prunesnprisms

On me, warm chocolate with a grounding of sandalwood. Hint of pepper in the background.

It may be way too early to say I love this, but I think I might just love this. There's a quince note I haven't smelt in anything else that worked well on my skin since Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand. The dark chocolate grounds it on my skin, and it has lingered close all day.

Nothing nice, I'm afraid. Something in the bottle chokes me as it goes on, and then on my arm it settles down into inexpensive, interchangeable men's cologne.

Oh dear. Cat-pee and baby powder, all day long. It wears really strong on me, too. I had really hoped this one would work out, but alas, there's more in the world for other people.

Chocolate, orange blossom honey, and pomegranate. This was one I received in January of 2011 and didn't wear at all before putting it away for the spring. It's a deep, dark, sticky chocolate, not at all sweet, but bitter and almost smoky. I've been cooking and trimming our tree today, so there's a good mix of fraser fir sap, ancho chilis and peach juice on me, but the core scent of the Spanish Dance is still there, chocolate and wood resin, something sour that doesn't warm up until it touches skin.

From beneath her skirts emerge eight gingerbread children: gingerbread, French vanilla, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and marshmallow cream. An obliging friend picked up several scents for me at the new year Dirty South will call event last year, and this is one I haven't re-tried. After seeing the Nutcracker last night at the opening night of the season, I had to pull it out to re-try. Aging for a year really, really made it better. My impression last year was of lemony-ginger ale and not much else, so I was really pleased today to see this one blossom. It's still ginger-aley, with a great vanilla depth to it (and no bottom-of-the-ashtray bit). It's food-ish without being complete dessert on the wrist, and I like it a lot.

I am going to start out by saying that Fire Pig is my #1 BPAL of all time, and that I have 6 bottles of it, and I keep hoping a replacement will come along because I will never find more Fire Pig. Earth Rat was delicious melon but not quite my thing, Earth Ox was unwearable. In the vial, it smelled very much like Earth Rat, which I liked, but no, on me, whatever qualifies as 'metal' was very floral and I could not wear it. Probably the narcissus. I'll have to look and see if Earth Rat or Fire Pig had that. I'm sure this will be lovely on someone but I probably won't even keep the decant, since I had to scrub to get it off me.

Oh, my god, it's a honey scent that actually FREAKING WORKS ON ME and doesn't smell like cat pee or anything terrible. I get a wave of fruit and a bottom of lovely tobacco, and the middle is a nice honey. An hour later it's honey tobacco, like my old bottle of Herr Drosselmeyer but with a sticky coating on top. I think I might want two bottles of this, but I'll wait until I get paid March to order.

On me, it's a perfect mimicry of one of my favorite Godiva chocolate, all candy strawberry with a creaminess. I've smelled this before but not on me, and I love it. Wearlength was pretty short. I'll buy a bottle of this.

On me, it's nom-my-arm-off yummy. Warm and chocolatey and delicious. In practice, it's a lot like Possets' Haute Love, which I already have a couple bottles of, and I already know how that one wears too. I think I'll keep the decant though, which I do not usually do. An hour later it is less chocolatey and more cardamom+ginger. very warm and nice, like having been baking all day.

Tested this one on the boy and it immediately went to baby powder on my fingertips and on his wrist. Fortunately we had some oil-based makeup remover very close by. He requests no more benzoin, please.

I think it was the lilac, it smelled like lilac, sure, but that doesn't mean my skin wants to smell of. I loved the idea of it but the execution of it pretty supremely didn't work on me. I had to wash this one.

Gosh, doesn't that sound just like something straight from LA Burdick? Too bad it didn't work on my skin at all. Smelled like drugstore perfume and nearly knocked me down with the ozone. It also went away in ten minutes, which was really nice!

Another no--this one did the dirt thing that some sweet scents do on my skin, and there was a funny citrus wang to it. It was gone in an hour, though.

I almost bought all of the truffle scents, but held off on the whiskey one as I had a pretty firm idea that it wasn't going to work on me. This one didn't either, as, once I put it on, I smelled like one of those old renuzit cone air fresheners. I smelled like a doctor's office bathroom (sans the pee on the floor from people missing the cup). Ah well.

It *doesn't* smell like strawberry candy, and it doesn't smell like a pint of fresh local strawberries, but I've smelled it before. More like a preparation of those local strawberries into a non-baked dessert, and being eaten outside, maybe at a Fourth party. On my skin it stays that way for about twenty minutes then turns into something stronger and greener, but I can live with it. A bouquet maybe of strawberries and dandelions. Or a salad.

For me also this was anise and mint. Not specifically eucalyptus, but minty and cool to the skin. I continued to get whiffs from it for about an hour, though the cool sensations only lasted a few minutes. Felt more in tune with my thoughts during yoga class tonight. I think I'll continue using this.

Eat Me has changed a lot since I first tried it, and obtained the bottle I have, which would have been over a year ago. It is now thicker, and a good deal more 'buttery' and the fruit is very musky. It is basically knock-me-down strong, too. No longer a fan..

I was happy to receive my bottle of Crawdad Dream today, and I have to say, I think I've found a winner. I do like fruity-floral scents, like Fire Pig, Earth Rat, Titania, Thalia, Thaleia, Kindly Moon, and others, and this one fits right in to me. It's definitely blueberry right out of the gate, and once it's on my arm it's got a warmth to the fruit. Now, some hours later, it's a happy vanilla floral. Very enjoyable. I won't seek out another bottle, but I'll likely keep the one I have.

This is another old favorite in the GC of mine. It's candy sweet with a bite, just like the description says. Sweet and something not sweet at the bottom of it.

This is lovely MELON, MELON, MELON (Divide by cucumber error!). It's a sweet, feel good, pick me up melon candy scent.

It smells a bit like apples, but mostly it smells metallic, like blood or copper. It's got an edge to it like a razor. It's a cold scent, but not minty or anything, just that there's no warmth to it at all. On me, it's still blood-like, after a couple of hours.

I got a 1 or 2 ounce decant of this from a circle, and I have to say I really like it. I've been primarily using it to keep the funk down in my bathroom, but it really does. I spray it directly on the shower curtain. Um. It smells sweet, vanilla-y, and very feminine. I'm not much with reviews, but I do rather like this.

A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930s. Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice. My bottle is from 06; it was one of the first bottles I picked up after coming to BPAL in April 06. It's super thick and strong. A friend was talking about picking up a bottle of the 08 before the Lupercalias came down because she loved the currant note. Well, there is no currant note in my older one, it is all caramel and tobacco--kindof exudes sex.

This is my favorite scent of the whole GC catalog--all fresh coconut, a bit of nuts, and a hint of fresh running water somewhere. I love it, and it calms me.