plumerai

I'm your strange sister, then. The few times I've talked with someone who knows what I'm talking about, it's "the lab"; in my head it's "BEE-paul." I feel silly saying "the lab" to people who aren't into it, though, so I usually just avoid it unless I get a compliment. My boyfriend just says "those scents" and leaves it at that.

First on, I smelled a deep herb, like a very dark mint of some sort. I didn't smell it in the bottle, and it disappeared quickly, but was nice while it lasted! It dried very quickly into a rich, deep spice: clove, maybe some nutmeg. It's like the bestest-ever version of Old Spice! (That's a good thing.) I guess civet works well on my skin, because I'm getting nothing overly animalistic. It is masculine and brooding and maybe a bit severe, but not so much that I wouldn't wear it. It makes me want to recline in a leather chair and read Chaucer while wearing a completely unironic pince-nez.

I can't add anything to the above reviews but just want to echo my complete and utter love for this scent. It. Is. Perfect. I'm glad it's unseasonably cold so I don't feel terribly out of place wearing it in March..

My experience has been NOTHING like what others have said! I'm smelling nutmeg, clove, a warm buttery feeling. I'd wonder if the imp were mislabeled were it not for the carnations that come out on drydown. Vascillates between masculine and feminine, but the slightly powdery drydown tips it a bit toward the feminine . There's a solidity to it, and a complexity that almost becomes too complex as times goes on; it's difficult to pick out any particular notes. Even with my different experience, the images conjured are much the same: intelligence, literacy, strength without being rigid. I picture a man in a sweater who miraculously doesn't look dorky in it.

I haven't tried many BPAL scents yet, but this is definitely the weirdest one I've tried. It smelled like I imagined it would in the bottle—violet and mint—though I didn't pick up on the "chilly, mechanized" tone. But when it went on, I got it. This felt very artificial, plastic instead of metal, but not in a plastic-perfume kind of way; I felt this was the intent of the scent, given the description. The violets comes and goes, and the mint was still there but not in a way that was identifiably minty (that is, I knew SOMETHING was blending with the violets to create that sharpness, but I wouldn't pick it out as mint if I hadn't known). After a couple of hours, it turns a bit powdery. This scent is very strong on me. My skin eats up a lot of scents—not this one!

In the bottle: Bright, sharp, lemon, crisp, clean, a slight herb, nice green tea undertone. Didn't smell the musk at all. Wet: Lemon was overpowering. Then the herb kicked in (I'm not sure what aloe smells like; perhaps this is it), softening the lemon. No green tea at all yet. Breezy, refreshing. Drying: Green tea comes back, as does musk, to the point where the lemon is actually an undertone. Musk takes top note, but it's very tidy: sheets on a line, early summer, children running around under the sheets, backyard gardening. Lots of white and yellows, from bright yellow to pastel to sun. Lemon rind, a hint of baby powder. Carefree. An early reviewer said that this was one of her first BPAL oils to smell like a department store fragrance, and I agree. But a really really good department store fragrance! I think it's the clean simplicity of it that lends it that feel.