ramblingrambler

Wet, I wouldn't want to wear this—it is both innocent and seductive, with its plum and carnation in play, underscored by the musk. But when it dries down, I'm taken with it. Dry, it becomes luxurious, striking. It is drama and pure confidence. This probably very odd, but... Though it doesn't *smell* like Caesar's Palace's/Luxor's/MGM namesake scents, it reminds me instead of the bold, lush interiors of these hotel-casinos and the women who likely find themselves standing next to men throwing gobs of money at the games. I have no idea why it calls forth this association for me, but it does.

In imp, it's more fierce and striking, a warm but crisp scent wafting out at me. On application, wet, it softens only slightly, maintaining a striking, crisp scent. As it dries, softening further, white heady florals come out and the crisp element seems to smooth out into billows. Lovely. Not for me, but I can see my mother loving the hell out of it.

Immediate application yields sweet fruits drizzled with caramel and toffee and cream, but almost just as suddenly the fruits fade and leaves an intense sugared caramel/toffee single note throughout wear. Those who call this a creme brûlée scent are not far off, though I would wager to say the sugar is less toasted and creme more prominent. This would be a foodie dream—but alas, though a foodie lover, I find it is too overwhelming with cream-based foods for me.

Each time I wear this, I am reminded of a jungle scene by Rousseau. I'm not sure how to describe the scent except for heady, dark, and fruity. Utterly delicious, and yes, slightly deceptive.

I haven't the faintest idea why, but this reminds me of a woodsy, herbal Morocco. It's far more masculine than Morocco, but there's still some sort of wispy, blendy, wafty feeling to it, if you have any idea what I mean. Smells green, feels golden. It's beautiful!

This is actually slightly citrusy on me. It's a bright, crisp, airy floral with a citrus background. Perhaps something green thrown in, grassy and somewhat sharp, keeps it from being overly feminine. It's lovely and clean, and I'll be using the rest of my imp now that it's warm weather from now until October... though clearly it wont last me that long.

I just won an eBay auction from the Lab, so I guess it's Lab "fresh," but it's still aged. Unfortunately, though a beautiful fragrance, this simply does not work for me, period. I tend to wear deeply anchoring sents (earthy with dark patchouli or musks) or cutesy (Jailbait), fruity (Yipe!) scents. This is neither. The only way to describe Clarimonde is ethereal. It is light and airy, wispy but very, very present. I can't quite place the notes because they all blend together extremely well. I close my eyes and think of spectral visions. It makes sense, I suppose, since this was a Weenie. Someone will like this a lot. Sadly, that person isn't me. Off to swaps!

This is a beautiful blend, light and crisp but with a smooth leather finish. I can't place my finger on it, but one of the GC scents smells similar, which is why I'm trading this one with another member—I remember finding the GC lovely but not reaching for it often enough. Still, if you're looking for a white tea and citrus Luper, this would be the one.

I was expecting a Guatamalan Coffee note tempered with cream and lots of sugar from the other junk food, but instead I got... honeyed tobacco? As it moves to drydown, it's still predominantly honeyed tobacco but with brown sugar and cinnamon mixed in. As it disappears into nothing, it's just a softer and softer version of itself. ETA: Tested again today and thought "My goth, this is a strong tobacco scent! Is this a mislabeled bottle? I need to go check the forums to see what this was supposed to be..." and here I am, last review, so I decided to update. In the eight months it has been aging, it has not lost any of that honeyed tobacco, and, in fact, I think the tobacco might have even kicked up a notch. It's less a honeyed version now and much more a caramelly tobacco. I used to be a BIG fan of that note, but now it does funny things to me. As much as I wanted this to be a coffee I could love, I just have to swap it out.

Gluttony wears all the way through as Snickerdoodles mixed with craft store in winter on me all the way through. I wish I got the coffee or chocolate note others mention, but there is none to be found on me. While this is a pleasant fragrance for winter, it's currently 95+ degrees outside and makes me want to wash it off. Very much a winter scent to me! I wonder if my bottle is mislabeled...

Brown Jenkin was all wood on me, very masculine and overpowering, so I had to pass it on to my boyfriend, who smells intensely of cherry pipe tobacco (not listed, but still comes out) and suede arm patches---a very "history professor" (or archaeologist, from above? Indiana Jones, mayhaps?) scent for my political science professor partner. This was the first BPAL he was convinced was made with him in mind. <3

Sweet amber and golden honey, cream accord, blue lilac, and a drop of cardamom. In bottle, I smell nothing but honey and lilac. Wet, it's a blast of the same, and it's a heavy heavy heavy cloud of scent around me. Into drydown, it becomes soapy and powdery, soft but still very present and expansive. Cave of Treasures wears with longevity, about eight hours, until it's just a trace of softness on the skin.

Oh! Interesting and so lovely, Yggdrasil is. My nose has been held hostage my its arresting scent: misty woods at first dawn, or maybe dusk. It starts bone chillingly cold, almost a snow note, but warms up surprisingly fast—maybe five minutes—melting the snow and immediately turning to mist in a piney, cedary forest. As it moves toward dry down, crushed leaves and herbs I can't quite place present themselves as the sun seems to warm them more, fading the chilly note (what I assume now to be menthol). By the end of wear, it's day time, and the woods are no longer lovely, dark, and deep, but instead inviting, mossy, and green. It recedes into a light almost citrusy woods finish. This is a forest I would love to live by. Talk about transcendental. I only have an imp, but I am moving this to my DISO list.

Vetiver should have ruined this for me, but thank all things good and righteous, it behaved itself and made me rejoice at this scent. Tombeur is warm, sexy, and soft. It doesn't scream "look at me," but it purrs "ravage me" in the dead of night. Slinky, sultry, and full of sex. Yes, yes, yes.

Mmmmm. Leather Snake Oil. This is Snake Oil's sexy, leather-clad cousin. To be honest, I prefer Snake Skin to Snake Oil. The leather really tempers it for me. I'll be buying several back up bottles. Because dayum.

This is... Smut? I wonder if I got a mislabeled Smut, because there is *no* fruitiness here. I was super excited for the cherry, but there's none to be found. Don't get me wrong, I love Smut as much as the next person, but the addition of fruit sounded even more devilishly delightful. Ah, well. I'm keeping it, but I'll be layering it with Incubus/Succubus for the fruit (try it out; it's yummy!).

Oh, goodness. I think this might replace Red Lace as my favorite BPAL fragrance. They're nothing alike, I know, but Blood & Judgment is so incredibly good. I have two bottles stored away for aging, and I just resurrected one today. It's delicious. In the bottle, it's slightly peppery leather with a sweet undertone. Wet, however, it's almost a leather single note. I was worried it wouldn't fade and bloom into other notes, as leather stayed prominent for at least 45 minutes, but afterward... Oh. Oh, my! It is the most delectable soft brown leather background to a gorgeous sweet, soft bouquet of Tonka, almond, and amber in equal proportions so well blended! It is so worth the 45 minutes of pure leather to get to the six hours of pure bliss. Extreme dry down reminds me slightly of Dorian's dry down: a soft cloud fading into wisps of nothing.

Mrs. Grose is heavenly on extreme drydown. I wish she would begin where she ends. I am in looooove with the last hour or two of wear. The first two hours it's very strong black tea followed by what I think is rosehips? Only about six hours in does the spice come out. It's soft, barely detectable spice, but it's there. And just as suddenly, a few hours later, it's gone. If you're a tea lover, this would work for you. I'm only so-so on tea (Tea & Music is my favorite blend), so I'm a fan when other notes appear to give it some depth and intrigue. I've had her for a long time, so I'll keep her around for some more to see where she goes.

This is one of my very favorite BPAL scents, so much so that I have hoarded the precious with five back-up bottles. I think it's time for me to let some go, as my collection is sprawling, and I'm only to the bottom of bottle #2. Eeep! :x This scent makes me feel frisky and playful and gives me confidence I don't usually have in my daily life. This makes me feel like a well-respected, fancy lady wearing a power-suit... with lacy, racy red undergarments underneath, just waiting to get home and let her hair down. Heeee. My bottles are six years aged, and though the scent is slightly different with every year, it's still just as good. Now it's mostly a crisp linen with musk and patchouli... and a tinge of vanilla and fruit. It lasts for four to five hours but wears strong the entire time. Love love love Red Lace. I want to hoard until the cows come home, but now I'm thinking about letting someone else out there love it with me... there can't be too many of these floating around any more, eh?

On me, this is all honey, all the time. I am notorious for amping honey notes, but it takes about three hours before anything else displays itself, and at that point, it's white tea (love), but the wear is mostly over by then. White tea visits for about an hour and a half, and then it's honey again. Honey lovers, especially if you amp it, will love this. For me, I have to let it go, because I wanted more white tea. It was beautiful and crisp when it was around. ETA: I gave it another go because I had used it fresh from mail like we're not supposed to . Having sat for a week, it was glorious. Pure and simple beauty. I've been using it daily because it's a phenomenal spring/summer scent, and I'm already about half-way through the bottle. It's delicate and well balanced and so refreshing. I liked it so much I bought a backup bottle to age and bring out next summer!

Mmmm, I love this. It's a deep, spicy, sweet, musky scent. I'm all aboard this perfume train! On application, it's all deep musk with just a hint of sweetness. Dry, it is predominantly musk and leather, still with a whisper of sweet spiciness. As it fades, it becomes almost ghostly... dark but powdery. LOVE.

Interestingly, wet on skin this combination smells like what I imagine a single note of the Lab's pipe tobacco to smell like. I can't separate anything out at all. It simply smells like pipe tobacco. Huh. Later, though, on drydown, it loses the single note feeling and has a bouquet of cinnamon, tonka, and fig. I get no leather at all throughout wear, and I'm not sure if the mandrake or broom straw comes out---I imagine broom straw would have a scent similar to hay (none of that) and mandrake to have... I don't even know what sort of scent, but I do know that it's said to be hallucinogenic and anticholinergic (take your choline, folks!), so probably some trippy-ass scent association with swirly-whirly purples, blues, and pinks, and I don't get any of that. Ultimately, this one wont be a bottle buy, but it isn't bad.

Usually I love fruity scents, and this fragrance was one I was most looking forward to wearing. Sadly, the peach does weird things on my skin, and makes the rest of this otherwise delicious fragrance wear strange. It's a white/orange fragrance, if that means anything to you, and these colors are in competition. They're head to head and fighting over who wins.

Oh, man. I wanted to love this because four of five notes are bangin' awesome on me. Unfortunately, the one note that is not awesome on me destroys it. Of course it would work like that. Everything but the balsam peru sings harmoniously together. And then that pesky note sticks out like a sore thumb. And it makes me so sad since I really wanted this one to work. If you're into the rest of the notes and don't have a problem with balsam peru, then it should be a consideration for at least an imp somewhere.

I don't know if I've ever had more of an instant word connection in my head than while smelling this. The first thing that popped into my brain was "FRENCH." I mean, obviously the title's french, but whoa, the scent reminds me of something I would smell in France. It's extremely... well, French. I don't even know how to describe it otherwise. It smells like high-quality perfume.