smelly

I love this one. It smelled very familiar to me at first, and it took me a while to place it: it's kind of similar to a couple of the Commes Des Garcon Red Series I tried: Palisander and Sequoia. Sequoia is supposed to smell like a redwood tree. But it also hits you with a blast of loveable dirty-hippie, hide-the-bong-smell patchouli. Delish, in my book. Every time I took a hit of this, I mean a sniff of this, it brought out good, safe feelings. Guess that's the long way of saying it's a comfort scent. Doesn't seem particularly masculine to me. Aaargh. I just read the reviews on this, and no patchouli in it? So what was it that I took for patchouli? Maybe the "red musk" what does that smell like? Oh yeah. Got spicey too later on, too.

Dorian smells kind of good, but I don't know if I'll ever be in the mood to wear it. It's so sweet. It doesn't have enough texture for me. Maybe I'll put a drop in my boring, unscented shampoo to jazz up my shower a bit.

This is nice, but it doesn't knock Dee out of its slot as my favorite BPAL leather scent. I can really smell something a bit vapory-fresh sinus clearing. It's not bad, but minty + leathery doesn't really work for me. Could be the anise that's doing this. I don't know if it's my skin or my schnoz that's making this note come on so strong, but if the lavender were stronger and the minty stuff were weaker, maybe Casanova would be more of a contender for wrist real estate. I think I just prefer comforting scents, ala Dee, to sexy stuff.

Although the BPAL oils are generally potent, my dry skin really weakens them. Ann Bonny, though, surpasses all the others I've tried in strength. It's even more powerful than Scherezade. So, on first exposure I liked the patchouli in this, and I really glommed it on. Smeared it on my wrists, daubed it into the ends of my hair with the imp-stick. What a mistake. The CEO where I work came up to the tiny office where I sit and said "What smells so lovely?" which was totally embarrassing. That was when I first realized what I'd done. I don't intend my perfume to fill my office, which is inhabited by two guys and myself. I ran to the bathroom and scrubbed my wrists. But there was nothing I could do about the ends of my hair. And by the end of the day I'd given myself a headache, and an intense Ann Bonny aversion. I passed this on to a friend, who will hopefully enjoy it-- safely, sanely, and moderately.

Sharp bright lemon-- the sharpness coming from the wood. Don't detect any patchouli yet. I like it, but I don't think I love it. Edit: morphing deliciousness. Much more in like now.

I ordered Nero because I love the smell of fresh rosemary (although I'm not crazy about it in food) and the smell of pine. This seemed very faint to me. But, having worn it on my wrists and the tips of my hair for a day, I've got a headache. Wonder which note is responsible for that? Overall I like the scent of this, although I can't wear it again (that wouldn't be smart, would it?). But there is a faint note of something in it that I don't like. Maybe that's the bay, because there's something I really dislike in Delphi, and that has bay.

I am up in the air about Scales of Deprivation. It's sweet, citrusy but also dark when it's wet, really good. But then dry, it changes, and it reminds me of the UPS guy when he came to the door in the Eighties, when I was a kid. He wore too much cologne. There must be a shared note. That's not the fault of Scales of Deprivation, of course. But I'm thinking, brown, polyesther uniform, the dreariness of adolescence, some package for the neighbor upstairs, and that overwhelming cologne he wore. The stairwell and entryway of the ugly, Seventies building we lived in. Edit: this has become a favorite of mine. The patchouli base came out and vaporized the UPS guy and his polyesther uniform. Poor UPS guy. This elements of this are so complementary to each other. The lemon and the darkness. The mustiness of the patchouli offset by something damp. That last doesn't sound appealing, but it's delish.

Wolf's Heart is the color of sweet and sour chicken. It's flowery-- flower-flowery, not white-floral (thank goodness). A little like rose. Like a waxy flower. My dog likes it, and he is feeling bold, calm and relaxed. I like it too, but I am my usual anxious self. This is a voodoo oil, though, not a miracle. This has a lot of waft (so does sweet and sour chicken). Even though this is flowery, my boyfriend has not yet compared it to airfreshener. He even said he liked it! Very sweet, by the way. This seems like it would be good to mix with some oil or moisturizer.

If fair is foul and foul is fair, then Delphi is fair, because it's really, really foul. Editing to say something that makes more sense: I guess it's the bay that people are talking about, but there's a note in here that I really dislike. It's more like a fume, than a note, to me. In bottle, on skin, dry. I couldn't wait long enough to see if it would go away. The closest thing I can think of is quinine.

Like Sin and Vixen, Scherezade starts out spicey, and ends on a sweeter note, the saffron, I guess. The saffron's not as sweet as the amber and orange blossom in Sin and Vixen, though. And I guess the patchouli isn't as strong. Also, this is super potent. I have to be careful when applying to use great reserve. And I'm never wearing this to work again (whereas Sin and Vixen are fine for me to wear there).

At first I thought this was boring and a little refreshing. But then during the day I kept smelling something subtle and tasty. It's pretty damn subtle though. I could easily use up a whole imp in a day. I think. A bottle is a possibility. I could probably make use of a jug of it.

sweet sour blech and a little marzipany. tea, ginger and pepper all sound nice, but I can't smell them here.

Thoroughly corrupted: amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon. Sin is in. This is a good one. It's similar to Umbra, in that it's patchouli and spicey, but it's softer. Very tasty. For some reason, it didn't seem to last very long. wrist-to-nose trip frequency = high I learned the hard way that I shouldn't wear this in my hair, where it lasts a very long time but in the end goes funky. My boyfriend complained that I smelled like Greek Church (he's Greek American). On the skin I think it's working better though. Editing to add that the amber ending in this has really grown on me. And it even works in my hair, as long as I don't overdo it. It's really good, and I'm glad I got a bottle (went back and forth a bit at first). And the amber part lasts a long time.

This is pretty nifty. The pine and eucalyptus in the beginning are a strange combination. The eucalyptus makes it cool, and the pine pops up images of summer at dusk, just when the mosquitos are coming out. After a little while, it becomes much sweeter, and the summer associations are even stronger, possibly because the pine is in the background and can work more subliminally. Every time I sniff my wrist, I feel a little surprised. Pretty wierd to get that feeling when I'm huddled under a fake-down blanket, wearing wool knee-highs and the like. Wrist-to-nose trip frequency = high

Alecto seems like it's almost something I would be crazy about. But it is too sweet. If anyone can reccomend something similar to alecto, I'd be much obliged. I like the smokiness, which I guess is the vetiver. But the dark sweetness reminds me of prunes.