walkingundine

I'm not an allergist (and I don't even play one on TV) but I would think that your reaction to R'lyeh was more a function of the delicacy of the skin on your wrists vs. the skin on your ankles. Did you have any minute abrasions on your wrist? The fact that it's taking so long to heal makes me think that may be a factor. Also, did you put R'lyeh on the same wrist as your watch? One time, I put Alice on my watch wrist and it reacted with the metallic band of my watch. (I believe that there's an allergic reaction thread in the BPAL FAQ section.) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually I don't wear a wristwatch... I like fidgeting with pocketwatches too much. There may hypothetically have been abrasions, but if there were any they weren't visible to my eye.

I think- I hope I have the right thread for this. My question is about allergic responses to scent. Some weeks ago, I tried R'lyeh on one wrist. It broke immediately into a burning red rash which has yet to fully heal. (It should be noted that, until this point, the only thing I've ever had an allergic response to has been- peculiarly enough- DayQuil.) Yesterday, because I am a masochist, I tried it again, on an ankle. It worked like a charm- no rash, no burning, just fantabulous Evil Grapefruit that stayed vivid and slightly aquatic for about six hours. Yes, I did sit around sniffing my ankle. I know it's weird. Question is, are people allergic to scents some of the time and fine at other times? Could it be a result of where on my body I stick the scent? I am very confused by the inconsistent response.

In the imp: Eris is an OMGWTFBBQ SWEET sugary scent. It reminds me of the strawberry lip balms I wore as a kid. Wet: Not so bad. It immediately simmers down and becomes a very wet strawberry-like scent with amber undertones (my skin's hobby is amplifying resinous scents). Drydown: It continues as a lovely strawberry-golden scent with hints of something mellow and floral. Over time, the berry backs off (note this is definitely NOT the same berry as in Bewitched, Lady Macbeth, or Blood Countess- this is pink where those are purple) and the floral comes forward to mingle with that golden something. In sum: Eris starts out quite young and girlish, quite mischievious and energetic. It settles, on me, into something much more kindly and calm after about 30 minutes. I like Eris, in general. It's not a big bottle scent for me, but I'll enjoy using the imp.

In the imp: I'm getting rose, but not nasty girly superfemme rose- just soft and plush, and rather red. Also I get my particular favorite note, WINE! Sweet winey goodness! Wet: Wanda goes on very pale in color. Normally I'd say that's a bad thing. In this case, quite the opposite. It's very refined, very subtle. The scent switches back and forth between rosey pink and a soft sort of gray- the leather isn't oppressive at all- and overall it's very polished. Drydown: It's marvellously consistent. For the next six to eight hours, it continues wobbling- leather-skin-rose-wine-lather-rinse-repeat. In Sum: Lady Macbeth is a half-brick in a sock, applied to the back of the head. Wanda (its second cousin once removed) is more like a stiletto or icepick. They both have their uses. I reserve the former for those days when I want to project an air of being a real shit-kicker, and the latter for more professional occasions. I am debating a larger bottle. I may just keep a series of imps around.

Bear in mind that I don't know my florals, and overall I'm working with a sub-par sense of smell. In the imp: What I get from this is bright. Bright, heavy, smooth, white-gold, satiny LILIES. Nice ones, very mellow, with something oddly clear- sort of crystalline- behind them. I do not discern any mint. This makes me sad. When wet: Lilies, but oddly bruised. It's what happens when you hand a bouquet to a little kid who mashes the petals. I expected this stage to be really cloying, but it wasn't overwhelming at all. Very rich and a little sweet, but nowhere near what I expected. Drydown: Here we experience a shift from white-gold satin to dark brown velvet. It's almost chocolatey- it has a sort of mellow note that reminds me of Intrigue. That might be the palm, or palmarosa, or whatever that thingy is. It's a warm, fuzzy smell. Not quite the 'mmmmnostalgia' of Jack, but more like the 'It's Wednesday in late April and I've called out from work just so I can say in bed with my fuzzy pillow and eat chocolates so NYAH'. In sum: I don't think this is necessarily a big-bottle candidate for me, but I definitely enjoy it enough to pick up another imp when this one runs out.

The sunken city of the Great God Cthulhu. A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves. In the imp: Take a large pink grapefruit. Inject it with an elephant-sized dose of PURE EVIL WAHAHAHAHA. Drop the resulting evilfruit into the Mariana Trench. That's R'lyeh. It's dark, wet, citrusy, and COLD. I love it! Wet: Citrus, and dark water, and something sorta musky.... Waitaminute... What's this? Could it be a BURNING RASH?!? Why yes! It is! I never got the chance to explore the drydown phase, as my wrist erupted into itchy burny flames. That was two days ago. The redness has subsided but the texture of that patch of skin has yet to return to normal, even with the use of antihistamines. Oh, R'lyeh, you did me wrong.

This was a frimp from my recent order. Like 3/4 of my wishlist, it is a berry/wine scent. Mmmmberries. In the imp: Holy Grape Juice, Batman! It's bright and sharp, and very very red and fruity. I cannot discern any other notes. Wet: The scent darkens into something I've been calling 'electric plum'. It's red/black and rather assertive. Drydown: This is where Blood Countess really comes into its own. I can discern something dark and sort of smoky, and a kind of very soft floral, but I'm still getting that lovely red fruity/wine note. It gets a little more complex as time passes. Staying power promises to be excellent. Overall: I'm altogether content with the imp. I don't rave over it the way I do Lady Macbeth or Bewitched, but it is definitely tasty.

In the imp: Concentrated blackberry sage tea. Wet: I may as well have taken a bath in my favorite ruby port and scrubbed myself with assorted herbs. Wet, stage 2: Is that chocolate? I smell chocolate! Chocolate and something faintly woodsy. Also berries. Drydown: Port, herbs, something lightly woodsy, and inexplicable chocolate. It's a bit like traipsing through the woods in mid-August, picking berries and smelling woodsy plant-bits, at midnight. With chocolate. Eight hours later: Bewitched has serious staying power. The scent stayed strong for quite some time, and when I woke up this morning, it was still there. It had dwindled down to something much more pale and faint, but traces of the berries were definitely discernable. I may need a bigger bottle.

I have to echo the 'Lady Macbeth' sentiment. It's raw, unabashed energy and drama. Also, I'd consider 'Wanda', and maybe 'Lilith'. Both very over-the-top, if I understand 'em correctly.

Lady Macbeth is an odd one- when it's still wet, it's 'Curse of Millhaven' by Nick Cave. It's wild, manic, unprincipled, gleeful- and oddly seductive. Haunted reminds me of any number of Dead Can Dance songs, particularly 'Yulunga'.

For rotten cranky apathetic days, I go for Haunted. When I'm gloomy and sad, I find that Lady Macbeth serves to put a spring in my step. It's difficult to be irritable when you smell like an evil juicebox. Admittedly, that's about 1/3 the BPAL I've ever tried, but it still works like a charm.

In the bottle, I found Intrigue to be cool, dark, and a little sweet in an odd way. The particular nature of the sweet note reminds me of a scent I associate with some half-remembered toy I loved as a tiny kid- I don't really remember what it was. It might have been one of those little cupcake dolls. It warmed a bit on my skin. I was hoping that the cool note would come forward, but instead I got nothing but cupcake doll. I may add it to my swap list, depending on how its second chance goes.

Haunted was a freebie in my first order, some time ago. In the bottle: This is going to be way too strong to wear. It's cloying and really heavy and not my friend. It's not the patch of floor that's been in the sun all day; it's the darkened area right under that window. It's sunshine-by-proxy. Wet: Brighter and lighter than I expected. The musk is still quite strong, but it's not a weapon of olfactory destruction as I feared it would be. Drydown: Haunted settles into an earthy-yet-golden incense scent. It's like a lighter, non-aquatic cousin to the scent I wear in ritual. It doesn't have the same rush of energy I associate with most incensey/resiny scents, but that's not a bad thing. It's... calming. A word on staying power: I find that any scent involving words like 'amber', 'musk', 'golden', 'resin', or 'incense' last forever on me. I used the tiniest amount of Haunted, and it stayed with me for over eight hours. I didn't try Haunted for a month after I got it; I was that afraid of what I found when I uncorked the imp. Having finally done so, I think I could definitely learn to enjoy it. It's not in the swap pile, and I may consider adding it to the bottle list.

The essence of ambition, covetousness and manipulation: sweet Bordeaux wine, blood red currant, thyme and wild berries. This is the scent of smug accomplishment, sweeter than a stolen election. In the bottle: Berries. Wet, luscious berries, and a faint hint of something smooth underneath. Wet: I am wearing corrupted Juicy Juice. Life does not get better. Drydown: Delicate golden whispery nothings followed by BERRIES followed by whispery nothings followed by OMG BERRIES followed by more golden whispery nothings followed by BERRY NINJA ATTACK and so on... Staying power: All day, all night. We loves the berries, Preciousss. I've bought a 10ml. Am so pleased with myself.

Undertow was the first thing I ever got from the lab. It was not the kind of impression I'd hoped for. In the bottle: Holy Juniper, batman! Cold, minty juniper! Wet: The juniper continues. There's no stopping it! It has some kind of mutant staying power, most likely lent to it by the trace lotus I can almost sorta kinda smell through the cold minty juniper! Drydown: This was my first scent-induced migraine. I'd recommend it to juniper lovers or pretty much anyone who likes an aquatic scent that kicks the wearer in the pants.