Little Bird

Yog-Sothoth was another SiA winner for me, I am happy to report . It's a rather dark scent... reminding me of crisp night air. I can imagine this being heavenly on a guy. When first applied, I was very unimpressed. It smelled like dryer sheets and citrus. It was mostly the citrus sting that was bothering me. But that quickly faded away and Yog-Sothoth reminded me a bit of Brimstone. It smelled like Brimstone did on me in that it smelled like just cooled ash from a forest fire that has been recently rained on. Pine ash and rain. But there's still that cool/clean dryer sheet sort of scent underneath it all. It's a dirty dryer sheet though. Try to imagine this. A forest fire has just been put out by a cool spring rain and the sun is setting behind the trees. The night air and rain is cooling and simmering against the ash. Someone throws in a dryer sheet. Odd. But beautiful. I wish that it lasted longer on me (only about an hour and a half of staying power).

This reminds me of LUSH's Avobath. It's like a mix of lemongrass and bergmot - very lemony and slightly herbal. Unfortunately, I think this makes for a better bath scent than a perfume scent. It's too simple and slightly sour as a perfume.

Phantom Queen. Wow, this is such a powerful scent. It's floral and heavy, but I'm liking it (yes, me, the floral hater). It seems very dark, I see royal purple and black when I close my eyes and smell this. At first it had a harsh perfumey quality and even then I liked it. As it dries down that perfumey note goes away though and I'm left with strong dark orchids and apple slices. There is something dark and sinister here though, undearneath the floral meadows and apples. I would expect the woman wearing this to be strong, independent, and never taken advantage of. She is always calm, collected, and in control. She sees through everyone's garbage and doesn't take crap from anyone. I love her. And Chloe (my furry purring child) also loves the Phantom Queen. She followed me around even more than usual (didn't think that was possible) the day that I wore this. In conclusion, phantom queen is a perfect and powerful night time scent... I might even have to get a bottle of this.

I try Dana O'Shee again every two years or so, because I forget how bad it is and I'm like, "Milk, honey and grains! It'll be amazing!" But no, it's foul. The almond is the sort that has that high pitched, sour, maraschino cherry edge to it, and there's some powdery funk in this as well. It smells like a dirty rest stop bathroom where they tried to cover up poo & pee smells with that almond scented soap. Disinfectant over feces. I hate this one.

At first this is a citrus-herbal scent on my skin. Not terribly unpleasant. But it quickly turns into a soapy floral nightmare. Bitter rose and soapy violets. Still maybe a hint of citrus lingering in the background. The overall impression is bitter and harsh on me. It gets more generic-soapy scented over the course of an hour... before I washed it off with some actual soap going into hour 2. Good news is that the Arabian Musk never came out on me... maybe it would have if I'd been brave enough to keep it on.

I put off trying Hollywood Babylon because I really hate strawberry scented things, they tend to make me sick. I don't really like fruity blends in general. So it surprised me that I fell completely in love with Hollywood Babylon. It's not at all as sickeningly sweet and fruity as I thought that it would be. It is sweet... just not in a cheap or cloying way. I thought that it would be sickly sweet like some other strawberry cream type blends that I've tried (*cough* Jessica Simpson lines *cough*). For me, I smell a red fruitiness... but it's more like I smashed up strawberry and cherry into one fruit, not that they're acting as separate notes. Then it has a wonderfully grownup musky vanilla scent enveloping it. This isn't really foody to me. I think it's the first strawberry scented anything that I've really liked. It stays strong and potent for a bit over 5 hours on me too. I think I might have to put it into my future 5 ml purchase category

I was excited to try Penitence because I normally love frankincense and myrrh. And that's definitely what this smells like. It's a rich, golden scent. It's a little bit on the perfumey, sharper side of resins, and I prefer more of a smooth, sweet, darker quality. In the drydown, this actually goes a bit soapy on me. Still, it's very simple and relaxing. I like this, but I just feel like there's something missing when I wear it, like perhaps it's too simple, and the soapy drydown isn't fantastic. I much prefer Cathedral, Faustus, Midnight Mass, and Priala for my resin blends.

I finally tried my imp of Glitter today, figured I'd best give it a test since it's now discontinued (to see if I love it and should start crying, lol). When I first applied Glitter, it had a sparkling sort of fruit smell. Lovely pear. I can see why it was called glitter. Then it kind of smells like powdery sweet tarts before quickly launching into that lotus bubblegum smell that my skin seems to love so much. I smell like Juicy Fruit. Around the third hour of wearing this, it is very very powdery. Shortly after it turns to complete powder on my skin it disappears. Lasting a total of about 4 hours. It was okay... but nothing that I (thankfully) will need more of.

Djinn smells like a lighter and more peppery version of Brimstone. This is surprisingly warm and smoky on me... I agree with those who said it reminds them of frankincense incense burning. It kind of reminds me of being little and playing around with a bonfire. Burning leaves and generally doing dangerous things... and when I'd back away from the fire, my hands would still smell smoky and singed. That's kind of what Djinn smells like. This one also greatly startled my boy. He asked me if I'd burned dinner and checked my wrists for burn blisters Interesting, but not a fragrance that I'd actually choose to wear... might give the boy a heart attack or something.

Wet this reminded me of Urd, but with some roses thrown in. I like Urd quite a lot, so I thought this blend would be pretty good. Unfortunately, it dried down quickly and showed its true colours. The roses strengthen and go soapy on me rather quickly. They're not horribly strong or headache inducing, and there's a note in the background that I like... but it's still soapy roses. The staying power of this one on me wasn't great... I don't think it even lasted a full hour on me. This is one for my swap pile.

My first thought was that this is another one of those scents that reminds me of a candle shop. All of those overwhelming candle scents mingling together. It also smelled kind of perfumey. So I'll wait until it has some time to drydown and hope that it gets a lot better. 15 minutes later it has softened down a lot and I can sniff my wrist without my brain aching. I am starting to get that apple scent that others have mentioned. And I can definitely see the comparisons to Hamadryad. In conclusion (before I washed it off well into the first hour)... this is just way way way too much floral for me. Perfumey floral. I had hoped that it would have more woods and pine, but it's like a stronger version of Hamadryad on me.

I wasn't going to order Miskatonic University at all. I'm not really fond of the scent of coffee, and figured that this would make my stomach turn. Still, I ended up buying the entire Springtime in Arkham series in a moment of obsession. This might be my favorite out of the series so far. It doesn't smell like the bitter cheap coffee that I remember my mother and father drinking from my childhood. Not at all. It smells like those yummy coffee shops that I sometimes drop into to pick up a cappuccino. Creamy coffee shot with caramel and a sprinkle of cinnamon. This never smells boozy on me (thankfully) but I do get a definite sort of library smell out of this after about a half hour. Like sipping a wonderful coffee in the middle of a fancy and elegant library. I can practically envision the books and polished oak. It's truly an amazing fragrance. I'm glad to have a bottle.

When I finally got my bottle of 13 today I tore open the lab package in the middle of our driveway and did a happy dance. I've been so excited to try this one <3. I love white chocolate, tangerine, and mandarin... and they're all so rarely used in any fragrances that I've found. So far I haven't really fallen in love with any of the LEs that I have (at least not in a sense that I long to wear them and feel like I would cry if I ran out of them). But 13 is everything that I expected it to be and I am definitely IN LOVE. It's gorgeous and wonderfully unique. In the bottle this smells like melted chocolate. A mixture of white and milk chocolate though. On me it shows up as white chocolate and chocolate orange (mmm... two of my favorites). The citrus isn't really sharp or bad as it usually is on me, it is definitely a candied better-than-orange type of citrus. For a while this hits a stage that I am sort of eh about. It gets more floral in it. But this stage is short lived before it goes back to smelling like white chocolate, only now with a hint of tea. It's so unbelievably good. Everything about this is creamy and sweet. It makes me think of the colour white. Oddly, like how I want my wedding to be like. White, sunny, sweet, and elegant. This scent makes me feel happy. I'll definitely be purchasing another bottle when it comes around again.

I *hate* Egyptian musk and jasmine tends to not work on me... so I didn't try this on with high hopes or expectations. Still, I slathered some onto my wrist. Surprisingly, this actually smells like light jasmine and almonds. Then it turns into an even softer floral... jasmine and cherry blossoms maybe. Half hour in. This isn't nearly as overpowering or horrible as I thought that it would be. The jasmine is staying soft and grounded in the background, making this a very light and pretty floral. Unfortunately, florals just aren't my thing so I can't see myself ever wearing this. And then an hour later the jasmine goes insane . It turned suddenly into that sharp smoky note that I hate and it just keeps getting stronger. I'm going to have to wash it off before I get a headache.

I fully agree with those who have said that Brimstone smells like a forest fire that has just been rained on. It smells exactly like ash that has been cooled down, beaten, and subdued by a fresh rain. It's surprisingly cool and gloomy. I get a minty (spearmint?) note to it that might account for the cool/rain scent in this. Very interesting. I like the images and memories that this brings back for me, in a sort of haunting and horrible way. I'm not sure that I'd ever wear this though. Maybe it would work better on a male.

Mmm... pepper... I do love the smell of pepper. And for about fifteen minutes, Kweku Anansi is all wonderful spicy pepper and a dry woods scent. Little by little a slightly more green/grassy scent comes out. A half hour later I am getting nothing but thyme. Then a bit of citrus (almost lemony in smell). I miss the pepper. This only lasts about 2 hours on me and ends up being a surprisingly light fragrance. I'm not in love with it as I was when I first put it on, it turned too lemon-citrus on my skin for some reason.

Eclipse is one of those scents that I can't trust at all. Sometimes it's great and I get a well blended bottle or imp that smells like warm cinnamon sweetened by the vanilla and vanilla-ish heliotrope. And sometimes I get a bottle or imp that smells like nothing but bpal's awful almond note (which doesn't smell nutty at all, but like sickly sweet maraschino cherries). These huge variations are one of the reasons I've been avoiding buying bpal lately... I can't stand not knowing what I'm going to get when I reorder a scent.

Sloth was one of my favorites when I first got into bpal, but the current version uses different components and it doesn't smell the same at all. Originally, it was heavy on the myrrh and had lots of good, resinous, thick sweetness to it. A really beautiful myrrh note. The drydown had a pleasant, peppery woods to it. Now Sloth is mostly vetiver, and it's that charred bbq vetiver variety that I hate. Smells like mesquite bbq sauce and bbq smoke. Still a woody, peppery feel in the drydown. Also something that smells like alcohol/nailpolish remover that never burns off. Like most of my favorite bpals, the 2005 versions are nothing like the 2012+ versions. I find the 2015 version of Sloth to just be.. horrible and unwearable. I wish that the Lab would just discontinue fragrances when they become this different or the components go bad.

Muse is one of those scents that I like, but would never really get around to wearing. It's too floral for my tastes (though it is a surprisingly refreshing and zingy floral, thanks to the citrus). But I love the mixture of lime and jasmine... it's rather unique and brings out new sides to jasmine that I didn't know existed, lol. And the lime works to keep the jasmine grounded, so it isn't headache inducing on me. Still, jasmine is definitely the dominant note on me. I just can't seem to fall in love with Muse, it just inspires minor admiration and like from me.

I'm not really certain why I placed an order for an imp of this. Voodoo blends don't really work on me at all. No, I do know why I ordered it. Because "French Love" is a cute name. Cute names always get me into trouble. Got my imp in the mail and read the reviews for this... oh no, not Dragon's Blood . Dragon's Blood and I so hate each other. Still, I tried it on. It's nowhere near as bad as I had feared. At first this smells sort of soapy... like sweet bubble bath suds. Floral bubble bath. In the drydown, this becomes surprisingly pleasant. It smells light and sugary. Kind of like cotton candy with a hint of vanilla. Still, that floral dragon's blood-ish note is giving me a headache. *sigh* This goes through stages on me too... one minute I have that sweet sugary note that I love... then the next it's all dragon's blood. All faded away after an hour. I'm not crazy about this and wouldn't purchase again, but I don't hate it and want to throw it out the window either. That's a step up from my usual experience with dragon's blood

Saint-Germain didn't smell anything like I would have expected given the description. At first it smelled delicious, like spicy pepper and dry woods. It was oddly familiar. This stage didn't last long enough for me to figure out what it reminds me of though. Then, over the next few minutes, the spiciness slowly drifted away and became powdery. I can't stand it when lovely things go the route of baby powder on my skin. An hour later, I'm sniffing my wrist and cannot detect anything. Like most scents that go powdery on me, this one (thankfully) did not last that long. I'm almost tempted to reapply for how lovely it started out though.

Kingsport isn't the sort of scent that I normally wear or enjoy, but it is lovely nonetheless. I love the smell of salt, so I definitely appreciate the salty water scent that it has. It reminds me of standing on the deck of a cruise ship before a storm. Salty water swirling around and the incoming storm adding that wet dark feeling to it all. I like it. It's a great aquatic oceany scent... but manages to feel very dark and foreboding at the same time as it feels clean and refreshing.

I liked this back in 2005, but it smells really different in its new variations (nothing I tried from bpal a couple years ago actually smells the same today.. I guess the notes vary a lot when they reorder them). Forbidden Fruit in 2005 was creamy flowers, warm and powdery amber, bubblegummy lotus and a whiff of cheery citrus. My 2012 imp of this smells like sickly sweet, watery, fruity-floral (almost like aquatic, grapes and white florals) and tons of baby powder. Bleh.

I was excited to try Kitsune-Tsuki... even though jasmine and white musk usually give me splitting headaches. Still, I had to try it because daffodils are my favorite flowers and the only flowers that I really love the smell of. Wet on my wrist, this smells rather like Midwinter's Eve. That lovely plummy scent that I adore. Fifteen minutes later... umm... still plums. Florals? Musk? Nope, not yet. An hour later. I think there might be some musk creeping back there behind those plums. Or maybe not. Three hours. Yeah, no musk. Definitely do daffodils either. Damn it. This is like a slightly less sugary version of Midwinter's Eve on me (which is gorgeous, but I hardly ever wear Midwinter's Eve and I've had a bottle of it for months, in general I just don't wear a lot of fruity blends). I so wanted some of those daffodils. This will probably end up in my swap/sale pile. Pretty, but not me... and I'm disappointed in the lack of daffodils.

When I first slathered on some Red Devil, I smelled like very yummy red cherry candies. Hard candies. Sweet and edgy. That faded into the background and I started to smell a blend of pepper and cinnamon. The cinnamon wasn't as strong as it normally is on my skin though. And it was all muted by a strange, but good, floral smell. I thought that it was rather pretty at this point. Then it turned into pure headache-inducing jasmine on me. Smoky and overwhelming. I had to wash it off as the beginnings of a migraine came over me. Sadly, this is just another Voodoo Blend that didn't work for me... so far my only success in this category has been with Follow Me Boy. Oh well, up for swaps this goes.