Little Bird

There are a lot of icy/snowy/piny blends that smell similar on me this year. Talvikuu was menthol and perfumey snow, Snow Bunny was grapefruit and snow on me, Mistletoe is a dark green wonderful chilly snow (my obvious favorite)... and now Snow Moon. Snow Moon, at first on me, was like Snow Bunny, but with orange instead of grapefruit. I'm getting an odd orange citrus and snow mix. Then after a few minutes I think I smell cinnamon candies underneath the orange juice and snow. It seems like it should be similar to Skadi, but I loved Skadi and am not crazy about this . Snow Moon also doesn't smell floral on me at all, which is what I was expecting. After about an hour this has sweetened out quite a bit and lost the sharper citrus edge that I thought I smelled. It's still more like snow and cinnamon candies than it is snow and florals though. My skin chemistry seems to be doing odd things with this one.

I am so glad that I bought two bottles of this one . I worried that this might be too fruity or too sickeningly sweet, but it isn't at all. It actually has a very pleasant creaminess to it and is very well blended. I think of smooth vanilla and strawberry flavored spun sugar when I smell this. It's very light and playful. My boy sniffed me and said that I smelled like strawberry icecream and whipped cream, then he proceeded to nibble on me. So I am rather fond of Pink Phoenix

I was so excited to get my phoenix orders, as they definitely have my favorite bottle art on them. Unfortunately, Red Phoenix is not working so well on me as a fragrance. First on, this is insanely strong cassia... smells like a smoother version of cinnamon on me. After about fifteen minutes the patchouli starts to get stronger, but the combination just smells off on me. It's very strong and has a LOT of throw too, and I only put a small drop on my wrist. After a half hour the cassia is still going strong with a hint of patchouli in the background, but I can also smell a bit of fruity plum now as well. I have to really concentrate to pick out the plum or patchouli though, mostly this is just screaming CINNAMON to me. Too much cinnamon. I'll probably end up decanting away most of my bottle. Blood Moon had a similar feel, but was much more wearable to me, this one is just too strong and heavy for me.

I have not been having the greatest of luck with the muses. Urania starts out a very perfumey ozone on me (the sort of perfumey that gives me great migraines), and I was tempted to run and wash it off immediately. Happily, this gets much better after only a few minutes on my skin. Urania really is a scent that makes me think of a dark night, a sky full of stars and a slight chill in the air. It is mostly ozone, with a swirl of pretty florals in the background. I usually hate anything with jasmine in it, but I cannot pick out any one floral exactly. I'll probably end up swapping my imp, because ozone and florals aren't really my favorites, but I do like this one, and was surprised that it didn't give me a headache.

First on, this smells overwhelmingly of cheap hairspray. It reminds me of Stardust, which was also awful on me. After a few minutes a honeyed lemon scent starts to come in under the hairspray, but I am already getting a headache. This is so strong and sharp. Sometimes white musk smells creamy and lovely on me, and other times I get this throat clogging awful hairspray scent. The cheap hairspray is killing any other notes that might be in this one. After about 15 minutes, I started to smell what seemed like soapy white florals underneath the sharpness. By then I had a migraine and I had to wash this one off though. Euterpe hates me

First on, this is all lemon balm, pleasantly sweet and soft. It makes me think of warm sunshine and spring. After a few minutes some very sweet honeysuckle begins to peek in around the lemon balm. It's a very yellow and cheery blend. It also has an almost fizzy quality to it, like soda. I'm loving this one. 15 minutes later. The lovely lemon and honeysuckle have disappeared and this is going soapy on me . Polyhymnia ends up smelling like thin incense smoke and soap. I wish that the first stage would have stayed strong on me... I'll probably be swapping my imp, since the drydown goes soapy.

First off, I agree with everyone who said that this is reminiscent of 13. It has the same chocolate and citrus scent going on, but the citrus starts out insanely sharp on me. It also has an odd black licorice tang in the background. After 5 minutes or so the citrus has mellowed out quite a bit and it isn't quite as sharp. The mandarin is still definitely the strongest note here though, and it makes my eyes water. The cocoa-tonka combo is also fading and giving way to a sharp musky scent. After a half hour. This is all musky mandarin. Unfortunately, I am not much of a fan of citrus scents, and this one is very sharp on me. Of all of the Come and See blends, I think that this one is my least favorite.

So far I have been very pleased with all of the Come and See scents. This and Death on a Pale Horse are definite big bottle purchases for me. Leather usually makes me feel rather ill, as it is often too cold on my skin, but the leather in The Bow & Crown of Conquest is attractively warm and spicy. The leather stays in the background here and the other notes seem to rest upon it, with the lavender and vanilla being the strongest on me. I can smell hints of sage, carnation, and cedar in the background, making the blend spicier and more complex. It's just delicious. Leather, vanilla, and lavender make an interesting and wonderful combination. This blend is hot, sexy, and manly. I would do anything for a man who was wearing this scent

This doesn't smell anything like I had imagined it would. When I first applied it, I thought that it smelled very green and white. Like standing next to a crystal clear stream on a bed of mossy rocks with ferns growing all around. Perhaps it is the mint and white musk? It smells more of ozones and aquatics than the earths and woods that I was expecting. I'm not getting any vetiver or patchouli at all. Overall this just smells very clean. After a half hour... this one has really sank into my skin. I can smell a faint trace of something powdery and clean lingering on my wrists. It's strange because I don't feel like I'm really smelling any of the notes that I am supposed to. I really like this one though. I'll keep my imp around to re-test on a later date and see if any of the earthiness comes out. ETA 2012: Got a recent imp of this and it still smells very faint and soapy-clean, but also kinda like pineapple. Weird. ETA 2016: This still doesn't smell like it should, lol. The new frimp I have of this smells like a smoky, incensey, warm, slightly powdery amber (the vetiver and sandalwood? maybe?) with a bit of an ashy, warm vetiver undertone.

Mmm. I really am liking this blend. It's the sort of scent that would drive me crazy if a man were wearing it, but that I would also love to wear myself. I'm not really smelling any lemon, sage, or vetiver. I think that it is the labdanum that I am smelling the strongest, with it's golden amber-like sweetness. The sandalwood is powdery and woodsy in the background. I keep thinking that this, on me, is like a spicy-golden men's cologne. In the drydown, more lavender comes out in the background, but this is a very grounded blend. It's a smooth and sweet lavender on me, not herbal or astringent. This is rather light after about an hour on my skin, drying down to something pleasantly powdery and sweet. Strangely, it doesn't smell gloomy to me at all. It's actually rather warm and lovely.

I have never tried Dark Myrrh, so I can make no comparison where that is concerned, but Light Myrrh is really rather heavenly. It starts out spicy and a bit peppery, but also with a sort of syrupy sweetness that holds the scent together. It smells golden and deliciously spicy. The fragrance gets a bit more wooden in the drydown, and it takes on a sort of dusty quality. Spicy-dusty-sweet-dry woods. Myrrh always smells wonderfully sunny and warm to me, and this is a wonderful myrrh. I really like the spicy peppery bite here. I probably won't be keeping my decant, as I don't ever see myself wearing a straight myrrh perfume, but I still really love this one.

Cherry Blossom is all pink and white florals on me. I was surprised by how sweet this one actually goes on my skin. It reminded me a bit of powdery cherry flavored sweet tarts for the first half hour or so. There was a light soapiness lingering in the background, but it wasn't strongly soapy at all. After about an hour on my skin the soapiness disappears and I am left with a lovely, sweet floral. It's pretty strong, but not overwhelming at all. Cherry Blossom singlenote isn't something that I really feel like I can wear, but it's a pleasant/simple floral with a nice bit of sweetness to it. It's just not 'me'.

I was really afraid to try this one on. Tuberose, ylang ylang, and white musk have great potential to give me a migraine... and white musk often turns to a cheap hairspray smell on me, so it's worrisome that other people have been saying this smells like hairspray. I sniffed this in the bottle and it had a very mind numbing sort of quality to it. It made me dizzy to inhale it. First on. This is hairspray and PAIN. Oh God. It makes me cough and one quick sniff of my wrist sent my head reeling with a sharp jolt of stabbing pain. It's so sharp and thick. Perfumey and harsh. 5 minutes later. I feel nauseous and shaky. It's calming down a bit now and I can smell a bubbly boozy sort of champagne smell, but the initial sharpness and lingering hairspray scent in the background... this one is really and literally making me sick. It's so strong too. Overwhelmingly so. I'm going to have to go and take a bath to wash this one off. This is, as I had feared, an instant and intense migraine for me. I pretty much never sell full bottles of BPAL (I collect the different labels and bottles), but I'm seriously considering just getting rid of this one.

Hm. I'm not getting anything green or floral out of this one. First on it was very aquatic, reminiscent of melting snow and dripping icicles. There is a definite menthol bite under the aquatic. I don't really like mint, but this doesn't strike me as minty exactly. Definitely not peppermint. I don't know what wintermint smells like, so perhaps that is what is in this blend. It morphs into something like a watered down mint fragrance and it reminds me of brushing my teeth on mornings when the hot water isn't working at all. The menthol/mint bursts in after a few minutes and then lasts on my skin for about 15 minutes before disappearing entirely. After that there is a strangely sweet aquatic scent left behind. It turns into a very light aquatic that clings close to my skin. I like this one, I think I'll save it for days when I don't really feel like wearing a perfume. It has a subtle, clean sort of feeling to it.

I almost didn't order this one because I have a fear of any fragrance that mentions 'blood'. This is ironic given my fascination with blood in real life... but dragon's blood is my scent-enemy, so I feared that The Cracked Bell would be dragons blood-ish. Thankfully, no dragon's blood at all, but it didn't work on me as well as I would have hoped either. When I first put this on, I thought that it was a bit citrusy, but it was hard to pin down. This is like a blend of many wonderful things, and the best way that I could describe it would be to say it is spicy and incensey. It reminded me strongly of "Alone" when I first put it on, so I wonder if it also has red sandalwood or some like ingredients. I was really enjoying it for those first 15 minutes, and then it started to go very perfumey on me. It had that cheap hairspray smell and started to give me a headache. I wonder if this has some sort of musk in it? Musk often turns to hairspray on me . I'm happy to have my bottle of "Alone", because it is pretty close to the first stage of The Cracked Bell that I was loving. This one just gets way too sharp and perfumey in the drydown for me.

I've put off getting Rose Red for a long while now. I didn't get it last year because I didn't think that I liked rose scents last year, but I decided to give it a try after realizing that I actually love a few BPAL rose blends (Whip, Marie, Alice, The Haunted Palace, and such). Sadly, Rose Red is one of those roses that doesn't work on me First on this is oddly sour and pickled. It actually reminds me of pickled beets. The sour juice and earthy soil smell. And it remains a strange, sour rose on my skin. BPAL's rose scents are also usually pretty strong and long lasting on me, and Rose Red fades away within 2-3 hours. I completely adore The Peacock Queen, and it smells more like a true rose scent to me than this one.

I love this one . Lump of Coal was the naughty scent that I was desperately hoping for, and it has not disappointed me. There's not much to say about this one except that it smells like taking a perfect pan of dark chocolate brownies out of the oven. I smell this and can practically taste them. This is my new favorite chocolate scent from BPAL, and I can't wait to try layering it with all of my other foodie scents.

Mitzvah makes me incredibly hungry. I love BPAL scents that smell like they have salt in them, and Mitzvah has a wonderful foodie saltiness to it that makes my mouth water. This smells of melted butter, gooey caramel, and salt. I actually kept thinking of caramel popcorn whenever I sniffed my wrist, but Mitzvah also has a wonderful creaminess to it. It is rather light and fades away completely after only about two hours on my skin, but it is delicious while it lasts. And it is also swoonworthy when mixed with Lump of Coal ETA. I wore this one again today and was surprised at the staying power. I had it on for 8 hours before taking a bath, and it stayed strong for the entire 8 hours. I wonder if my nose was just having an off day before, or if I didn't apply very much when I wore this initially, because it was very strong and creamy today. I'm really loving this one too. Foodie-heaven.

I was not sure what this would smell like, as I don't believe that I've ever smelled chamomile before. Surprisingly, this reminds me quite a bit of lavender though. First on it was very similar to the way that Lush's angels on bare skin facial cleanser smells to me. I usually find lavender very bland and unimpressive though, and I am loving Roman Chamomile. It's herbal and comforting. Herbal in the same way that good lavender is, but with a honeyed sweetness and something else that makes it so much better. I tried some of this on after getting into a fight with my mother and it really helped to calm me down and fall to sleep. I woke up a few hours later and it was still strong and comforting. After a few hours I noticed that there is also something faintly lemony about this on me. Like a barely there drizzle of lemon and honey underneath the herbal scent. I love this one. I would get a big bottle if I could, but I'll definitely be saving my imp for days when I am feeling stressed out and overwhelmed.

I wish that my experience with Plumeria had been as pleasant as other reviewers seem to have described. I so wanted to try a creamy coconut-ish floral. I've never smelled real plumeria or been to Hawaii, so I wasn't sure what to compare this to. On me, Plumeria singlenote is a very strong and soapy white floral. It has a creamy sweetness at first, but it quickly dries down to a sharp laundry detergent sort of soapiness . Apparently this one doesn't work well with my skin chemistry.

First on my skin this was incredibly strong and sweet, while also being incredibly tart. It reminded me of the dried apricot candies that I used to get at a lovely candy shop, they had a sort of sour/sugar glaze over them to make them more flavorful. This has the sugared sweetness, dry apricot, and tart sour glaze. In the drydown this singlenote loses a lot of its sweetness, but starts to smell a lot more musky. Musky, tart, dry apricots. After an hour it isn't very sweet at all anymore and has taken on a slightly wooden smell. Interesting. This never strikes me as a true/fresh apricot, it is something more artificial and perfumely. It's nice, but not one of my favorite singlenotes. I'll be swapping my decant.

Wisteria is not one of my favorite florals. It has a harsh, herbal astringency that I find rather unpleasant. The singlenote is very strong on me, and it did remind me of cleaning fluid. After about an hour on my skin it mellowed out considerably, but still had a strange chemical undertone that made my throat burn a bit. It is a cool, waxy floral with an herbal background and an overall feeling of harsh chemicals and cleaning fluid

Wow, the label art seems to get more and more beautiful with every update . The Phoenix labels and Snow Moon are just gorgeous. I'm so glad that I ordered all of them. I want a t-shirt or such with the phoenix on it now

Tears actually makes me think of the wonderful time I spent in Key West a few years ago. I woke up one morning and the weather was perfect. There was a sort of warm mist hanging in the air as I stood on one of the ship docks. The salty water splashed up around my feet and everything was oddly quiet and still in the early morning. And that's what Tears smells like to me... warm mist, salty walter, and calm. After about 15 minutes on my skin it does get a bit soapier than I would have liked, but the fragrance is pretty light on me so it's not that bad. This is more of a calming blend to me than a grieving one. Though it does sort of depress me to think about Key West and know that I'm stuck in Illinois for a crappy winter...

First on this was, as others have mentioned, very lemony and green. The ivy isn't as dark green or cold as it usually is on me, it is lighter and fresher smelling somehow. I get a hint of sharp rootbeer-like sassafras at first, but it fades away after the first fifteen minutes on my skin. Dissipation is very light and only lasts a total of about one hour on my skin. In the drydown it is all green ivy with a sweet floral in the background. It's pleasant enough, but nothing that I will ever need a full bottle of.