becca_s

Raptures of Roses and Vice is gorgeous It's a mix of heady magnolia, roses, musk and coconut on me, and it doesn't really morph. It's kind of a creamy floral but really lush and realistic smelling at the same time.

This one smells like grapes on me, it's very sweet. I think it might be from the red musk. I really can't pick out any of the notes apart from what ever is causing the grapey-ness, so this one doesn't really work on me.

This starts out as a lemon/cocoa combination on me. After it settles into my skin it turns into something beautiful - a musky mix of cocoa, vanilla and lemon blossom. The lemon blossom doesn't dominate the scent like I was scared it would. In the background there is a hint of what must be the custard, I don't get any rose from this. Overall, this is very comforting and wearable. I need to get a bottle of this one.

This is a musky floral on me, with something fruity in the background. It has good throw on me and seems to last on my skin for ages. I think that this is a grown-up, sophisticated floral. This one could be more worn at any time of the year but it strikes me as spring/summer scent.

This is a sweet scent that starts out with a zing of ginger. The ginger doesn't stay on my skin for very long, it quickly fades leaving a sweet, fruity kind of scent. It reminds me of a fruity, herbal tea with a hint of ginger. This fades very fast on my skin, after half an hour I can barely smell it at all. Overall, this is a nice fruity, summer scent that my skin eats up very quickly.

When I first put this on for the first 10 or 15 mintutes the apricot and cayenne pepper merge together to create a really strange, spicy/medicinal smell. After it settles into my skin though, this one is really pretty. After its first initial burst the cayenne actaully fades away and I can barely detect it anymore. I am left with a honeyed apricot scent, its fresh and very summery. There are times when this reminds me a little bit of Josie.

2013 version On me, this is dominated by the honey and date palm, as it dries I can smell the amber and maybe the champaca flower too. I don't get any tuberose or rose. The date palm and amber make it kind of exotic smelling. I will re-test this one, I am a fan of honey scents so I may upgrade my decant to a bottle and perhaps the vanilla and other notes will come out more when it has aged a little bit.

This is really lovely, it starts out quite strongly with the cedar which worried me because I amp wood notes and they don't really work on me. Luckily, the cedar faded making way for the lilac and blue musk, with a hint of jasmine. The lilac here is so pretty and realistic smelling, it is like walking through a garden at night time, or having the smell of lilac wafting through your window at night. This will probably be a night or sleep scent for me.

This is the 2013 version This starts out with all violet - very sweet and sugary violet. When I first put it on it actually reminded of High Strung Daisies, that is how sweet and sugary it is on me. I think that it must be the madagascan vanilla and my skin translating it into sugar. There are times when I can smell the narcissus - it's kind of sharp and doesn't really seem to fit with the other notes. The sugaryness does calm down after a while and this becomes a very soft, violet and orris scent. Overall, this is nice especialy when that sweetness settles down and I can no longer smell the narcissus

This one is my favorite out of all my luper decants, it starts out with the milky, pear and then the oakmoss, tuberose and opponax come out to create a beautiful, well blended scent. I wasn't sure if this one would work on me with the opponax and carrot seed but it's really lovely. Like the other reviewers have mentioned this is very vintage and classy I will definitely be getting a bottle of this one.

I recommend Lady Una: Honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, and fae spices. It's honey musk, but its very prominent on me. It's my favorite honey scent. If you are a fan of snake oil then you should try Womb Fury: Snake Oil and three types of honey. Have you tried O?: Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. It's not my favorite honey scent but you may like it There is also Door which I have never tried but always wanted to: Golden honey, nicotiana, blue chamomile, and cistus.It also has chamomile in it. I hope that helps

I get alot of white rose and water lily in Helena. There are times when I smell the lush white rose and it is so pretty and there are other time when I get whiffs of the waterlily. The other notes seem to stay in the background, I don't get much of the rose amber but I think that the jasmine and lily may add something kind of sharp to the blend. This is quite perfumey to my nose. I would describe this as a watery, aquatic white rose scent. It's quite pretty and I will keep the imp and re-test again.

This is the 2013 version. This one is definately a morpher! It starts out with alot of lavender on me, and at first it smells like a musky lavender scent. The lavender slowly fades and makes way for the rose, carnation and amber. I love the drydown of this when it reaches a point of being mostly amber,carnation and vanilla flower, its a really warm and feminine scent. I can't smell any jasmine in this at all, from start to finish which is good because I wasn't sure how it was going to smell on me. Overall, this is a really lovely floral/amber scent. It smells kind of vintage and romantic to my nose. I really love this when the lavender settles down and lets the amber, carnation, vanilla flower and rose come through, they smell so good together (ETA: I want to age this one, because I think that it may age nicely).

On me this starts out with the fresh heather and carnation - its smells very realistic and pretty. After about 10 mintues I think that the ivy and maybe the clover must take over, and makes the blend smell very green and at this stage I get a kind of masculine vibe from it. I am going to re-test this one since it only came out of the mail today, it might need some time to settle. I would love for the flowers to stay around longer.

I think that you might like Miss Jessell from this years Yules: Black roses with myrrh, benzoin, and guiac wood. It's a darker rose scent on me and the myrrh & guiac wood add a lovely warm element to the blend You could try: Roses, Pearls & Diamonds from Marchen: Red roses, dazzling crystalline musks, and pearlescent coconut-tinged orris. Rose Cross: purest rose with sacred frankincense Some of my favorite rose scents are - Peacock Queen (a very true, pure rose scent on me), Alice (cake, milk & rose), Persephone (pommegranate & rose), Glasgow (rosy heather & blackberries), London (tea rose). There are so many rose blends in the Black Phoenix GC alone that I am sure you will find the perfect one for you

This smells like really spicy ginger biscuits/cookies. It definitely has cinnamon and some other spices. I can smell the honey too, when I first tried it I thought that it was butterscotch or something like that but then I realized that it must be the honey. I think that the honey evens this out though because the ginger in this seems like it could have the tendency to be sharp, but the honey softens it

This starts out with a strong burst of roses - these are definitely dark, black roses. When it dries down I can smell the warm myrrh and what I think must be the guiac wood in the background. The guiac wood is interesting - kind of green and woodsy at the same time. This is a really unique rose scent, and I will be using up the decant and could possibly upgrade to a bottle if this keeps growing on me.

This is a decant of the 2012 version, I have never tried Peacock Queen before so I can't compare it to other years versions. This is a very true and pure rose scent, probably the most realistic rose scent that I have smelt from BPAL. I have been looking for a rose scent that works on me for ages, and it looks like this is the one the only problem is that it seems to fade pretty quickly.

For Christmas Eve I wore Peacock Queen, for Christmas I think that I will wear Snow White

I wasn't sure about this one because it has a few iffy notes for me - pineapple, frankincense, cinnamon but I was really pleasantly suprised and happy that I got a decant. It does start out quite fruity - but it's not obviously pineapple on me, I also get quite a bit of the chamomile at first too. This dry's into a really lovely combination of yellow rose, frankincense and heliotrope. It's very solar and summery ... I think that the cinnamon stays in the background giving it a hint of spice and some depth. The frankincense in this is nice, I am not generally a fan of it but it works well in this blend. I think I may need a bottle of this one

Lunar phoenix really doesn't work on my skin at all. It smells really sharp and harsh - I think that this is coming from the lettuce and galbanum or maybe the parsley. I can't smell any of the jasmine or lily. I really wanted this one to work on me and I am envious of all the people who this smells great on. There is something in this which just doesn't work with my skin chemistry

This is a musky, green tea scent on me. Brittle is a good way to describe it. The green tea is really fresh smelling, I only get hints of the violet and I can't smell any vanilla orchid I 'm sure it is there as a vaguely floral undertone. I think that my skin amps any type of tea scent and it is no different here. This is a very pretty and fresh smelling scent, I generally don't like tea scents but I like this one. I'm not sure if I would upgrade to a bottle though.

This starts out very almondy on me, it dominates all the other notes for a while. It dries down to be a honey and lavender scent with a hint of thyme. The almond almost completely fades away. The thyme does add an interesting herbal element but it stays in the background. Overall I like this, the lavender and honey make a really nice combination. I could end up buy a bottle of this one.

This starts out really creamy - at first it smells kind of nutty - like someone else said, kind of like hazlenuts. This lasts for about 10 mintues and then it morphs into a soft, creamy floral. The peony in this reminds me more of the Dormouse than The Girl in the Speckled Pink Kimono - it's not a sweet smelling peony it's kind of more green and fresh smelling like other people have said. Overall, this is very wearable and I wear it quite alot. I don't think that I have given the scent justic here but I found it hard to describe all the different elements. It's one of those scents that you could wear everyday, I often wear it to work.

I have tested this twice now to see if it would be different after it had settled down after coming straight out of the mailbox. It has been the same both times. This starts out with a bright red rose and very sweet cherry. The cherry is almost almondy at the beginning. After a while the cherry settles down and it stops smelling like almonds. The rose in this is a juicy kind of rose - it doesn't turn powdery on me like some roses can. This eventually dries down to be a sweet, fruity rose scent mixed with the lemon verbena. The lemon verbena does become quite strong after about 10-15 minutes, there are times when I think it almost dominates the rose. It's generally a 50/50 mix between the fruity rose and lemon verbena on me - I guess my skin must amp it. Overall, this is a nice, bright, sunny kind of scent.