tartchef

Oh god, I'm going to have to be the bearer of the first cold, wet blanket, aren't I? In the bottle, wet, dry & everything in between, Chanukkiyah was nothing but acrid burnt sugar & faux maple flavoring. No fig, no beeswax, nothing remotely yummy - just the smell of a pot of Maple Swirl coffee left to scorch on the burner. I had to wash it off in the end. (sigh) This is one for the Sell It NOW pile. (For reference, I should note that I historically have trouble with most buttery sweet foody scents - Gluttony & Misk U were similar trainwrecks on me...)

Oh golly, this is beautiful. In the bottle & wet, I get a lovely apricot & tonka, smooth & juicy & in no way cloying. There's a hint of ginger - I agree that it's a fruity ginger, not the dry ginger of Shub. Thankfully, the lily of the valley is completely absent, as I tend to amp florals like nobody's business. Once Haloes wears for a bit, the throw is amazing - it's not strong, but pervasive. There's this incredible blown-out-candle scent, like someone just snuffed a really expensive apricot candle... it's smooth & waxy & warm, with just a hint of smoke - this must be the sandalwood & oak coming out. Up close, it's now a roasted apricot, with slightly caramelised edges & a vanilla bean floating around in the juices. I don't like fruity scents, or florals, or heavy vanillas... Haloes is none of these, proving that the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts... Bravo, Beth - this is stunning.

Mmm, Bakeneko is indeed a shape-shifter... Wet & in the bottle, I would swear blind that it's Herr Drosselmeyer. There's that same golden buttery spiciness that only I seem to get from Herr Dross... :SDER: Freaky body chemistry. Once Bakeneko starts to dry down, I get a lovely melange of orange-spice tea & a very faint but clean floral - hello, cherry blossom! Still, that warm, cozy undercurrent is there all the while, gently purring in the background. Hours later, the orange & cherry blossom are gone, and I'm left with yummy yummy musk - hallelujiah, the amber part of amber musk seems to be totally unrelated to my arch-nemesis, the Dread Pirate Amber. Bakeneko is indeed yummy, though given the rabid devotion some forumites have to it, I can't help but feel like I'm missing something spectacular...

TKO: Does What It Says on the Bottle Seriously, I can't review the dry-down because my ass was asleep in 30 seconds. I rarely have trouble sleeping, but it still takes me a few minutes to settle... not anymore! What little I was conscious enough to sniff was a delicious blend of lavender & vanilla marshmallows - sweet & soft & ultimately comforting, but in no way cloying... This is going in my toddler's nightlight diffuser pad - the true test of TKO's powers will be to keep him asleep through clanging radiators & cutting molars...

Oh huminahumina... damn, this is good. All the things I love about Sri Lanka - the clean woodiness, the spicy myrrh, the awesome incense finish - smoothed out & gilded with ambergris. Wet, it's almost effervesent, sweet & spicy but with a dry bubbly undercurrent. Once it dries down, it's incredible... the teakwood & Mysore are warm & woody, and there's just enough sweetness that the potential for the dread pencil shavings is soundly banished. This is a very quiet, but very powerful scent, quite a presence but in no way brash or overreaching... It's a good thing I got a bottle of this just for myself... I can see this in my Top 10 in another few wears.

Esmeria's hit it on the head - Victoria sponge! With tiny wild strawberries, and a bit of vanilla syrup drizzled over it... Thankfully, I don't get heavy butter out of this, just a whiff of lovely sponge cake. As a rule, I don't hold with very foody or fruit scents, but this is a fun departure for me! The drydown is lovely - wafts of tart berries & cream, but there's a faint air of something deeper, like cherry incense or tobacco... it's barely there, and if I go looking for it, it's gone. But I keep getting whiffs of it throughout the day... nyomnyomnyom!

Eh... see, I'm getting cloying craft store. The plum wax tarts, the cinnamon stick wreaths, the whole shebang. The individual elements of this should, by all rights, work beautifully on me, and really, it's not horrible... but it makes me feel like I should be hosting a Christmas-themed Home Party As it dries, the sickly sweetness fades, the musk comes out a bit more, and I start getting a much more tart plum scent, like real plums, roasted with a bit of honey & cinnamon... Bottom line, Bandersnatch is very inviting on me, but in a slightly commercial, hostess-y way... if I was shopping at the holidays, this is how I'd expect the local gift shops to smell...

It's also a matter of the materials Beth starts with... Depending on the season & the weather, batches of single note oils can vary significantly - Beth tries to find suppliers that provide consistant products, but some variation is the nature of the beast. IMHO, nothing you purchase from the Lab is a waste of money - it may not work on you, or be quite what you were expecting, but again, that's the nature of buying a product online - there's some risk, yes, but there can also be some lovely surprises. Anything that doesn't work for you can be swapped via the forums - that's how a lot of us test-drive scents, before committing to a bottle. Good luck with your imps - those from your list that I've tried all had decent throw, esp Jack & Loviatar. I highly recommend applying a bit to your hair, along with the usual places - when I want to share my BPAL with the world, scenting my hair gets the best mileage...

In the imp, this is a dead ringer for the used bookshop we frequented back in Chicago - the one that burned incense all day, every day, and any books that were bought from them slowly released the scent of a hundred difference incenses back into the air... super comforting & snuggly... On, though, there's a sharp, soapy note that just won't back down. I can tell there are beautiful spices & a hint of smoky, musky vanilla hiding in the background, just dying to come out, but this piercing soapiness isn't having it. By all rights, this should be gorgeous on me, it's got nothing but proven-yummy notes, but something's going awry... Hmm... well, if nothing else, it'll be fantastic as a room scent! ETA: OK, this is better - an hour in, and the sharpness is totally gone, and I smell incredible... I just want to bury my head in my sweater

Oh geez. I live all of 45 minutes from Shelldoo's salon. Hear that giant sucking noise? There goes any resolve I may have had to keep away from WillCalls... ETA: Lychee?! Guh....

Nyerh. While I love the concept here, being a nursing mother definitely prejudices me against this... I already smell like body-temperature milk & Tropical Delite baby food. The faint waft of warm pee from my wrists is enough to send me to the bathroom to scrub this off.

I had the same visceral reaction that kittysdesire did - I had Intrigue sitting on my desk for weeks before I worked up the nerve to actually put it on my skin... I also agree with the candle-shop thing, but I can get even more specific - it's the basket aisle at the craft store at Christmas. There are layers of warm spice & fruit, but they're cloaked in a woody, stem-like green-ness, like baskets rubbed with a dark green stain, filled with dried moss & potpourri. It's very nostalgic, really, and not entirely unpleasant... I just don't know if I'd ever consciously choose to smell like this...

Hey, Lupele, there's something in your package that might just fit the bill On a whim, I threw in a partial of Strangler Fig - I just don't wear it anymore, and had a hunch you might like it... On me, the fig isn't terribly fruity, more of a honeyed richness lurking in the back. At the forefront, however, is this incredible incense... it's like the leftover ash that collects in my burner, dry & smoky & close... Applied lightly, it's not overly strong - slathered, though, and I see where the namesake comes in Hope you like it!

Yow. Mr Ibis opens with a smack of traditional men's cologne - piercing aquatic & musk, akin to my dad's aftershave from 1978... The drydown is intersting, wavering between manlyman & a delicate aloe & vanilla, but I just can't get past the AquaVelva association... ETA: Blech. Now I can taste it in the back of my throat. Off. Now. Please.

I finagled a half an imp of the elusive Snake Charmer from a fellow forumite as part of a swap - honestly, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about... Ooo, yeah. I can see why this inspires folks to feats of eBay madness. It's rich, but not cloying, sweet & smoky & pretty darn tasty. The plum & coconut are distinct at first, but once it dries down, they meld into a delicious haze of ambery sweetness. I'm getting almost caramel popcorn, here... not a bad thing! It's missing the OMFGmusthavemoarnow that I got from Mum Moon & Mme Moriarty, but it's in that same camp of rich, seductive, gourmand musk. I'll be happy with my little sniffie, thank heavens, but it's one I think should be tried by all...

My LO ends up smelling like me most days - he'll snuggle up in the morning, and later in the day I'll realize that it's not just me that smells so good He's run the gamut from Mme Moriarty to Pirate Moon to Shub this week, but Dorian was the surprise winner - on him it's all lemony sugar cookies ETA: Styro, maybe Calico Jack would work for your girls? It has a good bit of rum, so is sweeter than some of the other piratical scents, IMO. I'd say Anne Bonny, but it's way ballsy, maybe a little assertive for what you're looking for... I bet Goblin would smell nice on a younger girl - patchouli, yes, but the coconut sweetens it out of dirty-hippy range...

Another lovely Lab frimp, and another exception to my no-florals rule... Wet, there's a touchy moment of soapiness & the threat of the whole thing exploding with migraine-inducing narcissus & daffodils. Thankfully, that stage passes quickly, and the drydown is a lovely combination of tart lemon sweeties, gentle amber & a breezy, sunshiny day. It is indeed a very inviting, comforting scent, like a freshly scrubbed kitchen on a warm spring day. There's a bunch of daisies on the table, and a bowl of lemons on the bench... Not one I'd have selected unsniffed, certainly, but this will be lovely when the weather turns warm again...

Oh hello... I was briefly tempted by a bottle of Midnight Kiss when the update first went live, but decided against it - I had a premonition of cloying sweetness, somehow, between the cocoa & wine... But. The All Wise, All Knowing Lab sent me a frimp. Wet an in the early stages of drying, this is very similar to Tezcatlipoca on me - that same cocoa & incense base, but with a juicy top layer. Someone up thread mentioned Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, and that's pretty spot-on. The red musk lends a faint saltiness to the mix that keeps everything grounded, and there's a whiff of what feels like opium. This is muy yummyyummy... I'm still not sold on a whole bottle for myself, but perhaps I'll troll the swaps for an extra imp...

Hey, cardamon, could you turn it down a little? Yipes... It breaks my heart that that's my first reaction to Mama Ji - I looooove cardamon in baking, but on my skin it amps like myrrh on steroids. Eventually, it calms down & lets the more subtle spices & quiet flowers peek through - Baitu's right, it's really creamy... nice, but the first hour or so of wear is a real turn-off. I'll try this again in a week or two, but I suspect Mama will be finding another home.

Oh oh oh... Selkie is absolutely gorgeous, so much so that I don't want to look directly at it in case I spook it & it runs away... I have a notoriously bad relationship with aquatics, and wishlisted an imp of Selkie out of some kind of perverse curiosity. The reviews made is sound so lovely, I had to give it a shot. So, SO glad I did. Selkie is beautiful & fresh, without smacking me over the head with a box of rain-scent dryer sheets... Wet, it's very literally honey diluted in cold seawater - sweet but in no way cloying, just clear & fresh & lovely. As it dries, I get the melon & honeysuckle other reviewers noted, but again, overwashed by clearest, coldest water... almost snowmelt. It's standing in a high cliff meadow, overlooking the sea - the wildflowers are huddled low to the ground, the grass is vibrating in the chill wind, and the sun is just beginning to filter through the last grey clouds of winter. Freshly washed sheets are on the line, snapping in the breeze. Your nose is cold, but the sun is faintly warm on your cheeks. You bend down & brush your hand over the wet grass & creeping herbs & tiny flowers, releasing a waft of scent that is borne away on the wind... Selkie is stunning and absolutely evocative... I want to close my eyes & be there.

"Gnarly patchouli" is apparently the same on me as the black patchouli in Depraved.... lovely & hippy-funk at first, but quickly degenerating into pencil shavings. Not something I necessarily mind, as a rule, but the harsh dryness isn't melding well with the coconut. I will say that this is a remarkably realistic, well-behaved coconut - not the sunscreen whallop that I got from the Star. I suspect it's the benzoin that's keeping it sweet, but grounded. Oh, Goblin, it was fun, but off to the swap pile you go....

A mournful, poignant scent, thick with foreboding. Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk. Ugh. The Dread Pirate Amber strikes again. When I first discovered BPAL, I had really good luck with amber scents - they went lovely & deep & resinous on me. 4 years later, though, my chemistry's obviously changed, because all my former amber flames are going up in giant poofs of sickly sweet powder. Haunted shouts amber before I even open the imp. Once on, the black musk & amber do a merry dance, kicking up clouds of powdered sugar so thick I can taste it. Throw & staying power are, of course, tremendous - I can smell it coming into a room I vacated hours ago, and it's still lurking on my wrists after a night's sleep & a hot shower. If I were feeling more patient, I would try layering this with something - maybe a salty red musk, or something with a zippy lemon or tea note - anything to help cut the sweetness. At this point, though, it's double-bagged & in the Swap It NOW pile.

Bathsheba is lovely - sweetly spicy carnation with a lick of tart plumminess, the musk gently bringing up the rear. It's supremely pretty, all cashmere sweaters & lace-edged lingerie... alas, it is ultimately not my cup of tea, really. Oddly, I can see my mum really liking this, so we'll see how it wears on her...

Ugh. Coconut & Pine-Sol. Eventually it dries down to a cool, powdery amber, but the wet stage is just too off-putting for me to hang onto this...

I'm coming down off of what ended up being a fairly craptastic day - really tedious work constantly interrupted by petty client gripes & PitA manual insertions, hot funky weather, no a/c, a house that's rapidly getting away from us in terms of cleaning & upkeep, a toddler bent on destruction & pushing every last button today, and a major case of wanderlust... so to say I need this might be an understatement. I want the Water to wash it all away... Ah. Violets. On a bed of melon & cucumber slices, with a little aloe drizzled over the top. This is indeed cool & refreshing, despite a hint of rosewater that's lurking & threatening to The fact that I'm still at work is no doubt limiting how effective this is... but I do feel a bit more calm & able to let go the baggage of the day. I really want to put this in a big jar of aloe gel & keep it in the fridge for stinking hot days like this...