Cielamara

This is really interesting. First-on, I can DEFINITELY smell a sort of sharpness, that I think is probably the myrtle. Then the amber starts to come out, and it DOES have a slightly powdery kick to it, but it's mostly just rich and rather heady. As it starts to go to drydown, it sweetens up a LOT, and ends with this BEAUTIFUL kind of creaminess. Mmmmmmm.

Ooooh.

 

In the imp: Rich earthy red musk. It reminds me at first of my beloved Scherezade, and then--no, no, yes, Scherezade still, but Scherezade mixed with the spiciness of Snake Oil. And what's that sweetness in there?

 

Wet: This reminds me even MORE of Snake Oil. How is that? I keep wanting to slice it with the rich vanilla in that blend.

 

Settling: Ohmigod. There's still this beautiful musk, but definitely settling, and the sharp sweet strawberry is coming out. It reminds me of Adagio's beautiful wild strawberry tea blend, unsweetened--just tart strawberry, lush with its own natural sweetness.

 

Drydown: That quirky Jailbait bubblegum note, very subtle, just beneath the sexy musk and strawberries. I LIKE IT!

In the bottle: Mmmm, so sharp and bright! The lemon is quite aggressive and tart, like a truly fresh lemon wedge being put to your lips. Mmmmmm.

 

Wet: This is all lemon on me. Sharp, tart lemon, amped-lemon. Not the sweeter, thicker lemon of bergamot oil, or the acrid lemon of Pledge, but...lemon-candy. Like a lemon-drop, tart and beginning to have that crusty, gritty bite of sugar.

 

Middling: The green tea is soaring to the front. It's not like a cup of hot green tea, but rather, a very cool glass with ice and more sugar, to sip while sucking on a delicious old-fashioned lemon-drop.

 

Drydown: This is so deliciously cool and green and lemony. Sweet--not as gentle as, say, Empyreal Mist, which was the other top contender for this particular scent niche, but it's beautiful. It's got a reasonably good staying power on me, considering how delicate the main notes are, and I love the way it smells on fabric.

I bought bottles of Hymn and Seraglio for room scenting purposes, personally. Smoky, resiny, rosy...rich and warm. They both just fill me with a sense of well-being.

Baghdad lived on my I-wanna-try list from the very beginning of my venture into BPAL. However, I somehow never got a chance to try it till Lady Ravenglass sent me a couple imps.

 

First impressions: Mmmm, spicy. Almost foody. I'm very anti-foody, generally, but this is only a little foody...quite tolerable.

 

Wet: I can smell that nutmeg. I'm feeling a bit cautious about this one, as I'm not sure that the foodier spices really work on me. This one smells a bit like Wrath and Malice both did before the cursed spices in those turned vile on me. It's rather a pale brown and gold scent...appropriate for the desert.

 

Settling: The spices are still the dominant influences. Nutmeg and saffron, singing a duet. It's growing on me--I definitely like the scent as a whole, but this may be one that smells better in the burner than on my skin, per se. That musk is beginning to come through for me...musk and sandalwood, warm and sweet and gentle in the background. This is like sunset in the desert, not quite as hot as high noon, but still warm, and a little breezy

 

Drydown: Well, the drydown is beautiful. It's musk and amber, pretty much, with a hint of sandalwood. I never smelled either mandarin or rose, at any point in this perfume's evolution, which I find interesting. Usually rose will launch itself from my skin and attack me at some point in the game, but not in Baghdad. Baghdad is warm, sweet, and subtly exotic. I like it.

 

I don't know about a bottle of this; if nothing else, I'll enjoy the imp.

When I first came to the Lab, the description of this sounded intriguing to me, but I wasn't quite sure I could see myself wearing a perfume with a name like Embalming Fluid.

 

Months later, I find myself telling Lady Ravenglass that I've never smelled it, and that I would, in fact, appreciate her throwing in an imp for me when she shipped out my package.

 

Before I even got the imp open I liked it. I sniffed the top of the little tape row on it, and I got a whiff of this clean, sparkling fragrance--sparkly much in the way that Titania is sparkly, but...a bit more sullen. Titania is pale blues and greens and sultry lavender with silver glitter. This is has that same green color, but with a yellowy cat's-eye color dominating it. It's rejuvenating.

 

Wet: Mmmm, tasty lemons and something a little sweeter. I think that's the green tea smell like what I loved in Empyreal Mist. There's something that almost reminds me of Sudha Segara, which is a good thing.

 

Settling: Mmmm, this is softening just a little. The lemon is still there, but it's warming with my skin and it reminds me deliciously of fresh-squeezed lemonade. I LOVE that stuff. This is fresh-squeezed lemonade, rubbing the glass against your forehead and cheeks, and letting a little bit drip down into your cleavage to cool your skin a little on one of those hot sultry summer evenings. The musk is blooming on my skin, like all of Beth's beautiful musks do, and while this is still cool, it's not quite so fragile anymore.

 

Drydown: Mostly musk and green tea are left. This is a lovely blend, it really is. It works with my chemistry, but still manages to be cool and gentle. I'm going to have to think on this one's future.

 

I guess one of the things that's making me scratch my head a bit is that I'm trying to figure out if this blend really registers as its concept in my head. With some of my other fragrances--they smell like their concept. They connote it so perfectly to me there's no question. But Embalming Fluid--I can see it, but I can't see it. Maybe I just need to spend some time contemplating embalming fluid in general.

Snow Moon. I've obsessed about this one since I missed being able to get it when it was originally released. I managed to nab a decant--and then a bottle--of it here on the forums.

 

In the imp: WHOA. That's like being bitchslapped by a pine tree. Yikes.

 

Wet: That pine tree is pissed off at me. It keeps walloping me from my wrist as I write. Oh, I'm hoping it settles down. I had such hopes for those pretty pale florals in it.

 

Settling: Oh...oooh! Yes! There are florals! Just like with Storm Moon *swoons* those biting woodsy notes are taking a back seat to the pale wet florals. Of course, at moments it seems a bit mannish on me, almost masculine. But that's okay. I like this cool, soft, snowy blend. Maaaybe it's better suited for my new tart/oil burner *purrs* but it doesn't smell half bad on me.

 

Drydown: Oh, how lovely. This is Snow Moon to me. This is pale, sweet snow, glittering in the moonlight. It's got the evergreen, but it's soft and shadowy against that pale bright moonlit snow. Mmmmm, this is lovely.

 

Blends like this make me feel a deep love for humanity. Okay, so maybe just for Beth, but still.

This was the fourth of the gift-imps from Massachusetts.

 

In the bottle: Hmm. I was expecting to get hit with a blast of berries as was the case with Blood Countess. No such thing with Florence. Florence has the rose-gold haze of spice and amber that drew me to it initially.

 

Wet: There's that hint of berry, but it's mostly iris, I think. This is nice.

 

Settling: Hello spices! There's still very little sign of the berries. Just amber and spices, amber and spices. This is nice, but it's not got a whole lot of oomph on me, which is surprising...normally amber and spice mean it's going to be there for a while.

 

Drydown: Florence was lovely, and I would like to occasionally smell this in the room...but my spice quota is already fulfilled. Between Scherezade and Snake Oil, I'm good to go on the heavy spicy blend front. However, this one might have a future in the bottle business--not for me, but for my mother. I made her try some on and she's really liking it.

Sybaris was yet another gift from my friend in Massachusetts. I love people who are generous with their unwanted imps.

 

In the imp: I agree with what was said earlier in the thread--there is a generic spicy BPAL scent. I also refer to it as the "box scent", the aroma of any container that I use to hold my growing stash in for any length of time. Sybaris has got that thing going on. Still, I don't hold it against it.

 

Wet: Mmm, this is a little bit lighter than a lot of spicy scents. It is oddly clean-smelling for a blend heavy in spice. I suspect that is the influence of the violet. I'm smelling it rather strongly on me, but not unpleasantly.

 

Settling: Cinnamon. I smell cinnamon. Funny how that works, as there's no cinnamon in there. Aha! There is sweet clove! Holy Gods, there's a clove that works on me. How lovely. The previous blends I've tried that involved clove meant that the clove just SAT there on my skin like a big magenta toad. This one does not. This was what I expected out of Malice and didn't get. This is tasty.

 

Drydown: It was a relief to know that there is a clove out there that I can wear. However...I've already got so many spicy blends. I will probably be putting this one up for grabs, simply because I've already gotten the niche filled.

This imp was a gift from a friend in Massachusetts.

 

In the imp: I had been very curious about this blend, as there were no notes listed. It sounded as though it would be an ozone or an aquatic for sure, very light, possibly of the variety that really doesn't do much on me (But that I love anyway...just not as perfumes for me.) I was somewhat surprised; it smelled more floral in the imp than I was expecting. Not a bad thing.

 

Wet: Mmm, this has that breath-of-fresh air thing going on. It's THERE, but it's so soft and delicate that it's like a feather brushing your cheek. It is less floral than I anticipated from smelling the imp, but stronger than I anticipated as well.

 

Settling: This has definitely got the green thang going on. But it's not a fresh bright green, rather a pale, hazy green. This is like slightly wilted green leaves at the end of a scorchingly hot and breathless day, slightly limp with humidity, waiting for the storm that needs to come and is taking its sweet bloody time in doing so.

 

Drydown: Green tea, and white tea. It's very pale, very soft, just a whispery misty scent. It's there, it's got oomph--not TOO much, mind you, but oomph all the same--but it's so delicate. This is precisely the kind of perfume you dab on in July in the South, in high summer, when it's so hot that anything else bolder will make you feel icky. So soft and cool, yet warm enough it works with your skin.

 

I don't know that I'd get a bottle of this. But I can envision myself using the imp periodically.

I first tried Titania during my lovely afternoon with Laurel the Woodfairy. I fell in LOVE with it then, and then tonight, when I received a belated shipment of imps from a friend in Massachusetts, I tried it again to see if it was really as delicious as I remembered it being.

 

In the bottle: Oh, how lovely! This really does seem to sparkle, like the glitter they sprinkled so liberally over everything in the movie. I'm smelling a balance between the fruits and florals, which is good. Sometimes fruity things can be vomit-inducing.

 

Wet: God, this just gets better and better. This is a cool summery fragrance that can work with my skin. The notes are all sweet and cool as though there were a basket of fruits, scattered throughout with blossoms, and then very delicately dewed and iced so that everything is crisp and fresh, but glittering with tiny little ice crystals. This is like the fruit and vegetable dinners my mom favors in the summer when it's just too hot to cook anything.

 

Settling: This is the BPAL equivalent of my mood niche that has traditionally been filled by fragrances like Green Tea by Elizabeth Arden and Calyx by Prescriptives. The sweet, wet, GREEN fragrance, appropriate for summer, but with oomph. This is delicious. The florals are really blooming on my skin--sweet pea and moonflower, I think, are the midsummer night's king and queen in this blend. How utterly beautiful.

 

Drydown verdict: Heaven. Heaven in a few drops of perfume. Fruity, sweet, but cool and delicate and light--I see beautiful Titania, draped in a length of pale silvery-white silk charmeuse, naked underneath. She is slightly aloof, sprinkled with glitter, but with a warm, alluring smile. I have found my faery perfume.

 

Now all I have to do is justify a bottle in my next order.

Hell's Belle was a gift from a friend's swapbox back in the fall.

The first time I tried it--it didn't quite work on me. There was this strange fresh-dirt smell that was lurking under all the sweetness, and that just didn't quite work for me. However, on a hunch, I layered it--I spritzed Avon's Haiku first, and then applied Hell's Belle.

Wet: Yes, yes, I know that musk is there. Musk LOVES my skin--I put anything that has musk in it and it sets up camp on my skin and starts dancing. Hell's Belle is no different.

Settling: Well, maybe it is a little different. The musk is there, yes, but that magnolia is absolutely exploding, and the mandarin is almost sickeningly sweet. It's the kind of sweet that that last bite of dessert is--you know, the one you shouldn't have had because it's only just this side of too sweet.

Drydown: This has OOMPH, as in, a sweet, heady shadow that trails behind me all day. This doesn't require touch-ups during the day at ANY point. It is sweet, sweet, sweet...but in a far different way than, say, my beloved Suspiro. This is...the sweet of the afterglow of a gorgeous Southern woman having sticky, sweaty, musky, scream-the-walls-down sex with the tattooed bad boy from the other side of town. This is sleazy, this is slutty, this is going to church in a too-short skirt and LIKING it.

In short, this is what I wear when I'm feeling somewhat defiant and I want to smell like an absolute tramp.

I've received a number of compliments on this fragrance. I don't know yet what its future is in terms of bottle purchases, but I have enjoyed my imp tremendously.

Oh, Psyche. I have always loved the story of Cupid and Psyche; I've been obsessing for years over the statue of them--Canova, I think, was the artist. It's big, it's marble, it's in the Louvre, it's gorgeous. Anyway.

 

In the imp: I was initially not overly wowed by this. It was a nice blend. But not nice in that "That is niiiiiiiice" kind of way...nice as in insipid, bland...like tofu before you do funky things to it with seasonings. I smelled lavender and rose and that was it.

 

Wet: Lavender and rose. A generalized perfume blend that is sharp and floral on me. It's still not doing much for me, which is saddening as I really love Psyche...but also a relief, as I've already got a million fragrance I adore.

 

Settling: There's something a little softer there...perhaps the frankincense. I expected the frankincense to provide more oomph than it is, but...eh.

 

Dry: Did I even put perfume on that wrist? That was...okay, that was about three and a half hours ago, but still. Even the lightest perfume I own--which is Sudha Segara--has significantly more oomph than that. I can still smell Pele on the other wrist, and I put LESS of that than I did of Psyche! What the hell? I literally cannot smell even the slightest trace of the perfume. All I smell is the faint hint of laundry detergent from my nightgown. Jeez.

 

Well. Even if I weren't feeling completely and utterly meh about Psyche, that settles it, sadly.

Lilith was recommended to me by Laurel the Woodfairy when I told her I was in search of a good passive-aggressive fragrance to wear to work to express my general anger with the whole situation.

 

In the imp: I smell...musk! Musk is good. I like musk, and musk LOVES me right back. It's one of those notes that grabs hold of my skin, expands, and absolutely throbs with delight at being on my skin. This has promise. Lilith might be appropriately badass.

 

Wet: Hmm. Sweeter than I'd anticipated. I don't see any of that red wine. That might have been interesting. I liked the booziness of the wine in Kali; I want to see Lilith's boozy side too.

 

A few minutes later:

 

Me: *sniff sniff* "Oh my God. I smell like..." *sniffsniffsniff* "...A FIG NEWTON!"

Laurel: "What?" *tilts head* "It sure as hell didn't do that on me."

Me: "SMELL! I smell like a FIG NEWTON!"

Laurel: *sniffs* "Oh my God! You DO!"

Me: "What the FUCK?"

 

A little while later:

 

Me: "I STILL SMELL LIKE A FIG NEWTON!!!" *laughs like a loon* "I'm going to have someone very strange gnawing on my wrist!"

 

Sadly, the essence of Fig Newtons is not what I consider a desirable trait in a perfume. But Lilith sure did give us both a good giggle.

My imp of Pele was lurking in Laurel the Woodfairy's swap box until yesterday afternoon. I had wanted to smell it, and so I plucked it out and set it aside to try.

 

In the imp: Shampoo. It smelled SO much like shampoo to my nose I had to giggle at it. Very good shampoo, admittedly--it smelled like this one bottle of shampoo my mother had when I was really young...it took FOREVER for that bottle to be used up. It is not a disagreeable blend at all.

 

Wet: It still smells like that shampoo. I don't mind this at all. It's a gentle, clean scent, without the unfortunate lack of response or lack of enthusiasm I frequently get from the ozone or aquatic types of clean scents. It's soft, it's subtle, it's warm without that rich, vibrant--but HEAVY--blooming effect that most of the other BPAL perfumes that have loved me have done. I don't MIND that musky-spicy-amber-honey blooming thing...but I do need something lighter for summer unless I want to feel ever so slightly sleazy all summer...though that's not always a bad thing either...

 

...Right. I'm rambling. Anyway.

 

Settling: This is sweetening and warming a little. This reminds me of a spring afternoon, one of those afternoons where it's warm enough to where you're wearing a soft fluttering skirt, but not so warm you're sweating. I imagine a girl laying on a bed, bare feet dangling, twirling a bouquet of soft, slightly dewy flowers in her hands as she gazes through the open doors out into a tangle of sunkissed jungle, slightly misty from a recent rain.

 

Drydown: This has a surprising amount of oomph for such a light, delicate scent. I imagine the ginger--which usually loves my skin--is helping keep this one anchored. This blend is simply soft, and delicately sweet--a warmer, sunnier floral than my adored Suspiro. As is the case with O, there is no ONE note that just pulsates from this one. It's just a very soft sweet blend.

 

I had expected to like this one, but I didn't know I'd like it this much. Hmm. I'm definitely going to hoard my imp, and maybe collect a few others...I don't know what I'm going to do about my growing list of I-wanna-bottle-of-thats.

Mmm, Moscow. We shall see if this blend holds up to my vodka-, Tchaikovsky-, and architecture-related adoration of Russia.

 

Wet: I think Beth's citruses really like me. That rich golden citrus note that I liked so much in Rage is really popping on me already. Mmmm, this is tasty.

 

Mellowing: Hello, floral. The lily of the valley that turns into that creamy, heady paleness on my skin is in charge now. It's mixing with that soft sweet languid jasmine, but it's all lily.

 

Drydown: The citrus is back again. Tangerine with just a hint of the bergamot, backed by amber. Everything else might as well not even be there because you sure can't smell it. It's just this warm glowing sweet citrus, and it's got some oomph to it. This is just downright tasty. It smells the way I envision the czar's palaces of the old days to have looked during a big party--all bright, golden, elaborate architecture and interior design, laughter, and warm against a cold, cold winter's night.

 

Good blend. I don't know yet about the future where bottles are concerned, but it's a good, lovely blend. Slightly exotic, but still very European.

This was a frimpling from the Lab, yet another scent that I don't recall ever really noticing all that much, simply because I tend to zero in on certain things. But it's a nice one all the same.

 

In the imp: This smells like...shampoo. But good shampoo, not unlike that kiwi stuff that makes my hair so shiny. Nice.

 

Wet: This is really an interesting blend. There are a lot of layers to this one. I have found that lots of times the airy or watery fragrances that aren't specifically floral-related don't really do a whole lot on me. They either don't change or they change into something strange. But this is nice. There's that fruit blend that's got center stage, but it's got this soft sweet vaguely floral airiness singing backup. This is really quite nice. I get this kicking jungle feeling from it, like a cool rainy morning--surely they have cool mornings in the mountains, even if it IS the tropical rainforest?

 

Drying down: There is no trace of amber. Just this breathy wet jungle smell, all soft fragrant blooms and rich ripe sweets dripping with a fresh cool rain, with traces of mist billowing in the air. This is a lovely, unique blend. I don't know what its future will be in terms of bottle purchase...I'm probably going to say no to a bottle for now, unless I find that I really like this for summer or something. All the same, I'll drag out the imp now and again.

This was a frimplet from the Lab. I wonder if Beth was snickering any when she packed in my deadly trio of anger-related scents. I snickered when I opened the box.

 

It's a good thing this one was tucked in there, because Wrath and Malice both broke my heart.

 

Bottle: Fruity? Interesting. I'm discovering I wear fruity things better than I initially thought.

 

Wet: I can smell that rose geranium. Very sharp, not altogether unpleasing. If there is amber in this, it's hard to tell...normally amber goes all warm and sultry and golden on me. This is sharper. This is fangs bared and a low growl rumbling.

 

Settling down: Wow, this one transitions quickly. COMPLETELY different scent from the wet. This one loves my skin. That rich biting sweet currant and the glowing mandarin are simply BLOOMING on my skin. I still don't smell the amber as anything more than a softening edge to the currant so that it's not TOO fruity. But this is positively delicious. I can see the Rage in this. This is a Rage I identify with, that sweet glowing smile I give people when I'm moving in for the kill. God, this is delicious. I can't stop smelling my wrist.

 

Drydown: That fruity edge has remained, and the amber is a little more prominent. Oh, yes, yes, I like this one. It just glows on my skin, like a hot ember preparing to explode. It is sweet, and bright--much like I myself am right before I go OFF on someone.

 

I'm so, so glad Beth included this one in my last order. I might never have noticed it otherwise, and I'm so glad I have it now. This one just BEGS for me to wear it to work so I can be passive-aggressive in my hatred of the vacuum and the stupid shit I have to do.

Of all the Seven Deadly Sins, I thought Wrath would be the most flattering on me. So, in addition to Malice--since I was hating the world the day I ordered my imps and bottles--I acquired an impling of Wrath. I was hopeful.

 

Then I put it on.

 

Wet--helloooo cinnamon. And hello clove.

 

Before it had even finished drying--Oh, heartbreak! Like Malice, this one went funky stanky flat on me. I had been hoping passionately that it was the patchouli that was making Malice stink on me. I really wanted to blame it on the patchouli. But sadly, it was...*sniffles*...the CLOVE. Ew ew ew ew EW, clove has broken my heart. It stinks on me. It has gone almost painfully foody, and it just smells flat and stale and icky on me. That clove doesn't evolve in any way, shape or form--it just sits there on my skin like a big fat unwashed magenta toad.

 

Drydown--Soap. I finally understand what people mean they say some notes go soapy on them. But soap? What the fuck? That wrist smells soapy and you can barely smell it anymore.

 

I am heartbroken.

It seems like everyone and their brother has reviewed this one, but I'm in a review sort of mood today, and I'm currently sampling Snake Oil for the first time.

 

I had high hopes for this one...I had been craving a vanilla punch, and this one seemed to fit the bill. Plus I'd heard good things about it.

 

Wet--it is not quite as inspiring as it had seemed it would be. It smells a bit like sugar cookies, and the spices seem heavy. No worries. I put it on.

 

Drying--I keep getting whiffs of it, and it is nice. I'm not about to weep with joy over it--in order to do that, I have to also be nuts about the concept, too. For me, BPAL is not just great perfume...it's magic, literature, history, spirituality, emotions, sexuality. So in order for something to truly work for me...the concept has to be one that resonates in me, as well as the oil needing to smell good. But this does smell good.

 

Dry down--This one dries beautifully on me. I smell like...I don't know. It reminds me of this drink my mom used to make for me to go to sleep with...warm milk, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla. That's what I smell like. It's just warm, rich pulsating vanilla, throbbing on my skin. It makes me want to lick my wrist or something. It's really very sexy. I'm probably not going to go batshit and buy six bottles of it--but I could see myself buying a 5ml. It's very warm and sensuous.

Wow, the different reactions people have had to this perfume are amazing. Fruity and chocolatey, out of a perfume made up of honey, vanilla and amber...that's just so cool to me.

 

The story of O: I had not, originally, ever particularly thought of trying O. There was a person I knew who raved about it when I was first venturing into BPAL, and as I did not particularly like her...I had bad associations. But O was determined to find me anyway. Two of my friends in college to whom I had introduced BPAL both LOVED the sound of it and were determined to order imps of it.

 

So one chilly Saturday evening, my friend brought over her newly-arrived imps and half a bottle of Cavalier rum. She had her imp of O in that pile. As we passed the rum back and forth, I asked her to pick one for me to try. She picked O.

 

I opened the imp, and dabbed some on.

 

Immediately the sense of woozy intoxication from the rum doubled when the smell hit my nose. "Oh, GOD," I said. "This is INCREDIBLE." It was. On me, no one note stands out--it's simply all creamy sweet golden beauty. It is not the raw, musky REALITY of sex, but rather the bright golden creaminess of the first stages of arousal, like when you're reading erotica, or salsa dancing, or when your pursuit of a sexual prey is nearing its end and you are sweetly confident that you'll get your way. It is innocent...but dangerously sexy.

 

As I smelled it again and again--between swigs of rum and gossip--I finally came up with a good [drunken] comparison. I looked at my friend solemnly and announced, "I smell...like a freshly fucked Catholic schoolgirl...LOOKS. All sweet and innocent in that cute little uniform...but with her skirt up around her waist and her shirt missing a few buttons...and her panties danging off her ankle."

 

I say this with my nice big 10ml in front of me. *grins*

Suspiro was one of the very first BPAL scents that went on my [very long] list of things to try. There were four blends that I starred on that list--they were my Desperate list contenders, the ones I thought I'd die before I got to try them. Suspiro was one of them. I just thought it would be so perfect for me--I'm very much the wistful, slightly melancholy, dreamy sort. And the notes are all ones I LOVE...especially all the lilies.

 

When Suspiro arrived, I was so excited about it I almost didn't want to open the imp. But when I did, I was so happy.

 

In the bottle, all I smelled was that musky, slightly cloying, creamy smell of jasmine and calla lily.

 

Wet on--lily and jasmine are the stars of the show. Calla lily, I think, more than the lily-of-the-valley. It smells somewhat dark and moody...it is a soft and dreamy fragrance, but in a heavy somber kind of way.

 

Drying--oh, how lovely. The cloying jasmine has settled down, and that beautiful sweet plum has taken over, swirling with the lily-of-the-valley. It is fruity, but in a subtle way. Oh, this is beautiful. Sweet, fruity-floral, and, while it doesn't have as much lasting power as Scherezade does (another of my original Big Four) ...it doesn't require marinating in it to get it to last all day.

 

I write this review with the 10ml bottle in front of me for reference purposes.

I feel like Suspiro is a mottled purple and creamy white...deep bruise-purple, plum-colored.

Ohhhh, Scherezade.

 

I've been longing to try this one since the first time I ever visited the site--that was months and months ago. And I just waited patiently till I saw that someone had it up for swap/sell, and pounced!

 

In the bottle: This smells like...potpourri, like incense. Yes, that's it. It smells like a bag of potpourri that hasn't been heated yet. While I love to visit them, I don't really want to smell like one of the hippie stores here in Asheville.

 

Wet on: It still smells like potpourri, but it's warmer and lusher than I realized. This is blooming rapidly. I can smell a lot of spiciness, and it's sweetening.

 

Drying down. Oh my GOD. This is...perfect. I'm so glad to see my beloved Scherezade done justice--a character like that deserves it. This has turned into a lush honey-creamy sweetness, laden with rich spices. I feel very womanly and mature wearing this, very sexy and warm. I feel creative and clever, even while I feel very sensuous and a bit drowsy. It's a gorgeous blend. Stunning. Sweet musk and rather hedonistic spices...mmmmmm.

Hee, my first review.

In the Bottle

Hmm, this is an appealing scent. Mostly cool pine, to my nose, with something almost creamy to soften it.

Wet

This is a very cool pine. Very clean--though not "soapy", and watery and cool. It smells like it feels to step out of a cold shower. There's still that creamy sweetness; it smells delicious. I can't stop smelling my wrists!

Dry down

Those creamy florals have taken over. The pine is still present, but it's like a knife slicing through soft-serve ice cream or something. It's still a clean scent, but now it's a little warmer, and gentler.

My first BPAL fragrance, and I'm in love!