blu°

I might amp plum, because this is very plummy on my skin. It's almost a dead ringer for Oya, and it's making me slightly nauseous. I think while plum amps on me, it also tends to smell a bit off when I wear it. Sometimes I catch a whiff that I love, but if I sniff my skin close it just smells weird. ETA: just realizing that I'm on my period. Might have to edit later.

At first I was happy not to smell any caramel in Schmendrick, but then the cologney aspect of the scent wasn't nice on my skin at all. Something turned soapy in here, too, and the end result was of a thin soapy men's cologne. Not really good on me. Hm... can't have them all, I guess.

This is sweet and gentle. A bit more foody than my usual taste, but held in check probably by the rice flower. I love fig when it's tempered by herbs, woods, incense, florals or other less foody notes. This is a bit too much on the sweet side for me, but I might enjoy it on occasion. Not a bottle purchase for me, but if you like gentle, foody sweet scents, give it a try by all means. As far as sweetness is concerned I'd compare it to scents like Velvet Unicorn, Agapé, etc. A bit more "brown" in feeling than those, but equally gentle and sweet.

Last time I wore Roses, Pearls, And Diamonds it reminded me very much of Red Rose and White Rose layered. Must be the red rose + coconut.

My relationship with Snake Charmer has been kind of tumultuous. When I first got it, I found that it didn't really work that well on my skin, and swapped away my bottles later on. Then, I found an old decanting pipette that had a drop of it left. And that aged drop of Snake Charmer smelled sooooo perfectly of my favourite incense from the bellydance shop in that area where I lived... I still thought it wouldn't work with my chemistry, but I had to get some of that stuff again. And if only to see if it might smell better on me once it has aged. Now, I'm still not sure it works for me... I'm having doubts that Egyptian amber, as other ambers, doesn't work for me that well, and I'm also specifically eyeing ambrette and ambrette seed as a note that regularly ruins blends for me. That said, I still like to smell Snake Charmer, and to wear it. And I even get compliments on it, when I do. I think it goes a tad more powdery on me than it's supposed to be. I'm not really into plum, but as the scent ages, the plum note seems to become weaker, or maybe just more muddled and darker, and it stops being a main player in the blend. While Snake Charmer is similar to Snake Oil, it doesn't have its liquid character at all on me. It steers a bit into Morocco territory with that powderiness. Since this all might sound as if I didn't really like the blend: I DO!! It is very sexy and sensual and warm. It just never gets to the point where it smells like that aged drop I found. Maybe I should leave a bottle open for a while, or spread the oil somewhere where it is exposed to light and air even more. Or use it in an oil burner.

Not usually into foody smells, but Midway is one of the great exceptions. It's not tooo sickly sweet, and it doesn't have any of those horrid caramel, brown sugar, honey or strong cream notes. Somehow, it's in between a foody and a skin scent for me. It also stays pretty close to the skin. Some random qualifiers: mild, sweet, soft, shining surface of a piece of amber or some hard candy... that last one is true. This has no powderiness at all, and also little throw. I often imagine structures to define scents, and this has a smooth, maybe even lacquered, shining surface. It really has a lot of similarity with a creamy hard candy... like Werther's Echte or something like that.

Priala, to me, is the best interpretation of fire and smoke so far. It totally captures the feeling of something burning, and the scent of woodsmoke with it. I've become a bit tired of myrrhs lately, but this has always been one of my favourite myrrh scents. Instead of taming the myrrh down as the partner notes in other scents might do, the cinnamon in here deepens the myrrhs' character, goes into the heart of it and lights up a flame right there. I think I should wear this again some time soon...

This must be the most masculine rose I've smelled so far. It's still pretty wearable for women, but somehow the character of the rose is the least feminine I've encountered. Say, even in rose blends that are supposed to work for boys, such as Thanatos, if you concentrate on the rose, the single note carries this femininity with it. So, femininity is a part of those blends in form of the rose. It's not like that in here at all. The red rose has a very different character... I lack the words to describe it... strong, stately, refined, distached, unmoved, steadfast... with a backbone... The second strongest note to my nose is the clove and it works perfectly with that red rose note. I cannot make out any of the other notes, but I guess the fir, tobacco and Indian musk add to the masculinity of the scent while amber and tonka smooth out the edges. I really like this, and I love it in combination with White Rose. Those two really smell perfect when worn together.

Let me start this by saying that pomegranate hates me with a passion. It's never juicy or sweet on my skin, but always very dry, harsh and sour. It has ruined many of otherwise lovely scents for me. That said, I guess there are people on whom Crypt Queen smells better than on me, but I can wear her and enjoy the scent!! Yay. Probably because of my pom problem, Crypt Queen is a very dry scent on me. It's hardly got any body neither. While the scent is strong, it seems to start only... If you imagine the scent as a ball... then with Crypt Queen there is no or only a very loosely knit/textured center, but a very dense middle to outer layer. This is where the patchouli leaf works at its strongest... and it is very strong. It transports with it the pink-purple-red fruit and floral notes giving Crypt Queen a lot of throw. Still, it's weird how there is no centre... as if there was no heart... which would make sense for a Crypt Queen in the end. This scent feels sophisticated, assertive, feminine... I see a woman in control wearing it. She might kick some ass or she might just not care enough, but she's on top of her game nevertheless.

I used to love this when I was new to BPAL. It's very much a dragon's blood scent, set off and anchored by the amber. It's warm and incensey. Somehow during the years I discovered that ambers don't really work well on my skin, and with my nose more spoiled by more and more BPAL blends, I now notice that it doesn't work for me in Blood Amber neither. It feels as if my skin chemistry breaks open the amber and then the nicer parts of the scent get burnt away in an instant and what I'm left with is just a crumbling cracked open and burnt out shell. Which still smells pretty much alright with the dragon's blood, but here and then I get a whiff of something slightly off, and there's other dragon's blood incense blends that don't do that, so I don't really use Blood Amber much anymore.

I have an old imp of Blood that I just love. The oil in it has a deep and rather cool red shade, just like fresh blood, almost as cool a shade as Dragon's Blood single note. It's sweet, bloody, incensey and a bit spicy. A kind of intense skin scent on me. However, all the newer imps and the bottle I got from the lab seem to be different. Their oil has got a different colour, almost not red at all, more of a mid-town brown. They smell sweet and spicy, but the tang of blood is lost and some of that incensey-ness, too. I think they have less dragon's blood or the dragon's blood note used differs in strength and character from the old one. It's a pity because with the cherry and spice notes coming out stronger, the scent seems to get a bit more dull. It loses the edge that made it interesting to me in the first place. It's still a lovely, pleasant scent, and I'll go on re-testing it as the bottle ages, but I'd also really wish I could find some of the old style Blood around. It was so perfectly balanced for me.

Huh... it's been some time since I last wore this... The first thing that I remember is that it makes me self-conscious and blush a lot and that I swore to myself to only wear it on suitable occasions. It's a pink floral scent mostly. Not as overtly sensual as Follow Me Boy. It's pretty strong, though, and very, very feminine. Nothing soapy in the floral notes for me. Everything blends with my skin most pleasantly. Now, back to its effects: I wore it a couple of times during regular work days, and that didn't go too well. It made me feel weird when I was talking to men, as I thought my perfume might be too aggressively flirtatious and sensual. I NEVER get this with Follow Me Boy, even though that one smells much less innocent. I think French Love really captures those butterflies in your stomach, putting you on edge, where FmB tends to create a relaxed, open state of mind. So, my advice would be to use this one sparingly and not when you are going to have to talk to a lot of guys you are not into.

High John is not a scent I'd wear as a perfume anymore. I used to really like it when I first got into BPAL, but now I've started to dislike the weird fruitiness in here a bit. I still think the scent is pleasant as a whole, and I use it sparingly on occasion when I want to leave a good impression somewhere, but I'd usually layer it with something I like better scent-wise. It's an incensey, slightly chalky, voodoo-magical scent first of all. But then there's this one weird fruit note others have identified as grape mixed into it. It puzzles my nose a little, and it's not entirely unpleasant, just a bit weird. Enough so, however, to make me not reach for it more often. I think to remember that I smelled something similar in Tzadikim Nistarim, but I'm not sure right now.

Another old favourite of mine. Magus is one of those incense blends that I love so much. It's perfectly gender-neutral and great for job interviews or other formal occasions. It's also great for everyday wear, underneath a soft worn-out sweater maybe. I like how the frankincense is set off by the woods and herbs. It's a bit airier/lighter than Cathedral, although otherwise similar to that one. It also has a tad of a green tinge to it. Honestly, the first thing Magus reminds me of is a carpenter's workshop. It's sooo woody. The cedar, which I love, is very strong. I think I must love galangal, too. I'm not 100% certain what it would smell like on its own, but it seems to add that magical touch to incense blends.

This is sooooo sweet!!! Lol. It absolutely wouldn't work as a personal scent for me, but I love to keep a sample of all the Voodoo blends around. The sweetness in here is candy-sweetness. I couldn't make out any fruit note that might have gone into the mix, but it generally feels very pink. Not pastel pink, but a dark, intense pink, coupled with a warm vanilla egg nog yellow that is neither a pastel. So... it's really in your face sweet. And kinda loud, too.

Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth. Ah, Zombi... sometimes it is too harsh for my nose, so I don't wear it all that often these days, but I still love it and cherish the days when I can wear it. It's a lovely, lovely sweet rose note combined with that shroomy dirt note... Slightly green smelling, too. A garden smell, if you wish. Or just something cooling and grounding. It's quite lovely in the hot summer months, actually. ^^

I absolutely fell in love with Wanda when I first tested her some years back. The purpley-pink fruit/wine and floral notes work great with the leather and musk to give the blend a haughty lady feel. My memory right now doesn't remember much more than that and that I loved it. However, when I ordered a bottle, it must've been from another badge or something, because the wine note in it smelled completely different. It was very bitter, with a vinegar-y edge, and it totally ruined the blend for me. So now, I hold on to imps that come my way to occasionally enjoy the blend, but I'm wary of getting another bottle.

This is a cool, distant, unapproachable blend. It's incensey-resinous, leaning to bitter rather than sweet. Dusty grey notes and feminine purples intermingle. It is not my usual scent, but it's perfect for days when I don't feel like letting people get close.

Carnal is one of my first BPAL loves and all time favourite scents. It's so simple, yet so delicious. I love how it is fruity and sweet yet warm and rounded at the same time. No tartness here, just sunny, warm mandarin and fig. My only complaint is that Carnal never lasts long on my skin. I love to use it mixed into lotion or body oil.

Uh, this is not for me. It's pleasant and pretty, alright, just not my type of scent. It weirdly smells of apricot to my nose. Very fruity, very sweet and tart. Orangey and almost candy-like. Very feminine/girly. Bubbly. Bright. With some weird undercurrent.

Follow Me Boy has been one of my favourite scents for years now. It's a soft, sensual, warm floral with an incensey and musky vanilla base. I get more of a tuberose out of it than a jasmine. If there is jasmine thrown into the floral mix, it must be very little since it usually ruins scents for me. This oil is quite strong and has a lot of throw. It's also overtly sensual, and does work well as an attraction oil, so I tend to wear only a drop layered with something else.

Wow, never reviewed Snake Oil... I suppose there's not much left to say anyway? So, it's vanilla, the deepest kind, more orangey-golden than pale yellow as far as synaesthetics go... That and something dark, brown-black and gritty... I always felt I get more of a black musk vibe from SO than the often mentioned red musk one, but thankfully I don't get any of those musks loud and clear. It's more of a musky aftertaste, just ever so slightly noticeable. Something else I realized during the years of getting to love Snake Oil: It smells liquid. Like a sweet, creamy liquor of some sort. I think it must be the only vanilla scent I know that does that thing. Never smelled a liquid vanilla before. They mostly smell powdery or if anything, syrupy. But this is a thinner liquid, probably alcoholic. It's sweet, deep and slinky and just perfect!

My LOVE, my most-me-scent, my sadly-discontinued Psyche... So weird I never reviewed her... To make it short, this is my favouritest scent ever!!! I love how the white musk, frankincense and lavender and the juicy Bulgarian rose combine in here. The lavender is airy and smooth, the musk slightly chalky but in a nice way, the rose sweet and juicy. It is a bit similar to Yvaine, also discontinued, but the separate notes are a bit more defined, maybe a bit louder in Psyche, so that the whole scent is a bit less soft and wispy. Especially the Bulgarian rose, which is my favourite rose variant anyway, gives Psyche a lot of heart. I don't get much of the orchid, but I suppose it's adding to the sweetness of the floral component of this scent. The other notes all make for a dreamy, hazy quality. I think the scent perfectly embodies the concept.

One of my favourites that I never added a review for... This is the most unusual-for-me scent among my favourite blends... Somehow it's so not me, yet, I feel very comfortable wearing it. Somehow the notes remind me of the BPAL caramel/brown sugar note... a note I loathe with all my heart, which makes my liking the Emathides even more weird. But, as I said, the notes' interplay reminds me of those notes, but it's not the same, and I get along with it. The Emathides to me is a velvety, slightly bitter, almost metallic, darkly herbal scent for me. The velvety feeling is essential to its character on my skin.. Somehow I seem to get some underlying vanilla, too, even though it's not listed in the notes. Colour associations are a hazy violet, anthracite, vanilla, taupe brown and black. It's really difficult to describe. Elegant, unusual and quite mysterious.

Maybe... whatwasitsname... gah, I'm so bad at remembering scent names lately... let me have a look at my spreadsheet... ... Got it! I Died For Beauty - The Venusian splendor of ylang ylang and violet stirred by hyssop, frankincense, and grave loam. It's definitely a soft, sweet violet. If you get along with the grave loam and soft smokiness, it might work. I'd give it a try at least if you don't know it yet.