edenssixthday

Aureus is almost entirely patchouli on my skin with the tiniest hint of amber. It’s a dry and musty smell and the scent suddenly whisked me back in time to a memory from 30 years ago, when I stepped into the cabin of a sailboat for the very first time. This particular boat hadn’t been used in a long time and the cabin was full of dust, cobwebs, and a multitude of daddy long-longs. Once we got the cabin aired out, cleaned out, and out on the open waters, the smell was gone, but in Aureus’ case, the smell lingers and doesn’t go away, even through multiple washings. Even after attempts to wash it off, it still has moderate throw and lasts for hours and hours. Definitely not a scent for someone who doesn’t care much for patchouli.

Scherezade - Deep and resinous, scherezade is an absolutely gorgeous scent. I was instantly impressed with the notion that this was amber and musk and vanilla, but upon drydown, I was positive I smelled a drop of Dragon’s Blood, but perhaps that’s the saffron note. This distinctly reminds me of a cross between Snake Oil and Blood Amber and it’s very exotic and beautiful. I’m looking forward to using it more and to trying fun ways of layering it. Excellent staying power.

Wilde - When I first apply Wilde, it smells like an absolutely gorgeous, perfumey floral. Upon dry-down, however, the sharpness of the tonka bean stands out and initially tricks me into thinking it is clove. Many of the notes are completely unnoticeable on my skin, namely those that usually stand out – sandalwood, lavender, and jasmine (YES! Another jasmine that works on me!) This is a beautiful blend, and I think it would work nicely on my husband, as well.

Black Pearl is a really pretty semi-tropical scent. I say “semi” because it’s got a strong tropical scent from the coconut, but the iris, hazelnut, and musk keep it from being fully tropical. It’s a beautiful scent and I was surprised at how much I like it, considering that I can’t usually wear iris and strongly dislike hazelnut in fragrances. However, this blend is very pretty and calming. It reminds me of a walking along a beach at night. Sadly, it has virtually no throw, and is so light that I can only smell it when I press my nose against my skin. Perhaps it’ll work better in a scent locket. After 2.5 hours, the scent is almost entirely indiscernible, and at the 3 hour point, it’s faded entirely.

Ode on Melacholy is soft, subtle and completely unimpressive. It’s so soft that immediately after applying, it has the strength that most BPALs have on me after about 4 hours – which is virtually none. The only real scent I picked up was musky B.O., and I know that wasn’t me because I had just come out of the shower and was smelling sweet and clean prior to putting on this scent. My first round of testing was so underwhelming that I won’t even put this in the pile to try out again. It’s a definite swapper.

Saint Germain is a very brown and earthy scent. The carnation scent is very strong, as is the amber and the moss. Unfortunately, I don’t really care for most moss scents. This is a favorite of one of my friends, who is the one who gave this to me. I think I’ll pass it back to her so I know it goes to someone who loves it since I won’t be wearing it again. Light level of throw and poor staying power.

The Black Tower - sniffed wet in the vial, this smelled spicy, exotic, and incredibly sexy. I just had to try it. Unfortunately, as soon as it dries down on my skin, it becomes predominantly leather with the scent of something that resembles fermented burnt rubber. It doesn’t appeal to me in the least. I am surprised this is a gender neutral scent, as it’s very masculine on me, and I would imagine that sans the chemistry that causes the fermented burnt rubber scent, this would smell fabulous on a man, but I can’t imagine what kind of woman could pull off this blend. I wish it smelled as gorgeous on my skin as it does wet in the vial. It had good throw and phenomenal staying power.

Penny Dreadful smells like autumn leaves. For the first hour or so that it was on my skin, I kept having memories of being a kid, jumping in the piles of leaves that were raked up in the backyard – and then having to rake them back into piles after I’d messed them up! It’s a dry, autumnal scent, full of leaves and a touch of damp soil. After about 90 minutes, the scent becomes fades a bit, but also becomes slightly sweet – the sweetness of fresh air and autumn leaves. While the scent brings back childhood memories, I don’t care for it as a perfume, although I like it much more after it gains that soft, sweet note after it’s been on my skin for a while. The scent sticks fairly close to my skin, and even closer after about two hours, but it lasts and lasts, and even after washing with soap, the scent lingers. I imagine that someone who enjoys wearing earthy scents would really enjoy this one.

Tushnamatay - I don't know why I waited to try this one! I guess I just had no idea how good it was going to be. This is a foody scent without being traditionally foody. The dominant note on my skin is most definitely vanilla, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a tiny touch of milk chocolate in the blend, as well. Underneath the golden vanilla is the lovely scent of sandalwood incense. This is such a calming scent, so beautiful and serene. It has a lovely level of throw, and I catch wafts of it as I go about my day. The lasting power is pretty good, but the vanilla fades long before the sandalwood (sandalwood always lasts long on my skin). Fabulous scent and it may very well go on my list of bottles to buy.

Black Opal - Wow! I have no idea what is in this one, but it’s simply stunning! It’s subtle, and has the comforting smoothness of vanilla, and contains the tiniest pinch of something sweet. It’s a gorgeous, soft scent that seems very pale and appears to stay close to the skin, but then as I’m going about my day, I suddenly realize that my entire being is surrounded by the light wafting of this sweet and creamy scent. Over time, the scent deepens, as well, and isn’t as sugary-sweet, but has a deeper, creamier aspect to the sweetness. This is gorgeous. I had no idea a BPAL like this existed! I’m adding it to my list of 5 mls to purchase.

Sleek, dark, and ominous. Violet and neroli mingled with iris, white sandalwood and dark musk. The Raven - Wow, another violet blend! Yippee! I just adore violets, and I can't get enough of BPAL's pretty blends with violet in them. Violet is definitely the dominant note in this, and it's incredibly dark and deep. The violet swirls on a river of dark musk, and the other notes are barely discernible. I love this scent. It is deep, dark, mysterious, and really, really pretty. Great level of throw but moderate staying power -- it starts to fade before even an hour has passed.

Juke Joint initially smells like hay and reminds me of my mother's barn. After dry-down, however, the hay smell turns into something that's sweet and slightly arid. At about the 2-1/2 hour point, the tiniest pinch of mint peeks through. This is the first BPAL scent in which I can honestly say I don't mind the mint in it. I merely tolerate the mint in some of my other favorite BPAL scents (e.g., Spooky). In this case, I enjoy it and think it adds to the overall blend. It begins to fade at about the 3 hour point. It doesn't have much throw even when freshly applied. It's certainly not a bad scent, but not one that's really up my alley, and I doubt I'll try it again.

Dee is predominantly rosewood and tonka on my skin and is very, very masculine. It has a moderate level of throw and really good staying power. When I find a scent I like that I think would smell better on a man than on me, I pass it off to my husband, but I passed this one to another friend who wanted it because it was just too strong for me. The rosewood, in particular, dominated most of the other notes and well, it’s just not a scent I care for too much. I think I’d love to be in a room that smelled like this, if the ambiance was right (antique, intellectual, a little dark), but otherwise, the scent is really not for me at all.

Incantation - Look at the description – this blend is chock full of notes that I can’t stand: vetiver, dark woods, burnt sandalwood. It just sounds horrible for a girl whose favorite scents are fruity-florals, “pink” scents, and light ambers. However, this blend is so surprisingly and incredibly fantastic that I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrist the entire first time I wore it. It’s dark and mysterious, but the sharpness of the dark notes is blunted by the bright, crisp lemon rind. The juxtaposition of the lemon rind with those dark, smoky scents is brilliant. I would have never thought they’d make such a gorgeous blend. This blend stays moderately close to the skin, but it has really good staying power. Just a top-notch oil blend. I don’t buy many bottles of GC blends, but this may be one I have to have.

Blood Kiss - Boozy boozy boozy! The wine in Blood Kiss stands out above all the other scents. It smells incredibly like Madrid on me. I don't get any of the cherry, dragon's blood, etc. This is all red wine and clove on my skin. I only like wine scents on occasion and prefer Madrid, so I'll be swapping this imp away. However, it has an incredible amount of throw and the staying power is phenomenal (8+ hours), which I wish I could say about many of the other BPAL scents that I like more than this. So kudos to Beth on those aspects of this particular scent.

Belle Epoque is full of scents that I love and one that I don't usually care for. Fortunately, the seductive scent of opium and the serene scent of lily offset the red sandalwood and manage to tone it down, leaving little trace of it but the slightest red bit of spice. The vanilla swirls through the blend, smoothing it out, and the mandarin compliments the spicyness of the red sandalwood perfectly and serves to brighten up the scent just a touch. It's a gorgeous blend, very complex, but unfortunately, upon drydown, the scent almost completely disappears on my skin. It's modicum of throw matches perfectly its poor staying power. I may try it in a scent locket because it is such a pretty scent and I'm not quite ready to give up trying with it.

Chimera – Now this is a BPAL that will put hair on your chest! Cinnamon Play-Doh. Ick. And it burns my skin. Not only that, but it has the most incredible throw and no amount of time makes the scent go away! I tried it both in my hair and in a scent locket, and it doesn't smell any better than it does on my skin.

Swank - I was anticipating that Swank would have the artificial cough-syrup scent that Bordello has, but no, it's a lovely fruit scent and is light and crisp and has none of the artificial syrupy sweetness that so many fruit scents take on. The vodka scent gives the pomegranate a little crisp kick, so that overall, Swank is a really fun and lively fragrance. If I use my Origins Pomegranate Wash in the shower and then layer with Swank afterward, it lasts even longer, and I smell soooo good! It's one of my favorite BPAL fruit scents. Unfortunately, it doesn't last very long on my skin. I've heard that Swank layers phenomenally well with Bliss, and I'll be trying that combo one of these days very soon.

Ouija - What a pretty scent! It’s very soft and floral, and fortunately (for me) the wood notes stay in the background. They are present, but only emphasize the ethereal beauty of the lilac and roses. When I wear this, I can’t help but think of Mrs. Bess Houdini sitting around the table with the medium, hoping that her beloved Harry Houdini would speak to her from beyond, whispering their secret code so she would know it was him. It’s definitely a spooky but beautiful and romantic scent. I love it!

Cathode - in the vial, it smells of moss. The instant it touches my skin, the moss disappears, and it’s a light mint scent and smells slightly metallic, as well. The metallic scent fades quickly, and the mint lightens up even more as the oil dries. Upon full dry-down, the oakmoss moves to the forefront. It’s a strangely likeable scent, considering I rarely enjoy moss, oakmoss, or mint. I don’t know if it’s likeable enough to keep when there are so many other scents I like more, but I’m pleasantly surprised by this scent and by the fact that it’s actually not bad on me. Unfortunately, it has virtually no throw, and its staying power is low to moderate.

Grand Guignol - This is a very strong apricot blend. The scent description says “apricot brandy”, but I don’t smell the brandy part. I smell something that reminds me of paint thinner, which means this smells like Apricot Paint Thinner. As much as I love apricot, this one’s not going to work for me. Great throw, but poor staying power. It evaporates off my skin within 30 minutes.

Lurid smells nothing on me like it does wet in the vial or compared to what I expected from the description. In the vial, it's deep, rich, and resinous. When I applied it to my skin, it was initially deep, rich, and resinous, but it dried down to a soft and sweet floral. The lavendar note doesn't stand out on me like BPAL lavendar usually does, and this is one BPAL lavendar I can say I really, really like. The scent reminds me of a Bath & Body Works scent, but I can't figure out which one and it's frustrating me to no end because whichever one it is, it would layer really well with Lurid! This has a really nice amount of throw. It's not overpowering, and it's soft, so I occasionally catch a waft of it and think, "Wow, something smells really pretty around here!" and as always, am thrilled to realize that it's me that smells so pretty! Most BPAL oils disappear on me fairly quickly, but I continue to get throw from Lurid a good 4 hours after applying, and can still faintly smell it on my skin at the 8 hour point. This is a definite winner in my book!

Morgause - I have a feeling that one of the "night-blooming flowers" in this blend is night-blooming jasmine, because something very jasmine-like overwhelms the other notes in this scent, with the exception of the spicy incense. If I hadn't read the Lab description, I would guess this is a jasmine and incense blend and would have no idea other notes were included. I'm disappointed, as there is violet in this, and I usually adore violet. After dry-down, I can occasionally catch the violet trying to poke through the thick, heady jasmine scent, but it never quite breaks through. Despite the jasmine amping up on my skin (as jasmine tends to do) I'm still strangely drawn to this scent, and I'm going to try it in a scent locket and see if I have better luck with it that way. Great throw (you only need a little bit) and good staying power.

Antique Lace - Sniffed wet in the bottle, Antique Lace didn't really impress me. But the moment it touched my skin, WOWEE ZOWEE is all I can say! This is a stunningly gorgeous scent! Gorgeous enough that I tracked down a full bottle. It's not only a scent I love on myself, but I think I'd love it on my husband, as well. On my skin, it's very much a creamy golden vanilla -- reminds me to no end of Hanae Mori. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. As soon as I realized how much I love it, I slathered it all over my wrists, neck, chest, and hair. While it has excellent throw when freshly applied, once it's dried down, it sticks close to my skin and the staying power is so poor that I have to reapply every 45 minutes or so.

Hymn to Proserpine - This is a strange scent on me. It’s a lovely, warm amber mixed with deep, dark fruits, but has an “after-scent” that smells like rancid berries on my skin. As it dries down, the scent of spoiled fruit dissipates significantly, but it’s still there right beneath the lovely amber glow. I usually light fruity scents, especially the dark fruits, but this one is simultaneously way too bitter and overly-sweet (i.e., rancid). I hope this works for the next person I’m passing it on to.