reynardine

In the decant, I was smelling the red currant. It smelled like berries to me. Great, I thought, I love berries. Wet: Booze! WHOA, BOOZE!! Port, I guess? I don't drink much. Drydown: I'm swimming in more booze than a 1920's Hollywood party. It's making me dizzy. (I must amp booze or something?) Washed off. NOT FOR ME. I'll pass thing along to a friend I know who is curious about the scent.

In decant: Coconut and sugarcane. Wet: There was a touch of coconut, and then the blood orange took over and ran with it. Drydown: More fruits! It's fruits galore! And so sweet and pretty! An hour later: Medium throw on this one. Fantastic fruit scent. I'm going to have to track down a bottle.

A kind soul frimped me some of this recently. In imp: Intriguing. Amber and Pomegranate. Interesting mix. Not liking the amber Wet: The amber is pretty strong here. Drydown: More amber 30 minutes later, the pomegranate, which is what I wanted to try this one for, comes out. Absolutely lovely. The amber does hold it in check. It's a sophisticated scent. Proserpine as Queen of Hades, not as the happy maiden in the fields at play. Very lovely. Not me, but lovely.

From the creamy fruity scent in the bottle to the roses 'n' cream w/ a touch of something citrus after two hours, Alice is PURE WIN. Those who like florals and fruits should give this one a try!

In bottle: Very sweet, like marshmellows or caramelized sugar Wet: Sweet. I was afraid the vanilla might hit that death note of plastic, but it never did! Drydown: Caramel. Much later: Still smells like caramel. Which is fine but I was hoping for more like what the bottle smelled like. Off to the swaps pile and to someone who will love you better.

I got an imp of this to try because I love berries, but: In imp: Oooh, this is beautiful! A blast of berries! Wet: Even better! Drydown: OMG, must get bottle!! But then, the tragedy. This stuff faded on me within a half-hour to almost nothing. Gone, just like that. I guess the joke is on me, huh. Very funny, Jester. :-P Off to swap pile with you.

In bottle: Musky, hints of citrus and wisteria Wet: orange and grapefruit Drydown: Now I'm getting a bit of musk again, with the citrus (orange and grapefruit dominating) and wisteria. Perhaps some other florals back there, but wisteria is what I'm picking out. An hour later: Soft and pretty, more fruity than floral. Absolutely beautiful. So glad that someone sold me their bottle!!

Someone frimped me a sample of this, and I've been wanting to try it! In imp: berries and vanilla cake Wet: vanilla and a bit of cake. The vanilla has me worried--the Lab's vanilla has been iffy with me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it goes to plastic, so I was a bit afraid. Drydown: Sweet, sweet, sweet, very sweet scent. Almost too sweet. Just a hint of currants. I'm mostly getting vanilla. Fortunately, the dread plastic note of doom has not appeared. An hour later: And finally the cake appears. There's a bit of a powdery scent, but honestly, that was badly needed to cut into all the sweet. Also finally getting some of the currants. Lasted about three hours. I'm not a foodie, but I do like this scent, and the Man absolutely LOVED it on me, so bottle it is.

I managed to score an aged bottle, and I've been wanting to try this since I missed out on it 2 years ago. In bottle: a complex, woodsy scent Wet: WHOA PINE!! (I must amp that note or something). But there are other things going on back there...wait for it... Drydown: Pine is still strong, but I'm getting other wood scents now, evergreens, a touch of berries. An hour later: This has blended into a beautiful, beautiful subtle and complex forest scent. I may have to place it in third behind my love for Vinland and Pomona on my favorites list. Will give it a few more test runs before reworking my favs list though. And oh, yeah, I am SO keeping this bottle!!!

In Imp: Lovely green herbal with floral undertones Wet: very "green" scent (I would suppose that is the herbs). As many have said, there is a watery feel to this, but this works on me where many of the Lab's aquatics do not. Drydown: herbs with faint florals An hour later: Very faint, but quite pleasant. A perfect springtime scent. Good for a young girl, I would think, or if you have to work in an office since this doesn't have a large throw.

Oh, no, this fragrance has forced me back to the dialect of my youth: In imp: Whoa, Hello thar, Piney woods! How you doin'? Wet: Yessir, this here is PINE. And maybe Juniper, I dun know that fur sure. Drydown: Gittin' a mite bit 'o musk in here, yes. An hour later: Dries down to a mighty fine pine scent, yes it does. It's too manly a scent for me, but I am surely keeping this imp to try on the Man. It has a very nice woodsy smell but does NOT kick off the allergies like so many of the others do (yay no Cedar!). Actually, on a guy this might smell downright sexy. [EDIT] The Husband tried it on last night and WOW. It was very strong on me but didn't even throw that much on him--just at a medium rate. He gives it two very high thumbs up. Will use up imp and is maybe thinking about a bottle.

It started out quite well. Got a hint of musk. Spicy when wet. Dried down to something woodsy--probably with cedar since my nose suddenly stopped up? More of a manly scent, I'd say, but since the allergy thing hit, I'm going to pass this one along.

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions regarding the Burberry/etc. I'm going to send her a bottle of Morocco and see how she likes it. Maybe even get her interested in checking out BPAL for herself!

In the imp: a touch of plum with leather Wet: LEATHER...and I find that it does not agree with me at all. Drydown: Leather still there, some of the lilac and herbs peeking through. An hour later: The leather prevails. Interesting touches of florals and herbs in the background. I had to wash it off. If I learned anything from this experience, it was that leather is a death note for me. But if you happen to like leather, then this scent might well be the one for you! To the trade pile!

In imp: musk and sugar Wet: musk, sugar and some grape/rum/boozy scent Drydown: Now, we're getting into the honey. Wow, this scent morphs, doesn't it? An hour later: almost a grape-juice scent, but made rich by the honey and musk flavors. Not sure if I'll get a bottle yet, but I will use up this imp!

Received as a decant frimp from a forumite. Thanks for the chance to try this! Hay, with a touch of balsam. Nothing much else is coming out. Very light, barely there. Fail on me, I'm afraid. Will pass this along as a sniffie to someone else.

I'm trying to find some BPAL that my sister-in-law might like. She's had a very rough few months and I wanted to get her something nice. My brother told me she likes: Burberry by Burberry (description on web review says "peach, apricot, sandalwood, cedar, amber and musk") and "the new one" by Sarah Jessica Parker (I'm assuming SJP NYC). (description on web says "mandarin from Italy, white osmanthus and wild strawberries, gardenia, honeysuckle, mimosa and red Damascena rose, while a base includes vanilla absolute, sandalwood, rum and creamy musk") Anything here in a similar vein? My own preferences tend to shy away from musks and I'm allergic to sandalwood, so my own favorites aren't helping me any in my quest. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Beautiful, radiant daughter of Demeter... her loveliness was so exquisite that even Hell itself could not resist her. Pomegranate and rose. In imp: As the description says, pomegranate and rose. Wet: Rose dominant, some fruitiness. Drydown: The juicy pomegranate begins to come out now, the rose steps into the background. An hour later: Mostly pomegranate, with a touch of rose. Gorgeous. Light, not a heavy throw on this at all. I'm not getting a lot of rose on this, but I tend to amp fruit scents so that may be the reason. Regardless, a wonderful scent, bottle-worthy indeed.

In imp: watery...something... Wet: Oooh, it's pretty! I thought this would be all slimy and disgusting and it's pretty!! Drydown: Coconut smell coming out. I love coconut. Fruity floral win on this one. An hour later: the scent remains, a lovely floral. This would be wonderful in the summertime especially. I am so getting a bottle of this. Postscript: the Man came by to say something and I stuck out my wrist in a now-familiar gesture. He sighed and bent and sniffed and his face brightened. "Pretty!" he exclaimed. "What is it called?" "Shoggoth," I replied and watched his face as he tried to process that bit of information. The Man wants to buy me a bottle. He's a huge Lovecraft fan.

In bottle: Smells like vanilla. Wonderful!! Wet: Noooooo!!!! It's immediately going to plastic!!! Drydown: More plastic!!! After an hour: No good. Still plastic, with a touch of vanilla underneath. EPIC FAIL. At least on me. Bottle is going to my swap pile. I'm so sad--I was really excited about this one. EDIT: Turns out this stuff is absolute MAGIC in a scent locket, though.

Named after the primordial ocean of milk where Lord Vishnu reclines upon the thousand-headed Naga. Sweet milk and warm, healing ginger with a touch of golden honey and our blend of Ambrosia. In imp: cream with a hint of orange (that would be the ambrosia) and a touch of ginger Wet: creamy ambrosia! This is divine! Drydown: Still divine! I'm in LOVE!! An hour later: Still there, but faint. Will have to slather this one, obviously. Must get a bottle with next order. Note on ambrosia--this smells exactly like the ambrosia dish that my mom's family makes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a traditional Southern (US) fruit dish (yes, named after the food of the gods) with oranges, apples, bananas, cherries, pecans, coconuts and sugar.

Wanted to try this because coconut is one of my comfort scents. However: In imp: creamy coconut goodness! Smells divine! Wet: Beautiful! Coconut and Milk and a touch of something else I can't place (shea butter, maybe?) Drydown: Stronger on the coconut than anything else, with a bit of something else behind it. It does kinda remind me of the old Coppertone Suntan Lotion I wore as a kid, back when I still went out in the sun. Later: DOOM. Plastic note. Not sure where it's coming from. Doesn't seem to be the coconut, since I can still clearly smell that, but one of the other ingredients is going to plastic on me. This is the first time a BPAL oil has done that to me. Woe. Off to swaps.

In imp: Very sweet apple on top of something else (maybe the oak?) Wet: Just the apple. Absolutely lovely, though. I'm not picking up any of the other notes at all. Drydown: More apple. This is a wonderful apple scent! An hour later: It didn't even last an hour! 30 minutes, max. Faded completely into nothingness. It's a pity. I really liked it, but I'd prefer my scents to stick around longer. Will use up the imp, though.

Got a frimp decant and decided to try as I do love rose. I'm a little leary of the musk--sometimes musk works on me, sometimes it amps--but what the heck, this was free! In imp: musky rose. Wet: MUSK. And more MUSK. Drydown: Yet more MUSK. Ick. Looks like I'm amping this one. A couple of hours later: Okay, this is better. The roses have come out now and there is a nice balance between the musk and the roses. A very sophisticated scent. A Little Black Dress type scent. Too musky for me, I'm afraid, so I'll frimp this off to someone else.

Got a frimp decant of this. Always willing to try another floral! In imp: Whoa floral!! Something spicy on top of I think gardenia? Very lush. Wet: Overwhelming. And I like florals. Almost rancid. Drydown: Starting to calm down a bit. Still a touch of spice. I'm not up on spicy scents (don't wear them much) so I can't identify which one it is, but it keeps coming out. Various florals play in the background, but gardenia is up in front. An hour later: Everything but the spice went to powder on me. Weird. Oh, it's cinnamon! Interesting experience to be sure, but obviously not the girl I'm going to stay with. Will frimp to someone else.