theredshoes

Oh how I wanted to love this. I ADORE pom scents. The BPAL pom note does tend to turn a little sharp on me, especially after a while, and I think that's why I got a citrus feeling from this scent all the way from first slather to drydown. I think the pom was softened up by the fig or tuberose -- I kept getting wafts of sweet and sharp citrus that were not that tangy -- more like those clear citrus candies. A kind of sour note came out with the drydown, maybe the tobacco leaf or smoke. This had fairly good throw and LOTS of staying power. The smoky note started to give me a headache so I washed it off with dishwashing soap -- twice! -- and this scent was still hanging on, and did for hours after washing. Sometimes I layer a sweeter scent over the BPAL pom notes, but that mix just didn't work in this bottle -- the sharp pom note and creamy tuberose? sweet fig? blended into a kind of weird artificial fruitiness.

My skin just amps honey and almond (and eats milk and vanilla) so that's mostly what I got out of this. 😕 Wet - BLAST of almond, then a lot of honey, no incense, some amber (BPAL's amber goes to powder on me mostly), maybe a bit of vanilla. Drydown - A lot less almond, thankfully, and a vague sweet smell -- not a big pouf of sweetness, and no incense. The amber turns powdery. Very low throw. Dry - It lasted maybe 45 minutes on my skin! I wanted to love this (okay, largely because of the name) but it wound up being kind of bland and faint as well as short-lived. I wonder if the incense would come out more as it ages. I agree that it's more perfumey, not as foodie as I was expecting, and is rather "soft girl" or "vanilla life" (even if I didn't get much vanilla). My husband said "this is one of those very light scents."

I've had mixed experiences with oud in BPAL blends -- all the way from "STEPPED IN FRESH POOP" to a subtle but deep spicy-smoky-woody-musky note. Typically it doesn't work on me, though. In the imp: A pretty whiff of pecans, syrup and something bitter-musky! Promising. Wet: No other note detectable than BANDAID. Strong, fresh, immensely overpowering BANDAID. I'm guessing my skin is amping the oud and that drowns everything else out. Husband was drafted to see if he could smell other notes and he immediately recoiled from my wrist. It's not the bad oud stank, but very unpleasant. Drydown: The BANDAID smell is going away, but unfortunately it's being replaced by rubber. The smell isn't really getting any better, just fainter, but it's still pungent. Not much throw but once you get close the rubber washer smell hits you in the nose. Dry: The bandaid/rubber washer scent is still hanging on even though I washed my hands repeatedly with dishwasher detergent while cooking! It's still terrible, though. Hours and hours later I was still getting whiffs of BANDAID and new car tires from my skin. The longevity and consistency was impressive! ....even if with a kind of awful result. I'm keeping this because it was a limited treat and it's part of a set, and maybe it'll change as it ages! I really don't think I got BANDAID from oud before. I also wonder what it might be like in a scent locket. It was very interesting to test!

Wow, I don't get lavender from this at all. Lavender is my favourite scent, and I was really hoping this would be heavy on it. Instead, there's a very sharp unpleasant note at first, and then something my husband said smelled "like pine needles, but not the good ones." I guess my skin's tendency to amp whatever woods/grass/leaves/any green stuff BPAL notes, plus whatever rockrose is, completely drowned it out! Oh well, at least I helped support a good cause and maybe the lavender will come out as this ages. Sometimes ugh scents morph into beautiful keepers.

I....wanted to love this? Especially after all the great descriptions here. I don't know what happened. I slathered it on and barely smelled anything. My husband said he smelled something, "really powdery" (while it was still wet). I kept barely smelling something, and then an hour later it was just gone. I tried slathering it on again, but nothing. It's weird because neither Snake Oil nor Snow White vanish on me, in fact Snow White turns into pure Play-Do. This smells like sharp musk in the bottle, but just really nothing on me. My skin tends to eat vanilla, so maybe that's what happened, although I thought the Snake Oil part would stand out more. Maybe after aging the invisible vanilla will ease up.

Source: Aelopile

Source: Apple Butter Rum

In the bottle: Whoo! Knocked out with a strong butterscotch buttery rum scent. I was a little nervous about this one because I amp cinnamon and maybe nutmeg, but I absolutely loved Spiced Rum Buttercream Coffee, so I was hoping for another neat spiced rum blend. Wet: On me the apple note starts coming out right away, and yeah, it's more of a pale green note than a deep red one. Not a lot of spice or rum. The vanilla cream makes this apple very light and sweet. Drydown: The spice notes start coming out and I get some of my spiced rum, although it does smell a little burnt, which I guess is the butter note. I thought this would be a lot more rich and heavy, it seems more like light apple-butter plus spiced rum. Dry: Not much throw, but okay staying power, and it keeps kind of shifting from sweet vanilla cream/apple close up to the more diffuse spiced rum note further out. A bit too sweet and light for me, I was expecting more of a cider note. Verdict: It is close to those caramel apple lollipops, but with sweet vanilla cream, not caramel. (Which is odd because the butterscotch note was SO strong in the bottle.) The buttery spiced rum note is good but it's too background for me. I guess the apple note drowned nearly everything else out -- I do like the apple blends (and have a lot of them!), I just wanted more of the spiced rum. For some reason this doesn't feel like a fall scent to me -- maybe more like a Yule? But I don't know why.

Source: The Marquis de Carabas

My Marquis! I love him, he's my favourite character in the book, I could read a whole other book or two or three just all about him. (I had the same feeling about Silas the vampire.) (I do not have a bad boy thing.) However, after a mere decade or so of BPAL testing (has it really been that long? goodness) I am now a little bit better informed about what does not smell good on me. So I got a for-curiosity's-sake imp from my decant circle. In the imp: Cologne. Uh-oh. Wet: Very spicy, very sharp cologne. I'm guessing this is the bay rum. Not getting any leather, opium, wool, dust, or sweet/cocoanut from the massoia bark. OUR HEROINE, hopefully: Does this smell like a beloved old leather jacket? SPOUSAL OVERUNIT: Sure.... (wait for it, wait for it -- ) SPOUSAL OVERUNIT: ....if you doused it in bad cologne. SIGH. As in BPAL, so in life, the Marquis and I are destined to remain forever apart, due to my weird skin chemistry. I guess my skin's amping the hell out of on note and eating at least a few others, but heck if I know what exactly. Drydown: This faded FAST on me, I have no idea why. I got something that might be leather? but is also so faint it's hard to tell. It also smells very fake and chemical-y. It was just faint, yet bad. Fortunately, it faded quickly....but for some of us, not quickly enough. SPOUSAL OVERUNIT, a couple of hours later: Could you wash that off? It's giving me a headache. -- With the dishwashing liquid. SIGH.

I figured the citrus and verbena would stomp on the amber, cedar, labdanum and oud. sigh. Wanted to try it anyway, because I like the Steampunk line. In the imp: Citrus and something like tea. Wet: Lemon bathroom cleaner. The cats left the room. Drydown: The citrus has died down a bit and something vaguely amber-wood-resin is in the background, but it's still all about the lemon bathroom cleaner. There's also a faintly sour note -- almost oily, definitely unpleasant. (Husband: "It's definitely changing. Less lemon, less bathroom cleaner.") Verdict: Total miss, sadly. About the only thing this was good for was when one cat chased another into the bedroom, I was able to get the aggressor to turn tail immediately by putting my hand down near the floor. It's good cat repellent, I guess.

Source: Zorya

I LOVE jasmine. //rubs hands //slathers In the imp: Heady musky gorgeous overblown floral. Come to mama, baby, this is gonna be good. Wet: Nooo there's some kind of acrid almost plasticky note coming up -- this isn't the jasmine, as it doesn't go to cat pee on me. THANK GOD, that's going away. Might be the iris or the night-blooming whatsit. It dies down and a hint of musk comes up and a lot of pretty pretty jasmine. Still slightly sharp, but it's an interestingly dark -- dusky -- floral. Drydown: Gets both fainter and sweeter. Decent throw, fairly long-lasting. As a friend of mine noted, the throw is sweeter than the on-skin smell (I've noticed this with a number of BPAL sharp florals). A little bit of that sharpness stays, which makes me sad, and it goes slightly soapy, too. Flowery and femme, but sophisticated. The musk definitely comes up more. Hours later: Much sweeter, and the musks and spice really come out. Very very pretty. Almost creamy. Verdict: I could've sworn I tested another imp of this years back and it was more flowery, less plastic. Maybe it ages well? I might try it in a scent locket to see if I can get that gorgeous in-the-imp blast to stick around. I'm guessing either the iris or the primrose is the culprit here. If you're looking for an old-fashioned big sweet WHOOM! FLORAL scent, this is a good one. ("Perfumey, in a good way" is very accurate.) It'd be great in summer, or on a late-night date in a cafe, a midnight rendezvous on a verandah....sorry, got carried away there. It reminds me a lot of walking on summer nights in Santa Fe, when we'd pass a big lilac bush and there'd be this sudden wall of heavy sweet scent you could almost see, and kept smelling after you walked through it. Substitute jasmine for lilac and this feels very similar. I wish the on-skin smell wasn't as sharp/green, but the move from floral into sweetened musk is interesting. Husbandly verdict: "You smell like flowery hotel soap in a plastic bottle." SIGH. (He likes O. No, he loves O. If every BPAL were like O, with very slight variations, he'd love it.)

Source: A Lady Tall and White

I'm normally cautious about snow and ozone notes, but this is one of my favourite fairytales, so I went for a decant. In the imp: An almost-clear oil, not that thick. First sniff is sweet but sharp, not unpleasant but pretty intense. It's really hard for me to describe or analyze. I got almost a faint citrusy note, but my husband didn't (his opinion: "Smells like Christmas....no, I don't know why"). Definitely a chilly smell. I get no mint. Wet: Sweetens up a tiny bit, but not much -- I'm still waiting for the vanilla and sandalwood. I don't get pine -- it's still a pretty sharp bright cold scent, with maybe some of the juniper. Not a heavy smell, but definitely sort of piercing. Usually "high white" scents give me a headache, but not this one -- maybe the vanilla's softening it up a little? This smells the way bright sunlight looks on snow. Drydown: My husband could definitely smell the sandalwood long before me ("Incense.....smoky? I like it, it's not sweet like your other perfumes," HAHAAHAH //cries). I finally got the sandalwood note, smoky-sweet, but it took a while, and was mixed with the juniper (?) in a really interesting way. I don't think this has a lot of throw, but it hung on for quite a while. Verdict: Definitely a wintry cold smell and it suits the subject perfectly. Not something I'd want a bottle of but I'm really glad I got the decant. Bright, icy, snowy, faintly sweet but a deep chill underneath. I think the sandalwood and vanilla darken this down and sweeten it up a lot, because other snow scents just don't work on me (Snow White goes right to the infamous Play-Do).

(One of my 2015 NYRs is to write more BPAL reviews! I slacked off sadly during 2014.) Frimp from my lovely decanter! I love the Alice line and it's one of my favourite books ever, so this seemed like a good scent to start the New Year off with. I also love the BPAL honey note. In the imp: A barely yellow thin oil, almost clear. I get a nice whiff of golden honey, and some flowers, maybe a little spice. Wet: Rather faint honey, sweet but not cloying. I really slathered it (accidentally, and there went the label) but it's still quite faint. Definitely not that golden rich heavy honey, but a nice unsyrupy sweetness. (Husband thinks it smells powdery, boo. Also: "Wow, that's really faint.") Drydown: This doesn't fade too much, but remains very light. Husband thought almost a light musk came out, I got more powder -- we might both be picking up on the tonka. Green turns to instant ugly blech on my skin, so I was worried about the chamomile and hyssop, but I also amp honey so I guess it's drowning out the green. I don't get the honey-in-tea smell, but this is definitely sweet honeyed herbs, rather than herbed honey. It might be much sweeter on people who have less trouble with green notes. Not a lot of throw, but pretty good staying power for something so faint. Verdict: It's sunny out but really cold here, and we have the blinds drawn all the way up but the windows tightly closed to catch the sunshine, which is fading but a little bit warm. Pathetic Fallacy Alert: this reminds me of very early spring, when the sky is that pale clear blue and you see a promising haze of green on trees more than actual leaves or buds. This would be a nice light, slightly green, honey for those who don't want that big sweet blast. Not bottle-worthy for me, but I'm glad to have tried it -- I might get another imp of it.

Frimp from the lab. I absolutely love Midsummer Night's Dream and have always wanted to try this. Unfortunately, it was rather disastrous. In the imp: Faint sweet floral with a harsh chemical undertone. Wet: YO, something went terribly wrong immediately. I don't know if it was the green note (?) or the pansy or the carnation (which hates me) or what, but I got almost no floral and a kind of awful wet swampy chemical smell. Husband said it was like bathroom air freshener from the eighties! Thankfully it didn't cause a headache, but this is really unpleasant. Drydown: After a while it seems to get a little sweeter, but that awful chemical note remains, and I can't tell whether the perfume is sweetening or just fading. Weirdly, it also wears off very quickly but the nasty note hangs on and on and is really difficult to wash off. It smells something like floral hairspray. Verdict: NO NO NO NO NO cat. Like someone else said, I wish I knew what notes were in this so I could avoid them forever, because something in this really doesn't go with my skin. I think it's probably a green note, beause those really really don't work on me, but usually they don't smell like some kind of awful spray. Source: Love-In-Idleness

Frimp from the lab. I absolutely love Midsummer Night's Dream and have always wanted to try this. Unfortunately, it was rather disastrous. In the imp: Faint sweet floral with a harsh chemical undertone. Wet: YO, something went terribly wrong immediately. I don't know if it was the green note (?) or the pansy or the carnation (which hates me) or what, but I got almost no floral and a kind of awful wet swampy chemical smell. Husband said it was like bathroom air freshener from the eighties! Thankfully it didn't cause a headache, but this is really unpleasant. Drydown: After a while it seems to get a little sweeter, but that awful chemical note remains, and I can't tell whether the perfume is sweetening or just fading. Weirdly, it also wears off very quickly but the nasty note hangs on and on and is really difficult to wash off. It smells something like floral hairspray. Verdict: NO NO NO NO NO cat. Like someone else said, I wish I knew what notes were in this so I could avoid them forever, because something in this really doesn't go with my skin. I think it's probably a green note, beause those really really don't work on me, but usually they don't smell like some kind of awful spray.

Frimp from the lab. In the imp: Bubblegum, candy. Wet: A blast of raspberries soaked in orange juice. Can't smell the neroli, so I think my skin, which amps citrus, is cranking the orange to eleven and drowning it out completely. Drydown: Turns into fake sharply-sweet candy -- Sweet Tarts is about right. I don't know why someone would want to smell like this, really. It also fades insanely quickly on me -- within about half an hour it was almost impossible to smell. Verdict: Glad it was a frimp.

Frimp from the lab. In the imp: Bubblegum, candy. Wet: A blast of raspberries soaked in orange juice. Can't smell the neroli, so I think my skin, which amps citrus, is cranking the orange to eleven and drowning it out completely. Drydown: Turns into fake sharply-sweet candy -- Sweet Tarts is about right. I don't know why someone would want to smell like this, really. It also fades insanely quickly on me -- within about half an hour it was almost impossible to smell. Verdict: Glad it was a frimp. Source: Akuma

This was a really nice surprise for me, because I thought it might be too boozy, but it's a great scent. In the bottle: honey wine and maybe grape, or cherry. No pom. Wet: The pom blooms on my skin and overpowers everything else for a few minutes -- I amp pom and love it. The pom mixes really well with the wine. The BPAL pom note often goes too tart on me, but this is a very dark sweet version. On me the pom keeps the sweetness other people mentioned in check and I get some incense, and the balm I think adds a really nice hint of wood. This scent is dark, complex and well-blended. Not flowery, and not that fruity either: it's rich dark red wine with dark berries, maybe mahogany. It glows like a ruby. I know I'm emphasizing the wine but it really doesn't smell that boozy. It's maybe more like the flavour you get in a red wine reduction, very rich. Drydown: Doesn't really morph at all on me. It gets a little sweeter and more of the incense comes out. It has GREAT throw -- my husband smelled it a few feet away from me outside on a windy day! Lasted a fairly long while, too. It's a great fall/winter scent. Verdict: I'm just sorry I didn't get two bottles. Source: She Crushes for Dead Men Deadly Wine

This was a really nice surprise for me, because I thought it might be too boozy, but it's a great scent. In the bottle: honey wine and maybe grape, or cherry. No pom. Wet: The pom blooms on my skin and overpowers everything else for a few minutes -- I amp pom and love it. The pom mixes really well with the wine. The BPAL pom note often goes too tart on me, but this is a very dark sweet version. On me the pom keeps the sweetness other people mentioned in check and I get some incense, and the balm I think adds a really nice hint of wood. This scent is dark, complex and well-blended. Not flowery, and not that fruity either: it's rich dark red wine with dark berries, maybe mahogany. It glows like a ruby. I know I'm emphasizing the wine but it really doesn't smell that boozy. It's maybe more like the flavour you get in a red wine reduction, very rich. Drydown: Doesn't really morph at all on me. It gets a little sweeter and more of the incense comes out. It has GREAT throw -- my husband smelled it a few feet away from me outside on a windy day! Lasted a fairly long while, too. It's a great fall/winter scent. Verdict: I'm just sorry I didn't get two bottles.

Lightning + stormclouds = ozone and aquatic Death Notes, but Mary Shelley is one of My Girls, I love the GC Absinthe and really like the new Inspiration line, so I decided what the hell. In the bottle (I know, I know we don't get the perfume for the labels but the Inspiration ones are SO GOOD. Dying for the T-shirt): I smell mostly mint, maybe some wormwood. Thank God it's not sharp. Most BPAL mints drown out every other note on me, so I'm probably amping the faint mint note in this. Wet: Thought this was disaster when I seemed to smell celery. Husband, when applied to, reassured me multiple times it was not celery. (He thought it was "floral and sweet, kind of nice, not great.") Fortunately the celery? didn't stick around long. I definitely got all the mint, anise, sugar, wormwood, laudanum, absinthe, fennel, &c &c. notes, but faintly. It's really not that strong at all. Thankfully it didn't turn to screaming green on my skin, nor did the ozone note give me a headache. Rather pleasant surprise on both counts. Drydown: On me it sweetens up and gets rather faint, and more mint comes out. It's a cool smell, not sharp at all, more a soft floral with faint mint, and would be a good summer perfume. Pretty, but fades fairly fast. It does smell more like a cologne than a perfume, but it's not sharp. I do like it. I agree with everyone else that after drydown there isn't much absinthe, so if you get it for that, you might be disappointed. Verdict: Don't know if it would be bottle-worthy for other people, but I like finding a mint/green scent I can actually wear. I was expecting more absinthe and 'Victorian oriental' notes, but it's rare for me to find an ozone/aquatic or green or mint scent I can even tolerate, so I'm actually sort of pleased with it. Source: Mary Shelley

Lightning + stormclouds = ozone and aquatic Death Notes, but Mary Shelley is one of My Girls, I love the GC Absinthe and really like the new Inspiration line, so I decided what the hell. In the bottle (I know, I know we don't get the perfume for the labels but the Inspiration ones are SO GOOD. Dying for the T-shirt): I smell mostly mint, maybe some wormwood. Thank God it's not sharp. Most BPAL mints drown out every other note on me, so I'm probably amping the faint mint note in this. Wet: Thought this was disaster when I seemed to smell celery. Husband, when applied to, reassured me multiple times it was not celery. (He thought it was "floral and sweet, kind of nice, not great.") Fortunately the celery? didn't stick around long. I definitely got all the mint, anise, sugar, wormwood, laudanum, absinthe, fennel, &c &c. notes, but faintly. It's really not that strong at all. Thankfully it didn't turn to screaming green on my skin, nor did the ozone note give me a headache. Rather pleasant surprise on both counts. Drydown: On me it sweetens up and gets rather faint, and more mint comes out. It's a cool smell, not sharp at all, more a soft floral with faint mint, and would be a good summer perfume. Pretty, but fades fairly fast. It does smell more like a cologne than a perfume, but it's not sharp. I do like it. I agree with everyone else that after drydown there isn't much absinthe, so if you get it for that, you might be disappointed. Verdict: Don't know if it would be bottle-worthy for other people, but I like finding a mint/green scent I can actually wear. I was expecting more absinthe and 'Victorian oriental' notes, but it's rare for me to find an ozone/aquatic or green or mint scent I can even tolerate, so I'm actually sort of pleased with it.