tajana

<b>Wet:</b> Villain starts off with a brisk squeeze of lime: yum! Then it blends with a bit of lavender and lilac, resulting in a light, slightly herbal, 'masculine' scent. <b>Dry:</b> The lime backs down a bit and what I'm left with is something that reminds me very strongly of the musky fougere element of Dorian. It's light and clean smelling, like some sort of aftershave or cologne. Unfortunately, after an hour, the musk starts warping. Most of BPAL's musks end up being pretty inconspicuous and subtle on me, but occasionally, one goes bizarre, unpleasant, and sort of... savory and meaty? That's what happens to this one. It starts to take on the aroma of lunch meat. <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> <b>Overall:</b> Pleasant at first, but the weirdness that ensues after an hour is just unforgivable! It's not exciting enough for me to want to try the imp on my boyfriend, so I'm just going to send Villain packing. ETA: I stand corrected. I got frimped this and tested it on the boy, and it smelled great! Fresh, light, sort of smoky anise spicy and just sharply lavender-y enough with a smooth, soft classic clean musky base.

Wet: Sour, sharp red rose with a grapey edge. Bleh. There's a slight metallic tang. I'm only trying this on my skin because I'm making it a policy to review every scent that passes through my hands. Dry: Heavy, powdery, acrid rose with a "blood" backdrop. By "blood", I mean dragon's blood (lilacy, spicy) and grape juice (I guess on somebody else, that would come off as wine). After a bit of time, it's mostly grape juice and wine with an incensey undercurrent. Overall: I knew I wouldn't like this, since I usually dislike rose, and "blood" couldn't possibly help it out, especially if blood happens to be high fructose corn syrup and artificial grape flavored syrup. Wine is usually a dramatic failure on my skin, and this was no exception.

Wet: I can't take lotus too seriously... it's so bubblegum! But Blood Lotus tries to change my mind. The wet bubblegum blooms are weighed down with a sharp slash of dragon's blood, with a husky, gritty undercurrent of smoke. Dry: Much the same, but with an added hint of red wine, and I'm definitely, definitely thinking there's red musk in here, too. It's got that slightly incensey yet red-fruity sweet vibe that red musk gives me. It smells EXACTLY like the red musk in Fenris Wolf. The lotus stays as the star of the show, though, and lilacy dragon's blood is in the number two spot. Overall: It's strange, because at first I was like "nope, don't like this... don't like dragon's blood, don't like this suggestion of wine". But, um, I'll be damned if I don't keep whiffing my wrist (and the air around it... this stuff is potent, I'm in a cloud of this soporific dark red sweetness). The red musk really pulls it together, I think, and the dragon's blood calms down after a while and adds a great spice. I think I'll keep the imp, because it's lab fresh now and I think age would do this blend some good.

Wet: Nectarine! Not too sweet at all... it's vaguely peach-like, but this nectarine is tangy and underripe, yet also a bit watery. The oakmoss is definitely present, but it's secondary to the nectarine. Dry: Mossy skin musk (reads as similar to white musk here) touched lightly with nectarine. It's a clean combination, not overtly oceanic, but appropriate enough for a scent inspired by, er, octopi, I guess. Not much throw, plenty of longevity. Smells summery. Overall: Nice, but nothing revolutionary. A related scent I like better is a 2009 apricot Shunga, Manners Among Men and Women. The apricot note is similar to nectarine, but the refreshing sake and biting wood are more striking than the relatively demure oakmoss-musk combo here.

Wet: Pine, dripping with water. A little bit of citrus, perhaps lemon or lime, maybe a hint of melon and ozone or something, too. I don't know, it just smells really aquatic and unapologetically clean, clean, squeaky clean. Dry: Doesn't change much, just softens up and gets sweeter... sugary, even. Sugary aquatic pine. Overall: I really like pine, fir, spruce, and evergreens in general in certain blends, but here, the aquatic touch takes this out of the forest and into the bathroom cleaning product range. With extra sugar. Not for me, unfortunately.

Wet: Yum! I hesitated with this one because of all the different fruits (not all fruits work on me) and the cake-reviews, but on wet, this is super promising, and I immediately knew I had a winner. Lemongrass and grapefruit, cheerful and citrusy, fused with tasty, borderline creamy tropical fruits and a bit of hibiscus. Delicious and fun! Dry: On the dry down, the grapefruit softens up a bit, but lemongrass is one of the most long-lived citrus notes in my experience, and combined with the guava and whatever else is lurking in this scent, it turns to this great lemon flavored glaze/frosting scent, reminiscent of cookies I guess, but not cakey/buttery/battery at all... it has a candyish overtone, but it's subdued. Hints of light green herbs (nothing medicinal or savory) keep things appropriately kooky, and the clean, clean scent of cherry blossoms, almost powdery, somewhat silky, links up with the hibiscus and whatever other blossoms are hiding out in here for a lovely light floral aspect that balances out perfectly with the slightly creamy fruitiness. It lingers for hours as a soft and feminine perfume, young and cheerful, gourmand without being too overbearing about it. Overall: I should have known this would be a total winner on me. I mean, pink grapefruit and cherry blossom? Come on. What I didn't expect was that all the other notes would blend together in such a pleasing way. This is very wearable. It's adorable, but interesting enough to set itself apart from other girly fruity-floral fragrances. Love it, love it, love it!

Almond milk, sarsaparilla, tobacco smoke, black patchouli and white pine bark. Wet: I'm immediately taken aback by the strangeness. It's a cohesive smell, not cacophonous at all...but definitely creepy... like some weird tune played by an organ grinder with a creepy monkey by his side, I suppose. Milky almond with the distinctive, difficult-to-describe smell of sarsaparilla (kind of root-beery) and a dark, smoky undercurrent. Dry: A cup of creamy almond milk, flavored unexpectedly with sarsaparilla and a splinter of sharp pine, perverted with smoky tobacco and dirty patchouli. It's kind of buttery, yet bizarre enough that I can't bring myself to think of this as foody, or even gourmand. After a few hours on the skin, it settles down and the complexity fades as everything kind of blends together into a woody, creamy scent with a funky-crazy sarsaparilla edge. It's really very pleasant at this point, but it's downright distracting for the first couple of hours. Overall: A weird and unsettling smell... much weirder than I even bargained for based on the notes. I can't think of anything to compare this to that I've ever smelled, in BPAL or otherwise. I don't ever need to smell or wear this again, but it's one hell of a memorable scent, and I'm glad I got to sample this really unique oil.

Wet: Woah, this is fruity. Reminds me of jolly ranchers and fruit punch, like Bordello, only more glittery and even brighter. Total sugar shock. Extreme currants and berries, seriously. Dry: The candy berries stay intense for a surprisingly long time. It takes a long while for the fruits to tone down enough for the neroli to even be detectable. It's mostly just pure, shocking hard candy. The throw is ridiculous. Overall: On my skin, this just ends up smelling simple, silly, and childish. The fruitiness is so intense that it started to give me a headache and I had to wash it off. This would be a good one to try for someone who just can't get enough fruity/berry fragrance, but this was just too much for me.

Wet: Carnations, backed with sweet, creamy notes. I think there might be some almond in here, and either milk/cream or vanilla making things really rich and creamy. Dry: After it dries down, a lot of sweet resin comes out. I couldn't say with confidence what sort of resin or amber there might be in here, but it doesn't go powdery on me at all, which is what most amber does on me. Hod lingers for hours and hours as a second skin scent: creamy, with delightful clovey-carnation spice. What really pushed me over the edge to try Hod was someone's description of it as being like "carnation flavored ice cream", and hey, that is kind of what it smells like to me, though it's so warm and snuggly that it reminds me more of warm milk. I'm still reminded vaguely of almonds much later on, which is awesome, since I'm a big fan of almond scents and flavors. Overall: I retested Alice so I could compare the two, and on me, there is a real similarity, but Hod is much warmer and richer. It's more similar to Morocco, but it's more carnationy... Morocco turned to cloying Antique-Lacey vanilla on me, Hod did not. It IS a sweet scent, but it's tempered by the spiciness enough that it's not at all cloying. I was worried I might not like with all the amber/honey mentions, but it doesn't do the blah powder thing at all, it stays rich and creamy. Hod is really comforting to wear, and showcases the carnation note beautifully. It's one of my new top favorites, for sure.

Well, when I opened my box of BPAL, it smelled strongly of tropical things. A bad sign! The bottle of In Winter In My Room was cracked, so I just slathered some on immediately and cut myself on glass in the process. Wet: Sugared grapefruit and yuzu, swirled with light floral blooms, lots of peony. Delightfully PINK and refreshing. I could see how someone else was reminded of melons: the citrus has a cool, wet edge rather than a sharp and sour one. The yuzu is cheerful and a bit candylike, but that's fine with me. This smells really cheerful and fresh. Dry: As it dries down, the tuberose really comes out in a big way, which is fine by me, because tuberose is one of the "biggest" flowers I can do. I think I can also pick out the violet "leaf", which is great. And MMmMmMMm waxy sweet tuberose petals. The tuberose is coming out more strongly than the pikake does. The grapefruit/yuzu combo obviously fades with time, but there's a slight fruity, bright tone that gets left behind. There's a smooth base of light frankincense and creamy tonka which is integral to giving this full body, lasting strength, a general sense of harmony. I got everything I wanted out of this! Overall: LOVE! This dries down to be SUCH a good floral, and I'm SO picky and easily bored with florals. This, though, is fabulous and pink and induces deep huffing of the wrist. The throw and potency isn't the best ever, but maybe it'll settle down and toughen up after it's been out of the mailbox for longer. Instant favorite! It's not wintry at all, really, but the frankincense/tonka base gives this enough roundness that I'll freely slather this any time of year I need a yuzu-tuberose-magic pick-me-up.

Wet: Oh no, this is a bummer! I'm on a dandelion binge right now, and I was expecting to really enjoy this. Unfortunately, as soon as it hits my skin, it turns... sour. A high, sharp, sour note. Maybe it's one of the berries going wrong? At any rate, it's not really identifiable as anything green or meadow-like. It's just thin and sour. Not hideously offensive or potent, but it's not pleasant, either. Dry: The sour note fades out, and I'm left with a clean green scent, definitely with its fair share of clover and just a bit of dandelion. It's only vaguely floral. It isn't really conjuring any images or emotions for me. It smells alright I suppose, but it's falling really flat with my skin chemistry. Plus, it's barely there despite my generous application. Overall: Goes from bad to mediocre. Doesn't work for me, which is a pity, considering how lovely it sounded like it would be! I was hoping for bluebells, dandelions, and peat!

Wet: Lemon and apricot flowers pop out immediately, along with a jumble of other stuff, including heliotrope. It's sweet, light, vaguely powdery. It smells a bit like Lolita, but with a hint of bitter opium smoke that makes it a little more grown up. Dry: Lightly flowery and citrus-fruity with smoky and creamy undertones from the coconut and vanilla. No one note dominates, the end result is a cohesive perfume. It's well balanced, and problem notes like opium and black musk don't go off and dominate the scent like they're wont to do with me. It's a smooth, feminine smell, neither too tart nor too sweet. It's not very potent, though: not much throw to speak of, even though I slathered it on. It fades fairly quickly, too. Overall: It smells pretty, but not that memorable. I was hoping for a more pronounced tuberose note, and for a touch more coconut. Maybe on someone else's skin it would be better. Opium is a bit bitter and black musk is powdery on me, so this scent would probably have even more personality and punch on someone whose skin does well with those notes.

Wet: Hello, dandelions! The clover peeks out after just a moment, and it's mostly dandelions and clovers. Reminds me of laying down in a field of unmown grass in the morning, when everything is still wet and dewy. Dry: It loses some of its character after it's dried down. It smells like morning has advanced to mid-day, and the sun is warming up and drying out the weeds and grass. The birch note intensifies and becomes dominant, while the fir stays rather close to the skin. This smells like a forest clearing, kind of. The effect is outdoorsy, but perhaps a bit too... clean. Overall: Nice, but not revolutionary. It vaguely reminds me of a GC blend, Ochosi. The longer this stayed on my skin, the more it reminded me of men's soap.

Bow & Crown of Conquest all the way! It bears some resemblance to Crowley, as it's also a leathery-woody-vanilla-musk, but it has a different aura about it... Crowley smells warm on me, whereas Bow & Crown is like Crowley's colder, haughtier cousin. Port Royal might appeal to you. It won't recreate the leather/ocean water/sugar scent, but it's a sweetened up, woodsy perfume with a bite of ocean air... it's quite spicy though, so it might be too far off the mark from what you're looking for. I haven't tried it, but Jolly Roger has both leather and "sea spray". You could try layering that with something sweet and sugary.

Wet: Black silt for sure, damp and realistic, with a strong, vivid herbal element. Seriously, it smells like sprouts, wild weeds, herbs, and hay by a river. Fascinating. Dry: The cedar and myrrh come out more, but the curious character of the silt and foliage scent remains strong. This is earthy and slightly sweet, and strikes a curious balance between incensey dryness and damp, authentic silty soil. Later on, it's slightly spicy cedar mingling with myrrh, balsam, and grasses. The throw is a slightly spicy, earthy-woody, yet very soft scent. It smells organic and alive, and really evokes the concept well. Overall: A really interesting scent experience. It's very nuanced and the individual notes come across as very realistic and authentic, but they're balanced in such a way that it still smells like it's really meant to be a perfume. It doesn't smell like "me" but I'm really glad I got a chance to try this out. I can't think of any other BPAL I can really compare this to. The "silt" note is distinct from the other soil/dirt/loam scents I've tried. ETA: Stealth favorite. Long after my decant was gone in the world, I developed a craving for a dirt scent and it just had to be this one. Perhaps its thanks to aging, but now its ten times better than ever before, especially, ahem, during shark week, for some reason. The vaguely minty snow is a beautifully unexpected fresh touch over the loveliest cedar-myrrh dirt smell ever. Refreshing, yet warm and earthy, almost spicy at the same time. Bonus, this smells absolutely fantastic on my boyfriend, and he actually likes it too. With his chemistry, it smells similar to the way it does on me, but not as sweet and a bit more cedary.

Wet: Dark, dark pine, with a gust of cold ozone. The cedar, always a favorite of mine, strengthens after just a moment. Mm, woods! There's a strong incensey undertone to it, though. Dry: The ozone has backed down, but the cedar remains pretty strong and pleasant, just a tad spicy, and mixing with opopponax and what I think is frankincense to create a smooth, dark incense. The pine lays pretty low, but adds a great hint of green boughs. Incense scents are a mixed bag on me, but this is just beautiful. I keep taking whiffs of my wrist. Overall: I know this was released as a Halloween scent, but it feels super appropriate for December! I didn't really have high expectations for this scent, but the decant is staying with me for sure, and I may eventually hunt down some more of it. It's a lovely, shadowy, gloomy scent.

Wet: Soft, sweet grasses, lit with sunny, dusty amber and warmed with a fuzzy musk. Throw is minimal. Dry: It's a soft skin scent, a little bit powdery from the amber. It's animalistic, but not in a vicious, feral sense, like I'd normally use the word... "downy and gentle" are good words to describe the musk. It's practically cuddly. I think that there's a bit of dry wood snapping around the edges. After it's settled down a bit the "doeskin" comes out. It's a soft leather, not at all sharp like it can sometimes be. Overall: A gentle skin scent. It's very natural and "down to earth" smelling, and solidly unisex. Lovely, but ultimately too subtle for my tastes.

Wet: Fresh on the skin, there's a fleeting, high, tart note, which quickly dissipates into a sweet purple, fainty fruity velvety soft floral, tropical and lush. There's something lurking at the edges that makes me uneasy, though. Dry: Oh no, ylang ylang, that's what it was! The sharp, sour-sweet, generally bad-news ylang ylang gets stronger with time. It's tragic, because I'm still getting wafts of dusky orchid, beautifully realistic and a bit heady... but when I take a closer sniff, the ylang ylang assaults my nose. Overall: This would be a lovely floral fragrance, if only I didn't fare so badly with ylang ylang (I both amp and warp it).

Wet: Sometimes, there's an initial waft of buttery pumpkin... thick, rich, and just too much. But then it turns to cheerful orange citrus with a lightly spiced, tasty layer of white vanilla cake underneath. I really like the citrus, it's really brightening and lightening things up. Dry: It smells like some kind of baked pumpkin dessert with a lemon glaze. The citrus fades down with time. There's a definite red ginger note, which is lovely. The neroli and benzoin add a little something extra that keeps this from being too straight up dessert like... still, though, this is making me hungry. After a while this becomes a warm autumnal scent, not too heavy... all tasty ginger-spiked pumpkin infused with vanilla bourbon and a persistent hint of brightness that I can only attribute to some seriously persistent hint of blood orange! My boyfriend commented that I smelled like tea, and I think I can see that: the ginger spice and citrus are reminiscent of some ginger teas I've had. Overall: I was very curious about BPAL pumpkin, but also very wary: "buttery" is usually an adjective of doom. This is really nice though, since it has some notes I really adore, like ginger and citrus. It's a very pleasant, comforting smell, and it would also make a great room scent. I worried at first that it was too too foody for me to wear, but after the cakey, thick feel of the top notes wears off, it dries down to something far more buoyant than I'd expect. I ended up upgrading my decant to a bottle. I simply can't imagine a better pumpkin patch scent!

Unknown year. Not 2009. In the Imp: Plastic doll heads, haha! An artificial vanilla with Lush Snowcake-like almond frosting. I love Snowcake, and BPAL almond is nice but usually short lived on me. But I'm not so sure about this... a lot of my favorite BPAL has vanilla in it, but a lot of the fan-favorite vanilla-dominant scents fall flat on me. Wet: Bam. For such a "light" scent, it has an intense sense of potency... I slathered on a bit based on the weak scent in the vial, but a tiny dab would have probably worked just fine. It's a white scent, mostly vanilla, with subtle hints of coconut and marzipan. Reminds me of assorted lotions. If I huff, I can catch a hint of delicate white florals with stems attached. Dry: Play doh. Not a bad odor, but it's definitely reminiscent of play doh... not what I want out of a perfume. Overall: I'm not feeling the love. It smells pretty "cheap" on me, like drugstore vanilla lotion with a subtle hint of sunblock and marzipan. I have a feeling that this would last hours and hours if I didn't wash it off.

In the imp: Patchouli, that's good. And, oh dear... I sense ylang-ylang... that's bad news. Wet: Somewhat creamy, somewhat sweet, rather clean floral soap, with a nauseating edge. I can't decide if it's sweet or sour, powdery or sweaty. Perhaps it's a bit of all of the above. I think oleander and ylang-ylang are coming through strongest. The throw on this is pretty serious. Dry: I can smell the patchouli at the base of this, but it's obscured by flowers gone wrong. When this dries down a bit, the impression of soap turns to pure baby powder. Really strong, clouds of choking baby powder. It's starting to give me a headache, and I'll have to wash it off before I find out how well it lasts, or if it morphs to something nicer. Overall: When it's wet, it smells like someone really dirty and sweaty desperately lathering up. When it's dry, it's cloying baby powder. Not a good match for me, but then, ylang-ylang never is.

Wet: Herbal notes over chewy dates and figs... the herbs do really strike me as dark, a bit spicy... I'd guess that there's a liberal dose of anise in here. There's also dusky, dirty vetiver-like edge. I just barely get a hint of tart currant. Dry: The herbal, slighly medicinal notes prevail, but it fades into the background. I'm mostly getting subtly dirty vetiver and perhaps some wood, balanced with a anise-spiced fig-date smell. I just ate a fig and anise marmalade the other day, so Gomorrah reminds me of a dirtier, more herbal edition. Overall: It's not bad, but there are other figgy scents and smoky scents that are more my style.

Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks. Wet: HARSH. I only dabbed a little bit on because this was pungent straight out of the vial. I get the ginger, for sure, but it's crowded with honeysuckle and black pepper and something unpleasant. It smells sharp, and sort of... sour. I think one of those red musks must be going bad on me... most musks are at least OK on me, but a few have gone hideously wrong. I think this is one of them. Dry: The sour, acrid tone just intensified. As it warmed up on my skin the tiny dot of oil packed a lot of sillage. The waft is weirdly creamy, but in a gross sticky honeysuckle and sweaty musk sort of way. After a bit of time on the skin it's mostly bitter spices, mostly black pepper, dusted over rancid, sour yuckiness. Overall: A scrubber! To think that something that was on my wishlist for so long turned out to be one of the worst matches with my skin chemistry ever!

In the bottle: Mostly fresh, clean sake, which I recognize from Hungry Ghost Moon and Lantern Ghost of Oiwa, finished with a fresh cut, pale wood... almost sawdusty. Wet: The apricot peeks out upon application: I was expecting fruity, sweet, bright apricot like in Katharina (fruity scents often end up smelling like body wash or candy on me), but here it's very much reined in and outshined by the cool, almost minty-greenish, alcoholic cologney note of rice wine and the austerity of the dry wood. Dry: It develops slowly. After a few hours, it's evolved into soft apricot sake (evenly balanced) and the woods have softened into a smoother, gentler form. Subtle throw, but stunning longevity. I could distinctly smell this on me the next day. Overall:This turned out to be a surprisingly nuanced unisex fragrance. I really like it, it's very clean, but not in the usual, hum-drum sort of way! It's the kind of thing I see myself wearing a whole lot because it feels so strangely comfortable yet appropriate and versatile. I wouldn't normally think of apricots as very masculine, but I'll have to test this out on my boyfriend, I think this would be absolutely delectable on him.

Starts off with a squirt of lemon, turns into a minty anise, dries down into an anisey, vaguely spicy-herbal scent close to the skin. The throw is subtle and all anise. Smells green and absinthe-y. Not much else to say about this. Meh. It's light and refreshing in its own way, only slightly boozy, but I rarely appreciate anise, so I don't care for this blend either.