torischroeder9

Hopes and preconceptions: BPAL's honey notes tend to work very well on me -- something I'm sad I didn't realize while the Apiary scents were more widely available -- so I'm hoping for honey with floral around the edges. In the bottle: Whoa, jasmine! All jasmine -- strong jasmine. No honey. On my skin: Initially, it's the same all-jasmine as it was in the bottle. Strangely, for me, the throw does not seem to be particularly strong at this point. After a few minutes, the throw increases, and the jasmine turns slightly soapy -- an issue that I've had with jasmine that is sometimes transient and sometimes not. Twenty minutes later, and while the soapiness has resolved itself, this is still all jasmine, all the time. This is fairly surprising to me because, while jasmine is definitely hit-or-miss with my skin chemistry, honey has historically been both reliable and strong. I'm not sure it's ever taken honey this long to emerge on my skin (Third Charm, maybe?) -- and it's certainly never taken this long for honey to appear from a blend with the word "honey" in its name. Forty minutes in, and this is reminiscent of the epic battle that was My Skin Chemistry v. Hony Mone, only now with more jasmine, less honey. (I should point out that the jasmine isn't actually doing anything bad or weird on my skin at this point and hasn't been for a while. The soapiness I got was just for a couple of minutes during the initial drydown. It's a very clear, true jasmine with a good amount of throw.) It's been just over an hour since the initial drydown, and just now -- and just barely -- the honey is beginning to warm up and round out this blend. It's still mostly jasmine, but there is now a faintly detectable honey undertone. At an hour and twenty minutes, up close, it's finally become genuine floral honey, though the jasmine note still has considerably more throw. At just over an hour and forty minutes, I'm going to have to call it: While this is honey and jasmine, at this point, it's still considerably more honey than jasmine. It's probably great for jasmine lovers, but as a dedicated honey lover (with a tried and true track record as a honey amper as well, so what gives here?), this is not my favorite honey and not even my favorite floral honey.

I know this is much delayed, but I can make this comparison. On me, they're both soft, dry scents -- but Gelt is much more cocoa as a major player while Velvet is predominantly woody with a hint of cocoa around the edges. Boomslang, on me, is somewhere between the two in terms of the intensity of the chocolate note. The chocolate is definitely present, but it's also a background player to the primary notes of Snake Oil.

Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut. Reviewing the Resurrected version. In the bottle: Musks and spices. A hint of leather. But it's not sharp, so there must be something sweetening it (this is usually how I perceive vanilla in a blend with multiple notes). On my skin: Immediately, it's delicious, sumptuous, and slinky. For a moment, I have no desire to even pick out the notes. Once this phase subsides, the first discernable note is a lovely soft leather. (I think labdanum, maybe?). The Lab's usual leather note is almost always too harsh on me, so this is a lovely surprise. Shortly after, it's warmed and sweetened by the coconut and vanilla. Following that, spices -- evocative of the spice in Scherezade and Morocco -- become detectable. It settles on something sweeter and slinkier than Snake Oil -- while still being reminiscent of Snake Oil -- and still having a lovely soft leather grounding note. On me, throw and wear length are just shy of moderate.

In the bottle: Good chocolate frosting, maybe buttercream or ganache. On my skin: The chocolate rises to the surface first. This is the chocolate of something sweet and decadent. It's chocolate and sugar and cream -- hence the thought of chocolate buttercream frosting. As the blend settles, the chocolate note fades, leaving the cream note more prominent. I won't lie -- a decade ago, I pretty much hated this blend because of this note. Now, it's far from terrible, but still not anything to brag about. It's faded from chocolate buttercream to something more like cream with some chocolate added (not even chocolate cream). Quite nice for subtlety -- but subtlety isn't why I wear chocolate BPAL. At some point, the cream too dies down and the almost bitter chocolate regains dominance. However, by this point, the scent overall is much more subtle, with much less throw.

In the bottle: Mandarin, opium, and floral upfront, with a drier grounding note that I'm guessing is the sandalwood. On my skin: Wet, the lily initially comes to the forefront, followed by the opium. At this point, they've eaten up the mandarin, and the sandalwood is also buried. The blend has a creamy aspect to it, which is all I'm getting of the vanilla. After several minutes, the sandalwood starts to come through, cutting the sharp sweetness that is the opium-lily combination on my skin. The mandarin also comes back a little, though it remains overshadowed by the opium and lily. Several minutes more, and the vanilla reemerges as the unifying creamy note. The sandalwood, vanilla, and mandarin continue to come in and out of the lily-opium blend throughout the wear life (moderate) of the perfume, so that while the overall effect is floral, it's never straightforwardly so. This is one of my go-to "business formal" perfumes. It's sophisticated and moderate on me, yet complex enough to be original.

In the imp: Beautiful, dry cocoa on the first whiff, with a gentle wood behind it if I keep sniffing. On my skin: Immediately, the sandalwood comes to the surface, vying with and then dominating the cocoa scent even before the oil is dry. After a few minutes, the cocoa disappears, and the myrrh enters, lending an edge of heavier wood to the scent. Given even more time, the myrrh too settles down, allowing the dusting of cocoa to be once again detectable along the edges of this woody scent.

There’s magic afoot: fiery red musk, luminous elemi, East Indian patchouli, champaca flower, cedar incense, ho wood, and hemlock accord sweetened with a peculiar sweet honey. 2012 version. In the bottle: Red musk with something bright and faintly sweet (it's not as sharp as a green note or as tart as a citrus). At this point, I get neither the patchouli nor the honey, which is unusual for me. On my skin: Wet, the patchouli immediately comes to prominence, so I needn't have worried. It's followed by something I can only describe as a bright, almost lemony floral. After a few minutes, the patchouli is still there, grounding everything, but the red musk and the honey are much more forward now. At the moment, it seems like patchouli is overshadowing any wood or hemlock that might be coming through, just as honey is beginning to overshadow other sweet notes. As it settles in, there's a portion of this scent that's red musk and honey with a goodly amount of throw (and, if it behaves anything like red musk and honey usually do on me -- individually -- it should have good wear length). Close to my skin is an added note that's probably at least partly patchouli and at least partly ho wood, but it doesn't have the throw of the other notes. This seems to be where everything settles: amping the notes I love and that work best with my skin chemistry while downplaying the others. Must be magic.

In the bottle: Amber musk, cardamom, and cinnamon. It's gently sweet and gently spiced. On my skin: Wet, it's black tea on top, with the cardamom underneath. Cinnamon disappears, I hope only momentarily. Dry, and it's back to cardamom and a hint of cinnamon sitting on top of amber musk, which I think is helping its throw. It's lovely at this stage -- a little spicier than I smelled in the bottle, and just a touch less sweet, but still enough to be a soft, gently spiced blend. About twenty minutes in, and something -- I'm guessing the amber -- has amped a bit to create a touch of powderiness, but the cardamom and cinnamon are helping keep that in check. Also, while I can't smell it in the full throw of the perfume, if I put my nose near my skin, I do get the tangerine note. (Tangerine getting swallowed up by some bigger scents is a common thing with my skin chemistry.) Ultimately, this becomes musky amber and cardamom with a lot of throw, with hints of tea, tangerine, and cinnamon close to the skin. I never do get cherry blossom, but with the scent profile I do get, I can hardly complain. I don't know that I have another soft, spicy perfume with this amount of throw.

In the bottle: Red musk and a sweetness that's definitely part amber and part dragon's blood but also might be something lighter, like the heliotrope or the orange peel. On my skin: Wet, the dragon's blood gets tamped down a bit as the red musk amps up. Not complaining about that since red musk tends to work with my skin chemistry while dragon's blood tends to work against it. As it dries, the sweetness reasserts itself, though the red musk is more than enough to keep it grounded. One of the sweet notes does have a citrus quality to it, so I'm guessing that's the orange peel. (This is also the time in a perfume oil where orange tends to be strongest on me, so...) Overall, it's most similar to Scherezade on me, though Red Moon is decidedly sweeter and less spicy. Due no doubt to the red musk, this has throw and wear length for days.

In the bottle: Soft honey and baby powder. On my skin: The honey is subdued as the baby powder jumps to the top of the scent. This is the clean after a warm shower, rather than something cool and refreshing. Once it dries and settles in, the honey resurfaces as the main note. It has a vaguely fruity tinge to it -- not unpleasant, but I can't account for it in the listed notes. I never get milk as a distinct note, but something is definitely cutting the honey's potency. (BPAL honey is usually amazing on me, but it can sometimes get dangerously close to cloying territory if left unchecked. This blend, while sweet, stays far away from "too sweet.") It's not dampening the throw at all. It's nice, but I have skin scents I like better, honey scents I like better, and "clean" scents I like better.

The first bottle of Smut I have doesn't have a year listed on it. I'm guessing that might make it 2006? In the bottle: Earthy musks and sweetness. I don't get any booze, though the description of root beer is apt. On my skin: Wet, a boozy note rises to the surface. If I had to get more specific, I'd peg it as a gold or dark spiced rum. It doesn't dominate but sort of hangs out on top of the sweetness. The musk in this -- which quickly dominates the scent profile -- means that on me, it has throw for days. (Also wear length for days... literally.) I'd guess red musk and something near whatever is the "deep musk" in Hell's Belle. This doesn't morph much on me but remains sticky, sweet musk. I don't think of it as a sexy scent -- though it's definitely more grown-up than are most "sweet scent" profiles -- but I always get compliments when I wear it. And it's not a scent I wear, say, to work. Comparatively, the 2008 version: In the bottle: Same basic scent profile, though I get more musk and booze and less sweetness in this version. (For what it's worth, the oil is lighter in color too.) On my skin: Booze again jumps to the top of the scent while it's wet, though while it lasts this time, it makes the scent overall less sweet. It's more reminiscent of a bourbon whiskey than of a spiced rum this time. As it dries, this balance continues. The booze is a little sharper and a little stronger, which makes it a little harder to determine the specific musk notes. The sugar is a little less prominent, so it's not quite so syrupy sweet.

2009 version In the bottle: A mug of hot cocoa with a hint of cinnamon. On my skin: Applied, the cinnamon note amps for a moment, then fades back to a hint. After a few minutes dry, the cinnamon comes forward a bit more, and the coffee starts to make an appearance. I can't place brown sugar as a stand-alone note, but the overall scent profile is sweet. This is where it stays on me, a nice, sweet, comforting foody scent. Sadly, its throw and wear-length are low on me, but that's probably because it's composed of notes that always fit this description for me.

In the bottle: Round, red fruits, red musk, and patchouli. On my skin: Wet, it's the same. The fruits are top note, red musk the main, with patchouli underneath. It does start to tingle on my arm. No listed note is an obvious culprit, but this isn't so unusual for me. It's slightly annoying, but not a dealbreaker. More time, and it's even more just what I said. It's round, deep, fruity red musk with an underscore of patchouli. I can't detect vanilla as a stand-alone note, but this is often the case when I'm detecting a sweet element to a blend. It's one of my favorite self-confidence blends: a lot tough, but a little sweet.

In the bottle: Cinnamon with a spicer spice (maybe clove or pepper) and something that smells almost like pitch. When I sniff again, I detect some kind of woody note. The cinnamon note is strong, and the pitch/wood-type note is almost off-putting. On my skin: Wet, the wood note dominates, but it quickly fades as the oil dries. I'm left with an intensified "Red Hot" candy smell. After a few minutes, my skin starts tingling (probably from the cinnamon), and the woody note resurfaces, but it's definitely taking a back seat to the cinnamon. It's definitely a warming and energizing blend. I could see where it would enhance vitality and stamina (not areas I've found in need of enhancing, personally, so it's not the aptest comparison). I've worn it with the hope of enhancing desire, but without the intended effect -- though this could well be because I get a bit preoccupied with worries about cinnamon-based oil coming into contact with... sensitive skin.

In the bottle: Patchouli and tobacco hit me first, but an extra sniff tells me they're rounded out with something subtly sweet. I can't pick out the cocoa or vanilla specifically, but I can tell that something with sweetness is tempering the other two notes. On my skin: Patchouli rushes to the surface, but there's a subtler mix of notes handing closer to my skin, waiting to sort themselves out. Ten minutes in, and it's still predominantly patchouli, now accented by the sharpness of tobacco and tempered with a bit of the cocoa (and possibly including vanilla here). The overall impression is an earthy scent, but not necessarily a "filthy" one. I've definitely experienced patchouli blends that were harsher to my nose than this is. A half hour later, and this is where it seems to stay for me. The cocoa-vanilla balance shifts so the vanilla is a little more prominent, but the scent as a whole doesn't become any sweeter. It's not an "all the time" blend for me, but it's a very useful "dirty" perfume (for example, one I wear after a night out if I haven't had time to shower).

In the bottle: Sharp honey, then jasmine. A few sniffs later, and I can pick out apricot and honeysuckle underneath as well. In the bottle, this is kind of a hot mess. On my skin: Jasmine and something rounder and almost buttery underneath. Probably the almond, probably also the apricot, couldn't rule out honey contributing at this point as well, though the last is not immediately discernable as a note. After about ten minutes, the jasmine and honeysuckle soften a bit, and the honey, almond, and apricot come forward a bit more. The soft undertone that is the "food note blend" here is actually quite lovely. The florals are still sharp on my skin. Another ten minutes, and the trend continues, though it's slowed down. The fig has started to make an appearance, so there's a bit of earthy sweetness going on too. I feel like this will be lovely if I can just outwait the jasmine. (Note: If I ever create a scent autobiography, "If I Can Just Outwait the Jasmine" is a viable working title.) Erk, I may have spoken too soon! The almond -- which the honey had been keeping in check for me -- starts to dominate the foody end of this. So now it's almond-jasmine, which is not sitting well with my skin chemistry. Aaand... at about 40 minutes, I have to NOPE out of this blend. The almond has died down, so that the foody undertone is a lovely round, fruity honey. But the jasmine has amped up again. Jasmine lives to write another scent chapter, and I'm going to go wash off my arm.

In the imp (frimp from Lab): It reminds me of either one of the flavored coffee creams or one of the instant cappuccinos you'd get at a gas station convenience store. Coffee underneath, but with a top note that's sugar and maybe vanilla or hazelnut or caramel or even cinnamon. Or, no -- the top note isn't actually any of those things, but it's like when someone is trying to recreate those smells out of primarily high fructose corn syrup. Still, a flavored-sugar smell is not a bad smell at all. The smell also feels creamy -- soft and round, rather than sharp or cloying. On my skin: Wet, it's now much more clearly the scent of Irish cream, not really over coffee at this point. After a few minutes, the blend softens again. It's still Irish coffee, but the emphasis is on the sweet aspect of that, rather than on the boozy aspect. A few minutes more, and the scent begins to develop a powdery aspect to it though I don't get the impression of dust -- more like powdered sugar. Ultimately, this is where it stays. I'm a little sad that I don't get any oak from this. However, the fact that this stays so foody on me but yet still works so well more than makes up for the lack of oak. Honestly? This feels like it would make an excellent Christmas blend. Update 12/22 -- I kept going back to my imp of this so often that I ended up purchasing a bottle, which just arrived today. Fresh from the Lab and the mail, this scent is much like my initial review. However, this time, the scent continues morphing until I detect something like a whiff of dust. It's not like "dusty tomes," which I associate with a distinct "old books" smell, but it's the dust that flies up from freshly ground nutmeg or cardamom. After several hours of wear, the oak note does emerge though it stays quite close to my skin.

So I'm trying this well after the last review here. Safe to say this bottle is aged. I'm also trying it a long time after I've last smelled the regular Boomslang, so I can't make a direct comparison: In the bottle: I do get chocolate as a first note, but the Snake Oil is detectable right after that. To my nose, these two notes are well balanced. On my skin: The oil is darker than Snake Oil but lighter in color than I remember Boomslang being. I also seem to remember discussion about Lab Boomslang having sediment in some bottles. I can't see any of that in mine. As it starts to dry, this blend is Snake Oil and a note that might be woodsy. The chocolate is there too, sweetening and softening the edges of the scent. It's also slightly tingly on my skin (could be any number of notes but has not been Snake Oil or cocoa for me) though it does not cause redness or any real discomfort. Several minutes in, and there's definitely a woody note pairing with the Snake Oil. The cocoa has faded quite a bit though it's still detectable.

In the bottle and wet on my skin, the evergreen almost overtakes the honey. It does die down as the blend dries, but on me, the evergreen note remains more detectable than I'd like. (I'd like a dominant honey note with other accents. This isn't it.)

A pounding heartbeat coalesced into scent: demonic passion and brutal sexuality manifested through myrrh, red patchouli, cognac, honey, and tuberose and geranium in a breathy, panting veil over the darkest body musk. In the bottle: Honey, predominantly. But... complex honey. Honey as melody with high descant notes and lower alto notes. (In the bottle, this blend is very feminine to my nose.) There's something I'm reading as floral (the descant), but I can't pick out individual flowers. For the lower alto notes, I cannot pick out individual notes but am getting impressions I associate with woods and maybe patchouli. On my skin: Immediately -- honey is still dominant, but the florals move more toward the forefront. I can pick out rose. What I interpreted as grounding notes in the beginning -- those have faded for the moment. A few minutes in, and the scent has deepened. It's still honey as the main note, and the rose is still detectable, but there is something more grounding that I can't quite name. That's often the case with me + musk: it's grounding and deepening and good, but I cannot call it any one thing. That's sort of what I'm getting here. The effect of the additional notes is nice. They keep the honey from being too cloying. Several more minutes in, and this is what it's settling down toward: a honey blend graced by a rose floral top note and a more earthy, grounding bottom note. In that bottom note, I can get some very well blended musk and possibly some myrrh; patchouli never raises itself as an independent note for me, which is odd -- but I don't mind (I also don't mind patchouli, but I don't need it as the dominant note in every perfume that contains it listed). Ultimately, both the high and the low notes start to mute on me but never disappear. It's an exquisite BPAL honey perfume.

In the bottle: My first impression is one of caramel (I know it's not listed). Then I do get vanilla, and patchouli, and boozy, and fruity (could well be red fruits). On my skin: Wet, bourbon flies to the surface, followed by pumpkin. Vanilla is the next to make an appearance. In the next phase, there is some patchouli going on and also some leather. It still has some bourbon vanilla hanging around the edges, and the sweetness is a positive factor for me. And next, patchouli dominates, which is common for my skin chemistry. It's not great but not terrible. At this phase, Resistance reminds me most of Nasty Woman, though it's a bit sweeter. Oh, yay? Something sweeter and nicer on me is coming forward again. Vanilla, yes, but also some of the pumpkin rind? Minutes later, more fruit is returning, which is happier for me. The patchouli is still more dominant than I'd like but it's far from a patchouli-leather blend now. Edit 11/1: Wore this blend to work all day. After a few hours, it settles to a boozy vanilla patchouli. After several hours, the vanilla note is actually the most lasting, though by this point it is very faint.

In the imp: Aquatic plus something brightening it. Looking at the notes listed, I think it's the eucalyptus -- as an accent, not as the main feature. On my skin: At first, it's happy, light aquatic. I can definitely pick out the eucalyptus. I wish I could also detect the bergamot, but that's just because I love bergamot. As it begins to dry, I can definitely see some Irish Spring potential, and I hope it can avoid that... Care to help, bergamot? Oh, dang. No help from bergamot. This is full-on Irish Spring. (Which as soaps go, is a pretty good one, but it's not what I want my perfume to smell like, you know?) ... ... ... Much time has settled it: Irish Spring, when it could have been bergamot. I am not an aquatic person. If you are, maybe try this despite my review. If you are also not an aquatic person... this would not be the scent on which to break that pattern.

In the bottle: The creamy spice of eggnog spices, but condensed -- if that makes sense. It's too strong to just be regular eggnog, but in the bottle, at least, the scent profile is the same to me. On my skin: Glorious spiced eggnog comes leaping off of my inner elbow. It's great. It can't last. As it dries, the sugary creaminess dies down, and a more truly peppery note appears. It's not unpleasant, more like that of a quite-spicy spice cake. A few minutes more, and I can pick out a cinnamon undertone. A little bit more and nutmeg comes back; the less peppery eggnog profile isn't quite ready to be done. The throw on this is great.

In the bottle: What I'm struck most by is a sense of creaminess, followed by the spiciness of clove and the spicy floral of carnation. Given the scent description, bourbon vanilla is the only thing I can think would be causing that creaminess, but it definitely doesn't smell like vanilla to me. On my skin: Wet, the creaminess is still subdued but present. I can imagine it being toasted sandalwood. (I know, that is a far cry from vanilla.) It's a lot of beautiful carnation and a bit of clove. Dry, it's lovely, grounded carnation. I'm definitely picking up carnation and sandalwood. Clove and other woods may be contributing notes. I'll credit vanilla with the fact that this is not a sharp wood at all; it's lovely and soft all around. No Bay on me (not unusual) or patchouli, either (unusual, but not unheard of). Also, for such a soft and delicate scent, this has a good deal of throw on me. Not complaining. All settled, and the creamy note is back just a bit, as a detectable background note this time instead of at the forefront. But it's lovely creamy carnation and sandalwood with a touch of clove.

In the bottle: Apricot and white musk. On my skin: White musk leaps off my arm before the scent is dry, which isn't usual for me and musk but is unusual for me and musk so soon. As it dries, the apricot emerges, and so does the orange blossom, keeping the scent from being heavy or syrupy. As it settles down, the white musk amps more, and the apricot quiets down. I end up primarily with white musk along with a little orange blossom and and even littler bit of apricot.