ellebelle

Holy foodie-riffic batman! This smells strongly of popcorn, chocolate and spices. It's a really pretty scent, but is so strong that it gives me a headache. Great throw on this.

 

This sounded so strange, but it's a beautiful, sweet, green scent. I definitely get the vegetal note from the tomato vines and the squashes and I think that the sweetness is from the pomegranate rind. Nothing smells like stinky cheese, so whatever that notes is just rounds it all out. Simply stunning.

On me, this is an effervescent vanilla. FWIW, it don't get the "soap" feeling the freneticfloetry gets. It almost smells like a light vanilla mixed with one of the champagne notes (perhaps the musk is giving me this feeling). It's light and refreshing and just perfect for summer! I don't get any violets at all, and that is one of my death notes. It must be very subtle (perhaps the sharp sweetness Freneticfloetry alludes to) and must just be adding to the roundness of the scent. I didn't really think I was going to buy this one, but then I couldn't help myself.

This smells like a single note myrrh on my skin. All I get in a single scent and it is a smooth, sweet resin. Try this if you liked Cat Allingham or Ra.

Very "clean" smelling. The metallic note reminds me strongly of the "metal" in Torture Queen - it's mostly light ozone and high florals. This is a pretty scent, but has low lasting power.

This was all coffee and cardamom on my skin. Heavy, intense, dry coffee. The rose note is there, but it is in the background and does not predominate. I'm not big on foodie scents, so I passed on this one, but it would be awesome as a room spray.

I love this very much - the mixture of orris and tobacco smells very much like tobacco flower which predominates on my skin. It makes this smell very grown up and sexy. As it dries, it sweetens a bit, which I think might be the amber coming out to play! I do not get much sandalwood at all which is a blessing because it typically smells like pencil shavings on me. I wasn't planning to buy a bottle, but then I did.

 

Try this if you like tobacco flower heavy scents - it's most similar to Earth Spider (the Salon LE) in my collection.

This smells absolutely nothing like I was expecting it to smell. I really thought this would be wintery and snowy smelling, but the lychee is really dominant on my skin. It reminds me strongly of the Chinese New Year scents, actually, because of that lychee note. As it dries, I can pick up the lavender faintly until, like a breath on the wind, it is gone. It's pretty, I'm not sure I need to keep it as I have a lot of similar scents in my collection.

 

If you like this, try Earth Ox, Fire Pig, or maybe Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse....

Am I alone that in the wet stage, this smells strongly of tamarind? I'm surprised so few people have mentioned that. It smells JUST like the tamarind candies you can buy at some specialty grocery stores. As it dries down, I start to get the resins - which is awesome - but then I can also smell the violets, which is much less awesome. Violet always smells like cheap commercial perfume to me. I agree with the person who said that this is on the edge of greatness. I'll keep my imp, but no need for a bottle.

This has the strangest yellow color on my skin. On me, there isn't much green - mostly, it's a sweet, sexy musk. This was a decant I tossed in at the last minute and it might be my favorite Yule.

This has skyrocketed to be possibly my favorite red musk scent. I'm not a red musk lover, but something with the incense and the spiciness of the leaves balances the bitterness of the red musk. This is magic, and it my favorite scent of the YEAR.

I also smelled a lot of smoke in this. It's a strange mixture - sometimes I'd smell my arm and get a wave of fruity citrus, but then I'd get another wave of sulfur. It's interesting, but not bottle-worthy for me.

Overall, this reminds me a lot of the set stage of Brahmin. Lots of clove, amybe other spices as well. It's a bit strong for me for a room spray - gives me a headache.

This is like a crisp, red delicious apple. If last years autumn harvest was warm and glowing, this is an apple orchard on a crisp fall evening. It's really pretty and makes the room smell wonderful.

This smells like fancy soap.

This is a strong opium scent, which is a note that I love. In the wet stage, this is just a giant blast of opium. As it dries, more of the notes become apparently - I get whiffs of the tobacco smoke which add a "dirty" aspect to this scent and then I get something in the background that is very sour smelling and sharp. It is this note which is making me sad because the rest of this is gorgeous. As it goes to the full dry down, that sharp/sour note goes away and I get beautifully rounded opium/tobacco smoke/sherry goodness. I have to think on this as wet and dry and beautiful, but that dry down phase is a little rough for me. I have to wonder if this has myrrh in it somewhere, because that seems to be a common note in blends that I associate with that distinctive sour/sharp scent.

I had high hopes for this one. I love honey as note and I hoped that the honey and champaca flower (favorite notes) might balance my less favorite woods. Sadly, that is not to be. When I first put this on, I definitely got the Snake Oil kind of vibe from it, but the sweetness wore off quickly in favor of WOOD. This becomes a strong wood + patchouli scent on me - and boy does it have throw! I had to scrub it off.

This is lovely! It's a bright, effervescent fizzy scent, reminiscent of the fizzy note in the atomic luau blends or perhaps velvet pink kitty. There is a light autumnal note in there from the pumpkin, but pumpkin haters take heart! It is not powerful. More it just adds a buttery richness to the scent. I love this and I see it being worn frequently.

Sweet resin-y snowbank, I <3 you! The intial scent is most definitely the BPAL frost note, but right from the beginning it is warmed by the all of the resins. I particularly get a lot of amber, which is just what I hoped for! As the frost note fades, the dragon's blood note comes out but its not sickly sweet or in your face. I get little to no leather from this.

On the other hand, I LOVE pomegranate and I LOVE cognac, so I was most exicted for this scent.

 

But alas, it was not to bed. The pomegranate is a nice juicy note, but there is something in this that smells rancid, like burning. Perhaps the black myrrh or saffron is ruining this for me? The notes smell discordant and ugly to my nose. Into the swaps box it goes.

No beach balls for me either!

 

In the bottle, this smells astringent enough that I was worried about putting it on. I shouldn't have worried though! Wet (on me) is dominated by a green, grassy scent that is very fresh. I suspect that the crushed grasses have some kind of dandelion in there. That grassiness wears away leaving behind a smoky, leather scent reminiscent of the leather in Liz and a smoke like in Smokey Moon. Eventually the smoke blows away leaving just leather. This is nice, and I suspect will age into a leathery-er scent.

I guess I'm first?

I put this on before I remembered what was in it. It is a very well-rounded scent - so much so that it was difficult for me to pick out any notes in particular. I thought for a moment that it might have opium in it because it's kind of a dark, musky scent but I think it was the midnight musk I was smelling. The herbs are particularly not present. It's mostly orchids and black musk on me.

I was hesitant in ordering this, but I like it very much, actually! It's a grown up, sexy kind of scent. If you like BPALs with opium or black musk as a predominant note, give this a try.

I waffled A LOT on a bottle of this, but I'm so glad I risked it. Ambergris is often an iffy note for me, but it plays well with the others. On first whiff, it's definitely a lemony floral, but as it dries the scent deepens with the boggy more earth-like notes into something sexy and sensual. I anticipate wearing this frequently on warm summer days.

On me, this is fabulous. I wasn't going to order a bottle then I got a decant on a whim and rushed to order a bottle. On me, the honey and sugar blossom are reminiscent of the sweetness in Fairy Market, one of my favorite scents. The florals are sweeter than Fairy Market which sweetens this blend more, but I don't find it candy like. If Fairy Market is the dewy morning, this version of Poisoom d'Avril is the bright light of day. I love my bottle.

This is a surprise hit for me. Do NOT fear the eucalyptus! It is not super strong, but a nice frosty note that reminds me of the snow note in Okayaki. Light flower with a cool winter chill, this is wonderful.