tajana

Slightly sweet, somewhere between powdery and watery, definitely paper white and clean. I'm getting mostly calla lily, but the flowers all kind of mash together after a moment. The green ivy pops out as soon as it starts to dry down. When combined with the delicate florals, it conjures up the image of a bar of nice white soap. Its lasting power and throw are minimal. It's an unobtrusive, inoffensive, transparent smell... I guess that's appropriate for a perfume called "The Ghost".

You know, I have to throw in another for Kabuki. It's strange, because I usually hate anise or licorice. And yet... Kabuki is so compelling! One of the best red musk blends I've tried... the combination of notes is just pitch perfect.

I've been wearing Noche Buena a lot recently. It's got a lot of different floral notes mingling, but the tuberose note stands out as one of the stronger elements, at least on my skin. I'm not usually a "floral FLORAL FLORAL!" kind of girl but for some reason this combination is really fun and compelling: The light, uplifting incense of the Misa de Noche Buena, purple sage, and a vibrant bouquet of plumeria, chrysanthemum, tuberose, Angel's Trumpet, Mexican tiger lily, dahlia, and azucenas.

In the bottle: Chocolate mint. Nom nom nom... Wet: I get the impression of moss covered tree bark... but the tree bark is fairy tale tree bark that's part way through the process of metamorphosing into chocolate. After it dries down, it's mossy wood with an open tin of peppermint hot cocoa mix off to the side. It sounds strange, but it's oddly pleasing. It's also very cohesive: it's an odd combo of notes in a way, but it doesn't read as "complex" on the skin, it just melds into one brown and green smell. The chocolate reads to me as milk chocolate, but it's not too sweet. The vanilla is a subtle sweetening aspect, but it's not sticky or creamy, as it's very much held in check by the dryness of cedar and the wonderful foresty green of oakmoss. If I wasn't looking for it, I would have missed the nutty twist of pistachio. The cedar and oakmoss harmonize beautifully with the cocoa vanilla. The mint is very light on me, just a slightly cool edge that blends well with the oakmoss, pistachio, and green cedar to create a decidedly green feel. Given the crocodile theme, that makes me smile. It's not green in the way I'd usually apply the word to a perfume... it's more of a cool, velvety soft, dark kelly green moss in the woods kind of thing. Dry: It doesn't change much from start to finish... the chocolate note gets weaker, but that's about it. Lasting power seems about average. Overall: Little Crocodile has a tasty chocolate element, but it's balanced and outweighed by green and woody notes. It's not nearly as foody/nauseating as Boomslang, smells more intriguing than Velvet (both are woodsy chocolates) and bears a passing resemblance to Wulric. I can't pull this off as a "perfume" because it's just a bit too foody at the outset, but as a comfort scent, it works for me. I've adored mint chocolate flavored things since early childhood, and I'm a total cedar fiend, so Little Crocodile feels like a cozy blanket.

Wet: Knowing this had jasmine in it, I almost tossed the imp aside without trying it. But I took a whiff of the imp when I uncapped this, and found it strangely... not jasminey. (Jasmine is a death note on me. 97% of the time it turns to cat pee and horror, and takes over the entire blend, eradicating almost all evidence of any other notes. 2% of the time it smells like a flower but gives me a headache, and the remaining 1%, it's like it's not even there.) Freshly applied, it starts off with what I believe to be olive blossom, an interesting light floral with green, herbal edge, underpinned by creamy smoky vanilla. Dry: The smoky vanilla gets smokier as the champaca amps up a bit. It brings with it an absolutely divine cinnamon note, warm and glowing, distinctly hot without being overtly spicy. As it dries down the primary floral shifts over to jasmine... and it is just barely recognizable as jasmine... astonoshingly, it doesn't make me want to scrub myself raw. There's a base of golden, glowing honey sweetened sandalwood, tempered by the enduring incense smokiness of champaca. Overall:All together, this blends into a smoky, sweet but not too sweet, floral but not too floral, cheerful but sensual perfume. There is something about the way it mixes together that does remind me of a bit of a tropical drink, and it's not the power of suggestion... I was thinking pina colada before I even looked at the forum! I really enjoyed this when I first tried it, and wore it for a full day twice... but then I got sick the second time... and haven't been able to bring myself to wear it again (or any other honey scents!) since. Let's hope I get over that, because my notes about this scent are glowingly positive.

Wet: The cherry is the most prominent note right off the bat, red, syrupy sweet, and voluptuous. It's juiciness melds perfectly with the red musk, whose slightly incensey, drier qualities still shine through thanks to the addition of a light breath of anise. I usually dislike/hate anise, but it's perfect here: it's spicy but fresh and coy and ever-so-slightly dangerous, and adds the perfect high note... it really makes this work. Dry: The cherry really calms down after a bit. Ultimately, all three of the listed notes balance each other out, and smell a bit more complex than such a short list would imply. Overall: There really is something alluring and charming about Kabuki. It's hard to pin down. I like it more each time I wear it... it keeps reeling me in. I thought I was set for fruit red musks (Mme. Moriarty) but I like this better, it just smells younger and more interesting. If you're a fan of red musk, I would definitely urge you to check this one out.

Oh gosh. This one is intense. However, as usual, the strongest blends are the ones you can't stomach. The name gives it all away: as soon as I saw it I could predict that it wouldn't go over well with me. This is a really dramatic smell, but I'm not hardcore enough to wear this and have no desire to ever smell this again! Fresh out of the imp it's extremely pungent and a bit acrid... intensely smoky and charred, yet with a slight metallic edge. It's almost scary, but I dabbed a tiny bit on anyway. As it starts to dry down it's all vetiver, glowing embers, and other intensely smoky things, but not really woody... it reminds me more of charcoal than campfires.

I was really excited to try this because of the comparisons people have made to Hungry Ghost Moon, which is one of my absolute favorite BPAL perfumes. However, this has only a passing resemblance. Sure, it's got the ho wood and rice wine, but it's got an entirely different sort of ghostly feel. Freshly applied, the chilly white mint is first and foremost. It's clean, cool, and breezy. Beneath the delicate mint is a fragile, airy blend of distinctively alcoholic rice wine, crisp pale calla lily, and very dark black tea that's been steeping for a long while. As it dries down the mint backs down, but the cool and clean feel remains, partially thanks to the ho wood, which has a slightly medicinal, camphorous effect. It harmonizes beautifully with the rice wine and the slightly floral, chilled black tea. The soft, silky-powdery cherry blossoms are definitely easier to pick out after the fresher, greener calla lily note dies down. All this dissection of the notes is pretty trivial, though... the overall effect is well-blended and cohesive, and this is definitely a perfume, not a jumble of independent notes. I am not having any issues with lasting power... it's a light scent, but it wafts for hours. It's clean but not soapy, ethereally pretty without being sweet, and feels gauzy soft to me, in an almost creamy sort of way. Hard to describe, incredibly easy to wear. I love it! If the notes appeal to you, you shouldn't hesitate to try this gem of a scent.

I would have guessed that there was some golden lotus in this, a la Bastet, from the slightly bubblegum-like note that sweetens this up. As it dries down it retains that golden, bubblegum like sweetness and glows with high, almost citrus like notes, enriched with a bit of zesty spice (galangal) and golden-green herbs. Wisps of light incense smoke hold it all together. Frankincense can smell a bit oppressive and churchy on me sometimes, but this is a perfect example of what happens when frankincense does work. It's gorgeous and uplifting. It's subtle (read: not very potent) and wears close to the skin, but I am going to keep this imp because it's so very pleasant. It smells intriguing, but also totally wearable... I'd have no qualms at all about slathering this on any day. If I was wealthier I'd just go get a bottle of this so I really could slather it on with impunity. My imp is lab fresh, so maybe this'll intensify as it ages... I can only hope!

This starts off great, like a gentler, less bracing cousin of Ultraviolet. Where Ultraviolet smells frozen, metallic, and futuristic, Violet Ray smells like gently glowing frost-rimed violets. Soft purple violets, glowing with a soft sweet musk, chilled with lilac, and frosted with gentle mint. However, my skin chemistry kills it for me. Ylang-ylang is the kiss of death for me. It swells up and takes over the scent, turning it from something pretty and purple to a mess of acrid, sour soap.

I usually do NOT go for these types of scents (simple, girly, sugary, foody), but the concept just called out to me. Also, the bottle art is adorable. This is all marshmallow candy, sweet but not toothache inducing, and with an undeniably pink quality. It seems more identifiably fruity (the tiniest bit tart, and I mean "tiniest bit"... there's not much edge to this scent) when it's freshly applied, but when it dries down it just has a sort of powdered pink strawberry sugar type aura about it. The dandelions, unfortunately, do not pop out too strongly, but they're there at the edges, adding a faint touch of slightly weedy, bitter sap and grass. The throw is minimal, but this lasts a long time on the skin without morphing much. I was hoping that this would remind me of TKO, but what it actually reminds me of is Fairy Market... both of those scents are light and pretty, with creamy sugary candies, the faintest suggestion of fruit, and delicate hints of grass, only PPF is pinker and couldn't be described as a floral. I feel like this is missing a heavier dose of something clear/sharp to cut through it... some citrus or herbal note. Layering a tiny drop of Aizen-Myoo with it helps immensely... with a dab of that blend, this goes from fun and pleasant to totally addictive. I feel like this would probably layer well with a variety of other scents, too. I'm not normally one for layering, but it's easy to imagine adding pink marshmallows to a lot of things.

In the imp this smells really good, but on the skin, it's very dessert like: buttery, rich baked pastry, filled with sweet blackcurrant jam. It's intense: thick and aggressive, with incredible throw. This might be good to eat, but its a smell that I can't tolerate wearing... I'm not much of a foody. When it dries down and the rose starts to kick in, I get even more nauseous. Rose is usually a bad note on me, it goes sour and powdery and off, but the butter is probably worse... the dessert-like aspect of this definitely crushes the hint of floral underneath. This is a relative of Eat Me, only more "pastry" and less "spicy cake", and with "bluer"/blacker fruit. Not my cup of tea. It was so cloying I had to wash it off.

Wet on the skin I get some lovely pine sap, with sweet and spicy overtones. The pine gets progressively weaker, but the sap interacts with the other scents in a subtle, but kind of a weird way, that calls to mind the "pickled" namesake. As it dries the spicy clove and cinnamon amp up along with a whole lot of creamy vanilla. It smells warm and creamy, like some sort of hot custard. The longer this sits on my skin the more vanillic this gets. The throw is almost all vanilla... ugh... way too sweet for me. I do tend to amp vanilla, so I'm sure that's what killed this for me.

To me, this smells like the black leather accord present in a lot of other BPAL blends, isolated. Testing out De Sade would be a shortcut I'd recommend to any newbie curious about whether or not they'd like "leather" to feature in their perfumes. It smells somehow very clean, a bit sharp and raw, and undeniably leathery. Lasting power and potency doesn't seem to be very good for this particular imp, but I am definitely keeping this around for layering with scents that need a little extra oomph.

The scent of the wild, hauntingly beautiful Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf. The pine pitch is a wonderful note... the pine is dark and green and lovely without being terribly aggressive. The cranberry and perhaps the blackberry as well pop out immediately on the skin along with the pine, and it's a very sweet, uplifting combination. The tomato leaf and cedar arrive as it starts to dry down... the tomato leaf note isn't that high in the mix, but it is really distinctive... it adds some summertime warmth. I love cedar, so I really appreciate its presence here, and love that as time passes, the cedar becomes the heart of the scent. After an hour or so, it's mostly cedar, brushed with a bit of pine and sweetened up with berries. Even later on, it's faded mostly to an indistinct sweet scent, mostly squished, juicy berries with an undercurrent of wood. It's a cousin to a favorite of mine, Nocnitsa. Both have evergreen and berry notes. But whereas that blend is chilly, this one has a warmer feel. This one is a great bet for somebody who likes pine as a supporting note rather than a central element. I've grown more and more fond of The Jersey Devil with each wear. At first I thought an imp would suffice, but the other day I took a nap and when I woke up I felt wrapped up in this gorgeous outdoors scent, sunlit cedar and cranberries. It was dreamy. My boyfriend likes it too, he says it smells spicy but sweet. I see a bottle in my future.

In the imp, this smells like a lot of lavender, cold and blue. Wet, though, it instantly softens. It's a pretty union of lavender and soft, pretty, magnolia... lush, but lighter, more ethereal than usual. Magnolia is typically heady with a bit of a "high"/sharp edge, yet somehow sultry on me, but this incarnation is much gentler. I also get a lot of light, sweet, clean musk. The overall effect is chilly and lovely. Sadly, though, it's fleeting. The strength of the lavender fades exponentially, and the magnolia turns to indistinct pale floral musk that fades to a vague skin scent, literally, within 10 minutes. It seems very appropriate for the namesake, but it seems I'd have to slather on half a bottle to get much out of Yvaine.

I tried a sniffy of this blind, not knowing the listed notes. Wet on the skin, it was very sweet and fruity, very candy-ish orange with a hint of some berry. As it dried orange blossom came out to give a soft somewhat powdery, lightly bitter edge to the sweet, berry-tinted orange. It faded in intensty rather quickly, and when the orange floated away, I was left with raspberries and powdery floral. Pretty straightforward, but it doesn't stand out as anything special with my skin chemistry and it's not my cup of tea in general.

In the imp, I definitely get fir, bark, and a swirl of musky resin. Wet, it's odd. It's syrupy an resinous, with odd, medicinal, almost sweet-yet-savory feeling. The smell of bark punches through shortly, accompanied by a brush of fir needle. I'm not familiar with massoia bark as a note but after a bit of research (it apparently has a sweet, coconutty, buttery, distinctive aroma) I really think that's the note that rises highest and really colors the character of this scent. It amps in an odd way, it's creamy (though that could be a bit of benzoin mixing in) and it feels like an exotic spice rolled in something buttery, which feels a little nauseating to me, to be honest... I can't handle buttery feeling scents, and it's almost disorienting to find something with that quality in something so completely UNfoody! The spice-feel is enriched by the edge of fir as well, and in the opening stages, by the brightness of bergamot. Mostly, though, I think I'm amping the massoia, which dampens the effects of all the other notes. There's still a detectable myrrh and musky base, very warm and "brown" in feel, and it becomes more apparent as the other notes back off. It's a very, very distinctive perfume, I think... I've never smelled anything else like it. It's a worth a try just for the novelty of it, but it doesn't smell very good on my skin so I'm passing it on.

Fig... ripe, earthy, and creamy in its sweetness. I can vividly imagine the texture of a real fig when I smell this perfume freshly applied. Bright, fresh green sap adds an energizing tartness. As it dries down, big green leaves shade the fig and sap note. There's a bit of sharpness to it. After it dries down the rooty, woody aspects peek out a little, with a tantalizing suggestion of spice, but it's still mostly creamy figs with a sunlit green feel. It has great, throw, too. Yep, definitely a keeper. I like it even more than I expected to. I can't stop huffing my wrist. ETA: And this is long-wearing, too! I really, really love this. I've been looking for an awesome, brighter green scent, and this is it. I got a bottle and I love it. This also layers well with spicy scents. Compared to other wood and fig BPALs: Not as "dark" in feel as Intrigue... Intrigue is a night-time scent, Stranger Fig is the sunshine-infused counterpart. The creamy fig is very similar to Eden, but where Eden was oversweetened, cloying, and funky on my skin, the Strangler has some moderation and more greenery.

Plummy plummy plums, sweet and soft, not too tart, almost like pink bubblegum at times. The carnation is pleasantly punchy and prominent, adding a nice touch of spiciness that goes really well with the mums and plum. The atypical florals are a great compliment to the fruit, and keep this perfume smelling interesting. It eventually dries down to a spiced (yay, carnation), fruity yet not juicy sweetness, with the chrysanthemums holding on as a discernible note. The musk is a subtle base and doesn't really stand out to me, but then, most musks are subtle and meld with my natural skin smell. This is nice, it's really fun, and it has good lasting power. It feels like a great scent for late summer through early autumn in particular. I don't need a bottle, but the imp's a keeper.

Wet, it's light, bright, and clean take on green. Mossy, but illuminated. As it starts to dry down I get a hint of freshly turned earth, right after it's rained. The combination of moss and rained on earth smells natural but very clean. At this point, I am really enjoying the smell! I was hoping that the dried roses would be more well behaved on me than fresh roses, and they are, to a degree... they don't go oppressively powdery, but there's an oddly sour aspect to this scent that becomes clearer and clearer as it sits on my skin, and I can't help but suspect the rose is responsible. After about half an hour, Zombi has faded to crushed rose petals and clean moss. After an hour, it's all rose with an earthy undertone. Not for me, sadly!

Sweet juniper, softened with the pale suggestions of shivering flowers, including freshly cut muguet. Cypress emerges as it dries down, balanced with the dark juniper. I really like this when it's wet and just as it starts to dry, it's a delicate and elegant take on evergreen. I get whiffs of powdery violet getting stronger after a while, usurping the lily of the valley as the primary floral note. After some time the chilly green tree boughs, dusty violets, and unidentified "herbal" notes become more strongly grounded in a base of warm, smoky-sweet myrrh. After only about an hour of wear, it's gone to mostly myrrh on me, shot through with a piercing chill (juniper, violet, something camphorous, I assume that's the cajeput). It blends together very smoothly and stays distinctive rather than turning into a poofy cloud of generic floral incense as I feared it might based on the notes. This is beautiful, yet I'm torn on whether or not I should keep it around because it has such a somber feel, like something I would only be compelled to wear if I was going to attend a funeral or visit a grave.

I'd been trying to track some of this down for sooo long, and finally, got frimped with it! I had high expectations for Port Royal! Wet: A swirl of sweet rum with a noticeably boozy edge, a whiff of delightful spices (cinnamon, and I think cardamom too!), a sharp breeze of aquatic "sea air", and, best of all, a whole lot of wood, glorious wood, including some lovely cedar. It smells fairly masculine, but I like the smell enough that I feel comfortable wearing it. Dry: It settles down and smooths out, basically progressing as you'd expect based on the top notes. After it's been on the skin for an hour, it's faded a bit but it's still fresh, cool sea spray lapping against planks of dark wood (cedar is here, and probably some form of sandalwood), with a faint breath of delicate floral/light vanilla feminine perfume an occasional splash of rum. I really dislike "aquatic", ocean water-type notes when they're dominant in a blend, but it's subtle enough here that I find it perfectly wearable. This is all when I plaster my wrist to my nose. When I just enjoy the throw wafting up, it's mostly spicy rum-sweetened wood. It lingers for hours and hours in that form. Overall: Manly and piratey (wood and spicy rum) and yet a bit clean (fresh and aquatic) with occasional hints of something more femme (that "prostitute's perfume"). This is really evocative of the place described, but still a wearable perfume for a person, making it a perfect example of the Wanderlust series, in my opinion. This is so good. It's really, well, piratey, but I can't help but love it. If you like spicy and woody scents, this is a must-try. Note: This smells great on my boyfriend, too! A bit of warm rum melded into spiced brown woods. The overall effect made him think of tree roots.

On the topic of carnation... because B&C is quite carnation heavy on me as well... Morocco on me is very sweet, all vanilla and sweetness, way more cloying than B&C ever is... but if your skin tones down the vanilla, maybe you'll get some of the carnation magic. Judith and Holofernes is hard to get a hold of sometimes because it's a retail only, but it has a dash of carnation and it's otherwise a very striking perfume with a very prominent sandalwood note... kind of like what I wanted Morocco to be. Ysabel has a hefty dose of clove and clovey carnation, and it also has cedar in common with B&C. Clemence also has both carnation and clove, so if you're in a spicy mood, it may be worth a try. Masquerade behaves differently on me, but on my boyfriend it is ALL spicy, spicy carnation (I'm jealous)... with some sweet orange blossom and a patchouli backdrop. As far as lighter, airier scents go, I found Maiden to have a very prominent, slightly sassy carnation note. I find Bow & Crown to be very similar to Crowley in the dry-down... both are woody, vanilla-y, musky, leathery unisex colognes, but whereas I find Bow & Crown to be cool and clean, Crowley is warmer and dirtier... also sweeter. Bow & Crown vanilla isn't nearly as strong as Crowley vanilla on me. Crowley is also definitely worth a shot if you like Dee... Crowley smells like a relative of B&C, Dee, and Loviatar, with extra vanilla.

Prurience, in the vial and wet on the skin, smells SO familiar! That's probably the strong undercurrent of red musk and red amber (a la Fenris Wolf) underneath the scorched, smoky vetiver. On me, it smells a lot like the "smoke" in Priala, which is one of my favorites. But here, it's just not as charming, because nothing else even challenges it. Also, this oil is really intense, and a little drop turned out to be very strong. The smoky vetiver becomes too much, and too dry, especially because as it dries down the orris and amber amp up higher, adding a thick, dusty cloud of sweet powder. The carnation doesn't really deliver much more than a puff of clovey spice. The waft is a very powdery amber-vetiver combination. Later on the tonka peeks out a bit to smooth the edges, and remind me vaguely of a more aggressive, less sweetened variation on Snake Oil, but this scent remains dusty, dry, and thoroughly scorched.