HelenHighwater

This one is utterly lovely. When BPAL foody scents go right on me, they go really, really right. This is one of them. It is like Underpants in the way that though it's foody-ish, there's something else going on in there that makes it more like perfume smelling than I-fell-on-a-cake. Is it the cotton? I really don't know. This is one I cannot really pin down the notes on. It isn't the sugar that I recognize in, say, Sugar Skull or Sticky Pillowcase (which, on my skin, is a good thing!) The cream is perfect- no hint of plastic, just absolute smooth vanilla-y goodness. It is very, very, very, very long lasting on me. I can smell it very clearly 24 hours after I apply. That's unusual for me. It's got pretty intense throw too. This is for sure a hoardable for me, dangit. it is just perfect.

This is a deeply odd scent. Not bad, not at all. Just totally NOT what I thought it was going to be. I tried it today after I'd forgotten what the notes were, and I thought... yum, vanilla and blackberries, a bit floral in a restrained fashion. Not foody vanilla particularly. I got a few compliments on it today, too. It does smell appealing on me. I just reapplied it after rereading the description. Now I can see that yes, there's something that ought to be almondy in there- it smells slightly almondy in the bottle. On me, it goes sugary berries with a bit of rose. It's lovely! But, er, not anything like the descrip. In the bottle, yes. On me? Not so much. The scent is pretty intense- it throws far and lasts long. It also smells even more floral/berry at a distance. It also smells a bit boozy on me, but again, not in a bad way. Boozy is almost always atrocious on my skin, so that's kind of astonishing. I like it, but it isn't like True BPAL Love.

This is one of my favorite chocolate BPALs ever. Bliss & Lump of Coal (which smell really similar on my skin) were previously the best of the straight-up chocolates for me. That's pretty much what this is on me- a cup of hot chocolate with melty marshmallows. No glueyness thank goodness, or other strangeness. I was playing with it last night and made my husband sniff it. He actually loved it and wanted some on his wrist immediately, which was pretty entertaining- he would never go out in public wearing any of my foody or other especiallly girlie BPAL scents but it doesn't stop him from wearing them at home. He definitely loved it too, I caught him sniffing his wrist all night. A definite keeper! It is one of those warm-fuzzy scents for sure. It doesn't last terribly long, though. While it does the throw is pretty intense, it's a strong scent while it lasts.

I have no idea why I ended up with a bottle of this. It was clearly a Stupid Impulse BPAL, for which I have no excuse... looking at the notes it really is an utter mystery- not one of those, except possibly beeswax, sounds like a note that would work on me and it actually has several that are rarely ever good (lots-o-roses, and ozone). I actually have no idea if I even *tried* it which is kind of embarrassing- could be I sniffed the bottle, thought *Meh." and that was that. One way or the other, it ended up in the Sock Drawer Graveyard of BPAL, where the duplicates and not-so-loved ones languish until called upon. Anyway I finally tested it. It smells sweetly nondescript in the bottle but blossoms into this amazing gorgeous thing on skin. Huh. It really is nothing like the notes suggest. It smells like a creamy version of O- very sexy-honey, but without the ick that I get from O. Roses? If they ever existed, they're not showing up on my skin. I definitely get the lovely creamy-warm amber. Opaline? Ozone? Moonflower? No. It's a very golden-warm, sexy sweet creamy-honey scent on me. It gives me a warm fuzzy. For sure an overlooked lovely, probably because the description is so *vastly* different than the actuality. And that would be a GOOD thing, IMO! Very good throw, and it smells almost better at arms-length than up close, even creamier. I suspect the amber is what some people get baby powder from when it hits their skin. I would bet that's a hit-or-miss skin chemistry thing. On me there is no powderiness, it's all creamy gold yum; ambers aren't always great on me either, it's a bit random. Definitely going to put this into rotation.

Despite the fascinating name, this was 100% cheap champagne on me. Sour, and not so great. I know boozy things, most especially winey notes, can go very very wrong on me... and this is no exception. If there is chocolate in here, the champagne drowns it completely. It really smells like I spilt some sour champagne on me. Oh well. Not a workable one for me.

This has morphed a some over time. It used to be one I liked in the bottle but hated on my skin, especially as it dried. Now, it morphs a bit less- and I still don't love the dried phase- but I would call it a lot more wearable than it used to be. It still gets sharper as it gets more and more dry. It starts out dark and smooth, then *bam*- something goes awry. Yes, it's better than it was. No, it still isn't something I'll reach for much. I'm not sure if it's a moss that does that, or what- I suspect it could be any of a number of notes I don't do real well with like darker musks. I don't get the stone note from this one, but it is evocative, which is cool in and of itself. And it does have an awesome label!

This is an oddball one. Brand new- I got it when first released- I took one sniff and was like *no*. It was straight up ozone dryer sheets in the bottle. I don't think I even skin tested it honestly, since I'm not a fan of that intense ozone smell and I took a chance on it because Obatala is one of my all time favorites. Anyway, I hadn't touched it again til just now. I don't know if it aged really well- possibly- or if I just hadn't actually put it on my skin before, but it really is a world of difference between the bottle smell and dry on my skin. The bottle still smells like 100% ozone/aquatic. But applied, wet it's definitely that lovely milk from Obatala, and the ozone note backs off a lot, and starts smelling more like the water note I do like- again, Obatala, and Selkie share it I think- and it's actually quite pretty. Dry, the ozone is morphed pretty much fully into the sweet water note, with the milk pretty intense too. It doesn't have a lot of throw, but it lasts quite well. Generally speaking, BPALs milk notes and I get along really well. The sweet-water scents also are good on me. Ozone/aquatics not so much- they tend to go all dryer sheet on me. It's definitely one of the handful of GCs I love. Unusual and lovely!

This is a truly lovely scent, especially with some age on it- which, I guess, is to say all bottles in existence now! I ordered a 10mL when it was d/c'd, knowing I'd rather liked the imp I had of it and had intended to buy it for some time. I found that the new bottle was a bit... one dimensional?... when brand new. It has mellowed over the years, the different notes melding together better. Despite that citrus notes tend to not age real well, the lime is still there and just right now. It also has gotten foodier smelling to me, more like lime coconut cookies. The coconut is kinda related to the one in Obatala, IMO. It lasts really well on skin and throws pretty strongly, a little dab is plenty and I'm a slatherer for sure. I will be breaking out this bottle a heck of a lot more. It's lovely. It reminds me a little of Diary of a Teenage Cannibal.

Brand new, this was a blast of cassia and a bit of a graham crackery scent. Just death by cassia pretty much. I ruined the label, decided it was unswappable consequently, and stuck it away in the backup bottle drawer and forgot about it. I decided to try it again for no particularly good reason recently. And it was about a thousand times more wearable, shockingly. The cassia had backed off into a much softer, less insanely strong note, and the cake had amped up into, well, actually cake. In a good way. It is still a potent scent, a smidge is plenty, but it is finally as wonderful as I had always hoped it would be. The label's still smushed but at least I can finally use it! It really is much lovelier a few years old.

For serious this is one of the most gorgeous, unique blends ever, with a fabulous label and a great name. It also smells exactly like you'd expect, in the best possible way. Chilly frozen hint of green apple, bright and cold. It is a beautiful wintery scent, and perversely it's great on really hot days. It's not ozoney on me, or aquatic really. It is more the truly cold/snow note I love in Snow White, Snow Angel and Snow Flakes and Snow Bunny (er, there's a theme there!) I really am surprised it lasts as well as it does- a lot of the wintery scents dissipate quickly on me- but Snow Glass Apples doesn't. It also has decent throw too. More so than, say, Snow White. This is really everything awesome about BPAL in one bottle.

Not at all fishy; rather, quite Springy! Innocence spiked with a little bit of foolishness: Lenten rose, crested iris, Virginia bluebell, primrose, moss phlox, blue crocus, daffodil, and dewy tulip with a touch of sugar blossom and honey. Pure florals and I rarely agree. I got this new from the lab when it came out, tried it and thought, well, it's not terrible but it's very... mmmmm... flowery. But not floral-death-in-a-bottle as I feared it might be. It had a super cute label and I didn't hate it, so I put it away and forgot about it until, well, yesterday. It seemed like a good day to bust out the springy stuff. So I gave it another whirl and it really had mellowed quite nicely over time. Daffodil is a floral that I do like sometimes- like in Flower Moon '05- and Poisson has a milder hint of a similar daffodil note. The sugary base note as smoothed out the sharper flower aspects over time- the rose is not really a separate, dectable note to me, which is really a good thing. Essentially it's now one of the few truly floral scents I will be wearing again. It aged wonderfully. And the label is still super cute!