edenssixthday

Yürei - This is unexpectedly gorgeous on me. G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.!!! I have no idea why, because I can't match up any of the listed notes, but this reminds me of a spring/summer version of The Shivering Boy. On me, it's mostly white tea and hibiscus. It has a very cool, chilly quality to it with a sweet, winter-like note that is so reminiscent of The Shivering Boy, and it's driving me nuts because I just can't pin it down for the life of me. I can't smell the vetiver at all. It's light and sweet and floral and I'm just so amazed because the scent description didn't grab me at all, but the scent is so very pretty. It doesn't have much throw, but my skin smells sweet and pretty, and I can't stop sniffing my wrists. I have a feeling this will get worn often in the coming summer months.

Jerusalem Cherry Infused Honey - In the bottle and when first applied to my skin, this smells awesomely like warm, fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes. It's the best, most dead-on tomato scent I've ever encountered. It even has that little bit of green tang to it that tomatoes have at the top where they were separated from the vine. It's really amazing. As it dries on my skin, the tomato scent dissipates quickly, leaving a lovely, incredibly subtle honey scent that has the slightest hint of barely-there greenery. It's really beautiful, but way too subtle for my taste in perfumes. Still, I love the scent when it's wet. It makes me want to rush out to the nursery and buy some tomato plants to plant in my garden this spring!

Sara Pezzini - In the bottle, this smells like musk and honey. When I first apply it, that's exactly what I smell -- skin musk and honey. As it dries down on my skin, I start to smell the leather note, which isn't strong, yet it does become the dominant note. I also feel like there's a faint trace of white sandalwood in here, because there's something very dry and almost dusty in this scent that reminds me of white sandalwood, but I could be wrong. I don't really like this on me because it's a bit too dry, but I can definitely understand why it would work really well on other people...of both sexes. I think it's a very gender-neutral scent. It's a soft scent, but it's not subtle, and it does last on my skin for quite some time -- definitely has longer wear time than the average BPAL on my skin.

Night's Bridge - I did not expect to like this because I'm not usually drawn to stone scents, but I was so very wrong about this one. It's really amazing. Yes, there's the scent of stone, but it's not the cold, wet, draughty-castle type stone scent. It's warm and smooth, slightly musky, slightly floral, slightly aquatic, and incredibly beautiful. I can't stop sniffing my skin. I think it's possible there may be the faintest trace of Egyptian musk in here, but I can't tell for sure. It's so beautiful it makes me want to cry. Granted, I'm PMSing and everything makes me want to cry, but damn, PMSing or not, if a perfume makes me overflow with emotion like this, it must be an amazing scent. Also, it lasts all day long, which is very rare for me since my skin tends to eat up scents and I have to reapply regularly. I have the dregs left of a bottle after running a circle, and it won't be enough. I'll be ordering a full bottle with my next Lab order.

Anesthesia - Ooh, three of my least favorite notes and one "iffy" one. Let's see what happens! Sniffing this in the bottle, I smell mint and lavender, and it's horribly pungent and awful. Keep in mind it's "awful" because I don't like these notes. When I put it on my skin, it remains a pungent and awful mint-lavender. After about 20 minutes, the pungency wears off, as does the mint. At this point, there's no peppermint to be found. The lavender becomes quite soft, the bergamot appears in a very subtle way, and the mandrake lends a hint of rooty earthiness to the blend. After 45 minutes, all I smell is the fainest hint of something herbal on my skin, kind of like the wafting of random herbs as you walk through the herbal supplement aisle of Whole Foods. In the end, it's quite gentle and herbal, which surprises me considering how bold and brazen it starts off. After 60 minutes, it's totally and completely gone. My skin and this blend aren't really a good match.

Hunter - In the bottle, all I smell is the amber and clary sage. Together, they made a golden and oddly musky-type scent (to my nose, that is) when wet. But the moment this scent touches my skin, the leather leaps out at me, and I can't smell anything else for quite some time. After 20 minutes or so, I can smell the faintest trace of clary sage (one of my favorite notes in the world, yay!) and once again I can smell that golden musk scent I smell in the bottle. I have no idea what it is since none of the notes in this blend ever turn musky on me. I pick up a trace of warm, dry amber and absolutely no clove. This is a really pretty leather scent, but it's not really for me. I already have a favorite leather scent that I wear all the time, so this one will get passed on.

The Velvets - This scent is a perfect example of why I continue to try BPAL scents that don't sound like I'd like them: because sometimes those I think I'll dislike based on notes that never work on me, end up smelling absolutely amazing. I can never wear dark or black musk. I mean NEVER. Ylang ylang is another that rarely works on me. And red sandalwood is rarely impressive. Incense scents tend to be about a 50/50 chance on me. Well, throw them all in a bottle with a few other nice notes that I do like, and WHOA MAMA!!!! Damn, I'm IMPRESSED!!! I understand now why some people love black musk. For the first time ever, I am wearing it and not just tolerating it, but I'm going positively gaga over it. It's so smooth and musky and velvety. The incense blends with that musk and the gorgeous earthy violet scent and the rose-amber and irisd... and it's just to die for. I really, really love this fragrance. The only thing wrong with it is that after about 60 minutes, it fades significantly. I can smell it on my clothes at the end of the day, but I can't smell it on my skin for longer than approximately one hour. Still, it's worth slathering. It's really fun to wear a scent that I shouldn't love and to experience all the wonderfulness of a note that's usually awful on me.

Volt - In the bottle, this is bright, crisp, refreshing, and really nice. However, on my skin, it does the weirdest thing, and while I still smell the lime and eucalyptus and mint, for some reason, it entirely reminds me of what one of my dogs smells like after she's had a bath and blow-dry. It's certainly not a bad smell because I love snuggling my fluffy little puppy after she's had a bath, but because of the odd association, I couldn't wear it as a perfume. I really wish I didn't have this scent association with this blend because if I didn't, I think I'd really, really like it.

Plutonian - I smell Irish Spring soap. No blood, no ashes, just soapy soap. And maybe the tiniest hint of herbs, but pretty much just soap.

Mr. Croup - I can rarely, if ever, wear dark or black musk. On the other hand, geranium is my favorite note. I was pretty sure this wouldn't turn out well, but curious to smell the outcome. Sure enough, the dark musk doesn't exactly work, but the addition of the beautiful, lovely geranium, along with the warm, delicious tonka, makes it almost work, and it's definitely interesting. I definitely don't want to wear this myself, but I kind of wish I could get my husband to try this out. I have a weird feeling I'd actually really like it on him (assuming the musk doesn't disagree with him the way it does with me).

The Floating Market - Oooh, I like! I really didn't think i was going to like this one -- it had too many odd and (to me) unidentifiable notes in the ingredient listing. In the bottle, it smells like a scent cacophony of mostly petitgrain and herbal/spicy stuff. But the instant it hits my skin, I smell a beautiful, sweet citrus, the nip of wasabi, exotic fresh greenery, and lots of delicious herbs and spices. I can't decide if I'd ever wear it as a perfume or not, but the scent is completely evocative of the inspiration. It makes me want to re-read Neverwhere right away!

Mr. Vandemar - On me, this is mostly pepper, black sandalwood and metal. The metal is not a crisp, clean, bright, shiny metal. It is dark, rusted, and heavy. It smells to me like there may be some blood accord in this, as it has a weird coppery-tangy scent to it. Now that I'm reading the other reviews, I see the comment about curry powder, and while I'd have never I.D.'d that scent on my own, I totally "get it" now that I read it. Overall, it's a really well-blended scent that probably smells great on the right person, but isn't really my type of fragrance.

The Rat Speakers - Gah! Oh me, this is pretty bad. It's incredibly earthy, and it seems the fig leaf, sandalwood, and sage are the strongest notes, but those are generally notes I would expect to enjoy, but in this blend, I really don't. It smells exactly the way my hands smell after I've been touching my mom's horses. I don't like it at all, and I'm glad I decided to try it right before hopping into the tub.

Traipsing Through the Crop Circles - When I first apply, all I smell is a sharp, strong, wet dirt note and the scent of dry hay. As it warms up on my skin, the dirt note recedes, and I can smell a lot more of the fresh green, corn-husk type notes. It's not something I'd wear for perfume, but it's spot-on and really interesting. About 45-60 minutes after I apply, it smells awesome: it smells like sweet corn and myrrh, but there's virtually no throw. Still, up close, my skin smells fabulous.

Door - Oh, I love this! I thought Crib Girls was the prettiest honey scent I could ever find, but I was wrong. Door is absolutely perfect for me! It makes me soooo happy that my skin chemistry has changed and that there are now some honeys I can wear. This is mostly sweet honey and soothing chamomile on me, with a hint of cistus. It leaves the most delightful, subtle swirl of honey-scented air around me and it lasts for hours on my skin. I'm definitely a fan.

The Marquis de Carabas - Oh God. I am speechless. Read the other reviews, and they'll tell you how spectacularly awesome this is. Spicy rum and sweet, hazy opium, the perfectly-balanced amount of leather, and something kind of sweet that almost reminds me of root beer, but in a really good way. This is delicious. Okay, so I lied, I'm not completely "speechless," but what I don't have are the right words to describe how awesome this scent is. I highly recommend it. To everyone.

Bette Noir - I was about 90% sure I was going to love this, but the bergamot and orange blossom kept me from being entirely certain since they can go wonky on me sometimes. Fortunately, this is a big fat WINNER. It's dark and juicy from the plum and berries and the yummilicious myrrh (which blends so gorgeously well with the plum and berries!). It's sweetened up not just by the benzoin and has a smoky, hazy quality from the resins in it. This is a stunning scent. It's as gorgeous as I hoped it would be and is really wonderful.

Lamia - In the bottle, I smell the vanilla amber, oude, myrrh, and vetiver. It smells "okay," but nothing amazing. On my skin, it completely changes, and turns into something really elegant, beautiful, and downright gorgeous. On my skin, the orchid is the dominant note, with the tiniest hint of coconut behind it, and a thin layer of champaca and peach. The black currant thankfully doesn't show up at all (since it usually turns everything around it to cat pee on my skin). It's such a beautiful fragrance, very subtle, and will need to be slathered and reapplied, but it's worth it.

Lupanar - This is uber-sweet, sticky honey that's had an additional layer of intensity added to it by the sweet almond. It's almost too sweet. It's definitely sexy and sticky. I don't smell the myrrh or ylang ylang at all. It's all honey and almond. I think it's actually too sweet for my taste. I wish there were more myrrh to temper the sweetness.

Parlor House - I think this is my favorite atmo spray to date. It's plummy, grapey-boozy, musky, dark, and smoky. Oh, and there's a hint -- just the faintest trace -- of patchouli leaf. I don't use the atmo sprays enough to justify trying to track down and acquire a bottle of this, but if it were ever released, I'd definitely buy a bottle. I think it's AWESOME.

When wet, this smells awesome -- like a dapper men's cologne full of bergamot and sweet basil and other herbs. And then, as soon as it touches my skin, it becomes the god-awful scent of minty vomit....with a splash of bergamot on top. It's so gross I can't even put into words. It's got to be the cumin. I just know it. I love the taste of it, but when I'm cooking with cumin, my house smells like a combination of B.O. and puke, so I'm going to finger the cumin as the culprit in this blend. Without the GDPOS cumin, I have a feeling I'd like this blend a lot.

Erik - This type of dirty, dark, dank, manly-man scent tends to scare me. A lot. But you never know with BPAL, so I tried it anyway. When I first apply it, I think it's one of those surprise scents that smells nothing like you think it would, and for a second, I think it smells awesome -- warm woods and leather...mmm. But really, that only lasted for a split second, because that's when the "musty" scent comes marching in. It's the same green mildew note from Shadwell. The only difference is it's mildew coated in dry dust. It's so gross. I also can now smell the kerosene oil underneath all of it, which adds a non-gross, interesting, and odd level of complexity to the scent. After a while, the mildewiness (is that a word?) actually dissipates, leaving behind an aspect of it that reminds me less of mildew and more of lush, tropical greenery. This is one very strange, very odd scent. I don't like it and would never wear it again...but I can't stop smelling it on my skin because it's so damn intriguing.

Phosporous v5 - This is a lovely, ethereal scent. It's very gentle and subtle, soft and unisex. It does indeed remind me a lot of Embalming Fluid, but not as strong. I definitely smell the slightest bit of ozone, green tea, aloe, and when I first apply it, a bit of metal, but that fades almost instantly. There's also a hint of white mint in the blend, and the tiniest bit of lemon. It's subtly sweet and very light, fresh, and summery. I don't get the men's cologne impression from it at all, but I kind of see how it could go that way on some people's skin. This is, to me, so similar to Embalming Fluid, it's just the softer, shyer younger sister version of it.

Kinnabari v4 - This opens up with a really strong, overpowering, and totally delicious caraway scent. It's all caraway all the time! As it starts to dry down, the caraway settles down (but not much!) and I notice something behind it that reminds me of the scent of wet clay. It is absolutely not something I would ever wear if I wanted to smell pretty. To me, it's more of a novelty scent. And now, I'm craving caraway rye bread.

I am so very, very grateful to Little Bird, who loves this scent to the Nth degree and still shared it with me for no reason other than she's wonderful. Cagliostro - The first note I notice is dark and musky, followed immediately by the same vanilla used in Snake Oil. As it warms up on my skin, I smell dark, thick, heavy resinous notes along the lines of dark myrrh, possibly amber and/or frankincense and/or opium (?). There's also a non-juicy, un-sweet fruit note cutting a path through the resins, probably plum, maybe a dark berry of some sort. Overall, it's a deep and rich scent that's smoky, resinous, highly gothic, and very beautiful. Seeing as how I can't get any more, I am inspired to layer my Romanti.Goth with aged Snake Oil and see if I can't get a similar result on my skin.