anomie

In the bottle: Warm and golden, dry and incensey. It almost reminds me of cedar shavings, but that might be my limited scent vocabulary. Wet: It suddenly gets very floral, and unbelievably summery. Actually, it's triggering a very strong memory of being at the beach with my mother, who exclusively uses the Bain de Soleil "Orange Gelee" sunscreen. This smells exactly like that: the scent of the sunscreen heated up, with the sand behind it. This has a hell of a throw on it, too. Dry: And we're back to wood and incense. Which is good, because "mom's sunscreen" is not exactly what I'm looking for in a perfume. Smoky, too. Unlike anything else I have. Very interesting, and quite beautiful.

In the bottle: Green, wet and a whisper of mint, and a hint of dirt as well. A little bit of the apple blossom. Compelling. Wet: The mint blooms. (Does mint bloom? *g*) And apple blossom. It smells like my dentist's office right now, actually. Augh. Drydown: Dirt, apple blossom, and more dirt. And I thiiiink I detect the sandalwood. I don't really own any other of the dirt scents from BPAL, so this is certainly unique in my collection, but I don't feel a need to hoard it.

In the bottle: Holy shit, this smells like Underpants. A less intense Underpants, but still. And with the dry whiff of cocoa. But seriously, I only picked that up going from bottle to bottle. Wet: Powdery cocoa powder. There's also some bitter note in the background. Drydown: Chocolatey! But not as powdery, definitely more of a frosting tinge. (I have eaten a lot of cake this week, I am attuned to the nuances.) As it goes on it mellows out a lot. Definitely more wearable on me than Bliss, for instance, but I don't really go for cocoa scents that often (other than my beloved 13). Still, a keeper, if only for the AFP reference.

In the bottle: Fresh wet flowers, like walking through a garden after a rainstorm. Wet: I'm getting much more of the greenery and leaves than the flowers themselves. It's very lush. Drydown: This is the perfect summer garden scent. Beautiful and heady and sweet. However, my little sister thinks it smells like "old lady," so you may want to keep that in mind.

Oh man do I ever love foody scents. I was stoked when this turned up. Bottle: Sugar, caramel, cotton candy, and did I mention SUGAR? Wet: Still very straightforwardly sweet, but with a hint of buttery shortbread underneath. Nom nom nom. Drydown: A fruit note came out to play. I agree with hkhm that it's definitely pink, but I can't pin it down further than that. Maybe a little more girly than I'd usually go for, but sweet and lovely nonetheless.

I feel a little guilty that I'm reviewing these prototypes when I am so very, very bad at detecting notes. But here goes! (And thanks, bpal twitter contest!) Bottle: Heavy smoke over fruits. Wet: Oh my god, blackcurrant. That's what I'm getting - that musty berry smell. And a whiff of something brighter - cherries, maybe, or a juicy raspberry. Drydown: I look away for five minutes and it's morphed almost entirely. There's a note of spice over a cottony bedding, and almost a soapy undertone. I am so confused. Intrigued, but confused. I'll be really interested to see what the actual notes are on this one and how far off I am!

In the bottle: Incense and musk and a bare dry hint of cedar. Wet: Oh hey there's rose in this! And carnation! Oh - hey guys, settle down. Stop blooming all over my wrist. Except don't. Mmm. Dry: Oh, you let the clove come out to play. Oh my god I'm going to die of joy. This is unbelievably sexy and gorgeous on me and I want, like, fifteen bottles.

Mmmmmm, carnation. This is gorgeous, a bit peppery rather than flowery, and with a warmth from the frankincense that just makes a bath even more indulgent. I did feel like I had to add a bunch to the bathwater, but I kept the water relatively cool since it's ridiculously muggy and sticky here so I expect it would have much more scenting capability in more steamy water.

In the imp: Take an apple out of the fridge and slice it. That's what this is. Wet: Pure wet tart apples. Reminds me of making apple pie, sitting with a peck of apples and my paring knife and my fingers slowly going pruney from all the juice. It's not sweet, though. Dry: This opens up and gets a lot more perfumey on me - the apples are there but so is the snow. I'm not really getting "sexy" and I think my skin is eating it super fast. Ah well, I can cope given the extreme rarity. Lovely, and I'll wear the imp that was graciously gifted to me by artofsuicide, but I don't feel the need to sell a kidney to get more.

I want to like this so badly. And I sort of do. It's just... not at all what I expected. For some reason my skin amps the hell out of the amber, and the vanilla is very dark and smoky on me. I get no orange blossom at all. The scent ends up very mature on me, and more so than I'd like. Alas, I think it's headed for the swap pile.

Could there be a more perfect spring scent? Possibly, but this is waaay up there. A thick blanket of vanilla cream slowly melts to reveal a pile of crisp apples, with hints of passionfruit keeping things interesting. My sister says it smells like a candle store, but I think it's sweet and lovely. Nom!

In the imp, the only thing I get is sweet pea. Weird. It's almost got a fruity quality to it. There's very little change when it's wet, maybe a hint of vanilla. But dry? The vanilla and amber have wrapped around the sweet pea and gilded it, and the barest hint of sandalwood has grounded it. I wish it were a little stronger, but otherwise it's lovely.

Imp: CAAAAAAAKE. Nothing else to say. Wet: A dustiness - the blackcurrant - shows up. Cake with fruit! And vanilla frosting. Dry: No seriously, white cake with fruit. Now I'm hungry, dammit. And glad that there's another great foody blend.

Imp: Herbal, with almost a minty quality to it. Wet: I can't smell the lavendar at all, just mint with an herbal undertone. Dry: This would be great as a bathroom cleanser, but not so much on my skin.

Imp: smoky incense. And strong, too, but I have no idea how long I've had this imp. Wet: Yeah, all vetiver. And alcohol. O.o Dry: It opens up a lot, with levels to the vetiver and myrrh... but unfortunately it's still way too smoky and strong for my nose. I think I just got a headache. D:

In the bottle it's a very sharp herbal scent. Wet, that starts to deepen into something a little more layered, and I get some rose right off the bat. You know what it smells like? Roses and citronella candles. Like you light to get rid of mosquitos.

Bottle: Ozone and chilly water. Wet: There's a slight floral hint behind the ozone, though it's definitely encased in ice. Dry: Wow, that vanished super fast. I am sad, because the cool floral was really interesting.

Bottle: I can smell the grape, mostly, which I didn't expect. And the apple blossom. It smells awfully generic. Wet: Yeah, just sort of a bleh floral. I don't so much smell the rose or lemon, unfortunately. Dry: The apple and the lemon have come out to play, but I'm not sure that this is really a keeper.

Bottle: Nutmeg and cedar. I feel like I just stuck my face in a box. Wet: A little of the rose, and the cedar becomes more fragrant. Some of the sandalwood comes out too. Dry: Clove, patchouli, rose. I smell like a very sexy hippie.

Bottle: I get the lilies really strongly, and maybe a hint of the honeysuckle and carnation. Green floral, if that makes sense. Wet: Still the lilies, and maybe the beeswax too. It smells like a spring morning. Dry: I can't pick out all the notes anymore; it's just a really gorgeous floral with a bed of dew-drenched greenery behind it. Mm.

Bottle: Tangy vanilla, like the above review compares to cream cheese frosting. Nom. Wet: The tang vanishes, and it's just mellow vanilla. Dry: Saffron and vanilla. A really lovely scent.

I got a decant of the '08 version in hopes that it would remind me of the fun I had skiing as a kid before an injury ended the fun downhill times. In the imp it smells like frostbitten flowers and icicles, with maybe a delicate hint of pine. Wet on skin that pine vanishes and the flowers start to warm up, and "youthful" and "girlie" really are excellent descriptors. I want to say I smell a tea rose in there, but I'm not sure. But dry it takes on a fruity note and all of that coolness is gone. Alas.

Well, in the bottle the 2008 version smells like shower gel. I get hints of mint but it doesn't knock me in the back of the nose like I'd hoped. Wet, it's mintier; I wish I could figure out what nuclear devastation is meant to smell like. But I get the barrenness. I also get the herbal notes other posters have mentioned. As it dries the mints start to rise up. Definitely a very cool and astringent scent, something I plan to tuck away for the dog days of August.

In the bottle this is dry, dusty cocoa powder. Wet it starts to warm up a little, like hot cocoa - where you still get those dusty undertones until you stir thoroughly. But then when it dries? Oh, hello, amber! I wasn't expecting you to show up to the party so soon! And the cocoa powder has morphed into actual chocolate. Funnily enough, for me this scent actually fails on one level: I have very strong memories of gelt from childhood onwards, and the scent of that is always milk chocolate and the metallic tang of the gold foil. BPAL's Gelt, on the other hand, smells like an homage to that traditional treat as reimagined by a posh chocolate shop. Delicious. But not what I expected.

Bottle: Rum. WHOOF. And butter. Wet: The rum's lightened and I can smell the almond now, but it's a very warm just-baked version of the scent. And there's some spice, too. Dry: Spiced rum, buttery sugar cookie. I thiiiiiink I can get the orange rind and the almond has faded enough for me to not hate it. Yum yum!