phedre

In vial: sweet frankincense and resins wet: pure incense. it's quite nice! Drydown: sweet, lovely, and pure. I'm an incense fanatic and this is just wonderful!

Wet: Lemon Verbena, and tons of it. On skin: Still pure lemon verbena. I hope other notes appear soon! Drydown: Well, there's a bit of fennel and iris peeking around the edges, but it's almost all lemon verbena. This just doesn't work with my chemistry.

As soon as I saw the description of this, I knew I had to have it. My huge order of bottles arrived last night and this was the first one I whipped out to try. In the bottle: some florals, definitely a green note. Some blackberry too. This smells a little sharp from the greenery. Wet on skin: Immediately, the green sharp note disappears. The blackberry comes out, and the florals amp up a bit. Bergamot, definitely bergamot and orange. Drydown: Oh so lovely. There are so many notes here I can't pick out one! This reminds me somewhat of Mum Moon, but doesn't take that turn for the nasty on my skin that Mum Moon did. It's definitely sensual with lots of deep, dark notes. It's in perfect balance, not too floral, not too musky, not too spicy. I really like this.

In vial: pine and juniper, a bit astringent. wet: Pine and juniper, with a touch of amber dry: The pine and juniper have lightened a bit, letting the sandalwood and tonka come out. It's a bit heavy on the woods for me, but nice anyway.

In vial: cocoa and wood, a little fig. wet: there's cocoa, but it's not obnoxious like it normally is. A bit of fig, and subtle wood notes. Dry: this has gotten very cedary with a lot of fig, and very little cocoa remaining. It's not something I'll wear, it's just a touch off on me. It kind of smells like root beer, actually

in vial: musk and rose, a bit astringent. wet: musk and amber, rose is fading Drydown: Heavy on the rose, but not a nice rose like London. This is a rose past its prime, overblown and slightly rotten.

In vial: magnolia flowers and earth wet: strangely sweet, with dust underneath. Dry: Boozy bourbon and flowers. The dirt's gone, and there's a touch of the rum. I quite like this!

In vial: rose, amber, and candied citrus peel. On skin: lots of candied citrus with some rose. drydown: this is pure citrus peel with a floral edge. Nice, but kinda Mr. Clean-ish.

in vial: soft rose, something smoky wet: incense is coming out already. warm and lovely. drydown: there's something unpleasent here. smoky resins and florals, but the florals are dying. later: rotten flowers. Eep.

In vial: exactly like its description: champagne and sweet strawberries wet: the sweetness steps back immediately. The champagne is definitely coming out more. drydown: pretty much the same as the wet. More champagne than strawberry, but still lots of berry. later: more strawberry, less champagne. This seems to go in cycles. I like it, and will keep the imp for when I'm in the mood for something fruity. It's one of the few berry scents that doesn't turn to candy on me.

In vial: whoa. wood! is there cedar in this? Smoke, tons of smoke. On skin: This is bonfire smoke and salt. The smoke's quickly becoming overpowering. might have to wash this off. drydown: smoke's backed off slightly, but it's still overwhelming everything else. There are other more interesting notes trying to come out. I hope they do! later: the interesting notes have disappeared, and this is pure wood and smoke. It doesn't work on me at all.

In vial: salty goodness. Definitely smelling the ocean in this one. on skin: Tons of salt spray. Not woody at all, but the bay rum is there. Salty is overpowering everything. drydown: this is the ocean, plain and simple. Pure salty seawater and driftwood. later: oddly soapy, like irish spring. I think this is a swapper. It's interesting, but not something I'll wear.

In vial: sweet berries, with an astringent edge. on skin: Candy sweet. I don't think this is going to be the exception to my body's "sickly sweet berries" rule. drydown: very sweet candy berries. It's nice though, not sickly surprisingly enough. Neroli never made an appearance. It's ok, but nothing amazing.

In vial: black cherries, like the cherry cola you get in diners. Currants, and something smooth. No wood. Wet: black cherry cola and something like evaporating alcohol. Not good. drydown: whoa. woods. The alcohol is gone. This reminds me of an old 50s diner with tons of wood paneling and handblended cherry cola. There's still an off note, something acetoneish, but it's barely there. I'm hoping it disappears quickly. later: what once had promise has turned into a mess of wet mildewy wood with acetone coming off of it. Ew.

In vial: Pineapple? How odd. Definitely olive too. Herbal with bite. On skin: sweet, but the olive keeps it from being too sweet. There's something almost pine-like coming out. Dry: This has changed completely. It's no longer sweet at all, but wood and olive. It's definitely interesting. I can't decide if I like it or not, so I'll have to try it a few more times.

In vial: Like everyone else, I get tons of lilac, rose, and lily, but also some of the woods to keep it grounded. On skin: a burst of wood. Tons of rose, with the lilac almost disappearing. Very floral still, maybe a little too much so. Drydown: this has taken a turn for the worse. Rotting flowers. Off to the swaps with it!

In vial: sweet rose, and something almost candy-like. On skin: This is rose alright, but there's also something hard candy-esque about it. Super sweet. I hope it doesn't stay this way. Dry: something in this just went funky on me. It's like dirt, but not fresh, clean dirt, more like rotting vegetation. Ugh. This is so not working on me.

In vial: Lavender for sure, and a musky note. Some citrus fruit, maybe the lime. Wet on skin: Masculine floral. It's not what I was expecting. Some citrus, but not a lot. Dry: Argh. This turned to soap! *cries* And it had such promise too.

In vial: lavender and melissa, a bit of wood. florals and sharp herbals from the absinthe. Definitely lots of gardenia wet on skin: This is nice! smoky wood and absinthe, and pretty orange blossom and melissa. I also get the ylang ylang and what must be tobacco flower, as I don't recognize it. ten minutes later: this is very complex, but i'm not sure i like it. I think the gardenia is giving me a headache. Drydown: The gardenia has come out, roughed up the absinthe, and kicked the ebony out the door. This is pure gardenia now, though the ylang ylang seems to have been allowed to stay. Much too strong with my chemistry, so this is off to the swaps.

in vial: peppermint?! *re-reads description* wet on skin: this smells like mint mixed with vanilla to me, something like those creamy mints that come in pastel colours. A mix up maybe? Label definitely says Penthus on it. *is confused* Ten minutes later: Maybe the calamus is confusing me. There's sweet rose coming out now, and the incense is there. I guess my nose is just confused on this one! An hour later, it hasn't changed much except that it's gotten lighter. Nice, but nothing to write home about.

in vial: spicy florals. wet on skin: orange blossoms and saffron. there's something sharp in here too, almost like dust. ten minutes later: warm vanilla musk and spices, floral, but not too sweet. The spices remind me a bit of snake oil. an hour later: this is lovely! warm, sweet, and smooth. There's just enough of everything blending together to make it perfect.

in vial: there's something overpoweringly bitter in this. the almond? wet on skin: whoa. I"m wondering if i didn't somehow get an imp of acetone. *wrinkles nose* This is vile so far. ten minutes later: oh that's better. it's not QUITE as acetone-like now. Jasmine is coming out, and a bit of musk and sandalwood. Still a bit nail polish remover-y though. An hour later, this is still too harsh for me to enjoy. Vicious is definitely the right word here. Off to the swaps.

in vial: lavender and herbs wet on skin: there's some kind of spice here, but not one i recognize. subtle herbs and lavender. ten minutes: lavender soap. an hour later: soapy soap soap. That is all. Even the lavender has disappeared under soap! Is that even possible?

wet: mint and ozone wet on skin: frankincense sweetens it a bit, but it's still mostly mint with a touch of ozone. ten minutes later: mint is blending in nicely and almost disappearing. The musks are lovely, light and not too masculine, and the frankincense keeps it light. Very pretty. An hour later, this hasn't changed much. Still minty, cool, ozone with frankincense. Nice, but nothing special.

Ok, the hardcore geek in me came out last night and I decided to code the database backend for my "simple html page". Well, this: http://www.claudia.ca/bpal.html has morphed into this: http://www.claudia.ca/cgi-bin/bpal.cgi?cat=tried Perl with a MySQL backend, password protected add/update/delete function. I've kept it fairly simple for now, but included scent categories (LE, Excolo, etc) to allow for more specific sorting in future. If I've reviewed a scent, it links to a page displaying my review, and a link to the forum review on bpal.org. This will make life soooo much easier for me! ETA: damn. Shoulda added a date field.