Lucchesa

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?

I love trying 13s, and this one is a beauty! Dark and luscious, with some of my favorite notes, like vanilla, plum (well, prune) and tobacco. These meld with the dark chocolate until you can't prise anything apart, just a gorgeous perfumy chocolaty fug. It is not so tobacco-heavy on me that I couldn't get away with it at work, and it wears pretty close to my skin (which is par for the course for my skin), so I could wear this anywhere. I just want to bury my nose in my elbow. So good!

Flower Song is almost a single-note pomegranate on me. Maybe sweet pomegranate wine, more than the sweet-tart of pom itself. But I was intrigued by the river reeds, barley and hyssop, none of which I can claim to make out. This one's a miss with my skin chemistry.

I am so delighted to have swapped for a partial of Two Old Men. It is lovely: mainly one of the soft leathers I love so much plus polished teakwood, with hints of coffee and cacao. Unisex trending towards masculine, and as with my favorite scents in this category, I find it both comforting and confidence-boosting. It's going to be even better in autumn and winter. Not much throw (which is normal on me) but decent wear length.

Madrid is very pretty in the imp -- sweet wine with a bit of spice and exotic flowers. But my skin eats it up right away.

So, I’m retesting Faustus just before swapping it away, and I am kind of regretting my decision. Faustus is really interesting. It’s mainly a lemony frankincense with just a whisper of cinnamon and violet. I remember the first time I tried it, the violet came out more strongly and ruined things, but today it is holding off and I quite like it. I may have to track down another imp.

Seconding Venustas and Coin Trick. I find that amber-rich scents have an old-fashioned, perfumey feel to me -- like Brisingamen (GC) or Jacob's Ladder (Yule). And searching my scent notes for "perfumey" I also came up with Cordelia (which I haven't tried for ages) and, to my surprise, two rose + fur scents: The Bear Prince (Yule) and Lady Cecily Sasquets, from a sasquatch themed Emerald City Comic Con release. Also, on my skin, dirt and dead leaves notes often morph into "perfume." Not sure if that's a skin chemistry thing or what.

Lady Lilith is really floral on me, with a background of creamy vanilla musk. Not red musk, which tends to amp all over the place on me. No, the red musk is missing in action, as is the opoponax. Sadly, the violet comes creeping out, and it's all over for me. Oh, well.

I love amaretto. I love macaroons. Apparently, so does my skin, because it ate this right up. I hardly got to enjoy it at all. So I'm passing it on to someone with, hopefully, less greedy skin chemistry.

Whoa, Mango-Infused Pumpkin Chai Latte is kind of meaty on me. Not that it actually smells like bacon or anything like that, but it's substantial. Beefy. You'd give it some space on the subway. I don't actually get a lot of mango from it; I guess my skin eats it up. Pumpkin and chai spice, yes, coconut, not really. After a couple of hours I start to be able to make out the mango. This is a pleasant enough scent in the pumpkin genre, definitely for autumnal wear only. I'll try it again in the fall and see if it meshes better with the weather.

Mercurian Phoenix is really lovely on me. It's definitely a lemongrass scent, but there's a good amount of lavender and bergamot at first as well, and the sandalwood emerges in the drydown. I'm not as familiar with the gum notes, and I never get anise. After two or three hours it's a skin scent, warm and sunny and kind of snuggly, but also rich and herbal. I'm not describing this very well, but I like it.

Lace Phoenix goes tragically wrong on my skin. Tears. I think VetchVesper is right and there's some champaca in there -- nag champa? -- and champaca and my skin are often at odds. The drydown is actually quite pretty; I just have this horrible emotional response to the wet phase and it's going straight to swaps.

The Curtain of the Temple on me is warm and spicy, dry and evocative -- this could be the desert of the Holy Land. I get no skin reaction from the cinnamon or cassia though I did not try it anywhere too soft and sensitive. The first time I tested this I was absolutely blown away by it, but today it's still really good but not one I need to chase down a bottle of. Like myth, I find its lovely, cinnamony incense is drier overall than I prefer. I death-matched it with Chimera, a GC favorite with cinnamon and myrrh, and the sweeter strains of Chimera hit closer to my heart.