hlinspjalda

In the vial: Herbal honey; it smells rather mead-like, or perhaps like metheglin. Wet: Spectacular gardenia/honeysuckle with resin and a touch of bitterness. I have high hopes for this one. One hour: Sweet warm white florals with tannic herbs. The frankincense is just beginning to come up now. Two hours: The white florals have gone overripe in the heat and humidity. The honey is still pleasant, likewise the herbs, but the scent is a little brown around the edges on me now. Three hours: The overripe scent has dissipated some, and there are still florals. But the scent has lost its intensity. I thought the frankincense would be stronger at this phase and am surprised it's being so controlled. Four hours: Still sweet honey-floral, but very tired. This might be lovely in the winter, but it's not cut out to be a summer scent, not on my skin.

In the vial: Penetrating, pungent; I think that's heliotrope I'm getting. Wet: That's a very disconcerting note, that thing I thought might be heliotrope. It's pretty instantaneous, though, being overwhelmed as the scent warms by resin and saffron notes. There's a bit of sweetness, too. Twenty minutes: This has gone in an interesting herbal direction, and I think I'm getting chamomile. Not detecting the bitter saffron that's been in some other blends, though. There's a lot of resin beneath everything else, but so far the top notes are dominating. One hour: Still that sharp herbal note. I don't think this is going to wind up being for me, so I suppose it's a good thing I didn't buy that unsniffed bottle I was contemplating. Heliotrope is just too iffy on me, and this time it's not going to the good place. Two hours: It is very pleasant and well balanced, but there's a note in it that is definitely just not for me. It smells aggravatingly like something foody. Not saffron foody, but something more unusual, something maybe Indian and with a touch of sandalwood or something like it. Three hours: This has a pleasant warm almost woody note in it that is very enjoyable, but unusual. My decant will be enough, I think.

In the vial: Strongly aquatic plus floral. Wet: Pungent herbal. It smells greeny-gold too, like a flowering meadow by water. Twenty minutes: Still aquatic, but more soft and flowery now. To me this doesn't smell gold at all, it smells soft and blue. I don't know what the flowers are, but I'm imagining fields of light-blue ones that smell good, right beside the water. One hour: This is much nicer now, warmer and less aquatic. It still doesn't smell like gold to me, but it is very pleasant. Two hours: The aquatic note has burned away now, and this smells a lot like Angeronalia did on me. It's floral, but not at all mainstream, and with a strong resiny, balsamy kind of a vibe, kind of ropy or viney. Maybe that's something like elemi? I like it a lot. Three hours: Yep, still a lot like Angeronalia, but less intensely floral. In fact, less intense all over. I like it but don't think I need a bottle. (I will, however, keep my decant.)

In the vial: Wet river mud and a lot of herbs. Wet: Lovely rich wet dirt and floral The dirt note is absorbed very quickly, though, leaving the melilot (clover type) floral note behind. I love this! One hour: It went from Nile mud through rich florals and now it's into a more balsam-cedar phase. I like it a lot. Two hours: This is in the Frederic, Hellhound, Sea Rat family. On me it's fabulous, spicy, woody, and sexy. Bottle time! Three hours: Still arm-nomming good. Four hours: And still good. The wood hasn't soured, which is the one thing I feared. I'm getting either the melilot or the spikenard note again now; it seems more sweetly floral than before. My daughter tried this one too, and on her it was even more amazing. I've purchased a bottle for each of us.

In the vial: Herbal, saffron, beeswax, resiny, lemony in that order. An interesting complex mixture. Wet: Resinous yet very herbal. I'm getting tree-sap resin and something sweet, perhaps the calamus. There's a sort of cola note to this as well. One hour: Wow, this is wondeful. It's spicier than I expected, and the lemon-sage notes give it a fantastic balance. I can make out the beeswax, but it doesn't dominate. Two hours: Yesterday I heard this scent called a boy magnet. Well, I'm not a boy but I can see the attraction. This is pungent, spicy, sweet, and wide awake because things are interesting, not because something is shouting. It's just the thing for a steampunk geek boy, and yet it reminds me of Pennsic and patiently hand-tooled carpentry at the same time. I love it. If it stays like this, we're in big bottle territory. Three hours: And still loving this one. It's resiny, herby, and lemony, with a tinge of sweetness and another of smoke. (Smoke???) Six hours: Oooh, still very good. I may have to get a bottle of this. Will see what my boy thinks of it first, though. I bought a bottle of this and it will be in regular rotation. This is the scent that made me begin to suspect that beeswax was one of my love notes; further experimenting proved that theory correct.

In the vial: Sharp with a bite over a bitter resinous base. Invigorating, but in a way that makes me feel reluctant to be so stimulated. Wet: It smells like perfumed leather, very strong, like maybe a man's leather-intensive cologne. There's a very soapy herbal quality to it, so maybe it's a leather soap I'm thinking of. Twenty minutes: Still a man's scent, with leather and herb predominating, but there's a bit of resin sweetness underneath. I have hopes the star anise will come out to play. Two hours: More resiny goodness now. The leathery note has calmed down a lot, and the machine-type notes are pleasant. It's still a boy scent, but I don't dislike it. I'll probably pass it along to my daughter, who amps star anise, and see how it works on her. Three and a half hours: Calm leathery boy scent. Six hours: Very calm leathery boy scent, with a bit more resin than before but still principally leather.

In the vial: Bright citrusy resin and labdanum. This smells so cheerful! Wet: Oh, I like this. There's verbena and labdanum over amber. There's an unusual faint note I would have guessed was white musk. No sign of the cedar yet. Twenty minutes: I like everything about this except that note that reads to me like white musk. I suppose it's the oud. It's an unusual flat base note, and it clings to my skin while the rest of this scent is off in a higher, more sunny register. One hour: At about 35 minutes I noticed the white musky note had gone away, to be replaced by a woody one. It's much more woody now, cedar but an unfamiliar one as well that must be the oud. And I like it a lot better now. Two hours: This has blended nicely into a warm, slightly sweet, woody amber scent with some bright citrus notes. It's not the unalloyed win that Number 93 Engine was on me, but it's definitely a keeper. Three hours: A little more woody now, and the effect of the citrus has mostly dissipated, but it's still warm and rather golden. Five hours: The wood has taken over now. It reads light, tart, and woody, with a warm glaze of amber underneath. I eventually got rid of this one, because the oud is just enough outside my comfort zone to make this a 4 and not a 5 on me. But it was a tough call!

In the vial: Sharp, almost vinegary and very green herbal. Wet: Very green, with a bluish cast like juniper berries. There's also a sweetness underneath it, something floral I think. 45 minutes: Supple, resonant green fragrance, evergreen and something herbal, perhaps ground cover. The sweetness is there but is so integrated into the green that I think it must be the flower of some herb. Hour and a half: Much less sappy now, more like the scent that lingers on fingers or clothes after traveling through greenery. Still evergreen-herbal. Three hours: I still like this one. It's very dark green and a little bitter, with a tinge of floral in the background.

In the vial: Penetrating, rich, aromatic dark wood and bark, intensely vital, immensely old. This is probably the strongest BPAL scent impression I've ever gotten off a first sniff. This could easily be the Green Man's blood. Wet: Sharp barklike note, an almost menthol wood (is that birch? sassafrass? redwood?). It reads a bit like tree juice spiked with cinnamon and menthol, and it reminds me so much of something that I'm going mad trying to pin it down. Whatever it is, though, it's making my eyes roll back in my head with pleasure. Half an hour: Wow, is this intense. The sweet woodiness of it is almost overpowering me. It smells like spice wood, maybe the outside sheaths of star anise or some kind of edible tree bark, cinnamon only not as warm. One hour: Still that strong spicy-woody note, but it's not as intense now. Mortals may approach its awesomeness now! Two and a half hours: Still spicy-woody, still very star anise or cinnamon in impression. Five hours: Still very sharp spicy-woody, very long lasting. Now that it's not quite so intense, there's a rich secondary spice or bark note in it. Seven hours: Now it smells kind of like the Finnish birch box my uncle brought me years ago, back when it was still new and greenish, only filled with star anise husks.

I had the opportunity to test a friend's bottle of this at a meet 'n sniff. No extensive notes on this one, but here's my impression. In the bottle: an extremely familiar green stemmy note over an intense but soft rose. On me the lushness of the green note faded quickly, but the floral stayed around, soft and a bit creamy, for a while. Ultimately it faded a lot on me, though, much more quickly than most florals do.

In the vial: Warm, a little furry, and dark. I get vetiver, definitely, and something like perhaps musk and resin. Wet: Oh, this is in arm-chewing territory. (It reminds me a bit of Fenris Wolf.) That usually means patchouli and musk for me, but there's definitely some vetiver in here too. Somehow this makes me think of reptiles, very ancient turtles to be precise. I have no idea why, but that's what it is: an old, slow-moving, and highly observant turtle. Half an hour: A little sweeter now. The vetiver is behaving politely, there's still the impression of patchouli-musk, but there's a more insistent note trying to pierce all that chewiness. I like it very much, although it's just a touch disquieting for reasons I can't seem to pin down. One hour: That's strange: suddenly this smells very much like the Conjure Bag line. It's got the well-behaved vetiver note, something musky, that odd chewy (patchouli?) note, and now a sweet floral is poking its head up. The floral is honey-like, a little like a very faint version of Chuparosa, and it's added something almost hypnotic to the blend. I just want to keep huffing it! Two and a half hours: I can't tell whether that sweet note is a honeyed floral or a very sweet spice; it's got elements of both. Still very Conjure Bag in some ways, though. If I had more of this than just a quarter-imp, I'd wear it because it's delicious. Since I don't have much, though, I'll hoard it. Five hours: Oh yum, similar to before but a bit lighter, which makes the floral a bit more obvious. This one's really captivating, stable, and long-lasting on me.

In the bottle: There seem to be two evergreen notes in here. One is green-resinous, like half-dried pine sap, and the other is deeper, more balsamic. There's something else more sweet, too. It reminds me a little bit of The Illustrated Woman. Wet: The pine impression intensifies, then drops back. The other green note has asserted dominance. I t's warmly balsamic, and I just can't get enough of it. But the scent isn't one-sided, or even all green. There's a sort of creamy warmth to it, like a faint vanilla note plus something like either cream or skin musk; both those notes give that flat warmth. Or I suppose it could be orchid. At any rate, I'm loving this. Half an hour: Deliciously resinous now. I think that's my favorite frankincense note, but I'm not sure. I never dreamed based on the sniff that this would become so warmly resinous on me. But it's like it was made for me, or something; I'm so thrilled! There are other notes in here too, with a pronounced woody impression, but mostly I'm getting resin love. One hour: Yep, definitely my favorite frankincense note, like in Anne Bonny and The Blasphemare Reliquary. This is all resin love on me, and I'm utterly thrilled. I really wanted this scent to work on me, and it does! Two and a half hours: Still resin love. There's something soft and green underneath, now that the resin has dialed back a bit. It might be that pine I noticed earlier. Five hours: Gentle frankincense, something else very soft and creamy underneath. This was great, and I'm so thrilled to have a bottle.

In the vial: Olive, blood, and something else pungent and offbeat. Wet: This is wonderfully resiny and spicy, with a pleasant bite, but there is one note in it that is really setting me off. I don't usually enjoy blood accord, maybe that's what it is. Or it might be the cypress, although I don't usually have a problem with that. Twenty minutes: That off note has dissipated now. What's left is very nice indeed, a bit bitter and spicy but also sweet and richly resinous. One hour: This is delicious: resinous, a touch of something sweet, spicy, and a bit woody all at once. It's rather intense, though, so it's not something I would want to wear on a regular basis. Two hours: I'm still loving this one, although it's not quite as strong now as before. Deeply resinous with a bite of woody spice, a hint of floral. Keeper for sure. Five hours: Soft and gentle now. That was very enjoyable.

In the vial: Patchouli, opium, and a touch of magnolia. Wet: Dark, with a musky rich floral I think is the jasmine, and spicy. This is extremely intriguing and I could see myself falling for it in a big way. 45 minutes: Oooh, dark opium-floral with patchouli. It's just a touch sweet, and it reads as almost musky. This one is hitting me in the "evocative" zone, making me think of dark, powerful, defiant beauty. But subtle. There's not a lot of throw, and you kind of have to get up close to register the richness of it. Two hours: This has developed toward magnolia and away from jasmine. The patchouli's being very subdued, which is odd on my skin. I like the opium note, and this is the best it's ever been on me, but it's gone a little stale. I may have dodged a bullet on this one after all.

Golden. Vanilla amber and orange blossom. In the vial: Almost all amber, but with a trace of vanilla. Wet: More strongly amber, but also more strongly vanilla. The orange blossom hasn't scuttled this scent for me the way it so often does. I might wind up liking it after all! Half an hour: Vanilla stronger than ever. I would definitely age this, if I had a bottle! Two hours: Now it seems a little like "Snake Oil," or "Snake Charmer." It's deepening a bit, but still more vanilla on me than anything else. I am happy the orange blossoms are behaving. Three hours: The vanilla is starting to react with the orange blossom in unexpected ways. It's made the scent go a little bit bitter. I think I'll probably re-home this one. Eight hours: This is the vanilla note that eventually turns to scented doll heads on me. The amber isn't playing well with it, either. I traded this to a more loving home.

In the vial: Mostly violet and orchid. Wet: Violet and orchid over resin. I am not panicking yet, because I recall this turned very nice on me at the meet ‘n sniff. Half an hour: The resins are developing. I still get lots of orchid, but the violet has yielded place. I should not like this blend at all. Really. Violets and orchids Do Not Work Well with me. But I like it. Why is this happening again?!? One hour: Still more orchid than anything else, although I think I'm getting some iris too. The resin-ylang ylang axis I noticed last time still hasn't developed. I'll be patient and not panic, though. Three hours; The strength of the orchid has diminished, and it's becoming a warmer resiny scent. I acquired a partial bottle of this; it will be enough.

Of shapely form. Jasmine, honey, labdanum, rosehip, ambrette seed, delphinium, and white ginger. In the vial: Honey, jasmine, and a perverse little fillip of violet. What's that doing there? Maybe it's the delphinium. Wet: The unfamiliar violet-like floral is ahead of the jasmine. The jasmine is kind of sweet, maybe that's the honey, but it's also got a sharp high note. The labdanum and ginger are trying to balance it all out, but I'm not sure which way it's going to tip. Twenty minutes: Jasmine and that other floral note. This has more bite than I wanted, more of a top-note pungency. There's not enough balance at the low end for me. Maybe it will ripen some more. One hour: That violet-like note has gone all strident, and it's dragging the jasmine along with it. The honey is still there, and the labdanum, but mostly I'm just getting sharp loud florals. Two hours: Wow! Everything is cooperating beautifully now. I get warm honey beautifully balanced by labdanum and ginger. The jasmine is there, but it's no longer sharp; the delphinium has, I suspect, lost a lot of its potency. I'd be happy to wear this scent if it were like this all the time; it's just a question of whether or not I want to put up with those first two hours. Three hours: Quite a pleasant scent, honey balanced by the citrusy note of the labdanum, floral but not overpowering or even particularly sweet. Six hours: The honey in this one has remained true, but the main florals have gotten a little tired. The labdanum and honey still work well together, but it's definitely over. It was still good at four hours, though (I was in a meeting at the time). I traded this to someone who loves it.

In the vial: Jelly Belly pomegranate jellybeans. Wet: Yep, jellybeans. It's very sweet and mouth-watering, just like those jellybeans. 45 minutes: Sweet and fruity, with a rather cinnamon-like overtone, or maybe it's woody. This reads reminiscent of "The Phantom Calliope," but pomegranate rather than cherry. It is quite pleasant and tempting. Two hours: It's lost some of that cinnamon overtone and become less subtle. Still a very pleasant fruity pomegranate scent; I like it.

In the vial: Tangy floral with lily of the valley and plumeria dominating. Wet: More rose than anything else, with a pleasant almost citrusy tang that I think is the plumeria. 45 minutes: The plumeria is the most noticeable in what has suddenly become a very subtle blend. There are hints of ambergris, but the orris seems to be darkening the plumeria away from its usual slightly headachy top note. Very interesting! Two hours: Very light, with a trace of plumeria. Normally plumeria and lily of the valley don't disappear on me like that. I blame the orris; it's just not a note that loves me.

In the vial: Wow, I can pretty much make out all the listed notes. It comes off first as patchouli, musk, tobacco, resin, and anise. Wet: Patchouli-musk with labdanum, teak, and spice. This is going to be interesting after it blends down. Half an hour: Oh, this one's not working well on me. It's mostly teak and star anise, although there are tempting wisps of labdanum and patchouli. The musk base is nice but can't carry the scent all by itself. Two hours: It's gone a little mentholated now. There's resin at the bottom, but over that is teak and anise, plus that mentholated top note. Nope, this one doesn't want to love me. Three hours: It's gone kind of woody and tannin now. There's still a slightly sweet, spicy undertone to it that is enjoyable, but this one is definitely not for me. Eight hours: Pleasant light mentholated patchouli. Sooner or later I'm going to learn that teak and anise both don't work on me!

In the bottle: Red wine and plum. Wet: The champaca is running the show, alas. It's a little pungent, top-heavy on me. Sometimes that red wine note doesn't work on me, and this appears to be one of those times. Oh, well. But it's too soon to tell yet (I hope). Half an hour: Champaca and the red wine note, which is not working well on me. This is similar to what happened to me with "Lilith": the red wine note just went sideways on me and took the rest of the scent with it. I do get wonderful plum, which is a great note on me, but it's completely in the power of the stronger notes this time. Alas, I do not think this one is going to be for me after all. One hour: Very champaca, and still the red wine note doesn't want to play nice with me. I think I'm going to have to give this one up, even though I really don't want to. It's a good thing I still have "Snake Charmer" and "Hellion" to give me my plum fix! Three hours: Oh, now I am well and truly heartbroken! It's all plum love on me now, on a base of sandalwood. There's just enough of the wine note to give it a bit of sweetness, and the champaca has faded down to a mysterious background note. But I can't wait three hours for the scent to hit its stride, so I really do need to get this one into some more loving hands. I'm so sad about this one, even more than I was about "Philommeides."

In the vial: Rose first, then tartness, then sweetness, then pepper, then boozy. This reminds me a little of "Fire Phoenix," only with rose. Wet: Wow, that's kind of indescribable. I get balsam, berries, pepper, booze, but very little rose or caramel. It's a little sweet, a bit grassy, and I love the warmth of the pepper. Half an hour: Oh, I like this one a lot. It's gently sweet, spicy, herbal, and just a bit rich and boozy. The rose is sweet rather than heady and binds it all together beautifully. No foody impression from the caramel, which is what I feared most. Two hours: Yum! This continues to remind me of "Fire Phoenix," but I'm not sure why since they have so few ingredients in common. I'm getting sweet, pepper, rose, herb, and I think that must be the cognac. I want a bottle of this. Three hours: Some of the sweetness is over, and the booze is gone. Now it's a slightly herbal, slightly sweet, peppery rose. I do still like it, but it's not as extraordinary as it was before. Quick fade, eh? I'll have to think about whether I need that bottle. Second and third tests were a completely different experience, from the get-go: sharp and sour. How could my skin like this once, but never again? Oh well, I'll always have "Eustephanos"!

In the vial: Balsam, cedar, lavender, and a touch of caramel. Wet: Ambergris and balsam, mostly. It smells very evergreen. Twenty minutes: It's still quite tree-ish, but there's something floral in there. Looking over the list of ingredients, I suspect it's the spikenard I'm getting. That caramel note has disappeared, and I'm not getting any cedar. There might be a smidgen of lavender, but I'd expect my skin to drink that up immediately in the company of some of these other ingredients which I amp. One hour: Still balsam, but the ambergris has mostly disappeared. The cedar and vanilla are coming out just a bit now, which is warming it up some. There's still a touch of unfamiliar floral. I like this one, but it may not be grounded enough for me. Two hours: More grounded now, but alas! It seems to have gone kind of soapy. It's very pleasant soap, with a lovely warm evergreeny impression, but I can't escape the soapiness of it. I'm glad I indulged my curiosity about this one, but it's just not going to work on me. Three hours: Definitely all soap now. That's strange: I rarely get soapy results. I traded this to someone who loves it.

In the vial: Rose, pomegranate, and resin. Wet: Rose and pomegranate, definitely; I get the tart bite of pomegranate more strongly in this one than in any of the scents I've tried. The rose is second, quite powerful, but there's a lot of resin in it too. Twenty minutes: The rose has surpassed the pomegranate now. This is how I wanted "Persephone" to smell on me, and it's wonderful. I expect it will develop more depth as the resins warm up. But I suspect there's a bottle of this in my future. One hour: Yep, I need a bottle of this. The rose and pomegranate have balanced out beautifully. I can't make out individual notes in the base, but it warms and enriches the tendency toward tartness that both rose and pomegranate have. Two hours: Better and better! The resin has developed, and this is now well into the fabulous zone. Fruit-florals are always good on me, but this has now become exceptional. Three hours: It is now officially a resin scent, with strong and well-balanced rose/pomegranate overtones. I still love this. Six hours: And still great. The rose and fruit have long since lost their intensity, but the blend of resins is still very nice with its gentle rose-fruit tartness. This scent is the Inanna to "Crypt Queen"'s Ereshkigal: sister queens of complementary realms. I love it and have given up "Crypt Queen" for it. Top ten!

In the vial: A touch of verbena almost immediately overcome by sandalwood. Wet: This does have a sort of darkness about it, but it's also got a very pleasant penetrating herbal cedar-ish impression. I like it; whyever was it discontinued? Half an hour: This has the oddest herbal impression, like there's sage in it. But mostly now it's a sandalwood and patchouli scent. Two hours: Mostly patchouli and cedar now, still with the sagey overtone. Three and a half hours: Very woody now. I'm getting pencil shavings, which is rare for me, over sandalwood. There's just a touch of patchouli left. I like this one; it was a near miss on me. Wonder if it has descendants somewhere in the catalogue?