magikalcrab

Oh, this is just too good. I don't deserve PQ and Creepy in the same order! I wasn't sure of this in the bottle - it seemed a little ... heavy on the pumpkin and a bit acrid (to my nose, anyway). But I gave it a whirl. On skin... there are no words. I think it shall suffice to say: It warmed up a lot, there's a beautiful light pumpkin scent underneath the tangy-sweet of mandarin and a touch of something a little bit ... spicey, maybe? Either way, I'm in absolute heaven. I'll be over here, dancing the dance of joy. (_(_) (_)_) (_(_) (_)_)

Lovely in the bottle! All heavy apples and a tiny hint of something sharp - the cranberry? Either way, this is gorgeous - I'm having delierious daydreams of using it as a room-scent for next Halloween's party! On skin, however ... ugh, not so much. It goes way too sweet (which is a first for me, since I'm a huge fan of sweet, foody scents, but this is way overboard!). It's all apple - kinda reminds me of one of last year's Pumpkin Patches - way too sweet and just ... well, not for me. This is bringing my tally for the week's BPAL orders to 4 that don't work vs. 1 that does.

This is it! This is the scent I've been hoping for for MONTHS! Creepy in the bottle is so boozy I felt a little dizzy after the first sniff! I cought a whiff of coconut and something sweet, which I'm guess is the apple and am so, SO glad that I ordered it. Now, on skin, an amazing thing happens - it's true to the bottle! There's the vaguest underlying hint of sweet apples, a splash of butterscotch and this amazing top layer of heavy, boozy coconut. I think I've died and gone to heaven! Not since I got my bottle of Milk Moon have I felt so instantly thrilled with a scent! Now, if you'll excuse me, think I need to go bathe in Creepy! Or order more of it, whatever.

The Brides of Dracula. Gods, it smells amazing in the bottle. I was so relieved, because I had so many reservations about ordering something with florals in it. On my skin, though? I can't smell a thing besides floral. I gave it a chance to develop, I waited and waited but still, there was just this overpowering lingering flower scent with the tiniest hint of honey underneath. I'm terrible at picking notes, but I'm willing to venture a guess and say that it's the lily that hates me. I don't know why, but florals and my nose do not a happy couple make. In short: amazing scent, bad chemistry with my skin. Guh, I'm 0-for-4 so far!

I was really really weary about this, because of the white pepper, as I'm not much for spicy scents. I digress. In the bottle and wet/dry on skin, all I get on this is sweet, fruity, amazing apple, guava and orange. It's just fantastic. Yes. I am really not good at this describing thing, and I just adore how this scent lingers. As an aside, my father is glaring at me from the hallway, which tells me he can smell it from there, which is almost unheard of for me and BPAL - I can normally smell it, and those close enough to touch me, but it doesn't tend to linger over-much.

This one is simply AMAZING. There are no words. Apart from "when do I get paid so I can order more," that is. At the moment, it's all lemongrass and tea leaf, but still, I adore it too much for words. I can get the tiniest bit of honey in the throw. Very light and really very sweet and lively. In short, Gennivre is brilliant!

Bottle number: MCCXLII I don't know if it's just my nose or anything, but I've had nothing but bad luck with the Chaos Theory's. I'm not fantastic at picking out notes, but here are my impressions of this bottle: In bottle: Sharp, acrid, very herby with a tiny hint of something the smallest bit sweet. On skin: It's kinda turned a little ... woodsy and resiny, maybe? Still very sharp and maybe a little bit soapy. But not in the bad way. Sadly, this is very much not me. It really doesn't suit my skin and definatley doesn't suit my temprament.

Bottle number: DCCLV In the bottle: This is really light, very fresh. The top note is ... well, I can't even begin to try and pick it. But the first thing that comes to mind is "my dad's aftershave." Not in the bad way at all, but the top note of DCCLV and of my father's aftershave smell similar to me. Uhm, anyway. To be honest, I can't pick any defining notes in the bottle. It's very sharp, with a crisp feel to it. It definatly stikes me as the masculine end of a Unisex scent. Also, something seems almost citrusy about it. Hmm. Wet: there's almost no scent on my skin when wet. Just the tiniest hint of something vaguely clean and ozone-y. Reminds me of Numb, actually. No real scent, but a sense of something. Do I even make sense to myself anymore? Drydown: Still extremely little scent, but there's the vaguest hint of really hot, dry summer wind. Like, that scent of a really hot summer day when you're in the mountains? Long term drydown: Any real scent has long since been leeched (damn my picky skin chemistry!) and it's now just ... alternatively greasy soap and nothing. I'm not sure which I prefer. Verdict: While I'm sure it's bound to smell amazing on someone else, my chemistry hates DCCLV. Which is depressing, since I had such high hopes.

Havest Moon 06 really intrigued me. I was reading the description and pondering ... there are quite a few notes in it that I know never work with me, but the apple and rice milk really sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a shot. Well. Here goes. I'm kinda bad at picking individual notes and descriptions, but I'll give it my best shot... In the bottle, all I could smell was a really heavy herb-y scent, and the tiniest hint of maybe some kind of sweet fruit (the pomegranate?) underneath it. Wet on skin it was exactly the same, and almost had me running to the bathroom to wash it off - herby, barky Autumn smells always sound great in theory, but they rarely turn good on my skin. However, I stayed true to my conviction that it COULD turn out Ok. Now it's drying down and it's too good to be true. Sweet and fruity with a hint of gorgeous cream and the tiniest throw of green tea, which keeps it from being too sweet. On the whole, I'm giving this scent a strong 3.5/5.

Mmmmmm. I love it when I get my Lunacy orders. There has only been one so far that hasn't worked for me, and thankfully, Budding Moon is not it! Now, I'll likely be lynched for this, but to my untrained nose, at first, this smelled exactly like Holiday Moon. I went to grab my bottle of that to make sure that I didn't just get one that had been mislabelled, or something. (No, it wasn't, it really was just my brain/nose being silly). In the bottle, Budding Moon is sweet, fruity and has a touch of something sharp (I thought maybe the white ginger, but what do I know?) On skin, Budding Moon is sweet, fruity and has a touch of something sharp. (witty, aren't I?) I can't think of another way to describe it. Plum, something lingering just above it - maybe the ginger, and an underlaying blast of sweetness. If you sniff it right up close, it's like a punch in the face, however the aura of this one is simply gorgeous, sweet and light without being overwhelmingly high-school girly. Just brilliant. And the best thing is that after a half hour of wear, it's changed a little - a hint of something deeper, almost earthy. But still sweet. Oh, dear. I love this.

What a great freakin’ word. BPAL LOVES TEH SMUT! Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes. Wow! This is the only scent I've tried (in almost a year of being a BPAL addict) that changes so dramatically from bottle to skin. But I'm jumping ahead of myself, I do that. In the bottle, this is all sweet booze. It smells exactly like this great white liquer that my Scottish grandmother used to add to my tea while I was in high school (lets not ask why she was trying to get her teenaged grand-daughter loaded, shall we?). But, yes. Sweet, boozy. Maybe a little fruity, I'm not sure. But it's gorgeous. Seconds after hitting my skin, it's changed - musky, heavy and absolutely gorgeous. There's something almost woodsy about it, I'm not quite sure, though. Just something ... green, as an under-note. I am terrible when it comes to picking individual notes. But so far (about 15 minutes) it's stayed this gorgeous, warm, sweet musky scent. It's perfect, and brilliantly done. And I definatley need more. And also, Beth gets full points for this - to be honest, I ordered it for the name alone (come on, who doesn't bring up the fact that they have perfumes called Smut, Lick It or Miskatonic University in casual conversation?) and tried it on a whim and I'm so glad that I did. ... Mmm. By the way, in the 20 minutes since I typed this and went to make tea (sadly lacking Gram's liquer) it's changed to a deeper, sweeter musk. Its got the tiniest hint of a cocoa note to it now, too.

This is MY scent. Perfectly. I swear, if I could fill a bath with it and swim around, I would. In the bottle, I get this huge whiff of creamy, thick, rich, warm coffee, with a gorgeous undertone to it which is always BOOKS to me. Basically, it smells like the first time you ever walk into a Borders! And it's got a tiny bit of a whiskey undertone to it. The entire effect is really, REALLY strong. BUt amazing! I could envisage my old school library using this on their oil burner and having everyone in the place demanding to know where the spiked coffee was being sold! Now on skin? The tobacco comes out right away, which is by no means a bad thing (though I'm not a smoker, whoops). Still it has undertones of warm cofffee and that wonderful book smell, but it's a lot mellower on skin. Give it a few minutes to mature and all the scents are throwing themselves around with a joy that I can't even express. Seriously, it's just amazing. Underneath everything, there is a hint of leather, I think, that just pulls them all together and smells fantastic. Miskatonic University is, without a doubt, my number one favourite scent. I can't believe that I can't find more. OR didn't order some when I had the chance. I should just cut off my nose in penance.

I have to clear my conscience here - I never really wanted this scent to begin with - I'm not much for floral scents at all - I've got far too many bad memories of them from growing up. *cough* Now, anyway. I was sent a frimp of this with a swap last month, and today decided to give it a whirl. OH. MY. GODS. This has just. Gah. I'm sorry. I'm trying not to thrash and wail incoherently here. It's just the most beautiful touch of blooming white roses, maybe an itsy bitsy drop of something that could be a very light jasmine and the most delightful, wonderful, creamy and sweet scent underneath them. I just. I could eat my wrists right now! Um. Yes. I think I'm done. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have to go sell my soul (for what little it's worth!) to get a bottle of this.

Oh. Oh. This is just amazing perfection in a bottle!! It's all sweet lemon tea and bamboo on me. In the bottle it was a little greener, but the dominant notes are very definatley sweet lemon, tea, bamboo and another little something that just pops its head in for the throw - if I try to sniff it out, it's been eluding me. Yeah, I know, I suck at reviews (in my own defence, I have just gotten home from night shift and stayed up to paw greedily at the mail man in hopes of getting this BPAL order!) but thats the best I can do. Sweet. Tea. Bamboo. Amazing stuff. Beyond words amazing, really. I don't know how Beth does it, but I'd take my hat off to her, if I was wearing one.

Oh. Wow. Um. *cough* In the bottle? It's STRONG. Seriously. I thought I was going to pass out! Actually, at first I thought it smelled exactly like the shaving cream my father uses! Which is both disturbing and calming. Go figure :/ On skin, it first started out as all lavender. And I loathe lavender. Seriously loathe it. However, soon it settled down - it's got a touch of spice to it, now. Hmm. Yes. On dry down and wearing, it's stayed mainly lavender, with the tiniest hint of something spicy under it. Either my nose is not that sophisticated (not unlikely) or it's really faint, but I just can't pin the note. *shrugs* Either way, I'm debating the merits of keeping this, as I don't think I'll be wearing it that often. It's lovely, just not my taste.