isyche

Thalia's the closest I'll get to a BPAL namesake scent (my name's Tahlia)...so I had to try her no matter what she smelled like. My reaction: Hmm, fruity. Pear and floral, I don't get much wine. Light, pretty, golden and bubbly and cheerful, certainly; a nice summer scent, yes. The drydown is mostly plumeria, tropical, a lot like Pele. However, I am emphatically not a bubbly tropical fruity-scent person, so it seems I will not have a signature scent with my name, alas. Ah well, I'll keep the imp anyway.

Ohh. This is quite sweet in the vial, but the tea comes out more on my skin and tempers the vanilla sweetness, thank goodness, and it gets less sweet as it dries. There's also a very faint hint of lemon that gives it an edge. Dorian smells like a cup of tea with sugar, only, somehow, sexy. And delicately androgynous. (Come to think of it, it does remind me of Desire from the Sandman.) It's absolutely beautiful. Love it. This completely makes up for White Rabbit not working on me. I might need a 10ml of this.

Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus. Bastet is a lovely, smooth, golden almondy amber on me. It blends into my skin and doesn't throw far, but it's beautiful...amber seems to be really working for me lately. It's a little like Old Morocco without the notes that went “off” in that for me – I'm surprised to see there's lotus in it, because usually lotus screams candy on me, and I don't smell it at all here. The scent reminds me of that aura of residual heat left on one's skin after lying in the sun awhile. Sexy in a self-contained way, without trying to be or caring if anyone notices. Very nice – my bottle list is growing so fast!

Hmm, moss and dirt and herbs and grass. Nosferatu is greener than I expected and sort of smells like a dewy fresh-dug garden, with the dirt and leaf smells, which is nice enough, but I smell no wine at all! Where's my vampiric sexiness? Darn. I'll try it again, maybe it'll work better another day.

I was dying to try this; I love tea, the description sounded so good, and I thought I'd for sure love it. However, I've tried it twice now, and I put it on and all I can smell is the linen note, which has gone weird and vaguely sickly sweet on my skin. Linen and honey maybe? It's like sticky sweet dryer sheets. No tea, ginger, or pepper. Darn.

Marquise de Merteuil is very fruity, frilly and floral, but not girly. It's a sophisticated, womanly peach, and the floral and amber keep it from turning to candy. Happily, I get zero vetiver from this. It's over-the-top feminine on the surface (like an elaborate 18th-century gown - I picture the orange one she wears in Dangerous Liaisons), but strong underneath, perfect for the character. It's also one of the rare fruit scents that have worked on me, and I really like it. I want to smell like a Marquise .

On me, Centzon Totochtin is all unsweetened dark cocoa and strong alcohol, and I do get a faint coppery tang – it smells like some kind of bitter chocolate liqueur mixed with blood, actually. but not in a bad way...it's interesting. I don't get any coffee or creaminess. It smells harsh, unrefined, almost barbaric, and conjures up definite Aztec-temple images. I like it because it's so different, but it's not a very "me" scent, and I don't think I could take it in large quantities.

at first: whoa, this smells just like Anne Bonny! That must be the red patchouli and maybe the cypress. Salty, woody, and red. I can't smell anything else in it when it's wet. After it dries for a while the patchouli backs off and I start to smell the ginger, fig, and tonka, and maybe rose, but they're elusive – one minute it smells creamy and figgy, the next salty wood again. On me, Nemesis is kind of like Anne Bonny's more land-bound, more feminine, but no less bad-ass sister. I love the name, I like all the notes, and it may be a big bottle for me.

I've been wanting to try this since it came out and cursing myself for not ordering it, and then kithrobyn kindly swapped me a bottle. Queen of Spades is in the same “deep purplish scent” category as Mabon and Blood Countess, both of which I love, but it's more fruity on me than those two, and the later stages are different. It's also a bit like King of Spades, except there was an undernote in that that made it go vaguely icky on me – vetiver, probably. QoS is a dry winelike fruit scent, not a sweet sticky one, so the fruit works for me. I recognize the plum and blackberry right away, and as it dries the black amber, myrrh, and wood notes emerge. After a few hours, just the amber is left, which reminds me of the drydown of O. It's dark and complex and shadowy and regal. I love it. Much more "me" than Queen of Diamonds was.

Black Phoenix started out with that almond extract/cherry smell everyone has noted, then changed to something cherry cola-ish, and finally went baby powder with a vengeance. Only it was too-sweet sickening baby powder, and I had to wash it off. Ah well, back to swap with it.

in vial: Delicious. This smells exactly like a warm milk chocolate hazelnut bar. Wow. On me: More of the same at first. Then I start to smell the sandalwood underneath the chocolate, and as it dries it becomes more dusty-cocoa-myrrh-sandalwoody instead of chocolatey, which smells good in a different way – more sophisticated, less foody. I don't think Velvet's an everyday thing for me, but it's different and I quite like it. I'm curious what it would smell like in a burner.

I tried Fae despite the fact that most fruity-sweet scents are not really me, wondering if the oakmoss and other things would mitigate the fruitiness. It was nice enough in the vial, but it turned out similar to Katharina on my skin - something about the peach/apricot + musk combination goes vaguely sour, and it was really too fruity for me anyway. Farewell, Fae, off to swap! I guess I prefer the Dana O'Shee type of fairies.

Silentium Amoris made me think of yellow roses - the ylang-ylang gave the rose this high-pitched loud yellow quality, and then it dried down to something kind of off and sour. I think ylang-ylang must really not work with my skin. Off to swap!

Pele was a gift from the lab, and I was curious about it, so I'm glad I got to try it. On me, it's a very nice, very light, white tropical floral. I do find it reminiscent of the one time I went to Hawaii, and it's certainly pretty, but it's really not me – I'm not a tropical scent girl. I'm giving the imp to my mom for Christmas because I think she'd like it.

I knew I would love this. Dark red velvety rose over black leather, as the description says. Whip is drier and less heady than Wanda, not so girly, but still sexy. It's like Wanda's punk little sister.

Delphi: Honey, incense, bay and laurel...complex and less sweet than I'd expected, the bay is quite evident at first. It's almost masculine on me, actually. (a few minutes later) Damn, the drydown is gorgeous... spicy, honeyed incense smoke. I like it on me, but this is really the smell of a spoiled golden pretty boy, like Paris as depicted in the Troy movie. Another scent where I wish I had a boy to test it on.

At first, the Queen of Diamonds is light, fresh and citrusy, but not overly fruity. It has that same “cold air/clear water” overtone as Szepasszony. I don't get much floral from it. Hmm – as it develops, I think this Queen is too aquatic for me. I love the descriptions of the watery scents, but most of them just don't work on my skin. Curses.

Oh, OMG, this is exquisite. As everyone has said, it is the perfect pure rose scent. This is what a fresh-cut rose actually smells like, a single red rose in the snow. It's so lovely, especially in the bottle, but on me too. I'm so glad I ordered it.

In bottle: Yummy, similar to Dana O'Shee as everyone has said, and I LOVE Dana. On me: At first, it's a very very light delicate floral with that almondy scent underneath, but so light! it's barely smellable. A bit later, it's a creamier white scent that's easier to detect, no longer floral – maybe a bit of coconut here? Almond, coconut, and milk, I think. Snow White is so pretty. Very white. I don't get a sense of cold from it, but it's white and delicate and fluffy like powder snow.

I was thinking that plum might not turn to candy like a lot of other fruit scents do on me, but sadly, it does and Midwinter's Eve makes me smell like a Jolly Rancher or something. So I am passing it on to someone else who it may work better on.

Scherezade is definitely spicy in a very dry, un-sweet way – it does feel hot and desert sand-y. At first, on me, the red musk is quite strong and I don't really like that. Then the entire scent practically vanishes and leaves just the spices, faintly. I like this phase better, but I can barely smell it. It is rather like Snake Oil without the vanilla sweetness, but I think I like Snake Oil better.

Right off Bruja is lilac, but a sexy warm lilac. Not too sweet. The myrrh and amber are working for me here – they make the floral smoky and golden rather than powdery or old lady. Amber seems to be off and on for me, as Haunted really didn't work, but this is quite nice - I'm not head over heels in love with it, but I'll hang on to the imp.

Chypre smells of strong lavender and something else. What's in this? Violet and neroli, huh, I don't really notice them. I mainly get lavender from this, and I think the white musk underneath. It's nice, but unremarkable on me – I may swap it or give it to my mom who loves lavender.

Somnus starts out smelling like strong lavender and then a light sweet floral comes out, but I'm not sure what it is. I've been wearing this to sleep for the past several nights, and it really is wonderfully relaxing - I've slept deeply and had long interesting dreams every time I've used it. I may have to get more of this because it works so well.

Carnivale: Immediate reaction: Whoa, sweet! Berries! Agh! (after a second) And yet not in that sticky fruit candy way that I hate...the carnation and amber are subduing the sweetness somehow, so it's more of a dry sweet golden-purple smell with a darker musk undernote. I actually really like this a lot. And the carnation gets spicier as it dries...yum! No wonder there are so many carnation fans. It's not my all time favorite note, but I love it here. I wish this weren't discontinued now.