surlygurl

This blend starts out with dark purple fruit with spices highlighted by cherry red dragon's blood. I can see it being a sultry dark vampire scent. If there are berries, they run & hide from my skin chemistry. As the scent dries, everything melds together and becomes a bit.... sour. Interesting, but not my style.

Wow, really? Brimstone, aftershave & cat? What are all these people smelling? Not *my* Hellboy! On me, this is Old Spice, but a slightly less rugged version. Maybe the candy wrappers give it a hint of sweet on the drydown. Whatever the cause, I love it.

This is lotus? This is nothing like the bubblegum sweetness that lotus usually turns into on me. I have no idea what it was like when fresh from the lab, but I do like the way it is now. This is a soft, understated scent that's only slightly sweet. Not foody, not floral, not spicy. Just pretty. This is mainly a skin scent for me; there's a tiny bit of throw, but it's a whisper more than anything. It's a scent for when I want to smell pretty without wearing perfume. I won't go searching, but if a bottle happened to fall in my lap I'd give it a loving home

Can I just say how awesome this blend is? Right away on my skin it's walnut & amber, and it's surprisingly subtle. (Does the lab have any other scents with walnut? I don't think so.) If it were just these 2 notes it would be a warm earthy scent, but the frankincense, saffron & chamomile add a bright, youthful feel. This scent without the walnut would be pretty & fun, but the walnut adds a certain...... more than grounding. A solemnity, maybe. The scent is warm & pretty and rather shy - I get occasional wafts of it hours after it "disappeared". Did I mention it's awesomeness?

Fresh on, this is the scent of cherry cordial. Ooh! There's a touch of licorice in the background that is quickly moving into front. On its tail is something herbal and dark, dark green. The cherry cordial fades into just a memory. There's a slight sharpness from the herby parts that lasts for a bit before melding with the licorice/cherry. (Ya know, I just bought an Anise Hyssop plant; it's also known as Licorice Mint. I can see that as a note in this). Someone above mentioned bay rum with lime, and there it is! And, yes, it does dry to a masculine O and/or Voodoo. It's nice but not great. It needs a few more tests before the final determination. If the scent had a color it would be equal parts red & greenish black .

This bottle has been sitting in my swap box since I first purchased it during the Lunacy. When it was fresh it was cheap orange spice candle. Disappointed, I put in in the swap box, but knew it would only be swapped for something *really special* because of all the glowing reviews. The other night I retested it, and up close it was cheap spice candle. Then, as I fanned my wrists with a BPAL postcard, the most amazing gentle spice / black tea combination wafted up to me. Niiicce...... Today I tried again. Same lovely clean tea/spice. As it dried it became almost creamy (from the musk, perhaps). Dry, it's mostly amber musk with some spice warmth. Very pretty. The bottle no longer lives in my swap box

It's amazing how blends age. When the decant was fresh, I could smell everything as the scent morphed through its various stages. Now that the decant has aged - what, a year? - its lost that clarity and turned into LOTS & LOTS of chocolate with a shot of grenadine. Unfortunately for me, chocolate and I aren't friends; I was hoping for heavy grenadine. The grenadine does come out at the end, but by then the scent is so faint I have to hold my wrist to my nose to smell anything. If the lab could make something similar without the chocolate, I'd be all over it.

When this first arrived, it smelled on me like sour milk followed by fake fruit scented plastic. So I set it aside, pouting all the while. This morning I tried it again. The sour milk has *mostly* unsoured and become a Nonae Caprotina type milk. Plastic berries have become.... not fresh, but no longer offensive. A strange grounding note - the candle wax? - makes it a winter scent for me. If it included a shot of sugar it would be perfect, but it's pretty nice as it is. Hopefully the sour note will age out of this and it'll keep getting better.

Hmmm. In the bottle, this is Big Vetiver, but sweetened slightly. On my skin it's The Vetiver Coconut Show. The 2 notes eventually harmonize, then something darkens it a bit. Oude maybe? The 'dark element' gets swallowed up & incorporated and it lightens up again. This stage reminds me of aged Death Adder minus the Snake Oil. As it dries, a fruityness comes out (currant?) followed closely by what *must* be red sandalwood - there's an sweet incense vibe to this. In the late drydown stage, this becomes a beautiful complex blend. I really like this. I need to wear this on one arm & Death Adder on the other for comparison, but I think this is prettier eta: Now that it has aged a bit, the Death Adder stage is waaaay shorter and the red fruit is stronger. It's still a beautiful complex blend - just a little sweeter & fruitier than when fresh. Who knows how this one will age......

On me, this is very much cedar. Saffron gives it a savory foodie bent, but it's still mostly cedar. Powerful throw. There's a bit of craft-store-candle vibe to it, either under the cedar or it is the cedar (potpourri, anyone?). Once it's dry, the currant joins in. Meh. The only thing keeping this from craft store candles is the addition of saffron. Silly skin chemistry.

This is a strange one. It starts out Black Jellybeans with an interweaving of something masculine & burnt green-brown smelling (cumin?). Strong at first, the cumin fades some & there's a good stretch of pure black jellybean . The cumin returns & they both fade somewhat. There's no sweetness to this scent at all. It's bitter & musty. Thank goodness I only have a decant.

With all the positive reviews of this, I couldn't wait to try it. On my skin, it's extreme perfume, very floral. Something's odd, and I don't know what it is. Perhaps the tea. There are no individual notes, just a LOUD floral mishmash. Someone upthread mentioned Avon perfume, and it does smell like a department store perfume. Sadly, this is not for me.

Damn it! They've done it again! Just when I think I've found (& stocked up on) the Ultimate BPAL Champaca scent, they come out with something even better. Fresh on, the champaca sings. (It always does). But unlike my other *ultimate champaca scents*, this has no smokey darkening parts. Exactly the opposite - it's champaca with Natural Sweeteners. I know it's pear, you know it's pear, but my skin just says "naturally sweet". It lifts up the champaca, making it brighter. I know there are other notes in here, but they don't stand out. Jasmine? Nope (thank goodness!). Cedar? Would've been interesting. Pepper? Maybe. Maybe the pepper & cedar are what's keeping the florals from being tooth-achingly sweet. The only question now is: how many bottles do I want? And is something *even better* just around the bend?

Wow. I wish I got what other people are smelling. I love chestnut scents & rice powder. On my skin, this is all Super Rose Geranium!!! from start to finish. Sure, there's chestnut in the background, maybe some clean fresh ground rice powder. When it dries down, the rose geranium goes away and takes everything else with it. I was so hoping to love this!

When I first tried this on (along with a bunch of other scents) I thought "Hey! I really like this!" and thoufght about getting a bottle. Today I tried it on its own and the verdict was different. Fresh on, I get fruits & the pine resin. It's the only time I smell the pine resin. All the fruits come out to play at once - a veritable fruit riot. But it's different from the other Chinese New Year scents in that it's a bit heavier. The dragon's blood - which translates into florals here - bolsters the fruit, and the bit of pine resin provides a heaviness. This is a pretty good take on Metal Tiger. Unfortunately, it goes soapy on me. I was hoping this would be my summer fruit blend, but I don't think it will be.

Like others have said, this starts off as lilac single note. It's a clean clear lilac, very suitable for springtime. As it dries, some other florals come out and the "color" of the scent changes to light blue & lavender. I get no tea, but I'll assume that the tea is what makes it fresh & clean feeling. A tiny bit of ginger tries to peek through the florals but doesn't quite make it. Dry, this goes a bit soapy. I blame wisteria - Aquarius has wisteria and it goes to scented drier sheets. This isn't drier sheets, but it would be lovely mixed with unscented liquid body wash. I was so hoping to love this, but it was not to be.

this scent has 2 big Notes O' Doom - oakmoss and honey. Luckily, this is a magical scent that can do no wrong on my skin. Fresh on this is Spicy. Spicy...honey? Like if you were to grind some peppercorns with a mortar & pestle then add a couple spoonfuls of local honey. The throw is great! As it dries, the oakmoss begins to show itself. Luckily, the extreme murkiness of the oakmoss gets smothered by the honey, while the "sex funk" of the labs honey disappears into the grounded oakmoss. It's a brilliant combination. The pepper backs off a wee bit as it dries & something soft - rice flower? - steps in. Sandalwood hides in this scent, centering the whole thing. This is another beautiful blend from the lab.

When I first put this on, it was all black licorice & vanilla LIKE WHOAH. Licorice is a fave of mine, so it was enjoyable. But soon after it developed in an unexpected way - the violet came forward. Oh my..... this is really pretty. I get no cherry blossom and am not sure what peony smells like. I do like this; it's not in-you-face licorice like I'd imagined. It's not something I'd wear too often so no bottle is needed, but the decant will definitely stay.

This is one of those "gee, I'm glad I got a decant of this" blends. Not one I'd usually go for, I decided to get a decant. Fresh on: Ooooh! Pretty (Really. That's what my testing notes say. And that's it.) This is a masterful blend - I get no apples, no champaca, no pine. Just a blend of soft pinkish floral perfume. Then comes this strange musty note, but that's just a "bridge" from the florals to the woods. The must goes away & sandalwood - really really good sandalwood - comes out & joins the pretty pinks. I love this. This is the oddest scent. When sniffing close up, I get nothing. "Damn! This fades fast!" But from time to time I get soft wisps of prettyness floating around me. Yeah. Bottle. eta: Short version: Korean incense with a bit of watermelon floating through it when wet.

Milk chocolate, coconut, cardamom, rum, and ginger truffle. This is the only chocolate blend I tried because chocolate & I are not friends. But with cardamom, rum & ginger? Ok, I'll try it. Fresh on my skin it's all light chocolate & some cardamom. My little note pad reads "would be excellent without the chocolate!". I continued to test other scents on various body parts, but I couldn't put anything near where I put this because it was so strong HI!! I'm Chocolate Spice!! A bit later I could smell something smokey and I finally tracked it down to this scent. No more chocolate. Just spices & something smokey. I really like this. I may update this after testing *just this* and not everything at once

My first thought was Lune Noire because of the colors, but the style of the dress is daytime while Lune Noire screams "night".The purpley-pinks in the dress make me want to recommend something light with lilac or lavender. Needlework - clean lilac & black tea? Anything clear with berries? Or cherry blossoms? I'd have to go through my imps/decants and really think about it....

Inez is a gently spicy vanilla amber. It gets compared to Morocco all the time - it has the same feel, but is deeper & smoother. Habu is Asian woods & some fruit. It can be kinda sharp at first, but it settles down eventually. I don't really think of it as a "wood" scent. Saw Scaled Viper is cinnamon with *maybe* other sweeter spices. It sweetens as it ages. They all age beautifully.

I've heard it said that Habu dries down to almost 100% snake oil, but to me it's slightly fruity/woody. My favorite snake - after getting decants of everything when they first came out - is Death Adder. The *OMG Vertiver!!* dies back once it's aged & just gives the oil a bite. Black Vanilla is so good in this. I really like Temple Viper (I champaca) and Asp Viper (from sickly almond to glowing bronze warmth). Habu was wonderful fresh, but aged it sort of... is sharp & headache inducing if I'm not in the mood.

Oh wow Oh wow oh wow..... this is good. I tried this at a meet 'n' sniff yesterday and it was yummy on me (and icky on the person who purchased it, so I swapped for it ) . Hoping I did the right thing, I slathered some on today and *OMG yes* it was the right decision! Creamy vanilla & lilac all the way. There's a touch of smoke somewhere in there but it shows up only briefly. No strange disconnected anything, just pure loveliness. The throw, on me, is moderate. Not sure how long it lasts. But It.Is.Good.

This is one of those oils where I bought a decant, liked it, bought a bottle, and realized that it was way too strong on me. I thought of swapping it away, but figured "hey, I liked it enough to buy a bottle. Just be patient". So today I put a dab on my wrists before working out, and it's almost a different scent. The super strong spiced rum has mellowed considerably, and the vanilla is a major player. Coconut is only there to give added dimension to the vanilla. (Fresh, it was all coconut & spiced rum on me). This is going to be my go-to tropical scent this summer. Good thing I'm patient!