hexnut

First sampled at Will Call in March 2013, purchased at April Will Call. I've been wearing this once in a while since then but I'm just now getting around to posting a complete review. In Vitro The very first sniff was pleasant but nothing I could identify. It was quickly joined by a subtle fruity smell. Good olive oils, like good wines, can have fruity notes so I wasn't too surprised. Wet Strongly fruity when first applied, then joined by menthol, of all things. Fortunately it wasn't offensively strong, but it beats me how my skin gets menthol out out wood, leather, and olive oil. About ten minutes on the fruitiness had gone and I could smell wood plus mild menthol. Drying A few minutes later the sweet top note returned while the menthol remained underneath. After an hour the overall scent had blended to what could be oiled leather, just barely sweet. When I checked at the two and a half hour mark it was almost undetectable. As weird as the description may sound, I really, really like Olisbos. It's like no other scent I've worn. But it fades quickly on my skin and doesn't last much longer on my clothing, so I won't seek another bottle when this is gone. I'll certainly enjoy it while it lasts. 97

Blind test of a frimp. In Vitro Sharp and aquatic. Wet A pleasant aquatic scent. I hoped it would stick around longer than the other BPAL aquatics I've tried. Drying Alas, no. This faded very quickly and eventually turned soapy. I laughed out loud at the label reveal. Dread and puissant Cthulhu, by my skin reduced to nice-smelling soap. ETA Blind test of frimp received in June 2013 and aged at least five months: In Vitro Bright citrus and/or floral. Wet Same when freshly applied, definitely aquatic after three minutes. A plastic note intruded ten minutes after that. Drying Faint aquatic and plastic. Nope.

Blind test of a frimp. Very pale yellow. In Vitro Fruity! Wet Fruity throw, fruity and slightly sharp up close, and very edible-smelling. After two minutes I got bubble gum. Drying The good: spicy bubblegum! The bad: my skin turned red and itchy, and I washed off the test patch only ten minutes after application. Jailbait is trouble, all right - it's among the very few BPALs I've tried that required diphenhydramine creme to soothe. The scent itself is fun, and I may just accidentally-on-purpose empty the imp inside my car while the weather here is still warm enough for cruising.

MOROCCO Frimp, colorless, blind test. In Vitro A very sweet floral or powder scent. Wet Some throw during application. Very sweet and tantalizingly familiar. After a minute it was possibly a 'white floral'. Drying This remained an unspecific and very sweet smell reminiscent of powder. It faded over the next hour. The label reveal was a letdown. Fabled and exotic Morocco, favorite of so many, on me was as bland and pleasant as a suburb. 94

YGGDRASIL A very pale yellow-brown oil. Blind test of a frimp. In Vitro Spicy resin. Wet Spice and sandalwood? I was reminded of Plunder. Drying Less spicy and more woody, and still mildly sweet. Half an hour after application the scent was faint but otherwise the same. Five hours on it was barely detectable. Yggdrasil has been on my list of candidates for a while so I'm glad the Lab gifted me with this. No bottle in my future but I'll use the imp. 93

Blind test of a frimp; brown oil. In Vitro Sweet booze or spice. Wet Some throw during application. Strong, sweet, slightly boozy, a bit woody. Maybe vanilla. After two minutes I decided it wasn't booze; more woody, perhaps with cocoa. Quite nice. Drying Woody and spicy. Slightly less sweet but still very nice, with a faint 'cologne' vibe. Four minutes along it was slightly faded and still woody and spicy but now vanilla emerged. Twenty eight minutes after applying I recorded it as vanilla and wood and/or spice, overall mellower, and not much faded. Soon after that I guessed at The Antikythera Mechanism. At the one hour mark vanilla dominated, and nearly three hours along what remained was faint vanilla. Eight hours after dabbing this on my wrist the scent was very faint and consisted of the "rubber toy" smell that (most?) BPAL vanillas evolve into when exposed to me. So I finally got to try the legendary Snake Oil and it was actually good on me, which is a relief - yay, I'm not a complete freak! At some point I will buy a bottle to age, and in the meantime I like the fresh stuff enough to use up this imp. 92

Tested blind, frimp, dark yellow. In Vitro Resin? Slightly sharp, not too sweet. Wet Immediately upon application I guessed at resin and/or patchouli, with some thingsharper - evergreen or menthol? Two minutes along a different, almost boozy note emerged. Drying Definitely boozy and reminiscent of Centzon Totochtin. It stayed that way for at least half an hour. Later it was down to a sweet floralish scent. Aside from the menthol hint that could have been lavender, I didn't pick out any notes, just the CT impression. Which is disappointing because nothing on the list for Gaueko was unappealing or raised a warning flag. Not a bottle candidate for me.

In Vitro This was a frimp, tested blind. A mild, possibly aquatic first sniff. Wet Menthol or mint, and very weak. Drying The faint scent of an anise pastille. Baku is inoffensive on me, but that's about it.

AUREUS A frimp from the Lab; dark brown. In Vitro Not very strong. I guessed at wood or vetiver. Wet Freshly applied this was pleasant and woody, probably patchouli (uh oh!). After five minutes it was mostly the same but slightly mellower. At ten minutes I got wood shavings, and the overall scent was less sweet. Drying The "shavings" died down and the scent became slightly sweet wood and faded slowly. Strangely, two hours after application it was a bit sweeter up close, and half an hour after that it was definitely sweeter. The scent persisted for much of the day and faded slowly. I really liked Aureus but I'm afraid of a repeat of what other woody BPALs have done to me: love -> slather -> skin reaction. I'm sure this would be fabulous on my clothing, so maybe a bottle is in my future after all. 89

Blind tested frimp; colorless. In Vitro Aquatic and mildly sweet. Wet A pleasant aquatic scent. The "bright" quality faded rapidly. Drying Only five minutes after application this was soapy, barely sweet, and almost astringent. At fourteen minutes it was just soapy and at forty-six minutes it was gone. Amsterdam had been on my list to try because I hoped for a green grass scent. Sigh.

Pale yellow oil, tested blind. In Vitro Sharp and bright, perhaps citrus or lavender. Wet Fresh on this was a citrusy bright floral. It quickly mellowed a bit but remained a bright floral blend. Drying Slightly soapy after less than ten minutes. A bit later I wrote, "innocuous perfume with soapy note that comes and goes". Soap is the fate of many BPAL florals on my skin so that didn't surprise me, but I got a chuckle from seeing the label after testing. The brooding, festering horror of the shadowy unapproachable forest, reduced to mere sudsy flowers... EDIT Oh for crying out loud. I'm working through my notecards this morning in chronological order and I see I got frimped Arkham again from one of the Will Calls. A blind test produced results almost identical to the first review. Nice to know my nose isn't completely wonky.

A frimp with my latest mail order; brownish orange in the vial. In Vitro Very rich and sweet. Resin? Wet Spicy, not too sweet, and possibly woody. After a minute or so it was less spicy and more wood and/or resin, and strong. Drying This settled into a mildly spicy resin scent, reasonably strong and quite nice. The label reveal was a pleasant surprise. I'd had this in mind for a possible sample order for a long time but I was scared off by the myrrh. Happily it didn't stand out for me in this blend, and the lotus didn't manifest as the 'bubblegum' that other reviewers get from that note. Almond is another fragrance note that I was leery of but I didn't identify it as such here. I really liked Bastet and will test it some more with an eye towards my bottle wishlist.

Blind test. Oil in the imp is light brown. In Vitro Resiny and sweet. Wet Resin, spice, and... sandalwood? In the first few minutes this had a "dry" quality that reminded me of Plunder, but that quickly receded leaving a nice sweet resin scent. Drying Ten minutes on this smelled like a combination of resins and florals. It was still nice but faded after half an hour. Coyote had been on my list of candidates for a long time but I put off ordering it because I was scared of musk (curse you, Robin Goodfellow!) The actual scent on me was okay but compared to my expectations it was a great disappointment. I will use up the imp though.

GNOME Very pale yellow in the imp; tested blind. In Vitro Fresh and citrusy. Wet Orange-smelling throw (as opposed to orange-colored throw. English be a weird language.) After two minutes it was lemon or lime on my skin. Fresh and very nice. Drying Fading fast six minutes after application, no longer identifiable citrus but still "fresh". And then Plastic sidled in and wrecked it just by quietly standing there. Did I get frimped 51 again? I was excited by the notes list for Gnome and had looked forward to trying it, so the label reveal was a total letdown. And even worse, I am still no closer to isolating the component(s) responsible for that plastic smell. 82

ARCANA Blind test of a Lab frimp. The oil is pale orange-brown. In Vitro Nothing at first sniff. Inhaling deeply got possible mint. Wet Fresh on, I got lemon balm if I inhaled deeply and close up. Drying Fifteen minutes after application the lemon balm smell dominated but I got hints of other notes. At this stage it was rather nice. A half hour on the lemon balm was gone and a woody scent remained. At the one hour mark it was very faint, sweet, and mild. Underwhelming, and more evidence that I amp verbena like crazy. 81

Lab frimp. A dark yellow oil, blind tested. In Vitro Sharp, sweet, and perfumey. Wet A strong and very "old-fashioned" floral, both close up and in the throw. My flower guesses were rose, jasmine, gardenia, or lily-of-the-valley. Drying Much the same but mellower. Two hours after application it was still present. I was quite surprised to see vetivert listed as a major note because on me Anathema was soft and pretty. Honeysuckle seems about right for the floral component, and I still haven't a clue about opium, black or otherwise.

AEVAL Blind test of a yellow oil. In Vitro Floral-y citrus, or citrus-y floral. Wet Freshly applied this was a light, fresh floral with a "bright" throw. After a few minutes at mellowed and faded but was still very nice. Drying This became a conventional floral perfume. About forty minutes on it was still sweet but slightly soapy, and faded entirely within two hours. Aeval was my latest, and probably last, try for a BPAL sage scent. I was disappointed but not surprised. 79

VILLAIN A frimp from the Lab, tested blind. in vitro Sweet, aquatic. Wet Sweet, floral, possibly some mint. After three minutes it was a cool floral. Drying Mild and sweet. Pleasant but unmemorable on me. 78

ECONOMIC RECOVERY Not really a blind test because I knew this was in my order, but I didn't look up the description beforehand. The oil in the imp was light brown and slightly viscous. In Vitro Herby or minty. Wet Fresh on this was a rich resinous blend. After a minute there was a woody note that I figured for patchouli. A few minutes later it was definitely woody and sweet and developed some throw. Drying Sniffed up close this was woody, but a half meter away it was sweet resin. I was really digging it until the end of the hour when it faded, got much less sweet, and...crap! Faint plastic. Before unfurling the imp label that night I put on a bit more and got floral-ish sweet spice. The reveal wasn't a surprise. I won't wear Economic Recovery because Patchouli is a cruel lover and also that damned plastic note, but I think I'll put it on the bills in my emergency cash stash. I used to do that with cinnamon oil when I was a kid. 71

This months' Single Note offering of Sumatran Red Patchouli makes me sad, because it sounds so gorgeous and I don't dare wear it. One of my earliest orders was Depraved (black patchouli with apricot), and although I was disappointed that I got no apricot, I liked the smell of patch enough to anoint my pajama sleeves so I could smell it at bedtime. Well, my inner elbows turned red and itchy for nearly a week. So I put Depraved on one pajama leg... and the next day a spot on my kneecap itched. Some months later I tested and loved a frimp of Intrigue (black palm, cocoa, fig, and "shadowy wooded notes"). At Will Call this year I bought a bottle, slathered it bedtime, and damn! The rash showed up the next day and for a week my arms were itchy and photosensitive. Out came the tube of diphenhydramine creme, and Intrigue was relegated to an atomizer for room spray. There is one other BPAL oil that produced a delayed reaction, this time on my torso, and that was No. 93 Engine (Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage). Thankfully the rash was not severe, but I can't blame patch for that one. Interestingly, I applied Bliss (pure milk chocolate) at the same time alongside No. 93, in the same quantity, and got no reaction at all. And although my much-loved Tezcatlipoca (cocoa, patchouli, leather armor, incense, and flowers) contains patchouli, and I have a bottle of it so I can slather, it's never hurt me. The other skin reaction I get from BPAL is different. It shows up almost immediately, within five minutes of application, and turns the affected area bright red and itchy. If I wash off immediately and apply anti-itch creme, the skin goes back to normal within an hour. I got this one from Plunder (tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg) the second time I wore it, and strangely enough also from Jailbait ("Sticky pink bubblegum and the thick, sweet scent of orange and cherry lollipops smeared over a breath of heady womanly perfume.") For the record I blind tested Jailbait and thought there was cinnamon in it. tl;dr: Type One - week long rash, prime suspect Patchouli. Type Two - rapid red skin, prime suspects Cassia and Cinnamon.

Blind test of a frimp from my Anniversary Phoenix order. In Vitro Sweet and slightly sharp; perhaps mint. Wet Floral but not cloying. I guessed at rose or jasmine. After a few minutes this was definitely floral of a type I think of as a "Mom" blend, i.e., old-fashioned and sophisticated. Drying Much the same, still with a hint of sharpness or "brightness". The scent faded and mellowed, and at this stage reminded me of Delight ("Frangipani with rose, tuberose, and jasmine.") That night before looking at the label I dabbed on a bit and this time smelled what I described as "citrusy floral". It was pleasant surprise to read the reviews for Black Cat and see that my guesses at the components were in agreement with so many others. I'll certainly keep this imp.

A frimp, tested blind. In Vitro Sharp, perhaps aquatic or citrus. Wet This began as pungent sweetness like pennyroyal or mint but rapidly turned into menthol. After a few minutes I noticed a bit of sillage that was completely different, almost floral. Drying Five minutes after application this was much sweeter with very little pungency, and a familiar, "old-fashioned" note. Some kind of floral and/or herbs, and quite nice. But then, right at the twenty-five minute mark, my nemesis plastic showed up and came to dominate the scent. I was willing to put up with the initial menthol to get the nice garden scent in the middle, but boo to that horrid plastic.

THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM Not really a blind test because of the distinctive logo on the label reverse, but I didn't know in advance which Steamworks scent it was. In Vitro Sweet, maybe citrus. Wet Spicy and wonderful. It was slightly sweet and I guessed at tobacco. Drying Dry, warm, and sort of masculine-sweet. Half an hour after application there was a hint of the "annoying" quality I got from Centzon Totochtin and Smokestack. Luckily that note never grew very strong, and eventually faded out. At the hour and a half mark the scent was faint and exhibited a vanilla-ish top over a tobacco-ish base. I really liked The Antikythera Mechanism, but I need to test it some more before I spring for a bottle. Besides the weird note that threatens my enjoyment, there's the tantalizing possibility that the vanilla in this blend did not, in fact, morph into rubber. 77

A blind test. In Vitro Floral. Rose? Wet In the first minute this went from lemony rose to lemon to lemon with a hint of rose. After four minute it smelled like lime. Drying Mild lime and floral. I thought it might be Ehecatl. An hour and a half on there was a faint and somewhat masculine soap smell. Definitely a "well, crap" reaction when I read the imp label. Once again, ginger smelled like citrus and tea smelled like flowers. I like citrus and flowers, but I wanted ginger and I wanted tea! With regret I am giving up on two more BPAL notes.

SMOKESTACK Dark brown in the vial. I had one other Steamworks imp at the time but I was almost certain that this was Smokestack and not the unknown frimp. In Vitro Smoky and sweet. Wet Deep, sweet, smoky, and molasses-like; perhaps grassy? Unfortunately after two minutes a less pleasant boozy note emerged. Drying Thirteen minutes after application I wrote, "smells like less-sweet Centzon Totochtin". It remained much the same as it faded although it did mellow a bit and was very faintly detectable at the six hour mark. I had high hopes for Smokestack because it sounded so weird, but like Centzon Totochtin it was more annoying than intriguing on me. I will keep the imp because if the "booze" ages out this will be spectacular. 75