Gold Dust Kitten

Stinky rosewater. The scent gives me a piercing headache.

Woody with dragon's blood and some white floral. Smells a bit dirt-like with the dryness of the wood.

This scent is not something I'd usually like. It's very feminine without being floral and clean. It's like a lovely cream-colored raw silk. Rice wine is a prominent note, with white musk and sandalwood following closely behind. There is something herbal about this and I'm getting whiffs of something like the absinthe or black licorice from Paduan Killer Swarm. I'm sad that I can't smell much vanilla, but I'm pretty sure this will age nicely into a warmer vanilla scent. ETA, months later. The perfume is essentially the same, but the vanilla has become more prominent. I'm so in love with this scent that I may need a backup bottle.

Marzipan/almonds are just nauseating to me. It turns into a weird fake cherry scent and it's strange that I hate it to much because I love cherry. The peach is nice but overall this smells like peach schnapps with a bunch of smashed maraschino cherries thrown in.

Super fizzy in the imp, like a gin and tonic. On skin, there's a playful blueberry that isn't artificial because lemongrass is making it bright. There is a bit of lime in this, or maybe that is how my nose interprets lemongrass. It's like a fizzy lemongrass limeade with a splash of blueberry simple syrup and gin. I really like this for Summer.

This smells very effervescent in the imp, and perfumey. I hate to say it but I'm reminded me of my newest corn cat litter becuase it has a similar fresh mandarin scent. I don't smell a lot of red musk in this blend. Mostly some red fruits and fizzy tangerine soda.

IMP: Bright, fruity coconut WET: Sweet coconut, juicy Asian pear, and tiare DRY: OMG NOM. Mouthwatering golden coconut fruitiness. It's refreshing and feminine. This scent is so delicious that I could eat it. It's probably going to become a bottle because I die for coconut scents in the Summer.

This is my first experience with blue musk. It smells "fuzzy" and has a ghostly ethereal feel. I can recognize the resins--they remind of Jacob's Ladder. I'm not sure I've smelled immortelle or passion flower before. I love how this smells deep blue but isn't aquatic.

I received this as a freebie in a swap. Initially, it smells like hairspray and foul men's cologne. Then it turns into a woody, mossy aftershave.

IMP: Powdered hot chocolate WET: Funky, dusty chocolate DRY: Same. This was very boring on my skin. I tried it in my hair on a whim and I can smell a cedar note. The more it dried, the chocolate faded and it turned into a dry sandalwood incense.

IMP: Incredibly sweet marzipan WET: Fake cherry DRY: I'm starting to smell the cinnamon now I needed to wash this off before further testing. My skin reacts badly to cinnamon and I'm not a fan of marzipan scents.

IMP: White musk and florals WET: Ambergris and light florals DRY: It morphs into an aquatic and soapy creamy floral I can't really tell there is vanilla or oakmoss in this. It was nice to try because I always see it in the vanilla suggestions, but I prefer my vanilla more foody or resinous.

I can't believe I never reviewed Blood Kiss. It was the first BPAL perfume I bought unsniffed in Feb '10. I had a strange relationship with it. Some days it smelled kinda promising, I could smell cherry, vanilla and something woody and sharp. Other days, the vetiver made this stink to high heaven, making me think of a yucky cherry cough drop. I put her up for swaps. NOW, it's one of my favorites. The vetiver aged and hasn't completely disappeared, but now the cherry and honey notes are more prominent. I can tell there is clove in this now, but I don't smell much "wine" which is good because BPAL wine usually smells grapey and I hate it. It's truly delicious now, a year later. A definite must-hoard.

Imp: Heady perfume. Wet: There's almost a floral aspect to this, but it's a dark floral surrounded by woods and patchouli. I'm so happy that the beaver butt extract is not leathery at all to me. It just makes it musky. Dry: Wow, this is heavy like Christian Dior Opium. I really like it but it's one of those 'use sparingly' perfumes. I would put this in the same category as Gun Moll and Black Lace in the fact that it's such a "sophisticated older woman perfume" on me (but more so than the former). This stuff has a lot of throw but what I really wanna know is, where's the bourbon vanilla?

Imp: Cherry, bitter almond and lemon peel Wet: Cherry and rosewater, and the lemon peel is moist, fresh and sugary. Dry: Great. The rosewater is doing that thing that it did in Lilith's Tea Party where it overpowers everything and confuses my nose. This is a very strange scent to me. The notes all stand out on their own, especially the rosewater which makes me confused at what I'm smelling. Off to swaps...

Imp: Dusty, brown resins Wet: Sandalwood, like from Anne Bonny and faint leather. Dry: Same. Champaca is detected. Meh. I was hoping this would be fabulous but it's mostly sandalwood (which I have enough of with Anne Bonny) and leather, which I recently discovered and it hates me. The champaca kind of brings it together a bit...but it's not enough to make me love it.

Imp: Stinky violet! Wet: Ugh, violet, clove and florals. Dry: I can't. Had to wash it off. No can do violet.

Imp: Vanilla and cedar Wet: Vanilla, sassafras and cedar wood. I can detect balsam at this stage. Dry: OMG melty vanilla ice cream root beer float grounded by cedar! It's almost spicy, too. This is really lovely. It's the same vanilla I smell in aged Snake Oil and Snake Oil Bath Oil. Pure heaven. I initially tried this perfume in an imp, which was super thick making me suspect it was aged. There is still a little sharpness in my Lab fresh bottle, but this is going to be fantastic after a couple months in a dark corner of my BPAL box.

Imp: Cedar wood Wet: Beautiful polished aged woods. I can't tell which ones but cedar for sure. Vetiver is in here too, and this reminds me of The Coiled Serpent w/o patchouli. Resins. Dry: Woods and resins. It's not really incensey to me because it doesn't smell smoky. I'm looking for a holy-grail wood scent, and so far this is it. This actually smells more like what I expected Midnight Mass to smell like but without that yummy church incense on xmas and easter. I think it would be lovely layered with something vanilla, like Tombstone.

Imp: Root beer and tobacco? Wet: Root beer, thick, dirty machine grease, and like Penance wrote, soft black leather. Dry: The leather-dirty grease-leather thing is still going strong, and the root beer morphed into Tiger Balm then tobacco. I can't with this little goth dude. It makes my head hurt...I don't think leather is my friend.

Imp: Floral Wet: Orange blossom=stinky jasmine sometimes. I can't smell any smoky amber goodness, plum, benzoin or dark berries. Dry: As it dries, it morphs into a sweeter, fruitier scent. It's very light and pretty at this point. I can pick out plum and myrrh and berries. After the stinky floral phase, this gets sweeter. I can't say that it's anything but generic "sweet floral" perfume.

Imp: Stinky floral and funkiness Wet: Patchouli and musk. It reminds me of the cologne a boy in high school wore (and how we'd sneak into his locker to smell his jean jacket) Dry: There's something minty in this and it's turning powdery. Ughhh. I liked the patch and musk phase, it was very masculine but yummy. I don't know what happened when it dried.

Imp: Minty cool Wet: Citrusy, but can't tell it's grapefruit, and minty. Dry: I can smell a white grape champagne, and the sweetness of lotus. The grapefruit is coming out now. Mint gives it that "crystalline" feel but I think this would be pretty without it. I love the freshness of grapefruit with champagne and lotus.

2010 version Imp: Sour wood and resins Wet: Frankincense and myrrh, but not as sweet and yummy as the BPTP bath oil Dry: Wet to dry is about the same. It's a resinous blend with not much sweetness. I suspect a bit of dry patchouli in this, but I can't tell. I'm glad this is more resins than incense. It's a little dry with a hint of a cedar sauna but I'd love to see how it ages.

2010 version Bottle: Golden amber Wet: Sweet, syrupy golden resins. Dry: Wet to dry is about the same. The 2010 version is more intense than my 2005 bottle. The amber is thicker with a lovely vanilla note, where the 2005 is more of a dry amber. They are both beautiful and I love them for layering or wearing alone when I need to feel comforted.