lady_pandora

The eruptions in Hawaii have Madame Pele on my mind, so I decided it was time to pull this one out of the to-test pile. On me, it's dominated by a white flower that's dewy and waxy by turns, and at first I was thinking "I don't know what this flower is," but score one for finally learning some more notes--it's tuberose! I know because this note is in both Ava and Swans on the River. It's soft and pretty and not all that strong on me. I probably don't need a ton of this, since I have big bottles of the aforementioned (and more complex) tuberose blends, but it's nice.

Starts out dark red berries with an underlying scent of smoke; the smoke sometimes oscillates into a subtly "basementy" smell that makes me think it might be vetiver, but if it is, it's a really quiet vetiver that doesn't amp up as loud as that note sometimes does. Later, it's the berries with a soft haze of dark musk. I'm reminded a little bit of Her Strong Enchantments Failing, except I think I like Lampades better, because Enchantments' white musk goes dryer-sheets in the late drydown. I need this anyway for the Hecate connection, but I like it enough for at least an imp's worth in any case.

I've been raving about Silence in other threads because I lurves it. Daybreak is lovely, and I'm reaching for it more now that it's warm out. One Perfect Day is more rose-dominant but the lavender is really pretty in it.

Lots of pine, with a hazy sweet incensey note gradually creeping in like fog. I thought it might be opoponax at first, eventually settled on opium, and now that I'm reading the note list, I think it's the black musk. It's definitely evocative, but it's enough of a specific-mood scent that I probably only need an imp.

This starts out with an effervescent lemon-lime, like Sprite, but then I start amping super-sweet melon all over the place. Melon is just not my jam, and thus this isn't for me, but it's a fun sweet fruity scent that some folks will really love.

GC:

Jezebel (honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood): I was originally planning to wear this if and when I got married. Orange blossom is even a traditional bridal thing!)

Zorya Polunochnaya (Pale amber and ambergris, gossamer vanilla, moonflower, and white tobacco petals)

Brisingamen (five ambers, soft myrtle and apple blossom, myrtle, and carnation)

Juliet (Sweet pea with stargazer lily, calla lily, heliotrope, honeysuckle, white musk and a touch of fresh pear)

LE:

Between Your Heart and Mine, if you can find it (Heartwood bois de rose and vanilla-touched rose)

Ava (sheer vanilla musk with tuberose, red mandarin, and the sweet poison of white almond)

And yes, Swans on the River is lovely!

This was included as a frimp in my latest order. I the Lab!

My first impression is of Sprite, and then it starts smelling to me kind of like the snow note that's in some of the Yules. Watery, slushy, reminded me of some old Yule I haven't smelled in years. I think maybe Darkling Thrush? (I dabbed a little Talvikuu onto my other arm to see if that was it, but nope, that's gone super piney with age and is very different from 504.) I think maybe the Lab was making a scent pun on the site being "frozen"!

I'm getting some citrus a little later on too, I think maybe lime. Overall, this is clean, cool, green, unisex.

I tested this while wearing my GoT "The North Remembers" shirt and was totally hoping for some sexy slightly-dragonish Northman goodness. Alas, the oudh in this is doing the same thing it did in Zip Line, namely, smelling like pee. Pee mixed with blood and incense, but pee. I've heard of people getting "poudh" but this pee note confuses me, both because it's pee rather than poo, and because oudh works just fine for me in plenty of other scents besides these two. Maybe it has to do with what it's combined with? IDK. I haz a sad.

Like everybody else, I couldn't resist that name! On me, Clytemnestra starts out red wine, then becomes more pine-dominant for a while, then back to red-wine-dominant again. The throw, in particular, is almost all wine, with the pine hanging out closer to the skin, and I can pick out what I think is the opoponax right on the skin too. This actually has kind of a Yule vibe to me, though it's a dark mysterious Yule.

I get the lavender and possibly the sandalwood at first, but I end up amping the jasmine above all, and possibly because I don't really associate jasmine with sleep, Oneiroi doesn't seem to help me get to sleep any more easily. However, I did dream pretty vividly, in snippets earlier in the night and then a meatier dream in the early morning hours. This might be one to wear with another oil that helps with the sleep itself.

Woody cinnamon, a bit of peppercorn, and fresh rain! This is really nice. Fades to faintness pretty quickly on me, but might still end up as a hot-weather staple. The rainy note gives it a coolness that a lot of other spice blends don't have.

Ava is a blast of vanilla in the bottle, and then mostly vanilla-almond in the first moments after putting it on. This is the best almond has ever behaved on me. It doesn't go cherry and it doesn't go play-doh. The vanilla-almond combo reminds me of nothing so much as some icing my mom made for a cake recently, which was mostly vanilla icing but had this amazing hint of almond to it.

It then gets weird for a few minutes--I've heard before about tuberose going "rubbery," and I've never had that happen until Ava. There are a few minutes where my skin smells like a balloon. Thankfully, this is brief.

It settles down into a soft vanillic floral. Close to the skin, it's more vanilla, but as I went about my evening, the throw kept surprising me with wafts of creamy white floral. I don't get much of the mandarin. The later stages are smoky white petals, reminding me a little of Zorya P, which makes me wonder if this will age as amazingly as ZP has, picking up even more complexity over time.

In the bottle, at first I smelled nothing! I was thinking, wouldn't it be awful luck to be anosmic to one of the great BPAL holy grails...and then the scent reached me: incensey rose, intriguingly complex, making me want to sniff more.

On my skin, it starts out spicy rose and gradually morphs into more of a spicy incense scent. There's also something in here that gives the impression of "skin"--not in a bad way. It doesn't so much smell like I'm wearing perfume, more like I just woke up like this. Or I cooked something spicy and then did ritual and now all of that is kind of clinging to me in a soft cloud. It's exotic, but relaxed rather than intense. I've never seen Only Lovers Left Alive the movie, but one of the stills of it has Eve languidly draped on a couch with Adam, and my mind's eye keeps going back to that.

It's very well done, very well blended, and has a "classic" vibe--if I'd tried this in my very early BPAL days, I might have said something dumb about old ladies. But what I really mean is that this is the kind of thing my actual grandmother really did like. Plus, I'm 40 now, I can wear this grande dame stuff if I damn well please.

I can kind of see why people compared Cicuta to it, and it also reminds me a bit of how I remember Psyche smelling, though it's been a long time. It's heavier than Sept, not as heavy as Deux. I'm glad I got a bottle.

Skin chemistry is so weird--I get almost no grass! I get mostly a soft animalic musk with a really really sweet note--I think the white fang might be tonka. I was hoping for more fresh greenery to suit the warm weather, but this is definitely a sweet, cuddly pupper.

Another great GC rose is Spellbound, though it doesn't have any wine.

I'm not a huge fan of metallic notes, but I liked Bard (which I loved because the honey amped up and drowned out the brass, so YMMV, lol), and Lead Phoenix, which I only had a tester of, but it was kind of plum-and-metallic. And Fortuna Dubia went metallic on a few of us for some reason, though there's no indication in the description.

I almost passed this one by, which would have been a BPAL tragedy! I had to make some culls from my initial decant order, and Sept bit the dust. And then the reviews started coming in...and I finally decided to track down a decant and give it a try. Wow, this is gorgeous.

It's pretty simple, really--a beautifully sophisticated "perfumy" rose, with a slight hint of foodiness from the vanilla. I can't make out frankincense, but that's the way rose and frank work on me; they blend seamlessly. I love it.

Oh, and it's white wine, but if you can get your hands on Symmakhia, it's gorgeous (Vanilla, heliotrope, red sandalwood, pear, black lily, white wine grape, and white rose.) and is really Valentine's to me--the vanilla has kind of a white chocolate vibe in this one to me. So it smells like roses, wine, and white chocolate--voila, romantic evening!

This is really pretty, but includes a lot of notes I'm less familiar with, so I probably won't do this justice! The early stages are mostly citrus over pine resin with a hint of smokiness, and then I start getting a beautiful floral blend in the throw while the skin scent stays more fruit/pine. One of the notes I know is peony since it's also in Dormouse, but there are other florals here too. It settles into a sophisticated, well-blended "perfumey" scent where it's hard to pick out any one note. It makes me think of being outdoors in spring while lots of different things are blooming at once.

I'm glad I like this, because I would have had a hard time parting with that adorable goodboye (or girl) in the bottle art.

Lots of honey and a soft hint of pepper! This flirts with plastic and play-doh a bit in the early going, but settles down to a pretty, mildly peppery, candied sort of scent. There's a slight resemblance to scents like Bengal, but it's Bengal's shy little sister. I don't need a ton of this, but it's pleasant.

I have been wearing Candles Moon for the grim spring days so common in Seattle, but the past few days we've had sunshine! I've been wearing The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, The Gaoler's Daughter, 413 US 15 and Harper. When the lilacs start to bloom, I will be wearing Cave of Treasures and Eusapia. And spring is perfect for Mad Tea Party faves: Alice, Against Idleness and Mischief, Mouse's Long and Sad Tail, Queen of Hearts.

Yes, can't believe I forgot Against Idleness--I think I forgot it because I've been wearing it all winter too! Also want to add Hell's Belle to my list.

Spring! Anybody swapping their scents as the seasons change, and what are your picks this spring?

Yes! I've been trying to work some old neglected spring scents back into my rotation, including: Khajuraho, Shadow Witch Orchid, Jezebel, Delight, Loralei, and Vasakasajja. Less neglected, but also getting back into the rotation: Do the Dancing Maidens Sleep, Les Bijoux, Lady of Shalott, Bewitched, Persephone, The Dormouse. Plus my Luper faves from this year: One Perfect Day, Courtesan with Secret Lover, Pink Fuzzy Handcuffs, Swans on the River. And I think Eyes Skyward, Eyes Shut will probably be joining them.

Staying at my parents' house over the weekend, I rediscovered my father's "Le Male" by Jean Paul Gaultier.

 

The top notes of this Jean Paul Gaultier cologne for men include fresh mint, bergamot, and lavender. The middle notes are represented by orange blossom, cinnamon, and cumin. In the base notes, you will find cedar, sandalwood, tonka bean, and vanilla to add a sweet warmth. Its spicy notes make this cologne best for winter and night wear.

 

What from BPAL might be similar?

The masculine take on orange blossom makes me wonder about Tavern of Hell: White gardenia, ambergris bouquet, lavender fougere, orange blossom, melissa, tobacco flower, coriander, ebony wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and aged whiskey.

I've been spending a lot of time with verbena lately, since I've been using an almond-verbena body wash, so the verbena blast that starts out The Fool's Rose was super familiar to me. It's not a really lemony verbena on me, but definitely herbal, just this side of medicinal, very clean and soothing. I could see it being a TAL scent for healing.

The skin scent is almost all verbena at first, while the throw is incensy from the frankincense. I can't really pick out rose, but one quirk of my skin is that rose and frankincense are usually pretty seamless on me, and that happens here too. The rose reads as just an extra dimension to the frank.

Over the course of the scent, the verbena fades out and I'm left with mostly frankincense, very pretty. I could see wearing this when I'm not feeling well or need a pick-me-up. I wouldn't call it a rose scent per se--if you're not a huge rose fan, you might still like this.

Oooh, frankincense is great! Les Bijoux and Cicuta are a couple of my faves, and I'm also loving the new Fool scent Eyes Skyward, Eyes Shut. I think it's in Cairo too, though unlisted. I have a special place in my heart for rose/frank blends--the two notes work really well together on me.