forspecial_plate

Voodoo is a dark, warm, spicy and earthy blend. It reminds me a lot of Blood Kiss, I guess because of the clove mainly. But this seems to have a richer earthy background, giving it more depth on me. I can picture near naked bodies writhing and dancing by firelight when I wear this. Very much my cup of tea! Not something I'd wear on a first date, but maybe with an old flame. ETA....Love this even more now, it's what I wanted Port Au Prince to be. Darker and just delicious. I do get the cola throw too. edited AGAIN: Oh, FUFF! What happened? After 3 hours my skin turned this into generic, cheap after-shave!! How disappointing!

To me this is a peppery floral that reminds me of dragon's blood resin. I don't know my florals really well so I couldn't say which one specifically I'm getting here. But it's nice, and I smell black pepper as a backdrop. That's about it really, a nice blend, but hard to say when I'd be in the mood to really wear this.

At first, I liked this. I wore it more than once and remember liking it a lot. Sharp and woody, moist and green smelling. Then I started to develop a dislike of juniper. Don't like it in Black Forest. Can't stand it in Golden Priapus. As far as I can tell, juniper is the common note that my skin dislikes. Pine could be part of the problem, but I really think it's the juniper. Edit, about a year later.....now I have found some blends w/juniper that I do like. I think my aversion to that note was just a phase. I still don't want to try Golden Priapus again. But I did try Burial again, and I quite like it. Something about the sharpness of it reminds me a bit of Djinn, but Burial is a cooler scent (not fiery like Djinn).

Such a lovely description, I wish this had worked for me....in the bottle, I like how it smells. On me though...right away, I caught the same note from Golden Priapus that I couldn't stand. At least now I know a little more what to avoid. I don't know if it's the pine, juniper, or both of them together but on me it turns into this shrill almost-sweet note that I needed to wash off right away. It was much worse in Golden Priapus, here in Black Forest it's a little less cloying but still not working at all. Oh, how I wanted to wander through the Black Forest! : (

Mmm, Sea of Glass is just beautiful. On a day like today when it's going to be up in the 90's outside (maybe hotter), SoG is very refreshing. I don't know my florals very well but this makes me think of water lilies in a green flowing stream. Very wet and green smelling. It doesn't change much on me from wet>warm-up>dry down, it just loses some of the wet-ness and kind of gains weight, if that makes any sense. I guess I do like aquatics and ozone, because I'm really digging this one. Worthy of a bigger bottle, for sure.

Ra is an elusive blend for me. I'm sort of on the fence about it. Initially it's sweeter than I was expecting, and I can smell sandalwood in there. Warming up, the sandalwood (if that's what it is) backs off and it smells sweet and resin-y to me, although I'm not sure I'm correctly identifying resins here. That's just what it's reminding me of. Resins and incense, and maybe a little golden citrus. It's still sweet too, and that's putting me off just a little, but I do like it, enough to keep the imp and continue to try it. It's a fascinating scent. edit: Roughly a year later, I still have my original little imp of Ra....I really love it! It reminds me of the resins in Midnight Mass, except this is like the daytime counterpart to that scent.

Les Infortunes de la Vertu is bold and masculine, in the wet stage it smells very similar to the men's cologne Drakkar. As it warms up the leather comes out more, and I'm getting the oakmoss and incense too. Actually I can smell the orange blossom too. Quite an assertive scent. This is a keeper I think. edit: Tried this again almost a year later, and I no longer think it smells like Drakkar. I think it's a nice balance of light and heavy notes, kind of tickles my nose. I like how it smells and I may end up getting a bottle.

Sudha Segara on me smells cool, tingly, sparkly, bubbly....not a milky scent at all to me. I smell lemon and lime, and tea too. The ginger is there too, altogether a very cooling scent, and I'm not really sure if I'm into it or not. I think I'm foiled by my expectations a lot, and some scents I like much more on 2nd or 3rd try. Maybe this is one of them. I did layer this with Dorian and Dragon's Blood today, and it was a little heavy and cloying but still nice (I was bored). I called it Dragon's Reflection...'reflection' meaning meditation for the Sudha Segara, but also the reflection of Dorian's portrait. I liked it so maybe Sudha Segara has layering potential for me.

Golden Priapus did not agree with me at all. It's the very first bpal scent that I just absolutely didn't like, from the get go. It's hard to explain...it's not horribly offensive on me; at first, from the bottle, I thought I was going to like it. Then I put it on and knew right away that I didn't like it. To me it's sweet, although I'm not generally averse to sweeter scents. It has a cloying-ness to it that I find hard to describe...almost like a flat or stale cola smell. It actually made me a little queasy and headache-y, and not only did I have to wash it off, it put me off testing any more scents for pretty much the rest of the night! The sense of smell is a funny thing......

Chaos Theory III Strange Attractors CDLXII (462) At first I got all brown/carmelized sugars from this, with hazelnut I think. As it dried, I sensed a little cocoa, once or twice, which may have been my imagination. After a couple minutes I started to get the barest faint hint of mint, more of a feeling than a smell, really. Just a little minty tingle way back there, peeking out. Mostly reminded me of Sugar Skull '05, but no candied fruit. Unfortunately after 3 hours this was almost completely gone, except I swear I can still detect that mint. I'm going to try it again. Second time, I smelled it in the bottle first....still sugary, and hazelnut I think. Now I smell citrus! Where did that come from? Put some on and yes, there seems to be citrus here that I somehow missed completely the first time. Strangely, it's not a sweet citrus..more like orange zest, I think. It's a lovely complex blend, and I hope I did a fair job of picking out notes. Definitely foody, sugary, and hazelnut (I think that's hazelnut, that's what my brain is telling me). Some nice citrus and mint teasing notes in the background, although I wouldn't swear this has mint. It kind of reminds me of a sweet liqueur, although I wouldn't say it has any boozy notes. It's more like a really frou frou liqueur that disguises the alchohol. I like it! I'll keep some for myself but wouldn't mind sharing a couple imps at some point...I'd actually be interested in someone else's take on this. ETA it's also buttery.

...that's awesome, I was wondering the same thing. Thanks from me too!

First try, I put it on my forearms/wrists, where I could put my nose right up to it and sniff. Bad idea, as it has an alarming magic marker/chemical smell, mostly when wet. As it dries this becomes a grassy note that I did like a lot. There's also a deeper, darker green, almost like Burial, floating in and out of the mix. Second try, I put it mostly on my neck, with a little on my wrists. That way I got the throw more than smelling it up close. This made a big difference, I got much more of the pine green smell and couldn't pick up the grassy note as much. It's a very masculine scent to me, probably the most masculine bpal I've tried so far. It was a little overpowering, and I did actually rinse off in the shower, just to dull the impact a little. What was left over was (finally) the balance I was hoping for. Something about it makes me think of commercial men's colognes and after-shaves (Polo specifically, even though I hesitate to compare, it's definitely there). I'd wear this when I want to feel very manly. It is a sexy scent to me, and I'll keep the imp around for sure. Also it lasts for hours, even after the rinsing off.

To me this was mostly musk with a citrus backdrop, although it's possible I just haven't learned to distinguish musk from amber or red sandalwood. But it kept reminding me of the balck musk in Mad Hatter, only with orange instead of minty-lavender. It's another powdery sweet blend, although also very balanced and smooth. Something keeps it from becoming too sweet, and I really enjoyed it. It had a nice interplay between the dominant notes. I'll keep the imp around for sure.

Yum....a very smooth, well balanced blend. Sweet and a little spicy. Someone mentioned chocolate...I'm getting that too, just a little. But really, it's so smoothly blended I have trouble picking out any individual notes. If I didn't know there was vetiver in here I wouldn't guess it at all, which is surprising because sometimes vetiver is very noticeable on me. After it dries, it's still sweet and spicy, but different somehow. Now it reminds me of root beer flavored Bottle Caps, that candy that's kind of like Sweet Tarts. Better than that though...it's just an association my brain keeps bringing up. I still like it, definitely an imp I'll keep and use up. Edit: 2 years later, I got to try this again after not smelling it for a long time. Guess what? I love it! I think the chocolate I smelled way back when was actually vetiver. Anyway, this is a great scent. Between this, Bloodlust, Serpent's Kiss, etc....this one stands out, although they are in the same general family.

Almond at first with sweet powder behind it, a little spicy bite thrown in. The almond fades pretty quickly (less than an hour), leaving a very sweet powdery smell. So it makes no sense for me to like this. Nope, none at all. Because I normally can't stand powdery scents. Like if I hug someone and their powdery perfume gets on me, it drives me crazy and I have to wash it off. Then why do I like this so much? It actually reminds me of frankincense and myrrh right now, and the spicy background note is still there, elusive, hard to pin down....but I like it. Certainly enough to keep the imp. Wonders never cease. A week ago, if you had told me I'd like a powdery scent, I would have said you're nuts.

Very sweet, slightly spicy. It's interesting to me that some people don't get the ylang ylang from this, because on me it's most prominent. I was actually hoping it would back off a bit but no such luck after a couple hours. I thought I liked myrrh, maybe I do like it on its own, but with ylang ylang it just adds to the overall sweetness of this blend. I might try to find a myrrh single note just to experiment. Very little of the clove comes out on me.....I think my mom might like this. I actually don't hate it, I could see wearing it to a formal occasion. I doubt I'll buy a bigger bottle unless my mom really likes it, in which case it would be a good birthday present for her. ETA: I tried this again today, and I actually like it a lot more, although it smells the same to me. I'm not sure what changed my mind, but it's good stuff. I will keep it and wear it again when I'm in the mood for it.

This is fresh and light, very appealing. First try, I put on a very little bit because I was off to take a test at work. It lasted a few hours on me, pretty faint but still there. I got another weird note in this.....something really rich, almost egg-y. Call me crazy but it kept reminding me of mayonnaise! So when I got home I wanted to see if I was losing my mind, and I reapplied Dirty a little more heavily. Yep, there it was: something turning to mayonnaise on me in the background. I had to actually rinse some of it off because it was making me feel a little queasy (that'll teach me to over-do it!). So what does all this mean? I still like Dirty, but will most likely not seek it out again. I can't swap it because the lid is cracked and half of it leaked out anyway. I'll most likely try it again just to try to figure out this weird note that comes out on me.

This starts out on me very smooth, sexy, and balanced. The cocoa is balanced perfectly with the incense notes. As it dries, the cocoa seems to turn a little stale. Reminds me of the Great Sword of War which turned a little ashy on me somehow, but this isn't as bad. I'm still on the fence about this actually, but I'm leaning towards swapping it unfortunately. Maybe my skin just doesn't like cocoa, or maybe it's the leather that's turning flat on me (I think GSOW has leather too). I'll most likely find a better home for this one!

Dang it, lost my review. I'll try again.... This is very well balanced, so much so that all I can really pick out of it is the wine, which comes across as fruity or berry-y to me. I can sense some grassiness or green-ness but the rest is so smoothly blended, I can't really detect the notes. There's a sweetness, almost spicy, indeed it is desolate. The lab's description is very accurate as to the feelings evoked by this scent. That said, I just wasn't sure it was for me, but on 2nd try I really found myself enjoying it. Seems very mature and serious to me.

Hmm....for a scent with so many notes...it's surprising that my skin only broadcasts 2 of them, mandarin and tobacco leaf. The cocoa is there in the background, just a little. There is an ashy undertone, maybe to the tobacco, or maybe that's just my mind playing tricks. It reminds me of an ashtray unfortunately. This one's not for me. I'm glad some other folks like it, I can add it to my growing swap pile! I am so happy that the lab recently sent me an Imp of this with an order. It deserves much more praise than I gave it in my first review. I don't know what changed....I don't think the scent changed. Maybe my tastes have changed, or I'm better able to appreciate the scent's subtleties now. Whatever, it doesn't really matter. This is a deep, spicy and almost earthy orange scent. Very appealing to me now and doesn't go ashy or dusty on me any more. Lasts a long time, too. I bet someone standing next to me would just smell orange or citrus. But I don't care! I smell a nice, complex scent that I want more of. I will eventually have 5ml of this!

Definitely rose, immediately, although deepened by the other notes. I mostly get rose and I guess lily at first. You know, on paper, all these together sound cloying to me and I wouldn't have tried this on my own. But I try everything bpal that comes my way and this is actually quite lovely. Somehow not cloying, just well balanced, bright and dizzying, yes, but not over-the-top in my opinion. As it dries and fades, there's the frankinsence and myrrh, emerging and taking over. 4 hours later the rose it mostly gone, I think this is the incense that's left, still pretty powerful. Still a great scent but just not for me. I'm giving it to my ex, he likes florals and incense so I think he'll appreciate this.

Not much for me to add that hasn't already been said...very pleasant, sweet spicy almond with clove flirting in and out. For me this was gone within 4 hours. I love almond, and this has more depth than Demeter Almond (which is also sweet and a little smokey), but somehow I've come to expect more. This will probably be a freebie I can use when I eventually begin to swap. Someone else will enjoy it more than me.

I don't know my florals much at all, but to me this smells golden. I'd be interested in tracking down some single notes that are in this to pinpoint the one that stays with me. Then I would most likely avoid it in the future. It doesn't smell bad. It's just a very strong association from childhood. In a review for Et Lux Fuit, somebody mentioned the little Avon solid perfumes in novelty pins. They said daisies, the ones I remember were ducks and frogs. I remember wanting one, but I knew that they were for girls and I couldn't have one. I took every chance I got to open my mom's and smell hers though. That's what this smells like to me. Dead-on. And it doesn't change much from initial application to drying and fading. Like I said it's not a bad smell, just kind of sweet and impossible for me to escape that memory. I wouldn't choose to wear this, so, another for the growing swap box!

Complete revision of my earlier review: This starts out a wonderfully dark blend of equal parts citrus and deep, rich sandalwood-like incense (am I really the only one that gets sandalwood out of this?). I am absolutely in love with this for about an hour....then I think the ozone takes over. A clean, fresh note starts to come through, and I've heard other people describe ozone as dryer sheets. Well, that's what's happening here. The ozone (if that's what's doing this) gets stronger and stronger until it is a sweet powder nearly drowning out the beautiful incense/citrus that this started out with. I may keep this just in case there's ever a situation where I want to smell absolutely wonderful.....for one hour. Then I'll be like Cinderella, having to leave before midnight, when my fragrance turns into powder.

I already know I'm not going to try this again, so... Sharp out of the bottle, I don't remember much mint but did get the eucalyptus in a big way, but that faded after a short while. Pretty soon, all I could smell was an emphatic soap smell, very much like a commonly used commercial soap but I couldn't remember which one (I want to say Ivory, but maybe not)...turned up to about 11 (you know, the dials that only go up to 10). After that it didn't change much and I just had to wash it off! I really wanted to like this one but it's actually the first bpal that I just can't get along with, I'm afraid. This will be a good addition to my budding swap pile!