arsenicsauce

This unexpectedly started off classic Big-red-gum-cinnamon on me, and that stayed the dominant note for about an hour. It calmed down into a spicy smooth hazelnut mocha latte with vanilla syrup, but pumpkin is notable in its absence. Four hours later, when the scent is almost gone, I think I'm getting a whiff of it but it's definitely not the presence I expected. In conclusion, not for me- I don't like the cinnamon when it's fresh, and after a few hours god it's making me hungry- but I plan to pass it along to a friend anyways, so hopefully she'll have better luck with it.

Ohhh, patchouli and vetiver. This is exactly the oddly familiar mixed scent that I found in The Coiled Serpent, just a tiny bit sharper. I'll blame that on the orange, but I really can't smell any citrus. It's a smoky, strangely woody scent, but not fresh wood, treated pencil-with-yellow-paint-and-all wood. You know, those cheap octagonal pencils that have splintery dark-colored wood and grow fuzz when you put them in a manual pencil sharpener. I guess pencil shavings and I have met at last. It's actually not wholly unpleasant, it makes me nostalgic for the second grade, but not very wearable for me either.

Danse Macabre was very piney when I tried it, though the actual note is black cypress, and in my opinion it's on the masculine side of gender-neutral. It's the only evergreen I've tried thus far that hasn't gone sweet "potpourri pine", the frankincense sharpens it I think. I haven't tried any straight snow scents yet, but it sounds like some of the yules this year might fit your bill. I'm also remembering now that though I haven't gotten ahold of it yet, many of Death of the Gravedigger's reviews mention a piney note as well as the snow even though it's not listed. I'm looking at the first page now and people are comparing it to talvikuu.

Wet- sweet, fresh wood shavings. I'm thinking maple or maybe red oak. That's... unexpected. Drying- Oh, sandalwood + rose = soap. That's more what I thought was going to happen. They're drowning out all other notes pretty effectively. After a while, it sweetens a little bit, but that just makes it smell like slightly different scented handsoap. I had to give it a shot, but rose is never my friend.

Wet: Woah, this is a darker frankincense than I've encountered before. It's sour, in the musty way that vetiver is sour. Dry: ...Yeah, not much change. Very musty. Frankincense is usually a note I like, so I'm not sure exactly what in this blend is setting it off so badly on my skin. There's an unpleasantly strong floral making itself apparent, and if it's violet then violet smells a lot like rose to me in the "soap" way.

Monastic incense, blood musk, black leather, cypress, pimento, white pepper, and Roman chamomile. This is the first leather scent that I've been able to identify as such by smell alone. Wet, it's animal-musky with sweet, dry incense (and chamomile? That may be responsible for some of the 'sweet'), and it has some serious throw. A little salty under it all, in an almost aquatic way- that, I guess, is the blood musk. The leather and musk start out as its loudest notes on me, but incense takes a front seat after about ten minutes, still with that salty edge. I can detect the sort of nose-clearing effect of the cypress and pepper if I try, but it's buried deep. I could almost swear there was a tiny, tiny hint of vetiver in this, because despite the incense having a net "sweet" effect, there's a sour darkness underneath that I associate more strongly with vetiver than musk. All in all, interesting and unsettling, but I don't see myself wearing it very often. I feel like this should be worn with like a steampunk leather queen costume or something.

Wet: very evergreen, with a little bit of bitter winter berries. Drying: jewelbug is right, this does smell like art supplies for a while. Brush cleaner and oil paints and wood. Its longest and last phase is the expected marginally pine-sol flavored cypress on me, but with frankincense- over the two hours it lasts they have a tug of war. It's almost completely gone after then, even right against my skin. This is a surprisingly tolerable evergreen scent, I usually don't go for anything pine or cypress but I could see myself wearing this sometimes in the winter. Most people seem to be calling it masculine, but I'd say you could work this as gender-neutral. The frankincense is sweetened a little by something, the hazelnut or cypress (which usually turns unfortunately sweet on me so this is a good balance) and that makes it less men's-cologne.

This is not quite what I expected of Uruk. In the vial it smells of almond and jasmine, which my brain immediately categorizes as "soap'. On my skin I begin to get almond strongly, as I expected I would, but it is indeed a bitter almond- something that I didn't think was possible after the other, almost cloyingly sweet almond notes I've tried. I can't pick out the patchouli, but I do wonder if that's what's bringing the almond down to earth. The soapyness persists. I'm not sure what the sacred incense of Inanna is, but if it's sandalwood that would further explain it, because sandalwood often acts like this on me when paired with anything remotely floral. It settles a bit as it starts to dry- no wait, I spoke too soon. Half an hour in it's regressed to soapy incense and jasmine, with only a little of the complexity it started out with, and it seems to be stubbornly staying there. Too bad, there are a lot of notes I like in Uruk and yet the ones being amped the hardest are my least favorite. I'll leave it on for a few hours to see if anything changes, but my hopes aren't high.

Native to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, this fruit turns to ashes when plucked as a sign of God’s displeasure. On the initial application I get a distinctly jolly-rancher apple smell from this. There's something spicy underneath- I can feel my skin numb a bit. Okay, yeah, that's definitely cinnamon, and it's kicking ass and taking names, so I would be really surprised if this didn't give those with sensitive skin a rash. I get just a whiff of dark brimstone around the cinnamon, but mostly this is slightly sweetened cinnamon to me (and surprisingly, this does not make it smell like red hots- must be the apple saving it, because cinnamon scents usually default to red hots on me as a rule).

Different than I'd usually seek out, but I thought I'd try expanding my horizons. Wet: Yep, that's floral perfume, but... hum, sort of deeper and more fleshy than I usually think of florals. Is that because it's iris, or is it the resins and myrrh? As it dries I start to get sandalwood being its weird soapy self on me, but it's more low-key than it usually is in florals I've tried and doesn't really bother me until I put my nose right up to my arm for a whiff. There' a hint of sweetness to this that I wasn't expecting, and I'm not sure where it's coming from- maybe one of the unnamed herbs, or is it the iris? Having avoided as many scents as possible with non-wild flowers in them for years has put me at a disadvantage when trying to pick out the notes on this one. It does become more herbal and resin-y as it fades, but it keeps a- I don't know how to describe it, a plumpness that's distinctly not herbal-sharp. It doesn't seem to have a lot of throw on me, but then, none of the imps I've tried recently have, so that may be down to my skin chemistry at this time. As blends with prominent florals go, I quite like this, but I'm not absolutely in love, so this will go up for swap.

Wow that is some thick, dark oil. This stuff is concentrated as heck. Wet, it smells delicious. I get warm, soft chocolate caramel and a hint of dusty, nose-tingling resin that reminds me in effect if not in actual smell of miskatonic university. After a few minutes it dries into something unfortunately medicinal smelling, with a sweet cough-syrup overtone that I'm not fond of. Yeah, it seems to stop morphing after that for a while, and remains a heavy, sweet, chocolate-medicine with medium to low throw for the hour. As the evening went on I did find it faded into heavy sweetened incense instead, with cocoa undertones, but by that point the throw was almost nonexistant. This is one I'll pass along to someone with better chemistry and different tastes- I like my cocoa very dark and bitter, and the sweetness of the rice milk or perhaps the vanilla of snake oil makes it too much for me in any case.

I have been so excited about this since I discovered its existence. The clover in Passionate Shepherd and the dandelion in roadhouse are two of my favorite bpal notes, so this is like my platonic ideal of a scent. So let's see how it goes! Wet: Perfect. Very sharp, green dandelion stems and clover, and I think I feel a bit of woody resins deepening things but they aren't an overt presence. Drying: Uh oh. This went through a very scary stage for me, when the fir jumped all over everything else and it smelled like sickly sweet pine sol. It was so strong I was over at my swaps page composing a lament to post with the bottle by the time it finally wore off (took about 20 minutes- patient I'm not). The clover and dandelion come back, however, softer and warmer than before. Fir does not disappear entirely but is much less of a presence, hovering close to my skin. This entire scent doesn't have a lot of throw and is actually quite delicate, which after the screaming clover note of Passionate Shepherd came as a surprise to me. Overall, I am definitely keeping this bottle. It'll be a nice reminder of spring in winter. Edit: Hmm, having second thoughts. The second and third times I wore this, it was cedarpalooza the whole time, which is really disappointing.

Urgh, there's a weird sour animal tang to this when it goes on, like cat pee. Something fruity and earthy under it, and that really doesn't help. I'm not familiar with any of the notes except patchouli so I can't pick them out individually, but it has a lot of kick in the wrong way. The cat pee fades but does not go away, and the grapes (?) start amping as time goes on, my least favorite of bpal fruits, and I really don't like any of them much at all. Smelling it was giving me a stomach ache and I washed it off after about half an hour.

Starts out with a blast of fruity candy, but it clears out quickly. It seems like most of the Mad Tea Party blends are quiet on me, already I can't smell Tweedledum without pressing my nose to my wrist. What seems to be left after it's run its course is a slightly fruit-punch scent with a high green note that's sort of soapy, fading into very very light patchouli as the hours wear on.

I got this as a frimp with an order- it's definitely not something I'd have chosen myself. Berries, citrus, musk and florals in one blend? My god, disaster. But I love it. This is definitely somewhat floral, but it's a smooth, spicy floral over resins that's so well blended I can't call out one note over the others. Sandalwood gives it some cleanliness, but for once does not take over and make it soapy. I agree that it does seem to have the whiff of clove to it, though since it's not a note I wonder where it comes from. Throw is medium, wear length is long. I'm getting a bottle of this ASAP. Edit: My dad got a whiff of this and described it as a really "classic" perfume; I agree, it's very familiar somehow but without that smells-like-a-grandma sense to it, and I've been wearing it most often when I'm dressing up vintage.

Wet: This smells like something died on my arm. Do not want! Drying: Okay, let's take a step back here. I hate the smell of burning tobacco, so it shouldn't be surprising that I find just plain tobacco gross too. Ambergris is a musty scent as well, and when you add in leather and musk they're combining here to form some kind of super-B.O. scent on me that is just heinous. As it dries it sinks into my skin a bit and lets something else come out, something slightly soapy... sandalwood? I think it's sandalwood. That's probably the incense mentioned in the description. There's a little bit of sweetness to it that I don't associate with sandalwood, so that must be the "sweet musk" people are talking about, but it really smells to me like I'm wearing a sandalwood scent to cover up the fact that I haven't showered in days.

Wet: Oh eurgh, fruit punch. I was not expecting that, and I don't like it at all. Drying: Citrusy and a little soapy. I don't understand how something with so many notes I like could be reduced to not one, but two of my least favorite scents, soap and fruit punch. I washed this off after a little under an hour because I couldn't stand it anymore.

I don't get as much vetiver as most seem to from this blend. It's really in the background for me, which is highly unusual, and makes me assume there's very little of it in the formula at all. Almond is very present but not overpowering. I can't pick out the smell of the cinnamon distinctly, but though it doesn't affect the skin of my wrist (and cinnamon never has), I sniffed it too closely at one point and brushed my lips against it very slightly, and they went quite numb; look out, cinnamon-sensitive bpalers. It does have a general spicy quality as it dries. It's actually sweet and a tiny bit foody to my nose, with dark undercurrents of scorched vetiver, like grahm crackers toasted next to a camp fire. I like it, but I'm not enthusiastic about it and it doesn't have a lot of throw, so to the swaps it goes.

This is incredibly dark and earthy. HELLO VETIVER, amping like crazy on me as per usual. Other than that it's very well blended- wet I get vetiver rounded out just a little with a fruity (but not foody at all) overlay, softened slightly by what I suspect is the patchouli. The carnation, amber and musk are there, because it doesn't just smell like pomegranate, dirt, and burnt grass, but I couldn't pick them out as notes specifically in this blend (though I could guess the amber is helping the pomegranate out). Unfortunately from this point on, the vetiver and black musk slowly take over, and they last for hours and hours on my skin being sour and strong as hell. This is completely typical of those two notes on me, however, so other people who can deal with vetiver and musk in other blends probably have better luck. I will say this is the closest a vetiver blend has ever come to working on me; the sweetness of other notes actually manage to tame it a bit, just not enough.

Okay, I can't read 15 pages of reviews so I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but: this smells like popcorn to me. The kind you microwave in a bag, kettle corn that's gone a little stale. I can smell the ginger as it dries when I put my nose close to my skin, but even then the primary smell is "stale kettle corn and lemon rind". It has a medium throw and lasts quite a while on me, or at least it was still pretty strong when I washed it off two hours after I put it on. Not a fan.

Wet this has a strongly fruity roundness that I didn't expect. It fades quickly, and what's left is sweet honey with a powdery spice of carnation over it. The milk note fortunately is absent, as bpal's milk note goes very sour on me, and in fact two hours later it still hasn't shown up. This is less foody than it sounds, I'm not sure why. Throw is very minimal but it stays on a long time.

I don't have a very sophisticated nose when it comes to florals, as I typically avoid them. This was a frimp from the lab, and not something that I would have chosen myself, but I gave it a shot anyhow. As far as I can tell, there's not much morph to this one. It goes on as a sharp white floral, warms up a tiny bit after a few minutes (the cardamom?) and then slowly fades back into the same generic floral scent. I find that florals with sandalwood in them typically smell like expensive handsoap to me, and this is no exception, though I have trouble telling whether it's the florals or the sandalwood that does it- the sandalwood note is definitely quite strong throughout, though, and is what lasts the longest on my skin.

This smells very aquatic on me- the dominant note reminds me strongly of Calico Jack. Unfortunately I can't say much more about it, because it has absolutely zero throw to start out with and is quickly eaten by my skin. I had high hopes for this, but my skin isn't buying it.

Wet: Patchouli, patchouli, patchouli. And something herbal and smoky sharpening it up in a way I really like. Usually pine and ceder-y scents smell like terrible cleaners on me, but this is perfect. It really smells like the woods after a rain, not like sickly sweet pine sol. Of course, the woods after rain smell like rotting logs, fresh mud and tree sap, so a lot of people may not be looking for this in a perfume, but I'm in love. Dry: Wolfsbane, where are you going? As it dries it loses throw fast, and my skin pretty much eats it within two hours. I love this scent. I haven't found a scent I loved this much since I first started buying BPAL. I wish to god it stayed on me longer.

I want to love this, because I love the smell and the taste of cloves, and they sure do pack a whallop in this one, but unfortunately the musk is really throwing me off. It a;ways goes sour on me, sadly, and that blends with the bitterness of the cloves to make it less pleasant. There doesn't seem to be much change as it dries. My favorite mediator, patchouli, doesn't seem to be making an appearance at all, and if there's mahagony it's being trampled by the cloves and musk. I think I'll give this another try in a few days and see how it goes, just in case, because I did have my heart set on the smiling spider, but it's looking like it will end up in the swap pile.