Aldercy

No idea how to really accurately do it without tearing the label. Looking down into the open imp or tipping the closed imp back and forth gives me an idea of "Okay, I know this isn't full. About half?" But sometimes it's a lot less than I think it is once I tear the label and really look.

Apatouros is definitely not what I expected!

I'm getting mostly green tea (kind of warm and vegetal, not light or clean) and fig (thick, chewy, dry) with a bit of dusty nutmeg. So it's a green and fruity scent (but neither fresh nor sweet) with spice. Rather an odd combination. The darker resins and vetiver are, surprisingly, almost entirely absent (maybe a bit of myrrh peeks through). Not a sign of carnation either, as far as I can tell. It doesn't seem to change very much between the bottle and my skin.

Well, it's not really what I was hoping for (a smoky carnation resinfest), but I like the black fig note. I can't see myself wearing it often enough to warrant the bottle, but I'll hold on to it for awhile to see.

The Phoenix in Winter starts out rather similar to Old Moon-- bittersweet purple-red berries and slush-- but the berries fade and it shifts into more of a vanilla-mint snow as it dries. Kind of like Snow White without the flowery almond note that gave me a headache. It turns out not to be very complex, but it's a pleasant scent. Time will tell whether I need this whole bottle or not....

This is a tarry sweet, warmly gritty, gunpowdery musk on me. I'm getting a lot of the opium, incense, resins and musk, but nothing of the amber or plum, as far as I can tell. They're kind of swallowed up the more powerful notes. This is just beautiful-- smooth, filthy rich and well-blended. I wouldn't mind a bottle of this!

 

Romanti.Goth is definitely a sister to Gun Moll in my book, though a little sweeter.

As violetblue said, this is actually lighter than expected. In the beginning, I get a lot of creamy cotton and red sandalwood, and it stays pretty close to the skin.

 

However, yes, it morphs like crazy. One second it's sticky fruit, the next it's sharp red musk. Then back to the creamy sandalwood. I don't know where it's going to end up!

 

It seems to be settling on a slightly grape-y red musk dusted with powdery frankincense.

 

Red Lace has potential, I know it does. The notes just need to blend together better and the red musk needs to lose it's high-pitched "freshness". I have high hopes that aging will melt everything into something more cohesive.

 

 

ETA: A couple hours later, and I like it somewhat better. It eventually dries to have more of that original soft skin-scent from the beginning, it just takes a long time for the morphing (and the red musk) to chill out. Again, I think aging will help.

I took a bit of a chance ordering this one unsniffed as flowers can really go either way on me, but it sounded like the "right" kind of floral.

 

And I'm in luck! The Phoenix in Spring is very delicate and natural. Juicy new shoots of greenery and flora coming up, warm in the sunlight. It's a close relative of The Host of the Air (despite dandelion being the only named note in common, I suspect there could be bluebell, heather or both among the unnamed "wildflowers," and there's a definite hint of lacy, gentle grass in there). The cherry blossom is not overpowering or perfumy-- it's very in check, and probably the least apparent of the floral notes.

 

The myrrh is not strong, it's just a distant ashy dusting, but it reminds me a little of the incense note in Morocco-- warm, sandy and secretive.

 

Really pretty, and I'm glad I got it. The label is startlingly PINK, but the scent really is not.

I don't actually get much fig from this figgy pudding-- just a general impression of spicy, cakey fruit. If I get any specific fruit, it might be pineapple. Go figure-- maybe my nose is broken. It's dark, dense, bready, dessert-like without being particularly sweet. It has a distinct pinch of warm, ruddy powdered ginger.

I also feel like there's a hint of buttery nuts (maybe walnut)?

I get evergreen in the beginning when it's wet, but it's swamped pretty quickly by the foodiness. I would have liked it to stick around to help balance out this extremely rich pudding, but it failed me. The further the oil dries, the more muddled it seems to become on my skin so that it ends up being a little generically "Christmasy" (not quite potpourri or holiday candle though). I'll keep my decant, but I don't think I need to upgrade this one.

From the decant and wet on the skin, The School strikes me as a tad cologney. Not a terrible cologne, but definitely veering toward that territory.

As it dries, it becomes more complex. I'm mostly smelling those writing desks. It's a very clear, strong note-- antique, darkly gleaming wood (at first I thought rosewood, but that dissipated almost immediately-- now it's more like mahogany or redwood) buffed with creamy, mild beeswax. The beeswax note reminds me of the type in Ichabod Crane, but it's much duller and more tempered. It's just a supporting note for that gorgeous wood. And I can't get over how "true" that note is-- when wood normally starts cologney and stays cologney on me. This one morphed, and it's great. I feel like there might be a dab of smoky patchouli leaf somewhere in this scent as well, but it's not strong.

This is indeed an academic scent. I would love to study with this. It's rather serious, but deeply calming. It's what I wanted out of Miskatonic University nearly three years ago when I first found BPAL.

I can see how this is a "memory" of a school, an unpopulated place. But it's not desolate or dismal or dusty. It's like finding a long abandoned study or library of some sort that may be lonely, but is also wondrous. It is somehow warmed by the gold and the pirate ship and such things even though I don't smell those literal notes. I love it. Masterpiece of the Yules for me so far, and I wasn't even expecting much from it! Bottle.

The cranberry (and maybe bayberry) are coming off almost like a mild cherry to me. That's unusual. But it's pleasant and natural, without a hint of cough syrup or candy. That note is very strong in the beginning, but it's really tempered by a warm, woody pine as Whoop dries. The heart of the whole thing is rich honeyed evergreen with a lingering bit of red fruit. I think I also get some of the "winter air" with a sudsy, white, clean smell in the background. I would say it's soapy, but it's somehow not soapy soapy in a bad way. It's definitely not ozone or BPAL's snow note. I don't know what it is, but I'm pinning it on the "winter air" mixed with amber.

 

I get nothing of the pumpkin pie, and I'm actually rather glad that these other notes are not overwhelmed by buttery spice.

 

It's different from your average Christmas scent, as others have said. It does fade a little fast than I would expect though.

The first thing I think of when I apply The Nutcracker is frankincense and hot sugar. Like someone drizzled something sweet over smouldering incense.

The frankincense is definitely the most prominent note here-- rich, earthy brown, faintly peppery. Stately and humble at the same time. But the sweetness in here is more surprising. It's seems linked to the fig for sure... chewy, purple, dried fig with a crust of sugar. These notes have a lot of depth and are very evocative. Definitely a purple-brown scent. Kind of bruise colored.

It's a pleasant, warm and unusual scent. Despite having many other frankincense-heavy scents, I'm not sure I have anything that's really like this.

(I still have never been able to figure out what galangal smells like, despite having tried it in probably a dozen scents. It's something that slips completely under my radar).

This seems to be somewhere between Snow White (not a favorite) and Snow-Flakes (kinda like it) on me. There's this slightly rubbery powder-mint overlay though, which seems to kill any possibility of it being okay. I don't get any pine or woods at all except a faint mustiness in the background. It's somehow... dry... for a snow scent. Much, much later (like 3 hours later) it's somewhat better. More just a general "cool" smell with a hint of rosy warmth at the base.

 

Unfortunately, the long-term dry down is not awesome enough that I feel like going through the odd musty mint stages. I don't think this one likes me much.

Well, I was considering an unsniffed bottle of Harlequin & Columbine, but I'm really glad I didn't go for it. It smells like the candle aisle the craft store at Christmastime and someone just finished mopping the floor with industrial cleaner. And then threw sawdust down for some reason.

 

In terms of real notes, I suppose I'm getting almost all lemon and cedar with some sort of generic "fruit and spice."

 

Damn, I wanted lots redcurrant, sage, rosewood and pomegranate, but it's a lost cause almost from the beginning. It may do something in the long-term dry-down, but this is pretty hateful to me right now. Too bad!

Blast of nostalgia! I'm trying to place why I feel like I'm in 8th grade when I smell this scent. I didn't wear perfume. Maybe it smells like a perfume someone I knew wore? I'm specifically picturing school. And my sole-male-friend-at-the-time's basement.

 

... none of that is helpful as a review for other people, is it?

 

It's actually really good. No, it does not smell like sweaty adolescent cheap mall perfume as my scent-memory-associations may suggest, but it does have a more "traditional" or "mainstream" appeal, I think (just better and BPAL-ified).

 

The vanilla is so far from gourmand it's kind of amazing, but it's still recognizable as vanilla. It's a cloudy, misty vanilla. Maybe vanilla flower. I'm also getting an unexpected hint of lemonade. I say lemonade because it is not sharp lemon, it's a sweet, mirror-smooth, very diluted citrus. Maybe that's coming from one of the unspecified summer flowers. The musk strikes me as being somewhere between white musk and skin musk. Amber almost never does go powdery on me, but I think whatever this variety is might be even less prone to powderiness than usual-- the amber's unusual and almost shiny in its texture. I agree with the comparison Cheri made to Giant Vulva, but this is more floral and not as bold. Different enough that I don't mind owning both of them. It's very pale and very sophisticated.

 

The overall effect of The First of the Three Spirits is like... porcelain. Porcelain perfume.

Thanks, guys! The East alarms me a bit with its freesia, but I think I would try it as it does sound like it could have a similar "feel." I have a decant of Enchanted Wood Florist around here somewhere, and I remember being lukewarm about it, but I'll give it another test. Under the Harvest Moon actually sounds the most promising, so I'll have to hunt some down!

I'll start this party (or funeral, rather) by asking for some Fairy Marketish and Yvainesque recommendations. Thoughts?

In the bottle, I thought this smelled rather similar to The Elephantine Colossus, which I really like. Good start. On me, however, it's a different story.

 

The red musk is a little questionable here. Red musk generally works for me and I love it when it does, but this seems to be one of those few blends where it's indefinably "not right" on me. It's a little grapey and medicinal. A very hard, harsh, flat note. I don't get any vanilla cream or tea at all, and the pie and pepper combination is a little odd. Like ground black pepper on berry pie. With grape cough syrup.

 

I'm going to let this hibernate for a little bit and I'll try it again in a couple weeks, but right now I'm not enjoying it. I'm surprised and disappointed, as this was the one out of the whole update that I thought was the most sure to work. Alas.

I'm getting a lot of razor sharp lemon. I say razor sharp because certain lemon notes almost seem to hurt when I sniff really close. I get something kind of green and ozoney in the background, but it's not breaking through the citrus and is a little bland regardless. Sigh. I had high hopes for this one!

Unfortunately, this is all bitter coffee and generic foodiness on my skin. I was hoping for a paler pumpkin-milk-vanilla thing, but no such luck. It's all spiced black coffee with a hint of gooey caramel-- which isn't terrible, exactly, just not what I really want to wear. If you're looking for a dark, sultry foody blend, this is probably for you, but it's a little harsh and artificial on me.

I love this in the bottle. It smells so gentle and authentic, like how a room filled with old-timey festivities might actually smell-- not really stylized or exaggerated. There's a faint suggestion of hot savory food, but it's mostly warm, dry woods and resins. Really natural and unassuming.

 

Now let's see what it does on the skin!

 

Right off the bat, there's some ginger that I didn't get in the bottle at all. Ginger, a tiny suggestion of clove, and bundles of dried fruits (dried apricot and apple maybe?), so apparently the mince pies are really leaping out at this point. The wood smells a little harsher and more manly (like it's been soaked in a few decades of smoke and spilled stout) without the sweet, more innocent bite of evergreen I sense in the bottle. The resins are also blacker, cloudier and... stickier, somehow. I feel like there's a hint of tobacco or even opium? The spiced fruits of the pies fade as the oil dries.

 

It's very evocative. I think it does accurately depict the "work-hard-play-hard" rustic atmosphere of that passage (no high-minded Victorian luxuries at this dance!), but it also puts me in mind of all the slightly shady (but homey) inns that appear in fantasy novels. It's a late autumn night, you've been journeying for weeks, sleeping on the ground, and here's this inn with a big hearth, oak benches, roasting food and prize-winning beer. Can't beat that.

 

Makes me wish it was a room spray* instead of a perfume, but it's still a keeper.

 

 

*ETA: And, OMG, it IS. I love life.

Wow, this is not what I expected! I think from the description, I was imagining something darker and a little dirtier, but Black Opal is sleek, shiny and gemlike indeed. It's a sheer, translucent vanilla-powder-musk... a little soapy, very "tame," but undeniably pleasant and somehow not boring. I usually instantly dislike anything that seems "powdery" to me, but this is actually rather good. The smell reminds me of playing dress up as a kid-- the old clothes we used had a faint perfumey smell, and this is very close to it.

Sweet cinders and a hint of thick, spicy beer. It's actually not really strong despite the boldness of those notes, and stays kind of close to the skin on me. Rather like the ghost of scent that hovers after you've been sitting around a fire the night before. It's very comfortable, homey, and a little masculine-- but a not-too-serious, teddy bear sort of masculine. Really nice.

I have the strangest impression of this as smelling of chocolate oranges. I don't think it's literally a chocolate note, but something about the vanilla, nutmeg, and possibly patchouli is translating to something smooth, earthy and chocolaty. I don't sense much of the pomegranate or redcurrant, and the red musk is definitely there, though not as strong as I expected. There is something of Mme. Moriarty in Luxuria, but it's a softer, more gourmand scent.

 

Very nice, round, serenely sexy scent. I especially love that the nutmeg is really distinguishable and not lost among other, stronger spices.

 

And, as always, the bath oil formula is wonderful in the bath or shower-- sheer, mildly moisturizing, not in the least sticky or greasy.

Definitely on the order of Gingerbread Poppet, though I think I like the long-term dry-down a little better. Bedbug is very hardy and long-lived (much like actual bedbugs, unfortunately), but over the course of the day it gets less spicy and becomes sweeter, gentler, more like a warm sugar-musk.

 

(Is it just me, or does Beth like to make her most revoltingly titled scents foody? I can't wait for something called "The Oozing Plague" or "Tapeworm"-- they're bound to smell like crumpets and raspberry sorbet.)

Mmm, this is almost exactly what I imagined it would smell like! It's a bit like red musk frosting. With root beer froth (specifically froth-- it's a very airy root beer).

 

The red musk (which, to me, can have many different faces) is most like that of Kyoto (no cherry or anise, but it's a very thick, almost syrupy musk like that). It's whipped with an odd combination of vanillic candy (with a soft, taffy-like texture) and a general salty-sweetness. And a tiny hint of the cream cheesy note from Cake Smash. Hence my impression of red musk frosting. The root beer is there, but on my skin it's playing a supporting role. It's kind of dry, airy and woodsy compared to the gooey sweetness of the candied red musk, so it definitely helps to balance things out.

 

Very sexy, very playful, and I pretty much love it.

 

ETA: Sometimes I get pretzels from this. I think it's the hint of salt combined with the oddly dry, woodsy root beer.

In the bottle, Bogle smells strongly of rich smoky blueberry, which is gorgeous. Smoky blueberry?! Awesome. There's also a tiny hint of pumpkin-mandarin-ginger (very faint, not buttery) that reminds me of Pumpkin Queen. THIS is what Blue Pumpkin Floss should smell like!

 

However, I have to say that when I put it on, it's smelling more... limp. Fruit dust. I'm hoping this is a fluke (I think I'm coming down with something and feel very "off" today... things aren't tasting right and such) because I know this is a beautiful oil. It's so complex, but it just seems to wither and die on my skin. Sigh. I think I'll put it away for awhile and see how it fares in a couple weeks.