luxuria

DDLM 2005 This smells like cactus-y florals in the bottle and stays the same on my skin, but some incense and fruit notes come out to play. I smell just the faintest hint of chocolate and I wish more of that would come out. This is nice, but not mind-blowing. I'm going to keep my bottle but I wouldn't order another one.

This smells like slightly boozy apple cider in the bottle! Not like straight-up apple cider, more like...airy spiced cider, if that makes any sense. On my skin, it's still got the cider quality, but add in more of the airiness and some smoke and a touch of woods. It almost smells kind of cologne-ish, but not in a bad way. This is VERY unique, but I like it a lot.

In the bottle: Very sweet, which must be the wine. I smell very autumnal fruits and spices. On my skin: Take out the ultra-sweet wine. It's just the apple and spices now. It smells kind of like potpourri, but it's lovely all the same. I smell just a wee breath of something earthier, that must be the leaves? This is very festive and light, not too sweet but not too bitter. I expected to like this, but I LOVE it! It's absolutely gorgeous. I'm so glad I have something that smells this much like autumn to wear during October before my Halloween order comes

This smells like Siren with a lot of patchouli added on me. Very sweet, almost overripe berry kinda smell tinged with an earthy-woodiness. It doesn't smell particularly sexual to me, this is one of the more "head shop"y BPAL blends I've tried. It's very heady and strong. Not for the faint of heart!

In the imp- deep, spicy incense rounded out by some fruit. On my skin- It smells kinda like mouthwash, or something astringent, but touched with clove. And by clove, I mean CLOVE. However, it quickly morphed into a sort of "bathroom cleaner" smell. Why do fruity-resin scents always do this to me? I was really excited about the CLOVE stage because it's one of my favorite notes, but this just does not play nice with my skin.

Wowza. Cinnamon! Burny sort of cinnamon, too- I've never had a reaction to a lab cinnamon blend before but this is definitely a little unpleasant on the skin when its wet. It's very sweet cinnamon as well, as sweet as Chimera- the difference is that this isn't syrupy-sweet like Chimera is, it's drier. Unfortunately I don't get anything except for a slightly musky cinnamon. The drydown is mostly the "musky" part.

This smells like a clean, light floral in the bottle. On my skin..pure Dove soap. It just dries to fainter and fainter Dove. I'm SO disappointed, I was really looking forward to this if I inhale this too deeply, I really feel like I just took a whiff of powdered soap. It gets stuck in my nose, almost.

In the bottle: spicy but green smelling roses. On my skin: same thing, but the rose fades more and more as this dries down on my skin. What I'm left with is a musky and powdery but still rather light floral perfume with some creamy freshness backing it. I like this but i'm not head-over-heels. A little too floral, especially rose.

Chocolate, fig, and pomegranate in the bottle! Interesting and sweet, and definitely very unique. On my skin the 'honey musk' smells more like just honey. I smell fig the most after that and then the pomegranate but the chocolate pretty much disappeared. The final drydown was faint honey. Nice, but where's the vanilla and tonka? I like this but I'm not as excited with it as I hoped I'd be.

Spicy tobacco and wood in the bottle. Very manly and rather dark but quite sexy! On my skin...it smells like cigars. I love tobacco notes, but pipe tobacco kind. I LOATHE cigars. I had to wash it off, my grandma actually asked if I'd been smoking.

In the bottle...mmm, light cotton candy and buttery-vanilla-funnelcake type scent mixed with fresh air. On my skin, it stays pretty much the same. I've smelled something very similar and it took a while for me to figure it out, but I did: Comptoir Sud Pacifique's Vanille Abricot perfume. People told me that one smells like cotton candy, so that would explain it. This doesn't morph too much. The drydown is indeed similar to Snow White but mixed with the 'wet' scent. This is a very cheery, happy, sweet, and young scent. I love it! It's excellent for summer because, while it's sweet and foody, the 'ocean air' type note I'm getting keeps it light enough so it's not choking.

In the bottle- less syrupy vanilla than Snake Oil but there's amber in its place. On my skin- whoa, amber ahoy. Amber smells heavily like incense to me so this smells like someone burning Snake Oil-scented incense in a headshop. That's not a bad thing, it's actually very slinky. Drying- The overbearing amber fades more into the background. I smell the coconut and plum peeking out as well. They're very subtle, but definitely add something to the blend. In conclusion? I actually like this one better than Snake Oil and Snake Oil is one of my dearest blends. I love vanilla, but the other notes in this one just make it even more irrestistable. This is my favorite Carnaval Noir scent by far! I will be buying many multiples.

This smells like smoke, fire, and ashes. And oh lord, is it STRONG!!!! Wowza. Not too much else to say about it. It mellows a little as it dries, but not much. Nice if you want to smell like you've been set on fire, but I think I'll save this for layering purposes. I love the "bonfire" smell, just with more of the wood and less of the pure fire! There's something sharp that cuts through the scent that I wasn't expecting and keeps it from being as mellow and relaxing as the aforementioned bonfire smell.

This smells like a slightly less feminine Ulalume in the imp- aquatic white floral. I smell lily, I think. It's pretty! Very light. On my skin...it smells like One n' Only's Colorfix. I try to shake that assocation and I just CAN'T. I'd describe it, but, uh, if you've smelled it, you know what I'm talking about. Not pleasant. My skin doesn't place nice with the Queen of Spiders

This is fruity! Kinda reminds me of MiGo Brain Canister, actually. I don't like gardenia, though, and it's definitely lurking in the background once it's on my skin. This is a lush, slightly humid scent, and evokes a garden in a very different sense than Eden does. I'd try to pick out more individual notes, but there's so many and they blend so well! It's mainly fruit accented by light florals and greenery, though.

This really does smell like a garden without resorting to usual green plant smells and flowers. It IS green, but it's a different green. I smell primarily that, fig, and the almond milk, and the fig is the first thing to strengthen. After a while just a hint of the toasted coconut comes out, but all-in-all this doesn't morph too much on me. This is a majorly pretty, light, slightly sweet, unoffensive day-scent. I just can't get over how well it evokes the "garden" mood without smelling like anything I've ever smelled before. Utterly perfect.

This is lavender-ahoy! Strong, masculine lavender without a hint of sweetness. It smells like lavender incense on final drydown but still remains fairly masculine. I don't get any sandalwood or tobacco, which I adore, so that was disappointing. The incense actually smells a little smoky, and I love that. I'd like this on a guy but it's very not "me." I agree with DiamondHeart that this is "pissed off lavender"

This smells like men's cologne with some smoking wafting in the background. Very acrid lavender-citrus type scent. It's very strong also...I had to wash this off after about a half hour. Brimstone smells way more like things burning to me but surprisingly is more pleasing to the nose. This one about singed my nosehairs off I'd like to smell this very sparingly applied on a man, though.

This is powdery, soapy florals ontop of an amber base on my skin. It's pleasant enough, but smells a little too dusty for my liking- the dustiness gives it the dreaded "old lady" feeling. A couple hours later I smell mostly slightly warmed carnation and it's nice, but I still like Alice better for a carnation scent. I'm not the biggest amber fan but it was the high point of this blend. It didn't go wonky at any point and stayed pretty subdued.

Helloooo bubblegum, with some tart almost champagne-y notes dancing on top. It mellows on drydown and what's presumably the greenery comes out and grounds it a little. This is nice, not bottle-worthy, but definitely a fun, bold, and slightly sexy scent. Good for a night on the town

Yeah, this is Skadi's summer sister all right. I've been looking for a feminine foresty scent for a long time, and, well, I keep thinking I've found one, but this is the best of them all. Wet, this smells like a forest, but one where the trees have pink wood and all the flora and fauna are different shades of fuschia and purple. Thankfully it mellows out pretty fast, and it's just a sweet, light, girly forest scent.

This is a very feminine but sensual scent. It's floral, but a creamy, slightly powdery floral, and the clove gives it a little bit of oomph. I don't get any sandalwood, unfortunately, but I'm sure it's there somewhere grounding the blend. This is a night time scent, but not in the traditional sense because it is rather light..it's like moonlight on the night sky. I want a bottle! I wasn't sure if I'd like this or not but I'm quite enraptured.

In the bottle: sweetish mint with something else lurking behind it. On the skin: Yeah, mint, and the lurking something, but I'm getting a definite toothpaste vibe. It's not strictly unpleasant, but at the same time it is: who wants to smell like toothpaste? No mint scent has ever done this before, and I love my mint, so I'm not giving up. A little later: Slightly peppered cucumber with a wee bit of mint poking in the background. I guess that's the lurking something; it grounded the scent and, oddly enough, kept it more gender-neutral. I like this. I'm not getting a belching fire vibe, but more of the kind of scent you wear at twilight during summer nights. Summer is still here, so I'm going to take advantage of that!

XXXII This smells like Hollywood Babylon in the bottle, minus a lot of the "stickiness" I get from that, and more of the floral that reminds me of bathroom cleaner when its wet. Heliotrope, perhaps? The blend is a little tart and a little sweet. I think there's a fruit in here but I can't identify what it is. It's not that strong, either way. On my skin...oh, this sweetens up and the 'potty flower' all but disappears. It smells creamy and sugared, but not quite foody. I don't smell the fruit any more. Something here reminds me a lot of Chaste Moon. There's florals, but they're not floral, if that makes sense. As it dries more, it really starts to smell like Pink Moon, but better. It has the same "pink sugar" note. I'll edit this if I can find a way to describe it better, but its really lovely! Pink Moon had a certain underlying something that this blend lacks. It's lighter. Previously reviewed by Penance.

Oh, this is absolutely FABULOUS! *moan of pleasure* In the bottle...yep, that's coffee. But it's very rich, flavorful, and deep coffee. I smell a little booze but it's not a boozey scent, if that makes sense. On my skin...oh, glorious Miskatonic U, you smell gorgeous but very familiar. Where have I smelled something similar? Gingerbread Poppet! This is like GP but better! As it dries, it gets creamier and sweeter and doesn't smell much like actual coffee. Some dusted wood notes are in the background, and they're very very VERY subtle, just grounding this scent a little and not making it 100% foody. I knew I'd like this, but I didn't know I'd be so totally enamored with it.