Gateau

No matter what, I will always love the label art on this one.

 

In the imp: rich honey, sugary lemon. I got one whiff of a more astringent lemon, more wood polish than lemon zest. Also something I can't define that's a little heavier and musky and a little cloying, either the cardamom or one of the darker honeys.

 

Wet on me: Very foodie white chocolate truffle with lemon-honey filling. It's lickable but a little too sweet to be entirely pleasant and has that slightly musky scent that white chocolate and honey often have.

 

Dry: A very dusky honey with a little lemon candy. It's gotten softer, but that underlying duskiness, coupled with the honey sweetness, just doesn't sit quite right on me. I can't completely decide about it, but I'm not sure I really want to smell like this.

 

Good lasting power -- put on around 8pm and could still make it out when I woke up. My younger son thinks I smell like candy, but the older son and my husband don't like it at all.

In the imp -- sweet flowers and the smell of leaves on the forest floor

Wet on me -- powdery sweet aquatic flowers, with a strong smell of rotting leaves and wood (a smell I love) and the aquatic notes of a pond. The pond water is still but not stagnant -- it's a very organic smell like taking a walk in the woods in the spring before the old leaves have been cleaned up, wet from the melted snow. Might be a better room spray than personal perfume.

Dry -- I love this now. It's turned to soft and mostly sweet flowers (not the sharp powder I sometimes get with lilies) with the woods and pond in the background. I get a daytime but cool and shady feeling -- no starry darkness for me. It fades pretty fast, but lingered more faintly for a long time. I think this needs slahering, and hopefully that more intense wet phase won't bother me when I do so.

Considering a bottle.

I am new to BPAL, and received a half-imp of Fire Eater from a very kind forum member as a gift with a purchase. I've never had an experience with a perfume like the one I had with this. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it really speaks to the power of these blends to evoke associations and emotions. So this blend wasn't for me, but it convinced me of the depth of Beth's amazing abilities.

 

In the imp: A cologne note, pleasant. An underlying sweet resinous scent, dragon's blood? Not one of my favorites.

 

Wet on me: I get the cologne, with a dry wood smell. Some smoke emerges. No hint of that sweet resin. I'm getting once-bright, now faded golds, browns, and reds, like old weathered posters. Definitely a seedy carnival vibe, with all the beauty and rot inherent in that. The word "lurid" in the description is just right.

 

On the drydown: More piney wood coming out, with an ashy cinder note, I like this combination. On top of that is the cologne overlay. These two smells don't combine, they stay layered, with the cologne on top of the burned wood. I want to smell that charred wood, but I want to get away from the cologne.

 

30 minutes later: Picking up more of that incensey sweetness and smelling the char behind it. I continue to like the burned wood smell, but the cologne continues to blot it out and disturb me. I feel like I'm being stalked by someone seedy and menacing while I'm just trying to enjoy this burning wood scent.

 

Eventually I had to wash it off, but it would not come off. I tried alcohol, I tried scented soap and water. Finally I was able to blot it out with lavender oil. Later I went to bed and had a very disturbing dream that included seeing a film about sideshow performers.

 

P.S. my 9 year old son, who is developing an obsession with BPAL along with me, said he liked Fire Eater, and could smell sandalwood and smoke.

Received this as an extra when I bought a bottle from a generous forum member. I had been avoiding the Ars Draconis blends, and this confirmed that is a good choice for me. It's just not a direction my nose and chemistry like to go in.

 

In the imp: hippie head shop sweet incense

 

Wet on me: still strong whiff of hippie incense, but I can now detect a white flower note with that pleasantly slightly bitter soapiness they have. Feel a little twinge of headache coming on.

 

On the drydown: this is getting more balanced, with the top sweet note (ylang ylang?) balancing with the spicy incense and mellowing out, but it's still giving me an overall impression of a hippie store I used to frequent. Headache intensifying.

 

I washed it off when I got home. I actually liked the faint remnant that got left behind, which was more spicy and resinous than sweet. Not for me, though.

Wow, my first review. I am glad I get to start with something I really loved.

 

In the bottle: A hit of sweet plum wine and something sweet and floral.

 

Wet on me: Sweet plum wine and honeysuckle blossom, which combine to smell almost like candied fruit. Something a little tangier -- apricot? the ichigo strawberry? -- emerges, and something a little soapy and clean. That must be the peony and/or lily, but it's not sticking out. I don't know what hydrangea, anemone, or lunar oils would smell like to pick them out. I get the impression of pink and white blossoms on branches shadowed by the darkening indigo moonlit sky. This is pink and dusky purple, flowers by evening. Not a bright garden, but a garden after moonrise. I get the impression of taking an evening walk in the warm spring, not dead of night.

 

On the drydown: The clean scents are coming out a bit and mingling with the fruity sweet floral blossoms, still not dominating. There is something -- the branches? the lunar oils? -- that add a certain warmth and depth to all this ethereal sweetness, like a musky melon or the pearly bloom on plums and grapes. It's a very romantic fragrance with a touch of warm darkness.

 

Fairly fast fade on this -- I applied 3 hours ago and now need to put my wrist right to my nose to smell it. It's something I'd want to reapply throughout the day. But it's not an everyday fragrance, something to save for when I need a touch of spring and romance.

 

(edited to correct stupid error)

Was working in my garden today and got a big hankering for a garden scent with tomato leaf, lavender, honeysuckle, roses, tarragon, water, and dirt, maybe a touch of peony. I'll have to try some of the ideas above.