alsatia

Expectations: Sickly sweet and boozy. Knowing my luck, it will probably be heavy on the ketchup. In vial: Smells a bit like someone vomited after too many wine coolers. On skin, wet: Toilet bowl cleaner? I didn't think prison toilets were ever cleaned. On skin, dry: It smells familiar, maybe like a commercial perfume I've tried. The oranges are making themselves known, but I can't pick out any of the other ingredients. It has more throw than I'd expect based on the strength at close range. After time: At 15 minutes, it smells of nothing but spoiled orange juice. I'm shocked at the fact that this doesn't actually repulse me. At 30 minutes, it's a bit more fermented, but otherwise unchanged. An hour later, it's faded a lot, and there's the slightest hint of apple. Conclusion: Meh. It's not disgusting, but I'm not drooling over my arm either.

Expectations: Nutty, spicy lime with a bit of headache-inducing incense. In vial: Trapped in a forest of pine trees with nothing to eat but a bag of almonds. On skin, wet: Eating vanilla ice cream with lime syrup while my cheek is pressed against a floor freshly cleaned with Pine-Sol. The Pine-Sol has a lot of throw. On skin, dry: Pine and the incensey notes have balanced each other out. If I sniff hard, I get a bit of the vanilla and almond, but the lime ran away with the clove. After time: After 30 minutes, all trace of vanilla was gone and instead of Pine-Sol I smelled like Comet. I'm not sure whether this is an improvement or not. Nearly an hour after application, it's still Comet but is being increasingly diluted by baby powder. Conclusion: I can't say that I absolutely hate it (I'd reserve that for anything that gives me a headache, makes me sneeze, etc.), but yuck. I smell like a hotel maid. I'm off to scrub my wrists raw in hopes of being able to test a better scent. Edit: When I started washing this off, I got a whiff that reminded me of the Richard Scarry scratch & sniff book I had as a child. That was the first positive association I made with this. On the bright side, a good scrubbing has taken most of it off and I should be able to try a different scent soon.

In vial: Whoa, butter! It's so buttery, that it doesn't smell like real butter, but instead is reminiscent of the taste sensation from buttered popcorn-flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans. Perfect, since that's my favorite flavor. On skin, wet: Exactly like in the vial. So far, so good. On skin, dry: The initial buttery blast dissipated and a hint of the underlying popcorn is coming forward. After time: An hour later, the scent has calmed down into a real popcorn. Very little throw, and it's fading fast. Also, I haven't gotten any of the saltiness that many reviewers comment on. Conclusion: Too bad this didn't stay ultra-buttery, as that's a very happy smell for me. Also, I'd have liked to have gotten the saltiness too. I might want to try this in larger quantities, but I have a feeling it just doesn't work with my skin the way I want. Perhaps in a scent locket it would be better.

I wanted to try this because it sounded like the lotions my grandma always wore. In vial: Definitely coconut, and something a little bit rancid. Hope that changes when I apply it! On skin, wet: Not rancid, but not that appealing either. For a moment, I caught a whiff of popcorn butter. It all blended together quickly, but I think what's making it less pleasant than I expected is the "refreshing water". It seems a bit sterile. On skin, dry: It's not bad, exactly. If nothing changes, I wouldn't mind smelling like this. It's just not what I imagined when I selected it. After time: An hour later, the scent has barely faded. It still smells a little off if I directly sniff my wrist, but there's a decent amount of throw and the scent wafting around me is close to what I imagined. Conclusion: This might be perfect if not for the water note that is diluting it. I normally prefer bolder scents, but would like a full imp of this for occasional use and definitely want to try similar scents in hopes of finding one that's exactly what I hoped for from Obatala.

This review is for the Three Witches Revisited version. In vial: So strong I don't even have to open the vial to get a whiff. It makes me feel like when I was a child and did somersaults with a mouthful of red hots, all that cinnamon saliva draining back into my nose. On skin, wet: The cinnamon takes a back seat and is overpowered by a very even blend of cloves and pepper. It's definitely spicy, but not excessively so. On skin, dry: It's like the middle of an atomic fireball, when the hot outer shell has been sucked away, and the sweetness of the center begins to soothe the inside of your mouth. I don't know how I'll keep my nose off of my wrists while waiting for more time to pass. After time: An hour later the scent is almost completely faded away, but is otherwise unchanged. I desperately hope that the fading is due in part to how little I applied. Conclusion: A scent that manages to be both relaxing and invigorating simultaneously. Perfect for those days when I'm about to implode from stress and exhaustion. I'm very disappointed in how quickly it faded, but I love it so much that I'd happily slather more on whenever necessary if I could get my hands on a bottle of this.

This was one of the first scents I chose as something I'd like to try, when I saw people talking about BPAL many moons ago. Someone sent me a free sniffie, and my initial reaction was "Ew, what a chemical, cheap perfume smell!" Thankfully I had some others to try which were much better, although I was disappointed that my first choice didn't turn out how I expected. I never wrote up a real review of any of these, as back then I didn't expect to get heavily involved in trying BPAL. So I'm giving Mouse's Long and Sad Tale another chance. In vial: Still a common perfume smell, in which I can't distinguish different notes, but it seems less offensive to my nose than I remembered. On skin, wet: Wow, what an improvement! Instantly I can identify the sandalwood, which gets a bit overwhelming if I inhale too much. The sweet pea is there faintly, and there's another scent that I can't quite make out, but it must be the combination of vanilla and amber. I'm not sure what amber is supposed to smell like. It smells a little bit like baby powder overall, which is not actually a bad thing in my opinion, and it also reminds me of something else that I can't put my finger on. Probably a perfume I tried years ago. On skin, dry: I went to the restroom as this was drying, and the combination of baby powder plus general restroom smells brought to mind images of diaper rash. Not exactly something I want popping into my head at random times. It seems like the baby powder scent is going to stick around for a while. After time: An hour later, the scent has faded a great deal, and while it still smells somewhat like baby powder there's been a change. I can't pinpoint what additional scent has appeared, but it's less pleasant than the strong baby powder scent was. This doesn't seem to have much throw (a good thing, at the moment) but that could be because I had so little of it to work with. Conclusion: Might make a comforting room scent, but I don't want to spend all day smelling like this.