girasol

Fruity and fresh - the sweet red pomegranate is offset by a slight citrusy tang and the bite of the vodka. This would be a great summertime scent!

This was a little harsh at first - the rum note is quite dry, and combined with the tobacco it has an almost burnt-sugary feel at first. After a little while though, the coconut moves more to the front and the whole scent blends better. It's rich and warm, and a little bit foody.

Just a plain-Jane white floral blend on me. Pretty, but nothing that reaches out and grabs you.

This is pleasant, but a little too 'pubescent girl' for me... it smells so sweetly fruity that it reminds me a little of one of those sickly body sprays I adored when I was 13. Also, my skin eated it after about an hour.

How very odd. This does not evoke images of black pyramids, river demons, and bleak, deadly desert sands - it evokes images of Scooby Doo blowing a giant pink bubblegum bubble, only to have it burst in a sticky mess all his face (I don't know if that ever happened in a Scooby Doo cartoon, but I can totally see it). Silly old Scooby. It's about as bleak and foreboding as a box full of kittens, TBH.

Wha-hey! A blend containing vetiver that doesn't make me want to hurl, who knew such a thing existed!

 

I really don't get anything damp or green from this, on me it is a straight-up floral. Heady and tropical. Nice, but not unique enough for me to feel like I need more than the imp.

Frimp! Yay!

 

In the imp: Dry spice and... er, Sprite?

 

Wet: An expolsion of menthol-camphor type stuff going on as soon as it hits the skin - the incense, I presume. Through the drydown, something a bit more sweet and floral comes through.

 

Dry: Soft, smoky, incensey things going on now, with a faint sweetness. Sticking fairly close to the skin.

 

Verdict: It might be the kind of thing I'm in the mood for occasionally. Good Autumn scent.

This reminds me of a big bowl of ripe, stewed stone fruit, sprinkled with powdered sugar. Very rich and sweet, and 'clotted' is actually quite a good description - it's like the cherries that have over-ripened and leaked sticky ooze over the bottom of the bowl. Not the kind of thing you'd wear everyday, but delicious and unmistakeably BPAL.

I couldn't resist a scent that pays tribute to the beautiful relationship between dogs and their humans, so when I saw a bottle for sale I snapped it up!

 

This is a very gentle scent. It starts out grassy, but rather than fresh green grass it's more like a sun-baked meadow in the middle of summer. Soft florals come through during the drydown.

 

Dry, it's quite faint - but up close it's still there, warm and golden. Subtle and lovely.

This definitely feels like a puff of fairy dust from just over yonder.

 

Light, ethereal florals that blend together perfectly, with no particular note dominant. There's a rounded fruitiness from the redcurrant, a sweet zing from the passionflower, and a soft green undertone from the herbs.

 

So pretty.

Kebechet is actually already a transliteration - stemming from 'Qeb-hwt'. I think it's meant to be pronounced more like keb-uh-het, but the ancient Egyptians generally did not record vowel sounds - so most likely nobody will ever know exactly how it was intended to be said.

 

Also... BUY-PAL

This went on as a really pretty tangerine dream... but my skin eated it. In less than an hour. Le sigh.

Wow, this was a real morpher on me. In the imp and when wet, it was kind of a nondescript cologney smell, but when it dried it was totally different. Pretty, ethereal - almost floral topnotes, underscored with a faint soapiness (I assume from the musks). Completely not what I expected, but I love it!

Rich and spicy, with a metallic tang. I am in complete agreement with those who have said it smells like a working man (in a good way!). This is going to smell lovely on my husband, I think. The only downside is the amber does give it that usual amber powderiness - on me, anyway.

In bottle: Soft, sugar-spun florals. Sooo pretty!

 

Wet: The leather comes charging out and things go all scary for a few minutes. Thankfully, it calms down after that.

 

Dry: The florals are light and lovely in this, and are blending well and not overpowering. The vanilla is creamy and wonderful, and the leather is underscoring the lot with a warm smokiness. The amber does not seem to be bringing it's powdery doom to play on this scent, so hurrah!

 

Verdict: I think it's love.

In the imp: Dry, warm spices.

 

Wet: Stewed apple with cinnamon sugar! So good!

 

Dry: Soft sweet spice, sugared apple pie and a creamy undertone.

 

Verdict: Such a delicious scent! Warm and comforting and snuggly. It reminds me of a dish of spiced apple crumble. I really hope this comes back in this year's 'weenies, I'd love a bottle of this

This reminded me a lot of a commercial perfume, I'm thinking possibly because of the lily note or the olive blossom? That said, this is an incredibly pretty scent. I think I will definitely be needing a bottle. A light, feminine floral (whoever said it was unisex upthread must have a very different skin chemistry than me ) with good throw. It has a soft coolness to it, which is possibly where the snow note comes in. I personally did not get the citrus or the creaminess others have mentioned, it was all crisp floral on me.

Wow, this is really not at all what I was expecting. I was maybe misled by the "Middle Eastern flowers" part of the description, but I was anticipating something sweet and spicy. Instead, this is very cologne-y, and TBH I can't really pick out any of the listed notes, except maybe leather. It's not horrible, but it's very much not me.

This is a soft and snuggly scent! The jasmine overpowers a little at first, but once the jasmine calms down it's a well-blended mishmash of soft sweetness, with the tang of the grapefruit giving it just a tiny zing and preventing it being too cloying. Love.

I do like this, but I think I will need to take more care to be sparing with it. It's very, very, tooth-achingly sweet. I put too much on and I smell a bit like a fifteen year old girl who likes her perfume so much she marinated herself in it.

 

Fruit is definitely dominant, but the combination of orchid and sandalwood gives it a little something extra.

This might be my favourite of the black valentines, though it's a close call. A very fruity, feminine scent - it doesn't morph a lot on me, and has good staying power, which a lot of the lighter scents don't on my skin. I get mainly the floral and fruity notes, with the sweet pea out in front the whole time. I never really notice the cognac or honey popping out to say hi, but it could just be my skin chemistry.

This is mostly the frankincense on me (at least I think that's what it is that's coming through so strongly). Instead of smelling all warm and golden, on me it's actually kind of cool and herbal, and slightly... I want to say smoky, but that's not really it. Kind of like menthol, actually.

 

It's pleasant and quite unique, but without the aid of the description I wouldn't have pegged it as a summery scent at all.

Imp: Sweetly floral and slightly fruity.

 

Wet: Florals front and centre, spicy musk lurking in the background.

 

Dry: The musk (which is a lovely rich spicy musk, mmm) is the stronger note now, but the florals and the fruitiness are blending very nicely with it.

 

Verdict: Oh dear, I like it. I like it a lot. Another one for the will-buy-a-bottle-sometime list. It's such a long list.

A really nice scent, but gone so quickly My skin eats teh BPALs. Coconut out in front - as others have said, not suntan lotion coconut, but fresh coconut meat, gentle and rich. The iris floats around in the background as a soft floral note, and the white musk occasionally lends a vaguely soapy, fresh linen feel to the mix. The hazelnut is not obvious, but does give it a nice rich undertone.

 

I have to say, I don't get anything menacing from this at all. It's a soft, dreamy tropical scent that makes me think of napping in a hammock on a warm-but-not-too-hot, perfect summer's day, with sweet scents drifting by on gentle warm breezes. I only wish it lasted longer!

To me this is mainly a delicious sugary musk. The rose is there, but while others have said it's an in-your-face true rose, I found exactly the opposite. For me it was kind of a tricksy rose, one moment barely detectable, at other times bursting out from behind the warm, musky spice with an exuberant "Fooled you! Here I am!"

 

Sometimes this, sometimes that, but always very feminine. This is one of my new favourites.