thekittenkat
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Everything posted by thekittenkat
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In the decant: Dark incense. Wet: Ah, there's the patch and the rose, with whiffs of the honey. The dry-down: As this warms up, the rose and honey try to keep from being overcome by the vetiver and somewhat by the helichrysum (wiki says: Helichrysum angustifolium or Helichrysum italicum is steam distilled to produce a yellow-reddish essential oil popular in fragrance for its unique scent, best described as a mixture of burnt sugar and ham.) and there's a touch of that burnt sugar and ham note. But mostly, the rose is making it go all powdery, so a bit like an ashtray full of ashes from expensive non-tobacco cigarettes made of roses and wood. Strange, but there it is.
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In the bottle: Lots of lilac, tempered a little by the sweetness of the honey. Wet: Now I'm getting hints of the rose and the rice flower. The dry-down: In the dry-down, the peony finally makes its presence known. If you like Peony Moon, you will probably like this. I got it mostly for the rose and the honey notes. It's a nice floral, not too heavy, and not too light. A lovely spring-time scent.
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I like Berry Moon '09. It's a deeper, richer, darker, sweet fruity scent on me than the '11 version. I think that the newer version may need some aging though. My skin is somewhat dry and tends towards the acidic, just for your information. I re-discovered the '09 version this past summer, and wore it a lot. Come May/Jume, it will be back in regular rotation.
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Where is my order? What is Click N Ship? How long does this take?
thekittenkat replied to Snow White's topic in BPAL FAQs
I'm sometimes getting this screen: http://www.ccnow.com/shopOnline.html instead of the shopping cart. This has only occurred this week. The browsers I use are Firefox and Chrome, and they are mostly the current release. Not sure what is going on, and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this? I didn't feel like emailing the Lab/the Post as of yet, since it doesn't happen every time, and with Ted's surgery, I figured that the family would be more concerned about that, and didn't want to bother them. -
In the bottle: Well-blended! Florals more than fruit, certainly. Wet: Roses, carnation, and some citrus. The dry-down: Should have known better. Citrus (but not a sparkly high and bright grapefruit) is trying to stomp out all the other scents. The red sandalwood and the carnation may be fighting with it. I had high hopes of this, since there are so many notes made of win, but I was a bit worried that some would not work together so well and that's what's going on. Two months of aging isn't enough. I'll revisit this in May.
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And here’s Leather Phoenix: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord. In the bottle: Leather, patch, anise, and narcissus (don't like that note). Wet: Yum! That's better. Soft leather, patch, maybe the champaca peeking out. The dry-down: It's almost, but not quite, a sueded leather that's trying to change over to the nasty chemical leather note. That tea note probably isn't helping with this (not a note I'm fond of, as it ruined a Box of Chocolates scent for me), but the cedar and the frank are riding to the rescue. Aging will help this along the right path. Also, I have this feeling that this may be fabulous on the bf.
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Snow settling on cold skin, tea rose petals, and dusty, threadbare linen. In the bottle: Cold and just a touch minty, with a hint of rose. Wet: The delicate tea rose, wrapped in linen and placed in the snow. The dry-down: After a time, the dusty linen note dominates, and the rose and the snow start to fade away. There's some skin musk here, to anchor scent. I had high hopes of this blend and ordered it a couple of months ago, but am a bit disappointed. I may try adding a touch of The Rose (my fav tea rose scent) and see if that keeps the rose note going longer.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the bottle: Ozone and dried leaves. Wet: Lots of dried leaves! The dry-down: Mostly dried leaves, with only touches of the bitter currant and the ozone. I like this version better than the previous, but think of it as a late autumn scent, and not so much a winter-time perfume oil. It does seem to indicate something of a gloomy mood. Note that I have had this bottle for a couple of months, so it does have a little aging on it.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the bottle: Tea rose, vanilla, and just a touch of the icy snow note. Wet: Much as when sniffed. The dry-down: This lovely scent does not morph. I've had my bottle for months, and when I first tried it, it seemed a little high and sharp. Aging just a couple of months has worked wonders, and it's gorgeous! At the same time, without a side-by-side comparison, I don't think that this is quite as good as the original from '09. However it's still beautiful and elegant. I also still don't see the comparison to Snow White. It's a very different scent in feel. It's more like The Rose, but with vanilla cream and the icy snow note.
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In the decant: Lemon and grapefruit, and a little hint of the vanilla cream. Wet: The other notes mentioned in the sniff are still there, but mint is front and center, having shoved its way through the pack. The dry-down: The vanilla cream is there, I can smell it, but the mint, lemon, and grapefruit have combined into a cool scent (in sensation on my wrist) that at the same time is a hot mess. It's nasty and is making me itch. Time to scrub off. I had a bad feeling that two citrus notes would be two too many (thank you, C. S. Lewis for letting me paraphrase a quote) and alas I was right.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the decant: Cocoa powder with a touch of vanilla. Wet: Not so much cocoa now. Amber may be damping down the sweetness. The dry-down: And the cocoa powder is now like a milk chocolate version (from which comes the vanilla). Just a hint of the golden amber to keep this from getting too sweet. I like this much better than previous versions. And not as sweet as the coins in the little bag, but still nice.
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In the decant: A warm golden scent, with a touch of citrus. Wet: Much as when sniffed, but the citrus from the bergamot is making itself known, more orange than lemon. The dry-down: There's some sweetness from the ambrette seed and the vanilla orchid, and a woody note from the oak bark. The citrus note is still there, but not in a harsh manner. There's just hints of saffron and frankincense, but they do not overpower, because I suspect the beeswax may be grounding them. Yet another elegant golden scent.
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In the decant: More hardwoods than pine or birch. Wet: Still more hardwoods than pine or birch. No sweet notes so far. The dry-down: Now, finally, there's a hint of a sweetish note. However, this doesn't smell like the live Christmas trees of my childhood, nor like the ones that can be bought in the Christmas trees lots (actually those never have as much scent as I would like). It's a pleasant woody scent, and I will see how it does on the bf, as I read this as a masculine scent.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the decant: Mostly the sufganiyot, warm from the oven. Wet: The sufganiyot is being tempered by the olive oil. Hints of pom and fig appear. The dry-down: The glowing amber brings out a resinous aspect. It's not as sweet as I had hoped it would stay. It's almost like a spicy-sweet doughnut, if such a thing can be imagined. The fruit notes wear off quickly. I like this, but not as much as the 2007 version, and much better than the 2010 version.
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In the decant: Pine, tempered by the other notes. Wet: Pine is now being tamed by the sage and the tobacco. The dry-down: The ivy has appeared as a major note, and is twining with the pine, but being kept in check by the sage. This is mostly a green scent on me, very much like being in a fresh green forest at the beginning of summer or late spring. There's just a slight sweet note, but very very gentle, that I attribute to the honeysuckle and the ambrette seed. I would have thought there would have been an ice or snow note in this, due to the name, but I can't detect any cold notes.
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This review is for the 2011 version. In the decant: Lovely resins! Wet: Frankincense and myrrh, perhaps some of that golden amber. Not as sweet in a resinous fashion as when sniffed from the cap. The dry-down: More of a warm scent than last year's version when sniffed on the wrist, but still with a cool feeling. (Perhaps that echoes the chilliness of a great cathedral?) The sweetness is coming back, but it's not a foodie/fruit/floral note, but once again some wonderful combination of the incense and resins with the beeswax candles. All the sort of thing that one would associate with a High Mass on Christmas Eve. This is a scent that I must try a tester of each year if possible, as it's just that good.
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In the decant: The Lab's famous icy snow note, with a hint of something green. Wet: The green note is now sharp and bitter, and it's probably from the iris or the lily or both. But the hemlock could be the major culprit. The dry-down: That green note is slowly calming down. I should really know better than to try even a tester of scents with iris and lily, but I keep hoping that they won't turn sharp on my acidic skin. This may have to go in a scent locket. Perhaps some aging will help.
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In the decant:Sage, florals, moss, a touch of the white honey. Wet: Honey, sage, moss, some florals (most obvious is the wisteria). The dry-down: Mostly as when wet, with less florals. This isn't a really sweet scent, regardless of the presence of the white honey, but with more of an herbal quality because of the sage and the moss. The green tea note makes me think of Dorian, but this would be as if Dorian gave up his bad lifestyle, and decided to live on the edge of an American desert at the beginning of spring. This is going in my April rotation. Edited only for grammar fail.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the bottle: Beautiful, well-blended, a golden scent, slightly sweet, mostly resinous. Wet: The musk mallow that I mentioned last year is very present, but already starting to blend back into and with the other notes. The dry-down: All resin fans should try this! The amber is trying to go a little powdery, but not too much. Without a side-by-side testing, I would say that this is very much like last year's version. If you want a warm and golden scent, this is it, esp. if you want something that's not too over-powering.
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In the decant: Florals and the icy snow note that Beth does so wonderfully! Wet: The icy snow note switched over to the minty snow note, and some thing is warming this up. The dry-down: Something like lemon is coming through the minty snow note. Also, I think that there is a touch of skin musk in here. I like it; it reminds me a little bit of Numb and some of the other ice/snow scents. I will probably save this to use in the middle of summer.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the bottle: Some snow and dirt and some type of plants, and some kind of baked goodies, not overly sweet. Wet: More snow and sweets than anything else. The dry-down: There's just a tad bit of sharpness from the various plants, but overall, this seems to stay mostly snowy dirt and moss and those sweet baked goodies. However, it does seem to fade faster than expected, and may take slathering.
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This is for the 2011 version. In the decant: A lovely red rose. Wet: Haughty indeed--she's going to powder on me, oh noes. The dry-down: Rather disappointing, this. The Queen doesn't like me, but that's no surprise. I give her a chance every year. This year she's sour rose powder. There's some kind of amber in here, I'm betting. Scent locket to the rescue!
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This is for the 2011 verison. In the bottle: Juniper berries in the snow under some hemlocks. Wet: Hemlock is a bit strong now. The dry-down: It takes about an hour for the hemlock to calm down, and allow the berries to come back, with their slight sweetness. However, reading over my review for last year's version, I think that I prefer it to this one. Took a chance on a partial (the label art is rather neat) and will let it age.
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In the decant: Honey, not too sweet, and linden blossom. Wet: There's that pesky orange zest. The dry-down: The orange starts to fade, but there's the ambers going all powdery on me. Yet another scent locket scent.
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In the decant: Carnation, green tea, and blue musk. Wet: Orange zest is orange zest. The dry-down: The orange zest is calming, allowing the tea, musk, and carnation to re-appear. Later: The lily of the valley (which often turns into a sharp, brown note on me) has made, alas, its presence known. It's not too sharp, but is bringing that brown note (like a feral musk, but not like civet) to the party. I will have to use this in the scent locket, as I like the scent of the decant.