ljaylh

So I was gifted a decant of this, and oh sweet baby cheeses.. it's seriously some righteous patchouli

In the vial, it's a gorgeous dark golden honey colour.. but then I pull out the swiper thingy and brush it across my skin.. the oil is bright goldy-yellow. Plus, it's bodaciously gloopy and thick, when I went to smoosh my wrists together to smudge the oil I was afraid my arms may get stuck together in some sort of unholy bonded glue of gloopy patchouli. So yeah, it's gloopy and glorious.. but how does it smell? Well - it smells like patchouli, as one would expect. I possibly slathered on a bit too much at first, because for the first hour I was bombarded by patchouli.. I could kinda taste it in my mouth - this stuff is potent. But I've now had it on my skin for over two hours, and it's still going strong but has mellowed out really nicely - now I get the 'red' tones.. it definitely isn't brown or black at this point. It's soft and lovely and.. yeah, lovely.

This is exactly the kind of patchouli I like.. it's not the dirty/earthy kind, nor the kind that smells musty/damp.. nope - this has an sultry sweetness (but isn't sweet!) and a beautiful woodsy-organic flavour to it (without smelling like actual wood or dirt). On me, it is the hippie patchouli - it's the kind of patchouli that follows you around like a little brown love cloud ("hey, where you going? I'm coming too!") - the kind that lingers in your hair after you've been hanging out playing bingo on a Thursday evening with Neil Young (as I often do, and mostly enjoy except that Neil tends to cheat and claim he heard numbers being called when they weren't).. the patchouli that stays in the room for hours after you've left, and makes people wonder what's been going on in there. Yes folks, this is the patchouli your grandma warned you about, the kind of patchouli that demands you wear no underwear and let your hair grow long. And that's just fine with me, because I'm a stinky hippie and proud of it

Anyone have a picture of the Benevolent Triple Conjunction label?!

 

Anyone?!

Yes ma'am

Side note.. I hadn't realised it's been so long since that one came out.. May 2011? I hope this is the one you meant!!

I must confess that I'm pretty underwhelmed by this Siberian Musk.. maybe it's because the hype has been so OMGWOW about it, I expected more? Or maybe it's just not that great.. I don't know, but I just don't feel all that excited about it.

As others have said, it definely has a strong similarity to Snake Oil - but without the sweetness of the vanilla, the complexity of the spices, and overall less oomph. Where I find Snake Oil to be multi-dimensional on my skin, Siberian Musk is pretty simple.. it's a sweet, fuzzy red/brown musk and that's about it. It's also not like Smut at all for me - on my skin, Smut was boozy and dark and way heavier on the brown sugar than this.

I dunno.. it's not horrible or anything, but it's not really anything special on me either. And considering I have a nice little hoard of Snake Oil bottles, I just can't see myself ever reaching for this

Aww.. this is really a cute smell. It's sunshine and green grass and fresh air and puppy burps.

This smells like a white shirt that's been washed in Clairol Herbal Essences Apple Shampoo.

Yeah... this smells like grandma. Roses, baby powder, and lilacs. That is all.

Ayup... cherry. Actually, it's CHERRY. The kind of cherry that has an almond/marzipan kind of tone to it. Once the CHERRY dies down a bit, I can pick up the 'cereal' business.. it reminds me of muesli (the crunchy, toasted kind that has lots of grains and mixed dried fruit in it), and the 'jelly beans' becomes more obvious - it's not just cherry now, it's that generic 'bag of jelly beans' smell. So yeah.. muesli and jelly beans.

I definitely agree with jolarocknrolla - this reminds me very much of Decadence, except it doesn't have the same depth and complexity. Also, Neil pretty much disappears from my skin after about 30 minutes. I can live without this one

This is really quite lovely.. and I usually never go for the 'dead leaves' and 'forest' kinds of blends - they're really just not my thing at all. But this is one of those clever blends that's much more than the sum of its notes - it's definitely evocative of a cool forest, and I get an almost tactile cool/aquatic/airy tone from it (verging on mint-y, even) that makes me think of a lake in the middle of a forest. Kind of an eerie and misty lake.

Although it's not something I'll wear as a perfume, it is a lovely scent experience and I think that if you're into these cool, forest-y type BPALs then this will definitely impress.

1. Pickles.

2. Tomato sauce.

3. Coffee.

4. Vinegar.

5. Tobacco.

See those five things? They are not things I want to smell like. Maybe if I were trying to attract the Hamburglar - he might fancy a gal who likes to smell of pickles and tomato sauce.. but I'm not that gal. If I want to smell like this, I can go eat a huge jar of pickled tomatoes then pour coffee over myself and roll around in an ashtray.

Even though the initial PICKLE blast does die down, and the whole thing eventually becomes quite pleasant (fully dry, I get a dusky musk and some fuzzy coffee with a touch of clove-like sweetness.. and surprisingly this does remind me a little of Pinched With Four Aces as ZZ mentioned) but I can't be dealing with the whole pickle business at the start there. Ick.

Hmm.. from reading previous reviews, I really expected this to be PINK bubblegum but it really isn't that at all on my skin - it has more of a grape-y kind of smell. So.. purple, not pink. And I am picking up something vanilla-ish, but it seems to be mixed with something very WHITE - like skin musk, perhaps? There's a sharpness to the vanilla that really does remind me of 'teenybopper perfume'.. but not in a good way.

I don't like you, Courtney.

Uhmm.. I'm not really sure what to say about this. It smells like leather and paper, and that's about it. Not really pleasant, not really interesting, just... leather and paper. The leather smells new and dusty but fresh to me, rather than old and worn, and I guess the paper smells old (as opposed to, say, the smell when you tear the wrapping off of a new ream of paper for the copier at work) but.. yeah, it's just leather and paper.

I really like this one! Norman has a really solid base that's warm and hempy but then there's a layer of cotton-y creaminess over the top that makes the overall feel of this blend quite rich and yummy.

At frst I found it to be quite zingy - almost a lime kind of smell (ectoplasm, is that you?) but that was fleeting. I don't usually like anything with 'pine' (or juniper or other similar things that smell like disinfectant on me) but here it really is just a hint of the pine and it's nice.. warm and snuggly rather than sharp and medicinal. I do agree that it's kinda odd though - it's a strange mix of milky clean and hempy dirty. To me, Norman perfectly captures the scent of a boy who has a naughty nerdy streak but is still a good clean milk-drinking boy. A boy who smells perhaps just a little bit more like bong water than he really should, but a good boy nonetheless

Hmm.. I guess I was expecting something a little different here - patchouli, suede and smoke sounded like a dream combination, but what my brain failed to acknowledge in my excitement for those three notes was the whole 'ghost' aspect of this blend.

The patchouli here is soft and light, and honestly I can't find any suede or smoke in here at all. On my skin, the overall smell that I get from Hippie Ghost is cotton/linen that has a very clean scent - almost soapy, but not quite. At first I could swear that I smelled something like violet, but that went away once the oil dried down. It's pretty, but... bland, although I do agree with others that it would be perfect for those who don't usually love patchouli.

So instead of the ghost I was hoping for - a gnarly Jimi Hendrix-esque ghost who rampages around the house belching trails of dirty patchouli and suede and smoke behind it - this is more the kind of hippie ghost who drinks your shampoo then floats quietly around your house doing pretty little peasant blouse scented farts that you don't really notice - you just kind of think "oh it smells nice and clean in here".

As far as I know, the only BPAL retailers are the ones listed here.

I hope you enjoy your trip to the US!

It's an LE, but Makhanitis (from the 2010 Lupers) is a really dark luscious red/burgundy wine - reviews here:

In the GC, it has to be Bordello for a lusty fruity wine - reviews here:

I hope you find something you love!

Proving once again that Brian can do no wrong in my eyes when it comes to creating smellies... this Thirteen is scrumptious! Scrum-diddly-dumptious, even.

The chocolate note isn't bitter at all on me - actually it's really quite dry and dusky, kind of similar to the chocolate/amber feel of Gelt. It does have a touch of warmth/spice to it - but I wouldn't say it's spicy. It's yummy and sumptuous without being all CHOCOLATE. It's not obviously chocolate, it's just chocolate-ish. And it's not really foody as such - it's definitely more in the incensey/woodsy camp - but it's also kinda snuggly. I wouldn't complain if this had a bit more darkness/richness to it - if I could somehow just turn the dial up a couple more notches - it's not 'weak' or 'soft' as a fragrance, but I still would like it to be just a bit.. err... more. The honey manages to be almost invisible for well over an hour, but starts to amp more once the chocolate starts wearing off at about the 90-minute mark (damn you, honey). The surprise win in here for me is the mix of the resins with the cacao - I had a feeling that cacao + DB was going to be awesome, but I wasn't sure about the opp/frank/myrrh on top- I figured this one was either going to be a spectacularly epic stinkfest on me.. or a spectacularly scrumptious smell-o-rama. Thankfully, it's the latter.

Honey that doesn't smell like baby poo? Check!

Smooth wood and patchouli? Check!

Dusky soft amber? Check!

Comfy blankety balm? Check!

Om nom nom vanilla? Check!

And for the bonus points.. does it have good staying power on my skin? *drum roll* Check!

DING!! DING!! DING!!

This one's a winner.

Oh - and I'm really not getting 'pink' like others have mentioned.. on me this feels more like a deep burgundy. Like Ron Burgundy. Yes, this is the Ron Burgundy of 13s.

In the bottle this has an almost bitter fishy smell to it <snip>

haha.. when I first read this, I thought "oh you crazy Pisces person" but then I opened up my bottle and yep - it smells like fish!

But as Alicia and others have noted, the fish-y thing goes away. There is definitely a herbal/medicinal undertone to this blend at first, and I almost decided that I didn't like it at all.. but then I left it alone for half an hour or so, and came back to it.. to discover a beautiful waxy-soft coconut with gorgeous dusky sandalwood over the top. I think there's some kind of resin in here, something golden maybe - copal? I don't know what it might be, but there's something a little more complex in here than just sandalwood. Although ultimately this prototype reminds me of the smell I get when I open up my little wooden box of sandalwood incense cones - it's that same dusty dry cloud of sandalwood-y goodness.

This is a warm, subtle blend that would be easy to wear any time really.. because it kind of doesn't smell like perfume. It just smells.. nice

I've been holding off on reviewing this, because it's taken me a few times of wearing it before I've been able to decide how I feel about it

It's... uh... inky. When I first opened the bottle, I had to look twice because it smelled *so* inky that I really expected the oil to be black. It's actually kind of a dissonance thing for me - it smells so much like ink that my poor brain thinks the oil should be tht dark black and it has trouble aligning the smell against the visual. But, my weird brain aside, yeah... inky. There's also something quite sinuous about the smell, like the oil should be thick.

I completely agree with violetblue - this is all copy toner + print room smells, on me. We have a very large in-house print facility here at work, and India Ink smells exactly like that room does when I walk through the door. After it's been on my skin for about half an hour, I can pick up the resins more clearly and I also get a bit of the 'pepper' vibe that others have mentioned. And also the industrial/motor oil smell.. yep, it's doing that on my skin as well. So ultimately, this turns into ink+mechanic workshop on my skin.. which isn't quite as hideous as it sounds, but not exactly nice either.

Credit where it's due - this is genius, the scent is bang-on for what it represents. It's an interesting scent, for sure, but I honestly can't see myself ever wearing this as perfume - I kind of don't really like the smell of it.

Hmm.. yeah, this is definitely very much like Midway - but I always thought Midway was like a soft bunny-hair-brown colour, and this one feels more pink - there's a more HELLO THERE sweetness in the top layer of Mouse Circus.

The popcorn was right there at first - all I could smell for the first five minutes or so was popcorn - but that faded really fast and left only the cotton candy and sugar behind. I'm not getting any 'golden wood' either. But here's the weird thing - the popcorn keeps coming and going.. even just as I'm writing this and leaning in for another whiff of it, I find the popcorn has reappeared and it definitely wasn't there a moment ago. And more weirdness.. every now and then I smell banana - like that fake bright yellow banana syrup stuff. Curious and curiouser

I dunno.. I've hoarded away a nice little stash of Midway, and I think I prefer that one - it's just less obvious in its sweetness, but this is still a lovely blend in its own right and if you love sweet pink cotton candy vanilla sugar things, you will need to buy bucket loads of this one

For me, B&BB starts of with a BLAST of butterscotch - not sweet and soft, it's really strong burnt brown sugar. My skin really does not work well with brown sugar/caramel kinds of notes (they amp horribly and smell kinda rank on me), so I had already figured this was going to be a problem...

But hey - five minutes in, and the butterscotch backs right off from the whole 'burnt sugar' business, and develops a lovely syrupy richness.. still not overly sweet though (this is a good thing). And now that the butterscotch has mellowed out, the patchouli and myrrh have a chance to make an appearance.. lovely together, softly smokey and with a slight tang. Then just a short while later, up pops the anise seed - I agree with Voleuse that it ends up being a bit like a dirty licorice.. an earthy licorice I guess (rather than the typical candy-type licorice).

I see the comparison to Banshee Beat that killerklown and mellifluous mentioned - it's the same fuzzy feral patchouli, for sure.. but B&BB is far less sweet and rich than BB is on me, and of course it doesn't have the vanilla either. I'd actually put this one in the same family as Monsterbait: Closet and Halloween Las Vegas - it has that same dark boozy voluptuous vibe to it. It's just so bang-on for its namesake.. it's like this one has a sweet and cute side (the soft sweetness of the butterscotch) but also a dark and sinister side (the dirty patchouli + licorice) - it's a fantastic representation of that part of the Coraline story.

So this was a nice surprise for me, considering I almost never have success with butterscotch/brown sugar/caramel things. I think I'll wear this one quite a bit - I really like it

.

Came back to add this... sadly, about an hour after I wrote this review, all that I had left on my arm was burned brown sugar

aww braybrigade - what a bummer, but YAY for amazing-smelling luggage

Most of the serious leakage issues I've had have been with wand-capped bottles - I'm pretty sure they just don't seal as well as the regular caps, or at least that's been my experience. I try to avoid buying wand-capped bottles when I can - when buying on the forum, if the bottle says 'wand-capped' I ask if the seller has the original lid they could use instead. Not that any of this helps you now - but perhaps if you're travelling with your lovelies again, you could swap out the wand cap lids before you pack them up

Oh - and goopy labels.. thanks to the aforementioned leakage experiences, I've discovered that baby powder does a pretty good job of drying out badly soaked labels. Put a thick layer of powder on to a piece of paper or tissue, then gently put the bottle (or in your case, the label that's come off) on to the powder so that the entire label is completely coated in powder. After a few minutes, the powder on the label will start to soak up the oil.. when the powder gets clumpy, gently wipe it off and put a new layer of powder on. Keep repeating this until the powder comes away clean - the label may not be completely fixed, but it will definitely reduce the damage. Unfortunately I have no tips for how to re-attach the label to the bottle when it's been super glooped up - I think the oil melts the glue off, or at least weakens it, which makes it very difficult to make it stick to the glass again.

Has anyone found anything even vaguely like March Hare? I'm almost out.

Gwydion - have you tried Grand Guignol? It has the same syrupy apricot flavour, and although I don't think it has clove as such there is a tone to it that's kinda dark/spicy/clovey-ish - there's a touch of booziness that I don't get from March Hare, but if it's the dark apricot you like in MH then GG would be worth a try

Well well.. what a surprise this one is! It's the pink peppercorn that I was most interested in, being a big fan of pink pepper in other BPALs, and I'm loving it in this. LOVING IT, yes I am. I do love a good patchouli, and I was curious as to how it would translate in a 'cologne' with this - as others have mentioned, it's very subdued and soft in this blend - not at all the brown/earthy kind of patchouli we see so much of.. here it's dusty and very much a background player. The bergamont is softly spicy - I often get a citrus vibe from bergamot but not here (although on my skin it is very much a top note in this blend) - and orris can often end up smelling like violet candies on my skin but.. not here. This is why I find Boystyle Aristocrat to be such a surprise.. all those notes I know so well are really different here, it's a very interesting blend of dusty spiciness with a slight creamy feel that somehow ends up smelling very clean and slightly sophisticated.

When I go back to smell it on my arm half an hour after applying it though.. things have changed. The pepper is more prominent, but the 'pink' tone has gone.. the patchouli is more obvious (but still subtle).. it's gone from clean to slightly soapy and the bergamot has held its place on top of everything else but it's developed a slight sharpness that's taken away the sophistication and become a true 'cologne' fragrance. It's quite nice and overall a pleasant fragrance, if you like this sort of thing.

To me, this is the smell of a boy who got into his Dad's expensive colognes and tried a few on at once - thinking he would smell all sophisticated and sexymanalicious but he's just trying too hard. It's like if Justin Bieber tried dressing like Lenny Kravitz.. dude, you're just a boy.

Ugh.. this is disastrous on me. No big surprise really, since it has my arch nemesis jasmine in it, but.. ugh

Straight away I'm hit with a blast of sharp, raucous jasmine which immediately turns to stinky-poo smell on my skin. It takes about 5 minutes for the poo assault to calm down, and then I find the wisteria - beautiful, sweet and syrupy - gorgeous, but oh so fleeting - it only peeks its head out for a moment before jasmine bullies it away. This is how it goes for me:

*dab dab*

J: OH HI I'M JASMINE! *puffs chest* LOOK AT ME!! *waves arms* LOOOOOOOOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEE!!! *struts around*

W: Uh.. hello? *peeks around tentatively* I'm wisteria - may I come out? I'm pretty, I'm sweet, I'd like to be here too if you don't mi..

J: GTFO WISTERIA! THERE'S NO ROOM HERE FOR YOUR PRETTINESS! *grabs tuberose* C'MON BUDDY, LET'S STINK THIS PLACE OUT!! MWAAAAHAHAHA!!!!!

W: Oh... ok.. *hangs head* I'll go away then.

I get the forest feel from the woods and mosses, but the tuberose is another of the white florals family that is not my friend.. so unfortunately all the nice woodsy tones are just overwhelmed by the jasmine+tuberose combo of poo doom. The honey doesn't come out for a while, but when it does it's quite nice - soft and dusky, but no match for the aforementioned stinkfest of the florals.

Mori Girl, sorry.. but I must bid you farewell for my skin has made you smell like the public toilets at the bog of eternal stench.

No anime labels yet?? *so curious*

Here you go!