Ondine

This seems to have a heavy cedar or cedar-like note on me--maybe that's the ebony?--coupled with some thick incense. Not bad, but not really my thing either. A very thick oil, too--it makes my wrist somewhat tacky/sticky.

Oh SAD This smelled beautiful in the imp, all red musk-y and patchouli-y and dark and deep. Just beautiful. Then I put it on and was rewarded with that red musk and thought, "Yes, this is good." But then the leather came out with a vengeance and threatened to take over everything else. It pushed its way to the forefront, saying "OH HAI I AM LEATHURRRRR AND I AM HERE TO STAY." And it was the kind of leather that is in Quincey Morris and Brom Bones, the kind that reminds me of a hot leather jacket on an Arizona summer afternoon, and makes me want to heave. Man! This could have been awesome on me had leather not decided to dominate.

This smells like cola syrup on me. Sexy! (No, really!)

When I was young, I used to stay over at my aunt's house sometimes while my parents worked. My aunt had traveled the world and had all sorts of interesting treasures at her house. She had a little perfume coffret and I can't recall what scents were in it at all, but one of them reminds me incredibly of The Wild Men of Jezirat al Tennyn. As soon as I put it on, it was an immediate olfactory memory of sitting in my aunt's house and smelling her perfumes. Sadly, this scent fades fairly rapidly on me, but I do really enjoy it while it's fresh and potent.

Wow, this is *completely* different than the prototype I sniffed and didn't like (I smelled a lot more vetiver in that one). And I can tell you exactly what this smells like on me: LUSH's Icon fragrance. Which I love, and I'm kind of surprised I'm getting out of this, but it's exact. The components of LUSH Icon are myrrh resinoid, orange blossom absolute, bergamot oil, sandalwood oil, mandarin oil, and a bunch of things I'm not familiar with (Citral, Geraniol, Benzyl Benzoate, Farnesol, Limonene). I feel like I'm really picking up on potential myrrh and bergamot in Sunbird with the bits of citrus others are picking up on, too. This is a beautiful blend, glad I got it and (obvs.) it will be awesome to layer under my Icon fragrance

This is another one of the really unique scents BPAL has put out. Unlike many of the other Box of Chocolates, which were either really sweet and syrupy or just odd on me (blue cheese?), Dark Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel is like a chocolate bar I once had that had curry in it, curry and coconut. Now I'm not getting any coconut in this, but the overall effect is much like that candy bar: chocolate with curry spices. It sounds gross but it really works beautifully on!

I really didn't get the white chocolate note in here like I did in some of the other Box of Chocolates scents. Instead, this one is pretty much Faith on me: sugary violets. Pretty, but on me the similarity to Faith is strong enough that I can just keep that bottle instead.

I get the cedar most of all in this blend. It was one of those that I didn't expect to like but then really fell in love with. The rose in the background tempers the cedar so I don't smell like a closet. It's one of the more unique BPAL blends I've smelled, to be honest.

This is my go-to incense blend. I love sandalwood and I love cedar, so Chintamani-Dhupa and I get along quite well. It's not fantastic in terms of throw but it's okay because it seems befitting an incense blend--softly wafting about instead of being cloying and heavy.

This was exactly what I had wanted Hexennacht to smell like on me. Hex 05 was far too manly for me and Hex 08 was a shrieking pine note. The Illustrated Woman is just enough pine pitch mixed with vanilla/musk to temper it so that it is noticeable (not really subtle, per se) but not bang-you-over-the-head PINNNNNE. It's a definite fall scent to me.

Weird. I have a bottle of Inez, unknown purchase date, that smells like Underpants Lite on me. Just like MonsterBait: Underpants, but it fades quickly and is a little lighter. I also have a decant that smells heavily of carnations and spice. Completely different than my bottle. I wonder if it's aging or batch variations? Both are beautiful, though I love the bottle version more.

I reallllly get coconut most of all on this one, which is lovely since I love coconut! I think this one may be bottle worthy. I'm not picking up much of anything else besides coconut and vanilla.

Not that my review is going to add much different, but here goes: Butterscotch Hard butterscotch disk candies. Which is fine by me as those are some of my favorite candies! Only wish the throw and wear length were longer, as this fades quickly on me.

This is for the 2007 (reissued at Cobwebs III) version. I originally had a bottle of this and something about it didn't work for me at first. Too heavy or something, I don't know, and I sold my bottle. Well, later I regretted it and got another bottle. This is better than I remember. The red musk is really heavy but not cloying and it reminds me of Snake Charmer. Moral of the story for me: Don't sell a bottle until I've tried it throughout a whole year!

Like a nice glass of Bailey's Irish Creme. Backup bottle worthy!

I can only smell the blueberry in this one if I'm not trying to ... does that make sense? If I put my nose up to my wrist, it just smells vaguely perfumey, maybe that little hint of spice other reviews mentioned. But if I ignore my wrist, sometimes a waft of blueberry will hit me. Nice, but I think I want something more in-your-face blueberry.

On immediate application, there is a blast of banana, true banana and not Laffy Taffy or candy. Sadly, it burns off rapidly and leaves a floral perfume behind. Like I was hacking through the banana forest wearing cologne and only once in a while smelled bananas.

Like Bah without the whiskey note that made that scent slightly bitter. I can also definitely pick up on the Egg Nog aspect of it. So, Bah plus Egg Nog minus whiskey! Unfortunately very light and fleeting on my skin, much like Egg Nog 2007. Pretty, but I think I will stick to Bah for my go-to coffee scent.

Thank you to the labbie whose name I do not know who found two bottles of Severin for me to purchase at Convergence! Severin is what I wanted Dorian to be: Sweet, light tea. I don't get the leather in this really at all. Just sweet tea, but not like Southern sweet tea, more like you put a lot of sugar in your cup of hot brewed tea then let it cool down. Very little lasting strength on me but it's pretty enough to look past that and re-apply!

I certainly get the sweetish edge to it, and it's not so much desert (sandy) to me as deserted parking lot; maybe that's the "stones" part coming through. Not really for me, but those who like sun-baked scents with a touch of floral would probably enjoy this.

I definitely caught the violet and the mint, and they're blended well and play well together. The mint is never overwhelming and it's a floral violet rather than the sweet candied violet of something like Faith or White Chocolate and Sugared Violets. Rather than sugary, it smells like the lingering perfume of an old-fashioned woman getting ready for the evening. Bonus: I had my husband sniff my hand after I'd applied this and he simply said "It's a keeper!"

Yes, definitely reminiscent of Milk Moon 2007 to me minus the fruits and with a sort of fresh herbal scent. Milking a cow out in the green pasture perhaps? It's not one I'd slather all over me, but it's certainly intriguing and I'm glad I picked up the bottle. It seems to me it'd be a good one to layer underneath a super-sweet chocolate scent like Bliss.

Floral, but with an aquatic/water type note lurking lightly underneath it, and I can't do water notes. Very fresh feeling and befitting a bridge setting.

It smelled a lot like Gingerbread Poppet 2005 on me: spicy, sweet, but with a little extra syrupyness on it. Sort of like GB Poppet was a cake and you poured an extra sugar glaze on top. Unlike Shub, which to me is a very "hot" ginger, this is sweet ginger--more like bakery ginger. Very pretty!

My notes on this one were: "Vetiver!!!!" (Yes, with many exclamation points.) If you like vetiver, this might be the blend for you. If you don't want what was essentially a single-note vetiver to me, then ... this is not the blend you're looking for.