OdetteOdile

Chaste Moon Let me put it this way - if Chaste Moon was available as a complete line of products, I'd order the large perfume size, the body lotion, the shower gel, the sugar scrub, the powder, the drawer sachet, the candle, and possibly the incense. This is just an all-around lovely, comforting, yummy scent. On me, it smells like vanilla-tinged, very ripe dripping honeydew melons with strawberries and cream - and possibly heliotrope. It's the perfect blend of fruity and creamy. It's just the right scent for "the moon of the child" - it evokes soft baby blankets, plush toys, honey milk, bubble baths, soothing back rubs and all things sweet and comforting, seen through gauze. The ultimate reassuring scent.

Villain A very, very powdery, masculine scent with an interesting herbal note under it. It reminds me of a Crabtree and Evelyn set of English men's colognes that I got years ago. There's also a medicinal eucalyptus-type note in this that cleared my sinuses - I'm not sure which ingredient that comes from (maybe the lavender?) Eventually the powdery quality got much too strong for me & I couldn't smell anything else. It's an interesting scent, but I prefer my powdery scents to be softer & gentler, with the powder part more of a hint than the dominant note. This might be good on a guy, but he'd have to apply it very sparingly (especially in summer). It's a great scent for the name - a victorian era villain would smell like this.

Ravenous Heavy, syrupy chocolate slices saturated with orange liqueur. And a tiny note of cedary-red patchouli. I like this. I can't stop smelling my arm. It's so rich and desserty. For some reason, this evokes red hued oriental rugs for me. It's sexy and thick with a wood note that keeps the sweetness from being too overwhelming. I don't know when I'd wear this, but I know I'd have to be wearing dark blood red clothing with it - possibly velvet or very heavy silk. Eventually it turned into an incredibly sweet, desserty cinnamon. Big yum. I'll test this again for bottle potential.

Venice Initial impression: Oh dear, does this have civet in it? It smells very feral on me - I'm a little worried about having put it on before work. Then I remembered that strong jasmine sometimes does have an animal smell on me - that must be the dominant note in this. Eventually the red current started coming out much more strongly, which I love. Tart berries. Two hours later, I had a warm, pretty berry scent, with a plum base. Eventually the rose came out under that & gave it a more floral texture. Nice. I could happily wear this if I was at home during the initial feral dry-down half-hour.

Whitechapel Smells like Dorian to me - without the vanilla, but still sweet. Like tart lemon pudding. There's a tiny bit of soapiness, but happily that isn't a dominant note. I like this so much. It's very clean, without being cold and sterile. It has a warmth and almost a sweet nutty undertone - I guess that must be the white musk, it certainly isn't the citrus. I normally don't like white musk - at least not in non-BPAL fragrances - but this brings out a new side of that note on me. There's also a very faint spiciness that develops & that I really like. Eventually it got a bit more masculine - but subtly, so I still like it.

Oh YUM! A wonderfully warped vanilla. Close up, I smell the sharpness of the juniper and pine, but from far away, I just get wonderful waves of sweet, rich, lush vanilla with only a hint of the cleaner, more astringent notes - and those eventually turn into a wonderful spiciness. Me too. I really like this - I thought it would be too masculine for me, but my recent favorites have included Dorian, Othello and Titus Andronicus, so I shouldn't be surprised. I can't believe it took me a year to try this - it's an unbelievably sexy scent - almost as nice a vanilla as Dragon's Milk and Dorian! It evokes extremely soft, warm skin like...uh...eyelids.

I'm a little late to this party, but for the record - I had this exact experience with my bottle of Morocco. All I smelled was cedar (or more likely, red sandalwood) - and not the slightest hint of the carnation note I love. I emailed the lab & got the OK to send it back. In its place, I got back an absolutely *perfect* bottle of Morocco. (Thank you BPAL! )

Titus Andronicus Chocolate! (Where did that come from?) Then powder. I can smell the dark musk - sort of like from Hellfire, but here it's warm and sweet and soft. The powder is quite strong and the amber takes on a liquid-y, syrupy note - but never gets unpleasantly sweet. I'm really liking this. The strong musk makes it a good guy's scent, and the soft powderyness makes it feminine too. (I'm aware that I'm gender-typing here. Ah well.) There was an almost fruity quality to the sweetness. The drydown was soft and fruity with some warm amber under it - a tiny bit spicy. Judging from the range of responses in the reviews, it seems like this is one of those oils that really changes in response to skin. I'm astonished at how much I'm liking Beth's masculine scents on me - I almost never like men's cologne, but these oils are a different beast altogether.

Othello This was gorgeous on me - and incredibly subtle. A deep, spicy scent with a very faint rose note and a bit of a masculine quality - but not in an off-putting way (I normally don't like masculine scents on my skin). It eventually developed a bit of a dry wine note - also very subtle. I'd absolutely love this on a guy - but I think I love it on me too. It doesn't have much throw - I have to stick my wrist up by my nose to smell it at all even though I slathered it on. I really like spicy scents - I feel very at home in them. This is the least blaring spicy scent I've ever smelled - I imagine someone strong & silent standing next to me, someone with presence and not a lot of unnecessary chatter. It's so subtle that it's like the little bit of cologne you're left with after you've been with your boyfriend - the way your clothes and skin smell faintly and comfortingly of him.

March Hare I cannot make up my mind about this one. The first time I tried it, it was just too much apricot for me. Several months later I tried it again and the apricot seemed to be mixed with a vanilla creaminess that totally seduced me. Then I tried it again and it was just apricot - nothing complex (although a nice, natural apricot - not plastic-y). Then today I got apricot jam, with a tart, almost fermented fruit undertone. I don't know if it's my skin's pH balance, or my nose, but I'm having a real debate with myself about whether I want a bottle of this - I like apricot when it's a bit complex & mixed with other notes, and sometimes this is, and sometimes it isn't. For anyone who loves apricot unreservedly though, this is your scent.

Desdemona There's something thick and floral that smells like tuberose to me (I know, it isn't in the notes list, but still...) and something really clean-fresh - like rain or freesia (that's probably the water lily). Definitely an aquatic floral I don't smell the carnation at all - it's very well-blended into the rest. This one is too much of a heavy, white, watery floral for me. There's something in it that gets into the back of my throat & upsets my stomach a little (aquatics often do that to me). But I do think it's pretty in a lush, feminine way. If I was inclined toward these kinds of scents, I'd like this one.

Jester A pretty strawberry, but a distinct plastic note comes out after a few minutes. And stays. I keep sniffing my hand to smell other notes, but strawberry-scented-plastic is all I get. (The plastic does fade after an hour). It evokes visiting friend's country houses in summer when I was a child - strawberry lip gloss, strawberry-flavored surgery juice, strawberry-scented dolls, strawberry potpourris in the bathroom - friendly, innocent kid stuff. I like fruit notes enough to still want to wear this a few more times (maybe to try blending it with other scents), but I'll be sticking to just the one imp.

Antony First impression: New furniture in a furniture warehouse in the country somewhere (actually a really nice smell, just not one I associated with perfume). Then the sweetness of the basil started emerging and softened it. It got more masculine - but not in an astringent, abrasive way. A very, very tiny bit of powderiness came out, which softened it a bit more. There's something about this that I find deeply comforting. I can almost see the man who'd be wearing this - he's wearing a rough-textured gray suit and has that depression-era uprightness that a lot of men from my dad's generation had - but younger, like a young Cary Grant or Gregory Peck. Every time I smell this, I get this happy, settled, calm feeling - like someone strong and kind is with me. It feels like my pulse suddenly slowed down. This is a really amazing scent. I wouldn't get it for myself, but I'd definitely get it for a guy. In a funny way, it reminds me of what I love about men - the strange, wonderful alienness of how they look and feel and smell - the yin/yang rightness of it. Antony is now my second-favorite BPAL men's scent - right after Dorian. (It's an entirely different animal from Dorian, but equally evocative and distinctive.)

The Apothecary A tempered herbal lemony scent (probably that's the ginger - my nose sometimes thinks ginger is a citrus fruit). There's a slight foody-sweetness that must be the fig - or maybe it's the moss. Eventually it settled into a sour lemon drop candy and fresh-crushed grass smell. I prefer sweet, spicy and creamy scents more, but I'd enthusiastically recommend this to anyone who likes clean, green and unisex scents.

Aglaea , Euphrosyne and Yerevan are good. Also Mad Hatter is giving me an incredibly light, happy and bubbly feeling this spring. And Kitsune-Tsuki is my ultimate happy Spring scent.

Oh good golly, what a sinus-clearer. Medicinal tangerine is what it smells like on me. It gets nicer as the pine subsides, but it's still a very strong citrus. The pine makes it a bit of a masculine citrus, too - actually, this would be gorgeous on a guy (especially in the summer when everyone's all sweaty & earthy-smelling). That is so cute. Also very cute. This definitely would make a nice, refreshing room scent - I'd use this in a diffuser after a big mid-summer cleaning when I wanted to really know everything was clean and fresh, and I was ready to wind down & relax. ...I just remembered what this reminds me of - it smells exactly like this bottle of essential oil that came with a CD I got of Native American themed meditation music. Kind of gimmicky, but I have really nice associations with playing the music and using the oil in rooms I stayed in when I was travelling a few years ago. Bother. Now I want a bottle of this too. (It's going to be one big honkin' order next lunar update. Sigh.)

Tiger Lily Initially the lilies were very subtle and I liked them, but after a few hours they got much stronger and more watery - too much so for me (I don't like most aquatics) and I couldn't smell the honey at all anymore. There's almost a freesia note, which doesn't usually work on me (and sometimes nauseates me a bit - it might be an allergy reaction). This is a very traditional feminine perfume. Very floral in a formal way. I think it's actually really pretty, it just isn't the kind of pretty that I relate to or feel like myself in. It reminds me of women in white linen going to a debutante tea party - it's just a little too clean and crisp and soapy for me.

The Caterpillar Possibly the most beautiful jasmine I've ever smelled - a lazy, pretty, fruity, well-blended jasmine. Interestingly, I think this was a much more complex, "difficult" scent on me when I first tried it on last year (it's an old imp). Now it's just this beautiful, sweet floral - and jasmine is a note that sometimes doesn't work on me. I can sort of smell the incense note, but I have to work at it because it's blended well with the rest. This would be gorgeous in body lotion - it's so extremely feminine in a slightly old-fashioned way. I'd probably wear it with jeans to offset and contrast the womanliness of it.

The Red Queen The wood note in this smells like cedar on me, but a very light cedar. I love how well-blended this is - the cherry smooths and sweetens it out without jumping up and down and screaming "fruit!" and the wood note spices it up without making it the least bit masculine. Eventually this turned into a dark chocolatey sweet fragrance with a wood base - I love this! I enjoyed wearing The Red Queen on one arm and the Queen of Hearts on the other - they go well together & wearing them just made me happy all of a sudden, & I stayed happy all evening. Of all the lines, the Mad Tea Party collection has proportionally the most winners for me so far - 9 favorites out of 13 (and I haven't even tried them all yet). I also think this line ages especially well - I've fallen in love with a lot of the oils in it that I barely noticed a few months ago.

Queen of Hearts Mostly I smelled the cherry, but it was a subdued, pretty, gently floral cherry - not blaring cherry cough syrup. Sweet floral with a fruit base. It almost smelled like plums on me. I wore this on one arm and The Red Queen on the other, and they enhanced and balanced each other beautifully. I am more and more impressed with the whole the Mad Tea Party collection.

The Lion The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious. OK, very odd - normally amber is an outstanding note on me, but this smells like...toothpaste! Sweet, expensive, herbal mint toothpaste. I had a very nice (& very expensive) 5th Avenue dentist when I was little who had about 15 different toothpaste flavors that kids could choose from to distract them from the pain of the exam and cleaning, & this smells like one of them. I'm very perplexed - amber has never smelled like mint on me before. I tried this on two different days just to be sure and still - mint, with a little cinnamon thrown in. Cinnamint toothpaste. Boy my chemistry is weird sometimes. I would so have loved to wear an ambery scent called "The Lion" - but sadly, no Savannah for me today.

Mad Hatter A very herbal mint with a note that filled my nose with something strong and sharp like ammonia. Is that the pennyroyal? I got this odd image of the component notes standing with their backs to each other, refusing to blend. At first it was too medicinal-smelling for me (although it was an inoffensive herbal medicine smell). Then it changed and sweetened and started smelling like these healing/protective herb bags a close friend used to make when we where in High School. A green witch woman's home might smell like this - herb bundles hanging from the ceiling, curled into little wooden bowls on every counter...sweet and refreshing and complex and minty-green. I wouldn't wear this on a date (unless we were doing something outdoorsy like sailing or hiking & I wanted to smell clean in a non-antiseptic way). This would make an exceptionally lovely and refreshing foot cream/scrub scent, not to mention a really nice home cleaning scent (and wouldn't it be fun to say you were cleaning your floors with Mad Hatter?). It would also be a wonderful yoga class scent. Oh yes, I am liking this more and more the longer I wear it.

Alice Starts off mostly milk and honey, with a carnation base. There's a tiny bit of citrus underneath that gives it a very slight edge - that must be the bergamot. I only smelled the rose at the very beginning ...no, wait, there it is again. Unfortunately, as the rose emerged, it added a bit of a sour note. (It's a full, womanly rose note and those do sometimes go sour on my skin.) Then the scent goes back to milk and honey - these notes like to play with each other! It's a bit of an old-fashioned womanly scent - but also sweet, pretty and comforting. If I was trying to soothe a frightened child, I'd wear this scent to be a reassuring, motherly presence.

Wow, I don't think a scent has ever disagreed with my chemistry more. The smell wasn't too bad - a clean-soapy-herbal-earth smell that sort of reminded me of a friend's basement after it had been washed and disinfected. It eventually dried down to a sweet, kind of interesting earth smell. However. A few moments after applying it I started getting a racing pulse - an adrenaline rush that wouldn't stop. Then I got nauseated. Now, an hour later, my pulse is still racing and my hands are shaking. I feel a little like I'm getting the flu Weird. I assume I'm having an allergic reaction to one of the oils in it - I wonder which one it is. No more Nosferatu for me.

The amber necklace of Freyja, Norse Goddess of Love, Sex, Attraction and Fruitfulness. Her magnificent necklace was bough from four Dwarves [Alfrik, Berling, Dvalin and Grer] at the price of four nights of her passion. When Brisingamen graces your throat, no man can resist your charms. A glittering mantle of rich golden notes: five ambers, soft myrtle and apple blossom, myrtle, and carnation. This is one of the BPAL oils that changes completely on me over the course of a few hours. At the beginning, it was sort of a flower-syrup scent - not unpleasant, but nothing I'd ever crave. After about 2 hours though, it suddenly turned into the most gorgeous spicy, powdery, foody amber scent ever. It's so good that I don't mind waiting a while for the best part. For some reason it evokes old museums in Florence for me - the richness of it is has such a heavy golden quality. I don't smell the carnation note specifically, but maybe that's some of the spice that emerges later.