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BPAL Madness!

filigree_shadow

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Everything posted by filigree_shadow

  1. filigree_shadow

    Haitian Lover

    I know this is for men, but I tried it on me anyway. It smells like Kabuki to me when it's wet. A fruity, licorice-like scent. But when it's dry, I can barely smell anything. What I can smell seems smoky. What a strange change. I think its age is showing. And I really wish I hadn't read edenssixthday's review that mentioned condoms because now when I smell it I think it smells like condoms. (It really does! At least, it does before it gets to the dry stage.)
  2. filigree_shadow

    Naiad

    Oddly, this smells like lemon on me. I guess that could be neroli, but it really smells more like lemons. Then the lavender comes out. This smells crisp and zesty. To be honest, I think this would smell better on my husband than on me. He likes lavender scents, and he also likes citrus.
  3. filigree_shadow

    Queen Alice

    I think this is the softest carnation I've smelled in any BPAL oil. It's usually loud and kind of bitter on me, but here it's soft. It's like carnations and wine in the clouds. I'm still not sure whether I can get along with carnation, but this is much prettier than I was expecting. I doubt I'd order a bottle, but I'm definitely keeping the imp.
  4. filigree_shadow

    Croquet

    Happy and cheerful! This is a great good-mood scent. The grapefruit seems to be most prominent, and I can't seem to pick out any of the other notes until it's dry. Well, even when it's dry I can't pick out notes, but it does smell like something other than just grapefruit. It just gets prettier when it's dry. It has a lovely woodiness. This is the kind of scent I feel like I could wear anywhere and never have to worry about possibly offending anyone -- I feel the same way about Cheshire Cat, and this one belongs in that category too. I think Croquet is a big winner.
  5. filigree_shadow

    Calico Jack

    When I first put this on, I thought it was mostly aquatic. However, that faded out, and it turned into a slightly spiced leather scent. It's surprisingly sweet. I'm not sure what that's from. The wood, perhaps. It smells like a sweet, dry wood. This reminds me of laundry that's been hung outside to dry -- it has that clean and fresh scent that I usually associate with linens. Not like soft fuzzy dryer sheets, though. It's much crisper than that. My husband just tried it on at my insistence suggestion, and it smells even better on him than it does on me. He said, "Hey! I think I'll buy a bottle."
  6. filigree_shadow

    Bien Loin D'Ici

    I almost ordered a bottle of this unsniffed, but, fool that I am, I didn't. I got an imp instead. Argh! This is one of the best red musk blends I've smelled. It's sexy and sultry, deep and rich. I absolutely adore it with the caramel and honey. Ahhhhh. Lovely. This is the sort of scent I'd like to smell like every day. It makes me feel mysterious and beautiful.
  7. filigree_shadow

    51

    I've always liked freesia, and I like it in this. But for some reason, it's smelling salty on me. Fresh, crisp, green, and... salty? Odd. I like the crispness of it, but to be utterly honest, I don't believe this is working on my skin as well as it's working on other people. My husband thinks it smells great, but my reaction is still meh. Maybe I'll wear it around for a couple of days and see if I like it better.
  8. filigree_shadow

    The Knave of Hearts

    Roses? What roses? This is ALL blackcurrant tart on me... at first. As it dries I can start to smell a bit of rose, but it doesn't even come close to being as strong as the foody tart smell. It blends very well with the blackcurrant. I would never have guessed that combination would work this well. The rose keeps this from being a foody scent, and the "tart" part of it keeps it from being a rose scent. It's a fabulous combination. All in all: I really like this one a lot. It's a nose-glued-to-wrist scent.
  9. filigree_shadow

    The Dodo

    At the very first, all I could smell was cassia. Then it smelled strangely like a mixture of cassia and red licorice. Almost medicinal. It seems like some of the notes in there are fighting to get out, but I don't think anything's going to be able to conquer that cassia. Under the cassia, it smells strange and discordant. I think the combination of red musk and lemon peel is odd, and not in a good way. Don't think this one's going to work for me.
  10. filigree_shadow

    Squirting Cucumber

    This smells exactly like the cucumber salad in a sweet syrup that comes as a side with my favorite Thai dish. Very green, and VERY accurately cucumber. I guess there's some grass in there too, but I'm not really paying attention to it because really all I notice is the cucumber. It's making me hungry. An odd side note: One time when my hormones were messed up or something, that cucumber salad at the Thai restaurant tasted like watermelon to me. It was the wrong texture, but it had the exact taste of fresh watermelon. When I'm sniffing this scent right now, that watermelon comparison is coming back to me. It smells like watermelon seeds. Weird!
  11. filigree_shadow

    Voodoo Lily

    I agree with previous reviewers -- definitely not straight-up lily. Lily is a very distinctive scent, and althought it's in there, it's not loud. I also agree with the person who said it's a "warm honeyed, spicy scent." There's a really interesting spice in this (although I don't know what it is) -- not hot, just spicy. There's also something that makes this smell smoother than lily usually does. Also, sometimes it seems very sweet, but on the very next sniff I don't smell that sweetness. Interesting and unusual!
  12. filigree_shadow

    The Deep Ones

    Ooo, this is an interesting aquatic. It smells salty and sweet. It doesn't smell exactly like the ocean, it smells like the air around an ocean. To be honest, it seems like there's some sort of smooth creamy floral note in there with it. It's not at all unpleasant (don't let the description fool you!) and reminds me of being on vacation. I think this is one of the prettier and least masculine aquatic blends. Very nice!
  13. filigree_shadow

    Fire Pig

    OK, wait. What's in this? Peony, bamboo, plum blossom, tangerine, orange, lychee, pine resin, kumquat, pussy willow, quince, narcissus, King madarin, peach blossom, and dragon's blood. Holy smokes, that's a long list of notes. I would think it would smell confused and odd. But... it doesn't. When it's wet the tangerine is pretty strong, but as it dries down the tangerine isn't quite so prominent. It's smells like a good, sweet, fruity scent, but not entirely fruity. Not like just fruit and nothing else. I would never have able to guess what was in this. It smells well-rounded and well-balanced. It smells unusual but also familiar. Grounded but whimsical. Cute but solid. I'm not sure how to describe it. I know I like it, but I don't know why. But it makes me smile to smell it, and that's good enough for me.
  14. filigree_shadow

    Aries 2007

    This oil apparently doesn't morph at all on me. It smells the same wet as dry, and it never changes. The dragon's blood is apparent but not as strong as in some other DB blends, and the pepper and ginger are prominent but subdued by the opoponax. It's spicy in an aromatic way rather than a hot fiery way (which is good -- I'm not a fan of fiery hot scents). The honeysuckle... hm, I'm having a hard time picking it out. I think dragon's blood and honeysuckle is a particularly good combination because the DB tamps down the honeysuckle so it doesn't become overbearing, but the honeysuckle makes the dragon's blood smell more floral rather than resinous -- pretty rather than sticky. I like the scent and I know this is a keeper, but I also know it's not one that I'm going to wear often. I have to be in a certain mood for pepper and ginger, although I'm basically always in the mood for opoponax.
  15. filigree_shadow

    Ostara

    First impression: Sweet and green. Not picking up on any honey cakes or sweet cream. Smells like spring flowers. But really incredibly sweet ones. As it dries it becomes more incensey, but I'm not usually a fan of the incense + floral combination. Frankincense is almost always too sweet on me, but combined with the florals the whole thing smells sour for some reason. Maybe it's the leaf notes? When it's dry it's not floral enough to be a pretty floral scent, and when it's wet it's too green and sweet. I'm just not sure about this. I think it's all right, but I don't think it will ever be a favorite. There are other springtime scents I like a lot better than this one.
  16. filigree_shadow

    Rollercoaster

    In my humble opinion, you're not the one who should be looking for somewhere else to stay, he is. That business about not being able to go to her place because her ex is there is garbage! What are you?? Her ex's feelings are more important than yours? Not hardly. He could not be treating you any shittier. And honestly I can't believe that this new woman is even willing to come into your house and act like that. She sounds like a real piece of work too. Good grief.
  17. filigree_shadow

    Roux-Ga-Roux

    I ordered a bottle of this even though I thought from the description that it if I wore it I would smell dirty and gross like I'd been dragged across the bottom of a swamp. HA! Not at all. It smells like a combination of dry wood, very light moss, and faint pretty florals. It's humid, but not like startlingly strong hothouse flowers. It doesn't smell heavy or muggy, it smells damp. But not dewy. It's hard to describe! It smells like a summer afternoon in Louisiana, without the horrifying heat. Lilting, with a light breeze blowing over someone's garden that's next to wetlands. It gets more aquatic as it dries, but it never becomes overbearing. I can imagine a man wearing this because of the aquatic and dry wood notes, but the light pretty florals make it smell quite feminine to me. This is surprisingly lovely. Considering I didn't think I'd like this at all, I'm truly amazed. I'm really looking forward to wearing this over the summer, and I'm very, very glad that I have a bottle of this. p.s. I don't know how to pronounce Roux-Ga-Roux, so I've been calling it Ragnarök in my head.
  18. filigree_shadow

    Pink Moon 2007

    This is very sweet! It has a lot more sugar in it than I was expecting, and the sugary sweetness is kind of smelling like melons to me. I couldn't smell any carnation at first, which is surprising because that note is usually loud on my skin. But as it's warming up I can begin to smell a hint of carnation. Carnation is usually an odd note on me -- it has a spicy dry feel to it and is sometimes bitter. Not in this one, though. Here it smells fresh. Like fresh cut carnations. And crap, I don't remember what phlox smells like. I planted some last summer but I don't remember it having a distinctive scent. But there's certainly a floral note in this that isn't carnation, so I guess that's the phlox. It's pretty. This becomes a little less sugary and more floral over time, but it's a good smooth floral, not a heady or green one. It smells like fresh petals, with a nice carnation spicy overtone. I like this, and it'll be great to wear in the spring! ETA: After a while the carnation has taken over and made the blend smell funky. I'm not sure I like this after all.
  19. filigree_shadow

    The Oblation

    The blackberry is definitely strongest on my skin, followed by the French lavender. The lavender seems to be distorting the blackberry, and it ends up being an odd sweetly sour scent. Almost like blackberry wine. I'm having trouble figuring out whether I like it or not. It reminds me a lot of Monster Bait Closet without the booze. That's how strong the blackberry is on me.
  20. filigree_shadow

    Dorian Soap (by Silk Road Trading Company)

    I love this soap. It smells just like Dorian, but it's smoother and softer. Of course I already knew that I love the scent of Dorian, so the only thing in question was whether I liked the soap itself. It's lovely -- it lathered beautifully and seemed to be pretty good at moisturizing. The scent doesn't linger too long on my skin, but it was very strong while I was using the soap.
  21. filigree_shadow

    Nemesis

    Nuts. This smells like fig soap on me. I'm pretty sure it's the rose that's the soap culprit -- rose has been doing that to me lately. It's not a bad scent, it just smells a bit on the detergent side. Maybe I'll try it another day and see if it works better.
  22. filigree_shadow

    Water of Notre Dame

    Clean, watery, and lightly floral. Smells like springtime. It's aquatic-like in that it's watery, but it doesn't smell like salty ocean water or like ozone like aquatics usually do. This is much, much softer. It's watery like dew. Sweet and lovely. I'm really glad this is not sharp or green or too strong on me like it is on other reviewers. Maybe because my imp is about a year old? I don't know what the reason is, but on me it's so soft... it smells like a cloud. Really beautiful.
  23. filigree_shadow

    Terpsichore

    While this was drying I liked it a whole lot and was surprised because I usually don't like anything this overtly floral. It's more heady than I usually like, but it's soft enough that it didn't bother me. But when it was dry it started to smell strange -- sweet but kind of ickily floral at the same time. Like when you're surrounded by flowers and you feel like you're being smothered by their heady scent. I think the sweet pea is too strong. It's making the scent too sweet. There's a teeny bit of vanilla underneath the scent... to be honest it seems more like a vanilla bean than vanilla. I can't smell any carnation or apple blossom -- those are usually strong notes on me. Not smelling any neroli, either. It seems like everything but the sweet pea is blending together... which is disappointing because sweet pea is my least favorite note in the description.
  24. filigree_shadow

    Clio

    For some reason this smells mostly like cleaning products and a pencil box on me, and I don't know why. Usually those notes work just fine on me. But I think the woodiness and orange combination isn't working on me. It smells kind of... dusty. Like something that needs to be cleaned. I don't think I'd be able to wear this as perfume.
  25. filigree_shadow

    Safari

    Lavender that's not sharp and herby, it's smooth. It's on the verge of going powdery but it doesn't get there. I've been testing some of the Somnium blends recently, and I like Safari better than any of those I've tried. It smells soft and soothing.
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