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This smells sweet and salty on me, and not overly aquatic. Clear and fresh, not murky at all.

 

It is rather refreshing, but I'm not an aquatic scent kind of person. My husband is, and he said that he likes this one but likes R'Lyeh better.

Annabel Lee smells like all the listed notes. That's probably not very helpful as far as reviews go, but I would swear I can smell every one of them in this. It's light, pretty, and airy. The sweet pea isn't making it too sweet for me, thank goodness, and I like the cucumber and moss combination. It smells vaguely planty without smelling green, and I like that.

 

Reminds me a bit of Blue Moon without the herbs. Maybe something like Kindly Moon. Quite lovely.

I first tried this about a year and a half ago, and my only notes were that the gardenia was too strong for my liking and the whole scent was just too strong period.

 

I tried it again today, and all I'm getting out of it is cardamom with some patchouli giving it a more earthy feel than usual. Can't smell any floral notes in it at all. The cardamom is overpowering. I don't get along with cardamom, so this one isn't for me.

I smell a tiny bit of pumpkin at the beginning, but then only apples and spices. It doesn't smell like a juicy red apple, it smells like those dried apples that you get in trail mix sometimes. After it's on for about 20 minutes, it's purely mulling spices. That's it. A wee hint of apple underneath if I sniff really close, but from a distance it's just spices.

 

That would be okay, except for the way I've totally overdosed on mulling-spice-scented candles during autumn over the years. When I smell mulling spices I immediately think of candles. This really does smell fantastic, and much better than any of those multitudes of candles I've burned, but not something I personally can wear as perfume.

 

If I were ever going to wear any perfume with an apple scent, though, this would be the one. It smells delicious.

Historically I don't do that well with pomegranate in perfumes. For some reason as soon as it hits my skin it smells like bathroom air freshener.

 

Enter PP#3. The only pomegranate scent I've found so far that I can wear.

 

I can only smell the pumpkin right at first, and even then just a hint of it. This scent is so sweet and candy-like that it's comparable to Midwinter's Eve or Bordello. It's not the same scent, but it's that sweet on me. Just smells like candy. Not pumpkin-flavored candy, just fruity candy. Sugary, even.

 

I think of the Pumpkin Patches as being pumpkin scents, even though two of them don't smell like pumpkin at all on me. So most of the time I forget I even have this one. When I think I might like to wear a sweet scent, I never automatically think of the Pumpkin Patch. I ought to leave this one out in a prominent place so that I remember it.

Oddly, I can't really smell the pumpkin in this one except right at first. It has none of the buttery goodness I was hoping for. The galangal is kinda strong, and the whole scent ends up as an ivy + galangal combination after a few minutes and stays that way.

 

This one was my least favorite of the Pumpkin Patches because of the way galangal likes to amp up on my skin.

When I first started buying BPAL I thought pumpkin-scented perfume sounded gross. Then I tried Jack and realized I liked pumpkin perfumes a lot. So then I got an imp set of the Pumpkin Patch perfumes to try them out.

 

PP#4 was immediately my favorite. Straight away, with no hesitation. I liked it even better than Jack. Still do. Whenever I'm in the mood for a pumpkin perfume, #4 is the first one I think of. I got bottles of the whole patch, but I never wore anything but #4.

 

Although I do like the buttery pumpkin-ness of Jack, I prefer the dry pumpkin scent in PP#4. It reminds me of pumpkin seeds, I guess. It's lovely and not overbearing at all with the sandalwood and orris. Sweet, soft, and delicious. It seems like there's a little bit of spice in there somewhere, but not much.

 

The sandalwood and spices seem stronger now that it has aged for a couple of years (my bottles are from Halloween 05), and I don't think it has quite as much of a pumpkin scent as it used to. Still, it's very lovely and remains one of my favorite BPAL perfumes.

Jasmine, jasmine, and more jasmine. Very strong. This may as well be a jasmine single note on me. It seems like the juniper berry is trying to come out because this smells like it's slightly sweeter than jasmine usually is, but I would never be able to identify it as juniper berry. Just some source of a slight sweetness.

 

I've had this oil on for 30 minutes now and it hasn't changed at all.

I can't smell anything but wet soil in this. It's sweet, maybe from the orchid, but... yeah. Soil.

 

Unfortunately this happens to me every time I try any of this dirt scents. This one is not as oppressive and horrifying as Graveyard Dirt was, but it's still not something I could wear.

This scent smells like wood and incense to me. Very churchy. Polished wood and incense lingering in the air. Reminds me of Cathedral but softer. A little bit like sandalwood incense, perhaps? It's not dark at all, just warm and comforting.

Usher smells like a light tea scent, to me. Clean and fresh. Just a wee bit of mint and a little bit of musk. This one has some green behind it that reminds me of aloe, even though that's not in the notes. It smells soft and innocent. It's quite lovely.

Wow, I would love for my husband to try this. I wish I could pick out which note in here reminds me of the type of scents he likes, but I'm not sure what it is. I think it's the rosewood and white sandalwood combination -- it's dry, but not in a stark dry way. More like a spiced dry way. It's hard to describe. For people who like wood scents in which the wood is subtle and not in-your-face (I generally think of cedar and pine as being in-your-face, for example), this is a good one. Soft, a bit dusty, a bit woody, and slightly rugged. It's not strongly any one thing... just a pleasant, comforting scent. It's a great combination.

 

This one is definitely my favorite of the Stardust scents.

This is the one I was most looking forward to trying out of all the Stardust scents. Based on the notes, I thought it might smell a bit like Beatrice, which is my all-time favorite floral scent. And it does, a bit. The lily is stronger in this one, but that's okay with me because I like lily.

 

Usually floral and vanilla combinations are the best kinds of florals for me, and this one is exactly the type of floral I like. When it's dry the rose comes out a lot stronger, but it's not at all a powdery or artificial-smelling rose, it smells beautiful and elegant. Very pretty. I like this one. Soft, slightly musky, and feminine. (Still like Beatrice better, though. )

This one should have worked on me but didn't, and I don't know why. I tried it twice, and both times I got a slightly spicy, incensey plum scent. At first. After about an hour or so it developed this weird kind of sour/pungent scent. It smells a bit like when they try to make a room spray that's fruit-scented. That strange not-quite-right fruit scent. It doesn't smell like actual fruit, it smells... chemical, I guess. I don't know how else to describe it.

 

Both times I thought I liked it all right at first -- a little too much like traditional perfume for my liking, but certainly not bad. And then I ended up with that weirdness. It smells better in the vial than it smells on me, so I'm sure it's my skin chemistry messing it up, but, phew. Not good. I even tried to wash it off -- twice -- and I can still smell it.

 

I don't think this is ever going to work for me, sadly. But that's okay. There are plenty of other BPAL perfumes I like!

I tried this oil twice -- each time about a month from each other -- and wrote two reviews. Evidently I got basically the same thing both times:

 

Review #1:

Some sugar, but mostly a green grassy scent with some florals I can't identify. The floral notes seem really green to me, but I'm not sure if that's actually the floral notes or the green grass. There's a sharp herb in there too, but I'm not sure what it is. It doesn't seem like lavender, so it must be something else. When it's totally dry it loses the grassy green scent and ends up sweet. Kind of musky-sweet. Pretty. Don't like the grass stage, though.

 

Review #2:

I'm getting a wee bit of a sugary scent from this, but mostly grass and something that smells like a sharp herb. Not sure what that is. Glad I got to try it, but grassy scents are never ones I like. Just not my thing.

 

all dried and sitting there for a while, this reminds me a lot of Tresor by Lancome [...]

 

That's what it reminds me of, too, after it's been dry for a couple of hours! There was something so familiar about it to me, and I couldn't think of what it was. I was reading back through reviews, and I saw willowtreeling's review and thought A-HA! That's it! It has that same sweetness to it.

Lavender usually is a no-no note for me -- mainly because I don't particularly care for the scent but also because it tends to be VERY LOUD on me. Too strong. I feel like I'm walking around in a lavender cloud. Sometimes, if it's really gentle and mild and tempered by softer notes, I can sort of tolerate it. So far I haven't found a lavender perfume I like enough to wear with any sort of regularity, though.

 

I will say, with this one, it has a sparkly quality to it that is much more pleasant than that sharp herbal tone lavender can sometimes get.

 

After about an hour or so, the lavender is barely noticeable, and it seems like it's mostly magnolia with a hint of soft lavender. It smells like a nighttime scent. I like it better at this stage, but not enough for it to become a favorite.

It was reminding me of Cathedral/Aureus right at first, but as it's drying it's getting a bit muskier. It's still in that vein, though. The wood notes seem lighter in this one than in those. It really makes me think of the scent of the church pews in the old church I went to when I was a kid. That's a nice association, and I like this scent. It seems fitting that Aziraphale should smell like church to me.

 

My husband is a huge fan of Tombstone, and I'm going to let him try this one. I bet he'll like it. The wood in it smells similar.

I don't think this one is going to work for me. It smells kind of pungent at first, like bitter weeds that are starting to mold. As it dries it's getting sweeter and much less objectionable, but I still don't think it's something I'd wear. I think people who like those sweet dandelion scents ought to give this one a go, though. It reminds me of that type of scent. Plus tobacco.

Wow, this smells really good. I'm not sure if the red patchouli is working fantastically on me, but the other notes seem to be. It kind of reminds me of one of the Dogs Playing Poker scents -- not one in particular, but the whole series. It has that lovely, complex, fairly masculine quality. What an excellent scent for Crowley.

 

It seems like the leather, musk, and mahogany are strongest on me. Maybe some oakmoss too. Can't really pick out the lemon rind. I'm going to ask my husband to try this one very soon because Geek is his signature scent and this is reminding me of that one.

Hmm, that's an odd scent. It smells like a very sweet woodfire. Actually, this is close to what vetiver often smells like on me. But sweeter. I highly doubt I would wear this as a perfume, but the scent is certainly evocative. I would love to use this as a room scent.

Lots of spices at first -- I think that's the red ginger. It's a little too much for me, to be honest, and this oil is making my skin feel itchy for some reason. I wonder if I'm allergic to something in this. Yeah, it's starting to turn splotchy red. I need to wash this off.

Yay, the frankincense isn't messing this up for me! Just a lovely amber with some really pretty saffron. The chamomile and walnut bark give it a nice almost earthy grounding. It seems like there's something very slightly citrusy in there, but I'm not sure what that is. Yep, I sure do like this. Very pretty. Easily my favorite of the zodiac scents so far this year.

I'm getting mainly an orange scent with some herbs when it's wet, which is quite disappointing because I was hoping for red musk, heliotrope, and dragon's blood. Oh no... wait... yeah it's becoming muskier. Ah, yes, this is much better.

 

I didn't think I'd be able to smell sunflower in this, but I do. It smells rich and warm with the red musk. Wow, this is a lot different when it's dry than it was when it was wet. Really lovely. The herbs give it a touch of dryness, I think, and it suits the scent very well. This isn't nearly as strong on me as most red musk blends are -- that note is usually loud and long-lasting on me (which is fine with me because I like it a lot). This one is subtle.

 

I like it!

I get a lot of pink grapefruit from this at first, and just a very faint whiff of florals. As it dries the grapefruit isn't quite so showy, and the florals are more pronounced. It smells sweet and rather tropical to me. It's bright and cheerful, and the whole scent smells pink. Also I can't really tell there's any lemon verbena in here at all, which is a good thing for me.

 

When it's dry it's a little too floral for me, but I like it better than most other florals. It's quite pretty.

Sweet, light green, and soft. The pear is gentle in this, and mostly it seems like a supersweet chamomile to me. I wasn't sure what lettuce would smell like in perfume, but it seems like it's giving the scent a watery crispness.

 

It has a watery feel to it, but I wouldn't call it primarily aquatic. That part of the scent isn't strong. And surprisingly, the sweet pea doesn't ruin it for me at all.

 

This isn't my usual kind of scent, but it does smell good. It seems like a great scent for Cancer, to me.