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BPAL Madness!

Gin

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Everything posted by Gin

  1. Gin

    Rose Red

    Wow. This smells just like a floral shop. Or more specifically, the florist's refrigerated case. I can't even say much, since the Lab description is spot-on. It's the scent of a fresh, cold, dewy rose. While being a rose scent, it's not a typical rose scent. It's not "old lady" rose or tea rose or powdery rose. It's a juicy rose, if that makes any sense--a bit like Persephone in that respect, but without Persephone's fruity-sweetness.
  2. Gin

    Kabuki

    Kabuki transforms very quickly on my skin. It goes from bright red cherry to cherry cough syrup to licorice at a dizzying speed. I love the initial burst of cherry, but the licorice is not so good on me.
  3. Samhain springs to mind right away. *Very* strong throw, IMO. Also, Rose Red, but that may be because I ended up applying more than usual. I'm still going through a bunch of imps, though, so I'll update if I find more.
  4. Gin

    Jester

    In the vial, this is fruity syrupy-sweet. On, it retained its heavy sweetness, but with something almost sour underneath--the neroli. In the end, Jester turned almost waxy on me, like old lipstick. I smell strawberry in this, but like Mitzy, the strawberry I get is somewhat plasticky. Edited to add: I've tried Jester again, and I like it much better this time. It's still syrupy-sweet and the strawberry is a little artificial, but I didn't get any sourness from the neroli. It's still a little waxy, but in a little girl's tin of lipgloss kind of way. Fruity, playful, nostalgic.
  5. Gin

    Pele

    Oh Pele... thou art divine. Clean, soapy white flowers. I hope Beth doesn't find this offensive, but it reminds me of Philosophy's Amazing Grace. I really love this one. I don't feel like I'd have to be in any particular mood to wear this, it would be perfect everyday. I think I need a 10ml of this.
  6. Gin

    Black Pearl

    In the vial, this made me think of shampoo. I don't know how or why, but I got a distinct shampooey smell. On my skin, Black pearl is sweet coconut with a floral note. I thought of white, tropical flowers, and maybe that's the shampoo connection? Actually, I think it reminds me of reflect.com's pina colada scent, which I got in a shampoo once. In any case, as much as I want to adore this one, I can't help but think of shampoo when I smell it. (I blame you, reflect.com! You ruined a perfectly lovely scent for me! )
  7. Gin

    Masquerade

    I bought this because of Shollin's review, comparing it to Lush's Icon soap with added orange. I'm not sure I would have compared it to Icon, but nevertheless, it did not disappoint. It made my nose wrinkle a bit at first--must have been the patchouli or ambergris. Then I smelled bitter orange. During drydown, I got an orangey-incensy scent, and then something I can only describe as Shalimar-ish (in a good way!), minus the vanilla. Masquerade's last stage on me was dry and woodsy (cedar??), and reminded me of the tarot oil Death. I'm not sure I'll buy a big bottle of this, but I'll probably use up my imp.
  8. Gin

    Maiden

    Ooh. This is simple but beautiful. The carnation jumped out first, followed by a delicate rose. If I sniff closely, I think I can smell the tea underneath. This is girly, but not juvenile.
  9. Gin

    The Lady of Shalott

    In the vial, I smell the florals and something green. On my skin, the florals are overwhelmed by the aquatic notes. It makes me think of very deep, still water. There's moss on the rocks nearby and algae on the ones under the glasslike suface. Reeds and flowers grow in the water, just out of reach. Although it paints a beautiful picture in my head, I'm not sure this is an oil I would wear.
  10. Gin

    Embalming Fluid

    This is very similar to Kumiho on me. It's a light, lemony tea scent. It does go a little soapy on me (in fact, I think it would make a fabulous soap or shower gel) and disappears quite quickly. Since it is so similar to Kumiho and I think Kumiho works a bit better for me, I'm not sure I'd buy a larger bottle of this. Sorry Embalming Fluid, but I don't feel I have room for another lemon-tea scent.
  11. Gin

    Yuki-Onna

    Oh dear. There's an initial whiff of lemon, but this is all jasmine on me. I had hoped the other components would play down the jasmine, but alas, that's not the case. For Lushies, if you like Flying Fox, I'd wager you'd like Yuki-Onna. Sadly, it's not for me. Edit: After trying it again, I've had completely opposite results. The lemon and bergamot pop out right away, the jasmine makes a brief cameo, but the sandalwood seems to have missed its cue entirely. I'm left with a simple lemony scent.
  12. Gin

    Kumiho

    Oh Kumiho, how I love thee! In the vial, this smelled very green. Lemony green. On, it's lemony and fresh, but not in that bathroom cleanser way. There's a hint of sweetness, and the tea emerges. I don't think I get much ginger out of this, I smell something like lemongrass and tea. This disappears all too quickly on me, but it's so gorgeous, I'm willing to reapply frequently.
  13. Gin

    Persephone

    This scent is red, red, red. Red pomegranate, red roses. I smelled sweet, dark berries in the vial. When first applied, it was just a thick, heavy maraschino cherry-type sweetness. Then the rose became apparent. After that, it seems the two components are equally matched--neither one overpowers the other. The pomegranate lends a juciness to the rose that prevents it from being too powdery. This is my favorite rose scent yet.
  14. Gin

    What do bottles and labels look like?

    The LE labels are beautiful. I think I like All Saint's the best--the font is great, and I adore bats. My son *loves* the Samhain bottle (he's 2). When he sees it, he yells, "Punkin! Punkin!"
  15. Gin

    Succubus

    My initial impression of this was sharp green. That's all. Green green green. I couldn't pick out one single element. Then it dried down into something sweet. Again, I couldn't pick out any particular note. After reading reviews and giving it a second try, I can definitely smell the neroli and orange blossom. I'm not sure about mimosa, but I think I can smell the bergamot as well. And the drydown? On my first try, violetty clove (for Lushies, this is what I *wish* Skinny Dip would smell like). I don't know if there's actually any violet in it, but that's the impression I got--something floral with the sweet spiciness of clove. The second time, it smelled a bit orangey (??) during the drydown, which only made me like it more. I adore clove scents, so this is definitely a winner!
  16. Gin

    Swank

    I really like this one, it's so distinctive. This starts out very sharp on me. My brain tends to interpret the initial alcohol note as pine, but that fades on drydown, leaving a dry, boozy-fruity blend behind. I would never guess the fruity note to be pomegranate--tart cranberry maybe. This is definitely a cool, crisp, chic scent.
  17. Gin

    Bliss

    As others have said, this is practically a milk chocolate single note, with maybe a tiny hint of hazelnut. Bliss smells absolutely delicious. Sadly, I'm not one for wearing such excessively foody scents, but I think this would make a *divine* massage oil/bar. (Probably a better oil than a bar... if it were in bar form, I'm sure someone would try to eat it.)
  18. Gin

    Phantasm

    I get the lemony component right away, with something underneath that doesn't *quite* work for me. The jasmine? (I generally don't do well with jasmine.) Luckily, whatever my nose objects to, fades rather quickly. Too bad the mystery component takes most of the lovely lemonyness with it when it fades. This scent lasted what seemed like mere minutes on my skin. Edited to add: Since that first time, I haven't smelled the jasmine in Phantasm, except for maybe the faintest fleeting whiff of it in the vial. Instead, I get soapy lemon. When I was a child, we had fancy lemon-shaped and -scented soaps. This reminds me of those. I understand the comparison to Lush's Avobath, but Phantasm is lighter than Avobath--it's got a cool quality, which I think is the tea. I like the lemon and tea combination very much. The scent still doesn't last very long, though.
  19. Gin

    Tamora

    My first impression of this was sweet, fruity, and a bit powdery. So well-blended, I couldn't pick out individual notes. After reading the other reviews and Lab description, I could begin to pick out the different notes. I definitely smell the vanilla and what I think is the amber. I don't really know what heliotrope smells like, or how golden sandalwood differs from other sandalwoods, so I can't quite pick those out. I really like this one. ADDED Feb. 1: Tamora is my current fave. I always thought of Tamora as the lighter, fruitier version of O--sexy but girlishly playful. In the vial, Tamora is effervescent peach. On my skin, it's a little more grounded by the amber and sandalwood, but the peach, heliotrope, and vanilla are still the main focus--or at least that's usually how Tamora reacts. Yesterday, however, Tamora went *very* amber-y on me and it made me love it even more! I'm definitely getting a 10ml of this.
  20. Gin

    The Star

    At first, I got a mint scent with a for-a-moment too-strong whiff of cherry-almond. The almondy scent was almost a deal-breaker, but it soon faded, leaving me with just the minty coconut. Minty coconut is a combination which was both appealing and sort of repelling at the same time. I think I felt like mint and coconut should not work together, and the fact that the Lab makes them work together was too much for me to comprehend at first. The mint came through more strongly than the coconut at first. Very stong, very cool, very bright. The underlying coconut had a suntan lotiony feel to it, but that's a compliment. I like coconut-scented suntan lotion. Then the mint started to fade, leaving me with a gorgeous creamy coconut scent. It's very comforting. I think I'll be getting a larger bottle of this for the summer months. On my second try (after reading some of the reviews), I could smell the lime in the bottle. And instead of off-putting, the initial minty-almondy scent makes me think of baking Christmas cookies. I can smell the lime coming through, too. I'm really falling in love with this! As Eris (and others) mentioned, when the mint starts to fade, the lime becomes more apparent. I can't believe I didn't pick up on the lime the first time around. I've also decided that while I initially pegged this as a summer scent, the mint in it makes me think of skiing and the blindingly bright white of snow-covered mountains and gets me in the holiday spirit!
  21. I got a $20 shipping fee when I went above $350 (via ccnow).
  22. Gin

    Wolfsbane

    I tried this last night and thought I *must* have gotten a mislabled imp--all I smelled was baby powder and roses. Today, I tried it after checking the reviews (still thinking it might have been mislabeled) and I finally got the smallest bite of green, and a second later, I'm back to pink, rosy, fluffy baby powder. Edited for poor spelling and to add that I tried Wolsbane again today, and it seems much more green and herbal than before. It's still a little bit rosy, especially after it dries, but with more of an edge. What an odd blend! It's different every time I try it--and I keep liking it more and more! I wish I could think of what the green note is, though, It smells really familiar, I just can't quite remember what it is...
  23. Gin

    Pronouncing "BPAL" and scent names!

    I pronounce it more like "sah-wen" but in my head, it's always "sam-hayn". Also, I always think of BPAL as "Bee-pal" not "Bee-pee-ay-ell".
  24. Gin

    Pronouncing "BPAL" and scent names!

    Thanks! I had Kumiho correct, but was completely lost on Baobhan Sith.
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