lady_pandora

Opening the bottle, the first thing that hit me was the apple note, which seems to be the same apple note as the one in Poisoned Apple, which made me quite happy, as PA has been my signature scent for the better part of a year now. I put it on, and the cinnamon and orange peel come to the forefront. Apple is there, but it's subtle. The cinnamon and orange peel have this lovely spicy holiday thing going on; it feels autumnal but also seems quite appropriate for the Christmas season. I can kind of see where the "It smells like a Yankee Candle" folks are coming from. It does smell a bit Yankee Candle-ish, especially during this early stage, but I love Yankee Candles and so this isn't a problem for me. It stays pretty close to the skin on me, never producing a Cloud o'Scent even though I had a pretty generous amount on. I kept thinking it had faded, only to get a delightful wisp of spice or of apple out of the blue. After a few hours, it dries down to a warm sweet apple scent, with just the slightest hint of smoke. The smoke is subtle on me; I have to be looking for it and have my wrist right up to my nose. Poisoned Apple dressed up for the holidays, that's what this is. Same apple note, but with cinnamon and orange peel instead of the "poison" herbs. I'll be wearing this one a lot. I've been looking for a scent that "felt" like this for a long time. The "feel" of it (though the notes are different) is similar to the old iteration of Hamadryad, before it went all wintergreeny. I am a happy Pandora right now.

Tavern of Hell? Naaah. More like Sweater of Boyfriend, and I mean that in the best possible way. Right out of the bottle, the lavender is kind of overpowering and, for a moment, manages to confuse my nose into thinking it's camphor. It's almost medicinal for those first few minutes. That goes away pretty quickly, though. After that, it settles down into a mix of a sort of general "men's cologne" smell and a floral that I couldn't put my finger on last night, but which I think now must have been the orange blossom. Usually the "men's cologne" scents don't do much for me, and Tavern of Hell includes several notes that theoretically shouldn't work on my skin, but there's just something so comforting and warm about it. Like I said, Sweater of Boyfriend. The orange blossom, which is pretty prominent on me, adds just enough "yin" to the "yang" that the overall feel I get is "woman in man's sweater" rather than just "man." Something tells me I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this in the winter. Edit: I think a lot of the "comforting" feel comes from the orange blossom, too. I used to have a lotion that was supposed to relax you before bed, which prominently featured orange blossom. Definitely a snuggly scent.

Origin: a frimp from the lab! This is an aquatic, masculine scent that doesn't morph much on me. It smells like ozone and the color dark green, and something that I'm inclined to say is vetiver, though vetiver doesn't usually play this nicely on me. There isn't anything offensive or unpleasant about this scent, but it doesn't feel like "me" or blow me away, either. I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm tempted to trade it away because I'm not thoroughly digging it, but on the other hand, the image of the sunless depths of the sea is one I've used for relaxation since I was about ten, so the symbolism is making me want to hang on to it.

I'm looking at the listed notes for Selkie, and I'm looking at the listed notes for Brides of Dracula, and for the life of me I can't figure out why they're striking me as similar. I prefer Selkie; it's somehow both warmer and more aquatic, like I'm wrapped in something warm and sitting by the sea. But there's a resemblance that's hard to put my finger on. This is a soft, fresh, floral scent that I like a lot, and every time I wear it, I get compliments.

I third De Sade, though from the description, Manhattan sounds perfect for when he's in Bruce Wayne mode.

I'd heard that Bien Loin d'Ici was a close GC approximation of Smut, so I figured it would work on me. Sadly, no. There was a "burnt sugar" edge to this one when i tried it. I gave it to a friend, who smells like divine incensey goodness in it.

This is a light, kind of delicate fragrance, and it's just what the BPAL doctor ordered for this hot weather. Rose is the dominant note on me, but the other notes add a "greenness" and a "wetness" to the scent. Strangely, I'm not really getting lotus, unless this is a different kind of lotus than the one in Undertow, Blood Lotus, or Forbidden Fruit; there is none of the note that some find "bubblegummy". It reminds me a little bit of Penthus except without the saltiness, and a little bit of La Belle au Bois Dormant before the plumeria nomnomnommed the other notes into oblivion.

I've been complimented on Smut by just about everyone, on Cerberus and Lilith at work (lol, I bring my own little slices of hell with me), and on Poisoned Apple by people who are close to me. The Apple doesn't throw much on me, so only my nearest and dearest can smell the stuff!

I've never actually tried Opium, the real one and not the crappy fake versions, but let me put in a good word for Event Horizon; I love it and it has some similar notes. Black opium, labdanum, opoponax, black orchid, and benzoin.

I totally got cave from The Coiled Serpent.

I tried this on while hanging out with my friend "beanrua," whose nose is more sophisticated than mine, so you're going to get both of our reactions to what this oil did on me. I could smell the rum even with the imp closed, and when I first dabbed it onto my arm, that was the dominant note to my nose. She said she smelled dirt, but I couldn't make it out through the rum smell! I love rum, so this is a very good thing. It dries down to a scent of flowers and incense. I can't tell you what flowers I'm smelling, but beanrua says it's lilies. There is still a hint of booze but the dominant notes are the floral note and what I'd swear was church incense of some sort. It's not too different from Dia de los Muertos '04 after Dia's sugar note dissipates. Jazz Funeral is rounder somehow, more sensual, but they're similar in that both of them smell like incense and flowers on me. There is a dirt note, but it doesn't show up on me until many hours after application. beanrua said that it smelled "like New Orleans" on me, and that's certainly enough to make me cling to my imp for dear life! I don't know how often I'll be in the mood for this one, but I like it a lot.

YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. I was worried about this one. The first time I tried it, it seemed to be teetering on the edge of too sweet, cloying, reminding me of why I got sick of Bilquis. I must have been having some kind of weird nose or chemistry issue, because I've worn it a gazillion times since then and never had that effect again. This is just amazing on me. The apple is juicy yet tart, with a bite, a true enough note that I can almost feel the pulp of the fruit between my teeth, and the hemlock and oleander provide a fresh, cool, herbal note. The opium manifests as a subtle sweetness. This scent became my signature "everyday" scent of this entire spring; every time I went to choose a BPAL for the day, I would spot this one and realize it was what I really wanted to wear most of all. I get lots of compliments with this one too! ETA: The very best moment of this one is actually after it's been on for hours and hours (as opposed to some oils that dwindle down to something less than their initial awesomeness). A bit of the apple still lingers while the opium goes smoky and musky. It's sexy as HELL.

Got this as a decanted imp from an awesome LJ friend. I shall have to do my best to forget that the corresponding painting is about suicide, because this oil is sex in a bottle. Not overtly and in-your-face, though--Lucretia is a classy floral on the surface and the sex is kind of an undercurrent. The violet and iris make it ladylike, while the amber and the vanilla musk combine to make me want to lick my wrist. And yet I can't really say it's foody. It's more...a floral that smells good enough to eat despite not being foody. Lucretia is Aeval's earthier sister, and I think she's related to Brides of Dracula too. And there's something about her that reminds me of Regan, though I can't put my finger on why. It's a mood thing. This oil is sneaky--it stops having much in the way of throw after about an hour, and then just when I forget I'm wearing it, I get the most sublime waft of scent out of the blue. Should have known I'd like this. Leaving aside the knife in the woman's torso, she looks a lot like me.

Deep dark geeky secret about why I wanted this particular Lunacy: I'm a big fan of the Kushiel's Legacy books. In the books, there's a winter solstice celebration called the Longest Night, and there is an immense masquerade ball held at Cereus House, which is essentially an opulent brothel. Somewhere between the name Long Night Moon and the listing of the cereus note, I was hoping this oil would evoke the sensuality and elegance of the Longest Night scenes in the series. It's definitely close. Long Night Moon, on me, is a ladylike, glam sort of floral, the kind that tends to make me think of old-time Hollywood goddesses. I'm not familiar enough with the various floral notes to tell you whether I can pick out the cereus or the moonflower; I keep thinking I smell orchid, and my boss said she smelled gardenia, but neither of those is listed so we may both be off base! I hoped for more musk than I got; it would have sexed it up a bit. But overall, I really like LNM. GC oils that have a similar "feel" to me: Shadow Witch Orchid, Wicked.

I was worried about this one. My experience with Opium Poppy was less than stellar, and I was worried this would turn hair-sprayish on me like Opium Poppy did. Yay, it doesn't! The poppy is a heavy, drowsy, slightly powdery note, just like the poppy incense I love, and it blends perfectly with the resin notes. I was guessing it was myrrh, but looking at the note list, it makes sense that it would be a sweeter resin, because this doesn't have the bitterness myrrh can have. There's something cozy about this scent. Sexy and mysterious, but also warm and comforting. I like it.

The one that literally smells like my grandmother's perfume is Psyche. You might dig Wicked, and maybe Morgause. But definitely Wicked.

I don't normally dig cakey scents, so when I tested a friend's imp of Fruitcake, I figured I probably wouldn't like it. The result was something like this, however: BOOZE BOOZE fruit BOOZE BOOZE cake BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE And I love booze notes, and the fruit works well on me, and the cake is subtle enough that I can deal. There was just enough cake that wearing it before breakfast made me hungry, but not so much that I smelled like a slab of cake. I smelled like BOOZE BOOZE fruit BOOZE, and I was happy.

Right after I first put this on my skin, I almost can't smell it at all. I get a very light whiff of floral and a hint of amber. My mad amber-amping powers kick in about fifteen minutes later, and the amber note begins to dominate. There's still a bit of floral going on. As it continues to dry, the amber starts to go baby-powderish. This never happens to me, so I'm WTFing a bit. Maybe it's a combination of the amber and the almond? The floral still brings up the rear along with something that's registering as a soft fruity scent, like just the tiniest hint of orange. The baby powder effect sticks around and so it's probably not one I'd be in the mood for all that often, but it's a gentle, comforting scent. You might like it if you liked The Lion.

I do pretty well with grape/wine notes, and this is no exception. Haloa was mostly juicy purple grapes on me, with maybe a hint of myrrh and no cake, and may as well have been Purple Phoenix's twin sister. Definitely evocative of the concept and quite a lovely scent.

Not entirely sure why this gives me such a strong impression of white wine. It smells boozy as all get-out in the imp, then goes on smelling like rose petals drowned in white wine. Then, my skin gobbles up the rose and it smells mostly like wine until it fades, which it does relatively quickly. Is there even a wine note in this, or is my skin on crack? ETA: This is the '05 version.

Windward Passage reminds me of nothing so much as a fresh, clean, slightly masculine soap, like Zest or Irish Spring. It's not at all bad or offensive, but it's not "me." I think this would smell amazing on a man.

This review pertains to Snow White '05. I hesitated to try this one because Snow White fans seemed to also be big fans of Milk Moon, which went cloying and gross on me. I am pleased to report that they pretty much smell nothing alike, at least on me. Snow White turns out to be a soft, delicate, but undeniably sensual floral with maybe a tiny hint of almond, and reminds me not just of Snow White but of the archetypal Maiden Goddess, innocent and lighthearted, and not cold but maybe a little aloof, like she'll just laugh and dance away if you try to catch her. (My personal association with this scent is with Blodeuwedd; the story involves a floral-scented candle I used to burn in Her honor years ago. I don't remember what flower it was, and I've never found anything that smelled like it since, until Snow White.) Not a lot of throw, but it sticks around forever and never does any unfortunate morphs on me. I like it a lot. ETA: I've figured out another thing this smells like. It smells like a really expensive deep conditioner that I adored but couldn't afford to buy regularly and have now forgotten the name of. Soft, floral, a little almondy but not Play-Dohish, and really comforting and expensive-smelling.

Posting here because I'm a bit baffled about my sandalwood headaches... I get headaches often from sandalwood blends, but it seems to only happen with products where the sandalwood has a soft, perfumey, almost incensey quality (Underpants, Hymn to Proserpine, B&BW Sensual Amber, and pretty much every sandalwood-scented incense stick i've ever smelled). There are other oils where the sandalwood smells more like a chunk of wood (Anne Bonny, Fenris Wolf), and these never seem to bother me. Are these two different types of sandalwood maybe? Or is it a matter of how it interacts with other components? I also don't get headaches from blends where I never actually smell the sandalwood (Brides of Dracula, Pannychis), so I try not to rule out trying oils just based on that note--because if I amp something else to the exclusion of the 'wood, or if it's the "woody" sandalwood and not the golden glowy kind, then it's no issue at all.

I tip it between thumb and forefinger, then dab on the oil from my fingertip. If I were buying for decant purposes, I'd probably get some q-tips so I didn't touch the bottle, but I haven't gotten into the formal decanting-for-sale-or-swap thing yet. I do decant the occasional imp for local friends, but they don't mind if I've touched the rim of the bottle, and I don't mind if they've touched their bottle when they imp me something. Then again, I've lucked out with most of the few LE purchases I've made, and not felt the urge to sell or swap any of them until...well, until last weekend. Angeronalia. And I touched the bottle while trying it. Oh well...if I do end up swapping it or swapping imps from it, I'll just make sure I mention that.

This was a frimp from the Lab. I generally do well with "canine" scents so I was looking forward to testing this one. Wet, the dominant note is the same juicy, very tangible wood note I got from Fenris Wolf, mixed with something green and maybe some spice. During the drydown it goes through a very floral stage. It was pretty overpowering and seemed unpromising, but lasted only about 15 minutes. After the floral recedes, this is a very warm, very comfortable blend of soft musk and some green plants that are registering with my nose as somewhat tea-like. The wood is in the background but still there if I look for it. It's very cozy, and while it doesn't smell like doggie to me, it has the same warm and relaxed feeling I get from snuggling with a dog. I like this very much. 4 out of 5. Try it if you like: Fenris Wolf (Coyote is a much more mellow doggie, but there's a resemblance.) ETA: This just in! I gave it to the boyfriend and it just BLOOMED on him in a way that it did not on me. Holy musk and leather and spices sexiness, Batman! It reminded me on him of what Mr. Jacquel did on me. Reader, I jumped him.