Pepperminx

#209 Lovely amber, slightly powdery, with a hint of leather. Possibly some florals in the background, of a fruity kind (plum blossom or some such.) A keeper! ETA - I don't think it's a fruity floral, there in the background, anymore. It comes off as slightly tropical, like a vanilla orchid or some such white floral. Very nice balance between foody vanilla, and some baked goods, and floral vanilla.

This one smells so BUTTER RUM COOKIE on me it's not even funny. Spicy and sugary and Christmas cookiey. I have a feeling this will smell better with time.

This one is not really working with my chemistry, as in, I can hardly smell it at all. There is something vague on my wrist, something that smells slightly of a dentist's office. I will have to get back to it at some later date because scents that give a bad first impression on me usually turns much better once it gets time to settle and my nose gets a chance to try again.

This became an instant favorite of mine, after I ordered a bottle from the lab on a hunch and it's such a winner. The chocolate is present but tempered by the plum and the musk. Sometimes red musk goes too sharp on me but there is enough sweetness, from the fruits and the amaretto, to balance it out. Good stuff.

This smells just like Scorpio '07 to me! And that makes me happy because I've been trying to find a backup to my lonely Scorpio '07 bottle to no avail. Interesting how Panther Moon reminds people of lots of different scents...

I was hoping for more violet from Signior Dildo. Wet it smells rather dry-ish and I don't get any vanilla or violet. As it dries, though, out comes the vanilla. All in all it smells like, dare I say it, a big flesh colored dildo. There must be a reason they are scented like this - it smells really pleasant. Still wish there was more violet in this, but am glad I got a bottle as I think the vanilla will age beautifully.

There is a roar of tingle-in-the-nose grass when I first apply this. It morphs a lot over a short span of time (wet grass, dry grass, dandelion, wet coffee and last an empty coffee mug), what I'm left with after about 20 minutes is maple syrupy sweetness. Quite faint at that. I guess I wasn't paying close attention to the scent because the incense went by completely unnoticed. Will keep this one for aging. Should be interesting!

This comes off as if And There Was A Great Cry In Egypt went rolling around in celery right on my wrist. When I made my plead I thought I might be able to pull it off, but I think I have hit my "dry" limit with this one. Ten minutes after application it starts to soften up a bit though, I might detect a hint of sweetness too, but overall I think I missed the mark with this one. The throw is light-to-medium for me. Not bad overall, per se, but not great either. Maybe aging will help?

Holy Red Wine! In the bottle it's pure in-your-face red wine, but it calms down a lot once it's no longer wet on the skin. I'm left with a dark red honey scent with a handful of spices lurking in the background. I'm not totally bonkers about Gluhwein.. yet! I'm hanging on to it for now because it definitely has potential, and I will probably be wearing it when the right mood strikes. Not to mention that I think it will age gorgeously!

This starts out slightly plastic-y on me, with a touch of spice? That's weird, but not entirely unpleasant. Maybe you wouldn't call it spicy per-se but I get the same feel from Sugar Cookie as I do in this wet stage. I can also smell the goat. It's hard to explain really, but it's there - and also, HELLO BUTTERMILK! Dry the pancake takes a backseat and the maple jumps out. As it should be it's very boysenberry'ish. That is, until the berries fade away and the pancake peeks out again. And just when I thought it had settled, out comes the goat again. And the berries. Throw is pretty medium, and I have no clue how long it lasts. It's a total morpher. I think I'll keep the bottle as a curiosity, but I wonder how much wear it'll get. Still, I love that I even HAVE a pancake scent in my herd.

This is the blend that made me realize I can do jasmine (or I just got lucky with this one?) It's all yummy vanilla/sweet floral and I don't even mind. This one is my exception to the no-florals rule, but I think I have to credit the vanillas for that a little too. I DO get grapefruit and it works wonderfully (does not turn bitter. At all.) After an hour or so it's mostly just creamy, creamy, creamy vanilla and jasmine. Lovesit!

When the inquisition was up I was hoping to get L'Estate and I am so happy I did - both the oil and the roomspray rock my world. But as gorgeous as it was back when I first got it, it must be at least ten times better now after some aging. It's pretty much vanilla/amber after dry-down, the wet stage being slightly harsher and almost sneeze inducing that lasts for about 5 minutes or less. As another one of my favorites, Glowing Vulva, it just kinds of melts into my skin without any effort and it's hard to make out any other notes than the vanilla/amber combo, although I realize that without the other notes the scent wouldn't be what it is, but that is all I get whiffs of throughout the day. I can't smell the florals much (if at all), but maybe I'm just not trying that hard. This has easily made it into my top 5, and to me it doesn't say "Summer", it says "ALL DA TIME!"

At first this smells like cocoa powder dusted on top rather than white chocolate. I can't smell the caramel, but the cream is there in the background. It's a morpher alright! After some time on my skin the white chocolate comes out and the caramel emerges. No sign of pomegranate. And the pumpkin sort of sneaks off unnoticed during the dry-down while everyone is looking for the caramel. Possibly my second favorite from last years patch!

This is the one pumpkin I had the most hopes for last year, but I didn't know then that I amp pumpkin like nobody's business so the whole pumpkin patch smelled pretty much the same to me back then. A year later and the pumpkin has calmed down significantly. First I smell pumpkin, then something green and herbal like, settling into something floral - probably the carnation. I can smell the tonka, it is giving an overall comforting warmth. Unfortunately the tobacco turns slightly soapy on me, but not enough to be off putting. Probably my favorite of last year's pumpkins.

Pumpkin scents tend to amp on me when they are fresh, to the point where all I can smell is pumpkin. A year of aging does a whole lot of difference! (But of course you knew that already ) This one is indeed very fruity. I especially smell the grapes, and they do smell like white as opposed to red grapes. It has a slight bubble-gum'ish quality to it and I think that pear is the culprit here. I don't smell the jasmine or the tea. The pumpkin has taken a backseat. Like, way WAY back, keeping it all together and well rounded. This is a bright, fun scent but so definitely not me.

It's funny - I did buy a bottle of Dorian early on when I started with BPAL, and I tried desperately to love it but there was something in it that just smelled off to me and it made me sick smelling it for too long at a time so I ended up selling or swapping it away. Likewise with Snake Oil - it didn't smell off, but it was too sharp and gritty even after aging that I never really took to it (although I love Asp Viper!) Despite that I just had a feeling that I'd like Lilith Victoria, which is why I bought two bottles right off unsniffed... And we have a winner, baby! The Snake Oil is softer and Dorian lends its lovely sugared vanillas, and I feel slightly dirty saying this but it makes one hell of a sexy scent on me. I'm barely noticing the lavender, but maybe that is because I get along well with lavender and it's not the main focus of this blend so I don't take much notice of it. I DO smell the fennel faintly and even though it might usually be off putting to me it doesn't bother me here - there is not a whole lot of it and what is there morphs away pretty fast on me. All in all this is made of win! And I'll see if I can squeeze some more bottles out of my budget before they take these down.

Oh, this totally smells like La Befana's fruity cousin, who is also related to MB: Bloody Mary! I don't know how else to describe it! It's strawberry sweet but with a zing, and with a dusty finish. Where La Befana was violet'ish MB: Bloody Mary has made a stand in in Sticky Pillowcase. I think I might just keep a bottle!

This turns very citrusy on me at first. I think I detect a little rose.. Yup, the mandarin fades pretty quickly, leaving way for some tea and vanilla. Even though the mandarin has faded it still manages to lurk around in the background. I think I would describe it as a fresh but musky, tea and vanilla blend. It smells fairly strong to me, but I have no clue yet how long it lasts. And I'm on the fence about keeping the bottle. Of the three I think I favor Lilith Victoria.

In the bottle this smells faintly herbal, but on my skin it turns into a dusty floral with creamy undertones. I get a bit of lavender, but I've found that we get along pretty well, so that is OK. After a while it softens up and gets a little sweeter, but not foody. I assume that is the honey in the milk. Throw is low to medium, not sure how long it lasts. I like it enough to keep the bottle, I think

I am baffled. Although why I am baffled that this smells odd, or not as anticipated, I'm not quite sure as a lot of the labs scents start off smelling different at first, to how they end up smelling after a couple of applications - or maybe it's my nose that is a little weird - who knows? I put Inez on about thirty minutes ago, after finding her lingering in my mailbox. First sniff and I think I have a bottle of Sugar skull on my hands. It's a total dead ringer while wet. As it dries down it turns a little more woodsy, but most of all I still smell Sugar skull. Maybe a slightly more sophisticated Sugar skull, but still. I'll let her rest for a couple of days and try again..

Of the girls, this was the one I was the most excited about, but it smelled awfully scorched the day it arrived and I think it is caramel doing its thing. I had to put it aside for a couple of days. The iffy scorched note has calmed down now. Thankfully it wears off pretty quickly and leaves behind a lot of apple blossom. I get a little honey, and I guess some amber too, the caramel has faded a great deal, but the apple blossom is quite persistent. A bit of wood, yup. But it's pretty well blended. Not bad! Not my favorite so far, but I think it will age in an interesting way and so I'll be holding on to my bottle.

There is something that smells awfully ripe in the bottle, something that reminds me of B.O. in a way, but luckily Glowing Vulva turns into so much more once it gets on my skin. This is the "me, only better" scent I've been looking for! It should be no surprise that there is amber in this, I've come to the conclusion that I do really well with amber. The cream is delicious, full fat and well rounded, and the teak seems to give it a little kick. As it dries it turns sweet, without getting cloying (lotus?). I'm slightly surprised there is no vanilla listed, as I could almost swear it's present. I'm on my second bottle already and am kind of panicky because, dude, do you know how hard I had to dig to find that second bottle?! COVET! <3

I get a slightly floral sweetness from this wet. It then dries down to a golden amber/honey scent that stays close to the skin. The musk comes out stronger the longer the scent is on, which admittedly isn't too long at all. Count me in as an Anactoria fan! Definitely my favorite of the Lupercalia scents I tried.

This smells like Love's Philosophy's cousin to me, and I love it! It also reminds me of Leo '07, but I can't pinpoint why exactly. This is subtler, though, and softer. Lovely blend, so glad I got a bottle!

Oh, this is an instant favorite. It's like Pele, with a punch! It actually smells a lot like Pele, but unlike Pele it isn't faint or dries off far too quickly. Gorgeous! And it came in time for me to order another bottle!