astarinel

Toasted coconut buttered popcorn? Ha, reading back through this topic, I am apparently not the only one who got that impression! I definitely am amping the salty/buttery aspect of this one, unfortunately, and I think that's giving the buttered-popcorn impression. The buttery-ness calms down a little as it dries, but this is very much about the toasted coconut for me and I was hoping for a better overall balance to the notes. I love love marshmallow scents, but cream can go a little weird on my skin and it seems to be doing that here, but it's hard to tell the way that coconut is stomping all over the other notes yelling LOOK AT ME I AM COCONUT. In sum, I guess, if you like coconut and creamy scents this should be a winner for you, but it isn't one for me.

This starts off a lovely, creamy floral marzipan which I really enjoy. Unfortunately, as some others have noted, this is a cherry-skewing almond note on my skin. I generally don't have problems with almond, but as this one dries it becomes more cherry-syrup and just doesn't do it for me. The scent in the decant is lovely, but it just really doesn't work with my chemistry at all.

Sweet apricot is definitely the primary note here, backed up by a lovely creamy vanilla. This smells like a nice dessert, and I don't get very much cardamom, which is probably good because that isn't a note I love, just a faint spiced feel in the background. As a couple others have mentioned, I find this VERY LIGHT with extremely low throw. I was actually hoping for a stronger resemblance to March Hare, which I stupidly didn't pick up before it was DCed, but it's more like Katharina to my nose. This is pretty, but the lightness of the scent coupled with its prominent note being apricot (and I've already got Katharina, Thaleia, etc. for apricot-heavy scents) means I won't be looking for more of this.

I can't wear Snow White, either, but I also couldn't wear A Lady Tall and White for other reasons -- it has the ozone note that does dryer sheets on me. However, I do want to recommend another current BPTP: Neither Peace Nor Rest, which is the same kind of cold as Cloister Graveyard, to me, a crisp, clean snow note with touches of mint and evergreen. This one is my perfect pure snow note, as someone who can't generally wear the sweet snow type blends or the ozone-y snow blends. My personal favorite "snow" blends are probably somewhat difficult to get: Snow Moon '05 and L'Inverno. I don't know what "snow" is in either of those, but they aren't quite like anything else. My boyfriend's personal favorites are Nuclear Winter and Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills. BPAL has done a lot of lovely winter blends!

In the decant and wet it is very strongly white tea. Clean, fresh, a little tannic. As it dries, the lilac comes out, and I think the combination of the lilacs and tea together make it smell fairly green, like bushes and flowers. I was hoping for a little more beeswax, and it does get a bit creamier as it dries, but it is definitely a tea + floral scent. A little too fresh and floral for my taste, I was hoping the beeswax would sweeten it up some (as I love sweeter and sugared florals, and I don't have any lilac-prominent scents) but that never really happened. Pretty, light, and inoffensive.

Clean, fresh ozone over something a bit green, bitter, and herbal. This definitely leans unisex/masculine to my nose, but something in it reminds me a little bit of 51 -- maybe that same airy note with greenness. The bitter greenness reminds me a little bit of the lab's leaf note. Normally I can't really handle ozone notes, but this one doesn't go too dryer sheet on me. I think the herbal leaf scent and the bit of aquatic balances it out. This would be a good one for people who want to smell clean but not really perfume-y.

In the decant, I get some lovely sandalwood, but when I put it on, it goes primarily to ozone-y frost. I like cold notes, but when they're too airy, they go weird and dryer sheet on my skin. This one is definitely doing that, and I get very little vanilla or sandalwood at all, just frost and ozone and pine. I wonder if there's some batch differences in here, because if I smelled this, I wouldn't come up with any of the notes in the description other than frost. When I smell it in the decant, I get some of that sandalwood which I generally like, but it seems to disappear on my skin. This is not the snow/cold note that I tend to like, which is also in Neither Peace Nor Rest, but a more ozone-y/pine-y varietal that I don't. I had sort of high hopes for this, but I did just get Some Strangeness in the Proportion to satisfy my vanilla sandalwood needs, so I will be able to deal with the disappointment.

Yes. This is definitely that BPAL cold note, and Cloister Graveyard was definitely the first scent that popped to mind when I sniffed it. This is a very winter scent, cold and crisp and icy, with touches of mint and ozone. It's a little sweeter than some of the snow blends, and the mint never takes over (as it does for me with Nuclear Winter). I find some of the snow scents less wearable than others, especially if they have a heavy ozone component (which always says 'dryer sheets' on my skin), but I find this one fairly "clean." The white musk underneath the scent grounds it and rounds it out a bit on my skin, but I do tend to like white musk blends which is why I tested this one in the first place. I actually quite like this, but I don't think I need a full bottle. But for anyone who ever wanted Single Note: Snow, this is basically it.

I've tried Snow White before, the 2007 version, and at the time it smelled like burning and scotch tape. This year I decided to try it again (2014 version) to see if my skin chemistry, the blend, or my nose had changed, because it's so beloved I want to at least LIKE it. On and wet, I definitely don't hate it immediately as I did previously. It smells a little... odd, I guess, but not unpleasant. It's very soft, and I don't get much throw from it. It's also hard to describe, and I don't precisely know what I'm smelling. I don't perceive it as coconut or anything fruity, more like a pale creamy vanillic musk with some chilly florals and a little ozone. That description makes me feel like I should like it... but I just don't really. I don't strongly dislike it as I used to, which may be skin chemistry or batch variation, but it's just too pale and nondescript to me.

2014 version. I've never tried any of the others. In the decant and wet, it's very red, juicy, and tart. There's something in the lab's pom note that strikes me as a little powdery-floral, and that's present here as well. It is definitely a bittersweet scent, as the description says, and it's very simple: strong pomegranate with something else I can't quite put my finger on, maybe something incense. I don't find this one changing much as it dries, it stays dark, sweet and sour pomegranate. Average throw and lasting power.

The strawberry in this is amazing, it's like thick strawberry syrup. I am super pleased because I had been kind of wishing that I had picked up a backup of Golletes (one of my favorite baked-good scents, period), and this is definitely reminiscent of the same doughnut, but topped with this thick, rich strawberry syrup. I grabbed a blind bottle of this when I picked up one of the Ligeias (thinking they would go down before I got my decants to test) and I am so glad I did because if I hadn't I would have to make a separate lab order. This is the first foody scent that's grabbed me this strongly in years and it's spot on to the description.

Soft, powdery chocolate with a little bit of a beery/yeasty undertone. Very dry and bittersweet, not a moist cake scent here. This reminds me a little of Centzon Totochtin, in that it's a dark, relatively unfoody chocolate scent with some complexity to it. I find chocolate scents very hard to wear, but this one is fairly interesting.

In the decant and immediately wet, it's fairly strongly apple backed with cake and buttercream. However, on, the apple really fades a bit and the prominent note becomes that white cake note. It's definitely white sponge cake, not that distinctive yellow cake. I don't find the apple cider aspect particularly strong or spiced, it's definitely more like a dry, classic type of hard cider. This is fairly foody and sweet, it definitely smells like cupcakes. As it dries, though, the apple note fades more on my skin leaving mostly a cake-y scent. This reminds me a bit of Beaver Moon 2012, except that was apple + cheesecake instead of apple + cake. It's nice, but I wish the apple hung around more strongly.

Maybe Harlequin? Notes: pink grapefruit, white honey, orange blossom, saffron, champagne grape, elemi, guaiac, blonde tobacco, and olibanum. The honey makes this a fairly sweet grapefruit, but this has a lot of orange blossom, too. I also agree with Hungry Ghost Moon '06, and definitely not the other iterations of that scent. I love HGM '06 (and it's one of the few scents I have a backup bottle of, since it's a pretty unique scent), but it might be hard to find.

Sweet spicy vanilla sandalwood. This goes on a little strongly spiced sandalwood for me, but as it dries the vanilla comes out more and the spice eases up a bit. I actually think I like this scent more the more it dries, and I actually like it quite a lot wet. It's dark and resiny underneath the sweet spices. I don't find this overly sweet, but I tend to wear a lot of sweet scents. This actually skews a bit darker and woodier than my usual scent-wardrobe, but the vanilla and spices keep it lighter and more wearable for me. I also agree with everyone who's mentioned that this is going to age amazingly. I'm very tempted to get a bottle before these come down.

Honeyed fruit. Apricots maybe? It reminds me a little bit of Thaleia, the old DCed muse scent. This is really pretty, sweet honey and fruit. The fruit is a little tart, making me think of something like barely-ripe apricots or lychee, juicy but also a bit citrussy. I get a little amber and myrrh in the drydown, something golden and resinous. Very well-blended, I don't really get any note super-distinctly, and very fitting for the name. It definitely smells like something that would be delicious to drink, sweet and light and golden.

Creamy buttery sugar. It smells like candy corn tastes, with almost a waxy texture. Despite how this review sounds, I actually kind of like it. But then, I like candy corn. As it dries the creamy aspect fades a little and it becomes more of a buttery brown sugar scent. A fairly simple, straightforward candy sugar scent.

Cherry, for sure. More of the candy cherry than the fruit cherry, but dry, like cherry pixie stix instead of cherry cordial. I also agree with dragon's blood, although I get something vaguely spicy alongside it. I wanted to say "anise" when it was wet, but now that it's drying I'm not entirely positive. I actually kind of like this, but I'm generally a fan of candy scents and I love dragon's blood. It's not what I expected, but it's very interesting.

Yeah, I don't know. It goes on a little sweet and fruity, although I can't really identify the fruit. As it dries, though, the sweetness fades and it turns into more of a hazy aquatic + white florals. A little musky, a little ozoney. Kind of odd and difficult to pin down. Despite the review, I don't dislike it per se... I just kind of have no idea what I'm smelling.

Yup, patchouli + honey. It doesn't remind me very much of BB, however. I actually rather liked that scent even though I tend to dislike most patchouli-heavy blends, but this one has the same sort of patchouli note I'm generally not a fan of. I get very little vanilla, and something at the honey-patchouli intersection makes the throw of this a touch metallic to my nose. The cinnamon never shows up anywhere as far as I can tell, and I'm pretty sensitive to cinnamon generally.

The bitter leaf note is definitely strongest both in the imp and wet on my skin. There is something a little musky and fuzzy behind it. I don't get anything sweet or currant-y at all with this one. The leaf note fades a bit as it dries, but remains present as the fuzzy amber/whatever gets a little stronger. I generally dislike leaf notes, so I may be more sensitive to it than others would be. I find the throw very low, and this to be very much a skin-hugging scent.

Definitely soft lavender is the most prominent note. I am generally not a huge lavender fan, although I like TKO as a sleep blend. Back behind the lavender is a little bit of sandalwood and vanilla. I definitely agree with the reviews that call this a gentle, soft, soothing sort of scent. I don't really like it as a perfume, but I would definitely use this as a room spray. Low throw, moderate lasting power.

This was very heavy boozy cake + vanilla frosting wet. As it dried, I started getting a toasted coconut sort of scent, and the frosting faded a bit and the cake became a little... buttery. I really like foody and cake scents generally, but this one is a little heavy and buttery for me. I like it best wet, when it has that creamy frosting aspect to it, but the drydown almost gets doughy and butterscotchy, and a bit too thick for my taste.

Lemon verbena is definitely the strongest note for me. I do amp this one, but in the imp and when I put it on I get a bit of a blueberry-lemonade blend that is immediately engulfed in a tide of lemon verbena. Very citrussy and bright, a little sharp and green. When I sniff it I back up a little because it definitely smells grassy, and I am definitely allergic to grass. This is a very outdoorsy scent, very fresh and clean. I wish I got more blueberry (but the only scent I've ever gotten lots of blueberry was the Blue Phoenix prototype, so it may just be a note that doesn't work well for me), but I knew going in that lemon verbena could be a problem since it hardly ever plays nice with other notes for me.

Orange blossom is definitely the strongest note both in the imp and wet, but it backs off somewhat as it dries. I don't really smell much coconut except for a vague feeling of "suntan oil" in the background of the scent. I love pear (favorite pear: The Perilous Parlor), but I get very little here, just a bit of sweet fruity standing behind the orange blossom honey. I don't find it overwhelmingly sweet (but I have a definite sweet tooth when it comes to scents and tend to prefer things at the cake end of the not-cake to cake spectrum), but I do find it a bit light and the notes unfortunately aren't in the balance I was looking for. I like orange blossom, but it is definitely a loud note to me, and it stays in the forefront of this scent. I also wish I could smell more PEAR, but I don't disagree with the people who said melon -- it ends up being sort of a nondescript wet juicy fruity smell.