Aldercy

Mm. Lupercalias have been gooood to me. Tissue is kind of indescribable and some people might find it generic (light floral), but it has such an interesting gauzy texture. It's a translucent, white light kind of scent. I really don't get honey (and it's not sweet) but I do sense something that might be rice paper behind the gardenia, which is the most prominent thing for me. Still, it's a very distant, dreamy gardenia.

07 version. Oh, good god, this is wonderful. Why haven't I tried this earlier? I think I thought, "Eh, it'll probably be all clove and cinnamon and I already have stuff like that," but this is dead on gingerbread. Not buttery or heavy, but dry, crumbly gingerbread with the tiniest bit of grainy sugar and powdered cinnamon on top. It's quite sheer and even slightly musky-- I feel like some foody blends can seem "out of place" on a person's skin, but not this one. If Gingerbread Poppet makes an 09 return (in a day or two!), I will absolutely get a bottle.

No cranberries whatsoever for me-- Punkie Night is the most unadulterated apple scent I've ever smelled. It's like fresh, snappy yellow apples but also ice cold, pulpy cider (not mulled, spiced or hot, just unfiltered apple juice), with some fresh evening breezes blowing through. It's not as chemical as the sharp apple of The Hesperides. Smells just like the barn at the local orchard. At first it can be a little generic "apple air freshener," but once it hits skin Punkie Night really blooms. I hope this comes back some Halloween.

Anyone who loves musk, you've got to try this. It's the same kind of sinuous, golden brown musk I get from Hunter Moon 07 and Ivanushka, and it's really good. The Lurid Library starts out kind of cologney, but not for long. It's soon all musk and warm antique wood. Very scholarly, but not musty. The musk brings in a little of the outdoors to this library.

Sometimes I wish Beth wouldn't use totally different terms for the same note (i.e. khus/vetiver) but it does provide me with a bit of an education. Yeah, vetiver. Bitter, black vetiver. Even being last year's vetiver, this hasn't mellowed much. Maybe Chant d'Automne will be wearable for Halloween 2011 (and I may actually hold on to it until 2010 to see if it starts turning). There are also some crunchy sticks, dry orange leaves and tobacco tar. Smoky, dirty and outdoorsy. Not for the faint of heart!

Mm, pomegranate with... cold spices? is that an oxymoron? And maybe some white florals and a little pine. It's a very light scent, actually, and the pomegranate is not tart or overpowering to me. Very nice.

Watermelon Jolly Ranchers! Well, wet anyway. For a minute I was almost wondering if this was a mislabeled imp of 'Tis the Voice of the Lobster (haven't tried it, but that watermelon note was so distinct) but it gets more floral as it dries. Oh, wow, I just don't know how to describe this. It's innocent and pink-- blushing little girl perfume. Yet it's still very complex. The notes are really well blended and nothing stands out very much. I was actually hoping that this would be mostly carnation and pink pepper (God, I love pink pepper) but, though they're definitely there, the spiciness of those notes seems to be completely matched by the sweetness of the sugar-- and it's a grainy, crystalline sugar... like that colored rock candy on a stick, not like icing. But this scent doesn't feel like a sugar-slathered mess either because, as I said, everything is perfectly balanced. Cracked pink peppercorns, sugar cubes, and rosy carnations. It somehow gets across that slight tinge of happy mayhem and insanity that I get from Tweedledee and Cheshire Cat as well. How does Beth do that? High-Strung Daisies is unlike anything else I have, so even though it definitely requires a certain mood to wear, I'll be hanging on to this one.

This smells like fireplace! It smells like slowly cooling, sweet smoke and ashes-- even a hint of stone. And beeswax. As Hand of Glory dries, a bit more of the leather and nutmeg appear, but it's still a very wispy, elusive "drafty flue"/"just extinguished candles" scent. This is what I wanted Hanerot Halalu to smell like (so if that was too olive oily or orangey for you, I suggest Hand of Glory as a great smoke and beeswax combo). Very good for fall/winter, and it has a vaguely medieval or magical feel to me. It's completely androgynous and really homey. This will probably result in a 5ml purchase.

I wonder whether there's a bit of ceder in the "dark woods" note?-- my nose is so sensitive to it that I have a hard time paying attention to anything else in a blend, so this is mostly aggressive wood and cedar when wet, with a little rum. Very manly. But I've found that my skin can manage to burn off the harshness of such notes if given enough time, so let's see.... ... If I breathe lightly instead of really huffing my skin, Frederic is very nice and kind of like a livelier, more luxurious Midnight Mass. The amber musk and redcurrant are responsible for that, I think. The more I let it dry, the better it gets. The tea rose is starting to peek out which is fine as long as it doesn't take over. It seems to finally settle into a smoky, musky incense with spicy fruit juices and rose petals floating in and out. Way better than I expected.

Boo is a lot more milky than I thought it would be. I was expecting super-sweet frosting type cream, but I'm getting something more like milk and powdery, spongy marshmallows. Definitely no caramel or vanilla for me. I actually like that it's not as sweet as I speculated it might be, but it's also a little... flat. It's a lot better and rounder in the decant, so I'm guessing it's skin chemistry that is making Boo feel so one-dimensional.

CLOVE Mircalla, at least wet, just drips bitter clove. The patchouli, red musk and maybe a little frankincense appear after a few minutes, but it's still strong, dark clove. And if it weren't for the clove, this would be almost indistinguishable from Mme. Moriarty. Very powerful and commanding. Blackly spicy. Kind of a don't-fuck-with-me scent. Interesting, but someone else would probably appreciate it more.

Eight Views of Actors in Their Dressing Rooms = Night-Gaunt. At least to me. Eight Views is a little lighter.

This smells shockingly Night-Gaunty! That must be the yuzu, which is significantly strong that any of the other citrus notes. Overall, it's a super-light fruity floral and definitely has that classic Japanese mood that I love, but it doesn't happen to have a whole lot of personality compared to some other similar scents I have. Delightful to try though. Eight Views is very sophisticated.

This smells like orange infused olive oil to me, with a slight warm waxiness. No smoke to speak of. Kind of sweet, but not at all in a sugary or desserty way. It is highly unique; I don't have any other BPAL I can begin to compare it to. I like it, but this is one of those scents that does not smell like it really belongs on a person, you know? I've been wanting to try this for a long time and thought it would be hoard-worthy based on the notes, but (while I think I'll hang on to the decant), I (luckily) don't need gallons. ETA: Noooo. Hanerot Halulu = headache. Only like 2% of BPAL manages to give me a headache, but this is apparently one.

I chose Hetairae for my grand "Let's See If I Really Do Hate Patchouli Or Just Need To Suck It Up And Try More Blends" experiment. The other notes sounded good to me and I was drawn to the adjective "fiery." Answer: No, I don't hate patchouli, at least in Hetairae. It's not explosively strong in this scent, which gives me great hope that I can learn to enjoy moderate amounts of the stuff. Anyway, this is a nice spicy honey scent-- not really clove spicy though, more red pepper spicy-- with a warm pulse of fig and just some supporting earthiness from the patchouli. It could be aggressive, but it's not; it's a very comfortable scent. Reminds me a little of Bengal.

Eros is generic pink fruit most of the time. I don't know where that's coming from-- perhaps the wine. But every two or three minutes I get a singular, almost-not-there whiff of the best myrrh ever along with the other resins. Oh, it's so good, and I wish it would stick around for longer than a second. It's very frustrating. I think the main reason I got this was to find out what "crimson tea leaf" would be like, but I still have no idea after trying Eros-- unless it is responsible for the fruitiness. I will continue playing around with this. Maybe with a bit of age the resins I love will come out more.

I am loving these close, ethereally musky scents lately. Lady Una is raw honey, gauzy vanilla and a mix of temperate, pale musks with a tiny hint of sharpness that is probably a slightly citrusy blackberry leaf. Very mystical and eerily pretty. Una is Dorian's sister or cousin, definitely. Very slight throw-- it's a secretive, shy scent.

*slather, slather, slather* What I really want is a man to put this on, but I guess I'll have to settle for my own skin. October is the scent of just turning leaves-- not crinkly and crunchy yet, there's still some life in them, but they're giving up the ghost. There's also a mingled maple/pine sap note which is detectable, but very diluted and tempered... more like the scent of sap borne on a passing breeze than all up in your face. No smoke, but I am getting some musk. Mm. Yay fall.

Mama-Ji smells like the lovechild of Snake Oil and Sybaris (the latter being more dominant). It took me forever to figure that out but, yeah, that's what it smells like to me. I'm thinking one of the spices must be sweet clove because that, combined with the florals, constitutes the Sybaris influence. The Snake Oil half smells pretty dead on except sweeter with slightly less vanilla. I wish I could pick out the nutmeg and cardamom more specifically, but I like it. ETA: Mama-Ji gets really good on the long-term drydown. I'm talking like 3 or 4 hours in. It's a skin scent, but very, very deep. Dry but luscious.

In the bottle, Cake Smash is extremely realistic cream cheese frosting. If I didn't know that's what it was supposed to be I might have said "buttercream" for lack of a better description but been frustrated and puzzled for days trying to figure out what it really smelled like. It's crazy accurate. On my skin, it deepens up a little. The cream cheese icing is still the top note, but a dry, dark cake scent appears as well. It's not buttery or too sweet. And it's neither white nor chocolate. I smell more Dorian (in the form of tea) than any of the other base notes, but the Snake Oil could appear more with age. I've never tried Doc Constantine, but it doesn't seem like it's hugely prominent either. If anything, they're just providing a really nice deep foundation for the cake and tea. Even though I applied plenty, it's not strong after it dries. It's a gentle... floaty... scent. Very comforting, and I think I will really love this one in cold weather. Very glad I got a bottle. Happy first birthday, Lilith!

Mm. This may be one of the few times that leather has been prominent in a scent and I've nevertheless liked it. It's a spicy leather. The anise and the frankincense (which I often find to be rather black peppery) seem to be completely intertwined with the leather and kind of melted into one resin/wood/spice/leather scent. The metallic notes are like those in Phoenix Steamworks-- very faint, but still deliciously warm and golden. Can metal be delicious? Apparently. The metallics in the steampunk line seems to be special and unique compared to other BPAL I've tried with metal notes. They're a little more... human. Like white gold coated in skin musk. Not harsh or industrial. Count me a fan of Robotic Scarab.

This smells like cologne-infused blood in the decant, but does better on skin. Morpher! Wet, it's in the vein of Hunter Moon 07 and Ivanushka (unless I'm going crazy and everything I test lately smells the same) in that it's full of thick, swirling, golden-brown musk. As Blood Moon dries it gets much more incensey and floral (sort of a... white, spicy floral? carnation?) with the woodsy, masculine musk settling down a lot. This goes from wild, loamy musk that is very rich and alive to something more... wintery and metallic (with bits of cold incense and spiced flowers). That initial blood note never returns, but the stark, sour iron scent must be it in a new form. Very unique.

I was a little concerned that this would be heavy on the woods/evergreen, but The School-House is very airy and dominated by the clover and dandelion. It reminds me a LOT of The Host of the Air. I am pretty much in love with the milky, pale scent of dandelion, and the clover is both flower and greenery. The scent is very "fresh," but not soapy or herbal. It really is like lying in a patch of lush, gentle weeds. However, this is such a thin, unassuming scent that I really need to slather. I don't think my decant will last long...

I'm surprised I like this as much as I do-- I got an empty bottle of Last Rose from a decant circle and there was enough to test, so I did despite not really being a fan of sandalwood, orris or patchouli. But I think rose works best for me when paired with darker, dirtier scents, so the rose/frankincense/patchouli combination is actually quite nice. It's a smoky, earthy rose. Darkly, decadently old-fashioned.

At first, Summer's Last Will & Testament is ALL citrus-- lemon in the vial, but more orange/grapefruit on me (which is an improvement over lemon at least). It mellows very slowly over the course of fifteen minutes or so, and now I actually get very little citrus. What's left of it is more like dark, bitter orange zest at this point. The myrrh really blooms and comes to the forefront, too, along with a little of the spicy, crunchy leaves. I don't know what sunflower and marigold really smell like on their own, but there's nothing "floral" here (definitely no rose for me)-- I think they're blending in with the amber. If there is a distinction between "Baltic" amber and regular amber, it must be that it's a bit thinner and sweeter (it doesn't smell as rich or golden as it usually does to me). Some unidentifiable herbs linger at the depths of this scent, but it's mostly still myrrh, bitter orange, dry leaves and amber. Definitely glad for the decant, but I can resist a bottle (thankfully)!