March

Smells mostly like cedarwood to me, which I happen to love.

Smells warm and snuggly, though a little overbearing. Apart from the 'feel' of amber, I can't pick out any notes. It dries down to something that seems to be 'co-operating' with my own skin more than overwhelming it, and this stage is rather nice. On the whole, I think this is not really me, though.

Too floral for me! Unfortunately, I can't smell the darker notes, which makes the Ylang Ylang seem like it's the only thing there.

Yay, a floral I actually like! (As opposed to those that are merely bearable on me.) Violet, I presume, since all the other notes probably don't smell as sweet, is the main note I smell. It's flowery without being sharp or sticking in my nose, and it's very pleasant.

I don't smell the mushroom gases or the swamp mist, but the hint of mint underneath the violet gives it a pinch of freshness.

Very summery!

This is, unfortunately, the soapiest BPAL I've tried to date. I don't know what's in here, but my skin doesn't want to like it.

Pity, because in the imp it smells like there are a host of other, beautiful notes that would shine if they'd just poke their heads out of the soap.

This is a rather bright and screechy scent for something described as 'dark.' Faint whiff of shoe-polish under a powdery flower base? My nose doesn't feel like making sense of this. Let's hope it's the hormones!

*checks notes again*

Oh, no. It's the rose. After mentally subtracting the black musk from the shoe-polish scent, the sour, sour, scent of roses who hate me remains.

*sad*

Ooh, I like this one! Smells like incense fading on the wind, like you're trying to pinpoint the location of an old, buried Greek Orthodox church by following your nose!

Very subdued, this scent, but very nice! I hope it holds its strength for a couple of hours.

Spider smells like a man's cologne to me, which is of course kind of a non-description. Not that I've tried many of these, but I think it's the aquatic character of the scent that evokes the comparison.

Unfortunately, aquatic men's colognes are not really my thing, even though Spider has some grounding sweetness and a slightly tropical feel underneath the aquatic, so it's off to swaps.

This goes on a little foody, but then turns somewhat fresh yet resiny. Difficult to describe, really - Anubis doesn't really remind me of anything I know and the notes themselves are hard to distinguish.

Verdict: kinda nice, will try again to see if I can understand it a bit better.

War has that 'thing' Shub-Niggurath also has that simply turns my stomach. I'm not sure what it is, the descriptions have ginger and spices in common but it doesn't say which. And, like Shub, if I suffer through the drydown phase I rather like it. But not enough.

Luckily, Shub seems to be a very popular scent, so maybe I'll find lots of happy swappers for War as well!

Succubus is light and friendly and flowery (not floral!) on me. Pretty, but not necessarily 'me.' Turns kind of soapy on the drydown, like light scents tend to do on me.

Will definitely test again on a nice summer evening, with a different hormonal status, though!

Usually I'm a fan of ambers. In Brisingamen, as in Black Forest, the fresh and sharp florals make the ambers feel dusty. Is this what people mean with 'smells like baby powder'? Because it doesn't really *smell* like baby powder, it *feels* like baby powder if you accidentally inhale it. And, in hindsight, amber always feels that way, it's just that it's not a problem - actually, it's a big advantage! - if it's mixed with similarly-feeling scents.

So, unfortunately, this imp will go off to swaps.

One big part of my enjoyment of BPAL is testing different scents with only one note in common and figuring out what exactly that one note smells like. Kyoto told me 'so *that* is anise!' because of its overlap with Absinthe.

Sadly, though, it's probably not for me. My hypersensitivity to scents that 'stick in your nose' strikes again!

The drydown is pretty nice, but I'm not sure if it's worth the wait in getting there.

I COVETED this scent. It would be Loup Garou mixed with Czernobog or Iago or Haunted!

However, now that I'm actually wearing it, my nose is not convinced. The light, bright, foresty scents have a completely different 'smell-texture' than the velvety musk and ambergris, and while it *smells* divine, it just feels strange in my nose.

Oddly, Thanatopsis works fine for me, so it's probably the ambergris that makes this scent feel like breating deeply the invigorating scent of a pine forest when suddenly someone throws a handful of powdered milk in my face.

I'll definitely revisit this scent, because I'm hoping that this is just an off nose-day.

Just for your information: I tend to liken all piney scents to Loup Garou, because that was the first BPAL pine I ever tried and I still (I tried 2 or 3 more) like it best.

So far, Nocnitsa is what comes closest. It goes on a little more complex and earthy than Loup Garou, and on drydown it contains some faint traces of things I can't quite place, something floral perhaps. So far, I'm not quite sure that's actually an improvement, but I have an extremely low tolerance for florals. One thing that could get me to skew to the Nocnitsa camp, is its wearlength. If this actually lasts a few hours, that'd be a definite plus!

I got this as a frimp with my Flower Moon order.

Unfortunately, this smells like a thick floral to me, consisting mainly of jasmine, one of the few flowers I even avoid in real life. On top of that, there's a strange bitter smell I can't place.

Too bad, no lovey-dovey feelings from this one! Off to a more loving home it is.

Generous frimp from the lab!

On me, this is an overwhelming, sweet floral. And my nose rather hates florals. Off to someone who digs the flower-attack!

Red Queen was a frimp from the generous Sunshinedaisybliss!

In the imp and wet on skin, the Red Queen smells like really fake cherry candy to me. Or maybe cherry ice-cream, which doesn't smell or taste like cherry at all.

Only a few minutes later, a scent comes through that reminds me of cedarwood, only darker. The cherries are almost gone at this point.

I'm hoping they come back!

Ah, yes, they do. There they are!

I applied only lightly this time - scared of the plastic cherry attack! - but I think next time I'll go for a full dose and enjoy this very unperfumey perfume.

Second try: Yes, this is very nice when applied in a normal dose, and has a nice long wearlength.

This was a frimp from the generous Sunshinedaisybliss!

Thanatopsis is mostly pine in the imp and wet on skin. I believe the juniper's peeking out a little later. The musk keeps it from getting really light, like Jabberwocky and Loup Garou get on me. Here's to hoping this has a great wearlength! If it's anything like the musk in Czernobog, which it reminds me of a little, I'm betting it will.

The Great Sword of War was a generous frimp from Sunshinedaisybliss.

Short impression: Ooh, this is NICE!

It goes on really foody, but that dissipates within a nanosecond, so that's good. Then I smell something citrus, but not the lemon that usually overpowers anything worthwhile, with a base of

- and of course, when I sniff my wrist to determine the base, all I get is mandarin and tonka -

ah, there it is! A base of chocolate and tobacco leaf.

Definitely a keeper, and I'll be returning to this one to test whether my scent-distinguishing skills have grown!

I got an imp of this in a generous Pay it Forward from Sunshinedaisybliss!

Jabberwocky is like being smacked in the face by wet eucalyptus and pine branches. I once went into a sauna in Russia, where it was customary to gently beat yourself with pine branches, and this is very evocative of that experience!

Luckily, Jabberwocky does not break me out in hives, like the sauna did.

Like Loup Garou, which starts off smack-dab eucalyptus as well, Jabberwocky mellows out within minutes, leaving a subtler, lighter scent. Unlike Loup Garou, though, Jabberwocky doesn't quite seem to settle, and keeps on changing up the main notes.

Beautiful!

Very, very clovey! I used to wear clove oil straight as a scent, and this has exactly what I liked so much about that. The apricot I can't quite place, but I only know the scent of dried apricots, and that may be what's throwing me off. Even though you can cook with all ingredients, March Hare doesn't smell foody on me at all, which is a big plus!

The notes vacillate between blending together nicely and being clove-dominant, and both aspects suit me just fine.

I think I quite like the combination - nice and thick and dark without being in-your-face sexy or incensey like some of my faves - and I'll have to give it a proper test drive soon!

This is a heavy blast of mint, underscored by something slightly acidic. *off to look at the notes*

Oh, yes, no notes.

Well, my newbie nose doesn't want to help me place it! Mint plus something floral, except not bothersomely so?

The result is very nice, though, and unlike The Coil, which it reminds me of a little, this doesn't turn to soap on me!

The notes in this all sound great to me, yet somehow the scent doesn't come out right when actually worn. Wet on skin it's nice enough, though rather perfumey. Upon drydown, alas, it turns to bitter soap. I can't even recognise any of my favorite notes in this.

Off to swaps and a better skin chemistry match!

Ooh, this reminds me of Christmas! Not because it's anything Christmas-associated, but mainly because Christmas was when we'd go to church to listen to the singing. And get doused in the incense. Which I used to hate, but that's mostly because there was so MUCH of it.

Cathedral is church incense and wood. It's a cool, distant scent that sends hesitant tendrils out into the air, being a subtle background scent rather than an in-your-face presence.

Two words: Calm imperviousness.

One word: Perfection!

I'd love to try this as a room scent.