mymymai

ITB: Oh, this is resinous and darkly enticing: patchouli, opoponax, and heady tobacco with black musky tones underneath.

 

Wet: On my skin, the patchouli and tobacco are a bit stronger, giving me the impression of dark, inky blackness set against woods in midnight.

 

Dry: After 12 hours, it's tobacco and patchouli - dark, smoky, with a touch of musk.

ITB: Oh, that's nice. It's definitely yuzu with really fabulous green, musky tones underneath and subtle notes of lime just below the surface.

 

Wet: It's actually not much different on my skin compared to what I smelled in the bottle. The only difference is that I can pick out the thyme now, although it isn't very strong at this point.

 

Dry: It's light, slightly citrusy with tones of musk, hinoki, wormwood, and thyme once dry. It's lovely both wet and dry - a keeper for sure!

ITB: Wow, that's a really heady, really strong jasmine this scent has. I'm not getting any tea at all.

 

Wet: It's very floral. I'm more than a little overwhelmed by the jasmine is it isn't sweet or subtle, but an in-your-face with significant throw kind of jasmine. I can't smell much else beside that, sadly.

 

Dry: Yep, still strong jasmine, like those Glade air fresheners from the 1990's. I wish other notes had come out, but this is just a bit too much for me as it is now.

ITB: The scent starts with a smoky cologne (thank you , vetiver), followed by leather and bergamot with a slight dash of coffee. It's somewhat masculine, but very interesting.

 

Wet: Smoky vetiver, cologne with something like anise in it, bergamot, smooth sandalwood, a subtle hint of leather and coffee This is really nice!

 

Dry: A number of hours later, the scent is a very subdued combination of sweet sandalwood, , bergamot, a dab of coffee, and vetiver cologne.

ITB: This reminds me of the old-fashioned hard ribbon candy my grandfather used to have out each Christmas. I remember there being swatches of sweet citrus, berry, and peppermint, which is very similar to what this smells like to me in the bottle.

Wet: The bergamot comes out warmly on my skin first, followed by the clean white mint, the slightly sugar grapefruit, the plum, and finally the orange blossom. The smells like a combination of fruits being preserved and made into the toppings for a wonderful set of pastries.

Dry: After a 12 hour day, nothing remains on my wrist, which warrants a re-application assessment after a few dry-down hours. After a number of reapplications, the scent is warm and softly fruity, like black currants laced with orange blossom, warmed in a tart.

ITB: It smells like mulberry and currant slushie with the gentle warmness of ripe fig underneath.

 

Wet: The berry is strong with this one - luscious mulberries, dark and ripe currants followed by earthy fig and the slightly citrus-y snow note. I'm not getting a whole lot of licorice, but the scent still makes my mouth water.

 

Dry: The berry notes die down considerably into something a bit more subtle, like potpourri tinged with fig. Whereas the scent when wet screams berries and warm jams, the dried version is much more subdued and low-key, like someone sipping berry tea sitting near a fire-place.

ITB: Warm and freshly oiled black leather (like Doc Marten leather), the perfume of sugared roses, and sultry musks waft to meet my nose. Goodness, this is a very enticing scent.

 

Wet: The red musk and sugar tones along with very dark roses is more prominent on my skin, but the dizzying scent of leather makes this scent just scream sexy on my wrist. I may need another bottle...or three.

 

Dry: The roses are the most lasting note here, but it is certainly thickly dark roses with hints of deep sugar and faint black leather behind it. It's glorious and I imagine that it will age very, very well.

ITB: Although it isn't present, it smells very strongly of lemon zest and tea.

 

Wet: It's still fairly zesty, but I'm picking up a slight tone of eucalyptus and then something that is just a tad softer under the tea, which might be the ambergris foam.

 

Dry: This is very much a strongly scented white floral tea now. The eucalyptus adds a pleasantly clean and astringent quality to the scent while the ambergris foam tones everything down into a soft and thoughtful blend. It actually reminds me of a combination of Fresh's Citron de Vigne layered over their Sugar Lemon (but without the sugar note).

ITB: It really does smell like sugared plum sushie with hint of currant. It smells delicious!

 

Wet: The cardamom makes its debut on my wrist, adding some depth to the berried fruit sushie. It reminds me of all the lovely smells of Christmas, save pine, but it is wonderful none-the-less.

 

Dry: After a number of hours, the scent is slightly plum-y with a touch of currant. The slushy aspect of the snow note must have dissipated somewhere in its 17 hour run.

ITB: Delicious, effervescent snow notes followed by bright red berries and a faint wafting of pine needles. I'm so pleased Beth brought this one back!

 

Wet: The pine needle note is stronger on my skin, but the berries and sparkling snow notes still holding their own. This is such an absolutely gorgeous winter scent!

 

Dry: After 19 hours, I'm surprised that I can even detect anything, but sure enough, I'm getting a beautiful scent of soft snow and bright red berries.

ITB: Smooth bourbon vanilla with sweet beeswax, sugar cane, myrrh, and a touch of tea. It's more foody than I had anticipated, but not enough to dissuade me from testing it.

 

Wet: I wasn't expecting the black tea leaf and rosewood to come out so strongly, but the are the top notes I smell as soon as it hits my skin. Close behind is the beeswax, sugar, and bourbon vanilla, giving the scent a creamy and sweet tone. I can pick up a touch of opoponax and a camphor quality of the daemonoropos resin. It's not a heavy scent or one that has a significant throw, but it is much more pleasant on the skin than in the bottle.

 

Dry: It's sweet and creamy with a hint of powder (most likely from the frankincense) now that it has dried. The bourbon vanilla, sugar, beeswax, black tea, and myrrh combine into a rather pretty scent.

ITB: Sweet myrrh, frankincense, and copal. It smells like Christmas Mass, but a bit heavier on the copal.

 

Wet: The myrrh has quite a bit of depth to this scent once on the skin. There is a lovely woodsiness to this, especially when combined with the frankincense and copal. It's round, resinous, sweet, and rich. Brilliant!

 

Dry: It's gets a little creamier and sweeter...and faintly floral as it dries. It is still absolutely brilliant and I know it will age very, very well.

ITB: It's spicy, warm, and very brown. Carnation and clove pair beautifully with the brown musk and bourbon vanilla underneath. I'm not picking up on any other notes aside from those at the moment.

 

Wet: The warm musk surrounds and lends a delicious softness to the clove and carnation. The pine has now emerged just underneath the top-notes, followed softly by the bourbon vanilla and yew berry. I get a very subtle impression of leather, but nothing more. Gorgeous!

 

Dry: I love this one so much - clove, musk, vanilla, and a hint of pine lend itself to a warm scent that's also rather alluring.

ITB: Sweet, delicious and resinous! Myrrh, red patchouli, benzoin, cocao (not overly foody, but just perfect), and musk. Gosh, this smells great so far.

 

Wet: Mmm. Cocoa, musk, patchouli, and benzoin together smell divine. It's sexy and resinous. The only way this could be better is if there were a leather note.

 

Dry: Once dried for an hour, it's slightly powdery, but with tones of must and red patchouli. The myrrh lends some sweetness to the scent and there are pleasant touches of benzoin, tobacco, and super faint cacao that make this a keeper for me.

ITB: I get clean, white mint, followed by currant, plum, green tea, and neroli. If I were to choose a color to describe the scent, it reminds me of antifreeze green.

 

Wet: It's very clearly the same as in the bottle, but the peppermint stopped by for the second, followed by the cassis, which is making itself known. The plum paired with the mint and neroli lends a sweet but refreshing tone to the scent. It's a very cool one, though.

 

Dry: As it starts to settle, the scent reminds me of a combination of Lush's Avobath and Karma (but without the orange). After a couple of hours, the scent is clean peppermint, mint, a touch of neroli, tea, and plum. It's pleasant, relaxing, and refreshing at the same time.

ITB: It's floral, clean, soapy, and a little green. I can pick up the jasmine and black iris along with light orris root, but not too much.

 

Wet: I had trouble really trying to dig down into the notes. The jasmine and iris are incredibly dominant and it is a bit too much for my nose.

 

Dry: It was so overtly floral, strong, and overwhelming that I had to restrain myself from scrubbing it off. It's too much floral and not enough depth beside a powdery tone once dried.

ITB: I get lots of Spanish moss, chamomile, jonquil, champaca flower, and a touch of honey. Of course, I'm apprehensive about the honey since my skin turns it into something awful.

 

Wet: It's floral, faintly sweet, and oddly spicy on my wrist - jonquil here is strong, but not overpowering the moss, safe, chamomile, and wisteria. There is a touch of honey, but it isn't enough to make me wash it off my wrist.

 

Dry: It seems to dry faster than some of the other oils from BPAL that I have. It's faintly floral, with wisteria being the most dominant floral (although still extremely subtle). I also get a touch of sage, tea and chamomile. The honey is there, but it seems to support the notes rather than vie for attention.

ITB: This has delicious tones of citrus (grapefruit and orange mostly), vanilla, and wine underneath. Normally, I'm not a fine of wine notes, but it works really well in the bottle so far, partly because it seems to have the effervescence of Beth's champagne notes.

 

Wet: Strong lemon and orange blossoms blossom, followed by tones of grapefruit, rose musk, orange, and a touch of vanilla. It's bright and invigorating.

 

Dry: It's sweet with tones of grapefruit, orange blossom, rose musk, and a dash of vanilla. It's a lovely scent all around.

ITB: My initial impression is that the scent runs on the perfume-y side in terms of powderiness. I do detect the slightest hint of ambergris behind it, which I hope develops as I adore that note.

 

Wet: It's pleasantly perfumy and powdery from the white sandalwood and musk. Bergamot shows up underneath lending depth to the scent along with very, very faint ambergris. It's beautifully light and evocative.

 

Dry: After a number of hours, it's light, but I can still pick up the white sandalwood (slightly powdery, but pleasantly so) and a touch of the bergamot.

ITB: It's woodsy and resinous - faint myrrh, Peru balsam, red musk, and geranium. Interesting.

 

Wet: The balsam, geranium, and tobacco are much stronger on my wrist. To a certain extent, it reminds me of Lulu from The District, but a bit darker.

 

Dry: It's sweetly subtle in its woodsiness, although there is a delightful resinous spice to it from the tobacco, myrrh, and musk. The floral aspect only adds a touch of spice (from the geranium), but nothing more.

ITB: Bitter clove, leather, dragon's blood musk, and patchouli swirl together in something that is darkly foreboding while still being spiced enough to be deliciously resinous.

 

Wet: The clove is even stronger on my skin, but I can now pick up with pepper along with the patchouli, musk and leather. Brilliant.

 

Dry: Light patchouli-rubbed leather with a subtle tone of clove and opoponax. It has mellowed down considerably into something just lovely.

ITB: I get ester-y banana and rum. I'm not a fan of banana scents, so I do hope it improves.

 

Wet: It's ester, the vapor-notes of the rum with a hint of subtle spice. I'm still not sure why I'm getting banana, though.

 

Dry: I get more rum now, but it's banana rum when paired with the overtly sweet spicing of the butter. I'm not a fan, but someone who enjoys foody scents might like this.

ITB: It's woodsy, smoky, and a bit feral with the musk and the leather. I'm intrigued.

 

Wet: I can pick up the vetiver, which paired with the oudh, lends the blend a sweet smokiness along with warm, creamy amber, woodsy cedar, supple leather, and heady musk.

 

Dry: This is much more pleasant than I had anticipated, especially with my hit and miss history with amber notes. The amber here is slightly spiced and inviting when paired with the leather, oudh, and musk. There is a hint of vetiver, but most of the green notes has disappeared on my skin, leaving behind a combination of notes that is warm and sumptuous.

ITB: Peppermint, vanilla powder, and something that reminds me of marshmallow for some reason.

 

Wet: Strong but enticing peppermint liquor with candied vanilla powder and crushed peppermint candies. Yum!

 

Dry: Crisp peppermint bathed in sugared vanilla. It's refreshing while still being foody, but not oppressively so.

ITB: Heavy, heavy pitch and a background of pine. It's a bit strong for me right now, and I generally like pine or woody-type scents.

 

Wet: It was more pine and pitch once I put it on my skin. I was a bit sad that the clove didn't come through.

 

Dry: Lo and behold - clove! It's a colder scent due to the pine and pitch, but I think I like it much better now that it's had a chance to settle.