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BPAL Madness!

sun_set_bravely

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Everything posted by sun_set_bravely

  1. sun_set_bravely

    Lilith

    Lilith In the bottle: Very sweet, almost buttery in places. Wet, on skin: Sweet but sharp, like an offertory of some sort. Very dusky, in that perfume-shop vein that I don't love. Some kind of fruit with a thick layer of dust covering its skin. 1.5 Hours on skin: Sweet and dusky, a little soapy. Turns into that default Fragrance on me. Drydown: Faint and Default now. Conclusion: I love the name and wish I'd liked the scent more.
  2. sun_set_bravely

    Virgo

    Virgo (another Lab bonus -- thank you!) In the bottle: Definitely earthy. On some whiffs this almost smells like body; maybe that's the musk and patchouli. Wet, on skin: I don't think I've ever worn a scent this earthy and woodsy. It passes beyond the realm of perfume-scent and into the scents of nature, which is a high compliment to the folks at the Lab. At first, the bog element of this scent is strong. But it sinks into my skin quickly; I'm excited to see how this one changes. 1.5 Hours on skin: The scent has widened somehow, turning a much lighter green than the rich brown scent that it started out as. This phase of the scent is more like the leaves of the tree, where the wet scent was the dirt-covered roots. Drydown: Faint now. The light green scent has faded into a very gentle summer breeze. Conclusion: Another surprise for me! A bit strong at first, but I like that it's different from what I usually wear.
  3. sun_set_bravely

    Yerevan

    Yerevan In the bottle: Very sweet and tangy. Halfway into my nose it smells like a crayon, then when it's all the way in, it tingles a little bit like Robitussin. Wet, on skin: The sweetness is tempered by a dry overcoat; I can't smell either note separately. Smells like a long skirt pulled from the back of my closet on an unseasonably cool day in late spring. A baby-powder tone emerges slowly. The aura is strong; it fills the area around me quickly. 1.5 Hours on skin: The sweetness emerges as time passes. It's a complex scent, though, not just pure sweetness. It's lovely. Drydown: Very soft and lovely. A little sweet, but wonderful. Conclusion: Definitely one I'd use in the change of seasons - especially from spring into summer.
  4. sun_set_bravely

    Kabuki

    Kabuki (bonus from the Lab -- thanks, y'all!) In the bottle: Very sweet! The cherries are strong, which gives me little hope for this scent on my skin. It smells like candy, like the dust on gummy Life Savers. Wet, on skin: Straight-up cherry lollipop! There's a sharpness underneath the candy sweetness, but mostly, it's red lollipop. 1.5 Hours on skin: I'm surprised! This scent has softened and warmed up in unexpected ways. The musk balances the cherry's fruitiness. Drydown: Very subtle drydown. The musk is what lingers on my wrist, happily. In the end, it smells like a typically perfume-y scent. Conclusion: I'm surprised to say that I'd definitely use up this imp!
  5. sun_set_bravely

    Blood Amber

    Blood Amber In the bottle: Kind of like an old woman's perfume. Like a demented Estee Lauder "Beautiful". Wet, on skin: Resin mixed with something sweet. Heady -- if I inhale too deeply my head spins a little. A slight touch of cloves or pepper somewhere underneath. Sweet but dusky, like a sundress on sale in a thrift shop. 1.5 Hours on skin: Much sweeter now, the resin is very subtly present. Dusky and velveteen. This might do well in the winter. Drydown: Soft drydown, sweet resin. Conclusion: Good for winter, but I wouldn't buy the full bottle.
  6. sun_set_bravely

    Hymn

    Hymn This one was a lab bonus. Thanks y'all! In Bottle: Sweet, light, and slightly bitter. The lily scent is strong, but lovely. Wet, On Skin: Almost smells like sunscreen, but it stays on the perfume side of the line. Dusty rose mixed firmly with lily. Smells like an old jewelry box with a fragrance that lived inside for years. 1.5 Hours on Skin: Gentle lily now. The scent wafts up into my upper nose. Drydown: Very faint scent -- I like this part of the scent the best. Conclusion: Okay, but I wouldn't buy the bottle. Note to self - if wearing out for an occasion, apply it several hours before leaving, as the scent reaches its best point on me then.
  7. sun_set_bravely

    Jolly Roger

    Jolly Roger In Bottle: Salty! Fresh scent with a little sweetness underneath. Wet, On Skin: The dryness emerges first, then turns a little dusty. Definitely gives the sense of a seaside breeze. 1.5 Hours on Skin: It's settled down well. It's very light, but that's good, because at first, I was getting a little nauseous from the strength. Drydown: Delicate scent now, with barely any of the Bay Rum left. It does, as other forumites said, blend well with sweat! Conclusion: I like it well enough to keep the imp, but not enough to buy a bottle.
  8. sun_set_bravely

    Vice

    Vice In Bottle: Sharp waxy chocolate, at first. Maybe that's the fruit flavors coming out funny. I also smell a hint of a chocolate orange here. Wet, On Skin: Chocolatey but cleaner-ish, too. The cherry is powerful, reminding me of hotel soap for some reason. The chocolate is so subtle that I can't really discern it from the other scents. 1.5 Hours on Skin: Smells like a Strawberry Shortcake doll (again). The chocolate never really emerged as a dominant scent on me; it's mostly citrus. Again - my skin blasts citrus scent like a bad car radio. Drydown: Still plastic mixed with citrus. Conclusion: Alas, it went the way of all citrus scents with me -- plastic and soapy.
  9. sun_set_bravely

    Wanda

    Wanda In Bottle: The wine of Kali comes out strongly in the bottle, except laced with intense sweetness. Wet, On Skin: Very sweet! The wine is the undertone here, with the slightly dusty sweetness dominating. 1.5 Hours on Skin: The sweetness is softer now, much more tempered by the wine scent. Strangely, it smells like the fresh pages of new yearbook, cracked open at the end of my senior year of high school. Drydown: Very quiet scent now, and very lovely. The sweetness, I think, is what distinguishes this scent from Kali for me. Conclusion: I like it, especially as a lighter, more single-noted alternative to Kali.
  10. sun_set_bravely

    Three Witches

    Three Witches In Bottle: Exquisite! The cinnamon comes out to me in the bottle. Smells a little like my mom's Home Sweet Home candle. Wet, On Skin: This is delicious! The cloves sharpen sweetly on my skin, and I get a feeling of the white pepper deep inside my nose. At a distance, it smells like a gingerbread cookie. It's warm without being too hot -- there's a cool underside to it. 1.5 Hours on Skin: Cookie!! So yummy. My skin hasn't gotten irritated under the oils, either, which is exciting. Drydown: Lightly sweet, and very subtle. I've tried it a couple of times, and the drydown strength depends on the time of day and month. Conclusion: Love it, especially for fall and winter!
  11. sun_set_bravely

    Hell's Belle

    Hell's Belle In Bottle: Soapy, but a little sweet, too. Wet, On Skin: It almost smells like syrup at first, but then it quickly changes into a dusky sweet scent, like my grandmother's old bottle of perfume which has gone off a bit. It reminds me of Texas, but that may just be because I grew up there. 1.5 Hours on Skin: Mellowed out significantly -- the soapy scent has disappeared. Drydown: The scent has quieted down so much that I don't really recognize what it smells like now. It's still a little sharp in places, but it's turned soft. Conclusion: I like it, especially for spring or summer days outside, but wouldn't buy a bottle.
  12. sun_set_bravely

    The Apothecary

    The Apothecary In Bottle: So delicious! It's light and airy, and after moving the bottle away from my nose, it reminds me a bit of those old store-bought fragrances I used to love in middle school -- except this fragrance is all grown up. Wet, On Skin: Oh! I love this! It's bright and cool, like fresh sheets on a comfortable bed in the summer. There's one note that sings the loudest, but I don't recognize it. It smells like an expensive scented candle in Takashimaya. I love this!! There's also a sweetness underneath that's not too heavy. 1.5 Hours on Skin: This is spectacular! It's still light, but the grassy undertones have emerged. Drydown: It's faded to a whisper of what it was, which is good, as I was almost getting a little nauseous an hour ago. That might also have been because I ate a late lunch. Conclusion: LOVE IT!
  13. sun_set_bravely

    Hecate

    Hecate In Bottle: Extremely sweet, like a fresh doughnut covered in a fruity glaze. Also smells like a hard candy -- a lollipop or something. Wet, On Skin: Intense and sweet. I can't even pick out individual notes because it's so overpowering. Bitter undertone, like the powder on latex gloves or something synthetic like that. Spikes my nose. 1.5 Hours on Skin: Acrid, but the sweetness has settled down a lot. Smells like a stereotypical scent that I recognize -- maybe it's an occult shop, or a tarot reader's room. This is the default scent that I detect when I sniff an incense-ish fragrance. I have a hard time discerning the difference between this and any number of other scents like it. Drydown: Softer, but still vaguely-witchlike. I suppose it's totally appropriate for this fragrance, though! Conclusion: The stereotypical witchiness of it doesn't appeal to me.
  14. sun_set_bravely

    Hollywood Babylon

    Hollywood Babylon In Bottle: Strong scent. When I move it away from my nose, I can still smell it lingering. I really can't pick apart any of the notes. It's a warm scent, a little biting. The deep red color is amazing. Wet, On Skin: Dusky, dark, heavy. Also very sweet -- I can kind of sense the strawberry in here. The amber is very strong. Underneath the sweet darkness there's a little girl wearing her mother's store-bought perfume. 1.5 Hours on Skin: The sweet side of this scent has emerged over time. Still spicy and warm. Makes me feel like a glorious 45-year-old woman clad in a velvet ballgown. Drydown: Not much has changed. This one has good staying power. It's sophisticated; I could imagine wearing it out for a fancy night on the town, or for a business event where I wanted to feel powerful. Also - random note - when I tried to scrub this scent off to try another, I used green Palmolive dish soap. It didn't remove the scent, but 30 minutes later, the combination is very pleasant. Bizarre! Conclusion: Good for sophisticated, fancy events. I like the imp, but I don't think I'd buy a full bottle.
  15. sun_set_bravely

    Blood Pearl

    Blood Pearl In Bottle: Smells very soapy, with a hint of sweetness. Wet, On Skin: Gently twisted floral scent. The upper part of my nose tastes hand soap. I wonder what orris smells like. 1.5 Hours on Skin: It's turned quite soft and sweet. Definitely a dry scent. It smells like my grandmother, but a little hipper than she is. As I sniff my wrist, I suddenly get the image of a silver letter opener lying in a velvet box. It's turned surprisingly nice. The soap scent is almost gone. Drydown: Very soft, and now it definitely smells like my Grandma. Conclusion: Nice scent, but it smells too much like my grandmother to wear it now. Maybe in fifty years!
  16. sun_set_bravely

    Maenad

    Maenad In Bottle: Sweet but with a serious kick. I smell some jalapeno pepper undertone in this one. There's also a bit of musk in there. Wet, On Skin: Ooh, this is wicked! It wavers between being sweet and peppery and mass-produced perfume. I'm not sure what this wants to be. I'm not getting any of the strawberry, sadly. The orange is strong. Whoa - did I just smell a rice cake? On second sniff, my hunch is confirmed. I'm wearing a rice cake on my wrist right now. 1.5 Hours on Skin: It's faded dramatically. The pepper-kick is almost gone, and there's only sweetness left. It blends well with my skin; when I sniff, I smell a little sweetness wrapped up in my own scent. Drydown: It's very faint now, and smells a bit like Play Doh. I love Play Doh, so that's a good thing. Conclusion: Fun for spicy occasions, but will need frequent reapplication.
  17. sun_set_bravely

    Bliss

    Bliss In Bottle: This is truly unbelievable. How does Elizabeth do this? It smells like the best milk chocolate I've ever tasted, melted and distilled. Wet, On Skin: Oh wow oh wow. As I applied it on my wrist, I smelled the Hershey's Kisses we used to eat at Christmas time. Now it smells a little like a scratch and sniff book. And as it sits on my skin, it gets a slight plastic undertone. 1.5 Hours on Skin: Still chocolatey. It smells less like actual chocolate now, and more like something artificial scented like chocolate. Like a plastic toy or something. Did Strawberry Shortcake have a friend that smelled like chocolate? There's a memory lurking but I can't find it. Drydown: Still chocolate-y, but much fainter now. Smells like Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa powder. Conclusion: I adore this stuff in the bottle, but I don't think it changes well enough on my skin to order an entire bottle. I'll delight in the imp for as long as I can!
  18. sun_set_bravely

    Delirium

    Delirium In the Bottle: Sharp -- this is the thorns of the beautiful rose. Touch of lavender? Makes my head spin and ache a bit. The rose has something dirty on the undersides of its petals. A touch of sunscreen scent. Wet, on skin: Hand-soapy, spiked lemonade in some whiffs, seems to fade quickly. Smells very clean -- I think that's the lemon coming out. I can taste something bitter on the back of my tongue. There's a powdery undertone, too. 1.5 Hours on Skin: I'm being followed around by a giant soap dispenser! No, it's not that bad, but I do smell very, very clean. The scent has softened dramatically. There's a strong baby powder hue. The lemon is prominent on my skin. It seems that this happens with many lemon scents -- my skin just pumps the volume up to the max. Drydown Smells like a woman's petticoat, or a grandmother's slip under her Sunday finest. Very soft and secret. Light and powdery. There is no rose left in here. It's mostly the remainder of lemon. Soap, soap, soap. Conclusion: I'm starting to realize that when there's lemon in a fragrance, my skin will make it the star of the show, but in a very industrial-cleaner kind of way . This scent dries nicely, but very light. The scent is subtle on me in a way that isn't baby-powdery, which is nice.
  19. sun_set_bravely

    Decadence

    Decadence In the bottle: sweet, lemony. Smells like a cleaning product. Very strong. Smells like a hard candy, something like a mix between a Jolly Rancher and something else. Is there a hint of cinnamon underneath this? Wet, on skin: Yuck -- the cleaning product scent is super-strong on me. There is some sort of citric sharpness at the back of my nose when I inhale deeply. Lots of hard candy scent here. It's not very warm scented, as I thought "decadence" would be. Maybe some almond in here, as well as a light touch of orange. At a few minutes, it turns into Home Sweet Home from Yankee Candle. 1.5 Hours on skin: Still strong and fruity. For a moment, it smelled like pine, very wintry, but then the scent slipped away from me. I smell one of the undertones of Kali, but I don't know which one. As it settles, I get an almost resin-y scent from it. Drydown: Weird! It has a very similar drydown to Kali. I don't know what note is left. Maybe it's something of the balsam? Conclusion: Although the drydown is fine on me, the start is just too fruity and strong for me.
  20. sun_set_bravely

    Séance

    Séance In the bottle: strong grassy scent, very green smell, almost vegetable-like; the scent is flat and hits my nose like a plate glass window. Cool, almost cold smell. Wet, on skin: warms up quite a bit. I smell the wood like an old plain coffin, or a small wooden church in the English countryside. Definitely getting religion here. 1.5 Hours on skin: turned a bit powdery; reminds me of the period rooms in museums, or the Old Merchant's House museum in Manhattan -- the wood of it. Evocative of an old music box, or a musty jewelry box with fake velvet lining and a grandmother's costume jewelry inside. Drydown: Very faint whiff remaining. It smells now like the inside of an old grand piano. Conclusion: Although the scent is nice and exactly what it says it will be, I don't think it's for me. I'd sooner line my drawers with paper scented in this than wear it on my skin.
  21. sun_set_bravely

    Athens

    Old Athens In the bottle: Nice honey color. sharp, shoots up into my brain through the top of my nose, musty with a hint of sweet waiting in the wings, smells like alcohol (vodka). Wet, on skin: resiny, warm and old, but slightly edgy. Dusty. I can't identify what the notes are in this. When I inhale with my wrists away from my nose, I can smell a bubblegum-like scent wafting from them. (My partner says that I smell like a Greek woman that we know.) Smells a bit like an middle-aged woman wearing too much perfume. 1.5 Hours on skin: old wood scent mixed with a plainness. The strength has diminished significantly. The resin still stands out. Drydown: Very faint now, with an old person smell to it. Smells like an old hollow door in a parsonage I lived in as a kid. Conclusion: It never turned sweet on me, only musty and kind of bitter. Not pleasant.
  22. sun_set_bravely

    O

    O In the bottle: Baby powdery at first, then the naughty musk of honey comes through. Wet, on skin: Smells like the Urban Decay edible honey dusting powder on my skin. Very warm and enticing. 1.5 Hours on skin: Not as sassy as I'd hoped. It's fading quickly. At one point, I smelled a hint of acridity, like a hint of urine. Sometimes reminds me of the dressing room of high school theatre. Drydown: Still pretty powdery. If I breathe in really hard with my nose to my wrist, it's totally Play-Doh. The staying power is good, though, as I could still smell a hint at bedtime. Conclusion: It's nice enough to try again. Maybe at a different time of the month.
  23. sun_set_bravely

    Morella

    Morella In the bottle: First, I smell a bathroom cleaner. Then when I move the Imp away from my nose, I smell the sage from my Yankee Candle sage and citrus. Cool fragrance, strong. Wet, on skin: Clean smell, but it smells like a hand soap now. Green scent. Powdery underneath the green. 1.5 Hours on skin: Almost gone! It's a nice, soft scent, still a warm green, but I can hardly smell it now. Drydown: Gone completely at 4 hours.
  24. sun_set_bravely

    Lampades

    In the bottle: Very sweet, kind of reminiscent of the bathroom freshener smell at an old office building I worked at in the summer 1999. Wet, on skin: sweet but sharp; somewhere in there there's a hint of fall leaves; I can taste it at the back of my tongue when I smell it; it fills the air thickly around me. 1.5 Hours on skin: Too sweet right now for me. Drydown: (didn't try it) Conclusion: It smells too much like that bathroom scent for me ever to wear it.
  25. sun_set_bravely

    Kali

    In the bottle: strongly alcoholic; the red wine is super-strong. As I pull it away from my nose, I smell a hint of sweetness. Stings my nose a little bit. Wet, on skin: Rich, very complex. Full-bodied; the different notes swirl together to create quite a mix. Smells like luxurious silks and velvets draped from the ceilings of a smoky room. 1.5 Hours on skin: Oh geez, I just realized that this smells a little like Estee Lauder's "Beautiful." I hadn't smelled that before, but then I noticed someone reference it on the forums, and now that I have that in mind, I see how it is similar. Luckily, it doesn't trigger weird ex-boyfriend memories for me. It's more complex than "Beautiful," and I still like it. Drydown: Chocolately goodness. Light, but good. It's faded quite a bit now, but it's still subtly present. Conclusion: This scent smells so sophisticated on me. I'd be glad to have this as my signature fragrance.
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