dronzeka

In the bottle: a whole bunch of stuff I can't immediately identify. On, initially: Mmmmmmm! I knew people had said that this smelled like the old Milk Moon with grapes, and I wasn't sure what that would be like, but I like it. I definitely get that creamy milk note, one which on me makes me think of basmati rice pudding or coconut milk. There are also lots of sweet grape-y fruits here - rich sweet fruits, not bright tropical ones or cold-climate apples and pears. At first, there is lots and lots of grape, but as it dries, I also get fig (yum!), and a slight tartness from the pomegranate, and then I think maybe a teeny bit of honey is lurking behind. Will have to see what it does on drydown... I will say that it's a little olifactorily confusing to wear this, because the milk note triggers my old Milk Moon scent memory, and the additional fruit here is a little bit startling. I go back and forth between thinking "GORGEOUS!!!" and thinking that the notes are a little discordant. But still waiting for final drydown... Later: this is really similar to the old version, but with a lovely fruity sweetness to it. Sadly, I'm not really getting any honey from this. It does still confuse me to smell the milk note, because I associate it with the very-slightly-coconutty, slightly-minty scent of the old Milk Moon, but of course here it's fruity and different. But since I love the old Milk Moon, the similarity makes me really happy! I'm really liking this!

Hmm. In the bottle, I smell mostly wood of some variety, and caramel/butterscotch. Neither are especially great on me, but what the hell... On: Initially there is a lovely whiff of apricot, but it's rapidly swallowed up by the patchouli, which initially really dominates. I'm iffy about patchouli, so I'm still very much on the fence about Ventriloquist Dummy (which I want to abbreviate as VD but that just feels so very wrong...). Okay, as this dries the patchouli's calming down a bit, and I get a little bit more caramel, as well as possibly cedar. Hmmm. Yup, cedar... Actually, you know, requieminblack's review at the opening of this thread pretty much sums up my own experience. VD does seem fairly masculine (which isn't what I usually associate with caramel! but of course, this is BPAL, so anything goes), and it does fade a bit. It's funny, cedar isn't usually that good on me, but there's something about the patchouli that's redeeming it, and usually hazelnut and caramel are horrible, but they're not here. It's not horrible (what a ringing endorsement, sorry!). Actually, it's really interesting and I think quite well done, and like someone earlier said, it does remind me of Tiresias, in the way it feels on me (even though there's no tobacco note). It's not even that it's misbehaving on me, I think it works, but it's not really a me scent - I'm not much for woods/patchouli (and yet, I bought the bottle anyway. Gotta love addiction!). Anyway, while I think I was hoping for more "savage" apricots to make this a fruity-sweet wood scent, like Tramp says, it does make sense that a ventriloquist's dummy would smell like wood! If you are a cedar/patchouli fan, don't let the sweet notes in this scare you off -they just add a kind of complexity or depth, and aren't at all overwhelming. I don't think it's for me, but it is a fascinating and wonderfully balanced scent.

Damn, now I REALLY wish I were able to go to Will Call! (ETA: I should probably clarify that my post was really in response to Sue Donym's awesome description, but you know, Puddin in a boa, that would work too. )

Add me to the Bien Loin d'Ici lovers! I'm crap at IDing notes, especially these notes, but it's wonderfully sweet and spicy without being at all foody or floral. For me, it deepens a little as it wears. I do NOT get the kind of fake hazelnutty caramel ick that ruined Gluttony and Misk U for me - in fact, I don't get a lot of caramel at all; perhaps in the first sniff from the imp, but on me it's primarily spicy incense and what I presume is red musk - rich without being heavy. It lasts really well - I tested it out a few hours before I went out for some exercise, and kept lifting my wrist to my nose so I could check it out while I sweated! It's a very sophisticated scent, and makes me think a little of Mama-ji - for me, Mama-ji was too far outside my usual light/fresh/citrus/floral range, but this is still different and exotic (for me), without being over the top.

Love love LOVE this scent. Hmmm, that's not a very helpful review, is it? Let me try again. There's a rich fruitiness, a kind of nice ruby color, that's sweet without being sickly or foody, softened by the lovely golden powderiness of amber. The amber keeps the fruit from being over the top, and the fruit makes the amber lovely and juicy. These are lovely dark autumnal fruits, rather than the light and bouncy tropical kind. (Of course, it turns out that I love these rich red fruity scents - I recently discovered I adore the Hanging Gardens, too.) It doesn't morph very much on me, and lasts really well, too. Yummmmm....

This is so wonderfully beautiful, it's reassuring just by scent alone. I agree with all the other reviews that describe this as lavender and clove, but it all melds together into something incredibly warm, soft, and soothing. I really need this today - I have a ton of work to do that I've been putting off (which always makes tackling it that much harder), and I woke up feeling kind of panicky about an upcoming review at work, which makes me just want to hide on the internet and not do anything. I'm not very practiced with formal rituals, so I've anointed myself, including the back of my hands (I'm on the computer so much that anything on my wrists just rubs off on the keyboard rest - though my computer smells nice!), and when I feel a bit panicky, I sniff the back of my hand. It makes for a lovely calming, grounding moment. We'll see how well it helps me function over the rest of the day, but I already love this so much I had to come here and post about it. I think I may have to add to my credit card debt and buy a bottle!

Oh dear.... In the bottle, and wet, this is just BEAUTIFUL. Fresh, sweet, spicy-floral, bright. A kind of creamy pink. I love it - LOVE it. And then it dries down into something sort of odd and musty. I keep sniffing it, wondering where my lovely fresh wonderful floral has gone, and it's just - meh. Stupid skin chemistry. This will be SO pretty - on someone else! (And there's the lovely pink skelly-girl on the bottle, too!)

This is soooooooooo pretty! I really can't distinguish between the different notes, but the overall effect is something bright, fresh, and entirely spring-y. I can smell the cream and cakes, especially in the bottle, but they don't leap out and scream FOOD at all - it's a bit more like the milk in Alice, a food note without making the scent foody. As someone said above, I think they just ground the florals a little. It's just absolutely lovely. Yay springtime!

Okay, I have to admit that in the bottle I think this smells TERRIBLE. All I get is a harsh, pungent pepper and something that smells a little bit like - yuk - burning tires?? Thankfully, it's much better once it goes on. Initially, as others have said, there is a blast of pepper (but not so much the tires, hooray). As it dries, the pepper backs down so it's just a hint rather than overwhelming. I can smell the underlying sweetness of honeysuckle, and also of dragon's blood (which tends to go lily-lilac on me), but what I primarily get is the ginger, which smells to me just like the ginger in Sudha Segara (without the milk, of course). Unfortunately, I'm not fond of this kind of ginger - it has a weird soapy tang to me. But if you like that ginger, you should like this. It definitely captures its description of "cardinal fire" - it's extremely fiery! (Without being burning or at all irritating like cinnamon or cassia can be.) The longer it's on, the more the ginger and sweet underlying scents mingle, and it's really very intriguing. Sadly, that ginger's just not for me.

Wow, this was interesting. I get an almost bitter citrus scent, like citrus rind - quite bright and energizing. After it dried, I also got the distinctive TAL herbal smell, as well, and it became more medicinal-y smelling - kind of lemongrass-y. In any case, I put some on this morning (ahem, afternoon), because I'd slept really late and I wanted to get going and accomplish stuff today. In any case, I did indeed feel energized for the rest of the afternoon - almost jittery, but not in an unpleasant way; a little antsy. This would be great, I think, if you needed energy for big, labor-intensive tasks, like working out, or raking leaves, or cleaning out a closet. It's not the greatest for fine-motor-skills tasks - I was packing up some imps and kept dropping stuff and knocked over my soda once! But I was really impressed by how well this worked.

Sadly, not for me. I was doubtful, since foody scents aren't really my thing, but thought I'd give it a whirl. This doesn't quite go cinnamon SN on me, but really all I get of it is overwhelming dry, almost harsh cinnamonness - I'm presuming that's cassia. No caramel, no cherries, only the faintest hint of cocoa initially that quickly fades. It's strongly cassia for a while, and reminds me of Saw-Scaled Viper (which was spectacularly bad on me). After a bit, it calms down but fades into a kind of dry dusty spice and then in about an hour is completely gone. Oh well! It's a lovely idea.

I find Milk Moon really soft and comforting - very reassuring.

I do get lovely spices from this, especially as it dries down - initially there's a slightly generic floral-ness, but that goes away as the spices warm up. It's beautifully blended and it's growing on me the longer I have it on - it's kind of weird, on the one hand I don't think I like it, but on the other, I keep sniffing my wrist! I think the waft hasn't quite caught up with the morphing on my skin, is what's going on. As I wait even longer, more of those lovely spices are rising. This really is an intriguing scent. I think I will have to try it in a more representative place (it's on the top of my wrist because that was what was convenient, but I never get the best sense of a scent from there). I'm not sure it's me - it's a little dry and a little deep, and I tend to like light, fresh and girlie stuff. But it's really amazingly done!

Hmmm. There's something in this wet - both in the bottle and on me - that just does NOT work for me - something kind of dry and bitter. I'm not sure if it's the almond? it makes me think a little of bitter almond. It might be myrrh, and it might be a bad reaction with the apple, which doesn't work on me at all. I'm not getting ANY honey, rose otto, lily, or fig - it's just a strange bitter apple almond resin. As it dries, the bitterness is fading a little and if I sniff really hard, I can get a little honey. But it's not anything especially wonderful on me. However, there could be a chemistry issue right now, so I may hold on to it and try it again. ETA: okay, even later the weird ugly bitterness really has vanished, and I'm getting some lily of the valley. Which is an improvement, though I'm still not sure what I think of it. ETA yet again: what a morpher! now this has turned into a lovely lovely lily and honey scent! Too strange. Now, this, I like! I'll have to see if I can live with the wait to get here.

I tested this for the first time today and I, too, get a kind of herbal vanilla-minty scent. It has the distinctive Voodoo Blend herbiness, and then some kind of sweetness and freshness. It was like this for quite a while, but now that it's been on for a few hours, it's morphed into - well - something pungent and BO-like?? Though only if I really huff my wrist (it was a very quite scent overall, not a great deal of throw). Not quite sure what to make of it, so I'll have to try it again sometime. (I can't comment on the effects, because I've been alone in my apartment all day!)

Seaweed, kelp, salty ocean spray, bitter almond, night-blooming jasmine, frankincense, and benzoin. I find this quite lovely. For me, it's a classic aquatic - salt-sprayed green freshness. It reminds me a LOT of Y'ha-Nthlei, although that may be because that was the first BPAL aquatic I've tried; for me it's not as salty as Sea of Glass. It is a little brighter or fresher than Y'ha-Nthlei (which I find fairly dark), maybe because of the jasmine? I think I can get a hint of the jasmine in this (which works for me, as it's a note I enjoy), but I don't get any almond or frankincense particularly. But it's an incredibly well-blended scent, so that doesn't surprise me. If you like aquatics, you'll like this (unless jasmine hates you, I guess!). I like it, and wouldn't turn down a bottle if it was offered to me, though I'm not sure it's "me" enough to seek one out on my own.

In the imp: CARAMEL. This is what caramel SHOULD smell like (and on me, never does): rich, thick, sweet but not sickly. On me: CARAMEL! But I think I get a little wee bit of tobacco, too, which is still sort of sweet, but a different sweetness from the caramel. Sadly, as always, the caramel isn't quite as sublime on me as it is in the imp. The other notes are so far keeping it from going completely off, but it just doesn't like me very much. It's primarily caramel, but if I huff hard I think I can smell the cinnamon leaf as well. Very intriguing. Later: okay, the caramel has turned into hazelnut as it normally does. It's not as bad in Tiresias as it is in scents like Gluttony (or Misk U), because there are enough other notes that the hazelnut is not as dominating or sickly. I can especially smell the tobacco; am not really getting any of the muguet or even the patchouli (I think). But it's still not really for me, since that caramel note is so strong and just doesn't really work. If you like BPAL's caramel note, you'll LOVE this. I have to say that this really does smell androgynous to me, which is kind of funny given how sweet it is, but it's not an especially feminine sweetness. It's intriguing, and I'm glad I got to try it, but off to the swaps.

I kept looking at the notes when I tried this, and it's so well blended, I couldn't tell you what any of them were - this combines into something seamless and glorious and unique. It's kind of green, and kind of bronze, and rich, spicy, and deep floral. Very very gorgeous - dark without being heavy. MUST get a bottle!

Okay, so this is the first oil I've had any skin reaction to - it's not red, but it does feel a little tingly/burning/itchy. Which, honestly, is just as well, as to me this smells absolutely horrid. Seriously, it's one of the worst things I've ever smelled on me. It was VERY sharp and bitter on the imp - but you know, try everything once; and nope, it's still sharp and bitter on me. I'm not sure whether it's cassia or ginger, but something in here smells like burnt Indian food. In fact, I'm going to have to go wash this off, because the burning is uncomfortable and not at all redeemed by the smell! (So glad this works for some of you - a neat concept - but wow, I can't wear it. It's a Saw-Scaled snake indeed!)

I think what I have to say is going to echo what a LOT of people say, but here goes: In the imp, this smells like wonderful, deep, dark, rich chocolate - not too sweet, but VERY chocolatey. On me, there is an initial burst of chocolate (and it's a wonderful chocolate that works on me, unlike Bliss, which was horrible on me), but it doesn't last long, and then it seems primarily to turn to Snake Oil. And it's quite fresh Snake Oil (unsurprisingly), fresher than my imp, and it does get a little play-doh-y on me, though that's fading the longer it dries. Right now, this doesn't do an awful lot for me (I'm a little "meh" about straight Snake Oil), but like many, I'm thinking that if I put it away for a while it might turn into something glorious. (Of course, being greedy, I might swap it for something else before then...)

Okay, finally an Inquisition that works on me! This is quite lovely. Initially, I get quite a bit of the lemon and lime rind - and it's distinctly the rind, citrus-y but not juicy like the fruit itself. Then there's a little period where the patchouli seems to be undecided about whether it will smell like petrol or not, but thankfully, this passes quickly. I'm left with a lovely blackberry-sage scent with maybe just a little hint of citrus (if you know it's there). If I whiff really hard, close to the skin, I get a tiny bit of patchouli-going-wrong, but overall, it ends up sweet and warm. I don't feel compelled to get a bottle, but I'm glad I have the imp!

Oy. This was lovely for about half a second, and now all I get is patchouli. Which is not my favorite. Very sort of burnt-smoky smelling. Sadly not for me!

Sigh. I had SUCH high hopes for this one - it sounds full of things that I just love. And it's just how everyone describes it - light, pretty, cheery, fresh, all that kind of thing. But there is something in here that smells just like soap to me. It's not even that it's turning to soap on my skin - I think there's a note in here that I associate with a soap or shampoo or something. I get that soapy taste in the back of my throat. Oh well. It's just as well, since I just have the imp - now I don't have to worry about tracking down a bottle! (And I am VERY glad I got to try it.)

Okay, this is probably not the most helpful review, but: on me, Fruit Moon smells like lollipops! Strong, sweet, fruity, and candy-like. I love it! It's kind of mouthwateringly juicy. Very cheerful and bright - great on days when I want to smell like something hot pink.

Now, I thought I'd love this, because I've never had a problem with violets before, and sugar? hey, even better. But on, I find this really really REALLY sweet. I guess unadulterated violet isn't quite for me, even sugared up as these violets are. It dries down to something a bit softer and sweet with a touch of vanilla - it's a very very pretty scent. But I think that for me, Faith is a little much - I'll stick with her lovely sister.