Gin

I was so excited for this, I ordered 2 bottles unsniffed. When they arrived, I dabbed some on immediately and got a burnt-sugar scent reminding me of the B&BW vanilla soap. I wasn't really into it, but I stuck it in the shower anyway and I'm glad I did. In the bath/shower, the burnt bit is less apparent and is instead more lemon-sugary. The scent doesn't last as long that way, but it's much more pleasant to my nose. On its own, SSS isn't a favorite scent of mine, but it's a good base for the supersweet/foody scents I like, and the moisturizing properties are great.

I thought Maison En Pain d'Epices was a dream come true. On my skin it smells like Gingerbread Poppet + The Kingdom of Sweets. As much as I love both of those oils, I like them better individually. Maison seems like too much all smushed together.

I was hoping Yellow Snowballs would be crazy-lemony. Instead, I get a huge blast of BPAL snow and a tiny bit of lemon. Reminds me of the original Cold Moon, but I prefer Cold Moon.

I've been wearing A Wonderful Light for about an hour. Because I expected more orange, I thought it was kind of boring at first. It smelled sort of powdery/fuzzy-sweet, and all I could think was amber! 'cause I couldn't remember what the other notes were. An hour in, the vanilla has emerged although it still stays close to the skin. I get only the faintest trace of orange creamsicle, which would be disappointing if I didn't love the vanilla so much as it is. It's still a little powdery, but pleasantly so. Both amber and honey can go overwhelmingly powdery and headache-inducing, but they're very quiet in AWL.

Verdict: I'm a sucker for vanilla, so this is a keeper.

Oh, boo. Io is a tease. At first, it's a yummy red fruity scent with just a hint of red musk. Over time, the red musk amplifies and makes it just slightly too musky for my taste. It probably would have been perfect on me if the red musk were cut by about 50%.

Blue Morpho is a light, flowery scent. It's watery and cool and really not my thing.

LOVE Sachs. It reminds me very much of TKO--I'd be willing to bet they share a note or two--and a bit like Vanilla Bean SN. I don't know if it's the chamomile or the "smoky vanilla bean" but up close (like, nose to wrist), Sachs has a sort of unpleasant herbalness, but I don't feel like I smell it at even two inches away, so I'll forgive it. I know it says it stays close to the skin, but I wish I got a little more throw from it. Otherwise, it's beautiful.

After failing with the Bread-and-Butter-Fly, I thought I'd give Snap-Dragon-Fly a chance. Freshly applied, it's plum and holly and a strong-and-weird baked note. As it dries, the pastry (?) note fades and it's plum and a sort of cold note (holly) that also fades fairly quickly. I'm left with a bright, predominantly plum scent that reminds me of both Bordello and Midwinter's Eve (two favorites of mine). It's not as loud as Bordello, not as somber as Midwinter's Eve. Love it.

I think this is another Berry Moon miss for me. On my arm, it's a wine/grapey honey musk. On my hand, I smell more of the fruit, but it's still overshadowed by the overly sweet musky scent. I don't have a good track record with red musk, so this isn't entirely unexpected, but I'm still sad because it sounded so amazing. I think people who like/love/are indifferent to red musk will love this, but it's just a little too sticky-sweet musky for me.

My first try got me lime, general fruitiness, and melon. The second time I wore XCDW5, I got lime, general fruitiness, eucalyptus, mint?, dirt, and melon. It dries down to a soft melony scent. I don't think it's as sweet as some of the other melony blends--Twinkle, Twinkle, Earth Ox, Yemaya--and I'm surprised to find that I might like it better than those. I think this also shares a component or two with Serpents with Glittering Eyes and Forky Tongues. They smell similar when they're dried to the point of being barely there (though very different until then). I'm really glad I took a chance on this one. It's a perfectly light, cool, refreshing summer scent.

Wet, PX117 makes me think of fruity cereal--like Trix, maybe. A mishmash of fruitiness and that grainy, cereal smell. As it dries, it goes sort of honey-cake-fruity and all I can think to compare it to is Kitty. Very sweet and warm. Drier, it's more citrussy. I like the comparison to lemon frosting. In spite of bordering on cloying while wet, this turns out delightfully light and pleasant.

I find Shadwell to be a bit unsettling, because I find it kind of sexy. I smell tobacco and condensed milk and it smells really manly and well, sexy. I don't know how to describe it further.

I finally got a bottle of Ehecatl after letting it sit on my wishlist for a year. It's lovely and I'm sorry I waited so long.

On my skin, it's cool tea and citrus, maybe a hint of musk and hibiscus. Very soothing for a hot day like today.

I wish I got more hibiscus, but I like this all the same. It's very much like Shanghai, but I like Ehecatl better, and would probably choose it over Kumiho and Embalming Fluid as well.

OMG PAHOEOE.

I don't really like bananas. I think they're weird, and I have texture issues, so I put off trying Pahoehoe even though I knew I'd want to try it eventually, 'cause grenadine and coconut rum? Yes, please! I finally picked up a bottle 'cause it was going away. In the bottle and wet on my skin, it's whoa banana! like banana-flavored Laffy Taffy. I think banana Laffy Taffy is the worst flavor, but still, there's something so cheerful about it. Pahoehoe has the same happy vibe. Over the next hour or so, the banana morphed into banana-coconut and then down to straight grenadine, and it's AMAZING. It's so, so good. I really wish I had stocked up on this.

(The grenadine is the same note I get from B-Horror, IIRC, but I like Pahoehoe much better.)

I'm glad others mentioned anise. I smell that, too, but I took it to be the tea. I also smell something oddly florally--it's kind of a weird baby powder scent on me. Very strange.

Huh. I don't know if I like Grand Guignol or not. In the bottle, it's really boozy. On the skin, it's dark, syrupy apricot brandy. I know apricot brandy is what was advertised, but I'd like more bite. I was hoping for a good, tangy apricot, which this is not. I kept sniffing it, waiting for it to do something, to take me on a BPAL journey, but it didn't. That said, I like it well enough to hang on to it. I may like it better in the cooler months or layered with something.

I wanted a tangerine and gin explosion, but I got a surprisingly tame fizzy, fruity cocktail. I think it's a cute, light oil, but I can't help but be a little disappointed that Golden Wave isn't a tangerine version of Velvet Pink Kitty or Blue Fire. Instead, it's closer to Polynesian Pop.

If I had to guess at notes, the only one I'd guess for Paladin is some sort of white musk. I can't pick out anything else. It's light and clean but doesn't smell like cleanser or commercial "clean" fragrances. A few minutes in, the vanilla seems to come out more, and it smells like baby products. I wouldn't say it's powdery, nor does it smell like baby powder, but it has the same sort of light, snuggly scent that I associate with baby-oriented goods. Maybe this is what the fabric softener bear would smell like. On its own, I think it might be a little too cloying and sweet. Layered with Good, though? Amazing.

I think I found a winner! I didn't think I'd like smelling like porridge, but I do. Halfling smells oaty and sort of fruity--oatmeal with a swirl of berries (maybe frozen berries, leaving a trail of juice as they thaw). It sweetens over time, into a more cookie-like scent, like oatmeal cookies with dried cherries or cranberries in them--actually, it smells quite a bit like my memory of Cranberry Cookie Bark Bath Oil. YUM.

Half-Elf is dirty and woodsy on me. It smells like gardening and mulch to me, and only gets drier and more woody over time.

In the bottle, this smells divine. Green and lush, kind of like how I remember Gavarnie soap from Lush, if anyone else remembers that, or maybe Jungle.

On my skin, it goes horribly awry. It goes from green and leafy and woodsy to sour piney cedar--like animal cage bad. Mixing it with a class and alignment may improve it, though I think it would really be best for me to use it off-skin. This is a horrible, horrible shame, because it really is lovely in the bottle.

Cohen v. California is spicy and pickley and burny in the bottle. On my skin, it's a lot of the same. The ginger and vetiver are so loud, they drown out everything else. Maybe a half-hour in, they start to calm down. I can smell more saffron, and maybe the tea, but it's all still underneath a blanket of ginger. I can usually get along with vetiver in spite of my tendency to amp it like crazy, but ginger can bit hit-or-miss, and I can't take this combination of bad ginger and vetiver. Off to swaps.

Yup, lavender jumps out of the bottle. I sometimes get a sort of BO smell from lavender and chamomile, and there's a very slight hint of that, but for the most part, this is a very well-behaved lavender. I feel like there are more flowers here--my instinct says lily, but I don't get that screeching lily! note, so I could be wrong. A tartness emerges, reminding me of Delirium's rose + lemon, but it could also be red currant (and rose? pomegranate?). Drying further, I get a floral-soap note, but not the sinus-piercing kind, just a very pretty, clean floral. Fully dry, there's just a hint of the clean floral left. I'm pretty sure that if notes had been listed, this would not have appealed to me--lavender/florals are not my thing. However, going in blind, I'm pleasantly surprised, and will be putting MUV3 in the 'Keep' cupboard.

Wow. I don't really get what others have reported. First, it's repellent in the bottle. I don't know what to compare it to, but I don't like it. On my skin, it blossoms into cherry candy--not cough syrup cherry, but more like the rainbow-colored, cherry flavored candy canes. The toothpick I used to apply it smells sort of butterscotchy, though. After a few minutes, the cherry has gone and I guess it does have more of a toffee smell, but it's very faint. It intensifies over the next few minutes, and then I get what the other reviewers were saying. It's now a chocolate-covered toffee sort of haze. This is really lovely--similar to MVJBA Spring Training, IMO, but quieter, smoother, and creamier. Now I want a Heath Bar.

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.