darkling

In the bottle: Light, dry wood. On my wrist: A complex blend of woods and herbs. However, this is more of a brown scent than green. It is light and airy and ethereal rather than earthy. Drydown: The woods and herbs have melded into one distinct sweet and calming scent. It is exquisite but difficult to describe. It fits perfectly with the image of the World Tree. I found this scent very soothing and wore it to sleep. It was still faintly present when I awoke about 10 hours later.

In the bottle: Delphi is a green sharp scent. Perhaps, the laurel? On my wrist: Ugh! It smells like a forest of sharp greens is burning. There is a hint of incense and smoke but it is almost toxic in its intensity. I had to wash off this scent and it still lingered a bit afterward. I am not sure what element reacted so harshly with my skin chemistry. Usually, anything with honey turns to clay or powder. This is definitely a scent for someone else.

In the bottle : This queen was a light breeze of florals with a hint of grapefruit. On my skin: The fruits have vanished and a wisp of deliacte flowers remains. This scent vanished quickly as it hardly stuck around for an hour. I enjoy the delicate floral base of this scent because I find the smell of most flowers overwhelming. While this was a gentle scent, it doesn't stand out on me. I may try it once more but I think it will be open to swap.

In the bottle: The gingerbread smelled a bit artificial and overly strong. On my wrist: All my concerns disappeared. This scent is exactly like real gingerbread cookies. It is warm and natural and sweet. The scent remained strong for a good four hours or so before it started to fade.

In the bottle: This smells like the perfect egg nog blend as it is rich and creamy with a hint of nutmeg and a strong whiff of booze. It is exquisite and I could sniff it all day long. On my skin: *sob* Immediately, there is a powdery Play-Doh quality that has absorbed every beautiful note in egg nog and transformed it into mediocrity. Even the booze can't penetrate the smell of clay and powder. Usually, this noxious transformation occurs with the presence of honey so I am not sure how it was created with Egg Nog.

Yuletide is a gorgeous scent that reminds me of the spirit of the holiday season. It is a bright mix of berries and spice. I am not detecting the pine note that others have mentioned. This scent smells exactly the same on my skin as it does in the bottle. It remained clear and strong for the first hour but is now beginning to fade rapidly.

In the bottle: Vinland smells a bit sharp with an edge of forests and light flowers. On my skin: It reminds me strongly of something that I have smelled before but I can't place it at all. Vinland is now an amalgam of leaves and delicate flowers with a hint of fruitiness. However, the scent is muted in a delightful way as if it were wafting to me on a breeze. Drydown: Vinland became muted quickly. Although the scent lingers after a few hours, it is very weak. Vinland has a sense of coolness and gentleness about it that reminds me of Spring. I can't imagine myself wearing this in the Autumn or Winter.

I have not had any problems with taking my imps aboard a plane even when I traveled internationally. In contrast, I have had a lot of trouble with a metal barrette that I used to carry in an interior pocket of my bag as well as pixie stick leakage that was always suspected to be drugs.

In the bottle: It smells like sweet flowers with a vaguely salty or watery undertone. On my skin: It briefly smells sharp and green. Then, Penthus becomes soapy. I don't know what my body chemistry did to brutalize this perfume but after a minute it smelled exactly like Irish Spring soap. Luckily, it faded quickly or I would have had to wash it off.

I have to start by saying that I should have taken heed of clover's review rather than swapping her for Blood Kiss. In the bottle: A delicious blend of wine and cloves with a hint of sweet berry. On my skin:: It is absolutely scrumptious. I love berries. I love cloves. And I love wine . . . they blend together phenomenally with me catching a stronger whiff of each note at different moments. But wait . . . it is starting to smell powdery. Something isn't right. It's Play-Doh!!! I check on the ingredients to find that "honeyed kiss" is not a metaphor. Darn it! All of the beautiful notes that I love disappeared into a vortex of clay summoned by the evil honey. *sigh*

In the bottle: Plan, simple grapefruit. On my skin: This is a sweet pink grapefruit, perhaps with a bit of sugar sprinkled on top. It is a ripe and juicy scent. Drydown: There is an aquatic note meleding with the grapefuit that now alternates between pink sweetness and a darker undertone as if the fruit were about to rot. It shifts between sweet and dark as if Cthulhu were trying to lure you into his domain, hoping that you don't notice the faint element of rot and depth underneath. There is no long-term for me with this scent. I have had it on for about half an hour and it is almost completely dissipated. I am terribly dissipointed because I love the pink grapefruit element of this scent and it would need constant touching-up to last through the day.

All I got from Dublin in the bottle and on my skin was a faint, sweet floral with a bit of leefy greenery. I could not pick out any distinct notes. It faded fairly quickly to a dusky rose that could only be detected by putting my nose to my wrist.

In the bottle: Somnus smells sharp and green. On my wrist: The scent remains sharp and takes on an added bitterness. It has a watery quality to it although that does not disrupt the harsh feeling of the perfume. There is an undertone of soemthing that I can't identify that "bothers" me. I also sensed this note in India Bouquet and it disturbed me. I wish I knew what it was because it gives me a troubled state of mind when I smell it. Bedtime: I wore this to sleep twice and had trouble falling asleep both times as is usual lately. I did not have any nightmares but I did not wake feeling rested either. There was no hint of the scent remaining when I awoke.

In the bottle: Hamadryad smells like light flowers and nutmeg. On my wrist: It is pure, sweet red hots. Delicious cinnamon! Drydown: The cinnamon seems to blend with ginger. The scent of red hots is still strong but it has a natural sweetness rather than any tinge of artificiality. I enjoyed Hamadryad immensely because I love cinnamon and this had the staying power that Chimera does not. Hamadryad remained strong for an hour or so and settled into a vaguley cinnamony sweetness that lasted throughout the day.

Interestingly, the Water of Notre Dame smelled like sweet rose water both in the vial and on my skin. In retrospect, there may be a hint of the melon that others have described and I will try to notice if it is more prominent when I look for it. This scent fades in strength quickly to a sweet aquatic floral but is very long-lasting in that I can still smell it on my wrists at the end of a long day.

This was a freebie tossed in with my last order. I tend to avoid the Voodoo blends because I can't tell what is in them. Follow Me Boy almost immediately turned powdery on my skin but had an undertone of sweetness. It was nice but did not particularly stand out. After a couple of minutes, I had an extremely painful rash wherever I had applied the perfume. It was unbearable and I tried to wash it off. The red marks on my skin remained along with a faint powdery scent. I have NEVER had this reaction with any BPAL blend and it was very disconcerting. I wish I knew what ingredient caused this reaction so I could avoid it in the future.

In the bottle, Nanshe smelled very sharp and similar to the dream oils Baku and Somnus. On my wrist, it was a sweet, warm lavender with an edge of sharp lemon. I am very poor at identifying particular scents but I could swear that Nanshe has lemongrass in it. The particular sharpness of the lemon reminds me strongly of food flavored with lemongrass. I have had extreme difficulty sleeping the past few weeks but I felt tired as soon as I inhaled this scent. It is strong and pleasant simultaneously. I have worn it twice and slept well both times with no bad dreams.

In the bottle, Baku smelled sharp and green. On my wrist, the anise immediately overwhelmed my senses and mingled unpleasantly with the sharp scent. Let's just say that I despise anise enough that it could give me nightmares. I left it on for another couple of minutes to see if the anise would fade but it remained strong. I had to wash it off. If you like the smell of licorice and sharp greenery, this is the scent for you. I will definitely be putting it on my swap list.

In the bottle and on my skin, Nosferatu smells like a dark crypt untouched for centuries. It would almost be grotesque if not for the hint of wine and an undelrying sharpness that is likely the herbs. It is pleasing in a macabre fashion and I could not stop sniffing it. I have the feeling that it would be quite complimentary with Zombi as the earthy tones are similar. The only down side is that Nosferatu did not last more than a couple of hours on my skin. I would need to reapply throughout the day.

I am somewhat disappointed in Yerevan because so many wonderful ingrediants are listed as being part of this scent and all I can smell is apricot. In the bottle and on my skin, I can only pick up the apricot note. It is pleasant since it is strong and sweet and I love apricots. However, it lacks depth as I could imagine this scent as the apricot single note. On the positive side, this fruit smells very natural and ripe. Unfortunately, it seems to fade very quickly on me. In a couple of hours it is already lost.

On me, this scent is pure brown sugar. It is exceptionally sweet and rather strong even though I did not slather a lot on. The most amazing thing about Sugar Skull is that it lasts all day. After about 12 hours of wear, I could still smell the faint scent of brown sugar in the air and a strong scent on my wrists.

A contemporary incarnation of the tarot’s Queen of Swords. A card of decisive action, strength of Will, progressive action, justice, and, sometimes, revenge. The scent is a sophisticated, deep, and smoky floral with a decidedly exotic spice. Moroccan myrrh and black amber, with muguet, opoponax, deep black plum, cyclamen, galbanum, and wild blackberry softened by pear blossom and a swirl of exotic wood notes. In the bottle: Dark, sweet cherries. Wet: The scent is very think and sweet. It still smells like dark berries and juicy plum. Dry: The Queen becomes more complex as it shifts between dark plum and sweet berries sometimes with an edge of rich woods and other times with a hint of spice. Occasionally, the various notes blend together so I catch a whiff of spicy plum or berries ripening in a forgotten forest. This scent has incredible staying power and lasted all day. Whenever I was having a tough moment at work, I took in a deep breath of the Queen and felt simultaneously strong and calm. The Queen of Spades is an exquisite scent and I know that I will be pining for more when I finish my bottle.

I was really disappointed by Shattered because I was incredibly excited to try a second BPAL scent with a champagne note. The only scent that I picked up from this oil both wet and dry was sweet mint. Other perfumes with mint that I have tried tend to be more harsh and biting. This mint was soft, candy-like, and gentle. I did not smell any elements of grapefruit or champagne at any point in time

In the bottle: Djinn smells like ashes in a fireplace after the last few embers have burned to nothing. Wet: The only thoughts that I had in conjunction with this scent wet are that it smells like black and red. I could not connect what I was smelling to any scent-related words. Dry: Here is where Djinn took an unfortunate turn. It smelled completely of harsh black pepper and Indian spices. It reminded me most strongly of Tandoori chicken that had been left in the oven too long. While someone who adores food flavored scents might be up for this, I do not relish the idea of smelling like Tandoori chicken spices.

In the bottle: Pumpkin with something spicy and strong underneath. Wet: Ugh! Artificial pumpkin smell. I am not picking up any other notes and the spice is lost. Dry: An unnatural pumpkin spice lingers briefly and vanishes. I wanted to love Harvest Moon but it succumbed to the same problem as I face with many fruit or food scents in that it smelled completely artificial. In addition, I used quite a bit of oil for testing and the scent still vanished in about an hour.