valentina

Wow, 14 pages of reviews, Alice must be a favorite! So I finally got around to trying Alice myself -- initially on the skin, it's milky and floral, pleasant in an innocent, girlish sort of way. Then, the damn rose kicks in and amps insanely. It's amazing how rose can take over a scent on my skin chemistry, but it does. After a couple of hours, the rose finally wears off, and I get more of the milky vanilla scent with the spice of the carnation. That is really, really pretty. If you're a person who can hold the balance of the scent, this would be lovely, I am certain.

On me, The Agony of Loss starts out sharp as a blade! I get a lot of very herbal, fresh lavender -- not the dried variety, the freshly-crushed variety. I also smell cedar, but I tend to amp cedar. That element lasts about 15 minutes, and then the lavender mellows and the sandalwood and smoke become much more apparent. I can also get a whiff of sweetness from the awapuhi in the background -- not that much, but just enough to soften the blend a bit more. What I get is a visual of someone going on a camping trip by themselves, sitting out among the cedars and tossing herbs, a few dried flowers and old love letters on the fire built with aromatic wood.

I'm a bit of an incense junkie, so when I smelled Chintamani-Dhupa in the bottle, it was like sniffing an unburned stick of very nice Indian incense. Once on my skin, it's most like the very clean, bright incenses, not cloyingly sweet or floral, I think because of the pine in the scent. Because it's very redolent of sandalwood and pine, I think this is a very unisex fragrance. The honey in this blend is not prevalent, and I think it serves to soften the sharpness of pine of sandalwood, which could become exceedingly sharp and bitter without something to smooth things out. Overall, it's a classic Indian incense scent, and I think it would work equally well as a room scent or as a fragrance to be worn on the body.

ETA: The second time I wore this scent, I found it had a most amazing morph on the long term (2 hours+) dry-down. It went from having a certain edge to having a really lovely, honeyed, soft sandalwood quality. Gorgeous.

In the bottle, Vasakasajja is really an "oh, WOW" sort of fragrance. It's beautiful, round, bright, and intoxicating. Of all my new bottles, it was the scent I could hardly wait to try, because it smelled that good. On initial application and drydown, it's a fruity-floral exotic scent, with that incense undertone from the champaca flowers. I was tremendously excited. Then my body chemistry did its unfortunate thing and it became overwhelmingly sweet and berry-like. It changed so much from what it had been in the bottle and on first drydown, but that's typical of my body with fruity florals. For anyone who doesn't have a problem amping florals and fruity smells, and could retain that scent that I got on the first whiff, I am SO jealous of you, for this is a beautiful fragrance.

In the bottle, Svadhinaopatika is sandwood incense. When it hits my skin, it retains its strong sandalwood scent, but a sweet incense quality follows on drydown. That rather sharp sandalwood incense quality continues for a half-hour or so, with the edge taken off by a certain powdery untone, which is probably the amber. But then it morphs again and really mellows down into a richer, deeper scent. After I had it on for a couple of hours, I could swear it had a sweet, tobacco-like quality to the scent. Maybe the oude or the massoia bark, sweetened by honey? I don't know, but when it hit that point, oh my hell, it is sexy. Love it to pieces!

In the bottle, Bakeneko wasn't any big woo for me -- it smells spicy, but almost a little dull. Deceiving little kitty cat! When it hits my skin, I get musk with citrus and cardamom. Upon further drydown, it's a dark spice tea, lots of cardamom and a warm skin-scent from the musk, which saves it from being a pure tea scent. Lurking underneath is just a teense of sweetness, which must be teh cherry blossom. Just. Freaking. Gorgeous. It's an extremely well-balanced scent, and finally, a scent with cardamom that isn't overwhelmed by another component when it hits my skin. This is a scent to absolutely treasure, because it is so utterly beautiful.

In the imp, I know that Queen Gertrude is a floral. I'm not a great floral nose, but it did seem rather purple smelling and I suspected violets or lilacs. When it went on my skin, and through drydown, it's a floral fragrance, but not an obnoxiously strong one. My ability to wear florals is very, very limited, but this isn't that bad -- it does have a sweetness of violets, but I think the chrysanthemum is cutting the sweet florals.

I would simply love to smell this on someone who could wear florals well, because I think it would be divine -- and I associate violets with spring and mums with late summer, so I think it's a great juxtaposition of scents and seasons.

I received an imp of The High Priest Not To Be Described as a frimp from the Lab. Thank you!

In the imp, The High Priest is musky and peppery -- when I first sniffed it, I didn't know the components of the blend and assumed the peppery quality was black musk, since that's how it feels to my nose. But in this case, I think I'm also actually smelling the pepper in the blend. Once on my skin, and through initial drydown, I'm getting the peppery musk, plus leather. This is hot, slick, black leather! Leather is normally a monster on my skin and really blows up, but in The High Priest, it's kept in check rather well. The cypress gives this scent a bit of a woody undertone, but what I really detect under the musk-pepper-leather is the pimento -- it gives a nice little tangy zip that blends in really well with the pepper, but doesn't add heaviness.

This is a really masculine scent, and while it smells great on me, it's a little too manly for my taste. However, for women who love those hot, spicy leather scents, or for someone who wants a drop-dead sexy, mysterious, slightly dangerous-smelling scent for their man-thing, THIS IS IT.

When I first sniffed Lycaon, I got a lot of green smells -- the olive leaf and cypress, no doubt. And when I first applied it, the olive and cypress went into full bloom, but after 5 minutes or so, things settled down and started smelling green and powdery -- the powder was the myrrh kicking in, no doubt. This is such a complex blend that after a complete drydown it became difficult to articulate just what I was smelling -- there's certainly the frankincense and myrrh combo in the forefront, but the peppery black musk and hints of the green elements of the scent lurk in the background. It's a scent that's rather masculine, but certainly very nice as a dark and brooding scent for a woman. And I just can't stop smelling it!! It's so complex as to truly defy description, but I do have a rather overwhelming urge to pull out my Warren Zevon CD and sing along with "Werewolves of London..."

While Wolf Moon 2006 smells piney and a bit musky in the bottle, it turns quickly to a very bright, crisp forest smell. This is truly the smell of junipers and cedars on a really cold, clear winter night. There is a snap to the forest smell, for it's not a green sappy smell. It's like you walked through ice and snow-crusted junipers and cedars and as the snow and ice fell from the branches the smell of the trees wafted up through the icy air. I detect a little bit of the black musk, because it always seems a bit peppery to my nose, but it only enhances the sharpness of the forest smells. For me, this isn't a warm and cozy winter blend, but rather a wonderful evocation of a cold forest and high, lonely hills in the dead of winter.

Muse is a rather amazing little blend. I tested it not knowing what was in it, and I found it on initial application to be very floral, in a round, buttery sort of way. I really couldn't figure out what was in it and suspected ylang-ylang. It had a rather sweet-floral surge, but then it calmed down into a softer, vaguely powdery, slightly spicy scent with a bit of an edge. It's not really "me," but it's very wearable. Then I looked up the ingredients, and holy cats! This has three big monster ingredients for me -- normally tuberose, lotus and jasmine can all be a bit obnoxious on me; in fact, I might have considered this a "nightmare" scent if I'd read the ingredients and not tested it. The fact that I consider this scent wearable attests to how balanced the blend must be, for I get a hint of tuberose, the spice of the lotus, a little bit of a powdery jasmine, and the lime must be doing overtime work to hold them all in line. It was great fun testing this scent, and I think it's one that floral fans could love, and even people who don't love florals could enjoy!

OK, I'm not going to suggest a specific scent to you because I love patchouli so much that I like to wear pure patchouli, straight up. But I'll share my experience with jasmine, which is normally a nemesis of mine -- I can wear Siren because in addition to jasmine, it has both ginger and vanilla in it, notes that I really like. I'd suggest that you look at the BPAL patchouli blends and see if there's any with other components that you like. The patchouli may run over them like a Mack truck when you wear them, but I think it's worth a try...

And for what it's worth, OK, I lied, here comes the name of a specific scent! I love Mme. Moriarty, and that's patchouli leaf in that blend. I think it's just a little brighter and fresher smelling, and there's some fruitiness in Mme. that you might enjoy.

In the bottle, Pumpkin Queen is that round, buttery pumpkin smell with spices. Very mellow and warm. When it hits my skin, the pumpkin is very predominate at first, but as it starts to dry down, all the elements of the scent become apparent. It's such a well-blended fragrance that it's really difficult for me to say that I'm pulling any one component in particular -- I detect pumpkin, but also a very elegant orange and deep, but not overpowering spice. I think the amber, cardamom and ginger give this blend a certain exotic quality that separates it from the more traditional pumpkin pie scents. For me, it's not the warm, cozy smell of mom cooking pumpkin pie in her country kitchen, but rather a more sublime, mature scent that would be worn by a queen. This is a beautiful scent that could move beautifully from autumn into winter, and I'm so pleased that I have a bottle!

I purchased a bottle of Melisande for a friend who's a jasmine lover, but that did not stop me from putting a wee tip of a toothpick into the potion so I could do a wee test and write a review. In the bottle, Melisande is a softer, gentler jasmine than some of the other blends I've smelled. When it hits my skin, it's again a softer jasmine upon initial drydown. I've grown accustomed enough to jasmine that I don't recoil when I smell it, and I wait to see if it will let the rest of the blend do good things or bad things on my skin. After about 15 minutes, the jasmine in Melisande really explodes, and it's kind of skeevy with the musk and orange in the background. It gives me a powdery, sour jasmine for a while, but then the offending elements burn themselves off after perhaps 45 minutes to an hour. Then I'm left with a vanilla-jasmine smell with just a hint of violet that's very petite and nice, albeit almost too understated. But... I know my friend will adore it -- I think this is a lovely, feminine, almost delicate jasmine blend. All the Carnival scents are so uniquely blended, and Melisande is no exception.

Midnight Mass is exactly what the description states that it is -- it's a classic sacremental incense smell, with maybe a hint of pine or juniper. It evokes perfectly the scent of incense burning in a church on Christmas Eve, and the fragrance of the incense comingles with the scent of the greenery decorating the church. I love incense, and to me it's a classic dark, contemplative, quiet, calming scent. I am planning to put this scent on when I meditate, because the long, deep, dark nights of December are a time of deep contemplation and this scent alone helps take me to a quieter place.

(I'm reviewing the 2006 release of this scent.)

In the imp, Bewitched smells very pretty and round, fruity and green, but not in a fake or candy-like sort of way -- it's very natural and really pretty. When it hits my skin, it very quickly explodes into a very strong green smell that is intensely herbal. I'd guess it to be both the green tea and the sage. Then the berry aroma kicks in, and that becomes very loud and fruity. My body chemistry has a tendency to amp up both green herbals and berries, and the musk in Bewitched is not enough to hold them down during the first hour or so of wear. As I've discovered in the time that I've been testing BPAL, if an aroma really amps up obnoxiously on me, that means my body is also burning it off in a hurry and it will go away. And sure enough -- the herbs and the berries settle down after about an hour to an hour and a half, and I'm left with the muskiness of the blend, which is a very gentle, dark musk. I think for anyone who loves green herbals/green tea and berry fragrances, but is a bit shy of musk, this might be a great scent to try, for the emphasis of the blend is not the musk, but it gives a lovely dark undertone to the brightness of the sage, green tea and berries.

I tested this scent assuming that with a name like Black Ice, it would smell like vetiver and ice and tire rubber! So it was a bit of a surprise when I sniffed it and discovered an aquatic, icy-cool scent. Then I put it on my skin, and at first the aquatic note rose to the top, but it was rapidly followed by floral notes and then a bit of resin/smokiness. As time passed, it began to smell very similar to the way that Christian Dior Poison perfume smells on me. What on earth?? I used to wear Poison, but a similarity to that perfume is the last thing I expected from Black Ice. I have no idea what notes are similar in both scents, but I'm guessing some amber and possibly something berry-like. Vetiver is normally a no-no component for me, and my nose can't really catch a whiff of it in Black Ice.

I don't find the scent masculine at all, but I do find it rather noir and a bit sinister, yet pretty. Of all the Yules, this one totally shocked the hell out of me, because it's so beautiful.

This is a review for the 2006 Jacob's Ladder, not having tried the 2005 version. In the imp, this scent smells ambery and not at all sweet. I can catch a bit of citrus around the edges. Once it's on my body, from first contact to eventual dry-down, it's rose. How does this happen? I sniff it on my skin and all I can get was rose with a bit of citrus! I checked the ingredient list and there it was, rockrose. Good grief, my body chemistry! All of the other reviews of this scent sound divine, and what I've said should only apply if there's someone else out there whose body turns rose into the major component of any blend, no matter how far down the list of ingredients it happens to be.

Sol Invictus is a sharp, herbal-floral scent when I sniff it -- it smells very much like warmth and pollen to me. When it hits my skin, what I instantly think of is sunflowers! I think that's probably the saffron and helitrope blending together. After it dries down a while, I also pick up a citrusy element lingering behind the gold herbal-floral smell. I pick up very little resin in this blend, mainly the gold-orange smells. This is seemingly the anti-cold, anti-dark smell of the Yules -- it's the antidote to the short, dark days of December.

I've been a bratty child and Krampus is here to switch my butt with a big old belt! In the imp, Krampus almost makes me sneeze, because it's like sticking your nose in a dusty closet full of leather boots. There is also the peppery pungency of the red musk, which can not be mistaken. On my skin, Krampus really blooms hot and peppery-musky, then dries down and morphs a bit into a dusty sharp musky smell with a bit of leather and wood. Normally leather is a monster on my skin and takes over, but not here. This is your perfect anti-sweetness-and-light holiday/winter scent. No sweetness or spices or snow or pretty green trees. Just down and dirty, bend over and take your swats! It's something a man could wear beautifully, and a woman could also wear it when she's not concerned with being all sugar and spice and everything nice, but rather, just the opposite. I am getting into this way too much... I'll stop now, you probably get the idea.

I hesitated trying Winter of Our Discontent because it has a lot of typical no-no components for me (evergreen, rose, clove), but how could I not try a scent with such a name? In the imp, I smelled a lot of greenery and spice. I didn't even test it for a while, because I was convinced it wouldn't work -- and at first, certainly, the evergreen scent is predominate, with a bit of dark, spicy resins thrown in. Amazingly, this scent mellows as it dries down and is so complex and well-blended that it's difficult to pull one specific component. I can smell the rose, but I can also smell the greens, and the cloves and frankincense. It's probably another good unisex fragrance -- I think it could smell great on a man, but it's also resiny, smoky and a bit floral, so it's lovely dark, smoldering wintertime scent for a woman. I really enjoy this scent and of all the decants that I've tried, I think that I may have to order a bottle of this.

In the imp, Haloa is such a pretty, round, buttery, gold sort of smell. When it hits my skin, and for the first 10 minutes or so, it remains very round, buttery, smooth and foody. Sweet and yummy, somewhat like Cockaigne. Then the wine and myrrh kick in with my body chemistry and goofy things start to happen. Wine can go very sour and wino-ish on my body, and myrrh gets powdery, and they blow away the smell of the sweet cakes. This is something to truly pout about, because this is a gorgeous scent that I think could be much-loved by anyone who can wear it on their skin.

In the imp, Snow-Flakes is pungent and sharp -- very edgy, like a snowflake. On my skin, it starts out extremely green and sharp, in a piney or juniper-ish way. It's almost pungent. After it dries down, I detect what seems like white musk, for it's a bit powdery -- like the dry powder on a mountainside -- and an almost wintergreen mint quality. Again, this scent seems really angular, very cool, both green and white, like new snowfall on a forest. I think it could be very unisex, as I don't find it terribly feminine or masculine. The description of this scent truly captures its essence, for it truly does capture both radiance and desolation. Brilliant!

In the imp, Clio smells like an antique store with some freshly-oiled old wood. It's rich and deep. On my skin and in the initial stages of drydown, the "dusty" note, that I can amp like nobody's business, came to the forefront along with lavendar and orange. It's sharp and intense. Now I'm in a dusty antique shop with lavendar and orange sachets nearby. But Clio is an unusual one! It morphs into a richer, darker patchouli-orange smell that on my body, is very much like Ravenous, except the orange smell has the upper hand. And then a spicy green element blooms after a bit more. To me, this is a scent that would be good on a snowy day; I see Clio as having a certain sharpness and angularity to it, versus a lot of the rounder, more voluptous scents that I typically wear. I am really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy Clio!

In the bottle, The Lion is a spicy, outdoorsy-dry amber. It very, very much evokes the hot dry savanna, with the big cats sitting around in the shade in the middle of the day. On my body, it starts out ambery and spicy and then - bam! - it turns really dry and dusty. It's sharp, almost acrid, dusty spice. Something about the dry, dusty BPAL scent amps up on my body with extreme efficiency, to the point that it becomes the focal point of a scent. The gold and warmth of the amber went buh-bye, like a lion ate it for a snack. I waited to see if the dry smell would back down, but it didn't -- it stayed put for several hours, then burnt off, but took the rest of the fragrance with it. The Lion isn't bad on me, it's just not golden and warm -- it's a hot, dry blow furnace.