malanna

Sugar Skull is maple syrup sans pancakes. I had expected more of a buttery, edible scent. Yes, this is sugary and all that, but it’s more…pointed, I guess is the word. The scent stays pretty consistent and this is very strong. And very long-lasting—the longest lasting BPAL scent I’ve encountered (more than a day!). This is a great scent that’s true to its name, but it’s not foody enough for me. I think Sugar Skull would be great for killing those sugar cravings, though.

This is a review for Jack II (Jack I to come later). Jack, oh, Jack…how I love thee. I hadn’t loved this quite so much at first, but now, this is in my top three. Or five. Jack is a buttery pumpkin. There’s probably a bit of vanilla, to make it so rounded, and it’s also a bit tart, which makes me think there might be apples here (okay, okay, I just checked the description and it’s peaches—bah, fruits are all the same). This isn’t too strong, nor is it too light and it lasts for at least six hours (I can’t keep track, because I keep on re-applying). WUB

Like Baobhan Sith, which I had just tried yesterday, this smells like Embalming Fluid. it makes sense that this smells like Baobhan Sith, because of the ginger and white tea. There isn't much to add to this review, except that it lasts slightly longer than Baobhan Sith, but is still gone after three hours.

Initially, this is green and minty. There's a slight warmness that indicates there's a bit of lavender. Over time, Gemini isn't so minty and becomes a herbal floral. The herbal part sort of makes me think there's some eucalyptus in there. I don't really get lemon, but there's a funkiness to the floral that makes it not a "fresh" floral.... This is the most wearable of the Celestials I've tried so far. This also wafts and lasts for at least five hours.

Whoa, Embalming Fluid? I haven’t worn this in a while, and was expecting something more along the lines of Queen Mab (i.e. orchid). After an hour or two, the grapefruit (my nose thought it was lemon, but then, I just got a general citrus scent) of the grapefruit and white tea fades, and this is a soft, sweet, green scent. It’s hard to describe this, because it’s not very distinct. It’s more like the swirling tea, with a bit of sugar and a light breeze over the rolling hills. After three hours, the faintest shadow of the first stage is there, but it’s very, very, very light. In the first hour, I was going to say that this was stronger and longer lasting than Embalming Fluid, but I guess not.

This is powdery and a bit cloying. Perhaps there’s some sort of fruit (coconut?) in the background. Then, the powder turns from cloying powder into baby powder. It then goes back into the cloying powder stage…sort of like a stale, musky powder. I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing—just not my sort of thing.

This is coconut and lime at first. Half an hour later, I get green tea. A few minutes after that impression, there’s a bit of pine and pineapple mixed in with the green tea. An hour after, this is pine, but fruity. I can’t quite smell the bark—just the green in the pine and the fruitiness (pineapple) keeps it from being an earthy/woody scent. This isn’t quite tropical, but this is still a sunny Christmas, celebrated while wearing Bermuda shorts. After the pine/pineapple impression, there’s more tea and more green. This is a bit more concentrated than most scents and does a bit of wafting, but it doesn’t last too long. In the fifth hour, this is a bit of nothing-scented powder. I just saw feline.by.design's review, and the fruitiness is more peach than pineapple....

Upon application, this made me think of those bark extract supplements, except this isn’t quite earthy and it’s sort of sweet. Then, this is slightly bitter, in that ginger sort of way. It’s crisp and clean, but fruity of the non-sweet and juicy variety. I know I’m getting Masabakes confused with Lampades, but this makes me think of cranberries on a branch. Over time, this gets a bit sharper and crisper.

At first, this is a watery scent that is very reminiscent of lotus. It stays that way for quite some time. Three hours later, there’s less lotus, but it’s a slightly more powdery, yet still watery, floral. This is more of a skin scent. In the fifth hour, this still has the same attributes as it had in the third hour, except it’s receded further into my skin and is a tad bit musky. This is an okay scent, but not for me.

After application: Light violets. Over time, the violets deepen, meaning that the violet scent isn’t more concentrated, but more complex. It’s almost as if they’re in a field—not that there’s any greenness coming out—because it’s less like I’m smelling a bouquet of violets than that the violets are buried within something else. This remains a violet scent to the very end. Quite pleasant.

Sweet pea with stargazer lily, calla lily, heliotrope, honeysuckle, white musk and a touch of fresh pear. Juliet reminds me of Desdemona, smell-wise, probably because of the sweet pea. However, Juliet is younger and livelier and less clear, scent-wise. There are soft florals, but this doesn’t quite make me think “Floral!” Instead, this makes me think more of the general impression of the scent. This is slightly powdery, but not too much so. There might be some water lily here, or some sort of water-based flower scent (not lotus, though, definitely not lotus). This is a blue/green sort of scent. At one point, this made me think of sunscreen lotion, but I had just applied some lotion, so it might be because of that. I’m in my fifth hour, and while the scent has faded a tad bit, it still remains true.

I’m not too sure what I was expecting, but this is just amazing. I’ve only encountered real vanilla beans once, and I don’t know if this is what they smelled like, but this must be the scent of a vanilla bean. I normally associate vanilla scents with food, but this isn’t quite a foody scent. After a few hours, this gets a bit dry and smells like the vanilla component of Snake Oil.

Immediately after application, this is a slightly plastic orange, with black flecks. It’s not quite an orange, in that it’s a bit dark. Perhaps this is blood orange or neroli. (Okay, actually, after re-reading the description, this is apricot, but it doesn’t seem like an apricot to me.) Drying, the “plastic” note deepens so it’s not quite plastic, but a dark undercurrent. I suppose this would be the patchouli, but it’s slightly warm—sort of like lavender. Depraved stays in this state for a few more hours. Around the third hour, this is just spicy and slightly peppery, even though I’m not sure there’s pepper in this scent. This is a bit earthy. Not dirt-earthy, but grounded earthy. I suppose this is the patchouli, but it isn’t very head shop-ish.

Aizen-Myoo is a very up-beat, orange-colored (not scented—well, maybe?) scent. It’s a bit tart in the way that an orange is just as you’re slicing it open. This isn’t quite fruity, even though it makes me think tart, because there’s something rounding it out; I’m guessing it’s the black tea. When I re-sniff in the fourth hour , the tartness has faded. However, in the fifth hour, it makes a re-appearance and the scent gets stronger, even managing to overtake the waftiness of Zephyr on my other side. This is a nice scent, but not for me.

Seduction, sensuality, the Act, and the aftermath all in one. The scent of warm, damp skin flushed with the glow of passion, touched by the luxuriant potency of ylang ylang and myrrh. A musky, slightly stale scent—not that it means that scent is unpleasant. This smells like the skin of a woman wearing some classic perfume after she had some languorous sex. Actually, it isn’t that musky, so I guess it would be more like the woman’s perfume lingering on the sheets after a sensual romp. After an hour, this makes me think of cotton, perhaps because this smells like powder your grandmother might have used, not that that is unpleasant. This gets sharper after a few hours. In its fifth hour, this reverts to old lady powder that’s slightly stale.

Coconut and leather. The coconut is fresh, sparking and juicy (in the sense that it’s not dry). The leather is there, but the coconut is the one in charge here, modifying the leather rather than the other way around. This is like fresh coconut juice with a splash of leather. I know that there is leather, but it doesn’t seem like most leathers I’ve smelled and it isn’t a tangible leather smell (i.e. leather jacket, leather catsuit, etc.), because of the coconut. Over time, the coconut isn’t so sparkly, but it still is quite bright. This permeates the air around me, but it isn’t headache-inducing.

After application, this is sweet violets. In the second hour, this has become a bit of a foody scent with a violet edge, sort of like baklava—the filo pastry with the brown sugar and a hint of nuts. Hmm, yum. In the fourth hour, this is even sweeter, but still very nice.

Zephyr is a white powdery (not in actual powder, but a light sprinkling of it), classic sort of scent, one of those floaty white dress sort of scents. Then, this gets really powdery and strong. Very strong. It’s completely dominated Aizen-Myoo, which is on my other arm and is also a wafter. In about two hours, this becomes super powdery, like a combination between the fabric softener sheets and baby powder. In its sixth hour, this is still going strong. The scent is nice, but the baby powder-ness and strength of this scent really makes this not my cup of tea.

After application, La Bella Donna Mia Mente is all soft, white/pink florals that are very clean (not soapy—there’s a difference). The rose and pomegranate become apparent, yet not overbearing, after an hour. I actually like this. It’s a bit like the scent encapsulated in fancy soap bars that aren’t too strongly doused in rose. In the fifth hour, this is sort of like Old Amsterdam—bright and slightly green with clear waters.

The Hesperides are the Nymphs of the Evening who dwell in a verdant garden located in the Arcadian Mountains, guarded by the terrible three-headed dragon, Ladon. Within their garden lives the tree that bears Hera’s sacred Golden Apples. Their perfume is that of sturdy oak bark, dew-kissed leaves, twilight mist and crisp apple. This is one of my favorite scents. The Hesperides is the scent of honeyed apples. I wouldn’t say that they’re caramelized apples, because that implies a, well, more caramel scent—butter, brown sugar and cream. The apples in The Hesperides are covered by a purely sweet scent, thus, a honey that’s a bit more sugar-based and not too honey-tasting, if that makes sense. The apples are fresh and have just been cut open, but they’ve already been covered with honey, so the honey’s more prominent. I wouldn’t say that the honey dominates the apples, but that the honey is more apparent at first sniff. The Hesperides is very consistent and smells the same during wear. After four hours, it fades, and gets a bit “drier.”

At first, this made me think, “Old woman powder.” However, while drying, this morphs into a nice, sweet rose powder. Roses and I don’t get along, but I’m actually okay with the roses in Goona Goona. This is a strong scent with some serious wafting power. After an hour, the powder is strong, but the roses not so. This become musty powder in second hour. It sort of goes back to the pleasant rose powder stage, but for the most part, it’s still musty. It’s really unpleasant in the fifth hour, becoming really stale and musty. It makes me think of a chalk eraser, but this is more the musty, somewhat yellow, dry powder you encounter when you open a trunk of your grandmother’s in the attic. A few minutes after I typed this out, this has reverted to becoming pleasant rose powder (emphasis on powder). One Goona for the unpleasant smell, one Goona for the rose powder.

Old Amsterdam is a remarkably consistent scent. When I first applied this, this was the scent of a bubbling stream with beautifully green grass everywhere you can see, spotted with tulips. It doesn’t actually smell grassy, but this is so fresh, you can see it there, along with the scent of clear water (not the same as the wateriness of lotus) and brightly colored flowers. I didn’t know what tulips smelled like before, but it’s glorious. This is definitely a springtime scent. This sort of makes me think of a scented lotion—scented fresh and clean, and much nicer. Over time, this stays the same, except it becomes richer, with even more tulips. This is a strong scent. In the eight hour, it’s still sort of there, just drier (as all scent get over time). This is a bright, happy scent, and I’d thoroughly enjoy wearing this when the mood strikes.

In the bottle: Cherries! Yum. Immediately after application: cherries with a sharp note. Drying: Whoa. This is a really sharp note, sort of like nail polish. I sort of don’t like it, but I sort of do (and I have a non-existent relationship with nail polish!). In less than half an hour, this is a mysterious cherry—it’s not straight out cherry, put I can’t put my finger on what’s behind the cherry. After an hour, I can smell the anise, which I guess was what was making Kyoto mysterious.. Licorice and I do not get along well. Fortunately, in the second hour, the star anise really recedes, or, at least, blends in really well into the background, so Kyoto is more like light, sweet cherry candy. It’s not strongly sweet, though, more like the smell of sweet cherry candy blown in the wind. This really fades in the fifth hour.

I have to preface this by saying that I don't do leather. Not that leather is a scent that I dislike--it's just one of those notes that I don't actively like. When I first apply this, this is the smell of the inside of a well-worn leather jacket (sniffing the part that's still leather). It's warm and there's a bit of musk, but not unpleasant musk--more subtle, like body heat. There's something slightly spicy (I say slightly, because it's spicy in the sense that the scent is warm) in the background. It makes me think of nutmeg, but it's probably the myrrh (I have no idea what myrrh smells like, though). In fact, it's sort of like Tintagel with leather. After an hour, this isn't so warm and comforting. Loviatar has become “sharper.” However, this phase passes in less than half an hour, and it's back to the original warm, leather scent. It stays in that phase, except that the leather fades, as does the rest of the scent, but it seems more like the leather is fading, because the leather is the core of the scent. ETA: I actually like this scent, and I'll probably keep the imp around for several more wears (it takes a lot for me to keep an imp).

Reading some of the reviews on Queen, I have to say chocolate?! Why don't I get chocolate? Upon application, this made me think of orchid with vetiver. Not quite orchid, but some floral that's a bit like orchid. The vetiver (it might not be vetiver, but vetiver is what I associate with green, pine-including-bark smells) is stronger than the orchid (calling floral "orchid"). Normally, these green-might-be-vetiver scents end up hitting me with a branch repeatedly, but fortunately, Queen doesn't do that. It's pleasant in that it's not strong, and it stays in the pine tree with bark phase for at least four hours (I'm in my fourth hour with Queen). I'm not big on pine trees or vetiver, so this is a no go for me. This scent is a bit powdery, but only if I really think about it. ETA: This really isn't what I expected at all, given that the name of the scent is Queen and that it's a masculine scent.