Lit Chick

I got this as a frimp from the lab ages ago, and just now got around to my review. Slacker! This was swirling and airy, but it has a very strange note that does not work on my skin. It's both cloyingly sweet and medicinal. I can't place what it might be. It's not very dominant in the blend, more a background thing. However, it does not put me in a happy place. I think I'm getting more of the negative aspects in this than the positive.

A tragic heroine from German lore. In despair over a faithless lover, she threw herself into the Rhine. In death, she has become a siren that haunts that river to this day, luring sailors to their doom. Neroli, sandalwood, ylang ylang. This is tangy, sweet, and airy, but it soon starts to amp into cloyingly sweet. It also plays hide and seek - it's here, it's gone. It's the ghost of BPAL, haunting my wrist.

Vetiver, vetiver, and more vetiver. It is so masculine! Also, the vetiver is trying to kill the lemon. So much clashing of notes! And it's so so strong! It's an angry, vicious blend, at least on me. Way too scary.

Whoah vetiver! After I get past that, it's clean leather and rose. Nice and bracing, extremely masculine. Whenever vetiver is in a blend, my nose says "meh, traditional". This really isn't - but it does have notes that have sort of a wide appeal for men. I was trying to figure out why I dislike this, even though it smells nice - and it's very aggresive. It's the smell of a guy who would fight with me just to fight. Hah, but the person I'm now thinking of really could have used this - his scent was generic and dull. Sorta like his personality. Wow, this blend makes me cranky so off it goes!

Hell Yeah. It's a lot like the wonderful Herr D, with the sweet pipe aromas. But Herr D is comforting and cozy - and this is really not. As it dries, the leather really comes out. Extremely fresh leather, with a hint of smokiness. I like it quite a bit, but Herr D will forever be the perfect pipe blend. This will do when I want a little more darkness.

I think so far only 1 violent blend has worked on me, and this is not it. This was a dark, sexy, very masculine scent. The violent turned it to elderly woman on me. You know, I don't even think it's a chemistry thing. I think I really dislike the smell of violet. This smells perfectly nice, did not turn rancid at all on me - but ugh. Combine that with the tang of vetiver, and this is heading off to swaps. Sexy, but not my type.

Shockingly delicious! I adore coconut, but I rarely wear it because it tends to smell too beachy. Suntan lotion, drinks, bleh. Not my thing. I thought this would be a fun little cocktail that would be pleasing, but nothing special. Wrong! Creamy toasted coconut. CREAMY creamy creamy goodness. I find I don't really like the milk scents, but cream and I are soulmates. So fantastically good. I smell really nothing but the toasted, slightly sweetened coconut - perhaps the other notes are what keeps it from going tropical on me. I don't care - it's a delight. Huge success. I love when BPAL suprises me.

I was avoiding this, as fruit notes tend not to be very nice to me. This was actually not bad at all. Not a winner due to chemistry, but not horrific. It smells like the Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Sweet, plastic strawberries. But that's not bad - it's adorable. It's a very little girl scent, but better than the nasty stuff little girls acutally get to wear. Zero staying power on my skin though. *poof* It brought back happy memories of playing in my bedroom as a little tyke. Awwww.

Sweet, soft, and innocent. It's much sweeter than I expected - I thought it would be a more powdery scent. It has an aquatic quality to it, but this is a sugared floral all the way. It's quite bouncy and bright. It has a strange throw on me - it's almost just a hint of scent, and then a few minutes later it's pretty powerful. It confuses my nose. It stayed close to the skin, but the amping shifted wildly. In the end, it got a touch soapy as some florals will do. Overall, not for me. Just a touch too sugary for my skin.

This stuff is AMAZING. How did I ever live without it? Truly. Quietude had been my sleep blend of choice until I had a tragic spillage accident. And while Q was very good - it did not always work. I would get a window of peace and tranqulity - but if I did not get to sleep during that time then I was just going to smell nice for my insomnia. This - this worked so differently. My brain turned off. I was still functional - but my brain was already in shut-down mode. I was so realxed and easy. I dozed off, and then the husband came home. I got up, had a chat, and when it was bedtime again I immediately fell dead asleep. I practially sleepwalked when I needed to go to the bathroom, and again fell right back into deep deep sleep. DH's alarm went off, which usually means I'm up - but I was able to get my extra hour of full snooze before mine went off. This is unheard of! I woke up still in a trance. I was not fuzzy at all, but that was the best night's sleep I've had in ages and I didn't want to let it go. My body stayed relaxed, shoulders down, for a good few hours afterwards. It did take much longer than usual for my mind to rev up to full alert. I wasn't sleepy - but just very chilled out. Plus, it smells like heaven. To me, it was a spicy vanilla scent, very creamy, with a hint of herbal every once and a while in the initial stage. When I made DH sniff, he said it smelled like chocolate. I can see that, actually. Milky chocolate. It's delicious, but not foody (in other words, yum, but did not provoke a craving for sweets like every other food blend currently does). This is a MUST HAVE.

CCNow is the processor - have no fear, BPAL will get the order. If you send through PayPal as well, the you will be essentially making a 2nd, duplicate order. Don't do that. Your 1st order will be fine.

Midnight Mass is probably the best... it's lovely. Sure, it was an LE - but it's not exceedingly rare. I bet you'd have luck with an ISO topic if you decide you're desperate for a sniffie of that.

Quietude is my general-purpose sleep and relax blend. I have tried all the Somnium collection, and none work as well for me as Quietude. However, on my worst mind-racing nights, I find that Dragon's Milk is by far the most effective. It makes sense give the info about Vata above. It's a sweet, milky, soothing scent. I generally sleep like a child when I use it - literally. I makes me feel small and secure and innocent, like mommy just tucked me in. Nothing to worry or stress about.

My intorductory 6 would be: Maiden, for gentle floral. Bastet, for spiced sweetness. Dorian, for vanilla. Amsterdam for aquatic. Intrigue for the different one. Antony for teh sex.

My wedding was pre-BPAL, sad! But I think I'd wear 2/5/7 now. I always get loads of "mmmm, you smell so nice!" when I wear it, and it is such a bright and happy floral. It's like a warm garden - nothing white and powdery about it. Yes. That would be my bridal scent. Happy, fresh, rosey.

I thought this would be an insta-love for me, but it was actually a little too sweet, a bit too gentle. All the notes are there and lovely - I think it's the vanilla that makes it overly adorable on me. BPALs vanilla is something that I really want to love, and I keep trying it - but eh. So far, it's not working. I have a billion other soft little impies, so because this came late to the game it does not make the cut. Farewell, little mouse.

Grapes and violets. That's it. Two notes that do not work on my skin, and sure enough, they team up to wreak havok on my poor wrist. Actually, it's not as bad as all that. It's a darkly sweet fruity scent, really juicy. Not my thing, but I'm glad to have tried it.

An imp of this was a gift from my lovely Switch Witch. Based on the name, I thought this would be a dark, earth-type scent. How suprised was I to find that it's a golden, warm, and has the swirl of aquatics that I adore. Totally taken aback by this. It's second-skin scent that absorbs pretty quickly into my skin - it leaves me smelling fresh and clean, in the fresh outdoor air way, not soapy. A bit sweet, a bit resiny, a bit aquatic.... it's excellent.

Mmm mmmm mmmm Skin musk, florals, and spices. Sexy but not too crazy with it - I have a few BPALs that cannot be worn in polite company. This one can... it behaves enough. For me, this is a more standard perfume smelling BPAL. Not in a bad way at all. It's accessible, without being generic. The more it heats up on me, the better it gets. I am being completely seduced by this one. In the very very last gasp of the dry down, right before it dies, it reminds me of lipstick I wore (ack) 8 years ago - Mac Diva. It had a powdery little scent to it, and it was violently deeply bloody red, and it got me a lot of attention. I am happily married, but I want to put that stuff on again, with this perfume, and do some damage. Ahem. Perhaps it's for the best that I only have an imp of this....

Yes, yes YES! This was a frimp, and it had languished on my wishlist for so long that I forgot the notes. I tested this blind. Mmmm, second-skin masculine musk with a touch of coniferous forest. It's a dark, night-time, but fresh scent. Incredibly comforting, fabulous. DH will have to try this, but if not I'll be happy to wear it myself. I'm sad that I picked Snow Moon for today's blend, because I miss this already.

This is a very classic, elegant perfume that does not work on me. Like most fruits, the plum gets tangy and a little bit overripe on me. Not a winner, but glad to have tried it.

I like patchouli? Really? Man. Years of thinking I hated it... and then Greed comes along. It smells smokey, rich skin. VERY masculine. Love it on the DH, and he got compliments on it. He thinks it's only so-so... but I have a feeling with me wearing Red Devil and him wearing this, we could get into some good trouble.

Twin islands near Newfoundland, now lost, that were believed to be gateways to Hell. The scent is of wet, dark greenery, carnivorous flowers, volcanic gas, and the hot black musk of the demons and wild beasts that populated the islands. This was a frimp, and I tried it without knowing the notes at all. It's not my usual thing, but it's pretty nice. Oddly, on me it is a sunny clean scent with depth. There's a fruitiness which is probably the tropical greens, and something goes a touch soapy when I really huff away at my wrist. I'm intrigued by it. It could be a nice break from my truly clean scents, because there is that little bit something off - but off in a nice way.

Suprising! At first, the cardamom is in the front, very loud - and there is a dissonant sweetness as all the notes struggle for dominance (enraged, yes!). It all calms down quickly into a sweet but not overly foodie smell. I was worried that the cherry would go evil, or the choco caramel would make me sick - but while I can smell them they play so nicely together. It's extremely wearable. But I have gotten the odd look when I told the fam what I was wearing.

I have sniffed a lot of special blends of BPAL, but this is something else entirely. It's perfection makes me want to cry. It's amazing, it's art. It's whiskey. I do not get Scotch at all - it's smokey, yes, but not peaty. It's has that buttery richness of good Irish when it first goes on, and it's enough to makes me nearly woozy. It dries very quickly into a spicy wood smell, exactly what I hoped every other BPAL wood would be, but wasn't. It's the smell of seasoned logs flaring away in an otherwise dark room. Hot, fragant fire. I don't know why, but this is incredibly comforting to me. It's my woobie BPAL, and I love it.