zankoku_zen

Musk, cedar and metallic honey. This smells dark, heady, and animalistic.

Planting Moon, you start with such promise. You open up as a green, tomato leaf, peppery arugula and vegetable blend. And then you devolve into a green vegetable soap. You are breaking my heart.

Soft rose, honey and fig. This smells female, sensual, rosey.

Did Antikythera and Haloes make babies? Because that's what Arana smells like. Woody vanilla, hint of musk. Slightly masculine, woody vanilla. Yeaaahhhhhh....

Weird. This smells like musk - with an overlay of cookies and a base of anise-seed. Dark, perfumey, older.

Blue musk, hints of tuberose and moss. It smells blue, comfy, and very light. Low throw, low wear length. My nose really has to hunt for this scent on my skin, even on wet.

Lemon, white florals, clean..... and HOLY CRAP, it's Jean Nate! Clean, citrusy, with a hint of spice/sandalwood at the very base.... And definitely smells like a better version of Jean Nate. Decent throw, decent staying power.

Love starts as - no joke- a subway ride straight into my childhood. It smells like a strawberry and vanilla ice cream that I would get as a child. It evoked summer days, being in the pool, hearing the siren call of the clarion from the ice cream vendor, tearing through the grass in the yard to get to the man before he had ridden off to parts unknown. By no means was this the most expensive ice cream you could buy, in fact, it was pretty low in the totem pole, but the blazing pink and white vanilla was one of my favorite flavor combinations. It came in a little plastic cup, with a wooden spoon, and you would have to hunt for the slightly less popular strawberry/vanilla combination - which was eclipsed by the more popular lucuma/vanilla. And after about an hour, the rose makes an appearance and hijacks the lovely strawberry/vanilla ice cream bits. If it had stayed as a strawberry/vanilla ice cream, I'd be all over this like some sort of wild feral animal. Sadly, the rose plays a spoiler in this relationship. But, wow, what a trip down memory lane.

This is the same juicy fruity strawberry note as from Strawberry Moon 2012 - which has been my most favorite BPAL strawberry blend. Ever. Sadly that ended up with just too much candy sweetness for me to wear. THIS, on the other hand, has enough green notes to deter it from turning into a strawberry candy morass. It might involve slightly more testing to see if this ends up being too sweet.... but the possibilities are tantalizing!

There's almost something bubbly on wet about this, but it's quickly a sweet plum, black currant and carnation blend. This actually puts me in mind of Morgause - minus the incense, but plenty of dark purple and plum notes. Plum, purple, heady.

Daddy reminds me to a more sugary, less lemony version of Dorian. I get masculine lilacs, sweet candy, and a touch of tea. Dorian to me is almost a gender neutral blend, whereas Daddy is definitely a more masculine variation of it. Sweet candy, lilacs, male.

Cherry gummi bears. Literally, cherry, sugary and a chewiness that come only come from toothsome confections. \ It smells boozier as it dries, which is the cherry cordial aspects really sort of taking over. Cherry, red, sugary.

This is like Lemon Sticky Bats (minus the musk) went and had a super long affair with lavender. It really is LEMON SUGAR + lavender. It's sweet, simple, comfy. Basic, but happy.

Sea salt + caramel popcorn. The Snake Oil in this just brings out the foodie-ness to a very piratical, aquatic blend. I end up with salty, caramel popcorn + woods. It then dries to a sea salt + wood soap. And then after two hours turns down to a Snake Oil + wood base blend. WTF. It's like an adventure. Salty, Snake Oil, woods.

GIANT blast of peppermint on wet. And then the peppermint recedes, I get hints of ambergris and then the myrrh really comes to the forefront. At which point, I get minty resinous myrrh. .... Which is just weird. Mint, warm, myrrh.

I really enjoy this blend. It smells like super GREEN dandelions, especially on wet. As it dries, I get a better comparison to Host of Air, except the bloodroot gives it a bit of spice to it. Sadly, it then veers into mild detergent territory. Clean, green, grass.

HOLY CRAP. This is a milky, honey musk. Very sweet. HUGE throw. It would be comforting if it wasn't so overwhelming. I have problems with BPAL honey just being an utter bully, and this blend is NO exception. Milk, honey, musk.

I got patchouli and a hit of hot lime. Huge throw, lots of hot spice. It's gritty, sandy, and hot. Desert-like. Very masculine.

Merlot and a RUSH OF SWEETNESS, on wet. Definitely fruity. It dries to a soft marshmallow + fruit candy. Very sweet. Sweet, candy, playful.

Strong green apple with a whiff of pineapple overlay + musk on wet. It dries to a sugary, green apple musk blend that is very simple. Especially compared to Snow Glass Apples (which is the best green apple blend IMO) or Glittering Apple of the Stars. Simple, green, apple.

Sweet, honey floral note. Slighly smoky, delicate, very perfumey. White floral, redolent, traditional.

Woody, spicy, anise-like. Smells savory and puts me in mind of Indian Food. It's got a warm vibe and a black/brown color association in my head. Aromatic, savory, spicy.

Innocent, light floral peony, slightly soapy. There's an underlying green note, and a brush of lily. This is a very soft, pink, girly perfume. Perfectly blended. Soft, office-appropriate, peony.

Undine Comes Into the House of the Fishermen, Henri Fuseli. Egyptian musk, kelp, white plum, sea buckthorn berry, matcha tea, champaca flower, and Moroccan jasmine. Undine is a very salty, very watery floral. I get the kelp/sea buckthorn aquatics, with hints of white flower like the jasmine, with a hint of aquatic musk (hello egyptian musk). It ends up on me smelling like a really nice aquatic, manly cologne.

Odd floral candy. Rose, cucumber and coconut. Just odd.