Ilex

This is all lemon grass and basil linalool on me. Its like lemon scented air freshener or a lemongrass laundry detergent. Its very sweet smelling. A clean scent but sugary. I can only barely smell the myrrh, but sometimes myrrh is a problem for me- it makes me ill and sneezy. Which is what its doing here. Mandrake from the Garden is one of my very favorite BPALs. I was hoping for more mandrake, a lot more mandrake and hyssop. But nope. I'm only getting the top notes here, and they are going soapy. Going to wash this off now.

Initially, it was a blast of cocoa. No patch. Boo! on that, I wanted a cocoa patch scent. The dry down is the furniture polish smell others are getting. Lemon Pledge. What is up with that? I think there is frankincense in that incense ash, as that sometimes goes cleanser on me. And the hay is not helping, I don't think, as its kind of making the polish sicky sweet smelling. Not getting any black pepper, and where did the cocoa go? Poof! The cocoa was there so briefly and is utterly gone now. If the cocoa had stuck around this might be a keeper, as it'd have rounded out the other notes. And still no patch. This isn't what I was hoping for. I'm going to console myself with a slather of #occupywallstreet now.

Ooh, nice earthy patch. Almost astringent when wet. Having let it mellow, I'm really getting the vanilla as a second note, and the tabacco blends so well with the patch I hardly notice it (which is good, sometimes its a note that will go sicky sweet on me). Weirdly, I don't really smell the cocoa. At all. I shook the bottle up really well before applying, and checked it by holding the bottle up to the light to see if there was cocoa oil at the bottom, but nope. No cocoa. I love it all the same, in spite of the missing cocoa. Its a very straightforward, simple oil that I can wear without odd morphing happening and, best of all, it has the hubby seal of approval. He even can tell its not straight up patch, he smells the vanilla and likes it. This is a rare thing.

LE Quincey Morris has a fantastic pear note. I rather regret trading my bottle away.

Wet its all roses and then on dry down the lychee pipes up. The rose is kind of soapy, very round and not at all a green fresh rose. An older, dignified sort of rose. The lychee is a little syrupy. Honestly, this smells like it would be an excellent hard or gummy candy. I would buy lychee rose candy, no doubt. I do not really know if I want to smell like it, however, on consideration. It goes kind of soapy on me eventually. I'm amazed I got any lychee, usually I amp rose like nothing else so that lychee has a bit o' power.

Vetiver, patchouli, white pepper, and grapefruit. Wow. This is great. Why in the hell did I not try this sooner? I expect if I had the grapefruit might have been around a bit more, it seems to have fled. Vetiver clearly dominates, but its rounded with the hint of pepper (which I can actually smell for a change) and a wee bit of patch. After a while maybe there is a hint of grapefruit... it is hard to pick out for sure though, its almost more of the rind of grapefruit than the fruit. It reminds me a lot of Malediction, which is a favorite.

Oolong tea, lilac, sheer musk, crushed ginger, wisteria, delphinium, and lavender. A very sweet floral, initially super soapy (almost like shampoo), and then just sweet floral with something that's reading like a bland hard candy that has been stuck at the bottom of a purse too long and picked up the generic perfume of tissues, make up and what not. I think that's how the oolong is reading on me- lozenge. I guess its all sugary lilac now, but until reading the notes I'd have said "generic floral" it doesn't smell like a real flower to me. I love oolong tea and was excited about this one, but nope. I need to find someone else to try this one, because I'm really curious how it was supposed to smell... my skin chemistry is just finicky.

I liked this. And my hubby does too, which is a miracle. It is the miracle of patchouli, which can do no wrong on me, though honestly, until I read the notes I wouldn't have guessed it was there. It lends a little earthy quality to the proceedings and does not dominate. Wet: smokey bonfire all right, with some sharpness from the vetiver and some sharp spice. Dry: the vetiver means business and the smoke recede. Darn it, I'd have liked some smoke to stick around. I need a scent locket. Long dry down: did the sweet vague spice routine. I'll wear this, but I will need to carry the imp around to refresh during the day. Or I need to break down and get a scent locket. It reminds me a bit of one of my favorites, Kathmandu. I think it would be drool worthy on a guy, I may have to anoint the hubby while he's asleep to test that out.

I love wood notes. Wood does not seem to love me, however, and often fails to show up. This is no exception. Generic sweet berries with a soapy shampoo over them. It evokes those Strawberry Shortcake dolls of my youth. The teak/ceder eventually poke their heads up a bit to lend a dab of spicy something to the mix, but its very faint. I get no mint or thyme what so ever, though perhaps that's the shampoo smell. All the notes I was looking forward to were completely dominated by sugary plastic-y berries and/or eaten by my skin. Bummer. I like the picture for this one and love mint/thyme so I was really hoping it'd work.

Hm. It sounds like I got something very different from this than other folks. Pink, yes. But floral, and little else. I get peony, yay! And the tuberose rather takes over. There is a light citrus fizz over all, but not enough that I pick out a specific type of citrus. No tonka whatsoever. It is very pink, but a dignified old lady who gives teas sort of pink. Eventually on the dry down it gets candle waxy... boo!

What was I thinking? Honestly... none of these notes work on me (except mandragora- Mandrake is my favorite of the Garden scents). I just keep hoping I'll find a "forest" scent that works. This wasn't it. Fizzy is a good word that others have used and I'll use it too. Fizzy, fizzy sweet tarts. And shampoo. The sweet tarts would be the musk (red, I'll wager) and the shampoo would be the pine. Aaaand its one of those scents that wants to get in my mouth. Its very sunny and almost tolerable, but the whole being able to taste it (shampoo, its not tasty) element is a no-go.

I looove this wet. The vetivert keeps things from getting sicky sweet as they often do on me. The orange is really refreshing orange when I first sniffed it I almost read it as mint, it was sharp and uplifting in the same way. The licorice and other notes keep the vetivert from masculine perfume-y washout. However, when it was on for over 15 minutes, the putty note came out. I don't know what it is, but there is something in a lot of BPAL that goes to play-doh putty on me. I'm starting to wonder if its a carrier oil or something that isn't a note even. Many many blends that I love wet (like Haunted, which this reminds me off, only with oranges) do that. I think it is time for a scent locket. My husband even commented that he liked it, if not for the weird play-doh thing happening. He very rarely likes scent at all, so this is a big deal.

To sum: Herbal Essences Shampoo and Dirt A-yup. That's what it is, from first application to dry down. On the dry down the dirt steps back a bit and I can in fact smell the tomato vines if I really put my nose close to my wrist. The sweet herbally shampoo note dominates the blend the whole time. I kind of like it, in spite of the shampoo associations, but wish it wasn't so soapy on me.

This is "perfume" to my nose, in the sense that none of the notes stick out and it smells... conventional? Like something I'd buy in a nice department store. Sophisticated. Where am I getting citrus from? It definitely has an almost lemony aspect to it. I wish the coriander would come out strong, its why I got a decant of this one, but its too enmeshed. Sneezing. A bunch. Oh, myrrh why do you always do this? I need to wash it off.

Hm. I can't decide if I like this or not. In the imp it smelled like brownie batter. On me... at first, wet it was a bit sour. But it mellowed. Its a rather musky chocolate. The sour still comes up some times, and its keeping me on the fence, if not for that it'd be great. I like it from far away, just wispy rather than smelling my wrist closely. It doesn't have much throw. My husband, who does not like BPAL says its "pretty good." And he further added (!) "Its very warm. A lot of those perfumes you try out are very cold. This is nice and warm."

I love the character Mole. So I got this in spite of the sandalwood problem (sandalwood = powder on my skin). In the imp it was cologne-like. On my skin... I was hoping the patchouli would make things behave. Nope. This is a sweet and soft scent. Maybe like a mole. Maybe more like baby powder. I'm not getting any earth at all, not a bit. Nor patchouli. Just powder. Oh well.

I just started using Aveda's scalp benefits shampoo, and it smells soooo gooood. But I'm not sure what BPAL to pair with it. Its a very vetiver/sage/almost smoky heavy scent and it stays with me. All I can think of is maybe Malediction? Any thoughts peeps? Thanks!

I got this because of the galangal, which I love. I wasn't able to detect the galangal and that was disappointing. What was there- initially very strong nutmeat, almost hazel nut with some spice and undefinable sweetness around it. It was initially pretty good. But then the nutmeat left and the sweetness and "generic perfume" took over. I think the apple is the sweet part, but it doesn't really read as apple, just fresh sweetness. Initially I was struck by how spring-like the scent was, and the only thing keeping it as a fall oriented (and grounded) scent was the nutmeat. Unfortunately, something in the late stages is making me very nauseous and I need to wash it off.

Hmm... in the bottle it was a nice fresh peach, a firm white one, not an over ripe one or a peach jolly rancher. On me, the peach hung around and was joined by ambergris. Ambergris on me is different than on folks, I think. Its not salty, its more like myrrh than anything. Its a lot like the ambergris in Masquerade as far as how it hits the mix. The patch isn't there at all. Which is odd, I wish it was, there isn't anything grounding this so its presence is missed (that, and usually its my savior, everything else might smell a bit off, but never patchoulli). I get no cocoa or honey. But there is something waxy going on, which is really unfortunate as that means we are heading into cheap drugstore candle territory on the far dry down. And some thing that smells like- dust? Oh this is odd. It almost works, but then goes a bit off kilter somehow. I do like the quality of the peach in this, its very authentic. But I don't think I can wear this.

Squirting Cumber and Strangler Fig seemed very fresh to me. Too much so for my tastes, even.

Wet, its just generic men's cologne to my nose. Reminds me of what a lot Greek dudes were wearing when I visited there a couple years ago. On for a little while... sicky sweet. I think I got a whiff of cocoa, but that's crazy given the notes. To sum: very honeyed, mildly waxy, no nutmeg or smoke. And only a bit of leather keeping things interesting. Honey and leather. Not a bad combo per ce, but I don't like smelling so sweet. Ugh, its kinda cloying after 20 minutes and its getting in my mouth somehow. Blechy. Time to wash this off with some alcohol. This is reminiscent of Black Annis somehow to my sensibilities, in the cloying stage. Not sure what's up with that.

Very woody, like a woodshop full of sawdust. Yay! And a sigh of relief that it isn't going sweet or over lemony. But there is a little bit of finish oil or polish in there. Something astringent. I can imagine if the cardamon came out to play this would be magnificent. I'm not catching even a hint of it though. Wear is very close to the skin. I barely pick up on it, and my over sensitive hubby noticed it not at all. If it was stronger on me, with the cardmon note, I think I'd get a bottle. As it is, I like my imp.

Well, hello Rose. Rose rose rose... with a little mint/anise running beside. Its a nice rose. Only goes a bit soapy after an hour. Opium smoke? No. Lilacs? No. Burnt Sugar? Maybe a hint, maybe no. I do like the mint/rose combo, I wish the mint/anise was stronger though. Perhaps I'll throw some absinthe on top of this and see what happens.

All these notes were supposed to work on me! But no. Same ol' story, I guess... Wet, it was nice, a lot like my fave, Maquerade. The patchoulli (my buddy) was keeping everyone else in line. Then, blammo, clove body slammed all the other notes to the floor and stood around shaking its fist in the air for a while. Sadly, this translated into taking an olfactory trip to the craft shop, via stupid sweet plastic candle smell. Wearing it for a while, it mellowed and let the patch peek its head out a bit. Its very like Masquerade on me but I think I like Masq better. Oh, and a weird thing... during the candle phase I went and chopped up some cilantro. Whoa! That was a nice smell combo. Made me want to get my hands on some cilantro single note (should such a thing exist) and try some layering.

Febreeze. The same Febreeze air freshener when it was wet, dry, and a long time dry. Blechy. I don't dig smelling like dryer sheets a bit. Reminds me of Cthulu (yes, Cthulu smells like Febreeze on me too)