Lunasariel

In the imp: I don't think I'm getting any leather at all??? Instead, this is a soft, cologney-y/perfume-y scent, with light, almost aquatic florals, an enticing hint of a smoky/peppery kick, and a general feel of soap just washed off of skin. Wet: An initial flash of aggressive black leather and smoke, tempered by lilac, before it settles down into a very close-to-the-skin scent, with everything very soft and well-blended. I think I can pick out the leather, musk, lilac, and maybe even the bay rum, but it's actually hard to tell. Dry: Ah, now this is the black leather/bay rum/musk scent I was expecting, with an unexpectedly prominent but undeniably sexy smoky note. As time goes on, the leather and smoke fade away, leaving a soft, resinous, faintly musky scent. Looooooove this!

In the imp: A voluptuously floral apple - I'm totally willing to see jasmine in this, but sniffing it blind, I'd be tempted to say apple blossom. I'm also getting notes of honey (light and springtime-floral, not heavy or sticky) and beeswax, as well as a hint of uplifting, clarifying sage, with amber way down at the base - present, but not overwhelming. Overall, this scent reminds me quite a bit of Brisingamen, one of my all-time favorites. Wet: Way more herbal, albeit with a floral edge. I think I'm mainly getting the sage, with copoiba and champa giving it a vaguely incense-y (but not hippie) vibe. More beeswax than honey now, and amber still glowing at the base. I get occasional, surprising hints of apple and (more commonly) jasmine. I definitely need to test this one against Brisingamen. Dry: A good balance between honey, floral, and amber notes. The champa becomes more prominent over time, and an interesting honey-fig(-sage?) scent develops on my right wrist, but not my left. Fascinating! Eventually, it , deepens into a sexy, herbal-honey musk.

In the imp: My first thought, straight out of the gate: gummy bears! Fancy gummy bears! My sister concurred, and sad "artisanal sour gummy worms." It really does remind me of some fancy gummy bears I once saw at an upscale grocery store - they had flavors like champagne & strawberry, or brut & nectarine (I think?). A bright, citrusy-fruity sweet scent. I really love the effervescence of the champagne! Champagne is one of those notes that usually doesn't play well with my skin, but it's been a few years since I tried anything with a champagne notes, so here goes... Wet: Mainly lemon verbena (definitely *not* lemon - more herbal, less astringent), with a lively-but-not-overpowering little kick of ginger, and some omnidirectional fruit that I wouldn't be able to identify as apple without reading the notes. The sparkly, effervescent feeling remains, but I can't tell whether that's the champagne actually hanging around and doing something great on my skin, or the generally fun & uplifting combo of lemon verbena/ginger/fruit. This is a great spring/summer scent, light without being insubstantial. Dry: After only about four hours or so, this is a barely-detectible, lightly fruity scent, not strong enough for me to determine what kind of fruit. There's also just a hint of something...resinous? herbal? Anyway, something else complicating the fruit, but like I said, it's barely the ghost of a scent; I really have to shove my nose into my wrist and huff to get anything at all. Overall, this was a "light, bright, and sparkling" scent; grown-up gummy bears.

In the imp: A luxuriously spiced, buttered rum, with emphasis on the "buttered." The spices are subtle but present, and the butter is REAL butter, hot and melting - the kind you get in extremely fancy restaurants, in a little crock. No preservatives, dyes, or additives here, and as DiZZysTARdust mentions above, if you're afraid of a movie theater popcorn-ish note here, fear not! That butter note is dominant but not omnipotent, and the honey is also putting itself forward - so much so that I almost want to call this a spiced mead scent instead of rum. Wet: Ah, there's that brown musk! It's not quite the same warm-kitty-fur note as in Coyote, but it still produces a warm, cuddly effect, especially as it melds wonderfully with the honey. Overall, the scent moves away from foodie land and more towards something resinous. The tonka and labdanum make themselves known, and that wonderful buttered note takes a big step back - it's still present (although it does a slow, graceful fade as the scent dries down), but no longer the main player. Dry: It goes through an interesting spiced honey phase, with musk playing backup and some lingering warm creaminess from what could be either the butter or the tonka. After about three hours, it settles into a surprisingly hippie-reminiscent musky clove scent with a hint of honey, and my nose wants to say there's some patchouli in here as well, but it's likely just my very hippie upbringing talking. There's definitely some tonka, or perhaps labdanum, to smooth things out, but it's more of a background note. Huh, this was a turn I didn't expect, but I'm glad it ended up here! It's a warm, comforting, textured scent.

The second series commenced at 15, Southhampton Row, on Wednesday evening. Into the present course, the medium, Mr. Shepherd will introduce some of the more marked peculiarities of his singular performance. He sings at each concert in the soprano voice. A marked peculiarity: tonka bean and red sandalwood with orris, lemon peel, and leather. In the imp: A very light, almost powdery scent. I'm getting mainly the orris, with just a touch of leather and vague sweetness - maybe the tonka? There's a hint of a zing at the tail end, which I'm guessing is the lemon peel, although it's not identifiable as so at this stage. Wet: The orris is still dominant, although now the leather runs a close second. No zing, lemon-y or otherwise, though. No tonka or sandalwood that I can detect, alas. Dry: Tonka and sandalwood arrive to save the day! Now the orris/leather (mainly orris at this point, tbh) combo is elegant and subtle, not overwhelmingly powdery. This now smells like the dusting powder an elegant Victorian or Edwardian lady would use. Still no lemon peel that I can pick up, but perhaps that will improve with age.

In the imp: If this is gingerbread, this is a fascinating nutty, smoky, maybe even chocolatey gingerbread. Now that Soupy has pointed it out, I do get the El Dia de los Reyes comparison - it's the same kind of smoky, gritty-smooth chocolate-coffee combo. I really, *really* hope this continues on the skin, because El Dia de los Reyes is one of my favorite BPALs of all time. Wet: A candied citrus note emerges, giving the impression of Mexican hot chocolate garnished with a twist of candied orange peel. I think I'm picking up the ginger from the gingerbread as cinnamon? Dry: The candied orange peel fades, leaving a pleasantly dry, smoky vanilla bean/coffee bean (not vanilla extract/brewed coffee). The cinnamon-but-probably-really-ginger is more noticeable at skin-level, but still present.

2018 edition In the imp: As classic an amber as you could wish for - light, perfumey, and just a little powdery, with a lovely, subtle floral note as an accent. Wet: Soft and subtle amber and resins. This almost smells like one of the RPG scents meant for layering - it's so soft as to be elusive on its own, but I'm worried that actually layering it with anything would overpower it. This smells like something out of a cut-glass bottle on your glamorous grandmother's vanity. Dry: A little warmer and dryer, but pretty linear overall. It's amber all the way down, with some tonka and benzoin also notable, and less rockrose than ITI, but still present.

In the imp: Gingerbread???? The oil itself is a gorgeous mossy green, and reading the listed notes, I was expecting something along the lines of Hemlock - a dark, musky-green scent. Instead, I have straight-up gingerbread, fresh out of the oven and gently cooling beside a cup of chai with plenty of milk and honey. I guess this is the saffron and "wood spice" at work, but this is definitely a foodie blend right now. Wet: Briefly balanced between foodie-spicy and woody-spicy, before the woodiness takes over and the musk comes out. Especially close to the skin, I definitely get the cologne comparison - it smells clean and woody-musky-fresh, almost austere but not unfriendly. From farther out, I get some of the warmer notes - patchouli, labdanum, maybe even an echo of gingerbread and chai. Dry: The spices become woodier, and I can see the incense comparisons now. It's heavy on the patchouli, labdanum, and musk, more or less in that order. From afar, however, I still get the occasional whiff of gingerbread/foodie spices. Interesting, and comforting, in a weird sort of way.

(Yes, I'm still reviewing Weenies. >.< I love my job, but only being able to test new perfumes on the weekends is one of my less-favorite aspects.) In the imp: My first impression was "fresh night breeze." I think this is the ti leaf and sage - BPAL's sage generally reads as softly, broadly outdoorsy to me, while ti leaf makes things fresh but not ozone-y or aquatic. I wouldn't immediately peg this as a floral, but there is some jasmine in there, twining around the sage. Maybe just a hint of woodsiness or smoke, but not an awful lot Wet: And there's that smoke! It wavers for a few moments before resolving into definitely pine smoke, but it's not at all sharp or astringent. The sage is most likely to thank for this - on my skin, sage generally provides a gorgeous green-tinted, soft-focus filter over everything, and this is no exception. I think the ti leaf is also still going strong, providing the feeling of elusive curls of smoke on a soft nighttime breeze, instead of the snootful of smoke that you get from standing right over a campfire. The jasmine becomes an unexpected addition here: at first it felt incongruously elegant and ladylike in what is otherwise a campfire-on-a-beautiful-summer-night scent. However, after a few minutes, it melds into the smoke and sage wonderfully, becoming a little wilder and earthier. Dry: As expected, the fresher, lighter elements burn off. This leaves the smoke more prominent, and the patchouli makes itself known. Overall, it's now a resinous, herbal scent, much darker and more appropriate for the witching hour.

In the imp: A cool, smooth, sophisticated, musky amber, very a la Haunted. And maybe with a hint of lemon, also as in Haunted? Wet: Musky, resinous, and maybe a little soapy? I'm definitely getting the ti leaf, which reminds me strongly of certain Shungas, White Rabbit, or maybe even Dorian. But Dorian goes *very* soapy on me, so that might be appropriate, too. Dry: After a few minutes, the soapiness fades and the musk comes forward, making it warmer, cuddlier, and, yes, fuzzier. It remains a musky amber throughout, with the ti leaf being a persistent accent. It's the ti leaf that takes this away from being a Haunted clone and into something softer and a little bit fresher.

In the imp: A rich, fruity, spicy scent. Primarily apples, but these are warm, cooked apples, as in pie or cider, not fresh off the tree. It's a pretty sweet scent, but just the way fruit is sweet, not over-sugared. Wet: This scent showed up to the holiday party to have a good time, and boy is it going to. A boozy, festive cider scent, and whoever's making it was generous with the spices - whole cloves and cinnamon sticks, none of this wimpy powdered stuff. Dry: Sweeter and drier, but a honey-like or sugary sweetness, not just the fruit. The milky, creamy notes finally show up as the booze burns off, and the spices are now very mellow and blended-in, like the drink has been simmering for a good long time.

In the imp: A strongly green, sappy scent (if I didn't know better, I would say dandelion), overlaid by juicy apples. Wet: The vegetal green notes, now with woody overtones, clash with the almost floral and/or green apples for a few seconds before settling down into something smoother and richer. Now it's still a green scent, but a very "perfumey" green. It smells classic, like something my grandmother or great-grandmother would have worn. Dry: The green notes last longer than anticipated (usually they burn off within a few minutes on me), but after an hour or two they're mostly gone, leaving sophisticated rosewood/vanilla/benzoin - pretty, but a little soapy. Hints of beeswax still hang around, as does a certain woodsy greenness, but the latter in particular is very faint.

In the imp: A subtle, jammy rose and a dusty, vaguely organic scent that could be the clay, the tobacco, or both. Soft, elusive, and intriguing! Wet: Oh man, that rose tobacco! I don't think I've ever smelled this particular combo before, and I love it! It's rich and syrupy like rose jam, but drier, less sticky, with a wonderful smoky element. Further from my skin, I also get more of the oudh and tonka, rounding it out for a glorious oriental. This is a rose-dominant scent for people who hate rose. The clay note emerges after a few minutes, blending wonderfully with the dominant rose (rose tobacco?) instead of just drying it out. Dry: The tonka comes out a little more over time, as does the tobacco. The rose stays noticeable until the very end, though. It ends up with a sort of omnidirectional sweetness that's as much tonka as it is rose. I don't really get any clay at this point, unless it's whatever is reining in the rose and making it blend so well with everything else.

In the imp: When I couldn't resist taking a whiff right out of the mailbox, it was a big ol' punch of vetiver. It's still a very vetiver-dominant scent: rough and vegetal, and maybe just a touch rubbery/synthetic? It's a little sweeter and more musky than vetiver SN, but vetiver is mainly what I'm getting. Wet: As George Takei would say: oohhhh, myyyyy. A non-foodie bourbon vanilla, but It's Complicated. The vanilla itself is gorgeous, but the vanilla roughens it up and smokes out the edges, while the wool wraps everything together wonderfully. It's a very unprocessed, natural-smelling wool at that, as though there's some lanolin in there. (Lanolin-sensitive people: don't worry! No lanolin listed, so I really think it's just the interplay between the three notes that makes me think of raw wool.) I can only hope it stays this wonderful for the duration! Dry: A rich, heady, smoky-vanilla-and-then-some scent. I'm really getting the bourbon in "bourbon vanilla." I agree with the above commenters: if you're on the fence about vetiver, or it isn't an absolute death note for you, you might want to give this one a try - it's vetiver at its best, smoky and rugged and mysterious. As for me, I'm trying to decide whether it's *too* rich and heady. If not, this is a definite bottle purchase!

In the imp: A light, living, green scent. I'm definitely getting the dandelion and grasses, and I think the sage is making the whole thing aromatically instead of sharply green. Right now, there's only the barest hint of floral, and a pretty green floral at that. There might be a touch of warm fur, a la Coyote, warming things up, or that might just be me trying to smell the listed notes. Wet: A sappy, heady, green scent. The honeysuckle is more prominent, and the dandelion is now greener and milkier. I agree that this is a very springtime scent, but I would also reach for this one during the sticky dog days of summer or on a cold, drizzly, gray day in winter, to remind me of what spring is like. Dry: The sage and, to a lesser extent, the fur note, makes an appearance, but never edges out the dandelion/grasses. Ultimately, it settles down into a more aromatic/herbal, less sappy version of the wet stage. The honeysuckle, too, hangs around, albeit quieter and less heady than before. I agree with previous reviewers that this is a springtime scent, but one that doesn't have to be worn in springtime.

In the imp: A light, sweetly perfumey honey, reminiscent of Womb Furie or Iulia, L'Artiste du Diable, and more vaguely reminiscent of scents like O or White Rabbit. Maybe some ambergris is contributing to the light, airy feel? Wet: What I think of as a classic BPAL scent: a lightly resinous, sweet, incense. The honey has become definitely more beeswax-y, and is mingling with the ambergris to uplift and smooth the scent into something elegant and strange, beautiful and otherworldly. This is what I think one of Tolkien's Elves, particularly Galadriel, would smell like. Dry: Pretty linear. As expected, the airier, lighter elements fade away, leaving it pleasantly base note-y. Now I would call it a gently honeyed incense, or maybe some particularly aromatic resin. The honey/beeswax is occasionally more of the former, occasionally more of the latter, but generally a good balance between them. Holy crap, this is beautiful. It's simultaneously a scent for snuggling under the covers on a cold day, and for sweeping around majestically, aware of your own power and beauty. I love this.

My first Samhain, woohoo! In the imp: Wow, there's a lot going on here. It's mainly a spicy-fruity scent, but I wouldn't exactly call this a gourmand. It's rounded out by hints of woodsiness - sometimes sharp and green, sometimes earthy and almost damp-smelling. Very much a cool-weather scent, like walking through the woods between rain showers, with a cup of something warm in your gloved hands. Wet: The apple evaporates 99% entirely, and the sweet mulled spices 85%. What I'm left with is a fascinating scent that I thiiiiiink is mostly pumpkin and patchouli. TBH, it reminds me most of apple rootstock, woody pumpkin stems, and firewood laid out but not yet lit. There's also a note in here that reminds me of... hay? Cedar? Alfalfa? It reminds me of the way the hutches of my pet mice and guinea pigs used to smell, but in a good way. I think that might be the mullein, which I have zero experience with, but google tells me is a healing herb. It's almost a dry, dusty smell, while still remaining very vegetal. Huh, interesting! Dry: A beautiful balance between ITI and wet. The spices and apples (and I do agree that these are red apples) make a comeback, but the woodsy, pumpkin-y notes also hold their own. This one lasts for a looooooooong time - still discernible after 14 hours, albeit as an unexpected but distinct honey note. Overall, I wouldn't entirely call this a foodie scent, although the apples, spices, pumpkin, etc. are prominent. I guess this a scent of harvest, of storing fruits and vegetables in dry root cellars against the winter.

In the imp: Clean and spicy, dry and vegetal/herbal. This is a very distinctively SoCal scent - I'm a NorCal girl, but both sides of my family live in the L.A. area, so I'm very familiar with the scent of sun-baked sagebrush and grasses, almost sticky-resinous while still being a distinctly dry scent. Wet: An initial blast of juniper quickly settles down, allowing the other notes to come out and play. This is the scent of running around the sunbaked scrubland behind my grandparents' house, of hiking Malibu Creek before the sun gets *too* hot. I'm mostly familiar with L.A. in the summer, so a dry, aromatic scent like this is just perfect. Settles down to a skin-level scent remarkably quickly. Dry: Still sage and grasses sunbaked to the point of caramelization; softly aromatic. And I do mean softly - I've only had it on for 4 hours or so and I really have to huff to get anything. I've really been loving aromatic, herbal, sage-centric blends lately, and this one is a doozy! The low throw and softly herbal notes make it office-appropriate, but there's still something outdoorsy and a bit wild about it. Love this!

In the imp: A light, clean scent, but not soapy; more like clean air and running water. Right now I think I'm getting mainly the pale musk and sweet pea, although the sage is also evident, transforming the sweet pea from something unabashedly sweet and cotton-candy pink (as in Mouse's Long and Sad Tale) into something a little wilder, a little more complex. Wet: ...And there's that soap I was worried about. The sweet pea is more definitively itself, but the white musk is developing soapy overtones, as it sometimes does on my skin. It's nice soap, but still soap. Dry: I agree with roseus - this would make a great office/enclosed space scent. It gets very soft, very quickly, and the soap fades, albeit slowly. What's left is an herbal-floral take on "your skin but better" - like you've been gardening, or washed your hair with really really nice shampoo that morning, or just naturally smell amazing.

In the imp: The exact scent of a coastal redwood forest during/after rain: sweet, slightly floral, living greenery. I get a bit of musk at the back if I really sniff for it, but mostly it just smells like earth and wood. Wet: A much muskier, softer scent. There's an interestingly elusive floral element, but not ethereal like Zorya P. Just elusive in the sense of faint and far away - maybe hidden under some ferns around the next bend in the trail. Overall, there's very much a feeling of damp ferns and shade. Dry: Primarily a dark, definitely fruity musk, with the sage also still going strong, and maybe some woods? I'm surprised by how fruity-sweet this turned out to be, although the woody-herbal-ness is as lovely as I'd anticipated.

In the imp: Mainly a bright, clean aquatic. I've noticed that if a scent is described as having a "touch" of this or a "drop" of that, for some reason that's pretty much all I can smell, so it kinda makes sense that the "cleansing droplets of summer rain" are front and center here. Otherwise, some determined sniffing might reveal some very vague greenery, but they're not strong enough for me to distinguish sage vs. verbena vs. grass. Wet: An initial, worrying blast of soapy ginger settles down into... mildly soapy ginger, sweetened and smoothed out by verbena. It's still a light and clean scent, but an artificial rather than a natural one. Still no sage or amber, which are the two I was really hoping for. Dry: After a few hours, the soap fades entirely and it becomes a subtle, lovely herbal blend with just a faint hint of amber for resinous warmth, and a surprisingly long-lasting ginger/verbena kick. I hope some aging helps this phase develop, because it really is gorgeous. It wears very close to the body and feels like a secret.

In the imp: Coffee just the way I like it - so much simple syrup and vanilla extract you can hardly taste the coffee. Very foodie so far; if there is any dusty tomes or oakwood halls (crossing my fingers super hard for both), they're buried under all that sweetness. I'm mostly not a foodie kind of gal, but when I'm in the mood, this is the kind of scent I gravitate towards. Wet: Omgggggg, this smells exactly like my old job in the Special Collections and Rare Books division of a university library, with just a hint of someone's coffee caught in the recirculated air. Seriously, my first thought was, "OMG, my boss is going to go ballistic when she finds out that someone brought coffee into the Rare Books Room." (Which, btw, you should never, ever, ever, do. I've seen the effect of an accidental coffee spill on 150-year-old-paper, and let me tell you, it's not pretty.) But seriously, this is the old-books-and-libraries scent of my dreams! <3 With just a hint of unexpected coffee. Hmm, I wonder if there's a version of this with tea - that would be me, captured in scent form. Dry: Something, maybe the Bailey's in the Irish coffee, comes off as the vanillin that very old paper produces, completing the "ghost of illicit coffee in Special Collections" illusion. Why did I wait so long to try this??? It wears remarkably close to the skin throughout the day, and lasts a good 8-10 hours. At the tail end, a sort of chocolate-y coffee (mocha?) makes itself known, and blends with the lingering vanillic sweetness to make something a lot foodier, and a lot closer to ITI. In fact, it's reminiscent of my all-time favorite gourmand, and one of my favorite BPALs of all time, El Dia de los Reyes 2014. I'm utterly in love with every step of this scent.

In the imp: An initial whiff of rather soft, lovely lavender is almost immediately subsumed by a big ol' blast of bubblegum-y lotus. That's about all there is to it right now. Wet: Ah, there's the lavender! It starts out about 80% lotus and 20% lavender, but dials down to about 60-40 after a minute or so. That's... interesting. It's very WYSIWYG, and I'll never be a lotus lover, but the combination of dusty, cloying sweetness with dry, medicinal sharpness is certainly a sensory experience. Dry: Lotus all the way down, with the lavender making a surprise reappearance at the very end, about five hours in.