monozuki

! M-my new all-time favorite scent.....! (It's been a good week for me, scent-discovery-wise. So happy to return to bpal obsession just now, with all these new and amazing blends to try.) in one word: gentle! in the bottle: nice but unremarkable, actually. A light musk scent, slightly woody, not terribly unlike the way most of the piratey blends smell on me (though I've got to admit, I have a seriously unsophisticated nose... ) ... no vanilla whatsoever by my nose, which is awesome, afaiac, because vanilla so rarely works for me, and seeing even "vanilla flower" listed in the notes is enough to make me wary. wet on skin: the scent doesn't noticeably change on application. The musk + wood combination is one I basically like but is also sort of sharp as is, I guess? What pleases me about Mr Ibis is the way -- even when the oil is still wet -- the notes soften. I'd like to point to papyrus or aloe or something as the cause for this, but I honestly can't tell. Anyhow, the blend alternates between sharp musk/wood and whiffs of a gentle, green scent, which is really interesting and nice. Still no vanilla. dry: as it dries, the sharp tang of the sandalwood takes a backseat to aforementioned gentle!green! and eventually hints of vanilla creep in to sweeten it up. It's an incredibly light vanilla and is barely noticeable; it seems only to be here to round and balance the blend, making it -- hah! -- even more gentle. I hate repeating the same word over and over, but there's just no other way to describe Mr Ibis. Anyway, the notes continue to stay separate, but play well together on my skin, and I totally love that... it's like the blend is constantly surprising me with something slightly different but still just as gorgeous.

I sniffed this at will-call yesterday and immediately bought a bottle...! Here's what I wrote about it for my own reference: Yesterday: sharp and bright on application, dries down to a soft, dusty, sweet scent, lasts for ages, love at first smell, how unusual! I wouldn't have thought I would like this one so much. And today: No real throw to speak of, but I get pleasant whiffs of it from time to time. Opinion hasn't changed from last night... it's still delicious: sweet & warm, dry woody notes, really really pleasant and, imo, pretty special. Now that I have time to smell it on its own, I can smell slight similarities to Dee, but the tonka bean in Dee really dials up on my skin in a way that terrifies me, whereas it's nice in Tristran. May be worth pouring into a roller with some jojoba carrier oil to see if that improves the strength of the scent. Overall, I'm not bothered by the lack of throw -- in fact, I feel self-conscious when a scent broadcasts too widely -- and it also lasts close to the skin pretty much forever. <3

My first thought on trying Dee (almost a year ago) was, "Oh! Library!" and while I was pretty delighted at the scent-memory it conjured up, I didn't really think I'd actually want to smell like a library all day long, so I sort of stored my imp away again and didn't think about it for a long, long time... today, though, I got out my oil burner and tried it out in that, and I find it absolutely perfect as a room scent. It still positively screams library at me, which is just the most delicious thing to associate with a scent, ever, and just having it wafting around in my room makes me happier and warmer. When I run out of this imp, I'm totally getting a bottle.

Dorian is my rainy day scent too. It's like a security blanket, seriously. Makes me feel warm and cozy and comfortable. :]

Funnily, I've had Glasgow for months now, and although I liked it the first time I tried it, I wasn't a huge fan immediately, so I left it alone for a while after that. But for some reason or another, I picked it up again two days ago, and I've just been wearing it non-stop since then, because it just smells so good. The oil from the bottle and wet on skin smells very tartly floral, but soon mutes into a soft, downy scent that I suspect is the heather. It never turns really powdery on me though; every so often I get a whiff of berry, and it's not an overwhelmingly edible fruity smell -- just tart enough to accent the scent and keep it from being sweetly drab. I think this is going to be a bottle order the next time I buy from the lab. <3

For the first couple of minutes, this is pretty much a bright, lavendery scent on me, and gives me that oft-sought-for illusion of not actually wearing a scent at all but just smelling good. It definitely leans towards masculine, but is still androgynous enough for me to really like it in the early stages. After a while, though, it does seem to fade into this generic cologne smell which, eh, I'm not such a huge fan of.

I can't say I actually know what rhododendron smells like or that I get any citrus in this. But! This is the first BPAL scent I've tried that has evoked so strongly for me exactly what the description has led me to believe. I've had it on for 30 minutes now and it hasn't changed except for possibly becoming a little softer -- for me, Danube is thick plants heavy with pollen bending over slow-moving water. Not entirely sure it is something I will want to wear often, but I'm fascinated by it, regardless.

I got a decant of this in the mail today from someone on livejournal, and I'm so, so very glad they decided to part with it. in the bottle - smells like lemon, strongly citrus. can't smell tea at all -- am starting to suspect my idea of tea differs from the rest of the world's idea of tea. sort of dubious about the lemony smell. wet - strange... the citrus smell does not smell nearly so lemony on my skin. instead, it smells like crushed, fresh leaves, which like.... oh, man. words cannot describe how much I love it. utterly besotted. dry - it fades very quickly once dry into a soft, sweet scent (can't pick out notes, my nose is not talented enough), which is nice, but not mindblowingly cool like it is when wet. a pity. still, I like it enough to probably splurge on a bottle or two -- heck, I'll probably just keep it in my purse 24/7 so I can take it out and sniff at it at random intervals during the day (of note-- I just put a bit on my shirt instead, and the fresh green scent seems to be lasting like this -- which might be cheating, but hey. as long as it smells good.)