peacocks

Bottle 226. In the bottle this is mellow, woody/mossy, a little sweet, and a little citrusy. It's not really what I expected from a Gourmand bottle. But it smells nice. On the skin.. oh, ROSE. Hi! This is reminding me of something... Séance. That something is Séance. It's that same dark green rosewood/roseleaf, but cut through with a slightly boozy, slighty sweet lemon. And something spicy too. I thought I was getting a bit of violet for a minute, but I think I was just picking up on some of the sweetness from the lemon. Sadly the rose is going a bit soapy on me the same way Séance did. I'm going to age this and hope for the best. Some other rosy blends have reacted better with my skin after a year or two. This is fun. I wish I'd ordered two!

A bombardment of edible carnival indulgences. Funnel cake, caramel apple, cotton candy, salt water taffy and sugar tart. I've wanted to try this scent for years and finally found a bottle of Midway Resurrected last week. Wet: Vanilla, cotton candy, slightly plastic-y caramel. It reminds me of a cross between Mouse Circus and Boo in this stage - both scents that I don't mind, but they're not quite what I'm looking for. Dry: The plastic scent is gone, thankfully. Now this reminds me of a more foodie version of Antique Lace, which is my favorite BPAL scent so I can't really describe how happy I am, especially because my only bottle of Antique Lace is about 3/4 empty at this point. The throw is quite a bit lighter for this one though. I can detect a little bit of the apple, but barely. (Not complaining - I hate apple scents.) I am sooo glad I found this

Just received this in a swap.. was intrigued by the pink-ness described and the sugar. I don't typically like florals, but comparisons to Hope/Faith intrigued me as I like Faith well enough. In the bottle I wasn't turned off, but was a bit worried about the blatant floral notes. Very sweet, but it was also very floral and a bit bubblegummy (not unlike Faith in the bottle). The pink pepper is in the background as just a bit of spice, but thankfully not too strong - this was a note I was worried about. It doesn't change much from the bottle when it's just applied to the skin. Floral, bubblegummy sugar with a good amount of spice and green. The sugar and the floral notes start to blend a bit more subtly. The scent gets a bit more powdery which I don't mind. After about 30 minutes this becomes wonderful on my skin. It loses a lot of the green and pepper and becomes a really pretty light sugary floral, not unlike my all time favorite scent, Antique Lace (which I use sparingly these days as the bottle depletes). It loses throw as it dries, but it's still a keeper.

so.. any new recommendations? especially from the limited editions that are out now?

In the bottle this is a pretty even blend of polished wood, peanuts, and popcorn. Maybe a touch of vanilla, but no cotton candy so far. Dry: Nutty cotton candy, sort of. It's more of a sweet, nutty vanilla to my nose, but boyfriend says cotton candy and "something else." It's more powdery dry, which I think is the polished wood. I like that it's not achingly sweet or buttery, but I was hoping for something a little pinker, and maybe a little less foody. I also recognize a bit of that burnt vanilla sugar smell from Boo, but it's tempered by the wood. This one's a little confusing to me. I've been trying to figure out how I feel about it since I picked it up 6 months ago... it has grown on me, but not sure if I love it.

somehow never reviewed this even though it is my favorite scent i have ever come across in my entire life. i took a break from BPAL after ordering this a few years ago (2007?) and when i came back, it was long gone. for me, this is the perfect vanilla... because it isn't like any other vanilla. it is understated in its vanilla-ness somehow. it is sweet, but pretty and clean. someone once told me it smelled like an easter basket. that is fairly accurate. if antique lace ever comes back......it will be a happy day. i've spent a long time looking for something to replace it, but alas i use lavanila's pure vanilla when i want a decent vanilla, but it lacks the subtlety of antique lace...

when I ordered Hope & Faith, I was looking for a version of Antique Lace that was a bit more upfront with the florals, and I got almost exactly that. In the bottle this one smelled like terrifyingly sweet bubble gum to me. After applying the violet comes out a bit more, but it becomes hard to catch over time. On my skin the slightly dusty sweetness dominates. The violet hangs around, but stays a bit bubblegummy. Faith doesn't come off as sophisticated as its rose counterpart or Antique Lace, so I doubt I'll wear it as much, but it's still a yummy smell. I think I remember my bottle of AL mellowing out a bit over time, so I might see if this one improves with age.