theandorran

Bottle: Eusapia has a fresh, clean scent. The beeswax makes it warm, even sunny, and the lilac makes an appearance as an indistinct floral vibe. The impression is very much one of June in a garden full of purple flowers. Wet: Oh man, this is where Eusapia gets disappointing. All I smell on my skin is white tea. It's very strong and clean smelling; I'm reminded distinctly of Embalming Fluid. It stays this way for much longer than I would usually think of as 'wet,' at least an hour. Dry: After an hour or so, Eusapia is somewhat warmer and softer. I can smell a little bit of the beeswax coming through. It reminds me now more of Maiden. All in all, it's nice, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed, mostly because Eusapia isn't what I was hoping for. This is the only Yule that I knew I absolutely had to buy a bottle of blind, and right now I feel like I could have lived without it. However, I'm going to keep it around and keep trying. With age it might improve on me.

Okay, so today I was in Lush, on one of those trips where you're supposed to go in and buy the one thing you absolutely need, but end up spending tons of money. Anyway, they have a bunch of new perfumes, and being the perfume junkie that I am, I had to sniff them all. One I particularly liked was called Breath of God. I didn't buy it (resisted!) but was wondering if there might be any similar BPALs. The notes are listed as: I wouldn't cry if there weren't vetiver in a blend, though. I didn't really get vetiver from it. It was very mystical and airy, though.

Any more, I only ever share my most tragic BPAL stories in reviews. I wonder why that is... I bought Theodosius because I love Dorian. I won't pretend otherwise. I was fresh out of the shower, all ready to try him on, and dabbed on a bit from the cap onto the insides of my wrists, like I always do with my oils. It's almost always plenty for me, but I wasn't really getting much of any kind of scent, so I went to tip some more oil into the cap, except I didn't have it screwed on tight enough and I dumped oil all over my hands. At least I can smell it now? :\ Anyway, with this nice whiff... In the bottle: Theo is a very citrusy fougere. It actually reminds me more of Villain than Dorian. But since Villain and Dorian are sort of like cousins, it's a subtle distinction. Wet: This is where Theo starts to develop his own character. It's much more jasmine-y than I expected, which gives the perfume an almost woodsy quality. I would definitely call this a masculine scent, although I tend not to care about stuff like that and if I like it, I'll wear it. It's very sophisticated, but a tiny bit sexy. (That must be the musk. Musk is always sexy to me.) Dry: It took forever for this to dry down because there was so much on me. My nose doesn't really know what to do with it now that it's dry. I think this just evaporates on me really fast. Theodosius is sophisticated and manly. Dorian's older brother is a good analogy. Whereas Dorian is fast, free-spirited, and wild, Theodosius is more restrained. I can see him looking at his little brother and giving a shake of his head. The tea starts to come through dry, and it's definitely Earl Grey tea -- citrusy and sauve. This is one of the few BPAL perfumes that I've tried and haven't been sure if I could 'pull it off.' Maybe because it's so masculine to my nose. It's sort of a weird feeling. I'll have to see how the day goes wearing it.

A creamy, sensual, honeyed red musk. So, usually I don't really understand what people are getting at when they say that a scent makes you feel sexy. I've tried a lot of the standard 'sexy' blends and have just been like, well that smells nice. But I don't feel sexy. Infernal Lover makes me feel like a walking sex bomb. It's a woozy, creamy scent, reminding you of the way that you feel when you walk up to someone whose clothes you just want to rip off, and just smell them. It doesn't smell like anyone in particular, but the feeling it gives -- light-headed and feral at the same time -- is the same. I definitely get the creaminess more than the honey in this blend, especially dry. It's slightly sweet, but doesn't make me think 'honey.' Something about the blend is just smooth. And the red musk? Mmm. It's definitely there, and it's strong on me. I probably wouldn't wear too much of this.

Has anyone else had a negative reaction to Languor? I only see one post about it. I've never had an allergic reaction to BPAL before, but last night I put it on and went to be, and I woke up this morning with my face (especially my lips) itching like crazy and redness on the inside of my wrist that subsequently went away. I was puzzled at first but after some thought I realized the only new thing that I'd been exposed to was Languor, which had previously gone untested and had been sitting in my ammo case. Is this normal? Will taking a couple of benadryl help me out? Please help me, BPALers!

TKO does exactly as advertised for me. I get the scent of strong, sweet lavender, which, for me, is perfect. I have insomnia issues, and after a bath with lavender Epsom salts, a tablet of melatonin, and dabbing TKO on my wrists, I finally have a ritual that allows me to relax and go to sleep. I usually sleep with my hands under my cheek, so just a dab on my wrists is enough to make me feel like I'm swaddled in a big lavender blanket as I drift off to sleep. P.S. When I opened this up for the first time, it made me so sleepy that I almost took a nap at 2 in the afternoon, after having gotten up at 11. Use with caution!

In the bottle: I get ewes' milk very strongly, and it's a bit sour. Obviously not cow's milk that you get from the grocery store, but still identifiable as milk. It's tangy and a little bit cool. That's the only note I can really pick out. Wet: It takes a moment for all the notes to come together. At first, the sour milk is still there, but then, I get a whiff of sweet, juicy blackberries. You can smell the moonlight and the beeswax. Dry: The 'quickening tree' comes out in a moody sort of woodsy note, like bark. Smoothness of warm beeswax and a touch of blackberry. It's really gorgeous. I'm glad I went for the bottle!

I was so sure that this was going to be a big hit for me. Ginger, white musk, citrus, amber, and spices. All good. But something in it is just... no. Possibly the oud? I can't think what else it would be, or perhaps it's just blending oddly with the yellow rose and the amber, because when Bijoux Y'ha-Nthiel hits my skin, it smells like cheap metal jewellery. I'm pretty sure that's not what Beth was going for, or what other people are getting, so something about this just doesn't jive with my skin. Some people who like metallic scents might like it, I don't know, but to me it's a big disappointment.

Oh my god this is amazing. It's so well-blended that it's hard to pick out specific notes, just feelings from it. It's sweet and clean and musky, it reminds me of freshly cleaned skin and soap. I get coconut milk strongest, probably, especially when it's wet on my skin. But there's also the crispness of orange blossom, the faintest odor of clean skin, and the amber smoothing everything out. More later, I'm going to lie around and sniff myself for a while.

Maybe I'm weird because I love white musk too. I ordered this because of the white musk + citrus combo, which I loved in Embalming Fluid. This is nothing like Embalming Fluid, but that's okay because it is very lovely. In the bottle, it doesn't really appeal to me at first. It reminds me a bit of Hermes Eau d'Orange Vert. Very sharp, bright citrus and heavy on the cypress. Applied, however, the white musk tones both down some and becomes ethereal, clean, and musky. Which sounds like a contradiction, but it's a clean muskiness. Like skin freshly washed in tangerine soap. I can see what others meant by it smelling 'masculine,' but to me, Thoos is gender neutral. A man or a woman could easily rock it. Thoos, to me, seems well paired with a red dress. It has a powerful sort of sexiness. A little coy, but confident. Actually, I take back what I originally said. The more it dries, the more it reminds me of Embalming Fluid. With tangerine. I am really loving it - maybe because I'm pleased to have a scent that is meh in the bottle but my skin loves.

I've been so looking forward to this! Bottle: Hard to describe, a bright and shining scent, slightly floral. A little bit of fruitiness. It's really well blended -- you can't really pick out one note or another, just an impression. Wet: Turns kind of green and Rappaccini's Gardeny-y. Mugwort, I think, comes out very strongly. Dry: Mmm. This is where the pear really comes through. It smells very sweet and pear-like, like the candied pears my mom makes. A little bit of vanilla (mallow?), and just a hint of juniper. A+++, well done, lab.

This one isn't a morpher at all on me, it stays the same throughout the process. Floral. Very floral. A sweet, heavy, summery floral, but not magnolia or jasmine (which I am quite fond of). It smells very heavily of gardenia, I think. I keep swinging back and forth on whether or not I like it. I like heavy, summer florals, but it's not quite a LOVE like magnolia and jasmine are for me. However, I'm going to keep it, because I like it enough for that.

In the imp: Smells like butterscotch, not really coconut to me. I guess that's the rum with the coconut working together. Wet: Now the coconut comes out. It smells like toasted coconut flakes, and a hint of chocolate. Yummy. Dry: Fades somewhat on the dry down, but is still delicious-smelling coconut rum chocolates. Mmm. I'm not sure this is what I'd actually want to smell like, but nevertheless, it smells really good.

In the imp: This is not at all what I expected. I was anticipating something very aquatic, sea-like, like Jolly Roger or Sea Foams Blood. Instead, I get... fruity hand soap? What? Nevertheless, I kind of like it. Wet: It smells more aquatic wet, but not quite like a Jolly Roger. It's more like the memory of the sea than the sea itself. Or, actually, as I write this, sea-scented soap. You know, the stuff that's supposed to smell like the ocean, but doesn't really? It just has an oceany feel to it? That's what this smells like. I still kind of like it though. Dry: Much the same as it was wet. Not at all what I was expecting, but I kind of like the feeling that smelling it gives me.

In the bottle: I was hoping for more juniper. Instead it smells like... foresty nature kinda. But I have high hopes. I will test it on my skin. Wet: Smells like dirt. And ever green. And... yes, patchouli. Why so cruel to me, patchouli? Please, die down and let me smell the juniper. I bought this for the juniper. Dry: No. Patchouli is a harsh mistress, and I amp it to high heaven, and after it dries, that's all I smell. Head shop. Dirty head shop, actually. Alack, for this had potential, but we were not meant to be.