urraca
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Everything posted by urraca
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A generous lab frimp. When I first put it on I get the coconut, and it is a really nice coconut, nothing suntan lotiony at all about it. Then a get a burst of hazelnut and a thick, sticky almost burnt sugary scent. And then it kind of vanishes. I've only had it on for an hour and all I smell is the faintest white musk.
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This was a kind lab frimp of a scent I had been curious about. I smell the orange, but weirdly enough, not the plumeria, which I usually really like. I find this unusual and pleasant, but a little too masculine for me. It reminds me oddly enough of Black Opal --- same mineral smell. It kind of makes me think of a South American guy. Not a bad think to think about.
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This is a very pretty rose scent that remains true from beginning to end. It doesn't have a huge amount of throw on me, and it does fade fairly quickly, but it is lovely.
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Lovely. Sweet, but not too sweet, green, but not to green, flowery but…you get the picture. The most vivid notes I detect are the osmanthus and the calla lily. A perfect scent for summer, I think.
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Lavender and lemongrass (or lemon verbena or lemon balm), this does what somnus failed to do. It relaxes me and puts me to sleep. I haven't noticed any effect on my dreams, but I think I'd have to wear it regularily for it to take effect. It's nice and I might buy a big bottle for those nights I am too tense to sleep.
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Ouch, this hurts. I love rose, and the throw on this is amazing. It really is just like a rose from a florist's fridge. I don't know how this can be possible. But when I sniff closer, the scent is really acrid and harsh on me, almost like ammonia. I don't think I can wear it. So sad.
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On me this smells like the honey note found in O along with a mixture of vetiver and some herbal and grassy notes that I recognize from the other voodoo oils. It smells good, but does it work? I decided to finally try it because I was out of town at a small conference with a bunch of people whom I hope will one day give me a job so I wanted to be confident while I was speaking and meeting new people. I guess I won't know until I get the job (or don't!) but I did feel more confident than my normal, shy self.
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Sweet, sweet, sweet in a candylike way, this is a little bit much for me. I always thought I was a girlie girl, but I guess not to this degree. It is pleasant and *very* reminscent of Dublin to my nose. I get a little bit of pine and a few flowers behind the sugar along with a juicy beriness, and the drydown is quite nice, but I may swap it with a more appreciative audience.
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Over the winter break, I found myself in an airport duty free that was advertising the Prada fragrance. Its notes sounded like BPAL creation so I tried it on. It smelled like amber and chemicals. Jacob's Ladder is what it should have smelled like. I agree with everything Olympia said about it in her review, especially that it smells like a big fragrance house perfume. When I read the description of JL, I focussed on the amber and tonka. On me, those notes provide backup to the more obvious incense notes of galbanum and rockrose, while the costus and ambrette lends a musky background. Heat magnifies it tenfold. It does have a masculine quality, especially at first, but I don't usually like masculine fragrances on me and I love this. What a triumph.
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Thick and sticky. Patchouli? Figs and dates. Licourice and honey Resins. Chocolate, yes. It smells like the incense used in a religion that is not mine. It smells like the incense that is burning in the brothel just before the drugs start to work and they rob you and strip you naked and leave you in an alley far from the main part of the souk.
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This begins very green, I suspect from the ivy, and a little sharp, probably from the lily, and stays that way too long. I keep waiting and waiting for it to sweeten, and it does after a coupe of hours when the white rose comes out. The lotus doesn't seem to add its customary sweetness, but it does give this scent a faintly watery quality.
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I was sure this one would go to plastic on me but I had to try this so-famous scent. I needn't have worried, hooray. I get a breath of coconut and a hint of pine at the outset but them it is just crisp new snow, sweetened in the slightest way by an echo of florals. It is a very unusual scent. So glad I got a bottle.
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I love the concept of this because of its associations with Cantabria. On, I get myrrh lightened just a touch by sour, juicy black currant. The effect on me is medicinal, kind of like a 19th century potion you'd buy from a phony doctor at a fair. I like it much more than I thought I would, but it isn't quite "me" and with all the beautiful BPAL to wear, this should go to a more appreciative home. Also, I love myrrh but it doesn't love me --- I am getting a bit of a headache, as I often do from it. By the way, I wonder where Beth got mandrake root from?
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Cherry, cherry, cherry at first, very sweet, backed by sandalwood giving it a somewhat incongruous dusty feel. The cherry fades and the neroli pops in quickly, followed even more swiftly by the rose. I like rose, but there are rose scents that are nicer on me.
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This is very faint on me. There is a sweetness, a hint of what seems like red musk, and a faint plasticky overtone.
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One passsage of the poem, "Dreamland," reads "For the heart whose woes are legion/'Tis a peaceful, soothing region." To me that is what Beth has created here. I do get the tuberose, which I remember from La Belle au Bois Dormant, very strongly and like that scent, Dreamland makes me feel peaceful, calm, and rested. It also smells just gorgeous. It is a beautiful, light, well-blended floral. It is a wedding scent, and "I want to be beautiful today" scent. So glad I decided to order it. Many come to BPAL for foody-patchouli-musky goodness. I come to BPAL for beautifuly blended florals that smell like flowers, not alcohol and chemicals. This a perfect example of that. I need lots of hearts:
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In the imp this smells just like the kind of alcohol the doctor rubs on your arm before you get a shot. Weird. But that vanishes immediately to be replaced by a green herbal scent that gradually smells and more flowery. The scent is green and vegetal, with only a few flowers, like a witches herb garden. It is subtle, but present. I'll need to try it a few times to see if I want more, but it is a keeper.
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This is very intense, almost overpoweringly so, aquatic ozone. It has a very lemonish feel but I don't think there is any actual lemon in there; it's just an effect. I guess that doesn't make much sense --- you'll just have to try it to see what I mean. After a while it tames itself a bit, and I prefer it. Eventually it fades completely, evealing again the Dragon's Milk I put on yesterday (man, that's strong!). I believe it is immoral to layer Beth's creations but I do feel Lightning would benefit by layering it with something quite different --- something musky, resiny or incensey. I tried it once with Fire of Love and that was oddly wonderful
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I like the honey and the milk note, but combined with the dragon's blood resin the scent has a very strong almondy cherry vibe that makes me feel like I am a block of marzipan. It's a little too foody for me.
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As others have noted, this evokes its name perfectly. It is creamy without being vanilla-y, powdery, sweet, and hard, just like an opal. It has a talcum powdery quality that makes sense, since talc is a rock too. Glad I could try it.
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Dana goes on me smelling like screamingly sweet cherry and marzipan and then fades down to plastic and not much else. So sad, especially since other milk and honey scents work well on me. I suspect this has a base similar to Sudha Segura which also proved to live mostly in my olfactory blind spot.
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I'll cut straight to the chase: it works. I'm a nervous traveller; I get anxious a day or so before I take a big trip. I used this before, during, and after a transatlantic flight over the holidays. It calms me down the minute I put it on, in fact I'd recommend it for anyone who gets anxious in a stressful situation, eg. someone who wants to sleep the night before an exam. It also seemed to help with the jetlag. I was able to sleep for a few hours on the flight (not always possible) and a quick nap once I arrived meant jetlag was not a problem. Maybe I should also add that Somnus worked terribly on me, kept me awake or in shallow sleep. As for how it smells, the dominant scent is a strong lavender, reminscent of the Wellandia bath stuff. There is also a deeper herbal scent that I cannot identify. It is pleasant, but the way it smelled was not my primary interest.
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It starts out with a sweet mixed wild flower vibe, kind of like Arkahm Revisted/Flower Moon/Vinland but with a soft pine note backing it up. Then the scent seems to literally grow up on my arm. It changes to a mature, almost powdery (but in a good way) floral. It may be the white rose doing that, but I don't normally get that from white rose. It starts out with a sweet mixed wild flower vibe, kind of like Arkahm Revisted/Flower Moon/Vinland but with a soft pine note backing it up. Then the scent seems to literally grow up on my arm. It changes to a mature, almost powdery (but in a good way) floral. It may be the white rose doing that, but I don't normally get that from white rose.