outofrhyme

In the bottle: Roses? Really? This smells a lot like Hunger or Snake Oil. Wet: Major powdery amber. Now I smell a little bit of floral. Totally different on the skin than in the imp. Dry down: Warm powder amber. It clings close to the skin. Hint of spice, hint of rose, hint of sweetness. Final thoughts: Eh, it's fine. Given the limited throw, it's nothing special.

In the bottle: BPAL's strong foody notes - especially sugar/candy, though there's something else in there, like a cake smell but less sweet. Wet: Buttery sugar frosting, cake, vanilla, flour, and pastry. I'm surprised at how much I can pick out the flour. Dry down: A very mild cupcake scent. Really - I smell the cake and the buttery frosting. I get the cheese cake, too, but it's less noticeable. This isn't candy-sweet in the least. It's a doughy cakey sweetness, a baked sweetness, like sniffing a cool yellow cake (the cake part, not the frosting). The foody/sweetness is very controlled. Final thoughts: This one is impressive -- I understand why the lab resurrected it. Yummm. My favorite thing about this one is the balance between vanilla and sweetness. Most definitely a keeper.

In the bottle: Oh my yum. Musk, sandalwood, white tea... something vaguely akin to lotus, which I guess is the black locust flower... just a slight hint of ginger, something gummy... Definitely has an oriental vibe. Delicate and wispy. Wet: Hello, ginger. Not really strong, mind you, but enough to be more identifiable. Beautiful, slightly sweet, still very delicate. PLEASE don't morph bad on me. Dry down: Still drying, but also still doing fine. A gorgeous, creamy, light, delicate, slightly fruity, slightly spicy, slightly floral blend. Final thoughts: My first thought is that this exactly lived up to my expectations from the lab description, and I think I'm glad that I snagged a bottle.

CT4: DCXXXVI (636) So, I've taken a pretty long break from BPAL, and I probably should have tried reviewing something easier than a Chaos Theory scent for my comeback This is particularly rough because as far as I can tell, this bottle is comprised of notes I just don't wear, so I don't have a good idea of what's going on. In the bottle: Burnt plastic. Okay, that's really not fair. A more honest attempt... something really herbal (vetiver?), maybe some DBR or other resins. I think there's amber(?) and musk, and maybe a hint of cream. There's something in here that's really familiar, but I can't place it at all, and it's driving me nuts. Oil appears to be a light yellow, but with the dark bottle it's hard to tell (I'm basing this off using a white Qtip stick to apply). Wet: Herbs and more herbs. And yeah, I'm pretty sure there's some DBR. I don't smell the other notes anymore, but something is softening/sweetening the blend here -- maybe a floral, but it's light and I don't have a clue what it is. It's a warm scent with a bit of bitterness. This is not what I wear, and it's making me feel a little queasy Dry down: If I fan the scent towards my nose, rather than putting my nose against my skin, I get: resins with a touch of herbs and maybe fruit -- almost smells like bubble gum, though I really can't explain why -- and I still think there's a touch of cream or something a little bit sweet, but it doesn't smell like a floral now. This keeps getting sweeter and sweeter on me (BPAL blends usually do), and the fruity note reminds me a bit of the sugary plummy note in Baneberry or Frumious Bandersnatch. Final Thoughts: My original gut instinct was that this blend is utterly not for me. I hate it much less now, though. I'll think about it a little more, but I'll probably go for swaps.

In the bottle: Lilac, lemon, green tea, and some prominent notes that I can't identify - probably the wisteria or osmanthus. Wet: Lemon green tea and some florals, especially lilac. Dry down: Surprising amount of musk comes out on me. I think this is mostly musk and osmanthus. The lemon and green tea are still there faintly. A hint of cedar comes out as more time passes. Final thoughts: I'll give it another try, but I'm not sure about this one.

In the bottle: Orange for sure. Vaguely reminds me of Hunger. Wet: WHOA. Serious citrus and something dissonant. Wet stage doesn't work so well on me. Smells vaguely like Pez candy. Dry down: A lovely citrusy, gingery/spicy mix. I think there might be some mild florals in here? Final thoughts: I like this. My boy insists it smells like a urinal cake. Well, urinal cakes must smell very nice. (I assume he's associating the citrus with bathroom cleaning products, but I'm really not making that association, personally.) It has very little staying power on me, though - even when slathered on, it's barely detectable within a few hours.

In the bottle: Patchouli and woods jump out... and then some quiet foody notes, especially the brown sugar. Yum. Wet: Oh god. Yum. Yum. Yum. I don't want to take my nose off my wrist. Utterly delicious woods. This is woody to an extreme. Very dry - almost like sawdust, but not that dry. Maybe cedar, maybe sandalwood, maybe pine - the pine boards you would buy in a home improvement store, NOT living tree pine. There is no living tree in this at all. Sawdust. Still a hint of patchouli, but the food notes seem to have backed off somewhat. Dry down: The same sawdusty wood and patchouli, with faintest hint of the sweet foody notes and maybe the slightest waft of the apricot - barely there, or maybe I'm just imagining it. Final thoughts: This is really nice. I realize that "sawdust" might not *sound* nice, but, yum. It's very pretty with the patchouli. I only wish the foody notes came out just a little more. Perhaps with age? I wish I'd gotten a bottle instead of a half-imp

In the bottle: Intimidating! Juicy and scary. Wet: Less intimidating. Juicy/fruity with a hint of pepper/spice. Even the white tea is somehow juicy here. Dry down: This ended up being REALLY fruity. The pepper worked well with it. Final thoughts: Maybe I overapplied, but this was just a little much for me. I'll try it again in the future in smaller doses.

In the bottle: Greens, florals, some weird sharp acrid notes. Wet: GREEN PLANTS and something cool. Florals are also sorta there, I get the lilac especially. I seriously smell like the grass in a garden. Dry down: Still too green. With that slighly unpleasant acrid planty-ness. Hints of delightful notes, but they just won't come out. I mean, they creep out a little - sugar, rose, lilac - but not quite enough. Ends up very musky on me, for some reason. Final thoughts: Not for me There were a lot of promising notes in the bottle, but it just doesn't work with my chemistry. It would be gorgeous with the right chemistry. On me, it reminds me a lot of Crossroads... I bet this would work well for someone that also liked Crossroads.

In the bottle: Dark and delicious - definitely can smell the sharp pine twang, with berry, wood and... yes, tomato leaf, weirdly enough. Wet: I can tell right now that I'm going to want to put this on the boy and that he's going to resist Pine strikes me as being very masculine in certain scents, and this is no exception. Cedar with a pine twang, traces of other berry and green. This reminds me of a big black dog in a forest... but I couldn't tell you why... but I swear that it has nothing to do with the product description. I didn't even read the lit part until right now, after typing that it reminded me of a dog. Dry down: The pine seriously backed off - this is no longer masculine enough to make me nervous about wearing it myself. The cedar and berry is gorgeous, and it does invoke "Christmas-y." I actually think I like it better than any of my actual Christmas scents! Anyhow, berry and cedar definitely predominate, the pine is there residually, and the tomato leaf still lingers, dead on as tomato leaf but also incredibly subtle. Final thoughts: This is absolutely gorgeous. A scent like this reminds me of a cabin in the woods in winter. Well actually that image scares me, so how about, a winter resort A scent like this almost makes me regret moving somewhere without any snow, and reminds me that someday, I'm going to want to move back to a region with more seasons. Stunning as this is, it's definitely not an everyday scent for me at this time of year, but I will gladly hold onto the imp in anticipation of colder fall/winter days.

In the bottle: Confusing. Plums, berry, sweet decay. Wet: Still very confusing. Fruity, some opium smoke, some florals... still that sweet decay note. Dry down: The icky sweet decay note went away, thankfully! Fruity, floral, and a little diabolical. I'm surprised at how plummy/berry this is. The hazy smoke note is just barely there and the florals are very light. I can barely pick out the rose, lilac and gardenia, and would never guess them without looking at a note list. Final thoughts: A very dark, mature scent.

In the bottle: Freshly washed, super clean laundry. Wet: I think I like it a little bit better in the bottle, but I also think I may have overapplied. Still a very clean laundry scent. This is not just linen - it's got floral soaps in there, too, but it's not SOAPY. Hard to describe. Dry down: Still very clean. There's no other good way to describe this. It doesn't smell like soap, it smells like something soap should be scented with. Final thoughts: I have to admit that I was initially scared of this when I first smelled it in the bottle, but I'm studying tonight for exams tomorrow and somehow this is just the perfect refreshing blend. Clean and confident. I bet this would make a fantastic professional scent.

In the bottle: Exotic tea and spicy carnation. Wet: Utterly intoxicating. I can pick out the white tea, carnation and rose because I know it's there... but they blend together beautifully and I wouldn't have been able to separate them without the list. It's just one of those "good all over" scents, like Queen Mab. I can tell *right now* that this is gonna be a favorite - I just moved it to my "keep" box before it's even dried down. Dry down: Not quite as nice as wet, but I may have overapplied. Powdery, mildly exotic. Definitely zingy white tea, spicy carnation, and soft rose. Final thoughts: This is nice - different from what I was expecting, but I like it.

In the bottle: Sharp lilies... and grass? Wet: Still lilies and grass, maybe some chrysanthemum. Dry down: Sorta nice, sorta sharp. Gets better the longer it's on. I can pick out the lilies and the carnation for sure, and I think the other two as well. Powdery on me. Final thoughts: It's a nice, muted, grown-up floral on me, but probably not my favorite floral. Might be good for something professional, though.

In the bottle: I understand why people say "soapy" ... but it's not a soap soap. I can't explain it. Maybe it just smells clean? No, it's a little sudsy... it's just not SoftSoap or anything. Wet: Still has that vague soapyness, but again, NOT hand soap. It's nice. Perfume that smelled like hand soap would not be nice. I can't for the life of me say what's in it, though... maybe some kind of ozone? I think the soapyness might be aquatics of some kind, since it reminds me a little bit of a rain scent, only without the rain. Descriptive, I know Dry down: A little tamer, but much the same. Vague aquatics, incredibly fresh... but not in a "I'm walking in a garden, achoo!" way. A much subtler, cleaner freshness. Final thoughts: This strikes me as an incredibly well-crafted blend. I really like it... though it is not AT ALL what I was expecting from the description.