outofrhyme

In the bottle: Roses? Really? This smells a lot like Hunger or Snake Oil. Wet: Major powdery amber. Now I smell a little bit of floral. Totally different on the skin than in the imp. Dry down: Warm powder amber. It clings close to the skin. Hint of spice, hint of rose, hint of sweetness. Final thoughts: Eh, it's fine. Given the limited throw, it's nothing special.

In the bottle: BPAL's strong foody notes - especially sugar/candy, though there's something else in there, like a cake smell but less sweet. Wet: Buttery sugar frosting, cake, vanilla, flour, and pastry. I'm surprised at how much I can pick out the flour. Dry down: A very mild cupcake scent. Really - I smell the cake and the buttery frosting. I get the cheese cake, too, but it's less noticeable. This isn't candy-sweet in the least. It's a doughy cakey sweetness, a baked sweetness, like sniffing a cool yellow cake (the cake part, not the frosting). The foody/sweetness is very controlled. Final thoughts: This one is impressive -- I understand why the lab resurrected it. Yummm. My favorite thing about this one is the balance between vanilla and sweetness. Most definitely a keeper.

In the bottle: Oh my yum. Musk, sandalwood, white tea... something vaguely akin to lotus, which I guess is the black locust flower... just a slight hint of ginger, something gummy... Definitely has an oriental vibe. Delicate and wispy. Wet: Hello, ginger. Not really strong, mind you, but enough to be more identifiable. Beautiful, slightly sweet, still very delicate. PLEASE don't morph bad on me. Dry down: Still drying, but also still doing fine. A gorgeous, creamy, light, delicate, slightly fruity, slightly spicy, slightly floral blend. Final thoughts: My first thought is that this exactly lived up to my expectations from the lab description, and I think I'm glad that I snagged a bottle.

CT4: DCXXXVI (636) So, I've taken a pretty long break from BPAL, and I probably should have tried reviewing something easier than a Chaos Theory scent for my comeback This is particularly rough because as far as I can tell, this bottle is comprised of notes I just don't wear, so I don't have a good idea of what's going on. In the bottle: Burnt plastic. Okay, that's really not fair. A more honest attempt... something really herbal (vetiver?), maybe some DBR or other resins. I think there's amber(?) and musk, and maybe a hint of cream. There's something in here that's really familiar, but I can't place it at all, and it's driving me nuts. Oil appears to be a light yellow, but with the dark bottle it's hard to tell (I'm basing this off using a white Qtip stick to apply). Wet: Herbs and more herbs. And yeah, I'm pretty sure there's some DBR. I don't smell the other notes anymore, but something is softening/sweetening the blend here -- maybe a floral, but it's light and I don't have a clue what it is. It's a warm scent with a bit of bitterness. This is not what I wear, and it's making me feel a little queasy Dry down: If I fan the scent towards my nose, rather than putting my nose against my skin, I get: resins with a touch of herbs and maybe fruit -- almost smells like bubble gum, though I really can't explain why -- and I still think there's a touch of cream or something a little bit sweet, but it doesn't smell like a floral now. This keeps getting sweeter and sweeter on me (BPAL blends usually do), and the fruity note reminds me a bit of the sugary plummy note in Baneberry or Frumious Bandersnatch. Final Thoughts: My original gut instinct was that this blend is utterly not for me. I hate it much less now, though. I'll think about it a little more, but I'll probably go for swaps.

In the bottle: Lilac, lemon, green tea, and some prominent notes that I can't identify - probably the wisteria or osmanthus. Wet: Lemon green tea and some florals, especially lilac. Dry down: Surprising amount of musk comes out on me. I think this is mostly musk and osmanthus. The lemon and green tea are still there faintly. A hint of cedar comes out as more time passes. Final thoughts: I'll give it another try, but I'm not sure about this one.

In the bottle: Orange for sure. Vaguely reminds me of Hunger. Wet: WHOA. Serious citrus and something dissonant. Wet stage doesn't work so well on me. Smells vaguely like Pez candy. Dry down: A lovely citrusy, gingery/spicy mix. I think there might be some mild florals in here? Final thoughts: I like this. My boy insists it smells like a urinal cake. Well, urinal cakes must smell very nice. (I assume he's associating the citrus with bathroom cleaning products, but I'm really not making that association, personally.) It has very little staying power on me, though - even when slathered on, it's barely detectable within a few hours.

In the bottle: Patchouli and woods jump out... and then some quiet foody notes, especially the brown sugar. Yum. Wet: Oh god. Yum. Yum. Yum. I don't want to take my nose off my wrist. Utterly delicious woods. This is woody to an extreme. Very dry - almost like sawdust, but not that dry. Maybe cedar, maybe sandalwood, maybe pine - the pine boards you would buy in a home improvement store, NOT living tree pine. There is no living tree in this at all. Sawdust. Still a hint of patchouli, but the food notes seem to have backed off somewhat. Dry down: The same sawdusty wood and patchouli, with faintest hint of the sweet foody notes and maybe the slightest waft of the apricot - barely there, or maybe I'm just imagining it. Final thoughts: This is really nice. I realize that "sawdust" might not *sound* nice, but, yum. It's very pretty with the patchouli. I only wish the foody notes came out just a little more. Perhaps with age? I wish I'd gotten a bottle instead of a half-imp

In the bottle: Intimidating! Juicy and scary. Wet: Less intimidating. Juicy/fruity with a hint of pepper/spice. Even the white tea is somehow juicy here. Dry down: This ended up being REALLY fruity. The pepper worked well with it. Final thoughts: Maybe I overapplied, but this was just a little much for me. I'll try it again in the future in smaller doses.

In the bottle: Greens, florals, some weird sharp acrid notes. Wet: GREEN PLANTS and something cool. Florals are also sorta there, I get the lilac especially. I seriously smell like the grass in a garden. Dry down: Still too green. With that slighly unpleasant acrid planty-ness. Hints of delightful notes, but they just won't come out. I mean, they creep out a little - sugar, rose, lilac - but not quite enough. Ends up very musky on me, for some reason. Final thoughts: Not for me There were a lot of promising notes in the bottle, but it just doesn't work with my chemistry. It would be gorgeous with the right chemistry. On me, it reminds me a lot of Crossroads... I bet this would work well for someone that also liked Crossroads.

In the bottle: Dark and delicious - definitely can smell the sharp pine twang, with berry, wood and... yes, tomato leaf, weirdly enough. Wet: I can tell right now that I'm going to want to put this on the boy and that he's going to resist Pine strikes me as being very masculine in certain scents, and this is no exception. Cedar with a pine twang, traces of other berry and green. This reminds me of a big black dog in a forest... but I couldn't tell you why... but I swear that it has nothing to do with the product description. I didn't even read the lit part until right now, after typing that it reminded me of a dog. Dry down: The pine seriously backed off - this is no longer masculine enough to make me nervous about wearing it myself. The cedar and berry is gorgeous, and it does invoke "Christmas-y." I actually think I like it better than any of my actual Christmas scents! Anyhow, berry and cedar definitely predominate, the pine is there residually, and the tomato leaf still lingers, dead on as tomato leaf but also incredibly subtle. Final thoughts: This is absolutely gorgeous. A scent like this reminds me of a cabin in the woods in winter. Well actually that image scares me, so how about, a winter resort A scent like this almost makes me regret moving somewhere without any snow, and reminds me that someday, I'm going to want to move back to a region with more seasons. Stunning as this is, it's definitely not an everyday scent for me at this time of year, but I will gladly hold onto the imp in anticipation of colder fall/winter days.

In the bottle: Confusing. Plums, berry, sweet decay. Wet: Still very confusing. Fruity, some opium smoke, some florals... still that sweet decay note. Dry down: The icky sweet decay note went away, thankfully! Fruity, floral, and a little diabolical. I'm surprised at how plummy/berry this is. The hazy smoke note is just barely there and the florals are very light. I can barely pick out the rose, lilac and gardenia, and would never guess them without looking at a note list. Final thoughts: A very dark, mature scent.

In the bottle: Freshly washed, super clean laundry. Wet: I think I like it a little bit better in the bottle, but I also think I may have overapplied. Still a very clean laundry scent. This is not just linen - it's got floral soaps in there, too, but it's not SOAPY. Hard to describe. Dry down: Still very clean. There's no other good way to describe this. It doesn't smell like soap, it smells like something soap should be scented with. Final thoughts: I have to admit that I was initially scared of this when I first smelled it in the bottle, but I'm studying tonight for exams tomorrow and somehow this is just the perfect refreshing blend. Clean and confident. I bet this would make a fantastic professional scent.

In the bottle: Exotic tea and spicy carnation. Wet: Utterly intoxicating. I can pick out the white tea, carnation and rose because I know it's there... but they blend together beautifully and I wouldn't have been able to separate them without the list. It's just one of those "good all over" scents, like Queen Mab. I can tell *right now* that this is gonna be a favorite - I just moved it to my "keep" box before it's even dried down. Dry down: Not quite as nice as wet, but I may have overapplied. Powdery, mildly exotic. Definitely zingy white tea, spicy carnation, and soft rose. Final thoughts: This is nice - different from what I was expecting, but I like it.

In the bottle: Sharp lilies... and grass? Wet: Still lilies and grass, maybe some chrysanthemum. Dry down: Sorta nice, sorta sharp. Gets better the longer it's on. I can pick out the lilies and the carnation for sure, and I think the other two as well. Powdery on me. Final thoughts: It's a nice, muted, grown-up floral on me, but probably not my favorite floral. Might be good for something professional, though.

In the bottle: I understand why people say "soapy" ... but it's not a soap soap. I can't explain it. Maybe it just smells clean? No, it's a little sudsy... it's just not SoftSoap or anything. Wet: Still has that vague soapyness, but again, NOT hand soap. It's nice. Perfume that smelled like hand soap would not be nice. I can't for the life of me say what's in it, though... maybe some kind of ozone? I think the soapyness might be aquatics of some kind, since it reminds me a little bit of a rain scent, only without the rain. Descriptive, I know Dry down: A little tamer, but much the same. Vague aquatics, incredibly fresh... but not in a "I'm walking in a garden, achoo!" way. A much subtler, cleaner freshness. Final thoughts: This strikes me as an incredibly well-crafted blend. I really like it... though it is not AT ALL what I was expecting from the description.

Old Nick, the Devil himself, as seen through the eyes of Victorian New England. A jaunty, dapper scent, deceptively genteel: a lavender fougere with tonka, amber, rosewood and a whiff of diabolical patchouli. In the bottle: Pine and lavender. Wet: Whew. Lavender, but also... something... it's SO FAMILIAR. ....OH. Those Clorox wipe things. I swear, this smells EXACTLY like Clorox wipes on me, with a hint of lavender. Dry down: Clorox is still there, but it's going away. THANK YOU. I'm now getting lavender, tonka, little hints of everything else. On the boy: This will be vague, because I threw some on him yesterday. He does beautiful things to the lavender fougere in Villain, so I thought this might be the same. And in the end, it sorta was. But for the first several hours, it was very floral and girly on him. Very nice man-spice at the end, though. Final thoughts: I have no idea why this smells so bizarre on me and so normal on the boy. I wish that it would smell on me the way that it smelled on the boy at first, before it turned all manly on him! I think maybe I'm just having weird chemistry (because, come on, Clorox wipes?), so I'll try this again later.

Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen. In the bottle: Pepper, honey, vanilla, linen... not really the greatest combination, particularly with the linen. Wet: The pepper is still a little bit strange, and I don't think I like the linen (it's making this very acrid and plastic somehow), but it's better than in the bottle. The ginger is coming out a bit. Dry down: The linen and pepper have toned down and this is MUCH more wearable. Linen, pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla... but no tea Final thoughts: I'm a ginger fan, so this is definitely okay, and I like it a lot more than I did originally. Having said this, though, I must admit that I would like it a MILLION times better if the black tea came out even a little bit. Oh well. Damn chemistry. ETA description.

In the bottle: I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't think this is it. Cider, yes, and foody treacle. It's somehow very amorphous, high-hitting. I think I could get the posies too, and a little bit of carnation spice. It's extremely different from Alice. Wet: Treacle, cider and wine. Eh. Maybe some posies. Dry down: Softer - the white amber has come out. Some floral powder with a little bit of foody notes. Left wrist - serious yummmy treacle on top of the floral powder. Final thoughts: I liked this better when I first tried it the other night. Actually... it's because my left wrist amps the treacle and smells really good (I tried it on my left originally), while my right wrist is blah. Very very strange. I still really like the amped version, but the blah version might limit its wearability. Edited to fix a weird error that duplicated the content of my post.

In the bottle: Sweet orange with some floral and fruit. Wet: Heady fruit and floral. It's a distinctive and odd combination, somehow. I don't think I like it... and yet I keep wanting to sniff it... Dry down: It's improving. Honey, rose, fruit... all the notes except the frankincense and myrrh Actually, I can maybe barely pick up the frankincense. It's very distinctive and well-blended, hard to pick out anything other than "sweet" and "floral" and "essence of fruit" (it's definitely not an artificial bright fruity flavor, more like a room with some peeled fruit in it). Final thoughts: I really can't decide what I think of this! Is it sensual? Maaaaaybe... but not in the way I'd usually think. Is it sophisticated? Surprisingly, yes. I find myself wishing the honey were stronger, but at the same time, I think stronger honey would be repulsive. It's nice, but I'm going to reserve my final judgment for awhile.

In the bottle: Very chewy. Sage, rosemary and lemon balm predominate. Wet: Lemonheads? I'm not necessarily a big fan of lemon in scents, but this is okay. Sweetly spiced creamy lemon with some woody notes - clearly sandalwood, I'm not sure about the bark. Dry down: WOODS. Spicy creamy lemony woods. I can pick out the myrrh, but it's a resinous incense, very subtle. Final thoughts: This is very pretty and well-blended. I love that the lemon is creamy and understated - lemon can often have too much "zing." I really like it, but it's not quite a "me" scent. Maybe the kind of thing I'd wear on occasion. Also, it's been a long time since I've worn Gamaliel, but I think that these scents may be somewhat similar.

Yet another scent that was waiting for spring! In the bottle: First thing that hits me is the sweet pea, and then the lily/florals, and then the hint of pear. Wet: Whew. FLORALS. Tasty sweet pea sweetened by the musk. Lots and lots of florals. I think I overapplied this. Dry down: I forgot to finish this, so it's been a while since I put this on (more than an hour). Mostly I smell sweet pea, though there are hints of other florals. I can smell the pear if I *really* try, but I'd never pick it out on my own. Throw has become nearly nonexistent. This definitely isn't "powdery" at all, but it reminds me of powder, if that makes any sense. It might be the other florals. Final thoughts: It's feminine without being sweet, it's light, it's classy. I wish it had better throw. Not sure how much I'd wear it, but glad I tried it, and I'll keep it for awhile.

In the bottle: A sharper floral and... peach? The sharp floral might be jasmine. Wet: The same floral as above, only more filled out... it might be jasmine, it might be something else, like lily... or ylang ylang? I have no idea what ylang ylang smells like. It's got a pollen-ness to it, as well as some green/herbs. I still think there's something a little fruity/peachy behind it, but it's mostly hidden. Dry down: It's now a more subtle floral. Hard to pick out which flowers are in there, but probably jasmine, and maybe ylang ylang (I really have no idea what it smells like). I think there might be myrrh. A vaguely tropical feel. Very springy. Final thoughts: It's a nice, bright, cheerful spring scent.

I've been eagerly waiting for a sunny day to try this... yay, warmer weather! In the bottle: Some kind of pine bubble gum. Which sounds nasty, but I actually really like it. Floral too, obviously. Wet: Ooh. Dark, dark pine and lotus. It's not an oppressive sticky pine - it's a hint of spicy color. It's very, very deep. Amber and rose otto are barely there, adding color. The rose otto with the lotus might be what's giving me the "bubble gum" impression. Dry down: Sweet, dark, a little powdery. The rose otto has come out with the pine and is doing beautiful things with the lotus. The pine is just spice at this point. Final thoughts: This is really pretty. It's floral, but it's definitely not a soft girly la la la floral. It's mature, deep and complicated. Very sensual - but not overtly sexual. A real winner - I'm so happy I got to try this.

The crisp, clean scent of green tea touched with lemon verbena and honeysuckle. In the bottle: Lemon and green tea. Reminds me of F5... Wet: Ooh. I was scared a little at the F5ness, but the honeysuckle is doing something really interesting, or at least, I think it's the honeysuckle... Lemon verbana and a muted floral over green tea. Dry down: This is going to sound really strange, but I swear that there's something in here that reminds me of milk scents, like Sudha Segara or something. Maybe the lemon/green tea smells gingery to me? Anyhow, I'm getting something creamy and light, with a true tea note in there - it's not as plastic as some of the other BPAL tea blends, but more like a leaf... not as astringent/potent as a real leaf, though. A slightly earthy leaf, which I think gets its feel from the honeysuckle. The lemon verbana has almost disappeared, which is fine by me. Final thoughts: When I first smelled this as F5 and WHOA LEMON, I thought I was going to hate it. I was pretty wrong about that - I do really like the dry phase, which is more toned down and more "tea." It reminds me of a cup of green tea with a lemon in it, somewhere outside. I understand why people feel that this is a summery blend, and I think it would be more appropriate without all the snow I'm looking at through my window, but it makes me feel a little brighter ETA description

In the bottle: Pow! A very wet, green ginger, with some herby lemony stuff, and a baking scent. Wet: Gingerbread with a hint of something lemony? I can't shake the "cooked" feeling. Dry down: Most of the lemon went away, but it's just a little plasticky. Other than that, it's pretty much herby ginger, fresh and twisted. Final thoughts: I'm not sure what I think of this. I think I would like it better without the lemon herbs. I'll try everyone's advice and age it for awhile.