azhure

The Sodom of the New World! -- touted as the richest and wickedest city in all creation! Port Royal was the center of 17th century Caribbean commerce, a notorious safe harbor for pirates, and the site of our third flagship store, which was, sadly, destroyed in the earthquake of 1692. Spiced rum and ship’s wood mixed with the body-warmed trace of a prostitute’s perfume and a hint of salty sea air on the dry-down. In the vial: Hmmm, something acrid. I can't even pick out any notes. Wet: Argh - my skin amps up the acrid scent. I can't smell any individual notes, just this sharp, acrid scent that goes right to my head. Ow. I had to sadly, wash this oil off. Drydown: I didn't get all the oil off, and so I got some of the drydown. Even more sadly, the drydown is gorgeous - soft musk. I kept on catching whiffs of it and wondering what it was that smelled so damn good.

In the bottle: Moonflower! I was hoping the moonflower would be dominant, and it is. Wet: The moonflower is still dominant, with the other florals working underneath it. This is an utterly gorgeous scent - not heady as some florals tend to be, but delicate. Drydown: Unfortunately my skin tends to eat this a bit, so it lasts only an hour or so on me. The florals soften, and the vanilla comes out a bit.

In the bottle: A combination of florals, with a tiny bit of incense way, way beneath. Wet: The florals are still mixed, with none of them dominant. They almost smell like they're rotting - sweet, but with a hint of bitterness. Again, the incense is very buried. Drydown: I was hoping to get more of the incense notes out of this. I do, but only slightly, and made somewhat bitter by the florals.

In the vial: I'm definitely getting mainly the lily here. Wet: Still lily. Hmm, not sure if I like this. Drydown: Ahhh, now the frankincense comes out. Yummy. Probably not worth hanging onto just for the drydown though.

In the vial: Hmm, interesting. Vaguely musky, and I get a little of the honey. Wet: The musk amps up now. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Drydown: This is where this blend becomes truly beautiful. I find it hard to believe that there is patchouli in this, because my skin usually amps that incredibly. But it behaves in this blend, the notes combining to smell something like Nag Champa incense.

In the imp: Very soft florals. Wet: This actually smells like an entire garden, slightly damp from the rain, including the scent of the earth. Drydown: Unfortunately my skin eats this. After only about twenty minutes I'm left with a faint ghost of the myrrh and jasmine.

In the imp: Boozey plum and berries. Beautiful, rich plum wine. Wet: It goes even more boozey on me, and the rich berries come out. I smell like a very rich, expensive liquor. Drydown: The berries hang around, but there's something else lurking in the background - maybe the oak?

In the vial: Overwhelmingly commercial perfume scent. Whoah. Wet: I do get a few threads of the individual notes - namely the jasmine - before it falls into a tumble of florals. Drydown: It only gets more cloying on me. It reminds me of the scent used in funeral parlours. Not the way I want to smell. It's a pity, because I bet it would smell fabulous on someone else.

In the vial: Coconut and cake. Wet: Hmm, very coconut, with an undercurrent of cake sweetness. Could this be a winner foody scent? Drydown: Nope. Again, it gets sickeningly sweet. I had to wash it off, because it was making me feel ill.

In the vial: Rich cake. Wet: Cake still, with a little of the blackberry buttercream. No bourbon for me, though. And the cake is a very generic scent on me too. Drydown: On me, this becomes sickeningly sweet. It's a lovely scent, but I think really foody scents just aren't me.

In the vial: Hmm, very commercial perfume. I don't get any of the notes at all. Wet: Whoah - still that overpowering commercial perfume scent. Drydown: You guessed it. None of the notes come out at all here for me, my skin turning them into a heady commercial perfume scent.

In the bottle: A light airy floral. Wet: Somehow the notes combine on me to form something akin to jasmine. Drydown: Still that jasmine-type scent.

The keeper of secrets: opoponax, Tunisian black amber, night musk, antique patchouli, zdravetz, terebinth, myrrh, and Pimenta racemosa. In the bottle: Very dark scent. Heady. Wet: At first the lighter elements amp up. It's not unpleasant on me, but neither is it really something that I'm instantly in love with. Drydown: The amber, musk and patchouli combine to form a deep musky scent unlike any other. It's gorgeous, and just right for a black moon.

DCXVII In the bottle: Cherries To be precise, cherry cough syrup. Oh-oh. Wet: Thankfully the cough syrup doesn't come anywhere near my skin. Instead I get a very soft skin scent of cherry blossoms. Drydown: Musky cherries. A memory of cherry blossom season. Verdict: I'm glad I took a chance and nabbed this partial bottle. I suspect that no other scent will be like this. I am now, of course, tempted to try more of the Chaos Theory blends.

In the vial: Liquid gold. I can think of no other way to describe it. Wet: My skin eats this scent at first, so it remains very close to the skin at first. It almost smells like honey to me, but deeper and more mysterious. Drydown: Musky liquid gold. It smells like a dream of an ancient place. Verdict: I am in love. Completely unlike any other scent I've ever tried.

In the bottle: It's a very green scent to me - I get the aloe the most, and then the mint. Wet: My skin amps up the aloe to the exclusion of everything else. I get worried. Drydown: The other notes come into play, but only to a point - the white musk comes out and soften the aloe. Verdict: A lovely summery scent. Looking forward to wearing it over the coming warm months.

In the vial: All milk chocolate. Not white. Hmm, odd. Wet: Yargh, chocolate. I think I'm the only BPAL fan who doesn't like smelling like chocolate. Drydown: The chocolate goes away, thank the Gods. I'm left with a musky sweet mix dominated by the tea and iris, with snatches of tangerine.

In the vial: The floral dominate, but they are tempered by the musk into something very exotic. Wet: I actually couldn't smell this one much at all wet. My body chemistry does strange things sometimes. Drydown: It's only when drying down that I start to really smell this. The incense-type notes dominate on me, the florals going away almost completely. It's a much lighter incense/musk scent than some of my other favoured scents, though. It's a very unique scent, and I love it.

In the vial: Mmmm, smooth and yummy. The cream dominated to my nose. Wet: The honey comes out some, warming up the scent even more. Drydown: This dries into a lovely warm creamy musky scent.

... This perfume is a blend of the sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey. In the vial: I can definitely smell the wine - there's no sweetness to the scent. Wet: The wine amps up initially - it's gorgeous and it sweetens slightly after a while. The florals come out more and more. Drydown: The florals are dominant now - what I presume to be the musk rose is the one I get most of, tempered by the balsam and the honey. Absolutely gorgeous.

In the vial: Hm, not quite like anything I've smelled before. There are florals, but a sharpness as well. Wet: The sharpness amps up initially and then fades into the background Drydown: It softens as it dries down, but still remains a very intense scent. It gets up my nose a bit, though it doesn't actually have much throw. Ylang ylang seems to be the dominant note.

In the vial: Sharp and immediately disagreeable. I'm guessing that's the vetiver? Wet: Ugh - get it off me!! Drydown: I didn't give this a chance to dry. The vetiver was sharp and acrid and just ew on me. I ended up layering it with Snake Oil to dim down the vetiver.

... This oil blend is a serene, soothing Indian blend, created to bring calm and joy to the heart and peace to the spirit. Sandalwood, jasmine, rose, patchouli, cedarwood and lemongrass. In the vial: I get the sharpness of the lemongrass immediately, underlaid by the sandalwood. Wet: The sharpness fades to the background, with the sandalwood coming out to play. It reminds me of being in a New Age store, very comforting for me. Drydown: The sandalwood fades on drydown, and the jasmine comes out.

In the vial: Hmm. Nondescript floral. I'm not all that good at picking out floral notes. Wet: I get the bitter scents coming out first. Not too sure about this one. Drydown: Once dry, this scent is lovely. The violet and lily remain, but tempered by the other notes to become a very muted, almost dusty scent

In the vial: Red musk! Yummy. Wet: Seriously strong musk, reminding me of Blood Moon, but without the underlying notes. Drydown: The musk is all I get from this scent, and it fades to a lovely, almost smoky scent.