edenssixthday

Mocking the Invisible World With Its Own Shadows - Of all the Yules I've tested (so far), this is my favorite. It opens with a gorgeous waft (not blast!) of wisteria on a bed of warm ambergris. As it warms up on my skin, the frankincense and sandalwood meld together into the most amazing dry resin-wood scent that is kept from being too dry by the ambergris and is sweetened up and brightened up by the verbena. I can't begin to say how much I'm loving this scent. I am always on the hunt for amazing sandalwood scents, but never imagined I'd fall in love this much with a white sandalwood scent!

The Reward of My Benevolence - This is a really pretty scent. I love tuberose, olive blossom, clary sage, and oakmoss, so I was certain it would be great on my skin. It's a strong floral with the warmth of oakmoss beneath counterbalanced by the dryness of white sandalwood and cedar. The clary sage gives it a nice herbal touch. The tuberose is really sweet and the olive blossom is almost... waxy (?), but it's really pretty and calming. I don't know that I would reach for it over my other favorite tuberose scents, though. After drydown, it's fairly subtle and has about average wear length on me.

A Companion of the Same Nature - This opens up really heavy on the dry leaves and mums. As it dries down, the skin musk comes out, as well as the linen and a hint of the spicy carnation. The longer it's on my skin, the rose becomes more evident but smells more like a tea rose (probably because of the dry leaves in the blend), but the rose never becomes overwhelming and remains subtle. Throughout the life of the scent, it's a mostly dry leaf and mum scent on me and the wear length is about average for me.

Solitary and Abhorred - Peru balsam and I don't get along, so I didn't have many hopes for this scent. Sure enough, it's not very good on me. It's very strong on the patchouli and carrot seed, which makes it smell kind of herbal or vegetal. The balsam makes it a very dry, woody scent on me, which seems to be exacerbated by the white tea. Without the balsam, I think I might like it a lot, as it's definitely unique and interesting. I think it would make a really good unisex scent (for people who can wear peru balsam, unlike me!)

The Phoenix At Dawn - This scent is bright and lightly effervescent. It's definitely a fruity-floral blend, with the dominant notes being rose, apricot, grapefruit, and grape. It's sweet and fruity, with a soft floral edge. It's incredibly gorgeous, but as soon as it dries down, it disappears from my skin, which is such a shame because while I can smell it, it's very, very pretty.

A Blot Upon The Earth - With plum, moss, and opium poppy, I thought there was no way this could go wrong. However, almost from the moment I first apply it, something in it is very soapy on my skin. I can smell the plum and moss and poppy, and they're gorgeous, but whatever note it is that's turning to detergent on my skin sadly makes the rest of the scent unwearable.

A Dense and Frightful Darkness - This is a really beautiful scent. It's definitely on the unisex side -- musky, woody, and resinous. On me, it's mostly a myrrh and oakmoss scent with a strong musky base. It's slightly powdery on the drydown, but not offensively so. It's really nice and I'm so glad I have a little bit!

In Brightness And In Joy - One of my Yule 2011 faves. It's mostly berry and warm sandalwood. The berries are red, sweet, and juicy -- maybe currant? pomegranate? both? There's the fainest trace of florals behind the sweet, juicy berry. The sandalwood keeps the scent grounded, as berry scents often tend to waft into the ether on me. This one sticks. In fact 24 hours after I put a bit on my hair, I could still smell it swirling around my head. It's a phenomenal winterberry scent and I'm so very, very glad I decided to get some!

Öndurdis - This smells like Skadi met up with the Shivering Boy and The Winter Maiden bath oil and had somehow created a beautiful little baby. It's a truly amazing winter scent, full of pine and snow and ice, but also there's an undertone of frozen winter berries. It's absolutely amazing, and will be well-loved by me during these frozen winter months! The throw is really good, but not overpowering, and the scent has an average level of staying power.

Loi Krathong - This is a really fascinating scent. It's loaded with the scent of banana leaves, incense, and wax. It's warm and inviting and very tropical in a way that's not remotely reminiscent of Hawaii. Sadly, as it warms up on me, the lilies go all sorts of wrong on my skin, which is typical for lilies, and that one stinky little notes is going to keep me from enjoying the rest of this awesome fragrance. Can I put in a request that lilies be banned from all perfumes? They ruin so many otherwise amazing scents.

Halloween: Las Vegas - When sniffed in the bottle, it totally smells like wine and cigarettes with a hint of other hard liquors underneath. It kind of smells like a wino. As soon as it touches my skin, I can smell the sweetness of frosting and the vanilla-cream of Dorian. As it warms up on my skin, I can also identify the dry leaves and florals. It's a complex scent and incredibly evocative. But on me, it just doesn't do anything special, sadly. All of the notes swirl around me, but don't blend together to create a more unified fragrance. It's a bit cacophonous on me, unfortunately.

The Two-Tailed Sogg - This scent is so bright and pretty. It goes on with the pink grapefruit and green musk as the dominant notes, and they're absolutely amazing together! Bright and crisp and almost effervescent. I love love love green musk and have yet to encounter a scent with it that I didn't really like. As it dries down, there's a warm powderiness that comes out, which I think is a combination of the orris root and the honey. Far beneath it, grounding the scent to my skin, is the moss -- another favorite note -- and the woody cypress. The pink grapefruit starts to fade very quickly, within 5-10 minutes of first application, and the green musk and orris root become the most evident notes. It is such a pretty scent, and I can't understand why it's not getting much love in the reviews. It doesn't last long on my skin, but until it dissipates, it's really, really pretty.

The Wiley Grasser - This is a really weird scent and I can't decide if I love it or hate it. I think I don't really like it, but find it extremely intriguing because it's so odd, and even though I don't really like it on me, I have to admit this weird combination of notes works really well together. It's super sweet, pink sugar-like cotton candy blended with a car freshener-like pine, and the floral sweetness of gentle flowers. I think the reason I don't like it is that there's something medicinal or astringent about the pine, at least with my skin chemistry. But the cotton candy scent is so freaking amazing, and that's why it was hard to decide if it was a "love" or "hate" scent. It's one of the most unique scents I've ever encountered. I'm tempted to keep it for that reason alone, but honestly, with that weird astringent and bitter pine note, I'd never actually reach for it.

Candied Pumpkin - In the bottle, this smells awful to me. I think I'm mostly smelling the brown sugar and bitter ginger, which aren't good notes to my nose. However, once it's on my skin, it warms up to amazing and spicy gorgeousness. It's definitely a warm pumpkin scent that's loaded with ginger, clove, and cinnamon. The brown sugar doesn't ruin the scent like I expected. It's delicious and makes me hungry for a delicious pumpkin dessert.

Honey Hair Gloss - I was so excited about this product because my dry, fine, curly hair always needs help, and because I love honey scents, but can rarely wear them on my skin. I really believe the amazingness of these glosses is all about the argan oil. My hair just adores it and feels so silky and soft, looks shiny, and I do believe it even gives my curls a little more bounce. My hair looks so healthy when using these glosses! And this honey scent is beautiful. It's slightly floral, and a previous reviewer noted that if you like Jezebel, you'll like this scent. I hadn't made that connection myself, but now that the idea has been put into my head, I TOTALLY agree. Another really lovely Trading Post product.

Opium Tar - This is a lovely product. I only used a couple of small scoops, but it was enough to get a light bubble and the entire bathroom was beautifully fragrant. Also, it turns the water gray. The water feels silkier because of the powder, too. The scent is wonderful - mostly opium, but not IN YOUR FACE opium. It's gentler than I expected. The black currant adds a nice, dark fruitiness to the scent and sweetens it up a bit, but not in a super-sweet or super-juicy way. I had a very relaxing bath using this.

Frankincense Clove Hair Gloss - This makes my hair so soft, silky, and shiny! And the scent is phenomenal. I sprayed one squirt onto my hands, rubbed them together, then gently worked it into my hair. Initially, the frankincense is the strongest note, but as it wears throughout the day, the frankincense recedes a lot and what's left is a gorgeous clove scent with a bit of frankincense to keep it from being too sweet. It's so amazing.

Marshmallow Pumpkin Bath Oil - I love this. It's soft, sweet marshmallow combined with spicy pumpkin. I was afraid the spices would make my skin burn when used in/after a hot bath, but nothing of the sort happened. The spices are really strong initially, but as I wore the scent on my skin, the spices mellowed, and I mostly just smelled a sweet marshmallow scent with a bit of pumpkin and a hint of spice. It's gorgeous and I absolutely need more!

Expressive Head - If I wouldn't have skimmed the reviews and the ingredient list after applying this, I'd have had no idea there was vetiver in it. I don't smell the vetiver at all. What I smell is patchouli, green pepper, champaca, and a tiny hint of clove. I was super curious about this scent due to the green pepper. Green pepper is one of the only things I refuse to eat, so I was super curious how it would smell in a perfume oil. It's quite odd, because even though I've never smelled green pepper perfume oil, I was able to identify it right away because it smells like feet...just like a real green pepper smells to me. Salty, sweaty feet. That's kind of how this scent smells. Like salty, sweaty feet with patchouli, champaca, and a tiny bit of clove. There's also something rubbery about it, so it kind of smells like salty, sweaty feet in 1980s "jellies" shoes. I dunno, this just does NOT work on me. But it's weird and interesting!

Death Embraces a Young Maiden - This is just loaded with lovely, warm, sweet ambergris. It's almost an ambergris single note on me, but there's a hint of dry sandalwood and dusty tea rose that keep the ambergris from being too sweet. They compliment it perfectly. It is really, really lovely. I had no idea it would be this pretty! I think it's a fairly gender-neutral scent, too.

October 2011 - My review of October 2007 is here (I liked it), and my review of October 2010 is here (I liked it a lot). This year's version is exactly the same. It's the smell of freshly fallen leaves, dry autumnal air, the faintest hint of smoke, and the sweet smell of sticky sap. It is so perfect for this time of year, and really does smell like autumn. I don't think I can add anything new this year. It's just a really great, evocative fragrance.

La Calavera Catrina - I was hoping this would smell more like leaves, roses, vanilla, and chamomile, but when I first apply it, it's all marigolds all the time, with the occasional bright head of a chrysanthemum popping up to say hi. It might be nice if I liked marigolds, but I think they smell pretty bad. (I use them to keep the bunnies away from my flower garden because they hate the smell, too!) As it dries down, more of the leaves and chamomile come out, as well as the faintest trace of rose, and I can see how people who like marigolds would like it, but it's still way too strong of a marigold scent for my taste.

Elegy IX: The Autumnal - When I first put this on, all I smell is the fir needle, and while it's really, really strong and not something I'd wear for a perfume, I am pretty sure I'd love it as a candle scent. As it warms up on my skin, other woody notes come out, but something in it (could still be the fir) starts to really smell like Pine-Sol. It's the scent of strong, artificial pine and it's highly astringent. It's getting washed off right now!

John Barleycorn - I generally like BPAL's beer scents -- their warm hoppiness is awesome. But this one is a HYOOGE exception. It smells like urine. It smells like the carpet in someone's basement that has had old, stale, dog urine sitting in it for years. It's awful. It's really, really horrible.

Le Revenant - Oh wow, this is a really heady floral. There's a trace of sandalwood far, far beneath the florals, but it's basically a really strong floral that's very heady and cloying.