Lydialove

This smells a lot like Tombeur to me! It's got a stronger vetiver ( which I love in both it's grassy and smokey forms. This one is a nice balance between both) note to it along with a whiff of dirt. I'd swear Tombeur's bitter almond is present.

I look forward to testing this one again.

Normally green scents are iffy on me, but I increasingly love leather and have pretty much always adored vetiver's entire spectrum from standing in a meadow to standing in a bonfire. This vetiver reads to me like loitering in a dry meadow with a whiff of a neighbor's fire. The leather is doing it's thing, the musk sweetens and the vegetal note behaves itself nicely.

It reminds me of something, another BPAL. I think it might be Troll. In fact I think this is Troll's more gentle cousin.

Oh. Well then.

I was really looking forward to this one, considering how wonderful the myrrh and motor oil combination of Streets of Detroit is on my skin, but reading the reviews I started to get nervous about the strength of the leather but I guess in my case, I didn't need to be. The leather is surprisingly gentle on me and well balanced by the dark sweetness of the amber and myrrh. It settles right into my skin.

I want to test a little more, but my initial impression is that this is quite sexy. I'm not sure if I need a bottle or not - I do have SoD for when I'm in this mood (industrial smut goddess. That mood.) but it's different enough it may still be justified.

I coveted Mama-Ji because of the cardamom, a spice I'm obsessed with. If you are selling a cookie, main dish, cocktail, or (obvs) a perfume and you put cardamom in it, I waaaaant. I put off buying Mama-Ji for years because of the florals. There are a few flowers I can wear but I rarely do. So many of them read as "gijrly" to me which isn't really my style. Many florals just give me a headache.

Cardamom, though. And nutmeg. I mean, come on.

My cardamom lust and curiosity got the better of me and I'm so glad it did. Mama-Ji isn't girly, like so many florals read to me, but womanly. The flower and spice are so well blended to my nose that I can't pick out any of the individual notes. Mama-Ji is deep and warm and smells like herself. It's really beautiful. I find myself picking up my bottle more and more. It's really turned into one of my favorites.

Straight from the lab, and from the mail.

I'll give them a few days to settle and I'll reach out to the lab then probably. I'd like to be accurate in what I'm smelling.

Edit: I'm starting to lean towards the idea that maybe the labels on the French Love and Tombeur maybe just got switched. My husband disagrees that what is in the Tombeur labelled bottle is French Love - he says it's too perfumy and there's no dragon's blood (the part he loves the most). Whatever smelled like Dorian has settled down. It's not that. What a weird little nose twister this has been.

But I'd bet a pretty hefty sum fresh French Love is not a tan oil that smells almost entirely of vetiver...

Okay, I got a new package of BPAL today - and I'm super excited.

And very very confused.

Bottle one: I *finally* got that bottle of French Love. I've had two samples and it's my husband's favorite on me and him. It's a close cousin of Dragon's Milk but my husband can tell the difference and one gives him comfort and one makes his engine rev. My samples of French Love have been quite aged. I've probably never smelled *fresh* French Love.

Bottle two: Tombeur. Blind bottle, but the notes sound very possibly great on me.

Bottle three: Mama-ji. Blind bottle, florals can be terrible but I'm obsessed with cardamom.

I left everything alone because I had a my very first mammogram today and then came home and did some dabbing and... I...I

I know French Love has been mislabeled. What I don't know is if I have a round robin mislabelling, a switcheroo or if I've been switched with something that's been left at the lab.

The French Love couldn't possibly be fresh French Love because it smells of vetiver, which I quite like but the husband will find a disappointing birthday present because he *hates* it. It could be the Tombeur. It's dark, I would guess it has the patch... but any of the other notes are being run over by vetiver.

Bottle labelled Tombeur: I hope this isn't what fresh French Love smells like... because it smells like Dorian and I don't like Dorian. The more I smell it there's no mystery here. This is a bottle of Dorian dressed up as Tombeur for Halloween. Unless Tombeur actually mysteriously smells like Dorian to y'all?

Bottle labelled Mama-ji: Yeah, ok. That might be floral and cardamom. I've completely messed up my nose now.

Anyone have something like this happen? I'll certainly email the lab, I'd just love to be able to describe what I think I've got going on here.

I picked up a partial of Palus Putridinous - but my first couple of tests only resulted in confusion. I was expecting something in the dark green and dark brown category - maybe something grassy and smokey. I wasn't sure if bog cypress was going to be alright on me ( aquatics don't generally work on me at all) and while I love to cook with cumin a great deal, I wasn't sure it would be something that would work on me as a fragrance) Maybe it would be too earthy

But instead I got ... candle? A sort of waxy sweetness. Not so much brown or green as tan. Very sweet tan candle with a cuminy aftertaste. Confusion.

I put it on.

And... now I shall wash it off.

Beth, you crack me up.

This was surprisingly delightful!

Wet it's cherry, dragon's blood and an intense lemony juiciness. My husband thinks this stage is overwhelming but it made me feel invigorated. It's very bright and tart but becomes gradually less intense through dry down.

Eventually I'm left with a soft dragon's blood with just a kiss of faint cherry and the ghost of citrus past. It's not, in my mind, sexy or complex. Instead it's direct and cheerful. I like it!

When I first received my imp this was pretty much ZOMG LEMON KICK TO THE FACE. While this isn't necessarily bad, as lemon apparently get along very nicely, it wasn't what I was hoping for.

After giving it a chance to age a bit, the lemon is still prominent but I'm beginning to catch the barest hint of smokiness, a hint of floral sweetness and the barest bit of creamy vanilla. I'd be ecstatic to get some coconut but I don't smell it at all.

I can see this being very nice during the warmer months. I'm starting to think about buying a bottle, just to see how it ages further.

At first I thought this was similar enough to Wanda (wine, leather and roses) that I wouldn't need a bottle. But Wanda has violets where this has smokey incense. It's a rich, deep purple and dark red scent. I feel like I could get drunk off it.

It's glorious.

Well poop. Two of the three inflatable T-rex costumes are backordered (nice of you to tell us, costume company). Since it's my husband's birthday the T-rex goes to him so I'll toodle around in my unicorn onsie.

I don't have any of the Last Unicorn scents so I'm wearing whatever I have that smells the most like candy. My notes would indicate either my imp of Maenad or my decant of Pink Snowballs would probably do the trick. My notes call Pink Snowballs "ridiculous" and... well... this onsie is pretty silly. Pink Snowballs may very well be just the thing.

Two of the three

2015 version.

Mine starts with, startlingly, with bonfire smoke but the smoke dissapates with dry-down. It's sweeter than I was expecting (I haven't tried any of the previous years incarnations, so I didn't know what to expect) but it is in no way cloying. I very much get the smell of fir needles, apple, pumpkin and spice with the barest hint of smokiness.

What I end up with makes me think of eating really delicious pie in a forest with a far off bonfire. It's really gorgeous.

Apple forward (I suppose that is appropriate) including the red skin, followed by a very creamy coconut note. The fig and (watch my amazing process of elimination) tiare blending into the background. It pretty quickly settles into a unified blend with no notes popping out particularly. Very pretty but also very sweet. Almost too sweet for me to wear. Almost. I don't know how regularly I will turn to this particular blend, but it is lovely.

I would like this as a dessert please. An apple-fig crisp with coconut topping. It's a delicious combination.

Eta: Later I have to report that I reach for it all the time and love it more each time.

For once, lotus is playing nice on my skin and the honey isn't overwhelming although it is quite sweet.

I swear I'm getting opium poppy off this and it's balancing out the sweet notes with a heavy, languid warmth.

Honestly, I was prepared to dislike this one from the word lotus in the name alone so I'm pleased and surprised to be liking it quite a bit.

Well well well. Cthulu, for a cosmic horror that cannot be described, you certainly are a dapper little old man at heart.

A bit of a lady-killer as well, eh?

Is that a bow tie under those tentacles?

Edit: ***tentacles*** because... uh... even an elder god couldn't get away with wearing a bow tie under that other body part.

Also, aquatics are terrible on me so it's shocking that Cthulu is turning out to be really quite delightful.

In the bottle: Oh noes! Medicinal liniment of some kind.

Wet: Very sharp and pungent. Vetiver and woods - maybe that's the hemp? Patchouli as well. None of the notes are blending together and if there's vanilla or cannabis in there, they are being very shy. I gambled on a bottle... I hope it actually registers as a perfume I'd wear for fun soon.

Dry: Oh... oh, wait. It's changing so fast. As it drys it sweetens. Smoky, woody... hello, there vanilla! I'm glad to see you! And what a nice vanilla you are. Barely sweet and a little dark. It's a whiff of vanilla in a grassy meadow. There's a bonfire somewhere but not too close. But not a whiff of weed! How will I find the hippies without the weed? It is a little herbal, just not that particular herb.

I do feel like my gamble has (mostly?) paid off. The dry down is a bit of a journey, but it's a quick one. All of the notes that come out to play are really really good on me. I generally like to wear my perfumes very close to the body so it's weird for me to want a more assertive throw, but in this case I could really use more. This sits very very close to my skin and I think it may be fading rather quickly as well. Hm.

Here's my hope: that as it settles down from shipping, that elusive herbal sweetness comes out a little bit, and that the throw and wear develops a bit as well. I can see myself wearing this often, but I'd hate to have to re-apply throughout the day.

Edit: Why... yes the cannabis note has emerged and I quite like it. Also, the throw does seem to have increased, as well as it's staying power. It's gone from pretty good to pretty great.

I'm going to need to retest this because what I and my husband are smelling just cannot be right.

After applying I could smell a nuttiness at first but also an underlying... something...

I thrust my wrist under my husband's nose and he blurted out "Solder! Hot solder! You smell like fixing electronics."

After sniffing again myself I didn't have that exact sense memory... but I did smell a bit like the moment after you blow out a candle. It's a hot smell. Hot like heat, not hot like sexy.

I did ask my husband if soldering made him feel at all amorous (I, um... may not have used those exact words) and he quirked an eyebrow and said, succinctly, "No."

I was really exited to try Dancing Koi but I was a little worried about the sandalwood which usually turns to soap on my skin.

What a fascinating morph this one does on me! At first it's incensy and a little nutty, then as it dries the sandalwood comes out (smelling delightfully of wood and not soap for once!) and then on full dry down there's the leather. I agree that it's a brown leather, not black or patent.

This is so warm and deep and lovely - I can easily imagine it getting better with time.

I really love this one!

Fire of Love is all wood and musk on my skin. It's a hot wood and a salty musk...

Huh. On me, this smells like a sauna. How odd.

Oh my goodness, Wanda. Who ARE you? I can't help but compare you to Whip, whom I adore completely. You're certainly a more complicated creature and more balanced. Whip is all crazy rose with a throw, on me, that takes a wee tiny dab and spreads it around the room.

Wanda, though... she stays closer to my skin. The rose is there but so is the wine and the violet and ohmygod the leather. Wanda is more intimate, more womanly and very dangerous. The roses actually fade leaving violet, musk and leather on my skin.

My husband's reaction to Wanda? "Mmmmmmmmmmm!"

She's a keeper and I'm happy to report different enough from Whip that I feel justified in having a bottle of each.

I only catch the barest bit of dirt in the imp and my skin appears to amp rose so... it's outrageously rosy on my skin (I don't mind, actually. BPAL's rose notes are amazing.)

The rose itself is very much a dried rose, sort of concentrated and winey, like you can smell as much the rose hip as the rose itself. The leafy/mossy notes give Zombi character and depth.

I think I'll always need to have a little of this on hand. Mr. Love digs it on me and so do I.

Black Lotus is unrelentingly pink and cheerful to my nose and on my skin.

I'll probably keep the imp for those rare occasions that unrelentingly pink and cheerful suits me.

Ysabel was a risk, my first unsniffed purchase off a fellow forumite.

I have been richly rewarded.

On my skin, Ysabel is predominately a rich red rose to whom all the other characters play a subordinate and supporting role. Nicely spicy, given depth by the musk and a touch of brightness by the pomegranate - I don't think it could be more perfect.