lady_pandora

Yes, this. Some of my "spicy" oils will give me a welt if I put them on right out of the shower, but not if I put them on at other times. I think sometimes a welt can be an allergic reaction but that with some oils like cinnamon and peppers, they can just burn whether you're allergic or not, much like the same compounds can burn your tongue when they're in food.

I'm totally ganking all these suggestions. I've just figured out that I ADORE orange blossom. It's...snuggly...for lack of a better word. If it's in a blend, it sticks around on me longer than the other notes and just seems warm and fuzzy somehow. This is after trying to figure out why I get the same feeling from both Les Bijoux and Tavern of Hell even though they're very different. I think I've isolated the reason.

Yup, Dove soap. This is not actually a bad thing, though. I like the scent of Dove soap, and sometimes I want an unobtrusive, clean scent. Lots of people use aquatics for this, but aquatics tend not to agree with me. I have been fighting a headache all day, and I kind of love Come to Me at the moment. It's pleasant without making my headache any worse. I can see this attracting people. It's not a blatantly sexual summons, more like "I'm nonthreatening. I'm clean. I'm honest. I'm innocent." In the wrong hands, this could do some serious deceiving...

Vaguely floral bubble gum, which morphs over the day into something closer to candy corn. I don't adore it, but it's pleasant, and I can see myself wanting to wear this in the right mood.

This was a frimp from the Lab, and sadly, it's going to get given away or swapped. I usually don't do well with ozone blends, so I didn't have my hopes up too high for this one, but I've found a few that I can wear and so there was a chance Lightning might work on me. Alas, no such luck. It starts out smelling like Sprite or 7Up or some other lemon lime soda, then morphs into lemon-scent laundry detergent. So far, not bad, but not something I adore either... And then disaster strikes. This turns, after about fifteen minutes, into something that is just awful on me. It makes me a little queasy, and if I had more of it on, it would probably give me a headache--I can feel that little twinge in my head that hints at an impending one. I can't place it--it doesn't smell like anything recognizably "bad" like garbage or poo or dirty socks or anything--it just smells wrong and sort of sick-making. Sorry Lab.

If you miss Haunted Palace, you might want to snag Bijoux Y'han'thlei before it goes poof. They're really similar to my skin and nose.

Frimp from the Lab As a disclaimer, I'm probably the wrong girl for Ogun. I am just not that into smelling like melons. I don't hate the smell, but I don't seek it out either. My first impression of Ogun is...melon soda? I don't even know if melon soda exists, but if it did, it would smell like this. I don't know what note is creating the sense of fizziness, maybe the juniper? The "fizzy" note is the first to depart, and soon Ogun settles into a sort of melon-body-wash scent. I almost think I detect a little bit of orange. I definitely don't get the various heavier and sharper notes that others have experienced. It smells like... Wait. It smells like White Rain Energizing Citrus body wash. (This is not as crazy as it sounds; there's way more melon scent in the body wash than the name implies.) Trouble is, I don't really like White Rain Energizing Citrus. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but I sometimes buy it when I'm broke because it's a buck, and I'm always glad when I feel flush again and can replace it with something I like better. Beth's melon note is nicer, I can tell, but the association is just too strong in my head: I don't want to smell like That Body Wash I Buy When I'm Broke. Sorry Lab Wait, I think I'm confusing bath products I don't use often. This smells like Drama Clean shampoo. That's where I know this scent from!

A frimpie from the Lab! Thanks Lab! I'm getting a lot of Fleurs, but not necessarily much Mal. This starts out as mainly rose. It's a nice rose, full and soft. I keep thinking I smell violet, too, but apparently it's not actually here. There's also something sharp underneath that I can't place. I only get the sharp note right next to the skin; the throw is a nice rose. The rose continues to dominate for a couple of hours, after which the note I keep mistaking for violet--I think it must be the wisteria, because I'm more familiar with lilac and this ain't it--starts to overtake the rose in the throw, while next to my skin it's gone kind of bitter and dusty-smelling. It's pleasant if I don't mash my nose into my wrist and get the bitter/dusty thing, but it's one of those oils I'm not sure I'll wear very much, because I don't really have a niche for it. If that makes any sense. I have rose scents I like better, and general floral blends I like better, so I don't see myself reaching for this one much.

I was worried about this one. I was in love with the concept and had to have it, but I bit my metaphorical nails a bit about the milk note, which sometimes goes wrong on me, and about the candle wax, which I was afraid would make me smell like the Yankee Candle shop. I was fully prepared to have to classify this one as "ritual scent only" and not one that I'd find day-to-day wearable. I'm happy to report that I was wrong. I don't even get milk or candle wax. Candles Moon starts out with a big burst of a snow/ice note. It makes my nose feel a little tickly, as these kinds of notes often do, but not enough that I can't ignore it. Then comes the blackberry; I think it's the same blackberry note that's in Bewitched, but it took me a while to realize that since the surrounding notes are so different. Here, I'm reminded of eating berries that are partially frozen. There's that sheen of ice on the outside, and then you bite into the berry and it's so cold but has a really intense flavor because all the extra water has been concentrated into the ice. As it wears on, the blackberry becomes more dominant and the ice less so, which seems appropriate since it makes me think of thawing. This is really wearable, really lovely, and evokes the concept well.

So, one of my all-time favorite BPALs is Haunted Palace. I didn't discover it until long after it had already stopped being sold, and all I had of it was a decanted imp. That decanted imp is now down to about one or two drops left in the bottle, and I had been stubbornly hoarding it. Against the possibility of apocalypse, maybe. Fast forward to this year. I knew, when I saw the Miskatonic Valentine's update, that I needed to try something from it. I'm currently starting to get very serious with someone who just might be that ever-elusive The One, and we have a whole series of inside jokes about the Cthulhu mythos, and this was our first V-day together, and you get the idea. So I decided Bijoux Y. was the most likely one to smell good on me, and ordered it. Got it today, and I just have three words: Haunted. Palace. Resurrected. With the caveat, of course, that this won't necessarily be the case for everybody. I can amp the living daylights out of even the slightest amber note, and so this is very heavily amber on me, with a hint of musk, and the neroli filling in for Palace's blood orange quite nicely. It's lovely and soft and sexy, but not in your face, more candlelight than debauchery. I love it. And I don't have to keep hoarding those last few drops of HP. Also a close cousin to Brisingamen, due to my amber-amping skillz.

Right out of the vial, this smells strongly of frangipani. I've got that bit from the end of Tori Amos's "Datura" in my head, where she says "Frangipani? Frangipani?" It's really reminiscent of Delight for the first few minutes. I googled "champaca flower" and apparently it can refer to one of the oils also called frangipani, so that's where that scent is coming from. Eventually the frangipani settles down to be part of the larger whole. This is a beautiful floral blend, and between the fact that no one note is dominant and the unfamiliarity of some of the ingredients, I can't pick out individual notes for the most part. I do keep thinking I smell jasmine, but if it were actually jasmine, my skin would have turned it to jasmine SN by now! I can also smell honey. This is gorgeous and unique. I think I'll be getting a lot of spring wear out of it. You'll like this if you like: Delight, Vasakasajja. It's a sweeter Delight, and Vasakasajja without the vetiver-ish note. Edit: 6.5 hours after application, I think this may actually be my new absolute favorite. I didn't think Poisoned Apple could be dethroned. This smells so good I want to make out with myself. I must have more of this!

This is really sweet at first, almost more melon-y than apple-y. It settles down in a few minutes to a soft apple scent, but so faint that I have to mash my nose into my arm to smell it. Half an hour later, poof! It's gone. I guess it works on a metaphorical level. The present is fleeting, after all! But for apple goodness, I'll be sticking with my beloved Poisoned Apple, which sticks around longer and has more throw on me. ETA: Retested 12/3/12. I've figured out what this smells like--lotus! This reminds me of that bubblegummy lotus note, though i have no idea why I'm getting that. The other dominant note is a spicy amber. The apple isn't really coming out at all. It's more like a thought of apple, like someone showed a picture of an apple to the lotusy note and the spiced amber. I am actually beginning to wonder if apple notes just don't stick around well in the aging process, because the apple is mostly gone from my Les Bijoux too. Verdandi is fresh and juicy and pretty nice, actually, but I don't think it's doing (on me) quite what it's supposed to be doing. 3/5.

This starts out as a beautifully pure rose. Rose scents can sometimes get a little "sharp," but this one mellows down to something really soft. The better to lull poor innocent princesses into complacency, right? After about an hour, sandalwood makes a subtle appearance. Ah, those must be the thorns. Rose is still there but now there's an additional sensuality that comes from the sandalwood. Best of all, I think it's Non-Headache Sandalwood rather than Headache Sandalwood. (I think it's the white sandalwood that gives me headaches, which would make this the red, if I'm not mistaken.) This is really sexy in an understated way. I like it!

Wow, this is lovely, a soft floral-incensy blend. If you can imagine a cross between Lucretia and Hymn, this is it. Dominant notes are the tonka (which I think is where the Lucretia feeling is coming from) and incense, and underneath that there is floral. I keep thinking I smell rose but don't see it listed. It's just the slightest bit powdery but not in a bad way.

An allegorical expression of the ineffable, indisputable triumph of death, generally expressed in medieval artwork as a violin or flute-wielding skeleton leading a procession of dancers to their graves. Black cypress with oakmoss, frankincense, oude, and a sliver of toasted hazelnut. Got this as a frimp from the Lab! This starts out very woody, though when I put my nose right up to my wrist during the initial stage, there was something that reminded me, inexplicably, of dill pickles. My friend, sitting on the other side of the room, said it didn't smell at all like pickles to her, so I decided to stick it out and see what happened. Fortunately, the pickle note only lasted about a half hour. The eventual dominant note--maybe I'm just thinking of this because I know it's got cypress in it, but it reminds me of this park in South Carolina that is intentionally "swampy" and has many cypresses growing there. If the scent were a color, it would be a very dark green, almost black. The overall effect is sort of dark and mysterious, and I like it. It reminds me of overgrown places in the South in summer. It's pretty gender neutral, too. I'm not sure this is something I'm going to feel like wearing on a frequent basis, but I do like it, and in some moods I imagine it'll suit me well. I'm hanging on to the imp.

Opening the bottle, the first thing that hit me was the apple note, which seems to be the same apple note as the one in Poisoned Apple, which made me quite happy, as PA has been my signature scent for the better part of a year now. I put it on, and the cinnamon and orange peel come to the forefront. Apple is there, but it's subtle. The cinnamon and orange peel have this lovely spicy holiday thing going on; it feels autumnal but also seems quite appropriate for the Christmas season. I can kind of see where the "It smells like a Yankee Candle" folks are coming from. It does smell a bit Yankee Candle-ish, especially during this early stage, but I love Yankee Candles and so this isn't a problem for me. It stays pretty close to the skin on me, never producing a Cloud o'Scent even though I had a pretty generous amount on. I kept thinking it had faded, only to get a delightful wisp of spice or of apple out of the blue. After a few hours, it dries down to a warm sweet apple scent, with just the slightest hint of smoke. The smoke is subtle on me; I have to be looking for it and have my wrist right up to my nose. Poisoned Apple dressed up for the holidays, that's what this is. Same apple note, but with cinnamon and orange peel instead of the "poison" herbs. I'll be wearing this one a lot. I've been looking for a scent that "felt" like this for a long time. The "feel" of it (though the notes are different) is similar to the old iteration of Hamadryad, before it went all wintergreeny. I am a happy Pandora right now.

Tavern of Hell? Naaah. More like Sweater of Boyfriend, and I mean that in the best possible way. Right out of the bottle, the lavender is kind of overpowering and, for a moment, manages to confuse my nose into thinking it's camphor. It's almost medicinal for those first few minutes. That goes away pretty quickly, though. After that, it settles down into a mix of a sort of general "men's cologne" smell and a floral that I couldn't put my finger on last night, but which I think now must have been the orange blossom. Usually the "men's cologne" scents don't do much for me, and Tavern of Hell includes several notes that theoretically shouldn't work on my skin, but there's just something so comforting and warm about it. Like I said, Sweater of Boyfriend. The orange blossom, which is pretty prominent on me, adds just enough "yin" to the "yang" that the overall feel I get is "woman in man's sweater" rather than just "man." Something tells me I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this in the winter. Edit: I think a lot of the "comforting" feel comes from the orange blossom, too. I used to have a lotion that was supposed to relax you before bed, which prominently featured orange blossom. Definitely a snuggly scent.

Origin: a frimp from the lab! This is an aquatic, masculine scent that doesn't morph much on me. It smells like ozone and the color dark green, and something that I'm inclined to say is vetiver, though vetiver doesn't usually play this nicely on me. There isn't anything offensive or unpleasant about this scent, but it doesn't feel like "me" or blow me away, either. I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm tempted to trade it away because I'm not thoroughly digging it, but on the other hand, the image of the sunless depths of the sea is one I've used for relaxation since I was about ten, so the symbolism is making me want to hang on to it.

I'm looking at the listed notes for Selkie, and I'm looking at the listed notes for Brides of Dracula, and for the life of me I can't figure out why they're striking me as similar. I prefer Selkie; it's somehow both warmer and more aquatic, like I'm wrapped in something warm and sitting by the sea. But there's a resemblance that's hard to put my finger on. This is a soft, fresh, floral scent that I like a lot, and every time I wear it, I get compliments.

I third De Sade, though from the description, Manhattan sounds perfect for when he's in Bruce Wayne mode.

I'd heard that Bien Loin d'Ici was a close GC approximation of Smut, so I figured it would work on me. Sadly, no. There was a "burnt sugar" edge to this one when i tried it. I gave it to a friend, who smells like divine incensey goodness in it.

This is a light, kind of delicate fragrance, and it's just what the BPAL doctor ordered for this hot weather. Rose is the dominant note on me, but the other notes add a "greenness" and a "wetness" to the scent. Strangely, I'm not really getting lotus, unless this is a different kind of lotus than the one in Undertow, Blood Lotus, or Forbidden Fruit; there is none of the note that some find "bubblegummy". It reminds me a little bit of Penthus except without the saltiness, and a little bit of La Belle au Bois Dormant before the plumeria nomnomnommed the other notes into oblivion.

I've been complimented on Smut by just about everyone, on Cerberus and Lilith at work (lol, I bring my own little slices of hell with me), and on Poisoned Apple by people who are close to me. The Apple doesn't throw much on me, so only my nearest and dearest can smell the stuff!

I've never actually tried Opium, the real one and not the crappy fake versions, but let me put in a good word for Event Horizon; I love it and it has some similar notes. Black opium, labdanum, opoponax, black orchid, and benzoin.

I totally got cave from The Coiled Serpent.