Brianne

In the vial: Something bitter and "yellow" On me: Not really what I was expecting. This is kind of acrid and bitter and has a wierd funky yellow smell I can't identify. It turns almost immediately into a very cologney scent. I mean that in that it smells generically cologne like on me, it has that cologne vibe and seems much more appropriate for a man. Even then though I really don't get much else from this scent. Final note: That acrid yellow smell is really bothering me and it just seems really cologne like. Unfortunately I didn't get the same thing most people did

In the vial: soft rose with a green tang to it On me: This scent is pretty straight forward - it's a soft tea rose with tangy green leafs around it, combined with violet. The violet is really soft in comparison to the rose - the rose is definitely the lead here and this IS a rose scent. But you can smell the violet too. Final note: Not bad, since I'm not into florals I don't really care for it, but I can say that it's a very nice rose scent.

In the vial: Sort of a zesty natural smell, not quite floral but not quite herbal On me: Nope, that's herbal. I've never smelled heather before so I couldn't really identify it, but now I imagine it must be a sort of herbally smelling floral. This is actually quite pungent smelling in that herbal way and it's backed by a sort of tangy note - which is the blackberries. They are sweet or fruity, just tangy and tart and make for an interesting combo with that herbal smell. After a long while, when this scent has had time to fade on me, it comes off as a very soft pink smell with a very very soft sweetness to it. Final note: It's a little too pungent for me, and though it fades into a soft pretty scent, I don't really want to wear it for an hour before it gets to a scent I "kinda" like.

In the vial: Bitter floral On me: Unfortunately I don't have a lot to say about this one, it just comes off as generally perfumey on me. Not in a bad way really, it's actually kind of pleasant - and smells like a high end perfume. It's sophisticated and slightly sweet but I really just kind of get perfume from this. Final note: Not bad, I just really can't pick anything out in this

In the vial: Wierd grass smell On me: This is going to sound odd but on me this smells like *fake* lemon backed by honeysuckle and heliotrope. The lemon doesn't smell like a citrusy zesty brightness, it's more like a dull artificial smell. The honeysuckle and heliotrope are so heavy and sweet in this that it's a bit overwhelming for me. Behind all that, there is something just "off" in this scent for me, I cannot put my finger on it, but there's something that smells wierd on me and I don't like it. Final note: I'm just not really getting what everyone else is getting unfortunately

In the vial: Airy soft green On me: Ugh. Not what I was expecting at all. I was kinda thinking about something clean and refreshing and softly green and maybe a little floral. But the green smell is actually herbally in an unpleasant way. And the linden blossom is there, but the whole thing is really rather cloying and comes off strong and harsh. Final note: I was thinking this would be a soft smell, but on me it's cloying and overwhelming.

In the vial: A sweet, heady floral On me: This is one of those BPAL blends that is so unique and definitely not like anything else I've ever smelled, that it's a little hard to describe. The notes are so incredibly well blended, it's very hard to pick anything out over anything else. That being said though, it's definitely floral but not in a traditional way - it's a sweet floral tinged with a pinch of fresh earth and little bit of sweet alcohol. Whenever I think of socialite women in New Orleans, this is the kind of scent I'd imagine they'd wear. It smells like an upscale perfume and a glass of bourbon while sitting in a street cafe at night (complete with freshly bloomed flowers)! Final note: I don't know that I'd wear this much because it's a little too floral for me, but I have to keep it because it's so interesting!

I'm sad to say this is one of the reviews that was lost during the forum down time, because I had written up quite a bit about it and now I don't remember half of what I said and I must retry it hah! In the vial: That herbally jasmine smell On me: Despite that jasmine was the first thing to jump out at me in the vial, on my skin it's a zesty citrus! It definitely has some lemon but I don't think that's the only citrus in here because it comes off as a general citrusy smell rather than just lemon. It's very bright and zesty! That zest is really tempered by a down of jasmine with lots of herbs, very earthy smelling herbs at that. So this is really unusual and refreshing, but in a spa like sense. Final note: Unique, this makes me think of something they'd massage you with at a high end spa, it has that refreshing aromatherapy quality to it

In the vial: A soft aquatic On me: This one really suprised me. I wasn't intending on trying this until I got a frimp from the lab, because the floral thing isn't really for me and I figured this would be really floral. But, I ordered an imp (with a bunch of others) for my Mom for Christmas and she ended up not liking it so she gave it to me to swap off. So, I figured I'd go ahead and try it and do my review. And I was surprised to find that this was very much an aquatic! I don't typically care for aquatics that much - I like them, but don't find myself reaching to wear them very often. And I really don't care for florals. But somehow, this combines a soft aquatic with a pale floral and it just comes out *lovely*. It's very airy and refreshing and makes me think of Spring! It's just so CLEAN smelling! Final note: A beautiful and clean spring scent!

In the vial: Somewhat bitter, grassy smell On me: I didn't expect to like this one, but it was a frimp and I try EVERYTHING the lab sends me, so when I put this on and discovered it wasn't quite what I was expecting, I was surprised! Someone had said somewhere else on the board that they felt Namaste was a good blend for spraying down their yoga mat with, and I have to agree because it has that kind of "vibe" to it. It's soothing in a way and energizing in another, and definitely unique. That lemon is the prominent note on me, but it doesn't smell like pledge. Instead, it's bright and inviting and warm and it's surrounded by the soft warmth of a very subtle sandalwood. That patchouli sticks around to ground both of them and lend an earthy feeling to this. Final note: I don't know that I'd wear Namaste as a personal scent (though I just may!), but I want to keep my imp because it's a really pleasant smell in a way that's hard to describe *why* it's pleasant. I think this would make a great room scent!

In the imp: A very pale floral backed by a softly sweet vanilla On me: I can understand now why this was so popular. I don't necessarily think it's an "OMG THE BEST!" scent, but it IS extremely comforting and I think has the potential to be a good perfume for any occasion. I find the vanilla to be soft and warm but my Mom found it to be too sweet for her, so I will agree with the comments that I think it will be very hit and miss with the vanilla. The floral comes across to me more like a very faded jasmine - it's not in your face and you can't really tell except for a soft wisp of the floral smell. Honestly, what it smells like to me is if you found a very old lace shawl that was worn frequently by a woman who liked to wear vanilla perfume and then stored this in a drawer with an old floral sachet. All the scents blend together very well as if they've been "sitting around" each other for a long time, and nothing really overwhelms this scent. Final note: Very soft and pretty and feminine, not in my top 10 but definitely one I will need a bottle of eventually!

In the bottle: Very pale pale apricots On me: This wasn't what I was expecting at all. I'm not a big drinker, so I couldn't identify the smell of brandy for the life of me. But, I had in my head that it would be rich and sweet and heavy. But it really REALLY wasn't. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite. The apricot is just barely there, it's so faint and soft and I wasn't expecting that. When I put this on and it dried I thought to myself, "Hey that smells like something..... something I use. It's really familiar" and I knew that there was SOMETHING in my house that smelled like that. So I went to the bathroom and bam it hit me. St. Ives apricot scrub. If you use that - go smell it. That's what this smells like. Honestly, on me it smells like a DUPE of the apricot scrub. It's such a faint, barely there apricot smell underneath a pale green herbal smell. It's very light and refreshing and green... Final notes: Again, I would describe this scent as pale green. It's not heavy, it's a barely there apricot, and it smells just like St. Ives Apricot Scrub lol.

In the bottle: A heady white floral On me: I wish I could say something more than what I'm about to say, but the truth is - it's just straight up soapy floral on me. There must be lily in this because it sure smells like soapy lily. It's also very very strong. Final notes: Nope, just soapy floral I'm afraid

I'm going from memory here of my last review, which was lost during the forum fiasco. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. I was a little worried about the dragons blood because dragons blood goes floral on me. And I'm fine with it's usual floral smell if it's combined with something sweet or musky, but I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out in this scent. As it turns out - it doesn't go floral on me at all! I was so surprised to find that for the first time it was husky, sweet scent. And the cocoa is beautiful in this - it's warm and sweet and rich and the whole scent comes off as pure warmth. If warmth had a smell, this would be it. And despite the sweetness and the cocoa, this isn't foody. It's not like a dessert scent. The spice is wonderful - I can't really identify any spice over another, it just comes off as vaguely spicey in the midst of that warm cocoa. And the blood musk? Doing it's usual wonderful thing on me and going slightly sweet and musky warm too. This is gorgeous, I'm so glad I have it! It's like a bunch of brown-red scents got together and made the smell of pure warmth.

My review of this was lost in the forum fiasco and I found a new home for Usher, so my re-review of it will have to be from memory unfortunately. Some people had speculated that Usher might smell similar to Dorian and I ended up buying it on that notion alone, because I love Dorian. I had kind of imagined that this would be a more masculine Dorian and in a way I was right. Usher is like Dorian's older, more sophisticated and refined brother. He's more prim and proper, and certainly more masculine. I get the definite impression that it's something that would smell best on a man. And I'm all for gender neutral scents (most of my favs are neutral) and I think there are some women who can pull off the masculine scents. But I'm not one of those women, and this definitely seems masculine to me. I was going to keep Usher because it does remind me of Dorian and it has a wonderful musky vibe, but in the long run I knew that I wouldn't wear something this masculine. It is a gentlemans cologne, a refined fougere. It's as if Dorian and Villain mated. It's Dorians slight musky vanilla tea and Villains minty fougere. It is the refined gentleman of BPAL scents.

I got a pretty much empty imp from LittleGreyKitten - but it had a drop or two left so I could actually test it, and I was really thankful for that. I would have to say that I don't really get "evil gingerbread cookies" from this scent at all. In fact, it just wasn't all that foody to me. I really EXPECTED it to be. And in a way, I suppose it WAS foody in that it made me think of an old world kitchen - full of unique spices from all over the world with an air about the kitchen that smells of very earthy ginger. The ginger wasn't really as biting in this blend as it is in some others for me - it seemed like it was fresh, grounded, and earthy instead. It was a really unique blend, I detected some green herbal bits behind it too, and it wasn't sweet as I thought it would be. The green herbal flavor behind this has a definite "tang" to it, and that was back by a definite citrus zest. It was like a very dark citrus - and not the juicy part of the fruits, but the rind of it. I wouldn't have purchased a bottle of this based on the idea that I thought it would be sweet and foody and I don't generally care for ginger anyways. And it ended up different but I still wouldn't have purchased a bottle based on this test. It wasn't really for me but it WAS really very interesting and I can understand why some people were so drawn to it!

My review was lost in the forum fiasco, and EOM didn't work on me at all so it went off to a new home. So I will try to sum up what I felt about EOM from memory Usually musk loves me. I mean, musk smells great on me - if its a musk scent, I'm pretty much gaurenteed a new love. But I've just been unlucky I guess with Beths last two musk scents - Smut and EOM. Smut hated me and EOM was not fond of me. When I first put it on, I thought I detected that orange a little bit, but that was the last I saw of the orange, it never did reappear. The musk didn't do it's usual thing on me and being a warm, glowy scent - it became a very dry dry dryyyyyyyyy perfumey scent. There was definite spice there but it was just a general sort of spiciness, and nothing I could really identify. Also, in the later stages, this went a bit powdery on me which I'm going to guess was amber flipping me the bird again.

Sadly, my review was lost with the corrupted table fiasco. So I will sum up my feelings, sans my usual review format: Sudha Segara was not the sugary sweet, dessert smell I was expecting. In fact, it was surprisingly CLEAN smelling and crisp. I think it had a slightly masculine edge to it as well, though it would work for either gender. The ginger was rather biting in this, but toned down enough with the honey. I think it smelled kind of like if Dirty and Alice got together and had an ornery child lol. Refreshing and clean with a very very pale sweetness.

In the bottle: Fresh, bright cherries! On me: Wow, right away this is the interesting blend I had in mind. Cherries and licorice with a sweet musky down. It's so EXOTIC! I didn't get Kabuki because I thought I'd love it to be perfectly honest. I got it because it sounded interesting and I have a fascination with Kabuki, so I figured I'd give it a shot. In fact, I was kind of expecting to think just that - it was interesting - but not much else. WIth cherries (which I don't particularly like the smell OR taste of) and anise (which is cool and funky but I haven't ever imagined I'd want to smell like licorice all day) I had not even a tiny little feeling I would love this. But I DO. I DO LOVE THIS. It's so odd to say that it's not different than what I expected, and yet it surprised me in that I love it so much. The cherries go on strong, but after only 2 minutes they are nothing but a subtly sweet background for the anise. The anise is most prominent in this blend - but it's usual sharpness is subdued by the musk, and I find that it comes off more like an exotic spice than the straight up LICORICE! I usually get (though it still smells like licorice at the same time). It's spicey, sweet, and again - exotic. When I'm wearing this, I feel bold. I feel like I'm going to be noticed. Final note: Oh, this is a must buy bottle for me. It's simply intoxicating and so unusual.

In the bottle: Candy Cane of course! On me: There isn't a lot to say about this blend that isn't terribly obvious I feel. It's just like a candy cane. It's a super cool peppermint with a vanilla sweetness to it. It's icy but sweet and wonderful. It's so refreshing and wonderful, and as some other people mentioned - great for any time of year! It's got wonderful throw and is just all around fun and yummy. Final note: As a mint lover, I rejoice for this blend. It is amazing and I wouldn't swap this bottle of mine for anything.

I can't believe I forgot to review this! I tried it back when it was rereleased! I'm retrying it now for the sake of reviewing it because I obviously forgot to In the bottle: Very musky and heavy in an incense like way On me: After reading over the previous reviews it seems like most people got generally the same thing of spicy berries and carnation over a musky bed. And I WISH I got that. I really WANTED to get that. Alas, I am with the handful of people who seemed to get various odd reactions to this scent. My skin chemistry is clearly just not working with this one, even though it doesn't list any notes that I find to be a problem on my skin (except amber which tends to go powdery on me, but doesn't in this - I might actually prefer if it went powdery rather than what it's doing on me now). It's a very HEAVY scent on me. Heavy in a perfumey/incensey kind of way. There is no bouyant berry or carnation in this for me. It's just a heavy generally perfumey smell. I *do* smell berries in there somewhere - they are there, I know they are there. But they seem so buried by this perfume smell that they don't come off as spicy, juicy, or fruity. It's kind of like when you smell an exspensive perfume that lists a fruit in it as one of it's notes. So you know it's in there. But when you put it on, you don't exactly smell it in there, it just kind of smells like perfume. The berry that I am smelling is dark and surrounded by a cloying floral. Which in turn is surrounded by a heavy incense. Final note: It's too bad this didn't work on me, I love the notes - it's just in this they don't work on me for some reason. It's too heavy for my tastes, but if you wear this and get what *most* people are getting, I have no doubt it would actually be quite nice!

In the bottle: Extremely sweet and delicious vanilla goodness! On me: I'm not a foody scent person at all. It's not that I don't LIKE them - in fact, I often LOVE them. But only to sniff, not to wear. Despite that, I was drawn to Sugar Cookie, having read it's previous rave reviews and being in a holiday mood when I purchased it. I really wanted to like it. I figured if I was going to wear a foody scent, it might as well be one that smells like delicious sugar cookies. And, in the bottle and in the wet stage of this scent it is EXACTLY what I wanted. It's warm, super buttery and deliciously sweet. It smells like sugar cookie dough. It's wonderful. But, unfortunately, that lasts all of about 3 minutes on me. Then it turns into a burnt sugar smell - which on my skin smells a lot like pencil shavings. I didn't want this to happen, in fact - I tried it on 5 times in hopes that just ONE of those times I would get a different result and have a reason to keep this. Unfortunately though, it's always the same on me - blast my chemistry! Final note: If this stays sugar cookie on your skin like it is in the wet stages - then this scent is TOTALLY worth having. If it does what it does to me however - pencil shavings is NOT a yummy smell. So sad about this one.

In the bottle: A not-so-medicinal cherry cough drop On me: At first, this was a sweet and fruity cherry/currant combo. It was very *red* in smell. I don't really care for cherry at all, neither as a smell or as a taste, but I thought it was pleasantly fruity and fresh. However, that changes as the mahogony takes over and makes this very much "WOOD!!" with hints of cherry and currant. Unfortunately, wood of any kind goes straight to pencil shavings on my skin so that's what I'm left with. It's a very light scent, but on me it's still pencil shavings + a hint of cherry. Final note: If the wood didn't take over, this would have been a pleasant scent, even if it's not really "me". I will say though, it certainly is "red" enough to be fit for The Red Queen!

In the bottle: Something dark and musky On me: This is leather, but it's not so in your face that I feel it's one of those love it or hate it kind of deals. It's like leather with something more warm and comforting with it - like sandalwood. Only I don't know that it's sandalwood, it's just like leather on a bed of something more warm and earthy. And it could be the myrrh but it really doesn't come off as myrrh on me. It's a "dark" blend in that it feels heavy, but not in a bad way. Just in a way that makes me think it wouldn't really be something you'd wear to work lol. It is sexy in it's own right, and I think this would smell AWESOME on a man, but would work on a lady too. Final note: Not *quite* what I had imagined, but I'm not disappointed with it either. I will definitely keep this imp for the times when I'm in a "leather" mood and want something a little more aggressive to wear

In the bottle: Oh gawd, musk. How I love thee *rolls around in it* On me: Okay, so my expectations for this scent was a bit high. It has three musks. THREE. And I love musk. Musk just WORKS on me. It works *gloriously* on me. Plus, it's called Smut. So I was in love right away when I saw Smut listed in the Lupercalia update. Was I disappointed? Not in the LEAST. This is amazing. It's a gorgeous, sweet musky scent. I don't really get the booze out of this, but I definitely get the sugar with the musk. It has a sweet aura, but not in a candy way. Though I do have to say that my Mom first said to me when I walked by her wearing this, "You smell like a candy bar!". And I think that's due to the sugar note in this and also that there seems to be a slight *peanut* smell underneath this. It's not a strong note, in fact, I don't even smell it unless I put my nose up to it. But it's a note that I recently encountered in another scent I reviewed just a couple days ago - Sed Non Satiata. Which is a very similar scent to Smut in vibe. I figure that peanut smell is either the "cognac" note which could be present here in Smut as the "booze", or it's one of the musks. I don't consider it a bad thing though, without sniffing my skin directly, this just comes off as womanly and sexy and a little sweet. It's definitely reminiscent of the word "Smut" lol. Final note: A truly wonderful musk scent, so sexy! ETA: Feb. 24th, 2006 - It seems like the first time I tried it, I was just lucky with the peanut thing only being slight. The few times I've worn Smut since then it has been full blown PEANUT BUTTER! It's musky and peanuty in a wierd way that makes me think of people having sex with peanut butter involved... @_@ Alas, I wanted to love this.