Iceblink

What a complex blend--wet, it's all tobacco and honey, golden and glowing; as it dries I'm getting an astringent lavender and the hay is really amping! But it's still nice. The sharp lavender gives it a bit of a manly, cologney edge to combat the sweetness of the honey/tobacco/vanilla. I get NO rose here. Overall it's quite pretty and sweet; I'll need a full day's wearing to know for sure if I love this since that lavender note is a little iffy, but this is a really gorgeous scent!

Oh, this is good. I get all of the comparisons to waffle cones and cotton candy--the vanilla in Celeste is just delicious! There's a delicate floral quality to it as well from the orchid and orris. It's sweet but not tooth-achingly so, and very feminine and girly. I'm not getting a lot of saffron from this (and I *did* pick up a lot of saffron from, say, Love's Philosophy--this doesn't really remind me of that blend except for the fact that they've both got vanilla in them). Very pretty and I think this'll be a bottle for sure.

Ah, Spanked! Spanked was the holy grail of LEs back when I first began BPAL-ing almost 5 years ago and I've been curious about it for years, even though from the note list I knew it probably wouldn't be my thing. Still, I'm thrilled that I finally got to try the 2011 version. It is an intense wallop of cardamom. I got a lot of chemically leather at first but it's much more muted in the drydown, when I can pick up more patchouli--but mostly, this is cardamom cardamom cardamom! It doesn't seem particularly boozy to me, either. It's a very strong scent on my skin. I see why this has been so popular and sought-after, but I know the cardamom will eat my skin alive if I ever dared to apply this post-shower, and the leather stage is a bit too strong, so I'll be leaving Spanked for the people who really love it. But I'm SO glad I got to try it!

Lemon is such a tricky note; it's a fine line between citrus deliciousness and something you'd clean windows with. Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat keeps crossing the line, unfortunately. It's very VERY lemony and sweet, sometimes, but every few minutes I'm getting a more herbal, lemongrass-y note that sends it into bathroom cleaner territory. It's veering back and forth between sweet lemon sugar goodness (very much like Fresh Lemon Sugar!) and chemical, herbal sharpness. I'm glad I didn't make a blind bottle purchase of this one. Great for people who have good luck with the lab's lemon notes, but a little iffy on the rest of us!

Mmm, this is lovely. It opens with rose and tart currant and then MYRRH--really gorgeous, dark myrrh which always blends so well with rose! The blood orange floats on top, just barely detectable. I don't find this particularly musky--the rose and myrrh and fruits really are the standouts here. Very pretty and I'll be trying this again for sure; it's wonderfully feminine.

Extremely sweet, candy-like coconut and hazelnut. A light anise note emerges in the drydown but it's not strong enough to keep the coconut and hazelnut from being cloying and a little bit on the fake side. If this were a piece of candy, it would be delicious; as a perfume it's just too sickly-sweet. Good staying power, though!

I get all three notes here, although the apple is more of a floral, perfumey apple blossom than the fruit itself. The mahogany and rosewood are both soft and not overly WOODWOODWOOD, but the apple fades quickly and a light, slightly sweet rosewood is all I get in the final drydown. It's nice but a bit boring.

I'm shocked at how much I like this and how it smells nothing like I thought it would--I am not picking up blood orange or mint here but instead a strong, STRONG oakmoss that's earthy and deep. The patchouli is present but not obnoxious and the resins are gorgeous here--it's a dry, dark blend and has lots of throw. Really different for me but unexpectedly great! I'll definitely try this again before the Lupers go down because it may be a winner.

Slightly citrusy honey with a powdery edge and a tiny hint of earthy/plant-y undertone to it. Very much like a lot of the Rappacini's Apiary blends--it's lovely if you like honey but I'd like to smell the currant and musk and I'm not getting any of it here. Pass.

More people need to try this, because IT SMELLS FANTASTIC. I've really been into chypres lately and love the cologney feel of this one. The musk is deep and heavy. The linen is light and keeps this from being too overbearing. It's GOOD. It actually reminds me a lot of a less sweet Snake Oil! I want to smell this with about a year's aging on it because it's going to be even better with time.

Terribly sour on me; smells a bit like mulch, actually. I think white rose does this sometimes and there must be frankincense in there with the resins, because this is doing that thing frankincense likes to do on me. I may try this as a room scent.

Sparkly gin! Very much like Twenty-One, Swank, Blue Fire--that awesome gin note the lab does so well. The white chocolate is a pure and strong one. However--I don't think these two sides balance well. It's a struggle between the sweet, smooth chocolate and the fizzy alcoholic gin and they never really mesh. I may let this sit for a few days and try it again, as it has potential, but I'm not quite sure how the battle between the booze and chocolate is going to end on my skin.

Cream, clove, ginger, and honey. The cream note here is the one that immediately turns to sour spoiled milk on me. Spoiled milk with some ginger and clove but still...BAD, BAD CREAM! I don't think I've had a scent fail this quickly on me since Ichabod Crane!

The tamarind and fig own this blend; I've read that it's been hard to get the chocolate mixed in well and I am not getting much of it here at all. With the bright citrusy tamarind this makes me think of Carnal with a hint of chocolate! It's nice but not quite me; a little too fruity-sweet.

Surprisingly gorgeous! Lime and mint both tend to be rather fleeting, and the lime here is mostly just a zesty freshness floating over the chocolate and mint and is only present for a few minutes--but the mint itself is sticking around! I agree it smells a lot like mint chocolate chip ice cream or a Peppermint Patty. It's not got tons of throw but if the mint manages to stay around for more than a couple of hours I'm going to consider this one a winner, because it's really delicious.

Wet, this is a very pretty creamy mango with a tart edge. Unfortunately the plastic of doom starts to creep in quickly; it never gets as bad here as it has in some blends but it's still there. Dry, it's slightly plastic cream and mango but by this point the tartness has faded and it's become much too sweet. I can see how anyone who doesn't get that plasticness from blends like this would love this, though!

Strong, raw, earthy ginger--way too overpowering when wet. The butterscotch comes out on the drydown and sweetens this up a bit but it's still mostly ginger. Weirdly I'm not picking up much chocolate here. A must for ginger lovers but much too strong for me.

Black Lace's fruity sister--so many notes here, and this is so fruity at the beginning but the drydown is a soft, smoky raspberry with the cotton/vanilla of Black Lace beneath it. This is much lighter than I expected, which is a pleasant surprise as I was a bit worried it would be a huge fruit bomb. Pretty, girly, and yes, will probably age very, very well!

The Russian Dance is surprisingly fresh-smelling for something with patchouli and all of those other notes in it. The iris is front and center when it's wet. Dry, I'm getting iris and ambergris. Really not picking up on much patchouli here, although I suspect that with age, this blend is probably quite different. I like what I smell so far. It's perfumey and sophisticated. Will test again, definitely!

The almond here goes to 11 at first but quickly calms down as almond tends to do. The rose, rosewood, and tonka are the most noticeable notes in the drydown--creamy rose with almond still making itself known. The mix of almond/rose/tonka, though, is smelling just like Jergen's or some other lotion on me. This would make a lovely bath gel but as a perfume it's a bit too much! On the plus side this is one of the few blends featuring rum that isn't ALL RUM, ALL THE TIME on me.

Bright, clean tea that's almost candylike with the addition of the blackcurrant and mandarin. Really fresh and light--this smells like it would fit in well with the Shunga series, actually. There's a medicinal/bitter note underneath the tea that's a bit off, though--I'm guessing that's the wormwood? But this is quite nice overall--I'll try it again for sure!

The Arabian Dance--argh. This is going back and forth between wonderful and awful...one minute it's warm hazelnut coffee and the next minute it's old coffee grounds and leather and ashtray. It seems to mellow out somewhat after it's been dried for a while into a coffee/tobacco/spicy goodness but there are some BAD missteps into leather land along the way.

I had a hard time getting the cocoa blended back into this so...it's there but mostly this is pomegranate honey. Sweet and tart! Pom tends to amp on me and this is going a bit strong as a result. This really needs the cocoa in there to give it depth but I'm sick of having to re-blend oils with cocoa in them so I'm going to pass on this.

Heh...yes, in the vial, I too said "Hey! Watermelon Jolly Ranchers!" On my skin though the sugar plum really takes over. It's almost a plum jam smell, very sweet and thick. Something in here is going soapy, though--I'm blaming the tiare. The apricot comes out more as it dries making it even sweeter and heavier and that combined with the soapy floral is just...a bit much. I wish I was getting the amber musk because this scent really needs something to ground it and keep it from being so cloying but I'm not picking that up. It's close to being good but just not quite there.

When I was about seven I dressed as a flower from this scene of the Nutcracker for Halloween, so I really had high hopes for this. Lily and jasmine are not usually a good sign, though. However, this becomes a very pretty floral vanilla when it dries. I get a teeny sniff of clove and the white musk gives it some lovely depth. The florals are NOT going all powdery, though...NICE! I'll need to try this again to see how it copes with a full day's wear but so far...I really like it!