Eemia

Bright, strong strawberries with a translucent quality. The strawberry note is all I can smell at first and I couldn't be happier about it. I don't get any sweet syrup or candy connection here, it reminds me more of a natural type of strawberry. A vanilla-floral comes through as it dries, and it's very creamy and soft, slightly sweet too. There's a mild earthiness underscoring everything, which must be the vetiver but it's so tame in here that I don't notice it much. Overall this is just a gorgeous strawberry scent and I love that the fruit stays vibrant throughout most of the wear.

I've moved away from red musk heavy scents in the last few years since I think my chemistry has changed quite a bit. But damn... I love this. It was an unexpected new fixation and it smells amazing on me. Creamy and vanilla dominant with dashes of red musk that remind me of cherry dragon's blood resin for whatever reason. The strawberry is sweet and artificial in a good way, like hard candy. Cream notes can go weirdly buttery and sour on my skin sometimes but this is perfection. It's more of a bourbon vanilla cream than a strawberry cream, and it's very rich and sexy. The cherry blossoms seal the deal for me though. I'm crazy for bpal cherry blossom scents, they're the embodiment of fresh femininity for me, and in this they just sing. Light and floral and perfumey, they mingle with the more heady notes for something that just seems unlike anything else in my collection. It's slightly sharp when first applied, and I can really notice the cherry blossoms more so than anything else but then it settles down and becomes this gorgeous floral-musk-cream hybrid. I keep the bottle in my purse, something I haven't done often with any of my bpal bottles since I'm always worried about losing them or spilling. But this is one to grab and apply all the time. So much love for this.

I love this snow/white floral combination. It has that cold, soft, semi-powdery snow note that reminds me of the one in Snow White. The gardenia is the most prominent on my skin, and it has a strong, velvety quality that's very lush and feminine. I adore orange blossom, it smells sort of sweet to me, and I love the delicate aspect of it as well. Overall this isn't perfumey or stuffy despite the florals. The neroli keeps it fresh and light and a little astringent. I like the greeness in here as well, which I think is the neroli again. It really does feel delicate and new and light like the name implies. And it dries down into a beautiful gardenia petal softness. Beautiful.

So… absolutely love the label art, the name, and the scent. But I'll admit my main reason for wanting this was because I have a little rescue cat named Monkey, and I wanted to display this bottle on my TP Skeleton Shelf. Anyway, this is really pretty and feels like a skin scent in a way. It’s very light, easy to wear, and lightly creamy. It starts out with a cheerful but not too sharp fig, and a tropical smelling lotus. Sometimes lotus can smell bubblegum tinged to me, but this lotus only smells floral and exotic and weirdly soothing. There’s a creamy, milky undertone that thankfully doesn’t go sour on my skin. Overall this feels so smooth and balanced. It doesn’t last on my skin very long, only a couple hours, but there’s a lingering semi-sweet sandalwood dry down that I’m obsessed with because it’s similar to Tushnamatay, a long time favorite. The bourbon vanilla is rich and a little smokey, and just so good. This is really unique, and definitely a stand out from my typical snowy Yule favorites. I feel like this might be an underdog Yule this year, but I truly love it.

I would have loved this no matter what, but I'm so glad that the scent itself is beautiful. I adore lavender, and certain bpal fragrances (Somnus, Fairy Market, TKO, Twilight) have been staples for me in order to fall asleep and combat chronic insomnia. This smells like clean, herbaceous lavender and golden, dry grassiness. It's light and sheer and has a tea type of association for me, which might be the chamomile (even though I never drink chamomile tea). This is very gentle, with skin-scent type of quality. It's soothing, but there's a charming spirit to it with the sweet vanilla. I love the vanilla addition especially, as it's a pretty, feminine touch that makes this a favorite for me to wear during the day as well as for bedtime. This has particular sentimental appeal for me as well since me dad read to me every night as a child, without fail. Even when he was away on business trips he would call and read to me over the phone, or would create his own made up stories on a little tape recorder that I could play at night if he couldn't call. Later, as I grew up, we read together side by side on the couch. And when I moved out of the house for college, we sent books back and forth and then talked about them together like our own little book club. It's a memory I hold very dear and I think it's so lovely that the Lab and the Trading Post have shared such a sweet memory like this with everyone.

Lots of dark, smokey woodiness. It's not earthy or soft at all. Very robust. It does have that mysterious, creepy feeling, which could be from the notes or the idea of it, I can't tell. Either way it's something that stays with you, and reminds me of something that I can't quite place. This type of woody smell isn't my usual cup of tea (though I do love wood scents) but I like it. It's unique and I don't think I've smelled another bpal quite like this one before. After about 30 mins or so it lifts into a brighter, more translucent smell, which I'm guessing is the white musk. It never smells sharp or high pitched as I expected. I agree with other people who mentioned the cologne aspect, though it's not a rugged cologne. On me it falls more into perfumey or fougere territory. This is one of those that I can try over and over and I'm always surprised at how strange it is. I've had it for a year now and it smells better now that it's aged.

This is very strong when first applied, and sort of cologne tinged or masculine despite the florals. It really captured me right off the bat though I couldn't decide if I loved it or hated it. I'm a rose fan in general, and a bpal rose fan in particular, but couldn't familiarize myself with the rosiness in this one. I think the rosewood threw me off. It's very powerful and woody and earthy, and round, for lack of a better word. Anytime I smell rosewood I associate it with "roundness" or fullness in some way. It's a beautiful wood and so sensual in here. It does add a bit of an old fashioned flair, though not in a negative way. The tea rose is lovely and delicate and dry, and I notice it more as the scent wears into my skin. It reminds me of the tea rose in Marie, my all time favorite fragrance. With my chemistry it can be a little perfumey but I actually adore that about it. The tea adds another herbal or earthy quality that pairs with the rosewood well and tempers the femininity of the tea rose. This does become powdery during the dry down but it's very subtle, unstuffy, and feels like a skin musk type of powder more than a dusty baby powder. Powdery dry downs turn me off more often than not so I'm relieved that this didn't become stuffy at all. Overall this feels velvety and tactile and memorable and I love it.

Lots of soft leather, followed by a bit of dark sweetness. It's a stronger leather than I was expecting, and it definitely has that worn in, almost old fashioned or Western type of feel. I love the almond in here, which is sweet and sort of creamy, like almond paste or an almond cookie. It balances out all that leather, which would have otherwise been way too much for me in this one. I get hints of a semi-sharp perfumey note that trickles off into more musky territory later on. I'm thinking it's the amber, but I'm not sure. I never notice the vanilla amping at all, but it adds a nice undercurrent that helps make this more feminine. My first impression immediately after applying wasn't too great... it almost felt like a leather single note. And I couldn't figure out what the sharpness was that I was smelling. It almost reminded me of a blood note or maybe wine, and I went back to check the listed notes to see if that was it. Luckily I like this a lot more after the first half hour when it settles down and changes into something more interesting and sweeter. I think it's going to age really well.

Metallic Pearl A smoky beige-pink pearl flecked with a golden metallic sheen. After I painted my nails with this and went outside I couldn't believe how the light plays on the color. It just radiated and shimmered so beautifully. Every single bit of gold glimmer catches in the sun and makes the color look multi-faceted. It's a stunning color that's actually more subtle than I would have thought. Hell's Belle is a lovely shimmering lilac with golden iridescence throughout. The color itself seems understated and relies on the multi-tonal shimmer to steal the show. It looks very liquid and slinky. The color does look smoky and somewhat misty, which is made even more prominent by it's sheerness. Even with two layers it remains sheer, though the color payoff is brilliant. The pink itself is in the background and it isn't a pastel or icy version. It almost leans towards a cool toned flesh color rather than a traditional pink. Perfect on my fingertips when I want something that looks quietly lovely, but that still has some kick.

This is a smoky, unusual, and sexy gardenia on my skin. I don't always love gardenia on myself since it tends to overwhelm any other note it's paired with, and sometimes feels a little thick or overly heavy. But I love the smell of them in general. This actually works on me though since the gun powder is tamping down the gardenia and making it less floral and more mysteriously edgy. I can't really tell that it's gun powder I'm smelling, but then again I don't really have a point of reference. I get a smoky, sultry, slight sharpness that is so beautiful with the milky, creamy thickness of the gardenia. There's a nice balance of masculine and feminine, which is really appealing. I've been loving it for the warm nights here, it's like that perfect unexpected pairing with a skimpy sundress.

Non-sweet, murky vanilla and thick beeswax. It stays close like a skin scent and isn't the slightest bit heavy or suffocating. The vanilla is very natural and realistic smelling, so to speak. It's not boozey or candy-ish, and it's not artificial like a generic lotion either. It amps on my skin, as most vanillas do, and has a sophisticated, understated vibe. I like all kinds of vanillas, whether they're sickly sweet or barely there sheer, and this feels subtle and musky in a delicate way. I thought I'd be picking up more of the clove and cinnamon but it's the beeswax that stands out next to the vanilla. For some reason all beeswax notes smell creepy to me and this is no different. It's smooth and blanketing and a little floral, like tiny white petals. It reminds me of the beeswax note in Hand of Glory, my favorite sinister beeswax scent. Thankfully the beeswax doesn't translate to honey since that can be a death note on my skin. The cinnamon and clove are soft and smell more like incense than spices. I usually don't like either note since they remind me of kitchen cupboards and sharp cooking spices but they are beyond gorgeous in this. Dry, resinous, and far in the background. They add a little depth on my skin but aren't giving off that horrible sharp, burning tone. As this dries down they're more noticeable but still so soft. This is sensual and beautiful and smells so damn good. So, so silky.

This smells a lot like Almond Blossom 2013 with some sweet vanilla and white floral added. I love, love, LOVE Almond Blossom and so this one was another instant love. Luckily the cream note didn't go plastic or sour on me as it can sometimes do. It's just a rich vanilla, minus the heaviness of the cream. Mostly though that gorgeous smooth almond liquor note is the strongest part, and it smells so decadent and sexy on my skin. I like the softness of the mimosa, which is heavy and feminine but not overpowering. It just adds a little interest in this so it's not so extremely sweet and dessert-like. I'm not usually a gourmand fan but I have a handful of foodie type bpals that I adore and this is going to join them in their little club of specialness.

Finally! A Vulva that works on me!! Past Vulvas have always gone slightly plastic or sour on my skin due to that reoccurring cream note, and I so wanted to love them. For whatever reason the cream accord in this is behaving, more than behaving: it's actually smelling pretty damn great. Maybe it's the mixture of the other notes, but no twinge of plastic or sourness here. It's smoothly understated, sexy, and vanillic but not super sweet. Just the perfect amount of sweetness. It's golden and sun warmed and supple. The coconut is perfect in here, natural and milky rather than that artificial sugar sweet kind. It makes this a jumble of vanilla-coconut-amber amazingness. I get a bit of a nutty note here that must be the macadamia, and it adds to that warm, beach vibe I get from this. Maybe because anything coconut reminds me of suntan lotion and hot Southern California beaches. But that's my favorite part about this... the borderline Summer sensation I have whenever I wear it. I get more amber as it dries down and it feels more resinous than musky. No powderiness. It's a very silky, sensual scent. A touch earthy too but not in a way I can properly pin down. Beautiful!

The rosewater amps like crazy on my skin. It's almost exclusively rose based for hours. It smells like tea rose to me more than rosewater because it's very, very strong and has a similar vibe to Marie (my fave tea rose scent). I haven't been too into rose scents lately so I was hesitant to try this but I loved the combination of notes so I had to give it a go. I wish the rose would calm down a bit because it takes forever for me to smell anything else in here. After a couple hours I get hints of a dry, sweet musk that goes a bit powdery. Not thick or obviously powdery, but enough where I notice it. The cherry is pretty great when it shows up, and it smells a little like a cherry liquer, which I'm guessing is the bourbon mixing with it. But it's not dominant enough for me. I wish I could smell it and be like "yes! cherry!" No such luck. It stays softly musky and dry for the duration of the wear time, and it lasts quite awhile on me. I was hoping for more of a Youth's Disengagement vibe from this, but it's like night and day. No similarities at all (at least, on my skin there isn't). So I'm bummed that this wasn't a big hit but I'm going to keep it for a few months and see if it changes over time. Here's hoping!

This is a cool, silky smooth pear that smells nothing like I expected. I was thinking the pear would be syrupy, a touch candyish, or overtly "pear" I guess, something like Endymion maybe. But the pear is so sheer and natural in this, just like dewy drops of pear juice. It's not sugary or sweet. But it's not bright and tangy either. It's like this perfectly balanced scent that feels light and clean without all the usual light and clean connotations. It sits close to my skin and doesn't last very long; I was reapplying it after two hours. I get a bit of some kind of pale, washed out lemon here and there, and it's beautiful. I'm not normally a fan of lemon notes but this is more like a mist of it combined with the luminescent pear and some kind of super shy musk. It's one of the lightest bpals I've ever worn. I love that it doesn't turn into a vanilla or a musk on the dry down. It's just here one minute and gone the next. It almost reminds me of a body wash or something in how light it clings to my skin. It doesn't seem like I've just applied perfume. I really, really love this. My chemistry has been really off lately and nothing has been smelling right to me. So I was pretty thrilled when I tried this and fell in love with it.

This is very cologne-ish on my skin. Like a high-end masculine fragrance with a smooth, flashy tone to it. At first it's modern and glitzy from the icy notes that send off a sharp, ringing scent. It's similar to a lot of bpal ice notes that have a minty, green, ozone quality. Then it becomes more old-fashioned as the oakmoss starts taking over, adding a classic, black and white cinema feeling. Here it reminds me of Robert Piguet's Bandit, which toes the line between feminine and masculine with it's heady oakmoss based scent. It's sexy, but ultimately too masculine for me. I love masculine scents but this is too overwhelmingly so. I don't get any touches of floral from the artemisia or sensuality from the muguet. There's a musky element that appears later on that adds a lot of depth and warmth, but it's not enough for me to want to wear it often. I ended up passing this on to a friend who really likes it and it smells great on him.

This starts out as a strong, vaguely soapy lilac with hints of a dry, grassy herb. It's very floral and clean in an expensive shower gel type of way rather than a generic white bar soap. Lilac can go "white floral" on me in that overpowering, heady perfumed manner but this is more sheer, like the lilac in His Station and Four Aces. Despite the slight soapiness it feels very natural and moist, like lilacs anchored in rich soil getting coated in rain. The herbal aspect reminds me of hay or a similar tall yellow grass. I think it's the chamomile that I'm smelling. It's dainty and feminine even though the overall tone of this feels unisex, evenly masculine to me. The sandalwood adds a nice depth and a smooth, calming woodiness the only truly comes out on my skin after an hour or two. It's not a creamy, sweet sandalwood, but more of a brittle, dry, meditative version. I love it best in this phase as it smells so complex and earthy without being musky at all, and it's still shining with lilacs. It's very charming and feels like an unusual yet perfect cold weather choice. I'm crazy for bpal's snow scents and while I don't get any sort of icy, snowy, or cold notes in this (which I swear I could pick out anywhere I have so many of them... I have more snow scents than any other type of bpal) it's still something I'm glad I chose.

This makes me laugh. The label's funny, the name's funny, and it smells like grapefruit jello shaped into a jiggly 1950's jello mold. It's sweet and mild and surprisingly fresh given the candy vibe. I get a bit of a green melon scent in there somewhere too. It dries down a little sweeter than it starts out since a lot of the bright citrus fades away fairly quickly. It becomes a meek fruit syrup after a couple hours and disappears entirely after about three hours. So it's one I have to slather and apply often. Whenever I wear it I think of the movie "Paul" with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, one of my favorites. So it's happy associations all around.

I love Alice but have only had luck with one or two pumpkin scents. At the time I couldn't pass this up though, hoping my skin wouldn't amp the pumpkin. Unfortunately it does, and I should have passed on it. I get hints of the milky/carnation/sweet/floral scent of Alice dominated by the home fragrance candle-wax scent of pumpkin. Usually I get a rancid butter note from bpal's pumpkin (with the exception of a few scents) and I get that same sourness in here. There's also a pumpkin spice note in this that doubles my inability to make it work, as food spice notes just make me think of kitchen spice cabinets and potpourri. I really wish I could make this work but it's just a scrubber on me. I've kept my bottle until now hoping for some miracle aging or better luck with time, and for sentimental reasons, but I'm giving this one up as I just can't stand smelling it even in the bottle.

This is awesome. It's like ferocious cherry blossom doing some ass kicking. Sharp, metallic, and perfumey. Cherry blossom always seems delicate and ethereal to me, sort of a whimsical, feminine floral, so I love that this has an edge. There's moments where it smells tinny or high pitched in some way, and then that gives way to the more familiar floral, and then it becomes bright and insistently shiny again. It fades into a lighter, transparent clean smell, and I do have to reapply once or twice throughout the day. But it's so appealing to me that I like slathering it on anyway. It's equally good in a scent locket.

In my early bpal years I used to enjoy patchouli a lot, but lately it's just not smelling right with my chemistry. It either amps and steamrolls every other note in its path, or it just smells off on me. Luckily white patchouli seems to be good on me still, most of the time at least, depending on what it's paired with. It's strong in here, and very patchouli in that earthy way, but without the overwhelming sensation that dampens down everything else. So first off it's patchouli and a peppery undertone. Earthy and a little smokey, a little dryly sweet. Not a vanilla sweetness, more like a sweet woodiness. Despite all the earthy and woody tones I don't get a brown feeling from this or anything warm. This feels cool to me, maybe from the smokiness... sort of grey or silvery. It's more perfumey than a close sitting musk type of fragrance too. The vanilla is amazing in here. Not gourmand or sugary, just a smooth, boozy dark vanilla. Very aromatic and sexy. It's hard to pick it out since it's not very intense, it's more like an amazing backbone. I love it with the champaca, which always smells so soft and cashmere-like. I can't imagine using this in a scent locket since I think it needs skin to really make it shine. But it's a beautiful fragrance, especially for Fall.

This is so sweetly pink and pretty. It seems like there's some kind of girly pink musk in here, along with some candy blend and a bit of fruit. At some point I feel like I'm smelling pink apples too. It's slightly tart in the beginning, though it's not a natural tartness, like in fresh fruit. It's more of a brightened hard candy tartness. As it dries it continues to be sweet, not obnoxiously so, and it doesn't feel like a sugar overload. I can't tell exactly what kind of candy fruit it smells like, but maybe watermelon, apple, and strawberry. This is such a great scent, and totally unexpected given the vague description. It's fun and bright and amazing if you like candy blends.

This is almost straight baby powder on me. I don't get any of the beautiful wood or musky amber notes. No subtly changing effect and no morphing at all. It starts out thickly powdery and slightly sweet and stays that way for hours before it disappears. So disappointed!

I love this. Just pure, instant love. I could type love about fifteen more times. Whenever I like a perfume this much I almost can't write a coherent review for it. Like nothing I say will do it justice, especially considering how I see it in my head... something along the lines of "yay!" And sometimes a scent I like immediately (right out of the bottle) feels more like a whole to me than something I can easily describe in parts. It's more of a happy, excited impression that never fades. It reminds me of the best aspects of Almond Blossom 2013 and Amaterasu V2, which is my favorite bpal ever. Beautiful and feminine and slightly sweet. The vanilla is sexy and doesn't go food on me at all, nor is it cloying. It's a little perfumey and floral but in an edgy way. Tuberose can occasionally go too powdery on my skin but this never turns on me. I love the almond in here. It's creamy and dry at the same time and feels like the perfect base to the vanilla-floral. I get so many compliments on this one and it's going right up there into my Amaterasu V2, Haloes, Dolly Kei, Dorian, Serotine Bat category of enduring love. I should creepy whisper "forever" right now.

Once in awhile I'll wear a scent and for some reason I feel like I'm smelling a different perfume that what I'm reading about in the scent description. This is so spicy and dry and sexy. I could swear there was carnation in here since it has hints of a vaguely powdery, smoldering spice note. From the notes I was picturing something more mossy and soft but this is like a slap of pure vamp. It feels like a cold-weather scent because it's so strong on my skin. And anything spicy (or extremely spicy, as this one is on me) isn't something I gravitate towards in warm weather. Actually spicy scents aren't usually my thing at all. It reminds me of Houbigant Rose De Taif, which is one of the only oud based scents I can wear, and one of the only non-bpal perfumes I like. Not that the two are close at all, but there's a similarity that I can quite shake. Eve smells extremely niche and expensive to me and so well blended, maybe that's where the familiarity lies. I like trying to pick it apart because it's hard to pinpoint all the little changes it goes through as it dries down. At first it's very spicy and roars with this vixen quality. It's over the top sexy, though not really the type of sexy I go for in a perfume. I'm usually more of a leathery/vanilla/tonka/cologne type when I think of sexy fragrances. So in a way I feel a little odd wearing it, like I'm sneaking on sprays of someone else's perfume. It almost doesn't suit me, even though I like how it smells. The dry, golden tinged incense is similar to Morocco, which also goes borderline spicy on my skin. But the mixture of that sandpapery resin and the smoky rose is very strong and not at all close sitting on my skin as Morocco is. I wish I could describe it better but it really is a fine tuned mixture of resin and incense and a somewhat masculine rose. I only get the sandalwood after a few hours and it adds a nice woodiness that I love. I wish it was even stronger since I love sandalwood. It gets more powdery and musky as it dries completely and continues to make me think of carnation. And it seriously lasts! I can see why everyone likes this one so much. It's really beautiful.