 

It's an interesting sort of blend, but I don't think it's for me. 

Source: Decant from a wonderful forumite. 

In the decant: Vanilla, labdanum, and benzoin. 

On my skin: 

Wet, the labdanum dominates. I get a whiff of blackened vanilla and a bit of benzoin. As it dries, the tobacco-laced incense comes out. On me, it is very much like tobacco-laced incense smoke and not like smoking pipe tobacco. There's also lots in the background on this, tamping down the tobacco and keeping it under control on me. I can pick out whiffs of benzoin and labdanum; I can't discern the vanilla, but that doesn't mean it's not working in the background. 

This settles down to a lovely vanilla-and-benzoin-tinged tobacco incense. Tobacco often becomes overwhelming and cloying on me, but it doesn't take over here. Unfortunately, the tobacco note is still more front and center than I prefer (and possibly why this is a scent I scrolled past on the Lab site without loading into my cart). But for tobacco enthusiasts, this one is exquisite.

In the bottle: Incense and smoke with prominent top notes of bergamot and rose. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's incense, bergamot, and rose. As it dries, the incense and the bergamot fade, so rose dominates. Given time to warm and develop on my skin, rose is still the main player, but it's deepened by the incense, smoke, and possibly the musk. 

Hrm. I've actually tried this a couple of other times, and it's smelled richer and more complex on me then. May need to retest at a more amenable skin chemistry occasion. 

In the bottle: Clove is prominent, backed by amber and saffron. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's still mostly clove, with a hit of saffron and a hint of sandalwood. As it dries, the clove is still the most aromatic note, but I can still detect the saffron, and the sandalwood is becoming more prominent. The more it develops on my skin, the more this stays clove-prominent -- but not necessarily clove-dominant. What I mean is that the clove is the most easily detectable note, but the saffron and sandalwood aren't invisible. It's also ever-so-slightly sweet, so the amber's not gone, either. 

On me, this develops into a very nice spiced scent. It is probably the least sweet of all the very clovey scents in my regular rotation (Fledgling Raptor Moon, Sybaris, Ninth Lash, Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe), but I wouldn't say there's anything bitter about the clove, either. 

After a few hours of wear, the amber does become more prominent, so it's a bit sweeter -- but I'd still call it a fairly neutral clove scent. 

In the bottle: Yep, that is honey and red musk. It smells like the first whiff I get of Third Charm, before I notice the patchouli. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's red musk first and honey... wait, no. Right now, this is 100% about the red musk, and it is glorious. As it dries, the honey also makes itself known, and it is also glorious. 

And while it does stay exactly that -- balanced red musk and honey -- and is simply amazing. While I'm wearing it, I forget why I have other perfumes. Of everything I own, it smells closest to Smut -- but this, with a single type of musk and honey and no booze, feels simpler and almost "cleaner" in scent profile. (Not that red musk is a "clean" scent, but the scent profile, while still powerful, has fewer notes swirling around in it.)

(Of course, I have other perfumes because The Infernal Lover will run out.) 

Bottle direct from the Lab via eBay. 

In the bottle: On first whiff, white chocolate with a hint of floral. Further sniffing reveals the floral's complexity as well as the bourbon vanilla. 

On my skin:

Wet, floral and sweetness rush to the top of this blend, though it's backed by the white chocolate. As it dries, this is all about the florals, though they are taking a bit of time sorting themselves out. Also, the white chocolate is still detectable, but it's definitely a close skin scent and a bit of a background player. 

After Pink Moon has time to warm and develop on my skin, I can pick out phlox, tulip, and carnation, along with a bit of honey and the background of white chocolate, now flitting in and out of detectability. By an hour post-application, the white chocolate is gone on me entirely, leaving a honeyed floral blend. 

It might be too sweet and too floral for me to want to wear on a daily basis, but it is very pretty. 

In the imp: Mint leaf, or mint plus leaves. 

On my skin:

Definitely peppermint plus a leaf type of note. As it immediately dries, it goes more into peppermint candy. It actually feels cooling on my skin, like I often get with peppermint scents. After about twenty minutes, it's now just about pure peppermint oil (of the kind I use for aromatherapy). 

Once more than an hour as passed, there's a throw to Nine Mysteries that is lightly floral, but the skin scent is still all cool peppermint. Gradually, the floral does increase. It's hard to pin down since the peppermint is also still quite present, so it's sort of interfering. I don't get anything overly sweet, but it's airy, and almost... resinous? At least, it reminds me of the throw I get from frankincense, even if I can't identify that note in there. 

Now... lavender? And powder? 

At 90 minutes, it's predominantly powder with a little lavender. Any hint of mint is now gone. 

This is strange and not for me.