Miracle of miracles, this is one of the few BPAL "high" white florals I can wear without an insta-headache, so I like it a lot for that alone.
In the bottle: Very sweet, light and feminine floral. I really liked the comparisons to a wedding bouquet and Easter lilies. It's maybe not that sweet, and slightly sharp.
Wet: Sharpens a little bit more, but it's not soapy or perfumey. This is definitely the All-Singing All-Jasmine show. I get maybe a little of the orris root or the amber, which seem to be weighing down the florals a bit and adding a powdery note. This is slightly girly and "juvenile" for me -- it feels like perfume for a young girl. Pretty, but simple.
Drydown: More of the same, maybe a little more powdery. This warms up into a nice juicy strong jasmine scent. Fades rather quickly. I doubt I'll ever get my hands on the BPAL Jasmine SN, so this appears to be a nice substitute.
Verdict: If you like jasmine, this is for you. If you despair of ever finding a BPAL white floral you can wear pain-free, this may also be for you. I'm keeping this, but might try it in a scent locket to see if it lasts longer, or layering it with a resin to see if I can bring out the other notes more. This could be a nice BPAL starter scent for someone (someone who doesn't get that cat-pee effect, needless to say).
Source: Corinna
One of my long-time favourites.
In the imp: Cherry, definitely, but not the fruit -- more dusky cherry blossoms. Not Jurgen's.
Wet: Almond almond almond! But not almond-cookie sweet.
Drydown: Morphs into a GORGEOUS sweet musk-amber-gold scent. Lots of throw, lots of staying power. Sultry, spicy, golden, sweet -- yes, yes, yes, yes. Definitely for those who love Morocco, Queen of Sheba, maybe O, &c &c. Seductive and slinky but not CFM-sexy. Don't be scared off by the smell in the imp or if you get ALMOND at first, this really shines after an hour or two.
Source: Bastet
Yeah, this is just about what happened to me, sadly. I was a little heartbroken, because the musk and amber and woods and even the patch note sounded great.
In the bottle: A lot sweeter than I expected, plus a sharp edge.
Wet: A strong, sharp, UNPLEASANT weirdly sweet scent. It is just about like bad department store men's cologne. Total ugh.
Drydown: A couple of hours later, the 'bourbon geranium' (what the heck) dies down some, and the scent becomes sweeter and less sharp. It's still kind of spicy. I like the aged patchouli -- normally a death note I hate -- but it's pretty buried. Ditto the bark and cedar. The benzoin comes out a bit, not much. I think the musk is tamping things down, but there's a definite Old Spice vibe here for me. The longer it's on, the better it gets, except it also gets more faint (not necessarily a bad thing there!).
Verdict: This has been aging since Feb. and the sweet/sharp/spice effect is still there. Not much complexity or depth at all. Maybe in another year or so....I bought all these bottles together as a set, so I don't want to sell it off, but I am going to let this age for a very long while to see if the geranium/spice at least softens.
Source: Sic Erit
2008 version. This might be the scent that finally makes me learn my lesson about green notes. I amp grass and other herbal stuff like it's my job, making perfumes like Two, Five and Seven a disaster on me, but I've had good luck with some BPALs with juniper and cypress in. I love ancient Rome, I love incense and resins, so I took a gamble....
In the bottle: Something sweet but also really sharp. Licorice! Carnations? CLOVES. Flashback to artsy college friends smoking clove cigarettes which always made me cough. I do smell some beautiful dark rich incense buried under the cloves, but this is not a good opening.
Wet: CLOVES. Clovezilla stomping all over the myrrh and frankincense, probably even the myrtle, absolutely everything else. It's not a sharp headache-causing scent, but kind of sweet-yet-tangy, like fresh-picked herbs. I smell like a spice rack.
Drydown: A little bit of dark pretty incense emerges, but it's very faint and mashed into the tracks of CLOVEZILLA. The CLOVES smell finally does settle down a bit (WTF is causing this? the dragon's blood? the myrtle? some combination?) and more incense comes out, sort of, but it's so faint it's hard to tell if that's really happening or wishful thinking.
Verdict: If you've ever tasted old-time horehound drops, I now smell pretty much like that, except with more cinnamon (which I don't like as a note) and less mint. I am kinda heartbroken here. I might try this in a scent locket or as a room scent to see if the incense comes out more.
Source: Valentine of Rome
Chilly/white/creamy/snow/flower scents usually aren't my thing, but I got this as part of a Yule set last year. 2012 version.
In the bottle: YO peppermint and vanilla. Smells a bit like a milkshake.
Wet: oh my God, the dread Play-Do smell, and I get a whiff of cat pee undertone - husband didn't smell it, though.
Drydown: The Play-Do smell receded, and I got a little bit of fake coconut and pineapple, but then the Play-Do came back again. A really synthetic, doughy, sorta-sweet chemical smell.
Verdict: Total miss.
Source: Snow White
In the imp: Very very sweet, and slightly chemical. A little more "perfumy" than most BPALs, to me.
Wet: Immediately less sweet and less strong -- there was a slight soapy edge at first, which had me worried, but this fades into a quiet, simple, quite pretty scent. It might be good for someone who's not sure if they like rose scents, or a delicate office scent for a woman. I don't get any dust, blackness, wickedness, or boldness at all, sadly. There does seem to be a note which is suppressing the rose a little bit and keeping it from going either powdery or soapy, which is nice, but I can't tell what it is.
Drydown: This doesn't change on me much, except it continues getting ever fainter. Someone said "translucent" earlier and that sounds right -- it's more essence of rose, or preserved rose, rather than a strong fresh flowery smell.
Dry: My skin ate this pretty fast, so almost no throw, but it had good staying power for such a delicate femme scent. I'll keep the imp, and maybe get another one, but I'm not that interested in a bottle, mainly because on me it is pretty much just one note and it fades very quickly.
The verdict: I agree this is maybe more English countryside than London, unless it's a shady little corner of Queen Mary's Rose Garden. Sweet, quiet, maybe easily overlooked -- this is more of an Anne than an Emily or Charlotte perfume, Cassandra rather than Jane. -- Actually now that I think on it this is really kind of a Jane Bennet scent. Sweet, steady, classy, delicate. It's sort of a young pretty perfume, rather "girly" -- which isn't bad, just really, really not my thing. I tend to prefer the more complex "storytelling" BPALs too, and this is definitely not one of those. It's maybe the closest I've seen BPAL come to a more simple "regular" perfume. Which isn't to say it's bad at all, it's very sweet and pretty. I wouldn't include it in a BPAL starter imp pack, but I might suggest it to someone who's put off by the stronger scents and more elaborate descriptions. I also might put it in a BPAL rose imp pack as a contrast with the more complex and strong rose blends, some of which do turn to powder or soap.
Source: London
Got this as a frimp from the lab -- which I highly appreciate! but man, I am reminded all over again why these sorts of light/high/white florals don't work on me. From the first brush of the applicator to the drydown hours later, this just smelled like soap -- soapy sandalwood, and not even like perfumed soap, but that just-got-out-of-the-shower soap or commercial shampoo smell. Which is a nice enough smell for about fifteen minutes after you shower, but not at all what I was expecting from the description of musks, lemon, peach, &c. It even has that sort of bitter tang that happens when you get soap in your mouth by accident. :-/ "Floral laundry detergent" or "scented dryer sheets" about sums it up for me too, sadly.
Source: The Zieba Tree
In the imp: YO, cherry cough syrup. But exactly. I am a little terrified.
Wet: Not cherry cough syrup, thank God. Almost immediately musky, on my skin. A little vanilla, not a lot of honey. Husband says it smells "sexy" and "like cherry incense" (WTF). I'm guessing the vanilla + honey is making him think of a darkly sweet cherry, and the amber is the resinous incense-like note. A sweet but definitely not flowery smell, pretty musky and dark on me.
Drydown: I spilled TWO THIRDS of a NEW bottle all over so for a while it was impossible for me to smell the perfume itself! Still musky, a bit sweeter, but more vanilla, less honey. Usually honey works well on me (I love Athens) so not sure what is happening here, unless I'm amping the hell out of the amber. This blended really well, and was a very pretty scent. It didn't seem to morph and I couldn't pick out the individual notes much. Not at all a foody scent, which works for me because I really don't like those much.
Hours later: More musky, maybe a faint powdery scent from the amber, no honey. I don't think the honey ever really came out on me, unless it was very very subtle. Not much throw from the start, but a fair amount of staying power.
The verdict: Definitely a sexy scent. I wouldn't want to wear it on a job interview -- maybe a serious date, or on a sexy afternoon. It's nice, but it doesn't really wow me like Athens or Bathsheba (two all-time favourites). Then again....given the way my husband reacted, maybe I'll replace my spilled bottle! Or, since this is related to Snake Oil, I might try that again (it's been quite a while) to see if I can get that heavier sweeter scent I thought O would be.
Source: O
In the imp: Ginger, verbena, citrus, faint grass. Very pretty.
Wet: A faintly fruity? smell, then -- ginger and lemon, ginger and lemon, and then LEMON LEMON LEMON. Slightly mixed with ginger.
Drydown: Amber came out slightly, in a vanilla way. Still LEMON. I now smell exactly like one of those awful Starbuck's fake lemon pound cakes with the gross white icing.
Hours later: Ginger came up a bit more, so did the grass, but it was still ONE LEMON TO RULE THEM ALL AND IN THE CITRUS BIND THEM (just finished traditional Yule LOTR rewatch). This also disappeared on me really fast -- in less than an hour.
Pretty disappointed in this one, since I love the description and waited ages to try it, but between the Godzillemon and the vanishing act, it's awful. I might wait and try this again later, but I'm not optimistic.
Source: Mag Mell
Oh dear, I should have learned my lesson about this kind of blend from Two, Five and Seven, but what with the gorgeous artwork and lovely poem and me being a rose fiend, I was smitten. This just didn't work on me, and it's due to my amping green notes and turning them into bitter bitterness. SIGH.
(I know we don't buy the bottles for the labels but seriously this is just one beautiful design, down to the lettering.)
In the bottle: A very sharp green sort of chemical smell. Uh-oh.
Wet: A very very GREEN note. Husband said I smelled like celery. Husband was invited to revise his opinion. Repeatedly. He never did. I didn't smell celery myself, and thought at first the smell was a bit pretty, but on me it's definitely some kind of tangy green leaf with a sweet undertone. No red, no dry leaves, not really even any rose, other than a mild sweetness.
Drydown: The celery? note died down a bit (Husband: "Some") and the blend got sweeter, but more like generic flowery perfume, not red roses. After a while it was sweet powder underneath a green note. It's pretty strong and has a lot of throw, and lasted a long while, but on me this was not a good thing.
Verdict: I'm going to let this one age a while in the hope the dry leaf will come out and the green subside, at least a little bit. I love autumn, and roses, and this sounds like such a beautiful scent (on people whose skin doesn't hate grass. Damn).
Source: Harvest Moon 2013
I used to wear this all the time, and I just don't know what happened since my return to the sweet, sweet crack BPAL. I love the description and it smells pretty in the vial, but the INSTANT Rose Cross hits my skin, it turns into sharp, bitter, soapy ugh. Stays that way all through the drydown and hours and hours later. A second opinion was sought, and soon secured.
HUSBAND: It smells like insect repellent -- it smells like a TRUCK of insect repellent. It smells like the WHO going after Dengue fever.
MOI: Not -- not a sacred blend of rose essence and frankincense? Like rose incense?
HUSBAND: NO.
sigh.
Source: Rose Cross
I was disappointed in this because I wanted a big ripe gorgeous peach smell, but it's still a pretty scent.
In the bottle: Sharp chemical artificial florals. Yikes.
Wet: Still pretty sharp, and I get that Herbal Essences note. Thankfully it died down pretty fast, and the scent didn't ever go soapy on me, but the 'shampoo' left a bad aftertaste (aftersmell?). I think this might be the chrysanthemum, which seemed to be softened later by the musk. The tea note was really strong on me at first, but then the peach blossoms started coming out fairly soon. A very light scent, in several senses -- if it were a colour it'd be pale pale pastel yellow.
Dry: Semi-sweet, pale, and quite faint. This is definitely more a light crisp floral than a heavy sweet fruit. It doesn't give me the headaches that typical light florals often do, but I think this is because it's more like peach tea, or white tea with a trace of peach syrup. Almost no throw, although it did last longer than I thought -- my skin seemed to eat it in about an hour and half, but several hours after that I was still getting faint little whiffs every now and then. Little Bird called it "perfume-sharp" which seems right to me -- not unpleasantly sharp like soap, but not what I wanted.
Verdict: Not a total miss, but not something I'll be wearing all that often, either. Maybe part of the problem is testing it in November -- it's definitely a spring/early summer kind of scent, or early spring.
Corollary: I don't like mums any more as perfume than as actual flowers, ack gag. I'm not that fond of carnations either, and now I'm a little nervous about Flor de Muerto, which sounded intriguing....
Source: Peach Moon
Bought a bottle of this at the late, beloved, lost BedlamBedlam (GOD I miss that store, it was like two blocks away from my house).
In the bottle: A very weird sort of chemical cherry cough syrup. Eek....
Wet: Blast of honey at first! Thankfully, that settles down. Also, a bit of licorice, which on me is probably the clove. I don't get much wine, or vanilla. I do smell a bit of the musk. This is a sweet, dark blend with bite -- maybe that's the vetiver, which ordinarily I don't like, but I think the wine and honey and vanilla and other sweet notes are stomping it down. This perfume is very mature, subtle, rich but not overpowering -- it seems very well-blended, or at least it's behaving that way on my skin. It's a kind of date-and-dinner-out, winter evening, grown woman perfume. Maybe a little more dark and musky, and less fruity, than I usually like, but it's good. It would go great with FMP and an LBD. I feel underdressed wearing it in jeans and a sweatshirt!
Drydown: Wow, this has real staying power....hours later, and after a walk during which I got rained on, it's still pretty strong, and hasn't morphed a lot. Maybe it's gotten a little sweeter. Not quite my thing, but it's a really interesting mix of sweet and musky with a little edge.
Source: Blood Kiss
I usually hate the very light/white/green/soapy/floral aquatics and they hate me right back, but wow, this is so different, and it's a little frustrating I don't know why because I can't suss out the notes. I get a lovely pale glassy green from this, maybe a green-blue, lilies, watery tones, but nothing soapy or sharp about it. Usually I can't wear these scents at all, and my skin amps green notes like it's my job, but this is gorgeous, pale, pretty, and very soothing. It reminds me of Lyonesse, Glasgow, Venice, Sea of Glass, and a few other light florals I really like (maybe Muse and Danube?), but there's something special about this one. I can't order a bottle now but it is definitely going high on my "must buy a bottle when not completely broke" list. Maybe there's a faint cucumber note in it? but it's not bitter.....It really is amazing.
Source: Water of Notre Dame
In the imp: Mildly flowery citrus. I don't smell any rose or amber.
Wet: WHAM! Citrus. A very strong orange/lemon/grapefruit bright smell on me. I kinda love it, as I love citrus smells, but not something I'd want to put on right before stepping into a crowded elevator.
Drydown: The citrus backs off a couple miles and a pretty, warm sort of creamy floral comes out. Still rather tart, but I like it (then again I used to suck on lemons as a kid. I can't get enough of tart citrus). It stays juicy, not getting either too soapy or powdery. I think I'm getting more jasmine-and-amber, not the rose or orris (whatever orris is). The citrus comes back out every once in a while, like the sun peeking through heavy velvet perfumed drapes (or something).
Verdict: I really like it. It's a very bright cheerful scent, and reminds me of a bowl of oranges in the sunshine scenting my kitchen. Unfortunately the pretty subtle drydown stage -- it does smell a lot like orange blossoms -- fades out on my skin. However, this is a very strong, long-lasting perfume with decent throw. It'd be great for summertime. I have to say that while Venice smells the way I think of Venice -- bright, aquatic, a bit sharp -- this doesn't smell anything like powdered decadant aristocrats. Unless they're sitting in L'Orangerie de Jussieu.
Source: Versailles
