tartchef

Wow. Ghulheim is a dead ringer for the occult/hippy shop I used to frequent in high school... sweet, spicy incense smoke, but with a slap of soapiness from the occasional musk/jasmine/rose stick they'd burn. I can see where folks might get cola & lime, but alas, the black musk is riding roughshod over any thing remotely tasty.

As a (former) pastry chef, I had to try this, if only because the combination of notes in real life are unbelievably tasty... but, of course, it is a disaster on my skin. Not as huge a disaster as I'd expected - the black pepper definitely cuts through the worst of the Gluttony-esque choco-caramel sludge, putting a little smoky, hot kick to things. But really, I end up smelling like I melted a bunch of MilkyWays in a pan on the stove, let them burn a little, smeared the scorched mess on my hand & ground a little pepper on top. When, oh when will I learn?

Wet, Manners is a dead-ringer for J&J's No More Tears shampoo from my childhood - faintly sweet & fruity, but super clean & squeaky As it dries, the actual notes become more clear, but the overall feel is the same, fresh & unisex. The woods come forward, and the apricot is sadly too polite to hold its own against the dryness of the sake. The end result is clean & rather inviting, like one of my husband's freshly-laundered dress shirts - crisp ivory-colored cotton, still holding a trace of the apricot-scent of his styling cream. I want him to try this - given some age & a chance for the apricot to thicken up, I suspect I would find Manners a bit more my style, but fresh like this, it could be just the thing on J. ETA: Nyom. I was right, it is fantastic on J - the wood & sake are most prominent, and his chemistry brings out the tart, almost floral aspect of the apricot. Makes a delightful change from his usual Hemlock, and a bit more office-appropriate, aside from the name

A total novelty sniff, at least for me - wet, there's deep violets & bitter cocoa, but as it dries, more of the white chocolate comes out. This is Milky Bars white chocolate, a wee bit plasticky, but that's half the charm Left to its own devices, it fades to a nice soft, warm violets-&-cream scent - very dainty & pretty... if I had a little girl, I'd want her to smell like this, and wear deep violet-colored ribbons in her hair

Uhm. Almond. Cloying sticky marzipan almond, rolled into a thick slab & slapped over what is probably a very tasty blackberry jam. Clearly, my nose is broken. Once it dries down a bit, I can tell it's the orange blossom & amber that I'm reading as almond. The mint lurks, powdery & pleh. Really, really disappointing

It may well just be me & my wonky chemistry, but on my skin, Tissue is very close to the unreleased Bleeding Heart. Both have that breezy, clean white floral feel of a very classic perfume... Tissue is a bit sharper, a bit soapy compared to Bleeding Heart, and is missing the green stems & leaves that made BH really stand out, but they're definitely in the same family...

Gardenia's one of the few florals that will occasionally work on me without turning to screaming soap... Regrettably, Tissue skirts that fine line between lovely classic perfume & froofy guest soap It's very clean & fresh & breezy, maddeningly close to Bleeding Heart but just too sharp. I'm tempted to hang onto my decant, to see if a bit of aging might take the edge off & let the honey & rice paper join in. If you tend to like the more classic, formal white florals, Tissue is a winner - my chemistry just can't quite manage this much gardenia... ETA: Three months later, my suspicions prove correct - the gardenia's settled down into a lovely balanced white floral. Yes, it does remind me of guest soap, still, but not nearly as sharp & soapy as when Tissue was Lab-fresh. The name really is fitting - Tissue is ethereal & delicate... The extended dry down is really something, now - it smells for all the world like warm paper! I kept thinking I had my desk lamp too close to my paperwork, but no - it's ME

Sweet, dewy & fresh... not at all befitting the label art! Lots & lots of skin musk, that which I recognize from Bengal & the Illustrated Woman, but with lashings of vanilla orchid nectar. I can totally see where folks are getting something lemony or aquatic... I think it's the sugar cane & orchid together. If there's any beeswax in here, it's barely a trace. The copal is beautiful, just a trace of smoke curling around the edges... The clean, fresh-air quality of Giant Vulva makes me think of the original Dragon Moon - they have no notes in common, I don't think, but both have that spring-sunshine-on-a-dancing-brook-in-a-Japanese-garden feel... Absolutely lovely ETA: Whoa, hello staying power! 10 hours later, the skin musk is still working it, and the copal has filled in where the lighter notes have faded... the end result is reminiscent of Anactoria, smokey & musky & a bit of The Sexy...

Glorious. Surprisingly fresh out of the vial, all peppery mums & bitter marigolds, deep burgundy & bright gold. The vanilla, incense & cinnamon are a quiet chorus in the background, adding a warm, sweet veil over the blossoms. The freshness hold strong much longer than one would imagine, eventually giving way to the sandalwood & vanilla. Even then, it's a warm, skin-close scent but with that bitter, clean mum & marigold... delightful! (No doubt I'm insane, but there is something about this that makes me think of Nowhere in Particular & some of the other Weenies... that warm/cool frisson of plants & spice.) If you were hoping for Mum Moon Redux, you'll be disappointed, but Flowering Mums is absolutely beautiful in its own right

Violet's one of the few florals I can wear, and I'm on a casual mission to try all of Beth's violet blends... Sybaris is lovely & sweet & quiet - not a big scent at all, but introverted & gentle. Sweet, cool violets & just a trace of clove & incense - the tonka dies down very quickly on me, so it just adds a bit of warmth & weight. There's certainly frankincense in here - Sybaris is drying down to a silky, slightly powdery haze of frankincense & lightly spiced violet pastilles. There's just a trace of something deep & bitter, maybe the spent flowers that have fallen down into the soil... If you wanted to love Faustus, but it was just a bit too much, definitely try Sybaris. It's drier & warmer than my favorite violet, The Darkling Thrush, but has that same quiet stillness. Delightful

Neither Dorian nor Snake Oil are particularly fabulous on me, but the combination of the two plus the addition of lavender was enough to make me try LV... Surprisingly, this is absolutely lovely on me! There's a fleeting moment here & there of Snake Oil's Play-Doh, and the vanilla that ultimately wrecked Love's Philosophy for me is lurking, but LV is ultimately a beautifully candied citrus & lavender blend... almost TKO+bergamot, but with a waft of deep, dark vanilla incense grounding it. If I really snorfle, I can get a trace of fennel right at the back of my throat. I don't need more than my decant, but this is a pleasant surprise! Cozy but clean, just right for a cold winter day when I'm dreaming of spring...

A testable sniffie from the ever-dazzling zankoku_zen Mm. Yeah. :sniff: Mmmmm. A Snake-Oil-like musk & spice blend, but with a lovely sticky tobacco note, and just a trace of vetiver... The sweetness reads like coconut, every few sniffs, just a trace, but it's a drier, leafier scent than Snake Charmer... More like Death of Autumn, now I've had it on for a while - I'd swear there were chrysanthemums lurking in here, somewhere. One of the only uber-rares that have crossed my path that I've taken a second look at... really beautiful, smoky & mysterious, but strangely comforting, very fitting

Whoa! Um, hellooo jasmine & iris! I was all ready for the vetiver to deliver the smackdown, but it seems I should have been more wary of the florals... Very perfumey incense - the hot pink jasmine sticks I always pick out of the mixed bundles & trash

A fantabulously generous forumite gifted me a nearly full bottle of HSR bath oil, and I am forever & ever in her debt... this stuff is heaven. A bitter green one-two punch of geranium & clary sage, fresh & tonic & just the thing to cut through ennui, malaise & PMS-induced pluurbitude. The juniper, lavender & mint chime in, just in the background. The resins & coriander aren't immediately detectable, but I suspect they are what keeps HSR from being too searingly herbal... It's nearly identical to WHSRE, which is exactly what I was hoping... I drew a stinking hot bath & added a scoop of sea salts & a good slosh of HSR oil... after a 45-minute soak, I emerged soft & scented & almost high from the steam. I can still smell it on my skin this morning, and the folks love how it made the house smell... Oh yes. I will treasure my bottle, and will pine for its re-release next year...

We're having a low-key, kid-friendly Valentine's today, so it's Valentine of Rome, my cozy-cuppa-tea scent... Once we do plan a night for just the two of us, it'll likely be Chrysanthemum Moon - one of J's favorites on me, usually guaranteed to prompt a little neck-nibbling...

I have a rocky history with Beth's leather bouquet - it's ruined more blends on my skin than I care to mention So I swapped for a decant of MvC with more than a little trepidation... I'm not 100% sold yet, but I think we may have something here... Wet, MvC is super fruity & cool - imagine the ubiquitous wine gums, but in squidgy Asian jelly candy form... that same dark red/purple fruity scent with a hint of something dry & tannic, but super wet & glistening & fresh. I think it's the leather that my nose is reading as cold & wet... very interesting. Once it dries down a bit, the papery element emerges, and I can tell the fig is in there - at this point, it's very similar to Strangler Fig, minus the super dusty incense note. There's some overlap, too, with Freak Show, strangely enough... again, that tannic dry fig with a trace of something smooth, likely the cream. Ultimately, I know this isn't one I'd wear enough to warrant keeping, but I'm more than thrilled to have found an exception to my leather troubles ETA: Ehhhn. I'm going to have to take it back. The leather is just too much It goes very fresh & AXE body spray on me after a bit, and will NOT go away. I can smell it days later on the cuffs of my cardigan. That I washed. Twice.

When I first started BPALing, you couldn't get fruity scents within a mile of me - "I don't want to smell like a Jolly Rancher!" I thought, and mentally wrote off anything with fruit in the description... Yeah. Well. So much for that, then I still don't like the really cloyingly fruity scents - Jester, Bordello, Shango all go horribly sweet & sticky on me. And as a rule, berries with anything creamy aren't my friend either... but oooooh baby, Beth's made some fantastic fruity blends I do adore: Tanuki - top of the heap for me, lots of tart green bamboo underscoring the yuzu & persimmon... Earth Rat - melon gummies FTW! Fairy Wine - I have to be in the right mood for this one, but the contrast of the bitter dandelion & juicy currant is divine Cheshire Cat - that which made me love grapefruit again Lady Una - blackberry honey green tea heaven! I know a lot of folks have trouble with Beth's blackberry note, but I loooove it Oblation - blackberry again, but with perfumey lavender & honey, absolutely edible Diwali - more subtle than the others in its fruitiness, but the mango in this is lovely Haloes - once this ages, the apricot blends so nicely with the woods & vanilla There are a handful of scents that I really did like, but just couldn't see myself wearing - March Hare, Hymn to Proserpine, Swank, Imp... all felt better suited to soap or shower gel than for all-day wear...

Oh Kumiho, how I've neglected you... you were one of my first BPAL loves, and yet it's taken me years to get around to declaring it! Crisp & cool & clean & bitter, with a delicately sweet nip of ginger, you are what helps me stay sane on the hottest, muggiest of summer nights. Why haven't I invested in a bottle until now? What took me so long? Never leave me, my lovely demon....

Got my back-up of Hanerot Halalu today, and suddenly yeahbutnobut's ISO for the orangey version of HH makes total sense. My original bottle is heavy on the sweet orange element, but this new bottle is much more olivey - the orange is still there, but much, much lighter, making bottle #2 more of a savory, smoky scent... Luckily, I love Hanerot Halalu in all its incarnations

Oh damn. I kept back a dribble of Mad Kate from my decanting when the ROs first came out, and promptly forgot about it. I dug it out today on a whim, and holy Hannah, it's gorgeous! The gardenia's a bit much at first, verging on soapy, but given 10 minutes, the florals die down & a luscious red currant & honey blend emerges... tart but creamy smooth, with a touch of bitter green from the thyme. It's very similar to Fairy Wine, but far more elegant... red currants & vanilla orchids scattered across ivory satin. If I weren't already married, I would wear this on my wedding day - it's that kind of beautiful womanly scent. Just stunning.

Nyom. Aged Midnight Mass, but with a trace of tannic black currant... On me, the olibanum & opoponax are front & center, crunchy & sticky & deeply resinous. I do get a faint trace of rooty mandrake, but it's a bit player, at best. The currant is really tart & dry - not black currant jam, but underripe berries crushed into the resins. Fabulous, but not lunge-worthy when it comes down to it - Midnight Mass is so similar, at least on my skin, and much easier to find I'll enjoy my dribble of Scattered Gloom while I have it, but won't be going through contortions to track down more...

Mmmm... this is lovely, not terrible! The palest lavender, plump & fresh, with a wash of ice-cold lychee (which always smells a bit like pink grapefruit & roses, to me).... the benzoin is lurking, adding just a bit of warmth & weight. The slushy snow note combined with the lavender is threatening to go soapy - there's a faintly bitter edge to this that I'm having trouble shaking... the white resins & lunar herbs, perhaps? Shame, too, because otherwise, Moon of the Terrible is beautiful, bracing & cold... I'll try this again in a few days, in case it's just my chemistry fluctuating a bit...

Me too!

Me too! But only in an oil burner... on my skin, not so much with the Joy Other glee-in-a-bottle candidates: Fairy Wine Mag Mell Fairy Market Hungry Ghost Moon Lady Una The East Tanuki! ...lots of clean fruityness & wildflowers that make me want to barefoot...

Dry & bitter & tannic, with a soapy masculinity lurking at the edges... evocative? You betcha. That wot I want to smell like? Nyerle.