hlinspjalda

In the vial: Dark patchouli with some heavier undertones. Wet: Powdery dry musk and floral. There's something really intoxicating about it, though, almost like clove or carnation. 20 minutes: Really strong. This smells oddly like damask roses to me. I can make out the myrrh if I try, and the musk is pretty obvious too, but the bulk of this scent is a heavy spicy floral. It still reminds me more of cloves and carnation than of patchouli or ylang ylang. One hour: This is still intense, although the floral has died back some. It is a penetrating dark blend with some bite that's probably the myrrh. I like it very much but it may be too strong for me: I have a bit of a headache now. Sometimes strong musk does that to me, so maybe that's what it is. Two and a half hours: I love the scent that is wafting around my head now. It's still dark and strong, but it has sweetened just a touch. I think it's more patchouli now, or something. Only now is this scent beginning to say "lust" to me; up until now it's been more like "mugging." It seems too strong for daily or most daytime uses, though. Definitely a scent for nighttime.

In the vial: What is there to say? Rose, with an undercurrent of frankincense. Wet: Really strong rose spike, with a sharpness underneath. Whew! The next 20 minutes are going to be intense 20 minutes: still rosy, but much more frankincense now. It smells like very strong incense. One hour: much calmer now, more frankincense than rose. I like it, but it kind of makes me a bit dizzy when I snuffle at it. Two hours: It's weird. Around my head I seem to have an aura of roses, but when I sniff my wrists all I get is frankincense. All afternoon, every time I got warm, I'd smell roses around my head. At rest, or when sniffing my wrists, frankincense. That's kind of charming. Maybe that's what was happening with "Hymn" the other day, too: exercise makes me warm, the rose scent intensifies. I bought a bottle of this.

In the vial: Strong rose water, but not sweet, and with a resinous pungency. Wet: Immediate spike of some floral not rose, and a different resinous pungency. There is something extremely sweet and almost citrusy under there struggling to come out, but the resins have it overpowered. 20 minutes: Much calmer now. The florals blend beautifully, neither one predominating. The resins give it a nice complex base without a dominant note. This is subtle enough to wear everyday, but I think I'd be inclined to choose it for specific purposes, not wear it as an everyday. Two hours: This is very understated When I sniff myself, it's very pleasant, but faint. Four hours: Interesting. I went out for a walk and the minute I hit the open air suddenly I smelled it very strongly, particularly the rose element.

In the vial: Sharp, bitter, and tannic. It smells a bit like a rotting tree. Wet: Patchouli and some other floral that I find slightly nauseating. If "copal" means tree resin, that would explain the amber-y note. If this one doesn't smell better in a half hour, I'm washing it off. 30 minutes: This smells like some man's cologne to which I have been exposed, but I'm not sure which. It has an amberish base with some resinous, treelike overtones. And if that's oakmoss, then I really don't like oakmoss as a perfume. This is the only BPAL I have tested that I had to actively wash off my skin because I couldn't stand it. That's not a bad thing, really, considering I've tried more than a hundred scents. This one just plain didn't work for me.

In the vial: Sweet fruit patchouli, with an aftertaste of something very ethereal. Wet: Floral, rapidly overtaken by cinnamon. Then the floral fights back. Substrate of patchouli. Half an hour: First a breath of fruit, overwhelmed by cinnamon. Then resin and floral. This needs more time to settle out, I think. One hour: Cinnamon resin with a bit of fruit, floral, and musk. Can't make out the patchouli, pomegranate, or smoke at all. Two hours: Finally this has blended. It's still resin, cinnamon, floral, and musk, but the balance has worked itself out. It's pleasant. Three hours: I like this very much now. Partly, I think, it's because the fruit and patchouli are a little more noticeable now. But resin is still the strongest element, with the cinnamon second. Four hours: Past its peak. Keeper, at least for now.

In the vial: Apples and floral. Wet: Musk first, then the floral and pretty much everything else except apple. Half an hour: Headachy floral (the hyacinth, I think), with touches of apple and musk. One hour: Floral musk with apple. Two hours: Floral, with warm musk and a breath of apple. This is the first apple note that's really worked on me. Three hours: Not much change. Four hours: More musk than before, still some sweetness from floral. If it had smelled like this from the beginning, I'd have used it as an everyday, but the first three hours are too off-putting. Still, I won't put it in the trade pile just yet.

In the vial: Smells like lilacs or wisteria to me. Wet: Even stronger floral now, very lilac-y. Half an hour: Okay, it sort of does smell salty. But there's also the floral. It smells sort of dusty, or powdery. One hour: Less salty and dusty now, but still very lilac. Two hours: The floral has faded some, leaving that salty flavor in command. Three hours: More floral than salty, but it smells a little bit like neroli now. Four hours: Mostly over. I preferred the lilac note in "The Maltese Cross of Sanctus Germanus."

In the vial: Sweet, fruity, especially apple and peach. Wet: Much darker than in the vial, I get more of a warm bitterness off it. I can still make out the peach, but it's hidden behind the resins. There's sweet in there too, but there's rose above it. Twenty minutes: Definitely fruity, peach-apple honey. Then there's a lot of sharper, more resinous sense. The rose is reading as very sharp indeed. Two and a half yours: Very sweet, but with sharp apple atop a bitter undertone. A near miss for me. Five hours: Still very sweet, but the sharpness is gone. The bitterness is softened. I like this phase, but it has to go through too many hours of sharp to get here. Apple almost never works on me.

In the vial: Soft floral with a citrusy note. Not nearly as tangy as I expected from ylang ylang. Wet: The floral shifts, becoming more pungent and warmer. I can smell the sandalwood ramping up. Pleasant, although it could tip over into headachy if it keeps on in this direction. Twenty minutes: Soft neroli tempered with gentle sandalwood. I like this very much, and it would go great with a lacy romantic Pre-Raphaelite sensibility, but on me it seems kind of out of place. Unless something develops, it's not going to go anywhere amazing on me. Five hours: I had company and couldn't check on this more frequently. But as I sat and chatted and knitted, I really enjoyed how pleasant I smelled. This is a soft, gentle floral on an even gentler warm base. It doesn't give me a headache like so many florals. It might well be the most romantic scent I have ever worn. It's not me, but I don't think I'll trade it away either. Some days, I could wear it and pretend it's me! Fourteen hours: At bedtime I noticed I could still smell this one. It has stolen my heart, making me think pleasant thoughts of fragrant white flowers all day even though I had a pretty terrible day. I would never have chosen this one based on ingredients, since neroli has never worked on me before, but I'm really glad I tried it. I wear this one when I want to feel soft, pretty, and serene.

In the vial: Sweet first, then apple, then floral. Wet: Lily of the valley comes up first, sharp. It smells soapy. One hour: Much softer now, and I like it. The lily has fallen way back, the apple is gentler, and there's only a slight, sandalwoody soapiness about it. But white sandalwood is good on me, so no worries. Two hours: Light, sweet, pleasant, I could wear this again. Three hours: mostly gone. Too ephemeral to keep, so I'll trade this one away.

In the vial: Patchouli, myrrh, honey, and something almost fruity I think might be the cognac, in that order. Smells good! Wet: Myrrh first, then honey-musk-patchouli all at once. There's a spike of slightly wet, bitter green bite like geranium leaves, but it subsides almost immediately and some rose-oid thing comes up. It smells like it's heading toward a really sexy men's cologne. Twenty minutes: The cologne effect is still there. It reminds me of rosewood, only this smells better on me. But there's also myrrh, cognac, and patchouli in the mix. Why does this smell so familiar to me? It's not my father, grandfather, or stepfather. It's not a lover. But I know some man who habitually smells (or smelled) like this; who? Two hours: Still men's sexy cologne, and I still like it, but it's fallen off more than I expected. Mostly it's the musk, myrrh, and some unidentified faint floral that's left. Three hours: Musk and patchouli now, with hints of that faint floral. On the right man, I'd devour this, but I think it's more suited for a man than for me.

My first BPAL purchase. In the vial this reminds me a lot of my favorite pre-BPAL scent, a Moroccan one which is a combination of roses and amber. This is more heady, though, more rose and less spice. There's a warmth underneath, that must be the musk. Wet, it's very strongly rose-y; the warmth has been replaced by the spice note. A few minutes in, it's changing radically; I think it's the musk dominating the florals. And it kind of makes my head feel strange, with a tickle at the back of my throat too. Half an hour later, after an extremely unsettled period, it's gone very damask rose over a base of warm and slightly bitter spice. A heavy scent on me, probably more powerful than I'd want to wear most of the time. One hour in, the rose has mellowed a good bit and the amber, still tempered with something slightly dry and bitter, dominates. Three and a half hours: almost no floral at all. I don't object to it, but I won't need more of it either. Seven hours: no change for the last three and a half hours. Still faintly noticeable the next morning, i.e., 18 hours later. Nothing if not persistent!

My first BPAL scent, and still one of my favorites. Lamia chose well when she gifted me with it! On me it's almost entirely amber, with some myrtle. I don't know what it is about carnation notes, but some of them just plain don't read on my chemistry. This is a gentle amber on me, not nearly as strong as many of the other resin-based scents I've come to love, but it makes me feel more feminine than any of the others. I think that's because of the myrtle -- and the associations to two love goddesses (Freyja and Aphrodite) in one scent!

In the vial: Hmm, this does smell dark. I get patchouli-musk and wood, with a trace of apple. Wet: Sweet fruit for a second, but rapidly overcome by heavier aromas, especially floral. Now it smells sort of musky-rosy with a tinge of vanilla. Half an hour: Patchouli floral musk vanilla. That wood note seems to have died back, also the apple. This has a sort of headachy top note, though, maybe the neroli? Two hours: Musk vanilla patchouli, and a bit of floral. From time to time I get a hint of neroli or teak. It's warm, kind of comforting, like a winter scent should be. Three and a half hours: Warm, pleasant, but mostly over. A near-miss.

In the vial: Sweet at first, then the impression of dry powder. Wet: Mostly heady-sweet, but with a powdery top. Twenty minutes: Very sweet, and the powdery effect has diminished somewhat. Still an edge of dryness behind, though, which is good because did I mention "very sweet"? Two and a half hours: Still very sweet with some dryness. Needs a middle tone to round it out better. Five hours: The dryness is gone; now it finally smells like its name. I really wanted to love this one, but the two notes warred too much on me.

In the vial: Very sweet floral with amber backdrop. Something citrusy but baked about it, like an orange cake. Smells good enough to eat. Wet: An unsettled strong floral comes up first, backed by vanilla-citrus. Amber barely noticeable. Am sure that will change in 10 minutes. Forty-five minutes: It really does smell like a very flowery honey now, with the vanilla beneath it. Yet there's a hint of something spicy and very sensual too. Could this finally be the amber blend I've been looking for, the one where the amber isn't vying for first place? Two hours: I think I have it. This one reminds me very much of an idealized version of the old Kiss My Face soap, the green olive oil bar that was flavored with honey. There's the same sweetness, the same bite, the same lingering impression of something very, very carnal; the only thing that's particularly different is the tinge of vanilla here. I hated having to give up that soap, because I loved the scent it left on me. But it dried my skin too much in the winter, and didn't get it clean enough in the summer. It'd be great to be able to dab a scent like that from a bottle, though!

In the bottle: Tangy honey. This is positively mouth-watering. Wet: The rose comes up right away, followed by the sandalwood, as the honey recedes. It still smells sweet-tangy, though. Twenty minutes: Rose-honey. I like it, but it may be too sweet. One hour: Rose-honey still, but there's more of a base now. I think it's the sandalwood; it's a bit powdery, dryer than the rest of the scent. Two hours: Still get rose-honey, but fainter. The sandalwood is coming up a bit more now, perhaps because the honey no longer has that orange-blossomy note. Three hours: In air conditioning, this has a tangy honey scent a bit reminiscent of "Skuld." In the heat and humidity it's harder to smell. Five hours: Fallen off to something very faint now, a breath of sandalwood glazed with honey. The next time I wore it, a less hot and humid day, it was all rose-honey. I really like this one; it smells almost artless, like the innocence of early summer.

In the vial: Now that's weird. This one smells like Sabra to me, that Israeli orange-chocolate liqueur. Wet: Orange blossoms over Sweet Tarts. It smells chemical-y, like citric acid. Half an hour: Patchouli and orange Sweet Tarts. O noes! Is this going to fail? Two hours: Patchouli creamsicle. At least it doesn't smell like Sweet Tarts any more! Three and a half hours: Vanilla patchouli? Interesting, but no. A rare scent; they almost never fail this badly on me. But I never have gotten along well with orange blossom; the time I tried "Vixen" it didn't work out well, either.

In the vial: Sweet, heady, with a top note of floral and a bite of spice at the bottom. It should only smell this good on me! Wet: The sweet is overwhelmed by something warm and spicy, the floral has lost that top note. Clove is very prominent. I still like it, but it's more like food now than it was. 20 minutes: I can feel the application points as warm patches on my skin, especially at the throat; I guess that's the clove, which always reacts that way with my skin. This one is very potent, and there's a sort of aura of it all around me. But yep, this is exactly the scent I thought it was when I looked through my notes after that first meet 'n sniff. It smells like musky, spicy honey to me. I would want to devour someone who was wearing this scent. One hour: Sweeter now, and not so musky, but still strong and wonderful. There's a tiny hint of tartness about it that I think comes from the ylang- ylang; I've noticed "Skuld" has the same tartness, and that has ylang ylang in it too. I love this one; it's as strong on me as "Imp" but more beguiling, less in-your-face. Five and a half hours: It's still strong, although dryer than before. Still smells so good I could eat it. And I've figured out what the floral reminds me of. It's clover! It smells like a big patch of white clover under an Alabama sun in July. I suppose honey and clover kind of smell a lot alike, at least in this country where clover honey is the norm, I need a bottle of this.

In the vial: My first thought was, "this smells edible." Rose, lemon, jasmine, but still I am smelling something that is more like food. Wet: There's some deep floral base I can't quite place, with lemon over that, and another floral on top. It's a little headachy (that might be the jasmine), but interestingly complex. Twenty minutes: Dry, a little astringent, tannic. The rose and lemon notes are somewhat diminished but still present, and the jasmine isn't as obvious as before. Despite the strong floral element, it smells masculine to me, like something an Elizabethan gentleman would use to perfume his leather gloves. Hour and a half: Softer and more balanced now, it's pretty pleasant but with a tingling pungency at the back of my nose. I get rose, the wisteria, and one other floral (water lily?) layered over a light sandalwood base. Lemon is gone, but so's the astringency that I think must have come from the violet leaves. I think my skin must eat up currant, though, because I have never smelled it in any blend I've tried. Four hours: Where did the sandalwood go? All the subtleties have faded off now, and it's mostly just the rose with a hint of some other floral. This one's not bad on me, but I don't need to keep it.

In the vial: Citrus (tangerine?), bergamot, and a warm base of amber and sandalwood. I don't normally like bergamot, but this doesn't seem too bad. Wet: Very warm-spice. Amber predominates (notice a trend here?), with sandalwood and musk underneath. The citrus and bergamot are almost gone. This smells like it's going to go very heavy on me. One hour: What a surprise: amber and musk. There's a hint of warm sweet floral, and something that's a little sharp, almost herby, so the scent is a little wider than most of the amber-plus ones I've tried so far. But it's still an amber scent. all those lovely tangy notes from the vial have vanished. Six hours: It's gone through some changes, losing most of its scope, but it's stayed a pleasant light warm amber. Now it's amber and sandalwood I was hoping for something this light but a bit more complex; but I could wear this from time to time.

In the vial: Bright at first: rose, citrus, mint. Then carnation, followed by the darker notes of musk and amber. Wet: Rose-carnation, with lily of the valley and mint. Then the amber kicks in, and the whole thing suddenly turns heavier. The jasmine adds some sweetness, and I think this is going to become a very heavy floral indeed. Forty minutes: A heavy floral-amber, still changing. Carnation-rose dominates. The lily never showed up, and the jasmine is just barely present although beginning to ramp up. The mint has vanished. The citrus is just barely there. Right now the amber is overwhelming the musk, but if this scent follows the usual pattern the amber will diminish in favor of the musk in an hour or so. Five hours: Things got busy and I stopped paying attention to how I smell. Now it's down to a slightly sourish musk with a bit of amber. I don't like this as much as I do most of the rose, amber, musk combinations.

In the vial: Orange, grapefruit, amber, and jasmine, in that order. A very stimulating scent. Wet: Jasmine intensifies, grapefruit vanishes, orange recedes. And is that rose I smell? It's much more floral than before, and the amber takes on a bigger role than I expected in a scent including jasmine and roses. 20 minutes: Jasmine receded. Rose, amber, but not nearly as intense as earlier rose-amber combinations I've tried. The citrus makes a difference I like. One hour: Amber, rose, orange is how this reads now. It's a bit more spicy than I had hoped, but it smells great, good enough to eat but with just enough floral undertones (jasmine?) to make it complex. I'd be willing to wear this on a regular basis. Four hours: My husband expressed a (rare) unsolicited opinion. He said it was nice, but he preferred the one I was wearing yesterday, which was "Iambe." I like "Iambe" better too, but this one is yummy, if a little traditional.

In the vial: Sweet fruitiness with just a hint of some pungent evergreen. Wet: Very green; the evergreen has ramped and overtaken the sweetness. There's something about this scent that brings back a wonderful memory I haven't put my finger on yet; perhaps it's the smell of a Christmas tree from my youth. If so, that would make this a cedar note. There's something citrusy about it, too. I could happily spend a lot of time just sniffing at my arm, trying to locate this memory. Twenty minutes: Still predominantly evergreens and citrus (lemon? lime?), with floral underneath. I'm not noticing any amber. One hour: The citrus has faded, and that leaves more room for the florals. The evergreen has soured a bit, and underneath it I'm finally noticing the amber. What I remember about the first time I tested this scent is the way it smelled two hours later; we'll see whether it gets to that point again. Two hours: Sour evergreen on top of amber, with some florals in the middle. That's so strange: before it went all honey-amber on me. Maybe I'm just not sweaty enough in a lab testing scenario as opposed to a field testing one! Three and a half hours: Ah, there's the smell I remember, florals and amber. There's still just a trace of evergreen in it. But it has practically no throw now.

In the vial: Spicy-sweet with a hint of musk. Wet: Resins, including a particularly aromatic one (benzoin? smells like vanilla), woods, and something else. It's elusive, and I keep sniffing at it, trying to hit the right part of my nose with the scent. Half an hour: Vanilla and musk with other warm sweet fragrances. Very pleasant. Two hours: A little less vanilla now, and something that might be carnation. Still pleasant. Three hours: Interestingly, it's not unlike "Leo 2007." It's less sweet, though, and more understated. I expected something more intense. Six hours: Faintly warm and sweet, musk and something that's either carnation or resin, I can't tell which.