coldandsleepy

In the bottle: very sweet in the bottle. I'm getting some sort of citrus and a bit of rose, with a whopping side of honey. On me, wet: phew, that was a close one. The honey tones waaaay down when this hits on my skin and the scent gets a lot less sweet. I really start to get the pepper and the ginger… which combines to almost be a cinnamon smell. Still have the rose, and now I'm getting a touch of gardenia. And definitely the blood orange! It's like the citrus in Zarita, in a good way. On me, dry: same as wet. Throw and duration: mild throw; you could smell me if you got close up, but wouldn't probably notice this if you sat next to me on the bus. That's okay. Duration's very good... 6+ hours. Overall: I like this very much, and expect I'll go to it a lot during the summer. It's something I think I'll eventually want a full bottle of. It evokes the character of Pepper very well, I think.

In the imp: fruity. Very fruity. I definitely get a big slice of berries along with the plum. On me, wet: ah, there's the opium. Mmm. Opium. Now it's opium and berries, with just a hint of rose. On me, dry: the lilac starts to come out on me as this dries down, and not in the best of ways. It's oddly harsh smelling. Harsh lilac? Kinda weird. The rest of the scent hangs out, though, which I like just fine. Throw and duration: good throw, but shortish duration on me. (Maybe 5 hours.) This is weird as these are all notes that generally stick to me like glue. Overall: I like it! It's probably not going to be one of my favorites any time soon, but it does smell very nice.

In the imp: yup, that's dragon's blood all right. I'm getting a hint of something fruity, too. On me, wet: the fruit's really starting to come out, though the dragon's blood is definitely still dominant. I think I smell currant, which lines up with the note description. On me, dry: dragon's blood and rich juicy fruits. Doesn't smell particularly musky to my nose, but maybe that's just because the other notes are so strong on me! Throw and duration: both excellent. I think this lasted about 12 hours on my skin. Overall: dragon's blood always makes me think of my mom, and this blend is no exception. See, she used to make incense a lot when I was little, and she used dragon's blood as a component pretty frequently. It's sort of a weird association, because I also find a lot of dragon's blood blends to be kinda... sexy... and let's face it, it's weird to feel sexy AND think of your mom at the same time. Dragon's Heart isn't sexy on me. It's actually appropriate for a scent that makes me think of my mom. It's cozy. It's like a big blanket of love. It makes me want to curl up under a blanket and take a nap in the very best of ways. It's got all the incense-y delightful warmth of dragon's blood with an edge of sweetness from the fruit. I really, really like this one. If you're into dragon's blood and fruit... give this a try. It's beautiful.

I get mainly a nice soft lavender (it's powdery, but in a good way) and a mild lime. I can't personally pick up on the lilac at all, which makes me incredibly happy because lilac makes me sneeze like it's my business. This smelled a great deal like King of Hearts to me, except with lime where the cherry is in KoH. It's got a different feel than KoH-- where KoH smells very foody and feminine on me, Villain smells clean and masculine. If you're a person who often shies away from lavender because you think it's too strong or medicinal, this might be a good blend for you to try.

I think I'll probably wear Roadhouse-- dandelions and beer. That sums up a certain portion of America, at least! If you're into a red/white/blue theme, why not combine components? Something with red fruit, white florals, blue fruit? Nothing, um, springs to mind with those characteristics, but... you see where I'm going with this! Mmm. Hex at a barbeque. I'm so into that idea.

I expected this to end as Gluttony did for me: in disappointment. Gluttony turned into nothing but caramel on me, and I worried that Hellcat would go the same route. But no, Hellcat stays true to itself on my skin. I get hazelnut first and foremost, which makes me really happy because I adore hazelnut. There is some sweetness here, and I can identify the buttercream and the mead notes, but they're secondary and by no means dominate this. There's maybe a faint hint of rum in this, but it's far from boozy on me. I'm surprised and pleased by how not overwhelmingly sweet this is. There's nothing cloying about it on me, and it's really a very light, beautiful scent... kinda refreshing. Definitely a win.

It is what it says it is: dragon's blood and sweet vanilla. The two notes actually work really well together. I'm pleasantly surprised by how mild it is. It's sweet and cozy smelling, without being too cloyingly vanilla-y or too overwhelmingly dragon's blood-y. Quite a pleasant little scent, and one I'd recommend to people who like these notes.

Oh, this scent is heavenly. It's identical on me as it is in the imp... lucky me, right? It's very true to its notes... I get delicious and slightly bitter dandelion greens mingling with yummy hops. It's amazingly cool and refreshing and if I weren't flat broke, I'd buy a 5mL of it this very minute so that I can slather myself with it throughout the summer. Notes I don't get out of this: tobacco, booze. Hey, I'm just as happy without them. One downside: it doesn't last terribly long on me. We're talking like 3 hours, maybe. For a BPAL scent and my skin, that's really, really brief. Still, it's some good stuff.

Evocative of the sea's unplumbed mysteries. Gentle and lovely, but menacing and profound. Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk. In the imp: oh my, that smells good. Really dazzling coconut... like fresh coconut meat... and what I think is the iris. It's very refreshing from the start. On me, wet: similar to the imp smell, but I'm amping something in this because it's getting VERY strong on my skin. On me, dry: very strong, but very true to the original scent. It... smells... opalescent. This is really weird, and I don't know how to describe it better than that. Throw and duration: amazing and almost overwhelming throw... a little goes a long way with this stuff. Duration's very good as well, at least 6 hours. Overall: I can't decide if I like it on me or not. It's very strong. It's one of those LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME scents, which aren't really my thing. Also, every now and again I get a faint whiff of... playdough? Yeah, that's weird. If I had a scent locket, I'd put this in it, and I'll probably keep the imp around to sniff now and again because it's really just a startlingly unique scent.

Well, I'm not a vanilla fan at all, so I wasn't expecting a lot from the Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. It more or less met expectations for me. The vanilla here is actually pretty pleasant and doesn't hulk out on my skin. It's very sweet, almost marshmallowy, but it's not perfumey at all. That's a nice change. Ultimately, though, MLaST really lacks complexity on me. It's vanilla... yup... sweet vanilla... yup... that's all it is. It actually got me in the mood for a vanilla scent and (after hell finished freezing over) I put on a bit of Illustrated Woman over this, which was really nice and solved the complexity problem. If you're looking for a very simple, sweet, non-perfumey vanilla, I recommend this whole heartedly. I imagine it's great for layering with certain things too, if that's your bag.

In the imp: I have no idea what this smells like, other than Really Good. Citrus and cinnamon, maybe. It smells delicious. On me, wet: This is really delicious. I get a lot of the mandarin and tonka, which meld together to form a really beautiful and almost foodie smell. The rest of the stuff lurks in the background. The mandarin is sweet yet musky. I can almost taste it. Very nice. On me, dry: same as above. It only gets deeper and richer as time goes on. This is really lovely. Throw and duration: good throw... my husband could smell it about a foot away, in a good way. Really excellent duration, too; I applied it at about 5 p.m. and could still smell it at 10 a.m. the next morning. Overall: in case you couldn't tell... I love this. It's totally different from what I expected (I can't pick up on the cocoa at all, for instance) and doesn't evoke swords or war to me, but it is really absolutely delightful.

In the imp: doesn't smell like a whole lot. Oddly, I get a little bit of a sweet incense smell, maybe frankincense. On me, wet: goodbye, incense smell. Hello, roses. On me, dry: goodbye, roses. Hello, MUSK. As this dries on my skin, it segues from being a very pleasant mild rose and incense scent to be a big bucket of musk with tiny floral hints in the background. Throw and duration: throw is thankfully not very huge; duration was at least 6 hours. Overall: If you're into big buckets of light musks, this may be a real winner for you. Me, I didn't care for it. It's not just that it's really musky, it's just that there's NOTHING else in here when this dries on me. It's not just not to my tastes, it's flat out bland on me. Alas.

So I could have sworn I'd already reviewed this, but maybe it was on that day when all the posts got eaten... Mme. Moriarty breaks my little heart. It does something almost no perfumes, BPAL or otherwise, have ever been able to do to me: it makes me like vanilla in conjunction with my skin. That villainous vanilla, which has ruined countless otherwise wonderful scents for me, plays polite here. It's gentle and beautiful and clean smelling on my skin, and I love it. The red musk in this is just breathtakingly beautiful too. I like the juicy touch added by the plum and pomegranate. If the scent stopped here, I'd be swimming in it. And my heart wouldn't be broken. But the patchouli. Oh, dear me, the patchouli. Though patchouli is one of my least favorite notes in existence, I can usually handle it in BPAL scents. But the moment MM hits my skin, it's like I'm being haunted by a gang of screaming patchouli demons. It is so loud and so harsh and so at odds with the rest of this scent. Sigh. Dear patchouli,

Unfortunately, this is epic fail on me. I kid you not... it ends up smelling basically exactly the same as my body sweat. (My husband thinks it smells really nice. He would. ) This gave me a case of the extreme ooglies. Too bad, because I love the way it smells in the bottle... pleasantly floral, without being overwhelming, and I really get a hint of the chrome. I'd love to smell this on someone else.

In the bottle: it's like grape bubble yum if grape bubble yum wasn't sweet. It's a pleasant dry grape. However, I'm missing out on, uh, all the other notes on here. This is problematic, because I tend to amp grape like crazy and end up smelling like the Kool Aid man. That would be too sad. On me, wet: oh, hey. There's stuff in there other than grape! I knew it! The grape actually tones DOWN instead of UP on me for once. It lurks in the background adding a gentle sweetness. In the foreground, I get bitter clove and what I'm assuming is the blood accord. Very pleasant. On me, dry: much the same as wet, except the whole scent is really rich now. I can also smell some of the currant coming out in the background, and what I'm guessing is the ginger lily. Overall, this is really very nice. Probably not a bottle scent, but quite scrumptious, and about as good as grape has ever been on me. Also, it lasts for freaking ever on me.

Okay, I picked this up because I love incense scents and resin scents and I was like oooh, an EVIL church smell, I gotta have that! I have not yet managed to bring myself to apply it on my skin. It smells SO. MUCH. LIKE WHISKEY. I thought this might be one of those things where my nose is just way off base, but I had the spouse sniff it too and he agrees that it smells "like a delicious aged scotch." He likes scotch. I think it tastes like soap and smells like burning. Unless The (Whiskey) Chapel changes in an unbelievably dramatic fashion, it's not going to get wearable for me. That said, I am sure there are people out there who like the smell of scotch-- if that's you, then I strongly urge you to get a sniff of this stuff.

In the bottle, this was like, whooooah, I HOPE YOU LIKE PINE. I do like pine, and I was still a little startled. What I don't like is vanilla. You've heard it before, but vanilla is really the anti-me. Even just a little vanilla can ruin a whole scent for me, so I didn't have huge hopes about this. When I put it on, the pine traipsed back into the woods where it came from, for the most part. What I was left with was a touch of pine, a touch of something deliciously smoky, and some vanilla. And because wonders never will cease, I really like it. Enough to buy a whole bottle for myself? Nah, probably not. I'd want more pine in it. But I'm hanging on to my decant of it for the time being at least. It's quite nice.

Compared to Primavera, L'Inverno is a really gentle and subtle scent. Like copyshopclerk said, it's got a certain starkness to it. For me, it evokes a beautiful, empty eucalyptus grove where all the tree branches are covered in frost. Aside from the eucalyptus, I can pick out the sandalwood, the musk, the fir, and the ginger... and they're all so gentle. Not only does it smell good, but it felt exceptionally refreshing on my skin. (Maybe that's a tiny bit of the eucalyptus sneaking through?) I'd slivered off a little piece, expecting I'd get two or three uses out of it because I don't usually need a whole lot of soap... but this felt and smelled so good that I burned through the entire sliver in one go. If I could figure out how to make babies with this bar of soap, I would. It's that good. While I like Primavera, my love goes right to L'Inverno.

La Primavera smells incredibly strong to my nose. I could smell it through the box the order was in. Even though I didn't really need a shower, I slivered off a little piece of this and hopped in anyway... the smell was just really insistent, I couldn't wait. And, to my delight, the scent remained quite true after I lathered up... it didn't just run off and leave me smelling soap. The soap itself is as awesome and gentle and lathery as the other BPTP soaps I've tried. Let's talk about the scent: it's intense. No gentle neroli to my nose... it's like, WHAM, hi, have some tuberose and why not take a side of sugar cane while you're at it. It's not terribly citrusy to me, though I can tell there's lemon in there somewhere. A lot of things about this scent remind me of Sugar Moon. Unlike Sugar Moon, however, I like La Primavera. Sugar Moon's like sweetness and rotting things to me. La Primavera is like sweetness and blooming things. It's a pretty perfect representation of spring, and if the oil ends up smelling like the soap, I'd say that people who like that sort of scent are really in for a treat. This stuff is beautiful.

In the bottle: creamy coconut with a side of lemon. Mmm. On me, wet: much the same, except everything gets bigger. It's like getting a big warm hug from a coconut in a lemon grove. (Or a lemon in a coconut grove, I'm not choosy.) But it's not sweet at all... there's nothing cloying here, it's all just rich and creamy. On me, dry: as this dries, the musk and the ironwood bark start to creep out of the background. I'd been somewhat scared of both notes as I just had no idea how they'd play out on me. Turns out they're both lovely. They don't take over at all... they just add more depth to what's already a pretty great scent at this point. Throw and duration: good throw, and average duration. (I get 6+ hours out of this.) Overall: On the one hand, Tiki King is hands down the least tropical of the Tikis I've tried. The coconut doesn't smell very tropical to me... maybe because it's not very sweet? The other elements aren't ones I necessarily associate with tropical locales. (I know nothing about ironwood bark, of course.) On the other hand, Tiki King is totally gorgeous. It's exactly what I wanted out of this scent... sort of regal and sophisticated without being cloyingly sweet or turning into Lemon Pledge. It's the most "serious" feeling Tiki I've tried, and definitely feels more mature than the Queen to me. It's got such nice creaminess and complexity, and wafts about beautifully. So nice. Tiki King is love. I'm so glad I blind bought a bottle of it while waiting for my decant.

Golden Wave makes me briefly very happy, then extensively very sad. You see, guava is probably my favorite smell ever, and at first, Golden Wave smells like nothing but guava on me. Guava, guava, guava. A little bit of the tangerine sneaks in and then I struggle to not eat my arm. Oh, it smells so, so good at the beginning. And then maybe ten minutes later, the dirt smell creeps in. As I mentioned in my Blue Fire review, I think the dirt smell might be the gin. (There's certainly nothing else in this or Blue Fire that I recognize as the gin.) Unlike that scent, Golden Wave keeps up its main elements... still get that delicious guava for much longer than I normally do. But the dirt smell just intensifies as time goes on, until everything abruptly disappears a few hours later. Very sad. I love most of the elements of this and thought that maybe I'd finally found the guava scent for me. But alas, I can't handle the dirt. It's not a yummy dirt.

For a brief and beautiful moment after application, Blue Fire is all woo! blueberry! woo! papaya! woo! fruit! in your face! Unfortunately, it segues almost instantly into smelling like dirt. All the fruit goes away within minutes and then it's just... dirt. And not nice earthy soil as in Worm Moon... just dried up old dirt. Yuck. I had a similar experience with Golden Wave, so I'm thinking my skin might not like gin. It'd be fitting... it doesn't like rum or wine, and I love both of those. Stupid skin.

My decant of Te Po was an impulse purchase, to be honest. There are a number of things in it that have a tendency to go weird on my skin.. vodka, mint, and yes, sadly, yes, rum itself. So I didn't have high hopes for it at all, especially after my crushing defeats with Blue Fire and Golden Wave. But fortunately for me, Te Po doesn't smell like what I expected at all. It's somewhere between Cherry Coke and Dr. Pepper on me. It's all sweet and delicious and bubbly smelling. If there's mint in here, it's staying very low, which is just fine, because Te Po rules. More lime would have been nice, but seriously, this is an awesome scent as is. Little sad that I didn't get a bottle of it.

I think it's mainly about finding scents that make you feel sexy. If you feel hot, the rest will follow. That said, my go-to sexy scents from the general catalog are Wolfsbane (smells like getting it on in the forest; your mileage may vary) and Versailles (every time I wear it, my husband says it smells really good, so, yeah, that's a win! He normally doesn't really notice smells at all). These are probably pretty oddball choices, though, and I'm sure other people will have more obvious saucy scents to offer.

In the bottle, this smells like caramel and popcorn, but on me it takes a slight turn into caramel and peanuts. It's a delicious, thick, gooey caramel very similar to the one in Elegba and Red Lantern (just without the coconut and tobacco and whatnot). Strong, but delicious! Woo! And yeah, now I'm craving caramel anything. So hungry.