brilliantcat

CAAAAAAAAAKE. Nommy delicious vanilla cupcakes. I think my imp is aged as I got it as a frimp and the oil seems very saturated to me which may explain why I'm getting the SO comparison so quickly. It hasn't even dried yet and I get that feel. SO + cake = heaven! Need a bottle: STAT

Wet I get lavender, linen, and a hint of the dreaded jasmine. Please behave! I love all of the other notes! Something in this blend does indeed keep the jasmine in check but it fades disappointingly fast. Before it does so, I get linen, light lavender, and perhaps some of the opium and amber. It's light and ephemeral but I do wish it lasted longer.

Wet I get LILY, which I love, plus a hint of citrus from the neroli and a smidge of spices. I can catch a bit of throw as I type and it's lovely: floral without being overpowering and a bit of spice and resin melting into it. Up close it's almost as though the lily and neroli are having an epic battle for supremacy. Hopefully as it warms, that clash will sort itself out. Thankfully it blends better and better as it warms. I definitely get the "honeyed" feel that some people have described. It's quite a pretty floral, though perhaps too pretty for me as I tend to like more down and dirty scents.

Pure incense in the imp. Maaaybe a hint of fruit. Wet it's incense-heavy to be sure but I also get a bit of a dirt and plant-y undertone. Uh oh, I think I detect jasmine in this and we DO NOT get along... Hmm, if it's jasmine, it's not gone that horrid cat pee I usually get. In fact, that has gone somewhat soapy. Not for me

Tart, crisp apple with a sprinkling of sugar. It morphs into vanilla sugared candy with hardly any apple to speak of. Yum! I wish there'd been more apple to it but it still smells delicious. I was death-matching this against Creepy and though I thought they may have been similar at the start with the crisp apple, they end up VERY different once warmed up. Sweet, I can keep them both

Skin-close, it's fresh, crisp apples. Not the sour green apple scent I associate with my daughter's shampoo, but biting into a fresh apple. Farther away, I get hints of butterscotch and caramel, and dare I hope, a smidge of the coconut rum! It's not overwhelmingly sweet though it's definitely a foody scent. It could easily have edged into sickeningly sweet but that super-crisp apple keeps it from ever reaching that territory. ETA: This is the 2009 version.

Dark musk and black amber with frankincense, red sandalwood, neroli and bergamot. It smells fresh and slightly musky and delicious upon first application. I can definitely pick out the citrus notes. It grows slightly incensey and very rich-feeling. I quite like it on me, though I bought it for the husbeast... I'll have to restrain myself from stealing it from him

In bottle: nom nom nom. Resiny and a smidge of patchouli and maybe that musk. On: Immediately, insanely gorgeous patchouli/resin/smoky vanilla with the slightest hint of chili. Moonlight on a raven's wing. The flash of color that makes ebony darker than dark. A single feather floating to the earth, shining and stiff. One heated drop of blood on a gleaming edge. Chilling and beautiful. I love it.

I can definitely smell the tonic note in the imp, it has that fizzy quality that I tend to battle where the fizz usually wins and just ends up smelling... not right. I'm willing to give it a chance based on my love of the Luau scents and the other notes though. First impression wet is definitely gin. Juniper berry party! The fizz is there doing its funky thing but it's not overpowering. Perhaps as it dries and warms it will settle down. No such luck though. All I get is juniper berries and fizz with the slightest hint of sour fruit. I think I'll just stay away from effervescent blends from now on ETA: I was going through my box o'smellies and decided to retest some of my bottles to determine if I should keep or sell/swap. Upon retrying Golden Wave, it's aged quite nicely! I still get a lot of gin but the funky "effervescent" note I got has calmed. I also get some hints of tangerine. I really like it this go-around!

Boozy blooming lilac with a hint of coconut. Warms to a softly floral and leather with just a touch of coconut.

This is heavy-duty patch and yet I don't get the dirty hippie-feet odor I always associated with patchouli (until I discovered BPAL and just how GOOD good patch can smell). It's just deep and dark and earthy. It has a touch of that astringency I assumed was the hemp from Banshee Beat but I guess I should blame the patch for some of that too. Like many of you, I'm a Banshee Beat addict. LOVE IT LOVE LOVE IT. So far this is a little scary because of the sheer strength of the patch but Banshee Beat was also pretty scary until it warmed up. I think this one needs some aging to take the edge off the dirty, dirty patchouli. ETA: After giving it over a year to age, I get nothing but patchouli. Dirty, earthy, almost medicinal patchouli that quickly becomes overwhelming. Rather than taming it, age has only given it more bite. Unfortunately it no longer agrees with me so this will have to go to swaps.

I went in search of this and bought a bottle unsniffed based on the notes. I love aquatics but I'm picky about them, more so than any other category except probably florals. Freshly applied, this smells like fresh rain, softly sweet, falling on green grass with a touch of salty/spicy breeze. I get a bit of a sense of expensive spa about it, it gives me that sophisticated feel, but it never wavers into commercial territory (BPAL never does on me ) It might be except for that spicy/musky note which, surprise, is probably the musk. The waft is all sweet water and reads as aqua verging on green to my brain and it's when I get closer to my wrist that I get huffs of salt and musk and the magic of the blend.

I'm addicted to leather and from the whiff I get in the imp, we're going to get along just fiiiiiine. On me, the leather is soft and suede-y with a touch of sharpness (not sure what from) and musky honey. It's quite a feminine leather without being overpoweringly floral. This gets a hearty "LIKE" from me

Sweet, creamy, spicy vanilla. Possibly tonka as I get a different, more resinous vanilla from tonka. Despite the sweet and cream, I don't find it foody. It's definitely a cousin of SO but not so close as to be sisters. The longer it's on, the more I love it! I liked the GC Chimera well enough but this is not even in the same category! True love! Thank you to my lovely frimper without whom I would not have been able to go gaga over this blend. Now to get a bottle or 3...

Hazelnuts always add a warm creaminess to any blend on me, which is probably why I love the note so much. I initially wanted this blend because bears remind me so strongly of my mother but the note list had me intrigued as well. Hubs loves cherries and cherry blossom though the latter tends to go powdery on me. Not so here. It stays marvelously juicy and mixes well with the creamy hazelnut and furry note to become something truly warm and cozy but with just a hint of bear's bite. 4/5.

In the bottle: Patchouli, amber, possibly the ambergris? Immediately after application: Patch, amber, clove, pepper, a touch of moss. *huff* OM NOM NOM I hope this one warms up nicely as it smells AWESOME. Warming up: Spicy and yummy. Fading: A bit of vanilla adds to the spices and patch. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: Yum. Bottle. Rating: 4/5.

In the bottle: caramel Immediately after application: Caramel but with hints of patchouli, tobacco, and cinnamon. Warming up: Caramel and tobacco. I like! Fading: Man, the caramel is STILL strong. A little too strong/sweet methinks. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: I would have liked it but the caramel made it way too sweet. It seemed to be fading and letting the other notes come out but then it blasted its way to the forefront again. Clearly caramel is another note I have to watch because it likes to roflstomp everything. Rating: 2.5/5.

In the bottle: Sweet and bubble-gummy. Immediately after application: The pepper is showing up a tad, but it's still sweet with a smidge of the bubblegum vibe. I can differentiate the guava, orange, and apple now though. It's lovely and I hope it stays so, this would be a great one to share with Rowan. Warming up: The pepper popped up to say hi and it's more fruity and less bubblegum. This will definitely be a shareable one. Fading: Sweetly fruity with a touch of spice from the pepper. Faded: Average throw, shortish wear. Overall: A lovely blend, fruity, sugary, spicy, surprisingly complex. Nice for me and nice for Rowan as well. Double score! Rating: 4/5.

In the bottle: Lavender and vetiver. Immediately after application: Mostly lemony verbena with a smidge of coconut. Warming up: The vetiver is definitely noticeable but it seems to be playing nice. Fading: The vetiver has ceased playing nice. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: It started out nice enough, though I was hoping for more lavender, but descended into all vetiver, all the time. Rating: 2/5.

In the bottle: Patchouli om nom nom! Immediately after application: Red musky patch with a smidge of vanilla and the slightest hint of the fruits. Warming up: Oh fark, it almost smells leathery with a slight vanilla hint. LOVE. Fading: Musky patchouli and vanilla. Faded: Average throw, average to long wear. Overall: MMMM. Rating: 4/5.

A decadent, deep perfume, lusty and luxuriant. The scent evokes images of velvet-lined Old West cathouses, tightly laced corsets, rustling petticoats and coquettish snarls of pleasure. Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant. In the bottle: Sweet plum and currant with a slight boozy kick. Immediately after application: Almost exclusively plum and burgundy wine. Sweet and rich. Warming up: The wine is turning grape Kool-Aid on me. Boo. Fading: Grape-y and sweet with a bit of dry almond from the amaretto and not the awesome rich wine/plum/amaretto it started. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: Wine blends are hit or miss. I like my wine blends deep and rich and not sweet. This one went too sweet. Rating: 2/5.

In the bottle: Herbally lemon. Immediately after application: It smells like lemonade! Warming up: Slightly lemony. Fading: Lemony. Faded: Slight throw, short wear. Overall: It smelled really pretty but faded SO fast. Which is unfortunate because I'd like to smell like lemonade in the summer. Rating: 2/5.

In the bottle: Black cherry, patchouli, a hint of cinnamon from the cassis. Immediately after application: Heavily cinnamon and cardamom. Warming up: Lemony verbena with patchouli and cinnamon, a hint of cherry. Fading: Lightly cherry and patchouli. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: The cinnamon-cardamom phase really intrigued me, then it morphed like crazy. I wasn't hugely fond of it once warmed. Rating: 2.5/5.

In the bottle: Tobacco smoke, pine, and a smidge of sarsparilla. Immediately after application: Mostly pine with a creamy hint of almond milk. Warming up: Almost all pine with a little patchouli. It has a definite masculine vibe. Fading: It softens/sweetens as it fades. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: Probably not one I'll get a bottle of but it was a lovely piney scent. No icky Pine-Sol or anything. Rating: 2.5/5.

In the bottle: Mint tea. Immediately after application: Getting more of the citrus on my skin. It's a sugared citrus tea with mint and a smidge of honey. Yum! Warming up: The honey has gone powdery. This seems to happen with some of the lab's honey notes. Bah. Fading: Hmm, no more powdery honey. Nice sugary tea. Faded: Average throw, average to long wear. Overall: Very pretty at the beginning and then got weirdly powdery as it warmed, then got lovely again at the end. I doubt it's something I'm willing to deal with as I have other light, summer, tea scents I like. Rating: 2.5/5.