yakiguri

Spicy, sweet, and gingery, as if Gingerbread Poppet and Milk Chocolate Raw Ginger Butterscotch had a baby. Unfortunately there's an undercurrent of something sour that I suspect to be the marshmallow cream. If I had to stick with a foody spicy ginger blend I think I'll stick with Gingerbread Poppet.

2009 Version. Growing up Catholic, and having gone to many a Midnight Mass, I can say with confidence that this blend smells EXACTLY like it. The incense, the oils, the feelings of awe and glorious birth...all are in here. While my grip on Catholicism at this point may be tenuous at best, I adore the feelings of nostalgia this blend evokes. That said, I don't want to exactly smell it on my person. I'll keep my imp, but doubt seriously I'd ever need/want a bottle.

At first application I get a root beer/Dr. Pepper type scent, but as Blood dries more of the clove slips in with just the tiniest bit of cherry/red fruit in the background. An interesting spicy scent, almost like an oriental with no florals whatsoever. I'll keep my imp, but probably won't need a bottle unless I see a partial somewhere.

Upon application something bitter, sharp, and sludgy hits my nose. I'm immediately reminded of my echinacea throat spray for when I have a sore throat. >_< Not the kind of thoughts I want evoked for something called Queen. Pass.

Unfortunately on me Kali comes off as a generic soft honey floral, to the extent that I honestly can't tell what notes are in it. I was afraid of the chocolate and red wine ruining it, as those are both death notes, but I can't even smell those. Odd. Off to the swap pile.

Jasmine is absolutely one of my favorite flowers--I grew up on jasmine rice--and it's one of my best floral notes, so it takes a lot for me to consider it cloying. Mata Hari unfortunately is CLOYING, SCREAMING jasmine, with an undercurrant of sweaty gym sock. I had to scrub this off right away. >_<

Yummy spicy plum musk. I agree that Bathsheba's like Mme. Moriarty's cousin, just with the vanilla removed. Stays close to the skin, but it's not a loud blend so slathering is not overkill. Had a bottle but sold it due to financial issues, and of course now I wish I didn't. >_> Will be repurchasing!

From wet through drydown, Ghoulish is yummy nummy creamy coconutty almonds with a dollop of dark cherry. The saffron adds a little bit of warm spice as it dries. Weenies are usually my worst LE blends but the foody ones seem to be my best bet out of the batch. Glad to have a bottle of this, though I wish sillage and staying power was just a leetle longer.

Not sure if my tester was 2009 or 2010, but I'm not complaining since it was a frimp from a lovely forumite. Oh my. Yet another scent I wouldn't have bought/tried on my own, but thanks to the aforementioned forumite I got to try it. This is LOVE. Sweet but not tooth-achingly so, creamy without being cloying/sour. Boo is such a soft confection of a scent, like eating angel food cake rather than a super heavy cheesecake. I normally don't like foody scents but Boo has shot to the top of my bottle wishlist, and if it's not released in this year's Weenies release I'll a) cry and immediately hunt down a bottle. Yum!

I definitely think my skin chemistry has tilted and amps the hell out of red musk. All I get from The Grindhouse is that, red musk, but with a vague hint of the other notes striving to peek out but being beat back into oblivion by the red musk. Swap.

Wet: Sweet spicy musk incense. I get a whiff of band aids/citrus that others have mentioned--is that the civet or the opium? Whichever it is, I don't like it, as it gives the blend a sour undertone. Dry: Red musk dominates and clobbers the other notes out of the way. >_< Overall: I normally would say "another blend ruined by red musk", but I'm not so hot on the sour wet stage. If this is Debauchery then it's in the old, used whore sense of it. DO NOT WANT.

Wet: Dry woods evocative of a hot desert breeze across golden dunes. Dry: More of the rose, amber, and spice slip in, warming up the blend. Instead of desolate dryness a market there's a caravan surrounding an oasis, swirling robes and sandaled tan feet setting up an impromptu market, bringing a bit of civilization out in the middle of nowhere. Baghdad gets stronger as it dries, coaxing buyers that yes, the trip out there is worth it. It never gets cloying, though I would recommend dabbing over slathering. Overall: Where Morocco is more sumptuous and decadent with its exotic spices, Baghdad is drier and just a tad stronger. The sandalwood and rose are strongest on my skin, with the amber and musk rounding out the blend and preventing it from being bone dry. Nutmeg and saffron lends a spicy kick to the blend, but not in a spice rack kind of way, more like I-got-this-exquisite-cloth-from-a-hidden-desert-market kind of way. The bergamot and mandarin are so well blended that while it's difficult to pick them out, I know they're there. Wonderful blend, I'll definitely be adding this to my bottle list!

Wet, Hell's Belle is all mandarin, magnolia, and something sharp and green (I'm assuming it's the oleander). I'm surprised at how well the mandarin is behaving, it's usually a note of doom on me. On dry down more of the spice and musk waft to the surface, smoothing the oleander and warming the mandarin and magnolia. I'm surprised this is described as sinister as to my nose it's more of a creamy, innocent blend with just a kick of naughtiness. Grabbing a bottle for sure!

On me Desire is quite dark, heavy and unfortunately a little funky. At first there's nothing but patchouli and rose, then as it dries down it...remains patchouli and rose, with a very tiny thread of vanilla. No bergamot, no apple, no teak. I'm reminded of a grand dame in heavy perfumes sitting next to her rebellious hippy daughter--not the scent for me.

Lovely dark powdery floral, a scent for a bygone age. The clove here is warm and kicks the ylang ylang and myrrh up a notch spice-wise. The red patchouli, which made me dislike Anne Bonny, is much more subdued here and plays nice with the other notes. Definitely adding to my bottle list. Edit: DERP, just realized I was sniffing the wrong arm. Revised my review.

Wet: Plastic and something golden yet cool, like the sun during a clear but cold day. Come on leather, stop with the plastic, you're normally GREAT on me, don't ruin this like you ruined VILF... Dry: The plastic note luckily tones down and morphs into a golden, spicey, smokey leather with vanilla peeking out every once in a while. This is what I wanted Liz to be. I like. Later: The spice and vanilla slip out more and more, until finally the scent itself disappears into nothing. This was all within ONE hour. Brilliant while it lasted, but I can't see myself buying a bottle of something that's gone so quickly. EDIT: Having left my imp alone now for several months, I re-tried Kubla Khan and WHOA. O_O I'm learning quickly that while BPAL's leather note can be plasticky when fresh, give it a few months to marinate and it turns it sexy, spicy awesomeness. What I experienced in the dry phase only briefly is now deeper and much more pervasive. However, I'll still refrain from a bottle as KK's close enough to VILF on my skin, but not as complex.

Very strong spicy woods, but these are dark, dank, dangerous woods. I like dark scents, but this is a bit foreboding for even me, and comes off a bit too old wood cabinet on me. I bet this would be crazy awesome on white elf, so I'll have to try it on him before I make a decision to keep this imp/swap/buy a bottle.

What an ethereal, beautiful, non-foody vanilla! I'm such a ho for vanilla, but I'll believe it that this is the be-all-and-end-all of BPAL vanillas. I get mostly a soft but powerful golden vanilla with an undercurrent of airy musk and delicate flowers. It's sweet without being gourmand, innocent yet not kiddy by any means. Great sillage without hitting you over the head with its scent, and the lasting power is amazing. A bottle's going into my next order ASAP.

Received as a surprise frimp/decant in a bottle Needless to say I was quite excited to try this, and unfortunately am left disappointed. Tea rose, tea rose everywhere! Not only that, but it had a high-pitched quality that kept reminding me of something, but I couldn't place it until I read an earlier review--nail polish remover, rose-scented nail polish remover. Looks like tea rose is a note of doom for me as it dominates this scent. Swapping.

Vixen started out a nice spicy orangey floral, but quickly morphed into plastic upon drydown. Oh patchouli, you were SO nice upon application, why are you being so mean now? EDIT: Seems I was a bit impatient, as after the above-mentioned plastic phase Vixen morphs back into the beautiful spicy orange floral that was there before. Seems like the patchouli just wanted to have its 15 minutes of fame. Bottle-worthy!

Wet: WHOA lime! O_O Dry: OK, here come the purple fruits. I'm immediately reminded of Medea (dark, foreboding, purple), just replace the initial herbal blast of Medea with lime. PSP is also a bit more perfumey/spicey than Medea, which according to previous reviews must be coming from the castoreum. Overall: I like this blend, but on me it's not quite unique enough from Medea to warrant having bottles of both.

Tree sap, hay, almond blossoms, moss, hemp, corn stalks, acorn, sweet amber, and rice milk. Oddly enough, Brood XIX comes off on me like spiced tea with almond milk, a regular drink of mine. I imagine this scent would just get better with age, softening the harsh bits (I'm assuming to be the corn stalks and acorn) and warming up the rice milk, almond blossom, hay, and amber. If my skin didn't chug the scent down like I chug the aforementioned tea, I'd buy a bottle without hesitation. As it disappears within 2 hours I'll have to try this a few more times before it goes down before I make a final decision. EDIT: Added Lab's description. EDIT2: Retried it wet and the harsh note I get later is the tree sap, not the corn stalks. The more I sniff, the more Brood XIX reminds me of a creamier, softer Gypsy.

Wet and dry Pussy comes off as both a slightly-herbal O and/or a slightly less herbal Black Hellebore Honey. It's soft, faint, and unfortunately not terribly unique on my skin. I'm fine with my tester but I'll stick with O for a soft musky honey blend bottle purchase. EDIT: Re-tried this after letting my decant sit for a few months, and now the tobacco and saffron are SCREAMING, though they're typically very nice notes on my skin. Honey and sugar are barely present. Seriously, this has MAJOR throw now, and I only dabbed a little bit! I'm thinking that unless I have some sort of musk to keep it grounded, tobacco will amp like crazy on my skin. Ugh, I need to scrub this off NAO.

Even though I'll wear heavy florientals even if it's 110 out, my default "summery" scents are Aeval (clean sweet pea) and Voyeurs Among the Cherry Blossoms (soft cherry blossom).

Here here for Tombeur! I got into BPAL last October and was EXTREMELY lucky to find my signature scent/HG right away in Tombeur. If you like your vanillas dark and dangerous vs soft and foody then Tombeur is a must-buy, or at the very least a must-try. I've hoarded many bottles and am loathe to let any go--I sold one due to financial issues and even that was tough. I tried branching into other Snake Oil scents but the Snake Pit didn't sweep me off my feet like Tombeur did. There was always one thing off about each one I tried, whereas Tombeur (to me) is liquid perfection.