Iceblink

There was the faintest bit of mint here when this was wet but the drydown is honeyhoneyhoney with a little apple blossom. ITA that it's a lot like Door, with its floral/honey mix. It's nice but I've tried so many honey BPALs lately and they all just run together after a while. I think I'm sticking with O for my honey needs.

There is a whole lot of hard candy going on here--very VERY sweet and childlike. Some of these candy blends do a thing on me where they start to smell a bit Sprite-like, though, and so is this one. The longer it dries the more muddled-sweet-stuff it gets...I'd love this if it stayed as crispy sugary as it does wet, but...

Gingerbread! This is the closest thing to Gingerbread Poppet I've sniffed...and like that one it's also drying down into a sort of stale, spicy ginger on me. I am not getting the fizzy/fruity note from this that some are--just ginger, ginger, ginger and spices. OK, but not great.

Lots and lots of patchouli and leaves with an underlying sweetness that I think must be the tonka, and teak. No coffee or green notes. Reminds me a bit of Falling Leaf Moon but this is not as complex and it's much sweeter. I know teak ages wonderfully so I may retry this in a couple of months and see if I like it better.

I loved the wet stage of this--white chocolate and coconut! Then a bit of lettuce peeks through and the lilac and orris start to come out and things go a bit wonky...it's too green. On the drydown I smell the white sandalwood and a bit of oakmoss, and the chocolate is almost completely gone. It ends up somewhat powdery and bordering on soapy...how sad, because this started out so well!

I love clove, I love Smiling Spider, I was pretty sure this would be awesome, and it is! It's that lovely almost metallic BPAL clove, sweetened just a bit with currant. Wonderfully dark, especially with the presence of a faint dusty note. I may need a bottle of this one.

Hmm...if the Lick Its are mint with a hint of vanilla, this is the opposite. Strong vanilla with just a whiff of mint. A little pine when wet, but that vanishes fast. This blend might be great except that the vanilla note here is really not working on me. It's very artificial and sickly-sweet. I see (smell?) how this would smell great on a lot of people but my skin is fighting with it way too much.

Pine dryer sheets. It's very clean and fresh, I'll give it that, but I cannot imagine wearing this as perfume. It'll smell GREAT with my laundry though!

There is a lot going on in this blend--first, sweet roasted chestnuts and spicy pear and plum with a little greenery (that does NOT turn into pine overload--that may be a first for me!). It's very warm and foody and...hectic. Makes you think of a busy holiday party with smells coming at you from every angle. The drydown, though, is simpler--buttery chestnut pastry with only a little fruit remaining, and the green notes have long since vanished. It's delicious and comforting! This might be a keeper.

A really bright, shrieking white musk and a really sweet vanilla. This just screams WHITE to me. As it dries I get the herbs and flowers; they tame the overly sweet vanilla and that loud musk a bit but this is still just too cloying.

I love Sloth and at first this is basically Sloth plus currant--heavy, a little smoky, a little fruity. As it dries it takes on an herbal note that makes me think the vetiver here is a different variety than the one in Sloth, though. It's almost an evergreen sort of smell. Nice but I think I preferred the early stages. A simple blend and one vetiver fans should certainly try!

Starts out quite sweet but the red tea quickly steps forward; this note is very sour and strong. After a while it softens and the vanilla/carnation really smooth this out into a creamier floral tea, but there's still a sour tinge to it that doesn't work for me. Not picking up any sandalwood from this.

This has what may be the sharpest, strongest lavender top note ever. Whew!! When it fades I'm left with a very bitter patchouli/opoponax blend with a tiny smidge of the myrtle/olive leaf. No cognac, and maybe the merest breath of blackberry--overall it's just very bitter and dirty-smelling. Pass.

Seriously sweet grapes that knock you over with their strength when this is wet. After a while I get the olive leaf, calming down the grape a bit, and a little myrrh to give this some depth. But the grape and pomegranate make this soooo sweet; it's almost a bit much. Will retry at some point to see if this mellows with a little aging.

WOW. How have I not tried this before? It's amazingly sexy. Smooth beeswax warmed by olive oil with tart fig and pomegranate--but this doesn't scream FOOD, although I do get a nice pastry-ness in there too. So balanced--those notes all blend together beautifully. I love this!

I'm surprised at how much I like this--I was a little worried that the holly would be way too green on me, but it's only the merest hint of greenery here. This is a rich, dense fig pastry, a bit spicy. Yum!! Nice throw too. Making me hungry.

2010 version: almost entirely mossy soapy ozone/snow. Maybe a faint whiff of orchid/buttercup, but zero pastry. Not for me.

This is just beautiful! Creamy, smooth French vanilla with a blend of zingy fruits, with the lemon peel dominating them. I tend to amp cedar like CRAZY, but the wood notes are soft here and very much in the background behind all those fruits and the vanilla. I do pick up a little sage, just barely. Very zippy and perky!

The rice porridge/fruits combination here immediately reminds me of Joulumuori from last year, with an added gingerbready (and it is a very *bready* gingerbread!) note. This isn't overly spicy like Gingerbread Poppet, though. The clove note is soft, but very present. I'm not getting anything making me think of cream from this either. I like this but I'll need to give it a full day's test to know if I love it. It's not particularly sweet for such a foody blend, and I like that aspect of it very much.

Honey with delicate, powdery florals underneath. I agree that this is very Alice-like! The carnation is a little too strong for my tastes (as it is in Alice too) but it's perfect if you love the BPAL carnation note. This has very little throw, though, and fades quickly.

The winter wind nearly drowns out the leaves and currant here and it's a horrible aftershavey ozoney blast. I do pick up the dry leaves more as this dries but it is not worth getting past that ozone stage.

I started to dread the emergence of the Plastic of Doom before I even dabbed this on, once I'd read the previous reviews. In the bottle this is gooey-sweet strawberry and peach jam! On the skin...it took about 10 seconds for that plastic to jump out at me. Dammit!! However, after about 10 minutes, it faded and I was left with what I'd certainly call strawberry glaze...sticky, sweet, with just a bit of peach and I can also detect a cheesecakey note waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the background. That plastic keeps threatening to come back, though, and I'm nervous. I'm going to let this age and see if the plasticness ages out of it--I hope so! This has the potential to be a really fun blend if it would behave.

I LOVE THIS! Smells just like roasted, slightly candied nuts--there is a bit of maple/caramelized sugaryness going on but not so much that it takes over the nutty goodness. It's a very chilly evening here and spraying this around has made my apartment feel so warm and smell so tasty! Thumbs up!

Tart green apples coated in thick gobs of melty granulated white sugar, with butter, bourbon vanilla, and a dash of cinnamon, spattered by candy corn and candy sprinkles. The apple note when this is wet is SO good--crisp and tart! BUT about 10 minutes in that plastic note of doom that so plagues me lately started to emerge. I don't know what is doing that on my skin but it's so annoying to have yet another blend ruined by it. It lasted for about 30 minutes--the final stage here is buttery candy corn, a lot like Trick or Treat was on me. And to think I was worried about the cinnamon! I don't even get a hint of it.

In the decant, I smelled lots of that fresh BPAL ginger--beautiful! Once this dried on me though I got nothing but quince and the faintest, faintest breath of the remaining ginger. The quince is tart but it's also a bit...watery? It just smells like something's missing. It's not bad but it's a bit boring.