telesilla

Wet -- It's another one that assaults you when it's in the bottle, and wet it went way sweet on me. Dry down -- it was still sweet -- I assume that's the ylang ylang -- and a little powdery, which isn't a bad thing as I don't mind powdery scents. About an hour later -- the powder faded and I started smelling the myrrh mixed with the ylang ylang, which is nice because it tones down the sweetness. Over all -- The imp is a keeper, but I'm going to hold off putting it on my bottle list until I try O and Snake Oil.

Wet -- smells weirdly tarry. Drying down --it's better but it the rum is still a little too heavy and something underlying it (the fig maybe) is giving it a kind of unpleasant molasses undertone. Dry -- it's settled down some, but I still think it's a jumble of notes that just don't work on me. I should like them all, but something about the combination and my chemistry is keeping it from happening. Overall impression -- this would probably be really yummy on someone else. the gf's gonna try it; hopefully it'll work on her.

In the bottle: I was totally handicapped by the fact that the person I got it from said it turned to "evil pumpkin pie" on her. So of course I smelled pumpkin pie with a sort of earthy over tone when I opened the bottle. Not bad, really. Evil in a good way. Wet: OK now I can get a hint of something baked or bready underneath it and it actually is smelling less like pumpkin pie as the gingers really come out. The earthiness -- the resins, I think -- keep it from being too foody, which is good since I'm still not sure how I feel about smelling like dessert. Initial dry down: OK it's not evil pumpkin pie, it's evil ginger snaps with a little bit of citrus in the back ground. While not exactly foody, it's making me want to nibble on my own wrist. A couple of hours later -- it's settled down to a nice complexly spicy ginger, what I'd imagine ginger loose incense to smell like. Still a little citrus to it. It's a keeper for sure. I'm not certain about trying to score a big bottle. With the spiciness and the ginger it's more a fall scent than a summer one; although I could see wearing it to an outdoor event on a summer night. Over all reaction: the light dawns! Last Sunday we visited a friend and she made some really yummeh ginger bread. It was dark because she used blackstrap molasses and then she served it with lemon curd. This doesn't totally smell like that, but it's the association that my brain is creating -- seriously dark ginger bread with lemon. GF's reaction -- She likes it and didn't think it was too foody. Cat's reaction -- Yesterday while I was resting, I was up in bed watching FotR and Joxur would not leave me alone. After sniffing my hand, he basically claimed possession of it and insisted that I pet him almost continuously. Whenever I stopped, he hooked his paw over my wrist and tugged.

There might be others later, but I think I've found my first BPAL signature scent. I admit I put of trying it out because I was afraid I wouldn't like it. Athens is a really important place to me; I spent six weeks there starting in November of 78 and I loved it. If I had to make a decision right now to live in a city where English was not the native language, Athens would be in the top five. Anyway ... the review: In the bottle -- pure bubble gum, which would be hugely off-putting if I hadn't been warned by reviews on the forum that this would happen. Wet -- the bubble gum is, thankfully, fading and now it's sweet and a little spicy. I already like it. Dry down -- It's both sweet and smoky, my wrist smells like I've been holding it over an incense burner burning sweet, resinous incense. I don't smell the red wine, but I think it's there along with the myrrh keeping the flowers and the honey from being overwhelmingly sweet. Gods, this stuff is amazingly fantastic. About six hours later -- It's gotten sweeter now and it's fading, but the sweet is honey-like without being too foody. Overall impression -- Athens doesn't remind me of Modern Athens at all, but it totally reminds me of the Athens and Ancient Greece I imagined as we wandered all the ruins in Athens and on our Classical tour of the Peloponissos. I love this stuff with a passion, and it's actually bumping Cathedral out of the number one spot on my big bottle list. Now I aboslutely have to try Delphi. GF's reaction -- Nancy actually likes it more than she liked Cathedral, so it's a winner all the way around.

In the bottle and wet it's OMG SWEET FRUITY pomegranate! Back when I was in Jr. High, my very first perfume was Spiritual Sky Raspberry Essential Oil which usually clashed with my strawberry roll on lipgloss -- don't laugh, it was the '70s man, it's not my fault. Anyway my first thought when I smelled this stuff was 'OMG I hope this doesn't stay that sickly sweet.' Dry down -- Good news. Whatever it is that's supposed to make it smell like a pomagrenate martini is coming out and there's a faint hint of sharp vodka. Not nearly enough to make me smell like I spilled my drink but enough to cut the sweet. I'm thinking it's a keeper. A couple of hours later -- it's still fruity, sweet, and just a little boozy, but there's something faintly smokey going on too. Final thoughts -- I don't know that I'd call it the essence of Lounge, but it's very much a grownup version of those fruit essential oils I wore as a young teen. I'm going to be trying more of BPAL's fruity scents before I decide which one I want a bigger bottle of, but I have a feeling I'm going to use up this imp pretty quickly. GF's reaction -- Teh Nanceh likes it, which is cool as I've learned that she's mostly about the florals on herself.

So this is the first BPAL I tried. I was sooo excited! Bear with my review because I don't have a nose trained to individual notes the way some people do. In the bottle it was very much "holy fuck this is strong!" Mostly I got sandalwood and maybe some cedar. Wet -- It was all about the sandalwood. Now I love sandalwood but I have to admit my thought was I can get single note oils a lot cheaper than this. Dry down -- The cedar came out some, which I liked and made me feel better about the whole thing. About an hour later -- The resin -- frankincense and whatever else goes into church incense -- showed up. Everything was still very woody but there was a sweetish smell under the wood. I was sold. Several hours later -- Now it smells like a cedar box with incense in it, and the only problem is that it's fading more quickly than I'd like. But I remember this from wearing perfume before, so I'll try it again after using unscented lotion on my wrists. GF's reaction -- She says it smells like church incense, but that that's not a bad association thing. Also it isn't too strong for her to deal with, so it's a keeper. Yay!