Invidiana

I love red musk, so I was sure this one would be a winner for me, and it is. The clove and redwood are at the top, supported by red musk and soaked in sweet blackcurrent. It's a murky and spicy scent that may have been inspired by something that comes up in people's nightmares, but is actually very alluring!

This one starts out deceptively cold and almost evergreen-ish and then warms up and just bursts with depth and spice. I'm definitely getting the clove, which I love and also amp The labdanum adds a lovely dark bitterness, the ginger and saffron and pimento berry spice it up, the smoky vanilla gives it an enticing sweetness, and the myrrh adds a hazy, incensy quality, the patchouli and sage and moss ground it in earthiness. So complex and so beautiful

This really is both warm and cold at once: there's the warmth of the golden amber and crystalline quality of the white, the warmth of the woods and the coolness of the sage, tree moss and snow. For anyone afraid of rose, because I know a lot of people are, the bois du rose is barely noticeable, if at all. An ethereal and mysterious scent that really makes you want to sniff tiwce.

This is just amazing; it's just intoxicating, for lack of a better word. Reminds me a bit of that E.M. Forster story where the girl is so enamored with the woods she eventually turns into a tree. It's got a lot of evergreen, and a great mix of evergreens, but the musk adds this wonderful feral quality that just makes it burst into life. Faunalia is rich, dark, warm, cold, inviting and sinister all at once--hard to describe in words--you have to smell it for yourself to see what I mean.

This is very, very true to the description. I get it all: icy evergreen branches, dry leaves (I'm a huge sucker for dry leaves), a soft floral background and a certain warmth brought on by the musks and what must be the red peppers (no, this doesn't smell like regular or hot peppers I swear), the kind of warmth you get from sitting in a lighted room while a storm rages outside. This must have been a difficult concept to bring to life through scent--beautifully done!

This is delectible. At first I get hazelnut, then the honey appears, and finally the sweet wild berries. I'm not getting any hay or carrot specfically, but something of a warm undertone that the honey blends into perfectly like it does with the hay in Hay Moon, though the hay is much less obvious here. Sleipnir is just a delicious Christmas treat!

I love this. It actually come out very cinnamonny on my skin, and before I looked at the note list I could have sworn there was cinnamon; maybe it's just the way things reacted with my chemistry. Cinnamon is one of my favorite notes, and to me this smells like cinnamon red hots all grown up and sexified, especially with the red musk. It's the bottled equivalent of a slinky red dress.

I like the dash of lime mingling with the vanilla and candied tamarind in this blend, which is a perfect summer citrus for people who don't do stereotypical summery scents, but unfortunately it's battling with one of the florals that's taking on a cat pee undertone on my skin. I can't figure out what it is that does this--it's not jasmine or verbena for sure, maybe it's the marigold? The same thing happened to me with New Orleans. What a shame, because it really is a beautiful blend with a beautiful story behind it.

This has a very dominant rose note in the beginning--I'm thinking a deep pink rose color--but as it dries down the other layers surface and give it more sweetness and depth. Not sure if this is a "me" rose blend, since I tend to like prefer rose either mixed with something foody or as a supporting note, I'll have to try my decant again and really explore the layers.

This is one of those where you really need to wait for the full drydown to experience all the layers. It starts out deceptively dusty and woody, much like the cellar Montresor and Fortunato found themselves in, but gradually deepens from that dusty brown scent to a rich deep reddish-brown that encompasses the sweet sherry and berries and orange peel with just a touch of dread from the patchouli at the end. A masterful way of capturing that character and scene!

This is a mysterious, hazy dark floral with the addition of delicious tart black currants. I definitely get the blackcurrant, which I love , the black amber mingles with it to add a sexy depth, and the blue musk and cedar really add that hazy component that makes this scent all the more alluring. The lavender brings on a faint drowsy quality that is true to being bewitched by magical creatures. This is how I do florals!

My skin tends to do well with chocolate, and this one did not disappoint. In fact, it went above and beyond what I expected because I was a little afraid of the pepper, but it's not peppery at all. The "pepper-smoked" aspect really just adds a smoky, sexy depth to the sweet creamy caramel, and the dark chocolate deepens it all the more. Absolutely love.

This is very true to pumpkin cheesecake--it smells exactly, and I really mean exactly, like the one I had at Maggiano's last week. My skin tends to do well with cream/dairy notes, and the spiced pumpkin and cream cheese are in a smooth and perfect balance. Also, the delicious honey graham cracker crust really shines through! I'm a sucker for dessert-foody scents, and this is one of my all-time BPAL faves

Yes, definitely lilac in this...but I get a sense of something berry-ish as well that balances out the lilac and keeps it from being too Easter (I don't know, lilacs just always remind me of Easter). The berryish part reminds me of Midnight Kiss, and while I happen to prefer Midnight Kiss, I'm going to test this out a few more times and see what happens.

Tart mandarin and sticky, earthy fig, both notes I love, come together in this fierce, sweet blend that's downright dripping with temptation...the temptation to eventually turn my imp into a full bottle. Neither dominates the other; they're both perfectly balanced.

Though I've never been to New Orleans, this is truly evocative of that area; I can totally imagine the sinsiter-looking marshes and bayous with gnarly tendrils of things hanging everywhere, bringing up visions of the kinds of places Lestat de Lioncourt haunts. It starts out really green wet but quickly dries down into a smooth and sweet dark floral in the same family as Roux-ga-Roux (though they're not the same).

This is another one of those atypical summer scents that has my name written all over it. There's salty, resfreshing seaspray deepened and sweetened by the blood accord. It's...it's an evil beach, that's it.

YUM. This is straight-up, mouthwatering butterscotch-y buttered rum. I be gettin me a bottle o'this, matey!

The rose isn't in your face, the myrrh sweetens it up a bit, and the musk is lovely. Not sure if this particular blend is "me", but there's something mysterious about it that's going to make me try it again.

There is something honey-ish about this blend, which I really like; there must be honey in the 'burnished gold' note. The incense as a smoky and sweet support base for the honey, and the sage can be a little sharp initially but fades on me in the drydown. Definitely not as sharp-metallic as I expected something like this to smell; a pleasant surprise. After this, I'm definitely looking forward to Gold Phoenix even more!

Unfortunately, my skin doesn't get on very well with this at all. The notes look like they should all work on me, but maybe it's the petitgrain--it's the leaves and twigs of the bitter orange plant, and my guess is that on me, petitgrain+patchouli=disaster. Whether it's the petitgrain or a certain combination of any two or more scents in the blend, whatever it is, my body chemistry instantly turns it into sharp black pepper. This is why I am thankful for the existence of imps.

This is another one of those that really needs to dry down before you can get the full scope of it. Wet, it starts off very woody and smoky, almost too masculine, but the feminine notes emerge relatively soon. For anyone afraid of rose blends, the rose just blends into the other florals seamlessly without being prominent. Santa Muerte reminds me of a woodier, smokier version of Mictecacihuatl. Beautifully done!

This comes out as a very true lilac to me, with a hint of dragon's blood in the background; odd, since I usually amp dragon's blood over florals, but then again there are quite a few florals here up against the dragon's blood. Reminds me more of Easter than dragons Guess that's just how it played out on my skin.

Errr, this comes out as really strong lemon verbena on me, much like lemon cleaner. It's made even more pungent by the rosemary. Proof that not everyone's skin works with every blend, even yours truly who has success with things like cream and chocolate. Ah well, it's always good to try.

I can definitely see how this is evocative of angels with all the white florals. The whtie sandalwood and frankincense deepen it a bit without making it too "dark" for the theme, and the frankincense adds just a slight resinous sweetness. For those of you afraid of rose, it isn't too prominent at all, just hangs in the background. It's a lovely scent; not really my type of thing, but still lovely from an objective standpoint.