sihaya09

I finally tried out my 2010 decant (aka ZOMG I HAVE TOO MUCH PERFUME), and on me, I get juniper, pine, and the sticky sweet scent of a crushed holly berry. Very evocative. Early on, I also caught a little bit of pink rose, but that's gone in the drydown stage, and replaced with a nice undercurrent of frankincense. It's absolutely lovely, and now I feel like a dummy for waiting so long to try it.

It smells like a rich person's sitting room. Forreals, it does. The rosehips are leaning kind of lavender-y to me, but I do smell ivy and, through some devil-magic, stone. I was afraid this would go to powder and icky florals, but it doesn't! It's actually very calming and pleasant. It would be an excellent rainy-day scent or would work even better as a room spray. No foreboding detected.

Lavender is the predominant note here, but it's a delicate, herbal lavender tempered by chamomile. The white peppermint is somewhere in the background, giving this a very ethereal feel. A year or two I wouldn't have given this scent a second glance, but my newfound love of lavender has me reconsidering things, and I really like this. It, like its kin in the Somnium series, would make an excellent "getting ready for bed" scent on nights where you need a good, long, deep sleep. That said, I was a bit sad that the honeysuckle and raspberry didn't appear for me. Maybe as it ages!

This smells like the booziest apple cider known to man. Like, almost "someone threw some tequila in the apple cider" boozy. There's also a very sharp ginger note here. In general, BPAL's cider scents can be very hit or miss on me. I loved Lambs Wool and the cider scent from the Sleepy Hollow series, and Autumn Cider went cloyingly sweet on me. It's hard to tell one way or another what this one's fate will be. Some scents take a few months to settle and shift into their final forms, so I think I'll be re-testing this in the Fall.

I made a point of not looking at the notes when I sniffed my decants-- I ordered them about a month ago, so it was easy to forget the particulars. What struck me about this is that it seemed like a hybrid of two BPAL scents I already love-- it had the sugary near-citrus dusting of Hungry Ghost Moon (which is odd, as I see no citrus notes, so it's probably the tonka playing tricks on my nose) and the soft, tea-stained musk of Dorian (which is probably the fougère, though I detected no lilac). Jason and I both skin-tested this one (upon sniffing, he readily presented me with his wrist), and it was lovely on both of us, which is fitting for a scent having to do with David Bowie. On my skin, it went sweeter, but always had a lovely woody base, which I assume is the oudh. There was no citrus. I forsee this being a bottle purchase, and being stored in the bathroom so we can both get at it. Delicious.

When I cracked open my decant, I was like "HOLY WOW, this smells like Halloween." Looking back over the notes, that reaction makes perfect sense. The pumpkin is semi-sweet, but definitely spiced, and I do smell the dark woods in there, too. This is a scent that would not have been out of place in the Sleepy Hollow series, and I can see it getting a lot of play come Autumn. There's also a little bit of coffee-ness at play, though BPAL's coffee note is almost always cloying to me, and this, while certainly sweet, doesn't tip into the swap pile. I actually really like it. It would make a fantastic candle.

Right from the vial, it is mostly huckleberry, but that vanishes on the skin and becomes apple blossom + soft florals. I liked it better wet than dry, sadly.

I was a bit nervous about this one, as pine pitch has ruined many a scent for me. To my nose, in the vial, there is a deep, lush green that comes out first, coupled with the same "skin musk" I recognize from scents like Buck Moon. On the skin, after about a half hour, this baby is all brown leather and clove. It's definitely not too masculine for me to wear, and sits rather close to my skin. I like it a lot!

This is very much in the same scent family as The Soldier and Red Lantern. It's all RAWR RED MUSK when applied, and then the bitter clove comes to the forefront to make a dark, bitter muskiness that is only slightly rounded out by the orchid. A very heavy scent-- a nighttime scent. Bold and very darkly sexual.

I got absolutely no lavender. I got alllll amber, smoky honey, and something that smells like copal? DELISH.

GUUUURL. ONTD has not been obsessed with Britney since she shaved her head. They've moved on to Gaga and that skinny dude who's the new Spiderman.

2010 version. Yep, Snow White, same as years past, but somehow more sugared than other years'. My 2005 bottle has never been this sweet, even when it was brand new. I definitely prefer the less-sweet version, so hopefully the 2010 bottle will mellow and deepen with age.

I had high hopes for this, but I got an initial hit of incense followed by nothin' but soapy florals. Not for me.

This one is SMOOOOOOOTH. Red musk and cream are the predominant notes. I don't really smell much else, but on my husband, I get a little more leather. This is really nice!

Fans of The Girl, this one's for you. It's very similar on my skin. It's a light airy vanilla, totally non-foody, tinged with amber and a phantom whiff of lemon. I might have to get a bottle!