Brianne

In the bottle: Lotus On me: Spicey lotus. If you haven't tried lotus - it smells like bubblegum mostly. Not much else to say about this honestly. Final note: I dislike lotus, so this is not for me.

In the bottle: Stinky gym socks On me: Ugh. This is awful on me. Just plain awful. The cedar definitely comes through, but the lotus and incense and spice notes combine with it to make an odd smell that reminds me of dirty socks. Or an old closet with mothballs. Final note: Not for me at all. I dislike cedar a great deal though, it never works on me, so this probably works fine on a lot of other people.

In the bottle: Crisp and tart citrus On me: This is a very lovely citrus - it's crisp and tart, and fresh smelling. But it still has a nice hint of sweetness so that it doesn't become too bitter smelling. I can't tell the notes apart, it is just a general citrusy scent, but it's very nice. Final note Citrus lovers would be doing themselves a favor to get this

In the bottle: Sweet and bubblegummy On me: I had to try this on twice, because the first time I didn't get much from it other than a slight fruity sweetness and after reading the reviews, I really wanted to smell this cotton candy like note. The second time, I finally got it. This is slightly fruity, but I can't identify WHAT fruit to be honest. It just has that general fruity thing going on. But more than that, it DOES smell like cotton candy and sugar. It has that sugary pink thing going on. ANyone who is a fan of the perfume called "Pink Sugar" would probably find this to be a great compliment to it. Final note: I'm not usually into sweet or fruity smells, but this is so fun and appealing. I'm so glad I gave this a second chance, because I hated it the first time, and now I love it. It's not something I'd wear on ar egular basis, but it sure is a mood lifter!

In the bottle: Buttery and super sweet tobacco On me: This is a pretty heavy scent at first, it's very sweet and buttery and just kind of overwhelming. Like standing in a closed room full of people smoking cigars, drinking rich liquors, and lounging in leather highback chairs. It's got that smothering sort of quality, and yet is rather luxurious too. It does end up drying a bit lighter, but it's still rather sweet smelling and the tobacco note is pretty prominent here. Nice incense note in this as well. Final note: I don't know that I'd wear this very often, but it definitely is the perfect scent for what it represents!

In the bottle: A light version of dragon's blood On me: This is dragon's blood with extra spice and nice helping of sensual, warm musk. This changed a lot on me for the first 20 minutes, it was always what I would call a "red brown" scent, in that all of it's stages were warm and spicey and smooth. It settles into a beautifully spicey and smooth scent though with a nice dragon's blood backing. Final note: Beautiful scent, I love how womanly and mature this is, and it's sexy without being in your face SEX. It's understated and yet bold at the same time.

In the bottle: Light green with a soft lemon note On me: This is a very light scent, the green tea note is very airy and light. There is a slightly medicinal like herbal quality to this - not that it smells like medicine per se, but it has that "herbal remedy" kind of vibe with it. The lemon note is very slight on me, I can definitely tell that it's there, but it's in the background, just complimenting the green tea scent. Final note: A very fresh, clean scent. It's not really for me though, I might like this on someone else however.

In the bottle: Bright and sparkling On me: This is not an overwhelmingly fruity scent. The peach remains light and airy and crisp, and there is a wonderful moss note in this that keeps this very earthy and grounded. Sort of like if the peach were just underripe and still new, it's got a great breezey peach smell but it's all green smelling too. Final note: This is a great scent, I love how airy this is, and that it's a very balanced scent. The peach is wonderful and that oakmoss goes with it perfectly!

In the bottle: Sweet and green On me: This is a very green, tropical scent - it's not the kind of green you get from something herbally, it's the kind of wet, steamy green that is perfect for a tropical scent. I swear I smell just a tiny little hint of banana though, and a tiny little wisp of floral. Final note: It's a pleasant scent, it reminds me a lot of Manila though, and the greens are a it too "wet" smelling for my tastes

In the bottle: Bitter and perfumey On me: It seems like this recent batch of imps I got have a lot of scents that just aren't working with my chemistry unfortunately. Medea is one of them. It's just a generally perfumey smell with a heavy powdery note, which I suspect is probably one of the florals gone awry on me. Final note: Unfortunately this doesn't work on me, it just smells perfumey and powdery

In the bottle: I wish I could say that this smell wasn't awful, but it just was to me - it smells like rotting grape and oregeno ? On me: Despite how awful this is in the vial, it settles into something much different on my skin. On my skin it's a heady, spicey incense smell - I can't pick out anything in particular, just a general incensey sort of smell - like a headshop, only with more spices. Final note: I don't think I'm getting enough out of this to properly say one thing or another about it, but so far I can just tell that it doesn't really work on me.

In the bottle: Heady and strong On me: I really wish I was getting what most other people were getting from this scent. I cannot identify roses, amber, OR musk in this - it's just a very strong, generally perfumey scent. Final note: Not much else for me to say on this one unfortunately, it's just overwhelmingly perfumey on me.

In the bottle: Sharp herbal with a sweet undertone On me: This is really only slightly masculine, this could definitely work on a man or a woman. I found this to have a wonderful woody quality, and that juniper adds just the right amount of herbal sharpness. Underneath that is a bare hint of sweetness - this scent is grounded and woody but refreshing! That juniper adds a wonderful little kick. This is also not an overwhelming scent - I often find woody scents to be a little overwhelming, but this is very understated but sexy. Final note: Delicious but not in a foody way! ADDED Oct. 6: In the bottle: A sharp herbal with a sweet undertone On me: A lovely, lovely scent. Though I think some women could get away with wearing this, it's definitely on the masculine side the way it smells on my skin. It has a barely sweet, slightly woody quality. It's refreshing and crisp thanks to the juniper, yet grounded and warm and sweet thanks to vanilla. Final note: A subtle, yet sexy scent.

In the bottle: Slightly astringent On me: Well I'll be damned. This is the first blend I've tried with dragon's blood where the dragon's blood didn't totally take over the scent. This IS primarily patchouli on me though, so it has that earthy dark quality to it. The cinnamon and musk really warm this up and smooth out that earthy patchouli, making this slightly more sensual. Final note: Dark red would be this scents color for certain. Patchouli lovers will no doubt like this one! Kind of like Anne Bonny's rougher older brother.

In the bottle: Spicey honey On me: This is sweeter than I had imagined, but still grounded enough so that I still really like it. The skin musk is exactly that - skin musk. It's like the smell of warm, clean skin - it's comforting and touched by warm, sweet honey. The cinnamon and ginger add a wonderful spice to this but it's soft and earthy. They also lend a slight smokey quality as well. Final note: A beautiful sweet musk, it's playful and I plan on wearing it often!

In the bottle: Strongly spicey with a kick of syrupy sweetness On me: This is such a strange scent, in that it's highly nostalgic for me, and I can't figure out exactly why. It makes me think of something, but nothing I can put my finger on. My Mom had the same reaction, but neither of us can place it. Aside from that, I find Al-Shairan to be darkly sweet and spicey, the peach and orange are murky and dark and have a syrupy sweetness to them, rather than be a fresh fruity peach. The clove and cinnamon are strong on me, but come off candy-like. It has a strong incense like quality to it as well. Despite the foody notes in this, this is not at all foody! Final note: Dark, sensual and a little bit playful. It's very unusual but I really like it!

... a singularly chilly, delectably ice-rimmed perfume. Revel in the gelid polar frostiness that is Numb, and forget about the heat for a moment. In the bottle: Soap :/ On me: I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in Numb. I suppose that's just proof that no matter how much we love Beth and her blends, there's still a chance you won't like something. There are times when things just don't work on me because of body chemistry. There are times when they work fine with my chemistry, but they aren't really "me", and yet I still like the blend for what it is. Then there are times like this when I just really don't like the blend (and this is a rare occurence!). Like a few other people, I snatched Numb up immediately in hopes it would contain mint. I found out the very next day that it did not. I still held high hopes for it though, the very concept of an icy scent, just thrilled me! However, I just find nothing about this scent to be "cold" or "icy". I think it's just a matter of scent association, what scents bring to mind for some people, it doesn't for others. This was a very soapy, powdery floral. Not soapy in the same way lily is soapy. Soapy like laundry detergent, powdery like actual soft boudoir powder - or some old fashioned perfume. The floral is violet like, in a soft way - but somehow - just doesn't smell QUITE like violets at the same time. Overall, this isn't a bad scent. I don't like it, because it's just really not the kind of smell I enjoy. But my Mom on the other hand, liked it and felt it was somewhat nostalgic. I can kind of understand, because it seems kind of old fashioned in a way. The final note: I don't care for it, it's too soapy and powdery for my tastes, but on the other hand, my Mom did

Fellow bergamot lover! Here are the oils that I tried that I found to have a good bergamot scent (at least on me) Wilde Fae (and what a great combo too, an unusual take on bergamot!) Oberon (this was the best one so far to me!) I didn't find that Alice smelled like bergamot at all unfortunately

In the bottle: WONDERFULLY delicious funnel cake goodness!! On me: Okay, first two points I think I should make with this review. 1.) I do NOT consider myself a foody scent person. I enjoy slightly foody scents when it comes to a body wash once in a while, or a candle or maybe even a lotion sometimes. But I would have never considered wearing one as a personal scent. I like sniffing them, but not really wearing them. Midway is the true exception to this rule. 2.) Of all the Carnaval Noir scents, I was excited about almost all of them EXCEPT Midway. It didn't sound great to me, and I didn't even include it in my initial CN order. I only included it several days later, on a whim! That being said, Midway surprised me. In a very good way. When it goes on, the first thing I smell is delicious funnel cake. It's warm, slightly sweet, and slightly buttery. None of it is overwhelming in the least. In the back of that scent I can smell a tiny hint of cotton candy. It's not in your face cotton candy, it's a wispy, light, breath of spun sugar. Beyond that I smell something slightly salty. Not the way that Jolly Roger is salty, the way that a soft pretzel is salty. It's a nice little balance to the sweet, and I also smell a little bit of taffy. This scent is surprisingly light. Not in the sense that I can barely smell it - in the sense that with all those foody smells, it is not heavy or overwhelming. It's intensely comforting. This scent also has incredible throw and staying power. Final note: Midway is a true winner in my book. In fact, it ended up being my favorite of all the CN blends. This is a real comfort scent in my opinion, I love to put a little on a blanket and curl up on the couch at night. True bliss!

In the bottle: Green, tangy roses On me: This is a perfume that contains roses that just go totally wierd on me. It's not unusual in the least, it's actually pretty normal for that to happen. But I was really hoping that those roses were going to be severely counterbalanced by all the other ingredients, which all sounded great (especially the vanilla and tonka!). Those ingredients never make much of an appearance, and this scent comes off as heavily "perfumey" and heady, with a green tang to it. I wonder if that might be the balsam, since I am not familiar with that note, and this sort of greeness is not really familiar to me either. The roses are slightly powdery here but not so much so on me. It's not really a "true" rose scent on my skin either. It's not a very good analogy, but it is honestly what it makes me think of - but this smells like someone took a rose, and dipped the whole thing in a vat of very strong perfume. That rose is in there somewhere, and so is the green, but then there is that perfumey and tangy smell of too much commercial perfume. I hope that makes sense! Final note: I have a feeling that this is another case of rose gone bad on me, and that for other people this will likely work much better.

In the bottle: Oh noes jasmine! On me: I am not really all that fond of rose OR jasmine. However, there are several blends by BPAL where they just work on me. However, every time I've tried rose and jasmine in *combonation* the smell is always the same. I cannot smell specifically rose, and I cannot smell specifically jasmine. But instead, it comes off as a wierd rash cream sort of smell. You know, that artificial, overly perfumed, smells perfumey but not for the purposes of perfume, kinda vibe. Those two together just never work on me for some reason. The myrrh never seemed to really come forth on me. Final note: I wish this was more helpful, but unfortunately rose and jasmine are just a dangerous duo on my skin.

In the bottle: Dragons blood On me: This is pretty easy to review, because it's honestly really very straightforward. It's Dragon's Blood (that slightly floral, unusual and very unique scent) and musk (warm and sexy). At first it's mostly the dragon's blood, but then it becomes mostly musk. Final note Very simple, but very lovely - if you're a fan of either note, you'll probably like this

Wow you guys, more great suggestions! I actually tried Jabberwocky myself and found it to be pine and nothing but, which frightens me a little (okay, so I'm a little scared of pine). Certainly green though haha.

In the bottle: sweet, honey like On me: I would say about 40% of rose notes go straight to powder on me. Sadly, this is among the 40%. However, usually when that happens, all I can smell is the powder scent, and none of the other notes. That isn't the case with this. Though it's still predominantly a powder scent on me, I definitely smell the honey (making this a sweet powder scent on my skin) and a tiny touch of the neroli. It kind of makes me think of what people traditionally term "old lady perfume" - it's got that strong powdery note with too much sweetness. Final notes: I wish I could say more about this, but the rose note turned this into powder and almost nothing but. To reply to this comment as well, for any one who might wonder why "powder" scents seem to be loathed around here - it's because typically, these aren't *supposed* to smell like powder. They typically only smell like powder because of a funky body chemistry reaction. Many people here have talked about what they got out of the scent that doesn't include the dreaded "powder" note - that's what the scent was intended to be. The only perfume that I know of that is supposed to smell like powder on purpose, is Love's Baby Soft This was supposed to smell like roses, honey, neroli, and sandalwood. If we got powder, we were unhappy with it for that very reason

In the bottle: Crisp and darkly woodsy (not woody - woodsy) On me: Ahhhh there's that berry. This is definitely a fruity scent, in that the berry is in the forefront of this. However, this is also a very woodsy scent, it definitely evokes images of a dark forest. It has that foresty feel to it, without smelling like pine or fir or something. It's that deep green smell that I think is from the sage and the green tea, but it's brigtened so much by this berry. After a while it's more like berry tea, it's really refreshing! Final notes: This is a really enchanting scent. It's not SO fruity that I dislike it, I would actually wear this. Very pretty!