Babylon

Rose-scented Scotch Tape.

Porcelina hit the nail on the head with her review! At first, it really does smell like fresh fir trees, cleansed from spring rain. Gorgeous. It doesn't remind me of Christmas at all, and my parents usually get a fir which I love to huff when I visit them. Then it smells a LOT like beloved Wolf Moon 06/07, with the pine, amber, and musk, but with more forest. As it morphs, it really reminds me of camping up in the Wisconsin Northwoods. The scent of the pine forest, the needle carpeted ground (can't smell the flora at all, but it may be that it's blended so well it just reminds me of the pine forest and needled floor altogether), and the slightly musky aroma of your beloved beside you, settling down after chopping firewood. We usually bring sticks of incense to put in our campfire, and I do also smell the incense in this blend. Sorry for the rambling. I'll just say this is wonderful, gorgeous, and I'm glad I bought two bottles. I will slather it on myself, and Mr. Babylon will probably steal the other bottle. It's definitely not too masculine, but does have the woodsy aroma that he loves, with some deep mystery (incense, amber, musk) added for good measure.

This is pretty straightforward on me! Wet: A foody cake made of gingerbread, lemon, and spice. Dry: Gingerbread!

Wet: Very effervescent, bright, almost lemony mint Drying: The moss is coming out. The earthiness of it is helping to ground the scent a bit, but now it's starting to smell like toothpaste. Dry: No more toothpaste scent, just a lot of moss and what I assume is ambergris. When dry, Cathode is quite nice!

Wet: Root beer and wintergreen. Weird! But interesting! Drying: Light menthol with root beer. Dry: Hormel turkey pepperoni and root beer. And it had such unique promise when it was wet! This is from a well-aged imp.

Wet: Plum wine, olive leaf, and a light mint or clover. Drying: The plum wine vanishes momentarily, and as Tum is drying, it smells like sage and dried herbs. Dry: Straight up plum wine. It's a pretty nice scent, somewhat sophisticated, nothing smelled bad or weird, and I didn't get a grape smell out of this at all. However, I tend to go for things like Midnight Kiss or Centzon Totochtin when I want a scent with a touch of booze. ETA: This is from a well-aged imp.

This doesn't morph much on me. It's like sucking on a candy cane! Very accurate! A cute scent for the season, and I wonder how it layers with El Dia De Reyes.

When wet, this smells like Centzon Totochtin (smells like cocoa, blood, and rum on me), but with wine instead of rum. Yum! As it dries, the patchouli comes out, but doesn't dominate the blend. After about 15 minutes, I also catch whiffs of a dry leaf scent, which I assume is the tobacco leaf. I was most surprised that the red sandalwood didn't amp, as it does in Anne Bonny and Fenris Wolf! Centzon is one of my all-time favorites, and I do like this a lot as well. Overall, it smells like a richer, more opulent Centzon, with a bit of "dryness" from the patchouli and nicotania. This is one heady vampire kiss.

2007 Wet: Fresh, moist potting soil, with a touch of rose petals and sour green stem. Drying: Ah, the soil is receding. The stem smell is very sharp/sour and strong yet, but the rose is... blooming. Dry: It smells like I'm rubbing my cheek against a soft, voluptuous rose. The dirt is gone, and the stem smell is mostly gone. This rose doesn't go soapy on my skin (some, but not all roses do), but it does go a little powdery. After awhile, it reminds me of a rose-scented sachet. There are actually other BPALs I've tried in the past that smell more like "real" rose to me, however, I love the way this one starts off smelling like a seedling in dirt, then blossoms into a full plant as it dries. How cool is that?

While I can smell the booze in the bottle, it doesn't come through onto my skin at all. It smells like a cup of rich, creamy egg nog with a few shakes of nutmeg on top. This isn't a wimpy low-fat nog, this is the kind that leaves a big thick noggy milk mustache on you because you were excited and slurped it. After 5 minutes: Gone! I'm sad! It doesn't go boozy, it doesn't go plasticky, it doesn't go powdery or Play-Doh'y, it's perfect and delicious, and great to have sitting beside El Dia de Reyes. So of course it disappears in 5 minutes. Oh well, then I shall slather!

I pronounce it like Rill-yuh.

Thank you, Honeygirl! In the bottle: For god's sake, it's the most sinfully rich brownie ever. I know what it really is, perfume, yet a small tortured part of me aches to drink it. It's swoonworthy. On skin: Oh! Time to wake up, it's Folgers in your cup. It smells slightly like Misk U, but no dusty tomes are to be found here. When I sniff my wrist, this is a fresh cup of hot, steamy coffee, with hot chocolate and a foamy top and all! This is *amazing*... BPAL cinnamon always, always amps and burns mah skins. BUT NOT HERE OMF. (Also, for the record, Candy Butcher did NOT work on me, it smelled like burning plastic. But this puppy is sublime.) Smelling the waft around me, it smells like decadent dark chocolate, melted and drizzling. After ten minutes: The cinnamon comes out, and now it smells like a cuppa coffee with melted dark chocolate and melted Red Hots. GOD It's NOT amping though, wow! An hour: Best hot chocolate ever. Must hoard this, it can singlehandedly get me through winter.

I pronounce it like Fay-zuh.

ouch!

Oh noes!!! My skins have ruined it! Wet: Vanilla pear ice cream. Freakin delicious. Dry: The vanilla turned plastic as it dried!! WTF, this has never happened before with any BPAL vanilla, and I'm so disappointed. It drowned out the pear even and became Plastic Single Note. Ouch!