sunshinedaisybliss

Oh my, this is gorgeous. I just got an imp today as part of a swap and I'm completely wowed by it.. although somewhat disappointed in myself to have not noticed this lovely lady before, sitting there in the Carnaval line-up. I think the peach is the most obvious note, but it's a lovely creamy velvety musky kind of peach - not a sweet, artificial smell at all. I can "sense" the other notes, but can't really pick them out individually (not even the patchouli, which is usually so obvious) - this is one of those masterpiece blends where everything has melded together perfectly to create a beautiful synergy of fragrance. It's sticking close to my skin, but that's OK because this is a "snuggling" sort of scent, not something I want wafting all around the room, it has an intimate feel to it. Reading the other reviews here, it seems people have had very mixed reactions to this one - I guess for once I lucked out in the skin chemistry department. If you're reading this and having trouble making up your mind, I'd say go for it - it's definitely worth a try and if you don't love it, share it with a friend because on the right skin this is really something special. I'm absolutely overjoyed to have discovered Eisheth Zenunim, I can see it becoming one of my all time favourites.

Hmm.. interesting! None of the notes in either of those are the usual culprits for the dreaded "hairspray" smell, so perhaps it's just the combination of notes in those or the way your skin handles rose? My skin amps rose ridiculously to the point where that's all I can smell in any blend with rose, but I don't get the hairspray thing from it. My hairspray trigger notes are champagne and poppy, and sometimes white musk. I would suspect perhaps it's the chrysanthemum in the Santa Muerte, but I have no clue what it could be in the Black Rose. Out of curiosity - I just did a quick dab from my imp of Black Rose and there's definitely no hairspray coming from it for me. You might need to try a process of elimination - do you have any other blends with notes in common with these two? Maybe by trying a few others, you may be able to identify what's causing the hairspray problem. Good luck finding out!

Siren has the unfortunate honour of being only the second ever BPAL I've had to wash off my skin. Jasmine, you smell so pretty in my garden but you're a foul beast of evil stench on my skin. I put a dab of Siren on, took a big whiff, and nearly keeled over. Mmmm... the lovely aroma of poopy baby's nappy. Nice! So then I walk over to my friend and slap some on her arm, and take a big whiff. Mmmm.. the lovely aroma of spicy vanilla and apricots. She's there inhaling her arm in a dreamy state making squee noises - it smelt fantastic on her. Then I say to my friend "smell my arm" and I wish I had taken a photo of her face at that exact moment when her nose got close to my skin.. yup, there it was - right in her face - poopy baby's nappy. She was amazed that it could smell so nice on her but so foul on me. So unfortunately, there will be no further applications of Siren to my skin. But my friend now has her very first BPAL imp

I think all the previous reviewers have done a fantastic job of reviewing Blue Phoenix, considering there's no note list to go by. For me, it's definitely blueberries, but not a "genuine" blueberry (as in the real smell of a real blueberry), it's kind of an "enhanced" blueberry in a bubble-gum kinda way, more like how you'd expect blueberry candy to smell. Violet Beauregarde would be impressed! As well as the blueberry, I also get a faint vanilla and also the hint of something green (moss?) lurking in the background, which I think is doing a great job of stopping this from being too sickly sweet. I agree with nursekins - once it's dried down on my skin, it gets a wine-ish feel, the initial candy sweetness dies down and I'm also getting a hint of musk. Unfortunately it's not lasting long on my skin, but I haven't had a good slather yet.. I'll try that tomorrow on clean skin and see how it goes for lasting power. This is to blue what Pink Phoenix is to pink.. the two are very very similar to my nose (except of course one is pink and one is blue and they actually smell completely different, but they feel the same if that makes sense). My concern is that Blue Phoenix may reveal that nasty plastic note that Pink Phoenix sometimes gives me.. I really hope it doesn't, because this is lovely and quite unlike any other BPAL that I have, so I'm absolutely thrilled to have been lucky enough to get hold of a bottle.

I would recommend Love's Philosophy.. vanilla, saffron, and cream The vanilla is sweet and bold, but the cream softens it up so that it's rich and velvety rather than being too sickly. The saffron adds just a hint of exotic spice, which stops it from being "just" vanilla. Some reviewers report a "green" or "herbal" note from Love's Philosophy - personally I don't get that on my skin, but I suspect that the saffron plays up/down depending on your skin chemistry. It is an LE, but it comes up fairly regularly on the sales/swap threads so it's not impossible to find.. and definitely worth a try if you love your vanilla to be velvety and creamy soft.

On me, this starts off quite rich with the gardenia and honey but lightens up very quickly to end up being a kind of baby shampoo scent. After being on for half an hour, it's very very faint - a clean and slightly honey-ish fragrance which is very pretty but easily forgettable... an hour later, it's hardly there at all. It's nice, but just not enough OOMPH for me.

Gosh.. I just got an imp of this via a sale, I had no idea it dated back as far as it did.. I've never really heard it mentioned amongst all the LE swooning around here! What a crazy blend this is.. on me, it started out quite bitter with an almost lemon tang with a very strong fig top - so that must be the "fierce and feral" stage. But as it dries down, the chocolate comes out and that 'bitter' feel goes away.. it goes very dry and musky but in a warm and slightly sweet way - so that must be the "warm, soft and cozy" bit. It keeps changing! That lemon comes back, then goes away. What is THAT about? Lemon's not even mentioned as a note - could it be the juniper berry giving it that 'lemon' flavor? I actually prefer the chocolate-y/musk stage, but that also comes and goes. Anyway - this is fabulous.. very unique, and definitely worth a try if you can find some!

Ayup.. chocolate fudge brownies. Goes on that way, stays on that way... for aaaaaaaaaages. YUM

This was a frimp from the lovely KateW.. and to be honest, I possibly never would have tried it because although I love dragon's blood resin, myrrh and cherry, I'm terrified of clove being too strong because my skin tends to amp anything spicey. But I am so glad I got to try this, because it is abso-freakin-lutely divine! In the imp, it's a stunning deep copper colour that almost shines. When it first goes on.. the main notes to hit me are the dragon's blood and the clove but neither of them are whoooooaaaaaaa strong.. more a velvety rich warmness, the balance of the two in this blend must have been quite challenging, but to my nose it's absolutely perfect. Then up pops the cherry, sweetening things up a bit, and about five minutes later when I take a deep huff again.. there's the myrrh, which I suspect is where that warmness I first felt is coming from. This is really gorgeous - it's sweet without being sickly, resinous without being sticky, and smokey without smelling like smoke. It's.. sexy, yeah - that's what it is.. if I snuggled up to the side of someone's neck and discovered they smelt like this, I wouldn't be leaving for a very VERY long time. I love it when surprise frimps knock my socks off like this just has. I'm gonna have to get a bottle of this, for sure!

I totally took a chance on this, because I was scared about the lily of the valley.. but every other note sounded perfect so I grabbed a bottle from a sale here on the forum - so glad I did!! The ginger is definitely sparkly at first, but the apricot is stopping it from being too spicy - together, they're the perfect combination of warm loveliness. Then the vanilla shows up, and ohhh my this is a lovely creamy vanilla. The oak and tonka seem to ground all that sweetness perfectly - yes, this is a "sweet" blend but I wouldn't class it as foody because it definitely has an organic feel to it. It wore down quite a bit after about half an hour on my skin, leaving me with mostly a gorgeous soft woody vanilla but I can definitely still smell the other notes there, particularly the sandalwood which made a late appearance. I'm not sure that the lily of the valley ever showed up.. it's obviously in there somewhere but thankfully it's not pushing itself in front of all the others. This stayed good for about 3 hours, but I only put a tiny dab on so I think that's a good wear time out of one dab. This is only my second experience with the Travelling Salons (the other being Wezwanie/Hold) - are they all this beautiful? Haloes is really something special - it's kinda like bits of all my favourite BPALs mixed in together, very multi-layered and complex. I am definitely going hunting for more!

I love love LOVE honeys in my BPALs, especially the waxy/creamy kind. The thing about the honey note though is that what works on one person may not on another.. however having said that, quite a few have worked beautifully for me but my skin amps honey big time. I would highly recommend No. 93 Engine (Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage) - for me, it's very honey but with an almost musky tone - and a definite waxy feel (like you've dipped your fingers into the warm wax from a honey-scented candle). I've also just got a bottle of Wezwanie/Hold, and that is WHOOAAAAAAA honey - very golden and very rich - probably the strongest honey I've tried so far, but nicely warmed by amber and myrrh... it's exquisite. Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht also has a nice honey tone, on me it's not a rich/golden honey but it does have a nice creaminess to it. Giant Vulva might also be worth a try, I found it quite subtle but many of the reviews posted so far mention a nice rich honey note. I also second dzurlady's recommendation of Mead Moon for that lovely organic hot honey feel. In reference to other suggestions posted, and again based only on how my skin worked with them.. both Dana O'Shee and O are more marzipan/nutty than honey, Honey Mone is more "green" than honey, and Alice was all rose - sadly no honey or cream at all. I admit it, I'm a honey fiend

Oh.. I waited for ages to get hold of a bottle of this, since the Salon didn't travel down to this part of the world. My bonus for being so patient is that the bottle I've now got is probably at least a year old, which I think has probably worked in its favor because this is riiiiiiiiich. Coming out of the bottle, the oil is all thick and a beautiful golden colour - it actually made me pull back a little when I first put a dab on my skin... it's that strong. First whiff when wet on my skin is definitely the hazelnut, vanilla and sandalwood. After about 10 minutes on my skin, that initial nutty wood thing has settled down and it's is all amber, myrrh and honey. Actually, this is perhaps the richest amber I've encountered so far in my BPAL travels, and the honey/myrrh combo is also very rich. It's kinda like No. 93 Engine after it's been turbocharged, but without the wax, and way more everything than No. 93, but the similarity is there in its honeyness. Half an hour later, it's definitely softened down a lot from its initial HEY I'M HERE presence.. now the nutty feel has come back a bit, and the vanilla has also reappeared.. finally everything seems in perfect balance. What a clever and multi-layered blend this is, it really shows how skillful Beth is at her craft. I'm just loving it, and so is everyone within 20 feet of me.. even when dried down completely, it still wafts around a lot. Note to self: just a couple of drops will be fine, do not slather!! Lovely. LOVELY. Golden, warm, rich and sumptuous. I think this would be a love/hate blend for many people, so if you're not sure then I'd encourage you to at least grab a decant.. hopefully you'll be just as impressed as I am

Nothing much new to add here.. the cherry blossom is really nice when it first goes on (and not at all like that sometimes cough-syrup thing I get with regular cherry), and sticks around for about 10 minutes on my skin. After that, everything turns into a white musk haze that borders on smelling like hair spray. After an hour or so, I'm left with very faint remnants of a white floral scent on my skin. It's a very light and delicate fragrance, probably apt for voyeurs who don't want to be caught out hiding in the cherry blossoms. Lesson learnt - vanilla musk is NOT vanilla. I think the success of this one is going to very much depend on your skin/body chemistry. Alas, mine does not agree with it.

I'm on my second day of trying this, to make sure I gave it a good run. Yesterday I only applied a few dabs, and today I put a good semi-slather on.. lesson learnt, better to apply a few dabs every couple of hours - this goes on quite strong and lasts for a long time on my skin. I get the weirdest sensation from this.. it has a very waxy feel to it - like I've dipped my fingers in warm vanilla/honey scented candle wax. It reminds me very much of No. 93 Engine, which does the same waxy thing. But uhmm.. there's no honey or even beeswax in this, so I have no idea where that feeling comes from - maybe it's just a fluke of the vanilla mixed with all those other very organic-type notes that makes it that way, or maybe it's just a skin chemistry thing. I'm not complaining though - it's lovely! I want to attach my nose to my arm because it's so yummy to inhale, it makes me go mmmmmmmmm. I've realised I tend to waffle on about how a blend *feels* rather than smells when I write these reviews. So what does it smell like? Well, I mentioned the honey (which I think is a trick of the vanilla & ginger combination) - that's really the main smell I get. Oud is just stunning, and that's definitely making an appearance. The oakmoss (which I was a little concerned about) is behaving itself, as is the palm date. So for me - it's all about the gorgeous creaminess of the vanilla, ginger and oud. This is my favourite Shunga so far.. while I love many BPALs because they just smell so damn good, I especially love the ones that give me a warm and comforting feeling and Lovers with Rutting Cats definitely goes into that category. Oh, and the label art is fabulous too

I only just discovered this through the sales thread and decided to take a chance on it. Now I'm a cocoa kinda gal all the way - the mere mention of a chocolate or cocoa note and I'm unable to resist. So imagine my surprise when Midnight Kiss turns into a musky grape/berry bubblegum on my skin! Yep - bubblegum, but the purple kind rather than the pink, so that's the blood wine? Maybe? So bearing in mind that I'm getting grape bubblegum which is vastly different to what the previous reviewers have said.. I can still sense the musk, amber and sandalwood - they're lurking like men in trench coats in the darkened back corner of a smoky bar, intimidating the bubble gum blonde who wants to get up and dance on the table but holds herself back. Patchouli seems completely absent, and I'm really not sure what nicotiana smells like so I'm not sure if it's present. But either way, I love this - just the perfect blend of sweet and smokey - it stays on my skin for ages and wafts around beautifully.

This has been on my wishlist for ages.. and then guess what I find in my magic box of goodies just received from the lab - a frimp of Eat Me!! It's all been said before. This is very yummy... yes, cake - but not in a sugar sickly sweet kind of way, more in a dark purple grape-y velvet kind of way. At first the vanilla is not typically sweet - the blackcurrant holds it back from taking over but blending in beautifully with the vanilla giving it a luxurious creaminess. After about half an hour on my skin, it's gone very soft and powdery - definitely a feminine fragrance, but the vanilla is now the most prominent note. Hmm.. it's almost got a Snake Oil kind of thing going on. I'm definitely not getting the caramel or butter or spices that some people have mentioned. This is what I would smell like if I were a princess who lives in the top turret of a Bavarian castle where rainbows fill the sky and butterflies dance around my long flowing locks as I watch purple unicorns dance in the fields of vanilla beans down below in the castle grounds. This could be the perfect "cake" blend.. I wouldn't put it in the foody group in the same way as Beaver Moon/Beaver'versary or I Fell In Love With A Floating Brain belong in the foody group.. to me, the cake factor is less prominent and really only showed up in the wet stage. I'm so glad I finally got to try this, and I think a bottle is required.

*PUTS UP HAND* Yes! Meeeee!! I was!!!!!!! And praises be to the Lab.. IT IS!! Well, I wouldn't say "substitute", because CB is really (imo) superior in its creaminess and subtlety, but it's a good second best Oh how I love The Candy Butcher, with his creamy chocolate voluptuousness, but oh how he taunts me by having disappeared off the face of the earth. Now I can stop searching the galaxy for it, because I have Milk Chocolate Buttercream and quite frankly, that smart-ass "ner ner nee ner ner I'm discontinued" Mr Candy Butcher should be peeing his pants with jealousy right about now because this is sublime. I get the Bliss comparison, but to me Bliss is pretty much straight-up rich dark chocolate. Milk Chocolate Buttercream is definitely more in the Candy Butcher/Midway family of chocolates with its lovely smooth creaminess. I'm not finding this super-sweet in a sickly way - I'm guessing that's because it's a butter cream rather than a sugary cream, it has a golden warmth about its sweetness. And it's definitely milk chocolate, not dark chocolate. Bonus - it stays on my skin for ages! I'm very very happy with this! If you're not sure about the whole "do I really want to smell like chocolate" thing.. I'd really encourage you to give it a chance, it's much more than just a chocolate smell. Oh, and the label's pretty too, as are all the Box of Chocolates labels. Mr Candy Butcher - if you're reading this - you'll always have a special place in my heart, but for now I have a new love. Just sit quietly in your bottle and I'll come back to you one day.

When my bottle arrived, the bottom half of the oil was all thick and dark - I immediately thought of Boomslang, with its thick chocolate sludge, and I knew this was going to be a bit special. After gently rolling it to mix up the sludge, my first whiff from the open bottle made me go "unnnnngh" - lovely buttery, spicy, slightly boozy chocolate. On my skin, this reminds me of Butter Rum Cookie - if you switched the rum for kahlua, I reckon you'd get something like this. I got a very slight tingle on my skin at first - almost hot, which I guess is the pepper, but that quickly passed. Now I have this gorgeous spicy warm buttery caramel chocolate thing going on - I feel like I should be roasting chestnuts over an open fire with a very fine Scotch whiskey in a crystal tumbler by my side. I'm finding this has a big throw, and it's still very strong on my skin after an hour, so I don't think this is one to slather.. just a drop or two in your warmest crevices should do the trick. Do I want to smell like this all the time? Hmm.. not sure, probably not. Will I keep it? Mayyyyyyybeeeeee.... My final thought.. this does to chocolate what El Dia de Reyes did to coffee.

Uh huh... dark chocolate and cherry it is. No messin' about.. no other smarty pants little notes lurking around - it is what it is, and it's absolutely spot on. The cherry in this reminds me a bit of Candy Phoenix, which I know is strange since CP had no cherry in it, but to me it's a similar kind of 'red' fruitiness with the syrupy velvet thing going on but without that super sweetness of Candy Phoenix. The dark chocolate is definitely present in this.. it's not just *all* cherry.. I think it's more of a warm melted dark chocolate, with a kind of 'hot' feel about it. I did find that the chocolate note fades after a little while though, leaving mostly just the cherry behind, but even then it's still warm and luscious. If this were a lip gloss, you'd have people lining up at your kissing booth. It's abso-freakin-lutely delicious. However, I'm not sure whether this is how I want to smell.. as yummy as it is, I'm just a bit iffy on that point.

Ok.. my bottle finally arrived today so of course I went for the dab straight away.. hoping for vanilla honey beeswax goodness. So where's this floral thing coming from? On my skin, it's almost gardenia or jasmine-like in its intensity.. what IS that?!? Is it the copal? This is really disappointing.. I've had it on for 2 hours now, and it's very very faint now on my skin, but I'm still getting a very strong white floral fragrance, no musky incense or beeswax creaminess at all. I'm not sure that I'm going to love this EDIT: two days later, I give it another try. It's like a whole different perfume!! Now it's all honey and beeswax, creamy and soft.. that 'white floral' thing is still there, but in the background. So I just wanted to come back and edit my first review in case other people have the same experience as I did - if that's you.. give it another try on another day and maybe you'll see it differently. I guess this must be sensitive to skin/body vibes, or at least it must be with me. Maybe I will love this!

Like many others have said, I had no idea what many of the notes in No. 93 Engine smell like on their own.. it was the beeswax and frankincense that enticed me to want a bottle, which found its way to me via the sales page of the lovely SavageRose. Now that I have it on my skin, I still have no idea what many of the notes in No. 93 Engine smell like on their own, but I don't care. I'm getting a beautiful warm and golden honey luxurious loveliness.. like novak69 said - this is sunshine in a bottle. It stays very close to my skin - I don't think it has a strong throw but I know it's there because every now and then I catch a waft of it. A lovely soft and subtle blend that's so natural and non-perfumey.. I could wear it all day every day and people wouldn't realise I have perfume on.. they'd just think I have been gifted with extraordinarily nice smelling skin.

Reading the previous reviews has been interesting.. it seems most people were tentative about Penumbra due to its unusual mix of notes.. me too, most of all I was worried about the lavender (a known traitor to my skin).. but everything else sounded so good that I just had to give it a try. And like others, I'm sooooooooooo glad I did. Yep, it's PURPLE. It really should be actually coloured purple - it's very smooth, rich, warm and velvety and on me it drys down to a beautiful blackcurrant-ish fruity smokey musk. I love how no single note dominates - it's beautifully blended and a stunning mix of sweet and dry. It fades fairly quickly on my skin though, which is a shame because I'd like this bottle to last for ever and it won't if I have to re-apply frequently. Definitely a keeper.. actually I think it's worthy of hoarding. Note to self: find more blends with purple musk!!

Starts off with a strong and rich incensey cocoa when it first goes on, but that didn't last long.. I got a lovely dry powdery leather thing going on for about 10 minutes, and then it turned into an incensey-floral. After about half an hour, it's very much melded right into my skin and it's just a nice, warm and slightly honey-ish (even a bit nutty?!) leather - the floral is still there in the background, but it's not a "bright" floral, and the patchouli is very warm and golden rather than harsh like it sometimes can be. This is what to wear while laying naked on a big fluffy rug in front of the fire at your log cabin hideaway. ETA: I agree.. I think this would smell sensational on a man. Note to self: must test that theory.

Mmmm.. this is lovely, like a rich musky purple velvet. The carnation is behaving itself nicely, not overpowering at all - I get a hint of something almost violet but not quite. This is definitely musk rather than sweet.. "exotic" is a good description. I think Bathsheba would be a lovely scent to wear whilst flirting in a dimly lit wine bar.

Some reviewers mentioned a lime 'feeling' from That! The Terror From Over There!.. I didn't get liiiiiiiiime as such, and it's note a listed note, but it's definitely got a lime kinda vibe going on.. very fresh and cool green. Maybe hunt down a decant of that and see how you go