filigree_shadow

I got a bottle of this at Convergence but it didn't suit me. The bottle is long gone, but I kept some of the oil in a little vial. Mostly for nostalgia. That Convergence weekend was a nice vacation. I haven't opened the vial in a loooong time because I remember thinking that this smelled like wet rocks and that's not really my style. Going through my imp box, I figured I should probably send this off to someone who will wear it, rather than sitting there doing nothing, and I thought I'd write a review before waving bye-bye. In the vial, it smells like cologne. While wet, it smells like seaweed. Kelp. Mossy and dark. While drying, it starts to smell a little more like a forest. Woods, mulch, dampness, sort of like that mossy rock by a patch of ferns in a shady spot in the forest. When it's dry it smells... fruity? Sweet. Still mossy and a bit aquatic, but I swear it smells like some sort of fruit too. I don't remember this phase when I tried it before. This is my favorite part of the scent.

Well, obviously this is very old at this point and has probably changed somewhat from when it was fresh. It seems like I remember it smelling a bit more like apple cider than it does now. It still has an autumnal harvest type of feel to it, but now it smells smooth and golden, like amber and wheat. I can't really tell if there's any apple or spices in it anymore. *sigh* I really liked this a lot about 3 years ago but I never wore it because I only have about 2/3 of a decant of it, and now it seems like it's different from what I remember. Balls. I should have worn it while I loved it. Lesson learned.

I haven't smelled Love's Baby Soft in quite a few years, but this is basically exactly what I remember it smelling like. Soft, a little floral, a bit powdery, and pretty. It's safe to say the my imp is old at this point, and it's been kept in my dark imp box for quite a while now, but I don't know how much aging has changed it from when it was fresh. I remember liking it a few years ago, and I still like it now -- I just don't remember very well exactly what it smelled like before. From reviews it sounds like I should be smelling something like lavender and citrus and soap in this, but honestly I don't.

A soft, pleasant rose scent. Not really remarkable on me, but I'm very picky about rose scents. This one smells kind of old-fashioned rather than the bright dewy cute rose scents that I tend to like.

Hunh. Unusual. I've been sniffing BPAL perfumes for a looooong time now, and I've tried some weird ones. This is a weird one. It smells minty, very slightly alcoholic, a little bit powdery, and weirdly hazy. Imma let that mint burn off before I form my overall opinion because it's a bit sinus-clearing at the moment. Hmmmm... yeah, it's not really burning off. In fact, it seems to be getting more intense. When it's dry it's not entirely minty -- there's something else under there, but I'm not sure what it is. Sometimes, weird really works for me. Licwiglunga is the perfect example -- weird as hell but awesome. Sadly it's not really working for me in this one.

I probably should have reviewed this when I first got it. I only vaguely remember that back then I didn't like it because it smelled too grassy. It doesn't smell like that anymore now that it's aged. Now it smells basically like straight-up amber, with a hint of dry grassiness. Having grown up around farms, I'm very familiar with the scent of hay. Also my dogs love to visit the chickens in my mom's barn on her farm whenever we visit, and my car smells like hay for days afterward because that scent is in my dogs' fur. (Some people probably wouldn't like having the inside of their car smell like a barn, but it's a comforting scent to me.) This smells nothing like that. If I ever could detect a hay note in this, it's completely gone now. I tried rolling my decant around to make sure the oil is mixed up (it's been sitting there for a long time), but nope. Still just amber. A slight hint of some kind of bready-wheat-like note when it was wet, but it still dries down to amber.

I usually don't like lavender. It's not one of my favorite notes, particularly when it's that really herbal harsh kind of lavender. In this it smells soft and blue and silvery. Not harsh at all. It's comforting, and it's making me a little bit sleepy. It does that same thing to me that TKO does -- when I put my wrist under my nose and inhale deeply, my head goes a little cloudy and blank and relaxed. From an aromatherapy standpoint, I like that quite a lot. When it's totally dry, though, I don't smell much lavender -- mostly that silvery almost metallic sort of shimmery scent. I don't object to this scent, it's just not the sort of thing I wear as a fragrance.

The fig and orange are quite strong in this one (and doing a Fruit Loops type of thing), with a little bit of ginger and a wee drop of clove. I guess there's chocolate and buttercream in here, but there's so much going on with this scent that it's hard to tell. I'm pretty sure I originally got Treat #2 in the Inquisition that year, but I didn't think I'd wear it very much and only kept a decant of it for myself. I was right -- I've worn this maybe twice. I like it, but for fig scents I like Freak Show, Carnal, and Hetairae. Those don't do this Fruit Loopy thing, and the buttercream in this is a little rich. Fig already smells pretty rich on me, so it doesn't need any extra help.

Green and herby (but not bitter or sharp herbs, more like planty) with bright neroli and a musky undertone. I might smell a little bit of patchouli, but it's not strong at all. It smells clean and pretty, but this isn't the type of scent I wear. Usually if I describe something as "green" it's not the right scent for me. I like this one more than most, though -- it doesn't smell soapy at all.

When I first put it on it was fairly strong on cherries, but most cherry blends are. I let it sit for a while, and it turned into a very lovely combination of vanilla and a soft musk, with a slight cherry overtone. Nice! Much nicer than cherry blends usually are on me. Sadly, it is very faint on me. I can barely smell it, and I used more than the usual amount of oil for a test. I think this is one of the rare BPALs, and since it's not an absolute winner for me (because it's not strong enough), I don't feel like I need to hunt down a bottle. If it were stronger, though -- look out. I'd be all over it.

I'm not really sure what lychee smells like, but fruity and sweet is usually good for me. I know I like rose otto. So the questionable one was cistus absolute -- never heard of it so looked it up, and apparently it's like labdanum and is supposed to be herby or woody. I think this is the part I don't like about it. When it's dry it smells like a sweet rose and I actually like it, but when it's when it smells like a weird perfumey rose, and I don't care for that kind too much. There are other rose blends I like from start to finish.

I... kind of like this? Honestly, with those notes I sorta thought I'd put this on and love it. I'm surprised I don't. I like sandalwood, but this is very dry. I guess I just thought it would smell different. Smoother, with more of a vanilla-like feel to it. It's not bad, it's just not really jumping out at me as something special.

This definitely smells like something's burning, but not bad things burning -- plants. It smells smoky and dark and herby. Personally I'm not a fan of burning scents, but I can definitely say I like this one more than most.

This smells silvery and violet to me, but dusty. It's been a little while since I smelled Silver Phoenix, but I think this reminds me of that one. The dusty-smelling orris in this one makes it different. It's pretty.

This smells rather like a sporty cologne on me. A nice one, but still cologne. Aquatic, a hint of citrus, probably something metallic. My husband said he liked it a lot on me, so now he's giving it a whirl. He likes it and will be happy to wear it!

Wet, this smells like herby wood, but with a green-ness to it. Then it dries down to a powdery cucumber. I'm not sure which note in there doesn't like me, but something for sure doesn't. I thought this would be whimsical and cute and fun, but it's powdery and odd and jarring. Oops. Can't win 'em all.

This smells exactly like the description. Tea and cream and chocolate and cake. None of that weird plastic-like scent that cream notes often do on me -- this one smells good. When it's dry the tea is quite faint, and it mostly smells like cream and cake and some sort of light sweet fruit. It's probably too hard to find for me to try to hunt down a bottle, but I like it enough that I'd want one. It smells luscious.

I have seen the reviews comparing this to Snake Charmer, but that's not what it smells like on me. I wear Snake Charmer a lot, and this is quite different. It smells more like a cross between Smut and Schwarzer Mond on me. It's dark, musky, and resinous, with some smoky haze over the top. Up close it's darker and more complex, but from a distance I swear I'm catching wafts of the same musk that's in Smut. I like this a lot, but I don't wear scents like this often enough to need a whole bottle of it. My decant will be fine!

I think this smells looooooovely. Normally I really don't like frankincense -- it's something of a killer note for me -- but in this it's charming. The beeswax, tobacco, and sandalwood combine for a very smooth soft dry base, covered over with pretty floral notes and the sweet haze of the frankincense. I don't have a lot of occasions when I'd want to wear a scent like this, so I don't think I need a whole bottle, but I'm definitely keeping my decant. It's pretty dreamy.

The apricot isn't very strong in this, it's mostly wood and what I guess is sake. It smells great -- soft, sweet, woody, and not too strong. Spring-like, even. The sake gets stronger as it dries, but that's not a bad thing. It's not overly alcoholic. Very pretty.

Mostly orange and apricot at first, with amber. Then the pepper comes out pretty strong. Not much cardamom in it. The fruit notes are pretty soft when it's dry, but they still keep the scent fairly bright. I like this, but I'd like to try it more before I make a final decision.

The chamomile is a little strong at first, but then it turns into a soft, almost herby-musky vanilla scent. Not that sort of vanilla that smells so in-your-face it seems like it's overly creamy and sticky -- this is the sweet dry sort of vanilla. I don't smell like a cookie, I just smell soft and sweet. Really, really enjoying this scent. I had planned to do just a wrist test of this but I've got the stuff all over my throat now. It's not very strong, but I really like it.

At first it smelled like soft pretty peach blossom and I was really excited, but then the floral notes came out. Sadly peach and jasmine is not a favorite combination for me. Although I like this a lot better than most jasmine scents because I like the peach in it... well, I'd want to wear something called Peach Moon when I'm in the mood for something peachy. And if I put this on, I'd be disappointed by it because of the jasmine. So I can already tell I just won't wear this. Even though it's pretty and I like it okay. I'll just stick to Tamora.

I had to roll my decant around a lot before trying this because it had really separated. It smelled very much like a creamsicle at first, and then the benzoin and tonka came in and turned it a little darker, which for me is very good because I don't really want to smell exactly like a creamsicle. Over time it still retains that lovely bright tangerine, which makes the scent smell really cute, but the other notes keep it interesting and complex. I like this one.

Huge wallop of red musk in the beginning, followed by hazy languid red musk and patchouli. I don't think I can smell any herbs, the clove is the perfect amount of spice, and the frankincense is not amping up the weird hazy sweetness like it usually does on me. This smells exotic and very sensual. Niiiiiiice. I really, really need to do a red musk death match because I have such a problem giving up any red musk blends, and this one is a contender for sure. I think it smells great. The only problem I might have with it is that my husband said he doesn't really like it that much. (How can he not? What the hell is wrong with him? This smells super sexy!!)