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BPAL Madness!

djnevermore

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Everything posted by djnevermore

  1. djnevermore

    Chaos Theory IV: Edge of Chaos

    MCCLXXXII In bottle I smell coffee, fruits (probably berries), light cream, vanilla. It's red, purple, toasted and gooey. Smells like Fruitcake but better! On skin I still smell coffee, fruitiness and....I'm having a really hard time describing this one. It's not very creamy wet on skin but definitely foody. Drying: the cream is coming out. Because of the sweetness, berries and darkness (thanks to coffee), it's like Crumpet Rebellion but CR ended up kind of sickening me because it was too strong. This is much more settled and settling. Dry it's sweet, slightly creamy, a little bit tart and the mashed berries and coffee are still wafting about but it's not super strong like Crumpet Rebellion and no burned sugar like Fruitcake. I may very well regret SO MUCH swapping this away, esp. since this is one of only 3 my sweetie has complimented me on out of hundreds! Light wear, moderate-short wearlength. MCCLXXXV In bottle, fruits, powdered sugar, a bit of vanilla or cream, baked crust... If I had to name this, it would be boysenberry cream cheese tart. But there are also other fruits in there...fresh, sweet ones I can't yet pick out. It has characteristics of (my beloved) Beaver Moon 05, Bloody Mary (but not overwhelming and no burned sugar) and Crumpet Rebellion. Wet on skin...lots and lots of cream-cheesey cream, a clean, fresh sugar like fine confectioners or powdered sugar and tart, bright, crisp fruits just beginning to wilt in the heat of an oven. Once in a great while, I'm getting a whiff of a vase of wildflowers from a table near the kitchen, though I would def. NOT say this is floral. Drying...BAM!...fruits at the forefront with cream in the background. Another delicious one I'm sure I'll regret swapping!!!!!! This one takes a long time to dry. but it's all wonderful, yummy goodness. Oh wait...much later there's something dark and evil coming through, like a naughty nymph breaking out of a berry (cheese)cake. Edited to update: that 'evil' something I'm smelling now appears to be coffee! Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it's a foreign, fresh, non-folgers coffee, like green coffee or something exotic. In the sense of the dark coffee, I'm reminded of Pinched with 4 Aces. Also, long wearlength. DXXXIII Cherry Single Note's less-obnoxious little sister. In bottle, juicy July cherries, maraschino cherries, tart, sweet, a bit of crushed pits and a distant whiff of blossoms. Mostly sweet and tart fruit. In fact, in another mood, it's like Lik M Aid powdered candy in cherry flavor. SOOOOOOOO delicious!!!!!! Wet on skin, the same. Drying, a clean, sweet note like a cool breeze on an early Autumn day. Depending on your nose, it could be sweet-but-tart fresh smashed wild cherries or it could be the lightest, sweetest ozone ever. I smell both. However, my friend says this is the floral of the cherry blossoms coming out. Whatever it is, it's keeping this cherry from being nauseating like Cherry SN was at times. Dryer, the possibly-ozoney edge has backed off and I'm left with a paler version of what I smelled in the bottle, though maybe not quite so sweet. Seems to have longer wearlength than cherry SN. Last reviewed by dpoulsen21. DCLXXXVIII Coconut cake with a zest of lemon in the cake. Man this is so coconutty, it's absolutely unmistakeable. And it's not a fake or nasty coconut like I usually smell in perfumes. In the bottle, the lemon zest is much stronger than when on (on, it fades pretty quickly). But a deep whiff of this will leave freshly-grated, sugared and baked shredded coconut tickling your nose. It's really quite dead on! It's faint-worthy because it's so amazing that the lab shoved a bag of shredded coconut in a tiny bottle! It's not like sunscreen or cheap tropical perfumes. It's wonderful! Creamy, soft, sweet and delicious and the lemon balances it out nicely and fades to a whisper eventually. I would buy this cake every day except that so much coconut MUST be so very fattening. Lasts and lasts. Previously reviewed by SurrealReality. CMX High tea crumpets and cakes on an Antique Lace tablecloth. This scent is very much reminiscent of Antique Lace, though I say AL is like old ladies sitting at tea with big, drooping bouquets of garden flowers surrounding them. However, they gab so much, their tea has gone cold. It also reminds me of Dorian but Dorian conjurs up pictures of sophisticated gentlemen at tea. This CT is like sophisticated young ladies nearly finished with their tea, brimming with curiosity and bursting with sensuality. Also somewhat similar to L'Estate. It's the PALEST, sweetest musk or amber ever, cream, sugar and a tiny bit of citrus (maybe bergamot! ) in the far background. There is probably a bit of floral but it's expensive, high-society floral...creamy, soft bulb flowers and gardenias tucked behind ears. It's really amazing! Last reviewed by SurrealReality. LLXXXVIII Peaches n Cream: peaches, peach fuzz, peach juice, a swirl of cream and a dash of sugar. These were fat, glittering fruit-bomb peaches before they were cut up. Now they're bubbling on the stove so they smell more like baked peaches than fresh but still have a bright, refreshing kick. Get yours fast because I'm about to eat them ALL. bookandbroom says she gets floral but I don't and her skin has been turning everything floral lately. Previously reviewed by alicia_stardust.
  2. djnevermore

    L'Estate

    In the bottle and very wet, this really reminds of what I remember of Chaste Moon...creamy florals with gardenia. Dry, it's a bit less like Chaste Moon but I still smell a bit of gorgeous, true gardenia, as if someone is trailing a blossom under the path of my nose occasionally. It's also creamy (not harsh floral) and wow! I just smelled a bit of honey and then it was gone and then back again. Slightly powdery. If you're a floral fan, this is amazing!!!!!!! I'm not sure I'll keep mine though, as floral is usually the last I reach for. However, it will take me a long time to decide because this is such an amazing blend!
  3. djnevermore

    Chaos Theory IV: Edge of Chaos

    CCXLI Smells (overwhelmingly at first) like a stick of those dark-chocolate-coated raspberry jelly candies and one in orange smashed together. It even has the slight artificial fruit quality those candies have. However, after a fairly intense but striking dry-down, it's like something fresh and maybe even green with a good dollop of creamy yet dark--almost spooky--chocolate (the smell really reminds me of Halloween for some reason!) and a shot of pure sugar. Nothing burned about it. If I liked to smell like chocolate, I'd definitely try to track down the bottle of this, even though I hate those jelly candies. This is just too amazing.
  4. djnevermore

    Chaos Theory IV: Edge of Chaos

    CLVIII SurrealReality and inthefall also reviewed this. Wet sugary-sweet, creamy lemongrass tea! And today, my son said 'lime' and I'd have to agree with him after re-sniffing, though the lemongrass is much stronger. For maybe half an hour, the lemongrass remains, but fading all the while until it becomes lemon. Now this is a sweet, creamy lemon tart. When it's entirely dry, it's a very light and pale sweet cream...like the ice cream. BPAL sugar scents and I don't normally get along because they end up smelling like burned brown sugar and amping wildly on me. However, this is pure white sugar! I LOVE this aspect of it! And while I don't like to smell like lemongrass, this may be the lemongrass scent to turn me around! Plus, with the quick dry-down, this becomes a truly delicious, mild scent. Throw is light, so I can wear it anywhere.
  5. djnevermore

    Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream

    In the bottle, this is a nearly-indiscernable mashing of sweet, sweet, juicy fruits and a blast of pure sugar! These are not sour, yet not-quite-creamy fruits. The scent is very smooth yet potent. I LOVE it in the bottle. Most BPAL blends with sugar end up smelling burned and amped horribly on my skin. THIS smells what I expect a scent drenched in sugar to smell like. LOVE it! Oh, I guess I said that already... Dry, this seems to have a sweet, pale amber in it. It's still fruity but not a fruit-only smoothie anymore. To me, it smells very much like chilled, sugar-baked yams and I want to EAT THEM ALL!!!!!!! I'll also have to wear this in a scent locket for that fruit explosion. I wish my dreams smelled like this. p.s. it got three enthusiastic thumbs up from the sad children in my house today. I let them each wear it and they perked RIGHT up! just a short while later: vanilla--sweet, creamy vanilla--is creeping and climbing about my wrist. I usually hate musk so I'm surprised I'm not getting any of that, which ruined this for some people. If you love the fruits, like I do, and are disappointed they quickly disappear, definitely wear this one in a scent locket! Update: HERE COMES THE MUSK! It still has a fruity note to it. I'll probably update again about how it does in my scent locket because it's heaven when wet, to me.
  6. djnevermore

    Pumpkin King

    Oh what a heartbreaker!!!!!!!!! Not because I expected something great and didn't get it but because I expected something OK and now I NEED a bottle of this but have pretty much no hope of that years after such a limited release. I would scream if Beth re-released this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously I'd scare people. I love it SOOO much. And I've spent insane amounts of money on vials and partial vials of this. Pumpkin King is so very bad for me, yet so very good. This was the very first of the scents I call 'stinky' or 'incensey' that I came to love. However, PK is special in another way because he did not have to grow on me. It was love-at-first-whiff. There's something about it that really does smell stinky (to me) in the vial. Try as I may, I cannot figure out what it is but it does not turn me off. It's very playful in the vial; at times it smells fresh and vegetably to me and other times it smells really creamy and rich/deep. Dry on my skin it is always spicy; very, very smooth and creamy (buttery?) without being sweet or fake; soft and strong simultaneously. This has been called foody and, if I'm to agree, it's pumpkin bread and it's to die for.
  7. djnevermore

    Storyville

    Unfortunately for me, years after C12, I have fallen for Storyville. Someone on the first page mentioned it's kind of gross in the bottle and needs to be given a chance. I totally agree. I let a few precious vials of this slip through my hands...which I could be putting to very good use now. Anyhow, in the bottle, it's almost nauseating, though that's because it's one of the strong scents I call 'incensey.' If I give it more of a chance, I smell tobacco leaf (not burning...this is nice but very dark), a deep vanilla lurking behind the heady tobacco and a dose of a lovely amber. On my skin, wet, it smells like old, old French perfume (fitting, eh?) and quickly the vanilla comes out to soften the effect. A few more minutes and the amber is very apparent but not overwhelming. This is a heady scent but with a light throw, which is good so it can be more-safely worn in public. I get no musk from this, which is fine by me. Most musks and I don't play well. I must say this will always be, IMO, one of the most skillfully-blended scents in Beth history. God, to have her re-release it! Dry on my skin, it's powdery, creamy, slightly sweet with a deep, dark undertone. Storyville has won foody/fresh me over to the darkside. Dare you take the pluge? Don't; it's very expensive to visit Storyville anymore.
  8. djnevermore

    Egg Nog

    I couldn't wear 04 because it was just way too boozy and too boozy = bad with me. But this is heavenly. Sooooo smooth and creamy with the perfect hint of spice (who am I kidding? I'd LOVE more nutmeg in there). If it's boozy, it's really hidden. As it dries down, the spices linger and the creaminess morphs into vanilla. Still gorgeous. There is indeed a faint plasticy-ness but it's faint enough and the cream/spice lovely enough that I absolutely ignore it!
  9. djnevermore

    La Vita Nuova

    In the bottle, I was not impressed and wasn't even going to try this. But I decided I had better and...dammit...just got poorer. I can see where soapy comes from. It has a very clean smell to it and one could call it soapy. But it's the lightest, freshest soap ever. It's definitely hand-made. Fruity, barely sweet, fresh, light, clean....it's like taking a bath in a glade of fruit trees, in heaven. Love it! Reminds me of my childhood. Whoa! Just got a whiff of candy. Deinitely solidifies the thoughts of childhood associated. And yeah, I bet guys would love to smell this in our hair.
  10. djnevermore

    Stress Relief Elixir

    I got lucky enough to try this! It smells lovely in the imp. Very herbal and fresh, though with a strong dash of a non-American lavender in it. Wet on me........ACK! It's BLEACH! But it dries down fairly quickly to sweet, fresh, clean and herbal and it's lovely. Dunno about the stress relief part. I need pain relief first to see if it has a positive effect cuz I feel like screaming in pain oh yeah. That's not stress, per se, but it could come across as such. Maybe I'll update when I've seen a chiro.
  11. djnevermore

    Rozpustnica

    This was the strongest and longest-lasting RO salon I tried. In the vial, I smelled the musk just barely, which is good because just a drop too much musk will send me to the sink to scrub. Still, not applied, the first impression I get from roz is that of a very sophisticated Oriental perfume, with no incense. Wet, lemon verbena times 20. It's very very lemon verbena-y. Very true to the plant so kudos there! I can see how some would get lemon cleaners from it, but it really is very true to the real thing. Dry; I really can't smell anything now. Maybe there's something wrong with my nose right now and I should come back to this some other time.
  12. djnevermore

    Haloes

    I'm not quite sure why I went for this one. I guess I was hoping the vanilla would be the main note and the apricot would be true and yummy. Neither is the case and I'm having a heck of a time smelling anything but old scented bar soap. In fact, a few minutes later, I'm having a heck of a time smelling anything at all, which has actually been the case for me with all the other retail-only salons I've tried.
  13. djnevermore

    Wezwanie / Hold

    Wow, to me this smells weird, like a cacophony of competing and poorly-contrasted scents. It's not at all what I expected. I can't smell the hazelnut, which is hugely disappointing. I think the Sandalwood and amber overpower this for me. Yup, I smell like a hippy candle. Drier, that's fading a bit. But this was unappealing to me from the start, so I'll be swapping mine away. I think anyone who enjoys smelling of Sandalwood would probably like this quite a bit and find it unique. Just not my cup o tea. Kind of sad, since I love the artwork and would almost like to keep the bottle just for that.
  14. djnevermore

    Mad Kate

    Wet. Hm. I grew up surrounded by gardenias. I don't get a bit of gardenia from it. I get fruity yet old, or more correctly old-fashioned or ancient. But the fruitiness in it is not very pleasant to me. BPAL's apple, apricot and red currant rarely work on me and usually kinda make my tummy do a flip flop. Thankfully, as this dries down, that yucky fruit goes away and it's fresh and sweet and light and the honey starts coming out a lot more. Very little throw though. With a brimming full bottle of the easier-to-get-hold-of, cheaper, GC and better (IMO) Fairy Wine to my name, I shall not search out Mad Kate, though I'd probably want some if I had a smaller perfume collection that didn't include FW. It IS lovely.
  15. djnevermore

    Blue Moon 2007

    Wow. What interesting reviews this got. Considering how many bottles I've seen for sale since it came out, and not moving, I'm surprised to see its great reviews. This IS a very beautiful scent, and ditto what everyone else said, but not as sweet or perfect as '04. Wah! I have SOOOOOO too little of 04. Still, as picky as I am, and as anti-floral, and as mild as this is, I DO own a bottle. I could review it but it would be a lot of duplication. So I'll just say in conclusion, my little boy says it smells like snow and my daughter says it smells like glitter. Obviously, glitter doesn't have a scent, so imagine a cold, sweet, slightly ozone-like scent that is bursting with personality. I loved that...snow and glitter. Really, the only reason I reviewed this.
  16. djnevermore

    Honey Moon

    Ok this one has been a long time in coming. At first I rejected this scent, because my nose told me it turned to pencil shavings. However, after falling in love with Honey Single Note and coming to smell the woodiness as a mild sandalwood instead of pencil shavings, I really love this scent! And if I ever want it to be less woody and more sweet, I layer it with Honey SN. Just wish I could find a bottle to hold my cold imps... Also, to me, Taurus 07 smells so very much like Honey Moon. I think Taurus is to-die-for because of that. Unfortunately Taurus also disappears within an hour. Added: I really don't get the overwhelming floral people are talking about, and usually I'm sensitive to that. Maybe it's because I definitely smell the Honey (same as the SN) used in it. Nope, no flowers for me.
  17. djnevermore

    Taurus 2007

    I don't really get floral from this. I get fresh sweet springy herbals and an undertone of sandalwood??? that reminds me of the woodiness of Honey Moon. In fact, if not for the fact it disappears into nothingness within an hour, I'd hunt down a bottle and substitute it for the lovely Honey Moon. If this sticks around on you and you like Honey Moon, I say it's one of the more lovely new scents I've sniffed in a long time!
  18. djnevermore

    Pirate Moon

    In the bottle, it smells woodsy and herbal, like the expensive shave creams made by Crabtree and Evelyn for men. Wet, very strongly woody and salty and something else I can't pick out. Smells amazing. BUT very quickly this turns to slightly-spicy hotel soap. However, dry this is one HOT scent for men, I tell you what. Reminds me of the only dept. store men's cologne I've ever liked (and I love it!), Colors de Benetton. It makes me weak in the knees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very well balanced dark herbs is what I get in the end, but then I'm a weirdo. Oh, and usually leather and tobacco or smoke scents are nasty on me, but this is very beautiful, except when it smells like soap for a little while.
  19. djnevermore

    Beaver Moon 2007

    This is TOTALLY like Bloody Mary and Strawberry Moon mixed together. I get berry CremeSavers too, which isn't really a good thing. It has a lot of promise but has a strong, almost floral aspect to it that makes my brain and tummy flip. That goes away after a while, so I might keep this. After it goes away, this is a lovely scent, if not a bit non-descript. Maybe I shouldn't write reviews when I'm under the weather?
  20. djnevermore

    Pumpkin Smash

    This is like Jack, without the plastic-i-ness. And not quite so sweet. If I try hard, I can smell a faint wafting of beer, but it's very well behaved. It's buttery, sweet, a little goes a LONG way and DANGIT! it's not the inquisition I got. An imp just won't suffice. The only pumpkin scent that trumps it, IMO, is Pumpkin King. This is almost dead-on the pumpkin scent I've been waiting years for.
  21. djnevermore

    Egg'd Mailbox

    I don't know what you all be talking about 'foody' this and that. Sure, in the bottle, it's like that. Then after drydown on me (and the wearlength is QUITE long!!!!!!), it smells like sex and nothing but sex. Like yeah sex...freshly-showered sweet-sweat sex. Sweet, musky, barely there but oh-so-familiar. I don't want to smell like sex. Now to go find some Pumpkin Smash or Pumpkin Cheesecake!
  22. djnevermore

    Crypt Queen

    Wet, this is deep fruitiness with a kick of well-behaved florals. However, if I sniff really deeply, I smell something creepy, dark and sinister that wants to climb up the bottle wall and bite me on my nose. Since it can't do that, it just turns my stomach a bit. So I let it sit and try to score a Treat in partial trade. Then I decide 'what the hay?!' and try it on. I don't remember what it smelled like wet, but 45+ minutes later, it's dirty, dirty, dirty, in the most pleasant way possible. I HATE headshoppy scents, so the fact I keep sniffing my wrist is perplexing. I think because it smells so very dusty, creepy and dirty, I'm drawn to it. I've never smelled dirt so convincingly, except PERHAPS with Shanghai Tunnel. This is drier dirt than Tunnel, however. But it's dry without former rot. Very strange, very haunting. Not my cup o tea for perfume, but it's an amazing result, IMO!
  23. djnevermore

    Door 13

    OMG I wish I could find a bottle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so rare for me to love a new scent. Of course I always fall for the HTF LEs. This is clean, crisp, sweet and yes, ozony. I can barely pick out something metallic but I didn't even think of it til I read other reviews. It's fresh and beautiful, not too much of anything and not too little of anything either. I picture a young girl, all gentle flowers and lolipops, walking through a cold, empty, lakeside park, with occasional sunbreaks warming her skin. I would LOVE to smell this on a man; it's unisex, IMO. But don't take that for gospel cuz I have some weird taste! Edited to Add: I don't have to search high and low for Blue Moon 04 anymore, a holy grail, because this does the trick! Clean, sweet, fresh, open-aired, cold, breezy. Oh yeah!
  24. djnevermore

    Snow White

    Ah, this one sneaked up on me. I sniffed it and probably tried it on a few months before I fell in love with it. I prefer 04 but 05 doesn't take a far backseat to it! Really, the difference is very subtle. In fact the difference may be subtlety. 04 is a bit softer, more grounded and gentle. 04 is the shy, quiet sister and 05 yells once in a while and wears more makeup. I'm reviewing 04: it's full of contradictions, cool yet warm, juicy yet powdery, green yet sweet...it's one of my all-time favorite scents. Without dissection, it's sweet powder. But there is a faint hint of the juiciest-ever apples. And that's all it takes to make the perfect scent.
  25. djnevermore

    Dorian

    GCs are not my friends. I always (what?!) smell something fake or off or weird or irritating in them. Great, that makes this habit even more spendy. Dorian is the first GC I've tried repeatedly that I haven't ended up hating. I LOVE it! SO yum! Sweet, spicy, heady without being nausea-inducing, strong, gentle. It is a number of enigmas and all of them most lovely!
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