elphaba

A gorgeous earthy, apricot. Apricot is usually such a silly, fruity, happy scent, but in Yerevan it's deeper and more mystical. There's something almost incensy beneath it...and later, over and around it...to temper the fruitiness. I don't know that this is an everyday scent for me, but I do like it enough to keep it.

I wanted to love Bliss. I wanted it to smell like that dark decadence of opening the container of chocolate chips and breathing in deeply. Instead, Bliss seems to me to be more of the scratch-and-sniff sticker version of chocolate. There's something slightly waxy or plasticky about it on my skin too. Don't get me wrong, it smells good. It's just not the experience I was hoping for. I'll be passing this on to someone who can appreciate it more.

... A vivacious, dazzling, merry scent: honey, ylang ylang, apricot, ciste, blood orange and gardenia with earthy, warm tonka. The lab is killing me with all these honey/ylang ylang blends I've been trying recently! Thaleia is girly and light, with the honey, ylang ylang, and apricot taking center stage for me. Something about it reminds me of a good salon. It's that sort of clean, happy, relaxing scent. I'm not sure it screams "Comedy!" to me, but it's definitely cheerful and bright. I think I'll be keeping this imp.

Probably influenced by the description, the image that comes to mine when I sniff this is that of white flowers reflected in a puddle, occasionally being marred by ripples as rain continues to fall. Szepasszony is a much sharper scent than my other aquatic floral love, Amsterdam. It's not nearly as sweet. Instead it has a high, almost fruity note to the floral. It's very fresh and clean. Unfortunately, this doesn't last long on my skin at all. Less than half an hour. I think it would make a brilliant linen spray, though, so I think I'll keep my imp for that purpose unless I find someone who's desperate to try it. Maybe the scent will stay on sheets longer than wrists.

Something about the way the rose and lotus combine in this makes it smell like apples when wet! It's bright, crisp scent, sweet and sharp at the same time. On drydown, a bit sweeter, with the rose making more of an appearance. I love how every BPAL rose is so different. Also, it's worth noting that many lotus blends go sickly sweet on me and this one does not. It's more like fruit than bubblegum. For some reason, rose scents really have been appealing to me for sleep recently, so I think I'll keep this imp around to put in that rotation.

Sandalwood! For some reason, I usually find sandalwood blends to be fairly heavy, but this one doesn't feel that way at all. It's remarkably airy, like the gentlest wisps of smoke curling up around me. I don't think this is something I'd wear on a daily basis, but I could definitely see using it for meditation. Er...maybe I should start meditating.

Wet on my skin this smells like, I swear, mildew. I only manage to keep it on because I know that the Death card symbolizes a rebirth, so I'm sure this must get better...eventually. And it does change. The mildew goes away and is replaced by what strikes me as an eye-wateringly powerful floral backed by some kind of wood. It gives me a headache. Death is so not for me.

Spicy with a fruity undertone. The ylang ylang is pretty prominent at first for me. It is definitely a golden, yellowy scent although I can't place what it is that makes it that way. Throw is minimal. While I like this enough to give it another shot, I'm not sure it's a keeper. There's something in it that reminds me a bit of Hellcat...the honey, maybe? It especially comes out in the drydown. I might try the two side by side to see what suits that sort of mood better. Overall, I like it, but it's not inducing spontaneous orgasms or anything.

I really like how the lotus balances the dragon's blood in this blend and vce versa. It's sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. Sometimes, dragon's blood is just way too overwhelming for me, but the high, fruity note of the lotus keeps it from seeming stifling. Likewise, the dragon's bloods stops the lotus from getting bubblegummy. I just took a nap with my wrist glued to my nose. However, lotus and dragon's blood are both notes that are seriously wonky on me depending on time of month and I had to test this three times to really get a handle on it, so I don't think a big bottle is in my future, given the limited wear I'd get out of it.

My first thought on putting Geek on my skin was, "This is a guy scent." It's the leather. Leather is always like this for me. Overwhelming at the beginning. Throw is great, but that's a lot of leather and whatever's backing it up is decidedly not feminine. I kind of tuned out and ignored this scent for a couple of hours until the drydown and, while the leather stuck around, it definitely pulled back enough to reveal a dry, cinnamony scent. I like the drydown, but probably not enough to keep this scent...no matter how much I like the name. By the way, Geek lasts FOREVER. Going on twelve hours, I can still smell it. Impressive.

Wow, this is what I was hoping Pink Moon would be like. The strawberry starts off strong and sweet, but it's more playful than Strawberry Moon. In the early stages, it smells a lot like my son's Berry Chapstick, complete with waxy undertones. The drydown settles into a sweet floral, the kind of floral I can almost hear the bees buzzing around now. It's a smell that reminds me of childhood, chasing butterflies through clover-filled yards. This is a bubbly, happy-making scent. It sticks around too. I just put on the sweater I had on last night and the traces of Pink Phoenix on the sleeve have rubbed off on me so I smell like it again. I don't mind one bit.

I love this. When I first put it on, I thought it would be a great autumn scent, but the longer I wear it, the more I love it for pretty much anytime. There's a chill in the background of all the warmth and sweetness of the musk and sugar that I can't place. It's almost menthol-y. It feels like autumn air in your nose. The musk is just right. Close to my skin, I can tell it's there, but it doesn't overwhelm me from a few inches away. It's not as sweet as I anticipated and I'm okay with that. As it dries down, it also warms up. It's kind of like getting drunk and having that pleasant flush once the alcohol takes hold. I wish I had more than half an imp. If this comes back next year, I'll be snatching up a bottle.

Hmm, there is definitely something in O when it's wet that's not agreeing with me. It's gotta be the honey. I really want to like honey, but it doesn't always like me back. This is sad. The notes looked so good. About an hour in, my wrist is suddenly glued to my nose and I'm taking those long huffing breaths that eventually make me kind of dizzy but it's worth it because this is goooooood. Seriously, can I get my wrists any closer to my nose? Maybe if I kind of smoosh them against it... Another hour later... still good. Warm and vanilla-y and very close to my skin. This isn't a scent to go wafting through the air. It's for me and the person embracing me and that's it. Why didn't I try this sooner?

Sniffing in the bottle, I honestly had no clue how this was going to work on my skin. There's a lot going on here and it's all kind of a jumble at first. The wet phase kind of reminds me of a high, shrieking, insane sort of laughter. The honey is high and clear here, backed closely by the carnation and I can smell the sandalwood lurking in the background like some darkness threatening to cut the laughter short in an instant. The drydown is much darker, but also less jumbled. It's very dry, incensey, and a bit smokey. The florals disappear almost entirely and a subtle patchouli appears out of nowhere. I love this phase. The complexity of The Masque is pretty out of character for my usual fragrance preferences. I kind of can't believe this is working on me and that I'm liking it so much, but I really do.

I bought Bastet as the ultimate amber scent and somehow banished the fact that there were any other notes in it from my mind. Consequently, as I sniffed it in the imp, I found myself thinking "What's all this then?" as a blend of musk and almond hit my nose. I was displeased. As it turns out, though, the drydown is a wonderful ambery scent (thankfully, the almond quickly goes into hiding) that will layer quite well with the amber scent I fell in love with from Melt. I'm happy to have it.

Jacob's Ladder was beautifully warm and sweet when I first put it on. "Sophisticated" was the first word to come to mind and I was imagining myself wearing it with a little black dress and high heels. It kind of reminded me of perfumes my stepmom would wear to go out - the kind of scent I associated with grown-up women when I was a child. Something went wrong in the drydown though. One of the elements (my guess is either the ambrette or the costus, as those are the only two I'm not familiar with from other blends) went sour on my skin. It didn't stop me from reapplying on my neck so I could get another whiff of the glorious first wafts of golden sweetness. I'm going to give this another shot in a week or so, but I suspect the sourness will prevent it from earning a place in my keeper box.

I love this scent. but it doesn't smell anything like the description to me. Date? Maybe. Fig? Not getting it. Currant? Not as near as I can tell. Black herbs? I'm getting more of a spiciness. I would swear there's clove in here. Whatever it is, my only complaints are that the throw is fairly light and it fades quite quickly. Those are minor, though. This is decidedly a keeper.

Gorgeous, complex spiciness in the imp. I was really excited about Al-Shairan because it's full of notes I love - clove, cinnamon, patchouli, incense. On my skin, though, the fruitiness really comes out and I ended up quickly smelling of orange and peach. Granted, it really is a dark, complicated fruitiness and I suspect this is exactly what was intended with this scent, but it doesn't strike the right chord as a personal scent for me, so I shall be passing it on.

This is all that's good about walking into an Asian grocery or a natural foods store, taking a deep breath, and having everything mingle together - the herbs, the spices, the tea, the rice (I'm definitely getting the smell of cooking rice in this). It's a beautiful, comforting scent. I don't see myself wearing it out often, but I'm keeping my imp. It's lovely for curling up at home or for sniffing on my wrist as I fall asleep.

I was lucky enough to trade for a half imp of this--just enough to test. Wet, it smells like leather. Pretty much just leather. I could smell the patchouli in the bottle, but that was gone once it hit my skin. Leather leather leather. About five minutes in, I got the brilliant idea to not smell it with my nose touching my wrist. Aha! There's the bourbon. I decide to give the leather a while to calm down before passing any judgement. Wow, this really sweetens up in the drydown. Suddenly, the leather backs off and the patchouli and cardamon finally come out to play. If I hadn't read the notes, I would never have guessed it was cardamon. There's just a vague, sinister spiciness backing up the now quite mellow leather and booze. Throw is kind of light and, though I do like it a lot in the end, I'm not heartbroken that I don't have a bottle. In the regular catalog, I'd compare it a bit to Perversion and Tezcatlipoca, both in the "warm with a hint of wicked" drydown and in my skin's tendency to amp leather in the wet phase.

Woah, there's a huge blast of cocoa when I first put this on. It worries me, but it fades almost immediately. After only a minute, the cocoa is just a darkening factor on the leather that's claiming dominance over my skin. I'm also getting some spicy incense. It's good stuff. Patchouli comes out in the drydown to sweeten the show. I love the mixture of leather and patchouli. I'm not getting the flowers, but I'm sure they're there, keeping this from being too masculine. The cocoa is still barely there in the end too, but it's decidedly not foody. This is just how I wanted the cocoa to work. Definitely a keeper.

Wistful and vulnerable: lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose. Just on: At first, Ophelia was a sharp, wet floral. Almost, but not quite, green. I was surprised that I couldn't even really pick out the rose, which is one of the few florals I can generally easily identify. There's a pretty lightness to this blend. Dry: The lotus comes out in the drydown, as does the white rose, sweetening the scent considerably. This isn't a bubblegum sweet, overwhelming lotus, though. The overall effect is still light, with just a bit of sugar. Overall, Ophelia lasted about 4 hours on me before hitting the point where I would want to reapply. If I had to pick an adjective to describe it, I'd say "wistful." It's not something I would see myself wearing often, so I'll be passing it on to someone with a more well-developed girly side.

Boy, does this last! I put it on at around 8:00 this morning and at 3:45, it's still going strong. Desdemona smells like newborn infant to me. It is a little bit powdery, but mostly it's just pure and sweet. I do get just a hint of spiciness from the carnation, but it's just enough warmth to keep the scent from being completely cool and blue. Especially on the final drydown, I like it much more than I thought it would. It's not really me, but I like the person that it is.

Well poo. This has to be my biggest BPAL disappointment to date. In the imp, Grog smells like amazing buttery, boozey rum. I couldn't wait to get it on my skin and have the scent morph and turn into my dream pirate scent. On my skin, it immediately and definitively morphed into burning rubber. Seriously, it smelled like my car did the time a chunk of tire got sucked into the exhaust. Awful. Horrible. Of course, for the love of BPAL, I held my arms far away from my nose and soldiered on. It took about two hours, but the final drydown is sweet and sugary. It smells like the shells of Cadbury mini eggs. That's a very very good thing, but is it worth two hours of burning rubber? I'm thinking no. So sad.

My first thought on trying Queen Gertrude was, "Woah, floral!" The initial effect of it was so heady that I scampered off to check out the notes, sure that jasmine would be in the list. As it turned out, it wasn't, but there were more than enough other flowers to make up for it. I was actually surprised to see violet as the main note, because it didn't really come across as the familiar smell of violets I know from so many other blends. I will say that the drydown smelled very blue and the initial headiness gave way to an aloof, sophisticated, womanly blend. After about 7 hours, it's almost gone. I don't miss it, really, but I liked it while it was there.