batsy

In the vial: strong roses. A little sour. On the skin: Creamy on the skin. The lily starts to pop almost instantly, followed by the vanilla. It's another lovely floral scent, heavy on the roses for me. Kinda bubbly too.

In the bottle: Earthy bitterness. Almost smoky, like burning leaves with damp. On the skin: The amber is a golden note in this, combating all the dark elements. I know I've smelled a similar scent in the BPAL catalog but I can't place it. It's all burning woods and damp leaves and spicy smoke. As it dries down the flower elements come out to play. I like it, it's an unusual blend.

In the bottle: Definitely white chocolate. It's Spooky meets 13. On the skin: Very creamy, This is a foodies' dream, seriously. It's all sticky sweet carmel on me, with the chocolate. It has a hint of pumpkin when it soaks into my skin. Thankfully it doesn't stay overwhelmingly powerful; I could see it giving me a headache easily. It remains sharply sweet, though.

In the bottle: I'm not sure what to place that as. One minute it's very strong and manly, the next it's Fruit Loops. On the skin: Still fruit loops. It's a tad smokey, sweet in a wrong way. It's extremely masculine, that's for sure, kind of like old-timey mens cologne (something my grandfather would have worn) with that fruit loop base. I'm not sure if I like this or need to swap it. Maybe a few more tests.

In the vial: Holy cow, LAVENDERJASMINEOMG! On the skin: I'm afraid to try this but yargh.... honeysuckle! I bet this would totally work for a relaxation treatment or something, but its overpowering lavenderjasminehoneysuckle kung pow kick hurts my nose.

In the vial: Musky sage. Hrm... On the skin: This one isn't doing much. I get loads of musk, some sage, and bitterness. There's a tang on the drydown that smells very very faintly of blackberry. This is going to require another test.

In the vial: At first it was sweet, light rose, tea with milk, then I got blasted by carnation. Blargh. On the skin: Oh nice, the rose wins out over the rest! It smells like rose petals in the sun. This is very lovely!

In the vial: the sea. It's all blue-green sea after the rain. On the skin: It's very light, I can get a hint of eucalyptus. On the drydown the ambergis comes out, it's almost blue-green with the golden sunlight on it. I've had such bad luck with most of Arkham I was beginning to give up hope but this one likes me!

In the vial: Freshly mowed grass and fig. Very very green. On the skin: Yargh, green grass! I'm highly alergic to freshly mowed grass and this smells exactly like that. I get a bit of herbs in the back and there's something sweet about it, I think that's the ginger. I'm sure this would smell fantastic on a guy but it's allegry heck for me.

In the vial: Uh, I guess that's straight-up dragon's blood? It smells sour and musky. On the skin: Yeah, still dragon's blood. It's similar to Dragon's Milk but no honey more floral. I'm not getting any throw on this. It's a bit herbally but I have no idea if I like this or not. It's going to require a field test.

In the vial: Oh War, she who I could smell through the packaging, why do you smell like cat pee in the vial?! Not to mention amoxicilin, to which I am allergic? *curses loudly* On the skin: Okay, there we go. You have redeemed yourself, my red-haired sister. Still a little off; I'm not sure if it's the bane of my exsistence aka honeysuckle or the patchouli. Or the fact that Shadwell is quite close to the test spot. Anyway, the redness of this scent boldly makes itself present. I'm so glad the initial scare was just that. I love War and wanted it to work on me so badly! Even with the honeysuckle, I can wear this. A definite keeper!

In the vial: Yargh. Wood and dust. On the skin: Not much else. I can barely get any throw off this one, other then woods. And not a good woodsy scent. My skin ate it and there was nothing left to smell.

In the vial: water-down tea with milk. If ever there was a aquatic-foody, this is it. On the skin: Ooo, now there we go! It's very very sticky like... well this is a stretch, but salt-water taffey. No, seriously. It's smells just like that to me. And carmel corn at the beach. I really like this one, which is a huge surprise! Yum! *gnaws arm*

In the vial: Lemon, leather, and lilac. Not bad. Kinda sexy. On the skin: I get honey. Where's that from?! Or is it the oakmoss and vanilla doing that? Anyway, it's very sickly sweet; I'm sure that's the leather and musk. I could imagine Crowley smelling like this. It's rather hot. Definetly a keeper.

In the vial: *coughs* Charred wood and smoke. Whoa... ouch, my nose. It's very acrid. On the skin: Not a heck of a lot of change, but now I smell BBQ sauce. Probably gunpowder too. Yeah, I dunno. This is probably one of the most masculine scents BPAL's ever made. It's slightly mellowing on the drydown, now reminding me of the inside of a Vegas casino at full capacity. I'll have to give it a second try some time.

In the vial: watery amber, grass and ozone. With a touch of florals. On the skin: It's hard to tell anything different then what I've already listed; I tried it once before and it had almost a musk quality to it, in a good way. It smells a lot like the Oregon coast after a storm, honestly. The florals and the fact that it's an aquatic don't bother me and I find I like wearing this one. Not heavy throw, just enough.

In the vial: Honey and tea, in an chilly aquatic sense. It smells awesome and I can't describe it, really. On the skin: I'm guessing that's the primrose. It's like this sweet little scent, very very aquatic, that charms the pants off me. Plus the whole Selkie deal which endears it more. I wish it lasted longer; the throw on me is very minimal and I'd have to bathe in it to make it last all day. But anyway, one of the very few aquatics I love/can wear!

In the vial: Sugary apples, kinda like those cinnamon apples you get in TV dinners, if that makes sense. Mixed with vial floral perfume. Or is that toliet bowl cleaner? On the skin: Pretty much the same, with a big pop of oranges on me. All citrus on the drydown, which is nice, and a big smack of cinnamon and sugar. I wish it did smell like ketchup, though. It's great for a laugh.

In the vial: that's cedar. Like damp cedar chips. On the skin: Hrm. This isn't appealing to me; I think it's just an over-dose of cedar. And the bay leaf. Neither of which are scents I'm all 'yay!' over. This can go to the swaps.

In the vial: Yeah, that's a complex mix. Musk, fir, mint. It's kinda spicey. On the skin: It reminds me of Jabberwocky actually. All fir and mint. As it dries down, the orange blossom begins to pop heavy, mixed with the black musk before I suddenly smell Fruit Loops. What is with everything smelling like Fruit Loops on me?! Yup, orange Fruit Loops. Argh. It's honestly a male-y scent, if you get past the Fruit Loops. I actually like it, contrary to the five minutes of smelling like kiddie cereal before moving into another phase. I'd keep it.

In the vial: tangerine and saffron, with a hint of black amber. On the skin: I think it's the saffron and black amber... It's so hard, because at first I was very "ahh no!" but on the dry down it's gotten sweet and musk-ish to me. I do smell the cedar and vetiver. I wish I could smell the tangerine. This one's a tough call. I'll have to try it again.

In the vial: Darkness personafied. All smoke, benzoin and balsam. On me: Oh gods yes! I wish I had a bottle of this. It's all resins and smoke, reminded me of Brimstone but without the ashes at first. It reminds me of musky anger in a bottle. It's sex, darkness and yum all at the same time!

In the vial: honey and musk. On the skin: still lots of musk. The cognac likes me and is popping. On the dry down the geranium is fighting with the tuberose and it's not a happy combo on my skin. Held promise but not for me.

In the vial: black musk like whoa. On the skin: Yay! The amber strikes back, making this a delicious juxtaposition between light/dark! This is hot and sinful. This is better then I could imagine. All smokey and golden. Sign me up for a bottle!

In the vial: a dribble of amber and loads of red musk On the skin: the sourness of the roses counteracts the sweet amber. This is a hard one for me. I like it in the vial but on me something happens. I'm gonna blame the roses and musk. Plus I think is is a really old imp, because it's got a hand-written tag tied onto it. Never seen one of these before. Anyway, it's a hit/miss depending on the day, for me.