thekittenkat

HARLEQUIN AND COLUMBINE French vanilla, red currant, sage, balsam, rosewood, mandarin, lemon peel, pomegranate, and cedar. In the bottle: This is such a well-crafted blend that it's difficult to pick out individual notes. But the sweetness of the French vanilla and balsam are most obvious, with hints of the pome, the cedar, and the sage underneath. Wet: The sage, the rosewood, and the cedar all combine for a heady, woodsy aroma. But slowly the vanilla and balsam re-assert themselves and twine gently throughout. The dry-down: This has become a sweet, but not too sweet, wood and herbal blend, tempered by the fruit notes. Luckily, the currant does not try and stomp all over the scent, but hangs back with the other fruit notes. Later: The lemon peel and mandarin are coming forward now to give this a brightness which it did not have earlier. Citrus notes don't work on me as well as they used to. Still a nice scent, but I may wear this in the scent locket so as to escape the citrus note issue. Would have liked this better without the citrus.

AREMATA-POPOA Blackberry brandy, Castillo rum, ouzo, and iced black tea. Lots of blackberries, but these aren't fresh and just picked, they've been cooked with a simple syrup, and are sweet and tasty. Not getting any ouzo, thank goodness. And yes, the cool black tea scent does appear after a bit. A different version of the blackberry note. Very lovely.

In the bottle: The grassy scent of the dandelion is sweetened somewhat by the honey and the red currants. Wet: Much the same as on cold sniff. The dry-down: The currants and honey move to the foreground. I think this will work nicely with many honey or currant scents. Please note that I use the bath oils as a lotion. This bath oil is thicker than some that I have had from the Post in the past. A little goes a long way! Also, the scent lasts longer on dry skin than applying it to freshly-showered skin that has been towel-dried somewhat.

in the bottle: The somewhat green note of the cardamom floats over the mildly-flavored pumpkin cake. wet: The cardamom is front and center! The cake has more of the pumpkin note. the dry-down: Now the pumpkin cake and the cardamon-cream frosting have come together nicely. I'd like this to be a real food item! There's a slight tendency of the cinnamon to bother the wrist area that's somewhat present; I'll have to remember for future autumns to put some unscented baby oil on first.

in the bottle: It seems to be mostly SO w/ tiny whiffs of all the other notes. wet: The other notes are slowly coming forward. the dry-down: A black leather note from Krampus' switches is most obvious. Perhaps the black fruits will come to my rescue later. The pine forest, alas, is far in the distance. I'll give this some time to age, as fresh SO isn't my thing, but that black leather note is problematical. ETA: much later: Abt 2 hrs after I applied this, the dark fruits began to bloom beautifully on my wrist.

ENYALIOS Lord of War Patchouli, frankincense, olibanum, thyme, cocoa absolute, Peru balsam, oakmoss, and juniper. Enyalios was a surprise on me. It seemed very bright and high, not at all what I was expecting. At the same time, the many notes seemed well-blended in the bottle, and then on my skin while wet. As it dried down though, the juniper really amped, much to my chagrin. This will require further testing. I was so hoping that the cocoa and the Peru balsam would round out the other more intense notes in a detectable sort of way, and perhaps they did, but juniper trumped all.

ANDREIPHONTÊS Destroyer of Men Tonka, benzoin, black sandalwood, and nutmeg. Truth to tell, I was somewhat concerned about the black sandalwood, as it's not a scent note that I have ever tried before, at least I think not. But no worries, as the sandalwood is present, but as a bottom note. Andreiphontes is yet another oil that's well-blended, and doesn't really morph, from the first sniff of the bottle, all the way to the dry-down. It's also another high and bright scent, which I attribute to the benzoin. The tonka adds a lovely sweetness, and the nutmeg a needed touch, just a hint mind you, of a rich spice. Another perfume oil that I would regard as unisex.

Some scents that I like for spring are: Embalming Fluid, Needlework, Empyreal Mist, Dorian, Alice, Lady Una, anything that is of fairy, the Strawberry Moons, The Mouse's Sad and Long Tail, Dublin, the Irish bards series (A lot of these I wear in summer as well!)

In the bottle: A sweet ozone with some black pepper. Wet on my hair: It smells rather like Snow White w/o the florals. Sweet snow w/ coconut. Dry on my hair: More like a sweet peppery ozone.

In the bottle: the resins are scenting a piney woods that have new tomato plants growing on the verge Wet: some sweetness floats over the pine trees--it's probably from the lovely blue musk The Dry-down: still very much the herbal (now a dried tomato leaf) pine forest with hints of the resins and some sweet blue musk like a night sky with dimmed stars I rather like this for a gentle, sleepy-time scent.

White chocolate, strawberry, and white pepper truffle. This is a bit different from last year's White Chocolate and Strawberry. The chocolate last year was more like a milk chocolate; this year's version is certainly the sweeter, less of the cocoa, white chocolate. The strawberry is not the same, either. I got more of a fresh strawberry note in WC&S; the strawberry in WC,S&WPT is more of a candied strawberry--still quite yummy, but more foodie and not so fruity. The white pepper is a nuance that keeps the truffle from becoming too overly sweet. However, this is still a wonderful perfume, although I don't think that I will hoard it like I did WC&S; but at least one back-up bottle will be required.

HYPOTHERMIA Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm! How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? Bone-chilling, heart-stopping cold. In the bottle Lots of mint, spearmint being the top note. Wet: Very minty, with the spearmint prominent. The dry-down: I had high hopes for this scent, and ordered it unsniffed. If you like mint, and especially spearmint, you will like this oil. At this point I'm reminded of Cloister Graveyard in the Snow and Death of the Gravedigger; from both of those I was hoping for snow and got a lot of mint instead. Hypothermia is their LE cousin, only it's not as strong and it doesn't last as long as either of those two scents. It's also not very cool on the wrist, as is usually typical with oils that contain the snow note. The snow note, to my nose, does have mint in the blend, but it's never overpowering as the mint in these three oils. Colour me disappointed.

ENKHESPALOS Spear-Wielding Elder wood, leather, blonde tobacco, and cognac. Enkhespalos is an interesting aspect of Ares--he obviously like blondes. Well, blonde tobacco, that is. That really is the dominant note for me here. The leather and wood are present, but more in the middle of things. And I was rather pleased that the cognac was not screamingly obvious; instead it serves to help blend and round out all the other notes. This is, I think, a scent that can work well on me, and even better on the bf.

In the bottle: The fruity-tartness of pomegranate, with cloves swirling lightly in the mix. Wet: This is good! My lovely pome, with just enough clove to make it "sweet and darkly warming" indeed. The dry-down: Not really a morpher. Happily, the clove never overpowers, which was a concern before I read roseus' review. After that reading, I was pleased to order. Note: I use the bath oils as moisturizers on my dry skin.

In the bottle: All the notes, each trying to rise to the top! There's also a hint of an incense or resin note, though nothing like that is listed. Wet: The overall brightness has calmed down; there's more white chocolate and marshmallow now. The spicy note is muting to a dull roar. It did "spike" for a second as I applied to my wrist. The dry-down: Finally, all notes, including the unknown resin/incense note, merge into a scent that's not overly sweet (white chocolate in RL is rather sweet). Pleasant yet grown-up; on me this is not a little girl's scent. If you like Boo, or the white chocolate perfume oils from the various Lupers' box of chocolates, this might find a niche in your wheelhouse. ETA: I glanced over the other reviews as I was posting, and the spicey note is the pumpkin floss? That's surprising. I never think of pumpkin or candy floss as spicey.

This is for the 2017 version. In the bottle: Sweet snow, with just a touch of coconut Wet: Now the florals arrive, more green stems than flower petals The dry-down: As it dries, Snow White's notes blend into a sum that's greater than the whole of its parts. There's the sweet snow, but tempered by the green florals, and mixing with the coconut. (I know coconut isn't listed, but I sniff it each year that I try Snow White.) It's always lovely, but always a little different each year.

In the bottle: Bliss, but with more sweetness that feels a bit chilly Wet: More of the cocoa note is appearing; the extra sweetness is still present, but not so cool The dry-down: In the end, it's the very nice Bliss with some extra sweetness, perhaps a light sugary vanilla note with only a rather faint hint of coolness

Note: skin-test. An interesting combination of the foresty snow note (one I've decided on as neither sweet nor minty, but closer to the icy/ozone snow note) and marshmallow. The snow note is obviously dominant on cold sniff, but the marshmallow moves forward when the bath oil is wet on my arm. The dry-down is an interesting combination of the two notes that in the end is pleasant and not so by turns. I just prefer my marshmallow scents to be sweeter.

Note: skin-test. A slightly sweet snow note floating on top of white roses. Very elegant, but a light and gentle scent. It would go well with White Rose from the BPTP Unity set, or Hope from the CD, two of my white rose faves.

This was absolutely what I had hoped for on the first sniff: a yummy blending of all four notes. Wet, it was the same delicious blend, however somewhat dominated by the chocolate. But as the evening wore on, after it had dried, this lovely scent slowly turned powdery on my admittedly dryish skin. The only notes that I know for sure that become powdery on me are dark roses and most ambers, alas. I've never that issue w/ any of the four notes listed. Perhaps there was something about the combination that caused this on me. I'm still tempted because it was so gorgeous at first, but it would be for the scent locket.

Not sure why I've never tested this, as I like the milk chocolate note in the Lupers' Box of Chocolates subsets. But w/ Bliss in the Snowdrift subset, I thought I'd better look into the matter. Luckily, I have a fresh imp from the Lab. In the imp, wet on my wrist, and through the dry-down, this is lovely milk chocolate. Not a morpher.

In the bottle: A lovely pomegranate that is not too tart, but on the sweet side. Wet: This is almost eyes-rolling-up-in-the-back-of-the-head goodness. Sweeter on my wrist than in the bottle. The-dry-down: Gosh! This is *good* stuff. I love pome, but was worried when I saw that it was a dark version. But here I am, huffing my wrist. It's great for fall and winter. Just imagine George Takei saying "oh my"!

In the bottle: Very much the sweet patch, but there are hints of the hay and tobacco. Wet: The patch is stronger and sweeter, but the tobacco and hay are still stirring around in the mix. The dry-down: There's a little bit more of the hay bote, but certainly not as strong as it was in Hay Moon, where it was the dominant note. The lovely tobacco, not too dark or night, has made itself known by keeping the patch in its sweet zone--very nice! The patch was getting a little gnarly, but nothing like OWS. This will go into rotation next fall

In the bottle: Water (more fresh than salty) haunted by resins. Wet: This just blooms on my wrist. Lovely resins floating in the ocean, but near the land. The dry-down: Slowly the perfume softens on my wrist into a lovely combo of all the notes. A perfect blend for fall or any rainy day. Let me take the opportunity of this evocative poem's presence to just express my amazement for Beth's knowledge of poetry, as has been shown throughout BPAL's existence! I majored in English literature at uni and had an excellent grounding in American literature in high school by a great teacher who challenged his students every day. And yet, there are a number of poems that Beth has introduced me to, that I had never read nor studied. Thank you so much for broadening my literary as well as perfume knowledge.

In the bottle: An earthy leaves and patch scent overlayed with a fruity sweetness. Wet: A more muted version of the cold sniff. The dry-down: Not a morpher--much the same scent throughout. I like it, but it's not as vivid a scent as the tester at DSWC. This may mean a batch variation, or it may mean that aging will improve this scent.