jewelbug

Oak, tonka, vanilla, white sandalwood, lily of the valley, white ginger, amber, and apricot. Wow, my first "first review"--I'll try not to choke under the pressure. I loved this scent so much that it was part of my meager 2 bottle purchase at the ecwc. The bottle art is lovely and serene, and it smells fantastic. Bottle: I get a smooth vanilla sandalwood with a hint of something fruity, which I suppose is either the apricot, or the family of fruitier ginger (like HGM?). Wet: The top-note is a very light floral, presumably the lily, but the majority of what I smell is a light and very pure vanilla sandalwood. The whole scent is a bit sparkly, for lack of a better word. As it dries it remains the sweet/smooth vanilla and sandalwood, but I do get hints of those fruitier notes--an almost citrusy ginger with apricot. I have to say that this is very sweet on me--almost a sugared blend. I happen to love that, though! Dry: Interestingly, this smells different on me based on where I apply. On my elbow crook, I get significantly more lily/floral than my wrists, which carry on smelling like a sugared vanilla wood with hints of a clean floral. The fruitiness is much weaker later in the drydown. Overall: On me, this is a pure sweet scent that easily covers all of the bases--sweet and vanillic but not foody, floral but not overwhelming, woodsy without being pencil shavings. Its got the perfect balance, and its just beautiful. With the variation between different spots just on one person, I imagine there will be many different results based on skin chemistry. I happen to prefer what it does on my wrists, but its pretty everywhere. Great throw, and lasts 7+ hrs. I'm thrilled to have a bottle of this!

Snake Oil Series CCCLIX This one starts out floral (rose??), and I have trouble picking up the snake oil, at least on me. As it dries, it takes on that pseudo-powdery scent that could either be a musk (black?), or perhaps a black amber. This seems like there was a pretty light hand with the Snake Oil, but maybe I am just amping the other notes. It is very pretty, but I don't see it getting much wear in my rotation.

Wet, this was like a very woodsy scent, lighly spiced with cassia. Dry, it took me a while, but if you've ever been to a Penzey's spice store, this smells exactly like walking into one of those. Wood displays with a mishmosh of dried herbs and exotic spices. Its sort of what I imagine an old traders ship would smell like, you know, if it didn't have all the dirty sailors. Really pretty awesome how much it smells like that. Late in the drydown, I get a lot more honey, and the penzey's scent has tamed quite a bit. Never really got wine or booze out of this, though. Overall: I enjoyed the experience, and I love cassia. The exotic spice/herb combo was pretty neat..but as much as I like shopping at Penzey's, I don't want to wear it everyday as a perfume.

Posting because its just not right to not review your own chaos, and I see Zee-Zee beat me to it. CCCLXL? (360): BOTTLE: smokey dorian?; WET: Smoked leather, perhaps some anise, and dorian--Black jellybeans and dorian? DRY: still smells a bit anisey but a wood note comes out--sassafras, maybe? Ends as a slightly darker dorian, sassafrassy, and maybe a touch of anise and leather (though I wonder now if that's just the sassafras?)? CCXCIII (#293): BOTTLE: light rose + dorian? WET: sweet light floral (not sure if its rose, as I am not good at identifying florals, but if it is, its a light one), more florals than Dorian to my nose. There is something dry underneath, maybe a sage or one of the orreratory scents form DDLM? DRY: Dorian with gentle sweet rose and dry sage is my best guess.

As a hobby beekeeper, I love this idea. I do have Paduan Killer Swarm, which I bought simply for the bee reference, and turned out to LOVE. There are also all of the honey scents, but I am embarrassed to say that I haven't tried them all yet! The smell of beekeeping would be awesome to capture--fresh cut lumber (the hive bodies and frames), resinous propilis, pine needle smoke, a plethora of pollens, beeswax oozing wildflower honey, with the hint of burnt honey you get in the honey house when you use the uncapping knife.

Wet: Pumpkin and Fruit Loops Mid-Dry: sweet fruity pumpkin with a tough of sweet vanilla Late Drydown: huh, where did the pumpkin go? I get a light fruit-loop laced floral.

I finally treated myself to a bottle of this, as the cartoon movie of the last unicorn was/is a childhood fave of mine, and I've been coveting these scents since released. I wasn't sure this would really be my sort of scent, but had to get it just for the link to childhood memories. Happily, I like both the memories AND the scent. In the bottle, i smell pretty much straight up cocoa butter, whcih gave me pause, as I don't really need more chocolate scents....immediately on, that cocoa butter smell continued strong for a few minutes, overpowering anything else, but by about 5 minutes in, this was LOVELY. The butter backed off, and the coconut and some light fresh florals (i'm not usuall a floral person, but these were not the beat you over the head type). It pretty much stayed that way on me, and lasted well over 12 hours, which is quite impressive for such a light bright scent. A beautiful blend, this strikes me as summery--light sweet, and even a bit cooling, if that makes sense. Love it, and so glad I treated myself to a bottle. I'll be wearing this often since its the dog days of summer now.

Wow! Decided to skin test this today, and it is INCREDIBLE! I've always liked carnation based bpals, so I guess this was a no brainer... This is spectacularly rich and spicy, almost incense-y in its depth, but with a nice almost-creamy-sweetness and even the barest hint of vegetal-ness (if that is a word). I'm so kicking myself for not ordering two bottles of this! Sexy, sexy single note.

I'm starting to think of Christmas, and I was asking a friend about her scent preferences for some lotion/bath gel gifties. The only perfume she's liked enough to buy was Clinique Happy, and she says she generally likes citrus and spicy (but not cinnamon) scents. Ginger especially, where the spices are concerned. She has a rather tempermental nose, and is sneezy often, so I want to avoid anything that may have that sneeze-inducing factor. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am considering Sudha Segara, but in my test, it didn't have much staying power, so I'm wary. I don't generally try a whole lot of citrus scents, so I don't know what else to look into. Any suggestions from you citrus-loving forumites? (I'm avoiding discontinued's, so Baobhan Sith is out).

This goes on with a definitely lemon edge. Lemon over some sweet florals, slightly green, and quite fresh. Once it dries down, it reminds me very strongly of the clean sweet scent that the Queen's Croquet Ground leaves in my living room. Am I crazy? Perhaps, but that's what I smell! Not really aquatic (but I rarely buy those, so maybe I wouldn't recognize that?), not really mossy, just sweet, clean, pretty, and very much like the BPTP roomspray TQCG. Verdict: I like it, and I admit that I bought this just for the name, thinking the notes didn't sound like me at all. But its very different from my normal picks, and really fresh, sweet and pretty.

This one really surprised me--it was not at all what i expected given the list of notes. In the bottle, this is most certainly a chocolate blend, which is what I have come to expect from 13's. Chocolate and some lovely spicy smoky fruity things. Wet, it is less chocolate (though still detectable), with some really spunky pink spicy smokiness going on. I really like it. As it dries, the chocolate seems to fade, and it starts to smell more and more like Pink Moon 2005 to me. Which I totally don't understand, since I'm not aware of any shared notes? Not that I mind, since I love PM05. To make sure I wasn't going nuts, I swiped some of this 13 on one wrist and my Pink Moon 05 on the other--the similarity is uncanny! Pink Moon has some floral to sharpen and differentiate it, but the base of the two scents is remarkably similar on me. This 13 ends up smelling like Pink Moon 05 had some vaguely chooclate/vanilla babies. Yup, so that's the verdict: a slightly foodier Pink Moon 05. I likey!

In the imp, and first on the skin, this is very strong lavender, with a bit of currant watching from the sidelines. Its the sort of lavender that is very clean smelling--probably because I have a lavender castille liquid soap with this particular lav in it--its a sharp, sorta medicinal lavender, if that makes sense. As it starts to dry, the lavender backs off and this goes very sweet. The blackcurrant gets stronger, but not in the least overpowering. I don't know what notes are responsible for this part, but there is definitely a melancholy sweetness to this--there's something "off" about the sweetness that I think helps w/ the impression of sadness, though I have no idea what note (magnolia?), or combo thereof, it is. There's also a pseudo creamy-butteriness to it (not the foody type, but I don't know how else to describe it). Overall: fascinating scent. Its sweet, calming, melancholy and beautiful. I'm going to keep the imp around at least for a little while to contemplate it and decide what to do! I think Beth did a fantastic job capturing this one!

In the bottle, this smells of super sweet honey--just like huffing honey from the jar. When this goes on, it is instantly a lemony herbal honey. Later, the tarter lemon/herb parts burn off, and i swear it ends up smelling like honey with a smidge of white chocoloate. Overall: a very nice honey blend, very sweet, quite "true" to real honey. I was hoping to get a wallop of cardamom (which I love), but never smelled it. Even so, this is really pretty. Simple, sweet, and easy to wear. I can see myself going to this as a standby on days when I just can't make up my mind.

This is a lovely coconut blend. It smells like a cool, creamy coconut cocktail, and underneath there are wisps of non-invasive gentle flowers on the breeze (I am not a big floral lover, so this is subtle and very nice). A wonderful summer blend, not like suntan lotion, and not the 'coconut rum' scent that often goes plastic on my skin. I don't get coconut from snow white, and so this doesn't smell like snow white to me at all. Which is just fine, as snow white went wonky on me after it aged. My only complaint is that it only lasts a few hours on me--a very understated scent that fades quickly. But its thoroughly enjoyable while its there.

I was so excited by the list of notes in this blend--clove, vanilla, carnation,and sandalwood especially. Sadly, this comes off as a very musky (where'd that come from?), masculine cologne on me. I like it (moderately), for a man, but DH was unimpressed by it. So, off to a better home this goes..

This was just a big fat no on me. I thought that it'd be hard to go wrong with vanilla/cream, but this paticular vanilla note seems to be the one that goes "faux" on me. The result smells SO MUCH like a spray I had in middle school--one of those "if you like this, you'll love this" imposter type sprays...and on me it smelled like a cheap, waxy vanilla candle. I didnt' like it in middle school and I don't like it now. And so, Detestable Putrescence has failed on my skin. To the swap pile!

In the bottle, this is the most delicious blend of dry cocoa, heavy dark musk and rich tobacco. On me, its musk, all musk, all the time. I can barely smell the the cocoa or tobacco, which were the two big reasons I bought this one! The musk is strong and goes very powdery and perfumey on me almost immediately. I think I'm gonna hang onto it despite these results...I'm hoping that a little aging will help to take the edge off and give the cocoa and tobacco a better chance. I'm also hesitant to judge right now, since I'm pregnant and the hormones might be changing what it would otherwise smell like on me. Overall: Not for me right now, but hoping aging and better hormones will have it smelling more like what it does in the bottle!

I agree with countless others, above, but for the record: On me, this goes on like a pink-tinged snow white/snow cake scent. I do think its a little less almondy than the aforementinoed two, so its comes off as a little less creamy, and as a extremely pale pink, light floral. I've always liked how snow white is a floral scent that doesn't scream "FLOWERS!" like so many others do. This is the same, though just a touch more floral to my recollection. As snow white aged, it agreed less w/ my skin (got plasticky), so I find that I only like that one fresh. I'm curious to see how pink snowballs will age on me--hopefully it will stay truer on my skin, and I'll be able to get that kick year round despite age. Overall: very pretty light winter floral. Snow White on Pink.

Obtala is the closest one I've found in the GC. I also think that Nonae Caprotina and Ichabod Crane are close, but those are LE's, so maybe harder to find.

I have a friend who is in love with "Oud Wood' by Tom Ford (I think its a limited edition). But its kinda too expensive for her, and she mentioned wanting to find one of "my" perfumes (aka BPAL! ) that smells similar. The description is here: "An exotic rose wood and cardamom, blended with exuberant Chinese pepper, envelope the wearer in warmth. Eventually, the center exposes a smokey blend of rare oud wood, sandalwood and vetiver. Finally, the creamy scents of tonka bean, vanilla and amber are revealed." Has anyone out there had a chance to try this, and has it reminded you of any BPAL?

Of the weenie decants I've tried so far, this one is my clear fave. It goes on deliciously warm spiced apples, with a hint of something earthy and almost woody, which might be the ale? I can't really smell the milk, but what I do smell is a quintessential lovely autumnal spiced apple. It reminds me of L'Autunno and Fearful Pleasure, two scents that I greatly enjoy. I'd like to do a sniff off of the three sometime soon. Will report back if any thing jumps out at me.

When this goes on, its fumey and almost fizzy with very strong cherry. I suppose the fumey/fizzy is the booze, but this doesn't smell particularly boozy to me. When it settles down, its like red cherry lollipops. I tried this to be "thorough," pretty much knowing this one wouldn't grab me. I'm just not usually into straight up cherry. I'll pass it along for more love elsewhere!

I'm not sure what my verdict is on this one. Fresh on, this is like spun cotton candy and marshmallows. About 2 hours in, its a vanilla sugar with a very discernable "cream" that reminds me more of the lab's milk notes than their cream notes (I like the milk notes, so that's fine). The problem is that the sugar goes just a little bit towards a synthetic/burning...but only a little bit. The late drydown of this is very akin to antique lace--that lightly sweetened vanilla linen. I wouldn't mind keeping my imp, but I'm not sure this is a bottle for me. I like it, but that tinge of weirdness the sugar does for a while means its not "perfect" on my skin chem...

Imp: Lots of woody musk resin notes. Dark and hippy-ish. Wet: Dirty wood/patchouli notes, with a minty/herbal hint at the end, and maybe something creamy/foody. Maybe eucalyptus, too? Drying: Cough drops and patchouli and furniture? Very woody, patchouli-ish. With a lot of eucalyptus smell, which maybe the orange and vetiver combining to trick my nose? I dunno…Dries into a sawdusty very woody patchouli with a eucalyptus vibe and an almost creamy finish. Overall: Kinda of masculine for me, and not type of scent DH digs. Passing it on!

Imp: incredibly fresh, slightly woodsy, slightly citrusy. Wet: Grapefruit? Clean bamboo sort of scent, a bit of a pale musk. Very clean and fresh. Not what I expect from anything with "berry" in the name... Drying: gets stronger and a little darker, but its still very much a clean, slightly citrusy bamboo musk to my nose. Dry: Continues to get darker and darker so that the black fruits take the lead…maybe plum and blackberry together? This is complimented by an undercurrent of bright citrus/musk. For that reason it reminds me a bit of antonino, though this is far less complex and not as creamy/sweet. It has some major staying power. I can stil smell a grapey/berry the next morning, 10 hrs later. Overall: wow, what a morpher! Complex and very nice. Not something I'd really wear much, but glad I got to try it!