BoneBone24

Wet: Mmm, this smells verrrry sexy. It’s fresh, yet warm, and masculine, but in a refined, androgynous way.

Drydown: Herbal and clean, but earthy and slightly sweet too. It smells both warm and cool at the same time, like a manly aquatic almost. I can detect the lavender and thyme pretty easily, and the bergamot is probably what’s adding the aquatic vibe. The notes all blend very nicely, in a way that’s both familiar and surprising. There’s a subtle sweetness in there that’s causing me to keep huffing at my wrist.

Dry: Pretty much the same as the drydown, but perhaps a touch more herbal. It’s so, so beautiful. It reminds me of a tomato leaf soap I once had (Burt’s Bees, I think), with its perfect combination of herbal freshness and slightly creamy-sweetness. It dances and glows. This is what a beautiful and charming faery boy would smell like.

9 out of 10 bones

Wet: Creamy rosewood, emphasis on the creamy. There’s a cool green vibe in there too, but it’s not really screaming “mint!” to my nose.

Drydown/Dry: Equal parts vanilla and rosewood, made supple be the lightest touch of sage. Very pale, but complex and grounded. It borders just outside the realm of foodie, smelling a bit dessert-y, but also green and woody. The green tea grows in strength as it dries and is really the perfect compliment to the other notes. Very calming. It stays true (no morphing) into the dry phase.

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: Is there such a thing as pale vetiver? I’m smelling vetiver, but it’s lighter, thinner than usual. I suppose it might be a combination of the clay and blood and olive wood. I’m also getting something ozone-y and a touch of citrus. It’s equal parts earthy and aquatic.

Drydown: Clean and dirty, green-grey and clear. The olive wood comes into prominence, grounding and balancing things with its citrussy woodiness. The stone and clay smell cold and unmoving. It's definitely eery, like the after effects of a natural disaster. The dust note works beautifully, lightly tying the other notes together. There’s a gentle sweetness keeping things from going to gritty.

Dry: There are some heavy notes in here, but the overall effect is atmospheric, almost airy. Windswept perhaps. Slightly woody, slightly dirty, slightly dark, and very thin. It’s probably not for everyone, but I quite like it!

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: That wonderfully effervescent and rooty sassafras note that I love so much, but a touch drier and woodier than I have smelled it elsewhere.

Drydown: The vanilla comes into play, bringing with it a strong sweetness and soft creaminess. There’s a touch of pencil-shavings cedar just beneath it, but not enough to really compete with the vanilla. The sassafras has lost its fizz and settles in a as a peacekeeper between the vanilla and cedar. The balsam’s probably in there too, but the other three notes are so distinctive that they’re not allowing it to shine. The top three battle it out for supremacy and the cedar’s slow and steady technique is starting to pay off.

Dry: Sweetened wood. The vanilla won the battle on the left wrist, and the cedar won the battle on the right. With their powers combined, I am Captain Planet, er, Captain Tombstone! ...Anyway, this doesn’t really work on my skin, but I do kinda like it.

A Couple Hours Later: Wait a second. Both wrists are now giving off a cozy-soft vanilla with the perfect amount of throw. Alert the presses: I’ve found myself a wearable vanilla!

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: Clean and salty. As it hits the skin it reminds me of My Mommy in a Boat, only lighter-weight and fresher. It's a beachy aquatic with a hint of something else.

Drydown: A very, very clean ambergris-based aquatic. There is a soapiness to it, but it’s an endearing soapiness, the kind I don't mind. Beneath all the fresh and clean there’s something I can’t quite peg. Part of me wants to say biscotti? Or perhaps an asian fruit? Or a peculiar pastry?

Dry: Oh! I smell orange rind! Or maybe grapefruit...For simplicity’s sake let’s just say orange rind. It smells like orange rind and crumbs strewn about the sand at the beach. And a touch of clean, clean skin too.

8.5 out of 10 bones

New Tip! (I think, new to me anyway...)

If you're travelling by car or if you want to give a friend a few imps to take home with them, a great, (& cheap!) impromptu imp carrier can be created by putting a cardboard cozie inside a paper coffee cup, curling it a bit like a "C." It should create a crescent between the cozy and the inside of the cup that's just wide enough to hold a few imps upright even if the cup tips.

I'm still not sure what Osmanthus smells like, but I'm pretty sure it likes my skin. It seems like blends that have it always smell good, but I'm not sure if it's the scent of the osmanthus itself, or if it's perhaps making other notes smell good via some sort of magic. (For the record, I'm not a fan of most florals, but there are certain exceptions including lilac, gardenia, tuberose, and hyacinth.)

There's a few "shouldn't work on me but does" scents that I've recently realized all contain osmanthus; Ouija, Belle Vinu, and Shoggoth especially. Now that I've realized the trend, it's time to collect and try more!

Wet: Very botanical, like a winter garden.

Drydown: So fresh and so green, but in this wet, dewy, atypical sort of way. The pine is noticeable, but it’s balanced out by a difficult to pinpoint balminess. It’s shimmery and glossy and damp, but without skewing aquatic.

Dry: Spicier and warmer as the bay laurel gains prominence. I get the sense of a marshy woodland with the sun streaming down, melting clumps of snow leftover from the winter. There’s a vibrancy of new life springing up; birds chirping, leaves forming, beetles digging their way out of the dirt. Balmy, spicy, and fresh.

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: A deep and smoky floral.

Drydown: Deep, dry rose with a bit of smoky jasmine and a slightly bitter wood note. It’s very dark for a floral, definitely shadowy and mysterious. There's something very classic about these notes; it's a seemingly simple blend that somehow smells rich and sumptuous.

Dry: The jasmine takes over the rose now and I finally get a hint of the tonka and fig. Juuuust enough to balance out the bitterness of the coffee-kissed wood. Overall it’s a very velvety sort of scent that makes me imagine myself lounging about on a victorian chaise. Dark, romantic, and soft.

6.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: Brownie batter. Seriously, if I close my eyes it smells exactly like there’s a bowl full of rich, buttery brownie batter right beneath my nose.

Drydown: Sliiiightly more grounded now, which means it now smells like freshly-baked brownies. Sweet, gooey, dark, and chocolatey. There’s a touch of something deeper, the coffee I’m assuming, that creates the effect of the almost-burnt corner bits of brownie. But mostly, I’m getting the ooey-gooey scent of moist, flakey, fresh-from-the-oven brownies.

Dry: The same, but less intense. The drydown had a ton of sillage, and now it sits a little closer to the skin. Scent-wise, it remains the same.

If I was a foodie, I would give this one crazy high marks. Unfortunately I'm not, yet I seem to amp all the foodie notes! In this case, the foodie-ness was tolerable, but I wish the cinnamon and coffee had more of a presence.

7 out of 10 bones

Wet: Soapy white flowers.

Drydown: The soapiness subsides as clean, white flowers bloom. Lily for certain, and I’m not sure what else. It smells very white, with touches of gold and green too. It reminds me of Aspen (for women). Fresh, a touch grassy-woodsy, and bright white.

Dry: The florals are dialed down now and I can actually smell the mist and dew! Fresh and sweet in a watery, clear, greyish-green way. There’s a touch of powdery softness from the flowers, but mainly it’s a very clean, glassy-clear sort of scent. I’m trying to identify the notes and I’m really not sure...definitely the lab’s water note, probably lily, maybe jasmine, maybe lavender, perhaps a light evergreen (NOT pine), and possibly clover or ambergris or moss too??

7 out of 10 bones

Sissy, the Ascendant... How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. Sexy, sparkly sassafras. Fizzy, crackling, good old-fashioned sassafras. This stuff’s the real deal. It starts out pretty high on the medicinal wavelength, but quickly settles into something purely delicious. Dark, spicy, and woody, yet sweet, zippy, and bubbly too.

2. The smoldering, lingering smokiness that occupies the base of the blend. Smoke with a touch of fiery red musk. Like an ever-burning passion buried deep beneath the surface. This is surely what Sulu was talking about when he said: Ohh Myyyyyy

3. Magical sweetness courtesy of the courtship of vanilla and vetiver. The vanilla brings an enticingly creamy sweetness, while the vetiver tempers it with an earthy and raw animalism. Together, they form the blend’s come hither stare. This combination doesn’t always work on me, but this time the unlikely duo is performing beautifully.

4. The zesty juiciness of mandarin. Bright, zippy, and clear, this little fruit adds a good-morning-sunshine energy that wakes up the darker notes.

5. The dainty little lilac fairy that flits about, saying to the other notes “let’s be chaotic-good guys, okay?” She’s darling and girly and constantly pushing optimism.

6. The witchy goodness of herbs and resins blended together in a glorious spell. Smoldering and earthy, these notes ground the scent perfectly.

7. The sassafras again. Seriously, guys, this stuff is so, so good. There’s a reason I keep calling this one ‘Sissy, the Sassafras Strengthener’ in my head!

Clearly this one was made just for me

10 out of 10 bones

(2014)

Wet: Ohhh. This is much darker than I had expected. It’s deep and warm, subtly sweet, and slightly buttery. Sort of like smoke and maple syrup mixed together...but not quite.

Drydown: It doesn’t morph much, which is great because it starts off pretty frickin' fantastic. There’s a beautiful glowing quality to it, very reminiscent of The Light of Men’s Lives. It’s both smoky and sweet, but not overly so in either direction. Slightly waxy, slightly sticky, a bit resinous. I was worried about the fruit notes, but they aren’t really registering. The grey-greenness of the olive oil seems to be keeping their sweetness in check.

Dry: It’s very well balanced, with smoky beeswax and amber at the core, olive oil somewhere in the middle, and the buttery sufganiyot near the edge. I’m only getting the dark stickiness of the fig and there’s really no trace of the pomegranate. Beautifully smoky and glowy with just the barest touch of sweetness. Very, very nice.

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: It starts out dark and sweet. The sweetness is jammy and dry, coming from the kyphi no doubt. There’s a hint of an evergreen, which might be coming from the kyphi as well.

Drydown: The resins blossom, led by shadowy and enticing myrrh. Subtle spices are sprinkled about the edges of the incense clouds. There’s a touch of a deep, robust wood note, which at first I think is cedar and then realize must be the red sandalwood. Woodsy, spicy incense with just a bare hint of dried fruit.

Dry: The complexities of this blend are quite beautiful. It’s a woodsy incense blend, yes, but there’s so much more going on than that. There’s the delicate fuzziness of the sage, the smooth spiciness of the cassia, the pitch black darkness of the myrrh. Each element works with the next to create a gorgeously wearable woodsy-spicy-smoky-herbal-dark-jammy-magical-resinous blend.

8 out of 10 bones

Wow, so (almost) everyone else is getting cookies and I'm not. This is like the total opposite of all the other things!

Anyways, on with the review...

Wet: Strong bitter almond. Boozy, but not sweet. There’s something a bit off-smelling here.

Drydown: More bitter almond, but not quite as boozy now. There’s the bitter-tartness of lime rind and a touch of dark sort-of-sweetness from the anise too. Altogether, this is one strange and curious concoction. Heady lily makes itself known a few minutes in, then slowly grows in strength.

Dry: Heady (and I mean heady!) lily over smooth almond and a strange, disjointed mix of herbs and spices. I want to say cumin is in there, and charred firewood too. This is such a bizarre combination of notes. I want to like it, and I think I would if anything but the lily and almond were at its heart. Unfortunately, the those two do a good job of smothering the rest. Earthy, floral, and oppressive.

6 out of 10 bones

Wet: Bright, sweet, and happy. Sugared grapefruit with a touch of lavender.

Drydown: Musk-sweetened grapefruit ever-so-slightly tempered by cozy lavender. It’s uplifting and bright, but not at all harsh. Sweet but not saccharin. It smells sort of giddy, like the early stages of a crush or new love. But don’t get me wrong, this scent is well-balanced and smart too. While the word girly would be accurate, that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. It’s more like a woman caught during a girly mood.

Dry: Happy, pleasant grapefruit swirled up with a deep and creamy musk. Soft lavender provides a comforting herbaceousness and complexity. Very well-balanced and pretty in a clever sort of way.

This is a good one to bridge the gap from commercial perfumes to BPALs like Dorian, Alice, and Fae. I'll be using it to convert people, for sure.

8 out of 10 bones

Wet: A dark, dull resin with a touch of ...is that olive? There’s something thin, greenish, and vaguely fruity that reminds me of olive leaf. Color me intrigued!

Drydown: It blossoms on the skin. Grittier, peppery resins. It smells like tumultuous clouds of smoke and soot. Pitch black with shards of grey. Olibanum reigns supreme, given a spicy kick from the labdanum and betel leaf. This is a take-no-prisoners, damn the man, BAMF, anarchist - type of scent, and I like it!

Dry: It hits a nice middle ground between the wet and drydown phases now. A sweeter, more enticing blend of resins, brightened by creamy-spicy benzoin and distinctly green galbanum. A slightly spicy edge is still lent by the labdanum and betel leaf, but they’re a little lighter and more glittery now. It's a very different sort of resin blend, that is all at once delicious and dark, thin and heavy. More simply put, it's a delightful whirlwind of mysterious resins.

8.5 out of 10 bones

2014

Wet: Oooooh, tingly-spicy greens with a bit of creaminess!

Drydown: I can detect the lime-iness of the hemlock, which is reading as sparkly and effervescent, like a lemon-lime soda. Beneath that is a blend of darker, woodsy notes that are borderline earthy, maybe even a touch resinous. Tying things together is an unexplained creamy note. Is that the musk?? I’m not sure what it is, but it is beautiful and melting into the green and foresty notes in the most delicious way.

Dry: Considerably lighter now, which is a bummer. A shadowy musk with layers of fresh greenery, earthy spice, creamy ??, and a hint of citrus. One of the most beautiful forest scents I’ve come across. I’m angry at my skin for absorbing the crap out of it, for this is a scent that I’d love to amp!

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: Darkly sweet and kind of dry. Sort of like toffee, but not as saccharin.

Drydown: Dark, almost dusty, and subtly sweet. There’s a happy herbalness that brightens and contrasts with the other notes, although it oddly doesn’t read as lavender to me. As it continues to dry a purple fruit note becomes apparent. Plum or raisin maybe?

Dry: Boozier now, the ale and raisin-type note blending together like a rummy syrup. There’s still a crumbly sort of dustiness to it, but the lavender has disappeared. Pleasant and unique. Crumbly, purple, syrupy, dry, and soft.

7 out of 10 bones

Wet: Dreamy lilac. It’s pretty and happy, but in a slightly nostalgic way. Like realizing that something that just happened is going to become a cherished memory.

Drydown: Lightweight and slightly powdery lilac, sweetened with a touch of glowing beeswax. Pale, floaty, and diaphanous. Not quite shy, but definitely bashful.

Dry: Utterly girly, yet I can imagine it being fantastically glam-rock on the right guy. It smells of romantic daydreams and sighs and poems. The white tea amplifies the pale, airiness and the candle wax gives it a touch of je ne sais quoi. If you’re a fan of lilac, put this in your cart.

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: Creamy, somewhat buttery pumpkin. Compared to other pumpkin blends you might call this subdued.

Drydown: Oh-Dear-God, it’s gorgeous! Creamy, slightly woody pumpkin. Like a pumpkin cream latte from heaven. There’s a charming glow from the rosewood and just a hint of crumbly sage grounding things. Just enough to add interest and nothing more.

Dry: The pumpkin fades out and the dryness of the sage and rosewood take over. I can detect the mushroom now, which is earthy and kissed by a light touch of vanilla. Dry and smooth, a little earthy and a little creamy. Usually pumpkin blends are too bold and buttery on my skin, but this one is rather nice.

8 out of 10 bones

Wet: I smell bubble bath for half a second, and then it turns citrussy.

Drydown: Ozone with something fruity or sweet. It’s sort of a dry sweetness, like powdered sugar. Vaguely fruity, but not overly so. The guesses of quince might be right. It's not as sweet as I'm making it sound, though. Mainly it's airy.

Dry: This is a gentle, fruity-but airy blend. It’s sweet, yes, but only a little bit. I think white musk is at the core, giving it a lightweight, hard to identify quality. I haven’t noticed any florals, but there might be one hiding in there. It’s so barely-there that it’s hard to say. My note guesses are white musk, ozone, some sort of gentle fruit, something pale and dry (cotton?), and a touch of something cold (eucalyptus??).

7.5 out of 10 bones

Edited to add: Apparently my cousin's beau loves the scent of Fog Machine Juice and he thought this smelled exactly like the real thing.

Wet: A dewy, sweet floral. Almost creamy.

Drydown: Smooth and creamy-sweet (without screaming ‘vanilla!’). The peach adds a light touch of fruitiness, in a sparkly, uplifting way. The osmanthus, sandalwood, and rosewood meld together nicely in a slightly floral and beautifully grounded base. Very beautiful and also very unique. It shares a few notes with Tamora, and the overall balance is similar, but this is lighter and more ethereal.

Dry: It stays the same mix of sparkly-creamy-floral-peachy-grounded-smooth goodness as the drydown, with the exception of the left wrist being a bit more peach-dominant and the right wrist being a bit more osmanthus-dominant. Both are lovely, and that’s coming from someone who is very picky when it comes to florals, fruits, and vanillas!

8.5 out of 10 bones

Wet: Bright orange rind and dry earth. Tart and brown.

Drydown: The orange/tangerine blossoms, becoming juicier and slightly sweeter. The earthiness becomes warm and enticing, carried by a touch of oddly wispy amber. The tobacco’s smokiness balances out the juicy orange, while gritty patchouli rumbles beneath.

Dry: Oooh! The notes are melding together now and the result is something woody and comforting. Dry, grounded, dusty, and earthy, with the tiniest hint of tangerine. Delightfully complex. It reminds of a relaxed and zen version of the Dodo. Like he went on a month long retreat and found himself. No more anger, no more crazy. Just chill. ...Yep, he’s now a dirty hippy

8 out of 10 bones

To me, the way a note smells in a commercial perfume rarely smells similar to its BPAL equivalent, so my recs are mainly going off the feeling you described. Crisp, clean, aquatic, beachy. How about....

Kumiho A sharp, biting blend of crisp white tea and ginger.

R'Lyeh A hellishly dark aquatic scent

The Deep Ones Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral.

Baobhan Sith Grapefruit, white tea, apple blossom and ginger

Sea of Glass A scent of inimitable purity, crystalline grace, and limitless light

Twenty One (No notes listed, but this is the scent of a dirty martini. If she can handle the boozy-factor, it might work!)

(all imp-able GCs)