platyfrog

Dear Wrath, Well, when I got my first donation of samples from a lovely fairy sample godmother, I made a little list of predictions, based purely on reading the scent descriptions and reviews. I'll admit, I hadn't worn perfume in a decade or so, but I thought it'd be fun to guess how accurate my hunches would be. Didn't have a clue about my own skin chemistry And Wrath, well, let me tell you: I put you last on that list of predictions. Sight unseen, smell unsmelled, I doubted you. And Wrath, let me further tell you: I was right. You DESERVE to be last on my last. You smell like a toybox. A toybox that belongs to the kind of kid who ate too much liquorice and drooled on her toys; the kind of kid who played in dirt and wanted to play tag and scream (and I HATED tag and screaming, and you KNEW that!). You had way too many dolls, who were all scented in some vaguely "floral" (or "baby") sort of scent, and combined with the sweat and dirt and spit and old plastic, this is making yours a very. bad. awful. no-good. toybox. I was right, and you were wrong. Neener-neener, neener. See how childlike (in all the most unpleasant ways) you make me feel? Goodbye, Wrath.

The dry, thin scent of a draconic ossuary. Dragon's blood resin with white sandalwood, dusty orris and crisp blondewood. Maybe it's just my untrained nose, but my sample of this (the first blend with Dragon's Blood I've tried) was happy and floral, not particularly dry or dark. I'm not complaining, however; it's a very elegant and almost... matte? kind of floral. The nature of the florals gets progressively lighter, too, during wear. It's the kind of fragrance that makes me rethink my "flowers are silly" ideas, since there's nothing cloying or old-womanly about it. Hrmm.... definitely requires more experimentation, happily undertaken!

I'm still fairly new to the world of scents, so I couldn't tell you which notes my skin brings out in this. It does smell of almonds, at first, as everybody has mentioned — but there's something soft and sweet underneath. It's WEARABLE almonds, on me at least! This might be the new love of my perfume life if only it didn't fade within an hour or two. Although I confess I dislike perfumes that linger for toooo long (by the time I get to bed, I'd like to be free of what I applied in the morning), the staying power in this is... well, there IS no staying power. Shame. The blend is thriiiiilling, otherwise.

Crap! The first BPAL to go awry on me! In a way it's a relief, since I was beginning to think my nose was just SO bad it couldn't tell when things smelled icky on me. But, no, Nyarlathotep is not a good match for my chemistry: it turns into soap. Soap, soap, soap, soap, with nary a hint of citrus OR incense or any of the other lovely notes people have mentioned (except for... you guessed it... soap). Not particularly fresh or nice soap (although not offensively bad soap, either) — just garden-variety soap. Funny, because I've by now tried a few other scents that overlapping notes with this scent, and they work fabulously. Sorry, Nyarlathotep. You and I were not meant to be together. Plus point: it faded more quickly than others I've tried. Final caveat: I am mildly ill right now. I'm going to try it again when I feel better, and if that changes my experience, I'll edit this. But as long as this stands as is, presume Platyfrog + Nyarlathotep = Yurk. Update: I thought the soapiness might be due to either my skin or nose when ill. But I'm back to health, and the blend is still a no-go soapy one on me. Sigh. Ah, well....

Lampades is the second BPAL oil I've tried, ever, and my first reviewed. Other users have done a better job of describing the notes (which, at this stage, I can't even pick out), but here's my personal experience with it: It smells lovely. It went on fruitier and got slowly more incensy (and if there's no incense, my nose is confused by the musk), but was a slow'n'steady performer. It kinda lolled about from one stage to the other and lasted quite long (put it on at 9AM and still caught the scent leaving work in the evening). To me, it smells like an upmarket yuppie Earth store. A place with buckwheat pillows, expensive raffia, handcrafted glass, and an employee dressed in a long linen shift, with some sort of draped shell necklace. She's trying to sell me one of those rain sticks, and I am wanting to buy it, because this is the smell of that store in the holidays, when the upmarket shoppers are sick of Christmas cookies and want something a little warm and comforting, but still refined and tempered. LOVE it; Lampades helps me pretend I'm as grown-up as my age suggests I ought to be.