angelamaria

In imp: sweet, tangy floral with vague apples in the background. Light. Wet on skin: soapy? Something completely different from the imp comes up--almost dusty, but still crisply fruity along with the florals--a very little bit of lily, but probably more hibiscus now. I don't get sandalwood yet, or much of the other notes. It smells like a light pink color--pleasing, elegant, and gentle. Dry: huh, definitely a morpher for me. It's now an almost fizzy floral--not just crisp but almost fizzy bright apple. The florals are going soapy, and the apple is holding it all up from going completely soapy--this apple note is pretty. Verdict: I did use to have this on my bottle list, but after death matching and a bit of agony, I decided to forego this. I liked this for the lily and apple notes, but I have others, and this has gone quite soapy on me.

I purchased a 1/4 of this recently, and fell quite in love. The perfume itself ultimately didn't work on my skin chemistry; but this is absolute love. I received the quarter bar in a ziplock bag, and throughout the night prior to testing it in the shower, I kept bringing this ziplock bag up to my nose to sniff. It is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Scent-wise it is like the perfume, only a bit more creamier-smelling than the perfume. In the shower, it's again creamy in texture, not entirely expected, but lathers well and feels so soft and luxurious. It doesn't seem to be overly creamy or too sensitive to water, so it should keep well in a soap dish (I will update this review if I find it otherwise in the future). The scent is light and stays close to the skin, but so refreshing and bright and just plain beautiful, even if it doesn't stay for very very long. Crisp green apples with that bit of mint that is so beautiful in the Snow Glass Apples perfume. (I'm not sure if this affects the soap itself, but my "sample" is only of the white portion of the bar and did not include the red portion at all. This review is based on that.)

In imp: oooh, something floral but masculine to my nose. This is a deep floral, dark and heady, with a bit of spice. Spicy floral, I guess? Wet on skin: I can't really pinpoint the spice note here. It's herbal, slightly medicinal, almost "clinical". I'd guess it's either copal or labdanum. Heady, the floral quality here is a bit boozy, right there in the background, and as it dries on my skin I'm getting an almost definitive rootbeer-y note. Dry: O_O;; yes, this is definitely a rootbeer sort of sweetness. Dusty, almost making me sneeze, and with an incensey quality, almost resinous. I'm not entirely sure which component is the culprit here. Verdict: well, definitely a morpher for me, the dry smell is a surprise. I do like a nice rootbeer note, but something here is rather wrong on my skin.

In decant: carnations! fresh, green and floral. It makes me think of a field of sweet flowers. Wet on skin: similar to the decant scent: clean, fresh, floral and green. Very uplifting. Not cloying in any way. Dry: the florals are coming on stronger now, the green-ness receding a bit. It's almost boozy. The rose seems to be behaving. Sweet, slightly tart at the start, and then moving towards a faint soapiness the longer it's on my skin. There's also a faint aquatic tinge as it "ages"--maybe the moss. The greenness continues to recede for me until it's mostly soapy floral. Verdict: very pretty, but I would have really loved to have the greenness stay--if it did, this would probably have ended up a bottle blend. The final smell on my skin is mostly soapy floral and rather flat without the other accompanying notes, so this will have to be a pass for me.

In imp: definitely foody! Somewhat cinnamonny, but mostly a citrusy sort of cake--lemon probably, but not a lemon pastry sort of note. Yummy! Wet on skin: mmmm citrusy cake with cinnamon and other spices. Very light and foody, like a chiffon cake of sorts. I'm getting hungry! As it dries, it kind of reminds me of halfling a bit, a more spicy halfling and with the oatmeal not as dominant, more like a dusting of it. Dry: sigh, there is that dreaded plastic note. So you know there should be cream here somewhere like with most cake-y blends. But overall, this is a sweetly spicy light chiffon cake, and both citrusy and cinnamony to me. The creaminess and the cinnamon-like note get more prominent as it lasts longer on my skin. Verdict: very pretty and foody--foody lovers will probably want to give this a shot, and for those who have issues with cream and plastic (like me), probably not so much. I have to admit I'm relieved, as it should be crazy difficult to get more...

In decant: sweet candied rose. I don't think there's much else I can say about it; it's candied rose but not highly/airily sweet. Wet on skin: yep. Rooooose. A red rose, deep and VERY floral, with an almost-creamy sweetness. Very pretty, and at this stage the powder is kept somewhat in check, which makes me wonder if this is not actually a white rose rather than a red one (since white roses can work on my skin to varying degrees), but this is definitely a deep rosy rose (cough). As such, I'm not sure i like it so much. Did I mention it's a very rosy rose? Dry: sadly, all dried up, it's turned into a mix of dusty and powdery sour rose with a touch of sweet cream...but with SOME rose still fighting in, and lending it a really odd powder/rose/sour/sweet mishmash of notes. Confusing, and rose being rose, quite too heady a floral for me. Verdict: well, I certainly wasn't holding much hope for this one, because of all that rose.

In decant: sweet violet, like candy, but not an airy sort of candy; the sweetness is full-bodied. Wet on skin: sweet violet. Honestly? I wasn't expecting a lot from this, I actually started to test the twins as I expected to just set them aside. But--I actually like this. Sweet and beautiful, simple but not plain, and slightly vanilla-ey, creamy. Amazing. I've never really had an opinion on violets before, but I might have to revisit this note. Dry: someone early on made an allusion to this one being a "violet Antique Lace", and I can truly get that. It doesn't quite trump Antique Lace, but it's fairly near--there is that vanilla-ey feel to it that is similar in feel, with violets instead of linen. Lightly sugared vanilla violets! Soft and creamy, not foody, maybe an understated candy, although this isn't a candy I would eat. The decant I have is relatively fresh; I wonder how this does with some aging? Verdict: this is quite an unexpected bottle keeper. Love it!

In imp: a masculine, cologney scent: citron and white musk. Wet on skin: citron, powdery lilac, and lime--it's a mix of all of them, the lilac sometimes coming to the fore, and then the lime now, before switching again, but the citron is usually up top. It's lending an almost minty coolness to the blend. Not as masculine now, but firmly gender neutral. This rather reminds me of the mosquito repellant candles we have though It's definitely a very nice scent, but I'm not sure who would want to smell like that...well, unless you actually do want to repel mosquitoes in which case you could say you smell divine while repelling mosquitoes! Dry: this doesn't really morph so much, but there is a very musty powder that has crept in for me. The musty powderiness is the same sort of musty powderiness that I got from Enraged Bunny Musk--not really menacing, but definitely not "clean"; I suppose they share this particular kind of white musk? Verdict: an interesting mostly-masculine blend, but probably not one I'd be looking for in a guy.

In bottle: ohhhh. This is love! Hello, lemon pastries! Definitely foodier than the released Dorian. Wet on skin: similar to the bottle scent. This kind of reminds me of a cross between Dorian and Lemon-scented Sticky Bat: its not overwhelmingly sweet and foody like LSSB was on me, but foodier and yummier than Dorian. This is really more of the pastries alongside that tea, than the tea itself with pastries alongside it. I love this! But...oh no. Is that a plasticky note I am detecting? :s Dry: sigh. Dorian with a plastic note. I blame my skin chemistry wholly for this. I assume that the foodier-ness of this version is because of added cream, which invariably turns into plastic on my skin. Verdict: curse you, cream.

In bottle: powdery floral. This doesn't really bode well for me, but let's try anyway! Light, feminine, and pink with white powder. Quite apt: it suddenly made me think of those powdered wigs that used to be worn (though I'm sure this smells nicer!) and while this wasn't what I expected, it's rather pleasing. Wet on skin: mostly the same as the bottle scent, but I'm getting the herbal-ness of this more than in the bottle--the dustiness/powder I was getting earlier is actually the herbs, I can see that now. We'll see if English rose is a rose I can wear! If i dont think about it, this is still rather powdery (as opposed to herbal); and if I sniff deep enough, I actually feel like sneezing. I can pinpoint the rose and lilac, and a hint of lavender too, but the latter is not immediately apparent. Dry: dry, this is a dusty, dusty, dusty floral on my skin. This is probably contributed to by the aforementioned herbs, the rose, and the amber--as the latter two do that to my skin almost without fail. Even so, quickly whiffing my skin test, this is a slightly powdery beautiful floral, very Victorian. The floral notes are not heady at all, they're rather elegant and kept well in check by the other notes. Verdict: I'm sad, so far I haven't found a Bat's Day scent that works for me! This was quite promising, and actually passable, but with that horrid powder and the multitude of my other light floral blends, this doesn't make the cut, sadly.

In decant: finally, a feminine blend from this round! And--yay vanilla! This is decidedly floral--I'm getting the lilac topmost, I think. This is bright, white, and sparkling, along with being creamy. Amazing! Wet on skin: creamy florals! And my skin must usually amp lily, because that's what I'm getting now, quite decidedly lily. I don't mind! The lilacs come back soon after. These are bright, feminine, and pretty florals. Elegant, but also young and girlish; and while drying, the vanilla is giving it an almost foody twist, although this is not a vanilla blend and it never tips over to the foody category. Dry: creamy lilac is definitely the first thing I notice here. It's not as girly, but still definitely young and fresh and bright--more of a young woman now, actually. This is beautiful and elegant without being overbearing. Verdict: I did a retest of this as it was very promising, but after that, I decided that this floral just isn't for me. It's slightly too cloying, too "much" for me, and given that it's also more expensive--well, I have other beautiful florals in my collection.

In decant: definitely patchouli, with a slightly fruity tone. Dirt--although I usually just get "dirt" from patchouli anyway. Dark and herbal--maybe the anise? Also powdery to my nose. Wet on skin: well, patchouli and herbs. I'm getting a faint dusty sweetness as a highlight--the only component that I think might be close is the licorice. If I think hard about it, I I'm getting some tonka, as well, but I wouldn't call this creamy or vanillic or anything like that. Gender neutral. Dry: well, this patchouli and I definitely do not go well together. Dry, this is a faintly foody blend, the non-sweet, this-is-part-of-my-lunch kind :s and the anise is probably not helping the "meat" note I am getting from this kind of patchouli. Herbal, masculine, with faint iris and violet, although as it stays longer on my skin, these faint floral notes just get swallowed up by the meaty patchouli. Verdict: no, definitely not for me, or my skin chemistry. And I was so looking forward to the apple blossom.

In decant: floral leather, balsam, green and floral. Tart, and faintly spicy-sweet. The leather and balsam give it a masculine edge, but the florals make it feminine, so it's neither one or the other. Not entirely "neutral" though. I'm confused, I know. Wet on skin: leather, musk, balsam, florals and greens. Definitely more masculine, maybe about 60%. It's a clean scent, slightly spicy, and pleasingly herbal/green. Not entirely my thing, I can tell right now. Dry: hmm. I'm getting a note that makes me think "patchouli?" although there's nothing in its components that say that. I'm also getting a "bright" herbal scent, but no idea what it is: sweetgrass? sage? And...deep whiffs make my stomach turn. :s Dry, this blend is now decidedly masculine for me, mostly leather and balsam and that sweet/spicy/bright herb; and as it stays longer on my skin, the leather note strengthens with the rest supporting it and acting as a kind of highlight. Verdict: nope, decidedly masculine. I'm not too sure I'd like this on a man either, specially because I love smelling my men and if I can't do deep whiffs that's a definite no-no (...uh that sounded rather wrong...)

I did not get a rice note in Loosening of the Obi (but it is FABULOUS), but I did get it from the 2011 Hungry Ghost Moon I'm not sure about differences, if any, between the 2006 and 2007 versions of it though! Likely small differences only.

Black Opal is fabulous (I was frimped! Yay!). I have a bottle in my order plan! Antikythera Mechanism is also similarly fabulous--loving the black vanilla in it--but it's a bit too masculine for my own wearing. I'm tempted to get a bottle just to sniff though It smells delicious!

In bottle: oh! Green/white slightly-sharp florals. This is almost aquatic. I can't really pinpoint the florals--but I'm fairly sure there is jasmine here. Almost fruity, maybe citrusy. Wet on skin: lemony! Pretty white florals, creamier on my skin than sharp like in the bottle. Light throw as usual, but very dainty, like an elegant lady in a white summer dress. The florals are coming out more--this is an airy white floral, with a hint of green grass, with jasmine and maybe a bit of lily. I'm liking this a lot I dont know for sure if there is linden in it, but I am getting a The Unicorn feel from this. Love love love. I think I need backups! Dry: oh my. Suddenly, now that it's dry on my skin, I'm getting the cat pee jasmine some people have been talking about o_o oh noes! This is the first time I'm getting this from jasmine, I even have jasmine blends that I love (Zorya, Evening Star, Lydia) that have never turned cat pee on me. I am sad. This is so, so pretty. Without that note, this is still a white, almost aquatic floral, more throw than The Unicorn (sob!) with the same light feel. Verdict: I'm so sad. This was so pretty! I toyed with the idea of ignoring the cat pee (lol) but with so many other BPAL blends out there, I can't justify this. Sigh.

In bottle: softly cologney, slightly masculine to my nose. Clean, slightly powdery, and pale musk. Wet on skin: the powder amps up crazy for a second, slightly sweet, but also kind of musty, like clothes that have been on storage (without mothballs!) for a while. That's the cotton blossom, I assume! I'm not entirely sure if I'm liking how the cotton blossom is amping all over my skin. I wish the other floral/green notes were more apparent. As it dries, the cotton does die down a little, although it's still got that musty/dusty smell to it. I think the powder is getting in the way or any enjoyment Dry: definitely musky. Not as powdery as when it was wet, thankfully! However, I don't think I like the overpowering musk--I didn't think it would be this strong, but that's a little stupid of me huh? This is a definite masculine sexy skin scent, slightly sweaty from the day, but not off-putting; it definitely needs to meld into the skin and dry for me to enjoy, but that may just be my skin chemistry. Verdict: not for me, but I wouldn't mind smelling this on a guy

In decant: whoa. Dark and resinous. Berries and balsam, with a bit of clove, and lime like in iced tea--I mean, like the lemon/lime that you find in iced tea drinks, perched on the rim of your glass. Wet on skin: dusty incense and lime; very incensey for me. Wait, no, not dusty--something is turning powdery here. As it dries, this is quickly turning into lime powder. A powdery lime that is in the dirt. *nods* Dry: incensey, dark, spicy. Very purple-brown to me. I can definitely see this being popular, but this isn't my kind of scent and I can't wear much of this without getting nauseous--and something turns to powder on my skin, too. The powder does kind of die down the longer is stays on my skin, but I'm not sure what note it has taken away with it. Verdict: nope, not for me.

In decant: yellow and bright citrusy floral. Slightly chilly, for some reason. Wet on skin: I seem to be amping the lemon almost something fierce. Very, very lemony, but not bitter-sour or pledgey so far, slightly sweet but not going over to the foody/pastry side. Slightly green, too. It's like Lemon-scented Sticky Bat without being creamy. Slightly aquatic as it dries, and I'm kind of liking that note. Surprisingly somewhat promising at this stage. Dry: nice lemon/aquatic blend, pretty much the counterpart of Lemon-scented Sticky Bat without the vanilla, although this does have a smoothness to it that helps bring that tart lemon down. I'm not quite sure if I'll get a bottle just yet, but this is good! Later on, it's even more of an aquatic lemon, and now it reminds me of a less creamy Zephyr, or...well, something that I really liked when I was newly testing BPAL! Verdict: I deathmatched this against Zephyr and LSSB, and while LSSB is still a no-go for me, Goliath Birdwing is a bit too close to Zephyr for me. It's less floral, less creamy, but fresher and more aquatic. Overall this will have to be a pass. Edit for a verdict update!

In decant: uh...dark spices. Very resiny, but with verbena to add a bright (almost too bright) note to it. Wet on skin: surprisingly creamy; I wasn't expecting that. I suppose that's the beeswax? The strongest notes are verbena and vague woody resins. I can also get a faint whiff of that cocoa, I think. It's interesting, and at this stage I like it. The verbena is not nearly as strong here as it was in the decant, but it's still very present and is the most noticeable note. Drying, a dustiness is coming out, I'm not sure where it's coming from. Dry: well, oddly, for such a strong, almost discordant note in this blend--the verbena seems to have all but disappeared. It's left behind...I don't know. Beeswax, with a ghost of resins, not quite there. Dry, this is neither light nor dark to me, kind of hovering in between and being somewhat wishy-washy about it. I'm having a lot of difficulty catching any of the notes dry. It's also gone powdery on me, versus the somewhat-in-control dustiness of the wet stage. Verdict: nope, definitely not for me.

In decant: wow, definitely a cologney floral, which is a bit weird in my book. Spicy, and very "present". My brain cannot compute. Wet on skin: huh. Peppery caraway and ginger? There's just a dash of orange. This has a bit of the golden Brood XIX feel, only with a lot more punch; it's like the shimmery gold with slashes of orange or something. Sadly, I can already tell that I'll have a headache with prolonged use of this blend. It's very spicy, and very strong floral. Dry: again, a very spicy floral, with a good dash of ginger now. To me, this is a lighter Gingerbread Poppet, with more complexity and more floral notes than the straight-up foodiness of Gingerbread Poppet, but it has that same feel (well, duh, ginger). Verdict: better than Gingerbread Poppet for me (I love my florals), but still not something I would wear, due to the aforementioned strength of the florals/spice and because I'm not a big fan of overwhelming ginger.

In decant: bright and green clean floral. Almost fruity, a touch citrusy. Quite unexpected! I don't see any fruits in the components list...but that's what I'm getting. Wet on skin: mostly the same as the decant smell, but that fruitiness (versus floral) is even stronger. Light, crisp, and green. Maybe also yellow! This would be a refreshing summer scent, and probably worth a bottle for me, but not one I'd get a backup for. Maybe. This is a sort of asian fruity floral blend, and made me think of Weeping Branches Moon for some reason, though I think the only thing they have in common is the honeysuckle? Dry: beautiful light crisp yellow/green florals, clean, with light throw. It's STILL almost citrusy/fruity in feel, I swear this is confusing me a little. Dry, it made me think of Xanthe now, more than Weeping Branches Moon--a less-creamy Xanthe...and Xanthe is ALL crisp fruits. There must be something with this combination of florals! Verdict: I've done the deathmatching, not only with Xanthe and WBM (why did I ever think they would all be similar? lol) but also with Zephyr. Blue Morpho does stand on its own against those, and I will be getting a bottle Edited to change verdict!

In decant: oooh. Pomegrante! Red, crisp, tart berries! Yum. This is almost like juice; very, very fruity. And oh, hello mango, I almost didn't see you. Wet on skin: erm. Almost artificial-smelling to my nose :/ It's nice, but...hmm. Smack dab on the fence about this. I'm getting the mango, pomegranate, and berries. I'll say this, though--I expected a heavy, cloyingly fruity smell from this, the type to make my head hurt, but this is light and almost crisp. Nice for the summer, although I think I would prefer something less sweet. Dry: the red musk is coming up and giving it a bit of depth, but it's just too...fruity for me. It's almost raucous--maybe a bit of aging will smooth out this blend considerably? Harrumph. I wish I could say it was also a sexy fruity blend for me, but it's either it's too confusing for me to properly get into a "sexy" mindset with this blend, or it's just plain not sexy at all for me. Verdict: I'm beginning to wonder if I actually don't like fruity scents as much as I thought I did, because most scents that are almost all fruits, I'm not really interested in as much as vanilla/florals. Oh well!

In decant: somewhat cologney, resiny and sweet. Gender neutral, too. And...there is something here that I'm loving the smell of, but I'm not sure what it is. An almost-vanilla-like smell--I suppose that's the mallow? Wet on skin: yes, a definite creamy almost-vanilla-like smell. This is FABULOUS. It's decidedly not a woody scent, and not coffee either. I'm not getting a whole lot of coffee, for that matter. Wet on my skin it's a green/golden scent, golden not in the same foody way as Brood XIX but in a more...woody way, I guess? Very nice, and very very promising. Dry: ooomph. The creamy, softly-sweet vanilla-like note is BEAUTIFUL. It's softened out but hasn't faded or gone flat. Very, very pretty. To me, this is a deeper golden color than Brood XIX--almost, or maybe just exactly a luxuriant brown, slightly caramelly and rich brown. Against it, Brood XIX almost feels artificially creamy. And oh yes--what about the vetiver? I can't detect it in the blend, but then I almost always smell vetiver as smoky and dirty and gritty. This seems like the smooth vetiver I can stand, and in a small dose only to just give this blend a good, solid base. Very, very well done. Verdict: yet another Meta win for me. A definite bottle, with backups! Damn this is FABULOUS. This is the blend I wore to work the very next day. I smelled AMAZING.

In decant: whoa. Hay and almond! This is an interesting golden scent, with a hint of green. Definitely on the creamy side. Wet on skin: softly sweet; I'm getting the almond, rice milk, and hay. It's an almost foody blend, but not quite. Golden, definitely. As it dries i'm getting the same "vibe" I got from Halfling, in that it's a very comfortable lounging-around-the-house-in-sweatpants kind of smell, somewhat oatmeally but not overpowering at all (which is what got me with Halfling in the end--it got too oatmeally and sweet). Very promising, and very beautiful. Dry: sweet, almost honey like almond and hay, with a dash of oatmeal and very faint greens mixed in the goldenness of this scent. The comfortable-ness of this blend hasn't decreased at all, and it's warm-feeling to boot. Much later though, I'm getting a nuttiness and definite oatmeallyness--well, the same thing that eventually turned me off of Halfling :/ And I tested this before I tested Atlas and against that richer blend, this one feels almost bland, but while that is a definite luxuriant brown, this one is a definite shimmery gold. Verdict: I'll have to give this a pass; something in my skin chemistry must be amping/twisting oatmeally scents as they dry on me, which is a damn shame. I love the feel of this blend otherwise, and am sad this didn't work on me. (Putting it in a scent locket kind of defeats the purpose of a lounging-about-the-house blend, sadly.)