edenssixthday

Champagne Bath Oil - I adore BPAL's champagne scents -- haven't encountered one yet that I wasn't nuts about. This is no exception. It's bright, fizzy champagne. Sweet, delicious, and just wonderful. A few drops in my tub makes my whole bathroom smell amazing. I am beyond thrilled that I have a whole bottle, and I use it regularly. I'm so glad it doesn't take much because I have to figure out a way to make sure this bottle lasts me a lifetime!

Hua Mulan is such an incredibly light scent that it's hard for me to identify any individual notes. It's a light floral with the faintest whisper of musk. The leather is barely discernible, but is definitely there giving the scent just enough depth to keep it from wisping away completely. It's very pretty, but doesn't have any throw at all.

B.B3 - Red musk, coconut, and something that reminds me of sassafras. The notes clash horribly when I first apply it, and it takes a good hour for it to settle into something really nice and wearable. Once it does settle down, it's quite nice, but the throw is low, and the longevity is lower than average on me.

Godfather Death - I don't smell anything sweet. I don't smell anything floral. All I smell is dusty, dry wood.

Left His Nurse While In a Crowd - I think this might be the first over-the-top foody scent that not only smells amazing in the vial, but also on my skin. I cannot get over how well this wear! It comes as sweet, moist, white cake -- lot and lots and lots of white cake -- smothered in chocolate and berries. It's sweet, fruity, chocolatey, cakey delicious. It doesn't last long on me -- 90-120 minutes at most, but it's well worth reapplying. It's really, really, really awesome, and the chocolate in it never does turn stale on me, as chocolate often does. The cake note, which always works on me, carries the chocolate and somehow buffers it from the bad things my skin usually does to chocolate notes. This is such an unexpected winner!

Bauble - I love love LOVE BPAL's champagne note, so I just went nuts when I smelled this. This is a beautiful, sweet champagne -- not dry at all like the champagne scents from the previous year's Yule Will Call special scents. For a brief minute, I also thought I smelled something that reminded me of 7-Up, something more sweet and lemon-limey soda-like, but that quickly faded, and what I smell is the sweet champagne note blended with sweet punch notes (although this smells nothing like Spiked Punch) like perhaps lemon, lime, and orange (???) and the faintest trace of soft, ethereal florals. This is drop-dead gorgeous. I am in love.

País de la Canela - This is such a lovely scent! Others have said that it's reminds them of Christmas/Yule scents, but I think it's the wrong kind of greenery to be Christmasy. This scent is heavy on the greenery, but it's not evergreen-type trees at all. The scent is deeper, thicker, and more lush (or would that be "lusher"?). The cinnamon is heavy and spicy and quite powerful. Overall, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous scent. I put on the tiniest bit and I'm enveloped in scent. When I sniff up close, it has a bit of soapiness about it, but I catch none of that from the sillage, so I just won't sniff up close. I love it. The only negative thing is that my chest seized up and began to hurt the moment I put it on. I'm not sure if it's just a seasonal-allergy-related coincidence, or if it's an allergy to the fragrance. I'll try it again in a few days when my seasonal allergies aren't so bad and see if the same thing happens or not.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - I didn't actually think I'd like this with my general bad experience with a number of the notes in it, but overall, it's a beautiful, fruity blend. The first note I notice is the apple, and even though I can't usually wear apple well, it smells really good on me! It blends beautifully with the pomegranate and fig. I think this would make a nice scent for my locket or oil burner, as after 20 minutes on my skin, it gains a flat, stale, and slightly powdery quality.

Couple Consulting an Enpon - In the vial, this smells warm and sweet and delicious. The moment it touches my skin, it turns into a strong cat pee, wood, and powder scent. It doesn't settle down, fade, or balance out. It continues to maintain the strong smell of cat pee. I am fairly certain it's the blackberry that's going wonky on me and ruining this, even though I've never had that reaction to blackberry before. I'm afraid I can't give a good review at all with the craziness that happens on my skin while wearing this.

The White Rider - This is a beautiful leather scent. It's a soft, supple leather, bolstered by the faintest hint of sandalwood, and something else that's sweet and pretty in the background, it's almost floral, like olive blossom. It's such a lovely scent. It has very low throw, and is very soft and subtle against my skin. This isn't a rough-and-tumble leather scent. Rather, it's quite classy and upscale. I really like it.

The Little Wooden Doll - When I sniff this in the imp, all I smell is cedar/pencil-shavings. My first thought is "where's the doll?" this is just a hunk of uncarved wood! Then it touches my skin... and the scent absolutely blossoms. From the moment it touches my skin it becomes so beautiful -- the rose and amber rise above the pencil-shavings scent, and while I still smell that dry wood beneath the rose and amber, it adds to the overall scent. The rose is a soft rose, not a red rose, and the amber slightly powdery. Overall, it's a really lovely scent. I was delightfully surprised by this one.

Glukuprikos - I didn't have the scent description in front of me when I put this on, but pinned down the musk and ambergris immediately. On me, it's a very sweet and highly musky scent full of pencil-shaving type woods and sadly, incredibly "perfumey" on me. It didn't last more than a couple hours on me, either. Off to the swaps!

Smut 2010 - I have a bottle of the 2006 Smut and I tried out the 2008 Smut when it came out. I love Smut, but I had NO IDEA how much I was going to love this version of Smut. I don't know if the formulation changed or if maybe it's a bath variation, but my bottle of this year's Smut is so much better than any other Smut I've worn, including my beloved 2006 Smut. From the very first moment I apply it to my skin, the first thing I smell is sugar sweetness, almost like grape candy, but sexier. Then the musks and booze burst forward, but are still behind the sugar. This is definitely a boozy, musky scent that's covered with a thick layer of sugar, and for once, the sugar doesn't turn plastickey on me! I thought I wouldn't need a bottle since I already have Smut '06, but I need a bottle of this sugary sweet Smut. It's gorgeous! Super long wear length and really strong throw.

Olisbos - If you've ever travelled around the Western/Southwestern U.S., chances are you've stopped into a souvenir shop that sells handcrafted and/or mass-produced wooden carvings and other wooden objects, along with leather goods such as wallets, souvenir Native American headpieces, boots, etc. Olisbos smells exactly like those stores -- all wood and polished leather. It so evocative of my many travel all over places like Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. I love this scent -- it's the leather many of love from Dead Man's Hand, and a nice, light wood note, with the hint of something slightly sweet behind it, which must be the olive oil. This is a beautiful scent. It doesn't strike me as feminine in the least -- it's something I'd rather smell on a dude. On a sexy cowboy kind of dude. It has a nice level of throw and really, really long wear-length.

This is another gorgeous blend! On me, it's heavy on the clove and leather, but there's a sweetness that must be the vanilla. It smells like a very simple scent, and layers gorgeously with Female. My husband can't wear perfume oils due to allergies, but this one makes me want to pin hiim down and force it on him!

This scent is gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. It's exactly what I hoped Sachs would be, but wasn't. It's a sweet vanilla and leather scent. I can't identify the other notes at all -- it's all vanilla and leather, and it's a beautiful combination of both. The vanilla goes a little "plasticky" on my skin when sniffed up close... so I just won't sniff up close.

 

P.S. It layers gorgeously with CC's Male blend, too.

Metal Tiger – When I sniff this in the bottle, the amazing scent that comes out makes me want to drink it. It smells kind of like a fuzzy naval. Mmmm! When I put it on my skin, I definitely still smell fuzzy naval, but I also get a very strong and sweet floral scent. The citrus and florals are very bright and make a really lovely first impression. As it dries down, the woodier notes start to become discernible, and while they stay in the background, they blend beautifully with the other notes and do a wonderful job of grounding them, and in particular, bringing the bright citruses down to earth. Even though I know there’s dragon blood in here, I can barely find it – I keep catching a whiff of something I think may be the dragon’s blood, but just when I think I’ve pinned it down, it’s gone (pesky dragons!). I really, really love this scent. I can’t put into words how gorgeous it is. It’s such a beautiful fruity-floriental, and yes, I’d be delighted if someone offered me a (preferably spiked) fruit punch that smells like this! After drydown, it doesn’t have the best throw, but it has reasonable staying power, particularly for a scent with lots of citrus notes, since those usually fade more quickly on me than they do in this blend.

 

Dark Chocolate and Key Lime Truffle – I love this scent…for the first 3 seconds. I’ve tried this scent on 3 times, and each time I’ve worn it, the wonderfulness wears off within 5-10 seconds. For those first few fleeting moments, the lime is the top note and it’s bursting with sweet, juiciness, like a sweet limeaid, only better….but then the chocolate kicks in and the two notes clash horribly on me. I love the lime, and I love the chocolate, but I can’t stand what they do together on my skin. Strangely, the scent doesn’t long at all on my skin. The bright citrus fades away almost completely upon drydown, and that’s when the chocolate becomes a bit musty and then fades into the ether over the next few minutes after that. By the 30 minute point, I can’t smell a darn thing, as if I never put it on in the first place. As much as I’d love to wear foody scents, it’s really just not meant to be. They simply don’t work on me.

Milk Chocolate and Matcha Green Tea Ganache Truffle – My favorite beverage at Starbucks is their soy green tea lattes, made with a sweetened matcha powder. I was really, really hoping this scent would be strong on the bitter, grassy matcha green tea and weak on the chocolate, since I don’t tend to wear chocolate well. Sadly, this smells absolutely nothing like matcha green tea. It’s not remotely bitter, grassy, or earthy, as the matcha should be. The green tea note totally turns into a bright, sweet lemon Pledge scent, and the chocolate, as it often does, turns into something dank and dusty. Oh well, at least lemon Pledge and dust go together. But it’s sure not what I was hoping for, definitely not what I expected, and if someone gave me a truffle that smelled like this, I’d be worried it would ooze dust bunnies rather than ganache.

White Chocolate, Black Raspberry, and Apricot Cordial Truffle – When wet, this smells good enough to eat. The three notes – white chocolate, raspberry, and apricot – are in perfect balance, and I am tempted to lick my arm (but I refrain! I’ve learned my lesson about licking BPAL! ) However, as it warms up on my skin, it starts to lose its yummy sweetness and gain a flat, plastic-like scent about it. The apricot disappears, and the white chocolate becomes more subtle, but it’s also the white chocolate that’s “turning” on me…a it sometimes does. Even though I know foody scents like this rarely work on my skin, I still keep hoping that someday one will blow me away that also stays true on my skin. This one isn’t it. (But if I came across a truffle that tasted as good as this one initially smells, I’d be one lucky lady!)

Unveiled – I should love this. Every note in this usually smells good on me (with the exception of tea, which is “iffy”) and every ingredient in the list looks like it should work so well with the others – and when sniffing the oil in the bottle, it smells gorgeous – like a citrus-peach tea with a drop of vanilla. However, when it touches my skin, something in it goes off, and it turns rancid and sour. It smells like a bushel of fruit that has become over-ripe and is turning brown and mushy. It’s terribly sad that something about my particular skin chemistry can make such a pretty fruity scent become so wonky and sour on my skin. I’m sad.

 

 

Thouros –The fresh rose and cistus blend really well with the sweet lychee in a way that surprises me, since I don’t usually like the smell of lychee-flavored or lychee-scented products. I really love this particular combination of fruity-florals. It’s very much a light and bright spring/summer scent. It doesn’t have much throw or staying power on me, but this is one I’ll definitely be able to use in my oil burner and make my house smell absolutely wonderful, particularly once the weather warms up enough to open the windows and have a fresh breeze come through the house. I think this would compliment that kind of warm, breezy, springtime day so well. Maybe I’ll try it in a scent locket, too, since that would keep the scent going for a while. It’s just so pretty and a real shame that it doesn’t thrive more on my skin.

 

 

Candles Moon - I was really excited about this -- it sounded like such a beautiful combination of notes. However, on my skin, it's all milk and wax with the tiniest hint of some type of evergreen, and ... well, that's about it. No blackberry, no snow (other than that evergreen note), no "keening wind"... it's just kind of flat on me. I was hoping for something a bit colder and juicier. And then my skin eats it up, as it tends to do with milk notes, so I'm sad this won't work for me, but hopefully it'll land in the hands of someone who loves it more than I.

Lovers in a Carp Streamer - Okay, I was so excited about this because cranberry scents are so rare, and the notes seemed like they'd work together really well. In fact, they do! When I first apply this, the top notes are the cranberry, tobacco flower, and thyme, over the woods. There's the slightest trace of mint, but I wouldn't notice it if I didn't already know it was there. There's also a weird hint of soapiness when I sniff this up close on my skin, which is undoubtedly the tobacco flower. As the scent starts to dry down, the thyme and the soapiness fade and the red currant bursts forth and becomes the dominant note so that it smells like a red currant, thyme, and woods blend. It's so pretty and just can't put into words how much I love the juicy red fruits! Also, something about it reminds me of a LUSH product...but I can't place which one. Maybe a bubble bar or bath bomb? Or maybe it just smells like what you smell when you first walk into a LUSH store. No matter what, I love this scent... but it has zero staying power on me and no throw. 20 minutes after I apply it, I can barely find a trace of it on my skin! Wah! In the bottle, it smells absolutely nothing like it smells once it touches my skin, otherwise I'd keep it and use it as a room scent. I can't tell you how sad I am that this fades so fast on me. HUGE bummer.

Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand - This is very much a honey-vanilla-and-citrus scent on me. The quince is bright and tart, the mandarin is bright and sweet, and the honey brings it a layer of non-juicy sweetness, while the vanilla brings it a level of creaminess that keeps it from being too bright and juicy. It's got really good staying power (especially) considering my skin usually sucks up citrus notes), but the throw isn't very strong on me.