Gin

I know IXHV4 is supposed to smell like coffee, but I still wasn't prepared. It's coffee all right. Hint of cream (hazelnut, maybe?), touch of sugar perhaps? Mayyyybe a hint of chocolate? I love coffee but can't drink it, so this is perfect for me.

KPX130 does smell like another BPAL I recently tried, but I think it was Phantasm, not Phobos. I smell aloe and maybe musk (something sort of fuzzy) and a light floral. It's a little powdery/dusty, which sounds more unflattering than I mean it to be. It makes me think of a light pollen dust on a petal, not some dusty old dried flower. I'm glad I had the chance to try this, but it's definitely not me.

I don't know what to think about Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah. It smells like ... honey, sort of, not the bad powdery honey, and velvety red flowers, with a touch of spice. There's maybe a bit of red apple, but it mostly smells like smooth red florals to me. I don't dislike it, it's just not me.

I love the comparison between this and a tinsel garland. I always loved the bizarro metallic scent of the tinsel garland. The Smilin' Servitors' Hyperdimensional Holiday Hits is a really interesting, unusual scent. In the bottle, it's yuzu and lemon and bergamot. On my skin, it's all that and freesia, kind of citrusy and slightly soapy, but mostly bright and cheerful. Love it!

At first, Aeaea is all wood, but it quickly dries down to a soft aquatic. Not my usual type of scent, but I like it. It's quiet and serene.

I knew I was taking a risk with The Lantern Ghost of Oiwa, but I was fairly confident. My confidence was misplaced. Mint, yay! Backed up with wood and lily, boo. Where is the tea? The cherry blossom? They make themselves known eventually, faintly, but I think this is just too light and too woody for me.

I overlooked Black Heart, thinking it would be too dark for me. At DD, I couldn't see the name but knew I wanted it as soon as I sniffed it. (I asked Del for "the grapey one" and he gave me a look like ) On my skin, it's delicious grape and plum--an inspired combination, if you ask me. The sweet pea, carnation, and sandalwood come out a bit more as it dries, but the fruits remain, too. Lovely.

Damnit, vetiver! When will I learn? Fuwu/Fuwa Bansaku is vetiver and oud, and maybe some red sandalwood on my skin. Eventually, the coconut comes out, and I might actually be starting to like this. The vetiver remains, but it's softened by creamy coconut and tonka. It's now kind of fuzzy and comforting. This is a surprise hit. I'm glad I found a bottle of it.

Ooh, this is fantastic! The Chinese musk in Metal Phoenix had me worried. I don't know what I expected it to smell like, but up until recently, I was pretty much afraid of all types of musk. I tend to like chromey type notes, though, so I grabbed this on eBay. Thank goodness, 'cause it's fabulous. It's citrus and chrome. I might even like this better than Torture Queen. It doesn't have TQueen's floral, instead it has lemon drops. YUM.

Incessant Torture of Remorse doesn't sound like the name of something I'd like to wear, but I keep trying to make BPAL blackberry happen, so I had to give it a try. Sad to say, I don't really get any blackberry. I get lavender and opoponax-a sour, woody lavender scent. I wouldn't wear this as perfume, but I might try it at bedtime if not for fear that it would give me bad dreams.

I'm surprised to find that I like Privilege. It's a little spicy, in a green way, and really floral. Not much to say about it, really. It's pretty, clean, kind of like something I'd expect from Estee Lauder or Calvin Klein. (And I don't mean that as a slight. It just fits into that endorsed-by-Gwyneth-Paltrow-in-a-wedding-dress type of category.)

I don't think I really knew what tuberose smelled like before smelling this. It's similar to the fruit blossom scents that make me think of haircare products, but it's a little more lush than fruit blossoms, more like gardenia maybe? A little woodier, too. I don't know that I'd wear this on its own, but I like it blended with other notes.

Ooh, peach Jolly Rancher! I was recently lucky to get my hands on some Philommeides, as it had escaped my attention during its release. The dominant note is the peach wine, that smells to me like peach Jolly Ranchers. Behind it is some other stuff that I can't really identify. Could be flowers back there, I can't really tell. Doesn't matter, 'cause it had me at peach.

There's no lime in here? Weird. The green tea smells really citrussy in the bottle, and the chocolate smells a little dirty as it sometimes does. As it dries, it smoothes out into a lemony/limey chocolate, with an emphasis on the citrus. Interesting. I'll keep it around.

Eeek! Stormclouds is REALLY ozoney at first. Ozone + smoke just smells unpleasantly dirty. The drydown is really pretty, though. It's still ozoney, but fruity, too, so it doesn't scream 'dryer sheet' to me... until it starts screaming 'laundry detergent.' Even so, I still like it. The fruity plum-colored smoke is just too hypnotic. It's like looking into the Cheshire Cat's eyes. I can't resist.

Yay! The Second of the Three Spirits is what I expected Whoop to be. Spicy baked goods over a background of pine. It has all of those notes that tend to blend into "Christmas candle" territory, yet it avoids going there, somehow. How is that possible? This is seriously the best of everything great about Christmas, rolled into one little bottle--snickerdoodles, fruit, punch, nuts, and pine garlands. Not too much to wear as perfume, but would also be fab as a room scent.

Osmanthus, white honey, ti leaf, hibiscus, and sugar cane. I love hibiscus! I don't know that I'd smell this and think, "hibiscus," though. It just smells lightly fruit-floral to me, a little sweet. Very pretty.

Yum! I couldn't imagine that The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil could smell so good. I kind of have an aversion to anything Devil related because of something my aunt said to me when I was young, but seriously, this oil is amazing. This is caramel and spice and vanilla and it kind of makes me want to lick my arm. It's kind of brown sugary, too--like a caramelly version of Sugar Skull! Delicious. This blows all other BPAL caramels out of the water.

This scent is so perfect for Schlafende Baigneuse. It's light and sweet and creamy. Vaguely floral, vaguely fruity, it's similar to Agape, but a little more grown up. I can't believe there isn't apple or peach blossom in here, it has that sort of feel. Drydown is soft creamy rose-floral and musk; clean but not soapy.

I can't see "Cup of Death" without thinking it in an Eddie Izzard, "Cake or Death?" voice. Regardless, this is amazing. The peach and the greenery blend to make an unbelievable gardeny scent. It almost smells like strawberries to me--on the vine, with some dirt on them, warm in the sun. As it develops on my skin the greenness stays on top, but underneath is warm, ripe peach. It reminds me of The Body Shops Fuzzy Peach, which was the most coveted scent in junior high, and I still have feelings of nostalgia when I smell anything like it. Eventually, the peach dominates and OMG, it's so good. This may have just become my favorite BPAL peach.

The Harp of Cnoc I'Chosgair is warm and golden. It smells like a cousin to Et Lux Fuit. I get a gorgeous vanilla-sandalwood-tiare combination from the Harp. It feels like it radiates off the skin--not in a loud, brash way, but just in a cozy, comforting way. It's like the perfume equivalent of a security blanket. The powdery amber comes out a bit, but it only adds to the snuggly feel of this. Lovely.

The Witch Queen has a mix of great and awful notes, so it really could have gone either way. It goes to the good side, though, with red musk barely apparent. I get mostly plummy floral incense. Pretty and dark, but not heavy. A little sexy, but not overtly so. I like this well enough, but the draw here is the plum, and I have other plums I think I prefer (Bathsheba, for one) so I'm not sure it's a keeper.

I love The First of the Three Spirits. In the bottle, I can't pick out any notes. It's sort of vanillay, and something smells kind of lush and green, maybe it's the zdravetz? As it dries, it goes vanilla-musky/ambery, but it's kind of cool, not warm like I would normally expect vanilla, musk, and amber to be. The vanilla isn't butter or foody like usual, and the amber isn't powdery. I don't smell any summer flowers, unless they were contributing to the leafy smell I got at the beginning. This is a surprise hit for me! It's a great alternative to the loud, foody oils I tend to favor.

Oh, right. I bought Summer's Last Will and Testament and promptly got rid of it and I couldn't remember why, so I bought another bottle (I know, I know ). I opened the bottle, and it smelled like a late summer sunset--the sun's in your eyes and it's all orangey and the grass is dry and brown and it's still hot even though the sun's going down and days are getting shorter and it's almost time to go back to school so you're going to cherish every last bit of the days you have until that happens. On my skin, it smells like soap. Sad.

I really liked the 2004 version, so I didn't hesitate to grab some of Mabon 2010. It's not quite the same, but I like it just as well. It's fruity and planty. I don't think I'd be able pick out any individual notes if not for the description, and even with its help, I'm having trouble. It just smells good.