nevermore

My absolute favourite of the 2017 phoenixes that I've tried. Initially, it smells a whole lot like TKO on me, with a hint of grapefruit. Once it's been on for a while, it's heavier on the sugar with a bit of lavender and the grapefruit bringing up the rear. Delicious, and I definitely need a second bottle!

I ordered an imp of this in my last order, as pineapple is one of the few fruity scents I can tolerate and I wanted to try it out with Tarot - The Star (for a pina colada type scent). I had to try it by itself first though, and I was amazed. I was anticipating just straight up pinapple, but the imp I have has more of a creamy scent over top of the pineapple - like the fruit was cut up and served with ice cream. It's lovely. I think I may have to splurge and buy a bigger bottle.

Inez smells an awful lot like Morocco on steroids on me. It's somewhat sweeter when I initially put it on, but that dies down after a couple of hours. From there on out, it's Super-Morocco. Which, incidentally, I'm okay with. More than okay with, actually, because Morocco tends to fade very quickly on my skin.

CCCLXXII - 372 In the Bottle - resins, sweet fruit, maybe berries. Wet on my skin - appley soap, with a bit of the same resins. At least, I think it's apple. It took me a while to figure it out. Dry on my skin - wood and resins, slightly sweet, but without the fruit and soap. It's also a little spicy now - not cinnamon, maybe cardamom? The drydown reminds me of something I've tried before, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Possibly one of the Stations of the Sun? This is nice, but the resins don't quite work on me. It smells a bit weird on me.

Chaos Theory CCCLXX (370) I have yet to have a Chaos Theory work really well on me, but I think this one is a winner! In the bottle, it's straight-up pineapple - tangy, tart, and delicious. The drydown is fluffy vanilla (which isn't going plasticy on me) and a bit of the pineapple. It's wonderful!

Reminicient of Antique Lace and Et Lux Fuit, both of which are favourites of mine. Same creamy base, but each has different florals. The Oval Portrait has mainly honeysuckle and blue bell, I think - similar florals to Fairy Market. Very nice, but given that I have several bottles of Et Lux and one of Antique Lace, I don't think I need a bottle.

I can see why there's so many reviews of this already - it's lovely. It's pretty much what I was expecting, mainly vanilla bean and a bit of spice from the saffron. The vanilla isn't going plastic-y either, which is a problem I have with some vanillas. It reminds me somewhat of Underpants (which also has the non-plastic vanilla), but much less sweet. I can see topping this up with a dab of Grog to emulate it though. Luckily, I'm not getting any of the minty scent that others are getting, which I'm okay with. I am getting a bit of a "chalky" scent, but it's not too noticeable, and I think it'll go away with some aging. I'm quite liking Love's Philosophy, and glad I've got a bottle of it.

Sharp, herbal lavender and the vanilla that doesn't go plasticy on me. It doesn't so much put me to sleep as shut my brain off. If I can't sleep, it's because my brain is going a million miles a minute. TKO shuts off that bit of my brain, and I can go to sleep nicely. And when I get up in the morning, there's still a good amount of vanilla scent left on my skin. I've used about 2/3 of an imp in the past month - I definitely need a big (huge! gigantic!) bottle of this!

This past weekend (and tonight) I dressed up as the 10th Doctor from Doctor Who, and wore Dorian, which I thought fitting. Tea + boy basically equals the Doctor in my mind. My girl dressed up as a pirate on Friday and wore Pirate Moon. Today's choice (sans costume) was Count Dracula.

This isn't something I would have purchased myself, but surprisingly I rather like it. Lots of the notes in it are ones that are iffy on me - red musk, cocoa and wine are generally bad. They all work together in this blend though to produce something oddly fruity. Sort of like chocolate covered strawberries? I need to try this out for a longer period, but so far it's lovely!

I'm not terribly good at recommending scents based on commercial perfumes/colognes (especially as I haven't smelled this one), but I wanted to say, don't discount Whitechapel. It's heavy on the lime, and only some lilac comes through on me, and I don't think there's lavender in it at all. Also, The Bow and Crown of Conquest might work well - the base notes match, and there's some floral (carnation) to round it out a bit. Besides, it's one of my favourites. Also, Ave Maria Gratia Plena might work too. The downside is none of these have the lime/ginger top notes.

This one smells pretty good on me. I can't really pick out individual notes, though it reminds me a bit of Antique Lace with something else (maybe citrus, maybe musk, maybe different florals). Everything melds together when it's on my skin. I made a spray out of one of my imps, and it smells very different on my clothes - way more lemon and less powdery vanilla. I somehow ended up with three imps of this, which I think I'll be keeping. Zephyr's nice and light for hot summer days.

Wulric wasn't even on my radar when Act 3 first came out, but I figured I'd give it a try after seeing a few good reviews. To me, it smells like Villain with a little bit cocoa and vanilla. The cocoa becomes a little heavier when I wear it (chocolate/cocoa amps up on my skin), but as time passes, it turns into a classic cologney scent. It's gorgeous. I need a bottle in my next order, as I think it's going to be in regular rotation this summer.

Yum! When I first started reading the reviews I was worried about the vetiver, but it's turned out lovely. For those of you familiar with Lush products, this smells almost exactly like Trichomania with a bit of Snake Oil. As I wear it, the coconut comes out more strongly, until finally I'm left with a sweetened Snake Oil. I'm impressed with this one!

This smells exactly like I thought it would. Rather masculine and traditionally cologney and slightly floral, but I think women could still wear it. It's heavy on the greenery at first, but the resins come out more as it dries down. I'm really glad I finally got to try this - I've been trying to get my hands on it since the original came out.

From the bottle, this kinda scares me - it doesn't smell like something I think I would wear. Once I've put it on, it smells like a scent I tried when I was new to BPAL, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. It's very heavy on the incense, at least at first. As it dries down, it turns more sweet. The final scent is heavy on the benzoin, which I'm very happy about. It also has a bit of caramel and honey, and a touch of spice. Very nice!

I really wanted to try this one, based on the reviews, ingnoring the fact that several of the notes really don't work on me (peach, rose, orange blossom). I smell mostly peach and orange blossom and a little rose when I've just put it on. The honey comes out more strongly later, but the scent is still dominated by the orange blossom/peach mixture. This makes me sad, as I don't really care for orange blossom or peach. Alas.

This just came in the mail yesterday, and already both the girl and I are in love. On me, it's a dead ringer for Skadi (note - I haven't done a side by side comparison, but from my memory, it's identical). On her, it's much more piney and less sweet. Very different, but nice either way. I'm glad I splurged and bought an entire bottle.

I find Eve is very heavy on the Ylang-ylang. It smelled almost pure to me, which is surprising, as my skin amps rose and makes it overpower everything else.

Not at all what I was expecting. I hardly get any fig from this one, but instead a creamy/herbal scent is coming out. I love it. It kinda reminds me of the baby bee stuff from Burt's Bees. I never thought I'd say this about a fig scent (which I normally detest), but I need a bigger bottle of this!

So now that the CD orders are rolling in, what are the labels looking like? Are they smaller versions of the art on the webpage? Or something completely different?

I'm glad I swapped for a decant of Et Lux Fuit - the note listing didn't appeal to me, so I didn't order any. Initially, it reminds me a lot of Alice, though less creamy. As it dries, the florals come out more. They're not perfumey florals, but more what you would smell in someone's flower garden. I get a touch of citrus too, but not as much as I was expecting from the listed notes. ELF is a perfect summer scent, or (I would imagine) for the dead of winter when you haven't seen the sun in months. I'm definintely going to keep it around, and possibly track down a larger bottle.

To me, the Mouse smells like the unholy love child of Sin and Pink Phoenix, with a bit of the vanilla from Antique Lace. It's positively gorgeous. Wet, it's almost a dead ringer for Pink Phoenix. I can almost smell the strawberry from PP. As the scent becomes closer to the drydown of Sin - amber and sandalwood, but a bit sweeter. I need a bottle of this - all my favorite notes in one perfume.

Not something I would have picked on my own - Rose is bad on me, and ylang ylang is iffy. Eve starts out light, sweet, and a little powdery, but after hitting my skin the ylang ylang dominates, even over powering the rose. After being on my skin for a while longer, the rose is a little more noticable closer to my skin, but the waft is all ylang ylang - no rose, no honey, no apple blossom. I don't think I'm a fan, honestly.

Hungry Ghost Moon is the first bottle of a lunacy that I've bought in a long while. Wet, it's mostly grapefruit, with a sweet, slightly woody background. It dries down to the sweet woody scent - the grapefruit all but disappears. I was hoping for more ginger and vanilla, but what I do get from it is better than I anticipated. The only downside is that it doesn't last very long on me - 3-4 hours, tops.