DiesMali

I don't know HOW I haven't reviewed this yet, because I've had this bottle for a while and it's one of my absolute favourites. In the bottle: Cigar tobacco and rose. Wet on my skin: Smoky, resinous rose. Deep, rich, enticing, and just gorgeous even at this stage. Dry: This is one of my all-time favourite BPAL scents, and definitely my favourite GC rose blend. This is a blend of a bunch of my favourite notes, and it works absolutely gloriously on my skin, combining to make a rich, sexy, smoky rose-resin blend with wisps of vanilla sweetening it. The rose is unmistakably sweet, white rose, not the deep red or even juicy pink used in other BPAL perfumes. The tobacco in this is the other primary standout note, and it's the sweet, smoky cigar tobacco that so many of us resin/incense lovers rave about. This entire scent is so well-blended and beautifully harmonious on my skin that I hardly even want to pick the notes apart, even though I can sense them all in there and I know they're all playing their part in making this scent so intoxicatingly gorgeous on me. Beautiful. Just...the best. Unnngh.

I just had that happen in my last order! I thought it was just a fluke, but maybe not. The cap on one of my imps sheared almost cleanly a millimeter or two above the top of the glass when I tried to open it. I had to turn it into a room spray after I tested it because I didn't have any other way to store it or move it to a new bottle. :/

In the bottle: Warm, creamy, syrupy. Wet on my skin: ...waffles? What? Dry: I swear on a stack of various holy books, this ends up smelling like warm, buttery buttermilk-batter Belgian waffles with maple/butter-pecan syrup. There's hardly any rose on my skin, but it's all buttery golden-brown and very, very foodie on me. I smell like waffles. Or maybe pancakes, though not quite as sweet as American pancakes tend to be. And there's definitely a bit of spice, like a sprinkle of nutmeg or something on top of all the butter and golden-brown fried batter. OH. OH. I KNOW. FUNNEL CAKE. The base in this smells like funnel cake, but with butter and syrup. This is really making me hungry. For waffles, or funnel cake. BRB going to IHOP.

In the bottle: Heady, juicy wine and a little rose. Wet on my skin: For just a minute, this smells like jelly on my skin, but THEN...omg. As it settles into my skin, it blooms into this gorgeous, rich, heady wine-rose-incense. Dry: This is a perfect scent. Just absolutely perfect, at least if you like wine and roses. I was hoping this wouldn't be too similar to my other wine blends, but I HAD to get it because I knew these notes would be to die for. I WAS RIGHT. This is an incredibly well-blended scent that dries down to dark rose-wine and juicy black poppy, with myrrh glittering about on the edges of each sniff. I can pick out a light, velvety sort of patchouli if I inhale deeply. This is a black and burgundy scent, but not heavy and thick like velvet. No, this is black and burgundy silk, exquisitely smooth and light, yet somehow still warm and luxurious. Temple incense! Yes, this is like temple incense. And wine, and flowers. Unghhh. I might require a backup of this.

This is a bottle of the 2015 Liaison, purchased last year. It was nice, but not WOW, when I first tried it, so I stuck it in a box and aged it 10 months. In the bottle: Mostly honey and clove. Wet on my skin: Thick, dark, powdery musk with waxy honey, clove, a hint of tea, and something floral. It's absolutely gorgeous at this stage. Dry: This just just drop-dead gorgeous on me after aging since last Lupercalia. The thick, dark musk subsides a bit and blends in with that waxy pollen-filled honey and clove, and the tea and jonquil come out now. Surprisingly, the frankincense and sandalwood take a back seat for the first hour or so of wear, providing just a hint of glittering incense in the background of the other sweetly-musky notes. After an hour, the frankincense does come out a little bit more, but the primary notes on my skin remain sweet, dark, musky/pollen-y honeycomb, tea, clove, and jonquil for the full duration of the scent. It lasts a LONG time on my oil-sucking skin, in excess of 6 hours, and it's so lovely now that I think I'll likely need to track down a backup bottle.

In the imp: Sweet, ambery lotus. Wet on my skin: This is mostly amber, lotus, and saffron when wet. It's really lovely at this stage! Dry: Soft, warm, golden, and a little spicy. This is a beautiful scent, soft and a bit understated, and there's something a bit honey-like about it on my skin. The primary notes on my skin are amber, lotus, myrrh, and saffron, in that order. The musk, cardamom, and almond give it a sweet, fuzzy softness, and I swear this scent's colour (in my mind) looks like the fur of an Abyssinian cat. It doesn't have a whole lot of throw once dry, but is still beautiful close to the skin. I suspect it'd have a lot more throw if slathered, but it might be overpoweringly sweet if I did that. May have to test that theory. Either way, this is actually a very pretty scent, and one of my favourites of the GCs I have tried as of late.

In the bottle: Faint, creamy lotus. Wet on my skin: Sweet, juicy, creamy fig and lotus. Dry: This is just beautiful on me. It's mostly sweet, creamy vanilla and fig with soft lotus wafting about. There's a hint of something almost a little citrusy, and I think that's the ylang ylang, but thankfully it's not quite as sharp on me as ylang ylang often is. There's just a hint of incense in the background, and keeps this from going TOO sweet and fluffy on my skin. I love this scent, and I think it may be a go-to for when I need to calm down or cheer up a little. Soft, sweet, fuzzy, comforting. Oh, and it's pastel blue and pastel pink in my mind.

In the imp: Pretty much just dragon's blood. Wet on my skin: Slightly dry and spicy dragon's blood. Dry: This isn't quite as dry and dusty as I expected, but I like it just the same! It's delicate, papery-feeling dragon's blood, sweet and faintly spicy and just a little powdery. It's actually something of a sad scent on me, and gives a distinct air of ancient melancholy. Probably don't need a bottle, but I may keep an imp of this around even after I've finished this one. Dragon's blood is really quite pretty on my skin, and this reminds me of that for the second time lately.

In the imp: Floral tea, almost like jasmine green tea. Wet on my skin: Same as in the imp. Dry: The floral sweetness fades and the herbal tea note strengthens as this dries. It's a very clean, light tea with hints of flower petals. It is pretty while it lasts, but it fades fairly quickly, though, and I have other tea scents that I'd likely reach for before this one. I'll pass this on to someone whose skin doesn't make it poof in 30 minutes!

In the imp: This smells like unfiltered wildflower honey! Wet on my skin: The whole time this is wet, it's almost a wildflower honey single note. Dry: Ahhh, there's the fig! I love the Lab's fig note, and I got really excited when I searched the notes on this and found it had fig in it! I was a bit worried at first, when it was nothing but honey, but now it's actually very lovely. This is honeyed figs with a hint of creamy almond and just a touch of coconut. I'm not really detecting sandalwood, but I think there might be a wisp of it very close to the skin, at the end of a deep inhalation. This is a beautiful scent, and I'm so glad the Lab sent it to me!

In the imp: Pure, gooey pine pitch. Wet on my skin: Gooey pine pitch and a hint of herbaceous leaves. Dry: This doesn't change a whole lot as it dries, except some spicy cedar wood joins the pine pitch and herbal green leaves. There's almost no sweetness from the cranberry, and I think it actually adds much more to the tart sharpness of the scent. It's very foresty and piney, and maybe a little too much so for my skin, which is a real feat since I love foresty evergreen scents. I have a feeling that aging will do nice things to this, however, so I'm going to stick it in my dark box and leave it. If nothing else, it'll be amazing for scenting my mom's Christmas tree next year!

In the imp: Very faint, watery flowers. Wet on my skin: Strong, dewy hyacinth and white lily. Dry: As this dries, it's exactly what the notes are - soft, feminine, green-white mourning flowers. A little soapy, as floral-only blends tend to do on my skin. I actually really like the hyacinth and lily combination, and while I wouldn't wear this on its own, I might try layering it with something woodsy or foresty and see what that does to it.

In the imp: Ashtray smoke. That means vetiver! Yay! Wet on my skin: Rich, chewy, smoky vetiver. I liiiiike it already. Dry: This is reminiscent of one of my favourite "black and dirty" LE scents, A Grievous Swarm. It's slinky vetiver and spicy/incensed wood ash, and I'm fairly sure there is tobacco and maybe a little touch of anise in here as well. It's got that smoky-sweet-chewy sort of thing that the Lab's tobacco does on me. This is a really, really nice scent. It's dark and masculine, and just a touch on the aftershave/cologne side of things, but in a very very sexy way. While I don't need a bottle of this yet, due to its being so similar to A Grievous Swarm on my skin, I am so happy to know there's a GC go-to for when I eventually run out of that one. Actually, maybe I should pick up a bottle of this one so it can age...either way, I WILL need some of this eventually.

In the imp: A strange, slightly sweet mishmash of herbs. Wet on my skin: Lots of labdanum and ambergris and dark flowers. Dry: This is just okay on me. It's not bad at all, but nor am I mind-blown. It's a strange mix of sweet herbs and florals, and also salty aquatic from the ambergris. The notes are somewhat discordant on my skin, so I think I'm going to need to set this aside and age it for a while, then re-review it after it's aged six months or more.

In the imp: Apple! Wet on my skin: You know how ground-fallen apples smell when they start to rot and get squishy and have blackened edges along bites/cuts in the skin? That's this. Sharp and sour and unpleasant. Dry: I tried to wait for it to dry completely, but nope. Nooope. Headache-inducing and stomach-turning. Had to wash it off, which is so rare for BPAL scents. I'm sorry.

In the imp: Juicy, smutty patchouli. Wet on my skin: ...Snake Oil? What? This smells very reminiscent of my 2009 Snake Oil! Dry: Okay, I'm gonna need a bottle of this. My skin loves patchouli as much as patchouli loves it, and my skin just takes this and RUNS with it. This is sexy, spicy, warmly-sweet patchouli with just a hint of ginger. The orange blossom turns to spicy vanilla on me, and it smells so gooood. Oh my. It's definitely not stinky/dirty hippie patchouli, oh no. This is SEXY and I love it. It really does all combine to smell similar to aged Snake Oil, but just patchouli-earthy enough that it is its own scent. Need. Instant love.

In the imp: Wet jasmine and honeysuckle. Wet on my skin: Much the same as in the imp, with wet jasmine and honeysuckle. Just a hint of lavender. It's a bit soapy on me at this stage. Dry: Ths smells very much like a fancy soap one of my friends made for me once, using essential oils that I'm pretty sure were almost the same as the oils in this. It's got some nice memories behind it! This is my first time with the Lab's honeysuckle note, and I think I'll have to try it again in another fragrance. Unfortunately, floral-only scents without something else to ground them or dirty them up just turn to soap on me, so this will probably have to be a room spray or a giveaway instead of a me-scent.

In the imp: Smells a little bit like a mentholated ashtray, which means it's probably got patchouli in it. Wet on my skin: A little bit of dark soil, and MINT and PINE. Sinus-clearing mint and pine...and juniper! Very realistic, actually. Dry: This isn't much in the way of dirt on me. Instead, it's bright, freshly-cut juniper, pine, and some minty goodness as well. What little dirt there is is in the background, underneath all the evergreen tang. It's a nose-clearing sort of scent, but I actually quite like it. It is very GREEN. And a little blue, too, like blue spruce blue.

In the imp: Green and sweet! Wet on my skin: The throw from this smells almost exactly like newly-fermented palm wine. The kind made with fresh palm sap. OH man, this is a serious scent memory here. Dry: This is such an unusual scent, and unlike anything I've tried from BPAL so far. Closer to the skin, it's green ferns wet with sea spray, but the throw still smells almost exactly like that freshly-fermented sweet palm wine. Not the really strong stuff fermented for a day or so, but the white, sweet stuff that's been tapped from the tree 4-5 hours ago and chilling in the fridge ever since. It's very hard to describe to someone who hasn't tried it, but this is that. This smells like a tropical African market. It's actually really nice, and I'm glad to have tried it.

In the imp: Sharp, chemically amber. Wet on my skin: This is somewhat unpleasant on me when it's wet, despite my skin usually liking amber. It's sharp and chemical. Dry: Thankfully, this calms down once it dries. It's a rich, spicy amber with what smells like some cinnamon and maybe nutmeg. It isn't terribly complex and doesn't morph once it's completely dried, but it is pretty. I won't need more than this imp, probably, as I have other amber scents I prefer to this one and which don't have that initial 10-15 minutes of weird, unpleasant sharpness.

In the imp: Thick, woodsy musk. Wet on my skin: Sandalwood and red musk, with just a teeny bit of amber. Dry: This is very, very similar to Venus Victrix on me. It's primarily red musk and sandalwood on me, a bit lumber store-ish, but in a good way. The rosewood contributes and gives it a slightly sweet undertone, and the amber comes out just enough to give it a faintly resinous feel. It is a powerful and "strong" scent, not just in terms of throw, but it's like a scent I might wear to inspire me during a hard workout. It remains almost identical to Venus Victrix as it wears, though I think I may actually prefer this slightly due to the amber. Will need to test them side by side to decide if I'll get a bottle of this and sell VV, or keep my VV and just have the imp of this one.

Disclaimer: Violet is not my thing. It almost always ends up smelling like overly-sweet kids' bubble bath on me. In the imp: Purple kids' shampoo. Wet on my skin: I get a strong blast of purple flowery kids' bubble bath, and then it disappears almost entirely. Dry: POOF. I can smell a hint of powdery purple violet and a bit of chilly mint, and just a tad of something earthy and green, but the scent almost just disappears on my skin within 10-15 minutes. I can only smell it if I put my nose right up next to my wrist. It's the least offensive violet scent I've tried so far, but probably not something I'd wear even if it hadn't gone poof. To the giveaway pile!

In the imp: Bitter ashes. Wet on my skin: Bitter ashes and I think pine smoke. Dry: Surprisingly wearable once it dries down! This is a woodsy, incensed, ashy scent. I recognise vetiver and sandalwood, and ginger, and what I'm fairly sure is pine pitch and/or pine ash. There's also something camphorous in it, which gives it a nostril-tingling sharpness when inhaled deeply. After a while, a hint of something a little sweeter comes out, and I think it might be citrus, but thankfully it doesn't turn to bathroom cleaner due to the dry/incense notes. This is a little bit reminiscent of the old Tiger Balm recipe, though not quite as sharp and medicinal. It's a fairly masculine scent, but very wearable on my skin. I don't think I'll need more than an imp, since I have other smoky/fire scents I prefer and have bottles of, but I'll definitely use up the imp!

In the imp: Musky wood. Wet on my skin: This does not start off very good on my skin, despite having several notes that normally work well on me. Musty, musky, and oddly like cinnamon bark. Dry: It had potential, and it's not awful, but it's not really something I think I will wear. I like most of the notes in this individually, but they're just not working well in combination on my skin. I think it might be the mango that's taking this from spicy-musky to musty-sweet, and it just isn't doing it for me. I can detect all of the notes, and the agarwood, sandalwood, and red musk give this a very nice base. The cassia is, I think, what's giving it the decidedly cinnamony quality. Overall, it smells like dusty potpourri on me. Not unpleasant, but not something I will wear again.

Disclaimer: I knew this likely wouldn't work on me, but I have a personal policy of testing all imps even if they have my death notes, which in this case are grapefruit and tangerine. In the imp: Sharp, green-ish citrus. Wet on my skin: This actually starts off smelling rather pretty on me, with sugared lime and lavender, and the grapefruit in the background. Dry: Sigh. There are sniffs where this smells lovely, almost like a tropical, fruit-infused tea. I can detect lavender, grapefruit, tangerine, sugary lime, and just a hint of mint. The oakmoss ALMOST saves this on my skin, but not quite. For every sniff where I get that beautiful tropical drink scent, I then get a sniff where it smells like cleaning fluid and/or medicinal cough drops. I really wanted to like this because of the concept, but alas, grapefruit and my skin just don't get along. Period. I'll make this into a room spray, because I think it'd smell lovely that way.