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Graphica

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Blog Entries posted by Graphica

  1. Graphica
    I have enough imps -- and plan on getting enough more -- that I should really start figuring out what works for me and what doesn't. I've learned that some things I like to smell don't necessarily work well on my skin (no surprise), and so far, nothing I dislike actually works on me (again, no surprise). Other conclusions follow. (This is an entry that I will be coming back to and modifying over the years.)
     
    avoid these elements:
    Dragon's Blood
     
    elements which may work very well for me, but which I need to try in other combinations before I'm sure:
    wax
     
    look for these elements specifically:
    tobacco
    leather
     
    these may or may not be deal-breakers in that they're scents I like (or don't dislike) but that amp to a point where they thuggishly take over a scent:
    amber
    sandalwood
  2. Graphica

    Centzon Totochtin

    By Graphica,

    The Four Hundred divine rabbits of the Aztec pantheon that preside over parties and drunkenness. Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood.


    in the bottle: Rum! And a scent that I know must be cocoa, but that seems more like a toasted sweet nut. Actually, it reminds me strongly of Nutella. There's something a bit sharp running behind which I can't pin down at this point. There's also a sense of unpleasantly over-the-top (sort of sickly) sweetness, like rancid fruit.

    on wet: Nutella. 100%.

    drydown: The Nutella has faded into a slightly food-y, cozy, very comfortably enveloping scent, which strikes me as the scent equivalent of being wrapped in your favorite blanket on a cool autumn evening. Wow, that's pretty evocative; I'm surprising myself a little. I'm getting a warm, headshop-y undertone which I think is some sort of musk, though that's not listed.

    one hour later: I'll be going to bed with this on, so I'll have to start this review over another day to get the full day's worth of critique. G'night.

    end of day:

    compared to official description:

    notes:
  3. Graphica

    Lightning

    By Graphica,

    The electric tang of ozone, marine notes, and a drop of sharp rain.


    in the bottle: When I first smelled this, it smelled exactly like chapstick. Now, months later, it smells exactly (with no deviation) like an air freshener (can't remember brand) called Spring Rain. I don't like the scent. Not even a little. This is going straight to the trade pile. I know I should make an attempt to analyze it -- a scent is a scent -- but I'm too distracted by what I consider to be an overwhelmingly common commercial scent. I'm not feeling very generous today, I suppose.
  4. Graphica

    Dirty

    By Graphica,

    A wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.


    in the bottle: Okay, I have to say it: dryer sheets. It makes me think of fabric softener or dryer sheets; it's what warm, clean clothes used to smell like straight out of the dryer before I started using unscented laundry products. Floral, but it's that light, breezy, not-obnoxiously-floral floral that definitely puts one in mind of clean laundry. As a matter of fact, I'm having trouble moving past the laundry connotations as some part of my brain is now reminding me insistently that I'm behind on laundry and need to start working on that NOW!

    I can't pick apart the notes. All I can really think is floral. Actually, this puts me in mind of a kind of jasmine. Or maybe orange blossom. A little sharp. This could give me a headache, I think.

    on wet: Exactly the same.

    drydown: More rounded now, not so stabbing-me-repeatedly-with-flowers. Actually, even more like laundry products now than before.

    one hour later: I'm not interested in leaving this on for an hour.

    end of day: Definitely not interested in leaving it on all day.

    compared to official description: It really does have a "clean" feeling, but I know that's because of the whole "mmmm... fresh, clean laundry" connection. Psychologically, there's nothing quite like pulling warm clothes out of the dryer and draping them on yourself -- for me it's an instant mood lifter. Not because of the smell, but because of the feeling of clean. It's an enduring emotional scent connection for me. This is a great scent for someone who wants to give themselves an instant hit of "fresh and clean".

    notes: To be frank, I stopped using scented detergents and dryer sheets (never used fabric softener) because I grew weary of the types of scents that are used for that category of product. It's interesting to see the connection between this scent and those things, but I in no way want to smell like this myself.

    added to forum reviews
  5. Graphica

    Dracul

    By Graphica,

    Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom.
    re-sniffed on 6/24/10

    in the bottle: Amazingly, I pick out most of the listed scents. This is uncommon, but it might be because the components are uncommonly strong and distinctive. Tobacco. A warm spice: clove. Something musky. A wood. A kind of catch-in-my-throat dryness; don't know where that's coming from. I will admit that I smell something that reminds me strongly of some kind of alcohol, but it hovers somewhere -- strangely -- between red wine and whiskey, even though neither is listed. Second try: Now I don't smell anything remotely like alcohol, rather it's all about wood and very strong clove. Really, this is predominantly clove.

    on wet: A little floral. Tobacco.

    drydown: The floral has gone creamy in a vanilla-smooth kind of way. What I'm smelling now, at a slight distance, just 2 minutes later, is nothing like what I smelled in the bottle. If I put my nose right on my wrist and inhale deeply, I get the clove and tobacco, but they're ghosts. OK, clove and wood, in that order. There are definitely other scents in the background, but they're almost "transparent".

    one hour later: The scent is dominated by clove, with a deep, dark undertone which is almost impossible to focus on -- I know it's there, affecting my response, but it's almost subliminal. I'm going to say it's the musk and tobacco working together, but that's purely a guess; I can't, in all honesty, smell musk and tobacco.

    before too long: I can barely smell anything on myself. I suspect that the scent is just as strong (if my SO walked in right now I'm sure he'd notice the scent immediately) but my nose has become immune to it. That's disheartening. I wear perfume primarily for its effect on me. Maybe today isn't a good day to be testing. I'll probably have to revisit this one yet again.

    end of day:

    compared to official description: I've never, to my knowledge, smelled Balsam of Peru, though it seems from my research that it's a fairly common component in scents, so it'd probably be more truthful to say that if I've smelled it before, I wouldn't have know that was what I was smelling. Second time around, I detected no floral notes in this. I'm pretty happy that I didn't pick the cumin scent out of this. I like cumin as a culinary addition, but I always notice it at the top of every spice mix, so I need very little to get the full effect. It so easily could have been overkill, but I don't smell it at all in this oil. What I do smell strongly is the clove, which is fine; I like clove so much I've even been known to chew the plain dried cloves like candy.

    notes: I started this a little too late in the day to do a full review. I'll have to come back to it. This is pretty close to gender neutral to my nose. Having said that: It's hard to tell when it's just me wearing it, but I suspect that I would find this drop-dead, oh-my-god-take-me-now sexy on the right man.
  6. Graphica

    Perversion

    By Graphica,

    Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka.


    in the bottle: When I first got this imp (with 15 others) and did a "speed-smell", I commented that I couldn't pick anything distinct out of it, but that it smelled familiar to me one end to the other. Well, here I am months later trying it for real, and I find myself in the same position. In the bottle I get a melange of scent that seems sweet almost to the point of cloying, but not in a food-y kind of way, more like a sweet liquor (which I despise, almost without exception). Not good as a start, But I'll run with it and see where it takes me.

    on wet: Again, overpowering sweet liquour. Not good.

    drydown: Here we go with the different scents on different wrists. My left wrist smells faintly powdery and a little mildewed, my right wrist smells like fancy pipe tobacco. Bizarre.

    Now on my right wrist, after a few minutes, and at a distance, I smell something powdery and sweetish, but with my nose touching my wrist, I get leathery and tobacco-y with a faintly dusty-sweet base. At the same time, testing my left wrist, I get a warm vanilla-leather smell, with the vanilla dominant. My nose wants more leather, less vanilla.

    one hour later: Left wrist vanilla/leather. Right wrist vanilla/tobacco. I actually like it at this stage. The initial bottle scent and everything before about 15 minutes on was nauseating, but now I get a mellow, old-world, retire-to-the-smoking-room-and-discuss-serious-things kind of scent, but not overwhelmingly so. My SO commented that he could smell the tobacco when he walked into the room, but to my nose it doesn't appear to have much throw. I have to stick my nose right next to my wrists to get anything.

    end of day: Faint, mellow, vanilla-like tobacco and leather.

    compared to official description: I don't get chardonnay, though a hint of that with the rum (and tonka) probably gave me my ack! mixed drinks! reaction (I'm a straight bourbon kind of girl, myself.) I'm sure the tonka is what had me thinking vanilla.

    notes: The leather and tobacco ended up standing out in this one, which is what I've been looking for all along. Given the stomach-turning reaction I first had, I'm amazed that I ended up liking this one as much as I do. This is the complete opposite of most of the ones that seemed promising to me. I'll definitely be keeping this one, but it will never, ever, come anywhere near my locket. This one requires tempering on my skin to reach it's true potential (at least as far as my scent preferences are concerned).

    added to forum reviews
  7. Graphica
    [she says, casually] and it arrived. And it's a beauty -- the phoenix design. And I should mention that I got no less than 6 frimps with it. And they even sent one that's on my list of ones to try. Here's what I got:
     
    Lilium Inter Spinas
    Czernobog
    Thanatopsis
    The Last Squished Jellybean
    Tenochtitlan
    Dragon's Milk
     
    I've already speed-sniffed through all of them, and the one that stood out most positively was Dragon's Milk. Tenochtitlan had an instant, really unpleasant, old, dried sweat undertone. The rest I'll have to spend more time with.
     

  8. Graphica

    The Apothecary

    By Graphica,

    Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.

    in the bottle: Tea and herbs. Nice, actually. I'm hoping the tea scent lasts longer for me in this than in Embalming Fluid.

    on wet: Mostly tea. The herbs have gone.

    drydown: This is interesting. The tea no longer stands out enough to distinguish; instead I'm getting a well-meshed clean scent that reminds me of having just stepped out of a shower after using a nice, expensive, french-milled herbal soap. It doesn't smell soapy, just clean. Seriously -- clean. If I had to define the scent of clean skin with a scented oil, this would be exactly it.

    one hour later: Still clean, though there's some light sweetness asserting itself. I don't think it's a particular component (or maybe it is -- perhaps the fig?), but rather the sum of the whole. The whole thing is very light in a way which makes me think it might not last the day.

    end of day: Still here. The herbal effect went away and left me with a sort of light, sweet tea thing. Not sweet tea as in sugar added, but more like a cup of non-tannic, delicate tea with ... or, near ... it's really hard to describe. Just ... sweet. And light.

    compared to official description: I didn't really get the ginger, which is a shame. I'm thinking now that the fig contributed to the sense of sweetness, but I never once thought "Oh, that's fig!"

    notes: The final result was a tad too sweet for me. I like how light it was, though. This might be a good one for the locket.

    added to forum reviews
  9. Graphica

    No. 93 Engine

    By Graphica,

    Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage.

    in the bottle: Smoky and sharp, resinous, metallic. I can smell beeswax and something reminiscent of Vicks VapoRub (not a bad thing). The rest of the scents are strong and completely meshed -- I can't pull them apart. An assertive scent. Masculine. I like.

    on wet: Metallic Vicks, with strong, skin-like warmth underneath. The sharpness has faded, and my impression is now of a more gender-neutral scent. Definitely strong resinous undertones -- makes me think of sticky, hardened sap.

    drydown: The Vicks has moved to the back, leaving me with a lovely warm scent which is, unfortunately, going a bit incense-y. I'm guessing the frankincense is asserting itself. Less than an hour later: Frankincense and other components have combined in exactly such a way as to make this scent a hybrid of headshop and candle store. I not like.

    one hour later: Straight incense. I'm going to wash this off. I really don't like strong incense smells, not even in a room scent. Other oils have given me different impressions when tried again later, so I'll give this one another shot on another day.

    end of day: Didn't make it.

    compared to official description: There are a lot of components to this oil that I'm not familiar with. I have to rely on general impressions only, because I can't say "the calamus stood out" or "the balsam of Peru supported the rest", since I'm not familiar with those scents (or half the ones listed, actually). I got wax, frankincense, benzoin (the Vicks smell), something like warm skin, and a melange of indescribable scents that fused into a strong, sharp, warm, pleasant whole in the bottle, but that went almost pure incense on my skin.

    notes: This one would definitely work in a locket. I'm not tempted to get a bottle, but I'll keep the imp.

    added to forum reviews
  10. Graphica
    A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend of leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense.

    in the bottle: This is the first leather-based scent in which I smell the leather right off the bat. I like. Leather, amber, incense. Comforting. Calming. Sensual. I can say with utter certainty that I long to be surrounded by this scent. Whether it works on me remains to be seen.

    on wet: Still leather, amber, and incense. No hint of florals.

    drydown: I'm already losing the leather and going to almost straight amber with a hint of incense. I'm starting to think that I need to research oils without amber, as I seem to amp it to the point of no return. I don't dislike the scent of amber, I just don't want it to be the only thing I smell, and on me, amber doesn't play well with others. Though I usually really dislike florals, the almost one-note-ness of the amber now makes me long for the scent of florals just to break it up.

    one hour later: I washed my hands a couple of times for food prep and lost most of the scent, so I reapplied. On second application I get the leather more strongly immediately after application. After the second drydown I'm still smelling mostly amber, but I have to admit that, although my nose isn't pulling scents out that I can identify, there's definitely more to this than amber. The primal part of my brain, the part that has no use for words, is feeling comforted, safe, and amped -- aware, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I feel like I'm wrapped warmly in the arms of a strong man, listening to his quickened heartbeat. Flippin' amazing. Beth, I worship you.

    end of day: The most sensual phase of this oil only lasts about ten or fifteen minutes on my skin. I like it overall, definitely. I really like it in the bottle and absolutely love it for the first ten minutes on my skin. I have to declare this a winner, but I'm going to have to try it simultaneously on and in a locket to get the full effect, I think.

    compared to official description: I don't pick up any of the florals, which is probably a blessing. I definitely think they're there, but only evident in the in-the-bottle stage, where they add to the whole without standing out. That's really amazing to me, as florals always seem to go straight to the top of the heap when I'm wearing them, whereas here they fade completely out. I was very afraid to try an oil with rose listed, as I've had rose-based scents go cloying (and rotting) on me before, but ... this oil can do no wrong.

    notes: I should add that this seemed masculine to me at every stage, but that only increases my enjoyment. It makes me want.

    added to forum reviews
  11. Graphica

    Mary Read

    By Graphica,

    Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder.

    in the bottle: Boozy and sweet; rum and sarsaparilla. An undertone of something sharp. Bizarrely, this reminds me strongly of Velvet, Centzon Totochtin, and Dracul -- yeah, all three.

    on wet: Sweet, a little boozy.

    drydown: Sweet warmth with a touch of creamy soap. The soap makes me think of an old soap-on-a-rope my dad got as a gift when I was a child but never used (left hanging, untouched, on the shower head to scent the whole bathroom for about 10 years). Maybe the patchouli? The warmth has a kind of spiciness to it, otherwise, it's almost impossible to describe. Just, warm. This ... this almost smells like warm skin to me. Wow. Could this be my first brush with a skin-only-better scent? But there's a hint of something sharp and a little off-putting. Damn, damn, damn. So close.

    one hour later: I'm getting a warm, clean scent, like nice laundry detergent and fresh air; a "hanging the laundry on a warm summer morning" kind of scent. It's not a bad thing, but I miss the boozy-ness.

    end of day: Same as "one hour later" assessment.

    compared to official description: It's hard to tell what's going on here. The leather, musk, and/or gunpowder may be conveying the warmth, but I can't pick any of them out of the mix so it's difficult to determine how they're contributing. Or maybe the gunpowder was the unpleasant sharpness (that seems unlikely as I like the smell of burned gunpowder). I'm not familiar with aquatics in general, so maybe it's the "salt air" and "ocean mist" that were off-putting to me.

    notes: This is a really tough scent for me to pick apart; most of it I like very much, but it has an element that I find disagreeable right up to the point where all the elements I really like morph completely, at which point the off-scent fades too, but I'm left with fresh air and laundry detergent. Bummer.

    added to forum reviews
  12. Graphica

    The Antikythera Mechanism

    By Graphica,

    Bronze gears spin inside a polished wooden case, and an entire universe dances within. Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco.

    (second review)

    Round 2: I tried this again, and all my initial impressions are there, but it didn't go right to powder this time; instead, it just faded out completely. Still not ideal, but better than a baby's butt. I still have a sense of wood, vanilla, and something oddly cocoa-y (which, with more concentration, I can now say is definitely the tobacco). I do like this one. Medium like, not omg-gotta-have-a-gallon like.

    Seems like I said this somewhere else in this blog, but I really think that the ones that go to powder do so over clean, dry skin -- meaning little body oil and no lotion. I have several lotions and they're all fragrance-free, so I have no excuse not to layer oils over lotion, and I'm wondering if that's the only way to get a real sense of what these oils are like (at least on my skin). I have to believe that it would make a difference. Having said that, I also have to believe that there would be just as much a difference between the scent produced over skin softened by my own body oil as opposed to skin softened by lotion. One is full of, well, I don't know how to put it, but the essence of me, essentially. The other is just a barrier and a carrier. Really didn't mean to rhyme that.

    It's sort of a moot point, as I've reached an age where oil production has slowed and I have dry skin most of the time. So, lotion it is.

    in the bottle: Dry wood and vanilla -- a very warm, smooth, non-sweet, non-foody vanilla. Luscious. I want to pour it over my head, let it run over my whole body, then drink the last dregs. Yum!

    on wet: The vanilla really stands out now. It has changed to something that reminds me of dry cocoa, but still definitely not sweet. Something in this is modifying the vanilla and giving it a powdery effect.

    drydown: Powder, faintly vanilla-y. This has gone from "yum" to "after-bath powder" in ten minutes flat. I can see how this might work on someone else, but unless this does some kind of miracle morph, I think the experiment's over.

    one hour later: After an hour of powder, I decided to force the issue. I layered "No. 93 Engine" over the top. Now that five minutes has gone by, I can say with certainty that this move was a mistake. Something about the combination smells almost rancid, and all the nice warm notes have gone all jumbled and icky. Oof. Time to scrub.

    end of day: Didn't make it.

    compared to official description: I wasn't picking up the tobacco outright, but I'm sure it was modifying the whole. I think I'd prefer to pick out the tobacco as a separate and distinct scent.

    notes: I'm really disappointed -- not in the scent, but in my skin's reaction to it. I had high hopes for this when I smelled it in the bottle.

    added to forum reviews
  13. Graphica

    Shub-niggurath

    By Graphica,

    The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

    in the bottle: Dried baking spices, heavy on the ginger, with a musty, cloying, almost rotted smell, like not-quite-fully-decomposed mulch.

    on wet: Ginger, ginger, ginger, spices, dirt.

    drydown: Cinnamon red-hots, ginger, dirt.

    one hour later: Cinnamon red-hots, ginger.

    end of day: Didn't make it.

    compared to official description: I'm guessing the combination of dark resins and ritual herbs gave me the composted plantlife smell. I don't know which spices are considered aphrodisiacal, but nothing in here did a damn thing for me. I got a strong cinnamon component later (not like dried cinnamon powder, but more like cinnamon extract), and I can see someone arguing that cinnamon is an aphrodisiac. Again, not so much.

    notes: To my scent aesthetic, this is ugly, if a scent could be called that. Not unpleasant, off-putting, unappealing or unapproachable, just ... ugly.

    Understand while you're reading this that that statement is not meant as a hit on Beth's skill. I'm an artist, and I know what it's like to have people love, shrug at, and seriously dislike your work. I know the pain of planning, testing, refining, and slaving over an idea, pouring too much of yourself into it, then getting ... well ... stepped on. Beth, I have no reason to believe that you'll ever read my blog, but if you do, please understand that I completely admire what you've done for yourself, and I respect your courage and efforts. You know from reading other people's responses that you've given a great deal of pleasure to many. I can only describe my experiences the way I experience them. Please don't take it too much to heart.

    added to forum reviews
  14. Graphica

    Embalming Fluid

    By Graphica,

    A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.

    in the bottle: Nice. Iced tea with lemons.

    on wet: Lemon.

    drydown: Lemon. There's an undertone of something that's probably the aloe (unless there are ingredients not listed).

    one hour later: Lemon.

    end of day: Gone.

    compared to official description: I'm not sure how much the white musk contributes. I'd have to smell it as a single-note to determine where it fits into the whole.The green tea is definitely there, at least initially. But the lemon: my, my. Move over, lemon is here.

    notes: Stayed very close to my skin and didn't last for more than a few hours. Barely a whiff after even an hour. The tea (and everything but the lemon) faded after application. Oddly, when I left the room and came back, I picked up a ghost of a tea smell where I had been, but I could never smell it on me (only lemon).

    I actually like it, but the almost one-note lemon had me thinking of furniture polish before too long. It's probably a fine balance on others, but I seem to have blown the lemon out of proportion. Nice idea, but ... maybe a good room scent.

    added to forum reviews
  15. Graphica

    Holy Christmas, Batman!

    By Graphica,

    I received no less than sixteens imps today. I'm speechless with the possibilities. In addition to the twelve I ordered, I got (of course) four unsolicited extras. Not one of the four sounds even remotely like anything I would consider getting for myself. Heavy on flowers, and one described outright as sweet. Still, I've said before that I welcome the boundary-pushing. That attitude will certainly be tested this time.
     
    No reviews yet, but after sniffing through way too many in one sitting (I know, bad!), here are my impressions:
     
    Embalming Fluid: tea with several slices of lemon. I like.
     
    The Antykythera Mechanism: Something sharp, then my sense of smell was blown completely out. Couldn't smell anything for several minutes. Too early to say.
     
    No. 93 Engine: Something faintly metallic and catch-in-throat (acrid). Seems more masculine than not, but maybe because of some wood (?) that I associate strongly with men's scents. Too early to say.
     
    Lightning: This reminds me very strongly of chapstick. Hm.
     
    Mary Read: Strong booziness, spice, something -- again -- acrid. I like, I think.
     
    The Apothecary: Herbs. More herbs. Interesting.
     
    Shub-niggurath: ??? Baked figs and holiday spices over dirt? What the hell??? I think smelling all the ones before must be messing with me.
     
    Dracul: Clove and fresh, clean skin over something musty?
     
    BTW, I have no idea if my descriptions are even remotely like what these scents are supposed to smell like. It's been too long since I read the descriptions and I'm overloading my olfactory system. Just, humor me. I'm sure I'll be embarrassed later.
     
    Centzon Totochtin: Yikes! Cocoa over booze with a hint of ... Hawaiian Punch?
     
    Perversion: This baffles me. It smells familiar one end to the other, but I can't pick anything out or come up with an association. Dunno.
     
    Dragon's Hide: Instant men's cologne. Very in-your-face wood (???) scent. Seems almost single-note to me.
     
    Les Infortunes de la Vertu: Another super-blended one (i.e. hard to pick anything out). Overall, I like. Very comforting scent.
     
    Ava Maria Gratia Plena: White floral with strong scent-associations of cleanliness. Doesn't smell soapy, just ... blindingly clean, if that makes any sense.
     
    Hairy Toad Lily: Astringent berry? My nose is really going downhill.
     
    The Reaper and the Flowers: Some very light floral and grass? Hay? Very, very light. Delicate.
     
    Queen of Hearts: Holy blown gaskets! My eyes started to water. Fruity, floral, in that order. I'm going to say "Not me", but I'll give it a more through assessment later.
     
    There's my initial run-through. Completely useless because I overwhelmed my sense of smell, but I couldn't resist. I mostly wanted to pick out the ones that seemed most promising so I know where to start.
  16. Graphica

    Dragon's Milk

    By Graphica,

    Dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla.

    Okay, after an embarrassing absence, I'm back to fulfill my obligations as a BPALer.

    in the bottle: I haven't researched to see what Dragon's Blood is, but I've learned to associate it with a strangely mellow/spicy/sweet scent that resides somewhere near the intersection of amber, cinnamon and almond -- at least to my nose. This is that, with a kind of creamy, smooth undertone.

    on wet: Exactly the same as in the bottle.

    drydown: The sweetish component (almond-y) and the creamy component have come to the fore. I get the amber-like scent too, which (as amber always does) reminds me of soap.

    one hour later: This has mellowed out to a lighter version of what I smelled in the bottle, which is interesting to me; this is the first BPAL fragrance I've smelled that is, on me, exactly what it seems to be initially -- all the rest change, many dramatically.

    end of day: Light, sweetish, mellow, creamy, hint of spice.

    compared to official description: The creamy/smooth component has to be the vanilla, but it doesn't stand out to me as vanilla; perhaps that has something to do with the "honeyed" component. [Edit: In the end the vanilla did stand out. I'm not sure this is a vanilla that I'm fond of -- a little too ... I don't know. I can't really describe what it it that I don't like about it.]

    notes: I would call this scent "not me", or at least atypical of scents I like, but there's something about it that appeals to me. Jury's out. I'll have to try it again later.

    added to forum reviews
  17. Graphica

    Strangler Fig

    By Graphica,

    Rooty, woody, with deep green tones.

    in the bottle: Thickly sweet with a green undertone. The sweetness reminds me of root beer.

    on wet: Still sweet and thick. Mostly just sweet. The green note has disappeared.

    drydown: Still sweet. A touch of powderiness.

    one hour later: I really want to wash this off. There's a heady sensation that makes me think of walking into a too warm, enclosed space where there's a lot of greenery, like an orchid hothouse. I'm not saying it smells like orchids, just that I get a sensation of a scent that might be enjoyable if smelled faintly blowing on a breeze, but which is too much, almost claustrophobic, on. Makes me want to throw open the windows.

    end of day: Didn't make it to the end of the day. Washed off.

    compared to official description: I don't know what rooty smells like, unless you're referring to spices; though I did get a sense of rootbeerishness, so maybe there's a sassafras-like element here. Woody? I'm sure there's an element of that here, but it doesn't stand out. Mostly I get a powdery sweetish green. Heated, heady, thick.

    notes: This had throw on me, in the worst possible way. Take that with a grain of salt: If it were a scent I enjoyed, I might not mind the throw so much (though I don't like throw in general).

    Lagniappe. Definitely not one I would have thought of choosing myself. The dice didn't roll so well on this one.

    added to forum reviews
  19. Graphica

    Zephyr

    By Graphica,

    A gentle white scent, breezes laced with the scent of springtime blooms and citrus. Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla.

    in the bottle: Perfume. This is the first BPAL scent I've smelled that immediately put me in mind of traditional perfume. Feminine. Floral. Strong sandalwood, but without the sense of dryness I usually get. I definitely smell lemon verbena and a strong but light musky component. Bergamot -- one of my favorite scents. I'm a bit put off by the overall perfume-y-ness of it, but I'll give it a go.

    on wet: Immediately, the sandalwood and musk are dominant; all the other scents drop away completely.

    drydown: Sandalwood and vanilla. A really nice vanilla. I don't know if this is a special type of vanilla or if it's just being affected by the surrounding components, but it's a dry, non-sweet vanilla which I like very much. Oddly, the sandalwood is already not as strong, which is counter to my past experiences with sandalwood (where it usually becomes the dominant -- if not only -- component throughout the scent life of the oil or perfume). No hint of bergamot left. :love!:

    one hour later: Okay, still a perfume-y perfume, but not offensive. I'm getting a whiff now of the neroli (one of the few floral scents in real life that doesn't give me a headache). Also, this is the first one I've tried that has throw. That sort of makes me want to wash my wrists, but I'll tough it out.

    end of day: Light floral.

    compared to official description: Simplistically, the throw on this one does make me think of breezes, especially the type that waft the warm scent of Philadelphus blossoms across the yard (nice match to the description since, for us, Philadelphus blooms in late spring, so ... spring breezes). If "white scent" is supposed to mean light and non-heady, again accurate. I would've thought that sandalwood would immediately make a scent not light, but I see that it's described as "white sandalwood." I'm not sure what that means, but it's clearly a completely different scent than the one I'm used to.

    notes: Lagniappe. Not one I would have thought to try because of the floral component. I'm glad the lab throws these in because I do allow myself to be dissuaded by a description. This forces me to take a chance, for better or worse.

    It's a very pretty but light floral. Very much a perfume. I can see the appeal if you like this sort of thing. Overall, it isn't me. It leaves me feeling fragile and withdrawn -- not sensations that I enjoy.

    added to forum reviews
  20. Graphica
    I wonder sometimes why I like some scents that should probably seem overpowering or obnoxious: gasoline, used engine oil, wet paint (high VOC, yeah baby!), fresh asphalt, just-snuffed matches, hot metal. Especially hot metal and black engine oil. My ideal mate would probably be a mechanic (though I was seriously considering being a mechanic myself 20+ years ago). Why would any of these appeal to me?
     
    Scent is so deeply wired into our brains, that you'd think the only scents that would appeal to us would be the ones that somehow enhanced our chances of survival (and reproduction). We're quick to pick up the scent of a pending storm, decay, lack of cleanliness, etc. Granted, many scent likes and dislikes are purely psychologically-driven. You could argue that my liking for oil and gasoline had to do with watching my dad work in the garage when I was very young. I don't know that to be the case, but I'm positive we all have associations that invite instant like or dislike, but that we can't necessarily put a name, face, time, or place to.
     
    What about sour, bitter, acrid, or chemical smells? I like the smell of hospitals. How weird is that? I like quite a few natural scents that are, apparently, generally disliked, like bruised marigold foliage (astringent, chemical). Love! But everyone I know who smells it recoils. And tomato foliage (astringent, oppressively herbal). I could seriously see wearing a perfume that had tomato foliage at its base. Oddly, I also like the smell of damp, dusty places, like old houses or barns that have been abandoned. How could the latter possibly be a benefit to survival? It's probably not, but I remember often playing in an old abandoned barn when I was a child, and so must have positive associations with the smells inherent in such a place. More psychological underpinnings. I'm beginning to think that psychologically-based scent preferences easily (and sometimes completely) override the hardwired ones.
     
    My animal scent likes and dislikes are pretty distinct. I like the smell of cats, but not dogs. Horses, but not cows. Allow me to rephrase: it's not that I dislike the smell of dogs (except wet ones) or cows, but that I get no reaction from them other than internally taking note of their scent. Cats and horses give me a real physical reaction, a pleasant one. (Don't read too far into that; I'm talking warm fuzzies here not Catherine the Great.) I also love the smell of many objects that are found around horses: leather, wool, denim, hay, and weathered wood. I'll categorize this as psychological. I grew up around horses and cats. Childhood = good, therefore ... etc.
     
    I have a few scent dislikes, but none that drive me out of a room, with one exception: citrus mold. Agh! And the odd part is, I can smell it before it's even evident. I'll start smelling this nauseating scent a day or two before the first powdery bloom appears on an orange or lemon. And I can walk into a room and instantly tell if there's newly-molding citrus in it, even if I can't see the fruit. The strong scent usually goes away (for me) on fruit that started molding some time ago, even if there's mold still on it. This scent ... it isn't just unpleasant, it's something I really can't take. I have to get away from it. This has me wondering if I'm allergic to the type of mold that forms on citrus fruits. Why else would I have such a strong visceral response to it? Do we finally have here an example of a survival-based scent preference? I haven't done a proper scientific study of the reactions of other people, but my significant other can't smell it at all, whereas I can smell it in eensy-teensy-parts-per-million at a hundred paces and it gives me an instant headache.
     
    Continued ...
  21. Graphica

    Darkness

    By Graphica,

    Bottled gloom; the essence of oblivion. Blackest opium and narcissus deepened by myrrh.

    in the bottle: Clean scent, some kind of wood. Slight smokiness. Pleasingly warm and dry in a resinous kind of way. Something smooth running behind.

    on wet: Incense. More incense. Truly, incense. But somehow not obnoxious.

    drydown: Still wood-y. Still incense, with a hint of sweetness behind; a kind of fresh, floral sweetness that isn't perfume-y, but more warm and heady.

    one hour later: The slightly resinous, dry quality has returned, but I can't pin a scent on it, it's more of an impression. The light but warm and heady floral is still there. This is turning into what I would think of as perfume in a more classic sense, but not like any perfume I've smelled before.

    end of day: Dry, resinous floral, with the floral barely in evidence. The dry quality is more pronounced, to the point of making me feel like I have a catch in my throat. Gives me the urge to drink water. I believe that the dry, resinous quality comes from the same component that I was reading as smoky while still in the bottle.

    compared to official description: I don't get the morbid bleakness suggested by the official description; but then again, I'd be hard-pressed to describe the smell of oblivion.

    notes: I'd have to say that, overall, I like this, but being ridiculously picky, I'm not convinced I want it. It doesn't scream "wear me!"

    I commented in my last review that I don't know the scent of myrrh well enough to identify it. I wonder now if the slight smokiness I smelled in the bottle would be the myrrh, since Velvet had a smoky quality to me and also contained myrrh. Having said that, the smokiness wasn't pronounced, and may have snuck in later as more of a dry warmth.

    A number of times during the day when I was moving around I picked up a wafting scent which made me think of a faintly sharp, non-spicy lily, but I could never smell it on my wrists, only when my hands were moving around at a distance. Except for the odd waft every now and then, this stayed exceptionally close to my skin, but didn't fade completely. Another potentially good second-skin type scent I think, but not for me.

    ETA: This one is really variable on me. At certain times (ahem), like when I reviewed, it's too strong and floral. The rest of the time, that wonderful smokiness really comes through and it becomes a scent I enjoy. I'm waiting on receiving and testing the dozen imps currently on order before I decide to get it, though. This is close, really close, but I'm thinking that if I can get this close, I can get even closer. I have high hopes for some of the oils described as smoky now.

    ETA, again: I mixed the whole imp with a vanilla-based after-bath oil and got something that makes me feel naked in my clothes. After I've spritzed and smoothed it, I get the urge to ruuuuub against everything, like a kitty demanding affection.

    added to forum reviews
  22. Graphica
    My recent experience with La Petit Mort (actually, I'm still experiencing it) has me back in the old "I can't wear perfume" mindset. I've resolved to order a dozen imps instead of just six, consisting of those scents I consider the most promising from my own research, plus a few taken willy-nilly out of the favorites of a few people who seem to have the same scent preferences as me.
     
    Today I'm ordering (as imps):
     
    Shub-Niggurath
    Embalming Fluid
    Dracul
    No. 93 Engine
    Antikythera Mechanism
    Centzon Totochtin
    Perversion
    The Apothecary
    Dragon's Hide
    Mary Read
    Les Infortunes De La Vertu
    Lightning
     
    Let's see if I have more luck with any of these.
  23. Graphica

    what I have

    By Graphica,

    Imps: (bold entries are linked to reviews within this blog)
    Velvet
    Coyote
    Hell's Belle
    La Petit Mort
    Dirty
    Zephyr
    Strangler Fig
    Darkness
    Shub-Niggurath
    Embalming Fluid
    Dracul
    No. 93 Engine
    Antikythera Mechanism
    Centzon Totochtin
    Perversion
    Mary Read
    Les Infortunes de la Vertu
    Dragon's Hide
    The Apothecary
    Lightning
    Queen of Hearts
    Ava Maria Gratia Plena
    The Reaper and the Flowers
    Hairy Toad Lily
    Lilium Inter Spinas
    Dragon's Milk
    The Last Squished Jellybean
    Czernobog
    Tenochtitlan
    Thanatopsis

  24. Graphica

    Velvet

    By Graphica,

    Envelop yourself in the soft, sensual embrace of gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh.

    in the bottle: Cocoa! Dutch-processed with a touch of vanilla. Hint of sandalwood. Something (or some things) else that I can't identify: smooth, a little smoky, a little sweet. Also, a creamy sensation, maybe the vanilla again.

    on, wet: Cocoa and a bit of sandalwood. After about 10 seconds, strong suggestion of smoke.

    drydown: This will sound strange, but my left wrist retains the cocoa scent, where my right has gone completely smoky. And not just a little smoky, but full on sitting-in-front-of-a-wood-fire smoky (with a hint of vanilla). The cocoa-y vanilla scent on my left wrist is starting to seem a little food-like to me. Overall, I prefer the smoky effect.

    one hour later: Sandalwood and vanilla, both wrists. A ghost or two of scents in the background, but almost completely hidden by the sandalwood.

    end of day: Sandalwood and vanilla. Enduring scent, not unpleasant, but nothing like what I smelled in the bottle or through drydown. There remains a hint -- just a suggestion, really -- of other scents way in the background that are completely homogenized, but which lighten the sandalwood and give it a certain dusty sweetness.

    compared to official description: Not sure I'd recognize myrrh, as I'm positive I've never smelled straight myrrh, and would therefore have trouble picking it out of a lineup. I know the lab doesn't necessarily list every component, but as the only three listed are sandalwood, cocoa vanilla, and myrrh, I'm wondering if the myrrh carries the smoky effect, since that's the only thing in this blend that stands out to me other than the other two listed.

    notes: Not for me. Smells like a my paternal grandmother's house, somehow. In fact, I get a strong scent-memory of being put down for a nap as a very small child on my grandmother's bed, and drifting off to sleep with the faint drone of nearly-inaudible adult voices drifting up the steep, narrow stairs and slipping under the thick, dark, heavy wood door. Pleasant, but I'd want my house to smell this way, not me.

    afterthought: I was initially disappointed that this perfume didn't retain its original character, but after rereading my description I realized that there's no reason velvet should smell like cocoa. In the end, I believe the cocoa stayed there but hovered in the distance to give the whole thing a bit of smooth dryness, and that some other element, in addition, pushed the effect over to dustiness. While the hours-later effect was very different from what I smelled straight out of the bottle, I'd have to classify the later scentsation as being more akin to how I'd define velvet (from an olfactory standpoint), since velvet (the fabric) makes me think of dusty places and the satiny-smooth skin of my grandmother's cheek. In the end, this could very well be velvet, at least for me.

    added to forum reviews
  25. Graphica

    Coyote

    By Graphica,

    The warmth of doeskin, dry plains grasses and soft, dusty woods warmed by amber and a downy, gentle coat of deep musk.

    in the bottle: Strong, but not oppressive musk (light); very familiar, almost soapy background -- amber?

    on wet: Amber, I think, almost 100%.

    drydown: Mostly amber. Slightly soapy musk, not unpleasant; this is a scent that suggests warmth and would be an excellent "enhanced skin" scent for someone. (Not me.)

    one hour later: Warm and sweet. Musk and amber. Some other very subtle but warm and ... airy? light? dry? ... scents.

    end of day: Amber, period. On me, soap.

    compared to official description: My nose probably isn't good enough to identify subtle woods and grasses. I will say that there are definitely elements other than amber and musk, but whatever they are, they're very close in scent temperament to the former two, and I can't break it down into individual notes. if there's wood, it's very harmoniously combined and disguised by its neighbors. Near impossible for me to pick out anything individual, but after the drydown and through the first part of the day I detected something slightly spice-like in a non-foody way. Cinnamon? Vanilla? (Or coumarin, perhaps -- as in dry grasses; just a guess.) FWIW, the warm sweetness strikes me as more feline than canine. Canines, to my nose, have a drier, muskier scent.

    Also, no hint of doeskin, which I will assume is meant to be a light leather scent.

    Having said all that, I'll say again that the stated elements may well be there in enough quantity to affect the character of the oil, but I'd need to smell Coyote sans doeskin before I'd be able to properly state my opinion of how things like doeskin (dry grasses, soft woods, etc.) work for the whole. Right now, it's a homogeneous mix that, for me, defies dissection.

    notes: I think I tend to read amber-based scents as soapy or powdery depending on the surrounding scents.

    ETA: Months later, I've tried Coyote again and I get a different impression. On my wrists, recently dried, it's still very much amber with dry wood, but in the bottle it smells completely different than it did the first time: Now I get light leather and hay-like scents very strongly, with a little amber underneath.

    added to forum reviews
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