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BPAL Madness!

ajansuz

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About ajansuz

  • Rank
    obsessive precious hoarder
  • Birthday 07/07/1970

Location

  • Location
    Southern Georgia
  • Country
    United States

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  • Livejournal handle
    Dark_Sinestra
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BPAL

  • BPAL of the Day
    13
  • Favorite Scents
    Shub Niggurath, Western Diamondback, Womb Furie, Tombeur, Geld, and Jezebel. My favorite florals are rose, violet, and heliotrope. I also love amber, honey, and vanilla notes and just about anything spicy or leather.

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female
  • Interests
    Writing, sculpting, gardening, the paranormal
  • Mood
    Chillaxed

Astrology

  • Chinese Zodiac Sign
    Dog
  • Western Zodiac Sign
    Cancer
  1. ajansuz

    Hollywood Babylon

    I first received this as a frimp, but I instantly fell in love and bought a bottle as soon as I could. Of all of the BPAL scents I own, this one nets me the most consistent complements and, uh...attention, for lack of a better way to put it. If your skin likes this, just be aware it's not an office scent or something to wear to a polite soiree. Those who like the scent on you, men and women alike, will be quite forward about it. In the bottle, it's juicy candy, a very naughty cherry cordial threaded through with grapey red musk. Wet, my skin amps the musk to overdrive to the point that for a few minutes, that's just about all I smell, but this phase doesn't last long. As it dries down, the vanilla and amber both amp to hold their own with the red musk. There's still a hint of cherry candy. It keeps the scent just shy of the realm of straight up sex and has a playful edge. It is long-lasting with tremendous throw. I once wore it through a 10 hour, very busy work shift in which I sweated quite a bit, and at the end of the shift just walked past a co-worker who was seated outside. He immediately asked me what I was wearing and told me I smelled incredible. (Not an office environment!) Whereas my body usually completely absorbs Snake Oil within two hours, it hangs onto Hollywood Babylon and throws it like crazy. Not only does it get nice reactions, it makes me feel good, too. This is my go to perfume for a night on the town when I aim to misbehave.
  2. ajansuz

    Queen

    This was a frimp from the lab. In the vial, this is a very juicy, herbal scent with the sweetness of the honey of O, an evergreen freshness and something sharp and reminiscent of anise. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it or if it would behave on my skin. Wet, the honey note blossoms into a very sensual skin scent and reminds me even more of O. There's also something a little powdery at this point, like amber, and the herbal note goes more toward a green floral, like violet or even violet leaf. The evergreen keeps it grounded. I can see why several have said this is a mature, powerful scent. There is nothing at all girlish about Queen. On the dry down even more of the violet comes out for me, like Saturnalia without the vetiver. It's slightly waxy, but not in an unpleasant or fake way. This scent lasts for several hours with medium throw. The boy thought it was sexy without finding it overpowering or too in his face. It doesn't morph much once it has dried down. It stays honey/amber sweet and somewhat herbal/evergreen. As much as I like it, I already have enough bottles with similar notes that smell even better on me and don't go as powdery. I'll keep and use the imp but likely not purchase more.
  3. ajansuz

    Loup Garou

    This came as s frimp with my latest order. In the imp, holy eucalyptus, Batman! A really strong blast of it with sharp pine beneath it. In general I enjoy evergreen blends, so the pine wasn't as much of a put off as eucalyptus. I have negative mental associations with it from suffering severe respiratory infections as a child. Wet for about ten minutes the eucalyptus dominated. It cleared my sinuses and got my nose running. This was from a very tiny wand swipe at my wrists, rubbed together, and then at the crooks of my arms. As it dried down, the pine scent came out much stronger. At that stage it smelled like Golden Priapus without the vanilla. It was a warmer scent by then, with a spiciness that had to be the galangal. In the crooks of my arms it stayed sharper. It had medium throw and lasted perhaps three hours or so before really fading. I love Golden Priapus and already have a bottle of it. This is so close to it without the vanilla note that makes it magical that I'll have to pass. Nice, though, once the eucalyptus burns off and goes away.
  4. ajansuz

    Epitaph

    This was a lab frimp with my most recent order. Holy crap am I in love with this scent! In the imp it was kind of scary, not gonna lie. VERY strong, cloying, sweet lily with a touch of ozone and tiny pink rosebuds. It was so sweet and strong I was afraid it might give me a headache, so I applied sparingly. I need not have worried because... Wet, it blossomed into the most gorgeous, soft scent cloud. At my wrists it was lily and a somber aquatic. At the crooks of my arms the rose was stronger, and it had some greenery to balance out the sweetness. Maybe even a touch of white musk or something else to ground it a little. The dry down was the real magic. Nothing amped out of proportion, nor did it go soapy as some lily blends can do on me. It's a much more feminine and floral fragrance than I normally like, but wearing it I felt pretty, confident, comfortable, and just the slightest bit aloof. This is the sort of perfume I love best for curling up with a blanket and a book on a rainy afternoon. I wouldn't hesitate to wear this at work or to a formal occasion. It's versatile, classy, and stays close enough to the skin that no one is going to wonder when the funeral is when you walk into the room. If you hate florals, thpugh, give this one a pass.
  5. ajansuz

    The Dodo

    This was a lab frimp. It was both intriguing and frustrating. In the imp was the promise of cassia and strong wood with the problematic touch of lemon. Lemon scents rarely work well on me. I always wind up smelling like a love child of Dawn dish detergent and Lemon Pledge. Nonetheless, I'm committed to trying every BPAL that comes my way, so I put it on. Wet it hurt and stung. My skin at the crook of my arms had an adverse reaction to the cassia and made two big welts. Yet the scent virtually disappeared. Literally within a minute of putting this on, it was completely gone. Nothing at my wrists, nothing at my arms except the uncomfortable burning. I can't tell you what it smelled like when dry. My skin ate it whole and got indigestion. Clearly not a blend for me.
  6. ajansuz

    Chuparosa

    Oh, Chuparosa, I wanted to love you, but alas your love is for someone else. This was a lab frimp with a recent order, and it should have been magic judging from the scent in the imp. Heady rose, honeysuckle, and something both woody and spicy that made me think of cassia. Wet the spicy note hung out with the florals, preventing them from being overly sweet, and there was a strong scent of crushed honeysuckle leaf and vine. Very green and fresh, very nice with the powerful floral. Unfortunately, as it dried, that was all that was left, a very strong, sour crushed greenery that smelled like I had been abusing the honeysuckle vines with my weed whacker and then rolling in the sappy carnage.
  7. ajansuz

    Jazz Funeral

    This was a lab frimp with a recent order. I had been wanting to try this for a while now, so I was pretty excited! In the imp there's a lot going on. It's an intriguing blend. The florals are sweet and swampy, lily, magnolia, gladioli, a hint of carnation. I really love the lab's dirt note, and it's fairly prominent here. I'm not getting the booze notes which surprises me since they're usually pretty prominent. Wet the dirt comes out more strongly in the crooks of my arms than on my wrists. On my wrists the florals are sweet with a hint of decay. It's very evocative of its name. I'm a little concerned it could go cloying, but it doesn't. If this has a weakness, it's in the lasting power. After just two hours, it's very faint. When it first dries, it's a lovely, intriguing white floral with the complexity of earth and moss. After three hours it's gone completely. I'll really enjoy the imp, but I think that will be the extent of it. I like my fragrances to last a little longer than this.
  8. ajansuz

    Honey Moon

    Honey Moon contains five different honeys, ranging from pale and sweet to deep and heady, with hints of jasmine, white gardenia, Hawaiian white ginger and thyme. This is the first of the moons I've found myself drawn to, and it doesn't disappoint. If you had told me a year ago that I would actually be able to differentiate honey notes in anything, I would've thought that was crazy, but I honestly do smell several different honey layers when I open the bottle, from sweet and sexy to herbal and the faintest touch of beeswax. There's a cherry cordial kind of sweetness, too, surprising since nothing like that is listed. When it's wet, it's lush honey, both the beeswax sweetness of The Lights of Men's Lives and the more herbal honey of Yewberry Infused Honey. If there's any floral, it's all blended together so well it just leaves a fresh, white impression overlaying the honey. As it dries, the herbal honey takes front and center. It stays skin close and soft. I don't worry that I'll overpower anyone else with a cloud of scent. It's formal enough to stand up to a business function yet soft enough for after dinner intrigue, if you care to invite someone to invade your space. I'm very pleased with the purchase. It's different enough from the other honey scents I own to stand on its own and be reached for on those days I want a little mystery in my life.
  9. ajansuz

    Love

    Sometimes you read a BPAL description and hope with all your heart that it will deliver exactly what it says and that your skin chemistry will cooperate. And sometimes it happens just so. In the bottle I was a little concerned. It was more rose than anything else. While I adore rose, I already have more rose blends than any one person should at one time. The rose had some stem going on, a touch of strawberry, and that was about it. Wet the marshmallow made itself known in a glorious fluffy burst of puffed sugar goodness and dragged strawberry along to play. It was dizzyingly sweet without making it into cloying territory. It was pretty much exactly what I had been hoping for. The rose came out more strongly in the crook of my arm than on my wrists. Even so it didn't dominate, but complimented. The throw was medium, the staying power around five hours before it began to fade. After the fade, a faint vanilla/marshmallow/strawberry sweetness lingered with a touch of red rose at my elbow. This isn't a sexy, va va voom fragrance. It's fun and playful and kind of comforting in a sugary dessert kind of way. Foody without being overly gourmand. If you're afraid of rose, you don't really need to be with this. I usually amp rose out the wazoo. It behaved itself very nicely in this blend.
  10. ajansuz

    Rapunzel in Ballpoint

    In the bottle it's tart green apple, just like a Granny Smith when you first bite into the skin. There's something kind of fizzy about it that reminds me of a good ginger ale without the ginger bite. It's got just a hint of bitterness, too. It's the bitter I associate with apple peels. Very nice! Wet it takes on more of a candied quality rather than smelling like natural apple flesh. It's still delicious but not as much like fruit. I can't detect any musk at all. As it dries, something kind of dry and powdery comes into play. It retains its apple candy goodness but loses the juicy quality. The throw is strong, and the staying power lasts for several hours. Sadly, I never got to try Snow, Glass, Apples as anything other than a soap fragrance. This reminds me a little of that without the complexity. I think it's a great, fun summer fragrance I'll be wearing a lot.
  11. ajansuz

    Twenty-One

    This was a frimp with a recent order, yet another one of those that fall into the category of, "I'd never have ordered this on my own, but damn is it good!" In the imp it smells pretty much straight up like a martini. Booze notes aren't always nice with my skin chemistry, so it was with caution that I tried this, just a tiny swipe across each wrist. Wet it was pretty magical. Fresh, crisp, clean and effervescent. A clean herbal scent with a hint of juniper and dry lime. A suggestion of gin without screaming GIN. It didn't morph when it dried. On me it stayed a skin scent. There was never much throw. However, whenever I managed to catch a whiff, I felt refreshed and energetic. Like Embalming Fluid, this is a terrific hot weather scent in my opinion. Refreshing without ever overpowering. Slightly sweet without cloying. Best of all, while it is a little boozy, it doesn't amp too high on my skin or make me smell like a sloppy drunk. I'd definitely wear this to a party or for a casual night out when I wanted to smell good without attracting tons of attention for it. Very nice!
  12. ajansuz

    Schrodinger's Cat

    This was a frimp fresh from the lab. I really should not have even tried to put this one on, because pink grapefruit is always bitter yuck on me, and the lab's lavender note goes to old gym socks on me. In the imp, it's a nearly overpowering bitter citrus blast, like floor cleaner. Wet it's grapefruit and gym socks. The dry down didn't get any better for me. I wound up washing this one off. If you like citrus and it likes you, go for it. It's very, very fruity.
  13. ajansuz

    Endymion

    Selune, the Moon Goddess, fell in love with a beautiful shepherd named Endymion. She appealed to Zeus, asking him to cast Endymion into everlasting slumber so that she could be with him for all eternity. Her wish was granted, and every night the Goddess visited her love as he slept. A sweet, wistful blend of d’Anjou pear, Lily of the Valley, bois du rose and white musk. Oh, my goodness, this is so beautiful. I used to say I hated fruit scents, but Beth is making a fruit lover out of me over time. In the imp it was shockingly sweet. I was slapped across the nostrils by white florals and a little frightened. I hadn't read the notes, and it was as heady as gardenia which manages to go headache inducing on me. I shouldn't have worried. Wet I got a blast of sweet, juicy pear to the point it made my mouth water. The rose and the lily are very well blended and complemented rather than competed with one another. The pear held its own against them. It was sweet and bright and more complex than one might expect. It's a floral fruit. Thankfully, nothing got soapy like some have reported, but all of these are notes that I know play very well on my skin chemistry. As it dried, it wasn't much of a morpher on me. The pear and the two floral notes stayed pretty balanced. My wrists amped the florals the most, rose and lily. The crooks of my arms held onto the pear. The throw overall was medium. I kept getting these lovely whiffs of pear as I move around. It lasted a few hours which surprised me since my skin pretty much inhaled the pear in The Vine after less than an hour. Another serious bottle contender, like I don't have enough rose blends yet.
  14. ajansuz

    Namaste

    Namaste was a frimp, and all I could think was why have I never tried this before? It's all notes that play nicely with my skin and...yeah! Let's get to that review! In the imp, my nose read the lemongrass as grapefruit, a sparkly, tangy grapefruit minus the bitterness that usually makes that a no-starter for me. The jasmine was very obvious with rose right under it. Strong sandalwood. This smells almost exactly like some solid perfume from India I had years ago and loved to pieces except that it never lasted more than an hour or so on my skin. Wet it was pure magic. Sandalwood came out more strongly for me than it ever has with any other BPAL. The jasmine didn't get too sharp and still had rose partnered with it strongly enough that it didn't dominate. The lemongrass stopped smelling like grapefruit but also wasn't screaming lemon which will just kill any love I have of anything involved with it. It was a bright, sparkly citrus that blended really well with the wood and floral notes. No patch that I could detect. Maybe it was grounding it all a little to keep it from being too sweet, hard to say. The dry down was also a good stage for me. Nothing morphed strangely. Instead it all just settled in. It was exactly like I had always wished the solid perfume would be, staying around with decent throw. This blend definitely made me feel peaceful and happy. It's different enough from everything else I currently own that I'd be insane not to snag a bottle. On my skin chemistry I'd give this a 5/5.
  15. ajansuz

    Jailbait

    I received this as a frimp. In the imp, it's a blast of pink Bazooka bubblegum. Exactly the scent you get when you first untwist the paper wrapper. Crazy! Wet, bubblegum blast with something kind of plastic-y. I'm transported back to sixth grade when all of us were wearing Bonne Bell Lip Smacker lip glosses in bubblegum and cherry flavors. Then, owwie! Contact dermatitis! I can't even smell it yet, but there has to be cinnamon in this. It's the only thing I know of that burns my skin like that and makes red spots. I have no idea what this might have done on me in the dry down. I had to wash it off before it gave me hives. Not a huge loss as a woman in her 40s doesn't need to smell like this. Still, it was a fun little fragrance while it lasted and brought back some good memories. If it wasn't for the name, I'd have no hesitation in sending this to my eleven year old niece. However, I don't think my brother-in-law and sister-in-law would see much humor in her aunt giving her a perfume called "Jailbait."
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