Alethia

Thoughts before testing: I love the Lab's rose blends almost universally, but the amber in this has me a little apprehensive. Amber tends to go all powdery on my skin, so we'll see what happens.

Wet: Strong and lovely rose. At this point, it could be a rose single note.

Dry down: Still a rose single note, which smells lovely, but I'm missing the other notes.

Dry: Ah. The amber came out to play and turned a beautiful rose note into nothing but powder. Damn.

Verdict: I love the wet and dry down stages, but the powder in the final stage wrecks this one for me.

Thoughts before testing: I've been looking for a good pear scent since I joined the forums, and since I have a strong love of all things vanilla, I have high hopes for this one!

Wet: Wow! This really does smell like pear ice cream, but not in an obnoxiously foody way. It's quite lovely.

Dry down: I'm getting less ice cream, but the pear and vanilla are absolutely beautiful together.

Dry: The pear fades away after about 2 hours and leaves behind a beautifully creamy and full bodied vanilla.

Thoughts after testing: This stayed close to my skin, which I appreciate, and the staying power was pretty decent (around 6 hours).

Verdict: Love this! I probably won't kill myself to find a bottle, but will be on the lookout for one.

Thoughts before testing: I love the smell of cherry, but have never tried an oil with that note. A lot of the previous reviewers mention cough drops/syrup, so I'm a little apprehensive.

Wet: Ah. This is all cherry cough syrup on my skin. It's very sharp and medicinal smelling.

Dry down: I smell like I rubbed cherry Robitussen on my skin.

Dry: The medicinal smell finally faded after about 90 minutes, but it took the whole scent with it. Even with my nose pressed against my skin, I can't smell any hint of Suck It.

Verdict: Off to the sales page!

Thoughts before testing: I was so excited to try this (thanks Witch!), but after the fiasco that was Glowing Vulva (aka High Pitched Screaming Teak of DOOOOOM) on my skin, I'm quite nervous about the teak note in this.

Wet: Slightly powdery amber and teak. Oof.

Dry down: Piercing teak. This does not bode well.

Dry: The teak is beating every other note senseless. Damn.

Thoughts: I tried this the week before my time of the month, and so hopefully my hormones are screwing with both this and Glowing Vulva. I'll retest in two weeks to see if that makes a difference.

Verdict: to be continued!

Thoughts before testing: I am a huge rose fan (particularly the Lab's roses), and I love the rest of the notes listed as well. This should be pure win on my skin!

Wet: Wow. Pure soapy rose. I've never gotten soapy rose from a BPAL scent before. Not even getting a hint of the other notes.

Dry down: The rose is still quite soapy, but the honey is starting to peek out. I'll be honest: at this point, I am not a fan.

Dry: Somehow, this morphed from Eve into Persephone on my skin. Not sure what happened, but I'm not particularly fond of Persephone, and I'm not fond of Eve either.

Thoughts: I tested this during the week before my time of the month, which might be screwing up my skin chemistry? I'll test again in two weeks just to make sure, but I do not have high hopes for the resting.

Verdict: After repeated testings with identical soapy outcomes, Eve has been sent to a better home.

Thoughts: I was frimped this by my most excellent Switch Witch! I cried a little when I saw it because GV is listed in my Excel wish list as "Hahaha. Yeah right." I've wanted to try this since I first found BPAL, but never expected to be able to. I have high hopes for this blend because I love all of the notes listed. Thank you my Witch!

Wet: High pitched shrieking teak. WTF skin?! Where's the cream and lotus and amber?!

Dry down: Still nothing but shrieking teak.

Dry: I can't believe that all I'm getting from this blend is sharp teak. I'm so disappointed.

Thoughts: It is the week before that time of month for me, so I won't give up hope for Glowing Vulva yet! I'll retest in about two weeks when my hormones have calmed down a little and hope that it'll make a difference.

Final thoughts: It's been a full two weeks since my initial testing, and any hormonal issues should be done. Sadly, the second test is identical

Verdict: Glowing Vulva is sadly not for me.

Thoughts before testing: I love sweet pea, vanilla, and white sandalwood. The two ambers worry me slightly because they tend to go super powdery on me, but we'll see.

Wet: Sweet, slightly floral vanilla. I'm not getting a lot of sandalwood or amber, and the sweet pea is staying in the background for the most part.

Dry down: The amber starts to come out to play, and it's not going powdery! Maybe the sandalwood is grounding it? I have no idea, but I'm really loving the lack of powder. The vanilla is still sweet and slightly floral. I wish the sweet pea would be a little more prominent.

Dry: There's the sweet pea! This is really beautiful. The amber is still behaving, and I'm loving how this smells on my skin.

Final thoughts: This scent lasted quite a while before any noticeable fading (around 6 hours on my skin, but YMMV), and kept close to my skin which I appreciate.

Verdict: I will definitely be using up my imp, and will most likely be a bottle purchase.

Thoughts before testing: I have no idea what saffron smells like, but I do know that I (nearly) universally love vanilla and cream blends. I have high hopes for this one!

Wet: Creamy, spicy root beer. Wow! This is pretty spectacular wet.

Dry down: Still creamy and spicy but less root beer and more vanilla. So far, this is pure love.

Dry: Creamy, spicy vanilla.

Final thoughts: The scent sticks close to my skin, but I'm ok with that. It's also super long lasting. I tested it at 6 pm and woke up the next morning at 6 am and could still faintly smell it on my arm.

Verdict: This is a hands down win for me, and I will be scouring the sales page for a bottle.

Thoughts before testing: After reading the reviews on this page, I absolutely had to try Hod v2. I'm in a bit of a vanilla and carnation obsessive phase at the moment, so i have high hopes for this.

Wet: Creamy, smooth vanilla that's slightly spiced (the carnation?) Very nice.

Dry down: The carnation becomes more apparent here and blends with the vanilla beautifully. I'm not picking up any sandalwood.

Dry: Spicy carnation, creamy vanilla, and just the lightest hint of sandalwood.

Verdict: This is really a stunning blend. It's perfect for this time of year for me and is instant love.

Thoughts before testing: I love cherry scents. They tend to stay true on my skin and not turn into nasty artificial cherry/cough syrup. But this has red musk, which only very rarely works on me, and star anise, which is one of my most hated scents. However, I'm trying really hard to skin test everything that comes my way to break out of my comfort zone, and since this was a Lab frimp, I had to try. I'd be willing to bet big money that the anise in this will wreck the whole scent.

Wet: Pure cherry. Ooh! This is nice, but surely it can't stay that way forever, right?

Dry down: Ah. Anise, we meet again. It drowns out everything else in this blend.

Dry: Soap and anise is all I'm getting now.

Thoughts: Well, it was worth a shot, right?

Verdict: No thank you. Kabuki gets shuttled to my swaps/sales box.

Thoughts before testing: This was a frimp from the Lab, which is good because I never would have picked it otherwise. White musk turns to baby wipes on me, and dragon's blood tends to be stomach churningly sweet on my skin. Despite loving apples, apple blossoms, and hyacinth, I don't have high hopes for this.

Wet: Nothing but apple and apple blossom. Well that's a nice surprise! I'm getting no white musk or dragon's blood resin. This is really soft and girly at this point.

Dry down: The hyacinth starts to peek through, and is absolutely lovely. It's not a high pitched screaming floral blend and it's not powdery, which I really appreciate.

Dry: Still no musk. The dragon's blood resin made a very small and subdued appearance finally, turning the blend a little sweeter than I like, but this doesn't automatically disqualify Ladon from staying in my collection.

Final thoughts: I think that I really like this. I'm lucky in that my younger sister also loves BPAL, and I have a suspicion that she'll go bananas for this. If that happens, sister gets it

Verdict: Probably not a bottle purchase, but between my sister and I, the imp will be well loved.

Wet: Oh my god, this is the most delicious blackberry scent ever. I'm worried though because berries and I generally don't get along. So I'm loving the wet stage, but am reserving judgement.

Dry down: I'm getting beautiful berries with just the slightest hint of honey. I'm slowly getting more excited about this!

Dry: Sweet berries mingling with honey. Usually berry scents turn to artificially flavored grape cough syrup on my skin, but not this one!

Verdict: I really like this. Honey is one of my favorite notes, and I'm adoring the berry in this. It might be too sweet for every day wear, and I don't know if this is a bottle purchase, but I'll be loving my imp for sure.

Wet: Oof. Nothing but patchouli here.

Dry down: Patchouli still. Sheesh.

Dry: Patchouli and clove, but still mostly patchouli.

Verdict: I was really hoping for more of the clove and cardamom to come through, but the patch knocked everybody else out of the ring. So sad

Retest on September 5, 2013: Almost two years later, my nose is much more educated and I think the lovely Clemence deserves a retest.

Wet: Still a strong, earthy patchouli, but I'm much better able to appreciate it now. It still might be too strong for me however. There's just a hint of the clove at the very end of the sniff.

Dry down: The patchouli backs off and this morphs into a fabulous blend of clove, cardamom, and carnation. Hot damn, this is spectacular! This is spicy without hurting my nose and is fabulous.

Dry: Spicy carnation goodness. This smells like walking into the Persian market across the street from my apartment. They sell spices by the bulk, and this is that atmosphere bottled. Love.

Final thoughts: I am so, so, so glad I hung onto my bottle and retested this. It's everything I was hoping and so much more.

Verdict: Just try to pry it out of my hands

Wet: Pure lemon Clorox wipes. WTF?!

Dry down: Pure lemon Clorox wipes.

Dry: Pure lemon Clorox wipes.

Verdict: Don't mind me crying quietly while I put my decant up for sale.

Wet: Woah! Sweet, sweet, bright berry and nothing else. Not sure about this.

Dry down: Oh hello honey! Thank you for toning down the berry and making this wearable. This is really quite pretty.

Dry: The honey berry smell stays very true here, but it smells like it's warmed up (?) on my skin and is very beautiful.

Verdict: I get no booze from Fairy Wine, which is excellent because boozy scents tend to not agree with me. This is a beautiful blend, and I'm really glad I have a bottle because I can see myself wearing this frequently.

Wet: Bright, spicy lemon, but not the kind of spicy that hurts my nose. Beautiful, but no honey.

Dry down: Ah! Sweet lemon honey with spice. Loving this so hard right now

Dry: Warm slightly spicy honey with a beautiful lemon scent.

Verdict: *sings* So this is love! Crib Girls has officially rocketed to my top three honey scents, and may hold the number one spot uncontested after I do a little death matching. This is not only bottle worthy, but backup bottle worthy.

Preconceived notions: I generally do well with pink musk, amber, and sandalwood. I've never tried myrrh or skin musk before, and regular jasmine is my mortal enemy. It was a frimp from the Lab, which is good as I probably wouldn't have ever picked it up.

Wet: Very sweet, with the musks balancing it out so that it's not too overpowering.

Dry down: I'm detecting what I think is the myrrh with the musk and sweetness. This is very nice, and no appearance from the jasmine which is even better!

Dry: Alas, I spoke too soon! It turned a sharp corner into pure soap territory, and not the nice kind of soap but the shrieking, piercing soap that gives me a splitting headache. Damn.

Verdict: This was lovely until the soap phase. Off to the swaps, where hopefully someone else will adore it.

Update 6 February 2016

Thank goodness for my inability to check the reviews for my past trials, lol! I bought a bottle of Vasilissa on a whim after my skin and tastes changed and I realized that star jasmine works well on my skin.

Now, it's a creamy, slightly sweet, musky pink explosion on my skin. I love it and it's in my top ten favorites

Wet: I smell like I rubbed Bubble Yum on my skin

Dry down: Not even a hint of the pepper, which is disappointing. Still Bubble Yum.

Dry: Ooh! Hello pepper! I wish you weren't so faint

Verdict: I mostly get pink, super sugary bubble gum from this. I was really excited to try this, as I have a wild love for each of the notes listed, but I'm not so crazy about bubble gum. I'll retest this after a little aging and report back.

Wet: Beautiful blast of honey and milk.

Dry down: The rose comes out and tempers the sweetness of the milk and honey, but it doesn't turn powdery which is awesome!

Dry: I can smell just the faintest hint of carnation and bergamot, which grounds the scent beautifully.

Verdict: I have a decant of Katrina van Tassel, which is strikingly similar (on me at least, YMMV) to Alice. I death matched the two this afternoon, hoping against hope that Alice would be at least comparable. And to my surprise, I prefer Alice. They're almost indistinguishable on my skin except that Alice is a little spicier, which I assume comes from the carnation and/or bergamot, and thus seems more well rounded and full bodied to my nose. KvT is beautiful, but Alice is the winner and all around champion of this round. I'm really, really happy about this because despite my love for Katrina, Alice is prettier and more easily available. General catalogue for the win!

Normally, I'm a total floral/honey/vanilla kind of girl. But I recently acquired an imp of March Hare, and I am so insanely in love with the clove in it. Can anyone recommend any other clove blends with that hint of sweet?

Edited because my brain hasn't booted up yet.

Oh good lord, I adore this scent.

Wet: Straight up honey on my skin. I adore honey, so this is good news for me.

Dry down: The amber starts to come out and play, and it's a little powdery at this point, but nothing overwhelming or scary.

Dry: Ah! Honey + vanilla = LOVE

Verdict: This is truly a sexy scent. Bottle!

After much searching, I managed to track down an imp of this and I couldn't be more excited to try it!

Wet: Sweet, juicy apricot mixed with equal part spicy clove. Wow. This is awesome!

Dry down: The clove and apricot continue to do their lovely duet. Beautiful.

Dry: The clove starts to overpower the apricot, but in the best possible way. This is a really special blend.

Verdict: The throw on this wasn't overpowering, which is good as I hate scents with huge throws. It lasted a fairly long time on my skin (it's been almost 5 hours since putting it on and I can still smell the clove and just a hint of sweet apricot). This is pretty spectacular, and I'm going to need to find a bottle stat.

I've got the 2009 version here, for reference.

Wet, it's almost heartbreakingly beautiful. I can't even describe it, except that it's simply stunning.

Dry down: This morphed into pure, scented cat litter on me. What?! For about 45 minutes, all I got was pure cat litter.

Dry: Now it's a little calmer, and is a lovely vanilla floral. It's soft and feminine and sweet, not powdery at all (which is an excellent thing).

Verdict: The cat litter stage is almost unbearable. I was the only one who smelled it though, because when I waved my arm at my mother going "OH MY GOD I SMELL LIKE A CAT PAN!!!!" she took a deep whiff, smiled, and said "That's the first of your BPALs that I would wear. It smells nothing like cat litter! It's beautiful!" So I think that this needs retesting (I'm very close to that time of the month, which has been known to turn even dependable blends into their Mr. Hyde counterpart) and if I still get cat litter, my lovely mother gets the imp!

I have an insane love of everything citrus, but I'm not sure how I feel about sugar. Beth's creations are rapidly changing my mind on that (hello honey!) and this is my first blend with sugar. I have high hopes!

Wet: Oh my god this is truly fantastic. Immediately I get a blast of bright, bright lemon with only the tiniest hint of sugar to mellow it out. I really hope that this lasts (I'm looking at you Detox, you fifteen minute chump!)

Dry down: The sugar comes out to play and doesn't turn to plastic or burnt sugar on my skin like I was fearing! The sugar tames the lemon just enough to make it smell less like I poured lemon juice on my arm (which I adore, don't get me wrong) and more of a lemon Jolly Rancher candy (also amazing).

Dry: After about an hour, LSSB has mellowed out even further and has turned from a lemon Jolly Rancher into a beautifully soft creamy lemon. I am in love.

Verdict: My poor wallet is rocking back and forth in a corner, weeping and wailing because between the Weenie Order of Doom just got even larger. In order to the scents from the Weenie update, I'm going to need at least one backup bottle of Josie and at least another bottle of LSSB. This is love.

Wet: Honey and magnolia. Oh my gods I am in heaven. If Josie stays anywhere near close to this, I will need at least 4 backup bottles pronto.

Drydown: Honey, magnolia, and the peach starts to peek through. YES.

Dry: Honey and magnolia and peach in equal parts. Yes. Yes. YES. YES!!!!

Verdict: Out of all the scents I've tried since finding BPAL in May, Josie is the first to make me want backup bottles. When the Weenies go up, a bottle of Josie will be coming along to keep them company.