dronzeka

Despite being allergic to just about everything that grows outside and all animals (including cockroaches!), so far I haven't had any problems with BPAL. (That's not saying much, I haven't been using this stuff very long.) Then again, I didn't usually have any reactions to commercial (i.e. with alcohol) perfumes either - the only thing I've had skin reactions to is lotion of various kinds, and I've pretty much figured out/decided that it's lanolin, so that's easy enough to avoid. But the sad news is that last night I was trying out some new scents and my husband ended up developing a KILLER, nasty headache. As in, he had to go lie down and try to go to sleep so as not to throw up, headache. (At the time he was like, "You have to put ALL THOSE THINGS [my imps] away and never take them out around me!!" but this morning he rescinded such drastic measures!) The scent I made him try (that is, stuck my wrist under his nose) was Black Rose, and I'm bummed, because it was GORGEOUS and I loved it. (That deep BPAL rose! amber! what's not to like?) But I'm really hoping it was that one because although I will sob to have to put away my BPAL roses, there are other things I like better and I want to be able to wear them still! (I guess here's the one upside to a long-distance relationship - b/c the husband is about to start a job many miles away: when he's gone I can wear whatever I like! )

Okay, so I know it's a voodoo blend, and so it has a purpose just beyond smelling pretty, and to be completely honest, I bought this kind of hoping that it would accomplish what it's intended to accomplish... but I don't think I'm going to be able to give it enough time to find out. In the vial, I actually thought that it smelled a lot better than I had suspected, given people's reviews - warm, spicy, intriguing. When I put it on, I get a kind of cinnamon-clove-ness. BUT - then comes what must be the civet that others have mentioned. And you know, it's really kind of an interesting scent - it sort of moves back and forth between one thing and another. And the one thing is a kind of sharp, deep, black note that's really striking. But the other thing is cat pee. I haven't had it on *that* long, so I suppose it might improve. But even so, given that I'm a citrus/floral/amber kind of girl, I don't think this is ever going to be something I want to smell like. (and the husband didn't like it either, which doesn't bode well for its voodoo purpose! Although I kind of influenced him by sticking my arm under his nose while saying, "I think this smells really vile." )

Well, I should have expected it, because it's what all the reviews have said, but: yes, this smells exactly like a candy cane! Fresh, sweet, peppermint (no wintergreen or spearmint, both of which go foul on me). On, it's strong sweet mintiness, like a sticky half-sucked candy cane. As it dries, however, the vanilla comes to the fore, turning into something much softer, something that still has a hint of mint but no longer screams CANDY!!!. While the candy-came stage is really quite lovely and fun, I'm not sure I'd have wanted to smell so much like one on a regular basis. This pretty vanilla-mint, though - this is MUCH nicer. It's a very creamy scent, in texture and in color, for me. (I haven't tried Lick It, so I can't compare the two, but I can report that if you get it on your lips as you greedily sniff it out of the imp, the peppermint oil definitely tingles! Um, not that I would know anything about that, of course. )

I nearly passed on the chance get hold of this, but then I thought, What the hell, and I'm SO glad I did. I'm no good at picking out the different individual notes yet, but in the bottle it smelled golden - I'm coming to realize that's the amber, and that I really like it. Very wam and glorious. On, I smell the amber and some florals, a little spiciness that's probably the frankincense. I don't actually get a lot of citrus, which is kind of a shame because I'm a citrus whore, but it's a beautiful sweet sunniness. I get the sense of an overwhelming goldness, like the sun going down in late autumn over a harvested field, gilding everything, when the light is blinding, yet mellow and not at all harsh. (Hmmm, not a very Yule-y image - oh well!) Someone earlier said they thought of sunflowers, and I did too; another compared it to Et Lux Fuit, which also I agree with - they're very similar for me as well. I think I will have to get a bottle of this!

Wowza, this is my first really foody BPAL and as a scent, this is pretty amazing. I don't get any chocolate at all, it's all hazelnut, toffee, pralines, and caramel. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned hazelnut-flavored coffee, and yeah, it is quite a bit like that. It's VERY sweet and buttery. For what it is, it's really amazing, and it doesn't have any of that kind of artificial sickliness that often shows up in more commercial foody perfumes. Unfortunately, it's also making clear to me that I am not really a foody scent person. (I didn't really think that I was, I just read the description and couldn't resist trying it!) So I don't think I will be keeping it, but I'm glad to have tried it!

Oh, this is so lovely. The only other BPAL rose I've tried so far is Parlement of Foules, and I find that really sharp, somehow - I think it's the sandalwood on me. Rose Cross, on the other hand, is peaceful, sweet, and lovely. It's definitely ROSE, but there's no icky cloying fake drugstore rose here - just something very pure and clear. In the bottle, I smelt pretty much nothing but rose, but on, as it's dried, the frankincense is providing a lovely bottom note that balances out the sweet airiness of the rose perfectly. It's not really something I can pick up on its own, but it adds that lovely depth to the rose. It (Rose Cross, not the frankincense) has got quite a lot of throw, too. I feel so serene wearing this.

Please be kind... this is my first review. Anyway, I got hold a lovely sniffie of Knecht Ruprecht which had just enough left to test, and I am. in. love. In the bottle, I smelled pine and almonds. Wet, I started off with quite a lot of almond as well; there also seemed to be some cherry, although that may be because I associate almond with cherry b/c my husband likes them both. As it dried, the pine softened and the almond shifted into a wonderfully round fruitiness. (I think I got a whiff of apple for about 5 seconds, but that's it for the apples.) It's definitely a wintry, even Christmas-y scent, but in a lovely, sophisticated way; it doesn't smell like pine-sol or potpourri, but what those things *want* to smell like. The pine and fruits balance wonderfully. My only complaint is that it's faded fairly quickly. Anyway, like I said, I am in LOVE with this scent - but not for me. To me, it's a masculine scent (though I wouldn't consider a woman weird for wearing this - it's just not for me). What I'm salivating over is the prospect of getting my husband to wear this!