Thirteen (13)

[kunoichi]

In our paean to all the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic number, there are thirteen lucky and unlucky components, including white chocolate, tangerine, currant, mandarin, white tea and iris.

Sniffing from the vial, this smells like Jaffas to me: Chocolate orange yumminess that makes me want to go to the cinemas for some reason...!! On my skin it continues to smell like Jaffas for a while, but gets softer and more of the sweet (as opposed to citrus) fruit smell comes out ... It's sweet, but not overly sweet, and it really isn't as strong as I thought it would be. It fades too fast so I have to refresh it after a couple of hours!

[juniperus]

Bottle: this smells like one of those chocolate oranges - you know, the ones in foil that you ht hard on the table, and once open fall into slices? The milk chocolate version.

Wet: same, with a hint of almond.

Dry: orange aspect faded, milk chocolate still present, as is a hint of white chocolate (that almond has opened up some) and floral. very complex.

Later: the white chocolate has gone, and I have some of the deeper aspects of the milk chocolate and...fig? with floral. it's interesting and not so food-y that it's kinda bugging me at this point, but I don't know that I'm wearing it particularly well - it's growing hollow, or flat, or something.

[eviltemptressdq]

I had tried 13 a little while ago, and wasn't sure what i thought... but I bought a pack of imps with it included, and tried it again today...

 

I've decided that I REALLY like this! I get a chocolate smell mostly... with something dusty, like the tea maybe? it really smells good on my skin! Maybe I like it more today than last time because I have PMS really bad?

 

LOVE IT!

[smallvoice]

The first time I tried 13, it didn't do much for me. It was plasticky and stale. I wore it again today, and woah. It blossomed beautifully on my skin. Warm, syrupy oranges drizzled with chocolate (white and dark, somehow) and balanced by tea, with a very soft floral undertone. This is lovely.

[edenssixthday]

13 (2006 version) is an incredibly bakery-foody scent. It belongs in the sweets aisle at the supermarket. On my skin, it smells more like milk chocolate than white chocolate, and milk chocolate mixed with a lot of hazelnuts, at that. These are two of my least-favorite scents to wear on my body (although give me a bar of hazelnut chocolate and I’ll scarf it right down). The mandarin shines through the tiniest bit giving it a bit of bright fruitiness, but it’s mostly overpowered by the chocolate and hazelnut. If you’ve ever opened a tub of Nutella and breathed in the scent, that will give you a really good idea of what 13 smells like. It has a ton of throw, but that could just be because I’m hyper-sensitive to bakery scents, but the lasting power is poor.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Pure chocolate. It smells richer than Bliss, but it's lovely milk chocolate.

 

On me: Wow - it's not milky anymore. It's turned to a darker chocolate, and I smell orange, too. It reminds me of one of those chocolate-covered oranges, and I really like this!

 

Verdict: Definitely an evening scent, and this will work for me much better in the fall/winter. It is certainly a keeper, though, and I must find more!

 

Rating: 5/5

[portalkat]

1/13/06 version- Aaah, chocolate and orange. It does smell exactly like one of those chocolate oranges that you smack down on the table to break apart. This stage doesn't last long, though. The tea (smells like dry Earl Grey tea) comes out along with the currant and the chocolate changes to white chocolate with a lot of vanilla. Right about now, the iris comes out and I smell mostly vanilla and iris with incense notes and a bit of white chocolate in the background. It is so different from where it began, but I like all of the different stages.

 

5/13/05 version - This is different than the 1/13/06 version. This had a stronger chocolate smell in the bottle and when first applied. I could smell the tea, whereas in the 1/13/06 version, it smelled like dry tea leaves, this smelled already brewed. The iris is more prominent in this version and not so musky and the chocolate is a bit more in the background. I think that I prefer this version over the 1/13/06 one, but they are both really lovely and I look forward to one in October 06.

 

eta: I was able to locate a bottle of the original version so I added a review of it.

Edited August 30, 2006 by portalkat

[mountainwitch]

In a word: scrumptious. Lucious and complex, completely unexpected and warmly familiar all at the same time. This doesn’t strike me as a summer scent, but something to brighten up rainy gray days in autumn or winter--the scent equivalent of warm cookies and good surprises.

[kwsix]

In the bottle: I smell rich chocolate and sweet oranges with a soft hint of tea. I definitely smell milk chocolate, not white chocolate. I normally have no trouble telling them apart, so I'm not sure what's going on here. Not that I'm complaining, because it smells wonderful. I'm just a little worried that this will be too "foody" on me. I love eating chocolate oranges, but I don't particularly want to smell like one.

 

Wet: The chocolate blooms right away but almost immediately fades into the background. The citrus moves right up front, and I'm relieved to find that it's soft and natural like sweet fresh fruit. I seem to be getting more tangerine than mandarin, but I can definitely smell both. The currant is there too, rounding out the citrus with a touch of deep berry. There is nothing harsh or sharp here - no citrus-scented cleaning product, no cloyingly sweet chocolate. The tea is still noticeable, but it's taking a backseat to the fruit right now. This is absolutely lovely.

 

Dry: Wow, this keeps getting better and better, and isn't nearly as "foody" as I expected. I still have soft fresh fruit over a base of chocolate, but something delicately floral, probably the iris, is coming into play now. The tea is becoming a little more prominent and adds some smoothness to the blend. It's all working together very nicely. I can't stop sniffing my wrists!

 

After about a half hour, the fruit, tea, and floral notes seem to be shimmering around over the chocolate. They aren't conflicting at all, just swirling around and taking turns as the main attraction, while the chocolate is content to luxuriate in the background. After two hours, I have to put my wrist right up to my nose to catch a whiff. In three hours, the scent is all but gone from my skin.

 

Summary: This is an amazingly well balanced blend. Each note smells perfect, and the whole is even greater than the sum of the parts. The fruit, tea, and florals seem to float like sunshine over the warm chocolate. I never thought a fragrance could be so subtle and fresh, yet so wonderfully complex.

[midnight_aeval]

Chocoloate & Orange, that is certainly all I get in the bottle and all I get wearing it- it's a scent that makes me smile

 

I wore it today because I was feeling very unlucky, hoping it would turn my luck around. This is a scent I would wear on those bad days.

 

It's a bit like Aquolina's Chocolovers without the malty/musk note. I think this would layer well and give my fast-fading Chocolovers an extra omph. Gotta love those omphs.

 

ETA: If this was a GC oil it would HAVE to belong in the Voodoo section! I wore this after a shitty morning and when I checked the mail in the evening there was a wedding gift from a family member (mind you, I have been married for 13 months *gasps* Coincidence??); it was a BIG check!! 13 is my new favorite

Edited August 8, 2006 by Midnight Aeval

[terrierhead]

I finally broke down and decanted some 13 out of my bottle last night and tried it this morning. I don't know why I hadn't tried it before - I guess just too many sniffies and imps competing for my attention.

 

In the bottle, 13 is lush, creamy chocolate with orange and possibly hazelnut. I don't detect the floral notes or tea at all. Wet, the scent continues with its chocolate-y lusciousness. I was so, so thrilled with this until it dried down and turned to chocolate pencil shavings. :Sigh: I'm saving my decanted imp for trying again later, but have added the bottle to my swaps list.

[theblackcloud]

I am so in love with 13 right now.

 

In the bottle I smell a soft, whipped chocolate. My mind drifts to a time when we were younger and my Mom let us pick out candy, I always chose the 3 Musketeers.

 

Applied to my wrists the chocolate swirls with oranges, tea and a little bit of berry. Like a delicious night time treat. I want to lick my wrists, but I resist.

 

As it dries the orange and berry fade softly, with the tea coming stronger surrounded by a rich, chocolate cream.

 

All I can say is please bring me another bottle of 13.

[gypsybaby1]

got this as a frimp in one of my other swaps... and was SO excited to try it. I've worn it twice now and it's breaking my heart. I so wanted to have the same experience with 13 that everyone else did!

 

In the imp I get lovely a light chocolate almond scent, heavy on the chocolate. Then, on, it goes away, never to be smelled again. I wind up getting some sort of herby funky scent that lingers for about an hour, then vanishes completely.

 

Off to the swaps it goes!

[myoubi]

Mmm... got this in an imp swap and I'm *so* glad it's going to be reintroduced on Friday the 13 this october... I'm buying up 3 bottles!

 

In the Bottle: holy white chocolate tangerine. I can smell something slightly spicy and herbaceous underneath, so it's not just pure sweet, but mostly it's just a creamy chocolate orangey smell. Not saccharine or unpleasantly sugary though.

 

Wet: still lots of chocolate, but it's moving back to make room for other things. the tangerine is more prominent now, but my wrists don't just smell like oranges - there's something swirly and a bit floral but not quite sweet in the background. I usually am not a fruity/florals gal, but this one is grounded in something not-too-sweet, almost a bit spicy...

 

Drydown: this one wants to make me eat my wrists. Not because it's so foody, but just because I want *more of this scent I need to inhale it right now*. the chocolate and tangerine "frame" the scent, if I can use weird visual metphors, but on my skin something a little bit dry and a little bit smoky-floral surfaces, overlaid nicely by the sweetness of the tangerine. it's almost like the chocolate takes what would otherwise be quite a sharp scent and mellows it out, makes it creamy. It's not actually a super-sweet scent on me, once it's settled down a little.

 

LATER: this thing has stayed nicely. I've been doing a lot of moving stuff, working with my hands etc. and my wrists still smell nummy. hasn't changed much since the initial drydown, but maybe a little less creamy. I didn't expect to like this scent, but now I'll be stocking up on it for sure.

[dorei]

I got this as a sample a while ago and loved it -- had to go and get a bottle as I couldn't wait for the next Friday the 13th.

 

In bottle: Mostly chocolate, with a bit of a fruity undertone.

 

Wet: Chocolate. All chocolate -- overpoweringly chocolate.

 

Drying: Still chocolate as the main scent, but other things are starting to come forward, like orange and some sort of floral ...

 

Dry: This is flowers dipped in chocolate. I can't describe it any other way. It's like someone picked flowers from the garden and dipped them into a bowl of melted chocolate. I really don't smell any orange anymore. Just flowers and chocolate. The perfect valentine, maybe?

[tinyvulture]

From now on, I’m going to buy a bottle of any BPAL scent containing chocolate. They are all so well done. I love that they start out foody, as the pure chocolate is most dominant. But then the other elements come in, and it’s no longer foody. The chocolate becomes part of the blend, of the perfume. That’s how 13 is. First it’s all chocolate. And oranges. But not fresh, juicy citrus. More like those chocolate oranges that come wrapped in orange foil… chocolate flavored with orange liqueur. But then light, pretty florals come in, and the foodiness disappears. Now it’s a lovely, complex perfume with chocolate as one of its many components.

[Iceblink]

This is beautiful--it's chocolatey but so complex too. It reminds me of Nutella or the Mozart chocolates you can buy in Vienna.

I'm very glad there's a Friday the 13th coming up next month because this is definitely bottle-worthy!

[luna65]

Thanks to Gwallahay for the decant.

 

Vial: A fruity chocolate sweetness.

 

Skin: Definitely white chocolate (i.e. more sugar, less cocoa) and florals. I think my chemistry really amps the Lab's iris, it's always very prevalent in whatever applicable blends I've tried. I wonder if there are any other floral notes, since we don't know all 13 components. I get a suggestion of the tea around the edges, a kind of clean note. The citrus is very tangy as well in this.

 

Drydown: The chocolate fades on me, and the powdery quality of the florals comes to the fore. The other notes seem to leave as well, but this is lovely: pretty without being overwhelmingly sweet or ornate. So I guess you could say it's downright lucky that this works so well on me.

[fairy]

This smells like a chocolate covered orange, sitting next to a nice cup of tea. Lovely!

[darklorelei]

In the imp: Very hazelnutty with a hint of white floral behind it.

 

On: Veeery sweet, but in a liquidy sort of way. Definitely a blend of white chocolate and hazelnut to my nose. Has the white chocolate, but not as bright. Melty white chocolate. Still a faint soapiness.

 

Getting a headache from the floral which is in there. At this point it smells vaguely fruity, but I couldn't tell you which. OH! I know what it smells like! It totally smells like My Little Ponies!

 

The scent is one of my favorite aspect of the toy, but not so much for my skin.

[dierne]

In the bottle - chocolate and orange and this smells so good! It's almost like being in a box of Thornton's! I don't go for foody or sweetie scents but ...

 

Wet on skin - the chocolate has faded into the base of a wonderful rich sensous melange of scent.Dark but with that int of orange ...

 

Dry on skin - Still the same base but with a sweetness rising, a very pleasant sweetness at that - I was expecting to have to swap this away but ...

 

Later - Still amazingly nice, more cocoa now than chocolate and sweet, slightly spicy orange and I really, really like this. Damn you and you making me like foody scents you!

[azhure]

In the vial: All milk chocolate. Not white. Hmm, odd.

 

Wet: Yargh, chocolate. I think I'm the only BPAL fan who doesn't like smelling like chocolate.

 

Drydown: The chocolate goes away, thank the Gods. I'm left with a musky sweet mix dominated by the tea and iris, with snatches of tangerine.

[Reedsong]

Thirteen is the shortest enablement turnaround I've ever experienced. Let's review the sequence of events:

 

Thursday: Receive sniffy. Apply to skin. Am instantly surrounded by rich white chocolate with just enough of a touch of mandarin to keep it interesting, just delicious and wonderful. Sniffy now completely empty. Crap.

 

Friday: Look for bottle. Must have bottle. Ah! Bottle located! Send PM.

 

Saturday: Receive reply. Buy bottle. Well. That was quick.

 

If you look in my box, you'll see clearly that the last thing I need is another bottle. But that's what Thirteen did to me!! I think it represents the number to which my IQ fell while I was sniffing it.

 

Rich pale chocolate-y goodness. Mmmmmm. Thirteen.

[maijasu]

I was expecting a really foody blend from all the reviews, but 13 is more complex than that. I smell the chocolate and orange, but the iris makes it feminine and slightly powdery. It's really like nothing I've ever smelled before, and I'm honestly not sure whether I like it or not. Perfumey chocolate...unexpected, but it works!

[schackjj]

I got an imp of this & liked it enough to buy a bottle. I thought she told me it was from last fall, but it turns out there wasn't one so I'm not sure which one it is

 

Anyway, I liked my bottle but didn't love it so put it away to age for a while. Now I've gotten a second imp and WHOA, this one is great

It was all cocoa wet. Now, in the drydown, I'm noticing some of the notes others have mentioned, although sadly, not even a hint of the orange, and that's one of my faves

I also didn't notice a lot of throw on this one.

 

Anyone know when the new one goes up, perchance? I def. want to give it a try!

Edited October 12, 2006 by schackjj