frecklestars

In the bottle & on my skin: smelled very moody and dark in the bottle, then turned to way too much sour dirt and rotting plants on my skin. It reminded me of New Orleans (or how I imagine New Orleans smells), with jazz festivals and summers that seem to stretch on forever and lots of lovely charmingly gothic cemeteries to explore. Last thoughts: Overpowering, and it made me sad because I so wanted to like it. At least it was a free sample. It sounded pleasant enough, but my cursed skin just did not like it out of the bottle. I had to wash it off. There was some sort of lemony bitter smell that I didn't like.

In the bottle: juicy-sweet, gardenia and a floral that reminds me of jasmine, but maybe that's the muguet or the "water blossoms"? it is a bit icy in the bottle, as they say, and also strongly floral. I personally adore gardenia, but I'm also wary of smelling like someone who was caught in a department store and beaten with perfume testers. On my skin: on my skin it immediately turns to a light musk and a gardenia dusted with ginger. lovely! unfortunately it dries to baby powder, which is _not_ what I'm looking for! I assume the musk just doesn't like my skin, as usual. but why can't it stay watery florals? Last thoughts: I SO wanted to like this one! I <3 the poem, the description of the scent, but my skin just turns it to ick. it smells wonderful in the bottle, but then my particular chemistry gets a hold of it and beats the beauty out of it. *le sigh*

In the bottle: girly pinafores with big bows in the back, and frolicking in the garden, and filching plums from the neighbor's yard. About what I expected, but stronger and girlier. I have nothing against girly scents (usually I wear floral stuff), but this is slightly more creamy than I had wanted. On my skin: it was all right. It smells like plums, and tea with sugar and milk, but it's just a bit too sweet for me. It's supposed to be "ripe purple plums, wildflowers, and cream". Just too girly for me, though it does smell good. Last thoughts: I do want to smell like plums. I didn't really catch the wildflowers at all; the scent of old cream overwhelmed everything else in the end.

In the bottle: The first time I smelled it, it was fresh out of the box and had mingled with LOTS of other things (mainly Mad Hatter, which for me was a terrible combination). I set it aside, thinking it would be awful. Second time I opened it, far away from the other mingled scents that were totally overwhelming, I took a tentative whiff and immediately started smiling. On my skin: Clearly it smells amazing. It reminded me of a formal English garden, with mostly tulips and roses, as well as peonies. It starts to smell less gardeny as the day goes on and is actually a pretty light scent; I slathered it on and was told it was just barely noticeable (in a good way). This one might be a 5 ml bottle order for next time. *squee* (And hell, if this is what Amsterdam smells like, I'm moving there without a backward glance!) Last thoughts: This was the one that got me hooked on BPAL scents in the first place! Absolutely blissfully lovely florals.

In the bottle: made me say "wow" and my nose go slightly twitchy (but in a charming way). This was the first perfume I opened from my first order, and the one I had been most curious to try. It was actually the one that made me order from BPAL in the first place; sounded fascinating! On my skin: at first, the kumquat and orange blossoms came out, with the white pepper nipping at their heels. I couldn't find the tea at all. As the day wore on, the white pepper decided it was queen and came forward. I kept burying my nose in my elbow crooks to smell the pepper whenever I really started to hate working on the statistics assignment I had to do. Last thoughts: the tea scent came out a bit heavier the second time I wore it. The orange blossoms almost smell like kitchen cleaner, but stop short of reaching that (bad) level. Everyone else talked about candy, but I didn't get that at all. It's far too peppery and full of attitude to smell like candy to me. Candy is sweet and uncomplicated; this is full of levels and personality.