spring

I am in love. On my skin I get amber, coconut and caramel. Throughout the day the scents take turns stepping forward or back - but always combining sweetly with just a touch of smokiness.

Although I'm usually a spicy scent sort of woman, lately I've been in the mood for citrus ones. For instance I've been using a honey, tangerine and grapefruit moisturizer after my showers and a lemon hand salve throughout the day at work. Obviously I need some citrus BPAL scents to join the fun. I've used the search function on the site and am considering the following: Arcana, Bess and Zephyr. Does anyone have any other suggestions? At this rate I might as well order an imp-pack.

This has to be a first for me: a scent that smelled pretty much the same way from the bottle to drydown. I put a little on in the morning and smelled like gin with a twist for hours. No vermouth, no tonic, just straight up (very good) gin with a twist of lemon as a garnish. It wasn't perhaps the best choice for wearing to my mildly staid office. But I think it will rock for a party

Wet: On me it starts sort of artificially fruity, like one of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the 80s with the artificially fruity hair. Drydown: About half an hour later it's morphed into a sweet pear with a dusting of flowers (proabably the plumeria which I'm not familiar with). I like this a lot. However, it's very light with not a lot of throw. I have to get my nose right up to my wrist to smell anything at all. I'm definitely going to try this again, but will slather a bit more on when I do. Hopefully it will last longer.

in the bottle: sickly sweet fruit candies on me: Have you ever poached fruit in vanilla and then served them with a vanilla sauce? Well that's pretty much what I smelled like an hour ago. The fruit scent isn't specifically the peach others are getting (which is good, since my husband hates peaches) but instead is a light juicy sweetness. As the morning is progressing I think the sandalwood is coming out more (it's been 3 1/2 hours since I first applied). It's still poached fruit with vanilla sauce, only now it's being served in room with a little incense. The scent is quite lovely really. It's light enough to not be overbearing, however the throw is pretty good so I get gentle wafts of scent as I move.

In the bottle: Mmmmm...white chocolate, very nutty and rich. Wet: The chocolate fades pretty quickly to the background and the iris steps up. How awesome! Irises are my favorite flower The drydown and beyond: I can't stop sniffing my arm. The nuttiness of the white chocolate has lingered in the background and the irises are sticking around but are now blending with some citrus tones. 20 minutes in, the scent gets powdery. This isn't a terrible thing as the nutty floral is still there, but it wasn't a scent I was expecting. An hour later, the powdery scent that worried me isn't as strong and the nutty floral remains. Happiness 4 1/2 hours later and the scent is now a lovely smokey white chololate. I wouldn't have noticed, as I'm not used to a scent lasting this long (maybe it had to do with me slathering rather than my usual swipe LOL), but a funny thing happened at the post office. It was really crowded, so while filling out an envelope I had to share cramped table space with an older woman. She looks around her and says "Is someone smoking a pipe? I don't understand how people can keep doing that when all it does is kill you." She keeps grumbling about the evils of smoking as she leaves the post office. Now, I'm a big fan of sweet scented pipe tobaccos as well as clove cigarettes, so I happily sniffed the air. When I didn't catch any smokey scent I thought to check my wrists. Wouldn't you know it, I'm pretty sure the smoker she was complaining about was me! Overall: I was initially worried about powdery scent in the drydown, but it was a short lived phase. I'm very pleased and hope it's offered again in January

In the bottle: Grape bubblegum Wet: The clove makes a strong appearance the second it hits my skin. The fruitiness is still there hanging in the background, but for the most part it's all cloves. Dry: The clove remains distinct but is mellower and sweetened up a bit. The scent is more citrus and floral.