oddment

I like The Snow Storm, which is an LE but seemed to make up for missing Talvikuu--very wintry and at least a bit foresty.

First impressions: it is a very nice-smelling rash. Fearful Pleasure is a wonderful mulled-cider smelling scent. The cider and spice predominate, and I can't pick out the sassafras beer and get only an indistinct sense of smoke and wood, which is really nice frankly. I could smell the roasted apples in the bottle, but they seem to be subsumed by the cider on. There's enough cinnamon to make it a bit unwelcome on my skin, probably even when both diluted and applied to an insensitive-seeming place like the back of the wrist. The oil seems long-lasting, in that it's hard to wash off--a pleasant spiced cider scent seems to linger. Conclusion: I think I'll be seeking out a scent locket of some sort in the near future, or trying to see if I can scent my clothing with it.

Have you tried October? It has a kind of dead-leaves sharpness that makes it seem colder to me than others I've tried. November might be even cooler, but I've yet to try it.

I second that. Ask and ya get yer photos--Hellhound and Blade of Grass are up in the gallery if you care to see. http://www.bpal.org/index.php?autocom=gall...si&img=2294

Aaah I was so excited, thinking I might be the first to review this. In the bottle--strong cut grass, bitter autumn leaves in the background. Dry on my skin, it's still very grassy, and the grass is strong and sweet; the leaves are there (I think this is the bpal note or set of notes that makes my mind go "autumn!" and happily collapse in a pile of pleasant associations), but not the main focus. I really, really like the grass note, though--it's clean and very distinct. It isn't perfume-y so much as it is ideal--it definitely isn't the dirty rotting grass scent you sometimes get in spring, or the dry tinder smell of grass after it's browned. I'm interested to see how it changes once it's been more than an hour out of the mailbox, and whether the leaves will be stronger as the bottle ages, but for now this is great and a beautiful compliment to other autumnal bpal scents. I'm impressed and unable to find a less-goofy way of saying "Thanks, lab!" Or else I'd say it, you know. Overall: This scent is lovely. It's much milder than October, and I think it might make a nice alternative for those who tried October and found it overwhelming but still want an autumn outdoors scent. It's nice and wearable, and it makes me feel less sad about missing Stranger in Camp.

On my skin this smells spicy and resinous--I get a scent that strikes me as being cinnamon and clove, overlaid by sweet orange. It's almost a dirty scent at first, but dries into something more pleasant. It smells slightly like baking/kitchens and slightly sexy, but I'm not sure it is something I would wear regularly--it's a little heavier and more aggressive than I like.

When I first got this bottle back in winter, it was too harsh and strong for me, and smelled slightly chemical, so I put it away and was considering trading it on. I am happy that I kept it, since it apparently settled in the meantime and now smells brilliant--I smell like dead leaves! It is a bit masculine--my immediate thought is that it is dead leaf cologne--but the lack of sweetness makes it a nice compliment to other autumn blends I like. The smoke smell isn't strong; most of what I get is leaves and bark. I really like it--it's unusual and fetching.

Before reading the scent description, I thought this smelled (dry on my skin) more like salt and woods than anything. It might be the frankincense and sandalwood. And while this is nothing I'd ever have picked out for myself, it's actually really nice in an unexpected way, and unlike anything else in my little collection of bpal.

This smells like sparkly candy on me, and I very much like it although it is not something I would have chosen ordinarily. I think I can pick out the pear as the dominant note. There's a sense not of straightup cheeriness, but of something with a vaguely dark mischievous/hedonistic seductive edge to it, which I think is perfect for the scent's namesake.

In the bottle: pomegranate with some less-familiar scent that in my relative inexperience I view as just "perfume-y." On my skin: I smell like pomegranate tea! Just about exactly! I applied this to my nape and hair slightly Friday night, and when I woke up this morning I found that I had my head nestled into a pillow that smelt very nicely of that same pomegranate tea. Ahhh. I had no problems with wearlength, but that may have been due to applying it to my hair; on my wrist I thought I could still pick up a very faint sweet scent. This is really lovely and extremely wearable for me.

I really like the idealized red wine in this, but the earth and herbs seem to make me a little sniffly--on me, at first, the scent almost reminds me of using strong soap to wash up after digging in a garden. After a little while, it starts to bother me a bit--I'm not sure if it's the dry herbs or the dirt that make this smell "old" to me, but "old" seems to hit some sort of scent-intolerance button with me. (At least it smells nice after my attempt to wash it off--maybe I just put on a little too much for my tastes. I prefer to apply very lightly, and this particular imp is of the "explody-capped" subtype.) This isn't something I wear on a regular basis, but the combination of notes is too interesting for me to write it off.

This is an oil that reveals how limited my vocabulary and acquaintance with perfume oils really is--I think it smells like cookies. Or more exactly, like dough for spice cookies--raw vanilla and random amounts of nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. I can recognize the patchouli now though I couldn't at first--it's a much finer and smoother scent than the one I associate with hippy shops and don't really enjoy. It's very heady compared to the things I usually like, but unlike mainstream perfumes that have a lot of throw, this doesn't bother me at all; it's both comforting and very appealing. This has an amazing amount of staying power on my skin, but I like the scent best after the spices seem to have calmed and softened and the vanilla comes up.

Applied lightly, this almost creates a sort of ginger-willow scent on me (in the best possible sense--willow leaves are lovely to me) right now. I can't tell if the milk is softening or sweetening exactly, or both. It was a gift imp (thanks!) and I like it very much--the subtlety makes it just right for my tastes.

What I get from this scent is Earl Grey and leather. On me, the leather doesn't play up too much, and the bergamot and tea are extremely comforting scents to me personally--this is one of the very few scents I actually wear, and I particularly like it when I'm stressed. It also occasionally strikes me as extremely sexy, but neither of these rather disconnected reactions are related at all to the book. (Also, I have to admit--the leather scent makes me think that if Dorian is a wicked Victorian gentleman, Severin's kind of a tea-drinkin' cowboy with a fondness for bergamot and probably a certain level of defensiveness about it. "When you call me that, smile!" and all that. ... My associations just don't make any sense at all. But this is probably my favourite scent--I don't do as well with blends that are extremely complex.)