fufu_berry

Gah, I think metallic notes really do not work on me. I can smell just the faintest hint of a lovely balsam trying to peek through, but it's almost completely nostril-searing, sinus-hurting aluminum foil cologne. Had to wash it off. :/

Very soft and pleasant - goes on with a light tinge of juniper and citrus, which makes me think the musk is a lemony black musk. It dries down to a light dry pine. I think "solemn" describes it very well. I didn't find this particularly green or astringent, and it's the softest of BPAL's pine scents that I've tried.

Very soothing indeed - on me, this is a light, airy fragrance. A hint of cherry blossom, a small tingle of anise, and a whisper of sandalwood to ground it. I was afraid it might be too floral/perfume-y sine cherry blossom can sometimes get like that, but it's very well-blended. It stays the same from wet to dry, and is very close to the skin and hard to detect after only about a half hour (although that might be my parched winter skin as well).

It's also very evocative - I've never been to Kyoto, but it reminds me a lot of cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo, right at the beginning of the season when the sakura are just starting to bloom. I think this will be lovely for spring, very fresh and gentle.

Huh, I didn't get any fruit from Oya. It went on very floral, and then a little bit of wood (a soft wood, like sandalwood) and "green" scent came out. It was sort of similar to the scent profile of Xiuhtecuhtli on me, with a tropical sort of floral underscored with incense and herbs. Unfortunately, I suspect this may have had lilies in it - my throat closed up and I got rashy blisters all over my wrists and even up to my elbows (even though I only dab lightly on my wrist). I ended up having to scrub after only about 10-15 min, so I didn't really get the full experience of the scent.

Unbearably sour. I have a really strong negative reaction to sour fruits - I can't eat strawberries or green apples at all (weirdly, I don't have this problem with sour citrus, and have been known to eat limes out of hand), and MGM smells like a green apple Jolly Rancher with just a smidge of honey. No good for me.

Hmm...Spider (White ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, and lime) seems like it might have a similar citrus/spice profile. Or perhaps Calliope (lavender and bright mint with bergamot, verbena, thyme and a touch of sweet orange and warm almond). Calliope is discontinued, but Spider is a GC (Neil Gaiman). I haven't smelled either personally, just going on the notes, but I hope you find what you're looking for.

ETA: For what it's worth, there's no evidence that "human pheromones" exist, so if you're put off by the possible effects, there are probably none to worry about.

I like scents like this too! I found Laudanum to be very medicinal and spicy (Nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy and myrrh), and No 93 Engine (Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage) has a medicinal/herb smell to me as well. Lear (White cedarwood, blue sage and bay leaf) doesn't smell very medicinal to me, but it is very herbal.

Somehow forgot to review this - this is the only "smoky" scent I've tried so far that actually smells smoky to me, and I love it! My skin always seems to tame vetiver into something golden and vaguely earthy, but this stays as smoky spices. The only problem is it fades really quickly. Most scents stick around all day on me, but Rumpelstilzchen only lasts a couple hours. All the more reason to invest in a bottle, I guess...

Mmm, lemony musk and cocoa. This is the rare scent that smells sweet without being cloying or foody to me. It's a little powdery, but for some reason I like it here. It's very sexy and forward feeling - a great going-out scent. Very glad I swapped for this!

This is a very light scent - I definitely get the grape that others have mentioned, but it's not an artificial cough syrup or grape soda grape, it's more like a fresh peeled grape. There's also an underlying herbal smell - I've heard the smell of High John essence described in a lot of different ways, from vetiver to mace or allspice, so this might be that hard-to-pin scent. It wouldn't be my first choice for a personal fragrance, but it did feel calming and grounding. I was performing and was really nervous, and it definitely gave me a little boost. I'll be using this again.

Starts out as lemon, but quickly fades to salty soap residue. Not for me. :/

I'm wondering if my imp of this is mis-labeled, because this is 100% peppermint on me. It smells just like the peppermint essential oil I have. o.O

I immediately thought Forest Reverie (A sunlit ancient forest, dotted with wild roses, grape vine, and queenly lilies, clothed in swirls of opium smoke) for the Deer God. And of course, Smokestack (Creosote, coal, and industrial waste) for Lady Eboshi.

Any ideas what Princess Mononoke would wear? Or any other Studio Ghibli characters? ...Can you guys what movies I've been marathoning this weekend?

 

Great taste! I love Miyazaki marathons.

 

I immediately thought of Sarah when you said Mononoke (Unholy mist congealing into soft, white flesh, with black marble, remnants of liturgical incense, wolf's fur, and black flecks of froth); I think it's the wolf's fur. The marble and incense aren't very foresty, but the ozone in this would make me think of her on the warpath at night.

 

I think Ivanushka (Soft, velvety fur and warm musk, brushed by forest woods and dusted by dry leaves) is pretty much perfect, though. You could also try:

 

Jabberwocky (An earthy yet buoyant scent: pine, eucalyptus and orange.)

Mania (Sreeching white musk collides with a howl of red musk, with sharp white grapefruit and pale strawberry leaf.)

Loup Garou (Primeval in its raw power and insatiable hunger: juniper, cypress and galangal with the barest touch of eucalyptus.)

Mischievous Spirit (Chinese peach, bergamot, cranberry, red vegetal musk, carnation, white coconut, and Nepalese amber.)

 

 

There were some recommendations for Howl's Moving Castle earlier on.

This started off promising, very fresh pine and juniper. However, after a few minutes a really nasty note like rotting vegetation popped up - I'm think it's one of the unnamed "floral offerings" as those can go really off on me. Had to wash it off, definitely sad about this one.

This was the most traumatic BPAL experience I've ever had. This smelled on me like the following: printer paper, jasmine, mildew, rancid cooking oil. It was truly revolting on my skin, and set off an hour-long sneezing/runny-eyed allergy attack. Yikes! This is definitely going to have to go far, far away from me.

On wet: Cinnamon? That's not even in here! I know what cardamom smells like, but I could swear this is cinnamon. So weird.

Drydown: Cinnamon potpourri. No leather at all, which is weird since I tend to amp leather a little.

Dry: Same. I think this might be a time-of-the-month fail...will have to revisit (haha) this next week, when hopefully there will be patchouli and bourbon and not potpourri.

In the imp: Oakmoss (guess that's the oak leaf), very light and cologne-y.

On wet: A little bit of moss and anise. It's very light, which was surprising, but knowing my skin chemistry and how it manages to make crazy things smell light and sweet and normal things (looking at you, vanilla!) ghastly, it makes sense.

Drydown: Anise and a light cologne (which I think must be oak leaf, since oakmoss is a common cologne/fougere ingredient).

Dry: Tobacco coming out, and a little bit of the warm earthiness I usually get from vetiver. This is nice, but it's not moving me much.

After a while: I'm still not sure what civet smells like, which was one of the reasons I wanted to try this. This is definitely nothing like the rancid smell of Chanel No. 5, which is what I associate with civet, but that may just be the combination of other things in that scent. I'll probably hang onto this for now and see if I get the urge to wear it again.

ETA: This seems to be getting really sexy - I guess that is the civet effect? Very nice, I probably will wear this again when I am looking for some attention.

This is for Yule 2012.

On wet: Christmas! I can't really articulate why this smells like Christmas, but it's somehow cool and crisp and warm and spicy at the same time. Neat!

Drydown: Something citrusy (the verbena?) and evergreen.

Dry: A little berry-ish, but not too foody or sweet. Guess that's holly berry? Also definitely some thyme, a really nice herbaceous note in the background.

I didn't know what I was going to think of this and just swapped for it on a whim, but I actually really like it.

On wet: Oh no, screaming roses. Very much like the dried rose-petal rosary note in Vial of Holy Water to me.

Drydown: Some cedar is attempting to emerge, but is being smothered by roses.

Dry: Getting a little more incense-y, but still a lot of sharp rose. This scent is unfortunately very not for me.

On wet: Green and pine-y the whole way through on me, which is great. Unfortunately, there is one note in here that is very sharp and "perfume" smelling to my nose, which is throwing the whole scent off.

Drydown: The sharp note is mercifully wearing off; nutmeg is coming through.

Dry: Pine and nutmeg - I think I'm also recognizing the hyssop from Tenochtitlan which is giving a "warm" feeling.

Later: Hmm, it's getting really sweet; kind of like a more high-pitched version of Gacela with a lot of the clove coming through. Something is also starting to make kind of a weird grape smell.

It's not really calling out to me. Will probably be trading this.

On wet: A good spicy ginger beer. Very rooty and earthy, not syrupy sweet like a ginger ale. God I love red ginger.

Drydown: Same - delicious ginger beer. "Stinging" is a great description, this scent definitely has a bite.

Dry: Hmm...neroli might be getting a bit much. It's starting to overpower the ginger.

After a while: Yep, neroli has pretty much steamrolled everything else. It still smells good, but wish I were getting more of the other notes (all of which I like better than neroli).

Overall, I liked this a lot, but I think I like Fallen Angels in Hell more, so probably won't need to upgrade my decant.

On wet: Very green and veggie-like; kind of like smelling a freshly cut radish. Lots of horseradish nostril-clearing.

Drydown: It doesn't smell soapy, but when I sniff it I taste soap in my mouth. :/

Dry: Sharp metallic note - what is doing this? I should love this based on the notes, but it is doing very weird things. The scent is making my teeth hurt, and I'm still tasting soap in my mouth. o_O

10 min: Starting to calm down - mostly it's just orange blossom now, with a little bit of clove peeking through. It also kind of smells like honey, although that's not a listed note.

I wanted to love this, but it starts out with the weird soap thing and then just becomes very sweet and light...I didn't get any of the vetiver, balsam, or patchouli, which were what drew me to this scent. Oh well.

Good timing for a review of this, I suppose!

In the decant: CHOCOLATE (in all caps).

On wet: Smells exactly like these salted dark chocolates that always manage to find their way into my cart at Costco. I love to eat them, but it's a little too sweet and foody for my taste.

Drydown: Chocolate gets a little less sweet, and the saltiness remains. Unfortunately, there's a weird kind of plastic-y sweet smell creeping up, much like what I got out of Light of Mens' Lives (which was not good on me).

20 min plus: More of the plastic-y sweet smell and a little soapiness creeping in. I might try this again a time or two just to make sure (I didn't dislike it as much as the review might make it seem), but definitely won't need a bottle.

ETA: All of a sudden after an hour the incense comes out and tames the plastic/wax note. Still not sure how I feel about it, but that's definitely better.

This is mostly bay leaf on me. It's very soft and soothing, not much throw. It's herbal and clean without being soapy. I like it a lot, it's good for a lazy day, and feels very grounding (if that makes any sense).

On wet: Cloves!

Drydown: Cloves cloves cloves! This probably sounds like I'm complaining, but the clove note is very realistic and smells awesome and spicy, not like fake-y candle/potpourri smell. Very cozy and comforting, and not foody or sweet.

After a while: Still mostly clove. I was hoping to get more of the pine note, but I still really like this. There's nothing smoky about this on me, but that's not really a surprise - my skin eats smoky notes for breakfast, apparently.