jrk1857

This goes on strongly floral, but not in a bad way. A rare exception to my distrust of overly floral perfumes. It helps that the plumeria is more of a fruity note on me. Fruity light floral. After a few hours the musks and amber are more apparent, but the flowers aren't completely gone. Less feminine than earlier. I often have trouble with oakmoss and sometimes with jasmine, but not here.

There's a strong note here, reminiscent of clove. Must be how my body is reacting to the herbs+frankincense. I like it, since I usually can't wear clove. Underneath the clove is a beautifully complex floral/herbal musk. Can't even begin to be more precise than that, but this is lovely.

I'm not so sure, here. I love citrus, and this is definitely citrus. Bright and clean and happy. But, it also smells like environmentally friendly bathroom cleaner. Which I kind of like the smell of. This is going to take some continued experimentation.

I read all these comparisons to Snow White and started to panic. But, rest assured, you other people out there who found Snow White to smell disgustingly of coconut. There is no coconut here. Also, this is, on me, nothing like Rose Red, which was very sharp. Snow White and Rose Red look at this perfume in envy. I found the comparisons to Katrina Van Tassel much more apt, but this isn't nearly as overpowering at KvT. This will be perfect for winter events around family with a more conservative idea of perfume. It isn't department store generic by any stretch, but your Aunt Edith isn't going to ask why you smell like a dirty hippy.

I never would have ordered this blind--my limited experience with anything aquatic has been very negative. But, when I saw this in Whole Foods I could only remember the rose and amber. So, I tried it. I didn't think too much of it until I was back in the car, and then I ordered it with my very next order. Amber usually smells very soapy on me until it has had time to age, but not this one. There is something a bit sharp/soapy if I put my nose to my wrist. Not sure if that's the tears or the amber. The throw is all beautiful amber and rose, though, in the best incarnation of each. The gold is a tiny bit metallic in the background, but not the strongest note by far. Very pretty and feminine.

First applied, this was a blast of vetiver. I had a bad flashback to Highwayman. Mercifully, in this case the blast was short before the vetiver drifts back to the background. Priala quickly dries down to a beautiful, resinous spice. The cinnamon here isn't burning--Inferno left huge red blotches on me--but rather warm and gentle. Since I can't wear blends with clove, I'm very happy to have something spicy that doesn't burn. This is amazingly pretty.

Ack! I smell like a dirty ashtray. I have known vetiver that I liked, but this is not it. It's starting to settle a bit, and I can sense other, more pleasant, things in the background, but that first 15 minutes almost made me ill. Into the swap pile!

LXXVII I'm not so good at determining individual notes, but this strikes me as Dorian+fruit and flowers. The fruit note isn't too strong, something that blends in very well. It could easily be bergamot. The floral is one that I usually shy away from, perhaps a lily or jasmine note. Something's a bit soapy in the background, which suggests jasmine. Strangely enough, this smells more like tea than my bottle of Dorian itself does. This is lovely. It smells like ultra-girly shampoo, but (and I never thought I'd say this) in a good way. (I either have really weird luck, or the lab is tricksy. My order also had a bottle of Gennivre, and this CT seems like a cross between Gennivre, minus the mint, and Dorian.) ETA: After trying out Hairy Toad Lily, the floral is definitely lily. Not the exact not of Hairy Toad Lily, because it isn't so sweet, but something in that family. Also, the soapiness seems to be dissipating quite nicely even after just a few weeks, which makes me wonder about amber. Amber always smells like Dial on me for a while, although if it's here it isn't much.

Oh, dear. I smell like an ashtray filled with wet menthol cigarette butts. Something here deeply disagrees with me. And, as it dries it gets more and more like cedar. No lavender, no fig, no pretty.

Wilde=love. I'm a pretty girly girl, yet for some reason I'm in love with some seriously manly perfumes right now. This is one of them, even though it does smell much more commercial than most of the lab blends. The notes all meld fairly seamlessly on me. There's a little tickle of something in the very back of this that is unpleasant. Dorian and The King of Hearts strike me the same way--I love them both, but a close sniff catches in my throat almost like the smell of curdled milk. It isn't strong enough to keep me away.

When fist applied, this was a huge waft of cumin and pomegranate. Like someone in an Indian restaurant got something very wrong. After that first blast, though, whatever I'm reading as cumin settled down, leaving a pleasantly spicy note. The pomegranate also settled, making the scent a lot more cohesive. That said, I'm not really sure how to classify the settled blend at all. I find it intriguing, which based on my BPAL past means I'll probably fall head over heels for this after a few wearings.

Ice Prince, anybody? I think I'm in love. "Crystalline musk, winter lily, bergamot, plum, and frozen pine boughs."

This is exactly the review I was coming here to post. In fact, I was starting to get alarmed when I read a page or two and no one else mentioned celery. Pretty floral+bad, bad celery. I can only hope that full dry down is better, but I'm not sure I'm willing to smell this way for that long.

I love this one oh-so-much. (Whichever BPAL is the newest tends to be my favorite, so right now this is it.) Amber tends to become yellow Dial soap on me, and I do get that here at a certain distance from my wrist. The throw, though, is a beautiful golden spice, with just the tiniest dab of cedar. It's a lovely and complex scent, which is especially nice given that most spicy perfumes flatten into generic cinnamon when I wear them. I have a feeling this is definitely this year's holiday party choice, even over my "real" Yule blends. It's the perfect balance of sexy grownup perfume and comfort scent. It isn't manly at all on me, although I could definitely imagine a man wearing it.

This was my first bottle of BPAL, but (unless I'm overlooking something) I've never managed to write the review. I love this fragrance. Of course, I have no problem smelling like lemon. I would, in fact, come pretty close to wearing Lemon Pledge as perfume. On me, this is mostly lemon verbena. The other notes are very quiet, and serve mostly to soften the lemon and make it seem less edible. The tea, especially, is far in the background, which would have disappointed me if I didn't love the lemon so much. This is definitely a pale, faint perfume. It fades quickly, although I can still smell it for hours if I get close to my wrist. It's my go-to summer blend, since in our usual oppressive heat any perfume can quickly become very heavy.