Lucchesa

I received Pleasures of the Imagination II in a circular swap from a super generous forumite, and it has a reducer cap which I'm not used to, so I got a bit too much on my first try. And wet, it was LEATHER. All the leather. Leather, leather, leather. I'm not going to weigh in on the color of the leather except to say that it's not the super new, not-quite-cured-completely leather of The Red Rider. It reminds me more of the leather in Adam, and checking my notes, that's black leather. So I guess I am going to weigh in on the color of the leather. I haven't worn The White Rider in a while and am curious to try these side by side. For the first 20 minutes or so on my skin, this is single note leather, and strong. I got more throw than I usually do with my chemistry, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. But soon enough the leather calmed down and let the sandalwood and tobacco through. This isn't dark, sweet, chewy French tobacco; it's drier and more ethereal. More cerebral, maybe. Like a dominatrix who's also an intellectual. The leather continues to be the most prominent note, and on me this is more a power scent than a snuggly one. It's sexy, because powerful confident people are sexy, but it's not out to seduce. I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this!

My House of Night is obviously a well-aged imp. It goes on very green, like the dewy stem note you sometimes see in scent descriptions. The bouquet is definitely present; the boughs are in the background. But damp foliage (rather nicer than I'm making it sound) was my initial impression. It's a lighter weight scent (I had something dark and heavy on the other wrist), yet it lasted quite a long time, though I didn't get any throw. After a couple of hours, the spiciness that other reviewers have mentioned emerged for me, and a sweetness as well. Nothing soapy or powdery. I ended up liking it better than I expected. House of Night felt very BPAL to me -- I can't think of another scent it's quite like, maybe Burial without the dirt, but it definitely has Beth's signature on it.

Salzburg Krampuslauf was gorgeous on initial application -- bright and cheerful, like sunshine on snow, with more Dorian than Snake Oil on me, and a little wood and leather rounding it out. I got a little throw from it too, more than I usually get. Unfortunately, this is one of the non-Snow-White snow notes that doesn't work on my skin, and it goes soapy after about 45 minutes. My sister really liked it though, so I may need to get her a bottle.

Carry Me is lovely. With lavender scents I usually get a strong initial blast of lavender which fades all too quickly. I think because this is a lavender fougere, the lavender is not as strong as usual initially, but it is steadier and longer lasting. Like ramblingrambler, I also got a hint of lemon, but I like to grate a little lemon peel into sugar cookie batter, so that's what it made me think of. Sweet, gentle lavender and sugary vanilla, for a night or day comfort boost.

Gingerbread, Coffee Bean and Smoked Vanilla is mellow and really nice on me, an excellent winter comfort scent. I had my decanter combine my Yule BPAL and BPTP orders, which held up the former, so my decant has perhaps aged a bit more than everyone else's before their first test. So let this rest at least a couple of weeks before you decide it isn't for you. I do get coffee bean. It isn't strong -- this is a low-key scent in general -- but it's definitely present and highly comforting. As far as the gingerbread, it's not the dark, sticky, blackstrap molasses type as in Gingerbread, Vetiver and Black Clove from a couple of years ago. It's more of a light, spicy gingerbread, with an extra dollop of not particularly smoky vanilla. If you missed Goblin Stampede, this is a good substitute.

I love Third Lash! White fir is one of my very favorite evergreen notes, and it's just beautiful with the thyme. I'm not sure I can really pick out the olibanum -- it's not the super dry frankincense that reads as cedar on my skin, at any rate. This mellows and sweetens slightly in drydown. The soft leather in the background isn't evident wet but becomes more and more a part of the scent as it dries down. Totally unisex, with a little throw (which is pretty good for my skin) and good wear length.

Meowwwrr! I used to be afraid of civet, but then I tried debauchery. I mean, Debauchery. And Yule Cat sounded edgy but wonderful, which is just about right. Wet, it seems very evergreeny, though I think all the listed notes are deciduous trees. Actually, who the hell knows what goosefoot is? Dark, sexy branches, mossy vetiver. Yeah, it may skew a little masculine, but I have no problem with that. A tiny bit of sweetness appears in drydown, which is snugglicious without losing its edge of wildness. Low throw, but that's normal for me. Such a keeper!

Seraglio was something I tried early on in my BPAL journey and liked but never reviewed. I retested this morning, and it's not a "me" enough scent to be devastated that it's been discontinued, though it is quite lovely. Almond notes usually come on very strong when wet and fade quickly, and that is the case here, where it's all ALMOND for the first ten minutes before the rose, spices and citrus become part of the experience. I don't wear rose very often, but this is a nice, middle-of-the-road rose, not sour, not too heady. Kind of a warm rose, if that makes any sense. I don't really smell the sandalwood, but I think it's there, unifying all the other notes. No throw on me (which is normal for my skin) and average wear length.

The Hamptons is mainly ocean spray cranberry juice on me, sweet-tart, bright reddish pink in color, with just a hint of lime. It's not particularly boozy on me, and "effervescent" (i.e. champagne scents and the like) is a category I usually avoid. But I can see this having anti-depressant qualities on the right wearer -- it has a spirit-lifting vibe. Try this if you like bright, fruity, sweet-tart summery blends.

Katharina ought not to be as nice as it is on me. The white musk doesn't go soapy or screechy, and the orange blossoms stay creamy and subtle. So I get a bright, pretty, and sweet apricot scent on a musky ground with scattered orange blossoms. Very light and fresh and springtime-y, kind of girlish. On my skin, this doesn't match my interpretation of Kate; it's too sweet, not "willful" enough. But this might be a great enabling scent, as it is very pretty and unchallenging. (I prefer Depraved and Carnal for my GC apricot fix. And the sadly DC'd Grand Guignol.)

First Lash went on very green, woodsy and a little harsh. I expected it to mellow on my skin, and within 30 minutes it had settled in nicely. It never sweetened the way pine does on me, but it softened considerably. Dry, it was still green and bright and woodsy with a little smoke and amber, and eventually a woody frankincense becomes more prominent. This is a lovely, outdoorsy unisex scent with some smolder to it. Low throw (normal for me) but a nice long wear length; First Lash outlasted Hearthflame and Incense on me. Decisions, decisions!

I tested Hearthflame and Incense and First Lash at the same time since they share similar notes and I wanted to deathmatch them. First Lash started out green and a little harsh on me, while H&I was richer and deeper right off the bat, with a bit of sweetness -- dark burgundy rather than green in color. It developed into lovely resiny woodsmoke with an afterglow of frankincense. It wore close to the skin on me, which is normal for me, and lasted a few hours, though not as long as First Lash did. I think I like this one a tiny bit more than first lash, but they are both very nice on me.

On me, Tenth Lash starts out with a blast of sweet cherry almond, like a marzipan treat topped with maraschino cherries, lots of them. It's too sweet even for me, and I crave marzipan scents. But this gooey opening quickly gives way into something more like I expected from the notes: almond that has a slightly bitter edge, dry cacao, and patch vying with syrupy cherry. This stage I like a lot, and I think it will age well, with the patchouli contributing more structure as it matures. It wears pretty close to the skin on me, which is normal for my chemistry.

Have you ever written in a review of a patchouli blend that you wished you could bathe in it? You CAN! I had avoided Hedonism because ylang ylang is generally bad on me, but an extremely kind forumite gifted me a bottle, and it is magnificent. Don't let the ylang put you off: this is all about the patch. I didn't actually bathe in it; I smoothed it all over my dry winter skin when I stepped out of the shower. So luxurious. It's patch patch patch on me with a little bright citrus, a breath of floral (without the bottle description, I couldn't have told you which one), and the subtle darkening of myrrh. But mainly patch. I feel like a hippie love goddess. This should layer beautifully with any patchouli-forward scent.

I love Pumpkin Tobacco, and I love Gingerbread, Vetiver and Black Clove. This is that tobacco but not that gingerbread. It's a gorgeous rich chewy tobacco with -- agreeing here with some of the other reviews -- the dry baking spices that go into gingerbread, but not the toothsome dark stickiness of gingerbread itself, and I get a lot more tobacco than spices (which might balance out over time). It's actually quite similar to Pumpkin Tobacco on my skin, which is wonderful, but since I have a bottle of that, I don't need a bottle of Gingerbread Tobacco.

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I added Blackcurrant Glogg to my decant order. Looking back, there are half a dozen other scents in the update that are closer to my wheelhouse. Wine is generally bad on me; blackcurrant is hit or miss, usually miss. So take this review with a grain of salt. Wet, I get the grape syrup my skin usually turns wine into, made even sweeter by the sugar and boozier by the brandy. The spice trio is really faint on me, but the wild blackcurrant, which I can't distinguish from regular blackcurrant, and the orange peel are very much in evidence. So fruit, booze, sugar and a little citrus, and it does have a festive feel to it. It's actually a perfectly pleasant scent, and I would love to taste it at a holiday party. It's just not what I tend to wear as perfume.

If I had had a chance to read the reviews, with the persistent mention of mintiness, before ordering decants, I probably would have skipped this one. Mint is near the top of my no, thank you notes. But the listed notes all sound so lovely. So wet, of course I get red musk and mint. Assuming there's no actual stealth mint in here, I tried to prise it out. I think some of it is from that almost camphorous black patchouli you get sometimes. Or maybe it's the opium -- my skin turned Laudanum into peppermint toothpaste without any mint note, as I recall. Even against powerful notes like red musk and black patch, the mint kept holding its own, which was not what I signed up for. After two hours, Red and Black Candy Canes becomes the scent I had hoped for from the description (or, in starbrow's words, evil candy canes). Sweet, spicy opium-tinged red musk against a backdrop of patch. This is the red musk I long for, sultry but not all-encompassing. I love this. But I don't love that it took two hours to get here. I wonder if aging will bring it into line faster.

An exceptionally generous forumite has given me some bath oil, which I use not in the bath but as after-shower moisturizer. Phlox is the first one I tried because I thought it would pair beautifully with Water of Notre Dame (and I was right). I don't enjoy wearing all-floral blends much, but a single flower is a different story, not sure why. Phlox is a lovely, creamy pink scent, kind of old-fashioned and innocent. I do think it has more of a spring-summer vibe than a January one, but it put a little spring into this January day. I can see it layering beautifully with a number of non-phlox-containing scents. It has just enough throw and has lasted really well. Delightful!

On my skin, Burial starts out as a sharp blast of evergreens, mostly juniper; I would have guessed cypress too. It stays a pure forest scent for a long time before I start to get some rose as well, and only after a couple of hours can I perceive a bit of the Lab's lovely soil note, which I was hoping for much more of here. Juniper is not my favorite evergreen, rose is not my favorite floral, and I wanted more dirt, so this wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I will stick with Deep in Earth.

It is abundantly obvious to me why Glowing Vulva inspires so much love. Both teak and lotus can turn cloying on me, and cream is iffy too, so this was by no means a guaranteed win, but it turns into one of those gorgeous creamy sweet florals Beth does so magnificently. Teak is the sweetest of woods on my skin, and it provides the background here for warm, creamy amber and soft pink lotus blossom. I get good throw for the first couple of hours (which is unusual for me), then it wears much closer to the skin, but it has lasted over ten hours now. This manages to be both innocent and utterly sexy. I'm so thrilled I got a chance to try it.

I finally got to try Tintagel! Most of these notes are really good on me; wine and dragon's blood are problematic, but with everything else going on, I hoped they would behave. And they do, for the most part. I get a lot of spicy mulled wine, not the sweet grape note my skin usually turns wine into, with some woods and leather. It does go through a phase where the dragon's blood and berry are more prominent than I would like, but it eventually settles into a kind of musky, warm, woody mulled wine. It does have something of a Yule vibe but is more complicated than a holiday mix of spices and evergreens. This is a marvelously evocative scent -- I can almost see the banners arrayed around the feasting tables, like in one of those long descriptive passages in George R. R. Martin .

I get more orange blossom from Succubus than I get citrus per se. (I actually prefer the sharper tones of neroli or bergamot.) It dries down into an orange blossom-mimosa that flirts with soapiness and has just a whisper of clove; it does not amp. Very gentle overall, no throw (which is normal for me) and about average wear length. It seems like a very classic GC to me.

Old Yerevan has been on my wishlist for ages, and a generous forumite recently shared some with me. I don't wear fruit as much as I did earlier, or florals for that matter, and Yerevan is dominated by the stone fruits when wet. As it dries, I get a little pomegranate, but more of the sweet than the tart variety, and some rose, and eventually it's all floating on a gentle cloud of musk, which reminds me a bit of The Voice of the Lobster -- not that the notes are the same, but the structure of the fruits and flowers over a musky base. I'm delighted I got to try this, and I would have loved it earlier in my BPAL journey, but it doesn't have great staying power on me, and it's not really in line with my current tastes.

Tiki King is a woody, lemony coconut on me, with the dry feeling I associate with the coconut husk note in other blends. Except for the lemon which it may be contributing to, I don't get any black musk until much later in drydown. Unfortunately, my skin eats this up in about 30 minutes, after which it lingers on for a few hours (and the black musk comes out) but is very faint. I will stick with my Startled Toad for my lemony unisex coconut needs.

A generous forumite shared a decant of Jupiter with me, and I am definitely going to use the whole decant as a power scent. Wet, it does go on surprisingly sweet. I didn't specifically smell chocolate; it was more fruity to me, though I couldn't say specifically which fruit - something dark like plum or currant, maybe. This may skew a little masculine but that's the way I like it. As it dried down, Jupiter became more and more wood dominant. Definitely cedar, maybe some red sandalwood or patch or redwood as well. Something tall and strong. Which is not to say that the throw is strong, because I get hardly any (which is normal for my skin). The late drydown is soft woods with a little sweetness. It's not an I-will-crush-you sort of power; it's more of an I-am-the-power-embodied-in-trees-and-earth. And I like it.