angharad

Oooh, I'm in love. A friend had gotten this as a frimp a while back; she let me sniff it because I love just about anything related to Ireland, but I wasn't too impressed with Dublin at the time. The Labbies just sent me Dublin with my last order, and I'm so very happy they did. In the imp I'm still not too impressed -- it seems more floral than I usually like, but onto the skin it goes. Wow. Dublin turns into walking through the Irish forests on a beautiful misty morning. Reading the above reviews, I'm glad I'm not the only one who smells something spicy. The spice is what wins me over. It's so subtle, yet it gives the misty forest and sweet white rose the extra depth needed to make this scent work for me. Dublin is very light, and it has average lasting power. This goes on my bottle wishlist for my girly days.

Cassia-caked cocoa coconut over angel food cake. As much as I love cinnamon, I just don't like cassia, at least not in this. It's too bitter. I don't know if it's the cassia itself or how it's blended with the other notes, but it does not appeal to my nose. Anyway, I mainly get the cassia with a hint of dry baking cocoa powder peeking out every now and then. The longer I wear it, the more something whiter (don't know why but Beth's scents always bring colors to mind and I can't separate the colors from the scents themselves when I describe them) comes out, but I can't tell if it's the coconut or the angel food cake or both. The cassia remains the top note, however, so I just can't make myself love this. I will be keeping it around, at least for a while, to see if it gets better with age.

Bottle: Yummy rich caramel-esque goodness. Skin, wet: Sandalwood, hint of saffron. Skin, dry: Still mainly sandalwood and saffron, but now with hints of butter rum and vanilla. Unfortunately it's very faint once it dries down, and it only lasts a couple hours at the most. I've already had to reapply, and I only got it 4 hours ago. I will be keeping this bottle and trying it out again later, more because I love the idea of Underpants and I want it to work on me better, by golly!

:D A tiny hint of bourbon, sweet and creamy blackberries, and rich red velvet cake. Throughout this scent's life on me, it's primarily the blackberries and red velvet cake. The bourbon peeks out from time to time (mainly after an hour of wearing), and the blackberries steadily grow creamier the longer I wear it. SO YUMMY. It lasts for at least 4 hours on me (I washed it off to try on Underpants because -- UNDERPANTS!). I Closet and wish I could afford to splurge on another bottle before it disappears.

Florals and ozone. The ozone adds a sharpness to the florals that I like, but unfortunately it doesn't last very long. I can't specifically identify any of the florals, so they are well-blended. It's not bad, but florals just aren't my preference. Urania doesn't last long on me and was gone within 2 hours.

Bottle: Gritty, musky incense. It smells just like the local "sex, drugs, & rock-n-roll" shops in town. I can't pick out any boozy or sweet notes yet. Wet: Almost immediately a hint of sweetness peeks out, but it's still mainly a strong musk/incense scent. Dry: Powder. WHY ARE YOU POWDERY?! It's vaguely sweet, but all the musk has disappeared, and the booze never shows up. It's just powdery.

So very beautiful. I'm so happy the Lab sent me a frimp of The Lion, making me realize I love amber so I could order this. It's dry, sweet, and ever-so-lightly floral, with a hint of spice (yay for the carnation!), and extremely golden. The longer I wear it, the drier and sweeter it gets. The spice and floral aspects disappear after a while, but this is still a beautiful scent on me. Brisingamen is becoming one of my top favorites.

Another example of why I love BPAL's rose notes. All I can specifically pick out are the rose and dirt notes. The dirt is most prevalent when I first apply, but it gradually gets softer the longer I wear it, allowing the rose to peek out a bit more. Unfortunately this doesn't last for more than a couple hours on me because I really do like this. I'm not sure how often I'll wear it, but I do like my Zombi!

I...don't know about this. It's definitely got rose, a very strong rose with something that smells like a heavy, bitter, dark red wine. Assuming that's actually the "soft resins," well...they're not very soft starting out. The longer I wear it, however, the more the rose tempers the bitterness of the wineresins until it's a pretty, ultra-feminine floral scent. I like it all right, but it doesn't really suit me.

Absolutely lovely, although the notes stay completely separate. When I first put it on, it's all pomegranate with no hint of rose. Sometime over the next half hour, though, all the pomegranate disappears, and the rose comes out. This is a beautiful, soft perfume with a very wistful, romantic feel to it. It has average throw on me and lasts for several hours.

Wet on my wrists, cinnamon pops out from behind a cloud of smoke and yells, "HERE I AM!" As the oil dries more, the cinnamon disappears, and a very strong floral scent emerges. It reminds me of honeysuckle, but it's dirty and still covered with something smokey. Actually I really liked this, even though it's more floral than I usually prefer. I just wish the cinnamon would last longer.

Straight out of the imp, this is pure coffee. I like the smell of coffee, so that's good. As soon as I put it on, however, the coffee disappears into a cloud of florals, mainly the roses. I can't find any vanilla, fig (which is probably for the best with my skin chemistry), or tonka bean., and the coffee never makes a comeback. Mata Hari has very strong throw at first, but within an hour it's faded down to where I can barely smell it on my wrist. I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure if it's really for me.

Normally I'm not that crazy about ozone as a perfume note, but Lightning is absolutely lovely. Call me crazy, but last night when a bad storm woke me up, I got out of bed to put on this perfume. It's got a sweet, sharp edge over watery notes. Good throw -- I can't put very much on because apparently my skin amplifies aquatics -- and it lasts for several hours. It's a keeper.

... Our Grand Guignol perfume is a shot of sweet apricot brandy; just enough to settle your nerves after a ghoulish, gory brush with the macabre. Ooooooh. Got this in a swap (whee!), and I it. It does remind me of peach schnapps, although I'm not sure why since I can definitely pick out the apricot with the alcohol -- maybe I need to find some apricot schnapps and compare? Anyway, this is a very boozy, apricot-y filled scent. It lasts much longer on me than other apricot scents have so far, and it's got better throw. Scent-wise, I do prefer Katharina, but I'll keep this for when I'm in a long-lasting boozy mood.

Wow -- this arrived as a frimp, and I expected to find mention of mint in the description after I smelled it. To me it's very minty, but it mellows out a bit after drydown. There's still a hint of something sharper, possibly the mandarin, but mainly I get vanilla mint. While wearing this I walked into a shop that burns opium-scented incense, which almost perfectly matched the perfume. Since my guy loves that shop, he kept sniffing at me whenever I wore it, but...it's not really my style. Belle Epoque is pretty, just not for me.

Mmmm, peachykeengoodness. From the imp it's a sharp, bright, sweet golden peach. On my skin it's...pretty much the same thing. The scent softens as the oil dries on my skin, but for the most part it stays true to my original impression. It reminded me a lot of Tamora until I wore them side by side; then I realized that Tamora is the older sister who wears black makeup, while Aglaea is the younger sister who tries out for the cheerleading squad. I love them both equally, but Aglaea is better suited for happy days.

Honestly, I can't decide if I like this or not. I mainly get dark cherries -- not quite black, but still dark -- and the red musk from Kabuki. I'm not familiar with star anise, but I'm sure it's in here somewhere. At first the scent is a very strong cherry cough syrup but it tones down as the oil dries, bringing out the musk. After 4 hours I can still smell the dark, sweet cherry on my wrist, but it's gone a bit powdery.

Mmmmm. The iris and berries are most prominent on my skin at first, making this a dark, sweet scent. After a few minutes, the berries fade back a bit to let the amber brighten this up, and finally the spices begin to peek out. It stays a bit more floral than I normally would prefer, but I love any and all iris scents. Overall, Florence is absolutely lovely on me.

Morocco was on my wishlist, but it wasn't high on my to-order list. When the labbies threw it in as a frimp in my last order, though, I was pretty excited. Then I smelled it. This scent is utterly gorgeous. Every time I wear it I can't get the image of a desert sunset out of my head. Something about it calls to mind a deep, dark red. It's very dusky and dry. There's a subtle spice blending with an equally subtle sweetness. I can't figure out how to describe it other than like this. Morocco has just enough throw to make people close by sniff and wonder, "What is that?" It lasts for several hours. It's extremely sexy yet subtle, making it absolutely perfect for me. On to the bottle wishlist it goes!

Just sniffing the imp, I didn't like this. I could barely pick out the spice (cinnamon?), and there was some note I couldn't identify that was just...harsh. The other night, though, I finally tried it on, and almost immediately that harsh note softened into something much more pleasant. The spice came out a bit more and blended. Admittedly I was influenced by the name, but I swear this ended up smelling like sunset. Something about that harsh note and the subtle spice coming up to meet it and blend together...I'm not sure exactly how to describe it any better. It was just beautiful. Tum didn't have much throw, but it lasted for about 3 hours. If only real sunsets lasted that long, then I might be able to watch one instead of remembering them too late.

I think I'm in love with this scent -- at least for the days when I want to feel haughty and sophisticated. Wicked is a faintly spiced rose on me, reminiscent of Harlot, but this is MUCH more luxuriant and womanly. I'm not familiar enough with jasmine or myrrh on their own to identify them, but however this is blended, I really like it.

Oh, wow -- rosemary. And bitter orange blossom. I never smell the rose in this. If the rosemary weren't so strong, I think I'd like it a bit better, but...it's just too strong, too herbal for me. The orange blossom does nothing to sweeten up the scent. Catherine has a very strong throw. After a while (1-2 hours), it turns powdery and starts to fade.

YAYROSEANDSANDALWOOD! Ahem. Anyway. I can't pick out the lily note in this; mainly I get the beautiful blend of rose and sandalwood that I was hoping for and just love. There's something else, too, but I think it's the frankincense that I smell. It deepens the scent, providing a foundation for the rose and sandalwood. This has okay throw and lasts for a few hours. Definitely a keeper.

Very musky, very sweet, faintly spicy. Dragon's blood (so far) tends to go cherry on me, so that's mainly the sweetness I get. I really like Dragon's Blood; all the notes go so well together and don't overpower or throw off the other notes. Unfortunately, it fades completely within about half an hour. It has good throw, and I have received compliments on it right after application, but it just fades too damn fast for me to really want to wear it because I do not have time during the day to keep reapplying the oil. Bad skin! Why must you do this to me?

Smoke, leather, and cherries. Apparently dragon's blood turns into cherries on me. Luckily (since cherries don't go well with smoke and leather), that part fades pretty quickly, leaving me with just the leather and a bit of smoke. It doesn't have much throw, though, and it only lasts for about an hour. It also seems very masculine, very rugged, so...although I like it all right, it's not really for me.