benthic

When I first tried Phosphorus, I couldn't put a finger on what it smelled like to me. Now that I've tried Metal Phoenix, I retested this one and realized that's what it is: the Lab's "metal" note. On me, Phosphorus is almost single-note metallic, the same one in Metal Phoenix. I get just the faintest hint of fizzy citrus, lime most probably (as my skin doesn't amp it like it does with lemon). It's basically Metal Phoenix without the sweetness and with less throw. I love Metal Phoenix, so this one's not bad, but I prefer MP for my metallic needs and probably won't look for a bottle of this if/when it gets released. After quite a long time on my skin, Phosphorus fades into the scent of fabric softener, the kind you get in sheets. Numb did the same thing on me, and I know it's not the metal, so I'm guessing they have another note in common.

Someone frimped me a testable sniffie of this, and then I just had to pick up a decant. Planting Moon is one of those rare blends for me that goes straight from imp to wet to dry without doing much of anything. It's exactly what it says on the tin: sun-baked earth and greenery. I swear I can smell the warm sun in the oil. I think of all the BPAL I have ever tried, this is the most truly evocative blend, as it smells exactly like what it's supposed to smell like: gardening! On my skin, it doesn't morph at all, just continues to smell like tending beans outside on a warm summer day. Long after it dries, I get the faintest whiff of floral, just the tiniest hint. That's really all the morphing this one does on me. I'm totally fascinated by this one because the smell makes me happy and evokes a strong nostalgic mood in me, but it's also not something I really think of wanting to smell like when I'm out in public. I bought a decant to play with because I absolutely adore it and think it's a stroke of genius, but I don't know yet if I'll be reaching for it on the way to work.

Cocoa is a really bad note on me, so I almost didn't try this after I got frimped it by someone in a swap. It smelled tasty in the imp, though, so why not? I'm really glad I did, because Intrigue is very yummy. This blend is difficult to describe; the best way I can think of is that it's like taking a walk through the woods in the summertime, overlaid with a smooth creaminess. Intrigue is unique to me in that it smells like "the woods" but not like "wood." The woodsy smell I get is definitely the smell of the air itself, not of tree bark or leaves. It's not sharp at all on me, but mellow and creamy, probably due to the fig--that seems to be what fig does on my skin. I get almost a whisper of coconut from this, but it doesn't smell "fruity" either despite that and the fig. And I'm not picking up on the cocoa, thankfully, because usually I amp it and it's not a good thing. This one's a keeper! It's extremely light and subtle with little throw, but it's delicious.

Faiza is a blend I'm horrible at trying to describe, and it's one of the only blends I've ever tried where I can not pick out a single note and no one note dominates. I don't know if it's just because there are so many (although that wasn't an issue when I tried 13) or if it's just that well-blended, but my skin doesn't amp anything at all except for the whole package, and a fantastic package it is! It's green and resiny and floral and musky and woody all at once, yet it doesn't come off as jumbled or discordant. It just works very, very well. This scent is strong and has a lot of staying power. Applying it one night, I accidentally dripped a few extra drops onto my skin from the applicator I was using, and believe me . . . I could tell, and so could my family. I will never make the mistake of slathering this again. My skin eats up BPAL--very little lasts on me all night--but Faiza has staying power, and a little goes a long way! I'm glad for that, because my bottle should last me a good long time, and I know I'll be using a lot of it.

Unmistakably chai. I think any fan of chai would love this blend. Unfortunately, I really dislike chai. It's a nice, evocative, well-blended scent, just not one that I want to smell or smell like because it's not to my tastes. After it dries for some time, though, I get a really lovely honey and skin musk scent. It's a shame because it smells fantastic, but at that point the oil's wearing off, and it's not worth dealing with the chai spice stage of the blend. For anyone who's into those notes, I recommend this highly, but it's not for me.

I got frimped a testable sniffie of this, which was either very lucky or very unlucky, I can't decide. In the imp: It took me weeks to figure out what this reminded me of. It was something very specific and unmistakable, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Finally I realized that it smells like starfruit. It's a wet, watery, fruity smell, but it's more like the skin of a fruit than the flesh of a fruit, which is what I associate starfruit with. A juicy red rind with some of the fruit still clinging to it. I actually don't get rose at all when this is wet. Wet on skin: the same, only now the rose begins to emerge. It's all very red and pink, with the watery aspect fading and the floral aspect coming out. But overall it is the same fruit-skin smell. Dry on skin: the wetness is all gone, and it's all rose and red fruit and just a touch of spice, present but barely noticeable. I can't get enough of this! It's not like anything else I have. I'm doomed to forever wander the Earth in search of a bottle, I think.

I finally managed to get my hands on a bottle of this cheap! And I'm really glad I did, because it's amazing. In the bottle: straight-up wood, pencil shavings, whatever you want to call it. Smells like cedar to me. Wet on skin: this begins to ease up quickly into something that is still predominantly wood, but not entirely so. Cedar and something else, something which softens it and makes it slightly more feminine. It's still a masculine blend, but I didn't feel like I smelled like a man; there is more to it than just "I've been chopping down trees," some faint spice. It reminds me a lot of The Sportive Sun only less floral and without amber. Dry on skin: suddenly, a hint of cinnamon and spice. I have to say, I really dislike cinnamon/clove blends. They tend to turn into potpourri on me, and while I like potpourri, I don't want to smell like it! But Jupiter somehow manages to avoid that, possibly because the wood still dominates. It smells like cinnamon bark in a very literal "bark" way. This is the only cinnamon/spice scent that has ever worked on me, where my skin didn't amp it and make it annoying and gross. It's just the finest undertone of warm spice under the smell of soft wood. Verdict: this is definitely a keeper. The Sportive Sun is my favorite blend, and this is almost like an alternate mood of it, when I'm wanting the same thing but spicier and more masculine.

I ended up with clove too, which really disappointed me. In the imp this smells amazing and was an instant favorite; it's a delicious black cherry with just a hint of chill from mint and a sharp note of alcohol. I knew I'd be seeking out a bottle if it smelled half that good on my skin. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Something in this oil amps up on my skin into pure craft store cloves and cinnamon, very very strong. I have NO idea where that could be coming from, but it masks everything else in the oil. To add insult to injury, my wrist where I applied it is also irritated; this is the first time this has ever happened to me with BPAL, so I'm not sure what's having that effect on me, but. I'm disappointed. I love this in the imp so much that I'm going to have to figure out something to do with it which doesn't involve it ever being on me!

I picked up a decant of this and loved it so much I had to find a bottle. In the bottle it starts out as cedar and warm dust; I didn't get the florals at all. Once I'd applied it, it turned into a lovely, dry, warm scent: cedar with light florals and amber. I'd been worried that amber turns powdery on me after a bad experience with Versailles, but that didn't happen at all with this scent, nor did the cedar turn into pencil shavings; it remained a nice sweet wood. The scent also lasted a long time on me, although the throw was only moderate. After sniffing the imp it remains in my nose for several minutes, which I don't mind at all. Possibly my very favorite oil; it manages to balance some notes which could go very wrong in a perfect way.

In the bottle, this is fantastic vanilla cream and strawberry; I can't stop picking up the bottle and sniffing it! It's strong, too. On application, it actually doesn't change very much at all on me, which I was thankful for. Vanilla, cherry, and strawberry, exactly what it says on the tin. The only surprise, in fact, was that it was so long-lasting and with such good throw, which tends not to be the case for me with vanilla scents. A pleasant surprise indeed! I've never tried the 2005 version of this scent, but I'm a convert to this version for life. One of my very favorites and one of the only scents I'd stockpile bottles of if I had the means. I would love to try this as a room scent, I just can't get enough of it.

I love rose notes, so I was really looking forward to this scent. In the bottle, the rose is overpowered by the earth and yew, which worried me. Usually in any rose blend, the rose is what I can pick out first, and it's what my skin amps the most (which suits me just fine). Wet on my skin, I was still getting the earthy and yew notes most strongly, tinged with the metallic snap which must have been the blood. It took some drydown before it settled into a nice rose and lily scent on me with just a smidge of darkness from the earth and blood. It's a very nice oil, although because my skin did end up amping the rose in the very end, for a rose blend I think I'll stick to something like Pride where the rose is obvious right off the bat.

Sniffing this in the imp, it's extremely strong and chemical to me, which might be the alcohol note. Wet on my skin it was the same, and I started to worry, but on drydown it's very nice; there was a stage where it smelled mostly like the paper bag, though. Now that it's all dry, it's a very nice fig and cream scent. On me this oil sort of ran through all of its notes individually--first the alcohol, then the leather and paper, and then the fig, berries and cream. Unfortunately, it's faded in intensity a lot by the time it gets to the very nice fruity cream stage. I like the way it ended up, but not enough to seek out more of it, considering the path it took to get there.

I have to agree with everyone who gets a "laundry" vibe off of this oil. After I applied it, I wracked my brain trying to think of what it reminded me of, and finally I realized that it reminds me of linens washed in a light floral detergent and then dried with those little sheets of fabric softener. That sounds pretty unflattering, but it's a very nice scent, although it's a weak one, and I don't get anything "cold" out of it once it's on my skin. Not one of my absolute favorites, but it's very pleasant.