radiantfracture

I don't know what year my bottle comes from. Maybe '08? It's definitely on the heavy side and not at all citrussy. In the bottle: Strong "perfumey" scent -- sharp florals Wet: Heady, sweet, cloying, oily florals -- some amber -- I don't get any resins. Drydown: A metallic phase -- metal and oil? -- then a green note comes up. The quiet amber remains, but the scent remains mostly heavy, cloying florals on me. Unfortunately, this gives me a headache. I'm disappointed -- I was hoping for amber and resins. Normally I amp vanilla, but apparently I amp ambrette and rockrose more. It doesn't smell remotely unisex on me -- I'll give it to one of the women I know who like rich, sultry scents. {rf}

Fresh from the lab. This is a beautiful dusty scent on me, like earth when rain first strikes it. It gradually sweetens on my skin as the vanilla component of the amber comes forward. This doesn't make me think of greed, unless it's the scent of the dust that everything we are greedy for becomes -- but it does make me greedy for more than an imp. {rf}

Dreamy bakery smell. In the imp: Vanilla and strawberry wafer cookies, nuts Wet: Dry, delicious, not over-sweet - fruit and cereal becomes almost gentle wood with sweet nutty/oaty overtone Drydown: Subtle, not much throw, but incredibly pleasant - faint hint of fruit This is a terrifically well-constructed scent. I might wish for a little more throw, but otherwise it's great.

Came as a frimp -- not sure how old it is. In the imp: Lovely tea rose. Wet: Tea rose and greenery and something heady, floating on a heavy, waxy, almost greasy smell (the ambergris?). Then this becomes a strong, piercing floral, dominated by the rose but rounded out by another, very familiar floral -- the jonquil? Drydown: Rose bath oil. I may have gotten a little orange blossom in with the other florals, but I prefer Bess for that. This is too heady and overwhelming a floral for my taste, at least on my skin.

This came in the mail about twenty minutes ago. I tried it immediately. I remembered only that it was probably supposed to smell like snow. My thoughts and hypotheses, as they evolved: In the bottle: Vanilla and spearmint -- cake and clouds. Ozone? Something sharp [a long time later this would prove to be the fir and pine] with sweet clouds overtop. And something like gum mastic or chewing gum (that rubbery smell others mentioned) -- which smells almost stale. At this point I thought this might be primarily a vanilla mint scent. However: Wet: Mint; the chewing-gum smell; that sharpness again -- not sure what that sharp yellowy smell is [it was, of course, the resins, QED] Drydown: Mint and ozone. The vanilla begins to come up -- that gum smell remains -- everything fades back -- there's a sort of lull, like a caesura, where I smell very little and begin to worry that that's the end -- and then the bitter/sharp resins come forward and take over. Suddenly I smell like a fresh wreath with a lingering ribbon of vanilla. Fantastic. Dry: This resolves into a remarkable scent, a duet between vanilla and fir. The 'bark' part of the smell seems to linger as an intriguing bitterness that keeps the sweetness from becoming sickly. This is fantastic. It has a brilliant structure and it resolves into something eminently wearable that doesn't sacrifice complexity -- it refuses to become ordinary.

I seem to be one of the unlucky sub-group for whom this smells really bad. In the imp this smelt like… well… pumkpin and stomach acid. Or, yes, watermelon and urine. On the skin, I definitely get the watermelon. Then the florals come up. The gardenia is the clearest, and in itself is pretty. The overall floral is too heavy for my liking, though. Then that almost-rancid note comes back -- could that be civet? Un the drydown, this becomes a powdery, feminine floral with an under-layer of that sharp note, and at this stage it almost works for me -- the elements seem to settle in together. Then the amber comes up and softens the sharpness. In the story, Iambe clowns for Demeter, making bawdy jokes until she laughs. For me, the scent is like that -- comic and grotesque.

Man, this is so pretty. In the bottle, this seemed like a heavier floral than the description suggested, and I didn't think I'd enjoy it. Wet, there's a strong green grassy smell -- it has that in common with Dirty. Drydown moves through several phases -- a delightful alchemy of shifting florals -- it is like a gentle current of air that way, weaving from one note to another. Following other reviewers, I think what really makes this work is the vanilla / lemon / bergamot combination. These sweet, slightly edible notes transmute the florals, which by themselves would not interest me, into something magical.

Quiet, ineffective ghosts haunting the realm of mystery and night, stretching dusty hands back to homes and lifetimes unforgotten: pale gossamer musks swirling in thick, dense otherworldly vapours through cracks in dry wood and old, old stones. In the bottle, this is elusive: the main note is something sharp, with an acid bite -- then if I breathe deeply, there's a cool, almost wintergreen, note, quite separate, in the background. On my skin, this is all delicate musk and florals, with the occasional echo of stone. The drydown is a sweet aquatic floral with a solid support of pale musk. I was hoping for something more atmospheric and unisex, but this would be grest on the right person. [ETA] [Years pass] I revisted this in preparation to cleaning out my stash, and it's aged wonderfully. Much more dust, stone, and wood up front. The floral finish merges elegantly with the dust. Probably still too floral for me, but much more balanced and evocative of hauntings.

Bottle: Fruity and sweet. Wet: Sweet and delightful. On me, this is roses and orange blossoms and fruit mingling in the sweetest possible way -- no rosemary, no mint -- with a gentle lemon peel bitterness to give it bite and keep it from being sickly. Drydown: Much the same -- maybe the ghost of rosemary in the background, but mostly fruity -- though not at all foodie, nor even really floral -- just fruity blossoming sweetness. The grape/orange blossom/rose harmony produces more than the sum of its parts. This is an immensely cheering scent. I keep thinking: man, those 17thC perfumiers knew what they were doing. And of course, so does BPAL.

Frimp! I don't wear many floral-centric scents, but that doesn't deter me from experimenting. On my testing arm, this is a sweet, youthful rose, like a tea rose. The honey and rose merge, and the orange blossom has a wonderful sweetness that doesn't become cloying. It reminds me of my childhood -- it seems like the sort of scent that might be given as a first perfume. Unfortunately, over time this turned into the exact smell of baby powder, with remarkable endurance.

This came as a frimp with a wonderful name... In the imp: Smoke, sweetness, pungency Wet: Heat and resin or pitch; something sharp in the nose, like cayenne (or black pepper, as has been suggested) Drydown: Something floral and oily floats up through -- delicately heady. I'll call that the lotus. Then there's possibly amber? (I don't know dragon's blood as a note yet.) Linger: Almost all the floral, which is pretty -- rich yet delicate -- but not something I would wear. A little of the sharp peppery sensation. Not for me, though it made an interesting journey. {rf}

This is incredibly richly textured. It transmits a strong smell and feel of beeswax and other, softer waxy smells. There's also a subtle but powerful and extremely sweet floral -- perhaps horse chestnut blossoms, but it smelled like honeysuckle or jasmine to me. And maybe a little extra sweetness, like a brown sugar -- the caramelized element others have mentioned. The floral adds a slightly oily texture to the wax. It's almost a synaesthetic smell. I don't get any of the nutty elements other people report, though that was part of what I was hoping for. This had enormous throw, even on a cold day. I agree that it seems to amplify itself as it warms up on the skin. I washed it off and the pleasant waxy element of the smell still lingers. In the end, while I love honey-based scents, this is too floral for me. Also, something in it makes me sneeze. This was fresh from the Lab, so I may try aging it and see what transpires.

Diabolically decadent! Bone-chilling mint swirled in thick globules of marzipan cream. I love this scent. I was looking for something that would work like Spooky, but this is quite different. For me, it's a warmer mint -- a green mint rather than a blue mint, if that makes sense. Like others, I find that the mint fades back as time passes and the marzipan comes forward. In the bottle: Creamy mint Wet: Bold green flare of mint Drydown: Softening mint, rising warm almond The first time I put it on, it seemed to dry down to a slightly musty nutty smell that was less pleasant, but as I've tried it since, either it's aged a little or my skin chemistry has improved, and I like it. I can't get enough of this.