sihaya09

Belladonnastrap & I were in Bath and Bodyworks today, and after I completely accidentally splooged her with Coconut Lemon Vebena lotion, I fell in love with it. However, what B&BW can do with a scent, Beth and Co. can do times ten. I liked the beachy, kind of salty, coco-lime scent. BDS says that Oberon might be similar, but I'm open to other suggestions.

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!

I'm unsure if I'm in love with this. I bought a bottle blind, 'cause I'm a totally bayberry lover, but this is AGGRESSIVELY piney, in a darker than expected way. Maybe there's juniper mixed in with the woods? The drydown is a soft blend of spices / cranberry / bayberry that is very pleasant, and I keep getting lovely whiffs of that now and again, but I don't know if I'd want to go through the initial application pine-a-palooza to get to it on a regular basis. I'm going to dab it on my husband, who loves woody stuff. If it works for him, we'll keep it. If not, we'll swap. It's a very lovely scent, but as many people have noted, I'd rather have it as a room scent than a perfume.

I'm actually getting cream + fig out of this. It's probably my chemistry, but I'm only getting an insinuation of olive oil (a mix of creamy and sharp), and no beeswax. I like it, but it's not what I expected. It's another of those semi-foody scents that doesn't quite cross the line over to dessert, but would make a good comfort scent.

I think people are getting Playdoh from this because it's the same honey note used in O. On me, this is like O plus a little Dragon's Milk. Soft, creamy, and musky. I really like it!

This one is an odd one. It definitely has a nacreous quality to it-- the musks feel white and green to me. Very light and airy. But there's a definite quasi-floral note that I get from BPAL's leaf notes underneath it all. It's a little bit woody, and yet not quite. Reminds me of walking through a muddy park on a rainy day, but in a good way, if that makes any sense. I don't know if this is one I'd reach for, but I want to see how it smells on my husband.

Lemon + white musk, then totally vanished inside of 15 minutes.

Straight up Snow White + rose. I am not sure which I prefer more-- I think original flavor Snow White, but this is certainly bottleworthy as well.

This one is identical to Snow Bunny. Slightly perfumey florals under the lab's minty-piney "snow" note. I've noticed that a lot of the snow blends from the last few years have been virtually identical on my skin chemistry, with the mint/pine always taking over.

This one is pretty nondistinct on me from a lot of the Lab's other trees + snow Yule blends. It's not as perfumey as Snow Angel, but more herby than Snow Moon. Overall... I like it and I'll use up my imp, but overall, it smells very close to about five I already have.

Copal and patchouli, golden and lovely. I agree that it's a bit masculine... I'll probably put it in the "shared BPAL" pile in the bathroom. But it smells lovely on me, too!