yakiguri

Dear Dorian, How have you not come into my life earlier? You are warm, sweet, and creamy without being cloying and sour. The lemon others have claimed you have does not show up at all, which I am thankful for since that was the one thing I feared might harm our relationship. But rather than seeing myself disappointed and sad I am besotted, wanting your scent on myself, my hair, my bedding...I just cannot get enough of you. And you are glad to return the favor, your scent staying with me all throughout my work day and even into the night with just one application. If you were to disappear from my life forever I would die I tell you, I would die. Your creators must know it would be a crime to ever let you go. I know I will not. Your girl forever, yakiguri

This is not the scent for you if you don't like jasmine, so if you're in that camp you can stop reading now and don't try Zorya ever. However, if you're like me and you do like jasmine, Zorya is a pretty, delicate, soft yet spicy jasmine/cereus musk. While the initial phase is pretty strong, it tones down within 5 minutes and never hits that cloying stage I found in Rapture. Staying power is long, and Zorya gently wafts up rather than hit you in the face with its scent. I don't get the primrose or iris thankfully, as those can be hit-or-miss for me. Apparently my best flowers all grow at night. Zorya evokes visions of lying in a lightly flowered meadow, all beneath a veil of softly glowing stars. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

This is an incredibly sweet scent, and unfortunately, cloyingly so. On my skin I get only the caramel, cream, and white honey notes which SCREAM for attention with even the tiniest of dabs. I occasionally get whiffs of apple blossom, but frankly I wouldn't even know it was there if I didn't know the notes. No musk at all, this is pure dunk-your-head-in-a-vat-of-caramel sugar. I'm surprised my teeth made it... I wanted to keep it for the bottle art alone (since I look similar) but I know it's more practical to sell and find a new love. Besides, I'm keeping the pitch card.

Due to the notes I was expecting Countess Willies to be smoldering, sexy yet sweet concoction. Especially since most of the notes are win on me, and I typically amp plum and almond (and I LIKE that). Alas, all I get is a dusty old chocolate smell, like an ancient tootsie roll fused to the bottom of an old purse you forgot about. Midnight Kiss IS actually what I expected Countess Willie to be like, so I suppose I should be grateful I have a bottle of that and a decant of Willie, and not the other way around.

This is the very first BPAL that caught my eye, made my husband go "OH what are you wearing?!" and was and will forever be my first love. Bottle: Jasmine, a bit sharp but not cloying. Wet: Clean Egyptian musk and jasmine, with a slight hint of almond peeking through. Dry: The oakmoss and red sandlewood come out, mixing, softening, warming, and yet darkening the scent. Light throw, and she lasts quite some time, 4+ hours! Overall: Salome definitely becomes something soft and seemingly innocent but with an undercurrent of something dark that tells you look but definitely shouldn't touch. Or touch, regrets be damned! If Vicomte de Valmont is the scent a vicious lover leaves on your pillows after he betrays you (thanks for the description viciousviolet!) then Salome is the feminine equivalent. Not so much vicious, but more leading you on with false hopes and promises, and then flitting to the next flower once her conquest is done to start the game anew. Loving, HOARDING! If she disappears from my life for good (DC'd) I will up and die.

Tested on the hubby, as this is way too masculine for me, and I typically wear masculine-slanting blends. In Imp: WHOA bergamot and anise, how are you? This is quite herbal, yet clean, like wet spring grass after the rain, with licorice. But in a good way. Wet: Pretty much the same, and boy is this guy STRONG. Will only use a dab next time! Dry, and later: There you are leather and patchouli, I was wondering where you were! Though you are still pretty quiet, but I'm glad to see how well you're getting along with bergamot and anise. Lavender comes and goes, but where is your friend tonka? Very nice with proper application. Bottle! I'm reminded a bit of Irish Spring soap, but I like the smell of it, so no problem.

Though typically a red musk fiend, all I get from the decant is that, red musk, and I was hoping for some of the creamy sexiness others got. It's spicy and almost peppery on my skin, and disappeared within an hour. Almost no throw, very faint--I had to apply nose to wrist to even get a whiff of it. I'll keep the decant, but won't be needing a bottle.

Normally jasmine is one of my favorite notes, but in Rapture it's all I smell, and it's STRONG, set against something sharp and somewhat sour. Headache inducing--had to wash it off immediately. Too bad. EDIT: Revisiting this since I got a frimp in a recent Lab order. My skin chemistry must have been off when I last tried Rapture, my sniffer was too inexperienced, or both, as I'm not getting any sharpness or sourness at all. I love jasmine but it's much too prominent here, though I do get a teensy bit of mandarin and soft clean musk. I'm surprised to not get any rose and bergamot considering those two notes can amp to high heaven when they want to. I'll stick with Salome for a clean musky jasmine, though Rapture is slightly softer.

I can't believe I found my HG scent in my very first BPAL order. O_O In bottle: Vanilla, musk, and something sharp. Maybe that's the patchouli? (I'm still training my nose.) Wet: Earthy, vanilla-y musk grounded by something dark (vetiver?) that keeps it from being sickening or cloying. Yum! Dry: A warm, dark, smooth, slinky, sensual vanilla and red musk combo that just screams (to me anyways) MANEATER. Which I guess for the kind of vampire a Tombeur is is an apt description. But Tombeur doesn't literally scream; it wafts, like curling smoke luring, coaxing someone closer. It sure does my hubby. Tombeur is seriously my favorite scent, and my default "me" scent. It evokes a strong, dominant woman who oozes confidence and would devour you alive, but rest you on a velvet cushion while she does so. And she lasts, boy does she last, 9 hours of you-can't-resist-me-why-are-you-even-trying sexiness and strength. Just try and pry my hoarded (and continue to be hoarded) bottles out of my kung-fu grip. Edit: I can't spell. >_<

In imp and wet on skin: Plastic. Kind of reminds me of the scented glue sticks I bought as a child in Japan. Glue of Plenty? 15 minutes later: Horn of Plenty has blossomed into a warm, creamy almond-vanilla. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Why can't you be like this faster? >_< The staying power however is about 2-4 hours, so that makes up for the plastic phase. I'm wondering what notes cause that since almond and vanilla are two of my best notes and never turn plastic on me. As for its benefits...well, I've been dying to try Gypsy Moth, and got outbid on an auction the other day. Wore this earlier and lo and behold, I managed to snag a bottle through the forum sales this evening (thanks Washer!). Call me a believer. :3 Now to wear this to my job interview Tuesday...

I really, really really wanted to like this. The glowing reviews on the forum lead me to order an imp of this in my first BPAL order, and at first sniff all I got was ASH. Was even worse on my skin, ash and a sour note akin to wet dog. Left it alone for a month, figuring that the red musk (a favorite note) would turn this into a beauty like I experienced in other blends. Alas, it is no different. I think my skin REALLY does not like any sort of incense. Other reviewers mentioned nag champa, so I think that may be my note of doom. EDIT 1/2013: Now that I have a few more years experience with my sniffer and understanding my skin chemistry more, I figured I'd give Scherezade another chance. Unfortunately I no longer have the original imp I purchased so I bought another. At first application I again got the sour BO/ wet dog note again which I now recognize as indeed nag champa. Within minutes though red musk slips in, sweetening and uplifting the incense. Fully dry Scherezade is a pretty, spicy red musk and incense blend. I'm still on the fence though on whether I'll ever invest in a bottle--it's not the immediate scrubber I initially thought it was, but those first few minutes of nasty sourness are rather rough to get through. I'll keep my imp though in case further aging reins in the incense more.