Alphakitty

I keep trying to convince myself that one day, chocolate notes and I will get along. This is all "ooh, patchouli!" when wet with only a hint of bitter cocoa powder, and then... I smell like a tootsie roll. Powdery and milky.

What even is happening with this blend? I put it on the other day without remembering the notes, only that it was a "woody mix." The dominant note in the vial is... lemon? Yes, lemon. Bright, bubbly, citrus. And sandalwood. So, kind of reminiscent of Pledge, but in a very fancy and comforting way. It stays that way wet, with the lemon amping even more. It's such a happy smell! More woods come into play, I know there is no actual sandalwood in this but I would swear there was. Then again, there's no lemon either but it is screaming its presence. On the drydown... little white flowers. Just a hint, but enough for me to be very sure about their presence. If I had to guess the notes for this I would have gone with lemon, sandalwood, baby's breath, maybe a hint of ash. It's a nice blend, but... it is nothing at all like the description, which I expected to be an earthy, almost desolate and masculine wood blend.

In the vial this is overwhelmingly minty, to the point where I was a bit nervous to test it out. The tea note is what drew me to this one, and it is nowhere to be found! Nor is the musk. But, funnily enough, I don't mind because on my skin the mandarin dominates and it is DIVINE. Why are there not a thousand mandarin and mint perfumes?! It is the most glorious combination on me, bitter citrus with a soft, whispering background of peppermint. I was convinced I would only need a decant of this one but now I want ten bottles to hoard for the rest of my life.

In the bottle: CREAM. Smack-you-in-the-face, very foodie cream. Not what I expected but hey, I love cream, so even if it did stay this way on my skin I'd be happy. But this is quite different when on. The cream starts out strong but fades into a sweet dairy note while the cherry blossom becomes significantly more prominent the longer I have this on. It's a very soft floral: I was worried it might veer into actual cherry territory and I really hate fruity blends but this stayed floral from beginning to end. Not overwhelmingly floral, but very... childlike almost, with an innocent quality. This is my first experience with sweet pea and for some reason I was expecting it to smell like... peas, which is why I only got a decant to start (which will be remedied immediately!). Nope, no peas here! I do get a juicy quality, and I swear something like fresh coconut shavings or coconut milk. This is just a heavenly blend, and it lasted for an exceptionally long time.

I got a decant of this because I am fickle and whimsical when it comes to picking scents and mainly I liked the name but now I am so, so happy at that "tehe look at the art!" though that popped into my head and made me get this. It's absolutely lovely. While the notes sound exotic and strange when listed together, this smells closer to a "true" perfume than almost any BPAL I've tried thus far. It reads like a fancy, high-end aquatic cologne. Salty, breezy, fresh and green. It is very soft and the nectarine adds a dash of femininity but I think this is truly a unisex blend. If I close my eyes while wearing this I feel transported to the beach in early summer, when it is not that hot out and you still need a sweater to read out on the sand. It almost leans soapy but I think that is moreso due to the fact that aquatic notes are used so often in soap. It's not the unpleasant "I smell like I just did the dishes" soapy effect, but the "wow I smell so clean!" type of note. Really wonderful and a step outside of my comfort zone I'm glad I took!

Oh my, this is a strange scent. I was expecting something soft and mysterious, but on first sniff it's acrid and... minty? It does not really *smell* like mint but it has the same effect on my nose as sniffing a very sharp mint blend. Almost eye-watering. I do wonder if it is the lilies, since the lab's usual lily note does NOT play well with me. There are a few blends where it's lovely (Dragon's Eye), but most smell like soap and floor cleaner. It's not much better on my skin. The aquatic note comes into play but it's tangy and astringent. Ugh, this smells like cleaning supplies. The very first BPAL scent I've had to scrub off. Alas, it seems that lilies and I are just not meant to be. But I'd rather not fall in love with too many soon-to-be-DC'd scents anyway!

An impulse imp ad to my soon-to-be-discontinued order, Saturnalia turned out to be the surprise winner of the lot! In the imp it's all violet, which is nice and all... but I was hoping for a more sinister creation. And I got it! You know those violet breath mints you can get in stores that tend to specialize in retro candy? That's what the violet here is like, sweet and sugary. But then the vetiver rears its head--smooth smoke and the sharp green of sticky new bark, peeled off for a child's make-believe wand. Together they remind me of playing make-believe as a kid, all soft and cheerful but always with a sinister monster in the background of our games. The lasting power on this is great, I put some on before bed and the violet was still hanging around before bed. Not a lot of throw, which I actually think is a bonus on this scent: it's got a real love-it-or-hate-it vibe and I don't want to antagonize every vetiver-hater I walk by.

This is the Shunga I was most excited for, since I seem to gravitate towards Japanese-themed scents and this features two notes you don't see a lot of (matcha, which is distinctly different from your usual green tea, and yōkan--red beans in a perfume, could it really be?!). The smell in the bottle is strange, not unpleasant but not what I expected. Strong sake and lemon! There is no citrus listed in the notes, but it makes itself clear in the bottle. Wet, it's straight-up sake on my skin. Since it is pretty much the only alcohol smell I can tolerate aside from rum (sometimes) and wine in small doses, it's nice but still not quite what I expected. I spent quite a few minutes sniffing my wrist and giving it dirty looks as the scent refused to morph. Then, thankfully, the drydown! Matcha, matcha, matcha. Not too strong and tempered by the sake, which is still hanging out, and there is a distinct sweetness. Could it be.. my beloved red bean jelly finally making an appearance? The longer this sits on my skin the more it shifts to yōkan and sandalwood, smooth and sweet. Matcha keeps peeking through in the middle part and sake sticks through until the end, and this is an interesting morper to be sure. This is exactly what I wanted. There's a sake bar in my city that I love, and sometimes I go there just for dessert--I have always wanted a scent that kind of captured that, which I know is oddly specific but... this is it! Sandalwood for the bar, sake (of course), matcha and yōkan for the dessert. I don't get amber or incense thankfully, which is a surprise--those tend to amp up quite a bit on my skin!

Of the 2014 Lupers I've tried so far, this is definitely my favorite as well--and the other scents are going to be hard-pressed to top it. When I sniffed all my bottles, my nose was glued to this one for an embarrassingly long time. It smells magical and fresh in the bottle--cream without being foodie, floral without being overbearing. The rice cream is divine. I am a huge fan of cream/milk scents, but they are often notes that overpower everything else. Rice cream is something I haven't tried before (though I love rice milk notes), and it manages to be creamy and sweet without screaming THIS IS A FOODIE BLEND. The tea roses and tuberose sound like a recipe for floral dominance but they play well with the cream, creating a dreamy and soft balance. On the drydown other notes peek through: a hint of beeswax and an aquatic undercurrent from the abalone. It's not a dominant aquatic or even an ocean note: it reminds me of rain almost, or lakewater--especially in combination with the moss. Fresh and bright. I don't get any redcurrant, which is a blessing because I hate fruit in my scents. This is such an evocative blend, and it paints a really vivid picture for me: a woman wearing a sleek white silk kimono, sitting on the dock of a small pond. Elegant but almost outdoorsy, it's very hard to pin down and totally addictive.

Shanghai Tunnel might fit the bill: it's got a mossy, murky water sort of vibe. It smells like a puddle.

In the bottle this is very strong coffee, like a straight shot of espresso. I approached this warily, because I tend to dislike strong coffee notes--though, to be perfectly candid, I bought a full bottle of this for the name/art. I can't live without it in my life. On the skin, though, it softens into a lovely incense/coffee mix. Like drinking a mocha in one of those Wiccan stores--you know the kind, that smell like sweet incense and vanilla candles. This is a more refined version of that, with some stronger notes from the resins coming into play in the drydown. It's a strong and nostalgic scent, and I think it will age fantastically. I'm going to try not to touch it for at least 6 months and then see what wonders have unfolded within.

Mimosa is one of my absolute favorite flowers. I have a lot of childhood memories associated with it, so for me it is a very nostalgic note, and one that sadly is very hard to find. So when I saw this, it was an insta-bottle... which now I realize was a bit hasty, but oh well! In the bottle it's HONEY. It screams HEY WOW DID YOU KNOW THERE IS HONEY IN HERE? With only three notes I am expecting more balance so I was hesitant to try this, but my inner mimosa-lover pushed for this to be the first 2014 Luper I try. Wet, when it's first applied, I get... cinnamon. What even. Not harsh cinnamon sticks but baking cinnamon, after it's been baked. Kind of apple-pie like, without the apple. Or the other spices. Warm, comforting, but totally unexpected. The cinnamon lasted for only about 2 minutes, and then it morphed to the WOW HONEY IS HERE from the bottle. And I do love me some honey. This is a gorgeous, rich honey note but it really does read as a single note on my honey-amping skin. Thankfully, the drydown hits and the white amber pops up. I really love amber and this is an interesting one: I don't think I have ever tried a perfume with white amber. It's subtle and a bit musky, but very feminine and soft. It mixes with the honey perfectly. On the tail end, there's just a hint of floral--bright and perky, but it fades quickly. I don't really get mimosa from it, and I'm wondering if it is just my body chemistry masking those initial mimosa note. This is basically a honey, musk & amber perfume on me but it is SO lovely I don't even mind. The mimosa is a bit missed, but not enough for me to regret a whole bottle of this lovely sitting on my shelf.

This is a strange little beast. I have two imps of Voodoo Lily--one from an order I got a week ago, another from a few months back (that could possibly be old, it was from a swap). The "older" of the two I tested first, and it did not work on me at all. The initial application was very soapy, like overly floral fancy guest soap you don't want to use because it's pressed into some pretty pattern. Then the spice comes on, strong. An almost overwhelming wave of cinnamon and clove. It dries down into straight floral and spice, but nothing nuanced or exciting--it kind of smells like a drugstore perfume, or Christmas potpourri. Ick. The newer imp, though, was totally different. Very strong and fresh lily notes with only a soft background of spice, and an underlying current of amber. A refreshing spring floral, though thankfully not anything I need a full size of, since I'd be hesitant about it aging funny.

Imaginer is an intoxicating blend. In the bottle it's all amber and wood, but once applied the honey amps up a lot on my skin (in the best way possible). It's a soft, sweet honey rife with amber and bark--lovely, a hint oriental and very sophisticated. I'm almost annoyed at how much I love this because it's going to be absolutely impossible to get a back-up bottle!

In the bottle: Salty fungus. Sounds disgusting written down, but it's an intriguing smell. It's... thick and sticky. Like fungus candy. Wet: ...gingerbread. I got a weird mix of spices and my boyfriend came over and asked if I was wearing gingerbread perfume. What the what. Drydown: I usually do not like aquatic perfumes, but the saltwater here is tempered by moss, coconut, and strange vegetation. There are hints of molasses, the rich feeling of the in-the-bottle smell coming back. Yup, saltwater moss fungus candy with coconut shavings. I feel like a true Lovecraft scent should be weird and almost indescribable, which this definitely is. Not a scent for everyone, but my wrist ends up attached to my nose when I wear it.