lady_pandora

In the bottle: orange bubble gum. Wet: still orange bubble gum. I waited for the bubblegum to fade, getting really worried when it stayed longer than 5-10 minutes. If the bubblegum didn't die down soon, I'd be swapping this one. I should have remembered: If there's one note my skin likes to amp, more than any other, it's amber. Amber sauntered in after about 15 minutes and whipped Orange into shape. The lotus lurks underneath, lending this a lighter quality. This smells a lot like The Haunted Palace on me--except lighter, more summer-y. And it's good to have a reasonable facsimile of Haunted Palace, seeing as it's an LE and I'm rapidly depleting my decanted imp thereof. This is a sweet, ambery, slightly fruity scent that will be good for warm weather. I just need to remember to put it on 15 minutes before I leave, so that the Bubblicious Gum of Doom is gone by the time I get anywhere.

In the bottle, and wet on my wrist: AMARETTO! Smells just like amaretto liqueur, or like the smell of amaretto coffee being brewed. (But not the taste of amaretto coffee, which never, ever, lives up to the smell.) After ~5 minutes: The amaretto recedes into the background, leaving a warm, spicy musk scent. The myrrh is subtle--I think it's what's giving the spicy note to the musk; the lingering almond lends a slight nutty scent to the whole. My description is not really conveying just HOW GOOD this smells on my skin. I love this. It's definitely a "womanly" scent as opposed to a "girlish" one, and very warm and nuanced. Yum.

This was a frimp from the Lab. THANK YOU, LAB!!! I can't tell you exactly what's in this. It smells like expensive incense, plus some spice I recognize from food, but that doesn't manifest as "foody" in this. It's very warm, and I find it comforting. I think this would work well in a ritual or meditation, or just when I need to relax and unwind. Definitely lives up to the name--it's a very dark, nocturnal scent, yet warm enough to bask in.

I love jasmine. I'm fortunate to be able to wear it and have it come out as a sweet floral rather than soap or anything of the sort. I have Peitho and love it, and when I ordered this, I was hoping for a slightly heavier scent. I especially hoped the sandalwood would come out to play and make it incensey. I put it on and--99% jasmine. The same thing happened with Peitho. So basically Peitho and Pannychis smell exactly alike on my skin, and both of them smell just like the jasmine essential oil I used to have. This isn't a bad thing, precisely. I was just sort of hoping for a little variety. A few hours after I put Pannychis on, a slight incensey note surfaces for a few minutes. However, immediately afterward, we're back to the Jasmine Show. At least I know I won't be running out of "Peithnychis" anytime soon. I mean, seriously, they're enough alike that, whenever I crave jasmine, I'll probably end up using whichever one I manage to fish out of the box first. ETA: It's a few days after I wrote my review, and I've been wearing Loralei all day, which contains ylang ylang. Now, I hadn't been familiar with decent ylang ylang until very recently, having only tried the rotten drugstore stuff, but after spending a few days with Loralei, I must say that (a) I like ylang ylang, and ( it's in Pannychis, and I could smell it but couldn't identify it. So, I must revise my opinion that Pannychis is all jasmine. It's about 80% jasmine and 20% ylang ylang. The jasmine still predominates and it's still very similar to Peitho--but any difference I'm smelling has got to be the ylang ylang.

I shied away from the ylang ylang blends for a long time, because there is nothing--NOTHING--more disgusting than cheap drugstore ylang ylang, which caused me to think I would hate all ylang ylang. However, with my most recent order, I decided, "Hey, why not see what this stuff REALLY smells like?" Well, this doesn't smell like neroli on me, and it doesn't really smell like sandalwood either, so I must be getting mainly ylang ylang here. And I must say--if this is ylang ylang, bring it on! The last thing I expected was something this *green* and fresh. This smells like dewy grass, a slight hint of flowers, a bit of fresh water--the woods in spring. It's absolutely lovely, and very "clean". I get the feeling I'll be using this more and more as it gets warmer out.

This starts out very sugary on me. I kept expecting to find actual granules of sugar dusted all over my wrists as I sniffed this. Underneath it is a faint boozy note, rum maybe. After about an hour, the sugar and booze give way to a sort of "Grandma" scent. I'm guessing this is a rose/incense combo, which often strikes me as "Grandma-ish." My grandmother, who passed last summer, applied a rose/musk perfume by the gallon, and so rose/musk/incensey blends often remind me of her. I doubt this will be an everyday-wear scent because it seems a bit old-ladyish, but it will be a great one to wear on Samhain to remember her, since it's reminiscent of her but not as overpoweringly "old lady" as Psyche was on me. ETA: This review pertains to Dia de los Muertos '04.

Right after application: Lemony and yet there's an undertone, something I can't quite put my finger on, which is making it rather masculine. Beginning to suspect that, despite being a well-crafted scent, this one may not be "me", if you know what I mean. Five minutes later: Ozone beginning to rear its head. Ozone often gives me headaches. But what the heck, I'll try Beth's ozone and see if it works any better. Ten minutes later: HEADACHE of DOOM. *washes off; applies Undertow*

Wow, I'm getting something completely different here. Violet is center stage, and underneath it is something green and herby--maybe that's the heather, but I'm not familiar with heather, and whatever this is, reminds me of lavender. I get no berry at all. Violet? Is there even violet in this? Or is my nose on crack?

It turns into Brisingamen on me in about an hour, with that sweet heavy amber note. You might try Brisingamen; even of your skin doesn't amp the amber quite as strongly as mine does, you'll still probably like it.

This is an all-out sexy scent, perfect for all sorts of vamping. The cinnamon is the dominant note on me, but the other notes team up to add an incensey goodness that keeps the scent from turning Big Red. YUM. Highly recommended if you like cinnamon.

There are oranges and then there are oranges. This one and Akuma both list blood orange, but while Akuma is a light, Dreamsicle/Bubblicious sort of orange that's perfect for summer, the first sensation I get from the Haunted Palace is spiced orange, candied in honey and booze perhaps? This spiced orange is absolutely sublime. It smells like Christmas somehow, and like that scene in "The Eve of St. Agnes" when Porphyro sets out all the goodies for Madeline. Perfect for a hothouse touch of summer in the middle of winter. After about an hour, my skin amps the amber to the starring role. The orange is still around, but I have to really sniff for it. A casual sniff is reminiscent of Brisingamen; I have to put wrist to nose to pick out Palace's orange vs. Brisingamen's apple. But still yummy, as amber is great on me. As this is no longer available, I think I'll save it for special occasions; Brisingamen is more readily available and after about an hour theyre both Amber McAmberness. But Palace's first hour is enough to make me weep.

This is pretty much all jasmine, all the time, from start to finish. That's a good thing for me, as I love jasmine and don't get the "soap of d00m" effect some BPALers seem to get. I think you have to like jasmine to like this one.

Oooh, now this is quite nice! I can't pick out all thirteen notes, but what I am getting is white chocolate mixed with booze for the first fifteen minutes or so, then the booze vanishes and leaves a sweet white chocolate. It's subtle, and there's a hint of floral underneath, so it isn't as foody as it sounds. But it's very, very nice, if you like white chocolate at all. I love this one! ETA: I forgot I'd reviewed this back in the day! Anyway, aged 10 years, this original 13 starts out kind of cloying for a few minutes and then turns into pleasant white chocolate over orangey citrus. I was going to guess blood orange, but apparently not! Gradually, over the course of the day, the white chocolate recedes and it gets more citrusy. By afternoon, this is Iulia's sister. I can't actually pick out the tea note in either, but I'm guessing it's adding to the similarity along with the citrus notes. I really like this!

Unfortunately, on me, the Garden seems to have burned down. I was hoping for some sandalwood (yum), some fig, maybe some coconut. I was actually expecting the coconut to play a starring role, because my skin tends to find the sweetest note of any blend and amp the living hell out of it. However, all I'm really getting is a mixture of a smoky scent, a tobacco scent, and a sort of woodsy scent. Overall it smells kind of "burnt" and also a bit too masculine. Once in a while, a honeyish note politely raises its hand, but is quickly smacked back down by the tobacco. I think this one is not for me. EDIT: It's several months later, and I decided tonight to give Eden one last chance before giving it away. WTF?!? Suddenly this smells good! I don't get any almond, but I can pick out the sandalwood and some greenery, some fig, and some toasted coconut that still has a hint of "burnt" but somehow isn't as troublesome as it was the first time. I have no idea what quirk of body chemistry or menstrual cycle is kicking in here, but I ought to remember that I can wear Eden at least SOME of the time!

Honey and...rose? Seriously, this starts out honey and rose, then turns into a sort of light musky rose a la Psyche, but without the baby-powder stuffiness I got from Psyche. It gets a little incensier as the day wears on; I think it's the myrrh coming out, and is quite nice.

Wet: Mint. Mint, mint, and more mint. Minty McMintiness. Drydown: As Undertow started to dry, an herby note, almost medicinal but not in a bad way, began to emerge. This is probably the juniper. I also got a tantalizing hint of something sweetish hinding underneath the mint and herbal, but only a hint. Dry: The sweetish undertone comes out to play, and boy does it ever. I'm actually embarrassed that I didn't immediately recognize it as lotus. I love lotus. On me, it's this delicious almost-foody-but-not-quite sweetness. Eventually, Undertow becomes all lotus, with a sweet note close to my wrist, and the throw smelling (not unpleasantly) a bit like fabric softener. It remains like this for the rest of the day. This is a very relaxing scent. This will be a good one for when I'm stressing or sick or having trouble sleeping. Pretty.

Candy corn. I do like candy corn, so that's not an insult really. It's just...well, it smells like candy corn and not much else on me. It makes me want to eat some. Edited to add: I tried the 2004 version. Sounds like the new one is different.

Cerberus makes me feel like I'm wrapped up in a blanket drinking hot cocoa, which always helps.

A friend of mine bought this. It smelled OK on her, if a bit overpowering. But it gave her a headache, so she had me try it on. On me: Ew, ew, ew. Way too strong and aftershave-ish. I don't think I like vetiver. Also, my SO hates patchouli, so even if I could get over the vetiver, I couldn't wear this scent around him! I got a headache, too. So my friend gave it away to a male friend of ours. The next day, we asked him what he was wearing that made him smell so deliciously woodsy and satyr-ish. He replied that it was the very same Malediction that my friend and I had so disliked on ourselves. So my limited anecdotal evidence would suggest that this scent is overpowering and heavy on a woman, but OMG delicious on a man. On a man this is a sexy, sensual oil that makes the guy smell great without making him smell perfumey or girly.

Every girl needs to be a Jezebel sometimes... Seriously, the other night I tried on a boatload of my friend's BPALs and this was the standout. I really, really, really need to buy myself a bottle of this. The predominant note of this, on me, is the honey note, which didn't surprise me at all because the honey in O is very strong on me as well. However, while O is mostly honey on me and sort of innocent, Jezebel has this musky undertone that's sexy as hell. This is a lovely, warm scent, and quite sultry. If O, Snake Oil, and other warm sweet scents work well on you, do give this one a try. Yum!

I'm doubly disappointed to have discovered BPAL just after Cerberus was discontinued. First, because it was for a very good cause, and second, because it turns out that I really like this scent. Fortunately, a friend was generous enough to decant me an imp of it. Yay! I just wish I could have bought it from the lab and benefited the doggies. This smells like cough syrup in the vial. It didn't worry me much--I've come to realize that almost all berry BPALs smell like cough syrup to me in the vial, just like the amber ones tend to smell like baby powder in the vial. I put it on and the first note was cherry, not an annoying cough-syrup or cleaning-product cherry, but a subtle and very yummy cherry. Underneath that was a note of honey. After wearing it for 2 or 3 hours, the cherry fades and leaves it smelling mostly like honey for about an hour. For that hour, it reminds me a lot of O. Then the honey begins to gradually give way to a chocolate note. This is a subtle chocolate note, more like hot cocoa than like a big hunk of chocolate. It creeps in over the honey so quietly you barely notice it at first, and then after a while it's all hot cocoa scent. It stays that way the rest of the day, on me. This is a very warm and comfortable scent. I need to remember to ration it so I have some left in the winter--something tells me I'll love this even more when it's cold outside. And, amusingly enough, my dog loves this scent.

The heck with spiritual purity! This one is very sexy on me. I can't really pick out which notes I'm smelling; it's more of an overall effect, warm and incensey with a bit of floral. It's very "second skin" on me and had me sniffing my wrist all night. My friend said I smelled "like angels". LOL.

Brisingamen starts out sort of baby-powderish right out of the bottle. From my previous experience with O, and the comments of other BPALers, I've concluded that this is just something amber does. Fortunately, the baby-powder stage doesn't last long on me, and the amber settles into warm incensey goodness. I would say this blend is mostly amber--but every time I thought the amber was just a little too strong, apple would appear out of nowhere and add a crisp, clean, almost tart note to the scent. I never would have even thought of mixing amber and apple, but it works so well! I like this one. It's a warm, comfortable blend, with just a hint of refreshing fruitiness. Sensual without being in-your-face sexual. My significant other, who dislikes most perfume, actually gave this one a "not bad".

I was worried about how Blood Lotus would work on my skin, because so many other BPALers say it turns to bubble gum on them. So, I am thrilled to find that apparently I am one of those who *can* wear lotus! I really like this scent. The lotus is very sweet on me. Sweet in a floral way, not a foody way, if that makes any sense. The "blood" note--is it dragon's blood?--balances the sweetness of the lotus perfectly, keeping it from getting too sweet, adding a warm, almost spicy quality. The overall effect is both sexy and mystical.

This went very head shop/patchouli on me. I'm not sure which note came out smelling like patchouli. Unfortunately, this means I can't wear it. My significant other loathes patchouli, so there will be no Delight if I wear this! ADDED March 30: I reviewed this a long time ago, but for whatever reason, it struck me as being sort of heavy and patchouli-ish at the time. My impression of it now is vastly different. I think maybe my tastes have changed after a year of BPAL assimilation. I like Delight a lot. It's a floral blend, mostly, though I can't necessarily pick out the individual floral notes in it. Complementing the floral is a slight scent of exotic incense. Neither the flowers nor the incense is overpowering; this is a light scent. More "flirty" than overtly "sexy", if that makes sense.