Invidiana

If there wasn't any honeydew in here, maybe I would have had a better idea of the other notes, because I amp it like crazy to the point that it ends up being straight saccharine honeydew on me. My skin basically turns the much-beloved Fee into honeydew rolled in Sweet & Low. So sad.

Thi is the first BPAL cedar blend that actually works on me. No men's cologne, no hamstercage, no pile of woodchips; I think it's becaue the cedar here is black cedar, and also becau esI amp resins and thankfully the deep, sweet frankincense balances it out perfectly. I also like how, as others noted, there is a certain warm spiciness to the wood. I actually prefer this to Cathedral because it's darker and richer.

When I say against all odds, I really mean it for this one! This one should have been a disaster with the rose and carnation, but surprisingly while they're there (mostly the rose--I barely get any carnation which is a huge surprise because I usually amp it) they take a backseat to the gorgeous honey and ylang ylang, which are really the main players. The most obvious note son my skin are honey and ylang ylang with a soft rosy backdrop--the rose isn't screeching dry rose but a soft pink tea rose. I get a tiny hint ofthe iris adds an additional feminine floral element. This i sreally a surprise winner and I'm definitely getting a bottle!

This works on me against all odds. I expected the cedar and lemon peel to amp, but for some reason they stay very subdued. It's really the red fruits/mandarin and vanilla, in that order, that are most evident in an even balance of sweet and tart. As it dries down further I get a little bitof the resinous balsam and a hint of woodines from the rosewood and cedar. I expected the lemon peel to scream VERBENA! but surprisingly it contributes to the tart quality without overpowering everything.

This is a winner from the start. No spice-cabinet clove here; this clove is warm and woody and is in perfect proportion to the dark, voluptuous blackcurrant. The blackcurrant note actually reminds me of a delicious English blackcurrant tea that is one of my favorite teas ever (Twinings Blackcurrant Breeze for anyone who's dying to know ). I do tend to amp clove and it does amp a little but not so much that it reminds me of sticking my nose in a clove jar like Voodoo Queen did. It's amazing how something so simple can be so beautiful.

Whoa, this is really sharp and woody/herbal initially; I get something almost lemony from it. As it begins to dry down all the notes seem to be battling each other for dominance in a cacaphony of scents; at one point I get woods, another resins, another patchouli, another lavender. However, by all accounts every note listed here save the neroli should work on me, so I gave it a chance to dry down fully. I'm so glad I did! Everything comes together on the final drydown and there's no longer a struggle between notes to assert themselves. It's just a gorgeous dark veil of woods and resins with sensual hints of patchouli and cacao and a bit of hypnotic lavender. This is really difficult to describe but it's just so unique and enigmatic, I'll definitely be needing a bottle. It's going to be amazing aged!

I knew the honey in this would work, though I was a bit leery of the "gunpowder" note. However, it does end up working! It's glorious honey with a sinister woody edge; there must be black cedar in the gunpowder note, I recognize it from An Altar to Cold Dark Rigid Death which is the first cedar BPAL that actually liked me. While any other cedar turns into straight hamstercage on me, blackcedar i san entirely different story. It gives a perfect dark balance to the honey; there might be a tiny bit of some dark variety of sandalwood in there too, maybe even the slightest tinge of black musk. For the unattractive character it represents, it's surprisingly sexy. Two words: evil honey. And I love it.

This one is strangely intriguing. I expected to like it the least of all the Last Unicorn scents but I love the smell of oak, and there must be some sort of sap/resin note in here as well, much like in October, which actually makes it sweet on me. In the beginning the metallic element makes it pretty masculine but after the full drydown it's actully the sweet woody oak that comes to the forefront and it ends up being unisex rather than cologney. I predict that with aging the oak and sap notes will get even richer and I can't wait to see how it develops.

Alas this just ends up being too grassy for me. Wet it was like straight-up grass clippings, but soft florals (definitely with lilac in there) and a bit of soft musk so the promise of that made me give it a chance. After a couple of minutes this does a total turnaround. Now the grass settles down and is the soft, pleasant scent you’d associate with a green field on a summer’s day rather than a pile of grass clippings. It provides a base for the real stars, the lilac, florals and the Lab’s gorgeous white musk. If I’m picking this out correctly there is even a little bit of that lovely oak note that is very prominent in The Ninth Cage. It also has a bit of a "clean" feeling which I really like. I think it’s going to age beautifully, and there probably will be a bottle in my future.

At first I thought this was a total fail on me; wet and in the initial drydown it's mostly petitgrain and bergamot, and I'm not very fond of petitgrain. Howver, I could tell that underneath it there is some beautiful tonka bean and amber, so I gave it a chance for a couple of minutes. It actually does have a "fuzzy" feel to it like the description says. After several minutes have passed it seems the petitgrain has finally receded to the background and the dominant players become the tonka, amber and bergamot, in that order. It has a certain glowing quality, like the honeyed light of a sunset, that makes me keep sniffing it. The tonka really takes center stage now, almost like vanilla bean but not as foody, backed by the warm musky amber and a hint of bergamot. The petitgrain has left the building. This clings close to the skin but it’s beautiful definitely worthy of a bottle for me.

Let me dispel one fear right away: this does not smell like church. Of course the frankincense and amber lend it an incensey aspect, but if this reminded me of interminble services on my feet for three hours straight (I'm Greek Orthodox--go figure) I'd have stuck it on my sales post in negative five seconds. It's a dark, shadowy blend of smoky woods interlaced with tendrils of rich resinous incense, enigmatic and even ominous. If church smelled like this maybe I wouldn't mind three hours on my feet.

It's like everything delicious was crammed into this one little spritzer thing. I get mainly warm buttery spiced pumpkin, vanilla cream (there must be Bourbon vanilla in here somewhere) and some kind of toasted nuts, probably hazelnut and maybe almond and/or walnut as well. Probably white musk in here as well. Thankfully the spices in here stay toned down and it's really the vanilla and pumpkin that come through the most with a warm and toasty nutty backdrop.

I don't ever want this bar to end, and it won't for a long time considering the generous size. It's such a lovely wintry blue with white swirls that are embedded in the soap so no worries about anything rubbing off. It's strongly scented with Snow White as VioletBlue noticed, and it even leaves the lingering scent of Snow White on my skin after lathering up. I hope this comes back every year, because I'm not sure that both my bars will survive until next Christmas!

I am a huge foody scent lover at heart, and what more to get my bath in the foody holiday spirit than this! I couldn't stop huffing the bottle (or for that matter wanting to eat it). It's buttery from the shortbread and creamy from the chocolate--I get more white than dark chocolate--with a tartness from the cranberries and the tiniest zing of sweet mint. The bit of candy cane is not overpowering at all, just a flourish to finish it off. Now to find an edible counterpart...

I second Andra with "Christmas in a bottle". This is the perfect scent to cozy up to when you're feeling in the holiday mood. It's got it all: the coolness of snow and evergreens, the warmth of smoky wood, the sweetness of winter berries, and extra warmth and body from the apple beer. Actually the apple beer adds a bready aspect to it--before rereading the notes I actually thought it was supposed to be fresh-baked bread. It's the perfect balance of warm and cool, incorporating all the key elements of the season without smelling like a stereotypical holiday candle.

Agreed about the amazing coverage! I was in a rush to do my nails and one coat took care of them completely with a rich magenta foil color. There is also something I'd like to point out to anyone else who is all too familiar with the downfalls of "foil"-type polishes: this one doesn't thin or fade without topcoat. It even dries to a shiny finish on its own, not that dull semi-matte I remember from that cheap stuff I used to wear in junior high. In the realm of foil polishes this is definitely an upgrade!

A really literal interpretation! Seriously, it smells exactly like pancakes and berry syrup so much that I almost forgot it was perfume and started sniffing around the house for a trace of pancakes on the griddle when I realized the tantalizing aroma was coming from me. Whatever the "goat butter" is (and I can't stand goat cheese), it behaves, and lets the warm fluffy pancakes and dark berry syrup take center stage. This might be one of those that some people would think is too close to actual food to wear as perfume, but I'm the type who wears those anyway.

This one is fun, fruity and festive. Thankfully the combo of mint/berry/citrus doesn't turn into a horrible clashing mess on my skin as I feared. It actually reminds me a bit of that Orbit berry-mint-something gum--Wildberry Mint? I forget--but without the menthol or cloying artificial sweetness. I do tend to amp lemon anything and I amp the lemon in this a bit more than I would have wanted, but the sweet mint and strawberry are strong enough to hold their own and keep it from going the way of lemon overhaul.

This is a melange of sweet winter berries immersed in something fizzy and bubbly, what I take to be the "ale" aspect. The fizzy note is really more of a ginger ale-type thing than beer and blends with the berries smoothly like a holiday punch and for anyone afraid of booze, it's rather sparkling and not boozy at all. I do notice there is something lemony in this--my skin tends to amp lemon anything--probably to lend it a tart aspect, though on my skin it amps a bit more than I'd like. Even with that, it's still a fun and festive scent.

This definitely has a zing to it, not sharp and off-putting, just invigorating. It makes me think of the first breath of frosty air on a winter morning, like breathing in a jolt of energy. There is a slight hint of green to account for the "fern" aspect though it's not a very prominent green; I get mostly the icy notes, especially peppermint. There must also be a tiny bit of cool vanilla somewhere in the background as well to keep ti from getting too bracing. I highly recommend this one when you have problems waking up!

I'm over the moon that I can finally bathe in Snow White! It has all the cool, crystalline beauty of the perfume oil; slightly sweet, a teensy bit of something coconutty, just pure love.

I second Paper Kite, and add Tiki Princess to that as well--perfect summer blends!

This is great, like a warm boozy spiced cider. The spices complement the apple scent but don't overpower it to no end. I kind of want to bite this bar.

Holy crap it's Ice Queen bath oil. Ice Queen is one of my favorite winter scents of all time, and Ice Prince is the perfect companion to it for the bath. It has that same cool, crystalline musk, frozen (but not overpowering) florals and pine, and sparkling plummy note. It really is very similar to Ice Queen and I'm overjoyed that I can layer these two!

If this isn't one of the most beautiful things I've ever smelled...I wish it was a perfume oil as well. And room spray. And soap. Am I missing anything? It's not a "cold" scent at all but rather a veil of sweet warmth like the woolen shawl I imagine a "winter maiden" wrapping around herself. The rose is not sharp and dry at all but soft, and melds eatuifully with the other notes, and the amber grounds it with a warm sweetness. After taking a bath with this last night I didn't want to get out!