Lisa Yang

I've found I'm not a fan of Snake Oil on its own, or Dorian on it's own, but blends with both are soooo amazing. I get the strong honey note, similar to the honey in Adante con Fantasia, along with some of the fougere as well. I get the slight Snake Oil, I think it's what keeps this from going powdery one me. A few hours in, I'm getting more of the Snake Oil, along with that honey. Almost like a fougere-y Womb Furie. This is so lovely, and if you're a fan of Snake Oil/Dorian blends, this is a great one to have.

Silvered lilacs and violets, white grapefruit, glittering musk, and a squirt of blueberry. In the bottle, I get strong blueberries and a little bit of musk behind it. It's a rather fruity, bright blueberry, which I'm thinking comes from the white grapefruit note. I use wig spray similarly to how I'd use regular EDP perfume, but more so on my clothing, instead of on my actual body. In the initial spray, I get very very STRONG blueberry, but as that calms down a bit, I get a really pretty floral. It has a shampoo/salon quality to it, which might come from the "silvered" part of the florals. The lilacs are more prominent to my nose (I associate violets with a more powdery floral) but it's a very perfumey floral. The blueberry definitely takes a backseat with the florals taking over once dried. This stuff lasts forever on me, could definitely smell it at the end of the day, and when I put on my jacket today, still could get whiffs of it. I don't have too much experience with wig sprays, I tried it out in my hair and it unfortunately caused my hair to clump together and stiffen. I will probably stick to using it as a clothing spray.

2015 Version In the Bottle: Super sweet snake oil, I get the smell of incense, sugar, dark vanilla. Wet on the Skin: I get the initial incense spice that is so Snake Oil, but the honey is equal in partners with the Snake Oil and I get a strong, powerful honey note in there as well. This is very balanced to my nose between the spiced incense and the sweetness of the honey. Dry Down: The incense mostly fades away and I’m left with a spicy honey. Verdict: I love this, this is everything I wanted in Snake Oil and even more. If you’re a fan of honey and dark sweet incense, this is for you. Visually I imagine burning Indonesian incense with dark honey dribbled on top of it. This is a great date night scent and would go great with any other dark scents.

In the bottle: All I smell is strong brown sugar, almost caramel. It’s not bad, but just wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s super sweet smelling and I’m hoping it smells different on the skin. Wet on the Skin: The foody vanilla completely goes away once on my skin. I get the oudh at first sniff, and the sweet vanilla with nutty ambrette is pretty prominent as well. I wonder if the ambrette or musk is what’s making it feel stronger and more perfume-like. Dry on the Skin: Ah, the amber is finally coming out to play, it’s still fairly tame compared to the vanilla and oudh for me. The vanilla musk is gorgeous and hugs close to the skin. The sandalwood and vanilla musk are partners in prominence, but I don’t get much of the white patchouli, but that may be my nose not picking it up. In order of strength I get golden ambrette, musk, vanilla then sandalwood. This is a gorgeous vanilla musk, that is balanced with the ambrette and oudh, keeping it from feeling too gourmand. Throw is decently strong but still wears fairly close to the skin. It is slightly powdery, but not in an old-lady way but in a sophisticated Victorian lady way. It’s true to the character in her innocence and warmth that she embodies.

In the Bottle: Sharp perfume smell, it must be the cognac. I get a sharp, dry smell that has an underlying sweetness. Wet on Skin: I get a burst of really bright tobacco smell with the boozy cognac notes next to it. This is VERY strong, throw is large. Dry Down: This dries down into a still prominent tobacco note, but I get some light vanilla, that must be the vanilla filigree. Almost as if the smell is laced with just a tad of vanilla. This is super sophisticated, and strong! The tobacco note in this is dry and sweet, almost like a tobacco flower.

In the bottle: All I smell is lavender, oh noes, and not the sweet, sugared lavender that I’m accustomed to, but a strong herbal lavender, this much be the “French” part of the French lavender note. Wet on the Skin: I still get the lavender but now I’m getting a bit of patchouli as well. At this stage it’s still a super strongly lavender with patchouli blend and not quite what I was expecting. I really hope this lavender mellows out a bit because it’s still way too herbal for me. get the heavy handed lavender but on the skin it blossoms into a gorgeous figgy patchouli lavender blend. I think I need a back-up. Dry on the Skin: After it dries out, the fig completely comes to forefront. I get a really sweet fig that’s mellowing out the lavender, with patchouli in the background grounding the whole scent. This is a gorgeously sweet lavender blend. The sillage is pretty strong but it creates more of a cloud of scent around me. I applied at about 7 am and it last for a good 5 hours without reapplication.

I'm glad I gave this a second chance, because I'm really loving it. From the bottle, all I smell is an golden ambered spice, I'm really concerned and a bit put off. Once in my hair, the spice is still very prominent, but it's a floral spice (rather than the initial burn my nose, kind of spice from the bottle). It dries down into a sweet, spiced carnation bouquet in my hair.

I am a hugeee honey fan, and this did not disappoint. It has that same golden honey from the GC honey hair gloss but the tobacco gives it this interesting depth. It's almost the scent of dried tobacco, and not necessarily a super smoky tobacco. I think all three notes balance each other out very well for a lovely scent. I was quite nervous at first, as this is my first BPAL with any tobacco, but I am so impressed! With throw, it's strong at first but really dries to to be very subtle. I can normally smell whiffs of it the next day but nothing in my face.

This is FRESH from the post, I may have to come back and edit this post once it's rested a bit. From the bottle I get strong strawberry, nothing else, it kind of smells like those Japanese hard candies. Sweet and sharply strawberry. On the skin it mellows out pretty quickly, the tart strawberry fades away and I have a light strawberry mallow. It's overall quite light and it's been two hours and I can barely smell it at this point. Hopefully it'll come back and still a mellow mallow, but I'm not hopeful. This is great if you love strawberries!