alicia_stardust

Wet, this is amazing. I get juicy cherry blossoms and a touch of soft pear. Dry, this changes very quickly. Cherry blossoms still dominate this blend, but I also detect the lavender monofloral honey, and then a few minutes later I detect a touch of that dry sandalwood bite. The cherry blossom in this reminds me of Portland's cherry blossom season. They just burst forth all at once and you can walk on the waterfront surrounded by soft pink trees. It's surreal. There are so many that the spent blossoms constantly fall down like a slow, lazy rain. This blend reminds me of all of that.

Sunflower is my favorite of the Salon IIIs so far. Wet, I smell a resin and floral combination. It has a bit of a bite. Dry, I get a yellow, earthy floral that reminds me of late summer. The height of the sun's time, and yet there is an edge of darkness. There is something about this that is very regal. It's a commanding floral that says, "Here I Am." I am head over heels. This is such a different floral than I am used to wearing and yet I love it. I will be buying more.

Wet: I get pomegranate mostly, with a touch of floral and hyssop. Dry: I still get a lot of pomegranate. At this point I can actually distinguish the iris and orchid, but the pomegranate still dominates. For a short while this reminds me of Trick 2, but then it morphs again and that impression is lost. This is a very lovely mixture of pomegranate, resin, florals, and earth. After a while: The frankincense and patchouli come out in full force. I am left with mostly a dry, slightly sharp resinous earth scent. Lovely!

I get a sort of dry, dark, heavy sort of scent, redolent of dark caves and hot fires. I can detect earth, fire, a touch of cinnamon, and a whole lotta vetiver. This is once again, an artful scent representation of the painting. This isn't the sort of scent I normally wear, but anyone who likes earthy scents should definitely check this out.

From Neil Gaiman's blog on 7/15/07: "I just realized this morning that the weekend Stardust opens is also the weekend of the Perseids meteor shower, one of the most active times for "shooting stars" of the year; so it wouldn't be unheard of at all for people to see the movie, walk out of the theater, and actually see a shooting star themselves." That. Kicks. Ass. There's a reason I've called myself Stardust for over seven years, and one of my most memorable experiences in the past decade was the major Perseid meteor shower I saw at Mt. Hood in... 2002? To top it off, one of these days I'll get my BPAL Stardust scents! I feel like I'm floating, happily...

The chocolate, cardamom, fig, and rice notes blend beautifully into a creamy spicy cocoa scent that makes my mouth water. This is decadent and comforting at the same time. It brings a smile to my face every time I get a whiff of it, whether from my wrist or the scent locket. I love all three versions of 13 very dearly, but I must say that this one is a little ahead of the others. It's just gorgeous.

Tamamo-no-Mae is a gorgeously soft, smooth Asian blend. It reminds me ever so slightly of Hungry Ghost Moon, but Tamamo is much more sultry and delicate. It is more refined. On my skin I can really detect the skin musk and rice flower above all else, but I do detect the benzoin gum and it's among my favorite of all the resins. I love the quality that the tea leaf lends to this. I agree that there's a bright note in this somewhere, but I don't get fruit or peach from it. It's light and breezy without being ozone-like. It's feminine and eloquent. This is breathtakingly soft and delicate and I love it. I will definitely keep my bottle.

Wet, I smell a touch of clove but mostly a gritty patchouli. Dry, the bitter clove just blooms and it's amazing. It actually makes me miss my days of clove cigarette binges at night clubs after 16-hour workdays on my thesis. It's alluring, earthy, and has that clove bite! After 45 minutes I can smell the musk and I think the wood is mixing with the patchouli; they're almost indistinguishable from the other. After a couple of hours my skin amps the patchouli and it's definitely gritty. I love this for the first couple of hours, and OH the clove! But the faded patchouli smell does not play nice with my skin chemistry.

Just as in Rembrandt's piece, the scent that Beth created seems to have a balanced duality; male/female, light/dark, yin/yang. Wet: I get a soft, cool wet wine with a touch of spice, a touch of honey. There's a sweetness there. Dry: I get a conflagrant, smoldering scent that reminds me of Priala without the strong spice. The wood smells amazing in this, and I get a sense of dry smoke and incense resins. There's a slight bitterness there to the woods/resins. This is just beautiful. I must keep this one.

Wow, am I the first to say that this scent was quite strong on me? Sure, it sits close to the skin but it was very present and definitely stuck around for a few hours. My initial impression, without checking the notes list first, was honey! I was sure that there was honey in it. Now I see that it was likely the honeycomb. This has an intimate feel to it; a bright, gleaming scent of soft florals and amber, the sweetness of honeysuckle, the sultry scent of skin musk. I do detect a touch of rose. Beautiful!

This is a light, fresh ocean scent at first. It's salty. On my skin it changes and I get a slight fruit/plum scent, and later still, a soft floral that mixes with the plum scent. The green musk is detectable, but the other notes are unfamiliar to me so I believe my nose is blending them into an overall scent rather than picking out the individual notes. Overall, a lovely and beautiful interpretation of the artwork. I will keep this one!

Wow. The creativity and cheekiness is just another thing I love about The Lab. Delousing Powder is really nice. There's a chance I'm wrong about the notes, but these are the impressions I get from it: something amber-like, something *slightly* citrus-like but no lemon, a tea, a musk of some sort, and an overall soft and powdery scent. I peeked at some of the other reviews and I do agree that it is like a sort-of cousin to Enraged Bunny Musk.

This brings to mind a flurry of images: Soft, powdery roses. Frozen rose petals. Lush but ethereal blooms. I get mostly rose, but there's a kick in there that might be some of the ylang ylang. Gorgeous, feminine, ethereal.

I had to get this no matter what, but it helped that I have Cancer as my Ascendant. Cancer 2007 is a dewy, soft, green, light floral that is simply gorgeous. It is very faint in the bottle with just a touch of cool water and an aqua colored smell. On my skin it blooms and warms into a lovely, greenish fruit floral. The pear doesn't overwhelm, and the flowers aren't too strong. The sweet pea gives this a lovely spring-like quality and the mallow softens it up. Perfect! This is at the top of my favorites for all of 2007!

I have had my bottle of Selkie sitting near my laptop for a couple of weeks now as a reminder to review it. Why has it been sitting there for so long? Because this is so beautiful that I can't quite figure out how to put it into words. I'll try, though. My impression of this is a cool blue/green scent, with a touch of green stems and white flower petals floating on chill water. The scent has a very cooling effect to it. It brings to mind green grasses, layers of mist, and has a haunting loveliness to it. I can pick out the touch of honey and it blends beautifully with the florals. I will cherish this bottle. Selkie is just... it's breathtaking.

There are some days that my Pisces-stream-of-consciousness is so vibrant and thick that I don't think even the best writer in the world could convey all of it, nor could it be written in a way that links all the colors and emotions that are tied to each thought. So instead I end up quiet while my inner self ends up with so many things that I want to say but can't; thoughts of things I want, things I need, outlandish daydreams, past memories, future hopes; emotions like excitement, dread, gloom, timid, vampy, creative, silly... all crashing into each other. Sometimes those thoughts and things percolate enough that they form into something more coherent, and when they do they bubble up to the surface and I sit down to write an entry. Other times, it's as if there is no such language in existence to express it all. That's why sometimes I end up with nothing much to say in my blog entry than this.

This is a glitzy little floral blend! In the bottle: I smell a mishmash of florals, and it comes across as a very traditional sort of perfume. The only note I can distinctly pick out is the white citrus. The rest sort of blend together. On my skin: Immediately after application I smell that soft tuberose scent and it sort of sits as a soft fluff of floral on top of the rest of the notes. Add in a dash of lemon blossom to just barely lend a bright note. After about 10 minutes, though, those blend with all the other notes to create an overall floral perfume. In some ways it's very unique, in other ways it calls to mind Beth's description of being shameless and lacking substance. It's as if all the florals are all there for the attention but there's not a strong base to fall back on for depth. Final thoughts: This is a perfectly executed piece. It's a lovely floral and it definitely captures everything from the description. Lovely pink label, too! It is so Paris.

I'm sure nearly all of us have done this at some point or another. You pour a glass of orange juice, take a nice big gulp, and suddenly discover you have a mouthful of fizzy, fermented juice. You think, wow that had quite a kick to it! In my younger days, I would almost contemplate whether to finish my glass rather than pouring it out. Fizzy! Tingly in my mouth! In the bottle: Pruno smells just like fermented fruit juice... in a good, fun way. There's a sharp fizzy, alcoholic kick to it that sits over sweet smelling fruit. It's captured so well that I can literally taste it. When I smell this I can especially pick out the oranges, but the apples don't come into play until later on. On my skin: The fizzy, alcoholic fruit juice kick continues. After dry down I can separate the apple scent from the rest of the fruit/orange scent. I can also detect the beginning hints of something more... shady. Early on it starts out as something that's sort of leafy with a hint of sweet n' sour added in. Perhaps it's tomato, perhaps it's something else. Later still, I sniff my wrist and startle myself when I actually smell something reminiscent of chow line droppings! What is this? It's something dinner-like, that's for sure. Final thoughts: I love this. I imagine that I won't often find myself wanting to woo strangers with my Pruno-scented aura, but the scent is captured so well (without being gross) and it is so evocative. And damn, I can pretty much taste the fizzy orange juice each time I open the bottle.

Wet: I get a cool watery green floral. There is a touch of tea and resin in there as well. On my skin: This warms up very nicely, and I applied too much. This has a very strong throw! As it dries I really get the musk and incense and a soft little touch of the lilac. Overall the notes in this really blend together. After a while: At about the 2 hour mark, this really changes on my skin. The remaining scent is a sharp, woodsy, bitter scent. My best guess is that this is the nettle bark? Or maybe it's just my skin chemistry. This is a beautiful Japanese blend that captures the art beautifully. This is worth the sensory experience and the journey if for nothing else.

When I first tried this, I very much liked it. Each time I wear it I love it even more. Now, a year later, I am more and more convinced that this is a true work of art. In the bottle: honey mead and honeysuckle. On my skin: the honeysuckle really comes up to the top, and I get a definite sense of the copal because I became very acquainted with that resin when I learned to make incense. It is one of my favorites. After about 20 minutes of drydown I can smell a bit of spiciness from the carnation. At this point there's a slight, bright touch of lemon but it's very subtle on my skin. This wears well, it gets me lots of compliments, and it's perfect for this time of year. Other thoughts: This is an amazing rendition of the summer solstice. It brings to mind the early peak of summer, sunshine days, cool breezes, playful fairies, and carefree times. LOVE this.

In the bottle: I smell a clear, wet, tangy aquatic. Something salty and dark lurks in the background. On my skin: Vetiver, down and dirty. I did not look at the notes before testing this but it's vetiver, no doubt about it. It amps above anything else, and yet... if I keep my nose away from my wrist I get whiffs of myself and in that, the vetiver is light and the clear, wet water scent sits on top. It's interesting that I can only smell that in the "throw" and not up close. After a while I get nothing but pure vetiver on my skin, which isn't my favorite note. I think this is a beautifully artistic representation of a Hurricane. If you like vetiver or dark, murky scents, this is for you. Try it for the experience if not. It's worth it.

I LOVE the way this smells, but it is even better on my husband. It is one of his favorite BPAL scents. I smell a boozy quality to this; rum and spices, wood and sea air. It's exactly as the description says. I find that after this dries there's a definite pirate element: debauchery, playfulness, and seduction. Port Royal is the perfect blend of those things. I give this 5 out of 5!

London smells of soft tea roses. Piles and piles of roses. But underneath the rose I get something else. As this blend dries on my skin, the rose starts to smell watery, drowned. On top of that, ever so faintly, sits a dark shadow of something. I can't pinpoint what that note is, but it definitely makes the blend. Just roses wouldn't have been right, and whatever is in this is perfect.

Spicy! And I mean SPICY! I get a touch of the honey, a touch of clove, and a lot of the skin musk, cinnamon, and ginger. This is hot, and I like it! It definitely burns my skin but I can wear it in a scent locket just fine.

This is not something I'd normally expect to want to smell like, and yet it is attention grabbing. Above all else, I get red musk. The strawberries and cherry give it a syrupy, sweet, almost effervescent quality, and the vanilla sort of smooths the edges between the musk and the red fruits and envelopes it in a soft cloud. After a while the amber comes out to play with the vanilla. Lovely!