Ina Garten Davita

This was one of the many generous samples in my package. Thanks so much. This is the taste of a green Life Saver in a bottle.

This was a real shocker for me as I was expecting something smokier. But what I got was so much more! It's a fruity, sherry soaked pudding flying around me on a cinnamon broom with just a hint of a crackling fire in the background. It lasts for ages and is simply a joyful, holiday-in-the-kitchen-by-the-fireplace scent. Who knew the Cratchet's home smelled this wonderful?

Madiera wine soaked cake, a touch of licorice, milky sweet tea and strawberry-rose jam. I could not love this scent more if Lilith herself popped out of the bottle and served me a cuppa.

I wanted something delectable today, so it was Huesos de Santo. Tomorrow is the 4th Annual Curry Cook-Off at our friend's house. I've decided to wear Diwali along with my Bindi jewel and Bollywood earring and necklace set.

Though not a dupe, Evening Cicadas and Red Peppers reminds me of Red Moon 2004. Something about the warmth, juiciness and redness of it.

I love that sweet tobacco note, like that in Havana. The tobacco top note then yields to a deeply smokey and otherworldly sweet cream soda scent. Oh, it's so good, I cannot get enough!

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Oh, how lovely! It reminds me of Huesos de Santo. Lighter and less foody with a bit more citrus. Like the batch of cookies that got too much orange extract.

What a surprise! There is no description of this. From the name, I'm sure it's supposed to bring the wearer lots of good luck. Someone in the know, correct me if I'm wrong. First Impression: The familiar sharp soapy voodoo oil smell in the bottle. Second Impression: Jasmine, heady and dark. Reminds me of Juju at first. On the long drydown it smells dark and smoky. Final Analysis: I applied just a dab of this from the cap, it's quite potent. I immediately got a real nice mood lift and I already was in a great mood. I'm so thrilled to have gotten to try this.

J'adore Anti-Saloon League but don't have to do back flips for additional bottles. I dabbed on 1 part Love's Philosophy, 1 part The Girl and 2 parts Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener and it's a considerably lovely likeness.

Gun Moll makes me want to use words like "bawdy" and "dame." It's sexy, a little dirty and with that whiff of gun powder, a little dangerous. I adore night-blooming jasmine, so freaking gorgeous, it's the same sort of note in Midnight on the Midway. The musk-tobacco leaf-honeycomb-clove combination that comes after the jas/gun powder hit is amazing. The over the top bawdiness of the scent gives me a similar vibe of Stardust and Formula 54 though the long dry down reminds me a little of Black Lace. Gun Moll is potent, long lasting with lots of throw. One drop creates an aura, a different and dangerous persona that I really like putting on. This scent is going to age fantastically.

This scent is blowing my mind. It starts out like I spilled my very dirty martini (just the way I like it with half a jar of olive juice and like 6 huge olives) all over myself. I'm not sure what note is making this scent like full on olive brine. I kinda like it. But once the olive scent dries down and fades away, I'm left with this absolutely gorgeous spicy, smoky and honeyed incense. I can't stop sniffing and slathering. LOVE!

Here is an entire thread devoted to violet scents.

Here's the existing coconut thread.

Cake Smash layered over Twilight Woods body cream gives a really good Underpants impression without that buttery note in Underpants that didn't work on my skin.

Pomona is so similar to The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The apple top note is different in Pomona but dries down very quickly into a doppelganger of The Tree.

Sunbird is an instant favorite, I will hoard this when it's released. HOARD greedily! Liquid sunshine, happiness in a bottle, Sunbird is creamy, sunny, drenched with the joys of summer. There is something in here that reminds of the original Leo that I adore so much, heliotrope, perhaps. Sun-warmed florals and herbs, summer field rather than summer garden. The creaminess is reminiscent of benzoin rather than vanilla or cream, this is not in any way shape or form a foody scent. Sunbird is this... plus this...

Kroenen is the type of scent that I usually run like hell away from. First sniff yields dark vetiver, evil smoke and ash, I was seriously scared to even skin test it. I would have missed a golden opportunity as Kroenen is delicious and smokey sex and as evanescence so aptly put it, rich and sinister. It is amazing layered over Liz.

This one gave me some problems at first. It's one of those scents that overwhelms with its sharpheadyfloweriness. But given the chance to drydown properly blooms into gorgeousness. This is a brightly-colored mixed bouquet that can't wait to kick winter's ass and scream out, "I'm here, it's SPRING, pay attention to ME!" I wish I could pick some notes out, but I keep coming up with colors. It's like an explosion of red-pink-orange-white-yellow, staring at the sun, just aching to be picked.

It's gray outside, gray and pouring. I dressed in my sweats to go to the supermarket on my day off. I flipped open my BPAL box because even sweats and scrunchie in the rain deserves to be topped off with something that smells great. Gossamer caught my eye, I haven't worn it since getting it and thought, "Why not?" The actual fragrance is tough to describe, special is the only thing that comes to mind at first. Some scents you just can't wear with sweats, it's too incongruous but Gossamer made me feel special, like I was dressed up in finery from the inside out. Airy without a trace of ozone, clean without a whiff of dryer sheets, floral sans soap, delicate with a backbone that belies it's softness like a blossom standing up to a sudden storm. Oddly enough, as Gossamer melded with my skin chemistry as the morning went on, the scent reminded me of the first time I stepped into a posh hair salon as a child to have an updo before going to the Nutcracker at the Wang Theater in Boston over the holidays. Like nothing I had experienced before, something completely special.

Lilac is perhaps my favorite floral note. My collection includes White Moon, Ashlultum, Maltese Cross, Whitechapel, Veil, Villain, Marcilla. I just used my last drop of Villain last week, so I must put that on the wish list for a restock.

Dia is one of those scents that you just know you're going to adore as soon as you read the notes. It was love at first sniff and I bought a bottle on the spot at Will Call. I really want to shout it from the rooftops...THIS IS SNOW WHITE FOR MY SKIN CHEMISTRY! I love the soft muskiness swirled with the coconut and tobacco flower, the white amber and the oakmoss keep it from being too ethereal. I can see reaching for this year-round and I definitely want another bottle. Or two.

I'm making a big deal out of Valentine's Day this year. I wrote my husband a poem and hand printed it inside a heart shaped card that I made a bunch of smooch imprints with different colored lipstick on the front. I've got a decadent meal planned, too. I'm going to wear Dia because it's soft and romantic and I really think my husband will like it. I'm really excited.

that journaling/blogging can be so cathartic, so beneficial? I'm learning and putting it out there.