Lucchesa

A fabulous friend gave this decant to me. I had shied away due to aquatics never working on me. This came close, but in the end, the laundry detergent effect won out. But if you can do aquatics at all, this is a really interesting blend, and on me it had great throw and wear length. It starts with that almost chewy sea salt note from Eyeball Seaboar, which I love. Then I got the pale pink floral note of the peony, and finally the inky petroleum. But the dryer sheets were there too, and they eventually dominate the experience on my skin. Still, I'm super glad I got to try this, and I'm going to be looking for more sea salt blends.

Silver Dollar really does have a silvery feel to it. I can't really smell the benzoin, but the iris is a cool, powdery floral against the citrusy white tea and bergamot. It smells like the bathroom in the Four Seasons in Seattle (happy hour is affordable, really). This is not a criticism. Elegant, clean, and expensive. It's not really me, but I'm glad I had the chance to try it.

Wet, I was guessing that there was oudh of some description in She Perishes -- there was a note that wasn't pleasant on my skin. That calmed down pretty quickly and let the woods, resins and spices develop. It wasn't overly cinnamony on me; there was a kind of dry warm waft of spices as the top note and the balsams and resins underneath. Probably some of the other notes too that I'm less familiar with. A gentle, dry spice blend, quite nice but not a standout on me.

Wet, The Orb comes on with the blast of almond extract that is characteristic of almond notes on me. It's not noticeably bitter. That doesn't last long and is replaced by strong oudh, similar to the oudh in Nevertheless, She Persisted. This is right on the edge of my oudh comfort zone, and of course it's got good throw, so it makes me a little self-conscious. This stage lasts a bit over an hour, and then the notes find a beautiful balance on my skin, with the almond reemerging and the oudh calming down, so it seems like my experience was much like artisjok's, and like her, I enjoy it more and more the longer it wears. This is totally unisex, warm, a little nutty, and if you can rock the oudh, it would be a great power scent.

Testing blind, I got gentle rose with amber and myrrh. Think rose plus the amber of Haunted and the myrrh of Sloth. But even though it's a soft rose, it's really at least half the scent -- the rose, and the resins -- not a sixth of the scent (I know it never works that way, but I was hoping for more resins/musk than rose). I'm really not getting appreciable oudh, which is iffy on me, or black musk, which I love. The rose stays true on me, without going sour. If you love the rose/resin combination, with an emphasis on the rose, this is a must try.

Zmey Gorynich is gorgeous on me, but it takes about three hours to get there. Before that, it's all red musk. OK, and a little dragon's blood. Once it finally settles, it's a very sexy, musky, sweet-but-not-cloying leather blend, with a hint of resins and incense. I love the late drydown, but red musk and dragon's blood is not a duet I would choose if Beth made it, and that's what I get for the first three hours.

Clown White is foodier than I expected. I get almond too -- I'm glad to have that confirmed by other noses. It reminds me somewhat of Ooky without the lemon. Sweet, nutty, a little chalky, and quite long-lasting. I'm keeping this one!

Vishuddha on me is a lemony herbal, like a lemon verbena or lemongrass, with something dry and resiny, a little sharp, maybe even astringent. It dries down much softer, though it never becomes something I would pick out for the scent. However, as my profession intimately involves my voice, I will try working with Vishuddha in the context of the throat chakra and see what develops. This was an exceptionally thoughtful frimp from a lovely forumite!

SophieCedar's experience is very close to mine -- juicy orange and herbal/spicy brown notes, like a designer kitchen circa 1971. Once it dries down, I am still getting plenty of mandarin, not usually a long-lasting note on me. This is highly reminiscent of one of those pomanders at the Dickens Christmas Faire, orange and clove. There's some carnation too, very spicy clove-like carnation. Interesting, but not me somehow; I like all three of these notes, but not all together with nothing else.

A Flaming Sword is really nice. Red musk does sometimes take over on my skin too, but it stays in line here. There is nothing fecal about this oudh, just a kind of bittersweet depth behind the musky amber. Coconut contributes sweetness, and I'm getting a little honey as well though not much patch. I tend to be anosmic to the peppercorn note, and that holds true here. A gender-neutral red blend to keep you warm in desert wastes while fending off lions. ETA Tried this again a few months later and it went all red musk on me. RED MUSK, sweet oudh, RED MUSK, amber, and that was about it. Great throw, though.

Buck Moon 2017 is really lovely. It reminds me of Coyote but with a spark of ozone instead of the amber. Ozone is an iffy note on me, but it settles down quickly into cool forest and then Buck Moon gradually warms up on my skin, ending up with musk and fur and soft pine and dry underbrush. I rarely get much throw, nor do I here, but this lasts a long time on me. I'm looking forward to my 2019 decant!

Lupers were so deep this year that this didn't make my cut for decants, and I'm only trying it now thanks to a generous swap partner. Humorous Copulation is delightful. At first it's all lemon curd, and hurray for creamy sweet lemon curd! Then I get the bright tea note and the sweet lotus, which pulls more and more of the weight over time, but it doesn't go bubble gum on me here, perhaps tempered by the tart lemon peel. I don't get a lot of amber in the cream -- it may develop more with aging -- but this is a lovely, lighthearted spring-summer scent, safe for work.

Adventure with Bandits is peach candy on me. OK, there's a little gardenia, too. I was hoping the frank would keep it from going too sweet, but it barely shows up on my skin. Peach, peach, peach!

I had a strange reaction to Robe of Pomegranates. I actually applied it twice because I couldn't tell that it was on my wrist. In other words, wet, I could barely make it out. There are a few scents that my skin seems to devour immediately, but this isn't in the usual category for that (which is library). All these notes are usually perfectly clear on me. It was the oddest thing. Within about half an hour, my skin seemed to let go of the scent and let it emerge. It was still fainter than most blends on me, and it was hard to make out individual notes, but I got a sense of its personality. Warm, grounded, gentle. It's not a big juicy pomegranate; it's certainly not an indolic oudh. It's all subtly woven together, like a robe, I guess. It's beautiful and I wish my chemistry let it shine a bit more.

Tuberose is usually a hard pass for me, but this was a gift from a spectacular forumite (and I'd forgotten about the tuberose). I do like gardenia, and all the other notes are favorites, so I was curious to see how much tuberose there would be. And there is a lot. The gardenia and tuberose are all I can make out when it's wet. This is a white floral, in case you were in doubt. Too floral for me, but if you dig femme white florals, this one is complicated and lovely, with the vanilla musk and ambergris and mysterious pale incense becoming more assertive in later drydown.

Fruity scents are rarely my jam, but I was intrigued by this one because of the vetiver, which I tend to enjoy, and it was gifted to me by an exceptionally generous and all-around gorgeous forumite. It is indeed better and more interesting on me than most berry scents, which tend to turn candy-like on me. The vetiver is more of the grassy than the smoky variety, and the currant is bright and tart. The raspberry is still a little too sweet for me, not tempered enough by the vetiver for my tastes, but if you are a lover of berry scents, this will probably be delightful on you, even if you usually fear vetiver. Medium wear length.

No one has mentioned Alice! This was my very first BPAL imp and instant love. Elf is my favorite of the RPGs. Summer forest in dappled light. My tastes have become darker but both are still an instant mood boost, worn mainly spring & summer. I already mentioned Lights of Men's Lives. Fall: Sin, Chimera, Depraved Winter blends: Haunted, Sloth, Black Rider, Coyote When I gave a bunch of imps to a close friend, she bonded with Oblivion. She's on her third bottle, I think, but has no interest in trying EVERYTHING the way I do. She found her signature scent and she's happy.

I have to concur with zanzoku_zen. There is stealth oudh, of the barnyard variety, in He'd Been an Angel Once. Black oudh would be my guess. I can't wear it. If you are an oudh enthusiast, this might age into something nice, but I had to wash it off.

I'm very surprised I never reviewed Phantom Calliope because it is one of my favorites, especially in fall. It's a gorgeous sweet spicy rich cherry-cassis-cardamom-patchouli -- work appropriate, makes me smile every time I smell it. Unfortunately, the original formulation causes me a mild skin reaction, which I have gotten from a couple of older cardamom blends, but I can wear the 2015 just fine.

I was super curious about this one, and it's lovely, but my skin just ate it right up. Maybe an indigo musk, something gently herbal, and some ozone, totally gender neutral, really evocative. After 30 minutes on my middle-aged skin, it's almost imperceptible.

I don't care for mint as a perfume note, but Colder and Colder was frimped to me, so I gave it a shot. Wet, it's a lot of mint, spearmint and peppermint, so if you like mint, this would definitely be worth seeking out. As it dries down, the white musk, another iffy note on me, becomes more prominent. Eventually it's very similar to the minty version of the BPAL snow note. I can appreciate that it is a nice, clean, cool, unisex smell, but it's not me.

I've been intrigued by Stormclouds over the Midway for a long time and finally swapped for a decant. I love anise and it keeps coming up in reviews, but it didn't emerge on my skin. Instead, the wormwood/opium combo ended up more lemony and floral than anisey or tarry on me, and the one really tricky note for my chemistry, ozone, dominated over the lovely plum incense. And my skin ate it up completely within 3 hours. So I'm still looking for an anisey plum incense blend. I'm glad I got to try this, though!

Liz is very smoky on me, though not BBQ, thankfully. Smoke and leather with a hint of vanilla. The smoke note is one that usually does not stand up well to my skin chemistry, so I'm pleased that it is so forward here; in fact, this is so smoky I would hesitate to wear it to work (for the "Eww, do I smell smoke?" reaction). After a couple of hours it's intensely lovely -- all the notes have found a balance, vanilla, light perfume (I don't get anything I would call floral), leather and smoke. Really nice!

Trevor Bruttenholm belongs to a category of scents (Hellfire, The Buggre All This Bible, etc.) that my chemistry just obliterates. The old books and incense of the decant disappear immediately on my skin. Practically everything disappears, actually -- I have to hold my wrist almost touching my nose to make out anything. It settles into a very faint bay rum cologne. I want to love these scents so badly, but my skin just doesn't let them be appreciated.

2019 Smut, and apparently I never reviewed my other Smut decant either, which I think is 2013. 2019 is lighter, less voluptuous, but I suspect in six years it may smell quite like my older decant. Sweet, boozy, almost fruity musk -- one of those musks is definitely of the red persuasion, but it doesn't take over completely. Whereas the above reviewer gets root beer, I get something suggestive of rum and coke (that sounds kind of disgusting, but it's very pleasant). However, it's not so boozy or so smutty that it can't be worn to the office, especially the 2019 version which wears very close to my skin. I find Smut a fun, sexy, I-feel-and-smell-great blend to wear, not an I-will-bring-you-to-your-knees-and-you-will-worship-me kind of blend. The older one is definitely deeper with more staying power but again, that may come with age.