yellowrose

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

For those of you who may not have read one of my reviews before, I have to preface it with the standard disclaimer: jasmine + my skin = super jasmine. And for that reason, I'm sniffing this in the bottle.

 

In the bottle: Jasmine. Jasmine. Jasmine. Wow. Those of you who love jasmine willl need to give this a try! There are hints of something deeper, but without a swipe across the skin, I can't pick it out and it would surely get eaten by my skin.

 

Safe travels little imp!

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

I can't help but preface this review with an anecdote. Where I grew up, it was common that, when someone was acting too good for everyone else, others would make the observation "Who does she think she is? The Queen of Sheba?"

 

And with that, I'll admit I was intrigued to see if this scent matched the life-long impression of the Queen as a haughty bitch with airs.

 

She doesn't.

 

In the bottle and wet: Jergens lotion (cherry-almond) and Almond Roca.

 

As it dries, the only connection I keep making is Almond Roca. None of the spices mentioned seem to come through, but the description does say "whisper."

 

It's a nicely balanced scent, but as a not big fan of almond-honey, it's a pass.

 

Safe travels wandering imp!

This decanted imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

In the bottle: a thick, viscous and black-orange fluid. It's the most unusally colored BPAL I've seen to date. Smells like cherries.

 

Wet: Earthy musk with a hint of … what? Eucalpytus? VERY potent. VERY assertive, even after washing hands. Becomes more musky-myrrh with bursts of patchouli.

 

I'm really glad to have had the opportunity to try a scent that was otherwise not on my radar, but, sadly, it's not for me.

 

Safe travels wandering imp!

Another imp that's circulating as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

Rose. Rose Rose! Oooh. I love the dark notes. This is sort of a headshop rose. Gotta have more! An absolutely different rose. It even made me go back to sniff LitA!

 

Oops. Spoke too soon. It vanishes to nothingness with a whisp of ye olde headshoppe. That is, the ROSE vanishes. The incensy smell actually lasted and intensified a bit hours after posting this. The scent was pleasant, but there were no rose notes ... unless you count the London wafting from the other wrist. Hmmm ... Now that might be a future science experiment.

 

Safe travels wandering imp!

 

Edited for clarity.

Another imp that's touring as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

Preconceptions: LOVE Beth's roses!

 

In the bottle: plastic and green-y rose. Hmmmm.

 

Wet: Rose.

 

Drying: Rose with a hint of plastic and some green-y component. Not at all like the green of Black Cat, but a green nonetheless.

 

Lovely, as are all of Beth's rose scents, but I've too many at this point to add another. And even they get short shrift for trying to use them all and the other BPAL scents I love.

 

Happy travels imp! Please rest assured that you can come back and hang your plastic cap here anytime.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

In the interest of time and getting these imps on to the next in line, I'm sniffing before applying.

 

In the bottle: spicy blend with cinnamon. Can't apply to skin to test the efficacy of this oil because of the havoc cinnamon oil typically wreaks on my skin. Oh well.

 

It's a vigourous, balanced spicy. I think a lot of the cinnamon-lovers on the board will want to try this.

 

Safe travels wandering imp!

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Because of time constraints (and being inundated with imps... impundated, I suppose), sniffing in the bottle is a must before applying.

 

In the bottle: Red Hots. Cinnamon Red Hots. Cinnamon does NOT make my skin happy. It causes red, angry welts, therefore I'm passing on this. A dribble got on my finger and even 15 minutes later, it still smells like a box of fresh Red Hots, but it's dissipating.

 

Safe travels wandering imp!

Imp circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

To be fair, I'm behind on testing, so I'm sniffing to see which imps get applied to skin. The Marquise is sadly not one of them.

 

In the bottle: Jasmine, heavy and floral with a pungent hint of fruit. By now anyone who's read any reviews of mine regarding scents with jasmine notes or read my profile knows what happens to any blend containing jasmine. Class? Anybody? Yup, my body chemistry amps jasmine such that it trumps anything else in the blend. Beats the other notes into submission actually.

 

Happy travels wandering imp!

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Preconception: Notes on this = doom. Citrus typicallly = lemon. Jasmine gets amped by my body chemistry. Not good.

 

Wet: Jasmine-Lavendar-Lemon ick.

 

Drying: Fades almost immediately to a light burning plastic smell.

 

In summary: Uh, no.

This decanted imp is circulating as part of the General Catalouge Swap.

 

Preconceptions: Amber. Le sigh. Love it. Not great luck with Beth's thus far. They all seem to turn powdery on me. Cross fingers!

 

Wet: Mmmmmmmmmmm! Amber with a hint of dry grass.

 

Drying: Vanishes pretty fast which means slathering is called for.

Becomes golden floral. Not at ALL like the amber blend (roll on) from another company I have and enjoy. Doesn’t stick around. Doesn’t stay truly amber beyond 15 minutes. Gets a bit earthier as it dries. Then fades.

 

In summary: Disappointing.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

No preconceptions.

 

Strong cloying scent, sniffed only.

 

The tobacco and sweetness are similar to The Red Lantern, but there is a note that is sweeter yet. What is it? The white wine?

 

If I had more time and inclination, this might be a room scent. It does stick around. I got a bit on my fingers and had to keep sniffing. So perhaps when my bottle of The Red Lantern is no more (sniff! ), this might be a decent substitute. These are both sweet, but Perversion is not quite as sweet. Hmm ... it would be fair to say it is a smidge more earthy. It's growing on me!

This imp is traveling as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Initial Reaction: Cinnamon = not on skin. Ever.

 

Sniffed in bottle: Sniffed only because of the reaction cinnamon creates on my skin. Whoa! Patchouli takes this over the top from what I expected. Very little cinnamon scent.

This decant is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

And my review vanished. ?!?!?

 

The scent is Aveda Shampure straight from the bottle. Based on my other experience with Panacea blends, I became convinced these were not meant as skin scents. And this bears that out. It is also the third of three Panacea scents that smells like Aveda Shampure.

 

Now, the smell of this particular shampoo isn't bad, but if you are using an oil for aromatherapeutic purposes do you want it to remind you of a hair product?

This decant is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Wearing this on a day when I could use a little centering.

 

Wet: This is odd. Olives? Green olives?

 

Drying: Still with the olives, but there is also a hint of smokiness. Very odd. My friend likes it. As it gets even drier, there is a change it makes to ... Aveda Shampure. The other Panacea I tried did this too. What's the deal?

 

Conclusion: perhaps worth trying again for those days when centering is need, but not necessarily for use on the skin.

This decant is circulating as part of the General Catalog Swap.

 

Preconceptions: cannot WAIT to try this, especially after all the Josie-related hubbub.

 

Wet: Citrus with undercurrents of Aveda Shampure.

 

Drying: What? Aveda Shampure.

 

I suspect that this should be a room scent only and not used on skin. Not what I expected.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap. Actually, this is a decant, if anyone was wondering.

In the bottle: piney forest.

Wet: Almost exclusively pine with hints of juniper.

Drying: Morphs while drying into a scents that's kissing cousin to Tombstone. I mean, KISSING cousin. Not so much amber ever comes forward.

Conclusion: Love the Tombstone and plan to stick with it.

This imp is making its rounds via the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Scared by the grass notes (allergies), but trying it anyway. Don't know how to describe it other than to say it reminds me of a quad of crème scents I had when I was a teenager. VERY much so. Not much lasting power, but gets sharpish before fading.

This imp is being circulated as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

In the bottle: green-tinged oil with sharp medicinal smell.

 

This is one scent I'm not eager to try on my skin, so I'm sniffing it from the bottle only. It is very medicinal-herby and recalls long nights spent trying to breathe with Vicks Vap-o-Rub smeared everywhere. Not for me.

This imp is circulating thanks to the General Catalogue swap.

 

No preconceptions.

 

In the bottle: sweet, sweet, sweet.

 

Wet: generic potpourri.

 

Drying: still generic potpourri. None of the notes listed is as described, at least on me.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Rose and carnation!? How did this escape my notice? Probably thanks to my satisfaction with Carnivale (carnation) and a host of other rose scents.

 

In the bottle and wet: rose and carnation. Lovely and sweet.

 

Drying: Dries to almost all rose, but still a nice rose. Not a hint of tea.

 

Although I have plenty of carnation and rose scents, I might have to get more of this!

 

 

 

How this posted without user intervention I shall never know.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Exceedingly dark. Opted simply to smell this in the vial because Incantation is so very pungent and strong (and there are lots of imps yet to be smelled). Very earthy-green and bitterly dark. Masculine and probably associating that with the vetiver.

 

Interesting, but a bit fearful of what reaction the lemon might cause in contact with the skin. Typically, this is a rash. Better to avoid it. Thankful to have had the opportunity to have smelled this.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Bitter, bitter floral in the vial. Opted simply to smell this is the vial because it promises to be overwhelmingly strong. Got a bit on my fingers from opening the vial.

 

Whoa. Lots of frangiapani and jasmine. We all know what happens to jasmine with my skin chemisty. Class? That's right. It amps it up to the point that nothing else can be smelled.

 

Even 'tho the trace of Delight on my fingers has some hints of rose and other floral, it's almost exclusively jasmine not 10 minutes in ...oh well.

 

Not so delightful for me, but it might be for you.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue circular swap.

 

This is one I've wanted to try but have been fence-sitting about. I have mixed emotions because of the lemon, which typically irritates my skin, especially when applied to the tender inside wrist.

 

Wet: Sandalwood, orris and jasmine. Promising. Oops! Here comes the jasmine amp.

 

Yup. Jasmine and nothing but jasmine. Time to get it off my skin.

 

 

 

edited for clarity

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue circular swap.

 

One scent I'm looking forward to trying because of the bergamot.

 

In the bottle: whoa citrus! Very masculine clean and all over my keyboard. (Leaky imp.) Sure this isn't Follow Me Boy? Because if he were wearing this, I would! Very much bergamot and lavender with inexplicable clean citrus. Wow!

 

After the experience with the wild Wilde, it would be a minute before I'd follow someone. It's a pretty pungent and lasting scent. Not a bad thing, but too much of a good thing.

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Preconceptions: I loves me some pear. Booze ... eh. Not typically a winner.

 

Wet: heavy on the plumeria, which settles down quickly. Innocent and sweet.

 

Drying: it has that booze note that reminds me of Spencer's Gifts. Where's the pear?