Greensleeves

In the bottle: Something faintly medicinal, must be the bitter. Rose, lavender and something heady, like hyacinth. Wet: Lavender, bitterness, which turns out to be tonka, and a bunch of dried flower arrangements, rose, hyacinth. Dry: Harsh, bitter tonka abusing a dried flowershop, and something that arouses a profound scent memory in me, of looking through my mother's Avon perfumes. I think this might actually smell like Avon's Sweet Honesty. After a few minutes: The tonka is getting really really sour, and not in a fun citrus way. The powdery dried flowers are really amping up. After first hour: The bitterness of the tonka has died down, and the flowers are now soft, sweet and powdery, I'm getting hints of lavender, rose, vanilla and amber. After two and a half hours: Soft vanilla and amber, with a faint bitterness of tonka. This smells a lot like O. After 5 hours: More of the same. Final verdict: It got more pleasant as time went on, despite the tonka, but this is not my thing. To the swaps!

In the bottle: Cool yellow oil, faint citrus greenness. Wet: Sweet, fresh burst of floral green and tanginess. Dry: A hint of something commercial, but it fortunately stays behind. A blend of clover flowers mixed with hyacinth with an undertone of herbs. Final verdict: I just kind of lost interest in this scent and didn't bother to write down my other observations. It is definitely well-crafted, but didn't capture my imagination.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil, soft fruity green and pine. Wet: Deliciously, mouthwateringly sweet fruity pine, something like lily or orchid, possibly gardenia, yet despite this it still has a distinct greenness that is the hallmark of scents I enjoy. Dry: Peppery greenness, soft, sweet fir or light balsam, delicate yet complex. After a few minutes: Sweet fern, fir, soft, peppery green sweetness. After first hour: Barely there soft fern and spruce. After two and a half hours: Gone. After 5 hours: Gone. Final verdict: I didn't think I could find a green scent that could be this sweet. It is very pleasant and a candidate for my honourable mentions.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil, smells like a fruity, sweet Christmas tree. Wet: Fresh spruce and some sort of sweet fruity note, almost like Belladonna mixed with Slobbering Pine. Dry: More of the same, with an undernote of clean. This isn't a dirty, sexy blend by any means. After a few minutes: Fresh bayberry, almost, underscored by spruce and clean. After first hour: More of the same. After two and a half hours: Almost completely gone. After 5 hours: Gone. Final verdict: I like this very much, but not enough that I can't part with it. I think it would be a great Christmas scent, but I've got Hemlock and Slobbering Pine for that.

In the bottle: Golden oil, spicy sweet incense. Wet: Fresh, sweet citrusy incense - I get a delicious hint of something that reminds me of the mysteriousness of Villain. Dry: The sweetness amps up, but this is a good sweetness, not foody or floral or fruity, just rich, sweet, deleriously exotic spiced incense and resin that makes my mouth water with pleasure and my breath catch in my chest in a feeling of being uplifted spiritually. Can't stop sniffing... I think I'm going to have a religious experience induced by PERFUME, and it both frightens and excites me. I think I'm also catching spicy lavender in there, and a hint of powdery lilac - Oh rapture! After a few minutes: Deep, dark incense hinting at cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, and some sort of clean, soapiness like lavender. I just want to sit and listen to Gregorian chant by candlelight. After first hour: Exquisitely beautiful, sweet, slightly peppery honeyed resin, faint undertones of lilac, still makes my mouth water. Whenever I sniff my wrist I feel all energized and magical, almost like a spiritual high. I almost feel like rolling around on my back like a cat into catnip. Purrrrr... Although actually, I almost feel this is too holy to play with lightly. I feel like I would like to wear this while studying my Tarot cards, or maybe have it in a oil burner while going on vision quests. After two and a half hours: A clean cedar note starts to creep through, softening the rich, dusty darkness. After 5 hours: Sagey cedar and sweet incense, so delightfully warm, dry and soft. Final verdict: I am torn. This is not a 'me' scent, but it smells sooooo goood that I think they will need to pry this imp out of my cold, dead hands. Mmmm...

In the bottle: Pale, yellowy green oil, a fresh burst of green and lemon underscored by floral. Wet: Clean and green, richly lemony. Dry: A burst of fresh aloe and lemon and a salty, almost sea spray like coolness, overlain with some sort of heaviness that is probably the musk. After a few minutes: The smell has turned to smelling very commercial, like the type of giggling girlie perfume that I don't want to smell on anyone else, let alone myself. My skin seems to have turned it into a lemony chemical-infused drug-store nightmare. I think it must be the musk. While I've had the occasional success with musk in blends in the past, (like with my beloved Villain) this is generally the exception rather than the rule. On the plus side it doesn't seem to be inducing nausea, as drug-store, and even perfume counter blends regularly do for me, and a little tiny bit of aloe has stuck its head out - only to get whacked over the head by musk. Poor little aloe... you must try harder, my friend! After first hour: The cloying sweetness of white musk turning the normally enjoyable scent of lemon unpalatable. Aloe still peeking out and getting whacked by musk, and green tea looking on from a safe distance. After two and a half hours: Musk has gotten tired of beating up on aloe, and so green tea comes out to bandage aloe's wounds with... pepper? o.O This is almost nice now, but I don't think I could navigate through the overblown poofy musk in order to finally get to the enjoyable part. After 5 hours: A hint of spicy aloe and green tea. Final verdict: I wanted to like this so much because there is a matching soap at BPTP all ready for layering, but it doesn't work on me. The white musk is unfortunately the deal breaker. *sob*

I've been very remiss in not reviewing my new imps before putting them up for sale, just taking a sniff and deciding whether or not to keep them, but this scent surprised me enough that I had to post a review... I would totally start humping the leg of anyone wearing this, male or female. It is such a wonderfully complex blend, not too floral, not too earthy, but everything just harmonizes in such a way that it is a rich, sensual treat for the nose. Normally I don't like blends with a lot of floral in them, prefering greener, herbier scents, but these seem to be some of the greenest of the florals I have ever experienced. Sadly the drydown has made it turn powdery on me, as blends with amber often do, but I still can't stop smelling my wrist.

In the bottle: Medium yellow oil. Delicious fruity herbal lavender. Wet: Tangy, spicy lavender, herbs and fruit, with a pronounced hint of anise. I hate anise normally, but it seems very nice in this blend, adding a dimension of richness that is very compelling. After a few minutes on skin: Lavender, pomagranate, and incense in an Indian food restaurant. After first hour: Pomagranate and anise, smells almost like Indian food. After two and a half hours: Pomagranate and anise and a really pungent, almost ammonia note - might be the hemp. After 5 hours: Pomagranate and anise. Final Verdict: Not bad, but it smells too much like Indian food for my tastes.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Soft herbs and faint suggestion of bananas. I know there are no banana notes in the blend, but that's what I'm getting. Wet: Tangy fresh yet sweet greenness, a field of grass accentuated by very mild wildflowers. After a few minutes on skin: Flowers and aroma of banana amping up, along with some of the freshness familiar in Envy. Hints of citrus, and now I'm getting a suggestion of pineapple. After first hour: Powdery soft herbal green with faint, mild florals that are sweet without being overpowering. Quite pleasant. After two and a half hours: Same as above, with a faint, spicey, sagey note beginning to filter in. Rather than fading over time, the scent has actually gotten deeper and richer, which is very unusual to me in my experience with green blends. After 5 hours: Soft, sweet herbal with faint green floral with a hint of banana. Final Verdict: Really quite nice. I can't decide if this is one for the top ten or just another honourable mention, but it definitely deserves some recognition.

In the bottle: Intense yellow oil. Violet, lavender and mint, and heavy commercial tang - must be musk. Wet: Heavy commercialness (musk) and violet. Strong, almost nauseating floral. After a few minutes on skin: Violet and lilac, the commercial heaviness of the musk is dying down to a more manageable level. After first hour: Violet and lilac and a sort of leathery smell that I think might be coming from the musk. The scent is still quite strong and doesn't make me very happy. After two and a half hours: Sweet lilac and violet, blending very well together. The musk has died down and the result is now quite nice. Not really what I want in a perfume, not really something that makes me happy every time I smell it, but I can still appreciate it as a nice scent, it's quite pretty. After 5 hours: Soft, powdery lilac and violet. Final Verdict: This blend has improved my opinion of violet as a note in perfumes, and it did finish off rather pleasantly, but this isn't a scent I would personally want to wear.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Bright, fresh citrus with a hint of lavender and herbs. Wet: Delicious lavender, herbs, and citrus, with a faint hint of marachino cherry (?) - must be the almond. Fresh and tingly on the skin. After a few minutes on skin: A pleasant citrus medley underscored softly by peppery lavender and the faint tang of other herbs. I'm getting a hint of thyme, but no sign of the mint, though I know it is in there just because the oil seems cool on my skin. After first hour: Lavender and citrus and mild almond, which has died down from maraschino cherries and lost its foody notes. Soft, sweet, but with enough tang that it isn't sickly. Very pleasant. After two and a half hours: Citrus with a faint hint of soft floral and almond. After 5 hours: Citrus faintly underlain by almond. Final Verdict: Quite nice from start to finish. Not what I really want, but enjoyable enough to be worthy of an honourable mention.

In the bottle: Medium coloured faintly orange yellow oil. Incense, balsam/pine, peppery lavender and citrus. Wet: Pleasant, very prominent lavender and incense, with delicious lemony citrus After a few minutes on skin: Strong almost artificial lemon (must be the fact that it's verbena instead of actual lemon) underscored by soft, mild floral and a faint smokiness of incense. After first hour: Lemon and frankincense. After two and a half hours: Frankincense with the faintest hint of lemon, and possibly a hint of rosemary, although all the lavender has gone. I don't think I ever got any neroli. After 5 hours: Frankincense. Final Verdict: Very nice, I think this could fit into my top ten, although I wish more of the notes lasted longer.

In the bottle: Very pale, almost colourless yellow oil. Lavender and butterscotch mints, mouthwatering, yet pretty at the same time. I'm almost giddily excited to smell this one, it may be a winner. Wet: Lavender and sweet, soft, mild mint (must be the pennyroyal), fresh and soothing. Not painful at all, but relaxing and stimulating at once. Every time I sniff my wrist I want to break out into a huge smile. Soft cooling sensation on my skin. After a few minutes on skin: The soft pepperiness of the lavender is still noticeable, overlain by the clean scent of the pennyroyal, still minty, but with a softer edge than peppermint or spearmint. I'm still getting the faint impression of butterscotch mints, but not enough to make this a truly foody blend. These scents compliment each other *so* well. I didn't think anything could improve upon the deliciousness of lavender, but this comes pretty close. After first hour: Fresh minty lavender. After two and a half hours: Barely there lavender. After 5 hours: Completely gone. Final Verdict: Quite pleasant, with an excellent start, but as it faded the pennyroyal vanished and only lavender remained. If I wanted this effect I would simply wear some lavender essential oil. Worthy of an honourable mention, definitely for its auspicious beginning, but not one for my top ten.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil.Fresh, delicious pine with a faint hint of eucalyptus and the promise of tangy citrus. Wet: Very strong, fresh pine and eucalyptus, with only a faint background of citrus. Offers a nice cooling sensation on the skin. After a few minutes on skin: Orange starting to assert itself over the pine, fresh and mouthwatering, like someone has just started eating fresh oranges right in front of me in the middle of a pine forest. The orange and the pine seem to be clashing a little now. Overall it's not unpleasant, but strange and exciting. After first hour: The orange and pine have harmonized nicely, but I'm not entirely sure if I like the combination as much as I would have liked pine combined with another citrus aroma, perhaps lime or lemon. The orange to me doesn't smell as fresh and clean and bright as those two would have, it's sort of sour and a bit stuffy. After two and a half hours: The pine has stabilized and the orange has faded somewhat. This is mild and pleasant. After 5 hours: Very faint orange and pine. Final Verdict: It's sort of pretty, but the orange adds a certain sour bittersweetness to the pine that I don't really think I like.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. An explosion of yummy, fresh citrus. Wet: Refreshing citrus with predominant fresh grapefruit note, and tangy hints of chocolate that somehow don't detract from the freshness. Getting a note of spicy floral that I think may be lavender. It's a very busy scent, with a lot going on, but the chaos is very pleasant. All the ingredients smell very natural and non-commercial, this is the fresh, free from synthetics, harmonious aroma of Bpal at its best. After a few minutes on skin: Tangy citrus with tangerine and grapefruit notes most prominent, faint richness of herbal chocolate. After first hour: Chocolate coming through slightly stronger, turning the blend into a more foody, candy smell, though with the herbs it is still fresher and fortunately not too overtly edible, which would have been unpleasant to me. After two and a half hours: Faint aroma of Terry's Chocolate Orange, but with a tinge of herbs. This is going to be gone before the five hour mark. After 5 hours: Faint aroma of citrus chocolate. Final Verdict: A pleasant and sophisticated blend worthy of the Bpal name, and almost nice enough to find a place in my top ten.

In the bottle: Fresh herbal green and faint hints of cucumber. Wet: Green herbal and something that smells like fresh, spicy lilacs, or maybe wild roses, the kind that grow in the huge bushes and smell wonderfully heady. After a few minutes on skin: Pretty and spicy with that faint wild rose scent still present. Very, very light. I think this one is going to fade fast, which is a shame because it's rather nice. After first hour: Very light, peppery herbal cucumber, with a faint sweetness. Normally I don't like sweet, but there is enough herbal tang in this that it doesn't smell overly girly or candylike. It smells definitely interesting and unique enough to be worthy of the Bpal name. After two and a half hours: Pleasant spicy green herbal, the cucumber has died from a recognizably foody note to a very pleasant generic green/vegetal. After 5 hours: Faint herbal green. Final Verdict: Pleasant enough to find a temporary place in my top ten, though I don't think I like this enough to ever want a big bottle.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Peppery lavender and green herbs Wet: Strong powdery lavender, with something green and herbal and fresh, a faint hint of something like fresh clover flowers, or the perfume White Shoulders. After a few minutes on skin: I definitely smell White Shoulders, which is a scent I used to like but which doesn't really make me happy now. The lavender is not really noticeable anymore, but I'm getting what smells like peaches... and honeysuckle. LOTS of honeysuckle. Why, oh why, did it have to be honeysuckle? After first hour: This smell just like Twilight did on me, a big all night honeysuckle dance party on my wrist. After two and a half hours: More honeysuckle. After 5 hours: Still honeysuckle. Final Verdict: Not to my tastes as a recreational perfume, and didn't help me sleep as much as straight single-note lavender does.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Fruity green sweetness. Wet: Soapy, aquatic floral, some sort of lily perhaps, 'ocean breeze' type air freshener or bubble bath. I feel a faint sense of nausea when I smell it. After a few minutes on skin: Soapy ocean breeze with faint spice. Wafts of commercialness, even though I'm reasonably sure I don't smell musk or amber in this. There must be some other note that smells bad and commercial on me in here. I know, it smells a bit like Chanel no5. Strange. I had gotten this hoping that I would smell the Irish Spring thing that some people were getting off this, but there seems to be no hope of that. After first hour: Spicy, oceany, something that smells like agave, pleasant and almost mellow enough that I might enjoy it on someone else, or at least tolerate it. After two and a half hours: Ocean scented air freshener, salt and some sort of floral fruitiness, which I'm reasonably sure is agave. The smell is very blue and sandy. After 5 hours: Pretty much the same as above. Final Verdict: This smells like a pretty 'ocean' scented candle. It's not bad, but not to my personal tastes.

In the bottle: Rich russet oil. Piney, minty, orangey freshness. Wet: Rich pine and herbal mint, smokey citrus incense, so unbelievably good I just want to roll in it. This is a very dark scent, yet so fresh, the subtlety just carries me away and reminds me of everything I love about Bpal when it's the right combination of notes that work on my skin. After a few minutes on skin: Something like what I thought was the leathery note in Bow and Crown of Conquest, or perhaps sage, but I know none of that is in the blend, still, that's the smell I'm getting. Maybe it's the combination of cumin and clove, or, actually, the musk, which is remarkably well-behaved in this blend. It's not doing the gross, heavy commercial thing musk sometimes does on me, nor is it getting powdery. It is starting to amplify a bit and drown out the freshness somewhat, which makes me rather sad. After first hour: Pine and herbs and citrus starting to faintly assert themselves through the musk again, but they're barely able to make themselves known over the heavy, leathery layers of musk, and are scarcely worth mentioning at all. There is the tiniest, most microscopic tinge of sweetness. I am so sad, where did all the goodness go? After two and a half hours: Musk and spices, and smoke with the barest hint of citrus. After 5 hours: More of the same. Final Verdict: I wish the complexity of aromas I smelled at the beginning had lasted, because that would have been enough to propel this scent into my top ten. As it is, it doesn't really place either way.

In the bottle: Light orangey yellow oil. Ferny, citrusy lavender. Wet: Woo, powdery floral explosion, with tangy undertones. Citrus gone, there is none actually in the blend, but this is similar enough to Villain at first. After a few minutes on skin: Now very woody, but not woodsy, and the amber note is starting clear up from its powdery incarnation into something more clear and resinous. The lavender, of course, has completely died. After first hour: The tonka doesn't smell so bad in this blend as it did in Wilde, but I'm getting a definitely hint of ammonia that is quite unpleasant. This is powdery/resinous and darkly spicy, I think the patchouli helps a lot in this case to tone down the tonka into something friendlier. After two and a half hours: This is a resinous, powdery, spicy scent, pleasant enough to wear. I'm a little disappointed by how similar many scents containing amber begin to smell on me. I'm getting strong impressions of O from this, but that's surely the fault of my body chemistry and not the blend itself. After 5 hours: Resinous amber, powder, spicy patchouli. Final Verdict: Pleasant enough, but not remarkable.

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Peachy, fruity greenness. Wet: Citrusy green with what smells like heady lilac, even though there is none in the blend, fresh peppery florals coming through. After a few minutes on skin: Strong, overpowering, almost stomach turning florals with a hint of citrus and faint tantalizing hints of greenness. No lavender in sight. Starting to get a hint of something bitter amidst the greens... After first hour: This is making my eyes irritated slightly. I think something in this is not agreeing with me, and the bitter note is increasing. Hubby likes this one, which I would so far rank as probably my least favourite after Wilde. Talk about divergent tastes. After two and a half hours: Bitter herbs and overly sweet, syrupy citrus, accompanied by cloying florals. Now hubby says he's getting a headache from it, and I'm feeling a bit of one myself. I'm also starting to be able to *taste* this scent because it is so overpowering. I feel like I've drank some, and I know I haven't. Ugh. After 5 hours: The bitter note is still there along with the syrupy citrus and the faint powderiness of musk. Final Verdict: After 5 hours this has finally gotten to a throw level and a scent level that is tolerable. It's vaguely pleasant, and has saved itself from a place in my bottom ten, but it is nowhere near my top ten.

In the bottle: Pale, cool, almost green-yellow oil. Woohoo, oranges and fresh, mouthwatering green herbs. Wet: Heavy, almost overpowering fake citrus aroma like that from hard candies, gumdrops, or artificial citrus jello. Very off-putting. After a few minutes on skin: A yellow-orange smelling scent. Citrus aroma dying down a bit to more manageable levels, starting to smell some nice, clean herbs coming through. A few faint florals too, just enough to season the blend without taking over and making it overbearing. Some lavender and something else, like a hint of jasmine tea, which I've always enjoyed drinking, even though I was unsure about in a perfume. Has that sort of citrus-herbal freshness I enjoyed in Villain. After first hour: I really enjoy this, so of course this would be fading fast. Citrus and really pleasant herbs, rich, rounded and pungent, not at all foody, but clean and cool and tangy and refreshing. A little bit like Envy now, with just a hint more sweetness. After two and a half hours: Tangy fresh, slightly sweet herbal with faint hints of floral, I think I smell a bit of basil and oregano, but not enough to make me feel like a spaghetti sauce. The citrus really brings it all together, and with the floral and herbs gives a pretty scent without being overwhelmingly, cloyingly feminine. I think this could smell pleasant on a man as well. After 5 hours: Faint fresh, tangy citrus herbal. Final Verdict: I like this quite a bit, so of course it doesn't last very long, but that just means I'll have to bring the imp along and reapply. One for the top ten, definitely.

In the bottle: Very pale, nearly colourless yellow oil. Lavender and other florals, faint commercial note, I think there is musk in this blend. Yes, there is. Wet: Wow, lavender, floral talcum powder explosion. The lavender is very prominent, which is nice. Getting a spicy hint of rose and something else. After a few minutes on skin: Musky floral talcum powder, and of course the lavender has died. This smells sort of heavy and stiffling, I only have it on one wrist and I'm getting kind of choked up, the smell so strong I can almost taste it. After first hour: Too much musk overtaking the blend, with a few lingering flowers, and an incense note gaining more prominence. This blend has sandalwood, I recall, and it's starting to become noticeable now. After two and a half hours: Powdery musk and sandalwood, faint floral doused in powder. I find the scent rather pleasant, but it's much too floral and feminine for my tastes. After 5 hours: Faint hint of ammonia. Ick. Otherwise pretty much the same as above. Final Verdict: Not exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. One to sell or swap.

In the bottle: Pale, vaguely greenish yellow oil. Pine and something fresh, mouthwatering and green, almost like green apples. Wet: Fresh, bright, herbal, tangy, citrusy, eucalyptusy pine. Still something faint that smells like green apples. After a few minutes on skin: Soft, almost fruity pine with that scent that still conveys the impression of green apples very prominently. I almost like this, but there's something a little cloying in the background, something that I can almost *taste* when I sniff. This is a very bad sign for me when it comes to scents and perfumes. After first hour: Starting to get wafts of commercialness. This blend doesn't list notes, but it does describe itself as sticky, so maybe the stickyness is some sort of resin, possibly amber, which I tend to dislike and which tends to register as bad commercial perfume to my nose. After two and a half hours: The icky cheapo cologne resin was thankfully brief. The scent is dying down to a soft, fruity, herbal, gentle pine. I think I'm getting faint hints of fresh moss, and I wish there was more of that and less of the fruity note, whatever it is. After 5 hours: A fruity sweet and vaguely piney herbal. Final Verdict: I think this blend would have been much, much better without whatever that note is of fruity sweetness that I keep catching. It's feminine and almost foody, and much warmer than I tend to like my green, herbal scents and I think for me it ruins a blend that would have otherwise had lots of potential.

In the bottle: Pretty pale green oil. Aroma of fresh pine/fir trees and a hint of something sweet like bayberry. Very Christmasy. Wet: Eucalyptus but not as obnoxious, though definitely something sinus clearing. Fresh, true pine and coniferous sweetness. Something peppery fresh and green, and deliciously herbal, vaguely like a note of something I smelled in Envy. Hints of bayberry again. After a few minutes on skin: Still mild eucalyptus, underscored by pine/fir and something tangy and almost citrusy. Very refreshing and clean, like walking through a lot filled with fresh Christmas trees for sale. Notes of cedar starting to creep in. Very, very nice... After first hour: Pretty much the same cuddly, comforting pine, cedar and bayberry scent but a lot fainter.The smell of this really makes me happy. After two and a half hours: Very faint soft pine. After 5 hours: Same as above. Final Verdict: I like this a lot, almost enough to want a big bottle.