Foodie

I can't believe it's taken me this long to try Athens. I've been collecting for years but to my credit Athens has been out of stock for a lot of the time. I adore wine scents. I tried my first one when I received a frottle (a frottle!!! That was soooo awesome, thank you lab!) in my Halloweenie 2012 order. It was called Tears of Lilith and it was incredibly lovely. Also, one of my very favorite BPALs is Lilith and Sekhmet. Athens has that same dark, red, deep, fruity and gorgeous wine note. It's the first thing I smell. The second is the myrrh. This is incense-wine heaven, sweeted by the honey. Reading the reviews before mine, I was surprised to see how many people described the honey as being the most prominent note. For me the wine and myrrh come first for sure. Athens is beautiful and bewitching and a full bottle is in my very near future.

After reading reviews I ordered Sept, it sounded right up my alley. Let me tell you, I am NOT disappointed! It's lovely. When very first applied and wet for some reason popcorn or butter popped into my head. But it was gone in like 2 seconds. Vanilla and frankincense are the most prominent notes on me for the first couple of minutes, a creamy sweet vanilla that blends so beautifully with the frankincense they are indistinguishable. The rose comes through after drying and the combination is just really pretty. I love rose but it always always fades on my skin. After an hour it's usually gone. But Sept is still going strong a couple of hours later. The rose has gotten stronger and creamier as time goes by. It ended up being rose dominant for sure. Sept is gorgeous, a total win. I'm super happy I have a bottle. I would even go so far as to say that on a shelf filled with rose blends like Peacock Queen, Rose Red, The Rose and Harlot, I would choose Sept. It will be perfect for a night out, at home, at work, anytime I want to feel beautiful.

First a backstory. I got Ava as a frimp in a private swap/sale. It came in a tiny bottle and there was so little in the bottle that not even a drop would come out through the rollerball. I put it away with my other imps without ever testing it. Fast forward to the OLLA re-release. I was super curious about how Ava smelled now that I actually had a chance to buy a bottle. So I dug up the tiny rollerball bottle and took a razor blade to the top to pry it off. Success! I upturned the bottle onto my inner arm and waited 30 seconds before I sniffed... OMG. OMG, OMG OMG. This is heavenly. When someone (multiple people, actually) reported eyes rolling back in the head and sighs of pleasure... YES. This is what happened, uncontrollably. Gorgeous creamy floral. Sweet floral (I'm guessing this is the tuberose) with a fantastic non foodie vanilla. I should mention that the other reviews stating that Ava smells like mainstream perfume scared me but this is no mainstream perfume. I immediately ordered two bottles, which is crazy because I really can't afford it after already making an order of Eve, which I've never tried but every single note is normally a win for me. BUT AVA.

Mixed spice, rosewater, and black tea. I open Mrs. Grose and inhale. Mmmmm... cinnamon and rose. I apply Mrs. Grose to my wrists. Mmmmm... cinnamon and rose. I sniff after my wrist is dry. Oh my gosh... I am in love. It smells like a mixture of gingerbread poppet or some such gingerbread scent, mixed with Rose. It is absolutely divine. I haven't smelled anything like this before. There are musky roses, sexy roses, pure and innocent roses, but this... this is almost foodie. It's spicy and delicious and just perfect for the holidays. This is what I thought Harlot would smell like. Mrs. Grose is wonderful. I will be ordering a backup bottle or three.

Any new "floriental" recs out there? I would love to hear from you!

Cotton Phoenix is absolutely lovely. A strong Snake Oil with Snow White snow and a gorgeous creamy almond milk. There is something soft, sweet, fresh... cloud-like in there. Some are saying marshmallow but I'm not getting marshmallow. Maybe it's cotton? Anyway, all of these notes blend together to make my favorite BPAL scent of 2017. My only complaint is that it fades fairly fast on me.

Marshmallow Snow reminds me of a combination of Snow Moon 2012 and The Illustrated Woman. It is the snow plus the fir note that reminds me of Snow Moon. And Marshmallow Snow DOES have a fairly strong fir note. As time goes on it smells more and more like The Illustrated Woman. A (white) musky vanilla marshmallow in a snowy forest scent. Christmassy!

SNOW WHITE 2017 I will start off by saying that Snow White 2008 is my very favorite version, my love. Snow White 2017 is so much like 2008 and I'm so excited! Snow White is all soft sweet snow, a touch of cold florals, and an absolutely gorgeous vanilla. The vanilla is a teensy bit stronger in the 2017 version, with a hint of greens that I don't detect in the SW 2008. All in all it is an awesome addition to the Snow White family and is right up there with my beloved 2008. If you are debating about trying this scent, or this incarnation, do it! It's beautiful!

At first Honey Snowballs smells almost floral. A cold clear icy floral. It reminds me of ice... or water. I don't think that this is the snow note from Snow White. As it warms up the honey comes out. It's different because I can't detect any vanilla or amber which is usually paired with honey. It's a soft icy snow note with realistic smelling honey. It turns into a very sweet, syrupy honey with the icy snow gone as the day goes on, it actually lasted around 8 hours on me. It has a somewhat hypnotic and cozy calm effect. Hoard-worthy.

As everyone so far has said, when first opened and sniffed Frostbitten Snake Oil smells like Snow White and Snake Oil. But when applied, it becomes it's own scent. It is Snow White's sweet snow note mixed with the Snake Oil spices and above it all rises this creamy dreamy beautiful cloud of vanilla. Quite possibly the best smelling BPAL ever. Now that's just my humble opinion, coming from a lover of Go to Sleep Darlings, Snow White, and Snake Oil. Frostbitten Snake Oil is perfection.

Holy cinnamon! When first applied very strong cinnamon, not much of anything else. After only a minute a yummy cake batter emerges. I'm not getting much of the chai. The cinnamon lingers for hours, I could smell it laying in bed after a long night. Overall a really delicious cinnamon-cake batter scent perfect for fall and anyone who likes foodie scents. ETA: It's the next day and I'm wearing it again. Still cinnamon and cake batter but I'm getting A LOT MORE CHAI today! A milky cardamom nutmeg tea, spicy, sweet, and so lovely paired with the cinnamon and vanilla cake. I've already received a "what smells so good in here" compliment.

I can't pick out any individual notes in Disastrous Twilight. All I can say is that first of all- it's beautiful. Second of all- it smells exactly like the GC scent French Love. I can't say what it is because French Love doesn't really have a scent description but they smell very, very similar. If you like French Love and want something much the same, get Disastrous Twilight!

Honeyed leather and tonka with clove, champaca musk, and opium tar. Let me start off by saying that Le Rideau Cramoisi is not my style of scent and I knew that going in. I thought I would try something different and it DID NOT work out well for me. When first applied the clove and what I'm guessing is the opium tar (very smokey) are the most dominant. As it dries there is a noticable leather and there is a strong perfumey musk bringing it all together. It's all well blended but it's a very "bad girl" scent and I'm a good girl lol. Literally smells like I spent the night at a bar with a bunch of bikers smoking clove cigarettes in our leather jackets. I had to wash it off. It was just too much for me!

GORGEOUS JASMINE OF MY DREAMS. Seriously. If you care for Jasmine at all, you'll want to find a bottle of this. It's an exotic, beautiful, sweet jasmine with a tad bit of greenery somewhere in the background. I'm not getting "winter" though. More like euphoric warm summer nights and sharing intimate secrets with a lover on the balcony. A total WIN.

Ok, ok. So I know I went on and on about Smut, saying it was the big hit of my Lupers. And Smut, you are gorgeous and sexy and I love you, I do. But Le Prostitution is BEAUTIFUL. I-want-to-wear-it-every-day-for-the-rest-of-my-life beautiful. Or at least every day this spring! When first applied it is intense, sweet vanilla frosting but the calming and intoxicating Jasmine quickly makes itself known. For the the next 30 minutes the vanilla frosting and Jasmine take turns being the strongest note until it the Jasmine wins, staying a soft sweet flower on my wrist. The anise isn't identifiable but I'm sure that is what's bringing a slight edgy note that cuts through the sweetness a bit. Heavenly smelling and exquisite, Le Prostitution is not, to me, a frilly girl perfume. Jasmine is a woman's scent, soft and sensual. Obviously, I love it!

2017 Version Smut is really something! It's outrageously sexy. A sugary, musky, honeyed masterpiece. I was shocked to look through the past reviews and see the grape, fruity, and amaretto notes people have gotten from past versions. This is straight up honey sugar crusted boozy (but just a teensy bit boozy) musk on me. There is something sparkling and scintillating about Smut, which is such an interesting combo with the dark honey. There also seems to be a whisper of Snake Oil in here. Maybe that's why I'm crazy for it! Like I said, this is super sexy and provocative. Smut is the hit of my Lupercalia order.

Cave of Treasures is, like other reviewers have stated, a strong lilac scent. And like Jenjin said, lilac can be over the top perfumey. It may be behaving on y'all, but not on me! It's so very sweet and floral. I need something spicy in my florals, I'm a floriental girl. This has no spice, just straight up lilacs. I'm not getting honey or cream but I'm sure they're there, sweetening things up. Honestly this smells to me like perfume meant for teenagers and it gives me a headache. Really wanted to love this one! 😢

Haha VioletChaos, I did THE EXACT SAME THING! I absolutely fell in love with Four Seasons Winter and when I saw this had apricot/orange too I blind bought two bottles. L'Agonie has that same happy apricot that I loved so much in Four Seasons Winter. But the blood orange is the dominant note in this one. When wet, it actually smelled a lot like smarties. Then came the strong and tangy blood orange. As it dried, the vanilla let itself be known. Someone near me actually said "what smells like vanilla" lol. When huffing my wrist I could smell the honey and oud, which I have become somewhat familiar with from Entertaining the Heian Court Maiden. The honey/oud combo is like crack to me, there's something about it that I can't get enough of. Dragon's blood is also a note that I'm very fond of and it's there too, adding a little mystery. After about two hours the blood orange has faded and I'm left with a joyous, soft, alluring honey oud with a touch of apricot. I might love this even more than Four Seasons Winter, I'm patting my own back for ordering two bottles.

Wow, I too Beneath your Moon is lovely! I ordered this against my better judgement because I can't wear apple scents, to me they're "ALL SHAMPOO ALL THE TIME!". So I wasn't very impressed that first 5 minutes after applying, the apple was very strong. Like ClockworkMom said, this is a morpher. Not 10 minutes later the apple faded and the vanilla cream and white patchouli came out to play. The vanilla is a beautiful beeswaxy vanilla and the patchouli is clean but brings a nice depth to the scent. All of the notes end up blending into a sweet and heart-warming creamy vanilla apple.

Kitten with Shamisen Daydreams of a Phallus Palanquin is more foodie than I expected. I was hoping the musk and pear would be dominant but the creamy rice milk note is definitely the strongest. It reminds me of.... Drink Me. The milk is creamy with a hint of pepper in the background. I don't know why but I get a slight pepper in a lot of foodie scents. Anywho, I'm not getting a strong pear, hardly any at all actually. There is a sweetness that I know is the pear because it's listed in the notes but not strong enough for me to immediately identify it. A little more musk than pear but not a lot. All in all, this is a very light, sweet milky (and not much else) scent.

Mmmmmmm, honey. Lovely honey. When first applied, Entertaining the Heian Court Maiden smells a lot like "O" honey mixed with some kind of old timey, classy, fancy perfume. I'm not getting any green, forest or herbs like other reviewers. At this stage I'm liking it but not loving it. As it dries, about 15 minutes in, it really starts to morph into a different sort of scent. Still getting lots of "O" honey but the perfumey aspect has turned into more of a noticable deep earthy vanilla. Still a bit perfumey but I like that this scent isn't foodie in the slightest. As the day wore on, I kept getting whiffs of the scent from my sweater and it was kind of amazing. Definitely a sexy vibe. Glad I got a bottle.

The Flaming Sword of the Cherub is fiery indeed! When first applied I got a very strong dragon's blood incense burning smell. But when dry the cinnamon is the strongest note, with a delightfully dark, sweet amber smoldering in the background. I LOVE dragon's blood but this blend is not too DB heavy... it's there but not overpowering. A spicy, racy, sultry fragrance perfect for warming up your soul on a cold winter's night.

Lick it with Consent is "all peppermint, all the time!" on me. I was hoping for more vanilla and sweet sugar but got a strong blast of peppermint that burned my arms and neck where applied. The first thing that came to mind was that chalky peppermint stomach medicine and I just couldn't shake that first impression. This is my first try of any of the Lick It series, so I didn't know quite what to expect and I have no other Lick It's to compare it to. I didn't know that I don't like mint perfume... now I know!

When someone said that Swift as Light, Beauteous in Color, Charming in Song is a Phoenix masterpiece... They were right on. This is immediately one of my favorite BPALs ever. When first applied the musk and neroli are strongest and kinda sharp for about 30 seconds... and then the soft mallow becomes apparent. As it dries the golden honey gets stronger too, making the scent very creamy and glowing. The magnolia and musk keep it from being foodie or creamsicle-like. This scent has a joyful, dreamy, enchanted feeling. I need backups. ❤

Four Seasons: Winter is so very sweet! When first applied it smells to me like fruity, chewy, orange candy. Thankfully after only a couple of minutes the creaminess comes out and it becomes a super pretty apricot amber. Still sweet but I'm really enjoying this beautiful warm apricot goodness! ETA: This smells heavenly paired with The Forest in Winter at Sunset.❤