zankoku_zen

Rose, and red rose that that. This sort of reminds me to Rose Red, but with amber and some musk in the background instead of the icy/plant stem/apple overtones. Pretty, light rose.

Ushi to me is a fruitier than ever red musk. Mostly mango and fig, and perhaps a touch of green from the tomato and definitely the red musk rounding it out. I am pleasantly surprised. Typically, I amp up Beth's red musk so that most of the red musk blends end up like red musk SN on me. I am surprised at how well all of the notes play together.

This is a smooth, coconut and hazelnut blend. There's a faint hint of anise in it, but I mainly get creamy coconut and hazelnut. Definitely not for me.

So on wet, I adore Lemon Scented Sticky Bats. It's lemon candy. But like the lemon is on steroids. It's lemon, lemon verbena, lime that smells like lemon... you get the picture. And sugar. The sugar is definitely vanilla sugar. As it dries, the lemon dissipates and I get a warm, vanilla sugar skin musk sort of scent. YUM.

Jasmine is often a problem note for me. Just uncorking the vial makes me think cat pee. On wet, it just smells like ultra-heady jasmine, with a touch of rose and some wet wool underneath. This is heady, potent and to me mildly headache inducing. Utter. Fail.

Hekarge starts off with a whiff of lemongrass on top of resinous patchouli and some lavender. And then it dries to a patchouli, resinous myrrh and balsam sweetened by honey. Balsam to me is a wood that ends up sort of smelling like cedar, and thus ends up in quasi-pencil shavings. So yes, spicy, resinous woody. Not for me.

Nikephoros, you are an utter fail to me. You are dark patchouli and resiny benzoin. Actually, I think I would have been happy with invidiana's experience. This is a warm, resinous scent, and definitely not the kind that I'm attracted to. PASS.

Nude Woman Reclining does remind me vaguely to the Bearded Lady - I get a mishmash of floral notes, over which honeysuckle is the most prevalent. I can smell the warm vanilla base. This scent is womanly, heady and sophisticated. It's definitely a mature woman, secure within her own feminine power.

While this lasts, it is delicious. I can smell the peppermint on wet, with a tang of lime and a whiff of chocolate. Yes, this smells like mint chocolate chip. And dries down to... nothing. My skin chemistry ate this one up. Literally in like five minutes. But the peppermint note in this scent is to die for. I wish it had stuck around...

For me, this is a boozey chocolate martini. Chocolate, effervescent booze - the same sort of fizzy note as in Polynesian Pop and the Will Call Champagnes, but with hints of gin. Typically I amp up juniper, so I'm pleasantly surprised at how non-juniper this martini is. I feel that the boozy fizzy martini part prevents the chocolate from being too sweet and making this scent wearable. This is more of a 'light' chocolate scent, more like a 'dusting' of chocolate over some soft booze. Sadly, my skin chemistry eats this up. Part of me likes this chocolate because its not so overtly foodie.

So this starts as a soft, rosey aquatic and then dries down to oude and davana, so it smells like woods with an overlay of rose. Very faint, and my skin eats this right up.

Kytherian is a very lush, tropical sort of floral. I get hints of narcissus and plum, with a LOT of orchid. I am beginning to wonder if i don't amp up orchids. As the case may be, the grapefruit is a zingy zest on wet, but definitely dries to a musky orchid. Very clean, very white, very heady. Part of me really likes it, the other part is not so sure because this has a pretty big throw.

OMG. I think I may love this scent. I essentially get a ton of fruit - fig, and a whiff of tamarind which is tart and fresh and whiff of chocolate. But essentially, a luscious figgy scent. Mmm. Figs. Need. more. Now.

Dry cassia, hint of chocolate. There's a touch of smoke, perhaps a whiff of something woody and a touch of chocolate. This ends up being a very dry, spice scent on me, almost woody. Fairly masculine, actually. PASS.

This one does smell like lemon cake with a splash of tea. And a drizzle of honey. I can smell the ginger, esp. on wet but then it becomes more of a 'spice' in the cake. This is much more foodie than I anticipated. I agree with whisperstilled - this is more like Cake Smash (in the cake note) and Huesos de Santo (which was more orange cake) than what I thought. I was hoping for more tea, and less cake.

I think I amp up peach blossom, because to me this smells like peachy blossoms, with a hint of muskiness. The dreaded gardenia is nowhere to be found, since that ends up smelling like wet wool on me. So yes, heady juicy peach blossoms. Smells like peaches. It's a little too heady and sweet for me, but somehow, the gods of intercourse smell a lot like a night in the South.

I was worried about the leather accord in Dancing Koi, since I amp up leather and it ends up being the synthetic kind. I am happy to report that Dancing Koi is dark clovey musk, with the sandalwood being a predominant player. It tends toward a slight powderiness toward the drydown on me but compensates as more smokiness comes out. Much more mellow than expected. I find this very gender neutral actually, and I think a man could pull this off to devastating effect. I quite enjoy it, since it was exactly what I was hoping for (ie - little to no leather), but I can see how others may have been hoping for different results.

This one is a light, citrusy tea. Refreshing, although it ends up going a little powdery on me (combination of the honeycomb and the lemon verbena perhaps). It's a nice, refreshing blend, sticks close to the skin and I think would be a fabulous bath product scent, since it's got that nice clean edge to it.

I get mostly mango, and then as it dries more white chocolate. I love the mango in this, and wish BPAL would use it more often. The only other scent I've gotten tons of mango from has been Corazon, but then the sage gave it a burnt, almost pizza herbs component to it. I wish the mango stuck around and was stronger on the drydown, which makes me worry about aging with this blend as BPAL fruit notes take a real beating with aging. Erm. Perhaps this is just an excuse to slather myself in this in the meantime?

To me, this is essentially butterscotch with a light coat of chocolate. There is a tiny whiff of ginger, enough to keep the butterscotch from being overwhelmingly sweet. But still sweet. I think I would love this as an actual chocolate. Not so much as a perfume.

An Appraisal is an odd mix for me. Apparently, I must amp up honeysuckle. On wet, I got a fresh hit of lemongrass that smelled almost minty, combined with plum and a dash of honeysuckle. As it dried, the lemongrass burned off and I got more of the plum/honeysuckle mix. Completely dry, its more of honeysuckle, with a whiff of plum lending it a fruitier edge and some of the frankincense is peaking at the bottom. It oddly smells like if you made honeysuckle into a tea. Feminine, sweet, fresh. I am oddly attracted to it, and yet wonder if honeysuckle is too sweet for me.

Oh Biwa, I had such high hopes for you. I did have some concerns regarding the white musk, but in the end the lure of the tangerine was too great. Biwa puts me in mind of last year's Thoos, which again had a citrus/tangerine with white musk appeal going on. However, this one is a touch sweeter because of the honey, and unforunately the tagetes lends a bitter, at best, and cat pee/baby diapers, at worst, edge to it. Even in the imp, it smelled like tangerine cat pee but that didn't deter me from trying it on. On wet, it was ultra tangerine, white musk and slight bitterness that grounded it. Much better. And then the tagetes smelled like baby diapers. And then 20 minutes later, it was slightly bitter and not cat pee like either. I don't blame the tagetes entirely, since part of the powderiness is due to the white musk. EPIC. SKIN. CHEMISTRY. FAIL.

I'm surprised at how fruity Red Lace is. I knew that I amped up pomegranate, and it is essentially sweet pom and raspberry, especially on wet. As it dries, I get more of the red musk and the sandalwood. And sadly, the cotton cream turns to plastic on me. So... smells like a Barbie doll? EPIC. SKINCHEMISTRY. FAIL.

I have to say that the predominant note on my skin is the rice wine, which lends this a soft boozy but clean sparkle. Underneath, the vanilla warms both the rice wine and sandalwood, bringing a bit of sweetness to the blend. Definitely asian in vibe, and its a deliciously simple, comforting blend. This blend to me speaks to me of the little pleasures in life. Clean towels, soft linens, nuzzling someone before going to bed. That is the vibe that it evokes to me. A very soft, skin scent.

In general, I have loved most of the Chinese New Year blends. So, Metal Rabbit on me is essentially a fruity floral. Very fruity. I think the predominant notes on wet are more citrusy, with the mandarin and tangerine. As it dries, the fruit is most recognizable as peach. And underneath, I definitely smell plum blossom and peony. This is big, bright and juicy peachy floral. As for comparisons against other of the Chinese New Year blends: Fire Pig - much more gingery, less floral and with more zing Metal Tiger - Fruitier, but with no lasting power or throw Earth Rat - Melon/Coconut death match Earth Ox - More floral, slightly fruity. Fire Pig is still my favorite, because I love the gingery zing to it, although I have to admit that I find Metal Rabbit pretty adorable.