OdetteOdile

Eden Strong, sweet, sharp and very familiar. The coconut is dominating, but competing with the fig and almond milk. This is such an odd and interesting combination. I expected it to be smooth and milky, and instead the fig leaf keeps jumping out and whacking me. I didn't expect this to be so green - but it really is. I like it - and I don't know what to make of it. This is such a strong coconut, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better on a guy. Wow, I just figured out why it smells familiar. This smells to me just like a sweet, coconuty version of Samhain! I went back to my bottle of Samhain just to be sure and - yup - that's it. I know there's nothing in the descriptions that make those two sound connected, but I swear I'm smelling coconut-enhanced Samhain. (I'd be really curious to hear if anyone else gets that, or if it's just my skin chemistry.)

Tenochtitlan Opening - Green amber. Watery, tart, sweet and fruity. I haven't spent much time in the southwest, and I'm not familiar with the smells of indigenous plants there, but I can easily imagine this smelling of them. I also get some bubblegum, but it's not too strong or unbalancing. 1 hour later - a strong fruity drink, with a green base and bubblegum in the background, like a 'tween travelling with her parents in Mexico or Arizona. I can imagine there being cactus juice in this. I'd actually like to see how this smelled while I was at a good Mexican restaurant. I think it would be a good counterpoint fragrance.

Neo-Tokyo Cold, green and light. I'm getting the Bamboo. And sour fruit. There's a lightening storm freshness to this, a Spring rainshower. The ozone isn't dominant (which I'm grateful for). I'm not getting any floral. It just manages to avoid being a room deodorizer scent - it smells too organic for that. It also just avoids soapiness. This is one of the BPAL fragrances that is the perfect realization of the name and concept. It makes me long even more to visit Japan (and I was already longing pretty enthusuastically). I usually go for heavy, spicy, foody scents - but there are a few light & clean ones I enjoy occasionally, and I think I'm adding this to the list. I keep seeing bright sunlight-after-a-Spring-rainshower, which is one of my favorite times & moods.

Prague Floral. Watery and slightly fruity. It smells a bit like one of the winter LE scents - like a Spring cousin of Skadi. There's a slight pine-y-ness to it, but it's a sweet, fruity pine (my thanks to the previous reviewers who identified the pine note - I was having trouble putting my finger on it). This scent evokes an unusually cold morning in April. Easter service in a very formal church with grand, elaborate white flower arrangements and everyone wearing restrained, pale-colored wool and silk clothing. There's a promise of Spring in it, but if you look out the window, everything still looks slightly wintery - there are tiny tips of bright green on the edges of the trees, but the landscape is still covered in smoky browns and grays.

Gomorrah The description made me nervous (I imagined a sort of fruity brimstone) - but this turned out to be the seductive, sensual side of Gomorrah - hedonism parading itself around proudly. What I smell most is the current - black current, tart and lovely - with a nice juicy base of fig. There's a sort of wine undertone that likes my skin. I'm not smelling any grit - this might be seconds before Gomorrah's destruction, when the city swelled with power and self- congratulatory pomp. 1 hour later - smokiness emerging - like the first hints of chaos to come. Now I'm getting, ever so faintly, that promised grittiness. Definitely a dark scent. 3 hours later - grittiness took over. Grit, smoke and wine. It's got a bit of brimstone in it, but not overpoweringly.

New Orleans 1st hour - A combination of heavy, sensual, sweet flowers with bright, friendly mint (evokes Sophia Loren in a blue and white sundress, or possibly a sailor top.) 2 hours later - the mint finally faded and now this lady's true, unabashedly sensual nature is in full control. Now it's mostly jasmine - but a very nice, non-cloying jasmine - very much the scent of high summer in the deep south. This is one of my favorites of the strong jasmine BPAL scents. (It's amazing how different the different jasmines can be.) Edited to say I'm aware that mint wasn't listed in the description, but I swear I smelled mint, and lots of it. In fact, mint keeps showing up on my skin in blends that don't apparently contain mint (what's up with that? I don't think I smell of mint naturally.)

Santo Domingo Jelly and jam. Not berry jelly - marmalade & lemon jelly, mixed with ...sweet cigar smoke...and powder. Lots of powder. The powder kind of throws the whole thing off-balance for me. (I think my skin amplifies powder notes - if it's too strong, the powder overwhelms everything else.) Eventually a green note began to surface, & then mostly disappeared. There were some sort of rich florals fighting their way towards the top (unsuccessfully.) I'm sorry this didn't work better on my skin, but I have to admit that reading the reviews about how similar this is to Formula 54 has made me feel less bad about not getting 54. Can't love them all. Edited to say that two hours later, the hand with Santo Domingo on it smelled really strongly and distractingly of cigarette smoke. And I mean exactly like cigarette smoke. The powder is all gone, though. ...OK, to be absolutely honest, this actually smells like a sexy guy who smokes but is also really clean and well-groomed. It's not stale cigarette smoke, it's cigarettes with sexy, sweet, male skin smell - and a fresh, expensive suit. An Armani-wearing smoker. ...actually, this one is a bit of a turn-on, now that I think about it.

Moscow Initial impression: Oh boy, jasmine alert. Feral flowers all over my arm - how I wish I'd saved this for the weekend. There's something very familiar in this, a scent that makes the back of my nose contract - sort of woody and astringent ...what is that? I think it smells like...dry leather. It's funny, I wouldn't necessarily have associated jasmine with Moscow - although I definitely understand amber and imperial rose. I guess I think of jasmine as being more warm-weather. Unfortunately that's the note that is dominating, so I'm not smelling much of anything else. 1 hour later: On me, this smells just like jasmine oil that's leaked to the bottom of an old leather bag. It's just too much feral floral for me - but it would be great for someone who's a big jasmine single-note fan.

Silk Road A panoply of cultural treasures, spanning the herbs, flowers, oils and balms of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Mediterranean, the Levant, Northern China, Eastern Europe, Iran, the Bulgar-Kypchak, Mesopotamia, the Crimean Peninsula, Anatolia, Antioch, and North Africa. Well, bother. I really wanted to love this - I was all prepared to love this. Great name and great description. Unfortunately, it just didn't work on me. It pretty much just smells like mint syrup - very sweet & just not that distinctive. I think I am picking up some very faint amber and cinnamon, but the syrupy mint dominates - which doesn't smell bad, but with all the other wonderful BPAL scents to wear, I probably wouldn't choose this one. It's really clear from the reviews that this scent is very sensitive to body chemistry, and mine just doesn't seem to have blended well with it. Ah well.

Hanging Gardens Warm & thick. I get plumeria and the fig, mostly - oh wait, there's the quince (if I'm remembering correctly what quince smells like). There's something heavy and rich that smells a lot like dragon's blood, but I think my nose is fooling me. It's a great big Mediterranean fruit basket. The fig is dripping with nectar, the pears are dripping with juice. This fruit has been sitting out for a day in the sun and everything is on the tipping point of ripeness. It's pretty yummy - and totally decadent. This is exactly the scent of an Alma-Tadema painting, of John William Godward's Fruit Girl or Edmund Blair-Leighton's Flaming June - all hanging draperies of voluminous clothing, dripping off sleepy bodies in the hot Mediterranean sun.

Manila I love this! Definitely banana, but not a plastic - y, artificial banana - it's banana in a vanilla custard, with some sort of citrusy juce drizzled in. I didn't exactly get the wood note other people mentioned, but there is something giving this a bit of richness and complexity and depth that keeps it from being a one-note banana perfume. I would have to wear bright, tropical prints with this. And espadrilles. This is completely a summer fragrance (which means I'll probably wear it in January when icy rain & gloom have me dragging.) I'm a total foody-perfume lover, so this is a nice new addition to my edible-smelling fragrances stable.

Madrid This is really interesting. It opens with a very assertive fruity wine scent, but then abruptly turns into something something else. I think I must be picking up the clove, but smells to me exactly like carnation. A seriously spicy fruity floral. 1/2 hour later - the fruit and spice seem to at war with each other on my arm (OK, a minor skirmish) - and my arm smells like some sort of Christmas fruit punch (alcoholic) that's just been mixed and hasn't had a chance to settle & blend. The clove is much stronger now, not as carnation-ish. And there's a bit of a stale wine note emerging. This would make a great "atmosphere" scent - fun to wear when I was alone & reading a book that went well with cloves and sangria (book suggestions anyone?), but I might not be inclined to wear it outside.

Machu Picchu Opening: ah, wonderful! Vanilla-laced fruits - tart, jucy, tropical fruits. It could turn into bubble gum, but it never does. The thick, rich floral base saves it from the jucyfruit trap. 1 hour later - a really interesting nutty note developed in this, sort of wood mixed with nuts. And a slight spiciness. The nuts & wood note reminds me of...what?...Grog! Up close, that note catches in my throat, but from a distance it's lovely & rich. Very interesting. I'll try this again.

London Roses. That's pretty much it. I waited for the wickedness to start, but all I ever got was roses. Really nice roses, in fact. Pretty and exceptionally assertive tea roses. I'm not much for single-note florals, but if I'm ever in a strong rose mood, this would be a great scent. 4 hours later - still just roses.

If I lived near there, I'd happily volunteer my time. I'd love to mix magical BPAL oils for you guys!

Glasgow Nice. It smells exactly as promised - heather and blackberries. It's clean and wild-smelling at the same time - the heather makes it a light, daytime, freshly-shampooed fragrance, and the blackberries give it an earthiness that keep it interesting and steers it away from a cleaning product scent. I think it's an early spring scent - there's a combination of frost and early Spring green - life emerging from under a gloomy, dun-colored, sleepy landscape. By midday, I had the nicest rain scent on my hand. This is a definite winner in the clean scents category.

Athens Initial impression: plum liqueur, chocolate and honey (why do so many BPAL fragrances smell chocolatey on me?) Wet hay or sweetgrass. Drinking wine in a very clean barn filled with flowers. The syrupy wine scent became a little cloying on me eventually, and a little powdery. Eventually what I mostly smelled was baby powder. I'm not sure about this one. It's not bad, but not especially "me."

Bayou Opens with a sour citrus, like some exotic hybrid fruit. Under that is something heavy and a bit sweaty - I'm just a touch anxious about having it on at work. Eventually the heavy flowers dominated - notes that smell like jasmine and gardenia to me. I don't smell dominant aquatic notes - although there is water in it, but it's not overpowering. A few hours later I had a wonderful, dark, lush, jasmine-dominated scent - sensual and a tiny bit threateneing, like shadows behind hanging vines of heavy, thick-growing blooms. (For any Buffy fans out there, this would be a great one for Drusilla!)

Florence Opens with a strong red sandalwood or cedar type note - something I think of as being classically BPAL. Mixed with amber and berries, there's a sweet fruitiness that I like, although it conflicts slightly with the woodiness. 20 minutes later: cough syrup with cedar. 1 hour later: cedar chips with a cherry lollipop. The cedar has a bit of a fresh pet cage smell, but just when I'm ready to dismiss this as one for the swaps pile, the amber note surfaces faintly and I get interested in it again. I'm not sure about this. I think it would smell great on someone else, and might smell great on me too if the amber was stronger. I may try adding some amber oil to my arm to see what that does to the other notes. 1 1/2 hour later - all of a sudden, everything came together into a warm, sweet, slightly syrupy desserty blend. A sort of candy amber scent. Interesting! 2 hours later - I'm liking this one more and more. I've found that amber scents take a while to develop on me (Brisingamen was another one - I didn't like it especially at the begining, but two hours later I'd put it on my "bottle" list.) This might be especially nice in cold weather.

Paris This opens with lavender and sweet peppermint. And there's another note - some kind of cooking spice scent - thyme? Marjoram? Something savory that contrasts with the sweetness. It's a lot like Absinth, but without the anise. I'm not sure about this one. I think I'll enjoy the imp - minty scents are always pretty easy to wear - but the cooking spice note never faded & was a bit distracting, so I don't think I'll get more of it.

Kyoto This smells a little like plum incense to me. It's light, without much throw. A clean fragrance with a warm, wood-spice note, and a sort of dry fruitiness - like very dry red wine. I'd use this when I wanted the fragrance I was wearing to remain in the background. After a few minutes, I got a strong, vivid image from this one: A very exclusive incense shop that's very bare-looking, with all the incense stored in wood boxes on simple, light-stained wood shelves - small boxes, and not too many of them - as though each stick is precious. The lighting is soft, and the walls are covered in sand-colored, finely-woven grass mats. Buying incense there is a bit of a production - you make an appointment and meet with the store owner, describe what you're looking for, and get to smell several samples before making your selection (or possibly your selection is made for you.) Once you're ready to buy, your incense is wrapped carefully in hand-made paper with a subtle woodblock design in shadowy earth colors. The paper is tied with grass fibers in a complicated, elaborate knot. The "Kyoto" incense is a modern take on a classic - it has that combination of a fresh new scent on a base of old traditional spicy wood notes.

Delphi This one didn't work on me at all. It developed an odd, strong aquatic sweetness with an animal note that reminded me of wet fur or wet wool. I think the bay didn't agree with me - it has a sort of evergreen sharpness and in general, evergreen scents don't like my skin. It reminds me a bit of Athens (which makes sense - they both have honey and wine notes) but this is much sharper and more masculine.

Shanghai Pale, clean, pretty, watery lemon. The honeysuckle gives it a realy nice, sweet floral perfume base that keeps it from being washed out or cleaning product-ish. This eventually turned into a really pretty floral with an edge that kept it far away from the insipidness of some sweet florals. I like it - I might consider getting more for warm weather. Another nice Spring fragrance - for a rainy Spring day.

Amsterdam A pretty, nicely balanced green aquatic. For some reason, this evokes Madison Avenue and 5th avenue on a sunny day for me - all the pretty, rich shops, everything crisp and colorful in the windows. I am suddenly strongly channeling a Breakfast at Tiffany's quote - Holly Golightly:"You know those days when you get the mean reds...No, the blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long, that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly, you're afraid, and you don't know what you're afraid of. Did you ever get that feeling?...Well, when I get it, the only thing that does any good is to jump into a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it. Nothing very bad could happen to you there." In the end, this developed into a clean, freshly showered scent with a pikake -type note. Very pretty. All about Spring sunshine & bright colors.

Kathmandu Right out of the gate - sweet mentholated cough drops with exotic, spicy wood under that, and cinnamon. I can't figure out what's giving it the mentholated quality. 1/2 hour later - whoa - what's this? Salty crackerjacks. Very salty. I'm hungry now, but I'm still not sure what to make of the scent. 1 hour later - still salty crackerjacks. Ah well. It's a new twist on foody scents. I'm inclined to give this another try on a different day, partly because it doesn't actually smell bad on me, just odd - but mostly because I loved Lixolux's review so much and I want to hang out in a yurt in Yunnan Province, drinking buttered tea and burning incense to Kuan Yin.