hypothermya

D'Anjou Pear: Single Note

I ordered a 5ml of this scent for my sister who has been obsessed with getting a pear perfume since finding a small amount of pear essential oil at a fair several years ago. And, when it showed up I had to steal a small sniff of it. This is a truly wonderful scent -- smelling just like a fresh, ripe, watery pear...complete with a grainy scent to it, reminiscent of the texture of the fruit.

My sister, when she got it for Christmas, adored it and raved for a while about how it smelled just like the real thing. When she wears it, it smells like she actually dripped pear juice on her collar and wrists (although I hear that it isn't nearly as sticky ). The scent doesn't last for too long, but it lasts long enough to keep her happy. And with a full 5ml of it, and her only dabbing a bit on each time she wears it, it should last her quite a while.

Ice Queen

When the 2004 Yule LEs came out, I was thrilled; as you can see by my username, I'm obsessed with cool scents. So between Snow White, Ice Queen, and Skadi, I was at a loss for what to order with my limited budget. I was already commited to buying a 5ml of Yuki-Onna (another gorgeous snow inspired scent), so I could only pick out one of the LEs. Ice Queen won, because of the name (reminiscent of the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Snow Queen) and because of the musk notes (which always work on my skin).

Initial Impression

When I first smelled this I was disappointed. I knew that I shouldn't be, because of how a scent can develop on your skin; but I was anyhow. There was the scent of cool, crisp ice...but on top of that scent, overwhelming it, was the scent of bitter bergamot and heady spearmint. It was as if someone had taken dental toothpaste and swirled it with sweet and bitter orange. And, to be honest, it was a bit nauseating.

Wearing It

When the scent dries on my skin, it becomes much more interesting and beautiful smelling. First, the mint and bergamot mellow out so much as to become almost unnoticeable. No longer do I have a nauseating scent, but something watery, green, and fresh. Here are some of the ingredients that I think I can smell: vanilla (very faintly), water notes, spruce, melon, spearmint, bergamot, musk, and florals. It's really rather lovely. Think of the scent of fresh powdered snow, and the scent of ice, packed around sweet, glowing vanilla-mint flowers.

Well, when i first got this, I asked my boyfriend what I smelled like. His response was "Cotton candy and flowers." This really upset me, because I have no interest in smelling like cotton candy, and only slightly more interest in smelling like florals. And while I love the scent of the melon and mint in this (they remind me slightly of mojitos with melon instead of lime), I'm not sure how much I enjoy the vanilla (which is what ended up making me not so fond of the 2003 version of Snow White).

I almost decided to swap this, but when I tried it a few days later, though, he only said, "Sweet and floral...both fresh and warm at the same time." The scent of cotton candy had vanished. So I think I'll keep this around for a little while until I can figure out whether the Ice Queen will warm up to me or not.

Hearth

Initial Impression

The first thing I smell is smotheringly sweet cherries and tobacco. Not the slightest hint of smoke, and only the faintest hint of wood. It actually causes me to be a bit nauseous, and I had to move it from near my desk since the scent would waft over every now and then. Smells just like a good handful of strong pipe tobacco if you'd dipped it into a bowl of cherry cough syrup.

Wearing It

I had bought this for my boyfriend, who was really excited by the woodsy/smokey/tobacco description. Sadly, he hated it. When he first applied it, the scent was so strong and so sweet that he had to wash it off after 5 minutes. It was just too strong for him, and he couldn't get past that intial stage -- and being practical, he couldn't see himself wearing it again if he had to endure the first 5-10 minutes.

On me, I'm also tempted to wash it off right away, but I'm actually able to sit through the dry down and let it develop more. It starts out as cherry cough medicine. Really strong and medicinal and overly sweet. As it dries, it picks up a lot more woodsiness and just the faintest hint of leather and smoke. The tobacco mellows out a lot. And in the end, it turns into a comfy evening by the fire -- scarred by the after taste of cherry cough syrup. Unfortunately that cherry note just won't leave me alone, and in a typical fashion, my skin turns it very sweet, very strong, and very...off... Almost like overripe, rotting cherries. The same thing happened to the plum note in Kitsune-Tsuki, so this is undoubtedly my skin and not the scent itself.

In any case, I suspect that on someone whose skin wasn't so against fruit notes, and who didn't mind a sweeter perfume, that this would smell delicious. The perfect mix of masculine notes (wood, smoke, leather, tobacco) but with just the right amount of cherry sweetness to make it warmly feminine. Pity it didn't quite make it on me or the boyfriend; on the other hand, I'm hoping that the wonderful woman I'm swapping it with will love it.

Gingerbread Poppet

Initial Impression

Smells like baking gingerbread, warm and cozy. Lots molasses, ginger, and clove coming from this, but incredibly sweet. It makes my mouth water...

Wearing It

When I first put this on, it maintains the straight scent of gingerbread. Some of the spices, such as the cinnamon and clove, try to rise straight to the top, giving it a much spicier scent (which I love); so much so that it smells like a sweeter version of Villainess' Ginger Snapped soap. Then, as it dries, it mellows out a little and the vanilla and molasses begin to pick up strength. By the time this scent truly settles (about 15 minutes into wearing it), it smells like gingerbread chai tea. Lots of vanilla, ginger, and spice, mixing with the scent of milk and molasses. On my skin it's a bit more sugary than the home-made gingerbread cookies that I make, but just as delicious smelling.

Eidolon

Initial Impression

Cedar, and lemon, and verbena. Knock-you-over cedar, and lemon, and verbena, even. The sage is a bit of an after thought.

Wearing It

This is the second or third time that I've put on something with sage and the sage comes out strongly. Not overpowering, but very noticeable. Afterwards I get a hint of verbena and cedar, but for the most part this smells like a kitchen full of herbs. It's a very nice scent, but a bit masculine and foody for my particular tastes.

Entropy

Initial Impression

Smells heavily earthy. The red patchouli is a lot more fierce and in your face than black patchouli is (which reminds me of gritty dirt). And the civet lends it a very animalistic scent. The rose and poppy are the last scents I notice when I smell this...

Wearing It

Well, honestly, I don't have any issues with civet or patchouli, so this was almost a promising blend. On the other hand, my skin just loves rose -- so much that all I can smell when I put this on is rose, rose, rose. It smells just like Zombi to me, probably because the rose in Zombi did the exact same thing.

Oh well. I could see how on the right person this would be a more charged version of Zombi...smelling of roses and heavy, venomous earth. On me, I'm smothered by roses. Ah well....

Danse Macabre

Initial Impression

A very sharp green smell. I get moss and woods. Very earthy. This is exactly the sort of scent I'd want to wear if I wanted to smell earthy without patchouli or vetiver...

Wearing It

This actually warms up a lot when I put it onto my skin. I get a very woodsy, resiny scent that reminds me of freshly chopped firewood. It's the nuttiness and incensey scent beneath the woods that make me think of holidays... Every holiday there would be lots of wood fires, lots of nuts, and some frankincence incense to burn. There's the slightest scent of dried moss, but otherwise this is pure wood and resin. Lovely. I think I'm going to make my boyfriend try it out, since it's such a warm, dry, comforting scent. A little too masculine feeling for me, but it should be perfect on him.

Cordelia

The essence of faith, love and devotion: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk.

Initial Impression

Definitely the wisteria, green tea, the musk, and some spices. The rest? Mingled too well to tell.

Wearing It

I have never had such a shapeshifter of a perfume before. I got an imp of this a while ago because I adore lilac, lemon, green tea, cedar, and musk. And with no notes that would do poorly on my skin, this seemed like an obvious success without even trying it. But...I guess I'm glad I tried it. On my skin, this is mainly cinnamon and florals. I can clearly smell the lilac and wisteria underneath the cinnamon, and I'm able to get the faintest hint of cedar and musk. I must have been expecting more lilac and lemon and green tea, and less spice and wisteria; what I have on right now is a nice enough scent, but there's something about the strength of the florals that's putting me off.

Cabaret

First Impression

When I first smelled this, all I could smell was the jasmine, but...there was something in there that was absolutely sexual and I knew that I had encountered it in other blends. Sure enough, it was the red musk. Take all of the sweet floral of jasmine and then thicken it with that sexual scent and you get: cabaret. Fitting. The wisteria is there too, the until-now unidentified floral.

Wearing It

Apparently me skin likes wisteria. The jasmine, in a rare occurance, actually takes turns with the wisteria for the dominate floral. And make no mistake: this is a floral, floral scent. Sweet, heady flowers. The only thing that makes it different from other florals is that really charged, sexual musk sliding past the jasmine and wisteria and making me do a double take.

All in all, I probably won't wear this because I have a really large dislike of florals. But that red musk is something else! I already own Scherezade, which is the most incredible red musk blend... But this is convincing me to search out more of the red musk blends.

Calliope

First Impression

Oooo....Orangey almond mintiness! If I sniff enough, I can get a hint of the herbal lavender and thyme.

Wearing It

This is definitely one of the blends that changes dramatically on my skin. I'm getting a whole lot of mint, orange and bergamot, and it almost ends up smelling like a particular cough syrup that has a minty/orangey smell. Very syrupy. It makes me wrinkle my nose. There's a bit of this really soothing lavender and thyme smell beneath it which reminds me of a local lavender farm which makes the most luxurious lavender soaps. I'm very touchy with lavender -- too much gives me a headache -- but the amount in this blend is perfect and soothing. I only wish that my skin hadn't mutilated the scent when it found the mint and orange and bergamot...

So...this is another scent that is not for me. I'm afraid my skin has quite killed this scent entirely. But I like the scent out of the vial, and the way the lavender and thyme delevop on my skin makes me want to find more blends with lavender and thyme.

Well, a while ago I came to recognize a generic BPAL scent. But then I realized that that scent changed from package to package. I think that what it is is one or two of the stronger oils in each order mingling with one another in the package. And if you store your oils together, this tends to be amplified. So it could be that one of the oils in that batch of yours strongly disagrees with you, and you're just smelling the residue of it whenever you take out your oils.

Or perhaps it's more than that.

Myself, I just recently organized my imps (Yes, SilverAngel -- organized! In little ziplocking baggies!) and have them alphabetically stored in a green frog-prince lunch box that my swap faery gave to me. Um, but aside from all of that extraneous info, the point is that all of my oils are all in the same place, and that even though they're in ziplock bags, whenever I open the box I get the most incredible blast of the generic BPAL scent. It's amazing, and half of the time nauseating. I don't know how all the Lab rats stand it. Maybe they get used to it after a while....

Block Buster

Initial Impression

Out of the vial this smells fruity and almost buttery. Almost as though there were pear or peach or some other juicy fruit in there. There's also the slightest hint of cinnamon coming from the vial. Interesting. Kinda smells like some of the fruit coblers that my mother makes. It's making me hungry, though....

Wearing It

While wet, the cinnamon really comes to the forefront. My skin, however, just adores cinnamon, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were less cinnamony on others. There's still a nice fruity scent underneath that hasn't gone super sweet yet (another weird thing my skin does), and it almost smells like March Hare...fruity, almost like potpourri, but more real smelling. Very nice. Another reviewer mentioned that this smelled like Good Earth tea, and while it is similar, Tarot: The World has more resemblance to that tea blend than this does.

The oil isn't terribly strong. I normally only dab a bit on when I'm testing an oil (as a result of being overpowered by my initial tests of oils such as Scherezade, and Oberon, etc.). This, however, stays very close to my skin, and is just a very homey, comforting scent lingering near my wrist.

I guess we'll see if it does any good throughout the rest of the day.

Baobhan Sith

Initial Impression

Aside from wanting to have a perfume whose name I couldn't pronounce, I really was attracted to the notes in this. Grapefruit, white tea, apple blossom, and ginger. Sounds lovely. And it turns out that it smells just as lovely in the bottle. It's very fresh, like smelling the citrus of a grapefruit and the juice of a freshly cut apple, mingling together. The ginger is barely noticeable, just adding a very upbeat kick to the scent.

Wearing It

When I put this on my skin, it looses most of the fruitiness to this very calm, relaxing white tea scent. However, just behind the tea scent are the grapefruit, apple blossom, and ginger -- all in equal parts. What you get is a scent that's very fresh, sweet, and charged. It's the perfect lift me up smell. It always makes me think of opening my eyes. A pleasant feminine yet shocking perfume.

There are two other scents in the BPAL catalogue that this reminds me of. The first is Kumiho. I really did like Kumiho, but I think the ginger was a bit too much for me. This is a great deal like Kumiho, but with more sweetness. While Kumiho was pure maliciousness, Baobhan Sith is a seductive scent with a bite. The other scent this reminds me of is the Embalming Fluid/Shanghai type. Except that instead of the clean lemon scent, this is a much more daring grapefruit scent. This is much lighter than Embalming Fluid or Shanghai, probably because of the white tea instead of the green tea, and has a much prettier/girlish feel to it, probably because of the apple blossom.

I really do like this imp. I'm surprised, actually, that I don't wear it more often. The lasting power isn't fantastic, but it is just lovely.

Wolf's Heart

Initial Impression

Very red oil, and from the scent of it, that's definitely dragon's blood. I also smell something a bit herbal, floral, and sharp.

Wearing It

The first thing to come out is the jasmine. There is definitely that lovely, mellifluous jasmine scent in here, mingling with the dragon's blood resin. There's another mystery floral in here that must be the narcissus that Tart mentioned. It's a lot more powerful, and less watery, of a floral. And really, that's wear the heart, er pardon the pun, of this scent comes from. That jasmine and the dragon's blood are more comforting, but the narcissus gives it strength.

Overall, this is a lot more floral than it is resiny. I could definitely see wearing this for an interview or some other area of my life where I would want some inner strength yet still wanted to smell nice/floraly.

Clover's Experimental Blend #2

I got an imp of this from my Swap Faery who *rocks*!!!!

First Impression

Oh my gosh, this scent is driving me nuts! When I first smell it, there's a sort of bubbly scent to it that's very tart (like champagne, maybe), which is quickly followed by an earthy sweetness (maybe juniper mixed with something I recognize from Baba Yaga). And then apples.

Wearing It

Okay, this is just weird. I think scents without descriptions make me paranoid. I think there may be vanilla in this. Definitely a bit of juniper. Maybe some apple. And maybe some champagne notes. Or maybe I'm just hallucinating all of this yumminess. It smells like an especially earthy, sweet apple.

Sometimes skin chemistry just sucks and no amount of trying them again can change it.

I actually have *very* similar issues to you -- anything with rose in it tends to turn to pure rose on my skin, making it impossible for me to wear Persephone, Viola, etc. I didn't even bother ordering Old Dublin, because I anticipated this. Same with numerous LEs with rose in them.

I've also had several blends turn to baby powder on me. This seems to be less of a permanent thing and more of a "that time of the month" thing with me. While some of them just stay baby powder with subsequent tries, others (like Wanda -- the one and only rose blend I can wear -- and Voodoo) will turn out okay the next time I try them.

Anything with fruit notes in it tends to go super sweet on me. In some blends (like Dragon's Heart) this is tolerable, because the rest of the blend is so non-sweet that it works out. However, this hasn't stopped me from gagging when trying fruity blends like Jester, Lady Macbeth, Old Glasgow, etc. Musks tend to be the great equalizer for me, it seems, since both Dragon's Heart and Bewitched worked well on me. (although the fruit notes certainly didn't add to the success of the blend...that was only the other notes that did that.)

So...here's what I've found that I am able to wear:

-Musks

-Citrus notes. Strangely, this doesn't include orange. But otherwise, notes such as lime, lemon, grapefruit...they all work on me.

What I can't wear:

-Anything with rose

-Anything with the bad fruit notes

And, just to vex me even more, I've learned that there are always exceptions to this rule. So every now and then I give a blend with rose or fruit notes a try. Just in case. Mostly it isn't a success. Yerevan, for example, was a pure horror on my skin. Rose, rose, rose, rose, with some sickly sweetness in the background.

And, as for the powder? I haven't been able to pin anything down yet. Sometimes I think it's the rose, sometimes I think it's the amber, sometimes I think it's both or none of the above...

Anyhow, good luck with figuring out what works on you and what doesn't. I can completely relate, since it took me about 5 blends from my first order to finally find one that wasn't horrible on me. (and I stuck with it, cause I could smell how good they were in the imps....)

Baba Yaga

Initial Impression

It really does smell like pineapples. Just like the oil in the vial, it's a bright sunny scent, with an almost barnyard haze beneath it. It reminds me more of her chicken hut than of Baba Yaga herself.

Wearing It

This stuff is just amazing. Wet, I get jasmine and pineapple, but as it dries it warms up as though it has a light musk in it. It reminds me of warmth, and straw, and a slight sweetness. A very yellowish scent, it makes me think of the skulls protecting her hut, and how their eyes blaze with fire. It also has a slight herbal smell, which makes me think of the broom she rides with...

I think that perhaps the musk is a white musk, which would explain why I love this oil so much, or at least a lighter musk like the one in Libertine or in Lady of Shalott. When I wear this, I always get compliments. Just today I was wearing it and I was told that I smelled delicious. I'm so happy that a lovely, wonderful forumite decided to send me this (and mysteriously enough another package with an imp of it showed up the same day....to my mysterious benefactor, thank you!).

I really can't wait until this is released and I'm able to solve the mystery of what smells so delicious in this.

Hunter's Moon

Initial Impression

Wow...this is a lot fruitier smelling than I expected. Instead of a mulled cabernet, this is more of a mulled pinot noir....fruity and deep. Almost purple smelling. But there's a leafy smell behind it, so...

Wearing It

I'm not sure how well this agrees with me yet. The first few times I've tried it, it goes really, really fruity on my skin. Over a couple of minutes, it tends to deepen a bit and get a lot more leafy/musky/animalistic. And I really mean that. If there's ambergris or civet or some other form of musk I'm not used to in here, it really comes out strong. Smells very feral. And while I like the leafy feral part, it may be a bit strong for my tastes and the fruitiness doesn't seem to fade very much.

On my boyfriend this started out even fruitier than on me, and dried out over the next hour to something quite a bit awful. Smelled a great deal like grape nerds, rotting maple leaves, and a wet dog. Which is unfortunate, but quite clearly his skin chemistry making the scent go awry. So obviously he won't be wearing it. It smells *so* much better in the bottle than on him...

On me, I'm still undecided. I love the notes, but they are a bit strong on me. And this, unlike a few other blends, is not instant love. I'll probably try applying this lightly the next couple of times and seeing whether that helps at all.

Glasya

First Impression

Smells delicious. Actually, a bit like Vixen, without the bite and more of a dark tone to it. There's a bit of sweetness and a bit of muskiness, but overall it's an earthy, rosey blend. Currently I'm dreading what my skin will do with the rose -- the main reason why I hesitated to order this sooner.

Wearing It

And....pure rose. I was hoping my skin wouldn't do that so soon. I can still catch small whiffs of earthy/sweet patchouli, mingling with the musks and creating this delightful earthy/animalistic smell. But the rose is predominent, overtaking everything. Ugh.

It really does smell like a dark sensual scent, very womanly and very vengeful. A dangerous scent, even. And then it meets my skin, and submits to the rose. I can only imagine how lovely this would smell on someone else.

Pandora

First Impression

Mint. Mint, mint, mint...and a sweetness underneath it that reminds me of the white chicklet gums... The ones that are mint flavored, but still smell like bubble gum.

Wearing It

Once on the skin, this scent calms down a *lot*. I was really trepidatious about wearing anything that smelled like mint bubble gum... But what happens is that the mint and the lotus dry down a lot, and the gardenia starts to show itself. It turns more smooth and creamy (the gardenia again) with a sweetness and slight mint to it. It almost smells playful, which is probably exactly what this perfume is supposed to convey.

Overall, this is a bit too sweet for my tastes in terms of perfume. It's a charming, sweet, and playful blend of perfume... perfect for someone who'd want to take a traditional floral scent and add new pizazz to it.

Spectre

First Impression

Lily. A very clean, white, almost florals after the rain lily scent mixed with the faint scent of lilac. I love Beth's lilac blends...

Wearing It

The white sandalwood in this, which is picked up a lot by my skin, reminds me of the sandalwood in Kuang Shi. Almost bitter. This must be awfully close to what Hakkotsu smells like, with the lily and sandalwood mix. Mainly this is a very white, white floral blend, with the undertone of lilac lending it an etherealness around the edges. The white floral part, is almost creamy and silky smelling, but is so strong and vibrantly white that it isn't nearly as soft as silk or cream would be.

I'm definitely not a fan of florals, so this scent isn't for me. But as far as austere, beautiful, and haunting white florals go, this one captures it beautifully.

Deimos

First Impression

Smells like oranges and oil and incence. Kinda reminiscent of keroscene, actually, if it had fresh orange oil and the slightest smidgen of incense mixed with it.

Wearing It

This turns very pleasant smelling on me, actually. It's got that deep dark musk that Bewitched has, which develops on my skin right away. (my skin loves musk and will pull it out of any scent.) But besides the musk, this reminds me a bit of the Chinese graveyard I used to do security for. I'd always smell the scent of orange peels and orange oil drifting through the air, mingling with the scent of incense. And the civet or ambergris gives it the scent of something animalistic, but not too much so.

Overall it smells like a dream in a deep dark woods. Something musky and animal like, with incence and oranges. Very nice.

The Hermit is a good scent to try. Very similar to The Apothecary, only...no fig notes that I can tell.

I think that if I were to order an essential BPAL starter set for anyone, it would have to have:

Snake Oil

Morocco

Queen Mab

Embalming Fluid

Pele

Tarot: The Star

That's just based on popularity, eliminating the less popular ones with similar notes/feelings/etc.

If I were to give a starter set based on scent preference, I'd probably include:

Floral: Queen Mab

Fruity: Bordello

Incence: Scherezade

Fresh: Embalming Fluid

Gourmand: Snake Oil

Animalistic: Wanda

Blood

Initial Impression

Smells good....sexy, in fact. At first there's a bit of clove cigarettes and that tang of cherry cough syrup, but then the after-smell becomes this spicy, smoky cherry scent...thick and sexual. Yum.

Wearing It

When I put it on my skin, the first thing to make itself known is the cloves. Really, the clove scent dominates the entire time, and it's delicious. Smells husky and smoky, just like clove cigarettes without the scent of the smoke itself. And the dragon's blood kicks in, smelling like spicy cherry resin, and then comes the cherries themselves. This is really the only part of the blend that disappoints me -- the cherries, like most fruit scents on my skin, half way disappear and half way go sickly sweet. But fortunately this is mostly clove and dragon's blood on me. And I'd forgotten that there was myrhh in here until I checked the ingredients, and I suddenly realized what that sweet, sensual smoky smell came from...

This is really a delicious perfume. I'm surprised more people don't rave about it. I admit that it was at the bottom of my wishlist, mainly because there are so many "blood" perfumes (blood rose, blood lotus, blood countess, blood everything) and because there are so many great dragon's blood blends to try. It just seemed like one of the other dragon's blood mixes. But the cloves and myrhh really bring this one to life, and I think that it's actually vying with Dragon's Heart as my fav. dragon's blood blend. I'm definitely going to be enjoying my imp of this, if not getting a larger bottle.