edenssixthday

The Sailor's Den, Félicien Rops.Orris, bay rum, palm, coconut meat, oak wood, tobacco, linen, blue lilac, and leather. When I look at the painting that inspired this scent and when I conceptualize a sailor's "den," I think of something more boisterous, rough-and-tumble, drunken, bawdy and tawdry than this blend. The Sailor's Den is a very soft scent that is slightly floral, slightly boozy, slightly outdoorsy-fresh, and mostly elegantly refined. The strongest notes on my skin are the coconut and leather, which 's one of the most fascinating and unexpectedly pleasant combinations I’ve encountered. The linen note is next in line, and is very crisp and fresh, reminding me a lot of Dirty. This is an impeccably blended scent, and I find it very interesting how different it is from what I would have expected based on the name and the subject. Beth never ceases to surprise me. As with most Salon scents, this one is fairly subtle on my skin. It has moments where the linen scent seems to really jump out at me, but otherwise, it sticks fairly close to my skin.

TKO v3 - I like this better than the released version of TKO. The released version is, to me, very heavy on the marshmallow and vanilla sweetness. This prototype is much heavier on the lavender. TKO is one of the few BPAL lavender blends I can wear, so I love that this particular version's lavender isn't drowned out by the other notes. It's a gorgeous scent, very similar to the released version, just heavier on the lavender and lighter on the sweeter notes. I think I'll use this more than my released version.

I think their predominant colour was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked. Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral. The Deep Ones - Another lovely aquatic! It's heavy, murky, salty, and you can almost feel the rush of deep sea currents as you sniff this. The scent has a lot of throw, is very strong, and has excellent staying power. It's very salty initially, but smooths out as it warms up on my skin, and brings back memories of living near the ocean in San Diego, and the smell of the briny salt water as it would waft through my open windows at night. I love it. Kudos to Beth for another fantastic aquatic -- and even more kudos for including it in her GC repertoire!

DETESTABLE PUTRESCENCE Inspired by Gris Grimly's illustrations for the Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. Melty vanilla ice cream! Destestable Putrescence - This is another prototype/preview (not sure which) that was out for testing during Cobwebs III and Convergence. Despite the name, this is a yummy, delectable scent. When I first smelled it, I thought it smelled like Werther's Butterscotch hard candies. Later, Beth said it's supposed to smell like melted ice cream. So I went back and tried it again, and I still get what smell kind of like butterscotch, but also reminds me of a dulce de leche type scent. It's yummy and it's one of the few foody blends that stays true on my skin without turning into musty-dusty-plastic. I think that if/when this is released, it will be a big hit with the foodies. ETA: No one else I talked to smelled butterscotch/dulce de leche. I can't help but wonder if it was a chemistry reaction since my skin tends to turn sugary notes into a burnt-sugar type scent. That could be the reason behind the warm, butterscotchiness I experienced with this particular scent. So don't count on it to be butterscotchy for you at all!

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun, William Blake.Daemonorops, vanilla, Indian sandalwood, Mexican copal, hyssop, muguet, sweet pea, amber, hazelwood, galbanum, hiba wood, and orchid. The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun - Wow, this is gorgeous! It’s a very sweet, woody-floral. I’m surprised there's no cocoa in this scent, because that is my very first impression of this scent. I suppose I must be smelling the vanilla and woods blending together to create a dry, warm, cocoa-like scent. Simply amazing! As the blend warms up on my skin, the bittersweet florals become the top note, and the sweet woods become a backdrop for the powerfully aromatic orchid and hyssop and I'm reminded of what might be the olfactory effects of trying to blend Hawaii and Mexico in a single vial. Sadly, this is also the point when I begin to smell the sweet pea, which does what sweet pea always does to me, and takes on a soapy edge, which gets stronger and stronger the longer this blend is on my skin. Without that sweet pea note, I think this would be an absolutely gorgeous fragrance, and very unique.

Recoiling, you back away from the dicing. A large tent striped in many shades of green grabs your attention, and you walk towards it. You peer inside the open tent flap and see a room crowded with people in various stages of profound intoxication. Tables are littered with glasses filled with thick, cloudy emerald liquid, and candlelight glints on discarded silver spoons. The scent of spilled absinthe, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water permeates the stifling air of the tent. As you close the tent flap and turn to leave, you see a scantily clad server bend close to a rugged laborer that is sitting slumped in a sagging chair. A low velvety voice voice asks, "Another drink for you, Monsieur Lanfray?" Spilled absinthe, scorched sugar cubes, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water. L'Heure Verte - I was expecting a scent similar to Absinthe or La Fee Verte, but this one is really different. The absinthe note and the sugar note are distinct from one another and the absinthe is definitely not sweet, but does remind me of the scent of real absinthe. The sugar sweetens it up a lot. The rose water adds a subtle hint of floral to the scent and I don't smell the other notes listed in the scent description. On my skin, this is very subtle and doesn't have much throw, but the staying power is quite strong. It loses its sweetness the longer it's on my skin and after a few hours, it's mostly a faintly floral absinthe scent. It's great and I'm really, really looking forward to my CD Act IV & Act V scents to arrive at my door!

PADUAN KILLER SWARM A swarm of genetically modified, extremely aggressive European bees that were created by Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini. These bees are attracted to a peculiar set of pollens and nectars, and possess a particularly vicious temperament, a lethal apitoxin, and cruelly barbed stingers. Tonka, black licorice, amber, golden sandalwood, ginger cream, bitter clove, stinging nettle, cinnamon bark, and coconut shell. Paduan Killer Swarm - Of all the blends in this update, I was the most excited about this one. It seemed like it would be absolutely perfect for me. It really is awesome, although sweeter than I anticipated. On me, the strongest notes are the licorice and coconut. There's a hint of clove giving some depth to the other two notes, but it doesn't amp on me the way clove sometimes does. I really can't discern any other specific notes because the licorice and coconut husk are both such strong scents -- and really gorgeous together. It's got really strong throw and good wear length. I really love this scent and would definitely recommend it to licorice and coconut lovers.

Three Gorgons, Gustav Klimt.Detail of the Beethoven Frieze. Egyptian amber, mandarin, tangerine, black pepper, tobacco, and vetiver. Three Gorgons - The very first note I detect is the strong, sharp, sweet scent of citrus spray - tangerine, in particular. It's interesting that two scents so similar can be distinguished in this blend – the mandarin is the sweeter of the two and the tangerine is the stronger, tangier of the two citrus scents. Immediately behind them is the drop-dead gorgeous scent of warm Egyptian amber. It's mind-blowing how good the amber and citrus notes blend together, and then it just gets better as the black pepper note begins to unfold, lending a scratchy sharpness to the blend. Beneath that, and much more subtle, is the tiniest drop of gritty tobacco and vetiver that serve to tone down the bright splash of the citrus and make this an earthy fruit scent. I knew when I first sniffed this vial that I was going to like this scent, I just had no idea how much I was going to like it. I am delighted that this scent seems to stay on my skin longer than most citrus blends (thanks to the vetiver grounding it, I'm guessing) and has a moderate level of throw, which is also surprising for a Salon blend. I'm in love with it!

ABE SAPIEN A soft aquatic musk with kelp and juniper. Abe Sapien - This is a heavy aquatic scent. It's not a fresh aquatic nor a marine aquatic, but falls somewhere between the two -- more like a brackish-water aquatic. It's a full-bodied scent, very cologne-like in an after-shave kind of way. I think it's more of a masculine blend (as the name suggests), although I don't really want my guy to smell like this, as it's really, really heavy.

Judith Victorious, Lucas Cranach the Elder.Chestnut blossom, lily of the valley, King mandarin, French magnolia, and golden musk. Judith Victorious – What an interesting scent. Even though "chestnut blossom" is the first note listed, I distinctly smell chestnuts and the scent of lily of the valley immediately behind it. The mandarin is very soft, but lends a subtle touch of bright sweetness to the scent, and the magnolia's fragrance is present, but barely discernible. The golden musk must be the warm, golden scent that envelopes all the rest of the notes, pulling them together and making them actually work together. This is an incredibly strong scent – very fragrant, aromatic, and with a touch of warm goodness that comes from the chestnut note. While it's really not my type of fragrance, it’s definitely an interesting one that is very androgynous and quite unique. The sillage is incredibly strong, as is the staying power.

By God, what floats in this ghastly jar? Cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and pine sap. Pickled Imp - I don't tend to like cinnamon blends, but this one rocks really, really hard. Every single note stands out in this blend and each is perfectly complimentary of all the others. The vanilla sweetens up the spicy cinnamon and clove but the pine sap gives it depth without making it too dark or sticky. It's been three hours since I left Will Call where I had applied this scent, and it's just as strong as it was when I first applied it. I really love it. I'm anxiously looking forward to the CD scents arriving on my doorstep and I'm very excited to wear it again.

Rubbed sage, ti leaf, osmanthus, immortelle, patchouli, amber, and mandarin. Festival Mask - This is a pretty scent. It's mostly amber and patchouli on me, but the patchouli isn't a strong, heavy, dirty patchouli, it's balanced very nicely by the sage and ti leaf. The immortelle, like the sage, gives this blend a bit of a dry, herbal scent, and blends beautifully with the other notes. The mandarin is present initially, but it wicks off my skin fairly quickly, and is barely discernible upon drydown. Overall, this is a pretty, dry, asian scent.

SAINT FOUTIN DE VARAILLES Echoing the worship of ancient fertility gods, some early Christians attributed the power to grant blessings of reproductive fruitfulness to Christian saints through accidents of folk-etymology. A syncretic saint of questionable origin, he is possibly the result of a merging of the deity Priapus, or Mutinus Mutunus, and the sainted, semi-mythical first bishop of Lyons, Ponthius, often pronounced Fontin by the common folk of France where his veneration was concentrated. Saint Foutin's name is an amalgamation of Pothinus and the verb foutre, which means "to fuck", effectively granting this saint the prerogatives and powers of his predecessor, Priapus. Saint Foutin was said to cure venereal diseases and other genital maladies, grant fruitfulness to women, and restore potency to men. Scrapings of stone from the groin of one of the saint's statues in France was said to cure all sexual ailments. At other shrines, offerings of wine were poured onto the saint's penis, and worshippers molded ex votos in wax shaped to represent their afflicted body parts to leave in his care, either at the foot of his statue or hanging from the roof of his shrine. Beeswax, frankincense, dried rose petals, and a dribble of wine. So far, this is my 2nd favorite from the update. It's GORGEOUS. On me, it's predominantly a dark, tea-rose type scent that's bolstered by the smooth and sweet beeswax, the dark, resinous frankincense, and the tiniest hint of sweet, boozy, dark red wine. It's very feminine in a heavy, dark, and Victorian-gothic-romance type way. The throw is amazing for the first couple of hours, but at around the 2 hour point, it starts to fade quickly, leaving behind a weird after-scent on my skin that's kind of flat and powdery. But that's entirely beside the point because when it reaches that stage, I can just reapply a teeny tiny bit (since a little goes a very long way). This is really beautiful and I can't wait to dress up and wear it on a night out.

You hear a clatter on the ground, and a small bleached bone smacks against your foot. Cloaked in shadows between the tents, three men crouch playing knucklebones. Distress clouds the face of one of the men, while another bursts into a wicked smile and the last one sighs in relief. Scooping up his winnings and shaking his head, the victor makes a soft 'tsk' noise as he reaches towards the loser's chest, positioning his hand over the man's heart. Pressing forward, his hand moves through cloth, flesh, muscle, and bone to extract the beating organ. Tossing the heart onto the ground, he says to you, "Mind handing me those bones, buddy? I've got a game to run here." Black musk, bay rum, lime fougere, orange blossom water, gin, and tobacco. Knucklebones - Of the huge number of scents I tested at Will Call, this was my second-favorite of all of them. My first reaction when I sniffed this in the bottle is tht it's effervescent and fizzy. When I tried it on, the booze notes were definitely the strongest, backed up by the lime note. It's remarkable how it can be a fizzy, effervescent scent at the same time that it is kind of dark masculine. It strikes me as the masculine equivalent of Bon Vivant in its overall feeling. It's masculine, but not something a woman couldn't wear - God knows when I get my latest CD order in the mail, I will enjoy wearing this one very much! The scent is very long-lasting on my skin and just soo incredibly sexy.

TWO LOVES I dreamed I stood upon a little hill, And at my feet there lay a ground, that seemed Like a waste garden, flowering at its will With buds and blossoms. There were pools that dreamed Black and unruffled; there were white lilies A few, and crocuses, and violets Purple or pale, snake-like fritillaries Scarce seen for the rank grass, and through green nets Blue eyes of shy peryenche winked in the sun. And there were curious flowers, before unknown, Flowers that were stained with moonlight, or with shades Of Nature's willful moods; and here a one That had drunk in the transitory tone Of one brief moment in a sunset; blades Of grass that in an hundred springs had been Slowly but exquisitely nurtured by the stars, And watered with the scented dew long cupped In lilies, that for rays of sun had seen Only God's glory, for never a sunrise mars The luminous air of Heaven. Beyond, abrupt, A grey stone wall. o'ergrown with velvet moss Uprose; and gazing I stood long, all mazed To see a place so strange, so sweet, so fair. And as I stood and marvelled, lo! across The garden came a youth; one hand he raised To shield him from the sun, his wind-tossed hair Was twined with flowers, and in his hand he bore A purple bunch of bursting grapes, his eyes Were clear as crystal, naked all was he, White as the snow on pathless mountains frore, Red were his lips as red wine-spilith that dyes A marble floor, his brow chalcedony. And he came near me, with his lips uncurled And kind, and caught my hand and kissed my mouth, And gave me grapes to eat, and said, 'Sweet friend, Come I will show thee shadows of the world And images of life. See from the South Comes the pale pageant that hath never an end.' And lo! within the garden of my dream I saw two walking on a shining plain Of golden light. The one did joyous seem And fair and blooming, and a sweet refrain Came from his lips; he sang of pretty maids And joyous love of comely girl and boy, His eyes were bright, and 'mid the dancing blades Of golden grass his feet did trip for joy; And in his hand he held an ivory lute With strings of gold that were as maidens' hair, And sang with voice as tuneful as a flute, And round his neck three chains of roses were. But he that was his comrade walked aside; He was full sad and sweet, and his large eyes Were strange with wondrous brightness, staring wide With gazing; and he sighed with many sighs That moved me, and his cheeks were wan and white Like pallid lilies, and his lips were red Like poppies, and his hands he clenched tight, And yet again unclenched, and his head Was wreathed with moon-flowers pale as lips of death. A purple robe he wore, o'erwrought in gold With the device of a great snake, whose breath Was fiery flame: which when I did behold I fell a-weeping, and I cried, 'Sweet youth, Tell me why, sad and sighing, thou dost rove These pleasent realms? I pray thee speak me sooth What is thy name?' He said, 'My name is Love.' Then straight the first did turn himself to me And cried, 'He lieth, for his name is Shame, But I am Love, and I was wont to be Alone in this fair garden, till he came Unasked by night; I am true Love, I fill The hearts of boy and girl with mutual flame.' Then sighing, said the other, 'Have thy will, I am the love that dare not speak its name.' Love beyond reach: sunset tones of amber, red musk, and blood orange with three chains of roses, velvet moss, white lilies, crocuses, violets, poppies, blue musk, neroli, angel's trumpet, frankincense, benzoin, and night-blooming flowers. Two Loves - With the exception of angel's trumpet, which I've never smelled, and possibly the white lilies, everything in this list of ingredients should have been a total and complete WIN!!! for me. Sadly, this scent was a huge, giant F.A.I.L. from beginning to end. It went on floral and soapy, and then the blue musk and violets and rose tried really, really hard to come out, but the soapiness won and in the end, for several hours, it was nothing but icky old lady floral soap on my skin. So sad, because it had so much potential!

HIDEOUS HEART Inspired by Gris Grimly's illustrations for the Tell-Tale Heart. A macabre Valentine: wild black cherries, licorice root, and cinnamon. Hideous Heart - If I recall correctly, Beth said that this is part of a new Poe series that is going to be released on August 23 at a special Dark Delicacies event, so I believe this is more of a preview as opposed to a prototype. This is a dark, thick, heavy cherry scent, but it's deeper and more sinister than your typical cherry scent. There's something else in there (I have no idea what) that gives the cherry a depth that it doesn't normally have. It doesn't smell medicinal to me at all, although I imagine that on some people, it could smell a bit like Robitussin or Vicks Formula 44D. On me, it's absolutely fantastic to the point that I am anxiously awaiting it's release and will buy a full bottle. The saddest part is the scent doesn't last very long on my skin. It's one I'd have to reapply regularly throughout the day.

BOGLE A garish shellycoat: red currant, Spanish mandarin, pumpkin, quince, wild blueberry, and ginger with green tea, vanilla bean, frankincense, tonka, and vetiver. Bogle - Oh wow, this is awesome! It's like this big mixed-up, mish-mashy, jumble of rowdy, boisterous scents. As I'm reading the scent descriptions, I keep thinking, yep, I smell that one, and that one, and that one... and so on. Every single note listed is present and accounted for. As it dries on my skin, the vetiver, tonka, and frankincense, give it a nice warm depth, and the rest of the notes swirl around each other creating this amazing amalgamation of scents that are unique and distinct, yet together they create something that's so warm and delicious -- foody, but not really in a gourmand way, but more like the way you would pick up multiple scents in the air all at the same time wafting your way from different corners of the farmer's market and rather than thinking, oh those don't belong together, the scents blend perfectly to become the scent you identify as the farmer's market fragrance. That's what this is like, only the individual, unique scents all come together to create Bogle, which is like no other BPAL I've smelled before. It's phenomenal!

This was a gift with the purchase of the full Wunderkammer set. No scent description is available. Screaming Mandragora - What a great scent! It seemed fruity and slightly earthy on me, and when asked what was in it, Beth's passed along the word that it's a "rooty fruit." I really couldn't describe it better than that. The earthiness of this scent is not a dirt type of earthiness, but definitely a rootiness. I have no clue what the fruit scent is - something sweet, a little dark, and perhaps some type of red fruit, but I really can't identify it for the life of me. After being on my skin for 30 minutes or so, the earthiness fades and what's left is the sweet, deep fruit scent. I wish I could identify it - plum, perhaps? I have no idea. Anyway, It's been three hours since I applied it and I can still smell it. It's lovely and I'm sooo bummed this isn't more widely available.

Back out on the Midway, a huge, leather-clad man leans against a post. He smiles at you, guilelessly, baring a mouthful of sharpened teeth as he hammers huge rusted nails into his skull. Rusted metal, leather, and a pop of pink bubblegum. The Blockhead - Where's the rusted metal? Where's the leather? In the bottle and on my skin, this smells like sweet, pink bubblegum and nothing else. I love it! It's so sweet and reminds me of the Big League Bubble Gum I chewed when I was a kid. It's a scent I probably wouldn't wear often, but it's so sweet and nummy that I know there will be times when nothing else will do but a super sweet, pink bubblegum scent.

Electric jolts of mania: a salt-crusted coffin bobbing through tumultuous ocean waves. This is another proto/preview (? - not sure which) that was out for testing at the Cobwebs III/Convergence events. It's very fresh and outdoorsy in a Victorian garden kind of way. It's grassy, warm, and herbal, with maybe a hint of wildflowers. This one makes me think of an artist setting up an easel in the countryside, taking off his coat so his suspenders are revealed, unbuttoning his shirt, rolling up his sleeves, and spending a sunny afternoon crazily splashing paints on a canvas in a desperate attempt to catch the beauty of the scenery around him/her. It's too grassy for my personal preference, but it's quite evocative and those who enjoy grassy and outdoory scents will love this one. I see it being potentially unisex for it's lack of overt florals.

The Lantern Ghost of Oiwa, Shunkosai Hokuei. Black tea, cherry blossom, ho wood, calla lily, rice wine, and white mint. Damn, if this isn't GORGEOUS! This scent reminds me a lot of The Snow Maiden in its white snowiness and sweet minty touch. It's one of the few mint blends that doesn't go all wonky on my skin. The cherry blossom is absolutely gorgeous and very soft, and makes me think of springtime in Washington D.C., when the cherry trees are in full bloom, and the soft pink and white petals fall to the ground with barely a whisper. As the blend warms up on my skin, the calla lily is also detectable, but it is so soft and ethereal that it plays hide-and-seek with me and I can’t ever seem to fully grab on to it. This is a really incredible scent, especially considering my normal distaste for Asian-themed blends, tea, and mint. However, it's very subtle, to the degree that I wonder what is the point in wearing it. However, I do tend to prefer strong notes, so someone who likes the softer, quieter scents may find this incredibly appealing. My first instinct is to pass this one along, but it's just so damn pretty that even though it’s not a scent I would normally wear, I think I'm going to hang on to it, and see if I don't perhaps find myself drawn to it more often than I am to other similar scents. I think it would be a wonderful bed-time scent, very quiet, soft, pretty and feminine.

SCHMENDRICK Wonder and love and great sorrow shook Schmendrick the Magician then, and came together inside him, and filled him, filled him until he felt himself brimming and flowing with something that was none of these. He did not believe it, but it came to him anyway, as it had touched him twice before and left him more barren than he had been. This time, there was too much of it for him to hold: it spilled through his skin, sprang from his fingers and toes, welled up equally in his eyes and his hair and the hollows of his shoulders. There was too much to hold, too much ever to use; and still he found himself weeping with the pain of his impossible greed. He thought, or said, or sang, I did not know that I was so empty, to be so full. Unexplored potential: sweet, raw tobacco leaves, chamomile, clary sage, Mysore sandalwood, sultana raisins, and caramel. In the vial, this has the slightest hint of men's cologne, but it smells more herbal and complex than the typical cologney scent. Wet on my skin, the clary sage and chamomile jump right out in front of all the other notes, and since I adore clary sage, I can't help but smile and sigh happily when I smell it. As the oil warms up on my skin, the sandalwood becomes noticeable and blends beautifully with the chamomile and clary sage, and I detect a hint of the tobacco leaves, as well -- it sort of reminds me of the tobacco leaf note in Santo Domingo, and seems to be what gives the scent its masculine edge. As the scent completely dries down, the tobacco leaf becomes top dog, with the sandalwood behind it, and the faintest traces of the herbal notes in the background. I keep waiting and waiting for the raisin, as it's not a note used much in BPAL (especially the white Sultana variety, which I don't think we've seen before this) and the caramel, which generally destroys a scent for me, but I'm never able to detect either of them. I'm amazed that this is a caramel scent that I can wear! Still, after dry-down, it's a bit too masculine for my taste. If the chamomile and clary sage remained top players in this scent, I'd like it a lot more, but the post-dry-down result is a really nice scent, fairly masculine, and pretty much not something I'd ever reach for over my other favorite blends.

LICORICE BATS Black licorice with cacao nibs and anise. Licorice Bats - When I first apply this, I'm disappointed and think it's the first licorice scent I didn't love. When first applied, it's ultra-sweet, and the cocoa note gives off a weird dry scent that doesn't seem to blend well with the licorice. But 10 minutes later, when I sniff my skin again, it's become a lovely, gorgeous, beautiful, fantastic licorice scent. The cocoa is still there, but rather than simply not blending well with the licorice, it's now providing a really nice base for the licorice. The smell kind of reminds me of what it might taste like to eat a Mike & Ike along with a tiny bit of Tootsie Roll at the same time. It's definitely candy-sweet, yet grounded with a dry cocoa. I love it.

PLAGUE OF FROGS Rubbery, wet, and warty. Plague of Frogs - I could have the title wrong. It could have an "A" or "The" in front of the word Plague. Sorry, my notes aren't complete. Okay, so this is one of Beth's "silly" scents. It's definitely not one that people will wear and I'll be surprised if anyone buys it if they know in advance what it smells like, but I swear, honest-to-god, this smells like frogs. It evokes really strong memories of being a little girl and wading in the stream with my best friend, grabbing frogs, and following the slimy trails of frog-eggs they would leave behind, and that nasty, nasty urine they would spray all over your hand which would then dribble down your arm after picking up the frogs. This is the scent of slimy frogs, strings of slimy frog eggs in algae-ridden, shallow streams, and the smell of frog urine. Beth mentioned that she had tried to cut down on the "turdy" aspect of the overall smell of frogs. I didn't get any poo from this, but I did get a freaking ton of frog-urine from it. It's just nasty as a perfume, but she NAILED the concept quite possibly better than any other concept scent I've encountered before this.

VALSE FINALE ET APOTHÉOSE The return journey: three honeys, white mint, and apple blossom. Valse Finale et Apotheose - Well, this one surprised me. I didn't expect much from this at all, as apple blossom tends to go soapy and some honeys turn to poopy diaper on me. White mint is one of the only mints I can wear, but otherwise, it just didn't appeal to me. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I first applied it and it smelled... pretty?! Totally not what I expected! I smell gorgeous, sweet, smooth honey and a bit of white mint and the faintest trace of a floral that doesn't turn soapy and disappears completely upon drydown. The mint also disappears not long after drydown, leaving behind the subtle scent of honey on my skin. This is definitely a scent that stays very close to the skin, but when its wet, it's particularly pretty. I may try this in a scent locket to keep that "wet" scent going throughout the day.