mymymai

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.

ITB: Warm opobalsamum, subtly animalistic musk, and just a touch of a forest-like note. It's warm, Christmas-invoking, and oddly comforting.

Wet: It has a more forest berry tone when applied, but it's a true berry tone, not anything artificial. When paired with the musk and the opobalsamum and musk, it turns into something sweetly spicy on my wrist.

Dry: It's wonderful - spicy, warm, and slightly musky. It reminds me of Christmas so much - a wonderful winter scent.

ITB: Creamy, warm, decadent vanilla buttercream is the first note that jumps out at me as soon as I open the bottle. I can't quite get the mint, but since I've tested it before, I know it's there.

Wet: I smell glorious! The vanilla is not overtly sweet, but still enticing, fluffy (for some reason), and warm. When paired with the cool mint, it makes a combination that is simply irresistible. I want to douse myself in it.

Dry: 14 hours later, it's very faint, but I can still pick up the gorgeous blend of these two notes.

ITB: It's sweeter, like in a candy-type way, than I had anticipated. I think it's the winter berry, but it reads as those red berry hard candies that used to be readily available about 15 years ago. I can pick up a little orange blossom and faint rose, but the berry takes the cake.

Wet: Artificial berries, orange blossom, red rose, and a bit of sandalwood and angel's trumpet. It's nice, but a little too sweet at the moment.

Dry: After 12 hours, the scent is faint, but the berry has settled down, is less artificial, and now that the resin has had time to develop, is much more well-rounded.

ITB: Pungent yet comforting, scents of spruce, juniper, and crisp pine blend together to very much invoke its title of a magnificent Christmas tree.

Wet: Gosh, the cool, crisp tone of this scent is amazing though the pine and spruce. I still feel like there might be just a tad of juniper here.

Dry: It softens up a bit, but the image of a lovely Christmas tree set in a toasty living room pops into my head each time I sniff.

ITB: I detect a gorgeous white musk mixed with the ephemeral elemi (did I mention that I adore this note?), which is made even more gorgeous but almost masculine spearmint.

Wet: There is a bit of a masculine tone, but I just really love the combination of the notes here. The spearmint is a bit stronger on my skin, but it's really gorgeous.

Dry: I get elemi, masculine musk, and a touch of spearmint - still very similar to the wet version. I wish it was a touch more feminine, but it's pleasant none the less.

ITB: It's very floral, almost too sweet, but then it reminds me of tea as well with the clove and mandarin orange. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet.

Wet: I can pick up the clove, cypress, myrrh, rosewood, and artemesia. I think I'd like it better without the last note as the scent gives me an uneasy feeling, like it's almost aquatic and the notes are, well, discordant.

Dry: The nutmeg and clove work together with the myrrh and orange to turn the scent into something more pleasant. I can detect the musk and rosewood, but I'm still not very fond of the artemesia in this blend.

ITB: Ah, it's bright, cool, fresh, citrusy, slightly sweet, and ever so subtly effervescent. It does remind me of frost delicately glittering as it stretches out before me.

Wet: The ambrette seed, immortelle, heady musk, oud, and faint tobacco add a lovely complexity to the clear and enticing orange blossom, pine, safe, and honeysuckle. So far, it's absolutely gorgeous!

Dry: After some time, the light florals, honeysuckle and immortelle, settle gently against the tobacco, ambrette, oud, and musk. The pine and orange becomes very faint, lending crispness to the scent without overpowering it.

ITI: It's a clean, fresh, lightly floral scent. I can clearly pick up the gardenia (which thankfully isn't overpowering...yet), geranium, tuberose, and light bergamot and ginger.

Wet: The floral is significantly stronger on my skin - gardenia, ginger, geranium, tuberose, a pinch of pink pepper, a trace of pine, and enough honey to make me wary.

Dry: After some time, it takes on that honey tone of which I'm not terribly fond. There is enough light floral and ginger for the scent to remain in-offensive, though.

ITI: It's rather nice. I get the impression of warm baking spices, something slightly nutty, and a clean up not overtly sweet floral behind it.

Wet: The patchouli is the note I thought was slightly nutty, which is more apparent on my skin. The spices are still warm when paired with the amber (which is behaving for now on my skin). The floral is very faint, but adds a little depth to the scent.

Dry: After 11 hours, there is only the most ghostly hint of amber left. Upon reapplication and dry-down #2, it's warm and slightly exotic spices wrapped in a soft blanket of golden amber and just a hint of patchouli.