n3m3sis42

A lovely forumite was kind enough to send me a sniffie of the 2005 version. In the imp: Very sweet and light. Wet: I can definitely see why others have called this "airy". It is beautifully light and creamy. If this doesn't morph horribly on my skin, I have a feeling I'm going to be heartbroken because I don't see this fragrance up for sale very often. Dry: I don't even know how to describe this. There's a fruity note, which some people have described as coconut, and I can see why but if it is, it's very light. It's sweet but not really foody, and very light and pretty. I really need this. Oh, well, maybe it will be re-released sometime.

In the imp: Does anyone remember those "Mr. Sketch" markers that lots of kids had in the 80's? The scented ones? That's what I am getting from this scent in the imp. Wet: I think it's the light blue "Mr. Sketch" marker. I forget what flavor that one was supposed to be, but now I can't stop thinking that's what this smells like. I guess what I am smelling are the honey mead and sweet almond, for those of you who are unfamiliar with said markers and now think I am insane. As this started to dry down, I could have sworn I smelled little bit of a leathery element. Dry: I don't even know what to say this smells like. I'm really not getting any one of the stated notes, except maybe a bit of the buttercream. It's sweet and not unpleasant, but it's not doing anything spectacular for me. I'll wear it all over (as opposed to just on the back of my wrist, which is where I test my imps) sometime and see if my opinion changes.

In the imp: I must be insane, because while everyone else is getting lavender, I swear I am getting honeysuckle. Wet: Honeysuckle. Dry: This dries down to a sweet, clean smell sort of reminiscent of Come To Me (on me). And then it seems to fade almost entirely, but I put on way less than I normally would, since I was wearing it to bed and I wasn't sure my husband would appreciate my normal level of slathering when he was trying to go to sleep. I have tried this blend twice: once when I was not ready to sleep but was in bed relaxing, and once when I was trying to go to sleep. It didn't forcibly knock me out, but it did seem to help me become sleepy once I was ready to try to sleep. I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep at times, so that's good enough for me.

In the imp: Sugar and butter, baked goods. Very reminiscent of Jack. Wet: Still pretty much smelling Jack. Okay, as this dries down, I can tell the difference between it and Jack because it's not pumpkin-y (although wht I smell the most in Jack is the butter and sugar). I think this one plays a bit nicer with my skin chemistry than Jack does, but they are still fairly similar on me. Anyway, this is basically a very yummy and sugary baked-goods smell on me. I think my skin drinks chocolate scents, because I am not getting chocolate from this at all. Dry: My final verdict is that this reminds me a lot of Jack, but I think I find it more wearable. I'll have to wear each one out of the house and see what I think about that. This one is definitely a keeper, though; it's making me hungry sniffing my arm.

Wow, this one totally morphed on me, but it's about to be that time of month, so who knows what my body chemistry is doing. In the bottle: Lemongrass? Wet: At first, this smelled so much like the "green grass" note in Fairy Market that I actually ran upstairs to make sure I hadn't somehow put that on by accident. The only common note I see is the lavender, and since I'm pretty darn sure I know what lavender smells like, this must be a result of lavender mixed with something else. Anyway, after a while, that backs off and I can tell that they are not the same perfume. Dry: I hate cedar (it goes pencil-shavings on me), but I don't smell it much or at all in this blend. It's mostly amber and herbals and it's very pretty.

My "13" order was lost in the mail for seemingly forever, but it finally made it back to me! So now I can finally review it, and yay! In the bottle: Almost all chocolate, and if I hadn't smelled Bliss before I might not be able to make out that there are other notes at all. I can kindasorta smell the clove a bit. Wet: Duh, chocolate. But as this dries down, I find that I am one of the lucky few who can smell the other notes pretty well--I'm getting a lot of peach and clove. Dry: I must be the exception to the statement that the chocolate notes in this predominate. On me, this is definitely foody, but it's a pretty even mix of the dessert-y and fruity notes. Gorgeous.

In the bottle: Ginger and lime. Wet: Deliciously herby, but with a very sweet undertone. This dries down into something that's not really floral or herby, but a wonderful blend of the two. It definitely has a bit of an aquatic-smelling note to it. Dry: This is so gorgeous. I am going to wear it to work today and hope that it makes me feel confident and cool like Spider. Edited to add: This has totally become my new favorite scent. I can't stop wearing it! On me, it's mostly ginger and lime and it is so, so yummy.

In the bottle: Sugar (with maybe some cinnamon), cream, and liquor. Wet: Sort of starts out like plastic baby doll heads, but turns into a yummy cookie scent. Dry: This isn't exactly complex on me, but it's still yummy. It's pretty much spicy cookies. I never got a hint of the lime, which is not a problem necessarily, but does mean I'm a little weird. This is definitely foody, but not overwhelmingly foody.

In the imp: Spicy, and maybe a little bit woody. Wet: So far, I'm mainly smelling something musky, and it's gorgeous. I've never worn anything that I've known to have vetiver as yet, but I've heard of its infamous ability to go stinky on a lot of people, so we'll see. Dry: Apparently, my skin likes vetiver. This smells sweet and spicy on me, with a hint of that soapy (but not in the bad way) note that Come To Me has on me. I don't smell like soap, but I think it's a similar note. I would totally wear this.

In the imp: Pine or maybe patchouli with a vanilla-y undertone. Wet: Hmmm, smells sorta fruity or maybe bubblegummy on me. Strange. Doesn't really change much on drydown, either. Dry: Sort of fruity or bubblegummy. Not sure I am impressed. However, it's not unpleasant, so perhaps I will try slathering it all over myself sometime when I go out and decide how I feel about it then.

In the bottle: Molasses, with a heavy undertone that's almost reminiscent of cough syrup. Wet: Molasses. Pretty much straight molasses. Dry: Still pretty much straight molasses, but I can pick up bits and pieces of fruity accent notes. If you aren't into sweet or foody blends, you probably won't like this. I am very into foody blends, and I have no complaints whatsoever.

In the bottle: Chocolate, and maybe fruit. Wet: At first, this smells of chocolate and something fruity, like oranges. Then the clove becomes almost overpowering, and I start to wonder if I'm going to like this after all. I can't believe that some people found this too chocolatey! Dry: After the drydown, I can still smell the clove, but it's blended well enough that I can smell a lot of the other notes now, too. I don't know how to describe this, because it's way more spicey or herbal than chocolatey or foody on me. However, it's gorgeous and I love it.

In the bottle: I feel bad about this (apparently, my nose isn't good at picking out scents by sniffing a bottle), but... oranges and aftershave? Wet: I am definitely smelling a grass note, and some spicy herbals. Wet, this is very different from anything else I've tried so far from the Lab. There's still something that makes me think of oranges, but I don't know what it is. Overall, I'm pretty sure that a good word for what this smells like wet would be "earthy". Dry: A mixture of sweet grass and herbs. I have a feeling that this will smell different after it ages, but hopefully not too different since I LOVE IT!

In the bottle: This is weird, but sugared musk. Wet: As soon as this hits my skin, the predominant smell is the green grass note. As it begins to dry down, it's more reminiscent of sugared florals, but not the same as the ones in Pink Phoenix or Pink Moon, because it's got a "fresh" undertone that those blends don't have. Dry: Fresh florals, slightly sugared, but I wouldn't really call this foody on my skin. I love this!

In the imp: Sweet cherries. Wet: Sweet cherries still, not the cough syrupy cherry scent I got from Kabuki when I first put it on, but a really nice cherry scent. My skin chemistry does this scary thing with a lot of BPAL's wood notes, where after the first 5 or 10 minutes, all other scents are overpowered by this massive pencil-shavings odor. However, I've found that with most blends, if I wait it out, the pencil shavings thing will calm down and sometimes it comes out okay. Fortunately, this was the case with Red Queen. Dry: After drydown, this smells of currants with an undertone of woods, and it's very pretty. It seems to fade to almost nothing on me within a few hours, though, so I'll have to try slathering this more next time.

In the imp: I know this doesn't go with the actual notes, but I swear it smells like fruit with some sort of light chocolate undertones. Wet: I still swear I am smelling fruit and chocolate. Maybe I am insane. After a minute or two, though, it's all honey and vanilla. This is not a bad thing. As it dries down, I can begin to smell the amber. I am also starting to understand why people are saying it smells like sex. Um, this might be TMI, but I think this is actually making me a little... *ahem* excited? Dry: This smells light on me, mostly honeyed vanilla. Honestly, given the effect it is having on me I really don't care what it smells like (although it's quite nice). *scampers off to order a bottle immediately*

In the imp: All I can think of is "cologne". Sorry, I know that's lame. Wet: Mmmm, red musk. Very warm and yummy. As it dries down, which it seems to be doing quickly, I can also smell some spices that kind of remind me of Indian food (oh, right... the description does say "saffron and Middle Eastern spices," DUH). The other notes seem to be overpowering the red musk, which is one of those things (like cream) that my skin seems to basically eat up. Okay, now that it's dried down more, I take it back. The spices have calmed down just a bit and everything is blending quite nicely. The throw from this seems to be mostly the musk now, which is not a problem for me at all. Dry: I'm not sure I'm getting the pure sexiness a lot of people seem to get from this, but I like it. I will have to give it a full-on wearing soon and see how it works out for me.

In the imp: Very herbal and spicy. Wet: A musky incensey note which I assume is the Arabian musk and amber. And something spicy and almost woody. As it dries down, I can definitely smell hints of the foodier notes in this, the black plum and vanilla. Dry: On the drydown, this has stayed amber with foody notes. I love it. Alas! Yet another LE bottle I'll have to hunt for.

I received an imp of this from a lovely forumite. I am so excited that I get to try it! In the imp: Sugared strawberries. Wet: Bubble gum. As it dries down a bit, it becomes a sweet, candied fruit scent, somehow familiar. As I start looking through some of the other reviews, I realize why. As one reviewer put it, "It is the bastard love child of Pink Moon and Aunt Caroline’s Joy Mojo." For me, this is a good thing, as Aunt Caroline was my first BPAL scent and my first BPAL love, and I love Pink Moon as well. Dry: I am having trouble picking out individual notes because this is pretty much just creamy, sticky sugar on me... with just a tiny hint of florals underneath. This scent is all that I hoped it would be. I wonder if I can still hunt down a bottle of it.

In the imp: Sharp and acrid, with a hint of perfumeyness. This oil scares me a bit, but I'm trying it anyway. Wet: As advertised, it smells like smoke and flames... but I could swear that I smell something else underneath. Maybe patchouli? As it dries down further, yes, I am definitely smelling patchouli or something like it. Dry: This dries down to a smoky, herbal smell. I didn't think I was going to like this one much, but I might just like it after all.

In the imp: Sweet and musky. Wet: Mostly patchouli initially, but quickly fades down to something that is mostly neroli (well, it smells fruity anyway) with a musky scent underneath. This blends quickly into a clean floral that still holds hints of the patchouli I smelled when I first put it on. Dry: This has dried down into a mostly-patchouli scent on me, with undertones of clean florals. This one went back and forth a few times as it dried down on me. In the end, it's definitely at least worth another wear.

In the imp: Whoa, spicy! Wet: Spicy and... woody? Oh, no... this smells like that woody note in Mandrake and Kostnice which (so far at least) is the only note that has totally not worked on me. I hope I'm wrong, because I'd really like to like this one. Okay, the scary wood note seems to have blended down a bit, but I can't say *what* it smells like now. Really as long as it doesn't smell actively bad, it's good by me since I want to use it for its intended effects, not as a perfume. Dry: This took forever to dry down on me. It ended up smelling lightly woody, with a warm, somehow creamy undertone. It's very strange. However, I am going to try this out later to see if it works as suggested. It's definitely worth a test run.

In the imp: Thick, sweet florals. I can see why this blend might be "favored by prostitutes". ;-) Wet: Florals which quickly turn to... bubble gum?? This only lasts for a few minutes, and then I start to notice a green, almost grassy undertone. As it's drying down, I can catch what I'm fairly sure is causing the "dirty diaper" smell on some of the others who have reviewed this blend--it doesn't really smell like diapers on me, but I'm scared it's going to. Thankfully, it doesn't... it goes softer and creamier with a tangy undertone that's reminiscent of lemon but not exactly lemon. Dry: This is pretty enough... soft and creamy florals with something a bit acrid underneath. I will try slathering this on around the hubby sometime to see if he likes it.

In the imp: Florals (like rose) and a very strong wood note. Wet: First it is all floral, and then the wood comes out in force. Unlike most blends with a woody note on me, though, the rosewood seems to blend in quickly. As it's drying, I could swear I smell lemon. However, the last blend I tried was Shanghai (on my other arm), so maybe I'm still smelling that? Dry: I spoke too soon about the wood. I smell like floral pencil shavings. I guess this one is not for me.

In the imp: A very pretty herbal lemon. Wet: Apparently my skin amps lemon, at least initially. I can smell the honeysuckle underneath if I look for it. Oh, okay... apparently when my skin amps a scent like that right off the bat, it's actually making it blend in or evaporate--the same thing happens wirh patchouli blends. After 5 or 10 minutes, the lemon is mostly gone (boo) and this has become more of a honeysuckle/tea scent. It's still very pretty and very clean--it reminds me a lot of Come To Me, but less soapy. There is a still a hint of lemon. I love this. Dry: Hooray! This faded down on me so much after the initial lemony burst that I thought my skin was just going to eat it, but instead it popped back out maybe 10 minutes later, a perefect blend of lemon, honeysuckle, and tea. Just like magic! Totally buying a bottle of this.