ravenfeathers

i got a testable sniffie of this as a freebie and squeed. aloud. at work. this is one of the very rare blends that i like better wet than dry. in the bottle i'm getting... er... cucumber and peppermint. that can't be right. it's fresh and vegetable-y. wet on skin okay, as soon as this gets warm, it gets pretty. all the lovely fruits, darkened and deepened by the florals. i'm not getting specific notes here, just dark, rich, loveliness. dry on skin it's pretty, very classic and smells expensive. the patchouli is there, but under control. the fruitiness has completely fled, so it's sort of a dry, rich floral cologne. a good blend and i'm psyched that i got a chance to try it.

i've been sitting on this bottle (not literally, ow) for quite a long time before reviewing; it was actually one of the first ones i got from a forum member. in the bottle sweet and dusty floral with an almost spicy scent, similar to carnation. very rich. wet on skin there's something that smells like orange blossom, but YAHOO! it doesn't actually have orange blossom, so hopefully it won't go plasticky on me. dry on skin this is such a vibrant, beautiful, dusky floral. the dragon's blood keeps it nice and sweet and the orange just rounds it off nicely without imparting any citrus overtones to it. the herbs are dry, sweet herbs, not bright green. there's just a trace of musk to give it real warmth. i slathered this, hardcore, and enjoyed every moment of it. it's a very grown-up scent and speaks of endings, but not unhappy ones.

in the bottle sweet and fruity, but somehow not fruity, a light, dusky mandarin wet on skin about the same, but warmer and somehow muskier dry on skin this is the scent that most closely matches the actual scent of my skin. it's like me, only better. the mandarin and fig blend so well into a vaguely apricot, highly skin musk scent. it's almost powdery, but not in an unpleasant, talcum way, just a very dry, serious, sexy perfume. it doesn't have a lot of throw, so it's also a very personal, close-to-the-skin smell.

Sugar-Slathered Candied Apple -- With a dollop of caramel! in the bottle thick, dark butterscotch (not quite caramel, unfortunately) with a little fruity nip wet on skin a little more apple, but still very butterscotchy dry on skin ahhh! nice apple! the throw is heavy butterscotch/caramel and the close-up sniff is baked apple. i dabbed a bit on the wrist that already had samhain on it, though, and it smells like mosquito repellent. note to myself: do not mix. this is the candied apple i was looking for with creepy, but without the boozy coconut note which wasn't quite my cup of tea.

in the bottle i was expecting something with a little bit of spice, as many of the other autumn/apple scents have, but this is pure fruit and it's spectacular! wet on skin apple, apple, apple with a tiny tart bite of cranberry. dry on skin this doesn't change much at all, just becomes slightly warmer and sweeter (which is my skin, i'm learning. i sweeten everything, which is good, since i like sweet). and this? this? THIS is my perfect apple! woe! LE!

in the bottle gorgeous, feminine, maybe a tiny bit sharp. wet on skin still very beautiful. the individual notes don't really do much here, it's all about the overall blend and it's fantastic. dry on skin i'm getting a bit more musk on the drydown, but the apple stays strong and fruity. this scent just screams "girl". it's not my perfect apple, but it's already a favourite.

in the bottle sweet, candied rose, but softer than a straight-up rose. wet on skin very strong delicate floral with rose as the overwhelming note. very sweet. dry on skin it stays the same, but just gets sweeter over time; tons and tons of throw. despite the description, i find this to be a very innocent scent, something a child could wear. it's not really my cup of tea (it's so sweet, it might cause cavities), but fortunately i have a kid named eve, so she gets it and we're all happy.

This perfume is an interpretation of the Hanging Gardens by night, based on further accounts of its fruit and flora: date palm, ebony, fir, pomegranate, plum, two pears, quince, fig, and grapevine with plumeria, three gardenias and dry rose. in the bottle my brain goes "alskdjfoasjdflsjfd!!!" because this is so much like libra '07, one of my particular favourites that i've been afraid to use because of its LE status. wet on skin the pear and fig are so beautiful and round out the rose so nicely. it's somewhat different from libra, but similar enough to make me very, very happy. dry on skin like libra, the rose (and the gardenia, in the case of HG) are the ones that last, but they're never annoyingly floral; enough of the fruit sticks around in the background to let the rose sing.

in the bottle nice, vaguely blackberry, not terribly exciting wet on skin WOW! this is... almost enough to render me speechless. it has this vague, jumbled-note perfume smell, but with blackberry lurking... i mean Lurking in the background. every sniff is like a "hmmmm... nice... WOW!" dry on skin this goes a trifle soapy on me, but i don't mind! it's a fine, handmade, triple milled blackberry soap and it's pretty beyond reason.

in the bottle holy chocolate! with a tinge of the cherry to balance the thick, gooey cocoa. wet on skin the chocolate backs off a little, the cherry amps up, and this turns into a lovely cherry cordial. dry on skin bleh, orange blossom, why do you hate me? the throw is all still chocolate cherry cordial and the yucky plastic of the orange blossom is subdued. i think i could wear this despite the evil orange blossom, which seems to want to behave in the company of the other two. perhaps a bit too sugary, candy sweet for wearing often. i think there are other candy-ish blends i like better than vice.

i had a great opportunity to try this out shortly after i got it as a frimp: it leaked half an imp's worth of oil on the inside of the package and leaks more all the time. i tipped it over accidently and a huge dollop leaked out. yikes! anyway... in the bottle ROSE! wet on skin rose, but sweeter, almost sugared. dry on skin sticky rose petals, sweet sweet sweet. this is an excellent rose scent. i'm not particularly a florals fan, but i do enjoy rose and this is a really good one.

in the bottle sour, tangy berries. i know the original beaver moon was meant to be cheesecakey (or was cheesecakey, regardless of intentions) and i didn't think this one would be, but it is. it's a sharp, twangy tang that offsets the berry very nicely. and i'm not sure but what there's even a teeny whiff of graham cracker in there. wet on skin the berries take over, but aren't overly fruity. they're sweet and heady, not tart. there's almost a floral aspect to the sweetness dry on skin mostly berries still, with the tart cheesecakey smell lingering close to the skin. throw is all sweet berries, but not sicky sweet like MB:bloody mary. it's a fresh, foody berry. it reminds me of cherries and red berries poached in liqueur. this is a fantastic blend and i love it. my bottle looks a little underfilled, which is a shame, but i'm going to enjoy it as long as i have it.

in the bottle it smells in the bottle like jack does on my skin, maybe a bit sweeter and less fruity wet on skin pumpkin, ooooh, it's so good. the lemon peel and blood orange just give enough of a tang to offset the pumpkin, without being at all citrusy. it has almost none of the butteriness of jack. dry on skin there's a lot of ginger on the throw, which is lovely. it smells like some kind of autumn dessert, not like a cookie or anything so crass, but like pumpkin créme brulée or something equally snooty. this is another one that i'd like in a gallon jar. *drools*

in the bottle pomegranate! it's tart and juicy and really fresh smelling. wet on skin pomegranate! it's a tad bit sweeter with a little whiff of juniper, just a tiny, tiny note that dries it out incredibly. dry on skin it transforms further, drying, and now it's almost on the edge of being a bright floral, crisp and red. i haven't been wearing this yet for two hours, but several people have come into my office this morning and remarked on the lovely smell. it's got a ton of throw, obviously. i just happen to have some pomegranate lip balm, too. i'm a happy bird.

first of all, i had no idea what kyphi was, so i had to wiki: All recipes for kyphi mention wine, honey and raisins. Other identifiable ingredients include * cinnamon and cassia bark, * the aromatic rhizomes of cyperus and sweet flag, * cedar, * juniper berry, and * resins and gums such as frankincense, myrrh, benzoin resin and mastic. sounds good, right? in the bottle sharp! wow, really pretty, sort of fruity but with a hard, hard punch in the snoot! wet on skin this sounds weird, but this smells like lemon, mostly. and something green. dry on skin i can't actually stop sniffing myself. it's not exactly lemon, but it's quite bright and tart. it's nothing like the wiki ingredients at all except maybe whiffs of cedar and benzoin. it's not spicy, but it's rich and golden and really, really beautiful. TONS of throw. i really thought this would be spicy and pungent. it's not what i was expecting at all, but it's super nice.

in the bottle why, hello there, coconut, my old friend from creepy. it's a very, very sharp coconut, like it's fermented or something. it gives a definite alcoholic twang to the scent. wet on skin coconut and butterscotch. mm, nice. dry on skin still about the same, but slightly softer and sweeter. this smells like some kind of expensive emollient for tanning or something, with cocoa butter and coconut milk and a dollop of sugar. 2 hours later still working hard! my daughter put some of this on before bed last night and it was still quite sniffable this morning. O_o it's a very nice scent, but not terribly evocative of pirate rum. it's one of the few cases of a BPAL oil being more pleasant than particularly "mood"y.

in the bottle woof, sharp and rich and complex. it smells a bit like... asphalt actually, but not in a bad way, if that makes sense. there's allspice and apple lurking very close under the surface of the fir needle wet on skin wow, i really don't like this phase. the asphalt smell is stronger now and there's something that smells like burnt tires. dry on skin once the fir calms the hell down, this is amazing. it's incredibly dark and autumnal, like rain on leaves in autumn with a lurking reek of overripe apples, burned out jack-o-lanterns, and a waft of baking spices on the wind. i really adore this scent. spectacular. eta a month later, this is the scent that i come back to again and again. i really love samhain and got tons and tons and tons of comments on it. it really agrees with me.

in the bottle the coconut rum jumps out of the bottle and smacks you in the snout, then there's a butterscotchy smell that lazes up out. it's a little like carmelized sugar, but with a little bit more of a kick. wet on skin yes, coconut, i can see you. sit down now, please. the apple is starting to amp on my skin. dry on skin the coconut rum is incredibly fleeting (which i'm glad about) and what's left is a lovely perfume rendition of a caramel apple. it doesn't actually smell like a real, live, juicy caramel apple, but it's definitely sugar and apple and is very, very pleasant. i love this scent, but the coconut rum really holds it back for me. i'd like to find a bottle of this year's sugar-slathered candied apple to compare. without the coconut, i think this scent would be my favourite BPAL by far.

in the bottle i have no idea what this smells like, but it's good. i feel like i just let the djinn out of the bottle. wet on skin okay, ew, what's that? i'm getting this medicinal smell. actually, it's not a bad smell at all, it's kind of sharp, but warm. and smells a bit like cough syrup tastes, if that makes sense. dry on skin the medicine smell eases off, but never really disappears. it's joined by something incredibly dry and musty and some very high aquatic notes. overall, this is an incredibly interesting scent, but not something i'd wear often. it's oddly comforting while simultaneously unsettling. eta after some experimenting with singing moon, i'm completely blown away by the artistry of this scent. the drydown is spectacular, described by one friend as poetry in a bottle. it's black and windblown and distinctly saline while maintaining a loamy herbal component. incredible. but still not something i like to wear much. i'll keep it, though, because it's so special in so many ways.

in the bottle this doesn't really smell that good in the bottle. it's chocolate, but it has a funny smell, like wheat or something. chocolate bread with no yeast. wet on skin as it warms up, the weird grain smell goes away and it's just lovely light chocolate. i don't like light chocolate to eat, but it sure smells good. dry on skin chocolate! two hours later it's gone soft and dry, like cocoa. still yummy.

in the bottle it's a strong blend and i don't get any particular notes. the rose isn't particularly strong, but it's lending an overall floral. wet on skin it's almost a bergamot smell, oddly. again, the various players are sticking close together. no orange, no spice. dry on skin the neroli and rose are sticking around and i don't get any clove and very little orange peel. it could use orange peel to keep it tart. two hours later slightly sweet and bitter. i wanted to love seraglio, but it wasn't feeling very friendly.

in the bottle you'd think with all the orange-y and spicy... but it just smells floral to me. wet on skin floral. and possibly... clean cat litter. which is weird, because violet goes to cat litter on me, but this doesn't have any violet in it. dry on skin plastic and floral. orange blossom really hates me. two hours later same, just quieter. i gave this one to my mum, who likes florals. and doesn't turn orange blossom into polyethylene.

in the bottle thick, cloying, but not heavy patchouli wet on skin more patchouli, but sooooo sweet. really very pleasantly spicy. dry on skin same two hours later the orange blossom goes vaguely sour, but the patchouli anchors it so nicely. i got ravenous before i knew that orange blossom is the very devil on my skin. seriously, every BPAL with orange blossom in it goes right to nick on me, stinking of plastic. this, however, is the exception to the rule. i love ravenous, particularly layered with just a little bit of the body shop's satsuma to lighten up the dark spiciness of it. ravenous is consistently one of only two scents that people comment on (the other is akuma).

in the bottle the name of this alone is enough to make me want to like it. it is heady; in fact, that's what i wrote down while i was sniffing. there's a soft whiff of anise to it in the bottle and it smells, unfortunately, a bit like rootbeer gone flat. wet on skin you know what this smells like? pleather. dry on skin okay, interesting. it's turned into the smell of expensive cologne being used to cover up sex sweat. no, really. two hours later about the same, just faded. and the weirdest thing about debauchery? i don't actually hate it.

in the bottle this is incredibly light and herbal. it smells bright and cheerful. definitely a favourite. wet on skin lemon! but not a lemon you'd want to eat. it's herbal and dry with a healthy snuff of honeysuckle. dry on skin hmm. i actually feel like i need another test of this. it sort of smells like soap. two hours later just a tiny, tiny whiff of honeysuckle. so tiny, it's hard to really say "honeysuckle" about it, just a sweet floral.