edenssixthday

Lunar Eclipse - This is a very deep and dark scent. The red musk is the strongest note with the scent of vetiver and moss right behind it. It's a fascinating scent - so full of dark, deep scents, some fruits, florals, spices, herbs, resins... it's just so complex. It reminds me a lot of Blood Phoenix without the grape or sweetness. This scent is definitely not sweet - it's dark, brooding, deep, and menacing. As it starts to dry on my skin, the lavender and tea become much more evident and since I don't really care for those notes, it turns the scent into something mostly unwearable for me. Still, it's fascinating and I think will be well-loved by many.

Pisces - This scent is very herbal and earthy. On me, it smells downright masculine in it's earthiness. There is a note in this that takes a really weird turn on my skin, and smells almost like fertilizer. I think perhaps it's the hemp? I'm really not sure. It's an extremely earthy and raw scent. The sarsasparilla is the second strongest note and is so pretty and sweet that it's a huge drag that the one note in this blend goes wonky on my skin. This one's not for me, but herbal lovers may really enjoy this.

Cheshire Moon - When I sniff this in the bottle, it's sweet, warm, and bakery-foody. This is almost entirely grapefruit, guava, and cake on my skin. It reminds me a LOT of the creamy grapefruit scents in MB: Bigger Critters and Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal, yet it's fruitier and juicier. It's very tropical and warm and creamy and seems like it would be the perfect summer scent. It fades very quickly on me. I think this will make a gorgeous oil burner scent.

Moon of Ice - This is one of the prettiest cold-inspired scents I've encountered. I don't even like pine or eucalyptus, but they're blended so gorgeously in this with the other notes that it's just a stunning scent. It's very crisp, cool, cold, icy, and sharp. It's most definitely the smell of being outside at night in the dead of winter when the sky is clear and the temperature has dropped to below zero. The scent doesn't last long on my skin, but it's beautiful while it's there and I think it will be nice in an oil burner, too. I also have to add that the bottle art on this is probably the prettiest and most striking I've ever seen - definitely my favorite bottle art so far.

Ebisu Making Love As Two Octopuses Look On - This opens up with a strong nectarine and musk scent. It's very fruity and has a touch of woodiness behind it. Within a matter of minutes, the fruit scent fades almost completely and the oakmoss comes out and it's woodier than oakmoss usually is on my skin. At this point, it starts to become a skin scent - I can't smell it at all unless I'm sniffing my wrist up close. After about 15 minutes on my skin, something in this blend starts turning to an odd plastic scent and by the 30 minutes point, the plastic smell is all that is left and it's incredibly strong - whatever that plastic note is, it sure amps on my skin. After two hours, I can still smell the plastic (and only the plastic) but at least at this point, there's zero throw and it's sticking to my skin and is very faint. I usually like oakmoss, but it's a bit too woody for my taste in this particular blend to even use in a scent locket or as a room fragrance, so I'll be passing this along.

Butterflies and Plovers - This scent is absolutely the perfect olfactory depiction of the painting that inspired it. I see this piece of art when I sniff this scent on my skin. It opens up with a very bright citrus scent that's made ultra-sweet by the blood orange, as well as the strong, woody scents of patchouli and amber. I don't detect the violet in this scent at all - it's just all bright, sweet citrus combined with dry, wood-type scents. In the bottle, it smells mostly woody, but I love the way that the fruit notes warm up on my skin. This isn't the type of scent I would normally be drawn to because it's a bit too wood-scented for me, but it works beautifully in this blend. I really like it. Based on sniffing the bottles alone, I thought it was going to be my least favorite of all the NIFSA scents. However, after actually wearing it, I think it's among my top four favorites of the NIFSA blends.

Men Ringing Bell With Penises - This is a gorgeous, soft blend. It's highly Asian in character, with the rice wine being by far the strongest note in this blend. I'd definitely put it in the same scent category as Tamamo-no-Mae and Hungry Ghost Moon. Upon smelling it, thought it was loaded with green tea, but looking at the scent description, I think that's the combo of black tea and green sandalwood. The tonka is giving this blend a slightly creamy feeling, too. It's really gorgeous and surprises me with how amazing it smells. It's a soft, subtle scent that doesn't have much throw, but if a breeze hits my skin, it definitely lifts the scent and softly swirls it around me. This is a lovely blend that I will be wearing. And when my mother asks what I'm wearing, I think I'm just going to call it "Ringing Bells."

Harikata - When I first apply this, it smells warm and sticky-sweet in a floral kind of way. However, honey is a death note on me and within seconds, the honey starts to overwhelm all of the other notes until all that is left is a musky honey scent on my skin. It's actually not as "deadly" as honey tends to be on me, but it's still not going to work on my skin. It's just a bit too sweet and cloying for my taste. I am kind of surprised there's no myrrh in this blend - perhaps that's actually the ginger I'm smelling. If so, it's ultra-faint behind the honey-musk scent. Even though it doesn't share most of the same notes, this reminds me a LOT of Bilquis from the Neil Gaiman line of blends. While this isn't for me, I think it's a must-try for honey lovers.

The Spell of Amorous Love - This is a gorgeous fruity-floral blend. It's rich and bright and incredibly pretty. The red currant and what I believe to be the plum flower are the strongest notes initially. It fades significantly and very fast - within 10 minutes of application, the red currant is completely gone, the plum flower is mostly gone, and I smell the faintest trace of green tea and cherry blossom. 20 minutes after that, it's gone. Completely gone. POOF! Just like that. I imagine this would be a stunningly beautiful room scent, particularly in the late-spring/early-summer months and I'll try it in my oil burner when that time of year rolls around. It's gorgeous, it just doesn't last worth beans on me.

Lover's Parodies of Sumo Holds - This is 100% benzoin and tangerine on me and after about an hour on my skin, I can also detect the very lightest hint of jasmine. The benzoin reminds me a lot of honey in this blend. Even though there's no honey in this, it reminds me of Honey Dust and L'Occitane's Honey Cleansing Jelly. It's freaking GORGEOUS and sultry and an absolutely perfect blend. It's subtle - sticks fairly close to my skin, and it only lasts 2-3 hours on me, but it's definitely well-worth the reapplication. This is the third NIFSA I've tried and so far I'm 3 for 3 and very, very pleased with this entire line. This is a gorgeous blend.

Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge - This is my second-favorite of the NIFSA scents. It's very sexy and kind of foody and warm and woody and just stunning. Of the NIFSA blends, this is the one that first grabbed my attention and had to be the first one I tested. The scent is initially very warm and creamy, and it seems the amber and cream blend in a way that creates a scent that reminds me a lot of what tonka does on my skin (but there's no tonka in it). The teak smells almost like redwood, and lends a very red and woody aspect to this blend. It's quite strong and blends with the creamy and resinous notes amazingly well. I don't smell the lotus at all and was surprised to see it among the ingredients, as lotus is usually bubble-gum sweet on me, but this scent doesn't have that feature to it at all and I don't get even the remotest bit of a floral on my skin. Overall, it's very warm, creamy to the point of almost being sticky, and woody. It's highly sexual and I definitely see where Beth was going with this as it relates to her inspiration via this painting. The throw is very strong on me, but it wears off after only about two hours and needs to be reapplied...but it's well worth the reapplication.

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife - I was on the fence about whether or not I was looking forward to this because I adore ambergris, seaweed, and aquatics in general, but honey and mint are two of my least favorite notes that rarely work on my skin. When I received the bottle, I remembered that it was an aquatic, but I forgot what notes were in it, so I didn't have any predisposed prejudices against it when I first tried it. It's GORGEOUS. This is by far my favorite of the NIFSA blends, and probably a top-10 all-time favorite BPAL. I can't get over how pretty it is and how good it smells on my skin. The ambergris is warm and sweet on my skin, the seaweed provides a strong ocean/aquatic feeling to the blend. What really blows me away is that rather than detracting from this blend (as honey usually does for me), it adds an incredibly sexy sticky-sweetness to this that blends amazingly well with the ambergris. The white mint is barely discernible and I don't really smell it as a distinct note, but as the "cool" aspect of this blend and kind of reminds me of the foam that tumbles into shore with the waves. This is very aquatic and lusty and sex-sticky-sweet, not to mention that a tiny bit goes a long way and it stays on my skin for hours, swathing me in a veil of scent. AQUATIC/SEA/OCEAN LOVERS, DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!!!

Agnes Nutter – This is very heavy, gritty, abrasive, and dark. There’s something about it that is slightly sweet, too. Overall, it’s way too heavy and powerful for me, but it’s really a unique and interesting scent. It’s very strong and a tiny bit gives off a ton of scent.

Stress Relief Elixir - When I first open the bottle, all I smell is mint. Then I put it on my skin and it's TONS and TONS and TONS of rose geranium all over the place. And possibly a hint of clary sage, but maybe not - I can't tell for sure. What I'm ecstatic about is the rose geranium. I think rose geranium is quite possibly my favorite scent in the entire world, and I'm thrilled to have a predominantly rose geranium BPAL blend to wear. The mint is not strong at all on my skin, but smells like a touch of white mint blending with what may be some roman chamomile, as well. This is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous and the perfect aromatherapy blend. It calms me so fast that I just want to sink into a giant bed of rose geranium and wrap myself in its luxurious folds. This is a true winner and I really hope Beth will find a way to release it.

Ice Prince Bath Oil - Let me start off by saying that I'm very sensitive to the scent of pine. It's not a scent I've ever cared for, whether it's the smell of a Christmas tree, a pine candle, a pine perfume oil and now I know that also applies to bath oil with pine in it. Now, it could be that my decant of the bath oil leaked in transit and I got an envelope that was soaked with Ice Prince (along with everything in it) that has turned me off to this scent since it was so overpowering and strong, or it could just be because it's got pine in it. Either way, when I actually put some in the tub with me, I felt like, scent-wise, I was bathing in Pine-Sol. I made the mistake of splashing some on my face, which got in my mouth...and ick, there was pine taste, too! I'm afraid none of the other lovely-sounding notes stepped forward in the least. However, while I'm not too keen on the scent, the quality of bath oil is lovely. For the first time all winter, I stepped out of the ba th without feeling like I had to slather my body in lotion. The oil sunk in and moisturized my skin and softly scented my skin - I actually liked the scent on my skin when it was so incredibly subtle and when I wasn't swimming in it in the tub. So yes, I will be giving more BPTP bath oils a try, but Ice Prince isn't for me purely on a scent basis.

Aquarius - I would have never guessed the notes in this blend. This is such a gorgeous blend that smells like the clear, crisp air that you breath in as you're tubing down a cool river in early summer. I positively adore 3/4 of the notes in this blend, and yet I still can't identify them as individual, distinct scents. They all blur together to create a gorgeous, airy fragrance that's warm and sweet and floral and slightly fruity, but mostly just airy without being ozoney. I really, really love this scent! It's very strong on my skin for the 45-60 minutes, but then quickly fades and needs to be reapplied. But it's worth it. It's quite stunning.

Capricorn - This opens up with a really sharp, strong, and pungent pine scent. I don't normally like pine, but it's used with the warmer notes in this blend (ambrette, tobacco, hemp, amaranth) in a way that makes it interesting and wearable. The warmer notes work together with the pine to create a scent that reminds me somewhat of what you might get if you blended pine, snow, honey, and myrrh together. It's sweet and chilly like a forest in winter, yet has the warmth of sitting by a fire, warming your hands against the flames in that same forest. It's very bright and loud when I first apply it and I can still smell it on my skin hours later, but only when I smell up close, as it does stay very close to the skin throughout its life.

Tamamo-no-Mae – This is an incredibly soft and subtle scent that sticks very close to my skin even when first applied. What I mostly smell is white tea and rice flower, and perhaps a hint of white sandalwood. I’m not familiar with some of the notes, so I’m not sure if I detect them or not! It’s sweet and almost milky in that rice sort of way. It’s clean and pretty, and perfect for the person who loves a pretty, soft, subtle, Asian scent. On me, the throw and staying power are both minimal. Sadly, it fades from my skin very quickly.

Swan Maiden – This is a lovely white floral. It’s mostly gardenia on me, which I normally wouldn’t care for, but the other florals, particularly the calla lily, soften it and make it just a hint powdery. I can’t smell the sandalwood at all, but I can feel it there, tempering the potential headiness of this blend, and keeping it grounded. It’s beautiful, feminine, mysterious, and lovely.

Old Moon - On my skin, this smells like really strong evergreen/pine notes. Very few of the plant notes in this blend ever even remotely work on my skin. However, in this blend, the strength of the deep green notes are tempered by the sweet florals and herbs that keep it from being overly pungent on me. Still, it's not my type of blend. Not all, but most of these evergreen/pine blends tend to smell like car freshener on me and sadly, this one leans to much in that direction for me to really enjoy it. Oh, I should add that even though this isn't really my cup o' tea, I think this would layer gorgeously with Villainess' Hoarfrost Whipped!

The Emathides – This is an ultra-sweet and sticky scent on me. The scent description doesn’t list anything remotely “foody”, but it’s a gooey, sticky, bakery scent on me, somewhat like Ventriloquist Dummy with more caramel than wood. I don’t smell the violet, lavender, musk, orchid, or rose. Rather, it’s all wood/resin notes and something incredibly gooey sweet, like caramel. It’s actually quite cloying on my skin, and were it just a tad bit less sticky sweet, is probably something I would enjoy, but it’s just too sweet for me. I’m really wondering what that sweetness is and am very curious why it smells like caramel or burnt sugar on me! Excellent throw and above-average staying power on my skin.

Midnight Kiss – This is dark and heavy, like coagulating blood under dark skies. It’s a very strong and sexy scent that I imagine can be worn easily by men and women alike. While I don’t normally like chocolate notes, the chocolate in this scent is unsweetened, and it blends amazingly well with the patchouli, amber, and red musk to create a scent that’s dark and almost depraved. It’s dark and heavy on me in the way that Trick #2 was dark and heavy, if you’re familiar with that scent. I really like it, but I think it’s a bit too heavy for me and not something I would find myself wearing regularly, although I do think it is an exquisite scent. The throw is moderate and the staying power is quite long.

Hone Mone – Why, oh why do honey notes so often have to smell like dirty diaper on me? I am so disappointed because even though honey doesn’t usually like my skin, the other notes in this blend sounded so delectable that I hoped it would work and smell very exotic and Middle Eastern. Sadly, the dirty diaper cent overwhelms every last note in this blend, with the exception of the warm, creamy tonka, but that doesn’t smell so good when surrounded by dirty diaper. What a sad day this is that my skin chemistry has to work so grotesquely with Hone Mone.

Vampire Tears – I distinctly smell the grapefruit, white ginger, and green tea, but there’s another odd scent that reminds me a lot of something that’s in MB: Bigger Critters – a jasminey, lemony, buttery-type scent. I can only figure it must be the jasmine and tonka blending together? I have no idea, but it’s definitely warm and creamy and foody underneath the brighter, crisper notes. This is a very straqnge scent on me. I can’t decide if it’s a floral, a citrus, or a bakery scent – I guess on me, it’s all three. It is a bit too cloying for my taste, but I really, really want to like it because it’s almost really unique and fascinating on me. The throw and staying power are both quite strong.

Fairy Wine – Like most wine scents, this turns on my skin to the scent of really strong cider, not wine. I was hoping the honey note would give this a mead-type scent, but my skin hates honey and once again, I get a dirty-diaper scent from the honey. Woodpecker cider and dirty diaper. It’s not my cup of tea, that’s for sure. What a drag skin chemistry is at times because I was really excited about this one and hoped against the odds that it would work on me.