OdetteOdile

I wore this one a lot last summer. I smeared it on my wrists and hair and basked in the wafting orange-heliotrope sweetness. It developed into a dragon's blood wine scent, with dried fruit and a sweet chamomile base - lush in a sort of innocent, earthy way. It wore really well with heat and sweat of summer. (All hail BPAL in summer! )

C Rich, dark, burnt coffee - a bit sweet and toasted, like a coffee candle. Doesn't smell at all like O to me, but it does have a faint, fruity base, so maybe that's the O. A lot like Miskatonic University - there's also some sort of a wood note in it. I think I like it, although it's definitely more of a winter scent than a Spring one. I'm curious to see how it will age. The label is wonderful - Loki the trickster god, from an Arthur Rackham illustration, looking wicked and sly.

This was basically indistinguishable from Elegba on my skin, and since Elegba is one of my favorites, I didn't mind that at all. The eventual drydown was softer and maybe a bit less boozy than Elegba on me - which is a good thing if I want to wear it in the daytime. So far this line is living up to my best expectations of it - my skin loves the fruitiness, and the alcohol isn't overwhelming (at least not once it has a chance to dry down).

Golden rum, apricot liquor, pineapple, pomegranate, ginger, brandy, grapefruit, and pink lime. Wow. Almost immediately this turned into apricot central on my skin - ripe, dripping, fermenting apricots...fresh new apricot skin...and even some dried apricots scattered about. And under all that, a kind of fizziness. I like it, but I won't be slathering this one. A little goes a long, long way. If you prefer apricot notes to peaches, this is the one to try - there's no mistaking it. Eventually it dried down to a sweet, fruity fizz, like Yerevan and soda. My skin loves fruity scents, so this was a fun ride & I'm glad I got a bottle.

The high, crystalline scent of a star-filled night with blue lavender and lush magnolia. Intense lavender, which I like, but the magnolia didn't seem to blend with it at first. There was a sweetness that kept popping up and was a bit jarring. As other forum members have noted, crystalline is a perfect word for this. After a while, it reminded me of a sort of creamy, sweet, almost vanilla-tinged version of Blue moon. I'd been hoping the lavender would calm me before sleeping, but I had one of the most restless nights ever, so I won't be trying that again. However, there was a big bonus in the morning - I woke up to the MOST DELICIOUS, spicy, yummy scent imaginable. Apparently Yvaine just keeps getting better and better the longer you wear it. I think I'll try it in my hair next time (but during the day, only).

I think that's a good justification for retiring the "old lady perfume" description. I invite all perfume enthusiasts to find some new, imaginative terms/descriptions for the scents they now lump into that category. As someone on the second half of the journey to old ladyhood myself, I'm feeling inspired by tziporra to claim and celebrate the term "old lady perfume" the way I've seen my LGBT friends assert they are "dykes, damnit" and "Queer and Proud!"

I just love that. I also often see scents I love described as "old lady-ish." I'm a long time hater of CK1 type scents - the type that are often described as "youthful," but are usually just bland, with no depth, character or complexity at all. I love flowery musky rich retro scents. I have lovely associations with the way my grandmothers smell/smelled. I guess I just had much cleaner grandmothers than all those people using "old lady scents" as a derogatory description. (OK, that was snarky. ) I recommend Antique Lace. It's powdery, rich and sensual. Just completely lovely. Also, I haven't worn it in a while but I remember Brisingamen being quite rich and wonderful.

This is the strangest scent on me - in a good way. It's such a morpher that I can never remember what it smells like from one day to the next. I'll give the review a shot, but I'm a little confused, actually. It starts off decidedly aquatic with a little cedar. I was all ready to write it off (aquatic notes usually nauseate me). But then the cedar deepens, the watery note goes completely away, and about an hour later...what's this? The most beautiful tempered, spicy patchouli (not a bit ornery) comes waifting up. I couldn't even place it at first - was it my herbal tea? a scented candle I'd forgotten about? No - it was my arm. I can't stop smelling my arm. I asked a co-worker what it smelled like to him & he said "nice...it smells like powder" - but it doesn't smell like powder to me. It's a spicy, herbal skin scent, very responsive to body chemistry. I would bet this smells different on each person. It's...intriguing.

Another lovely, soon-to-be-discontinued Excolo oil. It starts off with somewhat jarring notes - the lemon balm and the red sandalwood go out on a date and they have nothing in common - they sit there and sort of nod politely to each other, waiting for it to be over. Which it is 20 minutes later when the myrrh outshines the lemon balm and starts making out with the red sandalwood. And then they have a cinnamon baby. (I think the Lupercalia update is getting to me.) So that's what I'm left with - a powdery soft, sweet & spicy cinnamon-scented note that just kind of gurgles at me with pleasure - no burning or bright red skin (probably because cinnamon isn't listed among the notes. A Mystery.)

The Giver of Pleasure, Euterpe is the Muse of Music and Lyric Poetry. She is Delight, and her name means “Rejoicing Well”. She is credited with inventing the aulos, and is most often depicted playing that double-flute. Her scent is the joy of performing, the euphoria in song, and the passion inspired by all music: carnation and white poppy, honeysuckle, lemon, iris and white musk. I really like this one. Maybe it's because my imp has been aging for a while and this one ages well, but I find it feminine, spicy and sensual. The carnation reminds me of a feminine Morocco, the powdery note reminds me of Antique Lace, and there's even a casual glance at that sexy note in Perversion that always reminds me of vintage 1960s dark musk (mostly in the first half hour). If you like those three scents a lot, you might enjoy Euterpe. Small disclaimer because I know people are checking out the soon-to-be-discontinued reviews. My Euterpe imp is almost 2 years old. Many of the previous reviews sound like a completely different scent to me. (Cold? mint? soapy? Huh?) I can't promise you'll get Morocco-Antique Lace-Perversion too, but I've tried my imp twice & that's what I get - honest.

Another winner from the Carousel. This is foody with an edge. Sweet and vaguely fruity, but with an uncompromising unisex note lurking under the surface. It smells like a tropical version of Dorian. I kept flashing on the movie Black Orpheus - heat, dance, bossa nova and tragedy. It lasted all day, and by mid-afternoon it had turned into a vanilla pudding smell on my skin. - but by that I mean vanilla pudding made with real vanilla and fresh sugar cane.

This is wonderful - lush, sweet, and oh boy, is it strong. It went through three distinct stages on my skin. First fig - lots and lots of fig. Smelled sort of like a super-amped version of Eden. Then it folded itself into powder - a really strongly feminine powder smell with a base note of figs to keep it decadent. Finally, about an hour later, it had faded into a gorgeous but subtle milk chocolate. Verdict: like Eden + Antique Lace with a side order of Bliss.

Sadly, I belong to the Big Red gum group. This note has showed up in other BPAL scents & it never works on me. It smells like green-tinged Big Red - grassy cinnamon bubble gum. Ah well..more time to enjoy Al-Araaf, I guess.

No evergreen on me but lots of resin, sweetish wax, clean woodiness (is that the rosewood?), powder, something faintly floral...but it’s not turning into roses on me. This is a real morpher. It keeps getting nicer and spicier - dry, dark baking spices (without the sugar.) It has the ghost of the note that made Carnivale turn so bad on my skin - that dead vegetation note - but in this it’s just subdued enough to work. In fact, it’s part of what’s great about this scent. There’s something in it that comes across as a hint of sexual rankness and perversity underpinning seduction - innocence twisted and defiled. (Which exactly matches my memory of the compelling, disturbing scene in the 1995 movie when Richard seduces Lady Anne.) I keep inhaling it deeply from my arm because when I do that, I get hints of the ephemeral notes that create the overall balance. There is exactly enough of everything in it. It skirts the edge of being rank on me and turns sexy and lush instead, while still retaining something dangerous. (Very much like having a strong pheromone attraction to someone you know would be bad for you.) I won't be wearing this at work - it would be too distracting.

Chaos Theory III - CCCXXVI Pure, heavy, lush roses. Emphatically not roses from a store - this is cabbage-large roses out in a field. It's saturated with fruit notes - something jucy and tangy - mangos, maybe, and very ripe nectarines. I'm not always partial to roses, but this perfume evokes late summer in the country so powerfully, I want to bathe in it and then go out and fall asleep in a field somewhere and just evaporate into summer. This is the scent of roses growing on the thorn barrier surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle. Soporific, utterly voluptuous, narcotic roses. (I think I just found my scent for August.)