gwynethr

I hoarded my decant for years, which had gone from a scent I liked to one I adored with age, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. But I was so excited to see it again after finally using up the last of my decant. It isn't quite the same as I remember it, I'm not picking up the rice pudding or really anything specific at all except some sharp spices, but it's definitely not as jarring and disappointing a change as my beloved Hanerot Halalu was this year, and I'm reasonably certain this will age back into that scent I like. I think it's there underneath the sharpness. On me it has a lot of throw, and I think it lasts about as long as the original version. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it ages, and if the sharpness mellows out to become that wonderful sort of kitchen at Christmas, winter hearth scent I remember.

I had a bottle of one of the original iterations (back in the cobalt bottle) that I paid a ridiculous sum for because it was HTF, but when I got into BPAL it blew me away so much in the sniffie someone gave me, I had to have it. It was worth it--I adored it, and then perimenopause hit; I'd never smelled anything but snow and that faint hint of florals, so to finally understand what people meant by "plastic" was so devastating. I finally swapped my bottle away, broken-hearted. After a while, I'd see it show up on the Yules each year, and think about trying it again, but menopause has changed my chemistry so much it didn't seem worth it. With two fragrances making a reappearance this year I wanted, I figured I'd try again, and I'm so glad I did. In the bottle, it's the snow and flowers I remember. When I put it on, I thought oh no, plastic again. That was stupid to try. And then on dry-down, it morphs into the coconut smell, which I'd never smelled before. And then about 15 minutes later, it's settled into snow. I'm so, so happy. It has an intense throw to me that my original bottle didn't, and it lasts all day on my skin, even longer on my clothing where it touches. In fact, I still have yesterday's on my cuffs and collar! As much as I miss the beautiful cobalt bottle, I'm so glad to have almost the same Snow White as the first one I fell in love with, and that I can wear it once more. This is such a beautiful scent.

Oh, this is just devastating. I've been out of the buying/posting loop for a long time due to finances and such, but I got so excited when I saw two favorites were on this year's list after so many years, and Hanerot Halalu is one of my top 3 scents. But this version smells awful to me. It's soapy and way too perfumey and there's no smoke or beeswax at all. The original version is so wonderfully smokey and beeswaxy, and there was this almost orange-like note in it (I remember someone else looking for the first batch of HH, too, at the same time I was, because we both coveted that faintly orangey smell, and the later batches didn't seem to have it). Ugh, it's just staying soapy on me no matter how long I let it go. There's just no candle-smoke smell at all. It does have the throw and seems to last as long as the original, I'll say that. I feel like I threw money away, and now my hoarded bottle will run out without a real replacement.

Something here is going powdery here on me. Of all the four scents I got from my fab fairy, this was the closest to actually working on me and not going weird with my out of control chemistry. But that powdery note bothers me. I'm not sure if it'll go away with aging the bottle, or aging me, and I probably should hang on to it, but it seems like someone else might want it more. It's a sexy, exotic scent. Rosewood is just such a fantastic note, I hope maybe there will be more scents in the future with it.

This one actually made me cry. All four of the scents that my lovely fairy got for me didn't work, but of all of them, this was the one I wanted most. Every. Single. Note. is something I love, and I thought for sure all of them together would be heaven. It's nice, and I could almost see using it in something that might not touch skin so that my crazy menopausal chemistry wouldn't affect it, but since it's so popular I feel like someone who loves it should be able to enjoy it.

Out of the four Bat's Days that my lovely fairy got for me, this was the worst, even though all the notes would usually be perfect for me. But it smells, wet, like perm solution (seriously, I was instantly transported back to the early '80s when I used to get perms) and that is not a good thing. I thought it would go away when it dried, but it stayed like that the whole time. I tell you, menopause sucks. It ruins all the favorite notes!

My wonderful fairy got me four of the Bat's Day bottles, all of which I was certain would be perfect for me, and none were. This was one of the closest, but there's something underneath it that's not working with my absurd menopausal chemistry. It's metallic, almost, but not a good metallic. So sad that I'm going to have to rehome them.

Dammit. I bought a bottle of this unsmelled from someone, thinking it would be a perfect scent for me, but it's kicking up the rose so much, and there's something powdery in here. At first it smelled just like old-school Jergens hand lotion, but then it becomes very rosey powdery. I can smell the rosewood but it's buried under the powder. Not sure what to do with this one now.

Dark vintage musk enrobed in a velvet black swirl of plum, precious resins, opium tar, sweet incense, and Nepalese amber. Rats. Nothing but nasty powder and old lady soap on me. I thought this would be my holy grail, given the notes. Menopause sucks, I tell you. Stuff that should work doesn't, stuff I would never want to wear smells good, and then it changes around the next day. Stupid chemistry.

I was really surprised by how much I liked this, and wishing I had bought more. I actually don't know what I smell here -- I can't say I am able to pick out any one note, or even identify the melange of smells I get, but I like it! I wish now that I'd got more decants -- I was iffy about a lot of them, and they've all turned out well, so now I wish I'd experimented a bit more. This one is the front-runner, though.

Got this as a frimp, and didn't know what the notes were: one sniff and MELON. There's a bit of mint in there, and the faintest whiff of citrus, but they're way behind the melon. Usually that's a smell that makes me queasy in scent, but it seems to work fine with the other notes to ground it, I guess. What a nice surprise!

Always wanted to try this, and was glad the resurrected came up, but wow, this is not my kind of scent. It almost makes me kind of queasy. I seem to have weird foodie scent relationships.

This is really pretty on me -- I've found most of the Shungas and the Salons that are Asian-inspired almost impossible to tell apart. There are only a few standouts that I feel have been worth keeping because they smell very distinguishable, and this would be one of them. Possibly it's how prominent the honey is, since that's a favorite note for me. The pepper adds a bit of a kick. Definitely a keeper.

The caraway is the note I wanted from this, but it goes away within about a minute and it's mostly saffron and... something else. Not that that's bad, but caraway is one of my favorite tastes and I was so excited to have a smellie with that note! Dangit. Someone said this is dry and dusty, and I think that sums it up very well, once that caraway note is gone. Kind of... golden?

I don't know for certain which of the notes is not working on me, but this is definitely a beeswax scent that doesn't work -- which surprises me. I was most excited about this one, but there seems to be something in the "tropical" kind of florals that never works for me, and I wonder if it isn't neroli. Rats. This is the only VDiMV I got!

I am freaking creeped out by Jack in the Boxes so I'm amused that one of my favorite scents this year is Diable en Boite. I'm sort of afraid of buying a bottle, but I have to -- this is mad pash love for me. The redwood starts out wet smelling like fresh-cut rosewood, but then settles down once dry into smelling like redwood bark, which is really a heavenly smell to me. The clove, as in But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light, isn't as nasty as I expected, and the tobacco, musk, and peach kind of round it out and sweeten it up. This is so unusual and so... BPAL, really. Just amazing and unique and nothing like any other blend I've ever smelled.

Wow. But Men Loved Darkness really loves me. I was afraid because of the clove that I would get that stinging spice note that makes my eyes water and makes me sneeze like mad, but it's just very warm and clovey without being sharp. I can smell so many things I know and some that I don't, but they all work together. Someone said that it has a lot of notes they have in other blends, but this smells nothing like those. And that is very true: Nothing else that I have, even though I favor these types of notes, smells anything like this. I'm genuinely surprised how much I like this.

I don't know what to think of this one. I love gardenia and don't mind it being in my face, but this one isn't rounded, it feels very sharp and strident. Possibly it's the geranium note making it that way, I'm so terrible with picking things out. Or maybe it's the bergamot, not a death note but definitely not a favorite. I think I will let this one sit for a while and see what it's like a bit later. I feel like it should be wonderful, and when I catch the gentler whiff of gardenia after it's been on for a while, I can almost smell something I like, but it's not right there yet.

Oh, wow. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I've never come across cubeb before, and didn't know what to expect, so I was surprised that it is citrusy. I was a little afraid of the cardamom, since that and nutmeg just come out as intense cinnamon on me (why, I don't know), but I barely detect it here. It has a soft throw, but it seems to linger for a really long time on my wrist. I think bottle for sure, since this is one I'll want to slather. I can't believe how honey-licious this is and the citrus aspect just peps it up even more. The honey is as intense as Honey Moon, I think, but where that one is a big blast of flowers first before it settles into honey, this one is just up in your grill honey and an almost lemon-balmy citrus. So beautiful. Kudos to Beth and the team on this one.

Oh holy crap. This is GORGEOUS. I had expected I might like it, hoping that the chocolate aspect would be tamed by the other notes, and it totally is. Chocolate often nauseates me in scent, but this is so subtle and light and just perfect with the plum. OTOH, I'm annoyed that I like it so much. ;-) I was seriously hoping that all the Yules, District, and Miskatonics would be bad for me, but now I've found this and Crib Girls and I'm going to have to get bottles for certain. Even though this smells nothing like Poison or Opium, in some strange way, Countess Willie reminds me of those. They were my major fragrances for years (the perfume, though, not the eau de perfume or toilette, which smelled different to me), and there's a dark, kind of mysterious and spicy quality to this that conjures up memories of how those perfumes smelled to me. This might even become a favorite.

Oh! I like this one! I kind of expected I might, but after having so much luck with so many different woods, the past year has seen one blend after another with woods in it turn hideous on my menopausal skin. But this one is still pretty soft with none of the bitter bite. It's not quite the new Be-All Blend I hoped for, but it's definitely lovely.

Right now, the resurrected 2008 is just smelling like Snake Oil to me, which is really disappointing, as I can't stand SO. The original didn't smell that way to me at all. I think the amber is just really amped up here, which comes out as powdery to me and not a note I usually enjoy. Gah. I'm definitely going to let these sit for a while and hope that aging and settling will bring back that Snake Charmery goodness again. If it doesn't, I will be crying copious amounts of tears.

Oh, reading this has been very informative. I couldn't figure out why this wasn't what I expected -- it's not at all pleasant to me, very store perfumey/powdery, but the comments about osmanthus (which I could not remember what it was for the life of me) make total sense. I can catch vaguely the other notes, but they're overpowered by the one I don't like. I think this is a more... traditional scent, I guess, than I was expecting.

I definitely love this smoky blend -- it reminds me a lot of Mad Meg, which I love, and the Philosopher in Meditation, although definitely less sweetness than the latter blend has. I think this is one of the few blends with vetiver that didn't make my nose wrinkle in sharp disgust. I've always liked the smell of smoke, of camp fires and brush fires and lanterns that have just gone out, but I know that's a fairly unusual taste. I'm glad for the smoky scents like this one.

I don't get the orange note at all, but that's okay, because the beeswax more than makes up for it. I absolutely love that scent (there's a lovely French soap made with royal jelly that I love because of the smell, but I've never been able to find anything where that's the predominant note), so this makes me very happy. Beeswax candles and smokey goodness. Very cozy, as someone said above.