bifemmefatale

Best chocolate blend EVER. Creamy milk chocolate with a hint of cinnamon and the slight molasses tint of the brown sugar. Rich, tons of throw, lasts and lasts. Not bitter like Candy Butcher or dry powdered cocoa like Underbed. LOVE.

Wet: All brandy with a hint of cinnamon under it. Yes, weirdly enough I get cinnamon and not nutmeg. *shakes fist at skin chemistry* Within minutes, it dries down to milk-almonds-vanilla, then slowly fades off to a faint vanilla without much throw. Lovely, but too ephemeral for me.

Pinched starts out just as I had dreamed--the perfect marriage of Misk U and Underbed! Coffee backed by a hint of cinnamon and a wreath of tobacco smoke and woods. Then five minutes into drydown, something-one of the woods?-goes PURE SOAP on my skin. Woe is me! Figures, as usual it's lovely on my daughter. But she can't have it. Off to the swaps...

Girly pink! Sugary-sweet florals with that creamy-spicy note from dragon's blood and a hint of musk on dry-down. This is as feminine as Pink Moon without smelling anything like it, really. Sadly, on drydown it starts to turn a little bitter on my skin, which has never liked gardenia. Still, fans of Pink Moon and Midway, take note!

The snow-covered foliage of the Black Forest and the fruit and woods of apple and almond trees. Wet: Pine/juniper/almond/apple. Christmas tree and sweet fruit, but not overwhelmingly fruity. This is close kin to Snow Moon, but sweeter and no florals. Drydown: Much the same all the way through. Sweetened Xmas tree. Verdict: I like it a lot, but love Snow Moon more and have a bottle of that. Swap

Peppermint, a hint of violet, a bare touch of vanilla, and a faint, clean aquatic. This isa good interpretation of the scent of snow, alright, but not me. Swap.

Wow, once again Beth's blend perfectly matches the description. Wet: dusty woods! A hint of cedar, patchouli, but very light, and DUST! The Leather shows up as this warms. Dry: After about 10 minutes the red musk comes out, softening all the dusty wood and turning this sexier. To me this is masculine, but not overpoweringly so. This is a cool, sexy bookshop-owner, low-key but attractive. Can't see myself wearing this much, but I give it a thumbs-up.

CT3: II (2), CTIII: II (2) Swapped reedsong for this one. Wet: *Huge* amounts of fresh-cut juicy green grass, with dirt underneath. BPAL's dirt note doesn't actually smell like dirt on me most times, but whatever this is does. This is the strongest wet grass scent I've ever tried. It reminds me of Demeter's Grass. A little later, a light floral and something akin to green pepper come in. Others have thought the floral was gardenia, but my skin amps gardenia and this is not it. Maybe shea. Whatever it is, it's subtle and the green pepper sharpness is almost off-putting. Dry-down: Definitely shea, coming out more, and white musk, subtly blending with the grass, flowers and dirt. This is lovely. A cool May morning in a garden after a rain, when all the plants are still damp. I don't know how much I'll wear this, but of all the CTs I've tried so far this is a favorite.

This is a cool, green rose scent, with the glads and lilies tipping it towards soapy on my skin, but not entirely. The juniper is not really recognizable as such; it just adds a light, pleasant spiciness to the wet stage. The sweetgrass is what makes this smell green and cool, I think. Pleasant, but remote and refined, which is not me.

I am so sad about this scent! I looove fig, coconut and ginger. But when I put this on, I get orange peel buttercream, which turns into orangey plastic when the cardamom starts to emerge. We hates it! No coconut, no chocolate, barely any fig. Only when I layered it wit Underbed did I get something wearable. Bah. Swap.

Swapped for an imp of this, fell in love and tracked down a bottle. It's the only Lunacy I've loved so far. In the imp: Spicy-piney-sweet On: A blast of pine, almost a deal-breaker in its pungency, but after a few minutes it settles down and a sweet pineapple scent creeps in, mingling nicely with the remains of the pine. I think it might be the chrysanthemum and whatever citrus (grapefruit?) Beth uses as olfactory shorthand for icy. I don't really get too much florals until the end of the drydown, which is good. Lovely, complex, spicier and fruitier than the description implies, and my new favorite cold weather scent. Just goes to show you that you never know what you'll love until you try it.

CT3: XCVI (96) This is not my bottle, but I got a partial imp to identify notes. In the imp this is a distinct olive green, like good olive oil. First impression: Green, herbal-pungent: that sharp, almost nutty herbal that's in most of the voodoo blends. Vetiver maybe? Plus dark musk, for sure, smells like the musk in Smut but not sweet. Drydown brings out a nice sandalwood, but that voodoo herb note lingers too much for me. Would be a nice blend for a guy, I think.

On: CEDAR! Huge amounts of cedar, backed with bits of amber and sandalwood. Fresh cedar sawdust like a small mammal cage, dry and thick. I like cedar a lot, but in this blend it's almost overpowering. On a guy, I think this could work. On me, it's too sharp. I'll stick with Tombstone if I want a cedar note-it's tempered with sweetness there.

I love BPAL's incense blends, but I remembered not liking this one in the imp when I smelled it at Convergence. Still, when I got a frimp of it I thought I'd give it a try. Sharp and resinous in the imp. Something funky/musty. Have a feeling it's the rose geranium. On: Frankincense!....soap. Dies off to nothing buy lily geranium soap in minutes. Ack. Swap.

Oh, yum! This is not what I was expecting at all--it's wonderful! Sweetgrass and amber, touched by the softest of leather notes and a light, subtle musk. It's delightful! This is the sweet, spiced amber of The Lion, but softer, more reserved, and blending so perfectly with the doeskin and musk that individual notes are hard to pick out. I adore this! It doesn't have a lot of throw, but there are days when that's a good thing. Must get more than the partial imp I have!

Thought I'd give this one a try before I swapped it off. I did not have high hopes for it, as I don't like juniper and am "eh" about lotus. On: mentholyptus cough drops! Sweetish, minty and medicinal. Drydown: Ack! Plastic and play-dough. Wtf? None of these are known to go that way on most people. Nevertheless, my chemistry obviously does not like this one. It smells absolutely gross on me and is making my headache worse. Must go wash.

Oh yum! Eden, where have you been all my life? I was excited to try this one, because coconut and almond are two of my favorite notes, and I am not disappointed. First sniff out of the bottle reveals the green fig leaf--at once both grassy and earthy-sweet, teamed up with my familiar beloved almond, but not the soft milky almond from Dana O'Shee, which the description had led me to expect, but bitter almonds like Eclipse. After a few minutes, the almond dies back as it almost always does, and the coconut and fig come to the fore--the coconut is wonderful! Not as sweet and overpowering as in Elegba, not as mild and fleeting as in Obatala, just pitch-perfect, with the warm dark figs backing it up. I'm surprised at the relative lightness of the fig note. I expected it to be very sticky and heavy, but it's really lovely! Eventually the sandalwood shows up too, adding a hint of perfumey depth to the scent to keep it from being entirely foody. Medium throw and staying power. Thumbs up!

Oh, this is lovely and complicated! It's a shapeshifter, morphing back and forth between sweet, spicy, resiny....At first application it's a cool, sophisticated department store cologne and I do not like it. I think that's the sandalwood, frankincense, musk and cypress. Within minutes, however, sweetness creeps in--the saffron, honey, amber and cardamom flitting in and out of the department store on feathery wings, until eventually they decide to settle in for a while. The dominant scent becomes a honeyed saffron musk, with the resins adding depth. I don't really get any hints of hyssop's aniselike scent. This is the Snake Charmer's more refined older sister who went to grad school instead of joining the circus. Same family without the sweet plummy cinnamon. Don't know if I'll order a bottle, but definitely keeping the imp.

I really wanted this to be all ginger sugar candy. The top note, as I expected, is the grapefruit, and just enough of the vanilla and sugar shows up to make it soft instead of skunky strong. I don't really like grapefruit scents but this is the nicest I've tried. The ginger and sake come out next, but sooo faintly! The drydown is lightly ginger sandalwood herbal with a faint breath of musk, but true to its name, this is a ghostly perfume with very little throw on me. Alas. Not an off-putting scent like ELF, but not a keeper either.

In the bottle: Carnation, and it smells like the real thing, not just cloves, plus vailla and some florals. On: I had such high hopes for this blend! I wanted it to be all amber heliotrope vanilla carnation honey. Instead, it's all lemony daisy ylang ylang sunflower on me. In other words, soap. All soap, all the time. Unfortunately, long-lasting soap with a good throw too. *cries* Off to the sales wi' ye!

First note out of the bottle is caramelized sugar, then *whomp!* out comes a big whiff of cassia (cinnamon) covered by a dry cocoa powder. Not getting much more than hints of the coconut wafting around the edges. On drydown, the coconut becomes slightly more evident, but everything about this blend smells dry--dry cassia, dry cocoa powder, just a pinch of dry coconut flakes, and at the tail end, a hint of faint vanilla sugar. I really like this one, but I wish Beth had used the milk chocolate from Bliss in this instead. I'm wishing this scent were creamier. It'd be truly decadent then. Not sure whether I'm going to keep this bottle or sell it. I already have a bottle of Gingerbread Poppet, which is more satisfying to my nose.

Mmm, this is is the same milk and honey scent as in Dana O'Shee, very mild and sweet but with little throw. Ginger's almost lemony spiciness gives it a little oomph, but I was hoping for a more assertive ginger than I'm getting here. I'm betting the "ambrosia" contains some amber, because I get a whiff of amber's powderiness as well. I can see why a lot of people like this, especially as a summer scent--it mostly smells like sweet, clean skin, like a clean, freshly-fed baby ought to smell, with just a bit of that ginger wafting through it. However, something about the blend also reminds me of a foot powder my dad used to use. It's not a bad smell in the least, just not "me". I like more assertive scents than this.

In the imp: Grape soda! On: Grape soda! Fakey grape with a huge throw and a hint of blackberry behind it. Ack nonono, get it out of my house.

One thing I want to note in regard to all the folks who mentioned lemongrass as a bug repellent: Lemongrass apparently mimics a palmetto bug pheromone. So if you live down south in palmetto-bug land, don't wear this during mating season! My hubby's working at a NOLA B&B and his boss, who cooks for the guests, was telling him about being swarmed by palmetto bugs while chopping lemongrass for a Thai dish. Eww!

Ooh, pure black tea, truest of BPAL teas so far, astringent, dry, not sugared. The tea notes in Dorian and White Rabbit are sweet and lovely but don't actually smell like tea to me--this does. Something throws it towards lemon even though there's no lemon listed--the linden? The orris comes thru later, a soft, soft floral. True to its concept, this has very faint throw, and is almost gone within minutes! Really lovely, but it doesn't stick around long enough to be worth keeping, alas.