kakiphony

I received this as an extra from the lovely puck_nc, and I am sorry to say that it will NOT be released into the wild to be tested by more of my bpalista friends because OMG I LOVE THIS AND KEEPING IT AND YOU CANNOT STOP ME.

Seriously, it's worth the all caps. Puddin', if you read this, I would buy more of this stuff.

In the bottle it sort of smelled generically chocolate to me and made me think of the various 13s I've tried over the years. I honestly was not super excited. But I wanted a bath and I was out of anything else pampering so I threw a dollop in.

As soon as it mixed with the hot water the scent of this stuff started to bloom. The chocolate is deep and cocoa-like, reminding me of the very quality cocoa powder I use for baking my chocolate porter cake. But there is also a healthy dash of spice in this. It's not cinnamon or cassia (so no worries for the lad bits), but possibly cardamom and saffron. There's also a lovely nuttiness here which reminds me of Queen of Sheba, so I expect some almond found its way in there as well. In fact, I think this smells very much like Queen of Sheba with cocoa.

I am in LOVE.

This is the most vegetable of the dead leave scents I have tried yet, and the one for which the dead leaf note lingers the longest. It eventually turns quite powdery -- it's a sweet, dusty powder with just a little dead leaf funk under it. Interesting, but a bit too sweet and powdery for me.

This started out quite vegetable from the leaves, and then the frankincense amped and gave it a strong cologne smell. Over time it has faded and it now fairly pleasant, although I get an underlying hint of BO when I huff my wrists. Not my favorite of these Dead Leaves scents. The BO is just...kind of gross. First one I've washed off.

Much less sweet than I expected from a blend with honey, and the vegetable dead leaf note faded very quickly on me. The oudh was definitely the dominant note, and rose quickly to the surface and controlled the dry-down. I was left a slightly sweet, very resinous scent. It reminded me more of a traditional perfume than many pal blends -- but in a good way. It smelled rich and sophisticated. My husband pronounced it "powdery" and didn't care for it, so no bottle for me. But I thought it was quite gorgeous.

This started off lovely and fresh. Sadly, it has turned into Glade air freshener on me. Specifically, the weird cone shaped ones in the plastic that you find in gas station and camp ground bathrooms.

This is seriously gorgeous on me. It starts out all bright apple and very subtle coconut with just a little floral -- light, sweet, yet sophisticated. As it dries down and fades it turns a little powdery, but in a yummy I-want-to-lick-my-skin way. The coconut is the lingering scent, but with a sort of vanilla floral tone.

Really, I can't describe how lovely this is. It's the surprise winner out of all the apples for me.

Vanilla scented plastic with an undertone of the cheapest red hots made.

What happened to me? My chemistry is destroyed!!!!!!!

Finally tried the decant I have had languishing in a "to be tried pile for forever" and am sort of shocked at the results. I expected something pretty mild and close to the skin -- vanillas with resins tend to dry close to me and be very nice, only smellable if you hug me, work appropriate sort of scents. I applied a tiny bit of this to my left wrist and then rubbed it with my right wrist. That's all.

I am amping something in this wildly. This is NOT a close to my skin scent -- this is wafting all over the place to the extent that I kind of think I should go wash it off before my officemate gets here. However, it is smells GOOD to me, not bad. So I am torn.

This is very heavy on the clove, which is riding on a wafting, very floral and powdery vanilla. I'm not getting much depth from the resins, this is all powder and clove. If I had to give this lace a color, I'd say it's yellowed, old fashioned, thick lace -- the kind that you'd find in doilies or large collars of victorian dresses, but OLD and having been stored in an attic with scent balls for ages and ages.

Like so many of the reviewers before me, I find myself asking: How did I wait so long to try this? I think the lilac and musk scared me. Florals tend to make me sneeze and a lot of musks go old man... But not this one!

In the decant: Complex, perfumey, sweet and herbal, with a little of something dry in the background that might be the leather..

Wet on skin: A little musk and a lot of leather, but somehow also this reads as very herbal to my nose (this could be the ti leaf). The lilac is there I think, but is NOT a sweet blossom scent if that makes any sense...

Early dry down (about 20 minutes): As this fades on me the throw gets closer to the skin and the scent becomes more blended and complex. It is hard to pick out individual notes, but I smell good. It's more feminine that I imagined, and it has grown sweeter with a bit of really dry leather in the background that makes it almost powdery (or sueded).

Late dry down (a couple of hours): This is a very light scent and quite traditionally feminine on me. The lilac never did come on too strong -- it reminds me of blossoms that were left in a vase to dry out and crumble. It's the top note, riding on a base of powdery leather and quite sweet skin musk. Overall, the impress I am getting is of a sweet, subtle floral and herbal blend that soaked into the collar of a suede blazer years ago, and that you can still smell when you hold it up to your nose and sniff.

This is pearls worn with gray suede. I think I love it.

In the bottle: Strong red musk with unidentifiable spices and a musty herbal tone. Really, the red musk is very dominant.

Wet on skin: Strong, spicy red musk a lot of spicy heat from the pimento. Strong and unsubtle. More fire than blood to my nose.

Early dry down (10-15 minutes): The red musk and spice in this is reminding me very much of how Vixen used to dry down on me before my skin chemistry started to change with middle age: Spicy, dry, Amish style ginger molasses cookies mixed with the inside of a cedar chest. There's a dry, not quite powdery (more sawdusty) quality, along with spices.

Late dry down (hours after application: I kept expecting some of the other notes like tobacco and vanilla or rose to show up at some point during the dry down period, but they never really did. On me, this is a red musk heavy blend and stays spicy and hot rather than ever getting dark, blood, or too complex. While the initial throw was strong, as this dried down it became much fainter and it wears very close to my skin (I like this quality). What I'm left with a spicy, almost powdery red musk scent. I maintain that, to me, this is a very fiery scent. It's oddly not at all what I expected from the description and I completely blame my (new, less fun) wonky skin chemistry.

Oh god. I just had a thought... How about a traveling library circular swap with nothing but BOOKs in the box?

Granted, it would be expensive. We'd have to use a large priority flat rate box, the first person would need to have enough books to start it out full, and everyone would need to commit to being able to pay to ship it on... But it would be like our own little free library!

Would anyone be interested in a 'Review Chaos Theories' swap thing? I'm absolutely crap at figuring out notes, but I'd be willing to send decants of what I have out so long as other people reviewed and ALSO sent them out to be reviewed as well.

 

I've got 3 gourmands and an oriental that I really want other people's take on!

This is my favorite part of Chaos Theory. I always buy them via group orders just so I can see what other people think of the same scent. So... YES!

A decant of this came my way from the fabulous Puddin' with my t-shirt grab bag fulfilling a long-held dream,

In the imp: A sharp astringent scent laid over the top of something deeply resinous. I'm also getting a dark musk.

Wet on skin (at application): different than in the imp, but by degrees... The astringency is tempered to become herbal and I'm now reading that resinous quality as a woody note with some dry spices on top. I still think there's musk at the base, but it's not dark or swarthy -- maybe a skin musk or a really light version of a red musk? This is very much a melange scent to me -- right now, it smells very like opening my imp box...

Dry down:

Memory is a tricky thing. As I sit her sniffing myself, I think I smell exactly like my favorite aunt used to back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when she wore a green floral chore called Ma Griffe by Carven. As I huff and try to figure out the notes of this intoxicating smell, it becomes clear that I am NOT smelling Ma Griffe, and yet... It smells like Ann.

There is. Dry wood on one wrist, something not unlike a cedar, overlaid with dry herbs and spices. The other wrist is greener, wetter and fresher. On it, there is pine (maybe fresh cedar boughs so as opposed to the aged wood chest of the other wrist?), something sweet and just a bit floral (jasmine? A floral honey?), and in distinct herbs and spices.

This is powerful, with lots of throw. It's not really masculine to me -- more powerful than gendered.

 

That is a really good point. I was kind of approaching it from the perspective of 'well, maybe other people are like me and have things in an eight size range...?' I am also not above stealing garments from my beautiful sister(who is a statuesque size 16) or my best friend (a petite 0/1) for the right cause. I am the clothes gremlin!

But you are right. It would be difficult to match everyone--size-for-size. What if the swap was a hybrid between repurposing things you already own and thrifting, player's choice?

 

I think that would work. And some things (i.e. t-shirts) should probably be easier to find size matches for within the players than others (like pants...pants are hard to fit when you try them on!)

I would love that swap, but it would totally turn into a thrift store shopping expedition unless it was all accessories. Our sizes are such a huge range!

I am in love with this, partly because the smell is more faint. My biggest battle with both bpal and bptp scents is that they are often too strong and "wafting" on me. I want to be able to smell me when I sniff my skin, and I want someone hugging me to be able to smell me, but I do NOT want others in my office area to notice my scent. I'm an under-the-radar perfume wearer.

This is PERFECT. It's a lovely, rich, resinous vanilla that stays exceptionally close to the skin. It works great for dry elbows and layers beautifully on the occasions when I want a little more scent (i.e. going out, date night, etc). I've paired this with my old SN Madagascar Vanilla Run (SO SEXY) and Arcana Devilish, and it's beautiful with both.

I think I may be the one dissenting voice here: This smells like powder and old lady perfume. My husband's immediate comment was, "Why did you just make our house smell like my mom?" I think it's the vanilla that is not working for us. It's a kind of fake, powdery vanilla we're familiar with from things like Love's Baby Soft.

Not a winner at chez kakiphony.

I used this to moisturize my arms (concentrating on my elbows) after my shower. In the bottle it was a deep, herbal honey. On my skin the herbs quickly take over the honey. This fades nicely, and I'm left with moisturized skin that smells great up close, but doesn't have much throw. (I am a huge fan of "not much throw." It makes it possible for me to wear scent at work without overpowering my officemates.) It fades into a dry herbal scent, with a bit of something deep, sweet, warm and maybe just a little woody and a little bit musky at the base. It's quite lovely.

In the bottle: Lots of orange blossom (which I love) with some other florals in the background (probably the tuberose, but I'm having trouble picking out notes). It's very "perfumey" in the bottle and while I love orange blossom, this is complex and might be too much for me... I put it on with trepidation.

Wet on skin: Interesting. The orange blossom is gone in a blink and I'm smelling mainly and white florals that I can't quite identify. There's amber under it, lending a slightly powdery throw. I'm hoping the mellows and I get less florals because right now, I smell like the dreaded elevator perfume.

Early dry down (10 minutes): This is already settling, thank goodness. I'm still getting more tuberose than orange blossom, but the honey and beeswax are coming through. The beeswax has a slightly burned quality on me, almost more like a candle that has been lit and then blown out than a hunk of plain wax. It's an interesting combination -- sweet, and floral, yet with deep resins at the base. I'm liking it at this stage.

Late dry down (about an hour): My body chemistry must be just eating orange/citrus in all forms for some reason lately. (I've noticed this with my beloved Vixen as well.) On my skin, I've gotten almost no orange blossom OR neroli out of this blend. Certainly, none of the "bright citrus" described by other reviewers. This has settled into a mainly amber scent on my skin, with a powdery finish. It's deepened by the resins and maintains a touch of sweet white florals. It's quite elegant, and perfectly pretty, but a little generic to my nose. I smell like I'm wearing "Perfume" with a capital P (like a generic scent that would come in a white bottle with plain black lettering). It's nice, but just not very interesting to my nose.

I think I'm coming to a place in my personal chemistry and bpal evolution where I need more interesting and unusual blends. I've found that complex blends with lots of notes, and blends that pair florals with resins seem to all smell the same on me rather quickly. This is almost certainly ME and not the oils. I suspect it has to do with my changing body chemistry as I approach my 40s. It seems like the blends that work best on me now are spicier, or have more leather and smoke. If I have to say goodbye to all my beloved orange blossom, I am going to be very sad.

I'm having a reaction to Lacuna Oblivionis -- but only on my chest and neck. My wrists are fine, but the spots I dabbed on m neck and chest got some nasty, almost zit-like red bumps. Ouch!

This is odd on me compared to the other reviewers. I never got much lavender. In the bottle and wet on my wrists the dominant note is floral, but much more ylang yang than lavender. It dries down very quickly and the floral and any sweetness honey might have provided are completely eaten by the resins. I'm left with a really close to my body, deep, smooth, dry resin consisting mainly of frankincense and benzoin. It's actually one of the few scents I've tried with frankincense in which that component doesn't get eaten alive by other notes. There's maybe a touch of powder from the amber and a little funk from the patchouli, but the star of this is on me definitely the other resins.

Edited to add: This is the closest bpal I've tried to how my hair smells several hours after using Nature's Gate Herbal Conditioner (the brown one) which I happen to love. The bottles now just say "fragrance" but I think, years ago, they used say it was made with extracts of lavender and myrrh. I've always thought it also smelled similar to the Zum Frankincense and Myrrh scent line, so I've long suspected frankincense was also part of their fragrance blend.

I almost always try to send local products in swaps -- cherry products, fudge, wine, etc. I would love to do a "travel the world swap" -- although I'm not sure how many people would think to put "rural northern Michigan" as a place they'd want to visit!

Finally decanted mine out for a PIF today, so finally tried it...

Wet on skin: Mostly patchouli, but a sleek, slightly oily, very dark version with a bit of sandalwood at the back of the sniff. I don't get any sweet/vanilla at this stage.

Early dry down: Still mostly woody, dark patchouli on me. I don't get any of the sweet/foodie vibe others have mentioned and I wonder if it's because it's so darn COLD here.

After an hour: Still all woody patchouli. I strongly suspect it's because my house is cold and I am wearing 2 sweaters and not morphing at all from body heat. Will revisit after the thaw.

meaganola that sounds very cool! I'm not normally into the swap boxes any more because it all tends to be low end smellies and thing I don't use, but a curated box of indie awesome would be made of win!