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BPAL Madness!

labeth

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Everything posted by labeth

  1. labeth

    MVJBA: Pancake Breakfast

    In the bottle: Definitely pancakes, but with a lot of the boysenberry overtaking it. Wet: BOYSENBERRY. On wrist: The boysenberry has settled down a bit and let the pancakes come out. This is fortuitous, because after the Eat Me comparisons, I was scared this was going to go like Bloody Mary on my wrist, incredibly sweet and fruity. If I sniff my wrist directly, it's strong, but if I just sit here and let it waft naturally, I get more of the pancake scent, so it seems like the boysenberry is strong, but doesn't have a lot of throw. The resulting scent is very pleasant and breakfasty, although I think waffles more than pancakes, just because I'm a waffle person. It's definitely one I'm going to hold on to.
  2. labeth

    Queen Alice

    A very spicy floral, and not flowery enough to turn me (a big foodie and generally a flower hater) off. Really great. This one could be an eventual bottle. I'll see how much of the imp I go through.
  3. labeth

    Pumpkin III (2007)

    I don't know if this will make sense to anyone else, but Pumpkin III smells like Starbuzz Pumpkin Pie Shisha Tobacco. Almost exactly. And that stuff tastes awesome, so it's a great association to have. I guess the best way to describe it is pumpkin and spices with a hint of fruity tobacco. The chocolate is definitely there and quite nice. This one's a bottle for me.
  4. labeth

    Pumpkin I (2007)

    I'm really sad about this one, because I do really like it, and it has a lot of notes I'm really fond of in it, but my skin just eats it within an hour, so I can't justify picking up a whole bottle. Aww. At first, it's very Jack-- pumpkin and butter, hardcore. Then, as others have said, it backs down after a while and moves on to the pear and tea scents. I don't get much grape. This is a very nice scent, but it lasts no time on me. Sad.
  5. labeth

    Dragon's Heart

    I got this as a frimp with my 'Holy Crap, Fall Scents' order, and was quite happy about it. I've always kind of wanted to try one of the Dragon scents, but had stayed away from buying, since I had no idea what the Dragon's Blood Resin ingredient was supposed to smell like. This one is kind of like a deeper Eat Me-- the currentey sweet smell is there, but the musks kind of make it a bit more like a Snake Oil type smell on me. I kind of like it, but my fiancee thinks it smells like bathroom air freshener.
  6. labeth

    October

    Oh, October. I wish I could have loved you. One of my favorite things in the world is the smell of fall, and this does have some of that going for it, and is pretty nice when it does, but most of the time it strikes me as astringent and manly, and then, after about an hour, it completely vanishes altogether. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to pass on this one, but maybe I can trade it for something else from this update when I get the decants I signed up for, so perhaps it's all for the best.
  7. labeth

    Samhain

    (This is for the '07 Samhain) In Bottle: I have no idea what to say this smells like. I couldn't tell if I'd like it or not. Wet (stage 1): Kind of incensey and woody. Dry (stage 2): Spicy mulled cider. After Doing Sweaty Yoga (stage 3): Chocolate? Having Dried Off and Become Less Sweaty (stage 4): Honey A Few Hours Later (stage 5): Still going, morphing between the cider, chocolate, and honey smells alternately. This lasted forever and morphed more than any BPAL I have ever tried. I'm definitely keeping this-- it's way too interesting to try and figure out what it's going to do next to sell or swap it.
  8. labeth

    Sugar Skull

    This is for the new Sugar Skull (07). I haven't tried any of the previous years', so unfortunately I can't contrast and compare. I really like this, though. In the bottle: very much a baking-type smell, with a faint undercurrent of fruit. Sugar cookies, burnt just a little on the bottom. On my skin, wet: The sugar smell is at the forefront, but the berries come out a little more, and so does a smell that's almost herbal (like the herbal baking spices type smell of Verdandi, sort of) or cinnamony. The herbal smell rounds it out nicely. On my skin, dry: After a half hour or so, the berry has backed off some, and the maple and cinnamon smells took over. A bit like a plate of apple cinnamon waffles. Verdict: Tasty and good.
  9. labeth

    Devil's Claw

    Frimp from the lab. Uh... sharp cologne and vicks vap-o-rub. Not pleasant on me at all. Bye bye, Devil's Claw.
  10. labeth

    Severin

    It's been a while since I tried Severin, but I forgot to post a review, so I'll put up what I remember. I bought Severin off of someone on the forum because I have had generally good luck with BPAL's tea-related scents thus far. However, the leather note in this one unfortunately spoiled my track record there. It smelled like someone spilled a cup of tea on someone's new leather couch. While that isn't necessarily a bad smell, I don't particularly want to smell like furniture.
  11. labeth

    Bayou

    A lazy, warm deep green scent with a thick aquatic undertone: Spanish moss, evergreen and cypress with watery blue-green notes and an eddy of hothouse flowers and swamp blooms. I got Bayou as a frimp from the lab, and, in the gender debate here, I have to go with thinking it smelled pretty masculine. It's woodsy and just a little bit aquatic, and I barely get any florals at all. It's nice, but I don't think I'd keep it-- strikes me as too manly.
  12. labeth

    Psyche

    I got this as a Frimp from the lab, and tried it on without knowing what was in it. My immediate reaction was "it smells like white... but purple. So light purple." So apparently I'm pretty much exclusively picking up on the lavender and white musk-- which is actually pretty nice! It's very feminine without being childish. I'm not a fan of floral in general, but I'll probably keep this.
  13. labeth

    Bastet

    Unused - I think it's the amber that I primarily smell in the imp. Wet - Oooh, cherry-almond! With a slight floral edge, but not floral enough to bother me. It sort of reminds me of the floral in Euterpe, although the two share no notes in common that I can tell. Later - amber and almond, soft and spicy. This isn't going to be a bottle, just because it's not really something I could see myself going through a whole bottle of, but it's very nice and I'm keeping the imp.
  14. labeth

    The Pool of Tears

    In the bottle, it has a somewhat soapy smell, which means that I knew that it would probably be pretty unisex. I don't tend to go for oceanic sorts of scents, so I didn't anticipate liking this one much. On me, it's a very light scent (the floral, but it's not too floral) with an aquatic, soapy note right along side of it. None of the notes overpower the other, it's very balanced. It's a nice blend, and my compliments to Beth on it, but it's not really my style, so I'll probably trade it off.
  15. labeth

    Green Tree Viper

    In the bottle, it's very minty and snakey and quite nice. Wet, the snake oil is in charge here, with an undercurrent of mint. It's a smooth mint, and doesn't go plasticky like some do on me. Later on, the snake oil backs down a bit and the mint keeps going. The whole effect is very light, for a snake oil blend, but it does last pretty much all day. I'm kind of sad that I never get the bergamot in this really. But I know the snakes age well, so maybe if I give it some time, it'll give me my bergamot.
  16. labeth

    Boomslang

    Snake Oil with cocoa, teakwood, and rice milk. In the bottle: chocolate snake oil. I've never seen a darker colored BPAL oil. Fresh on: Chocolatey and creamy in a sort of nice-smelling pipe tobacco way. I happen to like the smell of pipe tobacco, so I'm fine with this. Several hours later: Still very nice. Has become softer and a bit more spicy. Milky smell very evident in a nice hot cocoa way. Verdict: This is great. I got a bottle of it for a decant circle, but I'm sure I'll stock up on some more before the Carnival leaves.
  17. labeth

    Kumiho

    I put off trying this one, because the scent in the bottle made me a little nervous-- some lighter scents like that either go overly floral on me or smell like bathroom soap. This, thankfully, does neither. It's very much white tea and ginger, and it's very pleasant. This is my first experience with a ginger note, but I've always been big on BPAL tea scents. It's a great blend and not overpowering at all. It has just enough throw to be noticable, but not so much that my very-sensitive-to-strong-odors fiancee was put off-- he actually likes it a lot. Like Gennivre, this seems like a very good summer scent. I don't know if I want a bottle, but I'm keeping the imp. We'll see how I like it later.
  18. labeth

    Mata Hari

    I like vanilla and coffee and jasmine, so I thought I'd give Mata Hari a shot-- also, I had to, just for the name. Well, I'm not getting any vanilla or coffee-- just jasmine and rose, amping like crazy. It's way, way floral on me, which is decidedly not my thing. There is a nice rich background to this, which is pleasant, but I just can't deal with all that rose.
  19. 13 is a very tasty cinnamon chocolate also.
  20. labeth

    Bakeneko

    This one was pretty quiet on me as well-- I'm used to the in-your-face cinnamon of 13, so Bakeneko seemed a little lackluster to me, unfortunately. It wasn't bad or anything, and I may keep the decant, but I think that in practice I would probably end up reaching for my bottle of 13 way more than I would bother with this. The primary smells are the cinnamon and the orange-- I don't get much tea at all, which is disappointing, because I'm a big fan of tea blends. It comes out a little more after it's been on for a while, but it's never particularly strong. I put it on at night and I could still smell it in the morning until I took my shower, so I guess this one has a lot of staying power, which is a bonus, but it's just not making my favorites list.
  21. labeth

    Calliope

    Calliope was the muse I thought I would most like, because I'm a fan of citrus, mint, and bergamot, and out of the three I've tried, she is. There was a bit of buying-for-the-name here, since I was a literature major in college with a big emphasis on epic poetry. Calliope is a bit floral in the imp, so I was unsure about trying it. I'm not a florals fan in general. Wet, it starts out strong on lemon and lavender. Later on, the lavender backs off some, but the lemon stays strong-- it reminds me in the dryer stage of Yuki-Onna. I don't think I would get a bottle of this, because I have a bottle of Yuki-Onna and I like that better, but it might be an acceptable subsitute for when I one day run out. Overall, I'm pretty pleased, but I'm going to hold off on a bottle until there is no chance of getting any Yuki-Onna.
  22. labeth

    The Hesperides

    As I mentioned in my review of Poisoned Apple, I got that, Verdandi, and the Hesperides to pit against each other in APPLE DEATH MATCH. The apple is still clear (similar to the fresh apple in Posioned Apple,) but for me it's muddled somewhat by the woody smell, which I guess just isn't my thing. It also didn't last particularly long, but that's true of both the other apples I tried. If you like woody smells in general, though, this might be the apple for you. Someone said it's like walking through an apple orchard, and that's pretty fair. Unfortunately, The Hesperides is clearly the loser. Verdandi was warm and spicy, Poisoned Apple was crisp and fresh. The Hesperides is somewhere in the middle, and to me lacks something compared to the other two. I think this one will be a trader.
  23. labeth

    Maenad

    I got this as a frimp from the lab, and I was excited to try it because I really like strawberries and carnation seems one of the only florals that works on me. This one is very morphy. In the imp it mostly just a sweet fruity smell. Once I put it on, it started out extremely acrid, and I considered washing it off. But, considering all the people who mentioned how much this one changes, I left it on a wihle longer. After a few minutes, the sharp scent backed off some, and it became a very light strawberry. This one's not a whole bottle for me, but I'll keep the imp. I feel like it'll be nice for mid-summer.
  24. labeth

    Gennivre, L’Artiste du Diable

    I can't believe I forgot to review this one! I got this as a decant a while back during my quest to acquire anything with a tea note in it. To me, Gennivre is like a way more complex cousin to White Rabbit-- it has the same sort of tea smell to me, but instead of the linen smell it offers a really wonderful blend of citrus, mint, and a little bit of floral. It's extremely well-blended and I really love it. I've almost completely drained the decant at this point and have had to order a bottle. Really, this is a fantastic scent.
  25. labeth

    Zephyr

    Given the description, I expected this one to be very soft and barely there, so I put a decent amount on compared to the drop-on-the-wrist method I usually use when trying out imps. This was apparently not the best idea, because this stuff has way more throw than I would have thought. It's a very floral, powdery white smell, with the barest hint of vanilla. I'm not getting any lemon, really, just the vanilla and the florals. It's not bad, but I was hoping for more of the vanilla and lemon and less of the floral, so I don't think this'll be a keeper. Later on, it calms down a lot and becomes pure powder. It stuck around all day, though.
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