midnight_aeval

Some time ago I had a partial decant of "Fritz's Distilled Patchouli" a la 2005. This is that same earthy/woodsy patchouli that I smelled from that. As I reread the announcement from 2005, it mentioned that it will need a good 6-12 months to age, assuming that after this time it will really smooth out. That is exactly what I'm hoping for this blend as the patchouli is highly astringent/medicinal. I don't detect any cocoa from this blend; I checked each of my bottles for floating globules of cocoa absolute and didn't find any. I had hoped for a stronger cocoa/vanilla presence to just sweeten it up a tad.

Red musk scares me, so I was almost glad to see that it had TWIN red musks as it was pretty impossible for me to obtain this oil! However, I arranged a swap for a decant and am regretting it. The red musk is the GOOD kind that works for me (Mme Moriarty, The Soldier, Red Lace). I liken this blend to Snake Oil with a shot of red musk. I also think there are some similarities to Haunted, one of my other favorite GCs. The drydown is sweet and [sexy] powdery. Great blend, I'll be on the hunt for more!

Damn, I had a whole reply typed out and the forum ate it. Anyways, my collection has been packed up since September and I just started unpacking it all this weekend (had to wait for the husband to get the display cabinets and such hung on the wall). Prior to moving, I created an inventory in Excel in case anything went missing in transit. As I was unpacking I thought it would be really convenient to have an app on my iPhone to go through what i've unpacked. I found an app that integrated with a desktop/laptop; it's called Home Inventory and it's $14.99 in the Apple App Store. I was able to import a CSV file with scent notes, quantity, collection, release date, location (helpful when moving items to swap box) and any other field I wished to incorporate. I know that this is just a fancy database program, but it is user friendly and pleasant looking. The iPhone app is merely a photo taking tool with the added ability to view the item data. Although it's not exactly what I was looking for, it will be pretty awesome to have photos of bottle fill level and label art for future swap/selling/eBay transactions.

Apple blossom must not be giving me a hard time because the blend is almost workable for me. The iris is kind of throwing me off though, it brings a brightness, but the overall blend is a bit sour for me. Like if there was such a thing as Licorice Iris flavored Sweet Tarts. I used to have these violet candies and it kind of reminds me of the same concept.

You really have to wait about 30 min for this scent to bloom to it's full capacity. I was not a believer until it got to that point. I do smell the similarities to other spicy leather blends, but this one is evocative of something that the others don't represent. If I didn't have my one-true spicy leather love *ahemSPANKEDahem*, I could see hoarding this one. The leather is not in-your-face, but is soft and cozy. The spice is not hot, but more exotic. Very nice blend - I've never been to Canada, but I would have a hard time believing that Beth didn't pin this one down to perfection.

This is the oddest thing - about a minute after I put this on my skin I smell that sweaty locker room smell from high school. What in the world! I looked to the notes and saw one that usually reeks havoc (pun intended) on my skin; "blossom". Usually the culprit is orange blossom, making me smell like a public bathroom, but I think "blossom" in all forms just has it out for me. If I can get past that icky smell, like in my peripheral nose.. smelling (does that even make sense?), I do get the lilacs and it is quite lovely and feminine. This isn't a soapy floral, which is excellent, but unfortunately it just doesn't work for me. Sad.

Prototype, unreleased, no scent description. In my mad rush to open and sniff every tester bottle this was the first one that made me go WHOA. From the bottle, cocoa, cocoa, and MORE cocoa. Since I didn't skin test any of these, I waited til I was driving home to give it a good run on my skin. After about 5 minutes there was a hint of mocha and a dash of spice. I thought it reminded me of El Dia de los Reyes, but that one only for a split second because it kept morphing into a more glorious cocoa powder scent. I'm a huge fan of foodie scents (obsiouly ) and this is by far the BEST cocoa scent I have smelled to date - hands down!

I'm so behind in all things, and testing out Weenies happened to be one of them. I managed to snag some leftover Honey Pumpkin Stout Bath Oil from a decanter. I used it today and found it to be very syrupy sweet - definitely heavy on the honey. It reminds me of what a bag full of halloween candy [sans chocolate] smells like. I don't really get any 'stout' notes, but it is slightly smokey, so I'm wondering if that's it. I can't detect any pumpkin.

Prototype, unreleased, no scent description. I love the released version of Velvet Panther - it's warm and soft like a non-vicious panther kitty so I was very excited to try the prototype. From the bottle this one smells a little sharper than the released version... put the claws away kitty! On my skin, it has a 'cologne' feel to it...uh-oh boy kitty with sharp claws! Well, it's not a me sort of scent, but my husband scored a bottle because it IS a him scent! Important to note that while it is aggressive up front compared to the original, that cuddly feeling from the original is there, but you'd only notice if you get close... VERY close, and lingered around for a while; which might not be a bad thing if you begged your man to wear it ETA: after about 20-30 minutes that cologne smell has completely vanished leaving behind the warm, musky scent that is very similar to the released Velvet Panther.

Best of the 4 Grendel scents for me; this one is dark and smoky without being the cigarette smoke I get from Avenger and no orange blossom - whoot! The dark musk lend that comforting, sorta lemon-y scent I recognize from Haunted (one of my very favorite GC scents). This one is a keeper, possible bottle purchase!

Like Mastermind, I smell tortilla chips, but this one is the kind sprinkled with lime salt Orange blossom is not my friend, sorry Harlequin

So I got some half decants of all of the Grendel scents and didn't really look at the list of notes until after I got around to testing them. Mastermind on my skin is like tortilla chips and public restrooms - ORANGE BLOSSOM, you have to be in here... and sure enough, there it is. My skin hates orange blossom. Shame

This is a dead ringer for what my aunt smells like... unfortunately, the floral vanilla perfume she wears is masked by cigarette smoke. Maybe it's the mixture of cloves, patchouli and rum? I don't know, but I just don't think I could wear this one

Unknowingly, I had two imps of this in my frimp box! This reminds me of the Lasciviousness Bath Oil that TAL released on their Etsy page, but with more red musk and possibly a sour/incensey note. On wet it reminded me a bit of Snake Oil, but as it dries it has that sour note that comes from sandalwood and some types of incense.

Nope, nope, nope. No good for me. With the abomination of Orange Blossom Honey I should have known this would smell horrid on me, but I'm too damn stubborn not to try it anyway! The other notes would be a sure-thing, but OBH is making this straight up park-public-restroom scent on me. Can't wash it off fast enough!

I don't know really how to describe this one! It's sweet without being of the nauseating overly sweet candy variety; it's creamy without being that obnoxious sour/curdled milk scent; and it's 'naturey' without the usually DIRTGRASSLEAVES smell that doesn't work on me. Needless to say, it's very unique. Not sure if it's my cup of tea, but it's definitely a nice scent.

I get mostly mango from this one from the vial/wet stage. The drydown has more of the pomegranate and just an afterthought of red musk. This blend is similar to the Atomic Luau scents... tropical & fruity.

This is a light, airy, refreshing blend. It does have a 'clean/soap' edge to it. Reminds me of freshly washed clothes on a clothesline being dried by a summer wind. It does have an aquatic/cool scent to it. I could see this being a good scent for a man on a hot summer day!

This definitely reminds me of a floral Interfector which is odd because they don't appear to share any notes. Also, slightly reminiscent of the St. Lucia proto. I really don't get any ginger; caraway seed, myrrh, and peppercorn are the notes that dominate on me. It's a nice scent, but very close to Interfector which I have quite the stash of... heh

I'm so glad I snagged a bottle of this when it was up on Etsy; I was second-guessing if I needed it because of the mentions of bubble gum. On me I get pink buttercream frosting , not bubble gum. It makes sense that this one wasn't released. It doesn't exactly scream "Playing with dangerous toys"... "Eating delicious pink frosting cupcakes" would have been a better name for this one!

Inspired by European perfumes in the 1920’s: gardenia, amber, mandarin, orange flower, and sweet spices. Glad the gardenia & orange flower aren't ruining this for me. It is definitely creamy and has that lightly powdery scent that comes with some ambers. My skin must amp citrus because the mandarin is pretty prominent. This isn't one I expected to like, but it's like Morocco mixed with Monarch. Nice for those days I don't want to smell like [too much of] a bad girl

Totally unique! No other BPAL is like this one. I actually think this is my favorite of the 2011 Bat's Day scents (Fetish.Goth being a close second). It smells familiar, but I can't put my finger on it - I'm sure it was some hair product I used in Jr. High or something. Or my mom who sprayed up the Aquanet in the late 80s I must be weird, because I like it. A lot.

I'm getting that syrupy cola smell too! I'm guessing that'd be the opoponax which is also in Schwarzer Mond which I love for that cola-esque smell. Fan of opoponax I suppose I really get no other notes... so this is almost a straight up Sweet Myrrh SN. I was fearful of skin musk which seems to be nasty on my skin (you, Velvet Nudie ), but no worries because it is not present on my skin at all unless it's that soft powder smell I get in the drydown. Love this scent!

It's odd to have a scent that mentions rose and not actually smell a lot of rose! I see images of dried, crushed, deep red-almost black rose petals. It's definitely smoky, kinda ashy. This is something I could picture wearing in the dead of winter. Great imagery!

Steam.Goth leans more towards masculine on the scent spectrum, but it's surprisingly 'clean' enough that a lady could wear it. With the notes calling forth 'oil splattered' and 'grease' I would think that this blend would be far dirtier than what I'm smelling. This is like a fresh out of the shower/just shaved scent. In the drydown it is more metallic-clean. ETA: super weird, this just turned very woodsy! Quite a morpher.