t_for_tau

Oh god, this is truly *terrible* on me. This is the first bpal that I've put on and actually gone and *run* to wash it off. I think it's that bitter grapefruit - it is really, really reminding me of the time I got violently ill-drunk from doing too many mezcal shots with salt and an unripe lime. It smells *exactly* like that. Now that I've scrubbed most of it off, there's a rather pleasant aquatic musk floating up from my shoulder, so for someone without the awful associations with this smell it could work out as a really good scent. Just - not on me.

GUH. I have to join the ranks of people raving about this scent. In the bottle it has a definite "men's cologne" scent which some people might find offputting (personally, I like it) - very sophisticated, expensive-smelling, sharpened up by the lemon rind. On my skin the leather leaps out straight away, and for a while it seems that this is going to be De Sade Plus on me: it's that same clean-sharp-vodka leather, with the musk and patch and oakmoss lying behind. After a while it levels out, though, and becomes simply delicious. The leather warms and mellows, and the wood comes out. The combination of leather, wood and vanilla husk (I can't smell the last as an individual note unless I really huff my wrist, just as a slightly sweetening/smoothing influence) reminds me of the leather-wood-tonka part of Dee. This is waaaay sexier than Dee, however: thicker, richer, smokier (infernal musk?), darker, deeper and just generally *more*, with that continuing hint of sophistication from the lilac cologne. I get wafts of it all day, and keep wondering what the wonderful scent is, and then realising that it's me. Another triumph for Beth and the Lab!

In the imp: ginger and honeysuckle. Uh-oh - I hope the latter isn't going to kill this the way it killed Aries '07 for me... On skin: the honeysuckle's died down somewhat; now it's a very sweet ginger. Not exactly foody, though the sweetness is almost syrupy, with a musky overlay. I can't smell the patch at all; I catch occasional glimpses of the "black spices". However, that honeysuckle's just hanging around and making it a *little* too feminine, a little too floral for me. If you like the ginger in Shub but find that blend a little too fierce and foody, and prefer something more feminine and "perfumey", this should suit you. A very lovely blend, though probably not something I'll wear much.

When I tried this yesterday, I was overjoyed: it's *exactly* what I hoped for from Dee, without the weird suncream scent that Dee developed on me. Smooth, masculine, warm, woody and with that old-books note that other people have remarked on: sophisticated, subtle and delicious. However, my skin chemistry's obviously having one of its whacked-out moments again, because today it's all turned to baby power. Alas. Another one to try again another time.

I was sadly disappointed that this blend didn't want to play nicely with my skin chemistry. I love the smell of gunpowder beyond all reason (I'd wear a single note if I could find one), and was really looking forward to this, but no. In the bottle it's a warm smoky vetiver, but on my skin it's virtually vetiver SN. A rather nice vetiver, true, but I have other vetiver scents for when I want to smell like that. After an hour or so the metal peeks out; the wood never shows. I'm going to try this again in the hope that I'm having an off day scent-wise (I've got a touch of flu), because I really, really want this to work. This morning I opened the imp to sniff it again, and it left such a promising charred-wood scent on my fingers, that I'm hoping it'll work when I'm better. I'm getting the occasional drift of black powder, too, which is making me hopeful. But for the time being: a nice vetiver, a hint of smoke, no gunpowder or wood. Sigh. (Edited for clarity)

This is *definitely* a morpher.... My first thoughts: When I first put it on, I'll admit I was rather ACK! GET IT OFF ME! It was fizzy sickly orange and peach, and I nearly ran straight to the shower. I don't know *where* that fruity-foodiness is coming from, but it's not something I like at all. It settled down fast, though, and though it retained a bit of the initial effervescence, I like it much better. Sadly my skin seems to be eating it, so I'll have to go back and slather, but I think I can smell the walnut bark coming through, which is delicious. It's still golden, but with a bit of nutty woodiness underneath. I'm really, really hoping this will work out on me. I might update this review if it morphs a lot more.

I wouldn't have tried this on my own, being made wary by the grapes and the plum blossom, but I was frimped it by a friend, and am very glad! The honey really dominates this blend, but despite the description it's not a golden honey on me: it's dark, dark, dark, rounded out and deepened by the oak moss. The grapes and sugar cane are doing their best to go sickly on me, but so far they're being held off by the other notes; I can just catch the tobacco flower, the tonka and the opoponax (the last of which is one of my favourite of Beth's notes). It's more feminine a scent than I usually wear, but it has something that really grabs me, and really captures the feel of the Baudelaire poem (réponds, libertin!).

Deep, dark, languid; a particularly nice, smoky vetiver, and the myrrh isn't going to sharp (yet, fingers crossed!). It's a thick rounded scent - there's almost a hint of fruit lurking in it. Fascinating and lovely.

On me, a more resinous Loup Garou with less eucalyptus and lots of smoke. Divine.

It depends what country you're looking at, and which scent. Off the top of my head (and the top of my bookmarks), the Perfume Museum in Grasse has a good overview of C19th scents in France: http://www.museesdegrasse.com/MIP/fla_ang/histo_fXIX.shtml, for example. Note they mention musks, civet and mace, and then Josephine's influence with then-exotic scents such as vanilla, clove, cinammon....and the fruit-based "eau de cologne" for men. I'll go & rummage around in my Regency & Napoleonica research sources and see what I can find! Military history is more my field than cosmetics, but I have a bunch of stuff that might turn up something useful. EDIT: another useful resource: http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/PERFUME.HTM I'll keep adding as I track them down! Hope this is helpful.... Also, ladies' cosmetics at the time often contained benjoin (benzoin resin) and ambergris, so they might be notes to look for too; lavender water was used a lot too. Rose gardens flourished, so I wouldn't be surprised to find a lot of rose-based scents - Jane Austen's favourite was allegedly an attar of roses from Echarabad.

What everyone else has said, plus Azathoth! Very very vetiver on me.

Van-Van is the supernatural nature-defying lovechild of Nyarlathotep and Baron Samedi. Seriously. It has Nyarlathotep's Very Clean Lemons, and the Baron's bay rum. And something a touch alcoholic, like the two of them went on a bar crawl together. I'm not sure whether I like this or if I'm very, very afraid.

A pleasant fresh men's cologne, with a hint of herbal shower gel (probably the thyme). Pleasant, but nothing exciting to me; smells like a lot of conventional men's scents, though well-blended.

First on: a bright, fresh rose scent. Very nice. Then it turns into rose and raspberry leaf tea (no, seriously). After that, rose and lemon balm tea (that'll be the lemon peel, I'm guessing, combined with the woodruff & so on....). Very green, cool, fresh, almost faintly aquatic/ozoney (I'm not sure where that's coming from, unless my nose is misreading some of the green). The rose has gone down to a background note; this is still lighter and more feminine than I usually wear, but I think I'll be keeping this imp for hot summer days. Who'd'a thunk it?

OH MY. In the bottle: sweet, foody, spicey woods. Yum. On my wrist: oh my dear god, this is divine. I've had my wrist jammed under my nose since I put it on, and it doesn't show any signs of moving soon. This was the only Monster Bait I even vaguely considered buying, and I didn't because I thought it would be too foody. This morning I got a teensy bit in an imp bottle from a decant circle and OMG. This is the *perfect* masculine spice scent, to sit alongside Count Dracula in my bottle drawer. There's deathly-dry woods, and dark patch, and a note that I can only describe as "evil curry" (seriously, that's a good thing), and then the occasional wafts of sweetness from the caramel and yes, that hint of salt that some people have mentioned. On me this is less "possessed puppet" than "possessed spice trader ship". It smells like a wholefood shop had a punch up with a confectioner's in a really, really old wooden hall. I could go on about this endlessly, but I have to go and stalk the swaps forum.

This must be another demonstration of my whacked-out skin chemistry, because on me this smells *exactly* like medicated shampoo. Before it turned into that, it was a very perfumey, rich, dark scent. Off to swaps to find someone who doesn't turn it into Vosene and can give it love.

There's some wonderful notes in here, the green and the ginger...but there's something that's just too sweet for me, spoiling it - an almost candied lemon scent. Overall it's bright and sunny and fresh and sweet at once, just not for me.

This would be so lovely without the wine - green and salty and fresh. Unfortunately, the wine note goes (as ever) sickly-sweet on me, so that I seem to be standing in a beautiful tropical breeze next to someone who's drinking a can of extremely unpleasant fizzy drink. I can almost hear the wasps circling.... I'm sticking with this in the hope that the sweetness might fade after a bit longer, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast.

Death by jasmine soap. Oh, dear. :S

This is the lovechild of Schwartzer Mond and Antony. Unfortunately, whatever note this shares with the latter turns to powder on me. (Myrrh?) Off to swaps.... ETA: Four hours later, this has turned to, of all things, a sweetish coffee-chocolate scent with incense behind. It's very lovely, slightly reminiscent of Pinched With Four Aces without the cinnamon, and to me still not worth suffering through several hours of baby powder for. *sigh*

One to Tie, Two to Win, C.M. Coolidge. Dewy grass, summer breezes, and dandelion clocks. Wow, grass! That's some greenness.... On drydown the scent that I'm guessing is dandelion comes through; I'm trying to think of a way to describe it, and am only coming up with "eggy". I don't know what's up with my nose today - grapefruit in Riding The Goat, chalk in Kelly Pool, and now egg in this! Deeply weird. The green freshness is still there, with that hint of laundry-type softness that other people have noted. I got this one for my girlfriend, who loves green/grassy scents, so I'm hoping on her it stays true to the initial grassiness and doesn't go eggy!

Thick, expensive, oily incense, made sharp by a note that I could *swear* is grapefruit. I must be going crazy. I get what bloodonmyhands means about the olivey-sharp/sour note; it's not unpleasant, but it is unusual, and is getting more olive-y as it dries. I can imagine Masonic dodgy dealings with a goat smelling like this. Another DPP scent that isn't really for me, but is a really impressive creation. ETA: After about half to three quarters of an hour, this was the most fantastic smokey incense, and I'm beginning to think of tracking down a bottle. The sharpness is completely gone, it's rounded and majestic and I love it.

Dusty violets, a hint of wood, and...chalk? Well, that fits with the pool theme... A pleasant, elegant, ladylike scent. Very pretty, and definitely not for me.

On me this is very similar to Loup Garou, once the initial blast of eucalyptus in LG has passed (or faded through ageing): sweet, warm, woody pine. Lovely, but I'm glad I didn't splurge on a bottle; LG fills this niche for me nicely.

I'm trying to track down which bpals have bay rum in them, but am of course being defeated by the search engine.... Anyone?