sfo4

All the depth, beauty, and darkness of All Hallows Eve. Truly, the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein. (Samhain 2007) On first application this is a big mug of spiced cider, minus most of the sweetness (though this is overall slightly sweet), lots of spice (cinnamon seems prominent). Despite the spicy sweetness, there's nothing *warm* about this (completely different from, say, Snake Oil). It's like a cold autumn wind was somehow injected right into this. In the bottle and on my skin for the first 30 minutes this is all delicious spicy appley cider (emphasis on the spices) and a whiff of cold, crisp wind blowing dry leaves around. The apple in this blend isn't like the crisp, tart apple in Hesperides, though- it's a soft-textured, not-quite-so-sweet Golden Delicious. This even turns bit foody after a while- what initially was pure pumpkin turns into pumpkin bread. Still, the pumpkin bread and spices *cool*, not warm, and the sweetness is not in the least bit cloying. This is an absolutely lovely scent to wear out on a windy fall day (as opposed are to inside by a fire, where it might come off as a bit chilly). I love it!

Initial impression: Fresh hot tea, a hint of sugar and lemon. Smells more masculine than what I usually wear. But that wouldn't bother me. Wet: Hot tea with a bit of vanilla and lemon. Still not feminine, per se. Drying: Getting sweeter as time goes on. Delicious yummy tea- but not too sweet! Mostly just hot musky tea. A delicious spike of pure lemon in the background. Again, this is totally refreshing! But still delicious! Delicious and refreshing- by god, it's possible. My only problem is that this isn't nearly as sweet as others describe- it's mostly just lemon and musk. Must be because I ordered it fresh from the lab. Maybe it'll improve with age. Still, I do like it and it's great. P.S. Looking through this thread it seems that at least a few people who ordered fresh bottles of Dorian from the lab were surprised by its lack of vanilla sugary sweetness hailed by other reviewers, and its rather masculine smell. I myself got a bit of this on first application. Might I suggest layering O on top? Just a teensy bit sweetens Dorian right up and it becomes a sweet lovely honey tea. *licks lips*

Not a big fan of this one. Smells like flowery toilet cleaner with a dash of baby powder. Reminds me of Lampades, since that oil had the exact same effect on me! (I have no idea why. ) I've never been able to mesh with ylang-ylang, though; you may have better luck if you like that smell.

OOH, heavenly almonds! Nothing cloying about these almonds, though. This just smells wonderfully smooth and refreshingly sweet (as opposed to the almond scent in, say, Black Phoenix, which can be overwhelming to me). The frankincense adds just enough warmth, and the cinnamon (obviously) a bit of spice. This is by no means spicy, though- it's mostly just ALMONDS- lovely, lovely, smooth, refreshing, sweet almonds. This is the next best thing to a pure almond note. I am in love.

This is soothing: fully bloomed tulips splashed with sweet, fresh water with a little sweet greenery in the background. Very refreshing.

This is the smell of lavendar and pine needles roasting in a campfire. Very evergreeny, but burnt evergreen, and slightly acrid; the sweet-ish lavendar on top doesn't contest with the acridity, though. A nice scent. Whereas Vicomte de Valmont smelled like a sleazeball 18th century guy to me, this smells like lovely, dashingly handsome and adventurous 18th century man (who likes to hang out in burning evergreen trees...?) Not a favorite but still intriguing and fresh.

This is an amazingly fresh scent. Like beautiful sunlit blossoms bending over in an ice cold blast of wind. Absolutely beautiful. There is nothing heavy about this. This is, in fact, the first tropical flower fragrance I've ever tried that isn't heavy. I can seriously smell sunshine and a cold wind coming out of this bottle. There's even a slight suntan lotion undertone to this oil that makes it even more believable as a "Hawaiian beach on a cold, yet sunny, day in autumn" scent. LOVE it. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long. *pouts*

... The scent of black smoke, of crackling flames, and smoldering ashes. From start to finish this is like sooty fireplace + lemon cleaner. An interesting earthy note emerges occasionally but is overwhelmed by Sooty Lemon. Blech. Not for me.

Oh god YUM. This is heavenly. I almost always have to stay away from vanilla because it's too cloying; Snake Oil and Dorian have been the only oils that aren't too sickeningly sweet for me. This is perfect because it isn't like yellow-cake-frosting vanilla; it's fluffy *white* cake, no frosting vanilla. Like angel food cake but even less cloying. The berries aren't as prominent as I'd hoped, but they're there, grounding the sweetness of the vanilla. I smell totally edible. Dorian is my clean vanilla, Snake Oil is my sexy vanilla and now Eat Me is likely to become my everyday comfort vanilla. Big bottle of this on the way!

On me this is all florals turned sour. Smells like a combination of sour florals, lemon Pledge, and public bathroom. WTF, chemistry? Not for me, unfortunately...

Wow. I don't know how BPAL has done this, but they've captured the experience of daydreaming in a bottle for me. This is falling asleep on a patch of soft grass on a misty summer morning under a big tree with sweet, slightly fruity smelling blossoms and dreaming about fairy tales. That's the scene that immediately came to mind when I smelled this. How on earth does BPAL do it? This is sweet, earthy (not in a "dirt" sense but in a "green" sense), fresh, incensy, and ethereal. Wonderful. Edit (2 weeks later): I tried layering just a dot of this on top of O, and boom...this goes from pretty to gorgeous! I recommend trying it.

I was really tentative about the "sweat" smell that some have reported, but this sounded so delicious that I went ahead and ordered a 5 ml. And wow, am I glad I did. Initial, in the bottle: At first smell, I fell in love with this. It's this very fresh honeycomb scent; it doesn't smell like your typical jar of store-bought honey, but rather smells darker and has that almost minty undertone characteristic of fresh clover honey. I couldn't wait to put this on my skin! Wet: I almost expected this to be a viscous oil like actual honey, since it smells so much like the real thing. Wet, this is sweet, fresh clover honey. However, it's not mind-numbingly sweet; there's somethig dark and sexy underlying this, which must be the amber. Thankfully, I don't detect a trace of sweat. This is all bright, fresh, golden clover honey with a dark slinky note lingering underneath. Dry: Something else comes out that smells like musk; a full-bodied honey is still there, but the sweetness now seems more vanilla-y than honey-y, and a smoky, powdery musk underlies everything. Unfortunately, this fades relatively quickly on me; it tones down to a faint musky honey powered vanilla after 2-3 hours. This also clings close to my skin. Still, the lasting power is pretty decent and the smell is so amazing that I don't mind much. Heaven in a jar.

Vicomte de Valmont: Imp: Ugh, this is everything I hate about men's cologne. This is way too strong and acridly musky. Smells like sour aftershave. I can't even stand to put this on, unfortunately...swapping this one.

Lucy's Kiss: In the imp: Just rose; a big bouquet of full, bright spring rose. A bit of an old-fashioned feel. Initial: WOW. Lots of beautiful rose, but rose tinged with regret. Almost a little lemony. Drydown: Still rose, but slightly spicy. Still a lonely, regretful rose sitting in the sun in a beautiful, fancy abandoned house. Final: Not really for me. This makes me a bit depressed, haha.

Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean. I'm going to be one of the few dissenters and say that this is just awful on me. In my frimp, I get no peach; it's all licorice/anise and maybe a drop of musk. On my skin, the musk amps up and anise turns sour and plasticky (where's the peach?! Is my nose just being weird and mistaking the peach for licorice?). The combination of musk (which on its own might be wonderful) with the plasticky licorice is just sickening. Not for me, sadly.