sunshinedaisybliss

My first experience with wasabi was many years ago when there was a big glob of it in the corner of my take-away Japanese food. Being somewhat uneducated in the ways of Japanese food at the time, I thought it was avocado, and since I love avocado I scooped up the whole big glob and put it in my mouth. I soon found out it wasn't avocado... So, after having nearly blown my head off in that encounter, I am very wary of wasabi these days. Also, the "green" side of BPAL is an area I have never ventured into, but the "chittering greens" and "smooshy kiwi" sounded so delectable that I just had to give That! a try. And I'm so glad I did!! This is a beautiful blend, clean and fresh - definitely green, and slightly sweet (I get that 'melon' hint that others have mentioned, but definitely not lemon or lime), really bright and lovely. The weird thing is, when I wear it during the day it's not as sweet and I can really smell (or sense) the wasabi.. but at night, it's all about the greens and kiwi fruit. It stays on my skin for ages, and I've also discovered that this lingers on my clothing for ages too - it smells absolutely beautiful on fabric. I think it would also make a gorgeous room and/or linen spray. For something so scary sounding, this isn't scary at all. If you're a bit on-the-fence about That!, I'd say give it a go - hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

OK.. I'll just join the fan club! I was frimped The Hanging Gardens.. I don't think I ever would have gone for it myself because of the gardenia and rose combo, although I am a fan of other blends with the pomegranate/pear partnership. This is absolutely beautiful - as others have mentioned.. it's definitely sweet and fruity, but not in a candy way, and I agree a little with the 'tropical' thing. This actually reminds me of when I was in Bali and there was one particular street with massive frangipani trees in full flower.. and on hot nights when the warm wind was blowing around, that street was the best smelling thing ever. This melds beautifully with my skin, and goes all soft and warm. Such an eclectic mix of notes, but they all work together immaculately. I think I'll use up all my imp and see whether this is something I'd want to wear often.. as lovely as it is, I'm not sure a bottle of it would get much attention from me.. but I could be wrong

Oh.. I was so excited to get my bottle of Screeching Parrot - I'm a big fan of several others from the Luau Lounge and this sounded like it was going to smell something like a big tall multi-coloured drinks that you'd buy at a beachfront bar in Jamaica (with the umbrella cocktail stick, of course). Damn and blast it, all I get is grapefruit. The other notes are there, but the grapefruit is just smothering them with its sharp tang. Grapefruit is the demon child of the fruit salad family, it just can't behave itself - it has to be all LOUD and overpowering. I reckon that's why this parrot is screeching - the poor thing accidentally ate some grapefruit. If only I could somehow separate all the ingredients, and then remove the grapefruit, I could really really love this. But as it is, my bottle will get no love from me. I'm going to put it in the naughty corner of the box, and hope that the grapefruit goes away over time.

Ok.. anything involving apples has to be good. Poisoned Apple is one of the first BPALs I ever bought, and I still love it. So yeah - obviously this is apples.. big green fresh crunchy and slightly sour apples. But wait, there's more! There's a kind of chill feel to it, so that's the snow.. and it's also got a sharp edge, so that's the glass. Snow.Glass.Apples. - the name is absolutely perfect. This stayed on my skin for about an hour at good strength but then faded fairly quickly, leaving just a very faint reminder of where it had been. Since I got only a few drops given graciously to me by a forum buddy, I can't be slathering it on (although I'd love to). I would love this as a room spray, I think it would hang beautifully in the air and smell gorgeous on towels and linen. So I'll hunt for a bottle.. in the meantime, Poisoned Apple will satisfy me when I need apple-y goodness but Snow Glass Apples just has an extra edge to it that makes it very interesting indeed.

Mine is Smut '08... and WOWSERS, this goes on strong at first. A little bit *too* strong, perhaps.. I had an "uh oh" moment there where I thought this was just too boozy for me. But then it settles in, and goes all musky powdery sugary sexy yumminess.. I think the name is entirely appropriate. I'm glad I fund a dark sugar/booze blend that powders down nicely - I find Smut to be similar to others I've tried with that same kinda feel (it reminds me of Sugar Skull mostly) but they all stayed really rum/booze/sugar on me. This mellows out really nicely for me, in a very similar way to how the cocoa in Gelt goes all soft and dreamy. Smut indeed.. very nice for nights involving lots of snuggling

Mmm... I bought this quite a while back, from here on the forum. At the time, I had a dab.. thought "oh that's nice" and then put it in the box. Fast forward to now.. and I open the bottle up to a blast of blueberry and red musk - those two must have been brewing up a storm while the bottle's been aging, I guess this is about 6 months old now if it came out in July '08. Once on my skin, it's all vanilla and blueberry.. and - weird - chocolate kinda smelling. But then I pay a little more attention, and hiding under there is the tang of the tea and ginger. Over the last couple of hours, this has changed a few times on my skin.. fruity, then musky. Vanilla then coriander. But the blueberry is definitely dominant. I love blends like this - very multi-layered and sneaky

Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany. This is like a naked romp in a mahogany barrel of luscious red berries while incense burns over in a dark corner of the room. Sweet.. velvety.. rich.. sumptuous and decadent. Yummy!

I was scared to try this, because of the rose, but a dear forum friend said she thought I would like it and sent me a half-imp.. and I'm so glad she did! I can't really describe this any better than those who have posted before me.. but I know many people like myself find rose a difficult note to wear - on me, it just amps up and drowns out everything else (like with Alice, which really upset me because I sooooo wanted that to work but it was ALL rose) - but this is a lovely creamy musky rose, as others have said - very powdery and soft and a good stayer. The rose is there, but on me it ended up being more of a berry flavour than a rose, but that's very soft underneath the creamy baby powdery feel, so overall I'm really happy with it and will now have to stalk the sales thread until I can find a bottle.

White sandalwood, neroli, and vetiver. Well.. not much more to add here that hasn't already been said - this sure is a strong blend, especially on initial application - very dark, smoky and musky/spice.. pretty much what you'd expect from this blend of notes. For the first few minutes on my skin it was a bit overpowering, but then the lovely sandalwood triumphs over the neroli and vetiver and there's a beautifully warm golden glow thing going on. I'm not sure I could wear this very often - it would be perfect for a night out in an opium den somewhere in Kathmandu, but just lately I don't seem to be getting many invitations for that sort of event. If you love those dark, strong, spicy incense-y blends then I would definitely recommend trying this one out.. just be patient and wait for that initial KAPOW to dry down

I think "translucent blooms" is exactly right.. as is "ethereal". It's one of those blends that you *think* you know what it smells like, and then it changes. At first dab, this was very green and citrus-like. I was thinking.. gardenia - definitely a white flower. But after about 5 minutes the green faded, but the citrus was still there - I'm still thinking gardenia but now verging on more of a jasmine or honeysuckle - still definitely white flowers but it's not a real strong floral note. Alas, after about 15 minutes it's all but gone - granted I only put a dab on my skin.. but it was a reasonable dab, and now I really have to poke my nose around on my arm to tell where it was. But when I find the spot.. it's quite lovely, very soft and light. So unfortunately for me, this lived up to its name and disappeared into the ether. Even if it hadn't, I'm not sure I would want more than an imp of this - there's so many other white floral/citrus options that I don't need another one, particularly if my skin's just gonna eat this up like it did today. However, if you love those mysterious glowing white clean and crisp floral blends, try it out.

I received this as a frimp with a bottle order - I probably never would have found it or chosen it myself due to the rose, which is not my friend. But this is quite nice - the rose isn't overpowering everything else like it usually does.. it smells like orange rose (I don't think there's any such thing as orange rose, but that's how this is to me - it's definitely rose, but *orange* rose) - I'm not getting the lemon very much.. it's all orange. After it's been on my skin for about a half-hour, it smells like baby shampoo.. fresh and clean, and soapy but in a nice way. The imp will do me - there's nothing here that's outstanding enough for me to want a bottle, but if you enjoy those clean and fresh fruity floral type blends, I'd say give this a try - it's very pretty.

If not for me being such a refined young lady, I would use extreme expletives to describe how good this is. Chocolate and snake oil - what a perfect combination, the rice milk sweetens it up in a creamy way, and the teakwood gives it a lovely depth, this really is divinely sumptuous. It glugs out of the bottle all dark and velvety, if I could find a bath full of this it could double as a fake tan lotion. It's very very thick, and the cocoa had separated in my bottle when it arrived so I had to roll it around to re-combine everything. My only issue with Boomslang is that my skin eats up the cocoa real fast - can't say that I blame it for doing so, but that's a real bummer - I find that after about half an hour only the snake oil is left. So I have to put more on, because that cocoa is so damn good. I'm just going to have to buy squillions of bottles of this, so I can slather it on regularly. Full of win!!

Snake Oil with blood orange, red apple, lemon peel, plumeria, and gardenia. So far, nothing from the Snake Pit has let me down, so I will continue to justify my obsession with hoarding everything that slithers out of it. Coral Snake.. oh, it's lovely. I was a bit scared about this one, because gardenia.. I have big gardenia bushes in my garden and the fragrance is so sweet and strong when they're in flower - beautiful in my garden, but not on my skin. But *rejoice* I'm not picking up the gardenia in this, it's beautifully hidden. Same with the lemon, which my skin usually amps like crazy - it's there, but very mellow. If I had to break it down, I'd say 80% apple, 10% orange, then the rest of it is the plumeria, gardenia and lemon snoozing under there somewhere. Permeating all of it is that lovely warm snake oil glistening like a sexy beast between all the fruity goodness. LOVE it - definitely a keeper and I reckon it's going to smell even better a year from now, if I can keep it that long!!

This is a forum purchase that I bought unsniffed, the notes just sounded heavenly and I was pretty sure I was going to like it. I have to say, when I first took the lid off the bottle for a sniff.. I was a bit taken aback - it smelt quite strong, with a bit of a boozy or dark sugar note, which I wasn't expecting at all - I guess I thought it was going to be a lot more sweet. But I needn't have worried.. on my skin, it's completely different - that booze/sugar note (which I presume is the caramel playing with the teak and amber) only sticks around for about fifteen minutes, but then it totally disappears and the cream and honey and apple come out - I've never had a blend so far change so completely on me. The other thing I've found is that this one is a stayer - another first.. I could still smell it on me in the morning when I woke up, so that was about 14 hours after initial application. I'm really loving this - I must have just gotten lucky, because this one really works on me. It's one of the few BPALs where I don't have to sniff my arm like a maniac to actually smell it - just every now and then I think "ooh what's that yummy smell" and then I realise it's me. This one's definitely a keeper, I'm really glad I took the chance on it. (edited to fix pesky tags)

I was so upset when Candy Butcher became discontinued - it was on my list for my next order and then WHAMMO it was gone! So imagine my delight when I received a decant from the lovely GirlinDenial - finally I get to see what it's like!! Well.. I'm not disappointed, I'm delighted. It's exactly like I hoped it would be.. and more. When I first put it on, it's absolutely chocolate and cream, but in a velvety way - not HEY CHOCOLATE like Bliss is, but ccchocoooooolaaaateeeee like creamy and luscious. For the first hour or so, it was all chocolate and cream, and then it started doing the morphing thing that previous reviewers have mentioned.. and that's the part I was worried about. Bah - I shouldn't have been concerned - on me, it mellows out into a lovely soft and nutty kind of creamy chocolate smell that's barely there but every now and then it just catches my nose - it's really quite lovely although different to how it started out, but that chocolate note is definitely still there. Damn you, Candy Butcher - why'd you have to be so good? Now I will have to hunt the galaxy so I can find bottles to hoard!!

Oh bugger.. I'm getting all the 'distilled in toilets' bit and none of the good stuff. I bought this via a sales post here on the forum - I read the reviews first and saw "fizzy orange" and mentions of The Hamptons and I thought ooh.. sounds delicious! Then I get my bottle. It certainly is an eccentric blend of interesting notes, but do I like it? Uhhh.. no. Sadly, this is really sour and rank and nasty on my skin. I left it on for about 45 minutes, hoping it would improve, but I had to go wash it off.. it was actually hurting my nose and making me feel a bit sick - it didn't smell very nice at all. Buh-bye Pruno, I'm sure someone out there is going to love you, but it ain't me.

Ooh yummy.. I just received my bottle of this from the Lab - with new style label even! I can definitely smell the almond here - but on me, it's almost like a boozy coffee kind of smell - it's actually quite strong and it stayed on my skin for ages. A previous reviewer mentioned marzipan.. yup, I'm getting that too. The honey and milk are there, but very much in the background - my skin seems to be amping the almond right up to eleven. Dana O'Shee, to me, smells like Irish Coffee! Yep, that's it.. a rich coffee with vanilla and whiskey in it. I'm looking forward to seeing how this ages.

I ordered two bottles of Candy Phoenix, hoping it would make a suitable replacement for my beloved Pink Phoenix. So my order arrives, and I rip off the bubble wrap like a crazy person. Eek! When I first took the lid off to have a sniff.. very strong and rich, in a cough syrup kind of way. My first thought was "uh oh".. but then I put it on my skin.. Mmmmm - cherries? No wait, it's blackcurrant. Pomegranate? Hello, are you there? Oh yeah.. there you are, hiding behind the blackcurrant. It's still a very strawberry/cherry smell right now. After about 15 minutes, that initial cherry thing has died down and the pear has made an appearance. The apple's definitely there too now. Half an hour later, and all the notes have blended beautifully so that no particular one is really clear. I'm not getting the 'pink' that others have mentioned, this doesn't have that real girlie candy thing going - on me, it's more fruity wine than pink candy - so it's not going to be my Pink Phoenix replacement but that's OK. This is really a beautiful blend - it keeps changing but it's just getting better and better. I've had it on for about 2 hours now, and I think the pear is taking the lead, with the others just hovering around in the background. Such a lovely surprise - I was really worried at first sniff, but now I'm exceptionally happy with this. Edited to add: Just out of curiosity, I put a dab of Sticky Pillowcase on.. and nope, not at all similar on me - Sticky Pillowcase is that boozy rum kind of sugar (like Smut, Sugar Skull etc), very different to Candy Phoenix which is all candy type sugar (white sugar?) so I'm not getting that similarity others have mentioned at all.

Note: this is for BEAVER'VERSARY Ok, so I never tried Beaver Moon '05 because I just couldn't get my hands on any.. but I do have Beaver Moon '07. This new Beaver'versary is just SO DAMN YUMMY - I am thinking of strapping my arm to my face so I can just inhale it all day. Honestly if I didn't think it would cause damage of medical proportions, I would apply it directly to the inside of my nostrils. BM '07 is very strawberry and cupcake-y to me, but this new one is all that plus creamy goodness. It smells like a strawberry milkshake and feels like a pink fluffy blanket. Thankfully it's a sweet cream, not a sour milk kinda cream, it's a thick and velvety enveloping kind of fragrance, not light at all.. and it stays on my skin for hours. I wore it out shopping today and had three total strangers say I smell good and ask me what I was wearing.. one of them insisted on sniffing my arm which was kinda weird but hey, takes all kinds. I'm so glad I ordered two bottles of this. I might even have to get some more before it goes away. I'm also very very happy that I can take Beaver Moon '05 and '07 off of my wishlist, because this is just perfect and I'm gonna hoard this instead. I just need to be more vigilant for arm-sniffing strangers.

Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut. NOTE: this is about Snake Charmer Resurrected, not the original. Oh.. me too, and I have to say I'm really disappointed - I thought this was going to be different. It has all those other notes in it , but I'm not getting any black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin or black coconut. Weird, because with Death Adder the black coconut really dominates on me, but I can't find it in this at all. Plum is also another note that my skin usually amps but here.. nope, nothing. All I'm getting is Snake Oil - actually, to be honest, a weaker version of Snake Oil - it's definitely not as rich and lush as Snake Oil and also isn't lasting long on my skin. I'm not giving up on this, but sadly it just isn't doing it for me right now.

At first, I found the lemon to be really sharp and a little medicinal to my nose - definitely a strong citrus .. but thankfully that sharpness only lasted for about 10 minutes after it was on my skin. Once it dried down, Lolita turned into a beautiful soft and powdery lemon, and now I can sense the honeysuckle like a fluffy carpet under the lemon. I'm not really getting the orange at all, which is a shame because that's the one I was really looking for in this blend. Half an hour later and lemon is still the strongest note, but it has really mellowed out into an earthy kinda lemon - perhaps that's the orange at work, balancing out the sour with a bit of sweet. This is really lovely and light on me, very clean and crisp - something for a nice sunny day - it's definitely one for a flouncy dress rather than jeans.

I only recently discovered this beautiful blend when I spotted it in a sales post.. read the description and thought ayup, that's for me! I have now developed serious hoarding issues with this one. In the bottle: Mmmmmm I feel like it wafts out of the bottle and envelopes me in a velvet cloud of creamy sweetness but that saffron is just poking its finger at me saying "hey, I'm here!" On my skin, wet: This is lush, so creamy, it feels warm and somehow comforting. The vanilla is now all around me but not in a strong "bakery" kind of way, just a sensuous mysterious way. The saffron's tickling my nose. After it's dried: Oh boy, this is really something. My skin must love this - the cream is still warm and velvety and the vanilla has mellowed out to be really lovely - on me it's gone very dry and musky, not too sweet at all. The saffron's definitely there now, just giving the whole thing an edge and beautifully balancing out the sweet creaminess - that's what's making me keep sniffing my skin.. not just sniffing, I'm INHALING this - it's just gorgeous. Love's Philosophy just agrees with me - it stays on for ages.. as it fades, the creaminess and all the notes still stay but it just all softens and mellows out very evenly rather than suddenly disappearing. I love the way the fragrance follows me around - it never takes over, it's just like the feeling that stays with you after a warm embrace. My plan now is to continue hoarding it like a crazy person because I never want to not have some of this near me.

Thank you ivyandpeony and angharad - that makes sense now I definitely don't have anything in my spam/junk folders, so I guess I'm just not receiving the notifications. Thanks also for the advice - I have been watching the CnS thread and I'm trying to be patient (this is quite a challenge for me!!) - it's a bit of a mix but it looks like other people are getting their CnS for orders placed around the same time as mine, so I won't panic just yet. Thanks again!

Can I ask you guys how you do the CnS thing? I never get one of those.. I pay for my Lab orders via PayPal - is it because I'm outside of the US that I don't get a CnS? My PayPal account shows that the money has been sent, but that's all the info it gives me. With my first order, I didn't receive any notifications of any sort.. the bottles just arrived one day. Since then, I've placed one order on 30 October, and another one on November 18. The November order is probably not ready yet but I thought the October order should be here by now or at least on the way.. I don't want to bother the Lab people about it, but I've been reading this thread and you all keep talking about a CnS so I'm wondering why I don't get those - it would be reassuring to know when my order has been sent, especially since it has such a long way to travel. Please excuse me if I'm just totally missing something here, but I did try to work this out for myself before posting here. Any advice would be really helpful - thanks! Louise

I just got a bottle of this via a forum sale from the extremely lovely ClareN - I wasn't really sure what to expect as the reviews have been talking about such a variety of results.. but can I just say OH.MY.GOD. this is awesome!! On me, this smells like bubble gum. That old-fashioned bright pink bubble gum! Who knew I was going to love smelling like bubble gum?!?!? I certainly didn't, but I can't begin to tell you how much I just want to lick my arm. Honey usually comes out really strong in any blend I've tried, and carnation is usually woefully overpowering on me, but not here.. it's all about the bubble gum. Since the official description doesn't contain the words 'bubble gum' - can anyone tell me what that note might be?? Is it the grapes? The plum? The sugar cane? I'm not a connoisseur of these individual notes yet, so I would really love some help here from those of you who know. Anyhow - I just had to come here and rave about this beautiful blend. Did I mention how much I love it??