ghostnaming

Djinn was a bust for me, unfortunately. In the imp it's all sharp woodsmoke, which I was really excited about. But the second it hits my skin it turns into salt and soap. And then stays that way. For hours. I guess I don't play well with vetiver?

Chamomile tea and honey! This scent has a lot of positive associations for me. The tonka comes out pretty quickly, giving just a slightly spicy, vanilla edge to the honey. I have no idea what hyssop smells like, but research tells me that it's herbal, in some ways basil-like. I do get a little bit of herbs as it dries and the intensity of the honey dies down. I am ALL ABOUT anything that smells like honey or beeswax, and this turned out to be a really excellent blind bottle. The honey stays natural, it doesn't become cloyingly sweet, and there's something herbal/sweet about it that makes it intriguing. What a great summer scent.

Wet, it's all amber and cocoa, quite spicy. As it dries the myrrh, honey, and cardamom turn into a gorgeously sweet incense. It goes just a little dusty at the end as the amber becomes more prominent, but it's a very nice kind of dust. This is warm sweet cozy goodness. It's like putting on a favorite sweater in the fall. Very low throw, but it lasts all day on my skin. While it's not too warm for the summer, I know I'll be reaching for it even more often once the weather gets cool.

Wet, this is super foody! Sweet spicy pumpkin bread, heavy on the vanilla and honey. Dry, I get notes of vanilla, cranberry, fig, and something spicy that is either frankincense or carnation. It's much more culinary now, closer to the smell of raw pumpkin. Weirdly enough, this faded and then came back stronger. It disappeared around 10 hours, but after about 12 hours it smells like comforting culinary spices, reminiscent of hectic holiday cooking. I'm going to assume that this was a combination of the cranberry, frankincense, and red musk. Zero pumpkin, at this point. This scent is better suited for fall. Usually my skin amps sweet scents like nobody's business, but apparently it goes even harder for spices?

Wet, it's overwhelmingly sweet and dry, almost like a handful of smarties candy. No hint of powder or florals. Very strong, almost headache-inducingly so. When dry, it smells like a sweet desert, all prickly pear and sand. Over time it becomes a dry, sweet floral. 5 hours in it's almost completely gone, unless I stick my wrist directly under my nose. On me this was a sweeter, more floral version of Tenochctitlan. I'll be reaching for it in the summer, but I don't need a bottle as florals are not my favorite thing.

Okay, so if you've ever worked in a barn before, there's a really specific smell right after the saddles get oiled and treated. This is that smell, and I absolutely love it. As it dries there's something in the background that's sharper, almost cologne-like, which I think is the rosin coming through. Soft, warm leather. A little sweetness. A pinch of rosin to keep you on your toes. Of course this is what a rogue would smell like. The sharp rosin fades as time passes. It's all sweet soft leather and dry hemp on my skin. I love it. Although it would be a very comforting fall scent, it actually reminds me most of the summers I spent teaching horseback riding. To me, this smells like practicality, versatility, and comfort. This rogue knows what she's doing- how to get in and out of places she shouldn't be- and the rest of the group trusts her skills implicitly.

Aphrodite is right, this goes through an incredible process as the scent develops. Wet on my skin, this is sharply green and herbal, like the smell when you snap off a branch on a tomato plant in the middle of the summer. It is initially very similar to Jersey Devil- that same green garden scent, but it's touched with a soft sweetness. Being unfamiliar with soma and asphodel, it's hard for me to identify these notes. Once dried, the sweetness remains but the greenness/herbs have been replaced by ozone. Just a touch of... spiciness? Yeah. Spiciness is still there, which is probably frankincense. It's airy and misty and good, and it reminds me of early mornings harvesting from the garden, when the sun is out but the dew hasn't yet dried. Gorgeous.

Wet, it smells like blackberry and pine. As it dries the sharp bitterness of the tomato leaf really comes to the forefront. It stays on my skin for a grand total of one hour before disappearing, and I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble to reapply. BPAL has a lot of other gorgeous forest-y scents with much better staying power.

Received as a frimp. Wet, this smells exactly like a slightly salty version of Irish Springs soap. Dry, it's a very intense salty, aquatic cologne with a rusty red note. Unfortunately it gives me a headache when I wear it, but it would smell really good on someone else!

Starts off as very strong wood and pine sap, but slowly morphs into a beautifully sweet blend of honey, musk, and berries. Once it's dry it doesn't have much throw, but the scent hangs around for close to 8 hours. It reminds me of quiet, almost reverent walks through the woods as a child. If Lothlorien smells like anything, it's this.

Oh yes. This smells like apples both initially and as it dries. Very crisp. It's like the end of the last really cold spell of the year, as the weather starts to turns. Clean and sweet, with a very light herbal scent. The apples are where it's at.

This is gorgeous. On my skin it smells like berries and... green? Not pine, but just the woods, huge trees and berries. Clean, too- not soapy at all. I'm definitely scooping up a bottle soon.

Oh man, this is not for me. On my skin this smells like nothing for about 30 minutes, then smells like hot metal and a touch of powder. Almost completely faded after 3 hours, and it's not a pleasant enough scent for me to want to reapply it. Bummer!

In the imp: Sweet, juicy peaches. Very sugary. Wet: So peachy and sweet that it's almost giving me headache, but that dies down pretty quickly into a softer, brightly sweet smell. The best thing I can compare it to is walking out of a dark room into very bright sunlight. Dry: Still very sweet, but I'm also beginning to catch a faint whiff of the bergamot and oakmoss. It took about half an hour to mellow out. At this point it smells like I'm carrying a peach pie through a forest. I'm really getting the fae-ness of this, that weird ethereal line between sweetness and darkness. Verdict: Fae went from bright and sweetly innocent to sweetly woodsy, eventually edging into a darker and earthier scent. Initially it's almost overwhelming but I really like the dry-down. I may need a bottle.

This is both my first review and my first time wearing anything from BPAL! In the imp: It's like holding a lemon poppyseed muffin under my nose. No just kidding, that's marzipan, although for some reason I'm smelling something a little citrus-y. Other than that, it's very sweet, very creamy. Wet: On my skin the faint citrus note completely disappears. Sweet almonds and a touch of oatmeal. The smell is very light, but I do catch a whiff of it on my clothes. Dry: This smells like Italian wedding cookies, or marzipan with a little powdered sugar mixed in. What is this sudden powdery smell? I usually hate powdery scents, but somehow I love this. It's like walking into my grandmother's kitchen. It's gone in a flash, though- lasted maybe three hours before I couldn't even smell it with my wrist pressed to my face. Verdict: Really nice, comforting scent. In a way I like the lightness of it, but I wish it didn't fade quite so quickly. I'm still learning about what scents do/don't work on my skin, and this one seemed to work well other than how quickly it disappeared.