Iceblink

Three radiant ambers with honey, linden blossom, bourbon vanilla, and orange zest. In the vial this is so piney--how bizarre! Once on my skin I get a LOT of linden blossom--usually linden is so fleeting but it's very strong here. The drydown is the familiar BPAL honey, but still with a lot of linden. Very much like a lot of the apiary blends on me. I'm wondering if a bit of aging would amp up the ambers here and calm down the linden and that odd pine note. I may try this again in a few weeks.

I love the fresh, sweet pear note that this opens with but as it dries the gardenia (oh, you bad, bad gardenia!) takes over and turns this into a floral mishmash. I do smell vanilla underneath it all but it's mostly flowers and the pear is almost gone. Sad!

Oh HAI black musk! Luckily I adore black musk. I smell sweet tobacco in here too. This really is a "dense" oil, very dark and blended well, with nice throw! As it dries I'm getting more of the resins and a breath of sage. I really like this and it might be bottle-worthy...definitely one for us black musk lovers!

Till Death is dominated by magnolia, of all things, on me. There is also a lot of honeysuckle, very sweet. It does end up being a rather generic white floral, tending toward powdery, but might be nice for fans of magnolia.

Fresh snow and fresh linen. The tea rose is barely, barely there. I can't decide if this is going to be like the best laundry detergent ever on my skin or smell wonderfully clean--I may need to test this again. The snow note here is not as sharp as it was in Yellow Snowballs, so that's a plus!

I tried this purely out of curiosity--such simple notes but vetiver can do so many different things on my skin. The vetiver here is very herb-y and sharp to my nose. The rose is a wet, rich rose but it fades into a soapy floral quickly. I'm left with soapiness and grassy herbs. Not nearly as scary as it could have been but not successful on my skin, either.

Wet, this is a citrus fest--grapefruit and sugary lemon! That familiar BPAL "snow" note creeps in quickly and takes over. There's a whisper of pine in there too. The drydown is all snow and the tiniest trace of mint. It's very fresh and refreshing but I know ultimately it'll be a bit headache-inducing as the snow/slush note tends to be. I'd love for my laundry to smell like this, though! A very cute idea for a blend.

This is pretty much Gingerbread Poppet on me too, although I do get a bit of frosting from it, so it's Frosted Gingerbread Poppet. It's nice but I finally realized GP was a little too gingery-strong on me and tended to irritate my skin. I wish I could smell all the candy notes in this! (And that this was an atmosphere spray, because it would be incredible!)

This imp must be 5 years old by now, at least...but it's held together well, as far as I can tell, for something with so many delicate floral and citrus notes. Neo-Tokyo is very metallic/ozone/bamboo in the imp but once it's on my skin I get a lot of what must be yuzu (or maybe grapefruit? definitely citrus) with a touch of cherry blossom. It reminds me of Aizen-Myoo, although this is a more complex blend, since I'm still getting hints of metal and bamboo. It's not sweet at all like some cherry blossom blends tend to be on me; the citrus/fruits are very prominent here. VERY glad I finally got to try this, as I love the concept!

I get resin and cool stone from this...it's very much a "cool" scent but in a cool-shade-on-a-hot-day way. I wouldn't really want to use this all the time, but it's a nice spray.

Mint, light florals, and anise/absinthe--this isn't something I'd normally go for, but the mint is actually kind of nice in this cold weather. Kind of like how I love the Lick It series on the coldest days. Fresh and brisk!

Very nice--sweet, sweet, sweet and warm and spicy too. I get a lot of amber and ginger in this. Doesn't quite have the staying power of some of the other sprays, but it's great while it lasts!

This is so wet and green green green...there's something almost woodsy about it at first, too. The drydown is really sharp and soapy on me though. Really interesting notes here but they don't quite work on my skin!

Lavender honey cheesecake. The wet stage of this Beaver Moon was definitely cheesecake and honey--SO sweet but creamy and good. I got all of the lavender in the drydown and it was crazy strong and herbal. A little too much! But lavender lovers will want to seek this out.

The main thing I smell here is Dorian! A faint grapey/wine note at first but then DorianDorianDorian...after a while I pick up the cake and just a hint of Snake Oil and smoke. I don't dislike it but would like to smell something besides mostly Dorian here; I'll give it a full day's wear and see how it goes.

Weirdly spicy. This is a soft, creamy marshmallow when freshly applied (and bless it, it doesn't instantly turn to burning rubber on me!) but then a strange and strong spiciness kicks in that I was not expecting at all based on the description. Later, it's a little charred/burnt (not really "smoky" to me, though) and the final drydown is almost nondetectable...sweet, creamy burnt air, basically. Interesting idea but does not really work on me.

Hoo boy, yeah--this is SERIOUS patchouli, strong and heavy and almost rubbery during the wet stage. Intense! After about an hour on my skin it really begins to mellow and the tobacco/cocoa/vanilla are giving this a soft and complex sweetness. Very nice once it's dried down--and in a few months this should be spectacular, once the patchouli has aged.

I found the wet stage of this one really...weird; it's like the resins and something sharp (maybe the hemlock?) were dancing around all over the other notes and it was just odd, especially since most red musk blends are OH HAI RED MUSK the moment they hit my skin. As this dries, though...oh wow. It's become a rich, musky tobacco incense with a really nicely noticeable nutmeg note (heheh). The red musk is really very tame here; I can smell it but it's not the dominant note it tends to be. The overall effect is dark and complex and sexy. That opening stage is not quite a dealbreaker but I am going to have to age this imp and see if it improves, because the drydown really is terrific.

I went through the list of Weenies this year going "death note...death note...death note...HEY! That's my name!" when I saw Regina Erebi. None of the listed notes were real dealbreakers so I figured well, why not give it a shot? Regina Erebi is very heavy on the mulberry on my skin; the pomegranate is more present when it's wet but fades quickly as it dries. I do smell the spearmint, very very lightly. What I want out of this that's not quite there yet is MORE MYRRH! The mulberry here is making this go just a bit candle-y and I think if the myrrh were more forward this would be much darker and complex. I'm going to age it and see how things go since myrrh does tend to age nicely. Right now--if it weren't for the name I probably wouldn't have tried this but I *am* tickled to have a bottle of Regina!

A salty aquatic, doing that dryer-sheet thing that aquatics do on me. It's got really great throw for an aquatic, I'll give it that--but otherwise, not for me.

This was very true to the description on me--soft white cake with frosting and the mildest hint of candy. It's a little sharp at first but mellows out quickly, and it had good staying power although very little sillage...just a nice soft cakey/vanilla blend! Cute and not in-your-face.

Has anyone else tried Io both before and after the backorder and noticed a difference? My decant was heavy on the red musk and the bottle I bought (which shipped after it was backordered for a bit, so I assume this is from a new batch) is so much lighter and thinner. I get almost no musk from it at all. I know aging is a factor with musks but red musk is one that's always been very recognizable and present even in fresh blends.

The first version of Berry Moon had a rather sharp green opening note to it (that did mellow with age)...that's gone from this version, which is more of a rich berry liqueur blend. And I do mean BLEND, because none of the individual fruits are jumping out of this to stomp all over the others. They're in perfect harmony. The red musk is already very nice here too so with some age this should be even better! Glad I took the chance on this one.

This is DELICIOUS. Red musk and fruit, fruit, fruit! The blend of sweet fruits (mango, pomegranate) and tart ones (cranberry!) is terrifically balanced. And although I don't get the herbs too much, they are there, lightly, and keep this from smelling like fruit salad. This reminds me a LOT of Shango (which I love!). Wish I could eat it! This has great throw, too. A winner!

Mmm, honey and tobacco. This actually isn't that different from Tobacco Honey on me, right down to that slightly metallic edge to the tobacco note. It's a little fruitier. There's something here that's trying to go a little funky/powdery on me, though, and I'm not sure if it's the saffron or the particular honey in this. Very VERY sweet. I'll give it another try on another day and see how I feel.