JazzieCazzie

ETA: Due to circumstances, I'm going to have to withdraw my ability to do a Winter Holidays circle ... sad face here ... I'll have fun following along from home, sitting on my hands. 
 

Signed, Sadface

ETA: Never mind. Magic words after 3 days on the lam across town: Out For Delivery. 

I'm not sure if it counts to use a BPTP bath oil comparison, but I've found that Gently Gently goes really well with Potion because carnation!!!

I'd still like to find ANYTHING that would blend well in bath layers with Shub ... I was once a Lush addict and while I've gone pretty much no-buy for now because money/storage space/trying to use up most of what I have before we move to an apartment about the quarter of our current house (read: minimal storage space) I do still have a TON of it (especially bath bombs as well as bubble bars which I smooshed into what I call "bubble rubble" which makes a single bar last for about 4-5 baths). 

I am SO glad I have two bottles of this ... I know that we often discuss our favorite Lab scents, and I've recently realized that my "favorite Lab scent" tends to be whatever I'm wearing at that moment (years of getting to know my favorite notes has enabled me to narrow down my "collection" to something big enough that I'll have to be 100 to use it up but ALL 100% hits) ...

 

As a result, I'll usually do a "blind grab": for perfumery, I reach into one of my drawers (gorgeous mirrored jewelry box from TJ Maxx) and wear whatever I pull out, or else for a bath I'll reach into my "bath cabinet" and wear whatever bath oil I grab. 

 

BUT ... after a Gently Gently bath last night I HAD TO TAKE ANOTHER ONE TONIGHT BECAUSE AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. 

 

The after-scent of spicy carnation and clove is subtle but magnificent. It's just deliciously spicy and kind of golden and soothing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say if there is a BPAL perfume I'd compare it to, it would be original-recipe Scorpio, because I have this long-ago memory of wearing that when I first got it ... on Thanksgiving, I think ... and falling asleep with my arm thrown over my face and being mesmerized by how the crook of my arm smelled, like a clove cigarette. That said, I think the carnation is more prevalent but spectacularly spicy-goodness (it smells more like carnation than a carnation does, in a good way). 

Love to follow along with the Weenie SWs but am holding off so I can go full-in for the Winter/Yule/Whatever circle ... massive destashing and downsizing and housecleaning and fun-stuff finding mission going on, so am just going to put aside an extra empty box to start placing goodies a potential partner may like!

Just chiming in on this for fun ... YOOGE fan of the BPAL chocolate scents. They're magical! I adore both Velvet and Gelt, though I will add that my VERY aged Velvet smelled quite different than a more-recently purchased bottle, so I'm fortunate that I can wear the aged oil while allowing the newer one to age in its place. Gelt, to me, ALWAYS smells good.

 

But that said, my favorite (unsung) chocolate/cocoa scent is without a doubt Tezcatlipoca which is like it was made for me. Funny thing is I might not have purchased it to try "later" in my BPAL days since I would have probably avoided it due to the leather note, which tends to really amp on me and not in a good way ... however, with this scent, it's subtle and what I get is deep gorgeous cocoa, patchouli and incense and it's glorious. 

 

It's NOT the oil in question here, though, because even aged it's a light gold ...

 

I'm also thinking maybe Boomslang FWIW.

I'm also putting in my two cents for Fenris Wolf (suggested by the amazing Lucchesa) ... I confess that although I am not masculine I wear it as well because it's just one of the most perfect smells ever ... and for some reason when I saw "Blair Underwood on L.A. Law" I could just imagine him smelling like this ... sexy but subtle, someone who'd never break a sweat but if he did it would smell divine and cool. That's Fenris Wolf to me ...

I wasn't sure what I remembered of cardamom but thought/hoped dark chocolate and black pepper would be enough to make this a win for me.

 

Instead, if I had not been smart enough to apply my last two remaining untried imps from the Yule load before my morning shower, this actually would have been a washoff on its own.

 

Got ZERO chocolate or pepper, only a strong powdery/plasticky scent that is really pervasive. I know this has come up in occasional other BPALs of yore (it's me, not you ... whatever my body chemistry is does not like this note AT ALL) but I guess I didn't associate it as cardamom.

 

My right arm smells kind of like one of those overloaded sachet, lotion and candle shelves in a knock-off big box store like TJ Maxx or Marshalls where they just throw everything together and it's way too sweet and fakey (I love those stores for stuff like oversized jewelry boxes where I can stash imps and bottles etc. but not for anything scented).

 

The Gingerbread and More Ginger is also surprisingly a no go ... MUCH more gingerBREAD cakey-face than ginger as I'd hoped (using SHUUUUUB, my favorite scent, as a ginger scale). It's not bad to smell ... I mean, it smells like gingerbread, I guess ... but it's not something I'd wear. 

 

I only ordered a few scents from the release and had two HUGE wins (Gelt and Red and Black Candy Canes), a keeper in Twelfth Lash, and other losses I expected not to work but wanted to try and it's win-win since I get to put these puppies in a box of awesome I'll be putting up for sale (with lots of BPAL and other OCYL goodies) after I get my Travels With Lilith haul, so my "doesn't work with my stupid body" is someone else's "Yes! I LOVE this!"

I thought for some reason I had reviewed this and am embarrassed to have been SO remiss, since this has shot to the top 5 of my all-time favorite BPAL scents because ... COLA!!!! 

 

It is just cola cola cola to my nose, not cream soda but full-on colacolacolaCOLACOLACOLA.

 

Have I mentioned that COLA is pretty much my favorite note, possibly made more so because it's just not that common! (Offhand, the only other product I can think of from an OCYL that is similarly scented is last year's Santa's Christmas bath gel from Lush and this year's Santa bath bomb which is the same scent ... may I say how GORGEOUSLY this goes with that?)

 

I bought two bottles of Absurd Origin Story so that I could use one as perfume and one to scent body products and combined a travel bottle of Aveeno unscented lotion with a few drops of this and it is so divine it makes me want to cry!

In the bottle, I definitely got Snake Oil with a little effervescence of soda.

 

Applied to my wrist and in the crook of my arm, I actually got straight-ahead Snake Oil for the first few minutes (nothing wrong with that since my collection is pretty light on Snake Oil).

 

On drydown, it disappeared pretty quickly off of my wrist with just the teeny-tiniest bit of a can't-quite-put-my-finger-on-it spice (maybe cinnamon?) BUT in the crook of my arm it's Snake Oil blended with a deeper, darker, drier velvety scent.

 

Definitely a keeper ... especially knowing that Snake Oil ages so gorgeously!

IN THE IMP: The sniff test of the imp is surprisingly faint. I get a slight waxy creaminess but no specific notes.

 

WET: There is something I can't immediately put my finger on that just is not working with my body chemistry ... pretty sure it's the white roses. I am not really sure what Florida Water is supposed to smell like so I don't know if that's it. It is, unusually for me, giving a lot more throw from my wrist than the crook of my arm, though the crook scent is a little nicer and less sharp.

 

DRYDOWN: VERY rose-forward. I'm getting almost ZERO frankincense or sandalwood to offset it or calm it down (a shame, because the frankincense and sandalwood notes were what I was looking forward to.) The rose and then the vanilla are really amping.

 

RESULT: Sadly, this just did not work for me at all. I smelled like the candle aisle at a Michael's craft store and while I love Michael's, I don't want to smell like one. I think for anyone who plays nicely with roses this would be great. I'm just not that person.

IN THE IMP: Patchouli is the predominant note but with a sugary sweetness.

 

WET: Patchouli is the obvious first throw but it’s a “sweet patchouli.” It smells very clean, for lack of a better word, but not soapy … just a shiny bright golden clean scent. It makes me feel oddly happy and strong and calm.

 

DRY: Sweet but not syrupy. Dry and golden.

 

RESULT: This reminds me a lot of how I remember Ahathoor … a truly golden scent that could easily be a TAL in how it appeals to my core and my feelings when I sniff my wrist/crook of my arm. The throw is perfect … it’s THERE but not overpowering (I stealth test drove it by joining hubby for a cup of morning coffee and sat right across from him and he didn’t say anything about my perfume!). This is something I will absolutely keep on hand to dab lightly when I need confidence, calm and a settled heart.

IN THE IMP: VERY bubble-gummy without even a hint of Snake Oil to my nose.

 

WET: Super-duper bubblegummy sweet, but when you sniff close up (for me, a dab on my wrist and a dab in the crook of my arm), the Snake Oil is very noticeable and actually overpowers the bubblegum.

 

DRY: The drydown is almost completely Snake Oil with a residue of the sweetness and fruitiness of the bubblegum.

 

RESULT: I really do NOT like bubblegum as a note and would not have ordered this had I not bought a full set of decants. That said, I liked this MUCH more than I would have thought and it was not a washoff.

 

It really reminded me of why I love Snake Oil in combination with notes I DO like. In the end, I will not keep this because I try to keep my overwhelming number of decants strictly to scents I know I could grab blindly and be happy wearing them … that said, this makes me interested in looking for imps of Snake Oil blends that I have not tried but for which I know I like the other note.

I would love to chime in first on how much I adore this scent's name and story ... like some others here, I really relate to it ... when we were setting up our little one's nursery, we chose not to find out the gender and the decor was "neutral" but very close to my own taste ... light blue and white stars and moons. I bought some soft flannel in a few similar prints and made pillows. One was a light blue with a lavender skew with tiny white stars and moons. That became her "lovie" ... she called it "DiDi" (pronounced with the long I -- and I don't know WHY she called it that but she did -- ironically, she called her diaper "boppy") and she could not/would not sleep without it.

 

On one of hubby and my first "getaway nights" when she was about 3, a good friend/parent of her best friend took her for the night and we went to a fancy restaurant/hotel for the night ... when we checked into the hotel, the front desk told us we had an urgent message. They read to us: "Where is dee-dee?" We looked blank for a moment and then simultaneously realized what it meant and that each of us thought the other one had packed DiDi. Fortunately, she dealt with it but it became anecdotal.

 

Obviously, it had some serious wear and tear but I managed to keep finding bolts of the material periodically and would buy up all I could ... even a bolt on eBay ... until I couldn't find it anymore ... I warned her she might want to give it a little less love to make it last LOL.

Long story short: She is 28 years old, getting married next fall, and she STILL has DiDi on her bed. She no longer travels with it LOL but it is still there (her fiance is understanding and awesome). And I still search eBay every so often and make random stops at big-old fabric stores in my travels to see if I can find DiDi material.

 

IN THE IMP: Full-on lavender.

WET: Mostly lavender upon application with a little bit of rose but no discernable musk. Very lovely.

DRYDOWN: As it dries, the rose rises very quickly and the lavender is almost gone. On full drydown, I get an herbal rose with a little bit of a musky kick and no lavender.

RESULT: I think this would make an amazing bath product, bath oil or bubble bath. I don’t think I’d wear it as a perfume mainly because I go for a different perfume vibe (more spicy/foody), but I love the scent itself and think this will be a very popular scent … it’s complex yet simple and beautiful and, yes, comforting.

IN THE IMP: It takes me a few sniffs to figure out what I think I’m sniffing. Mellow lavender and then a pleasant vague mélange that I can’t quite place.

 

WET: Oddly very sharp on immediate application. It’s not quite soapy (something that lily tends to go on me) but more like … maybe an organic cleanser?

 

DRY: As it dries down the floral notes rise and mellow it out a lot. I don’t get any lavender, just the lily (meh) and the ylang ylang (yay!). It’s actually very, very lovely.

 

RESULT: If this were made as a bath product (bubble bath, bath oil, etc.) I would buy it in a heartbeat but as a perfume oil on me, it’s just not a keeper.

IN THE IMP: Wow!!! The gorgeous clove is the prevalent note but it’s not “in your face.” It blends beautifully with the frankincense as a smooth, strong, glorious mix.

 

WET: The clove amps so much the second it hits my skin that I don’t even need to move for it to float right to my nose, but the harmony of the frankincense is right behind it. Not getting any perceptible ginger. It has a very clean air to it, ever-so-slightly soapy but a soap I would definitely buy in a heartbeat.

 

DRY: Spicy clean soap. A very delicious scent.

 

RESULT: Unlike Z_Z found, this scent, on me at least, has an absolutely boatload of throw – as much throw as any scent I’ve tried – and it lasts forever. I would recommend to use VERY sparingly as a little goes a long way … a really GOOD way but a long way!

IN THE IMP: Interesting but not what I expected (then again, not really sure what I DID expect!). I don’t get lavender as the primary note nor, really, much at all. I get something that may be aquatic/ozone, obviously “ice.” I’m not sure I could identify hops as anything other than a beer scent and I don’t get that either.

 

WET: While I am absolutely not saying this scent is “off,” there is something “off” TO ME about how it smells on me. My nose immediately goes into BK-type scrunch. It’s complex and unrecognizable and sort of sour to me.

 

DRY: On initial drydown, it’s relatively inoffensive. Sort of cactus or desert scent. Then, on final drydown I recognize what I think I’m smelling even though it’s not listed in the notes – TEA! And while tea is a very popular BPAL note (hello, Dorian) it is an absolute death note on me. I am so sad I never got ANY lavender from this (other people seemed to) since it’s one of my favorite notes and what sold me on ordering it. Ah well.

 

RESULT: People will love this. I’m not one of them. It’s officially going to the magical bag of items I’ll be putting up for sale in one swell foop after I’ve tried ALL of my incomings. But glad to have contributed in a small way to the Lab's AC!!!

I was really optimistic, maybe unrealistically so. I mean, ARIES (no, I'm not an Aries but I always love Aries scents. Loved the notes.

 

IN THE VIAL: OMFG just dreamy awesome. The DB is gorgeous as it always is. It's positively hypnotic in the imp. It's not fiery, it's not macho, it's just mesmerizing.

 

WET: FAAAAAABulous throw. Spicy warm, delicious. Every single note is present and accounted for individually. It combines into a comforting blend like a big soft cushy velvet comforter.

 

DRYDOWN: Warm, spicy, comforting. Shmexy, dare I say?

 

RESULT: Lived up to my hopes. Huffability. it does NOT make me feel aggressive ...rather confident and safe.

 

OVERALL MAY I WARN YOU: A teeny tiny dab goes a loooooooong way in terms of throw. Clove is the prevalent note in the drydown. It's not in your face but it stays and stays and stays

IN THE IMP: Incense-y and sweet at the same time. Can't place individual notes without looking at the list. Definitely get a gender-neutral vibe.

 

WET: Surprisingly lovely! It is indeed sweet but not in a foody sense ... more like the sweetness in the air on a sunny, mild day surrounded by lush greenery.

 

DRYDOWN: There is a strong note in this that I simply can't identify, so apologies for that ... but it's wonderful. Like a lollipop (not fruity) or spun sugar. It's a syrupy sweetness without being the least bit cloying, even if that sounds like a contradiction! It's actually very hypnotic. I keep going back and sniffing my wrist over and over and over again.

 

RESULT: This is absolutely a keeper for me. I'm frankly amazed how much I love it! And NOTHING like I'd have expected ... soft, sweet, lovely, comforting. Very comforting. Very simple. It makes me feel safe and secure and strong.

In the Imp: Floral patchouli. Makes me flash back 40 (plus) years to my teens.

 

Wet: The fruity notes come to the forefront to round it out and give it less of a head shop scent (though I actually LOVE head shop scents and not so much fruity ones). It's quite beautiful and almost, oddly, outdoorsy, like being in a lush dark wooded area (probably with my fellow head shop fans). But it's not "fruity" per se.

 

Dry: On drydown this goes back to head shop ... it almost completely disappears on my wrist but lasts longer in the crook of my arm. It's really huffworthy for the first hour or so.

 

Result: I love love love the scent but after the early drydown it doesn't love me quite as much ... blaming my body chemistry for that ... I would love is as a candle or incense.

In The Imp: Fresh, sharp citrus yet somehow mellow and creamy at the same time. Sweet and slightly metallic. Without having seen the list, I would have been able to identify exactly ZERO notes on sniffing it out of the imp.

 

Wet: Boozy creamsicle! Fresh and minty. Smells the same on my wrist as in the crook of my arm, and very similar to the scent in the imp.

 

Drydown: Still slightly minty (I think that's the star anise I'm reading as mint instead of licorice) but the orange has almost completely dissipated. Very very clean but not quite soapy.

 

Result: This is a gender-neutral scent that I think would work better FOR ME as a bath/body product than as a perfume. It's not something I see myself reaching for in my "box o' imps" so it will instead go into my "boxapalooza" that I'll be putting out there once I finish sniffing ALL of the decants I've bought (through Weenies) but if by chance the Trading Post were to make this in a bath oil I suspect I might buy a bottle!

Hard to do two but here you go ...

 

Scherezade for shmexy exotic amazing (Indonesian spice, saffron and musk)

 

Shub Niggurath for the most hot AND warm ginger spice! It doesn't smell like gingerbread or baked goods ... just hot-baby-hot ginger, yet somehow manages to be comforting and delicious at the same time.

 

A third JUST IN CASE you do not like ginger (some people are very sensitive to it) ... Anne Bonny which is not unlike, to me, Scherezade in its shmexy (patchouli and frankincense)

I bought this as a last-minute impulse buy to go with the Black Light 420 scent and am IN LOVE.

 

Anise is absolutely amping up a storm on my wrist (not as much in the crook of my arm) but in a really good way ... kind of mellow and incense-y and golden spicy.

 

Pretty much EVERY note in this is working for me and working TOGETHER without anything other than the anise on my wrist jumping out to make itself known. And, happily, the vanilla is NOT playing badly with the others (which vanilla often does on me) but may help in some of the mellowing effect.

 

I can't stop taking whiffs of my wrist and arm.

 

If you are a lover of BPAL's incense-y spicy "can't really put your finger on what it is" scents, this is for you! I know it's for me.

I was massively looking forward to this one ... "head shop smell" is one of my very favorite scents and the description above just hearkens me back to my awesome teenage years growing up in New York City (though, that said, some of my favorite stores are elsewhere ... I think Loose Lucy still exists somewhere in the Delmarva beach area, and I remember a place I think was called something like Octopus Sunshine, also a hippie beach town area ... plus my beloved and long-gone Faces of Earth in downtown Amherst where I decorated my dorm room all four years of college ... but I digress).

 

Upon first application I was "oh God please don't make me wash this off" because to be honest the first note i got was ... well, sweat. And not hard-working person sweat but kinda ... well ... salty body odor. I was about to go out and hesitated because I was afraid people would stare at me and not in a nice way.

 

So I did a few little errands, emptied some wastebaskets, and waited to see how it would dry down.

 

Now, about 15-20 minutes later, it is quite lovely ... ALL the nasty in-your-face (and armpits) sweaty smell has disappeared and the scent is more faint and definitely headshoppy. (Okay, it's a little "sweatier" in the crook of my arm than on my wrist but that tends to be the issue with a lot of scents for me, so I will simply make this an apply-it-where-you-don't-create-body-moisture scent (goodbye, crook of arm and cleavage, hello wrist and neck).

 

I DO get headshop. I don't get as much weed. I am wondering if maybe the sweat smell is what weed actually smells like these days (I am pushing 60 and I know there's a lot of skunk weed out there, whereas I'm old-school weed smoker from back in the day when we had different varieties I think).

 

I like this and will keep it and I'll just be very conscious about when and where I wear it.

When I read the notes here, it reminded me SO much of my very first BPAL buy and BPAL love, Twilight (which was lavender, jasmine and honeysuckle rather than champaca), and I have found champaca blossom to be my favorite new BPAL note, that I could not resist getting this and I am SOOOOOO happy I did!!!

IN THE BOTTLE: YES!!! Definitely has the same aura that Twilight had for me all those many years ago (in fact, this inspired me to buy a new bottle of Twilight LOL!) ... somehow it's lush and beautiful and floral but without being all "in your face" ... a subtle and amazing loveliness.

Applied to one wrist and in the crook of one arm, as I like to have a dry spot and a "moist" spot because they sometimes dry down differently.

WET: OMGOMGOMG so perfect. For me, the champaca just blooms off my arm and embraces me in its warm, sweet (but not TOO sweet) embrace, lush and delicious. I know I keep using these "foodie" terms for a blend that is decidedly not foodie, but it's almost edible in its sweet perfection, not unlike the honey from honeysuckle. It's very much THERE but without being too strong or in your face.

DRYDOWN: Sweet in the best possible way but also so complex ... the lavender sits in the back like "don't mind me, I'll shut my mouth but I'll be sure to keep the others in line" in a perfect way. It's unbelievably huffable.

OVERALL: I know there are people who are not jasmine fans ... I happen to love jasmine, but know that sometimes it can just crash the party and take over and be all in your face. THIS jasmine does not do that. It hangs out with its sweet buddy champaca and wafts gloriousness all over the place.

This is a perfectly purple and beautiful and complex blend and absolutely a new favorite for me!

Now, if only the Trading Post would complement this with a bath oil, all would be perfect!