sunshinedaisybliss

I've had this on my skin for five hours now.. and it's only now that I'm enjoying it Unfortunately, I'm finding that Chimera v5 has a strong overlay of something that smells like fly spray - it's almost a menthol kind of fragrance, not minty or sharp though.. just kind of menthol. There's a nice dryness here that I think is sandalwood, something slightly nutty, and a touch of sweet spiciness, but.. ick - fly spray

Here's where I'm at with Eat Me v6... Things to go YAY about: Nice rich dark fruit/berry No cat-pee effect from the fruit/berry Yummy vanilla-cake-o-rama Things to go BOO about: Nutty overload! Overpowering fruit/berry This is just a bit too nutty for me. And now whenever the word 'nutty' comes in to my mind, I think of that scene in the Austin Powers movie where he pours himself a big mug of Fat Bastard's stool sample: So yeah - everything that's good in Eat Me v6 eventually gets overtaken by the almighty nuttiness. When I can get past the nuts, I can smell a gorgeous vanilla cake and lovely rich dark red berries, but BOO to the nuts. And I know you want to see this now, so you here go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxD2VmZiLJ0

Hmm.. reading those previous reviews is interesting, but on me - Mary Celeste v4 is pretty unexciting. I am definitely getting a strong aquatic tone from it - the overall smell is salty and dry, a bit like the top note in Pirate Moon. There's a bit of a peppery or possibly smokey feel to it as well, and my guess for the wood note would be either a pale oak or a blonde ashwood - it's definitely not a dark wood. There is a slight hint of creaminess, but it's hidden underneath the salty aquatic to the point where it's hardly noticeable unless I really pay attention. Overall, this ends up smelling a bit like a sharp, salty cologne - it's like standing on the beach on a cold winter's day when the wind blows sea spray right in your face - kind of fresh and bracing. I was going to say it's like getting your face licked by a walrus, but I thought that didn't sound quite as appealing as the whole standing on the beach in winter thing. Mary Celeste v4 is totally not my thing at all, but I'm glad I got to try it - thank you to the lovely nursekins for the tester!

Hmm.. what an interesting blend! When it first goes on, I pick up a definite citrus note - like pink grapefruit. Then the violet and green/forest elements come in.. this is when it all goes a bit bathroom-cleaner-ish on me for a little while, until the musk and amber come out. There's an undertone of something slightly unpleasant on my skin - it's not a specific smell, it's just a kind of.. off smell (I think it's probably the violet and lily, which are known fiends on my skin). This is definitely not my kind of thing on its own - it's too smelly, in a bathroom cleaner smelly kind of way. But I'll experiment with layering other RPG oils and see what happens!

I have no idea why this is happening.. but on me, Half-Elf smells almost exactly like Banshee Beat I am getting a really strong vanilla vibe, which I think must be the oud interacting with the sandalwood and musk. And a gorgeous sweetness that I could swear is a dark patchouli. Half-Elf to me is woodsy, musky, and rich - normally I can find individual notes in my BPALs but I'm just not getting that with this one. It dries down into a beautiful warm scent and I'm kinda loving it. But seriously, if I didn't know what it was.. I would think I had Banshee Beat on.

Thank you to the lovely saralaughs for passing on a tester of this to me! Sabrina smells soft and creamy and warm and lovely, and slightly delicious. Like puppy's breath It reminds me a little of CD023, but it's not as strong or as dusty.. it has a similar strawberry-like vanilla tone though, and the same kind of soft/dusky sandalwood but they're not really the same scent. It also reminds me a bit of Kitty from the Courtesan series - but without the honey and orchids (and Sabrina is much softer and creamier). There also seems to be a very very soft musk in here, but it's not going powdery on me at all, and there is something slightly spicy but not in a noticeable way. If this is what the final version of Sabrina will be like, then I'm sure she's going to be very popular. This is one of those 'my skin but better' kinds of BPALs that's just really.. well, nice.

Try the bath oils - a little bit in the shower or bath will deal with the chlorine smell.. I find Snake Oil bath oil works the best

I try not to read previous reviews of the prototype blends before doing my own, because I can be influenced by what other people say! But even before I came to this thread, my first thoughts upon applying Morocco v2 was "this smells like TKO!" And yes.. it does smell like TKO. But where TKO is all fluffy clouds of lavender marshmallow softness, Morocco v2 is lavender sitting under a top layer of an amber-like creamy glow, with a dry muskiness. Maybe it's black amber, I dunno. There's also a slight spice element - it doesn't smell spicy as such, it just has a kind of spicy tone about it. And there might be a hint of vanilla here - it's a bit hard to tell. There's a top note that I've smelled before, I know it.. but I just can't place it! I hate when that happens but I'm picking up a slightly camphoric, balsam-like edge when I take a really big deep sniff. The longer it stays on my skin, the less it reminds me of TKO - the initial lavender aroma fades in the dry-down quite a lot and eventually Morocco v2 becomes a creamy, softly spicy scent with a nice complexity. It's one of those BPALs that you want to keep huffing on your arm, because it's just that nice. BIG hugs and thanks to the very lovely mimers99 for generously frimping me a decant of this one

On my skin, Fetish.Goth is all about the leather and latex. It's exactly as described.. slick black leather and wet latex. The leather is shiny, slightly sharp, black and menacing. I usually prefer my leather in BPALs to be the soft/worn/snuggly variety - the leather + latex combo here is definitely not soft and cuddly! But then.. nor should it be, what we have here is an absolute perfect scent match for the 'fetish goth' style. The skin musk warms up after a few minutes, and it does cut through the sharpness of the leather a little bit but I find it to be a slightly odd companion to the leather/latex, for me personally I think a darker musk would have worked better (I'm not a big fan of skin musk). The patchouli and opoponax together deliver a dark, slightly peppery bottom layer that isn't quite clove-y.. isn't quite spicy.. but it's along those lines. The myrrh isn't really a strong note on its own - it's kind of like a cloud hovering over the top of everything.. it's there but it's not obvious, although it does add a lovely smokiness through the dry down. Fetish.Goth is a really voluptuous, multi-layered blend that's very true to its description and also the persona it represents. Right now the leather/latex is a bit too black and shiny for me, but perhaps with a bit of age its sharp edges will soften up.. and if they do, I think this will be really special.

So... when it comes to BPAL, rose is not my friend. But I have learned that if it's a dark rose or rose combined with dark notes.. sometimes it will work - Lucy, Kissed being a stand-out example. I figured rose-infused opium tar should be pretty dark, so I gave Vamp.Goth a shot! This might sound weird, but when I first applied Vamp.Goth it was really sweet - almost like bubblegum kind of sweet. Opium can sometimes go very sweet on my skin, so I guess that's what's going on here.. but it's not a bad thing - it's actually a lovely sweetness. Over time, the sweetness fades as the rose note develops - it never quite becomes ROSE on me though - which is a Very Good Thing. The opium tar and leather combination is really interesting - the leather never really comes out in full force for me, it's more a background kind of thing. The opium is the star of this show for me, with the rose kinda dancing along the top of the lovely sweet/smoky tone of the opium every now and then. I agree with previous reviewers - this one is likely to age beautifully.

Oh my.. this is lovely! As a diehard anti-gardenia person, colour me shocked The stars of this show is the mandarin and orange flower, which combine with the amber to produce a beautiful waxy/creamy orange tone that's perfectly balanced between dry and sweet. The sweetness of the spices provides a beautiful foundation for the creamy orange - there's really nothing here that isn't working beautifully for me. There's a vanilla-like tone to this which reminds me of the boozy vanilla in XCDL13, but since vanilla isn't a listed note I can only surmise that it's the amber producing that vanilla tone.. or maybe there's some vanilla-like spices in the mix. And the gardenia? Well.. normally this is a note of certain death for me - it usually goes sharp, sour and cat-pee like on my skin. But not here.. it's soft and subtle here in a similar way to how the jasmine in The Girl is. Actually, Cabaret Goth reminds me a little of The Girl - but CG is definitely orange, where The Girl (in my mind) is pink. It also reminds me of the creamy orange in Lilith vs. the Giant Crab, although CG is more complex and less sweet. Glowing, creamy, soft - this really is a beautiful scent.

You can actually still order that one from Starring! Fragrances - it's in their 'Single Note Scent-sation' section - in the 'Fruit Stand' collection. You can order it here Bones Trombone is probably the closest to a lemon curd BPAL that I can recall, although it does have other notes in there along with the lemon.. it's very yummy. Lolita was super-lemon on my skin.. but it's lemon verbena rather than the sweet type of lemon I think you're looking for.

I'm really happy with Bones Trombone, because the lemon actually behaves in this one! Unlike in Knockout Drops, where it was very loud and a big bully to the other notes. Considering the mix here, I'm finding this clown to be surprisingly un-foody - I think the credit for that should probably go to the hemlock, for keeping it real and balancing out all that tooth-achingly sweet stuff. YO hemlock, you're a good little fellow The blueberry marshmallow cream is, as you would expect, completely delicious smelling - again, not too sweet - I really like it. I'm not getting any pie crust really at all (this is a good thing), and although I can smell a top note that has a definite citrus edge.. it's not overly lemon-y at all. I keep having to remind myself that although I love the way these foody BPALs smell, I rarely actually wear them as perfume. But I dunno - I actually might wear this one, because it's just in that little groove in between yummy-smelling and foody-smelling.

Leather, crushed grass, mud, sangre de grado, and crushed lemon candy. awww.. stellans wrote my review already for me! Here's how it went on my skin: Stage 1 - damp, dirt, grass, kinda mouldy smelling. Duration: 40 minutes Stage 2 - yummy soft leather, a slight sweetness, dirt/grass in the background. Duration: from here to infinity. I didn't like the first part very much at all - I almost went and washed it off... I really don't dig dirt/mud/grass smells at all. But the winner here is the Sangre de Grado with its gorgeous resin-y dragon's blood vibe and smoky vanilla-like tones - I think that's what is mixing so beautifully with the leather. Sadly, the mud/grass/dirt business never quite goes away for me - it grows fainter over time, but it's still very much there as a bottom layer all the way through the life of this oil on my skin. Bummer, because that leather/Sangre combination is fantastic. I'm tempted to get a bottle and see how it ages, but.. no.

Holy nasal cleanser, Batman! This little clown packs a punch to the nostrils when it first goes on! The mint is strong and a little sharp, but the absinthe is right there with it - together, they are a powerful combination that I think rather than knocking someone out, would actually have the power to revive someone after a knockout. Once the blast of mint and absinthe dies down, I can really notice the lemon which is tangy and sweet (exactly like the smell of lemon meringue pie as per the notes). For the first 10 minutes or so that Knockout Drops is on my skin, it's all LEMON with the mint-absinthe combo in the background, but no sign of the bourbon vanilla or white chocolate. But lemon always amps on my skin, so nothing unusual there. It's really only after about a half-hour that the lemon finally fades enough for me to notice the bourbon vanilla. And what a shame it didn't come out earlier, because it is gorgeous in here.. it's just completely overwhelmed by the other notes. And I recognise the same white chocolate note from last year's Box of Chocolates Valentine's Day blends - it merges nicely with the bourbon vanilla - they're lovely together, kinda dry and dusky and not overly sweet or foody. So, I would love this a lot more if the lemon would just go away! As it is, my arm smells a bit like bathroom cleaner.. the other notes are just so subtle that I really have to hunt around for them. And for something that started out so strong and powerful, it does fade pretty quickly.

Hmm.. I'm really not sure what to make of this - there's so much going on in this little spray! It's spicy, but with a musky edge.. tangy and fresh from the lime, slightly woodsy and green, and a bit rich from the cacao and rum. The coconut just plays at the edges of the fragrance - it isn't a major player, and I'm not really getting anything overly sweet, so I'm not sure where the sugar cane syrup is at. I dunno - it's not that I don't like it, I just don't know what it's supposed to be - it's kinda confusing. Perhaps it's the pine note that's spoiling it for me, because I really don't like pine smells due to their sharpness. And maybe that's what's bothering me abot Hispaniola - it's kinda sharp, in a HEY sort of way, and it tickles my nose a bit

GRR.. did you mean Harigata II (I don't remember Harikata having coconut)?? If so, then yes - Harigata II is definitely a sexygood coconut! I love the way the coconut blends with the anise, it's just sublime. Haley actually mentioned it up-thread, but a few more raves about its loveliness would definitely be appropriate

SNAP! I was just about to post that And there's also a "Where do you apply your oils" thread, in case anyone was wondering about that too

YES!! There is a huge difference, for sure. In general, I like most of the various styles of coconut that BPAL has given us.. but the black coconut is by far my favourite because it has that beautiful dark tone without the sweetness/suntan-lotion-ness of regular coconut. Death Adder has a magnificent black coconut note, as does Tiki King and Goblin. And I think the black coconut is the best thing about Boneshaking Antique Velocipede. Sadly, the caramel in Red Lantern hated me, but the black coconut in that one is lovely. Oh - and Snake Charmer, another one with lovely black coconut! Aldercy.. I've never tried Antonino, but I'm going to go hunt some down now

I am very lucky that coconut works nicely on my skin - it always does, and it's always good. My favourite is black coconut, but I like all kinds really This Coconut SN is lovely because it's not suntan lotion/Malibu liqueur smelling on me at all. It's also not overly sweet like candied coconut. It smells like real, natural coconut pulp - what you get from an actual raw coconut. It has a lovely freshness to it, and it's very clean. Unlike some of the previous reviews, I'm not getting a 'cream' from it at all. What I like most about it is that I can wear it without it being obviously COCONUT. People won't be hanging around me saying I SMELL COCONUT all the time - it's a really subtle coconut smell, rather than being all in-your-face-coconut-y. My only complaint is that it doesn't stick around for long on my skin, but unfortunately that's true of many BPALs for me I would definitely grab a bottle of this if one ever came my way. If it came without me having to sell a kidney in order to buy it, that is.

So.. with me being a fully paid-up member of the I LOVE BOO club, this proto had a lot to live up to Wowsers - when it first goes on, it's STRONG. But strong in a kind of icky way - really buttery to the point of being almost cream-cheese-y. That same tang of cheesecake that's in Beaver'versary/Beaver Moon. And the vanilla has a different tone.. it's slightly sour, rather than the rich/boozy feel of the vanilla bean in the released version of Boo. And I am picking up something slightly citrus-y in here too - it doesn't smell like an orange citrus, nor a lemon - maybe it's lime.. or possibly grapefruit? It's quite subtle though, so I might just be imagining it. But then, just as I'm leaning in to have another sniff while I'm writing this.. it's gone! In the space of about two minutes since my last sniff, it's almost completely disappeared - I have to really search for it on my arm, and when I find it; all that's left is a faint hint of buttery vanilla. Putting aside the disappearing act, which is just plain weird, I don't really like this prototype version and I'm glad Beth continued refining the blend to get to where she did with my beloved Boo 2009. I prefer its clean/crisp feel, and I like that version of the vanilla much better. Although it's very yummy, this proto version is just too buttery for me. Special goes out to the lovely forumite who sent me this

Mmm.. juicy strawberry! When I first put this one, I thought ooh this one's nice, it doesn't smell too 'fake' or candy-like.. it's actually pretty true to a real, fresh strawberry. There's a bit of muskiness behind the scenes, but mostly it's all fruit on me. It reminds me of the smell of actual strawberry fields - summer days spent picking strawberries.. and the way my hands would smell afterward when they were completely covered in smushed strawberries and juices. But.. the longer it stays on my skin, the more green it becomes - what started off as a blast of juicy fresh strawberry changes over time to a more musky strawberry with greenery. However.. as good as this one is, it's still not 100% 'real' strawberry to me. As far as the BPAL strawberries I've tried go, this is definitely one of the better versions, but it still has just the teensiest touch of the fake and a hint of the plastic that infiltrates the lovely fruit smell.

Yep.. this is me, too. I'm finding Half Elf v5 reminds me a lot of Haloes, but without the warm/golden tones - this is less golden than Haloes but I definitely recognise the same oak note. And Half Elf v5 is very honey-ish, where Haloes doesn't have honey. But they are similar, honest! My other comparison would be with O, I don't deal very well with O - the honey is very cloying on me - and the honey in Half Elf v4 is borderline cloying, powdery sweet. I don't see the comparison to Glowing Vulva though - I really don't think there's teak in Half Elf v4, nor the cream that GV had. And I am picking up a floral in here somewhere - there's a slight purple tinge, violet perhaps.. or iris? Maybe orchid? It's very very subtle, but I think it is there, mixed in with a nice soft vanilla. And do I detect a whiff of chocolate? Maybe! So after a full dry-down, Half Elf v5 gives me mostly a soft clean honey with a nice background of soft wood and a hint of vanilla. My colour pick would be honey blonde.

And I third cheshirecat! Plus, I totally her for sending me a tester of this Ayup - Beaver Moon '05 meets Cake Smash. The cream cheese/cheesecake smell is really strong at first, for about a half-hour or so, but then it starts to settle back a bit and the cake-y note comes out more.. until eventually the two meld together nicely. In the end, this gives me something that smells like Beaver Moon + Beaver'versary + Cake Smash + MB: Closet all mixed in together. It's got good staying power, and once it's fully dried down it doesn't really morph around at all. In comparison to the released version of Cake Smash, this prototype is more cream cheese and less cake.. and I think it's more sweet. The standout in this proto for me is the lovely rich vanilla - French vanilla, maybe? It's delish. Uber-foodie, full of nonsense and sweet silliness, this is the one to grab when you want to smell lickable. Not recommended for wearing to children's birthday parties, or days at the zoo!!

Hmm.. interesting.. this one was a little sharp and had a slight plastic/alcohol smell to it when I first put it on (as did Celeste and the Elf v4 proto, which makes me think the vanilla in PP is of the same variety as those two).. but thankfully that mostly went away after about 15 minutes (it never really went away, with Celeste and Elf v4) - every now and then I notice it's still kinda hanging around, but it's not bad enough to be annoying. Once fully dried, what I have is a softly sweet vanilla with a hint of woods and greenery. Just a hint though - the overall tone is sweet, not woodsy. There does seem to be something slightly fizzy in here - I see other reviewers have mentioned sassafras and maybe that is it, although usually sassafras is more obvious on my skin so perhaps there's just a wee bit in PP. And I'm going with either white musk or skin musk, and maybe a very slight touch of amber? I agree that there's probably some tonka in here. It ends up smelling a bit like a sweetened version of baby powder, but without the powder - which I realise doesn't make sense.. what I mean is; the smell of baby powder, without the powdery bit. I'm not really getting the 'creamy' tones that others have mentioned - to me, this is pretty much a straight up soft/sweet vanilla musk. It's nice, and but since I already have a couple of favourite vanilla-based BPALs, this one just isn't ranking up there in the top shelf category for me.