tajana

Ultraviolet - freezing cold mentholated violets for ice queens. Good for faking a cool, perfectly collected, detached aura. Bow & Crown of Conquest - badass leather jacket exterior meets cuddly vanilla center. I always wore this for midterms + final exams.

To me, this smells like pomegranate hibiscus tea steeping with sprigs of fresh mint when freshly applied. The drydown gets totally swallowed up by what I assume is the mulberry. As others have mentioned, this starts to smell like generic red candles. Naturally, since I didn't care for it, the throw was immense.

Honeyed frankincense and creamy lilac musk, with a little burst of glossy pomegranate juicing things up a little bit. I would've also guessed there was a touch of vanilla in here. This is the good kind of honey - neither baby powdery nor crotch-y, ahaha. I do not sense much in the way of rose, and I couldn't pick out sandalwood as a distinct note either. All in all I liked this a lot more than I expected, but the scent overall was somehow really... familiar. A scent memory I couldn't quite place, or maybe it just smells like perfume oils I've already tried! Overall this smells a bit sensual, but classic.

This sounded like it would be pretty, but it was a total drag. Awkward apple strawberry bubblegum, artificially flavored and dusted with violet powder and sour, rotted flowers. On me it smelled like something I might expect to find kicking around in Rite Aid's clearance section, collecting dust. I can't speak to lasting power, because the nauseating fake fruit drove me to scrub this off with soap and water. For me this was the only dud in the apple series - even though I don't usually like apple scents, I thought the rest of the ones in this series ranged from fairly pleasant on through lovely.

This one is quite musky on me! Right off the bat I get a fair but of ambrette and clean white musk along with the florals. Unfortunately, I don't like narcissus much, and that's the floral that sticks out most to me here. The throw is surprisingly powerful for what I expected would be an ephemeral scent, and the scent that wafts up is quite pretty - crisp muguet and creamy gardenia musk. But when I take a closer whiff, I get a nose full of uncomfortable narcissus.

This was high on my list of anticipated scents to try, and it was probably the biggest disappointment. Wet, it's very foresty, but off kilter. Oddly alcoholic tones with turpentiney pine and a general crisp decidious leafy feel, and just a tint of underlying fermented fruitiness. The dry down makes me think of wet soil, full of worms, but not in any good sense, especially since there's an odd sweetness to this scent, like a glaze of really weird, toxic honey, which in turn clashes with the hint of nuttiness. Quite frankly, this smelled rancid on me. I barely made it through half an hour before I had to wash it off.

Of all the "dark purple" scents in this Halloween update, this one is my fave. The sage adds an interesting herbal twist that goes well with the black-purple, pruney fruitiness and soft blend of violets and subtle aquatic touches. Gets a bit darker with the dry-down, but neither tobacco nor opoponax nor anything else in particular really stand out, it's more of a dark, damp, just slightly cologney scent, with perhaps a bit of earthiness from the moss. The herbal-floral-smoky-aquatic balance is unusual but still comes off as cohesive and wearable. I don't think I need more of it personally, but I did enjoy testing it out.

Oh boy. I really enjoy some of BPAL's dirty, earthy, soil notes, but a few of them really disagree with me. This is one of them. There are traces of a sharp, funereal white flower and sour pomegranate, but mostly this is the smell of mildew and decay. Had to wash it off.

I didn't even read this review thread, but independently wrote down in my notes, "green bell peppers?!" After the perplexing, crisp-watery bell peppers fade back, this goes to a softer scent that's more traditionally perfumey but still reminiscent of gardening - light grassy flowers, just slightly sweet, anchored with a bit of a soft, slightly wet dirt scent. Ultimately dries down into a generic, slightly powdery scent on me.

After the juicy, opening burst of pink grapefruit wears off - which takes a good thirty minutes on me - this reminds me of one of my GC faves, Meliai - an unusual, fresh honey scent resplendent with sappy green notes as well as a hint of citrus/floral/something tastiness. However, Two Tailed Sogg is an inferior cousin - though the pink grapefruit is nice, this scent overall goes through a phase of being too sharp before degenerating into a sweet, nondescript powdery scent.

I really wanted this to work on me but it was not meant to be. I can sense that on the right person this would be a dark, womanly, luxe feeling perfume, but on me it's mainly about the blackcurrant, ylang ylang, and a bit of jasmine. Unfortunately, this translates to fruity cat pee berries and a sour, nearly rancid powder.

I really love BPAL's "blonde wood" notes and there's plenty of that to be found here! The clean, fresh planks of timber sort of scent forms a natural bridge between the clean cologney top notes - linen? - and the toasty, baked pumpkin. Vanilla softens the edges, giving it a bit of creaminess without taking over. The overall texture of this blend is interesting - fuzzy, almost nutty, bakery, but still very woody. The far drydown is very nice, with the pumpkin-vanilla-wood triad settling down like a comfy wool sweater. I'm not entirely sure how often I'll wear this because it is still rather "seasonal" to me, but with the lack of fruit or spice notes, this isn't nearly as "craft store autumn candle" as most other pumpkin scents. If you think this isn't smooth and soft enough for you now, try again later... this promises to age into a gentler scent as the wood smooths out and the pumpkin and the vanilla come into their own.

This is the best pomegranate scent and the best rose scent I've ever tried from BPAL. Most of BPAL's rose scents are a total miss for me - either acrid and sour or powdery and stale. There are a handful of exceptions, and this one is at the top of the list now. "La Mort" is a surprisingly lively scent. To me it smells flirty but sophisticated. Juicy, ruby red pomegranate stands out most but as it dries down, a lush red rose blends into it, along with a kiss of spice. It is bright red and mouthwateringly tart for a while, but within an hour it starts to feel darker and more substantial as the champaca and opoponax round out the base, with just a hint of creamy benzoin. Even though I have several fruity rose fragrances from other sources, I definitely need more of this one in my life! It makes me feel positively vivacious.

This is fantastic! I did not expect much of anything from it. Really I anticipated it to be mediocre, the kind of thing that would do better in a candle than on my person. But it's just a very evocative perfume, reminding me of shadowy late autumn, early winter forests without being too literal about it. The evergreen notes are present but not overwhelming. I get more cypress than pine. The woodsmoke note is realistic and atmospheric, but it's balanced out by a lovely resinous sweetness, as well as a brush of spicy warmth from the nutmeg. A rich, wonderful, full bodied sandalwood rounds out the base and lasts forever on the skin, even after the other notes recede. Good throw. As a sandalwood fiend, I am definitely going to need a bottle of this. I suspect it would smell great on guys too.

Ghostly lily of the valley, glowing in a dark, starless night. The dark resinous base, mostly labdanum on me, smells inky and shadowy, but it's not heavy at all, it's dry, cut with the austerity of white sandalwood. The floral bouquet becomes more complex as it passes through the drydown, and smells very sophisticated, with the slight smoky sharp sweetness in the blend of carnation, tobacco flower, and tea rose. Classy, classy, classy! Romantic and melancholy. Sadly, rose can be fickle with me and went sour and musty after about 30 minutes of wear, so this is a no go.

Fresh, crisp, and clean, while still in keeping with the season. An early autumn breeze in a field of marigolds, with golden chamomile sunlight filtered through leaves just beginning to turn. Soft dried rose petals crumble into the drydown, but it stays very consistent otherwise. Surprisingly potent, too - I can't pick out much vanilla as a note, but maybe that's what's lending some volume and lasting power to this scent? I suspect it will age well because of that.

Kicks off with a lacquered burnt brown sugar caramel, swerves into alcoholic dark chocolate ganache, waxy white flowers, and intense banana candy wrapped in big dark green leaves, with coconut rice and butterscotch drizzled pumpkins. It's just a great big, foody tropical jumble! I was very interested in trying this because I thought the floral bouquet could be beautiful, as long as troublesome jasmine and ylang didn't go all loud and nasty - but actually... I don't get anything metallic or sharp or unpleasant out of this like the previous two reviewers. It's just a whole lot of dessert, with enough dry cakey, ricey, gourdy, and starchy notes to somehow damp down the sweetness a little. The floral notes are present, but they're just sort of waxy and mellow and in the background. I had fun testing it but the cakey foodiness is overwhelming for me.

Near bubblegum sweetness - lotus root? - with a distinctly white, silvery cast from the moonflower. Apple is a bit player, but smells somehow warmer than the other notes, and adds body that way. The white sandalwood and orris add a dry texture but don't go powdery. It's really lovely at first, shocking me at how much I've enjoyed this series of scents despite my usual avoidance of apple notes, but then the dry down goes sort of flat and nondescript... just a bland sweetness, like generic fabric softener. ;_;

Top notes of sparkly tart apple drying down to an enchanting, fruity-floral tinted, gently creamy white vanilla musk. It's extremely pretty, with none of the funkiness that I expect from ylang ylang. The problem is, it's very faint. I'd have to pour on a quarter imp's worth at a time to get much out of this. It smells beautiful but it is so light and fades so fast. I accidentally broke my tester of this, and even the tissues I sopped up the remnants of this didn't hold on to it, which makes the possibility of wearing it in a hair, on fabric, or in a locket that much dimmer. Maybe it will smell stronger with some aging? I don't know whether I want to stock up or just pretend I never smelled this fleeting beauty.

The pine needle really shouts out loud when this is wet but as it dries the pine backs down to an interesting foresty backdrop that throws the fresh wildflowers and fluffy, girly, distinctly pink candy into psychedelic high relief. It smells like you were wandering in a pine forest and then suddenly came upon a castle made of pink marshmallows and pink gumdrops and pink cotton candy, populated by a few dancing cartoon flowers. Even with the pine, this is too sweet for me, but it's a fun fragrance.

For the top notes, apple spice tea hits the nail on the head. Warm, autumnal, halfway between crisp tart apple and chewy dried apple, sprinkled with warming spice. The floral notes are light and add a lot of "pretty" factor and dimension. The drydown is surprisingly floral. There's a lot of champaca in it, and it takes on a sort of nag champa twist when paired with the frankincense and also the amber, which - wow - actually goes creamy on me instead of powdery this time. This scent really does have a "golden" feeling, and the spicy, creamy-resinous, floral drydown is a real hit for me. I really like this one and plan to look for more of it. ETA: I tested this a second time to make sure, just a few days after my first test... and on my second try, it was really gross. Like, I had to wash it off. It smelled powdery and just... cheap and muddled. What gives?!

Wow. Fresh out of the decant this seriously smells like mud! It reminds me strongly of going to the park as a little kid. It smells like wet green grass, wet dirt, and puddles of water. The watery mud scent is surprisingly strong and lifelike. The lemon sneaks in later, but it's very lemon-scented household cleaning product, which just further adds to the weirdness and clarity of the narrative. The leather is subtle and in this context, reminds me of nothing if not easily dirtied white sneakers, velcro and plastic embellishments and all. Soo... yeah. Grass and water, muddy shoes, and a whiff of lemon cleaner. This is the least lemony of the clown scents and easily the most interesting, but it's too strange and vivid for me to wear as a perfume. But for the record, I never got even the tiniest hint of dragon's blood, and I hate dragon's blood.

The lemon note gives this a lot of zing and brightness, and combined with the marshmallowy vanilla, does remind me a little bit of Dorian! But it's Dorian without the musk and with added marshmallow sweetness, blueberry jam and sugar-crystal crusted pastries. I do not get even the faintest trace of hemlock. It's all dessert, all the time in here! It smells pretty good for the first half hour, but after that, things fall apart, big time. It starts to smell sour yet sickly sweet, fakey, and cloyingly rich. I smell like I went to the kid's corner of the dollar store, grabbed some blue scented lotion with a free plastic cupcake keychain, and slathered it on. I am almost certain that it's the butter and the blueberry notes that are going haywire on me. Oh well! I already have a similar dark berries and pastry scent that works better on me by another company, so Bones Trombone's failure on me is no big loss.

As soon as I tried this on I could smell lemon hard candy, absinthe, and white chocolate. The minty absinthe and sugared lemon are blended into the smell of white chocolate... all creamy cocoa butter, sugar, and a drop of vanilla. Very dessert-like, but the cheery yellow brightness of lemon is quite pleasant while it lasts. Lasting power isn't all that great, and once the top notes disappear all that's left is a white chocolate note that goes bland and flat on me.

I find that many of the Salon scents I've tried smell more like "traditional" perfumes, and this is definitely true for Donna con Ventaglio. This is one classy perfume. In the vein of classic chypres, with the bergamot just barely lightening the bouquet of dry flowers, a hint of bitter greenness (I guess violet leaf and mate are filling this role?) and dark, dark deep labdanum. The rose, a bit powdery and dry, is the only floral I can really pick out of the mix here. Which is good, as far as I'm concerned... no yucky sour ylang. Further into drydown it gets less haughty and dry, more friendly and warm. It gets a bit fruity from the hint of fig and the enduring juiciness of blood orange, sweeter from the lotus root, and creamier from the tonka, but still holds on to echoes of that floral and labdanum heart. The longer this wears the creamier it gets, and eventually it is quite a sweet, soft, rich tonka-centered blend rounded out with full-bodied fig and wispy florals. Donna con Ventaglio smells expensive, and I am pretty sure that if you wore this around ladies accustomed to spritzing on classic or vintage perfumes that they would take a keen interest in what you were wearing. To be honest I am not well versed in a lot of classic perfumes, but this does remind me a bit of Guerlain Mitsouko. I mean, DcV doesn't have the spices, and its drydown is ultimately a lot creamier, but both are chypres that start off a bit gloomy and musty and dry down into a warmer, plusher, just lightly fruit-touched base. As a matter of fact, if I didn't already have Mitsouko I would totally run to get more of DcV. Honestly, if my resolve breaks I might get more of it anyway. I think Donna con Ventaglio would be perfect on a rainy day, worn with a favorite pair of jeans, a bit of lipstick, and a lot of attitude. Normally I do not like to go for scents in the mature, dusty, old-fashioned genre, because when done wrong they smell cheap and dismal. But when they get everything right, when they morph so gracefully from austere to warm and plush... there is just something irresistible about their vintage vibe.