astarinel

On, it immediately reminds me of The Lights of Men's Lives, with that creamy beeswax. Here, though, it's even more vanillic, but I am definitely getting the spice-wood background. I personally tend to dislike spicy notes, and they can be a little dry or bitter on my skin, and they seem to be doing that a little bit more here than I would like. I'm interested by all the reviews that mention strong vanilla, because I don't really get that. The beeswax is definitely the strongest note, but the rest of them are all present, and this scent is ultimately much less sweet and creamy than I expected. As a result, it isn't a "me" type of scent, but I found it to be very balanced and very much like the note list. Low throw, moderate lasting power.

This is great. It smells like the combination of scents to me: the pink iced cake of Golletes topped with the sweet cherry/strawberry of Beaver Moon '07. It has a ton of throw and definitely reads strongly as foody, with even the fruit notes being the sticky candy versions of the fruit. Basically, if the name "very pink surprise cake" made you think you will like it... I think you will probably like it. The strawberry note actually reminds me a little of the strawberry note in Kitty (BPTP), which I don't think I've smelled elsewhere but really love. I also did not like Sprinklecake, even though I tend to love cake-based scents (like, a lot, and see "stash" in my sig if you don't believe me), but this one really works for me. It's only the similarity to those other scents (that I already have and love, and could layer, hmmmm) that's got me unsure if I want more of this one. If you missed those scents and have a pink-cake-shaped-hole in your perfume collection, this one is a good candidate.

I almost always dislike floral-primary blends, particularly white florals, but a lot of blends I love have florals as a component. However, I don't tend to like the most common notes, like rose, jasmine, or lily (which I almost unilaterally hate/find soapy/amp to all hells). My general taste skews towards lighter, sweeter scents. There are some floral notes that I love and actively seek out: orange blossom (Harlequin, Katharina) hyacinth (Ladon) magnolia (Josie, Hell's Belle) sweet pea (The King's Daughter, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale) violet (Faith, Le Serpent Qui Danse) peony (Miss Jenny, Dormouse) I only have one floral-primary blend that I love, and that's: Pepper - Wild English roses, French gardenia, vanilla, honey, golden ginger, blood orange, pine resin, pink pepper, crushed berries, tuberose, bergamot, and geranium. This should be a floral disaster, but I love it! The notes balance really well, and "wild English roses" are apparently nothing like regular roses to my nose. The only rose-rose scent I can wear is The Knave of Hearts, which is primarily pie (topped with rose petals).

Fizzy gin and apple pie. This definitely reminds me of other BPAL fizzy cocktail scents. Wet, I get the fruit scents mixing with the gin to give that fruity booze vibe, but as it starts to dry the fruits back up a bit and I get a little bit more of the metallic sharpness. This is a bright, fruity, odd sort of scent. I actually think I'm going to have to more fully skin test it, as the scent seemed to change as I wore it. Farther drydown has a bit of peachy-ness pop up again.

In the decant, the sandalwood/patchouli was more prominent, but as soon as I put it on the fruit really came to the fore. This is primarily about the blackcurrant, for me. I can smell the patchouli under it, and the peach comes out more as it dries. I definitely understand the comparisons to Imp, the peach + patchouli is definitely similar, but the bright tart blackcurrant makes it overall a pretty different scent in tone, to me. The tone reminds me a little more of Black Heart, I think. Ultimately, I wanted a bit more peach, but people who love fruit/patchouli scents will be happy with this one, I think.

Definitely jasmine whipped cream. Sweet, light jasmine. I find some BPAL jasmine notes overwhelming, but this one isn't quite so strong. I do wish for a little more peach blossom/vanilla orchid, because I wouldn't pick out either if I hadn't read the notes list, there's just a vague fruit/other floral hiding underneath the jasmine cream. If you read the notes list and thought it sounded appealing, you'll probably like this. This is one of the better "plays well with other notes" jasmines I've come across, and as it dries I start to actually get something peachy. Light, fluffy floral. I found the throw quite low, especially after the jasmine faded a bit.

YUZU right up front. I definitely agree it starts with a blast of herbal citrus, which is pretty bright and refreshing, and a little bit bitter. The citrus fades as it dries, as citrus tends to do. I don't think I like this as a perfume, but I really think I would like it as a soap or room spray smell. It's very clean and refreshing without being sharp or overwhelming. It definitely does not smell either red-spotted or purple to me, but that's okay.

Strong orange blossom at first. This is the same orange blossom note in Katharina and Harlequin, which is good because that's the orange blossom note I like. I'm sort of wondering where the rest of the scent is, because this isn't very brown or cuddly to me at all. It's all orange blossom all the time. Reading other reviews, I'm wondering if there were mixing issues or batch variations here. I'm definitely not smelling anything woody or vanillic, even as it dries. I was really hoping for the warm fuzzy tonka and sandalwood to come out, and I think they'd mix well with this orange blossom... they just aren't there.

Kind of... odd. Woody, spiced tea with citrus squeezed into it. This smells like the kind of tea I'd rather not drink, actually. I see people are mentioning licorice, and I sort of get that, but it's not quite descriptive of how it smells to me. It's like a dry, anise-ish spice. It doesn't really remind me of cardamom, even though I know that's the listed note. The citrus is pretty light, and more of a bitter, herbal sort of citrus.

Strong on the tobacco leaf and myrrh while wet. This is definitely "perfumey," but relatively light. I get a little bit of citrus underneath the tobacco, but the vanilla is nowhere to be seen. As it dries I get a little more vanilla, but it retains that perfumey sharpness that I don't like. Neither tobacco nor myrrh has a great record of playing nice on my skin, so I'm not altogether surprised, but "blackened vanilla" sounded so exciting!

Definitely a "does what it says on the tin" sort of scent, which is fortunately what I was hoping for! It goes on with a blast of coconut and lime while wet, but the lime fades as citrus tends to do, leaving me with a vanilla coconut cookie scent. As noted, this does skew pretty sweet and foody, which I prefer so I'm not disappointed. The only thing keeping me from wanting more of this is how terribly quickly the lime fades. The coconut cookie scent is nice, but I really wanted to keep that fresh lovely lime around. There are hints of the citrus, when I sniff close, so maybe it'll fare better if I slather more in a full wear rather than just a skin test. I'm keeping the decant I have, and we'll see how it ends up with wear.

Some note in here does not like my skin chemistry, I think. I get the nice, lovely fruity peach with carnation spices, topped with something awful and soapy. I guess it might be the bourbon geranium, because it's not a note I'm terribly familiar with, and the others are generally fine as far as I'm aware. I get a little bit of a green edge, which is probably the raspberry leaf, and not much patchouli at all. As it dries the soapy aspect turns into something closer to baby powder. I really wish I knew specifically what went so terribly wrong in this scent so that I could avoid it forever, because the majority of the note list sounded so promising!

I rather like this one after it dries, but that's not enough for me to be really interested in acquiring more than the partial decant I have of this one. The cedar is very sharp when it's wet, and it starts off woody and unpleasant enough for me to regret putting it on, then suddenly as it dries and I get this bright lime with fresh sweetness. The woods settle into being background base notes with the lime and honey most prominently on top. After further drydown, the lime fades out as citrus notes tend to do, and I'm left with sort of a sweet-smoky lingering scent. The middle stage is my favorite part, but the first couple minutes are not so nice, and I don't love the long drydown either. This was, however, my favorite of the Pretty Deadly scents that I tried, and all of them seemed to be rather complex but none really came together for either my skin or nose chemistry.

I find this very perfumey, and not entirely in a good way. Normally my skin loves both white musk and vanillas, but I think the florals here make it go kind of sharp on my skin. I do get a tiny bit of almond, but it's more like the almond blossom from the Yule of that name, sort of floral almond. Maybe it's just my skin chemistry with the musk for this, but I find this one sharp, floral, and perfumey when I was expecting something more creamy and round.

This was my favorite of the OLLA scents that I tried, which I didn't expect from the note list! I find it hard to pick out individual notes in this one, other than the prominent white musk. It's a little sweet and fruity, reminding me of something like champagne grape. I found it sort of perfumey-incensey, but in a good way that made it feel kind of wearable. As it dries, it fades mostly to sweet white musk with a wisp of resin/incense.

I agree with this being sort of a yellow apple scent. It's not quite the tart green apple of SGA, or the soft red apple of Poisoned Apple. I think it reminds me a little of apple note the Golden Apple of the Sun. Apple blossom is one of my favorite florals, and it's behind the apple here. I generally perceive it as a light, airy apple, so this smells like soft yellow apple flesh + airy apple blossoms + a touch of wood. It absolutely reminds me of The Hesperides, but with a different apple note. It's definitely fairly sweet, but I love sweet scents, so it works for me. I'm not sure I'll upgrade to a bottle, but I'll see if I get through this imp.

Dorian is my favorite GC, so it's no surprise this was a winner for me. To me this is moderately-aged Dorian. I still have the dregs of my original bottle, which I bought in '07, and Dorian definitely gets stronger on the vanilla/musk aspect as it gets older. I find fresh Dorian is heavier on the lavender/tea, and the notes sort of switch as it ages, and the HG has tea/lavender/vanilla/musk all pretty balanced. The "fougere" note has always read as a light lavender-type scent to me, FWIW. I like Dorian in all its evolutions, but this is very nice and obviously wears well with the perfume, but I wear a lot of vanilla-based scents and it pairs quite well with most of them! I have long, straight hair that is extremely thick and can go a bit oily, so I tend to do three light sprays, one on the underside, one on the ends, and a light one on the crown for shine. This works for me and leaves a ton of scent, but it might be a bit much for anyone who doesn't have the sheer quantity of hair that I do.

The comparisons to Sticky Bat are on point, to me. This is like Sticky Bat + Honey, with the lemon drifting a little more herbal than the candy lemon in Sticky Bat. It reminds me a little of those honey + lemon cough drops, but not in a bad way. Since I already own a bottle of Sticky Bat, I don't think I'd seek out more of this. The lemon aspect of this scent was definitely a surprise to me, since I tested my decant before reading these reviews.

Blerg. Oh man, I don't know what I was expecting, but this is not it. Strong lavender and a white floral that I'm betting is the cotton blossom. It's sharp verging on unpleasant to my nose, but I am not the biggest fan of lavender and was hoping it wasn't overly prominent in this scent, so of course it is. I use TKO as a sleep blend, and the sweetness of that one makes it one of the few lavender scents I can tolerate. This is very strongly lavender + white floral in an almost soapy way that reminds me of clean laundry.

I actually don't find this as foody as I expected to! I think the sandalwood and spice keeps the cherry/vanilla combo from going too sweet. It's nice, I think my major complaint is that it has very little throw on me. I have to sniff my skin pretty directly to smell it at all. I agree with the comparisons to Eat Me, but it lacks the cake note that absolutely ruined Eat Me on my skin, so that's a good thing for me. The currant is a much stronger note than I expected it to be, and I think ultimately that I prefer either Beaver Moon '07 or Gothabilly for similar scents in this genre, especially given how light a scent it is on me.

I like Blood Kiss, but this just doesn't really do it for me. In general, however, I don't really like chocolate scents, and I feel like here it throws the balance of notes in the original scent a bit out of whack on my skin. The chocolate is definitely the strongest note here, and it goes on straight chocolate-cherry, with an undercurrent of dark musky spice. The chocolate note itself is nice, a dark dry semisweet chocolate, and it fades as it dries leaving a spicy musky cherry that reminds me of the original Blood Kiss. I don't dislike this scent, but I don't really like it either. I am craving chocolate covered cherries now, though.

Sugar sugar cream floral. I somehow expected it to be more delicate, but this is a pretty strong, sweet scent. Cream can sometimes go off on my skin, but it doesn't seem to be doing so here. While wet, the sugared florals almost become fruity. This borders on candy-scent territory for me, which isn't a bad thing. As it dries, the sweet florals fade a bit into a slightly powdery creamy-musky-vanillic base.

I like this better than I expected to! It is definitely a perfumey scent to me, however. Tobacco scents sometimes go off on me, but I guess the blonde tobacco is okay, so yay! This is soft and sweet and it's hard to pick out any of the specific notes. Warm golden perfumed skin scent is what I get from it, mostly. It's very pretty, sexy and feminine without being either girly or overwhelming, but I'm not sure it's a me scent. I'll definitely give it a few more wears though, and see if it grows on me.

Dry woody anise tea. I also get anise even though it's not a note, but there's definitely some way the bergamot and woods combine or something that is reminiscent of anise at first sniff. This is not at all a sweet scent, and I was hoping for a background of vanilla but I'm just not getting any. I don't dislike it, it's just a completely different scent than I was expecting, and it's significantly more unisex/masculine leaning than I was hoping for. I'm going to pass it along to the boyfriend and see how he likes it, however.

I looooove this. It reminds me of the frosting to one of my favorite cupcakes, a vanilla mint buttercream. I find the Snowblind perfume perpetually disappointing because the vanilla goes off on my skin, so this atmo is perfect. I find it has impressive lasting power and I can still sniff it on my sheets days later. One of my new favorite Post atmos, and different from the ones I already have.