Caltha
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Carpathian Mountains When I started with BPAL I thought I was looking for the perfect green and natural scent. I gave that up a long time ago. I really don't like the way most "green" scents smell, that sort of cool and watery and sometimes almost sour or musty quality. Carpathian Mountains is pretty much everything I don't like about "green" scents: herbal, plasticky, minty, with pear or apple schampoo vibes... It's also stale. A stale quality I recognize from several other scents although I can't recall any names. Almost play-doh, almost rubber, definitely stale.
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R. M. Renfield Renfield is an odd one. I was curious, but afraid of the pear. And yes, it's there to give an odd, watery, fruity, schampoo-ish quality to the scent. Other than that it's spicy and warm and sweet and quite musty. Musty enough for rotten or mouldy pears, I'm afraid. And a bit soapy. It's not as bad as it sounds, I'm more indifferent to it.
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Count Dracula I really thought I'd like Dracula, lots of great notes, but alas (or thank god my wallet) no. It feels familiar - yet another scent with a "vintage" vibe to it. It reminds me a bit of pine needles (dry) and other that that it's sour, sharp, powdery, sweet, warm, and unfortunately soapy. In my hair it's a nice enough sweet, buttery leather, something like Torture King but sweeter I think, but on my skin mostly soapy.
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Jacob's Ladder I swapped for Jacob's Ladder to see if I needed to get a bottle of it this year, but while I do like it I think my imp is enough. It starts out very nice, with an almost citrusy freshness, a boozy sharpness that almost makes me tipsy and a powdery touch. It's a very warm scent, but not warm and dry despite the powderiness. More like warm and soft and round, with a boozy kick. It dries down milder and sweeter and almost a hint plasticky. Still a cosy scent but not as great as the opening. Edit: Oh, and yeah, it's STRONG. One of the stronger BPALs I've come across, just touching the imp makes the scent stick to my hands.
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All Saints Based on a venerable French pontifical incense blend: monastic frankincense and myrrh, Damascus rose, Russian gardenia, cassia, and lily of the valley wafting on a chill Autumn wind. A celebration of the glory and suffering of the saints and matryrs of the Church. All Saints is not for me, which is no surprise really. I guess I was hoping for the incense, but I get none. All I get are scary florals, a huge, nectar-sweet cloud of lilies which sour on the skin to a more soapy version of themselves. If I appreciated insanely sugared white florals at all I think I might have enjoyed the first stage, before the soap kicks in.
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Mme Moriarty Mme Moriarty is sweet and strong, but it's a somehow fresh sweetness and for a while I'm amazed to smell real, wild strawberries. In the drydown the berry scent turns more plasticky though, like plasticky pomegranate. It's not just berry sweetness though, it's a pretty fullbodied and bozy and somehow "dark" scent, perhaps a bit like Red Phoenix? In the end, to sweet and plasticky for a berry-hater like me.
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Doc Constantine I had high hopes for Doc Constantine, lots of great notes. I found it good, but not great. It opens with an interesting sweet/sharp/dry accord, like evergreens and pine needles and lichen with perhaps a hint of mint. It dries down pretty much the same, perhaps a hint vintage-y and/or soapy. A warm and cosy, somehow almost fiery or smoky, dry forest scent.
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Theodosius Theodosius does remind me quite a bit of Dorian, but more plasticky and less masculine. I actually don't get the men's cologne association at all, it's far too sweet for that. It reminds me more of the coconutty/minty sweetness of Spooky or perhaps The Star. Also, I get the white, shiny, slippery, semi-see-through plastic visual association I get from Alice among others. It has quite a lot of throw even though I only put a little on my wrist to try. Unfortionately I like the skin scent better, it's a little less plasticky, with a hint of green tea or fougere. It's also a powdery scent. Staying power is good, but that doesn't help much since I don't care for the scent. This is a little girl, not a gentleman.
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Black Phoenix Black Phoenix is a real morpher. It starts out slightly medicinal and spicy like cinnamon and bitter almond, much like Chimera. After only a few minutes it turns sharp ans soapy though, like some soapy floral, dragon's blood maybe. I get this spicy soapiness from a lot of BPAL blends but I'm not sure what's causing it. In the drydown I get a hint of sweetening vanilla too but still too sharp and soapy and flat.
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Pink Phoenix Pink Phoenix is a suitable name since it's a sweet bubble gum scent. I get that from quite a lot of BPALs, especially fruity ones, and in comparison Pink Phoenix is quite a nice warm, full, almost spicy bubblegum scent. Almost boozy or woody and with hints of cherry, which is a berry I enjoy. It also has a plasticky note however and it's not likely I'll keep it.
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Vishuddha Herbal and medicinal, with a citrusy freshness and a musty sweetness common to many BPALs. If I did use scents for magical purposes I would keep it, since I like the properties listed, but as a perfume I won't.
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Shill Shill does smell like popcorn, but only a little. It smells more like butter, or should I say butter-flavour? I don't even like the butter powder they put on popcorn in movie theaters, I prefer my popcorn with just salt, freshly made (not in the microwave, on the stove). My sister said it smelled like a coconut dessert, not popcorn. Well, I can see that, it is sweet and buttery like that.
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Smut The first time I tried Smut I thought it was mostly a kind of plasticky butterscotch scent, but now when I'm retrying it in my hair it's lovely. A warm, exotic, rich, powdery, golden scent, powdery like the red musk and saffron in some of my favourite blends (Scherezade, The Great Sword of War...) is powdery. I'll definitely cling onto the few precious drops I have.
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Desire Apple scents have never been my friend, they sound good in theory but I always find them horribly artificial. In Desire I get such an artificial apple note (is there even apple in it?) and the soapy sharpness of some spicy/herbal florals. And the musty sweetness of a powdery vanilla. Not my cuppa. At all.
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Evokes sheer, unadulterated carnal lust. An undeniably warm and sensual scent. Black narcissus, orange blossoms, and vanilla. Hunger Hunger has a herbal/floral bitterness, the sweetnes of perhaps some berry, and a touch of patchouli or incense, something resinous like that. The result is sort of vintage-y and not unlike sweet and sour sauce. Yes, it does smell like chinese cooking, which I guess is weirdly appropriate for the name...