cinderfallen

Also try Dark Delicacies for a subtler kind of dark--not heavy, a little watery even, but with distinct resins and coconut that back up the floral.

I've been really looking to try the East, but timing never seems to be right for swap/sale'ing for it. Le sigh.

Everyone knows the story. The wait. The anticipation. And then the bitter, bitter letdown when you've got 5+ mLs of an entirely different perfume than the one you fell in love with. :evil: That happened for me with Anubis, which was so, so, so GLORIOUS, sweet but with with this plant-y sap note holding it back... The bottle of the stuff was just saccharine sweet in comparison. That delicateness wasn't there. And I take my bottles seriously.

Hmm, morocco is the vanilla sandalwood (hint of carnation) I reach for. mouse turned into plastic, underpants was very in your face, and love's philosophy was too vanilla ice cream for me.

Seraphim is one of those blends where I blink and go, Huh. I have NEVER seen mentioned or have recollection of ever entering my mental register. But it's very pretty and sweet, and smelled charming right out of the vial. It reminds me a lot of Queen Mab, maybe it's the white sandalwood? This smells like a creamy floral with wooden undertones, and refreshingly a bit tart on top. The floral itself isn't a dominance battle between the players, and at points I get a bit of young yellow rose that peeks its head out a bit farther than the other florals, except for maybe the wisteria which is the note that's slightly tart? I've never smelled it before. Underneath, I can't tell whether it's a powdery note, or a charmingly woody note that tames the sweeter parts of the scent and grounds them. Not wood as in trees, but maybe more like sandalwood, but more homegrown, like a dried twig or branch, that almost dusty plant smell, dry and palate-cleansing for its simplicity. The smooth floral tartness is a good counterpoint to this. I've got sinus congestion, so I'm not sure if my perception's accurate. I'll be back to edit the review if I remember.

LOL, I was expecting rankness from some of these reviews and I was kind of looking forward to being grossed out, which didn't really happen. The oil smells pleasant to me, actually, but that may be because I'm congested? In the vial, the musk isn't so much animal but sleep-warmed skin. Wet, I get the opium and can discern the red musk, as well as the civet note beginning to come together. On drydown, Debauchery smells mostly like Scheherezade carried by a very rich and robust musk (civet, probably) that doesn't so much announce itself as just give the red musk/spices a lot of body. Sort of like that "absence" of scent when you try and smell your own skin? But that indefineable warmth/presence? That's the kind of invisible musk that elevates the rest of the blend and creates a radius of warmth. There's some kind of spice as a top note that's an amped version of the kind in Scherezade, but I'm not too familiar with those. Something like...saffron/nutmeg with a bite like cinammon? This smells like the perfume version of Scherezade, actually, which I think smells more like an old bookstore's New Age incense, louder and more wanting to be noticed as a hippy. Debauchery smells like something you'd wear if you want a slight opium-tinged, smoky oriental-spiced musk perfume. I may change my mind when I finally get back the full use of my sinuses, however.

There is a soapy intro, but judging by the way the scent settles down, it looks like a bit of aging will take care of it. It smells nothing like what it does wet to dry. Settled, this reminds me of a stripped down Salon--SCHLAFENDE BAIGNEUSE. ...and ohhh, of course, that makes sense doesn't it? Where Schlafende Baigneuse is richly gilded with various delicate and creamy florals, Nudie keeps to the basics--the rich length of skin musk, and what I associate to be the same yellow rose note, sweet and charming, velvet soft, with a slight hint of fresh tartness to befit a young bud. I think I actually prefer Nudie to the Salon, because the sleeping lady's perfume is a thing of fine-wrought elegance, as soft and pretty as it is. Nudie is that wonderful, on-the-go instant comfort, especially on the days I want to feel pretty but not announcing any attention to myself. Makes me feel like my skin has turned into the petals of a creamy-fresh flower petal. In terms of sex appeal, I'd say this reminds me of the perfume in Suskind's novel, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, or specifically, what I imagine Virgin #1 smells like, from the perfume coffret created for the theatrical release of the film. The scent of Before, beguiling. Specifically, Christophe Laudamiel (perfumer) in this interview says: “Ah, we used to have have a botanist at IFF, B. D. Mookherjee, who would analyze flowers through headspace technologies. One of his experiments involved taking this technology from the navel of a young virgin, it was all done with her parent’s permission and had a lot of criteria involved such as diet, etc. and we recreated his technology for the odour Virgin. It was the scent of clean skin. This was only one facet of the scent, the innocence came from yellow plum Schnapps.” I get the same feeling from the skin musk and yellow rose. From Basenotes:

REMEMBER TO SHAKE/ROLL/REBLEND THIS SCENT!!! When I first got my decant from when it was first released, I coughed from the overwhelming pine and cologne-scent. Trying it again about 9 months later? OH MAN. The pine backs off a LOT and the cologne feel goes away. I love what I'm left with, even though I don't know how good a *perfume* Illustrated Woman makes. It doesn't smell *beautiful* but it's arresting, charismatic, the way you just want to continue sniffing where you put it on. There are prettier scents that I like because I know it's likeable, and others will also find it pleasant, but Illustrated Woman is something I put on because I personally just want to smell it, not necessarily smell *like* it. But you know, if I were to smell like it? This, more than any other BPAL scent I tried, is the thing that screams SEX to me. The skin musk just melds with my chemistry, and the smoked vanilla and earthy pine/resins and tobacco dirties everything up--yeah, it really works with me. There's definitely the smoky vanilla that rises to the top, but not in an obvious way--it works to reign in the pine, tobacco, and resins, and they combine to make a soft warm, soft patch of scent that rises a couple inches off my wrist. The honey is a very light touch, where you can just make out that golden lilt of it, just to the side of the pine's interesting character, the lightest glaze to the vanilla. The pine itself can be a punch at first (not straight pine--once everything has a chance to settle down and age, the *characteristic* of pine sticks around, not the pine itself, if you can follow what I'm saying)--but in a couple minutes, even that warms up and softens up with the resins. The vanilla is not foody, but it's lush and warm and tones down the brassiness of the perfume a lot. Once dry on my skin, the aggressive characteristic of the scent softens considerably, and the scent is a glow of warmth and soft sensuality. I like how the pine gives the scent some backbone without becoming overwhelming at all--it gives it edge, and the softer notes all fall in line with it. I never thought I really LOVED this scent? But my decant is almost gone, so I thought it was time to order a bottle. I think this is one that calls for some aging, so the sooner the better to get a bottle.

I figured out what this smells like: driving through dirty, dusty LA when I was little, windows down, fresh from the beach, slightly chlorinated, a bit of smog and ozone from outside, cold and refreshing wind wafting in something slightly sweet from outside, maybe a bit of greenery from fresh-cut trees or a bit of someone's perfume.

If you love the lab's opium note, like me, you'll feel like you hit the jackpot. I first fell in love with the hint of it in Belle Epoque, and it's also here in its full glory. I get the orchid more or less depending on my skin chemistry at the time, but the perfume is a more crisp version of Languor, and I think the benzoin is the note that offers an almost citrus edge to the waxier, sweet orchid.

It's kind of interesting to read reviews because you can see the trends from each new batche of the oil, like For a page or so, everyone shouts "baby powder!" and then for the next page or two, people talk about different notes.

I get a whole lot of the cognac, which turns this into a kind of traditional perfume/cologne, with that aldehyde hint. But it is very much musk and the kind of linen note in Antique Lace, that reigns in the foody element of the vanilla. The musk is really awesome here; I've quite smelled anything like this musk in the BPAL catalogue, I think; or maybe it's the effect of being combined with everything else, including the tobacco? It's very much a costume scent for me, for certain going out days, not for every day--haha, this is so not a day scent--night wear. I'd say that this is a BPAL that is popular because it smells like it should be a high end perfume--yes, from the DEPARTMENT STORE. *cue horror* It's mainstream sexy in that it smells almost familiar, what with the vanilla and musk, and "sexy" like you think in the Vogue magazine shoots. I do think this is a unique scent, but probably not worth all the hype unless you're a collector, and a completist at that. I only hesitate because I'm not sure whether I like the scent for its hype, because it does tinge on a very androgynous cologne.

CRAFT STORE CANDLE. All the time. =/

Evil, evil.... I think for me that would be Event Horizon: Black opium, labdanum, opoponax, black orchid, and benzoin. Opium flowers prettyyyy. Lady Macbeth sounds right up your alley: sweet Bordeaux wine, blood red currant, thyme and wild berries. I mean, it may not literally smell evil? But c'mon, it's Lady Macbeth! And uh, Arcana ha(d) Poison Candy. *g* Just thought you should know.

Huh. I looked up Skuld and it looks like it might be because of the ylang ylang and honey? I might have to try that sometime. I'm trying to use up my bottle of Alice before it ages, because I love the spike of tea/carnation before the cream calms everything down. And hmm, Gennrivre. I think it's been on my idling wishlist as I'd gotten tired of mint scents and there was nothing to previously suggest it as being similar to jasmine tea specifically, but that'd also be nice to try. Weirdest tea scent ever--actually. No. Tea and leather perfume is weird, Severin, but maybe tier two weird? Lady Lilith. It smells like a smush between Embalming Fluid and Mme. Moriarty. That fresh white(green?) tea note, the citrus, the zenness, hovering over the base of red musk and Mme. Moriartyness.

Sudha Segara is almost but not quite enough to trigger a nausea reaction for me. I'm playing safe and avoiding it. It's the combination of ginger-hot, crystallized ginger sweet, dissolved thoroughly in sweet and creamy milk. Somehow, these food ingredients just should not go together. --And now that I think about it, I feel the same way toward thai coconut curries, milk-cream spicy at the same time, but also oily from any prior cooking of the meat and vegetables.... Maybe because ginger is used to make the main dish taste more fresh/less fatty in Korean cooking, and the cream quality of Sudha Segara sharply negates all of my experiences with eating food containing ginger, which is mostly meat/savory items. This is PLUS the fact that the non-cultural honey/milk introduces a clashing dessert quality that mixes up all the food courses into a grab-bag of sick-inducing for me. ...good to figure this one out. But uh. If you're not me, it's actually a pretty mild scent, the mildness of it along the scale of Dana O'Shee. Ginger milk tea quality about it.

*cough* So. much. fruity. musk. Cloying. I made the mistake of somehow getting some oil on less than perfectly clean hair and I paid and paid and paid for that clumsiness. It felt like the equivalent of someone putting on patchouli oil to cover up their pot stank, but mine was syrupy sweet instead. And I couldn't get away from myself. (I don't think it bothered anyone else; just me.) Just doesn't mesh with me I guess.

Envy was my first BPAL love. I loved that almost fuzzy spearmint texture amidst the cool herbal coolness. Lots of greens, with great throw, and the lime was a great touch to pucker up the blend into something really casually pretty.

The aged stuff makes me a bit sick, but fresh, it's delicious! Well, aged, it's very much more vanilla, and the musk really gets a gritty sugary edge, but I really like the more airy notes of the fougere and black tea of the new bottle. Reminds me a bit of sugared ginger.

Cool vanilla mineral, upscale and elegant. Polished stones.

There must be rose in here because almost nothing else would turn so horrible on my skin. The cherry is stick bright but it develops over this weird muting laundry sheets flatness, and it's also almost baby powder which also turns sour....all at the same time. Cherry almond rose? Something like that. I can't really tell as I can only sniff out the secondhand mess it must have turned itself from. Like trying to figure out what zombies looked like before they mutated and grew that third...eye.

Ugh. This is no good at all. Makes me feel nauseaus. Reminds me of trying to drink Peptobismol on a queasy stomach, that high, chalky sweet smell with the very creamy, liquid sweetness. That is to say, I only get dragons blood cherry sweet with the high, almost cold and minty cassia, and maybe the smoke note? And that syrupy almost creamy quality must be from the myrrh. I'm going to go and scrub this off now. ...I wonder if the baby powder note is also from this or Black Phoenix? =/

I must amp red patchouli because all blends that contain this note smell pretty much the same. But for what it's worth, it doesn't smell like a headshop, but almost like money. Uh. Maybe that's because this is reminding me of Greed. And Malediction. And Anne Bonny.

Oi, red! This very much reminds me of Malediction and maybe Greed for its patchouli, and the red sandalwood is definitely also in The Red Queen (appropriate, eh?). The wood is rough-hewed, though, compared to the burnished smoothness of the woods in Red Queen. The resin of the frankencense moistens up the scent which tends to be on the drier side, and it's almost sweet for the blend that it is.

This is absolutely one of the most fresh, clear, pretty scents I've ever smelled, and epitomized my ideal signature scent at one time...before I realized that BPAL aquatics turned into flat air freshener and laundry detergent on my skin. But in the bottle, the tulips are so watery fresh and beautiful....