Fyre_in_Winter

I will start this review off by saying I am NOT a white floral kinda girl (personality or skin chemistry-wise) and yet Thalia has managed to impress me. In the imp she doesn't smell like much... a dry, perfumey kind of vague scent. On the skin she starts off sweet and almost syrupy (the champagne, don't ask) combined with rich pear. Between all this I started to get flashes of an almost gardenia-like scent, but better (I presume this is the plumeria). There is also a rich vanilla-esque haze hanging over this blend and every now and then a hint of coconut. Thalia manages to be a perfect balance (on my skin) of floral, warm, and edible. A definite winner and perfect spring/summer scent, especially when I'm feeling girly.

Baghdad smells very incensey and non-descript perfumey in the vial. Once on my skin it became a sharp, slightly dry spciy incense overlaid with a soft rose. Normally rose turns to lemons on my skin, but this one stuck true. The spice is a bit dry for my taste... but it is very interesting coupled with the rose. It mellows out as it dries down, with the rose tapering off nicely. The amber is present in the extreme drydown with a hint of spice. I'm on the fence about keeping this one... there are certainly enough spicy and incense blends I prefer, yet it is hard to find a good rose on me. A few more test runs are definitely in order.

This is a breathtaking scent in the bottle...like warm milk, but better. Fresh tres leches cake perhaps. Unforunately this didn't fare so well with my skin chemistry. It smells almost identical to Sppoky on me, minus Spooky's redeeming cocoa, rum, and coconut. Milk Moon dries to a slightly plastic, faint, and ordinary vanilla. Very unfortunate, given how it smells in the bottle.

I had the opportunity to try this at paperdoll's house last weekend and it was immediate love at first sniff. Fresh one it has a slight citrus tang to it, perhaps bergamot or something similarly dry along with a "perfumey" amber smell. Veery soon after this it dries down on me into this grgeous, round amber cloud that just glows off my skin. I also suspect there may be another resin in here that has a comes across as vanilla without actually being vanilla-y. I cannot express in words how beautiful this scent is on me. It is sophisticated yet warm and sexy, and I would feel appropriate wearing it anywhere. Aquisition of an enormous bottle is definitely in my future. It also lasts a good 12 hours on me, which is amazing.

Nyx was a generous frrebie from a forumite. I can't say why I had Nyx on my wishlist, aside from the name. Nyx smells very innocuos in the vial.. faint even. But as others have mentioned, once on your skin Look Out! Jasmine and rose are equally touchy on my skin, so a war ensued...first soapy jasmine.. I sneezed... then the rose started to peek out, except it was turned extra-crispy by the myrrh... back to soapy jasmine overlying a sweet pink rose... lemony baby powder soap... there's the mrryh again, now we have slightly burnt baby powder... Aha, rose won! Lemony rose baby powder. Not bad smelling, in the end... just not what I want to smell like.

I've been pleasantly surprised by Gluttony. Hellcat was very strong and turned lemony on my skin, but Gluttony appears to be staying true. Both in the vial and initially on my skin it is very buttery, as in real butter, not the creamy-butter smell in Jack, and hazelnut. Quickly the butter calms down and then Gluttony goes briefly through a true burnt sugar and hazelnut phase(which is nice) and then settles down into this rich caramel with a hint of nuts smell. This is not nearly as tooth-avhingly sweet as I had expected. It is actually a warm scent that is lingering, nay, nuzzling, very close to my skin. I will definitely be wearing and layering this scent come autumn. Yum!

Unfortunately for me, Fae does not quite agree with my skin chemistry. It is thisclose to being absolutely perfect, but goes awry. At first it is a bright lemony/grapefruit smell with floral undertones that smells wonderful and lush. However, the lemon zooms to the forefront (I'm guessing bergamot is a major component of Fae, since Bergamot has never overwhelmed me before in other blends containing it) and the white musk (my bane, it seems) turns to powder. The peach and heliotrope make a valiant attempt to save this sinking ship, really they do, but they cannot overcome. Alas, it was not meant to be and Fae goes the way of Zephyr and Black Pearl.

Umm... Czernobog is an interesting scent. The oil is very, very dark and ominous looking. Sniffing from the imp though revealed a light incense/resinous scent with a bit of something fresh. Dabbing it on my skin elicited the lime note others have mentioned. So far so good, and then a rank undertone developed. I was undecided if that undertone was bad BO, old urine, or equal parts of each. I suspect one of the musks to be a feral or dark musk that didn't agree with my skin chemistry. A bit of a shame, but this isn't my usual kind of scent either, so I'm not heart broken. I can definitely see where this would be yummy on a guy, though.

Blood has been on my "die to try" list for quite a bit now, and I'm a sucker for names. I normally don't do dragon's blood very well, as it has a tendency to go soapy on me. However, I love Blood Kiss and so Blood was a must try There's a hint of cherries (and soap) when wet but the myrrh almost immediately takes over. The clove adds a pleasant bit of spice in the background. As time goes on, something in this (I harbor a suspicion it is some type of musk) is creating a sweet, powdery base for this, which nicely eases some of the harshness of this blend. This is a very dry, smoky, and spicy blend. I was expecting my juice from the cherries to lend it a more liquid-like quality. This is what I would expect blackened (but aromatic!) blood to smell like. I'm not sure I would ever wear this in an unaltered form, but I think I'll keep the imp around to jazz up my Hearth when necessary.

For some reason I'm surprised that Blood Countess is a pale yellow (slightly greenish) liquid. In the vial I can smell the plum/berries and the gardenia. But the gardenia doesn't put me off so I give it a go on my wrist. Wow, the opium really adds a special extra something to this blend. Normally I'm not a fan of most roses, gardenia, OR lilac...but... I find myself inexplicably liking this. Some element has gone a touch powdery and drawn close to my skin. I rather like this effect (virginal skin about to be slashed open..?). The plum and berries are so juicy ripe without being sweet. Methinks it is the lilac that is this dry and slightly bitter floral hanging around like a haze of resentment. Again, not my usual kind of scent, but I like it quite a bit.

Aglaea is very strong and sweet, but in a good way. It has been playing tricks with my nose though, because at first it came across as apples rather than peaches. But the fruit notes are definitely taking a backseat to the rich warm amber and voluptuous musk. This is a golden scent, and very rich, but not heavy, if that makes any sense. In some ways I find this similar in tone to Tamora (which I also love) but definitely less peachy. I anticipate wearing this a lot this summer.

I had an opportunity to try this out yesterday at the Atlanta meet up. How can I describe the way Puck smells in the vial? Imagine a construction worker who has been working in the sun all day, ate Mexican for lunch, and then decided to roll around in the dirt/grass for awhile. The smell of his underwear might approximate Puck. Of course in putting the cap back on some oil rubbed off on my fingertips. On my skin, Puck smelled a bit more like dirt (as in dirt fresh from a garden) and musk rather than.. well, ass. But not by much. This experience has convinced me that civet is not for me. It took about 5 soapings in the washroom to get the smell reasonably gone from my skin- potent stuff, is Puck.

Sybarsis is another one that went wacky with my chemistry. As strong as it was in the vial, on my skin it became very faint, slightly powdery violets overlying a hint of latex. Absolutely no clove showed up at all. Just this faint aftersmell of latex... not my idea of perfume. Such a shame, since I'm looking for a good clove scent.

At first I liked Wolf's Heart. It was a light, slightly herbal blend that made me feel calm, centered, and ready to face the world. However, now when I put it on it is an overwhelmingly powerful soapy incense with a dash of spicy herbs. And the soapy smell doesn't go away. I'll take the hint and pass this blend along to someone that needs it.

The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal. Chimera is absolutely breathtaking! At first I thought it smelled like Dragon's Milk (- dragon's blood and + cinnamon). However, when I experimentally dabbed on some Dragon's Milk, there really was no comparison. Chimera is 1,000 better. It is so many wonderful smells rolled into one scent. Is has the same undertone of Snake Oil and a stronger version of O. Lightly dusted with a very light, pure cinnamon. I'm a little saddened that the cinnamon fades off in under an hour. I'll try layering it with Hamadryad in a bit to see what happens. This is creamy, warm, snugly goodness, and not cloying at all. Definitely going on the big-bottle wishlist.

Masquerade is very interesting indeed. There is a sharp herby greeness accompanying the orange...with works because the orange isn't sweet at all. The patchouli is rather apparent on my skin, which I'm not liking as it is starting to overpower everything else. I don't smell the carnation at all, which is a shame. There are some complex combinations going on in the background of this scent, which is very intriguing. I have no idea what might be causing this (the cedar others have mentioned?) but I'm getting a slight undercurrent of pencil shavings here too. All in all a very pretty and unusual scent, but my skin chemistry doesn't agree with it.

Eclipse is definitely almond in the vial. A dry, true almond, not the cherry-almond of other blends such as Bastet and Black Phoenix. Immediately upon my skin, it's almond with an undercurrant of bananas! How odd.... As it dries down, for about the first hour it settles into a nice smooth mix of gentle floral with a soft cinnamon (smells similar to what's in Hamadryad to me) overtone. This seems to be a bit weaker than most of the BPAL blends I've tried. However, after an hour or so everything dies away except for the frankincense sticking to my skin. Not bad, just... I don't want to smell like weak frankincense. I might try it again, or just put it straight to swaps. One of the few blends that has fallen into the limbo of not bad, but not knocking my socks off either.

Wow, this is some funky stuff! It starts off as super-sugary pink bubblegum on my skin. Then it switches over to spicy, almost burnt cloves. Then it briefly went through a grape bubblegum phase. Now it has settled into bubblegummy baby powder overlaid with a biting, burnt spice. I can't recognize it as clove now- it smells the same as whatever went wonky on me in Sugar Cookie. Actually it's becoming more and more baby powder as time wears on. Alas, not for me.

This is one of the more amazingly gorgeous BPAL blends I have had the pleasure of smelling. Swoon-worthy, definitely. I was a little unsure at first, as the sheer cherry-power of Hearth nearly knocked me over. That however faded off very quickly, leaving behind a rich cherry pipe tobacco with a hint of cocoa and maybe Bourbon. This is so yummy! I'm sad I didnt get a bottle.

Black Phoenix and Bastet both started off as VERY cherry/almond on me... Bastet is definitely the lighter of the two, but as others have mentioned, the BP went very smoky/incensey (and then on me went straight to baby powder). I would recommend you giving Hellcat a shot. The second imp of it I tried has that so-almond-it's-cherry note. Hellcat is a very buttery and sweet scent, no incensey stuff that I can detect. ETA: Ironically I got my swap of Hearth in today, and it is a lovely cherry smell with a hint of chocolate and some other good stuff in it. Yum!

Overwhelming, cloying, almost violent florals. This is not playing well on my skin and stings my nose. I'm guessing the frangipani is the funky undertone to the clash of rose and jasmine. Off to swaps with thee, Deltight.

At first this smells very similar to a certain kind of commercial perfume... the very caustic, overly perfume-y perfumes from the late 80s. I was entirely prepared to wash this off, but I got distracted and it sat on my wrist for another 15 minutes before I sniffed it again. Wow, it has changed drastically. It went from hospital smelling (acrid flowers + powdery + hint of latex) to smelling of soft, dry and dusty flowers and a hint of powder. Not baby powder, but the expensive dusting powder a lady would use. I suspect there's some type of musk in here that gives the quality of something soft brushing across my nose whenever I sniff it. Darkness is very, very nice, but a little too "perfumey" for my taste. I bet my mom will adore it though.

As others have said, this smells to me (and on me) very much like a generic department store men's aquatic cologne. Except Valmont here has an intriguing bitter finish. This would be interesting on a guy, especially if his chemistry broke down and separated the components a bit more. Again, to repeat, a good introductory scent to BPAL before you start throwing so of the more, hmm, eccentric blends at him.

When I get 'unknown' freebies from the Lab, I usually sniff the vial, read the description, and then apply if it doesn't contain any of my "no no" notes. I was very surprised at De Sade's description, since it smells very clean to me in the vial. I almost didn't put any on, but I like most blends containing leather, so I smeared a teeny bit on the back of my wrist. Oh. My. Dear. God. This smells ssssooooooo gooooodddddd on me! And I'm a girl! It is a very soft and supple leather, with something soft and almost creamy (probably some kind of musk) lurking beneath. Like leather sliding across soft skin. And every now and again a whiff of sweet woodsmoke drifts off my skin. I am definitely keeping this around to layer, it would be a crime not to. To wear this on a crisp fall day would be heaven! I don't have a guy to throw this on, but when I do, rest assured I will! "Honey, close your eyes for just a sec and hold still, I wanna try something...."

Mmmm... Zephyr smells good! I would describe it as being unisex, I think it would work well on a guy too. I expected it to be lemony in the extreme. I was glad to be wrong there. And for once white musk has decided to play nice on my skin. It dries down to a soft, slightly powdery vanilla/ bergamot combination. I assume the musk and sandalwood are contributing to the soft feel... I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Very light and not too sweet- perfect for the hotter months of the year.