Soupy Twist

I tried a different decant exactly a year after the first time, and it's still the same: The Witches plus a little musk. My skin is weird, but at least it's consistent.

I just tested Gorg's Garden (Radishes, freshly-turned soil, and soft herbs), which not only smells much more floral on me than the description suggests but is quite close to White Light. There is a soil note in the beginning, but it's a nice one — "fresh soil," like from a good garden, not rotting dirt.

In the bottle I get "the center of a candy cane." Maybe it's a little dusty? It definitely goes on "soft." It's mostly peppermint oil — not sweet, but not too sour. There's a tiny wee burn for a moment. Becomes pretty much straight peppermint oil as it dries. It's not too harsh but there's no sweetness. After half an hour or so some powdered sugar comes in, and a little musk, but that's the extinction burst, because five minutes later it's abruptly gone.

Musk in the bottle. Goes on as a blend of musk and spoiled fruit. Turns to rose as it dries. I can't bear rose. Scrubber.

Rum cake. An absolutely perfect rendition of rum cake with stale vanilla buttercream icing. I don't like rum cake, but it's dead-on. And... I'm getting a skin burn? from rum?

Positively weird. Lavender? I think? in the bottle. Goes on as a vanilla...ish sugar? with a sort of cookie note? which eventually dries to a kind of lavender...ish... thing. Really hard to describe. Very much a "Victorian gentleman," I'll say that.

I have found that while I like tobacco with other notes, I can't do it as a single note — it needs something to balance it. Sherlock Holmes: definitely a high tobacco note, and one of my all-time favorites overall. Plunder: tobacco, spices, and tea Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand (Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements), Lupercalia 2010: I get cognac, quince, vanilla, and the high tobacco, but on me it had almost zero throw. Elegba: the world's best pirate. Tobacco, rum, and brûlée sugar. St. Claire was just sandalwood and mahogany on me; I was quite disappointed. My skin amps the Lab's leather note, so Perversion and Black Rider are out for me. I also amp cardamom, which took out Arabian Dance. Tag-Upon-Avon turned into a single-note tobacco on me, oddly enough.

Stale toothpaste and clementine peel. yuck.

A light, spicy, delicious lemony tea. Actually hangs around rather than being vaporized! This might be bottle-worthy.

2010 version. An almost painful, hyper-realistic juniper tree single note. I wish I was getting some of the Lab's snow! I can't quite decide if I like this.

Well, now I know: The Lab's "caramelized" or French Tobacco note does not work with me. Smoke and chewy tobacco in the bottle. Goes on as smoke and snow. The smoke briefly overpowers everything, but then dries to burned tobacco. The burned note dissipates as the snow returns, leaving a blend of snow and deep caramelized or already smoked tobacco. I already have like five bottles with the Lab's snow note, and the deep tobacco is not my thing. I love the high sweet tobacco of Sherlock Holmes, but this ain't it. Very sad, because I was so looking forward to this. If you are into the heavy, chewy tobacco or French Tobacco in any way, this is your jam.

A clean, soapy grass in the bottle, which is intriguing — kind of like some of the less-exotic Lupers. Goes on as the same clean green bamboo-like note, which continues as it dries, but then the ozone edge comes in and eventually blots out the grass. A perfect execution of the concept; not something I'd wear. If I could get just the "potions" part I'd love it for spring.

Very hard to pin down. Lemon cleaning product in the bottle? with mint? Goes on as a crème de menthe note which rounds into a cozy vanilla, although there's definitely an alcohol note in there somewhere. This quickly becomes a lemon drop, but that only lasts another few seconds. Once it dries, it cycles between lemon Lysol and mint toothpaste. Not for me. I have Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat for the lemon drop note.

Gingered Chocolate Soufflé turned into pure gin on me. It's like a mirror of 21. I happen to love 21 so that's not a hardship, but there was no ginger or chocolate in it on my skin.

There's a thread for Non-BPAL companies where you can also ask for suggestions, Other Perfumes You Love.

I found Jack to be a nice nutmeg/clove combination and never got any pumpkin. Bengal is a cidery spice with honey. Alice's Evidence is prune juice and cider, which is much nicer than it sounds. Pumpkin #5 from the 2007 Weenies is pumpkin, bourbon vanilla, coffee, and ginger. Pumpkin Latte (I tried 2010 and 11 Weenies) are heavy on the spice and light on the pumpkin and coffee.

Spicy dry orange peel in the bottle and on application. The dried fig note comes in shortly, although it's reasonably fresh for a "dried" fig. This continues into a fig note with potpourri and orange peel, becoming more artificial and Tang-like as it dries. I'm sort of shocked at how long the orange is lasting on my skin, though; BPAL citrus tends to vaporize on me. The Tang eventually turns to soap.

Apple Jolly Rancher in the bottle. Goes on as caramel and candy apple, drying to an artificial (and not particularly pleasant) caramel and apple. I'm sort of relieved because the name squicks me out, and I'd hate to fall in love with something I don't want to discuss.

A floral grass in the bottle and on application, which turns more aquatic as it dries. This is lovely! Great for spring.

If you really love the scent, you can try it in a locket. I have to wear Lick It Again and Inferno in a locket to save my skin. (Oddly, I don't have to wear any of the other Lick It series in a locket, and I've tried all but one.)

Many people have skin issues with cinnamon and peppermint, but those cause burning and welts rather than hives. What was your reaction?

2007 decant. If you ever sniffed the Lab's lovely combination of hyper-realistic pine and sweet berries which make up scents like Skadi and Almond Blossom and then thought "Alas, if only this had a layer of cedar pencil shavings!" then this is the blend for you.

The Lab's lovely brûlée note and fresh apple juice in the bottle, but only the apple juice on application. This fades on the drydown and the brûlée comes back, until it's a dead ringer for Sugar Skull. No cookie notes at all. If I didn't have Sugar Skull I'd be snapping up a bottle of this, but I'm not getting any apple, caramel (which is not the same as crystallized burnt sugar), or cookie.

2016 version: All I get is the gin note from Twenty-One, maybe sweetened with the berry note from Skadi or Almond Blossom. I love Twenty-One — it's one of my all-time favorites — but I already have a bottle, plus last year's Gingered Chocolate Soufflé oddly reduces to just the gin note from Twenty-One on my skin and I have a bottle of that too, so I won't need this. But lovely to try.

Cherry cordial in the bottle and on application. mmmmmm cherry cordial After a few minutes the cherry recedes and the berry note comes forward. Then it's more like a triple-berry ice cream, or a black cherry ice cream with some berry sauce on top. And after a few more minutes, my skin starts doing the vanilla-plastic thing. Not as bad as French Vanilla; this is more like a "Strawberry Shortcake doll" kind of scented plastic. Why must my nose fall in love with notes my skin hates?