coulrophobe

In the bottle: Buttery pumpkin, with tangy apple. On: For me, the apple kind of takes over and runs around screaming for a while. This is a crisp, green smelling apple, rather than the more mellow spicy apple cider I was expecting. After a few minutes, the mulling spices are more apparent, and the apple starts to blend in a bit more. With my chemistry, the pumpkin stays in the background, but the spiced apple scent is the best approximation of mulled cider I've smelled. This scent is curling up with a jumbo-sized mug of hot cider - maybe with a slice of orange floating in it - and watching the storm outside. Very cozy.

In the bottle: Orange. Piles upon piles of sweet, juicy oranges. I honestly cannot smell any other notes. Lucky for me - I like orange. On: The orange note is still quite dominant, but as the blend dries down, I catch tiny whiffs of the other notes. The vanilla, amber, musk and heliotrope warm it up, and soften the citrus edge, making this blend rounder and richer than other orangey blends, and there's a bit of gardenia peeking through. And... I'm simply overjoyed that I can't really smell the rose unless I really, truly think about it and focus on isolating the note. My skin usually amps of any kind of rose to out-of-control levels, so I'm always a bit leery of rose blends; it was the only note that made me question whether this blend would work on me, and I'm so happy that my fears were unfounded. This is a vibrant, cheerful red-orange scent, glowing with warmth - I'm going to enjoy this when the weather gets dark and dreary.

In the bottle: a very light, creamy-white floral scent. On: Ditto. To me, this smells like a lighter version of gardenia; I'm guessing that's the tuberose? When I was young we had a gardenia plant in the house, and when it bloomed, this was the smell that wafted through the house (if smelled directly it was extremely strong and pungent, but just catching a whiff of it on the breeze, it was quite pleasant). Definitely a night-time floral; there's a soft, dreamy quality to it. Like several of previous reviewers, I find this to be very light and understated. Another one to put away until spring, perhaps. Or... since I'm not finding the nightmare-laden description very fitting for this quiet, feminine scent, maybe I'll try it as a sleep blend.

Preconceived notions: Lenore is a somewhat puzzling jumble of notes for me, as it contains notes that are fantastic on me (white musk, plum), notes that are iffy (patchouli, thyme), and notes that are downright horrid most of the time (lemon, vetiver). In the bottle: All I can smell is the motor oil-like smell of vetiver, with a hint of lemony tang. On: Luckily, the vetiver mellows out after a few minutes on my skin, and the blend softens and sweetens up a bit. It's still quite dark, and a bit oily - Lenore isn't angry or aggressive, but definitely sinister. While I doesn't smell like "earth" per se, that's the mental picture I'm getting - the moist, dark earthen dwelling of something that crawls on its belly like a reptile. Yes. Salamanderesque. An interesting blend, and probably one that will have to be reserved for my quirkier moods.

In the bottle: I smell lightly-spiced patchouli. On me: Did I say lightly-spiced? Scratch that. The spices amp up a bit on my skin, I can definitely smell the cardamom. Alone is a warm, earthy spice scent - not as sweet/foody as some spice blends are. There's the barest hint of mandarin lurking under all those spices - it's making me think of a local Seattle tea blend called Market Spice. Patchouli is a hit-or-miss note for me, but this one is firmly in the hit category - it provides a nice earthy base for the other notes, without smelling too "dirty hippie." I'm a bit befuddled that I can't smell the gardenia at all, as it's usually a strong note with my chemistry. As a conclusion - the overwhelming sensation I get from this is SPICE! With a number of the other DiMV scents striking me as more cool-toned scents, Alone really stands out - it practically generates heat on my skin! Exotic and utterly gorgeous.

I'll preface this by saying that the aquatic scents are not my best category... I'm not a very good Piscean! In the bottle: Well... aquatic. Nose-tingly, a bit soapy, some ozone. On me: It's intriguing, and very clean smelling - with my chemistry, it's sort of like a minty version of Irish Spring, but not in a bad way. I'm finding it more fresh and airy than I expected - to me, this speaks more of crashing waves, sea spray, and gulls wheeling overhead than being dragged to the depths - and personally, I'm happy with that. It's light and salty-sweet; I'm guessing that's the violet mixing with the aquatic notes. It's cool, crisp, and one of the best aquatic blends I've ever smelled.

In the bottle: I smell a light, pleasant... soap? Why yes. That would be soap. Mind you, I kind of like soapy scents on occasion - let's give it a go. On me: No longer soap! I like morphers, they're so unpredictable. I agree whole-heartedly with what Macha said much more eloquently above. This is a cool, serene, elegant scent - like fragrant night air. There's a sense of clarity and distance to it... definitely starry. I've been impressed with all the DiMV scents I've tried thus far, and Evening Star is no exception. A beautiful, ethereal scent.

In the bottle: I smell the almost-lemony scent of green tea - already, this reminds me of Embalming Fluid. On me: Yep. I guess I was expecting black tea, but on me, this definitely smells like green. As the initial sharpness of the tea mellows, I can smell the soft, clean scent of linden blossom, and a hint of the round note I've come to know (and love) as orris. To me, this doesn't smell nearly as chilly and sad as the description led me to believe. To me, this is more like the "gleeful undead" of The Ghost... these smell like spirits that scuttle around cackling ("wheeeeee, we're dead! w00t, dead!") and making mischief. It's a pretty, uplifting scent, clean, fresh and joyous... in terms of color, I'm smelling pale yellow-green. A gorgeous, light scent - another I'll undoubted want to wear next spring.

Annabel Lee is a soft, pretty floral - I can definitely pick out the sweet pea and peony. I often have a problem with cucumber going sour on my skin, but it's behaving nicely, and the sage/moss notes provide a base that's pleasantly green, but not too sharp. I agree that this is a fresh scent, not a heavy or perfumy floral. Very well-blended and springy - the mental picture I'm getting is sprays of pink flowers with dew-covered greenery. Quite lovely!

Here are my guesses for the Pumpkin Patch - but I could be totally wrong: I - Pumpkin with apple cider and mulling spice - Jack'o'lantern with upturned mouth, pointed teeth (the evil-looking one) II - Pumpkin with cocoa, hazelnut and walnut - Upturned mouth, rectangular teeth (the grinning one) III - Pumpkin and pomegranate - Cyclops! (uh... the one-eyed one!) IV - Pumpkin with sandalwood and orris - Downturned eyes and mouth (the spookily sad one) V - Pumpkin with five woods, English ivy and galangal root - Square teeth, C-shaped eyes (the goofy-looking one) Other ideas?

This smells like a very old-fashioned kind of perfume to me - very powdery, and very refined. It smells like a wealthy, distinguished older woman with great taste and impeccable manners. Definitely wearing pearls. I think it's the opium I'm smelling most - it's sweet and a bit heavy, but not in a bad way at all. I keep picturing Anne Bancroft. This definitely isn't an everyday scent for me - but I can see wearing for those little-black-dress occasions. I'm very glad the myrrh behaves itself in this blend - a lot of the time, it turns quite syrupy on me. So... while this scent is lovely, it's not completely "me."

Wet: A blast of pure cinnamon. Maybe with a little clove... but definitely all spicy! Drydown: There's a warm, round fruity note lurking in the background, and while I still smell cinnamon, the mystery fruit is getting stronger all the time... aha! I got it... I smell exactly like peach cobbler! No wait... it's getting a bit more tart - apricots! This is the one blend I've smelled that truly smells like apricots to me; in the ones that actually list apricot as a note, I can't distinguish it from peach. But this one... pure apricots with cinnamon. I can't speak for the effectiveness of this oil, as I was just trying on random things before going to bed - but holy crap, is it tasty-smelling!

Wet: hoo boy... roses. Well, I suppose that's rosewood, actually - but my skin says, "same difference." I'm not a big fan of rose, but I think I'm catching a whiff of other notes trying to make themselves known... Drydown: Libertine's a complicated blend. The most obvious note to my nose is still rose(wood), but there's a tangy edge to it that must be bergamot, and something almost lemony. And while I can't actually smell the violet as a separate scent - there's a purpley tone. This is kind of magenta-scented to me, and that's a color association I usually get with berry scents, not florals... it's kind of messing with me. I wish I could smell more of the musk - there's a hint of it and the sandalwood, but not quite enough to satisfy a musk fanatic like me. And there's something in here making my sinuses tingle. Huh, I've written a review, but still don't know how I feel about this one... it's definitely intriguing.

The description of this one fascinated me from day one, but I wasn't sure I'd like; it just sounded too ominous. So... why does it end up smelling so sweet and innocent on me? Wet, I get a hint of the "cleaning fluid" phenomenon, but that dissapates quickly. This is a light yellow-green scent to me, sweet, with a bit of sharpness. Partially dried hay mixed with... baby powder. Grassy, yet smelling of babies. Babies in sunny fields. Um, yeah. I like it, but it's definitely odd on me. Comforting and pleasant, but very quirky.

I had really high hopes for PK, as I love pumpkin but find Jack way too sweet and cloying (and the other pumpkin scents are just not... pumpkinny). I feel very lucky to have obtained a bottle of this uber-rare blend! In the bottle: Pumpkin, naturally... it smells a bit buttery (nooooo!), but not as much so as Jack. On: Much spicier than I anticipated, and no butter! These are both big bonuses in my book. I can smell the cinnamon/clove/nutmeg spicyness quite strongly, while the pumpkin provides a warm background note. As it dries down, the notes blend nicely, and it's spicy pumpkin pie filling. Further into the drydown, it smells more like a pumpkin candle - but that's fine with me. I was hoping to find a pumpkin blend that avoided the too-sweet butteryness of Jack - and Pumpkin King turns out to be everything I wanted Jack to be. My one complaint is that it doesn't last long on me - but then again, most bpal only lasts a few hours on me anyway, unless it contains musk. So that's really a very small quibble - it's a gorgeous scent and I'll hoard it and build little shrines to it and uh... yeah.

Like everyone else says, this is sweet, spicy fruit. On me the spice is more dominant than the fruit, though - the fruity portion of the scent is very well-blended and it's hard for me to distinguish individual notes - kind of berryish, a tiny bit pearish, a wee bit of apple cider... maybe plum is the fruit I'm smelling most - this is definitely a dark purpley-red smell to me. It's extremely different from the 2004 blend, which was a pleasant autumnal floral - I'm glad they're so different. And to think, I almost didn't order Harvest Moon '05 because I figured it would be pretty much the same as '04... glad I came to my senses!

Chaos Theory II - CCCXCIV (394) (previously reviewed by Stephanie) In the bottle: Very fresh and green - a bit tart, herbal... in the bottle it kind of smells like shampoo! On: The tartness turns into a sweet, fruity scent - but still green. I'm picturing pears, kiwis, melon, maybe with a bit of florals lurking somewhere underneath... this is a lovely sparkling scent. Sort of like the lovechild of Titania and the dearly departed Glitter. This is entirely different from my other Chaos Theories... another gorgeous and wholly unique blend.

As a big fan of the fruit blends, there was no way I'd miss Fruit Moon... In the bottle: Um, yikes. This one's scaring me - can there be a fruit scent that doesn't work on me? This is sour rotting melons. The sour note is making me a bit nauseous, but I'm betting it'll evaporate on my skin. On: Luckily, the sourness goes away. It's still very melony - more honeydew than canaloupe to my nose - but it's gotten sweeter, and I can smell passionfruit in the background, adding a bit of tartness (but not the sourness that the blend had wet). It's definitely candylike, and will be a great spring/summer scent, if I can be patient through the drydown.

With my chemistry, The Black Tower is a slightly more masculine version of Loviatar (which I love). Leather is definitely the strongest note on my skin, with whiffs of smokey sandalwood and something sweet and perfumey (I'm betting ambergris). I'm surprised by how gender-neutral this is; it'll make a great "sexy going-out scent."

I'm still amazed and grateful that I was able to obtain a bottle of F54 without bankrupting myself. I had heard of the lab when this came out, but hadn't gotten around to ordering (and didn't know about the forum) due to a change in jobs, and when I was more stable it was too late... I feel quite privileged to get my hands on one of these rare bottles. Fresh from the post office this morning: Ripping into the package, I smell roses - usually a bad sign for me, but this is different, kind of the wine & roses scent I get from Lilith. Opening the roller bottle (I had it transferred from the cobalt stopper-bottle to minimize leakage during shipping), it smells quite fruity. I know others have said cherry, but I don't usually like cherry... I can't quite put my finger on what this smells like, but it's definitely juicy and red. On skin: A lovely complex blend; the smokiness really comes out on my skin. This manages to be vampy yet refined; I don't get the torn fishnets and desperation from the description. It's definitely dark and sexy, but elegant - not a trashy bit about it. The image that's coming to mind is Angelina Jolie in the black leather evening gown she wore to the premiere of (I think) Mr. and Mrs. Smith - a mix of an elegant cut and a naughty material. F54 is like that strong, sexy, unabashedly feminine, with a gleefully naughty streak. I'll be treasuring this one.

Origin: Got the Hatter in a swap with Lookingglass. In the imp: A little lavendery, but mostly mint... as I generally dislike the former and like the latter, this should be... interesting. Wet on skin: Much milder than I would have expected. Not as harshly herbal as it smelled in the imp, but softer, smoother - is that musk? *checks description* Yep! And I can't smell the lavender at all. This bodes well! Something's almost chocolatey about it - I smell like those Andes mints! Drydown: Soft, buttery/powdery minty-musk. It's an odd combination that works amazingly well on me. Black musk usually behaves itself and doesn't seem "feral" at all - this blend follows that trend. This almost reminds me of the one time I was lucky enough to smell Snowblind. Definitely a pleasant surprise - Mad Hatter is a lightly sweet, mellow scent, and very comforting. I think I might need a bottle as a sleep-scent.

Like several others, Czernobog was the one BPAL that made me physically nauseous. I'm dead certain there's civet in here - because only civet smells that awful on my skin. At every stage - in the imp, wet, and dry - this smells like a mixture of Pine-Sol and feces on me. It's all eau de diaper pail - heavy piney disinfectant and poo. I've tried blends containing civet, and they all have a note that is distinctively (or is that di-stink-tively? Bad pun!) fecal on me. I know it's not the musk, as even the dark "feral" musks are OK with my chemistry. I tried Czernobog on one of my guy friends, and while he didn't think it was *too* bad, it was still diaper pail to my nose. So sadly, this one just ain't for me.

Chaos Theory II, bottle no. DVII (507) Origin: Swap with TheSnowQueen In the bottle: AAAAACK! Lotus and lavender. I like lotus in fruity blends, but with herbs like lavender or mint (like Paris and Undertow, respectively), it turns into a horrible, wet, decaying scent. And lavender is usually a very sharp, disconcerting smell to my nose, unless it's blended with something that really takes the harsh edge off. But I know that the Butterfly Effect blends are some pretty serious morphers, so I'll be brave. Wet: Still lotus and lavender... waiting for the drydown... Dry: Ah. Now it's morphed. Completely. Instead of wet rotting herbs and blooms, it's definitely dry and subtle. Like a finely-milled powder... I can almost feel the powder in my sinuses, this is a "high nose" kind of scent. It's vaguely floral, and lightly musky... a total turnaround from the wet stage - it's completely baffling to me how Beth does this! I'm a fan of dry, powdery and musky smells - and this just happens to fit the bill. The initial stage is hard for me to get through, but it ends quite nicely.

When I first tried this, I thought it smelled familiar, but couldn't quite put my finger on it... then I saw blueoceanflower's review and it hit me - it does smell like White Linen, which I haven't worn since I was a child! Kinda nostalgic. It's a soft, powder/floral, a little soapy - I rather like it. It doesn't smell cold to me at all - it smells like wrapping up in a fluffy pale purple blanket right out of the dryer. Extremely feminine, light, suitable for daywear, a bit old-fashioned smelling in some way... I know some people will find this too "old ladyish," but I want to slather myself in it. I'm wondering if my two bottles will be enough. Yum.

Huh... a scent that has both honey and roses that actually works with my chemistry? Who knew? I really wanted to like Jezebel, for the name alone, and luckily I do. On me, Jezebel is a honeyed floral - but not at all rosey (which is a good thing, for me). Unlike some honey blends that go sticky-sweet and cloying, this one goes dry and powdery. I know that a lot of folks don't like powdery scents, but I kinda do, if it's the *right* kind of powder. This is very much a skin scent on me - very subtle, yet sexy. Makes me feel all lazy and decadent!