biocarolyn

A golden summer musk with warm fig, orange blossom honey, sweet blueberries, and bright velvety crimson raspberries. I'm still fairly new- in fact, this was the first lunacy that was available when I discovered BPAL. I was, at first, really excited about it. I ADORE berry scents. But reading the reviews, it seemed like fig & honey, and also maybe musk, might be predominate notes and so I stayed away. Then I tried Carnal, and found out I love that fig note, even if I don't eat fig newtons LOL. So I figured I'd try to get a bottle from a forumite. It turns out I really like this blend. Its very golden, to me. Honey and fig, with the faintest hint of light musk behind it. I don't really get much berry at all. A little blueberry, I think. I wish I got those tart juicy raspberries everyone else smells, but no. Honestly though, I liked this blend enough to search out a second bottle. It's late-summer-gorgeous.

I'm still fairly new as well, but I love fruit blends, especially if they tend towards a bit tart. Flowers scare me, so here are my favorites so far: Carnal- juicy fig & mandarin, which is sweeter than just orange. I wanted to eat my arm. The Jersey Devil- heavily berry on me. The pitch pine comes out too, but definitely berry. Maenad- Strawberries, lasted forever on me. Swank- Tart berries Fae- Peach and white musk. Really pretty. Berry Moon- a lunacy that is still really easy to get on the swaps, and I love it. Mostly fig on me, almost no berries. But lots of people got all berries. Spinning Multicolored Metallic Pinwheel-also a fairly easy to get LE, and it screams FRUIT PUNCH. Very summer, fun.

I love Sea of Glass. I get clear, lemony aquatic. Sweeter and less 'colongey" than most of them, to my nose. Definitely my favorite aquatic, although I haven't tried all the GC aquatics. Bayou is really nice in the imp but on me it turns all flowers. Water of Notre Dame smelled sort of aquatic to me as well, but gentle aquatic.

On me this is all tea. I actually wish that the honeysuckle & lemon came out a bit more, because this is really astringent and actually not all that pleasant on me.

In the imp, this was damp earth, wet potting soil, and a wooden carton of white mushrooms. Eerily accurate damp soil & mushrooms. I can't say its changed on me yet- although its only been about 45 minutes. No flowers, though. Just loamy, damp earth & mushrooms. It isn't unpleasant, in fact it is nice, and definitely interesting but I'm a little glad there isn't much throw, because this might be a bit...out there for work LOL. Oh well, no one is going to sick their nose on my arm & sniff. Edit: 4.5 hours after I put this on, its a light, white floral. I have no idea when it changed, I just thought to sniff my wrist. That is STRANGE. Wacky & interesting, and both smells are good, but I've never even IMAGINED a morph like that LOL.

I think its just the Lily I smell. Something is similar to Water of Notre Dame, but heavier in Ave Maria Gratia Plena. Wet it's generic white floral, with a little of the woods behind it. Much later, the lily has gone away (hooray!) but it doesn't have much throw or honestly, much personality on me. Vaguely pleasant, but nothing special. Given the number of other light scents I've actively liked, I doubt I'll wear this.

In the imp, Maenad smelled all Strawberries for me. Sweet, but real strawberries, not artificial plasticky at all. Wet on the skin, it changed drastically, with the carnation coming out immediately. I actually like this better- it's more complex than straight fruit. Unfortunately, my skin strike again, and eats all the berry. I smell exactly like carnations. Not unpleasant, just not what I hope for.

I like 51. A lot. I wish my skin would stop amping the freesia, since flowers are the only thing that scare me truly, but it is still shockingly nice. I get citrus and a bit of musk, along with some melon. Its light, and I could definitely wear this to work. Its a nice summer scent. I can see the comparison to Clinique's Happy, which is one of only two commercial perfumes I've ever enjoyed. (The other was Prescriptive's Calyx.) This isn't a bad thing, as Happy definitely has that commercial perfume alcohol undertone, whereas 51 does not. This is also the only scent my husband has commented on unprompted.

Ahh Carnal. I think I have found my first BPAL love. In the imp, all mandarin- tart sweet and wonderful. A hint of the fig underneath gives it a grounding. Wet it smells just like the imp, but the dry down slowly reverses the prominence and fig eventually wins out with Mandarin underneath. I can't stop sniffing myself, and I think I may soon begin licking my arm.

This one was really nice. I have been having the insane work month from hell, and some peace and calmness were much needed. In the imp, I get a lot of citrus, along with cool aquatic and some floral underneath. On my skin, I get a BUNCH of violet- it smells like those violet hard candies my grandmother used to have. I wish the citrus stayed around a bit, although the violet isn't unpleasant and doesn't send me running away screaming like most florals. I like it. It does seem to have a calming effect, and it is a nice, soft scent.

I seem to be in the minority, but I find I am loving pine blends. The Jersey Devil is one of my favorites, and I like Jabberwocky, too- so I was really excited by this. It didn't let me down. This is wet, rainy pine, with a sweet edge. In the imp, that's all I get-pine, and clear water. A couple of hours into the dry down, however, it's a vague aquatic green without too much pine at all. I like it so much I'm wearing in a locket AND on, so I get the wet & dry scents at the same time. Love this one. It could have been boring, like a single pine note, and I'd still love it but this is so much better!

oooh. Totally fresh wet cucumber. Perfect for the summer- just a touch of grass. I want to put this in the fridge so its all cold when I apply it- maybe turn it into a body spray or something? Not much throw, just gentle nice cucumber.

I didn't know what to expect with Fae. I like peaches (as long as they are peeled, otherwise the texture of the skin reminds me of kitten tongues) and light musk, but floral & I usually don't get along. I have no idea what oakmoss smells like, but I think I should like it. I like dark, woody, foresty scents. So let's see... In the imp: Peachy, but I can smell the heliotrope. Uh-oh. Wet: peach & musk. This is not so bad, I think I like it. I am shocked! Dry: Still peach and musk, the flower goes away. This does go through an almost powdery phase, but its not too bad and eventually dissapates to musk with some kind of foresty smell- the oakmoss? I like it! Fae is way better than I thought it would be. Really interesting, light, smells like late summer to me.

This was way sweeter in the imp than I expected. I am finding that not only do I dislike floral, but my skin makes flowers go to 11. But heliotrope worked in Fae, so maybe... In the Imp: FLOWERS!!! Generic Candy Sweetness, too. Hrm- not so good... Wet: ACK! Flowersflowersflowers, no strawberry, no black cherry, no vanilla, nothing. Dry down: After about two hours during which this gave me a viscious headache, it has faded to a sweet vanilla/amber/red musk which is inoffensive, but not incredible. Not loving it. It just isn't ME. I am disappointed- I wanted to smell like a Misfits song. No chance for a "Teenagers from Mars" blend, is there?

Being from New Jersey and liking pine & cranberry, this one was a must-try for me. In the imp, I smelled pine & cedar, with a little berry behind it. It was nice! Wet, the cranberry/blackberry jumps out at me, then the cedar. On dry down, the cranberry is at the forefront, with cedar and pine behind it. Even at its pine-iest, its not a pinesol smell. This is really nice, and fairly evocative of the pine barrens. Something is "off" for me with the cedar note, as it is really dry, and I wanted it to smell like the red-stained water of lakes & streams in the area. I guess this is the pine barrens in a drought. I like it, its really interesting. I know a lot of people smell pine as a masculine note, but this is way too sweet berry on me to smell masculine.

My first bunch of BPAL arrived, so this is my first review. In the Imp: On first smell, I got very strong eucalyptus. Strong enough to pull the imp away from my nose. When I brought it back to my nose, I got pine, which settled in to be the dominant scent. It is a sweet pine for me, though, not an air freshener. Wet: Sweet pine, with a hint of eucalyptus. Drydown: the orange peeks out, and eucalyptus fades away completely. Just a sweet piney orange, which on me, lasted about 4 hours or so before fading to the faintest pine. This is a really bright invigorating foresty type scent. This isn't a quiet, meditative forest- it is a sharp, lively, observant, forest that is watching YOU, rather than you walking through it. I like it- maybe not for every day, but on days when I expect to be doing tedious tasks and I need it to keep me alert this works.