theredshoes

I....wanted to love this? Especially after all the great descriptions here. I don't know what happened. I slathered it on and barely smelled anything. My husband said he smelled something, "really powdery" (while it was still wet). I kept barely smelling something, and then an hour later it was just gone. I tried slathering it on again, but nothing. It's weird because neither Snake Oil nor Snow White vanish on me, in fact Snow White turns into pure Play-Do. This smells like sharp musk in the bottle, but just really nothing on me. My skin tends to eat vanilla, so maybe that's what happened, although I thought the Snake Oil part would stand out more. Maybe after aging the invisible vanilla will ease up.

Source: Aelopile

Source: Apple Butter Rum

In the bottle: Whoo! Knocked out with a strong butterscotch buttery rum scent. I was a little nervous about this one because I amp cinnamon and maybe nutmeg, but I absolutely loved Spiced Rum Buttercream Coffee, so I was hoping for another neat spiced rum blend. Wet: On me the apple note starts coming out right away, and yeah, it's more of a pale green note than a deep red one. Not a lot of spice or rum. The vanilla cream makes this apple very light and sweet. Drydown: The spice notes start coming out and I get some of my spiced rum, although it does smell a little burnt, which I guess is the butter note. I thought this would be a lot more rich and heavy, it seems more like light apple-butter plus spiced rum. Dry: Not much throw, but okay staying power, and it keeps kind of shifting from sweet vanilla cream/apple close up to the more diffuse spiced rum note further out. A bit too sweet and light for me, I was expecting more of a cider note. Verdict: It is close to those caramel apple lollipops, but with sweet vanilla cream, not caramel. (Which is odd because the butterscotch note was SO strong in the bottle.) The buttery spiced rum note is good but it's too background for me. I guess the apple note drowned nearly everything else out -- I do like the apple blends (and have a lot of them!), I just wanted more of the spiced rum. For some reason this doesn't feel like a fall scent to me -- maybe more like a Yule? But I don't know why.

Source: The Marquis de Carabas

My Marquis! I love him, he's my favourite character in the book, I could read a whole other book or two or three just all about him. (I had the same feeling about Silas the vampire.) (I do not have a bad boy thing.) However, after a mere decade or so of BPAL testing (has it really been that long? goodness) I am now a little bit better informed about what does not smell good on me. So I got a for-curiosity's-sake imp from my decant circle. In the imp: Cologne. Uh-oh. Wet: Very spicy, very sharp cologne. I'm guessing this is the bay rum. Not getting any leather, opium, wool, dust, or sweet/cocoanut from the massoia bark. OUR HEROINE, hopefully: Does this smell like a beloved old leather jacket? SPOUSAL OVERUNIT: Sure.... (wait for it, wait for it -- ) SPOUSAL OVERUNIT: ....if you doused it in bad cologne. SIGH. As in BPAL, so in life, the Marquis and I are destined to remain forever apart, due to my weird skin chemistry. I guess my skin's amping the hell out of on note and eating at least a few others, but heck if I know what exactly. Drydown: This faded FAST on me, I have no idea why. I got something that might be leather? but is also so faint it's hard to tell. It also smells very fake and chemical-y. It was just faint, yet bad. Fortunately, it faded quickly....but for some of us, not quickly enough. SPOUSAL OVERUNIT, a couple of hours later: Could you wash that off? It's giving me a headache. -- With the dishwashing liquid. SIGH.

I figured the citrus and verbena would stomp on the amber, cedar, labdanum and oud. sigh. Wanted to try it anyway, because I like the Steampunk line. In the imp: Citrus and something like tea. Wet: Lemon bathroom cleaner. The cats left the room. Drydown: The citrus has died down a bit and something vaguely amber-wood-resin is in the background, but it's still all about the lemon bathroom cleaner. There's also a faintly sour note -- almost oily, definitely unpleasant. (Husband: "It's definitely changing. Less lemon, less bathroom cleaner.") Verdict: Total miss, sadly. About the only thing this was good for was when one cat chased another into the bedroom, I was able to get the aggressor to turn tail immediately by putting my hand down near the floor. It's good cat repellent, I guess.

Source: Zorya

I LOVE jasmine. //rubs hands //slathers In the imp: Heady musky gorgeous overblown floral. Come to mama, baby, this is gonna be good. Wet: Nooo there's some kind of acrid almost plasticky note coming up -- this isn't the jasmine, as it doesn't go to cat pee on me. THANK GOD, that's going away. Might be the iris or the night-blooming whatsit. It dies down and a hint of musk comes up and a lot of pretty pretty jasmine. Still slightly sharp, but it's an interestingly dark -- dusky -- floral. Drydown: Gets both fainter and sweeter. Decent throw, fairly long-lasting. As a friend of mine noted, the throw is sweeter than the on-skin smell (I've noticed this with a number of BPAL sharp florals). A little bit of that sharpness stays, which makes me sad, and it goes slightly soapy, too. Flowery and femme, but sophisticated. The musk definitely comes up more. Hours later: Much sweeter, and the musks and spice really come out. Very very pretty. Almost creamy. Verdict: I could've sworn I tested another imp of this years back and it was more flowery, less plastic. Maybe it ages well? I might try it in a scent locket to see if I can get that gorgeous in-the-imp blast to stick around. I'm guessing either the iris or the primrose is the culprit here. If you're looking for an old-fashioned big sweet WHOOM! FLORAL scent, this is a good one. ("Perfumey, in a good way" is very accurate.) It'd be great in summer, or on a late-night date in a cafe, a midnight rendezvous on a verandah....sorry, got carried away there. It reminds me a lot of walking on summer nights in Santa Fe, when we'd pass a big lilac bush and there'd be this sudden wall of heavy sweet scent you could almost see, and kept smelling after you walked through it. Substitute jasmine for lilac and this feels very similar. I wish the on-skin smell wasn't as sharp/green, but the move from floral into sweetened musk is interesting. Husbandly verdict: "You smell like flowery hotel soap in a plastic bottle." SIGH. (He likes O. No, he loves O. If every BPAL were like O, with very slight variations, he'd love it.)

Source: A Lady Tall and White

I'm normally cautious about snow and ozone notes, but this is one of my favourite fairytales, so I went for a decant. In the imp: An almost-clear oil, not that thick. First sniff is sweet but sharp, not unpleasant but pretty intense. It's really hard for me to describe or analyze. I got almost a faint citrusy note, but my husband didn't (his opinion: "Smells like Christmas....no, I don't know why"). Definitely a chilly smell. I get no mint. Wet: Sweetens up a tiny bit, but not much -- I'm still waiting for the vanilla and sandalwood. I don't get pine -- it's still a pretty sharp bright cold scent, with maybe some of the juniper. Not a heavy smell, but definitely sort of piercing. Usually "high white" scents give me a headache, but not this one -- maybe the vanilla's softening it up a little? This smells the way bright sunlight looks on snow. Drydown: My husband could definitely smell the sandalwood long before me ("Incense.....smoky? I like it, it's not sweet like your other perfumes," HAHAAHAH //cries). I finally got the sandalwood note, smoky-sweet, but it took a while, and was mixed with the juniper (?) in a really interesting way. I don't think this has a lot of throw, but it hung on for quite a while. Verdict: Definitely a wintry cold smell and it suits the subject perfectly. Not something I'd want a bottle of but I'm really glad I got the decant. Bright, icy, snowy, faintly sweet but a deep chill underneath. I think the sandalwood and vanilla darken this down and sweeten it up a lot, because other snow scents just don't work on me (Snow White goes right to the infamous Play-Do).

(One of my 2015 NYRs is to write more BPAL reviews! I slacked off sadly during 2014.) Frimp from my lovely decanter! I love the Alice line and it's one of my favourite books ever, so this seemed like a good scent to start the New Year off with. I also love the BPAL honey note. In the imp: A barely yellow thin oil, almost clear. I get a nice whiff of golden honey, and some flowers, maybe a little spice. Wet: Rather faint honey, sweet but not cloying. I really slathered it (accidentally, and there went the label) but it's still quite faint. Definitely not that golden rich heavy honey, but a nice unsyrupy sweetness. (Husband thinks it smells powdery, boo. Also: "Wow, that's really faint.") Drydown: This doesn't fade too much, but remains very light. Husband thought almost a light musk came out, I got more powder -- we might both be picking up on the tonka. Green turns to instant ugly blech on my skin, so I was worried about the chamomile and hyssop, but I also amp honey so I guess it's drowning out the green. I don't get the honey-in-tea smell, but this is definitely sweet honeyed herbs, rather than herbed honey. It might be much sweeter on people who have less trouble with green notes. Not a lot of throw, but pretty good staying power for something so faint. Verdict: It's sunny out but really cold here, and we have the blinds drawn all the way up but the windows tightly closed to catch the sunshine, which is fading but a little bit warm. Pathetic Fallacy Alert: this reminds me of very early spring, when the sky is that pale clear blue and you see a promising haze of green on trees more than actual leaves or buds. This would be a nice light, slightly green, honey for those who don't want that big sweet blast. Not bottle-worthy for me, but I'm glad to have tried it -- I might get another imp of it.

Frimp from the lab. I absolutely love Midsummer Night's Dream and have always wanted to try this. Unfortunately, it was rather disastrous. In the imp: Faint sweet floral with a harsh chemical undertone. Wet: YO, something went terribly wrong immediately. I don't know if it was the green note (?) or the pansy or the carnation (which hates me) or what, but I got almost no floral and a kind of awful wet swampy chemical smell. Husband said it was like bathroom air freshener from the eighties! Thankfully it didn't cause a headache, but this is really unpleasant. Drydown: After a while it seems to get a little sweeter, but that awful chemical note remains, and I can't tell whether the perfume is sweetening or just fading. Weirdly, it also wears off very quickly but the nasty note hangs on and on and is really difficult to wash off. It smells something like floral hairspray. Verdict: NO NO NO NO NO cat. Like someone else said, I wish I knew what notes were in this so I could avoid them forever, because something in this really doesn't go with my skin. I think it's probably a green note, beause those really really don't work on me, but usually they don't smell like some kind of awful spray. Source: Love-In-Idleness

Frimp from the lab. I absolutely love Midsummer Night's Dream and have always wanted to try this. Unfortunately, it was rather disastrous. In the imp: Faint sweet floral with a harsh chemical undertone. Wet: YO, something went terribly wrong immediately. I don't know if it was the green note (?) or the pansy or the carnation (which hates me) or what, but I got almost no floral and a kind of awful wet swampy chemical smell. Husband said it was like bathroom air freshener from the eighties! Thankfully it didn't cause a headache, but this is really unpleasant. Drydown: After a while it seems to get a little sweeter, but that awful chemical note remains, and I can't tell whether the perfume is sweetening or just fading. Weirdly, it also wears off very quickly but the nasty note hangs on and on and is really difficult to wash off. It smells something like floral hairspray. Verdict: NO NO NO NO NO cat. Like someone else said, I wish I knew what notes were in this so I could avoid them forever, because something in this really doesn't go with my skin. I think it's probably a green note, beause those really really don't work on me, but usually they don't smell like some kind of awful spray.

Frimp from the lab. In the imp: Bubblegum, candy. Wet: A blast of raspberries soaked in orange juice. Can't smell the neroli, so I think my skin, which amps citrus, is cranking the orange to eleven and drowning it out completely. Drydown: Turns into fake sharply-sweet candy -- Sweet Tarts is about right. I don't know why someone would want to smell like this, really. It also fades insanely quickly on me -- within about half an hour it was almost impossible to smell. Verdict: Glad it was a frimp.

Frimp from the lab. In the imp: Bubblegum, candy. Wet: A blast of raspberries soaked in orange juice. Can't smell the neroli, so I think my skin, which amps citrus, is cranking the orange to eleven and drowning it out completely. Drydown: Turns into fake sharply-sweet candy -- Sweet Tarts is about right. I don't know why someone would want to smell like this, really. It also fades insanely quickly on me -- within about half an hour it was almost impossible to smell. Verdict: Glad it was a frimp. Source: Akuma

This was a really nice surprise for me, because I thought it might be too boozy, but it's a great scent. In the bottle: honey wine and maybe grape, or cherry. No pom. Wet: The pom blooms on my skin and overpowers everything else for a few minutes -- I amp pom and love it. The pom mixes really well with the wine. The BPAL pom note often goes too tart on me, but this is a very dark sweet version. On me the pom keeps the sweetness other people mentioned in check and I get some incense, and the balm I think adds a really nice hint of wood. This scent is dark, complex and well-blended. Not flowery, and not that fruity either: it's rich dark red wine with dark berries, maybe mahogany. It glows like a ruby. I know I'm emphasizing the wine but it really doesn't smell that boozy. It's maybe more like the flavour you get in a red wine reduction, very rich. Drydown: Doesn't really morph at all on me. It gets a little sweeter and more of the incense comes out. It has GREAT throw -- my husband smelled it a few feet away from me outside on a windy day! Lasted a fairly long while, too. It's a great fall/winter scent. Verdict: I'm just sorry I didn't get two bottles. Source: She Crushes for Dead Men Deadly Wine

This was a really nice surprise for me, because I thought it might be too boozy, but it's a great scent. In the bottle: honey wine and maybe grape, or cherry. No pom. Wet: The pom blooms on my skin and overpowers everything else for a few minutes -- I amp pom and love it. The pom mixes really well with the wine. The BPAL pom note often goes too tart on me, but this is a very dark sweet version. On me the pom keeps the sweetness other people mentioned in check and I get some incense, and the balm I think adds a really nice hint of wood. This scent is dark, complex and well-blended. Not flowery, and not that fruity either: it's rich dark red wine with dark berries, maybe mahogany. It glows like a ruby. I know I'm emphasizing the wine but it really doesn't smell that boozy. It's maybe more like the flavour you get in a red wine reduction, very rich. Drydown: Doesn't really morph at all on me. It gets a little sweeter and more of the incense comes out. It has GREAT throw -- my husband smelled it a few feet away from me outside on a windy day! Lasted a fairly long while, too. It's a great fall/winter scent. Verdict: I'm just sorry I didn't get two bottles.

Lightning + stormclouds = ozone and aquatic Death Notes, but Mary Shelley is one of My Girls, I love the GC Absinthe and really like the new Inspiration line, so I decided what the hell. In the bottle (I know, I know we don't get the perfume for the labels but the Inspiration ones are SO GOOD. Dying for the T-shirt): I smell mostly mint, maybe some wormwood. Thank God it's not sharp. Most BPAL mints drown out every other note on me, so I'm probably amping the faint mint note in this. Wet: Thought this was disaster when I seemed to smell celery. Husband, when applied to, reassured me multiple times it was not celery. (He thought it was "floral and sweet, kind of nice, not great.") Fortunately the celery? didn't stick around long. I definitely got all the mint, anise, sugar, wormwood, laudanum, absinthe, fennel, &c &c. notes, but faintly. It's really not that strong at all. Thankfully it didn't turn to screaming green on my skin, nor did the ozone note give me a headache. Rather pleasant surprise on both counts. Drydown: On me it sweetens up and gets rather faint, and more mint comes out. It's a cool smell, not sharp at all, more a soft floral with faint mint, and would be a good summer perfume. Pretty, but fades fairly fast. It does smell more like a cologne than a perfume, but it's not sharp. I do like it. I agree with everyone else that after drydown there isn't much absinthe, so if you get it for that, you might be disappointed. Verdict: Don't know if it would be bottle-worthy for other people, but I like finding a mint/green scent I can actually wear. I was expecting more absinthe and 'Victorian oriental' notes, but it's rare for me to find an ozone/aquatic or green or mint scent I can even tolerate, so I'm actually sort of pleased with it. Source: Mary Shelley

Lightning + stormclouds = ozone and aquatic Death Notes, but Mary Shelley is one of My Girls, I love the GC Absinthe and really like the new Inspiration line, so I decided what the hell. In the bottle (I know, I know we don't get the perfume for the labels but the Inspiration ones are SO GOOD. Dying for the T-shirt): I smell mostly mint, maybe some wormwood. Thank God it's not sharp. Most BPAL mints drown out every other note on me, so I'm probably amping the faint mint note in this. Wet: Thought this was disaster when I seemed to smell celery. Husband, when applied to, reassured me multiple times it was not celery. (He thought it was "floral and sweet, kind of nice, not great.") Fortunately the celery? didn't stick around long. I definitely got all the mint, anise, sugar, wormwood, laudanum, absinthe, fennel, &c &c. notes, but faintly. It's really not that strong at all. Thankfully it didn't turn to screaming green on my skin, nor did the ozone note give me a headache. Rather pleasant surprise on both counts. Drydown: On me it sweetens up and gets rather faint, and more mint comes out. It's a cool smell, not sharp at all, more a soft floral with faint mint, and would be a good summer perfume. Pretty, but fades fairly fast. It does smell more like a cologne than a perfume, but it's not sharp. I do like it. I agree with everyone else that after drydown there isn't much absinthe, so if you get it for that, you might be disappointed. Verdict: Don't know if it would be bottle-worthy for other people, but I like finding a mint/green scent I can actually wear. I was expecting more absinthe and 'Victorian oriental' notes, but it's rare for me to find an ozone/aquatic or green or mint scent I can even tolerate, so I'm actually sort of pleased with it.

Review of the 2012 bottle -- I have a decant from (I think) 2009 and really like it. In the bottle: Slightly sharp but not unpleasant, and wood/balsam rather than flowers or incense. This is a rather thick clear golden oil that's even a little sticky. Wet: Spicy, faintly floral, woody. I do pick up hints of the rose and lily. I think the spice is caused by frankincense, maybe balsam fir. There's a forest-y smell that isn't green (on me, the BPAL green note turns to ugh), a little like pine or fir. Almost no incense. Not exactly a floral scent, but I'm not really getting any resin either. Drydown: This fades fast, but lingers. As it dries I get more of the wood and frank, and then the flowers peep out again near the end, before it gets very faint, which happens on me after maybe about six hours. Really doesn't last as long as I expected. Verdict: I do like this scent -- it's a well-blended rose/spice/wood/forest mix that's very pleasant, and fitting for the winter holidays. It really doesn't remind me of midnight mass, though -- more like Advent Sunday, maybe: quiet but not somber, certain of coming joy, peaceful. I think as this ages the incense comes up, and there isn't as much pine/fir in the older versions.

Review of the 2012 bottle -- I have a decant from (I think) 2009 and really like it. In the bottle: Slightly sharp but not unpleasant, and wood/balsam rather than flowers or incense. This is a rather thick clear golden oil that's even a little sticky. Wet: Spicy, faintly floral, woody. I do pick up hints of the rose and lily. I think the spice is caused by frankincense, maybe balsam fir. There's a forest-y smell that isn't green (on me, the BPAL green note turns to ugh), a little like pine or fir. Almost no incense. Not exactly a floral scent, but I'm not really getting any resin either. Drydown: This fades fast, but lingers. As it dries I get more of the wood and frank, and then the flowers peep out again near the end, before it gets very faint, which happens on me after maybe about six hours. Really doesn't last as long as I expected. Verdict: I do like this scent -- it's a well-blended rose/spice/wood/forest mix that's very pleasant, and fitting for the winter holidays. It really doesn't remind me of midnight mass, though -- more like Advent Sunday, maybe: quiet but not somber, certain of coming joy, peaceful. I think as this ages the incense comes up, and there isn't as much pine/fir in the older versions. Source: Midnight Mass

A perfume sacred to the highest of the angelic hosts: calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense. Trying out unused frimps from the Lab -- this is several months old, I think. In the imp: A kind of fresh soapy smell. Yikes? Wet: WHAM high white florals hit me in the face. This usually causes a headache instanter, but not right now. Maybe the frank and sandalwood are toning down the flowers. Rather pleasant, actually. Drydown: The wisteria and lily really aren't mixing well. I can't smell rose at all, which is odd because my skin amps it. There's a very weird almost bitter undertone, which might be the sandalwood, because my skin amps that too. The scent isn't not soapy or sharp, but really not what I was expecting. If anything this is a kind of flowery incense, not a floral. (Husband says it smells more flowery to him, less incense, but he also gets the bitter scent.) Dry: Almost no throw and the bitter note, whatever it is, heats up. Not soapy, but it's biting and unpleasant. Verdict: Total miss for me. It's a shame that right-out-of-the-imp smell didn't last because I really liked it. Source: Seraphim

A perfume sacred to the highest of the angelic hosts: calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense. Trying out unused frimps from the Lab -- this is several months old, I think. In the imp: A kind of fresh soapy smell. Yikes? Wet: WHAM high white florals hit me in the face. This usually causes a headache instanter, but not right now. Maybe the frank and sandalwood are toning down the flowers. Rather pleasant, actually. Drydown: The wisteria and lily really aren't mixing well. I can't smell rose at all, which is odd because my skin amps it. There's a very weird almost bitter undertone, which might be the sandalwood, because my skin amps that too. The scent isn't not soapy or sharp, but really not what I was expecting. If anything this is a kind of flowery incense, not a floral. (Husband says it smells more flowery to him, less incense, but he also gets the bitter scent.) Dry: Almost no throw and the bitter note, whatever it is, heats up. Not soapy, but it's biting and unpleasant. Verdict: Total miss for me. It's a shame that right-out-of-the-imp smell didn't last because I really liked it.