puck_nc

Origin: Bought at the Dirty South Will Call Initial Thoughts: I love pear as a note - it features in Juliet and The Perilous Parlor, a couple of my favorites. I always hesitate over musk if it's not clearly spelled out whether it's a light or dark musk, since darker musks amp badly on me and I've had a couple of lemon-furniture-polish experiences as well. This was on my maybe list, but I got to play with it at the Will Call. In the Bottle: Very, very pear. Cool and not candy-sweet, but positively pear. Wet: Still very pear, but the lemon emerges quickly. And it's not artificial or overpowering at all, just adding its citrus zing to the pear. Drydown: I would think it is safe to say that this is not a dark musk. The musk develops and blends in nicely, making the overall scent a bit less fruity and a touch more skin-like. It's subtle and would make a good work scent for me. Verdict: Lovely! So glad I was able to try this one and bring a bottle home.

Origin: Frimp from the Lab Initial Thoughts: Violet is usually very problematic on my skin, turning acridly unpleasant. But I love gardenia, lilac, and lavender with a passion. I will cross my fingers and hope. In the Vial: A light and pretty crush of florals grounded by either the sandalwood or the orris. It's like one of the first warm spring days of the year. Wet: A rush of gardeina and floral with the sandalwood amping up a touch the way sandalwood sometimes does. Drydown: The violet is playing its stink card, but perhaps because of the numerous other notes it's not as strong as it has been in other blends. The gardenia is sort of taking everything over and that's not a bad thing. Verdict: Well, it's nice to have found at least one blend where the violet doesn't overload and go icky. We'll see how often I reach for it.

Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: Like stellamaris, my skin does very disagreeable things to a lot of the Lab's rose notes. In my case I get green-stem to the level that it stinks like cooked collard greens. But I let Puddin' convince me that perhaps my hair would not misbehave so badly. In the Bottle: It's the same beautiful fresh-cut rose that is the perfume. Applying: My usual method is to spray into my damp hair or in my hands to work it in. I went for fewer sprays than normal, just in case since I wasn't going to have time to try and wash it out before work if it was disastrous. And at first the green-stem was pretty strong. Drying: Blowdrying my hair quickly cut the strength of the scent, but I had a few more minutes of trepidation before the rose finally bloomed again. Wearing: It has lasted all day at a very gentle level, giving a lovely pure rose aroma. Verdict: I am very glad that this works on my hair and I can finally enjoy Rose Red in its proper courteous form rather than the greeny "HULK SMASH!" that my skin produces.

Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: At first, the lotus root and cade put me off. And then the reviews came in speaking of cool lilac floral. So I added a bottle to my last-minute Yule/first-minute Luper order. In the Bottle: Lilac with a strong note that is alternately herby and chilly. Wet: Well, hello, lotus! I remember your faintly bubblegum adventures from other scents...can you let the other notes out to play? Drydown: It seems to be settling down to a lilac with a sweet edge from the lotus. Definitely not as chilly on my skin as herby with the chamomile. Verdict: Unsure. It's not the lilac explosion I was hoping for but it may grow on me.

Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: The notes list included several favorites (honeysuckle, coconut, white jasmine), an iffy note (moss), and an unknown. Ever since I discovered that the "white" rule with me and musks also applied to patchouli, I've been eager to try white amber since it falls in that same family of notes that usually amp horribly on me. In the Bottle: Warm jasmine. This is like a solitary garden corner, shady but with sun dappling through the leaves above. It's really well-blended - all the other notes just cluster up and support it. On My Skin: It's a slower process than with the perfumes and/or the darker ambers, but the white amber does step up and make its presence felt. On the other hand, it brings the honeysuckle and coconut with it, which is a win.It tilts toward a summery scent without going all the way. Verdict: I think I will be able to use this up, eventually.

Third on the throw. I got home, opened my box, left the candle on my desk while I ran back out for some errands, and came back to roses in my den. It's very true to what I remember from trying the perfume so many years ago - freshly-cut rose. And this won't go icky on my arm!

Origin: Frimp from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I like lily in some blends - I wasn't sure about what "cobra" implied. Time to find out! In the Vial: Sweet, fresh, slightly greeny lily. A second sniff detects an undertone of something grounding...the faintest resin or sandalwood. Wet: For a moment I get that green rush that I usually get with rose, where it goes all stem and leaves. But it morphs very quickly into that undertone note, which means said undertone note is something like red sandalwood, a darker musk, incense, or patchouli-related...something that my skin amps like a fiend. However, the lily is not backing down without a fight. Drydown: An interesting detente has formed between the lily and the amper. The amper is keeping the lily from going too green on me and lending a nice spicy flair to the scent. The lily is keeping the amper from going into "cheap headshop" territory. A scent quiet enough for the work environment, with an edge of sexy to it. Verdict: Definitely keeping the imp. We'll see if it gets used enough to turn into a bottle purchase.

Origin: Bottle bought on the forums Initial Thoughts: At first this wasn't even on my radar because generally booze=bad for my skin chemistry. Then someone mentioned in a thread that the "bourbon" of Bourbon vanilla has nothing to do with the Kentucky state drink but instead a geographic region of islands in the Indian Ocean that produces the majority of the world's vanilla. Thus educated, I immediately promoted this to my wish list. Because vanilla. In the Bottle: Definitely vanilla. Smooth, rich and dark without screaming "CAKE" or "FOOD". I like it and am already pondering what this would layer with to give another scent an extra dimension. On skin: This turns a bit more resinous, since of course benzoin is somewhere in the resin/incense family and that set of notes tends to amp on me. But it's not eating up the vanilla, only enhancing the aromatic side of vanilla and continuing to keep it out of foody territory. Verdict: Lovely! I'll probably snag another bottle of this before it goes away, because it makes a perfect gentle scent on its own and has so many possibilities with combining with hair gloss and perfume...

Origin: Frimp from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I love the scent of violet. However, I discovered early on that the BPAL violet has this nasty tendency to go ugly on my skin, so I never looked twice at this. I expect this will not work on me, but we've all learned to never look a gift frimp in the notes... In the vial: Chilly and sharp mint with sweet violet. Bracing enough to warrant the "brusque". Wet: Airy and a bit ozone-y, but gentled by a soft floral undertone. It's rather nice and early-spring. Drydown: Hmph. And the pretty goes away. It's not quite the icky acrid skank that violet tends to produce on me. It's more like tomato leaf and grass and all a bit muddy. I suppose this could be the violet leaf? Eventually some of the florals showed up again, but they're not really sitting pretty next to this green mucky note. Verdict: Well, now I know. In the past I've automatically nixed anything with violet leaf because I assumed it would go acrid like violet. Perhaps if the other notes are robust enough, I can deal. But it won't be with this blend - it needs someone whose skin works with violet.

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: So, when this was introduced as part of the Mad Tea Party, I dismissed it because I didn't want to smell like food. This was some time ago in my BPAL development. I did try Drink Me when I got a frimp of it at some point and decided I liked it, but I think the currants, which had been problematic in a couple other blends, kept me from trying Eat Me. And then there was the BPTP hair gloss battle in which Eat Me was a lonely foody scent hemmed in by a bunch of stuff with deal-breaking notes like patchouli and amber and vetiver and dark musk. And I voted Eat Me as a sort of protest because what I really, really want are some BPTP Lunacy polls that are 100% floral and guarantee something I'd love. Eat Me won. And having voted for it, I felt I ought to purchase it. And I discovered I loved having my hair smell like vanilla cake with a dash of currants. So I promised myself that I'd throw an imp of Eat Me into a future BPAL order. In the Imp: The same luscious vanilla cake with a thread of currants running through it. Wet: Fruity-sweet vanilla. The cake is in hiding right now. Drydown: The cake emerges again, blending beautifully with the rest. As a whole it makes its presence known, but doesn't overpower. Verdict: Thank you, hair gloss, for showing me the way to a great GC scent!

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: Love coconut. Wildflowers are a yes although honey is a maybe. Saffron is a bit of a wild card. In the Bottle: Extremely mild coconut. I'm having to really sniff with the bottle right at my nose to get it. Wet: Still very light, with me having to hold my nose right at my wrist. I think I'm getting honey more than anyhing else at the moment, but something is keeping it from being too cloying. Drydown: The coconut does come out to play, giving this a slightly stronger throw. Compared to the sweet creamy coconut of Ivory Vulva, this is definitely a more natural coconut. It's still on the sweet side, but not candy-like. Verdict: Uncertain. I think, maybe, that if I had to choose between the coconuts I'd go with Ivory Vulva myself. But if you prefer your coconut less cavity-inducing, try this one.

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I ended up enjoying the Lab's Wild Dandelion SN from the recent run. I'm always open to florals that aren't rose or violet. I do pretty well with sugary florals, but honey is a bit hit-or-miss. In the Bottle: Joyous greeny dandelions with a dash of honey. I hope they're not so green that they do the rose-to--cooked-collards on me. But it's a noseful of spring-into-summer fields and very uplifting. I'm almost tempted to pull out my Dandelion SN for a comparison sniff. Wet: Green and grassy, but no initial signs of the dreaded collards stench. Drydown: Ooh, pretty! I think the other flowers are coming out to play, and they intensify the dandelion as they do, The honey is staying in the background, holding everything together nicely without shouting its presence. Verdict: I do believe we have a winner! I may need a second bottle of this before it goes away. If you love sunny spring or summery florals, check this out.

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: Mimosa - I'm on board. Vanilla cream - totally. Almond blossom - has worked in the past. Let's see what they do together. In the bottle: Lovely, rich, perfume-y mimosa. A gentle, subtle and creamy-sweet floral. Wet: Creamy and a less sweet floral. I'm thinking the almond blossom is taking center stage first. Drydown: Slowly but surely the mimosa creeps back out, but something is giving it the slightest stale edge. Something that was shining in the bottle is being held back by my skin. Verdict: Unsure. I really, really want to love this one as it's so gorgeous in the bottle. I may try a bit in my scent locket tomorrow to see if I'll use up the bottle that way. it's so close to being what I want it to be on my skin...

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I haven't always gone for the Vulvas among the Shungas, but last year's Reflected Vulva turned out to work very well on me. Looking at the notes for Ivory Vulva, the coconut and cream sounded perfect, but I was a bit worried about the drop of golden amber. Even a drop may be enough to amp and steamroll the rest of the notes. In the Bottle: Lots of sweet coconut, and definitely a buttery presence from somewhere. A veneer of childlike innocence with rather mature and sexy undertones. Wet: A rush of macadamia and coconut, but then the amber comes roaring up very quickly. This bodes ill... Drydown: The amber backs down enough for the other notes to play along, but I'm not sure about it. It stays VERY close to the skin on me and there's a lot of macadamia in it. I get a bit of the cream or maybe the marshmallow root, but the coconut is hidden under it all. Verdict: Undecided. I'll probably try it again in a few days to be sure, but I get the feeling this will be best on someone else's wrist. ETA: It took a while, but after finishing testing all the other Lupers, I found that this had turned to sweet creamy coconut candy at some point. So it does take a while but ends up rather nice on me after all.

Belle Époque?

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: My favorite of the series is the original Lick It, but I regularly try others when they arrive. Most are a good combo of mint and sweet, though I've had a couple go plasticky on me. With proceeds going to a very good cause, I jumped at this one. In the Bottle: This version seems to be a bit heavier on the vanilla and the mint - it doesn't have quite the bracing nose-clearing strength of some of the previous mints. But it is, as always, a lovely candy cane in a bottle. Wet: Now the mint is more of the nostril blast variety: cold and crisp and sweet. Drydown: I get that lovely tingle on the skin that tends to come with strong BPAL mint. I also get a bit more of the sweet candy vanilla. Verdict: A great addition to the series. I'll probably pick up another bottle or two before the Yules come down.

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I'm a florals fan. Sometimes white tea works for me. I am intrigued by the idea of candlewax, but it hasn't always worked in other blends I've tried. In the Bottle: A candle with a gentle lemon scent and a very strong dash of tea. Wet: The lemony impression becomes more floral and steadily shifts to what I expect from lilac. The tea is very faint but the candle impression is still there. Drydown: The lilac goes lemon again and unfortunately the combination with the candlewax is turning it into the impression of furniture polish. I can't find the tea anywhere now. Verdict: My skin definitely does not bring out the best in this scent. This bottle needs a home where it can be appreciated.

Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: At first I wasn't considering this one. The atmo sprays seem to be the final frontier with me in trying to keep my house from filling with BPTP bottles and I had only bought three big bottles before and kept two. And then the reviews and chatter started. When I rethought buying all the candles at once, this jumped into the cart. In the Bottle: Tooth-achingly sweet pink candy! I cant decide whether it's strawberry or cherry or a combination, but it's lighter and much more cute than what I would expect from plum. This smells like the bedroom of the frilliest and most girly-girl of four-year-olds. Any vanilla is buried under the piles of flounces. In the Air: That's a bit more like it. The vanilla is more detectable, allowing the sweetness to mature a bit, and the fruit is now more like what I consider plum and not quite so strong and sugar-drenched. Verdict: I'm not 100% sold on it, partly because I expect my husband will not like it very much and that will limit my opportunities for using it. But I think I'll also be trying the VioletChaos method of litter-box odor control and see whether that works for me as well.

Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: Capturing that wonderful scent of a Christmas tree is always a plus for me. I have several perfumes from BPAL that help, but an atmosphere spray seems like the perfect answer for enjoying one of my favorite aromas. In the Bottle: Evergreen. Lots and lots of evergreen. There's a suggestion of chill and snow, but I'm not sure how much of it is notes in the bottle or the fact that spruce and pine are so firmly fixed in my mind with Christmas and therefore winter. In the Air: Without the concentration in the bottle there's a little more of the snow note with some layers to it. Still very much Christmas in a bottle, but with a gentler feel than your typical mass-market atmosphere spray. Verdict: I believe I'll be hanging on to this one.

Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: I have found a subcategory in my love of florals, thanks to last year's Nice Glop, that will always grab my attention. Floral and sugary-sweet. From Nice Glop's honeysuckle to Nectar to Peach Nectar and Vanilla Orchid, I am all about the cavity-inducing sweet florals. So of course Winter Lily and Sugarcane caught my eye. In the Bottle: Very crisp and cold lily. It's fresh and the cold/snow note brings a snap to it that I find refreshing. In My Hair: My most common application method is either spraying directly on damp hair or on my hands and working it into wet hair. As I applied the sweet note made itself known, but stayed in a nice balance with the lily. Where something like Nectar goes really, REALLY sweet (and that's not a bad thing) this finds a lovely three-way balance between white floral, cold, and sweet. Verdict: I love it and am almost certainly going to be snagging another bottle or two after my next paycheck. This is a HG I can see pairing with several of my very floral BPAL scents.

Literally everything! Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: After trying the perfume version of this, I knew I'd want it as a candle. If it's like any of the other BPTP candles I've experiences, it'll be true to the scent and lovely for burning and scenting up a room. Unlit:The gorgeous blend of spices is right there, perhaps a touch mellower on the cinnamon or a touch stronger on the pumpkin, but the epitome of foody fall. Lit: Gentle pumpkin spices, again with a slightly stronger presence of the pumpkin. It has the same lovely throw as my other BPTP candles, Verdict: Very glad I got this one!

White musk, winter plum, pine wood, benzoin, orchid, and stargazer lily. Origin: Straight from the Trading Post Initial Thoughts: This was the only one of the Four Seasons that didn't have a deal-breaking note in it, so I was much relieved when it turned up as my quiz result, eliminating my need for abject begging. I am a huge fan of stargazer lily, and white musk is one of the musks that doesn't amp badly on me. In the Bottle: This is absolutely beautiful. The pine creates a wonderfully chilly feeling, and the lily and benzoin are lurking in the background as subtle hints of sweetness. Even if it turns to cat pee on my skin, I'm likely to keep the bottle and use it in my scent locket, it's that pretty. Wet: The plum has come roaring out, adding a nice fruity element to the wintry mix for a moment. Then it backs down to meld with the rest...I'm getting a cold blast that's just a little more piney than it was in the bottle. Drydown: Hmm...the chilly edge has faded quite a bit. I now get a lot of the plum and florals with the musk and benzoin combining for a rich darkish sweetness. It's still quite lovely, but it doesn't shout "Winter!" the way it did in the early stages on me. Verdict: Like I said, I'm keeping this for the scent locket alone. But it is a beautiful scent on my skin as well.

Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: After trying the perfume oil, I knew I had to try other formats of this lovely spicy scent. Application: I usually do a sniff-from-the-bottle test, but the last few days have been crazy busy and I just reached for it this morning. After 8 or so spritzes on wet hair, massaging it through, and blow-drying I was in a lovely cloud of foody spices with a light foundation of pumpkin. Duration: This one is giving CVBT a run for staying power. I could smell my hair just walking around all day and at least one person commented on my room smelling like something baking. Verdict: Total keeper, but perhaps I'll spray a little less than my usual. ETA: Um, yeah...totally the most staying power I've ever experienced. I got in the shower this morning and the minute the hot water hit my hair, I was in a cloud of cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg bliss.

Origin: Bottle LXXXI, straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I tend to avoid the Chaos Theory experiments because I have so many deal-breaker notes. But as I was filling my cart, it was still there. And Puddin's voice whispered, "It's on your hair, not your skin..." And then a bottle jumped into the cart. In the Bottle: I pulled off the cap and the first impression was some kind of musk, leaning toward the masculine side. Unscrewing the top for a better sniff produces a smoky note, maybe some evergreen, and a splash of something fruity. It feels very autumn-y. Spritzed on Dry Hair: Um...wow. Burning charcoal briquettes. Did I get Single Note: Bonfire? Or tobacco? Strongly ashy smoke and maybe just the faintest trace of that fruity-orangey note. Verdict: I will of course try again in the morning with my usual application on wet hair and blow-drying. If it stays the way it is now, it's most definitely an evocative scent, but not one I would reach for. I'd look to swap for someone else's CTHG that runs more to my tastes. ETA: And now, a couple of hours after applying, it's gone a bit more toward the woodfire than tobacco or charcoal, and there's now also an underlying sweetness to it that makes me think of one of my favorite Halloween blends (Halloween from Possets). Might have to ponder this one some more. ETA2: Traditional application of spritzing on wet hair & massaging through produces the same morphing of a stage of charcoal smoke setting into a much more pleasant woodsmoke. However, the tantalizing underlying sweetness of yesterday is not there. I think it must have been leftover Peach & Vanilla Orchid HG contributing. So if anyone got a pretty floral HG and would rather have a woodsy smoke HG, meet me in the Swaps forum? ETA: Sold!

Origin: Straight from NYCC thanks to a fabulous fairy. Initial Thoughts: I have become a major hair gloss fan since my first venture into its realm with CVBT gloss. Of course the tiare would catch my eye on this list. Bergamot is not a favorite note, but I appreciate the way it can balance a scent, as it does in Nectar. I like vanilla orchid very much. I have no qualms with green apple. In the Bottle: Extremely sharp green apple on the first sniff, and maybe a hint of the florals on the second sniff. The bergamot is probably hand-in-hand with the apple, egging it on. On Dry Hair: While it's possible the morning's CVBT is also in play, the first spritz and rub and brush into dry hair produces a heavenly balance of sweet floral and bright apple. The apple is no longer sharp as it is in the bottle, but freshly picked. Again, I'm not detecting any citrusy zing of bergamot, just the crisp apple and flowers. I want to keep huffing this lock of hair for more. I will come back to edit for any differences brought on by my usual application of gloss onto wet hair and rubbed in before blow-drying. But if it stays true I am already in love. This will be a great alternative or replacement for when my minty-citrusy Lightning Storm from the Hallowenches runs out. Might have to keep an eye out for more on the forums.