radiantfracture

This review is for I believe the 2008 version in a partial bought on eBay. I love the idea of Gelt (and I love gelt), but whether it's age or chemistry or both, when I put this on it smells like a tablespoonful of cocoa dropped into a jar of baby powder. I love Velvet and other chocolate-based BPALs. I'd be interested to try the more recent version of Gelt and see if it worked better on me.

One of the first BPALs I ever smelled, in an aged imp from a friend, and still a top ten. I didn't know the backstory of the perfume, and assumed it was supposed to smell like tombstones (which wasn't wholly unreasonable.) Eventually, I bought my own bottle and then realized that I needed to age it to get the effect I loved. The "young" bottle was all sassafrass. My two-year-aged bottle, on the other hand, is perfect. Right, right, so -- how it smells. In the bottle, crumbling sweet pale purple stone (I don't know why purple -- that's just the colour I see. If you want to know, I see a pale purple tombstone). On the skin: First, sassafrass, but the vanilla rises quickly through it. The woods seep in underneath. If I rush the scent by rubbing my wrists together to heat them, I get much more cedar and balsam, a hot liquid sap-smell. Otherwise, the vanilla rules this, but it's a dense vanilla, not foodie or baby-powder-y -- like the vanilla smell of some wild plants -- with the hot cedarwood underneath. This is a very tactile, deep scent for me.

I ordered this as a mood lifter, and I do find it cheerful. In the bottle and on my skin, this smells like flavourful orange bitters -- the blood orange is ascendant, made more complex by the citrussy lemongrass and bergamot. At drydown, I get a little of the rose geranium's floral, gently blending with the citrus. Subtle and pleasing. The only odd thing is that I get repeated moments of a smell like raw dough. It isn't unpleasant, but I'm not sure what it is.

In vitro: smoky, dirty vetiver and an underground trickle of amber Wet: Completely different. Amber, then florals (sweet ones), musk, then lots of sweet tonka and some powderiness from the musk or amber - then an ashiness that makes me think of opium -- that part stirs memories and I could smell it all day. There's a heady, oily floral, like lily, and something on the dirty side of musk, and then the spicy carnation. Dry: Sweet amber, carnation, a residual sexy hum. I get only a trace of smokiness. Very interesting, and amazing on the right person.

I agree with Sunlitgarden (above) that Golden Priapus reminds me of Waltz of the Snowflakes, which I like very much. This was one of the earliest BPALs I tested, and my nose has definitely gotten better at distinguishing notes in the meantime. This goes on all juniper and pine, and then the vanilla-amber makes it soft without going powdery, with a low, supporting echo of rosewood. These are all good notes, well-executed - they stay true. On me, they don't quite pull together, though -- the scent stays interesting, but never feels like a unified whole - the sharp woods and the soft vanilla don't mesh. The result feels slightly out of tune, though with much to recommend it. [ETA] I agree that this would make a good Yule blend, though.

(Imp from the lab, aged some months.) This is delicate on me -- more innocent than I expected. In the mysterious vial: Sweetness and maybe leather? Wet: Chameleonic -- each time I try it, it seems different. Sometimes citrus, sometimes echoes of a classic fougere like Dorian. Normally leather and tobacco vanish on me, so it’s delightful to smell the leather up front and a fruity tobacco mellowing in. A little of that sexy rosin from Rogue. Something almost spicy I can't place. Dry: A sweet skin-scent of delicate leather and cool clean linen. I like it, though it's not really my Sherlock. Layered with Watson: Fun and strange. Watson's lime, Holmes' leather, a duelling of chemistry, and then a clean sky-high linen scent with lingering citrus.

This review is for the 2015 version (first one?). The ylang ylang is sexily forward in the bottle, buttressed by the champaca. On my skin, this starts weird and funky -- hard to describe -- a kind of dense knotty wood, a sour almost tarry smell. There's a gradual sweetening and warming into a resinous scent, but the weirdness keeps coming back. It's striking, a little alienating, a little maddening. I don't get any of the foodiness people talk about in earlier incarnations. I wish I had the caramel. I'm a little sad, but also fascinated. I get the occasional plasticky moment, but it doesn't last. The things I usually amp -- vanilla, sweetness, patchouli -- aren't dominating here, though the patchouli gradually adds a nice edgy sourness to the overall effect. I get no caramel or honey, but a pleasant powdery dustiness from the red musk and patchouli. This settles down into a very gentle red musk on me without much throw -- a quiet finish to a brash scent.

In the bottle, snow and cypress leaves rubbed between the fingers to smell the sap. On the skin, lemony bergamot, almost soapy, then wafts of sweet snow among stands of cypress. If there's clove it's just an aromatic depth, an added woody-earthy shadow. This finishes with delicate florals blossoming over the snow -- a mixture of warm and cool. The florals aren't my favorite part here, but they don't overpower this, and they give the scent a softness and roundness, almost a fuzziness that compliments the snow. In sum, a mixture of warm citrussy woods and sweet, almost edible snow with a delicate lemony-vanilla aura, under a mist of tobacco flower. {ETA} After some weeks of use, this has become my go-to scent for gusts of sweet snow with undertones of sap. Probably my favorite Yule of the year.

(Krampus '15) Wow, not what I was expecting from previous reviews. In the bottle: wintergreen. Wet: Wintergreen, then dust and maybe smoke, then wintergreen again. A much colder scent than I was expecting. Drydown: Some woods and maybe a little of the red musk. Several reviewers said freshly peeled switches and I could see that. Dry: This is surprisingly green and herbal on me, with a strain of dusty red musk. Maybe there's leather? It tends not to show up on me, so I shouldn't be surprised. This dries down very faint on me. The green/herbal elements remain prominent. It could be refreshing, but it's not something I'd wear myself. (ETA One-year aged retest) A year later, the red musk and a soft, almost malleable leather are much more forward in Krampus.

I really, really wanted this to work on me, because I love the idea of wearing the scent of ectoplasm. Unfortunately, it smells like lemon candies and apple, and then lemon soap, on me, and that's pretty much the whole story. Alas. Someone else will enjoy this.

Just got a partial in the mail. In the bottle, I love this -- that caramelly combination of honey and goat's milk accord that is my new favorite thing, plus a delicate musk. On my wrist, this transforms into a nutty pastry smell -- I concur with the gentle almond mentioned above. This settles into a very quiet waxy-honey and cream smell. The rice flower, if anything, is just a powdery haze around the core of milk and honey. I like this, but it is very subtle, even with a double application. I think I like it better in the bottle than on me, so I might try it in a scent locket.

This came as a frimp with an order. So in the bottle, wet, and dry this is a nice salty aquatic, except that every so often during drydown there's just this -- flicker -- of something really unpleasant -- sour and rotten. Entirely appropriate to Cthulhu, but not something I want to smell on myself. Now that it's dry, I don't smell it, but I'm nervous... edgy... what if it returns? Strong throw on me, and an aftershave vibe when it's dry that I probably wouldn't wear, but one who loves aquatics and fears not the elder gods could enjoy this. The salty-ozone element is really cool. I'd pick up something else with those notes.

Had to try it. In the bottle -- Lime and sweet aftershave. I don't really like anything that smells like traditional aftershave, so I'm hoping that stays mild. On the skin, lime and clean laundry, rounding towards soapy aftershave. The metallic element alloys gently with the lime, An almost foodie sweetness (I amp anything sweet). A long time later, close to the skin, I smell something like warm wool. This ends up as warm, sweet, clean scent. The lime hangs around on me, which I like. This is less rugged on me than I imagine for John, but that may be our chemistry...

In the bottle: smoky caramel. It reminds me of the sexy caramel of Tiresias, which I love. A distant intimation of patchouli. Wet: Caramel, quickly overtaken by patch and paling towards honey -- a sweet vanillic waxiness. (I think what I smell as caramel must be honey + goat's milk, and when the patchouli comes in it overtakes the milk but not the sweet waxiness of the honey.) This is indeed a fast flight from one scent to an entirely other scent. A very clever translation of the image. I like where this ends up very much -- gentle dust and wood and vanilla -- only I miss the sexy caramel.

In the bottle: Inchoate sweetness (vanilla-paper-cream-strawberry), settling into, yes, that cherry version of almond. Maybe faint bitter undertones. And something almost like gasoline, an oily body-shop smell. (A warning (forbidding valediction) -- I tested this right from the post. I gave it precious little rest.) On the skin: Cherry and gasoline. Cherry burns briefly and then -- vanishes. Fade out to faint toasted almond and creamy vanilla leather. Very faint and elusive -- just a vanillic sweetness, like melted ice cream. I like where this ends up, and I like how dramatic the change is. The result is very faint on me, though. I will re-investigate when the scent and I have both matured. [eta] Re-test a month later gives similar results -- a sharp cherry-almond, then gasoline, then just the ghost of a scent. I don't think this works on me.

This was very clever. (Note bene: daft with impatience, I tested right out of the mail, without resting time. I may return to revise.) In the bottle, this was astringent (smoke? leather?) and floral (rose?) -- somehow green and heady, with underlying powder (but not baby powder -- a drier, more interesting powder). On the skin, at first leather, then dense powder and amber, rounding into something almost waxy. Out of this base rises what I think of as the apparition -- a sharper smell, golden to my senses -- obscured at intervals by clouds of powder. Then the scent seems to coil itself back, wavering, into amber, now seasoned with faint leather and maybe the oak -- and just the ghostliest rose. I got very little smoke, if any, and so far this ends up more powdery than I would wear, but I love the rise and fall of the scent. It fits the ghoulish silliness of the Gillray picture very well.

I think I ordered this to try something gingery. On me, though, it is a strong sweet lemon verbena -- almost a single note. In the imp: Weird! Grass and sweet citrus -- the verbena. I think the weirdness is the amber resisting the other elements. On the skin: Verbena goes long. I'm one of those for whom this is intensely dominated by the lemony verbena smell. The ginger stays well back -- shifts elusively around the edges. Very occasional possible sniffs of herbal sage. After a long time, the amber warms in, and the lemon plus the vanilla element of the amber accord plus the very faint ginger are delicious together. The aquatic elements are a very faint melancholy coolness pervading the blend. I like it on my skin -- something to wear on a sunny summer day. This would be a great room scent.

In the bottle: sweet dried leaves and wet mossy earth, and the earthy, edible fig. On the skin: smell of growing plants, almost floral; then the scent drops close to the skin and becomes grassy and -- almost starchy -- like the smell of wet new-dug bulbs and roots. The clean, cool cypress. The honey is really nice in this -- gently sweetening the blend without taking over. ETA: I layered some Mead Moon over it, just to see what more honey might do -- it's a sweet atmospheric combination, like a sepia print.

All right, I know the scent is described as dry -- I know everyone else smells dryness unto the sere wastes -- but the first thing I smell from the bottle is wet ink. Wet leather and wet paper and wet leaves. A pleasing autumnal must. Mercurial, this heats up on my skin. Whiff of paper, of something woody and almost animalic; something sharp-edged; then something golden, almost waxy, like candleflame. Some of what seems wet to me may be the bone-smell -- I smell the dry papyrus, and a hot, woody, dusty smell, but the leather keeps smelling wet to me. I had high expectations of this, and it is as fascinating as I'd hoped.

In the bottle: pine pitch and sweet smoke -- the edge of something cologney - cedar, maybe? Wet: Hot sapwood splitting in a fire; a sharp tingling on my skin -- pepper. Hot pitch and fragrant wood. Drydown: This rounds into something almost waxy. The smoke hovers, very faint, behind the hot sap and pepper. Much later: Creosote and ashes. The smokiness isn't at all forward on me until the very end. This was more complicated on me than I expected!

I believe I have dark gnome, purchased about six months ago. The scent opens dusty and metallic -- very pleasing. Gnome comes on very strong. Something in it-- maybe the black pepper -- anaesthetizes my nose, or overwhelms it, so that I can no longer smell the Dorian I had on my other wrist. Then the smoke comes up, and after it faint ginger, sarsparilla and pepper -- the pepper and ginger are head-clearing, but not fragrant, though they do sweeten the scent. I like it, but it's overwhelming on me. It stays metallic and fizzing, with the spices well in the background.

Frimp from eBay-er. I feel lucky to get to try it! Wet, I get orange and sugar, with a hint of the bakery. There's a little pumpkin in the background. I don't get any spices. As it dries, the sugar-smell is delicious and the orange is refreshing, but I never get much pumpkin. Dry, it's a little soapy. It's simple and charming, but it doesn't make me fall in love the way Beth's more complex scents do. {rf}

I love this scent. It's intoxicating and very sexy. For me, the caramel and black currant predominate, but everything else conspires underneath to make the combination magical--not quite foody yet delicious. A lucky find on eBay -- my reward for buying on spec. {rf} Also, layered up with Greed? Amazing.

This is heady, oily wood on me from start to finish. It's beautifully blended -- the bamboo and the wax add complexity, but the wood stays central. When I first got it, the oiliness was a little overwhelming, but a few months of aging seem to have mellowed it. I love this.

In the bottle: White chocolate predominates, with the green-ness of tea and mango giving it an edge. Wet: On my wrist, the white chocolate still wins, but higher on my arm the scent opens with sweet fruit candy -- the green mango, though it also makes me think of passionfruit. (It's almost fruit gum, but stays more pleasant than that.) Drydown: The interlude of patchouli is a little startling. For a little while I'm not wearing a food scent at all, but something perfumier. The fig and the tea don't come forward on my skin. This never becomes sharp or earthy. The lingering scent is of hazelnut wafers -- light, delicious, oddly comforting. I like this a lot.