steffanina

Orpheus- In Bottle: Very grassy, with a touch of aquatic and citrus. Wet: Kind of musty-grassy. I'm hoping that will fade or mellow out. Dry: It does mellow out, and I'm left with a very pleasant floral aquatic. One of the nicer aquatics I've found. I'm not sure it's one I'll wear often, but I'll be glad to know it's there if I'm in the mood for an aquatic I can wear. Overall: Conditional but I'll probably keep it.

Budding Moon- In Bottle: Ooh, lovely. Berry and something light and almost minty. Wet: A floral bloom in the middle of the berry. Dry: A lovely sweet berry-floral scent. Extremely nice and non-cloying. Overall: I like.

Gomorrah- In Bottle: Aquatic, sharp. I think I like the musk note though. Wet: Smoky, sandalwoody. Really nice, much different than it was in the bottle! Dry: This is a nice sandalwood scent. A little sweet and decadent on top of it. Very appropriately named scent! Overall: I like.

Manila- In Bottle: Froooooooot! And bananas! Which, well, are fruit too, but you get the idea. Wet: An odd little musky bloom with the fruit. Dry: This is pleasant and fruity and sweet for a while; the fade is fairly quick, but it was pleasantly sweet while it lasted. I wish the banana had stayed around, but it was gone when I put it on. Overall: Nice.

Eve- The spirit of temptation, the essence of lost innocence. Apple blossom, rose, ylang ylang and golden honey. In Bottle: Bright pale aggressive floral and I can smell the honey. Wet: The rose lights up. Dry: I like the honey, but the rose is a little too much for me in this one. Overall: Not for me.

Lolita- In Bottle: Very bitter in the bottle. Wet: The lemon verbena blooms. Dry: This fades fast and never really turns into anything interesting on me. Overall: Nothing much to it on me.

Calliope- In Bottle: Rosemary and orange blossom. Wet: Orange, and the brightness of the lavender comes out. Dry: This is just not pleasant on me; it's got a sour plastic smell, mixed with a little powder so it smells a little...diaper-y. Not good for me. Overall: Not for me.

#20 Love Oil- In Bottle: Mmm! Fresh and green smelling. Wet: Ooh, I don't like this first sniff of it on. It's like rancid soap. Dry: I'm afraid this has that sour floral smell on me I don't like. Some florals just do that to me. Off to wash. Overall: Not for me.

Marquise de Merteuil- In Bottle: A very light smell of apricots. Wet: Oh, pretty! Floral to set off the apricot smell. Dry: What I get from this is apricot with an underlie of amber. Makes it rich without cloying. Very pretty! Overall: I like!

Blood- In Bottle: Dragon's Blood cherry-powder scent. Wet: I smell Dragon's Blood, but, oh, it's really set off well by the extra cherry and clove in this. Delish! Dry: This is a heavy, clove-y blend of Dragon's Blood, but that's not a bad thing. When I feel the need to be intense and cherry-ish, I'll pull this one out. Overall: Gooood.

Yesod- In Bottle: Oh, man, soiled DIAPERS. No, I'm serious. Baby powder and stool. This is not good. I'm not sure I can bear to put this on. Wet: All right, I tried it. (shudder) Floral, not so noxious now. Dry: Strong, aggressive floral--like lilies that have come to my house to kick my ass--but that little bit of diaper-stink keeps getting in my nostrils. I can't wear this, sorry. Off to wash. Overall: Very not for me.

... However, this bottle was not marked `poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off. Drink Me- In Bottle: Light butterscotch, mmm. Wet: This goes fruity on my skin. Definitely cherry, and...ha, I can still smell the toffee. That's remarkable. Dry: What gets me is how exactly this scent smells like the description of Alice's. I smell cherry, and there's a hint of pineapple and toffee and butter, and, sure, why not, creamy custard. This is even more of a favorite of mine for capturing that, not just because it's a nice foodie scent that doesn't go musty on me. Overall: Remarkable.

Eat Me- (Being a foodie, I've been looking forward to trying this from the first time I heard about BPAL. No, seriously. It was one of the first scents I heard of and it made me decide to give BPAL a try. So I couldn't wait any longer. It can't possibly live up to the anticipation now! But here goes.) In Bottle: Very light and blackberry (or maybe blackcurrent). Wet: Mmm, beautifully berry. There is underlying vanilla to mellow it and that really works. Dry: There really is no cake here that I can perceive, but I'm not sad! This is berries and vanilla syrup, and it's a lovely combination. Overall: Lovely. (This is the kind of scent that makes me drag out my absolute BPAL favorite, MonsterBait Underbed, and take a good sniff and say, "Ahhh, that's what was missing." But I won't fault Eat Me for not being Underbed; it's lovely in its own right!)

Biblical witch, priestess of Astarte, and general troublemaker. A true role model for today’s upwardly mobile Modern Woman. A gloriously decadent blend of honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood. Jezebel- In Bottle: A very sweet pretty smell--honey and orange blossom for sure! Wet: The orange blossom amps; I feel that there's something amberish about this. Dry: This is a sweet-not-quite-cloying powdery floral with an amber-honey tone to make it quite delicious. A really lovely, juicy scent. Overall: I like a lot!

Magus- In Bottle: Peanut butter. I am not making this up. Wet: Peanut butter and wood sandwich. A very nice wood, not sandalwood nor cedar in my opinion, but more like...the wood you're building a house with. Dry: This smells like I'm standing in the middle of a house that's being built, with only the skeleton of the wood around me. A tiny bit of cedar--a little like pencil shavings--arises, but it's mostly a neutral wood. Fascinating! Not a frequent-wearer, I don't think, but one I'll definitely keep around for a sniff now and then. Overall: Neat!

Neptune- In Bottle: Strongly aquatic and cologne-y. Wet: Very cologne-like. Might be a little eye-watering; I'll watch. Dry: No, not eyewatering, but I can't really find a name for what this does other than act cologne-y, and at least it fades without too much drama. Overall: Not for me.

Pluto- In Bottle: A little peppermint. Wet: Woo, eucalyptus to the max. And then...something clay-and-pine. Dry: Kind of light and pretty and minty, once it dries! It does not have remarkable staying power, though, and I'd have to love it more to use it more frequently. So, not likely to be a keeper for me. Overall: Pleasant but not remarkable enough for me.

Blood Rose- In Bottle: Very, very bright and sweet and powdery. Wet: I seem to be amping the rose--not my favorite part--but the Dragon's Blood is pretty as always. (I really enjoy Dragon's Blood.) Dry: The rose dies down and I am left with sweet Dragon's Blood, not at all cloying. It's pretty but I don't think it'll be my favorite of the Dragon's Blood blends, but it is one of my favorite rose blends so far. (The winner is still Whip.) Wish the wine had come out more. Overall: Nice.

Antony- In Bottle: I smell...spearmint. Manly spearmint, but spearmint all the same. Wet: Spearmint with a little lemon. Dry: SPEARMINT. It never stops! Except...okay, eventually it does stop, and becomes something sour-dead flower-ish. No, not for me. Off I go to wash. Overall: Not for me.

Absinthe- In Bottle: A little boozy, and just a hint of anise after a few seconds. Wet: A quick burst of lemon-mint, and then lemon verbena takes over. Dry: There's a faint hint of booziness in this, but it fades fast. If I loved the scent more I'd forgive it the fast fade (like I do on Dana O'Shee and Prague), but it doesn't really send me. Pity the anise didn't stay around; I love anise and find absinthe-analog beverages interesting and wanted to love Absinthe! Overall: Pleasant but not exciting enough, fades quickly.

Morgause- In Bottle: Hmm, kind of a medium perfumey scent. Wet: A plain kind of floral at first whiff. Dry: A little bit sweeter, soon after the first wet phase. Dries down into a pleasant floral, not offensive nor anything stand-out-ish. Overall: Pleasant but unexciting for me.

Bon Vivant- In Bottle: A very light scent! I don't smell strawberries at all. Just a hint of booze, but just a hint. Wet: Ah, the strawberry blooms intensely! But it's light and beautiful. It's lighter than strawberry oils I've smelled. Wonderful! Dry: A fade to a soft strawberry blend; I really can perceive the champagne-smell in this. It really isn't boozy at all, it's the light smell of effevescent wine. This is a bee-yoo-ti-ful scent, right up my alley! It's like all the memories of the strawberry oil I used to wear but not heavy at all. Overall: I love.

Prague- In Bottle: Oh, what a huge fruity scent comes from this bottle! Light and berry-like, and just ethereal. Wet: Prettily berry-floral. So light and fragrant! Dry: Oh, it goes to a quick fade! There's still a lovely berry hint of it a few minutes later; I'll watch and see...This didn't stay around all that long, but while it did, it was lovely. I'll wear it when I don't want something too clingy and cloying all day. Overall: I love; wish it lasted a bit longer.

Bluebeard- In Bottle: Lavender, and I can smell the white musk underneath. Wet: It smells like stale cigarettes! On the first whiff, anyway! Then that goes away. Wild. I think I smell the vetiver underneath all this. So far it's interesting but I'm not sure if I like it. Dry: Oh, dear, no, I don't think I can continue with this one. There's a cloying rot/reek undernote here, and if it weren't there then, yes, this'd be a nice scent. But that rot/reek is just too unpleasant to me. Off to wash. Overall: Not for me.

Unseelie- In Bottle: Soft and powdery, a little sweet like honey. Wet: Strong floral "perfumey" bloom on my skin; it reminds me just a little of my beloved K de Krizia. Dry: This is powdery and sweet and just delicious. It's like delicious amber; I don't think of it as a "green" scent at all; it's rich and golden-amber. Overall: I love.