SophieCedar

Wet: while the comparison to Dorian rings true, it shifts quickly to a spicier creamier version on me. Something like a earl grey honeycomb, heavy cream, and clove. I can smell the jasmine leave and white musk, probably adding to the creaminess and the association with Dorian. Glad I tried this again. 1st tested in the summertime and I barely smelled anything. Drydown: After a little while, the earl grey is more apparent. Still creamy and now fragrant vanilla bean is really dominant too. The white fougere and jasmine leaf swirl around in the background. ZOMG..this is amazing!

Wet: smokey and a blackened burgundy feel. Looking at the ingredients, I think the incense, amber, and oakmoss are amping. It's nice but not very strong. Drydown: the french virginal florals and leather win. Surprising to say the least! Color impression turns wavy white with purple, blue and amber shafts of light.

YESsss!I remembered, as I applied this, I've been searching for an elusive white horse.. a natural cucumber scent.. ever since Aubrey Organics discontinued their Cucumber & Mandarin facial cleanser 12 years ago. It was NOT the cleanser for my skin type. In fact, it made me break out. Regardless, I adored it so much that I slathered scrubbed and repeated until all was gone. Reason? The lovely cucumber scent. Squirting Cucumber has an identical cucumber note (without the nasty side-effects). In fact, I like it even better. It's fresh, green, grassy, soothing, cooling, wet cucumber from imp to drydown. Cucumber is my reset button. *sigh* Off to buy a bottle!

Wet: In imp and 1st applied, this smelled like prepubescent cologne of the most-obnoxious-bad-teenage-totally-wrong-half-naked-ads-on-mall-store-exterior kind. I was super disappointed because the mix sounded so great on digital paper. Drydown: different story. It's sweet narcotic poppy and dark patchouli with lingering white musk. I like this now.. but my nose is shell-shocked. The wet phase was so strong and overpowering I'm having trouble detecting & appreciating the dry phase.

Wet: lime based men's cologne with a nice floral backing. I can see the froot loops relation if I smell lightly. The white musk helps smooth out the edges so it's not sharp as hell. Drydown: the lilac and citron are more pronounced and the blend is dryer (nicer). I can picture a lunatic much more clearly here. It's slightly like a de-concocted white version of azathoth. Sweet. I'm wearing both, one on each wrist today. When I'm bored, in my multiple meetings, I can imagine them duking it out.

Wet: warm dry brown. Frankincense and white sage, a little of the lavender fougere. However...where's the lemon peel? I think it's just amping these 3. Drydown: lavender fougere wins. It changes dramatically in drydown. Now I can smell the sandalwood, a peek of the vetivert, and even the labdanum. It's actually quite comforting..in that meditational solitude way.

Wet: grape lollipops stuck in a bed of lilies covered in dew. Drydown: green lily, pear, with purple grape lollipops. Interesting but not something I'll reach for.

When I received this decant in the mail, it was frozen solid! The cap had actually bulged off of it from the ice expansion! Makes me wonder what combo is in this besides for oil. Wet: fancy root beer... smells like Fentimans dandilion & burdock soda (yum). Sassafras is strongest followed by champaca and black tea. Can't really pick out the tonka over the sassafras. Drydown: I can smell the tonka now. It's mostly tonka and sassafras with black tea.

Wet: whoa! I'm awake! I'm awake. pine, bay, rosemary.. all there. Color impression cerulean blue, gray, with shots of light green. Amping the pine and bay. Drydown: still mostly pine. Small amounts of bay and lemon. The rosemary is getting clouded by the pine. I can see this being a perfect scent for some, but this is a bit much on me.

Wet: tea rose, white geranium, and calla lily with a slight violet. Color impression light lilac and flashes of pink and light blue with misty white. Very fragrant, strong. Drydown: same. I was hoping for more muguet and chamomile but they're up against some serious competition. It is a very pretty scent, not quite as sad as I was expecting. On the right skin, I could see this being perfection. However my skin isn't the right mate. Keeping to try again in spring/summertime.

Wet: sweet syrupy dark wildflower honey.. honey that's dark amber brown when you peer through the bottle. The gunpowder is sweet and metallic with hints of dirt. Drydown: Something about this is reminding me of a combination of lush products..the honey note is very similar to what I smell in flying fox and flying saucers. Something smells of sandalwood or a similar dark wood. I think that's reminding me of coalface or dark angels. Not bad because all those are my favorite products! I'm really liking this one.. much more than I thought I would.

Wet: all ingredients are present. The rose turns it a little powdery right off. I thought it was a honey note and a floral at 1st. I've never experienced neroli as a 1st note. Here, it's grabbed up and muzzled by the black musk, rose, apple, and vanilla. The patchouli is in there but distorted. Drydown: sweet powdery vanilla and black musk with a touch of teak and apple. Smells like loves baby soft..? Uhmm.

Wet: The only note that gets lost on me is the nutmeg. Definitely reminiscent of middle eastern markets I've visited, so nice memories flooding right now. Saffron and amber together are so dreamy. The rose reminds me of the rose essence and waters that I could find at said markets. Mixed with the spices this is wonderfully mysterious. Drydown: more warmth develops, which is nice. The rose backs off a bit (thanks!) I had prepared myself for the possibility that it could turn into acrid spice hell but that didn't happen! yay! Just a warm spicy, non-overpowering rose combination.

Wet: damp light sweet rose, a la Hope. The sandalwood is the strongest which is surprising because when they show sandalwood as the 1st note, I never believe them. It always gets lost behind the other ingredients. Not here! It's sweet fragrant sandalwood with a real presence. The patchouli is slight so not to disturb the gentle balance of the 3. The throw and general aura is similar to tushnamatay...that's a great thing. I feel foolish for passing this one over so many times now. Drydown: Still there in the same balance. Lovely sweet woody creamy fragrance. Perfectly blended and great for every day. My new go-to scent for indecisive days.

Wet: the almond milk is creamy, nutty and fragrant, followed by slightly sharp pine bark. The sarsaparilla adds a spice that amps the pine bark and patchouli. Drydown: patchouli and pine bark take over. the almond milk and sarsaparilla are now staying in the background. This has turned sharp on me because I'm amping the patchouli and pine. Pine variations get lost on me sometimes and just turn into "strong pine".

Wet: smoky oiled leather and vetivert. The black musk amps it nicely. Drydown: same!

Wet: the only way I can explain it is "disruptive floral honey". I like the smell however this is so strong that it warrants caution on application. The daphne smells like a mix of white rose, laurel,and a touch of magnolia. Very interesting. The honey is just an amplifier for this. I would expect this smell to precede the entrance of an incredibly cruel but attractive woman. It's rank with ill intention. Drydown: the same. Pure evil of the humanly feminine kind. *shudder* Hmm. when to use this is the question..

Wet: this is a very straight-forward scent.. the only element getting lost on me is heliotrope. The frankincense, carnation, and angelica form this wonderful scent wall... There's walls of sound for hit bands, then there's walls of smell. This is one. There's a tinkling piano in the background... chamomile. Drydown: still there, just less amplified. Frankincense, I'm realizing, I like more than I thought. It gets lost in the complexity of some scents.. not here. It's definitely just being complimented by the other ingredients. The chamomile is barely notable here. The 3 elements I mentioned previously are still going strong!

This was my wedding day, so this is a very special perfume to me. My brand new hubby walked into the room when I 1st tested it and started sniffing like a hound dog all over the room, trying to locate the source of this wonderful smell he liked so much. I was of course very happy to tell him it's our wedding day BPAL 13 perfume. Wet: The chocolate is silky and dark, spices are notable in a sweet & hot aspect. The pimento berry, paprika, tobacco, and honey are perfect. Especially strange because this is what my now hubby would have picked as an ideal perfume. He's a huge fan of hot spicy chocolate, mole sauces, and latin american foods in general. He also loves the smell of champaca flower Drydown: The champaca flower is more prominent and the mix stays spicy and gets sweeter. I can smell a bit of the balsam and bergamont here. The chocolate continues to resonate.. that's the only way that I can describe what it does! Its' great and I couldn't be happier, especially considering new hubby's satisfaction with it.

Whoa. Wet: the red rose leaps out, but quickly followed by the black leather. The black leather seems to take over for a minute but it's unfortunately just burning off. Drydown: non-powdery red rose. Awesome. and a little black leather. This is really strong and will be great when I'm really in the mood for it. Easily identifiable and sexy.

Wet: wet sweet pumpkin with loads of honey and sugar top of almond that makes you think it's not really almond. The pumpkin and honey take over. Very sweet. I just woke up. I need a huge cinnamon bun and some marzipan dutch pastries right now. Drydown: I can smell musk but can't really identify it as brown,because it's still melding with the pumpkin. Slight noticeable almond smell now. Mmm. Great after it burns down. I wish it had a little more brown musk but it's still great.

Wet: amping juniper as usual. That's not a bad thing. I also smell a decent amount of vanilla and amber. Pine is there for the 1st few minutes then slips behind the vanilla and amber (surprising!) Drydown: herbal evergreen vanilla and amber. I always forget how nice rosewood is. This is a wonderful masculine to gender-neutral vanilla. My hubby will like this one... he's a dedicated tombstone fan.

Wet: I can smell the balsam (sweet mellow and deep), gaiac wood, champaca, and musk, plus myrrh, frankincense and the siamese benzoin. This blends so well that nothing stands out too much. You'd have to have the list in front of you to identify more than myrrh, musk, and benzoin. Drydown: I got a bit of green cumin the last time but not now? Hmm.. Just musk, benzoin, and myrrh. The dryness of a sand note is present but I can't say I smell it. Much softer and sweeter than last try.

Wet: chocolate peppermint hot cocoa. Hmm.. where's everyone else? Drydown: ooh it's similar to wulric! I'm amping the oakmoss, which makes me very happy. That's one of my favorite smells. The vanilla soaked mint and pistachio are there too. Chocolate is still around however the peppermint isn't so pungent (thankfully) and the green cedar is smooth. Love it more than I thought I would. I avoided this one for a while thinking I'd hate chocolate peppermint.. Guess that's why I keep buying bpals..because there's so many unexpected hits.

Wet: *GASP* A lotus scent that doesn't make my skin crawl! I love the greenery in this. It's a perfect balance. It smells like it belongs in the Apiary section. Wet sweet green honey with touches of lotus and something that smells like a white floral? Maybe that's my skin.. uhm. Drydown: it becomes faint and sweet with white florals. Similar to oleander honey on my skin.