tajana

Bastet is the first blend I purchased a full bottle of! (At the time I am writing this, my only bottle.) Mine is quite aged. In the bottle, it smells like almonds and smoothness. Wet on my wrist, it still smells like that. There's a definite Egyptian/desert vibe to it, with the hint of watery lotus giving it a bright twist. The blend of musk, amber, and myrrh is perfect. After it's completely dry, I'm sorry to say that the almonds aren't there in full force anymore. Though there's the nuance of the other notes, the dominant scent on becomes that of gentle lotus and soft amber, which is to say, delicately floral and a bit powdery. Not that that's a bad thing- it manages to smell clean, warm, and huggable all at once.

Almonds, almonds, almonds. I love almonds, but on me, this simply smells like almond extract. When it dries down it smells just like a drier, more powdery almond extract. I love almonds, but ideally a perfume would have more nuance than this! Queen of Sheba is best used for layering with something when I need a boost of almond power, I think.

I never would have thought to get this on my own- I'm so glad I got this as a frimp. It's amazing. It's striking, it's metallic, it's pure. Frozen mint and eucalyptus are the main characters, shifting between visions of a desolate winter (totally a powerful "ice queen" sort of scent) and a chrome-colored, futuristic dystopia. The eucalyptus fades fast, leaving behind the cold mint and the purple gloss of violets. The neroli rounds out the scent delicately. After Ultraviolet rests on the skin for a while, the mint fades out more, and I'm left with slightly chilly sugared violets. A lot of perfumes are "warm", but few are this striking and unabashedly cold. It's a work of art, to be sure. It sticks in your memory and stands out. I can see why not everyone would like this, but I love it and unless I'm sick, it behaves well with my chemistry. My boyfriend also, who seems to go "meh" at all the super-vanilla forum favorites, says this is one of his favorites on me. He thinks it smells clean and refreshing, yet also like purple lollipops. I'm thrilled that he picked up on the color! Since I first tried this scent in 2006 I've almost always had an imp in rotation. I get sidetracked by shiny new scents, but whenever I go back to Ultraviolet I'm charmed all over again. Before 2009 ends, I think I'm finally going to commit to a bottle. I don't want to run out of this, it's a classic.

Wet: Straight out of the imp is a lush blend. Sweet and faintly flowery, with a tinge of something deeper beneath it. On the skin, it automatically heats up a little. The suggestion of citrus is made, but no true fruitiness emerges. The complexity takes only a few minutes to unfold. Dry: I have no idea how copal smells like, but I suspect that’s the center of this scent. It's warm, resinous, and blends almost seamlessly with a smoky wisp of incense. It’s not the spicy flare of open flame, but the aftermath of a fire. There's a lush floral twist (I'm only getting a whiff of plumeria: it's mixed into a larger bouquet) and a light burst of sweet orange within it all that pulls it together into a scent strongly reminiscent of a jungle. It's the cool shade of a verdantly blooming rainforest, the heated, illuminating glow of embers in the burning dark coal... as paradoxical as the description would make you believe. It's perfectly balanced in other respects, too: smoky heat without cloudiness, and it's not too floral or cloyingly sweet. It’s unique and nuanced while remaining stealthily subtle. It doesn't go powdery, but after wearing it a few times, I've noticed that, when standing on its last legs, the smell falls apart into something that evokes imagery of sticky, syruppy flowers. Verdict: I was hoping for more of a citrus punch, but this is so pretty that I forgot about looking for that orange. It's there, but it's diffused into a whole that exceeded my expectations in terms of complexity. I really like smelling it, but I don't reach for it any old day. It's got an exotic, unique edge, but it also strikes me as sophisticated, like someone well-learned and successful, who's been places and is still going places.

Wet: In the vial and initially, I was underwhelmed. I expected something really punchy from these reviews. It smelled tangy and vaguely floral, but a bit distant, as if everything was hiding. What I imagine is the yuzu seems to be dominant, but it seems nebulous at first. (But now that I spilled a drop on the label, my corner of imps smells strongly. Oops.) Dry: After the scent developed, I kept smelling my wrists. The first hour of wear is definitely the high point of Aizen-Myoo. The first phrase that pops into mind is a "juicy floral". And, oh, is it juicy! The underlying cherry blossom is drenched in copious amounts of irresistible, tangy fruit, primarily citrus, with a bit of perfectly balanced tea. Very evocative of Spring, and delicately exotic. It's attractive in its zingy brilliance. It is such a bright scent, and I feel it wafting around me, like a glowing nimbus of playful olfactory goodness. Later: After a while (a little over an hour), the tartness of the citrus is seriously tempered. While it was reminiscent of grapefruits before, it fades down to something sweeter and tamer. The tea rises into the foreground, which isn't too bad of a trade-off: I like smelling like tea. It smells as if the tea has cherry blossoms floating on the surface, with crystallized fruit sugar for sparkle. It's never cloying, but it doesn't have the zing it had before. In this stage, the throw diminishes considerably, and it's much closer to the skin now. It lasts a few hours before even the tea fades away, leaving behind a sweet, vaguely tasty cherry blossom. (It turned a tiny bit powdery on me once, but hasn't done that again.) It's not bad at all, but it doesn't hold on to its original delightfulness. Verdict: This is the first ever BPAL oil I've tried! I'm happy that the fruity stage is neither overripe, nor sweet, nor fake or generic. I'm a bit disappointed that my body chemistry softens the yuzu after a while, but I'm happy that of the other notes, it chose to amp up the black tea, and the more I smell it, the more I love the opening stages. I enjoy it every time I wear it, and it's a potential candidate for a big bottle. I know that I'd use it a lot, because it is a "young" scent that lends itself to everyday wear.