Little Bird

Danube is an amazing watery fragrance. It brings to mind an image of slowly flowing dark blue water. A bit scary and daunting. The floral scent is rather unique, I don't remember coming across anything quite like it in a perfume. They add a familiar sweetness and sense of mystery to the fragrance. After wearing this for about 15 minutes, I got that familiar nagging feeling that I'd smelled this scent somewhere before. Then it hit me: this smells like my first deodorant. I think it was Teen Spirit's "Caribbean Cool" scent. I remember being around twelve years old and wishing that I had that deodorant in a perfume... now I do... but it's not that appealing anymore, lol. I like Danube, but it will probably never be a full bottle purchase on my list. It's just not me anymore...

Santo Domingo didn't really work out well on me... while wet it had a lovely pepper & tobacco smell on my skin. I love spicy scents. But when it dried, I didn't get any rum or tobacco at all, just tons of perfumey "blossoms". Sadly, Santo Domingo is just a boring perfumey floral on my skin... the kind of scent that gives me a headache. This will be going into my swap pile.

Rosalind reminds me of a mountain in spring time. Ice is beginning to melt and cold streams are flowing, flowers and tender green grasses are sprouting up through the melting snow. It is very interesting. It manages to be chilly, green, floral, wet, and slightly fruity all at the same time. When I breath in, it gives me that tingly cool feeling that one gets when they are smelling mints... but it isn't minty. I think that this would be a wonderfully refreshing summer scent.

I was very interested to see how Phantasm would compare to Shanghai (since Shanghai is green tea, lemon verbena, and honeysuckle - the two sounded very similar). On me, Shanghai smells like green tea with a hint of lemon (it's one of my favorite BPAL oils <3)... Phantasm smells like lemon candies with a hint of green tea. After about an hour, all I can smell are tart lemon candies. I don't think that I'll repurchase this one... it's just too lemony for me. Shanghai remains my favorite green tea scent.

I love patchouli (and it usually works *very* well on my skin), so I was very excited to try this out. When first applied, this is a dream. Peppery patchouli and kind of reminding me of the scent I get from Lush's Tramp showergel. Then it dries a bit and loses everything that I hoped it would be. It's smells like a very sweet baby powder in the drydown. Like baby powder mixed with sugar. I dislike it intensely... luckily, the staying power is poor. It only lasted about a half hour on my skin before I couldn't smell anything at all.

So many people love this... I feel like a freak for how bad it turns on my skin . I haven't done well with any blends that had dragon's blood as a main note... but I tried this on anyhow. For some reason, this is that awful smell that I hated in other blends - like cherry cough syrup, red wine gone bad, and a bouquet of rotting flowers. Three things that smell pretty bad. At least trying this has given me the confirmation that I needed - no more perfume with dragon's blood in them.

When this was still wet, it reminded me of the seasons... near the end of summer as you're starting to head into fall... it's like green grasses mixed in with a few that have already started to wither and die. It made me think of a field behind my house in Missouri when I was growing up... you can smell the grasses, a bit of dying plant life, and earth. I liked this. Then... it starts to smell like a man's cologne. I don't know what it is, but it very much reminds me of the married man that often gets drunk and hits on me at parties that my family goes to. He's a friend of the family. He's a serious pervert. This is his cologne. For that reason, I cannot seem to like this. The boy wanted so much to wear this and I just couldn't let him because of what I associate the smell with... very creepy... would be a great masculine scent if I weren't already turned off from it.

Cathedral is one of those unique scents that, when I'm wearing it, prompts me to smell my wrist so many times that I give myself a headache . It's worth it though, this is such a lovely scent on me. Frankincense... ::purrs:: This blend really seems to love my skin. It reminded me of Kostnice when I first applied it, then it dried down into something sharper and darker than Kostnice is on me. A cedary smell comes into play and there's a strong peppery undertone. I love this stage the best, something about spicy pepper just makes me really happy. After about an hour, I'm getting warm smoky incense and a bit of cedar. I like this stage less, but it is still lovely. I may buy a full bottle of this... we'll see...

I admit that I bought an imp of "Greed" just because people were telling me that it smells like Lush's "Tramp". Greed smells nothing like Tramp to me. That's okay though, because Greed is wonderful in its own right. Tramp always smells very green and herbal to me... Greed smells golden and spicy and sweet. No real outstanding similarity between the two to me at all. Moving on. When I first applied Greed, it smelled like patchouli drinking some Cherry CocaCola. A sweet cherry and cola sweetness with some woodsy notes and patchouli lurking in the background. Then it began to smell more spicy and warm like amber does on my skin. In the drydown this is so warm and woodsy. It reminds me very much of something... maybe an old summer house that my family used to visit when I was younger. The handmade log cabin house always smelled like this sort of woods, and the forest behind the house added all of those unique tree smells. The blend of woods and spice and warmth that I've been trying to find my entire life, lol. Mmm... I agree with a previous reviewer, Greed is good.

I don't know if there is much to say about this fragrance that hasn't already been said. It definitely smells like leather. On me it also seems to have a sweet incensy quality in the drydown as well. A sweet smokiness. And this is definitely a strong scent. I put a tiny dab on my wrist and I can smell it quite clearly as I am typing right now. This is much too masculine for my tastes. It's a good leather scent, but it's too sharp for me to want to smell it on the boy either... I just love scents that are sweeter. I might use this to layer with some other scents though. *edit to fix typos

Jabberwocky went through a lot of changes over the three hours that it lasted on my wrist... At first, the eucalyptus was STRONG and bothersome. I have a hard time wearing eucalyptus because it smells very medicinal on me. In this stage it is very sharp and bitter... sinus clearing and screechingly loud. After about a half hour, the eucalyptus is patted down by a lovely scent of pine (reminding me of the pine in Dublin). Then... chlorine... it reminded me of the pool that I went to when I was younger. In the summer the doors would be open and the scent of pine would drift in... but there's this watery chlorine smell backing it up. It's odd, my skin chemistry seemed to warp the eucalyptus into a chlorine scent. In the final stage before the Jabberwocky disappeared, it smelled like chlorine and orange hard candies. This is definitely an interesting scent... but I don't think that I love it enough to ever get around to buying a full size bottle. Though I do like the watery chlorine and pine smell that reminds me of happy summer days spent swimming.

Ooh... this is lovely... I may have finally found a true foresty scent that works on my skin chemistry. Yay! When wet, I thought that this would disappoint me. It had a fruity quality that I didn't quite like. But the fruitiness disappeared within a minute and I was left with the scent of a dew drenched pine forest. Strange, I thought, this smells very familiar... and it took me a few minutes to place the smell. This smells exactly like a car freshener that my mother had when I was little. You know those fresheners that hang from the car mirror, the green one that is shaped like a pine tree? Well, that is Dublin. I never thought that I would love that scent so much on *me*... but I do, I truly do. Dublin is a definite full size bottle purchase.

Malice isn't awful on me, but it's not something that I'd really want to wear either. I have problems with ylang ylang going really metallic and sharp on my skin, and it's lingering menacingly in the background here. The red patchouli is a warm, dry, wooden sort of smelling patchouli (though it starts off kinda funky smelling, the drydown is nice). This is a dry, warm, woodsy, and slightly spicy blend on me. I can't pick out any one note in the drydown. It's a little bit boring to me though. None of its qualities stand out as being particularly special.

In the vial, this scares me... it is an overwhelmingly strong scent of jasmine and lemons. When jasmine is too strong, it easily gives me a migraine. On my skin, however, the jasmine disappears. But what does appear is not good. Not good at all. This smells like something rotting and burning. When I sniff my wrist, my stomach literally lurches and I feel nauseous. And it's so strong. Like rotting flesh and burning garbage. I'm holding my hand away from my face and it's still hitting me and making me sick... It's only been on for about five minutes and it isn't changing... but it's making me so sick that I have to get it off NOW. This is the quickest I've ever had to wash off a fragrance.

Vinland didn't smell anything like what I expected (or hoped) it would. I was hoping for a scent that was mostly woods and frost. On my skin, I get neither. My first impression of this was that it smelled soapy. I hate it when scents do that. Then... citrus. Limes and oranges. Why? I wasn't prepared for this at all. About an hour into wearing this, I'm getting a subdued berry (the loganberry?), and still a sharp eye stinging sort of citrus note. The kind of citrus that burns. Horribly disappointed... but someday I'll find the perfect forest/woods fragrance that works on me. Some day.

Hmm... yup, this is odd. It reminds me of the smell of the inside of a craft store. Cinnamon potpourri, dried flowers, glazed wood... in the drydown I get something that smells sort of like an apple cinnamon potpourri. This might work as a decent room scent, but I'm definitely not crazy about it... This isn't the natural forest scent that I was expecting, more like a handmade forest... a nicely scented craft project. Oh well. Up for swaps it goes.

Oooh... this is just as gorgeous as I thought it would be. All golden and sexy amber. In the drydown it smells like sweet dry meadow grasses that have been drizzled in amber. The Lion is such a warm and beautiful fragrance. It's not horribly strong on me, but I can still smell it lingering on my skin even after 8 hours have passed. I wish that it were stronger, but it's beautiful and romantic enough that I can see myself wearing it out (or in) with the boy... definitely going to buy a full bottle. ETA: I really love this layered with Faustus... it adds more staying power and a spicier quality. Of course, Faustus and The Lion are still equally as wonderful on their own

White Rabbit conjures up a picture of a boring garden party with bored rich women lounging around holding dainty china cups filled with bland tea. I'm not saying that this is a bad scent at all, but it's sort of simple, cold, and odd. It smells mainly of clean white tablecloths that are laying out in the sunshine, and used teabags, with an odd slap of sharp pepper. I had hoped that the vanilla and honey would sweeten things up, but I can't really pick up on either of those notes. It's mostly clean linen and milky tea with sharp pepper. A bit sour. I kinda like this and how unusual it is, but often it seems like the notes don't really work together, and I can't stand leaving this on my skin for more than an hour.

I love this in the bottle and on my skin at first. It smells like a bowl of rich vanilla cream and sweet little oranges, with a few rose petals laying about for decoration. Delicious and charming. Unfortunately, on my skin in the drydown, the honey amps up like mad and the blend becomes cloying, warm, and slightly off. It's like the orange sours and the vanilla cream impression morphs more to the baby powder side of things, so I'm left with cloying honey, sour orange, and baby powder with a hint of perfumey rose. Boo

This is a very interesting scent, and not at all what I expected it to be. I didn't smell any jasmine at all, which was odd because it usually dominates on my skin. I was grateful for the lack of jasmine though When I first apply this it smells like pure pepper. Very hot and spicy and strong. Then for about 5 hours it smells like an odd (but pleasant) blend of canned sweet apricot juice and pepper. In the final drydown before it disappears, it is a lovely vanilla and spicy ginger scent. It's unlike anything that I've ever smelled before. I'm not sure that I love it enough to buy a bottle, but I may go through a few imps of Siren.

This is another masculine blend that doesn't strike me as smelling masculine. It's too floral, powdery, and sweet for me to consider it manly. In the imp, this is zesty, sweet limes and a background of smooth, cool lilac. I like the smell of lilacs, and this is a true lilac scent, but I don't like it paired with the citrus. On my skin, this is candied limes and powdery lilac. It smells like a fresh, floral, girly scent. It also sometimes smells like cleanser to me. I'm not too fond of Whitechapel. It stays strong and lasts all day (and all night), but it starts to give me a headache and bother me after a short while.

Wow. This is strong. This is quite possible the strongest and most overpowering BPAL scent that I've come across yet. I love the pink border around the label and the pink writing (I'm easily amused, lol). I'm still not sure if I really like the scent, but I doubt that I'll ever love it. For the first fifteen minutes on my skin, this is just way too much for me. Like drowning in phlox and getting pelted in the face with strawberry bubble gum. Then it begins to soften a bit and becomes bearable. Less screaming and in my face. Delicate pink flowers and strawberry cotton candy. The boy said that this was a bit too 'heavy' and sickeningly sweet for him. ...and I usually wear really intense foody scents... soo... he's used to serious sugar shock, and pink moon was still too much... lol.

This smells very manly to me. Like a cologne for a muscular hunter type. I get leather holding strong in the background of this, and the leather remains a dominant character all through the hours that I wore this. At first Tintagel smelled like leather and limes. Something citrusy and zesty, I was surprised to learn that there isn't any citrus in this. Then it is leather and spice. I can smell the dragon's blood coming out, the fragrance feels very spicy and warm in this stage. Around hour 3, leather and woods. Dark impenetrable woods. My leather clad hunter, creeping through the forest. I desperately want to slather this on my boyfriend. In the drydown before it disappears, this turns into something very sweet on me. Almost like jasmine. Which is odd. Maybe it is the juniper and bayberry? Overall, this is a very foresty feeling scent to me. Like the way the sexy hunter in romance novels should smell like.

This reminds me of walking into a craft store for some reason. Anyone ever been to a Hobby Lobby? That smell of a million different things blended together into one strange scent. Potpourri, oils, fake flowers, a million different things for a million different craft projects. The overall smell of this is VERY nice. It is sweet, but not in a foodie way. Light and summery. It smells like fruit, like florals, like aquatics, like herbs... while not really smelling like any of those things at all. Very well blended. I cannot pick out any one note. I expected this scent to be more green, but that's not a feel that I'm getting from it at all. The Apothecary confuses me by smelling like nothing and everything at the same time. I like it a lot, but probably won't buy a full bottle as it isn't striking me as something that I need to smell like. Plus, it is rather light and fading fast. I don't really like to have to reapply my fragrance throughout the day.

The rose here is a heavy, classic, perfumey sort that makes my throat feel a bit tight (like I want to cough) when I smell this. That said, this is still pretty, even if it is a bit overpowering on me. On me it goes from being a soapy rose to a very sweet rose. It switches between those two elements every few minutes. Soap-rose, sugar-rose, soap-rose, sugar-rose... The sugar-rose stage is very nice on me and doesn't bother me so much. Like a lovely blooming flower dusted in powdered sugar.