vulturekisses

Wow, this one smells delicious. In the vial: Rich, buttery rum with a peck of almond. On my skin: Oh, wow! I could lick it. It smells very rich -- not money-rich, but rich like a very sweet cream or rum-flavored candy or something. There's also a bit of spiciness to it, probably the clove, mingling with the almond in a way that is rather appealing and makes me kinda hungry.

In the vial: When I first opened this a few weeks ago, it could only be described as an artillery shell of scent - very pungent, vaguely citrusy, and smelling a bit like a souped-up lemon Pine-Sol with tea beneath. And boy, it was STRONG. I got kinda put off and put the lid back on (and got scared by some of the reviews comparing it to furniture polish), and waited a few weeks to see if I'd get the chutzpah to try it on later and brave putting it on my skin to see how it worked there. Second time around I open the imp, it's not as strong-smelling, and thankfully not very Pine Sol like anymore. Wet on skin: Huh, this is... interesting. My nose isn't trained enough to identify the notes clearly, but it does remind me of lemon and some other stuff. It's warm and spicy and citrus-y. Nowhere near as terrifying as I remembered it when I opened that imp for the very first time. Over time: After a while the musk starts to come out, it's so nice! I can smell those traces of tobacco smoke curling out from under it, genly wisping around the fading citrus notes. I really, really like this. I didn't get any of the chocolate at all, but I'm not complaining. I'm kinda glad I didn't, because I dig how bold this scent is. It makes me think of incense, but not so smoky as to make my nose sniffly. Conclusion: I'm so glad I wasn't entirely turned off by my first impression of this scent and gave it a second chance. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be, and somehow works on my skin! It's a powerful, masculine scent, unlike anything I have ever worn or smelled before. Rowr! I'm not sure how often I'll wear it, but I think I'll hang onto it for a while now that I know it's actually pretty good!

In the bottle: This is kind of citrusy, tangy, and wet! And smells pretty nice... looking at a good start here. This along with the description makes it sound really intriguing. Wet on skin: ACK! Really powdery and soapy. And really strong. Looks like my skin chemistry has doomed Lightning to be laundry detergent on me. It gave me that 'almost going to sneeze' pinch in my nose when I got too close to my wrist. Dry: I'm just getting soap here. :C It's not as strong as it was earlier but I can't say I really care for it that much right now... Off to swaps, I guess, unless it grows on me later. Edit: Oh dear, this was starting to give me a headache. :/ I washed it off; I guess I won't be keeping this one after all. D:

I'm really new to BPAL and reviewing, so I haven't yet learned how to identify individual notes yet and this is my first review ever. But I got Mechanical Phoenix because I loved the description, and I have to say that I really like this scent! It's not what I expected, but it still pleasantly surprised me and it grew on me. In the bottle: Like men's shaving cream! It smells really fresh and clean, and kinda cool. I don't know if that's the "ozone" that other folks are talking about. It's really light! Wet on skin: It still had the shaving cream smell, and I had to keep from resting my chin on my hand like I usually do because the scent was a bit overpowering for the first hour or so (or maybe I just put too much on my wrist, lol). I was kind of worried that I wouldn't get to smell the mechanical notes as mentioned in the description, but found it pleasing anyway. Right now, about 5 hours later: It smells like an electric pencil sharpener to me! And the shaving cream smell is still there in the background, but now I'm getting warm metal and pencil dust. As someone who's spent hours hunched over a desk with a mountain of colored pencils, my wrist right now make me think of those days spent drawing at the desk -- and since I've been doing almost exclusively digital art in the last couple years due to a lack of space, I really missed having that smell around while I worked on art. Conclusion: I still kinda hoped I'd get the steampunky notes from this but an arty scent works just fine for me too. It definitely speaks creativity and innovation to me, and I plan to wear this on nights where I'm stuck at the desk with my tablet and a drawing program open for hours. It's a definite keeper!