tajana

Wet: A tart fruity smell, mostly blackcurrants and plum. I'm guessing quince might be responsible for some of the fruitiness as well. This is pretty straightforward so far. Dry: Continuing fruitiness, primarily prune/plum. The ginger is only a slight spicy quality lurking beneath the surface, and is only identifiable as "ginger" rather than "generic craft store spice" if I huff closely. Yeah, craft store candles aren't a good thing to think of when whiffing a perfume. After a while this reminds me of a particular plum spread I've eaten before, spiked with a bit of booze. Rather delicious and reminiscent of something you'd find filling a cookie or pastry. I didn't get any trace of booziness until at least thirty minutes after application. The throw in this is pretty strong. Overall: Not too different from Frumious Bandersnatch. Unfortunately this reminds me first of cheap candles and then of jam. I'm not a big fan of straightforwardly fruity fragrances, so your mileage may vary.

Wet: I slathered on a fair amount, but this is still pretty faint. Cypress, mostly, with some florals, mostly rose. Dried rose seems to behave better on me than a lot of other rose notes. Dry: As this dries down, the patchouli deepens the cypress, and the fig steps in to sweeten things up, but stays relatively subtle. The rose and probably the cyclamen are still present, but the floral aspect is secondary to the woody one. Tonka strengthens slowly but surely with time, and in its death throes, Nemesis is primarily tonka with undertones of cypress and the faintest hint of patchouli, tart rose, and round fig. Ginger never showed up to play, which is a pity. Overall: Not bad, but it's just another wholly inoffensive, well balanced floral-woodsy fragrance. I'm sure I'd like to catch a whiff of this on someone else, but it's not really shining on my skin or capturing my imagination.

The scent of warm, glowing jack o’lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove. In the Imp: So buttery that I'm afraid to put this on. Wet: Buttery, buttery pumpkin with fruity peach. I only dabbed a tiny bit on, so it actually smells kind of good, really tasty. But if I had applied any more, the increased potency and throw would make this seriously nasty. Dry: I usually don't like peach very much, but swirled up in the dry spice of clove and delightfully strong nutmeg and autumnal pumpkin, it's very nice. The intense, almost nauseating butteriness has eased up, but this is still very much the smell of a pumpkin dessert or pumpkin candle. Lots of throw, tenacious lasting power. Overall: The initially assault of buttery doom actually lifts to reveal a pleasant enough scent, but it's too straightforwardly candle-like or dessert-like for me to want to wear it as a perfume. I can see why it's popular, but I won't be keeping Jack around.

Wet: The first impression I get is yellow-orange, light and tasty, almost like sweet citrus. As I take a deeper whiff, it's easier to decipher. Bright, sweet, creamy fruitiness with an herbal and grassy overtone. Dandelion, sage, and fig are definitely here. Dry: This is so well blended. The sage, dandelion, and chamomile are all distinguishable if I huff, but they're just this great garden-y scent that floats over the spicy fig. This smells pretty much like the same fig in Strangler Fig: the creamy, sticky green-brown fig that lends itself well both to the dry spiciness of clove and the grassy, herbal notes. The dandelion in particular is delightfully true to life. I have no idea what balm of gilead smells like, but maybe that's adding to the character of the fig. After a longer while, it's just sunlit fig spiced with clove. Overall: This comes off as a more complex rendition of Strangler Fig. Also, where Strangler Fig has a tendency to go powdery, this one remains juicy. I love this and will cherish my decant. I wouldn't mind acquiring more of this, either.

Wet: Oh no. Fresh on, this is spiced, skanky honey. When honey goes bad on me, it's usually just sweet weird powder. This time, though, it smells like, um... sex. Not idealized sex, like, nobody took a shower recently and this is the sweaty aftermath. Dry: The sex-smell lightens up on drydown. The sweet, vanillic smokiness of benzoin glows pleasantly alongside a hint of gooey caramel. That's an OK smell, but it's not nearly good enough to absolve for the continuing wafts of sex. The red musk is very present, and sharply so... this is pretty much lab fresh, and would benefit from some aging. Right now, it just smells vulgar. After forty minutes this has settled down into a generic spicy-sweet resinous musk. Overall: I get the feeling that my review would be less negative in a few months or a year, when this has aged a bit, but for me, it's not worth waiting and hanging on to the imp, since the gourmand-oriental this promises doesn't excite me in the first place.

Wet: Green grass, recently mown. And orange and red leaves... definitely autumnal, but not damp and rotting... dry and crunchy. Huh... this is strikingly true to the official description. Dry: Doesn't change much. Maybe the leaf and grass accords kind of mash into each other more, and the sharper edge of the grass smoothes out. This smells clean, but also crazy authentic... seriously, this really smells like an autumn day. It fades fast, though. It's barely there after an hour. Overall: It's really cool that a smell like this can be bottled and worn, but I guess in the end, I don't particularly want to smell like a pile of leaves on grass.

Wet: Goes on like baby powder. I guess that's the effect of ylang ylang/violet/frankincense blending together. Often like the latter two notes, always hate the first, and can see how their union would produce an ungodly sneeze-inducing baby powder. Dry: I guess there might be hyssop and grave loam in here, but honestly all I'm getting is vaguely floral baby powder, white and chalky and poofing in clouds tinted by the special sourness of evil ylang ylang. After twenty minutes the sweet baby powder has a bit more nuance... the violet is stronger, which is pretty, and maybe I can even catch a hint of loamy earth, which is pleasant, but you know what else is coming on strong, soapy, and acrid? Ylang ylang. Overall: A pretty yucky powdery experience, courtesy of ylang ylang and its conspirators.

Wet: This is like a more guyish version of the eponymous Carnaval Diabolique. Lemon verbena with coconut creaminess and a wisp of smokiness. There's also a healthy dose of fig, yum. The fig really blends into the coconut, which melds well with the verbena. It's an easy combination that smells good and clean, if a touch generic, on the skin. A sprig of herbal lavender makes it smell more androgynous or masculine than it would otherwise. Dry: Verbena and lavender infused coconut with an incense-smoky and musky base. The fig is very much present as well. It gives this a round hint of sweetness, but I never got any plum out of this. After an hour all I can detect is vetiver musk (not an overpowering or aggressive vetiver) with a bit of fig and a trace of coconut. Overall: It's nice enough, but it's not bowling me over.

Wet: Rosewood with a hint of cherry and a good dose of cool lavender. Reminds me of a manlier Red Queen so far. For an instant the scent is pleasant and interesting, but then the redness with the chill purple of the lavender just smells weird and incongruous to me. Dry: As it dries down it reads less and less like rosewood and more like "ROSE", which is bad, since rose is... not so stellar on my skin. It's powdery and a bit acrid, and paired with the lavender especially, makes for a bad-perfumey experience. After it's all dry and settled on the skin, I get mostly sharply powdery lavender-rose with a vague creamy-fruity red musk backdrop. Overall: I can see some potential in it, but it's not for me. The throw stayed pretty strong, so I had to wash it off within an hour to avoid getting a headache.

Wet: GREEN! Like radioactive green tea! Fruity and bright, mostly tart green mango I'm assuming, with a bit of creamy sweet fig to take the edge off. It's fun. Dry: Figgy, earthy patchouli infused with the freshness of green tea and the sparkle of green mango. After a while though, it's just fruitchouli. Not much throw anymore, sits pretty close to the skin. Overall: I'm so torn! I love this for the first fifteen or twenty minutes, it's fabulously green then. But when it sits on the skin for the while, it's just another fruity patchouli. I'm undecided as to whether or not I want to keep this around (I bet this would age perfectly well) or just send it along, as I have similar scents in my collection already.

<b>Wet:</b> Villain starts off with a brisk squeeze of lime: yum! Then it blends with a bit of lavender and lilac, resulting in a light, slightly herbal, 'masculine' scent. <b>Dry:</b> The lime backs down a bit and what I'm left with is something that reminds me very strongly of the musky fougere element of Dorian. It's light and clean smelling, like some sort of aftershave or cologne. Unfortunately, after an hour, the musk starts warping. Most of BPAL's musks end up being pretty inconspicuous and subtle on me, but occasionally, one goes bizarre, unpleasant, and sort of... savory and meaty? That's what happens to this one. It starts to take on the aroma of lunch meat. <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> <b>Overall:</b> Pleasant at first, but the weirdness that ensues after an hour is just unforgivable! It's not exciting enough for me to want to try the imp on my boyfriend, so I'm just going to send Villain packing. ETA: I stand corrected. I got frimped this and tested it on the boy, and it smelled great! Fresh, light, sort of smoky anise spicy and just sharply lavender-y enough with a smooth, soft classic clean musky base.

Wet: Sour, sharp red rose with a grapey edge. Bleh. There's a slight metallic tang. I'm only trying this on my skin because I'm making it a policy to review every scent that passes through my hands. Dry: Heavy, powdery, acrid rose with a "blood" backdrop. By "blood", I mean dragon's blood (lilacy, spicy) and grape juice (I guess on somebody else, that would come off as wine). After a bit of time, it's mostly grape juice and wine with an incensey undercurrent. Overall: I knew I wouldn't like this, since I usually dislike rose, and "blood" couldn't possibly help it out, especially if blood happens to be high fructose corn syrup and artificial grape flavored syrup. Wine is usually a dramatic failure on my skin, and this was no exception.

Wet: I can't take lotus too seriously... it's so bubblegum! But Blood Lotus tries to change my mind. The wet bubblegum blooms are weighed down with a sharp slash of dragon's blood, with a husky, gritty undercurrent of smoke. Dry: Much the same, but with an added hint of red wine, and I'm definitely, definitely thinking there's red musk in here, too. It's got that slightly incensey yet red-fruity sweet vibe that red musk gives me. It smells EXACTLY like the red musk in Fenris Wolf. The lotus stays as the star of the show, though, and lilacy dragon's blood is in the number two spot. Overall: It's strange, because at first I was like "nope, don't like this... don't like dragon's blood, don't like this suggestion of wine". But, um, I'll be damned if I don't keep whiffing my wrist (and the air around it... this stuff is potent, I'm in a cloud of this soporific dark red sweetness). The red musk really pulls it together, I think, and the dragon's blood calms down after a while and adds a great spice. I think I'll keep the imp, because it's lab fresh now and I think age would do this blend some good.

Wet: Nectarine! Not too sweet at all... it's vaguely peach-like, but this nectarine is tangy and underripe, yet also a bit watery. The oakmoss is definitely present, but it's secondary to the nectarine. Dry: Mossy skin musk (reads as similar to white musk here) touched lightly with nectarine. It's a clean combination, not overtly oceanic, but appropriate enough for a scent inspired by, er, octopi, I guess. Not much throw, plenty of longevity. Smells summery. Overall: Nice, but nothing revolutionary. A related scent I like better is a 2009 apricot Shunga, Manners Among Men and Women. The apricot note is similar to nectarine, but the refreshing sake and biting wood are more striking than the relatively demure oakmoss-musk combo here.

Wet: Pine, dripping with water. A little bit of citrus, perhaps lemon or lime, maybe a hint of melon and ozone or something, too. I don't know, it just smells really aquatic and unapologetically clean, clean, squeaky clean. Dry: Doesn't change much, just softens up and gets sweeter... sugary, even. Sugary aquatic pine. Overall: I really like pine, fir, spruce, and evergreens in general in certain blends, but here, the aquatic touch takes this out of the forest and into the bathroom cleaning product range. With extra sugar. Not for me, unfortunately.

Wet: Yum! I hesitated with this one because of all the different fruits (not all fruits work on me) and the cake-reviews, but on wet, this is super promising, and I immediately knew I had a winner. Lemongrass and grapefruit, cheerful and citrusy, fused with tasty, borderline creamy tropical fruits and a bit of hibiscus. Delicious and fun! Dry: On the dry down, the grapefruit softens up a bit, but lemongrass is one of the most long-lived citrus notes in my experience, and combined with the guava and whatever else is lurking in this scent, it turns to this great lemon flavored glaze/frosting scent, reminiscent of cookies I guess, but not cakey/buttery/battery at all... it has a candyish overtone, but it's subdued. Hints of light green herbs (nothing medicinal or savory) keep things appropriately kooky, and the clean, clean scent of cherry blossoms, almost powdery, somewhat silky, links up with the hibiscus and whatever other blossoms are hiding out in here for a lovely light floral aspect that balances out perfectly with the slightly creamy fruitiness. It lingers for hours as a soft and feminine perfume, young and cheerful, gourmand without being too overbearing about it. Overall: I should have known this would be a total winner on me. I mean, pink grapefruit and cherry blossom? Come on. What I didn't expect was that all the other notes would blend together in such a pleasing way. This is very wearable. It's adorable, but interesting enough to set itself apart from other girly fruity-floral fragrances. Love it, love it, love it!

Almond milk, sarsaparilla, tobacco smoke, black patchouli and white pine bark. Wet: I'm immediately taken aback by the strangeness. It's a cohesive smell, not cacophonous at all...but definitely creepy... like some weird tune played by an organ grinder with a creepy monkey by his side, I suppose. Milky almond with the distinctive, difficult-to-describe smell of sarsaparilla (kind of root-beery) and a dark, smoky undercurrent. Dry: A cup of creamy almond milk, flavored unexpectedly with sarsaparilla and a splinter of sharp pine, perverted with smoky tobacco and dirty patchouli. It's kind of buttery, yet bizarre enough that I can't bring myself to think of this as foody, or even gourmand. After a few hours on the skin, it settles down and the complexity fades as everything kind of blends together into a woody, creamy scent with a funky-crazy sarsaparilla edge. It's really very pleasant at this point, but it's downright distracting for the first couple of hours. Overall: A weird and unsettling smell... much weirder than I even bargained for based on the notes. I can't think of anything to compare this to that I've ever smelled, in BPAL or otherwise. I don't ever need to smell or wear this again, but it's one hell of a memorable scent, and I'm glad I got to sample this really unique oil.

Wet: Woah, this is fruity. Reminds me of jolly ranchers and fruit punch, like Bordello, only more glittery and even brighter. Total sugar shock. Extreme currants and berries, seriously. Dry: The candy berries stay intense for a surprisingly long time. It takes a long while for the fruits to tone down enough for the neroli to even be detectable. It's mostly just pure, shocking hard candy. The throw is ridiculous. Overall: On my skin, this just ends up smelling simple, silly, and childish. The fruitiness is so intense that it started to give me a headache and I had to wash it off. This would be a good one to try for someone who just can't get enough fruity/berry fragrance, but this was just too much for me.

Wet: Carnations, backed with sweet, creamy notes. I think there might be some almond in here, and either milk/cream or vanilla making things really rich and creamy. Dry: After it dries down, a lot of sweet resin comes out. I couldn't say with confidence what sort of resin or amber there might be in here, but it doesn't go powdery on me at all, which is what most amber does on me. Hod lingers for hours and hours as a second skin scent: creamy, with delightful clovey-carnation spice. What really pushed me over the edge to try Hod was someone's description of it as being like "carnation flavored ice cream", and hey, that is kind of what it smells like to me, though it's so warm and snuggly that it reminds me more of warm milk. I'm still reminded vaguely of almonds much later on, which is awesome, since I'm a big fan of almond scents and flavors. Overall: I retested Alice so I could compare the two, and on me, there is a real similarity, but Hod is much warmer and richer. It's more similar to Morocco, but it's more carnationy... Morocco turned to cloying Antique-Lacey vanilla on me, Hod did not. It IS a sweet scent, but it's tempered by the spiciness enough that it's not at all cloying. I was worried I might not like with all the amber/honey mentions, but it doesn't do the blah powder thing at all, it stays rich and creamy. Hod is really comforting to wear, and showcases the carnation note beautifully. It's one of my new top favorites, for sure.

Well, when I opened my box of BPAL, it smelled strongly of tropical things. A bad sign! The bottle of In Winter In My Room was cracked, so I just slathered some on immediately and cut myself on glass in the process. Wet: Sugared grapefruit and yuzu, swirled with light floral blooms, lots of peony. Delightfully PINK and refreshing. I could see how someone else was reminded of melons: the citrus has a cool, wet edge rather than a sharp and sour one. The yuzu is cheerful and a bit candylike, but that's fine with me. This smells really cheerful and fresh. Dry: As it dries down, the tuberose really comes out in a big way, which is fine by me, because tuberose is one of the "biggest" flowers I can do. I think I can also pick out the violet "leaf", which is great. And MMmMmMMm waxy sweet tuberose petals. The tuberose is coming out more strongly than the pikake does. The grapefruit/yuzu combo obviously fades with time, but there's a slight fruity, bright tone that gets left behind. There's a smooth base of light frankincense and creamy tonka which is integral to giving this full body, lasting strength, a general sense of harmony. I got everything I wanted out of this! Overall: LOVE! This dries down to be SUCH a good floral, and I'm SO picky and easily bored with florals. This, though, is fabulous and pink and induces deep huffing of the wrist. The throw and potency isn't the best ever, but maybe it'll settle down and toughen up after it's been out of the mailbox for longer. Instant favorite! It's not wintry at all, really, but the frankincense/tonka base gives this enough roundness that I'll freely slather this any time of year I need a yuzu-tuberose-magic pick-me-up.

Wet: Oh no, this is a bummer! I'm on a dandelion binge right now, and I was expecting to really enjoy this. Unfortunately, as soon as it hits my skin, it turns... sour. A high, sharp, sour note. Maybe it's one of the berries going wrong? At any rate, it's not really identifiable as anything green or meadow-like. It's just thin and sour. Not hideously offensive or potent, but it's not pleasant, either. Dry: The sour note fades out, and I'm left with a clean green scent, definitely with its fair share of clover and just a bit of dandelion. It's only vaguely floral. It isn't really conjuring any images or emotions for me. It smells alright I suppose, but it's falling really flat with my skin chemistry. Plus, it's barely there despite my generous application. Overall: Goes from bad to mediocre. Doesn't work for me, which is a pity, considering how lovely it sounded like it would be! I was hoping for bluebells, dandelions, and peat!

Wet: Lemon and apricot flowers pop out immediately, along with a jumble of other stuff, including heliotrope. It's sweet, light, vaguely powdery. It smells a bit like Lolita, but with a hint of bitter opium smoke that makes it a little more grown up. Dry: Lightly flowery and citrus-fruity with smoky and creamy undertones from the coconut and vanilla. No one note dominates, the end result is a cohesive perfume. It's well balanced, and problem notes like opium and black musk don't go off and dominate the scent like they're wont to do with me. It's a smooth, feminine smell, neither too tart nor too sweet. It's not very potent, though: not much throw to speak of, even though I slathered it on. It fades fairly quickly, too. Overall: It smells pretty, but not that memorable. I was hoping for a more pronounced tuberose note, and for a touch more coconut. Maybe on someone else's skin it would be better. Opium is a bit bitter and black musk is powdery on me, so this scent would probably have even more personality and punch on someone whose skin does well with those notes.

Wet: Hello, dandelions! The clover peeks out after just a moment, and it's mostly dandelions and clovers. Reminds me of laying down in a field of unmown grass in the morning, when everything is still wet and dewy. Dry: It loses some of its character after it's dried down. It smells like morning has advanced to mid-day, and the sun is warming up and drying out the weeds and grass. The birch note intensifies and becomes dominant, while the fir stays rather close to the skin. This smells like a forest clearing, kind of. The effect is outdoorsy, but perhaps a bit too... clean. Overall: Nice, but not revolutionary. It vaguely reminds me of a GC blend, Ochosi. The longer this stayed on my skin, the more it reminded me of men's soap.

Bow & Crown of Conquest all the way! It bears some resemblance to Crowley, as it's also a leathery-woody-vanilla-musk, but it has a different aura about it... Crowley smells warm on me, whereas Bow & Crown is like Crowley's colder, haughtier cousin. Port Royal might appeal to you. It won't recreate the leather/ocean water/sugar scent, but it's a sweetened up, woodsy perfume with a bite of ocean air... it's quite spicy though, so it might be too far off the mark from what you're looking for. I haven't tried it, but Jolly Roger has both leather and "sea spray". You could try layering that with something sweet and sugary.

Wet: Black silt for sure, damp and realistic, with a strong, vivid herbal element. Seriously, it smells like sprouts, wild weeds, herbs, and hay by a river. Fascinating. Dry: The cedar and myrrh come out more, but the curious character of the silt and foliage scent remains strong. This is earthy and slightly sweet, and strikes a curious balance between incensey dryness and damp, authentic silty soil. Later on, it's slightly spicy cedar mingling with myrrh, balsam, and grasses. The throw is a slightly spicy, earthy-woody, yet very soft scent. It smells organic and alive, and really evokes the concept well. Overall: A really interesting scent experience. It's very nuanced and the individual notes come across as very realistic and authentic, but they're balanced in such a way that it still smells like it's really meant to be a perfume. It doesn't smell like "me" but I'm really glad I got a chance to try this out. I can't think of any other BPAL I can really compare this to. The "silt" note is distinct from the other soil/dirt/loam scents I've tried. ETA: Stealth favorite. Long after my decant was gone in the world, I developed a craving for a dirt scent and it just had to be this one. Perhaps its thanks to aging, but now its ten times better than ever before, especially, ahem, during shark week, for some reason. The vaguely minty snow is a beautifully unexpected fresh touch over the loveliest cedar-myrrh dirt smell ever. Refreshing, yet warm and earthy, almost spicy at the same time. Bonus, this smells absolutely fantastic on my boyfriend, and he actually likes it too. With his chemistry, it smells similar to the way it does on me, but not as sweet and a bit more cedary.