lilacea

I quite like this! It's bright with a touch of smokiness. I get mostly juniper at the forefront while it is wet, a nice light herbal feeling. It is definitely unisex, and I find it quite appealing in it's brightness as it doesn't come from the more usual intensely bright notes, like strong citrus. It's subdued, and has a subtle rain undertone. As for the faded perfume aspect, I am not a big fan of florals and this is what I expected from the mention of "faded perfume". But it's not floral at all, it's more like a whisper of a honey lemon blossom perfume. The tobacco is a touch dry, but under the other notes, it plays well. I only really catch that dryness it if I sniff very closely to my skin.

There's certainly something minty here, but it is very subdued, kinda like pennyroyal. I get a blast of geranium or something similarly orange, and there's a touch of bergamot. Light bright and slightly woodsy, it's clean and refreshing.

Does anyone know if there had ever been a cognac single note?

For something that had the word dirt in the description, I was a little afraid. However, it is not the full on dirt note that often takes over, if infact it is that dirt note at all. It's more of a warm note than anything, like a good earthy patchouli. This has thick boozy cocoa absolute, evident by the lovely dark thick oil you can see when you put it on. It's not sweet cocoa, it's gorgeous and whole. For the rest of the listed notes, I was expecting a very heavy and hard scent, but this is not. It's a nice clean unobtrusive moss, slightly sweet grounding resins, and hints of wood. I was really expecting an acrid twist from the description of blistered woods and charred resins, but it's not a very smokey or burnt scent at all, I'd barely describe it as smokey. The tobacco gives it a smoothness and a lovely masculine skin scent, and as for coconut, I'm not picking up any. All in all, it is fairly low key, clean, smooth, masculine, wears close to the skin. It is quite lovely and dare I say, evocatively sexy, mainly I suspect from the usual voluptous notes of coaoa absolute, tobacco and the woods and resins. It doesn't last long though, and the throw is poor. It is nice, but is needs more oomph, and is nowhere near as full on as the scent description makes it out to be.

Hot chocolate, marshmallows, hazelnut and champagne truffles and a touch of sticky sweetness! This is a lovely dry cocoa, with creamy notes, making it more hot chocloate than just plain old cocoa. I'm also detecting a scrumptious hazelnut early on in the piece, like the centre of a good, thick, rich truffle; the kind that is smooth and heavy and sticks to the roof of your mouth. I do get a berry note here, it's not a big player, but because I amp sweet, I'm getting a sort of redish pink sticky sweet thing. It might even be the pink marshmallows alongside the white ones that I'm picking up and thinking of as berries. There's something a touch alcoholic here, just a little spike to counter the smooth hot choc, it's almost like a champagne truffle scent. Very yummy, not as cocoa heavy or as full bodied as I'd hoped, it's voluptuous from the sweetness, but lacks a little more filling out. Throw is fairly light, and to get that gorgeous hazelnut, I need to sniff right up close to my skin. I am really glad I got to try this, as it is a lovely blend.

Well duh, or course the last jelly bean left is a black one, I didn't even think of that until I got a whiff of this. Initially it smells fennel like, however upon settling into the skin, it seems much closer to anise, it's richer and deeper and not quite as green as fennel. However, it is quite light, which is what made me think of fennel initially. There's a definite sugar note, a sweet musky scent. With time, cinnamon spice comes out. It has that light fruity scent there too that you get from sweet glucose filled jelly beans, maybe even a touch of pear. But mostly it's a sweet and spicy, yet subdued and soft, anise. Quite comforting, and slightly cool smelling.

Most certainly black musk ids the first thing I notice, it's that edgy animalistic musk that you'd expect from the baudiness of burlesque. Mmm, the cocoa is lovely, deep cocoa absolute, like a fine liquor, not the drier clear cocoa oil you find in other blends. I'm picking up traces of cardamon, which I tend to get in black musk blends. Whether the black musk bouquet has cardamon in it, or if it a seperate part of this perfume, or if it's just a a cardamon like scent found in black muck blends, I can't say. I like it though, it gives a nice spice to the musk, adding to the sweat soaked sex appeal of black musk. Can't say the tobacco is too prominet in the wet stages. Dry down on this is lovely, there's a close to the skin almond scent, although I don't pick any almond in the wet stages like I normally do in oils that contain almond. The tobacco smooths and smells fine, sweet and lovely, like a good unlit cigar. It's musky and dark and smooth, close to the skin sexy. Definitely unisex.

First sniff is strong brewed coffee with yummy creamy eggnog underneath. This hits the skin and the coffee isn't as strong as in when wet, but it is still a great focus in the scent, and a lovely creamy and buttery vanilla comes out and shows itself. It smells somewhat like a continental store when wet, the big hessian bags of coffee and spices, with various sweets and treats scattered about the place. It's a reasonably medium amount of sweet spices, not too heavy, not too light. Lovely sweet nutmeg can be found floating on the top of the deliciousness. It has a great coffee liquor scent about it too. I must admit I do love coffee scents, but even if I wasn't batty about them, I think I'd still like this for the other notes present here. It does smell a lot more like eggnog in the wet stages, but the drydown is equally delicious for all the other elements. Strangely and fortunately this has not gone plasticy like the Yule Eggnogs of previous years, and it hasn't disappeared like those are apt to do fairly quickly on my skin. So for that, I'm really grateful that I do get to enjoy the eggnog part of it without it conking out or going weird. Very delicious.

I adore this version, it is quite different to the GC, but it does seem to meld a bit better with my skin chemistry. The released Misk U is a heavy Irish cream coffee, boozy and creamy, and probably the one BPAL that stays on my skin the longest, days even after repeated washing I can soemtimes pick up traces if I huff closely, it's a thick and rich belnd. This proto though is a lot dryer, reminiscent of the El Dia Del Reyes style of things. It has the husky subtle coffee of Pinched, not the stong esspresso of the GC Misk U. It's dry and nutty, with a gorgeous hazelnut twinge at the start which blends in really well after application. It is nowhere near as tenacious as the GC. There's a lovely husky cinnamon too (or possibly cassia), along the same lines as Pinched (I think those simularities are why I like this so much), soft and not burning or in your face, a team player. It's lacking a sweetness that the GC has, tending to stay dry throughout, but with the sweet qualities of the woods keeping it delicious. The GC tends to smell a little burnt or plasticy on my skin, something I suspect is due to a big vanilla, but the proto either has a lot less of this or a different type as it doesn't have quite the same burnt/plastic effect on me.There's even a little hint of muskiness in the dry down, almost cologne like. But through all the differences, a side by side comparison seems that they do share the same core, but the GC one was amped up and really plays on the booze and sweetness.

Thank you to ifenia for the generous sniffy and enabling me to try this. This is lovely. I am not normaly a floral person, I like light florals when they are in combination with other elements I like, but favourite florals of mine are few and far between. I was expecting something very heavy on the lily of the valley, mainly just becasue of the name, but this is not, infact, it's not terribly floral at all. Mostly what I get is a gorgeous creamy musk, of the light exotic type. It's one of those scents that melds beautifully on the skin to become somthing soft and gorgeous. The florals here are light white breezy and airy blossoms, there's a light orange blossom top note which reminds me of Khrysee, but a lot, lot, lot lighter and softer. There's possibly a touch of white amber here, lending that sensual skin scent, and a super clean and soft vanilla. This is so nice, and one I really would love to track down more of (although I really don't like my chances of that). Delightful.

This starts with a gorgeous fresh ozone note, but not the type of ozone I come to think of in perfume, rather the fresh air like ozone you'll smell with winter rains. There's a touch of dandelion and it is a little soapy. I'm really enjoying the uniqueness of this, it's light and vaguely sentimental. I can make out a faded ink ribbon accord, it's really quite soft. It's almost like new carpet, vaguely chemical, but I quite like it.

First thing that hits me when I sniff Sarah is vanilla flower! This can only mean good things, vanilla flower dominated blends are gorgeous to my nose, they are usually such lovely light feminine florals. This isn't an intense blend, it's light and soft. There's something like silver birch here, a counterpart to the softest floral perfume, and it reminds me of the discontinued Empyreal Mist, but less sweet and a lot softer. It's a very clean scent to, one of soft, freshly washed skin. There's the faintest wash of musky floral incense sticks, the indian kind. It's wispy and light and very naturally pretty.

First thing that hits me is that unmistakable vanilla flower note, it's crisp and light and fresh, yet alluring. Slightly sweet florals, but very light. It smells like there's a pale soft resin, like copal or benzoin. There is a definite wisp of white rose here. Dry down changes to a creamier, earthier vanilla, with a resinous backing and the softest smokey edge. I'm not getting any leather at all. Super close to the skin. I think this may wear a little differently once the bottle has had time to rest and settle.

A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate. Bliss is an interesting scent, in the vial it is a dry, biscuity scent, not nearly as creamy as I had imagined it to be. It's scent is reminiscent of a dry chocolate flavoured essence. The oil is suprisingly coloured too, not the deep thick syrupy brown oil of cocoa absolute, this is pure clear oil without a hint of colour. It has an intensity that makes you think of chocolate flavoured foods, not necssesarily milk chocolate in and of its self. On apllication, this comes out as a very dry chocolate scent, and the texture is quite powderey and desicated. You know the feeling you get when you eat massive spoonfuls of dry drinking chocolate, and it becomes this dry cocoa that that is hard to swallow and won't be touched by any moisture you have in your mouth because there's just too much dry powder in there? If that feeling could translate to scent, then that would be my experience of Bliss. It does lose a bit of the dryness as it continues to wear on the skin, and mellows to a nice dusty cocoa. It's certainly not overly milky or sweet, rather more on the dusty side.

Upon its initial release, I had no huge interest in honey scents, and the fruit mentioned in the description broke any interest I may have had towards those beautiful spice notes listed. But now I have managed to obtain a bottle, and it is indeed all things beautiful. Seriously honey heavy; sweet, cool slightly smokey honey. The touch of lemon is genius, it doesn't smell lemony at all, it lifts the honey into nectar territory, making it a lighter sweetness, a balance of subtle sourness to stop the heaviness of honey. The spices here are perfect, barely discernable as their individual components, they work to make this gorgeously harmonic. There is a touch of a green herbal scent, which I suspect may be the rosemary, however it doesn't smell like straight up rosemary. The dry down is powdery perfect and close to the skin. Now as for the fruit which originaly turned me off, I couldn't even guess that there was fruit in here, but to go out on a limb, I'd say it would be something along the sour side like kumquat or quince, there's a certain sour note along with the lemon that plays to bring down the honey into something very wearable. There may be a touch of vanilla here.

This is first and foremost hot white sugary vanilla cake straight form the oven, toasty and very sweet. There's a touch of hops or tonka, dusty. Slightly boozy when wet, lends a little dryness to the overall feel, it's faintly like fermented white grape, it's something light but dusky. This is just like the cake element in Eat Me. Overall very pretty, the foodiness dies down a bit as it dries, making it a little drier in all. There's a bit of a buttery and nutty aspect on the dry down too, making this smell like an exquisite pastery.

Sweet cream and sugar, gooey and sticky, defintely for the foodies. This reminds me very much of Velvet Unicorn. It has a roundedness to it, very full and almost like marshmallows, it's comforting too, makes me go "ahhh" when I sniff it in the bottle. It is very delicious wet; very yummy smelling indeed. But cream does not play well on my skin, and this turns sour. I suspect there is vanilla here as I get the dreaded burnt plastic in the dry down. Even applying this to my clothing alone still turns it plasticy once it dries down. Boo.

Mmm, delicious. The red musk stops just short of heavy burnt musk on my skin, the other smells there hold it in check enough for it to stand but not overtake the blend. But it is at the forefront, a red musk driven scent. Reminicent of the gorgeous resinous undertones of Schwarzer Mond, it's sexy and seductive. A lovely warm skin loving vanilla, and a slightly sweeter clove make this such a warm and sexy thing to behold. Orchid is normally a huge no go for me, but here, it just lends richness, not overpowers at all, I can barely pick it. It's like a Snake Oil, sans spice. I can imagine aging this into a thing of perfection.

Plastic burny vanilla, why do you have to ruin everything? I was looking forward to a more heavy sugary scent, rich and thick. Instead this was lighter, almost like strawberry candies, exceedingly unatural and not true at all to strawberries, why am I even thinking of strawberries? but that's what it brings to mind, fake strawberry. And leafy grass, like a weedy oakmoss, not the rick golden ones, but the seeping green ones. A lot more on the light side of clear white sugar, than dark thick richness I was expecting. There's supposed to be patchouli here according listed in the notes, but not a hint to be found on my skin, nor in the bottle, although there's something a birt dour, maybe that's the patchouli?. Any currants to be had, these aren't the rich swollen red currants I was thinking of, they are quite small and not too sweet, maybe even a little bitter, and somewhat tart. And then to top it, the dry down went all burnt plastic vanilla on me. I'm thinking that it's a chemistry gone way wrong deal for the most part, although I was expecting a hell of a lot darker and richer, not light and green.

Close to the skin is right, this is almost barely perceptable after about half an hour. It does seem to dissapear and leave a trace of just clean skin scent behind, kind of like a "you, only better" smell. The initial vanilla is sweet and very close to a sticky, just cut into vanilla pod type vanilla, with that sweet heaviness. Not too smokey. There's a touch of a caramel like vanilla too. The chammomile is understated, but uniquely herbal, gives off a swet sage like impression. It is indeed a perfume of few ingredients, not much, if at all of those hiden and undisclosed notes. Faintest ever skin musk on the dry down, or that could just be my own body musk. The vanilla is threatening to turn plasticy if I apply a lot of oil, but never quite makes it into the full on plasticy burnt vanilla it sometimes can. This is the sort of thing you'd wear when you didn't want anyone to know that you were wearing perfume, but still wanted to smell nice.

I've had this on my wish list for a while, the notes sounded intriguing. I had the opportunity to sniff it in a store that did not have testers. My initial reaction was of vetiver and oakmoss, so strong that it scared me into putting the top straight back on and not even considering it at all. Then I was frimped a sample, and despite the previous reaction, thought it best to at least skin test it (I've recently got into the habit of skin testing scents even if it smells god awful in the bottle or vial, just in case there's something there that blooms on my skin). I am so happy I did, once this hit my skin, it turned from dark sharp and menacing in your face sour vetiver, to this warm full bodied fragrance. The vetiver took on an almost cocoa like vibe and softened into the mildest dry grassy hint. The oakmoss is perfectly behaved, lending it's trademark warmth and fullness. The amber is just a squidge away from ambergris territory. I usually find ambergris too sweet for me, but this is a sweet amber reminiscent of BPAL's ambergris, but not overdone as ambergris often turns out on my skin. There's a hint of clean black musk, and the patchouli is a damn fine earthy and lusty one. There's a beautiful clean and light spark just keeping it all melded up there, but the heavy warm notes are the star. I could imagine this would be as sexy as hell on the right man, but I'm perfectly happy to wear this as a woman's fragrance.

Dry clove and husky woods. Nice and smooth, like fine tobacco and clove cigarettes. But where's this carnation coming from ? There's a sweet spicey sickly scent of carnation creeping through. Pants.

I'm having a hard time picking individual notes in this, but there are very distinct impressions. There's a sweet wood, like a bois de rose, right up front and centre. There's that hint of the dusty note you find in other BPAL blends, which reminds me of a cousin of ambergris boquet. I'm not getting a heavy leather impression, very light. Sweet clean linens. But there's something sickly that turns on my skin. Like lotus. I'm trying to figure it out, it's a base, semi-sweet and rooty kind of smell. It's a little stale and unenthusiastic. There's a touch of beeswax, not much in the way of any musk that I'm picking up on (which for some reason I've come to expect at least a little in most dark and manly scents). I'm going to let this settle and wear for a little longer to get a better impression of the dry down. I put it on earlier today for the first time and washed it off before I had to leave the house. I've only just dabbed it on again and haven't really got to a true dry down yet, but it's not looking promising unfortunately.

There's a cool citrus tone on the opening of this, like a little ho wood, there's also a snapped twig scent coming in here too. It's not a super heavy black musk, but it is a prominent musk element none the less. I'm picking up cardamon also. Once this dries, the amber does it thing, which on some people is disasterous, but on me, fortunately I've got skin that turns amber into a soft, sexy, warm, swoon-worthy skin scent. Very close to the skin, I do have to slather this to get a lasting impression. I'm not too in love with the wet stage, the piquant cardamon is a little odd with the amber here, but it softens eventually making a lovely scent that melds together into something soft and luxurious, not powdery, but velvety smooth and subtle. I can imagine aging this could turn it inot a real thing of beauty.

Oh lord. This is gorgeous. Vanilla with a touch of honey, some muskiness. Soft and so close. When it dries, it um.. how do I put this... smells like the most divine part of a woman. I can certainly see the sexual connotations here.