mawaridi

I'm kind of surprised by the reviews I'm seeing here; sweet? Nutty? Foody?? That's not the Wezwanie / Hold I smelled at all! There was oil on the outside of the bottle I tried, so when I opened it for a niff I got oil all over my fingers. That means I ended up applying rather more than I would have otherwise as I smeared the excess on my arm, so that may have something to do with my very different experience! This is the oil thoroughly slathered on (although not intentionally!). First off, the overwhelming first impression I got of this oil was wood. It was screaming WOOOOD! at me and waving its arms around. It reminded me of Antikythera Mechanism at first, but warmer and softer and without the metallic/camphor edge of Antikythera. I liked it, but was a little overwhelmed, so I left it for a bit. An hour later, I sniffed again and was surprised to find the sandalwood had calmed down considerably, leaving a warm, sweet amber with a woody undertone. At the end of the day there was still a strong, lingering scent of honey on my arm, but all the other scents had vanished. I never got any hazelnut at all (except possibly as part of the "warmth" and "softness" of the original woody scent). All in all, it's quite lovely, and I think I would like it very much if I had possibly worn a little less of it at a time! It's the only retail scent that really took my faancy, which is nice since they are pricey. But it's definitely on my wishlist.

Mmm, beautiful! This is, as others have said, a dry, dark (but not bitter) chocolatey scent, like rich cocoa powder, with a hint of hazelnut and a warm resinous amber note that blossoms with the warmth of my skin as I wear it. Just...divine. I only have a half-imp sized decant, but I'm thinking a bottle is necessary here...

Gentle tea rose, lilac, Calla Lily, and Somalian Rose layered over golden Peruvian amber, Spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, and myrrh, with the lightest touch of Mandarin. Nothing but tea rose. A tea rose which - though I hate to say it - reminds me of a smoother version of those cheap single-note oils you can buy at craft shops and markets. Not a nasty smell, at all, but just ROSE straight up and very strong. I was frimped this one (due to my previous experiences with rose I probably wouldn't have ordered it myself!) and while I was wary of the rose I was hoping for a bit more complexity what with the wood and mandarin and amber and sandalwood, all scents I usually adore! But no, my skin and my nose have an Issue with rose, so it's just...rose rose rosy rose ROSE. A bit disappointing for me, but probably lovely if you're into rose

Huh. My experience of Le Serpent seems fairly different to everyone else's. Well, in some ways. For one thing, on me this scent is a MAJOR morpher. When first applied it is pure violet, sweet floral goodness. Violet is one of the few florals I like because it is not powdery (on me). It seems like a pretty straightforward scent, but that's ok, I bought it for the violets after all. Good throw; my mum told me I smelled good when I was across the room from her, which is an effect I normally only get with alcoholised eau de parfum - go lab! I sort of forgot I was wearing perfume, as you do, but after a couple of hours I started to smell something familiar. Was someone in my class wearing Alice? No, a quick sniff of my wrist uncovered that it was me I was smelling. The violet had completely disappeared leaving me with...carnation? Well, it's the smell I've always associated with BPAL's carnation note, being the dominant spicy floral I get from Alice. Le Serpent is supposed to have gardenia in it, but this was like no gardenia I've ever smelled. Luckily, I love carnation, and Alice is one of my favourite BPAL oils, so it's nice to find something similar! Now, at the end of the day, a good twelve hours since I first applied, I smell like warm, musky vanilla which is delicious (and I'm astonished that the scent is still so powerful after so long). So, as I say, quite a morpher - all the phases of this scent were very, very different - but I really liked them all. Might have to try this a couple more times before I commit to a bottle, but it's definitely an interesting scent-wearing experience!

Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, and exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct. CDLXXVI (476) In the bottle: Strong and sweet, but not a sugary or cloying sweetness; I smell almonds (oh noes!) and something fruity. Wet on my skin: Thankfully, the almond fades pretty quickly (I usually amp almond like crazy, to the point where I can smell nothing else) and the fruit opens up into something sharply sweet, it makes me think of pomegranate, maybe? I was worried about the almond, but this is quite lovely. Despite the original strength of the oil in the bottle, it doesn't have much throw. Dry: The sharpish fruity possibly-pomegranate note has softened out beautifully and it's quite a gentle, almost musky skin scent once dry. There's something a bit peppery coming through now, too. I like this one a lot - it's not my favourite BPAL evar, but it's very nice and I'll hold on to it. Sadly, there's very little throw and although it's lovely when I get my nose right up close, it's very faint. CDLXXXVIII (488) In the bottle: a fresh, green, very clean scent. Astringent and slightly soapy, but not in a bad way. Understated. Wet on my skin: Much of the same, but the soapy note is stronger now. The green is sharp, a little sweet, almost, like aloe. With my nose right up against it it's quite zingy, but the throw (which is pretty decent) is less green and more soapy. Dry: Soaptastic It's nice soap, green and fresh and fancy-smelling, but still soap. Not for me, I'm afraid.

Hmm! My favourite "second skin" scents vary significantly, but right now the ones that feel the most comfortable and "me, only better" (or perhaps..."me only more like perfume"!) are Alice, Mr Ibis and, interestingly enough, The Antikythera Mechanism. I highly recommend Mr Ibis to anyone looking for a soothing, gentle, warm skin kind of scent - if it smells anything like it does on me, anyway The wet stage is a little sharp, but when it dries the sandalwood comes out and oh, so warm and comfortable. I feel like I'm not wearing perfume, I just smell really great. Alice is sweeter and more floral, but the milk and spicy carnation feel very homey and natural to me. It's also a bit more feminine than the other two, if that appeals. Antikythera Mechanism is definitely the most 'perfumey' of the three, but it makes me feel like I'm wearing clothes that I have just taken out of a fragrant wood wardrobe. Very warm and comforting, a scent that kind of envelops me and makes me feel very cosy and safe. Your mileage may vary, obviously, but those are the three that feel most like a second skin to me Oh! Also there's Coyote, but that depends very heavily on my hormones; it's got a strong animal musk note, and sometimes that makes me smell sexy and sometimes it amps up like crazy and makes me smell like a feral cat >_<

I've got to second the recommendation of Kali. The honey in this one is reasonably subtle (although I get much more honey than wine or chocolate, unlike some other reviewers), but it lends a damp, rich sweetness to the rose that makes it seriously sexy. Awesome for people whose skin tens to turn rose OR honey into powdery yuckiness; my skin does awful things to rose, but the honey makes Kali *delicious*

Mmm. I bought this as a last minute extra to my Tiki order, to make the postage seem less ridiculous for just one bottle. This is *so* uncharacteristic of me, buying a bottle without smelling it first, but I couldn't be happier with the result. I tested Antikythera Mechanism on the back of my hand yesterday morning and I can *still* smell it more than 24 hours later! It's a warm, dusty, sophisticated scent, just like a cabinet of curiosities in some Victorian gentleman's library. The wood is dry, comforting and just lovely, especially rounded out with the smokey tobacco and just a hint of vanilla to keep it warm and smooth. I agree with the person who smelled a hint of polished brass, too - there's definitely something at least *evocative* of metal in the wet stage, even though it isn't a listed note. I hope I can convince my SO to put some of this on him. It's a unisex scent, and I can wear it quite happily myself, but I think it would smell super sexy on him!

This is my favourite of the tiki scents. I can't stop sniffing it! It smells like lovely tart gin with a hint of blueberry sweetness and a delightful zesty sliver of lemon. Absolutely yum.

I have to agree with Czarina and suggest La Befana - it's still up for a few more days and it is absolutely my favourite BPAL scent ever. Delicious and sweet, but dry and dusty at the same time. The violet is very much present, but it's made grown up and sophisticated by the other notes. I am very wary of florals and rarely seek them out, but violet is so much more than a powdery, grandmotherly floral; it's damp and sugary and complex!

Bon Vivant is quite like YSL Yvresse (which was my signature scent before I started wearing BPAL), but it conspicuously lacks the wonderful lychee note that makes Yvresse so unique. Any suggestions of things I could layer with Bon Vivant to make it more lychee?

This has got to be my favourite of the Yule blends. I never would have bought it based on the description, but I received an imp of it as a gift and have subsequently ordered a bottle. It is absolutely exquisitely blended; sweet sugared violets, but not too sweet, they remind me of violet flavored candies. And over it all is the dry dusty charcoal candy scent that turns this from a girlish sugary floral into something mature and complex. It's beautiful, a real masterpiece of scent. I'm infatuated!

I own an imp of the original Lick It and it is among my all time favourite BPAL scents, but it's rather hard to find. I missed out on Lick It Again, but when Lick It One More Time arrived I was thrilled and the thought it might be my chance to get more candy-cane goodness. I didn't order a bottle right away, but I was running a mass order for some friends (I'm in Australia) and one of the girls was getting Lick It and said I could try it before I passed it on to her. So I did! I was so disappointed. At first it was fairly promising - strong, zippy peppermint - although not as sweet as the original Lick It. But as soon as it hit my skin and started to dry, the peppermint evaporated and I was left with...nothing. It disappeared instantly. And it wasn't just me getting used to the scent; I got numerous other to sniff my wrist and they couldn't smell anything either. I know peppermint is a volatile scent that tends to evaporate quickly, but the original Lick It had a lovely soft, sugared vanilla underneath that lingered after the minty blast was gone. Where did that go? I really wanted to love this one.

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar. This smells exactly like a box full of chocolate chip cookies. Delicious, but a bit overwhelming for everyday wear! Exactly the same both in the bottle and on my skin, maintains the same quality wet and dry. This is the most consistent BPAL blend I've ever tried

Cool, soothing aloe is the main thing I pick out of this, with cypress and ozone sharpening and deepening the scent. It's still quite light, but that might also be because I'm trying too many different scents in a row and my nose is tired I like it, and it's a keeper, but not something I'm going to need to stock up on. An occasional wear for hot days. It's threatening to turn soapy as it dries, but the aloe is keeping it moist and sharp. Unisex, hedging on masculine, to my nose.

Wet to dry, this is bathroom air freshener, or deoderant. Powdery rose with a really strong ozone note. I had been wary of rose notes for a long time because in non-BPAL scents they do horrible things on my skin, but then I tried Kali and the wet, crushed-rosepetal-and-honey scent was so divine I thought BPAL's rose notes might be different. Well, the one in Kali is still delicious, but Libra 07 makes me smell like a toilet. A sparklingly clean toilet, but still...

Warm and creamy with a sharp note of sweet, sweet pomegranate bursting through. I can't smell any pumpkin, but the white chocolate and pomegranate is a truly delectable combination, nicely grounded with the cream and just a hint of smoky caramel. After a little while I get a sort of nutty scent coming through. I was a bit worried this would be too piercingly sweet to wear all day long, but after drying it is just so yummy and snuggly. I adore this one. I might have to get myself a full bottle in the next couple of days!

The first thing I smell is a strong, overwhelming waft of...well...rancid butter There's a hint of sugar underneath it, but seriously, this is kind of nasty on me. I don't seem to be having much success with my October purchases.

This is a really lovely, gentle, pear-and-vanilla scent but wow, it vanishes quick on me. It was a faint whisper of a scent to begin with, with no throw at all (I had to get my nose right up against the skin to smell it) and it only lasted about an hour before totally vanishing But it was so pretty in the bottle!

Oh, this is glorious. One of those real, evocative, nature scents that Beth is so very good at creating. This smells exactly like damp leaf litter with a slash of cold rain. There's a hint of something perfumey that comes out after a couple of minutes on my skin and makes this a mature, wearable scent that is also oddly...familiar. I like it!

In the bottle, I get coffee, smoke and a hint of something faintly acrid and salty that I guess must be the gunpowder. Unusual, but definitely promising. As soon as it touches my skin it morphs into...salty celery? What? This is intriguing in the bottle and absolutely, bizzarely awful on me. I'm so disappointed by my stupid skin chemistry

Candy Butcher. Is. Amazing. I am in serious love with this scent. It smells exactly like thick, dark chocolate and cream, like a traditional french hot chocolate made with double cream and pure, melted chocolate of the highest quality. My dentist (!) asked if I was wearing vanilla when she smelled it on me, and it does have that very intense, almost sticky quality of real vanilla essence slathered on the skin (it doesn't smell strongly of vanilla, to my nose, but it's that same real-food, good-quality-ingredients visceral richness). But with chocolate! This is my favourite BPAL, so far. Yum, yum, yum.

I was a bit nervous about the rose in this scent. All my past experience of rose perfumes have been powdery and dusty and like...somebody's grandmother. But Kali is wet rose, like rose petals that have been mulched up in your hands. Then the honey starts to come out, with an edge of wine, sweet and boozy. It reminds me of a rose-wine-and-honey desert syrup I used to have. I don't like florals, and I picked up Kali because of the chocolate, which I can't smell at all (!). But this is a lush, sweet, sexy floral. It isn't at all what I imagine when I think of Kali Herself, but it's beautiful, nonetheless!

I really can't smell the blackberries in this one. To me, it reminds me of two food memories. One is getting neopolitain ice-cream (you know, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate all in the one tub) and mixing them together. The other is pouring baileys irish cream liqueur ver ice-cream. Mmm. I guess the strawberryish part of the ice-cream could be coming from the tart-fruitiness of the blackberries. But to my nose, this is irish cream poured over neopolitain ice-cream, and it's delicious

Cockaigne gave me a screaming migraine that didn't go away for hours after I'd scrubbed the oil off my wrists Bengal gave me a nasty red rash on my neck (although it didn't seem to affect my wrists before I washed it off). Which is a shame, because I love it - smells like gingerbread