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BPAL Madness!

gypsyjolie

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Everything posted by gypsyjolie

  1. gypsyjolie

    A Moment in Time

    wet, this is a lovely soft lavender and a fruity white fig. Fruitier than I was anticipating. drying, the fig burns off a bit and the vanilla/benzoin steps out of its shadow. The first hints of patchouli emerge , adding to the snuggliness of the scent. The patch is restrained. THis is sweet and soft and feminine. full drydown - so so pretty. soft, gentle, cloudy lavender, woody patchouli (which stays in the background), hazy benzoin and powdery sandalwood.
  2. gypsyjolie

    (Not So) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene

    I get more incense than spice, but this is a soft, creamy, vanilla candlewax scent, with a touch of incense and softly smokey aspect, like candles just blown out and still warm. Lovely.
  3. gypsyjolie

    Lips Full of Lust and Laughter

    Bright but dusky - red musk, orange (tangerine), and the sweetness of honey. The mint dances at the top of the scent. That and the sexy red musk keep this from being candied or fruity/foodie and firmly in perfume territory. I really love this scent. It's lighter and airier than I'd expected from the notes. A red musk for summer? It vaguely reminds me of Couple Consulting An Enpon, another favorite of mine, with the sexy base, a fruity aspect, and the mint topnote making a perfume that should be heavy but isn't and should be foodie but isn't. Apply sparingly! Good throw.
  4. gypsyjolie

    I am Tired of Tears and Laughter

    This is a stunning bright beautiful lavender! Many lavender scents are calming and dreamy-soft for bedtime, but this one feels energizing to me. Herbal sharp-ish lavender at first, then the resins come up to round out the scent. The oudh is adding to the throw (as oudh does as it warms on the skin), with an woody, almost leather-ish warm note. The benzion is a resiny sweetness. Both are fainter backdrops to the gorgeous lavender. This is almost but note quite a single note lavender. Bright, herbal, cleansing lavender - not particularly sweet or musty-floral as some lavenders can be. Good throw and excellent longevity (thanks oudh!). Unisex, herbal, energizing. Outspoken for a lavender blend. If I wore this to bed, I'd probably have vivid, creative dreams. How I wish I had not missed this in release!
  5. gypsyjolie

    Ninon

    Ninon on me is a sun-warmed vanilla/amber/hay, with a deep richness that I think is tobacco, and the lavender is herbal and dances on top of the warmth of the rest of the scent. This is sort of earthy, and entirely not-floral on me. I love it. It's like summer, but womanly and lovely. No scent of rose at all (YAY!). Must buy a bottle!
  6. gypsyjolie

    War

    I don't get any patchouli or cinnamon or infernal spices - just headache-inducing HONEYSUCKLE and sharp ginger. When dry, I get some red musk under the HONEYSUCKLE, but not enough to save this blend for me.
  7. gypsyjolie

    Tombeur

    The antique patchouli and blood musk, and that "oily" smell that vetiver has when it first applied start out this scent. Yuck, it's fairly awful on me when wet. But I know to wait for vetiver to chill out, so I do. 15 mins later this it TOTALLY different. The vetiver has become sweetgrass, the patchouli smoothed out, the blood (dragonsblood) has calmed into an almost fruity red smell, and this is now a deep dusky red musk-y blend that you can't hardly tell what notes make it up. The lavender is definitely a player, a topnote that tickles the edge of your nose, but it works here to add complexity without being all medicinal. The sandalwood just adds a dry woodiness. Sexy! This totally reminds me of Snake Charmer now, but comparing the two side by side, this is a more herbal (lavender) and SC is more plummy. Since plum doesn't really love me, I might like this better, especially with a bit more aging. Sadly, not a ton of throw on this (or Snake Charmer either for that matter).
  8. gypsyjolie

    VILF

    Wet, this smells like Smut 2010 plus leather. As it dries, more sandalwood and honey come out. There is something to this that reminds me of Hellhound, especially after it's been on a bit. Also, this is like Violens but red musk instead of white musk and strong leather. A cowboy violens? I think this will age very well, and I can tell you after wearing it to the gym that it LOVES it when your body heat goes up. I had it on one wrist for about six hours and thought it had disappeared, but 15 mins of the treadmill and suddenly I was getting gorgeous wafts of red musk and leather and sandalwood. It made me reconsider and pull this back out of my swap pile.
  9. gypsyjolie

    Common Jezebel

    Wet, this is seriously juicy fruit... not sure I'd have guessed apricot, more like nectarine or pear, but FRUIT. This starts to dry and the fruit is joined by the red currant, which makes this now smell like a red Jolly Rancher candy. Sweet and a bit tart and RED and fruity. Then the oddest thing happens - the vetiver comes out in all its dry grassy glory, and the two scents stand side by side - red fruity candy and dry sweetgrass. They don't meld at all, equal in strength in some sort of staring contest. After another 10 or 15 minutes, the vetiver beats back the candy just enough to be more dominant and then it gets ... greener? smelling. Still grassy but not as dry, almost sharp or oily smelling. With the candy still bouncing in the background.... This is weird and frankly, unpleasant. I feel like I am sucking on a red Jolly Rancher in the heat of August, smelling the spot on the mostly dry lawn where my brother changed the car's oil and dripped some onto the grass by accident.
  10. gypsyjolie

    Great Grey Witch

    Yes, this does smell like sugared cereal - like Fruit Loops, that slightly lemon-y highly sugared, slightly powdery smell. It gets more herbal (chamomile) and less "fake lemon candy"-esque as it dries, and gets softer and more baby powdery (orris?) and still stays very sweet. This is a comforting baby skin type scent. Decent throw for such a soft scent.
  11. gypsyjolie

    Nanny Ashtoreth

    I got to try some aged Nanny. It is really sexy! Soft worn leather is the main component, with a gleaming polished wood (or wood + beeswax/honey, perhaps?). It's not so sharp a leather as many BPAL leathers are on me, but I never get flowers or berries distinctly. Just a warm woody sweetened beeswax-y almost musk-y leather. It's very comforting and would be good on me or my guy. Low to medium throw, long staying power.
  12. gypsyjolie

    Violens

    This starts out as a very clean scent at first. The musk is the first thing I smell and it is a clean pale Egyptian or white musk. Yuck. Luckily for me, Violens warms up as it is on, the (soft, not chemical) leather peeking out and the sandalwood get more incensey and less dusty/dry. The Musk loses its sharpness and something makes this blend get sweeter. It's very unisex, neither masculine nor feminine, or rather, it's sort of both. It is clean and soft and lightly sweet... but the leather and sandalwood ground the scent nicely. This is a really nice non-floral, non-foody scent. it's calming and spa-like to me. Decent throw, and lasts 5+ hours on me. Glad I got a bottle!
  13. gypsyjolie

    Clockwork Couture: Female

    First sniff: a blast of strong vanilla and some sort of floral. on, wet: Within minutes, the floral dies down and the amber comes out. Now it's a (french) vanilla and slightly spicy amber. dry: hello leather! this is a worn, warm leather, with the amber and vanilla 15 mins: The vanilla died down. I'm getting most warm, spicy amber and delicious worn leather. The vanilla sweetens things up but isn't a mega player any more. 30 mins: primarily nice worn leather, with some amber-vanilla sweetness. This has almost no throw and fades within an hour on me
  14. gypsyjolie

    Paper Kite

    In the bottle and wet, I get mostly the sharp, herbal/floral of the angelica, with some sweetness of sugar underneath. No pepper. As it dries, the angelica is taken over by the coconut and the scent warms and sweetens. After 10 minutes, this smells like the powdered sugar-covered dried coconut flakes. Not fresh, milky coconut or toasted coconut. It's sweet and dry and definite coconut, like macaroons. Then the pepper amps up and adds some bite to this, the combination almost but not quite smelling like anise or cardamom... though it never takes over the coconut. After 20, the coconut and angelica make peace and the undertone becomes a white sugared dry coconutty-floral with the pepper dancing lightly around as a topnote. I really like this scent. It doesn't read as foody to me once it is on for a bit, despite the heavy coconut. It's very summery, and the throw is decent. I love the pepper/sugar combination.
  15. gypsyjolie

    Candles Moon

    Moonlight shining on the Quickening Tree, the heat and wax of sacred candles, the milk of ewes, Brigid's blackberry, the sting of keening wind, and the last flutter of the Cailleach's winter snow. in bottle: beeswax and a hint of cinnamon wet on skin: This becomes a cooler scent, as I get an icy throw from the oil on my skin. Cool The blackberry peeks out from under the beeswax, the cinnamon disappears. Waxy cold blackberry under a layer of ice. dry on skin: This does smell like a just snuffed out candle, plus that scent of cold air. The coolness topnote versus the warmer beeswax-y bottom note is really striking. Not much blackberry, just a tiny swirl of it that does seem to grow stronger and stronger until after 30 mins I can definitely smell it. After it's been on a while, it warms up into a beeswax candle and slightly creamy tart blackberry. There is the tiny hint of cinnamon. Pretty, cool, waxy scent. Not a lot of throw.
  16. gypsyjolie

    Mad Kate

    I don't "do" florals, and gardenia has never been my favorite because it is so heady, but it works here! The honeycomb is lovely and the vanilla is sweet to contrast to the brightness of the red currant. The drydown is honeyed, soft, and feminine. Who knew I'd like, let alone crave, a white floral?!
  17. gypsyjolie

    The Great Sword of War

    This is very citrus for the first few minutes, to the exclusion of all other notes. Then it mellows into a creamy spiced orange tea (like Constant Comment). I never get chocolate or red musk, which is a shame. This scent is quite nice once it dries, but it is very faint on me.I was hoping for more oomph from the red musk.
  18. gypsyjolie

    Paduan Killer Swarm

    This smells a lot like a gentler Death Adder. I swear there is some vetiver in here with the coconut and licorice. The extreme drydowns are very similar, though Paduan is slightly sweeter and a lot less grassy/woody than Death Adder. Paduan Killer Swarm gets sweeter as it dries down, but is much less honeyed than I expected. The throw is sweeter than sniffing close to the skin. On me, this is a warm, dry, smooth coconut (but woody, like the husk is there not the meat as much), slightly spicy "hint of leather" scent. I don't really smell the licorice once it dries. Very well blended. this would be great on a guy but a gal could wear it too. It's surprisingly subtle.
  19. gypsyjolie

    Sara Pezzini

    I don't get any honey at all out of this. it is first and foremost leather - Wilson's leather shop overwhelming leather - which softens a tad on wearing/drydown to include some skin musk and a thin veil of something florally-sweet... but only a tiny bit. It's like a leather jacket with the ghost of a girl's perfume from last week on it. It's 90% heavy leather on me and smells like my husband's lather aftershave. Big disappointment.
  20. gypsyjolie

    Xmvlzencab Bath Oil

    This is heavenly! Dark sweet honeyed floral that almost smells like a blackberry or some juicy dark fruit, with a sexy aspect to it rather than an innocent/girly fruity smell. It's sexy and musky with just the right little bite of ginger. I'm not a floral fan but I adore this! The oil is thick but not greasy and very skin-softening. WHY is there no perfume oil version of this??!
  21. gypsyjolie

    Lolita

    ow, sharp lemon verbena elbows everyone else aside and takes over. This smells like a lemon cleaner to me. I never really get anything else.
  22. gypsyjolie

    The Marquis de Carabas

    yep, a lovely warm men's cologne... worn leather, bay rum, and smoky-sweet opium. In full drydown it's sort of root beer-ish with leather and a trace of opium smoke. Nice, but it'll have to go to the DH's pile.
  23. Xiuhtecuhtli, Bakeneko, Scherezade, and Couple Consulting an Enpon all had good throw on me, though they almost all have red musk, which helps. And I echo the "if you get warm, throw happens" theory. I tend to wear at my neck and cleavage and if I climb some stairs or briskly walk somewhere, I notice more throw as I heat up. Eat Me fills up a room with scent for me and is the one most noticed by others around me.
  24. gypsyjolie

    Kyoto

    A gentle, soothing blend of cherry blossom, white sandalwood and star anise. sweet almond & anise, and something slightly soapy.
  25. gypsyjolie

    XCDL13

    My first prototype! This actually doesn't smell at all like Antique Lace on me - that was much heavier on the "cotton" and "dusty floral hints" scent than this is. This is a syrupy golden vanilla, sort of like cream soda. There is initailly some thing taht smells sort of berry-ish but that goes away after a couple of minutes. It's very strong and wafts about me in a cloud. A little dab'll do ya with this one!
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