Babylon

Lemon, vanilla, delicious sandalwood, and powdery florals. I love the effect of the first three, but not the last bit. There's no waiting it out either. It's powdery immediately upon application, right through to the very end.

Squished grass strewn over a fresh, berry-scented dishwashing liquid. Very green and sharp at first, but even as it dries, I can't get past the damn Dawn smell.

Smells heavenly in the bottle, but unfortunately EGM is Cinnamon SN on my skin, from application, to drydown, to the ending hours later! Argh!

When the update went live, I was torn between a bottle of Svadhinaopatika or Vasakasajja. Wound up getting the bottle of Vasa, and opted for a decant of Svad. Of course, in true Grass Is Always Greener form, I am completely in love with Svad, and don't care for Vasa. In the vial: It smells like weed! Perfumey pot, and sandalwood. Apparently, the decant partied hard on its way to me. Drying: Honey-drenched red sandalwood (the ahh! Anne Bonny! sandalwood to me), along with something that smells like cinnamon bark. Cinnamon always dominates, turns to red hots, burns, and leaves welts on me. This does not. It's a dry, earthy cinnamon smell, like crumbling cinnamon bark. It's also fainter than the honeyed sandalwood. Dry: Salty fresh sea spray (wtf?!) with golden amber honey and calmed down sandalwood. The amber is making its first appearance now, and it's the rich, glorious, and a little bit sweet golden amber that is found in other BPAL blends. I don't have any clue what smells like fresh sea foam to me, but it's very nice and not murky or masculine. An hour later: Soft amber and honey only. What a sweet ending! I need a bottle of this!

That second Bean picture is priceless. ROFL!

I was eager to try this Salon scent. It starts off alright, but gets weirder and weirder as it progresses. Right away, it smells like potpourri that no longer smells like potpourri at all but instead smells like dusty old dried flowers. After that, it was kind enough to morph into a soft Vicks Vapo-Rub for me. When I got used to that, it turned into Off bug spray with a small hint of soap, before finally disappearing in a hazy cloud of sour mold. Obviously it smells nothing like its creator intended it to, and my wrist has done a bang-up job of stepping onto an elaborate sand castle and jumping around for a bit.

Now that we'll have the bottles in our grubby little hands soon, does anyone want to take a crack at pronouncing some of the more strenuous Ashtanyika and Luperci names?

Blood Moon is the first and worst I can think of! It gave me pretty, but painful, red welts.

Alas, fair Juliet smelled of very, very sweet watery florals for a few minutes, but then turned soapy and did not cease. I had to wash her off, as the throw was huge, and it smelled, well, like guest soap.

I can identify the orchid, sandalwood, jasmine, and rose. For a floral scent, it's actually pretty sweet smelling to me. After about 15 minutes, that tricksy Queen Mab amps the rose to the point where it almost entirely dominates the scent, except for a hint of sandalwood.

Aw man, this smells identical to Anne Bonny on me, so the red sandalwood or something must amp on my skin! It smells like the salty wood of a pirate ship. I love regular sandalwood, and I love Anne Bonny, but already have a bottle of that, so I don't really need Aureus.

Roses and powdery violets, with some warm sandalwood. If I sniff my wrist hard, I smell... pickles. Now that I've noticed it, I can't smell anything *but* roses and pickles now. Off to the swap pile in hopes that it works better on someone else's skin!

Wet: It's a Wet-Nap, the little citrus smelling packaged wet napkin you get at restaurants with messy food. Dry: A hint of jasmine pokes out of the Wet-Nap. Hrm. I'd actually wear this, in the summertime, as it's not that bad of a scent once you get past the Wet-Nap association.

A sticky sweet floral (is this the gardenia?), with some nice warm amber and patchouli underneath. The floral part is so sweet it's almost fake smelling, and when dry, it smells a bit plastic-y. This blend isn't really working on my skin.

This is neither benevolent nor merciful on me. Instead of singing the praises of love, Chuparosa turns to Windex on me. I'll be scoring some hot dates with a bay window for sure. After awhile, it's turned into cinnamon Windex, and the cinnamon keeps getting louder and louder on my skin until it's all I can smell.

Ok, I have a closet love for rose. I'm not a floral person, but roses are so romantical (why yes, I'm a Cancer), and the Lab's rose notes are amazing. When I sniff a BPAL rose scent on my skin, I swear I can feel those velvet soft petals brushing my nose. Persephone sounded like a fun one to give a test drive to. I love fruit, so... Wet: Purely pomegranate. Wish I could drink the imp right about now. Drying: Hello, rose! There you are. Oh, this is a weird combination. If I ever had to eat flowers like that crazy lady from the Golden Girls, I'd want to eat this rose. It smells like it's lying in a glass of pomegranate juice. Dry: Aw, just rose. The fruit took off and hasn't returned, leaving me with what seems like a rose single note.

Wet: Lemons, lilac, and cedar. Dry: Lilac and cedar, with something very powdery. I think I'd like this more if my skin didn't turn whatever note it is into baby powder. The lilac and cedar together are an interesting combination that turns out to smell pretty nice, and not overly floral.

Short, sweet, and to the point here. Carfax Abbey doesn't vary much from wet to dry. Frankincense, wood (I don't know what type, but it's definitely not cedar or pine), and what smells like moss. There is no sharp or green smell from the herbs, instead they smell like the earthy moss I've smelled in other BPAL blends. It keeps making me think of, say, a magician's room in an old castle. There's no smell of stone, but it feels like there are stone walls, with a wooden table, chairs, and shelves, dusty old moss and herbs for spells or whatever, and the smell of a room that's seen quite a bit of frankincense burned in it over time. My boyfriend likes the Abbey a lot on himself, but I wouldn't mind snatching it for myself once in awhile. It's a comforting scent.

Katharina has two *very* well-defined stages on my skin. The first: (wet) It's my bathroom. An apricot-scented Glade plug-in (though I definitely think it's the orange blossom that's making it smell like a generic fruity air freshener) and.... the cat pee smell from the litter box. wtf! Well, this is vaguely horrific. The second: (dry) Now it's completely flip-flopped around. I smell like a juicy fresh apricot, with a touch of light white musk, which is barely noticeable except to make the fruit a little "deeper". While it smells wonderful dry, the beginning cat pee smell really turns me off. I prefer Grand Guignol for an apricot scent.

This is a unique scent! Wet: Predominantly laurel, wood, something that smells like moss, and a bit of orange. There's also a hint of soapy flower and peony in here, but I have to smell my wrist hard to even notice them. Dry: Moss and the fresh smell of sage. Huh! It's good, though. Smells like a forest floor after a cleansing rain. It does smell a little like frankincense, too.

Wet: This is a faintly generic soapy white flower that I've smelled in other floral BPAL but was unsure what note it was. Must be the gardenia! There's also soft rose in the background. Dry: Soapy gardenia and soapy rose. I'm someone's grandma's bathroom bar of pink soap. If your skin doesn't usually turn these flowers into soap, definitely give it a try. I can smell the potential of Eternal. It could be a wonderful springtime (or whenever you want to be in a springtime mood) perfume that smells light, but has a good solid throw.

Perversion gives me a thick, heady pipe tobacco, rum, and what smells like burnt coconut. The vanilla is going plasticky on me, probably enhancing the "burnt" smell. After it's been dry for awhile, it settles into a rather sweet tobacco. Still not the scent for me. Off to someone who will like it more!

I don't really smell too many of the listed notes on my skin. Doesn't matter, I like what I'm able to smell. Wet: Cocoa, the sharp herbal smell of lavender when it's wet, and a little bit of orange. Dry: It's predominantly cocoa, a bourbon vanilla, and a softened-up lavender. The throw smells like dark chocolate. Mmm, it's pretty good.

Wet: Lemons, as in freshly squeezed lemon juice. Dry: Well, it smells like a vaguely ozoney mist. Very faint on my skin, even after heavy application. The ozone later turns to soap.

I can't really smell anything but the rose, lilac and lily. Disappointingly, the sandalwood and moss don't ever make an appearance, leaving Viola too floral for my tastes.