cleske

My number one rosewood recommendation has to be Pumpkin II 2009 (pumpkin, rosewood, red sandalwood and tea rose) if you can find some!

I must preface this by saying that I can't be sensible about this scent. Now, with that out of the way: the red musk is dominant, but there's something lurking underneath. Waiting for me to figure out what it is. Biding its time, smelling like the unknown ingredient in the Thorntons 'Choccies' I was obsessed with. For some unknown reason my brain automatically calls up the word 'CHRISTMAS' (I know: what?) to describe this particular undertone. I don't claim to understand my brain. So, along with the red musk, the cologne that seeps in during the drydown, the little hint of smoke... it smells like sex, on Christmas morning, surrounded by plundered bags of Thorntons Choccies. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Cheers, guys! I think I'm going to try the Phantom Calliope, since it's been mentioned as similar to both Glogg and Tanin'iver. Also, I'm skin testing the Dodo right now, and it's definately in the same family, to me.

Okay, have any of you tried Glogg shower gel yet? If any of you know of a scent that's similar to it, please let me know so I can amass a hoard. (It reminds me of my dear, departed Tanin'iver... )

I didn't think much of this the first time I tried it--it seemed very sharp, but now it's had a few months to mellow the red musk rounds out the scent and adds a thick, almost cocoa-rich backdrop, and it tempers the woods. It has a smoky quality once it's dry, and it's quite complex and primal. One to try if you like Dragon's Heart!

Hunger! Out of everything I've tried over the year I've been into BPAL, it's the longest lasting. So if orangetastic, dark vanilla sounds like something you'd like then get on it! I also found that Shattered lasts a long time, even though it's bright and citrusy. Oh, and anything with pumpkin!

Fresh rose with a green streak. Medium throw but good wear length. A little too fresh for me.

Starts off very like Bow & Crown of Conquest; on me the sage is very strong to start off, then once the sage drops away there's more cedar than the leathery/vanilla dry stage of Bow & Crown. It's very nice. I love the sage and the cedar isn't too loud (I do like it but sometimes it takes over a scent for me, but not in this case) but I find myself missing the vanilla and leather because Bow & Crown and I are eternally betrothed.

I found it quite difficult to distinguish the notes in this one, mainly because it wore off so fast on me and I'm now sitting huffing my scarf to remind myself of my fuzzy-morning perfume reviewing thoughts. Anyway: I get a little rose and ambergris, I think. It's very fresh and light, and although it's not something I'd usually wear I wouldn't have been annoyed if it stuck around. In an odd way it reminds me of eastertime at my old church, or handing out daffodils on Mother's day. Strange.

Pretty rosewood with a bit of sharpness during the wet/dry-down stages that I think comes from the leaf, but it's a good sharpness. It gives the scent some bite for a while before it dries, and then it morphs a little and I get a little something a bit more ... traditionally woody than rosewood (I know, that's the most crap description ever, but I know what I mean!) which I think is my nose trying to interpret the hazel. Sadly, it doesn't really have a great wear length on me, although I do enjoy it when it's there. The sharpness in the blend actually reminds me a little of the Peacock Queen, but instead of being a fresh rose it's tied to the softer, antique rosewood, which really works for the concept. One to try if you can't really wear straight-up rose, as I'm finding with a lot of rosewood scents.

Oh my god. I never would have ordered this of my own volition, but that just goes to show you how outrageously stupid my own volition is. Instant favourite. The throw is strong, and the wearlength is the longest of any BPAL I've tried (I wore the scent three days ago and I can still smell it on my sheet, and it lasted on my skin until I washed it off the next morning). It's a gorgeous, orangey, darkness: like a coil of sweet, chocolate-orange smoke. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's the first 'floral' fragrance I've ever really loved. It's convinced me that I might really love orange blossom, and that it's good to sniff outside the box! Definately one to keep for sexy moods.

I was expecting something foodie when I ordered this (and I love foodie!) but I was surprised when it didn't quite turn out that way on my skin. I get the tangerine cream, and it's not what I expected, but I really love it for what it is. I can't really pick apart the notes of this one very well, it's so well blended, but I think the thing that makes it less foodie for me is the ambergris, and if that's what it is then... I guess I really love ambergris! Not really a morpher on me, and the throw and wear length are both medium (which, for me, equates to a short shift at work: six and a half hours). I don't know why, but there's something classic about it to me, which I know is an odd association to have.

The first time I tried this I didn't think much of it, so I just stuffed it in my '?' tin and forgot about it for a few weeks... then I tried it again. For some reason, this time I appreciate it. It's beautiful. Sandy cider, carnation and amber, which sort of melds together and reminds me of really good, fresh chamomile tea: full, golden buds of it. It's so warm and comforting and I am so, so glad I decided to give it a second chance, because I thoroughly underestimated it the first time. There's much to be said for letting things settle! I think I throw the word beautiful about thoughtlessly, but sometimes you come across something that really deserves it. Queen Alice deserves it.

My first experience of the Carnaval, and of Snake Oil! At first this is a rich berry, not at all cloying, and then it mellows into a vanilla richness that I can only assume is Snake Oil. It's really, really beautiful, and the berry doesn't look like it's going to disappear, which I was a bit afraid of. As time goes on it just melds together to create something seriously unf and hoard worthy. ETA: After wearing it for a full day I've realised that it reminds me of this little Boots rollerball called Dreamcloud I had years ago. I think it was while I was still at school! This is a more sophisticated, less cloying perfume, but there's something about it that sates the agony that (apparently!) still existed from when I walked in and realised they'd discontinued it. I hoarded that little bottle into the fridge until it was finished, and then I never really loved a perfume again until BPAL. Strange...

Surprise hit from the frimp camp! This is lovely, and I'm so glad I've found a dragon's blood blend that's light enough to wear to work and doesn't inspire my usual dragon's blood reaction. The dragon's blood is light, as I've said, and the amber is warm and enveloping... I love this, it's so warm and pretty, and it lasts!