lucycat

In the bottle: Suede and almond. At first, this is strong, brand-new suede. I get a strong impression of brown suede, as well as brown leather. The almond is so sweet that it’s almost sharp. Almond never lasts long on the skin, though, and after just a little while this becomes mellower and softer. The vanilla, the tonka, and the amber come forward, so the blend remains sweet without that sharp quality it had at first. A soft and snuggly skin scent with little throw.

In the bottle, this is supersweet peach. It’s peach candy, compared to some of the more natural-smelling Peach Pit blends from earlier years. I had to try this, even though my skin often amps sugar scents. When Peach VII is applied, there’s a moment of almost-bitterness, from the lemon or possibly peach skin, and then the lemon comes forward. It balances the sweetness of the peach sugar perfectly, just the way a squirt of lemon juice counteracts too much sweetness in cooking. I love peach; I love lemon. This is perfect. I really like the Lab’s sugar and candy blends lately. Peach VII is cheerful and happy. I think it would be appropriate for a young girl, but at the same time, I don’t feel as if I’m wearing a kid’s perfume. Very glad I got a bottle of this: Thank you, DragonCon fairy!

Midnight on the Midway was my first thought for sugared incense. It doesn't inevitably turn to soap; mine didn't, either new or now that it's about ten months old. You could try to track down a decant.

In the imp, it’s sweet creamy musk. I don’t think I’ve smelled blue musk before, but this is very close to the pink musk in Vasilissa, which I like a lot. Funnily enough, the musk, which usually lasts on me, dissipates pretty quickly, and Midnight on the Midway becomes sweet incense and flowers. I can’t pick out a specific flower. On my hand the incense predominates (lovely!) and on my arm it’s more floral. This scent grows on me the longer I wear it. It stays close to the skin, and after a few hours has really faded. I need to retest my decant now that it has aged a bit.

Ploutos smells rich and luxurious. It’s well-blended; I can really only pick out the leather in the imp. There’s a very beautiful cologney amber, with a slight smokiness from the oudh. It all feels very old-fashioned and glamorous. I agree with AuspiciousQ that this is a perfect dressed-to-the-nines, out on the town fragrance.

In the bottle I smell honey, a much lighter honey than the one in Womb Furie, though there’s a similarity between the two, and the fougere of Dorian. On my skin I can smell the Snake Oil. Perhaps because it’s new, it’s also fairly light. Snake Oil is usually heavy and spicy on me; this isn’t. In the drydown, I get more vanilla, in addition to that in the Snake Oil, and the cotton candy floating over everything. It’s sweet, but not cloying. I had to try Meus Amor Aeternus because I love both Dorian and Snake Oil and I have no other blends that contain them both. I’m very glad I bought a bottle.

In the bottle this is sweet candy strawberry and cream. Though the notes say clotted cream, it makes me think of strawberry sauce on vanilla ice cream. This is very definitely a red strawberry licorice, not a black anise licorice. On my skin the strawberry candy is the strongest note, though the cream and marshmallow are present as well. This is a sweet, fun, cheerful scent, silly and happy. I’m so glad I bought a bottle of this. Candy scents don’t usually tempt me; I’m afraid they’ll be too sweet. Sticky Eyeballs isn’t. Because this isn’t my usual kind of blend, it fills a niche in my collection. I wear it when I want a simple, cheerful scent as a pick-me-up.

This was a frimp from the Lab. One sniff from the imp and I’m reminded instantly of the “country” stores of my childhood in the 80s, the ones that sold painted wooden cutouts, stenciled everything, candles, rag dolls, and sometimes actual antiques. They all smelled of the same fruity spiced potpourri (or candles or scented oil) and it smelled just like Alice’s Evidence. These are dark fruits, the prune and the blackcurrant from the cassis especially. On my skin it smells like a spiced fruit compote bubbling away on the stove. I detect a little cinnamon in here, in addition to the ginger. Funnily enough I can’t pick out the rum, a note that’s usually super-sweet on me, at all. Alice’s Evidence is a perfectly pleasant scent, though because it has such very specific association for me, it feels more like a room scent than a personal one.

Snake Oil with four mints, bergamot, and green tea. In the imp, a fresh scent from the bergamot and tea notes, over the syrupy sweetness of the vanilla. Yes, this is green. Very fresh Snake Oil often has an almost camphor-like sharpness to it, and so does Green Tree Viper when it is first applied. I think the bergamot and mint, which can both be sharp notes, are strengthening that effect. That sharpness smooths out pretty quickly, though, and I’m left with the lightness of the tea, the mint, and the bergamot swirled with the vanilla of Snake Oil. In this blend the vanilla is noticeably more prominent than the spices. I love tea, citrus and mint notes for warm weather, so I was almost sure this would be a winner. I wish it were a little stronger, but I think aging will take care of that. Green Tree Viper is a perfect summer Snake Oil blend.

A sugary-sweet, happy scent. I do in fact have some marshmallow peeps leftover from Easter in the pantry, and smelling this all day is making me crave them. This evokes the simple, childlike pleasure of an Easter basket full of candy. It’s light; I had to reapply twice in the course of the day. The initial burst of pure sugar dries down to vanilla marshmallow. It really is that one note; I compared it with Stekkjarstaur, which has a wool note in addition to the marshmallow. After seeing the comparisons to Boo 2009 I sniffed them side by side. To me, they aren’t alike: Boo has a lemony note that Marshmallow Chick lacks, and Marshmallow Chick is much more sugary.

This was a frimp from the Lab. In the imp, wet, and dry, Lampades is a tart, bright cranberry. The musk seems to be grounding it and making it last longer than it would on its own, but I can’t really pick it out otherwise. After about ninety minutes, a slight spiciness emerges. I don’t smell any ginger (too bad; I was envisioning a gingered cranberry sauce scent) or lily, so if you dislike florals, Lampades is a safe blend to try. I agree with all those who say this blend feels right for autumn.

Palmyra reminds me of a classic perfume. It is indeed “perfumey,” I think because the golden amber is one of the strongest, most identifiable notes, with the sandalwood. On sniffing more deeply, I do get a hint of what I can only describe as sweet but not foody spice. I had to look at the notes to realize that that’s probably the cinnamon. That often irritates my skin, but it’s present in such a small amount here that that’s not happening. The resins are soft and gentle here. The frankincense, for example, is not sharp as it usually is on me. Perhaps because of that classic perfume quality, Palmyra isn’t unisex at all on me. I don’t smell any leather, and it leans quite feminine. I also echo all those who say that this is so well blended, it’s difficult to pick out individual notes. Awhile ago someone on the forum asked for blends that evoked golden age Hollywood and leading ladies. Palmyra does that for me, but this isn’t what a leading lady wore to a premiere. It’s what she’d wear at home, enjoying an evening with her beau.

Love’s Philosophy smells like the world’s best vanilla candle on me. That is, the cream goes a little waxy, but not in a way I mind. I’m surprised by that, because the cream in Boo, one of my favorite vanilla-and-cream blends, doesn’t turn waxy at all. I can pick out the saffron, especially when this is wet. I can see why so many people have compared Love’s Philosophy to cream soda, though I wore this soon after testing Champagne Lace, which, with its carbonation note, reminded me of cream soda even more strongly. I would have loved to get the wintergreen that others have described, but alas, no. Love’s Philosophy is a snuggly scent with minimal throw; even after a not very strenuous day, I had to reapply in the early evening. I’m happy I bought a bottle of this unsniffed.

In the imp, I smell bright, sweet, orange. That continues to be the dominant note on my skin for the first twenty minutes, and then the anise emerges, blending with the orange and becoming more dominant as Pere Noël continues to dry down. I think the lavender candy is just adding to the sweet, airy loveliness of this blend; I can’t distinguish the lavender as a separate note. This has a festive feel, but not in a way that’s limited to the holidays. I think it would work really well as a warm-weather perfume in June or July. Pere Noël is one of the best BPAL blends I’ve ever smelled. I’d love to surround myself with it in all forms. If there were Pere Noël candles and soap and shower gel and atmo sprays and and and…I would buy them all.

Full Moon is Kumiho plus neroli. I’ve never met a BPAL tea blend I didn’t like, and Kumiho is one of my favorite blends for summer. The neroli in this is subtle and doesn’t turn sour. Neroli is one of those traditionally perfumey florals that I don’t usually seek out, but it’s wearable here. I still prefer Kumiho for a white tea and ginger blend, but I’ll keep my decant for when I want something a little different.

This was a frimp with my Lupercalia decants from meaganola. I have tried a few of the Ars Draconis blends over the years, but this is my first time trying Dragon’s Blood without any extras. Those blends have taught me that dragon’s blood tends to be strongly floral It can be overpowering, so I’m wary of it. This is much what I expected: very floral dragon’s blood resin, like old-fashioned soap. Like many of the above reviewers, I smell jasmine in this. And yes, it’s a very red scent.

From first sniff to drydown, this is pretty much cinnamon incense, grounded by amber. As I expected, the cinnamon causes slight irritation to my skin when first applied. That irritation quickly goes away, and I think that, as with other BPAL cinnamon blends, a few months of aging would eliminate it entirely. I can hardly pick out the star anise, which is a bit of a disappointment; I was hoping it would be more prominent. Maidens in Repose reminds me of Sin, though without the patchouli and not nearly as strong. It’s a snuggly skin scent that makes me think of incense-scented cookies.

I haven’t tried any of the Lab’s cucumber blends until now. This is simple, pretty, and just what the notes say: clean, refreshing cucumber and tea. The mint is not the bracing, tingly variety; I can’t feel it on my skin. Rendezvous at the Bath doesn’t morph, and it lasts fairly well for such a light scent: It was still just detectable at the end of the day. I love Embalming Fluid, Shanghai, and Kumiho for hot weather, and this will be a wonderful addition to that lineup.

In the imp: Fresh strawberries! Very definitely the fruit, not the candy. When strawberries are in season, I like to slice them and serve them with sugar and balsamic vinegar, and The Seesaw smells just like that. On my skin I continue to smell the strawberries. The patchouli comes forward to balance their sweetness. This is not a gritty patchouli, but it is earthy. Rum can be overwhelmingly sweet on me, but the rum here doesn’t overpower. It is sweet, but perhaps because it’s white rum, it hovers in the background. I can’t pick out the benzoin; I think it’s just grounding things. The Seesaw joins the ranks of what I think of as the patchouli-plus blends (Imp, Goblin, Sin.)

In the imp: Very distinctly incense and lemon peel. And then: Once I apply, this smells like walking into the corner grocery store in the neighborhood where I lived for some years. The lemon part of that makes sense, because of course they sold lemons, as well as lemon cleaning products. They definitely didn’t sell incense, though they did put sawdust on the floors in winter to absorb melted snow, and maybe the smell of sawdust, blended with whatever cleaning products they used, mimics the incense used here.

This was a frimp from the Lab. In the imp: Watery floral. Wet, and in the first few minutes on my skin, this is lily and nothing else. Very springlike and makes me think of Easter. As it dries down the lily subsides and another floral comes forward. I think it’s the moonflower, but I’m not familiar with the other floral notes listed, so I can’t be sure. It’s very slightly spicy. I was really hoping for the lemon or citrus that many reviewers mention, but there’s not a hint of it.

This blend is very well named. The various notes of sweet strawberry candy, creamy vanilla, fresh bracing lavender (this is an herbal lavender) and warm hay come forward, recede, and come forward again as if they’re engaged in the steps of a dance. In particular, the hay and the strawberry candyfloss make me think of summer, of being outside in a field with sunshine pouring down, of the cotton candy at a summer carnival. I can’t pick out the amber, or, surprisingly, the carnation, but I think the amber is what’s grounding the whole blend, and will probably become stronger with wear.

Delicate and pretty. I almost always love the Lab’s tea scents, and this is no exception. I would have sworn it was tea leaf and not tea blossom before I checked the notes. The bourbon vanilla is light and airy. The amber is creamy and the oak is indeed sweet, but grounds the blend. It’s also lighter than the oak in most other BPALs I’ve tried. The lotus does not turn to bubblegum, which was my main fear with this blend. Blossoming Vulva does smell more floral on my arms; the amber and vanilla are more dominant on the back of my hand. I think it will really shine in warm weather, when I’m not wrapped in multiple layers. I’m glad I went for a blind bottle.

I had to try a decant of this because I had to see what these disparate notes smelled like together. In the imp and wet on my skin, this is sweet, voluptuous milk chocolate, the same as in Bliss. The gunpowder is there underneath, though, gritty and dark and slightly chemical-smelling. There’s a brief stage when this is somehow tangy. I don’t know whether that’s the gunpowder asserting itself, or the myrrh. After that, the myrrh dominates for about an hour, tying the other two notes together. Then the chocolate, which had almost disappeared, starts to come forward again. I don’t think I’ll need a bottle, but this is an unusual and interesting scent.

This was a decant from meaganola, and the one I had to try first of all my decants. Sweet creamy vanilla, kept from being entirely foody by the sandalwood. It’s pretty much perfect. Like other reviewers, I thought the lotus might add a bubblegum note, but this is lotus root: it’s woodsy and not supersweet. I agree with everyone who said Volcano is the Stekkjarstaur of the Lupers. I will need a bottle.