SurrealReality

In the Bottle: Holly, pine, sugared chestnuts, and hint of fruit punch (mostly orange) Wet on Skin: Holly, pine, sugared chestnuts, spice, and a hint of orange fruit punch Dry: Holly, pine, sugared chestnuts, spice, and hints of orange fruit punch and berry After about a 1/2 hr - holly, pine, pear (finally), sugared chestnuts (not as strong as before), orange fruit punch (stronger than before), spice, & a hint of berry After about 1 hr - pear (now the strongest note), holly, and hints of berry, orange fruit punch, and pine (the sugared chestnuts and the spice have disappeared) This is really not what I had expected or hoped for. I had thought it'd be a fruity/foody scent what with the pears, the plum pudding, the orange punch, and the berries. However, this scent is very green and nutty on me at first and finishes as very green and fruity. I never even smell a hint of plum pudding, which is the note I was hoping for the most

In the Bottle: Pine Cone!!!!! Lots and lots of pine cone….. also, there's a little amber, honey, and a touch of bayberry Wet on Skin: Pine Cone (not quite as strong as it was in the bottle), amber (starting to turn weird on me as usual), honey, cranberry, & bayberry Dry: Amber (oh god it's just awful on my skin), honey, pine cone (not nearly as strong as before), cranberry, & spice (no pumpkin pie unfortunately…. just the spice) Amber almost always does horrid things on my skin… sometimes it turns into powder, sometimes it turns into play-do, sometimes it turns into vinyl, and sometimes it turns into dirty socks. Unfortunately this has gone the dirty sock route. I gotta go wash this off STAT

In the Bottle: Dark fruit (not specifically fig though) with something sugary and a bit creamy Wet on Skin: Very dark fruit still with something sugary in the background, but the note is fainter and much less creamy than it was in the bottle Dry: Incredibly dark fruit with hints of sugar and holly The fruit note just continues to darken even after I think it can't possibly get any darker. After about 1 hr, it becomes an almost resinous note and both the sugar and the holly disappear completely I describe the fruit note as dark in my review for lack of a better word.... it's not at all sweet and it's not at all green. It's very heavy and devoid of light.... I would actually call it resinous. I can definitely see why Edens Sixth Day described this scent as she did.... I was hoping this would be a sweet foody scent. It's not

In the Bottle: Very strong tea (or perhaps it's the mate...). I really hate this note because it's overpowering and very bitter. There's also a hint of orange blossom Wet on Skin: Soooo much better - orange blossom (sweet, but a little green), vanilla, carnation, & tea (still just as bitter, but it's waaaay less noticeable) Dry: Orange Blossom, carnation, & vanilla. The tea (or mate.... whatever it was) is totally gone now!!! So, I'm a foody all the way. Since this isn't a foody scent, it's not quite my thing. A full bottle is a bit too much for me, but I would like to have a low partial lying around for the rare times when I'm in the mood for something outside of my norm

In the Bottle: Fruity (mostly orange, but there are definitely a few other fruits in here as well) & alcoholic with a hint of.... I could swear cinnamon Wet on Skin: The cinnamon is a lot stronger on than it was in the bottle, firewood (but no smoke), alcohol, & a hint of fruit Dry: sugary sweet cinnamon and lots of it, firewood, & hints of alcohol and fruit The cinnamon was unexpected.... since there's no cinnamon listed in the notes (and it doesn't look like sherry cobbler is meant to contain spice), I have to assume that I'm not really smelling cinnamon, but rather something else that my nose is reading as cinnamon. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of smoke, but this scent is too spicy for me For those of you who aren't sure what Sherry Cobbler is, it is NOT a dessert (as I originally thought before reading the whole description ). It's an alcoholic beverage usually made with sherry wine, sugar, and oranges

In the Bottle: Leather and red musk (very similar to one of the musk notes used in Smut) with hints of black pepper, pastry, and vanilla cream Wet on Skin: vanilla cream, leather, red musk, pastry (I'm not getting anything really specific here… just sort of a pie dough type note), & black pepper Dry: Pastry (again, nothing really specific… just pie dough), vanilla cream, leather, & red musk After about 1/2 an hr or so, the leather and red musk become stronger and the vanilla cream & pastry fade into the background This smelled strongly of leather and red musk in the bottle, but for a short time, this actually smelled the way I wanted it to on my skin - more foodie, less red musk/leather. However, that lovely foodie confection didn't last nearly long enough before the red musk/leather took over again I see that several other people have mentioned anise, licorice, & sarsaparilla. The blending of these notes does give a slight impression of those (personally I would say it's closest to sarsaparilla), but I don't think there's actually any in here

In the Bottle: Vanilla (not quite foody, but almost), white musk, and amber with a hint of earthly florals Wet on Skin: Earthy florals, white musk, and something sour…. really not sure what it is. Amber almost always does odd things on my skin, but sour would be something new….. Dry: Earthy florals (which I am now assuming is zdravetz), lighter florals, white musk, still with something very sour…… After about 1/2 hr the something sour pretty much smothers everything else It was pretty in the bottle, but really bad on my skin

In the Bottle: Balsam, sage, & lemon peel with hints of vanilla and pomegranate Wet on Skin: Whoa! Something in this is turning incredibly powdery on me! Sweet powder, lemon peel, balsam, sage, & a hint of pomegranate Dry: It's mostly sweet powder with hints of lemon peel, balsam, sage, & pomegranate After about 1/2 hr, the balsam and sage disappear leaving tons of sweet powder with hints of lemon peel and pomegranate After about 1 hr - pomegranate (stronger than before), red currant (can finally smell this note!), & sweet powder (considerably less prominent); the lemon peel has disappeared After about 1 1/2 hrs - pomegranate, mandarin (it's about time you showed up....), red currant, & a hint of sweet powder It was too masculine for me in the bottle, and while it was much sweeter and more feminine on my skin, it was also far too powdery during the first hour or so. Pass Edited because I can't spell....

In the Bottle: strawberries (I'm very picky with strawberry notes, and this is too fresh for me), cake, and hints of red rose and tea Wet on Skin: strawberries, red rose, and hints of cake and tea Dry: FLOWERS!!!!! Which is of course, exactly what I was hoping to avoid. I can't tell you exactly when they are, but I am sure the mixture includes white florals and probably daisies. Oh, and um…. also, there are still hints of strawberries, tea, and cake. Not for long though. After just a few minutes, the flowers overtake the entire scent When I first read the scent description, I didn't even wanna try it. The 'one-thousand imaginary flowers' scared me off. But then, I read the reviews and a lot of people said they could barely smell the flowers, so I decided to take a chance. Shoulda gone with my first instinct

In the Bottle: Not what I was hoping for. I've never liked the smell of rum (in perfumes anyway) because It reminds me of banana flavored bubble gum. I thought that since the rum in this is meant to be virgin, it might be ok. I was wrong. Sooo..... in the bottle banana flavored bubble gum (aka rum), butterscotch, and ice cream Wet on Skin: Rum, butterscotch, ice cream, & a hint of cheesecake crust (not the actual cheesecake mind you, just the crust) Dry: Lots and lots of rum, lots and lots of butterscotch (I like butterscotch, but this is just too much of it at once), cheesecake crust, & just a hint of ice cream. After about 1/2 hr, the cheesecake crust get far stronger and the rum gets considerably weaker. After about 1 hour, I can finally smell just a tiny hint of cheesecake, but it never gets stronger than that I had wanted an ice cream and cheesecake scent with a little crust and butterscotch and only a touch of rum. What I got was a rum, butterscotch, and crust scent with only touches of ice cream and cheesecake

Side by Side Reviews of Mabon '04 & Mabon 2010 (hope this is allowed in the 2010 thread) Mabon '04 in the Bottle: Smooth, sweet (but not sugary) blackberry, apple cider, and a hint of apple blossom Mabon 2010 in the Bottle: Hops, chamomile, and sage are the strongest notes, followed by sweetgrass, nuts, apple, a few other herbs, and a tiny hint of blackberry Mabon '04 Wet on Skin: Smooth, sweet (but again not sugary) blackberry, apple cider, and hints of myrrh, oak bark, and perhaps a tiiiiny hint of sage Mabon 2010 Wet on Skin: Sage and lots of it, hops, chamomile, sweetgrass, ivy, nuts, & oak bark.... I'm barely getting any apple now and I really don't get any blackberry at all Mabon '04 Dry: Apple cider is the strongest note now, followed by blackberry, myrrh, oak bark, and a hint of apple blossom. After about 1 hr on my skin, blackberry is the strongest note again, followed by apple cider, with only hints of myrrh & oak bark Mabon 2010 Dry: Any hint of apple is definitely gone and the nuts and oak bark have faded too. Now it's just herbal and green. About 1 hr later though, the nuts and oak bark return I have to say I'm surprised. There is almost no similarity between the two scents. If you're looking for a moderately sweet fruit & woods scent, you want '04; if you're looking for a dry herbal/green woody scent, you want 2010

Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer The Love Affair Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash Eyeshadow Beige Shimmer Burberry Lip Velvet Pink Apricot * Burberry Lip Cover Devon Sunset Chanel Glossimers (new or cleanly tested) Allegorie 347 * Arlequin 136 *** Astral 104 Aurore 287 ** Bagatelle Bonbon 73 Candeur 157 *** Confetti 167 *** Coral Reef 88 *** Cry Baby *** Gold Shine 207 * Nakkar 149 * Pensee 277 * Pink Crystal 187 ** Pink Peony 267 ** Pink Ribbons *** Pleasing 227 * Scintillance 11 * Star Starlette 41 ** Sweet Beige Waterlily Chanel Rouge Allure Admirable Fantasque ** Desinvolte ** Discrete ** Evanescente *** Insouciante ** Naive Tender *** Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Adventure Gourmandise Idylle Ingenue Interlude Liberte Dior Addict Extreme 249 Diorissime 336 Saint Tropez ** Giorgio Armani Rouge d'Armani 100 101 102 * 111 *** Giorgio Armani Rouge d'Armani Sheer 301 * Giorgio Armani Gloss d'Armani (new or cleanly tested) 102 500 502 503 513 * 515 517 * Giorgio Armani Flash Lip Lacquer (new or cleanly tested) 102 103 109 301 302 303 526 528 Givenchy Le Prisme Mono Eyeshadow * Couture Biege 15 Guerlain Rouge G Gardenia *** Orange Euphorique *** Rose Desir Hourglass Lipstick Edition Inglot e/s 14 17 32 33 40 152 153 399 445 446 454 Le Metier de Beaute Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss (new or cleanly tested) Atlantis Sunset Ibiza * Cannes Coral Rose * Dubai Le Metier de Beaute Blush Echo Lime Crime Lipstick Coquette Lunasol e/s Skin Modeling Eyes in 01 Beige Beige Lighting for Eyes in 04 Neutral MAC e/s Brazenly * Grand Entrance Round Midnight (ED) Jaunty * Femme-Fi Sweet Satisfaction Smoky Mauve (ED) Solar White Vex Modern Pewter (ED) MAC Blush Pink Tea Stunner Supercontinental Tippy MAC Lipstick Blow Dry ** In A Heartbeat ****** Gotta Dash! (Sheen Supreme) Gentle Simmer (Slimshine) Funshine (Slimshine) Jazzed * Marque *** Ravishing Rubia *** ScreenQueen ** Viva Glam V MAC Divine Desire set in Quite Coral (or just the individual blush or lipstick) *** Make Up For Ever e/s 137 141 168 Make Up For Ever Face & Body #38 NARS Lipstick Pago Pago NARS Satin Lip Pencil Biscayne Park NARS Velvet Gloss Pencil Happy Days NARS Blush Albatross Shiseido Perfect Rouge Lipstick BE302 Topaz Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Celebrity Beige * Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Cheek Blush Parasol Feather Candy Cameo Tom Ford Blush Frantic Pink Lovelust Urban Decay e/s (some would be BOS depots) Bender Deep End Echo Beach Junkie Rapture Skimp Suspect Urban Decay Palettes Vice Palette *** Glenda Palette* Yves Saint Laurent Golden Gloss (new or cleanly tested) 37 Golden Red 30 Golden Satin 43 Golden Irreverence 50 Golden Peach

It sounds like it; here's the description of 05: Thoroughly revisited. This year's Hearth is warmer, sweeter, and more traditionally comforting. This is the scent of candied chestnuts, buttered, covered in brown sugar and honey, alongside the scent of cedar smoke and soft pine. 04' s description: Sweet pipe tobacco, cherry wood, the warm, worn leather of an easy chair and a pleasant, subtle waft of fireplace smoke I was looking for pics of the labels, but i can't find any, only Hearth V2 proto. And now I can't turn off the italics! I'm not entirely sure what the '04 label looked like, but as for as I know all of the other '04 yules had a plain (GCish) label. The '05 version does have a fireplace, however it should say 2005 on the top left corner

In the bottle - very boozy (probably rum), a little cake (but it smells more like cake batter than the finished product), and hints of butter, nutmeg, and dried oranges Wet on skin - pretty much the same, but the dried oranges are stronger Dry - nutmeg (much stronger than before), cinnamon, cloves, dried oranges (stronger than before), cake/cake batter (a little stronger), the rum has lightened up a bit, there's still a hint of butter, and there's also a little orange rind. Later on (after maybe an hour or so of wear), the rum and dried orange notes lighten up a lot and the cake/cake batter pretty much disappears (which takes away most of this scent's sweetness). A little while later, a smoky note emerges, leaving this scent as a spicey, smokey, slightly boozy scent, with just a touch of sweetness I do kinda like this, but with all of the spices and the smoky dry-down, it's not quite my thing

I don't really find this to be all that foody..... In the Bottle - sugared rose incense, butter, and a faint hint of cake.... it actually reminds me a little of 'The Knave of Hearts' Wet on skin - sugared rose incense, more butter, a little cake, and a faint hint of something sharp Dry - sugared rose incense (still the most prominent note, but not as strong as before), butter, cake, and the sharp note from before is much stronger..... it's blackberry (the tart kind that smells like cat piss.... just a personal opinion of course) I'm guessing my 'sugared rose incense' note is really just a dark rose note, but the rose note in Knave of Hearts always reminded me more of incense made from roses than fresh roses too......

Coffee, coffee, and lots of coffee.... a dark, rich coffee. It is sweetened up a bit though as I smell notes of cream and sugar as well. Even though this is lighter and sweeter than Bah, it's still a bit too dark for me ETA 12/13/10 ok, ok.... so I gave this another try and found that it sweetens and lightens up a lot on my skin. I love it!

In the Bottle: Oh thank God! This doesn't smell like Candy Butcher at all! To me, Candy Butcher has sort of a.... phallic quality to it.... like milk chocolate and cream mixed with you-know-what. Not just on my skin, but in the bottle as well. By contrast, PSX54 smells like dark chocolate and cream with nothing else in sight Wet on Skin: The chocolate lightens and sweetens instantly.... almost to a milk chocolate. Unfortunately though, I'm getting a plastic note Dry: Yay! The plastic note disappears just as quickly as it came! The chocolate note has darkened again.... it's not as dark as it was in the bottle, but it's not as light as it was when wet... actually, it does smell like a cup of hot chocolate with extra cream and sugar This is absolutely delicious, BUT it's incredibly faint and disappears on me within an hour

In the Decant: very spicy, sharp ginger and red musk..... much dryer and more masculine than I had hoped for Wet on Skin: ginger (again, very spicy and sharp), red musk, a little candied fruit Dry: wow! This one really morphs! At first it's much sweeter - candied fruit (much stronger), ginger (much quieter), and red musk (much less). After about 20 minutes or so - candied fruit, amaretto, ginger, red musk, plum musk, and just a pinch of dry chocolate. About 1 hr later the sweetness dies down again - plum musk (much stronger), candied fruit (considerably weaker), amaretto (a little stronger), dry chocolate, ginger (very weak), and red musk (very weak) Interesting and very sexy, but I had hoped for a sweeter scent with more chocolate. I definitely won't be keeping my decant

In the Bottle: maple syrup, pancakes, and coffee (the coffee note used here is similar to the one in Eggnog Latte) Wet on Skin: maple syrup, pancakes, butterscotch, coffee, and hints of butter and caramel Dry: pancakes, butter (a lot stronger), maple syrup, coffee, and hints of butterscotch and caramel. After about a half an hour, the butter note backs down quite a bit and the maple syrup and butterscotch get stronger. After about 1 1/2 hrs, the coffee note begins to fade OK, so I used to think I loved coffee notes, but this blend has just forced me to realize that probably isn't the case. One of the first BPAL blends I fell in love with was Pinched with Four Aces. Before testing Pinched, I'd had previous experience with tobacco and woods, but neither were friends of mine. Coffee was the only unfamilar note (well, as far as use in perfume goes), so I assumed that must be the note I was in love with. However, since then I've tried every coffee blend that BPAL (and pretty much every other e-tailer) has to offer, and I've disliked... even hated every one of them. But then again, the coffee note in Pinched is unlike any other I've ever smelled.... this one included. So the question is..... do I keep this blend for the delicious nearly coffee free dry-down, or do I swap it away???

Plague of Frogs. This is the first time I'm actually tempted to buy a full bottle just for the gorgeous label (this coming from an empty collector too)

Quick Question for you MeiLin What should you do if you notice a scent that MAY not be entered properly? Take Beaver Moon for instance. The notes are listed as Cheesecake and Cupcakes, but we have TWO Beaver Moons and that's only the description for the '05 version (as well as Beaver'versary), so shouldn't it be listed as Beaver Moon '05, not just Beaver Moon? I absolutely love your site, but little things like this tend to bother me I'm afraid....

Here's an updated BPAL TiddlyWiki in case anyone needs it - http://surrealreality.tiddlyspot.com/index.html I've been sick for the past couple of weeks, so I thought I would do something completely unproductive with my downtime I'm not the creator of the original BPAL TiddlyWiki. I think the original is still floating around out there somewhere, but it hasn't been updated in over a year and a half

In the Decant: vanilla, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, & a hint of clove Wet on Skin: the spices become stronger, while the vanilla & butter fade a little. Also, there's a slight hint of something similar to spearamint Dry: cinnamon (sweeter), nutmeg, sugar, vanilla, butter (weaker), cake, & perhaps a slight hint of something spearamint-y, but it's barely noticeable. About 1/2 hour in, there's less nutmeg, and absolutey no spearamint After about 1 hour this scent changes dramatically on my skin. It becomes maple syrup, vanilla, and cake, with just a hint of butter and spice (cinnamon & nutmeg) The beginning is a little too spicy for me, but I LOVE the maple syrup drydown. It takes so long to get to that point though! I'm not sure it's worth the time and expense of hunting down a 5ml. I never use decants (except to test), so I may even swap my little vial away......

This seams to be a very complex scent. Unfortunately, I don't have a complex nose, so I'm sure I will miss several of the notes, but I will do the best I can..... In the Decant: warm golden amber, vanilla, and hints of cinnamon & red musk Wet on Skin: amber (turning to a sweet powder as it usually does with my skin chemistry), vanilla (stronger), dark dry cinnamon (stronger), & faint red musk Dry: amber (now a sweet powdery play-do), vanilla, lily of the valley (quite a surprise.... I didn't expect anything floral to appear in this scent), dark dry cinnamon, & faint red musk. After about 1 hr, the lily fades away amber doesn't play well on my skin, and it totally ruined this scent for me.....

A tester of this was sent to me by a very generous person In the Decant: fizz and a VERY strong, tarte lemon note Wet on Skin: less fizz and even more lemon Dry: the lemon is still just as strong as it was when wet, but it's a lot more sour than before. The fizz is still pretty faint. After about 15 minutes though, the lemon does die down a little and the fizz comes out more. After about 1/2 hr this turns to fizzy lemon scented borax (not just any soap mind you, borax) I love fizz and I love sweet scents, so I was hoping this would be a sweet, fizzy citrus scent. Not so! It's fizzy, but it's definitely not sweet! I'm soooo glad Beth scrapped this idea and decided to go with the version she released instead (which I love dearly). That being said, this was fun to test. The fizz tickles my nose