moon_lemming

Hahaha, that is pretty funny, now that I read that, I went back and tested my Black Lace from a few weeks ago, and I smell apples in it. Red apples. I've never smelled the original, though, so I wouldn't know if it's different. I did think it smelled different than all the descriptions I'd read of the old one when I first tested it, but chalked it up to fresh-bottle-ness. Mysterious! Apple-obsessed poltergeists? eta: If it IS apple, it burns off pretty quickly because it's gone now (an hour later) -- it might just be a fluke in the case of Black Lace? I have seen a good handful of people mention a major difference in the two "batches" of Black Death, though.

I wasn't sure which Arkham this was (this one or the dc blend) until I put it on. POW, FLORAL DEATH. Definitely the one from Picnic in Arkham, with all the woodsy flowers. FLOWERY DETERGENT FLOWERY DETERGENT until it's completely dry, then it is sort of like laundered-a-few-days-ago clothes (you know, with the dryer sheet's scent just barely hanging on), or like just-washed skin. Surprisingly pleasant. Not something I'd ever willingly acquire, but not as thoroughly horrible as I expected, either.

I thought of starfruit when I sniffed my imp of Les Bijoux. That must be the apple. On my skin, the apple and honey are strong and there's an almost-minty scent, too. What is that? Maybe it's a combination of notes, I'm not sure. I want to like this -- apples! honey! -- but there's something in the mix that just isn't working for me. It might have something to do with the orange blossom. I'm not sure because I can't quite make out what it is, but orange blossom is usually not my cup of tea, so it's possible. Usually it would be the musk ruining the blend, but in Les Bijoux the musk stays hidden underneath everything else, so it's off the hook this time.

I am not too sure about this one. Horreur Sympathique (which takes me an hour to type, heh) starts off with a sweet fruity bang. The musk is strong in the imp but the grapes take over on my skin. It's actually so sweet I thought it might have strawberry in it before I checked the notes. Normally I'm not a fan of musks, but red musk is the exception. Is "blood musk" red musk or a different animal? Whatever it is, it's working in this one. As it dries, the honey note strengthens. Yum. This is an unexpectedly good blend. It's honey and wine with the musk -- which softens as the blend dries -- quietly tying it down. My only issue is the wine: the Lab's wine scents are always waaaay too grapey on me, and Horreur Sympathique is proving that rule. That might be why I thought of strawberries, because the wine is reminding me of the champagne note in Bon Vivant. If the wine was just a hair less sweet, I'd be snapping up a bottle of this.

Lemon! And something that smells kind of like BPAL's interpretation of "stone." As it dries, Windward Passage becomes more aquatic (which means SOAPY on my skin) and sharp. Once it's been sitting for a while, though, the soap quiets down and it settles into a salty aquatic that is actually pretty, even with my anti-aquatic chemistry. It is very beachy, and it's nice but not really something I'd wear except for twice a year.

Aquatic. A pleasant enough aquatic, but it's an aquatic so I can't make anything else out because it's soapy.

Grasssssss. Bright green, springy grass, not the wild-looking stuff in my yard. Dries to a more vegetable-ish green scent. When I blind-tested this, I was shocked to find out that it wasn't Golf Hazard.

Cucumber and aquatics in the imp, Irish Spring on my skin. Definitely an aquatic. Smells more watery as it dries. It smells kind of like a cleaning product but not too chemical-filled.

Cinnamon buns? At least in the imp. On me there is some strong cologne-type note that amps like crazy. Maybe something minty underneath it all. Cold? Metallic. I don't know where the cinnamon bun thing came from, there's nothing like that at in this blend at all once it's on my skin.

Berries? And menthol. Oh, that's supposed to be something coniferous (an amper on me), I bet. Berries and Christmas, but a little more ~~dangerous~~ than that sounds.

Ozone in the imp, grass on my skin. Grass and dirt, I think. The green grass is very, very strong on me.

Oh look, it's beets. Which probably means soil. Vegetation. Ooh, as it dries, I can smell the concrete. This is an interesting one. Not wearable for me, but the most evocative of the WKAP scents in my book.

OH MY GOD THAT'S INK. And . . . rubber? It smells like burning. With a squish of some floral mess.

Conservatory Tableaux is, indeed, woody. It smells like oak to me, but I'm not a wood connoisseur so it could be beech, I guess. There was a chemical tone to it at first, which I guess is the lacquer. I don't really get any "books," just a vague sort of quiet floral, almost vanilla-y but not quite. Soft oak and vague florals.

The blackberry is juicy and sugared (but I'm on the lookout, because it usually turns to lip gloss on me), and I smell the baked goods when it's freshly applied. The Lip Smacker Effect takes over as it dries, though, and the scones vanish.

In the imp, this is chocolate cake. On my skin, it's chocolate and an almost astringent undertone that reminds me of hairspray but not really. As it dries it smells a little more like dirt. Chocolate cake and dirt, like a messy Cake Smash. I like it. The Lab's straight-up chocolate doesn't usually work on me, but this is the second time "chocolate CAKE" has.

Polleny honey. Heavy, lasts forever. YESSSSS. I love honey. Mead Moon is just what I was hoping it would be.

In the bottle: strawberry juice. Wet on skin: strawberry Bubble Yum. Drying on skin: almost-fake strawberries and greenery. Completely dry on skin: strawberry daiquiri, maybe with a hairspray edge? I'm keeping Strawberry Moon in the hopes that the "strawberry juice" feel will last longer on my skin as it ages, although that's unlikely, or that more of the other notes will stay strong as they age, which is more likely. It's not bad as it is, I just really, really loved the beginning and the end was just okay; I want to see what happens down the road.

Reminds me of Villainess's Pearl Diver scent at first, but dries to soapiness (not in a bad way, though -- I'm usually strongly anti-soapiness but this is pleasant -- just not as good as the Pearl Diver beginning led me to hope). No. Sturgeon Moon is not too bad for an aquatic. There are only a handful of BPAL aquatic blends that don't make me want to scrub my arm, and this is one of them.

Tomato leaf in bottle, green/fresh/soil first on, dries to overly perfumey dirt. I was thinking Planting Moon would be similar to Arcana's Vampire's Garden, but no luck -- it just doesn't work on me. I wish I had gotten what most other reviewers did, though; it sounds lovely.

I LOVE ANISE. I was hoping to get the same feel almost everyone else did, but no luck. Pink Mood WAS heavy on the anise/black licorice in the beginning. I could pick out anise and a sweet pink floral, but it was mostly anise. Sadly (for me) but maybe hopefully? (for the anise haters) as it dries, it becomes a perfectly balanced blend of anise and a cherry floral. Once it's hit total drydown, though, the anise totally disappears on my skin, leaving a cherry-vanilla floral in its wake. The drydown, the cherry-vanilla floral, reminds me of a Bath & BodyWorks scent, maybe a slightly less perfume-y Japanese Cherry Blossom? Sweet and pink and ANISE-FREE.

In the imp, Serpents... reminds me of strawberry limeades at Sonic. Oh, I guess that's not strawberry, it must be the currants. It's pretty much the same wet on my skin, and I really like it -- I love citrus scents, luckily. UNluckily, almost as soon as this oil dries on my skin, it vanishes. And I do mean it vanishes, there's not even a trace of it left behind. Boo.

Yep, I get "aquatic floral" from this like almost every other reviewer, heh. On me, it's nothing but floral, though, and I do not like it, thankfully (because that means I don't need to hunt down a bottle!). It's a white floral. I actually thought it was jasmine for a little while, but it's not sharp enough for that, and I think it's most likely that the flowers I'm smelling are lilies, based on other reviews. Those tie with gardenia for the dubious honor of being the second worst florals on my skin. It could be a floral I just don't recognize -- I don't really trust my flowery-note-picking skills too much -- but whatever it is, it eats any other notes that might be in the blend.

This is my fave of the Summer's End series. It starts off as a sort of autumn-themed TKO, and as it dries carnation starts spicing it up. Eventually a rose note comes along, making it a little more perfumey. It would be a bottle-worthy winner if it weren't for either the musks or the grey amber -- one of those suckers is making Under the Harvest Moon have a horrible new-carpet undertone that I just cannot stand. Boo.

Summer's Last Will goes from plain old citrus to a delicious rich orange-y scent at first, but amber has to come along and ruin it. Gawd, I hate amber.