Chaos Theory VI: Recursive Self-Similarity v7

[sunlitgarden]

#505

 

In the bottle, this is a rich butterscotch. Once on, I get a little bit of cherry-almond, possibly dragon's blood. There's a hint of sandalwood or another wood at the base. I like it a lot!

 

Edit: Oh no.. there's a sort of weird sour muskiness in the drydown. Don't like this stage so much. D:

Edited July 7, 2010 by sunlitgarden

[mxtine]

I almost had an orgasm when I opened up my box of goodies! VANILLA!

 

426:

Bottle--This one came very full and smelled like vanilla cake batter

Wet--Vanilla frosting morphed into a creamy vanilla-coconut (suntan oil!) in a few minutes. I'm in heaven, I LOVE coconut.

Dry--Fading to a light coconut. This one doesn't seem to want to last. I'll come back in a few hours to edit...

 

477:

Bottle--Vanilla Buttercream frosting

Wet--Vanilla turned into a butterscotch and maple syrup smell. I'm craving a stack of pancakes with butter and a ton of sugary syrup. There's a possible berry-candy note coming out the more I sniff. Yummmm.

Dry--A creamy, maple-berry syrup. Surprisingly, it's not sickly sweet like I'd expect something like that to smell. I'm very pleased with this Chaos bottle.

 

[SophieCedar]

518:

bananas butter and vanilla. Very foody and hits you in the back of your nose (in a good way). Sticks around for quite a while too...

 

506:

lime/lemon/grapefruit (some tart citrus but smells like a combo), rum, maybe a touch of bourbon, and vanilla. The lime is super strong at the beginning. Maybe they put a touch of pink grapefruit in there? Yes. I think they did!

Drydown: the citrus burns off a bit but leaves a strong echo. This is now a not too sweet, expertly made, perfectly balanced cocktail with a most definite sugared rim. Smells like trouble! (aka: cocktails so tasty they turn you into a complete drunken glutton) My sweetheart loves this one!

 

497:

vanilla, black patchouli, and cinnamon. meh. Smells almost exactly like the Phoenix bubble bar from Lush. S'okay..

 

2 out of 3 isn't bad!

[MonkeysInk]

430:

 

This bottle is very full, up into the neck.

 

Opening the bottle, I get straight buttercream. Like OMG-liquid-cupcake-icing-in-a-bottle.

 

As it dries down, I still get some sweet, but I also get dark coconut. Not toasty, sweetened coconut, but coconut with a little bit of dirt and shell, maybe?

 

EDIT: Okay, so it's not dirt and shell, it's plastic - it's vanilla-buttercream-coconut-plastic. The plastic goes away after a bit and just smells like I've smeared frosting on my arm. It's pretty delicious, really.

Edited September 3, 2010 by MonkeysInk

[AnArtfuldodger]

460:

 

In the bottle: Aquatic!

 

Wet on wrist: Reminds me of a candle store on the beach

 

On the drydown: Clean laundry with a hint of sweet-saltiness, almost like saltwater taffy, but in a clean clean fresh way

 

 

 

 

 

400:

 

In the bottle: Reminds me of Closet

 

Wet on wrist: Slightly less cloying than Closet, more real-fruit-ish...meringue! Meringue! ... Is this a lemon-raspberry-ish meringue?

 

On the drydown: This is a real morpher on me. The real fruit meringue is fading away fast and is being replaced by plastic.

 

 

 

471:

 

In the bottle: SUPER FOODIE

 

Wet on wrist: Buttercream? Frosting?

 

On the drydown: Plastic. I am striking out here!

 

 

 

424:

 

In the bottle: Cleaning chemicals (I said a straight-up "Yikes!" to myself in my otherwise empty apartment...)

 

Wet on wrist: Floral....wait no, it's morphing to.......................CHOCOLATE?? That's a super-weird morph!

 

On the drydown: The flowers and chocolate morph yet again to......cedar-tobacco-chocolate. It's sort of a cross between Velvet Bandito and Wulric. Comforting like Wulric, but a little dusty and tobacco-y like Bandito. Allllllrighty then! (LOL, the one I thought would work the least well on me turned out to be the best of the 4!)

Edited July 7, 2010 by AnArtfuldodger

[bookandbroom]

#42 (a frimp from Edens Sixth Day that made my nerdy self squee!)

 

At first it smelled familiar.

Scarily familiar.

And then it struck me:

 

This is a Strawberry Shortcake doll without the strawberry. I mean, I can smell nothing on my arm but SUGAR SCENTED PLASTIC DOLL. I think there might be a drop of floral back there somewhere, but BPAL vanilla loooooves to make me into a lil' disproportionate figurine, and this is no exception. Maybe something butterscotchy? Something ... nope. Just soft plastic and a wee little dolly smile.

 

(The plastic does start to fade but I feel like it's filled up my nose; I know there are other notes here, but I can't seem to smell them. Something a little smoky, maybe?)

Edited July 7, 2010 by bookandbroom

[Suusje]

#141

 

In the bottle is smells like a very dry cough syrup. A bit odd. Wet on the skin it smells dry (leather maybe?) with honey. The honey starts moving forward and the leather is moving to the back. This dries down to a very heavy honey with a hint of leather.

[saralaughs]

447: In the bottle its a very boozy vanilla. On it goes buttery, boozy vanilla with a wintergreen (?? maybe wintergreen...I dunno...it's mint or something) coming on FAST and hard. For about 5 minutes that's all I can smell. Soon though, the vanilla reasserts itself and it's very heady and strong. The throw on the vanilla is pretty awesome. The wintergreen calms down and goes to the back row where it becomes just a *hint* of something cool. There is something almost resiny about this as well. It's a coolish warm vanilla that is really rich and full.

[claudia6913]

Overly full bottles indeed. One looks like it had a little spillage pre-shipping, or it leaked a bit during shipping.

 

#515 (or possibly 575 - this is the one that leaked a little and make the box smell amazing)

Sweet, sweet incense wafted from the box as soon as I opened it, and this guy was the culprit. The number is smudged on the label, but I'm fairly certain it's #515.

 

Okay, now that this has been rolled around and the sediment has been fully integrated, let's try this description again!

 

In the bottle I get a very strong, woody incense. The vanilla is no where to be seen. I'm not sure what the incense is, but it smells familiar. The only incense I'm "familiar" with is patchouli, but I'm not sure that's what this is.

 

Wet on my skin it sweetens up a bit and the incense tones down a bit. I think it's the vanilla coming out helping to temper it. For just a moment there is a slight burst of a clean greenish smelling scent. I want to put it in a "cleaning solution" or "citrus" category. The "cleaning solution" is not something that smells bad, per se, but it's not what I was expecting.

 

As this dries down, the greener scent comes to the fore. I'm thinking it's a green-ish wood scent, like fresh wood. Hmm, I'm not as impressed with this as I was before I mixed the sediment. I can still smell what it was before I rolled the bottle, and the incense is still in there, but it's not a sweet incense any more. It's more woody.

 

Dry the previous tan khaki color now has more of a greenish-brown color to it in my minds eye. Though I do like the dry stage more than the dry down. It's sweetening up and getting greener as time goes by, if that makes any sense. There's still a hint of spice, but now it's way in the back and I can barely smell it. I think this has a more smoky vanilla scent, than a straight vanilla.

 

Yes, the more this dries the more I go back to adoring the hell out of it. Thank goodness! I was worried when I found the 1/2 imps worth of sediment in the bottom that I would hate it now. But no ... now that it's completely dry, there's not a lot of difference between rolled and pre-rolled. It's a little greener is all ... and I'm fine with that. It's got a green/incensey/spicy/slightly sweet scent to it and I adore it.

 

 

Edit: I just noticed that there is a TON (like 1/2 and imps worth) of sediment in this bottle. I will have to roll it around and possibly come back to edit this description.

 

 

#617

In the bottle this has a sort of creamy citrus scent to it. Which, honestly, makes me a bit nervous as I've never really tried any of BPAL's citrus blends. I've done fruit, but not the citrus variety. I'm always scared it will end badly. The citrus is not burning my nose, which is good, for some reason I expected that out of citrus. But ... here goes nothing!

 

Wet on my skin I get a dreamcicle type scent. There is orange in this (or a sweet orange-like fruit), but that is not the whole of it. I think maybe some grapefruit as well. (My grandmother has had a half a grapefruit every morning since I can remember - otherwise I'd have no clue what grapefruit smelled like.) The vanilla is way in the back, giving a small hint of creaminess, but not taking over the citrus.

 

On the dry down this is all smoothing out. The citrus' (because I truly believe there is more than one) are front and center, but it seems they are tempered by other things. This is not a foodie blend, like it started out with the dreamcicle wet stage. As this dries a spice comes out. Perhaps it's a very fragrant/spicy wood? I'm not sure. But the more this dries the more of a wood feel I get from it.

 

Dry this evokes the image of perhaps a wooden bowl that was used for a bowl of peeled/cut citrus fruits. It isn't something I feel like nomming on, because I get more the feel of the wooden bowl after the fruits are gone (but their scent lingers on in the bowl). Further on dry down, I start getting some of the vanilla - like maybe there was a vanilla cream topping on the citrus fruit that was in the wooden bowl.

 

The longer this is on, the more it starts moving back to a dreamcicle state. But it's not foodie. It's the memory of citrus' in a wood bowl topped with vanilla cream - and all you have left is the wood bowl and the lingering taste of a yummy citrus/vanilla treat. (Makes me want to lick the bowl, just to get one more taste ... but I will hold off, because that is actually my hand and BPAL is not edible.)

 

 

 

I really cannot believe my luck with these two scents! Both of them are wonderful - so much so in fact that I'm having a hard time deciding which one I want to wear right now. Because one of them will have to be worn. I can't just slip them away in the box. I can't!!!

Edited July 9, 2010 by claudia6913

[angelicruin]

#623: Smoky vanilla, patchouli (but not stinky/hippy patchouli). This actually kind of reminds me of Madame Moriarty minus the plum and red musk.

 

#584: Coconut & vanilla candy

 

#283: Candy Apple & vanilla

 

#429: Smells like angel food cake on me. No frosting, just light sweet spongy angel food cake.

 

#??1: (The number on label smeared in transit from lab) This one has a bit of marshmallow vibe going, but it's not foody...there is something else there, a little sharp, but definitely softened by the vanilla & marshmallow-like notes, maybe a herb?

Edited July 23, 2010 by angelicruin

[surlygurl]

#463 - Wow. This is vanilla. It starts off a foody vanilla of the cake smash type. It's loud. It's strong. It's giving off a slightly burnt plastic smell. But wait! There's something else here. Something light and clear. Something floral. What is it!?! As the oil dries, the foodie (& burnt plastic) aspects leave the party and the clear clean mystery floral comes out more, turning this into a light clear vanilla. It doesn't last as long as vanilla usually does. Now, I'm not the most knowledgeable person re:florals, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the light clear floral is vanilla flower.

 

Verdict: It's nice, tho I am envious of all those who got complex vanilla/woods/spices. Ah well.

[CitizenBree]

#76

Smelled like a light vanilla in the imp so i was surprised when I put it on and immediately the other notes came out. Something spicey and while i'd describe it as foodie, there's something savory about it. Or it could be a burnt note. Smells like it could be cinnamon or nutmeg. It's something I can't put my finger on. Like it could be a savory type dinner roll with a little bit of that dessert-type spice mixed in. Maybe there's a little anise in here? The vanilla is still there also so it's a nice little mix but just not my style.

 

#5

Sort of a honeyed vanilla under a floral. This reminds me of a lot of the District line, which were super sweet on my skin. I can't pick out the flower, though. it's not one of the main ones i know like lily, rose or violet. I can also smell some slight green wetness, like what you get with the rose in Whip. Finally, there's a delicate baby scent like from Gladdener of All Hearts. This is pretty and feminine. Not my ideal vanilla but still nice.

 

#216

Delicious maple syrup. It's like pancake breakfast but the cook did what I do and put some vanilla extract in the batter or syrup. On the skin of my wrists, it dies down to a nice soft vanilla, but in my cleavage area, it's still heavy super yummy syrup. I want to drink this up.

Edited July 11, 2010 by CitizenBree

[fairestrocza]

(decanted from a friend's bottle)

 

Bottle #267

 

In the Bottle: buttered popcorn; a friend claims he can smell caramel apples and cotton candy too

 

Wet on Skin: salted, buttered popcorn… There is something else here that I can't quite identify, but mainly this is straight up Movie Theatre Popcorn.

 

While Drying: Have I mentioned Movie Theatre Popcorn?

 

After a Little While: Still foody, but no longer straight up popcorn. Smoothing out a bit. Softer. The vanilla is indistinct.

 

Later: There might be some tonka in here… and the vanilla is finally asserting itself - in the form of the vaguely plasticy note - but fortunately the throw is fairly mild by this point.

 

Final Thoughts: Very evocative in the initial stages. A fun change of pace from my usual scents, but I'll have to be in the right mood to wear this. Glad I just have a decant. This is how I imagine Midway would smell.

This earns a 3/5 on my skin for the sheer novelty of the scent.

 

[ljaylh]

#99

From the bottle, fizzy! I detect champagne.. and champagne is not my friend. On the skin - yep, champagne for sure.. it's fizzy and it has that white spirits smell that my skin detests. The vanilla is valiantly trying to come out on top, but nope - champagne wins. This one has been fairy-gifted away to a more loving home.

 

 

[ChaosKitty]

#324, received in a swap with the wonderful Aldercy!

 

Wet: clove, and ginger, and clove, and vanilla, and clove, and a musky background...and clove.

 

Drying: it settles down fairly quickly, and now I get a little bit of either cinnamon or allspice too. The heavy clove went *poof* and now there seem to be fairly equal amounts of clove and ginger, plus allspice...and maybe pepper? Definitely musk in this blend, but just a little (or else I'd smell nothing but musk at this point). As it dries, the vanilla that wasn't apparent initially comes out more and more.

 

Dry: it's vanilla Three Witches with ginger in place of cinnamon, and I'm in love! Lucky me!

[DANALEACH]

I ordered 3 bottles and I am terrible with picking out individual notes. I just know a well blended scent when I smell it.

I will try my best though to mention the notes I *think* I recognize in my blends.

 

 

#420

I wore this to Church yesterday and my husband kept sniffing me all day telling me how good I smell.

This one smells to have a dark, black smelling vanilla, balsam or maybe clover(something green and kinda like U), some kind of wood note(maybe mahogany or maple). There is almost a bit of a dark coffee smell to this as well during the dry down. There is another note to this blend that I cannot identify yet. It is driving me crazy!

Mostly, this blend is sweet and warm.... green with wood notes. LOVE~

 

 

 

#464

I have CC:Female and this blend put on side by side and there is very little difference between these 2 blends. There is a little less leather and more of a sweetness to my blend than CC:Female but gosh, they are VERY close to my nose. My blend is not quite as complex as CC:Female just as a note. Another LOVE!

 

 

 

#508

This is my favorite blend of all.

Creamy French Vanilla, fruits that smell purple to my nose, golden honey and what I think is a linen note. There is a tiny bit of a sparkle to this blend too. So glorious!

 

 

 

All of these blends have a great throw and last for several hours. I lucked out hard core and really could not be more pleased with what I received. Love, Love, Love them all!

Edited July 12, 2010 by Danascharms

[blueroses]

#570: vanilla, sandalwood, and pear (could be apple--the note reminds me of the one in Agape, although my immediate thought was "pear!"). It dries down to a mostly vanilla sandalwood, but the pear/apple is still around and peeks out now and again.

 

#626: I LOVE this one but am not sure about notes. It smells like buttercream in the bottle. At the beginning, still wet, I almost thought I could smell almond or cherry, but that goes away. It dries down to and remains an intense vanilla, almost like vanilla extract. Maybe there's still almond/cherry in the background? ETA that I think it might be orange. Not sure why I was getting almond/cherry anymore.

Edited July 13, 2010 by blueroses

[violetblue]

#377

Butterrum lifesavers in the bottle. Oh yeah!!!

First applied - vanilla and green?

After a few minutes - Roses and vanilla, ala Katrina Van Tassel! Bizarre!

After ten minutes: More vanilla, less rose

Very pretty, but I amp rose and I already have Katrina, so off to the swaps you go!

[saralaughs]

#4blurrysomething1 or 7 (yeah, I dunno. All I know for sure is the first number is a 4 and the last may be a 1 or a 7):

 

Boozy buttercream vanilla in the bottle.

 

After application, I get the vanilla but a floral is coming to the front and assaulting me. It's either Mum's or ylang ylang I think. It's a fuzzy floral that I associate with carnations. Definitely not rose, lily, lilac, gardenia, jasmine (I'm pretty sure it's not but I don't wear jasmine so I dunno), or champaca. The floral is Lush-ish in smell (yes, I mean Lush as in bath bombs and such).

 

After a bit, the vanilla reappears and is very creamy. There is also coconut? I dunno. I get a tropical vibe to this. Maybe amber as well.

 

Very nice but not my thing.

 

[Ondine]

#526--Very full bottle. When I look at it in the light it is a clear liquid and no distinct layers to it. On skin: I can hardly tell there is vanilla in here! It is a fresh greenery smell. Pretty, but it's not really my speed. If you like Planting Moon or oils of that ilk, you'd probably really love this one.

 

#547--Also very full. In the light: Dark. Really dark! And the bottle itself feels oddly heavy! Oooh, musky. It's like a cousin to Mme. Moriarty or Smut. There's a slightly dusty note in the background that tempers the musk and makes it not too heavy. It's not a foody musk, really--maybe an ever so slightly fruity note, like plum, that makes it similar to Mme. but nothing really heavy. I like this one a lot! EDIT: Definitely it's Smut Chaos!

Edited August 3, 2010 by Ondine

[jamcde03]

#314- i'm so thrilled to have recieved this in a swap! in the bottle- smells a lot like i remember my strawberry shortcake dolls smelling. creamy, vanilla-strawberry-plastic. on- still slightly plasticky, but that usually fades with age. the strawberry is still here but tempered by something creamy and slightly spicy, if I had to guess I'd say carnation? as it dries the spicy comes out a little more and darkens the strawberry. i love, love this and i think it will only get better

[cyberpuff]

So, this is for #595, and it's fresh out of the mailbox. The bottle is so full that there's barely an air bubble in it!

 

In the bottle: creamy vanilla and... magic marker. Grape magic marker, to be exact, meaning it doesn't really smell grape but smells like something pretending to be grape.

 

Fresh on my skin: The vanilla is very warm. The magic marker part is fading and I don't know what it's changing to- I remember my initial impression of Hod, and I'm reminded of that now.

 

Drydown: It's not a terribly sweet vanilla, but something is happening with the magic marker and now this smells very pink. I think there might be a small touch of coconut here too.

 

I'm all confused as to what's in here. It really reminded me of one of the shungas after things calmed down and I think I may have pinpointed the one- if you took the star anise out of Pink Mood and added a tiny bit of coconut, you'd have Vanilla CT #595.

 

I'll rest it for a little while, I'm sure that it will calm down/morph into something else, and if anything interesting happens I'll add it here. Right now I don't love it but I don't hate it either.

 

ETA: The "grape" has returned and now I get a vanilla/white wine/taffy combo- an upscale carnival scent.

 

ETA: Okay, you know what? After an overnight rest, this CT is a super close ringer for Twilight Alchemy Lionheart. Remember where I said I don't love it? Well, that's changed!

Edited July 13, 2010 by sheena

[NicoleJoy]

607 - This is an interesting one! Licorice and Vanilla, I'm fairly certain, but the more it dries, the creamier it gets. After about 10 minutes, the licorice dies down into a more subtle note, and it almost smells like chocolate and vanilla. Yum.

 

Also, UBER full.

[Pepperminx]

#406

There is this faint whiff of vanilla/baked goods and a tiny bit of sugar. Very weak and unforgettable. Too bad!

Edited July 13, 2010 by Grynet

[CLFilm]

#612 arrived roughly 20 minutes ago, and I couldn't resist putting it on right away.

 

ETA: VERY full bottle and very clear, no layers or sediment.

 

In bottle & wet on skin: BOOZY. Like in Devil's Night. Booze, booze, booze is all I smell.

During drydown: Something green/menthol comes out just a bit. Juniper maybe? Or fir? (I'm terrible at this.) But just the tiniest bit. Still boozy.

After 20 minutes or so: Boozy is over. Green is waaaaay in the background. Skin musk now? A bit of O, a bit of Dorian? A little bit of dirt or wood? Maybe like Doc Constantine with the proportions of pine and vanilla reversed?

Attack of Edit: After an hour or so it goes kind of Gingerbread Poppet-y? But softened by the vanilla? Different from where I thought it was going, but still nice.

 

The more I sit with it and sniff it the more the vanilla comes out. A real soft, creamy vanilla. Not plasticy, not foody. I was really afraid this was not going to work, but it's very, very interesting and getting nicer all the time. The throw is almost pure creamy vanilla.

 

It is probably too hot right now to actually wear this one, but I think it will end up being an amazing fall/winter scent. ETA again to say: Probably more for going out than work day because of that little naughty bit of skin musk.

 

I hope, I hope I end up loving this!! I've never had a Chaos work before!

 

Final Edit: This ended up WAY more foody than I generally like. As I said above though, more in the vein of Gingerbread Poppet than say, Cake Smash. Think I might try to swap it for something more my speed.

Edited July 14, 2010 by CLFilm