Iceblink

Mmm, swampy. Thick, overgrown trees standing in deep, cool water. And it's not giving me a headache like most aquatics do. It is a little too manly for me but what a lovely image this inspires.

OH MY GOD. This smells amazing. The amber/honey blend is very very O-ish, but the currant gives it the yummiest fruity quality, and the musk just makes it feel really sexy and mmmmmm. I love it. Fab throw, too. If you like O, Sed Non Satiata, and that sort of thing, you must try this.

Wet on the skin: citrus air freshener. Oh, don't do this to me, pretty butterflies. As it dries: the violet is becoming more prominent. And there's an earthiness from the patchouli. This is much better after about an hour on me.

I've been huffing my wrist since I put this on trying to figure out what it reminds me of, and I finally placed it: March Hare, with pomegranate instead of apricot. (This is a good thing.) The barley has that same sort of pastry/bread effect that March Hare has to make this smell like a yummy pomegranate tart. It doesn't strike me as boozy or winey in any way, just foody and fruity and delicious. The staying power is a lot better than Fruit of Paradise, the last pom blend I tried. Not something I'd wear often or want a bottle of but I'll enjoy my decant!

Y'know, you see "...and cedar" in a scent description, you don't really think it's going to be OMG CEDAR, do you? This is total cedar whoa, with patchouli, rose, and sandalwood making the tiniest of cameo appearances. BUT. It does smell pretty good. Very Pulcinella and Teresina-esque. I put these in the category of BPALS I Wish My Closets Smelled Like All The Time. I don't really want to smell like them myself but they are awesome for room-scenting purposes.

I'm getting incense-y sandalwood from this too, and not much else. A bit of honey, perhaps, and something fruity that made me think of mandarin oranges for a few minutes at about the 30-minute mark. Hmm. This is a very close scent; I have to bury my nose in my arm to get a good sniff of it.

In the imp, Luperci '08 is the earthiest patchouli ever. You can almost smell the dirt (not that there's anything wrong with that). Give it 5 minutes on your skin and the beeswax and musk show up and make things all warm and sexy. That dirty patchouli's still there but not as overpowering. Maybe I'm getting a hint of the oakmoss now too--something sort of green and moist is in there somewhere. Very nice, this is.

I'm a Rat. I had to try it. In the imp and fresh on my arm, this was all OH HI YEMAYA...that same sweeeeeeet sugary melon. Nice but a little too sticky. Then I went and worked out for an hour and sniffed my arm again and now it smells like the best tropical punch! More Shango than Yemaya now, and so fruity and refreshing! This'll be what I want in July, I can just tell. I never tried Fire Pig but if this is anything like it...oooh.

Vanilla buttercream frosting. This is one of the simplest BPALs I've ever sniffed! It's nice; the vanilla reminds me of the vanilla in Tombstone. I'm not sure if I'll need a whole bottle, though--straight-up vanilla is kind of...well, a whole lot of people wear vanilla perfume, and I like to smell different...however, having some of this around for layering might be a plus, so we'll see. It's got crazy throw too. Mmm... Edit: I wore this on Friday night, with the whole vanilla frosting effect (and I loved it and it lasted through 12 hours of sleep!), and then wore it again today, and this happens to be the last day of my placebo b.c. pills. The difference in this oil was HUGE. It had a tangy zing to it that I'm only guessing is the saffron, amped to the nth degree, but to my nose it had an almost lemony/citrusy feel. Blended with the vanilla it smelled like a rich lemony pastry. I think I'm just picking up the saffron oddly, but it smelled really really good. I've NEVER had a BPAL be this affected by a hormonal shift and I found it quite fascinating.

After all my moaning about how vetiver and I don't get along, I recently discovered Lenore and fell completely in love, so it seems that I *can* deal with vetiver under certain conditions. So I thought I'd give Lunar Eclipse a whirl since I love the concept. In the bottle it's fruity, tart red musk that turns into WHOA VETIVER when it hits my skin. The red musk is there backing things up and sweetening it up a bit. It's not unlike Lust spiked with vetiver, methinks. After a few minutes the vetiver relaxes and this becomes a sort of smoky, sort of sweet, sort of spicy red musk blend, and it's *sexy*. I think I like it a lot! There's a tanginess there that I guess is the fruit gums, but the overall impression is dark, complicated, and brooding. I'll look forward to wearing this more and seeing if any of the other notes pop out at me through the aging process.

Ooooh, nice. The first crisp, fresh crocuses of spring! How fitting for this time of year. It's a very green floral and it is miraculously not turning to soap or powder on me. I'll be pulling this out on a warm spring day.

This reminds me of Dr. Pepper and I don't know why. Mostly I'm getting sandalwood, and something sweet and tangy--the yuzu?? It definitely does not remind me of death or pale horses. Very cologne-y and masculine.

Try The Lion and Bengal (which smells like The Lion with added cinnamon on me)...both remind me SO much of baklava and are absolutely delicious.

VERY cakey in the bottle, like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Completely different once applied--the ginger is prominent at first but as it dries I get more of lemony, candy scent that others have commented on, with the grapefruit keeping it on the sharp side. It's much lighter and airier than a bottle-sniff would have you believe, and I think with a little aging this'll smell GREAT, once all the notes blend together a bit more. Which is fine because this is more of a springtime scent--I can't wait to sniff it again in a couple of months! And the label is adorable--nicely done!

Lavender, lavender...lavender SOAP! This one set a record for turning soapy. I'll have to try it as a room scent for the calming effects because it does NOT like my skin.

Fresh ginger and tropical flowers! I don't have much luck with BPAL's "tropical" blends. Pele might as well have been water on me. This doesn't have much staying power but it is *very* tropical indeed--you can almost feel the ocean breeze. Reminds me a bit of Blood Pearl.

The orange blossom in Vice really stands out! Wet, it's very chocolate-covered cherry but the orange blossom blooms (heh) more and more as it dries and keeps it from getting too sweet. I wish it had better staying power; it barely lasts an hour on me. Edit: I spoke too soon about the wearlength of Vice. I put some on 3 hours ago and it's going *very* strong, still. Maybe post-shower skin amps it up better? At any rate, it's absolutely delicious.

Magdalene starts as a soft, quiet rose but quickly gets very soapy and sharp on me. I wonder if this is the same rose that's in Lucy's Kiss, because they smell quite similar (although Magdalene is not the headache-inducer that Lucy was!). I may try this out as a room scent or sachet; it's very pretty before it goes all soapy.

Sweet sweet strawberry when wet. Then the champagne starts bubbling away under the strawberry for a very perky effect--this doesn't go all strawberry wine on me like Mania does, though, it stays very champagne-y. Nice and light and happy! I've heard this gets even better as it ages so I may hide this imp away for a few months.

Buttered pumpkins...and I'm not a pumpkin person at all, sadly. Wish I'd been able to smell the peach and nutmeg!

I got no butterscotch from Grog--just RUM, straight, alcohol-y rum. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't really want to go around smelling like rum. People get ideas.

I thought positive thoughts before I ripped my package from the lab open this morning and once it was open I could see the colorful Fruitcake imp label even through the bubble wrap. YAY! This was worth pining away for too...boozy almond when wet, then it dries down to a spicy cake (sort of a mashup of Gingerbread Poppet and Eat Me?) and then, after about 30 minutes, I got LOTS of fruit from it mixing in with the cake. It's similar to that candied/fruit compote thing in some versions of Sugar Skull, and it is DIVINE. I'm so glad I got to sample this, and I'm going to wear the hell out of it and enjoy it and fight the urge to hoard it!

Shango!! It always reminds me of fruit punch, and it doesn't have a boozy quality to it. Hmm...I need to get a bottle of it...

I amp lotus like crazy so my hopes for Paris were not high. It's all sharp lavender when wet, then the spiciness comes through (this stage was really nice) and then OMG HERE COMES THE LOTUS!! It's actually working okay in this blend though and not giving me a total lotus attack like with, say, Forbidden Fruit. This is more of that sweet candylike lotus I got from Kurukulla. But I wish that lavender-and-spice stage had lasted longer!

This makes me absolutely *ache* for springtime. Light, fresh, delicate--the grass is dominant with a faint sweetness of berries backing it up. It's leaning towards going soapy on me, but so far it hasn't. What a pretty scent this would be for a young girl! It's quite light and doesn't have much throw; I'm going to tuck this imp away until March because it's just screaming to be worn on a sunny spring day, not in the dead of winter!