Ilex

This is, as many have said, a lovely spicey floral. It is named very aptly. The scent of it evokes decadent desert palaces and pleasure barges and so forth. But unfortunately... There is a note in many BPAL scents that I have come to call the "bathroom note" and its there, lurking in the mix. Its a bathroom cleanser smell, its civety and harsh. Bengal was also ruined by this note, as was Nephilim (and that list could go on). I think this must be what musk turns into for me, and musk type things are frequently the carrier oils that the main notes are sitting in. At least that's my working hypothosis as of now. So fiddle, its so pretty, if not for the funky cleanser business. I wish I could wear it.

I love warm woods and spice smells, especially nutmeg. Hence I was horrified by Hamadryad, which seems to be nothing but menthol and eucalyptus. It reminded me of the odor of my grandmother- ben-gay over powder. The floral popped out a bit more as I wore it, but it was basically awful. My husband couldn't believe the name, he exclaimed "Hamadryad!? No way!" And I have to concur. It has staying power; I'll give it that, as it stuck around for hours even after I tried scrubbing it off.

In the bottle/wet this smells like Pert shampoo. It mellows out a bit though, on the dry down, becoming something fruitier and sweeter, maybe some grapefruit in there? kiwi? Hmm... Its not as strongly pine as I thought it would be. This is like Loup Garou's elderly maiden aunt. It was mellowing and rounding out nicely, the sweet/piney smells were playing with one another in a quite dynamic and interesting way and then poof! Nary half an hour after I put it on its gone. Oh well, I think Loup Garou suits me better anyway and that one sticks around a bit more tenaciously. I'd probably dig Slobbering Pine more if not for the Pert shampoo associations.

This is very floral to me, in the bottle and after. I never caught the rosemary note at all, and the grape was subsumed to the orange flower. It reminds me of walking into an orangery, but with less humidity. Its a very airy scent. The first time I wore it there was a soapy dry down, which was sad. But the second time it didn't do that. Which is nice. Bess definitely has old world, old-fashioned quality. On the rare occasions I have a hankering for a floral scent, I could see wearing this to work, its not overpowering.

Wet, Chimera was really ripe smelling, very rich. It was really good for about 30 seconds... then that went poof. Suddenly it became a cheap, drugstore vanilla candle scent. I'm starting to think that the cinnamon of BPAL isn't going work for me. This had a huge throw, and strong staying power. It also gave me a very bad head ache, unfortunately.

Given the elements in Nephilim, I should adore it. The only thing I thought I might object to is the veviter. And, as it turns out, that note did sink the boat. At first sniff, ooooh so yummy herby, lovely green. Then it goes to civety cat smell. Which I've been having trouble with in BPAL blends as it means that it evokes bathroom cleaner on me. The hubby says: "Its bathroom scent. Hip bathroom scent, but still bathroom scent. I kinda like it... but..." I can see what he means, it has a funky undertone (I think the veviter doing this) which is sorta camp bathroomesque. Then, on the final leg of the dry down, I travel from the camp bathroom to the camp gift store. Cheap ol' christmas candle again! Aargh. Still, it was so promising, I like it in some respects. Sigh.

Strange and sweet, I couldn't pick out any notes on their own at first. It really goes up and down in intensity and changes a lot while I wear it, which is appropriate for Kali, I think. I once got a pleasant chocolate smell before it went poof, but only once. I thought this was okay, if fantastically short lived. My picky husband said he didn't like it a bit.

Well, just to be a broken record, it does smell like chai. Specifically, the Celestial Seasonings chai, in the box with the Bengal tiger on it. Not my favorite chai to drink, but it smells good. I was enjoying this one fairly well until my hubby came in and announced, "That perfume smells like urinal cakes." Catching my expression he added, "Sorry, but its true." I think its the musk note that's making it evoke bathrooms for him. And once he mentioned it, I noticed the "cleanser" note too. Throw = fairly strong Staying power = not so hot, it got faint within an hour I liked this layered with Mandrake, and that made it okay with the hubby too.

There really is no reason I shouldn't have eaten this up, so to speak, all the notes in it are favorites of mine... however, it was not to be. Initially, it was lemony. This quickly changed to soapy, and a cheap hotel soap at that. It fades pretty fast too. It wasn't exactly bad, just boring. And certainly not what I was hoping for, I couldn't even smell the sandalwood. It needs a bottom note that wasn't there, it was a very flat scent. My kitties had some fun sniffing around my wrist, and normally they don't like perfumes. They love lemon grass and will destroy it any time I try and grow it in the house, so I think that's the cause of their ardor.

A freebie! How did they know I was hankering for something woody? Thanks, lab folks. Very cedar, I concur with the other reviews on that score. But it is a very well rounded cedar, though it seems like a "mono-note" at first, that is a bit deceptive. When I compared it to a bottle of just cedar oil I was struck by how full and robust the Mandrake was. There is some cinnamon and coconut in there somewhere, I think. It didn't change at all on the dry down or throughout the day, which is a nice quality. Eventually it went a little cinnamon, which was fine. You know what you are getting with this scent. I love this and am getting a big bottle. Its good for mixing with other scents, too. I tried layering it with Bengal, and that was veeery nice. I want to get an oil burner to try it out as a room scent, too.

Umm... what the heck is going on here? This is like opening a door while expecting a Doberman only to reveal a Chihuahua. So very strange, its so red, it has only spicy notes in it, everyone seems to be saying spicy, but then why am I getting lilac? Lilac, and eventually the spice pokes up a bit, but only a bit. I guess I'm one of those people for whom Dragon's Blood smells of lilac on the skin. The hubby declares it "Very pink” which is actually high praise from him, given his reaction to other scents, and floral smelling scents especially. This isn't Wrath on me, its more like a Tinkerbell (not an actual BPAL scent to my knowledge - just the idea). The throw is powerful, and it lasted forever on me, I took a shower the day after I applied it and I could still smell it. Rather amazing.