filigree_shadow

I smelled the eucalyptus and ozone in this straight off. It definitely has some tang to it. The eucalyptus backs off after a few minutes, and then I get a minty scent that, mixed with the ozone, smells kind of like a minty fizzy alcoholic drink to me. Like gin and tonic and mint. But I bet it's just the ozone giving me that impression. It's refreshing, cool, and crisp. The floral notes come out a little later but they don't dominate at all. It ends up smelling a bit like a soap scent to me, but that's probably because usually I only use mint-scented products in the shower or bath. I truly do like this scent, but whenever I smell it I just sit here wishing I had a scrub with this scent.

This scent reminds me a bit of the Dogs Playing Poker series... maybe because of the tobacco leaf. It's dark and musky, but it has a sweet haze over it from the frankincense. It seems like I can't really smell the lilac, which is disappointing because I usually like that note. Personally, I'm not a big frankincense fan, but I'll hand this over to my husband and see how he likes it.

This is a bright, citrusy scent that smells fun and a little fizzy. The gin part of it isn't too strong for me at all, and the fruits smell juicy and sweet. I know it's called "Golden Wave," but it smells more like an orange-colored scent to me. Great summertime scent! Very playful and cheery.

Well, now! There's something pretty! You know, I thought this would be really overbearing in the flower department, but it's not. Not at all. The vanilla musk and rice flower are pretty strong, and the hold down the other florals very well. It's much more of a creamy scent than florals usually are, and the honeysuckle isn't too heady at all. The carnation gives it a slight spicy kick that combines with that musk very nicely. Soft, lovely, and feminine. Yes, I definitely like this one.

Is there spikenard in this? Is that one of the "witch-herbs"? Because that's what it smells like to me. I can smell a wee bit of florals, but there's an acrid bitter leafy herby scent over the top, and it reminds me a whole lot of spikenard. (I really, really dislike spikenard, in case you can't tell, lol.) Nope, this one just isn't gonna work for me. And oh yay, I sloshed some oil on my fingers while I was opening the vial. Awesome. Now I have to go wash my hands.

A toxic chypre: radioactive green musk, davana, and oozing white amber. I thought this would be a "green" scent, but it seems like it's mostly musky, in that kind of stinging perfumey way. It's green too, but that's not the dominant part of the scent. I'm not sure what davana smells like, but if that's what I'm smelling in this, I like it. There's something almost sporty about this scent. Like, slightly aquatic. I think that's why it's making me think of cologne. But it's really pretty far under that stinging-ness. I think the white amber is turning a little powdery on me, but it's not bad at all. I think it's mostly taking the edge off the scent. I would like to wear this for a day (full-on wearing it, not just testing it) and see how it goes. I think this is the sort of scent that would grow on me. It's so different from what I usually wear, but it definitely intrigues me.

I put a little bit of oil on my wrist to try this, and I liked it so much I smeared some more all over the back of my hand. Hee. It's a very interesting scent! It doesn't smell like any one thing to me, really, it's a very good combination of scents. It seems like I can smell a little bit of leather in it, but it's not overbearing at all. The star anise is very well-behaved, and the frankincense is blending with the metallic notes very well. It does seem like this could easily be a masculine scent, but it doesn't seem stringently masculine to me. It's dark and pretty smooth -- smoother than I expected, anyway, based on the description. On me it wears like a skin scent. I like it.

On me, this is a pretty rose. There doesn't seem to be much else going on with it. Just rose. Not particularly green or thorny -- it makes me think of a soft pink rose. Maybe after 30 minutes or so I can smell the faint hint of something else with it, but I'd never be able to guess what it was. Still pretty much rosy!

I waited a while to try a decant of this because I wasn't sure about the wine grape. I'm not usually friends with grape notes. But in this, it doesn't smell like grapes to me. Maybe slightly, but mostly it's wine. Not too strong, either. Also, usually dragon's blood amps rather unreasonably on me, but it's not doing that here. When I first put it on, it had kind of a stingy cherry quality to it, but that faded out when it dried. What's left is that wine scent. It's not a dry wine, though, it's kind of juicy. It blends very well with the floral notes, and the red musk and resin notes are exquisite with it. This is really very pretty. It's my favorite Phoenix so far!

Gritty cherries. That's mostly what it smells like to me. I think there might be some vetiver in it, and there's also something smooth. It smells a bit like a vanilla-cherry combination, but not like a Blow Pop at all due to the dark notes. I think the grittiness is from the vetiver. It smells a bit herby, too. Kinda sharp and bold. But smooth. Interesting.

When I first put this on, it was a soft, tropical floral. Mostly orchid -- a velvety petaly orchid. It doesn't stay that way, though. The "limestone caverns" part becomes noticeable, the scent becomes more humid, and it turns more perfumey. It gets deeper and a little bit darker. To be honest, I'm not all that sure what many of those notes smell like, so I can't tell what I'm smelling. I do know that I can't pick out a vetiver note, but I can pick out the nicotiana (that seems to always be a highly "perfumey" smelling floral on me and not like tobacco at all). It's a pretty, fairly traditional-smelling humid (but not heady hothouse) floral. Deep, a little bit stinging, but with a nice foundation that seems to be from the wet stone note. This is the kind of floral that I like.

I'm really not very familiar with most of the notes listed for this scent, so I'm not going to be very good at describing it. It actually reminds me of well-oiled machinery, in the best possible way. Not like dirty old gross equipment! It's a sharp, strong scent, and it makes me think a little bit of pencils, and metal, and herbs. I think the resins in it are what's reminding me of a sweet, oily, almost sticky scent. This may sound weird, but this smells like a sacred scent to me. Something that would be used in a religious ritual. It has a pureness to it that I enjoy quite a lot.

This smells mostly like very sweet molasses to me, but not just that. On my skin, it has a sharpness to it that's not unlike herbal scents. It's not sort of sticky sweet smoothness -- it definitely has an edge. Almost like there's something green or reedy under there. I wouldn't say this is a foody scent, although it has some of those characteristics. It acts more like a floral scent on me, and I honestly can't describe or explain what I mean by that, except that it's a certain kind of floaty wispiness that I usually only get from florals. Kind of like a soft cloud. Very interesting scent.

I think cypress and violet are the prominent notes in this one, although it does seem to have that sort of peppery scent that I usually associate with cedar. When I first put it on the violet was soft, but that's definitely the floral note that I smell in this. Can't really pick out a rose note. When it was dry the violet not was stronger, but it seemed more velvety than violet usually is, and I bet that's from the rose. If violet is sometimes a little too bright for you, try this one. It's darker and drier than violet usually is because of the wood notes.

On me, this smells like a soft narcissus with a whisper of lavender behind it. It smells a little sad. Not tear-jerky sad, but I'd say it's on the melancholy side. It's a soft scent, and it feels pale in color. I've worn this a couple of times since I received a decant of it, and I have to say, it has a very calming effect on me. I think it's not just the lavender in it, it's also that the scent is so unobtrusive. It's just there, being pretty, not being loud or calling too much attention to itself, just hanging around being soothing.

When I first put this on, it seemed like I could smell the cedar best of all. As it was drying, the ozone peeked out, and then some rather faint herbs. Those notes are usually all quite dominant on my skin, but it smells like they're all blended together almost delicately. It's very interesting because "delicate and dominant" doesn't seem to be common for me at all with perfumes -- it's either one or the other. But these are swirling together very nicely. To me, this definitely has a nighttime feel to it; it doesn't smell like a daytime perfume. I honestly can't pick out any floral notes, but there's a sweetness to it that must be from the florals.

At first, I had high hopes for this one. Sometimes honey in perfume oil smells like play-doh on me, but it doesn't in this one. For the first 15 minutes it was warm, musky, smooth, and slightly gingery. In short, it was gorgeous. But when it's dry, the osmanthus completely took over. (I'm not totally sure what osmanthus smells like, but this is definitely floral and it's definitely not vanilla flower, so I deduced it must be osmanthus.) No more smooth luxuriousness, just a slightly musky floral. It's not a bad scent, but I liked the wet stage so much that the dry stage is kinda disappointing.

I have to admit, I usually like vetiver. I think it smells fairly true on my skin -- dark, husky, smoky... almost like dry grass that's burning just a little bit, if you can imagine that. I also have to admit that at first the vetiver in this was a little too strong even for me. I like it, but it was kinda the only thing I could smell for the first 15 minutes I put on the perfume. When it settled down, though -- ah! Very nice. The "blood" part of this scent sweetens it up significantly, and I like the metal with it. It has a wee bit of twang somewhere in there. It turns into a beguiling skin scent after about 30 minutes and isn't too strong at all. I agree with alicia_stardust that there's something creepy about this scent. But I happen to like creepy.

I'm not usually an ozone fan, but the mention of "plum," "opium," and "wormwood" in the description for this had me highly intrigued. I've been really looking forward to trying this one because I had no idea how these notes would come together and what this might smell like. It's awesome! It's sweet incense smoke (light on the smoke part -- more the scent of incense rather than the smokiness of it), but it's sweet in an almost indescribable way. Like lightly fruity sweet, but not overbearingly fruity. It's combined with the sweetness of the wormwood, so you just get the hint of it. The ozone deepens the whole scent and makes it smell a little more pointy than incense haze usually smells. It kinda has a little bit of an edge. But the ozone isn't loud at all. YAY! I like this one a lot.

LOL, I have no idea how to describe this scent. Seriously, I don't think I've smelled anything like it before. I think it smells like gin and lime, but not like a gimlet because of the tobacco. The tobacco rounds it out and sweetens it up and takes the edge off the booze notes. I'm handing this one over to my husband so he can see how he likes it. It's an unusual and interesting scent, and it definitely has a certain allure.

Wow, this is very pretty. It's not terribly strong, so I had to put on another swipe with the imp wand in order to do a proper test. The lilac and hyssop together are apparently a very pretty floral combination; although the lilac is dominant, it does seem like that's not the only floral note in this. The coconut must be that dry husky kind, and it's adding to the musk, tonka, and tobacco brilliantly. On my skin, this smells like a dry lilac musk. It has a warm, glowing feel to it. I think this is an unusual scent -- not the typical floral scent at all -- and I really like it a lot. It smells elegant and sexy in an understated way. Quite beautiful. Possibly my favorite BPAL lilac scent!

Gamaliel reminded me of Eden from the GC a little bit. Nahemoth reminded me of Hellion too (like ivyandpeony said), but also Red Phoenix. It's not a GC, but I think Red Phoenix is easier to find than Hellion.

The blackberry leaf is by far the strongest note for me at first, followed by a little bit of vanilla bean. But the blackberry in it smells a whole lot like MB Closet without the booze. (For some reason blackberry notes are always unbelievably strong on my skin.) Except it's muskier and drier. Personally, I like this one better than Closet. It's much more wearable for me. I like the brightness of it with the dry leafy notes, slight spices, and smooth honey. It's a good combination. This is definitely an interesting scent, but I'd have to try it a few more times to find out whether it feels like it's at home on me. I know I like it, I'm just not sure it fits me. For the record, my husband says he likes this one a lot.

This smells like everything I expected it would... except: there's a sweetness to it that I wasn't expecting. I thought it would be all awesome and musky and spicy -- and it is! -- but it's also sweet. I can smell the red musk in it, but it's more subdued than it usually is. I don't think I can pick out the cinnamon, but I can tell there's pepper and tobacco in it. The "desert sand" and tobacco give the scent a dryness that I like a lot. On me, it went through a strange phase after about 30 minutes while the dragon's blood resin tried to decide what the hell it was going to do ("Gee, do I turn into ultra-sweet powder this time, or will I let the other notes drown me out? Hmmm, let's give that powder thing a whirl!"), but then it settled back into a dark, warm, slightly spicy musk. I would definitely consider getting a bottle of this if my skin chemistry would behave in a predictable fashion, but that headachy-sweet powder problem is a little too risky for me.

I think this is my absolute favorite leather scent ever. It smells so REAL. And sexy. On me, leather is definitely the dominant note, and I don't think I can smell flowers or berries at all at first. Maybe wood. Yes, I think wood. About an hour into it, the leather backs off a bit and I can smell some of the berry and a teeny tiny breath of florals. It just smells... gah, it's just really damn good. Holy crap. This one's on my bottle list for sure. It's been a while since I tried an honest-to-goodness glue-nose-to-wrist perfume. I smell FABULOUS.