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BPAL Madness!

omly

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Everything posted by omly

  1. omly

    The Unicorn

    A misty, almost luminous perfume: wispy linden blossoms, white flowers, and a touch of sweet herbs. Wet: I definately get a sweet almost fruity note. In fact... it smells exactly like gummy bears. One guy in my class actually turned around to find who had the gummy bears. I actually liked this stage so I was a little sad when it dried. Dry: Some of the sweetness stayed although it turned more ephmeral and pale. As mentioned by others once it dries it is a very clean scent. This is not an over whelming smell at all. I could see this as being a wonderful scent to wear in an office, although I would need to reapply a few times during the business day to keep the unicorn from disappearing back into the mists.
  2. omly

    The Red Queen

    I think that I am allergic to Her Majesty, the Red Queen. This wasn't as "cherry-y" as I expected in the bottle. There is definately some there, but it isn't the almost almondy syrupy cherry, but rather like the fruit. The currants add some tartness that is really interesting as well. When it is on my skin I start to turn bright pink right away, and the cherry goes almost anisey. I am not sure what is in this that I don't get along with, I think that the mahogany is the only note I haven't used before though.
  3. omly

    Queen of Spades

    I am not sure what went wrong... In the bottle this smelled incredibly fruity and complex... And then it disappeared almost completely on my skin. If I place my nose almost directly on my skin I get a faint wiff of a woodsy smell almost like an oak. Since my skin seems to eat this completely it was swapped.
  4. omly

    India Bouquet

    India Bouquet made me want to dig around in my spice cabinet. After a little bit of searching I found it. Five Spice Powder. Thats what I smell like. That isn't necessarily a bad smell, in fact I can see how others might desribe it as having an exotic spiciness. Mostly though, it just made me hungry...
  5. omly

    Zephyr

    It is interesting that some mentioned that they found Zephyr to be a quite feminine scent. To me it seems gender-neutral bordering on masculine, though that may in part be because I got little to no florals when I was wearing it. I love lemon and lemon verbana. Bergamot and vanilla are both pretty high on my list of favorite single notes... But the musk took over This becomes almost a pure musk note on my skin with some added sweetness from the neroli.
  6. omly

    Tears

    Oh how I wish I knew what was in this! I put off reviewing Tears, because I got this genius level logical loop going on. What does this smell like? Cathartic. No really what are some of the smells.... cathartic. So I have no idea. Sorry this isn't a particularly helpful review. This is aquatic and a little salty, but not so much of an off shore breeze or salt marsh as that dense fog coming in from the water (um in my case the Atlantic). It is mostly just wet but with the barest hint of salt. I grew up by the ocean and have never lived more than a mile away from salt water. This smells like home on a level that goes beyond mere olafactory experience. Underlying the salty aquaticness there is this green almost sharp herbal smell, not in an unpleasant sharp way, but in a clear, cutting and cleansing way. It is this unidentified component that makes me repeatedly stupidly mutter "carthartic" over and over again. I don't know what is in this, but it is beautiful and (being the little water sign that I am) I could see this perhaps becoming a signature scent.
  7. omly

    Titus Andronicus

    I think Titus Andronicus could be classified as either masculine or gender neutral. In the bottle it is a rich blend of sandalwood and musk. Once it is on my skin though the musk kicks in overdrive. For the next 10 minutes or so musk and frankincense totally overwhelm everything else. My skin chemistry really tend to really pick up both of these scents though. After that it sweets a little bit, yet remains a dark smell rather than a bright sweetness. But after the neroli turns to a baby powdery type of smell, the sandalwood reappears. I actually like this stage but between how long it takes to get here and the fact that the SO doesn't care for it, this imp will probably go up for swap.
  8. omly

    Phantasm

    Wet this is all green tea and lemonyness. The lemonyness isn't what I normally think of as lemon verbana though. If I didn't know better I would say that it was more of a lemon peel. I agree with Sholin that there is a definate limoncello quality here. The jasmine and neroli start to come out a little more after about 10 minutes making this a very green floral. Nice enough, but this isn't something I would wear often.
  9. omly

    Lampades

    In the bottle & Dry Down: Wow cranberry! I love cranberry so much, can you tell I grew up in bog country? I don't get much else at first but I wish I can have On my wrist: The musk started to come out at first but within 20 minutes this was just a faint floral.... nothing else On my upper arm: On a lark I also applied this on my upper arm since this disappeared so quickly on my wrist. I can pick out the ginger now. Like TheDarkMother I get a sharp citrus note, but mine isn't tangerine it is more of a grapefruity smell. Then the musk rises up a little bit pushing aside the cranberry. Interesting, but in the end not something that I can apparenty wear on my skin. I will try it in a scent locket, but if it doesn't work out I may have to swap it.
  10. omly

    La Petite Mort

    In the bottle this is all smokey warmness. If I had to describe this scent in one word it would be "afterglow". Eep is that appropriate? Anyways I definately get a slight spiciness similar to Snake Oil. If I had to pick from the scent in the bottle I think I would pick La Petite Morte though. Unfortunately I don't think myrrh likes me very much. On my skin this goes rancid fairly quickly. I hoped that it was a hormonal thing, but no such luck. The smell just goes right to the pit of my stomach. When not on my skin though it is fabulous. I left an imp of La Petite Morte in my purse in the pocket where I keep my phone sometimes. Everytime I open my purse or take out my phone I find myself thinking "What is that incredible smell?" And the other day I put it on a bandana I was wearing (so as not to directly touch my skin or hair, and once again I was struck by how much I liked it. I think this is one for me to wear in a scent locket next.
  11. omly

    Brimstone

    Brimstone is indeed gritty. Misleading little imp you should really be a dark charcoal grey. So yes take caution and only use a little because this sucker is strong, but then again the boy snuggled right up after I put it on. "Mmmmm you smell like a campfire" he says. Well I guess I do! After that was pointed out Brimstone really started to grow on me. It smells like my jacket after we have been huddled in front of the fire on one of our late fall or winter camping trips.
  12. omly

    Bon Vivant

    Only two notes, yet this wasn't what I expected at all (why do I never learn?). The champagne is effervescent with a light alcohol smell. The strawberries are not the syrupy sweet confection that they are in many scents. Instead they are the slightly less sugary, natural combination of sweet and almost sour/tart of strawberries that are just barely ripe enough to eat. These strawberries are like the ones that come in the clear plastic containers that always seem just a little under or over ripe. After drying it sweetens a little bit, in search of that perfectly ripe one, but doesn't get too sweet. Unfortunately the alcohol smell from the champagne will keep me from wearing this one, but it was definately interesting.
  13. omly

    Calliope

    Wet this is incredibly mixed up and interesting. It has all of my favorite things though I wouldn't have necessarily thought to put them all together. I can pick out the lavender, mint, bergamot, and verbena right away. A few moments later ther is just a kint of orange. The the cherry-like almond rises to the surface. Somehow during all this time none of these completely overwhelms the others. I can't pick out the thyme, but there is a nice underlying herbalness which I am attributing to it. In the end it mellows down to a confusing herbal note which I am not sure I entirely enjoy. This stage doesn't have much lasting power though and only lasts an hour or two at most.
  14. omly

    Magdalene

    I love rose so I was looking forward to Magdalene. Alas, though it was a beautiful sweet floral it was so skillfully blended that the rose note is not as prominent as it often is. I am not sure what labdunum smells like, but there is something that I can only describe as an almost herbal floral note in here (as opposed to just an herbal note). This is feminine, but subdued: a dim, floral keeping to the shadows. If you don't particularly care for rose but like florals I would still give this one a shot.
  15. omly

    Unseelie

    Unseelie is not what I was expecting for some reason. Part of this may just be my chemisty. I never end up finding dewy crushed grasses. There is a stage in the beginning with a scent similar to the drier long grasses of autumn as you walk through them. I could see that many people might describe this as babypowdery, but on my skin at least there is a subtle difference. It is silken and smooth like the high qualityfinishing powder you might find in at madame's dressing table (which I think someone else mentioned as well). This is a feminine scent to me, but there is definately some musk in their too, which might make others disagree. Timeless and carelessly cruel, but it is not as dark as I thought it would be. It's time of day would be when the shadows are long, either late afternoon or early morning before the sky becomes that bright.
  16. omly

    Ave Maria Gratia Plena

    There is something about the combination of white musk and the florals that reminds me of department store perfumes. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just isn't really my thing. I was hoping there would bemore lemon peel, but I was never able to pick it out. This was very sweet and white. It reminds me more of a wispy white mist than an opaque white. Unlike many florals this remained soft and sweet and not overwhelming. Unfortunately it's not for me though.
  17. omly

    Obeah

    I don't know that I could wear this, as it seems very masculine to me. When I put it on there was a strong mixture of patchouli and and pine. It reminded my SO somewhat of Jabberwocky because of that pine, though of course without the eucalyptus. Dry it is quite incensy and heavy on the pathcouli, once the initial pine has died down somewhat.
  18. omly

    Hamadryad

    This was a warm dry earthy scent. Something about this is incredibly comforting. It makes me think of the camping trips we take in the late summer and fall in NewEngland. The florals are not very strong, and just highlight the earthiness rather than making this floral. And it lasts a while too. I find that I get a full working day of wear out of one application. On a more personal note, I think part of the apeal of Hamadryad for me is the grounding. I love earthy scents (though I am not crazy about resinous or incensy smells in general) which my SO (yes an earth sign) attributes to my being a water/air sign.
  19. omly

    Jabberwocky

    Wet there was a definite smell of eucalyptus which masked much of the rest of the scent. For those who fear a vicks vapor rub smell I only ask that they leave it a few minutes before making a decision about what they think about Jabberwocky. Within a few minutes the eucalyptus mellowed and allowed the pine and the orange to come out. By orange I don't mean that artificial orange smell, but rather the pithy peel. In fact I wasn't even sure that it was orange until going back to the decription. Surprisingly this had an almost warm smell after about 5 minutes and I though I even caught a whift of some subtle vanilla. This is not a strong smell on me, but unexpected and intriguing not the less. I only wish that it lasted a little longer. I get about 3 hours before it is completely gone.
  20. omly

    Ophelia

    Ophelia is a beautiful green aquatic floral. I usually think of aquatics as whites and blues, but this one has an underlying greenness which I think others are calling herby. On me it is not pronounced enough to call it herby, but it is most definately green. I am not particularly a fan of florals, although I do like rose. In Ophelia the rose was not nearly as prominent as it is in other BPAL blends. In fact after sitting on my skin for a few minutes it is lost in the murky depths. On a more emotional note (as opposed to a purely olafactory one) this made me feel kinda sad. It is wonderful in how exactly it captures this Shakespearean character, but I don't know that I want to feel like Ophelia very often. This might be good to match a kind of blue day.
  21. omly

    Perversion

    The first time I wore this, I thought it was going to be one of my favorites. Every other time that I have worn it though it has an unsettling affect on me for the first hour, although I love it after that. Although I don't pick it out as an individual note I think it might be the wine that gives me that slightly quesy feeling, indeed as if I had been out drinking. After that first hour it is beautiful though. The tonka bean is warmer on my skin than vanilla. The combination of tonka bean and leather is both attractive and attracting. It is slightly spicy and warm but at the same time creamy which comes across as incredibly sensual. No way could this be considered foody although it may may you edible :aroused:
  22. omly

    Venom

    In the bottle this smelled strongly of alcohol, which took me a back from my other experience with BPAL oils and from the description. I can see where some people would say this smelled like a vodka drink, but my first thought was of a department store perfume. During dry down it sweetened a lot as the jasmine took dominance. I can't pick out any berry or lime, but there is definately more to this scent than the jasmine. It is pretty and something I could see a business woman wearing, beautiful and confident. It isn't something I would tend to wear though.
  23. omly

    Le Serpent Qui Danse

    In the bottle I wasn't crazy about this one. Both in the bottle and on my skin during drydown it reminded me very much of Queen Gertrude although I didn't know why. Looking at the notes now I see that this was because of the violet, which I don't think is a note I like. There was also some sweet gardenia that managed to struggle throught the violet. After about an hour I begin to get a little bit of the vanilla too, but not nearly as much as I had hoped for. This is a definitie must-try for violet lovers. edited for spelling
  24. omly

    Red Moon 2004

    In the bottle and when wet this was fruity but not too sweet. Once it was dry it had lost most of the cherry and fruitiness. Instead it was a slightly sweet floral that made me feel stuffed up (allergies?). Interestingly it was "red" throughout. I can picture a red fruity smell, but I had never thought about a red floral before. I think the marigold is not my friend though, so I will be passing this on to someone who can enjoy it more.
  25. omly

    Chaos Theory

    Hey I got Chaos Bottle I. How neat is that? This fragrance was everything I wanted Hespirides and Red Moon to be, but weren't quite. Without even opening the bottle I could smell apples, fresh juicy apples right after you take a bite. Once the bottle was opened though I could see there were a bunch of other orchard fruits in there as well including pear in just the right quantity that it didn't overwhelm the smell. While wet this stayed pretty true to the bottle, although with a little more apple. I was getting so hungry! Then after drydown I noticed cinnamon. BUt wait... I don't care for cinnamon right? Wrong I guess! The cinnamon added a little more warmth to the orchard fruits, while avoiding becoming the smell of those little red heart candies. This is the perfect autumn scent. I don't know what I will do when I finish going through this bottle, but I will enjoy it very much while it lasts.
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