girasol

Sexeh! This goes from being a lovely warm floral when wet, to a spicy, smoky vanilla-musk on drydown. Seems to have pretty decent throw, and lingering well so far. Glad I bought a bottle of this!

Just like it says on the tin, champagne and strawberries. A nice, light fruity scent. I can see this being a great pick-me-up scent.

In the decant: Soft, delicate florals. Wet on skin: Sweet and slightly fruity. Dry: A little more of the incense coming through, but instead of being strong resiny incense, this comes through just as a drier, faintly smoky floral smell. Verdict: Silvery, fruity floral - light and ethereal. Just lovely. Might need a bottle.

I'd heard vetiver spoken of in disparaging terms, but up till now I don't think I'd tried a vetiver blend. Well, apparently vetiver=doom. This scent made me feel physically ill - it honestly churned my stomach. All I could smell was the manky vetiver and an unpleasant wet ashiness, like a damp fireplace. Soooo not for me.

Out of those scents, Mme Moriarty would be my rec. It's love. Alice is great too but very different - the Madame is spicy and sexy and exotic, Alice (as you would probably expect) is soft and girly. I know Dorian's insanely popular, but personally it made me feel pukey. Maybe I just tried it on a bad day, I should really give it another go. The Dark Chocolate, Whiskey and Cognac Truffle in the Sugared She-Goat Chocolatier collection (Miskatonic Valley Valentines LEs, still available) is a nice combo of boozy and foody.

Well, well - how things have changed for the gal that thought she only liked soft, light scents! After being bowled over by Snake Oil (against all expectations), I decided to start exploring some of the richer, gutsier scents. Mme Moriarty is another winner! In the bottle it smelled sweet and sensual, and dry on my skin it is musky and complex, with a soft spiciness that I really like. It also immediately attracted unsolicited compliments from the man of the house, which is quite a result - our conversations about BPAL generally go something like: Me - "Do you like this scent?" Him - "Mm. It's nice." So, in short, the Madame is a new favourite of mine.

On me, Bess smelled like chinese tea once it dried down. If you maybe layered it with one of the cherry blossom scents like Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree it would have a very oriental, youthful yet classy feel to it I think.

This is almost foody to me - like a spicy cake. It's pretty, but I have to be careful how much I put on or it can be too strong.

Oh dear. The BPAL lynch mob might come after me, but I have to confess... I don't really like Dorian. There, I said it. There's something about this I found a bit sickly.

In the decant: Ooh, gingery warm spice. Yum! Wet on skin: Wet, the cardamom amps up, but you can still smell the richness of the milk chocolate in the background. Dry: On the drydown, the notes meld together more. It's sweet, it's spicy, it's chocolately, it's delish. Verdict: I love.

Dark chocolate and key lime truffle. Decant from Glasspillars In the decant: Strong lime, with a soft puff of cocoa in the background. The lime is actually a little astringent. Wet on skin: The lime is softer on skin, but still a lot stronger than the chocolate. Dry: Uh oh. How did chocolate and lime turn into artificial strawberry? I think someone else mentioned Strawberry Shortcake dolls, which is a very apt description. Verdict: I was so confident I'd love this that I ordered a bottle without waiting for the decant to get here... when will I learn? :headdesk: This scent does something icky on my skin. I will keep retesting as I'm not quite ready to concede defeat but... I think this might be fail.

Decant from Glasspillars In the decant: Seriously sweet, syrupy fruits. Wet on skin: The raspberry is head and shoulders above the other notes at this stage. It's teeth-achingly sweet, but in a pleasant enough way. Dry: Now it's just a kind of nondescript sweetness, though I think I can still detect the apricot cordial. The chocolate never really managed to get a look in, with the raspberry and apricot slugging it out at the top. Verdict: Inoffensive, but not special enough for me to need more than the decant.

Frimp from Puddin'! Of a discontinued scent! Wow, thanks Puddin'! Well, a lot of reviews here have said that this is spot-on for leather, and I have found that Beth's scents are usually amazingly close to what they are supposed to replicate. But in this case... not so much. Not on me, anyway. I get that this is kind of like leather, in an earthy, raw sort of way, but I definitely wouldn't have said 'ooh golly, it's leather' if I hadn't read the description. The most obvious characteristic is a rough sort of smokiness. This is an interesting scent, but didn't suit me in the least. I thought it might be just too masculine for me, but DH wrinkled his nose at it too. Never mind, I'm thrilled just to be the proud owner of a rare scent!

In the imp: Maraschino cherries. Wet on skin: Strong woody smells, like fresh sawdust. Drydown: This is really nice dry - the mahogany softens and becomes rich and subtle, with just a hint of sweetness from the cherries and currants. Verdict: Only downside is it seems to have pretty limited throw. Bottle possibility.

I was expecting not to like this as the description sounded like it would be headier than normally appeals to me. Initially I was surprised though - it is quite a rich scent, but very warm and appealing. I liked it! And theeen... powder-a-rama. Is that you doing that, amber? Cheeky little so-and-so. I'm beginning to think you are a note of fail for me.

I was skeptical. I do not want to smell 'murky' This is an unusual scent on me... and unfortunately not in a good way. I get something faintly smoky, and also a sharp ethanol-ish note, like a bottle of cheap gin. I really don't get anything floral, damp or otherwise. Niflheim is no love on me.

This falls into the "I don't hate it, but it doesn't really excite me either" category for me (it's a big category!). I had trouble picking notes out of this, there just seemed to be a very warm, softly spicy sort of character (the mulled wine?) and something with a soapiness to it (juniper? dragon's blood? not sure). Nice enough, but I'll let the imp go with no tears.

Shattered A scent as sharp as glass shards, and as brittle as a broken heart. The formula came to me — quite literally — in a dream, and is named after, and created in memory of, the last poem that I ever wrote? almost ten years ago to the day. A blend of white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms. I just got an imp of it, it fits the description of watery floral well and it's really pretty. It has a bit of a minty kick though, so steer clear of it if you don't like mint.

Mmm, The Star. Apparently Aquarius is The Star's ruling sign, so maybe it appeals so much to me because I am an Aquarian. Or maybe it's just because it smells great. The lab did not provide any notes for this blend, but I'd describe it as a warm citrus scent with rich coconut. On paper, that kind of makes it sound like either sunscreen or a cocktail, but it's really not. It's a lovely bright, optimistic scent, which also manages to be cosy and comforting at the same time. The citrus is sparkly, avoiding the nasty artificial tone you can sometimes get with citrus scents, and the coconut is a rich undertone which warms the scent without overpowering. I love it and I want a bottle.

I had begun to consider amber a potential death note, as I had tried several blends containing amber that were not good on me. But it must have been other notes in those blends that were causing the issues, because Aglaea is lovely. In the imp: Sweet, peachy goodness. Wet on skin: Still peachy, with a soft musky undertone and a slight booziness coming through. Dry: Gentle musk, still with some fruity sweetness. This is a very golden scent, like the late afternoon sunshine in summer. Verdict: A definite keeper, maybe a bottle at some stage.

Being Australian, I am not all that familiar with the scent of snow. But this does have a fresh chilliness to it, while at the same time being quite floral and very soft and creamy. The first time I wore it, my skin must have come in contact with the fabric of our couch, because the couch smelled wonderful for about two weeks and every time I sat down I was happily sniffing at it! This is one of my all time favourite BPALs, I hope there's a version this Yule too!

I fully expected not to like Snake Oil. I mean, I know practically everyone loves it and all, but I tend to go for light, fresh scents. When I see things described as spicy and exotic, I hear 'this is going to make you smell like a drawer full of incense, run for the hills!'. But Snake Oil is BPAL, right? So you have to try it. I was provided with an aged imp by a kind forumite. At first sniff I was still wary, it was a little whoa! in the bottle, and the rich colour stained my whiter-than-white skin like iodine! Within a few minutes though, I was in love. Rich yet soft, sensual and spicy without being overpowering, and so so so delicious.

Om nom nom nom! I smell like a freakin' bakery, and I love it How does Beth do it? This smells EXACTLY like cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Even the soft, milky-sour tang of the cream cheese is just perfect. As it dries down, some of the sweetness tones down and it is a softly spicy, smoky vanilla. This scent is win for me.

Gardenia, tea rose, vanilla and jasmine, eh? Why on earth do I smell lemon, lemon, lemon and powder? I assumed there was either something weird going on with my skin chemistry or my nose was a bit confused, but I see a few others found the same thing. In the imp this was lightly floral and tangy. Wet on skin, it was very lemony. Dry, it still has a little soft citrus to it, but there’s also a powderiness. Not sure where that would be coming from. The vanilla? The tea rose? This smelled quite lovely in the imp, but doesn’t work particularly well on my skin.

I definitely got the apple in the imp and wet, but once dry this was all rose, baby. It's a very nice rose though. I didn't get the lemon at any stage TBH. A very pretty, feminine scent.