idoru

Folks really seem to love or hate Embalming Fluid.. I can't put myself in either camp. My first impression was "lemon!" with a chaser of soapiness, no musk at all. A pale green scent, if you will. About 5 minutes in, green tea rears its head. My notes: ".. gets continually plant-ier." I tend to like clean scents, but this stays overall TOO clean-smelling. Plantiness + cleaner + lemon [with a hint of white musk] = not right for me, but I don't hate it.

Incensey, resinous, warm and sweet.. but I could swear I detect a hint of patchouli (?) in the mix, which makes it pointed/sharp on me. The longer it wears, the more it's just sweet and earthy instead of pointed. Overall, it's nice. Not particularly me, though I usually love incense scents.

Sweeeeet. Almost reminiscent of a country store [you know the type, with Yankee candles and wooden home decorations, wreaths and collectibles] wax melts or potpourri -- sweet and homey. I can pick out the almond, rum, and buttercream.. almost a hot butter-rum scent? But oh LORD is it too sweet and foody for me to wear.

Predominantly rosewood, with a hint of Zombi's dried roses. I get a hint of sharpness that must be the hazel. It smells like a rich old house with hardwood floors and burgundy oriental rugs.. and conjures a dark room in that house, lit only by candles. Within two hours, it mellowed to a sweet rosewood on me.

Berry! But not cloying, sweet berry. Almost a light wine scent? Mostly I read rich berry over a bed of tea and greens; 4ish hours later, it's a berry-hinted light musk. I've worn this a lot over the spring and summer -- the sage and tea ground the scent enough that the berries never go too sweet. It's eternally fresh.

The Scarlet Woman, aglow with sensual indolence: red musk, benzoin, caramel accord, golden honey, and spiced Moroccan unguents. Perfumey and dark, a sweet red-copper sensual scent. Resinous, spicy, sweet.. with the tiniest hint of fruit or flower. Dulcet and lazy.. Like a cross between Scherezade & Haunted, plus honey? Musk and spice, primarily. Yum.

I'd never tried iris, and sandalwood is usually brilliant for me. I've liked myrrh in other blends. Why not? Initially, Nefertiti smelled like inoffensive (!) violet, with a powdery throw. I detest violet, so the "inoffensive" part is surprising. About 10 minutes in, hints of hidden, sharper herbs started to kick in, but she's still predominantly floral. Eventually, it faded to a slightly herbal sandalwood, which was nice, but not enough to sell me on the scent. From my notes: "Too violet-y overall, though not the sharp, soapy blargh."

All I wrote in my little notebook: "OMG yum." This is easily in my top 5 favorite BPAL scents; I'm going to have to buck up and order a bottle. I nearly cried when I managed to lose my imp. It took me forever to figure out what the glorious cloud of scent was -- it's almost entirely carnation on me, backed with spices and musk. It's golden, it's dry, it's.. incomparable. 'OMG yum' pretty much sums it up.

Very masculine in the imp. First on, I immediately get the impression of generic-expensive "spa" and "sea"-named products. When it warms/mellows, I get the hint of leather underneath; it's overwhelmingly unisex, leaning toward masculine for me. Like a man's clean, spa-salt scent. I found it wearable, but what morphed the most [in my head?] was whether it smelled too manly for my liking. Aquatic scents generally don't do much for me, and this one was at least interesting. I think I need to put it on my SO, though.. it might be delicious on him.

Mm.. I don't read this as masculine at all, but I once met a lady who said that her husband used her sandalwood-rose lotion more than she did. I get a light, clean-but-present rose which is immediately rendered.. suede-y.. by musks. Overall, it wears as the softest of musks with a hint of spiced rose. And I do mean 'soft' -- all vestiges were GONE within 4-5 hours, but it's just so darned pretty.

Directly from my jotted notes: 'Golden' scent, warm & dry -- unisex, the cedar more mellow than expected after initial ping. Its throw elicits a feel of a gold shimmery aura, but almost 'copper' in depth. I agree w/ the forum "sweet resin/mild incense"-y feel. Of course, I have 0 idea how the cubeba fits in.. it's just a deep, bronzy, spicy skin scent. I'd love to put this on my SO -- it might smell even better on him than on me. Right now, it's one of my amber/musk/spice go-tos.

Whoa.. whoa. Cassia. Very strong cassia on a very subtle bed of other spices. I agree with the "I smell like a Christmas candle!" that I saw in someone else's post.. not to mention, this is the first cinnamon-cassia scent that ever interacted strongly with my skin. I had a heated patch on my arm where I'd applied the oil! I really wanted to love this.. cinnamon, tea, tobacco, and sandalwood are all scents I adore. But apparently my skin amps cassia like NOBODY'S business. Boo.

I get.. musky plum. I realized, once upon a time, that the note I love SO MUCH in Morocco was carnation; I went a-hunting for other carnation scents. [This may not be the time/place, but Possets' "Silver Carnations" is the closest I've found to the Morocco carnation so far.] Bathsheba's description was amazingly promising; carnation [love], musk [love], and plum [okay]. It's not that I dislike the scent at all, it just isn't the carnation perfume I was hoping for. I feel like.. the other two notes, but mostly musk, are tempering a deep, sensual plum. I'm envisioning a plum blossom rather than the fruit; it's a rich, sultry skin-floral. It's utterly lovely, and I think it will be growing on me.

This starts out nearly a single-note sweet pea on me.. emphasis on the "sweet." It's a pink sort of smell, delicate and girly. Within a few minutes, it begins to morph into a more complex scent [good, since I was swayed by the 'two ambers and sandalwood' part of the description]. My brain somehow provided "this smells like a white/pale(/pink?) version of Velvet. Which, I know, other than the sandalwood, makes zero sense. I think it's the sweetness against the sandalwood, even if it's sweet pea and vanilla to Velvet's chocolate. I do get a hint of baby-scent, but I think it's less "baby powder" and more "sweet-smelling, just-washed baby".. and it's subtle. I don't know if the scent is "me" -- it's more floral and less amber than I expected -- but it IS lovely.

Oh, is this ever one that morphs on me. Initially, AMGP is the smell of an old church at Easter -- heady lily arrangements underpinned by something ecclesiastical. Mostly, though, it's lily with jasmine. Within half an hour, the florals are gentling, becoming more subdued -- and within an hour on my skin, AMGP has shifted to a beautiful pale musk scent, with rosewood, the barest hint of sandalwood, and a corona of white flowers. I thought I must be going crazy, to go from such a floral-dominated scent to musk with floral afterthought. This certainly bears wearing again, though I definitely prefer the second stage -- while I like lilies and jasmines in person, I prefer them as secondary players when it comes to perfume. Musk, on the other hand.. yum.

March Hare is certainly a mix of apricot and clove on me, but this served to remind me that predominant-note clove makes me think of Christmas air fresheners. "A drop of clove" in Beth's scents, now THAT's lovely, but when it's one of two notes? Oof. Not for me. I'd never be able to wear this without layering it with something to mellow the clove; off to the swaps.

Amaretto. I suppose "maraschino cherries" or "marzipan" if you must, but this smells like amaretto -- it has that warmth, that kick to it. From desktop notes: "Amaretto with an edge; embers in a dark fireplace. Fades to cinnamon-almond, but the spices keep it from ever being simple food scents. It always remains about light on your skin, light and dark in your veins." Eclipse is one I wear when I'm feeling cranky or headachy, because something about it puts me in a better frame of mind. Frankincense is the only thing keeping it from being purely foodie [i don't like smelling like baked goods], so it's soothing and warming-invigorating while not being pure candy goo. Not one I do daily, but it never fails to help me out of a funk.

While definitely GREEN, I dunno about any of the negative connotations that go along with jealousy. To me, this is a perfect spring morning scent -- those mornings that are a tiny bit misty, but clear up in the light of the sun. Dew on a front lawn, the freshness of herbs. Mm. From my desktop sticky: "Envy: "green herbs, mint/lime/lavender" -- starts sharply green, like cut grass, with a hint of sweetness underneath. Morphs into cut grass and lilacs, never too sweet, never too tart. Smells like spring and summer mornings to me." I always think that when I put it on, cut grass and lilacs, even though I know lilac isn't in the mix.

True, perfect golden light, refined into an incomparably glorious scent. This smells like bitter dirt on me. No, no, I detect different woods, though the amber's not prominent enough for my tastes, some incense.. but whoooa nelly is it wrong on my skin. Several people detect patchouli, which could be why this is awful on me. Mostly, I get dusty, cracked resin and dirt -- almost a sun-warmed STONE scent, which I could handle if not for the sharp bitterness that is probably patchouli [argh, foe]. There's also the tiniest hint incense smokiness. Disappointing, as I love amber, and sandalwood, and the idea of 'golden light'; cedar is usually fine on me, too. I'd keep it for layering, but that bitterness comes through on me; I'm far better off laying with Cathedral than with Aureus. (Edited to include BPAL description)

In the vial: clean, sharp, fresh-cut rose. On: this is primarily rose, but in a good way. Roses in a tree-shaded herb garden, a dark whisper of pine; elegant but not the elegance of Victorian rosewater nor anything too urban-sophisticated. I can't pick out the individual notes of chamomile, juniper, and cypress, but I can certainly tell that they're present. [it's so hard for me to describe how this is different from other rose-plus-stuff scents!] In a way, my brain processes it almost like a fresh, verdant version of Zombi -- earthy but refined, pure rose without being ALL rose. I will say this, though: it doesn't bring Rome-the-city to mind, for me. Knowing that the blend is drawn from ancient Rome, however, if I picture the ancient parts of the city, it makes more sense. Definitely keeping the imp, if nothing else.

... He is a Hermetic Magician's hero for the ages, and his scent is an elegant, timeless, truly refined cologne, bold yet classic: gilded amber, hypnotic lavender, brash carnation and deep mosses. Hmm. When I swapped for this, the description sounded delicious; I was surprised at its masculine cant on my skin. And then my brain pieced together "cologne" and "lavender" to get "lavender fougere," and it all made sense. On: though it wasn't overwhelmingly masculine, it had more of a 'men's cologne' scent than I like wearing. The longer I wore it, the more it softened, though the amber and mosses didn't come out as much as I'd like -- they felt more like underpinnings to a [surprise!] light, spicy men's lavender fougere. I think Titus Andronicus will be staying my "man" scent for now [though that one's not manly on me at all!] -- this one's off to the swaps, as much as I wanted to love it.

:[ I think I'm officially done trying to get violet to play nicely with my skin. This had so much promise, with neroli and mint and eucalyptus, but instead of those, I got.. eucalyptus soap, followed by "ACK VIOLET = SOAP" officiously taking over. It started off chilly, like Numb -- minty violet held in check by eucalyptus and maybe some ozone? But I never detected a hint of neroli, and delicate little violet came out and stomped everything into submission, as usual. Swapped away as of this week.

GoodNESS. Seems like I was halfway through page 3 before any of the ladies said they liked Titus on their own skin! I am female. I don't usually like 'masculine' scents. I adore Titus Andronicus. (My skin plays well with ambers and musks, so I don't have to worry about 'turns to powder' or 'omg too sweet'.) Titus is hard to describe, for me. It's a very balanced blend, deliciously clean [neroli/bergamot] -- but dark -- with a hint of smokiness. Early on it's brighter, more citrus-y, but by the time it fades, I get this gorgeous hint of autumn woodsmoke over the dark amber and musk. So, so good. I'd say Titus is certainly unisex, and would smell wonderful on a man, but it doesn't smell masculine on my skin at all. It could last a little longer -- I usually reapply after 5-6h -- but it's so very worth it.

Envelop yourself in the soft, sensual embrace of gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh. Wet: My initial reaction was worry -- it reminded me of a "warm vanilla sugar"-type scent, which, blah. Thankfully my nose was off that day, because I've never since thought the same. Dusky, chocolatey, mild sandalwood. Dry: Oh, yum. The ESSENCES of cocoa and vanilla [not the sugary foodstuffs] with the dark, biting hint of myrrh, layered over sandalwood. I love putting this in the crooks of my elbows. Overall: Love. It's a 'close' scent, but it lingers pretty well on my skin -- the lasting impression being more "sweet, dark sandalwood with a hint of something herbal" than the initial cocoa and myrrh, but it's still gorgeous. This is possibly the first scent devoid of either amber or musk that I've fallen in love with. Wow. Bottle list.

Hm. Having just scanned a handful of reviews, Absinthe certainly plays REALLY differently for varying chemistries. For me [and I have tried the drink, though sans wormwood] - Wet: overpowering, sweet anise. The smell of concentrated absinthe and sugar on my wrist.. no hint of citrus, mint, or other herbs. Just almost-sharp boozy licorice. Dry: Oh! Well then. A brilliant lemon, underpinned with anise. This is lovely (read: not Lysol-y), and it-- is shifting again? The anise-absinthe scent became more prominent, but was still subordinate to the lemon. Unfortunately, these changes all happened within about 30-45 minutes.. and then it started fading. I still detect a transparent hint of lemon-absinthe on my wrist, but it would take a lot of reapplication, and it's WHOA-strong when wet. Hmmm. Edit: HMM. Confounded, still. Some seven hours later, the soft, muted herbal anise-with-lemon that it faded to is sticking like mad. Once it fades, it has staying power -- just not in its more vibrant stages. Worth another try.