Little Bird

I like orris, black musk, patchouli and myrrh, so this should be made of win on me, but it's just okay. It has a smoky, ashy quality that keeps reading as vetiver to my nose, and the black musk smells sharply musky and powdery with the orris. Orris is usually sweet, pleasant and powdery on me and black musk is usually dark, smooth and powdery on me. But it's like they form into something too dry, too powdery, sharply musky, and unpleasant when mixed together. The sweet myrrh tries to hold things together, but it fails, and the patchouli smells very dry, acrid and ashy. The overall effect is like baby powder, fireplace ashes, woodsmoke, sharp musk, and hints of sweet myrrh. Harsh and discordant.

Neroli often smells like slightly spicy orange candies on my skin, and that's what I smell when I first apply Naiad. Then the lavender starts to build up in the background and smells rather sharp and herbal. The orange and lavender mix is kind of odd and unpleasant to me, so I hate this stage. I was hoping for this to be a sweet bubblegum-lotus and sweet lavender combo, but I never smell the lotus at all and the lavender smells really medicinal on me. Oh well. Lavender so rarely works on me. I'm not surprised.

First on... dragon's blood and almond? Almond always smells like boozy cherry to me (reminds me of cough syrup). Maybe a hint of cinnamon as well, there is definitely some sort of spice in the background. In the drydown I am getting the menthol Vicks scent that previous reviewers have gotten. Plus it's getting a bit of a baby powder smell to it. This is pretty medicinal and gross on me. Probably my least favorite of the Tarot blends so far. Sorry Ace of Wands

First on... (the BPAL note guessing game, lol) neroli, ylang ylang, and light cinnamon? I'm not sure. The notes are hard to place. There is a citrus fruitiness and an almost goldeny floral. I'm definitely smelling spicy cinnamon. In the drydown I am getting green floral and cinnamon. Like a meadow sprinkled with spice. It's very odd, and I wouldn't think that the combination would smell good... but it's quite pretty. I won't be getting a bottle, but I'll keep my decant around for special moments.

Unlike most people, I bought Numb hoping that it wouldn't smell like mint. And I am not at all disappointed . I love Numb. I'm actually kind of sad that I only got one bottle. When I first put Numb on, it smelled *so* familiar, but I couldn't place it. I just knew that it was making me feel extremely happy. I was getting major 'warm fuzzies' from it. Then it hit me - this smells exactly like my dad's shaving cream. When I was little and my dad would give me baths he used to give me a whole can of his shaving cream to waste at my leisure. I remember it had the most wonderful cool, almost powdery smell. Numb, to me, is being three years old and splashing around in a shaving cream coated bath tub with my father watching over me. It's so comforting. Takes me back to a happy time when my father was still alive and I really believed that he would always be there to protect me. Numb makes me feel closer to him. *sigh* I will always be such the daddy's girl...

Florals are not really me, they tend to give me headaches. Jasmine is my least favorite smell. I don't even really like citrus in perfumes. So I'm surprised that I like Versailles. First on this is like someone squeezed a fresh orange over the petals of a jasmine floral. Very citrussy with some jasmine underneath. Then the rose comes out and I really start to like this blend. The rose isn't perfumey or sharp on me, just dark and spicy. My skin almost always amps up the jasmine so that it's overpowering, but the jasmine is very light on me here. After about an hour this is powdery amber and citrus. And it all fades away in about 2 hours. The staying power isn't that great. But I like this. That's a small miracle for me where florals are concerned. Versailles is a nice citrus floral. I think that I'll end up swapping my imp as it isn't really something that I can imagine myself wearing... but I still like it.

I ordered an imp of Al-Shairan in my neverending quest to find a good clove scent. The patchouli was also very appealing to me. I think that I would go crazy for a good patchouli and clove scent where the two are nicely balanced. Maybe with some pepper thrown in there as well. But that dream never turns into reality on me, lol. First on: I smell like the finest of craft store potpourris! Several minutes later: Yup. Cinnamon orange potpourri. There was a brief burst of juicy peach in there, and an odd moment where I smelled some bubblegum, but mostly we've got cinnamon orange potpourri. Over time the orange is coming out more. It smells like candied orange peel and potpourri. Conclusion: spicy orange potpourri. And my skin started getting red and itchy where I applied this . Oddly enough, even though this reminds me of potpourri and I appear to be allergic to it, I like this. I would buy this to scent my house (I can't pull off citrus scents on me really). If you like spicy orange then I definitely recommend trying this one.

My grandmother lives in Arkansas. She is a very strong and feisty woman who cooks lovely things form scratch. Anyhow, Bengal smells like my grandmother's house. First on when it is still wet it is a wonderful honey and cooking spices smell. Sweet and lovely. In the drydown it smells mostly of cinnamon on me (reminding me of the potpourri that my grandmother uses) but there's something else going on here. It's like being in my grandmother's house when she is cooking a pie or some other sweet dessert. I wish that the cinnamon weren't so strong, it's drowning out all of the other wonderful notes. I was really hoping for more clove and pepper, but I only catch brief glimpses of clove every once in a while under the cinnamon. No pepper at all. All in all I will probably end up swapping my imp of this one. I don't like fragrances where the cinnamon is this strong and in the forefront, I like it more as a note in the background.

First on this reminds me of all of my favorite yellow-florals... honeysuckle, daffodil, and weedy green dandelions. It's floral, but not the sort of floral that gives me a headache. I actually rather like this. Unfortunately, there is a hint of something that reminds me of lemon scented dish soap underneath the florals. That soapy smell just gets stronger and stronger until it eventually overtakes the florals. I'm left with something that smells like dish soap and dandelions

First on this smells like very heavy lavender and anise. It's an odd fragrance. Somehow over the course of an hour this manages to morph into a spicy aquatic floral. In the drydown I think I smell carnation and a very slight watery note. Then the aquatic begins to get stronger and the floral starts to smell more woodsy. Very strange. I don't necessarily like The Magician, but I am intrigued by it and can't stop smelling it.

I think that I'm pretty lucky in the fact that I haven't fallen desperately in love with too many BPAL blends that I can't get more of. Grapefruit is always sort of harsh and dirty smelling on me, so I'll probably end up swapping my decant of this one. First on this is sharp bitter grapefruit rind. It smells a bit off on me, as always. There is a spicy peppery ginger smell sprinkled over the grapefruit. After about a half hour this has dried down into a powdery white floral smell. It is faint enough that it is not giving me a headache, but I'm definitely not in love with the smell. I am sort of relieved that I don't really like this. Now I won't have to go through the torture of trying to find some more, lol.

The raw, untamable power of chaos. Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood. This is delightful. Oddly, it reminds me of Cathedral with a drop of Satyr. The red musk here isn't as heated, strong, and fruity smelling as it normally is on me. This has more of the sexy, feral, dark musk feel that I get from Satyr. And it's mostly rich, sweet, resinous smelling woods (I would have guessed dark myrrh). It's really smooth and even the amber isn't going to baby powder like it usually does on my skin. Fenris Wolf is fantastic and sexy, and I *really* love this on my husband. Another plus is that this blend has amazing staying power and throw. It amps up like crazy on my husband and lasts all day on me as well. Good stuff.

First on this is perfumey white rose with a salty twang. When I was little, I salted my mother's white roses because I liked the way the sun made them look like they were sparkling. This reminds me of that moment. The smell, however, is not good to me. It's a headache inducing sort of perfuminess that is drowning out the salty smell (I love the smell of salt). In the drydown this is salt water and soapy roses. Like washing your hands in the ocean with a bar of rose scented soap. It keeps making me think of all of these broken, slightly absurd images. I don't really like the smell, and overall the blend is very distracting to me. It was still going strong after two hours before I scrubbed it off of my wrist to concentrate on my homework.

This is another case of a bad run-in with dragon's blood for me. It's very strong, cold, and almost metallic in this blend. And it's doing its usual rotten flowers smell as well. Rotten flowers and metal. After 10 or 15 minutes a bit of cinnamon starts to come out. It's a very sharp cinnamon and it's making my eyes water. Half hour mark - this smells like dragon's blood and old spice . I just washed it off. No more kissing serpents for me.

First on, Dracul has a very chilly smell to it. It is mostly fir, mint, and tobacco. There is also a sort of earthy dirt smell in there. It reminds me of a dark forest as the sun is beginning to go down and you're lost and feeling a bit nervous. Anyhow, after a few minutes the orange blossom comes in and the tobacco gets stronger, making this more nauseating on me. The orange blossom turns into that burnt orange rind smell that it always does on my skin. Then the overall smell is of too sweet tobacco and burnt citrus. Dracul will be one for the swap piles. The orange blossom just doesn't work with my skin chemistry.

Chuparosa was the soapiest of soapy florals. The God of soapy florals, if you will. I think that there might be lily here, as it always goes that way on me. Super soapy rose. Did I mention that this smells like dish soap on me? Strong throw too.

I admit that I tried this only because I wanted to see what it would be like before it was re-released. It didn't sound like something that I would like (I'm not a fan of citrus), and I'm not terribly fond of it. It has that bitter sour smell/taste of a lemon or orange rind. Very sharp citrus. Then in the drydown a bit of spicy clove and cinnamon mingles with the citrus. It reminds me of the holiday potpourri that my grandmother always buys. It looks like an orange stuffed with cinnamon sticks. I'm sure that people who like citrus will love this, but I won't be needing a bottle.

First on, Ahathoor smells like an edible carnation dessert. Perhaps like a carnation smothered in lemon meringue and a dollop of whipped cream, only not that sickeningly sweet or heavy. In the drydown the sweet vanilla and lemon candy smell lessens considerably and the blend takes on a drier herbal edge. I can definitely smell sage (a scent that I'm not fond of) and I think a bit of cedar wood. Very dry and dusty at the end. It's a medium strength blend with decent throw. I don't think that this is very 'me' though. I can't imagine wearing Ahathoor as a perfume.

Hades actually disappointed me. I was thinking it would smell dark and incensey, maybe a bit woodsy. It smells like light perfumey florals. I keep picturing white blooms laying listlessly on a gray tombstone in a cemetary of nothing. You know those cemetaries that are not... pretty or done up at all? The grass is barely even growing on the scorched earth. There are no smells. No trees. Just these damned white flowers sitting here, entirely out of place and you feel like they're mocking you. Umm... yeah. Something about Hades actually makes me feel angry. I keep picturing those white flowers on my father's tombstone and it makes me feel violent. I want to pick them up and tear them to shreds. I want to make them cease to exist. Very odd. The floral smell isn't bothering me like florals usually do, but this blend is making me so emotional.

Ra is a very lovely scent. It's not one that I'm fanatical over, but I definitely like and appreciate it. It starts off smelling like sweet green grass and bergamot. Very springy and relaxing. Then the green smell fades and it begins to smell of light lavender and amber. The amber goes softly powdery, but not in a bad way. Very light and pretty. It only lasts about an hour on my skin though.

Obviously, if you don't like florals you should stay away from this scent. If you don't like jasmine, you should stay away from this scent. I told myself that and it still didn't stop me from trying Eos. I never listen to common sense. I am fond of honeysuckle if it is very light. It's a strong, perfumey honeysuckle in Eos though. The overwhelming honeysuckle is also coupled with an overwhelmingly strong jasmine. This is headache inducing jasmine at its best (worst?). It's so strong and smoky that it actually started to make me feel dizzy. Another blend where the jasmine and florals just went way too strong on me and made me sick. I can't even explain how awful this is. It is FLORAL. The loud kind of floral that makes me prejudice against all florals. Boo on you, jasmine.

Succor was a rather light scent on me. It started off smelling like goldeny olive oil and then slowly takes on a smokier quality. It doesn't smell like woodsmoke though, more like the soft scented smoke of incense. And then after about fifteen minutes the entire blend turns into baby powder on my skin. It is VERY light though. I can barely smell anything at all, not that it was strong in the first place. This is a scent that really sinks into my skin and disappears.

My friend decanted an imp of The Star for me and told me that it is 'key lime pie in a bottle'. I love lime (the smell and taste of it), so I was pretty excited to try this. Then I read over the reviews here and realized that lots of people were comparing it to Spooky. Spooky didn't work on me, so I'm a bit worried. Mint usually doesn't work on me either... There was no need to worry. This isn't the key lime pie fragrance that others have described, but it isn't bad either. I'm not getting any lime at all, or even any coconut, but there is a sweet, creamy mintiness here, along with a sort of herbal tea smell. Peppermint patties, minus the chocolate, perhaps. Cool, minty, somehow foodie, and kind of herbal. I'm not crazy about this, but it isn't awful.

Lilith is one of the most bitter fruity scents that I have ever tried. First on all I can think of is sour thick dark grape juice. That kind of grape juice that is almost syrupy. Very sour. A boozy hint comes out after a few minutes, along with what smells like pepper. Normally I like the smell of pepper, but not mixed with boozy grape juice. This is a great example of red wine not working with my skin chemistry. After about a half hour the grape and pepper calms down a bit and is more playful. It reminds me more of jolly ranchers at this point. Then the rose starts coming out... soapy rose and grape jolly ranchers. Lilith just smells so weird on me. Weird in a bad way. The entire time that I was wearing it, I just keep thinking to myself that this fragrance should not exist. I'm going to make some of my friends try this to see if it's as bad on them as it is on me. I'm abusive like that.

Brings a rush of good luck, lifts the spirit, and helps alleviate depression. I liked Has No Hanna for the first five or ten minutes that it was on. It smelled like rich vanilla and golden spicy ylang ylang. Ylang ylang often goes a bit metallic on me, so that twang was in there as well. I liked it though. Then a hyper musky floral starts to come out (jasmine?) and this is STRONG. Not just a floral headache, a floral bleeding migraine. The vanilla and even the ylang ylang are gone. Brutally murdered. It's amazing to me how something could start out so lovely and turn into such pain (ha, this scent is like my first boyfriend).