cuervosueno

I picked this out at random to try just before bed, oracle-like, as I sniffed a few bottles without reading labels and chose this simply on the scent of the pomegranate. And it turned out to be oracle-like in terms of meaning for me as well: The Fortune That Changes Bad Luck to Good, Intervention in Times of Need. A hymn for blessings. Yes, I need that now. I smelled the pom right away, but because it is a little sweeter than some of the other poms I like, I thought for a moment it was grape, though I corrected myself even before I read the notes. I think the other notes do make it turn to an almost cocktail like scent, as noted by Ms. Z_z above. And certainly as it wore on it seemed to get more....clear for lack of a better word and the notes blending together even further become more like a cocktail, kind of the way a cosmo looks shining in the light of a nice dim bar, know what I mean? It feels...lucky! Glad I got to try it!

I'm going to agree too--a tobacco scent (pipe tobacco) with a hint of jasmine, that at least in the early stages is just a hint to sweeten things a bit. I have some trouble with BPAL tobacco blends (which is too bad, because tobacco notes are one of my faves for perfume). I like the pipe tobacco blends, but some, like the french tobacco, are awful on me and smell like cologne rather than tobacco. This one doesn't do that, so I do get to enjoy the tobacco (which reminds me of the kind of pipe tobacco note that sometimes shows up in Yule blends). I'm wary of the jasmine, though I like it, because the slightly soapy edge is creeping in there now. And thanks to ZZ for sharing empties with me so I can sample these Fortuna blends!

Wow, this one is so not me I'm not sure I'll even be able to skin test. I do like lavender, but in this case it is overwhelming and the champaca and jasmine combine to heady sweet but also a bit funky (no doubt the jasmine, which I usually like). Together it is just a mass of over-the-top floral for me--I can't quite bear to put it on. Thanks to ZZ for sending me empties to sniff, but I think this one will not end up on me!

Wow, hello, cedar! You know how sometimes we say cedar might go pencil shavings or wooden box? That's how this cedar is (which I don't mind). It remind me of walking into an herb shop or health food shop that sells a lot of herbs. Woody as if someone opened a cedar chest, but also with herbs drying in the background.

Creamsicles with a bit of strawberry. I could see it being good for a child, and it is a happy scent. I like the creamsicle part (vanilla and orange) but the strawberry makes me not want to skin test this, because I don't like strawberry scents. (And thanks to ZZ for sending on some empties so I can try these scents out!)

Odd. I swore I could smell cardamom in Apple VI even though it isn't listed, but I don't get it in this one at all. On me, and in the bottle, it's apple and something sweetening it up, but I agree with Violet Chaos that is more spiced cider (lightly spiced!) than it is cake. Would have liked a little cake, but don't get that myself. And no cardamom, sadly. eta: after about an hour it sweetens up more on me, but it is, oddly, a slightly floral sweetness, rather than cake sweetness. I wonder if this would smell more cakelike on someone else? I'm usually fine with apple scents, but this one is turning a little odd on me for some reason!

Oh, I like this one! In the bottle and on me, it smells like a sweet, lightly spiced chai. I know the apple is in there, but it doesn't come out very heavily: instead, I get a creamy, sweet, and lightly spiced scent (more cardamom to me than cinnamon, but who knows if there are even spices in there?) that is quite dreamy and lovely. I expect the marshmallow and cane sugar are adding to the "chai" feel to me, but regardless, this one is really nice!

My take on sniffing this from the bottle is very similar to Zankoku_zen's take on this. Floral, perfumey, and as this is apple blossom rather than apple, it has a certain glittering aspect that is interesting. Unfortunately, it's also just a bit harsh on me--almost floral scented cleaner. Well, oud doesn't always play well with me, and florals are iffy too, except for a rare few.

My first sniff: now that's interesting! And then "but I don't think I'd wear it." I did not read the notes ahead of time, so I'm sniffing all of these blind, and I thought, I really don't get the apple in this, but something else is super familiar. Ah yes, the champagne note. I love to drink champagne, but am not a fan of it as a scent, so YMMV. For me, this is heavy on the champagne note, so much so that the apple is almost not there, and a bit a brown gingery note that reminds me more of dried ginger (baking spice) rather than fresh. Champagne and gingerbread almost! Not my thing, but if you like champagne notes, try it!

I read this one as an aquatic apple, which is, no doubt, the cucumber in it. I can see the pear comparisons--somehow, mixed with the florals (which blend to simply a "floral" scent for me), the apple becomes more pear like. Reminds me slightly of green apple jolly roger candies!

I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the purpose of examination. A crackling fireplace, pipe smoke, fir needles, and a flutter of snow. Wow, I'm first! Anyway, to the review! I love fir and evergreen notes, and the lab's snow note, and also am a huge fan of tobacco. There's not a note I don't like in this, so I was sure I would love it! Unfortunately, that doesn't always guarantee a good fit. In the bottle, there I get the fir right away, but the overall impression I get from the bottle is masculine--it reminds me of a men's cologne. A good one, of course, and one with fir, but it has that men's cologne vibe that I wasn't looking for. When I get it on the skin, I do get the flutter of snow, too, which is the lab's snow note, which I find magical. But it's still a bit overwhelmed by whatever is causing the "cologne" impression. There is something slightly sweet in it too--and I'm not sure what that is. I don't get pipe smoke per se, but perhaps that is what is sweetening it up a bit? I don't get a smoke note at all--not from tobacco smoke or from the fireplace, which is sad, because I was hoping for tobacco and a bit of smoke. In the end, this smells like a classy men's cologne--a bit aquatic, a bit sweet. It doesn't morph much on me at all. Though the fir is there, it certainly doesn't make me think of a Christmas tree or candle or anything like that. I imagine it would be lovely as a good "date night" scent for someone who loved those kind of sophisticated classic men's colognes. That is not me, alas, so I probably won't keep the bottle.

I like this quite a bit too. I tend to like simpler blends where I can pick out the individual notes, and while I generally go for wood or resin scents, there are a couple of fruits I like, such as pom and fig. I saw some reviews on a FB group which said this smelled like Banshee Beat, and thought, oh, no, not what I was looking for AT ALL. (I may be in the minority here but I do not like BB). But I didn't need to worry. This is exactly what I wanted. Pom heavy for sure, which makes it feel red and round. The patch comes off as woody rather than head shop/hippie patch (I love most forms of patchouli, but this one is doesn't scream "I'm wearing patchouli!" as some do). The pom doesn't really fade on me, but the sweet fig does come out a bit as it dries down. I don't get the frankincense at all (something I also love), but that's ok. This is a rich pom blend deepened with the woodiness of the patchouli, and it's really beautiful. I'm so glad I got it!

I ended up swapping another hair gloss that didn't work on for me this, and SO glad I did! I like Vixen, the perfume, but don't wear it a lot--even for a neroli lover like me, it can be a bit much, as my skin amps the neroli. However, this is softer, with a little more patch and ginger and a kinder, gentler orange blossom. Interestingly, the hair gloss goes very vanilla on me--soft and sweet, which is just lovely. I really, really like it! So much so that on occasion I have put a bit more in my hair than I should have! Ooops! And most of the hair glosses do not last long on my hair at all. (Granted, my fine hair can only take a few spritzes). But this one really does linger on me, which is also nice. Vixen HG for the win!

I like this a lot. I love vetiver and fig, so it was a no-brainer to try. It starts out with a lovely vetiver, smoky and quite strong and powerful (almost can't smell the fig at all), so people who do not like vetiver will not like this. But one think I know about vetiver EO is that it has a heart of sweetness: if you can get through the smoky dryness, there is something very sweet in the center like green grass at the heart of the dried grass. Because of the fig, that is what this reminds me of when wet: the secret heart of the vetiver showing itself, shyly. For awhile, it is all sweet vetiver, but eventually that strong--Mars like?--not fades and the fig takes center stage. It does seem like dark, dried figs, rather than green figs, but I'm speculating on this some because I'm not terribly familiar with what real figs smell like. Anyway, it is now sweet and figgy and lovely, and I'm just crazy about it. It reminds me a bit of The Grave Pig, which also has a fig note, and I'm going to compare them later. I'm a sucker for simpler scents, like a lot of the older BPAL blends. I like to be able to pick out the individual notes, and often to me there is a great deal of complexity in a single note, and I enjoy being able to smell that. This perfume is right up my alley because of that--I can enjoy the changes in the vetiver and the fig as the scent wears, and I get a lot of the complexity of the vetiver in this blend. I will probably get a bottle of this!

I love a lot of the notes in this: tobacco, amber, especially nutmeg, benzoin, so I wanted to try it. I'm usually actually not a fan of BPAL tobacco (I really did NOT like French Tobacco sn), so I decided to go with a decant just in case. I do get a similar tobacco to the tobacco sn, which is not to my taste. there was something almost cologne like about it (rather than the straight humidor scent I like in a tobacco note), and I do get that scent in this when it is wet. In fact, wet, I just went....what? It smelled almost fruity/floral, probably from the cistus, which I had to look up, and when I realized it was rockrose I thought that might be what I'm getting--something slightly floral. I also got vanilla and a carmelized scent but no nutmeg, which is sad, because it is an all time favorite of mine. No benzoin either, which I also love. Anyway, I was unimpressed overall: it was a nice cologne like scent, and yes, I agree with Lunasariel, almost clean/soapy (it never went soapy on me, but verged on it). Fine: one less bottle I need. But then about an hour later, I thought what is that lovely scent? It was not Mars Alator, though I like that even more than this. No, it was this! It had changed! I like it much more now. Now it is a lovely vanilla-esque amber, with something caramel in there. Overall, it turned to a rather sophisticated semi-sweet scent, with perhaps a hint of tobacco. It is lovely.