Lit Chick

I finally ran out of my last bit of Red Devil. Any suggestions for a BPAL or other that has a similar sweet spicy musk?

I opened this and tears came into my eyes. My elementary school was surrounded by crabapple trees, and there were many such trees scattered about the neighborhood.. In the spring, they were so heavy with pink and white flowers. It was my favorite time of year. Sometime when I was in high school, the trees were cut down. I assume disease... they were old. They were not replaced. It made me so sad. Then I moved away, and have not been near an apple tree in the spring since. I cracked open the bottle and those trees came back. The sound of happy bees, the joy of those trees in full bloom... I never even really thought of the trees as particularly fragrant either.... but scent memory. They were, but it's not an overpowering smell. Just the sunny smell of childhood. sniffle. This is not particularly wearable for me - apple fruit works, but apple blossom goes a bit soapy. I smell good and clean, but very much changed from the bottle. Still, I will treasure this - what a bright and happy and fresh scent! I think I might make this a pillow scent.

I am Christopher Walken and carnation is my cowbell. This SN is perfection, smells exactly like the real thing. Fresh, creamy, spicy.

In the bottle - traditional masculine cologne smell. Nice, nothing special. Also nothing scary. A BPAL newbie could smell this and not be afraid to try it. 1st wet - Lilac for a second, then LEATHER. Clean leather. Not brand-new, but not broken-down either. Well worn but meticulously kept. Dry - Tonka (which smells like vanillaness, but does not go plastic on me like real vanilla does), spiced wood, sex. Very dry - a sweet, sexy, close-to-skin musk. Honestly, this is SUPER SEXY, and gorgeous, and it makes me feel wrong because it smells like I'm cheating on my husband. He usually wears more romantic blends (Oisin). This will smell SO good on him. It smells fantastic on me - but because of the musk it smells like it rubbed off, rather than was applied. This will be in heavy rotation.

Wow. Major scent memory with this one. It smells exactly like Sanctuary Crystals circa 1995. And that store for me was all about freedom and newly awakened sexuality. It smells fantastic on me... it's a little nostalgic... I feel the need to listen to some Pearl Jam. Ocean.

Wet, this is flat-out nasty. Aggressively green and sharp and sneezey. I hate you, green tea. You are very weird on me. But.. in a few moments, something starts to happen. Seriously, chills... is that... CARNATION? I just did this people: Not even kidding, I got up from the PC and flailed around and huffed and flailed. Since 2004, I have been looking for a majorly carnation-y scent, and I have not really found it. But this could be it. After much huffing and drying, the carnation is gone and instead I smell... still pretty awesome. I can huff out the orange but would not have placed it without the description. The tea keeps trying to be a dick, but failing. This is absolutely bottle worthy. How many bottles depends on the very-dry stage. I need to let my nose rest and see if the carnation sticks around as the main note when I'm not paying hard-core attention. This might, maybe, be my holy grail. Two hours should tell....

I was feeling a bit perverse when I decided to try this. Based on the dearth of reviews, I'm guessing that this blend was one long list of death notes for many. It was for me, but I was tempted by honeysuckle because sometimes that is magical on me. And like I said, I was feeling perverse. Maybe lots of death notes would cancel each other out, and create something unexpectedly wonderful! Nope. There was a flare of floral doom when I first applied, and those bad notes did what they do. And then, the scent died. I have the vaguest soap note remaining. Lesson learned. Lots of known baddies cannot morph into something pretty.

2011 version. It smells exactly like the description. And that's pleasant, and odd. snow, check! dirt, check! smushed greenery and florals, check! barest hint of pastries? Not quite. I get a huge whopping crumb note. This is not one I'd wear, but I will dot in on my boys and see what they do to it. It's a fun, kind of messy scent. It would be good as a room scent - it has a comforting jumbly holiday feel.

Oh, this is lovely. If I had not already tested Frost at Midnight, this would possibly be my favorite of the Yules. This is a bright, sunny scent. Very floral, but also very green. It's a budding, airy scent. Very much the promise of springtime. It's like those melty late-winter days when the sun is bright, the day feels crazy warm (in comparison to the day before), and you skip around in a sweater instead of a giant bundled coat. It reminds me a little of Sea of Glass, but bouncier. I'd place them in the same fresh/clean/bright category,

Wow, this was not what I was expecting at all. There is a new note of doom for me - papyrus. When very freshly wet, I get a blast of lovely bright floral and a fresh grass scent. And then the grass amps and eats everything, then it mellows, and then I get very strange smell, like the grass is farting out the flowers. How weird is that? I bet that's the fir, because I'm one of those people that sometimes gets hints of body odor with fir/pine. As it dries, the champaca and ambergris start to make an appearance (and those ROCK), as does whatever gives that chilly scent. It's SO close to being really nice, so very very close. But my skin disagrees with the green notes too violently.

Fist impressions - Queen Mab. Must be the jasmine and rose, and the fact that I have not smelled QM since 2004ish. At first, I did not care for it... but it kind of grew on me. Not enough for a bottle, but this is a pleasant perfume. It does fall into the old-lady / fancy soap category. My chemistry teeters on the edge of pushing this into the harsh soap scent. Rose and I are so-so. But the jasmine is really lovely, and it's what makes me enjoy this.

2011 - Wet, it is boozey deliciousness. Freshly on, it turns super-sweet, like store-bought white frosting. Dry - cake batter. Super-dry, vaguely sweet. Well, it avoided going plastic on me like 2007's version, but overall it was way too sweet and not my thing. I think I'll layer my decant with Mad Sweeney, because this nog could use more booze!

I am a sucker for any blend that has carnation, ever hopeful that carnation will be the main note. I should have known that leaves (a death note for me) would never ever allow a favorite note to even show itself. Alas, this smells like decomposing vegetation on me, with a hint of rosey perfume underneath. Mental image - the fresh grave of a young bride. Or, I guess, the perfume of a freshly reanimated bride...

Oh my oh my. Gorgeous. Wet, it is SO DIVINE. I will use a locket for this, for sure. It smells like hope, and love, and kindness. Pure, very clean, a windy freshness. It's very floral, so on some this might go soapy. But it's so slight and airy that it never crosses that line with me. I ADORE this. It's been ages since I've had such an instant love for a BPAL. This may be double-bottle worthy.

Ondurdis... Almost a ZOMG scent. Almost. I only have one other pine scent currently, and that is Snow Moon. These are similar enough that I don't feel like I need Ondurdis. Snow Moon is sweeter, and more likely to hit that dreaded BO note. Ondurdis is fresher. It has a hint of the BO, but it's not off-putting. It's only there when I huff and analyze. After an initial POW of throw, this settles and becomes subtle. A very nice, crisp, slightly sweet winter-pine scent. I will certainly use my decant.