Gin

PPG28 is kind of like Samhain Lite. If I had to name notes, I'd say apple cider and sandalwood. Like Samhain, it makes me feel sneezy.

This is so sharp in the bottle, I didn't even want to put it on my skin. (I did, anyway.) On my skin, the volume is lowered considerably and it turns into a light fizzy scent.

I'm not a fan of lavender, and vetiver can go either way, so I put off trying Wulfric for a long time. Now I'm kicking myself. Wulfric is a fluffy, cozy, cuddly blanket of a fragrance--chocolate and lavender, backed by vanilla and clary sage. It reminds me of Sachs/TKO, but with a chocolate base instead of just vanilla. Amazing, amazing, AMAZING.

Le Revenant is amazing, lush floral. It's a little high-pitched for a minute (is that the narcissus?) but it quickly calms down. I love magnolia, so I think this is a keeper.

This Blue Moon is very different from the '04 version. Initially, it smells a lot like the original Scorpio. As it dries, that goes away and it's floral and watery--not aquatic, it just has a cool, watery feeling, maybe from the cucumber? It's really very pretty.

Overprotective Possessed Talking Doll is cute in the bottle, but oh-so-awful on my skin. In the bottle it's SN strawberry, which is kind of fakey, but I still like it. On my skin, the mimosa goes sour-powdery and the strawberry goes all Zombie Apocalypse sugary (love the ZA, but not with mimosa). This is destined for the locket.

The Green Apple of Venus smells like sparkly green apples and tart strawberries. On my skin, the violet comes out and makes the scent a little too sharp for my taste.

In the bottle, Sprinklecake smells like milk chocolate, but when it hits the skin, there's a blast of almond extract and then it smells like vanilla cake with pink frosting. Cute!

Yeah, I read the description and the early reviews before ordering, but even so, I expected less punch and more apple--like Lambs-Wool, really. Autumn Cider smells more like Minute Maid Fruit Punch to me. It dries down to something more like a spicy apple cider, but it's like an artificially-flavored, artificially-sweetened cider drink than an actual fruit cider. I don't know if I've ever found a BPAL that was too foody-sweet for me, but this may be it.

Sparkling Apple Cider is definitely sparkly, but too dry (and almost metallic?) for me.

I love the blackcurrant and blackberry in Luna Negra, but the amber and musks are too powdery for me.

From Tiresias, I get mostly caramel and smoke. I love caramel, but the smoke is overpowering.

Oh my gosh, Priala has way too much myrrh for me. I know that's what I was promised, but I still didn't expect MYRRHMYRRHMYRRH! There's smoke and cinnamon, too, but they can't cut through the syrupy resiny-sweet myrrh.

The Blood Garden is super grapey at first, drying down into a grapey spicy wine-incense.

In the bottle, Clemence smells overwhelming. On the skin, it blooms. It's a perfectly spicy, comforting hot tea.

Snake Oil with sugar cane, frankincense, champaca, opoponax, labdanum, and hyssop. Snake Oil tends to go powdery on me, and Temple Viper is like a powderier version of powdery Snake Oil. Plus frankincense, and maybe something very lightly fruity-floral? The weird thing is, I kind of like it. It makes me feel sneezy, though.

My weakness for plum has struck again. No plum to be found in the Purple Spotted Swallowtail--it's just lime and dusty flowers?

In the bottle, this is amazing. I kind of want to drink it because it's so sweet and appley. On my skin, it goes kind of high and soapy--it's so disappointing. However, I think it has great promise as a locket scent.

Yeah, no. I get weird spicy burnt something. I like the smell of burnt marshmallows, but the spicy (cinnamon?) bit kind of turns my stomach.

Yay grapefruit! Sadly, Two-Tailed Sogg quickly turns to powdery-orris-powdery-honey. And cypress. Too bad.

So sad! I wanted OMGCOTTONCANDY! but I get wildflowers. Wildflowers are great, but it's not what I hoped for.

Un der the Harvest Moon is chock-full of iffy notes. I took a chance, but it didn't pay off. I expected something a little more clear-night-sky-like, but instead I get muddled musks, amber, rose, and lavender. It's not bad, but when I'm looking in my BPAL cupboard, I always pass it by.

I put off reviewing The Living Flame for years because I really had no words to describe it. To me it's sort of hot and dry, and high, if that makes any sense. Musky and floral, maybe some dragon's blood? Not my style, but an interesting blend.

Even though I knew it wouldn't work, I had to try King of Clubs. It's definitely not my style--dirt, vetiver, musk, and oakmoss are just too much for me.

When Hexennacht was released, I thought it sounded like the spring version of Samhain. And that's pretty much what it smells like. It's foresty and bonfire smoky and a little sweaty. (That last bit might just be because I'm highly susceptible to the power of suggestion.)