jewelbug

Imp: It sorta smells like clay…clay and house cleaner of some sort. Dry: Yeah, red clay. Really heavy in minerals, iron for one. Mineral clay with some house cleaner and acetone notes. About 3 hrs in, I can pick out scorched notes, but they’re more like burning plastic/treacle. Overall: This obviously just doesn’t work on me. I dunno if its my chemistry, or just how my nose perceives this blend, since it didn’t smell much different in the imp to me. Onto swaps!

Imp: Surprisingly sweet, mostly pipe tobacco, I think. Wet : Lots of sweet tobacco (love it!) and a wee bit of musk. Reminds me of the tobacco from herr drosselmeyer. Drying: This gets smokier and more leathery as time passes. After about 10 minues, it’s a really sexy, smoky leather and tobacco combo. 20 mins in, the musk takes it a little toward the powdery side of things, but its still a nice leather/tobacco mix. Overall: Sexy leathery tobacco. This would be fantastic on a man. For me, I prefer herr drosselmeyer for my leather/tobacco needs (its sweeter and a bit less masculine).

2005 version: This smells like sitting next to grandpa on his favorite leather chair while he smokes some cherry tobacco and offers you aniseseed cookies (I can even smell a bit of butter). Its a really lovely combo that I have treasured for 3 years now, but never got round to writing a review. I wear this when I want something really different than my usual bpals, and it never disappoints. Its a very comforting, complex and beautiful scent, and it has aged fantastically.

This is a morpher. Read on... Bottle: Pumpkin (but not super buttery like some of the other pumpkin blends), with a healthy handful of the fresh earth note that BPAL does so well. Wet:This pumpkin is akin to the pumpkin queen’s pumpkin note on my skin—even with a slight citrus feel to it. Within seconds of hitting my skin, the dirt comes out full force. Lots of wet soil half-burying a sweet, orange, pumpkin. Its SO incredibly evocative of a trip to the local pumpkin patch. *wistful sigh* Drying: I get a lightly spiced feel (pepper? ginger?) from the pumpkin, still a lot of dirt, but the scent is changing....the leather starts to make an appearance, growing stronger. Dry: The leather really takes the forefront after the first 20 min or so. And it has TREMENDOUS throw. It’s a very nice, sweet leather, and I can’t smell the pumpkin/dirt until I get much closer to my wrist. I kinda miss the initial blend where the leather was just a little background support. About 2 hrs in, and for the rest of the time, the leather loses prominence, the dirt is gone, and the pumpkin isn’t really detectable, either. What I end up with is a sweet syrupy myrrh-like scent. Well, that was unexpected! Lasts 6 plus hours. Overall: I have to say, this is a very non-foody pumpkin blend, very unique, and really awesome! I really, REALLY enjoy the opening phase. The handfuls of wet earth and pumpkins with just a wee bit of spiciness. I also enjoy the leathery phase with just a wee bit of pumpkin/dirt. But I was disappointed when all that loveliness gave way to sweet non-descript myrrh-y-ness (myrrh’s, not even listed, I know!). I want to keep this for the evocativeness of the first few hours, but I don’t think I’ll ever go through the whole bottle. Maybe I can keep a few mLs and decant the rest of the love… DH review: “You smell like a hobo, a good-smelling hobo.” Office Mate’s review, upon walking into my 8x12 office: “Are you drinking chai?”

Bottle: Mostly apples, with some rich roasted nuts underneath. Wet: God, this is delicious. I get a lot of dark nuts, and yes, they’re almost chocolate-y, as some others have said. Just a layer under the nuts is a lovely apple note and a wee bit of leafiness to keep it from being overly foody. This is like what I expected Samhain to smell like before I ever tried it. Dry: Now, I can actually pick out something watery/aquatic in this—a really sweet fresh aquatic. The mists! They have a slight chill feel to them, too, like oncoming fall. Wow, I never thought I’d be able to smell them. Misty, nutty, chocolate apples, with some leaves blowing in the back. Fan-friggin-tastically awesome! Way late into the dry (like 8+ hrs), I'm still smelling it. Great staying power. Overall: I love this. An aquatic foody—I never would’ve thunk it! In my bpal history, an aquatic has never appealed to me much , but this is one I can definitely sink my teeth into. Hear that? It’s the sound of horizons expanding…

Imp: lots of red musk, kind of sweet, kind of medicinal/wintergreen bathroom cleaner--now THAT"S unexpected. Wet: Ah, more like it. I get a cassia spiced red musk with something like magnolia or gardenia or something rich and really sweet like that. Also…a dash of necco wafers? Dry: Cassia, musk, and the sandalwood (or maybe its agarwood?) comes out. I don’t really get sugar or fruits from this at all, which is what I was expecting. It’s darker than I would’ve guessed, and ends in a spiced woodsy musk. Overall: On my skin, unremarkable. I'd love to smell it on someone who gets fruits out of it!

Bottle: Super creamy vanilla deliciousness. Wet: Vanilla cream...like buttercream icing. Reminds me strongly of the vanilla note in dragon's milk, with just the tiniest drop of spice. Dry: Yes, very akin to dragon's milk on my skin. The vanilla verges on waxy or plastic, depending on that particular whiff.Lasts ~7 hrs. Overall: Rich and creamy and I can see lots of people liking this. But on my skin its too close to candle wax, and a bit plastic-y under the vanilla buttercream. It reminds me of dragon's milk very closely.

Imp: A kinda sweet cologne-y scent. That doesn't do it justice, i know, but I can't pick out a single note from the others. Wet: I get a pear like sweetness out of this, oddly enough. Over a cologney perfume. There's a wee bit of coconut floating around, but really, I can't describe the scent well. Its a fairly light scent, but is musky/woodsy and spicy and tropical and even a little watery and. undeniably intriguing. Dry: I like the description someone used for this as "faded perfume." I can see that. Dry, I do get more of a creamy palm/coconut combo with a hint of sweet leather, and its all over the "faded perfume" note. Overall: Pretty, but not something I would feel the need to wear often, so I can pass up the bottle.

Wet: Very grainy scent, quite sweet (of the maple/brown sugar persuasion). I also get a fair amount of fruit in this stage--it doesn't really smell like apples which are listed, its almost citrusy--maybe its the combo of carrot/apple together? The grains are really cool--oatmeal, yes, but I swear I smell corn, too. I'm guessing that's part of the chaff. Dry: It smells of grains sweetened with maple/brown sugar, and it gets progressively muskier as time passes. I believe its one of the same musks that is in Devil's Night (which I love). I love the musk and sweet grains combo. Overall: This is one of the most unique blends I've tried. Now, I ordered it hoping for musky carrot cake, which didn't happen, but it really does smell interesting, and I'm quite happy with it. Oh, and DH had a great review. After a few baffled sniffs, he exclaimed "Frosted Flakes!!"

I get a lot of winey fruits out of this (they tend to amp on me). Really, its super fruity--winey fruits with a few apples floating in. Very lightly spiced (I had hoped for more spice actually), and the wine obscures any woodsy/herbal notes that never had a chance. Don't get me wrong...its pretty. I enjoy the fruity wineyness. Its just not something that needs to join my collection. I think I'd prefer this as a room scent, but I tend not to use bpal in my oil burner very often.

Wet: This is very strong on the red fruits--kinda verging on winey? Dry: Much more wood notes now--a woody mahogany/patchouli combo sweeteend by red fruits. DH says he smells the raspberries a lot, but I can't pick them out. Overall: When wet, this didn't really do it for me, but dry it was very nice. Still, I think this isn't one that I need to hunt down now that I've tried it.

Bottle: Spicy deliciousness! On: Very spicy, predominantly clove. A lovely spiced tea scent--I can definitely see the comparisons to a nice chai. This is much lighter than I expected (i was expecting a darker scent from the patchouli), and I do get some nice carnation from it. Unfortuantely, this has only an hour or two lifespan on my skin before it goes poof. Overall: Very much enjoyed the scent, but it fades quickly and I'm too lazy to reapply that often. Updated to add an aged review: Spicy cloves and carnation now, I can't really get the tea note anymore, and there's just a bit of "dirtiness" from the patchouli. Its a very nice clove scent, but now I'm in love with Velvet Bandito for my clove-of-choice. I'm passing this along.

Bottle: Strong, spicy cinnamon. Wet: Okay, this is a skin burner, but I love spicy scents, so I just endure the burning to reap the benefits of deliciousness. Strong cinnamon. Beauty IS pain. Dry: Very dry, spicy incense, on the woody end of incense. Overall: Enjoyable, but not something I need to keep around. This was one of my "most excited about" CD's in this act, but our passions ended up only being lukewarm (after the burning phase, anyhow).

Like pink moon 05 with more brown sugary notes and no florals. Sweet foody strawberry 'liciousness. I'm not sure if this warrants a bottle for me. I have to think about it. A better review: Imp: brown sugared caramel and strawberries. Wet: more fruity, less caramelly on the skin than in the imp. Like pop rocks sorta of fruit—berry-y, but also freakishly colored sugary dust. This is SWEET, as promised. Dry: A pink and brown sugar scent, lots of strawberry. Overall: Reminds me of pink moon 05, pink phoenix and midway. I like all of those, but I don't need them all. This one is for swaps.

In the bottle: This is extremely beer like. Not entirely sure I want my perfume to make me smell like beer, but wow, is it ever interesting what Beth can do with perfume oils! Wet: Extremely grainy beer. I like the scent. It makes me want to go to happy hour. Dry: Super baby powder. Huh? Where'd that come from? Overall: Interesting when wet, though not necessarily what I want from a perfume. But then, dry, wtf-babypowder. Ah well, glad I held off on a bottle until I could test it!

First off: Yay!!!! Gift Imp! Thank you, thank you! I wish I could turn peanut butter into imps all the time! Onto the review: Imp: Lots of light fruits, and…almost a cucumber-melon vibe going on. Wet: Not cucumbery melon any more. A seamless combo of light fruity-tastic-ness. Slightly citrusy, slightly cucumbery, slightly figgy…etc. The scent is sorta creamy, yes, but cream is not the primary note. There’s maybe a tiny drop of floral, too. Dry: As it dries the cream gets a bit more prominent, but the fruits still steal the show. Its like like Milk Moon 07 if the milky note and fruits switched places. Which is to say…on my skin Milk Moon was mostly milk supported by some tropical-like (almost pineapple-y) fruits. The Horn is a very similar fruit combo with just a wee bit of creamy/milky support. The old swap-a-roo, as they say… Very late into the drydown (6+ hrs), this is a sweet creamy fig. Delish. Overall: Milk Moon 07 inverted. If Milk Moon was too milky, try this! Gentle, sweet, lovely. I also think Noumenon was onto something in comparing this to Hanging Gardens.

Bengal's my go-to for this.

Imp: Powdery floral rose…ever so slightly spicy smelling to my nose. Wet: I smell resins first and foremost—frank and myrrh, but with a strong equal of fairly gentle rose, and a waft of spice. This is a very dry scent. Dry: Rose, Rose, Rose, with a small amt of spice/resin, and strangely enough, I swear I keep getting slight whiffs of citrus—no idea from where! 2 hr later, this settles into a slightly spiced roase with resin undercurrent, more sweet, less dry than before. Overall: Its dry, and as far as rose scents go, its interesting. But my go to spicy gentle rose scent is Winter of Discontent, and I prefer that to this.

Imp: Very citrus-y in the imp. Citrus with an undercurrent of resins and a slight powdery note. Wet: Still citrus-y—lemon verbena maybe? There is a creamy floral type scent as well—maybe a lily (cheating and looking at notes: ah, heliotrope, maybe in combo with the coconut or ‘nilla)? I’m also getting some earthier, grittier notes down underneath the brighter sweet florals and citrus—fitting for a dark carnival! Dry: The citrus is still there, but not nearly as bright as it was. It combines in a lovely manner with the creamy florals, ‘nilla and gritty musk. The whole scent is very golden to my nose. Its sweet and creamy, with warm citrus tones and a gritty undercurrent. It has great throw, and smells just plain amazing! Lasts for 9+hrs--yay! Overall: I think I need a bottle of this. One little decant simply will not cut it. Reminds me in feel to antonino—must be the citrus, coconut, musk combo.

Imp: Extremely fruity and sweet--light tropical sorts of fruits. I know there’s orange in this, but my nose can’t identify it. Its just combining with the other fruits to simply make “tropical”. And then there is something else. Something almost…dare I say it…vaginal—huh? Wet: Fruit punch candies dusted with powdered sugar. Not a vagina in sight. Thank goodness! Dry/Drying: A flowery slightly powdery note comes out to join the candies. I assume that’s apple blossom. There is even a wee bit of spice, but its more like potpourri spice, and I would never ever guess white pepper. Not too much throw on this, and it lasts 5-6 hrs on me. Overall: My thoughts can basically be summarized as “candy aisle at bed bath and beyond.” I can smell the floral-y home scent of various clean linen products (apple blossom?), mixed with a shelf of hard, sugar-dusted candy, with a waft of the fruity potpourri candles from the next aisle. Its interesting, but totally not wearable as a perfume (for me, personally). It makes my nose itch a bit.

Imp: LEATHER! Lots of it. It smells like the leather scented air freshener gel beads that I bought to make my car at least SMELL like I shelled out money on leather, but they’re really fabric….whoops, tangent alert! The leather is sweet, and I can imagine a wee bit of vanilla under there. Wet: Oh, yes, immediately, the sweeter notes come out. Delicious vanilla leather, I can’t really pick out the pear, but I can see how this would be getting some fruitiness from that. Also, the throw on this one is reminding me of the illustrated woman—maybe the evergreen, tobacco, vanilla combo? Drying: As it dries, I feel like I get less and less leather, and more and more woodsy, musky, vanilla tobacco. Dry: Oh, nevermind—leather is back, and in full force—sweet vanillic leather. Dry, it reminds me of tombstone + leather. It’s a really pleasant smell, but the leather note is also a dead ringer for the aforementioned car air freshener. Now, I love my car air freshener, but now the scent recalls driving, and I’m not sure I want to smell it all day… Later in the drydown (4 hrs or so), the musk and leather switch, and musk takes front seat. There's just a bit of warm leather around the edges. The effect is downy lovely musk, sweetened by the vanilla/pear, presumably, though I can’t specifically pick out either. Lasts over 8 hrs and has great throw. Overall: I originally ordered this for my hubby. The scents that work best on him are generally the vanilla/foody/sweet man scents (think tombstone). So this sounded right up his alley. But on his skin, this goes straight to leather all the time and then fades very quickly. I wish it smelled on him like it does on me—I think we’d both like it a lot! I enjoy it on me, but I don't want my perfume to make me think of my car (even though they both smell fantastic!)

Imp: Sweet caramel with a woodsy/cologne like edge. Wet: The caramel is still there, but takes a back seat to some woody and dirty patchouli notes. I’m getting a smokiness, too. Drying: Wood and patchouli with caramel sitting right underneath. Its smoky and a wee bit spicy…and weird on me. Its weirdness reminds me of the weirdness I got from ventriloquist dummy. Just sorta off-putting on my skin, but the similarity makes sense since they’re both caramel/patchouli blends. Dry: Stays weird, no better way to say it. The caramel notes seem to be going a little burny, this particular patchouli is one that I recognize from other blends that just doesn’t sit well on my skin, and the combo of that with burny caramel is just…not good. Overall: Just not meant for my skin chemistry, despite the fact that the listed notes sounded so nummy…

From the description, this is the Act II scent that was in my #1 spot of interest (tied with Mme. Moriarty, which unfortunately didn't work too well on me). Creamy sasparilla with plenty of dirtier notes to keep it from being overly foody. How awesome does that sound?! Imp: The cream/milk note is strong, with a wisp of almond--a healthy dollop of pine makes this a really unique combo. Wet: Same as the imp: healthy bits of milk/cream (a tad on the sour side, but i like it). The sweet vanilla/almond cream is equal parts with the woody and smoke notes. Its sort of a disturbing combo--unexpected and undeniably odd to my nose...but i like it. Am I weird? Dry: Sweet, Creamy, Piney, a bit smoky, with hints of cologne. Its warm and sexy and on the masculine side of unisex....and still one of the oddest combinations I can think of in bpal. Late into the dry down, the milk note goes almost buttery (reminds me of the milk moon 07 note). Overall: I really enjoy this scent, but its so strange that I'm not sure how often i'd wear it. Therefore, I am SO happy that my DH says HE likes it and will wear it. I can buy a bottle, knowing it will be loved, and I can steal a bit whenever the mood for a strange but beautiful milky scent strikes.

Imp: VERY sweet: sugar, florals, something almost fruity and something really familiar that I can't put my finger on. Wet: Sweet. There's almost a citrus edge in this stage, no idea where that's coming from. Right now it smells like sugared citrus and flowers. Dry: Still extremely sweet. The sugar is the note I get the most of, and its stays a true sugar (doesn't go burny on me like some). The sugar smells vanilla'd to me. Under that are florals that I can't describe. There is still a fruitiness to this on my skin--like citrus coated berry-like fruits. I dunno why...maybe champaca is in the incense? That often strikes me as a sweet fruity sort of floral. Overall: I like this. Its really different than most everything I own,and I like the uniqueness. I don't know how often I'd wear it, but its really nice. I'm not sure if I should get a bottle or not--I'll have to decide before the CD leaves town, though!

Imp: A sweet citrus mint, almost mojito like. Wet: Very sweet honey and sugar scent, a hint of mint, with clean green tea notes and a citrus twist. Dry: A sweet, bright, gentle tea scent. Clean and green, slightly minty, very sweet. Overall: This is pretty, and i can see how many people enjoy it. Its just not something that would make it into my regular rotation.