kerikeri

This is the second 13 I've tried (the other was April 2007). I'm surprised at how different they are-- this is also an herbal/spice/chocolate blend, but they really don't smell similar at all. I'm not familiar with most of the notes so I can't pick them out, but this has a warm, dry feel to it, like a dessert tea. The herbs are not as sharp as in the other 13 I've tried, and the drydown is soft, sweet and slightly woody (probably sandalwood). I think I like this one better.

Basically every note in this I've loved in another blend (especially fig, berry and leather), so I imagined this had to work pretty well on me, and it does. Sometimes BPAL's berry blends all start to smell alike to me, but the leather adds a nice edge to this one. And oddly, I do smell the paper bag-- it just adds a little crinkly dryness to the scent, which is interesting. It's not jumping up and down screaming BUY A BOTTLE NOW, maybe because I know and love all these notes so well that the whole thing's just a little too familiar, but it's really nice and I might hunt down more eventually.

This begins as a pleasant spiced cocoa, but on the drydown, the coffee note from Miskatonic U shows up. Sadly, I think it might be partially the lab's coffee note that made MU go kind of musty on me, even though I blamed it on the wood and dust notes-- this is more wearable, and isn't making me choke like MU did the first time I applied it, but there's still something dry and stale about it. Maybe I should be glad that coffee isn't a note that's used very often, because apparently it's gonna break my heart every time...

Starts off as very strong passionfruit and guava, then apple takes over. As it dries, the vanilla cream comes out to soften and sweeten the blend. This is a very pretty, feminine scent, utterly sweet and innocent, and... I just can't get excited about it. It's nice, and it sort of makes me miss the passionfruit-guava juice I used to drink all the time as a kid, but as a perfume I'm not blown away. If I keep this, I'll have to save it for next spring, because this is definitely a blend for the warmer months.

This is interesting-- I don't think I've ever smelled a pumpkin scent before that didn't have the typical "pumpkin spice" blend. It's recognizably pumpkin, but darker and less sweet than what I'm used to. The hazelnut comes to the forefront along with the pumpkin, with the coffee and chocolate providing a thick, rich, but slightly bitter foody background. I like this, but I don't love it, despite the fact that the notes sound pretty much perfect for me. It's an extremely heavy, molasses-thick scent, somewhat reminiscent of Gluttony with pumpkin, and like that scent it's almost too much even for my foody sensibilities. It could use a little spice or something to cut the gooey richness-- maybe I'll try layering it with something.

Wet, this is beautiful juicy maraschino cherries. Dry, unfortunately, my skin eats most of the cherry, leaving a trace of sharp and slightly medicinal licorice-y tang that's probably the brandy note. It's actually kind of nice, but it's SO faint, and I wish the cherry didn't disappear so fast. My skin's been eating a lot of scents lately, though, so maybe it's a hormonal thing-- I'll let it sit a while and try it again later.

In the imp: WHOA RUM. Smells exactly like a shot of Malibu. Wet: Mmm, apples and butterscotch and caramel and coconut rum, just like the description. The apple note is sharp, crisp and fresh, with all that sugary boozy deliciousness on top. Dry: ...aww, it's gotten really faint. Still delicious, but now it's just a light gooey trace of apple-y caramel on my wrist. But I didn't apply very much, so next time if I can get it to stick around longer it might have real potential to be a favorite.

Yeah... this is almond, caramel and roses. Guess which of those notes I don't like? Guess which note is completely overwhelming all the others? The description of this one was really, really misleading. Those listed notes don't exactly scream "THIS WILL SMELL LIKE VAGUELY FLAVORED ROSE WATER", do they? But it does, and I'm sad. Luckily I only got a decant, but still, I would've ordered one of the many other delicious-sounding 'weenies if I'd known this was full of icky flowers. Oh well. Off to the swaps, perhaps...

This starts out as oranges and a dry cake note, not moist or buttery, almost more reminiscent of scones. After a few minutes of drying, though, it goes a little powdery/plastic/something that vaguely reminds me of baby wipes. I think it's the florals-- Black Pearl goes a bit weird on me in a very similar way, so I suspect this has some variety of iris in it, and that iris does not particularly get along with my skin chemistry. I can't decide if it's a dealbreaker or not, though. Because the orangey cake scent is really delicious, and it hasn't been totally overpowered... I just get occasional weird whiffs of baby wipe. Sigh. I'll give it another shot sometime.

2008 version In the imp: Red fruits Wet: Strangely, this isn't foody at ALL. It's very perfumey and almost floral at this stage, with some lingering fruitiness. Dry: I'm getting some sugar now, but it's still not a scent that's reminiscent of candy or baked goods like I was expecting. This isn't the sugar of sticky-faced kids on Halloween; it's a light, pretty, grown-up sugar, dusted over a delicate dessert eaten by a woman wearing expensive perfume. Surprisingly, I really like this! It's a sophisticated-foody scent, which is nice for days when I don't want to straight-up smell like pie or something. Wasn't at all what I expected, but sometimes that's for the best, as I don't think I'd really wear a sticky-sweet sugar candy scent much... but this will definitely be getting some use

I'm a massive foody-scent lover, so I'm surprised it's taken me so long to try this. It's not exactly what I expected, though. Wet, it's strong, almost cloying buttercream, sort of like a more intense Hellcat without the boozy notes. Drying down, it becomes mellower, less sharp sweetness and more spice. Oddly, it doesn't smell like anything listed in the description quite as much as it smells like... s'mores made with cinnamon graham crackers, or cinnamon toast with syrup. Definitely something cinnamony, even though I have no idea where that's coming from given the notes listed. It's nice, but there are other straight-up foody scents I prefer, like Drink Me. edit: A few more interesting observations on Gluttony-- fully dry, it developed a strange burnt, metallic, almost ozone-y tang on me. I like the combination of sweet and sharp notes, it's why Splatter Comedy is one of my favorites, but I have no idea why my skin chemistry is doing that with this. Maybe some sort of caramelized/burnt sugar note? Hm. Also, I wore this today and got chased by bees a lot. So maybe it's not such a good idea in the summer/early fall/anytime when insects are out and active.

AUGH. In the imp... yeah, a remarkable smell-alike of the strawberry Bubblicious gum I used to chew as a kid. On me? Strawberry Bubblicious gum being chewed by someone with halitosis. I'm not kidding, something in this smells exactly like bad breath when it hits my skin. Might be the neroli going sour, but whatever it is, it's deeply nasty. Let's just say I won't be wearing this anytime soon.

In the imp: A pleasant, smoky apple. Wet: Warm spiced cider and crisp apples, with a little smoke and wood in the background. Dry: The apple note fades to the background, leaving a subtle spicy-smoky-woody scent with just a hint of fruity sweetness. This is quite nice! The wood notes are luckily the type my skin can handle rather than the ones I amp, and the whole thing is very evocative of telling scary stories around the fire on a cool October night. It may be a little too potpourri/candle/generic-autumn-spice-scent to become an all-time favorite for me, but it's definitely the sort of thing I've been wanting to wear as the weather cools off.

This smells like hairspray and violets on me, very chemical and powdery. After a while there is a slightly odd spice scent peeking in and out, but it's mostly overwhelmed by the headachey chemical note. Unfortunately I think I have to scrub this off-- guess I'm not an old-school musk fan, and I don't think the "horror" I'm getting from this is quite what was intended.

A light, clean citrusy floral, with a hint of mint on the drydown. It's a little too bright and sweet to really call the genre to mind for me, and it's definitely not my usual type of scent-- really, I only picked up the decant because I love J-horror films and couldn't resist. It's kind of refreshing, but ultimately too flowery for me.

This is really, really boozy at first-- in the imp and first applied it smells like straight-up chocolate liqueur. After a few minutes the alcoholic bite fades out as the grenadine comes in. I don't really get peanut butter or the coconut everyone is mentioning, just chocolate and grenadine with a thick sugary corn syrup base. There is something artificial, almost plastic about this scent, but not in a bad way. Then again, I always liked the way those fake scented toys smelled, so. There's something oddly familiar about it too, but I can't place where I've smelled it before. I probably don't need a bottle of this, but I love the idea and will definitely enjoy my decant.

On me, this is sweet, dusty tobacco with a little astringent bite from the juniper and gin. There's something about it that reminds me of campfires at night. It seems like it should be masculine, and I think it'd be great on a guy, but it doesn't really have that stereotypical "cologne" feel to it so it works as a unisex scent. I like this. A bit odd, but it's comforting somehow. I'm definitely not a smoker but for some reason I really like BPAL's tobacco blends. Don't see myself wearing this super often, but it'll definitely have its moments.

All the glory, warmth and majesty of the sun – darkened. A delicious blend of bitter almond, vanilla, frankincense and heliotrope, with a drop of cinnamon. In the imp: Buttery almond. Wet: Sparkling almond, like an amaretto soda. Dry: ...cinnamon soap. Not sure what's going soapy here-- almond blends have been hit-or-miss when it comes to getting along with my skin chemistry, though, as much as I love the smell of almond, so that might be the problem. edit: used this again today (I really wanted to like it) and had a great flaming allergic reaction where I applied it on the insides of my elbows. And it still smelled like cinnamon soap. I should pass this on to someone else and spare myself further pain.

At first this smells like pineapple candy and cough syrup. The syrupy fake sweetness mostly fades on the drydown, but I still can't really decide how I feel about this one. There's still something candy-like about it, maybe the combination of fruits and sugar cane. I can't really pick out any of the individual notes, just a sort of artificial fruit punch scent. I feel like I'm being unfair, but something just bugs me about this one... it reminds me of cheap fruit soda. I don't really get any chili pepper, which is the note I found most interesting in the description. It's just a bright sugary fruit blend, which I guess isn't for me.

Wet, this is all freesia and melon. Dry, it's freesia and melon offset by a biting, oddly intriguing metallic note. I only get the metal if I get close and sniff deeply, but it's there. It's pretty effective for a scent that's supposed to be reminiscent of aliens (which is an idea I love, being a huge horror/sf nerd), even though it's not really my usual style-- it's still kind of traditional-perfume-y even with that weird metallic note.

Bunnies! They aren't just cute like everybody supposes. After trying a few scents from my latest imp pack that I was meh about, it was a pleasant surprise to love this one. Wet, it's just unsweetened, spiced cocoa, a little bitter but in a pleasant way, like really expensive dark chocolate. On the drydown, some fine wine arrives to go with that expensive chocolate, and they mingle to create a scent that's deliciously decadent without being sweet at all. It's wonderful and a little weird and I can't stop sniffing my arm. Admittedly I can't think of too many situations this scent would be perfectly appropriate for, but I'm certainly going to try to find some excuses to wear it.

This is similar to Port-Au-Prince on me, and goes a bit soapy like that blend did-- I think it must be the clove. But here the sandalwood provides a nice warm base for the spice, so it's not quite as disappointingly thin and dry as Port-Au-Prince was. Unfortunately, spice scents always seem to be faint and short-lived on me, so even though they always sound wonderful, they're just not that great on my skin. :/

There are so many notes here that I think my untrained nose gets a bit overwhelmed at first-- it's sweet and musky and boozy and fruity and floral all at once. But on the drydown it's almost all rich dark wine and grapes, maybe with a touch of musk and honey. Such a strong grape scent in a perfume is a bit odd, but it's a grown-up grape, not Popsicle grape. This is a vampy sort of scent, dark in a flashy glamorous way. It's not quite me, and there are other scents in a similar vein that I prefer, but it's nice.

Sugar cookies with bay rum, tobacco, and lime. In the imp: Sugary citrus, like an artificially lime-flavored candy. Wet: Oooh, this blossoms very nicely once it hits skin... now I can definitely smell the sugar cookies, sweet, rich and spiced, with a touch of sour citrus from the lime. It's lovely and edible (figuratively, of course! ) at this point. Dry: ...well, obviously the bay rum and tobacco have come out to play, because now this smells just like Perversion with lime. The sugar cookies, alas, have fled... the sweet, innocent bakery scent just couldn't stand up to the rather rougher elements. I'm kind of glad I was too cheap to buy a bottle even though this sounded like the most amazing, delicious blend ever. Because as much as I love and adore Perversion, I was really hoping for cookie goodness here. Maybe they'll come back if I wait... *sniffle* Edit: My second go at this turned out much differently! This time the cookie note stuck around, and the rum and tobacco behaved nicely in the background... it was just a pleasant yummy sugared lime scent all the way through. A bit faint, but otherwise really nice. Might have to be on the lookout for a partial bottle of this.

Hmm. Milk and oatmeal with a touch of honey-- yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I don't dislike it, but I'm not incredibly wowed either. I guess it just seems awfully... commonplace, and I've come to expect totally unique and surprising blends from BPAL. Maybe this does great things on other people, but on me it just smells like oatmeal soap, and I can buy that at the grocery store for a couple of dollars. It's light and clean and pleasant, but... it's oatmeal soap. Not bad by any means, though, and I'm glad I got to try it. Just don't see myself reaching for it much over all the other really interesting scents I own.