lady_pandora

It took me a while to figure out what this reminded me of--it was strongly reminiscent of another BPAL but I couldn't place it. When I finally did, it was with a big D'oh, because it's a favorite of mine: Miskatonic University. It's not a dead ringer. It has the rum note instead of the whiskey note, and no coffee. But it has the same cookie-ness to it that reminds me of toasted coconut or toasted almonds or both, and smells a little burny if I mash my wrist right into my nose but is really lovely in the throw. A nice warm nostalgic Yule scent.

I just had to try this, because Anne Boleyn. And the good news is, I really like it! Whoso List to Hunt starts out in the initial stage as mostly wood and musk. It's pinging my memory centers and pinging them hard but I can't place what it reminds me of. There's an elusive hint of rose, too, and I agree with heavenlyrabbit that the way it hides in the back of the blend is really symbolic--there's a rose here, but you've got to get through this forbidden forest to find it. The overall impression is bold, unusual, assertive, and really, really lovely. It would make a good autumn scent. It fits Anne perfectly--I don't know what kind of perfume she really wore, but I like to think she'd have liked this. I read a novel once where she chose more animalic scents than the women around her, and while fictional, it's stuck with me. It dries down to a slightly powdery amber-rose combination--I think the musk is still here, but it's quieter now. This dry stage is soft and subtle and would work well as an everyday scent because it's not overpowering in any way. It's very "classic perfume" and I can picture it in a tiny ornate glass bottle. I give Whoso List to Hunt a 4/5 and I definitely think it's going to be a keeper for me. I really like this.

I can't decide if I love Hunger or hate it, and it's for tangly emotional reasons. Note-wise, this is a big blast of orange blossom and vanilla--I'm not sure if I can pick out narcissus or even if I know what narcissus actually smells like. But the orange blossom and the vanilla are BIG and BOLD and LOUD. They're not foody on me. There is no creamsicle here. They are both distinctly "perfumey" and not "foody" on my skin, while still being recognizable as orange blossom and vanilla. It's a little powdery, very sweet, a touch cloying, and as I walk around wearing it and trying to sort out my feelings about it, I realize what it smells like: Emeraude. I realize I've been misremembering what Emeraude smells like on me for 18ish years because this is it. I even looked up Emeraude's notes to see if my nose was on crack, and among other things I turned up orange and vanilla. The thing is, Emeraude and I have a Story. I got it as a gift in high school from my grandmother. I didn't exactly like it at the time--I felt it was too old for me. But I adored my grandmother for always giving me these gifts of grown women's perfume whether I liked the individual scents or not--she was the first person to take me seriously as a young woman. But then there's more. We were poor. There were always things wrong with our plumbing, laundry piled up, etc., etc., and to go into as little detail as possible, I did not shower as often as I liked at the time, nor always wear the freshest clothes, and to mask my stank I would slather on that damn Emeraude from my grandmother. So when I smell Hunger, I smell a kid who needs a shower and is marinated in this orange-vanilla perfume that's too old for her and other kids in class are asking what that awful smell is. It's like being haunted by my own younger self. But then, I think it actually does smell good on me. If I could compartmentalize off the memories, I would guess that a stranger standing next to me would say I smell good in this. A little powdery, but there are worse things. So I guess the question is, do I want to wear Hunger? Is this scent something I want to reclaim? I'm in my thirties now and have a good life, and maybe I do want to. Or maybe I want to never wear this perfume again. The jury is still out. Update, retested ~2 years later: I find this more nostalgic than disturbing now, and a wearable blend. It's also changed some--I can smell the decadent narcissus more now

Lemon lemon lemon lemon LEMON! (Imagine that in the voice of the dog from the Beggin' Strips commercials.) Embalming Fluid is really, really, lemony. Lemon is normally not my thing, but it's more agreeable here than in a lot of other blends I've tried. Part of it is that it's registering as more of a food/drink lemon than a cleaning-products lemon than some other oils I've tried. I'm reminded of limoncello, maybe, or a lemon ice. Part of it is also, I think, that I was expecting lemon from the get-go based on the reviews. I think I'm more tolerant of lemon when I know to expect it, rather than when I buy a scent with fifty different notes and my skin turns it to Lemon SN. I'm still not sure if it's me. I'm always keeping these bright citrusy scents around for warm weather, and then some of them I still don't wear when the warm weather arrives. I think I'll wait to make a decision until the summer on whether to swap/give this away.

Titania is an ethereal, super-feminine scent. If it were a color, it would be a pale green. The notes I smell are pear, some florals I can't identify, and something vaguely bubblegummy. It gives an impression of water without smelling of ozone. It's not a heavy scent at all--it's pretty faint on me. I could see this being a lovely, subtle scent for warm weather.

This was a frimp from the Lab. I rarely do well with aquatics, but I'm learning to never say never with BPAL...Beth actually made me like vetiver last night, so you never know. In vial: Soap. Wet: My first impression is of a bathroom shared between opposite-sex partners--I smell both a masculine soap like Irish Spring and a feminine soap like Dove. Drydown: I'm wanting to place The Sea Foams Milk on a spectrum between two other aquatic BPALs I've tried: Windward Passage and Sea of Glass. The Sea Foams Milk is not as soapy nor as masculine as Windward Passage, but it reminds me a little of it somehow. It also reminds me of Sea of Glass, though Sea Foams Milk is not quite as sharp due to it not having that strong lemon note. The upshot is that I do like it somewhat better than Sea of Glass, which was an unmitigated trainwreck on my skin. Dry: This is reminding me of something like CKone. I don't know if it really smells like CKone, as it's been years since I smelled it, but it has a similar vibe: unisex, a little soapy, expensive, sleek, and having a quality that always reads as "sharp" or "piercing" to me but that others read as "clean." Upper middle class college students in 1996. If it were a color, it would be a steely silver. Verdict: Not for me, and if I had any more of it on, I'd likely have a headache. But a well-done blend that will appeal to others. ETA: After trying to wash it off, I can finally smell the milk note. Weird. I'm not really digging it, though.

It's not often that I remember exactly where I first learned a word. Vetiver is one of the words with which I do remember my first encounter. It was in the book Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand and was continually associated with the fairy-queen figure in that book. I could tell it was some kind of plant, but of course couldn't imagine the smell just from the word. And so, when I first started experimenting with BPAL, I was disappointed to find that vetiver and I just did not get along. It either turned to men's aftershave or cigarette smoke on my skin. We didn't get along. And then there's Sloth. This was a frimp from the Lab, and left to my own devices I'd have avoided it like the plague. Vetiver is one of my death notes, don'tcha know? I looked up the descriptions on all my frimps and figured I'd give this one a fair shot but would probably be giving or swapping it away. Heck, the whole reason I'm trying it so late in the day was so that if it was putrid, I wouldn't have to be out in public smelling awful. Thing is? I like it. There is no men's deodorant here, nor cigarette smoke. The vetiver is behaving for the first time ever on my skin. It smells like a dark, herby, green, mysterious, spicy, maybe even slightly minty scent. I can't pick out myrrh, but myrrh and I usually get along, and maybe it's what's rounding out the vetiver into something wearable here. And there is a bit of dustiness to it--I can see where people are getting "basement." Yet it's not going full basement on me but staying "green." It reminds me of dark green velvet. It reminds me of Elizabeth Hand's fairy queen. Or maybe Sleeping Beauty, and I mean specifically Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty in that first scene where she's sleeping amid green velvet in her dusty room. I wonder what it would do if I layered it with a rose. Sloth indeed...sexy sloth? I don't know yet what I'll wear this for, because it's miles away from my usual oils, but I'm definitely going to use it. Thank you Lab. (And darn you Lab for making me reevaluate a death note! lol) Edit, 4/2/14: I did a ritual last night that called for vetiver and myrrh oil. Voila, I had Sloth! It worked great in the ritual and, even though I've taken a shower and all, the scent is still hanging around me today. It's wonderful.

In imp: Honey. But I've also been sniffing at the Jezebel and O that were in this same order, and this honey is softer or lighter somehow. Like...if it were a musical note, it would be higher on the scale. Wet on wrist, this is still a light honey. I feel like there's something in here lightening it up but not really showing itself off, like maybe a really faint fruit note. After a few minutes it really starts wafting off me. It's lovely. If it were a color, it would be soft pale yellow. It's such a comfort-type scent. I feel like the fruit thing is still lurking and maybe sandalwood? I had a sudden flash of Hymn to Proserpine. If there really is sandalwood in this, it's the same sandalwood. I think the fruit thing might be orange. But really, the fruit note is not dominant at all and in fact doesn't really have a presence of its own, if that makes any sense. It's more like it's hiding in the background affecting the honey. I also think I may smell a little vanilla, but I'm not sure how much of that is the power of suggestion (I'm reading reviews as I type this, trying to pin down the fruity note and see what others thought).It's soft and lovely and actually seems to have a fair amount of throw but isn't overpowering. Next phase--the honey seems to diverge into a waxy scent and a perfumy scent. The perfumy scent is making me think sandalwood again, and maybe vanilla. This split is most prominent if I sniff right at my wrist--the throw still has a lot of the warm honey to it. Then, and I don't know if this is a change or if my nose is just acclimating myself to it, it all seems to roll back together into the honey/slight fruit/occasional flashes of possibly sandalwood mix. It reminds me a little bit of Hymn to Proserpine, which I gave away years ago when I thought (possibly mistakenly--there was a LOT going on at the time, emotionally and physically) that it was giving me headaches and have missed ever since. Lights of Men's Lives is like getting that back, but with honey too. I think this is a 5/5.

This one takes about an hour to settle down on me--at first it seems like the amber and cocoa are at war with each other. The cocoa is too sharp during this stage and the amber is doing its usual amp-to-the-heavens thing that it does on me. Dry, this is actually really nice. There's a definite sense of dry-cocoa about it; it smells a lot like sniffing the powder hot chocolate is made from. And the amber hangs around being soft and golden and keeping the blend from seeming too dry. This works better on me than most chocolate BPALs do. It's not quite me, but it's not bad and it has a soft, comforting vibe. ETA: The following morning? Smells like Cocoa Puffs!

I wore Miskatonic U for Thanksgiving, because it smells like my mom's cookies. I may do that again for the family Christmas shindig. For Yule with the boyfriend, probably something warm and sexy like Jezebel or maybe my last gasp of Haunted Palace.

Yes, this. Some of my "spicy" oils will give me a welt if I put them on right out of the shower, but not if I put them on at other times. I think sometimes a welt can be an allergic reaction but that with some oils like cinnamon and peppers, they can just burn whether you're allergic or not, much like the same compounds can burn your tongue when they're in food.

I'm totally ganking all these suggestions. I've just figured out that I ADORE orange blossom. It's...snuggly...for lack of a better word. If it's in a blend, it sticks around on me longer than the other notes and just seems warm and fuzzy somehow. This is after trying to figure out why I get the same feeling from both Les Bijoux and Tavern of Hell even though they're very different. I think I've isolated the reason.

Yup, Dove soap. This is not actually a bad thing, though. I like the scent of Dove soap, and sometimes I want an unobtrusive, clean scent. Lots of people use aquatics for this, but aquatics tend not to agree with me. I have been fighting a headache all day, and I kind of love Come to Me at the moment. It's pleasant without making my headache any worse. I can see this attracting people. It's not a blatantly sexual summons, more like "I'm nonthreatening. I'm clean. I'm honest. I'm innocent." In the wrong hands, this could do some serious deceiving...

Vaguely floral bubble gum, which morphs over the day into something closer to candy corn. I don't adore it, but it's pleasant, and I can see myself wanting to wear this in the right mood.

This was a frimp from the Lab, and sadly, it's going to get given away or swapped. I usually don't do well with ozone blends, so I didn't have my hopes up too high for this one, but I've found a few that I can wear and so there was a chance Lightning might work on me. Alas, no such luck. It starts out smelling like Sprite or 7Up or some other lemon lime soda, then morphs into lemon-scent laundry detergent. So far, not bad, but not something I adore either... And then disaster strikes. This turns, after about fifteen minutes, into something that is just awful on me. It makes me a little queasy, and if I had more of it on, it would probably give me a headache--I can feel that little twinge in my head that hints at an impending one. I can't place it--it doesn't smell like anything recognizably "bad" like garbage or poo or dirty socks or anything--it just smells wrong and sort of sick-making. Sorry Lab.

If you miss Haunted Palace, you might want to snag Bijoux Y'han'thlei before it goes poof. They're really similar to my skin and nose.

Frimp from the Lab As a disclaimer, I'm probably the wrong girl for Ogun. I am just not that into smelling like melons. I don't hate the smell, but I don't seek it out either. My first impression of Ogun is...melon soda? I don't even know if melon soda exists, but if it did, it would smell like this. I don't know what note is creating the sense of fizziness, maybe the juniper? The "fizzy" note is the first to depart, and soon Ogun settles into a sort of melon-body-wash scent. I almost think I detect a little bit of orange. I definitely don't get the various heavier and sharper notes that others have experienced. It smells like... Wait. It smells like White Rain Energizing Citrus body wash. (This is not as crazy as it sounds; there's way more melon scent in the body wash than the name implies.) Trouble is, I don't really like White Rain Energizing Citrus. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but I sometimes buy it when I'm broke because it's a buck, and I'm always glad when I feel flush again and can replace it with something I like better. Beth's melon note is nicer, I can tell, but the association is just too strong in my head: I don't want to smell like That Body Wash I Buy When I'm Broke. Sorry Lab Wait, I think I'm confusing bath products I don't use often. This smells like Drama Clean shampoo. That's where I know this scent from!

A frimpie from the Lab! Thanks Lab! I'm getting a lot of Fleurs, but not necessarily much Mal. This starts out as mainly rose. It's a nice rose, full and soft. I keep thinking I smell violet, too, but apparently it's not actually here. There's also something sharp underneath that I can't place. I only get the sharp note right next to the skin; the throw is a nice rose. The rose continues to dominate for a couple of hours, after which the note I keep mistaking for violet--I think it must be the wisteria, because I'm more familiar with lilac and this ain't it--starts to overtake the rose in the throw, while next to my skin it's gone kind of bitter and dusty-smelling. It's pleasant if I don't mash my nose into my wrist and get the bitter/dusty thing, but it's one of those oils I'm not sure I'll wear very much, because I don't really have a niche for it. If that makes any sense. I have rose scents I like better, and general floral blends I like better, so I don't see myself reaching for this one much.

I was worried about this one. I was in love with the concept and had to have it, but I bit my metaphorical nails a bit about the milk note, which sometimes goes wrong on me, and about the candle wax, which I was afraid would make me smell like the Yankee Candle shop. I was fully prepared to have to classify this one as "ritual scent only" and not one that I'd find day-to-day wearable. I'm happy to report that I was wrong. I don't even get milk or candle wax. Candles Moon starts out with a big burst of a snow/ice note. It makes my nose feel a little tickly, as these kinds of notes often do, but not enough that I can't ignore it. Then comes the blackberry; I think it's the same blackberry note that's in Bewitched, but it took me a while to realize that since the surrounding notes are so different. Here, I'm reminded of eating berries that are partially frozen. There's that sheen of ice on the outside, and then you bite into the berry and it's so cold but has a really intense flavor because all the extra water has been concentrated into the ice. As it wears on, the blackberry becomes more dominant and the ice less so, which seems appropriate since it makes me think of thawing. This is really wearable, really lovely, and evokes the concept well.

So, one of my all-time favorite BPALs is Haunted Palace. I didn't discover it until long after it had already stopped being sold, and all I had of it was a decanted imp. That decanted imp is now down to about one or two drops left in the bottle, and I had been stubbornly hoarding it. Against the possibility of apocalypse, maybe. Fast forward to this year. I knew, when I saw the Miskatonic Valentine's update, that I needed to try something from it. I'm currently starting to get very serious with someone who just might be that ever-elusive The One, and we have a whole series of inside jokes about the Cthulhu mythos, and this was our first V-day together, and you get the idea. So I decided Bijoux Y. was the most likely one to smell good on me, and ordered it. Got it today, and I just have three words: Haunted. Palace. Resurrected. With the caveat, of course, that this won't necessarily be the case for everybody. I can amp the living daylights out of even the slightest amber note, and so this is very heavily amber on me, with a hint of musk, and the neroli filling in for Palace's blood orange quite nicely. It's lovely and soft and sexy, but not in your face, more candlelight than debauchery. I love it. And I don't have to keep hoarding those last few drops of HP. Also a close cousin to Brisingamen, due to my amber-amping skillz.

Right out of the vial, this smells strongly of frangipani. I've got that bit from the end of Tori Amos's "Datura" in my head, where she says "Frangipani? Frangipani?" It's really reminiscent of Delight for the first few minutes. I googled "champaca flower" and apparently it can refer to one of the oils also called frangipani, so that's where that scent is coming from. Eventually the frangipani settles down to be part of the larger whole. This is a beautiful floral blend, and between the fact that no one note is dominant and the unfamiliarity of some of the ingredients, I can't pick out individual notes for the most part. I do keep thinking I smell jasmine, but if it were actually jasmine, my skin would have turned it to jasmine SN by now! I can also smell honey. This is gorgeous and unique. I think I'll be getting a lot of spring wear out of it. You'll like this if you like: Delight, Vasakasajja. It's a sweeter Delight, and Vasakasajja without the vetiver-ish note. Edit: 6.5 hours after application, I think this may actually be my new absolute favorite. I didn't think Poisoned Apple could be dethroned. This smells so good I want to make out with myself. I must have more of this!

This is really sweet at first, almost more melon-y than apple-y. It settles down in a few minutes to a soft apple scent, but so faint that I have to mash my nose into my arm to smell it. Half an hour later, poof! It's gone. I guess it works on a metaphorical level. The present is fleeting, after all! But for apple goodness, I'll be sticking with my beloved Poisoned Apple, which sticks around longer and has more throw on me. ETA: Retested 12/3/12. I've figured out what this smells like--lotus! This reminds me of that bubblegummy lotus note, though i have no idea why I'm getting that. The other dominant note is a spicy amber. The apple isn't really coming out at all. It's more like a thought of apple, like someone showed a picture of an apple to the lotusy note and the spiced amber. I am actually beginning to wonder if apple notes just don't stick around well in the aging process, because the apple is mostly gone from my Les Bijoux too. Verdandi is fresh and juicy and pretty nice, actually, but I don't think it's doing (on me) quite what it's supposed to be doing. 3/5.

This starts out as a beautifully pure rose. Rose scents can sometimes get a little "sharp," but this one mellows down to something really soft. The better to lull poor innocent princesses into complacency, right? After about an hour, sandalwood makes a subtle appearance. Ah, those must be the thorns. Rose is still there but now there's an additional sensuality that comes from the sandalwood. Best of all, I think it's Non-Headache Sandalwood rather than Headache Sandalwood. (I think it's the white sandalwood that gives me headaches, which would make this the red, if I'm not mistaken.) This is really sexy in an understated way. I like it!

Wow, this is lovely, a soft floral-incensy blend. If you can imagine a cross between Lucretia and Hymn, this is it. Dominant notes are the tonka (which I think is where the Lucretia feeling is coming from) and incense, and underneath that there is floral. I keep thinking I smell rose but don't see it listed. It's just the slightest bit powdery but not in a bad way.

An allegorical expression of the ineffable, indisputable triumph of death, generally expressed in medieval artwork as a violin or flute-wielding skeleton leading a procession of dancers to their graves. Black cypress with oakmoss, frankincense, oude, and a sliver of toasted hazelnut. Got this as a frimp from the Lab! This starts out very woody, though when I put my nose right up to my wrist during the initial stage, there was something that reminded me, inexplicably, of dill pickles. My friend, sitting on the other side of the room, said it didn't smell at all like pickles to her, so I decided to stick it out and see what happened. Fortunately, the pickle note only lasted about a half hour. The eventual dominant note--maybe I'm just thinking of this because I know it's got cypress in it, but it reminds me of this park in South Carolina that is intentionally "swampy" and has many cypresses growing there. If the scent were a color, it would be a very dark green, almost black. The overall effect is sort of dark and mysterious, and I like it. It reminds me of overgrown places in the South in summer. It's pretty gender neutral, too. I'm not sure this is something I'm going to feel like wearing on a frequent basis, but I do like it, and in some moods I imagine it'll suit me well. I'm hanging on to the imp.