Lucchesa

A Thought from Propertius is bizarre on me. I don't know what it smells like, but it's not honey and apricot with a dash of cayenne. Oh, I'm getting the cayenne, a kind of kick to the back of my sinuses more than a smell. But the honey-apricot combo goes weird on my skin. I have had honey do this in the past, I just can't remember which blend, though usually BPAL honey is really good on me. I had to pull out my bottle of L'Agonie to remind myself how much I can enjoy an apricot-honey blend. After a couple of hours it gets less cloying, but this one clearly is not going to work on my skin chemistry. Pass.

Chintamani-Dhupa (2013) is very pleasant sweet, fruity sandalwood incense on me. I'm not really getting any pine notes. It has no throw and only lasts about three hours on my middle-aged skin. I'm tempted to keep the imp because it truly is lovely, though I'm not sure how much I will wear it. It might be a good blend for wearing to yoga.

Chuparosa is an absolutely gorgeous pink color in the imp. Wet on my skin, it smelled like dragon's blood and rosewater to me, maybe honeysuckle and guava, lovely. Then a few minutes later I decided I hadn't put enough on because I could barely smell it anymore. I reapplied, but again my skin just drank this one up. Super sad face, but it's going to swaps.

And again, I am the beneficiary of Aveya's swapbox! 2018 version. I agree that there is a real fruitiness to this scent, like a rum-infused fruit cocktail, or like some kind of fruity Bacardi cooler for people who don't actually like the taste of rum. The fruity rum is the main player on my skin, with leather backing it up and just a faint grounding of patchouli, nothing to scare off patchouliphobes, barely there on me at all. It's kind of simple on my skin, as I'm guessing Ian is a fairly simple character (I know, I know, I'll netflix it one of these days). I'm going to hang on to the decant for a few months to see if Ian develops any more depth, but for now it's in like but not love territory. ETA OK, I reviewed this too soon. Three hours in, the patch has taken over as the dominant note. There are still slightly fruity rum and leather notes present, faintly, but the patch presides. I can't wait to see how this one ages.

Almost every note in Hal is pretty surefire on me, the huge exception being the last one: jasmine. And when I opened the imp, jasmine was all I could smell. Someone once described Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings as one long, loud blast of sex; Hal was one long, loud blast of jasmine. I gritted my teeth and applied it to my wrist. And, sure enough, jasmine. But - wait - this is the good jasmine. The well-behaved, non-indolic jasmine. The jasmine that shows up maybe 8 percent of the time and that I can actually wear, though I rarely choose to do so. Still, the "good" jasmine was stomping all over all the other lovely notes. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Okay, I could smell the honey, though not that it was particularly blackened. After about 45 minutes, as the long loud blast began to wane, I could begin to make out the bourbon vanilla. Maybe a hint of hinoki wood and hay, though I can't make out the ambrette and strangely the cedar seems to be absent on me. I'm sure the subtleties will continue to emerge with time, and perhaps with aging, but the heavy jasmine of the opening is probably too much for me.

I got frimped a tester of this a while ago, and yesterday evening decided it was what I wanted to wear to visit my mother-in-law in the hospital (where, as it turned out, there were signs asking people not to wear any fragrance, but it was a little too late to comply). So I blew through my tester, and oh my, that stuff is fabulous! And I could still smell it distinctly in the crook of my elbows this morning. I've never tried Snow White because the scent description does not sound promising at all, but based on my experiences with Cotton Phoenix and Frostbitten Dorian, Sin and now SO, it's gorgeous on me. Soft and marshmallowy, just delicious! And in combination with Snake Oil -- well, let's just say a fairy godmother waves her wand over Snow White and her smutty friend, and all of a sudden Snow and Snake are dressed up in, respectively, very flattering white and black fur-trimmed snowsuits (Snow White's has fake fur, of course), flinging snowballs with abandon at some cute guys in a snow fort. Very feminine, playfully sexy but not worship-me-on-your-knees sexy. Love!

I nearly blind-bottled this on Etsy but went for a decant instead. I wouldn't have been unhappy if I had bought a bottle. It's a lovely, creamy fig foody. In fact, it would make a fantastic winter dessert; I should play with a recipe in a few months. I adore cardamom, and the whisky holds it all together in a fairly unobtrusive way. If the throw and wear length were a little better on me, I might already have ordered that bottle. As it is, I'm going to wait to compare with Eternal Virgin and see which works better on me.

This is clean but not soapy, with the dry frank cutting the sweetness of the vanilla, and I can see where it would be lovely for layering, but I hardly ever layer. I feel like I am still learning the various permutations of all the notes and getting a sense of the blends the way the Lab created them, and layering would just muddy the waters for me. This is a skin scent on me, and I might wear this, like Neutral, in a situation where it was not completely appropriate to be wearing perfume but where I might want subliminally to project an aura of clean-cut, bright, efficient confidence.

Spoilered for a sad and probably heretical admission: I only bought a decant of Adam. This was a mistake. Adam is eau d'intellectuel chaud. Gentle, inviting, drop-dead sexy, but in a cerebral way, not a primal way, if that makes any sense. Soft leather you want to bury your face into. A hint of cologne applied hours earlier. That wonderful rosin note that has me thinking I need at least a decant of The Mountebank. Sandalwood, ambergris, dusty wool, they all float around the edges of this scent. I'm not getting any obviously plastic notes, which I'm grateful for. Perfectly unisex, perfectly beautiful. Brilliant.

Round Dance is lovely, sunshiny, candy-sweet, and awfully innocent for a Luper. I get recognizable lavender only when it's wet, and the carnation is subtle, not the big spicy carnation of, say, Alice or Maiden, but I'm not a big floral fan (though I love spicy carnation) so that's just fine by me. The amber is warm and creamy; the strawberry is more candy than a realistic berry note. The only reason I'm not currently searching the sales page for a bottle of this is that the cream note, as occasionally happens, goes just slightly off on my skin. Not enough to ruin the scent, but enough to bar it from perfection. This scent conjures up young women in calico sundresses frolicking at the county fair of 1920 or earlier. No tilt-a-whirl, just wildflowers and sunshine, jams and pies and prize heifers.

Wet, Black Lotus is all that bubblegummy sweetness of lotus on my skin. It takes about 30 minutes for the lotus to settle the hell down enough for the other notes, all favorites of mine, to start peering in around the edges. The late drydown is lovely, that teenybopper sweetness floating over velvety myrrh and fragrant amber and sandalwood, but there is no reason for me to suffer through the opening again when I can just wear Bastet, which I adore, in which the myrrh and amber are prominent and the lotus is the very last ingredient and knows its place.

I don't do violet. Or orris or mint, generally, for that matter. But I love opoponax. And Brusque Violet has been described as violet for people who don't do violet, and it's Mad Tea Party, and I was curious. What can I say? It's violet. Dusty maiden-aunt violet, with a bit of mint in the background. I'm not really sure what role the opoponax is playing here; I can't ferret it out. This may be for some people who can't do violet, but it's not for all people who can't do violet.

The Lab's wine note often becomes straight-up grape juice on my skin, which is the case with Nosferatu. In fact, in this case it turns so sweet on my skin that I am reminded of apple -- it's like the sparkling apple-grape juice the kids drink at a seder. Eventually the sweet fruitiness calms down enough for me to appreciate the lovely dirt and some darker herbal notes, but I can't get past the initial blast of fruit.

Sugared carnation is one of those notes that make me want to dance around all day humming happy little tunes, and Pink Moon does not disappoint. Sure, there must be some phlox in here, but the smell goes straight to the sugared carnation pleasure center in my brain and lights up all the pretty lights. Sunshine! Flowers! Swirly skirts! Bluebirds! Cotton candy! If you like spicy, sugary carnation, it's hard to see where this could go wrong.

Tomoe Gozen is mainly a honey and amber skin scent on me, with a little red currant appearing as it dries down. I never smell pink pepper, so I wasn't expecting to here, but I was hoping for some blackberry. So, a lovely slightly fruity honeyed amber, but nothing out of the ordinary on my skin.

White musk is almost never good with my skin chemistry. Kuang Shi is mandarin-scented soap on me. There's a Seventh Generation or Method laundry detergent that smells exactly like this does on my skin. Oh well, at least I didn't fall in love with a hard to find DC!

The Magician's Wand is not what I expected, but it's terrific. It's warm, sweet, vanillic woods. I definitely get the comparisons to Antikythera Mechanism, without the tobacco; it also is in a similar vein to last Yule's Hailstorm of Knitting Needles. I wouldn't have connected it to Harper, which I think of as more of a sweet creamy floral, but I see exactly where Casablanca is coming from; there's an almost pillowy quality to Wand. Thanks to the more experienced BPALers as identifying that as vanilla musk -- that's an ingredient I need more of in my life. No throw (which is standard for me) but good wear length. Love!

The Legerdemain is one of the few BPALs where I really feel like I can make out all the notes - maybe even the elusive black pepper note I seem to be anosmic to. First I get lemony black musk, then wood and dry frankincense appear with the clove and cardamom and a bit of bite that may be pepper. But this is primarily a black musk blend on me, with the frank and wood and spices playing backup, and it's lovely, though it seems more suited to fall/winter. It wears close to the skin (which is usual for me) and is just about gone three hours after application.

A partial imp of A Bold Bluff was frimped to me, and I am delighted to have it. In the imp I can smell the bittersweet hops, but on my skin it's all fruity tobacco and tonka, with maybe the hops as a silent partner keeping the blend from getting too sweet. It doesn't scream cherry to me (no cough syrup vibe), and it lasts longer than most pipe tobacco scents do on me (which is about 20 minutes). Very nice!

Neroli and apple blossom were the two main notes on me wet, and it reminded me a bit of Delirium, the way the sweet apple and bittersweet neroli notes held each other in tension. As Miss Addie dried down, though, I got some sandalwood and even more vanilla orchid, and while I love vanilla, orchid is often not a good note on me. I never did get clove or star anise -- full disclosure, I have had a bit of a cold recently, but I really can't make them out. Ultimately too much white flowers for my taste and not enough of the backing notes to make it interesting for me. Pleasant but not essential.

2008 Huesos de Santo is entirely foody on me. I didn't get the florals intruding at all. It's creamy baked goods yumminess with just a hint of orange and anise, and it doesn't do the weird thing the BPAL cake note does on my skin sometimes (Eat Me, I'm looking at you). Sweet and comforting but not really me.

I was frimped a tester of Frostbitten Sin in a recent swap and tried it today. I have never actually tried Snow White, but this ended up smelling quite a bit like Cotton Phoenix to me, so I'm guessing it is more Snow White than Sin. In fact, I got hardly any Sin (a GC fave of mine) at all -- definitely no cinnamon, maybe a little sandalwood or patch. Perhaps it will get Sinnier with age? I was happy to try this one but will stick with Cotton Phoenix for my Snow White needs.

Root beer float and soft brown leather, and despite the fact that I applied it straight out of the shower, Outlaw has lasted well on me, though now, several hours later, I need to get my nose quite near my wrist to smell the gorgeous remains. This is probably a pretty self-selecting scent, since if you don't like the idea of smelling like root beer, you're probably not going to buy a sarsaparilla blend. If you do, you'll love this one. I'm wearing it with Love Swing HG, which despite having no sarsaparilla in the listed notes smells strongly of rootbeer float to me, and I'm walking around in a cloud of loveliness that has taken the edge off a crappy day.

Granted, I applied The Old Robber Woman straight out of the shower onto my middle-aged skin, but it didn't last very long on me. It was interesting while it did: dusty leather and ball bearings? The metallic note often reminds me not of motor oil but of the oil my father and grandfather used when cleaning their shotguns. So that, and leather, and I should give it another try on unwashed skin or over an unscented lotion to see if I can improve the wear length on me.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed Van Van. It's one of my power scents, and one of the few BPALs I've been complimented on at work (by someone with a keen nose, because I don't wear anything with much sillage). It's very lemony, but I would guess lemongrass or lemon verbena rather than citrus. Warm lemony herbs with dry woody herbs, honey and a little dark musk? I understand where it might strike some of you as medicinal, but on my skin it's pleasantly golden. And it gives me a psychic boost -- what more could I ask?