mooncityminx

On me this one starts out as single note caramel and then get's a little honey-ish after a really long time. It's strong and stays that way for hours! It's not as sweet as Tiresias and it's less nutty than Cockaigne. I love it. I don't tend to wear caramel a lot, so I don't think I will be getting a second bottle, but I will treasure the one that I have. Anyone who loves caramel needs to get this before it goes away!

In the bottle: At first this reminded me strongly of Vasakasajja. I totally get the sweettarts comparison that others are making. It's very fruit punch, which makes it also similar to Fae and Spiked Punch. But it's brighter than those two, lighter like powdered sugar. Wet: Sweet candy and gentle uplifting florals. Very tropical and lovely. Drydown: Same. The florals and fruits blend very nicely so it is hard to distinguish between them. This is one of those BPALs that could be a gateway fragrance for those who need enabling. I can see why it is such a hit. I will be reaching for this during the summer.

I know this is a little late, but you might try Vixen. It has orange blossom and patchouili. The orange blossom is strong and it's very lady-like and classic. Here are the reviews.

When I started to read the reviews describing Te Po as cola, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Someone once gave me a Chaos Theory sample that approximates cherry cola when wet, and I love it dearly. What I didn't expect was to love Te Po so much more. In the Bottle: almond syrup and cherry, reminds me of Perpetuum Bonum a little bit but without the waxy fragrance. The fizziness is there, strong fizziness. Also brings to mind those little cola flavored candies shaped like pop bottle caps that I used to get a lot of on Halloween. Mmmm. I didn't know that fizzy was a fragrance. I almost expect to hear carbonation coming from the bottle. Wet: Almond makes the first appearance, the the spices amp and I am reminded strongly of the time my husband tried to make cola using carbonated water and flavorings. The recipe for cola flavor is basically lime juice, orange oil, cassia oil, and lemon oil, if I am remembering correctly. I'm not saying that those are all here, but the combos smell similar and they both make a good approximation of the cola flavor most americans are used to. There's cherry of course, and a little something extra that makes things all the more interesting, but mostly this is cola to me. Drydown: For a good while Te Po continues to waft spicy cola. I am reminded of Screeching Parrot, so they must share some notes. The throw is pretty good, however this one doesn't last a super long time on my skin. I can tell this one is going to be living in my scent locket for a very long time! Te Po is now one of my favorite LE fragrances of all time!

Certain citrus fruit notes go completely rancid on my skin chemistry. Apparently pineapple is one of them. Good to know. Unfortunately, once a citrus note goes rancid, it's the only thing in a blend I can smell. In the bottle it is sweet, buttery and slightly pineapple. Those who can enjoy the pineapple, I congratulate.

Me and the Sass are at a draw. Everytime someone compares some scent to root beer, I have to have it. It happened with Chokmah and now it happened with the Sass. What I always fail to remember is that even though I love root beer, and even though I love root beer candies, root beer has wintergreen. Wintergreen is the lurking evil. In the bottle I am getting effervescent wintergreen and medicinal stuff. Wet: Wintergreen, vanilla, root beer with amped wintergreen, wintergreen, wintergreen. Dry: As it dries the notes blend a little better and the Sass becomes medicinal and masculine. The vanilla pokes out its head and yells 'hey' to the wintergreen. This stage, though not as offensive, is not light enough to be my style, though it would smell good on a man with the right chemistry. An hour later it has morphed into something amazing. Vanilla and incense and some spice that I can't identify but love. It must be the Sassafras! It is glorious. If only I could have this from the start and not have to endure the torture of wintergreen. I've decided to hang onto my bottle and see if it ages into this. Oh that the sassafras and vanilla might team up and smite the wintergreen, only time will tell. ETA: I don't know if it has aged already, or if it's my chemistry that has changed temporarily for my monthly affliction, but lately I have been slathering and it is so good. I'm getting just root beer with vanilla ice cream on top and then eventually just vanilla. I hope it has aged and it's not just temporary for me. *slather*

Lavendar, sugared cream and something sweet and musky. It's almost like sugared tea with a sprig of lavendar sticking out. It's a mix of candy and herbal and it's wonderful. I would love for my whole bed to smell like this, but I'm not sure my husband would. There was an incident last year involving a certain lavendar lotion. It was mistaken for sour cream. To make a long story short he doesn't like anything lavendar anymore. Maybe if I don't tell him he won't notice? ETA: You know, I've been looking for a vanilla lavendar scent since I started BPALing, and this fits the bill perfectly.

This fragrance is actually a lot less green than I was expecting. The white tea is the star of the blend. To me white tea is always sophisticated and graceful while still managing to be light. The floral, cheery blossom, is definately there and noticable but blends so perfectly with the other notes that instead of picking them out individually I get the impression of an orchestra of fragrance. This does strike me as having more in common with a commercial perfume because it seems more traditional, but in a very good way. Of course I love it when BPAL does modern traditional because they do it so much better than say, Estee Lauder or Clinique etc. I could see buying this to use primarily as a hair oil, especially in the summer when the warmth would cause it to waft teasingly through my wake. It's not so strong as to clash with anything else I might wear and would especially compliment fruity or floral blends. In one word the best summary I can manage is fresh. ETA: cheery blossom = cherry blossom Freudian slip?

You inspired me to retry Cockaigne and you know what it reminds me of? Pinched with Four aces. It's not got the same dry cinnamon note, it has a foody one instead and there is more of a peanut scent, but they are very similar to me. I'm very happy because I like it better and it's GC.

In the vial: Apple skin, just bitten-into fresh juicy apple real deal! Wet: Juicy! Whoa, something tangy and then something not apple. What is that? Something unnatural and unsettling. Drydown: Something perfumy has mingled with the apple. It's tangy and still a real juicy authentic apple, plus something else. I think it's a floral but I have no idea what it is or how to compare it. This strikes me as a holy grail for apple lovers. Also, it's a nice year-round feminine fun fragrance. The apple makes it almost carefree and youthful, whereas the floral is womanly and sophisticated. This is the best of both worlds. Also, apple does not always work on me. I usually avoid fragrances that list apple as a note, but this I got as a frimp and it is really wonderful.

In the vial: lemony kool-aid bubblegum fruit punch Wet: It must be the kumquat, but it's a nice sweet citrus that is fresh and cheery. Almost like sorbet. This could be wonderful in the hot weather. Drydown: Sweet citrus drydown. It doesn't have much throw and sinks in to be very subtle on me. The bubblegum sweetness is really nice, but I wish it were stronger. This reminds me a little bit of Xanthe. I saw someone compare it to Cannibal on the LE comparison thread and I see the similarity to Cannibal's first impression, but this is more citrus and less bubblegum to me. Someone who likes this might also try Vampire Tears if they want something a lot stronger.

Mmmm In the vial: sweet buttered rum Wet: Nutty nut nut. Drydown: Peanut butter and hazelnut syrup then turns spicy. It still has some buttery flavor, but not as much. Slightly coffee? This is really unique and fun. You know what this is starting to remind me of as it sinks in? Pinched with Four aces. It's missing the dry cinnamon note that disagreed with me, but it has its own spicy note. I think this should be hugely popular. Yum!

Okay, I don't know if this helps but I had a bottle I bought directly from the lab back in 06 when I was a newbie. For the first six months or so (maybe a year?) it smelled to me, just like caramel apples. It was sooooo wondeful! Then when I tried it again the apple started to do a weird thing where it would smell like dried apple slices, and that note would amp like crazy. I stored it very carefully too, but I wonder if for some weird reason or another blends sometimes age differently? Luckily I found someone who liked dried apple slices and swapped it at a meet-n-sniff, but I've noticed this with other blends as well. For instance, Miskatonic U is always sweet and happy when it is fresh, but sometimes when it ages it smells to me like those library books that stink. And if I put it on a bit of clothing hoping to smell like butterscotch I end up smelling like I stepped in something. But not all of them turn that way.

Does anyone have pics of the room sprays?

In the vial: I am getting a Juicy Fruit gum smell. This is very exciting to me because I've been hoping for a more bubblegum fragrance to wear. Most people may not want to smell like bubble gum, but I do. I find it uplifting. Wet: Oooo, juicy fruits! And then the bubblegum note amps. If I knew what note this was going all bubblegum I would try everything that has it. A slight floral tone threatens to go soapy but then disapears. I feel like getting some Chicklets. Drydown: Yum! I'm so glad I finally got a decant of this. I'll really need at least one bottle of Xanthe, maybe multiples before she hits the road. There is still a slight floral, but it fades in and out. I could bathe in this stuff. It's sort of lemon cotton candy. Other comparisons: Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo start's out with a bubblegum note to me, but changes shortly after applied, same with the Teenage Cannibal, which I am surprised no one has mentioned a comparison to before. I went crazy trying to get a bottle of Cannibal because of that note, but now I have found a version I like better in Xanthe, that is also a lot easier to get. Xanthe doesn't have the spiciness of Cannibal, but I'm not complaining. Xanthe is actually more candy-like and that's why I love it so much! ETA: Clowns used to scare the crap out of me as a child, so I am finding this sort of ironic.

Oh yeah! I just got an imp of this in the mail and I just love it. In the vial: At first I thought it wasn't going to work for me. There is a lot of patchouli in this. *the goblin sneezes* "PACHEW-ly" I mean, this is serious wood shavings and pungent something that reminds me of a stable with horses, maybe leather? Whew! Wet: I smell caramel and coconut. This is sweet but there is still an earthiness to it. Dry: The patchouli and the sweets harmonize nicely. The throw is decent. The patchouli is different than other BPAL patchouli's I have used, but it is really nice. It reminds me of the single-note patchouli perfume I used to buy from Crabtree & Evelyn to fragrance my home. It adds a peaceful earthy feeling to the caramel and coconut. It makes the patchouli non-threatening. I could see this as something I would wear a lot of in the summer, and would be absolutely wonderful as a home fragrance. *puts it on GC wishlist*

Oooo, lucky! I never got to try one of those. Any idea what's in it?

Parrot starts out lime and grapefruit. This is not the grapefruit that pretends to be something else, this is straight up grapefruit and some rum. Swiftly, the Parrot morphs into spicy grapefruit. How unexpected! It stays this way for about 5 minutes or so. There isn't a lot of throw. Then flowers emerge. Really pretty mixture of fruit and flowers, still sort of candy-ish. This one does not throw very far. I think a scent locket would help with that. I don't know how to describe these flowers because I don't know them as single notes. They're not soapy or sharp at all, very gentle and feminine. At the end stage I could mistake this for something non-existent by Escada (which is a good thing to me as I loved Escada but gave it up when I found BPAL.) Of course it is actually much better than Escada could do, but that's the nearest thing I can compare it to as I've never encountered a BPAL with this type of mood.

Do you knw what it is about Hanami that makes you love it? To me I was reminded of 51, but they don't really smell alike. They both have florals and fruits that balance in a way similar to more commercial perfumes. If it's the asian notes you crave, there are a few of those in the Salon section. If I were you I'd start looking around for decants on the swaps/sales forums. Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree is different, but has a nice cherry blossom.

I think the drydown of Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo is very similar to Think Pink bath bomb. I thought it was Rock Star soap at first, and it is similar, but for Think Pink it is identical.

At first the mint/citrus pairing is really really wonderful. I mean, it is perfection, and then... SOAP! Lot's and lots of soap If only I could get the citrus/mint without soap. Cats clean themselves, you know? They don't need soap.

Woah. This is so good. It reminds me a lot of 51. Maybe it's 51's cousin from out of state that is half asian but they still look a lot alike. It's so even handed with the fruit and floral that it's hard to pick out exactly what it is I am smelling. The fruitiness to me is like ripe cherries, but not cherry flavoring like in candy. This isn't super sweet, just ripe and juicy red cherries picked right from the tree. I get how some of the will call reviews said guava, but it's not really guava to me. The blossoms are there and I can't identify a specific type. This doesn't really smell like Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree to me, but it is demure and classy. It's more fresh and fruity than SotKCT. Hanami is shy and gentle, very feminine, but centered and has a will of her own. I'm crazy about 51 so this is an obvious win for me.

In my Criminal Justice class I had volunteered to be the prosecutor for the mock trial we were having. I worked very hard on the opening and closing statements, worked out a good strategy, and put together tough questions that would steer things my way. I put some Charisma on each wrist and rubbed the extra on my arms. I figured I could use it so that the 'jury' would pay attention to me and not think me too much of a bitch while cross-examining the defendant. On the bus people kept smiling and starring at me. I thought I might have something on my face, but no. And on the way to class, the other students were smiling at me and starring at me a lot too. In fact, the strange level of attention continued all day and into the evening. The mock trial went really well. I surprised the 'jury' with angles on the case that they'd hadn't had from reading the packet. I managed to make the whole class react (with gasps and giggles) when I cross-examined the defendant. I was able to demonstrate premeditation. The defense attourney said that one of the arguments I made was something that hadn't even occurred to her and that as soon as I said it she knew she was screwed. All in all I had a really great time. I would like to think that the success I had was due to my creativity and preparation, but I think the Charisma added something. It should be interesting to see what happens next week when I have that class again. Charisma = A+ (I meant that as my grade for Charisma, but if I wind up with an A+ that would be great too)

Mmmm! Luxuria is mostly the fruits and some incense from Mme Moriarty. It smells more like aged MM than fresh, and the main difference is that it is missing the patchouli. I haven't put this into a bath yet, as I just got it in the mail, but put a few drops on my hands which sank in immediately. I can see this stuff being the perfect base for those of us who want to slather because we want to smell like BPAL all over, but don't want to go through a 5ml per week. As it continues to sink in it gets even more fruity. Delicious!

Is Pisces reminding anyone of a GC?