Emera

Cry. No tea for me. I got about half an hour of pure peony from this - which was nice, but, well, just peony - then it flatlined. I wish I had enough on this to write a longer review, but that's really all that happened!

In the imp: Citrus and a little sting of lavender. On my skin: Hel-LO citrus! This is like being hit in the face with a squirt of the grapefruit-mint drink I bought a few days ago - juicy, refreshing. No throw at all, though. After the initial blast it calms down to bright, pale grapefruit, with a very soft, dewy herbal background. Later: Died pretty much instantly, unfortunately - I think my skin is too dry. Also, something in it gave me the tiniest rash (whoops). Wish it lasted longer, as it's such a summery treat!

In the imp: Holiday fruit and spice. Hm. On skin: This smells EXACTLY like an orange pomander - one of those dried oranges with cloves stuck into it. It's warm and sweet and firelight-y and cinnamony, which is unfortunate since I am not a big cinnamon fan - but things could always be worse. It has very little throw on me. Later: Still hanging on about two hours later, though very faint (I think my skin just drinks up oils); it's stayed true throughout. After 3 or 4 hours it's all but gone.

IN THE IMP – All calla lily, which for me is very astringent and commercial perfume-y. ON MY SKIN – Sort of a poof of cold-sweet herbal-floral, which hangs on for about five minutes before going completely cedar, with a tiny, wet herbal touch. It’s not a cold scent, but it’s steely somehow, foreboding and almost arrogant. LATER – Still going strong about 6 hours later, which is the longest a scent has lasted on me. Too strong for me, but definitely in-character!

I'm not a rose fan at all, but the description is just lovely, so here goes… IN THE IMP – Lots of rose, but it’s a soft, moony rose, just as in the description, with a crisp something that must be the moonflower. Pretty! None of the overwhelming decadence I normally associate with roses. ON MY SKIN – First second is a blast of pure rose, then the moonflower steps forward. Oh! So much prettiness. It’s crisp, almost spicy, and so delicate – a very blue-white scent. And wow. I guess dew really does smell like something, because I’m smelling it. Sometimes it’s more rose, sometimes it’s more moonflower, but it’s beautiful all the way through. A perfect scent for a humid summer day; this is the first BPAL I’ve had the impulse to slather on. LATER – Largely fades within three hours, though it stays true scentwise - so true to its description! Shame it doesn’t last longer!

This was a train-wreck on me from start to finish. Where are my mossy ponds and damp trees?? I'm glad I'm not the only one who got the weird mint thing, but mine went even further downhill after that. IN THE IMP: First five seconds or so gives me a noseful of this sour, fruity, rotting smell. I think this is the first occasion that I have had to call anything “putrid,” but that’s really the only thing I can think to call it. Then it clears to a shockingly “white” smell, very powdery-astringent, heading into a sharp, sharp mint. I get one whiff of something tantalizingly spicy and woody underneath, but whatever the white thing is, it’s blocking it. ON THE SKIN: All I’m getting is a blindingly sharp mint – reminds me of crushed Breath Savers, which is now roaming into airplane bathroom disinfectant land. What? I’m keeping this on longer in the hopes that it will do something nice, but it’s dangerously close to nauseating at this point. LATER: I kept on the airplane disinfectant thing for about half an hour before I just had to wash it off. (and as jakey reported, it’s even soap-resistant. Lovely.) The whole thing was so consummately bad that I can’t even begin to figure out which note went so wrong. I wonder if it’s the aquatics or one of the woods? I have a feeling this experience is going to haunt me.

IN THE IMP: Marzipan! Normally I hate marzipan, but this is a friendly, light, fresh marzipan – like a really delicate sweet. ON MY SKIN: Sweet, light cherries and cream – delicious! (and I was already hungry, too, darn it). I was hoping for the bowl-of-oatmeal-in-your-face several others mentioned, but this is definitely a yummy confection. Not something I’d really want to wear, but fun to smell. There’s a slightly plasticky, artificial note to the creaminess, but hardly noticeable. LATER: This fades REALLY quickly on me, quickly enough that again, it’s probably not really worth wearing. About 10 minutes in, it’s hardly more than a whiff of artificially-cherry-flavored sucking candy, but it’s so faint that it’s not objectionable, just sweet and yummy. It makes me feel like a little kid with sticky fingers in the summer, haha.

I was frimped this in my first BPAL purchase, and was immediately intimidated by the super-commercial scent coming off of what I THOUGHT was this, but I now suspect that the culprit was The Darkling Thrush, which ironically I thought would be “my” scent. IN THE IMP: I know almost none of these notes, so this is going to be very hand-wave-y. Sharp and clean (the citrus?) in an incensey way (the patchouli?), with a sere, earthy grounding scent (vetiver?) and a tiny bit of something creamy-sweet. I'm imagining wilting white lilies and crumbled incense on dry, bare earth. ON MY SKIN: I'm liking this much more than I thought I would. Something votive-sweet like beeswax, a very creamy note (the white musk?), under the clean, clear citrus [edit: the sharp, clear note is actually calla lily, I've realized]. A very pale scent. It's losing the beeswaxiness as it goes on. About 15 minutes in, the white musk, if that's what the creamy note is, is getting incredibly rich, almost overwhelmingly so - think half-melted butter with sugar mashed haphazardly into it. Ack, no! Come back, prettiness! LATER: After two or three hours, the buttery scent is gone, leaving just an astringent smell [edit: again, calla lily probably] -- not objectionable, but not particularly pleasing, either. Definitely better than I thought it would be, at least initially, but the last stages just don't work for me.

I don't know a lot of notes, so this is not going to be the most helpful of reviews... IN THE IMP: Generic sweet evergreen, with a bit of sharpness. I’m a little disappointed at this point, since it’s bordering on fakey holiday scent. ON SKIN: Yup, still holiday-like, edging toward those bowls of potpourri with cinnamon sticks and gilded pinecones in them. As it warms up, though, it rounds out and loses the fakeness. Spicy-woodsy, with a velvety-sweet undertone (the amber?) and the tiniest whisper of cold, gritty soil and clear floral. Now I can see the snowy trees, and the breath of violets. LATER: Verdict – not something I’d really want to wear (the top notes are strong enough to near headache triggers for me), but definitely a wintry, green scent. Pretty decent throw, too.

First BPAL review - hurrah? IN THE IMP: Sharp and fresh, like sandy, upturned earth a day after it’s rained. ON SKIN: Mellows out to a fresh, dusty-mineral bite on top of this incredibly pillowy, luxurious, creamy vanilla. I LOVE IT! It’s not as warm as I thought it would be, but it’s unusual and clean, in an earthy way, and comforting. How is this sharp and soft at the same time?? LATER: The mineral-sharpness is gone after maybe 45 minutes, leaving just the creamy vanilla. (I’m beginning to suspect that I amp vanilla notes. Which is far from objectionable, but, well, so vanilla!) Fades off after about three hours, though I can still smell the faintest vanilla well over 24 hours later - but I think I’m hypersensitive. This is definitely a keeper. Love it!