March

Smells mostly like cedarwood to me, which I happen to love.

Smells warm and snuggly, though a little overbearing. Apart from the 'feel' of amber, I can't pick out any notes. It dries down to something that seems to be 'co-operating' with my own skin more than overwhelming it, and this stage is rather nice. On the whole, I think this is not really me, though.

Too floral for me! Unfortunately, I can't smell the darker notes, which makes the Ylang Ylang seem like it's the only thing there.

Yay, a floral I actually like! (As opposed to those that are merely bearable on me.) Violet, I presume, since all the other notes probably don't smell as sweet, is the main note I smell. It's flowery without being sharp or sticking in my nose, and it's very pleasant. I don't smell the mushroom gases or the swamp mist, but the hint of mint underneath the violet gives it a pinch of freshness. Very summery!

This is, unfortunately, the soapiest BPAL I've tried to date. I don't know what's in here, but my skin doesn't want to like it. Pity, because in the imp it smells like there are a host of other, beautiful notes that would shine if they'd just poke their heads out of the soap.

This is a rather bright and screechy scent for something described as 'dark.' Faint whiff of shoe-polish under a powdery flower base? My nose doesn't feel like making sense of this. Let's hope it's the hormones! *checks notes again* Oh, no. It's the rose. After mentally subtracting the black musk from the shoe-polish scent, the sour, sour, scent of roses who hate me remains. *sad*

Ooh, I like this one! Smells like incense fading on the wind, like you're trying to pinpoint the location of an old, buried Greek Orthodox church by following your nose! Very subdued, this scent, but very nice! I hope it holds its strength for a couple of hours.

Spider smells like a man's cologne to me, which is of course kind of a non-description. Not that I've tried many of these, but I think it's the aquatic character of the scent that evokes the comparison. Unfortunately, aquatic men's colognes are not really my thing, even though Spider has some grounding sweetness and a slightly tropical feel underneath the aquatic, so it's off to swaps.

This goes on a little foody, but then turns somewhat fresh yet resiny. Difficult to describe, really - Anubis doesn't really remind me of anything I know and the notes themselves are hard to distinguish. Verdict: kinda nice, will try again to see if I can understand it a bit better.

War has that 'thing' Shub-Niggurath also has that simply turns my stomach. I'm not sure what it is, the descriptions have ginger and spices in common but it doesn't say which. And, like Shub, if I suffer through the drydown phase I rather like it. But not enough. Luckily, Shub seems to be a very popular scent, so maybe I'll find lots of happy swappers for War as well!

Succubus is light and friendly and flowery (not floral!) on me. Pretty, but not necessarily 'me.' Turns kind of soapy on the drydown, like light scents tend to do on me. Will definitely test again on a nice summer evening, with a different hormonal status, though!

Usually I'm a fan of ambers. In Brisingamen, as in Black Forest, the fresh and sharp florals make the ambers feel dusty. Is this what people mean with 'smells like baby powder'? Because it doesn't really *smell* like baby powder, it *feels* like baby powder if you accidentally inhale it. And, in hindsight, amber always feels that way, it's just that it's not a problem - actually, it's a big advantage! - if it's mixed with similarly-feeling scents. So, unfortunately, this imp will go off to swaps.

One big part of my enjoyment of BPAL is testing different scents with only one note in common and figuring out what exactly that one note smells like. Kyoto told me 'so *that* is anise!' because of its overlap with Absinthe. Sadly, though, it's probably not for me. My hypersensitivity to scents that 'stick in your nose' strikes again! The drydown is pretty nice, but I'm not sure if it's worth the wait in getting there.

I COVETED this scent. It would be Loup Garou mixed with Czernobog or Iago or Haunted! However, now that I'm actually wearing it, my nose is not convinced. The light, bright, foresty scents have a completely different 'smell-texture' than the velvety musk and ambergris, and while it *smells* divine, it just feels strange in my nose. Oddly, Thanatopsis works fine for me, so it's probably the ambergris that makes this scent feel like breating deeply the invigorating scent of a pine forest when suddenly someone throws a handful of powdered milk in my face. I'll definitely revisit this scent, because I'm hoping that this is just an off nose-day.

Just for your information: I tend to liken all piney scents to Loup Garou, because that was the first BPAL pine I ever tried and I still (I tried 2 or 3 more) like it best. So far, Nocnitsa is what comes closest. It goes on a little more complex and earthy than Loup Garou, and on drydown it contains some faint traces of things I can't quite place, something floral perhaps. So far, I'm not quite sure that's actually an improvement, but I have an extremely low tolerance for florals. One thing that could get me to skew to the Nocnitsa camp, is its wearlength. If this actually lasts a few hours, that'd be a definite plus!