stardreamer

Meh. I think what I'm mostly getting is the frankincense, modified slightly by the herbal notes. It ends up smelling a lot like a nice commercial men's cologne. Not much throw after the first half-hour; I touched it up midafternoon, so no good estimate of staying power. Bottom line: not bad, but not me. Off to the swap pile.

Mmmm spices yum! There's a bit of floral straight out of the bottle, but that drops back pretty fast, and then it's nothing but sweet, lovely spicefest for the next 12 hours or so. It's got amazing throw; caution in application is advised if you don't want to become Stinky Perfume Woman. But it's a terrific cool-weather scent. Bottom line: keeper and probable favorite.

I expected this to be very masculine, smoky, and resinous, and not something I'd want to wear. In the imp and fresh on, there's something sharp that sort of catches in the back of my throat. But about 20 minutes in, it suddenly morphs into Band Candy -- almost sickeningly sweet, but with a hint of rottenness underneath. (I suspect that it's the tobacco, musk, and incense all going sweet on my skin and heterodyning with each other.) Didn't the Hellfire Club in X-Men have a teenage group similar to the New Mutants? This would be them, I think. Bottom line: still not something I want to wear, but for entirely different reasons! To the swap pile it goes.

This is another one I've had to wear several times before reviewing it. First impression: rather masculine, but with a bit of floral/green as well. It doesn't change much on drydown. The primary note seems to be the tobacco, which is only fitting; the floral note is probably the date palm, leather is barely there underneath, and I wouldn't know snakeroot if it bit me. Staying power is on the light side -- it's pretty well gone at the 8-hour mark. Bottom line: pleasant enough, but not really me, and I think it would probably work better on a guy anyhow; it's a lot like a nice men's cologne. Some masculine scents make me feel butch, while others just feel wrong, and this falls into the latter category. Swap pile for this one.

This is such a well-balanced blend that I honestly can't identify any specific notes. It goes on slightly aquatic and slowly becomes warmer and spicier. It's somewhat masculine in feel, but not so masculine that a woman can't wear it. I can absolutely see a female pirate wearing something like this. Staying power is about average; at 8 hours, it's still present but fading. Bottom line: I can't describe it, but I love it! A definite keeper. Say, did you know that Peter S. Beagle wrote a song about Mary Read?

In the imp and fresh on, this is almost entirely aquatic. After a little while, the musk comes up as an underlying sweetness, lighter than that of amber. Spices are indeed only a memory, just the barest hint, and I never caught any leather. There's something oddly reminiscent of saltwater taffy late in the drydown. Staying power is average, almost completely gone after 10 hours. Bottom line: This is different enough from my other aquatics to be interesting, and pleasant enough to be well worth keeping.

In the imp and fresh on: Holy lemon drop, Batman! It's extremely citrusy, but also sweet -- lemon candy rather than lemon juice. Also a hint of something green-smelling underneath that I can't pin down. For once, my skin's tendency to eat citrus scents works in my favor. The overpowering lemon dies back within half an hour or so, and the spices come out to play, with some spicy floral as well -- carnation or marigold maybe, which is probably the green I caught earlier. Once it hits that point, there's not much further change -- and I like it a LOT better than the lemon-drop phase. There's still something sweet under the spiciness; it reminds me of Morocco, or Queen of Sheba with less cinnamon and no almonds. Staying power seems decent, although I can't give a true estimate because I touched it up partway thru the evening. Bottom line: this isn't going to be a top favorite, but I like it much more than I first thought I was going to. Definitely worth keeping and using up.

In the bottle and fresh on: Oh dear, this smells as though it might go burnt-sugar on me. Drydown: No, I guess that was just the pumpkin -- but it's awfully sweet. Wearing on: Continues to be extremely sweet, almost sickly-sweet, and very heavy on the pumpkin. Pumpkin is not my favorite scent, but I've liked it when blended with the right modifiers. I don't think these are the right modifiers. I don't get even a hint of pomegranate, which I was hoping would add a tart note -- just sticky/sugary/creamy and pumpkin. Since the Perversity of the Universe tends toward a maximum, the staying power on this is excellent; nearly 12 hours later, it's still strongly present on my wrists. Bottom line: This is the olfactory equivalent of a too-much-candy tummyache. To the swap pile it goes.

In the bottle and fresh on, this is chocolate and incense, with a bit of woody grounding. The chocolate note is somewhat reminiscent of Candy Butcher, possibly because of the rice milk (which doesn't present itself separately). After a few hours, my skin has done its normal vanilla amp-up and I'm getting both chocolate and vanilla mixed with incense. Then it goes thru a phase where it's pretty much pure Snake Oil; in a couple more hours as the vanilla finally starts to fade, the chocolate reappears to blend with the incense again. I like this a lot. One of my few reservations about Snake Oil is that the incense note lasts longer than the vanilla, which makes the end of the tail (so to speak) a bit blah. Having the chocolate come back to modify that is a really nice bonus. Staying power is average; after 8 hours, I can still smell it on my wrists but the throw is pretty much gone. Bottom line: definite keeper, and probably a favorite as well.

In the imp and fresh on, this is piney/sharp. However, it mellows out very quickly to a more herbal/spicy blend, in which I can't identify any specific notes. I never picked up even a hint of the minty or eucalyptus notes a lot of people have mentioned. It doesn't have a lot of throw, and gets a bit sweeter over the long term. I thought it was going to end up being a second-rank scent or even a swap, but the drydown has moved it up on the scale. Even R. says it's not obnoxious, which is something! Bottom line: definitely a keeper.

Normally I fight shy of blends containing honeysuckle, because it tends to be overpowering. This one was a pleasant surprise! Fresh on, the carnation is very much to the fore, sweet and spicy at the same time, with a peppery undernote that's probably the poppy. A few hours later, the musk has pushed its way into equal time; white musk generally works well for me. The remaining florals contribute only a further sweetness, and the lemon never makes an appearance at all -- no surprise there, citrus fades fast on my skin, and it's probably gone before the first burst of carnation settles down. Staying power is quite good; it was still very present at the 10-hour mark, and faint traces remained even after 14 hours. Bottom line: this is a really nice warm-weather scent, not as floral as the description would lead one to expect, and worth a re-order when the imp is used up.

Not something I'd have ordered for myself; the description suggests that it's going to be much too floral. And the description is right -- this is entirely and heavily floral, much too much so for my taste. Fortunately, the magnolia and jasmine overpower the rose, so it's tolerable to wear for a full test. Staying power is moderate; it's pretty much gone after 9 hours, although that did include being out in the hot weather. Bottom line: not my thing, off to the swap pile it goes.

This goes on as a light mix of sweet fruit and floral... and disappears very quickly. It has almost no throw, and after 4 hours, nothing remains except a very slight touch of ozone/aquatic. Not a bad scent, but there's nothing memorable about it and I like my fragrances to last longer than this, so to the swap pile it goes.

Azathoth is the blind, idiot god who sits on a black throne at the center of Chaos. His scent is high-pitched and screeching, both impenetrably dark and searingly bright with the clarity of madness: tangerine, saffron, vetiver, black amber and cedarwood. You'd think this would have been a good scent for me; saffron, amber, and cedar are all things that work well with my skin chemistry. Unfortunately, they are all completely overpowered by the musky vetiver. Never got even a trace of the tangerine, but that's no surprise given my history with BPAL citrus. It's not nasty, just definitely too musky for my taste. It gets a little better as it wears on, but not enough to salvage it. No estimate of staying power, because I needed a shower and washed it off. This one's headed for the swap pile.

This was a Lab freebie. I would never have ordered this for myself -- the description is much too floral, and this proved also to be the case with the scent. While it's not overpowering or obnoxious, it's just too floral for my taste. It's a nice mix; I can't identify anything specific except maybe the jasmine. But I'm not a floral kind of gal, so this one's a swap.

Yep, this is apricot, all right! Since I can almost never pick up boozy notes well enough to identify them, I can only say that it's darker than Siren and sweeter than March Hare. It wears true without much change; I touched it up midafternoon, so no good estimate of staying power. All in all, a nice, not-overpowering apricot scent, a definite keeper.

This sounded so promising! Sadly, the cherry overpowers almost everything else, and there's something in there making it smell sickly-sweet -- "cherry cough syrup" is the phrase everyone seems to be using, and it's pretty accurate. I get some cinnamon-ish notes, and some incense (that would be the patchouli), and occasionally something a bit almond-ish (the cardamom?) but overall it's just CHERRY. And the Perversity of the Universe is in full force again. Of course this one would turn out to have Super Staying Power -- 12 hours, and out all afternoon running around in the heat, and it's still very noticeable. Bottom line: it's a swap.

I've been wearing this off and on ever since the hot weather started, and it's rapidly becoming one of my top summer scents. It's shimmery and aquatic -- the term "crystalline" really does seem appropriate. As it wears on, a light sweet undernote develops; that's probably the amber, which tends to go sweet on me. But the aquatic notes are still primary for as long as it lasts. Staying power is very good; after close to 13 hours, I can still catch whiffs of it as I move. Needless to say, this is not just a keeper but a favorite as well.

Fresh on, it smells sharpish -- I thought perhaps there was citrus in it, but I guess it's the verbena. Like citrus, that doesn't take long to fade, and then it becomes much sweeter; that would be the amber, which tends to go a bit sweet on me, and probably the ginger. I don't get sage or aquatics at all, and grass only a bit (if that). Staying power is poor -- 5 hours and it's pretty much gone, faster if I'm out in the heat. I like it enough to keep, but it's not going to be a favorite.

I don't like descriptions that don't give notes, and would never have gotten this if I hadn't had a chance to test it at a Meet'n'Sniff. It's much nicer than the description makes it sound! This is a very difficult scent to describe. It's warm and creamy, not at all floral, with overtones of, yes, clean linen and (oddly enough) pineapple -- not the fresh fruit, but pineapple pie filling. Everyone keeps saying vanilla, but to me it doesn't smell like the other BPAL vanillas I love (Golden Priapus, O, Snake Oil). Marshmallow? Yeah, I could see that, and that would be a different kind of vanilla; maybe that's what I'm getting. After a while it develops a slight powdery tinge, but not baby or old-lady powder; this is an expensive, exotic bath powder, something you'd use just a bit of to enhance a similarly-scented body lotion. It makes me feel pampered. It's got fabulous staying power, too. I've had it on for almost 12 hours, including several bouts of errand-running in the heat, and it's still very present on my wrists, although the throw is pretty much gone. Needless to say, this is a keeper and probably an eventual 5ml order. (Edited to fix typo.)

In the bottle and fresh on: Citrusy-sharp and very golden. Drydown: As usual with citrus notes on me, the grapefruit fades relatively quickly and the sweeter notes come up. I don't think I ever got any bergamot, but the amber and plum blend nicely into a dark/sweet scent without much throw. Very late in the game, there are even some hints of spice -- maybe that's the orris root? Staying power is moderate, 6 to 8 hours, and the amber is the last note to fade. Bottom line: A pleasant, summery amber scent for me (a lot of my ambers aren't really suited to warmer weather); definitely a keeper.

First impression: Tea! Fresh on: Tea, tea, and more tea. Not that this is any surprise. :-) Something a bit citrusy underneath (lemongrass, maybe?) but mostly just tea. Drydown: Stays very true to the initial scent. I find tea scents in general to be relaxing and grounding, and this is an outstanding example. Never got anything floral out of it at all. The only downside is that it doesn't last long; I've touched it up once, and both times it was nearly undetectable after about 4 hours. Admittedly, both of these intervals included errand-running in the heat; it might hold up better on a day when I was going to be mostly indoors. Bottom line: I like it a lot, although the poor staying power is a minus. Not going to be a top favorite, but it's well worth keeping.

First impression: Coconut! Fresh on: Yes, lots of coconut, but also something underneath that I'm not sure I like. Fortunately, that note backs off in 15 minutes or so. Drydown: Still mostly coconut, but not as light and sweet as a lot of the other coconut-based blends. This is about halfway to suntan lotion (which is almost certainly the shea butter!), and/or a distinct tinge of toasted coconut. Milk is going to disappear under that, and I never get any kind of aquatic note at all. I was wondering whether I'd like another coconut-based scent well enough to hang onto it, but this is significantly different from the others I've got (13, Black Pearl, Elegba, and Eden). Bottom line: This is a good summery scent, not too strong. I touched it up midafternoon, so I can only say that the staying power seems fair-to-good. Definitely a keeper.

Fresh on: Sandalwood and spices, with a hint of floral. After a couple of hours: Still sandalwood, but now the floral smells like carnation, or maybe even marigold -- that spicy/earthy scent. After 9 hours: Everything but the sandalwood has pretty much faded. There's still just a tiny undernote of floral left. Bottom line: This isn't an unpleasant scent, but I'm not sure it's for me. The overwhelming sandalwood isn't something I'd normally wear, and definitely isn't something I should wear around my boyfriend! But it would coordinate nicely with a sari or a salwar kameez; I think I'll hang onto it and try it a few more times before I make a final decision.

Fortunately, this is not traditional brimstone, which is a combination of the smell of burning matches and rotten eggs! (Nightcrawler's BAMF! leaves sulfurous traces of brimstone behind him... rather like the world's worst fart.) Instead, it's overwhelmingly PINE, with an undercurrent of ash and cinders; one might get a scent like this by scrubbing out a cold fireplace with Pine-Sol. As it wears on, a bit of incense appears, but overall it's still smoky/ashy/pine cleanser until it fades out. Absolutely not for me; this one's a swap.