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.)

In the bottle Almost identical to Eden - the same sweet figgyness. On Better than Eden on me - it doesn't have the syrupy sweet heavy note that put me a bit off Eden. This one is greener - but not in an astringent green way. It's creamy-sweet green - like spring nectar from a flowering plant. After an hour I love this. It seems like part of my skin somehow - like if (in a perfect world) I naturally secreted BPAL scents, this warm, green, figgy, sweet scent would be one of them. There's no dissonance at all - it just blends. Eventually it developed a spiciness, a sweet wood note very faintly under the nectar, and the sweetness turned almost nutty. It's utterly lovely and familiar, somehow. Subtle, too. I keep catching faint, dreamy whiffs of it & thinking "what is that wonderful scent?" I'm happy this isn't an LE because I have no idea how much of it I'm going to end up needing.

My skin loved this. It smells like fruit juice with an amber base - sort of a velvety berries and melon scent, with an ever-so-faint tartness. I didn't get any of the bubble gum note other people got, it never turned to plastic & it never turned to cough syrup (the big three hazards of fruity oils.) This lasted for hours on me - if anything, it got stronger as time went by. I got no skin irritation, and no sneezing. Best of all, I tried this out on a day when I was really teary, and the sadness suddenly lifted & I got on with my day. This will have a special place of honor in my perfume box. Love it, love it, love it.

This is more perfumey than I expected. Definitely floral, and not especially sweet. I'm getting mostly roses, but they're sophisticated roses - roses wearing a dark Valentino suit. Deeply feminine in a traditional, old-school way. But then there's a tiny, tiny bit of...flowers past their prime note... it's subtle. Hmmm...well now, that sophisticated, Valentino-suited, middle-aged lady is quietly having a nervous breakdown in the privacy of a very upscale mental institution. There's something citrus under everything trying to be heard, but so far it's very faint. It almost reminds me of the citrus in several of the Panacea blends. Oh yeah. This is the best label I think I've ever seen on a BPAL bottle. It's deeply goth, in an understated, subtly scary way - like if you turn your head fast enough, you might catch something scary flickering in the shadows. (For me, the picture strongly evokes the Dresden Dolls album.)

Oh dear, I really thought I'd like this - berries, amber, heliotrope and carnation are four of the best-notes-ever-for-my-skin-chemistry. This smelled so fruity in the bottle - even better than the old imp I had of the original Carnivale... However, once on my skin it immediately developed a rotting-cut-flowers smell. I keep waiting for that note to dissipate, but it's completely dominant. (Astrid referred to "rotten cabbages" in her Buck Moon review, & that's just like what I'm smelling here - which makes me wonder if there's a new musk or other oil being used in the LEs that doesn't agree with some of our skin chemistries.) Under the vegetable smell, I can detect a lovely fruity scent - I so wish that was all I was smelling. I wonder if there's anything I can add to this that will cover up or transform the note that hates my skin. Any ideas? (To make matters worse, I made the mistake of ordering two bottles of these. Oops. live and learn.)

Baghdad Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood. Oh my - this is wonderful. My favorite so far of the summer 2005 new scents (along with Elegba.) It starts off quite strong and woody. As it develops, it gets sweeter and muskier. It smells like it belongs in the Morocco family, without actually smelling like Morocco. (No carnation in this, that I can detect.) On me, the rose is completely subtle and secondary to the spices. It's utterly gorgeous. I don't actually know what saffron smells like, but there's something in the spiciness that's complex and rich and a bit foody, so maybe that's it. I'm not a fan of overpowering sandalwood, but it plays well with the other notes in this and doesn't pull a Diva. So does the nutmeg, and so does the mandarin (which I can smell if I really pay attention). This is one of the best blended spicy-rich scents I've tried. If the notes were people, they'd be a group of movie actors who all have dramatic, dominant personalities and talents - but who have worked together previously, respect each other, and really like being part of this particular ensemble, so they're all playing very nicely together. (I just saw Gosford Park - can you tell?) I am so ordering a bottle of this.

Bewitched Starts off medicinal-herbal: eucalyptus and citrus, with a tiny, faint touch of mint. The notes seem to be fighting with each other a bit, but in a sort of perfunctory way, without real hostility (like siblings who argue occasionally just to assert territory). I can see why people compared it to tea - there is a sort of watery-herbal-tea note, kind of pleasant. The eucalyptus-type note disappeared after about 20 minutes & then something fruity and juicy started coming out. It's not an aggressive fruitiness - it's still got a watery tea base. They aren't candy-sweet fruits, more like tart, just-ripe berries with the rinsing water still on them. I can almost taste them... 1 hour later - sweet, fruit-scented candles - the kind we made at camp when I was a kid. That happens to be a scent I love, so this is a big YES for me. Once I realized I liked this, I slathered it all over my arms & every time I get a whiff, I suddenly feel really cheerful & optimistic (given what a bad mood I'm in today, & how exhausted I feel, that's quite a powerfully positive impact this oil is having). This is definitely a scent from childhood, & it reminds me of why I love BPAL - moods and memories I'd completely forgotten suddenly become very vivid when I smell a scent like this. (Happy sigh.)

Arachne I'm not sure what to make of this one. I definitely don't get the bubble gum other people talked about - this barely has any sweetness on me at all. "Watery" and "herbal," I did get. It sort of smells like the juice from a flower stem. 1/2 hour later - it did develop a little sweetness. Sweet green sap. It smells like a commercial scent. It's really nice, but what it's evoking most for me is department store - I can't figure out why. (This is one of those times that I wish commercial scents weren't nice - they sometimes ruin perfumes for me by association.) I'd add this to the category of BPAL scents that could do "crossover" - oils you can give to people who have more conventional perfume tastes. 1 hour later - this gets prettier and prettier. The sweetness took a while to develop on me. It still smells like a commercial perfume - and in fact, it still smells like a department store - but the store got more and more upscale as this deepened. Also, the department store went South as the floral notes developed. It started off Sears in PA, and now it's Bloomingdales in Miami. I wish I associated it with gossamer and spiders, but I'll have to settle for a pretty green off-the-shelf body spray.

Elegba Yup - smells identical to Grog, but without the heavy booze note. Because of the lack of serious booze, a lighter, nuttier flavor comes out. It's sugary, warm & very, very foody. It's burnt sugar syrup with nuts. Caramel syrup. It gets better and better as it dries down. I love this. I loved Grog, too, but the alcoholic note was distracting and took a long time to dry off. I ordered a 10ml of this without a second thought.

Aeval Here's what I don't smell: sage, musk or tonka (and I guess I have no idea what sweet pea smells like.) Here's what I do smell - very distinctly: pikake, vanilla, gardenia. It starts off a heavy, thick, juicy floral, but the pikake-type note (whatever it actually is) gives it a nice lightness. Usually I can smell at least a few of the notes from the description, but this scent seems to be much more complex than the sum of it's parts (either that, or I have a wacked-out nose today). It evokes a really lovely, lush woman in her late 30s, lying on a beach in the French Riviera, with sunglasses and a big hat - and something intelligent about her face that makes you want to approach her. Honest, that's what I get from this - intelligence and ripe sensuality.

Tombstone Cedar and Vanilla, just as promised. This one was in my first batch of BPAL ever, and I have strong positive associations with it. I don't remember if it was in my order, or if it was a bonus imp. I don't really smell the sassafras as a separate note - it just smells like really good, strong, sharp cedar. The vanilla in it is kind of desserty. I agree with the funnel cake connection someone pointed out in an earlier review. This is funnel cake sitting on an old cedar box in a dusty country general store. It could easily be worn by a man or a woman. Anyone who loves vanilla should give this a try.