dawndie

Wet: super-fake cucumber lotion On skin: zucchini! or a more rustic cucumber Half-hour later: cucumber salad with lawn clippings vinaigrette In conclusion: this is a sour side of green, with a vinegar edge (could it be the corrupting power of the political process?). Fun concept though!

In bottle: bitter herbal On skin: soft and sweet, especially from the Shub-like ginger Half-hour later: continues to be almost-powder soft and almost-sweet herbs In conclusion: tartchef's review above mentioned "milky" and that's exactly how it's proceeding on me. This ends up in the same family as Snow White and Snow-Flakes, a soft-sweet-creamy floral.

In bottle: fruity red wine On skin: wine with strong sweet pomegranate Half-hour later: musty-dusty wine with that "blood" note, like something catching in the back of my throat. In conclusion: pomegranate and dark wine are favorite notes of mine, and I'm hoping the dusky leather and tonka will appear upon aging. Another luscious dark winey blend like Blood Garden and Wanda, very nice!

In bottle: dusty musk On skin: the red musk blooms right away, somewhat unusual as in other blends it takes a while to appear. Punchy mandarin too Half-hour later: there's a melange of subtley dusky florals, one isn't stronger than any other. Pretty amazing, as rose or violet (both of which I like) can succinctly overpower everything else. The base is red musk with a bit of Southern sweet tea In conclusion: this hints around a sweeter Chrysanthemum Moon. Many of these Salons are so sophisticated, and this is the first Salon bottle I've purchased. Lovely!

Wet: uh oh, ashtray On skin: yep, lots of gritty ash. Can't say I'm surprised Half-hour later: just when I couldn't take it anymore, this one softens a bit with what seems like juicy hearts of palm In conclusion: I was afraid this would be a "yuck" blend, but it ended up pretty interesting. I would enjoy this as an incense, just not as a perfume

Wet: woods & grass On skin: green green fields, amazing! Half-hour later: the fir is trying to bully its way in, but the field-greenery ain't havin' it In conclusion: this blend is just so fresh and perky. I want my house to smell like this all the time!

Wet: dusty apples On skin: apples and dusty hay, very outdoorsy Half-hour later: oats sweetened with apples In conclusion: I liked the apples & hay, it smelled like a walk outside a stable. Later it smelled like I fell in the feed trough, which I didn't enjoy as much. I can't argue with the description though, it was spot-on!

Wet: phoo, acetone! Nail polish remover is a bad start On skin: blast of stinky chemical, then what a change! There's the tang of booze and dirt of barley, but everything's melting together into a sweet fizziness, like a lemon cola Half-hour later: it's fading fast, but I still get lemon and powder (?) In conclusion: this was a weird one, it's so lemon-citrussy on me. I've been ordering bourbon sours lately and it smells like those taste. Nothing at all like I expected, much sweeter and lighter.

Wet: fairly strong rose essence On skin: beautiful light rose Half-hour later: the rose has sweetened up a bit; no cream standing out In conclusion: I have an imp of the White Rose SN so of course I was looking forward to trying a "honeyed cream" version. Cream notes sometimes go "off" on me, but the pure loveliness of the soft rose and honey keeps the cream in check. This is a beautiful blend!

Wet: spicy orange On skin: apple cider, warm and delicious Half-hour later: cider that's gone slightly bitter (from the smoke or leather, I'm not sure) In conclusion: this is a yummy cider scent, but fairly generic. I liked To Autumn as the "cider with a twist of weird" much more.

Wet: sweetened roses On skin: dusty light roses, sweetened with a bit of cactus juice Half-hour later: the distinctive tobacco of Hellfire has appeared, but it's lightened and diffused with the dusty roses In conclusion: this is a delicious and unique blend, and I already have a bottle winging its way to me. I really like this one

Wet: sweet smoke (?) On skin: cidery apples, yum! Half-hour later: the cider apples are rolling through the woods In conclusion: this is like Punkie Night and Hex '05 rolled into one. The delicious apples mixing with the dark woods is wonderful. I love this and want a bottle!

Wet: Storm Moony ozone On skin: blast of ozone with a bloop of resin Half-hour later: not much morph, soapy light ozone floating above resiney incense In conclusion: I liked this a lot more than I thought I would; reminds me of the Cracked Bell. The incense and "chilly night air" is a good combo. Probably not bottle-worthy but I'm definitely keeping the decant.

Wet: strawberry syrup On skin: sugar jolt, with a teeny hint of the "burnt sugar" of Sugar Skull Half-hour later: almost gone! A bit of the blue sugar and strawberry remains In conclusion: others have mentioned Sugar Moon and I agree, especially the wispy ending. Cute description too!

Wet: water with a bit of chlorine On skin: watery pumpkin Half-hour later: the soft dusty leather that I love is there, but that and the sweet cakey pumpkin are being smooshed by a giant glob of pine tar In conclusion: while most of the pumpkin blends are too foody for me, this one was an interesting morpher. If it had another element other than the pine pitch, this would be bottle-worthy.

Wet: faint cologne On skin: spice! Half-hour later: this smells "rooty" with the tobacco and High John, more like a voodoo blend In conclusion: this wasn't as masculine as I feared from the bay rum and tobacco. While I could wear this occasionally, this would smell AMAZING on a guy, so I'll keep an eye out for some for my husband. Love the backstory and fun to try!

In bottle: sweet dust On skin: lots of resins and dust (myrrh is quite dusty on me) Half-hour later: a bit softer and sweeter with rose, but this isn't the all-encompassing BPAL Rose that I'm used to in other blends; this is subtle and deferential to the resins In conclusion: I love me a good resin blend, especially without any accompanying wood notes (which end up too sharp). This is like the opposite of Parlement of Foules, which is lots of soft rose with barely any resin. Serene and lovely.

In bottle: fruit tartlet On skin: blueberry and tangy ginger, not too sugary sweet Half-hour later: the fruit has mellowed with the creamy vanilla. The green tea is strong too, bright and vivacious In conclusion: blueberry is a new ingredient for me to try, and it fits well with my love for the "dark fruit" blends. This isn't all candy-sweet, but a more grown-up blend with the tea and vanilla. Kooky concept with a delicious result.

In bottle: sweet green pine On skin: lots of outdoor greenery with bits of bark. I like the fresh green fir, as opposed to pine which end up as masculine dark cologne Half-hour later: the greenery sure likes hanging around, but there's a creamy incense warming nearby In conclusion: I didn't buy this when it was initially released, as I have a bottle of Hexennacht 2005 which is awesome and how could this new version compete? Hex '05 is all sweet smoky goodness, and Hex '08 is very green in comparison. This is enjoyable in its own right however, especially the ending, and I'm glad I finally tried it.

In bottle: barely-there red wine On skin: mmm, the red wine blooms, sweet and viscous Half-hour later: the wine has turned bitter from the orange peel, with patchouli adding a bit of black dirt In conclusion: I received a decant of Fortunato when this series was initially released way back when, thinking I'd love it. I didn't like how it ended, however, and gave the decant to my husband. He liked this one the most out of the imps/decants I've asked him to try over the years, so I recently bought him a bottle. It really does smell great on him!

In bottle: barely-there pink perfume On skin: blast of musky sweet incense Half-hour later: pink and red and pink and red! The waft is dusty pink florals, but up close is smutty musk, sweetened by the black currant In conclusion: red musk almost always works on me, so I had to try this one. I love the sweet incensey feel, with the flowers giving a feminine edge.

In bottle: sweet wine On skin: the wine has soured a bit, but has a sweet cocoa-like edge Half-hour later: dustier wine with the oak and soft leather In conclusion: this definitely has a "classic BPAL" feel to it, probably because it reminds me a lot of Wanda -- one of the first bottles I purchased and a favorite GC blend. I appreciate that this leather isn't the shiny black stuff, but duskier and milder. A beautiful sweet wine blend.

In bottle: light floral On skin: sweet and almost foody florals like one of the Asian blends, especially Tamamo-no-Mae Half-hour later: the dark fruit has appeared, shyly peeking around the corner, and there's a slightly dusty woody base In conclusion: I thought from the first few ingredients this would be a very fruity blend, and I'll take the dark fruit blends any day of the week. In this one the sugary flowers are the strongest on me, but I have hope that this will darken as it ages. Very pretty!

In bottle: fizzy cherry On skin: watery cola Half-hour later: drunken almonds! Almonds soaking in rum In conclusion: this blend was like a boozier Port-au-Prince, almost medicinal with the extra alcohol. Port-au-Prince lasts forever on me, however, and Te Po disappears pretty quickly.

In bottle: sharp lemon On skin: coconutty citrus, like Tarot: The Star Half-hour later: the coconut has gone from juicy meat to dry husk. Wood will amp on me like nobody's business, but any sharpness is tempered by the sweet sugary lemon In conclusion: this is quite a morpher; I picture a tropical drink arriving in a hollowed-out coconut, and after the drink is gone you have the empty shell that's sticky from the booze and juice. I wish it would hang around more, but I'm glad I have a bottle to drunkenly slosh around.