yeahbutnobut

Marshmallow Poof In the bottle: mmm, strawberry flavoured marshmallow fluffy sweetness! A bit like the new Beaver Moon but not as fruity. Wet on skin: it gets a tiny bit sharp, develops a hint of something almost like doll heads…but still smells sweetly fluffy. Dry on skin: interesting. This smells like fruity marshmallows but there's something I'm not sure about…it's a slight plastic note that smells like scented doll heads. Whilst in this scent it seems like a rather fitting scent, because this scent is fun and youthful and definitely fits the theme of pretty dolls with pink hair and strawberry dresses, I'm not sure I like smelling of plastic. There's also a slightly soapy sharpness which reminds me of a reaction I got with Chaste Moon (I'm one of the few who didn't love that scent). But I do love the fluffy marshmallow sweetness I get here-especially when smelt away from the wrist. It's light and sweet and joyful, it reminds me of a less creamy, less fruity Beaver Moon. After a while: the soapy/sharp note and the plastic note seem to die down a little-they still linger but they aren't as distracting as they were before. Now the sweet, delicious, fluffy and sugar coated marshmallow note starts to dominate. This isn't a toasted marshmallow, or a plain marshmallow scent, but a strawberry flavoured, bright pink, and squishy sweet. It reminds me of the bouncy texture of marshmallows, but doesn't have the lovely creamy vanilla scent I get with other marshmallow scents. This is a very airy, light scent, bubbly and soft, with a sprinkling of white sugar. The scent gets even lovelier, fluffier and delicious, and at times I almost smell a hint of sweet musk, which prevents it from being too foody. I really like this drydown. Not creamy, not juicy, not toasted, just sweet and white-pink and young and smiling. Verdict: I was looking forward to this one most out of this year's inquisition and was so pleased when I got a bottle! But sadly it's not as spectacular as I hoped for. It smells of marshmallows, for sure, but unfortunately there are stages of plastic and sweet soap before it becomes gloriously marshmallowy at drydown. It smells like doll heads and kid's bubble bath with sweet fluff, but I wanted pure marshmallow! I have to wait at least an hour or two before I really love this scent, and it smells just like fresh marshmallows covered in sugar. that being said, it is a really fun scent, very youthful and childlike and playful. So I will keep a decant of it, because it has layering potential, but I think I'll swap my bottle of it. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? not sure. I may swap my bottle, but I really like the drydown.

Swan Maiden In the imp: a beautiful, soft, rich white flower with sweet nectar. Wet on skin: the gardenia isn't turning to 'flower of evilness' on me! This smells of sweet daffodils, gardenia and lilies. Dry on skin: mmm, for now, this is gorgeous. Like a bouquet of white flowers, this is an elegant and feminine floral. I can smell the jonquil with its daffodil-like scent, the sweet gardenia and orchid, with rich magnolia and a hint of iris, even the lily notes are behaving. It's the perfect white floral scent, white as swan feathers, gentle and slightly melancholy. Now this is very pretty, but it could turn acrid like White Moon did on me. I'll wait and see. After a while: now the scent seems to turn a bit funny on me. Not acrid, or screaming flowers of death, but it now smells a little bit sickly sweet now, like oversweet flowers and a tone of overripe fruit. It reminds me of the slightly cloying scent I get from things like plum blossom and some champaca scents. There's something to it that reminds me of pear, a sweet fruit juice drizzled over the flowers. The calla lily is sharpening a little, but it's not a shrieking sharpness like it can be, this is a gentle lily like the one in Brides of Dracula. Considering this, it's not bad, it could have been a lot worse, it's a very tolerable scent, soft and sweet and exceedingly pretty. The floral notes become a little bit dry and thin over time, delicate and feathery, and then the scent begins to fade fast from my skin. At times it gains a hint of a white linen scent, then I smell a little bit of sandalwood, and the scent then becomes very faint. Verdict: I was expecting this to be a bane, what with all the floral notes that could either turn acrid or soapy on me. But I was surprised at how lovely this one was, especially at the start. This scent makes me think of ballerinas dancing to Swan Lake. It's a graceful, gentle floral, white and innocent and approachable. It's surprisingly nice, with it smelling gorgeously full and flowery for an hour or two. I'm not as keen on the drydown though…it doesn't go dry and wilted like these floral scents can do, but it does turn a little cloyingly sweet, like overripe fruit…and then it fades away really quickly, until the scent is feathery-light, hard to detect. It's not a favourite, but it's a lovely scent and certainly one of the nicest gardenia-lily-muguet scents I've come across. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? not really-but it is prettier and nicer than I expected. If you like this, try: Eternal, Ecstasy of St Theresa, Brides of Dracula, White Moon, Kitsune Tsuki

Lick It One More Time In the imp: mint fudge! Yes, this smells more like mint fudge than Tokyo Stomp did! Wet on skin: mint fudge morphing into a candy cane. The sugar here is browner than the old Lick It. Dry: whoa, this mint drills straight through my nostrils into my brain! This really clears the mind and chills the nose with a hit of pure, powerful peppermint. There’s the sugary undertone which is not the vanilla musk that I remember from the past two Lick Its, but a brown sugar, with a definite feel of mint fudge to it. This is a bracing mint and I also get a hint of mint humbugs and other traditional English mint sweets (probably Kendal mints?) After a while: tobacco? Yes, now this smells like minty, sweet tobacco. How bizarre! Where’s my mint fudge, my peppermint sweets? Now this smells like a cross between a traditional sweet shop and a gentleman’s lounge! I smell dusty tobacco mingling with remnants of mint and sugar. And as the scent goes on, it gets very dusty indeed, an old dusty wood scent with hints of paper…now this is turning into an old library scent, which I love. In fact, it’s exactly like the dusty-woody-bookish base of Miskatonic Uni, but with mint replacing the coffee and caramel. The scent of old dusty woods and a hint of smoke does seem to fade fast, which is unusual since smoky woody scents tend to last on me. it is now a whisper of old pages and ebony floorboards with just a hint of tobacco, reminiscent of Forbidden Foyer, Misk U and even a hint of the Dogs Playing Poker scents. it’s strange, but not unpleasant-it fades fast though, leaving a trace of sugary dust on my skin. I never once got the gorgeous vanilla musk I loved so much from the past two Lick It incarnations. Verdict: of the Lick It series, this is the strangest. It starts off smelling very promising indeed, a mouth watering mint fudge scent. it then turns into a blast of peppermint with a brown sugar undertone. Very nice, I think, and here’s to hoping it turns to pure fudge! But sadly it doesn’t. it does the oddest thing-it turns to a dark, dusty scent of dry tobacco, old books and dark woods. Kind of like ebony floorboards and old libraries and gentleman’s lounges, but with mint. Very, very bizarre. Normally I love scents that remind me of old books and dusty libraries, but I wasn’t expecting it in something that’s meant to smell like candy canes…it’s a little disconcerting actually. And the vanilla musk scent that made me fall in love with Lick It (and LI Again) is completely absent from this scent. and this scent does fade very fast as well. I think I’ll keep my decant but it’s not one I’ll get a bottle of. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not sure. If you like this, try: Lick It, Lick It Again, Tokyo Stomp, Incubus, Snow Flakes, Grr, Miskatonic University

Mad Kate In the imp: honey, herbal geranium and thyme, and currant. Wet on skin: honeyed currants, a hint of soap, and vanilla. Dry: mmm, not bad! In fact, this is a very pretty scent. the honey is the main note, but underneath that I smell the sharp, juicy currants, a soft freesia note, and a combination of gardenia and vanilla that reminds me of BiggerCritters. I smell a hint of herbs to it, but they don’t overpower the honeyed currants and flowers. This is an unusual scent with many fragments to it-honey and fruit, sweet gardenia, and herbs-but nothing clashes. After a while: eventually, despite the lovely honey and vanilla notes, there’s something that I smell here which is a little bit soapy. It may be the gardenia note, possibly the freesia (though normally I like that note) but I’m not sure if I like the slight hint of soap I get here. The honey and currant aren’t as strong now. I really like the honey moments when, with the gardenia, I get a slight resemblance to Honey Moon, but that soapy undertone is slightly distracting. Eventually the soapy scent does go and I’m let with a very pretty gardenia sweetened with vanilla and honey. Not a gorgeous as the vanilla-gardenia in Euphrosyne, but very pleasant and feminine, and certainly not an evil, acrid gardenia note! The honey note really comes back after a few hours, and it reminds me of the honey in Et Lux Fuit. Verdict: for a ‘mad’ scent, this is surprisingly sane on my skin. This is a very pretty honeyed floral, almost like a honey-covered BiggerCritters, actually. The gardenia is very agreeable here, and I love the way it combines with the vanilla. the honey is lovely, not strong or sharp but watery and sweet like nectar. The freesia is lovely and the currant is nice and crisp. It’s actually quite an unusual mix of notes, and there’s something a little soapy that I’m not crazy about in here, despite the lovely gardenia-honey-vanilla scent. a pleasant and interesting floral scent-not sure if it’s my thing, but I like it. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Maybe. If you like this, try: MB BiggerCritters, Euphrosyne, O, Itaso Kansei, Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree, Al Araaf

La Vague In the imp: a gorgeous, uplifting sweet peach with creamy flowers. Wet on skin: the jasmine turns a tiny, tiny bit bitter, but doesn’t detract from the glorious peach. Dry: this is very pretty! Peaches and cream (no sourness) with rose petals, and a hint of dry white wine and powdery iris. I smell dry jasmine petals and a hint of sharp osmanthus. I’m keeping an eye-or nose-on these flowery notes because they have the potential to turn this scent a bit bad. But for now it’s just right. After a while: the lily of the valley now comes out a little more, but thankfully it’s like the lily in Bilquis, it doesn’t turn soapy. It also smells a bit drier and more like dry flower petals, with the jasmine and osmanthus now the dominant notes. The osmanthus has a peachy aspect which is enhanced by the peach. But far from being sharp and overpowering, the floral notes are gentle here. The scent is light, luminous and soft, with that smooth creaminess rounding everything nicely. Eventually this turns into a creamy osmanthus with dry rose petals and iris. It now reminds me of another Salon scent or two, and the osmanthus is drier and softer than usual-it’s dominant but not overpowering. Verdict: this is a gorgeous feminine fragrance. Creamy peach lifted by a bouquet of flowers, this is a beautiful pastel-coloured peachy floral. The jasmine behaves (though it does smell a little dry), as does the osmanthus which goes very nicely with the peach, and the cream and rose are lovely in here. it’s a pretty scent, but it doesn’t wow me as much as other peach scents…I like it and the floral notes that usually go awry on me don’t in here. but I think I prefer Les Bijoux to this. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not sure. If you like this, try: Les Bijoux, Schaflende Baigneuse, Itaso Kansei, Silence, Cupid Complaining to Venus, Bilquis, Tamamo No Mae

The Black Swan In the imp: herbs? This smells very herbal, a little mossy, a bit violet-y and aquatic. Wet on skin: now this reminds me of ponds (in a good way-not stinky stagnant water), and also smells a bit like Undine. Dry: now I smell cologne, or a kind of ‘manly perfume’, but it’s not a bad one. In fact, this now reminds me strongly of Shanghai Tunnel. It’s got the same mossy-salty-wet feel to it, less of the mineral quality, more of a herbal, floral, earthy scent. It actually brings to mind a lily-filled pond, maybe by the sea, bordered by trees that have dropped their leaves into the water, there’s a decaying leaf scent to it as well. I also smell the violet (violet leaf, in here, is much more of an earthy, woodsy take on violet) and a gorgeous water lily note. Waterlily (and it’s variants-river lily, bog lily etc) isn’t a note I see often but it is so beautiful. After a while: the scent gets a little bit sour now, a little bit salty, now I can smell the seaweed and I’m not sure it likes me…it now smells a little bit like decaying seaweed. I still smell the lily but now the peony, which is a tiny bit sweet and soapy, is more prominent. The marine note is also stronger, as is the violet, which smells like a more masculine violet in here. it’s a lot dirtier and murkier, now the watery feel of the scent is a little bit stagnant, not disgustingly so, but it’s not as nice as the just-dry stage. It gets more and more like wilted violets in stagnant water over time. Verdict: to me, this is at first very much like a more floral version of Shanghai Tunnel, and an easier to acquire version of that scent. it smells like violets and waterlilies in a pond by the sea, with a hint of something earthy. It’s a very pleasant floral-aquatic and one where the marine notes don’t turn to soap on me! But I’m not as keen on the drydown, when it turns a little sour, wilted and stagnant. Not like vase water, but a little too much like decaying plants floating in a pond for me, and with a hint of masculine perfume. It’s not bad and I like the way it smells almost like, or rather evokes, a kind of pond I’d expect to see swans in. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not sure. I love the first half hour of wear, not sure about the drydown. If you like this, try: Undine, Roux Ga Roux, Bayou, Dunwich, Ulalume

Archangel Winter In the imp: this one is unusual-it’s light, vaguely perfumy, a little floral, a little sweet… Wet on skin: a crisp, airy scent which is a little bit like mainstream perfume, but nicer. Dry: it is very perfumey in scent, like a fresh, modern perfume, but unlike most of the mainstream stuff, this one isn’t bland and one dimensional. This is unique. It feels cold on the skin and actually seems to chill the nose, just like winter air. It smells like crisp, cool, frosty air. There’s something to this that smells vividly like the crispness, the clarity of a starry winter’s night, only without the tinge of chestnut/bonfire/chimney smoke I usually smell on those nights. In fact, this ozone smell is quite beautiful, not stormy or electric, but crystalline. If I was to compare this to another scent, which is hard for something which is so different, it reminds me of Yvaine’s ‘starry night’ scent, without the lavender and warmth-this is cold. However, there’s also a cologne note to it, slightly floral, slightly fruity, and probably with a light musk. After a while: this is even more interesting now…it now smells sweet! like a soft covering of powdery icing sugar, with an undertone of blue musk. Yes, that’s what the muskiness is, it’s probably a blue musk. And is that waterlily I smell here? Now this actually reminds me of a waterlily perfume I’ve smelt elsewhere (IoE maybe). But then it starts to remind me of a lotus perfume I have from Egypt, of all things. And that’s a good thing because I love that lotus perfume. But this is a blue lotus brought out of its indigenous warm climate, and then trapped in ice, in a frozen pond. It’s a combination that should be mismatched, but it works, and the scent brings to mind a gorgeous ice blue…this is the winter version of Night’s Pavilion. I also smell a hint of saltiness, almost like the blue aquatic note from Aeaea, but this isn’t warm like that scent. Eventually this brings to mind a flower in colours of frosty white and blue, floating on an iceberg. The salty-sweet freshness now reminds me of the vanilla musk in Victoria. The scent fluctuates between sweet and powdered to floral and cold with that icy musk in between. Verdict: wow, this is so different to all the other winter BPALs, and it’s quite apart from other BPAL scents as a whole too. I thought I would dislike this, what with it’s ozone, and it’s initial scent that seemed to lean towards smelling more mainstream than BPAL usually smells. But it grew on me and now I love this one. Underneath the blast of what seems like mainstream perfume, there’s a wonderful airy note which is very evocative of winter night air…like a frosty sky ablaze with stars. I am struck by how clear this scent is-like glass, like diamonds or crystal, it sparkles. And then as it dries down, beautiful notes of blue musk and something uncannily like blue lotus come to the surface, and the scent brings to mind shades of shimmering blue, moonlit ice and frozen flowers. This is a stunningly beautiful scent and definitely one I need a bottle of-it manages to smell contemporary and modern but also poetic and atmospheric all at once. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Yes…this is a surprise hit! If you like this, try: Yvaine, Dirty, Darkling Thrush, Silence, Long Night Moon, Night’s Pavilion, Black Ice

The Snow Storm In the imp: chilly evergreen with a hint of berry…very much like Knecht Ruprecht and Mistletoe. Wet on skin: cool mint, frozen fruits, cedar and fir. The mint makes my skin tingle! Dry: fir, lots of it, with a frozen fruit note which, despite being iced up, also smells a bit fermented and a bit overripe to me. It’s almost like frozen apple, very similar to Knecht, actually. I also smell a frosty floral, probably the aconite. The mint doesn’t smell blatantly minty but it does cool the scent and the skin. The fir is dominant for now, a wilder fir note than the usual Xmas tree. The snow note in here isn’t the same as that of Skadi etc, not on me anyway, this is a lot more evergreen and forest-like to me. More like snow that’s falling in a forest but has yet to settle and gather, than thick deep snow. After a while: ok, that weird overripe fruit has now taken over. The fir note has also become very sharp and rough. But it’s that weird fruit note that I’m not sure about…it smells cloying and clashes with the harsh fir. It’s not as crisp and cold as before either, it’s like the snow has melted or not settled at all. it then turns a little dry, earthy and straw like, but at least the cloying fruit note is gone. I don’t smell any snow now though. Verdict: this one disappointed me a bit. I was hoping for it to smell snowy, but it doesn’t smell very snowy at all…there’s not much of a cold feel to it, despite the mint, and the evergreen notes do very weird things on my skin. I don’t get a resemblance to the other snow scents either-just a scent that starts off smelling like a winter forest, but then turns into a mix of overripe fruit and bitter fir branches. I wanted to smell like a blizzard in an evergreen woodland but this just smells like melting slush over fermented berries and bitter greenery. Not my favourite…I much prefer the snowy forest scents I get from November and Wolf Moon. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not really. If you like this, try: Knecht Ruprecht, November, Death of the Gravedigger, Hemlock, Mistletoe, Wolf Moon

Murder of Crows In the imp: lemon sherbet! It’s like sweet lemon and powdered sugar! Wet on skin: now I smell cherry? This reminds me of those fizzy lemon sweets or sherbet powder! Dry: oh, this is lovely! It smells just like fizzy lemon flavoured sugar, or sherbet! The verbena isn’t too piercing here, it smells sweet and lemony but gentle. There’s a hint of crushed Parma Violet sweets here too, probably the iris? I don’t smell herbs but I’m sure the amber’s making this sweet. I also smell the same benzoin from Kunstkammer, because it smells vaguely like cherry lollipops. This is the kind of scent that reminds me of childhood sweets that I like, because it doesn’t smell fake or sour. It does smell very powdery though. After a while: the lemon verbena does clear eventually, and the scent becomes a lovely, ghostly pale iris scent, powdery and cool, with an undertone of greenness from the herbs. The amber sweetens the scent and adds a luminous feel, but doesn’t smell golden. The grey amber-iris combination brings to mind silvery moonlight reflected on shiny feathers (though not black crow feathers-this is a very pale scent to me). The scent changes from Parma Violets to powdery orris every now and then, with a hint of fruity-floral resin and herbs. This reminds me of Morella now, actually. It’s got that same iris-sage scent to it. the scent becomes a powdery iris scent with a hint of benzoin and herbs, a soft grey scent. Verdict: this is an interesting scent which smells like a mix of lemon drops and Parma Violets, but with a more sophisticated slant. It’s very lemony to begin with as the verbena makes itself known, but then the scent turns into a powdery, dusty, pale violet-like scent of iris, with a hint of sweetness which might be from the amber. It’s very powdery (no bad thing) at the end, and also reminds me of Morella. I like this one but because of it’s resemblance to Morella, which I have enough of, I don’t feel an urge to track down more of this. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? I like it but don’t need more.

Epitaph In the imp: a very, very, very soft, slightly sweet and watery floral. Wet on skin: lilies, pale white lilies with something clouding them. Dry: now I smell a hint of rose, but the main scent here is lily…it’s a white lily like the one in Tiger Lily, but there’s something unusual about this. This is a hazy floral, like flowers wrapped in fog, there’s a definite cloudiness to the scent, it’s not clear and crisp, but muted and blurred. This does indeed smell like flowers in the mist. It’s a gentle, ethereal, and sweetly powdery scent-slightly watery and dewy but also powdery. There’s also a hint of what could be violet in here, which isn’t listed but I smell it here. After a while: the soft misty scent clears and the lilies now smell more apparent, and a little sharper. They now smell like the lily/lily of the valley from Lush’s Lily Savon soap, in fact! There’s that slight hint of lemon to it that I get from the soap. I fear this will turn soapy as well. This teeters on the brink of soapiness, and I’m not sure about the slight sharpness I get here, but there’s a lily note to this that smells like the gorgeous musky lily in Kubla Khan! I also smell more of the rose now, as well as an airy, ghostly scent which is almost like a gentle ozone (an airy ozone, not stormy). This moves between a waxy lily and sharp rose, to a cool and sweet misty lily, I like that scent, but I’m not sure about the slight hint of soap I get sometimes. It reminds me slightly of Victoria, but not as fresh and without the crisp musk, and with a soapier lily. The drydown is like the lilies of Kubla Khan with a rose that reminds me of Silentium Amoris. Verdict: this really does smell like misty, ghostly lilies and roses. the lily is strongest, but even then it is wrapped in a soft layer of a note that I cannot distinguish, a mysterious powdery-hazy-airy scent which indeed is an ethereal mist hanging over the lily. When that does clear, sadly, the lily does turn a little soapy, the rose a little sharp. This is a very pretty, evocative scent but I prefer a few other lily-rose scents to this one. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Maybe. This is a haunting scent. If you like this, try: Tiger Lily, the Reaper and the Flowers, Victoria, Atrocious Attic, Sepulchre, Phantom Wooer, Kubla Khan

Plunder In the imp: ohh, glorious sweet cinnamon. Like Bengal without the honey. Wet on skin: now I smell pepper, and oddly, some anise? Dry: chai! This smells like dry chai tea, I smell the cinnamon and cassia, with pepper and clove, and a bit of nutmeg. I swear I smell aniseed here even though it’s not listed, but I don’t mind-anise scents seem to be growing on me these days. I also smell the sandalwood and tobacco which take away the foodiness of the scent. After a while: this still smells like loose chai …now it sweetens a little and the spices seem to become more rounded. It’s still a dry spice, hot and fiery, a little dusty, not creamy but pleasantly sweet. I still smell the anise, but maybe that could be clove now? Some clove notes have a slightly cool undertone to them in a similar way to how anise smells both cool and warm. This also reminds me of the spices in Silk Road but with a black tea note instead of the green tea I smelt in SR. this is really good. Eventually this turns to a lovely blend of spices and sandalwood with a bit of tobacco. Now I can’t pick out the spices as much, they’ve all merged together really nicely. There’s something almost like Mr Jacquel to this now, but with tobacco instead of patchouli, and no amber. It’s warm and dusty and dry, exotic, like the scent of spices from oriental markets in an antique chest, or even a treasure chest. It smells even more like Mr Jacquel over time, without amber…but the spices are very similar. Verdict: this really does smell like a dry mix of spices surrounded by the fragrant woods of a great ship. This is a dry and gloriously spicy mix full of warm cinnamon, with a lovely sandalwood base. And yes, there is a hint of chai to it, not creamy chai but dry chai which hasn’t been made into a drinkable tea yet. I love spices and cinnamon scents, but I’m not sure if this is my favourite BPAL cinnamon scent, or my favourite chai scent yet. It’s very nice, but I still prefer Bengal, Eclipse, Priala and Sin when it comes to BPAL cinnamon. The drydown reminds me of Mr Jacquel, but I prefer MJ because of the amber, which this lacks. I have a feeling this will age gorgeously so I’ll keep the imp for now and think about whether or not to get a bottle. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Yes, the imp. If you like this, try: Bengal, Al Shairan, Three Witches, Silk Road, Chimera, Sin, Mr Jaquel, Priala

Ile de la Tortue In the imp: rich sweet black orchids blooming in a rainforest. Wet on skin: sweet orchids and thick green foliage. Dry on skin: oh, I think I like this one, it smells promising. It smells of black orchid, my favourite orchid note, sweet and rich, in a thick mass of tropical plants. I can't tell what most of the plants in here smell like but I definitely smell the orchid, greenery, maybe the palm wine too (something in here reminds me of Caliban) but for now I don't smell vetiver. I also smell a feel of dampness here-it's a very humid scent, like the sticky heat of a rainforest. After a while: the initial heady green scent tones down, and now the orchids (and possibly the other flowers) really show off. The black orchid now smells like a sweet nocturnal flower, with a touch of nectar. I don't smell as much greenery but it is still there, in the background, and I also smell a hint of limestone too. It still smells hot and damp, and it vividly brings to mind a tropical night, with the cries of nocturnal creatures and insects breaking the starry silence, and the humid heat filled with the aroma of exotic blooms. Still no obvious vetiver. After a few hours-still none of the vetiver but the orchid has now muted to a soft white floral, it's not as sweet and heady but it still smells lovely. I also smell hints of damp stone, palm fronds and maybe a bit of the greenery that came before. The scent is a lot cleaner and crisper now. Verdict: this is beautiful! It's so hard to find a scent of tropical flowers and jungle greenery that doesn't turn to soap or sharp florals, but this one is perfect and what I wanted the likes of Pele etc to smell like. gorgeous rich orchid notes and a mass of humid greenery, and no off notes at all. even the vetiver doesn't overpower as it usually does-I think it binds all the other notes together. This smells like fabulous lush island vegetation and heady blooms, and it reminds me of Reunion (which, funnily enough, is sometimes nicknamed 'la tortue' because of the island's shape resembling a turtle's shell) and of my uncle's collection of orchids. Definitely one to get a bottle of! Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? yes! If you like this, try: Hi'iaka, Pele, Shadow Witch Orchid, Caliban, Phantom Queen

Havana In the imp: leather, cigars and rum! Wet on skin: a sexy, strong leather with tobacco and a hint of sweet date. Reminds me of Pirate Moon! Dry: mmm, this is the leather and date from Pirate Moon with extra tobacco! mmm, I like this. There’s even a splash of rum to it. The leather is stronger than PM, this is a slick black leather which is almost suede like at times. Reminds me of new shoes. The palm note is a golden, woodsy-grassy scent with a hint of dried fronds and sweet, dry dates. The tobacco is subtle but sophisticated. After a while: mmm, now the palm is dominant. I think palm might be my new ‘note I’m strangely obsessed with’, because in here, like in PM, it is gorgeous! Golden and warm and dry, with hints of sweet, dried dates, reminiscent of Date SN but with more of a dry woodsy scent. The tobacco enhances this dry, slightly sandy note, and it definitely smells like the beach, without the salt and sea. There’s also a hint of deeper woods to it, like the woods of PM, but with no musk/ambergris/coconut. The date note sweetens nicely over time, the soft yet dried fruit scent with the golden palm and leather, and maybe a hint of rum. This is really good! I really love the gentle sweetness this has, a slightly dusty sweetness which is more apparent on the scent’s throw. The sweetness is so good at the end that I wonder if there’s a hidden tonka or vanilla note hidden in here. It reminds me of a more exotic version of Perversion now. Verdict: this is a truly gorgeous scent which, along with Pirate Moon, makes me realise how much I love date palm notes. This brings to mind a sexy Cuban guy inviting me to dance to the joyful Latin beats of the band playing in a bar filled with the scent of cigars and rum cocktails, overlooking the sea, palm trees waving in the sunset. But it also smells very similar to Pirate Moon, which is a good thing, since I love PM. It’s a lot more straightforward, not as complex as PM, but the leather, tobacco and palm are the same. And they smell warm, dry, soothing, sweet but not cloying, and quite seductive. This is a keeper! Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? When I run out of Pirate Moon, I’ll get a bottle. If you like this, try: Pirate Moon, Bachelor’s Dog, Santo Domingo, Perversion, Krampus

Baneberry In the imp: a bit like Glasgow, but a bit greener. Has the potential to turn soapy. Wet on skin: a strong, potent black fruit scent, somewhere between blackcurrant and blackberry. Dry: blackcurrant surrounded by thick greenery. This is not bad now. It reminds me of Bewitched and Glasgow, and of Bitter Moon, the only blackberry scents not to turn to cat pee on me so far. But it also smells more like blackcurrants, a tart yet rich berry, but there’s a dark, greenish, bitter, slightly poisonous scent to it-it’s temptingly sweet at first, but with a sinister undertone. After a while: I knew this wouldn’t work, and now it doesn’t. There’s a hint of sage, but the other green notes develop a weird bitter-greasy scent which reminds me of rancid olive oil. The berry note is also starting to smell sharper and a little bit overripe, and with a hint of the dreaded cat pee. This reminds me of the Agony of Heartache now. The weird olive scent gets stronger and stronger, and gradually takes over the dark glossy berry scent. The olive scent does fade after a while, and now the scent is actually quite nice-a sophisticated and slightly perfumey blackcurrant scent, a bit like Lady Macbeth without the wine. Verdict: I’m not too keen on this. First it smells like bittersweet berries which isn’t too bad, but then turns too green and oily, with hints of the blackberry note that doesn’t work on me. It’s got a herbal scent to it which isn’t a nice herb scent, but one that turns to olive oil and poisonous greenery on me with that berry note. The RG scents are very hit and miss on me-this isn’t one that I like much. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? No. If you like this, try: Ghastly Garden, Bewitched, Bitter Moon, Lady Macbeth

The Ghastly Garden In the imp: green mossy plants with hints of flowers and berries. Reminds me of a non-aquatic Aeaea. Wet on skin: mossy herbs, flowers and a hint of blackberry. Dry: do I smell basil here? I think I do, or something like it. This is nicer than I expected it would be. it’s a dark, wet herbal garden, overgrown with thick damp moss (like the moss in Roux Ga Roux or Shanghai Tunnel) and ivy, with hints of flowers and blackberries…talking of which, there’s a note here that threatens to turn to cat pee on me. I think it’s blackberry or one of the herbs/plant notes? The more I smell it, the more I smell ‘bad kitty’ blackberry. I’m keeping an eye-or rather, nose-on that note. it could ruin this damp green scent which I love (and I’m not normally one for damp, swampy greens), which smells a bit like a hothouse, like at the Eden project or Kew. After a while: ok, the blackberry seems to have left, I don’t smell the dread cat pee here now but I do smell basil and maybe a hint of dandelion? It smells weedy, a really unkempt garden full of brambles and creepers and vines and other strangling plants, under which the smell of herbs and ornamental blooms can just be detected. It is very wet, somewhere between rainy and steamy, almost a jungle scent but not quite. I now smell sweet pea, and I’m keeping my nose on that note because this seems to be verging on smelling soapy. This seems to morph constantly between smelling like thick lush greenery, toxic berries, and slightly soapy sweet pea or lily. Hints of warm herbs and maybe the slightest hint of rose pop up. It’s like exploring the garden and catching whiffs of different plants at every turn, whilst thorns catch your clothes and nettles sting your skin. This garden is wild and untamed. I’m still torn as to whether I like it though because there are moments when it smells a little soapy, like waxy white petals. But even so, this is one of those really green scents that doesn’t turn to a bitter, harsh, ‘soap of doom’ mess on me. It’s what I hoped to get from the likes of Allison Gross. This also reminds me of Garden Path with Chickens, especially after a few hours, that same dewy fresh greenness. Eventually I get a lovely sweetness, this must be the sugared carnivorous plants. I really like this sweet phase, mixed with that airy, dewy greenness, it is a lot softer and fresher and less hot and humid. After that it smells a little bit like the lovely lettuce-sweet pea mix from Cancer, but without the sweet/beachy notes I got from that. Verdict: if Garden Path with Chickens is a civilised, neatly trimmed, pretty and flower-filled sunny garden, then this is it’s darker cousin. This is a wild, weed-filled garden that hasn’t been tended for years, overgrown with thorny plants and ivy and creeping plants and moss, on a hot, humid, stormy night. This is the scent of a miniature jungle, a tangle of strange plants, chaotic and shadowy. It’s fascinating and very complex. it’s quite unique to any of the green/garden scents in BPAL. I’m not sure if it’s a favourite though because there are moments when it turns soapy and other times when I smell ‘cat pee blackberry’, but at other times, this is amazing and very evocative of an abandoned garden with a sinister atmosphere. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not sure yet. If you like this, try: Garden Path with Chickens, Virgo, Bayou, Roux Ga Roux, Baneberry, Ile de la Tortue, Allison Gross

Spiked Punch In the imp: fruity boozy punch, with a slightly worrying undertone of Pruno. Wet on skin: fruity booze, wine and cleaning products. Dry: hmm, I’m not sure about this. This smells of fruit punch with white wine, fruit juices, orange and apple and red fruits, but it also has that artificial fruit flavour scent I got with Swank and the Hamptons, and there’s a sharp, cutting scent which is a cross between a ‘perfumey’ note, apple scented washing up liquid, and bathroom cleaner. It’s sharp and fake smelling on me. There’s a ‘sour sweets’ note, an apple note that is turning to soap on me, and also a lemon note that smells just like the stuff the cleaners in my flat use to clean the microwaves! And it reminds me of Pruno. After a while: microwave cleaner! Yeesh! This no longer smells like fruit punch, it now smells EXACTLY like microwave cleaner, that harsh, fake lemon scent that reminds me of the horrid taste I get on my baked beans whenever I warm them up in a microwave that’s just been treated with that cleaning product. I also smell hints of the exact same washing up liquid I use, I think it’s Tesco brand ‘Spring’ washing up liquid? This reminds me too much of my campus kitchen-though it smells clean, it certainly doesn’t smell like my kitchen when it’s not cleaned, ie, most of the time! It stays like that until the end, when hints of apple creep back in, and I smell a hint of juniper (gin?) as well. It smells like the Hamptons meets Pruno now. Verdict: I’m funny with BPAL booze-some I adore (the wine scents, a few spirits), but I’m generally not very successful with the cocktails or lighter fruit booze scents. This punch smells like it’s been spiked, but not by pleasant boozy notes, but by truly toxic amounts of household cleaning products! I thought Pruno was nasty but this is Pruno x100 with added microwave cleaner and washing up liquid-it’s uncanny how much it smells like the stuff used to clean my flat’s kitchen! I really don’t like saying this about BPAL and I’m usually quite tolerant about scents that aren’t my thing, giving them a chance to develop on the skin…but this is one of those ‘get it off and get it far, far away from me now!’ scents, and it’s not often I come across scents like that! Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? No!

Dia de los Muertos 07 In the imp: very similar to the 05 version, packed with heavy jasmine-like floral notes. Wet on skin: yup, there’s something like jasmine in here, because it turns rather bitter on my skin. Dry: whoa, it’s an attack of the flowers! There’s something like jasmine in here, which teeters on the brink of smelling bitter but right now isn’t quite nasty, and a sort of lemony-perfumy floral which smells like some lily notes, maybe lily of the valley or calla? I think there’s ylang-ylang here too. I get hints of the sweetness and dry leaves and tobacco, but no obvious chocolate or smokiness. just lots and lots of heady, powerful flowers. It’s like the 05 version, but I thought the jasmine/ylang in 05 was nicer, even though that was a heady floral. After a while: this gets better, sweeter and smoother, losing that sharp floral edge. There’s still a hint of slight bitterness but the sweeter notes, possibly vanilla and other foody notes, comes through. There’s even a little bit of butter now, I’m not sure I’m keen on that. I think I also smell a little more tobacco or dry leaves now. It’s still very floral, but along similar lines to the sweeter jasmines like Peitho. This develops a really odd olive scent at times, but when this scent behaves, it’s a lovely sweet vanilla jasmine scent, like a festive and complex take on BiggerCritters. Verdict: this is very much like the 05 version, in that it is very, very floral. Packed with jasmine, or something that smells like it, and other heady blooms. But this is a much nicer jasmine on me than usual-I think the complexity of this scent stabilises this fickle floral note. but I was hoping the other notes-the chocolates and sweets, and the incense, would come out, I get very little of those notes save for a hint of vanilla-this is dominated by flowers. It’s a lot better than the 06 version, but since I have enough of the 05 version, I think I’ll pass this one on. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not sure yet. If you like this, try: Perfumed Garden, MB BiggerCritters, Peitho, Kali, New Orleans, Kubla Khan, Zorya

Sugar Skull 07 In the imp: slightly buttery but very light and gentle sugar. Not the heavy treacle of previous years. Wet on skin: slightly boozy but not overwhelmingly caramel-y sugar. Dry: mmm, this one’s got potential! This is brown sugar and a dash of rum, but it’s not burnt sugar, heavy treacle or ‘I am caramel, hear me roar!’ this is a much gentler sugar scent. I smell a touch of alcohol, which breaks up the sweetness, and a mix of white and brown sugars. I also smell spices here, and possibly even the fruit notes, which to me are either berries or plums. I’m sure there’s citrus too, maybe lime, and some vanilla. There’s something almost masculine to the rum note, maybe its bay rum as opposed to the usual dark buttered rum? It reminds me of Mr Nancy, actually. This one is possibly the least cloying of the Sugar Skulls. After a while: this gets more and more like an odd mix of masculine perfume and sugary rum as it dries. Gone is the potentially wonderful sugared fruit and a hint of vanilla, and now I smell a manly caramel cologne with dark green-brown notes in fact, this reminds me of Bad Luck Woman Blues now, but without the vetiver and herbs. It has a similar feel of booze and brown sugar though, and it’s heavier on the caramel now…and there’s dark musk here? It’s unusual but I swear I smell a dark musk, or other non-foody and slightly ‘manly perfume’ note to it. The odd, almost aftershave-like scent still lingers, a kind of bay rum-tobacco-moss scent with sugar on top. For some reason, it reminds me of some perfume I remember smelling in an airport duty free shop! I’m not sure about that really masculine caramel scent, it’s also very treacly now…but then I smell something almost Al Azif-like peeking out…a resin perhaps, or dark amber? I love Al Azif and it’s sticky dark resins that almost hint at brown sugar, but this one smells a little too much like burnt molasses and sophisticated men’s perfume, which dominate the hints of resinous notes. but eventually this turns to pure treacle, with a hint of maple syrup, which most of the heavy caramel scents tend to do. Even the ‘aftershave’ notes are consumed by the treacle toffee scent. Verdict: this is the least foody of the Sugar Skulls so far. It has hints of the caramel, maple syrup, rum, treacle and brown sugar of previous years, but this one is interesting in that it also has hints of white sugar and even some non-foody, almost masculine-perfume notes. At first it’s a mix of caramel and candied fruit sprinkled with white sugar, but then the scent turns into a sweeter, less earthy version of Bad Luck Woman Blues…it has that same base of dark green notes with tobacco and cologne and bay rum, and the drydown after a few hours is slightly ambery-resinous, a brown sugar incense, like Al Azif with more sugar and the dark manly cologne underneath. It’s a fascinating scent, not as cloying as the other SS scents can be, and with some unusual nuances to it. But overall it’s a bit too masculine and I much prefer Al Azif if I want to smell like dark sugary incense. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Not really but it's a really interesting take on the SS theme. If you like this, try: Mr Nancy, La Befana, Cockaigne, Drink Me, Bad Luck Woman Blues, Al Azif

Sugar Slathered Candied Apple In the imp: apple covered in rum-spiked treacle! This is even more caramelised than Creepy! Wet on skin: now the apple comes out in force, a crisp tart green apple with sugar. Dry: ok, now this is a bit different to Creepy. In fact, this is a fusion of Creepy and Punkie Night. A sharp, crunchy and almost fizzy apple scent, a green apple as opposed to a red one, fresh and ripe but with an effervescence like an appletiser drink. Underneath that is the caramel, treacle, brown sugar, rum and other sweet notes. In here, the apple is dominant, in Creepy it was the other way round. But this apple is almost certainly the apple note that disagrees with me. After a while: ok, the apple is doing weird stuff on me. It’s turning a little floral, a little sweet, a little mushy and, dare I say it, a little bit plastic. In fact, this seems to be hinting at air freshener, just like the apple in Possets Pippin did. Only this one has sugar added. Now I think Creepy, which I thought was over-caramelised, is the lesser of two evils when it comes to toffee apple scents that I’m not keen on. Then it goes into that odd polystyrene and paper with apple air freshener scent I get with scents where apple really dominates, only this time with a hint of butterscotch or toffee popcorn. This actually smells like Possets Spook now, only much stronger-Spook was a bit weak on me, but this isn’t. Verdict: apple, especially fresh green apple, is such a tricky note on me. Too much of it and the apple reacts badly with my skin and smells fake. Just the right amount and it can add a delicious fruitiness and another angle to a complex blend. Sadly, this is the former. Not even the caramel, another dodgy note on my skin, overtakes the apple. On a person with apple-friendly chemistry this would smell like gorgeous fresh green apples dipped in melted toffee. But I get an overpowering Styrofoam and fruit-floral scent with just a scraping of butterscotch. Not my thing at all. I prefer baked, spiced apple scents if I want something that’s apple-dominated. I’ll be swapping this off. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? No.

All Souls 07 In the imp: tart currant and gardenia? That’s odd, but it does remind me of the incense I get in Midnight Mass 05. Wet on skin: now it smells less like gardenia and more like burning frankincense with fresh currants. Dry: mmm, interesting. This is a lot less cake-like than last year’s version. There’s a sweet currant jam scent and just a hint of baked sugar, but none of the slightly buttery, strongly Eat Me-ish scent from 06. Instead I get a very strong, burning frankincense note, piercing and smouldering and sharp. It smells like the frankincense from Meshkenet actually, slight greenish and tinged with a hint of floral. That’s no bad thing because I am very fond of the Vulture Maiden, and this is like an offering of currant cakes for her. It’s not as soft as last year’s. After a while: the sharpness that I got before has toned down a lot. Now this smells like frankincense resin with sweet currants. Golden, piercing, slightly peppery resin, and the currant even has a feel of resin to it. I don’t smell cake here very much-at least, not as much as with the 06 version. Just a hint, but not as much as last year’s. This is drier, there’s none of the sweetish, ashy, woodsy, nag champa scent I got last year-this is resin, frankincense and maybe a hint of pine, both in it’s burning and unburnt states. The currant note does smell a tad medicinal now though. Then I can smell a bit of myrrh-it’s not the dark myrrh that I get in things like Minotaur and Priala though, but the golden-green myrrh of Anubis. That and frankincense and currants. The scent still has that golden, warm yet sharp incense scent to it, and I think I smell a hint of brown sugar at this point as well, a touch of caramel. Then the incense goes into an odd stage which is almost like olive or pickles? I don’t often get pickles with incense scents, only occasionally, but even then it doesn’t distract me. I wonder now if there’s a little bit of rosewood here? It’s not as sweet now, it reminds me of the olive-incense-wood of Riding the Goat now. Verdict: this version is totally different to a bottle I have from last year which smells of sweet ‘Eat Me’ currant cakes with soft resinous incense which then mellows down to nag champa and sugar, a soft mix of crumbs and ashes. This one has a sharper, more piercing incense note and a more bitter currant note-this isn’t as gourmand, there’s no butter, and there’s even a hint of sharp floral to it. The scent is dominated by a sharper frankincense than usual. I like this scent because I love incense, but I prefer my bottle from 06…this also reminds me of Meshkenet with added fruit notes. I wish the currant note was a little sweeter though, in here it smells a little bit like sore throat pastilles at times, and I'm not sure about the olive like drydown. I don’t need a bottle but I may keep the decant. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Maybe. If you like this, try: Meshkenet, Midnight Mass, Eat Me, Haloa, Anubis, Penitence, Riding the Goat

Pumpkin Cheesecake In the imp: sweet spicy pumpkin with aspects of butter, spices, vanilla, maybe some citrus too? Wet on skin: now I smell a hint of the cheese? It’s a lot cheesier (that’s cream cheese, not stinky cheese) than Beaver Moon 05 though. Dry: pumpkin and sweet fromage frais. This does have an element of the original Beaver Moon to it, the spicy crust and filling, but this one has a little more of a creamy scent to it. It initially smells disturbingly like real cream cheese though, a bit like pumpkin pie topped with Philly cheese or mascarpone. There’s a hint of the delicious spicy-exotic pumpkin of Pumpkin Queen to it (could there be cardamom here?) as well as cinnamon and ginger, but this scent is much more heavy on the pumpkin than even the Queen was. There’s a strong vanilla note to it as well. After a while: as expected, this becomes original Beaver Moon with pumpkin. The strong, sweet, warm, cinnamon-laced vanilla I remember from the Beaver is now strong, the heavy pumpkin scent still hangs around as well, and it still has that slight creamy smell but it’s not as cheesy. The scent is smoother now. The odd thing about this pumpkin, which I don’t really get in other scents, is that it has an almost sweet potato like scent to it at times. I’m not sure if I’m keen on that. But then the scent goes into spicy vanilla again and it’s lovely. It’s almost like the Perilous Parlour’s vanilla with an extra shot of cinnamon, and with pumpkin instead of pear. And then I read that there’s carrot in here, which explains the oddly vegetable sweetness I get from here that isn’t pumpkin! The drydown is a warm, spicy, toasted vanilla scent, a scent of cake, but not very much pumpkin. It’s very cosy, and very much like Beaver Moon. Verdict: I can see why this is so loved! It’s a gorgeous gourmand scent, the epitome of foody pumpkin. I get the spicy cinnamon and warm vanilla crust from the original Beaver Moon here, but here I also get creamy pumpkin, and a lot more cream cheese. I’m not so sure about the cheesiness I get here (it smells too much like mild cream cheese on me-not a cheesy cheese scent but a rich, slightly tangy, very creamy-dairy scent…I’m not keen on cream cheese) or the slightly vegetable-like scent the pumpkin sometimes gets, thanks to the carrot note. But I do love the spicy vanilla base the scent has. It’s a nice scent-indulgent and comforting and quite delicious. It’s not my favourite pumpkin scent though. I may keep my decant of this, but thankfully for my bank account’s sake, I don’t feel the need to search for more of this. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Maybe. I do prefer Beaver Moon 05, Pumpkin Queen and Pumpkin V though.

I get the winter blues when the weather is grey and damp with that horrid wet rainy coldness, like recently...I highly recommend Schrodinger's Cat! Full of fun citrus notes, this one is so cheery and perky and makes me smile. I also highly recommend Sol Invictus. That's my bottle of liquid sunshine for the winter months, it just seems made for SAD. Fire Pig is another good one.

The Death of Autumn In the imp: vetiver, saffron, spiced autumn leaves and amber. Wet on skin: hot saffron and possibly galangal, oud and and autumn leaves. Dry on skin: mmm, this is really quite beautiful! I smell a much truer autumn leaf note than that of October, along with dry, hot saffron, a little bit of clove, dry woodsy notes of oud and galangal, a gorgeous amber note and just a hint of vetiver. This is a dry, spicy and haunting scent, which is dusty, almost sandy. Imagine autumn in a warmer, drier climate-this is the scent of autumn leaves dropping in the unexpected heat of an Indian summer, or leaves dried by desert winds. I smell nothing floral here-just woods, spices, incense and leaves. After a while: is there sandalwood in here? I smell something very much like that here. The scent becomes drier and more arid, and also a little hotter as well. It's not as amber-y as before, now it's more woody and leafy and dusty, but also golden. Then the scent becomes saffron and oud wood, that rich and complex wood that I remember smelling in the Heroine scent beginning with S (don't ask me to spell it). I also smell the galangal, which is spicy-woodsy, I can pick it out because there's a note here very much like the dusty woods note I got in Magical Omaha's Haunted Mill. The vetiver has also returned, occasionally popping up among the woods and arid spices. The vetiver is definitely there but it's a gentler version than most-it's more like the vetiver in Wulric, which was drier and a bit woodsy, not sticky and tarry and heavy. Eventually the amber returns, and damn, I love amber. It glows like a sunset among the woods, leaves, dry vetiver and saffron, this brings to mind a caravan of spices and exotic woods and resins travelling across golden sand dunes. The scent fluctuates between vetiver and amber, and sometimes the vetiver is a little too strong, but then the amber comes in and makes it gorgeous. Verdict: this is, as I anticipated, an exotic, oriental take on the autumn scent theme, and it's lovely. The best way I can describe this is autumn in the desert. This isn't a damp autumn scent like that of Samhainophobia, or a foody one (Samhain), or a musky one (Hunter Moon) or a cool one (October), this is a warm autumn, a hot wind full of dry leaves. It's gorgeous and spicy and woodsy with a delightful amber base. I really like the khus note, it's a vetiver that works very well on me-not a light vetiver, but not one that lingers for an eternity either-this strikes a balance between the light and heavy vetivers. However, I swear my bottle smells different to my half-decant (the latter of which I based my review on), as my bottle has more of a scent of October's cologne notes to it, the decant has less. I hope it's a matter of aging and that maybe the bottle will smell as wonderful as my sample! Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? yes! If you like this, try: October, Three Gorgons, Hunter Moon 07, Cleopatra Testing Poisons, Mr Jacquel

The Twisted Oak Tree In the imp: a surprisingly sweet, almost minty-wintergreen scent of oak and moss and ivy. Wet on skin: wintergreen or eucalyptus with deep green ivy and a hint of oak bark. Dry on skin: ok, this is odd…but it's almost all wintergreen on me, with hints of pine and eucalyptus. It's the kind of mix of cold and evergreen notes that just about hints at snow and sleet, but is more of a cold rain scent, or maybe sleet. It is wet and chilly and green, and under that slashing rain, I smell the oak wood and it's bark. This is a dry, rough wood, a grey-green wood, with hints of moss and ivy. But the dominant note here is that cold, harsh wintergreen, which thankfully isn't as bitter as the one in Carpathian Mountains, but is almost reminiscent of it. After a while: eventually this turns to pure wintergreen. Pure, piercing, cold and very medicinal, it overwhelms all the other notes-I still smell the greyish woodsy scent, but the more delicate mossy notes and hints of sweetness and ivy are smothered by the wintergreen. Eventually, something unexpected happens. The wintergreen finally recedes (after at least two hours) and there's something oddly sweet. Now I wasn't expecting sweet, almost resinous notes here but that's exactly what I smell under the wintergreen, glazing the oak wood, and it's a kind of amber-like scent. Now I heart amber, this is reminiscent of that fantastic amber in the Emathides, and also the forest-amber nuances I got from Stranger in Camp. And that tempting, teasing glimpse of amber has me sniffing my arm continuously. Damn. I was going to trade this off…the wintergreen is still there but I can't resist the siren's call of amber. Verdict: oh, this one has me torn! I really don't like the first few hours of wear-a harsh, medicinal, cold and bitter wintergreen scent. very little of the oak wood, the moss, the ivy…just loads of wintergreen that amps and takes over. It gives the impression of a hard frost on this twisted tree, but also has that intensely medicinal feel to it that makes me recoil. I think 'yes, this one's a swapper for sure'. But then after a few hours? I get amber? And that's a note I do love! And I can't stop sniffing myself. Ok, so what's it to be, keeper or swapper? I lean towards the latter because I just can't handle the first few hours of wear, even with that gorgeous amber drydown, it's not worth it. Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? not really. If you like this, try: Hamadryad, Carpathian Mountains, Pumpkin 5 (05 and 05), Ulalume, Talvikuu

The Phoenix In the imp: a clean soapy sea note, this could go either way. Reminds me of Thalassa and F5. Wet on skin: tangy lime and…dammit, washing powder and stormy ozone. Dry on skin: now this smells a little bit smoky, probably due to the gunpowder. It also smells woody, like the salty woods from Jolly Roger or Calico Jack. But for now the dominant note is a sharp, clean, ozonic sea air, which is a little bit soapy/detergent-like on me. There's an electric, crackling feel to the ozone like in the stormy scents that potentially could ruin this scent. However, this sea note also reminds me of Thalassa, which I liked, it is a little bit sweet and has a hint of kelp. So this really could be a hit or miss…will the Snake Oil come out to save the day? After a while: it's still predominantly that clean, crisp, ozone-aquatic, along with the dry solid ship woods and peppery gunpowder smoke, but I think it's growing on me. It is like Thalassa's slightly sweetened sea note, that's probably why it agrees with me better. It still smells a little bit soapy but it's not as 'OMG I smell like a laundrette!' as some of the other sea scents. I think the Snake Oil may be the thing that makes this work. I don't smell much of the SO after a few hours, but the surprisingly agreeable aquatic has faded to a soft salty-sweet cleanness, with a hint of wood. Not jarringly soapy, but nice and clean and fresh. Verdict: ok, this isn't as fantastic as Pirate Moon on me but I really like this one more than I expected. Yes, it is an aquatic, and one of those sea scents that has that soapy feel to it…but it's not 'soap of doom' or that horrid washing powder smell or that ozone scent that reminds me of static-covered tumble-dried clothes. This is the nice 'clean linen and ocean spray' scent that I find quite agreeable-and it's backed up by woods and spices and smoke, and I think the Snake Oil rounds it nicely. This is a more unisex version of Thalassa to me. This is what I was hoping to get from Jolly Roger. I was hoping for more of the Snake Oil, but for now, I think this is one sea scent I will keep-I think it may get better with age (anything with Snake Oil should, I think!) Emoticon rating: Is it a keeper? Maybe. It's one of the nicer aquatic scents on me. And I think a bit of age will bring out the Snake Oil. If you like this, try: Port Royal, Calico Jack, Jolly Roger, Mary Read, Thalassa, F5