serafina pekkala

This is like Snake Oil entwined with Rakshasa, except the vanilla keeps peeking up.

Peonies are one of my favourite flowers; I love the way they look and smell. So this scent does not disappoint: gorgeous peonies at first breath! When I apply it, it morphs into something I can't quite put my finger on. It reminds me of the loose, resin incense they used to burn in a store where I worked upstairs. I've never gotten this in BPAL scent before. I think this would make a very nice room scent.

Rose rose rose! Lovely wet petals of pale tea roses. I don't get any franckincense at all - it just goe powdery after a while. Still, a very beautiful rose oil. I get a bit of a sad vibe from this scent - but that may be just me.

In the imp, this is sweet, a circle of amaretto, plum and blackcurrant. I can't detect any wine. Gosh, amaretto is really different from almond! What does this remind me of? Leather, a soap The Bodyshop used to have? No, it's Saint-Germain! In the way the perfume is built op: all the notes have become one. This is sexy, but not at all vulnerable, sweet, but not sugary, and tart up close. I like it.

I expected this to be quite strong, but it isn't at all. The dragon's blood note turns into the 'shampoo' note I remember from Blood Pearl on me. Then it becomes very faint, changing into the cinnamon-clove fase. I like those spices very much, but in Wrath they disappear soon. Only a trace is left. Er, maybe because I'm not a wrathful person in general?

Now, this one is really interesting. At first it smells forest-like, vaguley similar to The Hesperides. Oh right, wet wood = ghostly old houses? (I love these, by the way). Then there is something like a... toothpick - and I mean that in the most positive of ways! It's wood, with a wisp of something sweet.. oh, it's the rose! It flows to the top when I apply it, just like spirits would. This scent is unlike any of the BPAL's I've tried before, and utterly beautiful. It's a pity it doesn't last longer on me than it does, but Séance is definitely one for the 5mls.

Almonds almonds almonds at first, yum! Then I get wood, very strongly. After this stage, it turns into a weak, somehow standard, oriental note. I'm very sorry this scent dissolved in such an unimpressive way, because I wanted to like it. I would like to know what base note it is that collapsed in a feeble dusty poof on me in other scents as well.

The combination of violets and cinnamon is delightful at first, so original! And not at all masculine. The vetiver(?)-tinged frankincense that appears after, unfortunately, is.

What Sudha Segara reminds me of is natural fabric, India cotton or gauzy silk shawls. It utterly lovely, light, dry and warm as someone else said.

In the bottle it's very strong and musky, and not very 'me'. It reminds me of an old Lancome perfume sample of Black Musk. Hoo boy, is this strong when wet, I'm not used to that! But after that it mellows beautifully into a cosy amber. Haunted smells like the colour amber, golden yellow, warm and autumnal. A keeper.

In the bottle it smells like chipolata pudding. Nice, sweet and yellow but I don't know what it is. Yellow exotic fruit? Iris? Cherry? Honey? It probably has ylang ylang and jasmine in it, come to think of it. It lasts a few hours. I don't like this one for wearing so much, but in an oilburner mixed with beeswax it's terrific, very good for dreaming.

Aqua, grass .. this is light, it stays only for about an hour or two. This is real grass, as opposed to airfreshener, long and green like a field right before the hay will be made. It does burn a bit, but that might be because I applied it too vigorously with the plastic thingy. Hmm, peonies . It smells like my local flowershop! I get more of a tulip and grass in the other places I applied it. It's sweeter in my cleavage. Then the water becomes more apparent. I associate this grass with late summer, but the tulips and peonies with spring in flowershops (you don't see them growing much outside, peonies). This is calm summery rather than happy summery. Slightly like the suntan lotion we used to have when we were kids. Old Amsterdam is a nostalgic, unisex scent then, good for introducing people to bpal because it's very good, but not wildly different from more common scents (only better).

This smells so sweet in the bottle, there is something similar to Noir and Queen Mab in Old Venice. It's is very rich and mature. I get red candyrock, and something very concentrated reminding me of cows at a farm: not a bad smell, like trampled-on grass and straw. Then I get a heavy, fruity redcurrant, completely stripped of tartness. Err, it makes my eyes teary. Wait, I know what it smells like: the taste of dried cranberries! After a while this complex scent gets spicier. It smells like the colour red, and rosepetals. The next morning I can still smell that heady red rose. Old Venice still smells like somebody else's perfume though, like her scent rubbed off on a dress she fitted in a shop, and then I tried it on. Too sweet for me.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got this one, a freebie, because I had just been to Egypt a few weeks before. In the bottle: bubblegum found at the bottom of plastic icecream cones. Bubblegum with a smoky spicy undercurrent, that is. This becomes sweet candy with a lemon sherbet twist, but I also get currants. Then it dries down to a crumbly incense, which is alright. The wine is much clearer in a burner, with the incense smoldering behind, but I got kind of nauseous of it. This is too heavy for me. Me and wine scents just don't mix well, I've noticed. I'm sorry I didn't take to it, because it *does* remind me of Egypt, I just can't pinpoint why.

At first it's woody, an astringent white with some kind of spice. I get a scent close to carrots. You could compare this too Queen Mab and Phantom Queen, only greener. That could be the osmanthus, then. There's is cedar wood in the background, and wisteria perhaps? This is understated and classy, a spicy musk, job interview stuff, not too strong. Another one I wouldn't have chosen myself, since it's utterly unlike anything I would pick, but I found myself really liking it. On second application it stuck to my clothes and I got the cloying flower that Queen Mab gave me as well, this way. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not.

Dew-covered berries and fresh green grasses with a faint breath of spring flowers. First time: I smell grass, unisex and a bit common. This starts to turn nice... Hey, where did it go? The second time the weather wasn't as hot, so it didn't fade as fast. The grass of Rosalind makes me a bit sneezy at first. Then it becomes a slightly sweeter. The grass smells greener and fresher on a hanky, but I only smell grass like that. Rosalind did not leave much impression on me, I'm sorry to say.

Yechh! was my response when I first smelled it wet. But I gave it a second chance. Impressions: masculine lavender, blue, wood, the vetivert I recognize from Coolaulin conditioner from Lush. It remains lavender for a while, clearing up my sinuses, later on I notice the vetivert backdrop changing to violet. This is a stiff or harsh, cold masculine lavender and vetivert scent. There is white musk at the base, and that always smells a little soapy to me. A very original men's scent, but not for me.

The lab threw this in as a freebee, and boy, was I happy with that! This starts out nice, flowery and pleasantly powdery. The first hit of Lilies of the Valley remind me of that soap, Vinolia. This is jasmine with a fruity edge now, sweet and sophisticated, but assuredly not open or merry. With Noir on I feel sexy and classy, but in a retiring, subdued way -but not shy! I sit erect with arched brows, coldly amused and wary like a Hitchcock blonde. How do I explain the way it makes me feel properly? It's like I closes the circle around me very tightly, as if my presence retreats to my body alone. This may sound like I don't like this, but I do: I'm confident and poised, cool and hot at once. I adore this clovy rose jasmine, I love it, and it's a shame it's not available anymore because I gladly would have bought a 10ml bottle.

This is extremely flowery in the bottle, with green plants underneath. This is potent stuff! Unfortunately, the orchid turned unbearably strong on my skin, and gave me a headache. After I suffered through it for a while it calmed down. It smelled 'mrs'-y, like a mature lady in a powersuit. I understand the Take No Shit-attitude of the Morrigan, but it does not work on me at all. I was relieved when it was gone. Too bad, because I wanted to like a Morrigan scent, but I suppose she has no truck with pacifists like me. On a hanky and the person I gave this to it was much nicer and subdued, the apple blossom stood out more with the green in the background.

Hmm, wet this is lemony sweet, like Napoleon lemondrops when applying. Then it turns spicy and the musk comes through. I don't really like the turn the white musk is taking, it seems dusty. After a while it becomes better, like the lemon sherbet mentioned above. Although this is a soft, light scent, it's still there four hours on. I liked the lemon stage at the beginning a lot, but the white musk not so much.

Another one that reminds me of some kind of candy. Is it cherry? Or bubblegum in a tube? That must be the wine again, but fortunately it fades quickly without leaving a trace. The musk is very womanly, and smells exactly like a lot of Egyptian women did in the streets (they're still very good with perfumes there). I like the bottom note of the scent very much. This would go well with a black dress, or perhaps even better with not so much on . It does fade much faster than I would've thought of such a dark scent. Yet, Lilith is dark, mysterious and impressive.

This one I loved immediately. I get carnations, but very faint. Pale. Tea. Gingery and roses of course. This is very sophisticated, understated and classy, and I'm sure I could never get a scent like this at a regular perfumerie. I'm sorry the scent does not linger longer, only a few hours. As said, this resembles Potion from Lush, which I loved as well. I feel like myself, but moreso when I wear Maiden.

In the vial it smells nice and green. This is a strong gardenia that dries up *very* nice, then the violet becomes more apparent. The scents have been blended very well, it's as if the flowers grew intwined and I can't smell where the one begins and the other ends. There is something spicy in Le Serpent Qui Danse that made my nose twitch at first, perhaps I am a tiny bit allergic to gardenia. Nevertheless I loved it. This is a warm scent, perfect for autumn and winter, and a blue scent, dark blue. It reminds me of the hipswaying that probably inspired the poem. It would also suit Aromecreme deodorant from Lush very well.

This is incredibly sweet in the imp. A lot of these scents remind me of candy from my childhood, but I can't always remember which one, as in this case. On first apply it's nice, a not too striking vanilla that stays well. After a day of wearing the faded scent was reawakened by my pilates exercise and became strong once more. I can smell other notes in this. Although they've been blended together seamlessly, I get the ocassional whiff of smoky incense. The vanilla in Snake oil is indeed not foody as in pods or essence, but more bourbon-like. I really like it, although it's not my favourite. My friend wanted a bottle as soon as she smelled it! It stays strong, even when I go out in a smoky atmosphere. Also, everybody else seems to love it , and it is superb as a room scent.

A green herby woody pine in the bottle. Strong hippy patchouli,something dry and crumbly, is that myrrh? No, it's earth! ofcourse! This smells like walking through a forest. The juniper gives it a gin-y, tar-like note. I do not always get the same feeling with the scents as the descriptions give, but this one really is slightly ominous. Omen has a dark, mysterious feel. It lightens up after a while, though, with a whiff of what I think is orange, or rose? Definately rose. On the spots where I applied Omen it's mostly gone after an hour and a half, yet I still smell the haze of roses (handcream with earth) around me, getting more incensy gradually. I really like the dry-up, but it's a bit pungent after a while, and a slightly too masculine for me.