rellyjean

Dark, heavy, incensey. A bit medicinal. Sour. There's also the scent that a couple of other people have picked up which is vaguely band-aid-ish, like when you've left a band-aid on your skin for days and days and FINALLY peel it off. The way your skin smells then. Ravenous did the same thing to me, and Vixen was another no-go. (Dammit, I will find my perfect sexy citrus some day.) I wonder if orange blossom is what does that on me? Damn. Anyways. Swap pile for toi, Jezzie.

I had such high hopes for this. On me, the orange is sickly-sweet, but even that is drowned out by the OMG I JUST SPENT THE WEEKEND HANGING OUT WITH POT SMOKERS vibe. It's loud and pushy and strong. It's very earthy and hemp-ish and - well. Again. Like you spent the weekend hanging around some stoners. Not for me. To the swap pile it goes.

I'm not a rose fan. But then, BPAL is magic and has redeemed some other things that I wouldn't have thought I'd like, so I put a few rose scents on my short list hoping to see if they could convince me otherwise. Delirium is a light, sweet, lemony rose. Delicate and crisp. Enticing. I think if I were going to wear a rose perfume, it would be this one. The rose isn't overpowering the way it was for me with Eve - it's playful and exquisite. But. I'm still not liking rose. IF you're a rose fan at all, I highly recommend this. It's an awesome blend, balanced and delicate and subtle. But ultimately - not for me. And off to the swap pile it goes.

Amber, buttery, dark, warm, soft, sweet. Almonds. A twist of something I don't recognize. Checking the notes - the vanilla, how could I have missed that? It's underlying the amber and sweetening it up. I don't get any peaches from this, or even sandalwood, although sandalwood always plays nicely with my skin. Although this is the second scent I love with peaches I can't detect (Imp being the other). Maybe I love peaches when they're underlying a mix, but not when they're prominent? This is thick and warm - yummy. Delicious. And for me it lasted hours and hours.

OK, apparently my body chemistry is stranger than I knew. In the imp, this is apricots, with a hint of something darker underscoring it. Yummy, although a touch more abrasive than I was anticipating, but usually those settle down nicely on me. Once I touch it to my skin - a new scent comes out of nowhere. Very strong, and something I can't put into words. The closest I can get is -really sharp fresh grass clippings. There's a cluster of that surrounding a core of something high and solid that I can't get the sense of, because it's .... covered in grass clippings. I didn't leave this on long enough to see if it morphed into apricots, as the grass clippings were making my nose wrinkle. This goes in my swap pile, for someone who can get apricots or brandy out of it and not .... Eau de Lawnmower.

Oops, I forgot to tiptoe back in here, sorry. The database isn't finished yet - there are a couple of bugs to work out. It's still giving me runtime errors when it can't find what I'm looking for (in an endless loop, how I LOVE that) and the outgoing shipments aren't connecting properly to the incoming shipments, things like that. For anyone who asked: it's in Access, and it's got a searchable listing of all the scents. Each scent pulls up a form where you can input notes - I've been pulling them from the site itself, since I know sometimes forumites can guess notes in scents that don't have any listed, but those aren't official and might be off or whatever. There's also a form for outgoing/incoming shipments - who you're swapping with, a link to the swap page or eBay listing or what have you, date of contact, date of payment, date you received it, all the scents - and you _should_ be able to cross-reference the two for situations such as "I'm swapping my Swank for your Grandmother of Ghosts" but right now that's working oddly. You can specify how much you want a scent (on a scale of 3 -s to 3 +s - everything defaults to = ) and then set a cutoff for the wishlist query (show everything above 1+, or 2+?) - there's a query for Scents I Have, Scents Pending, and Scents Shipped Out as well. Er, at any rate - when it's finished I'll pop back in here and let everyone know, should be within a week or so I'm thinking, and then whoever wants copies can e-mail me and I'll send them. (Or is there somewhere online I can post it, or anything like that? I'm not sure how that works.)

In the imp: Peach, sparkly. On, wet: Oooooh! It's a sharp peach, and something's keeping it high and tangy. Not too sweet, nice and crisp. Drydown: There's - musk I think??? - coming out to play with me. Teasing a bit. Making it all a bit warmer and rounder. Oooookay, I checked the notes, and that's an apricot, not a peach. Oops. Hour or so in: Just as I was starting to think the apricot was too shrill on its own, the musk comes out in full force. I adore white musk. Later: White musk with the tang of the apricots hanging around. The musk is taking center stage. Lovely. Not one of my all-time favorites, and there's an odd patch where the apricot is too dominant, but it's gorgeous all the same.

IMP: Yum. Lots of citrus-y goodness, with a dry spicy woody tone under it. Sandalwood maybe? On: ooooooooh. Orange but a bit darker, sharper. Being centered and grounded by the - woodier notes. I suck at notes, sorry. Drydown: a bit of a "perfumey" edge starts peeping out. Just a tinge. Five minutes in: Orange, with a bit of - I hate to say spiciness, it's not the spiciness of, say, ginger or patchouli. But there's a grounded note to it which is exquisite, and makes the orange that much sweeter by comparison. Num num yummy mmmmmmmmm. Sweet and yet deep and I am so in love with this scent. Tangy and delicious. An hour in: ... Damn. It's getting too sweet. Where did the grounding bits go? All of them seem to have taken off, and the orange is fading, too. Shortly thereafter: a supersweet raspberry, almost candy-ish. I'm not a big fan of the raspberries by and of themselves. I might give this another try some time. Sigh. The first half-hour of this was phenomenal. If only.

I got this at the same time as Baobhan Sith (thanks, misfitroxy!!) and I expected to LOVE BS and like CC, but less. I got them reversed. In the imp: grapefruit, but with a darker tang. It's a little too sharp, and off-putting. I need to remember that those scents often end up gorgeous on me... On: OMG. OMG. OMG. This is so exquisite. It's got a lot of the same grapefruity-ness that Baobhan Sith had, but there's a darker spicier edge to it, which I adore. It's a bit warmer and deeper. Baobhan Sith had a touch of sweetness, and this is more sour, and richer. Wow. This is - sexy. Smoky, intriguing, and luring you in. There's a bit of smoke and edge to it. The name fits - it's enigmatic and mysterious. It's - is there pepper in this? I'm getting a similar sharpness to Kuang Shi and Grandmother of Ghosts, but - I suck at notes. *checks notes* Wow, am I awful at this. Sorry. The dark musk is probably what I'm smelling that anchors it so well. I'm not getting floral from this at all - or if I am, it's a dark, enticing floral, and not what I normally think of as floral. (I typically loathe florals.) I knew white musk loved my skin - it looks like dark musk does as well. Red currant!? I had thought red currant was a bad note for me, but - huh. Maybe it's not. This is the first blend I've had where the red currant didn't go high and too sharp and fakey, and where it didn't try to take over. I am so in love. The scent fades out quicker than I'd like, which in normal cases means "OK, I'll just slather it," but with the scent being discontinued and damn near impossible to find - not so much. As it fades, it leaves just the musk, with a hint of fruits, a hint of something almost floral. NUM. Still in love. And also amused by the fact that a lot of the scents I seem to love the most are usually marked as "too masculine" by other forumites. Heh. Anyone want a kidney for a 5 ml?

Imp: the tea overpowers the other notes in the blend, making it bitter and a touch dark. I was uncertain about trying it, and then remembered how different imp-to-skin can be. (Kuang Shi was too bitter in the imp as well, and it's an all-time favorite.) So .... Wet: Oh my! This is a very very high-toned grapefruit. A bit tingly but not sparkly. Almost a touch sugary, but only a touch. This is light and seductive and delicate and entrancing. Drydown: The grapefruit steps back a little. There's a clean greenish scent emerging. Fresh leaves. About 15-30 minutes in: Ooooooh. The cherry blossom comes out to play, light and high, peeking around the leaves. (Which is good, as I wasn't that fond of the leaves being center stage.) It teams up with the grapefruit for this sharp, tarty citrusy scent. A few hours in: Fading fast, which is a shame. But then I washed my hands shortly after putting it on, and I think I might have washed some of it off inadvertently, so that's not necessarily indicative of its staying power.

No grapefruit here, which is a shame, as I love grapefruit scents. In the imp, this was dark swampy bog waters. Something evil slithering underneath, rotting. On me, the rotting bits came out and started waving their dead limbs at me. Still no grapefruit. No lightness, no sparkly, just - something under the evil seawater is coming for my head. Which is a very cool effect, I have to say, and Lovecraftian like anything. Just - not something I want to smell like. At all. I had to go and wash this off before I'd given it time to settle in, even. It was chokingly strong. So maybe on drydown it would have morphed into something different, but I don't think I'm going to find out, as the brief experience I had with R'lyeh was disconcerting enough. I have such freaking weird body chemistry.

The aquatics here are beautiful. The scent is the ocean, in all its calming majesty. I visited the Pacific Ocean and was shocked and how different it smelled than the Atlantic, which always has an unpleasant sour note to me. The Pacific was crisp, and clean, and soothing. Sea of Glass smells to me as if someone bottled the Pacific ocean-drenched air and liquified it. Pure and sharp, ozone and salty air. It's reassuring and steady, and I'm still in awe at how the power and tranquility of the ocean fits into this little imp. Unfortunately, it's not something I'm likely to wear, and it's a bit too aquatic for my taste as a room scent. So I swapped it out, but with the highest of regards.

This is gorgeous - light, feminine, and floral, three things which I didn't think worked on me at all, and yet here they do. Juliet is standing at her balcony, wondering why Romeo has to be a Montague ... or lying in her tomb, awake and looking upon her newly dead husband. There's an edge of sweet melancholy here. (Parting is such sweet sorrow...) I don't get much of the pear, but I believe that's what's rounding out the edges of this and keeping it from being just another light floral tone. And the musk centers it down a bit. Florals are usually so bland on me, but this is exquisite. The scent is delicate and simple, but with a richness of tone underlying it. I'm not sure if it's going on my Bottle list, but I'm certain I'll use the imp.

The currant is sharp here - there's a high note that isn't quite cherry and is closer to cherry cough syrup. It starts light, with the rest of the blend woodsy and a touch fruity, but soon dominates the blend. After about a half hour, all I can smell is the semi-licorice-semi-cough-syrup thin high sharp note of the currant. There's a sharp undertone as well that's less pleasant. I don't know notes very well, so I can't say if the cherries are combining oddly with the currant, or if this is just how currant is and the cherries have been drowned out entirely. Either way, something isn't playing nicely with my skin. In the meantime, this imp is headed for the swap pile. Sorry about that, Your Majesty.

In the vial, this is delicious - the pomegranate, the scent of light vodka, almost, the alcoholic tinge to it all. Tart and crisp. On, this is still exquisite, but the scent is much stronger than I'd imagined, and I only applied lightly. As time passes, the pomegranate drowns out the vodka-martini fizzle sparkly edge. It's a high sharp citrus-y pomegranate, and it's delicious, but it's a bit too sharp and a bit too strong for me. It won't settle in - it insists on sitting up front and waving vigorously at me out the car window. It's a bit distracting and a little overpowering. The throw and the duration are wonderful, but this isn't for me. I tossed it into the Swap pile, but with a fond adieu and well wishes for its future.

Interesting. Thalia is one of the scents I was most hoping to try, and I even ordered a bottle of it unsniffed. I was sure I'd love it. And I do. It's just not what I expected at all. The pear isn't out front for me - in fact, I only get flashes of pear at most. (After this and Endymion, I'm wondering if my skin doesn't play nicely with pear. Which is a shame, as I love pear.) What's dominant is what I'm guessing has to be the plumeria. It's a floral, but a touch - warmer? Spicier? - than I was anticipating. There's a flatness of tone to it that I think I really like. The champagne is rounding it out and making it a touch fruity and sparkly and light. This isn't light in the giddy-hyperactive way that Fae or Forbidden Fruit were for me - it's not light in a way that I'd say makes it young-girl as opposed to young-woman-ish. It's just higher than some of the sandalwood-y blends I love, like Kuang Shi. Hubby said this blend smells more like an actual perfume than a lot of the other scents do, which is an interesting take on it, and I'm not sure how he meant it, but I can see it. I'm glad I ordered the bottle. This is DEFINITELY on my Top Ten and Must Have list. It's just not a new !!!FAVORITE!!! the way I thought it was going to be. Ah, Thalia, don't take that the wrong way. I do still love you so.

I agree with the person back on page 1 who said that wet, this smells like Juicy Fruit gum. Unfortunately, for me, that phase doesn't entirely go away on drydown. It's a bit sharper and darker than the wet phase, and there are lurking undercurrents, but - this is too candy/sugar for me, and there's something off here that's making my head hurt. It wants to morph into something rich and warm, and something in the blend won't let it. (Or, more likely, my chemistry.) Amber never comes out to play for me, which is a shame, as amber usually loves my skin. Sadly, it has met its match. This one's going in the swap pile.

Imp: sweeter than I expected. Fuller, richer. Num. On: OOooooooooh. The strawberry and vanilla make this light and fruity, while the darker musks drag this down and hint at a seductive corrupt underbelly. There's a richness and fullness to the tone, a complexity. I feel seductive and dangerous and exotic. The amber rounds it all out. There's a lower tone than you usually get with fruity scents. Mmmmm. This is a strong scent, and badass, and with a lot of throw. The one downside is that it doesn't seem to last as long on me as it does on other people. Feh. I'll just reapply. This is going on my big bottle list, like, yesterday.

There's almost a lemony sweetness to it. It smells a lot like detergent, or rather, what a lot of detergents are trying for and never get right. Like sheets that have been hanging out and drying in the sunshine. Except I always think of that as a warm scent, and this is more cool and crisp. The sheets are still wet, and flapping a little heavily in the sun, and just starting to pull the open air and sunshine in. Very soothing. I sniff my wrists and feel more calm and centered. This seems like something I could dab on and curl up with if I was going to bed - it'd be calming and reassuring and maybe I'd get some sleep. (I'm an insomniac, I mean that as a very good thing. I use Blood Amber for that now and again, just a nice calming scent to get my mind to stop rattling around.) I came to bed late and hubby curled around me and said "Mmmmmm, you smell good." Who knew it was an aphrodisiac? Oooooh, I was just thinking that. Dab a drop or two onto my sheets, since I don't have a yard to air-dry them. I've mentioned a lot about night-time use and sleep and linen spray, but I also fully intend to use this as a daytime scent, for days when I want something clean and direct and refreshing. Gothabillywench's description of "you smell good" vs. "your perfume smells good" was a pretty apt one. Definitely getting more of this. Mmmmm.

In the vial: lemon. Sandalwood. Clean and sharp. On: the lemon and sandalwood blend together for this high, crisp tone. The sandalwood fleshes out the lemon and the musk makes it all a touch cloudy instead of sharp, kind of softening the edges. A bit warmer than I would have pictured, and in a good way. Drydown: It softens out into this exquisite lemony dry powdery scent. It's a lovely blend, with layers to it. Very clear and high. I'm undecided about it. I think it would be one where I'd always reach for something else depending on my mood. But then, it is a gorgeous, clean scent, good for days when I want something light and refreshing. It's not going on my big bottle list. But I think I'll keep the imp.

In the imp: It's darker than I expected, colorwise, and the scent is a bit muskier. I like it. On: Ooooooh. It's - smoky. Musky. Mysterious. Drydown: a hint of sweetness comes out to play. It's still dark and sophisticated, but there's a lighter delicious streak cutting across the middle. Looking at the notes, I think it's the woods and musk that dominate, and the lily and mandarin teaming up for that swatch I wasn't getting at first. It's a step away from you, enveloped in the woods and musk, peering out through the gaps, and brightening all of it. Something in the underpinnings reminds me of Imp, but that was playful and very young, whereas this is Imp's Crone Power mom/aunt/grandma who likes to kick ass and take names. It's exquisite. It's enigmatic and unusual. I love it. Hour or so in: I can still smell it. It's a bit lighter than I'd like, but that may be my nose adjusting to the scent. Or else maybe I just need to reapply a lot? I'm fine with that. This will be a big bottle.

In the vial: Very, very lime. I like it. Not getting anything else. First on: ooooooh. The musk and everything else come out and cloud up the crisp lime. Dark. Sinister. Lime that's lurking somewhere with evil intent. I like the "citrus that slithers" description. Drying: Simmering. Musky. Shadowy. Dark. Whitechapel slinks around you in a cloud. The lime is hiding, it's not sharp and biting citrus, it's just adding colors to the swirling mist. It's a dark foggy night when you shouldn't be walking alone, and you hear the click of your heels on the wet pavement and wrap your coat around you tighter and there's a thrill of fear that's laced with just a touch of excitement. Sexy in a very dangerous way. Mmmmm. I need more of this. And not just because I seem to slather it more heavily than most of my scents. This doesn't seem masculine to me. Or rather - I can see a guy wearing it, I don't mean that, but I don't see anything that doesn't make it perfectly awesome for me. It's mysterious and floaty and dark and sophisticated and elegant and - I said dangerous, but it bears repeating. Big bottle. Huge.

Out of all the scents on the BPAL page, this was the one I was most hoping to get an imp of and try. I nabbed one through the LJ community and fairly bounced with excitement. In the bottle: tart green apples. A little lighter and clearer than I had been expecting, which I like a lot - might be the tinge of ozone? This is heavenly - delicate and enticing. Hubby can pick out a darker undertone, but I'm just getting apples. Wet: Still the light ting of green apple, but the warm undertones come out to play. Drydown: Crisp apple with a bit of a spicy tone to it. Like warm fresh apple pie. Half-hour in: The spices and warmth have fully kicked in, and I smell like one of my mom's apple pies. My mom makes these unbelievably awesome apple pies. To die for. But - I don't know if I want to smell like an apple pie. Before BPAL, all of my scents were either citrus or green apple. I don't mind smelling like granny smith apples on the vine - and if this stayed on the way it smelled in the imp, I might have had to bathe in it and order vats of it. But I feel weird smelling like an apple pie. Hour in: Reminder to self: GIVE SCENTS TIME TO MORPH. As if it sensed me typing in the above, the scent has somehow migrated back to that exquisite, delicious, granny-smith-with-tinge-of-ozone crisp and heavenly scent. I cannot stop sniffing my wrists. Please, please let this be the final stage. Verdict: I - honestly don't know. I ADORE the drydown stage, but the first hour of smelling like apple pie is not as much fun. I'm going to have to give this one a few more tries before I decide for good whether it's a keeper or a swapper. Maybe see if either stage has a tendency to stretch out or shrink.

Oooh, I didn't know this was here. I created my own spreadsheet just to track what I wanted, what was on its way, shipments, what I liked and didn't, etc. It had way too many tabs, and started getting confusing. At which point N, my awesome spouse, offered to make me a database. (He's a technogeek.) So now I have this cross-referenced indexed searchable Access database with notes and descriptions and shipments and I can pull up various scents at a moment's notice. So much love for N. Hmm, I wonder if he'd mind me sharing. Would anyone else be interested in it?

This is so unbelievably awesome. In the imp, I sniffed it and said, Oh, OK, it smells kind of nice. But other imps seemed more interesting, so I didn't try it right away. So earlier tonight I realized I hadn't tested it yet, and I dabbed it on my wrists. And immediately my knees went weak. I curled up with Hubby, who started nuzzling me. Both of us agreed this was a total aphrodisiac. I smell this and I want to have sex with me. It makes me tingly. OK, to actually explain the scent: there's a heady, warm, sexy, delicious glow. And yet underneath it there's a higher note, so that you get the delicious musk of sex followed by the high tinge of - is that the ylang ylang? This is a more complex scent than I would have anticipated, there's a light twist to it. It's almost - I want to say it reminds me of a banana type of lilt. It doesn't smell anything like bananas, like at ALL, and hubby looks at me funny when I try to explain, but it's that kind of a twinge/twist to it. Sorry, I'm bad at this. I'm getting a hint of powder underlying it, but not a strong baby powder, just a mellowing out of sorts. It's got a hazy glow surrounding it. Someone earlier said it was more the morning after than the night before, and I think I agree. But it's the kind of scent that could make the morning after into round two. It's light and deep and heady. I wouldn't wear this every day - far too distracting. I'd sit and sniff my wrists and moan. But the next time Hubby and I have an evening out - or, better, an evening in - I'm going to slather this on.