edenssixthday

Bengal is a really spicy scent. Initially, it smells like spicy, spicy tea, but as it dries down, the tea scent fades, and it just smells like spices. There’s almost an emptiness to the scent in that all I smell are spices over… nothing. I feel like there is something missing, something the spices should be attaching themselves to and interacting with. It’s a very “empty” scent to me, despite the abundance of fragrant spices. I believe this scent would layer well with something that needs a little kick (I’m going to try it with Rage first), but doesn’t have legs to stand on when it’s on its own.

Paris - wet in the bottle, this smells like pure lavender. I don't care for most of BPAL's lavender oils, but I wanted to try Paris because it's one of my favorite European cities. As the oil dries down, the lavender fades, and is completely gone after about 7-10 minutes at the point of complete dry-down. I was really surprised by the scents that I began to pick up from my arm after this dry-down point. What is that? Incense? No, wait... clove? No. Maybe it's... nutmeg? Yeah, I think it's nutmeg! No, now it smells like incense again! I have no idea what "spice" is in this, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a drop of incense, nutmeg and clove in it. This blend is actually not reminiscent of Paris in the least prior to dry-down, but as soon as I pick up that warm incense scent combined with the lovely, soft and sweet lotus, I'm immediately whisked to a memory of first stepping into Notre Dame Cathedral, and I couldn't get that image out of my mind. This is also a good scent for work, as it stays very, very close to my skin, but if anyone got close enough to smell me, I think they'd probably just say I smell "pretty". Initially, when I first smelled the lavender, I thought this was going in the swap pile, but I think I might keep it after all. At least for a while until I am 100% certain that I want to give it up.

Morocco is love at first sniff. It’s simultaneously sweet and spicy, floral and musky. It’s strongest when first applied, and after it dries, it definitely mellows, but that’s when the warm, dry scent of the sandalwood becomes noticeable and smooths out some of the spiciness, making the scent more subtle than it is initially. This is an amazing scent, and as with most BPAL sandalwood scents, it lasts and lasts on my wrists – including through several hand-washes. The throw is light to moderate, although initially it’s very strong due to the spices. This is gorgeous. I’m going to make sure this imp doesn’t slip through my hands. I’m keeping it all for myself!

Athens - In the vial, this smells warm and exotic. As soon as it touches my skin, it gets unbearably sweet, and it’s instantly obvious that this is a honey/wine combo gone awry. It’s simply ghastly on my skin. I check the scent description, and sure enough, not only does it have honey and wine, but myrrh, which I think is the final touch in making this scent completely unwearable on my skin. Now, I have no problem with sweet scents, but this is a cacophony of dark sweetness that seems chaotic and jumbled up. It doesn’t seem to blend well at all. It does have phenomenal staying power, however.

Danube is highly aquatic and the florals in it are heavy and strong. It’s not what I’d call a “pretty” floral at all – the florals are bitter and heady. The scent has terrific throw initially, while the florals still dominate the scent, but the fragrance becomes fairly subtle after about an hour, when the florals move into the background and the aquatic notes begin to dominate. This scent is a bit too strong and bitter for my taste.

Tenochtitlan - In the vial, this is a beautiful, warm and floral blend. On my skin, it lightens up significantly and becomes fairly subtle, but when I sniff it up close after dry-down, it is distinctly herbal and spicy and the floral notes have disappeared. It’s a really nice, warm, and very unique blend, but doesn’t show up well on my skin. I’m hoping it does better in a scent locket, and if that’s the case, I can see myself wearing it often.

Bayou is one of the few aquatics I like. It smells just like a bayou, too -- warm, slow-moving water full of swamp flowers, algae, moss, and so on. It reminds me of a day when 20 years ago when my family spent a day at Jean Lafitte park in Louisiana, and our feet slipped on slimy wet leaves, and scads of salamanders would run away from us as we came close to them, and the air was thick with humidity and the heaviness of swamp flowers and wet-plant scents. I am not only going to wear this more, but I'm going to give some to my sister, who will, I believe, be whisked back in time alongside me. When I wear this, I really miss the bayou and want to return.

Florence is one of the few iris scents I can wear and enjoy. This is a gorgeous scent – a warm fruity-floral with just a hint of spice. The berry scent has an almost wine quality to it. I get really nice wafts of this fragrance as I wear it, although the throw does become a bit more subdued with time. As with the majority of the Wanderlust line, I really like this particular blend.

The Hamptons - This is such an incredibly yummy scent! It smells exactly like a cosmo – orange, cranberry and even a touch of juniper gin, which in this case, I actually like (I don’t normally care for juniper). Incredibly fruity, refreshing and invigorating, this is a really nice blend. I am going to be very tempted to buy a full bottle of this!

Baghdad - Wow, this is spicy! I don’t see cinnamon in the scent description, but I can hardly believe there isn’t any in here from 1) the strong scent of cinnamon, and 2) the way it lightly burns my wrist, which only cinnamon does. This is a warm scent, full of amber and Eastern spices. I distinctly smell the mandarin, but I can’t ever catch it on purpose. If I sniff up close to my wrist, the mandarin disappears. She comes out only when I’m not paying attention, and playfully wafts past my nose, tweaking it on her way, and then disappearing again. What a phenomenal scent! About 2 hours after applying, the spicy cinnamon scent has completely faded, leaving behind a soft and warm scent that is almost foody in that it’s warm and savory. Perhaps that is the combo of the saffron and mandarin? It’s hard to say. The blend has faded completely at the 3 hour point. This is a really fun blend and I just love how it plays tricks with my nose. Fantastic!

Eden is a really pretty blend, but very sweet. The coconut and honey together make it just way too sweet for my preference. I did, however, find myself constantly sniffing my wrists when I wore it because despite being overly sweet, underneath that sweetness was a beautiful blend of savory fig (one of my favorite fruits and favorite notes) and wood that would have blended just perfectly with either the coconut or the honey, but not with both – it was just too milky sweet. I know many people love this, so I’m sorry I couldn’t enjoy it, as well. It doesn’t have the best throw on me, but it did last for several hours before it faded.

Shanghai - This is going to be a very short review because it smells like armpit-scented tea, and that's really all I've got to say about that.

Sybaris is a deep and dark scent. The violet is present, but faint, as it’s completely encased by tons of spices and tonka, which makes it smell sweet (along with the clove) and herbal. At times, the spices jump out and are sharp and biting, but then they recede to swirl around the violet making it deep and dark and pretty. This blend has an immense level of throw and the tiniest drop seems to do the job. It has moderate lasting power – the blend lasts only about 90 minutes on me, although I can still detect the clove for another 30-45 minutes after that.

When I opened the bottle, I was almost overwhelmed by the almondy sweetness of Port-au-Prince. Now, I normally don't want anything to do with anything scented or flavored with almond. But there was just something about it that made me want to try it on my skin. As soon as it touched my skin, the spicyness of the various notes rose into predominance and the sweet almond scent wasn't nearly as overwhelming. The clove and sassafras (and I'm positive cinnamon and pepper?!) combined with the light butter rum and almond sweetness makes me think of Christmas in the Islands. Carribean Island, that is. This scent really surprises me because I can't usually wear most of the notes in it, but somehow, it is really beautiful on me, and I find it incredibly enticing. I love how BPAL often surprises me like that! I will be back for more!

I love Prague! I love it love it love it! The first time I tried it, I was instantly mesmerized by it. I had never smelled crocus in a vial before, and combine that with the lily, and it was so smooth and soft and sweet and pretty! I’m not sure what Beth uses for the “snowdrop” note, but it’s sweet and juicy and vibrant. When I’m OTR, it takes on a strange piney scent, however, and smells like Voodoo, which isn’t a good thing on me. But the other three weeks of the month, it’s just such a pretty fruity-floral and one that I doubt I’ll ever get tired of.

The Hanging Gardens was one of the first BPAL scents I ever tried. I liked it so much that I used up the entire imp – it was the first full imp I ever used up. The pomegranate, plum, plumeria, gardenia and rose were the strongest notes, blending together to create a gorgeous fruity-floral that was right up my alley. The fir note was the only detractor from this scent, and probably the only reason that I didn’t order more when I’d emptied my imp, because I dislike fir immensely, and that one little note was enough to keep me from buying a full bottle of The Hanging Gardens. I fully intend to buy another imp of it now that I’ve tried so many additional BPAL scents and see what I think of it now that my nose is a bit more refined than it was when I was initially wearing The Hanging Gardens.

Neo-Tokyo is a really fascinating scent. It’s incredibly light on my skin, and it’s hard to distinguish any of the notes. It’s cool and crisp, and pretty. It’s lightly floral and has a touch of something that’s not tea, but smells similar to tea – perhaps that’s the bamboo in the blend? It also has a very faint touch of sweetness in the background that smells like plum or perhaps even starfruit. It’s a beautiful blend. It’s much lighter on my skin than it is in the vial, and lasts for less than 2 hours until it’s entirely gone. I will be trying this one in a scent locket to see if the scent lasts longer. It’s really pretty.

Tombstone - The first note I detect is vanilla followed almost instantaneously by the scent of harsh, dry wood. Cedar and I have never gotten along, and this isn't any exception. This scent is a paradox to my senses, on the one hand being warm and sweet (vanilla and sassafras), which are the only notes I smell wafting about me. On the other hand, it is dry, acrid, arid, and woody (balsam and cedar), which are the only notes I smell when I sniff my skin up close. After about 30 minutes, I realize the vanilla, sassafras, and the woods are blending in a way that makes me almost think of leather and/or the inside of a barn. In fact, oddly enough, it shares some qualities to Dead Man's Hand, but I can't figure out how/why since they don't share any notes. DMH is leather and dust, and Tombstone is more outdoors scents. Either way, they are both highly evocative of the Old West. The throw is pretty strong -- I wouldn't go overboard with this one! The staying power is about 4 hours on my skin, although after the 2 hour point, the vanilla has completely dissipated and all that's left is the dry scent of wood. This scent is so perfectly named -- I definitely see the association between "tombstone", "the Oild West", and this perfume oil blend. It's not a scent for me, but since I live in a state full of cowboys, I imagine quite a few cowboy types could pull this scent off wonderfully. It was meant to be worn by a man who is wearing a cowboy shirt, cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and who is most likely chewing on a piece of hay.

Manila - Oh, this is a really fun scent! It’s fresh and tropical and has a depth that I am guessing is attributed by all the greenery in it. There is the distinct scent of bananas – but we’re not talking artificial Jolly Rancher banana, we’re talking real, genuine, fresh banana off the tree in a giant bunch, unpeeled, leaves, branch and all. It’s a gorgeous scent with a moderate level of throw and I believe I’m going to find myself wearing it often in the summer. I can’t really see wearing it in the winter at all.

Silk Road - This is my favorite orange spice black tea -- through and through. It smells exactly like it. I love making sun tea out of this particular tea blend, then serving it over ice with a bit of sugar to sweeten it. It's the perfect refreshing and sultry hot-afternoon iced tea blend. And that's exactly what silk road smells like. I don't like it as a skin scent, however. I will try it as a room fragrance. I think it will work so much better that way. And I really can't wait for my entire home to smell like this. Such a wonderful scent that carries so many memories for me.

Crossroads - This is a scent that I wouldn't normally wear. It was thrown in as a frimp by the Lab. Wet, it smells of dusty dirt and dead weeds. I really, really disliked it for the first 30 minutes I wore it. Then it mellowed out and now, about 3 hours later, it's really nice and doesn't smell of dirt, but of fresh herbs, and the tiniest hint of jasmine. Jasmine usually takes on a life of its own when it touches my skin and becomes completely overwhelming, but the jasmine in this is just the perfect amount that I can enjoy it without it consuming my life! While I don't plan to wear this again, I think this is a scent my sister would adore. I'm going to give her the rest of this frimp and see what she thinks of it.

Delphi - Oh. From the first time I open the vial, I can instantly tell this one is not for me. The powerful and cloyingly sweet scent of grapes bursts out of the imp, doing some thankfully non-permanent damage to my nose. The scent reminds me instantly of Tum in it’s cloying, sweet “grapeness” and in the way it makes me recoil. Apparently I’m a glutton for punishment, because even though I find the scent completely unworthy of my skin, it’s still BPAL, which means I have to give it a test run. Sure enough, it does the same thing on my skin – turns to overly-ripe, fermented grapes. I’m guessing that’s the “honey wine” smell the scent is supposed to have. On me, it’s just fermented grapes. As the scent dries down, I can detect the tiniest touch of incense beneath the fermented grape smell, but it doesn’t improve the scent in the least. Turns out this is one of the few BPAL blends I just can’t keep on my skin, and I have to wash it off. Fortunately, as I’m moving around doing things, I don’t smell it. I really only smell it when I purposefully try to smell it on my skin. To the swap pile!

Whitechapel - I must be insane to have put Whitechapel toward the end of my GC list. It is simply stunning. I’d heard it’s one of the best lilac blends out there, so when I tried it on, I fully expected to smell lilac; however, the very first scent I noticed was lime -- lots and lots of bright, sparkly, crisp lime and in the background, a bit of lilac. I dabbed a bit on my wrists and went for a walk outside and as I walked, I could smell the scent wafting all about me. As it dried down, the beautiful soft scent of lilac became more noticeable and the lime dissipated a bit. Despite having such great throw initially, as it dried, the level of throw decreased, and 40 minutes after I applied, I couldn’t even smell the scent when sniffing my skin up close. It’s a lovely, bright scent full of late spring sunshine and I’m going to figure out a way to wear it if it kills me – I’ll be pulling my scent locket out for this one.

Litha - Oh, oh, oooooh!!!! I have a new love! Imagine a mixture of 50% Mabon, 25% Arkham Revisited, and 25% pure honey mead sunshine and you have Litha. It is gorgeous. It’s slightly spicy (carnation) and that spice blends with some of the other notes to give it an almost-autumnal feel to it, yet it doesn't make me think of autumn because it's so full of sun and light and everything wonderful about Litha. I was so worried this wouldn't work for me, as honey notes rarely do (although I love to drink honey mead - yum!). I really wanted this blend to work for me since I was married on Litha, and I’m positively thrilled that I bought two bottles. The honey doesn't turn on me and blends perfectly with the other notes. It’s stunning and will be worn a lot this summer. The throw is a little lighter than average on me, and it has really good staying power.

Pride - I usually adore BPAL's rose scents, but Pride is nothing to write home about. The rose smells cheap and artificial. It's doesn't come across as true and lovely as most of the other BPAL roses I've encountered. I'm very disappointed. The narcissus makes this way too heady and overpowering. Points for its throw and staying power, but still: two thumbs down.