lunareclipse

In the bottle: Cassia, sweet but pungent. Wet: The cassia loses its dominance immediately, ceding to a yummy coconut/cocoa accord, with a faint booziness. Drydown: smells cakier - vanilla coming up, I think. The other notes are still there and balancing well, although the two dominant notes seem to be the cinnamon and coconut. Every so often, I get a whiff of Red Hots (my favorite candy as a kid, so not a bad thing at all!). Overall, it smells like baked goods. On the other hand, when I asked Beloved what he thought, he said it smelled a bit like suntan lotion - specifically, Coppertone SPF 8. He is unclear as to whether this is a positive or negative. There's apparently an decent throw on it, too, as he's sniffing me from a foot or two away!

In the imp: complex... cherry blossoms, bamboo and a strong ozone tang. Wet: Still with the cherry blossoms, bamboo and ozone, but now there's a citrusy scent (yuzu, maybe?). Very clean and crisp, but feminine. Drydown: Maintains the complex fruit/floral/ozone/citrus accord. Beautifully balanced and very subtle and delicate... it stays very close to my skin, which would make it a perfect scent for a professional environment. To sum up, kawaii... but iki, too.

I keep getting these frimps that I'd never have picked out, but end up loving. In the imp: Sweet coconut and brown sugar, with a powerful alcoholic kick. I'm pretty well sold on anything that smells like a tropical drink. On, wet: pretty much the same. The coconut almost smells like sunscreen, but the brown sugar and rum keep it from going all Coppertone on me. Amazing throw, too. Drydown: Still sweet, but the tobacco is coming out to play, making this more sophisticated, darker and less sugary than it was at first. I rather like it. edited because I can't type today.

In the imp: Sweet and sultry, almost overpoweringly so - syrupy figs and honey, loaded with spice. A tiny bit of citrus too. Wet: Still very sweet, but now something woody - cedar maybe? is making itself known, balancing the sweetness with a dry powdery scent. The citrus is pretty much gone. Drydown: The woody scent gets stronger, and resins (amber and myrrh?) make this a well-balanced, if strong, perfume. I have to be in just the right mood for this one; if I'm not, I perceive it as cloying and overwhelming instead of sweet and strong.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. The sunken city of the Great God Cthulhu. A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves. In the bottle: Bathic but not heavy - a mysterious oceanic scent. I really don't get anything grapefruity, but there is something vaguely.... unsettling lurking underneath. Wet: Pretty much the same. Light florals are starting to show up, which is OK - if R'lyeh smelled on my skin the way it does in the imp, it might turn into Eau de Jersey Shore (bleh). Dry: Those florals are starting to drown out that ominous bathic note, and while I didn't want to smell like Long Island Sound, I think I'm now starting to smell a bit too... perfume-y. R'lyeh isn't bad - I just wish it would stay with its wet scent.

In the bottle: strongly minty, with a faint mossy undertone. Am I going to smell like Pepsodent? Wet: still very minty, but pleasantly so... the moss and ambergris are tempering the mint, making it much more wearable. Drydown: Still very minty, but the other notes are coming to the fore, giving it a nice 'buzz.' Definitely a clean, fresh scent... I don't usually like those, but this is yummy and a definite keeper.

In the imp: bubblegum and... rubbing alcohol? I'm not sure about this. On: fortunately, the rubbing alcohol scent is gone! The peaches - or, rather, something like peach candies - come through very strongly on my skin. As it dries, it gets less sweet as the musk and myrtle come to the fore. Overall, this is a sweet, light perfume - very girly and summery. This is a much sweeter, more ingenue-ish blend than I'd usually choose, but the drydown makes it too nice to consign to the swap pile. I'll save it for when I'm in a really girly mood.

In the imp: almost all honey and fig sweetness, but with a sharp underlying spiciness that's quite nice. On the skin: Florals come out and play a bit more (could this be ylang ylang?), but the sweetness still predominates. The spices balance all that honey and fig very nicely, albeit in an understated way. Very sexy indeed. Beloved says it's "all right," which is relatively high praise from him. I might very well need more.

From what little I know of Japanese, I believe it should be "AYE-zen M-you." Remember that there are fewer sounds in Asian languages than in European ones... Native Japanese speakers always understand me better, and are more likely to compliment my accent, when I *don't* enunciate and let the sounds slide together a bit.

In the phial, Velvet is cocoa-y with sandalwood undertones. Super powdery, in a good way. On my skin, the sandalwood comes to the fore and the cocoa fades into the background. I'm very fond of sandalwood, and this is a soft sandalwood tempered by cocoa and vanilla sweetness rather than a sharp, aggressive one. There truly is something enveloping about this scent. It has weight and warmth and comfort to it. Wearing Velvet is like cuddling up under the duvet on a damp, chilly day.

In the bottle, it's all spices with a faint dry floral undertone. What I get most is saffron and something sharp, almost but not quite minty. On my skin, it transforms completely: the floral/spicy notes fade to a supporting role behind dry, powdery woods - cedar and sandalwood - and smoke. Evocative, structured and lean: this really smells the way I imagine an isolated Buddhist monastery high on the Himalayan plateau should. It's inspiring me to go meditate, or perhaps try some really challenging yoga asanas. A perfect capture of the balance between asceticism and luxury which I associate with its eponymous part of the world.

This smells very fruity on me, although the fruit is - oddly - plum, not blood orange. Very sweet as well, but it's not a sticky-sweet, just a ripe-sweet. My adjective of choice here is "lush." The pepper only emerges after a few hours' wear, and as a very subtle undertone when it does. The resins don't show up as distinguishable notes at all. Stays and stays. Put some on around 6.30 pm last night, still caught whiffs of it this morning! I like. A lot. I think I need a bottle. ETA: Put some on last night; Beloved informed me I smelled like raspberry fruit roll-ups, but that this wasn't, necessarily, a bad thing.

As a disclaimer, this was my first BPAL scent... the one that reeled me in. There's always something special about your first one. Green, crisp and complex, although I can't really pick apart the notes. Reminds me of a sheltered woodland glade. There's something calm, erudite and wise about the scent. Makes me feel like a very witchy witch indeed.

Mmm, honey and oranges and sandalwood. Yummy. I'm a sucker for anything with honey in it, I gotta say (mead-makers anonymous....), and this is no exception. I smell sweet oranges in the vial, and not much else. It's like a shot of curacao. On my skin, it develops a little bit of floral spiciness, but the orange-honey accord is still extremely dominant. The smell is evocative of some kind of exotic candy - something I had once as a small child and have been craving ever since, perhaps. Much girlier and more feminine than I usually choose, but a nice change from my usual woody/herby/spicy/smoky choices. Most BPAL scents cling close to my skin. Jezebel doesn't; ribbons of sweet orange perfume waft up from my wrists all day. This makes me feel like I'm bellydancing with a veil floating around me, following my movements but not wholly connected to them.

I got an imp of this as part of my Great Wedding Perfume Hunt, since orange blossoms are very traditional for weddings and I'm fond of patchouli. In the vial, it's very bitter-smelling and sharp, but not in an unpleasant way - it's that gingery bite, I think. On my skin, the ginger is almost unnoticable. Mum says I smell like incense (think that's the patchouli). I really like the way the citrus and bitterness 'lighten' the deep earthyness of the patchouli. It smells warm and orangey-brown to me, and is the perfect olfactory compliment to this great brown, black gold and orange brass-bell-trimmed coat of my beloved's that I steal every time he's not wearing.

Another frimp that I wouldn't have chosen, but that I rather like. Scales smells woody and shadowed to me, with the citrus notes adding a bit of... austerity, no, asceticism, and the resins contributing an exoticism that's not exactly enjoyable, but definitely adds to the complex beauty of the accord. This is a demanding, rigorous, uneasy scent that won't let me relax or get comfortable. It's not an everyday kind of perfume, but definitely one I'll wear again and again, when I'm in the right mood. It reminds me a bit of my beloved, even though it doesn't smell like him. Maybe I'll see if I can get him to try it... but only if I decide I'm willing to share. edit: I waved this in the general direction of my beloved, and he said "smells just like Royal Copenhagen." Wore it today, and I gotta agree. Which explains why I thought of him when I smelled it (both he & my dad have worn that cologne). Fortunately, it's one I like.

I got this as a frimp, and I don't think I would have picked it out myself, but I'm sooo glad I have it. I'll definitely be getting more. In the vial, I smell leather, smoke, something decidedly alcoholic (maybe brandy or cognac), and a whiff of sharp menthol. On my skin, it's pretty much the same, just sexier. It smells like primal urges tightly reined in under a civilized veneer. I get lots of compliments when I wear this. I also have to say that I seem to drive a bit faster and more recklessly when I have it on....

I really wanted to like this one. Blackberries, sage, green tea, musk? Lots of my favorite things. Unfortunately, all that comes through on me is sticky-sweet blackberry, which smells oddly synthetic. I left it on for a little, hoping that the sage or musk would show up and add some structure and contrast, but no dice. Washed it off with sobs and tears.

I have to admit I ordered Eclipse because of the name... some variation of 'eclipse' has been my tag since I was in my early teens. I wasn't sure I'd actually like the scent. Boy, do I! In the bottle, it's almost all almonds. I was thinking I'd wander around smelling like marzipan all day. However, on my skin, the almonds calm down a little, and the subtle spicy/floral notes come through. It's pretty durable on me, too. The scent is sweetish, but in a good way, not sticky-sweet or cloying. I don't think it's the most complex or sophisticated perfume, but I find it comforting - somehow the olfactory equivalent of my favorite snuggly sweater. This is my 'get out of a blue funk in 5 minutes or less' perfume.