mxtine

This smells like a commercial men's cologne. Something that would be in a blue bottle. It's ozone and citrus, an aquatic that ends up smelling like fresh laundry. It's a lot less sinister than I would expect from the name and description.

Zephyr is a lovely clean creamy white floral with vanilla, a bit of lemon, and light musk that surprisingly doesn't go sharp on my skin. To my nose, it's in the same family as Giant Vulva, Dorian, and Velvet Nudie, but a lot more airy and demure. It's perfect for the hot days ahead, and I'm considering a bottle.

Sugary, melty vanilla marshmallows.

 

Marshmallow is one of my favorite foodie scents, and this doesn't disappoint. There's something pink about this, and I imagine this is what a pink Peep would taste like. Sometimes I smell coconut. This is delightful. It never got plasticky, it just stayed true from the decant to my skin and dry.

Snow Glass Apples isn't something I'd usually go for but I had the chance to try it, and it's just a crisp, clear green apple scent with something that goes horribly wrong on my skin. ozone/aquatic scents always turn into dryer sheets, so that's not a surprise. I really liked the crisp apple scent but it's not something I'd wear with or without the laundry-smell.

Electric-pink tangy sugar rush! My brain just woke up when I sniffed from the bottle. This phase is very similar to Rosy Maple. The marshmallow comes out once it's on my skin, but a strange aquatic note peeks out too. I'm guessing the "pillowcase" note is giving this a bit of a dryer-sheets smell which is throwing the candy awesomeness off. I love Beth's concepts but who would throw a bunch of yummy candy into a freshly washed, fabric-softener coated pillowcase? Ugh.

Well, I'm pretty lucky to have caught this BPAL unicorn.

 

When I opened the bottle, I got a whiff cream and something woody that reminded me instantly of Glowing Vulva (someone upthread mentioned Haloes which is also similar to GV). When it's on my skin, I can tell that it's not teak, but there is an element of masculinity in here. I can't say this is a foodie scent at all. It's like a dry sarsaparilla-and-cream cologne. OK now it's getting better. The cologne has mostly evaporated and it's the sarsaparilla-and-cream I hoped for. I really need to let things rest before I review.

 

ETA. I wasn't sold on this at first, but I re-tested again today and it works. Faintly sweet sarsaparilla & cream, and a little musk. It's beautiful.

I got a 1/2 decant of this on LJ and was expecting cake, cotton candy, marshmallows, cream cheese, funnel cakes, etc. I love Midway so I've been dying to try this.

 

Well, this decant smells diluted in the imp and on skin. It smells like borderline rancid oil with a drop of the perfume because I can BARELY get a hint of the sweets. I gave this time to "bloom" and re-tested to no avail. Very disappointed.

 

ETA: New decant...

Now I smell it. It's mostly a white cake with a bit of cream cheese. No marshmallows or funnel cakes. It has a little bit of a plasticky smell. I'll stick to Midway for my carnival goodies fix.

I never searched for this because I was afraid the cream note would go sour milk (aka baby vomit)and/or it would be disgustingly sweet like Gluttony or Velvet. When I saw a decant on LJ I sprung for it though.

 

In the imp, this smells like a dusty bittersweet chocolate fudge. On my skin, I get the same chocolate with a dollop of heavy cream. The cream gives this a bit of sourness but it works so well in this blend. As it dries down, I smell a bit of vanilla extract booziness that gives this scent a 'perfume' feel. I love that it's not pure foodie, and while it's best phase doesn't last long, my skin still has a lovely vanilla-chocolate-sugar dusted scent, like one of those chocolate dusting powders from Urban Decay.

 

I think this is my holy grail chocolate scent. I definitely need to hunt down a bottle.

This smells delicious in the bottle, with black musk and dark chunks of unidentifiable resins. I'm surprised the oil isn't black. I put a small dab on the top of my wrist because I can tell that this scent means business. For several minutes, I'm overcome with the smell of heavy, powdery myrrh incense. Even later, this dries down to the most gorgeous resin/black musk scent thanks to the sweetness of benzoin.

 

What a winner.

I'm a floral hater but I tend to like rose with musk or resins or waxy white blooms in tropical scents. This perfume is all over the place: Sugared gardenia, magnolia, jasmine and rose in red musk and/or dragon's blood. It's a very sweet, lush, creamy scent. I don't get "foody" at all, but there's a lovely sugary musk on the dry down that makes up for the WHOA FLORALS in the beginning. It goes against what I usually like but I think this is a keeper.

I don't really have any "Summery" scents but I like to wear the lighter ones in my collection:

 

Cake Smash

Celeste

Dia De Los Muertos

Dorian

Giant Vulva

Glitter

Gypsy Moth

Haloes

Inez

Joyful Moon

Kali

Lady Una

Loli.Goth

Mouse's LAST

Obatala + Pele (always worn together)

Rosy Maple Moth

Snake Charmer

Sybil

Velvet Pink Kitty

Velvet Tiki

Velvet Unicorn

 

Also, Snake Oil and Banshee Beat aren't light but I wear them anyway. They smell amazing on hot skin.

This is a bright, fruity floral when it's wet. It's well-blended because I can't pick out every note other than plum. After a few minutes drying, it gets a bit commercial perfumey and soapy. I wish I got more wood and incense.

I generally don't do well with boozy notes, especially wine and champagne because they turn into GRAPES, which I loathe as perfume. This has a teeny bit of grapiness in the imp, so I have reservations...

 

On my skin, I smell a thick, rich, golden sherry. It's fruity but I can't pin anything specific down. Maybe candied orange peel? The oak and patchouli are very faint, but I can smell it in there, giving this otherwise sweet blend a nice woody-earthiness.

 

It's not knocking my socks off, but is interesting enough to hold onto for the cooler months.

This is pink frosted vanilla/strawberry cake. Similar to the cake in Lilith's Tea Party, without the florals and rosewater. I can also say it's like a lighter, tarter version of Closet, but with strawberry instead of blackberry and white cake instead of red velvet. There is a bit of a plastic smell when it's dry if I sniff closely, but it has a nice foody sandalwood finish.

 

I love strawberry and this is pretty, but can be a little cloying. It seems the only BPAL with strawberry that works on me is Loli.Goth.

I love the combination of frankincense & myrrh, it's very comforting. This bath oil is lovely and not too heavily scented. The resins are smooth and not smokey at all, which is what I initially feared. I can slather this on after a bath or use it more sparingly as a layering scent.

Are the Steamworks imps getting different labels? I just got one for No 93 Engine which is covered in images of brass cogs-though I wonder if this unique to No 93 Engine because my recently ordered imp of Smokestack doesn't have the brass cogs-just black cogs.

 

I also love the fact that the Atomic Luau imps have cute images on the labels. Is the same true for bottles of these scents?

I had an imp last year of No 93 Engine and thought the same thing. I don't remember what was on the label of Aelopile but there was a spider on the label of The Obsidian Widow...I thought they were decants because I didn't realize Steamworks were impable. OT but I've wanted to try Smokestack forever just to see how Creosote smells in a perfume. The bushes are all over the desert here and have a really interesting scent.

This is amazing. It's what my aged Tombstone smells like: Warm vanilla-tonka and a dusty wood. It has decent throw but doesn't last.

This is like TKO without the marshmallow. I'm not a fan of the Lab's lavender note. It's very sharp and unwearable for me because it reminds me of diapers. I think this would be lovely w/o lavender, because what's underneath is a lightly spiced creamy amber vanilla.

LEATHER. Leather and metal, like a leather jacket with spikes and chains.

*off to the sink to scrub this off*

The Underbed proto really does smell like moist, crumbly coffee cake! It's heavy on butter instead of coconut, beautifully spiced but not as heavy on the cassia, and no cocoa at all...maybe white chocolate. There is a fleeting mintiness as well. I prefer the released version with cocoa and coconut, but this is still yummy.

#543. This little bottle has been around!

 

#543, previously reviewed on Livejournal as "slightly sweet, dark-ish vanilla, tart, zesty, zingy lime, a little booze (possibly rum), and something grassy/herbal, perhaps lemongrass and some fresh ginger."

 

Pretty much all clear here--no layers. It smells kind of like an evil Tiki Bar scent! I smell something greenish and herbal, but it's not a planting or floral type green, more like a herbal green as noted above. I do smell something citrusy and maybe it's lime or lemon. Not much lemongrass coming through. It's a really interesting, complex scent.

 

I received this via swap from The_Witching_Hour who described it as "Boozy Tahitian Vanilla".

 

I have to agree with all the above. It's a strong, boozy Tahitian vanilla with a zing. Unisex. It was very hard to tell what's in here. First, I got licorice which morphed into something like oak then sarsaparilla. When it's dry, it's a dry boozy vanilla with sarsaparilla and wafts of something herbal (lemongrass?) and sometimes woody (oak?). Mostly it's just making me crave a root beer float.

This was terrible on me. Way too sharp and strong. I was expecting it to work since patchouli and red musk work so well in Mme Moriarty. I don't think they even compare. This has orchid and balsam which are clashing with everything else.

This smelled chocolatey in the imp for some strange reason. At first I could pick out the honey, cognac and geranium but then it turned into a mess. I don't think tuberose and patchouli play well together.

I've recently discovered that I just don't care for plum scents. Bathsheba would be lovely with the carnation and Arabian musk solo, because plum turns grapey on me.

Yes, definitely Velvet Tiki.