brwnpaperhag

When I first sniffed this at the last trunk show, I was worried, since I could distinctly smell the limp lettuce note.

Thankfully, my bottle is well blended, well balanced, and all around wonderful.

The marshmallow lingers in the background, warming up the tea/lemon note, which, if I may add, impressed me. This is the tea/lemon I noticed from the BRAII proto--it's distinct and reminds me of a cold glass of iced tea, unsweetened.

The lettuce shows itself on the start of the drydown, giving it a clean, cool blast. It's green, and mixes this scent up a little, but it doesn't last long. In the end, I get the scent of unsweetened iced tea with a hint of warm, faintly sugared goodness.

I knew I would like this, but I didn't know I would love this.

Oh, and I should add--I don't get any cotton, but then it may be too faint for my nose to pick up.

This is so weird. I put Spare Change on and I really don't get anything like what the reviewers above me have gotten. As a preface, I should note that my notes from my four stocking stuffer imps aren't exactly matching anyone elses'...so who knows? Maybe I got messed up imps for all four.

 

I applied Spare Change and got a blast of cologne. Aquatic, manly cologne. I can compare this to Festival of Anuket; Spare Change is very clean, and very metallic. There's no powder finish for me, as the throw from the cologne part of this is basically overpowering all else, but it's still really fresh on my skin. There could be mint, since this is extremely refreshing, but I don't really get leather, just metallics.

 

Also, soft would not be the first to come to mind--more like sharp, or harsh. I get an image of spare change found in the pocket of a pair of jeans on the floor, or retrieved from the cold corner inside the living room couch.

 

UPDATE: After refusing to believe my oil could be mislabeled or something of the sort, I tried it again this morning, but used The Black Rider as comparison, since that's my only other leather note.

 

I'm happy to say I do get some leather, definitely an hour into wearing it. The note, combined with the hard metallic, has made it soften a bit and gives a much warmer vibe than what I got last night. While it's still clean, it's definitely not as harsh as I found initially...could it even be morphing to something more delicate?!?

 

 

Of my four stocking stuffer imps, this one's scent notes kind of match the notes of the reviewers above me. However, I'm still going to preface this and say that my notes from my stocking stuffer imps aren't exactly matching anyone elses'...so who knows? Maybe I got messed up imps for all four. UPDATE: Yeah, my nose is basically broken...After retesting, the oils are fine.

 

Anyway, this starts off like ginger on me--spicysweet, but it quickly morphs into a deeper, incensey spice. It's very dry, which is why the first thought upon the drydown, I thought it was cedar, but the more I sniff now, the more I can kind of believe it to be orange clove; however, it's not particularly sweet, but bitter. Bitter and spicy.

So, I should preface this to say that my notes from my four stocking stuffer imps aren't exactly matching anyone elses'...so who knows? Maybe I got messed up imps for all four.

 

Here we go:

In retrospect/comparing the scent again to the reviews above, I can kind of get a cherry cola scent from this, albeit faintly, but honestly, this smells like teak and spice on me. Woody, creamy, warm and gently sweet, this is a beautiful and delicious scent.

 

There's nothing medicinal or syrupy about this one on me. Weiiiiird.

 

UPDATE: After refusing to believe my oil could be mislabeled or something of the sort, I tried it again this morning, but used dark Chocolate and Cherry as a comparison, as that's my only other cherry note.

I found the cherry note. While it's still woodsy, it's definitely cherry, though maybe not as syrupy sweet as others are saying.

 

I retried this and Spare Change and by using other scents to compare, it seems like my nose just sucked at doing its job last night.

 

Um, what? I did not get Vick's from this at all. In fact, what I got was wine. Sweet, syrupy wine. I thought I was going to get a hangover from it, honestly.

 

If I had to compare this wine note, it would be to Soothing System, but more juicy than sharp, and Cockaigne, but more alcoholic.

 

Also, I should note that my notes from my four stocking stuffer imps aren't exactly matching anyone elses'...so who knows? Maybe I got messed up imps for all four.

 

UPDATE: So, I retested this because I refuse to believe I had a weird batch...turns out Tcotchkie comes off very wine-like when you slather it on.

Still, it's very spicy and very rich. I get the gingerbread vibe plus something else...maybe that berry people are talking about, which would explain the juicy aspect in it.

 

While I'm glad I managed to fix my nose, it's still not for me.

Here's one of each:

 

 

Sorry for the grainy shot.

Oh noooooooooo.

 

This is everything I wanted it to be. Honestly--I had some weird phantom scent imaginings of this, and now that I'm sniffing the real thing it makes me so happy.

 

I guess I amp sweet things, because I get chocolate. Chocolate and sweet tobacco, like someone is smoking from a pipe and the smoke is curling in the air, rich and dark and chocolatey. Or like I went camping, and melted the chocolate by the campfire and I'm licking it off my fingers standing downwind of the fire pit.

 

I can't help but think of See's Candies...it's like I walked into one of the shops and there's smoke in the background. It ends with a deep, dry, and woody finish. It's dark, deep, and wonderful. I love this so hard and I need more.

From the bottle, this is a more comforting GC Dorian. Not sexier...just comforting. Like the sexy victorian gentleman threw a blanket around you (after all the sex-having...)

 

Starts out like Dorian, and then turns warm and full. That's the only way I can describe it. Is that coconut?

Pretty sure this is Coconut. This note smells like Eden's fading stage on me. And it mixes great with the sugared musk of Dorian.

 

Take Dorian, add coconut, and get LOVE. Seriously. I'm not a fan of coconut (too much pina colada-esque stuff makes me nauseous), but this is nice. The coconut note makes it green but also somehow makes Dorian foodie, in an awesome way.

This scent confuses me; I really can't tell if I love it from the intrigue or if I just want to love it.

Wet, I get a blast of oak, Misk. U style. This is heavy, smoky wood, which basically predominates the entire time. Up close, it's a little suffocating, but whenever I move my arm, I can get a sweet, smoky waft of oak. Mmmm.

This next part's a little strange. Something in here--maybe the ink + herbs?--gives off a metallic, bitter note, but that's only if I breathe it in deeply, and it's still buried under all the oak and incense. In general, I get a tobacco-y, almost bitter cocoa feel, but there's something soft and golden, like butter, that warms it up. It makes me confused, because I think it's going to be delicious, so I inhale, but every time I inhale I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth--literally and figuratively.

Finally, much longer into the wear, it turns into cupcakes! They're faint, lemony, and sweet, but there's a kiss of a bakery note in here, riding right on top of the oak/bitter coca vibe I'm getting, which makes it a dusty cake. Damn those cookie crumbs, Beth really did it. When I greedily try to inhale right from my skin, I get the incense-y wood. Still so confusingly delicious. Like the time you find obviously stale sugar cookies or brownies, and you want so badly to eat them, because they still give off that sugary-sweet vibe, but you know you shouldn't because you're just going to make your tongue and teeth really, really sad because it's just going to be hard and flavorless. It's just like that with my nose: wafting up to my nose, I get a cookie vibe, except when I turn my attention to it, it disappears, and all I'm left with is the sweet, smokey, faintly buttery oak.

Story Time is so odd. I think I might be in love with this because it's so damn tricky. I actually have given myself a headache trying to huff the cookie scent, and only getting oak in return. Either way, I'm keeping it because i want to see how this thing is going to age.

UPDATE: Okay, an hour later this is exactly what I was hoping for: sweet, buttery, lightly baked goodness with a hint of spice from the incense and wood. It almost feels like it glows, that's how warm and creamy it is right now. Also, there's a bit of a dry bit in here--this could either be the herbs or the parchment, but it has a "dusty stack of paper" vibe.

*Edited because late nights make me forget verbs and articles.*

This is the first boozy scent I can wear. On my skin, I get vanilla extract plus something...I suppose it's the alcoholic part, because it reminds me of real vanilla extract, the kind where, when added to your homemade ice cream as flavoring in your chem class, you would totally get a headache.

It's pure and simple; wet, it starts out sweet, like simple syrup. As it drys, it blossoms into the exotic vanilla, heady and lush.

 

When I tried this at the trunk show, I had no idea what this was, and I summed it up to a tropical blossom, because it's so bright and heavy at the same time, the way plumeria is.

 

 

Every time I inhale this scent, it's like taking in clean, crisp air...but instead of the clean air being from morning on a cold mountain, it's from a warm day in a field. It's oddly refreshing, like I can feel it in the back of my sinuses, and then there's something warm to keep it comforting. I want to snuggle in this scent and take a lazy cat nap. It's naturally sweet, naturally warm...just natural.

 

This is wonderful. As some one said in a post earlier, no nose can be offended by this scent.

Weird. For a long time I wanted this to be my perfect HG scent, but now that I'm actually testing it, it's just not for me.

 

I get the musky sugar from Velvet Unicorn, with the basked goodness from Boo...and then, under it all, is a weird green scent. Like the one in Strawberry Moon 09. It's only happening on my right arm, which makes me think it's just the blend, but still. It's making the yumminess go plasticky on my skin, which has never happened with a foodie scent on me before. Also, all this mishmash of smells makes it a cheap Love's Philosophy.

 

So so sad.

This one is so crazy on my skin.

Wet, it's aquatic, and smells like...Dirty, maybe? Or Embalming Fluid? Something about it gives off that BPAL smell...the one you get when you have a pile of imps in front of you. It also has a cologne kick to it.

 

Then, as it dries, it turns into a light, airy fragrance, with a faint dust behind it. Skin musk, is that you? Still has that cologne kick.

 

And finally, it becomes my favorite. It smells like teak! It's glowing and creamy and wonderful, and in the background, there's a tangy wisp of something..is it supposed to be smoke? No idea, since I haven't gotten a BPAL scent with smoke in it, but I love this part, and this is now one of my favorites.

 

As far as throw goes, it stays closes to the skin, but that musk/woodsy part carries it nicely.

 

Also, throughout all the stages, this scent has managed to remind me of several other scents, as in, distinctly matching something else...weird, but I kind of appreciate the quirkiness. I got Dirty/Embalming Fluid, Love's Philosophy, and Glowing Vulva. In that order.

 

ETA: I can now also share that hours later, LL becomes very similar to BPTP's Trinket minus the syrupy sweetness. Very dusty, dry and woodsy. LOVE.

Oh hi there, vanilla.

 

Jesus, this is strong. I have a couple decants of Modway and this...this beats it for yummy smelling deliciousness. It's in every way like Midway, except stronger and less sugary. There is waaay more bakery goodness in here.

 

Not that I mind, really, but I can't imagine wearing this in anything other than cold weather. In fact, wearing it on a day where you may sweat would be nauseating. If I wasn't such a lover of the foodie scents, I would send this off to ebay.

 

However, it's delicious and when you want to wear something wonderful and comforting, or you wish to smell like a kitchen after a baking fest, then this should be your go-to scent. I'm glad I have a bottle, but this will probably last me forever.

Wow, this is sweet. I was not expecting that.

The sweetness is definitely the top note, the way you can pick out the soprano in a quartet. That sweetness is so unlike the other notes that it almost comes off as a floral. This could be the vanilla note blending with the teak, but whatever it is, it's what makes it feminine on me. Underneath it though, you get all that dark goodness-the smokiness from the tobacco, rounded out by the wood. At the very bottom, peeking out, is the creamy vanilla.

This is lovely. However, like Boo, it's a little heavy for my skin, so I'll need to remember in the future not to slather this on the way I do with my other oils.

Ohhh. The wood/tobacco just won out, and now it's like sniffing a creamy chest of drawers. Wow.

What you could do is go the the bpal site and use the search for anything with tea tree and mint; from there, you can click on the name to link to here, to the specific reviews of fragrance that could work.

 

Hope that helps! PS try Temple Viper (I think) in the snake pit of Carnivale Diabolique.

I just received my order literally 10 minutes ago, and the first thing I tried was Lilith v. the Giant Crab.

 

OH MY GOD. This is everything I had hoped it would be. I had been wishing for a creamsicle scent since joining, and now I have it! In fact, it's better than creamsicle: it begins all tart and tangy, then slowly gets spicy, almost gingery, like a delicious orange spice cookie. Then, finally, just when I'm about to eat my elbow (the oil goes in my crook, since my wrists touch everything each day), it shows a hint of cream underneath all the yummy spice.

 

So far, I haven't been able to detect anything aquatic from it, although my left elbow, where my second application went, is far more powdery feeling than the application of the scent in my right elbow. Still, the powdery feeling makes it more creamy, rather than old ladyish.

 

I could huff this all day. LOVE IT.